A FEW SHARES....

Hi!! I can't believe its the last day of October. The year is nearly gone, and I keep wondering where it all went! It will be Christmas soon, my son is 2 and a half now, my brother is graduating high school. There is so much still to come this year and so much that has happened already. Anyway.... This week has been fantastic for me! I have been really creative and managed to come out with a few projects in the last couple of days. We've had some nice weather, my boy and I have even been swimming!
So I have a few things to share with you today... first is a layout I created for ScrapFriends October sketch challenge #18. You can view the challenge post and all the wonderful DT work and other entries at: http://blog.scrapfriends.com.au/2013/10/sketch-challenge-18-october-2013.html

Here is an image of the sketch:

 

And here is what I created:

'Watch You Go'

As you can see I have stuck with the same basic layout as the sketch keeping most, if not all of the elements the same, as well as adding my own embellishment clusters. A page without lots of embellishments just doesn't feel right or suit my style.

I chose to use three photos that were taken in sequence to keep it easy on the eyes. These photos are some of my favorites, which you may have noticed as I have used them quite a few times on previous layouts and journal pages. Using more than one photo was a real challenge for me as I rarely use more than 1 small photo. 

Here are some close-ups for you:

 A bit of a mix of brands on here yet again! We have Prima, MME, AC, Echo Park and Studio Calico. There are a few small things on here from other brands as well.

As always I have used gesso, texture paste and watercolors in my background.

I love my brick mask, it's my new fave!! And how cute is that little car sticker with the heart window from American Crafts!!

As you can see, to help flow with the sketch, I have added this cute peg and cut out a few chevrons from patterned paper, which I distressed before sticking down. I have added some rolled up twine behind the bottom photo to give it some dimension and to keep each photo separate while at the same time drawing the eye through. The top photo was raised on foam tape.

These cute wood veener bikes, cars, boats and planes from Studio Calico are a must for me at the moment. I have been using them on just about everything.

Still keeping with the sketch, I have added paint drips off to the side of the page along with some chipboard banners from MME and Echo Park. I also added more chevrons!

I really love the mints and greens of my watercolors on here. Its so fresh and great for Spring/Summer layouts! For the title I have used Prima Alphas.

How gorgeous are these blue La Mia roses from Prima?? I got them the other day and I just can't get enough of them!! I have used a really small paint splatter brad in place of an actual big paint splatter as I didn't want to take anything away from the brick masking and watercolors. In the sketch there was a little frame behind the top photo, and I loved the way this looked, so I have added my own little hand cut paper frame behind my top photo too!!

The Prima pebbles I have had for a couple of years now and I found them hiding away in the draw the other day and thought they would look fantastic on here. As you can see I have more paint drips and splatters of orange paint, and of course that cute little lady bug brad.

More wood veeners from Studio Calico, and a Tim Holtz light Bulb!!

Next up I have a canvas to share with you, although it's not really a canvas, more like a recycled plank of wood from my little brothers old computer desk. When Dad pulled the desk apart there was one piece probably only 5 inches in height but about 16 inches long and I thought it would make a really cute little piece for the family room. I've had it sitting on my desk for a month now and only just yesterday decided to do something with it.

'The Sweetest Thing'

I love this photo of my boy he would have been about 9 or 10 months old here, and its just such a cute photo, he's got such chubby cheeks!!
The brands I've used are once again a mix of Prima, AC, MME, Studio Calico and Echo Park, with a few small things of other brands as well.

Here is what the background looked like before:

I used lots of gesso and texture paste, coating the wood and drying with a heat gun to get all those little bubbles. I then used my Prima Mask with some texture paste and dried this as well. The final step was to paint with watercolors. I have slowly built the color up on this to get that combination of mints, blues, greens and yellows, although I only used two different paints.

Some detailed shots:

Prima flowers, and a little Kaisercraft resin flower. The little blue bike is a Studio Calico wood veneer that I painted to tie in with the photo.

The peg is from American Crafts, as is the star paper clip. I have also used another wood veneer this time I used a boat, and I love how it looks like its sailing on foamy water!!

The papers are Ac, Echo Park and MME.

 

A few paper layers along with twine and calico.

 I chose to use this wood veener as my title as it described perfectly what I see when I look at this photo, and how I view my son all the time... Well most of the time!! :-)

The little blue rose at the bottom was originally white. I painted it with watercolors and did the same again to the one at the top, as everything on the canvas was already quite light and needed a few things to tie it with the photo to help draw the eye around the page. I have achieved this using a little visual triangle, the two roses, and a touch of the same color on the bike.

