New layout added

Event if you were not be able to make the deadline of Wednesday 6 pm we do like to see your interpretation of the dares. We received an entry for dare #2 from Kathleen Summers and I've added it to the slideshow showcasing all entries we've received. Go on, take a peek and be inspired!

Marieke

Dare 3 - Andrea

Hey everyone - here's my dare for this week. Its all about my husband's dream of building his own boat. You know all those old boats sitting in people's front yards for decades - well i've just become a boat widow. Ok i don't think it will take him as long as that to finish it but he wants to be sailing it this summer - yeah right!
So I went a little bit grungy with this one - i used lots of digi brushes for my background and some cool fonts too. Enjoy and looking forward to seeing all your entries coming in this week - believe me, you'll want to be in to win!

Surfing is for Summertime - Yeah Right!

Not as far as James is concerned anyway. He surfs every minute he can, and competiton is all year round too. He wears a winter weight wetsuit and boots. In these photos he's just got back from a surf and he looks so cold but he just doesn't notice it. It's all part of it I suppose when you love something so much.

Have fun with this Dare and remember there is a prize for this weeks winner from Luise at Blue Bazaar.

Dare 3

I really enjoyed doing this challenge. My children love going to the beach and season has no bearing on the matter at all! Lucky the tide was out this day and they had fun making sandcastles. The beach is just for summer. Yeah Right!

Lesley

Dare 3

Well here is my challenge for the week - Yeah Right! is such a wide open topic - like Faye said the saying has become in grain in our everyday way of life. I just could not pass up the opportunity to scrap about my little girl obsession with soft toys. I am sure all those mums out their can share my frustration with where to put all the soft toys little ones seem to accumulate and I am equally sure other Mums take every opportunity to reduce the number when they can by having the odd one mysteriously disappear - Molly knows everyone one she has, they all have names and it is a national crisis if any disappear. - Enjoy this weeks challenge I am sure you all have something that your automatic response is "YEAH RIGHT!".

Dare 3 and some additional news....

Hi everyone. Well what a fun dare it is this week. Can't wait to see what you all come up with.

And exciting news too......

This week we have a prize sponsored by Luise and her team at Blue Bazaar for the winning entry. Now we're keeping the prize under wraps but lets just say there's some pretty cool scrapping stuff which will help keep you inspired for the next dare or two. Thanks very much for this Blue Bazaar!

So my LO this week is inspired by my imminent labour. The journalling is quite long so I won't put it up here, but I think you'll be able to read it (its what this LO is all about). Let me know if you can't and I'll add it later.

Enjoy the dare ladies!

Trina

Dare No. 3 "Yeah Right!"

The dare this week is "Yeah Right!"

Don't you just love that Tuis Ad? The saying seems to have become part of our culture, meaning that the information is a bit over the top or far fetched. My goal in 2006 is to lose weight. I know there are sceptics out there who when I say that think Yeah Right! after all I've said it many times before but I'm giving it a go and looking at this layout over the next few months might just be the encouragement i need.

Share a link to your layout in an online gallery or email a pic to RANDLGRAY@xtra.co.nz (100kb or less). We will then choose one or two to share with everyone on the blog. The deadline for dare #3 is Wednesday 2 August at 6pm. But please do share any dares you participate in completed after the deadline. We'd love to see what you come up with.

It's sharing time!

We are really encouraged by the participation in our challenges. I'm sure everyone is curious to see how their fellow dare do-ers have interpreted the challenge so we thought it would be a good idea to share the layouts that we have been feasting our eyes on this week. Enjoy!



Marieke

And the chosen layout for Dare Number 2 is Lisa

Congratulations Lisa . Awesome layout. Again a very tough decision. It is a real buzz getting to see what you guys do with the challenge. So cool to see the different styles and interpretations coming through. Remember another dare will be posted tomorrow night. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

DARE No.2

You did WHAT?

yeah well I decided when i was teaching in 1998 to have my hair shaved off in public in the middle of town on a Saturday morning to raise money for kindy!!!
I had a NO.3 !!!.........I was 2 SEXY for my HAIR!!!......LOL
we raised over $2000 for the kindy.
and hey it grew back!!!

Rachel

Dare # 2 - Lianne

'You did WHAT?
I bought a new camera hon!
A little birdie told me
if I had a new camera
I'd take better photos.
I needed it!!'
Played around with the photo a bit in PSE too - hue and contrast.

Looking forward to seeing everyones take on the Dare this week. Very exciting.

Dare 2 "You Did what?"

