123 Joy ...

The December challenge on 123 Challenge Blog is Colour = Metallics, Word = Joy and Technique = Bows.

I've used a gold star on the Christmas tree and gold bows and have "Joy" featured twice on my page.  I guess this is apt because celebrating Christmas morning and opening those special presents is twice the joy when there are two of you.

From Scratch in December ...

I just wish I had more time in December to scrap but I'm afraid a two week family holiday and Christmas along with visitors and visiting took it's toll.  Scrapbooking From Scratch had a set of lovely challenges with a bonus offer for those that completed them all but I'm afraid I just didn't get there in time.

Challenge #1 use ONE photo, TWO word title, THREE embellishments, FOUR papers.

I realised after I had done this page that the three embellishments had probably meant only three rather than the three types I did but by then it was too late so my apologies.

Challenge #2 use One word title, Two pieces of Washi, Three Stars, Four circle embellies

So two out of four - I have this afternoon so I maybe able to squeeze in another but realistically I think I will need to be happy with this effort - it was December after all !

Doing the happy dance ...

Really quite excited to announce I'm the new team member for Mystical Scrapbooks Woo Hoo. So looking forward to a fun filled next few months creating and hopefully inspiring others to create.

Our first cyber crop of the new year will be up and running on the 3rd of January.  Really hope you can call past and join in with us.  You will have a week to complete your pages.

A moment in time ...

Lots of choice with 123 Get Scrappy this month.  

I've gone with the middle horizontal line of numbers, baker's twine and scalloped edges.

Love this photo which captured a single moment in time.  My baby son struggling so hard to push himself upright.

Up Close and Personal with Julie ...

The final challenge on Scrap the Girls for 2013 is a photo challenge to use multiple photos (at least 3) on a page.

Aside from Masterchef fame Julie Goodwin is a local. She is always popping up on our radio stations, doing cooking demonstrations at shopping centres, visiting schools and generally being a wonderful ambassador not only to herself but our entire region. I often spy her at events and while out shopping - in fact I ran into her at Spotlight only a couple of weeks ago and exchanged Christmas pleasantries - no airs or graces with our Julie - she's just one of the crowd. Last year she came by invitation from my book club as guest speaker to our local library and entertained patrons for an hour or so with tales from behind the scenes at Masterchef. Afterwards she happily signed copies of her cooking books and was snapped for the local newspaper.  Love you Julie !

Some silver, gold and white Christmas Joy ...

A combination of white, gold and silver is always so elegant I believe and is the perfect combination for Christmas especially if like me, you get a little sick of the constant red and green.


Orange Paperie has this combination for their December challenge and of course I could not resist.

I've combined this challenge with one from Berry71Bleu which calls for the word "Joy" and journaling. I have used a lovely quote by Eva A Logue which really says it all about beautiful Christmas candles ...

"A Christmas candle is a lovely thing,

It makes no noise at all,

But softly gives itself away,

While quite unselfish, it grows small".

It's always in the stars ...

Bird is the Word this month features the word Always.  The Studio Challenges is calling for the use of stars.  I've happily combined both on my layout.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas on The Lollipop Ladies ...

The Lollipop Ladies are feeling the effects of Christmas and too many cupcakes !!  Two challenges are running from now until the end of the year - enter one or both - there is an embellishment goodie bag + 2 digital images available for the winning entry of each.


Challenge #81 is Reindeer with the additional challenge of grids....

  

Aren't these the cutest cupcakes ever??  When I first saw these little reindeer faces I immediately knew the stamp  I had to use for this challenge.

 

 

I've gone with the more traditional Christmas colours of green and red and used a small offcut of grid transparency for the base of my sentiment.

 Challenge #82 is Christmas Cupcakes with the additional challenge of ribbon...

 

I've taken the red and green from the Christmas cupcakes as the basis of my card and used ribbon across the base.

