Family Fun - Expo Class LO

One of my goals for this year was to take more classes, so it was an easy decision for me to attend the Brisbane Scrapbook and Papercraft Expo this year and complete some classes. I only had one day free though, so trying to pick three classes out of the 30 available was much more difficult. Sometimes I pick classes because I love the look of the finished LO but other times I pick a LO because I want to learn a new technique. This LO was one of those choices.

 

 

I got to play with texture paste, embossing folders and die cuts. While they are all things I have used before I did pick up a couple of new tricks, plus the folders and die cutting plates were included in the class kits so I got to pick up some new supplies as well.

 

I wasn't really 100% with the LO when I got it home, however this weekend I sat down a had a play with it to add a couple more touches to it and I'm happy with the result. You can see in the detail shots I added a metal filigree piece which I trimmed into three pieces. I also stitched around the edge, doodled around the title and added some journalling to the bottom.

Love a Good Lazy Weekend - Once Upon a Sketch LO

Love a good lazy weekend is the title of this LO and what I got to enjoy this weekend! For the past three months I have had the busiest weekend plans in my life and it was starting to wear me down. We were meant to head out for a BBQ with friends this Sunday but unfortunately the host got sick so we had to cancel. It did free up this weekend though, hence why I managed to create two LOs and finish off one from the expo.

 

(Removed for publication)

 

I popped by Spotlight this weekend too and picked up a paper pad of 5th and Frolic by American Crafts. The flowers were just calling out for fussy cutting and it was the perfect way to de-stress. I've worked to build up the layers and finished it all off with a Eloise flourish from Flourish With a Bling.

 

This LO was inspired by the Once Upon A... Sketch challenge for this month. The theme was 'What's your guilty please?' My journalling is on a tag being the photo and talks about how Ben and I will sleep in, relax on the lounge and have breakfast together (hence the photo of the matching tea cups) around 11am when we get a lazy weekend. Here is the sketch:

 

 

It's also pink with spots so fits the criteria for The Lollipop Ladies for this fortnight.

 

 

Lastly, Frosted Designs is also having a polka dot challenge. I've got two sheets of patterned paper with polka dots on it.

Reach for the Stars, Josh - Kaisercraft Saturday Sketch

My local Kaisercraft outlet is running a competition this month using the new Blast Off paper collection. I picked up some supplies at the start of the month but had forgotten I had also bought the collectables until I sat down to create my entry this weekend. The collectables are just so adorable! I had to use them as the main feature on this layout featuring little Joshua, who is the child of my other friend who had a baby a little over a year ago. This is his first appearance in one of my scrapbook pages.

 

 

Once I placed all the different collectables I added some twine to link it all together and then scattered some star-shaped brads, pearls and rhinestones around. The wooden flourish had been painted with perfect pearls to give it a metallic finish. 

 

 

I have used Saturday Sketch June #1 as my inspiration for this LO.

Scrapbooking on a Budget - Scrapmatts June DT

One of our June challenges was to scrapbook a page/card on a budget, so it could only include one sheet of cardstock, two patterned papers and NO store bought embellishments. I found this really valuable, as it reminded me that the focus of scrapbooking is capturing the memory and you don't always need to most expensive or newest materials to do that.

 

 

I ended up only using one sheet of cardstock, ric rac, washi tape, gesso, mists, twine and of course Scrapmatts chipboard. Creating your own backgrounds are all the rage at the moment and they let you match your photos perfecting generally for a fraction of the cost of patterned paper. For my background I have applied gesso over a template and then a mixture of mists over the template again once the gesso dried. I didn't need to use any patterned paper, though I did matt my photo using the running number from the race. If you ever have to scrap on a budget, make sure you save memorabilia from any event you plan on scrapping. I have used maps, free postcards, pressed pennies etc on LO's before instead of patterned paper or embellishments.

 

Here is a close up to showcase the chippie. The nestled stars were perfect accents to this LO and the pre-printed metallic gold finish worked so well with the sparkle of the mists. The banners I primed with gesso then painted with the mists before punching holes through for the twine. The chipboard word is just painted black then edged in white pen to match the alphabet on the banners.
 

Scrapmatts chipboard used: CB5021 Nested Shapes 07; CB5101 Flags 02; CB4055 Assorted Words 09.

Reminder that Google Reader is closing

Hello to all my readers. I just wanted to quickly remind everyone that Google Reader will be closing at the end of the month so if you use that to follow my blog, or the blogs of anyone else, you will need to find a replacement program. I'm not sure how this applies to those of us who use Blogger but I figure it's better to be safe than sorry.

