Scrap an Autumn Rainbow

Can you believe how fast this year is flying by already.... I mean, it's Autumn already! So with that in mind I went with the warm earthy tones of an Autumnal colour combo for my Scrap a Rainbow challenge at Scrapz.biz last week.

The colours are chocolate, yellow, green and red but my example layout included a touch of orange as well. I figure it's in the same spectrum so it should be right :-)

 Image by Cindy {K} found via Pinterest.

I took these photos of the girls in the moving van when we moved to the country about 8 months ago. Yep, that's how long it takes me sometimes to get around to scrapping the memories. We've since packed up and moved back again... that's how long it's been!!

Keeping with my theme of including memoribilia and especially my craving to preserve my kid's art on my layouts I've used this drawing Munchy did of the new house. I sewed it to the page, going over the outline of everything - windows, doors etc for a bit of definition.

Along with the colour combo the weekly theme product for this challenge is RUBONS. I actually have heaps of rubons in my stash, and that's where they commonly stay to be honest. So I really challenged myself to get as many different ones onto this page as I could.

I've used some newer ones from Hambly (the silver banners) and Studio Calico (green butterflies) along with some old Kaisercraft ones from my stash (the black border strip at the bottom of the page and the journaling brackets). All of these I just rubbed straight onto my page as decorations. But don't forget you can use them to dress up your other embellishments too, just like I did with the white doily Hambly rubons I haphazardly applied to all my wooden houses.

My challenge at Scrapz.biz this week is a "Scrap it Blind". Come and check out all the details over here on the forum. Our theme product is brads. Here's a peek to whet your appetite!!

Moving Day Supplies: 

Basic Grey Curio Muslin	Basic Grey Curio Element Stickers	Studio Caico State Fair Tickets Please	Studio Calico Yellow Addy Alphas
Jenni Bowlin red banner stickers	Basic Grey Curio Stitched Brads	Jenni Bowlin yellow rhinestone bows	Studio Calico Wood Vaneer Houses
Studio Calico Jade Green rubon butterflies	Hambly Rubon Silver Banners

InLinkz.com

I'm still adding up my Calvinball points! Total so far = 23

Baby's Got Blue Eyes

Another share from my scrappy closets today...... this one was made a couple of months back when the Hambly call was on. 'Bout time it made it to the light of day I thought ;-)

Some of my favourite techniques can be found here. A combination of handwriting, Silhouette-cut and traditional alpha stickers for my title. Lots of messy stitching, and splashes of paint and mist. And a must for me... some meaningful journaling.

I almost got too truthful and vulnerable here in fact. It talks about how Moodles is lucky she still has these bright big blue eyes, because at least it gives strangers something to compliment her on after they've finished heaping praise on her sister for her beautiful curly hair.

Because I sometimes just glance this moment of disappointment on people's face when they say "oh, she's got such STRAIGHT hair" as though it's almost an insult! I certainly don't want her to feel like she's less special than her sister, or that she's not as attractive because we know that'll never be the case.

In fact, it annoys me that there has to be a comparison at all. Both of my girls are unique in their appearance and their personality. And they're both beautiful beyond measure.

Oh Snap

Hello one very cute camera stamp!
This came from my Studio Calico Glee Club kit and I thought it deserved a project solely devoted to it :-)

Well that...... and I'm trying to boost my card stash at the moment. After a spate of celebrations late last year, and of course Christmas/New Year my ready supply of homemade cards isn't so ready. I'm trying to remedy that :-)

One thing I'm realising recently is that card-making doesn't have to be a separate and distinct entity to scrapbooking. Surely my go-to techniques, my tried-and-true embellishment choices, and my (recognisable?) style should apply to cards just the same as layouts.

But another thing I love about cards is that it gives you the opportunity to try out designs that work much better on the smaller scale. For the first time I've just realised the potential of my 6x6" paper pads! (And my somewhat neglected stamp draw) However, on the other hand - it's also a great opportunity to use up left over scraps and miscellaneous embellishments.

You can expect to see a lot more cards coming out of my craft room in 2012 I think!

Sweet Spring

It was a beautiful spring day here today. How about for you?

The town we're currently living in seems to have an abundance of cherry trees! Everywhere I look I see cherry blossoms, I see them scatter their petals in the soft breeze, and smell their delicate fragrance.

