Back from Retreat and full of inspiration!

Last weekend I was lucky enough to go to a retreat with my friends Karyn and Nicole. I had an AWESOME time and made so many new friends, met some amazingly talented people, scrapped till 3am, laughed until my belly hurt and arrived back home refreshed and revitalised and full of inspiration. 

AND, I get to do it all again soon at the Pages 2 Scrap retreat in October!

I wanted to share some of the projects I completed over the weekend. I had a goal of getting 20 layouts done between 7pm Friday and 11am Sunday - I didn't quite get there, but 14 and a canvas is pretty good I reckon!

I'm a bit light on the details of what products I actually used, usually I try and note it down for when I'm blogging but I was in the zone and there was no time for notes!

This is my beautiful canvas from the very talented Lisa Oxley's class. Lisa's class sample was quite different and featured a big heart made from tissue paper rosettes, but I liked the idea of using the tissue paper in my class kit as 'grass' and needed an excuse to use those luxe Prima satin flowers! This was really simple to make but the finished effect is so pretty, I think I'll be making a few of these for Christmas presents this year. 

This layout is of my husband Richard and my little girl Holly - the photo was taken when we were on a big family holiday last Christmas and it really captures their special relationship. I used some Amy Tangerine stickers and a rosette from D'Lish Scraps, and a Kaisercraft canvas tag. Simple but pretty! I really like this colour combo, I will definitely use hot pink and navy again.

This one is of me on my first day at school - again a simple layout using a sketch I had prepared from another layout I saw online a while back. I wanted to get the most of our the limited time I had at retreat so I  put all the photos I wanted to scrap with matching papers to save time and kickstart my layouts. This one came together in about 20 minutes :) The birdie was from a craft show and the brads are Basic Grey.

This is another one from a sketch I had prepared earlier - using Crate Paper Random as the background (Love the tiny chevron print) and some scraps to create a 'pie'. The camera and clouds are Amy Tangerine stickers. Note my new favourite technique - it's called 'I don't have any runny black ink so I'll just use pen'. My little 'ink splats' are done with a Sharpie pen... same result, less mess!

Here is Holly enjoying her first babycino at the Coffee Club; she's even wearing a black turtleneck - what a hipster! This one is based on a layout from the Paper Bakery Kit Club.

Well that will do it till next time, I'll share the rest of my projects over the coming week. I'm off to fix myself a hot chocolate and work on my October DT projects for Pages 2 Scrap - seeya!

The story of Washi

Whilst there are HEAPS of lovely tapes available from many different brands these days, the original that got me hooked a few years back when I bought my first rolls from the now defunct Borders Books was made in Japan by Kamoi, and branded 'mt' which stands for masking tape. 

You may note that some of your tapes have 'mt' printed inside the cardboard tube and some don't - you might also note that your mt tapes feel different to others. That's because they are still made in the traditional way using rice paper, as opposed to synthetic or plasticised tapes that are also on the market. 

Just to make it clear - I'm not biased - I love them all! But Kamoi was the original producer, and has been manufacturing adhesive masking tapes for over 80 years. 

The company started out in the 20's making fly paper and grew to producing tapes for industrial use. Here's what my favourite stationery store Notemaker has to say about mt tape:

"A few years ago, three women; a gallery owner, an artist and a graphic designer, made a trip to the Kamoi production factory. While the tapes were primarily being manufactured for industrial use, the women had become enthused by using the small range of coloured rice-paper tapes decoratively.

To demonstrate, they presented the company with 'Little Press' – a small book of collages and patterns made using the tapes. Following their visit, the women became inspired by the traditional processes involved in the production of the tapes.

They presented a second book to the company, featuring the work of 17 artists, who had designed patterns and prints of masking tapes they wished to have.

Following an exhibition in Tokyo and in their home city, Kamoi realised the ladies ideas, launching the masking tape (mt) label with a wealth of single colour and patterned tapes focussed on “sweetness and functionality”.

Beautifully packaged, thoughtfully produced, the mt range elevates adhesive tape from everyday stationery to a unique, surprisingly versatile, art, craft and design object."

So, how about that? From fly paper to the latest scrapbooking must-have. 

