October Sketch challenge..

Hello all,                                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                

Today I'm here with my entry for the Scrap365 October sketch challenge. I haven't entered this challenge for a couple of months but this sketch really appealed to me and I actually had some free time to do it! http://scrap365.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/october-sketch-challenge.html                                                           

 

 

So here is my entry..

 

I used some of my favourite things on this layout, lace, burlap and bling!! Also Prima alpha's and Say it in Crystals crochet trim, texture paste and stencils. Doilies, cardstock and flowers from my stash. The bottle cap was from last months Swirlydoo's kit and I also used some Dusty Attic clock faces.
The background paper was BoBunny TimePiece Villa.

 

 My flowers were the wrong colour so I changed them with Prima Color Blooms Tea Stain and Antique Gold. I used Distress Ink Vintage Photo on my cardstock edges.

 

Hope you like it, thanks for stopping by  :)

Creative Blog Hop

Hi all,

Its my turn to join in with the Creative Blog Hop that's sweeping around the blogging world like a Mexican wave! I was very honoured to be nominated by  fellow Swirly Girly LaQuette Atkins from Swirlydoo's. I really love LaQuette's style, her use of punches and layers, and many of her layouts use stencils/masks with mixed media, all creating a romantic soft pretty effect. Visit her blog LaQuette Atkins . I loved this layout LaQuette made with the February kit.

 

I became a member of Swirlydoo's Kit club Swirlydoo's Kit Club  in March 2014 where I have met so many friendly, outgoing, helpful, 'scrappy mad' ladies like myself, and have been made to feel so welcome. It is a wonderful place to be and I have learnt so much from everyone and their different styles and the tutorials and technique advice available on the forum.

 

In taking part in this blog hop, we all have to answer 4 questions, so here goes.......

 

1) What are you working on?

At the moment I have had a mad rush of inspiration using the latest kit from Swirlydoo's, Wistful Blues. It contains my favourite colours, blue with brown hints and a little pink. We had a holiday in Devon a month ago and a lot of my holiday photo's go so well with the papers in the kit, I haven't been able to keep up with the ideas! I am also working on a couple of off the page altered art projects that I have been asked to do,  a Kaisercraft drawer unit and a matching photo frame in a requested colour scheme. Its nearly finished so keep looking at my blog for a post!

 

2) How does your work differ from others of its genre?

I think there are so many styles and interpretations within the world of scrapbooking , it is truly fascinating to see the differences in peoples work. Mine, I'm not sure I am different to some but my style has definitely changed over the last year finding its place in a shabby, romantic, vintage, very much embellished category, which is why I love Swirlydoo's so much, with like minded people. My work is also developing, hopefully for the better. I am finding a love for mixed media which fits in with my 'style' very well.

 

3)Why do I create what I do?

 

Well there's a question! I have always been quite 'arty' at school but never really followed it through when leaving and getting into the working world. I went through a difficult time health wise a few years ago and it was in that time my Mum introduced me into scrapbooking. At this time I found it so relaxing and absorbing and loved my time in my little 'crafty' bubble, it really helped me. I got hooked!! I love paper.... I have loads... I love taking photo's... I love remembering all the things I've done and family moments and milestones....scrapbooking was perfect!. I love embellishments and creating something beautiful that's got meaning whether for me or other people, but most of all I love playing with all those wonderful goodies us crafty ladies can get our hands on nowadays and the friendships I have made through scrapbooking.

 

4) How does your creative process work?

That's depends really, sometimes its the kits that start me of, I see a paper I love and go from there and find a photo to fit the paper. But I can also work the other way and have the photo I want to scrap and go find the paper to work with it. Most times my layouts come from out of my head, I spend hours pinning sketches on Pinterest and then never use them!

 

The other part of this creative blog hop is to nominate more friends to join the hop and invite you to visit their blogs too. I have to say the majority of my bloggy friends are from Swirlydoo's. My friends in the UK haven't really got blogs and entered into the forum thing like I have. I have some wonderful friends that inspire me at crops and my friend Hayley who really inspired and encouraged me to explore my creativity when she had her shop Funky Farm Scrapbook Barn. There are two ladies at Swirlydoo's, whose work I strive for mine to be like, as I love what they do with their work and look at in awe, Angelica and Misha, are great inspiration to me.

I have nominated Mellisa (PaperFairytails) for the blog hop.

 

Mellisa is another fellow swirly girly at Swirlydoo's. She is another lady that I look with great interest at her work. She works so well with colour, one thing I'm not good at, whether its colour of the papers or the colour of the embellishments she uses to complement. She also uses lots of different techniques on her pages, each page has a little something different on it to the last one, I like that! And then you get her 'white' page - wow beautiful! I want to get better/ braver with colour, like this. I also like her non photo pages. I've seen a couple that she has done with just words and journaling and they are still so very effective, making me imagine pictures in my head of what she is journaling about. Very clever. I also love her mini album she has made out of the Wistful Blues kit. To see this visit her blog.  Here is the link to her blog gaslightmemories.net/mellog 

Here are a couple of my favourite layouts of hers....

