I'm A Prizewinner!

Well I'm very excited to announce that I won a prize on the first ever Scrap Around The World challenge! There were 82 entries from at least 19 different countries! There were four winning places and four honourable mentions and I came fourth! Not bad for an Aussie girl from the bush :)

Here's my layout:

If you'd like to see more details on the layout, just scroll down a few posts.

I loved both the sketch and the mood board at Scrap Around The World and can't wait to see what they come up with for June.

Woohoo!

Heather

Scrap Friends Challenge

I always have the best of intentions of submitting to online challenges, but never seem to find the time. I seem to have caught up this month so am thrilled to attempt a Scrap Friends challenge. I haven't done one for ages. I've been particularly trying to do a challenge on this site for a while as they have a seriously interesting DT and I love their sketches and colour challenges.

Me being the colour addict that I am, it seemed logical that I should go with the colour palette challenge. Here's this month's palette:

I was attracted to the deep pink and went straight to a gorgeous new Prima paper I had bought. I then ran with that idea but ended up with more green and less pink than originally planned. That's probably not a bad thing as the photo is of my daughter when she was very little and she now hates pink!

Here's my layout:

There's nothing quite as adorable as a sleeping child. The bg paper is Prima as are the gorgeous banners. To make the flower banner, I pulled out the centres from larger Manor House flowers and only used these. I then "tied them up" with satin ribbon.

Here are some close ups.

I inked each of those pieces of banner and attached them with double sides tape. I then very carefully glued the twine along the top. A labour of love I think!

Thanks for looking!

Heather

Brisbane Expo

Hi Ladies. Well the time is drawing nearer for the Brisbane Expo. I'd love to know who of you are going. It would be wonderful to meet you in real life.

If you haven't booked your accommodation, the special deal I had going at Rydges South Bank is closed I'm afraid. You can still book through the normal channels though.

Hope to see you there!

Heather

Oh Snap! Part 2

Hi all,

If you're in the southern part of this amazing country I hope you've got your winter woollies on! It's freezing! I think we're feeling it more than usual as it's been so warm until now. The good thing about the cold weather though is that it allows me to scrap guilt-free!

You might remember that I made a layout using the new Oh Snap! range from Echo Park a couple of weeks ago for Scrap Everything! At the time I said I would get at least 2 more layouts out of the pack. By adding two pieces of cardstock I have now made a double layout and still have a full sheet, half the stickers and some part sheets left. At $9 this is definitely a great value pack.

Here's what I made:

I think a lot of you might relate to this situation. There's a group of happy people, they're all keen for a photo but none of the photos are perfect. Someone's eyes are shut, someone turns away, the wind blows someone's hair in their face and, in this case, they have a little chat in the middle of it!

Here's the first page:

I wrote the problems that occurred with each photo underneath it, so it told the story of how I had to keep taking another photo and another..... Thanks goodness for the digital age!

The background is quite simple. I just cut a sheet of the Oh Snap! paper in half, put a half on each of the two pages and added a bit of a contrasting colour trim at the top and bottom. I then just took some scraps, cut them into the right size and shape, and created a banner along the bottom of the block. A lot of the banner is hidden by the photos but it creates an extra bit of interest and isn't difficult to do.

That long title is self explanatory really!

 Here's a closie of the second page:

I love that Oh Snap! shape. What do you call that shape? An explosion? I also snuck a date tab onto my banner so it forms a part of it.

Those film strips are so useful - and there's two sheets of them in the pack! I like the way that you could use just about any photos with these. I still have a full sheet left so expect to see these pop up again in my layouts.

And the last close-up:

 If you get this Oh Snap! pack I hope you get the mileage out if it that I have. I'll let you know when I make another layout with it.

Bye for now.

Heather

New Manor House Creations Releases!

Ooh, I'm excited! Manor House Creations have released their new Winter range. They are drop-dead gorgeous! Here's a sneak peek:

For a far better idea of what the range of flowers, feathers and frames looks like, head over to their blog. I hope to get some layouts using the new products up soon.

Have fun!

