Kaisercraft Q2 .... BTP

Here is my BTP work from the Q2 Magazine - I really enjoyed everything we did here. And something new that we did at Kaiser in Geelong, was we had a big scrap day with all of the design team! It was a lot of fun and everyone created such amazing work - it's great to have everyone hands on to learn about the products and how they are used.

This is a triple frame pack in Christmas Carnival. I really love the photos of the boys!



This is probably one of my favourite BTP's from this quarter. I love the diversity of the album - which can also be used as a picture frame.



And this was another favourite. The train caddy covered in Dear Santa. I didn't think it would look as lovely as this! I'm really happy with it!



My other favourite, favourite FAVOURITE range of paper was Rewind - designed by Nic Wingert. This was such fantastic boy paper, and I loved using it. This idea was originally originally from Jo at Memories 2 Remember who I'd love to give credit to.



Might leave it there, and upload some of my other projects shortly.

A big thank you to those that visit and leave me a message so I know you have been - I appreciate it so very much. I have a few people to respond to, but bear with me - life at Kaiser, raising a family etc can get very busy. Have a great weekend everyone x

Kaisercraft Q2 .... Layouts

Just thought I would pop my own work on my blog, moreso as a keepsake. The only photo I don't have is the Advent Calendar that Melissa and I worked on together as a dual project, but I'll get that sometime.

Here are all of my layouts. Totally loved all of the new papers the girls designed.

A Touch of Spookiness ....... BOO!

The lead up to Halloween has been pretty exciting at our place. I made invitations for my friends - some of which, disappointingly, didn't even reply ... hmmm. I bought lots of special lollies this year - all in the halloween theme, and we added to our halloween collection with lots of new and gruesome stuff.

On Friday last Craig had the day off work and we set up together inside. There was lots to be done. We put lots of black plastic tablecloth which we had cut into strands on the ceiling to give an eerie effect! We also hung it on our back window for a darker effect!



I set up two tables this year ago. One with orange & black - mainly for food. My red & black table was decoration only.





This year, as all the kids are older, I labelled all the food with little table cards. Hehe, that was fun! I made matching lolly bags too with all the kids' names on their own - which I didn't get a photo of unfortunately.




Craig took all the kids trick or treating. And some of us big adults, even went trick or treating together hehe. Here is a photo of my boys, and a photo of most of the kids.





And just to finish off a few more photos, here is a collage. Thanks to all our family and friends who came along - it wouldn't have been the same without you xx

Digi Layout

I still laugh when I look at this layout I did. Really, I don't ever put "silly" photos of myself out there. But when Ali Woods at work asked me if I could do a digi layout that could be used for the blog, and a title was to be chosen for it - I thought that picture might be funny enough for it.

So here it is - I feel a bit exposed but hey, what's life if you can't have a giggle about it?

It is done in Kaiser's Jingles Digi Range, and it is really easy to use. It's only my second digi layout, and I'm thinking I could be converted. Maybe !!!!!

And not before time .........

Lis came around to visit me on Friday night, and as we were walking down the hallway she spotted a layout sitting on my desk. She came to a very abrupt halt, said "oh you are working on a layout" .... she looked and said "oh you've had that there ages Al" .... yea it's pretty hopeless of me. I've sat and looked and looked and moved bits around but was never "happy" with it. So Lis - you inspired me to finish it.
I must say Lis wasn't unkind about it at all - it was really funny what she said - she was excited to see I was working on something other than Kaiser I think.

Anyway, it is done. I like it - and I actually hand journalled - which is pretty much out of my comfort zone. I prefer to type so it looks neat. But it is true, your handwriting is an important part of scrapbooking, and in years to come - I am certain my boys will love seeing that I did write on some of my layouts.

Thanks for visiting me x

Awesome blog site

I found this lovely lady "Not Quite Nigella" by searching for Halloween goodies. OMGOSH this lady is so so creative. Her ideas are amazing! Just wanted to share the link with those who love to celebrate Halloween. Bwahahahahahahahaaaaaaaa

NOT QUITE NIGELLA LINK

Halloween Invites .... BOO !!!!!!!

