Deb Ball

Materials used: Bella letters and Dusty Attic chipboard. The chipboard is the outer part of the bracket set, painted and overlayed onto the paper. The theme of the Deb Ball was "Phantom of the Opera" hence the masks.

The Bike Ride

Some years ago my daughter while my daughter was doing her Bike Education course in Primary School, she was entered into (by her school) a competition to win a bike and was lucky enough to have her name drawn out. Part of the conditions of the competition were to be available to collect the bike and to do a lap of the course on which the Bendigo Madison was ridden. She was excited and nervous, the weather was hot but she proudly rode her new bike around the course and has never forgotten the experience.
Materials used: Cosmo Cricket papers and stickers (Get Happy), WOW inc RW Laser Cuts chipboard word, small tree and letter R, Glossy Accents crackle finish, Tim Holtz Distress stain and inks, Martha Stewart punch and random elements from the stash.
Technique - The title - Bike Ride - has been inked using Tim Holtz Fired Brick Distress Stain and glazed with a layer of Glossy Accents Crackle finish, the small tree has been inked using Tim Holtz Distress Stain Picket Fence and the letter R (cut from another RW word) was colored with Tim Holtz Distress Stain Chipped Sapphire and a dab of Picket Fence for a mottled look. This letter has been sealed with the Glossy Accents Crackle finish. The letter U is a chipboard and simply covered with paper.
All these products are/will be available (the Tim Holtz products will be in Monday or Tuesday next week) on our website An Invitation To Scrap I've been extremely impressed with the way these products work on chipboard, the distress stain in the white gives an excellent coverage and the dabber bottles are brilliant to use.

Bugs

Last year we had locusts everywhere, a plague of them and the size of them astounded us. My daughter, the 'wannabe' entomologist would collect them comparing the sizes and found this large one for her collection. A collection that was strongly encouraged to be disposed of regularly.

Materials used: Cosmo Cricket Get Happy paper and elements, Twiddlybitz bug set, SEI chalk inks.  The chipboard has been inked and mounted onto the frame that the bugs come in - waste nothing :)

Bugs!

Beach Bum

My son thought sitting on the edge of the water line waiting for the water to come to him was the way to get in the sea. Unfortunately for him, he was mistaken and the expression on his face indicates that the water was a little chilly on the sensitive parts of the body! After getting wet and warming up it wasn't quite so bad, after all it was Summer.

Materials used: White card, Creative color spray, RW Laser Cut by WOW chipboard title, string, dymo tape, a fish charm and some course weave ribbon. I have given the card a quick squirt of spray and also distressed the photo and mount edges. The chipboard has also been distressed and roughly painted white, very roughly so as not the get it too white. Then I used some metallic rub and just highlighted the edges.

Bike Ed

The kids have all done bike ed at school, my youngest having done it twice when she changed schools and they did it a year later. She was lucky enough to get both the rural and residential experience, each being quite different to the other. The year pictured was during the drought years, hence the dryness of the roadside. The page I scrapbooked is very simple.

Materials used: SNC chipboard bikes, paper from stash, textured card, Bella alphas and SEI chalk inks. The chipboards have been inked using cayenne.

Building blocks

They've been around our house forever and now these blocks are moving into the next generation, with a slight overlap! The last of the kids is 6 and the first of the grandchildren is 5, so our family blends through the generations. One thing that always comes out when the kids are together is the bag of blocks. The spend ages building, conning adults into building for them and pretending all sorts of scenarios.

Materials used: White card, Cosmo Cricket Get Happy papers and elements, A2Z Scraplets chipboard houses, SEI chalk ink, random ribbon, dymo tape and canvas tags. I love the canvas and fabric elements and tags that are coming back in, they add so much texture without getting bulky.

A little bit of weekend scrapping

I managed to sneak in a little bit of scrapping and once again used a couple of photos from a few years ago. Not quite as far back as some I've done recently though. Although it does make you wonder where the time has gone and also very grateful that the camera was about to capture the memories.

