Happy Haunting Day!!!

Yippee! Halloween is finally here! As you probably already know, I LOVE Halloween!

To celebrate, I have decorated the front room of our house. Mostly, the decorations are pre-bought, but I did spend an hour or so last night creating a garland using Making Memories' Spellbound Garland Kit. Here's a pic;

I plan to pull this apart once Halloween is over, and use all the bits and pieces on a layout (or two) documenting Halloween 2008. Now that's value for money, hey?!!!

I have bought my two-year-old a Captain Feathersword costume to wear Trick-or-Treating tonight! She is only allowed to knock at our own front door for lollies etc. Mum and Dad used to do the same with my siblings and I when we were younger and we always had so much fun! I think it's a safer alternative to wandering around the neighbourhood (especially as DD is only two) but ensures that no-one misses out on the fun of the festivites! After that, we are heading out to dinner with some ladies from my work to celebrate the bosses sister's birthday. What a great day to be born!!! DD and I are going in costume... should be a laugh!!!

Have a great Halloween!!!

Hello! Beautiful

Isn't Webster's newest collection, Hello! Beautiful, just to die for? I am soooo in love with the vintage patterns and earthy tones of this range! Check it out;


















I hope to get my paws on some of this real soon! What about you?

Some winners... and some other stuff too

Thank you to everyone who left a comment at the previous post! The following ladies have scored themselves a single, complete flower from Maya Road's Fresh Chipboard Flowers Petals set;

1. blueviolet (Elizabeth)
2. anna
3. denise
4. kerryn
5. byclops (Sarah)
6. jewls
7. kirsty
8. melanie

If you have not already been contacted by me, please email me (chloeschmitt86 at hotmail dot com) with your postal address so that I can send out your goodies asap!

Now, for the winner of the bundle of handmade cards created by yours truly...

Here are your random numbers:
3
Timestamp: 2008-10-27 04:06:16 UTC

The third person tp leave a comment was Denise. Congratulations Denise! You will receive four handmade cards along with your chipboard flower!

With that out of the way, I have my most recent entry for SYTYCS to share. This week, we had to create a layout according to the following criteria;

- A colour blocked layout design
- No odd angles- Colour photos only
- Journalling strips
- At least 6 different colours (only one colour from your photo can count toward the tally of 6)
- At least 2 different size photos
- A circular element

Here's my creation;

I am really happy with how this has turned out! It was actually a lot harder than the criteria reads, especially because this isn't really my style, as such. When I first started scrapping I tended toward the straight and simple look, but now I like to scrap a lot more messily and with as many odd angles as possible! LOL!

It's so interesting to see your style change over time... and this competition has certainly changed mine a great deal over the past 8 weeks. I love everything that I have learnt about myself and my scrapbooking through SYTYCS - I am more aware of my own style, I know what techniques and trends I don't like to use on my pages, I can scrap faster and commit to my design more quickly, I have tried lots of new things and most of all I have become more confident in my work. If you ever get the opportunity to participate in something like this, I would thoroughly recommend it... your scrapping will benefit plus you'll make friends and have heaps of fun along the way!!!

That's it for today. Enjoy your week!!!

Time for a Giveaway... or Two!

I am absolutely stoked to announce that I have again made it through to the next round of SYTYCS! Round 8, here I come!!!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has taken the time to vote for me, because without you I would not have made it this far! As a small token of my appreciation, I would like to reward my loyal blog readers with a giveaway! The first 8 ladies who leave a comment at this post will receive a single, complete flower from the Maya Road Fresh Chipboard Flowers Petals set I have recently bought, just like that shown below;










In addition, one lucky lady will be drawn from all those who have commented (including those who comment after the first eight) to receive a small bundle of handmade cards made by me!

Thanks again... and get commenting!!! You only have until 10pm AEST this Sunday 26th October to enter.

Christmas is Just Around the Corner!!!

I have kicked off my countdown to Christmas 2008 with my entry for Round 7 of SYTYCS. This week I scrapped three photos taken from a shoot I did last week of my daughter wearing a really woolly Santa hat. Originally, these photos were taken for a mini book I am making to be taught at Just Scrapbooking in December, but I was so happy with how they turned out (both DD's cute factor and my experimanting with Photoshop) I just had to scrap them... and NOW!