 

 

This was my last set of challenge for The Lollipop Ladies as my term has come to an end and I am not continuing on into next year. Please support them next year - the challenges are fun and easy and the ladies go to so much trouble to inspire you with their creations.

Child's Play blog hop ....

WINNER - Nori Coleman said...

I love your raindrops on the rose picture it is so beautiful. I too love books and I remember getting those scholastic book orders and getting books from it was such a treat for me. I think one of my first reads was Charlotte's Web and it is still a favorite! I guess it brings back good mems!

Congratulations Nori - if you could email me your address I will get your prize out to you.

Happy December and welcome to the Child's Play blog hop!

Have you watched The Sound of Music a kazillion times like me?  Then you will probably be very familiar with this song which was the inspiration behind this blog hop.

Raindrops on roses,
And whiskers on kittens,
Bright copper kettles
And warm woollen mittens.
Brown paper packages
Tied up with string,
These are a few of my favourite things. 

In fact this song inspired me to produce a layout all of it's very own ...

 What were your favourite play things of your own childhood?

Or perhaps from the childhood of your own children?

 When I think back to my own younger years one of the ever present aspects were the company of books.  I learnt to read at a young age and I've never really stopped.  Avid would probably be too fine a term for me - I devour reading material.  I'm not happy at all unless I read every night and enjoy nothing better than curling up in bed on a cold winter day with a good book.

I can distinctly remember as a child hiding under my bed covers with a flashlight trying to read past my allotted reading hour. Every Christmas I would find books waiting under the tree for me - beautifully illustrated picture books, amazing stories of adventure and daring, classics from ages past, mysterious lands to discover and exciting places to visit ... all in my wonderful world of books.

1. Visit each blog along the hop and leave a comment so we know you were there

2. Go back to the main Child's Play blog when you are finished and tell us that you completed the hop

3. Create a LO based on a favourite play thing (include a photo of it if you can or tell us what it is) and link up to our special "blog hop" linky

4. Very important!...become a follower of Child's Play Challenges

You have until December 24th to complete the hop and enter your layout for a chance to win!  We will announce a winner before the new year.

Oh and as an extra, extra special treat - I will do a prize drawing from amongst the comments left here my own blog - when you leave your comment just tell me what was YOUR favourite book from your own childhood.

Blog Hop List:

(if you get lost anywhere along the way, just head back to our main page HERE !)

Colleen lifesascrapshoot.blogspot.com/

Stephanie sthom97093.blogspot.com/

Adele dleebug.wordpress.com/

Heather heatherscraftyheart.blogspot.com/

Doreena madijoes.blogspot.com/

Deanne littlebitopaper.blogspot.com/

Steffanie steffanies.blogspot.com/

Devra mycreativeview.blogspot.com/
Karen http://icouldbescrapbookinginstead.blogspot.co.uk/

Next stop is the lovely Colleen ....

Merry Christmas from Pixels and Paper ...

This month on Pixels and Paper challenge blog we have a sweet vintage Christmas photograph for your inspiration and of course it will not be difficult to create a project based on some sort of aspect of Christmas shown here.  In fact we are even making it easier for you by leaving the entries open until the midnight on the 5th of January to give you ample time to experience family and friends and the festive season while still finding some crafty time for yourself.

 

The first thing which caught my attention were the children in their pyjamas.  I think all of us have many photographs of our children in pj's at Christmas time.  Images of them getting ready for bed on Christmas eve showing off new sets of pyjamas, sitting under the tree with looks of eager anticipation on their happy faces, opening presents first thing Christmas morning.  Oh yes pyjamas feature heavily in my festive season photography.

 

An ARTastic December ...

This month on ARTastic we are taking a bit of a step back from our formal challenges and issuing you something simple, easy and stress-free for the lead up to Christmas.

We have a Wordle for you.  These are great fun to produce - kids especially love playing around with them so steer them to the blog and let them create.

 

The idea this month is to let a word or words inspire you to create your page.  You don't have to use the actual word on your project (unless you want to) but please let us know in your post which word(s) you used as inspiration and why.

