Scrapjacked for February ...

I'm amazed I managed to get some personal scrapping in this month and I was able to play along with Scrapjacked.  I've always liked the way this challenge blog is set up - the talented design team submit some inspirational layouts and you choose one (or more) to inspire you to create your own.


This month I was torn between what I thought was a very good idea and a layout I really liked as a sketch basis for my own - so what does any goodcscrapper do in a situation like this?   Yep, I did them both!!


Firstly I very much liked Mandy's concept of using a song to highlight a layout about cycling.



I knew I had the perfect pictures for such a page - a whole series of vintage shots of my Father-in-law back in the UK in the 1950's when he was a competing cyclist. I couldn't go past Queen for my song choice.

Then I liked the layout by Jeanenne and borrowed her basic layout and even her subject matter in part to create my own.

Very pretty papers ...

I’ve been following along with a number of websites/blogs who have been highlighting what has come out at CHA this past week, have you?  Shimelle has a series of blog posts with great previews of most of the manufacturers new releases.  Have to say the products have been amazing. There are at least 10 line releases that I can only call divine. 


Like this one by My Mind's Eye or these (below) from Echo Park.





Or how about this little gem from Cosmo Cricket.




 Aghhhhh - if only I knew then what I know now I would have done my purchasing SO very differently.

Taking over ARTastic ...

I'm totally delighted to now be in charge of this wonderful little challenge blog ARTastic.  My mind has been abuzz with ideas to bring to this site and for the past few hours I have been  busy deleting this and adding that - moving this here and putting that there.  It has been so much fun trying to make the site fresh and welcoming but without taking away from what the place was.

The next few months are going to be wonderful as I implement new ideas and make a few changes to how things are run.  So far much of what I have done is cosmetic but hopefully given time there will be some improvements. My aim this year is to boost participation and grow this site.  Wish me luck.

Monday ...

Oh yes - it sure is.  

Hello relaxation ...

We have just booked a holiday on this little beauty.  12 nights around New Zealand and calling into Hobart for a look see on the way home.  Can't wait for January 4th, 2013.

Monday ...

Now that would be a first !!!

Plum wonderful ...

I'm the first to admit I totally love Stephanie Plum.  She's quirky, comes from a family that put the D in Dysfunctional and the O in Oddball, has friends that are well ... just plain manic, works in a job that is certainly different and a whole lot dangerous, has a love life that could only be described as ...." interesting" and is a total disaster just waiting to happen.  My sort of girl really!!

I tend to judge Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books by laughter level.  In the eighteen of this series I am happy to say that only a very small number have been in the smirk category while the vast majority have sat firmly in the laugh out loud and chuckle section.  Several have even made the "tears streaming down my face while I try to control myself" region.

I do much of my reading in bed last thing at night.  The house is quiet, invariably the husband beside me is sleeping - it's where I get that special "me" time to savour the reading experience. I was fully immersed in Explosive Eighteeen a few nights ago - happily chuckling away through Chapter Seven  when my husband rolls over and opens one bleary eye and says "Let me guess? ...  it's that Peach chick again?".  Plum, dear, Stephanie Plum! - long may she reign.

Right now ...

Right now I'm listening to my daughter chat with her boyfriend on Skype - it's a nightly occurrence, into the wee small hours I might add.  They play joint online games (usually Portal or Portal 2) and you can hear the laughing and squealing as they combat each other and whatever it is you do on portal.  She worked tonight so they didn't get online until after 11pm.

Right now it's humid, the last few days have been the warmest we have gotten so far this summer - at least it feels that way and it's humid.  makes me realise how much I hate the humidity, it's draining and uncomfortable.

Right now it's 11.57pm - yep it's late but I know if I go to bed now I'll just toss and turn and turn and toss for what will seem like hours so I've been trying a different tactic of pushing myself to stay up later (like til 1.30, even 2am) and then go to bed - at least then I fall to sleep reasonably quickly.  Guess it's sorting out which is the lesser of the two evils.

Right now I'm thinking of the extremely long list of things I really need to get done.  It's a toilet roll of a list and every day I seem to tick off one or two items and add in five or six more.  I don't have enough hours in a given day but I'm not letting it defeat me - it gets done, it gets done - if it doesn't, I'm OK with that too.

Right now I'm allowing myself to be just a little excited by the prospect of heading to New Zealand for Autumn Escape scrapbooking retreat in April.  Booking the airline tickets last night sort of made it feel real and being able to spend a week there this time is just plain awesome.

Right now it's good - all good - hope it stays that way.

OhLife - making journal entries a breeze ...

Psst - want a great idea for keeping track of entries for project life or your blog?  Like doing a daily journal but never seem to keep it up.  Want a simple, fuss free solution?. 


In 2010 I discovered OhLife and daily note taking suddenly became easier,  well no, in fact it became so dang easy it was ridiculous.


So what is OhLife - Once you set your preferences this nifty little site sends you an email every night (or three times a week or weekly ) asking how your day was.  All you need to do is to reply to it. Simply as that.  All your entries are stored and are super easy to access for future use either through OhLife itself or as your own saved emails.





Check it out. You'll love OhLife like I do.

Wednesday inspiration ...

A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken.  ~James Dent

Monday ...

Yep - gets you every time.

A Soul Scrapper challenge ...

As memory keepers we look to many places for inspiration and ideas for layouts. Many of us subscribe to scrapbooking or craft magazines, some of us look to blogs and web sites for ideas. One of the things I often look at for layout inspiration is advertisements.

Take this one for example ...



I really liked the clean crisp feel to the design layout and the way one large photo was used to tell the story (or to inspire us to rush off to tropical pastures!). It was easy to transpose this idea to a 12x12 layout and can be done just as easily with paper as I have done it with a computer.

This is the sketch and template I have made of the advertisement. 



And here is my version of the add.  If you would like to play along with me with this challenge pop over to Soul Scrappers for all the relevant information.