INSM12#13 - WHERE IN THE WORLD?

I am so excited.. it is my turn to host a Challenge at Let's Scrap.. check it out HERE:

“Welcome, Welkom, Howdy Mate, Guten Tag, Buon giorno, Bonjour, nǐ hǎo” 

... phew.. we have so many members from all over the world,  that it is hard to welcome you all in your home tongue.. I hope I got some of you at least..

So.. in honor of (INTER)national scrapbooking month, and to celebrate what a multi-cultural group of talented ladies we are, I would like to challenge you all to share a bit about your wonderful Country, City or town that you live in..

Where do you live?  What makes it so special?  Are there any special events that you have yearly that are unique to your Country or Town? (e.g. Australia celebrates Australia Day, USA celebrates 4^th of July, South Africa celebrates National Braai Day, etc)... this is the perfect time to share these events with us or just show us how beautiful that Country, the little Town or large City that you live in really is.

So.. ladies.. Who needs to hop on a plane to travel around the globe?  Not us.. we can do it at our Scrapping Tables !

This is the layout that I created for this challenge!  This was our very first Australia Day Celebration with friends here in Melbourne.  It was such a fun outing.  I was lucky to find an Australian Paper pack in the local shopping centre to use for my layout.

So here is my challenge to you:

Use a Let’s Scrap sketch to scrap a layout about the Country, City or Town where you currently live.  (No Cards allowed for this challenge).    NB:  You have to include an image of your Countries National Flag onto your layout, no matter how big or small it may be.

Close up of layout left and right pages:

Close ups of elements used:

I hope you get a chance to take part in the challenge.  Here is the prize you will be playing for.. Winners announced on 3 June.

Hugs, Mich

Let's Scrap weekly sketch : 5-9-12: Family

This is this week's sketch that was just posted at Let's Scrap:

I just fell in love with this sketch and knew I had the perfect photos for it.


I recently purchased a paper Challenge Pack from Scrapbooking and Things and these papers were absolutely perfect for this sketch.


This is my layout created from the Wedding photos we took on the Beach of me and my wonderful family:

I used my Cricut Essentials Cartridge for the title.  The quote reads:  WE MAY NOT HAVE IT ALL TOGETHER, BUT TOGETHER WE HAVE IT ALL (isn't that so beautiful).

Close ups of the elements on the page.

Thanks for looking. Remember you have an entire week to load your layouts for this sketch to win a great prize.


Hugs, Mich

INSM12#12 - BINGO card layout - MOM JACKPOT

The latest challenge has been posted at Let's Scrap for INSM.. Check out the challenge details HERE:

Here is Elizna's challenge:

• You MUST use a BANNER 
• and a BINGO CARD

on your scrapbooking layout.

No cards allowed.

You must use a Let's Scrap sketch.

I have so many papers with BINGO cards on, but love the Simple Stories range.  So pulled out the matching left over papers that I had and created this quick single layout.

I added some Playing cards, a suduko card as well as the required BINGO card to my challenge and called it..

I hit the MOM JACKPOT.  

This is for my two beautiful boys.. I really am such a lucky mom.. !

Closeup of all the elements I used. 

Thanks for looking.  

Hugs, Mich

INSM12#9 - Pinterest Challenge - SO CUTE

Denise has posted her Challenge for INSM at Let's Scrap.. 


She posted the following photo from Pin Interest that we need to use for inspiration: 

This is her challenge:  Create a 1 or 2 page layout that is inspired by this image. You can use a Let’s Scrap sketch, but you don’t have to.

I immediately knew that I had to scrap that tree in the picture.. how beautiful is it?  So I copied the picture, enlarged it on my PC and printed it out.. then cut out the tree from pink pattern paper.  I used this weeks sketch from Let's Scrap to inspire me.  

This is my niece.. I miss her so much and don't get to see her growing up as I am so far away.. quote reads.. if I had a single flower for each time I think about you, I would walk forever in my garden.. 

These are closeups of the layout that I created.  I used ancient Quickcuts Dies for the leaves.  

