My Very First Video!!

My First Video.... about my first December Daily!! 

I thought i should venture out and have a trial run at making video's ... and what better way to do it than with my December Daily Album.  Thanks Nic Pomeroy for the video inspiration.  :))   The album was far too big to try and photograph every page, get them all in focus and edit... nope, wasn't keen on that idea - video was the way to go.  So... i dragged out the slr instruction booklet and started playing.  I'm so glad i did... i think i'm hooked on video's now though!!  :))

I really LOVE my DD album and so do the kids {they are always dragging it out and flicking through it}, although it really did take over a bit during December and i kind of felt like a slave to my album.  This year i might change the actual process a little.

There are some obvious 'technical issues' in the video ... lighting being one of them!  It's all part of the learning process... and ummm, if you view it at fullscreen, you may want to sit back from the monitor a little... lol.  Hope you like it:

Back with some scrappy shares really soon...

jules

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Cyber Crop Challenge

It's happening right now!!  The Boxx Cyber Crop is on... so grab that mojo by the scruf of the neck and give it a stern talking to... LOL!

Seriously, the Boxx dt have done an amazing job and have welcomed you all into their home and given you a right royal tour from room to room!  Don't miss out on the fun....

This was my prompt for the messy 'Boys Bedroom', and it really does reflect that particular room in my home that i don't normally open the door to and allow any of my guests to enter.... but here goes! :))

{boyz}

more details:

For this challenge I don’t want to see neat and straight!

I want to see mess and ....

1. Scraped and/or flicked and/or splattered paint

2. Inking in some form

3. Torn or ripped pp and/or photos

4. Stapling and/or stitching

5. Sanding/distressing

I really couldn't go past some of the goodies from the Bo Bunny Cambridge range for this lo... as well as some Scrapfx chippy cogs and Tim Holtz stickers.  Perfectly grungy, messy boy stuff.

Go and check out what fabulously grungy stuff has already been entered into the boys bedroom challenge... and all the other challenges/rooms too!! It's been a lot of fun..

I know i've been a bit absent lately... slack blogger!  I have been busy with a couple of really exciting projects that are on the boil at the moment.... did i mention that they are really exciting!!  :)

Gotta run, but will be back with more to share really soon... x

jules

:)

Play Time!

First of all... i just wanted to say a big 'HELLO' to all those lovely people who have added me to their list of blogs to follow over these last few days.  It' so nice to have you here and i appreciate all the amazing comments that you have ALL left during TCR blog hop.  It was clearly a resounding success and i am so proud to be with such an amazingly talented team of ladies.  Just unbelieveable!  {make sure you pop over and check out palette #50 and give it a go!}....

I had a fun time playing this weekend.  DH was off camping with DS#1, which left the girls and i at home to fend for ourselves...  ;-)  sorry Lachlan! 

Claire had a friend over for a night of Harry Potter, Maddi studied for exams {and mum kept throwing her off facebook to continue said study}... and mum played!! Lachie alternated between us all, but i'm sure he would much rather have been running around in the bush keeping his dad on his toes!!  hmm... I guess those apron strings are still firmly in place with that little guy!  lol...

Here's a peak at what i got up to:

I had so much fun with these little lovelies... and it's given me an idea for a bit of a project!!  ;-))))

Just a reminder too ladies of what's going on this Friday night!!!

Be there, or be doing something nowhere near as much fun!!! hehe

cheers

jules
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Hello Colour!!!!!

Wow!!  Hello everyone!  So good to have you here! Welcome to the Colour Room's First Annual Blog Hop.. continued!! 

I hope you had fun over at Julie's place !!  I have no doubt she would have completely blown your socks off!  If you have just entered this hop at my place, you'll need to go back to the start for the full experience... :))

As you are no doubt aware by now, we are celebrating our 50th Colour Palette this week!!  How amazing is that?  You are in for such a treat from our Design Team.... as always, I am in awe of their work.

[Part One] of this post is the introduction to Palette No 50.... and my sample layout. 

