Scrapbooking Sketches Aussie Style

Sketch 13 - Clair Bremner

2007-11-26T19:51:00.000+10:00

We are excited to introduce this fortnight's guest artist to the Sketches Oz blog, Clair Bremner. Hi i'm Clair, i'm married to Luke and mother to Koby (5) and Charlee (almost 3). We live in Melbourne and besides being a SAHM i also run my own children's photography business. I started scrapping just after my daughter was born. I use to think it was a really daggy hobby but i now adore the way i am able to show off my gorgeous kids and release some pent up creativity at the same time. I have been lucky enough to be published in a few Australian magazines (mostly Scrapbook Creations) and i am also on several design teams including Blue Bazaar, Scrapniques and also the American manufacturer October Afternoon. I don't really know how to define my style as a scrapper. Sometimes i am very loose, vintage and eclectic but other times i prefer to work with straight lines and symmetry. Generally i prefer to use vibrant colors and have no fear when it comes to mixing different patterns and brands together. I guess it depends a lot on my mood and the condition of my stash. I find that my layouts tend to appear more 'artistic' and freestyle when my paper and embellishment supplies are dwindling LOL

So without ado....here are the inspiration LO's for Clair's sketch! Enjoy!

Clair BremnerDanielle Quarmby
Sheree Forcier
Leeann Pearce
Courtney Ferguson
Kathie Link
Hope you enjoy playing with this one as much as we did!

We'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Vita Thai for her work with the Sketches Oz blog over the past 6 months. So with Vita leaving us we would love to have another designer, either paper or digi, join us! Send your expression of interest with your take on Clair's sketch to sketchesoz@aapt.net.au can't wait to see what you come up with for us!

I also need to apologise for not getting the galleries back up on the sidebar...before I moved flickr had a cow and sorting it out hasn't quite made it to the top of my to do list since I arrived in my new home. Hopefully I will get it sorted during school holidays and share everyone's creations from the past sketches again!

Lastly a HUGE congratulations to Vikki Benoit who was our winner from Jaimie's sketch! Watch out for your crop kit from sponsors shop and crop!

Til next time, have fun with Clair's sketch and happy scrapping!

2007-11-09T18:33:00.000+10:00

Our guest artist for this fortnight is the gorgeous Jolene Pienaar!

Jolene lives in Brissy with her hubby and cute as can be DD Katie. She has been widely published including being a recent runner up in the SC colour competition. You can find Jolene's work each week on Pencillines where she is part of their very talented DT. Jolene runs an online store, forum and gallery Crafting In Style, the sponsor of this weeks sketch) and, as part of the site she also keeps us inspired with the Crafting In Style Sketch Blog!

So without further ado....check out the inspiration for Jolene's sketch, and don't forget that you have a double chance to win with this sketch by checking out this weekend's cybercrop at Crafting in Style, Jolene and the DT would love to see you there!

Jolene Pienaar

Sheree Forcier
Kathie Link
Vita Thai

Leeann Pearce
Mardi Winen

Tammy Templeton Courtney Ferguson
As always LO's to sketchesoz@aapt.net.au by Thursday 23rd November before our new sketch artist on the 24th! Prize this fortnight is sponsored by Crafting in Style!

A bit of a sneak :)

2007-11-06T19:29:00.000+10:00

Just wanted to let you all know that you will have a double chance to win with our new sketch this Friday. Crafting in Style is our sponsor for this fortnight and the sketches oz sketch will also be part of one of their Cybercrop challenges for their CC this weekend which starts on Friday night.

You can check out more details about the CC here; and register to join this fun, friendly forum here!

I can promise you that the new sketch is a beauty!

'til Friday,

Happy Scrapping!

Taking a short break

2007-10-29T12:43:00.000+10:00

Just letting you know that we are having a break this fortnight! But will be back late next week with a special sketch and extra challenge :)

In the meantime keep an eye for the winner from Jaimie's sketch!

Happy Scrapping

Sketch 11 - Vivian Bonder

2007-10-12T16:37:00.000+10:00

Welcome to our new guest Artist for this fortnight - Vivian Bonder!Vivian resides in Perth with her husband and two little girls. Viv is a regular contributor to Scrapbook Creations Magazine with her amazing artwork!

Hope that you love her sketch as much as we have and check out Viv and the design team's layouts for a bit of inspiration to get your mojo going!

Vivian Bonder

Deirdre Heath

Leeann Pearce

Mardi Winen

Courtney Ferguson

Tatum Woodroffe

Sheree Forcier

Danielle Quarmby

Tammy Templeton

Don't forget to share your artwork with us at sketchesoz@aapt.net.au! It is great to see new faces and old with each new sketch! Happy scrapping!

First - Some Long Awaited winners!

2007-10-12T12:11:00.000+10:00

For Mel Diener's sketch, congratulations Tania Davey! You will be getting some goodies from Rasberry!And, for taking on the double sketch challenge, Congratulations Peta MacBeth! You'll be getting a surprise RAK!
For Ngaire's Beautiful sketch, congratulations Sine Grant. You will be getting a pressie from Tarisota!
And for this delightfully colourful creation from Loretta's sketch, congratulations Kirsten Northfield. You are getting a very yummy prize pack from Cherry Arte!

Thanks for all the gorgeous entries girls!

The new sketch will be up this afternoon, we are just itching to share it with you!

Sketch 10 - Jaimie Emmerton

2007-09-28T00:25:00.000+10:00

A big welcome back to everyone, the new sketch is finally here and we are delighted to have Jaimie Emmerton on board as our Guest Artist for this fortnight!Jaimie lives in the Pilbara WA is married to Marcus and is Mum to Jayk, Noah and Ellen. She has been scrapbooking since 2001 and is on the design team for Shop & Crop and Aussie Scrap Source. Jaimie has had work published in Australia, New Zealand and the US, has taught at the Perth Craft Show, online and locally and is looking forward to teaching at the Shop and Crop retreat in March 2008. Jaimie has an obsession with all things Heidi Swapp, Basic Grey and anything chipboard, she is a big fan of large titles and simple straight to the point journaling. She has a love for photography and has just started a portraiture business in her home town.

So, onto the inspiration Layouts for Jaimie's sketch, hope that you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed putting them together! Can't wait to see your takes on the sketch!

