Do I have to show it? LOL

SO I was doing some blog hopping and stumbled across the Show Us Your Stuff Blog. The second LO challenge for December really struck me as something I wanted to do - reflect on 2010. The only problem was that you must include a handmade item on your layout.

Using one of my pps for inspiration, I pulled out some Fimo I bought ages ago to make a lolly jar ( which incidentally I haven't finished) and relived a moment of my childhood. It took a while but I made a lovely big hot air balloon which I promptly put in the oven to bake.

So here's where my problem started. My fimo packaging was ripped so I turned to the Internet for baking times. 275° for 15 minutes. I set the timer and headed back to my scrap room to start the layout.

Seven minutes later I went back into the kitchen and smoke was billowing from the oven and the house smelt toxic. Crap. My gorgeous creation was a charred mess and I could have burnt the house down if I had waited for the timer. Imagine my "2010 in reflection" then. It turns out that 275° was Fahrenheit and it should only have been 130°C. Derrr.

After de-fuming the house, I didn't have the inclination to make another one the same so I made a dodgy little one that is well, dodgy. You will see it at the top left of the page.

Anyway, 2010 has had many highs and many lows for me. I have listed those I could think of. Not sure why I always seem to remember the lows more the highs. Quite sad really. It will all be behind us in just a few days. Happy New Year everyone. x

The Color Room #37

I love checking out the gorgeous work at TCR but never actually have a go at the palette myself. The colours in this weeks palette though were soo girly and gorgeous that I wanted to have a crack.

I scrapped a pic taken from Molly's first professional photo shoot which was organised by my cousin for Molly's first birthday. I was lucky enough to get the disk with all the pics on it but this pic is my fav.

SO here is my girl, the light of my life.

So, who has been good this year?

Here is my entry for the latest Kraft It Up blog challenge - to scrap a christmas pic using non traditional christmas colours and incorporate knots in the layout.

I took this pic on the weekend just after S and his boys had put up the christmas tree. The boys love putting up the tree and each year we are told not to do it until they are there. To be quite honest I didn't want the tree up this year. It is just one extra worry for me as Molly loves putting anything and everything in her mouth. We came to the agreement that it would be secreted away in the theatre so I could close the door and keep Molly out.

She loved pulling things out of the boxes as the boys decorated. Her first snatch at an ornament though ended in tears as she tried to pull a surprisingly sharp edged plastic star off the lower branches and cut her little palm.

Anyhow, I asked them to all pose in front of the tree once it was done. Jordan is so tall now that he masked the tree and Molly wouldn't stop pointing at everything as she has been prone to do for a few months now. So this is the best I could do.

White with a dash of grey and whole page of masking..........

Last month I scrapped Molly's first letter as my entry into the White With 1 challenge. It looked hilarious in the gallery and I promised myself I would scrap something a little nicer for the next challenge.

Well, this month the WW1 challenge is to use white + grey + masking.

Molly turned one on Tuesday and in the afternoon I took her down the park and let her loose so I could take some snaps. It was pretty windy and her hair was always in her face so I wasn't really too impressed with the pics I took - except this one. She had just stood up and moved out of the frame as I snapped. The background sun and clouds are so dreamy that I just love the shot.

Perfect shot for this challenge as I want the pic to be the focus. The neutral colour scheme enables that to happen.

So here it is..... hope its better than last month!

Colour! Or is it Color? Blues

This was the layout I completed using blue for my Big Picture Class. I am way behind, still have purple and neutrals to do but Rome wasn't built in a day now was it?

It up!

This is my entry for Kraft It Up incorporating decorative edges. I must say that I dont love it and I have had it on my desk for 3 weeks. Might have to scrap that pic again later!

Only about five to go!

I set myself a goal a couple of months back - to complete Molly's first year album before she turns one. I am going pretty well with only a few pics left and 9 days to do it in. I had this pic in my to do list as it is one of the few that I can show her of "when you were in mummy's tummy".

This was our last "holiday" before Molly arrived. We headed to Mooroopna/Shepparton to do some research on S's family tree. Not as exciting as the previous family tree trip (Europe and the UK) but I'll take what I can get. I was paranoid the whole time we were away that I was going to get swine flu. It hit Victoria alot harder than WA.

I didnt catch swine flu but I did catch a stationary bovine. There is a whole park full of these things in Shepparton but in my pregnant state, this was the only one I could hoik myself up on!

I completed my LO using the Nov 15th STUCK?! sketch.