The first is a little man who came into my life at the age of two and enjoy the years as we all progress through them as a family. He has always loved the dog and she him, she is an absolute angel with the kids and also very protective of them. Not only ours, but the grand-children when they are here.

Materials used: Paper Loft card, Junkitz papers (Dogz), Bella Journal Notelet, RW Laser Cut by WOW title (inked to color match the green door and stripe), distressing, stitching and staples.

A Dog and His Boy

Moments like these, well they certainly do not come again. I think this is one of the few quiet and innocent photos of this child. She is now a 2 year old whirl-wind tornado who has a mind of her own and a fear of nothing. She is affectionately named Feral Beryl! And we love her to bits.

Materials used: Prima paper, Cosmo Cricket letters, Prima flowers, Heidi Swapp chipboard crown, WOW inc RW Laser Cuts chipboard title and frame, Glimmermist, Bella Brad and random leaves, bling letters and doily. The chippies have been inked and Glimmermisted with Iridescent Gold and a touch of Taffy (discontinued but we still have some in stock) and adhered to the paper using XpressIt Gel glue.

Moments like these

This week I'd really like to spend some time scrapping a few other photos and memories, hmm wonder what the chances are? Scrapbooking is a great way to relax and forget about the world around you for a while, at times it's very therapeutic as well as documenting our journey through life.


Happy Scrapping
Deb

The photos one finds when rummaging

OMG, where have the years gone. I'm not saying how many years ago but, let's just say it's a few. It's back in the days when entertaining kids didn't involve more that some bits and pieces to 'create' with or going outside to play. This day paper plates and paint were the go.

Materials used: Textured card, Sassafrass papers, Memory Maze Chipboard easel, A2Z Scraplet scalloped banner, Sassafrass cardboard stickers, ribbon, button and string.

Memory Maze chipboard on the Murray River

A Pre-school trip on a Murray River paddlesteamer in Echuca just cried out for these Memory Maze chipboards, giving a unique locality feature to the page.

Materials used: Textured card, MM paddlesteamer, MM word Echuca, Pink Paislee die cut paper, Prima flower, Cosmo Cricket mini letters, Little Yellow Bicycle paper (coming soon)

The mojo is back!

The last few weeks have been intensely busy getting the website back in order and somewhere along the line mojo got lost. Well, to be honest mojo had no hope of getting out so I think he just went into hiding. I have finally caught up with everything and after clearing my scrap space I found him, right at the back under a pile of chipboards I was intending to use on pages. We became reacquainted and I've put together a few pages.

The first one is what I call my warm up page. For some reason, after a break from scrapping I do a really basic page and then get deeper into the layouts after that. I guess it's whatever works for someone and that's what works for me. 

St. Kilda V Brisbane -  a couple of years ago we managed to get a footy game in Melbourne with both teams playing and on a weekend we could get there! 

St Kilda V Brisbane

 Materials used: Textured card, WOW football corner, RW Laser Cuts (now made by WOW) AFL Football title, Scenic Route paper and Lil Davis frame. The chipboard has simply been inked for color, using two colors on the title piece.

Magnificent Ape - Ok, warm up one done, now onto another. Still a simple page using a photo taken a few years ago on a trip to the Melbourne Zoo. The gorillas are such an amazing creature, so big but yet there is a gentleness about them. The male is truly a magnificent ape, hence the title.

Magnificent Ape

Materials used: Kraft cardstock, Scenic Route paper, RW Laser Cut Reeds (made by WOW), RW Laser Cut Ebony Butterfly (made by WOW) and Creative Spray. The reeds have been inked with greens and a wheat color and painted with a bit of Creative Spray to highlight them while the ebony Butterfly has been sprayed with the Creative Spray. A little of the spray has been applied to the leaves as well, just highlighting the inner parts.

The Old EH - The last one for today is a photo take many years ago - you know the ones, the kid is dressed in some daggy looking gear. Anyway forget the kid part because the page is about the vehicle. The kid I'll  scrapbook somewhere else - God love her. For this page I dug into my drawer of really old stash, I'm not even sure why I haven't thrown it out. It does show that what is old can be new again, it just needs a bit of revamping with current techniques.

