Camp report

Didn't my weekend of creativity ended so fast?? I had a wonderful weekend away on scrap camp.  Inspite our weather was abit on the wild side with storms (which hit the Brisbane inner city area twice) and rain over the weekend, it was good to be indoors and be productive to complete many pages in my albums.  An advantage about the scrap room we all had a table to ourselves which we can spead our belongings all over the place and just leave it at the end of the night and come back after breaks.

 

I managed to closely finished off two albums.  Just abit of last minute touches and then it's finished. These albums will be presents so I hope the persons in receiving them will love them!!

 

As always I was the last person up in our group!  I managed to get ten hours sleep over two nights. But the best part of all, I had my accomodation room all to myself.  The room is just like a small bedroom with one single bed, a small cupboard and a student's table.  Before I go to bed, I would spend an hour reading a novel.

 

The camp meals were great as always. Friday night we had chinese stir fry and mini pavlovas for dessert.  It was nice! Friday was the only night I consumed light supper.  It was only tim tam biscuits through.  Being a hot and humid night, the chocolate melted so fast.

 

Saturday breakfast was ham and cheese croissants and mini fruit danishes.  I was wrapped with the choice as I only have the general basic of breakfast at home.  Our Saturday lunch was half chicken wraps with chips and fruit pieces on offer, Saturday dinner was roast beef and vegetables then my favourite dessert of all time "STICKY DATE PUDDING".  YUMMO!!!!!!!!  

 

Sunday's breakfast was baby sausages and scrambled eggs. Sunday's lunch was sushi, deli meat cuts and salad. I love sushi and it's becoming my favourite camp lunch there.  I didn't consume any morning or afternoon tea on Sunday as I was so full from other main courses during the weekend. 

 

I think I might gained afew more pounds after all the good food on offer throughout the weekend. You sure get your money's value when you go away for afew days at this place.  Just imagine what it would be like to go on a scrap camp for a week??

 

 

 

Scrap Camp

Depending on how the weather goes this afternoon, I only have 10 hours to go to pack all my belongings into the car ready to go and be there to check in at 5pm today.  This is the weekend I have been waiting for and it's the only weekends are my favourite.  It's so great to have my 'me' time away from homelife.

If you haven't worked it out, I am off to scrap camp this weekend.  We generally have two camps per year with our CM consulttant at Brookfield.  It's the best place to be!  The service of our meals is great and the accomodation is quite good.  The best highlights of being on this kind of camp, there is no cooking, cleaning, firey kids or husband and there isn't any time restrictions when to go to bed. Generally I am the last one up (anytime after 1am) scrapbooking!  Sleep for about 4 or 5 hours and off to scrapbooking on the next day after breakfast. I have survived on two hours once after the first night!  It happened when the first time I went on camp in 2006.

I have three 12 inch albums prepared to create my scrap pages.  Depending on my mojo motivation I hoped to complete alot of pages.  Majority of my pages will be using templates and stencils.

Have a great weekend creating!

New technique

Guess it's been awhile since I last made a report about my craft diary.  Last month was busy attending to the usual scrap meets and workshops via CM or craft store.  But I have been introduced to french scrapbooking last month.  I feel this new technique would suit me better because I had experience of using stencils and stamps for most of my life.



Interlocking photo

Earlier in the year while I attend to a craft show I did came across some 12 inch stencils from AZZA but I didn't get much thought into it until a couple of ladies mentioned they went to the second craft show months later and found the consultant who does french scrapbooking.  They were invited to attend to workshop one but I couldn't attend the same on in August as I was sick with the flu.

It wasn't until last month I booked myself in to do workshops one and two through an AZZA consultant.  Each workshop was 3 hours long but because I was the only one there I had one to one teaching completed in less time.  For $25, each workshop included the papers to use, all her tools and stencils used and tutoring for three hours.


Framing photos

The first workshop was to learn about interlocking either  photos which does take time to work out which photos you intend to crop more of. 

