Blue & white

More retreat goodness to share... this one is a simple layout of my little girl Holly and I on blue Core-dinations cardstock, messed up with a bit of white Mister Huey's and silver Glimmermist.

The little aqua envelope is from Typo, the white velvet flower from D'Lish Scraps and the white card shape under 'kind' is a bit of re-purposed packaging from the Transformer my little man just saved up to buy himself  :)

Yellow & Stars... White With 1 October Challenge

My layout for October's WW1 Challenge.. the theme this month was white + yellow + stars.

 I've used a lot of October Afternoon scraps on this one along with some washi tape, Amy Tangerine and Sassafrass Lass stickers, 7gypsies chipboard and some ink and bling and mess.   :)

You can't really see it in the photos but the yellow chalkboard mist background has a resist effect in some spots where I've doodled stars with a white gel pen.

She will go her own way

 

I have lots more retreat layouts to share, including this one of my very thoughtful, caring, headstrong little girl.

The paper is from Prima's Sparkling Spring collection and the flowers are from Manor House and D'Lish Scraps. The little pink badge is October Afternoon and I have used some pink Bella bling in there as well. I can't seem to remember where the flourish is from... I'm thinking WoW?

Stay tuned for more in the next few days!

Soooo tired... back from the awesome Pages 2 Scrap retreat!

So it's Monday night and I still haven't recovered yet :)

I thoroughly enjoyed the Spring Retreat held by Tracey and her team at Pages 2 Scrap. The weekend was spent at the very posh Kooindah Waters resort at Wyong, and although I am absolutely stuffed I also feel really energised and am glad I got to spend some girl time with my sister in law Debbie and regular scrapping partner Karyn!

Over the next few weeks I'll share some of my layouts with you - I managed to get through 11 layouts and most of a DT project.

First up, I wanted to share this layout using MME Kraft Funday paper, which I love, it's really thick and textured. The back had an allover black chevron print which I nearly used for something else.  :) 

I've used a WOW blossom branch covered in copper embossing powder, and the flowers are misted with pink Dylusions, peach glimmermist and a bit of white Mister Huey's.

I've also added some pink Bella bling, Kaiser bling and a Green Tara dragonfly and a bit of washi tape (of course).

I wrote this poem a while back and have just printed it on regular printer paper which I've swiped with Vintage Photo distress stain.

 

This has turned out kind of rough and natural like I wanted it to, hooray! :)

Stay crafty,

 

OMG Christmas already?! DT Projects with Kaisercraft's Mint Twist

Hello all, I've got a bumper crop of projects to share for this month, using the very bright and happy Kaisercraft Mint Twist collection available at Pages 2 Scrap. This range is surprisingly versatile and is perfect for both your daggy, garishly bright childhood photos (see exhibit A below) and for more subtle, refined layouts and OTP projects - you really can use the collection in lots of ways.

First up, I have scrapped a pic of my little bro in this super bright layout using a lot of layered tags and the cute pennant-shaped alphas to spell 'elf'. I love this background 'Rudolf' paper but use it sparingly if you're prone to seizures! It sure is bright! Makes me crave candy canes though...

 
Next up, a simple layout to complement a Santa photo - the little Santa die cut adds a bit of fun, and I have just added some vintage sheet music and doilies to break up the background, and a Kaisercraft bingo card.

Next is a super simple card - I've used a 1" circle punch to punch two circles for each ornament, then just folded them in the middle to create a 3D effect. A bit of velvet ribbon and a rub-on sentiment from the kit and you've got a very easy to make yet striking Christmas card!

For this little kraft gift bag, I wanted to use the sweet die-cut stockings and washi tape to make it a bit more festive. The alphas are Thickers and I've used red and green washi tapes wrapped around the handles, and a Naughty or Nice tag from the Mint Twist collection.

Next, I've created a small altered art canvas using the Mint Twist collection in a more subtle way. I've stamped the background and used some small strips of striped paper to create a base layer, then added impasto medium, ink, glimmer mist, Kaisercraft bling, beads, paints and glitter glue to represent a stylised Christmas tree. The star on top is an embroidery patch from my stash, and the Prima birdy sits on a bit of driftwood I found on the beach. I've coated the inside of a tiny glass jar in glitter glue and attached it so that it is 'sprinkling magic' on the tree. :)

There's even some tiny tiny bells where the banner ties on to the driftwood. I've used some flyscreen in the background and some star brads and Dimensional Magic to add even more texture.

Ok, next! This is a simple, modern advent calendar which uses shipping tags as its starting point, and on most of them is a little sewn pocket just the right size for a chocolate coin.

I've used a range of papers and tags from the Mint Twist collection as well as a few die cuts, rub-ons and the numbered stickers. Then I've added a bit of bling here and there and sewn the lot together on some candy striped bias tape. This will hopefully solve the arguments between Miss 2 and Mr 4 who fight about who gets to take the chocolate out of the pocket... they have an advent calendar each now! I made this fabric one a few years back which I love, but it is really big and hangs a little too low so it can be raided too easily!

