A BBQ in the Countryside

One of the things that I love about getting packs of paper from Mel and Jill at A Trip Down Memory Lane is the coloured card stock (and just getting a pack of beautiful papers too :)).  I am always tempted to go for the neutral colours for the bases of my pages like white and kraft or cream but Mel and Jill always put in a couple of colours too and this just stretches me a bit more out of my comfort zone, not only because it changes the colours of ink you put on there too, but it is such a bold block of colour.  Anyway I loved making this page and I don't think the photo quite shows the warmth the yellow adds to the page so I love it more in the flesh!

The papers are all by My Minds Eye - Sweetest Thing, I started with some Washi Tape and made a mount with strips of it across the page (yes the strips don't go all the way across the page there is a gap where the photo was going to cover it :)) and then just using my fingers smeared white acrylic paint over the top.  The next layer was a doily and then a couple of layers of the Sweetest Thing papers which I damped, distressed and inked.  The photo is a BBQ instagram - not the best photo in the world but it captures the memory. To highlight the photo some more I circled it in twine, and then added some prima flowers and Martha Stewart butterflies around the edges.  I also made a banner with some white Teresa Collins Acetate too to the left of the photo.  A few splatters of ink, a stamped title and some torn tape and journalling.  Looking at the page it makes me feel like I am looking through a telescope a bit as the photo is quite small especially with all the layers around it!

The photo is from a camping adventure with friends, and we normally have this sort of a bbq arrangement on one of the evenings and it is mostly men (though there is a token female in there with a bbq) who huddle around their fires in clouds of smoke cooking delicious food for us!

There is lots of super inspiration in the gallery so here is a link, though I will be back with more of my creations too.

Family Portrait

This weeks theme over on the Tando blog has been distressing, and distressing and vintage go hand in hand - so I dug out another one of my older family photos for the occasion.  I used Cosmo Crickets Tea for Two papers as they had that 40s/50s feel to them, and then used some of the October Afternoon ephemera items from their Farmhouse kit and K and Co flowers that matched perfectly.  The leaves, butterfly and key are all Tando creations and got covered in paint, distress ink and then crackle paint and more ink - there is some more detail on the blog about how I treated the chipboard.

I started the page with a Tim Holtz swirl stamp and some gold/brown ink - I stamped all around the edge.  I then made my own die cut shape out of the rose cosmo cricket paper, and wet the edges, crinkled and ruffled them, then sanded and inked them.  I made a smaller die cut and this one I edged with a strip of pink paper that I pleated.  Now on to the last layer so just a couple of matts for behind the photo and some lace and a journal spot.  I also added spots of liquid pearls around the edges of some of my papers (and after doing this page I learnt that the way to get a more spherical bubble of liquid pearl is to tap the paper- or flick it from underneath and just this simple step works really well - so that is a top tip!).  

Have a great weekend.

Love Pin Board

I had a go at a resist effect on one of my Tando Arches - I stamped using my kaisercraft woodgrain stamp with white Stazon ink, and then went over the top with some gathered twigs distress ink.  I was impressed with how well the image came out on the chipboard!  I then punched several holes in random places around the edge and threaded some red twine through the holes giving it a cobweb effect.  I added some little pegs and hearts (using MME paper from my kit from ATDML) and a sentiment...you could add photos or use it to store messages and it is really easy to re-arrange- I'm thinking now that I should do one each member of our family and join them altogether so we can pop up things to remember or do for everyone!

If you would like to join us in our challenge - Love, Love Me Do on the Tando challenge blog (and be in with a chance of winning some lovely chippies) then here is the link

We have a busy half term....not getting as much scrapping done as I would like, but hopefully today (and some nice photos to scrap too).  We did go on a bike ride which I should have taken the camera for as it was a lot muddier than we expected...and turned out to be one of those rides where the only thing you can do is laugh about it, so I hope everyone else is having fun too!

Looking for Alligators

I made this page for the paper-less challenge this week over at the studio blog...and it's another inky page (I didn't make them all together but it just happens that they've ended up on my blog one after the other....so there will be a load of non-inky pages turning up shortly!).

