Books I read in 2012

Keeping track of the books I've read over the last year... amazed at how many there actually are.

JANUARY
1. Missing Witness - Craig Parshall

FEBRUARY
2. The Appeal - John Grisham
3. Beguilded - Deanne Gist
4. The Lincoln Lawyer - Michael Connelly

MARCH
5. Hannah's Hope - Karen Kingsbury
6. Courageous - Randy Alcorn
7. Blue heart blessed - Susan Meissner

APRIL
8. One Summer - David Baldacci
9. Finding Jeena - Miralee Ferrell
10. The Concrete Blonde - Michael Connelly

MAY
11. Wisdom Hunter - Randall Arthur
12. Prevailing Love - Loree Lough
13. Triumph - Carolyn Jessop

JUNE
14. Learning - Karen Kingsbury
15. Longing - Karen Kingsbury
16. Loving - Karen Kingsbury
17. While We're far apart - Lynn Austin

JULY
18. The sweetest thing - Elizabeth Musser
19. Doesn't she look natural - Angela Hunt


AUGUST
20. Pearl in the sand - Tessa Afshar
21. The last song - Nicholas Sparks

SEPTEMBER
22. Under the hawthorn tress - Ai Mi

OCTOBER
23. Love on the Line - Deeanne Gist
24. The Homecoming - Dan Walsh
25. The coming Home - Karen Kingsbury
26. Sarai - Jill Eileen Smith
27. Covenant Child - Terri Blackstock

NOVEMBER
28. The other twin - Katherine Stone
29. A Great catch - Lorna Seilstad
30. Hidden Affections - Delia Parr
31. In Every Heartbeat - Kim Vogel Sawyer
32. Harvest of Rubies - Tessa Afshar

DECEMBER
33. Not in the Heart - Chris Fabry
34. Deadly Pursuit - Irene Hannon
35. Theodore Boone: The Abduction - John Grisham
36. Head in the clouds - Karen Witemeyer

Nuts About Sketches - Week 246

Well 2012 is done and dusted..... and I can say that I am truly not sad to see the end of this year. I have had some very good times but also some very low ones too. Thankfully throughout this year I have had my scrapping to keep me sane.

Here is my last layout reveal for this year for Nuts About Sketches.

Though we are in the Christmas season, this layout is about an Easter play that Aaron was in at school.

Here is the sketch that it is based on.

For lots more inspiration, head over to the blog to see what the rest of the team did.

Also, check out the new Design Team call. I love being on this team and can truly say that it is one of the best to design for... give it a go!

Nuts About Sketches - Week 245

Merry Christmas.... can you believe it has come and gone? hehe.... yip starting the count down now to New Year's.  With all the festivities going on we still do scrapping and reveal sketches.... this week's one for Nuts About Sketches is a super double page with lots of photos... and I even added in more!

These pics are all from Aaron's birthday last year... showing him opening his presents.

Here is the sketch for you

Head over to the blog and see what the rest of the team came up with.

Merry Christmas

Here's wishing you and your family an absolutely blessed Christmas... hope you get to spend time with family and friends.  May Christ be especially close to you as you celebrate this season of goodness.

Scrapbook Challenges - Sketch 325

After a few glitches with the Scrapbook Challenges Photobucket account, the sketch reveal has finally been posted....

My layout:

I did this layout using some Bo Bunny paper that I won a few months back.... it really worked well for this page.

Here are the sketches for you

So head over to the forum and see the rest of this week's inspiration.

Also remember that you still have the whole month to finish the "12 days of challenges" that are in the forum too... some great pages to see there too.

Nuts About Sketches - Week 244

We are a week away from Christmas.... and two weeks away from 2013.... and I am MILES away from my 365 layouts in 2012 goal.... guess I will try hit that one again next year.  But I am slowly making inroads into my "to be completed" layouts so am feeling good about that.

Yesterday's reveal on Nuts About Sketches showcases lots of lovely Christmas inspiration.  My layout is of a sunset in January a few years back.

