~ LIVING LIFE, NOT JUST SURVIVING IT ~
••• tiff firth photography •••

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

the things big sisters do

I created this LO in Kim Price's class at the recent escape2create retreat.  I was super keen to learn how Kim does her amazing background work and she very generously taught us just that.  

My LO differs in just about every way to Kim's except for the yellow background technique. 




This one is Kim's from her class. That background is just soooo yummy. The bright yellow just stood out in the class sneak peeks.  I just had to try my hand and it. I'm really keen to give it another whirl when I'm back at my scrap desk soon.

Monday, March 30, 2015

your eyes mesmerize

This LO was created in Fiona Paltridge's class at the recent escape2 create retreat. I changed mine a fair bit so its not a clone of Fiona's. 
A4 size, orange and blues. The main concepts are the same.




This is Fiona's. Isn't it awesome. Orignally I was drawn to it because of the mint. (Gelatto Metallic Mint) and the feather on the left. Awesome LO isn't it.



Sunday, March 29, 2015

xmas wish list

I love this one. I photographed Annie's wish list she wrote to Father Christmas back in 2010. Thankfully her spelling has improved a lot in the last 4 years since then ;)

I'm loving the beads on this one.



Saturday, March 28, 2015

caretaker of the soil

Sometimes less is more. And that certainly is the case for this one. I wanted the photo and the journaling to shine. So I've just matted the 12x8 inch photo with Kraft and added a tractor chippy shape. That's all it needs. 


This photo was taken for a Regional Competition to depict the Year of the Farmer back in 2012. I had the idea in mind and fortunately the men folk in my family were happy to help me out. I actually think that DH is quietly proud of this one because of the meaning behind the sentiment.  Oh, and the image won the competition :D

Friday, March 27, 2015

advance australia fair

Pretty happy with this one. Lots of white space but still a lot to look at. The flag on the banner is a tattoo. Pretty cool hey!
Couldn't believe I got all the way to the end with the typing and I stuffed a letter in the last word. grr.
The blue is tissue paper adhered with Gel Medium. (thanks Lou)


Thursday, March 26, 2015

those nails

Noticing a common theme in the last 3 layouts??   I'm in lurve with the Wilna Furtsenberg print cut silhouette files. Seriously in love. I blended watercolour pencils from Kaszazz, dribbled some mists, used Spell Binder circular dies (many thanks Beck Beattie) and silver thread. And some other bits and pieces.


Thank you Kaszazz for the beautiful watercolour pencils that came in the parcel the other day.  Love them lots.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

dont chase people

Sharing the first of a few layouts created at the recent escape2create2015 retreat.
The retreat was awesome. I'll talk and link about it later.
This layout is my favourite. A little gold, a little bit of texture paste, a little bit of delicate foliage and the gorgeous Wilna Furstenberg print cut file. What's not to love?



Tuesday, March 17, 2015

always let your light shine through

While starting to kit up for the very exciting e2c retreat this weekend, I started getting itchy to scrap. I've popped a few things together in the album to work on at the retreat, but I could just see this one so clearly. So I just had to get it done.

This is for the Kraft+ challenge 'let it shine'  Amongst the spray of roses is delicate gold embossing, gold leaves under the rose bouquet, gold ribbon to hold the bouquet together and just a tiny show of sequins.

Done and dusted. Now I need to make up extra kits :)



Saturday, March 14, 2015

9 years of hair and his idea


Sooooooo, after I had taken this photo of Sean with his 9 year hair collection, he asked if I could make something similar for Paige's little boy, who is nearly 2 months old. Well gosh, what a cracker of an idea. And even better because he thought of it, not me.



So a late Friday afternoon phone call to find those little clear envelopes (I found them 9 years ago and had no idea if they were even still available, let alone locally), and a text to a friend to be a late night courier on my behalf, and boom, this idea became a reality.



I used a wooden 12x12 frame to suit the furniture in Noah's nursery and gave it to them yesterday. As Noah was only a couple of days from 2 months old, and my special relationship to him (I'm a surrogate Grandparent) :D, Paige asked me to cut his hair for his first envelope. Geez, I just about had a wobbly lip. What an honor. So after spending time with them at Baby Bounce yesterday, I snipped a lock of his hair while Paige fed him.  (the hair is not shown here as this shot of the LO was taken before we gifted it to them).

