CKC November Layouts #2 & #3

More mess with inks and watercolours…

Yes, I keep playing around splashing around the colour to make some gorgeous backgrounds. The funny thing is when we do this we often cover it up with our photos and embellishments. Sometimes, for me, I get a little regretful when I have to cover up all the pretty colours. Yesterday, was one of those days.

I was working on two more layouts using my Counterfeit Kit Challenge collection. The first is a layout of my grandson, I am still trying to complete his baby albums. Because the photo is very soft and pretty, I thought the colours in this kit would work well. I began by creating the background using oxide inks, layering the colours and adding a little stamping. The stamp arrived two days ago and my rule is when you purchase anything you must use it! The little stars helped soften the edges of the paper and fitted with the CKC embellishments.

Then, it was a simple process of mounting my photo with a range of patterned papers, each piece was distressed around the edges with my fingernail. Next, I decided to have a go making some thread bows to embellish the layout. I used the fork technique from here. It worked very well and was quick to do.

Adding the embellishments took very little time, I used some forged flowers, stars (wood and paper) and an old, chipboard heart. I think it pulled together well, the pop of pink softens it and draws in the skin tones in the photo. It is kinda girly for a boy, but you can get away with that with baby photos.

Layout #3 is another grandson page when he is a little older and hanging out with his favourite person…Granddad.

More colour was splashed around, this is the one where I didn’t want to cover it up. I used some old heart stamps in this one. See, the yellowed acrylic block…yep, the stamp is so old, it fused to the block! Note to everyone: do not be slack and leave your cling stamps on any acrylic blocks for long periods of time! Pack away properly and use your stash, its been years since this stamp was used.

I used a whole heap of the FREE Citrus Twist Kit cut apart die cuts on this layout and a few of my forged pandas.

Overall, it came together well. I like the embellishment cluster and was pleased to find some way to incorporate the pandas. Thank goodness for cute kids.

P.S. Sorry that the images look cream, the cardstock is a crisp white. I am struggling to get a decent photo, with white it (iPad) always seems to cast yellow or blue light whether I’m inside or out.

CKC Layout #1 – Ma

Good morning, yesterday I had a lovely time playing with my Counterfeit Kit. I got messy with some inks and watercolours and pulled some inspiration from this months focus website, Citrus Twist Kits. They have an amazing design team and I spent a little time pouring over the Creative Team Gallery. Wow, some beautiful work to inspire us CKC scrappers.

I really loved some of the page formats used in the October DT layouts. The work of Nathalie Desousa with her flourish of diagonal flowers made me drool. I decided to see if I could use this inspiration on one of my layouts, using the forged flowers and my CKC papers.

I started off getting messy, building up a background on my white cardstock using some Tim Holtz Oxide Inks and some watercolour paints. In the first layer, I stamped some hearts using a very old, cheap, foam stamp. Then, I layered on the beautiful purples and added some splatters. I dried each layer before adding the next. Next, I pulled out my handmade foam branch stamp and used the beautiful, Dusty Concord oxide ink. I am in love with this colour, full strength you get a dark, dense plum image and activated with water, it creates a musty, dreamy lavender (see the lightest purple, layer 2).

Next, I selected papers to mount my photo. This image is of my mum from last summer (2017) at my grandson’s birthday party. I am one of those lucky daughters, whose mother is their best friend. She can be relied upon to listen to any vent, laugh and cry with me, share guidance and advice, and drink champagne! The photo is quite neutral, you could put any coloured papers with it. I decided to select a floral with some green tones and a bold hit of purple.

Then I spent time fussy cutting flowers form some patterned paper and trimming up some of my forged flowers (FREE cut files from Citrus Twist). I die cut some leaves to add a pop of yellow and jade. It all came together quite quickly after that, building up the layers of flowers, die-cuts and some wood veneer leaves. Then, a few enamel dots sprinkled around the edges of the flowers, title and date.

I love how it turned out and am surprised how the colours worked together so well. I would not have selected to use that colour range in my daily scrapping, the CK challenge is a great way to push you out of your comfort zone. Thank you, Nathalie Desousa, for your inspirational layout design. If you would like to see how Nathalie created her layout check out her video here.

November CKC-Forgery on the Fourth

Here we go, a little early perhaps, but it is already the 4th of November down our neck of the woods. So, what did I forge? I decided to cheat a little and use someone else’s images which they had freely shared, to create some die cuts and puffy stickers.

Luckily for us participants in the November CKC, the inspiration company, Citrus Twist Kits often has FREE cut apart PDFs and cut files available to download. So, I went looking for some cut apart sheets which would match with my kit. There was a lot, including one designed for their October kit. I decided to print out a range of different ones onto white cardstock.

Then, I had a look at the cut files available. These I thought are of no use to me…think again! They had quite a few florals which would work well as die cuts, so I downloaded the files. Now, how to use them? I tried printing out the images, this didn’t work for me because the images are large (I imagine they are 12 inches) and I only have an A4 printer. So, then I took a print screen of the image and pasted it into WORD. This allowed me to crop them and make them any size or colour I liked.