The background started with the ink, and then I used my circles stencil and a little gesso as well as a few stamped images using American Crafts Jared clear stamps and some Tim Holtz wings.  We needed to use washi tape for the challenge, so at the top and bottom of the page is one of my favourite MME tapes from their All is Bright collection, and behind the photo is a MME lace style one from the Yours Truly range which has some sheer fabric over the top too.  The rest is all embellishment, a little twine sea and wood veneer boats, some Cosmo Cricket words, a Studio Calico feather and then my pound shop sequins.

The photos are from our holiday last year and were taken at the restaurant we went to in Everglade City - it had a beautiful veranda and my kids loved borrowing their Grandmas binoculars just to see what they could see....but fortunately - no more alligators!

Here is a link to the challenge at the Studio, and as it is a messy week over at Simon Says I'm linking it up there too :)

Deal Beach

You might notice an inky theme to my latest pages...and this one combines another favourite with it.....the sunbursts!  I made this page for this weeks theme on the Tando Creative blog which is red, yellow and orange and it fits nicely with the messy challenge over at Simon Says Stamp and Show too.

I started with the ink - I had a nice glimmer mist set in appropriate colours, so I started with a spritz of each of the colours across my page, and then made a little red and orange puddle for the drips.  The papers are all October Afternoon, the red is Cakewalk, the oranges are Midway as well as the 1st hello and then the final yellow is from the Farmhouse range.  I made my sunburst template on a sheet of paper and then cut it out, bent the pieces and stitched them down the middle.  The photo is an instagram of my kids on the beach at deal and the colours went really well...it isn't a super photo but it is a great memory that I detail lots more on the back of the page.  Now onto the Tando goodies - I used 3 of their cogs which I inked and embossed with silver and gold powder, then I added shells and a wood veneer boat and tried to wrap some of the cotton ends around underneath so it looks a little like a fishing net.  The last few touches were the alpha which is a mixture of thickers and prima lettering, some orange lace and sequins too.

Happy Valentines

Happy Valentines everyone, just a quick post to show you the card I made using some of the Studio Calico Heyday journalling cards.  The background was made using the same technique as Janna Werner did in this video over at 2peas - basically some plastic and a little ink (I used broken china distress stain and one of the grey prima chalk inks, then screwed it all up and mixed it and printed with it)

Also I have a link for a little tutorial that I made to show you how I made my inky background on my last post, so if you would like to have a go then here is the link for that too.

A Feathered Friend

Hello, here is a page I made for my Trends on Tuesday post over at ATDML you can read a bit more about the inspiration behind the page there - and the trend is feathers hence the picture of my Dad with a bird who took a shine to him!

I've been having a play with inky backgrounds (check out Kim Price who inspired me to have a go at this) and yes my paper is fairly wrinkled - but it flattens out in the album so I am not too worried.  So I started the background with yellow and green mists. The papers are all from October Afternoons 9 to 5 range and I had a go at a really ruffling the edge technique from Rachel Elliot in Scrap365 - since I am partial to distressing papers I really enjoyed doing this!  I used a resist technique on the Studio Calico feathers with clear embossing powder (again in Scrap365 this month) and then made my own larger feather out of paper.  

I Love U 2

The  Studio Challenge went live yesturday and you have to use more than 5 hearts....I took the opportunity to use pink on a boy page.....yes pink!!!  

I started off with some texture paste scraped it on, then had a go at trying to imprint it with hessian (as I have seen a nice woven texture on other blogs and assumed this was how it was done), however that didn't really work.  So next I reached for one of my acrylic stamps that is a grid and stamped into it - love the texture - quite hard to get all the paste out, though my stamp seems to be fine now.  I then layered up some banners of My Minds Eye Lost and Found Ruby collection, I distressed and inked the edges and then layers up a doily and some acetate behind the photo.  I added some mini punched hearts and flicks of red cosmic shimmer mist, I also doodles a few and used a mini heart stamp as well....so definitely more than 5 altogether.  I also used up some of my pink alphabet (again something I don't tend to get through that quickly!!).  

If you would like to join us for the challenge and be in for winning a prize then here is the link.