Well, there is a bit of news from me that I would like to share.
I have, in the last month, ended my marriage, moved and started a new life.

It’s been a tough time, I’m sure you can appreciate, so please understand when I don’t answer emails or requests. It’s pretty busy here, lol!

I have no intentions of closing this site or stopping scrapping. I want the scrapping and photography to continue as they are important to me, but not as important to me as my four beautiful babies. I need to take care of them right now, so if it’s quiet on here, don’t think I have disappeared completely. I love hearing from everyone and that is more important than ever, right now.

So please take care all – for now, please go through the site and take inspiration from the work in the gallery and in the tutorials.
There WILL be more, in future.

Love to all,
Sares xxx

Poor old Queensland has just been hit with a double whammy of flood and cyclone and I feel for my family and friends up there – it’s awful to watch it all unfold on the television and know you can do nothing to help.

I am very proud, though, of my family and friends up in NOrthern Queensland who have weathered such appalling conditions and still manage to fight on with a smile on their faces and a giggle. Well done guys! Aussies are built tough, let me tell you.

Well, onto brighter things.

I have just finished updating the blog for all lesson plans in the next two weeks, for those members of my saturday classes. If you are having trouble getting to see any of the images, please let me know and I’ll email you directly.

This week, my baby girl started school for the first time and I don’t mind telling you that I was a bit of a basket case. I cried non stop for about three days before and afterwards. I would never have expected it of myself! I felt like an idiot – but then again, she is my baby and I almost lost her at birth so it’s a bit of a gut-wrenching experience to be seeing her walk away from me with a backpack almost as big as she is.

I look at her and I think, now what? for the first day, I walked around in circles not knowing what to do with myself. But don’t worry – that was soon fixed by a bit of scrapping! LOL.

I have managed to finish off some articles for the magazine, some class prep, some organisation of my studio, make a Library Bag, a paint shirt and umpteen muffins and even just scrap for the pure pleasure of it! Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I did that?

I am in the process of taking a whole heap of shots but in the meantime I wanted to show you some of the photos I have taken just in the past week – we have been suffering through a heatwave of over 40degrees celsius every day this week so far – so where do you when it’s that hot? The Beach of course!

At the time I took this photo it was at about 8pm and still 38 degrees C. It was good to be in the water, let me tell you!

Hot Aussie Sunset!

I think this picture says it all about the aussie summer. Sand, water, waves, bare feet, bar-b-ques and sizzling heat, lol.

Have fun and happy scrapping everyone!

Sares x

Where did I go? Nowhere special, just buried under a pile of kids and the usual Christmas hijinks. Phew, what a year!

The Photography business took off like a rocket towards the end of last year and I was literally snowed under with jobs – what a great way to be!

I hope everyone out there had a lovely and joyous Christmas season and a fabulous New Year!

Now that the New Year gas started I can also OFFICIALLY unveil a new project of mine – “SARAH’S SPACE”.

Some of you may remember that, last year I was awarded the position of Scrapbooking Memories Master and I began a year’s worth of work for the magazine over here in Australia.

I know that the mag also gets published and sent around the world, so a big HELLO! to all my girls in America (both North and South), Canada, Asia, the UK and South Africa!

Boy am I glad to see some happy, familiar names and faces amongst you all!

“Sarah’s Space” is an article I will be writing for Scrapbooking Memories magazine once a month. It is going to feature in it everything from new products and new techniques to

fascinating new sites, blogs and things from the scrapping digital world. I am so excited to be bringing it to you! Of course, I have had to keep it a secret for MONTHS, which has nearly driven me bonkers, but if you get a chance to pick up the magazine and see the first article, that would make me smile. The first article is in the current issue – Volume 13 Number 2 and it is on page 71. Woot!

