AT MY BEST...: Words or Whatever

12x12

This kid is super cute.... and oh so cheeky. I loved this photo from our overseas holiday and couldn't help but make it one of the first ones I scrapped. It was just a happy snap, while she sat in the pram before a big day.

I have had the peacock feather around for a little while now and it just seemed right to use it on this page. I wanted to bring back the flower layers like my older pages and they worked well.

I just love the background paper on this one too. I have no idea what brand it is or even if I have more of it, but it was perfect... just enough detail not to be a standard card stock. (And I have checked, it is a Kaiser paper from the Salty Toes line, and lucky for me I have another page left)!

This chipboard bee has been in my stash for a while, and Charlie was given a Kiwi Buzzy Bee when we were in New Zealand, so I wanted to incorporate this into the page and an additional memory. It has been sprayed gold with Heidi Swapp gold mist.

The other chipboard piece has also been misted with gold and I wanted to keep it running along the same line as the peacock feather.

I love this layout. It is super busy but I love it. I have incorporated elements of a few older pages that stood out after looking back through older albums, and made me wonder where some of these elements that I used to use all the time went. I think as scrappers, we all do this every now and then.

There is more scrapping coming up, but I am thinking about changing my blog up a little. I am going to start doing a few more reviews, but more travel related. I want to highlight the places we have been to give 'just another internet opinion' but one from someone a few of you know. This is a bit of a new direction for me, but one that I feel the need to head in. I love my travel and with my attention to detail, I pick up on little tips, tricks and things that others may have walked past or payed no attention to. I want to use my powers for good ;-)

There will still be craft related items scattered through out, so keep checking back if that's why you are here.

12x12

'Sashimi'

6:30 AM

12x12

'Life is Amazing' - Words or Whatever January Challenge

1:57 PM

I sat down on the weekend and wanted to scrap. I just needed to do something creative.

It has been sometime since I participated in any challenges, and there was one that happened to pop up in my facebook feed at the time that I found appealing. Words or Whatever does it again, and it helps that I have a good amount of product left over from my DT days that was perfect for this criteria (although a couple of the pieces were set aside for another project but anyway!).

It was a last minute effort to get it on for the closing time, but it worked in terms of inspiration. I got the layout completed in no time, photographed and entered. And it felt good.

The layout is less of my usual style, yet I can still see me in it.... And I love it!

It also kicks off the start of the New Zealand holiday scrapping.

The criteria was circles, arrows, the colours and the quote, which I have used for my title.

The background was fun to make, and super easy. I sprayed a few quirts of dylusions mist onto a plastic lid and used a scrunched up plastic shopping bag to dab it onto the cardstock, using both a yellow and a pink. After this I have used a circle mask, which was layered over the top and misted over to get the additional element of the circles.

I have used paint on the chipboard circles to draw through the yellow component of the background (and the challenge criteria). I love the light wood veneer piece from Words or Whatever which just gives an extra grounding colour, but is still reflective of the warm yellows.

There is minimal paper used in this layout. I admire how other scrappers can mix a background like this and still incorporate layers of pretty papers into it as well.... This is something I just can't manage.

I have also used both painted chipboard and a flair button to cover out the arrows component of the criteria.

It has been a long time since I last used masks and quotes for titles. It felt normal for me to be this messy (until my patience gave out and I just started sticking things down rather than using the heat gun to get things to dry)!

This was a lot of fun and it has renewed my love of a little bit messy and taking part in challenges for fun.

Card File

Card Files - Using Memorabilia

6:30 AM

One of the long lingering items on my to-do list has now been crossed off.... finally. And I love the result!

I have had a bag floating around with both our engagement cards and wedding cards in it, with an idea on what to do with them, but no more ideas beyond that. I finally forced myself to sit down and get it done, and I'm so much happier for it. People send a lot of money on cards for very special occasions like these (plus all of those beautiful hand made cards), and write some wonderful advise and loving words, that I didn't want to throw them away. I wanted them to be on display for all to see.

These card files were the answer. They have simply been made from 2 pieces of thick cardboard/chipboard a little bit bigger than the biggest card we were given. They have been covered in paper on the outside, lined on the inside and bound with some ribbon/lace. Then they were decorated and holes punched to match the smallest card we had. So simple.

Being me, I have put a bit of a memorabilia twist on these, just to make them more personal again.

