Friday 31 December 2010

2011 {OLW}



I have loved this holiday season.  I've only been able to start enjoying it since Christmas eve {when we traditionally enjoy a big family dinner} as before that it was almost the same as our usual working year, winding things up & tying all the loose ends before being able to relax guilt-free.

I have been pondering all things "New Year" though & am strangely far less angsty about 2011 than I have been regarding the start of any other year prior to it.  I think that has something to do with the realism that comes with age as I've tended to be far too Utopian & positively unrealistic in years gone by.


In 2011 I want to experience more, experiment more & feel more.  I want to take more photographs for art's sake, start a photography blog, just as a place to upload my images, and install some great new fonts & PSE actions. 

The new year is almost upon us & we are heading off into the African sunset for some R & R, then we come back to mayhem - new schools, stationery & uniform lists plus tens upon tens of books & files to cover.  Then I fly to uni in another state, to get my daughter all settled before beginning my 9 week intensive Photographer's Workshop.

I've chosen "Focus" as my One Little Word {OLW} for 2011 - starting with becoming an ace photographer, getting those niggly house projects completed, keeping up with Project Life & creating art every day.  Oh, and playing in Photoshop!  Finally (2 years since installation) I pulled in my first image, edited it, and installed & applied my first action.

I've hardly left the computer since, I am soaking it all up via the Adobe forum & loving it!  

Here's to 2011 - living your dreams & making them happen.

Tuesday 28 December 2010

Christmas 2010

Phew - I am only just coming up for air today....and I am swamped with holiday photographs - 681 in all!  Still busy churning my way through the editing process.  Coping with a house full of {messy} people while my helper is at the AIDS clinic.  I could say not fun, but truthfully it is fun!  We've been watching hubby's Christmas gift to himself (the Gavin & Stacey boxed set of DVDs) in between cooking, baking & swimming!
Cami made the star above at school - out of clothes pegs - inspired yes?! I didn't feel as diligent about taking photographs this Christmas, but clearly I was - with so many images to edit!  I've noticed they're also a lot better quality too {since I've been on my little "here & there" courses - helps having your camera set up correctly...}

Each year I try to add a little something to our decorations, to build up a nice collection.  Christmas decorations definitely aren't what they used to be that's for sure - I remember glass baubles hand-decorated & wrapped in tissue paper, sadly none of those were passed down to me...
We have been eating "real" food...all together...around the table...Modern day families will know what an accomplishment that is! Lucky for me DH is a capable cook & usually takes on the bulk of the meal & I get left with the "little jobs" (aka everything else!!!) from preparing the table to cleaning up the mess in the kitchen & washing up.  The kids dry up & put away...

Garlicky greens....yummmmmmmmmm...
Roast onions...delish!

Yesterday I went through my entire wardrobe, sorting & purging for the New Year.  Today I have cleaned out the fridge (spilt syrup & the like - icky job...) now I am off to take a shower (temps in the high 30s here & I have been taking out the garbage etc) then I'm back to the studio - to find my desk!

Right now it is buried under a multitude of Christmas items...empty boxes, ribbons, cracker embellishments (rescued from the trash!) & treasured hand-made Christmas cards from the kids - waiting to go into my memorabilia box in the cupboard.

I'll be back later with some Christmas collages ;-D


Friday 24 December 2010

Merry Christmas to you!






Hello Everyone!  Just a little note to say MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all!  I hope you all have a wonderful time & take LOTS of photos!  Tonight we went out for a family dinner, one of our traditions the week before Christmas.  I took these photos when we got home.  The poor kids were tired & not really in the mood for them.  If you want to give yourself a good laugh right-click the photo to enlarge it & take a look at the startled expression on our kittens' face!  

BTW it's his debut here on the blog.  His name is Chives & strangely enough he has been welcomed into the fold like a long-lost brother (by our 2 female cats Cocoa & Daisy, who incidentally, can't stand each other?!)

 All our Christmas shopping is done.  This year I got it done well in advance because I now know from experience what the malls are like here come December!  Shane going overseas earlier in the month was a huge bonus too as he found almost everything on everyone's wish lists in the UK & managed to escape just in time, or he may have been stuck there, snowed in!!

We were gifted some cash by relatives so went out this week & bought a big shaggy rug for our lounge (I was so happy to say goodbye to our old one after more than a decade!)& a beautiful embroidered quilt for our king-size bed, so we have already been blessed beyond measure...Of course Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without one's favourite new scrappy supplies so I've chosen to take the plunge & try out PROJECT LIFE.  

