Bella Blvd | Digital Layout...

Oh My Goodness! Guess what???!!!! I have created my very first digital layout. And it wasn't under as much duress as I suspected it would be! *grin*

Check out the new Bella Blvd Digital range! I have used POP QUIZ and I absolutely love it!!! 

If you'd like to see how I created this very basic layout, head on over to the Bella blog and check out the step by step details.

Thanks for visiting.x

Bella Blvd | Back to School Week...

Hi Everyone!  Over on the Bella Blvd blog this week, we are celebrating a timeless tradition!  he he he... Back to School!

 

 

"School Ready"

products used: cs - Kaisercraft; pp - Bella Blvd: Tiny Tots; alpha - Bella Blvd: Amorie Chipboard Alpha; other - Bella Blvd: crochet heart, stickers, chipboard; staple, ManorHouse leaf; tools - typewriter.

Next year, in January, my last baby goes to school.  Not only will this event be quite the milestone for him, but it will also be quite a momentous occasion for me!  And I dare say I'll be more upset than he will about the prospects of attending school!  However, for the longest time, he has been content to wave goodbye to his siblings in the morning, as they ride the bus to school and happily come back home with me.  This situation has clearly changed in the last few weeks.  He is confident and ready to go to school.  He does a lot of 'practising' while at home and of course, now invents homework to complete along side his brothers and sister after they arrive back home, in the afternoon.
 

 

Today I have used the new Tiny Tots collection to document his learning process.  The Alphabet Soup patterned paper is ideal!  To further enhance my story, I've included a short video of my boy doing his 'homework' via a  QR code at the bottom of the layout.  Careful as to not obscure the details of the code, I've surrounded it with stickers from the Tiny Tots Trinkets and Treasure & Text sticker sheets.   Finally, to transform this new collection into a school themed layout, I've added a McIntosh Crochet Heart with a small leaf, to repeat the apple motif found below.

 

 

I hope you get a chance to check out all the inspiration over at Bella Blvd this week!! Thanks for visiting today...x

 

 

Bella Blvd | Pinterest Inspiration..

Hi there Friends!!  Today I am sharing a layout I created for Bella Blvd and the monthly Pinterest Inspiration challenge!  Here is the photo found on Pinterest..

 

 

 

Lot's of fun and fabulous circles to play with!!!  *grin*

 

This is the layout I created..

 

 

"Bad Case of the Mondays"

 

products used: cs - Kaisercraft; pp - Bella Blvd: other - Bella Blvd: Paper Pieces, label stickers, stickers; embroidery thread; tools - typewriter, circle punches.

 

 

 

I trimmed two sheets of this patterned paper at the same point, so when the top paper has circles punched into it, the bottom patterned paper still revealed what the negative shape would have taken away.

 

Cam always gets into a melancholy mood on a Monday morning.  He misses his older siblings when they go off to school.  *grin*  I'm pretty sure however, next year when he starts to go to school, there may be a different reason for having the grumps on a Monday!  LOL!

 

Thanks for vising...x

 

 



The Scrapbook Store | Project Life...

Hello Friends!  Today I am sharing my last project using The Scrapbook Store dt kit for August.  The new Little Yellow Bicycle: Makin' The Grade focuses on back-to-school.  And since I am dreadfully behind with my project life I thought I would put together my Week 5.  Yep.  I am that far behind!!! LOL!  Good thing I have my other blog where I write it all down until I can put it together in my album.

"Project Life - Week 5"

products used: pp - LYB, Becky Higgin's PL filler cards; alpha - Jenni Bowlin Mini Chalkboard, Kaisercraft alphas, Collage Press Alphas; other - LYB: canvas stickers, tear-out tickets, chipboard shapes; Jenni Bowlin flag banner, Crate Paper stickers, 2Crafty chipboard, brad, vellum; tools - machine stitching, typewriter, printer.    

This was the week where we had no electricity for four days straight.  Even thought the sports ground at the bottom of our street was supplied with power and our neighbours 200m down the road were living in luxury!! LOL! I can smile about it now but at the time... sigh... It was a frustrating week for sure.

 

We were cut off from most of the local area once again because of the flooding in our area.  This time caused by Ex-tropical Cyclone Oswald. 

The kids were meant to start back at school for their first day after the Summer holidays but due to flooding some schools had closures and other didn't.  Tahlia was one of the lucky ones!  The boys made it to school.  A little harassed from the 15 minute notice we were given, but none the worse for wear!  *grin*

We had to go to friends houses for warm showers and to iron school uniforms and work clothes.  I truly appreciate them allowing us to intrude into their space at such a time.

This year we have a high schooler!  Grade 8 and incredibly nervous about the change to her schooling environment.  And while we had a lot going on, I didn't actually have the time to focus on taking photos.  I had bigger things to do - like entertain bored and stir-crazy children inside a house they were all sick of looking at!  Quite a hard thing to do when they couldn't go outside to play, because of the rain and it was too dark and gloomy inside due to no power.  *grin* I've documented a lot of the emotions of the week and tucked them all into a vellum pocket on off-cuts from the LYB patterned papers.

 

 

 

left side..



right side..

I've included a note from Ethan's teacher that came home in that first crazy week of back-to-school.  It pulls out to reveal the whole note and class agenda for the term.

I've incorporated a number of LYB embellishments on this spread, such as the canvas stickers, tear-out tickets and chipboard shapes.  The clock has to be one of my faves...

..and the back pack is pretty cute too..