Once printed, I tried a few different ways to colour them. I didn’t like the look of the Copics and decided to try watercolour paints. Duh…the Indigo Hills die cuts are in a watercolour style! This worked well, I tried out both the black printed image and the light grey. What I found with both was that the paint did put an opaque film across the printed image. This was easily fixed by going over the images with a black permanent marker. It even enhanced it, giving them a more handmade look.

Then, I went in search of pandas online. There were quite a few FREE pandas to download, I went with some little panda heads which are similar to the original kit. I coated them with Ranger’s Glossy Accent glue to get that puffy look. The glue dries clear.

Before fussy cutting the printed cut apart sheets, I gave them a clear coating of Clear Gel Medium. You don’t need to do this but it gave them a little sheen (not super glossy), the easier way would be to print them on a better quality cardstock paper which already has a sheen.

I ended up with a huge pile of die cuts to use on layouts. I have a lot more flowers printed which I will colour and cut as needed. My next forgery may be the Vicki Boutin paper, who can resist dipping cups/glasses into the paint and making some mess?

November Counterfeit Kit Challenge

Hello everyone, it’s a new month and once again I am having a go participating in the November Counterfeit Kit Challenge. What I really like about joining in with this challenge is that it makes you look through your supplies and really see what you have. You realise what you don’t need, what you should use up and you see what you are getting low on. That can mean a little shopping without the guilt. For me, this month I realised I really have very little indigo, navy blue to mid blue patterned paper left. Much like the earlier kits, when I had very little woodgrain paper left. It is because, for the last 18 months, I have mostly been scrapping boy layouts for my grandson and son’s albums. There have been some girly layouts along the way (with fussy cut flowers), but the majority have been male. Also, remember that I had a go making my own Indigo Hills 2 collection, well…there goes my indigo coloured papers!

This months CKC inspiration is a good mix of colours and papers for both sexes. It is very contemporary, as it is based on a kit from the wonderful Citrus Twist Kit company, released only last month! Wow, yep, October!

There is a lovely range of papers in this kit, including an Indigo Hills 2 paper, some scrummy Maggie Holmes papers and a gorgeous Vicki Boutin paper. My selection of papers is less indigo and more pinks and greens. I have tried to base mine on picking up the colours and feel of this kit.

*Note: Sorry for the slight blue tinge to the photos, I took them in daylight at 5am. Note to self, DO NOT DO THAT AGAIN!

Because I didn’t have any stars or multi-patterned stripe papers, I decided to select some similar papers with which I could create my own striped paper. Here’s what I came up with…

The embellishments from the Citrus Twist kit is a lovely mix of colours and styles with a little craziness. Pandas, foxes, cats and tassel bows, why not?

My choices are based on colour and using stuff up, I have several packets of mismatched puffy shape stickers. I have thrown in a few stamps and text dies to create embellishments, some wood veneers and some embroidery thread to make tassel bows. I am going to make some die cuts using some FREE cut apart sheets from the Citrus Twist Kite site.

So, my kit is almost complete. I am looking forward to getting started on making some layouts. This month will be a challenge for me, I have a lot of work commitments to get done and a house to get ready for the silly season. It is funny how things finally have to be completed and fixed when you are having long, lost relatives coming for Christmas! Out comes the paint and a major spring clean organised…it is Spring down under.

Mixing Challenges! CKC Layout #5 & #6.

Squeezing in another two layouts before the October Counterfeit Kit Club challenge ends. These two layouts were made during Anna’s Craft Cupboard ‘Old School’ Cyber Crop last weekend. The first one was an ‘English’ (school subject)challenge in which you needed to include a story/text. I used products from my CKC kit to make the layout. The photos in the layout are of me and hubby trying to take a nice selfie, you can tell we haven’t quite mastered the technique. Because, the photos were poor quality, taken in a dark corner with very little light and on my iPad, I tried to edit them and fix the colour/light. I managed to get a better image but they are grainy (you can see in the close-up, above). This is why I went with small photos and used a piece of textured vellum over the larger, main photo. Plain vellum can sometimes hide and enhance a poor quality photo, in this case, the textured vellum masked the graininess and anyone viewing it would think I was trying to be creative with my embellishment. Shhhhh, don’t tell them!

The next was for a blind layout challenge. If you haven’t tried one of these, they are a lot of fun! One of the design members from ACC, this time the very talented Rikki Graziani, releases each process step by step (line by line), you have no image to work from just text. It can be very challenging. Unfortunately, this time I had family visiting and wasn’t able to participate live online but managed to give it a go later in the weekend. I copied all Rikki’s instructions from the FB Community page and printed them out before I started. This made it a whole lot easier than having to wade through mountains of comments (live online). The papers and products were from my CKC and worked very well with my photos. I also made a pocket page, as I had a lot more photos of this event.

