Christmas .. SBM Masters challenge

I wrote this post a few months ago with mixed feelings. It was my last Scrapbooking Memories Masters challenge. Where did that time go? Seriously! The year just flew by, and what a year it was. I am so thankful for the opportunities afforded me by Scrapbooking Memories and even more thankful for the wonderful friendships I've forged with the other Masters.

Our last challenge was about Christmas. As GB and I don't celebrate Christmas, I sent out the call for Christmas photos to my girlfriend Lauren of Little Red Door Photography and man did she deliver!

Nice

published in Scrapbooking Memories Vol 18 No 7

Recently I've been playing with a new style I've coined Minimalist Mixed Media (LOL) but when I submitted my Masters entry all those months ago I was pretty full on into my mixed media. So I decided that my last Masters challenge should have lots of mixed media on it. Plus I figured that if you can't go OTT on a Christmas layout, when can you? So I did!

It felt good to get my fingers dirty again.  ;)

Well that's it for my challenges as a 2014 Scrapbooking Memories Master. What's next? A complete life make over! I'm studying, studying and studying some more. I'll still be scrapping. I will always scrap. LOL I have far too many stories to tell not to ..

Happy days.

Simple Stories .. SBM Masters challenge

Over the past few months my scrapbooking style has shifted, and is evolving into something more simple with lots more patterned paper and a lot less mixed media. So you can imagine my delight that the last Scrapbooking Memories masters challenge was Simple Stories.

I am brave

published in Scrapbooking Memories Vol 18 No 6

We were asked to scrap a layout about ourselves. I'm quite comfortable scrapping about myself and often find it quite cathartic. For example, when I first thought about what I might scrap for this challenge, my original title was going to be 'I am a work in progress'. But the weekend I actually scrapped my layout was a tough one and I realised that over the years I have been, and still am, brave. Because that statement is really quite a powerful, personal one, I chose to keep my journaling in my heart and to not put it on the page. I will always know the meaning behind the statement my title makes, and that's what's important.

Happy scrapping!

American Crafts .. SBM Masters challenge

I love American Crafts. I really, really do. But this Masters challenge threw me into a spin. I simply could not pull something together. Aside from two sheets of patterned paper, I cut them all into bits and pieces trying to create a layout which spectacularly highlighted the products. In the end I was left with the pink ombre paper (and all my cut up bits) and this is what I came up with.

Smile

published in Scrapbooking Memories Vol 18 No 4

I have no idea, absolutely no idea, why I found this American Crafts range so difficult to work with. In the end, because I was chasing a deadline, I 'threw' this together and sent it into the magazine. And I felt awful doing so. The funny thing is, when the layout was returned after being photographed, I opened the pizza box and was like "wow". LOL I loved it!!! For the life of me I could not figure out why I hadn't liked it and why, in my head, I had made such a huge fuss about it?!

I don't know. Sometimes I wonder if this scrapbooking business is just as crazy as my friends are (she says smirking) ..

Love Your Sister and SBM

Connie Johnson is dying from breast cancer. Amongst her many roles as a wife, a mother, a sister, Connie is also a scrapbooker. Together with her brother Samuel, they have founded a charity, Love Your Sister, to raise funds for breast cancer. You can read their story and make donations HERE.

Because Connie is a scrapbooker, Scrapbooking Memories magazine has joined forces with Love Your Sister, and each year publishes a 'pink' magazine, the focus of which, is breast cancer awareness.

As with previous years, the masters were commissioned to create and/or decorate journals to be given to women who had terminal breast cancer. The journals are given to Love Your Sister who then hand them on to the women they would best suit.

Be extraordinary

published in Scrapbooking Memories Vol 18 No 5

It wasn't an easy project to do, knowing your journal would be given to someone who is dying. I hope that the woman who receives my journal can feel the love with which it was made. That it will be something she can use and treasure, and that one day, when she is gone, her family will hold dear.

Please do two things today .. check your breasts, and make a donation to Love Your Sister. And say a prayer for Connie and women around the world just like her.

