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.

 

(Removed for publication)

 

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.
 

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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!

 

Butterfly Tag

Oops, I forgot the schedule my post for April's Unstampabelles challenge! :( Challenge #22 is Anything but a Card (remember no stamps though). I thought it would be cheating if I just created another scrapbooking LO so I tried my hand at creating a tag instead. Both the base and the butterfly are from Scrapmatts.

 

 

Our Sponsor this month is Sticker Store:

This store was created to make it easier to track down the stickers needed for your craft projects. Sticker Store is a sister company of Blue Edge Crafts . Blue Edge Crafts have been supplying all sorts of paper craft products to the public including card making and scrapbooking accessories at very affordable prices since 2000.

When we select our products we make sure that they are of the best quality because we want to you be happy with every purchase you make.

They are offering this wonderful prize pack

 

 

Scrapmatts has also re-started their monthly challenges and for April all you need to do is design a tag using Scrapmatts chipboard. $20 gift voucher is available to the winner!

ATCs - Kookaburra and Country Stroll

I have had this Kookaburra ATC painted for quite some time now but never got around to matting it on card and trimming it to size. I really like the detail and shading on this one.

 

 

Country Stroll was just a quick landscape, a bit more on the abstract side than I normally work but I figured I was out of practice so wouldn't get the same level of detail as I used to.