Heidi Swapp, Wolf Pack Layout Fun!

Hi everyone,

I recently treated myself to some scrap goodies for Mother’s Day and my birthday, amongst what I purchased was some of the lovely masculine Wolf Pack collection by Heidi Swapp. It’s a gorgeous collection with lots of potential and versatility, I saw myself being able to create layouts about my sons, daughters, grandson and Christmas. The lovely outdoor pine forest, mountains and starry nights would work well for our traditional, annual, Christmas tree hunt. The other papers, a mix of contemporary and cultural patterns in black, white and shades of greens, and the wood grain can be used for recording many special events or moments.

For this layout, I chose to use three of the collection papers, the Zodiac, the wood grain (B side of Mama Bear) and the black and white bold stripe (B side of Woodsy). I also wanted to use the washi tape and the very cute puffy stickers.

To start with I used some texture gesso paste and a Kaisercraft stencil (Distressed Dots) on my background, a mix of stripe and wood grain paper. The stencil gives a lovely grunge effect.

After drying of the gesso, I applied Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks. You just stamp the pad on a smooth surface, mine is a piece of black acrylic, and add water to the ink, then paint the ink onto the stencilled gesso. The fluid ink runs into all the crevices of the gesso and blends together beautifully.

While that dries I got to work on mounting my photo. I used the banding strips trimmed off the papers, each strip has a print motif on it of one of the other papers in the collection…wolves, bears, etc. Because they are little strips and I am using them as edging mounts, you can’t identify them as bears, etc.

Next, I mounted the photo onto the background and began to embellish the layout. Even though the papers are quite masculine and I am using a photo of my teenage son, I couldn’t stop myself from adding some sparkle and shine to the layout. The Zodiac paper features the night sky and astrology motifs and I wanted to highlight this in my design. I used a variety of sequins in crystal, navy, aqua and green to decorate and enhance the layout. Then, I splattered on some watercolour paint in white, green, dark blue and brown.

The final touch was to add the puffy star stickers, some moon washi tape and some cotton thread bunches, then a few Tim Holtz quote stickers and a little extra splatter.

I decided not to add a title, the layout was to capture my son at this stage of his life when he was full of dreams and possibilities for the future. The quote stickers were appropriate and told the story, a title would draw the viewers eye away from the photo.

I love how this turned out and it was fun to create. I can’t wait to use the rest of this collection. Who else is using the Wolf Pack collection? Share links to your work in the comments section, remember that you need to click on the title of the post to open the page to comment.

Happy scrapping 🙂

May 2019 CKC Challenge #2.

Dreams are the seeds of change.

Nothing ever grows without a seed,

and nothing ever changes without a dream. – Debby Boone

How beautiful is that quote? This is the second challenge set by the May, Counterfeit Kit Challenge team. Create a layout based on this quote, theme, image or colours.

For me, being a very visual person, it was the colour and image which first grabbed my attention. I love that dreamy blue and blowing those seeds into the wind reminded me of childhood, I knew that my page would be of my grandson or my own children when they are young. When I went through my photo boxes I came across some lovely photos of my grandson sleeping in his car seat on his way to visit us. He looked so peaceful asleep and I’m sure he was dreaming happily, this was definitely the photos to use for the challenge.

When I went through my kit looking for papers, I didn’t find the right blue or patterns in my kit. The only patterned paper I had included which was light blue had aeroplanes on it, so I decided to create my own background on cardstock using my new Vicki Boutin stencils.

I started by using the starburst/flower stencil and some white gesso texture paste, stencilling across most of the page. After leaving it to completely dry, I sprayed on some Heidi Swapp Teal Color Shine and gently rubbed it over the texture paste stencilled flowers. This created some lovely shiny areas and enhanced the texture of the stencilling.

Next, I used some Tim Holtz distress inks and the leaf stencil and stencilled the design around the edges of the cardstock, blending the two blue inks to create a more dreamy coloured surface. *The nighttime lighting makes it look a little green and purple in these photos.

Then, I got busy fussing cutting out some white flowers and foliage to use as embellishments on the layout. I found a few acetate embellishments from Kaisercraft and Heidi Swapp to use, and some black and white seed embellishments from the PinkFresh Studio, A Case of the Blahs collection. I mounted my photos onto scraps of patterned paper from my May kit. The title, Dream, is from the Rainbow Roux, Jillibean collection.

The finished layout looks very dreamy and meets the challenge criteria brief beautifully.

Keep checking in on what other CKC scrappers are creating either on the blog with the monthly link up page or on their FB community page. Please leave any comments below, remember that you need to click on the title of the post to open the page to comment.

