LEGO LEGO LEGO

The other day I was looking at Cathy Zielske's blog and in particular, at this post, and Reuben happened to walk past. He stopped, backtracked a couple of steps and said, "What's this?" in a way that any 10 year old kid with a LEGO love would.

So I quickly scrolled through the pictures. He spotted it! The one with the ice.

"Can I do that?" he asked. Reuben already had the scene planned in his creative LEGO mind - an archeologist finds a skeleton in the ice...

So out came the icecube tray from the freezer, some icecubes were removed and consumed, and the skeleton (and tools) were placed in the tray, water added and sent to the freezer.

Reuben could hardly wait for the water to freeze, but wait he did. Next day he built the rest of his scene - the archeologist with his blow torch thing, the table on which to put the frozen block of with the skeleton embedded...


Like I have already said, I think LEGO is the best toy in the whole world ever and I am so glad that Reuben can express pretty much all his imaginations in LEGO.

Caitlin's Page

Caitlin spotted some cute cooking themed stickers in an art supply shop the other day and she couldn't help but be inspired to do a page on her love for cooking.

Here is the result.

Pink Around the Place

When I was having a look in the gallery at Jessica Sprague's website I came across this layout by Jana and decided it was a definite scrapliftworthy layout. I am not sure if Jana's is digital or not - mine isn't.


I think it is a lot of fun moving to a new house with a new garden and discovering the plants that grow and flower over the year. The garden here at , is quite different to any garden I have ever had before. Every so often I grab my camera and have a wander around the garden and see what little surprises lay in store. In March 2009 I found that the colour scheme was predominantly pink - not bad seeing as pink is my favourite colour. :)

Products: PP - Rouge de Garance, Basic Grey Eva, Doodlebug, and some unknown scraps; Versacube - pinecone; Unipin Fine line markers; Zig Writer; Sharpie; KaiserScrapbook Rhinestone; Heidi Swapp Ghost letters; Making Memories Color Staples.

Me and Chris

Some more shameless scraplifting. This time Dina Wakley's layout - i'm sure you can pick which one.


For a while I pondered what I could use as a mask and finally decided to use a beautiful black metal trivet that I have - not your usual mask but it did the job.

Products:Basic Grey Ambrosia PP, Fusion Matchbook Kit, Sweet Pea Card Folder Alphabet, Amrosia Element Stickers; Memories Mist; KI Memories Mod Blox and Tags; Making Memories Color Staples and Acrylic Paint; Elle's Studio Calendar Tags; Sharpie; Fontwerks CS Stickers.

Going, Going, Gone.

Here's the journaling...
Oh no. I'm going to have to type it all out again.

Ever since Hudson was a very little baby he has had a little pillow of some kind. Fortunately Hudson didn't much care what size, shape or colour the pillow was just so long as he had it. As with all comforters it was a must-have for going to sleep anywhere.
"Have pillow, will sleep" was his motto, and sleep he did!
The only kind of pillow he didn't care for was one made of flannelette - something about the feel of it.
The number of pillows we made and lost is phenomenal. We had a stash of about 10 at one stage. Only three of them survived.
As he got older Hudson liked to walk around with his thumb in his mouth and his pillow twiddled around his hand. He even took to sucking the corner of the pillow at one stage. Ewww!
About a year ago we tried to separate Hudson from his pillow and hence from his thumb-sucking. It wasn't a huge hit and we decided the battle was not worth the pain.
A few weeks ago now, I said to Hudson, "Yuck! That pillow is getting old. Do you want to throw it away?" To my surprise Hudson marched out to the garbage bin and threw it in.
"Hey! Hang on a sec! I need a photo of this occasion."
So Caitlin retrieved the pillow from the empty bin so that the whole throwing-away process could be re-enacted. :)
Hudson has since thrown away another pillow and I have secretly stashed one to save for his treasure box.
The amazing thing is that Hudson seems to have had no regrets at all. He hasn't once asked for his pillow when he is going to sleep.
And the bonus is that Hudson doesn't suck his thumb very much any more. He'll still need orthodontia, I'm sure, but at least he has taken a step in the right direction.
No more searching for pillows and wondering where on earth they could possibly be!

