Hello

Just thought I would all let you know why I have been a bit quiet and might be for a week or so. Emma and I are staying at the Wagga Base Hospital at the moment. She was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. It has been a shock to our whole family. Emma is coping ok with everything. More so than her mother I think! But it is just mean some re-adjusting with our lives. So if I haven't posted any new challenges for my DT commitments , then you now know why.

A BIG BIG BIG Week.....

Calling last week a BIG week is an understatement!!! It was HUGE....

The girls had their school performance for 3 days which amounted to costumes, makeup and hairstyling by parents at the school. So i went in to give a hand each day when i could in between working too...

Then on Friday night my mum celebrated her 60th Birthday which i organised a dinner with family and a couple of friends....

Mum loved her night and how we decorated everything in Parramatta colours...

Then on Saturday we travelled to Wagga for Bridget to compete in the Mounted Games. This was Bridgets first year. She was soooo excited!!!!
For this special event, i had a dear friend make some riding pants for Bridget to wear.

They had to be HOT PINK of course!!!

When we finished, it was time to jump in the car and head back to Tumut as i had a Wedding to attend. Hubby was best man - and scrubbed up pretty well!!

So yesterday, i had a family BBQ and tried to lay day for a nanna nap BUT 3 girls stopped me!!

So busy is an understatement, right!


Bird is the Word


It is time for a new challenge word!! Actually today we have two challenge words....


You & Me!!

Please create your project using these words either as the title or in your journaling. That is it! Oh, one last thing... please remember to give Bird is the Word credit in your blog. At the end of the challenge our design team will vote and the winner will receive a kit from Tidbitz In Time. We also have featured winners who receive a blog badge from Bird is the Word.

Here is a quick note from Wendy:

"I have been so excited and happy about the positive response to this blog site. It is so much fun to log on and see our number of followers increase as well as the number of submissions to our challenges! So, I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for playing along and recommending Bird is the Word on your blogs and to your friends! Thank you, thank you!"


You will be excited to see that the sketches are back starting with this challenge!! Mary is going to be our new sketch designer for Bird is the Word. Please remember that the sketches are for inspiration only...you are not required to use the sketch to participate in the challenge.


And one last little piece of information. We have revamped our voting process! Winners will now be announced on the opposite Sunday as the challenge is released. For example, the MEMORY challenge ended today, so votes will be submitted and counted by next Sunday...October 2nd. We will announce the winner of the challenge on that day. In the meantime, I still need to announce the winners for the LOVE challenge. That will be done in the next day or two.

Sketch created by Mary Thomas:

Here is my layout:

Oh.... and you can check out the Amazing talent of the DT here
. What talented girls we have on our design team!

Looking forward to seeing what you create!!

Scrapjack

This month i found the task of Scrapjacking someone so hard. I loved all the DT examples. But my choice in the end was Mandy:

and here is my jack:

and a few close ups:

If you would like to have a go, you still have plenty of time to pop over here and have a go......

Black with 2

Black with 2 have changed things around a little and they are now using 2 colours ..
So the september challenge is as follows:

DOMINANT BLACK CARDSTOCK
WITH YELLOW AND BLUE .

Here is my layout:

I have used some Scrapmatts
chipboard along with some Purple Pumpkin goodies and salso some SRM Stickers.

a close up:

F is for Friendship

ScrapFIT


Workout #52- 'F' is for Friendship with Sketchy Thursday!

Welcome to the ScrapFIT & Sketchy Thursday Blog Hop! We have joined up with Sketch Thursday this week to offer you a tough workout!

You will need to use this amazing sketch from Sketchy Thursday

and combined it with our Workout #52 - F is for Friendship -Friends are the family members we pick out by hand. Lets dedicated this weeks layout to a special friend(s).


Since this is a special joint workout there are a few prizes up for grabs!


You can win this Haunting Halloween kit from our ScrapFIT sponsor Paper Issues

by linking your layout to the Mr Linky here.

Be sure to visit all of the FITgirls blog and comment on their Workout because one lucky random winner that leaves a comment on every FITgirls Workout #52 blog post will be get this prize kit! You can get to each girls blog by clicking on their photo at ScrapFIT.

Once you do that be sure to head on over to Sketchy Thursday
for a chance at winning a prize from their sponsor and another chance at a prize from commenting on the Design Team blogs!

Here is my sample layout:

This workout will end on Wednesday 21/9 an the winners will be announced on Thursday 22/9. We hope you will play along and remember you still have until the end of the month to play along with Workout #51.