Mixing Challenges! ACC & CKC

Hello everyone. Today I am sharing a layout which I did in a Cyber Crop with Anna’s Craft Cupboard community group on FaceBook, last weekend. It was a lot of fun and had a challenging theme, Old School, which opened up a whole lot of creative thinking and making. Each challenge was based around a learning subject area or using an Old School style of scrapping, using up supplies which have gone out of style in the world of scrapbooking. This layout was my attempt at the Math challenge, your layout needed to include numbers!

Because I was participating in the October Counterfeit Challenge Kit I wanted to use the papers and embellishments from my kit. I also wanted to use some of my recent purchases, if I buy something new I make sure I use it and not stash it away. What arrived in the mail two weeks ago was the new Tim Holtz Entomology die which matches with the stamp set (released earlier in the year). I had been waiting for months for the release and then for it to arrive in Australia, it is amazing! The die is spot on, there is absolutely no white space around your stamped image, it cuts the thinnest and tiniest insect legs and antennae.

With this layout, I got messy using distress inks, Heidi Swapp shine and some DIY shine. I messed around smooshing and spraying the inks, creating backgrounds to use in the layout. Some I liked and some didn’t quite work.

Then, I used a floral stencil and some white gesso to create some texture on my main background. I used an old membership card to scrape the gesso across the stencil, very rough and messy.

The paper which I wasn’t keen on became the cardstock for my insect embellishments. Just a tip, if you do purchase this wee crawly critter die set, use some washi tape to hold the dies in place while cutting. They do need to be lined up precisely and being so little may move when you crank them through your Sizzix.

Next, I added some more distress ink to the stencilled flowers, the white gesso made them stand out a little too much. I stamped some insects onto the background using a soft grey and a brown distress ink. Then, I got busy stamping orange daisies onto some orange/apricot patterned paper scraps (from my kit), scraps of my mixed media cardstock and onto some white cardstock. Does this look familiar? Yep, it is the same stamp used on this layout here. A few stamped flowers where hit with some distress green, just to pull in some colours in my photo. Then I spent some time watching scrap blogs on Youtube while I fussy cut out all the flowers.

I then built up the layout, layering die cuts and flowers, and fixing everything into place using double sided tape and foam.

So, “Where are the numbers?”I hear you ask. Good question, after all, it was a Math challenge. Well, the numbers tied in with my title and photo and were cut using dies. I used this particular photo because my daughter’s face shone with happiness. We were having a lovely day just messing around on our property, enjoying the sunshine and the abundance of flowers spreading colour everywhere. In a burst of energy, she literally tiptoed into the flowers and sat amongst the colour. Her son did not want to miss out on this opportunity and joined her. Her face said it all…let me ‘Count the Ways’.

Counterfeit Challenge – #2 & #3

Good day to you all. I am way behind with this month’s Counterfeit Kit Challenge and am trying to catch up. Here are my scrapbook layouts, number two and three, using my counterfeit kit.

Layout #2 is worked from photos of my grandson helping me paint and make Christmas decorations. As you can see he got a little excited and carried away, decorating himself. The funny thing was that once the paint dried he didn’t like the sensation of the paint on his face. Kids, live and learn!

I had fun making some little paintbrush embellishments using my Sizzix Big Shot. A little watercolour paint splatter on the background and some small text quotes added some detail.

The finished layout is bright and colourful.

Layout number two is a double spread. The photos used are not mine but are the work of a local photographer who kindly shared them online with the community. I am trying to find his name and will post it once I find out. The photos are a great record of what our little town looks like now. There is a lot of change and growth happening in our town at the moment with new buildings and shops being built. I suspect that this is only the start of the town ‘progress’ and with several shops/buildings owned by my family I wanted to record this moment in time.

I started out with two identical backgrounds, layered with patterned paper, and then added some paint to the left page. I used black gesso which I scrapped across the page, it gave it an old-fashioned blackboard effect. Then, I started to add the title across both pages. Disaster! I didn’t have enough letters and had to make and cut a few more.

I added some splatter and stamped some texture onto the gesso using some distress oxides. They work well on black backgrounds. Overall, it looks ok and has recorded a time in history. I may add the story by handwriting on the black gesso with a white pen.

Fields of Gold…Faking it!

Hi all 🙂

A couple of weeks ago, one of my favourite YouTube bloggers, Janet from RTS Scrapbooking, shared a video on how to make your own Pink Fresh Studio Indigo Hills collection. Janet is all about using up your supplies rather than going out and buying more. Most of us have been drooling over the Pink Fresh Studio Indigo Hills collection but if you have set yourself a challenge to not spend and use up your stash, then Janet has the answer to substituting papers, building a similar colour and feel collection.

After watching her video, I got excited and decided to give it a go. I made my own kit based upon similar colours/theme and even got messy making some watercolour papers.

