It's Elementary My Dear Watson

Yes, that's right. For the month of July we're seeking our inspiration from Sherlock Holmes at From Screen 2 Scrap.

The movie poster looks like this: 

But how you interpret it is up to you.
However, if you include any of the optional criteria then you'll get bonus points!

If you use metal somewhere, you'll get 1 point.
If you use teal or shades of green, you'll get 2 points.
And if you put your title in a square or rectangle you'll get 3 points.

Easy!
Here's what I did.

I'm really hoping my patterned paper passes for teal (it's quite possible I'm clutching at straws and it's just plain blue!), but I've definitely got the other two criteria covered :-)

There's metal on each of the 6 pins here behind my sun slash flower. And there's also that metal label holder down the bottom. I followed this Cosmo Cricket tutorial when I was making the sun. It's supposed to be a lot puffier I think. Mine was not cooperating :-)

Cute little bird. Does anyone know who makes it? It was given to me so I'm not sure.

In other related and very EXCITING news........
In August, From Screen 2 Scrap is turning 1!!!! And to celebrate we're having a great big shin-dig!!

For a start there will be a blog-hop, running from 9th to 21st August with prizes at every stop. Yay!!

And to make things even more exciting, there will also be a treasure hunt!!

And plenty of other prizes at the From Screen 2 Scrap blog. 
I'm sooooo looking forward to this. More details coming soon.

In the meantime, start working on your Sherlock Holmes inspired pieces :-)

And speaking of prizes, I'll be drawing the winner for the Kreatorville prize this afternoon so you've got another few hours to get any last-minute entries in. Just look at the posts below. 

Kreatorville Week (+1) Day Eight

So this is the last installment of Kreatorville Week. This is in fact, the +1. Thank you for indulging me and taking the journey along with me. 

But before it's officially over, let me share the June kit with you. 

Pretty papers in lots of happy colours.  

TWO Collage Press die-cut papers.  

Lots and lots of banners. Yay!! 

And a truck load of other goodies. Not to mention the handmade title and embellishment.  

I really wanted to do the June sketch with the June kit (not that it's a requisite, but it made sense in my head!) so I turned it on it's side so the stripes ran horizontally and interpreted them as paper strips, which is my current go-to technique in case you haven't noticed *lol* And I used a few of the Sassafrass banners across it too.

I used the b-side of the Collage Press paper (the first one on the left in the photo) as my background, and I misted over some 1" circles scattered randomly across it. I did that with the thought that I was going to use one of the Kreatorville tags on this page and so it would tie in with the spots on the tag. But that didn't end up happening. Never mind! 

 

I put a frame around my centre photo to represent the circle embellishment in the middle of the sketch. And then I stitched on my journalling, and attached a couple of buttons for a bit more dimension. 

The only other layout I've managed to do so far had to be with one of the die-cuts (I've got plans for the other one - they just haven't manifested on paper yet!)

I'm not brave enough to just do a layout on a die-cut and leave it alone. I'm stuck in the mindset that my layouts need to be square so I had to layer this pretty green circle die-cut on top of the b-side of one of the Jillibean Soup papers and sew it on. I misted the background first with the Spritz to get the sunburst pattern.

I am in love with that pretty Webster's bloomers that came in the kit, but that is one embellishment I couldn't bring myself to use all in one hit so I cut it up and only used a couple of pieces on this page. But I think it's enough to make a pop of colour and texture without overwhelming it.

The title "The Big Q's" comes from the journaling on this one which is about the day Munchy asked me who she was going to marry. I mean the girl is all of 3 years old and she's concerned about her future prospects! But meanwhile look how lovely and shiny those honey Thickers are! And yes, I stuck a million tiny pieces of red paper behind the holes in the scalloped edge. It's sometimes the little details........

Ok, and that's all folks. Well, for the time being anyway. There will certainly be more pages and projects from this kit, I just haven't had the time yet :-) Thanks for all your kind comments along the way. I've certainly appreciated every single one of them.

Today is the last chance to enter a comment to win the Kreatorville prize. You can comment on this post and/or all of the last 7 Kreatorville posts to go into the draw. I'll leave it open for another 24 hours before I choose a winner.

