Guest DT | Polly! Scrap Kits

I am so thrilled to be able to tell you that I am Guest Designing for Polly! Scrap Kits this month.  I had a ball with their January Kit, Almond Biscotti, and you can see my first project over on the Polly! Scrap Blog right now!

Project Life Week 4

My internet at home is all screwy right now, so I'm just posting quickly before my connection disappears again.....

I've used the Coral Edition and the highlight of our week was a trip on the train to see the Peppa Pig show at the Regal Theatre.  My boys adore Peppa (well, the big one won't admit it, but he does) and everything stops in our house when Peppa comes on the TV.

Here is Week 4.....

Happy Australia Day everyone!

Life Paper Scrapbook | January Mood Board

Rather than doing colour challenges this year at Life Paper Scrapbook, we are doing Mood Board Challenges.  We can draw inspiration not only from the colour palette, but also from the imagery in the board.  Super-fun!  

This challenge is sponsored by Kellie Stamps and the prize is this amazing stamp set- wish I could enter this one!

So here is the January Mood Board.....

I was immediately drawn to the aqua, red and orange in the colour palette but also to the geometric chevron shapes.  

I've used the Day to Day kit from LPS and some Heidi Swapp spray mists.  I cut the title with my Cameo using paper from the kit and finished it all of with some machine stitching :-)

I hope you'll join us for this challenge- don't forget the prize is drawn at random, so everyone has an equal chance.  All the details on howto enter are on the LPS Blog as well as extra inspiration from the DT ladies.

Project Life Week 3

This week I managed to use the correct kit- it's Clementine.  We haven't had a very exciting week.  Vac Swim for Master 7 is underway so we are at the pool a lot and there are only so many shots of swimming kids you can take.  We've had more very hot weather so outdoor activities are impossible.  Master 3 and I both caught bugs- he had a funny tummy and I have a headcold.  So what do you do when you've had a so-so week?  You raid your husband's Facebook feed and fill your pages with his adventures instead!  I'm still  under the weather so I have just kept it all really really simple.

Here is Week 3.....

You know it's been a quiet week when the dog getting her bath makes an appearance ;-)

An Exciting Announcement!

Hi everyone, this morning I can tell you that I will be joining the Design Team at Feeling Sketchy, a fun Challenge Blog all about kick-starting your creativity using sketches.

On the 1st and 15th of each month we will share a new sketch, and DT inspiration with you.  Each sketch you complete will earn you an entry into our monthly prize draw from our monthly sponsor- fun huh?

Keep an eye out here for my Feeling Sketchy posts and I would love it if you played along!

Monochromatic Plus Gold | Studio Calico Layout Share

Gold is popping up everywhere in home decor, fashion and in the papercraft world.  I thought I'd try a monochromatic layout with some pops of gold.  I used papers from the Classic Calico Collection Vol 2 from Studio Calico.  I had a paper doily that I had spray painted gold leftover from another project and I thought I could utilise it here.  I also added some little embellishments from my stash and a lot of machine stitching took place on this layout to add some texture.

The title for this layout came from what my little fella used to say to me- "Lub You Mum"- he would say it all sorts of random times and I just wanted to record that little piece of him.

I am really pleased with how this turned out and I will be sure to try a monochromatic page again soon.

Kaisercraft Layout Share

You might remember the layout I shared here and I mentioned another page I had whipped up using the same Class of '87 Collection from Kaisercraft.  Well here it is and this layout documents the Commendation my big boy received at school.

I mixed up my photo sizes- something I've recently started doing- and I also used a coloured cardstock base for my page- something I don't do very often.  Although I have a fairly distinct and identifiable style, I am enjoying making little changes here and there to my usual scrapbooking "recipe".  I am experiencing a period of creativity I don't think I've ever had before.  It's wonderful but frustrating because there just simply aren't enough hours in the day!

Project Life Week 2

Well I didn't mean to use the Sunshine Core Kit this week because I used it last week, but for some reason while I was editing photos I imagined that we were in Week 1! I should have used the next kit alphabetically, which for me is Clementine. I certainly won't be re-doing this week but I just know having two weeks in a row of Sunshine is going to bug me! I will blame lack of sleep.  Due to some extreme temperatures here last week, we had a few rough nights.  Between the dog yelping until I reluctantly let her in and my little people waking up thirsty and sweaty, by last night I was pretty wrecked.  I was also anxiously watching the reports and updates of some devastating bushfires not far from where we live.  We have many friends who live in the Perth Hills, and we are still waiting on news about whether their homes could be saved.  As I type this 44 homes are known to be lost, but the authorities have a lot of work to do before they can give a final number.

Anyway, onto my Week 2 pages.  

