Friday 30 October 2015

Bella Boulevard Just Add Color Layout 2 - Designing for All About Scrapbooks

Today I'm sharing another page I created for All About Scrapbooks.
Seriously, I think I may have the best job in the world!! The amazing goodies I get to play with.  Vanessa truly has the BEST stuff!!! You can check out the SHOP here.
I feel so grateful and like the luckiest girl around! 
This layout is another bright and happy one, using the Bella Boulevard Just Add Color.  Some of you may remember I recently did a layout of my son with this range, using black, white and green.  I thought I'd make this one a bit more girly, and instead of adding 1 main colour, I decided to go with a rainbow!!
 
I hand painted the hearts in some bright colour (quite therapeutic), and then added a few stickers, some 2 Crafty chipboard, and really that was about it.....quick and simple, yet bright and happy, just like my gorgeous girl.
 
 
 
 
I love how this paper range lends itself to either really 'boy' or really 'girl' pages.....the simple black and white makes it easy....just add your favourite colour, or like I did here, add a few!

I'll be back soon to share some more....thanks for stopping by.

Friday 23 October 2015

Deer and Fawn - Project Life Catch Up

Happy FriYay everyone!
I'm back on the Deer and Fawn blog today with another Project Life spread......yep I'm determined to catch up!! I've still got a long way to go, but I'm one step closer.  One week closer.
And yep it feels good.....feels good to immerse myself in a week of our lives.....feels good to relive a week that was.....feels good to remind myself of what's important.....feels good to focus on the important aspects of the week......feels good to be reminded of the good that is there in my everyday life.


Here's the left side:


And the right:

And I created a few little flaps using washi tape....... I love that it means I can add in more photos or more journaling......and it's so easy to do!


.....1 more down, only another 15 to go!!  Eeeek!
Baby steps....

So how's your catch up going??
I'd love for you to share it with me.
See you soon.
xxx

All About Scrapbooks - More Cocoa Vanilla Hello Lovely

Hi there
I'm here to share another of my designs for All About Scrapbooks.

Lately I've been playing around with the gorgeous Hello Lovely range by Cocoa Vanilla.  This range is correctly named as it truly is Lovely! 

You may remember the first layout I created with this range was soft and girly -  I used a baby photo.  This time I chose a photo of myself and my 'tween' girl.  I wanted the page to be more funky and cool and suited to her age, so I chose the bold stripe and the bold black and white floral.  I love these two papers together. I decided to keep it looking 'funky' I would just add 1 main colour - I went with pink.  I spritzed the background a little and then selected funky embellishments. Some I kept flat and others I raised with foam tape, to create some interest and depth to the layout.

 
This page came together really quickly and I love it!! I love how the papers suit my daughters age, and I love the little pops of 'woodgrain'.
 
 
Thanks for taking a look at my layout......I hope I have inspired you to have a play.
See you soon!

Friday 16 October 2015

Project Life.....trying to catch up

Hi everyone!
My turn to share on the Deer and Fawn Blog.......so thought I'd share a Project Life Spread that I did a little while ago.....I hate admitting this but I am VERY behind on my Project Life.  Aaaaagh!  I'm usually only a couple of weeks behind, but I think I'm now a few months.  Yep it happens.  Life has taken over lately, and also I've been doing a lot more layouts and mixed media, which I'm just loving and I have more scrapping commitments than I've ever had, and well I've dropped the Project Life ball. 
I'm determined to try to catch up.  You see last year I completed a whole year, and I love looking back at it.  Many of you know that I love scrapping the everyday stuff....the real stuff.....not just the perfect 'looking at the camera, smiling' photos.  I love looking back on what we were doing each week, what we were eating, wearing, watching, making, reading etc. 
So I'm hoping this year it doesn't beat me. 
So I'm hoping that sharing this will inspire me to continue my Project Life journey......

 
Here's the left side:
 
 
And the right:
  
I love doing pages with black, white and one colour (monochromatic).  I find it makes the process a little simpler......less choices!!
So who else is behind in Project Life and wants to play catch up with me???
Together we can do this!!