If you haven't seen it yet, pop here for a look at this week's palette.  This is what I came up with for this Whitewashed Boys Room palette:

{storm chasers}

I was lucky enough to have that photo on hand as it was just perfect for the palette.  It was taken while we were holidaying after Christmas a couple of years ago now.  All the kids LOVE storms and have never been frightened of them.  They could stand and watch the rolling black clouds and lightening for as long as I let them... which isn't long!  I bascially built the layout around the photo.  I did however have to go through a process of elimination before deciding on the oval shape!  lol ...

None of the others seemed to work.... not even the strip photos in progressive exposures unfortunately, which addressed every colour in the palette perfectly!

Now for [Part Two] of this post:

You are now Up Close and Personal with me: JulieWinks :))) 

...  and here are a few little snippets about me that you may not already know...

   
I am currently designing for:

TCR 

The Scrapboxx

Kraft It Up, and

Stuck?! Sketches

I live with DH, DD x 2 and DS x 2... and the overindulged staffie 'gus'... the 7 of us live in relative harmony in Central Queensland, Australia!   :))

On my desk now, you will find:

1. A tonne of Basic Grey Curio chippies I am putting together for a current Scrapboxx Dt layout,
2. Heaps of December Daily stuff I am unsuccesfully ignoring {it just continues to stare at me!!}...I really need to finish it!
3. Heaps of stickers I am trying to catalogue for my new Ikea storage unit that is yet to arrive! {so very excited} ... prima, basic grey, tim holtz, hambly..... you name it, its in the pile!

My favourite colours to work with at the moment are blue and orange... I can't believe how many layouts have those two colours in them lately....  I don't even know I'm doing it until I'm finished.  Even I didn't realise the extent of my obsession until I put this mosaic together:

Yep... there is blue and orange, in some form, in every one of them! lol

... and I just realised what colours are on my desk right now in the previous pic too!!

What types of themes do I scrap?  Every now and then I scrap about my husband or myself... but it is quite rare!  I almost always scrap about one or all of the kids and the relationships between them.  I love depicting them in everyday moments, preferrably completely unaware that i am capturing them... but I have to admit that it is becoming more and more about the 'art' for me... telling a story more through visual impact than with words.  Sometimes I think the picture is more than enough on it's own and other times I have more of the story that i need to tell.

Where do I scrap?  I am in the most unfortunate position of having to scrap at the dining room table.... lucky for me it is a BIG square table! :))  With 4 kids and a 4 bedroom home, i just don't have a dedicated room for all my 'stuff'.  I am right now waiting for my Ikea Expedit furniture, so that I can at least have everything stored away neatly and, I'm hoping, make it much quicker for me to scrap as I won't have to spend the first hour of 'my time' looking for what I want. 

yeah, ok that was cheating....

this photo was taken before all my scrapping supplies took up permanent

residence along the back wall under the window!!  hehe

I promise to post an update as soon as all my Ikea furniture

is installed and packed full of supplies!

Funnily enough, I invariably end up migrating to the kitchen bench with my layout anyway, so I can stand up and get a better perspective of my page!  For that reason, I'm big on baskets.  My portable 'go to' supplies that can come with me as I migrate and are also easy to move off the table for something as mundane as eating! lol. 

oh, and I always paint at the kitchen bench too... far more practical for the clean up afterwards.

My scrapping 'process' can sometimes vary quite drastically from layout to layout.  Sometimes I've got a certain product or products that i just can't wait to use and i start with that, fiddling and moving things around, before i've even given a thought to the photo or the story.  Other times I'm completely driven by the photo and the story that I need to tell.  Usually though, I get the overall design planned before i decide on the size or number of photos I want to use.  I make the photo fit the design, rather than the other way around.  I'm also quite partial to using multiples of the same photo, often in a photostrip effect.

My favourite food is fruit!  Seriously!  I'm a bit of a sweet tooth.. and it gives me the sugar hit i love without the calories... :))  If we are talking naughty.... bacon is my weakness!  Breakfast, lunch, dinner!  it's so versatile, and so yummy... :)

My three favourite tools are:

my sewing machine first and foremost - no layout is ever complete without stitching... ever!

sandpaper/emery board - everything must be distressed and 'roughed up'

my stapler - i love that it's so immediate...  bang and it's done.