And never fear, even though Kreatorville Week is finished for now, it's only a little while longer until the July kit is revealed so you'll be seeing many more Kreatorville layouts from me in the future. And in the meantime don't forget about the crazy deal Keandra's got going to get some of the past kits for half price! That way you can start playing with all the kit goodness for yourself. I would love to know if you do end up getting any kits, or if you make any layouts inspired by this week. Link me up!

And stay tuned on my blog because I've now got a bit of a back-log of projects and surprises and Guest DT posts coming up in July.

:-)

Kreatorville Kraft (+1) Day Seven

Let's continue on with the Kreatorville May kit today shall we?
Yes, we shall!

This kit proved to be so popular it sold out!! And I'm sure you can see why. Look at those lovely papers. I spy some Crate Paper and Jillibean Soup new releases as well as some classic papers by Sassafras Lass, Pink Paislee, SEI and Jenni Bowlin. Yes that's right.... count them... 10 patterned papers!

And then, on top of the two sets of alphas and Buzz and Bloom chipboard, the twine and the rhinestone word were these...
2 doilies and 2 buttons and 2 chipboard borders from the Chip Chop Shop. Yes, our very own Leeann Pearce's Etsy cracked a kit! (and it's certainly not the only time she's done this)
Then there was the SEI ink-pad. I don't know about you - but copper ink became my new essential item.
And... the Pink Paislee artisan tape. That's been on my "Must Get" List since CHA!

Once again I couldn't resist the lure of using up both my handmade Title and Embellishment on the one page. It seems so excessive - I really want to share the love around. But they're were both just so perfect for this layout that I couldn't stop myself! 

It's hard to capture, but that title is really sparkly and gorgeous.
And can you see the variation of colour in the background yellow/orange cardstock? As much as I would like to take credit and tell you I did something wonderful to alter it like that, I have to tell you the truth...... this is how it came. We got this version, and another pink/red version (both by SEI) as 2 out of the 4 pieces of cardstock in the kit. I hadn't seen it before but it's quite beautiful.

I did a bunch of fussy cutting the flowers out of one piece of Crate Paper, and the handbags out of the other to piece them all together on this layout. I added a lot of rhinestones (that came in the March kit) to all the flowers, and I used that Pink Paislee tape to create little leaves here and there. And can you also spy one little Chip Chop Shop red doily hidden in there?

I loved the vintage-wallpaper vibe to this SEI paper, and really wanted to feature it on my page. I wanted to leave lots of it showing so you could all see it and love it too! Cutting the butterfly out of a doily and using the negative was an idea I got from Debee Campos, and I was able to squeeze my journalling into it (just!). And I used the Pink Paislee tape on this page too, this time as a frame around my photo.

I followed a tutorial that Peggy gave on the Kreatorville blog for altering our embellishments, particularly these chipboard buttons from the Chip Chop Shop. I don't always think of doing things like that, but Peggy's the Queen of Alteration, so she was my inspiration for drawing the little scallops and colouring the edges of the buttons like this.

And now... speaking of the wonderful Peggy (who's lucky enough to be on the Kreatorville DT) guess who did a little interview with her so that you would all get the chance to know her a bit better? Yes, me!! I feel very honoured and I couldn't wait to share this with you.

Here's what she had to say:

My name is Peggy.  I live in Antwerp, Belgium.  I'm a SAHM and mother of three, one boy Yannis (10) and two girls, Chloë (9) and Christina (8).  I've been married to Kurt for 12 years now, but we've been together for almost 20 years, and we're still going strong!  I started scrapping about 2 years ago, and I've loved every minute of it.  I can't imagine ever stopping, I'm sure you'll agree with me on that!

How did you come to be on the Kreatorville DT?