Stuck Sketches

and my layout:

and a close up of the cluster of embellishments:

You can see that i have some Scrapmatts on my layout. They are so versitile to use on a variety of layouts.

Its a Bit Sticky and a Winner

This week we welcome a new sponsor to The Paper Variety..

SRM STICKERS!

They will be providing a prize package to this week's winner.
Trust me, you WON'T be disappointed.


In honor of our fabulous sponsor, this week's challenge is a sticky situation :)


USE STICKERS!


Flat stickers, 3D stickers, cardstock, chipboard, sentiment ..
if it's a STICKER it's fair game!

SRM Stickers was {{so}} generous as to provide ALL members of our design team with their fabulous product. THANK YOU SRM STICKERS!

Now this is a rare occasion for me BUT.....

I decided to do a set of cards for my DT example:

Are you inspired? Link up your paper projects that include a sticker here. Remember, one entry per person and link back to TPV so others may enjoy our challenges as well to be eligible for the prize package provided by SRM Stickers!

A Winner for my Blog Prize for our 1st Birthday Celebration at The Paper Variety is:

31- Alisha

I asked my daughter Emma to pick a number between 1-53....and this is what number she came up with for the blog prize giveaway.

If you could leave your email me at kylie.symons@bigpond.com

A New Word and another Challenge...

Bird Is the Word


New Challenge Word - SHARE


This word can be used in many, many ways in many different directions...


To participate, please use the word SHARE on a layout or project as your titling or journaling and link your image up to our blog. Also, please remember to give Bird is the Word credit on your blog when posting your image. At the end of the challenge, a winner and featured winners will be chosen by our design team. The winner will receive a prize from Tidbitz In Time.

Here is my example:

Just a Reminder


SLS Ebook!

Have you heard? We've released the 1st Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook!!

The Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook features about 70 brand new sketches designed by Cherie Averill!

You'll find sketches for layouts with one, two, three & multiple photos! You'll even find double page sketches! Plus, sample layouts from talented designers that will spark your creativity!
Most of the sketches use standard photo sizes (4x6, 5x7, 8x10). To get extra mileage out of the sketches, switch it up! Use the sketches to create cards, double pagers, etc.! If you need ideas for "switching it up", check out the cards in the Sample Layouts section or visit the Sassy Lil' Sketch blog
on Saturdays.

The Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook is available for online viewing or you can easily download and print it. It's your choice!

Click here to get the Sassy Lil' Sketches Ebook & get scrapping!

123 Sept Challenge


COLOUR: WHITE

WORD: ON

TECHNIQUE: WHITE SPACE


This is my layout:

and a close up:

Scrap the Girls

SEPTEMBER CHALLENGE

is a PRODUCT challenge!

STATIONERY items are all the rage at the moment in scrapping...notebook paper, masking tape clips, tags...

So the challenge this month is to use CLIPS...paperclips, bulldog clips, and clips...

I haven't had alot of "ME" scrapping time but i decided to change this for September...it would be nice to do this every month..LOL...


Here are a few close up to wet your scrapping appetite first:

I have masked, included some old rubons and included of course my clips...i don't even know where i got these....and i know i have had them from when i first started scrapping- long time....

So here is my layout in full:

I totally enjoyed scrapping this layout for Scrap the Girls
this month....hope i have encouraged you to scrap this challenge too...

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I have been overwhelmed by the amount of scrapping friends that have stopped by in the past week and left some beautiful comments xxxxx

Celebration Day #4 for The Paper Variety

Welcome to Day 4 of our blog celebration! :)
Are you lovin' our party so far? We are! :) So many great projects, challenges and prizes!

Fun fun fun! :)

Today's "Favorite" challenge is...

Important note: Your project should focus on at least 2 shades of your chosen color and any other colors you include must be neutral :)

Our prize for today's challenge is..

Cosmo Cricket's "Upcycle" collection is full of many wonderful colors and patterns! :)

This is my example for this challenge. As you can see by the colour what is my fav BUT do you know that i hardly scrap this colour!

Now it's your turn!
Enter your paper project here following today's "favorite color - monochromatic" challenge before Tuesday noon EST for your chance at winning the Cosmo Cricket "Upcycle" prize!

Just ONE entry per person, please!

Thanks for celebrating with us!