 

Inlinkz will be left open until 11.55pm on January 5th, 2014 to give you ample time to create your pages.  Snatch a few minutes for yourself over Christmas and enjoy some crafty time.

 

Here is my page ....  I have been inspired by the words gifts, presents and children - showing my daughter delighted with what she received on Christmas morning.

 

 

Hope you can find to play along with us this month.

A little punky ...

Punky Scraps have both a photograph and sketch for inspiration for their latest challenge.

 

I just love the bright colours of the clothing hanging on the rack and have used many of these as a basis for my layout.

 

 

One last card ...

One final challenge this month for Feeling Sketchy - sketch # 74

 

 

 

 

Also entered into ...

 

Southern Girls - Lumps and Bumps

Less is More - Christmas theme with bird

Cute Card Thursday - Anything goes

 

A little SFS ...

I wish I had more given hours in my week - I just don't seem to have time to do all the things I want to do - like all the challenges on Scrapbooking From Scratch this month! 

Only managed the quote and colour I'm afraid.

 

Quote was to use "You are amazing just the way you are" which I thought worked well as a saying on a birthday layout.

 

 

The colours were to use this palette ...

 

 

I know the second colour could be peach pink or orange depending on how your monitor picks it up - I've gone with an orange tone.

 

 

Journaling reads ..

Cats love catnip it’s true – it’s a herb from the mint family with medicinal qualities and for cats, the herb seems to be highly attractive.  What a lot of people don’t realise is that chlorine produces similar reactions in most of the feline population.  Miss Bella is totally unbothered, while Mr Zo will go wild with excitement.   He likes nothing better than to rub his head against Christopher when he comes home after a squad swimming session.  He will lick his hair and roll over on his feet in total cat bliss.

 

All about friendship ...

The November challenge on Scrap the Girls is a quote challenge - use as a Title or in Journaling.

"Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things."  Author Unknown

I've used a lovely photograph of my daughter and a good friend of hers from school days.  I love their happy smiles.  As an added bonus I've managed to use up a BG lace paper I've had in my stash forever.

 

 

 

 

A boy's best friend ...

Scrap the Boys have asked for layouts about man's best friend although we are welcome to think laterally rather than literally :)

We don't own a dog but have two cats in the house.  One has become very attached to my ds and did so from the very beginning when he arrived as a small kitten.  This cat doesn't think he's a cat.  He has distinct dog like qualities - he begs for food, chases balls, runs to the front door when we have visitors (rather than going to ground like our other feline does) and follows us around constantly.  We call him our cog !!

Capture the moment with LPS colour ...

 

Love these happy colours for the Life Paper Scrapbook colour challenge this month - so versatile and fun.  I've used some carefree selfie photos of my kids and a combination of the challenge colours for my layout.   

 

 

 

 

 

A little tic, tac, toe ...

I very much like the Tic Tac Toe or Bingo style of challenges - makes it fun working our which combination will win supreme.  The Studio Challenges this month has this one on offer.

 

 

I've gone with twine, buttons and triangles (on the patterned paper).

 

 

Some 6x6 love ...

I have a little stock pile of 6x6 paper pads and I really love using them so when the November challenge of Scrap our stash called for some 6x6 love (and using 6 of one kind of embellishment - I used rhinestones) I was ready to create.

 

 

Also entered into

Use it Tuesday was an anything goes challenge.

A Krafty Christmas ...

The Kraft it Up November challenge is to create a layout using Kraft Cardstock or Kraft Patterned Paper showcasing one of these trending products...

 

* Flair's

* Wood Veneer's

* Enamel Dot's

 

I'm pleased we had a choice as I don't own a single enamel dot to my name.  I've been meaning to get myself some but have so far resisted.   I've used some great little wood veneer arrows and I threw in a flair just for the heck of it.

