A double page

This page was created for the Orange Paperie July Challenge, set by John Weston.  Here you are guys, I hope you like it!

The photos are from our visit to Vatican City, St Peter's Basilica was awe inspiring!

CyberCrop Scrapping

Last weekend I finally found some scrapbooking mojo and took part in the Home and Scrapped 

August Cybercrop.

 Thanks to the design team of Heather, Joy, Amy and Bec for the inspiration.  Here are the layouts I completed.  More holiday snaps for the album.

The challenges included making some cards or tags from scraps, a good and useful way to clear the desk!

 Bec's challenge - a page about me

 Joy's challenge - rolled paper

Heather's Step By Step challenge

Amy's challenge - spicy colours

Thanks for dropping by!

May Cybercrop and more

I have had a lovely scrappy week.

These are the layouts I have done for the May cybercrop at Home and Scrapped.  The design team put together some great challenges.

 Heathers's Step By Step challenge

 Karen's challenge

Melissa's challenge - I based this one on ScrappySketches #13-18

 For these three challenges I used photos from our trip to Europe in 2011 - still trying to get that album completed.

This page is for CSI #70

The design is partly scraplifted from Heather's SBS

And this one of sweet Indie is just for fun

Based on ScrappySketches 13-13

Thanks for looking!

Holiday Scrapping

Going through our holiday photos this week has made me feel a little nostalgic.  I did this layout of one of the old mills we saw near my cousin's home in Norfolk.  Such a pretty county, full of sweet country lanes and traditional flintstone buildings.  

The design is based on Heather Waldron's Scrappy Sketches #6.

Thanks for looking!

This week

We have had very hot weather, smoky from the bushfires in the area, but now there is rain, rain, rain.  Nice to feel cooler and the cattle are enjoying the fresh green shoots popping up all over the paddocks.

It has been perfect weather for scrap booking and I have started off  my 2013 album with page designs by Heather at ScrappySketches.

I had fun painting and misting the background cardstock and have used some rather ancient CM papers from stash and some newer My Minds Eye, love those summery colours.  The family went camping on the riverbank close to home, such fun for the kids and relaxing for the parents.  The new camper was cosy and comfy, a little home away from home.

School holidays are coming to a close next week for NSW...........hope you have all had fun!

Happy New Year!

I spent a wonderful Christmas holiday with family, see here.  There was lots of fun and food, presents to share, relaxing, watching the storms come and go and generally unwinding at the end of a busy year.  Magic!

2013 is a new challenge for us all and who knows what surprises it will bring?

For my family and friends I am wishing every blessing, and for myself, I am wishing for less stress and finding a better balance in my life.

WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY, HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!

A scrappy weekend

The Friday night Step-By-Step challenge at Home & Scrapped is always fun.

Here is my take on this weeks challenge, using a pic of the gorgeous grand daughters, taken while on a weekend visit to Newcastle.

This was a Build-A-Page challenge done at H&S recently.

the photo is of American cyber-friend, Suzanne and me at lunch, when we met up in London last year.

A special memory!

And this one is for Heather's ScrappySketches blog.  

MWS 26-12

A wild, wet, windy weekend is the perfect excuse to stay inside and scrap!

Thanks for looking!

Show Us Your Stuff, July challenge

This fab paper typewriter is the inspiration for the July 'Show Us Your Stuff' challenge.

So here is my take on the challenge.  The lovely old half-timbered building is in the city of York, England, where we holidayed this time last year.

From the inspiration, I took the newsprint, colour scheme and typewriter keys

  My hand made elements are the lace and book paper flowers and the gold-foiled tag with hand made butterfly.  And the painted backgound!

I found the old typewriter alphas in my stash from yonks ago, so it was good to find them a home at last!

This is my first try at a SUYS challenge, I love what they do over there at

.http://showusyourstuff.blogspot.com.au/

Holidays are over!

