Scrap The Boys

I'm back again with a quick post. All my monthly DT commitments are up to date so thought I'd fit in a quick layout this afternoon for Scrap the Boys  I'm just squeezing in for this one as the entries close tonight but it's a nice change to have the time to do a last minute challenge. The theme is "Grungy/Messy".

A bit of texture & layering with Kaisercraft & Theresa Collins pp. American Crafts Thickers & some metal ware from Craft Queen. I've distressed the pp edges, inked & thrown around a bit of ink onto the background.

It's overcast & showery here today so the lighting isn't the best. Thanks again for looking :)

CSI: Colour, Stories, Inspiration #125

I'm back again today with my last Special Deputy project for CSI for May. I've had so much fun with the Case Files this month & I'd like thank Debbi for the opportunity to (hopefully) provide some inspo. This week's Case File has the most beautiful colour scheme & I couldn't wait to jump into solving this one.

I've been wanting to scrap this photo for a while now & I thought the colours in this Scheme were perfect. For my Testimony I wrote my own 4 line poem about how I felt about seeing in real life a lot of the places I've only read about.

 I love the little balustrade from Prima :) The green button at top left is actually one of several lovely handmade ceramic buttons I purchased at the V&A Museum in London.

Thanks for dropping in & I hope you get to have a go at solving the Case File for this week :)

CSI: Case File #124

Hello again & thanks for calling in. I have another Case File to share for this weeks challenge at CSI: Colour, Stories, Inspiration  The Scheme for this week really threw me for a while, until I discovered the beautiful photos that my DD had sent me from the Keukenhof Gardens near Amsterdam. And as it is Spring time in the Northern Hemisphere (jealous much!), there's no better time for visiting the Netherlands. Here is the Case File:

So you can see what I mean about the colours! They are very pretty, but very far removed from my usual palette. When I decided to use these photos, & mind you it was extremely hard to choose from the dozen plus photos that she took at these amazing gardens, I wanted to make sure that the photos themselves were the focus. So here is how I solved the case:

All the flowers I've used here were originally white, which I sprayed with Glimmer Mist to match the colour scheme. The plum coloured leaves & title are cut from my Cricut machine then coloured. I've also used a bit of plasterers tape & lots of inking & Gelatos. In solving the case I used 7 fun facts about the Gardens.

I used Liquid Pearls for the flower centres & added a couple of die cut butterflies. The design for the page came to me in the middle of one of my sleepless nights :/

Thanks for looking & I hope you get to play along this week.

Page Drafts Release #30

I had all intentions of continuing with DDs PL Travel album today, but I remembered I was going to have a go at one of the sketches in the challenge over at Page Drafts  There are five sketches to choose from for the "One of a kind" May challenge. Here is the sketch I chose:

Here is my interpretation:

I fussy cut some of the elements & used 3D mounting tape. I've used Kaisercraft "Sweet Pea" collection for this project & a "WOW" Love word & "You" from 2Crafty.

Thanks for looking :)

CSI: Colour, Stories, Inspiration Case File #123

I'm back again today with some inspo as a Special Deputy over at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration This week's Case File really through me and I had a brain strain trying to get my head around the colours. But when I finally found the photo that I wanted to use, as usual the actual challenge was quite easy. Here is the Case File:

And her is my take:

This pic was taken last year when we stopped at the Three Sisters in Katoomba for a coffee break. It was such a beautiful day & we had a clear view of the magificent valley below for miles & miles. And for once there weren't a million tourists to contend with :)

I've used the good 'ol Kaisercraft Base Coat, some 2Crafty chipboard wire, Prima flowers & Grapevine Wreath die from Memory Box. The Flair is from A Piece of Cake Designs, the bird is from Kaisercraft and the background pp is Echo Park & Stampin' Up!

Drop into CSI this week & check out all the lovely designs from the DT. If that doesn't get your mojo happening, nothing will!

TFL xx

Scrap Africa Challenge 29

Hello everyone, it's time for another fun challenge over at Scrap Africa  - "His and Hers Cards". I'm so happy to be a part of this Team, not only are they extremely talented and inspirational, but they are very welcoming, friendly & supportive. It is because of people like this that I continue to be a part of the paper crafting community.

