13@rts July sketch challenge

I finally got around to ordering some 13@rts papers. I am so impressed with them. They are as good if not better than what people have said. I didn't get all of the ones I wanted probably because I didn't get my butt into gear quickly enough with my order but at last we can get them in Australia now that Sassy Scrappers stock some of their products. Now I just need to get some of the paints!! and some Mists!!! and some inks!! and ........ WELLLLLLLLLLL pretty much the whole lot!!

So anyway, what better to do with 13@rts papers than to enter a 13@rts challenge. And so I did! Here is my interpretation of Aida Domisiewicz's sketch for July.

Here is Aida's gorgeous sketch. I've flipped it to be longer (so to speak) on the right hand side rather than the left. It's just lately, I've been trying to work from right to left on my LO as I find I'm very Left to right orientated. It's this thing I do now thanks to Lizzy Hill (xx Lizzy). I'm getting much better at it but unless I do it consciously, I work from left to right every time!

As is with my addiction lately, I've created a process video. I am just loving creating these videos. In this one, I do make a very quick cameo appearance at the start to show you exactly how excited I am to have received these papers. It's very quick and if you blink you'll miss it but I am getting a little bit braver! Before you know it my annoying voice will be commentating over the top!!

The background paper I chose is from the "Timeless" collection. It has the best water mark clocks on it and it's called "Perfect Moment". I also used a sticker from the "Timeless" collection to create my title "One Moment in Time".

I've also added some butterfly's as a requirement of the challenge. Easy peasy for me, because I LOOOOOVE butterfly's.

I've coordinated a combination of Prima embellishments including the resin frame, white clock, little light bulb and some flowers as well as used the Prima Circle Stitch stamp on the background. The little Potty People are wood veneer from Studio Calico.

Tim Holtz gets a look in too with his bubbles stencil and dots stamp along with my all time favourite butterfly's from his "Papillion" stamp set.

I would have to say this is currently my favourite LO and it just goes to show, that when I'm super excited about products I create super dooper pages! Well I love it anyway hee hee.

Thanks for popping in and checking out my 13@rts challenge piece.

Cheers

Fiona xx

Off the Rails July Challenge DT Inspiration

"Love This"

Over at Off the Rails Scrapbooking this month the challenge is based on a beautiful colour palette. This is my interpretation.

And here is the colour palette. Such a beautiful rich colour combination.

My layout has a watercolour background with stamping and blending with ink through a stencil.

The stencil I've used is a favourite of mine. It's from Studio Calico and called "Circle Graph". I placed it over the watercolour background once it had dried and blended some Distress Ink over it.

The harlequin stamp is a small one that I find very handy that comes from the Tim Holtz Artistry selection of clear stamps. This one in particular is from the set "French Market".

I've also added some red cotton under my photos to add texture to the layout.

The circles are the inserts from the 6" Clock face Frames from 2Crafty Chipboard. Waste not want not! I simply painted them with red watercolour paint to match the colour palette.

The embellishments are pretty much just made from scraps I had lying in my scraps basket. I just love how this all came together. I didn't really have a plan to begin with but as it developed I could see where I was going with it and I'm really pleased with the end result.

The prize this month is a fantastic selection of goodies donated by our very own DT member Rachael Funnell.

I love working with a colour palette. It gives me some direction right from the start. Pop on over to the Off the Rails Scrapbooking blog to check out some more inspiration from the DT and to enter your interpretation for the challenge. Don't forget to share your entry on our Facebook page HERE.

Cheers

Fiona xx

2Crafty Chipboard Post for July

So here it is, my very first post for 2Crafty Chipboard.

WOW!! Someone please pinch me. I still can't believe that I've been asked to join this amazing team. I am so honoured to be amongst so many talented designers. I still can’t believe it’s real.

MY JULY INSPIRATION

For my first layout I've incorporated

 "Crazy Circles"

"Funky Hearts" and 

"Word Circles"

"So Much to Love"

  

I'm very partial to using circles on my layouts. So naturally I was drawn to the Crazy Circles that 2Crafty Chipboard produce. I coated them in white Gesso to begin with and then pressed them into some pink acrylic paint. Sort of like stamping in reverse. The effect I got was a lovely blended paint finish.

The "Funky Hearts" were also coated in white Gesso but a much thicker layer. I also coated the biggest heart with a layer of modelling paste and splattered some Pink Ink spray onto it. Once it was almost dry, I stamped the words into it with black ink.

The "Word Circle" TOGETHER I painted in black Gesso and then edged in white Gesso.

