I'm so excited!

Warning: unless you are actually me, or you are actually interested in my ramblings on our upcoming trip and my preparations for that trip, this post might be worth skipping!

Oh man, there's still 12 weeks to go before we go away and already our travels are consuming many of my waking hours! I don't know how I'm supposed to last for the next 12 weeks. I've been busy making bits and pieces for our trip, and I'll post some pics of that stuff over the next few days.  I haven't really taken any photos of them yet!

The most exciting thing (to me, that is) is my travel journal. I've been planning it for a long time and working on it a bit here and there at lunch times and after work.  I'm making it myself from scratch, as I had a look around and couldn't find any travel journals that I liked, included everything that I wanted as well as looked like 'me'. So I made one. Apart from obviously pages to write on (which I've customised with numbers and a little summary box), I've included pockets for boarding passes (which will no doubt accumulate throughout the trip) and postcards, a list of our itinerary and flights, a summary of common phrases in the most common languages of the places we are going to, a checklist of things to bring/pack/remember, and of course country headings with pockets on the back of each one for the little tidbits we pick up along the way.

(pages to write on - the backs are plain lines)

(country headings - between these headings are enough numbered pages for the number of days we will be in that country, and an envelope on the back for storing 'stuff')

(my 'other' pages, such as the itinerary)

I've made front and back pages out of thick chipboard covered with the loveliest fabric, which I've sewn on and then covered up the inside so it looks nice and professional.  I've then sewn on a button and elastic loop to keep it all closed up. So far, all the pages and the covers aren't bound together, but I will take it to an office store to get it wire bound like a proper spiral-bound notebook.  The only problem is it has turned out to be about 1.5 inches thick, and most of the binders say that can't go that thick.  I've found one place that say that they can do it, so I'll cross my fingers!  I'll post some picture of the fabric later - it's divine!

I bought a number of different prints of the co-ordinating fabric, and I've also set about making myself one of these:

A travel wallet.  I got the pattern and instructions from http://glass-beach.blogspot.com/, where the above pattern was designed for 'Adorn' Magazine which is now discontinued. (The pattern and instructions are in her sidebar on the right.)  The instructions were so easy to follow.  My only regret with what I made is that I didn't use stiff enough interfacing, and instead of being quite sturdy (especially the front cover, ie the little pocket for the boarding pass you can see on the left) it is sort of floppy! I'm debating on whether to make another one and chalk my first attempt up to experience (and it really did turn out quite well) or whether to just insert some stiff chipboard into the two large pockets to stiffen it up.

I've also made some zippered pouches to keep the little things together, like the two thousand (haha) SD cards we'll be taking, and all the chargers for the phones, cameras, laptop, etc.  I've found a great tutorial on an easy way to make a zippered purse here, that I have found a little easier to follow than the original tutorial I was using from Nicole M.

I've also found a great idea (which I don't know why I didn't of this myself anyway) that will fix my problem with my lens cap on my camera.  Each of my lenses has a lens cap (obviously) and I don't have the little string-y bit that connects the lens cap to the camera body itself.  Too many times I put the lens cap down when I take it off (as I'm often not wearing shorts with pockets) and forget where I put it.  I've looked at a couple of local camera stores and they're all out of stock at the moment.  I could wait for them to come back in, but instead I'm going to make a little pocket with a flap to sew on to my camera strap. I know, duh me for not thinking of this until I saw some really beautiful camera straps and accessories on this website. You should check out the other camera strap covers she's got - they're beautiful! I already planned on updating my camera strap cover to match with the fabrics I'm making my travel journal (etc) from, so I'll just sew this little pocket right on!  I wish I could post some photos of the stuff this lady makes (but her copyright doesn't allow this) - I'm going to try putting a centre gathered strip on my new strap cover like this one using this gathering method.

I know this post isn't really any good without pictures, but I promist I'll post some later. What silly little things excite me... some would say I live a sad life! But honestly, I've been so excited the past week especially now that my little projects are coming together and looking lovely!

I asked John if he wants me to make him a travel journal too... funnily enough he said no!