 To finish off the page I added a little butterfly from Collections Elements to the top of the page, completing that springtime/summertime feel.

Last but not least today I have a door hanger I made for my Mom. Being Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the final day of the month I decided to make it in Pink. Before I share this with you however I thought I would share a little story of luck and hope with you.

My Nanna was diagnosed with breast cancer the year I was born, she beat the cancer, but only after having a mastectomy. 17 years later she was once again told the cancer had returned, and once again she beat it, then just a couple of years ago, after being in remission for almost 5 years she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer that had spread to her lung. Now this was a hard time for my family as most people know that once it spreads its usually to late. The doctors here in Perth said all they could do was chemotherapy, and that her chances were 50/50. Now my Nanna is a fighter and to her that just wasn't good enough, so she flew over to Sydney to consult with her doctors over there. In the end they decided on a more radical approach and she underwent surgery to have half of her lung removed. She was a long time in recovering from the surgery and as she is getting older, being short of half a lung has made simple things, like cleaning and climbing steps difficult for her, but the surgery saved her life. She has to take chemotherapy tablets to help stop the cancer coming back and will likely take them the rest of her life. She also sees a doctor and has tests run every three months now, but she is alive and has been in remission for almost 2 years. Not a trace of cancer. Three times my grandmother has suffered this fate and three times she has prevailed. She has always been a believer in positive thinking and I believe that, along with luck and love is what gets her through every time. 

So for my Mom, who I love very much and also has to undergo tests for breast Cancer on a regular basis as she is classed as a high risk, I have created this cute Pink door hanger.

'Mom'

The door hanger is from the Kaisercraft wood collection. I have covered it using paper from simple stories which in turn I covered completely in watercolor paints. For the paper layers I have used Bazzil cardstock in black, Prima packaging and MME Chalk Studios collection.

The flowers are mostly Prima with a few cheap 2 dollar shop roses, and a Kaisercraft resin roses. I have also used some resin by Melissa Frances at the bottom of the page, and some Prima resist canvas and canvas alphas.

Some detailed shots:

Well that's all from me today. It's almost time for dinner here and I got a little boy who needs to eat!! Besides I've not eaten today and I'm hungry... Lol!!

Before I go I'd like to wish a Happy Halloween to those of you who celebrate this tradition, and thank everyone who has stopped by. I will be back sometime early next week with more to share!! Have a great weekend everyone! Xoxox!!

MONDAY MADNESS

Hello again. It's been a little crazy here at my house today, but I'm glad to be back with a new creation to share with you again so soon. I've been trying to put something up every few days yet it always ends up being a week! Did everybody have a good weekend??? Mine was fantastic. I went and had a visit at a scrapbooking store up in the city that I've not yet been to, and spent some money!! Not as much as I would have liked as it was much more expensive than my local store. They wanted $2.75 for a sheet of Prima paper that was almost 2 years old..... Hell no. But I did get some other papers that weren't so expensive, Some of my fave's were the Boy Crazy papers by My Mind's Eye. I love these, and I have used them in the layout I'd like to share with you today.

This layout was created for the October Challenge over at Scrap Around The World.

You can view this months challenge at: http://scraparoundtheworld.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/october-2013-challenge-6-fresh-modern_9921.html They have lots of wonderful inspiration that they would love to share with you. 

 

 This is the mood board for the October Challenge, I love everything on here but at the top of my list is the cushion. That bright yellow and grey together blew me away. Does anyone know where I can buy a cushion like this??? I want one. I have also taken inspiration from the blue of the wallpaper and the green in the kitchen stuff, the bows on the shoes and the lace-like top of the vase and the flowers. Oh, and that blue/green typewriter.... I love this color. My layout didn't really turn out at all like what I had planned originally but I'm kinda glad that it didn't as I really love what I have created.

'Oh so Cute'

  

I had so much fun with this layout and my favorite part would have to be the way the mint on my bricks looks against that grey background. I never considered using a darker background with all my media before. I always used very light backgrounds. I spent all day yesterday telling my family over and over how 'Awesome' I thought it looked!!! Hehehe!!

So as you can see I've used 2 sheets of paper for the background. I've torn the grey sheet really roughly in half then used a border punch on it, to mimic the vase on the mood board but in my own unique style. All the colors I have used were inspired by the mood board and in the end I would have to say that the colors were my main source of inspiration. Originally it was going to be entirely white, yellow and grey, but my pages never turn out how I plan them :-)

Here are some close-ups for you:

Lots of layers, as always! Once again I took inspiration from the mood board by adding flowers and also the little bows on the back of the shoes. I've added the bow to my layers of Prima flowers, and finished off with some Tim Holtz pieces, skeleton leaves, buttons and an acetate butterflies.

