Navy Pier

'What is this?' I hear you asking. Yes, I have finally found time to scrap something that isn't for a design team! It somehow still took for three nights, spread out over a week and a half to do, but it's a 'just for fun' layout and I'm happy I got to do it.

Photo is an old one, from our trip to America pre-baby in 2012-2013. Papers are a mixture of different Kaisercraft patterns, had a lot of fun mixing and matching rather than sticking to a collection. There is journaling, it's on a card behind the photo.

I took my inspiration from the Stuck?! Sketches September challenge. This is probably my favourite sketch challenge site. The sketches are always easy to use and the design team is very creative in their interpretations.

Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge has an easy challenge this month, the project just had to include red.

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!

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.

Here Comes Trouble

**Don't forget to enter my giveaway!**

 

I loved this photo of Harrison and Ben as soon as I took it, it was exactly what I wanted to capture on our family picnic. Harrison can't crawl yet, but he had no problems getting around via rolling and is managing to get into all kinds of mischief hence the title.

 

 

I wanted to include some journaling on this layout, as I think it's something I've been forgetting to include on far too many layouts recently. I decided to hide it in the double matting of the photo, which actually swings open like a book.

 

I used the current sketch over at Stuck?! Sketches as the basis for this one. I actually changed things around a little bit, which is unusual for me, but the main body of the sketch as stayed true.

 

 

Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge's theme for this month is the colour blue, pretty clear how this layout qualifies. :) Use Your Stuff had also posted that their next challenge was going to be monochromatic however the page appears to have gone missing for now? Anyway, if it comes back then my old item is the pebbles which I was so excited to purchased back in June last year and never used until now.

Party Table Centrepiece - Couture Creations DT

Who says die cuts should be limited to scrapbooking pages and cards? Certainly not me with this project! I have my 30th birthday coming up soon and wanted to create some table centrepieces for the dinner. This was a bit of a time consuming project (and I still have two more to create!) but I really enjoyed creating something a bit different to normal.

 

 

Prepare your base and pole.

1/ I have used a pre-made wooden box for my base so primed it with gesso and then painted it with a couple of coats of blue paint. The pole is a length of dowel I trimmed to suit and then coated with gesso.

2/ Once the paint is dry, attached double sided tape to a length of ribbon and wind down the length of the pole.

3/ To ensure my photos were all cut to the exact same size I used a rectangular nesting die to trim them down. This is so much easier than having to measure it all myself and inevitably ending up with wonky angles. Adhere one photo to each side of the base using double sided tape.

4/ Decorate the corners of each photo using the Gemstones in reducing sizes. They are much easier to place if you use the premium craft tools, allowing a precision placement. I like to use the blade but I know others prefer the paper piercer.

5/ Place some filler in the bottom of the base to secure your pole to. I used polystyrene board we had sitting around but then found the glue I used melted through the board so perhaps try florists foam instead. Rip some tissue paper and place inside the base too. This will help stabilise the pole to remain straight and also provide a decorative touch.

 

Make the flower ball

1/ Cut a small hole in the bottom of a polystyrene ball, this is where it will attach to the pole.

2/ Die-cut enough flower petals from the Sunflower nesting dies to cover the ball. Each flower consists of the three smallest sizes of sunflowers in alternate colours of card stock. I had a 100mm polystyrene ball and used 19 flowers so 57 diecuts.

3/ The cardstock will be too stiff to wrap around the ball neatly in it's original state, so spritz each petal with water and scrunch to loosen the fibres. If your paper has a front and back side, make sure you curl the paper so it will fold around the ball. Leave them to dry.

(picture only shows half my petals)

 

 

4/ Layer the petals into complete flowers and attach with dressmaker pins to the ball. I found it easiest to do the very middle row first and then fill in the gaps working towards the top and bottom. Make sure you overlap them to avoid the ball showing through.

5/ Once you're happy with the positions of all the flowers, attach buttons to the centres of them all.

6/ Cut two circles of tulle (I used a coffee cup as a rough size guide). Place these over the top of the pole and attach the flower ball over the top of these. 

