October/November Creative Creatures news

Welcome to the October/November edition of the Creative Creatures newsletter.   I can’t believe how quickly time flies at this time of year! I’ve learnt you can’t beat time, so you may as well have fun with it.   

And that’s just what I’ve been doing.  With longer days and warmer weather, I’ve come out of hibernation a bit and started playing with the horses again.  We also had a Creative Creatures stall at our local Art & Craft Markets and the local Government ‘Dogs Day Out’. Both were great days, particularly because dogs on leads are allowed and there were hundreds clearly enjoying the day out as much as their owners.    

Unfortunately the warm weather makes my baby Mieka suffer an annoying itch (she’s a 10yo long-haired shepherd).  We’ve tried nearly everything – as those with itchy dogs do – but to no avail.  Shaving was suggested as one way to manage the itching, so shave her we did!  We uncovered a few things. Firstly, she’s not as fat as we thought (it was all hair!) and secondly, a whole new lease of life!  I really should have done it sooner – she’s still super active for her age, but she’s so happy and back to bounding around with the energy of a 4mth old puppy!        

Anyway, as we said last month, we’d love to hear from you and feature your pet scrapbook creations and photos on the site and in the newsletter.  Send your contributions, feedback, suggestions or requests to admin@creativecreatures.com.au .  

We’ve combined the October & November news this month, as a way of bringing news forward to the beginning of the month. Next newsletter will be early December, and will showcase some fun new products.

Until then, take care and happy (pet) scrapping!
Alison & Ida

News, Specials and other stuff

A few thoughts occurred to us while scrapbooking this month, so we thought we’d put together our own ‘Top 5 Scrapbooking Tips’ but we surprised ourselves and made it to 6!  Being a self-confessed ‘not so creative scrapbooker’, these tips are about the emotion and enjoyment of scrapbooking, not the techniques. So here goes:

Our top 6 tips:

1. Scrapbook something you love.  You’ll most enjoy scrapbooking when you’re handling your favourite photos, souvenirs and memories, so start with them.  Sort through the box that stores all your photos and choose those that jump out at you…don’t try to tackle every picture in date order or you’ll go mad!!  Do “what you want”, not “what you should”. 

2. Please yourself.  This is something I had to come to terms with – I’m not competing with anyone, so my scrapbook layouts only have to please me. There are plenty of super-talented scrapbookers who produce beautiful works of art (open any scrapbook magazine or book to see these!), but my album is for my eyes only…or for people I choose to share it with.  So don’t feel pressure to be better, fancier or more creative.   Be you and please you.

3. Try new things.  This might sound contradictory to #2, but getting out of your comfort zone can bring some interesting and exciting results.  We’re all prone to doing ‘what works’ but it means we can get stuck into habits like never using patterned paper, always matting photos or steering clear of stripes.  You might surprise yourself by trying new tricks with your layouts. Just don’t stick anything down before you’re really happy!

4. Take ideas from everything!  Getting ideas is the subject of many creative articles, blogs and books, and it is definitely easier for some people than others. Keep your eyes and mind open, and you’ll start finding inspiration everywhere you go. Of course scrapbook magazines and books are great, but look at advertisements and posters (designers are paid to create catchy layouts!), listen to sounds and music, read books, poems and quotes; observe nature – gardens, people, animals, the sky; learn about different cultures and even consider historical events.  Your imagination and emotion will help you to expand on an idea.  Most of my ideas come from sayings or quotes, hence our ‘quote of the month’ section! 

5. Take your time. We’re all really busy nowadays, so we tend to set aside time to scrapbook…unfortunately, you may not be your most creative or inspired self at your set time! The key is to do something with your idea when you have it – no matter how small.  Write the idea down, sketch a layout, note a good colour combination, play with your pictures etc.  It might mean you take a week or two (or more sometimes!) of small efforts but I think you’ll be pleased with the results when you’re finished.

6. Do a scrapbooking class. If there’s a shop or evening college near you, a class will show you some really easy ways to improve your layouts plus give you valuable tips, effects and shortcuts.  And there’s the added benefit of meeting people with a similar interest!