I know it has been ages since I last blogged, and there has been a lot going on but I just haven't had the time! Work has been incredibly busy - and now I'm on holidays nothing much is a priority except catching up with my family and friends. I'll update about some other things later on.

But I have done a little bit of scrapping! Yes scrapping at home. Not work! It's been fun actually hehe.

I've made my Halloween Invitations - I'm thinking I might print some out for the boys to give out to their school friends though. It's all taking quite a while. I've done the invites mainly on the Cricut. Then the Cricut gave up on me last night. I think the blade is blunt. I rang Raqual at Chandon today and she came to my rescue. She was FANTASTIC! She offered me to come into the shop and cut the rest of my little pumpkins that needed doing. I need a new blade but will have to sit tight for a few days until Raqual's order arrives.

Thank You so much to you girls at Chandon for your help over the past few days. You've been awesome. Yes of course, I'll continue to nag for Halloween paper - cos I don't reckon Christmas paper does it for me LOL!!!!!!!

So here's a little peek at my invites. Will update soon - promise :)

KAISERCRAFT - 30 days of Creative Contests

Kaisercraft is hosting a month long celebration to celebrate its second quarterly release!

Join in the fun, visit the Kaisercrafties blog during the month of September and you’ll find daily contests and prizes, industry news, inspiration, guest blog posts and much more!

They’ve also got exclusive photos, discussions and news on their facebook page and be the first to hear any news from kaisercraft via their twitter feed!

Also, if you’re not already:

Please become a fan of Kaisercraft on facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kaisercraft/61437065355?ref=ts
And a follower on twitter: http://twitter.com/kaisercraft

Tag This Hybrid Layout

Ok, I'm new to this "hybrid" thing lol. But that's what my layout was called at work.

So I LOVE this range that Clare Miller did (see the link to Clare's blog on my blog list) ... she's very talented. So when I heard our papers were going digi, Clare printed me a set up. I had been waiting for ages to have a play, and here's what I came up with. I love the vibrant blues and lime greens - they look HOT!

Only problem was I didn't have any photos to scrap with. And when my son Bailey chose this hoodie recently I had a lightbulb moment. So we took a few pics and the layout came together really easily. Quite a few other elements beside Kaisercraft here including Heidi Swapp.



I don't have anything else much to share. All I have been scrapping has been for the new Q2 Mag - just wait until you see all the papers the DT girls have designed. They are stunning. I'll leave it there, have a great weekend everyone x

Some Kaiser Q1 work .......

Lissy was good enough to take some photos of some of my work I did for the Q1 extras to go to CHA in July. So thanks for that Lis ;)

I love this little house album I have scrapped in Loire Valley (designed by Laine Fraser).
I have to give credit to Jane Jones for the roof - using a tool to create the little circles took me forever and I can't think of the name of them right now. Also the blinds - Jane gave me that idea too! I think they turned out really cute! So thanks Jane :)



I also did some work with Pennyroyale (Mikala Robinson Koss) ... oooh I love this paper collection. Firstly I made a simple little card for the Q1 Launch night and then I made this album for my niece Amy - I hope she likes it!





I also did a clear album and card in Pina Colada (Clare Miller). It was good to scrap some photos of our Thailand holiday ... I have so many (probably 2000+).

Another noodle box .........

Yea I'm on a roll I know hehe. I wanted to make a second one - for another special person having a birthday very soon! After all, if you make one, what's another one huh? Love the Garden Arabesque Paper Collection by Kaisercraft. I even used some of my Heidi Swapp stash that I bought when I went to Heidi's Workshop in December last. It's just so pretty, soft, feminine ... and love the deep purple in this range too! It's so striking but still has warmth.

