Creations by Tinamarie

I just realise that I have not yet posted a note  about my friend Tina who has now started designing. After braving the rounds of the apprentice competition at Little Dreamer, she was finally selected as one of the new designers. So exciting! You can find her designs here.

Here are a few layouts I have created with Tina's designs:

Credits can be found at my gallery here.

Photo Find

I love looking through photos. This is always the inspiration I need when stuck for ideas for a layout. I found this photo just recently and the colours were not too bad as it had been sitting in a box for years. My favourite prints which had been on display are the ones that are fades and unfortunately in some cases irreparably damaged.

This layout was created from a scanned photo of Myself and Mum. I love this photo. Me with a spade and Mum with one of our Chinese army bags probably containing some rocks we have found. I love fossicking out in the Australian bush. Nothing like the smell of eucalyptus. So distinctly Australian.

Note to Mum: HELP!!! Mum do you remember this holiday? I think this was on our holiday to Bairnsdale where Ross and I met you, Dad and Jetty Boy. All morning I have been trying to think of the name of the wonderful red rocks we found that were full of fossils. My mind is blank..... Help! I'd love to polish the faces of one of my stones.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Change of scene

Life is chaotic at the moment and the more chaotic and unpredictable my everyday life the more I crave peace and simplicity. Translated into real, (digital "real")  life this means that my blog now has a makeover and my recent digital scrapbooking layouts are also simpler and cleaner. If my life ever really became less stressful I'd probably start scrapping like one of those amazing Brazilian scrappers.

Anyway back to my new blog photo which is immediately identifiable if you have ever travelled to this country. It was taken in Myanmar last December. For those who don't know where I am talking about, Myanmar is also known in the west as Burma. But please do not use the name Burma, although this is what our leaders like to use to refer to the country. I think they do this as they believe using the official term Myanmar gives some sort of acknowledgement to the corrupt military regime. This is wrong!

Burma is the name that was given to the country by Britain when they were the rulers and it refers to the largest ethnic group the Burmans. This group however is only one of many ethnic groups so the name effectively disenfranchises everyone else. The people in Myanmar always refer to their country as Myanmar. It may not be perfect but that is the name.

The photo was taken in the backwaters behind Sittwe travelling to Mrau Oo.  The boat trip can take anything from 3 to 7 hours depending on tides but it is no difficulty as the scenery is just wonderful with glimpses into the daily life of the local people. Our boat on the way up had a roof deck with a few deck chairs where we lounged. Here are some more photos.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!