A Truly Remarkable Experience (Lets Get Sketchy)

As July has 5 Mondays, the reveal this week is "Anything Goes", which pretty much means we could create any layout we wanted.  This provided me with the perfect opportunity to use up the last full sheet of paper left from my May Paper Bakery Kit, which is the lovely Dreamy paper, by Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper (I especially love the pink bokeh effect running through it).

These photos are really big and really old, they were taken back in 2003 for a hair competition that was an event during Queenstown Winter Festival.  I'd just done my first stage show, and the hairdressers from the show needed someone with long hair to do a live hair-up.  The theme was Winter Queen, and they asked me and of course I thought what an amazing fun opportunity!  My hairdresser made the castle on my head from foam, and spray painted it silver.  We didn't win, but we had a fantastic time, and being given the photos was a bonus!

Being a big fan of Shimelle Laine (Glitter Girl) has encouraged me to actually scrap photos of myself.  When you have children (and if having a baby was the reason you started scrapping), I find that it's very easy to not include photos of yourself in your scrapbooks.  So I've been making an effort to scrap myself lately too :)

I loved how these photos looked on the paper, so I just went for simple design and very minimal embellishment, but with added interest layering the title onto the photos.  I had fun with my butterfly punch and scallop border punch (which I love and often forget about).  

In addition to my Paper Bakery Kit, I used American Crafts glitter tape, and some glittery white brads.

Thanks for looking, I can't wait to see what you make this week as you freestyle it!

Be blessed

Melissa x

Use Your Words - Last Chance for July

Hello, just a quick post to remind you that our first ever official challenge over at Use Your Words is nearly over for July.  You have 1 day, 18 hours and 18 minutes (and counting LOL) to play along!!!

Remember that the word to be inspired by is STORY, and this must be included either in you title or journaling.  Do come and play along, its so much fun!

Four (Paper Bakery Sketch #8)

I played along again (at the last minute) with the latest sketch over at the Paper Bakery.  The sketch had two circles, but I chose not to use them.  I flipped the orientation of the box and strip behind the photos.  I used my June Paper Bakery Kit, and this was my first layout made with it.

I chose a photo of my kids and their nieces which my Mother in Law took during Autumn when the kids were playing in the leaves at her house.  I love this photo as it has all the kids in line of their age.  The colours of the red Autumn leaves looked great with the corrugated paper, so that was my starting point.  I love the Elle's Studio Saltwater frames, and was so keen to use them, one to frame the photo and the other for the journaling.  My layout is quite simple, but I love how it turned out. The only extra items that aren't from the kit are the plain vellum paper (which I layered under the frames to provide some separation), white cardstock, and a new stamp from Paper Bakery (stamps like a dream, such good quality!).

Here is the sketch:

And here is my layout:

Have a blessed rest of your weekend, its Sunday afternoon here!

Melissa x

One Reason I Love Being A Scrapbooker

Well there are lots of reasons I love being a scrapbooker (lovely paper being the main reason), but the reason I want to share today is convenience.  Now that may seem like a strange topic to be writing about when it comes to scrapbooking, but I have the perfect example.  

A few weeks ago Azaria had two parties to go to on a Saturday morning.  Both were princess-themed 4 year old girl parties, and they started at 10 am and 12 pm, respectively.  This meant that while Shaun took Sam to his last rugby game of the season, I was going to be surrounded by darling princesses (and a handful of princes) for 5 hours!

Azaria and I had gone shopping the day before, and purchased Twilight Sparkle and Apple Jack (My Little Ponies) for the birthday girls.  I always keep two rolls of paper in my cupboard, one for girls and the other for boys.  So after we wrapped the presents I had to whip up two girly cards in about 5 minutes, and this is what I came up with:

Now they aren't perfect or elaborate, they are pretty much chipboard stickers and stamping (even a little crooked) on card stock.  However, they are entirely suitable for a 4 year old girl, and far more affordable than the $12 that it would have cost to buy two cards!

Have a great weekend!

Melissa x

Hello Hello!

