We're All Mad Here - Scrapping Fun Kits DT

I am fortunate that I can use kits in advance so I used my Alice kit for my entry into Scrap the Girls November 2017 Challenge as it was the perfect prompt to combine with this kit and my photos from cosplaying the Cheshire Cat at last year's FraserPop Festival.  So today I wanted to share with you the details of how this layout came together.

I decided to use the chipboard from the kit and paint it with my Vicki Boutin pink paint and Dina Wakley eggplant paint, I decided to give it a think coat and they use it like a stamp on my background.  I created the background with the left over paint by doing the packaging technique with it and then stamping my still wet chipboard onto the cardstock.  I love the effect this gave my background and how it affected the finished paint on the chipboard.

I decided to layer my chipboard onto the blue satin flower but that meant the top would be higher than the bottom so I used Helmar Scrap Dots along the bottom to lift it up to the same height as the top.  They were the perfect way to get the perfect height.

As the top of my chipboard was sitting on the flower the bottom needed to be raised, I used Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots to do this.  They are perfect for something like this as you can adjust the height they are giving you  quiet easily.

I then added the mini cards and the bottle charm to create a whimsical cluster.  

I then added some washi to the top left and bottom right corners and wrote my titles on the washi but sort of going off it a bit.

I added a piece into my main cluster/photo area to pull it all together.

Once everything was dry I realised I forgot to use the tail and my plan all along had been to make that a feature of this layout, oh well I will save it for the next layout.

I love how this layout turned out, it is perfect for recording the fun I had.

If you would love one of these Alice Kits head to the Subscription Tab over at the Scrapping Fun Kits blog and fill in the form.

Wonderful Life - Art Journal Layout - CraftOnline Creative Team

After creating my Art Journal page inspired by Dolly earlier this year I put some thought into what works for me and having limited supplies for that spread really helped so I have decided to try Art Journalling again and use limited supplies to create each spread.  So today I am sharing with you how I created my 4th Art Journal Spread using limited supplies that I created for the CraftOnline Creative Team.

Items Used
Gel Press Gel Plate 3x5inch
Poppy Crafts 4 Birds Die Set
Studio Light Basics A6 Mixed Media Stamps
Vicki Boutin Paint Set 1
Dina Wakley paint in Eggplant
Dina Wakley paint in Peacock
Tim Holtz stencil Numberic
The pencil I used was from my stash but I think these pencils may be a good alternative, I am looking forward to ordering some to try.  General Pencils Sketch Wash 2 pack 

I love how my page turned out and I can't wait to create another spread.

Check out CraftOnline for lots of wonderful craft supplies.

Explore Space Canvas - Helmar Creative Team

I wanted to do a scrapbook layout with a galaxy background and using this cute iron on patch set from my stash and some chipboard stars to build dimension to the layout.  It quickly changed to me reusing a old canvas that the kids tried to paint a Christmas tree on years ago to create a item suitable for wall decor for a child's room.
I love painting Galaxy/Nebula paintings as the technique used is one that I am able to easily do with my hand issues.

I started by coating the old canvas with a coat of Colour Blast Heavy Black Gesso, I got great coverage from this Gesso.

While the Gesso was drying I coloured some gauze in the colours I wanted the nebula to be as I wanted to experiment and see if I could add it to the painting to give the nebular dimension. 
I simple dabbed some distress ink on my craft sheet added water and rubbed the gauze in it.  I repeated with some Colour Blast Mica Powder in Wisteria.
There are not photos of this attempt as it really did not work so the gauze quickly became another aspect of the piece.

Once dry I wrapped some space themed washi from Scrapping Fun Kits around the outside of the canvas on the edge using Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive to ensure a strong stick as the adhesive on the washi would not be enough to get a long term hold.

Next I started working on my Galaxy but gradually sponging coloured paint onto the canvas in a sort of nebula shape.  I used some old paints in red, yellow, purple, blue and white.  I blended the red and yellow together where needed to get hints of orange.
Then I flicked paint with a brush all over the canvas mainly in white but also some of the blue and purple to add to the space effect.


Once the paint was dry I adhered some of the coloured gauze behind the rocket ship patch then I adhere it and the planet patch that came in the set to the canvas with Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive.

