And that is all folks ....

And one final week for December from Lasting Memories and since we are on the downhill run to Christmas and we are all either totally exhilarated by the upcoming event or completely exhausted (like me) and are counting the days until it is all over, this challenge is a super easy one - Anything goes with a Holiday theme.

This is my final layout for Lasting Memories - it has been a fun journey with you all this year.  I wish everyone a Merry Christmas from sunny Australia and all good things for 2015.



Also linking this layout with Scrap N Play December challenge #15 - I have used Santa, red, tree, star, green, ornament(s).

What the heck is paloma???

Ok first question I have for White with 1 is ... what the heck is Paloma??  

A quick Google (gosh what would we do without this search engine?)  and I am told that paloma is a UK rock sensation with a string of number one hits .... er no ... wrong Paloma obviously.  

After getting side tracked listening to a few singles by Paloma Faith on Youtube I finally came up with  paloma as a sophisticated warm grey taupe.  Right, I can work with that !!

I am a less is more type of scrapper and since the colour scheme really fitted this photo of a trip to Oberon to visit friends in mid winter, I decided to go with a pseudo Christmas page - the one you do when you aren't really doing Christmas :) 

 I misted my off white cardstock with silver to give a subtle misty effect added in some gorgeous snowflakes which happened to be in the right colourway, added my mounted photo and title and bingo one white and paloma page.   

Last cards ...

And now my final set of heat embossed Christmas cards (I have made 10 of these).  My little pots of embossing powder are all but empty and my craft table looks like it has been ambushed by a team on pixie dusting fairies - but the effect has been worth while.

I am linking with these challenges.


The Southern Girls - festive projects

Tando Creative - Festive Fun

Merry Christmas ...

Loving all the moodboards this month on challenge blogs - there are some delightful images out there.

This one is at Sassy Scrappers ...

... and you guessed it ... it is all about Christmas.

I was inspired by the colours, using all of these in one form or another on my layout and I also wanted to bring in a saying to highlight my daughter's first Christmas, looked over by proud Grandparents.

I am also linking this with The Aviary: Paper Wings challenge which is to use red and green.

A little bit of ink ...

A very pretty, lush even, moodboard on Just add ink this month.  So many things to take from this - hmmm where to start.

I eventually decided to continue on my heat embossing journey and created a card which featured a single star, gold and words.

I used my Christmas word stamp on the inside after cutting a circle on the front of the card.  I heat embossed gold around the circle and on the star and then attached it with gold thread so it hung in the circle.  I also heat embossed in gold over the "Star of Wonder, Star of Light".  I am really pleased with the effect.

Also linking this to ..

Tis the season where I was inspired by the stars.

Orange mayhem ...

It is all bright and orange on Scrapping Outback this month.

 Create a layout inspired by ALL the colours in this photo and you MUST use at least one piece of chipboard.

I thought there would probably be a number of sunsets featured in the entries - after all they would suit this challenge beautifully but since I always want to be a bit different just went with highlighting the colours on a page with a sweet little pic of my daughter aged 2 with her Banana's in Pyjamas hand puppet.

A snow scene ...

Gauche Alchemy has a wintry moodboard this month.

I was inspired by the sledding and snow covered trees and the use of light blue and black.

I stamped my image onto white card and then lightly inked it in light blue.  I then heat embossed another piece of card with silver glitter around the edges and mounted the image.  I then mounted these onto a star embossed card added black ribbon and mounted this onto my black card base.

Scrappy friends ...

I have combined Rochelle Spears Scrappy Friends Tic Tac Toe challenge ...

with Kelly's Creating with paper and more word challenge ...

for this layout.

It is a rare double page spread from me, documenting Christmas lunch in 2004.

I have used a flair, snowflakes (ribbon and on tags) and the colour red and used the word MERRY on ribbon.

A December tree ...

Off the rails is using not one but two mood boards for their December challenge.

There are two mood palettes to choose from this month. They are both Christmas themed but you can use just the colours to inspire you. Remember any form of art and craft can be entered into the challenge. That includes canvas's, tags, cards off the page projects, journal spreads or traditional layouts.

I have gone with the palette on the left - I needed a change up from the more traditional layout colours I have using this month.

This is a fun page showcasing a few of the decorations we have on our tree each year. These ones were chosen by my children when they were smaller and the plum pudding was made as a Christmas school project by my daughter.

I am also linking this with Feeling Sketchy who's sketch challenge this month is a free scrap. 

A really nice Christmas ...

Playing along with 123 Challenge Blog this month using this inspiration board.

I have done yet another Christmas page - I am SO behind in my festive season scrapping as I only ever seem to do Christmas inspired layouts in December.  This one is a few pictures I sneakily snapped of my daughter playing a few Christmas carols on Christmas Eve a year or so ago.  

It is all about having fun ...

Joining in with the challenge over on Scrapbookit and joy of joys, it isn't about Christmas.  Got to admit I am getting a little over festive season layouts right now.

This one is following this sketch ...

and incorporate the word Celebrate, Congratulations or Fun.