I have only ever scrappped one other Christmas LO, and that was done in a class at my LSS last year some time. Funnily enough, I didn't use any of my huge Christmas-themed stash to create my layout... I used Scenic Route's Sonoma instead. Just love the colours in that range! Yummo!

Anyway, back to SYTYCS... this week's genre was Haberdashery. the criteria were as follows;

- 75% of the elements adhered by stitching (No double sided tape. All your photos count as one element, your whole title as one element)
- at least 2 different stitch types (zig zag, straight, blanket, machine, handstitch, french knots, etc)
- at least 2 pieces of fabric
- a handmade embellishment (a heart cut from felt would suffice)
- at least 3 (or more) photos
- ribbon

Strangely enough, I had a little trouble with these criteria at first, especially the fabric. Couldn't decide which of my photos actually suited a fabric-based LO, and then I couldn't decide which fabric to buy! In the end I stuck with natural fibres so I had more freedom to use a variety of patterned paper, etc.

But enough waffle... here's my take on the challenge;


















All criteria have been fulfilled;

- Everything except for my title and subtitle are stitched to the page,
- 3 different stitch types = zig zag, straight, and cross-stitch,
- Hessian and calico,
- My handmade embellishment is the holly at bottom left of 6x4 photo, which I made by hand-cutting leaf shapes from pp then sewing together with a circle of hessian and a large red button,
- 1 6x4 and 2 passport photos,
- Stitched twill running beneath the middle photo.

If you would like to vote for my layout head to Scraptacular, make 30 posts (playing the games are the easiest way to do this!), then pm SYTYCS Votes with your choices... but hurry as voting lines are only open for 24 hours this week (i.e. now until 10pm EST Tuesday).

That's it for me... have a great week!

SYTYCS Round 6 Entry

This weeks challenge for SYTYCS at Scraptacular was pretty tough going. For the most part, the criteria were pretty easy... at least 100 handwritten or 200 computer generated words, at least a couple of words of handwritten journalling, one 6x4 photo (or smaller), and only one patterned paper. The hard part came with the final of the five criteria; to journal about a sad time in our lives.

I chose to document my battle with Post-Natal Depression. Very few people know of my condition. I have kept it private out of pride, fear, and the risk of humiliation. So to have my words out there for the whole of cyberspace to see is not a decision I made lightly. In the end I figured that PND is part of who I am, I am not alone, and my words could help another person in some way, however small.

Given that this week we were asked to focus on story-telling, I felt it best to create a fairly minimalist design in neutral tones so as to keep the focus on my photo and my handwritten journalling. Here's my creation;

I have used pp, chiboard, and stickers from one of BG's newest lines, Granola. I have also used Carolee's Creations alpha stickers as part of my title.

My journalling reads;

In 2006, after giving birth to my first daughter, I developed Post-Natal Depression. For someone who didn’t even believe in PND, my diagnosis was a harsh reality check.

I was not officially diagnosed with PND until my daughter was about 3 months old. Before then, the days passed in a blur of tears, tantrums, and a sense of overwhelming sadness. I felt as though I was existing at the bottom of a big, black hole in the ground; a hole so deep that it was impossible to escape; a hole was getting deeper by the day.

Eventually, in spite of my pride, I mustered the strength to confront my GP. It was then that I finally received the help I so desperately needed.

Two years on, my life is far from healed. I still suffer from depression - it’s a battle I fight every day. The difference now is that I am lucky enough to experience the odd good day when I feel happy, calm, and positive.

So, although the battle continues, I am positive that I will one day overcome my condition, and reclaim the life that is rightfully mine!

9/10/08

Much to my relief, there will be no voting this week. The lovely ladies running the competition have decided that it is unfair to have people eliminated given the heartfelt and emotional context of this week's challenge. Of course that means a few more ladies will have to be eliminated in fututre Rounds, but that's fine by me! I couldn't have handled the responsibility of voting this week!!!