The second workshop was to learn about framing photos which is another time consuming project.

New challenges coming

How's your creative mojo been going this month?  I am finally getting back to normal with my regular scrapbooking mojo with regular meets via my CM consultant and craft store.

This month I attend to three casual scrap meets at the craft store.  While I was there they had their weekly workshops on which I happened to be nosey and use their simple layout idea for one page at least.

If only had known months before, the shop has their own annual camp weekend away near Warwick. They go away for four nights to do any form of craft work.  Also they will run workshops for card makers and scrapbookers.  The owner (who I have form a good bond with) shown me what the workshops will be about this weekend.  I wish I was there because I would of had some fun doing these workshops this weekend.  Next year I will do it and go!

Through my CM consultant I attend to an all day scrap meet two weekends ago and two normal workshops this month.  The workshops were only simple layouts of course which I managed to do a page or two in my current album.

But I am starting to think it's time for a new change in scrapbooking. I have thought about starting to do french scrapbooking.  A company called AZZA sells these kind of stencils. For further details go to www.azzaworld.com.  I am not sure how long this company has been around but I have seen some examples of the pages done through using stencil templates at craft shows, earlier this year.  A couple of my craft friends have been to an introduction workshop and I have seen their work done. You start off on simple stencils and work slowly up to using more challenging stencils.  I have found a local consultant who does french scrapbooking. I am hoping my first workshop will be done after the school holidays.

While most scrapbookers intend to learn on how to do a simple layout by working out on which papers to use with their photos first, french scrapbooking is different.  You need to know which photos is right to use with your template, first. It's more recommend to have scenery kind of photos to use in french scrapbooking.  I did buy some challenging stencils at the craft show and it's about time I use them. I thought I start a holiday album as I had taken alot of scenery photos when we had our holiday interstate in 2009.

It's only 13.5 weeks to go until Christmas! My challenge is to get my Christmas presents made.  I have three albums to finish off if I want to give them as presents to family this year. Two albums are traditionally made and the third one will be digitally made. The next camp is planned to happened in November so I will properly be using that weekend on getting my projects up to date.

Feel free to share what creative moments you had enjoyed lately.

Limited craft time

Unfortunately I didn't get to have my regular mojo into action to scrapbook much as it was an unlucky month to experience other dramas in my lifestyle from death, family sickness and car problems to two vehicles. 

I managed to visit the craft store only once in August to do my tag swap for the stamp camp that I supposely attend.  I couldn't get there in the end because of the death of a family member.  I was planning on attending the funeral but I was sick with the flu for over a week instead.  As I started to sit up more I managed to spend a couple of hours doing some digital scrapbooking at home.

Last night I attend to the only CM meet for this month.  It was another Book of Me workshop to do some journalling about your spouse and kids and the role of being a parent.  Honestly what I am experiencing with a rebellious teenager isn't really something I wish to share into a scrapbook to remember.  I basically wrote in rough draft the basic lines about parenting in general. Also I began note taking on other homework to do for the next two meets about myself. Only one lady is up to date with the topics but I am about a couple of subjects behind because I am working on two BOM albums for my kids.

Next weekend, there is an all day scrapbooking meet at a function hall near the bowling alley.  It will be a five hour event and I plan to work on what I was going to do at camp this month.

2012 Stamp Camp

The countdown is on!  Only last week I made a start with camp preparations as my weekend away to a stamp camp this time is held two weekends away, west of Brisbane.

It's been around a decade since I last attended to a stamp camp in Brisbane. I only heard about this one as I attended to one of the stamp club's meets in Brisbane.  I used to be a regular member until 2008 but other commitments was taken over by then. Also I wasn't really impress with the changeover policies of the club either.

In late June, I was only there as a visitor to the meet for two hours to catch up with some members. And that was when I heard about the camp.  I was so lucky to get in on such short notice as there was only one or two vacancy spots left. 