Inspiration Thursday

Some various things I've found around the net that have jumped out at me:

Love this idea - I've started typing all of my recipes onto 6x6 cards, and I even have the 6x6 American Crafts binder ready to go.  (Cathy Zielske)

These colours look wonderful together and I think would make a great colour scheme in a room. (From Kristina Werner)

How simple are these pages, yet they look great. Love this for a mini book that would just be whipped up so quickly.  Maybe thinking of something like this as a very quick highlight album using photos from our trip? I'm guessing that when we get back I'll be dying to do something with the photos quickly! (From Kristina Proffitt on Jessica Sprague)

Wow, I love this photo! I'd love to try something like this for upcoming photo club meetings.  (Submitted for a Pioneer Woman photo challenge on depth of field by 'Technicolor')

These layouts would make great photo collages to print out for scrapbook pages (from Crystal Wilkerson on Jessica Sprague)

I like the idea of using my old foam letter stamps in a 'new' way.  I used this idea on a recent layout I did (turning 12, posted last week). (From Barbara Wong on Ella Publishing)

Some great ways to fit lots of photos on to a page. (From Lisa Kisch on Two Peas in a Bucket)

(From Julie Deguia on Two Peas in a Bucket)

I really like this use of an old Basic Grey, and one of my favourite lines (Sultry) (From Rachel Gainer on Ella Publishing)

And finally, two images from Nicole Southworth that I think are great ideas for capturing photos of your daily life in a fairly low-key but effective way:

I've seen pictures of the new Basic Grey lines, and oh my gosh, they're gorgeous! I will definitely be using them in the upcoming GSG in April! Can't wait until they arrive at the shops here in Australia!  I'll post some photos of layouts by Kelly Goree that I love soon.

I've still got lots of inspiring photos of layouts, cards, photos and other things on my hard-drive, so I'll post some more soon.

A quick post and run...

Some photos of what I think is a quite cute elephant, commissioned by Fiona for her to give as a gift to a friend's baby.  I think the fabric is maybe a little thinner that I had originally thought, it is kind of like a very thin polar fleece.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to find polar fleece around here! Spotlight has two colours - gray and blue!  I have managed to find a bright-ish green remnant that I'm using for a second secret project (no prizes for guessing what) that I'll share a little later.

I love the yellow circle fabric, although it too is probably a bit thin for what I'd like.  I think I'll iron on some interfacing to the ears for the next one I make to stiffen them a bit.

I used some safety eyes this time, and they work fairly well.  I had some little pink ones there that looked really cute, but the hole was too big to use them so I needed some bigger ones.  I'll know better next time.

I think it's adorable, and I want more people I know to have babies so that I can make some more!

Quick post and run, be back soon.

January: In Review

January: In Review

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?

Books
• Stuart MacBride – ‘Blind Eye’
• Karen Slaughter – ‘Genesis’
• James Paterson – ‘Alex Cross’ Trial’
• James Paterson – ‘I, Alex Cross’
• Jonathan Kellerman – ‘Rage’

Magazines
• -

What movies, television shows, plays, etc. did I watch this month?

Movies
• ‘Avatar (3D)’ – it really was as good as the hype
• ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’ from DVD
• The entire Bourne trilogy (Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy, Bourne Ultimatum) – John and I had a DVD night

Favourite TV shows
• Survivor – Samoa
• Superstars of Dance – ok, but not as good as I was expecting
• The Secret Millionaire

What fun things did I do with my family and/or friends?
• Dinner at our neighbours – the day we got home after Christmas Linda came over and said that as it was unlikely we had anything for dinner, and we should come over for a bbq.
• Lunch at the harbour with John.
• Going for lots of drives ‘just because’…

What gifts did I give and/or receive?
• -

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

• Quite a bit of fabric and other notions for a bit of sewing I’ve been doing lately.

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

• I’ve noticed one of my moles drastically changing, so I’ve booked both John and I in for a mole check.
• John and I went to the doctor to check what immunisations we need for our trip – I need to get a course of 6 needles between March and May!!

What were my accomplishments this month?

• Cleaned out the kitchen and linen cupboards.
• Cleaned out my scrapping cupboards and fit in all my old ‘stuff’ from Mum and Dad’s place (including all of my old dancing costumes!).
• We joined a gym!!! (Finally!) I have made a commitment to go three times a week, before work, so that I can go walking some afternoons after work. So far, so good! Those who know me know that getting up early in the morning is not my forte, but I haven’t missed a morning yet in three weeks!
• Used my new appliances in the kitchen a fair bit – lots of healthy smoothies in the blender, various recipes in the food processor, and some poached eggs for breakfast on the weekends!
• I got the business books up to date.
• I made two pairs of shorts for the gym, two stuffed toys (one as a first try and one for Fiona who asked for it to give as a gift) as well as half a dozen scrapbooking pages.
• I won my first ever ‘Pure Talent’ prize at the photo club – and a 1st AND 2nd prize at that! I also won 2nd place in ‘Enhance It’.

