Living life .. with Scrap Matrix

Morning!!

Have you seen this month's challenge over at Scrap Matrix? Its all about frames. For my second project I created a layout using frames to create the layers behind my photo ..

Living life

You've been framed

A few close ups ..

You can read about my design process and find step by step photos on the Scrap Matrix blog HERE. 

You can find lots of Design Team inspiration and all the challenge details HERE. Don't forget you now only have until midnight on the 30th to upload your entry to the Scrap Matrix Facebook Shares Page! I look forward to seeing what you come up with!!

Cheers .. Alz  :)

products used:

Prima Metallic Accents Semi Watercolour Paints

Tim Holtz Distress Inks

TCW 12x12 Tiny Circles

TCW 6x6 Mini Well Rounded

13@rts Rain of Dots

Aall and Create Stencil #13

Finnabair Texture Paste in White Sand

Joggles 9x12 Wander stencil

Faber Castell Gelatos - Metallics pack

13@rts Colour Basics 6x6 pad

Blue Fern Studios Graduated Circles

Ranger Glossy Accents

Prima Art Sugar Glitter - Antique Silver

White French Lace Embossed Paper Lace

Petaloo Burlap Blossoms - Ivory

Petaloo Mini Paintables - Ivory

Um Wow Flair - Teal Blooms

Tim Holtz Idea-ololy Chit Chat Stickers

13@rts Splash Glitter Ink - Turquoise Glitter

From sunrise to sunset .. with Show Us Your Stuff

As mentioned in my earlier post, I got to scrap last weekend. Yay!!!!!! I love challenge blogs. I think we all know that about me. Yeah? That I love scrapbooking challenges. Well this month the girls over at Show Us Your Stuff had a doozey of a challenge. Use ugly paper. I know I have plenty of that in my stash. What about you?

From sunrise to sunset

some close ups

My 'ugly' papers were the honeycomb pattern from Authentique and the grey and lemon floral design from Sassafras. So as we know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Yes? Well I once really liked these papers. I went through a grey and yellow phase. It didn't last as long as I thought it would and I fell out of love with the colour combo, and thought the floral paper was a bit granny-like. Oh and I loved my grandma so no disrespect to grannies LOL!  ;)

I decided not to disguise the papers with a white wash as their tones actually perfectly suited a photo of my niece I've been itching to scrap. Also, I have a small-ish box on my scrap desk where I put bits and pieces as I find them. The handmade fabric flower I made eons ago was in there. So was the kraft barcode and resin flower. I decided they'd work so threw them into the mix. Next up was using a new die I'd been aching for, which arrived last week. You know what I'm talking about yeah? Yeah LOL, I know you do! So I die-cut some scribbly roses and they kind of fell into place, and absolutely not where I had intended to use them. Okay so that bit's a lie LOL! Well not really. Maybe a little. And now I'm rambling.

If you have ugly papers in your stash, why not give this challenge a go? You can find all the details you need HERE.

Happy scrapping peeps.

Seriously?! .. with Kraft Plus

So, I haven't been scrapping much lately because I've been studying, and then this happened ..

Harry ..

Harry was 12 weeks old when he came to live with us. He's a Kelpie x 'mix' and was adopted from a pet rescue group. He was rescued from a puppy farm where he had serious health problems which had been left untreated. Of the entire litter, he was the last to be adopted. I think most people were put off by his health problems and that he was the runt of the litter. I tell you though, he may have been the runt but he has a huge (like really big LOL) personality! So anyways, taking care of this little one's health and behavioural issues has been a full time job so I confess, not much of anything has been done. Even blogging. And sleeping. But right this minute, he and our other dog Bear, are annoying the cr@p out of my GB who is trying to catch up on some sleep. He he he. So I'm stealing the opportunity to have some 'me' time and blog!

Anyways last weekend (not this weekend just gone), my girlfriend Sandy came over to scrap for the weekend. Three days of uninterrupted bliss distractions by Harry, and Sandy scrapped something like 27 layouts whilst I managed a meagre three. LOL. This is one of them.

Seriously?!