 

 

And here is the 'white' page....

 

 

and colour!!!......

 

 

Thank you for stopping by my blog today and please go and visit Mellisa's blog too!

 

 

Mannequin

Hello All!

I have finally got around to finishing my mannequin, it has only taken over a year!!
I had done the main hard work and then not finished the decorating of it - the best bit!!!

 

I started with a paper Mache mannequin body form, easily available, and painted it in gesso.

I then used the Indigo Blu 'slap it on' and tissue method, using stamped images ( Indigo Blu stamps) with a pigment ink onto tissues that are then cut out and separated to one layer before being 'painted ' on with Indigo Blu Slap it On.

Once dry then decorate!!

 

Thanks for stopping by   :)

Wistful Blues

 

I am loving the August Swirlydoo's kit, Wistful Blues, it contains my favourite colours and some gorgeous papers, including some Riddersholm design papers.
So far I've done two layouts using this kit, both for Swirlydoo's challenges. Here's the first......

                                      August Sketch Challenge www.swirlydoos.com

 

And here's my take on the sketch.....

 

 

 

The next layout is for the August butterfly/dragonfly challenge

 

 

Everything is from the kit, even the cardboard is from the delivery box!

Here are some close ups....

 

 

Thanks for stopping by  :)

By the Sea.........

By the Sea..........

Hello all... we had a fabulous holiday in July down in Torquay, Devon. We were so lucky with the weather, one of the hottest weeks of the summer, that doesn't normally happen in the school summer holidays let alone when we are away, it normally rains!

I am a recent fan of Graphic 45 papers and collections. I particularly fell in love with this collection, By the Sea, and obviously it is perfect to do our seaside holiday in Torquay! This is the first Graphic 45 layout I have ever done, but I know it wont be the last!

 

 

What I love is all the little bits and pieces in these collections that co-ordinate with the papers, the chipboard and  the die cuts. I really want to do a mini album with this collection and seeing as I have so many photo's from the holiday, that maybe a good idea! Watch this space.... 

I don't normally do 'bold' bright coloured papers either but I have to admit the Graphic 45 papers really appeal to me with a good selection of contrasting designs within the collection. They really make you want to layer!  

 

The only things I added to the layout that were not in the By the Sea collection was the burlap, frayed and tucked under layers of paper, the twine tied through the chippie buttons, the alpha stickers and American Crafts Thickers alphas and Prima chalk ink Old road to ink round the edges, oh and a pen to do the faux stitching!

I wanted to create layers on this layout, to use as many samples of the papers I could! And did some fussy cutting out one of them too. It seems very odd not to put a flower on a layout! But even with no flower in sight, I was quite pleased with it! Hope you like it too!?

                    Thank you for visiting my blog, please leave a comment and say hello! :)

Mediums..................

And this is the other one I'm sharing today........ I have been watching endless tutorials, so much so I think my eyes have gone square!, on mixed media layouts, which is still quite new to me but something I really like and want to get better at. Anyway filled with inspiration from all this viewing I set to work and here is the result.......................

 

I used Glitz Design Distressed Couture paper backed on a BoBunny double dot paper.

 

Other products used:- texture paste and diamond stencil

Prima Color Bloom Sprays; Glistening Waves, Vintage Coal, Antique Gold and Sunshine

Prima flowers and Say it with Crystals pearl circles and Resin flowers

paper flowers and lace and heart string from my stash

bling and branches from a Swirlydoo's kit

photo background paper Teresa Collins Fabrications

Gel Medium

Pigment Izink Turquoise

water spritzer

 

Here's are some close up's.....

 

 

Hope you like this one too!

See you soon!

Yellow......................

Morning everyone!
                               A nice quiet Sunday to share some layouts with you..... firstly this one...... I don't 'do' yellow, but I really love this one! We (the family) were watching the combine harvesting in the field opposite our house last week and when I saw my photo really wanted to scrap it!

 

I used Glitz Designs Sunshine in my Soul collection and alphas,which I thought was perfect for Harvest colours.

 

 

Prima flowers, leaves and butterfly embellishment. Anna Marie Designs burlap, small flowers and seed head chippies.

 

I used a American Crafts notepad punch, Martha Stewart pansy border punch and Perfect Tears tool.

 

Layers was the theme to this layout, and lots of them!!!!

Hope you like it!!!

 

Progress......

Evening all,
                     A couple of  months ago I told you about the recycling of the hardboard empty sticker rolls from work that were in the dustbin and showed you a pot I'd made it into for my ink brushes. Well I've now decided that more storage is good and the more the better, so I've joined 3 rolls together to make a triple storage system for pens/rulers/brushes etc and it includes a smaller compartment for little things. I painted them this time in black as the base colour and covered them in Prima Something Blue papers and lace and flowers from my stash.

