Chevron clouds...

Hello Friends.  I am back today with the promised quick tutorial on how I made my chevron stamped cloud.  It was simple really and all I had to do was dig through my clear stamp collections until I found patterns that I liked. :)

Here is what I used...

The cloud image is small enough to be layered straight on top of the chevron umbrella top.  When layered in the same colour, it was easy enough to just cut around the outside edges of the cloud which left me with the remains of a chevron patterned cloud!  easy peasy. 

Sometimes it helps to look at your supplies in a different manner.  :)  A simple idea, yes I know.  But it has added a little somethin' to my layout.  lol!

Thanks for visiting..x

Mr?...

Has anyone NOT done a photo booth type photo shoot?  It is such a fun idea.  Especially at parties and we tried it out for the first time in May.

Tahlia celebrated her 12th birthday and it was the perfect opportunity to take some photos of (mostly) willing subjects.  :)  What 12 year old girl doesn't want to play at being a model!!!

Unfortunately it was a spur of the moment kind of thing.  If I had thought about it (or truthfully.. had more time) I would have organised some awesome props for them to play with.  As it was, the idea hit me in the middle of playing limbo.  okay... The girls were playing limbo.  Not me.  Well... I only tried it once!! LOL!!!

anyway.....

"mr?"

products used: cs - kaiserkraft; pp - American Crafts (Amy Tangerine, Dear Lizzy); other - Greatest View Moustache badge, PLS: today tag & vintage milk label banner, Maya Road stamps, washi tape, Martha Stewart pinking circle punch, bo bunny button, Bella! cardstock sticker, Autumn Leaves alpha stamps, Close to My Heart ink (sunset, lagoon, sweet leaf), typewriter, Fiskars arrow punch, Mr Huey's mist, hole punch, foam tape, staple.

And of course the Greatest View moustache badge is perfect for this layout.  How could it not be.  LOL!  It adds a little flair of drama.  And every girl needs to have a little bit of drama every now and then.  :)

Also, check out those fun chevron clouds! 

Hopefully by tomorrow I'll put up a little tutorial on how they went together.  Yep.  Tomorrow!  Fingers crossed!! hahaha... Thanks for visiting..x

HardCORE cropping...

Hello Friends.  Today I wanted to share with you a layout I've been playing with.  :)  My lovely friend Kim has thrown out a challenge in Core'dinations first ever Hard CORE cyber crop.  And since she would like us to inspired by all things TRENDY, I thought I would ignore the housework and play along. :D

For Kim, the idea behind trendy, includes chevron, arrows, banners & confetti.  Right up my alley. ;) 

"Taylor Swift"

products used: cs - Core'dinations Jenni Bowlin, kaisercraft, do-crafts; pp - My Mind's Eye; Alpha - American Crafts; Greatest View - Sunburst & Chevron badges, kraft baggie, chevron ribbon; Fancy That Dies - butterfly quartet, small scallop flower; other - Maya Road transparency ticket, book page, Crate Paper stickers, basic grey: buttons & brads, American Crafts Dear Lizzy fabric brad, Nikki Sivils cord brad, Kaisercraft: paper blooms & pearl brad, Abi's Crafts brads, Mister Huey's mist, versacolor ink (pinecone), black pen (sharpie).

Earlier this year Tahlia, my brother in law Ian and I, went to check out Taylor Swift in concert.  It was such a fabulous night!!  We had a great time and Taylor actually reached out and touched Tahlia's hand!  woooHooo!  And since we had such a fun night out, we kept some of the ephemera including the ticket stubs from the concert.

I really don't want to lose those tickets in among my paper stash etc., and so putting the chevron paper baggie from Greatest View helps me out in two ways.  It protects the ticket (which is fading very fast!) and it has chevron on it.  One requirement for Kim's challenge!  :)

I have used the Jenni Bowlin cardstock to matte my photo (check) and a little bit in the blue scallop flower.  There's an arrow near my title (check), confetti (check) and to play safe... a little bit more chevron here (check).... and there (check)!!  LOL!!

Thanks Kim for the fun challenge.  I hope to play along with a few more over the next day or two.  Thanks for visiting..x

Hello Summer...

Yes, I know.  Down Under we are in the middle of Winter but I just miss the warmth sooo much! :)  I suppose it doesn't help when we have had quite a bit of rain lately as well. So.  What to do?  I start thinking about delving into my rather *ahem* large stack of un-scrapped photos from the past.. circa 2011!  haha.

"hello Summer"

products used: cs - bazzill, kaisercraft; pp - American Crafts, Echo Park; alpha - kaisercraft, sassafras, authentique; Other - Elle's Studio journal card, kaisercraft: manilla tag, pearls & white paint, ink: versacolor, Greatest View chevron badge (lagoon), washi tape, basic grey brads (lime), bo bunny buttons, shaped paper clip, clear stamps (unknown), star punch, Martha Stewart pinking circle punch, black pen (sharpie), epoxy sticker (unknown).

This layout also happens to be my example for the fortnightly challenge over at The Boxx.  Be sure to head on over and play along.  :)

Thanks for visiting..x

Little Brothers...

It is so interesting to watch the dynamics between the kids in my house.  Their attitudes towards each other are constantly changing.  One minute they are the best of friends.. and of course, ultimately in the next heart beat, something always goes terribly wrong...  sigh.

