Blizzard Beach

Here is Another page that I made with the box of Studio Calico and Amy Tangerine goodies from A Trip Down Memory Lane.  I'm quite liking the 3 photo washing line thing at the moment, so I used this to hang polaroids from.  I carefully cut each of the mounts with my craft knife and then doodled a line around each square with my gel pen.  I embellished each  of my polaroids with punching and snowflakes, twine and some sn@p sitckers which went well with the bright colours.  Before  I stuck it all down I added some paint drips - I'd watched a Wilna Furstenburg video over at 2 peas and she uses quite a large paintbrush which she loads with colour and then lets drip - so this is what I tried with my watercolour paints..I did end up with a few flicks in there too but the larger drips have really nice splatter patterns on the paper!

These are still some of my hundreds of Florida photos...we weren't sure initially about what the water parks on the Disney ticket would be like, however they were fantastic and definitely worth a visit....even my Mum who is not a strong swimmer loved them and had a go on some of the slides!

Summer Treats

The challenge this fortnight for the Studio is to use just 5 products - card stock, pens and stitching don't count...so the 5 products

White Gesso

Liquid pearls

Tando Chipboard butterfly (covered in paper)

Websters - Picnic Basket paper

Websters Modern Romance circle stickers

Here is the websters sheet - I made my own die cut and cut out the picnic basket...and used the strip on the bottom of the paper.

I started by lining all my cut out elements on the cardstock, and then removed them and covered the card with white gesso using a palette knife.  I used a bazzil scalloped circle as the template for the my dotted die cut, I used foam pads to raise some of the elements and added a banner of circles which I carefully dotted with liquid pearls.  I printed the title out using word and then poked holes through it onto the card stock, then stitching it.

If you would like to see lots more lovely inspiration and join us here is the link.

Vintageness with Websters and Tando

Emma Trout has posted a challenge over on the Websters InspireMe site to use some of their newer sticker range....and Tando Chipboards' theme for the week is vintage.....so I combined the 2!

This is a shot of my Dad and Aunt - I scanned it in as the photo is not mine, but I wanted to add it to my family album...so I cleaned up some of the scratches a little and here it is.  I started by cutting one of the Websters die cut papers in half (much like a page I saw by Gabi Pollacco), I also cut out lots of flowers from the papers, and then made a punched strip to go where the flowers and die cut overlap. On top of the doily lace punched edge I added some lace, and then I stitched and folded some chiffon ribbon. I used one of the Modern Romance circle stickers dotted with liquid pearls, then I layered up my Tando chipboard.  I painted, inked and stamped it, finally added some pearl dots that I sprinkled with embossing powder (which I didn't heat), then layered up some prima flowers and miniature roses as well as another Modern romance sentiment sticker and pin.  All in all lots of layers - I even found some small heart stickers with my alphabet stickers which I scattered around too.

Spring is in the Hair

Here is another page using the lovely Snippets and Classic papers from Studio Calico....I went for a very clean (but wouldn't go for simple) page.  The reason not simple as I suddenly realised how hard it is to line everything up really straight, which is why I often crumple the edges, I'm not a great measurer - I go on the way it looks, but tI had my ruler out for this one and there was lots of fiddling around to get the page to look vaguely straight and it still isn't perfect!  So the design is simple and I filled my smaller squares with wood veneers and buttons and stickers.

The photo is from a trip last spring/summer to some gardens - and my husband was complaining that my kids needed a haircut - this is quite a full head of hair for my youngest - but you will notice something that I am not allowed to mention or do a page about (I have been warned by him) if you look at the hair - the reason for it was because his hair was getting in his eyes....and obviously what he did made a huge difference (I just love him!)

Also I posted yesterday over on Created by ATDML - looking at polaroid shapes, and if Mel did what she did last month then comments could mean you are up for a prize...here is the link.

Not Again!

All inspired after the ATDML retreat I wanted to scrap some more - which confused my DH!!  I used some of the Studio Calico Sundrifter papers as well as their Classic line for this page.  

