Celebrating mum ..

Hooley dooley. I've just realised it's two months today since my last blog post. Let me see if I can account for my time .. nope. Can't. LOL! I have finished my course and now have two Cert IVs, one in Mental Health and the other in Disability. Yay for me! Oh and I did finish my mum's album. LOL, yay for my mum! But I haven't felt in the least like blogging and since finishing my mum's album, my mojo has left the building.

Here are those last few pages ..

Mum loved her album. So did my dad. It seems I had scrapped photos he'd never seen before and they've been married for over 55 years LOL! It was really nice watching them huddled together sharing my mum's walk down memory lane.

Getting back on track, I scrapped last weekend! Yay! My girlfriend Sandy was here for the weekend and with her encouragement, some of my mojo started creeping back in. I'll share those layouts soon. In the meantime, cheers!

A young woman .. with Scrap Our Stash

The latest 'word' challenge at Scrap Our Stash is ALBUMS ..

A young woman

A .. alphas

L .. lighthouse

B .. Bazzill cardstock

U .. "u" in my title (I know its a 'stretch' but I was desperate LOL)

M .. metal wire

S .. stitching

The U had me seriously stumped. I did think of Umbrella but didn't have any suitable photos for my mum's album that would work. Initially (cheekily) for the letter M I was going to say "mum" because it was a photo of my mum LOL. Luckily I had some red metal wire hiding in my stash.  ;)

Meanwhile, I'm struggling more and more with scrapping older, less 'inspiring' photos, and without using a plethora of mixed media. This is like a complete return to my scrapping beginnings .. its all about the memories. A year or so ago it became all about the art. Whilst I've been enjoying the CAS style I've been trying to use for my mum's album, I'm growing weary of it. Hmm .. maybe its time to start an art journal?

Anyways, enough of my random ramblings. If you'd like to give this challenge a go, you can find all the details you need HERE. Oh and heh, don't forget to keep checking back with the Scrap Our Stash blog for loads of inspiration from the fabulous Design Team!

Happy scrapping peeps!

Everyday .. with Scrap Our Stash

As mentioned in my previous post, this month Scrap Our Stash teamed up with The Memory Nest, My Scraps and More, and Challenge YOUrself to bring us a host of challenges for 'ScraptoberFest'. All up, there were four challenges, one from each of the blogs, plus a bonus challenge. The bonus challenge was to create a layout incorporating all four challenge criteria. I didn't get to all the challenges, including the bonus challenge, but I'm figuring three out of four, or five, ain't bad.

Having already completed the My Scraps and More colour challenge and The Memory Nest's sketch challenge, I moved on to the Scrap Our Stash challenge to incorporate at least two different types of washi tape on a layout.

Everyday

Such a great challenge given that, like so many of us, I have collected, collected and then collected some more, washi tape. Yet I rarely use it and it lasts forever. As in you can never, ever, ever finish a roll. It literally lasts forever. I've incorporated four different washi tapes in my patterned paper layers and yep, you'd never know it to look at my washi tape stash.

Some close ups ..

This layout was a 'do-over'. As I finish off my mum's album, there are some pages which just need re-doing. Sure they show an interesting progression of my scrapping over the years, after all I did start this project ten years ago, but some pages really, really, really just needed a fresh approach. This is one of them. Originally all four photos were on a double layout. It was completely unnecessary and as my mum hasn't seen this new page, it will be yet another surprise for her.

Anyways that's it for me today and this month. I've no idea what scrapping I'll get to in November. With school, study and vocational placement, on top of managing a home, time to scrap is scarce. Plus I'm so, so tired that quite truthfully, the mojo has long deserted Camp Alz. Nonetheless I am determined to finish my mum's album as soon as possible, and well before Christmas, so I have my fingers crossed there will be some fabulous challenges next month to inspire me to continue with the final few layouts.

Wish me luck!

Life is a journey .. with The Memory Nest

As mentioned in my previous post, this month Scrap Our Stash have teamed up with The Memory Nest, My Scraps and More, and Challenge YOUrself to bring us a host of challenges for 'ScraptoberFest'. All up, there are four challenges, one from each of the blogs, plus a bonus challenge. The bonus challenge is to create a layout incorporating all four challenge criteria. My month ended up being unexpectedly busier than I had anticipated and I was only able to get to three of the challenges.

Having already completed the My Scraps and More colour challenge, I decided to give The Memory Nest's sketch challenge a go.

Life is a journey

sketch by Leslie Germain

Some close ups ..

awesome chipboard vintage projector by Scrap FX

a Maya Road bag filled with 'memorabilia'  ;)

I must confess that I fiddled with these photos and papers and embellishments and ideas forever. Or so it seemed. As a page for my mum's album, I wanted to encapsulate her memory of her first date with my dad in something of a time capsule, but was at quite a loss as to how to approach it. There was yet again a lot of journaling, as one might expect in a project of this nature, but I wanted an original way to present the journaling. Eventually I found it and I am sure my mum will be thrilled when she sees this page in her album.

I have another page to share from the ScraptoberFest so stay tuned. But in the meantime .. happy scrapping!

