A fresh Start...

is the name of KimB's Designs new kit, and I got to play with it. I love the colours and all the elements in the kit. (image linked to store)The kit is geared towards New Year's but when I first saw it, I thought of a cold winters day, and got my favourite photo of the boys out and scrapped this. I managed to combine it with the Quote Challenge at DSO
And then after decorating the tree and messing about with Robert and tinsel, I remembered that there is actually some tinsel in the kit, and this is what came about then.
It's a great kit and I am sure I will be scrapping some New Years pics with it, just after, so watch this space!
CU soon

Christmas 2008

Yep, a bit behind with the scrapping, but aren't we all?!
When I saw Bunny's new templates (currently on offer) (image linked)

I immediately thought they would be perfect for all the Xmas photos I took last year!
And yep, they worked. I used Andrea Dickinson's "Deck the Halls" for it.Ooh, and spot who was behind the camera most of the day!! thank goodness for the selftimer!


Back soon! Still plenty of layouts lurking!

I went Hybrid!!!

Yep! I did it! But I managed to find something to make that DIDN'T involve glue! (tend to get that everywhere!)
I made my grandma a calendar using Biograffiti's great template (image linked to store)

And I will let the pictures speak for themselves here they areKits that you can see, are Blaze by Flergs, Stop, Drop and Roll by Ziggle Designs, Snowblind by Sweet Digi Scraps, Deon by KimB's Designs. I used 12 different kits in all, and it was GREAT fun to make!
I had it bound at Staples, cause here in Germany I couldn't find anywhere to buy rings to bind it, all the stores kept offering me were the rings you find on keys, where I would have had to try to feed the paper through, I don't think that would have looked to good!

So if you like this, then you'll be knocked out if you go and visit Danyale today, she has made a beautiful baby shower hybrid present. Go and see it here
CU soon

Santa's helpers visited

And I got two completely different layouts done about it.

First of all, I have to show you my new desktop! Charlie has posted her Desktop Challenge on the NEW DSO Challenge Blog, and seeing as I still had Octobers on my desktop it was time for a change.I used KimB's newest Xmas kit "Merry And Bright" which she RAKed me with on Saturday, thanks again Kim, it really really cheered me up!

But I think the pics need explaining. Last year we introduced a new tradition to the family, on November 30th, the boys write their Xmas lists and leave them on the front doorstep for Santa's helpers to pick up, and Santa's helpers then leave an advent calendar for the boys. Last year the helpers also picked up Richard's dummy and their baby drinking beakers. This year we didn't need to "get rid of" anything, so they only got the Xmas lists.
And in the pics on the layouts you can see them both "signing" their lists and this year it was raining so we couldn't put them on the doorstep, so we posted them in our letterbox, and put the flag up, so that the helpers knew where to find them.

I loved the pics so much, that I knew just how to use Funky Playground Designs Template (on their blog today)Credits:
Template by Valorie Brown at FPD
Funky Joy by Wendy Page at FPD
Santa from Comfort and Joy by Miss Tiina at FPD
Alpha from Spot of Color by Valorie Brown at FPD

As you can see I have been having fun, when really i should have been making my Xmas card, at this rate no one will get one before Xmas, more like Easter! OK off now, to try and get the cards made.
CU soon

Funky Playground Template Giveaway!

Before I show you another of my layouts, I have to tell you about this great event coming to Funky Playground Designs every day in DecemberThe designers at FPD have each created templates for us all to grab and play with during December, you should definitely bookmark their blog and visit daily, I have seen some of the templates that are coming and we are all in for a treat!

And now I just have to show you yet another Xmas layout. there are soooo many Xmas kits out there, and I got to play with Miss Tiina's Comfort and Joy this weekend.
And here is what I did with it. This is one of the photos from our Xmas self timer photo shoot!
So don't forget to stop by the FPD Blog to pick up the daily templates!
CU soon

More Xmas layouts

We got a new camera this week, and have been playing hard with it - a new Canon 450d with a 18 - 200 lense! (it is latest of the Rebel series for my readers across the pond). We love it, we had a 350d which we gave in part exchange, we had taken 40.000!!! pictures on it, I think with this one, we may even beat the record!
Anyhow, we played by getting some family pictures for Xmas cards and things this week. And I got to use two of them in layouts already! But first let me show you the kit I got to play with
"First Noel" by Charlie's Digiscraps (image linked to store) Btw Charlie still has a sale on - hint hintAnd here are my layouts, this first is me and Richard playing silly before the pics were actually taken. Does that make sense?
Anyhow the boys were not really interested in having their pictures taken, they wanted to play Wii, so I had to try and somehow get them to smile for the camera, being silly worked. And it may also have had something to do with the fact, that they got to take turns in pushing the selftimer button!
And this photo of Richard was just me playing with the new camera, testing the zoom and new flash (yep we got a great external flash to go with it)CU again soon, I have been working hard on a hybrid project, it should be finished soon, so check back again.