As you can see, I didn’t have any florals in the right colour range. Unlike Janet, I don’t use a lot of florals in my scrapping. I did have a black & white floral page which I decided to paint with watercolour to bring it into the correct colour range. This turned out really well and will definitely add more floral zing to my collection.

I decided that I would also incorporate some stamps and inks to create more floral papers and embellishments. With my kit organised, I started my first layout using photos taken of my street. It is Spring here and all the flowers are blooming, being rural this also means the paddocks are being swamped with colour. Yellow fields of daisies are popping up everywhere.

I started off by creating my background paper, I wanted to create a similar paper to one of the lovely Pink Fresh papers which have indigo florals on the corners. The patterned paper I chose to use has a soft, shell pink floral print and two butterflies in the top corner. I flipped the page, as I wanted the butterflies in the bottom, right corner. I went through my stamps and found a rose to use as my stamped flower stem image. I used Tim Holtz’s ‘Faded Jeans’distress ink, as it has a lovely dusty blue/indigo tone. After a good rummage through my stamp drawers, I found a very old, leaf spray stamp which I made about 15yrs ago from kids fun foam. It printed really well and achieved the look I was after.

Next, I went on to make some daisy head embellishments to attach to my plant stems. I decided to use a more realistic daisy stamp and fussy cut them out.

Then, choosing papers from my fake kit, I decided to pick up the colours in the photos and selected an apricot floral, a yellow stripe, a shell pink and the black and white floral. I ended up not using the shell pink or the black and white.

I put down some layers under the photos and then got busy adding more stamped images, some watercolour splatter in indigo and metallic shell pink. Then, I topped it off with layers of fussy cut, stamped daisies and some die cut leaf stalks in navy and apricot. The title finished off the layout. I love how this came together using both old and new products. I can’t wait to get started on the next layout using my homemade kit. Thank you, Janet, from RTS Scrapbooking for your inspiration.

Counterfeit Challenge – Forgery #1.

Goodmorning 🙂

Wow, life has been busy and I am very behind with the October CKC. The last two weeks have been a little crazy with the last week of the school holidays and the first week of work/school. I had a beautiful last week break with time spent being ‘Nanny’, spending time with friends and family, and catching up on some crafting. Then, like all teachers, I caught up on marking assignments, set up the classroom and planned new units/lessons and resources for the new term. The first week of the term is always busy with lots of meetings and jobs to do which keep you late at work and leaves very little time in my life for scrapbooking.

So, yesterday was the first day of actually delving into my CKC kit and having a play. I was excited to get started and after breaking my big kit into smaller layout kits with matching photos, I finally got started.

The first layout I decided to work on was my lovely, Dad’s birthday. My sister arranged a party for him and baked the lovely Black Forest Cake…Yum!

For my first forgery, I wanted to try making the little wooden frame embellishment. I had printed out some fun, free, quote cards from Laura Kate is Crafty which are themed around 80’s movies. The ‘Party on dudes!’ card will work well with my birthday layout.

It was a pretty easy process, I just trimmed my quote card around the edges. To reduce the handmade look and create some shadow I ran a black marker around the quote card before applying the adhesive foam. I used a double-sided foam sheet, then I could cut it into very thin strips of adhesive for each edge of the card. I then cut some woodgrain paper to the size of the card and trimmed out the centre, creating a 1/4″ wide thin frame. Voila! One lovely framed quote embellishment ready to use.

Next, I put the layout together using a simple, linear, layered design, overlapping the papers and adding my embellishments. As I don’t have any puffy stickers, I used some wooden cherries which I coloured with Tim Holtz’s red Barn Door ink. It wasn’t the best choice but was sitting on my desk, it rubbed off on my fingers and I had to apply some Microglaze to try and seal it. I should have used a dye ink. I added some small text and alphas from my CKC kit. A fairly quick and simple layout, another one for the family album.

Time Flies – ACC Challenge

Anna’s Craft Cupboard has a mini challenge for the FB community members. Last month’s September challenge was to make a layout which included butterflies, one or more. I went with more…who can resist butterflies?

I decide to use a chevron patterned paper, Fairy Lights’ by 7 Dots Studio, it is divine. Though when I purchased it I expected it to be teal, clearly my monitor was tricking me, it arrived very green and gorgeous. Ás gorgeous as it is I couldn’t resist adding to it, stamping on some ink and splashing around some colour.

Then I went butterfly crazy and stamped them out on white cardstock using Archival ink and coloured the butterflies with Tim Holtz distress ink. Some fussy cutting and they were good to go.

The photo was mounted on several layers of scrap papers which were left over from a Zoo layout.