What were my disappointments this month?

• I sometimes feel as though I’m banging my head against the wall at work – it’s not because of who I work with!! I sometimes seriously wonder how I will continue working in the field that I am, doing what I’m doing where I’m doing it without going crazy – literally. I’m sure I’ll have a stomach ulcer by the time I’m 25 if things keep going the way they’re going. I’ll leave it at that.

Anything else noteworthy to include?

• Believe it or not, we FINALLY received the final invoice for our house in Melbourne, and it actually takes into account the liquidated damages that they owe us. What was supposed to be a 160 construction period has turned into a nearly 365 day construction period – through no fault of our own. Luckily neither John nor I gave up and we kept pushing them to stay within the Contract – which they wrote, mind you. We’ve finally won, and it hopefully won’t be too long before we can get someone in there.
• Nicole Southworth (a scrapbooker who has really inspired my change in scrapbooking style) is scrapping a photo of mine for me, after having a little competition on her blog. Can’t wait to see what she does with it.
• Began the organisation for the next GSG in April. I’ve got the layouts picked out, the supplies list complete and I’ve sent everyone the list of photo requirements.

Things to aim for next month? (Again, a lot of these are carried over from last month…)

• Continue to organise the next GSG. I hope to have this organised by March, so that April can be dedicated to final organising for our big overseas trip.
• Replenish my ‘stock’ card supply with some effective but simple cards that I can have on hand to send when I need them (or just want them).
• Continue to work on John’s around the world trip album (from where he went on the trip before we event met, but I’m making a very simple album for him with his photos and little tidbits of journaling). The album is very very simple, using only cardstock and photos, and generally stamping or computer printing for the titles. Each country/region has its own colour groups (ie France is blues/grays, Scotland is greens/white, Italy is terracotta type colours, USA is red/white/blue etc). I have all the photos printed (and have had for probably two years now) and the cardstock is bought and sorted, but I’ve only finished about 8 pages (and there’s likely to be probably 40 when finished).
• Post regularly on my blog, in nice, clear posts (take inspiration from Fiona).
• Make a start on trying to get my photo editing up to date.
• Make a start on just generally organising my life. I would ultimately like to have a nice routine where: at the end of each month I sort through the photos from that month and file, edit and print them; I get the business books up to date ready for the new month; everything on my scrapping desk gets tidied up and put away. Just little things that get away from me if I don’t make time to actually do them regularly.
• Make a start on my travel journal – I’d already done a little bit to start one, but I think I’ve changed my mind on what I want.

Feels good to get all of that down.  My next post should be some peeks at other things I've been making, and photos I've been taking.

December: In Review

Better late than never, hey? I've had this written on my harddrive for a little while now.

I'll be back with January shortly.

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
Books
• Robert Muchamore – ‘Brigands MC’
• Stephenie Meyer – ‘New Moon’, ‘Eclipse’, ‘Breaking Dawn’ (yes, again!)
• Bryce Courtenay – ‘The Story of Danny Dunn’
• ????? – ‘Blood Ties’

Magazines
• ‘Australian Photography’ – random issues from John’s Mum

What movies, television shows, plays, etc. did I watch this month?

Movies
• ‘New Moon’ (The second in the Twilight saga) – I was extremely disappointed!

Favourite TV shows
• Survivor – Samoa
• The Amazing Race
• Martha Stewart Living (yes, I know….!)

What fun things did I do with my family and/or friends?

• Our family Christmas celebrations in Mackay
• Work Christmas Party at a lovely restaurant here that I’ve never been to
• Another family Christmas celebration in Rockhampton
• The ‘normal’ Christmas celebrations in Baralaba (including travelling to Moura and Taroom)
• New Years Eve celebrations in Rockhampton – a really, really wonderful night, having a BBQ and drinks with family

What gifts did I give and/or receive?

