Scrap 365 Sketch Challenge

Another layout I created yesterday this time for the current sketch challenge over at Scrap 365 :

I really love the simplicity of this sketch. So I started with a plain white cardstock background to give myself a completely blank canvas. I don't normally do layouts without some form of pattern paper, but this is where washi tape comes in handy. The background arrows are stencilled on with vivid blue paint & then outlined with a Gelly Roll glitter pen.

I stamped the tickets & cut them out, added the word "Fabulous" from Heidi Swapp and I wanted to add one of the lines from the lyrics of a song that is sung in Les Miserable'.  I've also added a couple of buttons & Studio Calico wooden stars.

This is one of DDs all time favourite musicals (& trust me when I say she has made the most of the West End while living in London) and when we visited she took us on a little tour & this is painted onto the wall at the side of the theatre. We ran out of time to see this one while we were over there, but we did see a couple of others.

So this is a very different style to what I normally do & I think I'm actually happy with it :)

Thanks for looking!

For the fun of it!

I'm back with a layout that I made for a sketch challenge, but as I often do, I went off on a tangent and it turned out nothing like the sketch required. But it was a photo I've been wanting to scrap for a while so I'm glad that I did it.

I've used the beautiful "Miss Empire" collection from Kaisercraft for this, except for the background pp with the script on it (unknown source). The tea dyed lace is from Tattered Inspirations. I've written my journalling on a tag & tucked it behind the photo.

The Flair buttons are from A Piece of Cake Designs.

This was such a funny day in London, when it absolutely deluged and trying to get around in London in the rain isn't the easiest thing but we walked and walked and then ran when the rain became torrential. Our umbrellas just weren't doing the job and we ended up soaked to the skin especially our feet because of the huge puddles. Finally we found what we were looking for; the Twinings Tea Shop. The size of the shop is under-whelming I must say, but it stocks an amazing variety of tea and beautiful Twinings giftware. So to placate the males, right next door was a lovely old English Pub. A very convenient way to relax and dry off :)

Ah the memories.....sigh. Thanks for looking once again :)

D-lish Scraps Mood Board

Hello everyone, I hope you've all had a better week than I've had. But onwards and upwards I think is the appropriate mantra for me at the moment. There wasn't much creativity happening for me this week which added to the angst as well, but last weekend I did manage to get a couple of layouts made. This one is for the lovely mood board over at D-lish Scraps and the colours made me feel happy amid the dreary weather we've been having.

The sketch is optional, but I really liked it so I stuck to that plus I was inspired by the beautiful colours and I was waiting on some lovely little embellies from the D-lish Scraps shop to finish this page off.

This is one of the better "selfies" that I've taken in recent times. I've used quite a few bits & pieces of leftover stash on this page. The D-lish products are the little yellow & white flowers, the flair button and the "fun" paperclip.

Thanks for calling in. I'll be back soon with another layout I completed last weekend.

A little bit of Sketchabilities...

Hello all, I hope you are having a restful Saturday. After a gloomy, foggy start to the day we now have beautiful sunshine so I was able to get a pic of my entry for the new sketch at Sketchabilities:

The colours in this layout are so vibrant, but this photo doesn't do it justice. I love this Stampin' Up! paper "Eastern Elegance", which I've had for a while now just waiting for the right photo. Coincidentally, I picked up some paint swatches at Bunnings a few days ago - they make great freebie, colour-coordinated layers for scrapbooking - and I just happened to pick up some colours that matched perfectly with this pp. The names of the paint colours also matched my theme if you look closely :)

The flair buttons are from A Piece of Cake Designs, also something I've had in my stash for a while. They also matched perfectly with the pp.

Flowers are from Craft Queen and Prima. The timber word "Selfie" is from Flutterby Designz and the American Craft Thicker. Also a Prima wooden camera.  For some reason I feel like I have scrapped this photo previously, but I can't find it so maybe I haven't, but I do have this photo on our fridge (cause it's one of my faves from their travels), so maybe that's why I feel like I've scrapped it :/  the mind is gradually leaving the building I'm sure!  Thanks for looking :)

Scrap Africa Challenge #30

Happy Tuesday everyone! I'm back today to give you the heads up on the new challenge over at Scrap Africa.  This challenge is a "Scrap Your Stash" project. Anything that you have had in your stash for more than 3 years - it's time to get them out!

It's amazing how you can make something that may not be quite "in" at the moment, still look fresh and new. I made a couple of cards using some rub-ons from Kaszazz, which I still really like, but just never got around to using them. I also used some old brads and tulle that I found in my stash as well.

On the background of the "Love & Hugs" card, I've used the faux silk technique then sprayed with Glimmer Mist. The lovely bright green ribbon is from Craft Queen as are the little pearl outlines. The daisy button on the "Heart" card is also from Craft Queen. The heart brads I've had in my stash for at least 4 or 5 years and the tulle is from Stampin' Up! that I've had for a very long time.

Pop on over the the Scrap Africa blog & check out the Design Team's inspiration. We would love to see your creations!

Until next time...

Scrap the Boys

Yes, two blog posts in one day! but the light became a little better for a while so I took a pic of my entry for Scrap the Boys. The challenge this month is to scrap a large photo (5x7 or larger). So I have this photo of my young man from 3-4 years ago, which was hanging on our wall, but I recently updated some of our wall photos. Scrapping a photo this size doesn't leave much room for anything else, so I've kept it simple.

