Monday, January 28, 2013

Feeling Sketchy No. 44

Back again with this weeks sketch over at Feeling Sketchy.

Yep and its the last week of the month so that means a scrapbook sketch.  Here is this weeks sketch for you.

 
 
And here is my take on it.  I have used the gorgeous Simple Stories papers.  Look at those two dear little boys!  Where oh where has the time gone?  They no longer play like that.  Its alot harder now :(  Typical brothers I spose.
 
 
 
 
Don't forget this is the last week so that means your last chance to win that scrappy goodness up for grabs from Scrap Therapy!  Pop over and have a look what the other fab DT girls have done too!
 
Enjoy your day!
 
Hugs


Sunday, January 27, 2013

Sad news

Hey everyone!  Thanks for stopping by.  My little blog has been not so active lately.  Life seems to fly by so quick and change so quickly. I don't usually "open up" on my blog.  I figure that people pop by to see my art work and not listen to my life in detail but today I just feel I need to "spill my guts" so to speak.

We have had a couple of extremely hard weeks.  My dear father in law passed away last week.  Even tho he was quite elderly nothing really prepares you for it.  I always seem to think your parents will be here for ever, never really think to far in the future and it kind of happened like a bolt out of the blue!  It was very sudden and but peaceful for him.  My poor husband has had so many arrangements to make so life has just wizzed by and to be honest I have completely forgotten what day of the week it even is.  So needless to say the children havent really had the best of holidays. 

Just to make me a total emotional wreck, my best friend in the whole wide world (you know, the one that has seen you at your worst but loves you anyway) well she and her family are moving over to England to live for the next 3 years.  Her husband is taking up a new job in missionary work for a company called OM (Operation Mobilisation). So I really feel like my heart has been split in two.  Such an emotionally charged week and I know that it will take a little while for my heart to heal again. 

But I'm am blessed - there are far more people in the world worse off than me.  That has been bought home to me with a huge thud this week.  I'm sure that local people that stop by my blog heard about poor baby Nate.  For those that don't here is a quick run down.  Nate was your average beautiful little 8 month old boy, the love of his parents life.  He was sleeping peacefully in his crib.  In the early hours of Friday morning a car has come ploughing through their fence and has crashed into little Nate's bedroom killing him.  The driver was reportedly drunk.  My heat aches for this precious family.  How they are going to carry on now, I will never know.  And not just this family but the family of the driver involved.  She was a 35 year old woman.  I dont know if she has children but I would of thought at the age of 35 there is a high chance that she does.  This has now totally destroyed her life and her family too.  No winners at all out of the whole situation.  We have a very strong community base here and they are all rallying around this family to support them now.  Kinda puts a lot of things into perspective doesnt it?

I do believe that everything happens for a reason, be it good or bad.  I do have faith and yes my faith falters from time to time but God shows me His greatness and His graciousness in little ways that I don't always see.

Just before we lost our dad last week, I was working on this layout.  I hardly EVER scrap pics of me.  Its ALWAYS the kids, but I really wanted to scrap these pics of my baptism.  Why now did I feel the need to scrap them?  They have been sitting around for years waiting for me to scrap them.  I was baptised nearly 15 years ago.  The urge to scrap them was so strong.  I recon it was God's way of preparing me for what was about to come.  His way of reminding me that through Him all things are possible.  Yeah I know that alot of people would say "what a crock" but that is my truth and I am holding fast to it.

Anyway here is the layout that I completed.




Sorry it was such a long post. Thanks for popping by if your still here!  Will be back tomorrow with a new sketch for Feeling Sketchy.

Hugs

Monday, January 21, 2013

Feeling Sketchy No 43

Hey everyone.  Happy Monday! If there is such a thing!

Well new week means new sketch over at Feeling Sketchy.  Heres the sketch.

 
Nice and simple hey.  And here's my card
 


Hand stitched again!  Whats with that?  Really must try my sewing machine and I'm still trying madly to work those copic markers :)  Make sure you pop over to the blog and see what all the other DT ladies have done too.  We had some amazing cards last week.  And remember the more times you enter this month the more chances you have of wining some scrappy goodness from Scrap Therapy.

Keep smiling  x


Monday, January 14, 2013

Feeling Sketchy No. 42

Hey everyone!

Well its a new week and that means there is a new sketch up over on the Feeling Sketchy Challenge blog.

Here is this weeks sketch

 
 
And heres my take on it.
 
 


Yep more handstitching!  And also some kraft paper.  I have really been enjoying working with that at the moment.

Would love to see your take on it.  Pop over and check out the blog.

Hugs


Sunday, January 13, 2013

Cardabilities Challenge

Hello!

Just sharing a card today that I have made for the Cardabilities challenge.