Pssttt ... I still have to buy the chocolates to fill it ... got to get special ones for this person. She has a favourite ;)

Birthday Cupcakes for my sister

A few weeks ago it was my sister's birthday. I couldn't catch up with her on her special day - but she was so sweet, she invited us to her home for lunch on the Sunday following her birthday. I wanted to make her a cake of some sort, and the big thing at the moment is cupcakes. For some reasons, and my intentions were all good, things didn't go to plan as I ran out of time and my cakes were not as I had originally planned in my mind.

The cakes themselves spilled up over the tops of the cake pans ... ugh! Anyway I pipped icing on top and they looked ok. My sister was very happy with them.

A gift for a friend ...

Finally I have sat and made something for myself at home. It was nice and relaxing. I've been sick for 10 days now, and to be honest, I'm thinking I'm at the end of it now. Because I am over it. Being in the house for 10 days has been yuck to say the least, with work in between.

Anyway, a very special friend of mine is having a birthday next weekend - well the actual day is during this week but I'm pretty sure she doesn't read my blog so I feel safe enough to post my noodle box I made for her on here. It's really simple, as I don't have a lot of energy and wanted to get this done.

I won't say what is inside the tall box - as that is her gift, and if she did come and read my post well at least she won't know what it is. But don't you love the wrapping paper? I think it would make the most gorgeous scrap paper !!!

My boys are both well and my husband Craig is going away for the whole week to Queensland, so I will be on my own.

Hope you are all well and thanks for the lovely emails I have been receiving and my facebook messages. It's lovely to know you have been thinking of me :)

Little Ugg Boots left behind

Well Cam has gone on camp today to Sovereign Hill in Ballarat for three days. I felt a little bit sad - not about the fact that he won't manage or anything, but just typical Mum things.

He had to be at school at 7am this morning. The bus was leaving from school at 7.30am, and they were to arrive at Sovereign Hill, get changed into olden days costume and attend school as they did in the old days. And to quote Cameron they had to say "Yes Sir" etc hehe. Quite funny.

Even lunches had to be wrapped in "paper" ... no glad wrap or zip lock bags. It was all about authenticity and as much as I grumbled, as I type this post - I guess it is a great experience for the children to make it as realistic as possible.

Anyway, after Craig and Cam left this morning, and I closed the back door, I turned around to see his little ugg boots sitting on the floor near the table neatly. It made me miss him even more.

I hope he has an amazing time. And I really look forward to his return and hearing about his adventures.

Kaisercraft Q1 Layouts

Finally, finally I can post my layouts from the new Q1 ranges of papers.
Lots of you may have already seen the papers. I won't go into the range names as yet, because there are officially 8 more days until the official release. But, at work, we've been told we are allowed to post them on our blogs - yahoo!

So here they are, after many long months of working! Hope you like them. So love everything about our new papers.

Thanks for those who stop by (as always) and leave messages of support and encouragement! xx

A layout I finished a week ago ...

Just love these photos of Jane taken when I visited for her 41st (*coughs) birthday in April. They were taken at Circular Quay ... I know, she looks gorgeous. I did edit them a little bit because on one of the pics there was a pram coming out of Jane's head LOL. So now that I have completed my Photoshop Course, I have learnt enough to know how to use the cloning tool ;)

As some of you may know, Jane is going through another rough patch in her life. I'm hoping everyone could say a little prayer and kind thought in your dreams tonight. And a special little thought for little Scubby the dog. *woof woof Scubby*

A few cards to share

I made a few cards over the weekend. I just wanted to say "Just Because" to a couple of girls - who made my week. They should receive them today hopefully, and they aren't regular visitors are my blog so I think the share should be safe!

Hope you all have a great day and lovely week. Thanks to all of you who pop in and leave me messages ... xx

KAISERCRAFT Q1 LAUNCH

I'm not sure where to start here. I think I should start with saying a huge big THANK YOU to Nicole, Laine, Mikala and Clare (our Designers) for the amazing Q1 Event that they organised for the release of our new collections. You girls should all be extremely proud of yourselves. CONGRATULATIONS on the success of the night. I am so proud to know you all personally and see how such young minds can create and organise such a big event. Well done again girls.