I tried a fantasy page

And I like the outcome!

The Scraplift Challenge at DSO this month lifted a layout by Benita - I'm sure she won't mind me showing you ;o)

It sort of frightened me off to start with, but when I was looking for photos to scrap with my next CT Xmas Kit, I come across this picture of my "men" getting last years Xmas tree.Going through LouCee's "Snow Ho Ho" I found a great background for the picture, and the layout just started coming together all on its own. Even easier having joined in CreativeTechs awesome PS course in the past months, cause the extracting is getting easier (not easy, but easier!)
But enough suspense, here is the finished layout.
Who knows I may even resize it for a Xmas card for this year...

I also made another layout using LouCee's kit, only back in my comfort zone.
This one is for the Lyrics Challenge at DSO. The song this month is "We are family"

How about coming to join the fun challenges...
CU there, or here again soon

Gotta Pixel Birthday Blog Train

This month, Gotta Pixel is celebrating its 4th birthday. And we have been having a blast with all the exciting events going on, but we are also giving away over $2,000 worth of Prizes! Each week new things are being given, and new events going on, and this week is nothing short of it! We are kicking off this weekend with a HUGE Blog train! And its just for YOU! The entire team has collabed together to bring you an amazing shabby chic collection with something sure for everyone! This just kicks off the events we have listed here, as well as the Grab Bag Event going on, that is packed full of savings.


Here is My Gift to you for our Blog Train:

***Sorry - Download has expired***

This is just one stop on your blog trip. Here is a list of all the participating blogs that have something special waiting for you, The links will remain active on these blogs until 22nd of November at 11:59 pm EST. Should you get lost along your way, you can always visit here, or the Gotta Pixel Blog for complete list of participants:

GottaPixel: http://www.gottapixel.net/blog
Liz : http://www.sweetdigiscraps.blogspot.com
KarenS (Alpha): www.myownfont.blogspot.com
Karen Lewis : http://scrappingmum.blogspot.com/
Kristmess Designs : http://www.kristmessdesigns.blogspot.com/
Sara Ellis: http://scrapsillysara.blogspot.com
Crisdam Designs: www.busyfingers-digiscrap.blogspot.com
Heather T : http://oohlalaartsy.blogspot.com/
Laura Burger: http://digidesignerlaura.blogspot.com/
Sarah : http://blog.sarahbdesigns.net/
Connie Prince: http://scrapinfusions.blogspot.com/
simply.scraps: www.simply-scraps.net
Kathryn Estry: http://kathrynsdigitaldesigns.blogspot.com/
Marta Van Eck : http://www.martavaneck.blogspot.com
Jennifer Barrette : www.jenniferbarrettedesigns.blogspot.com
Colie's Corner: http://coliescorner.blogspot.com/
Elka Romero : http://elkaromero.com/

Julie Marie : http://juliemariedesigns.com/blog

Captivated Visions : http://blog.captivatedvisions.co.uk
Doohikey Designs: http://doohikeydesigns.com
Cherie Shields: http://cshieldsdesigns.blogspot.com/
Creations by Rachael: http://www.creationsbyrachaelb.com/wordpress/
Lorie M : http://digiscrapdesigns-by-lorie.blogspot.com/
Dustybear: http://dustybeardesigns.blogspot.com/
Melinda: http://mindys365project.blogspot.com/
Leigh :http://tricertifiedx2digitalworld.blogspot.com/
Kim: http://time2scrap.blogspot.com/
Danyale: http://bygonesscrapbooks.blogspot.com/
Cindy: http://cindyb-scrappinlikecrazy.blogspot.com/
Wendy: www.inadigitaldaze.blogspot.com
Dana : http://scrappydoosordonts.blogspot.com/
Kerri : www.kayjaysdays.blogspot.com ***YOU ARE HERE***
Chbranch: http://fmndesigns.blogspot.com/
Katie: www.felixfam.blogspot.com
Lisa: http://scrappylisa.blogspot.com/
Leilani: http://leidee-q.blogspot.com/

First Christmases

Ooh, I got a great kit to play with this week and I got to go browsing through some of the old pics of the kids. Their first Xmases.. seeing as the kit by KimB's Designs is called Christmas First, I thought it would be good to look back at my kids first. (kit image linked to store)

Robert first seeing as he is the oldest, he was 6 months in this photo. this picture in its original colours was actually our christmas card in 2004 - I still love it.
I tried a new technique on it for this layout though, I doubled it and changed the Hue and Saturation and then deleted that where the red bits were that I wanted to show through. I love how it turned out.and this is Richard at his first Xmas, he was nearly a year old then, I had to find a picture where the dribble wasn't too obvious. I kept this layout really simple using just a mask (also by KimB) and a hint of elements, cause the paper just did the work for me!
Back soon with more pretties

Gotta Grab it!

