Scrap of Difference back on-line

Good news is that www.scrapofdifference.com.au is now back up and running. 
Due to the fact that no-one could access the site for over 48 hours we have now extended the deadline time for our cybercrop.
Everyone now has until midnight 30th November to upload their challenge layouts to our gallery to be in the running for the prizes on offer.

www.scrapofdifference.com.au experiencing technical difficulties

I apologise if you are trying to log onto our website at present.  It appears we are experiencing some technical difficulties.  I will keep you posted with a timeline as to when this may be resolved as soon as my host gives me one.

thank you for your patience.

Scrap of Difference November cybercrop

Well it is that time of the month again when we need a little inspiration.  Challenges for our latest cybercrop have just been posted to www.scrapofdifference.com.au .  We have a theme of SUNSHINE for the month. 

We have a sketch challenge, colour challenge, technique challenge and a card challenge.

Our cybercrop will run for a full 10 days this month so hopefully this will allow everyone to play and still have time for their Christmas party commitments.

I hope some of you get a chance to pop by and say hi and complete a challenge or two to share with us.

Bop to the Top

Well it has certainly been a heck of a couple of months - car accidents, house fires, tick paralysis and the list seems to keep coming.  However, we are being forever positive here and as per a quote found by my darling daughter - "Don't overlook a miracle just because it arrives in an unexpected way"!

This layout of my little one dancing her first jazz solo has taken me just over 3 weeks to complete but I'm really happy with the end result.  The layout is inspired directly by Nic Howard & May Flaum from their wonderful class Double Take over at http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/  The class has provided me with soooooo many wonderful sketches and examples to work from that I'm sure it could easily keep me busy for months to come.

If your scrapbooking mojo is waning - drop into Big Picture and check out some of their classes - I assure you it will be the best investment in your scrapbooking you will make in a long time.

Now no matter how many times I tried to photograph this layout as a whole today I failed so you will just have to imagine page 1 and 2 actually pushed together to get the real idea of the finished article.

Thanks for looking.

Rare Wear

Well it took me longer than I'd hoped, but I've finally put the finishing touches on my first layout for my class at BPC - Double Take.  Here is a double layout created from a sketch by the fabulous Nic Howard.

I've enjoyed using Basic Grey's Lauderdale range quite a bit lately and here is another layout featuring these fun, bright papers.

The layout features photos of Steph at the Rare Wear 15 minutes of fame winners' day at Warner Bros. Movie World in June 2011.  She was one of the lucky 12 winners who got to be preened and pampered and treated like models for a whole day.  To add to the excitement, they then got to see the wonderful photos the team at Rare Wear took appear in print in the 2012 Rare Wear catologue for their senior jerseys for next year.

For more info about their 15 minutes of fame promotion which they have run for the past 2 years - check out this link
http://www.seniorjerseys.com.au/

Big Picture Classes - Double Take
There is nothing as exciting as the email which arrives marking the beginning of a new Big Picture Class and this week it was double the excitment with the start of a new class featuring double page layouts and sketches for 2 super teachers - Nic Howard (my scrapbook idol) and May Flaum.

The class only started 2 days ago and already the gallery is full of incredible work from around the world - traditional, digital and hybrid - it is all amazing.

So, if you are looking for some scrapbook inspiration or your mojo needs a kickstart - jump on and join in the fun - here is the link  http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/doubletake.php

Hope to see you around the message boards and gallery.

Back into it.....

Well sorry I've been a bit absent the past few weeks, my step-daughter was involved in a horrific car accident at the beginning of September and life seems to have just disappeared in the following weeks.  I'm thrilled to report that despite some severe injuries, she is recovering steadily and improving daily.

The cybercrop at www.scrapofdifference.com.au was delayed last weekend as a result.  However, I'm back on top of a few things now so the challenges have just been loaded to the forum and we are ready to have some fun together over the next 10 days.  I hope a few of you can pop by and join in and inspire each other.

I will hopefully be posting some new work here as a result in the coming days .

Norman Gunston Lives On

My brother in law recently turned 40 and had a 70's inspired birthday party to celebrate.  My dear hubby thought rather than going in everyday 70s getup, he would go as the iconic Norman Gunston comedic character immortalised by Gary McDonald.  Here is a layout I did with photos I took before he left.

A quick thank you card

Another quick card to add to the pile I have to make for a lady.  This one was inspired by the cybercrop at http://www.scrapofdifference.com.au/ this week - Black and white with your choice of one other colour.
Hope you like - thanks for looking.

