My Girl Turns One

Of course, I'm still going to do pages that celebrate the moments and events. It won't only be soppy gushy emotional pages! My baby girl having her first birthday is a moment to be remembered!

I used the January sketch at Handmade by Suzanne, but I did have to re-jig it a bit. This month we have as our Guest Designer the amazingly talented Sam Hauzer, and she designed this great sketch.

But I'm using Webster's Pages WonderFall Collection and the papers already come with so many details that I found I didn't need to add much to them, nor did I want to cover them up too much. So instead of the two photos I just used one.

I still added lots of layers under the photo as the sketch called for - using paper and stickers and stamps. Can you see the shine on my stamped doilies? I stamped with Perfect Medium and brushed blue Perfect Pearls over the top of it for a bit of glamour!

I used these balloons for the embellishment cluster in the top right corner as per the sketch, but decided to leave the bottom left corner alone since it had all the cute designs on it already. I love the way the twine dangles so freely from the balloons, like they're really floating away through the air :-)

And my Martha Stewart punch collection is ever-expanding. This is my latest purchase which you can see in use on the blue paper matting the photo. It's the punch-around-the-page 'Cherish' set which I got from here. These punches were recently just offered at Studio Calico and were sold-out within minutes, so if that's any indication this will be the hottest punch to have next month! But if you live in Australia and buy from Suzanne you'll only pay a flat rate of $5 postage no matter how many punches you get!

Whole Heartedly

So I stated that I was going to do more layouts about my feelings rather than events, but that doesn't mean my pages aren't still going to be a lot of fun!

Using a gazillion buttons on a layout..... now that was a lot of fun! And apart from the time taken to stick each of those buttons down (!) this was a pretty quick layout to pull together.

I really liked the punch of the red heart on this layout I did with these same Webster's Pages WonderFall papers, so I took that same concept and used it in the extreme on this page!

I mixed in a little sunflower bling to my button-heart and tied it all together with some bakers twine. It's all about the textures for me in case you haven't noticed already!

And instead of journaling, I just summed it all up in my title really. The blue letters are cut from one of the Webster's papers called 'Learn Your ABC's'. I've used them on most of my layouts this month! The other alphas are Thickers (green and glitter-pink), Jenni Bowlin Studio (brown) and Girl's Paperie (cream).

And where you've got hearts, you really must have butterflies!

Count Your Blessings

One of my other scrappy resolutions for this year (apart from using my stamps more which I've previously mentioned) is to do more layouts about my feelings/emotions/thoughts/letters to my children rather than just events etc.

These beautiful papers in the WonderFall collection by Webster's Pages prompted me to do that very thing by providing me with a ready-made title that I cut from one of the papers by the same name - Count Your Blessings.

So instead of just journaling about how and why these photos were taken (which wasn't that interesting really anyway!) I wrote a little letter to Munchy reminding her to take the time to realise how very blessed she is.

I used this photo from the current Get Picky challenge as my inspiration behind the colours and elements in my layout too. See all the lovely white flowers everywhere? The silver/almost blue tones? The touch of orange (the fire)? All that texture? That's what I used!

It's difficult to see but I did do a lot of stamping on the blue cardstock behind all my elements. It's just a script stamp, and the reason you can't see it very well is because I used my Frayed Burlap Distress Ink which has blended and faded quite nicely into the background.

I'm actually quite tickled that this butterfly is upside down. I think it adds a certain amount of whimsy! It's because I trimmed this border (the butterfly included) from the top of a different paper, but wanted to add it to the bottom of this one!

This super-girly layout also allowed me to use up lots of my other flowers, and because I was adding all that extra dimension, I felt I really needed to do something about the 'flatness' of the paper flowers. So I cut each petal individually and bent and propped them up with foam dots.

Do you want to know one of my recent blessings? The vast majority of supplies at Handmade by Suzanne are on sale at the moment. I've grabbed myself some bargains!! You could too!

Loved

I have to admit, when Suzanne said she was going to send me some Webster's Pages in my December DT kit, I had mixed feelings. No one can dispute that Webster's Pages make absolutely beautiful products, and the WonderFall Collection is no exception. My hesitation was just that I haven't used them much before, mainly because I'm too scared of destroying their loveliness! *LOL*

But I took a deep breath and made this layout. I simply had to use the fabulous die-cut page first up, but I'm not one for doing shaped layouts, so I cut it into pieces and mounted them all on some cardstock which I misted and stamped first for a bit more interest (maybe too much interest?!)

And the bloomers trim was the perfect accessory. Here I cut some individual blooms off them and mixed them up with some Prima flowers (the orange/cream ones) and May Arts ribbon leaves. And I can't recommend enough that you get some kind of bling - there's pearls and droplets in the store. They are such a good investment, so cheap and you get heaps in each packet.

This title could have gone so many ways. Of course, I could have journalled about how much Little Moodles is loved, but I chose to document her special relationship with her teddy instead. She's at that age where this little funny rabbit means to much to her and I find that quite cute!

And I got over my fear of Webster's and I'm coming back real soon with some more!

Working 9 to 5

Gee, if only my job entailed me to work from 9 to 5!!

The new movie poster is up for your inspiration at From Screen 2 Scrap. Here's what I made.....

It's based on the poster for the classic Dolly Parton movie (seriously, does anyone remember any of the other actors?!) "9 to 5"

And you can include the added criteria if you like for some bonus points:
1) use a red title = 1pt
2) use a clock = 2pts
3) use a picture from the 80's = 3pts

I based my layout using the general colour-scheme of the poster of yellows, reds, orange/brown.

