My Handsome Son

Hi there,

I will tell you about my layout shortly but first you'll have to put up with me being a proud mum! My son looked so handsome in a suit when he got dressed up for the school formal. He had never worn a suit before. We borrowed it from a friend and it was a perfect fit. I know we girls sometimes like to look nice but it's good that the guys can too. My little boy really is growing up!

Ok, so now that I've got that off my chest I'll tell you about the layout! Here it is:

This is my second layout this month using Scrappy Chat Design's Cheeky Smiles Kit. I love this kit! If you are interested in seeing more techniques using this kit and others, have a think about becoming a Scrappy Chat Designs member. For inquiries email orders.scrappychatdesigns.gmail.com or take a look at the new website here.

I had to be fairly brave to tackle this design! I chose to use this paper as a background even though it's very busy. To mask the busyness, I just swiped black paint over parts of the page. I then cut heaps of frames from one of the other Simple Stories papers and used these on top of the black paint. Yes, I framed my photo with frames!

I sprayed some of the frames with the teal Tumble Dye. I love how these turned out.

The first part of my title is cut from the background paper. The chipboard words are made from the Kaisercraft letters in the kit. I painted them then coated them with Metallic Melts. On the word "school" I made a layer of the red then topped it with white to get a red outline. I kept changing my mind what colour I wanted on the word "formal". There are four different layers under there! I love the way I can just cover a colour with paint and the melts.

Happy Scrappin'!

Heather

Thinking of Mykonos

Hi there,

I have a very bright and cheery layout to share with you today. In fact, it's so bright you might want to get your sunglasses out! This is my first layout using the new Cheeky Smiles kit for Scrappy Chat Designs. This is a fabulous collection with gorgeous papers. All the Simple Stories papers have great patterns on their brand strips and I used a few of these in this design.

Here's my layout:

 I warned you it was bright! I really wanted this bright-colour-on-white effect cos that's what the buildings in Mykonos are like.

In the kit this month was a bottle of s.e.i. Tumble Dye. I've had fun playing with this! First I used a stencil from a previous kit and just sprayed through it. I then flipped the stencil over and stamped with it. I cut out chevrons from one of the Echo Park papers and layered these under the photos cos I wanted the sprayed background to peep between the chevrons.

I coated the Kaisercraft chipboard letters that were in the kit with two shades of ink and coated them with the Metallic Melts from last month's kit. I love how they turned out.

I punched hearts from the papers but also from the Tumble Dye packaging as I loved the colours on it!

My flower arranging was incredibly non-technical. The flowers came in a bunch and I just left them as they were!

I wanted to hide the wire stems though so I found a piece of lace and dyed it with the Tumble Dye. I wore latex gloves and did it in the laundry sink in case the dye was a problem. All went well though. I just sprayed it and scrunched it around in my gloved hands until the lace was coated. I then dried it with paper towels.

Do you want to know how I got that old, scrunched up lace to look so nice? Well I'm very excited to show you how because, drum roll please......., Heather has made her first video! Ok, so technically my son and I made my first video! Well I did the demo and he did everything else - lol!

Anyway, it's only a minute or so long and it's over on my post at Scrappy Chat Designs. Hope you can pop over and let me know what you think.

Happy Scrappin'!

Heather

Celebrate - Japanese Style!

Hi there.

I've caught up on things things month and am able to have a go at a couple of online challenges. I looked around a few of my favourite sites and found a fabulous sketch by Nadia at Once Upon A Sketch. I also saw the very inspiring mood board at Scrap Around The World. It's SATW's first anniversary this month and they've got huge prizes so, if ever you're going to have a go, this is the month to do it! Take note that there are slightly different rules this month.

Here's the sketch from Once Upon  Sketch:

And here's the mood board from Scrap Around The World:

The two things I got excited about was that sketch and those shoes! I want the shoes! Anyway, I took my inspiration from the turquoise colour of the shoes and the turquoise, white and pink balloons. The mood board was obviously about celebrating so I chose a photo of my husband celebrating his birthday in Japan.

Here's my layout:

This is one of those photos that remind me of a wonderful occasion. It was one of those bizarre and incredibly funny things that happen sometimes when we travel. To explain, here's my journalling:

There are a few pops of pink in this layout. I would never normally put pink on a page about John but I figure if he's wearing fluffy pink bunny ears then he's fair game!

Here is a close up:

I made the background with gesso, watered down Gelatos and Dusty in Colour paints. The chipboard is a fave of mine from Dusty Attic. I cut it into sections and extended it across the page. Those little geometric chippie shapes are the pieces from inside the chipboard number grid. I love them!

I coated the Dusty Attic mini banners with two colours of paint and two colours of Tinby Metallic Melts.

The circular element is a photo of the dessert the female chef made especially for John. Written in chocolate is "Happy Birthday John" and a kiss! In keeping with the theme I stamped a rabbit onto transparency, painted the back and attached it under the title. It's the only time I'll ever get a pink rabbit onto a page about John!

Happy Scrappin'!

Heather

I'm a Cover Girl!

I have some exciting news - I made the cover of Australian Scrapbook Ideas magazine! Woohoo! The layout on the cover is taken from my Masterclass article on creating arty backgrounds.

I hope you get to read the magazine. There are so many great projects in there with full instructions, tips and ideas. Issue 27 has just been released now.