They are certainly addictive... but at least they are also getting cheaper because there is a lot more of them about; I'm pretty sure I've paid up to $7 a roll when I first found them a few years ago! I have about 40 rolls at last count so I am going to slow down for a while now. Maybe.... :)

Garden page kit layout from guest DT Karyn Pawson

Just sharing this gorgeous little layout my friend Karyn created from the RaineCloud 'Garden' inspiration kit.

I love that paper Karyn has used; it suits the kit really well. It reminds me of aged wallpaper.

This kit contains vintage cream lace, 2 crochet doilies, a row of tiny watermelon organza flowers, a vintage postcard print, a small white iron rose, a mini card with gold leaf print, feather butterfly, 2 carnival tickets, a baby blue organza bloom and a manilla tag with hot pink velvet ribbon.

You can get your own kit here at the store for $10; there is four of these kits available as well as a range of others in different styles - each is unique!

You can see more of Karyn's beautiful work over at her blog, A Bucket Full of Grace. 

Happy scrapping!

Shadow box makeover!

In a past life this little box was a display cabinet for my shell collection when I was about ten years old. I've still got my shells in a big glass jar, but was at a loss for what to do with the cabinet for the past few months... it's been propped against the wall in my craft room waiting for inspiration to hit me.

It was a nasty dark wood and the shelves are so tiny that I didn't think it would be much good as a photo display. So eventually I just started painting it and look how it ended up! I'm still searching for the perfect door handles, but other than that, it's pretty much finished.

This was how it started off: 

I don't often do super-girly stuff but fell in love with the beautiful selection of flowers at D-Lish Scraps, so I bought lots of pink and red blooms and lots of fern leaves and went for a cottage garden effect.

Now I have a space to store all my washi tapes! Although the doors don't quite close with my tapes in there. The compartments are really too small for anything else though, so I don't mind if the doors stick out a little. I've used a Kaisercraft fence and clock which have been stained with Tim Holtz distress stains, and some other wooden flourishes that I've had for ages which have been stained with Dirty Martini Glam stain.

First up, I painted the lot in an dirty white / oyster kind of colour and did a bit of random glimmer misting and butterfly stamping all over the box. I left a couple of shelves unpainted and covered them with glitter gel.

There's a little Prima birdie on this side, and more bits and pieces on the inside of the doors as well, and in some of the shelves.

There's stamping on the glass doors, a wee porcelain owl from D-Lish in the top corner, some glass mushrooms and all sorts of other stuff going on. The whole thing took quite a while to finish (or maybe I'm just impatient), but it was worth it - I couldn't bear to part with that ugly little shadow box that held so many memories!

August Pages 2 Scrap DT projects... Bo Bunny's Vintage Market

Hello friends, I just wanted to share the design team projects I have completed for Pages 2 Scrap with my August kit. This kit featured the versatile Bo Bunny Vintage Market collection papers - this is a really nice collection, I've actually used these papers before in my book lovers double page layout.

The first thing I made was this little box - I have kept it quite simple so the lovely papers can take pride of place and not be overwhelmed by too much embellishment. This 7Gypsies brass handle has been on my list to use for a while and I figured it would match really well with the 'Dot' paper and dark blue Bazzil from my DT kit. 

I used the 7Gypsies chipboard tag elements from my kit around the base of the box - I really like the scalloped edging and the fleur de lys motifs, so I inked them with Versacolour ink in Lagoon Blue and used a bit of Vintage Photo Tim Holtz distress stain, and a bit more Neptune Versacolour ink on the edges. I was going for a bit of a verdigris metal effect.

For the inside of the box, I've just painted it in a dark blue Kaisercolour paint, and under the lid is a little quote about love letters which I've written on a Bo Bunny Noteworthy die cut.

 

The beaded trim around the edge of the box was something I found in my sewing stash left over from making Christmas ornaments a while back. You could use any pretty ribbon or trim to finish off the edge; Pages 2 Scrap have a fantastic selection. 

I'm planning to use this little box to store all the silly notes my husband and I leave each other on an old receipt hook we have in our bedroom.

With such an awesome kit, I was on a roll and put together three layouts with the remaining papers: the first uses the Bo Bunny Tapestry paper as a base with a co-ordinating Vintage Market Collection cardstock sticker as the title.

The sticker - My Dad, My Hero - was the starting point for this layout, and when I found this old shot of my dad taking me fishing when I was 18 months old, I had found my theme. The 7Gypsies chipboard vine was perfect as 'seaweed' - I've just covered it in Tattered Angels Glam in 'Dirty Martini' - and I used a bit of black sinnamay mesh I found in my kids craft box to add some texture.

