Hi all,
Well I made it back today as I said, and have a layout to share! It's a miracle!

Excuse the shadows, if I take a photo anywhere else in the house it's too dull so shadows it is!
I've wanted to scrap this glamour photo I had taken for ages but just couldn't seem to make it work, but I love the end result of this one, simple, with focus on the photo.

Thanks for looking,

Until next time, Belinda xx

Blog Issues

Well it's been a while since I posted last: had a few blog issues and computer issues! Don't you love being on the phone forever and a day trying to get things fixed only to be told they can't sort it out!

But not to worry, I'm back in blogland now and intend to stay!

I've been a bit slack with the scrapping lately, my creative mind has just been on a break I think. But I scrapped my design team example for A Day in the Life of Renee and that seems to have recovered my mojo a little so I'm going to give the Scrap Therapy monthly challenges a go tonight I think. Hopefully I'll be back tommorrow with some new layouts to show you all!

And keep your eye out, I think it's almost time I had my first giveaway!

~ Belle xx

Scrap Therapy Cybercrop

Hi lovelies,

Cybercrop was on this weekend over at Scrap Therapy, you still have until tonight to upload entries for the fantastic challenges so if you have some spare time pop on over to check it out! I've done three entries, I'm not much of a cardmarker so I haven't done that one yet but there's still many hours in the day!

Firstly, here's my entry for the sketch challenge. I love sketches, they always get my mojo going! Those who know me well will know I'm a bit of a Miley Cyrus fan. I just love this quote from the Hannah Montana movie 'life's a climb, but the view is great', so true and fits so perfectly with this photo.

I loved the inspiration challenge this month, the picture had the most gorgeous colours in it and I immediately thought of these papers. And what better picture to go with soft pretty colours than that of a bride (my Aunt).

Finally this was my entry for the journalling challenge. The theme for May is 'retreat', and this challenge was all about journalling what you do to relax and retreat. Blue is not a colour I scrap often but it reminds me of relaxation so I went with it and am pretty happy with the final result!

Thanks for looking!

Until next time,

~ Belinda x

Candy Shoppe Designs: Challenge 21

Hi all,

Over on Candy Shoppe Designs they're running their 21st challenge and of course the theme is the number 21! The prize for this one is an awesome pack from the Magpie Club so head over and check it out!

I could have scrapped some photos of my stepsister's recent 21st birthday but I decided to go with something different and instead scrapped a list of 21 of the places we visited on our European Holiday last year! You have to check out the cute little heart pins in amongst the lace. I got them years ago in a competition, and forgot how much I loved them: aren't they adorable!

Thanks for looking,

Until next time,

Belle xx

First DT Layout: Love Sprinkles!

Hi everyone,

Well I have been a bit quiet of late, getting ready for Daniel's parents to visit on the weekend, job hunting, etc. But I am super excited to be able to share my first DT layout for A Day in the Life of Renee with you! Honestly everyone should check out http://www.sprinklesbyrenee.blogspot.com/, the store that sells the awesome flowers aka Sprinkles! And I think they are soooo well priced, go and check it out for yourself, I dare you!

And now here's my layout! (Check out the gorgeous peach flowers, they're the Sprinkles). The Sprinkles were just too pretty to add too much around so I've kept my layout simple. The photo if one of my faves from Mum's wedding last year, of her dancing with her father. So cute.

Now make sure you check out www.adayinthelifeofrenee.blogspot.com for the rest of the DT's layouts and the challenge in the coming days!! Hope to see a few of you entering.

Until next time,

~ Belle xxx

Hello lovelies,

Well I have been in Melbourne for a week so I'm yet to post my creations from the lovely scrap day I had at Annette's place, but I will when I return.

In the mean time, you should all go and checkout the Sprinkles by Renee site. Not only are there previews of the awesome flowers that are going to be on sale as of May the 1st but there is also a competition going! Winner gets $20 worth of the gorgeous product and all you have to do is become a follower, how easy is that. Once there is 100 followers everyone will be entered in to win. So come on ladies, get blogging and we'll be at 100 before we know it so some lucky lady can win!
http://sprinklesbyrenee.blogspot.com/p/competitions.html

Until next time,
~ Belinda xx

Baby frame

A few weeks ago I posted about our friend who was about to have her baby. She did (eventually) have him and after much humming and hahhing over what to make as a baby gift I decided on a simple photo frame. I've never been that good at them but hadn't done one in ages and decided to give it another go. I kept it super simple and was totally happy with the end result. I couldn't get a wooden frame so settled for a thin paper mache frame and decided to basically decoupage the frame with strips of torn paper rather than making it too neat!

