Sunday Afternoon...

Just scrapping away, playing with inks and sprays on this lovely sunny Sunday afternoon.

I have the house to myself so I get to pick the soundtrack.

                                                  

I can recommend heading to his website getting a copy of this album for free... beautiful music from the lead singer of The Beautiful Girls.

Happy Scrapping,

Trace* xox

Sore Back = Time For Stitching

Last week I was pretty messed up with a bad back. An hour long deep tissue massage aggravated a long standing inflammation problem I have. Combine that with the set up and pack down involved in running a Crafternoon, and by Sunday night I couldn't sleep and could barely move.

The doctor prescribed a bunch of pills, rest and some physio sessions. This meant for the week I couldn't drive myself anywhere, or do much of anything, really.

For me, that much down time is scary and guilt inducing. Wasted time - not my idea of fun when there is so much to do!  So I passed the time by trying to complete some stitching projects that are way overdue. I really am a slow cross stitcher!

Luckily I had Turtle to keep me company! The 'Keep Calm' project was meant to be a gift for Fleur's 30th birthday - I've only got less than a month until it becomes 1 year overdue - luckily only one and a bit letters to go!

I will post some pics once they are all finished and framed, but since I go back to work tomorrow, who knows when that will happen??

Tracey* xox

OMG!!

On Sunday I got to meet and do a make n take with one of my scrapping idols Amy Tan. OMG!!!

If you aren't familiar with Amy's scrapping, she is the designer behind the Amy Tangerine lines from American Crafts, and you can check out her work here at her blog. I love her awesome use of colour, and her layouts and handmade embellishments really speak to me. And did I mention her Daybooks? Divine!

She is currently touring through Australia (and then NZ) through Spotlight to promote her lines now being sold at their stores. (ahem... they have been sold at Dizzy Izzy since Day 1!)

I dragged Matt along to Spotlight Miranda so he could take photos, and hung out near the Make N Take table they had set up, waiting for her to arrive like a creepy stalker.

With Amy

Amy and I chatted while we waited for the make n take to be set up. It was so exciting to tell her about my scrapping story and Dizzy Izzy. She laughed when I told her I have been too scared to post a comment on her blog, and encouraged me to blog more (and here it is, lol!).

The crazy thing is.... no one else came! Just weird considering she was swamped that morning in Melbourne. Oh well, I'm not going to lie... I loved it! I had Amy all to myself for an hour - who else can say that?? You hear that other people - you snooze, you loose!

Matt gets his craft on...

So Matt and I got to make a card with Amy, using her fun products. She taught Matt how to use a border punch and we got to chat some more about how she got started scrapping, and how her collaboration with American Crafts came about. We also heard about some of her favourite things coming out soon in the new Ready Set Go line like a date stamp & sheer letters - I can't wait to check them out in person.

Amy snapped this one 'just pretend you're being crafty'

 

I was even lucky enough to get a signed Amy Tangerine apron - you can bet that will be making an appearance at the Crafternoon this Saturday. PLUS she gave me a make n take kit to give away as a prize at the next retreat! Awesome!

Signing my apron

The big thing that I got from this was how much Amy loves creating - and it comes through in everything she does. She is living the crafty life and loves what she does. How lucky am I that I get to do what I love as well?

Happy Scrapping,

Tracey

a dog named Wendal

This week was a hard one for me.

It started out with us celebrating our dog Wendal's 16th birthday, we had a family bbq at my parents place and spent some time with him. I took some photos so I could have one for my Project 366.

Unfortunately on Wednesday Wendal passed away suddenly.

If you have ever lost a pet, you will know how heartbreaking it can be.

Farewell little buddha. I hope you get to have endless belly rubs and eat as much ice cream and licorice you want now. Good boy.

xox

sick, but still stitching!

I've been a little under the weather for the last week or so. After having a cold a few weeks ago, I thought I had finally shaken it, so I resumed swimming laps at the local pool.

I was wrong.

Unfortunately, the next 48 hours were awful. I dragged myself to work only to be told by the boss to go home (thanks, Dad! xox) and spent my time curled up on the lounge with a blankie and the cat, wishing I would die.

I have improved slightly, but the horrible, gross cough remains. Yuck.

On the bright side, I've caught up on some Dizzy Izzy work, played ALOT of Draw Something, AND I've been getting in a little cross stitching. Yay!

Here's some highlights:-

cat + blankie = toasty warm love

can you guess it? lol

what a poor me!

Easter breakfast made by My Man

just after I had to unpick a whole section... doh!

I hope you are all well out there!

XOXO

Retreats

I've been lucky enough to go to two scrapbooking retreats in the last month, which for me is something akin to scrapbooking heaven.