Heather

Scrap Around The World

Hello all,

The ever gorgeous Helen Tilbury in South Africa has started up a new challenge site called Scrap Around The World. As the name says, it's a global site. The Design Team are from many different countries and the challenge is open to anyone around the world. I found out about it through our very own Leonie Neal-Dawson who is on the Design Team.

The very first challenge is up now and I just had to join in! Here is the first sketch and moodboard:

My first reaction to the moodboard was that I love that turquoise colour. The other items that attracted me were the beads and the different textures. I got super-inspired by all this and made two very different layouts!

Here's the first:

I adore these photos of my daughter hamming it up for the camera and I thought they went well with the sketch. I used that yummy turquoise colour from the moodboard and stuck very closely to the sketch. I rarely use sketches so this was a fun experience for me!

The main change I made to the sketch was to add extra flowers, particularly beneath the photos. I used four different flowers from Manor House Creations. Aren't they gorgeous? That KaiserCraft butterfly finished the flower cluster off nicely. Here's a close up:

I used a mixture of tags and die-cut shapes to make the row of tags indicated on the sketch and replaced the large block of chevrons with some banners tipped on their sides to create the arrow shapes.

The fabric in the moodboard inspired me to add some ricrac around the circle. I couldn't resist those beads and added a mixture of turquise, black and clear beads on top of the circle as well. This was great for adding a bit of texture and interest. I also added some turquoise beads to the centre of some of the ink splashes.

I had to put my two layouts on separate posts to go on the SATW site so the second one is below.

Heather

Scrap Around The World - second layout

I wanted to make my second layout very different to the first one. I only used the sketch quite loosely this time. Due to the orientation of the photo, I flipped some, but not all, of the sketch elements to the other side of the page. Here's the layout:

Again, I picked up that gorgeous turquoise colour - cos I love it! I kept the circular element on the same side as the sketch but flipped some other parts. I started my page with the texture concept from the mood board, using gesso, texture paste, paint, stamps and Dylusions ink spray. The chevrons on the sketch inspired me to use the triangular template.
I really wanted to get more fabric into this one plus I didn't really have room down the side for the tags. My solution was to convert the tags into a banner then hang it under my photo. I was then able to incorporate all sorts of fabrics to make my banner pieces. I added a few charms as well.  Here's a close up:

Still inspired by the beads, I added some large, clear ones (I can't remember what they're called!). I also like the shabby look from the moodboard so I left long tails on my stitching. I also tucked some muslin behind the photo and added some Webster's Pages trims around the page. I had to move the title towards the centre of the page for balance.

Well that was a long couple of posts! If you're still with me I hope you enjoyed it!

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

First Ever Manor House Retreat!

Hi everyone.

I have some exciting news. Manor House Creations is sponsoring a new scrapping retreat! It's coming up in October and I'll be there as part of the teaching team. I'll be doing Make and Takes, while Karen Shady, Beck Beattie and Trudi Harrison will be taking classes.

I've been to see the venue - it's terrific. It's near Bacchus Marsh and is set in a gorgeous rural setting. The accommodation is basic but comfy, there is plenty of scrapping space and you won't have to cook or look after anyone but yourself all weekend! We have got plenty of great ideas to make sure you have a great time. This is going to be so much fun!

Here's a flyer.

As you can see, Manor House Creations will have lots of lovely goodies and giveaways there. You can participate in as many classes as you like. We'll have more details about the classes closer to the date. If you're interested, get your name down early. Feel free to ask any of us any questions you might have.

Now, seeing we're talking Manor House Creations, here's a recent layout I made featuring their drop-dead-gorgeous flowers.

This is my beautiful niece Arabella. She's growing up so fast. I don't get to see her very often and was so pleased I got such a lovely photo of her last time we all caught up.

The paper is Prima and I love it! The banner is cut from one of the Prima sheets then I added the decorative trim around the edges of each flag. I made use of the bird near the top left corner and made it look like it's carrying the string of the banner in its beak.

Here's a close up of the main flower cluster.

I've used five different Manor House flowers here - Rue (watermelon), Wild Rose (sherbet), glitter mini roses (pink), Hayley (white) and Meadows. I've left the wire stems on some of the flowers and twisted them around a small paintbrush to create tendrils.

I hope you're inspired to find a beautiful friend or family member and make a memorable page about them!

Bye for now.

Heather