Happy Australia Day! January 26

Pickleberrypop is proud to be Australian-owned and run, and we would like to wish all our Australian customers and members a wonderful celebration on January 26! But at PBP, we love nothing more than to welcome scrappers from all over the world, and we love the fact that our community and team members hail from so many different countries. So just because you aren't Australian doesn't mean you can't celebrate with us, we welcome you all to take part in our festivities, and enjoy a little bit of scrapping and a whole lot of fun!

Special Guest Scrapper - Froggy!

It has been a pleasure to have Froggy (Jan) join us for the last couple of weeks on our Guest Creative Team. Not only is she an amazingly talented scrapper, not only is she an Aussie, but she has had the team in hysterics with her smilie-posting shenanigans! We interviewed Froggy to find out a bit more about her:

So...why Froggy? Well…I don’t actually have green skin and bulgy eyes…. and bugs do not tempt my taste buds at all….. sorry to disappoint anyone… hehehe

Right from a little kid when I used to collect tadpoles and keep them in jars I have always been interested in frogs and their place in the environment.  I belong to the ‘Frog Watch’ Environmental Group – we’re involved with monitoring and conserving frog life in our local area as well as projects like frog friendly gardening, pond-building, plant selection and habitat protection.

Needless to say I also have an enormous collection of inanimate  ‘froggy things’ as well – the house and garden are positively a hoppin’ with them…..even including such zany things like frog light switches, stained glass window panels and a froggy toilet seat cover…hehehe  If it’s anything froggy then you can bet someone will probably have given it to me….. lol

Where are you from? I’m an Aussie - I live near the coast in country Victoria – along the Great Ocean Road. We are also on the edge of the Otway State Forest so we are surrounded by the most wonderful and varied natural environment.

How long have you been scrapbooking? I started off with paper scrapbooking about 5 years ago (yes…I was a paste eater…lol) and even took classes for the little kids at the school where I teach. I found out about digital scrapbooking in 2007 and from then on I was totally hooked!! I still love creating the occasional hybrid project but usually just for special occasions.

Who features mainly in your scrapbook pages? My pages feature mostly family members ( I come from a very large family), my friends and their families and all our wonderful animal companions…(of which we seem to have an ever increasing number and variety…latest addition a half naked goose…lol) I also use wildlife photo’s in many of my pages.  I do have quite a few personal pages – but they don’t get put in the online galleries…people would have to bribe me with a truckload of chocolate to see those……hehehee

Could you describe your scrapping style? Oh heck…if I could only work that out I’d be happy…. it seems to change more often than the weather.   I particularly enjoy extractions and creating scenes with my pages – digital allows me the freedom to be more creative in this way.  I also love to try new things – I hop around the galleries looking for ‘different’ types of pages and techniques to try.  But I will admit to having a real fear of frames…yep…I’m frame-a-phobic!! When I looked back on my completed pages I noticed that I very rarely ever used them so I’ve been trying to overcome this lately  – I found sedation with chocolate before starting really helps…lol

How do your layouts usually come together? My pages usually start out from either a particular photo I want to use, an idea or topic I want to explore or a technique to try.  Sometimes the photo will lend itself to a particular type of LO just by the composition or expression. I find too that the backgrounds on some photo’s are distractive and can sometimes limit their use for particular types of pages or the effects I am after - so that’s why I do a lot of extraction work.  Sometimes too my pages are created to feature a particular kit – usually for my CT work. For these pages I come up with the general idea for the page first and then try to find a photo that would suit. I come up with the most ‘hair brained’ ideas at times and just love the challenge of trying to make them work. This doesn’t always work out - you would get such a laugh from some of the ‘blooper’ pages I started working on…… (sorry….not enough chocolate in the world to see those….lol)

What do you gain personally from scrapbooking? Apart from preserving wonderful memories I also find scrapbooking gives me a creative outlet for my ideas and for my love of computer work. After a busy day at school it is also a great way to relax and let my imagination run free…I think we all need time like that. Through scrapbooking I have made some wonderful friendships and have been able to create things that will be treasured not only for my own family but for others as well.

Do you have a scrapbooking goal for 2009? I sure do….oodles of them in fact!! 

