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

Be Brave

Welcome back!

Today, my scrapbook page is not a happy one. It's about a subject close to my heart. For 12 years we have been fighting a wind project that was planned to be built near our property and now it is finally under construction. 2,000 people live within 5kms of these enormous turbines and so many people in our community have fought long and hard to prevent our beautiful rural landscape from being industrialised. We have failed in this objective, however we did manage to get better noise monitoring and checking in place for those who will live closest to the turbines, which is something.

I'm not usually a negative person and I don't usually express emotions like these in my scrapping, however the challenge at More Than Words this month is to be inspired by the word 'Future' and to add 'Stars' to the project. No matter how much I thought about alternative topics for this, I always came back to the thought of how much our environment is about to change.

Here's what I made:

The torn paper indicates the many lives that have been torn apart here and the stitching represents how we've tried to help each other as much as possible. The stars show that there is hope that our community can deal with what's coming and move on.

The paper is a gorgeous one from 13arts. I wound cotton around the alphas and one of the stars and used the same cotton to roughly stitch across the tear. I've stamped some stars on the background but the main stars are cut from book paper. I adore book paper! I even put on a starry t-shirt for the photo - lol!

I hope you can join in our challenge this month. You can find the details here.

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

The Colours of Autumn

Hello! I've been very inspired lately by a number of challenges. There are some gorgeous mood boards around at the moment! The ones that influenced this creation are Our Mixed Media Moods, Art Playground,  Scrapki-Wyzwaniowo and CSI- Color, Stories, Inspiration. I have never entered four challenges with one project before but these all feature autumn leaves or an autumn theme!

Firstly, here's my project. It could be classified as a layout or art journal page but it will go into my album and fits on 12 x 12 paper so I'll call it a layout! I had so much fun making this.

I've included many of my favourite techniques on this project. Black, white and book paper is a favourite combo of mine. In this case it's black, cream and book paper as the book paper I used is fairly old and has a yellowed look about it - awesome! The messy stitching is something I use a lot - I love it! I also used some of my favourite products such as the punch along the right hand side and the Tinby Designs Colour Crush on the background.

I used a metallic copper paint through a stencil and matched it with a funky copper-coloured fibre.

I wanted to highlight the leaves on the Dusty Attic chipboard so I found a punch that had tiny little pieces that are roughly leaf-shaped. I punched these shapes out of book paper and added these to the chipboard. It was fiddly work but I love the result.

I love messy stitching!

The photo was taken in a gorgeous forest in Italy where the leaves were just starting to turn a stunning yellow. Coming from Australia, we don't see many forests with autumn leaves so I was pretty excited by this!

Two of the challenges I'm entering are intertwined. The challenge at Art Playground is to use some colours from their mood board and to be inspired by 'My Muse'. Here's the mood board:

I used a range of the olive colours on my background as well as the more coppery colour. The colours look metallic here so I used metallic copper paint. I am inspired by a number of amazing scrappers and artists and one of these is the incredible DeeDee Catron. I love her quirky style and the way she creates pieces that look stunning without being cluttered. She is definitely 'My Muse'.

DeeDee helps run Our Mixed Media Moods which also has a challenge this month. After watching DeeDee's video I rushed straight to the scrap room and created this piece. Here's the mood board:

I was inspired by the photo in the bottom right corner, as well as the text on the aged-looking pieces in the top left photo. DeeDee's creation for this challenge is awesome! You can check it out here.

The challenge up at Scrapki-Wyzwaniowo is to use leaves. Easy!

I have autumn leaves in my photo, book paper leaves on my chipboard and some plain chipboard leaves in the corner of my photo under the title.

Last, but certainly not least, the other challenge that was sitting on my desk as I made this was CSI. Again, it's an autumn- themed mood board.

I clues I used are:
Evidence:
Book paper
Leaves and branches
Fall-themed elements
Twine
Something woven (the copper fibre)
Distressing

Testimony:
Document something about autumn
The Scheme:
Khaki and flax yellow (on the background)
Dark, dark brown (on the branches)

Phew - that was a long post! I hope you can jump on board and join in some of the challenges too!


Happy scrappin'!

Heather

Eat, Play, Love.

Hello again. It's Mini Challenge time at More Than Words and the challenge is to use the word 'Play' on your card, tag, ATC or postcard. The idea for this one came to me in the middle of the night! I have no idea what made me think of the movie and book, 'Eat, Pray, Love' but this just seemed a natural progression ;)

I think this is my new philosophy in life. You can never have too much eating, playing and loving - lol!

The papers on this are mostly 13arts. The splashes of colour are just scraps.

The Polaroid frames are from The Dusty Attic. There are heaps of layers of products on these. First I coated the bare chipboard in gesso. I then added two different colour inks. I wanted more oomph though so I added some Tinby Designs Metallic Melts. First I added Charcoal, and set the Melts, then I added purple and teal colours over the top. The result is a gorgeous, subtle colour shimmer.

I hope you can join us at More Than Words this month. You can find the challenge here.

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

Petticoats and Pleats

Hello there!

I got a bit excited when I saw the challenge over at 13arts. The challenge board is called 'Petticoats and Pleats' and is all about retro dressmaking. When I was young, my mum made most of my clothes. I have some gorgeous photos of me all dressed up in mum's finest creations, but my favourite photo is this one. I must have been two or three years old. I was clearly absolutely delighted with this fantasy of tulle, judging my the look on my face. I was 'All Smiles'.

My journaling at the bottom explains how I must have felt like a fairy princess.

I used papers from 13arts' stunning new Aqua Flora range plus bits and pieces from an older range. I lightly gessoed over the Shades of Black paper, allowing the numbers to peep through in places. On top of that I layered up Tinby Designs Colour Crush, Lindy's Magicals and a variety of stamps.

I coated most of my Dusty Attic chippies with silver Metallic Melts, again from Tinby Designs. I love this chunky, shiny effect. Very glam but a bit rugged at the same time ;)

I mixed some Colour Crush and Magicals with water to make watercolours and painted my butterflies with them so they coordinated with the rest of the layout.

Obviously, my main inspiration from the challenge board was the overall theme of vintage, hand-made clothes but I also used machine stitching, loose thread and an old photo. I hung a round chippie from the photo cluster.

I hope you can join in at 13arts. Here's the challenge board. You can find the details here.

Thanks for taking the time to have a look. I had such fun making this!


Happy scrappin'!

Heather

I Love Getting Messy at More Than Words!

Hello again!

Have you seen the new challenge over at More Than Words? The word that you need to be inspired by is 'Leisure' and the creative challenge is to use 'Splats' on your canvas, layout or art journal page. I decided to use a favourite photo of my hubby playing chasey with some village kids in Papua New Guinea. I love the look on the kids' faces in this!

Making a page with splats on it was fun! I used Tinby Designs Metallic Melts to make those cool splats and splashes on the background.

I added more splats with a stamp and green ink.

I hope you can join us this month. Here's the challenge board:

You can find the challange here.


Happy scrappin'!



Heather