The first grandchild .. with My Scraps & More

This month Scrap Our Stash have teamed up with The Memory Nest, My Scraps and More, and Challenge YOUrself to bring us a host of challenges for 'ScraptoberFest'. All up, there are four challenges, one from each of the blogs, plus a bonus challenge. The bonus challenge is to create a layout incorporating all four challenge criteria. So far, I've completed two of the challenges. I really hope to be able to complete all four challenges, plus the bonus challenge, and then the monthly sketch challenge at Scrap Our Stash. For now though I'll just pace myself and see how I get on.  ;)

The first grandchild

My Scraps and More's challenge was a colour theme I found really, really difficult to work with.

I interpreted the colours as fuchsia, aquamarine, kraft, mustard and navy. The combination had my head spinning. I was lucky to have a patterned paper collection by Basic Grey that 'sort of' included all the colours except for the navy which, I think, was the colour that really threw me. Nonetheless I added it into the mixture on my layout and honestly? I really don't mind it.

Now that I have no magazine and design team commitments I'm relishing the thought of being able to complete the many, many projects I've started and then set aside. First up is to complete my mum's album which, I'm embarrassed to admit, I started ten years ago. Fortunately there aren't that many pages left to do, and as she has seen the album as it progresses, not many errors to rectify. So I've challenged myself to only do layouts for my mother's album over the next several challenges I participate in. LOL wish me luck!

Anyways, all the information you need to know about ScraptoberFest can be found HERE, and the details for My Scraps and More's colour challenge HERE. I'm having heaps of fun. You could too.

Anyways, happy scrapping!

A Merry Christmas .. with Scrap Our Stash

The word challenge at Scrap Our Stash this month is INKS. If we set aside the word for just a moment, I have to say that I love this challenge more and more every month. I really dig deep into my stash and find things I can use up and throw away the packaging, and in the process I find treasures I can use on new layouts. I love, love, love their word challenge.

A Merry Christmas

This is what my word INKS looks like ..

I .. ink (Tim Holtz Distress Ink)

N .. numbers on the left edge of my patterned paper

K .. K&Co chipboard embellishments

S .. stitching (lots of stitching!)

I was so happy to get these photos of GB as a young boy visiting Santa scrapped. Because the photos were taken when he was little, I didn't think he'd have enough memories of this time to warrant three individual layouts. Boy was I wrong LOL! He thinks I'm a terrible nag LOL, hearing "I need your memories for the journaling" over and over until I finally get them. But then when the layout is finished, he's ever so pleased to see his memories written down.

Anyways that's probably enough waffling! If you think you'd like to give this challenge a go yourself you can find all the details HERE.

Happy scrapping!

I remember .. with Show Us Your Stuff

I'm on school holidays for three weeks and a couple of days ago realised, with horror, that I hadn't taken advantage of the time off to scrap!  :O  I know right? So yesterday I remedied it by whipping up this one in between loads of washing ..

I remember

I was inspired to create this layout by the current challenge at Show Us Your Stuff .. to use hand writing as a feature. LOL I'm not sure how much of a feature my hand writing is but it's definitely there! I don't know about you, but I go through phases of using my handwriting all the time to do my journaling and then at other times printing it. I do think my journaling looks neater printed but it certainly is quicker to hand write it.

You also need to use a handmade embellishment on your project. I've used a handmade trinket pin I received in a trinket pin swap years ago. That's one of the things I really miss about scrapbooking forums .. no more swaps. I used to get some fabulous stuff in swaps!

Anyways if you're not so fussed by your handwriting, why not give the Show Us Your Stuff challenge a go? You can find all the details for the current challenge HERE.

Meanwhile I'm off to do another layout whilst yet another load of washing spins away ..

So happy .. with Let's Get Sketchy

My layout for the Let's Get Sketchy Week 3 Sketch didn't come together quite as easily as the previous two. I think the, fairly average, photos were throwing me. Nonetheless I really wanted to scrap them so I persevered.

So happy

Let's Get Sketchy Week 3 Sketch

I interpreted the circles in the top left by using up some old, old stash I've had lying around .. circle slide mounts! As I cull and sort my stash I come across bits and pieces from forever ago which I think are kinda cool. So I keep them but leave them on my scrap table so I have to use them. As opposed to putting them back into my stash in some random place to be forgotten about for say, another 16 years or so. I also found some square slide mounts so keep an eye out for those on a future page.

Want to give the Week 3 Sketch at Let's Get Sketchy a go? You can find all the details HERE. Have fun!

Smile .. with Let's Get Sketchy

Last weekend I finished my last project as a Master for Scrapbooking Memories. Having stood down from all my design work earlier in the year to free up time for studying and to focus on my health, that means I no longer have any scrapbooking projects to do for anyone other than myself. I'm free. It feels good. Its liberating.

I celebrated my new found freedom by spending the weekend scrapping with my girlfriend Sandy. I decided to play along with Let's Get Sketchy who put up four sketches a month. I'm not sure I'll get all four done but I did manage three.

Smile

Let's Get Sketchy Week 1 Sketch

I very recently bought a lovely stash of Crate Paper papers and had fun challenging myself to do all three layouts with those papers. Three layouts down and I'm still going!

If this sketch appeals to you, as it did to me, you can find all the details for Let's Get Sketchy's Week 1 Sketch HERE. Happy scrapping!