Well, that's it for me... thanks for sharing my story.

Time to Share my WCMD Cards

I have just come inside from photographing my cards - I cannot wait to share so here goes!!!

My first card of the day was this simple Halloween card;


















I will entering this card into the October challenge at Inkurable Stampers. This month Sarah has asked that we create a 'Spooky-themed' card using at least one stamp. The word 'happy', which forms part of this card's greeting, was stamped using a stamp taken from Stampin' Up's set, , then coated with a thin layer of glue, and dusted with flocking powder. I have also used patterned papers and brads from Making Memories' current Halloween line, Spellbound. I just LOVE this card!

Next up, here is four Christmas cards, 3 of which were made using past CPS sketches;

These are my favourites;

Over at Scrap Pile there was held a WCMD cybercrop. As part of the DT, my dear ol' Ma set a blind card-making challenge, and I couldn't wait to play along! Here is what I came up with;


















Once I had photographed it for Scrap Pile, I decided to take it apart and add some stitching. Here's the final design;

Upon completion, this poor little card was whisked away by my partner who was heading off to his best mate's engagement party! At least I'm useful for something hey!!! LOL!

Last but not least is my favourite card, not just from the weekend, but all time!!! I made this card for Melissa Phillips' WCMD challenge to use felt on a card. These Fancy Pants have been sitting in my stash almost completely unused so I decided to pull them out and use them for the challenge. Here's my creation;























I LOVE LOVE LOVE this card! Not sure I'll be able to bring myself to part with it!

Well, that's my seven-card-batch from Saturday!!! I hope you have been inspired!

Thanks for looking!

Aargh!!!

Sorry just had to get that off my chest! My little girl is a bit out of sorts, and I am going a little crazy as a result so am in serious need of some chill out time!!! LOL!

I sincerely hope you all had a wonderful World CardMaking Day yesterday! I certainly did!!! I spent the day at my parent's place making cards with Mum. I created 7 cards between 10am and midnight. While this may not sound like a lot, throw into the mix a screaming kid and my severe commitment issues (I could push paper and embellishments around until the cows come home! LOL!), my 7 cards are one pretty impressive batch! I would love the share these creations with you, but it will have to wait until tomorrow because I have not yet photograhed them.

My entry for Round 5 of SYTYCS is done!!! By the time I completed my layout, late Friday night, I had converted a pizza box into a layout, and I was covered head to toe in paint, ink, and Glossy Accents! LOL!

Needless to say, this arty/freestyle thing is pretty fun, and, I must admit, the results are quite satisfying. However, I really cannot see myself doing it again any time soon.

But... enough chit chat... here it is;


















According to the criteria, I have used;
1. Thrift item - pizza box (torn to 12x12 size), masking tape,
2. Handmade title - 'beach' has been made from the white backing paper from chipboard alphas and 'bum' has been hand-painted,
3. Paint - ummm... there ain't a lot on my layout that's actually paint free!!!
4. Odd shaped base/overhanging elements - torn edges and over-hanging pp strip,
5. Doodling - aroung edges of smaller photo, along pp strip, scalloped-look doodling in a few spots too.

PHEW!!!

Please vote for me if you get the chance - it is much appreciated!

Also, don't forget that I'll be back tomorrow sometime to share my WCMD creations! Do pop by!

I'm in the Finals of SYTYCS!!!

OMG! I am in shock! I have made it to the finals of SYTYCS! At first, when I scrolled through the names of those people going through, I missed my name and was totally devastated. All was well, however, when I re-read the list and found my name there!!!

Thank you so much to everyone who have voted for me to get me to where I am in the competition. This was my goal when starting the competition - to get to the finals, and I have done it... thanks to you!!!

So now, the finals begin! From now on, participants must scrap according to a particular genre/scrapping style, as well as fulfilling certain criteria as before. This week we have to create a freestyle/artsy design... what a doosy, hey! This challenge will surely pull me out of my comfort zone, tip me upside down, then shake me all around!!! Wish me luck!

I'll post my 'creation' as soon as it's done.