Inspired by . . .

Like most scrapbookers who love the online world of our hobby, I enjoy looking online at blogs and Pinterest for inspiration.  I just found a really interesting new challenge site called ScrapStuffz "Inspired by" Challenges.  This blog has only just started and they are looking for a Design Team, so I've decided to have a go!

The challenge was to be inspired by the following three blocks:

And this is my layout of one of the games at Azaria's 3rd birthday party last year:

I was inspired by the delicious colour palette of green, pink and blue, and thought it worked really well with October Afternoon's "Cakewalk", and these new Crate Paper frames from "The Pier".  I added in some Stampin' Up ribbon (which I gathered with my sewing machine), some blue patterned paper, then my usual machine sewing, distressing of edges and ink splatters.  The chipboard stars were inspired by the pink star block.

Thanks for looking

Melissa x

Back to Reality!

The roads were cleared today, so it was back to reality with school, and Shaun's work.  Wednesday is my day off with Azaria, so we had fun as usual!

This month my local scrapping group got together and we decided to play along with the May sketch challenge over at Artfull Crafts.  I decided to scrap this sweet photo of my son at his birthday dinner in March.  Its an Instagram, I think with no filter.  I just love the new "Vintage Bliss" line from Simple Stories, especially this typography card.  It mixed really well with "Yes Please" by Amy Tangerine for American Crafts, and the beautiful "Sundrifter" line by Studio Calico.  I chose not to scrap 3 photos, as I wanted this photo of Sam to be the focus of this layout.

Be blessed :)

Happy Snow Day!

Hello from the snowy south!  Well for once the weather forecast was right and we got our first snow dump of the season. We all stayed home from school, childcare and work, and had a fun day as a family.

My DT reveal is up at Lets Get Sketchy, it's a dream come true for me!  I'm so excited to be designing with such a talented and fun group of ladies from all over the world.  My first project will be on up on Saturday (our Sunday in NZ)!

Here's another layout that I finished up recently. Its using nearly the last of my Dear Lizzy "Neapolitan" Collection from American Crafts.  Hard to believe that she is so small in this photo...

Be safe in this winter weather x

You Are 3!

Hello!  Right now Winter has arrived with the snow that we've been waiting for!

I've discovered another fun scrapbooking challenge site called S.W.A.T (Scrap Warriors Advanced Training) and I decided to play along with their May Drill #8 Sketchy Saturday challenge.

This was the sketch:

And this is my layout.  I love that it includes multiple photos and pushes me out of my comfort zone.  These photos are of Azaria's 3rd birthday last June, and although they aren't the best, are the only photos I have of this moment.  I'm scrapping her party photos with October Afternoon "Cakewalk" so love that this page also coordinates.  I especially loved the stars on the sketch, so had to add them onto my layout!

Enjoy your day/night wherever you are x

Very Exciting Design Team News!!!

I'm so excited to announce that I made it onto the Design Team for Lets Get Sketchy!!  I'm so looking forward to designing with such an awesome group of ladies.  We have challenges every week, so come and join us by playing along!

This was my entry layout, and I love that Simple Stories "Vintage Bliss" worked so well with My Minds Eye "The Sweetest Thing - Tangerine".  These photos are Instagrams that I took at the park one afternoon.  I just adore that both kids are "happy" for me to take their photos for once!

Have a blessed Sunday, we're expecting our first big snow tomorrow xxx

Dateless No More!

Things have been getting a little out of control lately!  I've been scrapping a lot, but not completing all my layouts.  I've had three pizza boxes full of layouts that are either to be put in albums, to be completed or are missing the date.  My mission today was to tackle some of the dateless layouts!  Being a perfectionist, and a non-chronological scrapper, I need the dates on them to be able to put them in albums in order.  This was my dateless pile:

And here are some completed layouts!  This one is my dear sweet Sam at age 2, jut before Azaria was born.  I love using yellow and grey together.

In case you are wondering what that is on her nose, while I was in the shower that morning I came out to find that Sam and Azaria had stamped their faces with one of Sam's stamps!  I loved watching them decorate cupcakes at a friend's house.  Layouts featuring both kids go into our family album.

The following layout is of our garden with new lavender plants. Sadly my beloved little box hedge died, but it was exciting to finally put some flowering plants into our garden.  I've got small carnations planted in front of the lavender now, some with pretty pink flowers, much to Azaria's delight.  This is a very minimal layout for me, but I just wanted that lovely chevron woodgrain to shine!  It was perfect with the feather vellum banner layered over it, accented with Studio Calico wood veneer feathers - bliss right there!

