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.

New banner

Hey, this is a bit exciting, for someone who know next to nothing about digital scrapbooking. I created a little banner for my blog! It's a work in progress, as I learn more about digital art, but this was created very simply in Photoshop Elements, just by creating a banner size new file, (note to self: this needs to be a bit shorter!) filling it with some background paper that's free with that program, adding some text (1942 report and CK Ali's hand) and a photo and wacko-the-diddlo. The little typewriter is a pencil sharpener, made of metal with a little roller that works - that's real paper rolled in! - that cost 99cents on ebay.

I would LOVE any advice you can offer me on making banners, or digital art for blogs, or anything I can do to improve on this.

Have a great weekend xxx

8.40am

It takes a while to wake up in the morning. This is what our house looks like, in the morning, on coffee number two... I love having Ian home in the morning- I love the morning coffee ritual on the couch.

There's usually a sprinkling of toys on the Facari rug from the night before...

Tasmin munches on fruit, Angie crawls around working up an appetite...

The bottles left to dry on the sink, from the night before... I love to wake up to the sight of clean dishes. It's not common...

ahh bliss... this is what I was up to last night, like most nights... I almost completed a whole double layout...and I bravely tried paint on my page which I LOVE. 1am was a bit late to finish though.

"why am i always the last to get fed around here....?"

Ah yes, the new pile of washing.....

The towels I hung out to dry YESTERDAY...

And now, I'm off to take Tassie to her swimming lesson. Hope we won't be late :-)

Thanks for visiting!

How do you spend your mornings?

Remembering Dad book

I got a bit fixated on making a book in time for the funeral. It was supposed to be eight pages, so I went to Spotlight to get some smaller O-rings and a Space Bar which are designed to bind smaller books with the Zutter bind-it-all. No one was surprised when I emerged on the day of the funeral with a 50 page book!

I'd stayed up til 4.45 am printing pages and binding it all together. I'd somehow imagined I'd even make four copies, one for everyone else attending, and that it would all be done in two hours. Where do I get these crazy ideas and what drives me to keep going? Well, I felt the need to document all my thoughts about the fortnight leading up to Dad's passing as well as more general memories, so that is done now. Relief. And the material is all organised and printed reading for binding so I can make the other copies in my own time.

I found images of his favourite music on Google images (above);

I included messages received by SMS and email (above), as well as my own eulogy at the funeral, and some of his - and my - favorite quotes. I'll also include the notes from Ian, my sister

and her husband.

I included one sample of Dad's handwriting, from an old letter that I'd recently rediscovered in one of Grandma's holiday scrapbooks (above);

I scanned in the beautiful portrait painted by my talented cousin Noni Clarke, (with only a portion of the portrait showing);

I included scans from his favourite book of poetry, above and his beloved Scottish ancestry below;

As mentioned a few weeks ago, I finished a little album about Dad's childhood and early adult years and made a slideshow of photos to go with it. Even though he wasn't terribly interested, he knew I made them to remember him, and it was the closest we came to having a conversation about how we felt. So I'm as satisfied as I'm ever going to be. I wrote a few pages of memories and anecdotes from my childhood which I'll use in Part two of the album, which will focus on my relationship with dad. Part three will focus on his relationship with the babies, and there are many lovely photos, which I am really grateful for. These will each be housed in their own little album.

Farewell Dad

My dear Dad passed away just over a week ago so my little world ground to a halt. Even though he'd been very unwell with cancer for a couple of years, two days before he passed the doctors thought it would be weeks. So in a way it was all a bit sudden as I thought there'd be months left. So of course I spent a lot of time thinking about the day before I saw him and how it should have gone. But that day I do remember greeting him properly, grabbing his chin and giving him a really big kiss. I took Tasmin along and she was pretty good that day. His wish had been to see the babies as much as possible and I scheduled my days around the hospital visits. It's always difficult taking toddlers to the hospital.

The call came at 2.30am on Thursday 15th October and it was an emotional journey that day as I, my sister and her new husband sat by his bedside, holding his hand, reminiscing about the past and recalling his favourite jokes. It was wonderful to hear him chortle and laugh a few times even though he was in a light coma by then.

All in all, it was a peaceful passing and I was very grateful to be there with Dad holding his hand.

The funeral was on Wednesday and attended by me, Ian, my sister and her husband and Mum. My in-laws very kindly stepped in to mind the babies back at our house. It was an amazing and very simple service, with just the five of us looking out at the beautiful water garden atrium, cradled by a beautiful blue, almost cloudless, sky. We all spoke, and laughed, and cried, and all wore colour. Afterwards we went out into the gardens for a picnic. It didn't feel strange at all. I felt compelled to take pictures of the roses as they felt like his roses: they would look different the next day, and the day after that, and these will be a reminder of the beauty of infinite life.