 

Couture Creations Materials List:

CO723046 Nesting Dies, Rectangle

CO723212 Nesting Dies, Sunflower
CO721998 Gemstones  CO721985 Double Sided Tape 6mm

CO721986 Handheld Essentials 3 Piece Tool Set

 

I'm also going to enter this project into two competitions. The first is StuckOnUSketches who have a current die-cut challenge of 3D. Secondly, Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge is prompting people to scrap their baby photos this month. You can see a baby photo in the detail shot I have included, plus on of the photos I didn't capture is also a baby photo.

 

 

Small and Precious

Another LO of my friend's little baby, Harvey. They received some devastating news regarding his health recently so I'm thinking of making up a little album for them. This LO made me remember how much I hate using the Mr Huey's white mist - so long to dry, can't write on it and can't use rub ons over it. :(

 

 

Inspiration for this LO was the Scrapz.biz Super Sleuth competition round 4. My five common items for this week:
1/ 'Smile' - in the journalling
2/ Hexagon shape - in the white misting
3/ Mixed alpha title (3 fonts)
4/ Clouds - washi tape top left
5/ Decorative edges (either top and bottom of the page or scallops)

 

The sketch for this week was:

 

I'm also entering this into the competition over at Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge. Their theme for Decemeber is 'generations'. I was all set to do a photo of myself and my grandfather but then Harvey's cutness won out. I think most people will do older generation but I went with the new generation for my photos.

My First Car

I purchased my first car back in 2002 and didn't bother to take photos of it until just before I traded it in back in 2006. Yes, that means I have had these photos sitting around waiting to be scrapped for the past six years! I've written a little but about my love/hate relationship with this car on the stripey paper which can be hidden behind the photo. I loved the pop-up headlights but hated the fact it alwaysbroke down and was so expensive to service.

 

 

This LO was inspired by the current challenge over at The Lollipop Ladies. This fortnight the inspiration sweet is the yummy racing car lolly, shown below with an added challenge of stripes. I would love to see your intepretation of the theme. Are you inspired by the racing theme (I almost did a LO about Go-Karting), is it the bright colours contrasting against the white, do these lollies remind you of a kids birthday party?

 

 

Guest DT spots are able to be won each fortnight and our sponsor this fortnight is: Annabelle Stamps

 

$10 Voucher (thanks to Andrea).

 

I was also inspired by the current sketch up at Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge. It's been too long since I've played over there!

 

 

Finally, the current challenge at Use Your Stuff is to use patterned paper. There's not cardstock on this LO so it qualifies. The papers are ones I've had in my stash for a couple of months now too.

 

Muck Up Day

I went to the Brisbane Craft Expo this weekend and whilst I didn't attend any classes I did stock up on a few new supplies including 4 new rolls of washi tape! You can see a lot of the new roles in my latest LO, which also uses the new chevron mask and Scrapmatts chipboard frames I picked up.

 

 

These are some more photos from back in my last year of high school so 2001! The challenge over at Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge is to scrap about a high school reunion, or a memory of your time in high school. Muck up day is the last day of Year 12 in Australia and as you can see people typically have all their friends sign and customise their uniform. I wanted to go with a kind of grungy look to the LO to fit in with the re-modelled uniforms.

When you're looking for a grungy sketch you can't go past ScrapFriends if you ask me. This is the sketch I was inspired by, rotated to suit my pictures.

 

 

Open Range Zoo

This is my final double page LO for the Gold Coast Show. Good thing too, as I need to submit all the entries tomorrow. This one is for the open theme. For some reason this year I really struggled to think of what I wanted to scrap. Decided to go with a visit to the Werribee Open Range Zoo in Victoria. The LO seems a bit plain to me but I'm pretty happy to have finally scrapped all these photos.

 

 

Chipboard is from Scrapware, the pack also has a cute monkey and alligator/crocodile. Animal themed brads are from Francheville. Stickers and paper are from a very old Bo Bunny range (I think it might actually be 2005!). Green ribbon is actually from The Body Shop packaging.

 

Oneof the challenges this month over at Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge is to scrap about your pet and animals in general. Since I don't currently have a pet I figured this Zoo trip would fit the criteria. Frosted Design's curent challenge is to include chipboard so I'll enter this LO there too.