Jaimie Emmerton

Leeann Pearce

Danielle Quarmby

Tammy Templeton

Tatum Woodroffe

Hope that leaves you feeling inspired! Send in your layouts to sketchesoz@aapt.net.au for your chance to win a crop kit from Shop and Crop for having a go at Jaimie's Sketch! Deadline is midnight WST Thursday 13th October before our new sketch goes up on Friday 14th!

Happy Scrapping! So pleased to be back with you and look out for an upcoming announcement of winners!

Saying Farewell to Sarah and Welcome to Leeann

2007-09-26T23:11:00.000+10:00

Unfortunately Sarah Mulder has had to step down from the Sketches Oz Design Team and I want to take this opportunity to thank her for her hard work and support! We all wish you well with your new job and hope that you'll still come and visit :)

I would also like to give a warm welcome to our new Design Team member, Leeann Pearce!

Here is what Leeann had to tell us about herself -
My name is Leeann Pearce and I am married to Quentin and we have two beautiful Girls, Holly and Storm. We live in Kalgoorlie WA. I am A SAHM. I started scrapping in 2003 and did it alone for a lot of years until one day MY Husband Quentin brought home a pizza box full of goodies and a business card from a scrap shop here in WA. That was the end of scrapping all by myself I am now totally hooked on the scrapboxx.
My style is freestyle, I try to always think outside the square and create something a little different. Two things I totally Love are a white gel pen and Paint. I'm am very excited to be apart of Sketches Oz!

Have a squizz at Leeann's takes on the last two sketches from Loretta and Ngaire, boy does it rock!

See you on Friday for our brand new sketch! Winners for the last 3 sketches will be announced as soon as all the uploading contemplation has been completed so stay tuned for that after the weekend!

Still Here

2007-09-22T00:14:00.000+10:00

Hi!! Just wanted to assure that we are still here....obviously I didn't quite cross enough fingers because I have had more technical difficulties than you can poke a stick at since we moved! Will be back with our sketches and inspirations very soon so stick with us :)!

In the meantime happy scrapping!

Sketch 9 - Loretta Grayson

2007-08-22T22:46:00.000+10:00

A huge big welcome to our new Sketches Oz Guest Artist Loretta Grayson! This is one of Rett's favourite sketches for scrapping events when she wants to use lots of photos. Look closely at her layout and you will see that the photo on the far right actually folds out concertina style to reveal more photos!

Gotta say sorry for being late again! I am now between home and finally managed to get some broadband love in Dubbo tonight after plenty of dial up issues! Should be back to regular programming for the next post! We will be announcing the winners for the last couple of sketches before we reveal our next Guest Artist (fingers crossed) so if you have completed a layout from Mel Diener's or Ngaire's sketches send them in to sketchesoz@aapt.net.au to win one of the fabulous prizes!

Rett is a Queenslander and mum to 3. She has been scrapbooking since 2003, designs for CherryArte and Scrapbook Creations and is also a two peas garden girl!

So, to get the creative juices flowing, here are this fortnight's inspiration layouts. We have an awesome CherryArte prize pack this fortnight chock full of papers, so get scrapping and send your layouts in to sketchesoz@aapt.net.au by Tuesday 4th September!

Loretta Grayson

Tammy Templeton Mardi Winen
Deirdre Heath (using some of the fab Rasberry products)
Vita Thai

Happy Scrapping xx

Sketch 8 - Ngaire Bartlam

2007-08-08T12:52:00.000+10:00

This fortnight we are thrilled to welcome the very fabulous Ngaire Bartlam to Sketches Oz! (oh and please forgive me for running late, I am moving from QLD to SA and my house is being packed as I type!) So without further ado, here is Ngaire's sketch for us!

Ngaire started out scrapbooking in 1999 and has been widely published since, including two books, Lumpy Bumpy and It's All About You. She lives in Brisbane with her husband and two daughters, she is currently a designer for Tarisota Collections, our sponsor for this fortnight. Recently, Ngaire has invested herself in encouraging women to embrace their beauty. This fornight, we have taken on this theme for our design team layouts and encourage you to do the same! Hope that the sketch and layouts leave you feeling inspired to create a layout about something that is beautiful to you or about yourself!

Ngaire Bartlam

Courtney Ferguson

Danielle Quarmby

Kathie Link

Sheree Forcier

Tatum Woodroffe

This fortnight our sketch is sponsored by Tarisota Collections! Just send us in your layout from Ngaire's sketch to be in the running! NB for this one, please send your layouts to sketchesoz@yahoo.com.au ! Happy Scrapping!

More of Sketch 7 & Congratulations to our Sketch 6 winner!

2007-07-26T15:13:00.000+10:00

Congratulations to Charmane Koch....you are the winner of the fabulous prize from Fireside Crafts! Thankyou for all of the fantastic entries girls! Fireside's new kit Warmth is out so check it out here! Now for some more design team layouts from Mel's sketch, hope that they get you inspired to do some creating for yourself using this one!

Tatum Woodroffe

Mardi Winen

Sarah Mulder

We can't wait to see your creations! Email them to sketchesoz@aapt.net.au to be in the running to win this fortnight's prize!

As always, Happy Scrapping!

Bumper Issue! Sketch 7 - Mel Diener & Rasberry Sketch Special

2007-07-24T20:17:00.000+10:00

Welcome to our new Sketch Artist, the wonderful Mel Diener!

Mel is Mum to Zali and Shaylah, wife to Darren. Living in the gorgeous Barossa Valley region of South Australia. You will have seen Mel's work in print as a regular contributor to all of the Australian Scrapbooking Magazines. She is part of the very talented Design Team line up at Blue Bazaar and has recently joined the new Aussie Dares crew! And doesn't she just have the best smile!

So, without further ado, here are this weeks layouts from Mel's sketch!

Mel Diener

Vita Thai

Kathie Link

Tammy Templeton But wait there is more....but you'll have to wait a few days for those!!! So in the meantime we bring you a very special feature using some of the fantastic products from our wonderful sponsor Rasberry! The design team have been busy putting together these extra special layouts using the fabulous product ranges from Rasberry and have provided a sketch to go with each! So this fortnight we have a double challenge for you...submit your layout from Mel's sketch as usual to sketchesoz@aapt.net.au to be in the running to win the prize for this fortnight and then choose one of the Rasberry sketches to do a second layout to put you in the running for a second prize. Entries are due 12 midnight WST, Monday 6th August. Enjoy!

