26 May 2013

Excited To Share Some Happy News

Hello

I can finally share a bit of exciting scrappy news with you all. I am so lucky to be joining the Polly! Scrap kits design team as their Project Life designer, now that they offer amazing Project Life kits monthly. This could not be a more perfect fit considering I love Project Life and love the kits they make.

You can check out my introduction over at the blog here.

But not only that, well before I jumped on the PL train, they had a guest designer call out last year and I was one of the lucky guest designers for the year so I'm actually starting out having a play with the May/June scrapbook kit as well lol Oh yes, lucky indeed!

If you haven't already checked out these fabulous kits, be sure to do so. The PL kits sold out within minutes of release, however the is a current subscription offer available with big savings.

You can find the store here. Lots of goodness available!

So stay tuned for some future creations using these fab kits. And of course I will have some other updates soon as well. Scrap room is about half way done now. Big big job! Working on it for a little bit today before hubby runs away to band practice.

Oh and on other unrelated news, I have been so lucky in my professional life too. Some of you may be aware that I am the senior psychologist in a correctional centre and my maternity leave ends next Monday. Nooooo!!! But I had a meeting with work Friday after telling them I want to come back part time and they have given me pretty much everything I requested. 5 day fortnight with job share arrangement, able to leave site at 2pm to be home before hubby goes to work at 3pm (so our daughter doesn't need to go to daycare), ability to express at work (yes I know they wouldn't say no to that but its nice to be able to have that support) and all this in place for 12 months and then we look at it again then. I am so happy to have been supported in my changed priorities of being there for my bub and love that we don't have to rely on daycare at all. So grateful!

Anyway... enough of my good news sharing. Time to go give little missy a bath then back into the scrap room :)

22 May 2013

Busy re-organising

Just wanted to pop in & say I'm still around despite the lack of blog posts. I have been super busy but not so much creating this past fortnight.

Instead my focus has been on having a mega clean out & trying to correct my hoarding ways. I am having a general house clean out as I'm finally sick of clutter. Less stuff means less effort to keep it neat which I will appreciate when Lily starts moving.

But then there's the other big job. Sorting the craft room. Oh the fun! This task I've started & not gotten far several times in the past 18 months but this time is going well. Culling unwanted supplies, finding storage solutions... And uncovering the carpet that hasn't seen light for a while. 

It gets worse before it gets better. Last night I started sorting the boxes of embellishments I have & hubby said it looked no different compared to when he went to work haha it did though. Still a way to go but I'm making good progress.

But I'm a bit behind on Project life now. Will hopefully finish week 19 tonight & get onto week 20. 

Here's a sneak: 


And the mess I started with last night:


And a strange hoarding of d-lish scraps packaging :-/  

Oops! Haha it was all just mixed in with my stash. 

And of course, here's Lily:




Holly x


14 May 2013

Some Digi Project Life and To Do List

Hello

Hope all you mother's out there had a fabulous Mother's Day yesterday. Mine was spent with my extended family which is always a nice thing. Although hectic... as my sis has 8 kids so even though we only got to have 6 of them there, it still makes for a crazy, busy day.

 
And today, my beautiful girl got to have her first solids. We made her up some runny Farex rice cereal and she did very well. A bit of a sloppy face and some slightly funny expressions but nothing too drastic. She is 5 and a half months and we decided she might be ready and it looks to be the case. Exciting but scary as it means she's growing up way too fast. So amazing how quick it does happen.

Just wanted to share a couple of recent digi project life spreads while I think of it. These ones are from Lily's digital version baby album which I am changing my colour scheme and layout as I go so yes, I do need to go back and fix those backgrounds:



Now onto something a bit different. Fellow creator and blogger, Caz has started doing a To Do list on her blog to keep her on track and I know what a procrastinator I am so I thought it might be a good idea for me to try. Anything to make me a little more accountable. You can visit Caz's latest post here.

So in no particular order or date specific order, here are some things I'd like to achieve this week and I will check them off through the week:

Photograph stuff to sell
List stuff online to sell
Finish week 19 PL
Finish baby PL pages for last week
Pack for weekend away
Change spare bed linen
Washing
Find Simon a birthday present
Follow up with work about returning
Back up digital scrap elements
Cancel EzyFlicks subscription
Create digital kit contact sheets
Trip to ikea for Raskog cart
Buy baby bullet food processor



Hmmm... its a start. There are a million other things I should do but with my husbands birthday and a weekend away coming up, I'll go easy. The worst part is I'm meant to return to work in 3 weeks so time is running low.

