Capturing Moments, Preserving Memories

A Challenge & A Desktop Freebie...

2009-07-30T21:51:00.003+10:00

Okeeeee... it's challenge time again, over at Donna's blog... The fabulous Mel has created this gorgeous layered template for us to play with -

I love the layered look on LOs, but I'm hopeless at designing them, so this template was realy just perfect to help me on my way... so here's what I created with it using In This Moment, Cuteness & Digi Basics -

In addition to the fun challenge, I created a new desktop for August, since July is well and try on it's way out... Grab it free at Donna's blog -

We have our next Rockin' Girl CT Spotlight...

2009-07-22T20:25:00.003+10:00

And the spotlight is on the wonderful Lia! She's got a fabulous challenge happening asking us to try out clustering and using white space. She's also created a couple of gorgeous clusters which are being given away on the blog... you've got to go and check it out!

Here was my take on the challenge... I kinda scrap-lifted the LO that Lia used as her example.... it was really quite a task for me to do this LO because this is not my normal style... but I loved how it turned out -

Credits - Joyful Days, Symphony, e.s.c.a.pe all from Nina

Warm and Fuzzie...

2009-07-15T22:00:00.002+10:00

Donna has got latest inspiration challenge up on her blog at the moment... The idea is to scrap something that makes you feel and nice and warm inside... If you meet all the criteria, you could be in the running to win a $5 gift certificate to her store... isn't that a cool prize? Anyway... to help you get started with your page, Donna's created this sweet little freebie for you all...

and here's my take on the challenge -

Go and check it out... it was fun playing along with this challenge... :)

Fun New Kits...

2009-07-13T22:37:00.003+10:00

Well, there is some fabulous new stuff being released at the moment -

Firstly, Oscraps has released a new collab - hOmespun - and it's gorgeous with it's vintage tones, splashes of colour and quirky little elements... I had great fun playing with this kit -

And the LO I did tonight -

And then Nina has released this most elegant beach kit... I have found it really difficult to find a "classy" beach kit, but this one fits the bill to a tee - e.s.c.a.p.e

And my LO was created with this gorgeous kit... which also made the DST GSOs which I was pretty chuffed about -

'Tis the Season for Challenges...

2009-07-04T20:23:00.003+10:00

Well... it also just happens that there's also a challenge going on at Nina's Rocking Girls blog at the moment too... We're starting a series of CT spotlights to get to know who's on the Nina's Rocking Girls team and the first spotlight is on the wonderful Sabine... She's whipped up an *AMAZING* free template for us to use for the challenge and if you enter, you could be in the running for a free gift code to Nina's store!

And here's the LO I've created with Sabine's gorgeous template -

So hop over to the Rocking Girls blog to get to know Sabine and pickup a gorgeous template!

Challenge Time!

2009-07-03T22:14:00.003+10:00

Hop on over to Donna's brand spanking new blog to find a fabulous challenge that the wonderful Mel has organised. There's a free template to download and if you enter your LO into the challenge you're in for a chance to win a $5 gift certificate to Donna's store. So pop on over the check it out... and just to give you an idea of what a fabulous template Mel has created for us to play with, here's my take on it (using Donna's Happy Day, Cuteness & Blessed Be kits) -

July is coming...

2009-06-27T13:59:00.003+10:00

Already! Where is the time going?

Pop on over to Donna's blog to grab a free desktop I whipped up this month using mostly her "Fly High" kit -

Getting a bit of that special "something" for your photos...

2009-06-25T07:52:00.002+10:00

Ever wanted to process your photos to have subtle and understated tones? Well, Nina's just release some fabulous new actions to process your photos with...

And I've used the "simply soft & washed" action, "Unique.The Simple Line No. 10" template and "Symphony" for the paper & elements on this LO below... I love the photo... it's my sister-in-law and my daughter...

Tootie, toot...

2009-06-19T08:51:00.002+10:00

I got a GSO over at DST a couple of days ago for this LO... again using Nina's Symphony kit... have I mentioned how gorgeous this kit is and how easy it is to use? :) This photo was one of the first photos I ever scrapped 2 years ago, but I really felt like it needed to be redone... I'm much happier with this version...

A Splendid Symphony...

2009-06-15T13:58:00.003+10:00

Nina has just realised *the* most gorgeous kit! I've got a soft spot for musical themes being a musician myself (I play organ/piano, violin, sing & compose and arrange my own music too... well... that is to say, I did... I don't get much time for it these days, but music is really a part of my soul, so it's always humming away there in the back of my mind) So here's a Nina's new kit (image is clickable) which is deceiving understated in it's beauty and simplicity... so versatile, so easy to use -

And my LO -

Fly High

2009-06-14T20:46:00.002+10:00

New release over at Nuts4Digi this week... Digi Duos have just started up and Donna & Nicki have released these 2 fun, brightly coloured complimenting kits -

And a LO I've created using Donna's Fly High part -

Check it out... they're on sale at the moment for a bargain price!

Happy Moments...

2009-06-08T22:56:00.001+10:00

Check out this absolutely gorgeous kit Happy Moments from Nina ... it's an absolute joy to scrap with...

And I'm sharing my perfect happy moment here -

Yes, I know I've been MIA again...

2009-06-05T21:25:00.003+10:00

But I actually have a "proper" excuse... we only just came back from our wonderful 2 week family holiday in San Diego about a week and half ago... We spent a whole week recovering from jetlag (it was bad I tell you! The trip back was quite tiring!)... so there really has been not that much scrapping happening in my world for the last month.

I've only really just started catching up on stuff this week... So here's the rundown on what's going on in my bit of the scrapping world -

Firstly... a toot for me... I made GSO today! Woot woot! Second time I've made GSO in 2 months... I'm really quite honored as I'm mixed in there with some really amazing inspirational LOs from some other fabulous scrappers. So here's the LO -

Credits -
Modern Art - Oscrap Collaboration
clip.your.pic - NinaScraps

Next, can you believe it's June already? Well, I created a June Desktop using Donna's "Blessed Be" kit... hop on over to her blog to download it (click on the image to be diverted over to Donna's blog) -

Next off the rank, Nina's got some totally scrumptious new stuff out at the moment -
Blanchatre, clip.your.pic, touch of color 1 & touch of color 1... check out her store
here to see the details, but here are 2 LO's I've created using this fabulous stuff -

Oh and if you haven't seen it already, you should check out Nina's new blog which us Rockin' Girls are helping her out with... her old blog got hacked by some nasty people with nothing better to do with their time... (seriously... who hacks a blog?!)
Anyway, here's the link to the new blog... there's a great challenge using a gorgeous template freebie going on there... you might be able to scrape in for the challenge... otherwise, the template is gorgeous to actually use.

Lastly, it's with some regret that I'm announcing that I've resigned from the Nuts4Digi creative team this month... I've had a ball CTing with them for the last year... I've learnt a lot, been to my first ever cyber crops/chats with them, made some great friends... I just feel it's time for me to move on and take my scrapping in a different direction ... I'll always have a special spot in my heart for these wonderful, special ladies and the first place I called "home" in the digiworld.

Template Freebie - My First Freebie Ever!

