Beyond the Door Scrap Challenge

Okay I know recently I have been on a bit of challenge binge but recently, I found this great challenge blog called Beyond the Door.  Each month they display a photo of a room taken from the doorway to use for inspiration and then offer the reader a challenge to scrap.  Well, you know me, I love a bit of inspiration and this one fit perfectly with a photo and some papers I had already set aside.  So here is my take on their challenge. You can view the inspiration photo here http://beyondthedoorscrapchallenge.blogspot.com/2011/05/june-challenge-no-2.html

White with 1

I have had this photo on my desk for some time and it really needed a page in my scrapbook.  It's a self portrait of my husband and I on the ferry to Alacatraz.  At the time I was about 3 1/2 months pregnant with our son and on a whistle stop tour of some places we wanted to visit before we settled down in Australia to begin our family.  Of course I took loads of photos on this trip but this has got to be one of my all time faves.  People say that when you are pregnant your are blooming and that is just how I felt.  Our love and our little family was in full bloom! 

Scrap Your Stash

Here is a LO I did for the Scrap Your Stash challenge over at Let's Scrap.

I am loving these challenges because it gets more of the unused out of it's packets and into my album.  For this LO I used Kraft Bazzill, Kaisercraft and Basic Grey pp, Flourish with a Bling, Basic Grey Brad, Green Tara flowers, My Mind's Eye Journal spot, and Pebbles Love sticker.  This photo is of my husband and I on our first trip to New Mexico where we fell in love.  Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?

More Let's Scrap Sketch Challenges

Life has been a bit crazy in the Jones household so I have had very little "me" time.  I did manage to do this weeks Let's Scrap sketch challenge and I loved it so much I made both a card and a LO. I used all bits and pieces from my stash and put together the card using Senic Route pp, a scrap of old sheet music, string,buttons and flowers, stamps and bling by Kaisercraft.  For the LO I used some Bo Bunny Christmas paper scraps,BB cardstock stickers and letters, and some ribbon, buttons and bling from my stash.

A Bit of This and a Bit of That

I just wanted share another couple of LOs I did for Let's Scrap Challenges.  The Easter 2010 layout was part of a scrap the stash challenge and, the A Motherly Touch layout was part of the book about me challenge. 
In the Scrap your Stash challenge you were to use 20 buttons and one diecut paper.  I bought these buttons back in 2006 and used two out of the packet at that time.  I finally put the rest to good use on this layout and, honestly, without this challenge they would still be packed away in the darkest corner of my scrap space.  I also had three of this particular diecut background paper and thought it was high time I used at least one.
The Book About Me challenge was to scrap your earliest memory and the first thing I thought of was my Mother's sweet hands.  I searched my box of old photos and found this snap taken of me and some of my first steps.  Whoever took the photo also captured my Mother's outstretched hand waiting for me to grab onto.  My Mother had a habit of cupping my face when she would kiss me and I will never forget the feel of her soft sweet hands on my face.

Look what I did for the Fancy That challenge.

Yesterday I was totally inspired by a sketch challenge posted on the Fancy That Scrapbooking blog.  It took me a matter of minutes to pull together this page to submit.  Fingers crossed it's a winner.  Head on over to the Fancy That Blog and submit your take on this great sketch and may the luckiest crafter win. 

Book About Me

I belong to a great sketch and challenge site called letsscrap.ning.com. It's great site with loads of fabulous sketches, very inspirational challenges and a lovely bunch of women who scrap all around the world. Recently they introduced a Book About Me challenge. I decided to have a go. So, throughout the months they will challenge me to create different layouts with one thing in common. They all have to be about me. Now, I am not a very introverted person. I try not to spend too much time focusing on me. So, as you can imagine, this will be very challenging and, who knows, maybe even a bit cathartic. This is my first LO. The challenge was to do a page about your name. I have included a hidden journal tab explaining the story but since you can't see it I'll give you the scoop. When I was little I asked my Mother "What would you have named me if you hadn't named me Molly?". She told me that when she was a little girl she had decided that if she ever had a little girl she would name her Mehitable after her favorite character in a book. Once I got older she sent me a copy of the book so, I used the cover page as my photo. Thank heavens she grew up and changed her mind because, Mehitable's Folly just doesn't have the same ring does it? ;)

Scrapping the past

I belong to a scrapbook challenge site called Letsscrap.ning.com. It's a great site filled with lovely ladies who scrap and encourage each other to explore outside their comfort zone once in awhile. Several of the challenges lately have been about scrapping things from the past. Now and then sorts of pages and all things heritage. I found this photo of my parents taken on their wedding day and decided that I had just the right papers in my stash to use with it. As I was putting it together using the sketch of the week I realized that I didn't know all the details of that day. I could remember the wedding dress my mother wore as I had seen it when I was a child. I knew about the flowers that my mother had around her neck rather than carry a posy. I didn't know the type of details that you put on a wedding announcement though. I had no idea of the actual location or the exact date and year. I know that my Grandfather was too upset to go in while the vows were being said. You see he was a very sensitive man and my Mother was his baby girl. I was reminded by my "Aunt" that there was a cat that had been banished in the basement and because of this howled through the entire ceremony.
It's funny the things you remember about a special day. Since I have scrapped this I will remember alot more even after the flowers have faded. I am going to embark on the enormous task of scrapping all the old photos I have so that when my boy, who is only four now, wants to learn about where his Mama came from he will only have to open the book.

This page was created using Basic Grey's Urban Couture range of papers, the rolled rose Die-namics Die cut, lace found at the local op-shop.

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Card Creations

These are some of the card creations I have been working on recently. I used some scraps of a Graphic 45 range, Bazzil cardstock, Kaisercraft flowers and bling, ribbon from Craft Queen and thrift store buttons.

Graphic 45 is a great range for card making as it lends itself to a multitude of designs and my thrift store finds often inspire me.

More unused

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Starting to blog round two

Someone asked me the other day if I blogged. I remembered that I do have a blog space that I don't use. Then today I realized I have lots of things I don't use. You name it, from A-Z, and I bet I can come up with something that I have that I don't utilize. I have a whole room in my house dedicated to things I haven't even unpacked in 18 months. Why do I do this? I know I am not alone, I bet at his moment you could open up your closet and find at least two or three items that you are holding on to, just in case. A friend and fellow "keeper" asked me how many pairs of shoes I had. I was hesitant to admit that I really don't know. Do flip flops and crocs count as shoes? I live in a place that is warm and wet most of the year so I have to have shoes for mucking around the garden in and shoes for going out in public. Then of course there are the pairs that go with certain outfits. I have pairs of shoes that are sentimental and I simply hang on to them because they remind me of a time in my life. I guess you could say I can physically walk down memory lane.
You know how I mentioned that I live in a warm wet climate? Well, I failed to mention that another thing I am keeping unused are a multitude of knitted scarves, mittens, gloves and hats for that "just in case" . Sometimes I think what, "just in case" the next ice age hits? I have not, in the four years I have lived in Queensland, needed more than a light jacket or sweater to keep me toasty but, I have winter gear to withstand minus temps. How insane is that!?! There is one place where my hoarding ways have paid off. I love to create and craft so when I am looking for a bit of tulle or a button or two I can consult my "stash" and I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I will find what I am looking for there. So for now, I will close the door on my storage room and mull over ideas on what to create using miles and miles of knitted scarves and then blog about it.