Time I checked in

Hi from Springlike Melbourne.
Finally I think Winter is beginning to end. I have been looking at my summer clothes a bit more closely and even managed a t shirt and cut off jeans today as it was so mild. It is supposed to rain again tomorrow, but here in Victoria that is something to celebrate because the drought has been so bad. Apparently our dams are now at 32% capacity.. that is after the last lot of rain! So I will be happy for rain because that means that maybe we could use our spa bath again instead of having to wipe the dust out. I just can't justify running it when the drought is so serious.
Anyway I am sure you don't want to read about my weather woes. I have just finished a bit of web surfing. I usually start at Ikea Goddess and see if there are any cool freebies, and that leads to blogs which leads to more blogs, which can lead to sales and specials and spending if i am not careful. But not tonight. I actually had a bit of a spend up at the weekend. The big sale at pixelcanvas for their 1st birthday was pretty good and I bought up large. Then in an inspired moment decided to reorganise my vinnie pearce stuff so now have master directories of papers and elements and wordart. I just find her products so versatile that I often mix and match.
I have to admit that when I go web browsing that there is just so much cool scrapbooking stuff out there that I have to really hold myself back. There is always new and amazing kits, and yet I have a hard drive full of amazing kits and I am trying to make a conscious effort to use what I have already got. And when I buy something new, i am trying to discipline myself to actually use it. Isn't it funny how you have tried and true stuff that you use over and over, and kits that are totally gorgeous that somehow you have never used... or is that only me?
Here's a bit of my most recent art works.


Had to make a layout of my two teenage sons making pigs of themselves with pavlova mixture. So cute. This kit is from Pure Creativity called l'il baker and plus i used her l'il baker torn papers and template set2.



And my beautiful daughter, Elizabeth. She is a bit camera shy so it is not always easy to get good photos. I think i will have to slip her a few drinks when she comes over for christmas so she will be nice and mellow... and then click!! This is all Pixel Canvas product. A mixture of Vinnie Pearce and Viva Artistry.


I decided to do a bit of digging through old photos and found these. Too cute. This is vinnie pearce's New bike kit (mostly).


You know I just love this kit. Sheroes by viva artistry (pixelcanvas). Amazing colour palette and the elements are amazing. And there is a free alpha. This is a recent photo of Caitlin. I really like it.


Have to finish off with the beautiful grandson. Lucus.. taken a couple of weeks ago as he tries to pilfer the car keys out of my drawer. He has this obsession with keys! And do you know that the fabulous Flergs, made me this Nuffing wordart. I emailed her and asked.. and she sent it back the next day. Amazing lady and so talented! I love this kit - Carver, and of course it came as this cool bundle with funky frames and glitter and all sorts of stuff.

So that is up to date photos of every one except mike me and... ahh the missing son. Michael the younger appears to have vanished again. He is the one in the NZ army. Last time i lost track of him he had been posted to the Solomon Islands and forgot to tell his mother! I do think that when boys go off to war zones they should at least let their parents know! Hopefully he will turn up in the next few days or I might have to ring his base or something... again. But no up to date photos of Michael because... he never sends me any. Bad child.

Anyway enough middle of the night ramblings. I should do some sleeping now.

Winter flu

I have been so sick with this Winter's flu. I actually ended up in bed for 4 days, and finally yesterday was up and about, although I had to have a little nap in the afternoon. I don't get sick much but boy that flu really got me! I am still sniffling my way thru the days, keeping kleenex in business i guess. People keep asking me to smell things... I don't know if the milk smells off. I can't smell anything. My son has developed this habit of reading the best before dates and won't eat stuff that is past its date. Now most of us would have a look or sniff it. I know that stuff that is unopened just doesn't seem to go off, but he is convinced that it is no good after that date. I find bottles of milk pushed to the back of the fridge, because they are old! Ack why do we teach them to read!
Anyway enough of my miseries. I was planning on writing some upbeat happy stuff about HeatherT's new stuff. She makes such original scrapbooking designs that it is always exciting to use her products. So today she released Fasteners1. at Pixelcanvas (that kind of suggests that there might be more fasteners coming doesn't it?


