Have you heard the news . . .. .

it's pretty sad (from the Buzz and Bloom Blog)

Buzz and Bloom is Closing

Since it's beginnings in 2003, Buzz and Bloom has operated as a small part of a family-owned company. Over the years we've seen many 'versions' of the business. We've done many things... starting with albums, moving into unmounted rubber stamps, a retail webstore, introducing chipboard to our range, going wholesale only, taking our range to CHA and winning first prize in the Innovations Showcase for our denim and cord products and so much more...

It's time again for a change. Buzz and Bloom as we know it is currently closed. In the wake of the illness of one of our family members/directors of the company, we are focusing our resources into other areas of the company. So we're closing our manufacturing and wholesale business for now.

read more

For me this signifies a bit of a life change. I know that may sound slightly dramatic, but for a while now, the only scrapbooking projects I have been doing are the ones for B&B DT. I have loved every minute of creating with all of the inspirational products and really want to thank Div for the opportunity to serve on the DT with those amazingly talented ladies . But I feel the need to take a break from scrapping and follow some different creative pursuits. 

I really want to learn how to sew (properly and not just on scrapbooking layouts!) I want to concentrate on some home decorating ideas I've had bubbling away for a while now. And cooking! I'm hoping this blog will become a little bit of a home cooking inspiration site (well, that's rather ambitious I'll admit - but hey, we all gotta have dreams).

They say that when a door closes, somewhere a window opens so I choose to look for the window and climb out into the light :)

Buzz and Bloom Projects to Share

It has just dawned on me that I haven't revealed any of my Buzz and Bloom DT stuff on my own blog! I haven't even loaded up any sneak peeks of my latest work. What a slacker! So here are a few bits and pieces.

King of My Heart

From Scrapping Stuff

Personality Plus

From Scrapping Stuff

Country Girl

From Scrapping Stuff

Summer Fun

From Scrapping Stuff

And now some sneak  peaks of what will be coming up this month

From Scrapping Stuff

From Scrapping Stuff

From Scrapping Stuff

From Scrapping Stuff

Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to check out the Buzz and Bloom Blog for more reveals and work from the super talented girls on the DT.

Kuler Challenge

When I was playing around with kuler yesterday, this is the scheme that got me really excited

From Kuler

From Kuler

NB// The colour on the end isn't black, it's actually a really deep grape.

I just love it. So it' going to be what I base my next scrapping project on this week. If you want to come and play with me too I'd love to see your project. It doesn't have to be scrappy, it could be anything crafty! Just leave a link to your blog post/online gallery image in the comments on this post so I can see what you have created. Tell your friends! I'd love to see how these colours inspire the crafty ones out there :)

On an instructional note, Amy has asked how I get the images from kuler. Our main computer at  home is a Mac. I use a screen capture program called Grab. I can take a "photo" of a selection of what is displayed on screen, save it as a TIFF, then open it in a photo editing program to crop and add text.

On a PC the only way I know of is to do a screen cap (Ctrl+Print Screen) then paste (Ctrl+V) into a blank Publisher document. In publisher 2007, you can crop the image using the image tool bar, then right click and select "save as image". This will save just the image as an independent file.

Hope this helps Amy :)

kuler fun

OK so you've heard (or read!) me talk about this site kuler before. Well I have just stumbled across the best feature! If I give kuler a photo of one of my LO's, it will create the colour scheme automatically!!! Then I just need to tweak it to best represent my layout's real life colours.

So here are some I just whipped up (I've just named then after the layout):

From Kuler

From Kuler

From Kuler

From Kuler

From Kuler

From Kuler

From Kuler

From Kuler

From Kuler

Cool huh? OK so I'm a nerd, I admit it :P

The ones called patchwork and olive harvest are actually taken from these photos, rather than Layouts.

From Kuler

From Kuler

I'm thinking this might be a really cool way to find colour inspiration for scrapping. That is get a colour scheme from kuler, based on any photo, then scrap a layout using that scheme.

I'm going to do a new post tomorrow with a scheme I'll use for my next project. Anyone wanna join me?

I've Been Wrecked!

Cruise on over to Scrap Wrecks and check out their guest wrecker this month (it's me by the way LOL).

If you've not read about Scrap Wrecks before, it's just a really lighthearted look at the creative journey we take as scrapbookers. I'm sure we all have LOs/projects that DON"T get brought out for show and tell. Well, that's what Scrap Wrecks is about. Celebrating the wreckage!

So this month I was brave and shared my creative journey. Here's a little more that didn't make the final edit: (hold on to your hats folks, this could get ugly!)

^One of my very first. Clearly no idea what I was doing!


^The structured, measured approach


^Gaining confidence through scraplifting


^Experimenting with techniques



^Then . . . . .



. . . . And now (a redo of my first submission to Scrap Wrecks :)

This month's challenge is to create a LO using a colour scheme of your choice from kuler. There is a $25 voucher from Mr Turtle for the winner! And you don't even need to bare your wreckage!

I know Shaz will be looking for more guest wreckers. So go on over, enter the challenge and you too could get wrecked!

More sneaky peekies!

Here's another for Buzz and Bloom.

From Scrapping Stuff

Keep an eye on the blog for the full reveal and some excellent scrappy inspiration from the whole team.