Here is the sketch

 
and here is my card
 
 
 
 
I have handstitched the papers and stamped the background with a script stamp.  It's a little hard to see on the pic but I cut some hearts out of chipboard on my cuttlebug, painted them and then used a little of the Tim Holtz rock candy crackle paint.  If you click on the actual picture, you will get a better look.  Then I rubbed a little ink into the cracks.  It gave it a bit of a "shabby" look.  Finished off with a new pin from My2Angels Scrapbooking .
 
Thanks for stopping by.  I will be back tomorrow with a new sketch for Feeling Sketchy.
 
Enjoy what's left of the weekend :)
 
Hugs


Saturday, January 12, 2013

Lets Get Sketchy

Hey all!

Yay!  It's the weekend!  Not that it makes much difference here at the moment because everyone in our household is on summer holidays but still, the weekends always seem a bit nicer.

This week I have been lurking around the internet for more challenges to enter into.  I am really enjoying this because not only does it stretch me out of my comfort zone but I get to check out alot of other amazing blogs from others that have entered too!

So - I came across this sketch at Lets Get Sketchy and I just had to give it a go.

This is the sketch.  Pretty huh?


 
 
This is is my take on the sketch.  I have used the new Kaisercraft Pickled Pear papers.  These papers are just so pretty.  Love the soft green and black together.
 

I'm really happy with how this turned out.  Usually my layouts tend to look like a flower shop with so many blooms on them but I restrained myself this time and just went with a couple.

Enjoy your weekend wherever you are or whatever you are doing!

Hugs x
 

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Stuck?! Sketches Challenge

Hello and thanks for stopping by!

I'm really starting to enjoy school holidays.  I have had a lovely time being able to scrap to my little hearts content and I have also had time to look around the net and source some challenges.

I came across this one on Facebook called Stuck?! Sketches.  I have been checking out this little site quite often.  They have some amazing designers, I love all their work. So I thought I would have a go.

This is the sketch we had to go go from:

 

 

And this is my take on it.
 


The colours are alot softer than I would normally use, but I'm happy with how it turned out.  Plus I got to use a few of my embellies that I have been hording.  The pretty little beaded trim has been in my stash for ages and also the net blossom just waiting for the right page.  Happy days!

Thnaks for popping by and the lovely comments that some leave.  It's really appreciated.

Enjoy your day!

Hugs x




Monday, January 7, 2013

Feeling Sketchy No. 41

Hey friends

This week sees the start of me joining the awesome team at Feeling Sketchy.  Happy days!! Very excited!

Its a new month so that means a new sponsor. Our Sponsor for this month is Scrap Therapy



 
and they have generously donated a $25 store voucher for the lucky winner this month! Every entry you submit during the January challenges will get you an entry into our random draw to win this awesome prize.
So here is the sketch
 
 
and here is what I came up with
 
 
 
 
I seem to have gone nuts with the stitching at the moment.  Goodness knows why!  It is all hand stitched so it takes forever but I really like the look it gives.
 
Would love to see what you come up with!  Pop over to the blog too and have a look at what the other DT ladies have done with the sketch.
 
Enjoy your day whatever it is that you are doing.  We are in for another couple of days of the 40 degree mark.  YUK!  Oh how I'm ready for winter now.
 
Hugs


Wednesday, January 2, 2013

My Creative Sketches Challenge

Hey all!

As I have mentioned in previous posts, it has been stinking hot here in Perth so I really haven't been doing alot of anything!  I spent one day camped on the lounge in the air conditioning on my Ipad just blog hopping and checking out the internet.  I found so many cool blogs that I hadn't seen before! 

I also came across this cool little challenge blog called My Creative Sketches.  So I thought I would jump in and have a go.  This was the sketch:



 
 
And this is my interpretation of the sketch:
 
 
 
I'm still also playing around with my Copic markers.  Struggling to get the to work for me.  I did colour this image and came up with this card too
 

 
Thanks for stopping by and for all the lovely comments that you leave too.  It really is appreciated!
 
Hugs x

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year!

Hey everyone! Thanks for stopping by.  I just wanted to wish you all a very Happy New Year!

I'm really looking forward to this year.  Now that I am not working I am going to just try and relax a little and see where life takes me.

It has been so very hot here in Perth the last week.  We have actually broken records for the longest heatwave in 70 years!  Average temperature has been 39 degrees.  So I haven't really done much but scrap in the air conditioning!

I have been playing around with the new release from Kaisercraft Forget-Me-Not.  Very pretty range.  This is one of the layouts I have done.  This is my friend Connie and me.  We have only known each other for a year but she has fast become a very close friend with the added bonus of just living around the corner!  Here we are celebrating her birthday earlier in the year.


This next layout I can't take all the credit for.  I did lift some of it from my fav designer over at Kaisercraft, Joanne Bain.  I love her work!!  I have changed some of it.  I changed the flowers and added some stamping and also the hexagons in the bottom corner.  I think this photo of my mum and her dad look perfect on there!


This week also see the start of me joining the Feeling Sketchy challenge blog.  So looking forward to that!

Seeya