Christmas Artist Trading Cards - Scrapmatts DT

The second Scrapmatts DT brief was to create a Christmas theme ATC. I love the range of different shaped bases available so I decided to use three different ones and decorate them in a similar style.

 

Pretty quick and easy design:

1/ Cover chipboard and words with gesso and let dry.

2/ Spray red and green dylusions ink from opposite ends, sprinkle with salt to get fluctuations in colour.

3/ Run a gold ink pad around the edges.

4/ Stamp versamark flourish design over background and emboss with clear UTEE.

5/ Heat emboss the amazing reindeer designs in gold.

6/ Adhere film strip and chipboard to bases.

 

The film strip was a bargin item I picked up from Reverse Garbage in Brisbane. I got two 10 meter rolls, one green tinged and one red tinged, for $4 each! So much cheaper than getting the Tim Holtz versions. :)

Scrapmatts chipboard used: ATC10-004, ATC10-008, ATC10-010, CB5050, CB5097.

Snow Season - Scrapmatts DT October

This is the first layout I created at the Noosa Retreat however it is also one of my design team pieces for Scrapmatts so I couldn't share it until my reveal day today. The photos are from my holiday to America in late 2012/early 2013, specifically Boston Common on 30 December 2012. Ben and I were scheduled to drive from Boston to New York that day so it was the ONLY day of the holiday we didn't want snow, in typical fashion a snow emergency was declared the night before and that ended up being the only snowfall we saw all trip. :P

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 The brief for this one was to take something old (chipboard) and make it NEW. I took the old leftover chipboard negative from the snowflake design and turned it into a feature of the layout by painting it with gesso and Gelatos and backing it with gyprock tape. I have also painted up so of the cute snowflakes to run down the left side, used the tree and typewriter letters and used just one half of the 'Seasons Greetings' piece for my title.

The overall technique here was using one I learnt from Georgia Heald's online class. So versatile and a great way to use up the scrap pieces of paper you wouldn't normally use. I was also inspired by the current sketch over at Creative Scrappers #252.

Cherish Forever - RIP Pa

So back on 7 October 2013 I wrote about some issues in real life which had kept me quiet on the blogging front. My grandpa passed away on Tuesday 24 September 2013. He was first diagnosed with prostate cancer back in 2003, treatment was successful and life moved on. However, in 2008 tests showed the cancer had returned and over time, despite multiple treatments, the cancer spread to other parts of his body. In late 2012 it was deemed terminal and it was just a waiting game since then. Towards the end he was in a lot of pain almost constantly so whilst his passing is gut-wrenching there is also a sense of relief.

 

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These photos are two of my favourites from my wedding in 2011. I had held on to them for a special layout and decided they would be perfect for a tribute page. There is no journalling because the pain is still too raw to put into word but I might add some later.

I used the Scrapfriends sketch for October as the inspiration for this layout. The sketch was so fantastic and full of details that I kept to it almost exactly other than to rotate it to the right and remove one of the photos.

Frosted Designs have a fortnightly challenge of kraft, flair and chipboard at the moment, so I'm also entering this LO into their competition.

So Proud - Noosa Retreat Class

Ann ran a series of additional classes at the Noosa Retreat which you could sign up for during the weekend. I only chose to do one extra class but really like the end result. The focus of this class was using different embellishments on your page so this includes metal filigree pieces, press studs, die-cuts, pearls, and irridesent medium.

 

Here are some close ups of all the different hot air balloons we created. Best part of this class was the fact I got to go have a massage during part of it and Ann cut out all the balloons for me! LOL The chipboard letters were part of my lucky door prize, because I forgot to bring ANY of my alpha stickers to the retreat. Certainly added another level of challenge to the weekend. :)

Smile - Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness

I am hosing a Girls Night In to fundraise for the Cancer Council tonight and thought I would do up a pink themed layout to feature on the night. Photos are of my mum when she had to shave her head during her chemotherapy treatment in 2010. Despite undergoing a complete double mastectomy and six months of chemo treatment, she maintained a positive outlook and often had a smile on her face. She remains cancer-free today which is a great result! Unfortunately my paternal grandmother passed away from breast cancer about 20 years ago, early detection and advances in cancer treatment are so important which is why I'm hosting the fundraiser. If anyone is interested in donating, the fundraising page is here:

http://qld.cancercouncilfundraising.org.au/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=647015

 

I used the beautiful Kaisercraft mask and two different coloured inks to create the background. The feathers were my first time using foam stamps from A2Z Scraplets and also the first time I had used some Gelatos I purchased when in Melbourne. I think they will take a bit of getting used to but I'm excited by my initial attempts. I also used a couple of brads from a funky pack I purchased, another Tim Holtz metal tag and a Flourish with a Bling swirl which I coated with gesso to tone down the hot pink colour a bit.

