Holidays!

My apologies for being quiet online lately - we've been on holidays! We went to the amazing Gili Islands, three tiny islands off the coast of Lombok, in Indonesia. We stayed on two of the islands.

Singapore
We had a brief stop in Singapore where I caught up with two Scrap Around The World girls - Jelissa Mei and Priscilla Lim. Unfortunately, I was struck down with a tummy bug - as I was heading to the cafe to meet them! I had a very helpful taxi driver who found convenient locations to stop so I could throw up. For all our planning, it really wasn't much of a catch up which was really disappointing. Still, we did get to meet, even if I couldn't stay for long. Jelissa and Priscilla are such lovely ladies and I hope that next time we meet, we will have much more time!

Oh gosh, I do look pale!

Gili Air
This was the chill-out island. Not much to do but just soak up the sunshine, ride a bicycle around the island and go snorkeling. (I was feeling much better by this stage.) It was heaven. Amazingly, we were thousands of miles from home but happened to bump into one of our son's school teachers! We also met Cande and Arnoud, two other people travelling around. The six of us had a great time!

Sunsets and moonrises were all amazing.

The staff at our accommodation were fantastic.

There were plenty of turtles.

There are no cars or motorbikes allowed on the islands so if you need to carry anything heavy you catch a horse and cart.

Gili Trewangan

This is the party island. It's heaps busier than Gili Air and is full of 20 year old sun-worshippers and party-goers. We stayed away from the main strip though which worked out perfectly.

There's a turtle breeding programme running which is why it's so easy to find turtles nearby.

Every restaurant had a perfect backdrop......

Shopping isn't a high priority on the Gili's but these bracelets were everywhere. I bought one bracelet at each of the three islands (we visited Gili Mena briefly one day).

Ever sunset we watched was with a cocktail in hand, while sitting in a restaurant on the beach. Heaven!

Well that's a brief summary of our wonderful holiday. Expect to see some tropical layouts coming to a website, blog or magazine near you soon!

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

Some Grungy Fun!

Hello and welcome back to my blog!

I've been creating for Scrappy Chat Designs this week and have come up with a very grungy page. I had a great time playing with the Texture Luxe paste and trying some different things with it. There are papers in the kit from Prima and Kaisercraft, cardstock, some glittery goodies and of course, extra bits and pieces that can really finish off a page.

Here's a sneaky peek:

To see the full layout head over to the Scrappy Chat Designs page HERE.


Happy scrappin'!


Heather

A 'Sneaky' Scrap Around The World

Hello fellow scrappers!

Well it's the start of a new month and that means a new mood board is released at Scrap Around The World! I know I always love the mood boards there but this one takes the cake. It was designed by team member Pamela Ellis and seriously, this mood board makes me swoon!

Aren't those colours absolutely stunning? And I find more inspiration from the photos every time I look.

Now I'm going to be a bit 'sneaky' here. It's my turn for a tutorial this month - yay! - so I can only show you a sneak of my project at the moment. Here it is:

I'll be back on the 24th to show you the full layout and a step-by-step tutorial on how I made it.

Will you be entering the challenge this month?

ALL OUR PRIZES ALWAYS INCLUDE FREE INTERNATIONAL POSTAGE!!


1ST PRIZE

 OVER $50 worth of product from 7 Dots Studio

2ND PRIZE
$40 gift certificate from Creative Embellishments

3rd PRIZE
$30 worth of product from 13@rts

4th PRIZE
$25 worth of product from UmWowStudio

5th PRIZE
$20 worth of CHIPBOARD from 2Crafty Chipboard

6th PRIZE
15 Euros worth of product from Scrap-Unlimited

7th PRIZE
$15 gift voucher from Mixed Media Place

8th PRIZE
17.50 Euros worth of products from Danafix, France.

9th PRIZE
$15 worth of product from Studio75

10TH PRIZE
Image and details coming soon!

RANDOM PRIZE
Scrapbook kit from SCRAPS OF ELEGANCE KIT CLUB
Random Winner receives the previous month's kit from
Scraps of Elegance, valued at a whopping $36.95.

RANDOM FOLLOWERS PRIZE
$50 GIFT CERTIFICATE from THE DUSTY ATTIC


The deadline for this challenge is Friday the 31st of July, 2015.

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

I'm Off The Rails!

Hello and welcome back!

I have been doing a bit of creating for Off The Rails. I've found myself enjoying creating simpler layouts sometimes lately. I enjoy the fact that I can show off one or two features - plus my photo!

Here's the mood board for Off The Rails for June. At first I found the colours a bit daunting as they're not colours I would normally put together, however I soon realised that the tan colour could be interpreted as bronze and suddenly it all worked!

I was influenced by the colours of course, but also the concept of family as indicated by the paper dolls.

Here's my layout:

See what I mean about simple but effective? I feel that there is enough interest on this page to catch your eye but the focus is still on the photo.

Here's how I made it:

Step 1

Mix some watercolours with water and brush randomly onto the paper behind the photo. Flcik some extra bits around the area. Dry with a heat gun.

Step 2

Repeat with a second colour, ensuring the first colour is completely dry. Dry with a heat gun again.

Step 3

On a scrap piece of paper, paint the chipboard title with Pebeo Iridescent Copper paint then add copper Tinby Designs Metallic Melts to just the second word. Heat the Melts.

Step 4

Staple a vine in place. I used one that I had previously pulled the flowers off for another project.

Step 5

Add stamping, focusing on the area below and above the photo, plus some washi arrows.