Finally I used the last of my Studio Calico chipboard stars I got from My Scrapbook Room randomly on the canvas using the Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive.







Once everything was dry I gave the entire thing a coat of Crystal Kote Gloss Varnish to seal it all and protect it.  I sprayed a bit closer in some spots to see how that would affect the finish, I was hoping it would enhance the night sky feel of the piece and it did.















I love how it turned out.

Starlight Day 2014 - Scrapping Fun Kits Design Team

On Starlight Day I was inspired to scrap some photos of my daughter volunteering on Starlight Day for the first time in 2014.
Fundraising and Awareness raising has always been important to my daughter and after becoming very ill at 15 Starlight Children's Foundation provided incredibly important support to her so once she was well enough she decided to volunteer on Starlight Day and since there was no one organising in our area she took on that roll and rallied some friends to help.
They had a lot of fun dressing up and being entertaining to attract people to come over and see what it was all about.  They had a stall at the Hertitage Markets on the Thursday and our local Woolies allowed them to set up out the front on Starlight Day itself.

So back to my layout.  I pulled out any bits from the May Fundraising Kit that were purple or could be coloured purple and then I added supplies from the September 2017 Kit and a gorgeous 6x6 paper from Violet Silence by Lemon Craft.

I played around with a few bits until I had a vague idea of how I wanted to do things and then I went searching for alphas for my title.  I chose these old Thickers that you colour yourself.
To colour the Thickers I used some  Distress Ink and some Colour Blast Mica Powder in Wisteria.  I started by using my aquabrush to apply water to each letter in the shaped of the letter then picked up the yellow and added it to the water, then I added the wisteria.  I knew these colours had a strong chance of going muddy but I really wanted letters that were a yellow and purple watercolour effect.  Things were looking good and it was nearly dry so I decided to give it a light dab with a cloth and most of the colour came off, so I added more and that is when things got muddy.  I added a little more wisteria and I am happy with the results.

I had really wet these alphas so I wasn't able to finish my layout on the day as they needed to dry and I only have a small window of time to create each day.
Due to the colour coming off if I dabbed them I decided to seal them with Helmar Crystal Kote Matte Varnish once dry.

I love how they turned out.

I coloured the die cut from the May Fundraising Kit using the ink and mica powder.  I started with a layer of the ink then added the mica powder once dry.  It came apart a little which was really hand so that I could spread it around my photo.






I used the packaging technique with the left over colours on my craft sheet each time to colour some white cardstock.  Once dry I cave it a coat of Helmar Crystal Kote Matte.

Scrapping Fun Kits is fundraising for Starlight Children’s Foundation this month.  All profits from sales of the May Embellishment Kit and kit extras will be donated to Starlight Children’s Foundation.  If you would like to donate directly to Starlight Children’s Foundation you can do so via their website  https://starlight.org.au/donation-form

Do It For Dolly Art Journal Page

Dolly's Dream an anti-bullying campaign started in memory of a young girl who died due to bullying has touched so many including myself.  As a person who was severely bullied throughout my childhood and the parent of children who were severely I feel, I know this could have been me, this could have been my child, this could have been any of us or any of our children.  We need a societal change regarding bullying and how it is handled.  This must stop.

Annette (owner of Art and Soul Studio) shared a idea in her Soul Sisters group and Soul Journey 2018 group, the idea was we create a Art Journal page inspired by Dolly and she will bind them into a book and send it to Dolly's family.  



Dolly's last artwork had inspired me to want to create something and Annette's suggestion felt like a nice way to use what I created.

You may have noticed I have been working with limited supplies for a while and this limit of supplies made creating a Art Journal page a challenge.  The reason I have been working with limited supplies is Due to Mr C and my no longer being able to do stairs we have made the decision to move into a house without stairs.  Due to this I packed my craft supplies first and kept just 1 cart of supplies out including just 2 stamps, 3 stencils and a small selection of ink pads.  Due to circumstances beyond our control the move is on temporary pause but I am refusing to unpack.  So to create this Ar Journal page I only had 2 blue ink pads, the blue and gold paint that came in my Soul Journey Charity Kit, in addition to the grey and black ink pads used for the stamping and the Kaisercraft Wandering Ivy Collectables that were in my Design Team Pack from The Scrapbooking Emporium.  As you can imagine this made creating a challenge.