More Colour Fun and a Sneak Peek

I am loving colour at the moment. I love putting my little colour schemes together for my LO's and then digitising them at Kuler (I think this appeals to the anally retentive part of my personality LOL)

Here's the latest

From Scrapping Stuff

And the sneak peek is for . . . well a secret! But stay tuned and all will be revealed :)

From Scrapping Stuff

From Scrapping Stuff

Sneaky Peeky . . . . (Updated)

This

From Scrapping Stuff

goes with that

From Scrapping Stuff

Keep your eye on the Buzz and Bloom Blog for the full reveal

Blogs Away!!!!

Hey-Ho Lovelies :) Just a bit excited that my very first ever project for Buzz and Bloom is up on the blog! Click here to check out my project, but be sure to browse through the inspiring work from the rest of the team.

From Scrapping Stuff

My Homage to the Basic Grey 2010 Calendar Kit

Last year I fell in love with the Basic Grey 2009 Calendar Kit.  And what's not to love? Everything you need to complete each little page is included in the kit for around AUD$35. A perfect gift.  Last Christmas I made up three - one for each set of Grandies (yes, three - don't ask!). But it seems so did the rest of the scrapping world. Do you know how hard they were to get hold of this year? I could only get 1!!!

We were going to get some other present for the other two sets of grandies, but then a request came in at the last minute. And how can you say no to a Nana that wants to look at piccies of her grandkids all year long????

So I did what any resourceful scrapper would do . . .  I made my own. That is to say that I made up the Basic Grey kit and sent it off to Grandad Queensland, then used the template for inspiration to make up the remaining two calendars. Sort of like a sketch. The kicker is though, that EVERYTHING WAS FROM MY STASH! Every last strip of paper, embellishment and the like. We didn't spend a cent! Well, we bought the Cardstock from OfficeWorks to print the calendar template on, and $4 at the printer on the 23rd of December for the binding (for both calendars).

I printed the calendars on to A4 210gsm white card (using the automatic Calendar generator in MS Publisher 2007). Then printed an 8"x8" square on the back of each month to provide the "workspace" for the scrappy part. And this was the result. The original Basic Grey image is on the left, and my "homage" on the right.

From Scrapping Stuff

From Scrapping Stuff

From Scrapping Stuff

From Scrapping Stuff

From Scrapping Stuff

From Scrapping Stuff

From Scrapping Stuff

From Scrapping Stuff

From Scrapping Stuff

From Scrapping Stuff

From Scrapping Stuff

From Scrapping Stuff

From Scrapping Stuff

I am pretty happy with the overall result. And they were well received. Nice to know that all the effort that goes into a handmade gift is well received :)

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope your Christmas was truly magical.

See you all on the flipside LOL

Sit down, grab a cuppa, we're gonna be here for a while . . .

Well, I have just realised that it has been nearly two weeks since my last post so I have a bit of catching up to do and quite a few pics to share.

First up in scrappy news, I decided to do a handmade Christmas gift for DS5's teacher this year and I am totally thrilled with the way it turned out! My Tuesday Clubbers are probably sick of hearing me banging on about the whole gift situation so I won't bore you with the details. Let's just say that I felt that coughing up $50 per family to put in for a group gift was extravagant to say the least. And this one cost me precisely $2.50. Well in a manner of speaking. Everything was in my stash except for the florists foam. So, that was quite an introduction, hope it lives up to it LOL:

From Scrapping Stuff

So that is actually all the scrapping I have done in the last oooo, three weeks! Sad but true. In fact my scrap gear has sat in the trunk of the car in between visits to Tuesday Club.

On to other news. If you read this post you would know that DS5 was going to be a shepherd in his school nativity play. So that has come and gone and here are the pics

From Life

From Life

From Life

Too, too cute. I got very emotional even before my child had done anything at all. They are so little and innocent, and yet growing up so much all the time.

Another lovely touch was the "Graduation" ceremony. Each Pre-Primary student was presented with a certificate from the Principal while their teachers read out a personalised message highlighting the child's individual qualites. So lovely to hear what others see in your child.

From Life

The Principal is giggling in this shot. DS5 had been waiting ever so patiently for his name to be called out. And with a Surname starting with "W" that is a very long time! So when they finally called his name he decided to dispense with the steps at the side of the stage and opted with jumping straight off the front and running to the Principal!

More fun activities. Many of you know that our family are mad keen supporters of the Fremantle Football Club and the club had it's Family Chritmas Party this weekend. Oh, my what excitement!!! I opted out this year but the boys went and had a fabulous time. DH was very impressed by how well organised it was. All the kids were divided into age groups and the players ran games with them. How cool! Though DH was a bit grumpy that DS5 was more interested in the free flavoured milk he was given than one of the big name players walking by!

From Life

From Life

From Life

From Life

Just for you Vikki! Chris Tarrant and Paul Haselby!!!!

And of course the Christmas Tree went up last week. I have a bit of a love affair with my tree. I get more excited than the kids I think. I love the whole ritual, the carols the dressing of the tree. Luuuurve it! And I was soooooo good this year. I am usually rather anally retentive about decorating, but I let the kids put the trinkets wherever they wanted and - cross my heart - I have not rearranged anything :)

From Life

Isn't she pretty?!

We've also gone a little crazy on the Christmas lights for the house this year. Having said that, I would like to add to the collection LOL.

From Life

From Life

From Life

I spent a whole day (yes a whole day!) getting them to look just so. The things we do during the silly season huh?

So that about wraps it up. If you have stuck with me for this entire post then you are truly lovely. And if you didn't, then who could blame you LOL!!!!

Thanks for stopping by :)