Cocktails

In October 2016 I took a short girls trip to Hawaii. It was lovely to have some time out to relax and explore a new location. While none of us are big drinkers, we did get into the holiday spirit by having a cocktail before each evening meal.

As soon as I saw the DLish Scraps Just Add Paper kit I thought of this photo. I just loved the colour scheme, and getting all the embellishments sent to me makes creating a layout so much easier. I also used some beautiful Cocoa Vanilla papers I found hidden away in my stash that matched perfectly.

This layout was created for the Dlish Scraps January challenge.

Just Ride

My mother-in-law is visiting at the moment and she encouraged me to make some more time for crafting while she looked after Harrison, who am I to argue? :) I snapped this photo of Harrison on my phone back in July 2016 and I just love it. It's the view I see so often as Harrison hops on to his trike and takes off down the road. It does matter whether we're just going around the complex or walking to a local park or up the path behind out house, he just loves an excuse to get out and ride.

(Removed for possible publication)

I tried my hand at creating a messy background but those cool paint splashes just didn't work for me. I think I might need to thin down my paint first? I've used lots of Scrapmatts goodies on this layout: CB5158 Triangles 03, CB1195 Silhouettes 03, CB1162 Assorted Words 08 and ST5018 Stencil Alphabet

The layout was inspired by the current Kraft+ challenge which was a kraft background and you had to use a bike somewhere on your layout.

Fiji Mini Album - Scrapmatts DT

Sofie and Andrew, the lovely owners of Scrapmatts, came to my town to run a day of classes in December last year. It had been far too long since the last time I got to catch up with them, so I took the day off work and signed up to do Sofie's mini-album with a cruise/beach theme. I was doing so well following instructions and got through most of it during the class... but then I got home and went a bit rogue. Before I knew it, there were pockets for hidden journaling, a lift-the-flap photo, even extra pages!

This beautiful cover page is entirely Sofie's design. A stunning mixed media piece, I didn't change a thing from what we created in the class.

For the inside cover I wanted to expand the seaweed at the bottom but didn't have any chipboard left. By masking off the areas I didn't want, I was able to use the frame as a mask and misted some extra seaweed. The photo on the right formed a pocket for a journaling card.

I created a lift-the-flag photo on the left because I had two photos of the jet boating I wanted to share.

The two chipboard shells were raw chipboard I painted with white gesso and then watercolored over the top to get the subtle muted tones.

More hidden journaling in this one. The tree branch is one piece that I've cut to fit across the two pages.

Sometimes the journaling works best without being hidden. 

I used the chipboard to create mini-scenes for each of these pages, continuing the elements from within photo. There are journaling cards behind each photo.

The back page is just to show Sofie I was able to use that beautiful paper as a feature instead of using the reverse striped side like her instructions told me to. :)

Most of my chipboard for this project was specially made in a kit for the class, even taking into consideration the extra pages. Before I was on the Design Team, I would always make sure to take a Scrapmatts class at every expo I went to because there are always lots of extra chippies to play with when you get home included in the kit. If you were looking to replicate this album, similar chipboard includes: CB6062 Shells 02, CB1218 Scrap Words 19, CB6113 Scrap Words 32, CB6103 Scrap Words 21, CB5056 Twigs 02, CB1126 Marine Life 01, CB1221 Nautical Designs 04. I also used stencil ST1004 Stencil Bubbles.

The challenge over at Show Us Your Stuff this month is the mood board above which I saw as I was finishing off my album. I was inspired by the beach theme, the shell and star shapes and the bright accent pink/red colour. My handmade items are all the hand-painted chipboard shapes.