Well I haven't disappeared from the blogging and scrapping world!  Last Tuesday Shaun and I flew up to Auckland for our annual Church Conference (City Impact Church Global Impact Conference), and it was amazing.  Global Impact Conference was back on after a 2 year break, and it was so awesome to catch up with friends from all over NZ!  We were so blessed to stay with a lovely family (who are our dear friends), and over three days (and fours nights) were blessed with outstanding worship, preaching, teaching and fellowship!

A few weeks ago I decided at the very last minute to apply for the American Crafts 2013/14 Design Team.  I had originally decided I wouldn't, then once I realised the closing date was a week later than I'd thought, "what have I got to loose?"  Well I didn't get in, but it was an awesome experience to push myself in my creativity, and I will definitely have another go next year.  The team was announced this week, and I was very excited to see fellow Lets Get Sketchy DT member Ashley Horton made it!! Big congratulations to Ashley, so well deserved as her layouts are awesome and so inspirational!

I've decided to use my layouts for something else, but thought I'd share the card and two off the page projects that I made for my application:

It was so much fun to pull together all my AC products, mix them up and just create! I really enjoyed using the Amy Tangerine rubbons for the sentiment, and you know that I adore everything Dear Lizzy (this is 5th & Frolic)!!

I made altered this plain white frame from The Warehouse for Azaria's bedroom.  She is four and I wanted some positive words that were easy to read to be in her room.  She loves it! 

I made this little mini album from some packaging that came with a scrapbook product order (basically some thick cardboard).  I'm yet to finish this, but intend on filling it with Instagrams and small photos of our family from June.  I'll share some photos once I've finished it :)

So there you have it, a look into what I created under pressure!

Be blessed

Melissa x

P.S. So excited William & Kate had a baby boy!!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!!!

Welcome to the Christmas in July Blog Hop (organised by the fabulous Ruth  through a forum post over at Two Peas in a Bucket), inspiring you to get out your Christmas stash and use it before all the new collections are introduced this month.  Join the fun and create something too, use the hashtag #scrapbookchristmas in Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

You would have come here from Tasha's lovely blog, or you may have made your way on your own.

Well I was so excited when I found Ruth's post over at 2Peas as like most of you, I have left over Christmas product in my stash.  I have leftovers from a Studio Calico kit that I used for my 2012 December Daily Album, and even older product that I purchased when I first started scrapping.  I was really keen to use it up!

One thing I find challenging about Christmas product is that it isn't made for Southern Hemisphere Summer Christmases (here in New Zealand we celebrate Christmas with BBQs and sun!).  As I'm so blessed to live in Queenstown, where we get snow in Winter I decided to make non-Christmas Winter layouts with Christmas products.  

I made up the following kit of products:

Then I made the following layouts (my photos are not the best, we are mid-Winter here, and have had a lot of snow and grey days):

The first layout is of my beautiful niece Jessie-Rose, and her first snow experience:

The background stripe is a Simple Stories Paper that came with a Christmas themed Studio Calico add-on kit that I purchased last year for my December Daily Album.  I remembered about it after I took the photo of my full sheets of paper.

This next layout is my son playing in the snow last year during a "Snow Day", which is a day off school from a big snow dump!  Always lots of fun for the kids!

I enjoyed layering on this one, and used up some really old snowflake rubons.

This next layout has a photo of my daughter and I in 2011, outside my work.

I decided to fussy cut a couple of the large snow flakes, then I had the challenge of integrating them into the design of the page.  After I'd finished my journaling at the bottom I realised I had more of the story to tell, so added in some more!

This last page is not my favourite, as I was down to the real scraps, but I knew I wanted to use that typography paper, which has lyrics from Christmas songs on it.  I decided to scrap photos of my daughter playing in the snow this Winter, and I purposefully chose not to edit them by  lightening, as I really wanted to capture the nature of the weather the day her and my son got to play outside. I think this tells the true nature of the story, as it was still snowing when they begged me to go outside.  I tried to use up as many of the epoxy snowflakes as I could to represent the snow falling.

I hope you enjoyed my projects, I certainly had loads of fun making them, and I love that Winter Hemisphere Christmas product can work for scrapping Winter photos!  It feels so great to use up old stash, and now I know I can look forward to CHA product reveals next week even more!