Merci .. SBM Masters challenge

Sometimes a product range comes along which surprises you. The Merci products I received to work with for my Scrapbooking Memories masters product challenge did exactly that.

Friends

published in Scrapbooking Memories Vol 18 No 3

These days I do the bulk of my shopping online. Let's face it, it's so much easier to do your groceries first thing, in your pjs, with a cup of tea by your side than actually going out into public to do them. LOL! Consequently I rarely, if ever, venture into one of our big chain stores like Kmart, Big W or Target.

I believe the Merci range of products are readily available in Kmart and although not a 'brand name snob', I haven't worried about specifically going to Kmart to buy them. Guess where I found myself a couple of weeks after doing this challenge? At Kmart! The products are such good value and so easy to work with you can be sure I'll be popping into Kmart in the future for a look see whenever I get the chance.

2Crafty Chipboard .. SBM Masters challenge

So the Scrapbooking Memories magazine masters got to play with some fabulous chipboard from 2Crafty Chipboard for a masters challenge a couple of months ago.

Beautiful

published in Scrapbooking Memories Vol 18 No 2

I have to confess I've found many of the masters challenges difficult. Its not so much scrapping with the product itself, but being asked to use as much of the product as possible on your page. Even when I'm not doing a heavy mixed media based background, I don't necessarily use a tonne of other products from the same type of product on my page. So using lots of chipboard didn't necessarily sit easy with me. Nonetheless I've loved the opportunity to play with the products and to see what I could do.

This one I loved and, combined with the Imaginarium Designs chipboard masters challenge, has re-ignited my passion for all things chipboard!

Tilda .. SBM product challenge

In last month's issue of Scrapbooking Memories magazine, the masters featured Tilda products in their Masters Challenge.

Sisters

published in Scrapbooking Memories Vol 18 No 1

I really liked the shabby chic theme of the papers but wondered what I would do with them as they didn't really seem to suit my mixed media style.

In the end I chose a stunning photo of my friend's two daughters and just ran with it. Being the perfectionist I am, there are a two or three things I'd change about the layout if I could. But seeing how much I struggled with the products, and that the deadline was looming, this was as good as it got. LOL!

Imaginarium Designs .. SBM Masters challenge

I once thought that there were only so many ways you could treat your chipboard. So when it came time for the Scrapbooking Memories Masters to do one of our product challenges with chipboard (in this case the seriously awesome Imaginarium Designs) I was well and truly stumped. What could I do that was different and made the product shine without it overpowering my layout??

Happy days

Published in Scrapbooking Memories Vol 17 No 12

So I sat and contemplated my navel for a while. Nah just joking LOL! What I did do though was to sit and look around my scrap room, considering what I had in my stash that I could use. Time and time again my eyes were drawn back to my alcohol inks. But chipboard is porous ..

published in Scrapbooking Memories Vol 17 No 12

Like a lightning bolt from above it hit me! (LOL!) I figured if I covered my chipboard pieces in glossy accents they'd no longer be porous. It was a revelation! Well for me anyways. Because I wanted the true colours of my alcohol inks to shine through I used my trusty friend Keith (now that's another story!) to spray the chipboard with white gesso. I used alcohol inks to colour all my pieces. Some I then added glossy accents to, to bring out the colours. Others I used clear stickles on before using glossy accents to seal in the shimmer.

I loved this technique and if I can remember, plan on using it again in the future. I'd love to know what you do with your chipboard ..

Fancy Pants .. SBM Masters challenge

This month Fancy Pants sponsored the Scrapbooking Memories Masters challenge and I was given the seriously fabulous True Friend collection. Although the papers really screamed orange at me, at the time I was going through an aqua and teal phase. However using the the entire collection as a guide, I was able to select the perfect photo!

Stronger than you know

published in Scrapbooking Memories Vol 17 No 11

Fancy Pants were incredibly generous with the product packs we received. I was thrilled to be able to incorporate the collection's patterned paper, label stickers, button set, decorative tags and library cards on my layout.

Meanwhile LOL, enough of the True Friend collection, I'm now off to hunt down two of the latest releases .. Summer Sun and Office Suite! Happy crafting.