The gold paper on the cover of this album, and the ribbons holding it all together are from a gift bag that one of our gifts was in. I wanted to use this as a part of the memorabilia from the occasion. The teal ribbon on the cover and the punched teal butterflies are the same ones from our invitations. The navy blue was also a colour from our invitations/party theme.

The Engaged title is a piece of Words of Whatever chipboard and has been inked with Tim Holtz black distress paint, and the date is Thickers.

The inside has been lined with a black and white/cream paper, where I have recorded a couple of notes from the time.

A view of the inside of the file.

A close up of the front cover so that you can see the layers of decoration.

I have used the same technique with the Wedding card album. The black lace was used on all of our wedding invitations, RSVP cards, menus and scatter cards... It was even used on the cake!! There is a funny story to it too, so I wanted to use it as memorabilia from the event.

The Our Wedding title is a piece of Words or Whatever chipboard, that I have cut down to make two words so that it fits. It has been painted black with Tim Holtz distress paint. The hearts are also chipboard from Words or Whatever and have been sprayed gold with Heidi Swapp mist. The date is Thickers.

The cover has been lined with the same paper as the one above, as I thought it was pretty neutral yet classy looking.

The close up of the front cover.

This is both of them sitting together.... and makes me smile!

Currently they are sitting in my scraproom shelves, and don't look one bit out of place.

The hardest part about this project was punching all of the holes in the cards! My hand hurt after that, but it was well worth it.

I hope I have inspired you to do something with all of the heartfelt cards that you have laying around.

9x9

'Family' - 9x9 Shadow Frame

6:30 AM

12x12

'Merry & Bright'

7:30 AM

8.5x11

December Daily Kit Preview 2015 - Gossamer Blue

7:30 AM

This will be my 3rd year doing a documenting December album, and I did wonder what would be so different from year to year, but by doing this project, I am very clearly seeing that there is plenty that changes. And the things that done change, I am forcing myself to look at them from a different angle.

Each year I have purchased a pre-done kit and this year is no exception. I do however bulk the kit out with extras to suit and I wanted to share all of this here before we start the downhill slide into December (and things start getting used up).

This year I found the Gossamer Blue kit very appealing, so invested in it. I loved the colours and that there isn't too much Northern hemisphere focused, which is important when we have hot days rather than snow.

The basic kit includes an album with several different layout page protectors, plenty of 6x8 double sided papers and lots of little things like sticky notes, stickers, washi tape, chipboard, sequins, twine and little silver bells.

To match the page protectors, there are plenty of different sized double sided cards, wood veneer, cork shapes and plastic pieces.

This was one addition that really appealed to me, and it is the planner pages. There is a whole month calendar and 5 week to a view sets, all with to do list space at the bottom of the day, This is going to be super handy in keeping track of a busy month. And, if by chance I don't finish the album in December, these will help me to remember the days events.

When purchasing the kit, I also signed up for the class, which has been running for all of November so far, and it have been worth it. Along with the class was the class kit that I purchased. It contains a few more cards and a stamp set, which is very planner based. I love it!

To add to the kit, I have purchased just about the whole Snap 'Clause & Co' set. There is already a little bit of this in the kit, so the rest of the range will compliment what is already there. I will also use some of this for a sneaky Christmas card here and there too.

I have also picked up a set of Kaisercraft Collectable to add to the mix, and raided my Words or Whatever stash for everything Christmas themed that I had. These have all been compiled into a snap lock bag for easy access.

As I have been doing this for a couple of years now, I have a container set up with all of the Christmas themed items in it ready to go. It has a whole range of journal tags, sequins, twine, spare PL cards and stickers (generally anything left over from the last two years) that will be added to everything shown in this post. It might seem like a lot, but when I get into it, it becomes a good combination of the staple elements.

I am excited about getting started again this year. Those that know me well, know that I cant pre-plan my album, so it is completed as it goes. Its what works for me and I have 2 years worth of albums complete from 1st December right through to the 26th December, so I must be doing something right!

Check back over the course of the month and I will share some of my progress.

Chipboard

'Paradise' Desk Frame - Hawaii Theme

7:00 AM

I bought this little frame a while ago now, with the idea that I could put a quick photo in it then put it either on my scrap desk or my work desk. The frame wasn't too expensive and was purchased from Harvey Norman. The frame comes with the photo mat in it and the insert space is 4x4 inches. Just perfect for an Instagram photo.