Happy scrapping 🙂

May 2019 CKC Layouts #5-#7

Hello everyone,

Today I am playing catch up on my blog, May is a crazy time of the year for me and my family and finding time to sit and blog is tricky. In May, every weekend is a party! We celebrate three (out of 6) family birthdays, mine included, and we also have Mother’s Day in Australia, add to that NSD (day, week, month…haha), the ACC Cyber Crop and then work stuff (standardised state testing, etc.) and life gets busy!

So, here I am sharing 3 layouts which I have squeezed in over the last few weeks, but haven’t found the time to share on my blog. Working backwards today…

Layout #7

This layout features photos of my friends on holiday with me, we do an Art Trail tour throughout the W.A., South West and Greater Southern Region. As we travel, we stay at different local backpacker accommodation. We prefer cheap accommodation, then we have more money to spend on art/craft supplies, artworks, food and happy juice! These photos are when we arrived home late after a fabulous day out meeting artists and talking and viewing art, then a gourmet meal and plenty of happy juice, and we decided to play Scrabble. Things got a little silly, who knew that such words existed…um, they don’t!

Using papers from my May CKC kit, I decided to create a layered border around my layout. I tend to always cut out the middle of the paper when layering, gives you more paper to use later. I thought the text paper would work well, given we were playing Scrabble in the photos.

Next, I thought I would add some letters to the page using stamps and archival ink. I also splattered on some watercolour paint in turquoise, red and blue.

I added a few tag and quote embellishments, some are from Kaisercraft and the little quotes are from Uniquely Creative. Then, I added my title and some subtitles. The main title is using American Crafts, Jewelry Box, Thickers and the subtitle is also an American Crafts, foam Thickers, called Happy Life, which I love and am trying to buy more of, but finding them sold out at most stores.

The finished layout, I am happy with it, it is fun and a little haphazard, much like the game we were playing.

Layout #6

These photos gave me the opportunity to use some of the tropical papers and embellishments in my kit. Most of what I used came from the DCWV Bahama Mama paper pad which features lots of pineapples, flamingos, bananas and tropical foliage. Some of the papers have pink foil which gives it a little sparkle. I was interested in using the foliage papers, as the local cafe where we were having drinks has lots of these types of plants and you can see them in the photos.

I started by adding some patterned paper (flamingos, which had nothing to do with the photos), a doily and an embellishment 6×4 card which I trimmed down. I thought about where my photos would be placed. I had wanted to include three photos but it just didn’t look right, so one got binned. I ended up trimming down the tropical background and mounting it onto some green cardstock, I seem to have a thing for borders at the moment.

I felt like adding a bit of sparkle to the layout and strategically splashed on some Heidi Swapp, Mustard Color Shine. This would be my next favourite Color Shine, after the gold, it really glows and is vibrant, some of them are not as showy.

Oops…doily wrinkles will need to be covered.

Then I mounted my photos and began building layers of paper and cardstock behind them. I had fun adding the embellishments, I really wanted to use up quite a few of the embellishments from my kit, many of the ones I used are from a Heidi Swapp ephemera pack and some I fussy cut from the AC Bahama Mama papers.

I like how the layout turned out, it is one more layout towards our family moments album, about our long lost relatives who came to visit.

Layout #5

This layout, made from my CKC kit, turned out bright and fun. It is a scraplift from a 2016, Becky Fleck Pagemaps.

The layout features photos of my grandson and his cousin using a bouncy castle at the Simmos Icecreamery. It is a very simple design, no mixed media, but I did try and focus on getting in some movement by using downward strips of paper and layering the photos on the diagonal.

As you can see, all of these layouts still need the dates and journaling added. I am very bad at adding the journaling during the creating process and always end up making the journaling a process in itself, sitting at the computer with a whole stack of layouts and going through them one by one. I very rarely hand journal, as I have terrible handwriting.

Please do keep sharing what you create on the FB Counterfeit Challenge Website and blog? Make sure that you keep up to date with what others are creating on the Monthly Link Up page.

Keep on scrapping everyone 🙂

April 2019 CKC Challenge #1

Hello,

Well, I have attempted the first challenge for this month’s, Counterfeit Kit Challenge. The challenge involves scrapbooking about the weather, for those CKC scrappers above the equator, that means Springtime and us Southerners below the equator are feeling cool with Autumn upon us. As I type this the rain is pouring down and we are cosy inside with our wood fire burning and the washing drying on the airer. I love this time of year, everything seems fresh outside, all the dust washed away and the paddocks begin to become green again.

