Saturday, January 25, 2014

How many?

When you look at your scrapbooks, how often do you see yourself? Are you like me and avoid the camera at all costs or do you make a point of making sure you are 'present' in your albums?
This year, I am determined to put myself more into my layouts. When I look at the many albums on my shelves I am visibly absent from almost all of them. I need to get past the way I look and forget about how much I really don't like myself and remember that it is important the boys have a record of my life with them. I want them to remember me for more than just that person who cooked their meals, washed their clothes, drove them all over the country-side to various sporting activities and sat beside them while they did their homework. I want them to remember me for doing stuff with them, not just for them. This is not going to be easy as I really hate having my photo taken, but I am definitely going to try.
While this photo isn't about the boys as such, it is about a time when we were all together - going out to celebrate my birthday earlier this month. Only Lachie and I are in the photo but I will remember the laughing and joking from everyone in the car as I was trying to take a selfie while Tony was driving us to town, and hitting EVERY bump along the way, not to mention Lachie doing his best to photo-bomb my selfie.
And some close-ups: 

Thanks for stopping by.
S xoxox

Monday, January 13, 2014

Diamonds are forever ...

... unless you don't like the setting that is. This layout is based on the story of a ring that my husband bought me for Christmas in 2012. It was a nice ring - a Ceylon Sapphire surrounded by a cluster of diamonds - and it definitely wasn't cheap and nasty BUT it was totally not 'me'. As much as I tried to like it, I just couldn't do it or even pretend to like it. It broke my heart to admit the truth to my husband but I thought honesty was better than having all that money sit in the box, never to be worn. With his blessing, I exchanged the ring and ended up with a beautiful white gold and diamond set which I wear almost every day.

And some close ups:
I originally wrote the journalling on the layout itself but I messed it up big time. No use panicking - all I did was smooch some gesso over it and added more mist splatters. I then used a circle punch to cut a semi-circle from the top left-hand corner to make a feature for some tags. To keep the tags in place, I created a little pocket on the back of the layout with foam tape and scraps of patterned paper. These are the tags lying on top of the layout. 
And this is how they tuck behind the layout: 
Lots of layers - I am loving layers at the moment. 
I may have done my dash in the jewellery stakes though as my husband gave me a gift voucher for Christmas lol.
S xoxoxo 

Sunday, January 12, 2014

We Start and End With Family

I was fortunate enough to grow up in a house full of love. Yes, as children we fought and as adults, we still have disagreements; but above all else, we knew that there would always be someone there to help us out. I thank my parents for this as they taught us the importance of family and sticking together. These lessons have carried on and are still well and truly alive today. While the younger generation continues to grow and expand, it is only natural that the older generation slowly starts to dwindle. That is what makes it all the more special when we gather for special occasions. It is only in adulthood that I have come to realise just how important such gatherings are. As a child, it was all about having fun with my many cousins, but now I appreciate the bond that my parents have with their remaining siblings and how much they cherish the time they spend together. After all, as my mother always told us as children, 'We start and end with family.' What better way to celebrate her spending time with one of her sisters and her brother at my sister's wedding last year. I hope that our sons will one day see the importance of family as I have grown to see it over the years.
And some close-ups: 


Thanks for stopping by.
S xoxo

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Words from the Heart

My favourite memory from the wedding is the look on my sister's face when my brother-in-law recited a poem that he had written for her as his wedding vows. That look was priceless. He is definitely full of surprises. I knew that the poem would have to make its way onto a layout but the trick was trying to work out how to incorporate it. Of course, my ever-faithful fall back was a pair of manilla shipping tags that I ran through my printer :)
The poem: 
And a close-up: 
How awesome is that poem? She is one very lucky girl.
S xoxoxo