I have flipped it and interpreted it my way (that is the beauty of sketches - so many possibilities).

My son is a swimmer and trains multiple times each week.  Some sessions he swims 80 laps of the 50m pool - that's 4 kilometres !!  He says it's fun - I beg to differ!!  

A final Child's Play ...

I am a little sad as this is the final challenge on Child's Play Challenges.  After two years it is time to say goodbye.

This final toy is a classic called Lite Brite

"When Hasbro released its new art toy Lite-Brite in 1967, it was hard to imagine that young artists would become so attached to a little light box. The design was perfectly simple: a grid, backlit by a lightbulb, was covered by black sheets of paper. Kids could poke small, translucent plastic pegs through the paper, causing them to light up in the pattern of their choosing. Since the creation of Lite-Brite, Hasbro has included prepatterned images of Scooby-Doo, Darth Vader, My Little Pony and even Mr. Potato Head. Of course, for each masterly plotted creation a child managed to plug in piece by piece, there were at least a few of the pointy little pegs waiting to be stepped on. It was worth every yelp." Time Magazine

I was inspired to document a spectacular light festival which is held in Sydney (Australia) each year.  It really is amazing seeing the city in vivid detail.

I'd like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and may 2015 be all you want it to be.  To all our lovely team members - farewell and thanks for the memories.

Also linking to:-

The Color Sisters  using this colour palette   

Here comes Santa Claus ...

Week 3 of December at Lasting Memories and this week we are featuring "Here comes Santa Claus" in our challenge.

Every year in my neighbourhood Santa visits, distributing lollies to all the children.  He travels in style - on the back of our local bush fire brigade truck.  My son is now past this adventure but when he was younger he would line up along the street eager for his share of the goodies.

I am also linking this up with Picture This ! which has a little mini challenge going right now which calls for 1 photo + Christmas + paper strips + layers

Twinkle twinkle little stars ...

Finally getting around to photographing the last of my handmade Christmas cards this year - I don't do a huge amount and tend to go the product line system of a couple of designs multiple times - not great for the creative process I know but when you are as pressed for time as I am every minute helps!!

I did embossing this year - mainly because I had a couple of small containers of the powder almost empty but not quite in my stash and as I am doing a bit of a purge at the moment wanted to use it up.  This one is in silver mounted three times and then onto the card base.  Again using up scraps from my basket.

Oh and the card isn't lopsided - just me not lining things up when I took the photo!!

Linking this with ...

Feeling Sketchy - #109 Card free scrap

Naughty or Nice -  #10 Create a winter holiday card!   The silver stars in the embossing give a snow like effect.

Some embossed words ...

I have been busy creating a few Christmas cards for some last minute posting.  I rarely get out my embossing and glitter but I had a few supplies to use up and thought "hey why not"?

After embossing the design onto plain off white card I mounted it on brown and then onto the card base which I had stamped in a coordinating ink which has a hint of mint to it. 

Linking this to these challenges:-

Frosted Design - Christmas theme with no red or green

Scrap Our Stash with the below image - inspired by the chocolate, off white, mint and gold.

 

Reindeer Love ...

Joining in on the challenge over at Beyond Grey.

Make a project using COLOURS of Christmas (green, red, white, black) OR  a Christmas/New year wish related SENTIMENT

You MUST use SPARKLES/GLITTERS onto your projects that should be very clearly visible.

Hard to see in the photograph I know but each antler is glittery and I have added rhinestones to the ribbon and Rudolf's nose of course!!.

Also entered into The Craft Garden where the challenge is simply Christmas.

It is all about the snowflakes ...

Our second December challenge for Lasting Memories is all about snowflakes - lots and lots of snowflakes to be exact.  I guess for those of you in the northern hemisphere, lots of snowflakes at this time of the year is a given however we don't have snow at Christmas as it is summer in the southern hemisphere so rather than get caught up in the whole snowflake thing I just used patterned paper and embellishments to create my Christmas page.

I am combing this entry with Berry71Bleu which has a moodboard this month entitled Winter Chill which features lots of snowflakes, snow covered scenes, touches of red and blue, grey and black.

And finally ...

One of the challenges this month on The Studio Challenges is all about scrapping your daily routine.  

One of the things I do every single day is to read.  Normally I do this at night before I turn out my bedside lamp.  I give myself at least 30 minutes (sometimes much longer) immersed in a good book.  I usually have a small pile of them on my bedside table, all awaiting their turn.

Guess I just love to read.

One last challenge for Feeling Sketchy ...

Squeezing in one last challenge - the Feeling Sketchy sketch for November.

I love this happy little face - it deserved a bright happy layout :)

Lasting Memories for December ...

and our final set of challenges for 2015 from Lasting Memories.

The first challenge this month is ...

LMCB # 219 "Home for the Holidays" Show us a Holiday Tradition you do in your home.

mine is baking Christmas cake following the recipe my mother and her mother before her used.

Also including this layout for the December prompt challenge at Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge where we have been asked to Scrapbook or art journal about a favourite recipe or a memory of something your mother/grandmother cooked for you.