Hands Up -Howdy Pardner

Well here I am continuing on my scrapbooking binge,  I have to say I am enjoying doing layouts again.  This one is for the Scrappin Patch September sketch challenge.  It always amazes me how people interpret a sketch.  It seems the rules can indeed be sketchy and when I look at some I wonder exactly which sketch it was they used.  Of course this is not a bad thing as there has to be some, or lots of,  creative licence envolved othewise they would all look exactly the same......and how boring would that be. Anyway this is the sketch.

And this is my interpretation.  Yes I am working on Abbeys dance album.  The troupe these are taken from was called Hands Up and they won every competition they enterered for the 2011 season.

The journalling is hidden in the pocket at the top right.

I have used a selection of October Afternoon papers, some from the Sasparilla collection some form Woodland Park and some from Farmhouse.  Embellished with a Websters flower and some burlap bows.

Christmas in the Park

Well as you know down here in the Southern Hemisphere we celebrate Christmas in the summer.  One of the big things locally is Christmas in the Park, it is a charity concert held in the Domain in Auckland City.  In 2011 my daughter was fortunate enough to be part of the entertainment.  It was a wonderful experience not only for her but the rest of the family.  The concert is also televised around NZ so it is quite a big thing.  As I am on a scrapbooking binge at the moment I pulled out the photos and made a couple of layouts. I am enjoying getting back into scrapbooking as I haven't done any in a while, so whilst looking for some inspiration I found a blog called Once upon a Sketch.  So this page is inspired by their August sketch.  I must say there are some really nice layouts on their blog......well worth a looksee.

My daughter is the taller of the two, the other beauty is her best dancing buddy.

The paper I used is from Websters Pages and the embellishments are a selection of Websters, Prima and Wild Orchid Crafts.  The journalling is computer generated as I am still not happy with my hand writing style, It seems to take over the page and I want my jouranlling to be a little more subtle.

Go Nicky boy Go

I have been trying to complete a scrapbooked album of a trip to Australia in 2009.  Every now and again I complete a page and I really only have a few photos left to go but find the inspiration has run a little dry.  Whilst I was cruising down the google highway the other day I came across a new challenge at the Scrappin Patch.  They are inticing you to use your stash to create a layout, every week for a month.  Well hey I thought that would probably almost finish the album. There is a sketch to follow and the only rule is you must use products purchased before 2012.........don't have any of those...... yeah right?  So here is a boy racer in the making.

I have now discovered that taking a photo of a full layout is actually not that easy and yet I see them on other blogs and they look great.  May have to investigate just how they do that, if anyone has any advice please feel free to share....

I used some "old" Websters Pages paper and made the rosette from scraps.  The Winner banner is also cut from Websters paper as are the little tickets.  I added some twine and there you have it.  Can't wait for next weeks sketch and another page completed.

Do you Believe in Fairies?

Well do you?  I always did as a child and I always believed my toys had parties at night.  A child with a vivid imagination indeed so vivid thats where my best friend was. It concerned my parents greatly I can tell you......  Anyway I had to cover a little box for a project some time ago and of course you can't just buy one little paiper mache box but had to buy 4.  So these have been sitting and winking at me for a while (theres that imagination again).  I decided to have a look at LOTV to see what new stamps were about and discovered they have a "anything but a card" challenge happening.  So enter a little box and a Fairy.

This is the top of the little box the flowers continue down the front as you see from the next photo although, darn it this photo is a little blurred.  Will have to fix it and reload later but you get the idea.

This next photo is the inside of the lid as I covered the inside.  we have Angel Week coming up at work and thought this would be nice filled with some special chocolates as one of the gifts. You get to spoil a person everyday for a week with little treats and you remain anonymous.  Its a lovely make you feel special week.

I am going to also enter this into the LOTV challenge.

Boooo!!!!

Did you get a fright - I know my blog did.

Gosh where does the time go?  June I ask you? How on earth did we get to June so darn fast?  I am sure the calendar fairies are playing tricks, but where-ever I check indeed it says it is June so I guess June it must be.