Where do I find my inspiration?  Like most people, I get so much inspiration from blogs, online forums, challenge sites and magazines.  The amount of online fodder is quite astronomical!  I have my favourites but tend to gravitate toward the more 'art' inspired scrappers.  I am always drawn to colour inspired artwork and for this reason I am really colour driven when I start to create myself.  I don't tend to stay within the boundaries of one product release or 'kit', but rather just grab elements on the basis of their colour and texture.  As a student of Interior Design in a previous life, this probably stands to reason... :)  I see potential colour combinations and design inspirations in just about everything.. television adds, food packaging, shop front displays, junk mail.... everything!

A technique I use a lot... {in almost every layout in fact} is paint splatter.  I love that it adds extra depth to your layering process and extra interest to your page, without taking away from my much coveted white space.  In addition to random misting with glimmermist and the like, i also tend to slightly dilute a little acrylic paint and use a straw to blow it onto the page.  It takes a little bit of experimentation to get the desired effect, but with practice, you can actually have quite a lot of control over what looks like random splatter. For larger spots, i just let the diluted paint drip out of the straw or off the paintbrush.

I'd love to see a gallery full of paint splatter this week... so get out your straws and start experimenting ladies!!  lol.  Just visit The Colour Room here to upload your work.

I'd like to thank you all so much for stopping by playing along with us and remind you that to be in the running for The Colour Room 50th Palette Prize, you need to add a comment to this post and tell me what my absolute favourite scrapbooking tool is.  :)

Your next stop is the lovely Karola's blog here.  I know you will leave her place super inspired!

Thanks again and happy travels...

jules

x

  

Because He's Just So Cute!

Just a quick post.... because tomorrow's is a whopper!! lol

I just had to share this pic...  clearly disgruntled by the fact that the news was on the tv in the lounge room last night, Lachie marched passed me as i prepared dinner, propped himself on the end of my bed and turned it on to something far more interesting.  I couldn't resist the snap worthy moment, so i snatched up the camera and crawled into the room {in full stealth mode}... gently placed the camera on the blanket box to keep it still and snapped away!!  He was totally engrossed in a cartoon and didn't even know i was there!!  hehe.

Isn't he just so cute??

I started to edit it.... increasing contrast etc... but then decided i preferred it just how it was.  So this is it... completely unedited.  :))

See ya tomorrow.

Jules
x

Mid Month Share

.... already!

Ever feel like you're chasing your tail and at the end of the day think... 'what did i get done today?'  That's what i've been like all year so far!!  Some days i'm able to construct quite a list in response... other days not so much.

Today i managed to 'deal with' a rediculously messy boys room.... i closed the door... hehe.  There!  Dealt with!

Today i managed to complete some scrappin commitments for this month! 

Today, the new sketch is up over at Stuck?! Sketches ... and here's mine:

I just LOVE this photo of my eldest and youngest on Christmas Eve ... he was so worn out, he actually climbed up onto her lap as they watched tv and promptly fell asleep.  I wanted to keep it really simple and allow the focus to be the pic.  I also LOVED this Green Tara crystal-like flower.... i thought it was perfect for the wintery christmas theme... {even though it was stinking hot with air conditioners going 24/7!!}... and the Figgy Pudding Basic Grey pp.  So, sorry about the Christmas layout in the middle of March, but i really wanted to use up the pp ... and the adorable pic!  :))

If you haven't seen it already, here's the sketch:

oh... and a reminder about very first ever 'The Colour Room Blog Hop'

.... celebrating TCR's 50th colour palette and fabulous inspiration prompts.

So, instead of the normal DT reveal on Friday as normal .... you will be able to go hopping instead, beginning and ending at TCR.  Be prepared to hop through the entire DT blog list, starting this Friday 18th March!!

We will all be in sinc, with our posts all scheduled to go at the same time!!  What a monumental effort it has been and major kudos to all the girls for getting this done... not the least of whom is Lydell Quinn.... awesome effort Lydell!!