 This layout was inspired by the challenge over at Once Upon A... Sketch. Their journalling challenge was to document "The Journey..." so I chose the start of mum's chemo journey. Nadia created this lovely sketch to work from.

Hens Party - Retreat Class

There is always a class included in the cost of the Noosa Retreat and this year we had the lovely Sue Smyth come to teach us. It was a very intense class with lots of instructions to follow. I have used photos from my hens party back in 2011 which I hadn't gotten around to scrapping yet. We did a burlesque dancing class followed by a life drawing session, hence the costumes and well-muscled gentleman. If anyone is looking for a venue for a hens party around Melbourne I can certainly recommend Hens Love Art in St Kilda. In fact, after checking out their website it looks like they have upgraded their venue since I attended so it would be even better now!

 

 Most of the other ladies at the retreat had never used gesso or templates so this class just blew their mind. LOL I think the layout looks a little bit too busy for my tastes and I'm not really convinced the colours work together but I did learn a couple of new techniques. The colouring technique used on the chipboard gate piece looks amazing and was repeated on a couple of layouts through out the retreat by some of the other participants. We also learned how to make the flowers using die-cuts. There was a lot of painting, misting, scrunching and stamen building involved but they do look pretty incredible.

Peace Love Joy - Rockerfeller Centre Christmas Tree

Here is the second challenge layout from the Noosa Retreat. This one came with a sketch, the green cardstock and the light brown grid paper which had the most beautiful designs on the other side but I just couldn't get them to work for this layout. Does anyone else do that? I've found I have done it a lot recently where I have purchased a paper for the pretty front but ended up scrapping it using the back. LOL

Anyway, photos are from our USA trip at the end of 2012/start of 2013. We went to the Rockerfeller Centre and couldn't resist getting some photos taken with the tree in the background. The rest of the papers and the die-cuts are Kaisercraft's Twig and Berries which I think was a collection from last year. The ornate stars are Scrapmatts and I finally found some of those wood veneer mini stars too so I've sprinkled a small trail.

I rotated the sketch to suit my portrait photos. You can see everyone else's interpretations of the sketch below. You can even see the basic sketch in the second photo.

All the ladies voted for the favourites for this challenge too and I was very surprised to find I came second! Here is a photo of me with the lady who came first, she had very cute photos of a donkey on her layout. I won another Kaisercraft pack so have a lot more scrapping I can do now. :)

Noosaville Retreat 2013

Hello blog reader. It has been a little quite here recently due to some troubles in real life however things are about to get much busier because I have just come back from a retreat in Noosa run by Queensland Scrapbooking Retreats. Long-time readers may recall I participated in this retreat last year and I had such a good time that I just had to go back. I roomed with Chantal again, which was nice, and two of her friends from her home town. I took part in two classes and created seven layouts.

Ann gives everyone goodie bags at the start of the retreat and these contain two challenge packs, amongst other things. The first challenge came with one double-sided piece of greenish paper, one brown cardstock and a raw custom chipboard title for the retreat. You had to use 70% of the supplied material and could add anything you wanted from your stash. Here is the layout I created:

 

If you want to compare it to my layout from last year, you can find that one here. I like the little banner I created. I was in Melbourne last weekend and popped by Paper Squared which claims to be the largest scrapbook store in Australia. While there I picked up some bits and bobs and challenged myself to actually use them on the retreat as I really don't need more things just sitting unused on the shelf. The Tim Holtz metal tags were one I was tossing up on, but I used three this weekend! The tiny pegs are so on trend right now and I found a big pack for $2.

I have used this month's sketch over at Stuck?! for inspiration and just rotated it to suit the photo.

 Here are all the layouts created by everyone at the retreat. Looks like flowers were a pretty popular embellishment. :)

At the end of the retreat everyone voted for their favourite two layouts. I was very happy to have my layout voted in first place! Here I am with the second place winner. I won a great Kaisercraft collection pack.