I started by creating a cut file for Dolly's quote for my Silhouette, I cut it from some pale blue cardstock, due to my hand issues I thought a die cut quote would help me create this page without impacting my hand too much.

Next I inspired myself by putting everything that would work for this project on my desk.  I had no idea what I was going to do apart from use the quote and the bits I had.  I sorted through the Wandering Ivy Collectables so that I only had pieces on my desk that were suitable.

I dabbed my 2 blue inkpads on my craft sheet in a random pattern and sprayed it with water, then put my whitecardstock down onto it and pressed, I repeated this a couple of times.  I wiped up the excess with 2 scraps of white cardstock to use in a future layout.

Then I grabbed the blue paint from my Soul Journey Charity Kit putting a small amount on my craft sheet and adding water, I used the packaging technique to add this to my cardstock.  I used the same process with the gold paint in my Charity Kit.  That little hint of gold in the background really helps.

Next I grabbed my Ranger Archival ink pads in grey and black and used the grey to stamp my triangle background stamp from Darkroom Door and the black to stamp my Kaisercraft Butterfly stamp just randomly over the page.

Then I adhered my cut file and started adding die cuts and this cute lace heart that will be in a upcoming Scrapping Fun Kits Embellishment Kit.

I used some of the bookplate die cuts from Wandering Ivy to write love and Do It For Dolly and added these to my die cut clusters.

Next I added pen around the edge of my cut file and over it where words were welded to help define the words.

I attempted drawing a vine with leaves but was not happy with it so added a denim flower to one of my clusters to hide this a little.  And then added one of these to the top and bottom cluster to balance things out.


I am really happy with the finished page and I am feeling a lot more confident about trying Art Journalling again after this.

I thought this project was a lovely way to record how Dolly's story has touched so many of us I hope as a society we make the change that Dolly deserved, that all our kids deserve.

Hugs - Scrapping Fun Kits Design Team

I am up on the Scrapping Fun Kits blog Today with another layout for the Design Team using the Exclusive Neon Kit.
From the kit I used the fun papers and the Neon Pink Felt Bow.

I won a $10 store credit with Charms Creations and my gorgeous hearts and tabs I got with my store credit arrived just in time for this layout.

I made one of my wire half flowers to add to the cluster in pink wire.  And I used one of the butterflies and the flower from the cut apart that Morgyn created.



For more details head to my post on Scrapping Fun Kits blog.

Show Us Your Stuff Challenge

I was drawn to the Zebra artwork on this month's inspiration board at Show Us Your Stuff.  My kids and I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and the Zebra is the mascot for EDS and Rare Disease, so I knew I wanted to tell part of our journey as EDSers.  I am having a increase in hand issues this month after a once off OT assesment of my hand writing aggravated my hand issues so I started working on bits for this layout at the start of the month and have taken my time.

I used this wonderful template from Ornation Creation for my zebra.  I handmade some zebra themed tassels, used a flair from the digital scrapbooking kit called A Little Something To Remember found at Sweet Shoppe Designs, plus wood veneer from Rainbow Splendour, Stencil & journal spot from D-lish Scraps Just Add Paper Kit this month, DIY ink spray, watercolours, gesso, printed the logo for  SKIP (Supporting Kids In Pain) and printed my title.

Thank you for visitng my blog and checking out my layout.

I hope this has inspired you to create.
Will you be particpating in any challenges this month?

Altered Book

I loved a Listers layout that had bookpaper as the background and thought I haven't started this year yet so why don't I alter a book so I can use it for my lists.
So I chose this book that was missing a couple of pages.

I decided to experiment with altering directly onto the paperback cover rather than adding cardstock or paper to it first.
I applied 2 coats of Gesso and then stencilled with Gesso again.
Once dry I applied a home made paint spray and it started to crinkle up.  I quiet like the effect but I lost most of my stencilling.
I had at least 20 different ways I wanted to do this book.  I prepared multiple chipboard pieces, from cogs that I made look rusty with paint, to the end result of some swirls that I used blue and silver paint on to coordinate with the broken piece of necklace that I added some charms to, I also added wood veneer bird and bird cage to the cover and some paper flowers.

