Wow, sorry I've been away for so long....as they say, its's the silly season! My girls have finally finished dancing for the year, with a two-show concert at the end of November, and their Awards Night mid December. They both received awards, which was a wonderful suprise and I'm very proud of them. I just have to order my photos of the concert from the photographer (and take out a second mortgage to pay for them), and they'll be waiting to be scrapped. I have a couple of weeks off from teaching, so hopefully I'll be able to complete some layouts. I did a four canvases for Christmas presents, which was a mission when you're on limited time. I'm quite happy with the result.

Flowers and stuff

Wow, what a week, I taught classes on every day this week, plus doing my 'normal' job! (But it's funny how I've done no actual scrapping at all this week!) I have been busy sewing dance costumes, and some lovely handmade flowers. I've posted some pics, these are available for sale at the Greenbank Scrapbook Shop.
For anyone that has dancers in their family, I have a range of custom made chipboard dance words for sale.

Card challenge pic, with better lighting!

And another challenge layout, this time we had to use a fruit in our title.



And another of my recent layouts, this one uses Fantasy Film and Opals in the flower centre.

Card Challenge

Wow, this one's a bit different! We had to include the following:
red, white, lime green, and blue
tearing
ribbon
handmade flower
and it had to be in "funky" style!
This is what I came up with. I made the paper using "Love Potion No.9" (which spreads and blends your re-inkers on glossy/coated paper). I then embossed it with a Cuttlebug folder, and inked the raised areas with Stazon.

Definately not my usual style, but a lot of fun.
My exciting news is my daughters both did well with their tap exams (we got the results back already). Youngest got two High Distinctions, and the oldest got three Gold Awards with 99.5% on all three levels.
Look what I found, this talented lady is having a very generous blog candy giveaway. She has some amazing cards too. http://taylordconcepts.blogspot.com/

Halloween

Started out as a normal day...well normal for us anyway. The girls had Tap examinations, and did quite well we think. We don't receive the gradings for about a month or so. That evening we decided to get takeaway. My daughter wanted to go 'Trick or Treating' (for the first time ever) at two houses of school friends on our street (sounds simple enough), so we called in on the way. At the second house, their dog attacked us without warning, biting me on the leg. Dakota was screaming, I was trying to put myself between her and the dog to protect her, but it kept circling between us. (The owner was watching from her verandah, doing nothing). We finally were able to get to safety, shaken up, & freaked out. I told the school friend's mother that her dog had bitten me, and she responded "There's a sign". I looked around, not able to see any sign (saw it the next day when I drove past, its hanging half off the fence about 10 metres away from the gate). I couldn't believe her attitude though, not even a "Are you okay?".
So anyway, we continued on to get our takeaway. Picked it up and as we were driving home a dog (different one)runs in front of our car. I brake, then smash....we get rear-ended! My daughter is screaming again. I'm in shock for the second time in 10 minutes! The girl driving behind me was so close I couldn't actually see her lights (being in the 4WD ute). Her car is completely smashed up, and she's hit my towbar so hard that its bent back and bent the chassis, NOT HAPPY.

Layout for the Melbourne Cup Challenge

Frame for another challenge, this one was lots of fun so think I'll be doing a few more as Christmas presents.

Happenings

We held our 3rd Scrapbooking Fundraiser Day for Creation Dance on th 25th of October, lots of fun once again, and raised some money towards the kids Awards Night. I forgot to take any photos this time, but there were lots of lovely layouts completed. The next generation of scrappers, aka the kids, were asking for a 'challenge' so we gave them the task of using the following items on their page; bling, flowers, & a circle. They did some wonderful pages, and the winner walked away with a prize pack of scrapping goodies.
Here's a card I made for a Melbourne Cup Challenge. Will try to remember to upload better photos as it really is a pretty pink colour (I hate flouro lights!)

A preview of next weeks class featuring lots of GlimmerMist and my "Tiger's Eye" technique. This layout was published in Scrapbook News & Review (online) magazine.



Here's a peak at my "Circle of Life" class, sorry I can't show you the whole layout, but there are other children in the photo. (I don't post photos of other people without asking their permission first)

Wacky wednesday

That pretty much sums up how I feel today....too many things to do and not enough time to do it in. I'm teaching five classes this week, on top of running my own detailing business and doing all the usual running around. And trying to keep up with the challenges they're setting us at Scraaping Outback! Oh well, who needs sleep anyway? Here's my latest layout, we had to include a spider on my page.




And a sketch challenge.... It was originally for 3 photos but I wanted to include more of my daughter's Christening so added the interactive elements.

Our challenge this week was to use paper rolling, stitching, clustered embellishments, and the lines from a movie as our title. I thought Drew Barrymore's lines in Charlie's Angels suited my layout.














The next challenge was to make an exploding box. It's quite simple to make, but I haven't had time to decorate the inside of mine yet.











Our third challenge was a pink card for October as it is pink ribbon month, raising awareness and remembering those with breast cancer. This is a cause very close to my heart, as I lost both my Mum and my aunt, Marion, to this terrible disease.











Our fourth challenge....OMG they kept me on my toes this week.......was to create a layout that had journalling, and at least two pieces of chipboard that had been altered in at least two ways.







I inked, then embossed my scrolls with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I inked, then smudged iridescent medium on my title and bird, then I used Distress Stickles to further embellish the bird. I love how it turned out.

Lots of challenges

I'm participating in a series of challenges that run all month at Scrapping Outback. Even though I do alot of experimenting with new products and techniques, I have my fav colour combos and I don't do much OTP. I find its a great way to try something that's not in you normal scrapping comfort zone. This weeks challenges were to:
1) Create a layout using 1 photo, red, yellow and blue, circles and doodling


2) Create a card based on the same sketch as your layout and using the leftover paper. This was a great way to use up those scraps.








3) Create a Christmas tree off the page project.