Wendy Redshaw-Bruhns

I have been meaning to scrap about the weekbix thing for some time - so this Dare was perfect for it. The jounaling reads "I cannot believe a 6 yr old boy can eat six weekbix for breakfast" The scary thing is that when I was doing the layout Riley informed me I had it wrong that once he ate 8. I think it really has more to do with the fact that he is Rugby mad and if it is good enough for the All blacks then it is good enough for him.

Dare #2: Andrea

Despite the pictures, this layout is actually about my husband and all those amusing things husbands do when there's a newborn in the house. Funny how quickly the mothering instinct kicks in, huh? I knew exactly what my midwife meant but my husband took her literally. Journalling reads:

"So honey, when the midwife said to put a nappy under the baby's head, she meant a cloth nappy."

We'd love you all to take the dare too - don't forget to let us know when you've completed your layout. We dare you!

You did WHAT?

Hi fellow darers (cor, is that a word? LOL).

Here is my dare for this week. Marieke and Lesley have already explained the rules. If you're not sure check it out below.....

My dare is all about my chocolate addiction. Yes, I did say addiction. LOL. Its something I've wanted to scrap for ages, but never knew how to. So this was perfect.

I've used a heap of tin foil as a major part of the backing, to tie in with a chocolate bar wrapper. But there is also a dark purple background (hard to see due to scan, but matches the cadbury purple perfectly) which goes around the whole edge.

The journalling reads:

Often I find myself talking to myself…

Myself: You did WHAT?

Self: Yep, ate the whole darn thing.

Myself: Why?

Self: I dunno? It was there.

Myself: Then you did WHAT?

Self: Replaced it so no one would know.

Myself: ARGH!

I’ve battled with my weight for as long as I can remember. It’s in the genes (well that’s what I tell myself). I’ve never liked vegetables and have struggled with cooking. But I was lucky, I loved exercise which allowed me to maintain a ‘normal’ weight. Then I got pregnant, had twins and time vanished. I still ate all that junk, but wasn’t exercising. The weight slowly grew and the inner turmoil began. You know the one where you tell yourself it won’t matter, then half an hour later you’re feeling guilty? Yeah, well this time its going to be different. My goals are different, my ideas are realistic. I know I have to watch my eating, but I also know I need to start exercising and I remember how much I love it. Not long now and those inner demons will be banished. Well, that’s the aim!

Dare #2 You Did What?

The dare this week is 'You did WHAT?'. You can interpret that any way you want. We’d love you to take us up on the dares and share a link to your layout in an online gallery or email a pic to RANDLGRAY@xtra.co.nz (100kb or less). We will then choose one or two to share with everyone on the blog. The deadline for dare #2 is Wednesday July 26 at 6pm. But please do share any dares you participate in completed after the deadline. We'd love to see what you come up with.

My layout is about John's struggle with mental illness. He suffers from bi-polar disorder which greatly affects and disrupts our daily life. We've been going through a rough patch these past months with his depression having a major impact on our relationship. I thought long and hard about making this the topic for this dare but we're pretty open about his illness and I hope to inspire others to also document the ugly side of life (though not necessarily in public like this) because I believe it shapes us into who we are.
The journaling reads: I am so sick of this bi-polar beast ruling not just your life but also mine. How do you justify sleeping for 12-14 hours each night when you are a family man? Where's the balance? Let's just hope that in the future we can see the humour in it, but it's certainly no joke living it now!

Edited to add: the background is done with paint.

Marieke

Dare #2: You did WHAT?

The dare this week is 'You did WHAT?'. It can be interpreted in numurous ways and I am so looking forward to see what everyone comes up with. We’d love you to take us up on the dares and share a link to your layout in an online gallery or email a pic to RANDLGRAY@xtra.co.nz (100kb or less). We will then choose one or two to share with everyone on the blog. The deadline will be the following Wednesdays at 6pm NZ time, that’s not to say you can not still share a link to your layout for others to see after the deadline.

My layout is about my daughter who excitedly told me one day as I was picking her up from kindy that she had let the kindy pet rat sleep in her hood at mat time. I am not a great fan of rats, even pet ones! I tried to keep the horror out of my voice as I asked 'You did what?'.

Lesley

Congratulations Monique

It was fantastic to see everyones interpretations on our first dare. Awesome work everyone. It was a very hard choice to make which one to display on the blog! Congratulations Monique on this fabulous layout.

I'm late I'm late.......

