Almost that time again

... Christmas is just a day away. I don't know about you, but I can hardly believe that we are looking at December on the calendar. To say this year has been busy has been an understatement. School has been out for just over a week now and I had such great plans for my first week of holidays, but alas life had other plans for me so I am very much behind the eight-ball. Scrapping has had to take a back seat yet again as we deal with the loss of a much-loved family member but I actually managed to create something at the start of the month one night when I probably should have been marking or writing report cards. This is my take on the December Challenge over at Scrap The Boys with the challenge being to use 'All I want for Christmas' on the layout. Of course, being a joint present, I had to change the title to include both boys ;)

And some close-ups:

Well, that's it for me. I hope you and your loved ones have a safe and merry Christmas/holiday. Take care.

S xoxo

Last Minute Shares

I have two last minute shares for the month today. The first share is for Donna's Quote Challenge over at Scrapbooking from Scratch and we had to use the phase 'You're amazing just the way you are'. I know when most people see that quote they get images of special occasions, events or celebrations but when I see this quote, I see this:

And if you needed a close up of that photo (lol): 

The second layout I have to share is my take on the November 15 challenge over at Stuck?! Sketches. I may or may not have ignored some of the sketch ;)

Lots of layering and 'popping' with dimensional foam. 

Well, that is all the scrapping I am going to fit in this month. Now that school is starting to wind down for the year, I am hoping that I can find some more time to play.

Thanks for stopping by.

S xoxoxo

Stuck?! Sketch Challenge

I couldn't sleep again last night so I decided to scrap again instead. I decided to play along with the November 1 sketch at Stuck?! Sketches and here I what I came up with:

 I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Maybe sleep will abandon me again tonight and I can have a go at the next one ;)

Take care
S xoxoxo

Scrapping Shares

Not a lot happening on the scrapping front at the moment but I managed to complete a few layouts when I really should have been sleeping. Who needs sleep when there is oodles of pretty paper vying for our attention?

Layout One - Nothing Beats Love. Between you and me, I love, love LOVE this photo of my sister and brother-in-law taken on their wedding day recently.  Nothing like a nice, simple layout to warm the soul.

Layout Two - A New Best Friend. This is my take on this month's challenge for Scrap the Boys. Again, another simple layout but I like it all the same.

Layout Three - He Loves His Nanny. Another one of my favourite photos from Jo and Patch's wedding. Mitchell and my mother are so very close. I love watching the bond between them grow stronger as each year passes. Even though Mitch is almost as tall as Nanny, I hope that he will always look up to her. This is was my take on the Kraft It Up challenge for this month.

And some close ups of the flairs, wood veneer and enamel dots - three of my favourite scrappy products :) 

Layout Four - Capture and Remember. Yet another photo from the wedding and this layout is based on Charm's Sketch challenge over at SFS for this month.

Well that is it for the moment. Report cards are calling so I guess I had better get focused on this. The sooner they are done, the sooner my time will be free to play with pretty paper again.

Take care

S xoxo

Every new beginning ...

... comes from some other beginning's end.
Truer words have never been spoken in recent weeks.  The past six weeks have been filled with many moments reminiscing about events from the past five years as the Year 12's and I counted down the end of their schooling years. For those of you who don't know, I am a high school teacher and for the past five years I have been privileged enough to have been the Year Level Coordinator to the greatest group of students. It is almost impossible to sum up what the role of a Year Level Coordinator is but picture a mentor, disciplinarian, psychologist, career counsellor, tutor, nagging parent and so much more, all rolled into one person. Last Friday saw our last day together as students and Coordinator. While I am very sad to see 'my babies' (as I have lovingly called them over the years) leave the nest, I am very excited to see them make their way out there in the big, wide world.
Saying goodbye to these guys has been the main reason for my recent absence. Between getting my sister married off to one of the most awesome men in the world, the usual craziness of work, daily swimming training and weekend carnivals with the boys, and getting ready to farewell the babies, there has been limited scrapping time and zero time to blog. The only scrapping I have managed was a few quick layouts just after the wedding and a day spent with Heidi Swapp and Kim Jeffress when I should have been doing school work -but more on that later.
Layout One: The Magnificent Seven (in reference to my nieces and nephews)

Layout Two: Fancy Threads (Lachie dressed up in his new shirt for the wedding) 

Layout Three: Let's Celebrate (Me with my sisters Jo and Sonia just before the wedding) 

Layout Four: My Handsome Guys (Tony, Mitchell and Lachie the day of the wedding. You can't half tell they are country boys lol) 

That's it from me for now. I think I am going to spend what is left of the weekend trying to work out what to do at school tomorrow without my babies - it is going to feel strange that's for sure.