And I made this layout, using this plus a few other HeatherT goodies (and one of Vinnie's templates)

And over at Gotttapixel, Heather has released another in her series of Tuesday templates. These are alway excellent value and she puts so much in! Heather's layout with this template was featured at Gallery standouts this week.


Here is my layout with the template using some of HeatherT's other papers.



And finally on my list is this new pack of pearly things, pack number 2 I might add Ooh shiney2 and I am sorry to say that I haven't got my layout made with these yet. But I am looking forward to using them, coz they are dead gorgeous.

No exciting freebies from me this week.. but lots of shopping tips. See you.

Another working weekend

Tomorrow is Father's day here. Mike and I are both working! I guess we will celebrate in the evening. It sort of snuck up on me and I only just managed to get two of the 3 things I wanted to give him delivered before the end of the week. I am just so not good at organisation at the moment.... ok maybe never.
This is just a short little blog to say Hi and put in a little plug for some of the gorgeous kits I have been working with this week.
For Pure Creativity Designs I have made this layout with the new kit called Sea Reflections which is a collab with Anita Designs.


And for Sweet Blossom Designs I made this layout using the new September collab from Scrapthatidea called Falling into you. the photo mask is by HeatherT


I am still working really hard on my hybrid book, and am nearly finished the first one. It has been a real learning experience. I had not done any paper scrapping for so long, and it is hard to remember that once it is stuck down, it is stuck for good. It has taken me days to fix a bodgy sticker I put on the first day. I finally found something big enough to cover it!
Anyway, one more album and I can post them overseas. It does look amazing!
Now I am on a run of 7 early shifts so I am not hanging around chatting tonight....
see ya later.

Early, really early, or maybe just really late

I just had this idea to make a quick, hi how are you post, and realised it is 1am. But what the heck. Why waste time sleeping when there is blogging to do. I am trying to work out if I have been doing much of interest since I blogged last. No world trips, heck no local trips. Family stuff, work, you know the drill.
I have been doing a bit of scrapbooking, although I have also been working on some hybrid albums for gifts, so I have been dabbling with mouse and tablet as well as glue and ink. It is fun to do both. But I sure do miss the undo button! Still the wonderful fun of sticking stuff down, and winding ribbons and ripping paper. So satisfying too. So Creative Team wise... The new collab kit for Scrapthatidea isn't out until September, so i can't show you my layout for that yet... I am a bit disappointed because i was really pleased with it and would like to share.
HeatherT has such a fantastic new kit out called Delicacies is full of beautiful details. Available at PixelCanvas, it is particularly stunning for heritage type layouts.


I created this layout showing my grandfather back in World War 1.



And for variety a layout of Ben, now



I also made this layout, which I was thrilled with, using Vinnies Film masks and some other bits and pieces.


And then today I made this

I thought it would be fun to celebrate this very moment, with a photo I snapped this morning.
thats it for today folks, gotta do some sleeping. Have two teenage boys sleeping over so who knows what the morning will look like.

So long since i blogged

I just haven't felt like there was much to blog about recently so consequently have been very quiet. But I figure that I need to make a bit of an effort and maybe tell you a bit about my CT stuff and other excitement.
You know that it is so long since I blogged that I think it dates back to before we went to Mt Baw Baw for our snow weekend. The boys went snowboarding and the rest of us tobogganed! The photos aren't that good because the weather was pretty overcast and snowy. But it was a fun experience. Probably would have been much more fun if we had booked early so we could have stayed 3 nights in one place instead of having to shift accommodation every night! It was such hard work lugging all our stuff from one place to the other through the snow! And of course being disorganised we hadn't packed well and there was lots of bits and pieces. A nightmare i tell you! It was soooooooo expensive too. I know we could have had a week in Queenstown for the same price including ski hire etc. But you gotta try these things don't you? One of the most frustrating things was the chain hire. You have to hire chains to drive up the mountain. You don't have to put them on the car as there was no snow on the road. If you drive up without them, then they send you back down to get them. So you hire these blasted snow chains and put them in your car and then you take them back! Another good money spinner.
So.. moving on from the delights of the snow. We have been working hard since then and I have been doing lots of scrapbooking. I have now set myself a huge goal, I want to make at least 2 and preferably 4 hybrid albums by the end of the month... or at least mid September. These will be thank you gifts for the ppl we stayed with in the UK this time last year and one for each of my friends that i went with. I have been working hard and today made the first page. Will post a picture once I have it all glued down properly. I am spending a fortune buying all the supplies, had to get new paint brushes, new glue, need new ink... and it is all just so much fun to buy!