Well to tell you how fast time goes I made a card - yes its true I made a card, and not just any card, but a card I intended entering in a challenge for a new challenge blog I found.  A blog run by a local company called Southern Girls Challenge .  Well I beavered away and made said card, was pretty happy with it and low and behold I missed the cutoff by 2 days and I swear I had 2 weeks in which to make it.   Shock horror..... what is one supposed to do, suddenly the goal post goes from using cutouts to using wings.  Well actually I was a little miffed as I had gone to so much trouble making it. I had painstakingly cut out all these little pieces to make the banners and finally used a stamp that I have had a while that really tickled my fancy and bugger me, can't enter it......unless.......would it be cheating to add some wings....don't think so.....maybe I will check again.....nope just says "things with wings" no mention of size or quantity.  So now my little card has some little wings.

OH NO....did you hear my cry I took the photos before the wings and I have my temperamental memory card already in the computer and if I take it out I shall have to reboot the computer or the silly thing will refuse to work...oh my goodness......and this is not the blog post I intended either....bother. So hang about while I reboot and retake the photos.  Right now I am thinking at this stage that it would be way easier just to pretend I never made "the" card, just pop it in the envelope to the person its going to, but after all this "the" card will be seen by those who care to look.  I shall not be beaten.....no sir-rie me.

Tuh-dah here it is - take special notice of the little wings won't you.

Spring is in the air.........not

Well okay maybe for some of you spring is in the air but here it is autumn that is in the air.  Summer apparently has been and gone and most of us here it seems have missed it.  This year my figs have not ripened and I feel the need to complain.  My tree is laden with these small green things that should have been big and brown and juicy and consumed by now.  Alas I fear that they will just drop from the tree unripened and the birds and I will miss our annual feast and our much anticipated annual squabble over who they actually belong to.  I shan't get to tell them that it is not fair to leave half eaten figs on the tree or worse to peck 5 holes in one and decide it is not ready and move to the next  or worse still to leave the shredded stalk as evidence that they beat me.  I shall miss this little piece of summer.

This is what my tree should look like ....... 

Variety is the spice of life...

Well it has been over a month since my last post.  January and February are always busy months.  January sees us on summer holidays although most would tell you summer forgot to come this year.  We went away several times in January to the beach.  Once for a long weekend, another time just me and the kids and the end of January saw us on our annual family holiday for about 10 days and I have to say we picked by far the best time to go away as this was the 10 days of summer.

This is for my friend Anne, it just took me as an "Anne" scene, its was pouring with rain and blowing a gale and these boats all looked like they were all sheltering from the weather



Taken from the ocean side on a snorkelling expedition



This old sailing boat sailed past us in full sail and looked magnificent as we were anchored snorkelling in a bay 



February its back to school time and organising uniforms and stationery and re-establishing all the school routines. This year was a little different as it was off to a new school.  Three weeks into the term the kids seem happy and settled and enjoying their new found independance.

Along the way I have had some crafting time and have been doing all manner of things.  January also hailed the beginning of a new look "All Things Vintage" at PCP.  Lyn, Lilian and I rejoined forces and I am back running the swaps.  My intention is to keep them small, fun and afordable and of course vintage in style. 

So here a a couple of pictures of some things I have been working on.



I decided my little craft area needed a revamp so I repainted and recovered my little drawers, they sit on top of another larger set that are a work in progress at the moment.
I'm entering this in the Ribbon Girls Brown Pink and Cream Challenge



This is a card I made for the ATV challenge "Use a Paper doll".  The papers are October Afternoon and as I am into making my own embellishments at the moment, due to a self inflicted no spend policy the flower and banner are handmade



This is a little tag made from Graphic 45 paper and another handmade flower from fabric and using a die (the flourish) I bought some time ago but have really only refound and started using, and it is such a usful die I am ashamed I haven't used it before.

So thats me all caught up and hopefully back to posting on a more regular basis. So till next time.

Take care.

Karen