Kaisercraft .. SBM product challenge

One of the exciting things about being a Scrapbooking Memories Master is the opportunity to work with the magazine throughout the coming year. Amongst other things, each month we participate in a sponsored product challenge.

Summer

published in Scrapbooking Memories Vol 17 No 9

I loved, loved, loved working with the Sandy Toes collection by Kaisercraft. Now that I've seen what the other masters did with the Blue Bay collection in the magazine, I have to have it!!

Do you like the variegated texture paste spots on this layout? Its really quite a simple technique. Add a little bit of colour to a flat palette (I used a Tim Holtz reinker), 'splodge' a blob of texture paste onto the palette as well. Before you pick up some texture paste with your palette knife, dip it (the palette knife) into the colour you've added, then pick up your texture paste and proceed with swiping it over your stencil. Of course, the more colour you pick up the heavier the colour will be. You could also do this, but in reverse, with glitter, sand, the skies pretty much the limit. Experiment! Have fun! Enjoy!

Whilst you're experimenting, I'm off to shop. I need to get my hands on the Blue Bay collection, and quite possibly another set of Sandy Toes ..

SBM Masters .. challenge no. 4

The fourth challenge for the Scrapbooking Memories Masters competition was truly a challenge for me. I don't do art journaling and apart from the odd canvas here and there, I don't do OTPs.

I am

published in Scrapbooking Memories Vol 17 No 7

However, a few years ago a small circle of close friends and I participated in a project where we each listed three qualities about each other. Ever since, I have wanted to create something titled "I am" and record what each of them said about me. I didn't know whether it would be a canvas or a tag book or who knows. So this challenge was the perfect excuse to finally do that 'something'. The subject matter of my art journal led me to create something soft and feminine. I took inspiration from my favourite My Mind's Eye range for the colours and kept my embellishing 'pretty'.

As you can see, I had all my pages ready to go and was 'raring' for my journal to be returned so I could finish it. LOL since its return its sat on an easel in my scrap room, gathering dust, and there its remained. I really should do something about that. One day.

Honestly? I wasn't sure if this journal would knock me out of the competition. Its light and bright, and soft and feminine. I honestly thought that there would be a lot of other journal covers entered showing far more technical skill and application. As it was, the judges noted "Alison has found a great balance here between media and embellishments - just as she does with her layouts!". I was pretty stoked with that (LOL!!). Oh and yes, in my humble opinion, the honourable mentions showed a plethora of journal covers far more deserving than mine. But its me and "I am".

Now to get on with doing something about finishing this journal. One day ..

SBM Masters .. challenge no. 3

This week has been a crazy busy, yet crazy good week. Why? Because despite how very much I've done this week, the MS fatigue hasn't reared its ugly head and floored me. And that's insanely good because it shows the decision I made to put my design work and scrapping on the back burner so I could focus on my mobility and general health was the right one. But I'm afraid that means I don't have anything new to share with you today. Instead I've dredged up one of those 27 draft blog posts from the vault!

Today

published in Scrapbooking Memories Vol 17 No 7

This layout was my third entry for the Scrapbooking Memories Masters challenge. The third challenge was to create a layout using journaling as the focus.

Personally? I find it far easier to scrap my feelings than to write them down. When I have the same thoughts playing on repeat in my head I scrap them. These layouts can sometimes be quite personal, however I'm fairly open and comfortable with sharing the good, the bad and the ugly with my friends and in my scrapbooking. This doesn't necessarily mean I always want my journaling to be up front and 'in your face' though. So, on this layout I printed my primary journaling on the right hand side of my layout in the form of a letter to myself, and then selectively covered sections with mixed media. Its still legible but you have to look closely to read it and 'work it out'. I also printed random words relevant to my topic on vellum and scattered them across my page like litter, metaphorically piling up at the bottom. The focus of my layout is still all about the journaling, but with subtlety and restraint.

