8th Blogoversary (delayed)

I made my first blog post back on the 15th of April 2009! Looks like it was a mixture of scrapbooking layouts and ATCs back then. I'm sure I never imagined I'd still be updating it 8 years later!

For a number of years I used to do a blogoversary update post, reflecting on the challenges and achievements of the previous year. I forgot to do it entirely last year, though looking at the stats I'm not surprised. Annually between 2009 and 2014 I would average 82 blog posts a year, last year I posted 26 in total. It's pretty safe to say that looking after a toddler took up most of my time and energy! It looks like we're moving out of that stage though, so I'm able to spend some more time crafting this year.

I've missed the April 15th anniversary date but figured it's a case of better late than never, so here is the review for 2017. As per tradition, let's review the last set of scrapbooking goals I set myself in 2015:

1/ Scrap what I want to, without consideration of the visits or comments it may generate for the blog - still a very valid consideration, given the limited amount of time I have available to craft. I'm very lucky that my two design teams let me scrap whatever themes/project types I like as long as I feature their products. I'm also enjoying my crafting a lot more by being able to capture the memories of whatever I want, rather than confirming to a challenge criteria. 

2/ Finish Lynda's wedding album - can't leave this hanging around forever! I did actually finish this, but I don't think I ever got around to creating a blog post to show it off. I'll try to get on to that in the next few days. I certainly learnt from this experience to never again volunteer to create an album for anyone.

3/ Try to generate some extra interest in entering the Gold Coast Show by other crafty ladies - this certainly did not happen. I didn't enter the Show last year (had layouts ready but forgot to submit the entry form on time) and the standard was lousy. The criteria for this year is a joke, with only 4 categories instead of the usual 11.

4/ Try to actually keep a clean craft room - I know I will fail at this but I need to find a way of keeping it more tidy - failed, no further comment. :)

5/ Keep making time to create - I need to remember that it's alright to make time for me and to use my 'free time' on things I want to do, not boring things like cleaning the house - this remains a work in progress, but one that I am being a lot more successful at this year.

Hmm, so what can I set as my goals for 2017? I've already challenged myself by signing up for a second design team. How about we go with:
1/ Stay ahead of schedule for my design team commitments. I'm a horribly 'last minute' scrapbooker and I want to avoid that in future, especially as it leads to lower quality results.
2/ Remember to have fun when scrapbooking and try new things.
3/ Attend some more classes. They're a great way to make friends and learn new techniques.
4/ Think about attending a retreat later in the year. I've missed attending these since having Harry and think he's at a good age to be getting back into them.
5/ Finish all those half-finished layouts I have! On the rare occasion I clean my craft room I always find the box with all my half-done projects and think 'I should really finished those' but never get around to it.

Because I work a government job and am used to having to justify projects with numbers, I have previously tracked pageviews, posts and followers, so figure I may as well continue with that.

Date of review	Annual Pageviews	Total Pageviews	Annual Posts	Total Posts	Total Followers
20-Apr-12		5736		264	50
15-Apr-13	20660	26396	118	382	95
14-Apr-14	14844	41240	72	454	98 (20 via bloglovin)
15-Apr-15	20331	61571	87	541	108 (26 via bloglovin)
15-Apr-16	Did not record
1-May-17	21182	82753	76	617	105 (30 via bloglovin)

Blogger stats tell me my most popular posts since the opening of my blog are presently:

Entry	Pageviews
Alice in Wonderland Altered Tea Pot 4 Jun 2013, 5 comments	860
Playing with Seals and Dolphins 14 Jun 2010, 2 comments	670
Vintage Rose Garden Dreamcatcher - Couture Creatio... 21 Jan 2015, 2 comments	568
Craft Queens Christmas Cards 20 Apr 2014, 2 comments	520
300 blog posts = a giveaway! 22 Jul 2012, 27 comments	372

Anyway, that's a wrap for this review. Hopefully I'll be back on track for next year's one.:)

Roadtrip Sunset - D-lish Scraps DT

I took the most amazing sunset pictures at the end of a roadtrip around O'ahu, Hawaii and have just been waiting for the right time to scrapbook them. The D-lish Scraps moodboard for May was perfect and I'm really happy with the end result.

Regular visitors to my blog would probably have noticed that I have a preference for Kaisercraft papers and normally stick to the one range per layout. Recently though I've been trying to use up the rest of my stash of paper and it's quite fun to mix and match paper ranges. This layout has at least four different brands being used and the narrow vertical strip is Basic Grey from around the time I started scrapbooking over 10 years ago! It was one of those beautiful papers I'd saved 'for a special layout'. I've realised now that saving those just means they never get used, so I'm being a lot more ruthless about getting in and cutting up my papers.

