Beltane Beauty

We went back to Shoal Bay for our first wedding anniversary this month (at Beltane) and Tailz from Nutkintailz Designs joined us up there for a week so its been a slow beginning to the month for my CT layouts but since September she has released THREE new kits! Beltane Beauty was created a year ago for her personal use when she designed some layouts for my handfasting/wedding and now she has released a taster with a full kit coming next year so stay tuned for that.

Evoking images of Dancing the Maypole with its colorful ribbons, Beltane welcomes the early days of summer. This taster is a prelude to the full kit which will be released at May Day next year and includes symbols of this ancient celtic festival and the rich colors of the mulberry tree and the ivy, both so prevalent at this time of year.

Nutkintailz Designs now at AUSSIE SCRAPS

Such exciting news for Tailz over at Nutkintailz Designs, her kits are now available at Aussie Scraps and right now they have a 50% sale until 30th September! So if you loved Sunburnt Country (made especially with aussie layouts in mind) head on over there and grab it at half price!

Here's a taste of Sunburnt Country revisited !

Remembrance of Times Past

Over the last year my niece Alicia has been researching our family history and was able to trace back to the 1700's in Britain on both sides, so I was very excited when Lesley at Nutkintailz Designs released her new kit "Remembrance of Time Past". Remembrance of Times Past is exactly that...remembering of our heritage whether it be family or our culture. This kit contains 40 embelishments of which 32 are completely unqiue and different. This kit is in the gorgeous hues of dark heritage green and red with beige added to compliment and highlight all your scrapping layouts and you can get it over at Nutkintailz Designs. To see more of my family history you can visit My Tribal History

Sweet Intimidation

credits: Angelflight Scraps - Recipes

Digiridoo Scraps challenged its members this month to "Scrap something true that you might never have scrapped before - it could be something deep, something funny, something embarrassing, whatever you like as long as it's your truth." and I decided to create a layout around how intimidated I've always been by pastry cooking ... 52 years on this earth and only ever made pies and tarts with store bought pastry shells ...but that all changed after Australia's first Masterchef series where they showed how easy it really is!

The Divine Ms Chloe

This week I was inspired to use the Divine Ms Chloe, a friend's little cherub, to illustrate two of my layouts for wordart/quote challenges .

kit: Cafe by Lily Designs

journalling: lyrics by Wendy Rule

kit: Imbolc Inspirations buy Nutkintailz Designs

overlay: JoeG

wordart: Scrapbook Max

The next two layouts were inspired by this gorgeous picture that came to me in an email, I couldnt decide which quote to use so I did both.

kit: Sunburnt Country by Nutkintailz Designs

quote: Henry David Thoreau

kit: Sunburnt Country by Nutkintailz Designs

quote: Frederick George Scott

oh and last but not least... I forgot to upload these two from last weekend when we celebrated my husband's birthday with a family lunch

Two Awards in One Day!!

Today wasnt one of my best, I've not been able to put any weight on my foot without pain for some time now and the doctor put it down to osteoarthritis which I also have all through my spine, but its got progressively worse over recent weeks and after an xray and ultrasound today it turns out I have spurs digging into the soft tissue and some early crumbling of the bones but I got home from all that to find I'd received awards from two scrapbooking sites I belong to (and which are fast becoming my favorite hangouts) What makes this even more exciting is that they're both aussie sites which I've only recently joined .. they sure know how to welcome their new members!! If you're looking for a fun place to hang out with some great challenges you can't go past Nuts4Digi or Digiridoo.

Layout of the Week at Nuts4Digi

credits: Imbolc Inspirations by Nutkintailz Designs

All Star Artist of the Week at Digiridoo

credits "All Worn Out" by Bubbles

What Inspires Me

One of the scrapbooking sites I'm a member at - Nuts4Digi - is hosting a challenge right now and the challenge is to create a layout about what or whom inspires me, well I didnt have to think real hard about that one as I'm surrounded by some of this country's most inspiring people every day here I work at the Australian Red Cross Blood Service. The dedicated people I work with of course inspire me constantly but the donors who so freely give the Gift of Life to someone they will never meet are the ones that make me go that extra mile in my work. So this layout, although it highlights Glenn Orgias, a recipient of the blood they donate, is dedicated to the donors.

created with "Love Is" from Joanne Bain Designs

SUNBURNT COUNTRY

Nutkintailz Designs has released another kit this week and although it has a distinct aussie feel this is the perfect kit for anyone who lives in a sunburnt country with its corrugated papers and aussie elements and the gorgeous baked earth papers. But the best news of all is that Lesley has a special offer on her new kit, "Sunburnt Country" which is a wonderful tribute to her native Australia. Purchase the kit and you will get the Quick Pages for FREE! Just toss 'em in your cart along with the kit and the price will be reflected as $0.00 upon checkout!