Lets Get Sketchy Design Team Call

I've recently started following the blog of Ashley Horton who makes lovely bright layouts. She is on the design team for a challenge site called Lets Get Sketchy, and I was very excited to find out that they have a Design Team Call which I've decided to apply for:

Lets Get Sketchy is looking to add 2-4 more members to our already fabulous Design Team.  The DT term will run from June 1 through Sept 1.  You will be responsible for at least 2 layouts a month as well as commenting on entries each week.  I am only looking for dedicated members.   If you are interested and would like to be considered for a position then here is what you need to do:

Why apply for our team? 

• To be inspired and to inspire others 
• To be on the ground floor of an up and coming blog 
• You will be a part of an amazing group of women and develop lifelong friendships with women from all over the world. 
• Your work will be featured on Facebook and Pinterest. 

What is expected of our Design Team? 

• You MUST be a follower of our blog
• Complete 2 projects a month (you will be given challenges at least a month in advance). 
• Comment on participants entries (THIS IS A MUST!).  Any team member not adhering to this rule will be promptly removed from the team so please make sure you can do this before applying. 
• Commit to a 3 month term (Beginning of  June to the beginning of September) 
• Keep an active blog that is updated frequently 
• Post our challenge and your project on your blog on reveal day and link back to the LGS blog.

How to apply:

• Leave a comment below indicating you would like to apply 
• Tell me a little bit about yourself to include your style and whether or not you are on any other design teams. (no previous DT experience required) 
• Add our link and DT call to your blogs.
• Provide links to your blog and any online galleries. 
• Include 3 projects that best represent your style. 
• Create a layout from the sketch below
• Place our DT call on your blog to help get the word out.
• You MUST have a Facebook account as we will have a private DT group on Facebook

All interested applicants will be invited to our Facebook Group where you will meet and interact with members of our current Design Team.  This is so we can all get to know each other a little better.  Anyone interested in applying please send your application to letsgetsketchy@gmail.com.  Make sure you put DT call in the subject line.

We are accepting applications through May 24^th.  New design team members will be notified by May 25^th.  This is an open call, what that means is, I have the right to close this call at any time if I feel all the positions have been filled.    The first reveal will be June 1st. I know this is a short turn around however; the first challenge will be easy. I promise you!

No previous DT experience needed.

I can't wait to see what you come up with!  International members ARE welcome to apply!

Hope you had a fantastic Tuesday :)

Scrap Around The World

I recently discovered a new challenge blog called Scrap Around The World, which encourages worldwide scrappers to play along! I love that their challenges include a mood board and a sketch, and this is Challenge 1:

I was especially inspired by the turquoise colours with pops of pink, and this is my interpretation:

And a close up:

I decided to change the sketch by swapping the tags on the side to banners, washi, ribbon and a Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm die cut and arrow.  I balanced out the photo by moving it down, and swapped the location of the title, tag and journaling. I love this photo of my family camping, being behind the camera I just wish that I was in in too!

A Beautiful Mess

There is an awesome new iPhone app which allows some really fun filters, doodles and text to be added to photos taken by phone. It's made by (and called) A Beautiful Mess.

I downloaded it today and played :)

I love scrapbooking Instagram photos, and can see that this is going to make for  even more fun!

My Scrappy Challenge

This week I set myself a challenge to use up the what was left of my "Front Row" Kit from Studio Calico.  As these kits are so precious to me (as are all supplies that I buy) I decided to push myself to see just how much I could create from what I had left.  Here are the remaining supplies:

First I created a layout, and I put my journaling inside the glassine bag that contained the labels.  I added the yellow cardstock, as I had none left, and no full pieces of paper.  Although the photo is my daughter in the swing when she was a toddler, the journaling tells the story of the swing, and how it used to be hanging inside off an exposed beam in our previous house, and how we hung it outside under the verandah when we moved to our current house.  This photo is another taken by Mum.

As I didn't really have enough paper to make another layout, I decided to see how many cards I could make from the scraps, and was thrilled to create the following five masculine cards!  I always find guy-style cards a challenge, but the colours and embellishments drove my creativity.  We are in the midst of Autumn nearly Winter here, so it was hard to get photos without shadows.

I also made the following landscape cards.

My favourite is the "Happy Day" card, and I loved placing the banners under the vellum on the "4 U".  I used my sewing machine on all of these cards, its my favourite technique, and results in very minimal adhesive.

And these are the scraps that I had left (light was quickly fading so really not a good photo).

There is certainly a lot of satisfaction from using a kit to the very end :)

Happy Mothers Day and Sequins!

I hope you're having a blessed day today.  I was spoilt with handmade gifts from my kids.  Sam made me a beautiful paper flower, and Azaria gave me chocolates that were made at childcare.  Its not really about the gifts though, but about the love that goes with being a Mum.  We were also really blessed at church this morning x.

