Photos from the week

In lieu of scrapbooking layouts, i have been taking the usual amount of photos this week with our inadequate little camera, and thought I'd share them. My ideas for scrapbooking layouts as compared to actual completed layouts are about 100:1 I think.

This poor old picnic basket has been tagged for the scrapheap - not by me. I want to keep it. My dear Auntie Robin gave it to me for christmas in 1991 and inside it contained blue napkins and a plastic picnic set. I have a photo of me opening the present. I still have the napkins. I took the basket outside for a photo - I've been doing this a lot lately with sentimental items, I guess because of the bushfire season - and now I think I am going to keep it after all. I just remembered i'd been looking for a little keepsake box for things I've kept to remember my grandma and I think this might be just the thing!

Koala takes shelter

Love this photo, suckin' up the noodles.

The babies were having their dinner when DH returned home the other day and discovered this little koala sheltering behind a tree by our front door. It's common on 40 degree+ days for koalas to do this, and they often come looking for water as they're so hot and thirsty. DH took the little baby-bath-cum-swimming-pool which still had water in it from our afternoon swim, and left it for the koala to drink. He'd gone by the next morning...the koala that is! I hope he's ok.

The proposal

It's almost five years since DH proposed. On Christmas Day, 2004, he presented me with a Christmas gift - these lovely scented candles, and a gift card that said, on the back, "Will you marry me?" He did in fact take the easy option, but hey, he's the most romantic guy I know. I've kept them til now but have decided the photo will help keep the memory alive and I really want to burn those lovely candles.

This I like... the clever man, who's quite entitled to admire his handiwork, has fit three childproof gates and mini brush fence to keep the babies safe on the deck. Lovin' his work. Lot more renovation to go as you can tell by the surroundings...

Just Dad and his girl, keepin' up with current events

angus asleep on the change table...got to get that nappy changed quickly!

Scrapbooking withdrawals

Yep, I'm having scrapbooking withdrawals. It's not that I've lost my mojo or anything serious, but we have a big trip to melbourne coming up this weekend...one packed car, a Mum, a Dad, a one-year-old and a two-year-old and a fair bit of rain forecast in the days ahead. Lots of snot, pooey nappies, occasional tantrumic outbursts expected. Two weary parents on high alert. Oh how we love the holidays! so have been too busy for scrapbooking *sigh*.


The main purpose of this trip is Dad's memorial service at the end of month, which we're having for all his family who live in melbourne. The ashes will be interred in Bairnsdale on the 1st December, his birthday, and I'm so looking forward to discovering his childhood town (since I spent a year scrapbooking an album about it!).


So the last few nights have been spent finishing the slideshow, making copies, getting christmas cards ready, and just other bits and pieces that add up to make a very busy week! I was grateful as always to have our mother's group here today, because the reward is a lovely neat and tidy house afterwards! Well, relatively anyway. You should have seen the house this morning...eeeuch. That would make a funny before-and-after pic!


Anyway, I'm so glad I do have a few little creative projects I can take with me... the chipboard wall art for the nursery that need to be decoratively painted, a mini mobile-phone-picture album, collating notes about the babies for their journal, (for next year's scrapbook albums!) oh yes and the christmas cards, which will just need to have some baubles glued on, the letter added in, and a bit of embellishment here and there with the glitter pens. I figure we'll be away for two weeks, so might as well take something with me to do. I usually overestimate what I will be able to do, but you never know your luck in a big city. That's melbourne, not adelaide.


My sweet little lovely came to give me a cuddle before bedtime tonight, and said "I weally love you a lot, and daddy, and mother's group too." It makes it all seem bearable when she says things like that! Which is why i need to get the journal up to date so I can write things in it AS they say them! Instead of on scraps of paper.

Another double layout share - saying goodbye

I am so happy with how this one turned out, and I couldn't sleep for a few days until it was done - i was up til 3.30am last night. I know that's crazy late, but I figured at least I'd be able to sleep afterwards LOL!