I started with the white cardstock, and used the Tando Tangled Yarn mask with some texture paste, and then some spritz's of blue and brown glimmer mist.  I ripped the white cardstock in a couple of places and layered up the papers and some seed beads as well as making some little paper roses (which I haven't done in ages).  For the photo mount I started with a doily and some strips of paper, then wrapped my photo with string, and added some more paper roses and a couple of pins that I added beads to.

The title is 'not again' as this is the log flume/roller coaster ride at Florida and we got there early one morning and wanted to go on it (well the kids and DH wanted to go on it) as we hadn't been able to the previous visit because of some big electrical storms.  So first thing the ride was quite quiet...we go round once...and my Mum and Dad have a video of us arriving at the bottom, and the kids talking about going on it again...I'm saying no...not again....and unfortunately there was no queue at all so we didn't even get out the boat...and did it again!

Baby Chicks

This weeks theme of the Tando blog is Spring Colours....perfect timing really when you consider that the bluebells have finally appeared with the sun.  I used some papers from the American Crafts Dear Lizzy collection - you can propaply tell with the mason jars...and had a go at lots of punched layers (inspired by an article I read by Wendy Mckee).  I simply covered the chipboard in some chalk inks that went with the colours of the papers, they cover really - for the star embellishment I used a chipboard button for the base covered in blue ink, and then added a circle of paper and a chipboard star - I just inked the edges on this one.  For the butterfly embellishment, I punched a circle and wrapped some string around, then just inked the edges of the chipboard butterfly and that was the topper.

The photos are from a trip to a farm last year where my kids got to hold some baby chicks.

And the colour challenge on the Tando blog this month is purple, blue and white - and there are prizes on offer.  I was browsing through a copy of Tim's Compendium of Curiosities and decided to make some tags - covered them in distress ink, and then splatters of water.  I then used a mix of Teresa Collins and Prima Stamps....I inked the Tando compass with gold ink and sprinkled it roughly with silver embossing powder so there were patches not really covered and embossed it.  I added a little pile of cotton behind the compass as well as some dictionary paper.  I'll add a sentiment later, but thought it makes a fairly masculine card.

Also just to remind you that Tando have a DT call on at the moment - they are a fantastic British company specialising in chipboard and masks...you can find all the details here.

Caught on Camera

This fortnights challenge at the Studio is based on a gorgeous sketch by Val Mangan.  I dug into my Maggie Holmes papers from Crate Paper (the ephemera packs that they sell with them are just gorgeous and packed full of beautiful piece - like the tag, stamp and milk bottle top on the page...but so much more).  Working with a sketch always makes me a little quicker, so I started with a yellow border, and then cut a vellum pennant which I layered with a tag and some of the cloud paper, I then stitched over the top and hung buttons and cameras on the stitching.  I next layered up a few of the papers behind the photo - have a shot of my niece in the pictures in her pink top makes the pink really easy to use.  I then added some of my ephemera pack and an American Crafts flower to the little cluster of embellishments by the photo.  A few drops of black ink, and some Amy Tangerine thickers - stitched on.

So you are still asking about the photo?  We took some shots with the cousins - I think it was Easter weekend.  My kids decided to have a little bit of a mess around, and whilst I was looking through the lense at all of them I saw my eldest with his grandparents silver bowl on his head and his thumbs up...and you know everytime I look at this photo it makes me laugh :)

A bit of Glitz and inks - Big Grin and Beach Love

Firstly a happy National Scrapbooking Day to everyone, and I thought I would show you the other class I taught at the ATDML retreat using the beautiful Unchartered Waters papers from Glitz.  We made 2 pages from the kit and had a go at an inky technique using cosmic shimmer mists - you can see a tutorial which shows you the basics for making the inky background under my tutorials section if you want to have a go.

The photo is actually a Christmas one of my brother and son, so you don't have to just do beachy pages with the papers, I love all the ombre and blues and aquas in the papers.

The next page was using one of the chalkboard papers in this range...a trend that is really popular at the moment, we made some vellum envelopes and chopped and embellished using a washing line.

Also....Tando Creative are having a Design Team call - they are a fantastic British chipboard and mask company....the ones that make the beautiful octagonal Christmas tree advent calendar.  It's a super company to design for so check out their blog for all the information - here is the link.