Pixels and Paper Challenge Blog ~ January

Ooh, ooh, quick, quick!  Not long left and I've just finished my first layout for the Pixels and Paper Challenge Blog!  They have a fantastic inspiration photo for January; here it is!

I was inspired by several components of this photo.  Firstly - the beach!  So I selected photos that were taken at a beach, as well as including a component on my page to reflect sand.  Secondly, the colour of the thongs.  I have used purple, pink and green in my layout.  I am very much a paper scrapbooker (although I tend more towards cards these days).  My style is definitely clean and simple.  I like clean lines and symmetry on my pages.  Here it is!  (Please excuse the flash shine on the bottom photo - I've taken this photo at night after all!)

The heading has been created using American Crafts Zing Embossing Powder in 'Leaf', (and 'Denim' for the blue "B").  The blue didn't look right, so I went over it with a Sakura Gelly Roll Moonlight gel pen and the colour is much better now.  I used the Stampin' Up! 'Notable Alphabet' stamp set [retired] for the lettering.

In the bottom right I have used texture paste, coloured to resemble sand.  I used my spatula to smooth it on, and then I used an old piece of sandpaper to blotch down on the wet texture paste to raise it up and give it the feel of sand.  The photo doesn't do it justice - it feels awesome to touch!

The colour of the journalling box (from an old Creative Memories Storybox set) matches my dad's shirt and so I thought it tied in nicely with the overall layout.

In the background of the top photo is "The Eye" ferris wheel ride at Seaworld.  I have created my own sort of ferris wheel mat for that photo using kraft cardstock and the large scalloped circle die from the Stampin' Up! Circles Collection Framelits.  I then used my fine Copic Multiliner (0.03) to join the scalloped edges to give the look of a ferris wheel.  I have added black brads on alternate lines to depict the carriages.

I'm so glad I found this Challenge Blog site!  I need more inspiration to keep me scrapbooking!

Cheers!
Deb.

Scrapping Outback ~ January "White with a Twist" Challenge

I am really on a roll at the moment, so let's keep it going!  I came across the Scrapping Outback site and their January 2015 White with a Twist Challenge while checking out Tracey Henly's submission for the January Moodboard Challenge over at Sassy Scrapper.  I love how blogging can lead you to wonderful new places!

I haven't been scrapbooking for a while, since stamping and cardmaking took over my will and reason to live, not to mention my finances!  However, I wanted to start to do something about the bazillions of photos I take, and these challenges offer the perfect inspiration.  Here is a look at the gorgeous inspiration for January White with a Twist:

There are very clear and concise rules for this Challenge, and they seem to be pretty routine rules that you find at most blog challenges.  The one that stood out for me the most was that you MUST use at least one piece of chipboard - uh-oh!  I don't normally use much chipboard, and so this sent me scurrying for my stash to see what I could find.  Phew, I found something!  Here is my layout for this Challenge:

Starting with selecting a photo, I found a lovely one of my daughter Kaitlyn with her friend Tara (TJ) at Kait's 8th Birthday party two years ago.  She had a "Shimmer Party" with facepainting, hair tinsel, glitter tattoos, nail painting and beading.  It was a lovely afternoon (thanks Sharon and Kylie!)  Most of the girls elected to have their faces painted as butterflies and so I thought that was a pretty good theme to follow for this layout.

Detail

Using a retired Stampin' Up! 'Butterfly Collection' rolling stamp, and Melon Mambo ink (also Stampin' Up!), I created the background on white cardstock.  I only inked the stamp wheel once and then ran it across the page for three separate revolutions to create an ombre effect.  I used a green Sakura Stardust Gelly Roll pen to put the little circles in the bottom of the butterfly wings, as well as a pink Sakura Stardust Gelly Roll pen to enhance the antennae.  I created my title with lime green art foam, and I used my My Creative Time alphabet fun dies.  To make sure the foam stayed adhered to my page, I used Ranger Multi Medium Matte to stick them down.

Detail

I used ZING embossing powder in 'Leaf' to emboss the edge of my white photo mat.  I also distressed the edge of my photo with an old emery board and inked it up using 'Lilac Posies' Memento Ink.  Can you see my little piece of chipboard?  The word "together" is from a little chipboard set by Imaginarium Designs called 'Words Remember Forever'.  I covered it with white embossing powder (twice to give it awesome coverage) and stuck that bad boy down with my Zig 2-way mini glue pen.

I love this pretty patterned stripey, shimmery paper - I bought about ten sheets of it years ago, and now I'm down to my last three (sob!).  I thought it would go nicely with this page as it has the green and pink stripes in it.  I punched out butterflies from the patterned paper, as well as from Melon Mambo cardstock (Stampin' Up!) using the 'Elegant Butterfly' and 'Bitty Butterfly' punches from Stampin' Up!  Using stamps from the 'Papillon Potpourri' stamp set (Stampin' Up!), I stamped and heat embossed with white the two different size flower butterfly images on American Craft Weave cardstock in 'Cricket' and also punched them out.  I then used glue dots to stick down all the butterflies.

