Saturday 27 June 2015

First Touch - CSI Guest Designer

My term as CSI guest designer is coming to close as the month draws to an end but I had a lot of fun and really like this layout I finished with. This amazing photo of my husband and son was taken by one of the operating nurses during my C-section and I think it is just amazing!
 
 
I wanted the focus to be the photo so kept the papers and embellishments to a minimum. The baby boy chipboard sheet was perfect for my little cluster, I just used some acrylic paint to get them to match the layout.
 
 
I solved the CSI case by using stripes in my blue paper and a cursive font on my journaling card as the evidence. The journaling is my husband's thoughts on his happiness at experiencing the birth of his son, so utilising the inspiration words. I have used a couple of Scrapmatts pieces as the embellishments here: CB6105 Assorted Words 23; CB5139 String Circles 03 and CB5135 Baby Boy 01.
 
 

I also used the current Stuck?! Sketches challenge as the basis for this layout. I love how quickly the page came together using this great sketch.

Monday 22 June 2015

The High Line - Let's Get Sketchy DT

The Gold Coast Show has released their competition list for this year and I was sad to see that EVERY scrapbooking category requires a double page layout. I'm really not sure why they feel the need to restrict page design, I think you could compare doubles and single page layouts against each other given their is set scoring criteria. Anyway, it means I have to get my head around creating doubles for the next couple of months and I can't use any of the layouts I had already created this year. Here is the first of (hopefully) ten doubles before the end of August.
 
 
I have used some photos I shot whilst walking the High Line, a tourist attraction in New York, in late 2012. It was a fantastic place to visit and I got some really good photos. I love that I finally got a chance to use these Basic Grey papers why have been in my stash for YEARS.

 
I used the current sketch over at Let's Get Sketchy for this left hand page. Even though I turned it into a double I think you can clearly see the sketch in the layout. The patterned on the cardstock uses a home made mist, hence the slight differences between the two pages.
 
 
The second page has some more of the scenery shots I took to show off the views and the beautiful gardens. I really liked that they left some of the track there so you were reminded of the original purpose.


Sunday 14 June 2015

Love That - CSI Guest Designer

Scrapmatts is sponsoring CSI: Colour, Stories, Inspiration this month so as part of the Scrapmatts DT I was invited to be a 'guest detective' for the month. This week was a bit easier than last week for me to combine all the elements. Don't you love when you have some paper that perfectly matches a colour challenge? Of course, I have so much paper I should be able to match pretty much any colour combo possible. :)
 
 
The photo is an old one from the engagement photo shoot Ben and I did with Daniel Sheenan Studios in Melbourne. It was such a fun time and so different to our life now, being able to spend a couple of hours wandering around the city without having to worry about feeds, naps, nappies, toys etc.
 
 
Are you interested in knowing which beautiful Scrapmatts pieces I've used for this layout? I ended up with quite an assortment on the page. The white heart was the last addition, I thought I was done without it but Ben thought it was missing something to bring the focus back to the photo. I have used CB6095 Assorted Words 18, CB1159 Hearts 05, CB5113 Heart Frames 10, CB1209 Scrap Words 12, CB1087 Birds 02 and CB5128 Circle Mesh 01. 
 
 
 
Above is the case file for #167. How did I solve this case? Evidence: clouds in the washi tape banner, chipboard bird in cluster and just a few circles. Testimony: pop up flap for my journaling. Don't believe me? I hid it under the banners in the top corner. :)
 

Monday 8 June 2015

Lori's Hens Party - Let's Get Sketchy DT

I've never been a big drinker or big partier, in fact both of my hen's parties (yes, I had two for the one wedding) ended around 10pm because I wanted to go home to bed. As you can imagine, I didn't really feel constrained by the restrictions imposed by pregnancy and then breastfeeding. However, it was nice to have a chance to go out partying with the girls for a colleague's hens party recently, even if I was the only sober one at 10pm when I went home and they moved on to the next club. :) 
 
 
This was one of those layouts that didn't turn out how I was expecting, mainly due to issues with the background. I wanted to create a background of drips running down the page, but the Dylusions ink soaked straight in instead. Despite backing the cardstock with extra paper it still warped. The black ink flicks were not what I was after at all. I actually thought I was finished with this layout but decided to rework it two days later because it had been bugging me. I like the end result better, you can see the earlier one of the Let's Get Sketchy page.

 
This was created for the Let's Get Sketchy reveal. It's a great sketch and we would love to see your take on it.
 

Saturday 6 June 2015

Learning - CSI Guest Detective

Scrapmatts is sponsoring CSI: Colour, Stories, Inspiration this month so as part of the Scrapmatts DT I was invited to be a 'guest detective' for the month. I had seen the CSI challenges before but they always seemed a bit complicated to me, having set criteria for colour scheme, design elements and journaling. Turns out it wasn't as hard as I'd thought though. :)
 
 
The prompt for this case file showed lots of children drawing. I was initially tempted to go with photos of Harrison playing but decided to focus on the create aspect rather than the children so picked photos from the Scrapbook Expo last year. I took a photo with each tutor after the class and have picked a few of these to include on this layout.

 
The beautiful Scrapmatts chipboard on this layout are CB5114 String Circles 01, CB1222 Feather 02 and CB1200 Scrap Words 08. I have painted the circle red, pulled out some OLD embossing enamel to use on the feathers and left the word raw.

 
 
So how did I solve this case? Evidence: I have a cloud shape in my Scrap Word and have used paint on the circle. Testimony: I went with the inspiration words 'play, imagination, art' and wrote about the fun of taking classes.