As usual I couldn't resist framing my photo with twine. I love the color of this twine, and I didn't realize at first but it's almost the same color as the typewriter!!

Don't you just love these little wood veneers from Studio Calico. They are so fun to use and so versatile. These little bikes are my fave!!

More veneers, Prima flowers, skeleton leaves and a cute little badge.

The brighter yellow paper behind the photo is from American Crafts. I had planned on using only the MME papers but I just needed something on their that was very bright to tie it all together better.  

For the title I have used Prima Alphas from the Printery Collection, along with the word Cute which is from My Little Yellow Bicycle, which I raised up with some foam squares. The exclamation mark is from AC.

I added a few flower centers bunched together with some cut pieces of a Prima crystal palace vine, before tucking them in behind other flowers.

I love all the texture on this layout, and how even though there are many different elements they all tie in really well together. The plane on the printed paper is Teresa Collins from her Memorabilia Collection. I added the little Studio Calico plane to it. The acetate butterflies are from Collections Elements.

 I decided I would share this one last close-up with you as it really shows all the layers of paper, and the dimension of all the elements combined on this layout. What do you think about that heart peg by AC at the top? It's cute right!!

In the end I would have to say that my favorite thing about this challenge is that its really open to interpretation and can become almost anything, I loved the colors and the elements, and I had so much fun working these into my page. 

Don't forget to pop over to Scrap Around the World and check out this months challenge. You will find the link at the top of my post. Have a good week everybody and thanks for stopping by. Xoxox!!

YOU AND ME

HI! Its the weekend once again. This week went by so quickly, I keep wondering where all my time went! Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to get much done this week. Been busy Christmas shopping!! However I do have one new page I'd love to share with you. 

While this layout is definitely still my style, it's also at the same time very different to what I normally create and I spent a lot of time going over and over this one. The photo I used is one of my son and I, taken in the ICU at King Edward Memorial Hospital. He was about 10 days old and had finally been allowed to come off all the machines.

There is a lot of Pink on this page, much more than I would normally use, however I created this page for me and what it was like becoming a mother so while its a baby boy in the photo, pink seemed appropriate. I couldn't help adding blue though. All pink and neutrals somehow did not seem right.

'You and Me'

No matter how hard I tried I could not make this page go flat to photo, not with blutac, tape, anything! I also decided to be fiddly and erase the background as I wanted the edging to be noticeable. Normally I crop through it and most you can still see except a few small pieces it cuts out, though because this page would not go flat I lost to much of the distressed edge and even a fair bit of the punching. The erasing is most definitely not my neatest work but I shake far to much to have a steady enough hand for that kind of thing!!

  

The background paper is Pink Paislee, The layers Bella Blvd and Echo Park. Embellishments are mostly Prima except a small piece of MME chipboard, Tim Holtz safety pin, Collections Elements Butterflies and my 2 craft pegs.

Some detailed shots: 

Another Prima title and cute gold glitter circles. Both were used on the last layout I shared with you but I can't seem to get enough of either. A bit of texture paste and watercolor, which I also used to highlight some of the embellishments. I love these little blue triangle I cut from a really small scrap of one one my favorite papers from 'The Good Life' collection by Fancy Pants.

Prima vine and flowers. I love this vine so much I almost wish I could use it on everything. I used to have a few of them... But this was my last one :-(.

I absolutely love this little knitted leaf of Prima's. It is so gorgeous and original. I'll admit I was unsure how to use it at first so it's been sitting in my 'desk' far too long and then I realized all I had to do was stick it on! 

 I kept this side of the page much cleaner than the other. I wanted the layout to balance and not overcrowd the photo. I used black Kindy Glitz on the pegs, and had planned to leave them that way, but I accidentally got my gold glitter all over them as they were drying. I had thought to get some new one out and start again but once it dried I fell in love and ended up swiping glitter over everything to help tie it all together.

So while I'm here I thought I would share a quick run down of the process I used to put this layout together. 

1. Start by scraping a thin layer of gesso over your background paper. You don't want it to effect the pattern but strengthen the paper for you watercolor paints.

Select a stencil and scrape texture over you page. Use any stencil you like. I used a few differnt ones from the same set to build a frame-like pattern on my layout.

2. Punch around the edge of your layout roughly, then use your watercolor paints to highlight the punched edges and the texture paste. Add extra water to some sections of the paper to allow the colors to drip down the page at will. Add another piece of paper to the back and tape in place. Distress the edges.