I was inspired to create this layout by the current Kraft Plus challenge which is to use jigsaw puzzle piece(s) on your layout. The challenge was particularly relevant to my photo of Bear in his new winter coat as the puzzled expression on his face said it all.

At first I thought working with the puzzle pieces was going to be really difficult. Thankfully I still had my Big Shot Puzzle Die. Does anyone else remember the good old blue Big Shot Thick Cut dies? I dragged it out, cut 27,000 jigsaw pieces out of kraft cardstock and spare photos, and figured I'd use them as part of my background. Like I would with any other shapes like, say, circles. I think it worked. Anyways I had a bit of fun, relaxing and throwing all sorts of materials on my layout, once I found my groove.

You can find all the details for this month's Kraft Plus challenge HERE. Go on, give it a go. I know you want to.

Cheers.

White With 1 - July

Be prepared for something completely different people. This started out as my layout for the White With 1 July challenge .. white + navy + arrows. Then kind of morphed into something unlike anything I've ever done before. I don't do grid-like scrapping. I don't do doubles. I don't do no paint/ink/mists or grunge. I don't do this ..

Best birthday

LOL but I did!!! I was going through my photos looking for something that would work with navy. Having only a short time ago completed a full on navy layout, and finding I had a shortage on navy scrapping supplies, I was looking for something very particular. I found these photos from my birthday last year and they leaped out at me to be scrapped. Because there was so many of them (well for me anyways) I started visualising them done in a Project Life style of scrapping. The only problem with that is I'm not quite sure how much I want to venture into Project Life scrapping. I have everything I need to do it I just haven't taken that first step. So then I figured "why not make this look like something Project Life but actually do it as a traditional layout?". That's how it started. It took me forever. I kid you not. I played with this layout in some way or another for about a week. A week in which I could have got my grunge on and created multiple layouts!! Everything was flat. There was no mess. Everything lined up perfectly (well almost!). It seemed so boring. It needed something. Anything. Was I doomed to never take on Project Life in the future? So I started embellishing, embellishing and then embellished some more, and I was happy. Well at least happier. LOL! I suspect if I do venture into Project Life (which is the plan for my travel albums) I'm going to have to learn to curb the urge to get 'my mess on' and also accept that there will be little or no lumpy bumpy bits.

If you're a super quick scrapper, you still have time to get this challenge done as its due midnight tonight. But you'd better hurry!! You can find the challenge details HERE. Good luck!!!    :)

Scrap Therapy - July

I'm becoming more than a little addicted to the monthly sketch challenges over at Scrap Therapy. There's just something about them that really pushes me creatively.

Scrap Therapy July sketch

Doesn't it just rock?!!?!

Happiness

I've not done anything like this before but definitely look forward to do doing so in the future. My 7Gypsies paper tape collection may have just become my new best friend!!

You can find all the details of Scrap Therapy's current challenge HERE. The Design Team examples are just fabulous. I especially loved Mandy's take with the Tim Holtz tape and stitching. Awesome!

Oh and whilst you're there, why not check out some of the Design Team's other gorgeous creations. Karen has created the most incredible tags with Prima and Tim Holtz products and Mandy is continuing her fabulous Project Life layouts. I have a similar Prima stamp to the one Karen used on her tags so guess what I'll be doing in the not too distant future LOL? Meanwhile I'm still waiting for the right moment to dip my toes into Project Life but am (as would any diligent scrapper LOL), in the interim, amassing the supplies I need, so I am loving following Mandy's Project Life journey. Thanks for the inspiration girls!   :)

1-2-3 June challenge

The challenge this month at 1-2-3 is ..

I knew that I wanted to do this challenge but it wasn't until I was searching through my stash for something altogether different, and I stumbled across the most sublime piece of grey patterned paper (thanks Sassafras Studio Calico!) that I was hooked .. hook, line and sinker. I had a recently printed black and white photo I thought might work. I had a couple of circle ideas I'd been playing with in my head. In a round about fashion, this is what I ended up with ..

way with words

My niece Mia really does have a way with words. I mean seriously, who other than Mia would upload a photo to Facebook with the caption "sand between our toes, salt water leaking through my nose"?!!! I love her originality, her quirkiness, her determination to be who she is is. One day I'll scrap those exact sentiments, but for now, I'm happy to just have a laugh at her way with words.