Cute little cluster shot showing off the great range of flowers available from D-lish Scraps. I also got the punchinella from there and the adorable little camera wood veneer piece. I love the Wild Roses as a starting point for building a cluster around, they are just the perfect size,

Top corner cluster is all D-lish Scraps goodies too: flair, mini resin rose, journal-its, punchinella, yellow doily.

I've love to see what you create with the mood board if you give it a go. There's no need to use D-lish Scraps products on it, or you could purchase the matching Just Add Paper kit so you have the perfect embellishments ready to go!

Love H - D-lish Scraps DT

After using so many different flowers on my canvas earlier this month, I decided I wanted to create a project without any flowers. Luckily, D-lish Scraps still has a huge range of other embellishments available to create with.

Don't you just love it when you find a photo that matches perfectly with a paper range? This beautiful photo of my little boy by Rachel Wilson Photography just goes so well with the Baby Mine range by Paper Bella.

My title cluster features a lot of D-lish Scraps products. I've used the Love chipboard from the Pretty in Pink JAP kit, blue Bitty Bow, resin glitter dots, punchinella, and the orange muslin is from my stash but doesn't seem to be stocked any more. The only missing D-lish product is the washi tape, which I've taken from a retired JAP kit.

Chipboard circle is by Scrapmatts, of course.

From the Heart - D-lish Scraps DT

D-lish Scraps runs monthly cybercrops from mid-month to mid-month over on Facebook at The Scrap Suite and I was lucky enough to create one of the challenge samples for this month! My theme is 'Frame It' - use at least one frame on your layout. There are so many interesting designs using frames at the moment, I'd love to see what you create if you enter.

I have used a whole range of different flowers from D-lish Scraps, as well as the leaves, polaroid frame, sequins, flair and arrow paperclip. Chipboard flourish is from Scrapmatts. The beautiful paper range is from Blue Fern Studios. 

Dream Big Canvas - D-lish Scraps DT

I'm so excited to be part of the new D-lish Scraps design team for the next six months. I simply couldn't go past all the beautiful flowers in stock without grabbing a variety to include in a canvas display piece as my first project.

I whipped up a quick little tutorial as to how I created the canvas, just in case anyone else wanted to try to create some thing similar. If you do, send me a link in the comments, I'd love to check it out!

1/ Spray mists onto your craft mat/Teflon sheet. I used three different colours (purple, green and light blue) and made sure they were close enough to run together. Press the canvas upside-down onto the mat, making sure to press firmly in the middle. Once dry, apply Versamark watermark ink through a stencil randomly and emboss with clear UTEE.

2/ I found the background too bold for my taste, so I painted the whole canvas with gesso, then used a baby wipe to clean off the embossed areas. I also used the wipe to lift off some of the gesso until I was happy with the amount of colour showing through.

3/ Apply texture paste through a stencil randomly over the canvas. The texture paste will only stay white if applied thickly, in thinner applications the background colour will show through once the paste dries. You can see the dry effect in the 4th photo. If you want it to stay white, use structure paste/gesso/acrylic paint instead.

4/ Colour the edges of the canvas with a thick layer of Gelatos. Apply water with a paintbrush to create drips. Add extra Gelato if you want extra colour intensity. I did the purple at the top and let it dry before doing the same thing with blue from the bottom.

From this point on is really where we just start covering up that beautiful background.

5/ Apply washi tape. I used a blue/white diagonal stripe from the retired JAP kit, Beachside Bliss. You need to think about where your flowers will be placed and ensure the washing pokes out the edges of the cluster.

6/ Adhere muslin over the washi tape. I used three different pieces that I had teased out the get rough edges and applied with spray adhesive. Paint your chipboard white (I use one coat of acrylic paint then spray with chalkboard Glimmermist). Cut the flourish to suit your design then glue down.

7/ Place your flowers, starting with the larger ones first then working towards the smaller ones at the edges and in the gaps. The heather sprays and spiral stamens are great for breaking up the circular design pattern.

8/ Add in the little extra embellishments like clear glass cabochons and sequins. I have also added some more diamond shapes using the smaller stencil and gesso in the top and bottom right corners.

9/ Apply the finishing chipboard pieces, in this case a Scrapmatts frame I've cut in half to use in two places and a title from another retired JAP kit, Aztec Dreams.

Close up shot to show some of the fantastic variety of flowers available from D-lish Scraps: Green Tara Tutu Blooms, Fantasy Blooms, Bitty Blooms, Magnolias, Heather Springs, Spiral Stamens, Petite Resin Roses and Wild Roses.  

Aqua and Purple Cards - Scrapmatts DT

My second Scrapmatts DT project for April is a set of two cards. I've used a sheet of scrap paper to mop up some left over ink spray I had from another project, which I've then used as the backgrounds for both cards. I love these sentiment chipboard pieces, they make whipping up cards so quick and easy.