Tammy Templeton

Mardi Winen

Kathie Link

Sheree Forcier

Happy Scrapping!

Congratulations....and some more LO's from Kate's sketch!

2007-07-16T19:13:00.000+10:00

Congratulations Clair Bremner, you are the winner of a fantastic pack from Country Papercraft for your take on Megan's sketch! Here is Clair's gorgeous layout!

This week we have some special, extra inspiration for you....Danielle has put together two more inspiration layouts from Kate's sketch using products from the first fire pack from Fireside Crafts! That is the same pack that you can win by sending in your layouts from Kate's sketch to sketchesoz@aapt.net.au

We have lots more inspiration later this week with some fantastic layouts from the girls using products from Rasberry with some great new sketches to go along with them!

Have a great week, and happy scrapping!

Sketch 6 - Kate Mason

2007-07-10T20:36:00.000+10:00

A big warm welcome to our 6th guest artist, Kate Mason!

Kate is married to Jeff and mother to Georgia Poppy [2] & Charlotte Daisy [1]. After leaving the busy business world after 15 years, Kate's now content being mum and working part-time for her small family print house doing graphic arts. Kate has been scrapbooking for about 5 years and find it satisfies all her creative needs.

Having been selected for the For Keeps 2005 Elite Team and continuing on the Design Team throughout 2006 enabled Kate's work to be published each month in For Keeps magazine and in the 2005 Elite Team book, The Times of Our Lives. That amazing experience opened up some wonderful opportunities for her work to be published in various other magazines [Australian Paper Arts, I Can Make it Myself, Parties for Kids, Scrapbooking Memories Magazine and Bookzines].

Kate has since also enjoyed regular work as a Design Team member for Blue Bazaar, Crafty Cat Company and her local store, Scrapbook Station, plus guest design spots for Ruby Street.

Earlier this year, a little dream of Kate's was realised with the release of the book 'The Heart of Design' co-authored with Debra Fuller.

Now for the superb inspiration layouts for you this fortnight! Kate has used that famous 'mod podge napkin technique' on her background of her layout of little cutie pie Charlotte. I can promise you that this technique is lots of fun and gives you a great textured result!

....and I assure that it is okay to have a little giggle at my layout, trust me I am laughing at my 13 year old, daggy self!

Kate Mason

Sheree Forcier

Courtney Ferguson

Danielle Quarmby

Deirdre Heath

Tatum Woodroffe

As always, we love to see your creations from our fortnightly sketch and we have an extra special prize for you this time around. Pauline, from Fireside Crafts, has generously donated one of her first fire kits! This yummy kit includes beautifully coordinated products from Scenic Route and Heidi Swapp. If you just HAVE to have it anyway, check it out on their website together with their new kit twice burnt which incorporates rich browns, purples and oranges.

They also run monthly competitions on site and stock a great range of products!

Send your entries to sketchesoz@aapt.net.au by Monday 23rd July, midnight WST to be in the running to win this fantastic prize!

Also, stay tuned next week for a very special feature of layouts using Rasberry products with some bonus sketches for you!

Congratulations.....

2007-07-05T09:57:00.000+10:00

Belinda Venables for this beautiful interpretation of Mel's sketch!

And....for something different.....Belinda wins this prize pack of felt, cottons, buttons and bits together with a few of Mel's own patterns for making felt animals. Hope you enjoy!

We also have a winner of a $10 voucher from Forever Always for entering both Michelle Perry's sketch challenge and the Forever Always June sketch challenge!

Congratulations Jacqui Jones! This is Jacqui's gorgeous layout from Michelle's sketch!

And don't forget that you have until next Monday, midnight WST to send your layout from Megan's sketch to us at sketchesoz@aapt.net.au to be in the running to win a monthly designer pack from Country Papercrafts! Go and check out their store...lots of yummy things to play with!

Our new sketch will be up next Tuesday and I am sure that you are going to love it as much as we do!

Sketch 5 - Megan Stephenson

2007-06-26T09:28:00.000+10:00

A huge welcome to our new guest artist for this fortnight, Megan Stephenson!Megan lives in the Hunter Valley with her two beautiful daughters, Olivia and Charlotte, and husband Ned and she is more than a little bit addicted to scrapbooking! You probably recognise Megan's girls as her pages are frequently published in all of the Australian Magazines, For Keeps, Scrapbooking Memories and Scrapbook Creations, and her work has also been published in the Australian Reader's Gallery of Creating Keepsakes.

Megan is currently doing a guest design team stint for Altogether Scrap and has recently completed so design work for Shop and Crop and is teaching an online class for them next month! I am sure that you love Megan's work as much as we all do!

So without further ado, here are this fortnights layouts! Hope that they have you feeling inspired and we can't wait to see what you come up with! Email them to sketchesoz@aapt.net.au by 12 midnight WST Monday 9th July to be in the running for this fortnight's prize!

Megan Stephenson

Mardi Winen

Courtney Ferguson

Sheree Forcier

Tatum Woodroffe

Also...if any Aussie businesses, retail or wholesale, are interested in sponsoring our fortnightly prizes please drop us a line to sketchesoz@aapt.net.au.

Happy scrapping everyone!

Congratulations....

2007-06-24T17:30:00.000+10:00

Dionne Molina!

Your layout from Michelle Perry sketch has been selected as the winner of a $25 voucher from Forever Always! They are having a sale until the end of June so you should all go and check out the bargains!

Thanks everyone for your fantastic entries, you still have a chance to win a $10 voucher from Forever Always by completing their June sketch and uploading to the site...just do so by the end of the month and let us know by dropping us a quick email to sketchesoz@aapt.net.au we will have a random draw to decide which lucky person gets this prize!

We are loving all the layouts from Mel Goodsell's sketch. You have until 12 Midnight WST Monday night to send us your take on Mel's sketch to be in the running for this fortnight's prize! Then stay tuned on Tuesday to see our brand new guest artist, their sketch and lots more inspiring layouts!

Sketch 4 - Melissa Goodsell

2007-06-12T00:34:00.001+10:00

Welcome to our new guest artist, Melissa Goodsell. Melissa lives in Tasmania, is married to Richard and has two beautiful children James and Isabella. Mel is a designer for Tarisota Collections and part of the Aussie Scrap Source Design Team.