Sneak peek - Tasmin and Angus's little zoo book

I'm very excited about my current project - which is about two-thirds of the way through. I'm making a little 8" mini-album book of our first trip to the zoo a few weeks ago. I'm dead keen to get it done quickly while the babies still remember it! It's about 30 pages and this is the first album I'll have made myself - the pages are cut from buff coloured manila folders and the album itself will be bound together with my groovy new Zutter bind-it-all. I stayed up late last week practising with it and made a little notebook using recyled paper for Tasmin to draw in.

I feel like it's more a children's picture book than an album - I'm giving my clouds-and-grass stencil a flogging and paper-piecing trees, flowers, animals and sticking in ribbon, pipe cleaners, mesh, anything with texture. It seems a bit silly in a way as the babies may end up ripping it all out as we read it but I want them to have a tactile experience and to be able to touch the different surfaces.

Hope to finish it soon then I'll post the whole album up. Have a great Sunday!

Debbie :D xox

Christmas cards - never too early to start

I was treated to Ruth Cameron's cardmaking class today and came away with four Christmas cards. There should have been five but we chatted a bit! I've decided to try and get my cards done in November this year as it's always done at the last minute and there's always a panic about getting them to people in time for Christmas. I usually come up with one master card then copy it 50 times... I can't imagine making individual cards for everyone. I am definitely inspired by the card at the top, with the three baubles - green and red by the way, but the scan didn't really pick up the red very well. I'll probably incorporate a family pic as well I think.

I used some new products and techniques too -

1. Several of the cards used Kindyglitz or Ice Iccles and I was loved the effect, which was actually quite subtle. Some sequins were used too, on the baubles.

2. There's corrugated metallic card too - I have a little machine on order at Seriously Scrapbooking that crinkles paper for you but you can apparently buy the card like this.

3. I also really love the simple scalloped edging achieved with scissors. I was thinking about buying a scallop punch but I think scissors would have more uses - you could do straight and curved lines, or circles, I think.

4. The Christmas tree was cut from scrapbooking paper and I've seen similar papers in the shops, and the little reindeer was purchased from a pack of gift tags. I love the creative thought that went into those!

5. And finally embossing powder melted with a heat tool - the white powder shines like thick lovely snow. Will have to think about adding some to my stash...maybe next year.

The Christmas letter will be different from usual... we normally do a boring old text only letter but I want to include fewer words and some pics this time. There must be 1000 to choose from so that will be easier said than done.

Isn't it crazy though, to see Christmas stuff in the shops already?

Grandma's holiday scrapbooks from my childhood

I was so delighted to pull out some of Grandma's old holiday books last night. Naturally I scanned them in at the first opportunity and uploaded them on to my Facebook page. I feel better knowing that they're "safe" in cyber space and free from moths, fires, floods and burglars. I'm terrified of losing any of my precious photos or mementos from the past. Reading through my books made me feel incredibly grateful that Grandma took the time and care to make them for me, my sister and cousins over the years to remember our annual Christmas visits to Melbourne. We travelled all the way from Darwin so we usually didn't see her more often than once a year. She's gone now but I think of her often and know she had a strong impact on my life. She is probably the one who influenced me to be a collector of articles, pictures and stories, years before I found scrapbooking. I wonder if she would be a scrapbooker today, in the way that I am?

Tissue paper flowers... I love recyling anything around the house to make pretty embellishments and found a better way of making tissue paper flowers, a little more sophisticated than my Mothers Day effort. With thanks to Philippa at Zestblog.

Tasmin and Angus playing together

I'm so happy to see the babies playing together! Angus, the baby, is fascinated by anything Tasmin is interested in and crawls over to see what she's up to. He's just started crawling, progressing from creeping, this month, which is an exciting development. His baby days are starting to come to an end now. Tasmin tolerates him but isn't really into sharing just yet. "It's mine!" she often reminds him. It's ironic the way she copies the Stingy character from Lazy Town, not getting the subtle lesson on sharing and team work.

What I'm up to at the moment:

1. I am really discovering the world of blogs. Where have they been all my life? You find one, and that leads to another and another... I've had many too-late nights this week. It's addictive, isn't it? The last one I looked at was Ali Edwards' great page, full of great inspirations and techniques. Note to self... remember to try toothbrush paint flicking and magazine masking with acrylics.

