Sunday, May 26, 2013

Week 19 .....Mothers Day

Hi and thanks for visiting.....
OK, so the first thing I have to say is yes, I know the date is wrong - it should be May 12th, not May 19th.  In my defence, this week has an insert so I think I just worked out two weeks.....it will get changed....eventually!
I have used some of the green cards from various Studio Calico PL kits as well as quite a few of their wood veneers, and the 'Win' flair on the title card.


The first page of the insert is all about Samuel attending his new best friend at school's birthday party.  I offered to take photos for Michael's Mum so she could concentrate on entertaining the Mums......I love the photo of the kids jumping off the log (I did get a sensible one first). The clouds and weather wood veneer on the cloud card are new from Freckled Fawn

Here is what these two pages look like together.  It's sometimes a challenge to balance the colours across the pages but I think I am getting a little better at it.....

This is the reverse of the insert page....continuing with the Studio Calico kit elements of alpha stickers, and the 'Nice Shot' label.  The autumn leaves card is cut from a Stampin Up range, with the 'oh so lovely' banner from a die cut pack (I think Studio Calico too, but not in the kit)
The final page for this week focused on Mothers Day.  I love the leaf angel photos Jason took on his phone.....sometimes he surprises me with photos and these are some of his best!  I also took a photo of the little gifts the boys got me.  And finally...warning here....a photo of me before starting the Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation.  Mothers Day seemed the best day to sign up for this and I am determined to make the most of this. I have put a side angle (very scary) photo and my starting statistics inside a fold out.....for my eyes only.
And here is what the double page looks like together.  It was a great week to put together!
Hope you like these pages,
Amanda



Friday, May 10, 2013

Life. Paper. Scrapbook Blog Hop - Week 18


Hi, and if you are visiting as part of the Life Paper Scrapbook blog hop Welcome!  We were told we could pick any topic for our blog post. I hope you like what I have chosen.

My week 18 is a good way to demonstrate my answer when people ask "why do you do Project Life?" or "why do you do Project Life instead of 'traditional' scrapbooking?".

But first, some background......
I did my first scrapbooking class with Kaszazz almost 5 years ago. I loved the creative process....I loved the papers, embellishments, tools and I loved that I could get my photos off the computer, out of drawers and into albums.
But what I found was that I could never keep up scrapping all the photos I was taking. So the number of photos on the computer grew.  Sure, I would go through and print a lot of photos too.....but they just added to the number of photos in the photo drawers and boxes (I had started sorting the boys photos into their own boxes).  I would go crazy on scrapping retreats trying to get as many photos scrapped as I could, but still ended up just scrapping the "big" events.
And, of course, I spent a small fortune on supplies to scrap all these photos!

And then I found Project Life...and the Project Life groups on Facebook.  I observed for a while, before taking the plunge.  And boy, it was a big plunge!  I have managed to sort, discard and scrap all the photos in the drawer into various albums and it feels great.  There are NO photos in the drawer waiting to be scrapped or put in albums (Hooray!).
At the start of this year I began our first family Project Life album.  I don't do 'photo a day' which means some weeks I have a few photos and other weeks I have lots of photos.  Most weeks the photos are a mix of my boys, what they are up to and random things that appeal to me at the time.
But the part I like most is that the photos really do reflect our life...as it is.

So, without further rambling....here is Week 18.  This week I decided that, in addition to items from the BH Seafoam kit (the dark yellow this week) I would add some blue to my spread in the form of journalling and filler cards from the Pebbles range. (This has nothing to do with the fact I follow the West Coast Eagles right?)  The left hand side of the page shows how 'real' the week was.....untidy rooms driving me mad and a sick 5 year old who needed a bucket all weekend.  The speech bubble "It is what it is" from  Studio Calico was so appropriate.


The right hand side called for more embellishments in the form of a wood veneer (Studio Calico but purchased from Polka Dot Creative), another Studio Calico label, some enamel dots from Scrap Therapy - the yellow centres on the flowers - and a flair from Greatest View).

And here is what the weekly spread looks like together.
Hope you've enjoyed reading this post, and that your journey through the Life Paper Scrapbook blog hop is an inspirational one.  If you are following the order, please click LPS Blog Hop - Next Stop to go to your next stop.

And don't forget to enter one of your Project Life layouts ENTER HERE in the LPS competition to WIN a mini kit and album.

Thanks for visiting and would love to hear why YOU do project life.
Amanda

For reference purposes, here are all the blogs participating in today's blog hop.

Amanda Watkins - http://amandathemadscrapper.blogspot.com.au/  (You are here)
Bernadette Miller - http://weekendatberniis.blogspot.com.au/

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

And the Winner is........

Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway by leaving a comment on my blog in the past week.

My 5 year old Samuel drew the lucky winner this evening and the name he picked was......

Susanne Singh.

Congratulations Susanne, and I will be in touch to arrange your voucher to spend at Polka Dot Creative

Amanda

Sunday, May 5, 2013

And now it's Week 17...