Frog Fun

Just a quick post re the November challenge at Anna's Craft Cupboard. It is based on a sketch by Wendy Smith and is about the things we do to get Molly to eat!

If you have seen my Snail Mail layout, I just want you to know that I do do normal layouts sometimes. LOL.

Stupidly quirky but what the heck!

So I thought I would attempt the White With 1 blog challenge and produce a layout using only white and yellow with journalling directly on the page.

I have been wanting to scrap this piece of memorabilia for a while and decided that given the colour of the envelope, this would be the perfect time. Its a ridiculously silly layout but I want to record this.

The letter contained a lovely signed copy of a book written by Karen Treanor. Check her books out because they are great children's stories.

Incidentally the envelope is as it was sent - with the bandicoot on it!


I have used a technique perfected by Leeann Pearce in her layout "your seaside adventure". I ADORE that layout. Leeann has used a Cuttlebug to emboss her cardstock. I decided to do so the same thing using an alphabet embossing plate. It is a letter after all!

So here is my LO. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Green

I am a week behind in my Colour! Or is it Color? class at Big Picture Classes. I have just finished my green layout and LOVE the result. The layout was a step by step by the instructor, Nic Howard and her style is sooo much more detailed than anything that I have ever done but I am loving it and learning so much. Money well spent.

So I took the opportunity to scrap Molly this month - her eleventh in this world. Cant believe she is one in 2 weeks. This time last year she was still in my tummy and I had no idea what I was in store for. Huge shock but I have loved every second of it!

So here is my green LO:

Duck Face

I really enjoyed the Nov 1 layout sketch at Stuck?!



Quite a simple design and one that came together easily. I scrapped a face that Molly has been pulling for a few months now. It has been coined her "duck face" and appears at various intervals throughout the day. I have been trying to get a pic of it for a while and this is the first one I managed.



I was also lucky enough to win a prize at Stuck?! last month. Thank you very very much Sara for picking my layout and thank you very much Helen at Red Earth Scrapping for my great prize!

Daddy in a Skirt

I have been told that Molly is "S in a skirt" because she looks so much like him. I decided to use the latest Scrap the Girls challenge to record this.

The challenge involves using every piece of the puzzle below only once. The stars are the only variable piece in that they can represent anything.



I really struggled with this challenge. So much so in fact that I left it on my scrap table and S came in and finished it off! My variable elements are the butterfly and the twine.

Oranges and Lemons - She's got two top teeth!

The class I am taking at Big Picture Classes focused on the colours Orange and Yellow this week.

This is my orange layout - very busy but I like how the orange pops.

Classroom Craft

I have subscribed to a 6 week online class taught by Nic Howard at Big Picture Classes which is entitled Colour! Or is it Color? . The first weeks lesson has been released and it focuses on the colour RED. I found the class a bit of an eye opener as I haven't really thought about "colours" per se before and the way in which they are used in our society.

So the homework for the class was to create a LO with red as the feature colour:

My hidden journalling is about some of my feelings about the cards that have been dealt to me and those around me in recent years and how I am grateful for S and Molly. They are definitely two cards I wouldn't swap.

Anyway, I enjoyed the first class and am looking forward to next week. I think it will be about orange and yellow. I think you will need to get in quick if you are interested as enrollment ends soon.

10 months already......

I have just finished my latest layout based on the latest Stuck?! sketch below:

I scrapped some pics of Molly taken earlier this month. Its so hard for us to believe she is already 10 months old. I just wanna press pause. She is so beautiful at this age. I have journalled all the little things she is doing because I am sure to forget them otherwise. I really need to do this every month....

So here is my gorgeous girl:

Unfortunately the completion of this layout means I have to clean up my scrap room as promised. I cant believe it can get sooooo messy so quick. I think its gonna take a while.

Scrapping my girl

I had a go at the October Scrap the Girls challenge today. The challenge is to create a layout inspired by Shakespeare's "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet (so Romeo would were he not Romeo called. Deny thy father..............)". I had to do an English assignment on that piece back in about Year 10. Brings back some memories.

Anyway the LO also had to use flowers and buttons.

I scrapped Molly's nickname of the minute which is "Pea Dodger", a name coined by my dad because he thinks she is small enough to dodge peas.

I was given a resounding "Ewww" (with accompanying mouth movements) from S when he saw my page. He dosen't like the red lettering or even the photo. I tried to explain she is eating peas.... Alas my coffee was dropped off and he left the room.