2009-05-04T20:22:00.008+10:00

So I've been in a bit of a creative zone this weekend... I created 5 LOs in 2 days... I guess I got caught up and so inspired by iNSD... LOL...

Anyway, 2 of the LOs I created used Digi Illusions soft and pretty kit Soooo Sweet available at Nuts4Digi.

Anyway, I loved how that "Good Morning Sunshine" LO turned out so much, I thought I'd try my hand at creating a template from it.

So I've giving it away here for you all to play with -

Download HERE

Please leave me a note if you download it and if you create any LOs with it, I'd love to see! Oh and in case anyone is wondering, I don't have any plans to foray into the designing/template making market any time soon (or even in the distant future!) (There are just too many fantastic designers out there already!) ... I'm quite content to be CTing for my amazing designers and just scrapping for me... I just thought it'd be nice to share something that might inspire someone out there to create a LO... :)

A Sentiment For All The Mum's Out There...

2009-05-04T12:33:00.004+10:00

Donna's has had a hopping NSD, releasing a whole bunch of handy little element packs and stuff over the weekend. Using her Mother Wordart & Photo masks #2, I created this LO with a sentiment that I'm sure all you mum's out there can relate to... (and what could be more apt with Mother's Day just around the corner for all of us here in Australia...)

Credits –
Bg Paper - Lovable
Tattered & Torn Overlay - Royally Torn
WordArt - Mother WordArt
Photo Mask - Photo Masks 02
Star Stitches - Sunkissed
Giltter - Joyful Season
Font - Pea Johanna Script

All from Donna Duncombe Designs @ Nuts4Digi

NSD Sales!

2009-05-01T18:23:00.003+10:00

You've gotta go and check out these two great sales for two of my favourite designers that are happening for National Scrapbooking Day this weekend! Go... go... go... You won't want to miss them!

Wooooooooohooooooooooo, I made GSO!

2009-05-01T07:57:00.005+10:00

What a way to start the day... I woke up to find out my "The Passport Photo" LO (see previous post) made it onto Gallery Standouts . Not only that, but Lisa (dlhoffer with "This Face") & Stephanie(sf_gal with "i.adore.you") who are also on Nina's team also had their LO's featured. Well done girls, I'm so proud to be part of a truly amazing team!

Reviving the blog...

2009-04-28T21:43:00.005+10:00

Okay... so my bad... I've been neglecting this blog terribly... too much stuff going on... I'm very good at updating my personal blog, but this one kinda ends up suffering as a result... But I'm going to attempt to rectify this... as of now... :)
(Apologies if you've read some of this news on my personal blog already, when I blurred the lines between personal and scrapping 'cos I was too lazy to get this blog up and moving again...)

Firstly... some brand new sparkling news from me... I'm now on the CT for NinaScraps @ Oscraps! Woooohoooo! She had a call a couple of weeks ago and I only found out on Monday night... I'm so totally stoked to be joining an international team of amazing, inspirational scrappers and working with the unique and brilliant designs that Nina creates!

My first two LOs for Nina are using her latest kit Nick's World:

Secondly... I'll give myself another toot, because I was pretty chuffed with myself about this achievement... I won 2nd place in a challenge run over at Digital-Crea... there was something like 70 entries and some brilliant entries, so I was really surprised! I created the LO using what seems to be the latest trend in the digiworld of using realistic elements. I've not done a lot of scrapping in that style (maybe 3 LOs ever, including that one!), but I've always admired it... so I challenged myself and I am so glad I did. I won a 20 euro voucher to the store, and I bought up big... 7 kits I think... I can't wait to get scrapping. And honestly, I really think Digital-Crea have some of the best designers in the business when it comes to the realistic element type kits... I wish I knew some French so I could lurk around in their forum!

So this was the LO that got second place -

And just a couple of the kits I bought -

Lastly, but certainly by no means least... I'm gonna toot for my buddy Donna of Donna Duncombe Designs, who I love and still CT for (Sorry for being so slack and not posting my stuff on the blog so far this year Donna... I'll make it up to you!!!). She's selling at Nuts4Digi, but has also recently started selling at ScrapBird too... Her latest release is Blessed Be:

And here's a LO I've created with it:

This month, Donna was also my assigned designer for my N4D CT commitments, so I had a play around with her cute little Shine kit... I love the sparkle in this kit -

And here ends what is probably the most mammoth post from me ever! Thanks for dropping by and seeing what I've been up to... I'll be trying to keep this more up to date from now on so I don't get left behind!

I Fell Off The 'Project 365' Bandwagon...

2009-01-28T21:27:00.006+10:00

Project 365 is the latest thing to have taken the scrapping world by storm. It's such a fantastic concept... taking a photo every day and putting together LOs with snippets of your everyday life.

So, I started, however despite good intentions I've already fallen off the 'Project 365' bandwagon ... (I think I got to something like Day 10 before I missed a day... pathetic huh?) So I'm trying to redeem myself with what I am dubbing 'Project Recap - Month By Month'... where I put together a collection of random photos to capture our month. It seems such a waste to not put these photos together into some kind of memory. I am seriously soooo envious of anyone who has started and is sticking with Project 365... ... Maybe I'll try again next year. Anyway, 'Project Recap' will just salvage what I can... and will probably, in all honesty, be a lot more achievable for me. I'm planning on doing at least 1, hopefully 2 or 3 double LOs to recap each month. Anybody else want to join me? Here's the first double LO I've done for this -

And what it looks like together -

Credits -
Sunkissed - Donna Duncombe Designs @ Nuts4Digi
Template - Moriginals 365 Template No 003 p1 - Moriginals
Font - Myriad Pro

Choo choo.... Choo choo.... It's a Blog Train!!!

2008-11-01T07:00:00.004+10:00

Here we are everybody... the day everybody in the digital scrapbooking world has been waiting for... it's Digital Scrapbooking Day! And to celebrate, we've setup a blog train with the fabulous designers and CT-ers at Nuts4Digi.

My contribution is 2 QPs made with the fabulous Spring Clean kit. You can get the Spring Clean kit completely for free by following the Nuts4Digi blog train -

Here are my 2 QPs -

Download Here

To get the next part of the train, you need to go and visit Graphics Illusions.

Hope you enjoy all the goodies you pick up doing the Nuts4Digi Blog Train!

Featured on the TADA girls blog!

2008-10-30T12:02:00.003+10:00

I am totally stoked at being featured on the Tracy Ann Digital Art girls blog with my "You Bring My Heart Joy" LO today... I have been a fan of Tracy Ann's for a looong time and she is really quite a wonderful designer in considering her customers... at the moment she has reduced her prices by 30% because the Australian dollar is so weak against the US dollar and she wants her customers to still be able to access her designs.

Check out the TADA girls blog to see my LO!

Btw - sorry for the lack of LOs lately... I've only done a couple of late... I've been rather distracted by the Evolve photography workshop I'm doing with Sheye Rosemeyer which is running for 6 weeks... one and a half weeks is down, only four and half weeks to go... I'm having a ball and learning so much... so scrapping has kind of been put on the back burner for for the moment while I soak in all this amazing photography knowledge, so that I can take brilliant photos (well, I can only hope!) and then scrap them! :)

Btw - be sure you drop by my blog on Saturday November 1st... it's Digital Scrapbooking Day and there might be something nice here on my blog for you all... :)

I'm Layout of the Week!