This layout is so bright and funky. I love it!

My next layout is a tribute to my beautiful children and the gifts they bought me for Mothers Day. On this page I've combined

"Leafy Shrub Set"

"Fanciful Butterfly's" and

"Love You word"

"Love You"

I covered all of the chipboard pieces with Distress Paint and waited patiently for them to dry allowing the crackle to form properly. It was definitely worth the wait.

The crackle effect gave the chipboard a real rustic texture especially the butterfly's and when I added some of the background colour water paint to the pieces, it slipped perfectly into the cracks creating a depth to each one.

These chipboard words make the best title's for your pages.

My final piece to share with you includes the pieces

"6inch Clock Face Frames"

"Word Circle" and

"Tiny Hearts and Stars"

"Enjoy Life"

For this layout I layered a whole packet of Clock frames onto the page. They are "naked" in chipboard terms. Nothing has been done to them except for the occasional splatter from the watercolour background colour.

One thing I love about the 2Crafty Chipboard is it's natural colour. It has such an earthy tone to it which suited this layout perfectly.

The word circle I've coated in black Gesso to make it stand out from the clock face frames.

From the tiny hearts and  stars I used only the stars. I'll keep the hearts for another project. I used the stars firstly as stamps with some gold ink and then painted them black and added them to the page so they would contrast with the background.

Boy I had some fun!

So that's my first three layouts for 2Crafty Chipboard. I hope I've inspired you to head to your creative space and explore some new techniques. 

Cheers

Fiona xx

123 Challenge Blog July Challenge

Every month I'm on the look out for a challenge that stretches my creative muscles. This month I was drawn to the 123 Challenge Blog July challenge. I love that they incorporate three elements into each challenge. I find that I can often manage two easily but that third one always gets me!

Here is my take on it.

And here is the challenge.

I also put together a little process video.

The word "Awesome" I use ALL the time (probably a little too much). I use it to describe awesome people I meet, awesome projects I see and awesome techniques I learn. So that was an easy element to incorporate into this layout.

 I also love arrows, I use them lots on my pages. I think having a boy to scrap has given me plenty of practice using arrows, however, I don't limit them just to my boy layouts. I recently created a page full of arrows HERE and this time I added a bling arrow. Something new for me. When you watch the process video, you'll have a bit of a giggle as I procrastinate immensely on exactly where it should go.

The brights on the other hand!!! I don't often work with bright colours. When I do, I'm always pleased with the results. I have done bright layouts in the past HERE and HERE but that's about the total of it lol. So the colour scheme was a bit of a challenge.

I began with the brightest piece of paper in my stash I could find. It happened to be a piece from Kaszazz's "Fella's" collection. It's called "Wood Grain" but only because that's what's on the flip side. On this side is a beautiful vibrant pink and fuschia chevron pattern. I teamed it up with some Graphic 45 paper from the Ole Curiosity Shoppe collection. This one is called "Mercurial Masterpiece". Again I used the other side of the paper. I think I'm attracted to "B" side patterns!

I used my Dylusions Ink Sprays but not as sprays this time. I stencilled some paint splats onto the background. I've tried spraying with this stencil before with not much success, so I'm really pleased how this turned out.

I also used the Dylusions to colour my texture paste which is not something I've done much of before either. A page of firsts for me! I'm really liking the additional colour it adds as well as the texture.

This page was heaps of fun to create and I hope you enjoy the process video. You can watch it directly from this post or you can visit my YouTube page HERE. All of my videos can also be found in the tab up the top of my blog.

Thanks for popping in and checking out my bright fun page.

Cheers

Fiona xx

SATW July Moodboard Challenge

I'm always keen for at least one challenge each month and this month my favourite comes from Scrap Around the World. Their Design Team each month create and host a moodboard for the monthly challenge and this month Tusia Lech has put her talents together and created a beautiful board for inspiration.

Here is my take on it.

And here is the moodboard. It's such a light and bright collection Tusia has put together. I immediately thought of my sons beautiful girlfriend, Kendall. She is such a breath of fresh air. Her smile lights up a room and warms my sons heart which is all a mum can ask for her boy.

She has had some big changes career wise in the last couple of weeks and I felt that the quote Tusia chose to put on the moodboard suited perfectly. It is also a great attitude to have in life and one I think Kendall would agree on.

Recently, I've really enjoyed putting together process videos of my creations. I love the challenge of the editing (still improving with each video) and I love inspiring people.

Process Video

Some close ups and materials I've used.