I had the privilege of playing with Liz's new kits this week and want to share the layouts with you. first of all, cause today is the last day to get it at $1 (ONE!!!) "Divatude" - if you love the colours in this, then you really should get over to Gotta Pixel, cause they have a whole load of kits in these colours for only one dollar each.
But back to my layouts using Divatude.

First of all, Zoe, she would be a Diva given half the chance ;o)And last night Colie did a Speed Scrap, I was of course sound asleep, but when I read the instructions I decided to play along anyways, and look I made Divatude work for boys too!!

But Liz has another couple of new kits out, Sick DayI think she may have realised that the boys were coming down with something, so I got a picture of poor Robert with tonsilitis and scrapped one of the bad days in his little life.And then Liz also has this kit "Snuggle Bunnies" out, and I used this for a Speed Scrap last week with Connie - there is another one of them tonight at 9pm German time, so if you are around, I'll be there!
here are my men playing UNO.CU again soon, many more layouts to show you soon

Tracey

I got to play with LouCee Creation's kit "Tracey" this week, it's really really versatile. (image linked to store)First of all, when I saw it, I thought "heritage" and went rummaging through Mum's Family Tree site browsing all of the old family photos, and in honour of Armistice Day, I chose the one of our unknown soldiers, who in some way is related to me, just not quite sure yet in what way.
Then I remembered that Mia had a jumper in similar colours on whilst we were in the UK, found the photo and, yep the kit works great for non-heritage pages too!Back soon

I went DSD shopping - want to see..

what I bought?!
Of course you do...
well first off I had a Gift Voucher from DSO (made CT of the month again) and I got this in Kim's sale

And this from Charlie's B-day sale!
Then I got a voucher for taking part in a Speed Scrap at Scrap Orchard, and I got these
and then I really did spend some money. I have all these pics of the boys on the Wii, and I just had to get this kit to scrap them with...so keep watching for those layoutsAnd then whilst getting some freebies at the Lily Pad, I spotted this kit, and just couldn't resist - thank goodness for sales!
And last but not least, I went shopping at the Daily Digi. I am often searching for a stamped font, and when the Daily digi's one went on sale, I jumped at the chance
so there is my loot from DSD, lots of stuff but not too many pennies!
Link me up to your finds and new treasures
CU soon

Template layouts..

Finally I have discovered the pleasure of using templates, and what luck for me to make it on to Biograffiti's CT, cause that way I get to play with her great templates.
Biograffiti has just moved stores, she is now at ScrapArtist, and to celebrate she has a grabbag full of templates for us. (image linked to store)And here are some layouts I made using them

this first one is of the boys collecting conkers at the Kindergarden-playground, they love collecting them, just a shame I keep having to throw them away...for some reason they aren't drying out, but going mouldy, yuck! but enough of that horrible image, enjoy this one instead...

Credits:
Through the Patch by Sweet Digi Scraps and Valarie Ostrom at Gotta Pixel

And these next ones are from Mia's Birthday party, here is the birthday girl blowing out her candles

Credits:
Glee by Rachael Young at ScrapArtist

And here is Richard playing silly for the camera!

Credits:
Girls are Yucky by Designs by Lili at ScrapArtist

CU tomorrow with even more layouts!

New CT!

Well, remember that we all thought DSO might close at the end of the month, that really was depressing when Bunny wrote about it on her blog, thank goodness I wasn't the only one depressed and the girls at DSO got together to save it... well before it was saved I thought I needed to find a new home, and I did - Funky Playground Designs - where I have been accepted to be on their site CT. So now, lucky me has more than just one home on the www.

So here I am now to show off what I have been playing with of theirs. I got to play with Miss Tiina's new kit "Fall Friends" - it has a really cute, cute squirrel in it, well all the elements are cute and fun to play with, but I fell in love with the squirrel! (image linked to store)And here is my layout with it, the boys on a nature walk with my Dad (and Florian, but he isn't on this picture)
Bye 4 now