2008-10-14T20:34:00.003+10:00

Wowsers... I've been honoured with a "Layout of the Week" award over at Nuts4Digi for my "A Golden Moment" LO... This has totally made my day - I'm feeling very special.. :)

Check me out here.

Lots and lots of LOs to share...

2008-10-14T12:56:00.012+10:00

Well, I have a backlog of LOs to share... so I better start posting them

First of the rank - possibly one of my favourite layered LOs to date using Cuppycake's Fanciful kit.

Credits -
Fanciful - Cuppycake Digital Designs @ Scrap Orchard
Font – Poor Richard

Cuppycake also has a fantastic new kit out called Jenna's Garden and here's my LO using this bright and adorable kit.

Credits -
Jenna's Garden
Font - VTPortableRemington

At Nuts4Digi, I got to work with Fiona Renwick Designs this month - here's what I did with her Dianne kit.

Credits -
Dianne - Fiona Renwick Designs @ Nuts4Digi
Font – My Own Topher

Journalling Reads –
Basking in the afternoon glow you sat in the grass, deep in thought.
This was a golden moment.

Credits -
Dianne - Fiona Renwick Designs @ Nuts4Digi
Font - High Tower Text, Typical Writer, Teletype, Adobe Caslon Pro

And last but not least - here are a whole heap of LOs I did waaaaay back in August for Donna... I didn't want to post until N4D came back online... these LOs are all using Donna's fun Cuteness kit!

Journalling Reads -
We spent a silly afternoon playing and giggling on the bed.You thought trying to touch the big lens on Mummy’s camera was a hilarious game!

Credits -
Cuteness - Donna Duncombe Designs @ Nuts4Digi
Font - You All Everybody, Pea Walker

Credits -
Cuteness - Donna Duncombe Designs @ Nuts4Digi
Curled Border Template & Action Set - Marcie Reckinger & Traci Murphy
Font - Pea Lacy, Pea Sue's Print

Journalling Reads -
Kicking your feet and watching them is an amusing pasttime...

Credits -
Cuteness - Donna Duncombe Designs @ Nuts4Digi
Font – Pea Walker

Journalling Reads –
Look at that serious face of concentration…

Credits -
Cuteness - Donna Duncombe Designs @ Nuts4Digi
Font - 28 Days Later, Estrya's Handwriting

And this LO, is just one I did for me -

Credits -
Word Art - Sugarplum Paperie - Word Art Frames
Beauty Within - Tracy Ann Digital Art
Details 3 - Tracy Ann Digital Art
Stamp Frame with Overlay - Everyday Princess - Donna Duncombe Designs @ Nuts4Digi

First LO with an extraction...

2008-10-10T22:15:00.002+10:00

So I have seen some simply amazing LOs over at DST with extractions and I have been wanting to try and emulate some of these amazing designs myself... I've tried extractions a couple of times, but the results have always been really lame... I always have a lot of trouble extracting little B's hair, because it is so fine and sticks up everywhere! I think generally I'm too impatient for the whole extraction genre, because I like to scrap pretty quickly and finish a LO in a night or at most 2 nights... However, I decided to slow down for a moment and give it a proper go. Armed with the magic wand and some pain-staking handiwork using an eraser, I finally did an extraction that I was happy with came up with this LO. Although it's quite simple, it went through quite a lot of iterations to get to this point and I think this is possibly the longest I've ever spent on a LO. It's so completely different to any LO I've done and I finally got to use some of Jofia's stuff (I oogle her stuff a lot and I bought 3 things from her, but never know what to do with it because it's so different to my regular style). I am totally chuffed about this LO... I love how it turned out...

Journalling Reads -
One summer morning, you found yourself the perfect
spot to enjoy some breakfast. You sat there so intently, licking the butter off your toast and enjoying yourself so very much.

And all I could think whilst you sat there was how you looked like a perfect angel as you sat there, bathed in that golden glow of morning light...

Credits -
Background Paper, Light Burst - Beautiful Day - Jofia Designs
Clouds - Diamond Rain - Jofia Designs
Wings - Once Upon A Time - Caroline B. @ Nuts4Digi
Sparkle - Breath of Fresh Air - Weeds & Wildflowers
Font - Freebooter Script, Snowshoe

More layouts...

2008-10-04T22:09:00.003+10:00

Here's one of my latest LOs using one of my all time favourite photos of little B and Donna's uber cute Everyday Princess kit...

Credits –
Everyday Princess - Donna Duncombe Designs @ Nuts4Digi
Font - Pea Mandy, Pea Sara

And here's 2 LOs I've created using Digi Illusion's gorgeous Butterflies are Free kit -

Credits=
Butterflies Are Free - Digi Illusions @ Nuts4Digi
Font - Pea Mystie Caps, Pea Olson

Credits=
Butterflies Are Free - Digi Illusions @ Nuts4Digi
Font - Pea Mandy, Pea Nancy

My goodness...

2008-09-29T21:27:00.007+10:00

Has it already been almost a month since I last posted here? Wowsers! All I can say is it has been *really* hectic around here for the last few weeks... and it's almost about to return to a normal pace... hopefully in the next week or so!

I've been trying to catchup on things in digi-land when I've been taking breaks from unpacking... I'm not there yet, but I'm on the way... So much has happened in the span of a few short weeks...

First up, Donna has opened up her new store over at The Hybrid Shoppe. She's doing great things with her latest digi kits and is now also creating hybrid stuff, such as this ultra cute ATC album -

She also revamped her Adore kit and the first LO I've done in about a month is using this kit -

Journalling Reads -
You just love playing with stickers... and you thought putting them all over my face was the best fun you’d had in ages... And as silly as it was, I just loved having you “decorate” me!

Credits -
Adore - Donna Duncombe Designs available at The Hybrid Shoppe & Nuts4Digi
Font - Pea Lacy

Secondly (but not by any means any less exciting) Rachel of Cuppycake Digital Designs announced while I was away that she is now and exclusive designer for Scrap Orchard! Woo hoo! Congratulations Rach! This is such exciting, knock-your-socks-off great news! She's released a whole bunch of stuff at her new store, one of which is her new sparkling, gorgeous Fanciful kit -

And here's what I've whipped up tonight with it -

Journalling Reads -
My poor sick girl... you were so tired you fell asleep at 6pm while I was holding you.... I didn’t have the heart to wake you... you had been so sick and miserable all day, so I just let you have a little nap on the floor of the lounge room... You are beautiful .... even when you’re sick...

Credits -
Fanciful - Cuppycake Digital Designs @ Scrap Orchard
Font - Pea Mandy

Thirdly, Nuts4Digiis back up! After a month of problems due to a server migration gone a bit awry... Nuts4Digi is back in business... so pop over and check out the great Back to Business Competition going on!

Now hasn't that been one mega huge post from me! Off to lala land for me... but I'll be back soon to share more stuff!

Busy busy...

2008-09-05T22:23:00.003+10:00

Well, this here could be my only layout for September! Heading into the home stretch of packing before we move house in exactly a week and then will be without internet for a couple of weeks and visiting family back home... and by the time I get back it'll be the end of September... so I highly doubt I'm going to get anything done scrap-wise after tonight!