 

Thanks for stopping by :)

More Swirlydoo's layouts

I'm back again!, with more layouts from the Celestial Summer kit from Swirlydoo's monthly scrapbook kit club.  Go take a look..... www.swirlydoos.com

This time I have this page to show you, I really like this one, I tried to keep this one as a mixed media page and keep it soft and dreamy.

 

Here are some close up's....

 

 

On the gorgeous Blue Fern Studio's paper I firstly masked the diamond pattern in two different coloured Prima chalk ink pads, Pastel Brown and Sweet pea. I also texture paste some swirls through a mask, stamped the Finnabair brick stamp with Distress ink Tattered Rose and then used versamark through the Memory box circle splashes stencil ( my favourite at the monment!) and added Stampendous aged gold embossing powder and heated.

 

My chippie I painted in gesso and then dabbed splatters of  Eggplant and Shell Pink paint dabbers and then  dabbed my embossing medium dabber over randomly and used the Stampendous gold embossing powder again.

 

 

My butterflies are a die from the Create and Craft TV Brand with the edges dusted in the two prima chalk pads already used and then a Stickles glitter glue rubbed over in places. I also used the same die to cut out the butterflies in the peach and white material sheet that was also in the kit and placed underneath the other butterflies to act like a shadow/ double layer.

I hope you like it, thanks for stopping by.

Swirlydoo's sketch challenge for August

Happy August,
                           I haven't posted for a while, the kids are on holiday and we've been away for a week on the beach in glorious weather and had a fab time!
Today i'm going to share with you my recent layouts that I've done with the Swirlydoo's August kit - Celestial Summer. Some gorgeous papers in this one from Blue Fern Studio's and Prima Princess.

 

Firstly the August sketch challenge with which I used the Princess Papers.

 

I started with some texture paste and a Memory Box circles stencil, apart from that everything on this page was from the kit.

 

 

I wound the wire around a pencil to get the shape I wanted.

We had a Silks shimmer semi gloss acrylic glaze in the kit which I highlighted parts of the Prima resin fairies with and also the chippy alpha's. I thought the colour of the glaze matched perfectly the colour of my daughter's face painting!

 

 Thank you for stopping by, I will post some more layouts from this gorgeous kit!

My last csi as guest designer for June

So my month as Special Deputy Guest Designer for the month of June is now over with this last case file. I have really enjoyed completing each case file and  have had loads of fun with the colour schemes and testimonies. This is case file 129..http://colorstoriesinspiration.ning.com/

 

From my Testimony I chose 'document a meal', so I chose a photo of the annual Ball that we go to every year with friends and work colleagues. We have a lovely time 'dressing up' in our ball dresses and enjoying a 4 course dinner and dancing afterwards to a band... my LO......

 

 

My Evidence used;

chevrons

silver metal

flowers

pom-pom trim

 

My Testimony;

document a meal

write in a zig-zag pattern

 

Here are the close up's....

 

 

Here's what I used; a selection of Prima flowers, and other flowers,  pom-pom trim from Funky Farm Scrapbook Barn, silver metal embellishments from my stash.

 

 

I wrote my journaling through my stencil to get the zig-zag effect easily.

 

I used Fancy Pants 3x8 pattern stencil set with Versa Magic Thatched Straw chalk ink pad. These stencils are a tough cardboard stencil and the design parts push out to reveal the cut outs. I then used these pieces I pushed out on my layout in their own right. Paper used was a piece from Pink Paislee Indigo blue, a dark grey cardstock and a Crate Paper background Paper. 

Thank you to csi colorstoriesinspiration for letting be a part of the guest design team this month.

Thanks for stopping by, please leave your comments :)

 

'Lorna Doone' csi case file 128

Hello All,
                Here I am with csi case file 128.  Lovely soft colours in this one.   http://colorstoriesinspiration.ning.com/

So here's my entry, designed around a photo of 'Lorna Doone' country, Exmoor, UK. This area is made famous by the Victorian novel 'Lorna Doone' by R.D. Blackmore set in this area in the 1680's. My photo is through the doorway of the church where Lorna Doone was shot by her half brother whilst at the alter to marry John Ridd. We had a lovely holiday in and around this beautiful piece of country.

 

My Evidence used;

Door/window

flowers

beads

rosettes

chalkboard

pearls

ribbon/bows

punches

fruit element

 

My testimony used:-

write about a door or entrance

write journaling on a chalkboard surface.

 

And now for some close up's....

 

 

I used masks with texture paste and acrylic blue paint and a perfect pearls mist for the background. I dropped some lavender gold Lindy's mica into the wet mist to add colour splashes to it. Also used a Martha Stewart pansy border punch, Tattered Lace rosette die, a memory box wreath die and frame die and floral spray die. 

 

I added Prima Trinkets window, floral rose bud ribbon, MME chalkboard tags.

 

I strung some rainbow chip beads on a wire with a couple of trinkets. Prima lace flower and blackberries from Anna Marie Designs and a trellis Memory Box die, Creative Expression pearls and lastly DWVC card stock.

 

Thank you for visiting.