I have been in a quandary about it all year & have been unable to decide on whether or not I like the idea or not.  To be honest I veer more towards "I don't" but I do see the advantage of it as something that is really achievable & think that it is very good value for what it is IF you are fortunate enough to live in America, or lucky enough to have someone there who can post it on to you.

The overseas option is very nonsensically overpriced but this year we have family on holiday in the States who are able to post it on to me so that was the deciding factor.  I couldn't resist a chuckle over the colour options - I chose Amber - that is very clearly yellow - golden at best - with no sign of orange in sight, as opposed to the Turquoise - that is most definitely Teal!  Makes me wonder if someone is colour-blind???

I have also signed up to the trendiest kit club on the planet right now - starting January 2011 - STUDIO CALICO.  I'm looking forward to the new community that comes with the kit club & the inspiration of their gallery - as well as the actual kits too of course - they have the best design team out there in my opinion.

I better sign-off now as I have an early start tomorrow as there is lots of roasting to be done ;-D

Have a wonderful day & remember the reason for the season!!



Wednesday 22 December 2010

November RAK Winner @ Scrapbook Challenges! {and some Christmas Projects}





YIPIDEEDOODAA!!  Look what I discovered!

That's right peeps!  I won the November RAK over at Scrapbook Challenges!  The last RAK I won was also with a layout of Reilly - my younger son!!  Not that I am superstitious - not in the least - but he reckons it's definitely got something to do with him LOL...

And a pretty awesome RAK it is too I'm sure you'll agree?!  JAM-PACKED this one is!!!

What a list eh?!  How's that for one awesome Christmas present hey - thank you Scrapbook Challenges, Pamela & Tidbits in Time kits!  Woohoo!!

Now onto some work...yes, surprise, surprise, I have done a teeny bit between tree decorating...and tree decorating {yes we have 2 trees...don't ask why?!} and shopping...and gift shopping...and grocery shopping...and nursery shopping...{it's Spring here you see and now is PLANTING TIME!} so I am feeling slightly insane at this point....but I guess that's why they call it the SILLY SEASON!
It has been raining here a lot so these are all indoor photos and you can tell lol...Raining and hot - our air-conditioners are on while Europe freezes...

I received my goodie box full of new stash recently {just in time before the new lot of CHA goodies releases next year - ooooh how I hate the FIVE WEEK WAIT for shipping!}  I bought a pack of gorgeous Girls' Paperie Christmas embellishments (see the centre of my wreath decoration) and those are what sparked this whole idea.
I started with one in the centre (added some bling because I wanted this to be sparkly in the candlelight as it's hanging on our dining-room wall so will be a stunning showpiece for our Christmas dinner).  I fussy cut a couple of sheets of last year's Making Memories Christmas paper.

Mounted the GP embellie onto a piece of cardstock punched with my giant scallop punch then layered them onto a big flower which I painted silver (quick and easy with a big silver Pilot marker) then onto a doily, then another huge flower!
I used my new Crate Paper Restoration papers for the floral circle behind the huge flower and behind the fussy cut flowers too.  I added giant bling to hold down the petals (tip - buy cheap bling) even here you can get sheets of it for R10 {about US$1.30} and South Africa is notoriously expensive for scrappy supplies).

Punched a whole lot of 1inch circles from the yellow Crate paper (left-over after cutting the big circle) and flipped them over to use the green spotted side) LOVE that paper - then I made my own scalloping by adhering the circles slightly overlapping them as I went along.
Used some lovely red velvet ribbon from my stash for making a nice long loop to hang my wreath decoration with (I stapled it to make sure it wouldn't come apart - then covered the staple with a petal!) I added a long bow at the bottom plus some hand-dyed crinkle ribbon, webster's tinsel and some beads.

Christmas wreath decoration supplies list:-  Girls' Paperie Christmas 2010 Embellishment
                                                                 Self-adhesive bling rhinestones
                                                                 Big flowers (Mr. Price Home decor store)
                                                                 PILOT marker - silver
                                                                 Printed papers - Crate Paper Restoration and
                                                                 Making Memories Christmas 2009                
                                                                 Cardstock - Bazzill Kiwi
                                                                 Red velvet ribbon
                                                                 Hand-dyed crinkle ribbon (Pearl Lui)
                                                                 Staples
                                                                 Beads
                                                                 Chain and clasp (from an old handbag accessory)
                                                                 Beads (LSS)
                                                                 Fine tinsel (Webster's Pages)
                                                                 Doily (Little Yellow Bicycle)
Then I made a card!   

