Friday, March 21, 2014

March BIG Savvy Sketch Challenge

My scrappy mojo has been lacking, but last night I sat down and challenged myself to get the sketch layout done in an hour….and I did it!  I’m so happy with it, and stoked that I actually feel like scrapping again.  Challenges always help me in this respect, I should’ve known to grab a challenge earlier and just start….sometimes starting is the hardest part!

My layout called DADDY’S SCHOOL which is my boy Cooper on his first day at school back in 2010, he was so excited to be going to the same school his Daddy went to when he was little.


A close of my title, washi and a gorgeous pinwheel from Rainbow Splendour, which I’ve just run out of and MUST order more, they are a staple in my stash!


My journaling, as usual this is a MUST on my layout, no page is complete without a date and a story!


And my boys, love them!!


You still have 10 days to submit your layout for our monthly BIG Savvy Sketch Challenge which could win you $40 to spend in the Savvy store!  Upload your layouts to the gallery before midnight 31 March for your chance to be our random winner chosen by random.org.
Happy Scrapping!

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Simplifying My World

My life is busy.

I know we're all in the same boat, but I have made some decisions about my 'online world' that I need to change in order to simplify my world.


I love scrapbooking, I love owning my own scrapbooking store, I love blogging, I love sharing my layouts with like minded scrappy friends.  Anyone who knows me would know this is true, I am a big advocate of sharing the love and doing whatever I can to help people spend time doing the craft that we all love.  Running my own classes, online blind scrap sessions, cybercrops and the like are all testament to the fact that I love sharing the scrappy passion with everyone I possibly can.

However, I have encountered recent complications in my life that I can only describe as 'blurred  lines'.  I am guilty of giving TOO much at times, over involving myself in the lives of my scrappy friends, spending too much time reading and sharing their lives on Facebook and other avenues of social media.  I LOVE so many people in the scrapbooking world, and have put you all first to some degree for probably the last ten years of my life.  It started in online forums, moved to blogs and the Facebook....oh Facebook!  Facebook has a lot to answer for, the addiction of checking in to see what everyone is doing....every second minute of the day...has become an issue in my 'real world'.  Commenting and liking and being involved has become the normality for me.  It at numerous and multiple times taken my brain and attention away from my family, my home life, my children, my husband, my work...in a brain numbing, finger scrolling way, it just becomes habit to open the app on my phone and see what is happening.

For my REAL WORLD this often means that nothing is happening.  My housework is not being done, my work and business is not at the forefront of my mind, my children get forgotten, I'm not organised and running around at the last minute to get dinner done, or my exercise is forgotten....all because at any given moment I'm thinking about what someone else is doing, or posting, or commenting....or even what they're not doing....they aren't liking my posts or my photos, WHY aren't they chatting to me like they used to, why didn't they invite me to that get together....you get the drift. 

I've OVER THINKING and I totally understand that, but this unfortunately is my nature.  I am always trying to solve a problem, or help someone in need, or make someone feel better...when in reality by doing this I am hurting myself and everyone else around me.  Every.single.day.

I have had a long hard think about what I need to do to fix this issue in my life.  I have come to a solution.   

This solution may not be understood by all, and I do not at all intend to upset or offend anyone, but at the end of the day I need to simplify and separate my worlds.

I have set up a Facebook Page for my blog, in which I'll share anything on a PERSONAL scrapbooking level including challenges, layouts, ideas, blind scraps, anything that is specifically MY SCRAPBOOKING.  You will find my blog's Facebook page here - https://www.facebook.com/sarsscrapstory

I already have a business Facebook page for Scrapbook Savvy, in which I'll share business updates, class information, Design Team work, new arrivals and the like. You can find lots of Savvy information on the Scrapbook Savvy Website or the Scrapbook Savvy Blog, but on Facebook you'll find Scrapbook Savvy here - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scrapbook-Savvy/107429349349044

As for my personal page, it will become exactly that.  A PERSONAL PAGE.  I will be cutting down my friends list of over 800 people that I can't keep up with and solely be using it to share my personal thoughts, personal messages, personal life with the people who are a part of my REAL LIFE.  People I work with, see every day at dancing, friends that I communicate with on a regular basis, people that wouldn't ignore me in the street, and of course my family.  I no longer see the value in having to share my holidays, my love life, my family, my personal world, with people I don't really know.  Sure, some of my scrappy friends have become people that I can't go without communicating with but truth be known, there are lots of people on my Facebook page that I have never communicated with even once.  Its pointless.

This does not mean that if we run into eachother in the street, see eachother at a craft show, bump into one another at a class that I don't want to be friends and not talk to you...by all means, this is NOT my aim!

I will be contacting all of my regular customers personally via inbox to make sure they know where they can find me and Scrapbook Savvy.  I am always available via messages on the Scrapbook Savvy Facebook page if you can't inbox me personally on Facebook.

I want to reassure anyone that may be reading, that my love of scrapbooking and the scrapbooking world has not changed, I am still very passionate about this craft of ours....I'm simply separating my worlds so that I can manage them better....for me and for my family.  This is to make my life and my mental health easier to deal with day to day.