To use the book I am gluing 2 pages together and removing 2 pages between each lot of glued pages to allow for chunky creativity.

After the first layer of Gesso.

Here is the back.   You can see the small amount of stencilling that partially remained.

What do you think of the finished cover?

I can't wait to get listing in this book.

Simple Stories Life Documented Layouts

Simple Stories Life Documented is such a versatile range, you can create so many various types of layouts with it.
I found myself thinking of so many things photos/memories I could get down with these papers as they are so versatile.  From a beach/nautical theme to school, floral layouts to more geometric styles.
There are 5 classes this month so out of the dozens of ideas in my head I am creating 5 of them.
I wanted to have a mix of simple layouts that are reasonably quick to create and more complex layouts.  I wanted to cater for any new beginners but as someone who has scrapped for over 10 years I do enjoy quick and simple layouts when I am time poor so I wanted to give the more experienced scrapbookers some quick and simple layouts so they have some remaining time some weeks to play with tools and catch up on any unfinished pagess they have.

School Layout
I love the graph numbers, this paper has so many uses, my hand was playing up so I couldn't fussy cut them out as I wished but I think it turned out effective.
This layout is a good example of using paper selection and embellishment selection to tell the story, in this case my daughter's change of favourite colour.

Library Pocket LayoutI love these cute metal embellishments, and the mixed bag of flat backed pearls and wanted them to be a feature of this page.
Creating your own Library Pockets is simple and they are so useful for storing extra journaling and photos.

Susan's Garden Nastrutium Dies Layout
I love these dies, they make such cute flowers.
This paper I had a few ideas of what I wanted to do with it but in the end I found with the flowers, photo and butterflies laid out before cutting up my background as intended it didn't need any more work as it just worked for me.
The little flowers have tiny little flat backed pearls in their centres from the mixed bag used on the Library Pocket page.

Nautical Layout
I loved the nautical feel of this paper and the cameras on the back were so cute so where the paper would be covered I cut out 5 cameras for use as embellishments (second pic).
I created a beach themed tag and used the negative space piece of chipboard from Dusty Attic Swirl No 8 to create the waves down the bottom.

Mixed Media Layout
After creating all my layers I tore a squarish shape from the wet wipe used for clean up and created a flower, I stuck another flat backed gem over the brad when finished.

I had a lot of fun with this range and creating this month's series of classes.

My Minds Eye Jubilee Sherbet Layouts

I recently started working as the Scrapbooking Tutor at for a local shop, I am so excited but it is proving a challenge.
I am so happy to be tutoring, I love sharing my love of memory preservation.
I believe everyone is a artist but some of us need tools to help for various reasons and for me scrapbooking helped me discover I have a creative artistic side that previously I hadn't been able to express due to my hand issues.
I have a mixed class of beginners and advanced scrappers so I tried to design layouts for the first month that will build beginners skills so that in the last week we can do a beginners mixed media layout.
I decided to work with one paper range per month and coordinating cardstock and embellishments so that we can see some of the different ways we can use each range.

I am absolutely loving working with the MME Jubilee Sherbet range, I love the colours, the quality and the designs.

WEEK 1 I included some budget saving tips and how to make 2 types of flowers with Scallop Circles Punches.
I allowed room for journaling to tell the story of the photos.
Die Cut Titles were added to the pages where necessary.

Week 2 I love purple so I really enjoyed creating week 2's layouts, basic stamping and inking was introduced as well as fussy cutting and doodling.  We made a simple accordian flower using 2 large Scallop Circles.

Week 3 This week we will use a versatile stencil called Harlequin Circles, covered colouring store bought paper flowers to coordinate with our layout.  As with previous weeks we are discussing balance, layers and how to enhance the story of the photo using journalling, paper selection, embellishment selection, etc. 
Handy Hint when using Dye Based Inks if you wish to ensure they won't run if your layout gets wet then apply some clear embossing powder while the ink is still wet, shake off excess and heat set.

Final Week Introducing chipboard, lovely gold paint in a beginner level mixed media layout of sorts.
Love this gold paint, we will not only be painting our chipboard with it but splattering it on our layout.
Making a simple but cute flower with the Scallop Circle Punches.

Next Month we will be using Simple Stories Documented Life papers.