Loving the school holidays!

It's true that I enjoy teaching but it's equally true that I love having school holidays! I seem to get so much more done... and I have heaps of time for scrapping :) I'm still loving the challenges... and I seem to be catching up quite quickly now so here's the next installment!

Week 14: birds. It's just turning into spring here and we've got tui's outside every morning. They're singing is so beautiful and the blossoms are stunning. It made me think about all the little baby chicks being born... and then I thought about my own 'chicks'. They're growing up so quickly and they're really beginning to think about what they want out of life. I remember being that age myself and it really doesn't seem that long ago!

Week 15: your parents. Hmm this was actually a hard one! It made me really think about what we inherit from our parents and the whole 'nature vs nuture' thing... especially with having a step dad who definitely has had an influence on my life as well! My sisters and I have inherited several different 'cultures' (Scottish, Irish, Romany Gypsy, Maori, American the list goes on!) all wrapped up in the 'kiwi culture' so I focussed on the two cultures I most identify with.Week 16: get someone else to contribute. My daughter Krystal (15) is becoming a very talented scrapbooker! The other day she made an album about her school friends and she did this amazing cover that was stamped, embossed and then stitched. It was absolutely gorgeous so I got her to do the artwork for my card. Thank you Krystal! I'm so proud of your talents :)Week 17: your bedroom. We rented a house about 4 years ago that I absolutely loved. It was an old state house that had been renovated so it had big bedrooms and lots of polished wood. The house had a great feel and awesome french doors that led into the front garden. While we lived there I took heaps of photos of the house because I knew that one day I would like to have a house like that and I'm so pleased I did because I used them for this weeks card. It was also a good time to journal about some of my most precious possessions: I was really close to my Great-Grandmother and when I was 2 she gave me a beautiful walkie-talkie doll that I've still got. When she died she left me her dressing table and it's lovely... one day I'm going to get it restored. Then a few years ago my Grandmother gave me a huge print of the 'Gypsy Queen' which I have always loved. Week 18: nature. Darn it! I did a card about that in Week 13 (what's on your mind?). This time I focussed on being in nature and how it makes you realise how much 'bigger' the universe is compared with your part in it. Nature has always been really important to me... probably a throw-back to growing up on a farm! When I'm really upset, or angry, or sad I usually turn to nature to help me through. So that's my update. Hope you all enjoy the cards and thanks again for all the wonderful comments... I love hearing what you think of my work :)

More Creativity :)

This challenge is definitely making me think about my life. I'm really enjoying the prompts although at times it's hard to decide what I want to focus on! I'm loving hearing what you all think of the cards too... thank you so much for the positive feedback!!! I've managed to do another four cards this week so here's the update:

Week 10: note to self. At first I was going to journal all those little things that if you could go back in time you would tell yourself... but that might have been a journal in itself! Instead I decided to use it as a reminder of the important things to me... and when I thought about it most of those were the really simple things in life.

Week 11: your initial. What a cool prompt! I've always liked the letter S. I think it's the curvy line and it's kind of scripty... and as a kid I always like the different ways you could make it look fancy :) Plus it looks great in a signature!

Week 12: I believe... There were quite a few options for this prompt... I believe that good manners are important... I believe that children often show us how to be happy... I believe that family can be one of our greatest gifts (or the greatest bug bears!) but in the end I chose believing in my dreams! I honestly think that when you do something passionately and with your whole heart then you really can't fail!

Week 13: What's on your mind? Lately I've had so many ideas running around in my head... ideas for layouts, projects I want to do, things I have to do and at times it's felt like my mind is going to explode... so with that in mind I chose thinking about the quiet times... rejuvenating by walking along the beach or through the forests and taking time to clear my thoughts so that I can focus clearly on the next thing.

Thanks again for all your wonderful comments :) I'm off to get some more creating done!

Loving this challenge

First of all... THANK YOU to all the people who commented on my first post. I've been so inspired and creating that I haven't had a chance to leave you all comments on your blogs but I just wanted to say that I really appreciate all the great feedback!