If you would like to get your hands on any of these Little Yellow Bicycle: Makin' The Grade products, please check out The Scrapbook Store.  Thanks so much for visiting and letting me share a little of my PL..x

 

The Scrapbook Store | Old School..

This month, for The Scrapbook Store, I've been given the task of creating with school themed patterned papers from Little Yellow Bicycle.  I must admit once I stopped and looked at the papers, instead of immediately freaking out! (like I thought I would  *grin*), a multitude of ideas hit me.  Back-to-school papers don't always have to be used for the standard back-to-school photo snap. :)

 

With children entering a the new school year in the Northern Hemisphere, here, Down Under, we tend to get the wonderful opportunity to be reminded about documenting our kids' schooling journey mid-year.  Especially when these gorgeous new papers hit our shelves.  So this is exactly what I have done.  In an upcoming blog post, you will see how I used these LYB papers to document my son's science experiment.  There are no photos of him.  Just a lonely photo of a bean growing from a seed, in a bag! LOL!

 

But today, I have used these papers to create a layout of my children and our family friends' children when we visited a museum last year.  They were fascinated with the old schoolroom and the activities and RULES children had to participate in at the turn of the 20th Century.  They were astonished when they learnt about "the cane".  LOL!

 

 

"Old School"

products used: cs - Kaisercraft; pp - Little Yellow Bicycle; alpha - American Crafts thickers; other - LYB: canvas stickers, chipboard shapes, tear-out tags; Perfect Pearls Mist (Ranger); Kaisercraft clear stamps (class of '87), ink, paperclips, vellum; tools - sharpie pen.

I love these photos taken of them sitting at the long narrow school desk.  So very different to the classroom environment they have today with interactive white boards and computers.  **side note -   When we entered this room at the museum, the kids raced to get a seat at a desk.  I'm quite certain that they aren't so keen to enter their own school classroom every other morning.  :)

The canvas stickers in the LYB collection are easy to apply and add great texture to the page.  And besides, who can go past a super cute banner like the one above!  *grin*  The colours in the photos reflect the colours in the banner too.  Winner!

 

And I couldn't resist cutting up the letters from the pattern paper to spell out a few key words.

For a little more extra detail and to age the layout, I've added the new Ranger Perfect Pearls Mist in mandarin.  I deliberately splashed some onto the ink near the journaling so the red stamped lines would bleed.  It is a subtle touch leaving slight watermarks on my page.

 

Thanks for visiting today.  Please come back soon when I share my video tutorial as mentioned above.  Have a great day..x

 

The Scrapbook Store | Simple Stories...

Hello Friends.  Another big week here in our home and I am struggling to find the time to  upload projects and spend a little "me" time on the www.  :) Having said that however, I do have a little share for you today.  In my April DT kit from The Scrapbook Store, I have been playing with the delightful Simple Stories - Urban Traveller collection.

 

I've also decided to be brave and jump into the world of Project Life. So.. dom, dom, dom.....

Here's my first PL spread that I have available to share.

 

"Project Life - Week 4" 

products used: page protectors  - WRMK; pp - Simple Stories (Urban Traveller); Alpha - Simple Stories (Urban Traveller), American Crafts Thickers; other - Simple Stories (Urban Traveller) decorative brads & Sn@p pockets; kaisercraft rhinestones, staples; tools - cloud punch, circle punch, home printer.

Looking up close you will notice that we didn't actually travel anywhere and if we did it wasn't big enough to mention in my notes!  *grin*  But I still couldn't resist using this collection to document our week 4.

 

page 1.

page 2.

 

 

Simple Stories clearly had PL in mind when they created some patterned papers in this line.  Some of them can be cut down to the 4in x 6in size specifically and even though the title block and "adventure" blocks would look better vertical I don't have a problem with them being horizontal in my album.  Both pieces of paper help me tell the story.

 

This week we had a strange and devastating weather forecast.  It was "quite a ride".  The week started off with a ridiculous heat wave and ended in flood waters rising in our area once again.  The "Take Note" square/block with the sunburst on it was a great way to share that information in my spread.

 

 

Another fun feature is the Sn@p pockets.  I found I had quite a bit of journaling to share for this week including Tahlia's first High School uniform, the floods and my sister-in-law's birthday.  The little pocket was idea for holding all the information for me.  It was already the perfect width (4in) for the WRMK plastic page protector but it was too long.  I simply scored a line and folded the top half over instead of trimming it. 

 

 

I've secured it using one of the more generic decorative brads (non travel themed).  It's still very pretty though.  And do you see that little rain cloud with the rhinestones?  Yeah, well... I scrap lifted that idea from the amazing Kim Jeffress!  LOL!  Too cute right?!

 

The rest of the spread has been filled with the details of that week.  I'm really glad I've started this.  I've known I've wanted to do it for a long time.  This is week 4 and yes I have completed weeks 1-3 leading up to this spread.  The kids at the moment, are continually flicking through the few pages I have completed or they are looking over my shoulder as I create.  I like the idea of how interactive this project will become.   Thanks for visiting  and don't forget if you like this Simple Stories collection, visit The Scrapbook Store to purchase your supplies..x

 

 

Greatest View | New badges!!!

Oh. My. Gosh!!!  Have you seen the latest and greatest badges/flairs from Greatest View yet?  Gail has really outdone herself this time!!  I think I may be in love with ALL of them!! Check some of these beautiful badges out!  Perfect timing with "back to school" and Valentine's Day.

Thanks for visiting..x                     

 >>>>Greatest View<<<<.