So Proud

Hi there! I'm here with you today to share my layout using the gorgeous May mood board from The Dusty Attic as my inspiration.

Here's the mood board. Don't you just love the colours?

Don't forget there is a $100 prize pack up for grabs over on the blog here.

I just had to use those gorgeous teals and greys, but I also added some red for some pops of contrast. Here's what I made:

One of my new fave chippies is this French Flourish, which I coated in silver Beck BT's Tinby Design Metallic Melts. It's stunning!

I only used half of a flourish here. I cut part of the remainder off to add to the title cluster. I coated the title with silver ink and  a sprinkling of Carbon Metallic Melts to give that grungy, mottled appearance. Dusty Attic have just released a heap of new word packs with great words like this one. Gosh they make creating titles easy! That gorgeous stamp is from IndigoBlu.

That framework behind the photo is actually the waste from an Old Wooden Fence chippie. A coat of silver Metallic Melts and it takes on a whole new lease of life! I also added a house from the Main Street set and a Him & Her chippie on the other side. To get that funky stenciling on the background, I mixed Soot Dusty in Colour paint with impasto and spread it through the stencil.

Dusty Attic products I used are:

Old Wooden Fence small DA1166

(waste only)

Main Street DA0408

Him & Her Border DA1065

French Flourish 2 DA0274

Word Pack #12 DA1268

Dusty in Colour Mountain Meadow, Capri and Soot.

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

Once Upon A Sketch

Hi again,

I've had a bit of extra time this month which I love cos I get the chance to catch up with some of my fave online challenges. I decided to enter the Once Upon A Sketch challenge this month. I adore this sketch. It's so me!

The theme is "The Men in our Lives". I chose a relevant photo of my husband so I could scrap about his passion for bike riding.

There are hexagons in the sketch and I used these extensively in this layout. I fussy-cut the hexagon paper into this shape, cutting some of the internal hexagons out for a peek-through effect. On the background are hexagons stamped with ink and others that have been stamped then topped with Tinby Designs Metallic Melts. I've also splotched Dylusions ink sprays onto the background.

I used an Amy Tangerine stamp to create that bike wheel look. I love my new Thickers!

I put my journalling on a tag behind the photo so it didn't clutter the page.

I just picked up these Heidi Swapp word stamps yesterday. I love that they seem to add something special to the page.

I hope you can join in the competition this month.

Happy scrappin'!

Heather

Rockin' with Elvis

Hi there.

I'm back again today with my third layout for Scrappy Chat Design's Cheeky Smiles Kit. I have now made three layouts but I could easily make another three. There are so many papers in this kit!

Here's my layout:

This is very much a light-hearted, fun layout. I love making these. I just go with what feels right.

The background is from the gorgeous Simple Stories DIY Boutique range that is in this month's kit. I framed the photo with the Boutique Newspaper paper then I punched circles and cut strips and chevrons from other papers in the kit to back it all.

Underneath the papers, I just gave a good spray with a white mist then added a small spray of the Tumble Dye from the kit. At the end, I covered the photo and flicked the Tumble Dye across the page. I added the enamel dots from the kit too.

Did you notice what I put under the photo? Yep, they're Bandz, or Loom Bands or whatever brand you want to call them . These were in the kit too! I love how there are sometimes unusual items like this that make me think outside the square!

I thought I'd try a different approach to making my title. To see what I did, head over to the Scrappy Chat Designs blog here.

I've really enjoyed using this month's kit and am looking forward to still playing with the rest!

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

I just want to Scrap Everything!

Hello again. We've been having some wild wintry weather here. It's nasty outside but cosy in my scrap room!

It's time for a new post for Scrap Everything. This month I have a gorgeous range called Sisters by Echo Park. It's available here. I had a few photos on my desk that I've been wanting to scrap for a while and I was looking through these with the Sisters papers in mind. I also received another sheet of Echo Park paper from the "here and now" range called chalkboard.. When I found the photo of my daughter with a blackboard I realised I had found the perfect match!