Well that was a saga and it still doesn't say everything. But you get the gist.

Products: Bazzill Kraft CS; Sharpie; Zig Millennium pen; Uniball Signo Gel pen; Gel Medium; Scraps of paper.

Chinese Gardens

The other day the kids and I went to the Chinese Gardens of Friendship at Darling Harbour. With a bit of forward thinking I told the kids it was a sketching excursion - that was to alleviate any stress they might have, thinking that it might be a boring test of endurance rather than a bonzer day out. It worked!!! :)


We left home armed with backpacks filled with a sketchbook, pencils or pens, erasers, and sharpeners. And food and water, of course. I was already inspired by Urban Sketchers and was eager to have a go at capturing the day on paper. So much so that I even forgot to take my camera with me. :( Fortunately my mobile phone takes the odd good photo.



We climbed to the top of the Mountain (can't remember what it is called) and parked ourselves on the steps of the pagoda. Each of the kids did a sketch of whatever they wanted.

Reuben's sketch was of the pots and trees and rocks around the top of the mountain.




Malachi looked down the hill and captured the trees and rocks, the waterfall and the bamboo.



Hudson tells me this is a drawing of a Chinese man.



Declan drew the fish in the fishpond from memory.



Caitlin had a very small sketchbook. She captured Hudson standing in the pagoda and my legs sticking out while drawing, and she sketched the bamboo.



Susannah did rubbings of some of the Chinese characters carved into the columns of one of the pagodas.


Here are my sketches from the day - they're simple but they did the job.


I'm planning to carry around a little sketch book and black pen (and maybe watercolour crayons) all the time. Normally I don't get to sit and wait so I will be looking out for opportunities to practice sketching - the more you do it the better you get at it, so they say.

We all had a great day and would love to go back there to wear the Chinese costumes and have fun taking photos. Another day!

My Fave Colour Combo

Kraft, Red and White with Black.

I've taken to shamelessly scraplifting the awesome layouts I am inspired by. Today it's Amanda Hall and her Sunday 9.30 layout.

A few weeks ago five of us went to The Cat Empire concert. Considering we took this selfie in the dark on my mobile phone it didn't turn out too badly, really. I did fix up the red eyes just a tad!


I used a technique that I pinched from Dina Wakley's Art Journaling Class to do the The Cat Empire title. I stamped the title onto some tissue paper and then used gel medium to stick it down onto the page. The tissue becomes transparent and leaves the title there. Voila! I really like that cos it reduces the stress of stamping in the right place trying not to make any mistakes.

Products: Bazzill Kraft CS; Alphabets - SEI alphabet stickers, American Crafts Thickers, Chatterbox, Making Memories Tiny Alphas; Towmbow Dual Brush Pen; Zig Millennium Pen; Making Memories White paint; Hero Arts Pixie Letters; Stazon; Heidi Swapp Chipboard Ornament.

Crop Bootcamp #25

Well, I've finally come to the last of the Crop Bootcamp layouts. The aim of this scrapbooking venture was to do 25 layouts and use 50 sheets of patterned paper. I tried as much as I could to only use PP for all these layouts - it was very satisfying to use a new sheet of paper rather than saving it for some mythical special occasion. I managed to 'break open' 60 sheets of paper.

Okay. I promised there would be a layout about my scraproom and here it is.


If my art room ever looks like a showroom for a magazine article (I was going to link you to a photo but it's not working. If you Google 'scrapbooking room' and look at the images you'll see exactly what I mean!) it means I'm dead.

