FAMILY MOMENTS ~ ARCHISCRAPS JULY CHALLENGE

Good Evening ! Another month has flown by, gosh the weeks just seem to gone in a blink. But a new month means a new challenge at Archiscraps and this month we want to see distressing and wood.
This is the inspiration

and my take on the challenge

Family Moments

As the weather has been dark and gloomy I found it difficult to get a good photo. Never the less I have gone to town with distressing , ripping and  adding torn cardboard under my photo. 

Thank You Sandra for the flower . I was lucky to have a visit from Sandra awhile back and Sandra brought Lizzy with her , we had a lovely day and Sandra gave me a whole heap of flowers (as she is not a flower girl ) and I am :) 

The photo was taken by my son at  a family Get together at Abercrombie River . My hubby at the back, (Probably thinking he is the head of the family , but we all know his beautiful sister is :) She is next in the photo with her hubby and Grandson and then me.

Thank you for calling by , I hope you can get your distress on this month and join us in the challenge.

Enjoy your weekend and I hope you find some creative time.

Love, Peace and Kindness

Mary x

MOMENTS MORE PRECIOUS THAN GOLD ~ SCRAPPING CLEARLY

Hello again ! 
Two posts in one day, but sneaking this one in for the end of the month.
I have been wanting to join in with a Scrapping Clearly challenge for awhile and Kim kinda challenged me to get this one in before the end of the month.
Not sure if I am happy with it, but I am glad to have the memory scrapped. I was also rushing to get it finished to get a picture before it was dark. Nothing like last minute .

The mood board 

and my take 

Moments More Precious than Gold

This is a photo of my Husband and our Grandson on this years Dye Hard Fun Run. I really love this memory , as my husband said they chatted all the way, us girls were behind them, not to far behind, we were going strong :)

I misted the page with watered down acrylic pink paint and added stamping and gold embossed spots. I also added some gold Heidi Swap Paint through the dot mask.

My Irish Pen friend sent me the Heidi Swap word banners and gold corners. Thank You Lizzy for the butterfly.

thank you for calling by, nearly the weekend. 
Love , Peace and Kindness
Mary x

I WAS BORN IN A SMALL TOWN ~ SOUL SCRAPPERS

Good morning !
Today I would like to share a layout for a challenge at Soul Scrappers. The challenge is to use lyrics from a Song , the song being ~  Small Town by John Mellencamp
This certainly gained my attention as My home town is indeed small, I actually would say it is more like a village.

This is why I love challenges. I probably would never have thought to scrap this photo of the seat at the Railway Station, but where I grew up is a huge part of my life story. My Parents lived at Borenore all their life , as did their parents before them, so it will always have a special part in my heart this small village. The train no longer stops at the station , but the trains still passes by here.
All the embellies I have used besides the Feather and old twine that was my Mums are from StudioFourteen40 's new Wild Spirit Range.
Would love you to join us at Soul Scrappers, they have fabulous challenges to inspire.
Thank you for calling by, and I hope you have a beautiful day
Love, Peace and Kindness
Mary x

COLLECT MOMENTS NOT THINGS ~ LETS GET SKETCHY

Good Evening,
Tonight I would like to join in with the new sketch at Lets Get Sketchy. I tried to pretty much stick to the sketch only going off on my own little journey towards the end :)
The Sketch 

I really love this moment captured by my son and I asked would he mind if I scrapped it and lucky for me he said he didn't mind at all

Collect Moments Not Things

and a close up

I typed up his words and added to the back of the layout 

"The little ones pick flowers all day.
They give them to their friends, teachers and anyone else they come in contact with. Sometimes they make elaborate bracelets and necklaces with flowers, reeds and grass.
They have next to nothing to call their own, but they are constantly giving."
Thank you for calling by 

Love, Peace and Kindness
Mary x

SOMETIMES I WISH IT WAS STILL YESTERDAY ~ SOUL SCRAPPERS CHALLENGE

Hello on this snowy day in my home town.

Today I would like to share my layout for the challenge at Soul Scrappers to create a layout of  Your Father or someone you respect as a Father Figure

Sometimes I wish it was still yesterday

This is my Dad and my Eldest Son Joseph.
Dad's Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren were everything to him , they in turned adored him.
 I have used lots of stamping and rub ons.
Thank You Lizzy for the words "Special Always "
Would love you to join us at Soul Scrappers, they fabulous Challenges.
Thank you for calling by
Love, Peace and Kindness
Mary x

DO YOU BEST MAKE A DIFFERENCE ~ LETS GET SKETCHY

Hello fellow scrappers, on this cold winters day in Oz
A couple of days ago we had some snow and a 6 hour blackout, so that was not so good brrrr
I thought I would like to enter this layout in the current challenge at Lets Get Sketchy
The Sketch

And this is my layout

Do you best, make a difference

I received my order from StudioFourteen40  of the Wild Spirit Range and was keen to have a play with it. 

This is my middle child (The gypsy Child ) he is currently in Thailand helping to build a amenities block for the school/orphans. He is indeed a Free Spirit, so I thought it was fitting to use this photo for the layout. I really love the photo as well, he is a photographer , so he is rarely  in photo's, so it was nice to have this.

As I said earlier the weather has not been very nice of late, so it is hard to get a good photo of the true colours :(

Thank you for calling by, I love to read your comments and know that you have popped by. 

Hope you find some creative time with what is left of the weekend

Love, Peace and Kindness

Mary x

SOME DAYS ARE DIAMONDS , SOME DAYS ARE RUST ~ CHALLENGE YOURSELF

Hello !
Today I am sharing a layout for the challenge at Challenge Yourself which is.....

I was wanting to join in this challenge, but wasn't sure how I was going to go about it. Then yesterday I received some , lovely snail mail from my friend Lizzy , which had included gorgeous bits and pieces that Inspired me to create ( the girl knows me )

This is what I created 

Some Days are Diamonds, Some Days are Rust

The Geometric shape I have use is the negative from a sticker sheet that the "Happy" sticker was from (so that worked out well :) )

The beautiful "Enjoy Today" tag (good advice) is from Lizzy  as is the Arrow,  "Her Heart was an Open Book" Pl Card and the little die cut doily the Diamond chippy is on. 

I also wanted to document the thought that Some Days are Diamonds and Some Days are Rust. I guess we all have our inner struggles that we keep to ourselves. I woke in the middle of the night recently and the thought "Some Days are Diamonds , Some Days are Rust " just popped into my head. I think maybe something was telling me this is just how life is and you have to go with it. I loved the PL card, as I am a very open person, but there are things that I keep to myself also. I think we don't want people to think we are not as strong as we want them to believe. But as someone recently said "Just Keep Swimming"

In this photo I am a new wife and mother ,living in our first home ( we have only had two)  and I am obviously very Happy. I am now in a new phase of my life, getting older (not much we can do about it) A Grandmother and grown children. Life Cycles hey.

So now I have got all deep and personal (which I normally don't do ) I will wish you all a lovely weekend and hope you find some time to create.

Thank you for calling by

Love, Peace and Happiness

Mary x