Here's my layout:

Aaaaw, I forget how cute my kids were when they were little! This is my daughter who is a very talented artist now, so I'm stoked that I have a record of her early artistic days.

To create the background for the photo, I layered two of the Sisters sheets after punching along one side and inking the edges. I tied them up with Maya Road twine.  I cut out a chevron section from one of the papers and added this across the bottom. I backed the photo with two We R Memory Keepers cardstock cards, available here. I used more of the cards as journaling blocks. The journaling blocks set the retro rounded-corner feel so I rounded the corners on everything else too. I never tire of this look!

Here are some close-ups:

To make the blackboard background I raided my daughter's arty stash (quite appropriate really!) and found some chalk pastels. These worked beautifully on the paper. A few simple child-like drawings and I was done!

I reckon there are endless ways you could use that grey chalkboard paper as a blackboard on layouts.

I wish I had taken lots more photos of my kids when they were little. If yours are still small, get that camera out!

Bye for now.

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

Oh Snap!

Hello all.

I hope you're enjoying the school hols if your kids have them now. Ours are well finished. The holidays barely seemed to be holidays, we had so much on. I did enjoy the sleep-ins though!

I recently received a new kit from Katherine at Scrap Everything. Part of the goodies was a pack of the new Oh, Snap series from Echo Park. I love everything Echo Park and this range is no exception. The pack contains 6 double sided sheets plus a sheet of stickers. It's one of the most versatile packs I've seen as the colours and subject matter complement such a variety of photos. At $9 it's a great investment. You can take a look at it here. I reckon I'll use this range again and again.

Here's a layout I made:

This is one of the fastest and easiest layouts I have made for ages. I fully admit that the range made it all super easy. Everything on this layout, with the exception of the lettering in the title and the Twiddleybitz template background, are from the Oh, Snap pack.


In case you're wondering how I made that background, there were some Ranger Distress inks in the pack from Katherine as well. Who doesn't love these? The Forest Moss colour worked beautifully with the Oh, Snap range. I used it to ink all my paper edges. I also used the pad directly onto my template then used my template like a stamp to create the background. Distress ink leaves an unclear, motley kind of line when used as a stamp which I think works well with this layout as I didn't want the pattern to be too bold and detract from the rest of the layout. You can find the ink here.


Here's a close up:

I adore that film strip behind the camera. This plus the camera, chevrons, stars and word strips are from the sticker sheet.

I love that there are date tabs. Recording the date is such an important part of recording our memories.

The Oh, Snap wording at tte top of the pic is actually part of the brand strip at the bottom of one of the papers. Never be afraid to use any part of a product, be it packaging or branding!

At the right you can see another piece of that gorgeous film strip. I cut one larger strip into two to make it go further.

Looking at what I've got left, I reckon I'll get another 2 layouts out of the pack if I use some cardstock as well. That's $9 for the pack plus $2 for 2 sheets of cardstock = less than $4 per layout. You can't get much better than that!

If you make some layouts using this range I'd love to see them!

Til next time,
Heather

Nieces and Nephews

I'm so lucky to have a fantastic collection of nieces and nephews. Some are blood and some aren't but they really are the most gorgeous group of kids you would ever want to meet. As my kids have got older and less co-operative in the photographic department, I have found myself turning to the younger kids to satisfy my photographic urges! I just wish I'd had those same urges - and knowledge - when my own kids were small.

Of course, those photos make it onto my layouts and here are a few older ones that feature some of my nieces and nephews.

This layout is a long-standing favourite of mine. My nephew Harrison has the world's loveliest smile! We had a day at the beach with some of my extended family and their extended family. Don't ask me to explain the relationship between some of us! This is one of those layouts that I felt really captured the feel of a great day at the beach in summer. And I still love that Echo Park paper.

Here's a bright and colourful one for you Chantal V! To create the background I stitched the patterned red paper onto white cardstock in random loops and swirls then ripped off the top layer around the edges. Here's a tip if you want to scraplift this idea - use thin paper on top. This paper was quite thick and was really hard to tear without damaging the stitching.

