I made this with Sim's first ever kit. The photo is one I like, I took it in Winton a week after I got Jindi, she would have been 16 or 17 weeks old. We spent the day at Winton and in a nearby town. I'm not sure what kind of bird this is, though my guess is it is a Herron.

This is my Mum's friend Ambrose and her lovely kelpie. I love the nature elements!

Credits: Janice Dye-Szucs of Scrapbookgraphics.com. Kit: Earthdance. White flowers from Flergs, Nana's Secret Garden. Left side small leafy border background is Flergs, Beyond Borders. Asparagus green twigs - freebie from designer not remembered, will edit if I work it out.

Over at scrappity.com/form we have themes and the current one is 'Nature'. This one covers mother nature and human nature.

Here is something a bit different. In 2005 and 2006 I played African drums. My brother and I took lessons together. Sometimes we performed at places, but I was a bit shy about doing that. A place I didn't mind playing at was at the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne on Sundays or at the night market on Wednesday evenings in summer. Aliou, pictured here with me, is a master drummer right our of Africa. He was amazing to watch play and for 6 months my brother and I had private lessons from him. His English was pretty minimal as Aliou spoke French, but he learned very quickly. He has such a great spirit and loves to laugh.

I used a few different things. The flowers and top/bottom border are by Flergs.

This is one of my favourites - Julie and Greg were married last November and are expecting their first child, a little girl this year. Kit used was designed by Kim B http://kimbsdesigns.blogspot.com/ and the gorgeous sparkle is made by Flergs of Flergs Designs http://flergsblog.blogspot.com/. Oh I just noticed that the tallish blue flower (towards the bottom right) - that is from Kims 'the blues' kit that I also have! I did not even realise it was Kims until I just looked it up.

This another one I did of beautiful Milo.

Here is another one from Kim B's 'A Purple Christmas' kit. The link to her blog and store are in my link list to the top left of my blog.

Here is the first peice for 2008. The photos were taken at Johanna Beach which just off The Great Ocean Road after Apollo Bay, on the Australia Day Weekend.

Well I gave my mother, sister, brother and mother-in-law each a set of the layouts for Christmas. My MIL cried when she saw hers, she liked them so much. It was really good and worth all the effort. We had a second later Christmas last weekend when my sister and mother came to Melbourne and had time staying with my brother. So I was there when they opened their presents and looked at them and it took a while to sink in what they were seeing because none of them had really seen digital scrapbooking before. So to see their reactions as it sunk in was rewarding. I also did up a very simple header for a new blog http://rainbowscrfblog.blogspot.com/. Its only simple but I just love that I know how to do this now.

This is one I did 2 weeks ago. I used three photos from when my sister went to Machu Pichu, in Peru. What an amazing city that must have been...built so high up on a hill in the middle of no-where.

This is one I did a while back of my son and I. Nothing special, but nice and simple.

I must remember I can change colours by going Image/Adjustments/Hue-Saturation. Anyway, here is another. I have also learned how to merge layers so that I can more easily move around blocks of layers. The cat featured below is my ragdoll Ellie. She is a very special girl in my life and has the most amazing blue eyes. What I like best about this one is the sparkles by Flergs! I also discovered that if I duplicate the layer/sparkle, it makes the sparkle brighter. I'm really enjoying this!

In 2004 I went Paris with my brother and sister. This is a layout based on that trip. I like the colours. I found myself wanting to be more creative to fit everything on the page without it getting 'crowded'. So I played around a little with further photoshop functionality, though nothing much came of it. So only basic techniques were used, but tis still alot of fun. I find it really good how the process drives a natural tendendency to progressively build on the abilities/skills/knowledge I have, even though its a bit of a slow learning process :)

I did one today, and I'm quite happy with it. Thanks Flergs for all the bits and peices! They are so fabulous and unique, and she made them all herself. Flergs is a HUGE inspiration for me. See her blog here.

I did try a layout a few days ago that just would not come together at all. It never 'felt' right. It was unusual because usually I get 'lost' in the creative process, but that one was hard work and never got there. Today I spent 6 hours on this one, in between things. Its a long time isn't it... but I take my time. I do enjoy the process and lose my sense of time. This one just came together as I went along. I am thinking that if I still like it a few days that this could be a Christmas present for my sister. Its her when she was little, she is now 33. The little photo is her and our brother.

I finished another one. Now I have learned to use colour and change the colour of items in my 'layout'. Also how to choose a colour in my layout and colour something else the same. I also started playing with brushes, but do not have the hang of it yet - so many options. I also worked out how to use the lasso from the tools menu and I played with the filters a bit. I'm lucky because my son is here to show me things from time to time.

Internet Signature

This is a signature I made for myself. I always envied those who could make their own signatures. Now I can do it myself. Yippee! Of course this is a pretty basic one but I like it. I don't yet know how to 'blend'the photos together, or how to get parts of photos and make a collague or something like that. And MamamJJ send me a link for instructions on curling - I should take the time to learn that too.

Well I struggled along with my limping PC and did this peice which stars my sister. I think this was a photo taken of her her in Malaysia while on holiday. I liked the photo and I'm quite happy with what I have done with it. I like the colour combinations alot. As usual, I need to see it days later to be sure I am happy with it. Anway, while doing it and choosing the bits and peices for it I learned a few things more.
1. How to unzip the zipped paper packs to display the papers/embelishments in a viewable format
2. Why when I try to open some PNG files they are not able to be edited. It is because I am working in Photoshop and the PNG file defaults to 'Open' in Image Ready. Instead, what I do instead of double clicking the PNG file and opening it that way, I right click on the PNG file and select "Open With Photoshop". Now I find it draggable, and clickable and completely useable! I can;t tell you how happy I am to learn that.

