Scrapbooking Memories Blog Hop: When Rage Gets the Better of Me…

Welcome to Scrapbooking Memories Blog Hop! I’m honoured to be part of this fun filled event and thank you for taking the time to visit my little space here on the internet. If you found your way here, you must have come been directed here from Sarah’s lovely website or from Scrapbooking Memories’ inspiring new blog. If you somehow stumbled here as your first port of call, you might want to start from the beginning of this hop to have a better guess of what this blog hop’s theme is:

Jasmine Shea

Leanne Allinson

Sharmaine Kruijver

Beth Jarrett

Kim Jeffress

Geli Duncan

I haven’t been posting much of late, given that life has been happening and I have been real tired. Will save the details for another post some time soon. Nonetheless, when Cassie suggested the possibility of being involved in this blog hop, I said, “why not?” Hence, I created the following, a half page layout, titled “Wrath”.

Here, I decided that I would let the emotion and journalling do the talking. No pics, given how ugly I must look in a photo being angry. Instead, I tried to incorporate techniques which I thought might convey the feelings I felt when dwelling on the topic of anger.

I first crushed up a piece of white cardstock before misting it with mustard ink and smearing red over the creases. Then I went stamp happy – using my 7 gypsies self inking stamp and had a field day creating those squares you see on the layout=). This compulsive, crazy, over the top scrapping style did not stop there. See the letter “W”? I decided that I would fill it with dots. So out came my Big Bite and I started punching holes in my creation. Talk about therapy – creating to let off steam and completing a layout at the same time. Can’t get any better yah? I decided to burn the bottom of my layout, to symbolise how rage consumes and burns me.

Finally, my personal journalling that runs right across the page, to help me remember that really, at the end of the day, wrath and anger gets me no where… well, except perhaps some fun with my supplies. It sure appears that I might need to create another half page layout, dedicated to serenity, just to balance all the anger found in this one. =)

I hope you take the time and try creating a little something to capture those feelings inside you that are often buried beneath all the pretties that we often scrap. I think I came out happier than I was before, after acknowledging that it’s ok that I am so not perfect=) Thanks once again for popping by and I hope you continue to have fun as you keep guessing what the theme of our blog hop is! Do leave a comment telling me what your guess is or perhaps even just sharing how you get all those frustrations out of you! This blog hop will continue tomorrow, starting in the morning with Melinda Thompson’s amazing site. Enjoy hopping and guessing!

Our Daily Walk

Almost every week day, after Sage wakes up from her afternoon nap, we go gallivanting around town. It’s always fun to spot changes – in nature, in the buildings or even in the people we meet. These walks about this charming little town of Queanbeyan brings us much delight (and exercise) and I’m happy that the little one has as much fun as I do on these walks. What better way to remember these sights, than to create a layout? And in this case, an interactive layout.

On this layout, I included a map of the town and tonnes of pictures that were taken during one of our recent walks. See those bottle caps? Those were filled with UTEE and loads of colorful buttons and beads. When pulled, each of these caps revel a photo and details of the photos. Have a look:

Glad that I got to include a pop-up mechanism on a layout. More rainbow creations are on my crafty desk presently and I’m hoping to post them here soon. In the meantime, we’re enjoying our time out in the sun, as this cold winter (it snowed in Canberra the other day!)  is slowly, but surely showing signs of spring. Hurray!

Core Cards Creative Frenzy

I love Core’dinations cardstock!!! I love its versatility, the surprise each sanding reveals and challenging myself to use it in so, so many different ways. Totally excited when I learnt that Core’dinations is looking for design team members, just to create cards! Yay! An opportunity for me to have fun and be on an amazing team! So, here are my creations using these amazing cardstock.

My first card is inspired by Sage’s love for dinosaurs. This little girl is going through a dino phase with each day filled with loads of “roar!!!!” I thought it will be fun to create cards that mimic book covers. So here’s the first of hopefully, many more “book cards” to come.

See those dinosaur footprints stomping the front of my card? Each footprint was an oval tag die which I cut triangles into. Love how embossing the black cardstock and sanding it gave it a texture that works so well with the whole dino idea. The ”stitched” border running around the stamped dinosaur was created using a needle tool to scratch off bits of the black to reveal the orange beneath. The really fun aspect of this card, however, lies in who dwells within. Ready to have a peek? Here goes:

Mr Dinosaur himself! My passion for creating pop-up cards came into play here and it sure was fun trying to “fit” Mr Dinosaur in this bookcard. The texture on the  green cardstock made Mr Dinosaur come alive and some black embossed spots completed him. Sage loves opening this card and squeals each time she does. Lovely=)

Next up, “You Are The Apple of My Eye”. Because Core’dinations cardstocks are textually rich, especially when embossed, I wanted to show how bits of them could be used to create beautiful cards as well. I cut an apple shape and filled it with bits of embossed Core’dinations cardstock. The leaf was sanded and scored to add dimension. See the filmstrip? I sanded a piece of Whitewash cardstock and ran it through my Zutter binding machine to create my very own filmstrip. A yummy card for someone special.

