A taste of summer, and winter

Yesterday I had a little bit of summer turn up in our mail box!

take a look at this gorgeous, bright happy scrappy pack. Its available to order now at The Scrapbook Outlet. To find out more just click on the photo!

I have to add that out garden is not as bright and cherry as the package from my mail box. I have been looking at all of the leaves on the ground and I know I should rake them up, only I cannot bring myself to do it. I love the rustic look of our leafy carpet..and I'd rather be scrapping than raking!

This week we had an exciting new arrival, well my best friend did...her lovely daughter and partner welcomed their new baby into the world. So I send a huge welcome to Max , he looks adorable! I will have to ask nicely for a photo so I can show him off to you all.

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend

Its not the load that breaks you down
its the way you carry it.

by Lena Horne

That quote has come to mind more than once this past week! Really though, things are okay in my world.
Andrew has survived another autonomic dysreflexia attack. He has been taken off one lot of anti biotic and put on another one, so here's hoping hes back to his self again soon...for all of our sakes! His pressure area is improving as well so its looking good for getting to SENZ next week, at this stage!


Youngest son got home safely and we have not locked him up, he's a good kid really, just a pretty normal 15 year old I guess.

Now to crafting, which, like my blogging has been on the back burner a bit.

Andrea, from SBO sent all of us, on her Design team this totally adorable kit to play with...

Here are the first two pages I completed....

The Sandman Comes title was taken off a rhyme, of the same, on one of the 12 X 12 patterned paper's in the kit, called Fly a Kite/ Garden, by October Afternoon (you will find it here).

Everyone needs at least one piece of this paper in there stash!! Its adorable.

The little boy images, and the rhyme are all cut from the October Afternoon paper.

These lovely chipboard pieces are by Crate Paper. You will find them HERE.I spent ages cutting the leaf images from this patterned paper.The paper tape from the kit is super versatile, I placed a strip onto transparency and cut it out, then layered it over another piece of tape to add dimension to my page.

And from the kit again ....my second LO...
....
This paper can be found here I've used it for a heritage style page, but do check out this page by Megan Renfree to see it used on a modern day LO. This is another very versatile piece of patterned paper!

Here are more images from my favorite piece of paper from the kit, October Afternoon

Lace, glimmer mist and a little ink are the only extras I have added to these pages. This kit really has all you need to complete several layouts. This week I have used the rest of the kit to complete four more 12 x 12 pages, with minimal other product added.

I cannot show you these until next week though, after they go into the gallery

If you love bright, fun colours then you are going to love the latest kit! Check it out here .

Thanks for visiting!

Can you Help

Have to say I've had one very long weekend. Andrew has been unwell, I missed the Scrapbook Day in Oamaru, that I had so been looking forward to attending with Dianne. Ive spent far more hours than I like to spend in the kitchen and tonight dear youngest son, after the weigh in for the hunting competition decided he would not come home with eldest son, instead he is staying some where with someone I know nothing about....If I knew where he was I would be going to pick him up!!! He is going to be in for a stern talking to tomorrow when he gets home.

Anyway besides that I should not moan or feel sorry for myself because there is always someone worse off... Like Ben for instance...

Ben is 22, lives in Samoa and recently broke his neck playing rugby and has been left a c5 complete tetra plegic. He is in desperate need of medical supplies and equipment.

Two very kind doctors are traveling to Samoa on the 13th of July, at their own expense to see what they can do to help Ben and to teach family how to look after him.

If anyone would like to help Ben in any way just click here

On that note I would have to say that my weekend was okay.

Andrew is a little brighter toady, and medical help is not far away for us.

Dianne forgave me for not making it to the Scrapbook day, I spend no money at all and I had plenty of time to cook.

The boys won a few goodies for their efforts in the weekend hunt

And as for Camden, he will be home tomorrow, in fact he will be home for a very long time because he will not be allowed out until he's 21!! :-)

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend

My skates were on ...today after work, and in between Andrews turns I managed to finish off this take on Vicki's Sketch Challenge......

I know.... red and pink! Its a bit of a clash really, but I just thought it would be fun to try a different colour mix for a change!
The ribbon inspiration came from Sharon's Challenge last week. Once again I have gone the flower way, really need to do something different, my pages are getting very predictable!

You still have until mid-night Thursday to get your take on Vicki's Sketch into the SBO Gallery.

I would love to see what YOU come up with :-)

Vicki's Sketch Challenge

I love this weeks Sketch Challenge at SBO and have my photo printed and ready to scrap, when and if I ever find the time!

Andrew has a pressure area on his backside at the moment so is confined to bed, its really is a nuisance because it means we cannot go anywhere and that he needs constant turns, such is life I guess. Fingers crossed it does not hang around for too long, these things can takes ages to disappear.

