While we're talking about journaling...

Here are some examples of beautiful journals...

My favourite journal is leather-bound and hand-made. It smells like leather, it feels like real paper and has texture, it's embossed, it looks... simply beautiful.

Mine is from Salamanca Market, Hobart Tasmania, chosen for me by hubbie. (Travellers can read more about Salamanca Market here.)

There are lots of places to buy them online, however. For example...

Etsy is a great place for hand-made journals... (images are all linked)

...like this one by Julie Boyles...

And there are many other fabulous sites...

Taj Mahal, perhaps?

Or one of many Celtic designs...

And a little more exotic in the choice of leather...

This one's kangaroo leather!

inscription...

The Family Journal, a modern take on the Family Bible!

Snakeskin journals... check out the Barramundi skin journals too!

and the classic "Little Black Book"

Not into leather journals? Here are some other suggestions...


From CafePress.co.uk

This is the Tree of Life Journal... they have lots of others!

For the artist...

Watercolour print journals from Bookseed...

Handmade paper...

For travellers, perhaps...

Travellers-Tales.co.uk

And for nature lovers...

So there you go, a few lovely journals to lust after! Just in case, from time to time, longhand journalling beckons!

Enjoy,
Kylie

Stuck for journaling ideas?

Sometimes I find that I'm lacking inspiration for a new layout. I can't find just the right photo or kit to work with, or I have a great photo but don't quite know what to put with it.

Do you have the same problem at times? Fear not, there are many wonderful creative sites which are there to help!

I thought today I'd profile a few sites which have lots of journaling ideas and layout prompts, and I'll look at some of the commercial products in a future post.

• Friday Letters - This is a lovely blog which asks a question of the week, and tells a short story to accompany it. Bev, the writer, encourages you to write the answer as a letter to a child, a friend, or even yourself. Some might like to add to their letter with photographs. For example, this week's question asks: Do you believe we are always given what we need?
•  Creativity Portal is an awesome site with an Imagination Prompt Generator (can you accept yourself as you are? Why did you...?), seasonal and holiday prompts (eg for Spring: When winter ends and spring begins, do you really notice the transformation of life happening all around you? What do you notice the most?), photo prompts including adventure,  daily photo prompts, and others.
• Daydreaming on Paper - Random questions for inspiration, such as "list 10 things that simply bore you to tears" and "what is the worst thing you have ever done to your hair?" (warning - site's popups are a bit slow)
• Abundance Blog at Marelisa Online - Another list of lots of journaling prompts, including ideas for lists to create, confessions, quotes, "3 things".
• How about journal prompts for the fearless? for giving thanks? for getting inspired? for tickling your funny bone? You'll find these and many others at Writing Forward.
• At JournalingPrompts.com, click on a star, any star, for a journaling prompt. Similarly, at CreativeWritingPrompts.com, click on a number for a prompt.
• Creative Writing Now - What would be the guest list at your dream party? What would the various guests talk about? And lots of other questions.
• Illustrated Watercolour Journals might provide some inspiration for jotting down daily happenings... in either digital scrapping or painting.
• The Journal is journaling software which includes prompts. There's also a list of some prompts here. There are some articles too, such as a baby journal,  "do I already know the answer to this?", and gratitude journals.
• Pixylin's Journal Prompts has a staggering 728 prompts in one list, ranging from #1 What is your interpretation of one of your recent dreams? through to #728 Which do you prefer, inside or outside? Why?
• You can create a Nature Journal following the information Donna provides on her site.
• And if you like the ideas of drawing as part of journalling, you can also work on your own drawing journal at Squidoo with some fabulous drawing prompts.

There you go! There must be a couple of thousand ideas here! Hopefully one or another of these sites will help pull you through those uninspired days.

Kylie

Coming soon: pugnacious pirates!

Keep an eye out for my add-on to Pretty Pirates: Pugnacious Pirates, setting sail for my blog soon!

