Sweet Pumpkin Spice - D-lish Scraps DT

I just realised I never shared my inspiration layout for the June D-lish Scraps mood board! The board had some amazing colours and inspiration images, plus was perfect for this photo I had been saving.

I loved the deep indigo colour of the mood board, but didn't have any embellishments that hue. I used my Tim Holtz faded denim ink to die some mini-paper flowers and the tulle flower. The chipboard circle frame and flourishes are from Scrapmatts.

Champs - D-lish Scraps DT

Hello hello! I took part in a basketball tournament this past weekend and it made me a bit nostalgic for my junior playing days. You know, the ones where you wouldn't hurt so much just waking up the day after a game? ;) Anyway, just because D-lish Scraps have such a beautiful range of flowers doesn't mean I need to include them in every layout. So here is a no-flower Design Team layout featuring my favourite colour - Orange!

I also put together a really quick tutorial on how to create this layout.

1. I loved how busy this Simple Stories background paper was, but also wanted to tone it down a bit. I swiped some gesso randomly across the page, the gave it a spray with some orange Colour Blast Shimmer Spray so it has an orange sheen to it.

2. I then wanted to add some more interest and texture to the background. It's important to have a general idea of where your photos will be going before you start this step. I stamped a few different sizes of a Craft Queen stitched circle stamp around the page, knowing they would all overlap my photos. For the texture, I mixed texture paste with some seed beads from an old D-lish Scraps Just Add Paper kit and some added some orange ink to colour the paste. I swiped this through a Scrapmatts star stencil (one of my favourites!)

3. The background was completed by tearing up an orange Bitty Bag and placing it behind where my photos would go. The stars were die-cut from black card stock. The court piece is from the journal cards sheet of Simple Stories paper.

4. Because my paper was a bit warped, I mounted by photos on cardboard to make them a bit more stable and lift them up. I also sanded the edges of both photos so they stood out from the background a bit more.

5. The last step is just to add all the embellishments as you saw on the final layout. I chose blue as an accent colour because it pops against all the grey and orange, plus draws attention to the winners pennants in the photo.

The washi tape also comes from a past Just Add Paper kit. My title is made from puffy alphabet stickers.

I couldn't go past the 'memory' flair button, given these photos are now 16 years old! I feel so old myself now. The orange coloured wire was really easy to shape into a star and provide a bit of extra interest. The pennant sticker came with the Simple Stories basketball paper pack.

I really like using these arrow paperclips as an accent and the blue resin glitter dots just finished it off perfectly. I hand-made that basketball pin a number of years ago but never had a chance to use it until now. The sentiment is from the top of the court journal card I used on the background.

Thanks for checking out my work today!

 

A True Love Story

This layout is the result of my second class at the recent Brisbane Scrapbooking and Paper Expo. This class was taught by the amazing Krisy Podolak for Colour Blast. Krisy was an amazing tutor, providing a concise and information colour-theory information session before we got started on the layout

This is a heavily mixed-media layout, with gesso, ink sprays, stamping, texture paste, paint flicking, paper, material, chipboard, string and stickers. I know some people don't like mixed-media because of the drying time but we actually completed this whole layout within the two-hour class (with a bit of time to spare!). Krisy is a girl after my own heart who embraces a 'just stick it down and move on' approach to scrapbooking and is happy to create for the art of it, not always the memory. 

It was a great deal of fun and even my mum, who is traditionally a card-maker who shies away from mixed media, was happy with the result of her layout.

Photo Op

So this layout isn't part of my Brisbane Expo classes showcase, I've just been very late in blogging this layout. A new scrapbooking store recently opened near my home (so lucky!) and they had the amazing Beck Beattie come to teach a class demonstrating how to use her Color Crush powders. I love Beck's work, enjoy her classes and have wanted to learn more about using watercolour effects on layouts so even though I had to organise a babysitters I couldn't pass this class up!

Beck had stamped the squares on the background for us and then gave us a lesson on 'layered stamping' where we got to add the script, checked and hexagon stamps ourselves to build depth. She also provided a simple but really effective colour-theory class before we picked out our colours and starting painting the background. I was originally planning on having a blue theme to the layout, but I'm so much happier with this bright red/orange/yellow layout with pops of blue for accents!

We used the Tinby Designs Color Crush powders for all the colour in this layout, so we got to learn how to paint them on like watercolours as well as sprinkle the dry powder on the page and activate it with a mister. Lastly, I splodged some yellow over the page via some scrunched up plastic.

