Suns LO and Mother's Day Present OTP - Scrapmatts DT Reveal

Reveal time for my Scrapmatts DT projects for May. Our first brief was a colour challenge and I chose the lemon/white/red combo. I just couldn't go past doing a LO about my favourite Australia Football League team with those colours. I kept the focus on the photos with a simple LO inspired by this month's sketch at Paper Stories. I'm loving using the flags as arrows on my LOs, they are a great way to draw the eye. 

 

Scrapmatts chipboard used: CB4055 Assorted Words 09; CB5103 Flags 03.

 

The sketch, which I rotated to suit my photos:



 

The second brief was to create an off the page project. If you check out the gallery you will see a lot of the DT has created projects using the beautiful new release Memory Cabinet but I'm saving mine as a treat to completing during my upcoming week of work in June. I decided instread to create a mini-abum for my mum. She will be moving to Indonesia to live for a year while dad works over there and when she was doing the same thing in China she used to complain about not having any photos of her children to show everyone. I thought the mini painters tray would work beautifully as a mini brag book.

 

Here is the cover:

Scrapmatts chipboard use: CB3005 Mini Tray Round 01, CB2020 Vines 01, CB1190 Scrapwords 02, CB1188 Birds 06.

 

Here is the full thing so you can see the pages too. I have kept them pretty simple as I wanted the focus to be on the photos and also wanted to keep the pages flat.

 



 

Don't forget I'm also hosting the monthly challenge over at Scrapmatts this month. I'd love to see what you can create using Scrapmatts products and stamping. It's that easy!

Baptism and sneak peak

I actually did quite a bit of scrapping this weekend, but it's for my Scrapmatts reveal next weekend so all I can show you is this sneak peak:

 

 

Today I was also lucky enough to be invited to the baptism of my friend's baby. Here he is with dad:

 

 

Here is little Harvey with me:

 

 

 A mutual friend had her baby a month after Harvey so I also spent a lot of today playing with little Joshua:

 

 

Hope you had a great weekend (and a good mother's day if relevant) too.

Baptism Easel Card - Unstampabelles May Challenge

The May challenge is up and running over at Unstampabelles and this month it is to create an easel card. I had never created one of these before but there are a number of tutorials available on the net, just google it.

 

My card is created for little Harvey, my friend's son, who is having his baptism next week. Still struggling along with a lack of baby boy supplies so this was what I cobbled together. Tim Holtz embossing folder, Martha Stewart and Stampin' Up! punches, American Crafts thickers, Kaisercraft run-on and pearls. The ribbon and charm were bits I had on my desk.

The prize this month is from our very own Design Team member - Beth from Huggies Crafts. Stampin Up prize pack includes:- a DSP paper pack ‘Be of Good Cheer’; Jewels Basic Pearls; Jewels basic Rhinestones and a pack of Dimensionals.

 

Taxi - May Scrapmatts Challenge

It's my turn to host the monthly Scrapmatts challenge this month. The challenge for May is to combine Scrapmatts chipboard with stamping. Stamping is an easy way to add extra texture to your chipboard pieces. My example LO is from my recent trip to New York however you could also create an ATC or tag or off-the-page project.

 

 

You can see the details here of where I have stamped the flag banners to add a bit more detail. To be eligible, your creation MUST have Scrapmatts on it. The prize will be a $25.00 Scrapmatts gift voucher. Members need to upload their entry into the normal Ning gallery and just call it 'May Challenge' and we will move it into an album.

 

This LO was also created for the Scrapfriends colour challenge, Yummy Scrap #12. The grey/yellow/black combo is very stiking but not one I've done before. I liked the pop of orange.

 

I also used one of their sketches as my inspiration. Working with all the triangles was different but quite fun.

 

 

Tea With Alice and a Tag

I'm actually out and about entertaining my sister who is up visiting for the weekend but thought I would schedule this post with some Scrapmatts DT work that I hadn't shared on the blog yet. This one is a picture of me with the crew from Alice in Wonderland in Central Park, New York. It's quite a popular photo spot, even in the freezing cold we had to wait a while to take our turn. It was nice that everyone was willing to take turns though. 