The Old EH

Materials used: WOW chipboard (a new release), Pink Paislee paper and some really old bits and bobs. The chipboard has been embossed using a old rustic looking embossing powder, something along the lines of the distress powders and the like available. 

TIP - When embossing try mixing a couple of powders together, just a small quantity as not much is needed most times, and you'll be surprised at some of the fabulous effects that you can achieve.

Using chipboard on Scrapbook pages

I had this photo of my youngest daughter and I from a few years ago sitting on my desk and found a few minutes to sit and 'play' for a while. I love the title wording on this page and think anyone with daughters could find a photo to apply it too.

Materials used: RW Laser Cut title, Prima Reflections A4 paper pad papers, Martha Stewart punch, Bella notelet, Stickles, Flourish with a Bling pearl accent. The flowers are handmade using various floral components pinned together with a pearl brad and applying some Stickles around some of the petals. The Chipboard has simply been inked with a chalk ink and some more Stickles or Glitter Glue applied to highlight parts of it.

The next page is a very sentimental one. The photo is of my grandmother with her first great-grandchild, my daughter. This was the only great-grandchild she saw, although she knew there was a second on the way when she passed away just prior to that great-grandchild's birth.

Materials used: Dusty Attic chipboards (frame, clock and title), Bella brads, handmade flowers, Bella notelet and machine stitching. The chipboards have been inked with chalk ink and highlighted with a metallic rub.

Dusty Attic chipboards are our product of the month for July with a huge 20% off the RRP. These frames make great page embellishment and are also great for using as a template for designer shape papers as they come in a range of sizes and shapes. Check them out online at An Invitation To Scrap

Great news

After receiving notification that all our website data had been lost in the damage caused to our server host by hackers over a week ago things were looking rather ordinary. All automatic backups were lost and absolutely nothing is retrievable. We were looking at a huge amount of work to sort it all out, re-establish our website, all the costs involved again and worst of all, the time it takes to set sites up. I can tell you my head was spinning. This could not have hit at a worse time, end of financial year, sale time and the launch of our magazine advertising campaign in Scrapbook Creations. What the heck were we going to do?

Thankfully I had used a great local IT person to develop the site and he has a backup on file, albeit somewhat behind where we were as I had been busy with the site in recent weeks and a huge amount of stock had been uploaded since the last backup. He is working frantically to get all our domain name etc released from the original host, has already organized a new host site and hopefully it will be back up by tonight. The main thing is that the website is still there, the updating of stock and components I had been 'tweaking' can all be replaced, all that involves is time - lots of time but I will be spending every waking moment on it in order to get back to where we were.

Most of our client list has gone so please, log back in and enter your details again to receive the updates and info that is emailed to our client base. We also lost all the records of sales which will make for some interesting accounting for the tax man. On the upside, while I have to actually go through every bit of stock to redo all the quantities on site it does at least address stocktake! I dread that/those day/days.

To thank all our loyal customers and those who choose to use our site during the relaunch or the website and advertising campaign, there will be huge discounts on stock which will be applied as I reload it all. What is already still online will have discounts applied too, so keep checking in regularly as you will find more each day.

I thank you for your patience, this has been a somewhat stressful time for us but this little black duck or should I say this little paper doll let this stand in the way of our dream. We are your One Stop Chipboard Shop!!!

Server Update

Good morning all, I have received information that the server issue is being addressed and the probable outcome is that it should be back up later today. It appears that the host company was hacked and accounts shut down. This has required considerable work, plus security upgrades resulting in the length of time it has been down. Thank you for your patience.

Got the mojo happening and did a spot of scrapbooking

While the website server was down :( I did spend some time scrapping. I finished off a couple of layouts from the retreat a few weeks ago and then worked on some photos, both new and older ones. Going through photos and reminiscing over the older ones took me back years.

Always Bonnie is photos of one of my daughter's friends, a bubbly delightful girl, full of energy and effervescence. The girls were at the pool with the waterproof camera, mucking around taking pics pc each other just for fun.

