Getting Inkie with it

Sleep is something which eludes me at times. Usually this happens during stressful periods of time at work - report-writing time, exam block or a huge -to-do list that never seems to get any shorter. When I can't sleep, one thing that I love to do is check out scrapbooking process videos on YouTube. About four months ago, I discovered the channel of Australian Scrapbooker Adele Toomey, aka Inkie Quill. I fell in love with her work instantly and spent the next few nights watching all of her YouTube scrapbooking videos and checking out her blog. She has other channels devoted to art journalling and planners, but I tend to only watch the scrapbooking ones.

Recently, Adele held a live scrap stream on her channel - OMG 12+ hours of Inkie Quill goodness = BLISS. I am not sure what my husband and the boys thought of my constant giggling throughout the day. It was like being on retreat but in my own house. I scrapped along with Adele and created these layouts.
Layout 1: 5 & Seven - finally getting around to scrapping the annual back-to-school photo from 2015 just in time for the 2016 photo.

Layout 2: 2016 Creed. The quote came up on my Pinterest feed and it perfectly sums up how I would like to live this year.

Layout 3: My Main Squeeze - a 'just because layout' using up a pile of scraps.

Layout 4: This Watch. During Adele's stream, the topic of scrapping the difficult moments was discussed. Too often, our scrapbooks are filled with moments and memories of happy times but life is real, life is tough, sometimes bad stuff happens. This was the basis of the discussion - whether or not the 'bad stuff' has a place in our albums. I think they do - they can help change our perspective on situations, help us see the silver lining when things aren't going so well, as well as being cathartic in the sense that we can get things off our chests instead of bottling them up. Last year, our house was broken into and all of my jewellery was stolen, including a watch that was my mother's. It held so much sentimental value which can never be replaced. I used this layout as a way of reminding myself that while the watch may be gone, all that it means can never be taken from me.

That's it for now. Scrapping has taken a back seat over the last few days as I have been getting ready for the start of another school year.

Thanks for stopping by.

S xoxo

Random Creating

While I loved my time on the Scrap the Boys team and was honoured to be a Scrapbooking Memories Master in 2015, I have missed creating just for the fun of it. There were many times last year when scrapping took a very distant backseat to my work and some months the only scrapping I did was for STB or for the magazine. The challenges were awesome and the products often put me out of my comfort zone so right now, I am relishing in digging through my stash and creating layouts for the fun of it.

Layout One: Oh So Fancy. This photo dates back to 1999 (OMG that is 17 years ago!) and is of my mother, sister and I at my hen's night.

Layout Two: Best Present Ever. There is no patterned paper on this layout - just a bag that was from a recent shopping trip and tags/labels from my stash. My son must like it - he took it off my desk and blu-tacked it to his wall before I could put it in my album.

Layout Three: Yet another swimming layout. Not 100% happy with how this layout turned out, but I do love the texture in the background. My favourite element is the Flutterby Designs flair badge. I need to get some more of these. 

Thanks for stopping by.
S xoxo

Kraft+ January Challenge

Hi everyone, back with another share of a layout I create last week for the Kraft+ Challenge blog. The challenge for this month was to use your handwriting. I will be the first to admit that I don't love my own handwriting, but I do like to use it on my layouts from time to time. I go through stages where all of my journalling will be handwritten and other times where I will use my vintage typewriter or my computer. Here is what I came up with:

Photo credit: Leanne Jago. Thanks Leanne :)

I have been crafting up a storm these holidays - making the most of time at my scrap desk before school starts again at the end of the month.

S xoxo

White with 1 - January Challenge

After a short break from all things scrapping related, I am making the most of the summer holidays here in Australia. By making the most of it I mean lots of time spent at the pool with the boys while they train and time spent scrapping. I thought the best way to find my scrapping groove again would be to see what challenges are out and about.
Here is what I created for White with 1 for this month, featuring the colour green - photos of our youngest son present his speech for school captain voting last year. He was super proud to be elected as Vice Captain of his school for 2016!

And some close-ups:

Thanks for stopping by. 
S xoxo

Saying Goodbye

There's an old saying that all good things must come to an end and the close of 2015 was more than just the end of another year, but also the end of my time as a Scrapbooking Memories Master and Design Team Member of Scrap the Boys.
While being selected as a Master was definitely a highlight of my scrapping life, I had wanted to be on a DT for the longest time. Scrap the Boys was the perfect home for me - as the mother sons, the site was an awesome hub of inspiration. I will definitely miss being on the DT but I cannot wait to see what the new team members come up with over the following months.
Here is my final DT layout based on this mood board:

To step way outside of my comfort zone, I chose to focus on the greens and purples on the board. I didn't have the right shade of purple, but went with what I found in my stash.

I loved the way this layout turned out, especially considering it had been well over two months since I last had the time, motivation and opportunity to scrap. Here's hoping that 2016 will be calmer than 2015 so I can have more time for pretty paper play.
Love
S xoxo