Melbourne Cup flutter...

Fancy a bit of a flutter this Melbourne Cup Weekend? then why don't you join in on the fun Melbourne Cup challenge over at Scrapz.Biz.

All you need to do is create a layout using this Pencillines sketch

using this fun image as your colour inspiration

and add some twine or ribbon - easy right?

Be one of the first 24 to upload into our MELBOURNE CUP FLUTTER gallery and receive an entry into our Melbourne Cup sweep. Multiple entries are welcome. First in, best dressed!

Entries close at midnight on Monday October 31, 2011.

First prize $20 voucher, 2nd prize $15 voucher, 3rd place $10 voucher and a little RAK for lucky last.

this is what I came up with

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catching up...

I have been having a few issues with my computer and have been a bit slow to update my blog while it's been off getting fixed, but thankfully I have been able to borrow a laptop and have a few layouts to share that I've completed over the past few weeks.

First up is my layout for the Scrap a Rainbow challenge I set over at Scrapz.Biz

next is a layout I created for a previous Scrapz challenge - a bit different to my usual style but I like how it turned out 

and a little card using an easy 3d technique to create the balloon

I also have a couple of sneaks at some current Scrapz.Biz daily challenges which you can still join in on until the end of the month

this one is for our fun new Base Jump challenge

and a peek at my Inspiration challenge

Hope you're having a great weekend



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generation gap...

I have completed my final page of the Aussie Scrap Source Generation Gap reader's challenges! It's been a really great series to take part in and I love that it got me to reflect on so many wonderful childhood memories and then share some of these memories with my own children through the pages I created.

Week 10 looked at Birthdays, Christmas and Celebrations and I decided to go with the Christmas theme because it has always been my favourite celebration.

... I have always loved Christmas and although it might seem a bit strange to celebrate a traditional Polish Christmas on the other side of the world in the middle of summer, that's how Christmas at Baba's (Nan's) house has been for over 30 years since we moved to Australia.

Wigilia which means 'vigil' is traditionally celebrated with a Christmas Eve supper after the first star appears in the evening sky. It always begins with the sharing of Oplatek (a blessed Communion like wafer) by everyone at the table to wish good health and prosperity and is followed by a meal of beetroot soup (borscht) with mushroom dumplings, sweet & savory pierogi and various fish dishes. We always have Polish cheesecake and a rolled poppyseed cake for dessert before moving onto the fun part of opening all the presents that everyone has put under the beautifully decorated tree.

I created a little accordion book to hold my journalling and extra pics, and here's some of the other details...

Week 9 looked at homes and lifestyle and I focused my layout on some of the changes in decor that have occurred in our family home.

I was recently looking through some of my mum's old photo albums and loved seeing how much things had changed inside our family home since we were growing up there. My mums house has made a dramatic transformation since the 80's and it's funny to look at all the daggy furniture and decor that use to fill it back then.

I wanted to be able to share a some of these old photos on my page and I created a pocket to hold them - these are some of the pics I've placed inside...

Thanks for stopping by!

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blog hop winner...

A big thanks to everyone who played along with our very first Scrap.Biz blog hop!
Here's the full page I shared a peek of in my last post created using a mix of Echo Park Happy Days and Imaginesce Let's Roll ranges

and now onto the winner......

Congratulations to

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TAKAKO!!!!!!!!

Congrats Takako, please contact me at agnieszk@tpg.com.au with your postal details so I can get your goodies out to you :)

Thank you to everyone who stopped by and left lovely comments :) make sure you visit the rest of the team's blogs to see if you're a winner...

Sheree's blog

Natalie's blog

Shell's blog

Chloe's blog

And don't forget to check the Scrapz.Biz facebook page to see if you're the lucky winner of the $20 voucher! ;)



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scrapz.biz blog hop

Hi and welcome to day 3 of our week long Scrapz.Biz blog hop! If you've already started playing along then you should have already been to visit Natalie's and Sheree's blogs, but if not then please head back to Natalie's blogs to play along from the start.

I am so happy to be a part of the awesome Scrapz.Biz team and have really enjoyed diving into all the fun new challenges. If you've a scrapper or card maker and have never heard of Scrapz.Biz or had time to pop over for a visit then why not check us out today? You'll find all the latest products at very competitive prices and shipping is a flat rate of only $5.95. Love working with kits? then you'll love our monthly Ticklez Kit! It's full of beautiful papers plus a fantastic assortment of embellishments and is great value for money at only $29.95. Make sure you check out the gallery too where you'll find loads of inspiration! The forum is always a lot of fun and everyone is supportive and very friendly plus you'll find new challenges to keep you crafting every day of the week! Enter our daily challenges and you'll go into the random draw at the end of the month to win a voucher to spend in store. The more challenges you enter the more chances you have to win!

