Kraft+

Now that my knee is starting to bend more I've been able to get back into scrapping, it seems crazy that for the first seven weeks post-surgery I really couldn't sit comfortably for any length of time (sitting for 15 minutes to eat dinner was about all I could manage). Due to the million exercises I do each day, it's definitely starting to bend more easily but the downside of this is that the pain in my hip has been much worse. So much so that the doctor gave me a whole new cache of drugs and while my hip and knee are both much less painful my head has been more than a little foggy for the last few days which makes scrapping a tad difficult.

Anyway enough moaning, my knee is definitely improving and I've got another eight months before my hip replacement so, in the meantime I shall enjoy my scrapping renaissance.

The Kraft+ challenge this month was a combination of a retro colour challenge and a recipe.

I scrapped an 8.5x11 LO for a change. I snapped this pic of my naughty Sparky dog sunning himself on our new deck furniture. The furniture he is NOT allowed to sit on (I also caught him standing on the coffee table next to the terrarium but that's another story...).

There were a lot elements to this challenge but not to many to overwhelm the LO. Let's see how I went:

washi - check
polka dots - check
cotton - check
3 tags - check
silver - check
stamping - check
kraft base - check
retro colours - check
photo - check
title - check
life story - I journalled on the little postcard that's tucked into the left side

Extra bits and pieces - I used a Charm's Creation chevron and an older cloud (love these I only have one left now); a flair (history unknown but commercially produced); cute spotty brad; CTMH sliver bling chervons, and star; Stampin' Up enamel dots and washi tape and a Purple Pumpkin button. The paper is Fancy Pants and Basic Grey. One of the tags is Jenny Bowlin, one is home-made and the other is a mystery (I put the packet away somewhere and it's now nowhere to be found).

There are still a few days left in the month, I wonder how many more challenges I can try? Hope your day has been a productive one, whatever you've been up to.

Thanks for stopping by.

123 Challenge Blog

This month is the first time I've played along with the 123 Challenge Blog. Charm posted a link to it on her Facebook group and it looked like fun so I gave it a go.

My Mother In-Law gave me a pair of funky onion goggles for Christmas and I sent her a photo of me wearing them - this challenge just begged to use that photo.

To be honest I'd never heard of onion goggles until this pair arrived but then I was watching Castle and in the second episode of season one both Castle and Alexis are wearing them so that's it, they must be cool. I've been watching a lot of Castle during my recovery, a friend loaned me all four seasons. I'm about three quarters of the way through season three, which isn't too bad as season five starts on TV on 6 May. I should just about be done by then.

So, back to my LO, I didn't have any hot pink paint (and I really wanted some) so I applied some SEI tumble dye with a make up sponge to my cardstock. To cover off the grid aspect of the challenge I added some plasterers tape which I cut into bunting and then added the triangles randomly around the edge of my LO.

I then dug around in some old kits and found some scraps of patterned paper (MME Jubilee) that went well with the little D-lish Scraps bag. Also from D-lish are the cabochon, diamond, tab, journalling spot and tag, butterfly and assorted hearts. The love laugh live strips are from the bottom of piece of Kaiser's Kraft range and the little pink tab is actually a left over bit of a PL card I chopped up for another LO.

When I was stash-diving I also came across an unopened pack of thickers (oh the horror!) which was exactly what I was looking for. The smaller alphas are from a Kaiser sticker sheet that was also lurking in a long-forgotten kit.

I knew I had some hot pink Charm's Creations and thought one would be the perfect embellishment feature (I was a bit surprised by just how many I had when I pulled them out!). I then added a couple of velum circles from Rainbow Splendour and a dash of sequins and rhinestones as the finishing touches.

I had a lot of fun with this LO and I'm looking forward to seeing what the 123 Challenge team come up with next month.

Thanks for stopping by.

Scrapbooking Top 50's April Challenge

Both the kids were at friends' houses overnight so after Rob left for work at early hour of 7.10am I got myself a coffee (still on decaf but it's the process that counts) and sat down to scrap. I knew exactly what challenge I wanted to do and which photo suited the theme.

