project life week 2...

I had a bit of a light bulb moment a couple of weeks ago! As much as I love recording the details in my Project Life album, I noticed that this year every time I sat down to work on a new week I quickly became overwhelmed and couldn't get my pages to work. I had the photos printed and the stories ready to be told, but I just wasn't able to make it all come together. This was quite a big difference from last year where I had every week for the first 7 months of the year up to date and realised that the reason I was able to keep up to date because I was using kits!  

When I say kits, they don't necessarily have to be bought from a kit club or a particular company (although this will make it easier) - they can also be one that you put together from your own supplies (I'm sure you have enough of them!) but having a kit to work with eliminates the need to spend hours searching through your stash to find the right cards, then spending more time trying to find embellies to match. When you have a specific set of products in front of you, putting your pages together is so much easier. 

So now that I had figured out what was keeping me from staying up to date, naturally I jumped at the opportunity to play with a fabulous range of goodies from the Stampin' Up! Memories in the Making Project Life collection. 

The colours and designs in this range are simply gorgeous and I loved that not only do they include an awesome range of multi sized cards and cute accent pieces, but there is also a great range of coordinating stamps an dies too. 

Here's a look at how I used these products to document week two of my 2016 album. I'll add links to all the products I have used at the end of my post. 

For the top card, I used the alpha stickers directly over my photo, and added typed journaling with the help of one of the label dies. I used a mix of different stamps to add some extra detail to a few of the cards and photos and particularity liked the days of the week stamps from the 'Moments like These' stamp set, which I have used across both pages. 

I once again used the label die to create a place for my journaling over this photo, finished off with some hand stitching and cute enamel shapes from the accessory kit. 

The tiny number stamps were great for breaking up some of the journaling, and used one of the 'Paper Clip' dies and a variety of stickers to add some fun detail to the rain pic. 

Moving onto the second part of the week, this time using a 'Design 03' page protector from the variety pack. 

I added more stamped detail onto the journal cards, along with some wood veneer accents and gold foil stickers over a few of the photos.

The dye based ink pads were great for adding a hint of colour to the watercolour die-cuts from the accessory pack. I used a wet water brush to pick up some colour directly from the Tempting Turquiose ink pad and lightly coloured over the die cut for a soft water colour look.  

 In addition to the card and accessory kits, I also used the following polymer stamp sets -

  'Memories in the Making', 'Moments Like These' and 'This is the Life'. 

'Cards and Labels' and 'Paper Clips' dies, 

'Tempting Turquoise'  and 'Watermelon Wonder' ink pads, 1" circle punch.

'Variety Pack' Project Life Page Protectors.

 Thanks for stopping by xx  

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february @ kraft+...

A new month means a brand new challenge and this month the team at Kraft Plus are 'going postal'.

The challenge is to use postage stamps on a kraft base. 

I took the theme quite literally and decided to document the exchange of mail between me and my dad who lives in Poland. I used a few postage stamps from both Poland and Australia, and loved the way the postage mark patterned paper Kaisercraft tied everything in together. 

The title translates to 'Greetings from Poland' but I decided to write it in Polish to help document the story of having to relearn how to read and write the language so that I could exchange mail with my Dad who I haven't seen in over 30 years. Thankfully I can speak Polish fluently so telephone conversations are much easier ;)

As always there are great prizes up fro grabs for playing along, and be sure to check out all the fabulous inspiration from the rest of the team over on the Kraft Plus blog. 

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project life week 1...

 Hello again :) I am trying to stay on track with my 2016 album and am happy to have completed the first week of January. I wanted these pages to flow from the cover page I shared in my last post, and have kept the colours and products similar to what I used in the start of my album. 

I am keeping the format very similar to previous years, and although I am still using lots of embellies I don't want them to overwhelm the photos so am trying to be a bit more selective of what I add.

 As I have done in previous years, I am once again creating a title card to mark the beginning of each month, however I don't think I will be using these for each new week but will see how it goes. 

 I am once again using my favourite 'Bohemian Typewriter' font, but also trying to add a few more digital elements to my photos and cards, and was inspired by a card from Kaisercraft's 'My Year My Story' collection to create a vellum overlay for a cute Dear Lizzy filler card using ''Lillybelle" font I found on Pinterest. 

I used gold foiled accents throughout both pages, adding a few pops of peach to tie in with my cover page. 

Even though this was a short week, I had plenty of pics from our fishing trip and added a CTMH flip pocket to the page to hold a few extra photos. 

I have already started week 2 and hope to see you back again soon.

 Until then, thanks for stopping by xx

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project life 2016...

In an attempt to be more organised with Project Life this year, I decided to make a start on my 2016 cover page. I would normally have done this mid month so I would have time to gather up some January photos but decided to try something a bit different this year and left the photos out all together. I also decided to focus on the page as a whole instead of concentrating on each individual pocket and really like the results. 

The gold foiled vellum from the Dear Lizzy 'Documentary' collection was the perfect base for my page, although I did add some extra water colour wash to some of the white cardstock beneath the vellum to get a more even coverage of the beautiful teal colour. 

My favourite piece is the cute little chipboard house from the Crate Paper 'Wonder' collection that just happens to be the same number as our place :) and I thought that the glittered 'Our Story' chipboard from Mambi would be a perfect title for our album. 

