More Challenges for August

Well had a couple of quiet weeks at the end of August but then I found my mojo to do some challenges ......... I then ended up getting quite a few finished. Always find the ones with a page sketch easier as at the moment my brain doesn't seem to want to compute when it comes to designing something - LoL. Think it's still getting over winter.

Well I managed to do the WhiteWith1 challenge - always enjoy that one as you have to really think about what you are doing only using white with the challenge colour. This month it was yellow & about flowers so I used photos of some of my orchids. These are a little native orchid which are growing in an old stump in our front yard.

I didn't manage any Scrap Therapy challenges this month but finished a class from last month - yeah - am a bit slow getting around to doing things.... but better late than never I guess. The title was "so U think U can" ................. I chose a great photo of my nephew in his big brother's scout uniform - thought he looked so cute.
I didn't think I was going to manage the second Black Magic challenge this month but managed to finish it on Sunday afternoon.

The other Mystical Scrapbook Challenges which I ended up completing for the month was a second 'use your stash' one - incorporating birds. The photos didn't necessarily have to be birds but I had pictures of these gorgeous statues taken in the Maroochydore Botanical Bush Gardens and had been looking for the perfect layout for them.

And the following one - seems I must have had a time of taking photos of statues.........LoL. These fish are along the foreshore at Labrador on the Gold Coast. I couldn't resist getting a picture of them. Always like taking photos of different things.

The following are the challenges which I did for Blumars. The theme this month for the card & LO was just using the colours blue & yellow. I still think the pelican LO looks a bit bare but I didn't want to clutter it & take away from the photos. Not sure what if any journalling to do as the previous page is on the same theme and I have written on that.

I really didn't know what to do with the card as I'm not a card maker. Would rather do LOs and OTPs however this is my effort. I wanted a happy card as we were just about to go into spring.

There was no photographic challenge this month as it carried over from last month but the QTC (quick technique challenge was easy - just a double layout.)

And the OTP was to decorate or make a card box which was a good idea for me as I am starting to have a few cards building up from different challenges. Now I have somewhere to store them. No excuses now for having them buried underneath all my scapping stuff.

Liam's 21st Birthday

Liam my nephew was 21 on the 13th - boy where has the time gone. It seems like no time that he was a baby and now here he is a lovely young man. It was just a small get together - mainly family and some close friends plus some of his band members.

Liam, Jen & Den .....
The Girls .....The BBQ Cooks ..... Liam & Phil .....My family .....We were very lucky with the weather as the fortnight or so before had been down to single figures at night but the night of the party was quite mild. We also had a gas commercial heating going in the pergola area which kept things a bit warmer. The party was held at our home but my sister did all the catering & took over the kitchen which I certainly didn't complain about. Then her partner & our son did the BBQ so even hubby had the night off.

You hear so much negative publicity about the young people of today .......... it's a shame they only publish about the minority causing trouble. I looked around at all the young adults last Saturday night & was proud of each and every one of them & what they have achieved & are still achieving. It's a shame that more isn't published about the youth that are out there doing things in the community.

I WON !!!!!

I have just found out that I won one of the challenges from Mystical's Mid Month Marathon last weekend. It was the layout of Amber (our chocolate Kelpie) which was inspired from the cover of a children's book. I was so thrilled to have won something. Thanks so much.

Mystical Mid Month Marathon

Last weekend the Weekend Workshop for Blumars was cancelled at the last minute so I joined the Mystical MMM (Mid Month Mammoth) Challenges. There were 5 LO challenges as well as an OTP but I wasn't able to complete them all. Had fun though.

The first was to only use white card stock - no ribbons, brads, buttons but we could use stamps, ink or paint etc. I had been wanting to scrap these photos of completed jig-saws for a while so used to opportunity to play around with this challenge.

The OTP was simple - just to cover a note book but I used a folding flower which when opened allows embellishment or a sentiment.

Another was to do a Christmas LO. I had photos of our Christmas tree from last Christmas so this was a perfect time to scrap them.

The final layout I completed was gleaning inspiration from the cover of a children's book. It didn't matter what you LO was of as long as you found inspiration from the picture whether using the colours, layout, dog theme etc. I used the circle shapes found on the bottom of the book cover as well as having photos of our son's dog Amber. She is such a funny dog....loves having her belly scratched & often lies upside down on her bed.

Mystical Scrapbook Challenges

I decided to try some more challenges from Mystical Scrapbooks this month. My motivation had been some what lacking but these challenges looked interesting & were a bit different from what I had done previously.

The first one is not actually from Mystical but a challenge from a Blog which is associated with them - Black Magic Sketches. This is their first month of challenges. We were given a colour palette from which to choose the colours but it had to be predominantly black with a distressed technique and we had a page sketch to follow.



The card challenge was from a sketch so I chose to do a thankyou card & used some tea-bag folding instead of a flower.


This challenge was to use three colours, blue, green & brown. There wasn't a page sketch to follow. I have been wanted to get our holiday to Byron Bay scrapped so this was a good opportunity to do another page. These photos were taken near Cabarita Beach at Norries Head.

The final challenge was call "use your stash" ......... it's to have you use up some of the bits which are laying around. We had to use at least two arrows. It was good as I had been wondering what to do with the ones I had.

This weekend is their Mid Month Marathon ........... depending on how I am I might try a couple of their challenges as the Monthly Challenge at Blumars has been postponed till next weekend.

Fun with Photo Impact

I managed to do a tutorial & a couple of challenges this week with Photo Impact. Having the laptop to use now is good as I can sit outside in the sun or stand up at the kitchen bench - whatever I find the easiest.

The tutorial challenge was doing an overlay of one photo on top of another - really easy once you know how. It was fun & I played around with a few but liked the one of mum & dad with the sold sign which I overlaid on a photo of their house.
Each week they have a challenge called Weekly Image Fun where we are given a photo which has to be changed in some way.

With the canoe photo I extracted most of the photo as an object & then changed it to a water colour print. Then placed it on a new background.

On the flower pot one I masked the photo, then put in onto another background with a gradient fill & used the same mask, this I did a second time with a different fill, merged them as a single object & place the photo on a new gradient background but not masked this time. A shadow was applied & one of the corners turned up.

Mum & Dad's House Move

Time is getting close for mum and dad's shift. They have just about packed up everything & we have boxes & boxes stored here at the moment. The removalists will be there on Monday to pick up the furniture and then settlement of the house is 15 August.

It has been a big effort for all concerned........Hubby has spent most weekends there the past month and has taken numerous loads to the tip (about 3 tonne now) plus all the trips to home. I was able to have a few days there again last week & give mum a hand with sorting & packing. Now they are just down to the little bits 'n pieces left at the end. Moving after 47 years in the same home has been difficult for mum and dad with so many memories there. They raised 4 children there and we had 21st, engagement parties & anniversaries there.