Have I tried keeping a journal to write in? Yep. I have a box full of them LOL! All barely half started and then tossed aside. Have I tried art journaling? Yep. I just can not get into it. So for me, using scrapping as a means of creative self-expression works.

Mastering the Art .. Part 2

Morning peeps!

I'm back with the second layout from my "Mastering the art" feature for Scrapbooking Memories.

Falls Creek

published in Scrapbooking Memories Vol 17 No 8

As mentioned in my previous post Mastering the Art .. Part 1 this is just a quick share. Mercilessly quick for both you and me LOL! Mercilessly quick for me because I think I can feel a bit of mojo creeping back which means I'd rather be scrapping than chatting LOL!!! Mercilessly quick for you because I know that sometimes (??) I can go on and on. But that's me. Simples!

Anyways its Monday, the start of the working week. I hope that you have a fabulous week. You can rest assured that whilst you're toiling away at your desk I'll be hanging out at the dog beach with Bear (weather permitting), scrapping, indulging in beauty spa treatments, catching up with girlfriends for coffee, you know, the usual. Oh and thinking of you!

Mastering the Art .. Part 1

Help! I got lost in my 'draft posts vault'. Thanks to my friends for coming to the rescue. Not. I mean seriously! Nice one guys!!!   ;)

So, we know I used my own home made pigments as the unconventional item for my Scrapbooking Memories Masters entry yeah? Well, when it came time to do my "Mastering the art" feature, it made sense to focus on making home made pigments.

Fronosco Cove

published in Scrapbooking Memories Vol 17 No 8

In a nutshell, all you need to do is dehydrate fruit and/or vegetables, grind them into a fine powder and then use them with water or other mixed media. Simples. I used my powders both with water and a glossy gel medium to create my background, and with water to dye the paper doilies, on my layout, Fronosco Cove.

Unfortunately my layout didn't print particularly well in the magazine. To me it looks quite brown and drab. Which is not to say I don't like brown LOL or think its drab! In real life though, the colours are really quite warm and inviting. The other layout for my article printed true to colour. Go figure! I'll be back with that layout for a quick share soon.

Meanwhile I've scrapped a page! I know right?! LOL! I'm not entirely sure I like it, but its been on my desk for over a week, I've pulled stuff off backgrounds and started again with at least two hybrid backgrounds binned, and I just wanted it done. I used a fabulous challenge from a challenge blog to get me started but I'm still not convinced. I think perhaps I'll share it in a few days, tomorrow even, maybe. I just don't know.

Have I lost my mojo??

SBM Masters .. challenge no. 2

Have you ever had one of those days when everything you do turns out 'blah' and you just feel 'blah'? I'm having one of those today and I'd like to say 'LOL' but I can't because I just feel blah (LOL).

I figured I could do the least harm with my 'blah-ness' at my Mac so here I am sifting through my 27 draft posts and I found this.

Happiness found

published in Scrapbooking Memories Vol 17 No 7

The criteria for the second Masters challenge was to use something you wouldn't ordinarily use in your scrapping. Umm. I've been doing that for years so what was I going to do? LOL five years ago when our new home was being built even GB would scour the build site for bits and pieces left over by the tradies. Yep 2011 saw some pretty weird stuff appearing on my layouts.

So anyways I've always wondered if I could make my own pigments. You know the 'threes' game .. where you can only take three items to a desert island? When It comes to scrapping I've always figured I could make my own paper, pigments, brushes .. you get it yeah? So I decided to make my own pigments.

Above are the photos of the finished layout but here is a close up photo of my layout shortly after my handmade inks were first painted onto my background ..

Although these colours lost some of their vibrancy as they dried, the resulting colours suited the earthy tones of my photo perfectly. If I were to mix the powders with a glossy gel medium, they'd maintain their vivid tones but I wanted to use them as a very wet medium, like watercolours.

The colours you can see above are English Spinach (green), Beetroot (red), Tomato (orange .. I know right?!), and Turmeric (yellow). I also used Coffee (brown) but all you can see of that in this photo are little droplets here and there.

I'll see if I can find the other layouts I've created with my handmade pigment powders to share tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after that LOL!!!

