The Spice of Life

I Wish

Is the dare this month at How Dare You. I was a little (well more than a little) late with my contribution this month, but better late than never right?

When I received the prompt the first thing that came to mind was birthdays. With that in mind, I created a set of three birthday cards. The cards are made using the Humorous Birthday stamp set from Inkadinkado. I try to keep a supply of handmade cards available to use throughout the year and I think these cards will be perfect for a few of our family and friends.

To check out the other contributions head on over to the Aussie Dares blog. As always, we'd love to see your creations.

Something old something new

is the challenge at Aussie Dares this month.

 

I’ve taken ‘something old, something new’ as a challenge to use up some of my stash that has been gathering dust for a while. I have a tendency to buy more than I use (like many crafters out there) and as a result I have a large pile of embellishments and papers that I never get around  to using.

On this page, I have used the new paper range ‘Andrea Victoria’ from My Mind’s Eye and incorporated it with some older embellishments. My favourite would have to be the ‘cherish’ slide which I’ve had in my stash since I started scrapping in 2006.

Aussie Dares

The challenge is up at Aussie Dares, and this month we want to see die cuts and punches used on your creations.

 

There are so many options available to you with this theme. So if you feel like having a go, we'd love to see it.

In our lounge room we have a huge 3.8x2.7 window that looks out over our front yard and to the school over the road. From the moment Charlee discovered it, there is rarely a day that goes by that she does not stand at the window, looking out at the world going by. There are so many interesting things to see and all of them are exciting a little girl like Charlee: a dog on the oval, people walking past, cars going by, birds on our front fence, school kids playing at lunch time, school buses waiting to pick up the children and best of all, her two big sisters walking home from school.

Dare No# 50

is up at Aussie Dares aand it is I Remember

This is the first page I have scrapped about Dad since his passing in October last year. This month's Dare was the perfect prompt for me to start puttiing some of my memories on paper. I created "This I Remember" to capture some of the special things about his relationship with my girls.

 

 

 

And on another note. I want to thank you for your responses to last nights post.

Dare 49..........

 is up on How Dare You and this month we want to see Rubons on your creation. They are such a versatile product and can be used on so many surfaces to achieve a variety of effects. I even have a packet of Ruge De garance wall rubons that I am waiting patiently to use. I just need to have my study painted and I have the perfect spot to put them!!

Onto my contribution for this months Dare:

  

If you would like play along, email your creation to Rebecca. We'd love to see it.

Aussie Dares

The new theme at How Dare You this month is Smile! As usual there are some great interpretations on the theme. Here is my take this month.

 

A bright, fun layout to go with beautiful, funny photos that just make me smile!

Adelaide, Alice Springs and a dare or two

Life is spinning by so very quickly. I work a few days, do some house work, create a few things and all of a sudden two weeks have sped on by!

We spent last weekend in Adelaide for an engagement party and some retail therapy. It was a nice break and it was great to catch up with friends! We also did the obligatory visit to the Zoo for the kids this time we went to the Mueseum as well.

We got back Monday afternoon and Greg flew out to Alice Springs on Wednesday morning for the first stint working in the NT again. We are back to three weeks on, one week off. It all comes down to that work life balance doesn't it? Trying to the find the balance between work, money and family so that it all works the way you want it to.

Squeeze into this hectic week, two days of work for me and some scrapping deadlines and I am just catching my breath. Bring on the weekend!!!

Being the first Friday of the month it is time for new challenges at How Dare You and One Little Aussie Word. 

Before I go on, I want to say goodbye to Sanderjin and Sarah from Aussie Dares. Both of these girls have left me breathless with their creations and I'll miss seeing them on the dares site.

So the theme for this month at Aussie Dares is LIFE. Our prompt from Rebecca was 'life, death and everything in between', so I chose to create a page on the birth Charlee. I have created quite a few pages of Charlee since she was born but none that recorded those important first statistics that we like to remember. The soft pattern and pastel colours of Basic Grey’s Porcelain range suited perfectly.

 
'NOW' is this months word at One Little Aussie Word.

This page is reflection on how much and how quickly Ash has grown. It doesn't seem like that long ago that she was sitting in that swing waiting to be pushed - in fact it wasn't long after that photo was taken that she gave up waiting and learnt to swing herself! This page is right up there with my all time favourites. I have been inspired lately by Renee and her incorporation of circular shapes in her work. I have created a few in recent weeks and am liking the effect.

A New Month a New Dare

It's the first (well actually the second - but New Years day got in the road!) Friday of the month and that means a new dare has been issued at Aussie Dares. This months Dare is Wet! This prompt can inspire so many different projects, from scrapbook projects with a water theme (think beach, pool, draught, backyard fun...) to projects featuring techniques such paper scunching, tearing, inking distressing and more. For your monthly dose of inspiration head over to Aussie Dare's and see what fabulous inspiration the Creative Team have come up with this!

Here is my take on this months theme:

 

I used a very simple technique; Wet Embossing. This technique was used in two different ways on my layout. The first was to use embossing powder to cover the chipboard elements. The black embossing powder used here gives a very glossy effect whci matched perfectly with the S.E.I papers. The second was to wet emboss a stampled image to create the black corner feature as well as stamping and embossing some butterflies before cutting them out and adhering them to the page.

I am so glad to have finally scrapped this photo. It is one of may fav photos of Jaime but the zebra headscarf was throwing me a little.

 

Bec.

December Dare

I'm a little late with this post. The theme this month at How Dare You is Celebrate. Perfect!! More Christmas goodness to create. This time I have made a mini album which records the lyrics of some of my fav Christmas Carols. Singing and listening to Christmas Carols are one of my fav things about Christmas time. If you peaked into my house on any given day during December, you would find me listening to Carols with the volume pumped and singing along, somewhat out of tune and very loud. IT adds to the excitment and Christmas spirit. So here is what I have created.

 

 

And now for some more Christmas decorations:

 

 

 

This wreath is straight out of last months BH&G mag. I've added some bells at the top and a few ribbons.

It's Dare time again!

  November is here and it is time for a new Dare over at How Dare You. This months theme is to use string on a project. For some FANTASTIC interprations of this theme pop on over to the blog and see what the creative team have come up with. I am in awe of the beautiful creation that Kerin has made. There are more pictures and intructions on her blog so go check it out.

Here is my project for this month. 

   

 

I wanted to use string in a way that I would not normally do. This took me off the scrapbooking page into mixed media. I have used string to add texture to the background of my piece. After adhering patterned paper to chipboard, it was given a coat of crackle medium before a contrasting layer of paint was rubbed in to bring out the lines in the crackle. Once dry, I adhered string to the project with Modge Podge before spraying this with two Glimmer Mist colours. String has also been used to bind beads around the stick at the top of the project.