Invisible Crown

Sea Blue, Apple Green, Plum and Apricot.... what do you think? A good colour combo? Or maybe just a yummy fruit salad :-)

I made this page for my "Scrap a Rainbow" challenge last week at Scrapz.biz. It's a colour and inspiration challenge, so I started and ended my search for inspiration with Pinterest (where else?!!)

The weekly themes we're going with lately are all product based, and last week was one of my favourites when we decided to go with 'mist'. So when I came across this Jimi Hendrix pin I just knew it would be perfect for my challenge.

I really wanted to challenge our girls (yes, there is still plenty of time to enter it yourself) to use mists in some non-traditional ways. To be honest, half the time I find spraying my mists too messy and unpredictable, so an easy way around that is to pop the tops and use them like water paints instead!

So that's what I did here in my background. I mixed them with water and layered them up, pooling and dripping to create some extra depth. I splashed some around for good effect too :-) I also used mists to paint my wooden alphas, and handwrite my title. See how versatile and 'safe' mists can be?

And whilst I was hunting around on Pinterest (because you know you can never navigate away from that site quickly!) I also gained the inspiration for my title. My journaling says "Always believe you're beautiful..... even when taking selfies in a hotel toilet" Hhheeeeeee!!!

Supplies:

Little Yellow Bicycle Savor diecut paper	Cosmo Cricket Clementine Olivia	Crate Paper Random Pattern	Crate Paper Random Accent Cuts
Crate Paper Random Alphabet Stickers	October Afternoon Boarding Pass alphas	Pink Paislee Wood Shop Alphabet Woodchip	Cosmo Cricket Clementine Lovely Bits
Cosmo Cricket Salt Air Buttons	Mister Hueys Heirloom Blue	Mister Hueys Plumb Thumb

InLinkz.com

PS. My giveaway is still open for a couple more days....

Once Upon a Bubbly Moment

My giveaway is still open for a few more days. Check it out here.

Now onto business...

As some of you may know we have switched things up at Once Upon A..Sketch this month and have become sister blogs with another challenge blog called Get Creative. 

Our Once Upon A...Sketch Design Team worked with a sketch from Get Creative Design Team member Elina Katechi and our work will be shown on the Get Creative blog as we are Guest Designers over there.

And here's the layout I made using this sketch as my inspiration. I think I have a problem with straying too far from an almost literal interpretation of the sketch. But maybe that's not necessarily a bad thing... especially not when working with a wonderful sketch in the first place.

I used my Studio Calico Brooklyn Flea kit and made sure to add from my fabulous stash of Imaginarium Designs chipboard.

I captured these cute photos of my Moodles earlier this year as we discovered the joys of bubble-blowing!! She had a mixture of fear and intrigue as those bubbles came towards her. It was the funniest thing to watch!!

 

I was a little concerned with my lack of restraint when it came to adding this pile of buttons. I wanted to represent all the abundance of bubbles, but I may have gone just a step too far.....

what do you think?!

And because I had no space left to journal on, I added my thoughts to a drawing Munchy did of the very day in question and I popped this inside the envelope.

So I'm advertising two sketch challenges this month, just in case you're looking for something to do :-)
At Get Creative we have two prizes up for grabs from Memories Trend whilst over at Once Upon a Sketch we're offering the chance to win some fabulous prizes from Swirlydoos kit club, Imaginarium Designs, Berry71Bleu and Feature Art. Check out all the details here. 

Supplies: 

Studio Calico kit: Brooklyn Flea

Imaginarium Designs Swirly Corners

Imaginarium Designs Swirly Frame

Studio Calico Mister Huey Calico White

InLinkz.com

Love Day Giveaway

So I promised you all some celebrations when I did my 500th post on here (quite a little while ago now.... sorry about that!) but with moving house and Munchy starting school for the first time and me changing jobs it's been a little hectic around here to say the least.

But Valentines Day seemed like a great time to share the love... so here it is... my Love Day Giveaway :-) This package full of romantic, frilly, flowery, glittery goodness could be making it's way to you just by leaving a comment on this post.

It contains:
- Prima leaves
- 2 x Kaisercraft Mini Paper Blooms
- pink glitter
- Kaisercraft Rhinestone flower
- quality red rubber unmounted angel stamp
- Sam and Lucy pink bling borders
- Maya Road chipboard alphas
- Kaisercraft Tiny alpha stickers
- lots of lace
- yards of thick pink ribbon

Don't you think it would be perfect for embellishing some Valentines Day layouts or cards?

So here's what to do:
Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win. Yes, it's open internationally! I'll draw a winner this time next week.
Leave a second comment if you're a follower of my blog. That'll give you a second chance to win!
If you post about this giveaway on your blog, Facebook or Twitter you'll get a third chance to win.