Materials used -  textured card, A2Z Scraplets chipboard banner

Always Bonnie

Grandmas Girls is a photo of my beautiful grand-daughters, taken quite a few months ago. They are a busy little pair who keep us entertained non-stop.

Materials used - textured card, Prima paper, Dusty Attic chipboard doily, RW Laser Cut chipboard butterfly, A2Z Scraplets chipboard words, Bella brads and hand made crocheted flowers. The chipboard has all been inked and misted with Glimmermist pearl and the title is a combination of two A2Z words. I needed the word girls for this particular title, so simply snipped the 's' off another Scraplet of the same size, ensuring it was still a usable word - sweethearts became sweetheart. The flowers I crocheted using a wonderfully soft and fine bamboo yarn. The colors of the yarn are beautiful and they are so easy to make and simply fixed to the page with a rhinestone brad.

Grandmas Girls

Having finished the above pages, I went in search of more photos to scrap. The ones I worked on where close to the heart. Working on those sort of photos is quite therapeutic and I have, at times found this a great release of emotion and a way to sift through feelings.


Happy 3rd Birthday is my first grand-daughter's birthday. We spent the day with her and her mum celebrating it. She was so excited about having a birthday and I'd made a piggy cake for her. My husband, daughter, stepson and I had a great day with them.

Materials used - textured card, handmade flowers and Flourish with a Bling embellishment.The flowers are simply a combination of 'cheapy' flowers dissected and re-created to suit and held together with a large pearl brad. The 'Flourish with a Bling' leafy vine was cut into pieces to fit around the photo and flowers.

Happy 3rd Birthday

Mothers Day is a very special page. The photo is very ordinary (and even harder to see here) but it is the memory of the day that is important. My daughter's school celebrates Mother's Day with a lunch and this year is the last year of primary school for all of my children. It'll be the last celebration of its kind and although I'm happy to see my daughter go off to High School, I'll miss the Primary School family days. I've been attending these days since my first child started Pre-School 24 years ago. That sounds such a long time ago and while it is, it is also still fresh in my mind. At the same time, my stepson and grand-daughter are in early Primary School and Pre-School respectively, so chances are these days will still be part of my life for a long time yet.

Materials used -  textured card, MME paper kit, Bella brads, handmade flowers and WOW chipboard title. The chipboard is inked and embossed with an iridescent powder for a subtle addition of bling. I love the look of this chippie, it's elegant and the 'dropped' style work so well.

Always consider when looking at chipboard words that they can be cut and arranged to suit your layout. Many other designs can be cut to create an individual look for your own use.

Mothers Day

The last one - I Love Poppy -is a very sentimental one. This is the last photo taken of Poppy with his grand-daughter before she and her family moved towns. We will miss seeing them as much as we did but they are always in our hearts, especially the kids as they grow and change so much, so quickly.

Materials used -  textured card, A2Z Scraplet chipboards, Dusty Attic chipboard frame, Bella notelet.

I Love Poppy

WOW Scooter boy and girl

My husband and I have an ongoing blended family. The youngest child amongst our children is now 6 and the eldest of the grandchildren has just turned 5, so the family just goes on ......... It has worked out very well as the youngest ones are great friends and holidays are fun when they all get together. Our son and grand-daughter love 'scootering' around the yard and down to the park. The chalk comes out and 'roads' are marked on the concrete, signs are drawn and parking bays added. Listening to their chatter keeps us amused.

Scooter boy and girl

 

 

Materials used: Cosmo Cricket paper pack, WOW scooter boy and scooter girl. The papers have been distressed and inked, stitching added to the paper and the chipboard roughly inked and stitched over.

Using another 'new, yet to be released' WOW chipboard

Thanks to the lovely Suzanne at WOW - Words or Whatever, I had the opportunity to play with some not yet released chipboard. These gorgeous little scrolls are soooo versatile. I've laid them in opposite directions and reversed them on this page but there are so many ways to lay them for a huge variety of looks. Use them individually, as a corner piece, with flowers amongst them and use any medium of color or texture for the look you desire. They are delightfully elegant and a must have in the chippy stash. They also came in their background card which is still sitting on my desk while I plan something for it. It does make a great mask for misting your pages using either both or one of the scroll shapes. A little tip - consider what else you can do with those chip sheets after you've taken the shape out. Masks, another embellishment, great to distress as the original shape and detail are not the feature .......

