June 2014

Can you believe, another month gone! Man it has been a mild June too, it will be interesting to see what July will bring!

This month at ARTastic we had the challenge laid down with a beautiful piece of art by Max Mannix called The Jam Session. The criteria was to use distressing.

 

Now I think everyone has many different takes on what distressing is and the submissions show this. I think they are all relevant and it is great to see all the different interpretations. 

I based mine on using distress ink, I have edged all my layers, used templates to create pattern and coloured some of the elements on the page.

I was also inspired by the wood on the pub and used a photo of me and my girls in front of a distressed wall.

Thanks for calling in to look. I am looking forward to next months challenge, something a little bit different.

 

May 2014

Can you believe it is nearly the end of May already!? I can't believe how fast this year is going... April was a busy month and the highlight for me would have to be Autumn Escape.

I have attended this amazing event for five (or is it six?) years and I have to say this last one was one of my favourites! The tutors were Nic Howard, of course and she did her last ever class. Absolutely stunning! The lovely Paula Cheney from Tim Holts showing us some amazing techniques using the inks and paints. Then the artistic Natalie May, where I got to learn some new fun ways to include mixed media into my layouts.

I haven't got photos of my class layouts as I haven't finished titles and journalling, but here are a couple that I did that were inspired by the classes.

This layout was inspired by Natalie and I entered into the sketch comp they had running. I won :) yippee and a cool packet sponsored by Crazy Monday Kits.

 A close up of the Gesso and Inking I did. It was so liberating just throwing on the page!

Paula inspired me to have a go at inking me page using the Tim Holtz Layering Stencils. In this case the 'Rays'

And finally here is much submission for the May Challenge over at ARTastic Challenge Blog

This months challenge is based on the painting 'Amarys' by Robert Hagan, the criteria being 'Mother & Child'

I took a slightly different spin and scrapped a photo of me and my Mum.

I have used a monotone colour scheme and used some flowers, twine, Tim Holts words, a rub on that I don't know who made, and I splattered some white distress paint. Very simple but effective, well I think so!

Thanks for coming for a look!

March 2014

Hi all, sorry there was no post in February. Bit of a busy time in our household!

March has been a month of highs and lows for me. My good friend lost her battle with cancer and I attended her funeral on the same day as my 15th Wedding anniversary. Needless to say we celebrated on another day.

So, what have I been doing as far as scrapbooking? Just the minimum, I am sorry to say. Although I am hoping this will change very shortly!! I am looking forward to Autumn Escape in April, hopefully loads of inspiration to get my creative juices flowing.

This month at ARTastic the challenge is based on a piece of art by

Lyn Butchart called Bluebirds

 

 

The  criteria is to use texture. This challenge runs till the end of March and is a heap of fun. You can add texture with anything!!!

For my entry I decided to try something new by creating texture on my background. When it comes to texture usually let my papers and flowers do the talking. I used tissue paper, ribbon, lace, twine, metal embellies, hessian and felt to create the base. I then covered this in Gesso to meld it together then got creating with glimmermists, stamps and distress paints. I used the tarnished brass distress paint to colour the flowers and other bits in the cluster, linking it all together. This goes out to my good friend Kirsty xxooxx

She could always make me laugh!

January 2014

Welcome to 2014!

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe holiday. I know I did!

The challenges are back into action at ARTastic and January is being inspired by a beautiful piece of wall art by Vexta.

 

The criteria for the challenge is to include Diamonds or Triangles.

I must admit that these are shapes that I don't automatically use in my layouts but when I went back through some of my inspiration collection I found that triangle banners was where my inspiration would come from.

This layout is from a photo shoot we did with my girls. I wanted papers that would complement their dresses without blending in too much. I also liked the clean lines in the photos so tried to not be too messy to play into this.

The papers I used are from a collection that was left over from a class I did at Autumn Escape a few years ago. I think they are Prima but not too sure :)

Thanks for coming and having a look at my blog, please feel free to leave a comment!

