Toot Toot, hop on Board

Yes it's the silly season again and Darlene at the Studio has organised our annual Christmas Blog Train, so hop on board to snag some fabulous Christmas mini kits by the Designers at Digital Scrapbooking Studio.

As we do every year, we have all chosen a Christmas Song or Carol to theme our kit on. Mine this year is Blue Christmas.

It's a sad Christmas song but hey a lot of people are sad at this time of the year too.

Once you have grabbed my Blue Christmas pressie, hop back on board and head over to the next station at DeliScraps by Min for her goodie too.

Here's the blog train timetable of stations. The train departs at 6pm EST December 5th and will terminate at the North Pole on the 12th, Santa sort of needs it back by then LOL

Blue Christmas by Ambowife Designs

DOWNLOAD HERE

Blog Train Timetable of Stations

Ambowife - http://www.ambowife.com/blog <---- You are Here
Deli Scraps - http://deliscraps.blogspot.com/
Angel Hartline Designs - http://angelhartline.com/blog/
Digilicious Designs - http://digilicious.typepad.com/digi_licious_designs/
Nibbles Skribbles - http://www.nibblesskribbles.com
Let Me Scrapbook! - http://letmescrapbook.blogspot.com/
Kimberkatt Scraps - http://kimberkattscraps.wordpress.com/
Booland Designs - http://www.boolanddesigns.com
Darlene - http://darlenedesigns.blogspot.com
LightningBug Creations- http://lightningbugcreationskits.blogspot.com/
eqrAveziur graphic & design - http://www.aveziur.com
SKrapper Digitals - http://www.skrapperdigitals.blogspot.com
Shelly Marie Scraps - http://www.shellymariescraps.blogspot.com
Piggy Scraps Design - http://www.piggyscraps.blogspot.com/
theStudio Blog: http://www.digitalscrapbookingstudio.com/blog/
Twin Mom Scraps - http://twinmomscraps.blogspot.com
2 Girlz Designz - http://2girlzdesigns.blogspot.com
JulieC - http://scrappinhappens.blogspot.com/

Happy Holidays Everyone

hugs

Tracy

Candy Christmas Collab

I don't know about you but I sometimes get tired of just red n green in a christmas kit.

Well 4 of us at the Studio got together to create this fun christmas kit called Candy Christmas.

It was so much fun to collab with Angel Hartline, PiggyScraps Design and Skrapper Digitals on this kit.

It's full of fun elements in fun colors for scrapping those pics of the kids with Santa Claus.

Check it out instore now, psst, our collabs are on sale at the moment so be quick. ;)

This kit has been fully quality checked and holds the Studio Seal of Approval too!















Happy Scrapping :)

hugs

Tracy

It's Voting time at the Studio

Well unless you have been hiding out in a cave somewhere or lost on a deserted island, you must have heard about the annual Birthday Bash going on over at the Studio.

We are having our 3rd annual Next Designer Competition too and it's a freebie fest with so many entrants this year and the competition is outstanding this year.

woo hoo, we have had a fabulous time this week, the polls are open for the Designer Competition voting so pop on over to the forum to cast your vote HERE.you can vote for up to 3 contestants.

You must be a member at the Studio to vote in this poll. While you are there pop on over to the gallery and grab some free minikits from the contestants in the Week 1 Gallery

There are also heaps of other challenges and fun for all to be had, why don't you come on over and check it out today!! You won't be sorry you did LOL

Also the Layout competition is closed for round 1 and we have posted the voting poll HERE.

Here's a sneak peek at the layouts from the contestants jockeying for a position in the Studio Creative Team, you can vote if you are a member at the Studio and in this poll you can vote 5 times :)

Mitsybelle's Kit Autumn's Kiss is just looking fabulous in all these layouts don't you think? I'll post the link to the poll thread as soon as it is up :) here is a small slide show of the layouts created for the contest this week, if you would like to take a closer look at them you can check them out HERE in the Layout Artist Competition Week 1 gallery

So onto other matters, Today is my 41st Birthday, well I am not sure how I feel about being in my 40's rather than just being 40 I am now 40...something, which is kind of feeling like a downhill slide to 50 rofl. But I plan to have a good birthday LOL

Hubby bought me a trainer stand for my bike, which is what I asked for LOL. My butt is getting way too big sitting in this chair lately and the winter layers are thick too. Spring has sprung and it's time to shed those layers, but I want to shed a few before riding my bike in Public. Sounds like he is out there mowing the lawn, so that's nice! :)

NO idea what we will be doing today other than working out how to use the trainer and it's blowing a gale outside so maybe it's an inside day for me :)

Have a great day and see you at the Studio during September :)

hugs

Tracy

BIRTHDAY BASH at the Studio

yes it's nearly that time again, the Studio Birthday Bash is just days away.