All About Scrapbooks Design Team Share

Good morning everyone
I'm back and have a very pretty layout to share today as part of my DT work for All About Scrapbooks.  I got to play with the Hello Lovely range from Cocoa Vanilla.  These products are gorgeous! They have the most wonderful ephemera/diecuts that co-ordinate beautifully with the papers.  They really make putting the page together so simple.
 
 
I started by spritzing the background with a pretty stencil, not too much, just a hint peeking out from my planned layers/clusters.  I selected a gorgeous photo taken of my brand new beautiful niece and her big sister, who live in Texas.  This photo makes my heart swell! It just captures that moment of love so perfectly.  Having a photo like this also makes the photo come together easily.  Oh how I wish they didn't live so far away! And how I wish it was me who took that photo!
I then began layering and clustering and finished it off with a couple of pieces of  gesso sprayed 2 Crafty Chipboard, and a few sequins.
 
Here's a close up:
 
I can highly recommend Cocoa Vanilla's products.  One of the biggest bonuses is that they are Australian!! How awesome is that.  I hope you get a chance to play with some too.
 
See you again soon!

Friday 9 October 2015

Happy FriYAY!

Hello everyone.....I'm here to share a layout I created for Deer and Fawn Designs that celebrates a moment I've been wanting to capture for a while.  Don't you just love how scrapping helps you cement that memory into your brain.

As this layout celebrates my 'tween' daughter and her girlfriends, I chose to go with bright colours.  I teamed it with a grey background paper - the grey acts as a neutral, however, because it was quite 'busy' with words, I toned these down by swiping with gesso.  I then added a few splashes of watercolour and then layered up with my patterned papers.  I added pops of black to ground the layout and of course I added in the most important part....the journaling.

 
 
 
 
Besides the 'playing', journaling is my favourite part of scrapping.  I love words.  I love stories.  I love how words sound together and create a story.  I love telling the everyday stories of our lives.....the ones that aren't that important to others, but are so important to us.  The ones that make us who we are, that make us a family, that define us.  The everyday details that really matter.
 
Journaling is how I begin and end every layout. If I don't have the story in mind that I want to tell, then the rest just doesn't happen.  I get stuck. I end up shuffling, procrastinating.  However, if I start with the story, the rest just flows, the process continues.
 
So as I scrap, the story rolls around in my mind.  I relive the memories, and I often process/organise my thoughts and feelings around the story.  It's like therapy.  It re-focuses my mind on the important stuff in life, it let's the rest of the 'stuff' falls away.
The final thing I do is put pen to paper. I let the words/thoughts that have been swirling around become real. 
I love that my pages contain my stories.  They are my truths.
 
So next time you scrap, don't forget to pick up a pen.
 
See you soon!
 

Designing for All About Scrapbooks!

Hi everyone! I'm back to share another project I've been working on for my designing with All About Scrapbooks. This time I played with a few bits and pieces from the fun Bella Boulevard Just Add Color range. 
Recently my son was in his final Sports Day at Primary School.  He was a House Leader for the Green Team - not only did they win the day but he won Boy Champion! An awesome finish to his primary school years which I definitely needed to scrap!  The black and white star paper was a perfect match for this story....and I added green! An easy choice as this was his house colour. 
 

 
I started by swiping some Dylusions Paint straight onto my paper - I wanted to keep it to one side - to give the page a focal  point.  Once this dried, I added a few strips of paper and stamped with white ink onto the black paint.  This formed my background. 
 I then randomly painted some of the background stars on the paper green, and added some 2Crafty chipboard - I also painted this green, and added Dimensional Magic too - I wanted to give it a bit of shine and 'pop'.  I love how Dimensional Magic on Chipboard gives it a real resin finish.
I then hunted for lots of embellishments in black/white and green (oh how I adore this colour combo!).  I think it really pops!  I found that the Bella Boulevard Stickers went perfectly, but also so did the Cocoa Vanilla Made of Awesome range!  I love mixing ranges together.  I find it helps me be more creative. Finally I added a bit of journaling, and that's about it!
 
(Out for Publication)
 
Shop at All About Scrapbooks for these and more awesome scrappy products!
 
