Do you Ever Grow out of Trains?

This was the 1st class that I taught at the ATDML retreat on the Friday using the beautiful Composition and Color papers by Websters (the stickers are some of my favourites :)).  We had a go at making a sunburst using a mixture of paper and some of the acetates that Alison Kreft has designed to go with the papers. We cut out some chevrons and tiny cameras for behind the acetate, and then used one of the Websters bags for the journalling spots, had a go at making an accordion fold flower, adding lots of stickers and finally a little play with some studio calico chevrons and paint drips.

The photo is from the train museum in Naples, and they had some old American trains we could clamber upon.  It was really funny as we walked into this little museum which was very peaceful until us and the kids arrived and then they had hundreds of questions about all sorts of things, it made the guy at the desk smile though as he said it was really funny hearing our really distinctive accents...hopefully the quieter visitors to the  museum weren't disturbed too much.  Needless to say the kids really enjoyed it, and it has a big electronic train set that goes all around the outside too.

I am also up with a trends post over on Created by Atdml today too...looking at the grid.

ATDML Retreat Part 2

Here are 4 more of the projects I made at the A Trip Down Memory Lane retreat.  First up is my Learning to Row page, taught by Mel Hand, using the beautiful Crate Paper DIY Shop papers and photo overlays and gorgeous chipboard -it's one of my favourite lines of paper at the moment.  I adjusted my take on the class a little adding a twine flower and threading some bunting underneath the photos.  I only used an overlay on the left hand photo but it adds a really beautiful colour to focus your eye on the image in the centre.  

Next up is the Teresa Collins Far and Away collection with Karen Moss, which I used on a wedding photo - they are all dressed as gangsters and the colours went really well with the boys.  We made some flowers from the brown waxed paper and then got to play with all the lovely embellishments Teresa Collins adds to her lines.

Another class by Karen Moss using the Vintage Bliss papers from Simple Stories and a very long photo, lots of layers of papers and we made some stick pins too.

Finally Jane's metal class - using a mixture of embossing folders and then covering chipboard shapes with metal...and then black paint over the top to give a really grungey look.  If you would like to know any information about the next retreat in October then contact Mel and Jill and they'll be able to answer all your questions - here is a link for you to get hold of them.

Boys and Sticks

It's time for another challenge over at the Studio, and this one is masks....I started with some white card, and then some Tim Holtz clocks and cogs, and the pocket watch in the top right hand corner is by prima.  I used some glimmer mist in browns (walnut) and blues (patina) left it to dry and then added another layer but of texture paint this time and my prima brick wall mask.  At this stage I hadn't decided on the photos or the papers - I just new it was going to be a boyish page...so I had a dig around, and found this picture from our Easter holidays of the kids playing pooh-bear sticks...any bridge in a wood has to have this game played!

The papers are a mixture of Fancy Pants In Love collection and Studio Calico Hey Day - I tore strips for behind the photo, and added a glassine envelope to act as my journalling pocket.   I made a pleated paper ribbon and stappled string over the top for down the edge of the photo and then tucked in some stickers by Crate Paper and chipboard.  So lots of layering

A few links for you - here is the link for the Studio Challenge so you can see lots more inspiration and join us.....and also I am up with a tag post on the Tando blog so here is a link for that as well.

More Glitz and the Olympic Flames

You'll notice a theme to the Glitz pages I created for the ATDML gallery....the rediscovery of my Olympic photos.  We were lucky to get some tickets for the para-olympics last year and saw some amazing sport and loved the whole olympic experience.  One of the most beautiful pieces of artwork at the Olympics was the cauldron of fire, I loved how lots of different representatives brought in the copper bowls and then these were attached to sticks and raised up, then set on fire, so when we were in the stadium we took a few shots.

My page uses the Yours Truly range from Glitz, I used the floral sheet to back my cardstock (and I gutted the middle), then layered up a few more sheets behind the photo - distressing the edges.  I had a go at making some peeping lace down one edge, you wet the edge of the page where you want the dip in and gently push the paper down, I backed it with some lace and added a button.  Lots of stitching around the edges of all my sheets, then a pile of prima flowers and some prima swirls....and lots of sequins - which did take me a while to stick down!  The title is a mix of some Simple Stories and K and Co.

A Trip Down Memory Lane Retreat 2013

I thought I would show you some of my photos from the ATDML Retreat, we stay at a gorgeous hotel ...and when you walk into our crop room the first thing that tells me we are on the retreat is the smell of paper in the shop!  It smell a bit like raw silk (ok...it could just be me!!!).  You then get some help from Jane to find your desk and there is a bag of goodies to get you going, details of all the challenges and your classes.

I took along a newbie scrapper - who was very worried that she wouldn't be able to keep up with everyone else, she made her first pages at the retreat and did a super job and loved it, and wants to go on another one - so here is a shot of her (my Mum) in her first classes - I'll speak to her nicely and see if I can photo her page to show you.

Karen Moss made us some gorgeous cakes for her last class....so what more could you want - cake, tea and lovely papers.

Here's my Mum hard at work on Karen's page

This is my small mountain of food for Sunday lunch which was delicious.

Onto a few of my creations - this is one of my pages from Ann Freeman's 24/7 class - I used the washing line to style to hang lots of animal photos from the Wild Animal Park at Disney last year.  There was lots of cutting and layering.