But over the last few months, the most dramatic change between my kids as siblings has been Ethan and Cam.

For the longest time, Ethan hasn't been all that bothered with his little brother.  Maybe it was a case of  Ethan simply not being the baby any longer!  hahaha!  Or it could be that he, at age three when Cam came along, still had the attention of his older brother and sister.  Whatever the reason, this big brother-little brother relationship has altered.  For almost the better! LOL!

Ethan now likes to "instruct" Cam on how things should be done.  After all, Mr 6 is a big school boy now and his brain is filled to the brim with knowledge!!  Mr 3 is also very independent.  And doesn't like being told what to do!  Can you see my dilemma developing here...  What I find most amusing however, is that Cameron mimics Ethan right down to the tiniest of mannerisms.

So, when I see a moment of quiet learning between the two, I like to just stand back and watch to see the final outcome.  Fortunately I sometimes have the camera on hand too and I have managed to take a couple of photos here and there.  grin.

Over at Greatest View today, I am sharing a layout about the relationship between these two rascals.

products used: cs - kaisercraft; pp - echo park (note to self); alpha - echo park; GV - wood grain chevron badge, grassy knoll chevron badge & moustache badge; other - echo park stickers, elle's studio journaling cards, tim holtz distress stain, scrap fx chipboard.

If you would like to learn a bit more about this layout, head on over to Greatest View.  I am looking at scrapping those unguarded moments that get caught on film.  

And now that the kids are back at school, I am hoping to get a bit more creating done during the reasonably undisturbed hours of 9-3.  :) Wish me luck... & Thanks for visiting..x

The Birthday Farm...

Hello Friends.  We are on our last day of school holidays today in Queensland and we've finished off with a birthday bash! Old MacDonald style.  :)

Cam loves animals, as most three year olds probably do, but he really loves his purple and white cow that Nanny gave him at Easter.  Ever since then, he has carried his "purple cow" everywhere and he especially loves it at night to cuddle before going off to sleep. 

His love of cows (so to speak) inspired us to put together a little farm theme birthday party for him.  Nothing too complicated but still lots of fun.

We added some hay bales and a special friend, Mr Scare Crow, to look after them in our side yard...

And transformed our tired RED cubby house into a barn.

We asked our friends to come dressed as farmers/cowboys or cowgirls to get into the spirit of the party and we played lots of farm themed games... pig races, sack races, wheel barrow races, duck duck goose, apple on a string, horse shoes, etc...

We even had fun little cupcake and chocolate crackle animals to eat!  How cute are these sheep that my lovely friend Cindy, made up for us...

And of course... The birthday cake was in the shape of a cow... yep.  He certainly has a fascination with them at the moment!

And because his big sister LOVES him so much, she willingly dressed up as a cow for his amusement.  grin.  She'll probably regret that decsion as soon as these photos hit the internet!! LOL!

A huge thanks to all our family and friends who made the effort to come and have some fun with us.  Cam had such a wonderful time...x

Happy Birthday Cam...

My baby turned three today and it kind of hit me that my baby isn't really a baby any more.  :)  Even if I pick him up and cuddle him in to me and can no longer pretend.  sigh...  Especially since he seems to be twice the size of the average three year old!  sheesh.. I just wish my kids would stay little for just a bit longer.  :)

Happy birthday little man.  We love you heaps and heaps.  Grubby face and all!..x

Ohhhh... My......

I am in shock.  Just a little bit.  No really.  I am in a HUGE amount of shock!  But it's the Oh-My-Gosh,-I-can-hardly-believe-my-eyes-but-heck-yeah!  I'm doing a happy dance!  :D

Who would have thought that my inspiration LO from the papercraft expo could inspire so. many. others.  Wow!  Is that good karma or what?!

I innocently loaded my LO onto twopeas.  I get to do that every now and then.  :)  Then something wonderful happened.  Scrappers started to click on my image in the gallery.  Then some more people looked and a few people left comments.  Awesome!  I am always genuinely happy if someone leaves me a little bit of love. :)

The next thing I knew about the interest was a text on the weekend, from my wonderful friend Kim Jeffress.  "Go and have a little look over at twopeas," she said.  "Ok...." I responded... But I was out and about at the time and wasn't going to be near a computer for several hours.  What to do... "Ok Kim, you'll just have to tell me what's going on." he he..

I got an email with a computer screen image (thank goodness for i-phones huh?) Thanks Kim..x

OMGosh!  I saw this....

then this a few days later....

Could it get any better?? All I wanted to do was hopefully inspire someone else with what I got from expo.  And then this happened.

Melinda Spinks left me a clue.  Nope.  I didn't get it.  Hahaha.. I thought she was referring to what I had already seen.  Call me naive, call me dense.  Maybe I'm a little of both.  But I got another text from Kim.  LOL!

"Check out the twopeas blog!!!!!"
"ok...."
...........
"what am I looking at?"

"the BLOG!!!"

Oh L.O.R.D.  I think I may have inspired a few more scrappers than just one or two of all you amazing, wonderful, inspirational, creative peoples...

Thanks SO much for the love.  Thanks for passing on the inspiration and thank you for being creative...x

ps- thanks also to Kim for keeping this naive crafter, up to date! ;)