Thanks for popping in for a look - see you soon! 

Friday 2 October 2015

My first post as a Designer for All About Scrapbooks!!

Hi everyone! I'm super happy to be sharing my first project as a Design Team Member for All About Scrapbooks!!
 
I was lucky enough to get my hands on some of the new Basic Grey Barista Range in my DT Box. 
This is a gorgeous range, with lots of neutrals, and splashes of mustard.  It has a real
coffee/tea inspired theme, but the colours lend itself to so many options. 
As soon as I saw the leaf paper and the grey, blacks and cream tones I knew I wanted to
scrap some photos taken recently at my step-dad's.  It was cold and wintery but we all
went for a lovely walk in the nearby forest - just beautiful!
 



I just love that grey wood background paper....and had a lovely time cutting out all the 
leaves - quite therapeutic!  I then folded them inwards to give them a bit of dimension.  I used a few stickers, as the words along the sides, and I also used some of the frame stickers
behind my photos. 
Here's a close up which shows the dimension in the leaves a bit more clearly :

(Out for Publication)
 
A few paint splatters, some sequins and 2Crafty Chipboard completes the page.
This range is really easy to work with......the possibilities are endless!
 
For all these products, and a heap more, pop over to All About Scrapbooks now!! You'll get brilliant service too!!
 
See you again soon!

Thursday 1 October 2015

Deer and Fawn's October Challenge and a New Design Team Line Up!!

Hi Everyone!

I'm pretty excited to be here today and share my take on this months challenge over at Deer and Fawn ......'About Me'.......
But before I do, I want to extend a huge welcome to out amazing new Deer and Fawn Designers!!! Have you seen the new line up of talent???? It's pretty impressive. I can't wait to get creative with these girls!  We have lots of great stuff planned....it's pretty exciting.  So keep popping in to check out all the inspiration and plans that Debbie and the rest of us Deer and Fawnies have.  We look forward to sharing with you fellow creatives.

So back to 'About Me'.....
Yep this is a topic we all struggle with, not just scrapping and telling our stories, but actually getting in the photos! So I advise taking a leaf from my teenage daughter's book.....and take a 'selfie'....yep  flip that phone around and get a photo of yourself.  We have the beauty of pressing delete, and also of adding a filter.....so come on, have a go....and if you can't bear to take a head shot......take a feet selfie!!
I had a lot of fun playing with this one......I created a watercolour background, and used some of my favourite colours.  I've been loving all the triangles around at the moment and have been wanting to give them a go for a while.  I can highly recommend it - they were so fun. I cut out lots of different sizes and also hand drew some too.

Here's my layout:


And a close up:

 
Don't forget we have some amazing prizes up for grabs, thanks to this month's sponsors.
 
The Deer Designer Pick is: A Prize Pack from:
 
And the random draw prize is:
5 packs of enamel dots and a 15% off voucher. 
 
Pretty Cool Prizes hey?
 
I really look forward to seeing all your entries and learning lots about you all!
Be back soon
xx

Scrap the Girls - October Reveal

Good morning everyone.
As it's the first of the month it's reveal time! I always love a new month, as I can go blog hopping and check out all the new challenges and inspiration around.
This month's challenge at Scrap the Girls is stunning.
Here it is:
Isn't it beautiful??
I really loved playing along with this one.....I took inspiration from the soft pastel colours.....particularly the teal/aqua and the coral (plus a splash of pink thrown in).
I was also inspired by the butterflies and the feathers.  I absolutely LOVE FEATHERS!
I created my own feathers from patterned paper and old book paper, and I also added in some wood veneer ones.  I was also inspired by the brush script title, and created my journaling around the theme of the quote.....with references to both the past and the future.  Can you also spy a flair with 'awesome' brush scripted onto it?

Yeah so I was pretty much inspired by everything about this mood board!
Here's my take on it:

 
 
And here's a bit of a close up:
 
 

I hope you get a chance to play along! There's a prize pack of scrumptious goodies up for grabs! Make sure you check out the rest of the Design Team's entries HERE......they are truly beautiful.
I'm off to blog hop!