Once the photo and layers were fixed in place I added the butterflies and boy did that make my heart flutter. They worked beautifully with the background. The title came from me musing over this photo, it seemed to capture me looking old (or my age) which I rarely notice. I was playing tea party with my grandson. He had baked a real cake, orange cake and we (him, me, and my daughter) took it to my mother’s house for afternoon tea. Four generations together, building more memories. I suppose I do look like this often but just never realise it. I had just crawled out of bed and was not showered, having a slouchy Saturday. You never feel you are the age you are…maybe mirrors lie and camera lenses always tell the truth?

Counterfeit Kit Challenge – October

Hello Scrappers, I am back joining in with the October Counterfeit Kit Challenge. This month’s Counterfeit Kit is based upon the kit club, The Wild Hare Kits. The Wild Hare Kits are different from most kits, as you have a very personal experience. They offer a service where you supply information about what you like and don’t like, your favourite brands, colours, etc., and they make you a kit to suit your needs and wants. Wow, it would be like Christmas every time you place an order, a big surprise based on your wish list.

This month the October Counterfeit Kit Challenge is made from the wish list of Mandi Holmes. You can view the unboxing of the kit here. The kit features many colourful elements, textures and interesting patterns.

I was excited to get started on selecting my papers and embellishments for this counterfeit kit. I worked through my paper stash first, luckily for me I had some Simple Stories ‘Domestic Bliss collection which worked beautifully in hitting some of the thematic elements. I purchased the Domestic Bliss supplies last year from Anna’s Craft Cupboard and had never got around to using them. I had planned to use them for an album on our daily life but life got in the way! This collection has made up the majority of my kit with a range of other brands filling the gaps.

First up, these are my papers 1-3 substitutes…

I didn’t have any quote/block paper in the right colourways so I have used some free download 80’s quote cards.

Then, 4-6 papers…

No frame paper for me houses instead and distressed paint instead of stripes. Two flower papers because I couldn’t decide and a straight woodgrain instead of chevron. I have just stocked up on woodgrains from ACC after I discovered in last months CKC that I had run low.

Next, 7-9…

I struggled with the quilt papers, I found one chevron quilt paper and have added in a city map and a geometric design for that pop of colour. Two text papers, I did have the “Change is Good” text paper but only have very small scraps left over 😦

Embellishments!

I didn’t have any substitutes for the quote frames and have included more alpha stickers and word stickers to make my own. No puffy stickers, I have included some wood veneers instead which I may colour. I will make my own woodgrain Thicker phrases using my Sizzix.

I am looking forward to getting started as I work through the kit and mini-challenges. If you would like to see what other scrappers have gathered together for their kits make sure you follow the hop blog list on Counterfeit Kit blog.

The hop blog list…

Guest Designer Becca Sadler – All About Autumn

Lori – October Kit

Tina – Tainted Love

Cindy – Fun Stuff

Julene – October Kit

Laura – October Kit

Leslie – Shalom

Sept. CKC ends with Layout #9 and #10

Hi all, yesterday I got back into my workspace after having our grandson stay with us for four days. Let me just say that he is a beautiful boy but full of energy and always asking “What are we going to do now?”. He keeps us all on our toes, working and creating.

I walked into my room and nearly walked out as it was pretty messy. In order to finish up my September Counterfeit Kit, I needed to tidy up my desk and unpack some recent purchases. There were paper bits all over the floor, somehow they don’t all make it into the bin. Mixed media products, stamps and inkpads everywhere which needed to go back to their storage homes.

On a clean surface, I managed to complete the very last layouts made from my September Counterfeit Kit. Each layout was a quick and simple design with a little stamping and ink on number ten. Both layouts are inspired by the work of others, as I just wanted to get them done and move onto the October Counterfeit Kit Challenge.

Layout number nine is a scraplift from the work of Kara Henry (circa. 2007). I selected the layout format simply because it had three photos and I had three photos to use. Kara Henry is a very talented and creative artist, she works within a range of artistic disiplines. My layout features photos of my husband and I doing the ritual bedtime stories, reading to our grandson when he was having a sleepover. They are not the best photos but it captures a special moment. We were camped out in the lounge room and my husband was exhausted after being Granddad all day! I really don’t like the background paper I used, too busy and ugly colours but I was using up what was left in the kit. One more page for my grandson’s album.

Layout number ten is a scraplift of a design by Heather Thompson (circa. 2007). Heather’s layout featured beach photos and was a lot cleaner with more negative space. As I was trying to use stuff up and fit in my photos mine became more cluttered. The photos are from a joint bonfire birthday party which I shared with my youngest daughter. Our birthdays are four days apart and we are always debating over which weekend/day we can hold our individual events. She usually gets first pick but she must be a grown up now, she thought we should celebrate together. There are a lot more photos of the occasion, the feast, the cake, etc., which I will scrap into pocket layouts.

So, that’s the end of my September kit. I did have supplies left but I had had enough of using Autumn colours. I sorted through what was left and put everything back in its spot. I am moving on to challenging myself with the October Counterfeit Kit, forging embellishments and using supplies up.

CKC Showcase and #8 Chinese Tallow!

