My Scrappy Mess

Hello everyone and welcome to the first of my posts using the new "Explore" kit from Scrappy Chat Designs. This has to be favourite kit of mine. It would be a worry if it wasn't cos I picked the papers for it - lol!

These October Afternoon papers are gorgeous. Even though October Afternoon papers look fabulous in their own right, I find they work really well on my pages. The layouts I make with them are usually not vintage or retro themed, as the papers would seem to dictate. I find they work well with all sorts of layout styles.

Here's what I mean:

There's nothing retro about this layout. It's about as modern as you can get!

Don't you just love the title? I found it on one of the sheets of paper. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to use it! I can see so many scrappers relating to it! Here's a closie:

The kit comes with a fabulous Crafter's Workshop stencil, some Distress Stain, Tinby Metallic Melts, cardstock, twine and enamel dots. I've only used two of these products plus the paper on this layout. I can't wait to show you what else I've made!

For those of you who are Scrappy Chat Designs members, a step by step process of how I made the background will be emailed to you. For those of you who aren't members take a look here to see if this might work for you. You get kits, instructions and videos delivered each month to your door or your inbox. How easy is that?

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

My First Jot Challenge

Hi all,

I meant to get this post up a few days ago but kept running out of time! I've made my first layout for a challenge at Jot magazine. This is a very cool online mag - and it's free! You can find it here.

There are several challenges but I've elected to go with the mood board. It's a great mood board and suited the papers I had perfectly. Here's the mood board:

And here's my layout:

I had finished making my layouts with the July kit from Scrappy Chat Designs and I had a few pieces of the gorgeous October Afternoon papers left in teal and mustard colours. The mood board couldn't have been more perfect for me! 

Here are some close ups:

I wanted a more textural background to suit the textural feel of the mood board so I rummaged around and found an old sheet of this embossed paper. I think it creates that textural feel well. I used girls in my photo, as there's a girl in the mood board and I switched the hearts to butterflies as I thought girls of this age might not appreciate too many hearts on their page. Way too soppy for them! I picked up the tan/brown from picture four and used a distress stain in this colour to ink the edges of everything.

Happy Scrappin'!

Heather

A New Class

Hi there!

I'm very pleased to say that I'm teaching a class at the new Kaisercraft store in Ballarat this Saturday the 26th at 2pm. The cost is $25. The class will focus largely on some very cool background techniques. If you're interested, drop me a line here or on facebook or contact Kaisercraft Ballarat here.

I apologise about the photo I'm posting here. I forgot to take a photo before I dropped it into the store so I had to work with what I could get!

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

My Brisbane Class

Hi there,

Just thought I'd share the layouts I taught for my class at the Brisbane Scrapbooking Expo last month. It was one class with the choice of whether to do the 'blue' or the 'pink' layout. I have two kits left is anyone is interested. Just drop me a line here or on facebook.

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

A Winter Escape

Hi there,

I've just returned from a wonderful holiday in Bali. I'd really like to thank all my followers who kept on commenting on my blog posts even though I often didn't have internet access and couldn't return the favour. I'm honoured you kept the one-way communications alive!

Anyway, I'm back in the connected world now and thought I'd create a front page for my album about our trip. Yes, I went away for 10 days and took over 800 photos! I'm going to need a whole album!

My layout is based on the July sketch at Dusty Attic. Here's the sketch:

And here's my layout:

I've used lots of new Dusty Attic Goodies and plenty of stamping on this. For the title, I cut the 2014 from another title and coated it in Dusty in Colour Jungle Green paint. I coated the Bookman letters in Cranberry paint and the topped them both with a haphazard coat of Gold Nugget Tinby Metallic Melts. The effect this creates reminds me of the old rustic Balinese furniture that you sometimes see.

Here's a close up:

I made the flowers from Dusty Attic's Flower Layers #6. To get that motley effect I first spray painted them with white paint then stamped them Stampin' Up! water-based inks. These inks don't soak into the paint and they show all the texture. The downside is that they re-activate whenever a wet medium touches them so they can be messy to use. I took advantage of this by applying white paint in the centre of the flowers to create that streaky look. I rummaged around the bottom of my flower drawers and found a few flower centres to add to the chippie flowers.
For the smaller flowers, I simply painted them with Alabaster paint then added a light coat of Jungle Green to the centres.

Just as I was making this layout, some brand spanking new chippies arrived and I immediately added them to the page. For both the Page Pebble and the letters I simply stamped them with white ink. This left the recessed pattern as raw chipboard. I love this effect!

All the stamps are from Kaisercraft with the exception of the two smaller butterflies which are Tim Holtz stamps.

Here are the Dusty Attic products I used:

Flower Layers # 6 DA1078

Bookman ABC Set DA0666

2014 Year In Review DA1092

mini Blossoms DA 1090

Page Pebbles #8 DA 1113

mini ABC Tile Set DA1109

Thanks for looking. I can't wait to get stuck into the rest of my holiday pics now!

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

A Midwinter Tale

Hello there!

I was out walking a few weeks ago and came across these stunning toadstools. Luckily I had my phone with me and grabbed some pics. It wasn't until I was holding the Dusty Attic Old Wooden Fence in my hands that I realised how perfectly it would go with these pics.

Here's my project:

Everything except for the hessian on this project is chipboard!