Some other projects that have been published this month are:

This is a LO I created about my son who is a bit of a dreamboat. You can almost hear the cogs whirring around in his head and when he shows you what he has been creating, you literally hold your breath. I drew the background in with felt tip pen to picture what I thought was constantly going on inside his kooky little mind. I then hand coloured it using Watercolour pencils. I love this technique – it’s perfect for those of us who freehand doodle while we are chatting on the phone! lol. For those of you who have the current issue of Scrapbooking Memories magazine, this page is being used for the Technique of the Month (page 41) and there are some close up shots and some tips and techniques for creating this page yourselves.

Another fabbo accomplishment I had over the Christmas holidays was to score the cover of the Scrapbooking Memories magazine for their Christmas issue – woot!

Here it is, with my gorgeous eldest son as the subject:

And here it is on the cover:

EXCITING!!

So, what else has everyone been up to? For those of you in the southern hemisphere, scrapping while the kids are on holidays? I hope so!

For those of you interested, here are the images from this month’s “Sarah’s Space” article. The article was all about Dry Embossing and using it in ways on your scrapping pages and projects that brings a little “lift” in dimension as well as gets to use your products in ways that are a little “Outside the square” (I hope!).

Two cards using embossed cardstock from the Cuttlebug, plus some Die Cuts from the Quickutz range.

The LO using the same technique – just taking things a step further. This time, after embossing some white cardstock through the Cuttlebug machine, I hand cut out some pieces and then coloured them with small cubes of ink. After they were placed around the window frame and layered, they were spritzed with some Glimmermist. I LOVE this effect. The sky is the limit in terms of how you place everything. You could use a canvas as a base, for example, and cover the entire thing with embossed and cut out sections of cardstock to make it look like an entire GARDEN of 3D scrumptiousness.

Well, I am going to head off now and have a cuppa before bed – this is enough to keep you going for a little while, I hope!

I will be back soon, of course, with more details of techniques, more Photography tips and even more ways of getting your work to look better and better using some of the newest products around.

Have fun and happy scrapping!

Sares x

I have been “batching it” as a single parent this month and I have to say – there seems to be less hours in the day, for some reason. I mean, seriously – did someone take away an hour or three? That’s the only explanation I have for getting to the end of the day and having no time left to scrap! Or sleep, for that matter, lol.

It’s been a hectic month, as you would imagine, with 4 kids, the dog, the cat, the fish (now sadly deceased) (thank god – one less mouth to feed), the garden, the housework, the school work and the newest batch of snails and hunstman spiders my front garden seems to love to procreate. Eek. Going out the front door feels like running the gammut of the Haunted House at the local circus.

I just sprayed the whole front of the house with “get-rid-of-spiders” type stuff and now I am sorry! Their little bodies are all curled up on my front porch as a testament to my genocide. Eek! It was too much for me, I’m afraid. I went around the back and out the side gate to get the post. I WILL have to go out there at some stage and get rid of them. Or maybe, if I wait long enough, we will have a stiff breeze and it will blow them all across the road. Here’s hoping! lol.

So, scrap wise – there are a few things on the agenda.

Firstly – class this week. We are doing an “All white” project of mine.

It seemed like a good idea, at the time, to have an “all white” page but I didn’t count on the fact that I am a MESS and I attract dirt and other unmentionables to me like a magnet. Keeping the page clean for class has been a nightmare! Anyway, enjoy

Next thing to show you is my start to the Halloween decorations for the year. The kids are right into it this year – and why not? A bit of fun never hurt, I say.

I call this, “The Bellfry”:

I can finally show you this page:

“Into the Wild” was created as one of my last Masters projects for the year using Karen Foster’s Zoo papers and embies. I liked this one. The papers are kinda cutesy but they work with the calico in the background.

This is a LO with a vintage feel to it that I created for one of our Sat classes. I LOVE the combination of brown, cream and gold. The photo is actually digitally manipulated to look like a drawing and then printed onto canvas:

So, now I am off to publish something on both the Upsy Daisy Blog and my Photography blog. I have been a busy gal this month, with weddings and family shoots non stop most weekends. It’s a stressful but wonderful time to share with people. If you get the time, pop over to my Photography Blog and take a peek.

