Project Life Week Thirty

Week 30 was Birthday Week for my big boy- he turned 7!  It was also back to school week and a return to regular routine, which I love, but I can do without the 6 am alarm on these winter mornings.  This week it was time to use the Midnight Edition of Project Life again.  You might have noticed that I rotate the kits in order and since last week was Kraft's turn, Midnight was up this week.  I find that sticking to this schedule means I can do away with trying to decide which kit to use based on the colours in my photos or the mood I'm in- the decision is made for me!

Midnight is very clean and simple in it's design so I didn't add anything extra this week, plus, I was a little pressed for time so it was print, cut, slip into the pockets, done :-)

Here is the LHS.....

Here is the RHS.....

And here is the whole week.....

Thanks for popping by :-)

Another Atlantic Layout Share (and why I sometimes scraplift)

A few days ago I wrote about my love and struggle with the Atlantic Collection from Studio Calico.  Well on  this wet and miserable Perth morning I decided to have another crack with it using some sweet pics of my boys at the beach.  Atlantic is perfect for beachy photos- well derr!  

I was a bit stuck though so I looked through some sketches- nope, nothing, so I had a look at Pinterest- BINGO!  I found this layout by SC Creative Team member Susan Weinroth and pretty much copied it.  Well, not exactly, but you can certainly see I had Susan's layout in front of me when I made mine. It's a ripper layout, I've acknowledged the original creator and I got my page done and told the story I wanted to tell.  I won't be submitting it for any challenges, or for publication anywhere, so there's no problem with my scraplift as far as I can see.

Here's how my page turned out....

There are loads of blog posts around the place about how to kickstart your creativity using sketches, challenges, new products, new techniques and blah blah blah.....and that is all super-helpful, but you know, sometimes I just want to cut up some paper, stick it down, get some pictures onto a layout and into album and tell a bit of a story without working up a sweat.....and that's ok :-)

Just Add Ink #175

I always love to play along at Just Add Ink but lately I just haven't been able to fit it in.  Today was wet cold and miserable, so during Master 2's nap I got cosy at my desk and played along with JAI's latest sketch challenge.

I grabbed the Chalk Talk set from Stampin' Up and stamped my image in black on white cardstock, then cut it out using the co-ordinating die.  I then stamped it again in Rich Razzleberry and cut out the banner with my micro-tip scissors and mounted it over the first image using foam squares.  I then tied a bow with Pear Pizzazz ribbon. The rest of the card is pretty to work out.   I stuck with my colour scheme of Pear Pizzazz, Rich Razzleberry, Black and White.  

I'm not very happy with how my colours are together and I'm not sure about the green and black panel behind the tag- it looks a bit hard and severe to me, but it was quick and simple and I'm sure I will use this card sketch again in the future.

Water Play Layout

Hi everyone!  Today I want to share a layout I made using Studio Calico's Atlantic Collection.  I fell in love with this collection when it first came out but didn't buy it straight away because I wasn't sure it suited my style of scrapbooking.  But I couldn't get it out of my head and eventually succumbed and bought it.  Then it sat untouched in my stash for ages.  I just couldn't bear to cut into it without being really sure I could make something that did it justice.  Then I told myself "It's only paper you silly woman!" and went to work with these photos of my littlest guy playing in the water play area at his favourite playground.

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out some clouds and a sun from patterned paper and the vellum.

I adore the cork embellies and who'd have thought I would ever use sequins on a layout LOL!

I snuck in a tag from Dear Lizzy's Lucky Charm.....so many nautical-themed products around at the moment :-)

I will admit, these papers are much better off being used than being hoarded in my stash ;-)

Project Life Week Twenty-Nine

It was another very chilly week here in Perth but the boys and I managed to head out of the house almost every day.  The second week of the school holidays saw more lazy slow mornings and I'm sure going to miss that when school goes back in a couple of days.

This week I used the Kraft Edition of Project Life and made good use of the bifold cards to fit multiple photos plus journalling on each card.  I just simply crop the cards to 6" x 4" in PS CS5 and add the already-cropped photos.  Once they're re-sized and in position I add the text, flatten it and save as a jpeg.