Each card has some texture paste stars in the background too, using a Scrapmatts stencil. The chipboard sentiments come in the black, all other pieces I've just coloured using mini ink pads. I think it's a great idea of have a stash of cards you use at short notice because you don't always know when you're going to need a card, like when your husband asks the night before he plans to give a present to his workmate!

Scrapmatts chipboard: CB1241 Scrap Words 27,CB1020 Card Borders 03, CB1007 Butterflies 07 and CB1158 Butterflies 20. Stencil: ST5002.

Cooking with Grandma - Scrapmatts DT

Scrapmatts sponsored CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration for the month of March and they invited our whole design team to guest for their challenges. I shared my layout for their main challenge as part of my March reveal, but the second challenge came out after my Scrapmatts reveal day, so I've saved it for April.

I love these photos of Harrison cooking with his Grandma. I've hidden some journaling behind the right photo which records how Ben learnt to cook with his mum Helen and I'm so happy that Harrison is getting to have the same experience with her. I don't remember ordering these cooking chipboard pieces but they ended up being perfect for the theme. I've painted them with white acrylic paint, added red pen details and silver embossing for the metallic areas.

Scrapmatts used: CB1020 Card Borders 03; CB1199 Scrap Words 07; CB1139 Kitchenware 03; CB2026 Picket Fences 09.

Relax - Kraft Plus Guest DT

Kraft+ is a fun challenge blog I follow and play along with when I get a chance. You have to use kraft-coloured paper as the star of your background, plus one extra element which changes each month. The challenge is run by the lovely Sandra and she comes up with some quite creative ideas.

At the start of March, Sandra sent me a message to ask if I was interested in being the guest design team member for April. I was beyond exited by this, as I have never previously been invited to guest anywhere! Sandra's challenge was intriguing and also a theme I had thought about doing in the past, so of course I said yes.

After creating a couple of fussy/messy layouts I wanted to go with a cleaner look for this one. I stuck with a single photo of myself and my friend taken whilst we were enjoying sunset cocktails by the beach in Hawaii and kept the embellishments simple.

I wanted the title to reflect the ocean pattern in the background paper. I achieved this by drawing some blue Gelato onto my craft matt and activating this with a couple of different blue mists. The title was then pressed into the pool of ink, which has created that variegated effect. I love the end result.

My flower cluster is very simple, just some chipboard ferns from Scrapmatts and some flowers from D-Lish Scraps. The photo matt is two pieces of burlap, with some offcut paint swatches top and bottom of the photo. I also used a couple of different paint swatches to create the ombre effect for the hearts, which have all been hand punched and then stitched down to create the background.

Christmas Time - Scrapmatts DT

My second Scrapmatts DT project this month continues my love of the string circles, this time combined with my favourite theme to scrapbook: Christmas! Best thing about this is I only used one sheet of chipboard for all three pieces.

If you look closely at the photo you can see Harrison is holding one of his monster trucks while Santa carefully holds another one. He was so excited in the line to see Santa, and so excited after we visited, but during the actual meeting he was so quiet and wanted nothing to do with Santa. :)

Normally I'm a fan of raw chipboard, because I like to put my own spin on it, but for this sheet I went with the classic white colouring. All I've had to add to it is a touch of liquid pearls to highlight the berries and circles. I've also coated the 'christmas' word in the pearls.

Only chipboard used: CB4068 String Circles 05 Holly.

Flying Fox - Scrapmatts DT

Scrapmatts is a sponsor over at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration and this month the whole team has been invited to participate as guest investigators. While seeming initially complex, these challenges are always a great deal of fun.

I think my favourite part of this layout is actually the photo strip I've hidden in the glassine bag behind the main photo. Both the black and white photos are too close to really show the flying fox aspect, Harrison could just be on a swing. I've printed three progressive colour photos to show Harrison flying from the top of the fox to the bottom about 20 meters down the path.

I had been holding onto that hot air balloon chippie for the longest time and was so happy to finally get to use it. The stars in the background were initially white texture paste but I thought they didn't show up enough so I painted them yellow later.

Scrapmatts used: CB1162 Assorted Words 08, CB1229 Chains 02, CB5035 Hot Air Balloons 01, CB1204, Ribbon Banners 01, CB2008 Page Borders 07. Stencil: ST1006.

This is the case file we had to draw inspiration from. Colours are as close as I could get with a little black and silver added (neutrals are fine to add, an extra colour can be no more than 10%). The inspiration image made me think of my little boy and flying, hence the photo choice. I've used design elements of stars, stripes, something that flies and washi tape. My journaling is about the adventure we had at the park.