A missed deadline

I've had this layout finished, and photographed since last week, and I completely forgot to upload it!

It was for the June Guest DT spot over at Sketchy Thursdays (which it is obviously too late for).

My Everything:

'

Details:

That, cute little birdie bottle cap is from the lovely Mel. I have a few other different animals, and some cute little gnomes from the same set, I just have to remember to hide them from Lily (she now things that all my stuff is, her stuff!) The flower is from D'lish Scraps - I've had it in my stash forever, and was so glad to find that Lily hasn't yet claimed it!

I haven't managed to scrap anything since last week, Ian has been away for work for the past few nights, so my days and nights have been busy with the kids. Lily has taken to sleeping in my bed with me, and even though I keep telling her I'm sending her to her own bed, I secretly like having her with me (the kicks in the back, and stealing all the blankies, I could do without!)

xx

Benjo

When I was pregnant with Benji, he was never given a nickname, he was just called "the baby", and once we found he, was in fact a he, we started calling him Benji.

I will admit, that prior to finding out at my morphology scan that he was a boy, I secretly called him Gypsy a few times...the name we had chosen for him, had he been a girl.

Even when after he was born, he still didn't really have a nickname, until one day I was singing the B.I.N.G.O song to him, and it dawned on me that if I changed the "I" to an "E" and the "G" to a "J", I could still sing in the same tune, and at the same time it resembled Benji's name. 

It's stuck, and now Lily and I can be heard multiple times a day calling him Benjo, instead of Benji.

The layout below, is based on sketch #120 at The Scrappiest. Here's the Sketch:

And Benjo was his Name-o

I changed the sketch a little bit, I rotated it to suit the portrait orientation of my photo, and I decided not to put in the small strip across the right hand side of the photo, but hopefully you can see the original sketch in there (if you squint, and tilt your head to the side LOL).

Details:

A few of my favourite embellies in there - the cute littla bunny button is from Purple Pumpkin, and the birdie pin is from My Little Bit of Whimsy.

I also used my dymo, but chose to run a piece of Kraft (I first saw this years and years ago, but it was a visit to Kerryn's blog that reminded me), cut to size through it instead of using tape - matched my layout perfectly, I will definitely be doing it again.

xx

Recent Scrapping and a Sale

The following layout of Lily is based on Creative Scrappers sketch #156 - at 4, Lily is such a bright little girl and constantly amazes us with the things that she knows, and the questions that she asks.

Wise beyond your years:

Details:

Used some beautiful embellishments from my favourite places - the doily is from Purple Pumpkin, and the bottlecap and pink bakers twine are from Lil' Red Rocket.

Now, a 'just because' layout. I have always envied the scrappers who use paint on their layouts, but was always a little scared to give it a go (why? I have no idea...maybe because it's messy and I'm a clean lines type-of-girl). Anyway armed with an old health insurance card, and some paint, I had a play.

B:

I really love the simpleness of this layout - lets the focus be on the beautiful photo of my little man (not that he's this little anymore, this photo was taken when he was 15 days old, and he's now a happy and healthy 7 month old).

Details:

Another awesome "Lovely Lollipop" by Charm's Creations - I love these, and sadly I'm starting to run out...luckily there's a sale next week, so I'll be able to stock up again :)

Check out all the details, about the sale here - Charm's Creations.

xx

Sketchy Thursdays 5.12

Regular readers of my blog, or people who know/scrap with me are in for a bit of a shock...not only did I do a layout without any sign of my beloved Kraft (LOL) - it's a DOUBLE!!!

I've been hoarding this paper for a little while (which turned out to be more than a bit silly, because I can't buy it anymore, and I would ideally have liked another piece of the star background paper), and I thought that it went pretty well with the photos of Benji in his high chair having solids for the very first time.

The Sketch:

I stayed pretty true to the sketch, I just changed the direction of the scallops (mine point downwards), and I moved the position of the embellishments a little.

First Solids:

Click on the image for a larger view

I'm not sure why the smaller photos on the layout have come out looking a little darker than the rest?

Details:

xx

Another Toot!!

I was pleasantly surprised when I checked the Sketchy Thursday's blog to see if the new sketch was up (I can never work it out with the time difference) - to see that the winner had been announced from last weeks challenge. 