A big Happy Mother's Day to my Mum and Mum-in-law too.

I made the following layout for the Two Peas in a Bucket May Trendy Trios class.  The trendy technique for this month is Ombre, which I love.  The photo is my son and daughter when Azaria was a baby, so very appropriate for Mother's Day.

They grow up so very fast so enjoy every stage!

This next layout is for National Scrapbooking Day, Two Peas Challenge #2: Member-Based Sketch. This was the sketch:

This was my interpretation, with photos of the kids biking in the Arrow River:

I have a love for sequins at the moment, especially gold!

Girly shopping & Ninja Camp

On Wednesday Azaria and I went to JK Kids and she a treat of some new clothes for Winter.  She's grown so much, and is definitely the one out of the four of us that needed new clothes!  I couldn't believe that she picked pink skinny jeans (she loves skirts and dresses), but who could pass up the hearts!

Once we were home, Azaria was keen to set up a tent inside using the clothes rack, blankets and my pink and gold table cloth.  She got her pillow, blanket and "friends" and was well set up.

Sam had rugby training after school, and once we were home he of course wanted his own tent, and the game of Mums and Dads with dolls and toys quickly changed into Ninja training camp, with the addition of Nerf Guns and the trampoline!  Azaria was just happy to play along.

Two Peas in a Bucket always have great challenges that stretch my creativity, and National Scrapbooking Day was no exception.  I made the following for Challenge 7: Be Inspired by a Garden Girl.  I was inspired by Celine Navaro, who is an amazing mixed media artist.

It is about Sam's discovery of Minecraft.  I love that he really wanted me to scrapbook about him, and I asked for a list of things in the game, which I doodled down the side.  I used Gesso and mixed white acrylic paint with blue mist.

Have a great Sunday tomorrow x

My darling boy!

I found some photos of Sam that Mum took when he was a baby.  I love that Mum often sends me photos of the kids that I don't have.  (Inter)national Scrapbooking Day was on 4 May, and I've been spoilt for choice with challenges to enter.  I decided to support scrapbooking in New Zealand, so was keen to enter a Challenge Me Happy Facebook only challenge.  Challenge #1 was a colour challenge in blue tones.  This is my layout:

I used patterned papers from Dear Lizzy 5th & Frolic (American Crafts), a journalling card from Echo Park Paper "Photo Freedom", stickers from Echo Park Paper "Everyday Ecclectic", washi tape (hearts) from Glitz and sequins and chipboard (which I dyed blue with spray ink), both from The Warehouse.

I'll have a couple more NSD layouts to share later on in the week :)

So excited!!!!

I just checked Crate Paper and I'm a runner up for my Me & You Layout here!  Utter disbelief, very very excited indeed!!!

Gloriously Happy

A while ago I found a New Zealand challenge blog site called Challenge Me Happy. I finally decided to make a layout and enter.  Challenge #44 was a sketch challenge based on the following sketch:

And this was my interpretation:

I stayed pretty true to the sketch, but changed the banner on the side to come down from the top.  I had a lot of fun using Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper on this one; like all Crate Paper lines it is so beautiful, with vintage imagery.  I especially adore the paper that has Maggie's handwriting.

The photo is an Instagram with a vintage overlay from last Easter.  I love that Sam just can't wait to get into his chocolate, shirt off from bed and all!  The title is "Gloriously Happy", and whilst it appears that it is about the excitement of chocolate eggs, for our family Easter is about our Lord's death and Resurrection.  It is fun to eat the chocolate and remember the reason!

Welcome & Crate Paper!

Hello!  I can't believe that after over a year of putting this off I'm here and live!  My blog is about all things scrapbooking, crafts and gluten free treats here in my paradise, which is Queenstown, New Zealand.  I created this layout for the Crate Paper April Creative Weekly Challenge which is a colour collage.  The collage has to be "an intricate assembly of layers using both shades and tints of a single colour family.  I chose my beloved pink!

I adore everything about Crate Paper, and used Little Bo Peep, Fourteen and Maggie Holmes collections.  I was inspired by an image on Pinterest of a quilt.  I cut my patterned papers into strips, glued them onto some Bazzil Natural Cardstock, and then doodled around them with a gold pen.  I cut them out and then glued them onto this beautiful Fourteen patterned paper.  I added my photo of Shaun and I (taken a few years ago at a friends wedding), on some layers, and then added some embellishments to draw the eye to the photo.  I finished up with some stamping and doodling of hearts in gold pen.

My gallery

http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/user_profile/533982/