This is the new member of our family, Cleo the kitten, a gift from my lovely girls from Inverell.  She was a foundling, a tiny little thing with no family and has been nurtured with special care for all of her eight weeks of age, now to be spoilt by moi.

 This is my take on the April challenge by Jewels of Home and Scrapped, to use ribbons from the stash and a photo taken today.  The journalling is my personal 'bucket list' for 2012.  A page for the Book Of Me.

It has been a marvellous and busy Easter with family visits and grandchildren staying over for the holidays.  Lots of chocolate, of course, lots of hugs and some special times shared.

Tonight, there is a Step By Step challenge over at Home and Scrapped and a fantastic cybercrop over the weekend.  Pop on over and join in the fun of the challenges.

See you there!

A scrap retreat in the Mountains

It was a very l-o-n-g drive to Leura in the beautiful Blue Mountains but well worth the effort for the first ever Red Earth Scrapping retreat.  It was wonderful to meet up with the lovely ladies in real life, having known them only from forum posts.  Helen, and her lovely Mum, Christine put a big effort into making the weekend run smoothly and providing us with nice things to eat, and a big thanks to Natalie for her yummy puddings!

The Old Leura Dairy is completely built from recycled and re-purposed materials, inside and out.  The walls are straw bales, rendered inside, to an interesting and tactile organic finish.  Outside is clad in corrugated iron and the windows are varied and pretty with lead lights.  Huge, weathered timbers form the beams and supports.  The place is ideal for weekends away, Leura is a pretty mountain village, a nice place to spend a relaxing time enjoying good food and shopping.

 I got a few layouts done and several cards, my large flowers are courtesy of Helen's tutorial!

This was my lovely comfy room for the weekend.

And one more layout!

More pages

The sad lion is a beautiful memorial to the Swiss soldiers who bravely went to France to try to protect King Louis and Marie Antionette during the time of the French Revolution. Unknowingly they marched to certain death. This dying lion was carved from the rock face above a still reflection pool in a pretty garden in Lucerne. It was a magic and memorable moment to be there during our European tour.
This layout is for the Daring You To Scrap challenge. Go check out their blog!



This pic was taken of the youngest grandchild at his pre-school. Little angel/devil that he is!

It has been raining here so a good excuse for more scrapping! Do I really need an excuse? Nup! I still have plenty of those paper scraps to use up.

By the way, remember while we were overseas six months ago, the cattle got into the garden and drank the fishpond? Well, it seemed that they drank all the fish as well. So........we have done nothing with the pond, it has become green and slimy and totally overgrown and neglected. Until yesterday. Dennis decided to clean it out. Guess what? We found a dozen or more goldfish still alive and swimming in the murk!! Poor little things.........made us feel really bad. Anyway, the rescue mission was on, and they are now happily swimming in a lovely clean pool, with fresh rainwater falling in, and plenty of nice fish food to eat. End of story.

Hello again

Well hello there
I am back from a fab six weeks holiday touring Europe and England, showing my Aussie hubby where I grew up and went to school.
It was great catching up with old school friends, and family members, re-visiting old haunts and discovering wonderful new places.
The weather was perfect except for two rainy days in Paris, we had a heatwave in Italy and some 30deg days in England.
I have already printed out over 700 photos so will be having a scrap-a-thon when the mojo returns...............meanwhile I am Spring cleaning the house and especially the scrap room, I reckon it was well overdue for a face lift.

On the downside, Mum is in hospital which is a major worry. She is almost 97 and has always been independent and healthy until now. Fingers crossed she will recover and be back to her old self again soon.

Hope all is well where you are!

Au Revoir!

Dear Blog Readers

Ciao, cheers and toodle-oo! I am off for a few weeks of rest and relaxation, visiting friends and family overseas and exploring new horizons.

Right now, I am busy packing and doing myriad last minute errands and counting down the hours to take-off.

I will be back with a whole new lot of stories to tell via scrapbooking. Bye for now!