There will be 40 people attending to do their own projects and get involved in workshops and challenges.   There will be two workshops held on Friday night and Saturday morning but I haven't been told what the requirement list is as yet.  Hopefully I won't be told the last minute because I won't have the time to shop at various craft shops on the last days in hoping it will be available to purchase the last minute.  Some stuff has to be ordered in and that generally takes more then a week to buy.  I was told there will be a couple of stalls opened to buy there but I feel I shouldn't have to take extra money to buy that weekend. If the camp payment includes these workshops, the person who is teaching the workshop should supply the required items in the cost. 

 

It's $40 cheaper to go to scrap camps because there's no workshops involved. These camps intend to be more relaxed to do your own thing.  As for this camp, I might be not as relaxed as I wish to be as they have workshops and challenges on throughout the weekend. Going by what some members say I don't have to do their challenges.  The only reason I decided to go was just to get out of the house.  Consider how July was, I need a weekend break away from homelife.

 

During the so call free time, I plan on working on scrapbooking pages and use my rubber stamps to stamp out pictures, verses or titles, instead of using scrapbooking embellishments and ABC stickers.  I decided to choose one year of my life with the kids in 2006. At the same time I downloaded some images to my facebook albums.

 

I still got to work on a tag swap to swap with other 40 people using a favourite technique of mine. At this point of the game, it will probably using the cuttlebug as a background as I intend to use papers/cardstock with embossed templates in scrapbooking. And use a stamp image that required limited colouring in and cut outs.

On the topic of getting organised, I better go and continue with the camp preparation before this week ends quickly. 

Keep your mojo of creating going!

A new challenge

Since my CM consultant found herself a part time job, her workshop schedule has changed too.  Wednesday's meet has been changed to Thursdays and Book of Me workshops have been prosponed for some reason for the past month.

No more Saturday morning workshops continued but Friday night until late are still going at present time.  She had hosted one last night.  This time we were creating a weaved heart page.  If you know how to do paper weaving, you shouldn't have a problem with this challenge. But I will give you the basic instructions to do this if you are interested.

You need 12 of plain colour and 12 printed papers, cut into half inch wide and 6 inch long to create a 6 inch square.  Remember to use one strip and altered each row in an over and under technique.  Your strips should be the same pattern on top of the right colours.  It should look abit like a plaited pattern cross basket weave in the end. 

Once your square is created, mounted the weaved square onto another sheet of cardstock, create a shape of your choice and cut.  Before you cut make sure your weaved square is properly mounted onto your cardstock.  Best to use strong glue or double side tape on every row to give a strong mount when you cut your shape. 

Good luck and have fun! 

CM Memoranza

About 90 minutes ago I came back home from my day of scrapbooking for seven hours. Our annual event was held at Mt Gravatt Bowls Club in Brisbane to celebrate its 15th year of the company being in Australia. The room was full of scrapbookers and 3-4 consultants.

There was four challenges to try out but I didn't do them as I already had my own projects to do. It was a great little day and I was quite a little productive person to get about a dozen pages created.  Even better I had a table all to myself so it was nice to be able to spread my belongings out.

There were multiple raffle draws and i managed to win two prizes  ...one glittery black paper which would suit a more formal layout and a template valued around $30.  I only had two tickets in the box. It just shows one ticket can just as lucky as buying multiple tickets.  Actually we didn't buy these tickets, we had to earn them by answering certain questions or do any of the four challenges as requested. Everyone who came had one ticket at entry.  The other prize was won via a question answered.

Where the event was held, our lunch was provided.  We had a choice of either cold meats with salad or fish and chips or lasagne with salad and chips.  All meals were good and very filling!  It was that filling I don't really feel like dinner tonight.

Creative Week

In one week I had my scrap camp and three scrap meets.  And what a busy time creating I had.  Preparing beforehand was a challenge.  It taken afew days to prepare for camp and a couple of days to prepare for the three meets last week. 