If you would like to learn how I create layouts and you're heading to the Brisbane Scrapbooking Expo, you could join in one of my classes.

Class info is available here.

Here's a sneak:

Happy Scrappin'!

Heather

Autumn Glory

Hi there. I hope things are going well with you.

The weather is getting decidedly cooler here now as we approach the end of autumn. The other night we had a gorgeous sunset where the sun shone below the clouds, putting an eerily beautiful pink light over everything. It brought out all the pinks and reds in our garden and I grabbed this photo. I haven't touched this in Photoshop at all.

Here's the layout I made using this photo:

To make the background, I rubbed a Gelato on wet cardstock. I sprayed some sections so the Gelato ran down the page. I added a few bits of of paper and cotton but everything else on the page is from Dusty Attic!

I cut sections of the large Trellis and spray painted it white. I tucked these behind the photo. I hand painted all the other chipboard with Dusty in Colour paints, using two shades of green on the leaves for extra depth.

As usual, I couldn't help myself and added Metallic Melts to the pink flowers and the reeds. I love the way it made the reeds look fluffy and textural. The Spider Chrysanthemum flowers were a perfect match for the flowers in my photo.

I had a small section of the Ivy Corners left from another project so I painted it up and it fitted in perfectly. I used Jungle Green and Forrest on the leaves and Cranberry on the hearts. I added some Dusty in Bloom Celestial White flowers at the end and a little one from the Grassy Knoll pack too.

To make the title I painted the chippie alphas then just gave them a coat of Clear Gloss Varnish. This is the same product that I used to adhere all my chippie with. I love this product as its fine nozzle makes it so useful for adhering fine chippies and the glue is super strong. Heather's tip - store your Clear Gloss Varnish upside down. This prevents it from drying in the nozzle and blocking it. Those pink wavy chippies are pieces that I cut off the Spider Chrysanthemum that would have been hidden under the photo.

Here are the Dusty Attic products I used:

Trellis large DA1031

Spider Chrysanthemum DA1023

Reeds #2 DA1028

Ivy Corners DA1018

Mini ABC Set Upper DA0861

Mini Script ABC Set DA0859

Dusty in Bloom Celestial White DA0800

Dusty in Bloom Grassy Knoll DA0809

Dusty in Colour Clear Gloss Varnish DA0901

Dusty in Colour Jungle Green Paint DA0920

Dusty in Colour Forrest Paint DA0919

Dusty in Colour Cranberry Paint DA0910

Dusty in Colour Navajo White Paint DA0903

Dusty in Colour Dusty Pink Paint DA0907

Dusty in Colour Hot Chocolate Paint DA0923

Happy Scrappin'!

Heather

Capture Life!

Last weekend, my husband and I volunteered to help out at a large fun bike ride. It was a freezing day and it drizzled occasionally but we had a great time. Because the ride wasn't a race, most people just took their time and enjoyed it.

I made this layout of the day using the May sketch for Dusty Attic with some fabulous Dusty Attic chippies and my 'Picture Perfect Today' kit from Scrappy Chat Designs.

Here's the sketch from the uber-talented Nadia Cannizzi.

I had taken plenty of photos on the bike ride day but they were taken on my phone and it was a dull day so the photos weren't the best. I decided to keep them small and use several of them to replace the one large photo in the sketch.

Here's my layout:

I cut up a Dusty Attic Geometric Panel so bits would peep out from behind the photo panel. I sprayed it with Black Velvet Heidi Swapp spray but the nozzle immediately blocked up - and it was a brand new bottle. Not happy Jan! I then sprayed over the top with Black Dylusions. I rather liked the final result as the metallic flecks from the Heidi Swapp spray still showed through.

I do try to not use Tinby Metallic Melts on every layout I make with chipboard but it's so hard not to! The two products just seem to go hand in hand to me. I used the Melts on all the smaller chippie pieces.

Some closies:

Everything on this page is either Dusty Attic chipboard or from this month's Scrappy Chat Designs kit.

Dusty Attic products used:

Geometric Panel DA1037

Mini Cameras DA1038

Mini Him & Her DA1064

Arrows #1 DA0994

The Scrappy Chat Designs Kit is the 'Picture Perfect Today' kit available here.

Thanks for looking.

Happy Scrappin'!

Heather

The Scrapbooking Memories Vic Masters Tour follow-on

I was looking through my most recent copy of Scrapbooking Memories magazine and was delighted to see the number of people who attended our Victorian Masters Tour last year that have since been published in the magazine. I spotted Danni Vertigan, Judith Armstrong, Ros Madley and Alz Callcott in the latest edition. In previous editions I've seen Brenda Caldow, Lynn Good and Angela Sophios (ok Angela couldn't actually attend our classes cos she lives thousands of kms away, but she bought the kits. I think that counts!)

Who else has been published that attended our tour? Would love to hear from you.

Two out of the three of us that taught on that tour are also teaching at the Brisbane Scrapbooking Expo. For info on Beck's class click here and for my class click here.

Here are some sneaky peeks:

 

Congrats to all of you!

And speaking of teaching, in Vol 19, No 8 of Scrapbooking Memories mag, I wrote a short article about how to get heaps of journalling onto a page. Here's the layout I put with it.

Sometimes our layouts can be more about the story and less about the photos.

Happy Scrappin'!

Heather