Scrap the Boys - December Challenge

At first when I looked at the sketch I was wondering how I would replicate the circle shape in the background. I know that a sketch challenge doesn't have to be adhered to exactly but I did like the sketch and wanted to use the large circle.
As luck should have it I recently received a purchase of an amazing clear stamp set called Desert Oasis from of all places, Aldi supermarket. This stamp set is so cute and features a pineapple and flamingo in addition to other summery/tropical images.
So since watercolour is super trendy at the moment and yes I do love a good trend, I thought to stamp the pineapple image in clear embossing powder onto white cardstock and then go over it with watercolour. I'm really happy with the result and feel that it gives my page a real strong summer vibe to match the photo of my overjoyed son. This year we had a pool installed at our place and nothing screams summer more than a swim whenever you heart desires.

A close up of my embossed and water coloured pineapples

Jot November Challenge

These photos were taken at Kings Park here in Perth. I wanted to make the pink and yellow paper flowers the focus of the page but I kind of over embellished and you can't really see the flowers but hey I don't mind because I had so much fun putting this page together.

Initially I put the paper rosette on the photo because there was a person in the distance which detracted from my photo and then I kind of just kept adding the embellies.

I loved using these colours together. I pulled out all my scraps to find the pink and yellow papers and then I punched out my own flowers from the scraps. Well I haven't done that in ages. I then used up some of my 10 million Kaisercraft rhinestones that I have been hording since they became popular years ago. I can't remember the last time I added this much bling to a layout. Best of all I got to use the beautiful bee paper that I was also hording for ages.

 

Scrap the Boys November

This month on Scrap the Boys it's all about boys and their food. Ben my 12 year old has some serious food issues and I found this great photo to scrap about. It's journaling heavy and also heavy with Maggie Holmes Shine collection. Yep I received a beautiful box full of awesome products this week and got straight on to using them. The file stickers on the side of the papers are from  an Echo Park sticker sheet, that I felt co-ordinated well.

Me and Maggie Holmes

I am the luckiest girl in the world. This is taken from Maggie Holmes blog.

GIVEAWAY >> We can’t do a reveal without a giveaway!

Here’s how to enter:  Leave a comment here on this post and let us know which product is your favorite.

Additional Entries: You can also visit my Instagram and leave a comment there as well for an extra entry! You can enter as many times as you like on Instagram by tagging additional friends (one per comment) and also by reposting any of the reveal images that I will be sharing over there. Just be sure to tag your photos that you repost with #maggieholmesSHINE and #maggieholmesgiveaway

The winner, drawn at random on Monday, will receive a package bursting at the seams with all things SHINE!! Good luck!

More Ways to Win: Each of my design team members is doing their own giveaway so be sure to visit their blogs (linked above) to enter! Crate Paper is also doing a SHINE collection giveaway so don’t forget to visit their blog too! You can enter to win in each of the giveaways, which increases your chances of winning!

Thanks for letting me share my new collection, SHINE, with you today! I really hope you love it and that you will also love creating with it as much as I do!

Happy SHINE reveal day friends!

 

 

AND

 

Alrighty, I know you are all patiently waiting for the announcement of the giveaway winner! I apologize for announcing this a few days later than I initially planned. Sometimes life in general pushes things back… like half days from school that I didn’t remember about, and babies with the flu, and relearning algebra AND geometry so that I can help middle school kids with their homework each night, and washing all the laundry from the baby with the flu, and picking out tile for the bathrooms in the new house, and recovering from a few sleepless nights on my trip to Minnesota for Be Crafty, and… well you get the idea. It’s all good though… life is full and busy, but my heart is happy and I wouldn’t have it any other way!! But thank you for being patient and always so kind!!

The winner of the SHINE collection giveaway is…

NATALIE JACKSON – Wow, you’ve done it again. It’s all stunning but I guess what I love most is the chipboard sheet. I always love the chipboard sheet. I also adore the bright vintage style flowers. Oh and that floral chipboard camera.

 

I entered to win a prize on Maggie's instagram and never thought in a million years I would be a winner but luck was on my side and I was. So excited. So thrilled. Can't wait to see what beautiful products I get to play with.