 

 

I'm on a bit of a mission at the moment to scrap a few Christmas layouts as I am always way behind in this department.  It helps to get me in the Christmas spirit although one quick trip to the local shopping mall and a few renditions of Bing dreaming of a White Christmas soon puts a stop to that !!

 

Feeling the Christmas spirit ...

Scrapping Outback are encouraging some Christmas spirit this month with their November challenge of a Christmas themed project and the use of chipboard and glitter.

This is a layout I have been wanting to do for quite some time, in fact I have a little list of Christmas themed projects which I pull out at this time of the year and try to mark off one or two.  I'm not sure how successful I am as I seem to jump all over the place as regards to time and place.  This one is from when my son was in Year 1 (he's the tea towel headed young shepherd in the back row!) and he's now about to complete Year 9 - better late than never I guess !!

 

 

The glitter is on all the journaling cards - you may just notice the shimmer although the camera doesn't pick it up well.  The chipboard is the butterfly.  The little squares are epoxy badges which have been in my stash for what seems forever and I am delighted to say I have used them up!!

 

Tag - you're it ...

Frosted Designs are calling for layouts featuring tags and I have been happy to oblige although just making the deadline by a few hours - I really must stop leaving things to the last minute :)

I've used tags cut from patterned paper and placed onto a misted background with some pp strips and washi tape.  Add a few little odd and ends and I'm very happy with the minimalist look of this page.

 

 

ARTastic November ...

This month on ARTastic we are featuring a delightful mixed media artwork called Listen by New Zealander, Jenny Grant.

 

Criteria - Free choice, make of this what you will

 

We have some simply amazing inspiration from our creative team to show you this month.

 

Julie has prepared an truly wonderful tutorial for you outlining her process for putting together this mixed media layout.  

 

 Come over and see what she has done and the other gorgeous work by the first group of the DT.

 

and here is my page ....

 

 

I was particularly taken with the use of printed media on the background of the artwork and the use of texture and paint across the canvas.

 

Pixels and Paper for November ...

Pixels and Paper Challenge Blog have a lovely little photo of a boy with his chickens to inspire you this month.

 

The whole idea is to let the photo lead you somewhere to create your own page - it doesn't have to be a literal interpretation of this photograph - just an association of ideas.

 

I had to use this photo of my father at about age 8.  They lived on a farm at the time and money was scarce so I have about four photographs of him as a child.  This one is a favourite - socks pulled up, hair neatly combed, clutching his cat like his life depended on it (and the cat isn't overly keen by the look of things).  I love the wicker chair he is sitting on, such an unusual design with it's sloping back and the vine in the background looks to be passionfruit or choko which might explain my Grandmother's  lifelong obsession with this fruit (but that's a story for another time!).

  Come on over and see what our Design Team have come up with. We'd love to have you join in with us.

Scrapping Outback ...

Scrapping Outback has a lovely page by Julie Hill to scraplift as their challenge in October.  I wasn't sure I would find time for this one but managed to sneak an hour for myself last night.  The extra criteria is to use stamps and ribbon.

 

Here is Julie's page ...

 

 

and my own interpretation ...

 

 

I've used stamps in the corners of my page as Julie did and twisted my thin ribbon around the circle.

 

This is my great Grandmother, great Aunt and her daughter (I think that makes her my third cousin but I am never sure of how the cousin lineage works).  I so love vintage photographs - they say so much in such a simple way!

Southern Girls meets a Feeling Sketchy sketch ...

The current challenge on  Southern Girls is to make your project a little shimmery and shiny and that is what I have done for my card using the sketch #72 from Feeling Sketchy.

In fact my card is so shimmery and shiny my poor camera had a heart attack trying to capture the image and it isn't a brilliant shot.

I've used glitter cardstock as the border base and glitter covered flowers with rhinestones as the main feature.

#72 Feeling Sketchy ...

Sketch #72 at Feeling Sketchy

and my take on this using the sketch and patterned paper component of the challenge.  I've actually done another card which I have combined with another challenge which I will put up separately.