To everyone who helped with set up - you did an awesome job. And everyone who worked on the night in the kitchen, on the door, handing our homemade food out to guests - everyone. Every Kaiser staff member who contributed - THANK YOU.

And of course ... Kaiser wouldn't be Kaiser without Carolyn and Steve. Thank you for always believing in us and all we do. It's a pleasure.

Onto the night. When I arrived with Melissa at about 6pm there was a die-hard (LOL) fan out the front parked ready to be recognised as the first guest to arrive. I actually felt nervous about having to mingle as I am a little bit shy - but I did chat with a few people!

Meeting Liz and her husband from Artfull Crafts in New Zealand was a real buzz. They are the most genuine, sincere, warm and friendly people ever. And how fantastic was it that they came all the way from New Zealand - thank you so much for being a part of something so important to us all at Kaiser - we loved having you here.

I also met Nikki Antonello and Christine Rumley. These two girls are part of our Contributing Design Team and Nikki came all the way down from her hometown Wodonga with her girlfriend Michelle. I was just re-reading through Nikki's blog and something that I read made me think how true is was that when she write "I'm in a really happy place". Nikki, if you read this - what you say about yourself radiates from within. When you sometimes meet people, you completely click with and find a real warmth about them - well that's how I felt when I met you. You are lovely and it was a pleasure meeting you, and I so wish I had more time to catch up with you. It would have been a lot of fun and laughs. And I hope we can get together one day and sit and scrap at a Crop. Hehe, I might get my work done at Kaiser, but you should see me at a Crop - I am the worst procrastinator ever and yes, I think I might talk to much. That's probably to take the focus off the fact that I'm not scrapping LOL! Can't wait to see you again Nikki - and you too Michelle!

Onto Christine Rumley. I remember thinking Christine's face was familiar and I asked Nikki if one of the other contributing DT girls was at the launch. We looked around and around and we found her. It was lovely to meet Christine as well - she is a beautiful girl - again so warm and friendly (I know I sound repetitive) but that's how they were to me! I could sit and chat forever with you.

I also asked Christine if she would like to come over to Kaisercraft Admin on Friday morning as it was my day off. So I picked her up and two other girls from Caught the Bug in Kingaroy, QLD - Zennia Powell and Tania Corbet (hehe these ladies are a scream hehe ... still laughing). The girls loved seeing where we all work. We had some morning tea together and I introduced them to some of the staff that they hadn't met. All in all it was pretty fun morning.

Well enough of my ramblings. Til I next get to scrap at home and be able to put some things on my blog, I'll leave you with some photos from our Q1 Launch night. Thanks for reading xx

Tom (Brand Manager), Darren (IT and Photographer), Me and Christine Rumley



Nikki Antonello, Michelle and Me



Here is Christina (Sales) with Liz and Graham from Artfull Crafts from New Zealand



Melissa, Me and Chez ... as usual Lis and Chez are mucking around. Ok ok, Chez was distracted by Lis LOL!



Three Wise Monkeys !!!!!! .... maybe not LOL



The Kaiser Q1 Team - Richelle wasn't in this picture because she took the photo, so I will include the second photo so you can see Shell :)

WIN BIG WITH KAISER !!!!!!!!!

Ok, BIG PRIZE competition coming right up! Go on, have a go at winning. There's no way you will be disappointed - the new products are awesome!

It's just the little things .......

I haven't been about much not because I haven't wanted to be. But work has consumed my mojo and I haven't done any scrapping at home for myself. And I miss that! A lot! Having said that I'm still always busy shopping in Chandon Craft and keeping David well fed LOL! (or so he says).

Anyway ... something sweet happened tonight amongst some not-so-nice confrontational realities that I am dealing with right now. And I am finding it really hard. To those girls at work today who noticed I wasn't myself, THANK YOU for being so sweet, kind and thoughtful. I did try to keep it to myself - but I'm only human and some things get to me.