Our STUDIO ANNUAL DESIGNER COMPETITION sign up thread closes midnight on 31st August so if you want to get in on this fun competition rush over to the Studio now. We have amazing prizes this year, the winning 3 designers will score a wacom Bamboo Tablet and the top 10 will get an Atomic Cupcake certificate, wow!!

Even if you don't aspire to becoming a digital scrapbooking designer there are already 78 contestants signed up for this contest and so for our Studio Members that means 78 free minikits!!! How cool is that! come on over to the Studio and become a part of our community to grab all these goodies. The contest runs all of September and we have lots going on during our Annual Birthday Bash.

Also mitsybelle Designs and I are running the annual Studio CT LAYOUT COMPETITION, if you'd love to be part of the amazing creative team at the Studio jump to the sign up thread here, we'd love to see what you can create with our kits. And you'll get some lovely kits along the way :)

Okay so I know I have been real quiet when it comes to blogging. I am so busy with life and work and the Studio that I barely have the time anymore but as always I promise to try and be better at it.

I have collaborated with Linda Cumberland and Moon Designs on a fabulous masculine feel kit called Monsieur, you can check it out here. I loved working with these ladies, the designers at the studio are the absolute cream of the crop in my opinion, both as designers and as wonderful women.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Mitchell and Gregg by bcalberti - studio CT member"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Sailing by AJR65 - Studio CT"]Verkeerspark Assen by Renee - Ambowife CT

All Together Now... a New Kit

Well yes it's been a while hasn't it everyone, I'm so sorry I haven't blogged in a while.

I have a new kit to show you all and also some exciting news at the Studio.

Firstly I'll tell you all about the great things happening over at the Studio. WE now have a commercial use store, everything in this store has been quality checked and approved, nothing gets into the CU Store at the Studio unless it has passed our Quality Testing.

Plus it's nearly that time again, September is always buzzing at the studio as it's our Birthday Bash time and you know what that means, the next Designer Competition is nearly here. Come on over to the forum and sign up for this year's designer competition it's soo  much fun you will learn heaps and you will make tons of like minded friends who love to scrap and design. So come on give it a go, you'll never know if you don't try.

Check out the Sign Up thread here

Firstly here is my newest kit "All Together Now"

full of lots of pretty elements and soft textured papers this kit will fill any girly page with delight.

Check out the previews for closer inspection.

Included in this kit are 13 papers and 40 elements including:

bows, flowers, scattered glitter, glittery butterflies, buttons, a clock, beads, a tag created with Moon Design's fabulous tag shapes (thanks Tan) Sting, an envelope, pins, natural extracted elements, frames, stitching, lace, photo corners, all in pretty hues of pinks with a touch of brown.

all elements and papers created at 300 ppi for optimum print quality.

See our commercial use store for matching cu glitter styles, patterns and sheets in one set.

Check it out here in my Studio Store it's 30% off for one week only.

















I plan on doing some clusters to put in the store too as well as of course a freebie or two, so check back soon for those.

Have a great week all

Hugs

Tracy

Been a Bad Blogger

I know, it's been ages since I posted so here I am with all the news about us :)

Firstly the biggest news is my Car died, yes broke down and had total cardiac arrest that not even my Paramedic hubby could revive it!! LOL. But yes, that meant a new set of wheels. Luckily Michael's Dad was here and being a former mechanic and salesman himself he got us a great deal on a second hand Tiida, it's lovely to look at and lovely to drive, perfect for me, small but not too small and well all it needs is Ambowife Numberplates LOL. I blurred out the plates for obvious reasons and I also blurred out the neighbours' house, I'm sure they don't want you looking in their windows hee hee. Okay so here she is... more news after the pics of our new little car...





So what else have we been up to, well Michael has applied to Tassie again but we're not holding our breath. Just waiting to see what happens so we can then get on with life not being in any kind of Limbo. Here's a pic of him relaxing in front of the TV with Shona, who is loving it obviously rofl, can't believe the positions this dog gets herself into and still seems quite comfortable.



As for other stuff, Over at the Studio we are talking a bit about Hybrid and mixing both Digital and Paper scrapping and off the page stuff. Well I didn't know a great deal about this side of Scrapbooking so I went googling and searching on Youtube, well didn't I fall into the quicksand as it were. There is a vertual mountain of videos showing you how to do this stuff. So I did some paper flowers just to see what all the fuss was about and wow I think I am hooked. What's another addiction between friends LOL

Here's some shots of the current work in progress, trying out some shimmer stuff and different techniques

Okay so we don't have a dining room where we are living, this is the front spare bedroom, and where our dining table resides. So it's where hubby makes his books he sells and where I play, if I am not cluttering up the lounge room LOL. Just ask Michael!!  Sorry hun!



This is the top layer of my latest flower, I used some distress inks and some shimmer to give it this look, embossing powder around the edges of the petals, (where it is darker) and then put a fake gem in some transparent glue to highlight the centre, then shaped the petals how I like.