This is the sketch that we got to work with:

 

Now go check out the blog to see the rest of the great layouts this week.

Nuts About Sketches - Week 243

School holidays.... yippee!!!  Aaron is with Granny for this week and I get some much need me time.  And me time involves lots of scrapping and time with friends.  Looking forward to a creative week ahead.  Of course this all started on Friday already when I managed to get some scrapping done... and continued into Saturday with a few more pages getting done.

Two of the pages are for today's reveal at Nuts About Sketches... yes you read that correctly.... two pages!

This page uses South African papers from Scrap Collections... a really lovely boy range.

This page included a tag with journaling behind the one photo

These pages are from the left and right side of this double page sketch

Remember to please check out the blog post to see what the rest of the design team did.

Scrapbook Challenges - Sketch 324

The great thing about Monday's is that's it sketch reveal day... and today's sketch from Scrapbook Challenges is one that has lots of options.

You will notice that I took some liberties with this sketch... used brackets instead of extra squares... and turned things around a little... it shows the versatility of sketches.

Check out the forum to see the variety of layouts by the Sketch Crew.

Don't forget we are also doing the 12 days of Challenges this month.

Nuts About Sketches - Week 242

Can you believe it's December already? ... counting down to school holiday and then Christmas.  Can you believe that in four weeks we will be counting down to the New Year?  But before then we need to do lots of scrapping.  What better way to kick it off than with today's reveal for Nuts About Sketches.

I loved this sketch but took a few liberties with the layout. I used a new kit from Bo Bunny that I won a few months back.

Here is today's sketch

Head over to the blog to see more layouts by the design team.

The Paper Mixing Bowl - December Recipe

Can you believe it's December already.... time to get all festive I guess.  What better way to do that than to scrap about Christmas.  Which is what we are all about at the Paper Mixing Bowl this month.

I followed the sketch quite closely... but then added a few twists!  I made a mini-album of sorts ... a bunch of tags which are inside the large stocking.  Here is a different view so that you can see them.

I then went made with some rub-ons to add in a bit of detail.  Must say that I really like how my page turned out.  Here is the recipe card for you to follow:

So join us at the Paper Mixing Bowl and you could be a guest designer in the future.

Scrapbook Challenges - 12 Days of Challenges

To kick our holiday season into high gear, we'll be bringing you 12 different challenges on the first 12 days of December! With 12 challenges, that means you can have up to 12 entries in the drawing for this month's prize package (to be announced soon!) for each challenge you complete. 

And that's not ALL!! Most of the 12 challenges (if not all of them) will have a prize of their own too!

But wait! There's still MORE!!! If you're feeling ambitious, you can also participate in our 12 Days of Challenges Progressive Challenge, where the challenge for each day is also a step in the Progressive Challenge. If you complete all 12 steps you will be entered to win our grand prize package (also to be announced soon!) 

Spread the news and be sure to check in our Forum on December 1st to get your holidays started off right!

Scrapbook Challenges - Sketch 323

This week's sketch is really a fun one from Scrapbook Challenges

You might just notice that I didn't use the "very large title" but I do like how I combined my title and journalling all in one... hehe.

Please head over to the forum to see lots more lovely layouts from our Sketch Crew.

Scrapbook Challenges - Technique Challenge

For the month of November Scrapbook Challenges has been running Gratitude themed challenges.  I have a challenge in dealing with our abundance of "stuff" ... so head over to the forum, check it out and take part.  As a bonus you will also get another tutorial from me on how I made my "recycle" layout from earlier this month.

Nuts About Sketches - Week 241

Can you believe that it is only one month to Christmas?  Wow this year has flown by.  I had a good(ish) birthday last week.  Aaron's one was a great success too.

Here is my layout for this week's sketch at Nuts About Sketches:

Look at the awesome sketch... great potential for for lots of different layouts.

Check out the blog for a lot more inspiration.