Scrapbooking Top 50 has one of the best challenges I've seen in a long time - a word prompt. So many option with this one.

Here's my LO. It was one of those LOs that just came together. As well as the word happy I decided to use some yellow highlights. This is Angus tucking into the pizza he crafted and then cooked in the barbecue. Cooking makes Angus happy.

The paper is from Stampin' Up - I won it in a lucky door prize. The washi tape, the little bag and the journalling spots are from the February D-lish Scraps just add paper kit. The other embellies are a Charm's Creation arrow, some super cool cogs and arrow strip from Burdy's Embellies, a Sawyer's Place flair, a button from my button jar, some enamel dots and a splattering of Dylusions black marble ink spray.

And now I'm off to do my knee exercises AGAIN and then I think I'll do some more creating.

Studio Fourteen40 Mood Board

I love adding Studio Fourteen40's quirky flairs and wood veneer to my scrapping projects so, when I saw they had their first ever challenge I decided to play along.

The challenge was a mood board.

At first glance this is a pretty feminine palette but I had some photos of Rob from his New Year's Eve gig wearing a purple shirt that I'd been wanting to scrap. Going to his show was a great way to spend New Year's Eve - an 11 course degustation and a table right near the stage because we 'knew' the band. A fun set list of Aussie rock anthems to remind us all of our misspent youth. It was tricky getting photos of my guitar hero but these capture the moment. I love watching Rob play, after all who can resist falling for the guitarist? 

So, back to the LO.

The base paper is from an old Kaiser range, I used a Stampin' Up star template and some Grape Ape Glimmer Mist plus some washi tape from Cosco to complete by background. I found the other paper in the my scraps box, these are really old, from when Scarlet Lime were still shipping their amazing kits to Australia. Anyway I teamed them with some brand new embellishment cards from Crate Paper (they arrived in the post yesterday). I love these packs but I never seem to use them all so I was pretty chuffed when the colours were all ones I needed for the challenge. I then added a Studio Fourteen40 word veneer and flair plus a few brads I had lying around, my finishing touches were a sprinkling of enamel dots and a paper clip star from D-lish Scraps.  

Some close ups - how cute is that retro radio card? It seemed kind of suitable as Rob's gig was an 80s rock show - very retro!

And the Studio Fourteen40 tin button flair. A star for my star :)

And another star to keep with the theme.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you're having a creative day.

SUYS April Mood Board

This month's SUYS challenge is a gorgeous mood board created by Kim.

And here's my take on it. These are a few photos of Angus and his friends at their Year 10 formal in December last year. They had a great time :)

For more inspiration and to share your LO pop over to the SUYS blog. 

Scrapbooking Top 50 Mood Board

One of my favourite forums closed down in January. I think it may have been the last forum still operating. I spent a lot of time at Scrapbooking Top 50 and always enjoyed the scrappy chat as well as their monthly and cybercrop challenges and their fabulous and incredibly creative competitions. It was the end of an era but the Vicki and Chloe haven't disappeared completely, they're continuing the Top 50 tradition with a monthly competition on their blog. February's challenge is a mood board.

Here's my take, my little niece and nephew dressed in their traditional Japanese costumes. Hopefully you can see I was inspired by the colours and textures.

Thanks for stopping by.

SUYS February Challenge

It was my turn to create a challenge for Show Us Your Stuff this month. I chose a Countdown Challenge - it's far simpler than it looks at first glance and lots of fun too.

Here's my take. I didn't have any recent photos in a smaller size so I stepped back in time to 1998 and scrapped these random shots of Angus' first Christmas. They were taken back in the age of film before I learnt about getting close to your subject and all that other useful stuff that makes for really good photos...these still made me smile though. Angus really wasn't that impressed by all his amazing presents, once he found that little book in the shape of a drill, he stopped looking.

My handmade embellishments are a Rainbow Splendour heart stack and a APOCD flair.

Hope you get a chance to play along. Don't forget to link your creation to the SUYS blog. And while you're there check out the great offer by this month's sponsor - Scrapping Life.

Thanks for stopping by!