Especially as one of them I was just a customer. That's right. No organising music, or games, or taking massage bookings or working a shop or teaching classes.  Just me, my friends and a whole lot of scrapping.

But did I get any more layouts done in all the extra time I had?


Of course not.

I did have fun though. And I am pretty happy with the pages I've been doing lately, some of which are below for your scraplifting enjoyment.

I've also learned a valuable scrap lesson - I'm getting way too old to stay up until 5:30am scrapping. I can't pull up the next day like I used to, and the pages I produce in the wee hours of the morning.... well.... they rhyme with scrap, lets just put it that way. So - could this be the end of my scrapbook all nighters??

Thanks to Lisa over at Storyboard Kits for organising a really lovely weekend, full of fantastic challenges that pushed me out of my scraping comfort zone. And to Kristen who organised the retreat at Collaroy full of such lovely scrappers.



Sassafrass papers and Prima & Sass embellishments.
And yes, thats little me!

using papers & embellishments from one of Lisa's
Storyboard Kits

colour palette challenge - way outside my comfort zone.
LOVE my new Martha Stewart border punch!

washi tape... sigh. just love it!
this layout was inspired by Diane Payne's layout in
Scrapbook Trends Magazine March 2012

happy scrapping!

Trace* xox

my random life

Well, life has been hectic lately as usual.

I've had Australia Day

I've been finding inspiration from unusual sources

and driving my Grandpa all over the place

I've even found a few minutes here and there to take a break and read a scrapping magazine or two

and I celebrated my first wedding anniversary

and yes, I have been keeping up with my Project 366, even though I haven't been posting them!

a blog about another blog...

I can excitedly announce that the new blog for Dizzy Izzy Scrapbooking is live!

In case you missed it, Dizzy Izzy Scrapbooking is my team effort with my good friend Fleur to take the scrapbooking world by storm. We host awesome scrapbook retreats and day crafternoons, as well as hosting an online facebook community where we have competitions, sales and share layouts.

If you want to get your craft on, or just show your support for our venture head to the Dizzy Izzy Blog or search 'Dizzy Izzy Scrapbooking' on facebook and hit like!

cheers!

2012 - the year of weddings

Well, we are 2 weeks into 2012 and I've already been to 2 weddings and have 1 yet to come. That's right, LOVE is in the air.
First off, we had Michael (or Borgy to his friends) & Tamasin's big day, which was a beautiful and elegant affair, with one of the most emotional bridal entrances I've ever seen. I think this was the biggest wedding I've been to - 250 guests! Tamasin's mum and sisters also sang opera arias during the ceremony - wow! Just WOW!

blessed be

Aww!!!

gotta love cake that looks beautiful & tastes delicious!

close up of the Bird toppers - delightful!

Then a few days later we had Jonathan (or Jash to his friends - yep Matt's friends all have nicknames) and Caroline's lovely day. Beautiful weather, great food and friends plus the scrabble theme made this such a fun day.

bridal party

the happy couple

the scrabble cake!

sharing their love of scrabble

I made cards for both weddings but forgot to grab a pic of the first one. Here is the second one, made from some leftover KaiserCraft paper.

It was lovely to share both days with the happy couples, and I'm curious to see if we attend any more weddings this year before we head off on Nikki & Bob's wedding cruise/our belated honeymoon. Enjoy the pics!

Trace* xox

Scrapbooking Memories Masters

Yes, its been a while. Lets not talk about it. Let's focus on the positives and look towards all of the New Years Resolutions that I made and am desperately trying to keep up with.

Resolution 1: Blog more (or at all).

A lot of you know that I entered the Scrapbooking Masters Competition that is run by Scrapbooking Memories Magazine back in August 2011. It was a really long wait till the results came out, and even though I didn't win (sadface) I was lucky enough to get an honorable mention!

This was the first time that I had ever submitted to any magazines, I've always been too scared of rejection to submit. I must admit, the 4 entry tasks were challenging. I'm not much of a journaller, and the colour challenge was definitely a combination WAY out of my comfort zone.

So here are are my layouts, and also a shot of my first ever published layout. Enjoy!

Hidden Journalling: 'HeartBeat'

The journalling was under the left section on hinges.
I mirrored the title on both layers

I hand stamped and inked the letters, then cut them out

5x7 Photo: My Sunshine

the devil is in the details: a little stamping and fussy cutting

Colour Challenge - Brown/Orange/Blue: 'Still Working'

the cogs actually turn!

Sketch Challenge: 'Photo Booth'

I LOVE making paper pinwheels!

Honourable Mention! Woot!!!