After leaving work, picking up the boys and heading straight to the library to get some books for Cameron for his term assignment, I started dinner. We sat down at 5pm - yes I know it is pensioner time! Anyway, I heard the phone ring, thinking it might be Craig ringing from Sydney. It wasn't. It was a friend. A friend who cares. Anyway I decided we would sit and have our dinner and if I could manage it a bit later, I was going to ring her back.

After dinner, I got straight into my PJ's and I've come here to put a special little thank you note for her.

You know what Jane ... it's not the big things, it's the little things. It's a sincere SMS that you send, it's that you want to listen, it's the phone message you left - OMGOSH you made me laugh, and not because I had to, but because you cracked me up! Would you believe Jane rang not once, but twice? The first message the answering machine cut her off LOL, and the second message started something like this "Hi Al, just ringing back because I wanted to know if it is raining down there?", and "where can I buy some nice warm bed socks (my feet are freezing), and "what was that oil thing that you showed me at the shop, what flavour is it?" ... If that doesn't make you laugh, nothing will :)

"pick up pick up pick up" ...... now I didn't hear either of the two messages until I had dinner and popped in to listen.

For anyone out there, who doesn't know Jane - I wish you did. May you be as fortunate as I am. Much love to you Jane at a difficult time - for you - and me xx

Unbelievable BLOG CANDY

I came across Debbie's blog through Ros' blog!

Here is the link: http://passionforcrafts.blogspot.com/2009/05/birthday-blog-candy.html

I know those Copic's are expensive markers, and let alone all the other goodies that are there. Debbie is obviously a most generous lady!

If you would like a chance to win, go to Debbie's blog, leave a post message and pop a post in your blog linking to Debbie's blog. It's that simple.

Some cards I made on Saturday ...

I made these cards on the weekend ... got this range of paper with Jane up in Sydney, which I also made my mini album with (photos to come soon)!

Scrapbook Creations Feature

As most of you know, I'm not one to go out of my way to be published. However, we were given the opportunity a few months back now to be a part of a Shaped Technique Focus at Scrapbook Creations.

I was so pleased to hear from my SIL Jules that the mag was out. And finally today, I got a copy for myself. And I'm pretty darn happy to see my little guy Cameron in the mag. The only other time I've been published is a layout I did of Bailey, so I think that Cameron is going to be a little bit pleased when he sees himself there.

Anyway, here is my share for those of you who don't buy the mag. Hope you all have a great day :)

New Kaisercraft Design Team announced

I just wanted to welcome the new girls to the Design Team who will be working with us. Hope you enjoy your DT positions, and all our new products. It is a pleasure to have you on board. WELCOME :)

Christine Rumley
Nikki Antonello
Renee Ludlow
Alicia Barry
Fran Tynan
Tanya Tahir
Samantha Hauzer
Rona Bailey
Nancy Burke
Elizna Parsons
Pam Thorburn

If you would like to read details about the girls, go to the Kaisercraft Blog and read their bio's!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ~ Jane Jones ~

Just thought I would leave a special little message here for Jane - it's her 40th (dream on Jane) birthday again ... mmm hehe. And I know I've not been blogging too well lately, but when it is something important about someone you really have an amazing friendship with - well it's really important, in my opinion, to take a few minutes longer and make that person's day just a little bit more special.

So cheers to you Janey - thanks for letting me share your birthday with you - I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight - ok I lied (that's the second time today LOL) because I will be so tired. I know when my alarm goes off at 4am tomorrow morning I'll be grizzling and moaning and grumbling - but once I'm on my way I'll be ok. And btw - I'm wearing 3/4 pants if you read this LOL.

So special friend - I hope you've had a fantastic birthday and I will see you tomorrow. Take care on the roads in the morning. Love to you, and friendship ... Al xxx (from one brudda to another brudda) Oh and cheers (clink goes the Smirnoff Double Black ... ching ching)