Christmas Tags - Scrapmatts DT

Christmas is the perfect time for sharing handmade gifts with your family and friends. I love being able to whip up some quick tags to go with our presents and the best thing if they can be either really simple or quite arty.

 

 

I started with a very simple Santa Suit tag for my Secret Santa present at work. The buckle and words have a coat of gold embossing powder heat set over them for some bling. Scrapmatts: CB3007 Tags 03; CB1231 Buckles & Belts 01; CB6098 Words 27.

 

I also used the ATC bases to create some arty gift tags with a mix of lace, texture paste, microbeads and mists. Scrapmatts used: ATC10-010 Bracket 01; CB1094 Reindeer 02; CB6083 Bows 01; CB1104 Holly 01.

 

 

So Messy

Harrison is a very good eater. We introduced solids at around 6.5 months and he took to them like a duck to water. Because we are following a baby-led weaning approach, he eats the same food we do and feeds himself. I've tried introducing cutlery but he prefers to use his hands. This has resulted in some spectacular messes but he always seems to enjoy the process.

 

(removed for publication)

 

I took my inspiration from the photos and decided to go with a bit of a messy layout myself. I sprayed mist through a stencil for the black crosses, then used a coloured texture paste through another stencil for the green blocks. There are two kinds of washi tape, some lace, some chipboard, some rhinestones and some thread making up the background. I couldn't resist the scatters of buttons and sequins over the top of it all.

 

This layout was also created for the current challenge over at Scrap The Boys - Where's the Food? I've followed this blog for a while now but this is the first time I've actually put an entry in.

 

Season's Greetings Box Scene - Scrapmatts DT

I decided to try something a bit different for my second Scrapmatts DT project. My friend sent me a link to a video tutorial here and I decided to modify it to a Christmas scene.

 

 

I have created this from an old cereal box. You can see some of the depth in the box in these detail shots. I have used CB6082 Christmas Trees 04, CB1105 Santa with Reindeers 01, CB1106 Trees 04, CB1096 Reindeers 05 and CB1058 Words 11 Season's Greetings.

 

 

And here is what it looks like all folded up:

 

Sleepy Elf - Scrapmatts DT

I snapped this photo of my brother back in 2012, taking a quick nap after our Christmas breakfast to prepare for a big day of celebrating ahead. LOL He doesn't know I've scrapped it but hopefully he wont mind. :)

 

 

I have struggled to paint the star bursts in these ornaments every time I use them but this time I think I nailed it. I painted them with a pin head rather than paintbrush. :)

Scrapmatts chipboard used: CB1215 Scrap Words 17, CB1183 Christmas Ornaments 10, CB1212 Scrap Words 14 and CB1096 Reindeers 05.

 

I based this layout on the November Kaisercraft sketch. Pretty much besides the Scrapmatts chipboard, everything else is by Kaisercraft. I have used the Mistletoe paper range and stickers, two texture stamps, pearls, decorative tape and mini-alphas.

 

Sydney Harbour 2012

So I'm actually sticking this up after closing time but I didn't see the sketch until last night and I didn't realise entries closed two day before the end of the month. Silly me, I should really check these things first. I found the sketch over at Stuck Sketches last night and thought it was so amazing I put aside my half-done layout and started this one instead! :) It was a good excuse to scrap some older photos from our trip to Sydney and remember life pre-baby.

 

 

It's amazing what a difference a little bit of misting and paint splashes in the background can make to the finished product. I've used Cocoa Vanilla Studio papers and flair for this layout.

 

Here is the sketch I loved so much:

 

1st Swim - Scrapmatts DT

We recently took Harry for his first swim for this spring/summer and it reminded me of his first ever swim last year. He wasn't 100% sure about it then as he was only 4 months old but he LOVED it this time around. I can see lots of swim sessions with dad coming up this summer.

 

 

Scrapmatts used: As soon as I saw this bubble chipboard (CB5131 Bubbles 01) I knew I wanted to use it on a swimming photo of my son. I firstly used the chipboard as a mask with some spray, then embossed the chipboard in white before adding pearl accents. The title is from a mixture of letters in the CB1206 Scrap Words 09 pack, don't feel you need to stick to the expected phrases. The tag comes from the CB1218 Scrap Words 19 pack.

 

 

This layout was created for the Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge. The challenge was to start a layout and have it finished in exactly one hour or less - yes - exactly one hour or less from start to finish. I just snuck it in at 55 minutes including drying time!

Cherish the Simple Things in Life - Scrapmatts DT

I recently cleaned my craft room and discovered I have an abundance of kraft cardstock so thought I better put it to use. Kraft is fantastic to pair with chipboard, as it gives a really earthy/natural look if you leave the chipboard raw or can provide great colour contrast if you paint the chipboard.