Firstly I want to complete Project 365 – a photo a day and journal for it.  I have started well......I hope it continues….lol

I also want to finish a wedding album for a member of my family. I started it last year but didn’t finish...…bad, bad Froggy!!   I want to publish this in book form.

When I was making calendars for Christmas gifts last year (eeek…...is it a new year already…) I asked my sister if she would scan some of the old vintage family photo’s she had, as I didn’t have any  – I now have ‘millions’ of these wonderful old photo’s to use.  I want to make special Family History books with these.

Do you think digital scrapbooking is already quite popular in Australia, or have we not even scratched the surface?
I think it is gradually becoming more popular as it is showcased more and featured in some of the more traditional scrapbooking magazines.  But I really think we have only just started on this journey here in Australia – we need to promote it more through publications and perhaps even by offering courses through local adult education programs within the community. I’m sure that there is a huge percentage of the population who have never even heard of digital scrapbooking. As computers are now so much more accessible it is a form of creative art that I’m sure would be attractive to a wide range of people.  We need to spread the word…..

Do you print your scrapbook pages? I print many of my pages here at home – but only 8x8. I put these into regular albums. Some I make into books or get printed elsewhere but the costs are a bit prohibitive to do them all.

Some of Froggy's favourite layouts:
Click on images for full size and credits

In This Issue :
Happy Australia Day!
Special Guest Scrapper - Froggy!
Challenges! Challenges!
Being Australian...
Layout of the week
Australia Day Sales!

Challenges! Challenges!
We are kicking the Feb challenges off early, as well as throwing an extra challenge at you, especially for Australia Day!

Use this kit to scrap what makes you proud to be from your country, compliments of Dawn Inskip Designs.

The Creative Team Pickleheads were asked to come up with a special challenge to kick off on Australia Day, and they didn't disappoint! Ever tried a blind scraplift? If not, now is your chance! BONUS! $20, $10, and $5 gift certificates to the PBP shop are up for grabs!

Our fabulous guest scrapper Froggy challenges you to scraplift her! Choose this one or that one, or a combination of both, and be inspired by this talented scrapper!

Get out the camera and show us how you celebrate Australia Day, or show us some nationalistic fever of your own, for Amanda's special Australia Day edition Photography Challenge!

Come and play in our latest Avatar and Signature challenges! All Aussie-themed this month of course!

Here is one of our team member's signatures (amandac), showing off her best Aussie slang:

Some boofhead bloke from out back of Bourke chucked a U-e flat chat in his work ute right in front of the pub this arvo! ‘Course I did my block and yelled out “ya bloody mug, didya get ya license in a weetbix packet?”

Being Australian...

...is about driving in a German car to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer, and then travelling home, grabbing an Indian curry or a Turkish kebab on the way, to sit on Swedish furniture and watch American shows on a Japanese TV.

But seriously...being Australian is the street where I live, where my neighbours say "G'day" in ten different accents. It's the sound of rain on a tin roof and the freshness of laundry just unpegged from the clothes line in the back yard.

That unmistakeable, irresistable smell of next door's barbecue in the air, possums thundering across the rooftops in the middle of the night and waking far too early to the musical call of a family of magpies looking for food. The sad brownness of a region in drought.

Being Australian is not having to worry about going broke if you get sick. It's about knowing someone will always give a mate a hand. Roast lamb on Sundays and complaining there's nothing on TV except football in winter and cricket in summer.

You won't hear us brag too much about being Australian... but we are quietly proud of our special corner of the world. And when we're away from home... and someone asks us where we're from (or worse - asks if we're BRITISH) there's a feisty spark of pure patriotism in our eyes as we answer

"I'M AUSTRALIAN"

Sourced from this website and partly edited.

Layout of the week!

Australia Day being the start of a new week, how could we go past this fantastic layout, created by our guest scrapper, Froggy!

Froggy wanted to share what Australia looks like from her backyard. She lives on the edge of the Otway State Forest and close to the coast and is surrounded by the most beautiful bush and ocean scenery - her own little slice of heaven. She also has the most wonderful wildlife - except when those jolly kookaburra's get to cackling away!

Australia Day Sales! Grab a bargain!