Cluster Layout & Triptych Card Classes

I did a couple more classes with Blumars - both of which were very interesting & totally different. I loved the Triptych cards - so simple to make but very effective - will definitely be making more of these in future. The cluster layout was good too. A great way to fit 4 or 5 photos on a page. I don't usually use paint on my layouts so this made the page a bit different too.

I've decided to have a go at a new challenge - there is a scrapping blog called ' White With 1' which is going to have monthly challenges where you use white & one other colour. I find that if I have a deadline to get something done I can usually motivate myself to do so. Thought I'd give it a go anyway for a couple of months & see how I go. This month's colour was red so this is my layout:-

This Week's Ramblings

Well quite a social week for me but fortunately I only had to actually go out the once which was with the lovely ladies that I walk with & we went to lunch at a local bar & grill. Tuesday I had a visit from a girlfriend whom I hadn't caught up with for a little while other than on the internet & phone. She was able to stay for morning tea & lunch so we had a lovely catch up. Yesterday was lunch with the girls & then today another good friend from church popped in for a cuppa on her way to work so that was wonderful. With all these friends keeping an eye on me it's a bit difficult to get into mischief - lol. It had been good to have a 'muddle' week at home to do a little bit of craft & catch up a bit in the garden.


Beautiful day yesterday & today - a nice change from the rain. So I'm making the most of the sunshine - can't cope with showery dreary days. The rain was needed though as we now have nearly 40% average in the dams. If I could order it though I would like rain & storms at night & sunny days.

Mum's visit

Had a lovely time with mum. She was able to come out for a weekend workshop which Blumars was holding & then left for home this morning. It's nice having someone to do craft with & bounce ideas off.

I managed to complete all challenges & then also made a lovely little album from the class they held too.

The weather was perfect for wanting to be inside - showery & gusty. Not gardening weather at all.

This is the cover of the mini album that we made. It opens up to reveal 4 pages for photos - a really wonderful idea.

The theme of the layout was a poem about love - but no photos were to be used.

Life seems to be like a yo-yo

Well at the moment I really seem to be up & down with flare-ups. Things had just settled down & then last week was full of appointments & I was out nearly every day. By Friday night was back to feeling like I was getting the flu again - joints ache, skin sore, feeling cold & shivery. I really gets frustrating to not be able to do even a little bit extra without feeling like this.

Doodling on pages

The quick challenge for the month was to use doodles on your page instead of a embellishments. I'm not really a doodler as such - even when chatting on the phone I tend to draw something rather than just squiggle. So these mightn't be true doodles but I had never previously thought of drawing on my layouts either.

February Scrappin' Challenges

This month the challenge was to make a Valentine's Day card. First I cut out the template (the holes were done with a hole-punch. Then it was painted & varnished with glitter varnish.






Then I added a layer of vellum over the top and finished it off with ribbon & heart shaped brads.




The challenge for the layout was to scrap a LO of someone special. The picture I used is of my husband - taken at Dunk Island just on sunset. It had been an absolutely beautiful day & at sunset it was so peaceful & pretty.

Past Weeks Jottings

Just a quiet week at home - only had to go out for my regular massage & pilates. Nice to see a couple of sunny days for things to dry out. I did say that I wouldn't complain about the rain ...... but ...... have now had enough for the time being although there is more predicted for next week. At least the dams are starting to fill up. I was able to settle the flare-up down a bit by taking things easy but it really does frustrate me that as soon as I do a bit more than usual I feel like I've been run over by a truck again. Still getting out to walk most mornings & am trying to do my yoga/pilates at home at least every second day but motivation for that is very lacking some days.
Have a busy week coming up with appointments the first 3 days so will have to really watch how much I do.

Playing around with Photo Impact

I have just finished a tutorial which showed how to make a collage of photos & add different effects. I just couldn't resist doing one of my sister's foal & then also used some of my daylily photos for another.



These two pictures are done as triptych (three panel) & polyptych (four panel) wall hangings. Was pleased with the effect they produced - particularly the second one which shows the waves off-shore on the Queensland Sunshine Coast when the low was off the coast in January.

Sunny Saturday & Sunday Snippets

Well it was a beautiful sunny day yesterday & I decided to do a bit of gardening. The side garden hadn't been touched for a while so I weeded a bit, picked up some leaves & tidied around the edges. Wasn't really out there for that long but must have over-done things again. Didn't go for my walk this morning - in fact it was about 8:00am before I even got out of bed which is unheard of for me. So today will be a very quiet day for me - didn't go to church with hubby just vegged out at home.

This afternoon I had another on-line class with Blumars. This time it was decorating an old CD spindle to store double sided tape rolls in. I was pleased that it was an easy one as I don't think my brain would have computed with anything difficult. I could only find a 10 CD case so mine is shallow but if great for one of my thicker rolls of tape.

Have Bounced Back

Feeling a bit better today - things starting to settle down - back not going into spasm as much & I can spend a bit of time on my crafts. Might manage some gardening this weekend.

Had heaps of fun with Blumars this past month. There were quite a few classes - not only the one already mentioned which both mum & I did but a few others. Plus with all the other challenges & weekend workshop it was quite a busy month.

Three of our classes were OTP's (off the page)
This was a lovely little purse -

And this is a fold out album. Both very easy to make but fantastic ideas.




Another fabulous class was the making of a cd case calender. Loved the way this turned out also - so easy to do but very effective.

We also had a class using bubble wrap - wondered at the time what on earth we would be doing with it but was thrilled with how the lay-out turned out. Also ended up covering and decorating an old shoe box so I now have somewhere to store my flowers.

This the the card I did for the weekend workshop challenge. We had to make an invitation. I won with my card which really made my week.