Happy scrapping :)

November..... What's been happening?

Not a lot really!

I think because life was so busy for the last couple of months and next month is Christmas I decided to give myself a little break. Although there have been a trip to Rotorua, Whakatane and Tauranga in there.

This months challenge for ARTastic was one I was looking forward to. The art is called Listen by Kiwi artist Jenny Grant.

 

The criteria was free choice as long as your inspiration came from this art. For me this piece screamed out texture, layers and subtle colours.

So I decided to scrap a picture of my 'Beautiful Ghoul' Alana in her vampire dress up.

The paper is some left over paper I had from a class with Paula Cheney. I can't remember the brand but I love the deep subtle colours and decided to pick up the shades of yellow through the flowers, inking some ribbon and the lace. To add some texture I rolled the edges of the paper and used Gesso with the Prima Doily stencil. A couple of charms, metal flowers and a bit of bling and I am really happy with this layout!

Thanks for coming and looking.

Please leave me a comment to let me know what you think.

Busy couple of months!

Wow, what a busy couple of months our little family has had!

Top of our best of times had to be the family holiday to the Gold Coast.

The holiday of a lifetime!

Here are a couple of my favourite pics.

The Log Flume at Movie World. It was our second ride and we were all gonna smile at the camera. Good one Shane!

Cuddling a Koala at Dreamworld.

Alana got to play with the Dolphins at Seaworld.

Snake! At Currumbin Sanctuary.

A favourite ride at Dreamworld.

 Loads of memories and even more scrapbooking to do. I took 1100 photos :)

So what scrapbooking have I been doing?

For the September Challenge over at ARTastic Challenge Blog

the inspiration was Holiday Homes by Michael Cartwright.

 

The criteria was quirky and fun! What a fun challenge it was too. I decided to challenge myself by trying something whimsical and using a photo that was cut out. Something I don't often attempt, but I was really happy with the results!

The flowers are from Prima, butterflies from Jenni Bowlin and I have used a mask by Crafter's Workshop with Gesso. The paper is the 'Dancing Girl' range by Fancy Pants. The chip branch is from ScrapFX.

Next was the October Layout. For this month ARTastic chose an amazing piece of art by Mia Taninaka called Salvation.

 

The criteria is to include wood and/or feathers. I sort of included both. The layout I did was inspired by a sketch I found, I'm sorry but I don't remember where from though :)

The paper is from the Basecoat range by Kaiser on a Bazzill background. I have added some wooden accents from Imaginarium and Jenni Bowlin, a doiley from Prima, some decorative tape and some other bits and pieces.

Another project that I have just finished are 9 treasure boxes for my mother-in-law to give as present for some friends. These were heaps of fun as I haven't made something off the page for a long time. 

The boxes are from Spotlight, papers, bling and flowers by Kaiser (Curiosity Range), Prima flowers and an old dictionary.

And last on my list of recent creations was this layout for myself. Just cause I can :)

The papers are from the 'Indigo Bleu' range by Pink Paislee. This range has a beautiful subtle feel to it and has greys, yellows, blues and teals. To finish the layout I used some transparencies, buttons, brads and staples. A touch of Glimmermist and Distress ink to soften the edges.The alphas are from Prima.

Thanks for coming over and having a look, can't wait to see how my November layout looks.

Prima August BAP Layout

I am really proud of this layout. It was a spur of the moment selfie with my man photo opportunity and it captured us here and now. Thus the theme of my layout.

 The sketch from Prima that leads the challenge is:

 

I really liked the idea of the balance that the sketch shows and although I didn't want to use that big a photo I have used a larger photo than I usually use. I love the colours of the Annalee Collection and this is what formed the base of my layout.

I have used three papers from the Annalee collection for this layout along with Prima Resist Canvas, Prima Tag, their Candy Gems, flowers and Art Tiles. To this I have added some doiley, book paper, ribbon, washi and metal trinkets. I have tied it all together with Distress Ink in Tea Dye.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy!

Lesley.