Winter Spring Layout Tag...

I love participating in the Noel Mignon LO Tag challenges. They are so much fun, and it's great to see the progression of the layouts once everyone has finished. (Plus, it's an excuse for me to use my Noel Mignon kits, which have been neglected lately!).

Here's my layout for the most recent Winter-Spring Layout Tag event. Titled: Not Merry & Bright. I used Noel's Christmas kit, just for something different, lol! No, I don't ever do "traditional" Christmas layouts - it's just not my style. :-) You can view everyone's completed layouts over on the Noel Mignon site. Or you could even join the fun and put your name down for the Summer Lo Tag challenge - the list of names is already being taken. Come on, I dare you!!!

Hmmm...Jillibean Addict In The Making???

I'm on a roll with the Jillibean Soup. :-) And I know when to stick with a good thing, lol!

Here's the Jillbean Soup April Sketch. I'm one of those scrapper's who isn't fussed about how many photos I use on a page - it could be one, it could be ten. So when a nice little sketch like this comes along, with room for four photos, then I just have to make the most of it, and put it to good use. 

Here's my take on the sketch. Titled: Off On An Adventure. 

The Jillibean Soup Coconut Lime Soup range is my absolute favourite. It was a case of love at first sight, lol! Beautiful butterflies and spring colours - what more could I ask for? 

And limes? Who would have thought to use limes on a page? Absolutely love it! My other daughter actually got upset because she wanted me to use the limes on a layout about her. Too funny! Tears over limes. Who would have thought? (Guess I'll be doing another page, lol!)

Oh, and now I know why people sew their stickers on a page. It's so easy!!! Yes, you'll be seeing more of this on my layouts... Hope you are all set for a happy, scrappy weekend? I sure am! 

Jillibean Soup Fun Time...

After 18 days of noise, fighting, and mayhem every morning, I've FINALLY had some peace and quiet. School holidays are over, and my two girls are back at school. Maybe now I can get some stuff done???

I've been trying to finish and photograph this layout for a few days now. Between the rain, and my crazy girls, it just didn't happen. Until today, lol!!! Titled: You're My Type Of Wonderful. I created this layout for the Jillibean April Design Challenge - which was to use buttons. Any type of Jillibean buttons. All I have are the die-cut and sticker buttons - so that is what I used. I used them as centres for my accordian flowers, and I used them on my banner, as decorations. Too cute!!!

Jillibean Soup is one of my newer loves. When I first started scrapping, I was scared of Jillibean Soup because it was so bright and bold. But now that I have finally established my own style, I know that Jillibean is perfect for those fun, bright, happy layouts that I so love to create (and everything else in-between, lol!). 

In case you are wondering, yes, that is Kindy Glitz all over the Jillibean Soup alphas. I just couldn't resist having some fun with them, and making them sparkle. :-) And those butterflies were created with Imaginarium Designs chipboard, gesso, and Glimmermist (an easy and simple technique to recreate). Thank-you for stopping by and allowing me to share this with you. I hope you have enjoyed it. I will have several more layouts to share over the next few days, including some more Jillibean Soup goodness. 

This Place I Call Home...

I love my new home, and I haven't been shy to tell anyone. Honestly, moving to Adelaide has probably been the best decision I have made in a long time. I am happy here. Content. When I go outside and look around, I smile. I can't explain it any better, except to say, I am meant to be here. This is my new home, and I will not be leaving any time soon (unless hubby gets an offer to work in Canada - then all bets are off, lol!.    

Would you like to see my new surroundings? I took this photo last night, probably about 6:00pm. My girls went to a birthday party a couple of suburbs over, and I just fell in love with the colours and lighting as I looked down the road. Good thing I always keep my camera with me. :-) I will try and get some more photos of the changing colours of Autumn over the next couple of weeks. The leaves are beautiful vivid oranges and reds at the moment. Completely stunning. 

This is our street. I took this back in February. Yes, it is that beautiful and green. You can't see the top of the street in this photo (this is only about half-way), but the trees run all the way to the end. It's like driving through an amazing green archway when you enter the street. Totally awesome. By the way, down here, a lot of the streets are like this. :-) Adelaide is filled with tree-lined streets. Oh yes, and wide roads. 

The place we now call home. I fell in love with this house the moment I saw it. It has everything I need, plus a few extras. Lots of room for my scrapping, and for my girls. It's a gorgeous home in a lovely quiet street. We are about 5 minutes from the city, and about 5 minutes from the girl's school. Everything we need is close, and easy to access. Yes, this is the place I call home, and yes, I am proud to call it home. 

Sketch #7 Lily Bee Designs

When I first saw this sketch over at Lily Bee Designs, I knew I had to play. It was just screaming for some artistic interpretation - it's a great sketch to use as a starting point.

