Monthly Guest Designer Layouts etc...

At the beginning of the month as you all know I was lucky enough to be asked to create with a kit put together by Meg over at Scrapbook Essentials, it had many interesting papers and bits and pieces in it. It did challenge me to think outside the square and use papers and colours I wouldn't normally choose. I think it is important and fun to challenge yourself when creating. It's great to see what you can come up with and see other people reactions to different styles.

I tried to use as much as the kit as I could but still have a bit leftover, there was loads of things in it. I will continue to upload pictures as I create with it. Here are the layouts and little Maya road album I have done so far.

Big girls toys!!!

I know it's usually men who get excited about big toys, but meet my new toy! I know it's a fridge and not a scrapbooking item but I couldn't be happier!! Small things aye ;p

We have been thinking about getting a new fridge for awhile, our old fridge was just getting to small and the plastic shelves were are cracking from to much excess weight, but it was put on the wishlist. Then seeing as our fridge decided to break down in the weekend, we decided it was time to bite the bullet and get a new one!!! I spent most of yesterday talking fridges,wrangling a great deal, who knew there was so much to them. It got delivered this morning all white, clean and sparkly and now I am having trouble filling it!! :) Give me time though! hehe

A weeks catch up...

I just had to share these pics of my sister's new puppy with everyone. Vanessa has had many weeks of deciding what type of dog to get and I think she chose right. Now I'm not really good with dogs but this wee guy has stolen my heart so that says ALOT! They have named him Oscar, which suits him perfectly. He's a Bichon/Cocker Spaniel cross and he is such a smooch, a really placid dog which is great for me. I'm already thinking of how to create a little book so she can capture some of these cute pictures.

Last night Craig and I decided to brave the cold and head over to Lyttelton for the Festival of Lights Street party" It was a nightmare finding a park but when we had, we got there just in time for the fireworks. The main street was closed off with heaps of stalls selling hot food and mulled wines etc, a live band played at one end and street performers preformed to the crowd. Alot of the buildings were lit up, it was a fun evening out. Here are some of the pics I managed to get.

Even though the sun was out the wind today was soooo cold!!! So today we have just been doing a few odd jobs and spent the afternoon with a couple of DVDs 's on the couch, now it's off to make homemade pizza for tea! YUM!!! Now that's what I call a great Saturday relaxing.

Keep an eye out for the things I have created with the Monthly guest designer kit, I shall reveal all later in the week. Till next time, cya!

My "Jack me up" layout

Late last week some scrap friends announced the launch of there version of the US blog "Scrapjacked". Check here for the details here - Kiwi Jack me up! How it works is that they randomly pick a NZ scrap artist's layout that they like and scraplift it, create their versions of it, then it's up to us to create our version and link it to there blog for the monthly competition.


So this afternoon I have completed my first "Jack me up layout". I had so much fun creating it, trying a little freestyle doodling with mixing and matching whatever I had on hand, it's so not my usual style but it got me out of my comfort zone, which I imagine this is what this new site is going to do for a lot of people. It was super fun, can't wait till the next one!

S.E Monthly Layout

I have really set my mind to getting through my pile of "must get done" things in the past few days, I haven't made a huge progress but are really happy with the layouts I have got finished.

Firstly I got my S.E monthly layout done. I've haven't really gone into the monthly challenges recently but I'm glad to be back in the swing of it now. It helps that the challenge was a good one, so thanks Neen. You had to use the title or lyrics of a song and incorporate it in your layout. I choose one of our wedding pics and the song we signed the register too (From this moment on by Shania Twain) , I absolutely love the page, and because I have done it in the wedding colours I will use it in my wedding album.

We got some really exciting news yesterday, our really good friends Mike and Liana got engaged on Sunday! They have been together for a fair few years and they are great together so we are so happy for them! So had to get on to making a card for them and some other birthdays I have coming up. Everyone seems to be taking big steps in their lives around me at the moment, buying first houses, getting engaged, buying puppies, starting new relationships, I wonder whats around the corner for Craig and I????

Anyhow still have a few ideas before the girls get here for coffee, so better dash.

HaPpY BiRtHdAy!

It was Craig's birthday yesterday, so happy birthday babe! He had to work so Mum and I took him out for lunch to a great cafe with the yummiest food. Then had his parents over for roast beef and I finally mastered really crispy roast potatoes! hehe I made this cake for him, a chocolate/coffee cake with coffee buttercream icing. We ended the evening with coffee and cake with my family. He got some great gifts and I hope had a nice birthday :) Role on my birthday now!

I saw this card in a magazine and just had scraplift it and add my own flair, I know it's a bit feminine for him but oh well, I liked it! :) and so did he.

In other news we are off to the airport today to see my Dad off, he's heading to Aussie for a few weeks to take in the sites. I do wish there was extra room in the suitcase, warm tempteratures would be lovely right now! Well I better dash and get ready.

The weekend

Wow, winter certainly hit here in Christchurch over the weekend. I might be being a wimp after the southern peeps had such cold weather and snow last week, but I'm feeling the cold :p Great scrapbooking weather though, so I shouldn't complain.

We had a lovely relaxing Saturday, we had coffee with Craig's parents in the morning at our favourite place over at Lyttelton, then continued on over to Akaroa. It was lovely and warm in the car but as you can see in this picture I took at the hilltop, there was snow lying about the tops of the hills. We had lunch over there and decided to head home, the wind chill was too freezing to walk about, but all the same it was a nice drive and lunch.

Today I started working on some page layouts from the monthly guest designer kit, it has been a challenge to get my mind around the colours and products. I do think though it's a great idea to challenge your creative side every now and then.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, and wish you a happy week too follow!

Monthly Guest Designer Goodies

Heres the sneak peeks of the stash of goodies I got to play with for monthly guest designer, I'm so eager to get started, roll on the weekend.

My creations

Well here they are, the layouts I busily worked on yesterday. I just love the photo below and it just had to made into a layout.

I have heard so much about people scrapping a layout of there handbags, I finally got around to doing one of my own. It made realise how many things I have in my bag that remind me of my friends, such as the bag itself and the wee bag charms my great friend Bronnie made for me.

I have had my Christmas photos lying around for ages waiting to be scrapped, so I have so happy that they are finally done. I find it hard to use so many photos on a layout, but love the way this turned out. Not flashy, it simply records this Christmas with family.

Although this page doesn't say it, it's to capture my sisters engagement and ring. She got engaged a fair while ago but thought these pictures were lovely, I have been eyeing up the soft green K&Co paper for ages. It all came together so nicely.

What a fantastic day!

Does it really get any better than a day of scrapbooking from 9am till 5.30 solid? Well today that's exactly what I did with some lovely people from work. I started out with a complete lack of inspiration, after flicking through a few mags, with still no major ideas I decided to jump in and just get started and it worked! I got one double layout, three single layouts and two cards made! I will post pictures tomorrow, to dark to take them now.

In other news, on Sunday I found out that I had been chosen to be "Monthly guest designer" for Scrapbook Essentials, I was so excited about this and couldn't wait for the goodies to arrive. This morning I went out to find Mr Courier had been and left me my parcel :) What a great array of bits and pieces, now all I need is for this creativity burst to last a little longer! I have big shoes to fill after the other monthly designers have done some beautiful work. I will take a few sneaky peeks tomorrow of what I have to work with.

Just a quick post tonight, I've had some hints from regular readers *wink* that I need to update so here we have it.... catch ya tommorrow with some pics! :)