Yes I do get a little sentimental about cherry blossoms :-) It's because it reminds me of afternoons as a child at my Grandmother's house. Playing in her garden, young and innocent and free.

So I scrapped the memory :-) I really must do more of this sort of thing. It's like passing down an inheritance to my children. I used up the last scraps of my very first Studio Calico kit 'Partly Sunny'.... it seemed appropriate. And finally I can call myself a kit-killer!! I've only been subscribing for the last 16 months!

I just had to mix in a little Pink Paislee and some yummy woodgrain Hambly that I've been hoarding :-) And splash some paint around of course. I love Spring scrapping!!!

Sweets for my Sweet

I had a couple of delicious scraps from my Paper Crush collection which I knew would be perfect for a card.

A Valentine's Day card was the obvious choice, but I had already made one of those, and after all, I really only needed one right?! So I tried to strike the right balance between lovey and lovely so this could be used equally well for romance or for many other occasions too.

Handmade by Suzanne has just started carrying gorgeous Hambly Screen Prints papers and transparencies and I couldn't help but throw a few into my cart with my last order. I know a lot of people will balk at the cost of them but I figure I'm going to cut them up and use them on LOTS of different pages and projects which means they're actually extremely good value for money!

And see how clever I was here? Adding little colourful pearls (which look just like bubblegum) into my otherwise empty sweets container. Instant colour, dimension and a touch of whimsy :-)

PS. Don't forget about my giveaway going on

With the Girls I Love

Does anyone else have those moments where you go to "check up" on what's happening on your scrap table on your way to say, having a shower and getting dressed, and you step back an hour later and suddenly a new project has appeared?!

I swear that's how this door hanger was born :-) One minute I'm looking at the scraps of my Paper Crush collection, a Hambly transparency I'm in the process of cutting to pieces, and some embellishments I was given for Christmas, and the next time I looked it had morphed into this.

My mother-in-law regularly gives me copies of photos she has taken if it involves my girls on an occasion when I wasn't there. So I don't really know the story behind this photo but it must have been taken around Christmas. It fit just perfectly into this pink glittery (?Making Memories) frame.

And I think this will make a nice thank-you present to her. She's coming down to do some baby-sitting for me again this weekend whilst my husband is busy with Church activities but I'm still on night-duty and need to be sleeping during the day.

See the pink plastic mesh I've layered behind the whole card for a bit of extra texture and interest? Swiped that from a building site just down the road from me! We were on a family walk one night and I spotted it and knew immediately it would compliment the Paper Crush collection perfectly. Scraps of it were tied around lots of fence posts. I don't know why. Didn't seem to be serving any purpose, and I figured they wouldn't miss this piece! Crazy what you see with the eyes of a scrapper hey?

And yeah, this is the reality of what this photo shoot actually looked like when you see the full picture :-)

PS. Plenty of time to check out this month's GIVEAWAY!

Just the Way You Are

I keep getting that catchy Bruno Mars song stuck in my head.
So what else was I to do but scrap it!

I changed it up just slightly to fit better with my page.
The line of the song goes "Her eyes, her eyes, make the stars look like they're not shining" so I just changed it to 'sun' instead given I had this favourite photo of mine with The Man and Moodles with this lovely sunflare effect.

Oh my goodness am I loving my Silhouette machine. Yes I am!!
For the title I didn't have to buy anything or download anything - it cuts out any font I've already got on my computer. How excellent!!

And do you know what else I love?
The Paper Crush collection by Sassafras! I know it'll be just perfect for all my Valentine's Day needs, but it's so easy to use for lots of other general lovely-type layouts too!

Apart from the base paper (which is by Basic Grey), and the transparent Hambly flowers (below) pretty much everything else on this page is by Sassafras.

oh yeah, and the bling is from Handmade by Suzanne - I've used 'Sunflower' 'Blush' and 'Persimmon'. Next time you put in an order there you really should add a couple of packets of these into your shopping basket. It'll set you back only a couple of dollars (literally!!) and they're a fantastic little detail which I add to nearly all my pages these days.

I am loving this page right now. It's going into my favourites :-)
More Paper Crush projects coming your way soon!!