A list was created of all the fun things the girls got up to on the day by way of journalling.  For finishing touches I put a handful of Annabelle Stamps 'Sprinkles' down the right hand side; I doodled a border with my Copic Multiliners and added a bow with some awesome ribbon I had that just happened to be pink and green.

I've had so much fun creating this page!  Thanks to Scrapping Outback for providing such fun inspiration!

Deb.
xx

CASE-ing a technique!

The two things I love most about the blogisphere are firstly, the fantastic people you can 'meet' and secondly, the brilliant ideas and techniques you can learn from.  As crafty as I am, I don't necessarily come up with my own creative ideas very easily.  However, I can mimic things very well, and I learn very quickly.  When I saw Linda from A Happy Scramper's post on watercolouring a sentiment, I just knew I had to try it!  Here's a brief glimpse of what her work looks like:

Stunning, isn't it?  Firstly I had to find the right sentiment - something large enough to do the watercolour technique justice.  I decided on the "Happy Mother's Day" sentiment from the 'My Mother' stamp set (Stampin' Up! [retired I think]).  I also used a floral bouquet image from the 'I Like You' hostess stamp set (Stampin' Up!).  I made two different cards featuring different colour combinations:

I used Distress Inks to watercolour the sentiment as per Linda's technique, as well as to watercolour the images, using Worn Lipstick, Chipped Sapphire and Wild Honey on the left, and Evergreen Bough, Dusty Concord and Wild Honey on the right.  I finished the off by adding some Annabelle Stamps Sprinkles.  I'm really happy with how they turned out (although my photography can still use a bit of improvement - oh well, I'll get there eventually!)

Thanks to Linda at A Happy Scramper for continuing to demonstrate awesome techniques!

Cheers!
Deb.
xx

Sassy Scrapper ~ January 2015 Moodboard Challenge

Clearly I have my crafting (and blogging) mojo on at the moment, because this is my second post in two days (gasp!).  I loved the look of the January Moodboard Challenge over at Sassy Scrapper and after looking at the other amazing entries, I felt inspired to join in.  Here is the beautiful Moodboard:

Whilst cards are my preferred creative outlet these days, I do still take and arrange photos with the mind of a scrapbooker.  One day last year, when the kids were at their swimming lessons, there was an underwater photographer taking photos.  I arranged for him to take the photos and to sell me the DVD with all the files of each of the kids' photo sessions (as any scrapbooker would do!).  What you see below is the page I came up with:

I've managed to use some old Creative Memories papers from my stash (husband will be pleased), as well as using my My Creative Time alphabet fun dies.  I used Distress Ink to watercolour the word 'water' and added Dimensional Magic to give it some gloss, and then raised it up on art foam that was also die cut with the letters.  I then tried to replicate the Moodboard word "SHINE" with my diecut letters (which are also raised up on art foam) and I think it came out pretty well. 

There is white heat embossing around the edges of the photo mats to add some interest and break up the solid colours, and I have used my 'On Film' framelits by Stampin' Up! to create the film strip and camera.  The word 'always' was created using white 'Beach' alphabet rub-ons by Making Memories.

It was a lot of fun to sit down and plan out a scrapbooking page - I'd forgotten just how much fun it could be.  Thanks to Sassy Scrapper for giving me the inspiration and motivation to make this page.

Cheers!
Deb.

Scrapbook Boutique ~ January Challenge

Here is my entry for the January 2015 Challenge at Scrapbook Boutique. Here is the inspiration photo:

I loved the look of this photo from the moment I saw it.  Then, after hopping along with the wonderful DT girls, I knew the exact card I wanted to make to enter this challenge:

Using white craft foam, I cut out my heart using Avery Elle Dies ~ Embellish It Needle Heart Die.  I then used some Rayon DMC thread to cross-stitch the heart. 

On some white cardstock I stamped Mr & Mrs (Stampin' Up! [retired]) with Versafine Onyx Black ink and fussy cut the entire image.  I also re-stamped the ampersand on Kaisercard Sage cardstock and fussy cut it out.  I stuck the Sage ampersand over the original white ampersand.

I cut a cover panel from the Kaisercard Sage cardstock (143mm x 100mm) and stamped the small splats from Gorgeous Grunge (Stampin' Up!) in Versamark Ink, and embossed it with Iridescent Ice embossing powder (Stampin' Up!).  [It's hard to see from this photo, but it really sparkles!).

In putting my card together, I needed to make sure the foam heart with stitching stayed attached, so I used Ranger Multi Medium Matte as my adhesive.  I also popped up my sentiment.

Overall I'm really happy with how my card turned out.

Deb.