Travel Album

Just in case you were thinking I'd been sitting on my laurels, well mostly anyway, I have started my Travel Album.

We've been on some amazing journeys in the last 18 months and with more to come, it was time to start officially capturing our holidays. I had purchased the 4x6 page inserts over a year ago at one of the Craft shows and thought these were great to encase my photos without having to go overboard with 12x12 pages.

This is my opening page and I just love the idea of layering my patterned paper which I have used a different border punch on. I'm so addicted to these border punches... I just can't get enough.

This page I like to say was the start of something grand for DH and I. It was our 25th Anniversary and although we only travelled to Cairns for a long weekend, it was the thought of further travel that fuelled our future desires.

The idea of being able to capture so many snapshots of our travels by using these 4x6 photos was a great idea. Although I'm a digital photographer, I still can't help myself by getting far too many photos printed then not putting them on layouts. It is rather a waste and now I feel that at least they've come to good use.

Stay tuned for some more holiday pages.... they may not happen overnight but they will happen, I promise you.

Just for Me

You know how it goes, one minute you're in the groove and creating away, then the next, full stop. I've been like this now for far too long and I feel that the pressures of two design teams is playing with my head a little. Not that I don't appreciate the opportunity to create for both Scrappit and Scrapapple but sometimes you don't seem to be doing anything just for yourself.

So, I've stepped back and decided to take a bit of me time to create when I feel like it and to enjoy the process of using those paper lines that I have collected over the months.

Here it is, finally a page that makes me happy to just create.

This image was from a holiday last year to Norfolk Island and the photo is one of my favourites. With both DH & DD sharing a cozy moment whilst waiting for others to join our bus tour.

Scrapapple October Project

I had a couple of ranges to complete for this months challenge from Scrapapple. The first was from the new 7 Gypsies range Butterfly and these were some truely beautiful papers. With papers that could suit both male and female layouts, I chose to complete a page on my wonderful husband.

I used the reversed paper side as my background and complimented this with some strips from the bird paper. The birdcage diecut from Tim Holtz also complimented the theme.

To complete I added muted paper flowers, a metal hinge and raffia piece and with a bit of distress inking around the edges, my layout was complete.

This paper range was from the Be Merry Collection from Kaisercraft. My mission was to create a simple layout that could be replicated over and over for similar layouts. It really is so easy to create a simple block style layout and with some machine stitching and sticker phrases, my quick and easy design was done.

Scrappit Pack - October

Can you believe it's October already?

I'm no sooner back from Hawaii and I've got two lovely Scrappit Packs to create with. The first is from Prima. Although I love patterned paper, I thought I'd make the cardstock the star of the layout this time. I've added a few tags punched from the patterned paper and a strip to hold my tiny flowers to compliment the layout.

If you look closely you'll also noticed I've used a couple of my glimmer sprays on the hearts and the background white cardstock.

The second pack was from My Little Shoebox and the colours were so fun to play with. I decided to follow the theme on the reverse of the blue paper by trimming strips and attaching these to the cream cardstock. They were all tied in with inked edges and a row of machine stitching around the border.

I've used my favourite technique of punching a few shapes, wetting them and scrunching. Leave to dry then assemble them on top of each other for dimension.

ps I even got to use up some of my old rubons that have been gathering dust. Gotta love that.

Hawaii Highlights

It's time to tantalise you with some quick snaps from our Hawaiin Holiday. I'm working my way through quite a few images and retouching as I go. Just thought I'd share a few images so far.

These photos were taken from our sunset dinner cruise ship. This gorgeous sunset was snapped from the far side of Diamond Head heading back to Wakaki Beach.

This was one of the first images I captured from our balcony overlooking Wakaki Beach. Absolutely breathtaking isn't it?

Scrappit Now Kit - September

I just love this kit from Scrappit for September. We had some lovely papers from the new Echo Park Paper Company to use and boy were they great.

From some bright and cheery colours to the reverse side with a real vintage feel. This layout took me back to my youth with a great photo of my brother dressed as a scarecrow for our school fancy dress and of course the washing on the old clothes line in the background. Very 60's hey.

I love the idea of creating a keepsake to hold my DD's birth cards and this is a great idea. Using strong chipboard, cover and embellish to suit your theme. The size will depend on the largest item you want to include inside.

And, finally a sketch page to complete my three items. I just love this photo of my three children taken while we were on our cruise last Christmas. Finally a photo where they actually look like they are enjoying each others company.