2019 May ACC Sketch Challenge!

Good afternoon,

A quick share of the layout I created for Anna’s Craft Cupboard community May sketch challenge. This month’s sketch has a focus on creating a circular design.

I have blown my self instigated ‘use your stash’ challenge this month, there has just been too many sales and bargains to be found with ‘inter’ National Scrapbook Day (weekend/week/month) and all the Mother’s Day deals. I spent up at Anna’s Craft Cupboards 13th Birthday sale this month, after all, it is my birthday this month as well, plus Mother’s Day, if anyone deserves a prezzy, I do!

Also, I don’t like to pay for shipping and so I always make sure I spend the minimum spend for FREE shipping. For example, I ran out of white cardstock this week! Yikes, no scrapper can live without white cardstock and so I went online to order more, but 60 sheets did not make the FREE shipping minimum, so what’s a girl to do? Yep, I really did need some masculine patterned papers and who doesn’t need wolf and bear motifs when they live in Australia? So, the Heidi Swapp ‘Wolf Pack’ collection may have also found its way into the cart. Geepers, how does that happen?

Anyway, for this month’s sketch challenge I used some of my new purchases from Anna’s Craft Cupboard. At least I was following my rule about new product, if it comes in the door you must use it straight away. I had bought myself some of the Jillibean Rainbow Roux collection and the Vicki Boutin stencils which I had been coveting for quite a while. I was looking forward to trying out the stencils and fussy cutting those Jillibean flowers.

Here’s what I used…

It was a messy process, as I mentioned I had no plain white cardstock left and so I had to use some glossy, mixed media cardstock. It’s a lot like glossy photographic paper, in fact, it probably is photographic paper. Because it was so glossy I got out my Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks and splashed some around and tried using the new stencils with the inks. It wasn’t that successful but gave me a background to work with.

Next, I stencilled over the background with distress inks to build up some texture.

Then, some fussy cutting with the Jillibean Dash of Daydream paper.

I didn’t want to use up all my paper and decided to stencil some flowers onto the background.

Surprisingly, the black archival ink I used turned purple on the glossy cardstock. I tried to stencil a ring border and lead it down to the bottom right corner, like in the original sketch.

I cut out a circle of yellow patterned love hearts (the B side of Pinch of Colour, JB2313) and played around with laying out the fussy cut flowers around my photo.

Happy with the result I fixed them down in layers using double-sided tape, glue and foam.

Then, I added three titles to the layout and a little 1/2 tag which I cut from the Pinch of Colour paper. The bottom title is one of the new Annabelle acrylic embellishments which are gorgeous, they are so fine and delicate. I have purchased a few sets of these and will definitely be buying more in the future. Just be careful when you remove them from the packaging, they are set on sticky dots and one of mine broke because of how I twisted it to get it off the packet. I can still use it, a little glue will fix it.

The finished layout is very vibrant and fun. I can’t wait to make some other layouts using both the stencils and the Jillibean collection, both are very versatile.

Who else indulged this month on new supplies? Share what you bought and do join up with Anna’s Craft Cupboard community on FB. Have a go at their monthly challenges and support the store by buying product.

Keep on scrapping 🙂

Anna’s Craft Cupboard Cyber Crop!

A quick share of layouts I made during Anna’s Craft Cupboard’s 13th Birthday Celebration Cyber Crop…phew, what a mouthful.

Anna’s Craft Cupboard store is one of my favourites for stocking up on all your essential supplies and the latest products. They also have a fabulous design team who regularly share their creations and knowledge on the ACC blog and FB group/community. The FB community is made up of scrappers and cardmakers from across Australia and overseas, we are a fun loving bunch who love to share our work and support each other in our crafting and life dilemmas. Once the words ‘ Cyber Crop’ is mentioned, it is all hands on deck, ready and waiting to meet the challenges and join in with the fun and games. The Birthday Celebration Cyber Crop proved to be another huge success and lots of fun.

Here are my creations from this event…

Challenge #1. was to create a layout based on this mood board, lots of pink and blue, flowers, cars and frames. My layout is of my youngest daughters recent car accident, she was hit side on by a 4WD vehicle. Her car was written off!