If you think this challenge could be your thing, you can find all you need to know HERE. Now go get scrapping!!!   :)

Scrapbooking From Scratch - June colour challenge

This one is for my girlfriend (heh Di!) who is having surgery any day now. Have a speedy recovery hon and let's not leave it so long to catch up again!!!

Those days are gone

SFS colour palette

with the gorgeous Donna White's sample layout

What most inspired me was the bright, spring colours, the pinks and yellows with the freshness of the aqua tones. I immediately thought of Fancy Pants' Hopscotch range and a photo I'm embarrassed to admit I've had, to scrap, of Di's daughter since 2009.   :O

Thanks for the fabulous inspiration Donna!

You can find all the details of Donna's colour challenge at Scrapbooking From Scratch in their forum HERE. Happy scrapping!   :)

When is a double not a double?

When it's two single layouts designed to compliment each other but created individually with the same products. Well that's my claim and I'm sticking to it. Because I really don't care for doubles!

The story ..

I had the most adorable photos I wanted to scrap of our friends' gorgeous little girl but I hadn't known what size I wanted to scrap them in. So I printed them all in 5x7, 4x6 and 2Ups. I'm also a challenge junkie, and because of my recent battle with anxiety (see HERE) I really didn't want to create a 'mess' with these photos. So I turned to some challenges for inspiration.

The layouts ..

First is the layout I created with the current sketch at Anna's Craft Cupboard, the details of which you can find HERE.

Cutie patootie

published in Scrapbook Creations No. 103

Anna's sketch

Next is the layout I created with the current sketch from Scrapbooking From Scratch, the details of which you can find in their forum HERE. 

Made with love

published in Scrapbook Creations No. 103

SFS' sketch

Do you see how fabulous they will look together in an album, but that they're not actually a double? LOL well that's what I'm telling myself because on the odd occasion I have too many photos for a single layout, and I come up stumps for inspiration for a double, I'm going to do exactly this, create two single layouts which 'compliment' each other. Simples! LOL!!!!

I'd love to know what you think. Do you see two single layouts or a double? Oh and if you see a double, which would you put on the left or the right? Hmm??

In the meanwhile if you'd like to give these sketches a go you have until the end of June if you'd like to enter them in the challenges. Otherwise bookmark them for the future. Oh and I highly recommend you visit both of these stores if you haven't already. They rank in my top five favourite stores, for varied reasons, yet both equally inspiring and full of fun products!

Happy scrapping!!!   :)

Scrapbook Creations - Design Diva competition

Those of you who know me well know that Scrapbook Creations is my absolute favourite Australian scrapbooking magazine. I am proud to have now had a number of layouts and projects published in Scrapbook Creations and was uber excited when I found out they were running their Design Diva competition again this year.

I had to enter and despite leaving it until almost the last minute to get my entry in, I did. I wasn't successful. I wasn't even short listed LOL! Am I disappointed? Not really, oddly enough. Although it would have been wonderful ..

Of the three required projects, I thought the one that would really let my entry down was my OTP. For the most part, OTPs just aren't my thing. If I have a 'stroke of genius' I can sometimes pull something amazing off, but for the most part OTPs leave me stumped. The problem I found was that no 'strokes of genius' were heading my way in time for me to complete my entry. The only thing left was to create a suite of cards. Ironically, this was the one project Scrapbook Creations wanted to publish!!!!!!! In the end I didn't proceed with having the cards published because, quite honestly, I had put so much work into the techniques, elements and details on the cards, it would have taken me days to write the step by step instructions Scrapbook Creations required for the feature. I can't believe I 'rejected an acceptance' but I guess sometimes other things in life have to take precedence yes?

These are my entry projects ..

Today

entry 1 - a piece of me

published in Scrapbooking Memories Vol. 16 No. 3

"Although I like to experiment with different products and techniques, the style of scrapping I find myself returning to time and time again is a clean and neat, often pretty, and elegant one, incorporating lots of journaling (there is hidden journaling on my tag as well as on the layout) and attention to detail."

