Get a load of this....

Look what I got today! WOW.
Yep my prize WINNINGS from last week. What a great stash. Did I tell you Cathy (yeah, like BFF!!) also put a copy of her own book in there too? She signed it....











ok, I admit, I asked her to!
I was not expecting this huge pile of goodies - but I sure will enjoy them...(might just have to display them at look at them for a while).

Most importantly the main prize was this.
The new, long awaited book from Stacy Julian. Can't wait to get started & implementing the LOM into my scrapbooking life!

A little something.....

I needed to create somehting quick to go in the mail with a package - so I came up with this. I put some Colonial White cardstock on the back for my message. I think this has to go down as being the fastest thing I've ever created - from no inspiration to finished in about 20 minutes flat!

Sweet Leaf and Blush textured cardstocks, Just blooms Big Pinks, Sweet Leaf Sassy Strand and a Bubblegum (coloured not flavoured) button.

Looking at it now I guess I could have pulled the sassy strand down a bit to the bottom left corner...too late now!

It's me!

Go HERE . The crazy, lucky person who won that book ....is ME!
How much of a silly happy dance am I doing right now?!
Thank you Cathy Z for having this book up for grabs...and for making me the WINNER!
I've just sent her a gushy email thanking her and probably saying far too much - but hey - it's not every day you're a WINNER!
Not only am I getting a copy of Stacy's new book - but also some scrapbook goodies too! I'm the WINNER!
Ok, have to go calm down now..let's have a cup of tea.

Speed Demon

Here's another layout that I started at Karis - nearly TWO WEEKS ago - finally completed.

Adding the embellishments and stuff is so hard for me. I get really scared when it comes to committing to anything "extra" - too much not enough - does it look like a "sneeze" is it "right"?
All CTMH products (except the stars) Vineyard Berry cardstock; Just Chillin' patterned paper strips; Just Chillin' Level 2 My Stickease; Desert Sand and Breeze cardstocks (circles & strips;)Create a Shade pearl paint coloured with Desert Sand re-inker (on the arrows) & misc. stars.

In case you haven't heard Stacy Julian has a new book coming out called Photo Freedom and all over the scrapbooking blog world copies of this book are being given away. Like here, here and here. Just by leaving a comment you are in with a chance of owning one! So I've been brave and actually left comments - and now I'm feeling all brazen and smart because I've actually dared to leave a comment - rather than typing in the comment box and then deleting it!

My secret weapon

Still no new layouts to post - I just need to wait for better light in the morning and then I can get a better picture of at least one finished layout.
There's another one up here nearly done - I'm trying to think of the perfect title for it. I spent last night brainstorming with Andy, while surfing two peas, and other scrapbook sites, then cornered the kids this morning before school and then spent more time staring at it when I got home this afternoon. I'll get there.....eventually!
While I was taking pictures yesterday my secret weapon was out and open it's the Creative Planner from We R Memory Keepers. I first saw it on Stacy Julian's blog before Christmas 2006 and just knew that I needed one too - even though my life is nowhere near as busy as hers - but I can still dream of being as creative and as organized as she - right?
So I shopped around the LSS's here in town - they hadn't even heard of it - let alone stocked it - so I ended up ordering and shipping one in.

This planner is admired by all that see it from friends and acquaintances even my hairdresser was drooling. I just love all the pages that come with it from the creative sketch section to the shopping lists - one for scrapbooking needs and one for what's more important - groceries.








(Love this picture - see still playing with the aperture and f/stops!)

But it's the day timer that keeps me on track. I don't often get a chance to fill the time slots with appointments but the to do list on the side is what keeps me focused. I list everything I would like to accomplish through the day - yep right down to making beds and supper - because if I don't supper will still be in the freezer at 5pm!

I may not be a super organised business woman - or scrapbooking mega star - but I can still collect information and .............(day)dream!

By jove I think I've got it.....

Now I'm getting really smart!
For those of you who don't quite get it - here's what I am trying to do -by using an aperture setting on the camera I can adjust the amount of picture that is in focus - so check the backgrounds - one will be blurred and the other will have more of the picture in focus!
And I am so glad that it took Jenn a while to get it too - now I don't feel such a fool on my own!

From this:












to this.











From this:











to this.













From this:












to this













I'm now like a (mad) woman possessed seing oportunities to use that low f/stop wherever I can!

My first manual photo's!