This is Sketch #7 for April.

Now, which range to use??? That was my hardest choice, lol! I ended up going with the Happily Lost range. I've always loved the colours in this range - so bright, so fun, so me!!!

I haven't made cone flowers in such a long time. Thank-you Ronda Palazzari for reminding me that I can, lol! (I'm in the middle of reading her book - Art Of Layers - I can honestly say, it's one of the best investments that I have EVER made!!!).

Crate Color Challenge April 2012

I think I'm a little rusty, lol! I haven't done a Crate Paper Color Challenge for quite some time. And for some reason, I didn't exactly find these colours easy to wotk with (although I thought I would). Oh, well. Can't do anything about that now. :-) Here's my take on the April Color Challenge...

TITLED: Catch A Falling Star

Lots of Crate Paper goodness - papers, stickers, die cuts, buttons, chipboard. Which ranges did I use? I have no idea - some were very old, others were more recent (Random and Emma's Shoppe).

I know it doesn't look like it, but I have coloured my stamped image in with pinks and blues. The colours look wrong because of the yellow paper and lighting.

I love my cute little hand-made banner. It turned out better than I thought it would.

Lots of layers and dimension. I'm working at improving my layering over the next few months - just wait and see, lol! :-)

And of course, a layout wouldn't be done without some hand-made flowers. I enjoy making these so much - they are easy, and look so good.

Thanks for joining me today. And I do apologise for being a bad blogger recently - school holidays have kept me busy. But I do have several layouts to share with you over the next few days. Stay tuned, and I hope to see you back here soon.

Artist Trading Cards for Charity...

Ladies and Gentlemen, I've decided it's time to give back to the community.

Besides, don't we all need some good Karma?

And helping others always makes one feel better.

So, lets find out how many of you really do care, and will donate a little of their creative time, and create a mini-masterpiece (Artist Trading Card). All for a good cause. All for charity.

All to help women and men fighting the fight against cancer.

What brought this on, I hear you ask? Well, I received the following letter from my dear friend Annette. She is involved with the Be Uplifted Inc. charity. And they need help. I am in a position to offer that help. So, here we go:

"Hi Jules,
I had this wonderful thought about ATCs & the 'Be Uplifted charity' ...
I have been asked to do some art work to be displayed in the oncology
unit at a local Brisbane Hospital
My thought was: if all your friends & my friends & their friends would
be interested in making an ATC in pink with an uplifting word or quote
on it. What do you think???
My objective is to then adhere them to a large canvas (or two) or
frame them behind glass for display.
As they will be glued down the names of the artist will need to be
separate so it can be added beneath the ATC.
The patients will be able to read these whilst they are going through
their chemo treatment.

May is the birthday month of 'BeUplifted' & all the information is on
this link... http://www.beuplifted.org.au/
so if I could have all ATCs by the end of April, I can have it framed
and ready to present at our mid- May function.
ATCs contact could be through my email or your facebook?

Be Uplifted Inc is a breast cancer fundraising organization supporting
women and their families during diagnosis, treatment and recovery.
Thank you for helping us to help others.
Have attached our logo

love ya thanks for supporting us
Annette"

I am going to take this opportunity to ask if you will participate (I will beg if I have too!!!)?Anyone can join in (local, interstate, or international). All you need to do is create an ATC card in pink, with an uplifting word or quote on it, before the end of April. All ATC's will be included in the frame, with the artist's name listed below the card. Can you imagine a huge frame filled with ATC's from all around the world? How awesome and amazing would that be? Wouldn't you like to be a part of that? I know I sure would!!!

If you would like to participate, please email me at julianna-delumen@powerup.com.au, and I will send you the address that the ATC needs to be sent to. Alternatively, you can message me on Facebook (my Facebook link is at the top of my blog).

Please feel free to repost or link this to your own Face Book pages and Blogs. :-)

I hope I hear from you soon. :-)

Thank-you for taking the time to read this. It is greatly appreciated.

I will share my ATC once it is complete.

April Sketch Over At Crafty Sketches...

Yay! It's April Sketch time over at Crafty Sketches. I hope you'll come and play? It's a great sketch - open to interpretation, with so many possibilities.

I definitely had fun with it. :-)

This month's sketch was designed by Design Team member Kim Kendall.

All the details to join in the fun, and play, can be found here.

Here's my take on the sketch. Titled: First Camp. To be honest, most of this layout was created from left over bits and pieces. My bowl of left-over odds and ends was getting full, so I decided to throw them all together, and see what I could create. This is the end result. Nice and bright, isn't it? LOL!!! Oh, and yes, I got some new Washi tapes to play with - aren't they yummy.