Challenge #2. was a blind crop, always lots of fun. You are given a list of ingredients prior to the crop and the instructions to create the layout are released step by step in a live feed during the cyber crop.

Challenge #3. was to create a layout with lots of negative space. I used an old picture of my eldest son wearing his denim overalls.

Challenge #4. was to use the sketch below as inspiration for a layout.

I had been noticing sunburst layouts making a comeback in the scrapbook World and decided to have a go creating a sunburst border for my layout.

Challenge #5. was another blind crop. This one was messy with gesso and ink!

Challenge #6 was to make a card and Challenge #7. was a Tic Tac Toe, where you choose a row. I went with row 3, horizontal: die cuts, stencil and patterned paper.

It was a great cyber crop, lots of fun and inspiration. I encourage everyone to check out Annas Craft Cupboard online store and blog and become part of the community (FB), you don’t want to miss their next cyber crop.

Keep on scrapping 🙂

April 2019 CKC Layout #5

Good Friday and Easter blessings to everyone.

The rain is pouring down here, there is a chill in the air and my fire had gone out! So, after battling the fire lighting with very little paper and kindling, I am trying to catch up on what’s happening in the scrapbooking community. What did I find? The new CKC challenge has been posted and what a beauty it is for this time of the year. It’s all about hiding things on your layout (or in your photos), perhaps I will manage to snap a few photos to use today in our (early) Easter egg hunt and family gathering. Why are we celebrating Easter today? Well, we, as grandparents, like many families I’m sure, have to divvy up the holiday time spent with our grandson and children. It is tough having to share with the inlaws, once your children are grown and settled with families of their own. We are very lucky that the inlaws are all gorgeous people and at times we blend all our families together to celebrate holidays together, such as Christmas.

Anyway, let’s talk about layout number five. This layout killed two goals in one, I had wanted to use up more of my CKC kit and I wanted to enter this month’s Annas Craft Cupboard inspiration challenge. The challenge features henna mandalas, lace and a positive quote about walking your own path. It also has hints of pink, silver, white and fawn. Luckily for me, I had made up a kit which worked beautifully with this challenge and the photo had the same sort of theme…working towards the goal you set for yourself.

I used the very light pink patterned cardstock as my background and stencilled on some doily and decorative designs in black and light grey. Then splattered and smooshed on some blue watercolour paint.

This layout was pretty quick, a lot of layering of patterned paper and die cut embellishments.

It is my first layout using an Instagram photo. The photo is of my son-in-law, making his dream come true, as gaining an apprenticeship (piercing) in a Tattoo store, one step closer to being a Tattoo apprentice. He has since bought out part of the piercing business, so is now part owner. He also draws/designs tattoos for the biz, he is very artistic. It is a really hard industry to get into, you work for nothing for over a year before they consider offering you an apprenticeship, from what I watched on Youtube this is common practice in the industry around the World. We are all very proud of him for making his dreams come true.

I really love how this layout turned out and feel I met the criteria for the ACC Inspiration Challenge. My daughter, however, wasn’t happy with all the pink on what she considered was a masculine layout/photo. She thought it should have been all black & white, I just pulled on the colours in the photo…pink, blue and black! What do you think, yea or nay?

Anna’s Craft Cupboard Challenge!

Hey,

I have been having fun this morning scrapping a layout for the February layout challenge at Anna’s Craft Cupboard. The challenge involves including a splash of colour in your layout and my order of LemonCraft papers from Anna’s had just arrived, providing some vibrant yellow, pink and green. I have been quite good at not buying new supplies (apart from my regular kit subscription from Uniqeley Creative) and using up what I have, but these papers have been on my want list for a while now. I succumbed to temptation and purchased a few LemonCraft papers, some Mintay papers and stocked up on some cardstock in blues and greens ( a need) which I always run out of.