For myself, I have the added pleasure of school break over the next two weeks and so, on my first day of the holidays, I indulged in the pleasure of a whole day of scrapbooking. What did I scrap? Well, for the challenge I went with a Summer layout using a photo of my youngest son contemplating life while we were having a family day with relatives at the beach. It is not the best photo of my son, he is in shadow seeking shade under a tree with the hot Australian sun burning down on the rest of us. Yes, those little specks in the water are the rest of the family, enjoying the beautiful blue ocean and trying to escape the heat.

The other thing I have been working on is cleaning up in my studio (aka, oldest son’s reclaimed bedroom), as you do after you have been scrapping for a few weeks. During this cleaning/organising frenzy, I broke my March CKC kit down into smaller layout kits. I find this a great way to get things done with everything already selected you quickly get through making your layouts.

During my clean up, I came across a little booklet from the Summer, International Film Festival which is held in the South West region. When I flicked through the book I noticed the great print on the inside of the cover and thought I could reuse it in some way. Then I realised the colours and theme would work well with the kit I had made up for this layout.

Below are the papers and embellishments which I decided to use, including the booklet cover.

I started the layout off with some soft inking using Tim Holtz’s, Scattered Straw, Distress Oxide ink.

Next, I played around with using strips of the different pattern papers to create the background.

Then, I double mounted the photo on white cardstock and the Kaisercraft black and white patterned paper. I spent quite a bit of time laying out were the embellishments might go. Once I am happy with it, I take a photo with my iPad, so I don’t forget where to place everything when I begin to fix things down.

On this occasion, I was not happy with the layout, it had a bit too much negative space and didn’t look balanced. So, I took everything off and stamped some foliage on three of the corners/sides.

This made a big difference to how the layout looked, it added a little more interest to draw the viewers eye and seemed to add balance. I then finished it off with some gold sparkly gems and black Thicker alpha stickers for the titles.

Another layout for the album. I have many other photos from this day and will be putting together some pocket page layouts using the leftover paper scraps from my kit.

Happy holidays, to those Aussies, also enjoying the school break!

D-Lish Scraps Feb. Challenge 2019

Good morning,

A quick show and tell today. Two layouts for two February challenges fromThe D-lish Scraps team. You can check out their new March inspiration and challenges on their blog and Facebook site.

The first I attempted asked you to add a heart to your layout. An easy enough task, I started with creating a background using a Kaisercraft stencil and some Tim Holtz ink.

I was using some old, cheeky photos of my daughter. I pulled out some patterned paper scraps in colours which matched my photos.

I trimmed down the papers, roughed up the edges and layered them onto the background. I wasn’t happy with how far the stencilling went and added some more on.

A little bit of splatter was needed, out came the watercolour paints.

I was trying to use up some old embellishments and added a couple of vertical stripes to the layout, one sticker and one chipboard. The photos were mounted on cream cardstock.

Time to go old school with some foil embellishments. Anyone remember these?

Using up more old embellishments and some die cut letters for a title.

A few bits of ribbon and washi tape to finish it off. The finished layout is very happy and cheerful.

The second challenge I attempted was to use a frame on your layout, something I haven’t done in a while. I have many old, frame embellishments to use up!

It was a very quick layout, lots of layering but no mixed media! Once again, trying to use up some old supplies, rub ons. Does anyone buy these anymore?

I also included some newish embellishments, lovely blue and white paper flowers.

A simple, easy layout which turned out quite sweet.

Happy scrapping everyone 🙂

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 🙂

Uniquely Creative Feb. Challenge

Hello everyone,

I finally found some time to scrap, my new job is taking up more time than I like and there is so much marking when you start off a new school year. I needed a break and decided to crack open the Uniquely Creative February kit which arrived on Wednesday. It is a glorious kit, so much colour and interesting mixed media. A tropical/summer kit based around the Kaiser Craft ‘Paradise Found’ collection. I am loving the papers, all that greenery, yummy teals and beautiful, bright hibiscus flowers. The problem is I don’t have any tropical photos, no tropical island holidays for us yet! Though, it did give me the opportunity to remind hubby about how he mentioned he’d like to go to Fiji, the perfect reason to holiday…to use up scrapbook paper.

Because I was struggling for photos, I decided to work with some summer holiday beach photos. I had just finished using the December Uniquely Creative kit, an ocean-themed kit, which I had managed to make 8 layouts with (adding in extra cardstock) and still have scraps left for another couple of layouts.

I had a gorgeous photo leftover of my daughter sun baking on one of our favourite holiday beaches. We have amazing beaches and coastline in Australia. It is from a holiday we went on about ten years ago, this beach has pure, fine, white sand that squeaks when you walk across it. I thought it would be the perfect photo to use with the Uniquely Creative February kit and Sketch Challenge, as it has hibiscus flowers on the beach towel.