Two of them were workshops at my CM consultant's house on Wednesday night and Friday night until late. The third meet was just a casual sit and scrap at the craft store and worked on some past years of the early 21st century.

I worked on my 7 inch album at camp and managed to get three quarters of the album completed.  At the Friday night workshop I was working on some summer holiday photos of my girls with Grandma and their Auntie which I am almost finished.

One of the CM workshops is for BOM where we worked on our school memories.  It is amazing how memories can flow back quickly.

This week is only just the casual meet at the store. Guess I better get motivated and prepare some pages ready for tomorrow.

Scrap Camp

Only two days to go and my weekend away scrappin' is approaching fast.  Unfortunately I haven't been more organised early enough to get the preparations done in advance.  I am thankful today is a public holiday so I can really get into finishing off my preparations.

At this camp I am planning on creating two 8 inch albums to give as Christmas presents.  These albums involving the second primary school where their enrollment changed in term four, 2009.  Consider Rachel only been here for three years now, the school sure had alot of activities on involving sport, fund raising and curriculum.

As for normal meets I had only one workshop and one casual meet attended this month as there was school holidays for two weeks.  Workshops and casual meets should be back to normal in May,

Scrap updates

March was a busy month attending to four workshops at my consultant's house.  Most of the layout ideas have been quite simple to do and this time I was working on the yearly diary albums.  I gone back to the early 21st century years and trying to catch up. The problem of scrapbooking you never seem to catch up as we intend to continue to take more photos of our family at home or at events, holidays, etc, etc.

In 18 days I will be away on attending to another scrap camp for the weekend.  It will be held at the same venue where we normally go.  I heard there is about 20-25 ladies going in our group and I think the conference centre will be busy as there might be other groups scrapping there on the same weekend. I dream of going to a scrap camp for a week but I can't see that one happening in my lifetime.

Once school resumes next week for term two I will be busy for two weeks on getting my page layouts ready to work on that weekend.  I am planning on starting another mini album or two to give for Christmas presents.

What's your latest craft projects?  Feel free to share what you have been up to this year.

Family photo tips

Being a long Easter weekend, most of us intend to spend time with our families and probably take alot of family photos at their destination spot.  So I thought I post some family photo tips to help you take better and more natural photos with your family in the holiday pose mode.  And remember: photos are worth a lifetime of memories.

Pick a Family-Friendly Location

Before you gather everyone who needs to be in your family photograph, choose a location. Natural lighting and plenty of space to pose large groups makes heading outdoors a good choice -- just make sure the weather will cooperate

Select a Simple Background for Your Family Photo

Remember: Simple is better when it comes to family photos. Don't go overboard with holiday decorations or props. Instead, keep the focus on the family with a simple background.

Adjust Lighting to Flatter Your Family

No one wants a family photo in which everyone is squinting or poorly lit. Have your subjects face away from the sun, and try to position family members so that the light source is behind or slightly to the side and meter your shot off their faces, not the area around them.

Take Photos from a New Angle

Stand on a chair or stepladder to take photos looking down on a group. They'll look up to see you, and you'll capture their faces at a flattering angle.

Think Candid Family Photos

One trick to boosting your family photo is to make it look natural. Position your family members in a non-traditional pose, or let them do what's comfortable. Family photos don't have to be stuffy, so remember to have fun!

Arrange Family Members on Different Levels

When posing your subjects, make sure their eyes are on different levels. This creates a more dynamic family photo.

Encourage Interaction between Family Members

Not everyone needs to be sitting nicely for it to be a good family photo. Some of the best shots capture interaction -- such as nudges or arms over the shoulder. This helps the photo from feeling too staged.

Use Light from Windows in Family Photos

Indoor family photos also get a boost from natural light. If you have a large window position your group nears it. The window doesn't need to be in the shot to reap the lighting benefits.