Share

One of my favourite spots to go for scrapbooking inspiration is Big Picture classes www.bigpictureclasses.com.  Last year they held a Big Ideas Festival with different tutors each day and all FREE.  Well, the good news is that it's happening again this year but with a different twist.  This year they are again bringing a great range of tutors and styles to the festival but with the idea of creating a mini book called Words to Live by.  Each tutor gives a new word for the day.

I loved the idea and wanted to share it and the festival with everyone at Scrap of Difference so have used the first day's word - SHARE as our word challenge for our August cybercrop.  Here is my layout featuring my DD and her bestie putting on a dance "concert" for us last Sunday by the pool.  It features a DVD which I tried (and failed i might add) to print their photo onto the front of - instead I got their middles but at least the animal print matched my papers - so all good :)

Hope you enjoy.

Mini thank you album

I recently spent a week with my brother and his family in Cairns for the school holidays.  I have spent the best part of last week creating a couple of mini albums for him featuring a smattering of the photos we took by way of saying thank you for having us stay with him.

Primarily I have used the free papers provided with the last few issues of Australian Scrapbook Ideas magazine to create the album.  Mini albums are a wonderful way of using up rub ons, smaller embellishments or die cuts or those long forgotten stickers you have hiding away.

I hope you like some of the pages here.

Stamping and watercolouring with Distress Ink

I have been feeling a little creatively zapped in the past couple of days so headed to the internet to go blog hopping and check out some videos on You Tube to try and find a new technique or two to play with.

Found a wonderful video by the talented Rachel Grieg on You Tube on watercolouring stamps and Tim Holtz Distress Ink.  She of course used her wonderful Darkroom Door range but I've used a Stampin Up stamp for my flower and a new quote stamp from Stampit which I received today.  Hope you like the results!

A quick overview of the technique is to add the colours to your stamp as desired - I've used a red and yellow distress ink for the flowers - simply dab both on - the red in lesser amounts and green on the stems.  Hold the stamp flat so the ink doesn't drip off and spritz lightly with water.  Whilst still wet stamp down onto your cardstock and voila!

The edges I have distressed with a Tim Holtz foam applicator pad and the red and yellow inks I used for the flowers.  Mount onto complimentary cardstock - a quote in the top corner and a bit of fine organza and you're done.

My Girl

Whilst I've been madly scrapping away for the past 2 weeks, this is the first I've been able to share with you.  All my other work you will have to wait for Issue 11 of Australian Scrapbook Ideas :)

In the Qld July school holidays I took the opportunity to run away with the family and visit my brother and his family in Cairns.  My Mum and her hubby joined us up there and for the first time in a long time I was able to celebrate my birthday with my whole family.  So very special.

This layout features a photograph of Casey & I,  taken on that evening - out for dinner on the Cairns waterfront.  I have used the gorgeous Kaisercraft Chanteuse range as it also fitted the colour challenge for the www.scrapofdifference.com.au cyberccrop this past week. 

thanks for checking in - hope you like it.

Cybercrop at Scrap of Difference this weekend!

Cybercrop this weekend at www.scrapofdifference.com.au. 

We have the usual challenges - 
*     Colour
*     Sketch
*     Technique
*     Card
Details of the challenges have just gone up on the forum and the folders are all open and ready for your work in our gallery. Hope you can drop by and join in this weekend or share some love in the gallery.

You have a whole week to complete your layouts so no stress and plenty of time to come and play - hope to see you on the boards.

Tweety

Well despite the winter blues, I thought the yellow in this layout would warm any day :)  Using a sketch with courtesy of the Color Room I have created this layout featuring Casey with Tweety.  We bought annual passes last year to Movie World and her main priority was to have her photograph with Tweety - she succeeded.

Layout created for the sketch challenge at http://www.scrapofdifference.com.au/ for their cybercrop which closes midnight 25/6.

You're never too little to hit the town!

I love these photos of Casey and her friends hitting the town to see the musical Wicked back in March.  They look so grown up all dressed up to the nines for their big day out.

More pages from my old photo albums

I'm stll trying to do at least one layout of me growing up for every layout I do of the kids.  Two of my latest were completed when I went away with the girls to Bribie for a scrappy weekend.  Here are my efforts.

A double from my days treading the boards with the Peninsula Theatre Company based at Narrabeen at the Old Gym.

Some fond memories of the people and the fun we had.

my darling little brother and the state of his bedroom just 24 hours home after a whole year away.

Australian Scrapbook Ideas - Volume 7

I have a feature in Volume 7 of the Australian Scrapbook Ideas magazine which is on sale in newsagents right now.   I have featured the floods of South East Queensland in my layouts, specifically in my area. 

I hope you enjoy it.