Sydney LO

Wow, three layouts in three days and two of them were doubles (I can't show the LO I did yesterday for another fortnight)! I'm looking forward to a couple of days off before I get started on my next DT project due by the end of the week. As you can guess, another double means another entry for the Gold Coast Show. I can't decide if this one fits the category of 'Australiana' or if I should submit it in the open category. Please let me know your thoughts.

I was having trouble picking what colour paper would match my photos, so decided to try something different and used two different tourist maps as the main backgrounds. I quite like the effect that has been created. I've also added quite a few bits and pieces of memorabilia from our trip in pockets on this LO, as well as some various facts about Sydney on journalling strips.

This page has ticket stubs and transport tickets as well as a mini-booklet for all the journalling I wanted to include with this LO. The Opera House chipboard has a cool crackle effect on the paint.

This also fits the criteria for Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge this month which was "Scrap about YOUR COUNTRY or ethnic group". Happy to be able to play along with them again, they're a very fun blog if you're looking for a new challenge.

Edit: Just realised I totally forget to credit Sketch Support for the fantastic inspiration for this LO.

Our Vows

I've done quite a few 'pretty' LO's about my wedding but now I've decided it's time to get down to scrapping the details before I forget them. Ben and I made our own vows by picking our favourite bits from about 50 samples our celebrant gave us, I've included the vows in full on the photo. Most of the rest of the album is either purple (our wedding colour) or green/brown (due to the beautiful natural scenery at the venue), so this LO will stand out but I felt like a bit of a change.

The different colour choice was also inspired by the current Yummy Scrap challenge over at ScrapFriends. The pink/orange combo reminded of a paper range I'd picked up from Kaisercraft a while ago so I used that with some highlights from the Love Notes range as well.

ScrapFriends is an amazing online store and also has a blog filled with heaps of tips. Not only do they run a monthly sketch competition, they also have some other sketches up to inspire you at any time. I've entered both their sketch comps and loved working with their designs so I picked another sketch for this challenge.

Finally, Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge has weddings as their June 1 challenge theme. This is another fantastic challenge site that often comes up with very funky and interesting challenges, released on the 1st and 15 of each month. I'd highly encourage you to stop by and check them out if you haven't already.

Feed The Birds

Talk about working your visual triangles on this one! :) I have commenced 13 days leave from work today so thought I'd kick it off with a LO. There's no journalling to this one yet, because I am the little one in the yellow raincoat and can't remember much. I have emailed my parents to see if they have further details to share. Feeding the lorikeets is a daily scheduled activity at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on the Gold Coast. I think my sister was petrified by the birds as they are very loud and can be quite demanding. It's a bit weird scrapbooking about taking a family holiday to a location that is now a 30 minute drive from where I live.

Papers, ribbon and chipboard for this LO came from a kit I had purchased 2-3 years ago and never got around to completing. I was originally going to use the black alphas included in the kit but at the last minute decided to go for the bright title, really happy with the end effect.

Drat, I just noticed I spelt 'Sanctuary' wrong!

This LO was inspired by the current challenge at Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge. The theme was "April showers bring May flowers" – scrap about a rainfall, or storm.  I think it's pretty obvious from the raincoats that the photo was taken during a rainfall. I also used the background paper upside-down to simulate rainfall. I also had to use the sketch below, which I stuck pretty close to.

I also found that Use It Tuesday and StuckOnU Sketches are both running April Showers Bring May Flowers themed competitions, so I'll enter this LO in both those comps too.

Holiday

I got an early start on my crafting this weekend and created this LO on Friday night. Used the Kaisercraft Merry Melodies range again because it was still out on my desk.  I think the Kaisercraft florish worked into the design perfectly. I also used a Lil' Red Rocket button, which means I only have one of those cuties left. :(

I swing between wanting to create LO's which are simply pretty and LO's which capture memories and recently I had been thinking that I should be scrapping more of the older photos I have which are currently just sitting in a shoebox.  When I came across the March challenge over at Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge I thought it would be perfect to achieve this goal. The challenge is to Scrap some memories of a spring break (or another school break) that you experienced. In Australia we have a 5-6 week break over the summer/Christmas period and in 1999 my family travelled to Merimbula in NSW. There is hidden journalling behind the top photo which has some of my memories of this tip.

I also combined this LO with the ScrapFIT March Sketch Workout. The sketch just instantly inspired me. I enjoy working with simple designs like this.