Thursday, June 16, 2011

Toot Toot ... woot woot

Just popping in to say yay for me. Scrapbooking Memories magazine has picked up another one of my layouts for publication. I feel so lucky that the editors would even consider my layouts worthy of publication. Even though I have had quite a few published already, I still get a thrill each time one of those acceptance emails finds its way into my inbox. Remember this one?
I think I need to re-wire my brain and start working on the positive self-talk a lot more. I always doubt my abilities in terms of scrapbooking and rarely feel totally happy about what I have done. Tell me, how do YOU avoid the negative thoughts and work on the positive? How do you get past seeing all the faults with your work and stop saying that it is not as good as everyone else's? Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Seriously hoping I am not the only one out there who thinks like this :o

No scrapping for me this week - I have spent the last two nights buried under a pile of Yr 11 English exams. Finished the last one a little while ago (yay me) but will have another class to do tomorrow once my Yr 12 history class do their exams. Best part about all this is that there are only 6 more school days until holidays. YAY!

Hope everyone has had a good week.

Take care

S xoxoxo

Monday, June 13, 2011

Getting my Scrap on!!!

It was a long weekend for most of the states in Australia so I made the most of it by getting my scrap on. This was the first chance I had had to scrap since going on retreat a few weeks ago - always a pain when real life gets in the way of playing with cardstock, pretty paper, stickers, mist and paint so I made the most of it. I surprised myself by getting five layouts done - yeah not many for power scrappers but when I was washing, cooking, cleaning etc all weekend as well, you gotta be happy with that.

Layout 1: Simply You


I actually started this layout at the retreat and was supposed to be a challenge where a page Scrapbooking Memories Magazine was selected and we all had to lift a particular LO on that page. Well long story short, I couldn't get into it so I put it away. When I pulled it out on Saturday afternoon, I pulled it to pieces and started from scratch and I am so much happier with the result.

I am feeling a bit of a theme happening with the next few layouts. Can you guess what it is??? Well actually there are two things happening. Let's see if you can guess both.

Layout 2: Winter Holidays

It sure feels good to scrap some older photographs as it is something that I don't normally do. These photos are from 2007 - wow the boys are so small. Can hardly believe how much they have grown. A really simply layout but I am happy with how it has turned out :-)

Layout 3: The Story of the Blue Chair
Can you see one of the patterns forming yet? Yep, ever since the retreat, I have been wanting to use paint. Who would have thought that I would ever scrap like this - sooooooooooo not me. Really stretched myself with paint and mist on the one layout lol!
Layout 4: Amazing
I love this photo in this layout. It was taken by Mel from Meloo Photography last year during a Point Shoot Play class last year. After the class finished, we all headed here to the farm for an impromptu photoshoot. I completed this LO as part of Renee's June Tune challenge over at Scrapbook Savvy. We had to incorporate something from Bruno Mars' song, 'Just the way you Are' and for an added challenge, the LO had to be done in monochromatic tones. I have lost count of how many times i have pulled this photo out to scrap but have never been able to get colours to gel. Although I had considered, and later dismissed orange a few times, I decided to give it another go and am stoked with the result. So have you guessed my two new favourites from the last few layouts yet??? Do the words paint and orange mean anything??? hehehehe

Layout 5: Cheesy Grin

I am calling this layout my comedy of errors. Believe it or not it took me all day to do this layout? How is that possible you ask? Well take someone who fiddle-farts around, moving things from here to there only to move it back to its original place about a million times and it isn't hard to work out. So I had the layout completed and photographed and was in the process of editing when I realised that the title was spelt wrong. Then I realised that it wasn't just a matter of taking the extra letter off because I had already traced around the edges. So I carefully pulled it apart, misted another piece of cardstock and stuck everything down for the second time, of course making sure that I spelt the title right. So you would have thought that I would have learnt my lesson and stopped there but no I didn't. I just HAD to trace around the letters again. This time the pen slipped while I was tracing - grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr why didn't I stop?! Luckily the trusty October Afternoon (do you know I {heart} OA?!) came to my rescue. Note to self - stick with what you know, don't try anything fancy schmancy lol.

So that is my weekend of scrapping. Pretty chuffed to have more layouts done. That will probably be the last of it for the next two weeks - exam block starts this week which means LOADS of marking and report cards to write. I am determined to have everything done before we head off on holidays at the end of June. Wish me luck lol.
Thanks for stopping by.
S xoxo

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Finally

Finally the world has slowed down enough for me to take a few minutes to sit and blog. I don't know about the rest of you but time just doesn't seem to stand still long enough for these days. The last month has passed by in a blur of school work, weekend sport, celebrating family birthdays and only limited opportunities for scrapping. In fact, apart from today, the only scrapping I have done in the last month were the layouts I managed to complete while on the Wicked Princess retreat a few weeks ago.

I had such an awesome time at the retreat, despite the obvious first-timer nerves, and have already booked in to attend next year. I am even contemplating taking long service leave for it. There was lots of fun times and laughter shared - I think it took almost a week for my stomach muscles to return to normal. Apart from spending the weekend with my regular scrap buddies, Julie and Donna, I was fortunate to be sitting close to current Scrapbooking Memories Master, Lauren Bell and long-time scrapper Lisa Kamphius. OMG those two girls are hilarious, not to mention TALENTED.

It was awe-inspiring to say the least. I surprised myself by completing 7 layouts for the weekend which is pretty good considering that I would have to be one of the slowest scrappers going lol. Here are some photos of what I managed to get done:

Layout 1: Half a Smile is better than none at all.

I actually started this layout a few weeks before the retreat but wasn't happy with it. I knew I wanted a lot of 'white space' but nothing seemed right. As soon as I unpacked my stash at the retreat, it all seemed to fall in place. It is typically simple - as is my style - but I am happy with it.

Layout 2: Christmas Photoshoot

This is my least favourite layout from the weekend. I love the photos but I always struggle when it comes to scrapping Christmas layouts. The supplies for this layout came with one of the kits we received as part of the retreat challenges.

Layout 3: It's a Boys World
I have had this layout sitting in the back of my head for ages now. The photos were taken last year and despite several attempts at scrapping them, I always ended up throwing the layouts out. I am finally happy with how these photos have turned out on a layout.


Layout 4: Real Life

This layout doesn't really have a title so I am using the sticker as my inspiration. In many ways, it is one of those layouts that doesn't really need a title as the picture speaks for itself. This layout was inspired by Anthea Paterson (love her work and would love to be able to layer like she can!)

Layout 5: Smile
It isn't hard to be inspired to scrap when you are sitting close to Lauren Bell. I have her style, very much like how I would like to be able to scrap. So what is a girl to do when surrounded by such talent? Lift her work of course. I cannot claim any credit for this layout - it is all Lauren's. Thanks for the inspiration Lauren!

Layout 6: Ouch
After spending time with Crystal Goulding and Lauren Bell, it is not hard to be inspired to use paint on layouts. I had been wanting to use paint ever since seeing Crystal at work while at Donna's but it took seeing Lauren hard at it to finally give me the courage to give it a whirl. I love that this layout is simple but still a lot to look at - well I think so anyway lol.
I do have a 7th layout but can't show that one at the moment. I will show when I can ;)
Anyway, I am off to make the most of my weekend - public holiday tomorrow so hopefully scrapping is on the cards.
Take care
S xoxoxoxo