Scrapbook Challenges - Sketch 322

This week's sketch for Scrapbook Challenges went up a day late due to some other technical glitches happening on the site... the blog just up and disappeared!  But there is a whole new development coming in the new year so it's all very exciting.  But of course that doesn't mean that there won't be a reveal... the forum is still running and so here is my layout for this week:

I took some major license with this one and added in the larger circle detail too.  I must still add in all my journaling about the phenomenon that happened but I had such a spaced-out weekend (no pun intended!) that it never got done.

Here is the great sketch for you to work from:

Now head over to the forum and see the great layouts from the Sketch Crew.

It's my birthday!!

A Big Thank You to each and every one who has wished me Happy Birthday today.... you don't know how much it means to me to know that you are all thinking of me today.

and look... I even got a special wish from Google:

I made my "famous" lemon meringue pie for the folks at work... and my bosses all loved it so much they said I could take the rest of the day off.  How nice is that!  BUT, silly old me decided to stay and work as I haven't been at work much in the past week.  At least it is quiet here... something I really need.

So now on to the rest of my day... piano lesson then tea with a good friend and hopefully supper out tonight.

Nuts About Sketches - Week 240

Just a quick post about this week's sketch reveal at Nuts About Sketches.

This layout is about my birthday treat two years ago... we went to watch The Nutcracker ballet at The State Theatre.... a great way to spend a special day.

Here is the sketch for this week.

Remember to check out the blog post for lots more amazing inspiration.

Scrapbook Challenges - Sketch 321

Every week I am always delighted to see the new sketches for Scrapbook Challenges... Chanell makes such lovely sketches that they are really a pleasure to scrap.  This is my layout for today:

Note: the layout actually has a black border all round but it doesn't show too well in the scan.

You can see a lot more inspiration in the forum.

Nuts About Sketches - Week 239

It's mid November.... boy oh boy!  Exams start this week for Aaron and I'm busy at work that I am a bit distracted.  In amongst all this I am planning birthday lunch for me and party for Aaron for next week too... busy busy.

BUT don't forget scrapping too... hehe.  I spent Saturday doing one layout after another... and got quite a few done... but can't show you anymore than today's Nuts About Sketches page.

The sketch for this page is really really fun and adaptable.

Check out the blog to see even more great layouts done by the team.

Scrapbook Challenges - Sketch 320

I loved seeing this latest sketch from Scrapbook Challenges.. it's got multi-photos... just my way of scrapping.

I took some chipboard letters for my title which I inked and then heat embossed with dark brown powder.

Check out the forum to see lots more great inspiration.

Nuts About Sketches - Week 238

The week's are coming round thick and fast... yikes November is here... only two months left of this year.

Today's Nuts About Sketches sketch is cute but was a bit of a challenge to me to get the papers just so..... I push and pulled and swopped and then dithered.... eventually it all came together!

The sketch has lots of potential....

Check out the blog to see even more variations.

Recycling for scrapping

Over the years I have kept and horded various items with the idea that "one day" I might use them on a page.... well look at that the day finally arrived!  The November Recipe at Paper Mixing Bowl called for a recycled/found object.... so I dug around in my stash and found some lids off the coffee can that I had been keeping.  Now what to do with them?

First up I thought of punching flowers, but that didn't really go with the theme of my page, so in the end I found a chipboard frame in my stash and decided to alter it... here is how.

 I took the lid and cut it into strips just a bit wider than the frame... then wrapped them around each side.  As the strips weren't quite long enough to go from end to end, I then cute small bits which I added to the corners.

For extra effect I also wrapped some wire around the frame in places...

The finished frame stuck down.

The tab top of the lid also got added as a sort of "tag" under the top photos....

 I twirled a few smaller strips to make "ribbon" liks tendrils... and curled some wire around toothpicks to match too.

And there you have it... a finished layout using up a bit of tinfoil ....which by the way was the subject of this page too!