I have also been quite busy making new pages for HeatherT, I do love being on her CT because she is so creative and her kits are so different! Not only that but she has such serious talent on her team that I really feel like I need to produce the goods! (that is a positive thing!). Heather has just opened up a new store, so in addition to selling at the amazing Pixelcanvas she is also selling at gottapixel. So we have been busy getting lots of new layouts up for her kits at gotta pixel as well as the pixelcanvas ones. Certainly i was using lots of pixels! Most recently I have been playing with Schools out which incidentally is 50% off at pixelcanvas at the moment. Love the red white and blue colours, i am a bit of a primary colour nut! Here's what i came up with.

First of all here is a look at the kit:

and the matching alpha which is just way cute, is available on Heather's blog.
And here are my layouts:



Which reminds me that the last one, Train Ride hasn't been posted yet. I just forget stuff sometimes. I am getting old now you know.

I have just downloaded a beautiful new HeatherT kit called Delicacies which has the most gorgeous elements and lovely natural shades and oodles of texture. I am really looking forward to making something with it! It is in store already at pixelcanvas so don't forget to check it out.

Before I move on to my other CT projects I will take a short break to tell you how wonderful the Digital Artist Magazine is this August. Wow! For only $5 you get so many downloads that it more than pays for itself. And there is the most gorgeous kit from Lorie Davison aka Studie Lorie at scrapbookgraphics. If you have ever looked at her magnificent fantasy characters and wondered if you could create something magical, then grab DAM and download her free kit and see where all those frogs take you! I can't wait to have a play!

Now Sara of Sweet Blossom Designs has cut back a little and is now putting out her kits fortnightly. I personally think you have to be some sort of a dynamo to manage a new kit every fortnight, and how she was managing it weekly along with a job and a family!! Her new kit which has just hit the shop this week is in two parts, His days gone by and Her days gone by. It all mixes and matches and is just perfect for a heritage type layout. Lovely rich creams and pinks and blues, with aged postcards etc.







And this is the layout I made using a rather gorgeous picture of my mother which had been hand tinted. Style-wise it was a bit of a departure for me as I am usually quite linear, but I decided I wanted to try my hand at the feminine flowing look, and I am pretty happy with it.

And lastly just to had to my busy schedule I have another Ct position for Pure Creativity designs over at Digitalscrapcafe I have only done a couple of layouts for her so far but Chelcee has a lovely bright colourful style plus some gorgeous templates available in her store. Here is what I have made so far
The first one uses a kit called Going to the Beach



and the second layout is using a new colour series which Chelcee has just released. These papers are a great coordinated series in a variety of different colours. All very mix and match. To me they look like gorgeous quilting fabrics!


So.. a lovely long blog with lots of layouts. I am working on a new template for you at the moment and then i think I might have a stab at finishing off my outback kit. I got a bit hung up when I discovered that my extractions were woeful! I need to do so much more work on them. I sort of put it in a box and forgot about it for a while (figuratively speaking).
Everyone is pretty healthy and happy here, although poor Caitlin is not doing too well with her job hunting. It can be so demoralising. Still I have helped her revise her Resume tonight so hopefully that might help. I always think that it pays to make sure that they are using grown up language and have spell checked it. I am really hoping something will come up. She is a hard worker and only working one day a week she is just developing a life of leisure that really is not sustainable!
Will try to get back a bit sooner next time..