A Day in Paris

It's a cold and miserable day in our part of the world. It's good scrapping weather though!

Here's a mini album I made for my parents after their first trip to Europe. They loved Paris so much that I wanted to make a special keepsake for them. This album has just been published in the most recent edition of Australian Scrapbook Ideas ( Issue 15).

I used Prima's "Agenda" paper from the Almanac collection as the base for the book. This paper is a series of journaling blocks which were the perfect size for this album. Here's the front cover:

Each page is a bit less than 4 x 3 inches so there's not a lot of room for details. I used stamping to add interest and depth without bulk and kept embellies flat.

As a cute extra twist, I converted the photos to sepia then used a violet filter over them. This gave them just a tinge of pink which suited both the photos and the theme beautifully. Here are some pages:

I enjoy these tiny projects. They're so much fun!

Heather

Peaceful

Here is a layout that was published in Scrapbooking Memories, Vol 14, No 8.

I hunted around for scrap cardboard and this piece was already this shape. I just shortened it a bit. I ripped off the top layer of paper and painted the corrugations roughly with watered down white paint. I then added aqua paint.

The photo was taken at a beautiful Greek village we stayed at on holidays recently. I wanted to accentuate the sea and fishing theme so I've used fishing line and knotted pieces of string. For the "fishing net" I painted an orange bag with acrylic paint. This is not a very reliable option if the layout is going to get handled a lot as the acrylic paint didn't cover the bright orange plastic well. It's was ok for this though. A smattering of pearls helps give the page a lift.

Heather

Double Digits!

I'm so excited! My followers have hit double digits lol! Thanks everyone
xxx
Heather

Street Art

I'd like to share a layout I made which was published in Scrapbooking Memories, Vol 14, No 8. My son stayed in Melbourne for 3 weeks as part of a school programme. He soon learned to find his way around and he loved showing me the amazing alleys of graffiti.

Here's the layout:

To create the collage background I tore scrap papers into pieces and used Mod Podge to glue them down. When it was finished I applied a layer of Mod Podge over the collage to seal everything in place. To distinguish the busy background from the photos I roughly painted a black border around the photos. 

I downloaded the font from one of the free font sites, printed it onto transparency and just coloured it in with textas -not exactly a high-tech technique but it works for me! The white paint behind the title and text is painted onto the back of the transparency. This allowed me to move the painted area until I was happy with its placement on the page yet still let the brushstrokes show through. I really like this effect.

The layout is strong on colour and is very busy but this is a direct reflection of what those laneways are like!

Heather

2 down, 1 to go.

Since I returned from the Brisbane expo, I've been flat chat scrapping for specific deadlines. First up was a  DT deadline which I made with a few days to spare. Tonight I've just finished my next deadline - a commission for Australian Scrapbook Ideas. I think I need to celebrate!
To make things extra hard, we went on holidays but I took an art journal with me and made good use of the many hours in the car. At least I had a plan when I returned.
Now the last deadline looms - The Masters. Only 5 weeks to go and I haven't started! At least I have a journal full of ideas!
Now that those two deadlines have been met I can blog a bit more so thanks for being so patient with me. I'll talk more about some other layouts soon....

I have returned!

Hi all. Sorry about my blogging absence - I was away on holidays then caught a lurgy as soon as I returned home! Still not feeling great but am slowly on the mend.
I had every intention of blogging while we were away (our family of 4 took 4 laptops on hols!) but time was against me. It was mostly a trip about visiting relatives and they kept us so occupied that I didn't even get to turn my laptop on!
We spent one of the days touring around the McLaren Vale wineries in South Australia. What a beautiful area this is! I was the designated driver so I explored a bit while the others were sampling wine and hop delights. I only had my little waterproof Lumix with me but I managed to snap a few beautiful sights.

This was the sight right outside the tasting room of Vale Ale beers. Someone with a bit of marketing sense must have set this one up. There is no way anyone with an interest in photography is not going to take a photo of this scene!

Just across the road the sun was setting on a vineyard. It was all so idyllic really!

Will be back soon with more scrapping updates!

Heather