After All These Years

{Exciting News}

I am still absolutely in shock that I've been asked to be part of the 2011 Creative Team for Scrapbooking Memories magazine!

Woooo Hooooo!

I have to admit that after years of NOT buying that mag, I have been the last year or so because the content has improved a lot in my opinion. Part of it was because of the great techniques from the current Creative Team members: Jodie Butler, Tammy Milborn, Leeann Pearce and Sue-Ann Tilby.

Well, stay tuned because next year you will be getting LOTS more inspiration not only from myself but from these very talented ladies:

Kim Jeffress

Skye Johnson

Melinda Spinks

Coincidently, I met Kim at Blossie's only a couple of weeks ago and have been stalking her blog ever since! He he!

Anyway, thanks for reading and allowing me to share my excitement with you all! Now go and check out the blogs that I've linked above!

 PS: I forgot to mention also that the current issue of Scrapbooking Memories (Vol 12 No 10) has a great gallery all about banners! Lots of cute ideas for using banners such as mine!

 

 

{Inspiration Embellishments}

Ok so you're probably getting tired of hearing me say that my favourite colours are aqua and pink (watermelon pink to be exact). It should come as no surprise that I just had to create a few goodies for my Etsy shop in this colour scheme. The 'inspiration' behind it is my scraproom colours, the colours that surround me in my space.

 

I'm intending to print out a heap of photos of my scraproom to pop in a mini album. It's been a while since I've created a mini and I feel the need at the moment! Can't wait to get started on it. Of course, these goodies, available here now, will be used in said mini album.

 
 
 

I'm hoping to turn my scraproom mini album into a tutorial of sorts for the blog-o (that's if I can come up with some cool techniques)! Be sure to keep coming back or better yet, become a follower of my blog by clicking on the button in the sidebar - that way you'll know either through Blogger or Google Reader when I've updated!

Thanks for looking and I'll be back soon!

 

{Mini Banners}

Want to win some of my new Greatest View goodies? Leave a comment on this post on Ucreate to go in the draw!

My Etsy shop is all stocked up . . . one of my favourite products is the mini banner! Take a look at the variety of banners I've created:

 
To kick start your creativity, I've been looking for fun ideas using mini bunting! Here's some inspiration:

 

Photo from here

How cool is this cake?? Not that I can do the whole fondant thing but I can picture mini bunting strung across any sort of cake! Can't wait to try this!

 

Photo from here.

Mini bunting could be used throughout your home too - draped over frames, boards, shelves etc.

 
Photo from here.

Although this bunting is stitched onto the cushion, I think this will make an adorable background or feature on a scrapbook layout or card! I just love the way it swirls around.

Some other ideas for you:

• My mini banners are small (obviously) but there would still be room if you wanted to add letters or other embellishments to each flag.
• There's also a little room in between each flag if you wanted to pop a button, gem or tie ribbon/twine.
• If you're stringing the banner across your layout or card, try cutting a tiny notch in the sides of the cardstock where the twine will sit so it stays in place.

I'd love to hear any ideas you have using my mini bunting!

 

{Coming Soon . . . }

I'm still working on lots of new goodies for my Etsy shop Greatest View. As I mostly scrap by colour, that's my first stop when creating my embellishments. It should come as no surprise to those who know me that my favourite colours at the moment are pink and aqua. So there are some items coming in just those colours!

 

I've also been inspired by the fun, bright, retro-type colour combination of red, yellow and blue (my friend Donna's fave colours at the moment).

 

These photos make me truly happy. I hope to update the shop over the next couple of days!

I'd love to hear what your favourite colour combinations are!

 

{Blast From The Past}

On the weekend, one of the classes I taught at Blossie's was called See You 'Round! I claimed to be bringing circle shaped photos back! Yeah!

Someone in the class admitted to me that they were a bit skeptical how I was going to pull it off - I mean cut my photos into circular shapes and still have my layout looking cool and NOT like the layouts from years ago when you were hard pressed to find an un-cropped photo.

That was the challenge (and the fun) of the class! Because, after all, we have some cool new tools to help us crop photos quickly, easily and NEATLY and cropping some photos into circles can be useful to draw attention to the subject of the photo or cut out a bit of unneccessary background (such as lots of grass).

Here is one of my layouts from the class (I always have several to share in a class and have them printed on a nice handout to take home too):

 

Not too bad at all if I don't say so myself! By the end of the class I had everyone convinced that circle photos are ok.

But, I did have a look through my old albums (from 1999) to see what I used to do with shapes back then. Shapes such as martini glasses.

 

Lovely. Or how about a doggy paw print or an oval?