Pugnacious: eager or quick to argue, quarrel or fight; combative... as suitable a term for pirates as any, methinks!

Pugnacious Pirates will blend beautifully with Pretty Pirates and offer some sea blue papers and boy elements, as well as some additional elements suitable for all.

I hope you had the chance to celebrate International Speak Like a Pirate day on Sunday. My boys were away visiting grandparents, so I think we'll have to have a belated celebration, arrr!

Ahoy, me hearties! A freebie approaches - Pretty Pirates! Arrrr!

As promised, here's my new freebie kit, Pretty Pirates, designed for the August DSO Colour Challenge. Lots of talented designers are offering kits using these colours through the forum (scroll down to the next post) so pick up a few as they'll all mix and match!

September 19 marks International Talk Like a Pirate Day... just enough time to put together some props and costumes and get snapping! I couldn't resist using these gorgeous colours for a girly pirate theme...

(shadows just for the preview)

There are a few extra elements and another paper which have sneaked into the kit too!

And for those wondering about the blue in the map, or looking for a boy pirate kit, have no fear, a boy kit won't be too far away!

Download Here

Enjoy ye scrappin', me hearties!

Love,
the Dread Pirate Bonney

DSO Colour Challenge kit coming soon...

DSO has a fabulous set of colours for their August challenge. I'll have a minikit for you soon, and keep an eye out for minikits contributed by other wonderful designers and scrappers.

Here's the palette:

There's an awesome prize (as usual) if you want to whip up something quickly, too!
Here's a link to the forum: http://www.digiscrapobsession.net/pals/showthread.php?t=1542

Enjoy,
Kylie

Layout to share

Some of my favourite kits are by designer Magical Reality. I've had Fairies of the Flower Field I and II, and Tales of Fantasia, for a little while... but this is the first layout I've come up with that I just love! (Fairy wings are by Karen's Scraps & Graphics)

Inspiration was from the Scrappity-Doo-Dah forum - Need a Dare challenge.

Kelly-Jo's Fabulous New Kit

Kelly-Jo has a gorgeous new kit out, Snips'n'Snails... just perfect for all those little-boy photos! (And of course, for lots of other photos too!)

Here are the previews.

You can snag Kelly-Jo's kit at www.angelbabyscraps.com/store/ for the introductory price of just $2 - bargain!

You can see lots of inspiration from her creative team on her website - and Kelly-Jo has a freebie for you, as well. Grab it at her website, www.k-josscraps.blogspot.com.

Here's my page:

Kylie

DSO Colour Challenge for July

Here's my DSO Colour Challenge paper pack for July... download here.

Greetings from... STS Blog Train! Welcome to Tassie!

Wow, it's July already and time for another awesome freebie blog train. This month, STS has come up with "Greetings from..."   Since we're located all over the world, you'll see quite a few destinations!

My kit is "Greetings from Tassie"... Tasmania, that is. Tasmania is the beautiful island state of Australia... last stop before Antarctica!  Land of Tasmanian Devils (think Taz from Looney Tunes cartoons), apples, and a couple of centuries ago, home to many of England's transported convicts.

It's also a fabulous place to visit and I've included a couple of links to tourism sites... just in case you're in need of a holiday destination!

Here's the preview:

Papers

Elements

I've also created 7 matching worn papers. As it's a large file, I'll also create a version at 200 ppi and put it up soon.

Worn Papers - 300 dpi

Here are your list of stations in the Blog Train. All kits will be free for at least two weeks (mine will stay free). As we're in different time zones, if a kit isn't up yet, bookmark the page and come back later.