Here's how I made it:

Old Wooden Fence: I dabbed some Hot Chocolate and Gingernut Dusty in Colour paints along each board and roughly brushed them out with a dry brush, leaving some small parts bare. The effect was that the two paints plus the bare chipboard combined to make the streaked look. I then added a few streaks of Vintage Gold paint over the top. When it was all dry I picked up small amounts of Soot paint on a wooden skewer and just brushed it on top in places.

Bearded Irises: The leaves and stems are various combinations of Forrest and Crushed Olive paints mixed in different ratios. I added some leaves from the Reeds #2. I've then used Cranberry, Alabaster and Cashmere (I adore this colour!) paints to detail the flowers. It helps to google images of irises first to get a rough understanding of how their colours are depicted. You don't have to be perfect though!

Title: I used the mini ABC Set lower to create the 'winter' word and inked it black. I inked the 'delight' word with red ink then applied Glistening Snow Tinby Metallic Melts to the lower half.

Dusty Attic products used:

Old Wooden Fence DA1094

Bearded Irises DA1096

Reeds #2 DA1028

mini ABC Set lower DA0862

Word Pack #4 DA1077

Dusty in Colour paints in Chocolate, Gingernut, Forrest, Crushed Olive, Cranberry, Alabaster and Cashmere.

I hope you find some magical winter delights too!

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

Blog Hop With A Difference

Hi there,

I've been asked by the lovely Adriana Bolzon to participate in the Blog Hop With A Difference. Each week new posts go up on selected blogs and three new bloggers are tagged. It’s a great way to discover some new and exciting scrappers. We answer a series of questions so it’s a great way to learn more about how individual scrappers work.

Here are the questions and my answers:

1.       What am I working on right now?

I've just finished my July project for The Dusty Attic. I decided to use a chipboard piece to make an OTP project. It’s something I designed to be photographed outdoors and I was lucky I had some reasonable weather to take the shots! It will be up on my blog, and Dusty Attic’s, next week. I have also just finished a layout for a class I’m teaching at the new Kaisercraft store in Ballarat in a few weeks. I’m excited about the technique on this one.

Here’s a sneak of my Dusty Attic piece.

2.    How long does it take to create a project?

I’m a very slow scrapper. I scrap in the evenings after dinner and a ‘good’ page usually takes me a couple of evenings. I can spend ages just choosing the right embellishment or paper.

3.       What are my fave things I love to create with at the moment.

 Most of my work is for design teams or magazines so I often don’t choose all the products I use. Having said that, Tinby Metallic Melts seem to find their way onto almost every page I make. I find they add that something special to my work. I love the versatility of Dusty Attic chipboard. I can create anything in any style with them. I will always love mixed media, especially sprays and stencils and I have a bit of a fixation with background stamps at the moment.
Here’s a recent fave that I made for the Scrap Around The World and Once Upon a Sketch challenges. It includes Dusty Attic chipboard and Tinby Metallic Melts. I find I use these two products in conjunction with each other a lot!

4.       How does your creating process work?

Even though my design team and magazine work requires working with particular products or to a certain theme, I still always include the photo in the very first steps of the process. I recently tried to make a layout with the idea of adding a photo later but I could only get so far. The feel of the photo is a strong indicator to me to help me choose the products that go on my page. I usually begin with the photo, one or two products and an idea. The idea might be a design feature, a colour scheme or a cool use of a product.

5.       What inspires you?

So many things inspire me! I often see a layout in a magazine or online that triggers off a new idea. I see colour combinations or designs in ads and everyday life and I think about how I could apply that to my scrapping. The things my family do, the places we visit and a desire to record my experiences all inspire me too.

I often look to the products I’m using and think about what it is about them that inspires me. This layout was inspired by the bright colours in the Scrappy Chat Designs kit I was using as they suited the photos I had of these stunning buildings at Mykonos, which we visited a couple of years ago. I can take many years to scrap my photos!

So that’s my story. To continue with this blog hop, I am supposed to tag three scrappers whose work I admire. Unfortunately for the blog hop (but fortunately for me!) I've been on holidays so only had time to tag one person and that's the amazingly talented Michelle Grant.

I had the pleasure of working with Michelle at the expo in Brisbane. She is one seriously talented lady! Seemingly always calm and peaceful, she can just whip up an amazing piece of work while seeming to barely think about it! Her Blog Hop post will go up on the 14th of July. I hope you can take a look!

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

Scrappy Chat Delight

Hi ho.

I've had a lot of fun working with the new kit from Scrappy Chat Designs. I've been very surprised with what I came up with for this one - because I opted to use the pink! I rarely scrap with pink and I'm so glad I did this time cos I love it!

Here's the layout:

Although I could have chosen from any of the colours in the kit, I really only ended up using three colours in this - teal, grey/silver and pink. I love how they go together so well. I never would have thought that pink would suit photos about the Australian bush but I've changed my mind now!

I cut down the large chipboard shape and used the silver Metallic Melts on it to make the framework under the photo.

Everything on this layout came with the kit, except for the string. There are an amazing three stamps in this kit and I used them all. They're my new faves!

If you're a Scrappy Chat Designs member then you will be emailed instructions on how I made the background and the butterfly stamped section and how I altered the letters. As a member you get heaps of info every month showing techniques, tips and hints as well as a minimum of three videos showing how to make the key three layouts from each kit. Contact orders.scrappychatdesigns.gmail.com.for more info.

Happy scrappin'!
Heather