Credits -
Background Paper - Mountain Rain - Trish Jones Designs
Photo Overlay - Worn Photo Overlay 2 - Something Blue Studios
Circles - Cherry Fudge - Trish Jones Designs
Date Circle - Date Stamps - Trish Jones Designs
Textures - Texture Strips - Trish Jones Designs

This LO is totally different to my usual style... a lot grungier than I'm used to, but I kinda like how it turned out.

Btw... I hear there's a going to be a new store opening up soon... you better keep your eyes and ears open for the grand opening... I would say keep an eye on my blog for details, but since I'm about to go missing for a bit, maybe you should just go pop on over to mousey's blog and keep an eye on her blog for the latest breaking news on the subject... :)

No longer procrastinating...

2008-08-29T21:37:00.004+10:00

However, sometimes in the midst of the madness of packing and cleaning, you just need a little timeout... and this is what I did in one of my timeouts ... ;)

Journalling Reads -
You may have been scared of swings for the longest time, but you have no fear when it comes to walking along wobbly, suspension bridges... You confidently walk back and forth along these bridges (with a little help from Ong Noi) and really enjoy it.

Credits -
Nocturnal - Cuppycake Digital Designs
Alpha - A Little Bit Country - The Seedlings @ Scrap Orchard
Font - Pea Walker

I only have a couple more weeks, before we move house... I can't wait for that bit to be over... I may go AWOL a fair bit this month because of all the packing and also on waiting for my internet access at the new house to be connected (we're going "naked" and they have said it will be 2-4 weeks... I'm hoping it will be more on the 2 week side of things! I don't do well without internet!) I will definitely be trying to take lots of photos though this month, because it's my birthday next Tuesday and I get to finally use my brand new red jill-e camera bag.

Isn't it beaauuuuutiful?! It arrived at the beginning of August and I have been oogling it for the last month (I haven't been allowed to use it... LOL)... so can't wait to load it up and take it out and have a good photoshoot...

Yeah, yeah... I'm still procrastinating...

2008-08-24T20:22:00.005+10:00

Go tell me to do some packing... :p

But I bought this kit from Cat Scrap last week and have had it beckoning me to do something with it... so how could I resist?

Journalling Reads -
This is how we play hide-n-seek.
You always hide in the same
place behind the curtain and
you always leave your
little feet peeking out
from behind it to give
me a clue where you are!
You laugh and giggle so much
when I find you - it’s the
best game in the world!

Credits -
Birds In A Tree - Madame Mim
Font - Hey Gorgeous, Pea Kathy

I'm procrastinating...

2008-08-21T20:24:00.002+10:00

I am moving house in 3 weeks and I should be packing and doing stuff for the move... but little B has come down with a cold and I've been tired from being up during the night with her... so instead of doing something productive, I did this...

Credits -
Tree, Flowers - Astrid - Catscrap Collaboration
Background Paper - Promise Collection - Shabby Princess
Font - Respess Capitals

Another LO

2008-08-16T20:40:00.003+10:00

I'm making up for lost time... so here's another one from me...

(Ong Ba Noi means "grandparents" in Vietnamese)

Journalling Reads -
Where has all the food gone?
Oh yeah, that's right, I ate it!

Credits –
Shabby Spice – Ellie Lash Designs & Cuppycake Digital Designs @ Scrap Orchard
Font - Minya Nouvelle, Pea Walker

Brand New Collab!

2008-08-16T08:18:00.009+10:00

Rachel of Cuppycake Digital Designs and Ellie Lash have just released their brand new collaboration Shabby Spice over at Scrap Orchard. Gorgeous colours and a fabulous mix of elements, this kit is a lot of fun to play with! They have a deal going on at the moment where you can get 2 "Perfect Pairs" kits for 40% off! And the coordinating brag book is 20% off this week!

And here's what I've created with it -

Withdrawals...

2008-08-06T21:21:00.003+10:00

Well Nuts4Digi is still out of action at the moment due to the server migration... taking longer than expected, but these big migrations always seems to have hiccups.... so it's been a week and I'm suffering withdrawals! Lucky I still have the EB Scrap forum to hang out in...

Anyway, I'm churning out the LOs at the moment... but I'll be having a break over the weekend when my SIL and her partner drop by for a 5 day visit on the way back from their holiday in Hong Kong. I am so looking forward to seeing them and hanging out and showing them around Brisbane... I really miss having my SIL around.

So to show my latest LOs -

This first one is done with the latest Seedlings collaboration, if you're quick you can still get it on sale for 20% off...

Journalling Reads -
Even before you could walk, you were very good at pulling yourself up onto the furniture and climbing the couch.. As you can see, here I’ve caught you in the act of scaling the back of the couch like it’s some kind of rock-climbing wall and playing with the curtains behind it. You pretended that you were all innocent when I busted you doing this... You are such a monkey...

Credits -
A Little Bit Country - The Seedlings @ Scrap Orchard
Font - Pea Amy

And this second LO is done with one of Cuppycake Digital Designs kits - it's a full kit packed with elements, alphas and papers, but all for the bargain price of a mini kit of $2.50! This is such a serene kit... it's just beautiful.

Journalling/Title reads -
Once upon a time there was a sweet little fairy and she made all my wishes come true...

Credits –
Fairy Fresh – Cuppycake Digital Designs
Font - urania_cz

In the scrappin' groove... and another announcement... :)

2008-08-02T21:27:00.004+10:00

I feel like I've really struck a scrapping groove of late... Last month was very productive for me (I think I did something like 16 LOs which is almost as many as I have done in total over the previous 5 months!) It's really helped my creativity being part of the Nuts4Digi CT and being Donna's solo CT, and I've really enjoyed the CT side of things. Anyway, I was surprised when Rachel of Cuppycake Digital Designs (who is another one my EB digi-scrapping buddies) asked me to informally CT for her... So I'm delighted to announce that I'm now also creating for Cuppycake Digital Designs... Rachel is a new and upcoming-designer and is part of the Seedlings collaborative over at Scrap Orchard and she's doing great things!

So I here's a LO I've done with one the Seedlings kits, totally love, love, love this kit... so perfectly pink and girly and ideal for scrapping photos of my little one...

Journalling Reads -
You are the reason why life is full of a little more happiness, a little more laughter and a lot more love...

Credits -
Sweet Child O' Mine - The Seedlings @ Scrap Orchard

I'm still here!

2008-07-29T21:32:00.006+10:00

It's been a week since I last blogged here, so thought I better show something... I haven't been working on a lot of LOs at the moment... been working on a secret squirrel project (which will be revealed in due time)...

Anyway, here's my latest LO, that took me 4 days to do... I just couldn't seem to figure out what I wanted to do with it, but I'm really happy with it now. It's one of my favourite photos of Beth... really just captures childhood happiness...

Credits -
Summeroo, A Walk In The Park - Amy Sumrall Designs
Overlay - Nature Kit - Designs by Marguerite
Frame - Burgundy - Helene
Font - Pea Protani

Wow - Can it get any better???!!!

