Picnic Party!

It was my 36th birthday in May and my friends were planning a socially distanced celebration, however the week before hand Queensland lifted restrictions early so we were able to have a small picnic in a park instead.

I've used old Kaisercraft papers (Blue Bay maybe?) and a Scrapmatts chipboard piece. As I went to sort the 100 or so layouts I need to put in albums I realised I have so many I haven't even dated. 🤦‍♀️ While it's fun to create them at the time, when I look back later I'm much more interested in the story, which I may have forgotten if I didn't bother with journalling.  This time I made sure to incorporate at least some basic facts. 

The layout was inspired by the current challenge at Scrap the Girls, which is a very versatile sketch. I love using sketches as my starting point for layouts, even if the finished product sometimes looks entirely different.

Byron Bay

My entry for this month's Scrap The Girls challenge is reminiscing about the days when my sister could fly up from VIC to QLD so we could drive over the border to NSW just to hang out at an overcrowded tourist attraction. 😥 . I had taken her up to the Cape Byron Lighthouse on previous visits but it had always been too busy to get a car park. On this visit we just decided to park down at one of the beaches and walk the track up to the lighthouse instead. Its was beautiful, but much hotter and longer than we had expected.

Detail shots:

Challenge inspiration:

Lily

Created my first layout for the year! So good to get back into it. Detail shots are on my instagram account.

Created for Scrap The Girls, using this mood board as inspiration. 

Hello Cheeky

Nothing like cutting it fine with a challenge entry, right? :) Anyway, her is a girly, floral layout featuring Miss Lily and her cheeky grin.

Patterned papers, flairs and alphabet stickers are all from Cocoa Vanilla Studios. Background was created by applying gesso through a Kaisercraft stencil and then activating Tinby Designs Color Crush powders over the top. 

I used the sketch over at Scrap the Girls for September, though rotated it to suit my portrait photo. 

And So The Adventure Begins - Scrap The Boys DT

This is my first layout since giving birth to Lily back in April (the other design teams ones were completed ahead of schedule and revealed at the start of each month). I'm a little bit rusty and it took ages to complete as I could only work on it in 10 minute gaps of time. Still, it was good to be back creating and I'm happy I finally got these photos scrapped. I even used some old rub-ons from deep in my stash!

The theme for July at Scrap The Boys is roadtrips/adventures. We used to live in an estate which didn't have a back fence, it just opened out into some parkland. One morning Harrison decided to just hop on his trike and ride away to explore the park. Given he was only two at the time I was keeping a close eye on him so just followed behind as he went exploring. :)

I've used some cut files on this layout, from the July sponsor Cut to You. I found out my mum has a cutting machine, though she didn't know how to use it so got dad to cut the files for me. There are some great designs available at Cut to You, check them out!

Fun Can Happen Anywhere - Scrap The Boys DT

I took these photos in December 2016 and have been meaning to scrapbook them every since but somehow never got around to it. I'm so happy to finally have them done! Does anyone else do this too or are you much more organised when it comes to your scrapbooking?

The challenge for Scrap The Boys this month is 'Me and My Best Friend'. It doesn't have to be a dog, just the special male in your life and an animal.

Harrison loves reuniting with Josh, his grandparent's dog, every time we visit. They live in a different state so we can only catch up a couple of times a year. At first, they are both way too rambunctious and have to be closely monitored to make sure neither of them get hurt. The longer we stay though, the more they settle into a routine and by the time we leave after 1-2 weeks, they are normally perfect companions and follow each other around like shadows. 

Lots of Kaisercraft products on this layout. I'm using up some OLD paper stash, the stencil and cracked open a newish embellishment pack. I'm not normally one to use lots of the die cuts on the one layout but I like the way this has turned out. Some washi tape, buttons and a flair were the finishing touches.

His Mumma - Scrap the Boys DT

With Mothers Day coming up this month, Scrap the Boys went with a 'mother' theme for our inspiration this month. I really enjoyed getting to create a more girly layout after the run of boy layouts.

I've used photos from Harry's 1st birthday photo shoot. Papers are an assortment of Kaisercraft ranges and single sheets. I love creating mixed media layouts but I started scrapbooking at a time when I was just about layering paper and I can't quite move away from that entirely. 

Just a simply little embellishment cluster in the top right to balance out the page. Ignore the black smudges, that's what I get for working on a messy desk. :(

Lots of goodies in this embellishment cluster. Most of it came from the D-Lish Scraps JAP kit Slice of Summer which I won for taking part in one of their cybercrop challenges. 

Pregnancy Glow

My husband commented the other day that professional photos was one of my 'weaknesses' and I think he's right: I'm up for a photoshoot for any occasion. Because I browse so many professional photographers I have pretty high standards too, which leads to choosing more expensive photographers. Still, as I look back on the memories we've captured as our family I still consider it to be money well spent. 

This layout celebrates the photos I had taken during my two pregnancies. The dark background photo is from 2014 and I think I was around 33 weeks pregnant. The light background photo is from this year and I was 36 weeks pregnant.

I received a Kaisercraft paper pack a few years ago with 12x12 papers, mini paper pad and collectables but never opened it for some reason. I found them again during my recent craft room clean up so decided to use them for this layout. It's got a mix of pre-printed wreath, collectables and fussy cut flowers. 

I also added some texture paste through a stencil and some Kaisermist in green for added interest in the background. 

This layout was created for the Scrap The Girls challenge this month, which is 'Knock Your Socks Off' along with the below image. I married my high school sweetheart so don't really have an ex-boyfriend but the image and the theme made me think of self-confidence. Both these photoshoots made me feel so confident and beautiful so I thought they suited the theme well.

4th TMNT Birthday Party - Scrap the Boys DT

My son had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles themed 4th birthday party. It was so much fun watching him interact with his new friends from daycare, seeing how they have progressed from playing next to each other to actually playing together.

The theme for April at Scrap the Boys is 'Lets Eat Cake' so featuring any celebration or event. I went quite literal with my photo choices, featuring the amazing cake my husband created for Harry's 4th birthday.

 I'm trying to include visible journaling in my layouts recently, as I've realised I've created too many layouts without capturing the story behind the photos and now can't remember the context. 

I love his smile in this first photo. Oh, and check out the embellishment cluster. :)

Reach for the Stars - Scrap The Boys DT

Welcome to my layout for the March challenge over at Scrap the Boys. This is a photo from the newborn shoot we had for my now Mr 4.5year old. It's a bit weird to think that in another 1-2 months I'll be having another one of these shoots for our baby girl.

If you're interested in joining in this month, here is the lovely inspiration image. I obviously went with the stars theme and blue colour scheme. The rest of the team has interpreted it in a variety of ways so make sure you check out the blog to see them all. 

The lovely scribble star stamps and 'Reach for the Stars' stamp are all from a Paper Roses set. The textured background stamp is Kaisercraft. The 'have big dreams' stamp is from Uniquely Creative. The flairs, sequins and star stencil come from D-Lish Scraps.

 I really like overall effect of this layout, though the blue/grey background stamping hasn't really shown up too well in these photos. If you look closely, you can see there are also white gesso stars through the background area.