November Special!

10% off all orders submitted between now and Nov 30 for subscribers to our newsletter.  Use code ONN08SUB on checkout.

New and Featured Products

This section will feature new and exciting products as they come into the store, and some of our current products you might not have found yet.   We previously only had a few horsey papers, so we have ordered in several ‘new’ paper designs for those of you with horses, or with photos of horses!   Hope you enjoy!  We have some cat and dog products on their way for the December newsletter.

Quote of the month

“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog.  

 You are his life, his love, his leader.  

 He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart.  

 You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.”

This unattributed quote is quite a tear-jerker when teamed with a beautiful photo.   I’d been considering it in a layout for a while, and was prompted by a recent situation with Mieka to get it finished.    It was a lovely Spring day and I was planting trees with Mike (as she’s also known!) when I spied a little over a metre away, what I first thought was my shovel in the grass.  My brain worked this over:  ’But I don’t have a shovel with a ribbed handle’.  A split second later, I realised it was actually a large brown snake checking us out. Instinctively Mike raced in, getting between me and the snake.  My adrenaline shot through the roof as I faced the prospect of Mike being bitten. It ended well however…I removed her from the situation and after a lengthy mexican-type stand off with me, the snake lost interest and headed away across the paddock. However corny it sounds, I really can’t put into words how important Mieka is to me, and this event really bought home to me that it’s mutual. The words defender and devotion ring very true.

I tried to do Mieka justice in a layout with this quote (with minor modifications due to gender). I hope you like it…it’s shown in Creature Features below with a couple of others I’ve recently worked on.

Creature Features

Creature Features is where we display scrapbooking layouts and favourite animal pics.  We’d love to feature your layouts, so send us your photos via admin@creativecreatures.com.au .

We have three layouts again this month.

Layout #1:  We’ve used the quote of the month in this layout of Mieka, using Dog Paws paper from Creative Imaginations, a large tag and some matching ribbon (from Lincraft!).

She will be yours...

Layout #2:  Buster the Clydesdale, and his friend Bob the percheron teamed up for a bit of fun one day recently.  The paper is ’Stallion’ from the Moxxie Buckaroo collection (it’s double sided too!) and the cute embellishments are the ScrapFX chipboard HorseShUs.   Buster and Bob – horse power!

Buster and Bob - horse power!

 

Layout #3:     This layout is of our little Jack Russell ‘Jill’ (aka ‘Jilly Bean’). Jill loves our truck more than life itself and if it’s going anywhere, heaven help us if she’s not in it!  She won’t talk to Cory for days if he doesn’t take her with him.  We used Creative Creatures ‘Animal Squares’ paper, and experimented with tearing the contrasting paper for effect.    

Truck Dog

A bit about us…

 Ida, joint owner of Creative Creatures with daughter Alison, is a mother of three and grandma of two, and er, a wife of one.  You can guess where her scrapbooking started…only two short years ago, with the birth of Jess, grandchild #1.  The interest really took over, and now there’s even an ex-bedroom filled to the brim with ’scrapbooking stuff’!

 Since she was a little girl, Ida has had a passion for babies of all kinds.  Over the years, she’s cared for dozens of special friends: dogs and cats, 3 rabbits (that turned into 23), tropical fish & axolotls, and rats and mice. Then she allowed her daughters’ to indulge in the horse ‘fad’ which has so far lasted 20 years. Even though Ida hadn’t had much contact with horses to this point, she jumped in boots and all, having riding lessons, helping on pony club and horse trials committees, and driving daughters 1,000’s of km’s in pursuit of their dreams (on a teachers salary!). What a great mum!  

 And now, she’s jumped in to help daughter Alison with a little adventure that brings together their two shared passions.  She is happy pottering with administration and organisation, so if you come across Ida in your contact with Creative Creatures, you’ll recognise her as the softly spoken, caring & helpful other ‘member of staff’! 

Ida cheerfully supporting at an event, despite horrible weather.