Whilst I wasn't a winner, my layout was picked as one of the favourites !!!

It was for this layout:

Not sure why blogger is linking the words above the layout - but I can't seem to get rid of it!?!

xx

A Toot

Remember this layout:

From here:

(click the picture to be taken to the blog post about the challenge)

Well, it won!!!

To say I'm happy, is an understatement - I loved this layout as soon as I did it - not just because of the design, but also the meaning behind it, and for it to be chosen as the sketch of the month is amazing!!

Thank you to the lovely ladies over at Crafty Sketches.

xx

Scrap the Boys

This was my first time ever, playing over at Scrap the Boys - and I have to say it was a lot of fun. The challenge this month was to scrap a collection that a boy in your life has.

Given that Benji is only 7 months old, he doesn't collect too many things (apart from dummies LOL), but something that Ian has started collecting for him are ANGRY BIRDS plush toys. It's not really that much of a collection at the moment, as he only has two, but Ian has grand plans of buying him more!

Angry Birds:

Details:

The journalling reads: 

 In Kuala Lumpur, Daddy searched high & low, for these ANGRY BIRDS for you.

Although, I have a sneaky suspicion that - he's only pretending they're for you!!

That cute little ANGRY BIRD tag (which looks heaps more crinkled and bent in the photo, than it does in real life) is actually one of the swing tags that came on the toy. I made sure that I kept it, once it had been ripped off (I think that's how it got a little ruined - amongst the 55kg worth of crap that came back from KL with us...It's not as bad as it sounds, we went over with 30kg [for the 4 of us]).

The blue lollipop is another one of Charm's, and the air mail bakers twine is from my other favourite place - LRR.

xx

Sketchy Thursday 5.5

Another layout using MME - Stella and Rose (the Hattie collection), love, love, love this paper collection!

I used my monthly photo collage for April, and loved the clean, striking design, as it didn't overpower all the little photos.

The Sketch:

April:

I made the sketch a landscape 8.5x11 layout, and added an extra row of circles.

Details:

As always, I stuck the actual calendar page from the month of April on the back of the layout:

I love those Sugar Picks by Jillibean Soup - match the papers so well.

xx

Bird is the Word

Nothing like leaving things until the last minute!!

I saw the challenge over at Bird is the Word, was to use the word FOREVER on your layout, there was also a sketch that you could use as inspiration too, if you wished.

Since I normally run screaming from any sketch that has a circle on it (or I just ignore the circle component), I decided that for an extra challenge (to myself), I would use the sketch.  But, you know what - I love the end result, it's one of my favourite layouts ever! No more shying away from circles on sketches from now on!!

Here's the sketch:

Forever Mine:

The grey under the Kraft, isn't a piece of grey cardstock, it's just the colour of the bricks at the front of my house - suits the layout though!

Details:

I used one each of my Lil' Red Rocket, retro boy and girl buttons, I think that they suited the layout perfectly, although I'm a little sad that I only have one boy and two girls left, hopefully Shell will have some more at the next sale.

xx

May 123 Challenge

This is the first time I have ever played along at 123 challenge - and I have no idea why it's taken me so long! It was so much fun, and I got to try things that I never would have otherwise!

For May, the criteria was:

Colour: RED

Word: FUN

Technique: HAND STITCHED TITLE

Waiting for You:

The Kraft background, didn't photograph very well - but out of the 7 photos I took, this was the closest to the actual colour. It was only the Kraft I had trouble with, all the other colours came out fine.

Detail Shots:

The journalling reads: The FUN part of setting up your nursery, was finished by early September - and then the waiting started.

Luckily, we knew that you would be born October 7th, so we didn't have to wait too long for you.

That cute little boy button is from, one of my favourite places ever...LIL RED ROCKET. I actually had this layout sitting on my desk, and was waiting for my parcel from the last sale to arrive, as I knew that this button would be perfect.

In true Tamara style the 'you' in the title is a little wonky (the 'Y' isnt quite on the edge of the paper, but I think that if I put a teeny tiny extra stitch in there, it might make it worse?), but I've come to expect that from myself!

In case anyone's wondering - Benji's nursery no longer looks like that - it's still pretty clean, but as was to be expected... a lot more blue, has crept it's way in there!

xx