My love to you all
:-)

How Wonderful Life Is

Don't you just love it when scrappy mistakes become creative opportunities that turn out even better than the idea you had in the first place? And how a new favourite layout is born in the process? Well... let me introduce you to my next page.....

So I started off strong.
I had this wonderful photo of my nephew with his piercing blue eyes and baby-smooth skin. And I had a rather wonderful new Studio Calico kit in my hands. Plus... even better than that.... I had an IDEA!!

Taking my cue from the Silhouette title I had cut I thought it would be cool to have some kind of image of the world filling a large area of my layout. And I foolishly thought I could get away with drawing/painting my own version as a way of unleashing the inner artist within me. I was wrong.... very wrong!

I kept adding to it, and 'improving' it, then painting over it (notice how warped the background paper is?) until I could take it no more. So I went to bed. And in the morning it came to me! That fabulous October Afternoon map paper I had been hoarding! Why hadn't I thought of it earlier?!!

I measured it out and cut little gaps into it so I could fit it around the embellishments I had already stuck into place (stupidly) and then doubly stitched it in so no one could accidentally reveal the 'artistic' mess it hides! Ta Da!!!

And that's how my new favourite layout was created :-)

Tickle my fancy

Have I mentioned once or twice (or a thousand) times before how much I love Pinterest? So much inspiration to be found :-)

Like this amazing feather tutorial for example. I could NOT WAIT to make my own feathers thanks to this! And here's my first attempt....

Yes, maybe a little time consuming, but totally worth it I reckon! I gave this card out for a wedding... (are feathers wedding material? hhhhmmmmm..... not sure.... but I did it anyway) I did add glitter so I think that counts for something surely?

I got the most amazing scrappy new today... will share as soon as I can ;-) But that's why I'm in the mood for celebrations and congratulations!

Feeling Hot

One of my favourite daily challenges at Scrapz.biz is the 'Fetch a Sketch' challenge. As you can guess, it's where the challenge is to build a page from a sketch..... which is nothing new right? But I think why it's so good for me is because if I'm completely honest... I find sketches really difficult!

Yes, I'm on the Design Team for one of the biggest sketch blogs going! Yes I've Guested for sketch challenges on fabulous sites like Two Peas in a Bucket and Pencil Lines! But YES... I usually find it hard to accomplish :-) But I'm constantly trying to improve my skills so getting stuck into not only building a page from a sketch, but designing the sketch in the first place is something I know will push me to my limits.

People often ask how do you go about doing it? Do you design the sketch and then create your page, or do you "cheat" and make a page first then base your sketch off that? For me the answer is 'both'! I actually design in a bit of a circle. What I mean is I start off drawing a quick rough sketch, then I create my page, then I formalise the sketch using my page to fill in the details.

As you can see I've managed to fit in lots of layers and embellishments and bright fun colours into this layout. Perfect for the summery beach theme don't you think? And more importantly for me - I've managed to also fit in a heap of journaling.

Now this particular sketch challenge that I designed finished at the end of last month, but at Scrapz.biz we've got a new challenge up every weekday, and Thursdays are the day for sketches if you're interested. But in the meantime we've got lots more inspiration, and this week it's my turn to host the 'Scrap a Rainbow' challenge, so maybe I'll see you over there?

Supplies:

Bazzill Zest	Echo Park Victoria Gardens Sunshine	October Afternoon Boarding Pass Venice	Cosmo Cricket Clementine Ada
Cosmo Cricket Clementine Ivy	Cosmo Cricket Salt Air Fish Tails	Cosmo Cricket Salt Air Elements	Chipboard Thickers Typo Mustard
October Afternoon Sidewalks Miscellany	Prima Say it in Crystals silver	Cosmo Cricket Salt Air Buttons	Studio Calico Brown-Grey Rubon Clouds
Crafters Workshop Punchinella	Studio Calico MIster Huey Lunch Tray

InLinkz.com

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.

My Day Job

I did warn you hey? More kid art happening here!

This page was particularly relevant to share with you today. Today our world changes here in the Elphinstone household! This little Munchkin started her first day of school!! There were no tears here. It was all excitement and possibilities. I think this page captures some of her current innocence inquisitive nature.

Munchy is all about asking me how how my day was at work. And how many 'mummies did I help to have babies today' and 'what did they call them?' (and 'that's a ridiculous name!') She wants to know details too.... and I mean graphic details! She has a toy doctor kit and a doll and she asked me if I could show her how to 'cut a baby out of a mummy's tummy' as she handed me her plastic scalpel!

Which is probably why she knew just what to do when she came across this model pregnant abdomen when she visited me at work. And why she's able to draw pictures like this for me (that's me helping a lady have a baby in case you couldn't tell!)

And funny story.... when she went off to school today The Man said to her "well if you turn out to be a doctor like your Mummy then you'll be at school for the next 25 years" and she looked at him with incredulation on her face "25 years??? That's pretty much forever!"