You just want to know all the things on the Spotto list, don't you?
Lil Chizzler
Stamp Cleaner
Fiskars Circle Cutter
Steel Rule
Pritt Power gel x 3
Pincushion
Empty Peanut butter jar
glue pen
zig Writer
Glue stick
7 Gypsies Stamp
Circle Punch
hJar of Flowers
Lid from Bling Box
Photos
greaseproof paper
BG cutting mat
Magnets for mat
Fiskars Threading Water Punch
Flat Pack
Make up bag that holds gel pens
Dangly things still in packet
tissues
Slick Writer
Crop-a-dile
Sanding Block
Versacube Ink x 3
Stazon
MM Staples
Eraser
Pencil
Herma tabs
Fiskars scissors
Dymo
Glue Dots
Stampin' Up Watercolor Wonder Crayons
Sophie-Lee's Art
Susannah's Art
Inspiration printed out
Fancy Pants felt
Tag from Loretta Grayson
Paint rag
Basic Grey file
Vinyl disposable gloves
Baskets in Expedit
Plastic drawers
Gary Reef Sunflower Challenge
Sewing machine
Ribbons
Stuffed toys
Feather thing from Montville
Balloon from Elizabeth Hardy
Ironing Board
Magic Tree House set of books
Bible
Portfolio Water Soluble Crayons
Glasses Cases
Gesso
Paint brushes
Coke Bottle shaped tin
CD
Albums
Magnetic Board
Scrap paper that needs filing
Pages cut from Magazines
Old Book for using pages
Pencil
Papre recycling box
Alphabet basket
Stamp cleaner
Storage boxes
Mini Album Basket
Mess on floor
Sharpies
Mending
Sewing Box
Eskimo lamp from Ba and Al
Vase thing from Carol
Glass lid
Journal

Products: PP - Making Memories 5th Avenue and Ava Artisan Edge; Pink Paislee alphabet stickers; Hero Arts Pixie stamps; Tim Holtz Distress Ink.

Crop Bootcamp #24

I have since added a sharpie outline to the orange circles - that way this layout incorporates just a little bit of style from the four of us. The way the title happens and the white out tape - Louise. The Dymo tape and a bit of paint - Peg. The Sharpie outline - Renae. And me? Copying everyone else's style!

Products: PP - Little Yellow Bicycle, Foof.a.la; Basic Grey Chipboard things; Pink Paislee alphabet stickers; Little Yellow Bicycle diecut stickers; Tombow Correction Tape; Dymo; Making Memories acrylic paint.

Crop Bootcamp #23

I love this layout! I think it has nothing to do with the layout but my fond memories of childhood and Colerne, the village where I lived in England, and the clothes that Mum made for me.


Journaling:
This photo brings back many memories of my childhood.
Mum used to do a lot of sewing and knitting. She made these green capes. I can remember my excitement when we got to wear them for the first time. (This might be the first time.)
I'm so glad Dad took a few photos. I also remember that Mum knitted some loopy white ruffle things to go around the hoods.
I remember getting the tights in the mail and them being too big and having to tuck them under our feet.
Here we are walking down the lane to our church in Colerne on a Sunday morning when I'm about 8 years old.
The braid above is left over from another of Mum's sewing endeavours. I'm pretty sure it was on an orange dress. No photos :(

Products: PP - Pink Paislee Sweet Cakes Collection; Hero Arts Pixie Alphabet and Manuscript Background stamps; Making Memories paint; felt (which is pretty close to the colour of the capes); braid; paper from old book; Flowers - I really like that colour combo.

Crop Bootcamp #22

Creative Beach Babe


The journaling reads: It doesn't matter what you give Susannah to play with she can make something fun with it. This was our first visit to the beach after moving to Sydney. We went to South Cronulla. Oct 08.

Products: PP - We R Memory Keepers; Basic Grey Stickers Two Scoops Alphabet and Eva Element stickers; Making Memories Tiny Alphas; Heidi Swap and Bella Flowers; Crate Paper Border Die Cut; KaiserScrapbook rhinestones.

Crop Bootcamp #21

At this stage you may be wondering what all this Crop Bootcamp stuff is about. Click HERE for a quick reminder.




Products: PP - My Mind's Eye, Bazzill Swiss Dot; Trees by Loretta Grayson; Fancy pants felt; Making Memories Staples;

Crop Bootcamp #20

Inspiration for this layout came from Janelle Wind at Scrapboxx. I know I've scrapped this phhoto before... but I was in one of those moods where I was missing my great hair cut and wondering if my hair would ever get back there. Happily, I have found a hairdresser who gives me confidence that my hair will do the right thing again one day - it might still be a few months yet though.

I have since added a bit of journaling to that effect to the layout.

Products: PP - Pink Paislee, We R Memory Keepers x2; Ribbon from Boxx of Scraps; Sharpie.

