April Jot Mood Board

I know I've been all about the cards for a while here, but it seems I have swung my attentions a little more towards the Project Life process recently. I think probably because I've got SOOOooo many photos and tonnes of stories to tell at the moment. I really must get started on that baby album soon. But in the meantime I'll start with sharing this spread:

Sure, it's not the most joyful of topics. It is indeed about the day we sprinkled my Grandmother's ashes. But this is real life right? Documenting the lows as well as the highs, journaling through the tough times as well as the celebrations. And seriously, this specific day was all of those things!

I actually took my colour palette inspiration from the April Jot Magazine Mood Board Challenge. With it's elegant combination of navy, gold and pink as well as it's floral theme I thought it would suit the 'atmosphere' of this page perfectly. 

I've used a real mix of different Studio Calico Project Life kits for this one, as well as some other stuff from my stash. I shuffled through Poet Society, Penny Arcade and Cirque - pulling bits and pieces that matched as I went. I'm thinking it's about time I integrated all my kits out, rather than having them in their original packing. It would make this kind of PL-ing much easier! 

I even included not one, but two of the prized gold foil speciality cards on this page. I'm desperately trying not to be a hoarder! And honestly, if a page about your Grandmother's ashes doesn't deserve two gold cards then I don't know what would! I splashed around some orange waterpaint to add the finishing touches.

I tell you what, the Jot Girls are just loving the Mood Board again this month and have come up with some stunning projects. You can check out all the details for the challenge here. Maybe you'll join in?

xxx

The Story of Society 52

Can I have the privilege of introducing you to Society 52? Or perhaps you've heard of them already? They're a reasonably new Instagram challenge site run by Maggie Massey and Sarah Bargo and they post a new challenge every week. People are encouraged to put together their layout, card or other project after the prompt is posted each Monday. Then the fun really begins when a 'twist' criteria is announced on the Thursday and you need to try and incorporate it as well!

 

This week I'm lucky enough to be contributing as the Guest Designer and I'm pretty stoked about that! This is the page I put together after I thought long and hard about the challenge. Can you work out what it might have been? ;-)

So many possibilities right? I mean, for a start you have to try and figure out what kind of tags you're going to use - whether they be shipping tags, proper patterned paper tags (like on those cut-apart sheets) or price tags like I've used. I decided on those mainly because I've had this bundle in my stash for absolutely forever and they've rarely been used. But now I've done it! Most of them made it onto this layout :-)

Using the price tags like this was what then inspired me in my subject matter. Last year I finally invested in a dSLR which is obviously quite an expensive outlay. Whilst I'm still a very VERY long way from knowing how to use it properly, it's been such an improvement in the quality of photos I take that it's been totally worth it.

 

 Lucky for me the twist this week was something I find quite easy...

You all know how much I love my stars! So once again it came down to what kind of stars I wanted to use, because my choices there are quite vast :-) So whilst my layout was put together with the fun colours of the Penny Arcade Main Scrapbook Kit, I chose the acetate stars from the Smalls Add On (from the Sandlot release) because they were large and festive and just seemed to match a bit better. 

It's been so fun to see a few familiar faces joining in on the Society 52 challenges recently. A few more would be even better, so what do you say? Feeling inspired? :-)

Happy scrapping!
xx

The Story of Speed Scrapbooking

Help! I'm in a bit of a funk! It's been over a week since I last scrapped or did anything remotely creative (which is a sort of record for me). I've walked into my scraproom a few times, even pulled out photos and paper and then.... nothing happened. No spark to ignite a flurry of activity.

Don't worry, I don't think it's anything serious. I don't think it's going to lead to "I need a break", it's only a week after all. I think it was just that last month was quite busy scrap-wise that I'm just needing a little breather. I'm confident the soon-to-arrive September Studio Calico kits will get me motivated again!

