Wrapping up 2019

As I think back on "the year that was" I can remember that there were some "bad times" but on the whole I have a sense of peace and contentment that the year was "good". So here are just a few of my thoughts on the year:

Healthwise, there weren't any funnies that I remember....ie no trips to hospital and such. Thank you Lord for good health.

I managed to read lots this year... I had set myself a reading challenge of 45 books and have actually managed to finish 54!

It might not have been the ideal matric year that I wanted for my son, but we have survived and are now just awaiting his results. He had an enjoyable matric farewell, his exams went off without a glitch (that I know of) and neither of us killed each other in the process, though there were days when it was a bit strained. We are looking forward to next year's adventure for Varsity.

Scrapping has been different this year. Though I've served on 6 different teams during this year (plus two for quilling) I don't think I've scrapped nearly as much as last year. I definitely didn't go to class as much and got through my DT work quicker that other years so I had more time to focus on other things. I have also made more of a switch to digi scrapping since Oct2019 and am thoroughly enjoying that at the moment.... which has led to some DT work there too now for Dec and some for next year.

Here's some of my scrapping stats:
Single Layouts: 166
Double Layouts: 38
Total Layouts scrapped:204
No of pages scrapped: 242
No of digi layouts: 122 (which is more than half of my total scrapping for the year!)

I still have around 15 or so planned paper scrapping layouts to finish to finalise my 2014, 2015 and 2016 albums. Hopefully I will get them done within the first few months of next year. Then I will do a major stash sale and concentrate more on the digi side of scrapping.

I've had Aaron scan some of my film negatives over the last few weeks, so will be hauling out some old memories too in my scrapping just for fun.

For the rest of the year that was, well it's now a distant memory that will get rehashed in scrapbook layouts and then I guess I will remember what we did when.

Being inspired by Jowilna

On Saturday I dug out some of my photos that needed scrapping and packed myself some kits to make it a bit quicker. That evening I started three layout which I finished on Sunday. Then on Monday I attended class with Jow (haven't been since March I think!) and managed to do another page. So here are my four pages all inspired by Jowilna's design work:

Each page that I did is from notes of Jowilna's but with subtle little changes that make them mine (mainly as I am too lazy to do some of the finecky things or don't have the stuff in my stash!). I must still add journalling to two of these but for now they are done.

I am hoping at this stage to do another class with Jow on Saturday and get some single pages done.

GDD - Publishers Picks layouts

There is the most amazing kit available at The Digital Press under Publisher's Picks from Gone Digital Designs... It's called Bloom & Grow. Sooooooo refreshing to see a spring kit after all the winter Christmas kits. Not that I didn't get myself a few of those but I felt a bit overloaded. So when I saw this new kit I just had to start creating and scrapped up a storm within a few days... hehehe

First up is the free template... I found a few shortcuts in PixelLab that makes working with templates a breeze now... this sure has opened a whole new avenue for me!

Next up I made a double layout... I've been wanting to scrap these pics from my birthday last year for absolutely ages... been waiting for the right papers and this kit is just perfect.

I still want to play some more with this kit so am sure there will be some more layouts in January.

My other good news to share today is that I've been asked to stay on for another month.... yippee yay. There will be more sharing in the next couple of days.

Happy news for me

I found out at the end of October but haven't been able to share until now... my digi scrapping career is taking off and I've been accepted as a guest designer for January and February at Blue Hearts Scrapping.

You can follow along on the blog, or join the facebook page or fan group.

Soooooooooo excited to stretch my creative wings in a new direction and create layouts whilst still learning. So look for more fun things to come in the next two months.

Sketch n Scrap - December card

This is my last post for Sketch n Scrap.... awwwww! But I can really say that this team has been a real joy to design for. To round out my time I've made this card:

I chose to use traditional Christmas colours and went with quilled holly for my embellishment... a simple touch to the pretty rub-on sentiment.

I wish all the girls on this team the best of time. Thanks Lisa for your support and belief in me and letting me loose on facebook each month.

Remember to join in on the blog or on facebook for lots of fun sketches and challenges.

The Lilypad - Dec2019 challenges

This past week I have tackled the challenges at The Lilypad and managed to get 7 of the 8 challenges completed.

Journalling

Scraplift

Random

Photography

Template

Style

Inspiration

I've stretched myself with these and learnt a few more things... I've played with templates and found that my tablet is not really as great for this type of digi scrapping as I thought it would be. It's very memory intensive and I can't export at full quality. Sooooo my Christmas present to myself will be a new tablet within the next week or so.

Next month The Lilypad has a whole month of challenges... one a day! I've taken the plunge and signed myself up for this... will just have to see how much I get done.