The gold card behind the photo was cut from the envelope my kit arrived in, and I used the dark blue Bazzill to cut out some fishy shapes.

I've used more of the 7Gypsies chipboard elements as 'waves' - this time a long wavy shape which I've coloured with Tim Holtz distress stain in Wild Honey. I loved using these chipboard elements; they are really nice quality and thick enough not to warp and bubble when you stain or paint them.

Next, I tried something a bit different to give the background of this layout a tattered, aged feel - I used an old dress pattern and some PVA glue to create an interesting base, and mounted my photo on a vintage book page and little kraft envelope. I cut out a few of the labels from the Vintage Labels paper, and wrapped some rough gardening twine around the page a few times. The beautiful Vandoros organza ribbon from my kit added a little bit of sparkle to the page - I fixed it with some Tim Holtz trinket pins and added a little bit of vintage lace.

The key is another of the 7Gypsies chipboard elements - this time I covered it in washi tape for a pop of teal colour. The little 'family' alphas in the bottom corner was part of the edge strip saved from a sheet of Kaisercraft Tasty Treats paper, and the sweet little camera charm is also from the Bo Bunny Vintage Market collection.

Ok - last one! I love how my Pages 2 Scrap kits challenge me to get lots of different layouts out of a small selection of papers. For this layout I've gone with a different style to the ones above and was inspired by the crowns and wings in the 7Gypsies chipboard elements pack - they made me think of graffiti and skater style patterns, and when I printed my photos and realised my black ink had run out I kind of liked the funky bluish x-ray effect!

I splattered the Bazzill with some silver paint, but smeared a bit of it by accident so turned it into a moon - then I punched some circles from the reverse of the Vintage Labels paper to make planets and painted the crown and wings in more silver paint. The blue star is one of the cardstock shapes covered in washi tape, but paint or ink would work just as well.

I also included the leftover scalloped edging which I'd already inked for my love letter box - I think they kind of look like clouds!

I used a little more of the sparkly Vandoros organza ribbon to add a bit of warmth, and some other blue satin ribbons. The title is made up of a long straight piece from the 7Gypsies cardstock elements, covered in blue washi tape, plus some American Crafts thickers and a blue diecut Noteworthy shape from Bo Bunny.

I really enjoyed putting these projects together and hope they inspire you to create something lovely with the Bo Bunny Vintage Market collection and other goodies available from Pages 2 Scrap!

Eye Candy: Baby Chameleon!

How cute is this guy?! I think the hot pink, acid yellow, cream and grey in this photo would make a great colour scheme for a layout...

Source: attackofthecute.com via Leonie on Pinterest

Show us your Stuff August Challenge

Here's my little layout for SUYS August challenge - the inspiration pic was of a collection of cameras, and I thought this photo of my nephew Mitchell at our wedding would be great to scrap.

He was obviously more fascinated by the reception centre's pet cat than all the lovey-dovey wedding stuff going on!

I'm loving red and green at the moment, in a totally non-Christmassy kind of way.

The paper is a really old Basic Grey one (like 5 years old) I think from the Recess collection(?), and the woodgrain paper is October Afternoon from the Seaside collection.

Other bits and pieces:
Darkroom Door film strip
D-Lish Scraps fern leaves
Kaisercraft bingo card
Manor House flowers
Vintage postcard
And the necessary handmade element for SUYS - the little wooden disc is from RaineCloud  :)

Yes, we have no bananas...

...but plenty of pineapples. They must have been going cheap and my mum, never a lady to pass up a bargain, appears to have bought an ample supply as we headed up to Queensland when I was 8 months old.

I had great fun making this layout and a couple of others at Fantasia's monthly Scrap n Chat.

For this layout I have used embellishments from D'Lish scraps and Pink Paislee paper.

Now I have a fruit craving! Mangoes would be awesome right now. Roll on, summer! 

The washi tape Olympics!

Ok so we all have a few tapes in our stash... but do you think you could ever attempt something as awesome as this with them? I can't imagine how long this must have taken to film!

 

This amazing stop motion animation was filmed at Shibaura House which appears to be some kind of art space in Japan - not entirely sure as my Japanese is a little rusty (read: non-existent).

Isn't it cool?