My computer is crying out for more RAM (memory). I keep getting "Low on Virtual Memory" error messages and its impossible to work because it just takes so long to do anything. I'm a bit frustrated because I need to get things done for Christmas for my family.

This is a photo (2) from my brother's childhood. It is when he went to Nepal.

I haven't added anything for a while, but I have been to scraphead. One night I chose what I wanted. A week later I paid for it. Now I have to download it, and then I will be inspired and more stuff will come. I want to make some special Christmas Gifts as a surprise for my brother, sister and Mother who have no idea what digital Scrapbooking is, let alone that I can do it a little bit. So I think it would be the perfect gift. And yes, to answer the question, I would get them printed out. I have not done it yet but apparently they turn out very nicely. They can them go into albums or frames or whatever you like really. I guess you could even make a mouse pad out of them and so one these days as well. Hmmm now there is an idea!

So far I can add a photo into photoshop, start a new layer, move layers around, edit layers, save my work and find it again, move and resize 'bits', play with the size of the image I am using, rubber, clone stamp tool to extend photos or fix something, add text, make text glitter. With burshes, I would like to know more, but so far I know how to make the brush bigger or smaller but that is it.

I would like to know about fading edges, I intend to check out Flerg's blog for her tutorials, find more papers and embelishments, learn more photoshop tricks.

Just finished another one. This is my mother and I. I used four papers on this one, and some photoshop to rub away part of the layer around the butterflys. I know that's basic, but I love that I know how to do that now!

When I was little I used to like going to the Perth Zoo. I loved animals. Actually we lived only a few streets away and I could often hear the monkeys and big cats at night when I was in bed and the world got quieter. As soon as I saw this old photograph, I knew exactly where in the zoo where it was taken ... not far from the cafe. For this I used text, lots of layers, and three papers, the green one twice. So not much use of photoshop tools except for the text, just a bit of creativity.

This is Ellie. She is my Ragdoll Princess. Ragdolls are a special breed, really placid and their fur is softer than you could ever imagine it could be. It hardly matts, and when it does, you can brush it out. Ragdolls are not hunters, they are built for relaxing and being calm. They do not stress, and if they become frightened, they get over it very quickly. Ellie really is a princess. She is a little aloof and she really makes you earn her love and respect. She is also very sweet and I love her very much. I made this one a few days ago, but I was not completely happy with it. SO I made a few changes and here she is.

I grew up in Perth, Western Australia in the suburb of South Perth. I remember the house, and the street and most details as clearly as if it were now. This photo was taken with my mother (no doubt by my father) in Kings Park, which overlooks the city. In the background is the Narrows Bridge, and the South Perth foreshore. There is a big windmill down there, and the kindergarten I used to attend near that. When my own son was born we lived further along that foreshore when he was about 5 years old, and we would ride our bikes along the pathway. On that foreshore I gathered every Australia Day January 26th to see the fireworks display - with friends, as teenagers when I was old enough to go. It was so much fun. We would also hire surf cats and sail on the river between the city and the South Perth foreshore. I lost a pair of sunglasses in that river.

Here was another photo of me and my favourite bear Safalle (sah-fah-le). I loved him very much too and he was an integral part of my childhood. I carried him everywhere with me. He came from Germany where he was the constant companion of my mother when she grew up - so he was very special. I remember how poor we were when I was a little girl, and yet I collected many soft toy companions. But Safalle stood out. My father threw him out one day. He thought he looked old and scruffy. My mother says she nearly killed him for doing it. Unfortunately it was one of those really stupid things men do when they just don't 'get it' sometimes.

I am captivated by the photos of my childhood. Here is one of me investigating a flower with much intensity it seems.

On the 23rd of October, 2007 I received in the mail a collection of over 80 photographs, many small black and white ones, some colour... of my childhood. I had not seen them for over 20 years. My sister had also scanned them onto a disk. So the timing was wonderful, and of course I set to work on digitally scrapbooking some of them right away. The first photo I used for a creation is of my Daddy giving me a piggyback at the beach. He died 20 years ago, tragically killed in a brutal racist killing. A kind hearted man, my father was very special to me, and this creation is therefore very special, and its simplicity symbolises the depth of how I feel about him.

I would always see or read things about scrapbooking. It looked like something I would enjoy, but I never made the time for it. Then I came across Digital Scrapbooking and with some very generous help of some online friends, I got started.

I loaded Photoshop CS2. Photoshop is something I have tried to use a few times, but it is too complex for me, not intuitive for me, and since working out how to use software on my own has always been a challenge, I knew Digital Scrapbooking was likely to be something I could not do easily.

I was correct. But I persevered with determination and patience. I laughed at myself when it took 5 hours to work out how to do a single thing. It took three nights to work out how to get a photograph into photoshop. I kept doing it, but was not sure how I was doing it! Then I had to work out how to start with layers.

It took 2 weeks and my first creation was made using very basic techniques and ready made bits and peices I just put together. I am very happy with it. Here it is below. This is my 4year old silver Abyssinian cat Milo. It was finished on 21 October 2007.