Becky(SAHM)
Designs by Christi
Jellebelleke's
Let Me Scrapbook!
Christin's Creations
Super Scrappin' Mom
Samantha Scraps
Where The Heart Is
MDK SCRAPS
Shel Belle Scraps
Saphira's Scrapdesign
Scrappin' Serenity
Grandmas Templates
Jensen Motley Crew Designs
Circle Of Life Scraps
Tricia's Treasures
JeNaSis DeSiGn
The Scrappy Kat
JIC Creations
Seahorse Dreaming - You are here!
Flower Scraps
Rainamoon Scraps
Luna Rosa's Scraps
Milly Dee Designs
A Fish Design

Coming soon...

Isn't it amazing we're almost halfway through the year already? I'm not sure where all the time is going, but I do know what I'll be doing on the 1st of July - Blog Train day!!

Lots of forums host a blog train early in the month and Stuff to Scrap (STS) is no exception. For July we have a BT called "Greetings from...". I'm really excited about this as there are gorgeous colours and some amazing freebie kits are already in the line-up.

My kit is "Greetings from Tasmania"... here's a sneaky peek:

I'll be busy looking at all the blog trains on 1 July - how about you?

Kylie

More awesome wordart from Luna Rosa!

For those Doctor Who fans out there, you won't want to miss the awesome wordart Luna Rosa has for us this week. Here's the preview, and you can grab the WA here.

Don't mess with the chef!

Here's a gorgeous kit for those who enjoy both cooking and scrapbooking. It's called "My Kitchen" by Joyce de Jonge and Jhyll Quirk, and it's available at Digitals.

Here are my layouts:

Happy scrapping!
Kylie

Birthday Boy kit and freebie!

Here's a gorgeous new kit from Kelly-Jo called Birthday Boy.

And for those of you with daughters, Kelly-Jo has been really busy and she's created Birthday Girl as well!

Kelly-Jo's blog - with details on all her kits, as well as some inspiration by her CT - is here.
You'll find these kits at http://www.angelbabyscraps.com/store/ and http://enchanteddreamsboutique.com/.

But if you have both girls and boys, you might want to check out her fantastic deal of just $3 for both these kits! Only at her new shop at The Designer's Toolbox.

And of course I've made a QP for you from this layout:

Download the QP here.

Other Credit: Template by BTA Designs

Have fun scrapping!
Kylie

Two gorgeous kits

I've just created some layouts with two beautiful kits by Paula Yagisawa, Amazing Amethyst and Fresh Callas, as part of the Digitals CT.

Here are the kit previews:

Amazing Amethyst

My layouts...

Fresh Callas

And my layouts...

(Templates by Alissa (paper strips), bta - at4u and Bella Gypsy Sketchology)

Like the kits? You can pick them up at Digital Scrapbooking Pages, or click here for Amazing Amethyst and here for Fresh Callas.  They're on sale at the moment at 40% off too!

I will be back soon with a freebie or two...

Kylie

Toothy Smile - Girl QP freebie

As promised, here's the toothy smile QP for your young ladies! Thanks to the ladies who commented that they'd like a girl version.


Here's the preview, download here. Enjoy!

Toothy Smile freebie!

Can't believe it's been so long since I posted! Sometimes life gets in the way of good intentions.

Do you have a little person who's lost a tooth? If so, you might like Lliella & Armina's gorgeous kit, Toothy Smile, which you can pick up here. I've had fun playing with the kit this week, and - below the kit preview - you'll find a freebie quick page. Enjoy!

Download here

This is boy-centric - since I have two sons - so if you'd like a girl version, just let me know!

Happy scrapping!
Kylie

Romance kit... just beautiful (and freebie)

Here's a beautiful kit I discovered at ScrappinDigiKreations, Romance by Cay'sCreation Designs.
I fell in love with the gorgeous gazebo and just had to use it in a layout:

While it's a love and romance kit with lots of the elements clearly around that theme, it can be used for other things. I thought it went well with these photos of my Ryan, taken when we visited the tulips at Table Cape, northern Tasmania in late 2007.

Here's the kit preview - it's even on sale if you're quick for just $2.39.

Here's the QP from my tulips page:

Download here.

Kylie