I got the camera of my dreams for my birthday - the Nikon D40x - I'd been lusting after it for so long - and quite honestly I have just been happy to play with all the automatic modes on it and enjoy the sharpness of the pictures it takes.
Then the others (Tammi & Jenn) got their Nikon's for Christmas and Kari already had her Rebel and were begining to talk in f/stop, ISO shutter speed language I just do not understand!
I remember as a child my Dad trying to teach me how to use his manual camera back then - but I just didn't get it - I think I have had a mental block ever since!
Anyhow, Kari posted to her blog a link to Two Peas Photo Course - week one on her blog - and I thought I'd give it a go - step by step - basic - how hard can it be? Yeah right - this is me we're dealing with!
I read the whole pdf over & over and couldn't even figure out how to adjust the aperture! The f/stop number kept changing when I adjusted the zoom ring - but I knew that wasn't right!
Then a genius happened to cross my path - in the form of Andy's friend Matt. Turns out he was given a photography course in the British Army - for surveilance purposes! Completely not expecting that!
He picked up the PDF & understood it, he read through my camera's instruction book and understood it! Yesterday afternoon we spent ages going over camera functions and playing with stuff I didn't even know it did.
I was and am still slow to get it.
This afternoon I thought I'd give the exercise from week one a try - focus on something and adjust the aperture and watch the background blur or come into focus depending on the f/stop. So, by now I had figured out how to adjust the aperture using the screen and the dial on the side - thinking "I can do this" I opened the back door, bracing myself against the windchill, I focused on the planters on the deck and played.
It didn't quite work like the instructions described. Disappointed, I put the camera away and sulked in my scrapbook room. Then tonight, I had a revelation! What if the thing I focused on was right in the foreground - maybe that's what they meant - TA-DA it worked!
These one's were taken inside so the lighting isn't the best for this exercise - but I had adjusted the ISO a little bit (hark at me now!)and the best thing was Georgina's shirt! I made her stay in the background because it really helped play up the results! (She took some convincing that I wasn't taking pictures of her!)

So this one is taken with a low f/stop (around 5)








This one was taken with a medium range f/stop (around 11)

And here we are with a high f/stop - maybe not as sharp as it could be on Georgina's brightly coloured shirt - but I think that's due to the slower shutter speed.



I now have a smirk the cheshire cat would be proud of - and I am ready to play some more tomorrow! I just hope the bloody windchill dies down!

A quick update

See this is why I don't make New Years Resolutions - they fall by the wayside far too quickly. I do want to keep regularly posting on here though - and I will.

The hold up? I guess it's 'fess up time - I went to Karis scrapbook saturday last week and managed to do 5 or 6 layouts....except I didn't do the journalling...and on e layout in particular needed something "more". I bought it home and started working on it - two days later I had ripped it apart and started again. Still couldn't get it right.. so now I have banished it to the far corner of my scrap table and I'm refusing to look at it for a few days.
That one page has taken up all my time, wasted my time. I'm ready to move on though -and the remaining layouts should be a piece of cake, a walk in the park compared to this last one!

I've just finished and emailed a very late January newsletter. If you didn't get your email me! The Card and All About Me clubs will be starting up in February -if you want to join in the fun you'll have to contact me about that too! (I think my email address is linked on the profile page - I still can't figure out how to get it in the text here!

Taking this morning nice and slow - last night I was out at the Michael Buble concert. He is very yummy - so I think I might go to my (scrap) room and put his CD on for awhile.......

Random circles.........

going around and around. This little purse came out of a Christmas Cracker over the holiday period. Just as I was thinking about moving it to the great File 13 I looked again and loved the circles and the colours and wondered if I could use it to create a little something.
It actually focused me on producing a scrapbook page. Something I haven't done in a while. I took the little purse quite literally with the colours and the circles and I reallt am having trouble with the random-ness of the circles - I want to add more to even it up all the way round - but that's not what being a kid in the summer is about is it?

All the cardstock used is CTMH - Clover Meadow, Kiwi and Chocolate and Textured Sunflower (and it's reverse) and their matching inks. The stamp set used is Free Spirit - the Stamp of the Month from August last year. The Concho's are CTMH and some of the brads and sparkles.

I'd love to see what someone else would do with the original inspiration....

EDITED Jan 14th I love this from Aspergertopia

Things I Love..............

Books & Magazines - can't get enough of them.
A while ago Creating Keepsakes online had a Thanksgiving week sale on their publications. My stash arrived!
I'm in heaven.
Like a dog with two tails I'm going round and round in circles from one to the other and back again.
I've wanted the Heidi book forever and at $29 US kept walking away from it - until the sale & I picked it up for $10 US - when the Canadian dollar was sailing high - good deal!
But just because I had some new books on order - doesn't stop me buying the magazines too - here's my current stash
I flick through them, I take them up to bed and read them, then they make it down to the treadmill and there they keep me entertained while I (try) to run.
They are my guilty pleasure.
I can almost feel Andy's eyes roll as another one sneeks it's way into the house. Sometimes I even put a new issue at the bottom of the pile hoping that it goes unnoticed - for a while. Not that he really minds - he knows how much I love this crazy little scrapbooking thing - and he loves it too.
Gotta love all the inspiration contained in all these books and magazines!

I did start creating a little something last night and that's where I am going right now - to try and finish it - with a little inspiration after flicking through Elsie!