3. Select the paper you wish to use and tear or cut to size before taping to your page. Tear a piece of calico and glue in place and add a circle of twine on top.

4. Add your photo and begin to place your embellishments on the page. When your happy with their arrangement, stick them in place. Add some more twine to the top of your photo and place a button in the lower corner.

 5. Finish off the page by adding some triangles on foam tape, glitter circles and use watercolors to highlight some of your embellishments. Fiddle with it for a few minutes until your happy and your page is complete.

Well that's it from me today. I'll be back again soon with more to share got a few new pages that are almost finished and I can't wait to share them with you. Thankx for stopping by and I hope everybody has a fantastic weekend!!

PRIMA PPP

Hey! I hope everyone had a good weekend. I had a fantastic weekend spent at home. I played with my son, spent time with my mom and spent a great deal of time creating. As you all know I created a beautiful layout using a picture of my mom, aged 22, for Prima's October BAP and on Friday night I decided why not create something for their PPP as well. As I've mentioned previously my Prima stash is pretty low, especially my paper's, I used the last of it for this page I'm sharing today. Unfortunately I'm still waiting on my delivery :-(. Because of this I decided to recycle some flowers off an old layout or 2 that I either never completed or just really wasn't happy with. I also went through all my supplies and found an unopened packet of their antique mirror embellishments. It's obvious I've purchased it a long time ago and either never found a use for it or packed it away and forgot about it. I had a wonderful time making this layout and I hope you enjoy it.

'The World is Full of Wonder'

The background paper I have used on here is  called 'The Courts', from Prima's Romantique collection. Unfortunately I didn't have anything orange that was Prima, so I got creative and got out my favorite Prima "Grungy Chevron' stencil, some gesso and watercolor paints. I coated the entire background with gesso so that any warping would be smoothed out, but I tried to keep the layer thin enough in places so that the original background pattern would still be visible after the washes of paint were applied. I used a mixture of bright orange and lemon yellow to get the desired effect.

As I mentioned before my paper supply is practically non-existent, and I used my last whole sheet on the background. Because of this most of my layers are made up from packaging. I have used the transparent packaging with the white script on it that came with my grey flowers. The big white/cream piece that I've punched is what came with the antique mirror embellishments, while another piece is from the Hello Pastel collection flowers that I have used on here (though you can barely see it anymore). Last, but not least, my favorite, the packaging from my chevron stencil. I finished my layers with a small piece of paper from the Printery collection, some black mesh, calico and twine on top of the photo. I also used my Prima stamp to add some extra texture around where I wanted my paper layers to sit.

Got quite a few close-ups for you:

You can see some of the layers really well in these two photo. The beaded stem, that is wrapped in with the twine, came in a packet of Prima flowers I brought, but could never figure out a use for. I cut some sections off my last Crystal Palace vine to add just under some flowers and I've also used small sections of Say it in Crystals. I've tucked a small flower from the Charlotte collection behind the bottom layer of paper, then layered the mirrored butterfly, Chantelle medallion flower, some resist canvas and this gorgeous bright yellow rose from the Summer Prelude mix.

This is another great photo for viewing the layers. The pegs I have used here are just cheap no name craft pegs that I covered in black Kindy Glitz. I love the way it dried and was surprised that I had never thought to do this before. I have layered the small grey flower from the Bristo blooms collection on top of the yellow E-line flower, unfortunately though this one was missing it's centre so I've used a pearl button in it's place, then tucked the two under the top left hand corner next to the pegs. I've also used some more resist canvas and Say it in Crystals.

Prima Alphas, some flowers from the Hello Pastel collection, another piece of antiqued mirror and resist canvas.

The big soft yellow rose, I'm pretty sure is from Prima's winter rose collection. They are some of my favorite flowers. They are just so beautiful, and this one I have had for a long time. The top photo also shows some of the original background pattern. On the bottom photo we have more chantelle medallion, bristo bloom and crystal palace flowers, Say it in Crystals and Junkyard findings.

 I added the silvery gold glitter circles and flicks of paint last as the page just felt like it was missing something. The glitter is not something I have tried before but I have been seeing it more and more often lately, and wished to give it a try. It turned out much better than I expected and I love the way it adds to my page.

So that's it from me today. I know that was a lot of close-ups but I really love this page and there were just so many details I wanted to share with you, and besides got to fill up this blog somehow right? Thanks for stopping by and I hope you found some inspiration on here today. Don't forget to pop over to the Prima blog and check out other great entries. I'll be back later in the week, hopefully with a lot more to share. Hope you all have a good week!! Xoxoxo!!