It's Time to be Merry!

Ho Ho Ho! It's time to be Merry at More Than Words. Yes, the word to use on your card, tag, ATC or postcard this month is 'Merry'. Because it's such a crazy time of the year, we've decided to put our Mini Challenge up early so you have two weeks, instead of the usual one week, to get your entry in.

I made some Christmas tags.

I grabbed some old clothing tags and used them on my gelli plate, adding all sorts of patterns in reds, yellows and greens. I added sentiments, many containing the word 'Merry', and added stamping and rub-ons. I finished them off with ribbons and baubles on wire.

Here are some close ups of individual tags.

If you can find some time in this busy month we'd love to see you join in the fun! You can find the challenge here.


Happy scrappin!


Heather

All Needles and Pins at Kraft Plus

Welcome to December and to a new challenge at Kraft Plus! This month, your challenge is to use Needles and Pins somehow in your kraft-based project. You can use the needles and pins themselves or you can add stitching or even just punched holes!

I came up with this:

I took some fun photos of my bestie and I one day when we were travelling together and they've been great to scrap.

I used the Needles and Pins theme in a few different ways. I stitched the title using my sewing machine. I'd never tried to do this before and it certainly was challenging, but I got there in the end. Note that I used a very short title to lessen the chance of a serious mistake! It didn't turn out perfect but it worked. I also used a pin on the butterfly beside it.

I also stitched a fancy border around the edges of the page. I made this by increasing and decreasing the size of the zig-zag stitches.

I had this pack of Kaisercraft embellishments sitting on my desk for a while. I wanted to use them but they were very little-girl themed and I have no little girls in my life at the moment. By only using certain items I was able to use them for a big-girl page instead!

I also dug out my old brads for this. I seem to be reaching for them a lot lately.

I hope you can join us at Kraft Plus this month. You can find the challenge here.

Happy scrappin'!


Heather

What Do You Believe In?

Hello there! Have you seen the new challenge over at More Than Words? You need to be inspired by the word 'Believe' and use stamping on your layout, canvas or art journal page. Cool!

I went pretty crazy with the stamps on this one. I lost count of how many I used!

The word 'Believe' made me think of Christmas and I found these funny photos from Christmas last year. We always have plenty of laughs when our crazy family gets together. I don't know what they were putting on thier heads in these photos. Some sort of decoration I think!

I stamped the frames around the photos then coloured them with watercolours. I used the same watercolours to colour a few other stamped images near the photos.

Most of the background stamping was done in black. Over the top I laid a banner. I used the same watercolours to colour the flags.

Lost of crazy stitching adds a bit of texture and interest.

I even stamped the journalling. It's not something I plan to do a lot of again - it took quite a while!

I know December is a busy month but hopefully you can join us at More Than Words! You can find the challenge here.

Happy scrappin'!


Heather

Weaving with DeeDee

Oh my! I've just got back from a very big weekend in Mt Gambier (in South Australia) with DeeDee Catron from the US and Fiona Paltridge. It was fantastic! We had some awesome classes and a very big Saturday night out on the town. For a small town, Mt Gambier punches above its weight for nightlife! It helps that the girls (and a few hubbies) were such a fun bunch too!

Our last class was a weaving class. We learned some very cool techniques where we transferred rust from old metal bits and pieces onto material strips that we then wove into rusty, rustic works of art. Everyone created something unique and they were all awesome! We got the bulk of the work done in the class then we finished them off at home which was great cos I could dig up interesting material and rusty things to add into the project.

Here's my end result:

I added many metal pieces to this. I hung it from an old rusty drill bit and added an old chain to the front once I'd finished the weaving.

You can see all the different textures and rust marks on the materials. I added lots of knots and lumpy bits for some cool texture.

From the bottom I hung 'tassels' made of cloth, fibres, twines and a variety of metal pieces. There's everything from barbed wire to a water tank tap handle in there!

Each 'tassle' is anchored to a rusty nut or washer.

This was such fun to make! Thanks DeeDee for such a fun and educational class!


Happy scrappin'!


Heather

Shine at More Than Words!

Welcome back!

Firstly, I'd like to send out a big thank you to those of you who follow my blog. Your comments and messages of support on some recent posts means a lot to me. The scrapping community is a very supportive one!

Today I'd like to share a card I made for the mini challenge at More Than Words. The challenge is to use the word 'Shine' on your card, tag, ATC or postcard. I made a card:

This is unusually flowery for me. I just felt like making something in this style. I was inspired to by the realisation that I have heaps of flowers in my stash that I rarely use. Part of the reason I don't use them much is that I don't like bulky layouts as I keep my layouts in albums. A card is the perfect solution to use them up!

I love this colour combo of pink, orange and yellow with kraft. I added bare chipboard and corrugated cardboard in neutral tones too.

Are you going to give our challenge a go this month? You can find the details here.

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

Scrap the Boys

Hi there! I thought I'd give a challenge a go this week. I had a favourite photo of my son and I in mind when I went challenge hunting and I found it was perfect for the challenge at Scrap the Boys.

Here's what I made:

I found my inspiration for the background when I was least expecting it. I was walking past the TV while my hubby was watching it and there was an English cartoonist pouring ink onto paper, making blobs and splats. I was immediately inspired to pour paint on my background. It took a few goes to get the right look but I was rapt with the result. The cartoonist is Ralph Steadman. I couldn't find his paint pouring technique on youtube but I found some of his other work here. He's such a talented man!

Some of my blobs landed in exactly the right places :)

The challenge at Scrap the Boys is to scrap a photo of YOU with the boy in your life. Here's the board:

I used the title literally. I also added the red heart.

I added loads of messy stitching on this.

I hope you can join in at Scrap the Boys this month!


Happy scrappin!


Heather

Lionfish!

Hello there! Have you seen the challenge at Kraft Plus yet? Let the word 'Mosaics' inspire you. Oohh, now that's got you thinking hasn't it?

Firstly, I'd like to thank the ladies at Paper Flourish for sending me an amazing package when I won a challenge. Guess what was inside? Mosaic patterned paper! To top it off there were also mosaic tiles and lots of other bits and pieces. With the exception of the alphas, I made this page entirely from the prize.

Unusually for me, I've scrapped on A4 sized paper because I think the album for this trip is going to be A4 sized. These photos were taken on an island in Indonesa called Seraya. I've never seen so many lionfish before. They were truly amazing!

I alternated between topping my squares with photos and mosaic tiles. I adore those tiles!

The blues and greens of the mosaic paper went perfectly with my underwater photos I thought.

Can you join in the challenge with us at Kraft PLus this month? You can find the challenge here..

Happy scrappin'!

Heather