I started off making the background, using the ‘Ocean Air’ paper, I added some blue watercolour paint smooshes and splatters.

Then, I selected the ‘Salt Water’ paper to cut out the large circle in the sketch layout. I didn’t want to lose the shells on the edges of the circle, so I cut around them and kept them attached.

The lovely hibiscus die (add-on to the kit), worked beautifully to create a halo effect around the edge of the circle. I was thinking about the sun and sunbeams, as I glued them into place. I cut them from the white cardstock painted with the yellow and orange watercolour supplied in the kit.

I used some hessian border and patterned paper to make the vertical stripes in the sketch.

Next, I mounted the photo on white cardstock and rough up the edges. Then, I added a layer underneath of the ……. paper. You can easily tear this paper into the shape you need by adding a line of water to soften the fibres of the paper. It creates a lovely torn, tatty edge.

Finally, I added a range of embellishments from the kit around the edges of the circle and photo. I fussy cut a few extra shells from the leftover ‘Salt Water’ paper and attached them with foam tape. I added some of the sisal fibre threads for a little more textural interest. I used white cardstock paint with blue watercolour paint and the supplied ‘paradise’ die to create the title.

Not a bad effort, I think it works well with the photo. Now to use up that tropical foliage and hibiscus papers…keep scrapping!

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.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge – September

Hello Scrappers, I am excited to be joining in with the September Counterfeit Kit Challenge. My inspiration came from my favourite YouTube blogger, Janet Madison from RTS Scrapbooking (Record The Story). Janet is a dedicated scrapper determined to use up her inventory. She kindly shares how she creates kits, makes embellishments and organises her supplies.

This month’s Counterfeit Kit is based upon a Fall/Autumn theme and proves a real challenge for those of us South of the equator. The kit features many elements which are foreign to those located in Australia, such as autumn pumpkins, racoons, bears and pumpkin pie! For us Aussies, Autumn is quite green due to our non-deciduous native trees, unless you live in an area which has been planted with deciduous foliage or have a husband like mine who has an obsession with Japanese Maples.

This months kit has been borrowed from Noel Mignon, called the “Apple Crisp Classic Kit”. You can find it here at https://www.noelmignon.com/products/apple-crisp-kit.

The challenge for me, when trying to put my own kit together was finding papers to substitute some of the traditional fall elements. I also don’t use many orange and yellow papers/embellishments in my daily scrapping. Many of the papers I found were B side papers, designs which I hadn’t purchased the patterned paper for. I also had problems finding any dark wood grain paper, as I love wood grain and have been making a lot of male layouts this year. My supplies are now low, I only had two dark woodgrain papers, both have butterflies featured in the corners. So, what did I find?

First up, these are my check and stripe substitutes…

Then, woodgrain papers…

Next, flowers and foliage…

For pumpkin papers…spots/circles!

And, mason jars/autumn cooking…

Embellishments proved a little easier, I found many Kaisercraft elements from various kits which I could use. I decided to substitute the word die-cuts for actual dies and will cut words/elements as needed. My substitute for the Tim Holtz distress stain is two Heidi Swapp shines in gold and mustard. I haven’t decided on which stamps to use but will most likely use some leaf and foliage stamps. The bows I will make out of scraps from the kit and I will turn some of my embellishment die-cuts into chipboard elements. My choice in washi tape is a lovely metallic and white diagonal stripe for some added bling. I may also add some wood veneers and some ribbon.

My choice of alphas for titles is a mix of stickers and rub-ons. I have a packet of the foam gold Thickers used in the original kit and decided to mix in some burnt orange glitter stickers and chocolate brown rub ons.

So, what might I make from this huge kit? I’m thinking about doing a range of layouts, some will be autumn themed, some will be cooking and a few will be based on family events, like picnics. I can’t wait to see what everyone else does.

Some of the papers and embellishments came from the following paper pads and collections…

I have a few sheets which are in the maybe pile, I may or may not use them. There is a couple of mushroom papers, one in gold and one in black and white. I thought perhaps I could colour the images to bring them into the same colour palette as the kit. I also have a vellum which has a fall/autumn print which may be useful, a white and gold floral print and a wooden drawer print which could be used.