Christmas card supplies list:-  Bazzill cardstock - red and green
                                                  Red ruffle ribbon - Maya Road
                                                  Printed paper - Crate Paper Restoration
                                                  Embellishment - Girls' Paperie Christmas 2010
                                                  Red ink
                                                  Black fineliner (sadly my sewing machine is broken!)
                                                  Red ink - Colourbox

I'm not a card-maker generally but I was happy with this one.  I wanted simple & bold.  I used some Jenni Bowlin product packaging as a template for the bracket shape. No sentiment required.

I prepared the cover of a 7 Gypsies concertina mini-album - in the hopes that I can stash away some of the many images I know I'll be taking over the next week - in a quiick and easy format!
 
So glad that this time round I added in a pack of simple Tim Holtz tags 'cos they make such a good base for so many things...Used one for the base of the title.  Mounted the Girls' Paperie embellishment onto a scalloped circle , added some bling and a berry rub-on.  Added the title, date and inked the edges.

Mini-album supplies:-  Printed paper - Crate Paper Retoration
                                      Red ink - Colour Box
                                      Embellishment - Girls' Paperie Christmas 2010
                                      Bazzill cardstock - Kiwi
                                      Rub-on - Basic Grey
                                      Bling swirl (cut up) - Prima
                                      Tim Holtz tag
                                      Alphas - Making Memories and Pink Paislee
                                      Bling - LSS

Tag cardstock:-           Tim Holtz tag
                                     Red cardstock - American Crafts
                                     Pink text paper - Girls' Paperie packaging
                                     Silver pen - Pilot
                                     Hand-dyed crinkle ribbon - Pearl Lui
                                     Girls' Paperie embellishment
                                     Green cardstock - Bazzill Kiwi


Thanks for looking!  

Hope it gave you a nice little coffee break between   a.l.l.   t.h.e   w.r.a.p.p.i.n.g...









Tuesday 21 December 2010

Scrapbook Challenges Week 3 Semi-Finalist Layouts {& a Merry Christmas to you!}

***If you don't have a chance to visit me here before Christmas here's wishing you a wonderful day {few days really!} full of JOYFESTIVE CHEERREFLECTIONWONDERFAMILY TOGETHERNESS,  RELATIONSHIP BUILDING,  and GLORY TO GOD!!***

I finally made some Christmas cards & a Christmas project (just in time!) so hopefully I'll get to load those before the big day!
Sadly I didn't make it into the FINAL FIVE.  I suppose my layout may not have had INSTANT APPEAL.  I needed to cram so many photos in to show what my days entailed, and wanted to journal a lot to convey a sense of fullness too...perhaps it was all just too much! 

The first time I posted this layout on my blog I didn't type out all the journaling so I went back into the forum thread & copied & pasted it all out so I could put it here.  I want to have a reminder of it on my blog.  I have also included the layouts of the 5 ladies that pipped me to the post, but first, the journaling!

Journaling reads:-
 
"Here it is - photographic proof of my days!  So much to do - so little time!  Loving your dad with all my heart, so that the 4 of you have a strong & secure environment to grow & flourish in.  Documenting your lives so that you will always remember your childhood vividly & have an awesome inheritance to pass on to your own children (your volumes of scrapbook albums). Ferrying you all over town to your singing lessons, football practices, dance classes & personal training sessions so you can realise your dreams.  Encouraging your academics so you have greater opportunity.  Going on family outings to Ushaka Wet 'n Wild, rugby matches at the stadium and to watch your favourite football teams.  Swimming at the gym followed by your favourite smoothies and snapsticks at Kauai.  Out for milkshakes for you & cappucino for me or at home helping you redesign your bedrooms or tidy up your cupboards.  Encouraging you to build the tallest Lego tower ever and arranging playdates with your friends.  Subscribing to your favourite magazines like "Spongebob" & "Cats".  Teaching you to care for your kittens and rescuing them from the laundry basket when you've put them "in prison".  Baking Christmas cookies & birthday cakes according to your orders!  Making papier mache masks with you for your art homework & weird flower arrangements with you when it's "posy day".  Painting & embellishing your class pot for the school auction & helping you create unusual items for market days at school, like the lava lamps!  (Thank Goodness for Google!) Buying you everything you need to create your tech projects using levers & cranks & working out how you can make a "real" volcano that can actually erupt in front of your whole class!  Spending hours in the car fetching & carrying.  Remembering your mini DVD players & DS Lite to keep you happy.  Helping you set up a "midnight feast" in the tent in your bedroom during the holidays & liaising with the Easter Bunny so that he still brings you your eggs even if we are away on holiday.  Opening the window for Tania the tooth-fairy when she has a collection to make!  Helping Santa to fill up your stockings so that they are spilling over...Laughing at our IJPJs {Inside jokes/Personal jokes}.  Believing in you & telling you that you can be and do anything you want if you put your mind to it.  Listening to you when you are having relationship problems with your peers.  Advising you.  Trusting in you.  Doing my best to get you to eat well. Cooking your favourite meals in turn and making sure we never run out of chicken nuggets, popcorn & juice.  Every day is different!  Every day is good!"
 LAYOUT BY MARILYN RIVIERA.

