What happened?

One minute we were staring down the mouth of Christmas and the next I am planning the Easter break and getting the kids ready for soccer practice!

I am sorry but the year just goes far too quickly for my liking and I would like it to STOP, thankyou very much. Just for a bit. Just for enough time so that I can get my washing done and make sure I don’t miss the kids graduating from Uni. Good grief!

I don’t know about anyone else, but the “Back to School” thing over here was slightly traumatic for all involved. I do know one thing. I will NEVER, as long as I live, take all four kids school supplies shopping ever again. Remind me again next year when I make that promise. And I should have remembered it from last year too. Talk about drama! By the time I had sorted out my 9 -going-on-19-year-old and his desperate need for “surfer” labels, I was in the middle of serious negotiations with the other three about bags, pencil cases, who wanted Transformer or Star Wars labels, the right type of pencil sharpener and NO JAMES YOU CANNOT HAVE A DONUT.

Next year I am asking for a chunck of “Hardship Pay” for doing that again. I’m sure I walked out of the shop with an extra one of everything but by that stage I didn’t care a jot about anything. All I wanted was to get home and perferably drown them all out by self-medicating with some AC/DC and a Pina Colada.

Having got through all that, though, the start to the school year has been relatively smooth and pain free. I didn’t even get a kiss goodbye on the first day! “Bye my darlings, have a good d-…..” and they were gone. Sniff. I was upset for about 2 seconds. Then I was making a fool of myself by dancing a Highland Jig, “Riverdance” style, all the way out to the carpark. Dee diddly diddly diddly dee! Woohoo!

OK, so onto other things – enough faffing from me!

I’ve been playing a bit with the newest bits and pieces of product from Twiddleybitz. I was never all that keen on using Die Cut shapes – it seemed to me to be just “plonked” on the page and stuck out like a sore thumb. But I like these. They integrate with your own themes really nicely – like this one, for instance:

In “Halloween Disco” I used the Lamp Post as a “mask” at first on the background, then spritzed the actual chippy piece as well.

These decorative corner pieces just finish off a LO nicely – and very easily too, I might add. Once they were stuck on I just filled in the gaps with some metallic coloured glitters – too easy!

Ah, the chandeliers. I love them but I am never sure what tp do with them. This was the quickest LO ever, though. I punched out some circles and lay them on the background card, then spritzed with Pink Taffy Glimmermist. Here’s a detailed view for you:

These bare trees from TBZ are awesome – I love them! Again, I used them as a mask for the background and then painted the top of them with Tim Holtz white crackle paint. Love the “cool” feeling to this page.

Last but not least is a page I completed of the gorgeous Renee Dowling. We had a photo swap on the Addicted to Craft DT and I got the lovely Renee. Here is my take on the sketch challenge we completed using the new Harmonie Chic and Glamour Range.

Well, that’s got to be it from me until next time. I have a photoshoot this evening and the rest of the week is the usual school hectic program. I already need a holiday! LOL.

Love to all and please take care,

Sares xx

Some Studio Time…

Before I get into the meat of this post, let me start by saying a big THANKYOU to all those people who emailed or messaged me or left a comment here to congratulate me on winning one of the SM Masters spots. It’s been a fantastic week!

We are still in the school holidays here in Australia and the kids have been a pleasure (most of the time lol). Everyone has behaved themselves. Except for the time Hannah threw all of James’ undies down the stairs. And except for the boys fighting over who has shot down more zombies ono the DS. Oh and don’t forget sticking bubblegum to the underside of the coffeetable. And harrassinig the dog. And the cat. And………..oh, MOVING ON.

I have had a chance to move everything into my studio now and I have been able to take some pics of what it all looks like completed. Here is a collage of them all: (just click on the image for a larger version)

Yes, it’s girly. Yes, it’s moderately organised. Well, I cleaned it up for the photo – you should have seen it afterwards! lol. I LOVE IT. It’s mine. I can shut the door. I can escape. I can play music. I can even run away through the front doors! I am in a happy place.

I have also managed to do some real scrapping this week, too. I know! It’s been a while since I showed you some. I have been flat out, trust me. Here they are:

Using some left over Halloween papers for some grungy looking boy themed LO’s.

One of the Stamp sets I received as part of the Masters prize pack was Fancy Pants “On a Whimsy”. This is just my first attempt at having a little play with them.

Of course, there is probably a flood of Christmas pages around the forums and galleries at the moment. Here is one more LOL.

“Cherry Bomb” is a LO created t the end of a tutorial. If you’d like to create this page, or at least learn about the technique I used, click HERE.

Playing with my new camera and some light setting scored me this shot of Hannah in silhouette. I knew I had to scrap it immediately!

This LO was created using large sheets of rubber stanps from Darkroom Door. If you’d like to create this LO, or learn about the techniques I used to create it, click HERE.