The background paper is from Kaszazz's Vintage Flourish collection it's called "Jasmine Lee". I've stacked old book pages and old maps for my photo matt. I love to use old bits and pieces as much as I can. the maps have been selected carefully to represent the places Kendall has lived in her short life.

 I've added my title using 2Crafty Chipboard "Smile Loopy Font" word. I primed it in white Gesso and then coloured it using the Distress Inks.

The background is a combination of Heidi Swapp Color Sprays and stencilling with Distress Inks over the Triangle's stencil from Crafters Workshop.

Embellishments include some paper scraps, a potty girl from Calico Studio, some little Prima flowers and a Kaszazz floral embellishment.

I hope you've enjopyed my quick little run down of this page. If you want to see how it all comes together then scroll up and click on the process video. it can also be found in the tabs along the top of my blog.

You can find more of my videos HERE and you can follow me on Facebook HERE.

Thanks for popping in.

Cheers

Fiona xx

Off the Rails Scrapbooking Tutorial - Using a Colour Wheel Part 2

Using a Colour Wheel part 2 - Triadic Colour Schemes

As part of the DT over at OTR, each month I share a couple of tutorials. This time I introduce you all to "Triadic" colour combinations for you to use on any of your projects.

 Now, a Triadic colour scheme is when you split the wheel into thirds as shown below. It is always either a trio of Primary, Secondary or Tertiary combination. Never a mix of different ones. That's a completely different colour combination process all together (next time). For now we'll just focus on the Triadic combination. 

As you can see on the colour wheel below, the top triangle highlights Red Violet and the other two colours highlight Blue Green and Yellow Orange. The yellow and blue are the two other tertiary colours that then creates a Triadic combination.

You begin by choosing your base colour. The combination I worked with for this project was the Red Violet base Triadic. Red violet is a tertiary colour so the other two colours will be tertiary also. 

Now I'm not a lover of triadic combinations and you won't find many of them in my projects (just my personal preference) but they do work. I think some work better than others. I'm not a fan of the Red, Blue and Yellow (Primary) triadic but with the right photo or on the right project it does work really well. I do love the Violet, Green and Orange (secondary) triadic combination and I've used it before with great success. But this time I've tried the Red Violet, Blue Green and Yellow Orange.

My art journal page uses a combination of Red Violet (Fuchsia) Blue Green (Turquoise) and Yellow Orange (Gold) and they look awesome together.

I hope you've enjoyed my second tutorial on colour wheels. Next time I'll share with you some ideas around using Analogous colour schemes.

Cheers

Fiona xx

SIWA July challenge "Vintage"

SIWA Vintage Theme

Over at Scrap it With Attitude this month our talented DT member Wendy O'Keffe has chosen our theme for the month "Vintage". This is not a style I often dabble in so for me, what a wonderful challenge.

This is my take on it.

This is a photo of my beautiful mum on her 2nd Birthday riding her new tricycle.

We had a bit of a giggle about her qualifying as "Vintage" when I showed her the layout which then developed into a moment of story telling about what she remembered of her childhood. My mum was born during the Second World War and didn't get to meet her Father, my Grandfather until she was almost 3. She remembers the moment vividly. She recalled feeling afraid of him and getting a smack on the bottom for not wanting to give him a hug. Oh how times have changed.

The background paper is "Sun Chaser" from the Kaisercraft Paradiso collection. I gave it a coat of White Gesso and edged it with Distress Stain "Vintage Photo" and "Walnut Stain". Perfect vintage colours.

I've used the Kaisercraft "Art of Life" sticker sheet from the Photo Friendly collection to embellish the page. it's a wonderful selection of little frames, numbers, butterfly's, old film roll and much more.

Some of the papers I used were also Kaisercraft from the Vintage Timeless 6X6 paper pad as well as some pages from some old books. The butterfly's are also Kaisercraft from the Timeless collection sticker sheet.

Before I layered the paper and embellishments and after the Gesso was dry, I added some swirly drawing with my black fine point sharpie. The stamped butterfly's are Tim Holtz along with some of his "Film Strip" ribbon.

The black frames are a stick on velour called "Fancy Frames" from Jenny B Collection. I love how they just pop on the page. The flowers are Prima along with the little wooden clock that I've coloured red with Distress Ink "Festive Berries".

I used white drawing ink for the first time on this layout and I'm really happy with the depth of it's colour and how it dries on the page.

I hope I've helped inspire you to enter the challenge over at SIWA. It's a fb based challenge sight that anyone can enter and the prizes are always awesome.

Thanks for checking out my layout.

Cheers

Fiona xx