That’s all from me for now – thanks for stopping by!

Sares x

First, it’s about time I should write this post.

Second, it’s about time I realised it was only two more weeks of school left until the holidays and work something out to do with the kidlets. Maccas for lunch each day is not an option, lol.

Third, it’s about time I thanks the team at SCRAPBOOKING MEMORIES magazine for a wonderful year of friendship and support while I travelled the road of a Master. To Kristy, Cassie, Sherry, Sharryn, Jane, Emily, and whoever else had to help me stumble through it – thanks girls!! You have been wonderful to work with and I look forward to many happy months working together in the future

Fourth, it’s about time I posted up some LO’s here! Seriously, I have been that busy with the kids, sicknesses and photography that I haven’t had two miutes to sit down and do this – but here they are!

I’ve been working on our snow holiday album – some pages are very minimal (like the one above), while others have a bit more pizazz.

…and my fave of this week’s efforts:

I LOVE the teal (my fave colour) with a splash of red to make it pop, if I say so myself, lol.

I also have had a few bits and pieces published this week, which I can finally share with you.

The first thing is a set of cards done using a new Stampit product for the Cardmaking, Stamping and Papercraft magazine:

Both of those cards used the stamp on metal shim in some way. I thoroughly enjoyed doing cards for a change and I will be doing a few more of those for the mag in the future – so keep your eyes peeled, lol.

 The other one to show you from this month is a Product Challenge for Scrapbooking Memories magazine using the new Bo Bunny range of papers:

and some detail…

Here’s a tip – I had a heap of those acetate Ghost letters by Heidi Swapp left over from previous projects. I had enough to make the title but rather than just whack them on the page, I used them as stencils and traced around them with a white gel pen. Gel pens can write over most surfaces – even felt it seems!

Speaking of birthdays, my little man James turned 7 last week. He also managed to pull another tooth out of his head to celebrate the occasion. If we are not careful, there won’t be many left to keep his food in!

Happy Birthday, gorgeous. You bring a smile to my face every day xxx.

That’s all from me folks – I won’t bore you with much more, lol.

Y’all have a good week now!

Sares x

“Ryan! Please don’t lick the car. Your tongue will stick to it and then I will have to drive to the ski fields with you attached to the roof racks.”

“Hannah, you cannot take your snuggie blanket on the toboggan. No.”

“James! Don’t go near the creek! Don’t do it! I mean it! Don’t go anywhere near the creek or your foot will go in……OK, now that your foot has gone in, it’s cold isn’t it? Yeah, well, I told you so!”

“Luke, if I get one more surly look from, you, so help me I will chain you to the chairlift and leave you there to do permanent loops for the entire day.”

SIGH!

Honestly, though, we had a great holiday. I was down there by myself with the 4 kids and my brother, Greg, joined us to help out and corral the kids. He was fantastic value – but I reckon he isn’t going to be anywhere near kids for a while! LOL.

Here are some pics of the week for you to have a sticky beek at – look at all that snow!

Now that I am back in the land of warm days and sun I have got to finish off at least 5 projects that are on the boil for various design teams or magazine issues. Wish me luck! lol. I hope everyone out there had a great week and I’ll catch up with you again shortly – with lots of yummo new ideas for you to use with the new Upsy Daisy range of papers and with other fab products that have found their way onto my desk from CHA and beyond. Keep your eyes peeled!

Love to all,

Sares x

You may be wondering where I have been for a month. Answer: under a doona. I have had the flu lurgy three times this year and this time it developed into something more sinister. Never mind, I am on the mend now and I hope to be back at full speed very shortly!

The problem with leaving it so long between posts is that I hardly know where to start, there is so much to tell you all.

Well, first of all, there is this bit of news. With the advent of CHA next week, UPSY DAISY Designs have released their two newest ranges of papers – AVALANCHE and HOME SWEET HOME:

Aren’t they divine?

