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.