So here we go, I think from now on if I do more frames I'll keep them simple, I do simple better!

Thanks for looking!

Until next time,

~Belinda x

Exciting News!

Hi all,

I know I have already posted today but I am just too excited not to share before I head to bed! I've been accepted onto my first ever design team and I'm so incredibly excited about the site it's with. The lovely Renee is about to launch a store for handmade embellies, I've seen a sneak peak and I'm so happy I'll be getting to work with this product, I'm in love already. Sprinkles by Renee will be officially opening on the 1st of May so I'll be directing you all that way then. But for now, check out the link in my sidepanel for A day in the life challenges and check out her blog. First challenge will be in May and I can't wait to get into it! I'll be updating you all soon.

Oh and this is the layout I created for the DT submission. Renee asked that we do a layout using pink and brown which I haven't done in forever so just thought I'd share...(especially because I think my gorgeous man and my little cousin Katie just look so adorable in this photo)

Until then,

~ Belinda xx

P.S Am I the only one who thinks Train's 'Soul Sister' is one hell of a catchy song?!

The aforementioned layout

The lighting here is not my friend today, it's overcast and I doubt the sun is going to come out properly so this will just have to do.

My best friend (Natalie) and I had glamour shots taken as a kind of 21st birthday present to ourselves a few years ago. We had some photos taken individually and then asked them to take some of the two of us and this is one of my favourites!

Until next time,

~Belinda x

Super Fast Layout!

I'm usually a fairly leisurely scrapper, though I wouldn't say I'm slow. I just get distracted too easily, but once I know what I'm doing the layout doesn't take long. Tonight I'd say it was only about 30 minutes from when I sat down at my scrapbook desk to when the layout was completed which was a fair effort in my opinion considering I had no idea where to start! So including searching for a photo to use, searching for a paper I liked in my very unorganised stack and waiting for paint to dry on the layout I'm pretty happy it only took a half hour. Unfortunately since it's dark I haven't photographed the layout yet but I most certainly will tommorrow.

Just had to share.

Until next time,
~ Belle x

Easter Long Weekend

Pheww what a weekend, I spent soo much time in the car but had a fabulous time! Spent one night camping with my dad, stepmum and little sissy, another night in Warrnambool at my Uncle's place and another at mum's place in Melbourne before coming home Monday night. I didn't take a great deal of pictures, but snapped a few just to remind myself of the weekend.

First few were taken in Eildon: 2 of Krista and I and one of Dad with our 4wd 'convoy'!

The others were taken in Warrnambool. How cute is the koala?!

We managed to get a group shot whilst walking around the craters at Tower Hill in Warrnambool by putting my camera on timer on a post! And the final three photos are of my awesome cousins James, Andrew & Matthew.

Like I said, not too many but at least I have a few to scrap, even though they're not fantastic!

Until next time,

~ Belle xx

I finally christened the sewing machine!

As the title suggests I finally used my sewing machine! I've never sewn on my layouts before until I did a little handstitching on the one below. And although I got a sewing machine for Christmas I hadn't actually used it until last night! So I decided to stitch away on a couple of layouts just to practice. I kept them pretty simple to highlight my first tries at stitching and although fairly simple I think they came out well! So yay for my sewing machine, it may just become my new best friend (shhhh don't tell Natalie!).

I think I actually scrapped this photo a few years ago but I don't have my old layouts here (they're somewhere at my parents place...I think) to check. This is my gorgeous cousin Madeleine back when she was about 4 (she's now 8!)




I wanted this photo to be the feature because I just absolutely love it. One of my favourite photos from our Europe trip last year of my favourite place: the gorgeous Swiss Alps. This photo was actually taken whilst on a sunset cruise on Lake Lucerne the day we arrived in Switzerland.

Thanks so much for the lovely comments everyone, I think I'm becoming addicted to my own blog (vain, perhaps?!)!

Oh and for all of us hanging out waiting for the DT reveal at Snobby Walrus (http://www.snobbywalrus.com) it's only a few hours now I believe!

Until next time,

~ Belle x

Another Layout!