Becoming a part of the KK team actually happened without me truly realizing it LOL.  I met Keandra on sb.com.  She was on my "favorite artists" lists as soon as I found her and her awesome LO's.  When I found her blog, I started following that too, and we started leaving each other comments.  This is where she not only dazzled me with her talent, but with her sparkling personality as well.  One day, Kean asked me to make some LO's using her hand-made titles.  I figured she was setting up an etsy shop, needed some help, and I was only too happy to oblige!!   However, it turned out to be so much more ... Before I had truly realized what happened, I was part of an actual kit club!!!  Lucky me, right?  Working for Keandra is great, she's a lovely woman with a warm heart who is set on making her venture a success.  She welcomes our input and makes us feel like an appreciated part of the team, which is a nice feeling!

What's been your favourite kit? and why?

Well, that's a very tough question,  I loved working with all of the kits!  Those of you who have seen my work before working with Kean's kits, know that I'm not really into using a lot of embellies.  I like to make my own embellies, make the pages "my own", and I guess my favorite kits would have to be those where I could be the most creative with the papers and embellies at hand.  If you're really asking me to pick one, I would have to choose the March kit.  Or maybe the November kit LOL, though the January kit was really fun to work with as well LOL!  Not much of an answer right???  

What's been your favourite layout that you've kreated from the kits?

Asking me to choose a fav LO is a slightly easier question, though again I'm torn between two ... I hope it's okay for me to share both with you.  There are a lot of LO's made with the kits that I love, especially because for each LO I try to use kit products only.  I don't think I've ever used anything from my stash on my kit examples, except for materials like paints and stitching threads.  Because I use only kit products, all of the LO's turn out different.  Some of the pages are true "Peggy pages", other pages aren't really my usual style.  It's this diversity which makes me love working with the kits so much.  Trying to work with merely kit products demands a bit of creativity, and my fav LO's are the ones which stretched my creativity the most: "One day you will" (November kit) and "Blossom" (March kit).  I guess these are my absolute favorites because they come closest to my "Peggy style".  However, I really love my LO "Eight" as well.  This is not my usual thing, but I love how I used the brads and numbers on this page.  Oh well, so maybe I wasn't exactly telling the truth when I said this was an easier question LOL!

I was so glad Peggy chose this layout as one of her favourites, because it's mine too! In fact, it was chasing this layout down that caused me to stumble upon the Kreatorville site myself, so I owe a lot to this layout. And I just love it!!

And this is just stunning too. As Peggy said in her interview, you'll notice how she very often uses paints and inks to completely alter the way a paper looks. And this is such a great example. I love how you can still tell it's the Sassafras bingo paper under there, but it's now so very unique and so very Peggy!

I'm just loving the repetition of numbers here, and the way the brads look like party lights. And of course, everyone is aware of my bunting-love!! If a page has bunting on it, it's a winner in my book!!

Thank you so much Peggy for allowing us all a little insider's look into the world of Kreatorville Kraft.
:-)

Things to remember:
1. Check out Peggy's own blog for more inspiration
2. Leave your comments on this post to go into the draw for some Kreatorville goodies
3. Go and check out Keandra's deal for 50% the November, December, January and February kits. 
4. Come back tomorrow for the last instalment of Kreatorville Week

Kreatorville Week (+1) Day Six

Are you ready for Kreatorville's April kit today? I am! I dived straight into this one when I got it.
For a start - the papers are just so colourful and cheerful :-)

Three of these were SEI papers that were thermography embossed and very glamorous!! And there was also the die-cut paper from Crate Paper that's not pictured, and some bright and lovely cardstock.

And then...

It was jam-packed full of embellishments. There's a whole packet of labels, and a whole packet of flowers, and those rub-ons and alphas and chipboard galore!! It was awesome :-)

Again, I just needed to use that title. It really packs a punch on this layout, even though I've got so many other bright colours behind it. It jumps right out at you doesn't it?! I altered the Buzz and Bloom chipboard alphas for the title by first painting them white and then giving them two coats of Dimensional Magic with the blue Pixee Stix that came in the February kit.

I actually did this layout for the challenge blog Kraft It Up. This blog has been on my radar since it began a few months ago, but I hadn't previously got around to entering it. As it's name suggests, every month the criteria is to use kraft paper plus something else. This month (June) it was to create a minimalist layout. I interpret that to mean leaving white space, something that I'm not particularly good at! But you know I'm always up for a challenge :-)

There's a couple of the Buzz and Bloom chipboard tulips and butterflies on this one too - treated in the same way as the alphas. Painted and glittered! And I splurged and used 6 of those silk flowers (that's half of the packet!) from Zva Creative behind the title too. I attached them with some colourful eyelets from my stash.