Crop Bootcamp #19

Finally! I have scrapbooked the photo of the three of us with our granny bags. We went to the Scrapbook Convention totally prepared, and I am so glad we did. Instead of hauling around my camera with phat lens, my handbag, lunch and goodies from classes and shopping, I had the benefit of wheels. Best thing ever! They gave us a lot of laughs too.


You know what!? I take my granny trolley to Miranda Fair!

Products: PP - Deja Views, Rose Moka, Pink Paislee; Green Tara flowers; Bazzill cardstock; Making Memories (?) Trim .

Crop Bootcamp #18

Products: PP - Basic Grey Ambrosia, Daisy D's; ColorMates cardstock; Fancy Pants felt; Thickers; Brads.

Crop Bootcamp #17

By this stage in Crop Bootcamp (check out Blue Bazaar's Feb 5 Newsletter for more info) I was ready for a change of colour. So here I tried to incorporate, as best as I could, Jessica's "colours". It was a refreshing change and I like the results.



Products: PP - My Mind's Eye, Daisy D's; Hambly Screenprint Transparency; Basic Grey Alphabet Stickers; Prima Flowers.

Crop Bootcamp #16

The photo for this layout was inspired by Jill GG when she challenged her readers to take a photo of an everyday thing. I can't find the post or I'd link you to it. (Can you help me Ji.ill?!) The photo has been sitting in a pile waiting to be scrapped for a lo.o.o.ong time.

It's done now.

Products: PP - Daisy D's, Sassafras Lass, Creative Imaginations; Making Memories Tiny Type; Sticko Architexture.

Today...

More Art journaling.

Here are a couple of pages I did with my swan motif. I really liked the swan as a black swan which was my original aim. If I use the mask I get a white swan (like this) but if I use the stencil I get a black swan.



I didn't know there was such a thing as a black swan until I was 9 years old and living in Australia. I still clearly remember seeing black swans for the first time although I can't remember where I was - somewhere in Perth/Fremantle. It could very possibly have been at Bibra Lake.



Hennyway. I did two pages with not too many layers. On the first I used the swan motif stencil and on the second I actually stuck the swan mask onto the page - cos I like it so much.


The journaling is Hebrews 3.13 which says, But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. And is written in various places on the page in white gel pen.


The one with Today in the texture is a cyber-gift for Janelle until she receives it IRL. Janelle is a bonzer encourager. :)

Crop Bootcamp #15

Journaling reads:
Once a month AHEG would get together at NERAM for a social and educational event. I’m not sure that the kids ever cared about the art itself but I was often inspired by what I saw. I’d go home and, more often than not, forget about what I was inspired by. But there was one time when I just couldn’t let it go. It was way back before I had any scrapbooking tools or products except for some left over sticky dots from an introduction to scrapbooking class.

Hennyway… In those days I used to get up at about 5am and enjoy the peace for a couple of hours. Well one Sunday morning I decided to weave two photos just like I had been inspired to do by the exhibition at NERAM. I learnt a lot that morning!

I’m scrapbooking it now to preserve it.
So there you go!!!



And here's a close up.


I was going to pring the journaling directly onto the cardstock but the printer was being so temperamental that I decided I was not prepared to take the risk. So I traced it instead. I like the neat, formatted handwritten look.

Products: PP - Basic Grey Ambrosia; Basic Grey Element Stickers and Alphabet Stickers; Zig Milennium pen.

Crop Bootcamp #14

Here's the boys being a bit crazy at Sawtell Beach last September.




Products: PP - Basic Grey Peripery, Rusty Pickle Princess Bride, Cherry Arte; Bella Alphabet.

Kids' Art

The kids like to have a dabble in the paint too so the other day I gave them all a nice sheet of paper, a paint brush and 4 colours.
Here are the results uploaded in random order. I wonder if you can guess who did which one. Match the number with the name.

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.


The Names:
Hudson
Declan
Malachi
Caitlin
Reuben
Susannah

a mother's heart

I have found that using someone else's art as a basis for my own is really helpful when my own creative energy is flagging but I still want to be creative. Why not copy something that you like?! So this is what I did for the Blue Bazaar Art Journal challenge this month. Jill reckons she doesn't know what she's doing, so I figured that neither do I, and copied her!!!