Mia

entry 2 - signature style

"Creating depth with layers, paints and inks, adding textiles and other mixed media, stitching and distressing, are all some of my favourite techniques to use when scrapping."

Champ de fleurs

entry 3 - Off-The-Page

"I was making cards for several years before I started scrapbooking so it seemed natural to me to return to my grass roots and make a card suite for this challenge in my favourite card style .. vintage, shabby botanicals."

So there you have it. The fish that John West rejected LOL! Until next time .. keep crafting!!!   :)

Kraft It Up - April

The challenge at Kraft It Up is, in my humble opinion, a doozey this month ..

This month we want you to recycle some of that product packaging and use it on your layout, the only must have is that you use Kraft cardstock or Kraft patterned paper!

Um, I either throw out the packaging (which I guess, LOL, is the whole point of this challenge!!!) because I don't need/want it or I keep it because I need/want it. Not having bought anything new (well sort of) very recently, the packaging I had I wanted to keep not use!!! Then I remembered I had recently bought Teresa Collins' He Said She Said "He Said" collection and then I remembered this bit that comes at the front of the collections ..

I had packaging!!!

Love my guy

From the bottom section of my packaging I die-cut two Tim Holtz paper rosettes and punched out several photo corners which I used as arrows. I sooooo wish I had thought of doing this before. I can't tell you how many full sheets of 12x12 patterned paper I've cut into to make my own embellishments when all this time I could have simply used the packaging. You can be sure I'll be doing this again. Thanks for the inspiration Kraft It Up. Oh and if you'd like to give the challenge a go or you'd just like to see the creative and innovative ways the Creative Team have recycled their product packaging, you can check it all out HERE.

Alz

:)

1-2-3 Challenge Blog - March challenge

To quote the 1-2-3 Challenge Blog, "WOOHOO!!!" indeed! The first challenge at the new 1-2-3 Challenge Blog is up! Actually LOL, it has been for a wee while, I'm just a little behind the times! Anyways, the March challenge is ..

Colour = Black

Word = Year

Technique = Twine Circles

You can find all the details HERE. This is what I came up with ..

19 Years

I have to confess I love, love, love this photo of my GB on our wedding day. It was a candid moment taken by a friend whilst we were having a breather from our professional shots. I'm still yet to scrap our wedding album (oops) and this LO has given me a glimmer of an idea of what I might do. Thanks for the inspiration 1-2-3!

Cheers .. Alz   :)

Doubles trouble

Like a lot of scrappers, double page LOs are not my preferred format and are most definitely not my forte. I literally only need both hands to count the number of double LOs I have created in the eight years I have been scrapping. Literally. Of those, there are only a few I really feel comfortable sharing!! What is it with doubles? I did do a double recently, and shared it on my blog, and (LOL) it was even picked up for publishing!!! So again, what is it with doubles? And me?

When I do create a double LO, albeit ever so rarely, I usually tape the two background sheets together on the reverse and approach the LO as a larger, different shaped single. Therein might lie the problem? Perhaps I don't like the rectangle shape? I know I'm not a huge fan of 8.5x11" LOs. I mean I love what other people do with that format, I just struggle with it myself. Another thing with double LOs is that they usually mean multiple photos and I'm not huge on using more than one, perhaps two, tops, three, photos.

Here are just a few of the doubles I have done which, as mentioned above, I feel 'comfortable' (LOL!!) sharing ..

Meerkat madness

17 Years and 11 Days

A love ever-lasting

Enjoying challenges like I do, perhaps I should challenge myself to create more double LOs in 2013? I know for sure that if I scrapped more of the photos from my old photo albums I would definitely have plenty of 'multiple photos fodder' to work with! Emptying those albums is definitely a goal for me and one I confess I haven't worked particularly diligently on. Also one of the Scrapbooking Memories Masters challenges for 2012 was to create a double LO and the LOs the 2013 Masters and Honourable Mentions came up with were fabulous! A couple of them have actually stuck in my memory and very little sticks in my memory LOL! Perhaps I can feel some scrap lifting coming on?   :)

PS: Do you notice any similarities between 17 Years and 11 Days and A love ever-lasting? LOL I subconsciously scrap lifted myself!!!   :P

Scrap Friends - Sketch Challenge # 9

I love it when a LO comes together of its own accord. I selected my photo and papers for one particular challenge and then when I sat down to start scrapping, found myself off on a tangent doing a completely different one (challenge that is). I had printed the sketch challenge (# 9) from Scrap Friends and where it was sitting on my desk, it caught my eye. So I went with the flow and for the first time in what feels like a long time the creation process really did do just that .. flow. I think it has something to do with Creative Jump Start 2013. I'm feeling a little braver to just let things happen naturally. LOL does that make sense?!???!?