I have to acknowledge the talented Kathie Link as my inspiration here - her article on double page layouts in this month's Scrapbooking Memories Magazine came at exactly the right time - helped me work out what to do. I've again gone for two single page designs that would complement each other, in content (they were taken on the same day, in the same place) with same background papers. I've incorporated fabric which is very Kathie-style, and I love making quilled paper flowers. Roses are easy when you use corrugated paper - the pink roses were made this way. I've just picked up a cute little crimping machine from Seriously Scrapbooking for $15. That has to be the bargain of the year. I bought cream Bazzill cardstock on a whim and so glad I did - it was perfect for this layout.

I am also constantly inspired by Ali Edwards style. I love to handwrite my own titles - I'm getting more confident using my own handwriting and doodling borders. I also like to use multiple photos. It would be MUCH easier to use just one photo, but I like the idea of telling a story as being more important that scrapbooking just for the art. But that bit's very nice too!

This double LO is my favourite so far - though there aren't that many to choose from...yet. I think next year will be a bumper year.

New double layout - remembering

Even though these are very simple pages, it took ages to decide what to do. I think it's because, if you feel a layout is very special or important, you agonise about it being "right"! I think when the photos keep ending up in the same position after you keep shuffling them round, it's best to stick them down - with removable tape of course.

I decided to try two 'single page layouts' that would complement each other as a double page.

Angels canvas card

Here is the second 'canvas' card I made - for this one, I glued the paper angel image on to the canvas and painted the rest to sort of blend the image in. I used orange and white and achieved several shades by blending and dabbing. I did the sides as well. I coated the finished product in Crackle Medium but it's created just a very fine crackling. The paper buckled a little at first but seemed to flatten out again afterwards. The ink ran a little under the crackle medium (the image was printed on my home printer) but the quote hides it quite nicely. A rub-on would be the ideal way to show a quote but I printed mine from the computer as I wanted a specific quote.

Thank you canvas card

Well, I really went out on a limb with this project. I'm not sure how I thought of using a small canvas as a card, but I remember seeing some cards in a Readers Digest that had been used with wood and I've loved the idea of using a material base other than paper so the card becomes more of a keepsake.

I wanted to make a special card for one of Dad's nurses, Dee, who works at the Oncology ward. She is a very special person and was so caring in her approach to Dad and also to us, the family. All the permanent staff in the ward were special, there's no doubt. But she became a favourite to us. She told my sister and I 'this is what I would want for my Dad' when his time came and that was a great comfort. I'll never forget her.

There's one more nurse in the chemotherapy unit of the private hospital who was a favourite of Dad's and I am almost finished one for her too. I'll post it when it's dry.

I surprised myself using paint - I was dead scared to try but once I started it was great fun. I recommend it! I just used acrylic paint and cheap brushes - not recommended as the bristles get stuck in the paint. Yuck. I'd love to learn some proper techniques LOL!

I should mention that the inspiration for the butterflies comes from an Australian artist Catherine Swan but other scrapbookers have been using this technique too. It's terribly pretty don't you think!

Angus turns one

Nothing could have been harder than celebrating our little angus's first birthday just two days after Dad passed away. But I felt determined that he shouldn't miss out even though it was such a sad time. So I took the mother-guilt option and spent a small fortune on a fabulous cake, printed with an edible photo of Angie for icing, made at Michel's. Funnily enough we did the same for Tasmin's first birthday, only her cake was plain, having been bought on the day of the party when there are limited options. You can't go past mud cake though, it's so decadent.

I am really pleased with the double page layout and will do another double LO for his baby book, which is being planned for next year. His LO will have a different, more little-boy focus, on the cake, presents, cards, and so on. I love the luxury of scrapping current photos. Have printed more photos so I can keep up.

I'm trying to arrange photos on a LO that focus on remembering Dad, also from that day and week, but finding it hard. Wish I could just choose one photo like everyone else seems to be able to. Oh well, I'll keep trying for now. That's the hardest part of a LO for me, settling on the photo placement.