Gifts to Share!

I am officially out of holiday mode... so thought I best pop by and share two mini-albums I made for members of my family.

The first is a Kaiser '50' wood album that I made for my mother-in-law, Lorraine. It was her 50th in June of this year, and because I had taken so many photos at the very special SURPRISE party was held in her honour, and also because she is quite new to scrapping and time-poor, I thought it would make a great gift if I were to scrap the event for her. Here's what I came up with;













The colour palette for the album was inspired by the team colours of the West Coast Eagles as they are her favourite football team, and her cake featured an Eagle. I created a couple of extra pages for the album using acetate (to hold extra photos) and cardstock (as a place for Lorraine to journal about her big day). This photo shows the two extra pages;

My mother-in-law absolutely loved her gift... so much so that she burst into tears when she saw it!!!

The second gift that I made this Christmas was a mini-album for my partner, James. Way back in August, he and my daughter went to Carnarvon for a week to visit his sister/her aunty. On the last morning of this trip DH and DD woke early to watch the sun rise. This was a special moment for them both... so I thought I'd document it so neither of them would forget.

The design for this album came from Karen Day. I did an online class with her quite a few months back, and this is what we created... I just didn't get a chance until now to get it finished!!!














Here's a few of my favourite bits of the album;

























































Well, the new year will be here in just a few hours... so I'd like to take this opportunity to share with you one of my new year's resolutions... just so it's in writing and so you guys can push my butt into gear when I become slack... I RESOLVE TO SCRAP AT LEAST ONE LAYOUT EVERY FORTNIGHT! It may not sound like much, but to have 26 finished LOs done come this time next year would make me very happy... wish me luck!!!

And, before I go, I'd just like to make a special mention of my Mum, Julie (Snail Mail), who's stint as Scrap Pile's Card DT Member officially comes to an end today. I am sure you will all agree that my Mum is one very talented lady!!! Congratulations on a job very well done! Your talent, committment, and generosity has been so greatly appreciated and admired by so many. You should be very proud! xxx

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I know it's a tad early, but the likelihood of me being on the computer tomorrow is very slim aside from the fact it's Christmas, I'm getting a DS lite so I am sure to be playing that most of the day!!!)... I just wanted to wish you and your family a very merry and wonderfully magical Christmas day!

We begun our Christmas celebrations early with a dinner with my partner's family last night. It was a great night - lots of presents, food, and laughs. I contributed to the dinner with 11 hand-made bon-bons, one for each person. Here's what they looked like sitting pretty on the table;














To make these I traced an existing store-bought bon-bon onto the reverse of BG's Figgy Pudding pp, then hand-cut the design. Yes... I must have been temporarly insane when I decided to take on this project! Hand-cutting 11 bon-bons is tough going, especially when each one has a couple of dozen diamond shaped bits to cut out, as well as the outline! But everyone was so genuinely appreciative of my efforts that it was worth every last bit of blade-work!

Well that's it for me... I'll be back soon to share with you the hand-made Christmas presents that I made for two members of my family... wonder who they might be?!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Look What the Postie Brought In!

OMG! It has finally arrived... a big bad box of scrapbooking goodness from Scraptacular and Bumble Bee Crafts... my SYTYCS prize pack!!! Check it out!














I couldn't open it right away... I wanted to savour the excitement for as long as possible. But then it got me the better of me, and I jumped right in! Here's a peek at what I was so lucky to receive;














Yep... you saw right! I got a Slice!!!














I cannot believe that, apart from the MM Falala papers, there was not a single item I already owned. The only reason that I've not bought these things already is because I have not come across a store that stocks them. Better even still, there's not a single thing I cannot see myself using! In fact, I cannot wait to get stuck into my goodies and put them to good use on my scrapbook pages, cards, and OTPs.

Thanks Scraptacular and Bumble Bee!!!

My Christmas Cards are Done!!!

Hooray! I did it! I finished making my Christmas cards! Here is the final design;














I wanted to try my hand at making photo cards this year because I had got the perfect shot of my daughter wearing a Santa hat during a photo shoot I did for a work project some time ago... and I just had to share it with everyone I love!

I'm pretty happy with the way it has turned out - I especially like the Kraft base (I heart Kraft!!!), the deep red pp and embellishments, and the distressed edges on the photo.

Now comes the fun part... writing in all 20 of my cards. Oh the monotony! Blah!!!

I have another project to share! It's a wooden word thingy. Not sure how else to describe it! LOL! Here it is;














I have used Rose Moka pp (my first time using this brand and boy do I love it!), a gorgeous Fancy Pants Glitter Cut (Willow), Making Memories Love Story ribbon, and Carolee's and Basic Grey Alphas to decorate the word.

I totally hated this project when I was working on it last night, but after a bit of sleep and a few major adjustments, I am now at 'peace'! Yes Mum... you were right! LOL!

Well, that is it for today. Off to the beach soon for a bit of a cool down and dinner. Night!!!

Starting Small!

I have finally made a start on the HUGE list of Christmas to-dos that has sat there, in the far recesses of my brain for a few weeks now!!! I must warn you... I have only started VERY small. So what is it, I hear you ask... a gingerbread man decoration for each of the 17 other children in my daughter's childcare class. I had suggested to my daughter, on several occassions, that maybe we could sit down and make Christmas cards for her friends, but each and every time I mentioned it she broke into tears. Not sure why! Pretty funny though! So now I have all the bits and pieces aside to make cards... but I guess they'll have to wait until next year! LOL!

Anyway, enough blabber! Here's the one of the decorations that I made, photographed hanging on my tree;


















For the decorations I have die-cut the gingerbread man shapes from large scraps of Kraft cardstock using a Sizzix Bigz, then simply tied a length of red ribbon into a bow on its neck, and attached some fishing line to the top of its head for hanging. Quick to make and very, very cute!

Also, I have finally made a start on my Christmas cards. Nothing like leaving it to the last minute! I hope to have them all finished by the weekend so I'll share them here then.

'Til then, happy scrapping!

Yes... I'm still here!!!

Sorry for my absence of late! I have been incredibly busy with work and family. I have had a teeny tiny bit of time to create, but at this stage it all seems like a chore as everything I'm creating needs to be done before Christmas ie. cards, presents, decor, etc. I hate deadlines!!!

I promise to be back sometime in the next few days to share the projects that I've been working on (They're all incomplete atm!!! Working on about 4 things at once!)

If you are looking for some inspiration (or just a break away from all your Christmas preparations, like me), then head over to Scrap Therapy tonight for their Christmas Cybercrop!!! It starts at 6pm AEDST tonight... be there or... bah, humbug!