Here is Vicki's sketch challenge

Vicki has a gorgeous sample page done as well, you can view it, and the details right here at SBO, or you can check it out on Vicki's beautiful blog.

Heritage Sketch

Dianne's sketch...Done!

I have to admit I'm really no good at this heritage scrapping. I LOVE colour and the quiet subdued hues that are used for traditional heritage scrap book pages really don't inspire me much.
Don't get me wrong, I love the way these LO's look when they are done, I just cannot do them!...

I tried hard to stick to the rules, I tried for several hours in fact...but then...orange kind of jumped out at me and I was forced to grab hold and run with it!! .....

So yes, I have orange on my heritage LO !

I have used this Cameo broach, given to me by my beautiful mum in law, as memorabilia on my LO. Its very precious but has been sitting tucked away in my draw for several years now. I thought it would be perfect on this page as its such a special reminder of Muriel.

I often hear people complain about their mother in laws, but I was truly lucky to have had Muriel in my life, she was, and always will be a truly beautiful lady and I miss her dearly.
We sadly lost Murial to a brain tumour on the 8th of August 2000

Thank you Dianne for providing the inspiration to create this page, I know it does not quite fit into the 'Heritage Scrapbook Box', but who wants to be in a box anyway :-)

Be quick

Time is running out to take part in the challenge at Up2scrap. Check out Dianne's beautiful page below. I have not had a go at this one yet but might just start now! The prise up for grabs this month is a fantastic paper stack of Pet papers, Click here for details

And to see more of Dianne's gorgeous work click here

Photo Fun

I have been playing in photoshop again! This time I have been making photo stamps, they are great fun and simple to do. Here's how...

1 - Choose a photo that you wish to convert into a stamp. Here is the one I choose...
2 - Over in the Layers palette(right hand side of your sceen) If you cannot see your Layers Palette click on windows, on the tool bar at the top of your screen and look down the pop up list until you see Layers and click on it. Double click on the Background Layer. Click on OK . This layer will now be saved as Layer 0

3- Select Image, Adjustments, brightness/Contrast from the tool bar on the right. Slide the Brightness slider to the left and the Contrast slider to the right, until your image has sharp contrasts between the dark and light shades (as in the photo below) Press OK.

4 - Select Image, Adjustments, Threshold. Your image will look black and white. Move the slider to adjust the Threshold until you have a sharp, but recognisable image. When you are happy press OK.
5 - Select the Magic Wand tool (from the tool box on the left) and click on an area of white, (doing this will select alot of the white in that area) *Now press the Delete key. Your white area will now be transparent, but your black area will remain. Click on another area of white and repeat from * Continue until you have as much of the white area removed as is possible.

6- Select Image, Image size, and resize your image so it is no larger than 4 inches in height, or width. (whoops I have cm selected in this example photo...I should have inches)

7 - Now select Edit, (from the tool bar at the top of your page)Define Brush Preset, give your brush a name and click OK.


8 - To save your brush click on the arrow that is pointing down, next to your brush on the Toolbar. Click on the double arrows pointing to the right and choose Save Brushes.


Your Digital stamp is now ready for you to use when ever you want it!

I have added in a background colour here, just for fun.

Next I will print out my image and make a card... but for now I'm just going to make a few more digital stamps! Have fun!

I've been a scrapp'in!

In my Scrap room I have been tring hard to finish my 'spooky canvas' for a swap at GGS. This spooky canvas is not as easy as I had imagined it would be! But the cool part about the swap is that our actual 'swapping' will take place at SENZ! The only down side being that Ngaere will not be at SENZ, I would love to meet this woman, she is super clever and does the most gorgeous things with mixed media.
Anyway, I have never been to SENZ before and am very excited about the whole adventure!

Other than working on my canvas I have been tring to keep up with my DT work over at Scrapbookoutlet. I still have some lovely Cappella papers left to create with. Here is what I have created with them so far....

First up is Camden...

I wanted to show off both sides of this paper, called Vanetian, so I have rolled the torn edges. The background paper is called mezzo. Both papers are by Basicgrey and from the Cappella Range.

The diamonds are cut straight from the venetian patterned paper. I have mounted them onto chipboard to create more dimension, not that I really needed more! LO

Next we have Cody...

..and more Cappella Paper

... Cappella Alphabet stickers

..and some of my handmade leaves! We have leaves everywhere here at the moment and they are truly inspiring!

Last up ...Aimee...

Buttons are once again from Basicgrey

I have made a tag and stamped and cut out leaves...hehe,what is it with me and leaves?!!

Thanks for looking xx

What goes around comes around!!