For another lesson using my Tips and Techniques – Using GLIMMERMIST to Create Custom coloured flowers, click HERE.

The last thing to show you is this – the new Floating Frame from Twiddleybitz. I went down to Sydney to have a go at creating one with Sherry Mendoza and her class. Love it! Very easy and quick to put together – I did this in 1.5 hours.

I’m going to leave it there for now while I go sort out some more stuff in the studio. Apologies to those on dial up for this picture-rich Blog post but it had to be done! lol.

Right – I am back to creating and making a mess – that studio looks far too clean and it needs to be DIRTY.

Love to all and please keep safe on the roads these holidays!

Sares x

 

And the Masters News is Out….

 

…..that I have been honoured with the position of

SCRAPBOOKING MEMORIES MASTER  for 2009 – 2010.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Can you tell I am a little bit excited?

I apologise to anyone I have had to be “cagy” with for the past 5 weeks – it has practically KILLED me not to be able to say anything I can tell you! I am so glad to finally be able to make this public and share it with the world.

For those of you who are not Aussie residents, Scrapbooking Memories  (alternate link HERE) is the name of one of the major scrapping magazines here is Australia. Each year, they offer a competition to choose who they consider to be the 10 best scrappers in Australia. You win a yearly contract with the magazine, plus a whole heap of prizes ($3000) worth, and the chance to work alongside some of the best scrapping artists and manufacturers in the industry.

I am THRILLED to be given the position of Master this year along side these wonferful, talented ladies:

Bernie Dodd

Christine Rumley

Ebony Van Der Starre

Georgia Keays

Hetty Hall

Karen Watson

Kellie Lusted

Kim Arnold

Leanne Stamatellos

Some of these ladies I have known and admired for years and others I have yet to meet. I will be a fantastic experience to meet some new scrapping buddies and share our obsession, LOL.

So there you go – my news is finally out and I am going to breathe a HUGE sigh of relief and sit down with a big grin on my face and a champagne to celebrate! Those of you who subscribe to the magazine will have seen it by now – those of you who don’t may have to wait a few more days yet.

When I know it’s OK to do so, I’ll post some pics up here of all my Master’s entry work (particularly for those of you overseas who wouldn’t get to see it normally).

And finally (gosh this feels like a bad Awards speech – bugger off Kanye!) I have to say a big thankyou to everyone who has either popped in to say “hi” here or on Facebook – I really do appreciate every comment you leave and take the time to write – you guys rock!

Lots of love to you all (squeal!),

Sares x

A Little Special Something For You…

….I have not always been a huge promoter of online stores etc on my Blog, but you may have noticed that on the right hand side of my Blog there is a list of certain places I like to shop.

I have listed those places there myself – without any pushing from those shops (or kickbacks) – because they continually offer good products, great service and communication and fast postage.

I recently received an email from the owner of Blue Bazaar thanking me for that link and – HERE COMES THE GOOD PART – offering you, the reader, a special deal to go along with it.

Read below:

*BLUE BAZAAR www.bluebazaar.com.au is offering readers of my blog a 10% discount on your next order over $40.00.  To receive the discount include the following code in the comments field of your order: JANBLOGSG.  Note discounts do not apply to items already discounted, on sale or subscriptions.  The code is valid for this month until the 31^st January 2010.

So Happy New Year everyone!

Take advantage of this great offer while you can – WHY NOT??

Love to all,

Sares x

Warning: Spoiler Alert!

….well, that got your attention, didn’t it? 

So, how was everyone’s Christmas? We had a ball. My mum hired a house on the beach and we all congregated there for a few days. I got a bit tipsy, a bit silly and a bit happy. Here are some pics from those days:

Ryan post Christmas dinner with his paper hat on – and the start of a bushbashing trek with my brother that practically led to Narnia.

Hannah dunking Ariel in the nearest fountain and Luke in the loft looking far too handsome for a 9 year old.

One tuckered out bubba and two other little ones drying off after a dip

Xmas lights with a twist and a close up of the garden.

There is something about being near the sea that is very romantic – and I always seem to take these sorts of shots.

There are a ton of other photos but I won’t bore you with the lots of them. Suffice to say that I had a lovely time and I would be back there in an instant. Spending time with my brothers, mother and kidlets always makes me smile from the inside out .

So, to all of you who are in between the Christmas and New Year parties, go an swallow a Berocca and I’ll meet you on the other side LOL. We are having a neighbourhood New Years’ party tomorrow night, so I’ll be thinking of you all at midnight when I have my champagne.

I hope everyone has a wonderful start to 2010. I wish for all of you a year filled with happy memories to help wipe out any unhappy moments; a year of love, laughter, money, relaxation and, of course, scrapping.

Love to all,

Sares x