generation gap...

I spotted a new reader's challenge at the Aussie Scrap Source blog last week and couldn't resist the opportunity to play along. It's called Generation Gap and is all about the differences between our own childhoods and what our children are experiencing today. 

Each weeks takes you to a different area of childhood and we began with Playtime and Leisure and I thought it would be the perfect theme to scrap about our much loved 'Fisher Price Happy Apple' that has been in Matt's family since he was a child. It got me thinking about how much toys have changed since we were kids, and how good it is to see that there are still things that remain timeless and don't need change! This simple musical toy has been passed down from one generation to the next and has been enjoyed by all three of my boys over the past 14 years and I hope that one day they will be able to give it to their own babies :)

You can have a look at what everyone else has created for the challenge and read their stories here.
Have a great week and thanks for stopping by :)

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scraps...

Not too long ago I came across Amy Heller's gorgeous work via Pinterest, and have been admiring her fabulous blog ever since! One of the things I've enjoyed the most is Amy's Scrap your Scraps Summer Challenge, and thought it would be fun to dig into my ever growing pile of scraps and play along.
I went through a few of the boxes where I keep my scraps and kept noticing bright bits of yellow so I gathered up a few different patterns and teamed them up with various shades of grey.

I was lucky to have a good amount of larger scraps to use from recent projects and decided to cut them into horizontal strips to balance out the long photo of my little honey bunny :)

I've added in a little bits of black and white for contrast

I even managed to use up one of my many paint swatches that I've been hoarding to create a custom tag 

and used a couple of the paper strips to make my own accordion folded flowers

It was a really fun challenge and it felt great to put a little dint into my rather large stash of scraps and the good news is that there's still a few weeks left of Amy's challenge and you can join in at any time to go into the draw to win yourself some goodies :)

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location location...

I know I've been a bit of a slack blogger lately, but I have been busy playing along with a fun comp over at Scrapz Biz called Location Location. So far we have headed into the supermarket and scrapped about what was in our shopping trolley/basket, then we ventured into our wardrobes for a peek inside, next we had to serve something up and scrap about what was on our plates, and last week we headed into our cars and here's the layout I created

part of the criteria was to use a map on your layout and I decided to make some buttons by covering a few chipboard circles with an old street directory and actually used portions that I travel along during the daily school run.

It's been a lot of fun to scrap something different and think it will be a good insight into our daily lives for future generations :) and if you'd like to try something like this for yourself you can still catch up and join in at any time - this weeks gives you a look inside your handbag o.0

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modern vintage...

The final week of the Aussie Scrap Source Style Lounge series used the beautiful work of Louise Williams as inspiration for a Modern Vintage theme.

This was definitely not a style I am use to doing but I guess that's the point of the challenge and I was surprised to see how many products I actually had to work with the theme :)

I used an old photo from Austria (that's me on the right) with my mum and my sister and made myself a few vintage inspired flowers to dress up the page

I've really enjoyed playing along with the Style Lounge challenges and am super excited to have won two of them! Here's a bit of a re-cap of what I created for all the other styles in the series

as you can see the styles are all quite different, and I'm happy to have picked up a few bits and pieces from each of them that I can incorporate into my own style of scrapping - which I am yet to define.. any ideas of what you'd call it?

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detailed layers...

Week 9 of the Aussie Scrap Source Reader's Style Lounge Challenge was inspired by the beautifully layered, detailed style of Suzanne Tonga. Here's what I came up with...

This style is all about the details, so I tried to incorporate plenty of layers as well as some pretty finishing touches

like these gorgeous spotted Guinea fowl feathers I picked up recently 

I could really see myself using more of this style in the future and I got an awesome surprise tonight to find out that my layout was chosen as the winner of the challenge!!! OMG I'm very excited and think this was just the confidence boost I needed at the moment...check it out here :)
Thanks for stopping by

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Polly!

There's a new kit club in town... Polly! Scrap Kits is launching their very first kit on 10th August, and Kayla Renee is holding a giveaway to celebrate! You can help to spread the word and find all the details here :)

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white...

I've been playing over at ScrapzBiz again and got a couple done for last week's challneges inspired by the use of  'white'. The layout was for the sketch challenge using 'white' space

and a white on white card for the monochromatic challenge

Hope you're having a great weekend :)

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simple arty...

Week 8 of the Aussie Scrap Source Readers Style Lounge Challenge, had me reaching for my mists and paint because the inspiration came from the superb talent of Louise Nelson.

I have always loved Lou's unique arty style and had a lot of fun trying to recreate a little bit of Lou magic of my very own... not sure I did her style justice but did enjoy the process :)

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Hand made with love...

I'm a bit excited to say that I have finally learnt how to crochet :) it's always been one of those things that I have wanted to do but just never got around to - but thanks to the help of YouTube and several practice runs, here is my very first project!