Here's the little something I created for today's post.



This is an all Close To My Heart product creation - I have so much product (being a consultant that uses all her commission to buy MORE stash) but I need to use it rather than hoarding it!
The paper pack is called Life Delights. It's beautiful. I used Chocolate cardstock and some textured Blush cardstock.(as well as matching Chocolate & Blush Inks). I used Playful Flourishes and Delight in Everything stamp sets. All the brads, button and sparkle are CTMH product too.

Last night I went out for supper with Jenn, Kari and Tammi and I mentioned that I was thinking of starting up the challenges on here again. Nothing too taxing - just to get us thinking outside the box. This morning while I was running I had all sorts of creative thoughts keeping me entertained as I slogged away at it. Actually it worked as I ran my first session of 20 minutes running non stop in like - forever!

I've already gathered some rough notes on topics to cover and taken a couple of pictures of things that could be a colour/layout style challenge. I might try it out myself this afternoon - if I get the chance!

Saturday we're scrapping the day away at Kari's house can't wait for that either.

I created a little something!
This card is for my husband's aunt who will be 70 and then some this month! I used the Close To My Heart Creative Basics kit Silhouette Collection from the NEW Idea Book (it comes with 8 sheets of the stripe & 8 of the pattern plus 8 yards of the black ribbon)I mixed in some Hollyhock cardstock (& ink)watercoloured the ribbon around the hat and the flowers - the flower on the hat is sat on a pop dot with a black brad through it I also pop dotted the top flower in the bottom right corner. I used a Stamp of the Month from December '06 - Youthfull Heart - never thought I'd ever use that stamp set and here I did! I also used some Liquid Glass on the ribbon around the hat to give it a bit of dimension.
I didn't really have a plan for the card - it just evolved & you know I'm not one to go the traditional route. I think I like how it turned out. All I knew was that it had to be an upright card - as I had already stamped the back with the Handmade by stamp!!
What I like even more about making your own cards is making them to suit the person you're sending them to - and this does the job perfectly.

Part of my create something everyday posts - here are some cards I've been working on. I could be really smart here and post one a day - but that would be cheating myself too. If you have a birthday coming up this month maybe you shouldn't be looking for now. (You know who you are!)
First up, a wedding anniversary card - for my husband. Afterward I wished I had been brave and tried a blue instead of pink - but at the time I just couldn't envision it!













Anyhow, hubby was happy that I did remember our anniversary after all and loved the card!

Here are the two (so far) January birthday cards.

This one is for a friend. Her favourite colour is Yellow. Yep, this is the girl who made us wear yellow bridesmaids dresses! A pink card would go straight in the garbage can - if I ws brave enough to send her one coloured pink!
This one uses the CTMH paper pack "Caprice" - which I love and use often. The flower is from the CTMH stamp set that came in the From Me To You card making promotion. Chocolate brads and Sweet Leaf Sassy Strands hold down the "For You" tag.


This one is for my friends husband - I was trying to stay away from the more "traditional" male card looking thing it's supposed to be a bit playful - the card shows his birth date (on the clock) and his age - just to rub it in that he is older than me!!
I love this new CTMH paper pack "Good Times". I also used a new CTMH stamp set - Count On It and an arrow from the new Dimensional Elements (actually, because I am cheap I didn't use the chipboard arrow from this set, I traced it onto chocolate cardstock, lightly sponged the edges with chocolate ink and set it on the card with pop dots. The Happy Birthday is from the From Me To You stamp set (as mentioned above). I think I could do more to finish this one - but not sure what. Can you help?

I still have two more January cards to make - better go get busy!

I am up for a challenge - but a layout a day seems WAY too much for a daydreaming procrastinator like me. I am going to try and create a little something everyday - and if that little something happens to be a layout - all well and good!
I went straight to work the other day - I thought I would finish up a layout I did a while ago - you can see it here at the bottom of the list. It just wasn't "done". So I re-worked it. Now I am really happy with it. What do you think?

I used the CTMH Best Friends Forever paper pack, Twilight cardstock, the new Friendship Word Puzzle stamp set and lots of brads in matching colours - some CTMH some Making Memories - I'm sure you can tell which are from where. All the journalling is handwritten including the title and the pop dotted highlighted words they are lightly sponged with either CTMH Hollyhock of Goldrush inks. "Friends" is hand cut from a MS Word font - that I can't for the life of me recall the name of (even though it was only last night!!)

Big Picture Challenge

I was just doing my daily blog surf and over at Becky Higgins she mentioned her challenge to complete a layout a day through January. Hmmm - brave woman I thought - then - well, I would like to do that too - and I discoved that it comes from this FREE workshop over at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I've just downloaded my challenge and had a quick look through the gallery - there are 19 pages of layouts already! Anyone here up for the challenge? I better get busy and do 2 layouts before I fall too far behind!