Wow, just wow! Two exciting things happened this week. It is school holidays (term break) in Western Australia and I have had the most lovely five days travelling around the rural Great Southern region of our state. Three of my artist friends and I set off on Sunday to begin our road trip pursuing the 2018 Southern Art and Craft Trail. We saw the most amazing artworks, met fabulous artisans who are passionate about their work and who happily shared their techniques and medium knowledge. It was a great experience and we have all come back inspired by what we saw and heard. We also picked up a few art supplies along the way, after viewing some paintings and speaking with one artist, Terri Pikora, we had to have some cold wax!

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Know idea what that is? We didn’t know either. It is a medium which you can use that gives the appearance of encaustic wax without all the mess and heating. You can create luscious layers of translucent colours, embed materials in your work and if using oil paint, it speeds up the drying process. You can get several different versions/brands, we managed to track down some Langridge Wax Paint Paste. I can’t wait to try it out and see if it works with a range of mixed media techniques.

We also saw lots of amazing scenery, vast farming land, extraordinary coastline and amazing forest. We got lost several times, laughed a lot, ate wonderful meals made from local produce and sampled local wines, whiskey and gin. Here’s a little spot we ended up at after the GPS, nicknamed Roberta, got us lost.

Exciting thing number two… whilst I was away I was selected as the September Counterfeit Kit Challenge showcase member. Given that it is my first attempt at the CKC I was very surprised to be chosen. It has been a great experience joining in with the challenge. I have enjoyed all the little challenges, the sharing of others and the encouragement to use up what you already own. If you haven’t heard of CKC you can check them out on FB, Instagram and their website.

My latest layout, number 8, was created just before I went off on the art trail journey. It is a simple layout. I used one of my leaf stamps to make long strands of leaves, I stamped the leaves onto 12″ strips of patterned paper and then fussy cut them out. I fixed the leaf strands on to the background cardstock and woodgrain paper. Then I added some simple embellishments and the title. The photo is of trees which my husband is growing to later sell as mature trees.

I am looking forward to seeing the October CKC kit, there have been sneak peaks on FB. I am loving those colours and the woodgrain. I can’t wait to see what everyone creates with their version of this month’s challenge kit. Keep creating and enjoy the last day of September. I will be trying to get a couple more layouts completed from my counterfeit kit.

#6 & #7 – Counterfeit Kit

Two quite quick scraplifts today for layouts #6 & #7 using my Counterfeit Kit collection. I am enjoying participating in the Counterfeit Kit Challenge and am finding that it is motivating me to get photos into albums. Sometimes you just want to scrap and not really have to put a lot of time and creative thinking energy into scrapping. It is when I feel like this when I just want to relax and enjoy the process that I scraplift. Both scraplifts were taken from old scrapbook magazines, the first used as inspiration was a layout created by Doris Sander, called Blue Crab Love, 2007. Doris has an online presence, you can check out some of her work here. I selected this design because of the wide border and that it featured three photos.

My photos are of my grandson with my eldest son, his uncle. They both adore each other and love spending time together. There is always lots of rough and tumble play, laughs, chasing and ball games…boys being boys! The paper I used is double-sided, so I cut out the floral frame and flipped the central square and set it back in place to complete the background. Then, I quickly stuck everything down, no playing with mixed media, just good old fashioned scrapbooking.

Layout #7 was also lifted from a magazine, 2008, clearly, circles were all the go then. There is a lot of layouts featuring circle formats or circle embellishments. So, I delved back in time and was inspired by Julie Walton’s, Belly Laugh layout. Julie’s layout is pretty simple with clean lines, as usual, mine turned out very busy with lots of embellishments. Well, I am trying to use things up!

I thought the circle format would go well with my photos, the photos are from about four years ago when we went out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant. The circle representing a dinner plate. As you do, when you have a small child, you need to keep them entertained while you wait for the food to arrive. Out came the book and we read it together, still one of his favourite things to do, read! The messy, circular background was what the highchair table looked like after eating and also his face…wish I had a photo of that! I created the background with Tim Holtz Candy Apple distress stain and some Heidi Swapp gold colour shine, then added all the embellishments and title. It is hard to use red in mixed media without it looking like a forensic scene, let’s pretend it’s Sweet and Sour sauce.

Be You – ACC Colour Challenge

Anna’s Craft Cupboard’s September 2018 Scrapbooking Colour Challenge is happening, every month they offer a colour challenge and a mini challenge. This months colour challenge was designed by Rachael Funnell. It is quite an unusual choice of colours this month and it has taken me a while to actually start my layout. I selected my papers but then battled with photos, several times I waded through my sorted photos to find something suitable. Finally, I came across some old photos of myself and my youngest daughter from 23 yrs ago!

I decided to use these photos based on the colours in the photos. I am a scrapper who works around colour and theme/mood, which is why I went with roses as an embellishment. The colour of my jumper in the image, black, and the rose fabric on the jumper inspired my choices. The roses on the jumper were stitched on by myself all those years ago after my jumper got scorched when drying near our wood fire.