Scrapping for Myself

Going to the retreat a couple of weeks ago has enabled me to catch up on all my DT committments and i have found that i can scrap for myself. So i decided to have a look see and a couple of my favourite challenge sites....hopefully i can do more as its only early in the month. But here are a few to share:

White with 1

WHITE
+
PALE PINK
+
JOURNALING ON YOUR PHOTO

Yes you did spot right...there is some Purple Pumpkin buttons on my layout which were kindly sent to me from Jas.....thankyou :)

Purple Pumpkin Sept Challenge


1 Lollipop/Flower
2 Doilies
3 Buttons

and a close up:

Crafty Sketches

and my layout:

I haven't done a sporty layout for a while and i have heaps of pics i took of Emma at the Trent Barret Gala Football Day, so this was a great sketch to use up a couple of pics.

Thanks for stopping by lately....i really love when people stop by and leave lots of encouragement....

Celebration Day #2 for TPV

Celebration Day 2!! :)


Welcome to Day 2 of our blog celebration! :) We hope you're having as much fun as we are bringing you challenges, a blog hop, a giveaway on our facebook page and many ways to win lots of goodies!

Before we get to today's challenge, let's recap..


Our first challenge posted yesterday is to use stamps. Clear stamps, digistamps, images, sentiments.. whatever stamps you got.. We want to see them. This challenge is sponsored by My Favorite Things stamps with a $25 gift certificate to the lucky winner :) Click here for more details about this challenge and to link your project.


We currently have a blog hop running until Monday. Lots of inspiration and lots of blog candy to be won! We hope you can hop along and visit each of our designers.. they'd love to meet you! :) Start your hopping here.

We will be hosting 5 challenges total. Today is the 2nd challenge. The 3rd through 5th will be announced tomorrow through Sunday. All challenge entries are due Tuesday at noon. All 5 challenge winners and blog hop candy winners will be announced Tuesday.


Our Spotlight Night has been moved from Sunday to Monday. On Monday we will feature several projects, choosing a few entries from each challenge :)


Now that we have all that boring stuff out of the way.. let's get to today's fun challenge! :)


This week is all about our "favorites" and I'm sure everyone has a favorite paper crafting company! Today's challenge is...

Important note: Your project should be made mostly with product from your favorite paper crafting company. We want your chosen company to be clearly seen and heavily used on your project.. at least 70% their product. Create a project that your favorite company would want to use in their galleries :)

Our prize for today's challenge is..

Who's favorite paper crafts company is Nikki Sivils?? I'm sure I hear a lot of "ME!"s lol. Nikki has many fabulous collections and "Blueberry Hill" is no exception! Nikki Sivils has sponsored TPV a couple times in the past and we're so happy to offer her products as prize again today! :)

Here is my layout:

My favourite pp is Fancy Pants. They are so bright and funky which is why I love to scrap these papers


Now it's your turn! :)
Enter your paper project here following today's "favorite paper crafts company" challenge before Tuesday noon EST for your chance at winning that fun Nikki Sivils prize!

Just ONE entry per person, please!

Thanks for celebrating with us!
Tomorrow Suzanne will bring you challenge #3 with another great prize!

Happy Birthday, TPV!

Welcome to The Paper Variety's one year anniversary celebration! This week it's all about our "favorite things"! TPV is hosting 5 daily challenges of our favorite things and awarding 5 great prizes to 5 lucky random winners. We hope you'll play along with us each day!!

We begin today with a fun blog hop and our 1st challenge which is sponsored by My Favorite Things stamps

If you've reached me from Cassandra's blog, you're in the right place! If not, you'll want to go back to The Paper Variety so you can begin in the right spot. Be sure to visit all 12 designers on this hop to be inspired by all their lovely creations using MFT stamps and also many of them/us have blog candy for you, too! .

Our first of 5 challenges is to create a paper project including stamps - clear stamps, rubber stamps, image stamps, sentiment stamps. My Favorite Things stamps is awarding a random challenge winner with a $25 gift voucher to their store!

You'll have until Tuesday noon to enter your project here
for a chance at the voucher prize.

My Favorite Things also generously provided the entire TPV DT with stamps to use on our projects. Thank you, MFT!

The Digi Stamp was great to work with on a card. I used watercolour pencils and loved how the cupcake had so many layers hence the amount of colours i used on the design.

Before you go on to the next hop stop, I have some blog candy to giveaway!

To be eligable for this blog candy, you just have to leave a comment on this post. But if you like my blog- become a follower and pop back at a later date.You needn't enter a project at TPV to win my blog candy although I do hope you decide to join the challenge, you could win a $25 My Favorite Things stamps gift certificate!