One of the three tutorials I prepared last month went live on Wilna Furstenberg's blog on Friday. What an honour to be featured by her. I think Wilna is simply amazing, and I love her mixed-media arty scrapbooking style. She's such an open and generous artist - constantly sharing her techniques and teaching new tricks on her blog.

What I decided to share was a little tutorial that's been part of my scrapbooking philosophy this month and that's how to make "Speed Scrapping" work for you.

Speed Scrapping in my book is just about maximising your creative time. It doesn't mean you end up with a rushed unattractive layout at the end of it, and it doesn't mean you can't incorporate your favourite techniques and have a lot of fun along the way! I still painted, I still stencilled, I still sewed...

and I most certainly still layered!!

You can check out the full tutorial, and see the final product over here on Wilna's blog.

Meanwhile, I've got a whole day off today and I'm psyching myself up to attempt some scrapping today. Perhaps instead of a break, I need to 'force' myself in there and make something. I think I just want to do something weird and wonderful and different for me. I'll let you know what I come up with!!

Happy Scrapping.

The Story of No Pockets

When I decided to buy the Handbook as my mode of Project-Lifing I did so because of it's smaller size. I figured it would be a lot easier to fill a page, and if it's easier then I'm more likely to stick with it. In a frenzy of purchasing and no specific plan in mind, I made sure I bought every configuration of filler pages available so I could have plenty of options. 

The one-pocket 6x8" pages means I can essentially make miniature layouts to fill them, and so I tried that out for the first time this week. It's going to take some getting used to, to create something that fits nicely on this scale - I mean, I don't mind the giant rose, but perhaps it's a bit too overwhelming on the page?!

On the left hand side of the spread I've used a combination of the Penny Arcade PL kit, and the Printable Journal Cards from this month's Sandlot kit. Bright and cheery aren't they? And you know I have such a thing for deers!

I'm a little bit head-over-heels for the Color Theory Inks and Refills lately. I've never really considered Refills to be an essential part of my stash before, I thought they were just for filling up dry Ink Pads. But there's so many different techniques you can use them for! Today, over on the Shimelle blog (yes, can you believe it?!!!) I'm sharing my techniques for creating an ombre title and some background stamping - all using the Ink Refills. I'd love for you to check it out and let me know what you think.

Happy Scrapping,
xx


Supplies:

Hercules Add On Penny Arcade Project Life Kit Sandlot Printables by In a Creative Bubble Sandlot Printables by Hello Forever Sandlot Printable Labels Color Theory Ink: Orange County Color Theory Ink Refill: Orange County Color Theory Ink: Blush Crush Color Theory Ink Refill: Blush Crush Color Theory Ink: Sunny Day Color Theory Ink Refill: Sunny Day Color Theory Ink: Mint Hint Color Theory Ink Refill: Mint Hint Color Theory Ink: Emerald City Color Theory Ink Refill: Emerald City Color Theory Ink: Something Blue Color Theory Ink Refill: Something Blue

InLinkz.com

Penny Arcade Reveal

Reveal time!! YAY!

The July Studio Calico kits are called Penny Arcade and are filled with warm colours, feather and star patterns (both are my favourites!) and cute embellishments. Here's a look at the main Scrapbook Kit:

But in order to get a much closer 'real life' look at the kit contents, plus the contents of the 3 Add On Kits you can check them out in my video here:



I say 'my video', but really.... yes, it's the Trophy Husband's video! You asked for it, and you got it!! I have to say for the first time ever he was more excited about my SC kits arriving than I was! I tell you, he had those kits unpacked and the video made before I even came home from work. I didn't even get a chance to open them myself ;-)

Now let me show you the projects I've made with them. The first layout is made with the Main Kit Only and is called "Best Ever" and was inspired by the combination of map paper and the fabulous brushscript paper filled with locations around the world. We're not a family that does a lot of travel, and certainly not international travel, but I was excited to see Sydney make the list because I just so happened to have some recent photos to scrap!

I stuck with quite a bold blue, red and yellow combination for this page with all those graphic patterns. Which is why my second Main Kit Only layout is hard to believe it's from the same kit... because it's almost like the exact opposite!

