Last Day Of 2009

Well here it is and hasn't the year just flown. It has been an interesting year filled with travel & scrapbooking & meeting new people around the place. It's been good to "live well, laugh often & love much" & to try lots of new things & see places we haven't seen before & learn lots of new things in the process. My wish for 2010 is happiness, health & wealth with lots of time for scrapbooking! May you find all the good things that life has to offer.

7 sleeps till Chrissy

With all the Christmas cards made & posted out (I still like the old fashioned way of sending & receiving cards through snail mail!) I started on cards for next year. These are the "Summer Bright" cards we did in our card class at the Greenbank Scrapbook Shop. The shopping has all been done for Christmas celebrations and with any luck I won't have to venture near a shopping centre again until next year! Wishing everyone a joyous peaceful Christmas and great blessings in 2010. Happy Scrapping!

Season of Joy

Only 24 sleeps 'til Santa comes! Oh how I love the Christmas Season. The tree is decorated & the decorations are up! I don't have too many nic-nacs out this year with my 2 1/2year old grandson in the house. He is pretty good with not playing with everything & he is so excited about the tree too. We went with a silver & white theme on a green tree this year. Some of our older decorations were looking a bit sad. I like to make a Christmas decoration each year and this year I am making advent Christmas trees. Since they are only half finished I should hurry up & make them before Christmas is over!! The Christmas cards are made & sent out already so I guess I'm not doing too badly. The Chrissy pressies won't be under the tree until Christmas Eve(2 year old again! & big kid 23year old!!) so I'm putting a long length of tulle under the tree to cover up the stand. These layouts are from Christmas past.

Holiday Layouts

These are some of the layouts I had the chance to do while on holidays. Not all of them are completely finished as I couldn't bring my whole scrap room with me, no matter how hard I tried! It's been nice having the time to scrap & not be interupted by the mundane tasks of everyday life!! Ah but back to the real world soon & at least a bit more space in my craft room.

Time Flies

My how time flies when you're having fun! Our holiday has gone so quickly. The picture here is of Fairburn Dam at sunset out at Emerald. It is a huge dam that has yummy redclaw yabbies in it. The caravan park is great & the people who run it are wonderful. We had a fabulous Monday Music night & met lots of new people. We've travelled from Brisbane out to Longreach & Winton & to Cania Gorge. The scenery has gone from green to dry to green again. I definately prefer the water to the arid areas. I found some nice scrapbook shops along the way & shared some ideas. I brought along my scrapbook kit & bag so that I wouldn't get withdrawals! I finished about 8 pages but with all the photos I took I think I will be planning some more. David's happy because he has caught lots of fish & redclaw & met new fishing buddies! Our camper, otherwise known as "The Tardis" has travelled very well & is very comfortable. The photo here was taken at Flying Fish Point which had another nice caravan park. Its a hard life but someone has to do it!!

Glitter

I've been working a bit with glitter & everything glittery. It's a good idea to wipe the page area where the glitter will be going with an antistatic pad. A paintbrush can be used to wipe the excess away & a vacume cleaner comes in handy too! A few ways to apply the glitter are: gemstone glue, spray adhesive, double sided tape, jack paper or glue pad & stamps. It can be mixed with gel medium & sprinkled on embossing powder. For more "bling" try using glitter glue, gems or jewels or pearls. Metallic & glitter finishes come in papers, inks, paints, glimmer mists, ribbons, threads, buttons & patches as well as stickers & flowers & transparencies. If it doesn't have it already then you can add some bling yourself. Plastic, timber, chipboard, embellishments & paper can be made to "pop" with a bit of bling!

Some of these glitter techniques will be used in the above layout that I am teaching later in the year at the Greenbank Scrapbook Shop(see link).

Back Home Again!

We've been home for a few weeks now & haven't quite settled back in. I can see how people get itchy feet for travelling. It's nice to come home though. I printed out a few photos but still have dozens that I only downloaded. I'll scrapbook some of them but not the lot as it would take forever! We saw & experienced so many new things & met lots of wonderful people. I completed about 7 layouts & a set of cards while we were travelling. Talk about scrapping out of a bag!! It paid to be organised beforehand.I thought it was a bit unfair that David got to have a whole boat with accessories while I was confined to a trolley bag & a few bits & pieces shoved in wherever I could find a spot! It was a challenge though. Now I can spread out & take up as much room as I like.

Experience the New

On our trip we have tried to experience something new every day. Whether it is something we see, or do or taste or someone new that we meet. It hasn't been too difficult doing this & we have found lots of things we have learnt. This photo is the lighthouse out from Bowen in Queensland. Its the first time I went out in the ocean in our 4m tinnie-luckily the area is buffered by the reef & it doesn't get too choppy otherwise I would be getting sea sick! The area out in the water is inspirational as you can see coral & seaturtles & dugongs. I took some good photos & have scrapbooking ideas in my head already. Its time to sketch them down before I forget them. I've been checking out websites for some new techniques & ideas to try on my layouts-getting out of that comfort zone again & having a play! My hubby David has gone fishing so I am hoping to spend best part of the day scrapping in peace with no interruptions.

Scrapbooking while Travelling

Since we have been on the road I've only done a few pages of scrapbooking. I worked out that you need to be quite organised & prepare before you leave home. I used a "work in progress" folder" in which I put supplies for each page. First I chose the photos I wanted to scrap, then the paper & embellishments to go with them. I sometimes have an idea in mind & will draw a quick sketch to remember that idea. It also helps me to know what I need to put in my mini kit & what other supplies I might need. eg. inks, premade Cricut shapes etc. I managed to fit what I needed into a craft trolley bag & a shoulder bag-even though they were very full & wieghed a ton! Along the way I found I needed a couple of extra supplies so I would make the layout as much as I could & then waited until we came across a scrapbook shop. Before we reached the next town I would Google where the scrapbook shops were so we could stop there. Its good to see the different variety of products that are out there. Its like being a kid in a lolly shop! My tool kit was quite basic with a cutter, adhesives & a couple of fancy edge scissors. I also had a folder with unmounted stamps, inkpads & ink. Admittedly I have bought paper that I didn't really need but thought they would go nicely with some of the photos I have taken but haven't printed yet.

Here We Go!!

Hi everyone, I've been madly taking photos of our trip-all with how to scrapbook them in mind! I've actually refrained from screaming "STOP HERE NOW" in my husbands ear as we drive along when I have seen something good to photograph. He repays me by stopping at all & any scrapbook shop we pass & he doesn't complain about how long I take.....He even talks scrapbooking talk with the shop people!! Mind you I then have to trade that off with visits to the fishing tackle shops! I guess what goes around, comes around. Then I get to take some good photo shots which I can then scrapbook which means I have to visit a shop for supplies. Ah the circle of life! I was up early & went to the beach to take sunrise photos across the surf. It was worth giving up my sleep-in. The weather is beautiful & the day should be wonderful.