Scrapping Everyday Miracles - A New Chapter Blog Hop

Welcome everyone! It is great to have you here. We are so excited about a new chapter at SEM! We have recently added a few new design team members and we thought a blog hop would be the perfect way to introduce them. Each of the Design Team members and our Guest Designer have created a project with the theme of starting "A new Chapter".

The hop starts September 28 and ends Sunday September 30th  11:59pm PDT. Remember in order to qualify for our grand prize you must be a follower of SEM and leave a comment on all the blogs.

So, what are you waiting for...hop to it!

 SEM
 Svetlana 

Felicity - you are here!

  Elizabeth

  Kelly 

  Nicole

  Sherri

  Marjolaine 

  Cara

  Einat 

  Tracey G 

Dolores

 and back to  

SEM

to let us know you have visited all of the blogs and go into the draw for the major prize!

And without further ado, here is my "New Chapter" project, an art journal style mini-book using a fabulous kit from Eve at Evalicious.

So Grateful

I have been spending a lot of time reflecting on my life and what's important, really important to me over the last few months. So in order to start a new chapter I thought it relevant to evaluate the last chapter. My mini-book is a journal about what I want to take with me in the future, the things I hold most dear, have opened my heart and mind to, and am truly grateful for.



I have incorporated the *twist by cutting definitions out of an old dictionary and highlighting them as part of my journalling.



So grateful...to be part of a loving family, who care for each other and respect each other. To have an extended family that we can turn to for support and friendship, and for good friends - the family we choose for ourselves



So grateful... that our baby boy has grown into a strong, healthy young man. So clever, so athletic, surrounding himself with good friends, with maturity beyond his years



So grateful...that our beautiful little girl has so much spunk! Yes, sometime we butt heads, but at least you know what you want, and we love you for it



So grateful...that you are free to be whoever you want to be. This truly is the lucky country. Run, play, imagine, learn, just be free for a while



So grateful...for the simple things in life. Gathering shells at the beach, watching the sun rise, hatching a baby chick. The small everyday miracles that occur wtihout our intervention, but sometimes, if we just open our eyes we can see them



So grateful... to renew my faith in the church, in myself and in others. I feel blessed to be welcomed into our parish with open arms, and know that I have lots of support at home



Don't forget to leave a comment before you hop-along to visit Elizabeth!

And as an added bonus, become a follower of my blog to go into the draw to win this delicious bundle of Kaisercraft 'Mint Twist' Christmas goodies - including a 6 1/2" paper pad, wooden star flourishes, printed ribbons, cherry red mini alphas and a package of collectables with over 50 die cut shapes.

 And now its your turn to play along...

We would love to see you create a layout or mixed media project that represents a new chapter in your life. Whether you have already begun this journey or you are thinking about it, we want to know about it.

*Twist: Use book pages or book text on your project...be creative!

Linking your project back to SEM before October 5th, 11:59 PDT will give you an EXTRA entry to win our grand prize generously provided by Art Freckles

Our grand prize winner will win a prize pack valued at $25 CAD

  In addition, Art Freckles is offering 15% discount to our blog hoppers on all purchases made between Sept. 28th and Oct. 5th.  The coupon code is 'SEMHOP'.  Please note however, that they are currently only shipping to Canada and the United States but have graciously offered to send international if the buyer is willing to pay the international shipping.

Winners will be announced at SEM on Saturday October 6th, 2012.

Make sure you also stop by our facebook page  for games, conversation and lots of fun! Please don't forget to come back Monday  for the October Challenge and another chance to win a prize!

 

SEM Blog Hop coming soon...

Scrapping Everyday Miracles announces...

 

Next weekend we will be having a BLOG HOP... Yippie! It is a chance to get to know the new design team, be inspired and you could win the grand prize from our sponsor Art Freckles or one of the RAKs offered along the way!!!!!

Make sure you join us Friday Sept. 28th

SEM September sketch challenge

Maddies Blankie

This month Scrapping Everyday Miracles has brought us another lovely sketch to work with.

Our Scrap Twist this month is: Use a mixed alpha title.....

I have scrapped another photo of my beautiful niece Madeleine on the blanket that I knitted for her. I was pretty proud of myself for finishing this project, it's the first time I have attempted knitting something larger than a pair of booties and actually finishing it before the arrival of the little bubba.

For the layout I turned to my very reliable butterfly die from Cuttlebug, girly papers by Bella Blvd and some remnant felt. Hand cutting some scallops, adding machine stitching and a matching tag for my journalling completed my layout. As for a mixed alpha title, that was really easy! I keep all of my odd alphas in a little basket - you know, the ones you punch out and then don't use, or the ones that are loose in you tote or drawer, not to mention the ones you don't have enough of left to make a single word.  To ensure at least a little bit of unity I painted my chippie alphas and voila! One little layout completed.

And here's the sketch we had to work with, by the very talented Shimelle.

Make sure you drop by the SEM blog to see what everyday miracles the very talented DT have scrapped this month.

Thanks for looking xx

September Step by Step

Building Blocks

I joined Heather at Home and Scrapped for a Step by Step Challenge to complete this layout. If you haven't played along before you really should give it a go. This was my first attempt, and I found it so easy. You are given a list of supplies to gather and then follow the simple instructions that are posted about 15 minutes apart. By the end you have a finished layout - yep, really finished, title, journalling - the lot! I chose my papers and photos before I saw the completed layout, so I was scrapping blind, but am happy with the results and will definately take this challenge again.

This is the sample layout Heather completed:

The same, but different.

Thanks for looking xx

Technique challege at CMH

kisses for James

 It seems there may well be something in the water, this is the 3rd baby born in our family in the last 2 months and there is another on the way! Baby James Anthony arrived on the 9th of August to proud parents Dean and Erica. He was a teeny tiny little fellow, making his entrance to this world 4 weeks early, but arriving safely and already much loved.