But wait! There’s more! Pop-up magic once again on the inside – more apples! I could not stop at creating one apple, so I made not one, not two, but three apples. I say the more the merrier!

For my final card, I thought I might grow a flower with my sticky fingers:

My Flower Bloom card. This started out as a round card. After the flower was completed, I thought it would be fun to create a card on a stick / stem. Just like a lolly! I like how sanded Whitewash cardstock resemble lace. Each petal was made from an oval diecut tag. Want to re-create this? Here were the steps I took:

Step 1: Cut 6 oval tags from one sheet of cardstock (bottom petals. I used purple here) and another 6 oval tags from a different colored sheet (top petals. I used maroon here). For the base, I used a die to cut a round card.

Step 2: After all tags have been sanded and scored down the middle, cut a slit on the top of each tag.  Do note that the slit for the bottom petals do not need to be as long.

Step 3: Overlap each side of the tag to form a raised petal. The tags that form the bottom petals do not need to ber overlapped as much. As you can see in this photo, after the sides of each tag has been glued together, the bottom petals will be bigger than the top petals.

Step 4. Adhere the petals to the round cardbase.

Step 5: Once all the petals are attached to the cardbase, finish off the center of the flower with a yellow middle. I added texture to this by sticking smaller circles on it.

Step 6. Complete the card with a tag, a stem and a leaf. My stem was formed out of a piece of cardstock which I rolled and wrapped with washi tape to add color.

Tadah! All done! Ready for you to present to a beautiful someone=)

I hope you had as much fun reading this as I had creating these cards. For the people at Core’dinations, thanks for taking the time to consider my submission. Thanks too for creating such a versatile product! Encore!

Settling In

It’s been a month since we took the adventure to attend the Scrapbooking Convention up North. What an experience that was! I’m still getting over the fun I had sharing at the talk, the excitement of finally meeting the other masters and just being able to soak up the creative energy in that place. Thankful that the Beloved so kindly took care of sage while I got to indulge in some scrapping pleasure.

We got home after enjoying the considerably warmer weather to be thrown into loads of activity and settling in – not to mention the cold. I got into a creative frenzy, having to meet a few deadlines and attempting to rid my fingers of the itch from the need to create. Of course in the midst of all these, there was the Beloved trying to get the next chapter of his thesis done, getting Sage to her music and swimming classes and planning a couple of church events. We’re throughly  grateful for the travel opportunity, yet really, being home is a charm too. Pics of what I have been doing to follow soon, while I tend to the little one – poor darling is down with a fever. This winter weather is really making everyone sick. Some soup will cheer her up.

 

Terrific Two!

 

 

Party Time! My dear Sage, you are such a big girl! Where has all the time gone?

Mummy and Daddy love you very much and we continue to thank God each day for blessing us with you – the joy of our life.

We had a simple birthday song and cake at churchthis year. You love those blowers and party hats that Bec so kindly brought to Sunday School. Mummy baked you a rainbow cake we shared that with everyone at church.

Sagey, never ever lose your zest for life. Embrace each day with joy, love God with all your heart and serve everyone in your life.

Love you our dear Baby Bear Bear!

Mummy and Daddy Bear Bear=)

Little People

This love with Little People figures really started when we inherited some toys from a lovely boy during Christmas. Sage love these little figures, not so much the accessories, and rarely is there a day that goes by without her interacting with them. Ok, admitedly, Mummy love them too! I love hunting for them in op shops and oh, the thrill of spotting one!

We usually stand them around a table and pretend that the Little People are dancing. The other night, after Sage had gotten all of them to form a circle, I asked her, “Are they dancing?” To my surprise, she said “praying, Mummy!” My little girl was re-enacting what happened at church, where everyone laid hands and prayed for someone.

My,my, little kids really learn loads from observing us, adults! It blows my mind to witness how much little ones learn each day. Here’s to more fun with Little People and with my Little One!

Cut, Glue, Paste

Whenever Sage sleeps, I am creating – be it for Scrapbooking Memories, for Colortypes Ink (My pop-up card business. Will write more about this soon) or for loved ones. Phew! The going has certainly been fun and I’m totally thankful that the little one sleeps so much better these days. April has been rather full on, with numerous deadlines, my sis visiting and Easter celebrations. I’m glad that most of these have been completed=).

