Australasian Blog Hop - Cats and Bats

Welcome to the Australasian Blog Hop for September.  This month we could choose to focus on either "Cats and Bats" or "Falling For You".  Hello to those who arrived from Doreen's Blog and also to regular readers and new readers!

Now I am not big on Halloween.  I don't personally like ooky spooky things and I just honestly feel like there is nothing Australian about it - we don't need to borrow someone else's celebration, so I was really glad to see that "Cats and Bats" can also work really well for non-Halloween subjects.  It worked well for my son's October birthday and also exceptionally well for school themed photos.

One thing I was really happy about is how well it works with Willow and Emerald cardstock (I may have over-ordered those two colours at some point LOL)

I even found that the compliments could be easily tweaked to suit my purposes.  Did you notice how I turned "Halloween" into "Hello Ten"?  I think my favourite thing about this pack was those glittery black stars - so many of them and they work on just about any page!

I also really wanted to play with our new Make It From Your Heart Volume 3 so you might find that patterns 29 and 30 look familiar?

So now on to Kara's Blog
Thanks for reading!
Keep smiling,
Nell

p.s. I do plan to play with Falling for You before my workshops next month so check back later this month for a blog post featuring it!

Australasian Blog Hop September SOM: Feel So Blessed

September already!!! How did that happen? If you have arrived here from my lovely friend Doreen's Blog then welcome to the Blog Hop! A big hello and welcome to my regular readers too.  Just keep clicking the link at the bottom of each post to go right around and check out all of the ideas using our "Feel So Blessed" stamp of the month.
I really, really like this stamp.  One of the most important lessons I am trying to teach my kids is gratitude.  I appreciate how blessed my life is and I want that sense to come across in my albums.  I also think it is super important to have a stash of thank you cards on hand - I try to get my kids to use them as often as I can!  This month I was playing with our new Fundamentals - especially the Basics and Adventure papers.  I also used our new Cricut Cartridge "You are Here" to cut my page titles.

Used: Adventure Fundamentals, Basics Fundamentals, charcoal and glacier inks and a sticker from the old All Together Compliments

Used Adventure Fundamentals and Compliments, Whimsy Fundamentals, My Boy Compliments, All Together compliments, Charcoal and Glacier inks

Used White Daisy cardstock cricut cut daisy, All together Complements, Basics Fundamentals and Adventure Fundamentals, Charcoal ink

Used: Pomegranate cardstock, Whimsy Fundamentals, White Daisy cardstock, Whisper cardstock (cut with our new Cricut Cartridge "You are Here")
Just a note about this page.  I recently found a box of unscrapped photos in the shed - I am having lots of fun pulling photos out and using them to make non-chronological pages that share a story or sentiment rather than a specific date or place in time.  Stacey Julian helped me to overcome the idea that my albums have to be in perfect chronological order.  She also helped me to realise that "done is better than perfect" That top photo of us as kids is hiding a botched stamped arrow LOL.  I am very much looking forward to Stacey's partnership with Close to My Heart as I love her emphasis on telling the stories that matter.  Originally I didn't scrap this photo of my brother and I because it wasn't a good shot of us but when I found it I realised how few photos I have of just him and I together.  It made me think differently about scrapping it.  What stories are you yet to add to your albums?

Used: Basics Fundamentals and Adventure Complements, Charcoal ink, Cricut cartridge "You are Here" for title and date banner, Whimsy Fundamentals, Lagoon cardstock, Whisper cardstock, black journalling pen

Used: Adventure and Basics Fundamentals and Complements, Charcoal ink

I hope you can use this stamp to recognise some of the things in your own life to be grateful for, and to maybe pass on some of your gratitude to others.

That is it from me.  Now check out Megan's Blog for more great ideas.
Keep smiling,
Nell