So here is the new challenge:

I had so much fun with this challenge because it enable me a fair bit of creative licence. I haven't made this particular style of card for a long time and I'd forgotten how fun they are to make.

From the front they look like any ordinary card, but once you open them...

But the most fun is the decorating and it's hard to know where to begin and where to end. In the male card I've used some Graphic 45 paper and the femail card I've used some lovely Kaisercraft paper. A great way to use up your left over scraps.

So I do hope you get a chance to play with us over at Scrap Africa. You can really let your imagination go wild with this one and you should have a look at what the other DT members have produced if you a short on inspo :)

A quick share....

I hope you are all enjoying your week :)

Project Life or Pocket Page Scrapbooking

I'm back again to share my other scrapbooking style that I haven't shared on my blog before. A few years ago I realised I had more travel photos than I knew what to do with so I alternated traditional scrapbook pages with pocket pages. I found that this was the easiest way to showcase my many, many photos. However at that stage (before this style became popular) there were very few companies supplying pocket pages. I found We Are Memory Keepers were producing these pages so I purchase a variety pack & ended up with two albums that covered our European trip. But having my traditional pages included made the albums quite bulky, so it was a learning curve. There were no actual kits at that stage specifically for pocket page scrapbooking so I had to make my own 3x4 & 4x6 insert cards. Then came along Becky Higgins' Project Life Kits! Yay!

I won't scrap my travel photos any other way now that PL kits have arrived. Kaisercraft also have some lovely inserts out which I also use as well as other companies. So when my DD decided to move overseas I knew straight away that I wanted to make an album of all her adventures for when she returned. And I know she will never get around to doing an album of their travel pics. About 12 months ago (almost 6 months into their travels) I asked her to send me the photos that she would love to see in an album & I would leave the journalling spots for her to fill out upon her return. I purchased some lovely PL albums & plastic pages & also collected the insert cards etc. It took quite a while for me to catch up because they were travelling so much in the beginning. Now I'm at the point where I can do each country as they go & therefore I'll have the albums finished for them as a gift when they arrive home.

When I'm working on their travel pics, I feel like I'm there with her & seeing all the sites. I'm so very much enjoying this little journey of creativity & adding my own little embellies & my own touch. I hope they like their albums & treasure them for years to come. She has been keeping a journal as well so I've sourced some lovely plastic insert pages (12x6) to add to the albums, so that she can print out some of the pages from her journal & include them in the albums where she wants. So here is a sneak peak - can't show in full as I don't want DD to see too much of them before I'm finished - that's if she even reads my blog? If so, close your eyes now my sweet :)

 DD's partner has been taking some amazing photos on his whiz-bang camera & some of them are just crying out to be enlarged, so I've included a few enlargements within the album & this one is the first time I've actually cut one up to make them fit inside the individual pockets. I really love the effect.

Here are a few I did back at the beginning of the albums.

Thanks for calling in & checking out my "other style". Please feel free to leave a comment or, if you are interested in Pocket Page scrapbooking & would like to ask a question you can message me on FB (Jo Tritton). Have a great weekend & a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all you wonderful Mums xx

CSI Case File #122

My gosh the weeks are flying by! It's spinning me out :/  This weeks Case File at CSI: Colour, Stories, Inspiration is up & running. A beautiful colour scheme I must say & a very different sketch from Page Drafts just to keep life interesting.

I had the perfect papers in my stash for this Case File; Kaisercraft "Miss Empire" collection, which I got the whole collection on special (along with the die cut package) from Spotlight a while ago. The colours have turned out a little different to what they are IRL, so excuse the fact that the green looks a tad bluish in these pics instead of the lovely green in the Case File. Here is my Special Deputy layout for this week:

I was also fortunate enough to land at Spotlight at the very time they had a sale on all their American Craft Thickers & I picked up a pack of this lovely font for $5!  Gotta love that!

                                      

Now I have a confession to make. Over Easter a lovely lady dropped in a big bag of little chocolate Easter eggs at my place of work for all the staff to share. Some of them were wrapped in a very nice shade of orange/rust foil. So of course I had to eat them just so I could put this pretty coloured foil in my "stash". And low & behold it was a perfect match for this colour scheme. So I die cut the little butterflies using said foil & added a little orange bling on their bodies.