2008-07-22T08:24:00.005+10:00

Seriously... ever since I received that Summeroo RAK from Amy Sumrall, my "Walk in the Park" LO has taken me to new places! This morning, I logged in to find out that I am Layout of the Week at GottaPixel! Now that is just waaaaay cool! I'm totally stoked and just can't believe it! I'm on the home page of GottaPixel! Can you tell I'm excited? :) :) :)

Blog Award!

2008-07-20T20:18:00.002+10:00

Well, this weekend really has been a weekend of firsts! The lovely Charlie over at Charlie's Digiscraps has given me a blog award. Charlie is one of the digi-girls over on the EB Scrap Chat forum... she is always keeping our thread moving and giving such wonderful feedback on the LOs that are posted... She's also pretty new to the whole blogging thing, so please head on over and check out her blog and send her some love!

This award has rules:

1. Please put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. You must nominate 7 fellow bloggers for this award.
4. Add links to the recipients.
5. Leave a comment so the recipients know they have received an award.

Pretty tough picking only 7 blogs, but here are the blogs that I am going to give this award to -

1. Sheye Rosemeyer - This has to be my all time favourite blog. An inspirational woman, who has experienced such heartache in her life with the loss of her beautiful daughter Ava... Sheye has moved me so much with her story... Every parent should read her story - I look at and appreciate life in a completely different light since discovering her blog last year. And as if she was not blessed enough with the gift of being able to write so amazingly, Sheye is also a *brilliant* child photographer... her photos capture such innocent moments and evoke such wonderful emotions... she's one of my idols of photography.

2. Donna Duncombe Designs - One of my first online digi-scrapping buddies, she's recently made a foray into designing and is designing some fantastic kits. She's a lovely person and can be a bit offbeat with her humour which I love. Love her to bits for her encouragement with my digiscrapping work!

3. Bao Comment - My SIL's blog... being away from Adelaide, I just enjoy catching up with what's going on in our hometown and in her life. She's just like a real sister to me... love her heaps. If you're into handbags, you have to check her blog out for some photos of some great bags!

4. Phoon's Flight - My SIL's partner's blog (could it get anymore complicated?!... :p) He's an all-round great guy and blogs about the charity work he does... He dresses up as a Star Wars sandtrooper (similar to the stormtrooper) and goes to functions to help and entertain disadvantaged and disabled kids... He also does fundraising... and walks for miles in his costume (which is not all that comfortable and can get pretty hot, but he's dedicated to the cause!) It's great reading about what he does and he has such a passion for it.

5. One Crafty Mumma - I love visiting this blog just for crafty inspiration... she does terrific creative stuff with her kids and she's a traditional paper scrapper... At the moment I'm just loving the felt food she's been making.. it's too cute! I wanna make some!

6. According to Our Family - Maria is an old friend of mine who only recently has made the foray into the blogging world. She tells such adorable anecdotes about her 2 little boys.

7. Bakerella - I have only recently discovered this blog, but man... everything looks *DIVINE* on this blog... just wonderful eye-candy and sooo droolworthy! I enjoy baking and I have a soft spot for cupcakes... so I hope one day to be able to make and decorate amazing cupcakes (Currently, I make average cupcakes and can't decorate to save myself!)... When I don't have a 20 month old who wants to eat all the cake batter, I'll think about actioning this plan...

Toot Toot for me... :)

2008-07-20T08:56:00.005+10:00

Just a little toot here for me - my "Walk at the Park" LO (see previous post)made it onto the "Best of..." list at the Best of Digital Scrapbooking blog. First time anything like that has ever happened to me... but I guess I've had a lot of firsts lately, (first CT, first RAK...)... I'm really quite smiley today... :)

I've been RAK-ed!

2008-07-18T22:23:00.009+10:00

I've been RAK-ed for the first time ever by the lovely Amy Sumrall! I got access to her new kit Summeroo before it was released at her new shop at Sunshine Studios. I have to say I was mightily chuffed to be RAK-ed by her, because I have actually been a fan of hers since the "So You Think You Can Design" competition at Scrap Orchard and only yesterday I was at her blog getting her part of the Mango Tango Mega Kit that is up for grabs at Sunshine Studios.

Anyway, I absolutely *adore* this kit... the colours are so pretty and I love the little doodly elements (I've always had a soft spot for hand doodled elements!) and I just couldn't wait to scrap with it because I had the perfect photos to go with that beautiful coral coloured paper. (It was a total fluke that both little B and I happened to be wearing matching coral coloured clothes the day these photos were taken!) So here's what I did tonight...

Journalling Reads -
We went to the park one Saturday morning so that you could play at the playground and stretch your little legs. You had only been walking for about a month and were still a bit wobbly on your feet, so I still liked to hold your hand to help you keep your balance. But you were “little miss independent” that day and were quite adamant in not wanting to hold my hand. How it makes me smile on the inside seeing you assert your independence and watching you develop this little personality which is full of confidence in yourself. Never lose that faith in yourself and your abilities.
Love always,
Mummy xxx
1st March 2008

Thought Bubble Reads -
"No Mum, I will not hold your hand!"

Credits -
Kit - Summeroo - Amy Sumrall @ Sunshine Studios
Font - Christy, Pea Shelley Thin

Anyway - just wanted to shout a big *THANK YOU* to Amy for the lovely RAK... You really are wonderful!

I am soooo excited!

2008-07-16T20:03:00.003+10:00

Not exactly scrapbook related, but I just had to share. I have just signed up for an online workshop being held by Sheye Rosemeyer... For those not familiar, you can check out her blog here - http://sheyerosemeyer.blogspot.com. I have followed Sheye's blog for more than 6 months and she has inspired me through her beautiful photographs and her expressive words... I am sooo excited to have the opportunity to do this workshop... this is probably the closest I'm ever going to come to being able to do a photography course IRL as such and to be able to learn in a self-paced environment from someone that I consider to be one of my idols of child photography, just has me bursting with excitement. I know the workshops are a bit of $$$, but honestly I feel it will be money well spent... and also my DH has said it can be part of my 30th birthday present (in addition to my new fancy small red leather jill-e camera bag that is coming end of july )... (And my bday isn't 'til September!) Now, I just can't wait for October to get here! Bring it on!

Winter Down Under...

2008-07-15T21:39:00.001+10:00

Well, it's winter down here in the southern hemisphere and Donna has just released the most beautiful winter kit called Winter Delights, which is not only perfect for winter themed photos, but is so incredibly versatile and can be used in many different ways. This kit is just adorable... I just love how there is lots of pink (which just perfect for my little girl!)... I don't often think of pink when I think of winter, so I think this is a great deviation from the normal "winter-y" coloured themes of blue, white and silver!

Here are a couple of LOs I've done with the kit -

Credits -
Winter Delights - Donna Duncombe Designs @ Nuts4Digi
Font - Willing Race

Journalling Reads -
We spent a lovely Sunday afternoon at New Farm Park when your Ong Ba Noi came to visit. You had so much fun - chasing balls, running around in the playground and hiding amongst the trees. You were full of energy and you wore us out as we tried to follow and keep up with you. We discovered just how old and unfit we were as we watched you bound around with your endless exuberance.

