Friday, July 24, 2009

Hyden in October

Some exciting news!


I have just confirmed that I will be attending the Scrappin' Outback retreat in Hyden 16th-18th October. Karen is madly in organising mode for this very exciting event as it will be the celebration of 5 years in business for Scrappin' Outback - awesome achievement! I always love this retreat and catching up with friends that I have made over the last couple of years, not to mention the fantastic classes that continue to raise the bar each time, from fabulous tutors like Lis Cassey, Alli Paterson and Gayle Smith. Seriously you will not want to miss this one!!!!!!!!!!!!


But I have some even more exciting plans. More you say? Yes more!


I have had some enquiries about doing photoshoots in Hyden and surrounding towns so I will be extending my stay both before and after the retreat to do just that. So, if you are interested in having a family or portrait shoot done then please contact me to discuss and reserve a time and place. I'm happy to come to you (I will be basing myself in Hyden) and can photograph your family in their environment where they are the most relaxed. Or if you decide on a different location then that's fine too. I will be putting together a special package just for these bookings and you can email me on sharonmanningdesign@bigpond.com for this information or any queries you may have.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Heaven on earth

This morning I was heading out the door early and the light in the valley was amazing - The sun wasn't far away from peeking over the horizon but there was a blue/purple light to the sky and with the fog in the valley it made for a beautiful sight.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Blast from the past!

During my big clean up last week I came across some of my Mini Handbag Album Kits......a blast from the past!

Some of you may remember this original design from classes and retreats that I have taught at in the past. Well I have seven kits here still with their price tag of A$25.00 but if you would like one then I will let them go at just $15.00 (plus postage). Everything is in the kit to assemble the album along with full colour instructions and if you get stuck just drop me an email and I will help you out.
This kit will not be repeated so once it's gone it's gone.
If you would like to purchase one please drop me an email at sharonmanningdesign@bigpond.com and I will post it out to you.
Sharon xo

Monday, July 20, 2009

Cassey Family Sneak Peeks & Weekend

Last Thursday I had so much fun photographing Lis and her gorgeous family - well some of them anyway. You can check out some of the photos on Lis' blog but I thought I would share a few of the boys here before I move on to editing all 93 photos I have chosen from the 400 plus that I took. We had a great time together and I haven't laughed that hard for a long time! They were such a joy to "watch" through the lens especially when Lis and her sister had a laughing fit.

and something I'm loving right now...........storyboards!

We spent last weekend in Mandurah as Gemma competed in a Dance Competition on Saturday night. Her Acro Troupe placed second - a fantastic effort from all involved. Being the last night of the comp it was Gala night and it proved to be very entertaining with Mature and Motivated sections with ladies and gents hamming it up for the audience - very funny! There was also a "Production" section which we hadn't come across before so that was also great to watch with huge numbers of performers all on stage at the same time - A wonderful evening!

I'm hoping to get some creating done this week, just for me, so with any luck I will be back with a project to share and of course more edited photos from Lis' photoshoot.

Have a great week everyone!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Clean Cupboard = Clean Mind?

Hi everyone - I'm back in the land of the living again!

The last month or so has been rather full on with Dental surgery (which I didn't recover from as well as I had wanted to), but boy is that Happy Gas good stuff - took all my anxiety away immediately......left me wanting more! and I have had an album commission to complete and when I'm working on one of these it totally consumes me and every waking hour until it's done. Hence my absence of blogging! Come to think of it, my family is kind of happy to have me back too.

Yesterday I spent the day shopping with my girls, Gemma has been very patient about spending her birthday money and Renae had some things she wanted to get too. A very enjoyable day though. I even managed to try on some clothes but couldn't decide what to spend my money on - something I haven't had to deal with before - too much choice now I'm a few kilos lighter.

Today was spent cleaning out the wardrobe in my studio /office. It has taken me all day and although I'm tired I'm very happy with the amount of "stuff" I sorted through and purged. I thought I would share some before and afters with you.



Everything has just been shove back into this cupboard and the door closed - out of sight, out of mind.
So this morning it was my mission to empty everything out of here and purge purge purge. And purge I did. Look doesn't it appear alot tidier!



These drawers were purchased at Target in Joondalup yesterday they had 20% off so it was meant to be! They are really very good quality and I have stored all Judy's supplies (for commissioned albums) in here because I like to keep them separate to my own. Except the bottom one holds all my camera equipment - safe and sound. I think I need another 12x12 paper one like the top one in the photo for a few other bits and pieces that I currently have stored in pizza boxes.

The very top of the cupboard is now cleaned out entirely and re-organised.


I went through all my Bazzill with a little help from Gemma too - beatifully sorted into the colours of the rainbow, or have I got the pinks in the wrong spot?

I can't tell you how many times I dropped my old cotton box (the ones with the little sticky up bits for the spools to slip over) last week - reels of cotton everywhere, so this was on my priority list of to do's today. Changed the box over to this one with a secure lid that snaps down - no more cottons all over the floor! Hopefully.

Whilst I was sorting through some "stuff" I re-discovered 2 sewing boxes, one that belonged to Steve's Mum and one to his Aunty Pam who gave it to me just recently. The boxes were identical and the contents almost the same - they saved everything, like old zips and buttons from clothes, every little scrap of lace, trims and fabrics. Sifting through them reminded me of how frugal they were/are re-using and recycling almost everything and here I was chucking it all out! Anyway I digress, I found this vintage (1975 that's considered vintage isn't it?) Soft Doll pattern book.....so for the next 1/2 hour I sat and read through it with a cuppa. The patterns are so cute and could easily be bought into current fashion with just a few "now" fabrics.
I've also been participating in Jessica Sprague's Photo Editing: Frame-Ups & Special Effects course and here are my first 3 lessons.



So I'm off to finish dinner and hopefully I will be back with some more "Purging" very soon.