Plan to play along with us. We will be systematically moving through the entire Design Teams Blogs, with detailed images of our Projects for #50, and a 'get to know you' on each blog.....AND something special for you at each stop - to boot.

The Hop will be open all next week to give you plenty of time for browsing and hopefully create a little seed of an idea to get you going on your own project for #50!

Keep your eyes peeled for the Blog Hop starting gun!!!

ok... just when you thought i was finished... here's a little sneak  ... :) :

cheerio for now.... and thanks for visiting.

jules
x

It's the Colour Room's 50th!!

50th Palette that is.... can you believe it??

To celebrate this milestone, TCR will be holding a BLOG HOP.  So, instead of the normal DT reveal in the Home Page of TCR on Friday.... you will be able to go hopping instead.

Plan to play along with us. We will be systematically moving through the entire Design Teams Blogs, with detailed images of our Projects for #50, and a 'get to know you' on each blog.....AND something special for you at each stop - to boot.

There will be more details later in week, but be prepared to go hopping.  The Hop will be open all next week to give you plenty of time for browsing and hopefully create a little seed of an idea to get you going on your own project for #50!

More importantly.... have fun!!

jules
x

Inspired Again...

As is normally the case when i visit the amazing blogs i follow, i was recently inspired to participate in a 'Pay it forward' kind of movement.  I was visiting the lovely Leanne when i undertook this challenge:

[Pay it forward for creative people]:  I promise to send something handmade to the first five people who leave a comment on this post. They must in turn, promise to post this and send something they made to the first five people to reply. It must be sent sometime in 2011. It can be anything you have made... from jewellery, sewing, cards ...it all counts.

I already know what i'm going to make and i can't wait to get moving on it!

Ready, Set, Go!   :)))

jules
x

BOYS!!!

A little toot!

I'm having the most amazing month.  First TCR DT.... now I'm published!

I bought two magazines yesterday.... and i had layouts in both!!  woohoo!  First time for me ... i had two cards published in SBM last month, but this is the first layout... two layouts actually!  .... and i had a layout in the sketch feature in SC!

Even last night's discovery couldn't completely dispell the 'natural high' ... while fixing dinner, i turned to face the bench, only to find this:

Yep... that's my layout under there!  Of all the pages to deface, it just had to be that one!! The culprit had long since high tailed it outta there...  {sigh}... BOYS!!

Busy with household stuff and scrapping commitments atm, but hope to have something to share soon.

Thanks for stopping by,

jules
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Stuck Take Two

Oh WOW.... my 100th post really snuck up on me!  I should have done something special... but i didn't!  lol..  oh well, might see what i can come up with in a belated gesture of appreciation for so many of you fabulous ladies who leave me beautiful comments and encourage me almost daily!  I so appreciate each and every one of them.

Just a quick one for today.   The second wave of Stuck?! Sketches March 1st CT layouts are up now... so pop over and have a little peak!

This was mine:

{my robin hood}

which came from this sketch:

I did my layout as a mirror image of the sketch, just so the subject wasn't looking off the edge of the page.

I love these photos of Cooper 'playing' with his new toy out at the Bow Club.  I love that just him and his dad do this together, just the two of them.  And he is also a real natural talent at it too, regularly outscoring even some of the adults!

And... look what i ordered yesterday!!  WooHOO.. i'm so thrilled! 

 ... and two of these:

 .... and some of these:

If I had known Ikea deliver this far north of Brissy, i'd have put in an order a long time ago!!!   Seriously, this has been such a long time coming and it is so desperately needed.  I can't wait to finally get my supplies tidy and organised.... and who knows, i might even find more time for more layouts!  hehe

So... can't say goodbye without a cheeky sneak or two.. :))

Thanks for stopping by lovely ladies!

jules
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Unbelievable News!!!