 

 

Scrapmatts products used: CB6063, CB6043, CB5101. Flourish with a Bling products used: Taylah's Toadstools.

 

 

How cute are these toadstools? I had seen them around before and loved them but was a little bit scared when I saw them in my DT pack because I don't have any girly/fairy photos to scrap. Then I remembered this photo and thought it would be perfect. I have embossed the clock with a mixture of brown and gold powder to re-create the colouring of the statues. You can see I've used the banner chipboard here again though this time it is covered in washi tape rather than patterned paper. I'm not normally a big banner person, but these are the perfect size and so versatile.

 

Scrapmatts is having a challenge this month to design a tag. Any kind of tag you want, it just needs to feature at least one piece of scrapmatts chipboard. I used a Kaisercraft paper range and some bits and pieces I had lying around to create this.

Eros

What is up with all these flowers on my layouts recently?! I'm not normally a big flower person, yet the last three layouts I've done have been covered in them. This LO is a little bit different because it is for my local Kaisercraft outlet store in Robina. They are running a competition where you putchase a kit and need to make a LO using nothing but the materials in the kit. Their new Remember Me range is beautiful so I decided to give it a go.

 

 

The kit came with some rubber stamps so I actually stamped and fussy cut a lot of my flowers. I also used an embossing tool to give them a bit of dimension and curl (a trick I picked up when I did the flower sampler class at their store last year) and then covered the cardstock in a glaze to make it shiny. Flourishes were created from individual pearls and title is from their mini-scrabble letters which I have stamped over as they looked a bit plain raw.

 

I have based this LO on the Kaisercraft Saturday Sketch #3 for April. At least since I used the kit from Kaisercraft I know have used at least 70% of their products on the LO. :)

Scrapmatts DT reveal - Love and Becoming a Mother

One of the things I love most about chipboard is how versatile it is, so I was very excited to see that one of the DT challenges for Scrapmatts this month was to show how you can alter your chipboard. I am quite happy to use my chippie raw but sometimes it's nice to dress it up a bit. Sometimes it can be as easy as cutting up the design so it suits your LO better. I have done that with the layered frame below in that I cut off a third of it, now I can use that part in another LO. I also cut the nested shape around the title because the original shape was too long, so I just trimed out some of the long pieces and re-assembled it.

 

 

Techniques shown in the close up below clockwise from left.

1/ The underframe was painted black and left to dry. The top frame is painted with gesso. Once that is dry splotch/stipple on texture paste randomly over the surface (if the shape is more solid you can really create a lot of texture with this technique but because the chipboard is so delicate I was more restrained). Whilst the texture paste is still well, get a contrasting paint colour and apply this randomly with your finger. Sprinkle beads over the design then press them into the paste, this will also blend in the paint colour. Finally, glue the two chipboard pieces together.

2/ For the heart I painted it purple then ran the inner heart through my embossing machine. Dry brush the shape in a contrasting colour, the depressed areas stay purple. I also covered the nestled shape in washi tape which is a very quick, cheap and easy way to alter chipboard.

3/ I used the word scraplet raw because it was perfect already. The leaf sprays have been cut into three pieces from each stem so I could spread them around my cluster more effectively.

 

 

Scrapmatts used: CB8005 Layered Frame 03, CB1146 Leaf Spray 01, CB1199 Scrap Words 07, CB5018 Nested Shapes 04, CB1070 Hearts 03.

 

This LO was insired by the current challenge over at Once Upon A... Sketch. The theme was 'best day of your life'. I wouldn't say my wedding was the best day of my life, because I would hate to think it's all down hill from here, but it certainly was a fantastic day.

 

 

The other challenge for April was to create a project about mothers. I was initially going to do a LO about my mother but couldn't find a photo I wanted to use. I was then going to do a LO about my mother-in-law but as I was searching through my photos I found this one of my friend with her newborn. It was too perfect to pass up and why shouldn't we celebrate the achievements of friends as well as family in our scrapbooking? 

 

You can see I've used the Scrap Words again, I just love this new release. There are 3 or 4 different styles available in both black and natural. I have also used a frame which I loved but never had a photo which fitted before and some butterflies. The frame I have painted in gesso, then misted in three different colours before applying watered down acrylic paint over the top. The butterfly is apinted with acrylic paint and then has a gloss glaze over the top. While the glaze was still wet I sipped the edges of the wings in glitter to add extra sparkle.