I love the misty, cool blues and silvers on the Avalanche range and the Home Sweet Home range has the most gorgeous colour tones, so warm and delicious. Can’t you just see those papers used as part of a Recipe Book?

There was also a bit of unexpected UDD news. After a few years of being a wonderful DT co-ordinator, Lacintha has stepped down so that she can move on to her own scrapping business – good luck Laci!

Now we have a new DT co-ordinator, Kim Sonksen, who has already freshened up the Blog and we have all been told of a NEW DT CALL - so get the word out amongst yourselves. The applicants can be from anywhere around the world and I have to say, I LOVE being part of the UDD team. Everyone is lovely, friendly and so supportive of one another. So why don’t you apply? To read more about the UDD Design Team and get some inspiration from our designs, visit the Upsy Daisy Designs Blog.

So, what else can I share with you?

Oh that’s right!  THIS!

My gf, Deb, came over last week and we had a lovely play with a big canvas, some organza strips and Impasto. We made a big mess but BOY was it fun! Look at what she did!

The canvas is actually about 2.5 feet long by 1 foot wide. So the new owner will now be hanging it above her bed in her room – lucky thing!

What else can I show you? Oh, I few things:

“Spiritual Home” using  Anna Griffin Die Cut cardstock and papers, white lace treated with two shaed of Glimmermist, DCWV papers and K & Co Blossomwood Die cuts.

A couple of A4′s I did when I was feeling a tad sick – not up to my usual standard of throwing everything at the page, but I was happy with them .

I was also lucky enough to be asked to be a Guest Dt member for Twiddleybitz during June. I had a ball! Here are some of the projects I created using their wonderful product.

“JOY” Christmas Wreath:

and my fave for the month, “NAUGHTY MISS CHARLOTTE”….

“Naughty Miss Charlotte was created using several pieces of the latest range from Twiddleybitz . To check out more of their great product, you can visit their site HERE or pop on over to their Ning site Twiddleybitz on Ning and join in the Gallery and Forum!

That’s all from me for now – I hope everyone has a fantastic week and that the sun is shining, wherever you are in the world!

Love to all,

Sares x

We have just started our Winter school holidays (a much needed break, let me tell you) and already I have the kids knocking down my door for some crafty things to do to keep them occupied.

I was looking through my bag of tricks and I thought I’d compile a list of things you can do with your kids these holidays with your scrapping and/or crafting equipment…..

Idea #1:

Make some Fuzzy Felt animal shapes to cut out and use on the front ofyour child’s tee shirts, kindy bag, pillowcases or pencilcase.

Idea #2:

If ou are anything like me and you accumulate a bazillion paper scraps, bring them out for the kids and make some cute little birdies to use on the front of birthday cards, on a custom made canvas to hang in your child’s room, or even make one using fabric scraps and sew it to the front of a tee shirt.

Idea #3:

Use some left over sculpey, fimo,or even bread dough to make some cute little figures for your child to paint.

Idea #4:

Create a little “Time Capsule” for your little ones using left over boxes that contained your scrap supplies. Get them to collect little items to include in their time capsule, hide away and open later!

All  of these tips and idea can be found in my side menu with detailed instructions and pictures to follow. I hope the school holidays aren’t too painful for everyone and have fun!

Sares x

I flew up to Brissy last Friday, in time to pick up the eCraft and head straight over to the Expo site and set up the Addicted To Craft stand plus help on some others. I also set up my Tutors wall as well as had a peek at the Master’s Gallery where my other work was hanging.

WELL. I have to tell you, I was impressed. Actually that sounds like I am impressed with myself, der. No, I was impressed with the Brissy show being so well run, well organised and well set out. I was impressed with the calibre of scrappers they had for teaching and showing things, as well as impressed with the range of product as well as the prices on things. Woot! I didn’t spend a fortune but I was really happy with what I did get in the few minutes I had to dash around the stands and look at things. High on my shopping list (as always) were the Pink Paislee Artisan albums, some new stamps and some new inks…and yay! I got them all.