I've decided I must be on a roll, I've posted every day lately! Last night I was in the mood to scrap and decided to have a go at the March Sketch Challenge over at Scrap Therapy (http://www.scraptherapy.com.au/). It was a great chance to use up some of my scraps and I was inspired by my previous layout (Poser, as below) to step outside my comfort once again! So I decided to try a few different things that I basically NEVER do: one being to cut around the subject in my photo, another being to actually finally stitch on the layout and the last being to NOT do anything around the edge of my layout (I nearly always ink or paint the edges of my layout). This layout is not what I would call my normal style but I actually really enjoyed just having a go at something different, and I think the end result is quite cute (it certainly helps that the photo is of my adorable little cousin Katie).




Thanks for looking!

Until next time (tommorrow again, perhaps?),
~ Belinda x

First Snobby Walrus Challenge

Well Lynette has posted a challenge over at Snobby Walrus (http://www.snobbywalrus.com/) so I thought I'd give it a go. Black, white and read all over was the title; the idea being to use the colours black, white and red and use print somewhere as well. These colours are way out of my comfort zone, but considering that I managed alright in the end.



Without further ado, here's the layout....

I better get up the energy to go to the gym today since I haven't been since before we went to Melbourne over a week ago (oooops). So on that note, have a lovely day everyone.

Until next time,

~ Belle xx

For the record....

....I was not being dramatic in my previous post, the computer just decided to put big gaps between my paragraphs. He has a mind of his own does my Alty (yep, I named my computer).

Just one layout....perhaps more to come!

Hi all,



I felt like scrapping but at the same time I feel like my mojo is only half around this week so I decided just to do the one layout and I'll see if I feel like doing more later. Happy with the one I did but I'm blank on ideas now!



This layout is my first entry for Scrapping the Music! I've been intending to enter for forever and a day but just never got around to it until now. This week's lyrics were 'Just the Two of us' by Will Smith, so I took two different lines from the song 'just the 2 of us' and 'taking on the world' to scrap these photos of Daniel and I in Europe. I must give a mention to the lovely Allie (DT at Scrap Therapy) for some of the flowers, the prima pearl swirl and the little frame on this layout as she's the one who sent them to me in an RAK. Thanks Allie!



Enough rambling, layout time:

Thanks for looking lovelies,

Until next time,

Belle xx

P.S Random Fact: This post took me forever to write because I keep getting distracted by Flight of the Concords, l.o.v.e it!

Driving me batty!

Arghh the net drives me batty sometimes. For some reason even with pop-up blocker off etc I cannot get pop-ups to come up which seems to be making following others blogs entirely impossible! And then tonight lo and behold it worked....once....dammit I'd rather it not have worked at all rather than get my hopes up! So my frustration continues and everyone will continue wondering why I'm such a blog snob and don't follow anyone (except the one person whose blog did work for me today of course).

If my computer had a face I swear I'd slap it right now.

Until next time (if my computer isn't thrown across the room by then),
Belinda xx

Hi all,

I'm in a bit of a hurry today, about to head off shopping and then must clean the house before visitors arrive for a BBQ tonight. But I just wanted to share a few pics of a mini album I started today. I generally keep minis pretty simple and I really love this one. It's not finished, need to add photos still, but I thought I'd share a few piccies anyway. When it's done it will be a present for my stepsister (I intend to add some photos from her party in, just need to get some little ones printed).

And without further ado, the promised pics:

I'm being told off because we need to leave apparently so I better left it here. Thanks to anyone who actually looks at my blog xx

Until next time,

Belle xx

Home Sweet Home

Well we are back from our trip to Melbourne so I just thought I would quickly post to say what a fabulous time we had. Lots of catch ups with family and friends (few issues but what can you do!). But would you believe I did not take one single photo, not one!! Lucky I still have truckloads of unscrapped photos anyway, so it's probably a good thing I took no more pics. Today after leaving Melbourne though I am missing everyone like crazy and wishing we weren't so far away.

But tommorrow I have a job interview 3 and a half hours from home (just cos the recruiter is up there, I certainly won't be driving that far for work everyday!), Thursday I have a community event on and Friday/Saturday I'm doing a first aid course so I'm sure I'll be busy enough to not dwell on missing everyone.

Hopefully I'll get some scrapping done in the next few days so this blog can revert back to being about scrapping rather than just me rambling!

Until next time,
Belinda xx

Come on baby!