This page is one from our family Christmas day out. With so many of us all over the place, extended family,  blended family and more generations coming, one part of our family has been celebrating Christmas with a day out (or in if the weather is ordinary) somewhere. Last year we went to a combination fauna and fun park. The kids loved the face-painting ...... it's a real winner with kids of all ages.

Gumbuya Park

Materials used: Bella letters, flowers and journal note, WOW chipboard swirls

Last year I was lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks in Thailand. It is a beautiful country and their people are so genteel and warm. We spent time both around Bangkok and it's outer regions as well as some time in Phuket and it's environs. Getting out of the 'tourist' areas is such is a real dip into the culture. That's the part of the travel I enjoy. The accommodation and beaches are fabulous too. The plan is to go back one day and head up further into the Northern regions. The real cultures still exist up there, the traditional ways of life, food and livelihoods.

Thai Hill Tribe

Materials used: Bella mini letters, Rain Beetle Creative Spray and introducing a not yet released WOW chipboard. I distressed the chipboard by wetting it, scrunching and distressing it, then adding a combination of marker color and metallic rub. These chipboards are solid enough to withstand this technique. You'll find a large range of their superb designs on our website and this one will be released SOON.

Scrapbooking with some WOW - chipboard

During the flooding earlier this year, many animals were lost, wandered off or misplaced in some way. In the park along the Murray River we often see ducks - of the native kind, not these domestic ducks.

Displaced Ducks

Materials used: Words or Whatever Chipboard.

Scrapbooking Retreat

I spent last weekend away at a wonderful Scrapbooking Retreat and actually managed to get some pages done amongst the laughter and chit-chat of wonderful friends. The retreat is organized by a wonderful lady and she puts together a fabulous weekend of scrapping, friendship and glorious food. Not only do we come home with pages completed but a couple of divine recipes as well. It's a win/win situation. We ladies relax, learn from each other, discover new things (scrapping or otherwise) and take home some kitchen inspiration for the family as well. Old friendships are caught up with in person, new ones made and each new one fits like a glove ..... they are just meant to be.

So on to the pages done ......

Our Little Monster

 Our Little Monster - the result of a show bag from the school fete. We took the kids to their school fete and the 'must have' item was the show bag, of course the most gruesome there was. Between some Dracula teeth and a 'gory' finger, our little man turned into a monster!

Materials used: Textured card, chipboard letters, freebie papers from a magazine and Words or Whatever (WOW) chipboard monsters. The chipboard has been colored with markers and highlighter with a clear dimensional paint.

What The!

 OMG, the expressions this child has at times. Our little grand-daughter stayed for a holiday and had her first taste of strawberry - yes, strawberry. The look on her face was priceless as she explored the ins and outs of this piece of fruit.

Materials used: Textured card, Bella papers and journal notes, A2Z Scraplets chipboard border, buttons and some doodling.

Mother and Daughter

 Some photos just 'want' to be scrapped and this, for me is one. The story it tells is the love of a daughter and her happiness to be part of a very special day in my life.

Materials used: Prima papers, A2Z Scraplets chipboard, Flourish with a Bling pearl embellishment, Bella notelet, Scrapware
chipboard. The chipboards have been Glimmermisted and the flowers altered with a 'water saturation' method.

A Girl and her Dog

The same gorgeous little grand-daughter on holidays enjoying the company of our dogs. Every morning after breakfast she was out there giving them all the attention they could take.

Materials used: textured cardstock, Bo Bunny papers, handmade (by me) crocheted flowers, Bella bling brads and Words or Whatever Chipboard title.