The only non-digi element added this week was a "hello" speech bubble I cut with my Silhouette from kraft and whit cardstock scraps.

Here is the LHS.....

Here is the RHS.....

And here is the entire week.....

LPS Colour Challenge #6

It's colour challenge time again at Life Paper Scrapbook and I fell head over heels in love with not only the colour palette, but with the inspiration photo as well.

I got so excited that I made not just a scrapbook layout, but TWO cards too!

Here's my layout using the Atlantic Collection from Studio Calico.

And here are the cards I made using stamps from Mama Elephant.  Using the same stamp I created a muted softer card and another punchier, more masculine card.   Obviously I was very inspired by the triangles in the inspiration photo ;-)

If you've been just as inspired as I was, head on over to the LPS Blog for all the challenge details as well as a look at the amazing work created by the other DT girls.

Tomorrow's Memories Project Pack Layout

I was given another terrific page kit from Tomorrow's Memories to work with this week.  At first glance I thought "Oh no, this looks way too girly for me" but I was instructed to create something simple so I figured I could make it work for a page featuring my Master 2.

I was given two sheets of cardstock- one grey and one orange.  I was given two sheets of double-sided patterned paper from American Crafts Dear Lizzy Neopolitan Collection.....

I also received a sheet of vellum from the same collection, some chipboard stars, a chipboard "Happy" word, some ribbon, some twine, a tag and some great little wax buttons made using moulds from Moulds by Mel.

Here's what I came up with.....

The sheet of patterned paper covered in jars was just begging to be cut up and I immediately thought I'd select a jar with stars on it (to go with the chipboard stars) and use it as a home for my title.  In order to make the pretty cloud vellum look it's best, I backed it with white cardstock.  The button and stars were painted with gesso and then the button was covered with Distress Stain and the stars with paint and glossy Accents.  The word was also covered in Distress Stain.  I added some alpha stickers from my stash to complete the title and splattered a bit of ink around.

Tomorrow's Memories page kits are a really clever affordable option for getting your pages done quickly and easily.  All the thinking is done for you!

Project Life Week Twenty-Eight

Sorry I am a little bit late this week, but between school holidays, home inspections and tonsillitis  it's been a bit more chaotic than usual!

This week I used the Jade Edition of Project Life but I chose my cards in order to have mostly red and blue in my layout.  My boys wore a lot of red this week, so for a clean unified look I wanted to co-ordinate everything.  Usually my photos feature lots of different colours so I don't really consider my card choices very carefully, but on weeks like this one, I do.  I also added two wooden veneers from Studio Calico.

So, here are the pages- as usual, you can click on them to enlarge :-)

Here is the LHS.....

Here is the RHS.....

And here is the entire spread.....

Project Life Week Twenty-Seven

Another week evaporated into thin air- where does the time go?  This week was our second week of having hubs home before heading back to China and the last week of term.  We had everything from illness, outings, our usual activities and a house guest, but surprisingly I didn't have that many photos to choose from.  I raided hubs' Facebook and Instagram photos to fill the spread out a bit more.

This week I used the digital version of Amy Tangerine's Ready, Set, Go Collection and I love using this collection when we're all together as a family.  It just seems to suit perfectly.

Here is the LHS.....

Here is the RHS.....

And here is the entire page.....

As usual, I added a little "real" embellishment, and this little "Click Click Click" flair is from here.

Thanks for popping in to see my PL :-)

LPS Sketch Challenge #6

It's Sketch Challenge time again at Life Paper Scrapbook and if you play along you have the chance to win $30 to spend at one of my favourite places-Paper Issues!  

Here's the sketch.....

Now I usually love working from sketches, but this one had me stumped for a good while.  In the end, I decided to interpret it quite literally and ended up with this.....

Most of the supplies are from Studio Calico's Sundrifter Collection with some other older bits and pieces thrown in from my stash.

I hope you'll play along with us at LPS for your chance to win the awesome prize from Paper Issues :-)