Colour Challenge anyone???

Last weekend, I completed the third monthly challenge over at Scrapbooking from Scratch - Donna's Colour Challenge. This was the colour palette she challenged us with was this:

Of course, I took the colours in a totally different direction and eliminated two of them and came up with this:

I am actually quite happy with how this has panned out, especially the splashes of colour. A bit darker than the shades from the inspiration pic but works for me ;)
And some closeups: 

I am loving clustering at the moment. Here I have used a combination of October Afternoon, Elle's Studio, My Mind's Eye and Studio Calico. 

I am thinking that I will save the colour palette and try it using some girly pictures.  I would love to see your take on the challenge - feel free to leave a comment with a link :)
S xoxoxox

Big Shoes to Fill

I used the March Sketch Challenge over at Scrapbooking from Scratch as the inspiration for another layout for Mitchell's album. The sketch looked like this:

And, as per usual, I have flipped it and left things out to come up with this: 

The title refers to the fact that Mitchell needed Size 8 Men's shoes at the start of this year. Size 8 and he is only 10??!! Now his foot is officially bigger than both of his grandmother's and he is well on the way to being able to fit into my shoes.  In the journalling, I have pondered the question of just how big his feet will be in 5 years time. I have a sneaking suspicion I am going to kept poor buying shoes for our biggest little man ;) The background paper is from an older October Afternoon line and I found the text quite distracting. My solution was to smear a thin layout of paint over it using an old plastic card. I then used mist over the top but that went a bit haywire. Lucky for me a baby wipe cleared most of it off. Take two worked much better.

When I printed the photo, I knew I wanted to feature the number '8' somewhere on the layout but didn't want to make it a focal point. This numbered grid paper from the B Side of an older Echo Park collection was perfect for making a record of Mitch's shoe size. 

I really loved this sketch and will definitely be using it again.
S xoxo

Every Summer has a Story ...

was the quote that we had to use for this month's Scrapbooking from Scratch (SFS) Quote Challenge. In our house summer is full of different stories, and almost all of them involve swimming. Rather do yet another layout of swimming carnivals or training, I decided to use some photos from Mitchell's birthday party last December.

And some close-ups: 

I will be back tomorrow with more shares from some of the other challenges over at  SFS.

S xoxoxo

Getting my Challenge On

In between the mundane routine that is a typical weekend, I set time aside to complete a few scrapping challenges.  I managed to complete 4 layouts over the last two days which is not bad considering the amount of distractions I had with Tony and the boys still busy with the harvest. My first share is the March Savvy Sketch with a Twist challenge using this sketch:

I flipped it, moved the title and hid the journalling behind the photo to come up with this:

On afternoon earlier this year, the boys and I were talking about what it mean to have a goal. Mitchell asked if he was allowed to choose a goal for the 2013 school year. Of course, I was interested to hear what he had to say so I let him think about it and choose a few different ones. At the top of his list was his plan to get an 'A' for behaviour on both report cards this year. So far, he is well on his way to achieving this goal. Not to be outdone, Lachlan quickly set some goals of his own - the most important one being his plan to improve reading. I was pretty pleased to hear him say this as reading is one of the biggest things he struggled with last year.  I love that both boys are so keen to be responsible for their learning and behaviour at school. Let's hope it continues for the rest of their time at school.

And a close-up: 

Totally loving matching all of the different shades of green that have been slowly making their way into my stash. The ones on this layout are from Heidi Swapp, October Afternoon and lovely, lovely new chevron vellum from Dear Lizzy for American Crafts.

Stay tuned for some more shares throughout the week.

S xoxoxo

Stuck?! Again

The second sketch challenge for Stuck?! Sketches was posted on their blog earlier over the past weekend. As always, it is a very versatile sketch:

The whole two small photos on a layout is really appealing to me at the moment but I decided to mix it up a bit this time and not scrap the boys - shock horror! Here is what I came up with:

And some close-ups:

I think I am finally starting to get the hang of layering ;) 

In other news, I have finally managed to clear my desk of the mountain of marking that has been parked there over the last fortnight and there are just enough days left in the month to see what other challenges are out there ... off to search the web I go.
Thanks for stopping by
S xoxoxo

More swimming

Just when I thought I couldn't scrap anymore swimming photos (who am I kidding, I have a stack waiting to be scrapped), I decided to scrap some more of Lachie using the Scrap the Boys criteria again to see if I could come up with something totally different to my official entry.

And some close-ups: 

 Now I am second guessing myself and I am seriously thinking that I should have used this as the entry for Scrap the Boys this month. Oh well, what matters most is that it is another layout for the album.
Thanks for stopping by.
S xoxo

Scrap the Boys

The criteria for Scrap the Boys this month asked us to use 2 photos (6x4 or smaller), chipboard, washi tape, and mists/paints.  I decided to use some more photos of Lachlan from his time playing in the flood waters earlier this year. Here is what I came up with:

 And some closeups:

The 'love' here is from a sizzix die. It was cut using chipboard and I painted over it using one of the mists I used to created the splattered background with - from memory it is Tattered Angels 'Coffee Shoppe'. In this closeup you can also see some of the Pink Paislee mistable chipboard shapes which I have left unmisted/uninked.