• Christmas gifts given:
o Handmade Christmas placemats (I loved making these)
o Sooo much other stuff – wall photo canvases, SLR camera bag backpack, car dashmat, car floor mats, Karcher pressure cleaner, Howards Storage World voucher, personal DVD player, digital photo frame and lots of knick-knacks

• Christmas gifts received:
o Masterchef cookbook
o Numerous books: Lonely Planet Guide – Mediterranean Europe, The Story of Danny Dunn (Bryce Courtenay), The Last Song (Nicholas Sparks), I Alex Cross (James Paterson), The Lost Symbol (Dan Brown), and a couple of others I can’t remember the name of!
o New pair of thongs
o New Scanpan foodsafe knife and chopping mats (love this knife!)
o Food processor
o Various clothes/pajamas
o Egg poacher (been wanting one for ages!!)
o Wii remote control charger – the one with nothing to plug in or anything (you just sit the remotes on top and they get charged like magic!)
o Other bits and pieces…

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

• Well, our new car arrived – ‘Mr Q’, a Ford Focus XR5 Turbo! Love it love it love it
• More Christmas fabric at Spotlight’s sale
• An Apple Macbook Air – very cool
• Some other fabric for a secret project
• I found some tops that I really like at Susan Gray and they’re a great price, so I bought a number of them in different colours

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

• I got sunburnt while out on a construction site for a couple of days in a row – naughty me

What were my accomplishments this month?

• Cooked a roast chicken and roast potatoes (my first real roast chicken!) from the MasterChef cookbook – first time I’ve used ‘real’ garlic in cooking
• Did a fair bit of sewing, mainly for Christmas items
• John decluttered the laundry and the garage
• I made a fair bit of Christmas crafts – very relaxing

What were my disappointments this month?

• Seeing as though I didn’t make my Christmas cards well in advance so that I could send them out in December, I wanted to make them IN December – not accomplished.
• Our house in Melbourne that we’re currently building is STILL not finished.
• Losing Ellie – my 1988 Ford Laser. Her replacement was most definitely an upgrade, but it still sad… my first ever set of wheels!

Anything else noteworthy to include?

• I made all of my own Christmas tags in Photoshop. After seeing some by Ali Edwards and Cathy Zielske on the net, I realised that I could make them myself and not have to buy any.
• Continued work on my ‘Me: The Abridged Version’ scrapbooking album (a class by Cathy Zielske has inspired me in this one).
• Mum and Dad’s new house is all unpacked and they’re well and truly settled in now.
• Our neighbour’s dog had puppies – 4 of them about a week before Christmas. They’re gorgeous!
• Although I don’t make ‘New Years Resolutions’, I do believe in setting ongoing goals for things I want to achieve throughout the year. My main one is, surprise surprise, to get healthy.

Things to aim for next month? (Most of these are carried over from last month…)

• Replenish my ‘stock’ card supply with some effective but simple cards that I can have on hand to send when I need them (or just want them).
• Declutter my scrapbooking room cupboard to make more storage space.
• Sort out the linen cupboard and the kitchen cupboards.
• Get the business books up to date.
• Continue to work on John’s around the world trip album (from where he went on the trip before we event met, but I’m making a very simple album for him with his photos and little tidbits of journaling). The album is very very simple, using only cardstock and photos, and generally stamping or computer printing for the titles. Each country/region has its own colour groups (ie France is blues/grays, Scotland is greens/white, Italy is terracotta type colours, USA is red/white/blue etc). I have all the photos printed (and have had for probably two years now) and the cardstock is bought and sorted, but I’ve only finished about 8 pages (and there’s likely to be probably 40 when finished).
• Post regularly on my blog, in nice, clear posts (take inspiration from Fiona).
• Make a start on trying to get my photo editing up to date.
• Make a start on just generally organising my life. I would ultimately like to have a nice routine where: at the end of each month I sort through the photos from that month and file, edit and print them; I get the business books up to date ready for the new month; everything on my scrapping desk gets tidied up and put away. Just little things that get away from me if I don’t make time to actually do them regularly.
• Again (and hopefully for the last time – having this as a goal I mean, not actually doing it for the last time): join a gym.

Weekend and Australia Day crafting

I had a very creative weekend this past Saturday and Sunday, and Australia Day lent itself to some crafting as well.  The rainy, overcast weather may have contributed to that - I always feel like staying indoors (funnily enough!) and doing some scrapping/sewing in that sort of weather. Not the best Australia Day weather, though.