Melissa loves and adopts all kinds of styles in her work, from simple and elegant to collage with her main inspiration being her family. One of her favourite techniques to use is stitching, either by hand or machine. You should check out some of Mel’s felt and other stitched creations and her amazing cards that she regularly puts together using the DCM dares.

So here are this weeks' inspiration layouts from Melissa and the design team!

Mel Goodsell

Loving the detail on this one!

Danielle Quarmby

Sarah Mulder

Tammy Templeton

Sheree Forcier

Courtney Ferguson

Kathie Link

Vita Thai

I hope that you love this sketch and all the inspiration as much as I do. We can't wait to see your layouts from this sketch. Email them to sketchesoz@aapt.net.au to be in the running for this fortnights prize!

And, speaking of prizes, Tammy is fast approaching her 100th blog post and to celebrate this occassion she will be randomly selecting a comment on her blog to be the winner of a layout scrapped for you by her! So go and check it out!

Have a great week and happy scrapping!

Not long now.....

2007-06-11T09:44:00.000+10:00

Don't forget to get your LO in from Michelle's sketch by 12 Midnight WST tonight for your chance to win that $25 voucher from Forever Always!

If you need a bit of inspiration to get the scrapping mojo gowing for this Queen's Birthday Holiday have another look at Michelle's and the DT's layouts together with the fantastic layout's we've already had sent in!

If you feel like a bit of retail therapy today you can win a $10 voucher by placing an order at Forever Always and completing Michelle's sketch, just include your order number in your email to us.

You can also win a $10 voucher by completing both Michelle's sketch and the Forever Always June sketch....we won't be drawing this one until the end of the month so if you have already done Michelle's sketch just drop us an email to let us know you have completed and uploaded to their gallery! Forever Always offer a great prize for their challenge so be sure and check it out!

The new guest artist and their sketch will be introduced tomorrow so be ready for some more inpsiration!

Don't forget to leave us the links to your favourite sketch sites so we can compile them into a sketch resource in the sidebar!

Have a great day & happy scrapping!

And the winners are....

2007-06-03T20:58:00.000+10:00

Congratulations to Natallie King with her Friends layout which has won the fantastic prize pack from Rasberry! And Dallas Foley who has won a layout scrapped for her by Chris!
Well done girls, hope that you enjoy your prizes!

Can't wait to see everybody's takes on our current sketch from Michelle Perry, we have some great prizes from Forever Always. Send them in to us at sketchesoz@aapt.net.au

More Inspiration!

2007-06-01T19:53:00.000+10:00

Hope that you are having a great weekend! We just wanted to share some more layouts from the design team, using Michelle's sketch!

Deirdre Heath

Tatum Woodroffe

Courtney Ferguson

And I really wanted to share our first entry for Michelle's sketch challenge from Kirsten Northfield. Kirsten had this gorgeous layout scrapped within about 3 or 4 ours of the sketch being up on the blog last Tuesday.....she told us that it was just perfect for her kids' school photos that she had just gotten back!

Don't forget to email your entries to sketchesoz@aapt.net.au by Midnight WST Monday 11th June to be in the running to win a $25 gift voucher from Forever Always. If you make a purchase from the store include your order number with your email and you will also go in the draw to win a $10 voucher. If you complete both Michelle's sketch and the Forever Always June sketch you will also go in the draw to win another $10 voucher!

We will be announcing the winners from Chris' sketch soon so stay tuned!

Have a great Sunday...hope that you get some scrapping time!

Sketch Three - Michelle Perry

2007-05-29T09:13:00.000+10:00

Welcome to a the new sketch for this fortnight from our new guest artist Michelle Perry! Here is what Michelle had to tell us about herself -
am a single mum of 2 boys, I live in Country SA along the River Murray.
I’ve been Scrapbooking since 2002, I became hooked instantly and was invited to teach at a local Scrapbooking store 6 months later, I have been teaching classes in various stores, and am now teaching at all SA Stamping and Scrapbooking Fairs held regularly at venues around SA. I am on the Design Team for the NZ site ‘Paper Pesto’ and am a guest DT member for ‘Scrapapple’. I have been published in all Australian Scrapbooking magazines and I run the Aussie Pub Calls Scrapbooking Blog.

Here is Michelle's inspiration layout from her sketch, stunning isn't it!

....a bit of a detail shot on Michelle's layout showing the gold heat embossing on the heart, gorgeous isn't it!

....and a bit more inspiration from our design team....as you can see there are alot of different ways that you can manipulate this sketch.

Sarah Mulder

Sheree Forcier

Danielle Quarmby

Mardi Winen

We have some great prizes for you this week, Michelle will pick her favourite layout from her sketch and the winner will win a $25 gift voucher from Forever Always!

We also have two random prize draws this week, both for $10 gift vouchers from Forever Always....the first draw is for those of you who complete Michelle's sketch and place an order with Forever Always....they have plenty of the brand new scrapping goodies released earlier this year in store so go and check it out! To go into this draw all you have to do is include your order number in your email to us when you send us your layout!

You have until midnight WST 11th June to send in your entries for both the regular challenge and the first random prize draw. Email your entries to sketchesoz@aapt.net.au

The second random draw is for another $10 voucher, all you need to do is complete Michelle's sketch and the June Sketch from Forever Always, when you email us with your sketches oz layout include a link to your layout from the Forever Always sketch. You have until the end of June to complete this one!

It is fantastic to see so many amazing layouts from our sketches, I hope that you are enjoying them...you can see all of the layouts from Chris' sketch in the gallery on the sidebar. Don't forget to leave us a comment with a link to sketch sites that you use so that we can set up a sketch resource link list!

If you have any questions about any of the design team layouts please feel free to email us with the questions or post in the comments section and we will endeavour to answer them for you!

Hope that you are feeling inspired and happy scrapping!

1 Sketch, 3 Ways

2007-05-24T18:31:00.001+10:00

For a bit of extra inspiration this week a couple of the design team members have shown us how you can use the same sketch to create layouts in different ways. We started with another sketch from Chris Millar, you'll have to wait to see her layout from the sketch in an upcoming issue of Creating Keepsakes! Mardi Winen
Tammy Templeton

Tatum Woodroffe

Isn't it incredible the amazing variety of layouts that you can get from a single sketch!

