Sunday 31 May 2015

Kraft+ - May Challenge

Two posts in one day, can only mean one thing, end of month mad scramble for finishing and linking challenges!

Well, I surprised even myself getting another one done. This time I have done a simple page based on the Kraft+ inspiration board.


The inspiration that I took away from this board was the colours of olivey green and deep orange and the nature kind of feel from the flowers. This is what I finished with:


As I mentioned a clean and simple layout with lots of stamping and ink/mists. I coloured a DIY calico arrow from Charms Creations using my distress inks and some water, in this case Ripe Persimmon and Dried Marigold kind of combined. The green on the background I painted in using my Mr Hueys Estate Green mist. The stamps were from a Tim Holtz set too.


And a close up of the arrow. I stamped with peeled paint distress ink also on the arrow to tie it all in.

Well, that is definitely it from me today. Time to go and do things like finish the washing and prepare dinner!

Thanks for stopping by,

Katie x

Off the Rails - May

Well, I managed to get another challenge in before the month finished! So, I decided to go with the Off the Rails inspiration board which is:






An interesting board and I wasn't completely sure which way to go at first. But I found some older photos of my kids in amongst trees and then thought it would go perfectly with some wood grain paper and the wood grain on the board. Use the colour scheme, add some butterflies and doilies (for the lace on the books) and not to forget a few flowers and I was done! So here is what I finished with:


So, I found the perfect Charms Creations heavenly heart to match this board, and it is one of the newer ones with a matching butterfly too! And I was so impressed that some of my newer goodies from D-lish Scraps included some wooden dyed butterfly buttons and there happened to be two red ones that matched!


A close up of the heart, great match isn't it?! I just love using the journal spots from D-lish Scraps, it makes it so easy to add my journalling and I just have to layer it into my page.



Love using my doilies (also from D-lish) and I thought this wood veneer tag from Pink Fresh Studio was a great title.



More bits and bobs from D-lish in this little cluster.


So, there you have it, my page using the Off the Rails inspiration board for May.

Thanks for stopping by,

Katie x

Wednesday 27 May 2015

Show Us Your Stuff - May

So, I have managed to get another challenge done before the month is finished! This time I decided to go with one that was reasonably easy, a sketch! You have to love a sketch for getting something done fast (well usually anyway!). I went with the sketch up at Show Us Your Stuff:


So this is the sketch and as usual the only other criteria is something handmade. I have included a Charms Creations map marker and a D-lish Scraps flair button. So, this is what I finished with:


I dug these old photos out after talking about brass monkey's (and what happens to them!) with Liam. The photos are from 2008, and just look at how little my three are! Even Liam commented on how small he looked. Ahh.... memories... babies no more!

I played up on the red and yellow that Liam was wearing and kept the rest of the page fairly neutral with black, white and grey, oh and a little kraft for good measure!


Love how my Charms Creation map marker was a perfect match for this page!


And a little bit of D-lish Scraps flair often makes its way onto my pages, and this kraft script word was perfect.


I decided that the background was too stark if I just left it plain white, so I used a stencil and texture paste then added a soft water colour effect using scattered straw distress ink on a plastic bag spritzed with water. This is a great way to create a soft effect. Then I splattered a little bit of red Mr Huey's to finish.

Well, that is it for now. I am not sure I will get any more challenges done this month, a few other deadlines are snapping at my heal! But never say never!

Thanks for stopping by.

Katie x

Tuesday 19 May 2015

White With 1 - May

So, this is the first month in a while where I have had to wait like everyone else to find out the colour for the monthly challenge over at WW1! A bit weird but that's ok, now I can join in and enjoy the new teams creations!

So, the colour this month is Raspberry Wine



raspberry wine


A little hard to match perfectly, reds seemed to be too warm or too blue or too pink. Anyhoo, I think the colour I found was a pretty good match, and I had some fun creating the background that is for sure!



What else that was really fun was playing with the Charms Creations DIY heart. There are shapes available in white and cream calico so you can do whatever you want to make it fit your project! Pretty cool hey?!

This heart started off white and I stamped a pattern using a cool Hero Arts stamp and clear embossing ink and then sprinkled with clear powder and set the pattern.

Once it cooled downed I sprayed my ink, in this case I used dylusions cherry pie, onto my craft mat with some water, swiped the heart through, sprayed a bit more water directly on the heart to help the colour spread and finished with a little more ink directly on the heart also.

The result is essentially an emboss resist pattern on the heart. I am thinking maybe the pattern was too detailed for the small scale, so I need to play around a little more, but it definitely worked!


After it dried off a little I used a hot dry iron and some butchers paper and ironed off the embossing.


You can see the detail a little better in the close up.



I also cut out some gorgeous Wilna Furstenburg flowers and leaves to surround my photos and coloured the word in black to make it my title. A pretty simple page, but I love how it turned out!

So there you have it, my first WW1 entry in ages! Looking forward to doing more.

Thanks for stopping by,

Katie x


Sunday 17 May 2015

Scrap the Boys - Mid month reveal

So, have you done your Scrap the Boys page for May yet? Do you need some more inspiration? Well the mid-month reveal is now up so what are you waiting for?!

