CHA Summer loves....

So it is that time again when the end of year scrappy releases start hitting the shelves, yay.

I knew that it must be getting close as Spotlight have been having some pretty decent sales on scrapbooking goods and recently started putting clearance prices on a lot of lines.

Now for the releases.....

Honestly I don't need anything much these days as I have not been scrapbooking but I can still have a look and lust after some of the new lines making there way onto the shelves, here is my favorite picks.

Authentique Infused

Ohhhh how I love this line.  It is pink and girly and filled with all the things that I love in life like cakes and doileys and cutlery and tea cups and pots.  I will be buying this line.

Bella Blvd Family Frenzy

I am not too keen on the rest of this line but there is no way I am going to get away with not buying a sheet of this double sided paper....Hello Doughnut pattern, get in my paper stash.

Authentique Trick or Treat
Ohhh man, this is the line that has finally made me sad that we don't celebrate Halloween in Australia.  Probably wont be buying any of this line but it is a beautiful collection and I would love to be able to use it.

Echo Park Dots and Stripes, Valentines Collection.

Another line that I will be buying.  I am a huge fan of polka dot paper and I use pink polka dots the most, nothing too fancy but an essential in my scrapbooking.

Echo Park, The Story of Christmas.

I LOVE this paper so much.  What I love about it is that it is quite obviously Rudolph from my childhood favorite Rudolph the red nosed reindeer.  I will be buying a sheet or two of this but seeing as I didn't use the Christmas lines that I bought last year this will be the only sheet  from this line that I buy.

Lawn Fawn Winter Scripty Sayings 
Ohhhhh I love this stamp set.  As far as stamps go I have fallen into the "practical" only category, how many times can I use this stamp, is this something that I can use multiple times, will this show it's age.......you get the idea and well this stamp is one that I could use every year.

Well that is that for the 2015 mid year picks.  Nothing really blew my mind with these releases but there is still quite enough things that I would love to spend my cash on.  What have you liked from these new releases?

Long lost layouts....part one

Well it has been a while since my last post here but never fear I have been doing some scrapbooking here and there I just have been a bit slack getting them posted up, so slack in fact these two quite possibly were startedsometime last year....yep, sigh.

These are both from out first camping trip away of which we have had many adventures since but I really want to have an album dedicated to all of our little and big trips away.

 This is a pretty simple layout which makes it all the more frustrating considering I went back and forth with it for months, in saying that though this a photo that doesn't need to be over embellished or dressed up, simple is best.  

Those Thickers.......I love them, great slim line size and the colour goes with so much.

Now for those stars..... Not wood, nope just kraft cardstock, a star punch double layered and glued.  I would love to have  some of those Studio Calico wooden shapes  that everyone seems to use but at the time of making this layout they were super hard to find in Australia and they were damn expensive so I made do with a much cheaper alternative, will so so this again.

 

This layout was also one that drove me insane trying to get it to work.  It looks 100% different to what I had originally envisioned and I just could not get any of the layers straight.  Again nice and simple and also sticking to a certain colour palette.

 

I used quite a few pieces from the Echo Park mini kit The Great Outdoors and from one of their first collections A Walk In The Park, I love how easy you can mix and match within the lines the release.

Haul

So the last scrapbook haul that I posted was totally supposed to be it for the year until I made major dents in my stash....I hang my head in shame because I outrageously failed my spending freeze in spectacular fashion over not one or two trips out and about but on five separate occasions including four to spotlight.  I am ashamed and have subsequently banned myself from travelling anywhere near that side of town so I can avoid the place where my husbands money enters and never returns i.e. SPOTLIGHT.

Stationary is kind of a big deal to me, big deal.  I love it but that's kind of where it ends as I am one of the most disorganised people I know.  My cupboards are immaculate and organised to an inch of there lives but everything else is a mess and all that gorgeous stationary is used for a week and then shoved in the draw of no return until one of the kids needs something to draw in.  No way they are getting there hands on these goodies, I have a thing for floral and bright colours and anything cupcake related....big kid at heart always.

Oh my goodness I am dying from the cuteness...look at those adorable stickers and little plastic envelopes, tooooo cute. 

Fabric goodies.  I love fabric especially printed quilting cotton the trouble is I have grand ideas, limited sewing skills, even less patience and I am fairly lazy when it comes to actually pulling out my sewing machine so I just keep adding to my already sizable stash and I don't make a dent in it.  In my defence I actually do have plans for all of these fabrics and I didn't just buy them because they are pretty *cough cough* all other fabric purchases I have made in the last two years.  I am going to make pretty ruffled edges and trim some white tea towels with the pink kitchen print fabric, I am going to make an apron and a cricut cover out of the cupcakes and I am making a skirt and an apron for my daughter out of the dog print....wish me luck.  

Maggi Holmes Love Notes was all on major clearance and I picked these up for half off the sale price, so the $4 stack was only $2....what these prices are too insane for me not buy them.

 

 

Just a few things that I did pick up throughout my trips back and forth.  The thickers were both on sale and there was no way I was leaving without that map print set.  The Heidi Swapp stuff was on 30% off, Kaiser was 40% off except for the collection pack and the carousel stickers were just too adorable for me to leave behind.  

 

American Crafts goodies.  I bought these on my first trip out to Spotlight when they first started reducing all the older stock, I realise that these are all older stock but I didn't buy into the whole Amy Tan/Dear Lizzy stuff bandwagon when it first came out and at $3 a piece I was happy to pop these into my basket.

Assorted bits and pieces I have picked up from my LSS and from Big W.
I have many photos from our trip years and years ago at the Auckland Zoo and I  have never scrapbooked them but I also have never really found a line of paper or embellishments that I liked enough but this echo park line is perfect.

Albums.   I have been waiting for AGES for a good album sale and finally Spotlight had 50% off so I had to go and buy some.  On the day that I was there I bought two buuutttt when I went back a few days later they had the brown Amy Tan albums at $1 each WHAT THE ACTUAL......seriously $1.  I bought three, I could have bought more but I can't be too greedy, actually I should  have bought them just for the refills which I have already put to good use. 

I seriously need more crafting and less shopping in my life.  Life has been stressful sick and busy lately and my craft space inhabited by a family member staying with us so there hasn't been anything actually happening in the scrapping department.  Bring on the end of the week when my house is actually clean and empty and the kids are not sick and at school.

Blog version 2.0

So sometime last year I decided to delete the old blog and start again.  I just had the realisation that I wanted a bit of a change plus I felt that I had outgrown the old blog which I had been merrily contributing to for the past four years, bit of a big decision for me but one that feels right. 

I have taken a few months off from blogging after I deleted the old one as the reality is that I really have not had the time to dedicate to a blog.  The last few months have been a whirlwind of planning a wedding (which is pretty much almost here, eeep), working and running a household with two small children and just general life responsibilities.

So what have I been up to in the last few months?  Here are some projects that I have been working on:

So there is, a few months of creating right there.  I actually wish that there was more to show but another thing that suffered during the past few months was my creativity which is silly really as I was working in a shop environment that sold pretty papers & embellishments.

TFL, Erin