Credits -
Winter Delights - Donna Duncombe Designs @ Nuts4Digi
Font - Pea Kate, Depressionist Three

My regular blog readers may also have noticed that I have given my blog a bit of a facelift... :) I've spent a couple of hours over the last couple of days tweaking a blog template to make it look the way I wanted it to and I'm now happy with how it has all turned out ... I also love my new blog header... I think it reflects the "girly girl" in me more than my old one...

Buzzing buzzing buzzing...

2008-07-09T21:15:00.004+10:00

Well I've been a busy little bee the last few days... I've had sooo much fun creating these little quick pages using Donna's A Mother's Love. Here's a little preview -

These QPs are only available to Club Nut subscribers. It only costs $5.50 a month and not only do you get these QPs, but a heap of other goodies too. So run on over to Nuts4Digi and sign up!

Proudly Creating for Donna Duncombe Designs...

2008-07-07T12:20:00.011+10:00

In addition to being on the Nuts4Digi CT, I am proud to announce that I am also an exclusive (and when I say exclusive, I mean I am the only one... LOL!) CT member for Donna Duncombe Designs! I am very excited to be working with Donna... :)

I've been wanting to announce this for a week (you may have noticed I started sporting a new blinkie in my sidebar there... ), but thought I would wait until I had something to show off before I did. So here we are - 2 LOs I've done using A Mother's Love available at Nuts4Digi. This is such a pretty and sweet kit... It has such a great range of solid and patterned papers and I love the colours in it and there are so many cool elements in it too...

Journalling Reads -
It wasn’t all that long ago that you were only crawling and here you are a couple of months later toddling around the park. You amaze me each day with how much you are growing up. I look forward to seeing what new and wonderous things tomorrow brings.
Love always, Mummy xxx

Credits -
A Mother's Love - Donna Duncombe Designs
Font - Pea Amy

Journalling Reads -
Motherhood is a time when days blur from one day to next. Where one moment you are cradling a tiny little infant and the next they are running around in the park...

Motherhood is a journey of sleepless nights and worrying, with doses of happiness and giggles thrown in along the way...

Motherhood is an all encompassing emotion where your entire being is filled with a love so pure it is beyond words...

Motherhood has changed my life... my world... my heart...

Credits -
A Mother's Love - Donna Duncombe Designs
Font - Impervious

Scrapping for the joy of it...

2008-07-07T11:05:00.005+10:00

Not that it's not fun when I'm scrapping, but I've been doing a quite a few CT related things lately, so last night I grabbed 10 mins and scrapped for the pure joy of it...

Credits -
Sweet Nothings - Tracy Ann Digital Art
Font - Last Words

I love this Sweet Nothings kit (I've had my eye on it for a while and it was on sale over the weekend)... It's just so pretty and girly and soft and sweet...

Oh I love this coat!

2008-07-02T22:26:00.003+10:00

I'm on a roll today... I've been dying to scrap this photo... this coat is one my favourite items of clothing that I have bought for Beth... (half the fun of having a girl, is being able to dress them up and there are *sooo* many adorable outfits out there for kids these days)...

Journalling Reads –
The moment I saw this outfit, I fell in love with it. If there had been an adult-sized version, I would have bought it for myself. But then again, it probably wouldn’t have looked as cute on me as it does on you. I spent 2 days umm-ing and aah-ing about buying this... I didn’t know what size to get you so that it would fit you during the winter - I didn’t even know whether it got cold enough in Brisbane to warrant buying you a coat! And then, I didn’t know when you would even get the chance to wear it, as we didn’t have any special occasions to attend where you could show it off.

But in the end I bought it because it was too cute to resist... and even if we had nowhere fancy to go, I had visions in my head of taking you to the park and letting you frolic around and play in your adorable little outfit.

So one overcast winter’s day, with nothing much to do, we got dressed up and headed out to the park, to have some fun and look cute at the same time.

Credits -
Blossom - Kylie M Designs @ Nuts4Digi
Font - Pea Alisha, Incognitype

Hello July!

2008-07-02T12:55:00.003+10:00

Well, here we are at the beginning of another month... and this month I get to work with the fabulous Kylie M Designs at Nuts4Digi.

I've gotten off to a flying start... downloaded Kylie's Blossom kit this morning and have completed my first layout already a couple of hours later... hehe... I'm actually trying to be organised, because I sense July is going to be a bit of a busy month... my in-laws are visiting next week, so not sure how much scrapping I'll get done in the next week or so... :)

Credits -
Blossom - Kylie M Designs @ Nuts4Digi
Font - Jailbird Jenna, Kim Erwin Script

Last LO for the month... :)

2008-06-30T12:42:00.002+10:00

I was madly trying to squeeze in this one last LO for the month for the June Sketch Challenge at N4D... I really wanted that part of the kit that was up for grabs for completing the challenge... :) I also found a great tutorial and learnt a new technique in creating a "hand cut" look... so I'm happy that I challenged myself in learning something new too... :)

This LO is based on the sketch found here -

Credits -
Heart - Bouquet of Hearts - Kill-r-Designs @ Nuts4Digi
Papers - Paper Girl - Paislee Press
Wordstrips - Breath of Fresh Air - Weeds & Wildflowers
Bird - I Love Bird - Carolina Pessoa
Font - The Quest
Alpha - Accidentally in Love - Britt-ish Designs

First LO without a person it!

2008-06-17T22:01:00.003+10:00

All my LOs to date are always people focused. So today for the first time, I scrapped a non-person LO... This CT gig is really challenging me to step outside of what I normally scrap (which is a good thing!) ... I actually did this for the Photography Challenge @ Nuts4Digi at the moment... Mousey challenged us to take a photo and scrap a landscape photo. Ok, so technically, this is more a "skyscape" than a landscape, but as little B and I were walking to car from the park, the gorgeous afternoon light was just shining so beautifully on the leaves of this tree and making it glow that I couldn't help taking a photo. If I had got some land into the photo it would have also contained some unattractive cars and an ugly building LOL! Last LO from me using the Nature Kit from Designs by Marguerite... I really do love this kit though...

Credits -
Everything from Nature - Designs by Marguerite @ Nuts4Digi
Font - Pea Kareen

A Spicy Surprise...

2008-06-13T20:20:00.005+10:00

Nuts4Digi currently has this mega kit called "Spicy Surprise" out. It's full of lovely rich colours, lots of papers and elements and some fantastic templates. If you're in Australia and can get a copy of the latest Scrapbooking Memories (Vol 10 No 2), there is a little article in there about N4D and also a coupon to allow you to get this fabulous kit for *FREE*! It really is a fantastic deal...

Here's a preview -

And here's a LO I did with it (and also did for the Font Challenge at N4D this month) -

Credits -
Spicy Surprise Mega Kit available at Nuts4Digi
Font - Basic Font, FirstGrader

Back on the wagon...

2008-06-11T21:29:00.008+10:00

I've been missing in action on the scrapping front for a few days... my sister and her husband came to visit us and stayed with us for 4 days... so I sacrificed scrapping time to spend time with them... (which also involved playing Mario Kart on the Wii... and I have discovered I am soooo bad at that game... it is still lots of fun, even when you play badly!)

I've been trying to catch up on stuff at N4D and trying do a bit of scrapping for the last two days ...