Hope you get inspired by that amazing layout and take part in the challenge.  


Hugs, Mich

INSM Challenge #4 - Hang Ten

I found some time to take another of the Challenges over at Let's Scrap for International Scrapbooking Month.. 


Challenge #4 by Laura reads:  " I am giving you the opportunity to create a layout with non-traditional, recycled items.  I want you to dig deep and think GREEN, as in recycled!  Think about items that you don't normally toss in the recycle bin or reuse, stretch that imagination."


So.. in true fashion.. I took out a whole ton of "rubbish" that I would normally throw away and proceeded to create my layout..


Here is my before pile of items I thought I might be able to use.. this pile included an old muffin packet, clothing tags, a cereal box, bread packet ties, a plastic clothing packet and some thin twine from a clothing price tag..

Using a Let's Scrap Sketch and most of these items, this is what I ended up with. 

Here are closeups of the layout and elements that I used and how I used them.

Left and right pages:

I firstly used an old cardboard box, that I cut into strips, tore and then painted and inked for my Title strips:

 I then dug out an old Muffin Packet that I received at a Deli, together with some old clothing tags off my sons jeans to fit on my page. I painted them with a layer of white paint too. 

 I hung another Hang Ten material tag off the muffin bag and included my handwritten journalling inside the bag.

I used an old Cereal box to cut out my arrow, I also made use of the barcode and the Australian Grown wording that was on this Cereal box:

From the plastic packet that I had from RIVERS clothing store, I cut out the Australian map and used it on the front of my packet to show where we had our holiday.

I finally used a piece of twine from another clothing tag and a Bread Packet tie to adhere my two painted and inked Hang Ten clothing tags to the layout.

Wow, who would have thought that these items could end up being used in such a fun way.


Hope you learnt something new and that you think twice before you throw out those items that can be recycled onto your pages.


Hugs, Mich

CK Creative NSD Challenge #2

CK Creative Crop NSD CHALLENGE #2: Grab a photo from a few years back and a photo from today and tell a story about the way things are different or the same. 


I created this layout of my 2 boys, Klaven and Brenton.  The first photo was taken when Brenton was 5 weeks old and the second when he was 9 years old.. how the time has flown by..

Close ups of elements used:

Hugs, Mich

INSM Challenge #6 - Scrap yourself Scrapping

Eniko has posted INSM Challenge #6 at Let's Scrap.  It is to SCRAP YOURSELF SCRAPPING.  As we often don't get photos of us doing our favorite hobby.

She kindly gave us this amazing sketch to work with, and provided a list of techniques we needed to use.

This challenge runs from 5-8 May 2012.    I couldn't resist this challenge as I have been to a lot of Scrapbooking Expo's and have not had time to scrap the photos.  

However my favorite Expo of all time, was when TIM HOLTZ came to South Africa.  He is my absolute Scrapbooking Hero and I cannot tell you how much I admire his work and style.  As a teacher, he was by far the best teacher I have ever been taught by and in the 3 hour class I attended, I learnt more than in any of my other classes combined.  He is funny and so clever !  

We created an album called the ARTFUL JOURNAL.  What a fantastic day. My layout is dedicated to Tim... MY SCRAPPING HERO.  In true Tim Hotlz style, I used 99% of his products doing my layout.  I inked, distressed, grundged, used his papers, washi tape, alpha's, elements and a lot of his grungeboard which I  diecut from his Sizzix Templates and painted, sanded and distressed.. I used his Tattered Angel Flower diecut to create the flowers as well.  I also used a lot of techniques that he showed us in his class.  My hands have not been this dirty in a long time.. LOL 

A final touch was to use his signature that I had on one of his Grungeboard packs to make a banner on my main photo with him. 

Here is a close up of left and right pages.

These are closeups of some of the elements that I created to finish off this page:

Hope you get time to take part in this challenge. If not, there are so many more coming up for May, so hop on over to Let's Scrap and check them out..

Hugs, Mich