Once I got the layout home I couldn't resist adding the blue stars, some black foam * shapes and a small title. I was also lucky enough to have my friends buy me a selection of 7 different Color Crush powders for my birthday, so now I just need to find time to play with them! :)

Cocoa Vanilla Studios Expo Class

The Scrapbook and Papercraft Expo is wrapping up in Brisbane today. I have previously gone 2013-2015 as part of my design team responsibilities with Scrapmatts and Couture Creations but have never gone just for the sake of going. This year my mum suggested she fly down from Gladstone and we go together, which was an offer too good to refuse. We went on the Friday and Saturday, completing 5 classes (and a bit of shopping). I'll share the projects as I actually manage to complete the mall. :)

Our fourth class, the first on Saturday, was with Zoe Pearn who is the founder and designer of Cocoa Vanilla Studios which is one of my favourite scrapbooking companies at the moment. We got to do two pages using the beautiful Wild At Heart paper range and I actually managed to get ALMOST all the way through both during the class! Expect to see a few may layouts from this range, because I now had a HEAP of papers and embellishments to match but also because I love the watercolour feel to it.

The printed chipboard in this range is wonderfully thick and sturdy, with a peel off adhesive background which makes it very easy to use. I also fell in love with their glitter dots because I'm easily distracted by sparkly things. :)

Zoe told us she created the second page just to 'use up the scraps' we had left over from the first page. I wish all my scraps could turn into something so beautiful! When you have such a beautiful background paper to start with, you barely even need to add anything more. 

The embellishment pack has a huge variety of designs, with a great mix of words and shapes including butterflies, hearts, stars, arrows and frames.

I had to do a bit of fan-girling and get a photo with the lady herself after the class. Unfortunately, my mum is not the best photographer and this was the only photo that wasn't blurry. I look so grumpy because I'm still in the middle of talking. Anyone know why all my crafting inspirations are short? :)

Hello Sunshine - D-lish Scraps DT

It is horribly freezing weather here at my house right now, so I thought it was the perfect time to revisit a bright, sunny photo from my beach holiday to Hawaii. Nothing goes better with a summer photo than a brightly coloured layout.

My title is an adorable chipboard piece from a past Just Add Paper Kit. I have coloured it with watercolour pigment powders which allows the colours to blend into each other and gives it a beautiful sparkle finish. The little bit of striped washi tape is also from a past JAP kit. I have matted the chipboard on a delicate white doily. There are so many different sizes, styles and colours of doilies on the website and they are such good value for money!

Underneath my title I have little collection of different embellishments. The little girls are from the Dusty Attic Mini Him and Her set, I painted them with acrylics to match the colours of our lilos. The adorable flamingo flair comes from a past Just Add Paper Kit. I have included a glitter resin dot and enamel dot as accents.  

At the bottom of the papers I have outlined from flowers from the Hibiscus Duo stencil, first one way and then flipped the stencil over to get the mirrored image for the other side. Make sure you use a permanent pen so it doesn't run during the next step. I coloured them with pigment powder watercolours again and added some resin glitter dots to the middles. I have used some enamel dots scattered around too. 

The top embellishment cluster has another hibiscus flower cut out, with the glitter resin and enamel dots. I was so excited to finally be able to use a sequin bow on one of my layouts! 

Thanks for looking and I hope the weather is a bit warmer where ever you are!

Man of Steel - Scrapmatts DT

Does anyone else feel a sense of joy when they know they have the perfect photos for a particular challenge? As soon as I saw the challenge guidelines for this month's CSI challenge, I just knew I had to use these photos of my son with Superman that I'd taken just a few days beforehand.

(Removed for publication)

Being on the Scrapmatts DT, sometimes Sofie sends out surprises for us to play with. These are normally new products that aren't even listed on the website yet so it's always very exciting to receive these. In my latest package I was lucky enough to receive a couple of the new larger sized stencils and I've used ST9008-A5 for some white-on-white texture in the background.

Chipboard used: CB1233 Film Strips 06, CB6095 Assorted Words 18, CB1162 Assorted Words 08 and CB5138 String Circles.

This is the June challenge over at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration. Scrapmatts is sponsoring so you could win a great chipboard prize pack if you take part. For my layout, I've obviously been inspired by the superhero characters in the scene. My evidence includes the white background, speech bubble and stars. My testimony uses the inspiration words.