Pose Your Family

Ask family members to put their arms around the person next to them -- this brings everyone closer together and creates a sense of family unity.

Work with Natural Light in Holiday Photos

Natural light -- not family's temperament -- determines the best time of day to take family photos. The light is best in the early morning or in the late afternoon, just before the sun sets.

Take Family Photos before the Holiday Season

Plan ahead and schedule your family photo session early in the year. This way, if the weather -- or a certain family member -- doesn't cooperate, you have time to reschedule the shoot.

Fill the Frame with Family

Get up close and personal. The best family photos fill the frame with people, eliminating distracting backgrounds.

Coordinate Family Members' Clothing

Before photo day arrives, pick out clothes in coordinating colours. If your shot includes extended family -- whose outfits you can't pick out for them -- give them a colour scheme and ask that they not wear busy patterns.

Photograph Individual Family Members

If you can't get your entire family in one place to take a photo for your annual holiday card, don't worry. Instead, snap shots of individual members and design a card in image-editing software.

Help Family Members Relax

The best family photos are taken when everyone is relaxed. Take a silly shot in which everyone makes funny faces, and then keep snapping after they’re done – you’ll get completely natural smiles.

Keep the Attention of Small Children for Better Holiday Photos

If your family photo includes small children, have another child stand near the photographer to help keep your kids' attention. Just be sure the entertainer is on the same level as your photographer or you'll get photos in which eyes aren't looking at the camera.

Distract Camera-Phobic Family Members

If some family members are photo-phobic, help them to relax by asking them to interact with another family member.

Take Family Photos all Year

Take the pressure off yourself to snap the perfect family photo just for use on a holiday card; instead, use a favorite photo from the year. Take photos of your family -- and be sure to get in a few shots, too! -- when you're on vacation or a fun outing.

Convert Holiday Family Photos to Black-And-White

For a family photo that stands the test of time, choose outfits that don't clash and are more classic than trendy. If you've already taken your photo and just realized the outfits don't go together, convert the photo to black-and-white.

Book of Me

Another month has passed us and I enjoy my scrap meets and workshops.  Most Tuesdays I had my casual meets at the craft store and attended to three workshops through my CM consultant. I have been going to her workshops for about 7-8 years now.

This year she decided to introduce a new workshop once a month on Wednesday nights.  About a dozen ladies are attending to this workshop, known as the BOOK OF ME album.  It will be about our ourselves from the time we were born to current but it has got a twist into the album. 

Our album will feature other creative pages about us and have history about news events, songs and etc about the year we were born. And other things that other people don't know about.

This album is ideal to give to your kids.  They will learn more about their mum through the album.  My albums are only eight inch sized as I don't have many photos of myself while growing up.  My mum isn't really a photographer and generally it takes over a year to finish a film.

Last night was the first night of our BOM workshop.  In 90 minutes after all the introductions and lessons ideas said in the first hour, we had to complete our title page and another page about our life before scrapbooking.  No one got to do page two because most of us didn't get much homework done beforehand. I managed to get most of the title page done but I need to use the cricut to diecut the title. Page two I have written up some draft notes but I will complete this page at one of Tuesday's meets. Because I am creating two albums it will take me abit longer to do then other ladies. 

Workshop two will be held at the end of this month.  This time we need to have photos from our childhood years to early adult. Enough photos to create four pages.

My mojo is slacking off

A month has almost passed since I last reported about my scrap meets. I attended to most of the workshops at my consultant's house on Friday night, Saturday and there is another one hosted tomorrow.  This month has been more about family and love layout ideas with the new paper packs introduced.  

She will have a new workshop once a month, starting next week. This workshop will be all about me.  Most of us who intends to be photographer don't have many photos about themselves and we don't intend to album about ourselves either.  I am not really a photographer person to have photos taken but I guess I should have an album about my life and give the album each to my kids.  My consultant started this workshop theme four years ago but the group lost interested after a couple of months. It will be interesting to see how long these monthly workshops will last.