I added a cut file from Chic Tags and a flair button from Button It on Etsy.  Whenever I am cutting for other projects with my Silhouette Cameo I try to fill up whatever space is left on the mat with little cut files that I can use in my Project Life pages.  They are all sitting in a little tin on my desk, so I just go through them when I put my PL pages together.  Very handy.

Kaisercraft Layout Share

I found another layout that I hadn't shared here yet.  I used another older collection called Class of '87 by Kaisercraft.  I'm not usually a fan of obviously themed collections but with a boy at school and this collection's great colours and vintage feel I couldn't resist it way back when.  It's been sitting in my stash for a while and I figured a layout documenting the first day of Year 1 would be the perfect excuse to use it.

I added some hand stitching, some Thickers, a stamp and a clip from my stash but everything else is from the Kaisercraft collection.  While I had it all out I did make another layout and I will share that one soon :-)

On a Scrapbooking Binge!

My creativity is at an all-time high at the moment and cardstock, patterned papers and embellishments have been flying around my little craft room.  It feels good to just sit down and create without having to force things along with sketches and mood boards for inspiration.

This first layout features the Sundrifter Collection from Studio Calico and I had a lot of fun layering up a lot of embellishments- layering is something I've struggled with a little bit in the past, but I love the look so I keep practising!

Next up I used the Snippets Collection also from Studio Calico and this page has 6 photos on it but I still managed to preserve a lot of white space on the page.  When I have a lot of photos to fit on a layout I usually use a grid formation, but this time I thought I'd try something different and use a combination of 2"x3" and 3"x4" photos.

I created many more layouts this week but I could only share these two with you right now, and hopefully this creativity kick continues- I'm having a lot of fun!

Life.Paper.Scrapbook. January Sketch Challenge

I'm super-excited to be on the LPS team again this year and it's time for our first sketch challenge.  Our sponsor this month is Paper Camellia, a terrific monthly scrapbooking kit club.

Paper Camellia is a monthly Scrapbook Kit Club founded on the belief that your creative time should be a pleasure. Our goal is to make it easy and effortless for you to create by offering you a destination where beautifully coordinated scrapbook products come together with inspiration, creativity and exceptional customer care. All delivered right to your door. Purchase our Kits individually, or by joining as a monthly subscriber at Papercamellia.com (http://papercamellia.com/)

Here is the sketch we're playing with.....

When I first saw the sketch I loved it- quite different to the sketches I would usually use- but it presented me with all sorts of challenges!  I just couldn't get the mojo flowing on this one and I had to leave my layout, make a card, and then come back to the layout.  The layout has grown on me but I'm still not 100% sure about it- but that's ok, because the story is told and in the album :-)

I used the Elementary Collection (an oldie) from Studio Calico and a couple of puffy stickers from Skipping5.

Now I did mention that I made a card too- I have made a card similar to this one before, so it was an easy one to do while I mulled over my layout :-)

For all the challenge details and some great inspiration from the DT, visit the LPS Blog.

Project Life | Title Page and Week 1

2014. Week 1.  Here we go again!  I'm excited to be starting another year of Project Life.  I have decided to continue in the hybrid style and using one core kit per week, in alphabetical order :-)

I was given a physical kit (Slate) for Christmas and I will try and incorporate those cards when the "Slate Weeks" come around.  In fact, I have used Slate for my Title Page, and printed my journalling straight onto the cards with my Picturemate printer.  

I will also continue with Design A page protectors for my entire album. I thought about using a mixture of designs but I don't need to complicate PL- with Design A I know what I'm doing, and I don't have to think about photo orientation and how many of each size photo I need to fill a spread.  This is all just automatic for me now.

I am using a BH Project Life album for the first time this year.  I am hoping to get my entire year to fit inside this album.....

So here's my Title Page using the Slate Edition, and printing my text straight onto my "First Page" cards with the Picturemate.  Apologies for the reflections off the page protectors- I was stuck with a crummy time of day to be photographing layouts.

So alphabetically after Slate, comes Sunshine and I thought it was a perfect kit to use for our Week 1.  In addition to Sunshine, I have used a Twenty-Fourteen card from Paislee Press and a calligraphy-script card from here.  I also popped a cut file from Chic Tags on the pink and white diagonally-striped card.

Just as an aside, since the physical cards have rounded corners, I realised I will have to round my corners this year.  Good thing I just bought a new corner-chomper!

And now here is Week 1 LHS.....

And Week 1 RHS.....

And the entire page.....

I know a lot of people are doing Project Life for the first time this year and if that's you, then I really recommend you check out these posts from Elise, Katie and of course Becky Higgins herself.  And of course I am happy to help in any way that I can- just ask!