And this is what I wrote about my layout (in the forum thread).

I am so glad I was "forced" to get this layout done for this challenge as I love how it turned out & so does my family!  I created a giant collage in Picasa free software then mounted it on to some box cardboard that I cut into with my craft knife, for a distressed effect.  I added some bright yellow paint in 3 spots to create a visual triangle & keep the eye moving across the layout.  I typed up my journaling then inked my text box with yellow & mounted it onto colourful Crate Paper Restoration.  Finally added a few intentionally-positioned Maya Road resin roses to create 4 separate visual triangles so that none of the images got overlooked!

I used 31 photos in all & added plenty of journaling too.  Despite my layout being jam-packed & colourful (just like my life!) I kept things simple by aligning my journaling beneath my photo-grid & separating the photos & the journaling with a long, symettrical title. Quick, simple, inexpensive - the most difficult part was choosing the photos!  I love writing so the journaling comes easy.  It ties in with all the images so I wrote it as I scanned the photos {with my eyes} from left to right - top to bottom.  If you do the same you'll see that every image chosen is significant & has a snippet of journaling that relates to it.  The perfect page for the front of my most recent family album.
 LAYOUT BY SABRINA

These 2 ladies have lovely blogs that I have started visiting!  That is what I love about getting "out & about"-  meeting lovely new people with awesome talent.
 
LAYOUT BY CARMEN HENRIQUEZ-COHEN

I'm over getting depressed about not being "good enough" if I don't make it "to the top"  in everything I enter. Of course it's always a downer not seeing your name on the list but it gets easier with time...(and lots of rejection LOL)...believe me!  (I know because the recovery time is shorter ;-D)
 DIGITAL LAYOUT BY CHANELL RIGTERINK

I realise that this is a very competitive industry & there is literally an abundance of talent out there!  We all started scrapbooking because we LOVED the idea & I never want to not love it any more.  So it's important to have the right attitude & learn to take the bad with the good.  
 LAYOUT BY JOLENE BROWN

My ego is not so big that I expect to make it through in everything I enter!  There is no need to take it all so seriously, so if you are hesitant about taking part in contests my advice is GO FOR IT!   Get out there - Make new friends.  As they say in showbiz - ALL publicity is good publicity right?!


***   I do have some VERY GOOD NEWS in my next post!  I won something totally awesome so it's not all bad see?!***

I believe in entering as much as possible as there is always a chance of winning something, and along the way the journey is fun & educational, so it really is necessary to put yourself out there in order to grow!!! 

Until next time...HAPPY CRAFTING PEEPS {who am I kidding?!  I know that for me it's all about the wine right now lol....}

Wednesday 15 December 2010

Featured Layout at Scrapbook Challenges! A Digital Freebie, Hot Trends & some Scrapbook Etc Free Advertising!




Yup I got featured over at Scrapbook Challenges!  Woo Hoo!!  See my "Wholesome Days" layout down at the bottom???  Featured layouts in no particular order Thank Goodness lol...

Next up  I did a little "free advertising" over at the Scrapbooks, Etc! site -  I just happened to notice a while back...See my layout there bottom centre? - so glad I just happened to notice myself as it was quite a thrill I'll not lie...

Was visiting the insanely popular (beautiful soul) Stephanie Howell's blog the other day & she featured the top colour for 2011 - woo hoo!  I am a pink lover of note so was so happy to see this.  Know it means pink will be seeping into everything, from decor, to clothing, to accessories & ,most importantly, to scrappy stash...woop woop!
And here is your freebie...a nice big Colour Wheel courtesy of Colour Combos Galore.  Just right click - save to your desktop & print out on an A4 sheet of photo paper then stick it on your studio wall like I did it.