Of course along with my layouts are the talented designers for Austn' Scrapbook Ideas and all their terrific work - full of step by step instructions an loads of inspiring ideas.  Grab yours today!

Another Bricks N Mortar store closes :(

It was sad to hear over the weekend that my local scrapbook store - Crafty, will close it's doors in a month.  They started a large closing down sale yesterday with up to 75% off some products and were inundated with customers and thrilled with the support.

I wish Trish and Trevor all the best in their next venture which I'm sure will see them involved in the scrapping world just in a different guise. 

We look forward to dropping in next Monday between 10am and 2pm with a few NZ girls who will be over here for the papercraft expo.

Good luck!

Brisbane Scrapbook & Papercraft Expo

For those of you Brisbane based or prepared to travel a bit - remember that this weekend (11-13 June) is the Scrapbook & Papercraft Expo at the Brisbane Convention Centre at Southbank.

For more info and what's happening - follow this link
http://www.scrapbookexpo.com.au/

Bribie & Cybercrop layouts

We had a wonderful weekend away with the girls for the first ever Scrap of Difference retreat on Bribie Island.  The rain fell steadily for the majority of the weekend which meant we didn't have to feel guilty about not leaving our scrap desks other than to eat :)

However, despite this I only managed 3 layouts and a card completed over the weekend and one more started to bring home and complete for cybercrop.

Here are the results.

This is the one I started at Bribie and finished this weekend for the colour challenge of the cybercrop - steel grey, rust, cream and blue.

Cybercrop this weekend at Scrap of Difference

Well the challenges are all loaded at www.scrapofdifference.com.au and it looks like a weekend of fun ahead.  4 challenges to get packed for on top of all the other bits and pieces for a scrappy weekend away with the girls at Bribie Island.  I'm soooooo excited - if I didn't have to fit the kids in the car to take them to school in the morning I'd pack tonight :)

Hopefully will have loads of layouts to share on my return.  However, if all I get to do is sit and scrap and share some time out with my lovely scrappy friends then that will be wonderful too.  Life has been very busy the past few weeks with the kids activities and I'm really looking forward to some "me" time.

If you have some spare scrappy time this weekend - drop over and check out the challenges and join in - you've got a whole week before the deadline.  Hope to see you there!

Creating Keepsakes Acceptance

I received an exciting email today advising that one of my layouts has been accepted for consideration for publication for Creative Keepsakes.  This is a first for me for this mag and I'm very excited.  Have just removed the image from my blog here and other online galleries I had it featured in - now off to parcel it up all ready for postage tomorrow.

Happy Mother's Day & National Scrapbooking Day

Firstly, Happy Mother's Day to all the Mums out there - may your day have been filled with the love and laughter of those you love most.

I hope all the scrapbookers out there have enjoyed National Scrapbooking Day and the fun challenges and prizes being offered around the web this weekend. 

I have had a wonderful 3 days with Print Blocks here in Queensland who have just hosted their Creative Block - an incredible event featuring many overseas tutors from manufacturers around the world.  A well organised event which was very friendly and very inspiring.  I got to play with product that hasn't yet arrived on our shores, see the work of some incredible designers and talk with the people who design the product, sell the product and distribute it around the world.  On top of that, I got to chat with other retailers from around the country.

Thank you to Print Blocks for organising such a super event and for all those who were involved.

Another of my life changing moments

Late last year I was inspired by a blog by Jennifer Mohler,  to start scrapbooking stories from my past that changed me or impacted my life.  She had started a project called 100 Life changing moments.  I chose not to put a number on mine but to simply start collecting a list of events or people that I thought had influenced me in some way.

This layout is another for this album - the day I first became a Godmother.

Thanks for looking

No longer a baby

Well I've been scrapping Life Changing Moments this weekend to do it being the theme for cybercrop at http://www.scrapofdifference.com.au/ this weekend.  A drizzly few days has let me escape to the scrap room a few times whilst the kids are snuggled up watching DVDs :)  Here is one of the resulting layouts.  When Brayden turned 1 it was a realisation that he would be our last baby and his age would no longer be relayed to people in months but in years - he was now a one  year old and therefore no longer a baby.

This layout was created using the April #2 Saturday sketch from http://www.kaisercraft.net/blog/saturdaysketch/ and the Kaisercraft Rewind series of papers.  Bella chipboard lettering which has been painted in Platinum Liquid pearls and then had rainbow foil added in patches over the top.  Cardstock is Aussie Scrapsource and I used the ecraft cutter to cut both the large stars as the mat and the smaller ones used in the banner.