Don't you love Mardi's fabric circle on how old, and the stitched circle on Senior Campus 2007. I especially love Tammy's interpretation in Wedding Day using a heart instead of a circle! When I'd finished 3 layouts I still had more ideas of how to use the sketch...I think provides a great base for using one of the new Heidi Swapp clock overlays.

I, for one, use sketches alot. I maintain an A4 notebook, where I draw my own and stick in ones that I have found online and in magazines. I keep a note of which Layouts I have done from each sketch. When I have a bit of scrappers block I often refer to my notebook, or get online to one of the many great sketch sites for a bit of a jumping of point. We'd love to see which other sketch sites you visit regularly. Post a comment with the sites you like to visit and we'll add a sketch resource link list to Sketches Oz.

So, if you are feeling inspired we'd love to see what you come up with...email them in and we'll share them in a flickr gallery, sketchesoz@aapt.net.au (yes we have a new email address, don't panic though, we'll still be using both for a while) and you will also go into the random draw to win a layout scrapped by Chris.

Entries for Chris' regular sketch...where you can win that great prize pack from Australian manufacturer Rasberry... and this one, if you want to be entered into the random draw, are due in by Midnight WST, Monday 28th May, before we reveal our new guest artist on Tuesday!

And...by the way, you can check out Chris' interpretation of Kim's sketch from last fortnight on the Aussie Scrap Source Blog.

How are you going?

2007-05-22T22:55:00.000+10:00

Or more specifically, how are you layouts from Chris' sketch going? We have a sensational prize for this fortnight from our awesome sponsor, Rasberry. In addition to this we will be having a random prize draw for all the layouts entered for Chris' sketch, the winner will win a layout scrapped for them by Chris!

Entries are due by Midnight Monday 28th WST to sketchesoz@yahoo.com.au before we reveal our new guest artist and sketch on Tuesday.

Stay tuned on Thursday because we have something extra special for you featuring another layout and sketch from Chris and some more inspirational layouts scrapped by members of our design team!

But, in the meantime, can I encourage you to feel beautiful!

Congratulations...Clair Bremner!

2007-05-16T21:35:00.000+10:00

You are our winner for your take on Kim's sketch! We had so many amazing entries and it was definately a hard choice for Kim to make!

Clair Bremner - Space Ranger

Clair wins a great pack from Scrapping Angels and a seat at one of Kim's upcoming online classes! Scrapping Angels have just released their fantastic May kit, Funk It Up, put together by the very talented Ruey Enanoria.

We already have a few entries for Chris' sketch and the prize for this one is an awesome pack from the Australian Manufacturer Rasberry. Also, this fortnight, we will be having a random prize draw from all the entered layouts to win a layout scrapped for you by Chris.

Happy Scrapping, we can't wait to see your entries....I'll leave you with some more inspiration from Chris' sketch, a layout by our Design Team member Mardi Winen!

Sketch Two - Chris Millar

2007-05-14T23:17:00.000+10:00

This week we are excited to welcome our wonderful Guest Artist, Chris Millar. Hope that you all enjoy this one, I know it is one we have enjoyed working with because Chris rocks layouts with circles!

Chris lives with her husband and two daughters in Brisbane and works part time in the family business. Chris has been scrapping for a little over 4 years and loves everything about it, including meeting new friends.

One of Chris' great loves is using her talent to make gifts for family and friends. From a young age she kept journals and had a love for photography. She now uses these same skills to enhance her scrapbooking pages and combines them with her love for paper and colour to create memories for her albums.

Chris is currently on the Junkitz international design team, a designer for Aussie ScrapSource and has recently made it through to the top 10 of the Making Memories Idol Competition. Chris has been published in all the Australian scrapbooking magazines as well as Paper Craft and Stamping magazines. She has also been published in the Becky Higgins Sketch book No.2 and Scrapbooking for Beginners No.2. She also designs kits and teaches online classes for The Scrapbook Outlet NZ.

I hope that you enjoy this weeks inspiration layouts from Chris and our design team!

Chris Millar - Happiness is Having Grandchildren to Love

Tammy - Storytime

Vita - Shoot

Dee - 100% Original

Tatum - Cherish

Courtney - Just Jacob

Kathie - Discover

We hope that this weeks layouts have you inspired and itiching to get scrapping. If the inspiration isn't enough we have a fantastic prize for entries using this fortnights sketch. Chris' sketch has been sponsored by Rasberry and the prize pack on offer includes:

Patterned Papers
o All sheets from the Sweet, Squashed and Princess Rasberry collections

Chipboard Embellishments
o A Girls World
o Girls Words
o Squashed Words
o On The Move
o Summer Days

Rasberry Scraps
o 1 princess compote
o 2 Squashed Letters
o 2 Sweet Letters
o 2 Princess Letters

The Sketches Oz design team is also excited to announce that Rasberry have agreed to be a major site sponsor so you will get to see the Rasberry products featured here on the Sketches Oz blog, scrapped by the design team, over the coming months!

So head over to the Rasberry website and checkout the yummy, retro style, collections and find out where you can purchase them for yourself!

Entries for this weeks sketch need to be emailled to sketchesoz@yahoo.com.au by midnight Monday 28th May to go in the running for this fantastic prize!

Not long now...

2007-05-11T21:53:00.000+10:00

Until Monday night when the first sketches are due in (Monday 14th May, 12 Midnight WST). Don't forget, your LO puts you in the running to win the awesome scrapping pack from Scrapping Angels and a seat at one of Kim's online classes.

The new guest artist and new sketch will be revealed on Tuesday 15th May.

Have a great weekend, hope that you get some scrapping time and to all the Mummys have a fabulous Mother's Day!

Congratulations...

2007-05-08T23:54:00.000+10:00

firstly to each and every one of you who took the time to put together your entries for our search for 2 design team members. The design team had the hard task of voting to select our new members.

So without further ado...introducing Vita Thai and Sheree Forcier our 2 new design team members!

Vita Thai

Vita is a 35 year old SAHM to Amanda (9) & Riley (3). She has been married to her hubby Yung for more than 10 years. Vita migrated to Australia in 1996, after a 1 year long distance relationship with Yung, an Aussie who she met at a symposium in Japan. They currently reside in Dandenong North, VIC.