Next on the hop is Alison, she makes beautiful layouts, do go and check out what she's made.

Thanks for visiting!
Be blessed
Melissa x

Reflections of You 2! (The Paper Bakery Sketch Challenge #7)

I played along with the Paper Bakery Sketch Challenge #7, which is this lovely sketch:

I purposefully took a photo of my kids in the supermarket trolley last week, just so I could scrap these two photos together!  I can't believe the changes in just over three years!  I used my May Paper Bakery Kit (which I'm nearly at the end of now, and am making myself finish before I break open my June kit) and some extras from my stash like the Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper Frame, the black foam thickers, some My Minds Eye brads and Desert Mister Hueys.  I love how it turned out!

Thanks for looking!

Be blessed

Melissa x

The Story of a Girl by a Boy with a Camera (Use Your Words)

Welcome to our first official reveal and challenge over at Use Your Words Challenge Blog!  We are all so excited about today, and can't wait for you to join in and play along!  

What I love so much about Use Your Words is that you can scrapbook in any style, about any subject,  provided that you use the word that's provided either in your title or in your journaling.  The word for this challenge is "STORY". There is so much scope within this word, and as scrapbookers, I believe that as well as indulging in our love of pretty paper and embellishments, we also love to preserve our memories by telling our stories.

I decided to use "Story" in my title, in order to explain what is behind these beautiful photos of my daughter Azaria, which were taken by my son (aged 5) last December.  Every Christmas my husband creates beautiful canvases with photos of our kids and us.  Shaun gave Sam the camera and told him to go and take some photos of Azaria, and these were my two favourites.

Here is my layout:

I had so much fun creating this layout. I started knowing that I wanted to use the little bags behind the photos, and that I wanted to mix vintage imagery with modern products.  I also knew that I wanted a mix of lettering for my title.  I used a mix of My Minds Eye, Simple Stories Vintage Bliss, Echo Park Paper Beautiful Moments, Paper Bakery Flair, Evalicious Flair and a stamp, and random other die cuts from my stash.  I had fun with my new Amy Tangerine stitching template too!

I'm so looking forward to seeing what you create!

Be blessed

Melissa x

Sisters (Lets Get Sketchy)

Today is Week 3 reveal over at Lets Get Sketchy and those of us in Team A are back on.  I must say I'm having an absolute blast being on this team, I love that we all have different styles, and I love seeing my team members layouts!  Do go and check them out :)

This weeks sketch is by the super talented Ashley Horton:

I decided to scrap another one of my rediscovered disposable camera photos from our wedding reception (nearly 10 years ago)!! This photo is of my lovely sister Kristin and I, and I just love the joy in our faces!

I used the lovely new Beautiful Life collection by Echo Park Paper Co. for this layout.  Instead of using three photos, I decided to showcase the lovely girly papers.  I kept this one really simple, with lots of white space, just a little bit of misting, and minimal embellishment.

I do hope you come and play along with us week, we love seeing how the sketches inspire you.  Thanks for visiting. Be blessed!

Melissa x

Escape to the Lake (Crate Paper)

Last month I entered the Crate Paper June Creative Challenge Weekly.  As you probably know, I just adore Crate products, especially their eclectic mix of vintage ephemera, and distressed paper.  

The June challenge was to create a project with poka dots.  Lately when I think of dots I think of bokeh. I cut one of the CP frames to have my gold sequins escape into a sky of bokeh.  I layered velum dots over my paterned paper dots to create the bokeh effect.  This layout is about our summer escape to camp at Lake Aviemore, and features my daughter.  I love that she is unaware that I was taking her photo.

 I was so excited to check their blog  today to find out that I was a runner up!!  Here is my layout:

I used a mix of the Maggie Holmes, DIY Shop and Fourteen collections.  I used a DIY Shop photo overlay on my photo to give it an Instagram look.  Additions were the lovely Heidi Swapp Letters, and a Pink Paislee heart which I painted gold, and gold sequins.