Anyway, back to the layouts... next I have used a scallop-edged 12x12 paper for a non-Christmas layout (told you it was a versatile collection!). I've actually used the plain white reverse of this paper to make a baby themed layout, fixing it to the blue background and adding some pink paper and book paper pieces to the underside of a couple of the ornament cut-outs. As this was the reverse of the paper, the Kaisercraft branding and barcode information was printed on the bottom so that's where I had to put my photo - one of Holly when she was a few hours old. I've added some Kaisercraft flowers and vintage lace for extra girliness, and softened the white background with some silver and blue Glimmermists.

Another layout using some of the die-cut shapes and sweet Rudolf tag with some glittery green ribbon for a bit of sparkle!

This next one is a clean modern layout, using the Christmas tree and wreath die cuts and a Kaisercraft wood flourish which I've misted in red. I've stitched a few flags down the page and added a bit of bling to make it sparkle.

And for my final project I've put together a mini album using this sweet linen covered album my sister in law gave me recently. It details the '12 essentials of Christmas' according to our family, and I've used a wide range of the Mint Twist papers and die cut shapes throughout the album, including this sweet string of stockings across the front cover.

You can click on the images below to get a better view of the inner pages. I found the Mint Twist collection great for this kind of album, there's lots of little fun bits and pieces perfect for conveying the hustle and bustle of Christmas with children!

Whew! That's it. I hope you are inspired by these projects and you pop in to Pages 2 Scrap soon to get a start on your Christmas layouts and gifts; the silly season will be here before we know it!

Stay crafty,

We share the same soul

Here's a little layout I did of my wee man Tyler and I. We have always been so in tune with each other  :)  I love this pic, my hubby snapped it when we were on the steam train at the now closed Zig Zag railway. It was soooo cold that day!

This page came together after some experimentation with mists and embossing powder on watercolour paper, which is the piece behind the photo. Clear embossing powder makes a great resist effect when covered in glimmermist as you can see below.

Lots of bits and pieces on this layout - Bo Bunny paper, Scrapmatts pidgeon, Pink Paislee pleated twill trim, alphas from Typo, Jenny Bowlin cardstock buttons, washi tape, button from Greatest View, Tim Holtz stamps.

Stay crafty!

Pink & mint & mustard with Echo Park

How sweet is this Echo Park crossword paper? I thought it would make a sweet background for this mixed-up layout of my BFF and I.

I've used all sorts of bits and pieces in this layout including paint, chalkboard mist, seed beads, chipboard and paper scraps to create a seashore effect.

The little 'BFFs' embellishment is from Typo and was part of my birthday pressie from my friend Karyn - thanks chicky! There's some Manor House flowers in there, a starfish and shells from Scrapmatts, a Green Tara beaded spray, Prima crochet button and some other random bits.

Stay crafty!

Rainbow!

Here's the result of a craft night with my buddy Karyn... a totally rainbow filled layout of my hubby Richard with our kiddos. Ty helped me make the fussy cut ink splat background with dylusions and glimmermist.

The 'love' wooden word is from Typo, and I made the felt banner for Holly's 2nd birthday cake... which was rainbow coloured inside :)

How was your weekend? Did you successfully avoid the car racing ??  :)

Oh, Miss Dolly!

Here's a layout I've put together for the Scrap the Girls October Challenge. The criteria this month was to use flowers, staples, two different alphas and more than one photo. Here's my take on it:

How sweet is my little girl Holly - upside down, dressed in her swimming costume in the middle of winter, with two dummies in her gob! She is such a character.

The paper daisies and stamped clocks were cut from a sheet of watercolour paper that I'd been misting and glittering on, and I made the little button flower from some cotton twill scraps. And the pink sequins are the ones I keep finding all over the house when Holly rips them off her fancy dress-up shoes!

Materials used: Kaisercraft snowflakes, washi tape, button from Greatest View, Basic Grey brads, Thickers, and a few different Glimmermists.

Using those giant Manor House flowers...

Now, I don't really do big flowers... but I bought this Manor House flower thinking 'I'm just buying this because it's so pretty, I'll probably never find a way to use it on anything because it's so freaking big.' However... I found a spot for it!

It really balances out this layout.

Materials used: Manor House Frosted Wild Rose, Pink Paislee Bayberry Cottage papers, D'Lish scraps organza heart, Tim Holtz & Basic Grey stamps, hand carved cloud stamp from Extase, washi tape, Thickers, Abbey Road chipboard flower, raspberry and marmalade Glimmermists, Kindyglitz.

UPDATE 23rd October 2012:
This layout has been featured on the Manor House Creations blog, yay! Check it out here. xo

123 challenge... school bus yellow!

Just sharing a layout I've completed for the October 123 Challenge... this month the challenge was to use school bus yellow, paper strips and the word 'miss'. I love this golden yellow colour so it was easy to get inspired to give this one a go :)

Here's my take on it:

I journalled a little about our old house, which was almost half the size of our new house, but the yard was massive and I miss not having a lot of grass for the kids to run around on.

I've used part of a kit from D'Lish Scraps, Mini Market alphas, the orange fabric button is from Basic Grey, the background stamp is a new Prima one I bought yesterday and just had to try out :)

The chevron button is from Greatest View and the paper strips under the photo are from the Vintage Yummy collection from Sassafras Lass.

Enjoy your weekend!