I am using a 'Life is Beautiful' album from the Sunshine collection of Project Life and have decided to continue documenting on a weekly basis as I think it will be easier for me to work through each week individually rather than trying to take on a month's worth of photos. Wish me luck!!

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january @ kraft+...

I've got more scrapping inspiration for you for the start of the month, this time sharing my very first layout as member of the  Kraft+ challenges design team :) 

Here's the challenge... 

"Not many of us like our own handwriting, 
but this month at  K+ we  want you all to embrace it! 
Putting pen to paper and writing on your work puts a bit of YOU on your creations, something that future generations will cherish (no matter how messy you think it is)"

 I have never been fond of my own hand writing and mainly use typed journaling on all of my work so this was definitely not what I would call an easy challenge for me. I knew that for it work, I wanted the page to focus less on my actual style of handwriting and more about what had been written and was happy with my decision to break up the journaling into black and white blocks and alternate between block and script lettering to go with my 'more & less' theme for the page. 

Be sure to stop by the Kraft+ blog to check out all the fantastic ways the rest of the team have used handwriting on their pages, and don't forget to get your layouts linked by the end of the month for a chance to win some awesome prizes! Thanks for stopping by xx

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january @ scrap the boys...

Happy New Year!! I am starting the year with my final post as part of the Scrap The Boys design team. It's been a great year filled with lots of awesome challenges and I am finishing off my term with my take on our January mood board.

The mood board wasn't an easy one for me as I discovered that I didn't really own many purple products despite really liking the colour. I did have a perfect photo though and used this as my starting point for the page, combining bits and pieces from my stash with all the colours from the board. 

I recoloured a pinkish tag with a lilac pencil to match the photo and because my supplies were limited, I decided to use layered strips of various patterned papers from my scrap drawer. I added a few small tags to the layers and even created my own paper for the star pattern using a stencil and purple ink.  

 I used a large Crate Paper polaroid frame to bring more attention to the photo and added a few pops of gold to give the page some shine. 

If you'd like to play along, then be sure to link your layouts onto the blog by the end of the month to go in the running to win this month's prizes.

Thanks for stopping by xx

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december @ scrap the boys...

Mid-month reveals are up on the Scrap The Boys blog and here is the layout that I created based on this month's sketch challenge.

I used a mix of gorgeous Amy Tangerine and Crate Paper goodies to create one of my all time favourite layouts. 

I changed the sketch around a bit to suit my photo, and used the background paper as a guide for the stitched circles 

I hand cut the coloured leaves from some fun Amy Tangerine paper and added a few die cut leaves using a Studio Calico cutting die. 

Don't forget to check what the rest of the team created in the first reveal and be sure to upload your layouts to the Scrap The Boys blog by the end of the month to be in the running for this month's great prizes. Thanks for stopping by xx

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the secret is out...

In case you haven't heard the news, I have been keeping a HUGE secret for several months and am super excited to finally be able to share that I am one of the 2016 Scrapbooking Memories Masters!!!

After receiving quite a few honorable mentions in previous years but never actually making the cut, I had pretty much given up on the idea of ever being chosen as a Master and was undecided about entering the competition this year, but after receiving an lovely email from Vanessa from the magazine I decided to give it one more go and I am very happy that I did ;) Being recognised by the magazine has been a hug dream of mine and I was left pretty much speechless when I got ''the call" back in August and am still pinching myself today.

Congrats to the list of talented scrappers who I share the title with...

Amanda Reddicliffe
Amanda Sammut
Belinda Griffin
Krisy Podolak
Leanne McDonald
Michelle Stokes
Natalie May
Sandra Bunch
Sonia Thomason

and a big thanks to all the sponsors for all the fabulous prizes - there were heaps!!

I can't wait for the Masters Issue to come out on the 10th December so I can see what everyone else created and although I can't share my winning layouts with you just yet, I can share my very first cover page for Vol 18 No.4 featuring my little cutie ♥

Thanks for stopping and letting me share my exciting news with you, and a HUGE thanks for all the lovely messages and comments over on my Facebook and Instagram pages xx

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feeling festive...

With Christmas just a few weeks away, I have begun to feel very festive and decided to give the gorgeous November Moodboard from Sassy Scrappers a try. 

I loved the mix of classic red and white paired with shimmery gold and used one of my favourite December pics from 2014 to create a layout of my little guy waiting for Santa.

Apart from the colours, I was also inspired by the stars from the moodboard and added a few different varieties to the page. 

I used a mix of products on the gold foiled 'Crate Paper' base and added more stars and a few festive tags to the other side of the photo. 

 Thanks for stopping by xx

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november @ scrap the boys...

There's a fun new challenge over at Scrap The Boys this month. Being mum's of boys, we all know how much they love to eat and this month's challenge is all about the food! 

I thought this pic of Cameron with his giant burger would be perfect for the challenge.

As always I went with a mix of papers from various manufacturers and added a few fun 'food' themed bits and pieces from my stash.

Don't forget to link your food themed layouts onto the Scrap The Boys blog by the end of the month to go into the running to win this month's awesome prizes!

Thanks for stopping by xx

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