Talk about one extreme to another! This one is all about softness and beauty. My niece is only one year old in this pic and she's gorgeous. I wanted the layout to reflect the sweet softness of a little girl. There's a bit of fussy cutting here and lots of Websters Pages loveliness.

You can be sure you ill see more of my lovely nieces and nephews in the future!

Until then - Happy Scrappin'.

Heather

Photo Freedom and Echo Park

Hi Everyone,

Well I'm back from holidays and have had fun sinking my teeth into the new Echo Park range for Photo Freedom. Katherine from Scrap Everything! sent me a pack of the new range called Happy Little Moments. The whole concept is based around creating fast, efficient albums that look great even if you don't have an artistic bone in your body.

The pack contains 5 photo sleeves, each with a different arrangement of pocket sizes, 5 sheets of paper, some of which are sized to fit the photo pockets plus a sheet of stickers. I found this to be ample to create 10 individual pages. If you tend to use all one size photos, say 4 x 6 inches, you can buy the sleeves that just fit those photos.

Here's my first page:

 My brother and his family came to see us in January. We don't see each other very often so it was great to spend so much time together. I chose to use one of the 12 x 6 inch journalling blocks on this page so I could tell the story.

Here are pages 2 and 3:

You can see how there are plenty of pocket size options to slide your photos into. When a particular photo orientation doesn't work, just print two say, portrait photos onto one landscape 6 x 4 size photo like I did in the pic in the bottom left-hand corner.

There are plenty of options for "bumping up" the dimensions on the pages if you want  One option is to simply wrap twine or ribbon around a journalling block like I did here:

Here are pages 4 and 5:

I tried to keep all the "silly" photos on one page but there were so many that they spread further. What does that say about my family?
Here are some other ways to bump it up if you prefer:

 Try adding items to the outside of the plastic pockets like these tags.

Layer a 3 x 4 sentiment onto a 6 x 4 journalling block and add some texture with ribbon and lace:

Add extra dimension with foam tape:

Here are pages 6 and 7.

 Adding stickers adds interest but still allows the pages to sit flat:

The last double page is this one:

Again, I've used two photos to fill one 6 x 4 pocket in the top left hand corner.

The last page is a 12 x 12. Here's a better pic:

I used some of the leftover journalling blocks and papers to make the flowers. The natural colour of the chipboard leaves worked well with the paper colours. Here's a close-up:

I added some pearls and some brads to this page.

On all the pages I only added ribbon, twine, some letter stickers and ink. All the rest of the products are from the Echo Park set.

If you've got this far reading this mammoth post then you're probably interested to know what I thought of these products!

Pros:

• Very quick to put an album together. There are a whopping 37 photos on these pages! If I hadn't have used this system those photos would still all be sitting on my computer.
• I love the colours of this range. They would work well with many styles of photos.
• The pack, which included the pocket pages, had just the right quantity of items.
• There are other ranges available as well. The ones I've seen look great.

Cons:

• Some of the double sided 6 x 4 journalling blocks didn't line up exactly with those printed on the back. This could have just been in my pack or might be an issue with all the papers, I'm not sure.
• Sometimes it can take a bit of fiddling to make your photo orientations work to suit the pockets.

Tips:

• Don't ink the edges of anything! I began inking the edges of my photos before I realised I'd fit so many photos in! It took ages and defeated the purpose of this system, which is to scrap in a time-efficient manner.
• Keep your pages as simple or as fancy as you like. Keep in mind you can't put too many lumpy-bumpy embellishments in the pockets though.
• Don't be afraid to embellish the outside of the pockets or to extend embellishments beyond the edges of the pages.
• The stickers are great for placing in blank spaces on photos. 
• There are plenty of journalling blocks - use them! An album full of photos without journalling will mean nothing to others in future years.

If you decide that this style of scrapping is for you then be prepared to get a lot of photos scrapped. It's a great time-saver!

Til next time,

Heather