 

Like a lot of people, I have transitioned over to BlogLovin'. It's a similar setup to the Blogger feed, allows me to mark posts as read so I can save some for later when I have more time and it's easy to transition all the bloggs you current follow over.

 

Here is a sample of the set-up:

 

Want to know how to move your Google Reader feed to BlogLovin'? I've got a link for you right here. It is easy as, only took me a couple of minutes to do.

If you're already signed up with BlogLovin' please make sure you still follow my blog, I'd hate to see you go. At the moment I only have 13 people following me on BlogLovin, but 95 via Blogger. If you follow my blog via some other means please let me know what that is too. 

 

 

Fobwatch Scrapmatts LO - Angella Peardon Class

The first class I took at the Brisbane Scrapbook and Papercraft Expo this year was 'A Day to Remember' by Angella Peardon. Angela is the design team co-ordinator at Scrapmatts and does the most amazing designs so this was an easy class to choose. I also really enjoy doing Scrapmatts classes because Sofie makes sure you can complete them in the class time, which is great for me because if I have to take it home and finish it chances are it will sit around for ages. :) All I had to do was add the edge flourishes to the back when I got home as it now extends past 12" x 12".

 

 

This is totally not my normal style but it's always good to get out of your comfort zone and try something new. This was actually the first time I had used a hot glue gun and I ended up purchasing a mini one at the expo afterwards. I also learnt how to make some cool rustic leaves. Now I just need to find somewhere to display this piece.

 

 

Here is a close up of the embellishment clusters, just because I love the look of them. I have an extra piece of the fob watch design so I'll show more details from that when I create my layout.

 

Scrapmatts chipboard used: CB8007 Layered Fob Watch 01; CB4063 Leaf Spray 13; CB1204 Ribbon Banners 01; CB1189 Scrapwords 01; CB1194 Sewing 02.

Brisbane Scrapbook and Papercraft Convention 2013

I went to the Brisbane Scrapbook and Papercraft Convention for the first time this long weekend! For any international readers, this is the only expo in Australia which is solely for scrapbooking and there are a huge amount of classes taught by fantastic tutors on each of the three days. I had avoided it in the past as there are less exhibitors for shopping and I thought $55 for a class was a bit steep. In my true spirit of not doing anything by halves and to fulfil one of my 2013 scrapping goals of attending more classes, I decided this was the year to go. I was also asked to help out at the Scrapmatts stand at the show so I ended up attending for the whole three days!

 

Sofie sent me out a couple of the brand new pieces designed for release at the show to play with and make some samples. I had a lot of fun working with these but it meant I didn't get a chance to create the OTP Memory Cabinent I was sent a couple of months ago. I will get around to that one, once life slows down a bit. Anyway, this beautiful Australian Federation Tray 05 was of the pieces I was sent. I was initially scared to start on this, as it was so pretty even without me doing anything to it. I have ended up with a beautiful piece showcasing a photo from my Aunt's wedding. The roses and typewriter letters are also new releases.

 

 

I just had to share some detail shots because there is quite a bit going on in this piece. You can see the depth of the tray in the photo on the left, as well as the blue roses. They are beautiful pieces and I have backed mine with cardstock, filled them in with microbeads and glitter, coated the whole thing with dimensional magic and them sprinkled a bit more glitter over the top while it was still wet. I was really happy with the way the crackle effect worked on this piece too. It has a brown undercoat with a cream top coat.

 

 

Scrapmatts chipboard used: CB7013 Australian Federarion Tray 05; CB1188 Birds 06; CB1206 Scrap Words 09; CB1202 Roses 02; CB2007 Page Borders 06; CB2020 Vines 01.

 

 

Another new release are these cute owls, available in two different sizes. The head pieces have holes pre-cut so you can thread them with string or twine to hang them. I would advise you to thread them prior to putting the beak facepiece on, as they then become a lot harder to thread (speaking from experience here). If you are planning on hanging them, keep in mind they will spin around so decorate the backs too. I hung mine on a stick from the garden and added some banners, clouds and vine ribbon for a bit of extra detail.

 

As you can see in the close ups, I used patterned paper to cover these owls and then some texture paste on the branches to make them look a bit more realistic. The second detail shot shows the number of layers in the kit.

 

Scrapmatts chipboard used: CB5103 Flags 03; CB5110 Layered Owls 02; CB5109 Layers Owl 1. (Total cost of this chipboard is $13 - perfect for a present for a young child!)