2. I'm interested in paper piecing at the moment, which is very popular again, and I'm experimenting with some different techniques. I bought a quilling tool that I'm experimenting with ... less than $3!... and can't wait to finish a pretty little card with quilled flowers on it. I found the inspiration in this month's issue of Scrapbooking Memories magazine.

Wow, I had to show off my new scrap space. Well, the shelves and desk were built last year but as I've been learning and doing more scrapbooking and accumulating more stuff, well... the piles of stuff just grew and grew and it started to look terrible. And I hate working amongst chaos. I mean, I don't really mind when I'm in the middle of a project, but I like to feel every little thing has a home to go somewhere when I'm finished. So my darling husband put up two new shelves and I stayed up all Friday night reorganising and this is the result. I'm very proud. Though as a friend commented when she say it, It looks as though you live IN Ikea...

Kathie Link class - Webster's pages

I had such fun creating these new pages yesterday in Kathie Link's class as Seriously Scrapbooking. This is the first scrapbooking class I've taken (other than the Creative Memories workshop I tried last year which really got me started on scrapbooking). What a new concept - cutting out images from patterned papers to create scenes. I've seen Kathie's work in Scrapbooking Memories magazine but it all looked a bit complicated. It really pays to do a class as it gets you thinking about the techniques and having a go raises your confidence. I bought a little tool which distresses the edge of the paper - it's actually a thread cutter. It was purple, luckily, my fave colour LOL ;-).

I looked at some more of kathie's work on her blog http://kathielink.blogspot.com/ which is really worth a visit. Now it's got me thinking very differently about how I'm going to tackle the babies' albums. Initially I'd thought I'd try and cram as many photos in as I could. But.. as there will be 60 pages in each album, won't it be MUCH more fun to focus on one or two photos per page instead. And have more fun doing the scrapbooking. Thanks Kathie! I am one happy customer.

Mothers Day 2009

Mothers Day was actually back in May but I felt inspired to do this page for Mum as we've just had Fathers Day. I actually did a similar layout for her and copied it so I could have one for my album. This is the first page I have completed for my 2009 album and I know it's a bit late but you have to start somewhere!

I love using recyled leftovers and the mesh is leftover from florist bouquets I'd been given - yep, I keep everything, even when I have no idea what I'll need it for! - the paper flower is made from a strip of tissue paper (also recyled) and the music sheet is a copy of the one I keep using lately, that I'd bought second hand in an op shop. I love combining text and music on my layouts. And I'm also crazy about doodling so that's appearing on everything at the moment.

Here's a very very cool trick I discovered by accident. We only uploaded Photoshop Elements 7.0 a month or so ago so I'm still getting used to the new features. I had been using version 2.0 so was quite behind. I scanned the page in two parts on my little scanner and found a great feature called 'photomerge' and the program put my page back together again, perfectly. Wow. I thought I'd be fiddling for half and hour to do it manually. Love Photoshop.

Eight cards in three days!!!

It's a quick card when you have your lovely child's drawings to make it with!

Happy Fathers Day Keith

Fathers Day Cards

Gee I had a ball making this card. It uses all my new rubber stamps - the owl (Inkadinkado), the harlequin and Eiffel Tower (Tim Holtz) and the funky man (unknown brand) with lots of TH inks on a manila folder card.

Fathers Day 2009

I bought a pack of 100 manila folders very cheaply - for the price of a single greeting card! - and distressed with my favourite Tim Holtz distress inks. It's a fairy with a wooden leg - one of Dad's favourite sayings when I was a child! I used some printed paper with fairies on it; the words are printed on the computer, stuck on leftover card and mounted on foam squares.

Marian and Keith's 50th Golden Wedding Anniversary

I used Kraft cardstock for the card and distressed it with my Tim Holtz distress inks. The middle is a circle of sheet music, the anniversary message is recycled from an old card, the bird is an Inkadinkado stamp and the 50 a Making Memories foam stamp. I used acrylic paint to paint 50 underneath as a shadow.

Happy Engagement to Noni and Mike

This was such a fun card as the party theme was "vintage cocktail" so I printed an internet image of a little red cocktail dress and stamped it with the chandelier image (Tim Holtz) and repeated the stamp at the top of the music paper circle (the sheet music was found in an op shop). I added some words mounted on foam "She was positively radiant"...the inside of the card is a photo of our mothers as young teens in the fifties with words added to the top for a fun effect "gorgeous man so.. purple". I love to be random!