Hello Hair | August 2021 Hip Kit

 

Hi everyone,

I've got a fun mixed media layout to share today that was created just for ME! If you have been around for a while you would already know that mid last year I took the plunge and subscribed to Hip Kit Club's monthly scrapbook kit. Unfortunately, not long after that I had to pack all my craft supplies away and move house, and I haven't really had a chance to play with my kits since. So it was high time that I crack one open and get some creating done! I chose the August kit, which was a bright, fun kit full of a mix of different brands. I chose to document a series of photos of myself after a visit to the hairdresser last year.

I started my layout with a sheet of 300gsm cardstock and Mont Marte Dimension paint in Paynes Grey. I used my favourite Number 4 brush and the dry brush technique to add some background colour to the page. I then used floral stencil from StencilGirl (Rose Bouquet) and BeeArty Snow White Colour Paste to add some subtle detail over the top of the paint.

Next, I cut a large piece of one of the Hip Kit exclusive papers, choosing the B side for the beautiful orange colour and subtle pattern. (I always love a B side!) I distressed the edges of the paper using scissors (I was scrapping away from home and didn't have my distress tool with me) and then used my fingernail to ruffle it up a bit more. I used another of the Hip Kit papers featuring a black and white sketchy style floral pattern to add a piece above and below the orange paper. I tore along the edges of each strip to add texture. On top of the papers I added a dark grey paper doily and some frayed gauze and before placing my photos on top.

When it came to the embellishments I actually found myself a little challenged. Most of the embellishments were either the wrong colour for the palette I had chosen (I didn't really think it through before I started), or didn't fit with the theme of my page. In the end I chose the Floral Study paper by Vicki Boutin, and fussy cut several flowers from it to use as my main embellishments and tucked them in around my photos.

I chose the word smile from the Amy Tan Thickers in the kit which matched well with the pops of red from the roses on my jacket. I also found a few small pieces in the Simple Stories ephemera pack that matched with the warm tones I was using and added them to the page.

Luckily, the Simple Stories foam alphas in the kit were the perfect match for the main paper I had chosen, so I used them in my title. I finished off my layout with some of the Prima crystals; handwritten journalling; some stamped phrases; and tiny red splatters using Barn Door Distress Oxide.

Overall I was happy with how the layout turned out, but I would probably think more carefully about how my choice of colours / photos will work with the kit before I dive in next time. Oh well.

If you would like to watch how I put this layout together, I have a video available on my YouTube channel here:

If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments section of my video, here on my blog post, or connect with me via my Facebook page. 

Until next time, happy scrapping! X

Disco Day | Cocoa Vanilla Studio

 

Hi everyone, popping in today to share my latest Cocoa Vanilla Studio design team project with you. For this one I decided to pull out my supplies of the beautiful 'These Days' collection as I still have plenty in my stash left to play with and was dying to use it again. I also had a sweet photo of my boys together that I took last year when they were heading off to their first school disco. Although they might be twins, you can see that they are very different and both have their own individual styles, which I thought was summed up quite well in this shot.

Despite the fact this range has quite a broad palette of soft colours, I decided to focus on predominantly the blue and green tones combined with the wood grain for my background. Before I moved onto my papery layers however, I really wanted to add some depth to the background by adding some paint and stamping. I used a white Mont Marte paint applied with a brayer, which also helped me to define the focal area of my page. Over the top of the paint, I used a brick pattern stamp from Viva Las VegaStamps with a grey ink.

For the papery layers over my background, I used a few papers from the A5 Paper Stack which I cut and tore to size. I also added a grey paper doily from my stash, a strip from the cut apart paper, and some frayed gauze for texture. My photo also had some scrap cardboard adhered to the back of it to help pop it up from the page.

For my embellishments, I started with the Die Cut Ephemera pack. I chose a doodled frame first, which I cut in half and tucked half in under the right edge of my photo. I often use frames in this way (cut into pieces and tucked into layers) as opposed to the way they were designed to be used. I also chose the stack of books from the ephemera pack as I thought this worked well with the fact it was a school disco the boys attended.