 

 

Sofie and Andrew also create a number of extra owl bodies available at the show with funny saying on them so I whipped up another two owls to wear as badges on Saturday night after getting back from watching the football (Go Suns!). You can see I've used acrylic paint on these ones instead of paper, along with some perfect pearls, glitter and acrylic paint. As cute as the owls are, I spent almost 8 hours on Sunday making them on the demonstrators table so I'm happy to take a break from them now. :)

 

 

Sofie was kind enough to let me have Monday off so I booked in for three classes. It is exhausting doing three classes in the one day, with only 30 minutes break between each one. I still have little touches to add to each LO so I will share the full view once each one is finished (whenever that may happen, I still have a LO from the March expo to finish!).

 

Look - it's me with an exhibitor badge!!! It was such a delight to attend the expo and the Scrapmatts team is filled with amazing people. I had such a fun time working with them and taking Angela's class. We also all went out for dinner on the Sunday night and had a great game of Simon Says after the show. I would totally recommend the experience to anyone if they get the opportunity.

 

Alice in Wonderland Altered Tea Pot

You can't have an Alice in Wonderland themed high tea party without a special tea pot. I decided that I wanted to create an altered tea so picked up a cute little one for $3 from an op shop. There are some amazing altered tea pots on the internet for inspiration and I chose to go with a red/white/black theme to tie in with my Queens of Hearts outfit.

 

 

This is what it looked like before I started. The handle on the lid was particularly hard to use, so I modifed that by sticking a Scrapmatts chipboard clock over the top and then placing a large button on top of that to create a new handle.

 

 

Here are some detail shots to get a 360 degree view. Couple of different Scrapmatts pieces of chipboard used including the clock, keys, leaves and Scrapword. Washi tape has been placed over the handle and spout (matching that up was a pain!). Lots of bring with the flourish and on top. I adhered my flowers using foam dots but I think it would have been a lot more secure if I access to a heat gun.

Chipboard used: CB6063 Clocks 09, CB1199 Scrapwords 07, CB1153 Leaf Spray 08, CB1017 Keys 01.

 

Lastly, here is a quick shot of the playing card guards I also decorated the table with. I used a template I found here.  I think they look adorable and were really easy to make.

Alice in Wonderland High Tea for 29th Birthday and The Color Run.

I took some time away from scrapbooking memories to go create some new ones this weekend and had such a ball doing it. On Saturday I had my 29th birthday party at RACV Royal Pines Panorma Lounge with an Alice in Wonderland themed high tea. I love high tea's and the one at Royal Pines is very reasonably priced.

 

 

You can see a couple of my friends got into the costume theme, including my lovely husband down the end who came as the white rabbit (fluffy tail included). My costume was such a drama. I originally purchased a queen of hearts dress online but upon arrival I found it was too small and VERY short. I ended up wearing the skirt part, teaming it with a corset I already had and purchasing a jacket which I hope to be able to wear to work after this. The sequin hearts were originally on the top of the dress so I unstitched them and put thme on safety pins to form badges which I placed on the collar. It's finished with some high white socks and red shoes. It ended up looking pretty anime but still pretty cool.

 

No party is complete without some decorations. I went with six of these cute little card guards, plus some chocolates and bottles for all the guests. We had the bottles left over from our wedding two years ago so thought it was time to use them up. I also created a feature tea pot but I'll share that tomorrow to keep the total photos in this post down.

 

 

On Sunday we had The Swisse Color Run on the Gold Coast. It was originally scheduled for April but was rained out then. I was a bit nervous about running the 5km this time as I hadn't been able to keep up my training for the last two months due to working in the city but I needed have worried as it was a very easy course and we walked/danced quite a bit of it.

 

Here is my team, The Runbows, at the start of the day.

 

 

Aaron and Nadia and starting to get a bit colourful during the run:

 

 

In the finish festival and Nadia had pelted me with her purple powder:

 

 

Here we are right at the end, having been in the finish festival for quite a while. As you can see, it was a whole heap of fun and a scrapbookers dream with all these colourful photos. :)

Embrace Card - Unstampabelles DT June

This month's challenge over at Unstampabelles has just gone live! It's an interesting one this month, in that you need to case (or scraplift) one of the Design Team's creations from the past 9 months.

 

 

I went with a card which allowed me to use up some of my paper scraps and a Scrapmatts chipboard butterfly. I was inspired by Merry's creation for our November monochrome theme.

 

 

You can check out all my previous DT work here in case you want to be inspired them. :)

 

Our sponsor is the fantastic Cardmaking Online with a $25.00 gift voucher. :-)

http://www.cardmakingonline.com.au

 

 

I'm also entering this into this fortnights challenge over at the Lollipop Ladies which is inspired by bug lollipops.