Rachel

so what does this say about my DARE!!!
I'm so totally "VIRGIN ON THE RIDICULOUS" on this one to the point I drive everyone in my family nuts how I'm always LATE!!!...........also to the point that my husband puts the clocks forward by 10 mins in our house just for ME!!!!
I don't know why I'm late I try my hardest to be ready but somehow it just NEVER happens!!!

Hello fellow bloggers and dare doers. I’d like to introduce a team of talented NZ artists who have come together for this great new adventure.
Nic Howard, Wendy Redshaw-Bruhns, Yolande Fenneman, Evana Willis, Marieke Broekman, Lesley Cooper, Andrea Senn, Trina McClune, Sarah-Jane Bunting, Rachel Hosking, Faye Gregory and Lianne Gray.
We are all so excited about it and hope you will share our enthusiasm.

Each Friday we will post a new ‘Dare’ topic/theme along with layouts created by some members of our team. We’d love you to take us up on the dares and share a link to your layout in an online gallery or email a pic to RANDLGRAY@xtra.co.nz (100kb or less). The girls will then choose one or two to share with everyone on the blog. The deadline will be the following Wednesdays at 6pm NZ time, that’s not to say you can not still share a link to your layout for others to see after the deadline.
So throw away your inhibitions, forget about what people think, just go ahead and do it.
WE DARE YOU!!

DARE #1
Virgin on the Ridiculous
(being our 'virgin' dare)

Lianne
Who on earth saves labels. That would be me. What for you ask? For scrapbooking of course. What else!! Now that's Virgin on Ridiculous.
Yes I save any label I think might give me inspiration or I could use somewhere. I especially love the surf labels, they are really cool.

Marieke
It had to happen one day. I'd been intending to enter the world of blogging for so long, just never took the plunge. Until last week. I was a total blog virgin. Imagine my delight, suprise and shock that within 24 hours of starting my blog I had received 11 comments. Virgin on the Ridiculous, seriously! I mean, I was still finding my way within the template (still am actually) for crying out loud. Now that is the power of the internet.
I had fun playing with colouring pencils and felt pens to give my page some colour. A bit different to the conventional don't you think?

Trina
I feel really excited and honoured to be part of this wonderful group of talented women. What a chance to push myself and hopefully inspire others to create beyond the norm. The first dare was just such a challenge. I've had these photos for 1.5 years now and there were so many of them I had no idea what I wanted to do. I mean 495 photos in one day! Ridiculous. LOL! So for the dare I cropped my favourites to 1x1" squares and then put them into an 8x8" file with one large photo as a focus. It meant there were no worries about getting them straight on the LO and I was able to show 49 photos on one page.

Andrea
I know all babies go through this stage of putting things in their mouth but I just found photos of my daughter eating her sock really quite funny in a ridiculous sort of way!

Yolande
An addiction is only a bad one if you don't admitt you have a problem so here's my PUBLIC acceptance of my addiction... MY HOBBY - Scrapbooking and how I can spend HOURS late at night even up till 3am just to finish. I am a scrapper who likes to complete something before moving on to the next project. I am a list maker and need to TICK things off in my head! So this layout represents part of my personality..

Journaling reads...
Scrapbooking is ADDICTIVE... buying scrapbooking supplies is MORE addictive...Making a MESS while creating is to be EXPECTED...Tidying it up again is FRUSTRATING...thinking up new designs is CHALLENGING...finishing layouts is SATISFYING...completing "DT briefs" is REWARDING... late at night, left-brain switches on at 11pm, creative juices flowing, nearing completion, involved in the moment, cannot stop, anticipation building... staying up till 3AM to finish that layout is "VIRG' IN on the RIDICULOUS"...

Faye
I have become obsessed with strip journalling, stickers and buttons to the point where I can't seem to do a layout without them. I decided to see how many stickers I could fit on one layout without it looking too silly, once I got to 100 I just had to add some buttons as well. It was actually quite hard to place the stickers and still keep the right balance and not make the layout look ridiculous, virg'in on it, but not quite.

Lesley
My layout reflects a more obsessive side of my personality which I thought perfectly fitted under the title of 'virgin on the ridiculous'. You gotta laugh at yourself, right! I used the same photo and the photo corners as arrows to reiterate the cycle of checking I get myself into.

Wendy
Argggh! Is all I can say – I decided after 7 years of not working it was time to take the plunge back into it – so I took on my first contract– talk about throw myself into the deep end for the first time back – the contract seems bigger than Mohamed and I’d say even “Virgin on Ridiculous. For those of you wondering it is an Instructional design contract ie. Writing a training program for a new computer system. As a result I just had to record how I felt about it all.