So why did you choose that👇?

 Today I'm back to share a layout made using a bunch of odds and ends 

that I had left over in my hoarder-like chipboard collection 😜 

I thought it migth be a good opportunity to unpack the reasoning behind colour and embellishment choices.

I've been a scrappr for about 25 years now so when I say I have 'leftovers' ...

I mean I have enough to open a small shop! lol 😬 

So I don't reach for the 'perfect' paper to go with a photo anymore... I reach for the ones I can make work from my extrodinaryly large stash of papers, but here's what I found to be true on this journey - with the right colours and some coordinating embellishments it turns out its quite easy to use up all those last few bits of chippies in the bottom of packets, the leftover stickers and the random bits of paper floating around from a long gone collection! 

For example ...

here I've pulled in a hanging light, a bunch of word tiles and a title I had been hanging onto for ages.

 

By inking them all brown it pulled the whole layout together nicely and complimented some of the more pronounced colours on the papers as well as complimenting the tones in the pictures. 

  

But something had to be done to address that giant teal shirt my son has on in the picture - it really dominates the whole scene, so I used a similar coloured paper for the border and linked the photo and borders together by adding this simple chainlink-fence backgound stencil and some teal ink.

I used the large stencil from this set for this page, but I usually use the middle size one for busier layouts with more on them (and the small one for cards). I ALWAYS buy my stencils in sets like this now for this very reason - I love the versatility of size variations. 

Simple, yet so effective for tying 

colours and elements of layouts together!

Next I'm sharing this very busy step card - 

that was quite a challenge for me to make!

 I made it for my wild and beautiful daughter and I was determined to make the card FOR her - which meant it couldnt really be my usual style.  My daughter is increadibly perceptive and if I made her a card in my usual style she would just brush it off as 'mum gave me one of her fussy cards' lol 😆 

So I had to create somethng here that reflected her personality ... 

Wild, messy and free!

The paper itself was more than enough all on its own but I was determined to add in some little touches that showed I had gone to effort. 

One of the Scrapmatts small 'Happy Birthday' titles was perfect for the main content.

And then to contribute to the overall 'messy garden' feel I added in this twig I had left over from this lovely branch and birds set. 

The other embellishments were pretty much just added to give it that 'I just wandered into this field of wild flowers' look. I struggled with how busy this ended up - even the number 'eighteen' at the top I woud have prefered to have mounted nicely on a backing strip and displayed prominitely somewhere, but once again, in an effort to make it less about me and more about the person recieving it, I atempted to relax a bit into a more casual style 💚

And thats it from me today folks... thanks for bearing with me to the end of my creative ramblings. 

I hope you enjoy your own creative adventures until next time. 

Cheers, Kel xo

Achieving that 'painterly' look 🖌

Over the years I've been through a few different phases with my scrapbooking style but one that I just seem to come back to over and over is that lovely painterly look - I just a dore the messy edges and uneven flow of watercolour pigments so I thught I would lean right into that this month and use stencils and watercolour pens to liven up my pages this month.

For this first layout I used the beautiful tile stencil from Scrapmatts to fill in the border around my page.

I still used ink with the stencil (I find it easier to cntrol than actual watercolour paint) but I made sure to load on some edges and leave them unfinished or messy on others... the effect is subtle but really works to give the finished product a nice 'pinterly' feel. 

For my chipboard pieces on this page I simply used  water colour pens that allowed me to layer over sections to make some parts darker than others - giving the pieces that 'flowing' look.

And of course I chose papers that already had some watercolor flowers all over them - 

I just adore this set from Stampin' Up!

I also scattered some of these little gems about the layout to finish off with some sentiment. 

For the next layout I used a set of setncils to create a soft layered background look.

This wonderfully versatile set of stencils gives you 3 different size tress to use in building up a background effect - perfect for this kind of project (and very handy to have around at Christmas time lol). 

I used different colour water based inks to layer in the trees - deliberately overlapping them so they woud have that 'see-through' watercolour look. Another thing I did afterwards was some small water splatters to give them a bit of an extra painterly look (although I think most of this effect eneded up under my photo lol - you can still see a couple of the water marks on the second photo below). 

 

Giving the page a torn border is another way to add a watercolour look to a layout as that uneven two-tone edge is very reminicent of watercolour edges. 

Now I know what you are thinking - why go so much effort to have watercolour elements and not just use watercolour? The truth is that real watercolour is MESSY and you need some serious skills to control the flow of colour and form when using a brush - but these tricks make the look too easy! 😉

I used a classic watercolour look background paper here so the foreground was easy to add some shiloete shapes to and for this layout that meant thse beauful reed and grass chipboards.. 

These guys I couldn't resist adding just because of my 'Love Birds' theme for this page...

And to finish off I used this mix of chipboard words to add a title. 

And thats it from me today - I hope you have a lot of fun experimenting with your own watercolour and painterly styles - if you have any other tips for aching a nice painterly look, please drop them in the comments section below - I'm always keen to add to my bag of tricks! 

Cheers, Kel xo

 

Pretty in Pink 💕

Hello again crafty adventurers, 

Well the time has finally come, my fist grand baby has arrived and I'm cycling back to baby layouts! lol

Having been a scrapbooker for 25 years now I've run the whole gauntlet, starting with my own children's baby albums and seeing them through to adulthood. Now the circle is complete and I'm back to babay photos - it's nice to know I'll get to all those papers in my stash eventually! 

Nothing quite says little girl like lace so I stocked up on some beautiful Scrapmatts laces 

- white is perfect as you can colour them to suit your papers using inks, 

chalks and sprays, although I left the lace raw for this particular layout. 

Next I mixed up some light pink gesso (using white gesso and some pink acrylic paint) 

and spread it over the hearts background stencil. I just adore this look 💕

I also used the left over gesso to colour the title - but I verigated it towards the top, 

making the most of the natural white that the chipboard already has on it. 

And then I simply tied it all up with these fabulous scrapwords 

- one of which always PERFECTLY expresses the moment captured in any photo.

This next layout was one just for me - I wanted to mirror the pattern in the dress 

I was wearing so this paper was perfect. I then complimented the heavier patterns 

in the fabric with the black chipboards on the page. 

 

This is my favourite pack of chipboard words to use as titles - I come back to this set over and over. 

 

I coloured these quickly and esiliy with a black sharpie....

Occassionally if the tone of black doesnt match my picture 

I will use mat black spraypaint or a specific shade of black ink instead.

 

And of course, a layout is never finsihed for me unless I have added some emotions to it 

- and these gorgeous whimsical scrapwords are perfect for doing just that. 

And thats it from me for this month folks, it has been a priveledge to share the journey with you.

I wish you all the best with your own cerative adventures, 

regaress of what point in the journey you are up to. 

Cheers, Kel xo