I selected a range of papers which would work with the colour challenge and built up layers of paper under the mounted photo. I roughed up the edges of each paper piece using my fingernail.

I decide to go with a white background and splashed around some pink inks. I used a stencil and pink ink to add some texture, as usual, most of this mixed media ended covered up. I didn’t have any rose embellishments left in my stash and stamped some roses onto white cardstock instead to create some embellishments. Then, I decided that the black stamped image would look interesting in the background.

I spent a long time playing with my stamped roses, adding colour washes using oxide and distress inks, and then fussy cutting them. I slowly added the roses and some die cut leaves. Because it is so busy I went very simple and understated with the title, using only a small wooden text ‘Be You’ which I coloured black with a Copic marker. I thought it needed something else, some texture, and added the pleated, baby pink, checked ribbon.

I think the style works with the photo but generally, I am not a flower type girl, unless they arrive hand delivered by the bunch! This is why I enjoy doing challenge layouts, it often makes you step out of your self-imposed box and try something new or bring back something old. Onto the next challenge…butterflies, more girly pretties.

Always Enchant – Counterfeit Kit

#5 layout for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge. This layout was also a simple one using a little ink and my handmade leaf embellishments.

I started with a little oxide ink on my background papers and card stock. Then I splashed on some gold Heidi Swapp Color Shine.

Next, some fussy cutting, I cut out my hand stamped leaves. I used both the glitz-ed ones and plain ones. The photos I am using are of my youngest daughter, she is bubbly and bright, and loves to come home to visit. Playing with the Autumn leaves is one of those favourite childhood memories which she cant resist as an adult. It was sunny but cold and we were on one of our strolls around the property and heading off towards the bush (State Forrest, next to us) when she jumped under the tree and into the leaves. Some people just never grow up 🙂

Then, I worked on building up the embellishments and title. I decide I wanted to frame the photo rather than mount it with card stock. I must admit that I am old school and usually mount all my photos. These photos worked really well with the papers and blended into the background, so I used them as is. I had some very old stickers in my kit that needed using up, I used only the leaves. The corner frames I made from a piece of 6×6 patterned paper, and used the central leftover image as an embellishment. I had to change my title, as I had wanted to have Always Enchanting but only had two ‘n’s left. One of the pitfalls of using up alpha Thickers/stickers.

Overall, it turned out nicely and I like the scattered leaves across the layout. As usual I need to add my journal notes, that is what the space on the left corner is for.

These last photos of the layout have a slight blue tinge, the true colours are like the images above. I took these photos at 5 am in the morning, the light streaming in was different. Outside it was freezing, there was ice on the ground, a typical Spring morning for us.

1-2-3…GO! – Counterfeit Challenge

This layout is my attempt at the #1 colour challenge for those participating in the September Counterfeit Challenge. My layout, my fourth for the Counterfeit Challenge is a fairly simple layout with not a speck of mixed media in sight. The colour challenge specified using the colours red, gold and purple. This proved difficult for me as I had no purple in my counterfeit collection of papers. I ended up having to rummage through my stash and pull out two purple papers, one which had lots of text and one with a fine white polka dot. I have no idea what brand the papers are as they were purchased in a bag of craft paper scraps from the local market. I cut up the purple text sheet to use the quotes as embellishments on my layout. I also had no red cardstock in my kit and used a piece from my stash for my background.

I decided to go with a simple background made up of different widths of strips of patterned paper. I added some Washi tape in rose gold around three edges of the layout. Then, I mounted my photo on cardstock and added the embellishments, some text and die cuts. It is pretty busy and definitely not a layout I would scraplift but it is one more layout for the album. I did find it challenging using these papers, for the photos I had selected.

Yellow Challenge!

Hello again, I am just popping in with a layout I created for a September colour layout challenge on the Scrappingclearly FB page. I had fun playing with some mixed media when making the background. I used a Kaisercraft brick wall stencil with some white gesso paint to add some texture. I scraped the gesso across the stencil, then I lifted the stencil and laid it in the other direction and applied more gesso. This created a criss-cross brick texture on the page. I dried it off with a heat gun and applied some Tim Holtz Wild Honey Oxide Ink using the plastic back technique. After drying the ink I applied some Heidi Swapp Mustard Color Shine, again using the plastic bag technique.

Next, I fussy cut a section of flowers from my patterned paper and used it face down as a stencil on the background, dabbing some distress ink over it to create some foliage shadow areas.

Then, I fixed the flowers in place and mounted my photo on some scraps of yellow-toned patterned papers. I rough up the edges of each layer with my fingernail. I then decide to do the same to the fussy cut flowers and used my fingernail to turn up the petals of each flower.

I used my Sizzix Big Shot to cuts some flower and foliage embellishments in grey and yellow card/paper. Then, I created some small clusters of the embellishments on three edges of the photo. Last, I added my titles using two-word die-cuts and some puffy alphas from Pink Paislee.

