AT MY BEST...

'Cheeky Charlie'

8:00 AM

This kid is super cute.... and oh so cheeky. I loved this photo from our overseas holiday and couldn't help but make it one of the first ones I scrapped. It was just a happy snap, while she sat in the pram before a big day.

I have had the peacock feather around for a little while now and it just seemed right to use it on this page. I wanted to bring back the flower layers like my older pages and they worked well.

I just love the background paper on this one too. I have no idea what brand it is or even if I have more of it, but it was perfect... just enough detail not to be a standard card stock. (And I have checked, it is a Kaiser paper from the Salty Toes line, and lucky for me I have another page left)!

This chipboard bee has been in my stash for a while, and Charlie was given a Kiwi Buzzy Bee when we were in New Zealand, so I wanted to incorporate this into the page and an additional memory. It has been sprayed gold with Heidi Swapp gold mist.

The other chipboard piece has also been misted with gold and I wanted to keep it running along the same line as the peacock feather.

I love this layout. It is super busy but I love it. I have incorporated elements of a few older pages that stood out after looking back through older albums, and made me wonder where some of these elements that I used to use all the time went. I think as scrappers, we all do this every now and then.

There is more scrapping coming up, but I am thinking about changing my blog up a little. I am going to start doing a few more reviews, but more travel related. I want to highlight the places we have been to give 'just another internet opinion' but one from someone a few of you know. This is a bit of a new direction for me, but one that I feel the need to head in. I love my travel and with my attention to detail, I pick up on little tips, tricks and things that others may have walked past or payed no attention to. I want to use my powers for good ;-)

There will still be craft related items scattered through out, so keep checking back if that's why you are here.

featured

Review: Fuji SP-1 Instax Share Printer

7:30 AM

For all of my Fuji instax lovers, this post is for you!

I have had mine for about 18 months now and this post was drafted when I first got it. After a really good (and long) trial period, I can now share this review.

I stalking the internet and Australian stores for the brand new SP1 printer to arrive around the time of its release date. After many phone calls to stores such as JB Hifi, Domanye and Harvey Norman, I realised that not only did no one in the industry know what I was talking about, they were not getting them in and were all very dismissive about the idea of helping me get my hands on one. The only helpful company was Myer and although they didn't have stock yet, they were still able to advise on price and that they would be getting them in.

Next step.... Take to internet shopping! I found a store based in Hong Kong selling these to the Australian market that wasn't trying to take you for a ride on the price. I ended up purchasing from www.dwidigitalcameras.com.au. The service and price was fantastic, it was shipped with a reputable company and I had my goods in my hands within a week from ordering. In saying this, I guess we take the risk that if something goes wrong, we don't know how they would go with repairs/returns/warranty.

Fast forward 18 months and everywhere has them!

Now to the printer...

A friend of mine and I had a ball playing with this baby over the last little while and I love it.

Let me fill you in on what this great little printer is all about. This printer is designed to print photos directly from your phone (the app is available for both apple and android) onto the instant film the same as the instax camera. The reason this printer is such a hit is that you can now view a photo, centre a photo, edit a photo (turn to B&W or sepia) and add text to the photo, all before it is printed. This will also give you the chance to reprint the same photo... how handy would this be for a baby shower, a kitchen tea, holiday with friends or a birthday?!

It is a sleek design and is relatively small considering it takes the mini film cartridge the same as the camera. It comes with 2 batteries that power this little beauty, but it will also take a power supply (which you can purchase separately). This printer is not bulky or heavy and will fit into a handbag or overnight bag perfectly. It is about the same size as the instax camera itself. Personally, I took mine on my last overseas holiday and it was the smartest thing I have done!

The batteries are CR2 lithium batteries, which sell for around $12-$15 each. The most reliable place to find them is Bunnings in Australia. I was recently in New Zealand when the batteries ran out, and I was able to get them easily. With use I have been getting around 12 months out of mine, or about 150 prints.

The app is easy to use and really straight forward.... And bonus, it is free. The only down fall is that you may need to keep connecting to it through your wifi settings as it will turn it self off after a short amount of time sitting dormant.

One of the filters on this app is the Fuji intelligence filter. I have not really seen a big difference with it but in this case one photo is a bit darker than the other. An example is below. This may also be the film depending on the age of it and the conditions that it has been stored in.

Both the app and the printer give you the option to 'reprint' the same photo more than once, which is a great way for everyone to share the same memory.

Using this method of printing photos was great for my New Zealand trip (you can see the end result here). I embarked on my first full size project life album from a previous holiday, and my Documenting December albums, and this photo size gives a great variation to the normal. I love the effect of the Polaroid look and we don't always have our instax cameras on us, but we all have a smart phone these days readily available to snap away.