Friday, January 10, 2014

More Wedding Shares

While I have struggled to scrap photos from my own wedding almost 15 years ago, the same cannot be said for my sister's wedding last September. I am really enjoying creating these layouts, even if the colour palette is dominated by Jo's favourite colour - blue. Here are some more layouts I have created:
Layout One - He Makes Her Laugh. One of the things that I love about these two is the way they enjoy life. They find fun in the silliest of things which is helped by the fact that my brother-in-law is a practical joker. I love that he makes my sister laugh - after all, doesn't everyone want to see the people they love the most happy?
Layout Two - Just Like Brothers - my brother-in-law and his best man. The bond these two share is more than friends, they really are like brothers. 
Layout Three - Poppy's Garden. The wedding was held at my parent's house in the front garden. When we were kids growing up on the farm, we didn't really have much in the way of gardens but since moving to town, Dad has created a beautiful series of garden.  He would never tell you but I think he was secretly chuffed to have the garden take pride of place for the big day. This layout is based on a layout and sketch designed by Shimelle Laine. If you follow the link, you will see that I have stuck pretty close to Shimelle's layout and sketch.
And some close-ups. 

Thanks for stopping by.
S xoxoxo

Thursday, January 9, 2014

A Numbers Game

For some reason, a handful of my recent layouts have featured numbers. There are times where I love the idea of using numbers as the feature in the title to mix things up a bit. Numbers tell more than just a person's age - they are a way of showing people connection with each other, a way of building on a story, first house, a new house or a list of favourites. The layouts featured in this post are a mixture of these elements.
Layout One - 42 Candles Young puts a spin on a traditional title for a birthday layout.
And some close-ups: 

Layout Two - 1 Birthday and 3 Cakes documents our eldest son's 11th birthday when he actually had three separate cakes - one at his sleepover party with this friends from swim squad, the one he, his brother and I shared on his actual birthday (Dad missed out because he was out spraying) and finally, the 'official' birthday party one which my sister organised, complete with John Deere tractor on the front.  I hope he doesn't think birthdays will be like that every year ;) 
And some close-ups: 
I knew I wanted to journal the story behind his birthday this year but the layout was already so busy that I knew journalling directly to the layout wouldn't work. Luckily, my standby stash of embellishments had a cute little tag inside just perfect to tuck behind some of the layers. 
Layout Three - 25 Years and Counting. A fairly obvious title which documents the 25 year friendship between my two 'sisters' - my sister and her best friend. They are as close today as they were back in Year 10 all those years ago, so much so that Sonia and her daughters are firmly entrenched in our family circle. The bond these two share knows no bounds and I count myself very lucky to be able to be a small part of this. A bit of a minor mishap with over-misting has warped the page but I like it all the same :) 
And yet another close-up: 
That's it from me for now. I have a few other layouts to share with you over the coming days.
Thanks for stopping by,
S xoxo

Friday, January 3, 2014

13 favourites from 2013

I have seen a few posts from scrappers sharing their favourite layouts from the previous year so I thought I would do the same. It was hard choosing just 13 but here goes:












So what were your favourite layouts from 2013?  Feel free to leave a link in the comments so I can drop by and leave you some love.
S xoxoxox

Thursday, January 2, 2014

A New Year and A New Opportunity

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and welcomed 2014 surrounded by the ones you love and doing what you love.
2014 sees a very exciting opportunity for me as I was recently selected to be on the design team for Scrap the Boys - one of my favourite scrap challenge websites. This my first time being on a DT so to say I am excited is an understatement! Wendy has put together an awesome team made up of:
So I guess now I should talk about this month's challenge - the first for 2014. You can check out all the details HERE but in a nut shell, you have to scrap a layout to the theme of something new. This is my take on the challenge:
Mitchell with the header/harvester he was hoping to receive for his birthday. He had no idea he was getting it so the look on his face when Tony walked him over to the shed where it was hidden was priceless. I think I could open a toy shop with all of the tractors, headers, pickers and spray rigs that are in the toy room - all John Deere of course lol ;)
And some close-ups: 

I hope you all take up this month's challenge - after all, there are all of those Christmas pictures with all those new goodies needing some scrapping love ;).
Thanks for stopping by.
S xoxo