Here is the next installment on my cards - I'm up to Week 9 now so hopefully I'll catch up relatively quickly.

Week 5: use some ephemera from your week. At first I was going to use stamps and journal about how much I love getting 'happy mail'... things like circle journals, ATC's etc and then the other morning I was putting in my contact lenses and realised that the seal on the pack was the perfect size for my card! Wearing glasses at 9 was so not cool back in the late 70's - Harry Potter hadn't come and waved his wand yet and I can still hear the kids teasing and my teacher (Mr Brown) explain to me why I had to wear them. These days I wear contact lenses which I love!

Week 6: Love, Love, Love! I thought about creating this card about the people I love... but there wasn't the room for that so I did it about what I'm looking for. I'll let the journaling on the card speak for itself.

Week 7: Shoes - there is always a story to tell. I do remember those patent leather black shoes I had when I was a kid. I thought I was so flash in them... and yes, both my girls had them when they were little too! These days I seem to wear either boots in the winter or sandals in the summer... I only ever seem to own a maximum of three pairs of shoes at a time. The shoes I remember coveting the most were 'Treks' back in high school. I SO wanted a pair!!!

Week 8: Who (or what) do you miss? This one was an easy choice... I miss Nana... sometimes a lot! She was my Great-Grandmother and we loved each other to bits! Her hands were quite misshapen from arthritis but I remember thinking she had the most beautiful hands in the world because they were kind hands. She was a very gentle person and she often kept her thoughts to herself but there was a special magic about her. Pink and pale green were her favourite colours :)

Week 9: Inspiration found! Everywhere I look I get inspiration... sometimes it's listening to a song on the radio, other times it might be a conversation. Sometimes it's a photo or piece of paper. Sometimes it's from looking at scrapping magazines or blogs. The other day I noticed the neighbours net curtains and thought they would make a fantastic background paper LOL. This card was a lot of fun and really enjoyed playing with a few of my favourite colours, items and techniques.I hope you enjoy the cards and you can be sure I'll be back later in the week with another installment. Please leave a comment because I do read them all and I really appreciate your thoughts! Happy creating :)

I've made a start!

At the beginning of 2007 Emily Falconbridge designed an art journal journey she nicknamed a 'Deck of Me'. Each week she posts new challenge on her blog and she's currently up to Week 36 BUT I only found the blog a couple of weeks ago so I'm starting out at the beginning and at some point I'm bound to catch up! So far I've completed Weeks 1 - 4 so that's not bad going!

Emily's challenges are quite thought provoking at times and I'm having quite a bit of fun using up all sort of scraps that are left over from making layouts. It's also a great way to try out new techniques that I'm not too sure about without worrying about messing up my 12 x 12's.

I've decided to make mine into some sort of book at the end... probably with a hole punched in a top corner and threaded onto a ring but if you have any other ideas please leave me a comment!

Here's my front cover:

Then I made an index page just to remind myself of where the idea for this came from: Week 1: something you are proud of. It was hard to choose just one thing... being a mum? completing teachers college? overcoming a brain aneurysm? in the end I chose being proud of taking chances and following my dreams.

I found a great little quote by Mark Twain that I wanted to include but it wouldn't fit so I made a tiny card to go under the butterfly and it worked pretty well:Week 2: what is powerful to you? Lots of things came to mind for this one too... like I said, some of the challenges are really thought provoking! In the end I chose learning to live from my heart which is becoming more and more important to me as I get older.

Week 3: I am... Yep it happened again... I am 36? I am a mum? I am a teacher? I am creative? Nope... my biggest challenge these days is finding balance so... I am constantly trying to find balance in my life!

Week 4: A symbol you love. This one was much easier to choose. I just love the koru and what it represents! I also love paua shell so putting the two together gave me an awesome result.
So that's the first four prompts completed. I'd love to hear your comments so please don't be shy!