I'm still pinching myself!  The newsletter is out and the new palette is up... so i can finally reveal. Couldn't believe it when i read the invitation via email last week... and i still can't believe it!!  I'm on The Colour Room DT!!!!!  OMG!!  I just can't believe i would be considered in the same calibre as the amazing talent they have there.. both home grown and international!  My introduction is up at TCR today, along with my layout utlising this palette and prompt:

I really loved the quilted theme in the prompt and was totally inspired by that when creating this:

{extraordinary} 

I dug out an old photo of DD#2 for this one... i just love her big dark chocolate brown eyes!  :))

Keep your eyes peeled for further introductions in the weeks to follow.  I'm soooo pleased to be working alongside these ladies, both existing members of the team and the new ones yet to be announced.  Head over and have a look at the amazing dt inspirations and have a go at it yourself.

And another exciting development:

The Boxx is having a Cyber Crop!!

Lots of fun to be had by all, plenty of challenges, plenty of online chatting and plenty of laughs.  Pop over to the Boxx and keep your eye out for more prompts and hints.... and maybe a little pre-crop game to get us in the mood!!  ;)

If you are on the Boxx Cyber Crop Blog Train, your next stop is Leanne ... have fun!! :))

Cheers for now.

jules
x

So Much Going on...

OK... here goes! Apologies in advance... it's a biggen! :)

OMGawd.. has it really been over a week since i last blogged! wow... where did that week go? umm... swimming carnival, 14yo girl's sleepover party, running kids around, running back and forth to school for one thing or another, soccer sign on, paying bills, shopping, exercising, organising myself more than normal to accommodate for the fact that i didn't have a car for three days, worry about dh off in Mackay having surgery on his arm. yep ... ok, that's where it went!! lol

With the new month {and the new season.... hello autumn!} a few challenges are up. First is the KIU challenge for this month that you really should pop over and have a look at too. The challenge was to use kraft (but i guess you kinda new that!)... and the quote 'there is no greater gift than today'.

So, here was my take:

{today}

Big photos are a bit unusual for me, but i really love printing pics onto transparency... i love the softened effect.... and i've just realised how many of my recent layouts have blue paint on them!! lol ... i love this photo of the kids.  They were all laying on the motel bed during our overnight stay whilst traveling down to Brissy just a couple of day before Christmas.  The girls scouring the dinner menu... the boys watching cartoons.  A typical everyday moment.  Perfectly ordinary in every way.  Perfect.

Well the intros are all finished now over at Stuck?! Make sure you pop on over and check out the new team. I'm so thrilled to be part of it!! ... and the new sketch for March 1st is up too, and this is it:

With such an amazing lineup on the CT, Sara will now upload all the 'inspiration' from the CT in 2 separate posts... so mine will be revealed in a few days..... will show you soon.

And because it's that time of month, The Boxx newsletter is out.... and it's a doozy! yummo stuff so please go and have a lookie. Here is my contribution:

The DT were challenged to do a monochromatic red lo... in honor of valentines day:

{the object of my love}

... and our lovely featured member of the month, Annette, challenged me with this sketch:

To be honest, it had me stumped for a bit... until i turned it over! :)) then it all just happened pretty quickly. This is what i came up with:

{summer lovn}

Printing onto masking tape is one of my absolute favourite ways to journal!! LOVE it! This pic was taken last December when i took the kids to the pool. I took the camera because i was documenting for my December Daily album... .which reminds me, i really need to finish it off and post huh? :)

Speaking of sketches... i have a really special surprise planned over at The Boxx for next month's sketch, so stay tuned. ; )

Oh and i just have to share a proud momma moment with you. Last week i attended an induction ceremony for DD#1 into the high schools' 'Exceed Club' again. This is a club for students who consistently achieve at least 4 A's and no more than 1 B academically, in each reporting period. WTG Moo!

... and just because a post doesn't feel complete without one... here's a sneak for you! hehe

... oh, and i have another really big surprise to share too, but i can't yet... and i'm about to burst!!! i haven't been able to sit still for days, i'm so excited! .... and it's driving the family nuts! LOL

Hope you are all well... time i did a bit of blog visiting now that last week is finally over!

Hugs and thanks so much for stopping by for a visit... and staying for the duration. lol.  I'll be back with more really soon!

jules
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