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I haven’t done a scrapbook page in SO long.  Oh, I’ve done them in my head and lately I’ve been reading the magazines but now I’ve actually done one and I think I might do a few more.

 

This is Emma on the phone.  Along with a few products from Hambly.  I have got so many great photos on my hard drive and I need to get them off there and into the real world.   My computer tells me that this photo was taken just after her 3rd birthday, in 2006. 

I have been a bit slack in posting some pretty pictures.  I have been doing a wee bit of scrapbooking lately…  It’s so hard when you have such beautiful children… 

I have been taking part in the Elsie Flannigan 52 Challenges competition over at SAM (Scrapbooks and More) which has been a great motivator.  Elsie is a bit of a scrapbooking superstar and she has a book out called 52 Scrapbooking Challenges.

This one is Challenge #18 (negative space):

 

 

Challenge #4 - make your own chipboard accents.  I made the blue frames and then went a little doodling crazy:

 

 

Challenge #23 - Make your own buttons.  I made the pink and green buttons from Fimo.  I also made the background paper with Hero Arts stamps and pink and green ink:

 

 

This one I did for the For Keeps magazine Elite Team competition but I was unsuccessful. Oh well.  How cute is this little fairy girl:

 

 

Challenge #17 - Alphabetical Approach.  The A-Z on the left side is actually from index tabs and this is Jack on his first day of Kindy earlier this year:

 

 

Challenge #7 - Artistic Photo.  You might have seen the Freya doll on this blog when I first made her:

 

 

Challenge #11 - Colour combination of Blue, Orange and Brown. Love these photos:

 

 

Challenge #1 - Work those words.  The second pink down on the paint chip is the colour of the walls in Emma’s room:

 

 

I did this for one of the challenges (#5 Ribbon Cluster) and then wasn’t sure about it so entered another one instead but I do like this one a lot now:

 

 

Another one that I entered in the For Keeps comp - how could they miss my brilliance? Jack and a Lego likeness of him made by his older brother Sam:

 

 

Again, For Keeps magazine has missed out on my obvious talent!  I love this layout and the photos are great:

 

 

Ah….  mum and Emma.  Jack took this photo and I was so proud of him.  Challenge #14 - Try a new technique.  I hadn’t cut out a motif like the one on the right before:

 

 

Challenge #39 - Go Mega.  I used a mega flower and large title:

 

 

I love this layout.  Challenge #45 - Add an arrow.  Great photos:

 

 

Challenge #24 - White Cardstock.  Cutie pie:

 

 

My broken arm!  Oh, what memories.  Thank god that is over with.  I entered this in the For Keeps competition as well.  hrmph:

 

 

Challenge #37 - Decorative Edge Scissors.  Love the red and green. Super Jack:

 

 

Challenge #42 - Stylish Photo Frame.  My favourite three kids:

 

 

Challenge #12 - Scraplift a Layout Shape.  I scraplifted a great layout from Kelli Crowe.  A great way to use up paper scraps:

 

 

A layout of our wedding day which I submitted to For Keeps:

 

 

Challenge #6 - Ribbon Cluster:

 

Phew!  I hope you are still with me - that was a lot of photos.  I will upload them as I go from now on I promise. 

 

In my continuing quest for organisation and better productivity, I have just put up some new hooks on the back of my workroom door. 

 

I bought the two keyholder hook thingies from KMart for about $5 ea, gave them a couple of coats of white semi-gloss (they were originally pine) and then got busy putting them to good use!

 

I bought some metal rings recently and started loading various scrapping products onto them, grouped by whatever seemed to fit together.  So I have one set that is alphas, one for rubons, one for tags, one for words, one for chipboard things and several for “other” or “misc” things.  Now if I want some rubons for instance, I can just grab the whole ring from its hook and flip through them all.  Previously I had to wade through a big mess on my desk to find anything.  This should work a lot better! They are in view and off my desk! 

I have so much stuff that I try to use every inch of space! Here is the rest of the back of my studio door:

 

At the top I have a magnetic strip from Ikea with papers stuck with round magnets, then there is a magnetic whiteboard that is covered with Magnetic Poetry words.  Then below that is another whiteboard that tries to keep me on track with what is due and when, and at the bottom are my new hooks.  I have some favourite postcards running down the left side too. 

I hope I might have given you some good ideas to declutter your stuff - rings on hooks like these could be used to organise papers, ribbons and… other things that aren’t springing to mind just now!  Do you have any good ideas for this system?  Let me know in the comments. 

My third scrapbooking layout. It took me about two hours. In a glassless frame for hanging on the wall. It features machine stitching, paper layering, inking of edges, a tag tied with ribbon, stickers, doodling, flower accent and button stickers.

I did this last night for my sister’s birthday which is today. She turned 38. The tag reads “baby by 40″ and her baby turns one in two month’s time. She also has a wonderful 17 year old daughter and was a single mum for all that time, but she always hoped to meet someone fantastic to share her life with and to have another baby by the time she turned 40. She got her wish.

She found love a little while back (with my husband’s brother, no less!) and the beautiful baby above is the product of that love. I say there’s still time to fit another baby in before she turns 40! She and her partner are thinking about it…

It’s so nice to fuss over a little niece.