I took some inspiration from Nicole last week and made up two multi-photo collages in Photoshop to display the multitude of Christmas photos I had from a Christmas family gatherin back in 2008.  This will not be the only page/s from this particular gathering either - I have a LOT of photos!  I then printed them out at Harvey Norman, and a fairly quick double page layout was completed!

I plan on doing quite a few more Christmas pages in this sort of style over the coming months - I've just got sooo many photos from various Christmas gatherings (and we generally have about three family celebrations each year) - anyone who knows my family will know what I mean!  I've set up some different templates that I'm using for this purpose, and just adding to them as I need them.

I also did these pages:

A page of the family celebration we had when my cousin got married.  The photos are so busy, that I think I should have used a more subdued, subtle paper, but oh well:

A page that I'm sure Mum will be stoked I posted on the internet, of her when she was pregnant with each of us three girls:

One of the first family photos of our complete family (after my youngest sister was born).  I've had that little clip (and some other colours too) for such a long time, and have never used them on any pages! I challenged myself to use it this time:

And one of my favourite family photos from when I was growing up, on my 12th birthday.  Love these papers (from My Minds Eye):

I just love scrapping some of these older photos - and with some of them, there are just a few little words that need to go along with them to take a trip back down memory lane.  I'm making a conscious effort to include a little bit of journalling on most of my pages - where there is something to journal about of course.  I've got quite a few more photos printed out that I intend on scrapping over the next few weeks.

I've also been working on a secret project:

I'm so happy with how this has turned out so far (and you probably don't need to Einstein to work out what it is) - can't wait for the next stage of this project.

I also began (and completed) this little dear yesterday.  Her name is Penny:

I know, I know! I should have waited until she was actually finished (ie has some eyes!!) before I posted pictures, but I couldn't wait that long! I'm still not sure what type of eyes I'll give her yet - the pattern suggests some little beads, but I'm thinking some embroidery eyes would be better.

I've had my eye on this pattern from Funky Friends Factory for a little while now, but just nevery really got around to buying it.  Well, at Spotlight before Christmas they had a sale on patterns for VIP members, and I bought the pattern.  (It also has the lamb and the horse in the same pattern. Bargain!) I just used some calico that I had in my stash, as well as some pretty corduroy-type fabric (also from my stash) that was originally bought in 2006 to make a cover for my sewing machine (which I got for my birthday that year).  Needless to say, it was never used for that purpose, and my new (much, much better Elna) came with a hard case. Anyway, I think she turned out pretty good for my first ever effort at something like this. And the pattern was a little more involved that I thought it would be - lots of fiddly sewing! 

I definitely have to work on my hand sewing though - sewing up the opening at the back is a little more noticeable than I had hoped, but still a respectable effort!

I don't know that I should have ever made this - it's not as if I need more hobbies! And now I think I'll try another one using some different fabric.  Now that I know the process, and which little areas to look out for, I'm hoping that the next one will be a bit better. I might even give her a tail next time, which the pattern doesn't include.

That's about it for my weekend crafting, and my morning tea break is almost over. I'll be back soon to post my December round-up (better late than never), which will be closely followed by my January round-up.

Photo club meeting for January

I know it's been soooo long since I posted (was Christmas really only a month ago?) and I've got a heap of photos to share and catch-up posts (including my monthly round-up for December that I've had finished for a while and just haven't posted...).  I've also had a really creative weekend with lots of pages and some other crafting finished, but those photos are yet to be downloaded onto my computer.

So first of all, John and I are proving to be a great team when it comes to photography! John has lots of creative ideas, and I used those ideas to come up with these photos, which won some prizes at the photo club January meeting:

1st place (pure talent) - Sunburst

2nd place (pure talent) - Daisy in blue

2nd place (enhance it) - Car  (I know, an imaginative name!)

 So, now that I've got a heap of '50 free 4x6 prints' cards from Harvey Norman (the prize for winning places in the above competitions) I've been madly editing my photos that have sitting in my 'to edit' folder for a long time! I've gone right back to 2007 for these photos!  Most of the 'events' that I'm yet to scrap have lots of photos, so I've used the opportunity of free 4x6 prints to print numerous photos on one 4x6 so that I can fit lots of photos on one layout (or doubles in some cases).  Photos of those layouts to come.

I will definitely try to post my December round-up shortly, because the end of January will be here very very soon!