Anyway, back to scrapping. I decided to go with the green telephone box image as my inspiration. The colour gave me an excuse to use my new papers and I liked the criss-cross lines of the windows on the telephone box. I used a neutral kraft coloured background and splashed around some watercolour paint in yellow and a green which I mixed. In my head, I was seeing a layout with lots of layers and texture, pulling on the colours and patterns in the photo I was using. The photo is a very old image of my eldest daughter after she had just woken from a nap. She has those dreamy eyes, tousled hair and red cheeks which all toddlers seem to have after some zzzzzzs.

Next, I used some Tim Holtz inks and a KaiserCraft stencil to add a bit more interest and texture to the background. I thought the criss-cross design of the stencil linked to the telephone box image, as did some of the geometric shapes with my photo.

I then, cut out some of the LemonCraft papers into 4′ inch strips and cut them down into 4 x 6 rectangles which I used for frames and pieces to mat the photo. The two 4 x 6 left were used to cut embellishments with my Sizzix Bigshot. I used a mix of dies, many were from the Uniquely Creative and the KaiserCraft range. I decided that I needed a few more greens and some white to balance the layout, so found some scrap papers and cardstock to cut a few more diecuts. You can see that I incorporated some traditional design styles and some contemporary designs. I used the geometric die because of the pattern on my daughters top. The top was handknitted by my mother, which I had completely forgotten about until I started working on the layout. She knitted many clothes for my children, a pastime which she has had to give up due to arthritis.

In my LemonCraft order, I purchased a matching cut apart sheet. I fussy cut out the doilies and the green butterflies.

Then, I went to town building up the layers of die cuts and papers using double-sided tape and foam tape. The title I created by painting some white cardstock with vivid green. I really love how it has turned out, it is very summery and speaks to the season when the photo was taken, the Christmas summer holidays.

Haha…can you see the little fly who snuck into my layout photo? Summertime here in Australia = flies 🙂

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’.

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

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.

Mix it up!

Well, here I go, my first scrap blog. I’m not sure why I have never done this, the blogging thing for my papercraft. I have been paper crafting for many years and sharing, learning and teaching various art disciplines for at least two decades. Because of this, I have some very old supplies and I am on a mission to use them up. I have set myself a few rules this month: using what you have; anything new must be used straight away and not stashed away; join in more challenges; make time for what I love and share what I create, and use my mixed media supplies to create embellishments.

Ok, so, in the last few weeks of June I have been working on making this happen. First up I have been researching the work of other wonderful artists and companies who have monthly challenges for us creative scrappers…woah, there is so many! For my first post, I am starting off with my favourite, who I have been involved in for a few years which is Anna’s Craft Cupboard Community, owned by Bri Richard Bartlett. The store provides a wonderful service but the scrapping community is what I treasure, everyone is passionate about what they do, supportive and fun. Bri and the design team put together two monthly challenges and also offer online crops throughout the year with loads of challenges. Their June challenges included a sketch challenge and a ‘share your favourite technique’ challenge.

Draw! — My entry for the Anna Craft Cupboard, June 2018, sketch challenge.

My entry for the sketch challenge hit most of my self-imposed rules. I dragged out some old purple rubber text stamps and created some text embellishments using scraps of old papers. I had fun smooshing watercolour paint to create the rainbow background, then I scribbled over the paint with a Zig writer pen trying to recreate my grandsons drawing. I used some older KaiserCraft border dies and newer Uniquely Creative scribbly circle dies. Then I topped it off with some text quotes from my recent purchase, the Cocoa Vanilla ‘Boys Rule’collection.

Awesome - One Cool Kid — My entry for the June 2018, Anna’s Craft Cupboard challenge.

My favourite, go to technique is stencilling. It is such a quick and easy way to create interesting backgrounds. This layout is also made from the Cocoa Vanilla ‘Boys Rule’ collection, I love the embellishment collections with this range and bought every one. They are super versatile and I have been using them for a whole range of layouts. The stencilled background was created from one of my favourite KaiserCraft stencils, the diamond pattern layers really well and creates great texture when you overlap it. I used my very old Ranger ‘Pool’ Adirondack Brights ink and the Stazon Jet black ink. The Stazon black looks very light as I intentionally sponged it very lightly, after sponging off the excess dark, full strength ink on a scrap of paper. I also bumped up the grunge of the paper by flicking on some black, brown and blue watercolour paint.