Now there is one negative to this printer.... You will loose the uncentered under/over exposed photos that these cameras are so famous for. Those ones where when taking the photo with the traditional instax camera, we forgot to over compensate for the lens being in a different place to the viewfinder! But I am sure with a little bit of effort, if this is the effect you are going for, this can be replicated! :-)

Price point - retail for around $200 in Australia.

For a really good look at how this baby works, check out Elizabeth Kartchners (Dear Lizzy) video on YouTube below. Please keep in mind that this is American so the film costs are usually more substantial in Australia.

12x12

'Sashimi'

6:30 AM

family holiday

New Zealand Holiday Journal - Midori Travellers Notebook Style

9:30 AM

After putting up the post (which can be found here) while I was on holidays about the mini kit that I took with me, I have been asked by a lot of people to share the end result. The mini kit consisted of the journal, ink pad, stamps, washi strips/rolls, scissors, pen, stamp blog, adhesive, instax film and my SP1 Share Printer.

I loved this project as it was a great way to document the daily activities and the trip, but also to feel like I have achieved a form of scrapbooking without having to add it to the never ending 'to-do' list on my return home.

I have been watching a lot of Amy Tangerines YouTube videos.... Who am I kidding, I think I have watched just about everything I could get my hands on... And I have realised that even the pros make mistakes and have to cover them up. They are just as normal as each of us, so I have been spending a bit of time stamping on cards and planners, so this book wasn't going to be any different. The only challenge with the stamping is that once it is in the book, I can't go and tear out the page if I didn't like it or it didn't work. I think I was so excited about this project that that last thought never even crossed my mind. It was purely a thought process that I would be able to simply cover it over with a piece of washi tape, or move items around to make the page work.

And work it did :-)

This note book is a passport size rather than the full Midori Travellers Notebook size, which worked, but I would like to try this same style project with the larger size to see if I liked it better.... Looks like I need to plan another holiday!

All of the photos have been simply printed from my iPhone or iPad onto the instax film through the SP-1 photo printer (which is super small and portable).

This project was also a great way to incorporate small bits of memorabilia, as you will see throughout the notebook.

Using available items on hand such as the luggage tag for the airline is a great item to incorporate into any travel album.

This album became all about good placement of stamping and washi tape, but worked so well.

Memorabilia items such as serviettes and tour group stickers are perfect elements for a travel book this size.

I have used a straw packet from Wendys to help identify where we were at when that photo was taken. The ticket to the Agrodome was the perfect addition rather than photos and helps identify the date and time of the event.

Using rub-ons were a great addition as they were flat and could be overlayed onto the photos as well as the paper.

Where there are no photos that help tell the story, use business cards such as the above, in a full or partial manner.

Entry tickets and passes are perfect memorabilia to include.

Drawing a page outline can help isolate different days in the journal.

I will give you the tip, instax photos are hard to photograph well for blog posts!!

Spelling mistakes, stamping mishaps and all, this journal/album tells the basic details. When I travel I tend to write pages full of detail and get halfway through the holiday and then don't have the time to keep up. This one was different. But the only thing different is essentially this is a dot point version of each day with a main event photo. This method worked well and I will be trying it again on my next holiday.

If you have any questions on this project or process, please leave them below and I will give you all of the tips and techniques that I can to help you achieve something similar for an event in your life.

12x12

'Life is Amazing' - Words or Whatever January Challenge

1:57 PM

I sat down on the weekend and wanted to scrap. I just needed to do something creative.

It has been sometime since I participated in any challenges, and there was one that happened to pop up in my facebook feed at the time that I found appealing. Words or Whatever does it again, and it helps that I have a good amount of product left over from my DT days that was perfect for this criteria (although a couple of the pieces were set aside for another project but anyway!).

It was a last minute effort to get it on for the closing time, but it worked in terms of inspiration. I got the layout completed in no time, photographed and entered. And it felt good.

The layout is less of my usual style, yet I can still see me in it.... And I love it!

It also kicks off the start of the New Zealand holiday scrapping.

The criteria was circles, arrows, the colours and the quote, which I have used for my title.

The background was fun to make, and super easy. I sprayed a few quirts of dylusions mist onto a plastic lid and used a scrunched up plastic shopping bag to dab it onto the cardstock, using both a yellow and a pink. After this I have used a circle mask, which was layered over the top and misted over to get the additional element of the circles.

I have used paint on the chipboard circles to draw through the yellow component of the background (and the challenge criteria). I love the light wood veneer piece from Words or Whatever which just gives an extra grounding colour, but is still reflective of the warm yellows.

There is minimal paper used in this layout. I admire how other scrappers can mix a background like this and still incorporate layers of pretty papers into it as well.... This is something I just can't manage.

I have also used both painted chipboard and a flair button to cover out the arrows component of the criteria.

It has been a long time since I last used masks and quotes for titles. It felt normal for me to be this messy (until my patience gave out and I just started sticking things down rather than using the heat gun to get things to dry)!

This was a lot of fun and it has renewed my love of a little bit messy and taking part in challenges for fun.

