Fishy Business

Just did this page for fun the other day and ended up using loads of Q Tea items from the latest kit 'Never Say Neverland' - lovin' the vintage woodgrain wallpaper, I might cover an actual wall with it one of these days :) This pic is of my nephew Caden in January 2007.
We went fishing at Lilydale Lake - it was printed as Lillydale on the signs but since the town is Lilydale that just seems weird. Anyhow, it was 'first water' for the fishing rods dad bought each of the kids on the way from Miss Marple's to Lilydale. Rather a fun day altogether, with a funny back and forth of who was getting which coloured fishing rods. It BIZARRELY worked out without any fuss from the kids, much to our surprise. Sienna ended up with the pink one, as you can see (though according to Alannah the rod is really red, and the purple one is prettier, a view we adults wholeheartedly agreed with, wink, wink).

I made them all calico fishing rod bags on Sunday to protect the rods, and each with an embroidered fish and their initial in the same colour as their respective rods. All rather cute and outdoorsy really. Now to continue, we will actually have to get fishing licenses and so on (my dad has one, so we were good last week) and go again. Fun fun :)

Now, Nevis has asked about photo actions (hi, Nevis!) and I keep forgetting to talk about it. I process in Photoshop and I can't remember which versions, but I have a few actions I often use. Sometimes I only use my own made up actions which adjust levels, curves, brightness/contrast and sometimes blending options/soft light. At other times I might also use Itty Bitty Actions and in both cases I often use a Vignette action, like the photo of Sienna above, from someone called Mariah. I duplicate the vignette layer when I want to increase the effect. Hope that helps :)

On Thursday morning I FLY TO PERTH. Cool, hey. Wave if you see me there.

Sienna is 5 now, but thinks she isn't as she isn't grown up enough. Not sure the point of arguing that ;)

Last weekend and the year before

New shoes. For summer. They even fit.
Zoo visit on Sunday.
Family collection ;)
The 5 cousins now...
same time (ish) last year.

Memory Makers Nov/Dec issue

I was asked to do a page showing 'painting' techniques and with a thankful theme. Was really happy with how this page turned out, though it is printed a bit darker in the mag (but I get a whole page to myself, page 22, which is great).

Shopping and Motivation

I just bought this cute 'wedgewood' cami from this shop (sale on, love it). Love the vintage-y sweet summery-ness.

This next dress, available from this fab kid's clothes shop, makes me want to sew. As I can't justify buying it. Though Sally offers layby, which is really handy. And it is gorgeous. And I think I get a discount. But still. I won't be able to make something like this, but I would like to sew some other kinds of interesting clothes for Sienna, she has a flair for the dramatic so I can kind of go nuts on the theatrical style and it suits her ;) I did buy some cotton for summer pj's for both Ash and Sienna, now I just need the motivation to do something about it! Speaking of Fairy Kisses, this koi tshirt is on layby for Ash at the moment, I love it. He also has some of the funky long-sleeved Baobab tops (bought on sale awhile ago) in size 5 for next Winter. And these cool Soda cord/jeans I also got discounted on sale a few months ago. They are generous sizing, though, and I got size 4 so they are also for Ash next year. And this cardigan is on layby for Sienna. I love shopping for kids clothes, far more than for myself, can you tell? I make it work by buying interesting things on sale and in advance. Every now and then I have to remind myself to buy things that actually fit right now, but usually we're stocked up ahead of time, LOL.

Am busy packing Q Tea November kits at the moment, they are so cool, I am quite excited about playing with one. I'm into the nature-theme at the moment as we are talking about moving Ash and Sienna into their own rooms at some point, and I'm thinking of woodgrain, trees, green leaves and blue seas as possible themes for the boy. I love the ideas phase :) Anyhow, back to the kit, a little sneak peek is up now - check it out here.

I did a scrap page of Ash just for fun on Friday at a crop night, I had started it a week earlier so it was easy to keep going and pop some embellishments on it. Used a few things from the Domo Arigato Mr Roboto kit, trim from the Bhangra Bollywood kit and some new Sass Lass products.

The other day I bought a corner rounder for the first time ever, I am quite thrilled about it, so don't be surprised if my layouts get all rounded and retro on you ;)

Mum, dad, my sis Hayley and nephew Caden are arriving on Friday afternoon, can't wait! Lots of photo-taking will be going on. That is for sure. Are you ready, Kell?