There's my clock in the corner to meet the criteria. One of my scrappy resolutions this year is to dig into my huge stamp stash that I never seem to use :-)

This photo is taken in 1985 (I'm guessing, I think I look about 4!) and my sister and myself were subjected to my mum's idea of dressing us in matching clothes. Meanwhile I think we look quite cute and I was happy to scrap this kitschy photo :-)

We've added some new girls to the From Screen 2 Scrap DT this year. Go over and check out what they've done, and perhaps join in the challenge yourself.

Faith

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Heb.11:1)

I've chosen 'faith' as my One Little Word this year.
No big enlightened moment or anything like that. I didn't spend months thinking about it. I didn't really consider any other options. It just seemed like a good word that I needed to invite back into my life. 

My own faith is a very important part of my life. In the past it has been the most important part of my life although lately it has unfortunately taken a bit of a back-seat. So first and foremost this is a reminder to allow my faith to more fully permeate every area of my life. Secondly it's to remind myself that even when I'm not sure of what's on the horizon to have faith that the Lord will continue to protect me and uphold me no matter what the future holds.

I made up this shadow-box to display in my study which is where I spend a lot of time (scrapping mainly, not really studying!) so I'll see it often and be reminded regularly.

Supplies are all from Handmade by Suzanne and most are on sale at the moment!
- Cardstock: American Crafts kraft
- Paper: Webster's Pages WonderFall (letters) (daisies)
- Stickers: Webster's Pages Phrase Stickers (blue frame)
- Ribbon: Webster's Bloomers Trim
- Bling: sunflower pearls and daisy droplets

What's your word?

xx

Glamming it Up Again

I'm addicted to my Martha Stewart glitters at the moment, so I couldn't stop myself after yesterday's effort and went straight on and did up another glittery card for the Moxie Fab World Glitter is Glam challenge.

Sorry, I realise it's a bit hard to see the glitter on this card.
It's mainly because instead of doing some cute highlights in glitter, or some glittery embellishment I simply just smothered the whole thing in glitter!

 

I effectively made my own glitter paper by smearing on some dimensional magic all over my October Afternoon paper (my single favourite paper from last year) and up-ended my bottle of crystal glitter all over it!

Believe me, it looks so much nicer in real life :-)

Glitter is Glam

How about starting the new year with a new technique?

I really wanted to take part in the Moxie Fab World Challenge: Glitter is Glam where the challenge is to use glitter in a new and innovative way. Here's what I came up with......... "Embossed Glitter"
I'll show you how.

Gather some supplies. A sheet of patterned paper, an embossing folder, glitter and glue is all you need really. The stamps are for decorating later.

Use a drop sheet (I use some scrap paper) underneath you at all times for this messy technique!
Shake glitter all over your open embossing folder so it fills all the imprinted design. 

You want to brush away as much of the excess glitter as possible so that it's only in the 'holes'. I tried a paint brush but that wasn't working so well. I found an old credit card to scrape off the extra was the best solution. But it won't be perfect and I've learnt to live with that :-)

Put your patterned paper on a flat surface and cover every inch of it with glue. To get an even coverage I found a glue stick worked the best.

Then put the paper (glue side down) on top of the glitter in the embossing folder and run it through your machine as normal. Mine made this awesome crunching sound as all the glitter was embossed onto my paper!

Quickly peel away your sticky glittery paper and put it down somewhere to dry. While you're waiting, go and wash your sticky glittery embossing folder :-)

Now create!

It's hard to capture the intense glittery-ness of this card in a photo, but it sure was 'Fun Times' putting this together :-)

I used a very fine pink Martha Stewart glitter in the first card, and then I tried it with a coarser glass glitter for this card. 

The end result seems very similar, but I did find it was harder to scrape off the extra glitter in my embossing folder whilst keeping it confined to the imprinted design. It still does make me Smile though :-)

Anyway there you go. Hopefully giving you some good ideas - now go forth and experiment!

The best of 2010

Following in the footsteps of many of my blogging friends, I thought I would do a run-down of some of my favourite layouts for 2010. Not necessarily my best, but my favourites for one reason or another.

Love how this page tells the story of how Moz got her name. And love how this plain paper was turned into notebook paper by many stitched lines :-)

My first page on the From Screen 2 Scrap DT. Lots of yummy doodled digital elements by CD Muckosky here.

The first page I had picked up for publishing in a 'real' magazine (instead of an online magazine!) I fixed it up a bit before I sent it off! More doodled embellishments - this time by Leeann Pearce.

This would have to be one of my favourite 'Month in the Chair' layouts. And it uses some of my favourite collections for 2010 which were Thrift Shop and Fly a Kite by October Afternoon.

I love the idea of the journalling on this page which is all about documenting Moodles routine at this point in her life. I should really do this again.

One of my favourite pages from when I was a Guest DT for Kreatorville Kraft. I really enjoyed my month there and I adore Keandra's kits.  I've got a tutorial for that flower which will have to go live soon I'm sure!

One of my favourite pages I've done for Handmade by Suzanne. Mainly because it was the first time I was brave enough to try free-motion stitching..... and it worked! And lots of journaling about how sentimental I was getting when I went back to work in August.

I was so happy to get my very first Studio Calico kit. I made lots of pages with it (8 in total so far I think). This was one of them.

One of my other favourite collections from this year was the Mix and Mend line from Sassafras. When I got my bundle of this I whipped up 4 layouts on the go. And then to my absolute delight they were all featured on the Sassafras blog!!! Definitely a highlight!

And lastly, this bright and fun layout I did not long ago. I love it because this is one of my favourite photos of me as a child, and I think the layout did it justice :-)

Would love to hear about your favourites.
Wishing everyone a Happy New Year as we see in 2011.
xx