I used the gorgeous Mini Puffy Alpha stickers for my title, as I didn't want to detract from all the delicate elements I had on the page. I love these alphas sooo much, they are a perfect size and such a pretty mix of colours. Along with the puffy alphas, I also added some of the Puffy Stickers to my page - a heart, a flower and a butterfly (because you can never have too many butterflies!)

There were plenty of regular Accessory Stickers on this page too - you can see how I used the tab and flag amongst the cascade of embellishments alongside my photo, and there were several phrase stickers used as well. From the Clear Stickers sheet I used three small clusters of crosses and a green brush stroke. This coordinated beautifully with the green Epoxy Wood Button that I also included.

I finished off my layout with handwritten journalling; stamped phrases and date; and some black stamped doodled circles and dots (stamp from Viva Las VegaStamps).

I have a process video available for this layout. If you would like to see how it came together you can watch it here:

Thanks so much for stopping by today so I could share this with you. Until next time, happy scrapping! X

Totally Awesome Dudes | Cocoa Vanilla Studio

 

Hi everyone, popping in today to share my latest design team project for Cocoa Vanilla Studio. This one was created for the regular Throwback Thursday feature, where a member of the team creates something new using an older Cocoa Vanilla collection (or two). The purpose of this regular feature is to help inspire everyone to continue using up what they already have in their stash.

For this project I decided to create a boy-themed layout, as I get lots of requests for boy pages, so I dug into my stash of both the ‘Boys Rule’ and ‘Legendary’ collections for an epic mash-up of the two. I love the way they combined for this layout, and I hope you do too!

I started my layout with the mandala-style print of the Explorer paper from the ‘Legendary’ collection as my page base. I then added a small amount of dark grey acrylic paint using a wide brush to help define the focal area of my page. My aim for this layout was to stick with a largely monochromatic palette of black / white / grey, with a pop of one colour, and I chose yellow. I love this colour combination for boys, as it’s a great change away from the traditional blues & greens that are often used for masculine pages.

I added a large piece of the Wild One patterned paper with the gorgeous yellow print in the centre of my page, which provided me with the big pop of colour I was looking for. I used a torn edge to add texture to the page and tucked a smaller piece of the Straight & Narrow striped paper from ‘Boys Rule’ under it. I double matted my photo using the Happy Go Lucky and Messed Up papers (also from ‘Boys Rule’) and added some scrap cardboard under it to pop it up from the page.

My title was the next element I tackled, as I knew I wanted it to fill the space beside my photo. I used a combination of the ‘Boys Rule’ Clear Stickers and ‘Legendary’ Die Cut Titles – because I love a good mixed font title!

For my embellishments, I created three clusters to form a visual triangle. The main cluster was at the bottom right corner of my photo, and consisted of a handmade star embellishment from Charms Creations, which I topped with one of the ‘Boys Rule’ Flair Buttons. I also added a die cut banner along the bottom edge of my photo and some gold twisted wire which I stapled to the page.

For my remaining embellishments I used a mix of ‘Legendary’ Die Cut Ephemera pieces; a few ‘Boys Rule’ Accessory Stickers and some of the ‘Legendary’ Enamel Dots. Then I finished off my page with some black ink splatters.

If you would like to see exactly how this layout came together, you can watch my process video here:

Thanks for stopping by today so I could share this with you. Until next time, happy scrapping! X

Enchanted Garden painting | StencilGirl

 

Hi everyone!

Popping in today to share my latest project for the StencilGirl® Creative Team. For today's project I was tasked with the theme "Pastiche". If you haven't been following the team projects that have come before me, then you may not be familiar with the term? Simply put, a pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, or music that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche celebrates, rather than mocks, the work it imitates.