I don't normally scrap photos of me, but I had to do this LO for the N4D Newsletter and the About the Creative Team Gallery.

Journalling Reads -
I AM - adoring wife to Phan, stay at home mummy to Elizabeth, living in Brisbane Australia, passionate, optimistic, easy-going, a self-confessed geek (and proud of it!)
I LIKE - afternoon naps, haighs chocolate, balmy evenings, surprises
I LOVE - spending time together as a family, the internet, photography, digi-scrapping, cooking, playing and composing music

Credits -
Everything from May Challenge Prize Kits @ Nuts4Digi (Donna Rousch, Willro @ Co Designs, jasjul)
Photo Overlay Frame - Nature Kit - Designs by Marguerite @ Nuts4Digi
Font - Pea Megan, Highland Perk, Footlight MT Light

I did this LO for the June Quote Challenge at N4D...

Journalling Reads -
Only as high as I reach can I grow
Only as far as I seek can I go
Only as deep as I look can I see
Only as much as I dream can I be.
~Karen Ravn

Credits -
Background Paper - Kit Colorido - Criando Kits
Flower Doodles - Tadoodles Funky - Tracy Ann Digital Art
Date Tags - State the Date 3 - Tracy Ann Digital Art
Staple - Promise Collection - Shabby Princess
Font - Pea Mimi

CT Official Announcement

2008-06-04T09:36:00.005+10:00

You can find the DigiShopTalk announcement here

We've all had a wonderful welcome from all the girls... Once again, it is sooo exciting being on this team!

Another LO...

2008-06-04T07:24:00.005+10:00

I am on a roll at the moment... maybe because I know I won't get much scrapping done this weekend when my sister comes down to visit! She arrives tomorrow! YAY!

Anyway - here's my latest LO - I have scrapped one of those silhouette photos before, but I was never really happy with it... I love this one much more!

Journalling Reads -
An evening on the beach in Noosa
28th April 2008

Credits -
Everything from Nature - Designs by Marguerite @ Nuts4Digi
Font - An Unfortunate Event, Footlight MT Light

First Ever CT Layout

2008-06-02T12:42:00.006+10:00

Well, here is my first Nuts4Digi CT layout... I used the Nature kit from Designs by Marguerite. It is such a versatile kit, with beautiful colours and a wonderful array of overlays and rubons.

Journalling Reads -
Childhood Curiosity
- a time when everything is fascinating... even the dead grass...

Credits -
Nature - Designs by Marguerite @ Nuts4Digi
Font - Pea Kelly

Chat n Scrap

2008-05-31T21:43:00.003+10:00

Last night I went to my first online chat at Nuts4Digi... it was fun getting to know some of the girls... a lot of random talk... lots of eating and drinking... and of course talk about scrapping. A challenge was set at the beginning of the night - we had a to complete a layout that contained journalling and stitching and post it up within 48 hours to be eligible for a freebie. So this is what I did - it's an old photo from last year, but it really captures the moment -

Credits -
Paper, Fabric, Flowers - Violet - Tracy Ann Digital Art
Blanket Stitch - Funny Stitches - Natali
Border Stitching - Foxy Lady - Miss Mint
Alpha - Sweet Sprinkles - Shabby Princess
Font - Pea HeidiQ

A hard layout to complete ...

2008-05-29T22:01:00.003+10:00

There is currently a May Quote Challenge at Nuts4Digi, challenging us to create a LO using a mother quote from the Nuts4Digi quote book. I decided instead of scrapping a photo of me and Beth again, I would scrap a photo of my mum and me... I looked through lots of old photos and found this one of us together. It has taken me days to do this layout... I just found it really difficult to complete... maybe because I wanted to do a brilliant job ... maybe because she is so close to my heart... maybe because looking at us together made me miss her... Probably a combination of all three ... So here, is a very special layout, close to my heart... I chose to use pressed flowers on the LO 'cos Mum loved pressed flowers... especially pansies... you will notice there are even a few pressed pansies on the page.

Credits -
Background - Festival - Shabby Princess;
Flowers - Grandma's Pressed Flowers - Weeds & Wildflowers
Vintage Frame Overlay - Vintage Florals - Shabby Princess
Folded photo mat - By Gone Gents Sampler - Kim B
Green papers - Simply Elegant - designs by krista
Font - Pristina

I am on the Nuts4Digi Creative Team!

2008-05-26T08:31:00.005+10:00

I can officially announce that I am on the Creative Team for Nuts4Digi!

I never really thought I'd be good enough to be on a CT, but with a little encouragement from my online digi-scrapping buddy ~mouse~ (Thanks for believing in me and giving me the confidence to apply, Donna!) I applied and found out yesterday that I have made the team! I am sooooo excited about this new gig I have now! :)

So stay tuned to see lots of great LOs using the fabulous products and kits at Nuts4Digi!

On A Roll...

2008-05-25T12:01:00.005+10:00

I've really got my mojo back... here's two more I've done this week... The first, I just did for fun - I really love the pink PP I used for the background. The second, I did for the "Sketch Challenge" @ Nuts4Digi.

Credits -
Large Frame Overlay - Pink October Free Kit from 2Peas - Sande Krieger
Background Paper - Pink October Free Kit from 2Peas - Rhonna Farrer
Circle Journal - Pink October Free Kit from 2Peas - Shannon Freeman
Ribbon - Pink October Free Kit from 2Peas - Tia Bennett
Butterfly - Field of Daisies - Kimberly Cameron
Alpha - Margarita - Vicki Stegall
Pink Flowers - Frippery Flowers - Tracy Ann Digital Art
Small Frame Overlays - Sample - Vickie H Fernandez
Font - CheltPressTrial, Stamp Act, Technical

Credits -
Papers and Overlays - Painting A Dream
Zig Zag Stitching - Laura's Pocket - Debbie Fisher
Overlay Doodles - Second Spring - Weeds & Wildflowers
Handdrawn Doodles - Super Stars - Weeds & Wildflowers
Flowers, Alpha - Breath of Fresh Air - Weeds & Wildflowers
Font - Mom's Typewriter, Pea Mimi

Sweet Child of Mine

2008-05-21T12:32:00.002+10:00

This is one of my favourite photos at the moment... I just think she looks so sweet in it...

Credits -
Torn Paper Edges - Bloom Where You Are Planted Add On - Scrappin' Hillbilly Sweetpea Designs
Background - Vanilla Mocha - Laura Alpuche
Cardboard curls, cardboard, twigs, leaves, flowers - Showing Love - Weeds & Wildflowers
Font - Windsong

Back in Time...

2008-05-19T20:57:00.004+10:00

Thought I would go back in time and scrap this photo of Little B and me last year... it's one my favourite photos of both of us together... As it often seems to be the case, mummies always seem to be behind the camera and not in front of it, so the photos of the two of us are far and few between...

Credits -
Mother's Love Add On Kit - Donna Duncombe Designs
Font - High Tower Text, Jarman

Time to start updating more regularly...