It's a pleasure!  Just consider it your Christmas present!!

I did a bit of googling (how cool is it that they get their own verb lol?!) to help you out on how to use it if you don't already know...HAPPY LEARNING PEEPS!
The 12 step Colour Wheel
THis 12 step color wheel will provide the basic information needed
to grasp most color design challenges.
The basic principles of colour theory and design are simple. The colour wheel becomes a visual aid in helping us understand the principles of color. It is also an excellent tool to help create harmonious color schemes for painting, interior decorating and commercial design. It creates an orderly progression of colour that helps us understand color balance and harmony.
Primary Colours
Our colour wheel starts with the 3 primary colours, placed in an equilateral triangle.
The next aspect to the colour wheel is creating the secondary colours. These colours are placed in triangles above the corresponding primary color combination. This system of colour mixing is known as the subtractive process, because the resulting secondary color subtracts or absorbs even more waves from the white light than the first colour did.
Secondary Colours
Secondary or Complementary Colours: When any one primary colour is mixed with another a secondary colour effect is produced. 3 secondary colours are produced from the mixing of one primary colour with another.
The secondary colours are:
  • orange  (mix red + yellow)
  • green   (mix yellow + blue)
  • violet    (mix blue + red)
These secondary colors are also known as complementary colours.  The final step to creating the 12 step colour wheel will be to create a ring around the newly formed primary and secondary colour form. Divided into 12 equal segments, the primary and secondary colours shall be repeated to their corresponding segment within the surrounding ring. This will leave a blank segment between every two colors. In these blank segments the tertiary colours will be created.
Tertiary Colours
Tertiary Colours: These colours are created when mixing one secondary and one primary colour. i.e. blue + violet = blueviolet. Three or more separate colours are mixed (one primary and one secondary – the combination of two primaries), and in our colour wheel each tertiary colour being created will be an equal combination of the two colours, left and right, surrounding an open segment.

The tertiary colours are: yellow-orange, red-orange, red-violet, blue violet, blue-green, and yellow-green.
The sequence of colours on the colour wheel should resemble that of the rainbow.We can now use our colour wheel as the basis to understanding colour and colour combination techniques.

Monday 13 December 2010

Scrapbook Challenges Next Top Scrapper Round 3 {Evidence of a Full Life}


Yes!!!  I made it through to the next round!!  Woo Hoo!!!  Our challenge was to come up with a layout about our everyday life, using paint and/or ink, at least 3 photos, journaling & all backed onto craft/neutral cardstock...

The layout itself came together quickly & easily.  It was the concept that took me days to come up with lol... Originally I had another title thought out, journaling printed & photos printed too - 3 strips of "photo booth" type photos, but somehow, when I came to assembling everything together it just didn't seem "enough"...so I changed tack completely...I can always use that layout just for me!
I decided that it would actually be best to cram as many photos as I could onto this layout, all in full blazing colour, to indicate the colourful busy-ness that is my life.  It was a really cathartic journey for me too...because it made me realise that I am so blessed & so happy & I know that one day I will have a quiet house & I will miss these crazy, messy children of mine!

If you right-click the above photo you can read the journaling.  It's worth a read as I poured out a bundle of thoughts as I was scanning the images from left to right, top to bottom & if you do that yourself you'll see that the words tie up with the pictures!  I tried to sum up what it means to be a mother, as you can see it involves a lot!
I didn't take one new photo for this challenge, simply because I've been documenting my daily life since I bought Ali Edward's Life Artist book many moons ago.  Of course my first thought was to go through my day, snapping away, and have a diary kind of page, but then I realised that that would be very one-dimensional for me, as my days are always varied.

I created the collage in Picasa free software using the A4 size portrait orientation option.  This is a great size for doing these "year in review" type layouts, as you have a bit of space around 3 edges & enough space for a nice big journal block below & ample titling space.  Perfecto for me!
Supplies:-  Backing cardstock - Pizza box lid cut into with
                   craft knife & torn/distressed.
                  Yellow paint - Making Memories
                  Yellow ink - Colourbox
                  Printed paper - Crate Paper Restoration "Fringe"
                  Border sticker - Crate Paper Restoration
                  Epoxy roses - Maya Road
                 Glitter Alphas - My Little Shoebox
                "Rainboots" Thickers - American Crafts

I cut down a pizza box lid to 12inches (slightly smaller because you should always reduce a teeny bit to allow for the bulk) then dug into it with my craft knife (be careful - I nearly cut myself!) then pulled up the bits that were cut, to reveal the corrugated filler board.  I dabbed on the bright yellow paint in 3 visual triangle spots then stuck down the collage.  Then I cut the p/p to fit across the entire width of the bottom, except for a narrow border to match the rest of the page. 