For "Z & M" I concentrated on all the fabulous Ashley Goldberg designed products. That includes the watercolour background paper, the feather papers (two papers... in two different colour combinations!), the stamp and the cloud stencil. These are quite unique and I love the soft artsy appeal of these. I really appreciate how Studio Calico showcases new artists each time and includes lots of exclusive products. It means my pages look different each time I scrap.

Now let me share some Add On love with you. This one is called 'Fortune Teller' and perhaps appeals more to the masculine scrapper. But it's also really easy to get a girly look with this too, and I must admit that I'm hoarding all those star bits!

You probably wouldn't automatically pick that my layout "Click" is made with Fortune Teller would you? The yellow polka dots is the b-side to the blue bokeh paper, and I've included some Printables too. But the main feature of this page is of course those flowers!

I used the Flower Cutting File designed by Kim Stewart, and instead of cutting them out I actually used my Sketch Pens to draw it straight onto the paper instead. I've got quite the crush on my Sketch Pens at the moment. You may have noticed? ;-)

In true Kim Stewart style I then used waterpaints (really... I used Mister Huey's!) to paint in the design and sprinkle it with glitter too. That woman inspires me so much!

My personal favourite Add On is called 'Spun Sugar' and it's the embellishment-only kit for the month. Every single bit of this kit is perfection!

Now obviously the embellishment-only kit doesn't come with any papers, and whilst pondering what I would pair these pieces with I decided against using the papers from the other kits (although they would coordinate perfectly... that's half the point!) and used some kid-art instead.

The design of this page is such that the photos are attached to the vellum overlay (yes I went absolutely crazy with the vellum this month... it's on pretty much every layout I made!) which then folds down to reveal the black and white painting underneath. The painting in turn also folds down and reveals the purple paper artwork underneath that too! So there's three layers on this page and it showcases two pieces of art from my 4 year old.

The last Add On is called 'Skeeball' and is filled with lots of my favourites too. More stars! Sunbeams! A pink, yellow and blue combination! I admit, this was a close call to being my favourite as well.

I used bits and pieces of it as my 'real' products in making this hybrid layout.

But the real highlight of this page is the extraordinary Digital Template that Shanna Noel has designed again. My goodness I love that lady's talent!! Most of the work on this page is done through Photoshop, and when I say 'work' I mean I just added a photo and some journaling! Not hard at all. This was the quickest page I made this month by a long shot!

But I can't help but still want to add dimensional pieces, even if they're just simple little bits like this badge and metal circle combination. And yes, it's bugging me that the metal circle flipped over backwards when I photographed it without me noticing. Never mind.

You can see more of the details behind my layouts in my gallery, and all the products I've used are linked below. Happy Reveal Day everyone!

PS. I've also added this and this to my cart since we last spoke :-)



Penny Arcade Supply List:

Penny Arcade Main Scrapbook Kit Skeeball Add On Fortune Teller Add On Spun Sugar Add On Grid Paper More Vellum Watercolour Paper Pack Penny Arcade Digital Layout Templates Penny Arcade Printables by In a Creative Bubble Penny Arcade Printables by Hello Forever Penny Arcade Printable Labels Penny Arcade Cut Files by Kim Stewart Penny Arcade Cloud Cut Files by Paige Evans Penny Arcade Cut Files by In a Creative Bubble Penny Arcade Scrapbook Kit Digital Stamps Penny Arcade Card Kit Digital Stamps Penny Arcade Project Life Digital Stamps Studio Calico Die: Bow Sketch Pens Starter Pack Wanderlust Phrases Roller Stamp Color Theory Ink: Well Red Color Theory Ink: Something Blue Color Theory Ink: Coral Bay Color Theory Ink: Blush Crush Color Theory Ink: Orange County StazOn Black Tim Holtz non-stick Scissors Glue Glider Pro Precision Pen Silhouette Cameo

InLinkz.com