2008-05-18T18:30:00.001+10:00

I've been missing in action for a while ... been scrapping rather infrequently because I had lost my mojo for about 3 months while I was focusing on the photography side of things... but when National Scrapbooking Day came around on the 3rd of May, my mojo came back. :)

So here are my three latest LOs -

Credits -
Background - Touch of Provance - Natali
Flowers - Wild Flowers - Tracy Ann Digital Art
Frame - Perfect Day - Tracy Ann Digital Art
White Ribbon - Being Me - Weeds & Wildflowers
WordArt (by Me) - using fonts LaineyDaySH and Garamond

Credits -
Everything - Harvest Spice - Shabby Princess

Credits -
Background - Lazy Days - Weeds & Wildflowers
Dandelions, Sparkles - Breath of Fresh Air - Weeds & Wildflowers
Stacked Frames - Lemonaid Lucy
Font - Pea Kathy

A Beginner's Guide to Digital Scrapbooking

2008-01-20T20:36:00.000+10:00

Okay... So I've had my SIL, BIL and a few other people ask me about how to get started with digital scrapbooking, so I thought I would compile a bit of a guide on how to get started -

Programs you will need
Adobe Photoshop (or equivalent - Photoshop Elements is a cheap alternative) - This is the program you will use to create your digital scrapbooking pages.
FontExplorer - This is optional, but if you accumulate a boat load of fonts, it is a handy way to load a whole folder of fonts when you want to use them and then unload them when you're finished so that your system doesn't get clogged up with lots of fancy fonts - it can be a pain scrolling through 100s of fonts (and I'm not exaggerating - I have 100s of fonts... possibly thousands!) trying to find something...
Picasa - Google's answer to Flickr, it is a way to manage images and photos.... and for the purpose of digital scrapbooking, it is a fantastic way to manage your digital papers and elements... I use it to tag my elements so that I can find them when I do a keyword search. The topic of managing your digital elements is a whole topic on which I could write pages about alone... so I will save that for another blog entry.

Hardware
Have lots of harddrive space on hand... I have a dedicated external harddrive for my scrapping for convenience... Collecting freebies can be addictive... and the downloads can be big (varying from a few MB to 100MB+)... so you will need the space. Not only that, but you'll also the space to save you photoshop layout files (.psd files)... and they can also get big very quickly!

Resources
Shabby Princess - Every digiscrapper starts here - lots of free kits and they are excellent quality.
Ikea Goddess - she is a freebie hunter and puts up links to freebies on her blog daily... usually the links are to blogs, which have links to other blogs which have freebies... so it's pretty easy to trek around from blog to blog and find freebies... There's an interconnected world of digital scrapbooking blogs out there!
2 Peas In A Bucket - Gorgeous free kits here... a lot by Rhonna Farrer who is well known in both the paper and digi-scrapping communities... I love her stuff.
1001 Fonts - lots of free fonts to use on your layouts here
Page Maps - a resource which has page sketches if you need inspiration for your LOs.
DigiShopTalk - the forum I hang out in... I lurk... and I go through the gallery for inspiration... you will soon see
what I do is very amateurish compared to people on there...
My Reflections - A Western Australian Based company who I print my photobooks with. Great service... good pricing... can't go wrong.

I also hangout in the Scrapbooking Forum at Essential Baby. It's not really a digital scrapbooking forum as there is only one thread in there dedicated to digital scrapbooking, but I go there because I like to keep up with the paper scrapping trends and also because the girls in there are so nice... they are my social network outside of Adelaide!

Now... if you're just starting out, I would say the freebies are the best way to get started... it's cheap (you can't get any cheaper than free!) and there is so much good quality stuff available. If you want to buy stuff, there are a gazillion and one sites out there you can buy from... but be warned - it can be addictive and even though it may seem like $5 here... $5 there... (all in $US)... it all very, very quickly adds up! So, I would say stay away from buying stuff for as long as you can... (yes - I am directing this at you Bao! :)) Well... at least for 6 months... because by then you will know what your "style" kind of is and what kind of things you need to buy to add to your collection... and you won't regret your purchases. My style has changed a lot over 9 months... and I only started buying after 6 months... and even now, I am very particular about what I buy... I make wish lists and wait for 15%-25% off sales (which actually happen quite frequently)... so I buy what I really want...

One place I don't wait for sales if I see something I like -

Songbird Avenue

I keep an eye on this site, because they have 1 kit available per month and all proceeds go to a charity. So I don't mind paying for their kits... I have only ever bought one kit from there, but I admire the whole concept behind it.

Basic Jargon you will need to know -
LO - layout (the page you create)
Embellishment - A term used to describe stuff like ribbons/flowers/buttons etc
PP - patterned paper (used as background or as smaller pieces on a LO)

There is no right/wrong way to scrap... and I do it because I love it - it is a creative outlet and I have the most beautiful subject in the world to scrapbooking about :) ... I am beginning to veer off and get more into the photography side of things because i think beautiful photography is a great basis to create beautiful LOs... the compliment each other hand in hand.

The best advice I can give is to learn your tool of trade... be it PaintShopPro, Photoshop, Photoshop Elements.. whatever... take the time to learn how to use it.
They are complex programs... so be patient... you won't learn everything all at once but hang in there and you'll get there. There are lots of online tutorials around... I just searched around and found things... I will write a separate post sometimes about some of the helpful tutorials I have found.

You will find that most people scrap 12x12 inch... I scrapped A4 for the book because I couldn't afford to get 12x12s books made up for everybody for Christmas and
the A4 was a more affordable alternative. You will also find a few people that scraps A4 portrait as opposed to A4 landscape...

Lots of digi-scrappers that scrap 12x12, reduce the image size and print 8x8... And often people will wait for $1.50 per print at photo places and print 8x10 or 8x12 and trim off the white space... (Still pricey compared to photobooks) Unfortunately My Reflections don't do 8x8 books yet... but I have asked them about it... so maybe they might have that option soon...

Have you found this overwhelming? I wish somebody had put all this information all in one spot for me when I started, it took me months to work out where to get free stuff and how to find things... So hopefully this will help you get started a lot faster than it took me! Enjoy ... and have fun!

Buying stuff for my stash...

2007-07-22T11:19:00.000+10:00

I've been on a bit of a spending spree the last couple of weeks... there have been lots of sales happening around the place...

I am loving the stuff from Weeds & Wildflowers at the moment... Just bought a whole heap of things from them - Flower Frenzy, Super Star, Summer Brights pack, Bunches of Buttons, Being Me Elements... geez.. I've almost bought the whole store! You can find their stuff at http://www.weedsandwildflowersdesign.com/shoppe/... it's just the best! I've also bought one of their Celebrating Colour collections and the Doodling Days alpha from ScrapArtist.

I also just got the Papermelon Kit by Nancy Kubo at Oscraps... it's gorgeous... can't wait to create a layout using it!

The reason for the blog...

2007-07-04T18:03:00.000+10:00

Hi... and welcome to my blog dedicated to digital scrapping...

I've decided to create this blog to show some of my digi LOs... and record my scrapping journey... I can't show my LOs on my regular blog (which can be found here http://groovyjellybean.spaces.live.com/) because I'm compiling all these LOs to put into a book to give out to family for Christmas... and it's a surprise...

So I'm being a mega geek and keeping two blogs... :) ... my regular blog is dedicated to my life as a mother and this one is dedicated to preserving those memories of my life as a mother... :)

I hope you enjoy sharing my digi-scrapping journey...