Vita started scrapbooking in 2003, soon after Riley was born, she was a paper scrapper for 3 years, before finally deciding to venture to digital. It was a browsing at 2Peas that started everything, she was looking for a Rhonna Farrer digi frame to make a banner for her blog. Her first ever digi layout was completed 2 days after, but the banner was not until 6 months later. :0)

Now Vita enjoys both paper and digital scrapbooking. She does most of her paper layouts at crops, and digital layouts at home. It is the conveniency of digital that she loves the most as she can scrap a layout within minutes of downloading the photos into her computer.

Vita says 'Everything is only a few clicks away, and it is much easier to share the layouts with friends & family. And for me, scrapping digitally also takes the pressure of creating a layout in paper. So whenever I work with paper, I can put more thoughts into it. Now, it doesn't matter anymore if it takes me 3 weeks to complete 1 paper layout. While prior to digi scrap, I would have felt really bad about it.

Finally, I would like to say that I am very honoured to be part of Sketches OZ design team. I hope I can bring a new perspective to both paper and digital scrappers, because I believe there are so many good things from both world we can incorporate into our layouts.'

Sheree Forcier

Sheree is 34 years old and has been married to hubby Paul for 6 years, although they have been together since high school 17 years ago! They have 2 very active little boys – Ayden (4 ½) and Riley (2 ½), and their gorgeous new baby girl Madison (3 months). They live on the Gold Coast having moved here from the Whitsundays towards the end of last year and love it!

Sheree has been scrapping since just after Ayden was born. Her Mum started her off with stamping and cardmaking, but then she discovered some scrapping magazines and thought she’d make a baby album for Ayden – once she started she was completely hooked! Sheree loves the fact that her kids will have family memories recorded to look back on in years to come.

Sheree has had her work published in Scrapbooking Memories, For Keeps and Scrapbook Creations – the most exciting thing was having one of her layouts on the cover of an issue of Scrapbooking Memories last year, she still can’t believe that happened!

Sheree has always scrapped 12 x 12 pages but has just started to try the 8 ½ x 11 format which she is quite enjoying. Sheree loves to use colour on her layouts and, not surprisingly, has become rather obsessed with pink lately. Her favourite products are anything Heidi Swapp so many of the gorgeous patterned papers out there at the moment. Sheree doesn't quite feel that her layouts are complete unless she has either handstitched or machine stitched on them and she always include journalling somewhere on the page. The majority of her layouts are about her children, and she is having so much fun creating girlie layouts now after only scrapping boys layouts for years!

Sheree often makes her own quick sketches starting a page and is really looking forward to working with the sketches here on Sketches Oz!

So please join us in giving Sheree and Vita a warm welcome to Sketches Oz and don't forget to check out the prize for this fortnights sketch!

How are your layouts going?

2007-05-06T17:47:00.000+10:00

I hope that you are having as much fun with this sketch as we all did! Thankyou for all of the lovely comments about Kim's sketch and all of the inspiration layouts! Checkout the sidebar to take a peek at all of the wonderful layouts that have been scrapped from Kim's layout.

For all of you choosing to accept the first sketch challenge we have an awesome prize - In addition to a seat at one of Kim's upcoming online classes you will recive this great deluxe designer kits from Scrapping Angels.

The kit was put together by the very talented Marie Noske and features yummy products from Arctic Frog, Lil Davis and Scenic Route.

We will be announcing the winners of the design team competition tonight, it has been a very tough decision as there were so many fantastic entries.

Can't wait to see your entries, remember to email them to sketchesoz@yahoo.com.au for entry into the challenge.

Sketch One - Kim Archer

2007-04-30T20:17:00.000+10:00

After a couple of weeks of waiting here it finally is, the very first Sketches Oz Sketch, our guest artist is none other than the immensely talented and totally wonderful Kim Archer! I contacted Kim on the day of the first blog post and by bedtime that night she had provided us with the first sketch and accompanying inspiration layout! Thankyou Kim

Here is what Kim had to tell us about herself and Sketches Oz:

I live in Newcastle with my hubby Ken and our three kids,
Brandt, Jamison and Capri. I started scrapbooking in January 2003 after picking
up a scrapbooking magazine. In those days I had NO idea what I was doing and
pretty much just accumulated stuff as I didn't really know what to do with it
all. Eventually I did make my first page..and then I just kept on making
things!

I have been fortunate enough to have had a lot of
opportunities within the scrapbook industry over the past few years and have
been able to travel around teaching at many retreats, conventions and stores.
Lots of fun!

What a great idea this new sketch site is!!! I am
thrilled to have been asked to join in for the first sketch challenge and I look
forward to seeing the site evolve as it gets going and everyone joins in:)

So without further ado, here are the inspiration LO's from Kim's sketch!

Party - Kim Archer

The Secret Garden - Courtney Ferguson

Dude - Deirdre Heath

Held Near - Danielle Quarmby

You - Kathie Link

Quirks - Mardi Winen

Dress Ups - Sarah Mulder

Birthday Boy - Tammy Templeton

A Year With Miss Charlotte - Tatum Woodroffe

So there you go! Hope that you like them, and we can't wait to see the layouts that you come up with from Kim's sketch! When you have finished your layout you can share them with us by emailing them to sketchesoz@yahoo.com.au at the end of the fortnight Kim will choose her favourite for a prize which includes a seat at one of Kim's online classes (thanks again Kim :) )!

Layout's need to be sent in by 12 Midnight EST 14th May, before we upload sketch 2 on the 15th! Happy Scrapping!

Thankyou Thankyou

2007-04-30T20:08:00.000+10:00

Are you all excited, waiting with bated breath to see the sketch and gorgeous layouts that have come from it? I know we can't wait to share them with you!

We want say a huge thankyou to all of you talented ladies who have spent the time putting together your entries for our DT search, each and every one of the layouts are totally awesome!

I also need to say a big thankyou to our DT member Danielle Quarmby who has done a fantastic job with the blog layout and banner, I totally love it!

See you again in a few hours :) !

Just a Reminder

2007-04-28T00:03:00.000+10:00

You have until Midnight WST Monday 30th to get you DT entries in! The entries have been fabulous and I can tell you that it is going to be very hard to pick a winner.

Then, as entries close our very first sketch is going to be uploaded and you are going to LOVE it, I know that we have all enjoyed working with it and have some fantastic layouts to share!

Have a great weekend, hope that you get some scrapping time in!