I began by choosing the work of an artist whose work I find not only beautiful, but also incredibly inspiring. Being Australian, I couldn't go past picking a fellow Aussie, so the artist I chose was Clair Bremner. Clair creates paintings that are inspired by nature, and she uses an amazing combination of both colour and form to translate the things she sees into stunning works of art. I had long wanted to try working in Clair's style, so this provided me the perfect opportunity.

Here's a sample of Clair's work from her online gallery so you can see her style...

I chose this example of Clair's work, as I decided to use a similar colour palette and materials. I chose watercolour paper for my substrate (A3 size), and like Clair, I worked with acrylics.

Here's my piece, I entitled "Enchanted Garden"...

 I used a combination of brayer, silicone spatula, and brush to apply my base colours to the page. I worked in a random fashion, but unlike Clair's piece, I left some white space as I like the balance between busy and clean. 

With the base colours down on the page, it was then time to begin building the layers. The fist stencil I chose was Bouquet Greenery by Wendy Brightbill. This 9x12" stencil features large leafy branches, which I thought would work for trees in the scale I was working in. I used Naples Yellow paint from Monte Marte to provide a contrast to the background colours, and applied the paint using a stippling technique with a brush.

Next, I moved onto some Dusky Pink paint and the Playful Petals stencil designed by Jennifer Evans. I masked off a small section of the stencil and used the same stippling technique to add some groups of petals that I thought would make great bushes. 

At this point I felt my painting needed a little more "light", so I chose white paint for my next layer. The stencil I used was June Pfaff Daly's Inspired by Frida stencil. Once again, I masked off a small section of the stencil, this time a leafy branch, and used it to add some branches into my layers, making sure to overlap them with other portions of my design to help add depth to the piece. 

While I was using the white paint, I also added some sweet little fern branches in the foreground using the Maidenhair Fern stencil by Rae Missigman. I adore the whimsical style of the fern branches on this stencil, and thought it was perfect as part of my tribute to Clair's work. 

The final stencil I used was the super cute Daisies 6 by Terri Stegmiller. In order to be able to be very controlled with my placement, I masked off a single daisy and used Marine (a very dark blue) to add a few flowers around the page. (Because this stencil design was a little more delicate, I simply painted through the stencil with a small flat brush rather than stippled with the larger brush.)

Once all the painted layers were in place, I used a black Sharpie, white Sharpie and a Stabilo All pencil to add the finishing touches to my page. This was simply a case of adding a combination of small mark and lines over the top of the paint. (Make sure the paint is totally dry before doing this, or you will completely ruin the tip of your pens!)

I am so happy with how this piece turned out, and I really hope I did justice to Clair's amazing style. You can view more of Clair's work on her website: http://www.clairbremnerart.com/

If you would like to watch me create this painting, I have a video of my process available:

Thanks so much for stopping by today so I could share this with you. Until next time, happy creating! X

Lucky You | Dust It Off Challenge | May Homemade Kit

Hi everyone! Today I am back to share another layout using my May homemade kit, and yes, it's another birthday layout! My wonderful hubby recently celebrated his birthday (just a quiet one at home), so I took the opportunity to snap a couple of photos of him with the kids when he sat down to open his presents.  

Here is my layout, "Lucky You"...

(Click on photos for a better view)

Besides creating a birthday page (so I could tap into some of the celebration themed embellishments in the kit), the only other idea I started this layout with was to use one of the sheets of Kraft cardstock I had included. (Yes, Tam Buckler - I used the Kraft!) I figured the best way to tackle the Kraft cardstock was by using the acrylic paints that were also in my kit. 

I used a spatula to smear some white, aqua and metallic gold paints randomly around my page, leaving some parts a little "chunky" for added texture, and then left my page to dry overnight. 

Once dry, I added some stencilled detail to the background using the Crazy Quilts Calm & Frenzy stencil from StencilGirl that I had included in my kit. I used a sponge dauber and some grey ink to add subtle depth, then I also added a little bit of stamping using black ink and my fave Doodle Dots stamp from Viva Las VegaStamps. 