 Hi, and thanks for visiting.  Week 17 was a good one, as my sister visited for most of the week - living in another state and country from relatives means these times are especially precious.
It also meant there was someone to take a photo of the 4 of us - again....doesn't happen that often!
I love the "fawn" colour in the Seafoam kit so this was the base of  the week.  The flair on my title card is from Greatest View - it just added that little something extra needed on the flower I used.  
I made my Anzac filler card using some paper and collectables from the Kaisercraft range "Remember Me".


 The right hand side has a photo of my sister and her partner before they headed home to NSW and the rest is filled with photos from Patrick's Scout Camp.  I couldn't decide which photos to use, so used most of them.  I took a lot of photos both horizontal and landscape so I could work out afterwards which ones would go best in the album.
I love the fact that this week has so many photos in it.  We took lots of photos of the animals at Werribee Zoo so I may go back and do an insert for this week at some stage.

And here is what the whole week looks like.


Thanks for visiting and remember, if you leave a comment below by 9pm Sunday 5th May you go in the draw to win a $20 voucher from http://www.polkadotcreative.com.auPolka Dot Creative.
Amanda


Birthday Week 16

Hi, and thanks for visiting Week 16.  Putting together this week was a HUGE challenge for me as it was only at the end of the week I realised I only had ONE photo of a person.  It really was a "Project Real Life" week.
My title card has a gorgeous wood veneer from Freckled Fawn- I wanted to order the umbrella and rain ones but bought a few others like these too.  My journalling cards are from a Studio Calico PL kit (now that I have a few the cards are getting mixed up so not sure which month's kit these are from).  And another quote card from Pebbles.
The 'Oops...!' and 'The Paperwork.....!' titles have been added to the photos using some Basic Grey alpha stickers from the Studio Calico kits.  Firstly it was easier than adding titles to the photos themselves and secondly I needed to use the alphas up.
 I haven't quite finished the right hand side - still have to journal about my birthday, but I'll get to it!  The "Make some thing today" card is actually a printed acetate from Studio Calico which was in one of the kits.  As my spread this week had a pale aqua theme, I just put 3x4 cardstock behind it to bring the words out.  The patterned cards are also from the Studio Calico April PL kit with a Seafoam card to round the page out.
I love the mosaic kiwi my sister made for my birthday......Keira Kiwi has also been added using Basic Grey alphas.

And here is the week together.
Thanks for visiting and remember, leave a comment below by 9pm Sunday 5th May and be in the running to win a $20 voucher from Polka Dot Creative.
Amanda

Week 15.....winter is on the way

Hi, and thanks for visiting week 15.  Second week of school holidays here in Vic, and school holidays usually mean a few treats for the boys.
Black and White was the starting point this week but I find B&W always needs a little "pop" of colour so this week it was the yellow/orange from the Seafoam kit.  Aside from a small paper doillie and an enamel dot from My Minds Eye, this page was core kit all the way!


The right hand side is devoted to playing at the park and food - great combination! The phrase card was from a Pebbles booklet of cards - I am finding I am using these more and more to avoid so much duplication from just the core kit.


And here is what the pages look like together.  A simple and straightforward week to put together - can't argue with that.


If you are reading this before 9pm on Sunday 5th May, remember to leave a comment below and be in the draw to win a $20 voucher from  Polka Dot Creative.  
Thanks for visiting,
Amanda

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Bright and Cheerful.....Week 14

Hi, and thanks for visiting.
When I am deciding what main colour/s I am going to use for a weekly spread I start with the title card I am using.  All my title cards to date have been from the BH Seafoam core kit - just gorgeous.  This week I added a white cardboard doilie I got in a card swap together with a flair from Greatest View.  I love how the "the story" stamp from Technique Tuesday Life Circle set goes with the "this is life" journalling card.  And of course there is another Technique Tuesday stamp on the orange journalling card.


Lots more orange on this page and I used a 4 in one photo collage for each of the boys when they were playing on the trampoline......difficult otherwise to show how much fun they were having.


And here are the two pages together.....I love how bright and happy these pages are.


Do you have a favourite colour combination to use?  Are you of the "the more the merrier" thinking?  Do you try and match your pages to the colours in your photos?  
Let me know what sort of PL colourist you are or just leave a general comment about this layout and go in the draw for some great giveaways.  See earlier posts for details of what you would receive.
Thanks for reading,
Amanda

Unlucky Week Thirteen

Hi and thanks for visiting Week 13......thankfully it was not an unlucky week.  I decided to use a few more cards from the Studio Calico kit (Jan or Feb....cant recall which) as they went well with the aqua title card I chose for this week.
I also used another of the Technique Tuesday stamps.....this time from the Life Circles set by Ali Edwards.   I love how these stamp sets are so suited to Project Life and of course using inks of different colours mean you can create journalling cards that go with any layout.


The right hand side represents the Easter festivities....school dress-up parade, painting eggs and the easter egg hunt.....with a stray chicken visiting.  The 'Happy Easter' journalling card is made using a Kaszazz stamp and a gorgeous bunny ear flair from Greatest View a great local Etsy shop.


Putting them together looks like this.....


Leave me a comment on what you think of these pages, or the products used to be in the draw for some great giveaways.   Join up to follow my blog for additional chances and to go in the special "followers" draw.
Thanks for visiting,
Amanda