I really wanted the title to stand out so I stuck a border sticker below it - slightly overlapping the collage & measured out my title by lightly adhering the alphas to the edge of my metal ruler before finally positioning them.  I had little space for embellishing but had just received some happy mail containing the gorgeous resin roses, so I positioned them very intentionally to create 4 separate visual triangles, in the hopes that none of the images would be overlooked. 

I'll only find out whether I've made it through to the next round {choosing the top 5 scrappers} on about Tuesday/Wednesday (the US being about 8 hours behind), so if you're as keen as I am to find out who's "in" then keep checking here like me!



Sunday 12 December 2010

Colour Combos Galore/The Colour Room {Altered Frames}




I needed to rustle up some personalised Christmas gifts so decided to make some frames rather than layouts for this week's colour challenges over at Colour Combos Galore & The Colour Room. I've linked you up there right to my page so that you can see how these Ning sites work if you don't already know.  Register if you haven't as it's really fun, you get to use up tons of old product & you can combine your challenges with sketch challenges so it's win/win all round!

I made this for hub's mum - the kids' granny - who is always asking for photos of the 4 of them together!  I painted an old gold frame white then sanded it off to distress it then covered a chipboard frame with fabric & lace & glue-gunned the feather trim below. 
I ploughed through a ton of my flower & bling stash here & hot-glued it all on.  I know from past experience that glue-dots WILL NOT WORK in the long-term on projects like this, that are not protected in a plastic sleeve, no matter how big & heavy duty they are.

The challenge at CCG this week was to use a bit of bling or sparkle, which I did with the loose diamante studs & the prima bling swirls.  I always buy the big swirls & cut them down to suit my projects.
Supplies:- Backing paper - Glitz Designs
                 Flowers - Prima & Petaloo
                 Bling - Bo Bunny & Kaisercraft
                 Stickers - K & Co.
                 Butterflies - Jenni Bowlin Studio
                 Badge - Dear Lizzy for American Crafts
                 Large yellow blooms - Mr. Price Home
                 Flower stamens - LSS

Next up is a 6 inch frame I altered for The Colour Room Challenge this week.  I was given the frame as a gift & it had a tiny 2 inch square indent in the centre for the photograph.  I'm not a fan of very wide frames that house tiny photos but I knew I could still make something pretty with it.
I used a 4 x 6 inch photo & adhered it RIGHT OVER THE HOLE! then embellished all around it.  I was surprised how quick & simple it is working with this size - no agonizing decisions concerning placement because there is very little space to work with once you have the image in place!

Supplies:-  Bling swirls & pearls & flower & white doily packaging- Prima
                  Brad - K & Co.
                  Rhinestone centred button - Jenni Bowlin
                  Ribbon - American Crafts
                  Rub-on - Sasaffras Lass
                  Pen (black)- Creative Memories
                  Pen (white) - Inksenntials
                  Flocked stickers (cream) Delish
                  Tiny red flower - LSS       

Finally found a use for those rather weird SL rub-ons I got in last year's grab bag!
The frame was already red so I didn't have to paint it but I did just give it a quick sand around the edges before I started working on it - revealing the white beneath - giving it a slightly shabby look...

Have some good news to share in my next post, along with another layout.

Things are getting a little holiday crazy around here so I'm going to have to cut back a bit on the blog now & start fulfilling/finalizing my Christmas preparations/commitments.  I'll be blogging through to the end of December but it'll be less than usual now that I have 4 kiddies at home all day long.  Tomorrow is the tree trimming, which only the youngest is looking forward to.  At 12, 15 & 17 the others think trimming the tree is rather "uncool" these days...

Wishing you all a wonderful week & remember to try & record those holiday memories while they are fresh in your mind!  I've decided against a December Daily as I found it too stressful last year trying to maintain that alongside my other scrapping.  This year I'm recording my thoughts, what we did, etc, once a week, in a Word document & making sure to take lots of photographs along the way.  That way I can wind up everything I've wanted to get achieved on the scrappy front this year then lock my studio door for a couple of weeks in January when we are going away on holiday.  Woop woop!