Bounce! – Counterfeit Kit

Bounce! A quick layout for #3 using my September Counterfeit Kit. This layout got the lovely smoosh effect using the Tim Holtz Oxide inks. One of the self-imposed challenges that I placed on myself several months ago was that any new art/craft supplies coming into my house must be used. No hiding supplies away and not using them. This has been easy with these inks, I am using them every time I scrap.

One of the reasons I decided to join in with the Counterfeit Kit Challenge was that it hit my other self-imposed rule which is using up old supplies and using old tools/media. The materials and tools I have used for this layout are both old and new. I started off working on my white cardstock background using the crushed olive ink. I love this colour, it glows on a white background and really has the translucent sheen of virgin olive oil. I used the simple and fun plastic bag application technique. Swipe the ink pad a few times onto the bag. Then use a paintbrush and water to activate the ink on the plastic, move the ink around so you lose any indication of the stamp pad ink image. Place the ink side of the bag down onto your cardstock and use your hands to smoosh the ink around. Lift and move the bag to smoosh in other areas, if you can see wet ink on the surface double dip and pick up that ink to use somewhere else on your page.

Because smooshing is so fun and I was trying to create an explosive type of texture which would emphasise the energy of a bouncing ball. I went in again with a second colour. I attached a piece of patterned paper and then applied the mowed lawn ink. You need to be a little bit careful when doing this, as you will get some warping if your paper is too thin or you apply too much ink/water in one area. You can see on the right side, the lower corner has a bit of warping occurring. I knew photos were going over this corner so I was heavy handed but I was careful to not have any warping on the other three corners which I knew would be exposed to the viewer.

Next, I added in my photos, I mounted the first two together on an old, green floral paper. The photo featuring the new ball and my grandson I mounted on white because I wanted it to stand out. This was a little moment in time when I was on Nanny duty looking after my grandson while his mum was at work. We had a great day doing lots of things and stopped along the way to buy a drink. The store had one of those giant gumball type machines filled with coloured bouncy balls. He was very excited to use his $2 coin and get a ball. We went across the road to this little park to try out the new ball and did it bounce….yeah, like crazy! Thirty minutes of fun and laughter.

Time to add the embellishments, I still wanted to emphasise the bounce and craziness of a ball out of control. I didn’t have any embellishments which would do this, so I got out some black acrylic paint and a shot glass and made some circle prints to represent the bouncing ball. I dried it off with a heat gun and attached my other embellishments and text from my kit.

I’m really happy with the finished layout, it didn’t use up much of my kit supplies but I did get in a few of my forged leaves, I used 3 papers and some enamel dots. My journaling will go on a tag in the yellow wood grain pocket. The pocket was made from one of the patterned paper sheets I had in my maybe pile. I have used a part of that paper, the wooden drawer front, on layout #2 as well.

All Year Long! – Counterfeit Kit

Layout number two using my September Counterfeit Kit. A little bit quirky, I imagine not many people scrapbook photos of socks but these socks are special to me. My lovely daughters gave them to me on Mother’s Day this year. Well, they didn’t just give me one pair of bed socks, they gave me nine pairs! You see, I have this weird obsession in wearing these socks while at home for most of the year, partly because we have no floor coverings and partly because they are comfy. We have concrete floors and the socks keep my feet warm and create a sense of relaxation. If I have socks on inside it means me time, a little Netflix, some painting, some crafting, some wine (not every day) and maybe a little chocolate or cheese. Who would think a pair of 99c socks could create such luxury. It’s the simple things in life.

After layout #1, I wanted to keep playing with the sewing machine and my distress oxide inks. I put my pale blue and white snowflake bedsocks on and got started. First up, some inspiration! In my recent cull, I decided that I would get rid of at least half of my scrapbook magazines. Like most scrappers now I use the internet for inspiration. The half I have kept I have to use for scrap lifts or if there is nothing useful in the mag they get passed on to my Mum who also scraps. Today’s inspiration came from an old 2007 Canadian magazine, with a layout called Family by Summer Fullerton. I think this may be her blog but I could be wrong, there may be another Summer Fullerton.

The reason I decided to have a go scrap lifting this layout was that Summer had machine stitched the heart photos and papers together, much like a quilt. I thought this idea would give my layout a cosy feeling to go with the socks.

First up, I sketched a heart shape onto a piece of white 12×12 scrap paper. Then I cut out the heart and used it as a template to cut a heart from my patterned paper.

I added some colour to my white background cardstock using the oxide inks and the plastic bag technique.

Then, I roughed up the edges of the heart using my fingernail and attached it to the cardstock.

Next, I worked on creating the central heart, joining my photos and patterned paper together onto my template and trimming it to a heart shape. Then I stitched it together using a zigzag stitch. Both hearts were machined stitched to the background.