So stay tuned, my scrappy friends....you'll find all my updates right here on the Facebook page from now on.

I, in turn, will continue to follow you all on your blogs, Design Team positions, Facebook pages and in the scrappy magazines...as I've always done!

Happy Scrapping!

Cheers,
Sar

Sunday, January 12, 2014

January BIG Savvy Sketch!

Wow, two months and no blogging....my bad!!  Trying to get my scrappy world started for 2014, and what better way than to actually scrap a layout?!

Our sketch this month was created using a layout by Fiona from our gallery.

I have created a layout this morning using the SOLD OUT Project Savvy Xmas Kit....and see, you don't have to use the Project Savvy Kits JUST for Project Life...add some cardstock and they are perfect for layouts as well!  This is my boy Cooper a couple of years ago on Christmas morning.

Here's some closeups...
Loving the Starburst transparency pieces from Studio Calico! 

Gorgeous flairs in this kit were made by Flutterby Designs for our kit...

And some journaling on the gorgeous journal cards by Elle's Studio...

To win $40 spending money in the Scrapbook Savvy store, get scrapping and upload your layout to our gallery by the end of the month!  You will get free post on your order as well, how good is that!!!
Now to keep the mojo flowing and get ready for my first Savvy Class coming up this Friday, still a couple of spots left if you'd like to come along, check our Facebook Event here for details.

Happy Scrapping for the New Year, hope yours is a good one!

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

I'm a Guest....

...Designer over at Rainbow Splendour for September/October and am so excited to share what I have created with Chloe's gorgeous handmade embellishments!

Here's a sneak...

...but check out my full layout here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

My turn...

...to blog over at Scrapbook Savvy!

Here's a sneak...but head over here to check out my full post featuring three layouts using the new Glitz Design Wild & Free range.


Thanks for visiting!

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

I scrapbook because...

As I cleaned out my tote last night in preparation for this weekend's Savvy Delights Retreat, I really started to think....WHY do I have all this stuff and why do I continue to this thing called 'scrapbooking'?!

The answer for me is easy.  I scrapbook every week of my life FOR MY FAMILY.  I am in charge of telling their stories and keeping their memories alive well after I'm no longer here to tell them.  No one else is going to remember that funny thing they said or write down all the important milestones of their existence.  Sure, their dad would try to tell them their stories if I wasn't here.....but dads just don't tell stories like mums, do they! 

Everything else that comes with it....the 'pretties', the friends all around the country, the creative 'out' is all an added bonus for me.  Bonuses that I love and cherish with all my heart of course....but at the end of the day my scrapbooking is about me and my family.  And this will always be the main reason I pull out that kit, order that new stuff, go to a class....to find another way, a better way, a different way to scrapbook for my family.

Today I was lucky enough to enjoy a day scrapbooking with my bestie Linda and my mum, chatting & laughing and creating together.  I am very blessed to be able to do this in the comfort of my home, running my business for the joy of it, and at the same time playing with the kids and just hanging out at home. 

I pulled out a kit today that had an almost finished page in it...I have NO idea when I started it, but I added a title and called it done.  I then created another page with the same kit and some added extras.   This range was Lily Bee Design This & That, an older range but I have no problem with using up my older stash...I have enough of it that's for sure!!!

The nearly finished is this one, called 'A Little Bit Alike', a photo of my Georgia & I back in 2010.

 
A closeup of my cluster including 'A Lil Somethin' button...

 
6/u - a page of my boy three years ago when he was playing his first year of Rugby League.
 
Another 'A Lil Somethin' button...


Found these uber cool Heidi Swapp stickers in my cleanout last night...these are like gold and are still my most favourite sticker ever!!!

My title and a closeup of my 'Charms Creations' flag banner...I LOVE these and still have lots more here to use, they are perfect for Cooper's footy colours as well as the kids school uniform.

I hope that you have some time in your world to get some scrapping done...I'm looking forward to getting more done this week and then from Thursday-Sunday at retreat...my DT girls Sara & Kerryn fly in tomorrow....ONE MORE SLEEP!!!  So many friends to catch up with this weekend, I can't wait!

Happy Scrapping xxx
 

 

 


Thursday, August 29, 2013

54321 BONUS CC CHALLENGE

Last Friday as we were preparing for our August Savvy Cybercrop, Leah posted on our Facebook Event to say...

"I want to start scrapping NOW! (She says in her best tanty voice.) Any chance of an early challenge?!?"

SO, start early we did!  And I posted this BONUS CHALLENGE...

5 - Squirts of mist
4 - papers
3 - different types of alpha
2 - photos
1 - big journal cards with lots of info to tell your story

I promised to get a layout done over the weekend, which I finally managed on Tuesday.


Go Dodgems...


My title using a couple of different Thickers...

My journaling...

And my cluster including an awesome pinwheel from Rainbow Splendour!

You still have time to play along!  Check out all the challenges on the blog and upload your layouts to the Gallery before midnight TONIGHT!!!  Night time pics accepted, scrap tonight and get something done!

Happy Scrapping!