QPs - FREE with purchase when you buy this kit

for my non australian mates, this layout is just a few of our aussie icons

this exquisite sunset is at Long Jetty on the Central Coast of NSW

my beautiful sons playing the didgeridoo at Circular Quay on Sydney Harbour

National Tree Day

Here in Australia its National Tree Day so be sure to give the earth a hug by planting a tree or even a shrub or a pot full of flowers or herbs for the balcony! Todays layout was inspired by Tree Day and is created using Imbolc Inspirations by Nutkintailz Designs.

For those who follow the calendar of the earth and the turning of the wheel of the earth's year ..may your days be inspired by the beauty of Earth Awakening and may Brighid's Blessing be on you always.

created using Imbolc Inspirations from Nutkintailz Designs

More Imbolc Inspirations

Imbolc Inspirations by Nutkintailz Designs

my layout for the challenge

the beautiful Cherry from work who recently eloped and had a very intimate beach wedding, just the bride and groom

when I got this gorgeous photo in an email I had to scrap it! isnt she gorgeous?

and last but certainly not least the delightful Miss Chloe with her friend Caitlin

Imbolc Inspiration

As the wheel of the year turns towards spring we notice signs around us of earth awakening after her winter slumber. The ancient celts considered this the first day of spring and their traditions centered around new beginnings and clearing out the old in anticipation of the new. Spring-cleaning typically takes place at this time. Imbolc is a festival of lights and candles are lit at dusk on Imbolc eve and placed in every window of the house. They are kept burning until dawn. This is symbolic of lighting the way in to the future and the coming season of spring and renewal. And to celebrate the fresh new energies of this season Lesley over atNutkintailz Designs will be releasing her newest kit Imbolc Inspirations on 1 August! I'm sure you'll agree the soft fresh colors are what we all need after the long dark days of winter, and I've got a couple of teasers for you today but be sure to pop into Nutkintailz Designs in a day or two to see the entire kit.

This second layout was designed for a challenge I entered and it was a perfect chance to test run Imbolc Inspirations.

A Hint of Spring

Theres'a real hint of spring in the air early this year with unseasonably warm temperatures and gorgeous crisp days. I walk in the park each day during my lunch break at work and I can see the signs of this early spring in the buds already opening that we wouldnt expect to see yet for some weeks and when I found this Designer Combo at Digital Craft Cottage with its "beautiful serene colors of green, relaxing colors" I was inspired to use it immediately!

both created using Sea Oats from Digital Craft Cottage

NutkinTailz Designs now For Sale!

Very excited to announce that Nutkintailz Designs (see posts over the last few days) have been released for sale . But for now, here's a taste of Herbal Grimoire

Having so much fun designing layouts for the new kit from Nutkintailz Designs. Blues aren't usually my color of choice for heritage layouts but I was pleasantly surprised to see that "All About Men" lent itself beautifully to the older photos of my uncle I used here. It was time to plan my August desktop and it again was perfect to use for photos of two of the most important men in my life. The deeper colors and textures remind me that my little boys have indeed become men.

kit is "All About Men" from Nutkintailz Designs

available at Digital Craft Cottage Shoppe on 22 July 2009

Countdown to Kit Release by Nutkintailz Designs

On 22 July Lesley over at Nutkintailz Designs will release the first of her kits for sale and I hear she will also be giving away a freebie with each kit! So I've been working on a layout using her kit "All About Men" to give you a taste of things to come. This kit is perfectly suited to all those photos of the men in our lives, but I can see it being used for a lot more than scrapping our men. Be sure to come back next week to see a full preview of this kit.

upcoming kit "All About Men"by Nutkintailz Designs

Blogs n BrainSnaps

Life has a way of getting in the road of doing what we really want to do doesnt it? All I wanted to do this weekend was scrap, scrap, scrap, and scrap some more but alas revamping my blog has taken more time (and brain snaps) than I could ever have anticipated! At any rate thanks to Harmony over at Twilight Harmony Scraps who came up with the gorgeous alpha for my header and Ivy over at Scrappy Blog Backgrounds, I've had a reprieve from having to design my own layout from scratch! Gotta love networking huh? Anyways for now just wanted to share a page I created recently using Joanne Bain's work, its my niece's little girl Jessica with my husband Chris. Don't they look at home with each other? You can see more of the delightful Jessica over at Alicia's Designs

Joanne Bain Designs