I probably should have started with something easier but couldn't resit giving it a go after spotting a pattern for this adorable owl ear flap beanie over here, and here's my not so co-operative model wearing his new hat

I finally got a decent pic a few days later lol

I've also been making a lots of crochet flowers, and since I don't really need that many flowers for my projects (I have 3 boys) I thought it would be good to share... so stay tuned while I get a few more together and organise a giveaway :)

Aga xx

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Patchwork Inspired...

A couple of weeks ago I spent the weekend doing some challenges for the Scrapz Biz Life is a Patchwork Virtual Crop filled with loads of great patchwork inspired creativity.

First up was a fun virtual class held by the lovely Sheree Forcier. I loved that there was lots of hand and machine stitching in the class, and a great excuse to dig out my sewing machine there was lots of

next up was a What's Cooking challenge where the ingredients were fabric, buttons and stitching

the Scrap it Blind challenges have quickly become one of my favourites, and I was very happy to finally use up some old papers that I've never really knew what to do with before

and finally the Noteworthy challenge had me creating this very patchwork inspired card

I didn't manage to get all the challenges completed, but it was fun to spent the weekend scrapping and an added bonus to win some great prizes along the way :) ... Scrapz Biz also holds awesome weekly challenges, so if you're in the need of some inspiration from a fabulous and friendly team you should definitely join in!

Thanks for stopping by

Aga xx

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style lounge continues...

I'm a bit behind with getting my layouts up, but what can I say... there just aren't enough hours in the day!!! Anyway week 6 of the Style Lounge Reader's challenge at Aussie Scrap Source blog, the theme was Detailed Whimsy and the inspiration came from the beautiful work of Iris Babao Uy and this is what I came up with...

 

I was inspired by Iris' use of misting, pretty details and bright happy colours

Suzan Doyle was the inspiration for week 7's challenge with her wonderfully Graphic Colour Blocked style.

I focused on using nice clean lines and tried to recreate Suzan's sense of everything being in it's place

I've got plenty more uploads to catch up on, so I hope you'll be back soon :)

Aga xx

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Customer pick...

Just letting you know that you can pick up this customer-pick bundle of warm neutral papers paired with a pack of craft tags that was part of my recent order at Blue Bazaar for just $2.47!

If you follow the Blue Bazaar blog then you would have seen that Louise puts together some fun little bundles of products based on what customers are ordering and offers these at 15% off the normal price. Blue Bazaar always has loads of awesome products at fabulous prices, and as an added incentive to shop if some of the products you order get selected for a bundle you'll get a $5.00 credit to your account... thanks Lou :)

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Clean and simple...

that was the theme for the last Style Lounge Readers Challenge over at the Aussie Scrap Source blog. The inspiration came from Caroline McLachlan and the brief was to use clean lines, minimal embellishments with a focus on the photo and journalling. Here's what I came up with...

Journalling reads: I never want to forget the time that little Cameron, who was about 3 years old at the time freaked out while he was on the toilet, screaming at the top of his lungs that there was an animal in there!!! I ran in to find him looking terrified and practically standing on the bowl pointing at the ground... I started laughing so much because the animal that had frightened him so much turned out to be a little ant crawling along the bathroom tiles. For some reason ants were a bit scary for him and he would do his best to avoid them, so who would have thought that the little boy who was terrified of ants would grow up loving to catch lizards and play with all sorts of weird and wonderful creatures.

I have to admit that I don't normally add a lot of journalling to my pages, so it was nice to scrap a page using this style so I could record some of the memories that might otherwise be forgotten, and I am very excited to say that my layout won the clean and simple challenge :)

Have a fabulous week
Aga xx

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Freestyle whimsy...

I'm still playing along with the Style Lounge challenges on the Aussie Scrap Source blog, and absolutely loved last week's 'freestyle whimsy' style. The inspiration came from the very talented Danielle Quarmby and the brief was to use some of the key elements that Danielle uses when creating her signature style.

I focused on using colour to set the mood, hand cut embellishments, book paper and whimsical elements, using song lyrics for my title as well as adding a small floral background.

What do you think?

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Do you Pinterest?

I am absolutely loving this site, and have to admit that lately I have been spending most of my computer time on Pinterest! ... incase you haven't been there before it's basically an online pin board where you can create collections of all the things you love and then share them with friends and follow the boards of other people with great taste.

What I like most about Pinterest is how easy it is to access all the great finds you have pinned along the way, because I don't know about you but normally when I found something I liked online I would either save a pic of it or add the page to my favourites folder, but then always struggle to find the source when I wanted to go back to it - but on Pinterest you have not only a picture of what it is you like but also a link straight to the site where you found it all in one. Brilliant!

There are so many inspiring ideas and awesome tutorials, and here's just a small sample of some of the things I've been pinning...

here's a link to my boards, feel free to have a browse or add anything you like...or if you are already on board leave me a link, because as they say - it's more fun with friends :)
Aga xx

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