The theme this month is:

 

And this is what I came up with for my sample:


We had to upgrade Liam's bike last year as the old one was just too small, but I was a bit amazed to find we needed to get him a small men's bike! It is a little big for him, but that's ok, he is still growing, he is only 10 after all!

I went with a bright mixed media background, I think I needed to play and get messy!


I found some great die cuts in some old Crate Paper collections, and a fabulous flair from D-lish Scraps.


Another tag and journal spot from Crate Paper, and you can see that I matted the photo on a spotty bag from D-lish Scraps, these are so useful!


And you can't finish a page without adding a Charms Creation to it! Well I guess you can, but they are such great embellishments that I find I can add them everywhere! And I love this screen printed wood veneer from Pink Fresh Studio.

So that is my page, check out the rest of the mid month reveal here, and don't forget there is a great prize up for grabs a Project Life pack donated by the lovely Marelle!

 

So, now you need to go and create your page.

Thanks for stopping by,

Katie x
 

Monday 11 May 2015

Mothers Day Card with Charms Creations

Good Morning!

I hope all you Mum's out there had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday. I had a wonderful day spent with my mother and also my kids.

Now that I have given my Mum her card I thought I would share it with you here. Did you know that Charms Creations are awesome for putting on cards?! Well they are, and what better shape than a heart to put on a card for Mum?!

I used a sandstone and cream heart from the April release on this card, a nice soft neutral feel to go with some pretty purple.


So here is a close up of the gorgeous sandstone heart, see how perfectly it works with some bright colour!


And here is the whole card. In my usual style for cards, quick and simple! I have used some My Minds Eye paper from the Jubilee - Sherbet collection and would you believe that the Distress Ink "Seedless Preserves" was a perfect purple match for the background of the card!

Otherwise there are some Prima gems, D-lish Scraps roses and a frame from one of Maggie Holmes collections.

Thanks for dropping by, and catch you soon.

Katie x

Thursday 7 May 2015

More Scrapbooking Memories Shares

Time for some more shares from some of the older Scrapbooking Memories articles that I have had published.



These first two pages were for an article about finding your mojo, because let's face it we all experience times when we want to be creative but the spirit isn't with us. My suggestions included trying a sketch (top page based on a SBM sketch) and checking out challenge sites and doing one of them (second page based on a D-lish Scraps monthly inspiration board).



These two pages were about using colour, not colour choices per say but the proportions of colour, the good old 60-30-10 rule.

Thanks for stopping by and catch you soon.

Katie x

Wednesday 6 May 2015

D-lish Scraps catch up

Hi There! I hope your hump day is treating you well. So, now that we are in the beginning of a new month it is time to share the creations that I made for the D-lish Scraps blog recently.




So I created some more cards. Using my quick and simple motto they came together pretty quickly! You can check out all the details here.

An Easter, pastel inspired page. I am quite enjoying these soft colours, and I used an older couple of photos, just look how little my Erin is! Check out the whole post here.


And this last one is a favourite. I just felt the need to play with a fresh, clean and simple look. I love how it turned out and the details are here.

So that is what I have been up to over at D-lish Scraps, make sure you check out the blog to see all the other amazing things that the rest of the team are up to!

Scrap the Boys - New Challenge and sneak peek

Good Morning! Have you checked out the great new challenge up at Scrap the Boys for this month? Well this month it is all about your man/boy and how they "Pound the Pavement".



So it is time to get out those photos of your boys on bikes, scooters, skateboards or even just running around and put them on a scrap page.

Here is a quick sneak of mine, the full reveal will be mid-month.



And you can probably see that I have managed to add a Charms Creations chevron on my page!

Make sure you pop back later in the month to see the whole thing, but in the mean time don't forget to check out the reveals already up, there is some awesome inspiration! Scrap the Boys

Thanks for stopping by,

Katie x

Tuesday 5 May 2015

National Scrapbooking Day

So Saturday May 2nd was National (or in our case here in Australia International!) Scrapbooking Day. Basically a good excuse to drop everything else and spend some time scrapping up a storm, with plenty of give aways and challenges happening all over the world.

Well, we decided to join in over at Charms Creations by giving people a sketch to play with, but the bonus is you have all May to get it done and there is a bonus prize too if you do the sketch and also the mid-monthly challenge.

Check it all out here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1593652894224365/

So here is the sketch:
 

And this is what I came up with:


A soft and pretty page for my DD1, even if she is being goofy in the photo! I just loved using the doily butterfly heart from Charms Creations, this is one of the new lines with the gorgeous butterfly buttons on top. I also played with a newish collection from Pink Paisely that I just got my hands on, this is full of pretty colours and butterflies too!


I have been playing some more with the pearl texture paste too, and a new stencil from ScrapFX that I picked up from D-lish Scraps. There are lots of other little bits from D-lish Scraps too, can you spot them?!


Love the wood veneer from Heidi Swapp's September Skies collection. In fact I am loving most of HS things these days! I am eagerly awaiting some Wanderlust papers that I have ordered!


 In my little cluster here I have used a sweet chipboard frame from one of Maggie Holmes' collections.

So there you go, my NSD efforts. Don't forget to go and check out Charms Creations FB group and join in the fun!