Introducing Our Digital Design Team Member!

2007-04-22T15:33:00.000+10:00

How are your design team entries going? They are starting to pile into my inbox and I can tell you that judging this is going to be tough! I think our guest artists will have a tough job judging the fortnightly prizes too, there are so many talented scrappers out there! Don't forget that we are looking for one paper and one digital design team member, entries close 12 midnight WST Monday 30th April, for more details see here.

As I am sure you have gathered from our design team search Sketches Oz will be featuring digital as well as paper scrappers so I'd like to introduce you to our digital design team member-

Courtney Ferguson

Courtney is 37.5 years old, married to Mark and has two son's (her handsome twosome) Tim and Jacob. She works part time in an office close to home and in school hours for which she feels very fortunate. Courtney loves the ladies she has met through scrapbooking over the years and she says that ‘you can't meet anyone better than scrapbookers’.

Courtney tried lots of different crafts in the early 90's but when she started scrapbooking she knew that she was hooked for life. Courtney has been a digital scrapbooker since April 2005, she stumbled across a Photoshop disc on ebay, ordered it and it then arrived with no instructions so she just played and played until she worked it out. ‘I am still learning’ she says.

Courtney’s digital work has been published in Scrapbooking Memories, For Keeps, Scrapbook Creations and Creating Keepsakes. She won the Adobe 2006 Scrappy Awards for the section titled "Holiday" and was on a digital design team last year for an overseas digital designer. She was also asked by her son's school to do the graduation year book for 2006.

Courtney was a paper scrapper for 8 years prior to becoming a digital scrapper, she says ‘I love digital scrapbooking and I think my style tends to emulate a paper scrapper more than being overly graphic. I think my style is also ever changing, I don't tend to have similar pages as each one I create I want it to be unique. I love digital scrapbooking and find it really relaxes me and gives me purpose in life as I am creating memories to be remembered and art to be enjoyed. My goals lately have been to journal more and use those not so nice photo's - as there are plenty of those.’

Sketches Oz - Design Team Search

2007-04-15T22:17:00.000+10:00

So, here it is, the design team search! We are looking for 2 more design team members to add to our team. We are looking for 1 scrapper who is predominately a paper scrapper and 1 who mostly does digi! We really want to cater to digi scrappers too and we will have digi scrappers included in our guest artist line up!

As a design team member you will get to work with the sketches of many Australian Scrap Artists with your work being regularly published on the Sketches Oz Blog. Your design team commitment will be up to 2 layouts each month.

To be considered for the design team we want you to provide us with 3 layouts, 2 will come from the sketches below and the 3rd from your own sketch. I want to say a big thankyou to talented Australian Sketch Artist Cath at Little Book of Sketches for allowing us to use a couple of her sketches.

Once you are done email your 3 layouts, together with your sketch to woodroffesofisa@aapt.net.au with Sketches Oz - Design Team Search in the subject line! You are welcome to submit your layouts in either a 12 x 12 or 11 x 8.5, whichever is your preferred size and we are happy to accept applications from Kiwi Scrappers!

Good luck & we can't wait to see the work because there are so many talented Australian scrappers out there that I know this is going to be very hard to judge!

Entries close midnight WST 30th April 2007.

Out of the Dark, Into the Light - Introducing the Sketches Oz Design Team

2007-04-15T13:02:00.000+10:00

So, without further ado, I would like to welcome the very talented Sketches Oz blog design team! Stay tuned in the next 24 hours, paper and digi scrappers alike, for your chance become part of this fabulous team.

Sarah Mulder

Sarah is 32 years old, partner of 10 years to her best friend James. They have two children Rebekah, 6 and Harrison, 3. She works part time in a baby shop and loves all the inspiration that she get from working there. Sarah is also an ambassador for Fiskars Australia.

Sarah has been into craft for as long as she can remember, stitching, candle making, card making and stamping. It wasn't until she was pregnant with Rebekah that she ran into scrapbooking through creative memories. She became addicted - hook, line and sinker - and has not looked back. Not long after finding scrapbooking she told James that they had to build a house just so to get HER scrap room.

Sarah’s family and friends are the main subjects of her pages. She loves to record the little things, the milestones, the everyday. Through scrapbooking she has made many life long friends that just GET it. She says ‘they understand me taking the camera everywhere, taking photos through dinner at a restaurant, running after my kids at a playground arms flapping in the air just to get the perfect shot. The circle of friends i now have through scrapbooking i am eternally grateful for’.

Sarah likes to try anything and everything. She inks everything and loves patterned papers and, like many, they are her addiction. Her favorite manufacturers are Heidi Swapp, SEI, Heidi Grace Design and a little bit of Basic Grey thrown in. She is addicted to sketches.
Sarah says ‘I am excited by this opportunity and i hope that through this blog we inspire you to scrapbook your everyday and lifetime moments....’

Deirdre Heath

Dee has 2 gorgeous children Aodhan, 2 and Ciara who has just turned 1. She is married to Glenn and lives west of Melbourne. She is a full time Mum, but also a nurse and does some casual work in a endoscopy centre.

Dee has been scrapping for about 2 years now, and feels that she has been very lucky with where her love of the craft has taken her. She has been published in two of the Australian magazines, and also has also had a few pages picked up for publication in the US. This year she made it into the top 50 of the Making Memories Idol competition, an achievement she is very proud of. She is on the design team at Scrap 'N Crazy and has recently started up the Aussie Scrapjacked blog, which is proving to be a lot of fun.

Dee loves working from a sketches, although she finds that the end result turns out completely different.

Danielle Quarmby

Danielle is a 26-year-old mum of 2. Daughter Sienna, age 3, and son Ash who is just over 1 1/2. She has been married to Ben, who is a computer programmer, for 8 years.

Danielle works part time as a website production assistant and is also self-employed casually as a photographer (babies, children, couples, families) as well as being a stay-at-home-most-of-the-time mum!

Danielle has been into photography since she was 12 and painting since she was 13. She started scrapbooking at 22 when she was pregnant with Sienna. Her sister Kelly had started and Danielle thought that it would be nice to share the hobby with her and it has since evolved into a passion and an art for her and a business for her sister.

Danielle is on the design team at 'Kiti Q Fresh and Funky scrapbooking' and has been published in For Keeps, Scrapbook Creations (SC) and Scrapbooking Memories (SM). She has some articles coming up in SC that she is really excited to be seeing in print!