Have a great week whatever it is you are doing.
Take care
S xoxo

Pretty Paper Play

With the end of another school term approaching, life is definitely busy. In an effort to try and maintain my sanity (lol what's that?!), I took time out over the week to tune out from Shakespeare and all other things school related to play with paper :)  Lucky for me, there were more than enough challenges online to keep chained to the scrapping desk (always a drama ... not!) for a few hours.

Layout One: Mr Smiley (for White with One - this month's colour is pistachio)

And a close-up: 

Layout Two: Love Him (for Kraft It Up) 

And a close-up. I mixed some paint with impasto medium and smooched it over a Crafter's Workshop Template to give the page a 3D feel. 

Layout Three: Our Little Titan (Scrap the Boys)

And a close-up. Not totally loving this layout but happy enough to have another one tucked away in the album which is what it is all about :) 

I managed to complete some more challenges but I might save those for another day.

Thanks for stopping by.

S xoxo

Project Life Holiday Day Four

This was the first day of our holiday road trip that I needed to create a double page to hold all of the photos. We spent the day at the Qantas Founders Museum in Longreach. The highlight of the museum was being able to take a special, close-up tour of a Boeing 747 and 707. Being able to get up this close and personal to all parts of the planes was amazing to say the least.
Here is a close-up of the double-page spread:

And here is the first page:

 And some close-ups of the first page:

 Here is the second page - and it focuses on our tour of the 747 and 707:

 And some close-ups of the tour:

The tour tickets for the 747/707 Tour have been printed to look like plane tickets. Of course, they just had to make their way onto the layout ;)

The boys were amazed to be able to get to go into the cockpit and sit in the pilot's seats. 

So that is Day 4 done and dusted. There are still quite a few days left but I suspect life and work are going to get in the way of my PL attempt in the coming weeks. Oh well, not to worry, the photos aren't going anywhere!
S xoxo

Playing Catch Up

Even though it is the start of a new month of challenges over at Scrapbooking From Scratch, I thought I would share the final layout I created for Charm's Sketch Challenge for August. Here is Charm's sketch:

I mixed things up a little bit with this layout and dusted off the jars of impasto medium, gesso and paint that are tucked away into the deep, dark corners of my scrap space. I mixed up a wild concoction medium and paint only to find that the colour was completely 'off'. Luckily for me, the gesso worked a treat so, armed with the Crafter's Template Confetti mask that the lovely Donna gave me I set about creating this:

Lots of fiddling and fidgeting with the mask because there were lots of elements on it that I did not want to include on the background. 

And a close-up of the photo and journalling.

So as you can see, the basic elements of Charm's sketch are there, albeit tweaked just a little ;)
S xoxo

Waiting for Summer

The end of winter cannot come soon enough. Even though winters here in Queensland could be considered tropical to other parts of the world (try Antarctica lol), I still hate the season with a passion and long for the long, hot days of summer. What better way to get into the mood for the approaching summer than Anita's Colour Challenge over at Scrapbooking from Scratch :

This is what I managed to come up with:

And some close-ups: 

 

Words cannot describe how much I am looking forward to the first swim in the pool for the season. I cannot wait!

S xoxoxox

Cutting it fine

There is nothing like a last minute piece of inspiration and a looming deadline to get the scrap juices flowing.  I honestly didn't think I would get any more challenges done for the month of August but, thanks to a major meltdown by my youngest son late this afternoon, I found the inspiration for a last minute attempt at a layout for the August challenge at Scrap the Boys.
This month the challenge was to create a layout with a monochromatic colour scheme as well as using chipboard and twine. Tick all three boxes with this:

I raided my stash and found some chipboard circles and arrows that I completely forget I even had - blame it on my more recent love of anything wood veneer ;) I covered the circles with off cuts of the patterned papers used behind the photo.  
And some close ups of the details:

And some close-ups:

I pulled out my trust old typewriter to do the journalling. You also get a closer look at the chipboard circles too:

And of course, a layout wouldn't be complete without splatters of mist and My Mind's Eye Enamel Dots.

So that's it. Told you I was cutting it fine - deadline is midnight.

S xoxoxo