Merry Christmas 2019

It's late on Christmas day and we have had our celebration, but I still wanted to come and record my thoughts on today.

Our morning started early not because of an excited child waking us up to see what Santa brought, but rather because we needed to get said child (and the rest of us) to church before 7.30am as he was on sound duty today. So we were up and having banana muffins for breakfast by 6.45am. Then out the door to fetch Granny and off to church.

We had a lovely service with our reduced music team playing (just the two guys) but soooooooooo grateful to them as that was definitely much better than the dreary taped organ music.The sermon was all about making room for Jesus who had no room in the inn. There were definite points in the sermon that rang true for me as I listened, but now over 12 hours later that are a bit harder to recall.

After church we came home and had coffee, took our annual family photo and then opened presents... mainly lots of chocolate given and shared...the best kind of present as it soon disappears and doesn't need dusting!

I then finished the lunch prep...slicing the gammon, putting the fruit salad in a dish and just getting everything ready for transport. But before we left Mom and I phoned the family in New Zealand to wish them Merry Christmas and catch up on their doings. Was soooooooooo nice to chat and spend time with them even though they are on the other side of the world from us.

Then we were off to my cousin Noel and Ilse for the rest of our day... what a lovely spread for lunch... with my contribution of gammon and salad adding in to the feast. It was a lovely relaxed meal with a few crackers popping too.

After lunch was done (once those who wanted seconds had had!) we cleared the decks and brought out the pud... make it yourself pavlova and Ilse provided chocolate trifle and icecream. Again there were second helping had by most of us... yummy!!!!

And then we were FULL and had to relax for a bit before we had coffee and more to eat... fruitcake and shortbread from Granny (I was toooooooooooo full to even attempt that!) Madi came out to see us and spend some time with us before dragging Mom off to her room to play... such a special treat. The rest of us were just sitting around chatting and Aaron had a dip in the pool.

We eventually departed for home after 6pm... a good afternoon spent together with no frills or stress. Really a wonderful Christmas Day.

With that Christmas is now done for another year. The festivities and shopping madness are over and we start with looking towards the New Year. I've still got over a week worth of holiday and lots of things to accomplish before I go back to work on the 6th. I don't plan to stress on what gets done or not, I am just taking each day as it comes.

I wish you and yours a blessed festive season and all of God's amazing blessings.

Some of the comments Ilse made this afternoon have stuck with me... no matter how stressed life can be, or how bad the day is, when you look at the children at Amazing-K and see their outlook on life (always smiling) and think about how hard they have it, then my life and worries pales in comparison. We need to be truly thankful for what we have, what we can do and say and where we can go every day. Autistic kids don't have that freedom... they get told ... you will do this, or have that, or eat such and such,  and just have to accept it. Not easy.

Thank you Lord for my life and the abundance of blessings I have.

UnstampaBellas: Dec2019

Christmas is just a few days away.... we're all getting excited but really need to keep our eyes on the reason for the season. Here is my card especially for that:

This month's challenge is: Star Struck Starry Night 
The twist to the challenge is: Use Sparkle Pens and/or Glues

I added lots of quilled stars and then some bling stars too to make a true starry night.

Remember to link you entry to the first post of the month and you can win a prize.

See more great inspiration from the team on the blog.

This is my last post for the Unstampabelles team. I've enjoyed being part of this team and expanding my quilling designs each month to match the themes. It's been a wonderful creative opportunity.

Gingerscraps - Dec2019 challenges

I've spent this past week virtually scrapping every day to get the 10 challenges done at Gingerscraps... inbetween shopping, organising my photos, visiting friends or reading. It's been very productive on the scrapping front. Here's the layouts (and one signature graphic) I created:

1. A year of blessings

2. Connie Prince

3. Minikit

4. Brush

5. Daily Download

6. Scraplift

7. Template 2

8. Template 1 (made this as page 2 to go with the one above)

9. Pocket Scrapping

10. Signature

It's so  nice that I managed to get them all done and before month end... yippee. Now to tackle some of the other challenges from some of the other sites in the next week, plus Christmas celebration too.

Off The Rails - December

It's time to celebrate the Christmas season in all the ways possible. I chose a simply Christmas card for my reveal today for Off The Rails.

I used the 5th of December sketch from Sketch n Scrap for my starting point for this card and added some holly quilling plus an old rub-on with a little bit of pen detail. The papers are very non-traditional Christmas colours but oh so pretty.

This is my last time sharing for this team. I've had a lovely two plus years doing various projects and layouts and have enjoyed my time. Remember to follow along on facebook to see what others on the team do each month.