I found an old October Afternoon chipboard in my stash and cut it in half to tuck in behind each of the photos on the layout. There is also another one of the Pink Paislee mistable shapes, although I inked it this time.

Another chipboard frame with yet another Pink Paislee chipboard mistable heart. 
Think I have the got the whole chipboard criteria-thing taken care of with this layout ;) As for the rest of the criteria: 2 photos - check; washi tape - check (used Pink Paislee and October Afternoon here); paint/mist - check.
Thanks for stopping by.
S xoxoxo

Kraft it Up

The challenge over at Kraft it Up this month involved using this sketch:

Here is what I came up with:

The end of January saw us hit with what would be the first of two serious floods in five weeks. Fortunately for us, the house is well out of flood reach but the same couldn't be said for the crops.  There is a large gully the cuts through the farm during wet times.  The boys love going and checking it out each time water runs through. Lachlan, of course, had to take it one step further - gotta love that kid ;) 

Not totally happy with how the layout turned out - I think I needed to make the photos slightly bigger but, hey, at least it is another one for the album.
Thanks for stopping by.
S xoxo

Playing with Stuck?! Sketches

Stuck?!'s first sketch for March looks like this:

I  flipped it 180 degrees and came up with this:

More swimming photos - not hard to guess what has been the focus in our house for the last six months. The end of the season is on us so I wanted to use these photos as a reminder of how far Mitchell has come this year. His hard work definitely paid off at this carnival as he won a gold and two silver medals. At the end of the day however, it isn't about the winning - it is all about helping Mitch develop his confidence and self-belief.  I suspect that this will be a life-long battle for us but hopefully, as he starts to push himself and succeed, it is something that will come more naturally to him.

And some close-ups:

How cute are these swimming flair badges from Purple Pumpkin?! The set this flair comes from is out of stock but there are three other sets of swimming flairs available ;)

And because you can never have too much flair, I have added another flair - this time from the new Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm collection: 

I have completed some other challenges so I will leave this post here. Hope you stop my again sometime soon.

S xoxoxo

A Forgotten Layout

When your scrapping time is as limited as mine is, it is hard to believe that you can actually forget to blog about a layout.  I found the following layout on my shelves when I was looking for papers to scrap the photos I blogged about in the last post.  This would have to be one of my favourite photos of all times and was taken during the flood waters that cut through the farm earlier this year. Believe it or not, we are in the middle of another flood as I type this and it is actually higher this time around. Sadly, all of the summer crops that my husband had planted are now destroyed. On a positive note, it is not our money that has been lost in these floods as we just manage the place and all this water means that a good winter planting is highly likely. Anyway, onto the scrapping:

Lawn Fawn wood veneer and Evalicious journal spot = love

Thanks for stopping by.
S xoxo

Finding a balance

After a super hectic start to the year, I was determined to find a better work-life balance. I initially struggled to find the balance but this weekend, I forced myself to put away the school work and marking and have some time to myself. Of course the usual household chores had to be done but I also spent a lot of time playing with pretty papers :-) Please excuse the dodgy photos - my much-loved Canon 40D died this week so am making do with my phone.  On the bright side, a new 60D is heading my way thanks to my lovely husband. He is pretty good sometimes ;)

I decided the best way to use my 'me' time was to do a few challenges.  The first one I came across was the March challenge over at the revamped 123 Challenge blog using this criteria:

Layout 1- 'A New Year' capturing the boys first day back at school this year.  It is difficult to believe that we have one child in Grade 5 and another in Grade 3 - where has the time gone.  The boys have both set goals for themselves this year so it will be interesting to revisit those in December to see how they went. Hmmmmm I can feel another layout about their goals coming on ;)

Love, love love the wood veneer from Lawn Fawn. I really need to get my hands on some more of their gorgeous products. 

 Playing around with clusters.  Still haven't got the hang of it yet ;)

Layout 2 - His First Rep Team. The title says it all really. Mitchell made his first school rep team for swimming this year - the Bunya District team.  This is a team made up of competitors from all of the schools in our town and surrounding districts. Once in the team, they head to the regional trials. Mitch made it for 3 events and was super excited just to have made the team.  Last year, he was more than 2 seconds away from the qualifying times so all of his work in the pool this season has definitely paid off as he was one of the top swimmers in the district. He didn't make the regional team but he has already made that a goal for the 2013-14 season.

How cute are the swimming flair badges??!! They are from Purple Pumpkin and I MUST get more as I have a stack of swimming photos to scrap. And of course, another Lawn Fawn wood veneer made its way to this layout. 

I hope you all have a good week. For those in flood affected areas like us, take care and don't take silly chances with all the water lying around.
S xoxo