And speaking of challenges, here's a little peek of the new Fetch a Sketch challenge I have set this week inspired by our fun Driving Force theme.

you can see my full layout as well as the sketch and details of how to enter the challenge here.

Getting back to the blog hop here's a list of the blogs you'll need to visit to play along...
Monday 10th Natalie's blogwith her "What's Cooking" challenge
Tuesday 11th Sheree's blog and her "Scrap a Rainbow" challenge
Wednesday 12th Aga's blog with her "Fetch a Sketch" challenge
Thursday 13th Shell's blog and her "Scrap Write Now" challenge
Friday 14th Chloe's blog and her "Noteworthy" challenge

Once you've finished the blog hop and left a comment on each blog stop along the way, make sure you go over and 'Like' us on Facebook and leave a comment there telling us what you thought of the journey. Then you'll automatically be entered into the draw to win a $20 voucher to the store.

Also..... if you become a follower of my blog (or you already are a follower) please leave a comment here to let me know and I'll enter you into a separate draw to win this little bundle of blog candy! :)

Don't forget to let me know you stopped by, and be sure you head over to Shell's blog tomorrow for another challenge peek as well and another chance to score yourself some goodies :)

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holidays & outings...

That was that theme for last week's Aussie Scrap Source Generation Gap reader's challenge. I chose to scrap about our family trips to Oberon to gather forest mushrooms and wild blackberries.

One of the things I looked forward to most as a child was our annual trip to the NSW Central Tablelands in search of forest mushrooms and wild blackberries at the beautiful Oberon pine forests during the Easter break. It was so much fun to spend the day collecting bucket loads of the Saffron Milk Cap mushrooms that were often hidden under pine needles on the forest floor, making sure you didn't pick up the wrong sort which can be poisonous, or eating juicy blackberries straight from the bush.  Several years ago we started making taking the trip with our children and they absolutely love it and also look forward to it every year.

I realised after sending through my pics that I totally forgot to include any journalling on my page, and so I've added a little map of the area as well as some memories on a couple of tags that slide under the frame and created a bit of a forest setting by free cutting a few trees and dug out some 'vintage' Sassafras Lass that I've been hoarding for ages :)

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scrap a rainbow...

Here's a little peek of a brand new challenge up at Scrapz.Biz!

You can see the full page and find out all the details here :)

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happy news to share...

I am very excited to announce that I have joined the Scrapz.Biz design team!!!You may have noticed that I have been playing along with many of their challenges and am thrilled to be joining their awesome team :)  you can meet the rest of the team here.

Speaking of challenges Scrapz.Biz is celebrating World Card Making Day at the moment and have been busy putting together lots of fun card making challenges to mark the occasion

The challenges range from super easy through to advanced with lots of awesome prizes up for grabs! hope you'll come along and play :)
and just in case you need to stock up on some stamps or stamping supplies you can get 20% off in the store all long weekend. Details and discount code available here.

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school and soccer...

Week 6 of the Generation Gap reader's challenges over at Aussie Scrap Source blog was all about our school days and I decided to do a layout about Matt's school yard memories after recently coming across this photo of him from year 2 of primary school.   

I asked Matt what he remembers most about his days at primary school and he says that 'while the school work seemed a lot easier than the work our kids bring home today, the teachers were not as relaxed and even though he was a good student he still remembers the sting of the cane' and our boys listen in disbelief that this was the normal type of punishment back in our day.

I have included some of these memories in the pull out tag under the photo and used Studio Calico's Elementary range.

Week 7 had a sports and hobbies theme and I created my page about our family's passion for soccer

I never really played sports when I was a child but I did grow up with a love of soccer and have many memories of watching the English Premiere League with my dad. Manchester United was our favourite team long before stars like Rooney and Ronaldo came on the scene - back then it was all about Eric Cantona and a young David Beckham thrilling the crowd. But it doesn't compare to the excitement of being there when my children started playing the game, cheering them on as they scored their first goal and being able to share a passion for the sport with them has been wonderful and it's nice to see that at least one of the goes for Manchester too ;)         

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

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birthdays...

I don't know about you, but for some reason I draw a blank when it comes time to scrapping birthday layouts.... the photos are busy and the colours seem all over the place and I never really know where to begin, so I really jumped at the chance to take part in the Scrapz.Biz 2nd Birthday Cyber Crop for a bit of birthday inspiration.

First up was a great virtual class taught by the lovely Kerryn, where she walked us through the steps to create this fun layout

I used Kerryn's fabulous instructions to create a layout using an old photo of Christian when he had just turned 5, and love how easily it all just seem to fall into place.

I also put together a bright and happy page for Cameron's 1st birthday back in 2003

and was inspired to make a few birthday cards for the occasion using a paper pleating technique

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