The Digital Press - 5th birthday

Black Friday weekend saw The Digital Press turn 5 years old. They had a fun weekend of challenges and games which I tried very hard to partake in. I only managed to get 2 of the 3 layout challenges done though.

5o'clock

F-I-V-E

After the weekend I heard that I won with my 5 o'clock layout in the lucky draw. Looking forward to getting my prize eventually and spending my lolly.

7 Day template challenge from Rachel Etrog

I found this wonderful template challenge from Rachel Etrog, one of the designers at the Digital Press, and I decided to dive in and try my hand at doing each one. I stuck pretty close to each template... didn't want to stretch toooooooo far. Here's the layouts I've made.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day7

For each template I used Rachel Etrog's products from various freebies that I've collected over the year plus two of the kits I've purchased. Love how each layout looks so totally different. Am truly enjoying this learning experience.

I used Photoscape X to create each of these layouts... this program has lots of hidden gems that I am discovering and figuring out how to make them work as I go... some are just fluke (like the sunburst fading and changing brown woodgrain to blue). I still have lots to learn, but lots to scrap to, so am sure will be getting lots of practice soon.

UPDATE 20th Dec - just heard this morning that I won first prize - super excited to go stash shopping!

IQCG - December moodboard

It's another DT reveal day for us and the theme this month is winter flowers. Well as it's the Christmas season too I went with the traditional Christmas flower of the poinsettia.

I kept my flowers simple and added a few holly leaves and then embellished the card with the tag strip and string.

Come play along with us and remember to tag #IQCG and #IQCG65 in your post on instagram or in the facebook group.

This is my last post for this team. I've enjoyed quilling this year and coming up with designs each month to match the moodboard. The girls are soooooooo creative and I've gotten a lot of inspiration from the entries each month.

GDD - Christmas Morning kit

I am having such fun scrapping for Gone Digital Designs that when the new kit comes out I can't wait to dive in and create.

Unfortunately I had to wait almost 24 hours to get going this time as we had major loadshedding yesterday and then it tripped and didn't come on till the middle of the night. AND to crown it all we ended up with more loadshedding this morning. In one way I am thankful for Aaron waking me up at 6am on a Saturday as I managed to download my kit quickly and then scrap once the power was off.

I am sure I will be making more layouts with this gorgeous kit. You can find it here at the Digital Press... papers, elements, word strips and there are also alphas that I am dying to use.

Sketch n Scrap - December challenge

We are having our monthly challenges again this month with lots of challenges coming. Here is my layout for the first challenge:

So the challenge is to use this sketch and for the twist - no cardstock allowed.

Come join us on the blog or on facebook for lots of fun sketches and challenges.

Gone Digital Design - school layout

GDD has sooooooooooo many lovely kits for sale at The Digital Press that I just couldn't help myself from making another layout.

This one used the "Fun on the Fourth"kit that was on the Black Friday sale. Yes it is typically for the USA holiday but seeing as blue is my favourite colour I just had to use it and so went with school photos. The stars are always a go to item as well for school pics.

Till next time the scrappy bug hits...

Gone Digital Designs - bonus layouts

My commitment for GDD is to do one layout per collection.... well as I said in my previous post I really like this one and so created two more layouts using it. So here are the bonus pages:

These pages really come together so quickly once I know what I want to achieve, but there is still a lot of dithering going on. I think I might have figured out that I still need a sketch to work from as then I scrap happiest. More layouts to come during the next few days I am sure.

Gone Digital Design - First layout

It is soooooooooo exciting to be on my first digital Creative Team even if it's only as a guest for this month. I am trying to stretch myself and learn a few bits this month too but this first layout I've kept to my usual scrapping style.

I used a sketch from Pagemaps as a starting point for my page and used the new release called "we are Family" which you can find here at The Digital Press. This whole kit is soooooooooo pretty and I really like it a lot.

Lots more to come all month long.

Stick It Down - Double Layout - Dec2019

December is definitely the festive season... we are gearing up again for the end of year functions and so what better photos to scrap than one of my previous work end-of-year parties.

I've used the Penelope Dee Christmas range ... really love the blue colour of these papers. I stuck fairly close to the sketch except that I used four photos across on my right page. Added in a card for a nice touch and it says exactly what happened on the day! hehe.

This year our end of year party is going to be at this venue again but with a beach theme... I wonder how many more people won't end up in the lake!

This is the fabulous sketch we worked with.

Be sure to check out the blog for lots more inspiration.

This is my last layout for this team. I've had an absolute ball designing for Stick It Down for the last two years and will miss it. If ever you want to be on a team this is definitely one to go for,