Catching Up ...

The problem with being on more than one CT is that I find myself increasingly busy these days ... hence the lack of blog updating recently.

Naturally, I'm not complaining ... but I'm starting to feel a bit crosseyed at the thought of how many layouts I need to get done this week ... at the moment it stands at a total of three definites, plus at least another half dozen that I need to do before the end of the month. Ooh, such pressure.

Compounded with being incredibly busy at work these last couple of weeks trying to get caught up on everything; and with our big conferencey thing drawing ever closer ... and taking on more responsibility with regards to our stamp business ... I can only conclude that I need a holiday!

So, my recent layouts. Wanna see?

Yeah, of course you do ... so with the addition of the latest news in my digiscrapping circle, here we go!

Let's start with this layout that I made with Kelly-Ann's dizzyingly beautiful Asian Harmony kit, available from 3Scrapateers. Yep, that's right, Kelly-Ann has moved home!

Now, I have to say, I am totally in love with this kit. It has to be one of, if not the most, gorgeous kits I've ever had the privilege of working with. I've always been a sucker for the Japanese look! The patterned papers are so delicious, and there is a good mix of embellishments in the kit too. Hopefully I'll be able to find some more pics to go with the kit, because I would love to use this again and again and again! Kelly-Ann has just released another fabulous new kit, called Purple Haze ... so look out for my layout with that, coming soon!

Over at NDISB, Cindy Simon has also been very busy. Her attention to detail is second to none, and she's designed some fabulous alpha pin sets. I used the Pin Me! Romantic Alpha on this layout of my nephew Roberto. Not only is the alpha cool, but it also includes a free action which basically makes it look like the pin has really pierced through the background - and it's adjustable, so you can make it as big or small as you like! The blue paper and the stitching are from Cindy's Dream By The Fire kit.

Cindy's newest kit is a treat for retro fans (like me!) I love love love the papers in this one! The kit is called Doo Wop, and as usual you'll find it at NDISB. I love the kit, but I'm not sure about those arrows on my layout. I'm still reserving judgement! Maybe I'll change the arrows when I get a change (and maybe not!) In a fit of sneaky efficiency, I'm also using this page as my entry for the February Font Challenge over at DSS - the font is called Sofachrome and as you can see, it's a bit groovy! I have to say, when I first saw this kit, I knew this photo would go great - I think I have scrapped this photo about four times now for different things - it's definitely time to get a fresh supply of old photos from Mum!

Over at DSS, February is turning out to be a busy month, with challenges galore and lots of fun things happening. My CT assignment a couple of weeks ago was for Carole Neale, and I was lucky to get to play with her gorgeous new kit, Candy Girl. This kit is just so ME ... it's like digital meets Basic Grey (but better!) It's kits like this that really make me wish that I had a daughter. Or at least an unending supply of girlie photos. Anyway, who needs girlies when you have a little man that loves pink! I do love taking a kit and using it for something really different - besides which, there are plenty of other colours that work great for boy pages here too. Still on my to-do list is at least one other layout using this kit - it's far too pretty to not keep using ... I sense that I seem to feel like that about a lot of kits these days, but it's true - I am so lucky to be working with such talented designers, not just at DSS, but Cindy and Kelly-Ann too.

A couple of weeks ago I was assigned to Claudia Campbell, and I got to use her brand new kit, Chill. Aren't the colours gorgeous? I also used her Zig Zag Alpha, and I was gobsmacked with the quality - it really does look like embroidery, you can see the ply of the yarn - brilliant! I know I didn't really use that much of the kit for this page (another for my to-do list - another couple of layouts), so please head on over to DSS and check out the preview - it's fresh and funky and will work for so many different themes.

Okay, so this post is starting to look like War and Peace, so I'm going to stop here and continue with another post so I can show you my newest couple of layouts and tell you more about what's going on at DSS!