You know what I like? Black gesso. I might use some today.

Back to shopping (yes, I am rambling a lot today, I am waiting for some photos to transfer), etsy is awesome. I've had this necklace on my favourites list for ages. I love these wall decals - made in Melbourne! And this photography is just so beautiful and atmospheric. It's hard to decide, but I think my fave is Penny Farthing For Your Thoughts. And Viv's shop - such awesome art and gorgeous silks.

SC new issue

This top one is for the Colour Team - Orange and Purple was the combo and I had a lot of fun doing it. I was also glad as I had wanted to do one about Sienna at kinder, and the colour combo was fantastic for it. Funky tags from Elle's Studio and gorgeous chipboard birdie designed by the fabulous Lusi Austin for Buzz and Bloom...
Top Ten Stationery layouts - this one used a whole bunch of stationery items, such as sticky tape, mini clip, red zip tie thingy, staples, loose leaf diary page, transparency sheet (printed bracket on it) and label stickers. Fun pic of Viv and her hubby Jason, soon to be my lovely hosts when I visit Perth in LESS THAN THREE WEEKS. Sabrina Ward Harrison here I come :) Not to mention Viv's studio, pictures of which I have drooled over and can't wait to sit around soaking up the inspiration. ooooooh excitement. I wonder what stuff in Perth I have to check out while I'm there?

Designed this...

A digitally designed e-flyer mockup using original painted and ink backgrounds. Here is the collage that it is based on, below.... It turned out to be a bit too random and arty for the client, LOL, so I've gone a lot more graphic for the next mockup but I love this version and still wanted to share it somewhere.


Ooh I am thrilled that my '3 steps to ice cream' layout was selected from the Elle's Studio flickr gallery to win a couple of items from the shop because I used one of her calendar tags on the layout. They select one or two layouts from the gallery each month, and I was one of the September winners. It's not news that I love Elle's studio, I use her items in Q Tea kits on a regular basis, so it makes me happy to choose something new to play with :)

I'm one of 10,000 people around Australia entering the Canon Photo5 photography competition, which gives you 5 items that you have to photograph creatively. I have done three of the five so far, but the one that I am super happy is my 'ribbon' entry, a photo I used my vintage typewriter for on Saturday...
These other two I've done so far are ok, not thrilling, but something to enter at least. The crayon I have an idea for, I just can't do it at home so it will have to wait, and the cocktail umbrella has me stumped so far. Originality is a real challenge... among 10,000 people it is unlikely to think of something unique, but it's a fun project anyhow.


Q Tea Kits are sponsoring The Art is Found this fortnight... keep an eye out, later in the week the challenge will be posted and you could win a 'Domo Arigato Mr Roboto' kit. In the meantime, I spent last night cutting trims and fabric for the November kit, which is just so cool, I can't wait to post the sneak peek in a week from now. It's another organic-feeling kit, which are my faves :)

All's quiet...

on the blogging front. I have been a bit quiet compared to usual, nothing terribly interesting going on. Did the whole ebay thing with some books and stuff, which went well. I should ebay the few items of Sienna's clothes I have set aside to sell. I used to do it all the time but can kind of not be bothered as much now. Hmm. Anyhow.

These couple of projects are using new KI Memories sheer delights - a fun product that is sort of like a transparency, but softer (if that makes sense) and not completely clear, just a tiny bit milky, which is really cool. Strong enough for my mini cover, though, and it comes in some very fun designs and shapes, available from Kiti Q now, along with new Sassafras Lass (yay! woohoo! yippee!).

The top layout also uses a coloured doily and a lace trim from Q Tea's Bollywood kit - available in the Danielle Q and Q Tea etsy shop now.

This is cool - I just got this mag yesterday in the post from the lovely Sylvia (currently in New York with her hubby for a holiday, on their way to a family catch-up holiday, I am SO jealous!). She is on the design team for German mag ScrapArtZine - which I love, despite not being able to understand much of it at all - and this issue has an interview with Sylvia.

If you can read the post it note, Sylvia very sweetly translated the first sentence for me "I was introduced to scrapbooking by my friend Danielle from Australia. Still today she is an inspiration."

Awwwwwww. I'm all shucksy now :)

Scrappin' the Tulip Festival photos

... for the ScrapBoutique 'Spring' Cybercrop last weekend