This is the bottom layer and it's the same shape as the top, only I pinched the petals after distressing it and adding some shimmer to it, this one is inked slightly around the edges of the petals.



Not glued together yet but this is what it will look like when it's all finished, what do you think,nice and shiny isn't it!!



Here is a photo of the shimmer on another flower I made and put in my latest digital CU Kit. doesn't it just sparkle so pretty!!?



Okay so this is the latest offerings in my store, I know I know I am not pumping out kits like I used to but I have a lot to do at the Studio behind the scenes and it doesn't always leave a lot of time for playing. Plus I am cleaning during the week.

This is my CU Vintage Paper Flowers set, yes like the ones I just showed you. They are 50% off till the 4th July then full price

As you can imagine they did take a while and some cost to create and then extract so they aren't as cheap as most of my kits but so worth it I think.











Thanks for reading my lengthy post and I hope to see you over at the Studio for some fun in the Chat Room, this Monday 4 or 8 pm est (USA time) For you Aussies that is Tuesday Morning :)

You never know what I may be giving away as a treat for coming along

Hugs and be safe

Tracy

Chinese Whispers chat tonight at 8pm est (USA)

I have a chat every Monday at 8pm est (in the usa time frame that is)

This is what I am giving away this week to all attendees. If you want to come and chat and scrap with us you can log in at the Studio and then head to the chat room in about another half an hour from now to join in.

It's a lot of fun :)

In Other News...

My little green daewoo finally died and we had to get me a new car on the weekend. I picked it up yesterday and it's a dream so far.

We got a Nissan Tiida in gunmetal grey and it's quite a change having power steering and reverse sensors and lots of other gizmos in my car. I am taking a little while to get used to all the features and driving and parking it but I am sure it will all come the more I drive it :)

It did sap a lot of our savings though so Hubby will be working overtime to try and get us back up in our savings. Poor Sweetness!!

But he does have a super happy and grateful wife :)

Okay off to get ready for my chat

Have a great week all

Hugs

Tracy

Happy Mother's Day

Well it was a very quiet one for me, I spent the day doing some paperwork for the Studio and catching up in the forum. Then I cleaned the house (exciting eh) and made some chocolate Bundt Cakes, that actually turned out, fabulous. We'll have one each for desert tonight and then I will send the rest to work with Michael. Too much Chocolate Temptation is a bad thing for me rofl. Christopher did ring at around 2pm so I had a lovely chat to him and I spoke to my Mum at about 9am to wish her a happy day. So all is quiet here in our household but content :)

I hope everyone else had a lovely Mother's Day too.

We had a great NSD at the Studio with a scrap-a-thon, I was up at 4am to take part and I managed to get a heap of layouts done, well for me it is a heap LOL.

2 pm chat with Piggyscraps

3pm chat with Amber of RubyLane Designs

4pm chat with Michelle of shelly Marie Scraps

5pm chat with ME

6pm chat with Jeanette of mITSYBELLE Designs

7pm chat with Janice of JWDigiscraps

And I love all the pages I made Yay!!

I have been playing around with my blog as you might have guessed. I downloaded a free wp layout after struggling to edit one I had bought. I am finding the free ones are more user friendly if you want to make it look more your own style with custom header and background. I guess you can't have everything, sigh.

Well that's me for now, not a lot of stuff to talk about of late, Michael has an interview with Tas Ambulance so crossing some fingers that we get a good result there, if not we will finally be able to make a move to settle properly in Sydney for good.

That's that for now, take care and Happy Scrapping

Hugs

Tracy

Anzac Day 2010

Yesterday was our 6th Wedding Anniversary.



It was a quiet day, Michael had worked the night before so slept most of  it and in the evening we ended up not going out for dinner even, he looked just way too tired for an outing. So we had bacon, eggs and chips for dinner LOL. Not real romantic but quite yummy.

Happy Anniversary My Sweetness.  Can't believe it's already been 6 years, where do the years go?

I made the Card I gave Michael with some pics from the ceremony on our big day

This is the Photoshop file

And Here is the created card

My photo was a bit dark as it is quite miserable here today so I had to lighten it, that's the only reason the color of the paper isn't quite right.

I may have to visit my friend "The Gamut warning tool" with the paper I used  :)

_______________________________________

It's ANZAC day here in Australia, this is our Memorial Day for those who have defended our country in Action. Most of you will know my father was an Army Warrant Officer and I am very proud of all he did while he was in the British and Australian Defence Forces.

As I do each year since I created this mini for the SAS Next SAS-y Lady Designer Competition, here is the remembrance kit I created. It's more Americana than Australian but I am sure a lot of American Scrappers could put it to good use :)

Download 1

Download 2

Here's a few pages I did with pics of my Dad using this kit, they are from a few years ago. When I made the kit

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend :)

Hugs

Tracy