Day 5 is all about Giving

Hi everyone

Here I am with Day 5.

Day 5 has my jouraling on the full page.  It covers my thoughts on giving, and also our Wishing Tree gift.  This is something we do every year as we have so much to be grateful for each.  There are so many people who go without at Christmas.  Believe me I know, one year the kids and I were in this position, and we had some amazing support and thoughtfulness from a Domestic Violence Unit.  Now that we are back on our feet, and have a home and more than we need, it's an opportunity for us to give back, to give to those in need a helping hand.

I smeared some black paint on the bottom of the page.
I cut the letters out myself, using really old die cuts as a stencil.

On the right I added a pocket page.
I included a quote, a shaker pocket with the date, and also the photos to go with the story. 

I used washi tape on my photos to create a lift the flap - with more photos underneath.

This is really easy to do and creates an interactive page.

So that's another week done.

I'll be back as soon as I can with some more updates,

 

December Daily Day 4

So Day 4 is all about the CRAZY!!

Silliness is something we do well in this household, especially as the kids are growing up, and are teenagers now! Lots of sarcasm and wit used in our daily lives.  I love it and wanted to capture this stage,  so thought I would create a day about it.

I used the back of the Kraft divider from the album.  I applied gesso and added my journaling.  I also included those old die cut letters from 8-9 years ago, but bought them into the now by tracing one of the letters, and cutting it from a bold black and white stripe, which gives it a more modern feel.

On the right hand side I cut a pocked page in half.  I didn't have enough photos to fill the whole pocket, plus the photos didn't fit the configuration.   I will use the other half later.

Here's the back of the trimmed down pocket page, plus I've included my journaling and a few photos that enhance the journaling.

That finishes off my Day 4.

Day 4 won't be long!
 

December Daily Day 3

Hi everyone

I'm back to share Day 3 of December Daily.

Today was all about love.......my partner and I went to a beautiful wedding in the Riverland.  It made me reflect on the love that is in my life.

I included their wedding invite, I love it!

I used a variety of different sized photos to create visual interest.

It truly was a beautiful day.

This page has a Kraft divider that was part of the album.  I painted it with white gesso, and then simply added a large 5x7" photo. 
I added some 2Crafty Chipboard, which I painted white, and really that was all that was needed.

Simple.
Classic.
Love is always the answer.

I'll be back real soon.
 

December Daily Day 1 and Day 2

Hi all

I'm back to share my first page of December Daily, inspired by the fabulous Ali Edwards.

This one is about my kids coming back to me after being at their dad's.

Sorry the photo's a little dark.

I talked about my feelings around this, and how excited I get to have them coming home.

As I'm using up product for this album, I used some left over paper. It was a little too pink so I toned it down with white gesso. I really liked how this looked and decided to journal on that part.

I tied a string around the page and added a 'special delivery' card to signify that they are my greatest present in the whole world!

I used some 2Crafty chipboard for the family title and the quote underneath reads.....
"Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much."

Day 2 is about how we travelled to my partner's house in the Riverland and how his neighbours lit up the street with their amazing Christmas Lights!!

 

I again applied some gesso to the reverse of the paper I used in Day 1, which again, I journalled on.

I added a photo sleeve and a couple of photos, and that's about it!

I'll pop back soon when I've had time to photograph the next few pages!
 

December Daily!

Hi everyone

Well a few days ago I decided to jump in and complete a December Daily book for this year!

Yes, call me crazy for adding something else into this month, but there is a reason for my madness.
You see I really want to savour the moments.
I really want to slow down and notice the magic.
I want to take notice of the smaller details in this month that can whizz by in a blur.

I completed my first one two years ago.
Last year I incorporated my festive stuff into my Project Life for the year.

Just a few days ago I grabbed that 2014 book and popped it on display as part of my Christmas decorations. 
Everytime I walked passed it, I felt the stirrings, the little creative voice popping in to say hi (well at first, but eventually it became a pretty demanding holler).
So I stopped and sat down and flicked through the book. 
I was flooded with emotion, with memories, with stories.

Yes, I need to do this again.

Anyone that knows me, knows I'm a big fan of Ali Edwards.  I think it's her words, the way she puts them together, the way she tells the stories.  It speaks to my heart, and I always have this overwhelming urge to go and be creative after reading her stuff.
You can read more about Ali's December Daily here

So before I jumped in, I decided to set myself some ground rules to make this a little easier.

Firstly, I would follow Ali's mantra to just record one story each day.  In 2014 I tried to include everything from everyday and this just felt a bit overwhelming.  This year I plan to focus on a word each day and tell the story from there.  Some maybe Christmas related, some not, but all will capture our lives.

Secondly, I would NOT buy any product for this project. (Really?!? Breathe, Tammy breathe)
Last time I purchased an Ali Edwards December Daily Kit.  Oh man, it was awesome, but I have tonnes of leftovers from all sorts of projects and I just love mixing up my supplies, so I decided to just go for it.

So here goes.....

I found a Simple Stories Snap album I had laying around.

Here's the cover:

I love it!  You may recognise some product on here - those letters are from about 8-9 years ago!
Yay, go me!

Here's a look at my reason's why:

You can see Day 1 peeking through in the background......I'll be back very soon to share that with you all.
 

You Crack Me Up....

Hi everyone!
 

This week for All About Scrapbooks, I'm sharing a boyish page using Bella Boulevard's Alex Collection plus a few bits and pieces from Crate Paper's Cool Kid.

 

I began by applying gesso to white bazzill.

I then added some brush strokes in black.

(I placed these where I knew my photo and layering would go). 

 I also added some essential flicks of paint!

 

Once dry I added a few bits and pieces of papers, cutting some and tearing some

to create interest and texture.

 

 

I then added some co-ordinating embellishments, and a whole variety of word/alpha stickers.

I cut the 'hey' from a 12x12 sheet of paper, and a few of the embellishments too.

 

As the layout was quote busy, I was concerned that the photo was getting lost. 

To counteract this I added a 2Crafty frame to draw the eye into the photo.

 

The final touches included my journaling,

 and I trimmed the layout down a little and adhered it to a background sheet of paper. 

This frames the entire layout.

 

That's it from me.

I hope it's inspired you to get creative.

 

Luv Tam

xx

Scrap the Girls - December Challenge!

Hi everyone!

Well it's the end of the year - we are in that crazy busy month, December! 
I really hope that you can squeeze in some scrappy time during this period.

Here's something to get you inspired.......
This month's challenge over at Scrap the Girls is gorgeous!  Super pretty, super sparkly......

 

 A very lovely mood board.....oh so many possibilities!

The first thing that popped into my head was a wedding!   I recently attended one in America (I know right, super exciting)!  But the colours weren't quite right for the pics I had taken from the wedding. Then I remembered a picture of the bride's daughter (who was also flower girl), taken when she and her Mama went wedding dress shopping.  What a wonderful thing to do together - I tell you this little girl, my niece Iris, is just gonna always dream of weddings.  You see here mama and papa were tying the knot, and she is 8, and she was so involved in everything.  Say no more - wouldn't that have been just the BEST at the age of 8??
This photo captures all that - the joy, the happiness.  I love it - I love the emotion, the movement, the twirling, and yep the colours are perfect for this moodboard

So here's my take on it:

 Here's a bit of a close up of the flowers and sparkly bits:

So pretty. Sigh.

This month's sponsor is Charm's Creations.  I adore her embellishments!  You can find her here

 

I can't wait to see all your entries! 

Don't forget, further inspiration can be found from the awesome team at Scrap the Girls.