CATCH UP!!

It's been a while since my first post so I thought I'd do some catching up today and share with you some of my recent projects and some older ones too!!

First up I'm going to show you one of my older projects. I actually took about a year off scrapbooking after our house burned down at the end of 2011, having lost most of my supplies it was a while before I could build up my stock enough to start scrapping in earnest again.I hope you find lots of inspiration on here today.

Such a handsome little boy

Mixed brands as usual, including Tim Holtz, MME, Basic Grey, Kaisercraft, and lots of Prima.

For The background I tore strips of paper, scrunched them and glued them before wiping Vintage Photo Distress Ink over the top and spraying with water and mist which I let drip and flicked randomly.

Here are some close-ups:

 My title was made using Jilli Bean Soup Alphas, I absolutely love them they look great and are definitely my all time faves!!!

The photo mat and the smaller blue banner behind it, both of which are on the blue patterned paper from Kaisercraft , and also these 2 chevron arrows were actually cut from some old paint swatches. I loved the brightness of them and all so the shiny and soft texture of them. Here you can also see some of that background texture created using a combination of torn and scrunched paper, distress ink, mist and dabs of texture paste added directly to the page in no particular order.

The branch on this page I actually made myself. I started by folding and wrapping gold wire together, making sure to add side branches, before wrapping the entire thing with washi tape then inking with distress inks and spraying with mist. I also left out a few pieces of the gold wire which I coiled as you can see in the photo above. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but the end result was perfect for what I wanted to achieve and looks fantastic on this page.

Next up I thought I'd share with you the layout that I've used a section of in my blog header. I spent a really long time on this layout as I experimented with quite a few different techniques and some products I've not used before. I really love what I created though and I hope that it can inspire you too. The background for this layout was done entirely by hand on plain white cardstock. I fiddled with it for days, adding things, painting over things with gesso in an attempt to cover up parts I didn't like, before I was finally happy with it and moved on to the rest of the page.

Baby got blues 

Lots of different brands again.... Echo Park Paper Co, Prima Flowers, Pink Paislee, MME and American Crafts, just to name a few!!

Here are some close-ups for you:

I love layering papers and embellishments. I get frustrated if my pages don't get at least a half inch in height.... LOL!!!! I made the pinwheels, a first for me, and I added MME enamel dots to the centers of each. The pinwheel shown in this photo I have sitting atop a  AC speech bubble, that I couldnt figure out another use for, and I've cut out chipboard arrows, covered with patterned paper and layered.

Here you can see my title which I've outlined with gesso, using the edge of an old credit card. At the bottom of the page I've layered half of a Prima paper flower over a larger orange flower and added a button and thread with the little mushroom brad next to it. You also see here some of my background. The chevron stencil that I used on here I actually made myself as I couldn't find one at the time and I dried my texture paste with a heat gun so it would bubble up for more texture. I've also stencils different colored circles, stamped orange, blue and big gesso circle outlines and used blue ink with a Prima stamp all over the page. There is lots of mist and paint on here too.

I made the chipboard frame for the photo, and also built up the layers of paper and embellishments around the photo. My two favorite things on here are the bright Prima yellow flower with the blue button and thread shown here and the bright yellow fabric sticker at the top of my photo by American Crafts. I really love the way the Pink Paislee Artisan piece looks over my orange flower too. 

Here I have layerd brads, badges and flowers around a cheap red and cream cardboard frame that I got from a 2 dollar store. It had been sitting in my draw for years and most likely would not have been used, but it went well with the colors I had already chosen for this page. I unraveled about 8 metres of cotton from a spool and folded it to the right size before wrapping the loose ends around the middle before tucking it under my flower. I added final touches to my page by wiping gesso here there and pretty much everywhere and flicking some blue mist over the tops of my embellishments.

The last layout I'm going to share with you today I made for a competition, though I never really got around to sending it in. This next one has some similarities to the layout about although overall they are very different.

Such Googly Eyes

Another custom background though thankfully this one was finished and dry within just a few hours and not nearly a week... LOL!!! I've used mainly Echo Park Paper Co, American Crafts and Studio Calico.

A green paper clip from woolworths and another Artisan element from Pink Paislee.

As you can see I've scrapped and dabbed gesso randomly along the edge of embellishments and papers here as well. It really adds texture and dimension and can help add to that distressed feel.

I couldn't resist another yellow flower I love these so much and I also added a flower from Prima that I had spilled ink on and never bothered to use, It's now all blue instead of cream but looks great on this page.

As you can see I've layered calico and bakers twine behind my photo before adding a frame on top layered with arrows a badge and other embellishments. I have some more pinwheels on here that I made including a really cute miniature one that was very fiddly to make!!

That's it for today but I'll have some more to share with you early next week including some never before seen work and a tutorial on one one my new pages. Hope you had fun today and found some great ideas and inspiration. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you visit again soon. Have a great weekend!!!!