So I am going to post the page knowing that it is one less pic I now have to scrap and that it is not going to win me any awards. At least I tried!

Lol... This is me to a T!

Just completed my first LO using a STUCK-! sketch. I think I may become a regular at this site cos I am always stuck for ideas.

Anywayz, this is the October 1st sketch:

And this is my take on it:

Its about my mother who besides S, is my best friend. I love her to bits and I am just so lucky to have her. If I turn out half the mother that she is I will be happy. 

Kraft It Up!

With the beginning of the month brings a new set of challenges. I really enjoy checking them all out as I am often lacking in creative ideas for different layout ideas. I have been wanting to scrap this pic of Molly and S for a while now. I had been thinking about ordering some October Afternoon wild cards which would suit my theme perfectly but thought I should curb my spending for a bit. S looks at the credit card statement each month and the less explaining I have to do the better. There always seems to be something new that I want though.....Ah one powerball.......

Anyway, I really enjoyed doing the Kraft It Up! challenge as I used stuff out of my stash and the layout was really perfect for my pics. Not too busy, just something quiet and kinda soothing.

So this was the October challenge sketch. The only stipulation is of course you need to use Kraft:


And this is what I ended up with:



This is my two loves on Molly's second night in this world. S had decided that he wasn't going to stay with me at the hospital so the day she was born, S left the two of us together and headed off home for a rest. Being a first time mum, I had no idea what to do with a baby and consequently had a very long night with a screaming newborn. S stayed with me the next night to show me the ropes but alas, this little girl was a screaming party animal and wouldn't sleep a wink. We tried everything from the soothing tunes of Sarah McLachlan to mood lighting until we eventually stuck her finger in her mouth. She sucked so hard she formed a blister but it soothed her enough to allow her to go to sleep. Needless to say, that Day 3 our girl was given a dummy! 

I see you......

OK, so here is my very first layout for this blog. As is the trend, it features my divine Miss M. A few months ago now she started really playing peek a boo. I managed to capture her sequence in these shots. She cracks me up when she does it. Sometimes though I get a bit worried that she cant breathe cause she seems to leave whatever she is playing with on her face for a while. Today she was playing peek a boo in the car with me on the way to my mums. She grabbed the wipes from the nappy bag next to her car seat, ripped one out and travelled half way there with a wipe on her eyes. I left Molly with my mum for a little while and when I got back mum was telling me she thought Molly was a little too quiet in her cot and when she went in to check on her, found her sitting up on her knees with her sock over her eyes. I think this little girl has got a bit of spunk. Either that or she is going to be the attention seeker from hell!.

Here goes.........

Well, I have finally succumbed to the online networking gig. Those that know me will realise why I have been so anti social networking sites.... up until now. I still feel a bit nervous posting this but I figure it is for a good cause and I have done whatever I can to protect myself and my family. I'm sorry that it must sound a bit cryptic to those that don't know me in person... its about the line of work I did in my "previous life".

It really does feel like a previous life to me at the moment. I haven't been to work since the end of October 2009 and although I do miss my workmates and I do admit I had the best time, I have no desire to leave this SAHM gig anytime soon. My last six months leave is going to go quick. I am under no disillusions there but I am just enjoying this time so much.

That brings me to the cause of my new role as a....MUM! My darling little girl is growing so fast it really doesn't seem fair. As I am only having one child (for reasons which may or may not present themselves in this blog one day in the future) I kinda feel a little cheated that she is developing quicker than the manual suggests. In any case, Molly is the reason I scrap at the moment. I want to leave her a lasting, physical book of memories of our time together and my thoughts on just how great and beautiful I think she is. And her Dad, Nana and Poppy think she is. She really couldn't be loved anymore than she is. Good grief I could go on for hours about her but I won't. Her father gets sick of that, and he is her dad!

Anywayz, whilst I have been a SAHM I have delved into the online world of scrapbooking, seeking and finding inspiration in the layouts of many many talented woman, buying copious amounts of supplies online and even entering the odd online layout comp. I would never expect to win a comp as I readily admit I am a very average scrapper but I have discovered that some comps are just about being in it to win it.

So this blog really is about "moving forward" (I think we have heard that once or twice this year) for me. I am seeking honest opinions and suggestions and am very open to criticism. I just want to learn and then hone the art of scrapbooking so my daughter ends up with something reasonably ok.

If you are reading this I am flattered. Thanks so much for your time. God knows that it has been 5 minutes you will never get back!