Challenge me happy set a technique challenge this month - sewing.

This made me very happy since I sew on my layouts far more frequently than I sew clothes nowadays, and I packed my reliable Janome to take on our retreat.

Being a thrifty scrapper I have recycled some old pillowcases and stitched frayed strips onto a transparency, with some old curtain lace made new again. Some stitched hearts completed this simple layout.

Thanks for looking xx

Inspired September

Dream big little girl

Another layout from our not-so-scrappy weekend. This photo of my baby girl is coming up 9 years ago, taken when she was only 2 days old.

Colorful Creations provided the following inspiration image to get us started. I was influenced by the colours, the flowers and the pleated skirt. I used crepe paper to make my pleated ruffle and flowers.

Thanks for looking xx

September Sketches with a twist

jr Scrapper

I completed this layout while on our Girly Scrapping Retreat Weekend. There was lots of ideas sharing going on and lots of laughs, but perhaps a little less scrapping than we intended!

Sketches with a twist provided the following sketch to work with, the twist being to use wet or dry embossing. As you can see in the close up, I used an embossing folder to add a little more texture to my embellishments.

Thanks for looking xx

SEM August sketch

Being with you...

This is true. The photo may have been taken 13 years ago on our honeymoon but you still make my heart sing.

Scrapbooking Everyday Miracles has a great sketch to work with this month.
Scrap Twist:  We would love to see you incorporate at least one STAR on your layout.

 I've used some vintage sheet music and a Maya Road frame, and used a flower in place of each of the 2x2" photos since I condensed my layout. To incorporate the scrap twist I punched stars from left over sheet music and attached them to some fishing line, alternating with adhesive pearls and adding them to my little flower cluster with Scrapdots to add just a little more dimension. A smattering of pearls and I'm done!

Thanks for looking xx

Colorful Creations Augurst Pocket challenge

Season 2012 in print

During this season of under 10's footy I seem to have accumulated a lot of newspaper clippings, club newsletters and even a photo in The Gazette of my talented and upcoming footballer (indulge me, I'm a mum!) Now, I wouldn't dream of throwing out any of the articles where he got a special mention but I needed to work on a storage solution for them.

For this layout I have folded a concertina envelope from a single sheet of 12x12" patterned paper. Simply embellished with some shipping tags, machine stitching and painted chipboard alphas I have the ideal home for CJ's memorabilia from the season. On the white cardstock background I stamped his team name - the Blues, his age group - under 10's and his jumper number - 25, just in case he forgets these very important details as he gets older.


I'm having a little play with some new challenge sites, and have found Colorful Creations offer a huge variety of different projects to challenge you each month. I am entering this layout into their pocket challenge.

CJ addressing his team as Captain, before the Blues U/10 second game
at the 2012 Lightening Premiership, held at Yarragon.

Thanks for looking xx





SEM Challenge #19

Cruisin'

The main challenge at Scrapping Everyday Miracles this month is to scrap a favorite vacation, and the twist is to use a stencil or mask on your layout.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am slowly scrapping my way through our Gold Coast family holiday that we took in January.These pictures taken on our Broadwater cruise suited the theme perfectly. We had such a lovely afternoon enjoying the smorgasbord lunch, the sightseeing and the slower pace. I think it was the first time the kids could remember being on a boat and they thought it was fantastic. Watching their expressions was a real joy and reminded me of just how special time spent together as a family is. Like me, I know they will keep the memories of this holiday in their heads and hearts for many years to come.

 In reality we would not have been able to take this holiday without the help of my mother-in-law. Sadly she passed away in March 2011 and it was with some of her inheritance that we were able to spoil the kids on this dream holiday. No matter how hard we work and save there is simply no way we could have afforded it on our own. Thanks Gran, you are dearly missed.

I made my mask by drawing and cutting out a sun pattern. I spritzed it with some paint that I watered down and poured into a spray bottle, and also used 'Sunflower' Glimmermist.  I added lots of glitter, jewels and seed beads to the sun to make it a bright sun-shiny sun.

And just to prove that you don't always have to use expensive product from fancy manufacturers I have used 'cheap and cheerful' papers and embellies from Crafters Choice. I picked up a paper pack, journalling block and chippie embellies for under $10 at Spotlight and have enough goodies to make a couple more layouts. A bargain if you ask me!

Thanks for looking xx

August @ Sophies Corner - use buttons

Game Boys

This month for Sophies Corner at Show us your Stuff Connor decided to do the scrapping!

He really liked this photo of him (on the left) and his mate Jack playing on the Nintendo DS when he came over for a sleepover. I gave him free reign over my supplies and he took a real shine to the Sassafras Lass feltie monsters and found some matching buttons. The Kaisercraft Technologic paper suited the theme and we are all really happy with the results.

Great work Connor!



CSI Case file no. 32

Annual Family Picnic

We had so much fun on our family picnic on the Tooradin foreshore. It has become somewhat of a Hancock tradition to get together around Australia Day and celebrate what it means to be a family and an Aussie. My mum has 5 sisters and 6 brothers and they are all married with kids - except for one sister. And some of us grand kids are old enough to bring great grand kids with us so it takes a lot of organisation, but boy is it worth it!

I knew the moment I saw this CSI case file that I would scrap our beach picnic.

• The scheme was right - I have used all 5 colours
• The evidence was easy to find - I embossed beads into my wood flourish to give the appearance of grains of sand and I sanded and rounded the corners of my matts
• And the testimony fit the bill - our day trip to the beach

It is amazing what a difference a change of orientation can make to a layout. I am really happy with my venture into vertical layouts this month and a BIG 2 thumbs up for free the CSI Co-ordinates.

Thanks for looking!