Step 6

Add flowers to the vine and some copper-painted diamonds to the background. Add the journaling along the long edge opposite the photo.

I hope you can join in our challenge this month!



Happy scrappin'!


Heather

Dusty in June

Hello and welcome back! I'm here today to share my Dusty Attic layout with you using the June mood board as my inspiration.

Are you going to join in the challenge this month? There is

  $100 worth of gorgeous chipboard 

for the winner!

Here's the mood board.

I took my inspiration from the beauty of the photo and the fact that my daughter loves strawberries! The colors I used were the red/pink, the soft green and soft blue. I added some yellow and gold to give the page a lift.

Here's what I created:

This page actually started out as a 12 x 12 but somewhere along the way I decided it looked more like a longer, skinny page so I cut it down.

I painted with watercolours and sprays to add my colours to the page.  I added three different types of Dusty Attic words as a different way of adding journaling to the page.

I used a cool transfer technique to add that newspaper text to the background and painted my words with Heidi Swapp Color Shine after coating them with gesso, otherwise the spray would soak into the chipboard.

I painted the large flourish black for a dramatic statement against the other colours and had fun making the pattern of squares in the corners.

Can you see some gold stars in the background? I might have used a Dusty Attic stencil to make them - gosh, what did I say? Dusty Attic are making stencils? They aren't quite ready yet but keep an eye on this space! Sshhh, you didn't hear this from me!

Dusty Attic products I used are:

Elegant Swirl #3 DA1123

Hashtag Sayings DA 1076

Word Disks #1 DA1195

mini Captions #3 DA1290

I look forward to seeing your entry in the challenge this month!

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

Oh So Strong!

Hi there - welcome back! I'm sharing a layout I made for The Dusty Attic today. The Dusty Attic have a special on where all orders over $75 receive free postage. That's fabulous!

Today I'm using a chippie word that I never thought I'd use - "strong". This word comes in a pack with others like "energetic" and "crazy". To me, these words are typically aimed a young boys so I just thought I would be unlikely to use them. However, when I found these photos of my daughter posing like a muscle man after her karate grading I realised the word "strong" is actually very appropriate for her. Yes, she was being silly, but she really is a very strong young lady, both mentally and physically. So here's my "Strong" layout!

I love the juxtopisiton of the bright, girly colours with the tough and strong images. This page is not only about my daughter's achievements (and her whacky sense of humour!) but also about girl power!

The chippie below the photo is another one that I've used in a way that would be different to it's intention. It's actually called "Elegant Pearls" but, as you can see, I haven't used it on an elegant page at all! I thought it mimicked her medallion really well so I inked and painted it in the same colours as the medallion around her neck. I then used the waste of the chippie behind the photos to raise them up, allowing me to slide the other chippies slightly under the photos.

I've used a combination of spray dribbles and stitching beneath the photos.

Oh, and is that a Dusty Attic stencil on the background again? I think they might be being released soon. Whoops! Did I say that? My lips are sealed!

Dusty Attic products used are:

Elegant Pearls DA1336

Wrought Iron Design Set DA0574

Word Pack #23

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

A Brisbane Scrapbooking Expo Roundup

Hello there!

I promised I would be back to share some pics from the Brisbane Scrapbooking Expo. To those of you who don't live in Australia, Brisbane is the largest scrapping expo in the country. It's a great place to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. Plus of course, we get to see some awesome new products, although I have to admit, the awesomest new products were the ones we were showcasing!

Our classroom was sponsored by Pebeo paints and we had some amazing new products! You can get them at Michelle's shop here, although you might need to wait until Michelle restocks as she sold out of heaps of things! Michelle and I were also sponsored by The Dusty Attic. I designed my own chipboards and stencil which was very exciting! They'll be available online soon.

As we were all Scrapbooking Memories Masters, Scrapbooking Memories Magazine also sponsored us. We were able to give discounted subscriptions to all class members and a few lucky ladies won subscriptions! And last but certainly not least, Tinby Designs joined in giving everyone free Metallic Melts in their kits. These were a huge hit with the students.

I taught a class each day, alongside Michelle Grant and Fiona Paltridge. We also worked with Beck Beattie. Michelle had her Studio M Designs stand there and we had a great time with her fun but hard-working army of helpers.

Each day we worked out butts off then most nights we would go out and enjoy some catching up time. Here are some highlights:

Anguree Jansen van Rensburg gets her dirty dancing on at the Turkish restaurant.

Fiona Paltridge was just missing the pink sequined bikini!

Lynn Good flew all the way from Tasmania and Anguree flew from Darwin. It's great to have such wonderful ladies in our classes.

Teaching in one of my classes.

It was great to catch up with old friends Christine West and Rosie Refalo.

The tutors went out to dinner one night. It's always so great to catch up with the news and meet a few new ladies. What a fabulous bunch of girls!

One of those wonderful women that I just clicked with the first time I met her was Tina Connolly. It was so good to see her again!

It seems to have become a tradition to get churros dipped in chocolate after our tutors' dinner. Lots of fun, even if we had to eat on the street!

Beck, Fiona and I shared a room. On the last night, after packing up, we were so exhausted we thought we'd take a selfie of us looking tired. No matter how many times we tried, we couldn't do it without cracking up laughing! We didn't think of it at the time but we still had our flouro vests on from packing up - not a good look!

So that's the expo in a few quick pics. It was an amazing mix of hard work, scrappy conversations, interesting products and fun nights. Above all though, it was a fabulous merging of people all with the same interests. It was sooo much fun!


Happy scrappin'!


Heather