Creative Crop - Free at Big Picture Classes

May 7th is a creative crop online at Big Picture Classes.  I have been doing classes at BPC for over a year now and have learnt some incredible techniques from the best in the scrapbooking industry around the world - all from the comfort of my loungeroom.  check this out
<a href="http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/creativecrop.php"><img src="http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/images/creativecropbadge.gif" alt="Big Picture Classes" /></a>

Card creations

I found a new website to share this week and have really playing with their Palette #54 card sketch this weekend.  For your own inspiration, check out this link
http://thecolorroom.ning.com/

Here are the 3 cards I have made this weekend with their sketch.

Cybercrop this weekend at Scrap of Difference

It seems amazing but we are fast approaching the 3rd weekend in April, which means cybercrop at Scrap of Difference.  There are hints in the forum about the theme and the challenges will all go up tomorrow!  So I hope everyone will get some scrap time over the weekend to jump on board and join in the fun!
http://www.scrapofdifference.com.au/

High School Hair Fashion

I was admiring a layout by Suz Doyle, one of the DT at Aussie Scrap Source during the week http://aussiescrapsource.typepad.com/aussie_scrap_source/2011/04/comparisons-progressive-photos.html.  She had taken a photograph of her daughter with her birthday cake each year and had featured 8 years worth of these photos on a double layout - showing just how much her daughter had grown up in this time.  It got me to thinking about all those smaller photos in the school portrait pack I receive each year and how they too would show how my children had grown over the years.  When I pulled out Steph's highschool ones the first thing that stood out were all her different hair styles - from change of colour to slicked back fringes to curly to straight - each year was somthing totally different and even though I haven't yet received the Grade 12 version - that too is going to be different as she is now very blonde again.

So, here is my layout inspired by Suz's one.

Drizzling weather = scraptime!

Well a cooling off in the weather and a spotlessly clean scraproom - thanks to the discovery of termites last week :( meant I was free to scrap the past couple of days in the afternoons prior to school pickup.  I managed to produce the following double page spread inspired by the product challenge for March at http://www.scrapofdifference.com.au/ - Rubons!

Layouts for cybercrop

Well it's cybercrop weekend over at http://www.scrapofdifference.com.au/ and so far I've knocked the colour and sketch challenges on the head.  Technique and card to finish off tonight before midnight - let's hope the kids go down reasonably early tonight.....

my efforts for the colour challenge - blue & green

my attempt at the sketch

The theme of the weekend is smiles, frowns and funny faces - I think these both fit the bill!

Stickers for Emma

Some of my followers may remember Leanne from my Scrap of Difference Design Team.  Her beautiful daughter Emma was diagnosed with cancer last year and sadly is having a bit of a rough time of it at the moment with a new round of chemo to try and kill it.

Here is a link to a blog which tells Leanne & Emma story and also outlines how we can help brighten this beautiful little girl's day with something I'm sure we all have in our stash - stickers!
http://networkedblogs.com/fpz4J
Please help if you can.

Weekend scrapping

Well I did scrap over the weekend - 2 layouts in fact, but sadly I don't have anything to share here.  They were gifts for a friend whose tiny tot twins were turning 1 on Saturday.  The good news is that they loved them and have them hanging on the wall already

Another layout for the Wedding album

It is my 10th wedding anniversary this month and I'm finally getting confident enough to scrap my wedding photos!  Here is today's efforts - photos of my mother and I before the ceremony.

The layout is from a build it handout by the talented Nic Howard from her colour class with Big Picture Classes.  Believe it or not I was going for "green" today :)  Love Nic's handmade leaves - wish I remembered to use this technique more often.

Girls Just Wanna have Fun!

and having fun on our new Wednesday daytime crop is just what we've been doing.  Here is the fruits of the past couple of crop days' labour - My DD and her dance buddy all ready for eisteddfod.

Another cybercrop layout

This layout was for the sketch challenge at http://www.scrapofdifference.com.au/ cybercrop this weekend.  The entries close at midnight so still time to have some fun.

Lucky 8 border punches - We R Memory Keepers

Check out these fabulous new punches - so easy from the looks of them and a great result.

Think my tools budget has just been spent - again!

http://www.weronthenet.com/lucky8punchdemo

Cybercrop this weekend at Scrap of Difference

Well it's creative play time this weekend over at http://www.scrapofdifference.com.au/.  Our cybercrop is in full swing.  There are 4 challenges loaded to the forum ready to rock.  We also have a theme - "Two of a Kind".

I completed the colour challenge tonight which was green & Black - we were also allowed to add white.
Here is my efforts

I'm finally a blogger!

Geez, who would have thought that I would get my act together and actually get a blog up as well as my website - miracles will never cease.

Hope you enjoy checking out my latest scrapbooking efforts and some tips and fun along the way.