Dream

Scrap Friends Sketch Challenge # 9

I really enjoyed playing with this sketch. LOL I hope my interpretation of the sketch isn't so obscure you can't see the sketch within my LO!! If you'd like to give Scrap Friends' Sketch Challenge # 9 a go, you can find the details HERE. You have until midnight 30th January to upload your LO. If this particular sketch doesn't rock your boat (like it did mine!) then you can find their next sketch challenge (# 10) HERE (it too rocks my boat LOL!).

Happy scrapping people!!   :)

Let's get shabby

I can do shabby. I've done plenty of shabby in the past. Its just not something I'm doing very much of lately. I've been doing an awful lot of grunge. So I decided it was time to shake things up a bit for the New Year and give the challenge at Lets get shabby a go. Although the current challenge (ending today) allowed for three alternative projects, I struggled a bit because they were all Christmas themed. In the end I chose what seemed to me to be the one that was the most 'open to interpretation'. LOL in other words the one that seemed the easiest!!! But it wasn't!!! I've been working on this project here and there for days. Weeks even! LOL I am so glad to finally wrap it up today ..

Santa Keys

published in Scrapbook Creations Issue 102

The Santa Keys are for our friends' little girl who was born just days before Christmas last year. I hope when she's older, she'll like them and have fun hanging them on her door each year. I know that one day they might move, and so the house number could become 'irrelevant', but figured it would be a nice memento for her in the future of where she spent her early years. LOL if they move between now and Christmas this year I will not be happy!!!

I had a lot of fun with a lot of different products making the Santa Keys. Far too many to list LOL, but I do want to make special mention of the gorgeous Ivory Peony Rose, and Bare Root Roses (which I inked blue) from Ruby{B}Lou. Aren't they just divine???

I'm guessing the next challenge at Lets get shabby won't be Christmas themed and so, just quietly, I can't wait to see it. I really, really want to get my shabby on! Having said that I have a 'secret' project to work on so may be MIA for a while. If that's the case, I'll continue to bore you senseless (?) with earlier LOs and projects. Til then!   :)

No photo? No problem!

Have you ever wanted to create a LO because you're inspired by fabulous papers, have had a great idea, or found a new technique to try, but you just don't have the photo to suit? In the past I would never have created the page because, well, what would be the point LOL? Isn't scrapping about recording our memories? What's the point of a LO without the photos?!?!?!!* Well despite my misgivings, a few years ago I created one such LO ..

At the time I was going through a bit of a phase where I liked to create different edges on my pages. In this instance the arrows cut off two of the corners; and, please don't laugh, but the idea of using the arrows came to me in a dream. LOL! I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with the LO but I liked it. Some time later I came across a photo from the late 1950s of GB (just a baby) and his family on a picnic. The vintage of, and memory captured by, the photo were perfect for this LO ..

Family picnics

Aside from the obvious (adding the photo) all I needed to do was include some journaling and add a title. It was so quick and easy LOL because the 'hard' work of creating the LO had already been done. I have gone on to create more LOs over time without any photos. A number of them have been sent to friends who are time poor but still want to scrap their memories. Others I have used myself. To date though, this remains my favourite.

By the way, the patterned paper was a Christmas collection released by Crate Paper. Although a Crate Paper junkie of many years, I have to admit I didn't like this particular range. However I had received the papers in a DT kit so I had to do something with them! Luckily for me, the reverse of the patterned papers were more to my taste and easy to work with!!!   :)

*Exceptions of course being LOs which are journaling focused.