Here is a recent creation that I am really happy with:

I love how hanging out with Sage has opened my eyes to so many different possibilities for creative expression. I love how she sings freely, embraces each day with much gusto, hops right out of bed each morning asking for breakfast, learning to tell me when she “pee!”, creates her own mummy daddy songs and the list continues…. She is certainly my muse.

 

Ohhhh…..You Mean…….

the word is out? Yes! It is!!!! After months of waiting since September 12, I can finally shout out loud and say that “Hey, I’m a Scrapbooking Memories Master for the 2012 Team!!!!!”

 Praise God!!! Long story follows, for my own sake really, to remember how surreal it all felt…

 When we first arrived Down Under in 2009, I wanted to join this competition. Unfortunately, with all my supplies in transit and us settling in, I decided that it was a no go. Then came 2010. Sage arrived and we travelled for the next 7 months. No go once again. I told the Significant Other, I must at least submit once! So with bated breath this year, I decided that this was it. My time to create and enjoy this competition, an item on my wishlist.

After submitting my entry in August, it was a nail bitting one month where I kept wondering and asking the Significant Other about the possibility of winning. He says it best when he reminded me of the fun I had creating them, and how that is all that matters.  So when 10 September came around, the date when I thought the results would be out and I had no call, I reckon that I can look forward to December to admire the creations of all the talented people in Australia.

Two days later, after Sage finally took her afternoon nap and I was getting ready to get some scrapping done, I thought I heard my phone buzz. Opps, I had silenced it without knowing. Worried that the call might wake the baby, something I really did not want happening, I answered the phone in a whisper. There Cassie was, congratulating me on winning. It all happened so suddenly, I could not catch her name, only head “Scrapbooking Memories” and there I was still whispering, saying “really? Thank you…” and that’s it! Must have come across as really weird for Cassie! With that, the long wait started, but it was really happy days at the Post Office, collecting all my prize parcels. It came to a point that the ladies there knew who I was and would automatically pull out my parcels for me=) Hilarious…

30 November came and went. When I could not locate anyone announcing their win on the internet, I was afriad I got the announcement date wrong again! So I waited…Today, trusty Google showed me who the other winners are and guess what, yup, I’m no. 10 to announce. So if anyone sees this, yes, Hi! I’m Sophie and I’m honoured to be called a Scrapbooking Master for 2012. I still cannot believe that I have won and am humbled to be in this group of ten. The other ladies create such beautiful work!!!!! Next year is gonna be so exciting!!! I’m still getting my head around it all! Now to see my layouts in print. Can’t wait!!!

To my fellow Masters, huge congrats!!! I look forward to knowing each and everyone of you better!

When Living Happens…

this blog gets neglected…

Never mind if no one visits, never mind if no posts get posted.

Life has been fun, fulfilling and fantabulous!

I’ve been creating to my heart’s content, enjoying the company of a little one who is not so little any longer (18 months soon!!!!), and just savouring each moment of the day. More details to come over the next few blog posts, but here’s a glimpse into the little one who brings me so, so much joy!

See why Mummy is the one who decides what she wears? If not, Sage will be more than happy leaving the house with her pants on her head, and completely decked out with Mummy’s necklace!

Zut, Zut!

I realised I’ve loads of Zutter projects that I’ve not shared here on the blog. Below are but some of them. Do click on my Flickr link to see more. Better yet, visit Zutter!

Of all my recent Zutter creations, this one has to be my favourite, given that the idea has been brewing in my head for the longest time and it’s finally completed!

Other ideas that came while creating with the ever versatile Zutter products include: 

A card holder, something I needed so that I have a go to box that is clearly tabbed so that I can reach for that special card for that special someone on that special occasion.

A CD holder, idea courtesy of the Significant Other who thought it might be a good place to hold all the CDs in our car. Yes, we have yet to fall into the ipod/iphone family. This also held CDs we thought we would play when I was in labour, but when that day came, it turned out that I could not focus with music on. I got too emotional with the music we had selected. Instead, silence became my best friend=)

My driving plate album. I like this as it holds pictures taken at the different places we visited while I was learning to drive. I like how I could turn these plates into album covers!

A journal for me to chronicle Sage’s first month in this world. As you can see, when this photo was taken, she has not arrived and we did not know her gender then. Hence no name on the cover! Love that cut pilot and plane there!

A visual album of only black and white images to help Baby Sage see better. Apparently, newborn babies can only see these two colors clearly! Here she is in action, practising to be a Zutter Zister! Can’t believe how much she has grown!

With that, I look forward to having more fun with my Zut Zut once we return to Roo Land!