Chasing Rainbows

Have you seen the new blog that's just recently started up called 'Cartwheels in My Mind'?
It's got some amazing talent on it's team and is headed up by the amazing Cheryl Ametewee. It looks like they're going to offer something unique including lots of challenges, prompts and of course, loads of delicious eye-candy.

Last weekend there was a photo challenge given to take something from a new perspective and then create a piece of art from what the photo inspired.

Then this week they happened to choose my photo to share on their blog. I was so chuffed!
So I really thought I ought to share them all with you too :-)

Moodles was recently given this lovely crystal as a 'welcome to the world' present (yes, she is 7 months old now!!) and I hung it up in our window where it will catch the sunlight. There are a couple of hours a day where it produces these lovely rainbows that play and dance all around the bedroom. And so this was the first time we had noticed it.

Munchy had so much fun trying to catch them and I couldn't help but capture the moment on film (well it's not really film these days is it? It's really digital). Then I photoshopped the life out of them to add a few beautiful sentiments that seemed to sum it up nicely.

What do you think? I really like them!

PS. All of the overlays/stamps are by Karenika, except the last one which is by Ali Edwards.

PPS. Don't forget about my own challenge to you!

My 2 pink acorns

Surely by now I have used up all my lovely October Afternoon papers I bought a while back (is that what you're thinking?!) I'm sure this is the last one I can make, at least exclusively. There's only a few little scraps left. But I also know that divine ice-cream paper is included in this month's Studio Calico kit, so you will see it pop up again on my layouts in the future.

I did this layout a couple of weeks ago in response to the Studio Calico Sunday Sketch, but realised I haven't shared it here yet. I rather liked this photo The Man took of me bathing the girls, but of course, I had to use something to cover up the rude bits :-) I used a digital stamp from the Gratitude Quote Art collection by Karenika. 

The sketch was drawn from a layout by the amazing Jennifer Johner. You can see all the details including her layout here on the Studio Calico blog.

I liked that these buttons I had matched the paper, and I thought it just gave it a bit more texture.

And you can see some little snippets of my fabulous washi tape which I used to stick down the strips of paper at the top and bottom. I really wanted to use some sewing on this, but this was back when my sewing machine was broken and I hadn't yet got a new one. And of course, now I've moved on and it's too much effort to get it out again to add stitching. So it will remain just like this.

And on a slightly different subject.....

TOOOT TOOT! I've just had my very first layout in an actual hard paper magazine land on my doorstep today. If anyone else gets the Australian Scrapbook Creations magazine you can see my layout at the bottom of page 34 (of Issue 79). And if you don't, you can catch a little sneak of it if you look under my "pulications" page at the top of my blog.

Have you seen the Jolly June Yellow Challenge? Your own choice of prize! Easy challenge!

Enjoy :-)

Um, yeah, I know it's May

But a quick share of the page I finally finished a couple of weeks ago that I haven't yet shared with you.

It's 2009; a year in review (of funny faces pulled by Munchy!!)

She went through a (long) stage of wanting to pull funny faces whenever the camera was on her. By the looks of this, it started in about July. I thought it would be good to pull all these photos together in one layout. Of course, I had to make them pretty small to be able to fit all 12 on one page, perhaps I should have made a double? I'm not very good at that! I added all the month labels in photoshop before I printed them out.

So I kept everything else to a minimum. I even covered the background paper in a quick coat of gesso to dull it down a little. It's all Studio Calico stuff, except the numbers which are Kaisercraft chipboard and the embellishments which are just generic sequinny pretty things.

It's good to see how much she has changed in the course of a year.

Oh and this one was yesterday. She was my "helper" while trying to do the tutorial I posted yesterday.

Yes, she really does love helping (and painting).

Proud to be a Lipstick Chick

I'm super excited to be able to finally share with you the little secret I've been holding onto.................
I'm now a Lipstick Chick!! (never thought those words would come out of my mouth, or rather, out of my fingers!)

I've just joined the Design Team on the challenge blog XOXO for the next 4 months and I couldn't be happier :) This is a scraplift challenge blog so on the 7th of every month the new challenge gets issued and you've got until the end of the month to scraplift one (or more) of the DT's submissions. It couldn't be easier, especially when you're stuck for inspiration or your mojo is dwindling. With 25 new Lipstick Chicks starting today you're bound to find something that inspires you!!

So this is my very first submission as a Lipstick Chick and I have made it suitably pretty girly I think (which is a bit out of my ordinary style, but I'll try anything once!)

Supplies: Kaisercraft Devonshire collection papers, American Craft Thickers, October Afternoon mini-market stickers, Kaisercraft Spirograph brads, Maya Road crystal trinkets, Fiskars upper-crest border punch, Tattered Angels glimmermist (peach delight), digital stamp from Karenika.

And I am quite happy with how this layout turned out actually. I do love this collection from Kaisercraft and it suited the theme of my photo perfectly. All sweet and serene. I placed that digital heart stamp on the photo before it was printed out, its from a free collection you can download from Karenika right here. If you want to see how I used another one of these digital stamps from the same collection on a card you can go here.

I've used a double-stencilling technique to create the paint spots and script stamp in the background, as well as some masking to create the misted border around the edge. I'm planning on doing a little tutorial of these processes really soon. Love getting my artsy on!

The new challenge at XOXO has gone live today so pop on over and check it out. There's plenty of inspiration from the Lipstick Chicks to spark your creativity so you won't be disappointed.

But, if you need even more prompting on what to do, why not try out one of these ideas for scrap-lifting my layout:

• Use my layout as a sketch  

•  Use my colour scheme of burnt orange, teal, cream and grass

• Use one of my techniques such as masking, misting, stencilling
• Use one of my embellishments as a feature in your own such as the flowers, bird, butterfly
• Use the theme of my layout to base your own upon ie. scrap about your relationship with your child or scrap about someone you love

The sponsor this month is Color Me Miki, and one lucky winner is going to walk away with the gorgeous May kit 'Alterations', which is full of new release Little Yellow Bicycle, October Afternoon, Hambly, Prima and Sassafras Lass.

So hop to it and join in the XOXO challenge!
There just 'might' be extra giveaway entries for my May Madness De-stash giveaway for anyone who does :)

Today's artiness

Today's artiness (no scrapiness today) comes to you in the form of some Photoshop play.

I'm just having fun, mucking around and finding out more and more about this wonderful program. 

The oh-so-lovely (and free!) tape strips are from Pugly Pixel.