One of the ladies from the casual meets has started to create her ideal of an album about herself and her life.  Her first album was about her first ten years of life and it was quite interesting to view.  She gives alot of history about the city life to where I grew up.  And lucky for her parents they collected alot of memorabilia during her child hood years.  Unfortunately my own mother wasn't a photographer so there isn't really alot of photos of me while growing up.  So I guess my album will be more about journalling then photos.  Also I don't have alot of memorabilia to share either.

I missed two casual meets at the craft store on Tuesdays this month.  The first one I had another commitment on and I missed today's casual time as I had a sick child home from school. I have almost finished one project I started in January. It's about my kid's school life at the first primary school and I plan on giving this mini album to a family member for Christmas.  I never realised I taken so many photos from their school events. 

The next project will be another primary school album from the current school my 11 yo is still at.  She will be graduating her primary school life at the end of this year.  I plan on making a start with this project at scrap camp in April.

Another project I have in mind is a mini book of me to give to someone special.  I purchased this love package deal in January.  It's an 8 inch album with love theme pages to use into the album.  But I think you only use one photo on each page.  On the front cover of the album has a family tree in a shape of love hearts.

Don't lose your mojo!  Keep on creating on whatever projects you got planned to do.

2012 meets

Back to school meant it was back in business to attend to regular scrap meets this week.  And it was good to be back and catch up with other regular scrappers. 

On Tuesday I went back to my casual scrap with other ladies at my local scrap store.  At the moment I am working on getting a mini school album finished for one of this year's Christmas presents. It might be another week or two and this album will be completed. 

The next day which happened to be yesterday, I had my first four hour workshop at my consultant's house. She will be planning to host three workshops per month on Wednesday, Friday night and Saturday morning.

We had a workshop topic about love with using the new love series papers and the new border cartridge.  Not sure if I will purchased the love cartridge as I find it intends to have the paper caught inside the punch.  But I didn't purchase the new love series papers through.  Also I placed an order to get a new 8 inch love series album with the paper kit suited for this album. With this album I plan on creating for someone special.

Until my next report, keep on being creative.

12 hour scrap

My first scrap meet occurred yesterday.  The organiser is my CM consultant who I have been attending to either her home or other venues for the past eight years, hosted this 12 hour event at her child's local school staffroom. Consider the size of the staffroom, there was 22 ladies crapped inside this room to work on their own projects for 12 hours.  There was only one lady who showed up six hours late as she had a prior commitment to attend to that day. 

Yes... it is normal work day for some people but most of the ladies who attend to our regular meets are teachers who currently on summer holidays. And they had the advantage to attend to a 12 hour workshop with their co-workers. There was only a couple of ladies who aren't teachers so they had to organise a day off work to be able to come along and scrap.  It makes me wonder if their employer really knew what their employees really got up to on their unexpected day off after having time off during the festive season break.

Most groups have their own little group members who sit together to chat and scrap but I am the only outsider who just gets dumped and sits with whoever has a spare chair to sit at the table with.  Unfortunately the majority of the group I sat with yesterday weren't really user friendly when it comes to conversations. Working alone was a good advantage point to get the motivation to complete many pages I intend to participated on the day.  

This year my resolution is to work on completing projects I started on sometime ago.  Yesterday I worked on two eight inch albums which I managed to finish off one album. My consultant did have a couple of workshop demos for any of us to try out but I already spent a week at home preparing the pages I wish to work on for 12 hours.

Also our consultant had raffle tickets on offered which we had to try to earned for free.  I never really bothered with any of the offers because I never win anything from these meets.

I already won a scrap challenge from other sources.  It was a challenge I entered online last month.  My winnning prize came in the mail just before I walked out the door.  I was so over the moon with what I received which I am sure my goodies will come in handy to use at some point.

Back to normal scrap meets and workshops doesn't resume back until the new year of schooling starts in late January.