I will share what I create 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…

Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog – September 2018 – Counterfeit Kit Challenge Kit Reveal

Guest Designer – Janet Krause – https://youtu.be/V4KS39SmlXc

Cindy – https://cindyscreations-cinmfoster.blogspot.com/

Lori – Hodgepodge of Fall

Leslie – Blessed

Tina – Falling for You

Laura – https://www.instagram.com/mrsp_scrapsandtea/

Times

What I have been working on is my one and only subscription kit which I purchase from Uniquely Creative. In my challenge to use things up and cut down on my spending, this is the one thing I couldn’t give up. What I love about this scrapbooking kit is that it often challenges you to try new techniques and products which you may not have used before. It is great value, you get loads of product based around one of Kaisercraft’s new collections. This months kit, from June, featured the Anthology collection. I try and create every layout with the kit which is possible if you add a few more pieces of cardstock and swap a few papers around. They also include card projects within the kit but I am no longer a card maker, so I use the ideas as embellishments on layouts.

Here are a few layouts I have made using June 2018, kit. The first is one of the layouts designed by Tracey Schultz. I swapped the paint colours to suit my photo and used different bird embellishments.

The next kit layout I created was designed by Elisa Ablett, once again I made some changes to work with my photo and layout theme. My photos are of my grandson and husband stalking our chickens, well, there was a little bit of chasing involved. No chickens were hurt in the production of this layout!

I swapped the floral print paper for the Anthology 12×12 Scrapbook Paper – Plumology paper. Then I got to work colouring in the feathers to match with the colours in my photo, my grandson’s t-shirt was the inspiration. I loved how Elisa Ablett had coloured the chipboard title, so I followed her lead and used my Copic markers to do the same. It was an easy process, line up the ruler and run the marker along the edge of the ruler, the result is beautiful pastel lines!

I had several photos to use and decided to make it a double layout. The original design has flower die cuts, so I grabbed my Tim Holtz dies and some matching paper/cardstock scraps to make a bunch of flowers. I also inked up some flower embellishments and doilies to go with the colour theme. I am pretty happy with the finished layouts, they will be back to back in my album and I will add a pocket page layout for the rest of the chook chasing photos.

After making several of the kit layouts I went rogue and created my own layout. I selected papers and embellishments from the kit but added a few extras, using Kaisercraft dies, cardstock scraps and a very old Cosmo Cricket chipboard alpha called ‘Extra Extra’. Hitting the mark with my self-imposed challenge of using up an old product.

Clean & Keen

Today I am on a mission to use up a patterned paper which I don’t like. We all have some paper which we wonder what were we thinking to buy that? Perhaps, it came in a kit or was a bargain that you couldn’t pass up. My piece is from a now defunct company, TLC, and has a very bright red, white and blue geometric circular design. It is definitely a dated design which would look very out of place in most contemporary scrapbook albums.

Having strong primary blue and red, I decided to use it for one of my son’s layouts. I am currently working on finishing off his childhood albums, let me just say that I am way behind. He turns thirty next month!

I started off by altering the paper itself, my photo is of my son and daughter bathed and ready for bed, and I was thinking about what related to clean. Bubbles seemed to pop into my creative brainstorm and would link nicely with the circular design on the paper. I used a Kaisercraft stencil and acrylic paint to sponge bubbles across the page.

After letting it dry, I sponged Ranger ‘Denim’ Adirondack Earthtones ink over the white painted bubbles. The layered stencilling creates an interesting texture. You can see in the photos that I use ordinary car wash sponge to apply my mix media colours. I have been using car wash sponge for years, you can pick one up from any of the cheap, two dollar type shops. Use some large scissors to snip the sponge into 8-10 pieces and you a have a very versatile application tool which has only cost you a couple of dollars for the whole lot. When working with inks you can use each edge of your sponge piece for a different colour! They wash clean very easily with soap and water, some staining will occur but doesn’t transfer when you use them next. When you use them with acrylic paint, wash them as soon as you finish otherwise they will dry with a firm crust. Should this happen, you can simply trim off the stiffened surface and you are good to go again.

Next, I got busy making some embellishments. One of my self-imposed rules is if I purchase anything new I must use it straight away. This week I purchased the WRK Precision Press, it is similar to the Misti and Tim Holtz stamping plates. It helps with aligning your stamps and makes stamping multiple copies of images a lot quicker. I grabbed a nice dotty border stamp and some text stamps and tried it out.

I cut some dies, the Uniquely Creative scribble circle die and layered them with my stamped embellishments. It took me a while to decide on the final placement and I shuffled and reshuffled them until I thought it looked balanced.

Finally, I decided what I liked, glued everything into place and added the title. I used some fairly new Kaisercraft alpha stickers and some very old Me and My Big Ideas alpha stickers for the title. I’m not that happy with the look of the title and may change it later, everything is a learning process. Overall, what went from an outdated and unloved piece of paper turned into something a bit more funky and fresh. It is not an outstanding layout but it is acceptable and is one more photo in the album.

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.