Scrapbooking, chipboard and fun, fun, fun

Yesterday I played with some chipboard, using some coloring techniques and surface altering. I have so many other ‘things’ in my head to do to these pieces of chipboard, things I’ve seen and want to try, things I imagine and want  to see if they work. Just to test out how far can you push a piece of cardboard in the name of art or scrapping. There are many who have tested these boundaries and they are dangling in front of me, testing my patience as I scramble together some “uncommitted” time to “play”. It is all in the name of work but never feels like it.

Circus

 

Circus

 A few years ago we went to a circus that was performing locally, just the small traveling ones that do the circuit of the country. These days, with all the 'animal issues' and 'political correctness' of the world, they are so different to what we, as kids saw. No 'wild' performing animals but some well trained ducks, dogs and cows. Yes, cows. I haven't got to that page yet but I certainly will. There are still the clowns and the acrobats, the good old ringmaster and a 'rubber' man who could squeeze himself into a ridiculously small container - that took some skill! We took the kids, who were 3 and 9 at the time and they thoroughly enjoyed it. Now they are 6 and 12 and we have booked to see Cirque de Soleil later this month. We booked that nearly a year ago and have been excited about the prospect of going all that time. There won't be the photo opportunities I'm sure but the memories (combined with a few online pics) will be scrappable.

Materials used: textured card, WeR Memory Keepers paper, 2Crafty Chipboard. The chippies have been colored using markers of various sorts. Be sure to test them on the back of your chippies for color depth and to ensure that the chippies are of a quality that will not disintegrate. Color gently and with even strokes, some markers are better for this than others. I use brush ones. I've also use gel pens for some of the smaller, more intricate detail on chippies too. Once again test before using.

*Check out the stationery sections of stores and newsagents, you'll find some handy coloring items. Check their acid status if available but remember if it's not touching your photos, it will generally be alright to use on a page.

Just Add Water

Just add water - and so the rains did! During summer we had massive rains in Victoria (who didn't in Australia - ok WA maybe) and many were inundated with floods causing devastation that most of us cannot imagine unless involved. This is the Mighty Murray that threatened to flood our town. It did flood in many areas but due to the amazing efforts of the SES, Police, CFA, other emergency teams and the outstanding work by volunteers in our town and many others along the way, we remained 'high and dry'. Sadly, some outlying areas were not so lucky and today, 3 months later are still under water, houses and all! While the relief of the waters being restrained was felt by myself here, my farming property upstream of the river and on other rivers and creeks was flooded. So a lot of mixed emotions about it all, scenes that I hopefully will never see again. This photos in this page were a daily ritual for quite some time, the water here rose slowly (unlike the farm which was 'flash flooded') and readings were constantly being taken. My daughter is sitting on the top step of what is 10 steps. Prior to the flooding we were able to sit on the bottom step! These steps are more of a 'jump' down than step down, so quite a long way under water.

Materials used: textured card, A2Z Scraplets, Crafty Notions Color Spray, SEI Chalk inks, Basic Grey paper and some stitching. The cogs have simply been misted with spray and the title color blended with the inks. I was looking for a distressed feel to this page as well as letting the photos speak for themselves.

Sandbagging

This is what save many towns and properties - Sandbags! The volunteers who filled bags, adults and children who helped feed and water these hardworking people, the ones who transported them to sites, stacked them along banks and around houses, power stations, vital services are to be commended for their tireless work. Filling bags is no light work. It's heavy, dirty, dusty and hot, very hot work in summer. Not the usual time that we would associate with floods. Much work was done through the night to ease the heat issue and purely to get enough bags filled and ready for what lay ahead. There was no predicting what it would do. Sure there are some records from many years ago when a similar event occurred but land layout has changed through farming, redevelopment and clearing. The path of the water would not be the same, nor the speed or volume of the flow.

Materials used: textured card, Basic Grey paper and alphabet, SEI inks and Bella distressing tool, staples and A2Z Scraplets Chipboard. The chipboard has been soaked in water to separate the layers, then I've carefully scrunched and distressed the top of it, let it dry and then roughly inked it, followed by a smudging of metallic rub. Quite a fun way to add to the distressed look on a page.