Barefoot Bakers - Challenge 41 Scrap Africa

Hello, hello - today I’m sharing a Design Team page for 

Scrap Africa, challenge 41.

CLICK HERE

to see what the rest of the team have created.

Create a project - layout, card or altered project that depicts what Christmas Time/ December Holidays/ Hannukah is like in your home, town, city or country....for some it's a snowy winter in Europe…

For us in Australia, it’s summer and usually hot.

So tell us what a traditional December is like for you.

I adapted a sketch by Susan Stringfellow from Sketch Savvy.

I know it's a busy time of the year,
but I hope you find a squidge of time to play along.

Last week, when we had the twins, they helped us decorated the tree and then they wanted to bake Anzac biscuits. They like to cook without too much quality control from me, so the biscuits come out of the oven in all shapes and sizes.  The bigger the better as far as they are concerned.

The paper range is from Authentique, "Wonder" and "Foundations"

some more treasures I found whilst rummaging around in my stash.

The lovely stars are from Scrapmatts CB 6081

They come in this lovely red and I just

 shimmered them up it bit with some glitter.
I did a bit of a Lizzy Hill and splashed some gold around,
but I might need remedial lessons from the gold Queen herself!

I did the journalling on a joined tag and slid it behind the photos.

The journalling reads:-

Christmas time for me is about family gathering to break bread together.   The Grandchildren trimming the tree, with ornaments which their Daddy used to hang.  It’s the smell of baking throughout the house.  Using the old bowl and the recipe handed down from my Mother to make the Christmas pudding.  It’s shopping for fresh seafood to eat outside under the verandah, hoping that it won’t be over 40C.  Singing Christmas carols, especially my favourite, “Silent Night”.   It means writing letters to friends far away, and hearing from them too, about their families activities for the year.  It’s remembering those no longer with us and giving thanks for the legacy of love they left behind.   It’s about thinking hard before choosing the perfect gift for each person. It’s the joy on the children’s faces, as they open their gifts. Christmas is also about donating to those less fortunate than ourselves and giving thanks for all that we have.   8 Dec 2014

Celebrate Moments - CSI challenge with S365-10

Welcome to my blog gentle people, it's lovely to have your company.

I hope you will find something to inspire you and perhaps

take the time to leave me a comment.

Here is the challenge for this week, you have until Dec 31st to enter.

CLICK HERE

To see what the guests and design team have created.

I find it difficult to achieve accurate colour when photographing white and ivory, so this looks a bit muddy - it's much better IRL

Because I had a lot of journalling I tried to keep 

the layout fairly simple and use lots of white space.

The mason jar is from American Crafts.

Some lovely Kaisercraft collectables, "On this day"

The embossed brick stamp is by Deep Red

Love the versatile words from Scrapmatts Words, 01 and 03

A few sparkly bits from Prima and it's finished.

I did have a whoopsy with the stamping,

so I just cut it out to the shape I wanted 

and stuck it on a new piece of card stock.

EVIDENCE

Jar

Metal

Flowers/leaves

Bricks

Tag

String

Embossing powder

TESTIMONY

I went to the Journal Jar prompts and chose to write about the most serious illness I have had.

This photo was taken around the five year mark, when I felt almost brave enough to hope for a future.  But the slightest thing could push me off kilter, extinguish the hope; send me down dark alleyways, swept along by fear and tossed helplessly on rough seas of despair.

But I’m getting ahead of myself, the story began years before, when the specialist told me I had Cancer, that I needed to have radical, invasive surgery and that the odds of survival were 50/50.

I felt angry and cheated that this could happen when I ate healthily, was not overweight and exercised regularly.  Why me? What had I ever done to deserve this?  I felt out of control, confused by different medical opinions and raped by invasive procedures.

Because of my nursing experience, I knew exactly what to expect and that increased my terror; I’d assisted at the surgery they proposed, which left the operating theatre looking like a slaughter house.

If I died, no one else would Mother my children as well as I could, nurture them with loving kindness and steer them on the path to adulthood. How would my husband cope with working and raising the children on his own?  

The post operative pain was beyond description, only eased by a superb night nurse who topped up my pain medication, before positioning me as gently as a new born.  I never saw her face, but I would recognise her soothing voice anywhere. The nights seemed interminable; once I recall sitting bolt upright in bed and screaming “I want my Mother!”  My body ached and my heart ached for her loving arms. 

We were blessed by the kindness of family and friends, who provided meals, did the laundry and collected children from school. They brought books and flowers and massaged my aching body.  

I have disabilities because of the surgery, but I have gifts too.  If someone had asked me, if I wanted to waltz with Jack Dancer I would have said a resounding NO.  But there are gifts which came with it. Previously a bit of a pessimist and inclined to melancholy, I’ve learned not to worry too much about the future, to enjoy each moment, to stop and smell the roses, to tell people I love them and to be grateful that I’m one of the 50% who survived.  My glass is always half full.   Journalling 5th Dec 2014  

First Selphie - DT page for Scrap Africa sketch challenge 40

Hello on this hot day in South Australia,

I hope you have somewhere cool to relax.

Today I’m sharing a page for Scrap Africa

which is a sketch challenge.

You can find the details HERE

I chose an ancient film strip which was taken in a photo booth, 

long before mobile phones were invented.

The background paper is from Prima,

Epiphany collection, “Clear as day”

I used a very old negative strip from Creative Imaginations which I found sulking at the bottom of my acetate collection. 

It had frilly edges which I cut off, ‘cos I wasn’t in a frilly mood.  

Hope I didn’t hurt it’s feelings too much!

The orange hexagons are from a scrap of 

Kaisercraft the “Paradiso” collection.

I had fun trying some new techniques with stamping and gold leaf and am happy with the final result.

I wrote some journalling on the back - it reads:-

Who is this young woman, all fresh faced and innocent?  I hardly recognise myself.  A friend and I had caught the train to the city to buy clothes.  At the Adelaide railway station, we popped into a photo booth to play in a strange contraption which took instant photos before popping them out of a little slot. 

I remember that dress, which I bought with my first pay packet as a telephonist with the PMG.  It was a soft polished cotton with a modern geometric print.  It had little cap sleeves, a belt and a full skirt.  I thought I was the bees knees in it. 

Like a lot of teenagers, I was egocentric and gawky, socially inept and yet wanting to appear sophisticated.  If only I had known, that most people didn't give a darn about how I looked or if I made a faux pas, I would have been bolder, taken more risks and slurped the marrow out of life, while my limbs were still strong and resilient.

My Mother used to say "You can't put an old head on young shoulders" and how right she was.  But wouldn't it be fun to try it for a month or two?