 

 

Scrapmatts used: CB1199 Scrap Words 07, CB6041 Arch Window Frame 04, CB4008 Butterflies 01.

 

This LO was inspired by the fantastic sketch over at ScrapFriends. All those diagonals make it a really different kind of LO but I'm happy with the end result.  I kept the main elements but went on a tangent with the embellishments just because I wanted lots of fussy cut flowers. :)

 

 

Blogoversary - Let's Get Messy Turns 4!

My little blog turns 4 today! Last year I reflected on the progress of my blog for my blogoversary, as I had set some srapbooking goals earlier in the year. This year I figured it made more sense to review the goals at the time of the blogoversary.

 

So to re-cap my scrapbooking goals from 2012:

1. Be in the top 5 at Once Upon a Sketch - I certainly haven't achieved this but I think it's something I will keep on the list. I love the prompts and sketches and I think it really gives me something to aim for.
2. Gain a spot on another design team - I certainly acheived this one! I was invited back for a second term at The Lollipop Ladies and am currently on the design team for both Unstampabelles and Scrapmatts.
3. Promote my blog some more - I think I did achieve this to some extent. I think I also realised that since I'm not aiming to run my blog as a business it doesn't really matter how many followers I get. I'd much prefer a small group of people who actually comment on my work.
4. Host some more crops with my friends - another goal achieved! I have had quite a few scrapbooking days with friends coming over and even though we seem to create less and less each time it is still a lot of fun. :)

In the past year I have had a number of layouts published in various magazines. I have had a couple of layouts win various blog challenges. I think my proudest scrapbooking moment in 2012 would have to be getting selected for the Scrapmatts design team though. I really do love their products, they are such a lovely group of people and I really thought I didn't have a chance when I submitted my application.

 

So, my goals for 2013:

1. Continue to represent Scrapmatts to the best of my abilities. They have asked if I can assist them at Brisbane Scrapbook and Papercraft Expo, just helping customers with purchases and so forth I think but it sounds like an interesting experience.
2. Be in the top 5 at Once Upon a Sketch. I think it's important to have a goal that will stretch you and I can always roll this one over to next year again if I need to. :)
3. Win one of the Kaisercraft Monthly Sketch competitions. I love Kaisercraft products and enjoy working to their sketches. I've entered 15 times so far so I think it's about time I really focused and tried to bring it home.
4. Work on developing more layers and details into my layouts. I have a tendency to simplify designs a lot and think I need to add more detail to take my scrapbooking to the next level.
5. Attend more classes and retreats. The combination of fun and learning is perfect!

To wrap up, I just wanted to compare the progress of my blog in the past year. As at 20 April 2012, my blog stats showed 5736 pageviews, 264 posts and 50 followers. Wow, my stats really took off and now show 26396 pageviews, 382 posts and 95 followers! Thanks so much for contributing to these stats, your encouragement helps keep me motivated.

Don't forget, Google Reader is closing soon. If you want to continue to follow me please consider following my blog with Bloglovin.

Switching to Bloglovin

I'm following the crowd and switching over to Bloglovin.
 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Want a sneak peak of what I've been creating this weekend? You can see the full reveal on the 18th.



First Taste of Apple

I'm working of Design Team stuff this weekend so probably get anything done that I can share but I still have two LO's left over from the product swap with Flourish With a Bling so I thought I would share one of those.

 

 

How cute is this little guy? He is my friend's baby and I'm so excited to be able to start scrapping baby boy pages.

 

Scrapmatts products used: CB5031, CB3003, CB5101. Flourish With a Bling products: Chloe pearl flourish in Olive green, Jasmine laser flourish in orange.

 

This was the first time I took a whole Flourish with a Bling pearl flourish off the backing and was so impressed with the product. It keeps it's shape so well, there was no problems with it sticking to itself or losing the shape half way through application. The laser flourish is also very versatile. This LO is the perfect example of how durable Scrapmatts chipboard is. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do with the frames and tag so they are covered in liquid pearls, acrylic paint and glimmer mist and they still haven't warped or started to fall apart!