Anna's Craft Cupboard June Sketch Challenge

Another inspiring sketch at Anna's for the month of June.

Got to use up a bit more of my Maggie Holmes ephemera stash - I have three or four different collections and I love them all so I'm trying not to hoard them.

Thanks for taking a look.

Stuck Sketches June 1 Challenge

I actually got this finished kind of early but had so many viruses on my computer it meant I couldn't get my entry up until now. Never mind, the computer is fixed and the entry is in.

Thanks for another great sketch at Stuck! I have been able to document one of my favourite pictures from my recent holiday.

As you can see I have plenty of journaling which I have added to a pocket behind the banner. I haven't done this in ages, it was fun playing around with it and writing so much. I don't want to forget the reason for this picture.

Thanks for taking a look.

Cheers
Natalie

Scrap the Boys - May 2015

Pound the Pavement was the phrase given on Scrap the Boys to use as an inspiration for a layout.

I had these sweet (or should I say RAD) photos of my boy Ben that I have been wanting to use since I took them late last year. These seemed a perfect subject for this months challenge. I even used the phrase in my journaling.

Please excuse the photography of my layout I was in a little bit of a rush. It is straight in real life and not cut off at the bottom. :)

Stuck Sketches May 1

Another awesome sketch from Stuck Sketches.
This time I have chosen to scrap a fab selfie I took of my bestie and I after we had lunch to celebrate our birthdays.
I blew out the circle element with my floral wreath because I just had to feature it. The floral wreath is cut from a large shopping bag I got when I made a purchase at a Japanese department shop (Takashimaya) in Singapore. I fell in love with the vintage style roses and colours the minute I had the bag passed over to me in the shop and I knew I would use this in a future layout. I found a lot of the Maggie Holmes embellies fitted in so well with the colours and were a match made in heaven.

Jot - May Challenge

The challenge for this month is beautiful (like all of them really) and I had just the right photo sitting on my desk waiting patiently to scrap. Love this pic of my mum and son taken last year. It was a beautifully sunny Winter's afternoon and we were in my parents courtyard.  A loving moment captured forever.

My inspiration from the mood board was the diamond rings (I could only afford to use diamanté), the colours of course, I feel the polka dots and flowers give it a retro/vintage feel, the clock to represent the circular motif (also a moment in time) and lastly silver that I have slipped under my photo mat. The silver is contact paper I picked up at Coles a few months ago. They had heaps of sparkly contacts in time for back to school so I grabbed a silver and a gold roll. Very sparkly.

Thanks for having a look.

Anna's Craft Cupboard

The April Sketch Challenge at Anna's Craft Cupboard was the perfect way to scrap my most current favourite photo. I really wanted to document the fact that my daughter got braces on this day. I wanted to play up on the blue of Sophie's glasses and ended up with a mostly monochromatic colour scheme.
I initially I choose the butterfly embellishment because it was in a similar colour range but ultimately I choose it because I feel like Sophie is going through a metamorphosis going through puberty, getting braces, growing up etc. just like a butterfly.

Stuck Sketches - April 15

For my BIG birthday this year my family and I went on a holiday to Singapore (over the Easter school holidays) to celebrate. I have tons of photos and would like to scrap them as soon as possible before I forget everything.
I have used the sketch from Stuck Sketches for my very first layout of my very first day in Singapore. I celebrated with a cocktail.
My favourite embellishment (OK I know there weren't many) on this layout would have to be that velum photo frame with the title Ladylike Photos Inc. by hmmm...American Crafts. So not me going by those ridiculous expressions I'm pulling.

Scrap the Boys

Just scraped this one in by the skin of my teeth.
Love my (just turned 12 years old) boy and his expressions. He watches a lot of You Tube and I guess that's where he picks up his lingo.
I love that pp by Crate Paper so much but found it overwhelming for a background so I matched it with classic white cardstock. I made the little speech bubbles on Word and cut them out by hand. It was a bit of work but worth it to remember all his words. I will probably add more as I hear him say it.