Dont forget, there will be other challenges and prizes daily until Sunday at TPV inspiring you to use your favorite things! There's also a giveaway on the TPV facebook page so don't miss that! Join in the fun! :)


Now hop on over to Hannah's to see her beautiful project created with MFT stamps!

Its Spring at Scrapmatts and a DT Callout.....

Well i do believe Spring is in the air with all flowers blooming and thunderstorms starting....

Not great weather for those asthma sufferers....certainly feel for those people....

But for those of us that do not, i love getting up close and personal with the fauna and flaura during Springtime...

I had alot of fun creating my creations for this months upload. I hope you enjoy and find some inspiration from my layouts.

"You are my Sunshine"

CB 2002 Film Strips 01

CB 6017 Music Notes 02

a close up:

"Just Look Up"

CB 1026 Flowers 06

a close up:

Hope you find some inspiration and Spring catches up with you.....

I would also like to thank Jasmine for sending me an awesome Scrapbook Nook Kit and some Purple Pumpkin buttons which i have used to produce these layouts.
I just hope i did you justice with the bright and funky kit you sent me....LOL



Bird Is the Word



It is September 1st....fall is in the air for me and I know Spring is in the air for many of you. I LOVE summer and am always sad to see it go. Winters in Minnesota are brutally long, dark and cold - so for me - the last days of summer can hang on tight.

Well, with the change of seasons, we are looking for six new design team members at Bird is the Word! Many of the existing members are hanging around (yeah!) but a few had to leave due to time constraints and other things. We are excited for new faces and new creations! As mentioned earlier this week...five new members will be chosen as traditional DT members and one new member will be chosen as a "sketch designer".

So, here are the details.....we are pretty low key around here.

1. Words are provided ahead of the official post on the BITW blog. Our design team creates a layout or project prior to the official posting date.
2. Two layouts using the provided word are required each month.
3. You have a blog you can post your projects on after they are revealed every other Sunday.
4. Besides creating two projects, your time is required for voting on the winning layouts and also for commenting on submitted layouts from challenge participants.
5. If you are interested in being a sketch designer, your sketches would be your DT submission, but you would be able to create an actual layout if you wanted to. Your sketches would be posted at the same time as the other layouts when they are revealed. However, many times the DT likes to use the sketch for their layouts, so the sketches would be needed ahead of time for the DT use.

That is about all I can think of for now. You will be on the DT for six months with the option of staying longer if you wish!!

If you are interested in being on the DT, please email me at birdteam2011@yahoo.com. When emailing me please include your blog address so that I can view your previous work. Also, please let me know if you are interested in the sketch position. Prior experience is not required for this position, but I would like to see a couple of sketches, so please attach those to your email.

The deadline for the DT call will be September 15th.

Wendy

Scrapmatts September Scraplift Challenge

Accepted and even encouraged throughout scrap booking communities, scrap lifting is the act of borrowing, or lifting, ideas and designs from somebody else's already created layout to use on your personal pages. As long as you're not submitting the layout for publication, claiming it as your own and accepting payment for it, it's okay to scrap lift for personal use. Common courtesy dictates that if you submit the page into an online member's gallery, that you give credit to the original artist and explicitly state that your page is a scrap lift of theirs. Many artists feel flattered when another scrapper duplicates their pages. Imitation is, after all, the highest form of flattery. Individual scrapbookers are part of a larger community that is always happy to provide inspiration and encouragement.



Believe it or not, it is also possible to scrap lift yourself. As you grow and learn more about the art of scrap booking you will inevitably begin to develop your personal style as well as discover new tips and tricks along the way. Look back at layouts you made a year ago and consider what you would do differently now to improve them. Using those new ideas, create a brand new page with more up to date photos.

So our September Challenge is to Scraplift a layout/card or OTP from the members gallery.

So the person whom i chose to Scraplift - who i am a big fan - Ebony van der Starre's layout called "Sunshine and Lollipops"

And is is my scraplift:

CB1026 Flowers 06


and a close up:

Thank you Ebony- i so enjoyed lifting your page..:)



To be eligible, your creation MUST also have Scrapmatts on it.

The prize will be a $25.00 Scrapmatts gift voucher.

Members need to upload their entry into the normal gallery and just call it 'September Challenge' and we will move it into an album.

Creations must be uploaded into the gallery by the end of the month.

Goodluck and happy scrapping from the Scrapmatts Team!!