It was soon time to start teaching classes and I have to tell you, I wasn’t nervous before I started but I was sure nervous by the second day! Gosh, I am a clutz. It’s a good thing I can laugh at myself, let me tell you. I entertained my first class by tripping over a cord, tearing my shirt right up the centre and sitting down in a cloud of talcum powder because I had been too generous in applying it in my jeans that morning. And yes, I did ask everyone to guess what colour my undies were and yes, I WAS wearing some thankyou Angella!

That first night was a great chance to catch up with my girls Deb and Sherie who were also up there to have fun and attend classes. We all fell into a restuarant called “Ahmet’s” (Turkish Bellydancing a standard part of the evening) where we were joined by another 18 or so scrappin industry buddies and some AWESOME cocktails. I had this drink made with passionfruit and vanilla and drank three of them before I realised they were getting me tipsy from the ground up – my god! I tried to stand at the end of the night and my knees wouldn’t work. I laughed so hard and so long that night, it was great. And the food! I could have moved in to that place permanently.

Sorry about the shocking photos – I only had my phone on me and it’s not exactly known for it’s brilliant capabilities. Or maybe it was the cocktails. Either way, I can’t be blamed for the one of me and my girls, coz I’m in it!

So, back to the Show. I have to say, I was thrilled with the response from people doing my classes and the general “vibe” of the public. Everyone was very calm, no “shovey shovey my turn” at the stands, everyone was pleasant, happy and polite and BEST OF ALL they liked my jokes and tolerated by poor attempts at humour, the poor suffering mites!

Another bonus of this show was the chance to catch up with quite a few of the members of the Addicted To Craft Design Team. We all worked on the stand together, all had great laughs together, all worked as a team well together for classes and we all had a great time letting down our proverbial hairs at dinner on the Sunday night.

I have to thank Kelly Lusted, my fellow Master, for helping me out in my classes each morning, as well as Sonia Thomason, Tatum Woodroffe, Angela Peardon, Renee Dowling and Susan Longman for also being fantastic company. It was a delight to finally meet you girls!

Luisa Gibson (aka “Big Cheese”), Mark Butler, Susan Longman, Kellie Lusted.

Sonia Thomason, Angela Peardon.

Tatum Woodroffe and Renee Dowling.

So, as I get to the end of this post and start feeling guilty about not tackling the “Mount Washmore” pile in the laundry, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the whole Brisbane experience and I would do it all again in a heartbeat. I am exhausted and hallucinating about sleeping for a whole 24 hours but man! it was worth it, lol.

Here’s a couple more piccies – me with the lovely Scrapapple girls Louise and Stacey is the one on the left. The one on the right is me with Deb Godley who was in my class along with her lovely sister, mum and girlfriend.

Thanks to everyone for reading this epic – I’m to try and assemble something to eat for dinner. I promise, when I am feeling a bit more “with it” I will attempt to link all those names up there to their blogs or sites. But it’s beyond my fuzzy brain at the moment, lol. Till next time, peeps!

Take care,

Sares x

I am heading up to Brisvegas at the end of next week in order to attend the Brisbane Scrapbook and Papercraft Convention. I have always missed out on going to this show – every year I used to hear all the great stories coming back from the girls who attended and I just had to sit there and grit my teeth! lol. Not this year!

This year I am heading up to the Show to represent Addicted To Craft and teach what I hope to be some fabbo lessons using the newest range of Rouge de Garance papers and embellishments – can we say WOOHOOOOO!?!

Be there or be square peeps!

Another exciting thing I have been invited to do this month is be a Guest Designer for Twiddleybitz – yay!

I have long been a fan of TBZ and their new chippy products are amazing. Wait until you see some of the designs!

I have uploaded the first of my designs for this month onto the TBZ Ning site – click HERE to head on over and take a look at everyone’s wonderful work.

This is my first projct for the month: “LIVE,DREAM, LOVE”

Back soon to upload some more!

Love to all,

Sares xx