 

I especially love the wonky, uneven edges. Thank goodness for sanding and distressing is all I have to say about that!

Enjoy your weekend!

 

{So Long Bloglines}

I was quite sad when I logged into my Bloglines account last week only to read that they are shutting down permanently in early October! What the? I've become so reliant on Bloglines over the last couple of years to keep track of 100+ blogs that I like to follow. So long Bloglines, you've been great.

Hello Google Reader! I was thinking of making the switch to Google Reader anyway as I have a couple of other Google accounts and I have heard good things about it. So luckily I had flagged this post from a while back and quick as a flash I had all my blog feeds transferred!

I've been reading my blogs through Google Reader for the last few days and it's all good! Crisis averted phew!

Aaanyway . . . the purpose of this post is:

• If you are using Bloglines, you had better make the switch ASAP before you lose all your blog addy's.

• If you don't read your blogs through a reader, you should do it! It's easy to set up - all you need is a Google account - email me if you want more help!

The advantages of doing this means that instead of clicking on each blog you like to see if they've updated, you just log into your reader account and it automatically tells you which blogs have a new entry!

By the way, I've added a Google Friends box in my right column. If you 'like' my blog, please click on it and be my follower! I'm lonely!

I'll leave you with a sneak peek of what's coming up in my next Etsy shop update.

{Makes Me Happy}

Here are four things that are making me happy today:

1. Thank you tags for my Etsy shop. I like to include a little thank you with each order and I've run out of printed sticker ones.

2. Non-slip drawer liner in my favourite shade of watermelon pink! I just had to purchase this as it's my colour LOL! (From Spotlight if you're wondering).

3. Finished layouts for my classes at Blossie's on Saturday. Here's a couple of sneak peeks. I'm bringing circle-shaped photos back!

 

 

4. And finally, my favourite episode of kid's show Yo Gabba Gabba was on ABC Kids this morning and it cracks me up! Sad that I have a favourite episode but you have to check this out - it features Jack Black and is hilarious!

Go to You-Tube here and watch! I tried to put the video on my blog here but it wasn't working properly :)

 

{Lots Of Links}

Unfortunately I've got no new scrapping to share today -I'm busy getting ready for classes this weekend. Instead, I've got lots of inspiring links to share!

:: This is a great idea for storage in Ikea Expedit shelves. And cheap too - using boxes and  pretty fabric!

:: Here's a link for printable thread bobbins - so cute!

:: There were recently a couple of very helpful posts on the Studio Calico blog all about handling memorabilia (I'm still perfecting my system). Read them here and here. I will definitely be incorporating these ideas especially the tags tied around the items with journaling on them and adding some items straight to my binder albums.

:: And while on the topic of memorabilia, I love this idea for a mini album containing letters and greeting cards. Oh my goodness I have so many cards that I've kept my whole life!

:: Finally, I love this layout using lots of punched squares! Would make great card backgrounds too.

I'll leave you today with a photo of a big event that happened this past week . . . finally after putting it off for way too long, Amelia is in a big girl bed!

 
See that gorgeous bed linen? That's a whole 'nother blog post as it's so cute and incorporated lots of details that would be great for scrapbooking! Ha ha!

 

{Father's Day Cards + Latest Blog Crush}

Well, it's that time of year when I need to get my 'masculine' craft happening. This weekend I need three Father's Day cards . I've already made birthday cards for the same three men in the past month. I don't do so much non-pink/floral/pretty.

So I have this new blog crush - Maile Belles. She's a super-talented cardmaker/stamper and is inspiring me a lot lately. I just love her clean, simple style. That's where I turned for an idea for Father's Day cards.

I was inspired by this card so I pulled out a 6x6 pad of patterned paper (Cosmo Cricket 'Nutmeg') and I was done in no time!

 
This is one card design that could be used for a multitude of themes!

Make sure you add Maile to your must-reads!

{Ella Publishing Recommendation}

I've been interested in e-books from Ella Publishing since they began. I was finally tempted to make my first purchase when I saw Ella's Essential Guide to Scrapbooking Girls. Seriously, how could I not get this one?

After I popped the e-book in my shopping cart and processed the payment, it was available for me to download straight away. It only took about five minutes and I was already viewing the book on my computer. Nice.

Although I'm quite happy to read it on my screen, I have access to a colour laser printer so I've printed a hard copy which I love.

You can see a sneak peek of the book here. It has some really interesting layout topic ideas that go beyond the typical event photos or milestone journaling. And don't worry if you don't have girls - they're bringing out a boy version soon!

The other positive about e-books is that they're much cheaper than traditional idea books! I'll certainly be keeping my eye on future releases!