Follow Your Heart Tag - Scrapmatts DT

My first Scrapmatts DT project for this month is a mixed media tag in my trademark purple/blue/pink colour scheme. These were the first three colours of mist I purchased and they are definitely my go-to colour choices. I love how sturdy the Scrapmatts chipboard tag bases are, you can really abuse them with multiple different mediums and techniques.

I've included a close up shot of this project too, to show the tulle backing to the heart, the crackle finish to the edging of the heart and the painted details on the metal charms.

Chipboard: CB3009 Tags 05; CB5113 Heart Frames 10; CB6113 Scrap Words 32.

Stencil: ST1008 Stencil Cracks; ST1004 Stencil Bubbles.

Charm: CH076 Filigree Flower #16.

Adore You

I was flicking through some old photos to see if I had anything to match the D-lish Scraps mood board when I came across a series of photos from Harrison's first swim. How hilarious does he look with that bald head and so much chubbiness?! This is why I print my photos, rather than just store them on the computer. I need to have them at hand and randomly come across them to scrap.

Chipboard and stencils are from Scrapmatts. Papers, title stickers and die cut frames are from Kaisercraft. I have used D-lish enamel dots and the seahorse flair from a past JAP kit.

I was inspired by all the geometric shapes in the mood board, so kept a lot of them in my layout. I also referenced the arrows and the frames. Such a lovely colour scheme.

Love You Everyday - Scrapmatts DT

My second Scrapmatts DT project for October is a simple yet colourful layout featuring a favourite photo of my son. I wanted the photo to be the focus, so have kept the embellishments fairly simple. Surprisngly, I actually created this one without using a sketch but had a firm design idea in my head and it turned out pretty close to that.

I enjoyed creating the busier photo matting that I normally use, and creating the rainbow with my Gelatos was fun. Can you believe for my title I had actually already used up all the 'y's so had to create more out of 'q's? Who uses up all the 'y's but still has two 'e's available?! 

Scrapmatts chipboard: CB6107 Assorted Words 25, CB6105 Assorted Words 23.

Life is a Journey Canvas - Scrapmatts DT

Are you like me and you keep all those left over bits of chipboard? You know the ones, when you only have one piece left from the sheet, or you take it out but change your mind so don't use it on the layout, or even the extra bits you get in the Scrapmatts kits if you take an expo class? I have had a great time using up some of my leftovers stash to form the base of a small canvas display piece. The great thing about it is that it doesn't really matter what you have in this stash, because it will mainly get covered up anyway.

I quickly captured some progress shots to show how I built up the background. Stage one: two layers of chipboard and a metal charm, along with some builders tape and some texture paste through the stencil. Everything has been covered with a layer of gesso. Stage two: I have added the flowers and some lace strips. I decided I wanted the brick texture to stand out more so re-applied more texture paste, including over the lace. Everything got another coat gesso. Stage three: I have built up the coloured coverage using multiple applications of three colours of mist. Because of the gesso, they initially dry lighter than expected, so quite a few applications were required, but this helps blend the colours together. Stage four involves flicking black ink across the canvas, dry brushing white gesso across the whole piece to highlight the contours and then dabbing on spots of gold coloured paste to the flowers for highlights.

 

My tips for creating mixed media background:

- put your flat layers down first! I forgot to put my lace and builders tape down first, so ended up having to cut it to fit around the chipboard shapes.

- always coat everything with gesso to ensure they absorb the paint at the same rate, otherwise you ended up with inconsistency in the colours between surfaces.

- Let ink colours dry before changing colours to avoid them getting muddy. Don't be afraid the overlap dry colours to blend them though.

- Spray inks from different angles and positions to get into all the nooks and crannies of the canvas.

- If in doubt, add more!

You can see in these detail shots the background detail created by putting some texture paste through the brick stencil as well as the layers of chipboard in the background prior to building up the frames. The gold frame is embossed, and the top frame has a watered down mist painted over white acrylic.

Scrapmatts chipboard: CB6103 Scrap Words 21, CB6113 Scrap Words 32, CB6091 Ornate Frames 19, CB6110 Ornate Frame 25, plus bits and pieces left over. Stencil: ST5013 (this is my go-to stencil for background texture).

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.

Thank You Card - Scrapmatts DT

My second Scrapmatts DT project is a card I made to say thanks to my manager who is leaving for a new position. I like the mix of grungy and feminine on this card, by combining the messy background with a big floral cluster.

To create this background, I applied gesso through the squares stencil, this sprayed three different mists over the cardstock. Once it had all dried though I decided I didn't like the effect, so painted gesso over the top of the whole thing, before selectively spraying smaller areas of mist and playing with a drip effect. I like the subtle effect it has created.

Scrapmatts chipboard: CB6020 Words 06, CB5144 Layered Poinsettias 01, CB5142 Retro Squares 02. Stencil: ST1038.

Floral Frame - Scrapmatts DT

September already! Where has the year gone? Hopefully you've spent at least some of it getting to play with some Scrapmatts stencils and chipboard like me. :) My first DT project for this month is a wooden photo frame I've decorated. I gave it a quick coat of gesso to start with, then sponged on a few different shades of Distress Inks through a beautiful Scrapmatts stencil, finishing with a quick varnish spray to stop the inks smudging. The leaf sprays were the perfect accent to my flower clusters and then I just popped a Scrapword in the negative space of the photo.

Scrapmatts chipboard: CB1146 Leaf Spray 01 and CB1241 Scrap Words 27. Stencil: ST1011.

Perfect Beach Adventure

As soon as I started planning my family holiday to Fiji, I was thinking about all the beach and nautical themed Scrapmatts chipboard I could use to decorate the layouts I would create. This is a double which has been perfectly finished off by the chipboard.

The seashells were in the white finish and I've painted them with some Gelatos so they have a light shimmer to them.

Chipboard used: SW004 Beach, CB1218 Scrap Words 19, CB4059 Nautical Design 03, CB4067 Marine Life 02.

Petting Zoo - Scrapmatts DT

It's coming up on time for the Gold Coast Show so I'm starting to create a few double-page layouts to enter. I don't think I'll enter every category this year, I'm getting sick of making some pages just for the sake of getting an entry in each category, but it's still fun to challenge myself to create in a different way to normal.

 

 

I thought I might curry some favour by scrapping a layout using photos from last year's Show. :) Harrison absolutely loved spending time at the petting zoo and was so gentle with all the animals there.

 

 

Scrapmatts products used on this layout as my second DT project for this month.

 

Chipboard: CB5101 Flags 02, CB5147 Gum Leaves 01, CB1239 Scrap Words 25. Stencil: ST5007.

 

 

Close up shot to show the beautiful leather/mottled-brown look of the scrapwords, which is a standard finish these come in. My tip to let you keep the cut details on your chipboard is to colour it with ink pads, like I've done on the gum leaves.

 

BFFs - Scrapmatts DT

I didn't get this layout completed in time to be a design team example over at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration but the colour scheme was too good to pass up, so I've created a layout to enter instead. Photos are from a recent dessert tour of Brisbane my friends arranged for my birthday, it was amazing!

 

 

Chipboard: CB2008 Page Borders 07, CB5122 Hexagon Mesh 01, CB1070 Hearts 03, CB6106 Assorted Words 24. Stencils: ST5007, ST5016.

 

Close up details to show some of the subtle background details. If you click on the image to show it full size you should also be able to see the crackle gloss accent on the flourish as well.



 

Here are the details for Case 204. I used all the colours in the Scheme. From the Evidence I used hearts, flourishes, flowers, doilies and lace. My Testimony talks about how much I love these girls.