And speaking of challenge blogs, this layout I did for the newly re-opened 123 Challenge blog. The June challenge criteria included 'the word "new", the colour white and a paint-smeared background'. So I killed two birds with one stone by smearing my Crate Paper die-cut with white paint, and then creating this really long title to incorporate the word 'new'.

It's hard to see, but I tried to add a bit more dimension by curling over all the scallops along the edge of the die-cut paper. I altered the Buzz and Bloom alphas this time by painting them white and coating them in Dimensional Magic. I initially planned to leave them like that, but they looked too dull against the white background so I ran a pink ink-pad across them for a subtle bit of colour.

But what I especially love about this layout is that I finally got around to incorporating these pieces of memorabilia from The Moodles birth on a page (something I had planned since we came home from the hospital!) So you can see both hers and my name bands, and also the tape-measure that was used when she first born.

And lastly I did this layout which was inspired by this one from Laura. I thought the paper strips were reminiscent of waves which is exactly what I wanted for this layout about Munchy's first waterslide experience.

I had run out of 'a's from the Buzz and Bloom alphas by this stage so I used the alphas from the May kit (the same set as you will win in the Kreatorville prize I'm offering by the way!) and I coated them in Dimensional Magic for more of a wet-look.

The journalling star and the spot behind the title are from the packet in the kit (Melissa Francis) and then I punched a few other stars from the papers in the kit. Those decorative pins are some that I made myself. I gave a short tutorial on how to make them for yourself here if you're interested.

Don't forget to leave your comments today for a chance at the Kreatorville prize.

And tomorrow I've got the May kit, and a little surprise too.......

Stay tuned
:-)

And the winners are.......

I was agonising for days about how I was actually going to choose a winner for the Jolly June Yellow Challenge.

If I was going to judge it purely on the quality of the entry then there would be 16 winners!! But I didn't want it completely chosen by random.org so in the end I (with the help of a not-so-choosy 3 year old) narrowed it down to 3 winners. Yes! 3!!

And they are.....

1. Adrienne with her sunny yellow layout.

I love the bright and cheery colours in this, and the fun fun fun embellishments (who doesn't love a pinwheel?!) and look at those cute faces! Everything about this layout screams summer to me, and certainly makes me forget the cold winter I'm currently in, at least for a little while :-)

2. Chloe with her De-Lovely card

So I decided to let Munchy choose a winner too, and although she looked through them all, and said "ooh, that's nice" to at least half of them (!) when she saw Chloe's card she promptly declared "oh, that's the cutest one in the whole wide world and universe". I do agree :-)

3. Jen (who scraped in by the skin of her teeth!) with this awesome card.

These are the things that are currently on my "Love to bits" list: bunting, doilies, bunting, typewriter font mixed with large curly handwriting, crochet flowers, sunny yellow and bunting. So when I saw that Jen had incorporated all these things in the one amazing card, I knew I had to have a third winner! I think the only things that aren't on this card which are also on my list would be washi tape and butterflies. But then she included these gorgeous pictures of a butterfly release in her post....... it's like she's reading my mind :-)

Congrats to all the winners (can you send me an email with your mailing address), and thankyou to every single one of you who entered. There were so many amazing layouts and cards that this was so hard to choose. But to the rest of you, never fear.... there will be more fun and games and challenges in July. I hope you'll all join in again.

:-)

Kreatorville Week (+1) Day Five

Aaaahh, the wonderful March kit. This is where the Kreatorville Week journey actually began.
For those who are still wondering why I'm doing this Kreatorville week, it is not because Keandra is holding my kids to ransom, it is not because I'm getting sponsored or receiving any kind of payment, and it is not my bid to get on the DT (although if an offer was made.........*lol*)! What happened is this...