I then began creating some papery layers, starting with a printed paper bag from my stash (it wasn't included in the kit but sometimes you have to take a little creative license, right?) It featured a gorgeous triangular pattern in shades of blue and I decided I had hoarded it for way too long! In addition to the paper bag, I decided to use tags instead of patterned paper on this page as this was also one of the items in the kit. I used a large foiled Kraft tag from Heidi Swapp, as well as some smaller printed tags from Rosie's Studio and Pretty Little Studio and tied the tops of each one using different coloured twines. 

To draw in some more gold onto the page and add extra interest to my layers under my photos, I also added a gold foiled chipboard frame from Crate Paper. Then, once my photos were in place it was simply a matter of adding my embellishments.

From the Crate Paper 'Confetti' chipboard sheet I used the large aqua balloon and the gold bow. From the Vicki Boutin 'Color Kaleidoscope' Thickers, I used the small memories tab, the circular arrow piece, the you are loved label, and the super cute teal bunting (which I cut into two pieces and placed either side of my bottom photo).

I also used a D-lish Scraps flair button; phrase stickers from a Simple Stories Carpe Diem sticker pack; a puffy heart sticker; and then finished off with the fabulous Studio Calico gold chipboard asterisks that I scattered around the page. Some quick handwritten journalling details and a stamped date and I was done!

So what do you think? Did I do the Kraft cardstock justice? 

Thanks so much for stopping by today so I could share this with you. Until next time, happy scrapping! X

Stop and Smell the Roses | Scrap the Girls May Challenge

Hi everyone!

Popping in today to share my take on the May challenge at Scrap the Girls, which happens to be a sketch challenge designed by ME! As Mothers Day falls in May, I decided to create something with a floral theme, and here's what I came up with...

"April Showers Bring May Flowers" sketch

Those that know my work probably already know I am not great at following a sketch (and as it turns out, not even my own! haha) I did follow the design somewhat though, I just shuffled the elements around a little to suit me. I DID hit the floral theme though. 

To create this page I began with a sheet of white cardstock that I cut down to measure 11x11". I knew I wanted to use the stop and smell the roses quote from the Paige Evans 'Take Me Away' collection as my page title, so I mixed some Mont Marte acrylic paint to match the grey of the quote background and applied it roughly to the cardstock using a brayer.

At the time of creating this, I also had some of the Cocoa Vanilla Studio free 'Happiness' cut files that had been freshly cut so I knew I wanted to include those too. (If you haven't got your hands on these fabulous digital files designed by Gwen Wruck yet, you can download them HERE. Alternatively, you can order them from Gwen at Cut to You, and she will cut and ship to your door!) I thought the white of the cut files would contrast well against the grey paint so I added the roses in diagonally opposing corners.

For the focal area of my page design, I again used a paper from the 'Take Me Away' collection and fussy cut some of the floral elements from it. I used two pieces on either side of my photos, before adding an extra piece along the bottom edge to mimic the one in the sketch. It didn't seem quite balanced though, so I also added a small piece in the top corner.

I couldn't resist using a few more pieces from the 'Happiness' cut file set, so I used the wreath to frame my photos, colouring it with some Distress Oxide before sticking it down. I also added 3 small hearts around the wreath, which I left white to coordinate with the roses. 

I then matted my cardstock onto a sheet of orange paper from the Paige Evans 'Whimsical' collection; before adding a scattering of sequins for a little sparkle.

I would love to see your interpretation of my sketch, so please come and play along with us at Scrap the Girls this month. Cut to You is sponsoring our Aussie prize, and (as always) the fabulous Scrap Accent is our international sponsor. If you would like some more inspiration, pop over and see what the rest of the team created with my sketch HERE

That's all from me today, thanks for stopping by. Until next time, happy scrapping! X