Love those people to bits.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

when the crows came to town

A couple of weeks ago the Adelaide Crows played North Melbourne in Port Lincoln. It was just brilliant. A perfect afternoon to enjoy watching Footy at its highest level. As a family we have never experienced AFL live, so I could hardly pass this chance up. I did leave getting tickets until nearly the last minute as I wanted to know what the weather was doing. The week before it was 42 degrees and there was no way I was dragging the kids out to cook in that heat.  It was forecasted to be a perfect 25 degrees and that's exactly what it was.  

Kym decided to go shooting so Grandpa and Grandma was asked to join us when I got around to buying the tickets.  We had a BBQ lunch at their place before finding a park only 50 metres from the gate. We were in the line up for maybe 30 minutes max and then we made our way inside to get our spot on the boundary. We had our backs to the sun and sat on our comfy deck chairs. The kids took their backpacks with lunchboxes, water bottles and things to keep them occupied until the game started.

Two other boys (son's of my scrappy friends) found us at the front and sat in with Sean right at the fence.  

Crows played a solid 3 quarters to North Melbourne, and then forgot to play in the last quarter. North Melbourne to their credit never gave up and kept on plugging away and nearly had the Crows in that last quarter.  1 super goal (worth 9 points) was scored in the 3rd quarter.

Final scores
Adelaide Crows       0.3.2   0.7.6   1.12.8   1.12.9    (90) 
North Melbourne    0.1.0   0.3.5   0.5.9   0.11.14    (80) 


The following day Richard (Dougy) Douglas, Matthew Wright, Keenan Ramsey and Mitch McGovern visited our school as part of the Crows Community Camp.  Lots of questions were fired at the boys but the one I remember the most was "what's your favorite sandwich?"   It was actually really great to have the kids hear that the boys liked ordinary things.   Promite and cheese, honey, and one of them, with a little bit of a blush admitted to peanut butter and jam.

Of course I seized upon the opportunity to take some shots of Sean with the boys.   :)


(Photos posted with parental permission)

Friday, March 6, 2015

not negotiable - people choice 2014 - best LO.

I had the most awesome start to my Friday this morning.  I received a very happy email to let me know that my LO of 'Not Negotiable' had been voted by the readers of Scrapbooking Memories as  the best layout they've published in the last 12 months in the People’s Choice Awards!

The comments on the Scrapbooking Memories FB page have been so positive and affirming.

This is what I wrote on Scrapbooking Memories page:
My goodness me. Thankyou. 

Thankyou so very much everyone. Thank you for voting. Thankyou Kaszazz. Thank you Scrapbooking Memories. 


What a way to kick off a Friday. 


Kaszazz sponsored the prize pack, and my gosh, they have been overwhelmingly generous.  I thank them so much.

I'm more than just a little bit humbled.

Monday, March 2, 2015

little man

It's been a rather epic length of time to complete this LO.  9 years in total. Every birthday since the age on one, I snipped a lock of his hair to keep for posterity's sake. And to record how blonde and curly he once was. I'm so very glad I had started this tradition for the kids. 

I've a page that's the same for my daughter, also over a nine year period. The envelopes in hers are stuffed full as she's had very long hair nearly all her life.

This is exactly what scrapbooking is about. Its memory keeping and recording those little moments that would otherwise be lost.



Sunday, March 1, 2015

carn the crows

Adelaide Crows played against North Melbourne in the NAB cup in Port Lincoln today. It's our family's first time to see AFL live. To have the NAB cup in Lincoln was terrific has we NEVER have AFL exposure locally otherwise.

6000 people filled Centenary Oval to capacity on the first day of Autumn, and the weather was perfect for it.


(crappy pics taken with the iphone but it recorded a moment.)

Taylor Walker #13. Sean's footy idol.


Pano of the grounds. Again crappy iphone pic.


This shot taken by Emma Forster.