Have a great week

Holly x

12 May 2013

Mother Canvas & Layout

Hey there
 
Firstly, to all those mummy's out there... Happy Mother's day. I'm excited. It's my first. Hope you all have something lovely planned for you and get spoilt by your loved ones.

So this month at Scrapmatts we were challenged to create an Off the page project and a colour challenge. I could not have been happier of timing as I had a sudden urge to create a canvas recently, inspired by a poem that I saw on Facebook. While my daughter is only 5 months old, I love the theme of this poem as it is such an important thing to remember as our children grow. Here is the poem:

Slow down mummy,
there is no need to rush,
slow down mummy,
what is all the fuss?
Slow down mummy,
make yourself a cup of tea.
Slow down mummy,
come and spend some time with me.
Slow down mummy,
let's put our boots on and go out for a walk,
let's kick at piles of leaves,
and smile and laugh and talk.
Slow down mummy,
you look ever so tired,
come sit and snuggle under the duvet and rest with me a while.
Slow down mummy,
those dirty dishes can wait,
slow down mummy,
lets have some fun,
lets bake a cake!
Slow down mummy I know you work a lot,
but sometimes mummy,
its nice when you just stop.
Sit with us a minute
& listen to our day,
spend a cherished moment,
because our childhood is not here to stay!  
Rebekah.Knight (c)2011

And my canvas:
 
It came together in 2 nights. I actually had some old canvases that were printed wrong and replaced so I kept the faulty ones and finally got to put it to use. I painted it all white, then modge podged my A4 photo print and added some texture paste around the edges. I used Tim Holtz distress paint to give some extra texture, in black and overlapped over the edge of the photo a little to blend it. Simple and quick.


 
 


The poem was printed on kraft cardstock and stuck down on scrap chipboard to give some height. The mother title was embossed in a sandy/golden colour. And the flowers, well most of them were from a mixed bag I got from a garage sale site from a lovely fellow scrapper.
 
I love how it turned out!! And was happy to see the person has also created a similar daddy version so I am already planning another canvas.
 
 
And now for a layout share - I went with Yellow, black and white for my colour scheme:

I realised as I was uploading it that the chipboard word over happy was lopsided when I photographed. Oops. It was meant to be straight.
 
 
 
Thanks for looking and of course... HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!
 
 
 
Holly x
 
 
 
 
 
 











10 May 2013

Project Life Week 17-18

Hello

I actually have no idea if I've posted all the weeks of my 2013 PL album so far. I will have to go back and see if there are any missing one of these days. However, for now I am at least up to date with creating my pages with the last two weeks here to share today.

Week 17

Week 17 LHS


Week 17 RHS - Yep my title card is on the opposite side this week. I liked both the front and back of that snap journal card so I just moved its position.
 
 
Week 18 with insert
 
Week 18 without insert

 
Week 18 left
 
Week 18 right

 
Week 18 insert front 5x7
 
Week 18 insert back - fave shows this year so far
 
So often I seem to fill my pages with Lily as every second of my baby is amazing lol So I thought I'd add a bit of current loves to capture my life right now. Also page 1 of the insert includes my latest publication from Scrapbooking Memories. That's number 6 published this year I think. Crazy exciting! As you can see from my cheesy journaling. And as much as I hate my handwriting, I am trying to force myself to do a bit of it again instead of all digi.
 
Here is one of my photos from last weeks layout. My cute little princess and her 5 month updates.
 
 
 
Materials: Becky Higgins Jade digital kit, Grid cards, page protectors; Simple Stories SNAP journal cards and alphas; Echo Park Photo Freedom; American crafts thickers; Polly Scrap project life kit; Studio calico wood veneers; Kaisercraft alphas.
 
Hope you are having a great week.
 
Holly x
 



06 May 2013

INSD Challenges

Hey there

Although I would have liked to have had more scrappy time over the weekend, I did get a chance to do a couple of the online challenges available on International Scrapbooking Day. Here is one of my layouts:





This one was for the Echo Park challenge about someone you love. Using various scraps of Echo Park papers from my stash and a photo of me and my bubba girl. Its a bit of a dodgy pic thanks to an overcast day here today.

Hope you had a chance to play along with some of the challenges available on INSD.

Holly x