Well no scrapping for me the last couple of days, I've been on 2 year old watch at a friends place whilst her and her husband have been at the hospital waiting for baby number 2! Poor things been in early labour since yesterday evening so I've spent a lot of time at their house over the last 24 hours and have just got back home. Still no baby but I'd say he's coming tonight! I love babies!


But whilst I haven't scrapped lately I just thought I'd share a couple of layouts I did last week. I've done a few others too but haven't photographed them, promise I will soon. Both these new layouts are 'just because' layouts using photos I love. The first is using prima paper I LOVE but just couldn't bring myself to use (can anyone say 'saving things for the perfect layout') and the second has the cutest photo of DP with our gorgeous youngest niece.

Thanks for looking lovelies. I'm trying to sort out my pop up issue so I can come and follow your blogs too (I've had to settle for just saving them in my favourites for now!).

Until next time,

~Belinda x

Storms Aplenty

Well hasn't it been a bit crazy this weekend with storms?! Whilst I don't live in Melbourne myself anymore almost everyone I know and love still does so it was good to hear noone has suffered too much in this weekend's insane storms!

My mum and stepdad came up and saw our house for the first time this weekend which was very exciting, and I'm having my new dining table and outdoor setting delivered tommorrow! A brand new bed is coming in a few weeks and I'm waiting on a scrapbook desk I ordered to come in so all in all it's been a fantastic and exciting weekend! We also went to the Wagga country club for dinner on Saturday night for this first time, the food was great but oh my goodness I cannot even express to you how many bugs (locusts? grasshoppers? crickets? not sure!) were around. The wall outside looked brown instead of cream, there could have been up to a thousand bugs on it, I must admit I let out a few squeels!

And now onto the actual intended topic of this blog: scrapbooking! I headed down to the community centre on Thursday for the craft morning and did two layouts which was an achievement for me in just a couple of hours!

One of the layouts I did was just a random layout based on some cute photos my Aunt took of my adorable little 3 year old cousin Katie at her very first dance class. Really happy with how it turned out, the ribbon inspired the entire layout! Bit plain but I like it.

The March challenges have been revealed over at Scraptherapy (www.scraptherapy.com.au), the design team's examples are gorgeous as always so I'm looking forward to having a go at them during this month! Maybe I'll wait a couple of weeks and use my brand new scrapdesk!!! (Can you tell I'm excited??)

Enough rambling from me, there are dishes to wash and beds to remake so off I go.

Hope everyone's having a lovely weekend!

Until next time, Belinda xx

Hi again,

Just thought I would share another recent layout I did. This was for no reason, no challenge, just purely because I love this photo and wanted to scrap it. We took (and by we I mean mostly I) took thousands of photos on our Europe trip last year so I really need to get into scrapping some of the best at least! And suprise suprise, this layout's pink again!



On an unrelated note DP and I are off to purchase some new furniture today (since we currently have no dining table and *shock horror* no scrap desk!). I'm super excited! We're also going to get a new bigger bed so I don't kick him all the time haha.

Until next time,
~Belinda xx

Biting the Bullet

I decided to finally bite the bullet and start a blog! This will essentially be my scrapbook blog; a place for me to show my creations as well as provide a little insight into my life. The ladies over on Scrap Therapy (http://www.scraptherapy.com.au/index.php) inspired me to create this blog (they all have fabulous blogs!) so what better first post than the layouts I created for their latest cybercrop.

First up was my layout for the Theme Challenge. The theme this month was all about love (it was Valentine's Day this month after all!) and the challenge was to use cardstock as a base (with ink/paint/glimmermist etc) and to scrap about 5 things we or someone else loves. I wanted to do a layout of my partner but couldnt find a recent nice photo of just him so I decided to scrap the things we both love. The layout came up different to what I expected but I completely love it! And it's perhaps a little different to my usual style which is never a bad thing!


The second of my layouts was based on the sketch at Scrap Therapy and again I'm happy with the end result! I adore this photo of our gorgeous youngest niece Maddison and wanted it to stand out so I kept the layout fairly simple. The little miss attitude dogtag was actually a silly prize I won at a Timezone related place and was just the perfect embellie for my page: I love using random things to finish off a layout! You'll find as this blog continues that I often scrap with pink, not only because it is my favourite colour but also because we have five special little girls in our life and only one little boy




Thanks for looking, I hope to see some of you here as my blog evolves!

Until next time, Belinda xx