This is the other page using 24/7 that we did with Ann- a beautiful hexagon paper that we cut out, and then we made some twine flowers - I like the journalling in the hexagons idea too - so this is one of a few shots that we have of the Disney Castle

I have lots more pages to show you from it, so I'll be back soon.

Orlando

I made this page for the town and country theme over on the Tando blog last week.  I love their little grab bags of houses, and this is my first play with them....it was also a great excuse to actually scrap the photo of one of our holiday villas from last year and all of us stood outside (classic camera timer shot with the camera balanced on the car!)

I used some of the newAmy Tangerine Yes Please (from ATDML) papers which are beautiful, and one has houses printed all over it - so I cut a few out.  The paper inspired me to decorate the Tando chippies too, as it is covered in drips of watercolour paint, so I coated my houses and fence in white gesso, let it dry and then mixed some watercolour paint in similar colours and dripped it over my houses (I did do a bit of drying between using the different colours of paint so the drips didn't get too muddy in colour).  

The other bit of Amy Tangerine inspiration is the sewing - I've seen all her beautiful sewing kits, and decided to have a go at my own city scape so that I could include the disney castle (that is what it is meant to be on the right hand side of the page).  I used an A4 piece of paper and drew some houses and tower blocks for one side of the photo, and printed out a shot of the castle from the internet for the other side, taped it with washi onto my cardstock and then used a needle to make holes all around the outline, then stitched them.  I added all my journalling in a glassine envelope behind the photo, and used some Studio Calico stickers and wood veneer.

Also if you are at all short of inspiration then check out the UKScrappers blog hop ....I have done the 1st part and it is packed with beautiful ideas and step by steps....well worth a look :)

Here is the link to the ukscrappers hop

Glitzy Cards

The gallery is now up over at A Trip Down Memory Lane and we got sent some beautiful Glitz papers to play with - I received Cashmere Dame and Yours Truly...so here are a couple of the cards I made.

I like to use up lots of the smaller bits of paper that I have left from my pages on my cards.  On the 1st card I stitched, inked and layered them.  The bingo card is a stamp by  Teresa Collins which I used on white cardstock and then covered with tea dye distress ink.  I made the rosette flower (though I have now invested in a Tim Holtz die!). 

The stamp for this card I picked up on my holiday in the states - can't resist a camera!  I started the card using a new Studio Calico mask I couldn't resist.  I inked up a make up sponge and rubbed ink through the mask (I masked the mask with paper so that just the 2 lines of chevrons came out).  I then layered up my off-cuts of paper, some washi tape and wrapped some MME twine around the card too.

If you would like to see lots of lovely Glitz pages then check out the gallery here, I'll be back later on to show you my pages.

Love those Blue Eyes

Another one of my recent My Minds Eye paper inspired pages!  I love all the blues in their collection and it pulls out the colour of my sons eyes in the photos...so here it is documented in a page.

I had a go at a few techniques on this page, the first one that you might be just able to see is some printing with plastic - I used it on my valentines card - putting some inks on a plastic envelope - the sort that stamps and Tando chipboard packs come in.  Then you screw it up and print with it so that is the softer splodgey prints behnd the photos.  I then crumpled up a layer of vellum, added some hessian and started with layers of papers in blues and whites.  I cut out my own hearts and folded them in half and stitched them down the middle at the edge of the photo.  The chipboard is Dusty Attic and I painted it roughly in gesso with some thicker areas and then heated it, so it all bubbled up, to bring out the bubbles some more I inked it with a grey ink pad, then added a MME sticker.  I added strips of the blue papers at the top and bottom of the page, left all my stitched ends hanging and then use a mix of Simple Stories mini type and some MME lush velour chipboard too.

I have a whole host of photos to show you from the A Trip Down Memory Lane retreat last weekend, so when I get a chance I will load them all up - there were loads of fantastic classes and make and takes as well as great company (it is so nice to meet people from ukscrappers and blogger in real life :)) and beautiful surroundings...only sore bit was that I did manage to loose my voice along the way too....but it is back now!

Birthday Girl

I know I have been missing in action - we have had a busy Easter holiday so far celebrating my brother in laws wedding, and then planning for the ATDML retreat this weekend with my Mum...so by now I will have taught my classes and have lots of scrappy creations to show you!

However, back to the subject of the post there is a new colour challenge up over at the Studio blog and it is all about macaroons....well the photo is but the colours are green, a pinky red and yellow.....so I went for the easy option and a girl photo from my birthday!  I started off with the inky background - spraying my page with water and then a yellow cosmic shimmer mist and red candy apple tattered angels mist.  Once I had dried it I then started layering up doilies, lost of scraps of paper some from Amy Tangerines new Yes Please line, and then some older crate paper and a Dear Lizzy jar.  I like the colour challenges as it makes you go through you stash with a focus and dig out things that you might not have chosen had i t not been in a particular colour - so some maya road ribbon I had forgotten I had, and then a mix of pearls and gems.  The butterflies are all from a Tando grab bag - they are gorgeous.  I covered them in gesso and then micro beads and more gesso and some ink.  The title is a mix of Thickers and still using those Simple Stories snap alphabets!

I hope you are having a lovely weekend - here is a link to the studio to check out lots more inspiration.