Here Comes Trouble

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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.

Birthday Butterfly Card

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One of my friends has their birthday tomorrow and I was all out of birthday cards, so I whipped up a new one for her. I have a whole stash of Christmas cards that I make each year and never send out, plus some other special occasion cards but for some reason I seldom make Birthday cards just to have in my stash, which is silly because they are the ones I could use the most.

 

The card features a fantastic chipboard butterfly from Scrapmatts and pearls, Glitzin' Glamour and embossing folder from Couture Creations.

 

 

Anyway, I was inspired by two challenges while creating this card. Just Add Ink have two beautiful inspiration pictures for their current challenge. I couldn't go past the striking pink/black/white colour scheme.

 

 

Use Your Stuff's current challenge is to add twine to a project. I've used some I've had sitting in an unopened packet for ages to frame my white mat.

Discover - Couture Creations DT

Watercolour is a big trend in scrapbooking right now and I wanted to incorporate that into my latest LO. I've chosen to use an image from The Marriot embossing folder ranger in place of a photo and coloured it with watercolour pencils in my latest layout.

 

 

Start by running a piece of scrap paper through the selected embossing folder. Watercolour paper would obviously work best, but I've used regular cardstock and it worked fine. Take your watercolour pencils and colour inside the recessed areas from the embossed image. This will give you an image similar to the one below. Then it's a simple matter of wetting your brush and activating the watercolour component of the pencils to transform the image. Trim the paper to the correct size once dry.

 

 

For the red background piece I wanted to add some extra texture so I ran it through the Wire Barbs embossing folder. I then used my sanding tool on it to distress it a bit and finally painted the edges with gesso. Just dry brush some gesso over the top to really accent the barbs.

 

Cut your title using The Van Roe Discover die-cut from the same red paper and swipe with gesso to match. Then just layer all the papers and embellishments as shown in the image. If you're wondering about the fantastic chipboard pieces they are from Scrapmatts, of course. There you have it, a pretty quick and easy LO using two of the great The Marriot embossing folders. 

Couture Creations Materials List:

CO723545 12" x 12" Paper Pads, Sew Jo

C0723722 The Van Roe, Discover Decorative Die

C0723675 The Marriot, Great Lazy Days

C0723676 The Marriot, Wire Barbs
C0721964 Foam Mounting Tape 12mm

CO721985 Double Sided Tape 6mm

CO723060 Sanding Block

The current challenge over at Use Your Stuff is to incorporate circles into your project. I have used the circular ships wheel and compass shaped chipboard, along with a circular flair and some spotty paper. I have had that watercolour background paper for the longest time, I can't even remember when I picked it up.

Oh Happy Day - Scrapmatts DT

Here we have the first baby-related scrapbook page! In my true fashion of scrapping things late, this is the 8 week ultrasound and I am currently at 17 weeks. I'm sure I will only fall further behind from here. It feels like ages since the last time I scrapped anything, I think it might have been a full month. Morning sickness decided to ramp up rather than go away in my second trimester so it's still taking me a little while to get through everything and unfortunately keeping the house clean-ish has eaten into my craft time. 

 

 

This is a Scrapmatts DT LO so have lots of lovely little chipboard pieces on it: CB1002 Flourishes 03; CB5110 Layered Owls 02; CB5107 Arrows 01; CB1189 Scrapwords 01; CB1220 Ornate Frames 22 (Feb new release).

 

 

 

Close up shots show off the Scrapmatts chipboard, which I have just painted in suitable colours to match the LO. The 'Oh Happy Day' tag pulls out and contains some brief journalling. Papers are from Kaisercraft.

 

The sketch comes from March Week #2 for Let's Get Sketchy:

 

 

 

Use Your Stuff #126 is to use animals. I figured I'd enter the LO there too since I've used an own embellishment. The orange ribbon is from my stash, I don't even know where I got it from or when.

Valentines Day Card - Scrapmatts DT

I completed the card on time, I'm just very late posting it to share with you. You've probably already seen this one quickly as part of my Couture Creations DT application, it's also one of my Scrapmatts DT pieces for this month. The chipboard heart I have had hanging around for the longest time, after using the main design piece of the heart frame on a LO probably a year ago. I thought the metal arrow charm was just the perfect addition, along with some kindyglitz and glitter for a bit of sparkle.

Ben and I had a lovely relaxed Valentines Day, just going out from brunch and enjoying spending the day together before catching up with some friends for dinner. I hope you enjoyed the day too, however you chose the spend it.

Given the heart is from my stash, I'm going to enter the card into the current Use Your Stuff challenge: #123 Hearts.

Because of the bling in the corners and the glitter on the heart, I'll also enter the card into the Southern Girls Challenge: Bling It.

The Big Pineapple

I am awful at scrapping chronologically! These photos were taken in 2008 during a quick escape to the Sunshine Coast. The day was overcast and stormy, that white sky is pretty realistic and not a result of photo blow out. Australia has a number of 'Big Thing' tourist attractions and the Big Pineapple is one of them. We have also driven past the Big Prawn (Ballina) and the Big Banana (Coffs Harbour) on seperate holidays but not stopped at these attractions.

 

 

The challenge for this fortnight over at The Lollipop Ladies is inspired by pineapples with an added challenge of triangles. I think my pineapple inspiration is pretty clear and I've added triangles between the two photos.

 

Guest DT spots are able to be won each fortnight and our sponsor this fortnight is: Mad for Markers*

(thanks to Sammi).

A choice of 3 of her M4M digi stamps.

Over at Use Your Stuff the theme is 'travel'. Given my photos are from a vacation I thought this would count. Both sets of orange paper and the lighter green ones are scraps I've had in my stash for ages.