For one reason or another, I ended up getting four (YES - 4!!!) Kreatorville kits all in one go. I got my March, April, May and June kits together in the one package. Talk about being hit over the head with a load of goodness! I didn't know where to start. I just knew I needed to start! And so I first challenged myself to create one layout with each of the 4 kits. But that was too easy! So then I did a second round and ended up with 8 layouts in the space of about a week. Then I started a third round!

About this time I was asking myself how I was going to share these layouts with you in blog-land. It was either going to be enough material to blog one layout every couple of days for the next month (!) or do it all in one big-hurrah! Well, you can see which I chose. Then I thought, if I'm going to share the March, April, May and June kits with you, then I might as well back-track and do the other 4 kits a bit more formally too. I had always planned to do a blog-post on all the things I created with the November kit at some stage, so now seemed like a good time.

So lets get on with the show shall we?!

March's kit had a bit more of a vintage vibe, and lots of people seemed to be doing heritage layouts with it. The papers were fantastic - I love all the muted tones. Love it a lot!

And then check out how many embellishments and alphas we got?!! I couldn't believe it :-)

Remember how I was saying yesterday how there are always certain things in the kit I would never buy for myself but end up loving? Well that happened here too. I haven't ever bought myself any Webster's Pages stuff (shock, horror I hear some of you saying!) because although I think they are outstandingly gorgeous, it's just not my style, and I wouldn't know where to begin. So I was a little bit overwhelmed by the amount of Webster's Pages products in this kit. I mean, there were two pages, a sheet of embellishments and the sheet with 4 sets of alphas on it!

But you'll never guess what happened? Out of the three pages I've created with this kit so far, 2 of them have been almost purely Webster's Pages!! And I must admit, the first layout is a shocker. I do not like how it turned out at all really. What I do like is that I got all three of these photos on one page, and the story behind it (and I'm comforting myself by thinking that's the main thing!)

I submitted this to the June ARTastic challenge, because I had made it fit (nearly) all the criteria. But I'm just not really that impressed with how it looks.

But I did manage to use up quite a lot of the Webster's die-cut embellishments. And I'm now at the stage where I'm no longer 'saving' stuff, but instead purposely 'using' stuff. So this makes me happy :-)

Meanwhile, I'm much much happier with how my second Webster's layout came together.

I know - how ridiculous is this photo of Moodles? She just has this frightened/shocked/intrigued look upon her face. Certainly not her best pose! But we've got so many photos of her looking like this that it was hard to avoid if I wanted to scrap her at this point of her life. Every time the camera goes on and she sees that little red light she stops smiling and just stares straight at it!

But what it also meant was that this story behind the photo made it perfect for including that awesome vintage camera chipboard shape that came in the kit!

And since I ended up with two pieces of this paper in my kit (part of Keandra's sorry for leaving you hanging for so long without your Kreatorville!) I was able to cut up the second one to create all these tone-on-tone layered hearts (an idea lifted straight from the super-amazing Jennifer Johner on her layout here) and pop up the flowers too.

And then lastly, how could I not use the Crate Paper die-cut?

I was actually brave (stupid?) enough to cut it in half, thinking I was only going to use it on the top part of this layout. But then I realised it looked much better left whole and had to attempt to join it back together - hence the paper strip and ribbon running across the middle!!! But hey - I like it!

Can't see the join, can you?! What this shot does show you is some of those Crate Paper rub-ons, the green silk trim and the lovely red buttons that all came in the kit. I added some glass glitter to the buttons which I think made them look a little bit more 'fruit-like' so I attached them in with the leaf trim and called them cherries!

This layout is actually lifted from one by Stephanie Wheeler that you can see here. I'm always looking out for different ways to incorporate lots of journaling onto my pages, because you know how I like to do that. And what I talked about on this layout was just an ordinary day. I outlined Moodle's routine at the date this photo was taken (obviously the 28th March!) because although it doesn't really seem important, it's definitely something that we'll forget later on, and if you read it you can see what an amazing baby I've been blessed with. All she does is sleep and eat and play. She rarely ever cries, and is always so happy and content :-)

Alright, and I'm done!

Leave your comments on today's post for your chance at the Kreatorville prize.

Come back tomorrow for the April kit.