Thanks for looking

Melissa x

Use Your Words - Happy Scrapping News!!!

I'm so thrilled to announce that I made it onto the Design Team for Use Your Words!!!  It's such an honor to be able to design with such a talented group of ladies!  I do hope you'll come and visit and play along.  I can't wait to see what you make!

Melissa x

A Smile (Scrap & Music)

Scrap & Music is a really fun challenge site that requires a layout to be made based on a sketch and the lyrics to a song.  Such an awesome concept, I love it so much I had to play along.  Sketch #5 and the song "She" by Elvis Costello is the current challenge, and I love that they mention the use of this song in Notting Hill, which has to be one of my all time favourite movies!!!

I decided to push myself to use this for a layout about my son:

I love this photo so much as for once he isn't pulling a silly face!  I used my lovely May Paper Bakery Kit, and some extras from my stash!  Love all the crate paper in this one!

Here is the sketch:

Thanks for looking :)

Use Your Words Challenge Blog - DT Call

As a writer by day and a scapbooker by night I've discovered a brand new challenge site called Use Your Words Challenge Blog.  I love that it combines two of my favourite things, and I've decided to apply!

I just love this badge created for the blog!

Have a great weekend :)

Azaria's Page!!!

This weekend, in the midst of Azaria's birthday, church and the official closing of Winterfestival, I spent some time at a local scrap camp, organised by my lovely friend Lara.  I was able to make three layouts - I've resigned to the fact that my pages take a loooooong time to come together!

As Azaria's birthday was on the Saturday, I had brought with me a little crafting kit that she had seen at the Warehouse (and kept asking for), and a little bag of lollies.  On Saturday morning Nik kindly set up a table next to mine, and I took Azaria for a "surprise" trip to the camp.  She had no idea at all where we were going, and was quite shy and overwhelmed when we arrived.  She was very happy to open her present, and with the help of Kim, made this page:

So cute!! I love that she loves scrapping too!

Scrapstuffz "Inspired By" Challenges - First Official Challenge!!!

I'm so excited to be a part of the new challenge site Scrapstuffz "Inspired By" Challenges!  The Design Team is thrilled to bring you the first official challenge, which is to be inspired by this US Independence Day image:

I was inspired by the sunburst chevrons, and it immediately made me think of the chevron arrows paper from Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm.  I was also inspired by the stars, so had to use the constellation paper from the same line.  I snapped this photo of my kids playing in the snow a couple of weeks ago, and I think that the arrows work really well with Lucky Charm.  I fussy cut the arrows, sewed them onto my page, and then bent the edges up.  I love the movement that they give the page!  Some layering, a sprinkling of sequins (like snowflakes) those yummy pink sugary thickers,  and a triangle on the bottom right corner to anchor my page, and I was done! 

I can't wait to how the image inspires you!  Make sure you link up this month, follow the instructions on how to play on the site, and you'll be in to win an awesome prize!

We Made the Newspaper (Lets Get Sketchy)

Welcome to the first sketch of July over at LGS!  This is my second month of being on the Design Team, and I'm having a blast!  This week's fun sketch was designed by the very talented Jenessa.

My layout features my lovely sister-in-law, and tells the story of the ball that we went to last year.  As my husband was the MC for the evening, Alana and I arrived at the ball together and had our photo taken by one of the local papers.  We totally didn't expect to end up in the paper, but much to our surprise we made the social page (which if you know me is not the attention that I seek lol)!

I made this layout with my May Paper Bakery Kit, and I'm absolutely loving the mix of product that Sarah has put together.  I just adore the Lily Bee Bokeh paper, and really wanted it to feature so I cut it large.  This layout also features Crate Paper's Maggie Holmes paper, and the DIY Ephemera pack.  I added glitter to the flower die cut, and also had a fun messy time glittering-up the frame (from Crate Paper's The Pier).  I also had fun with the heart mask that came with the new subscribers gift, I used gold acrylic paint.  The frame and gold thickers were not from the kit.

And here is the sketch:

Thanks for looking.  I can't wait to see your layouts, so do come and play along.  I love your comments and please follow my blog :)