Please head on over the CSI for more inspo from the very talented Design Team. Thanks for looking :)

Orange Paperie & Co May Challenge

The beginning of the month is always busy because of all the new challenges going live. And the 5th of the month means that it's time for the new challenge at Orange Paperie & Co . Kim has given us a beautiful Mood Board to work with along with a quote. I love the softness of this Mood Board;

I've taken my inspo from the colours, flowers, lace & tape, hearts, as well as the quote.

I've used texture paste & a stencil on the background then inked over it to highlight the design more. The pp is from Prima.I've also used washi tape behind the photo & fussy cut some of the paper to make the leaves pop. There is also burlap behind the pic & I've added some metal corners & little pearl hearts from the Trinket Track. The pretty butterflies are some I bought ages ago at the Brisbane Expo & I've used Liquid Pearls in pink for their bodies.

The tags are from Craft Queen & the title is a mix of American Crafts Thickers & Scrapmatts.
                                             
I love making feminine pages. It's always a decision to know how far to go with the amount of flowers though. Personally I can never have enough flowers in my stash. Please head on over to Orange Paperie & Co, we'd love to see your work.

Scrap Around The World...

I've been busy of late with my DT commitments so I haven't entered a challenge over at Scrap Around The World for a while. The mood board really caught my attention this month, so I've dived in to have a go. They are celebrating their first birthday - hard to believe it's been a year!

I was inspired by the colours & balloons in the board, so thought I'd take the opportunity to scrap DS's birthday from last year, finally.

I've had this polka dot button for yonks - I could be wrong but I think it's from Purple Pumpkin. And I found an old Heidi Swapp chipboard embellie in my stash as well. Gesso, Stamping (Kaisercraft & Stampin' Up!), Washi Tape (Craft Queen). The pp is from Kaisercraft "Garage Days" collection. I've added little coloured dots with liquid pearls.

                                      

Thanks for dropping by again. I've been on a creative roll this weekend due to the weather :)

CSI #121

Winter has well & truly arrived today with no gradual easing us into it :(  Rain & freezing temperatures, but a perfect day for some serious creations. I have been lucky enough once again to be asked to be a Special Deputy for CSI: Colour, Stories, Inspiration for the month of May. The new Case File has gone live:

More beautiful colours, although colours which I don't normally work with a lot, but here it is:

 This is where we stayed when we visited London. In the top photo you can actually see some blue sky - never lasted long though, hence why I've chosen the colour gray as my background. The intricate gates remind me of the gates at the entrance to Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park which was only a 5 minute walk from here. And the chippy street light is also a reminder of the street scenes we saw. I've used vellum as the glass in the lamps.

We were on the third floor with windows that looked down onto the street. When our DD visited us every evening after work, she would stay for dinner & her Dad would then walk her to the Tube Station (if her partner wasn't with her). I would stand at the window waiting for her to look up which she always did, give her a big wave, then they would disappear around the corner. It's funny how quickly we get into little habits, even while on holidays, & it's little things like this that stick in my mind. Unfortunately our apartment was a "studio" so didn't lend itself to having someone stay over & DD is house-sharing, so we weren't able to actually stay with her, but we saw her everyday anyway.

As per the Case File, I have journalled 4 interesting things about my photos.

Thanks for looking & I hope you get a chance to play along at CSI this week. Or at least go & check out the amazing inspiration by the Design Team.

Scrap Africa Sketch Challenge 29

Having no internet service for 2 days really made me realise how much I rely on technology. Mainly because I was unable to have my daily chats through Viber with my best girl on the other side of the world. But it is amazing how much creating I was able to achieve without the distraction of Facebook & the like.

I'm really excited to share with you my first layout as a Design Team Member for Scrap Africa. The sketch is very inspiring & I'd love for you to pop over & have a look at how the other DT members have interpreted it.

And here is my take:

I had so much fun using the Bo Bunny pp & I hand stitched the circles. I seem to have a "thing" for all things photographic these days, hence the little camera embellies, film strips etc.

                                       
Thanks for looking & I hope you get a chance to play along with this fun challenge.