I used the Mamma pages from a Cole's Funny Picture Book as my base. 'twas fun.

Crop Bootcamp #12

We had a quiet Christmas Day and prepared for Boxing Day which was when all our family were getting together at our place. Part of the preparation was to make a cheesecake. Dad kept his beady eye on the cream and noticed that some of it wasn't going into the cheesecake so he asked if he could have it. I told him he had to wait. :)

Dad didn't know what he had to wait for, but I bet you do! He had to wait for me to get the camera, of course! Not the best photos I've ever taken but great photos nevertheless. What a laugh!


You know, I used to try to like cream (and soggy, squishy, brown bananas) just because my Dad does, but I simply don't. That's the gist of the journaling too.

Products: PP - Basic Grey Ambrosia (my fave BG line), Creative Imaginations; Basic Grey Mini Monogram Stickers, Element Stickers; KaiserScrapbook Rhinestones.

Crop Bootcamp #13

My beautiful sister and her family at Christmas.



Products:PP - K and Company, Sassafras Lass, Kaiser Scrapbook; Michael Miller Memories flowers; Zig Writer.

Crop Bootcamp #11

Remember this? I did a layout about it.

Products: PP - Making Memories Kraft, Creative Imaginations; Basic Grey scrap PP; Making Memories Die Cuts 5th Avenue.

Amping Up The Layers

That's what I am doing with Dina Wakley in her Art Journaling 102 class. It is SO much fun. SO much. :)

Layers. You want layers. Here's layers. Thirteen of them!!!


I started this (and another one which is not finished yet) before I even looked at the Week 2 class. Then I added to it when I read the notes. And now I have finished it after watching the videos. Did I say it was SO much fun?!

Here's a close up - see if you can count the layers.

Crop Bootcamp #7

Products
PP - Basic Grey x 2; Basic Grey Rubons, Daisy D's Rubons; Zig Writer.

Crop Bootcamp #6

Every time I saw this photo on my desk I thought someone had drawn on it! But no!



Products
PP:My Minds Eye, Rusty Pickle; Making Memories Sticker Boarders; Crate Paper Bands, Tags, Frames; A bit of paper from a notepad, and a hand-cut exclamation mark for the title.

Crop Bootcamp #10

Products: PP - We R Memory Keepers x2, making Memories 5th Ave 12x12 Foiled; Thickers; Making memories 5th Avenue Jumbo Pebble; Ribbon.

Crop Bootcamp #9

Products: Basic Grey Eva x3; Love Elsie Rubons and Sticker; Heidi Heart; Uniball Signo Gel Pen.

Crop Bootcamp #5 and #4

Products.
I used the KI Memories Lace Cardstock as a mask on white Bazzill and then used some of the GlimmerMist sprayed Lace on the page. Bazzill background. Sassafras Lass Life is Beautiful Edges; Pink Paisley Sweet Cakes Collection; Making Memories Diecuts - 5th Avenue Elizabeth Flowers; Brads; Basic Grey Die Cut Alphabet; Making Memories Tiny Alpha; Zig Writer.


Okay, Sophie-Lee doesn't want you to see my #4 layout so I'll just tell you about it. It's the first school layout I have ever done. It's called First Days At School... Ever! and has photos of Sophie-Lee in her sports uniform and her other uniform and a photo of the ribbon in her hair.

I used Navy Bazzill for the background, Creative Imaginations Damask Scrolls , and the back of De Ja Vu's 134 sprayed with denim GlimmerMist. I used a navy ric rac and a dark red ribbon, and white journaling strips. The Title was cut with my craftROBO out of the navy cardstock and the 'ever' was Remember When Laser Cut Alphabet Stickers.

So there you go.

Crop Bootcamp #3

Some of the highlights of my Christmas 2008 ...
Wrapping presents for other people, the annual family table tennis tournament, and learning an exciting maths concept that brought tears of joy to my eyes!!!



Products.
PP: Pink Paisley Office Lingo Bottom Line and Lunch Hour; Corrugated cardboard, Gesso, Glimmer mist; Green Tara Flowersand leaves; KaiserScrapbook Rhinestones, Zig Writer. Oh and one of the tags I made for Christmas 08 for everyone but didn't finish so did give out. :(