 

(removed for publishing consideration)

 

Scrapmatts used: I have painted the 'Cherish' piece (CB1134 Assorted Words 01) to match the rest of the title (CB6103 Scrap Words 21), which is only available in black. The feathers (CB5116 Feathers 01) look stunning with nothing more done to them, mine were cut out of the white mist chipboard.

 

I created this layout for the Kraft Plus challenge. My feathers are obvious, I used a twig from the garden and wrapped some twine around it.

 

Our First Christmas

This was one of those layouts that fought me the whole way through. Firstly the papers just didn't seem to match, which was odd because they are all from the same collection. Then my sewing machine decided to eat the paper not once but twice. I stuffed-up ruling the border so that's uneven. I eventually reached a point where I was just done with the layout, rather than actually finished it, which is disappointing, because I really like the photo, the papers and the chipboard all individually. If you have any suggestions to make it work I'm all ears.

 

 

Words or Whatever is an Australian chipboard manufacturer who occasionally runs a really cool competition where you send them a stamped self-addressed envelope and they send you back some free chipboard. Everyone gets the same chipboard and you have that month to create a layout with it. I played along last time they did it and enjoyed myself so sent along my envelope again this time and was so happy to get Christmas chipboard back! They sent the stars all in the one piece as a dangly thing which I thought was adorable but it didn't do with my layout so I chopped up my stars. All the chippie just got a coat of embossing powder.

 

I used a sketch from Stuck?! Sketches (yes, they are my go-to sketch site) for this layout. I rotated it clockwise and I'm not sure if that is where my troubles started in not being 100% happy with my layout. I'll ponder it some more I think.

 

1st Day at Daycare

Harrison has his first day at daycare last month and I couldn't let the moment go without a photo to scrapbook later. His personalised backpack was a birthday present from his Aunt Kirby and Uncle Leeham. I was more nervous than Harry on the day, he was happy to have new toys and people to play with! He is certainly a social little boy.

 

 

This month's challenge over at Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge is all about beginnings so I knew this photo would be perfect for it. Papers are by Kaisercraft and hexagon chipboard scatter is from Scrapmatts.

The Best Gift Ever - Scrapmatts DT

I was going through my collection of pre-printed photos (which currently occupies TWO shoe-boxes, why do I keep printing more?) and came across this series of Christmas photos I took of Harrison last year. The DIY photoshoot was so much fun and I really liked the results but for some reason I haven't scrapped them yet. I couldn't resist this little face though. :)

 

 

This is my second Scrapmatts DT layout for this month. I loved the plain string circles Andrew and Sofie released a while ago but recently they made them even better by adding stars, dots and arrows to the circles. I've used the stars version here (CB5138 String Circles 02) embossed in gold, along with CB1097 Floral Spray 01, CB1212 Scrap Words 14 and CB6097 Assorted Words 19.

 

 

Kaisercraft has a Christmas-themed mood board as their September challenge, so the photo worked perfectly for this challenge. The layout has to be 80% Kaisercraft products so basically anything that isn't Scrapmatts is by Kaisercraft here. We have cardstock, Mistletoe patterned papers and stickers, lace, stamps, mist, rhinestones and a very old brad.

 

 

I used the current sketch over at Stuck?! Sketches for this layout as well, though I did deviate a bit. I rotated the sketch to the right, and then changed the placement of a few things. I think you can still see how I used the sketch as the basis, hopefully. :)

 

 

Lastly, Stuck?! has combined with Scrap Our Stash who are a new challenge site for me but I decided to give it a go anyway.

L - lace

A - alpha stickers

Y - yellow (gold)

E - embellishments (brad, chipboard)

R - red

S - stickers

 

Escape Hunt - Scrapmatts DT

For my birthday back in May three of my girlfriends took me on a 'surprise adventure', they only told me to get Ben to look after Harry for a few hours and then took me away. We had lunch (at a sadly disappointing Greek café) and then went to Escape Hunt. It's an escape-the-room game where you have to solve a variety of different puzzles to get through three rooms to get the code to get out. It was quite a lot of fun.

 

 

This is my first Scrapmatts DT reveal for this month. I have used CB6105 Assorted Words 23, CB6106 Assorted Words 24 and CB5031 Mini Frames 01. The camera embellishment and yellow twine were also left over from a Scrapmatts class I did at an expo.

 

I used the current sketch over at Kraft Plus Challenges as my inspiration for this layout. I stuck fairly close to it but ended up changing it up at the end with my embellishments. I just feel like I have to add a scatter of sequins to all my work at the moment. :)

 

Little Man @ One

I ordered some photos from Harrison's first birthday shoot (by Divine Life Photography) to put in a frame in our living room, but I accidently ordered the wrong size. I couldn't work out what I was going to do with five 10x8 sized photos, until I thought of scrapping them. Not sure why it took me so long to work that one out, I'm going to blame it on only using 4x6 photos for so long.