So I got distracted

Okay so I got distracted. Which isn't a bad thing. Usually LOL! But when you're supposed to be making Christmas presents ..

Anyways, I found a tutorial for some fabulous (and easy!) felt flowers on YouTube and really had to have a go at making them. So I did. But what was I going to do with them when I was finished? I had a light bulb moment and remembered I had some wool felt bags and purses I had purchased eons ago from an online store in the States .. Joggles. Originally I had planned to embroider the bags but (a) they were lined which, although the wool felt was thick, made my job a little trickier than I had anticipated, and (b) I didn't know how to embroider. LOL! So into the "one day" pile they went. So then I'm thinking .. felt flowers .. wool felt bags .. are you catching my drift?

Wool felt bag with long handle

Wool felt bag with short handle

Wool felt clutch purse - large

Wool felt clutch purse - medium

I honestly cannot tell you how easy these felt flowers are to make. All I needed was felt (obviously LOL!), buttons (in the end I found shank buttons worked best), embroidery cotton and my Big Shot and Thick Cuts Circles die (Sizzix has something similar). Oh and some Helmar Fabric Glue .. this stuff is seriously brilliant for working with felt and other fabrics. To make the leaves I used an old Sizzix Original die, Paper Sculpting Daisy. You can purchase the bags (which are seriously good value) HERE.

I have some other felt flowers I'm keen to make in bulk, and have just finished organising my felt stash into colours, so think I might have to buy some of Joggles' gorgeous felt basket/bags with short handles. I'm thinking maybe the Dusty Rose, definitely the natural, and possibly the Seafoam and Skye Blue. LOL that ought to keep me busy for a while and who knows along the way, I might even learn to embroider! But seriously, these flowers are great to die-cut in advance and then sit and stitch together whilst doing something like watching TV. If you don't knit that is. Okay so now I'm rambling which is an indicator I should sign off.

I hope you're all enjoying the December craziness that is the lead up to Christmas.  :)

PS: I had a couple of flowers left over and so turned them into hair clips for the little girl who lives across the road ..

Hair clips for Alicia

I'm thinking of 'glitzing' them up a bit with some bling and/or Kindy Glitz etc as Alicia has just turned five and loves all things girly and sparkly. What do you think???

Got scraps?

Well it's December which means Christmas is a-coming, so why not put those scraps to good use and make some Christmas gift tags?

to:

products used:

kraft cardstock, patterned paper off-cuts/scraps, ribbon, baker's twine, cord

SU ornament punch, Big Shot Scallop Tags die, Sharpie Poster Paint

Although not super quick when made in bulk, they were easy and fun to make. If you have the time, it's cheaper than buying gift tags, you get  to use up all those left over bits of cardstock, patterned paper, ribbons, twine and cord .. pretty much everything you have in your scraps box; and hopefully the recipients of your gifts will appreciate the handmade touch. In this case, that would be Bear!

The inspiration for these gift tags came from the wonderful world of Pinterest where I found a link to Jen Del Muro's blog iheart2stamp.

Tags by Jen Del Muro

Jen's tags are far more detailed (and yummy!!) than mine but I just didn't want to take mine that extra step (or three!). LOL I'm not sure Bear will notice the difference! You can find Jen's original blog post about these tags HERE.

Well that might be it for me for a while. I have a number of Christmas presents to make (and bake!) so will be busy in my studio (and kitchen!) and unable to share what I've made. I'm more than a tad excited with what I have planned, and am eager as to get stuck into it, so will love you and leave you here.   :)

PS: Looking at Jen's gorgeous gift  tags again I think I might have to whip up some co-ordinating ones to go with the gifts I'm making ..

Scrap The Girls - November

Scrap The Girls has a fabulous colour combo for it's challenge this month .. teal + orange + white. I wasn't sure I'd be able to give this challenge a go until I quite literally stumbled across an old photo of me as a child whilst I was scrapping on the weekend. It was screaming to be scrapped with orange and teal was the perfect accompaniment ..

Soft Kitty

published in Creating Keepsakes Volume 18 Issue 6

If you'd like to give the Scrap The Girls challenge a go, you still have about 12 hours LOL! You can find the details HERE.   :)