9x9

'Love Six' - 9x9 Shadow Frame

10:30 AM

12x12

'Wish'

11:30 AM

Delights

Scrapbooking Delights - Design Team

2:34 PM

featured

2015 in Review - Hello 2016

7:52 AM

2015 seems to have been that year that flew by. And don't the years seem to be getting quicker and quicker?

I wanted to do a blog post review on 2015. The highs and the lows, and a couple of favourites from the past 12 months.

To start, I achieved nothing in the lead up to Christmas that was on my list, but that's ok. Life simply got in the way, and I was exhausted. When it came to crafting over the Christmas break, I opted for adult colouring in books and catching up on tv shows. I was relaxing, but I feel a little guilty for not getting into my scrap room and even piecing together a single layout.

2015 saw us buy and move into our first house. We have changed wall colours, bought new furniture and made minor improvements to make the house our home and more our style, and it is still a big work in progress. I'm sure most houses are a work in progress for the whole time you are there, so I am prepared for a long haul on this one and there is no rush.

We ventured to Canberra for the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing in World War I. We climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge to celebrate on amazing ladies 80th birthday. I got into baking at the start of the year, and this died off as the year went on.... But due to my 'magic oven' I can now make scones and they are good (if I can say so myself)! I started sewing (just to add another hobby to the list. We saw Les Mis in Sydney and had a lovely night at the theatre. We attended a couple of AFL games in Sydney, and watched our nephews in their first season for our local club. Convoy was another big one for the Illawarra and The Peoples Truck. The fire pit was used on several occasions our the back of our house and we discovered how great our house is for entertaining. Barry the elf returned with some mischief and there were plenty of cuddles with our furbaby. All in all, life was busy but eventful. There were no holidays for us in 2015, so by the end of the year it was shear exhaustion, but we knew that we would be planning for bigger and better in 2016.

My scrapping/crafting died off in 2015, but after creating my to-do list, I have been crossing many things off this list, which has felt very rewarding. Its nice seeing things come together and the memories not lost... and the hard work worth it in the end.

2016 will be a year of making memories, adventures and holidays, planning and decision making. I want to get back into my craft room, get more albums finished from holidays gone by, finish my Documenting December album from 2015 and get the room organised now that I have my new desk in place.

I want to pause life a little more often, say NO when things are getting out of control, and basically put myself first.

I am using a planner this year rather than a standard diary to keep organised, and those of you that know me, know that I cant live without my diary. The up side to the planner is that I feel I can be a little more creative with it, but it has a monthly goals section that I can use to keep myself on track. I am also mindful to keep goals realistic and take small steps to achieve them.

I will post more about holidays and my planner in up coming posts.

I hope you saw in 2016 in a great way and have fond memories from 2015, regardless of how big or small.

Heres to 2016 being a fantastic year!

adventures

Travel Kit - Overseas with Limited Space

7:50 AM

Card File

Card Files - Using Memorabilia

6:30 AM

One of the long lingering items on my to-do list has now been crossed off.... finally. And I love the result!

I have had a bag floating around with both our engagement cards and wedding cards in it, with an idea on what to do with them, but no more ideas beyond that. I finally forced myself to sit down and get it done, and I'm so much happier for it. People send a lot of money on cards for very special occasions like these (plus all of those beautiful hand made cards), and write some wonderful advise and loving words, that I didn't want to throw them away. I wanted them to be on display for all to see.

These card files were the answer. They have simply been made from 2 pieces of thick cardboard/chipboard a little bit bigger than the biggest card we were given. They have been covered in paper on the outside, lined on the inside and bound with some ribbon/lace. Then they were decorated and holes punched to match the smallest card we had. So simple.

Being me, I have put a bit of a memorabilia twist on these, just to make them more personal again.

The gold paper on the cover of this album, and the ribbons holding it all together are from a gift bag that one of our gifts was in. I wanted to use this as a part of the memorabilia from the occasion. The teal ribbon on the cover and the punched teal butterflies are the same ones from our invitations. The navy blue was also a colour from our invitations/party theme.

The Engaged title is a piece of Words of Whatever chipboard and has been inked with Tim Holtz black distress paint, and the date is Thickers.

The inside has been lined with a black and white/cream paper, where I have recorded a couple of notes from the time.

A view of the inside of the file.

A close up of the front cover so that you can see the layers of decoration.

I have used the same technique with the Wedding card album. The black lace was used on all of our wedding invitations, RSVP cards, menus and scatter cards... It was even used on the cake!! There is a funny story to it too, so I wanted to use it as memorabilia from the event.

The Our Wedding title is a piece of Words or Whatever chipboard, that I have cut down to make two words so that it fits. It has been painted black with Tim Holtz distress paint. The hearts are also chipboard from Words or Whatever and have been sprayed gold with Heidi Swapp mist. The date is Thickers.