It's hard to believe my little man is already one! He's just a little bundle of energy so lots of fun but also exhausting. :) I really liked that our photo shoot captured some special daddy-son moments like this one.

This is a pretty simple design as I really wanted the photo and information to be the features. Papers and flair are from the Flying High range by Cocoa Vanilla Studio. I'm going to use this layout for challenge #3 over at The Scrap Suite in their cyber-crop, the theme is 'Lets Hear It For The Boys'.

Do More of What Makes You Happy

The craziness of getting my layouts done for the Gold Coast Show is now over and I wanted to scrap something for myself before I turned my attention to the study I had been neglecting in the past couple of weeks. My friends and I had some fun in a photobooth last weekend and the colours happened to be perfect for the challenge over at Scrap The Girls.

 

 

I pulled out my sewing machine for this layout to add a bit more detail around the border. It's so much fun scrapping on a budget, really makes you get creative with your existing supplies.

 

I have drawn inspiration from the navy/pink/white/gold colour scheme, as well as those beautiful flowers in the insp picture.

 

Sweet Dreams - Revised

So I first shared this layout back in July as one of my Scrapmatts DT posts. Since then though it has niggled in the back of my mind that is didn't feel quite finished. I had wanted to photos to be the star of the layout but they felt too much like they were just floating on top of the paper. Since it is also one of my Gold Coast Show entries I decided to take another go at it before handing it in today and I'm glad I did.

 

 

 

The left hand page has had a small blue banner removed (why did I stitch that on through the cardstock?!). The brown/cream/gold banner has been added, along with some vellum stars, washi tape and new chipboard border piece.

 

 

This page didn't have as much overall change to it, just the addition of the banner, washi tape and vellum stars. I like the way the banner ties all three photos together now for some interaction.

 

 

Can't go wrong with a detail shot.

 

 

And just for those who are interested, here is what it originally looked like:

 

Lovely Bridesmaids

 

My sister got married in May this year and she was nice enough to give me a copy of ALL her wedding photos when she visited earlier this month! I was getting a bit tired of scrapbooking mine so this has provided a nice diversion and will be my Gold Coast Show entry for the 'wedding' category. 

 

 

There are a couple of disclaimers with this layout: 1/ The dresses are actually a reddish-orange colour but the photos printed them as red so that's what I went with for the papers. 2/ I scraplifted this from a lovely layout by Amanda Melville in Vol 18 No 3 of Scrapbooking Memories. 3/ Yes, I got permission from my sister before I cut apart my bridesmaid bouquet to use as an embellishment in the floral cluster.

 

It was good to break out the Big Shot on this layout, with the title and leaf die-cuts. I literally had to dust it off before use it had been that long.

 

 

Little bit of hidden journaling on the pull out tag behind the photo. 

 

 

Hens Party

The Gold Coast Show is on next weekend and entries are due tomorrow so I've been rushing trying to get mine all done. They all had to be double layouts this year which meant I couldn't even use any layouts from earlier in the year since I normally only do single pages.

 

 

This is my entry for the 'celebration' category. It is based on the Hens Party I threw for my sister in April this year. I think when I printed the photos I had a certain sketch in mind but then when I sat down to actually do it I went in a totally different direction.

 

 

There is some stencil work, some paint splatters, some washi tape and lots of fussy cutting for the flowers. I'm not 100% sold on it but my partner Ben thinks it is one of his favourites.

 

Lots of different D-lish Scraps flowers as embellishment a little touch of Scrapmatts chipboard and my journaling is hidden behind the large photo. 

 

First Christmas - Scrapmatts DT

I love Christmas layouts, I have a whole album dedicated to them. Luckily, Scrapmatts makes a HUGE range of Christmas chipboard designs and there are new ones each year.

 

 

This year was a very special one for me, as it was Harrison's first Christmas. After a horrible start, which involved the family dog jumping at me causing Harrison to fall from my arms and hit his head on the floor, it turned into a great day. Harry slept through the majority of it, as captured in the photos.

 

 

I love this cheeky little photo of him peeking out behind his new teddy bear. The little elf outfit he wore was adorable but only lasted half the day, as newborn outfits tend to do. It's hard to remember he was such a baldy given how much hair he has now.

 

The lovely Scrapmatts pieces I have used in this layout are CB1212 Scrap Words 14, CB6097 Assorted Words 19, CB1224 Holly 03 and CB1097 Floral Spray 01. You know what I think one of the best things about Chipboard is? You can paint it to match the colour scheme of any layout, which makes it such a cost-effective embellishment.