SBM Masters .. challenge no. 1

So as I sift through my 27 draft blog posts I'm finding some stuff I'd almost forgotten about! This is the layout I did for the first Scrapbooking Memories Master challenge .. to scrap with a 5x7 photo.

Hello

published in Scrapbooking Memories Vol 17 No 7

I wasn't in the least deterred about using a 5x7 photo despite once upon a time being slightly terrified of them! Nowadays I'll often opt for a 5x7 photo if the photo warrants it. It was just a matter of finding one that was appropriate as it needed to have 'engaging eye contact', or something to that effect.

Traditionally, amongst scrappers, this particular challenge is known as the "front cover" challenge LOL! I didn't even think of that when I did my layout. I would have loved to have my 5x7 layout featured on the front cover of the Masters magazine but it didn't occur to me until well after I had completed my layout. Perhaps that was a good thing LOL?!. Anything other than this layout may not have made the grade!?

I loved creating this layout; it just flowed. I have to say a very special thank you to my girlfriend Brooke of Occasions with Flair for giving me permission to scrap photos of her sons at my whim! I came across this particular photo on Facebook and although it was originally a landscape photo, and really kind of boring, I could see Master X's little face smiling out at me and I knew I had found the right photo!

Admittedly I made mistakes whilst scrapping this page. But that's the beauty of mixed media, you can just cover them up or leave them as they are as most likely no-one will notice and no I'm not pointing them out to you LOL!

I wonder what some further sifting through my draft blog posts will reveal tomorrow or the day after?

Psst ..

As you would know, I am terrible at keeping secrets but boy have I been keeping a doozey, and for ages, what seems like forever!  I'm now able to spill soooo .. are you ready for it? Here goes ..

I'm a 2015 Scrapbooking Memories Master!!!

I know .. squeal and jump up and down with excitement yes? Yes! I've not entered the Masters competition before. But this year, as well as receiving a tremendous amount of support and encouragement from my scrapping friends to do so, I was mega inspired by the challenges and so I thought "why not?". Plus I had 'a feeling'. So did my scrapping buddy and head cheerleader, Sandy. So I did. When I was finished with my entries I can honestly say that I felt as though I had done my best scrapbooking ever. Whatever the result, I was happy, more than happy, thrilled, with what I had created.

Come Monday, the 1st of September when the Masters would be notified, I realised just how badly I wanted to succeed. I don't remember what time in the morning I was called by the editor but I do remember that some time before she called, the phone rang. GB was in the kitchen and I was scrapping (funny about that huh?!) and my heart fell into my stomach. Literally! It was my dad! OMG ROFL!!!!!! I quickly, albeit politely and with much love, got rid of him (LOL) and went back to my scrapping.

After my dad's call my heart was pounding and I barely breathed for what seemed like forever. Not that long later my mobile phone rang, which was odd as the people who would ordinarily ring me on my mobile were at work and GB was in the kitchen. I looked at the number. It was a "02" area code. "Nooooo" I thought LOL! I answered the phone and this is sort of what transpired ..

Me .. tentative hello

Caller .. is that Alison Callcott?

Me .. a slow yes

Caller .. hi this is Vanessa from Scrapbooking Memories

Me .. pause .. umm .. even longer pause .. long, drawn out yes

Vanessa .. I'm calling to let you know that you're a Master (or words to that effect)

Me .. very, very long pause then .. really? .. OMG! .. squeal!! .. ramble, ramble, ramble, and then ramble some more LOL!!!

I believe Vanessa received nine other somewhat similar responses to her calls that day LOL!!!  ;)

So its with a huge amount of pleasure that I announce I'm one of the ten 2015 Scrapbooking Memories Masters. The Masters magazine goes on sale on the 18th of December. I sooooooooo can't wait to see it!!!

I am beyond thrilled, honoured, excited and humbled to be a Master and I hope you'll join me on my Master's journey next year.

PS: Has it sunk in yet? Yes! On the Monday they notify you of the good news, then on the Tuesday they put you to work LOL and I'm loving it!   :P