Danielle has rarely used sketches in the past and is looking forward to taking up the Sketches Oz challenge and putting her creative and interpretive skills to the test.

Kathie Link

Kathie is wife to Phil and Mama to Jamie. A few years back she was a hard working, stressed out Human Resources Manager and had been working for ten years in a big company where it seemed that she spent more and more of her time managing staff terminations, performance problems and investigating "issues" - lots of not-so-fun stuff. She was in need of some light relief, had just gotten married and decided to give scrapbooking a try. After all, she had a wedding album to make! So marked the start of her little hobby.

Since then Kathie has gone on to have the majority of her pages published in scrapping magazines, has been invited to work on fantastic design teams, and has met a bunch of lively and creative women who she now calls friends. She has also had a seachange - at first she went back to her original career as an occupational health and safety adviser, but more recently she became a full-time mum, her favourite career to date. She is due to go back to work two days a week in May.

Kathie is glad that I discovered scrapbooking before she became a mother as she loves capturing the everyday. ‘You know, those little moments that I'd forget about otherwise. I steer away from "milestone" pages. I guess they'll get done later. But at the moment those aren't the things that are important to me, my topics are far more mundane.’

Kathie’s style tends towards vintage but really, for her, the look of each page is inspired by the photos and the story. The one thing that is consistent across her pages is journaling - she always has a story to capture. Kathie rarely uses sketches and when she does, you'd usually never know by the end, as her layouts end up completely different to when she started.

Tammy Templeton

Tammy is 37 and lives in Morphett Vale, SA, with husband Jason and 3 kids, Dwayne 15, Talissa 5 & Conner 2, who are the main subjects of her layouts. Everyone that knows her, knows that she is addicted to pink.

Tammy is a self confessed "craft-a-holic" and has dabbled into everything crafty since she was about 13. She have boxes full of "stuff" that she now finds quite come in handy with scrapbooking, which is now her main hobby. She has been scrapbooking for about 5 years and is self taught, never having had any lessons. She is very excited with how her scrapbooking has developed over the last 12 months, and feels that she has finally discovered "her style". She describes her style as 'cartoonish/eclectic, I love doodling and mixing it up'. Her favourite products are chipboard, ribbons and flowers and she likes to scrap in a variety of sizes, including 8.5 X 11, 8 X 8 and has just started with 9 X 9.

Tammy enjoys all aspects of scrapbooking whether it is chatting online with friends, sharing, trying out new ideas with photography or online shopping and is soon to be published in For Keeps and Scrapbooking Memories.

Mardi Winen

Mardi is married to her big sweetie Ian (for over 20 years now) and has three teenagers; two boys Brent, 18 and Mitch, 16 and her gorgeous girl Briony 13. They live in the Riverland region of SA and love to camp and take the boat out on the River.

Mardi is a fulltime Paramedic which means her days are varied some days are exciting and others she’d rather forget. She finds that scrapbooking is her release tool, her de-stresser. She is also lucky to have the advantage of shift work giving her day time, child free scrap time.
Although she has always been into craft she is relatively new to Scrapbooking, beginning about 2 1/2 years ago. Mardi couldnt believe that this whole new world was out there and was instantly hooked. If she’s not scrapping she is annoying the kids with my camera, pouring through magazines or glued to the internet.

Mardi has been published many times in the various magazines including commissioned layouts as well as some Design team and Guest Design Team spots. She is grateful for all of the opportunities scrapbooking has given her and particularly grateful for the wonderful friends she has made online.

Mardi loves to use colour and a mix of patterned papers, she usually stitches and loves both quirkiness and ‘white space’. Mardi finds that her style continually evolves and is always looking to try different ideas.

Lately Mardi has been scrapping the everyday things more often, using more than one photo to a page and also using those 'not so hot' photos. She also loves to journal sometimes its hidden, but it is always there, because every layout needs to be a story told.

Tatum Woodroffe

I am Tatum Woodroffe, mum to Charlotte (10/8/02); Lillian (26/1/04) and Sebastian (4/12/06). My husband is Steven, married on 16/12/2000.

We have been living in Mount Isa, Queensland since December 1999 and are originally from Adelaide, we are both mining engineers and I am a Senior Mining Engineer for Xstrata copper in that professional side of my life. I have been scrapbooking in earnest since mid 2005 when I was really inspired by Emily Falconbridge’s work in Scrapbooking Creations. Although my work looks nothing like Emily’s I love the philosophy behind her work which to me is creating art and documenting both family and self. Most of my layouts feature my kiddies but I do try and scrap myself, my husband and our friends too.

My style is still developing and I don’t expect it will ever rest in a single area because I love to challenge myself and try new things. I love colour…I am not someone who has a favourite colour, I love them all (except purple)…and it features strongly in my LO’s. I never feel that my LO’s are finished until I have journalled something!

I started this blog because I love to work with sketches, I use them often as a starting point for my layouts, although like the others my layouts usually end up quite different to the original sketch. I thought that it would be a great way to provide inspiration to others and showcase Australian talent, whilst having a bit of fun. I would love for it to become a resource that people come back to for inspiration, ideas and a bit of fun!

What a day!

2007-04-12T23:09:00.000+10:00

So...what more can I tell you now? The first sketch & LO is done and the design team have the sketch in their hot little hands to weave there magic on! You'll have to wait until May 1st to find out who our guest artist is but I can tell you that you will love her LO and her sketch! I love all of her work and I am sure that you do too!

To kickstart this little place of inspiration we would love to find another member to add to our design team. Watch out for a couple of sketches that will be uploaded in the next couple of days. We are asking you to complete a layout from each of these sketches and submit them for our consideration. From the entries we will be choosing a design team member to join us here at the Sketches Oz blog....and I can tell you that we have some fabulous scrap artists lined up to work with!

Something New Is Coming!

2007-04-12T11:38:00.000+10:00

We all love sketches! They are a great starting point for overcoming scrapper's block or for just getting started on a Layout! Starting on 1st May the Sketches Oz Blog will be bringing you fortnightly sketches from Aussie girls and providing you with inspiration from our Aussie design team!

There will be prizes, there will be challenges and there will be lots of fun! Keep checking back through April as we bring you more little tastes of what is coming!

Can't wait for the fun to start!