Here I am finally finding some time to update!
Life is racing by so, so fast at the moment that I can hardly keep up! Since I was here last, life has been busy in my crafting world, my work hours have been doubled (which is not as huge a deal as it sounds). The tables were turned on our hunter (yucky photos coming up)! Hannah is on a plane back to Germany, as I sit here typing. She has gone home for a four week visit before she settles back into life here for a two year stint. Aimee is home for her four week holiday from Uni, her exams have been sat and she has fingers crossed, hoping for a pass. Oh, and Cody has changed occupations, he is now working on a high country farm, close to home, and yes he is still living at home.

Check out his leg below! Last weekend he was going to be mustering but snow in the high country put an end to this at 5am Sunday morning, so instead of going to work Cody headed off with two dogs on a hunting mission. About two hours latter he hobbled into our bedroom , and I was woken by......

" Ive been stuck by a pig" Well, I have not lept out of bed so fast in a long time!
Lucky for Cody the pig only put a tusk through his leg! It was not a pretty sight thought. I took these photos about 10 minutes after he come home, before Hannah helped retrieve his catch and drove him to A& E at Oamaru hospital.

His leg was swollen big time! Its still nasty and very red so I'm keeping a close eye on it.

Tusk hole!! I have always said "what goes around comes around" !!

Cody refused to go to hospital until he returned and retrieved his catch. Well, until he had Hannah retrieve his catch, as his leg was not up to carrying poor Mr Pig out!

Will nothing put a stop to this boys love for hunting?!!

Destination Unknown

There is so much happening in my crafting world that I just have not found the time to blog. I'm about to do a very short update AND I have household chores to fit into a very small time frame this afternoon. Tonight it is our turn to take the pipers and drummers to band practice in town...so ...here goes...

My latest LO was done for the SBO Friday night sketch Challenge created by Sharon.


My girl pages up until now have mainly been of our beautiful daughter Aimee, but this time I have scrapped a photo of another beautiful girl who has become part of our lives. Hannah comes from Germany but likes Duntroon so much that she is going to stay on for a couple more years, so long as she is successful in updating her visa. We wish her the best of luck with that and are thrilled that she wants to stay around.

Getting back to my page now.... Sharon's sketch included a sun, so instead of converting it to a flower (which I tend to do alot!), I decided to make my own sun embellishment

My title was cut from a printed transparency and I thought it was perfect for this photo, because who knows what the future holds for Cody and Hannah.

Cody is on week two of a new job. He decided he was not destined to be a Motor Cycle mechanic after He has resigned, half way through his apprenticeship and now has a job on a high country farm. Cody has wanted to follow that path for quite some time now, so jumped at the job offer. I hope he enjoys it at much as he thought he would...only time will tell, once again...destination unknown

Second son has changed one of his school subjects from geography to careers. Every Wednesday morning at 7.10 am he catches a ride with the school bus driver to Kurow where he spends the day working at Kurow Motors. Camden catches the bus back to Duntroon after it has dropped off its last passenger at about 5pm. I guess this will be a good chance for Camden to decide if he really wants to be a mechanic...or not. I kind of had plans for him to become a Doctor...LOL, he does not share my dreams!!!

I am all out of time for now but I will be back1

Thankyou all for your lovely comments that you continue to leave on my blog. I will be in to visit you, and your blogs very soon xx

New Sketch Challenge

Thanks to everyone who took the time to have a go at my sketch, last month at Up2scrap. Your pages are all wonderful! Well done to Sue Smith on her win.

This month the lovely Dianne has a sketch for us all...

Pop over to the Up2Scrap blog to see Diannes beautiful sample layouts and to check out her theme. Im looking forward to having a go at this one myself.

Yesterday

I've been digging back into that cardboard box and pulled out this photo of Andrew's dear mum, and her brother. My title is not very original, but I liked the verse that carried on from it...
Yesterday...is but today's memory
and tomorrow is today's dream . by Kahil Gibran

The papers I have used for this layout are Basic Grey papers in the Cappella Range. These are some of the lovely papers I received in my design Kit from SBO. You can check out the full range HERE

I got busy with my scissors and cut out patterns from the reverse side of the paper, layered them with foam tape and used them to 'frame' some of my photo.

The butterfly's on my page are printed and cut out from one of Louise's lovely Digi kits, the kit I used here is called Au Naturale.

The alphas that I have used for my title are Cappella Alpa stickers

You may not be able to spot it in these photos, but I have also used Glimmer Mist on my page. Glimmer mist is one of my many favorite scrapping items at the moment!

Cappella

Here is the first page I have created as part of my Design team work for SBO

I received a pizza box full of wonderful Cappella paper, from the Basic Grey collection.

I used some of the paper to make little flowers

This flower centre, is from the Prima range. SBO have 30% off the price of these Prima Sultan centres at the moment, so be in quick!


Pop over to the gallery to see the wonderful pages created by the rest of the team, these girls rock at scrapping!