I found the quote inside a very old scrapbook album which was beginning to fall apart, so I salvaged it & recycled. I usually save all my pp offcuts because they come in handy sometimes as they did for this layout. The little metal bits and washi tape are from Craft Queen, I'm not sure where the big metal cog came from as it's been in my stash for ages. The lovely flair button is a recent purchase from StudioFourteen40. And of course the background paper is the good ol' Kaisercraft Base Coat (this range is perfect for masculine pages).

The advantage of using a large photo is that they are quick & easy. No room for lots of embellies & fiddly bits. Thanks for looking & please leave a comment - they really brighten my day :)

Orange Paperie & Co mid-month reveal...

Today I'm back with my mid-month design team reveal for Bec's Tic-Tac-Toe challenge at Orange Paperie & Co

I chose Leaves-Orange-Embossing and decided to make a card incorporating these elements. Here is my take - Vintage with a modern twist. I highly recommend having a go at this very easy challenge. Just choose a row either diagonally, horizontally or vertically and let your creativity go wild :)

I made the flowers by stamping, inking, spraying then cutting with a Cottage Cutz "Vintage Floret" and "Classic leaf" dies. I then assembled the large flower to look like a rose and added a couple of mini buds (poking out from underneath the large rose) which are hard to see in this pic.

Anyway it's a cold, dark, rainy day here so hopefully I'll get to do a layout this afternoon. So stay tuned....

Sketchabilities #116

Hi all, I've finally been able to get back here and post a layout that I made for Sketchabilities. I love their sketches and usually check them out but this is the first time I've actually entered. The current sketch was so easy to work with and I had a lot of fun with it.

The first thing that caught my eye was all the layers. As you may or may not know, I'm a fan of Bo Bunny so it was fun to use up some of my stash from the Mamma-Razzi collection.  I also dabbed some Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze onto the metal trinkets from the Trinket Track as well as throwing around a few splatters on the page.

I've used American Crafts Thickers for my title, and inked them up because their original colour just didn't stand out against the background. Quite a few different stamps have been used as well as some washi tape.

It was such beautiful sunny weather last weekend, we decided to drive to a pretty national park just on the outskirts of our town, for a picnic and a hike through the bush. It was so nice to get back to nature for a few hours. Because we haven't had any of our usual heavy frosts here yet, the countryside is still so green and lush and it was such a joy to have wallabies jumping across our path in front of us and having the noisy birdlife watching our every move. There is an actual designated picnic area but we had the whole place to ourselves....sigh.....the serenity :)

Thanks for looking once again. Until next time...

UPDATE:

S365-6 Case File AND Page Drafts...

Hello again. I hope your hump day is going swimmingly for you :)  I've been working on 2 entries since the weekend. Firstly the lovely Em at Page Drafts has a wonderful sketch release this month. Check out these little beauties!

A bit hard to pick which to tackle, but I ended up choosing #31.2

Here is my take:

I added some "rain drops" to the flowers & leaves. I also wanted to reflect the Autumn colours, so I stamped some cardstock with my Stampin' Up! stamp set using the "rock & roll" method & several inks & then fussy cut them.

When we visited Westminster Abbey, we accidentally came across this lovely garden after following the cloisters for a while. Don't you just love when you happen upon something unexpected? There was a little fountain running in the middle of the pond & all was quiet & peaceful except for the sound of the trickling water....bliss :)

The next layout is for the S365-6 Case File over at CSI: Colour, Stories, Inspiration  Scrap365 is one of my fave magazines and with their collaboration with CSI, it's always fun to enter these challenges.

Some lovely colours to work with here. I haven't technically used a wedding theme, but I did create a layout about our wedding anniversary - close enough I say :)

I've used some Echo Park PP, Prima flowers, Scrapmatts words & Studio Calico wooden hearts. I used Gelly Roll pens from Scrapmatts to colour my title & hearts so in real life they actually sparkle. The lace & ribbon is from Craft Queen.

Thanks for calling in, enjoy the rest of your week.

Scrap Africa Sketch #30

Welcome to another month. It's hard to believe we are half way through the year already. I just love the beginning of each month as all the new challenges are set & I've already made a start on one of my entries as well as completing my mid-month reveals for my DT commitments. I love a rainy Sunday because I don't feel guilty about staying in my scrap room all day & getting a head start on things.

I'm so very much enjoying being a Design Team member for Scrap Africa. This is the new sketch challenge:

It's not very often that I round the corners of my pics (except when I Project Life) and I tend to forget how good rounded corners can look sometimes. Of course all the sketches are open to interpretation but I always tend to follow them almost exactly, mainly because they are better than what I can ever come up with in my own head. Here is my inspo:

This layout was inspired by the very talented Stacy Cohen who does wonders with bright colours (& one of my favourite blogs). I recently saw a layout she had created for some photos from Disneyland & I've been wanting to scrap these pics for ages but was hesitant as I don't usually work with bright colours. But combined with the sketch from Scrap Africa & the matching photos I decided to use the lovely bright reds & yellows.

I decided that this page needed a hand made rosette, which I haven't made for ages, & of course I had to include some Mickey ears. The little graphic Mickey & Minnie is one that I found on the internet & I fussy cut it & added some glitter to Minnie's hair bow. I also glittered the Studio Calico wood veneer stars & randomly stamped some little hearts & arrows.

I hope you enjoyed looking today & please pop over to Scrap Africa & give this sketch a go. We'd love to see your work. I would love to hear from you, so don't be shy, please leave a comment :)