This little project took no time at all to piece together, and would make a great little gift idea. Especially with Christmas just around the corner.

The photo that is in the frame was taken on our last trip to Hawaii in 2014 so I have gone with a tropical 'Hawaiian' theme for this project and it gave me the change to use some of my absolute all time favourite chipboard pieces.

All of the pieces that I have stuck down are Words or Whatever products. The pineapple, which is one of my absolute favourite pieces, has been coloured with sharpie makers, a gel pen and Tim Holtz distress ink. It has been stuck directly to the outside of the glass.

Another of my favourite pieces of chipboard that Words or Whatever have released are these mini palm trees. They look great coloured in black as a silhouette or in colour. This occasion I went with colour. These have been coloured in with sharpie markers and Tim Holtz distress ink. My next step was to make sure that there was a layered effect - One stuck on the outside of the glass and the other directly to the frame.

The paradise title is a Words or Whatever light wood veneer. It was actually the last piece that I pulled out of my stash for this project and I really wasn't sure where I was going to stick it, but I'm really happy that I worked with it to make it fit my idea.

For now this frame will be staying in my scraproom. It is proudly on display on top of my bookcase. It will end up on my scrap desk once my scraproom makeover is finished.

This project took all of half an hour to pull together. So simple yet so effective for personalising items either for yourself or as gifts.

featured

'A Day at Bondi' - Project Life Mini Album

7:30 AM

Have you ever had one of those days out where there are just too many photos for a scrapbook layout, but really not enough to build a full mini album from? This day trip was exactly one of those.

When my cousin and her partner were down from Queensland, we had a girls day out day trip to Bondi. Living in New South Wales all my life and I had never been there, so it didn't take much to count me in.

Bek and I are very similar in the fact that the phone is never far away to document anything through photos. And this day was no different. Between both lots of photos, I had more than enough to document the day out, but finding a solution that wasn't under or over done was a bit of a task.

When you have as many Project Life cards laying around as I do (I really think they are breeding) then you will find any way to use them (just to give me the excuse to buy more). I am loving the mini album ideas at the moment and I thought that making my own mini from the PL cards would be a good idea. So I set about looking for the stash and pulling out ones that I thought would work.

To be fair, I have also used a few patterned papers from a 6x6 pad to give the photos that are already 4x4 a little bit of a boarder but you will see that through the album photos below.

There is a clear transparency cover on this album. I wanted to do this to protect the cover, but also to add that extra layer of dimension. I have added the 'Bondi' part of the title to the front in a timber look thicker and stitched through the middle with the sewing machine.

I started by just sticking the photos in then I went back later to journal and embellish.

There are a combination of 4x6 and 3x2 project life cards in this project and they have been scattered throughout the album.

I found a few Words or Whatever wood veneer pieces in my stash and thought they were appropriate to use on this OTP.

I have used paper cuts from a 6x6 paper pad to enable me to stick the smaller square photos on. I print these photos at home so they are no definite size. I think they came out about 3.5x3.5 inches.

I wanted to have a fairly bit journal space in this album, bit I didn't want a whole page of text. So I found a way around it. In the project life kits there are a few cards just a bit smaller than 4x6 that already have a score down the centre. I knew that by folding one of these in half I would be able to hide my journaling, but still have plenty of room to tell the story.

To be able to open and close this card I have punched a hole through the top corner of both layers and simply snipped one side of the hole to be able to clip the card around the album ring to close it up.

This gave the ability to use the back side of the card for either more photos, or in this case another bit of journaling.

I thought this 'Love' card just fitted perfectly with all of the boardwalk art. I didn't want to do too much with it, but I think the arrow paperclip does enough.

I wasn't sold on the 3x2 card turned landscape in this album, but I really wanted to use the 'today' card. It turned out that it was perfect for the photo that I put on the back.

I hoped to break up so many photos in the album by using some of the PL cards and leaving them fairly plain.

While we found a place to stop and have a quiet drink, I kept the little tag off the beer bottle, specifically to put in this album. Always the crafter, thinking ahead!

While up in Bondi, we got the chance to visit the Aquabumps gallery, so again I grabbed promotional postcard to stick in the album too.

To finish off the album, I have used another transparency, from one of the PL Heidi Swapp kits. I thought it looked perfect over the top of the heart card.

I hope this may have inspired you to pull out any of those cards that you have laying around and use them to document a day trip out too.

It was a really fun project and used up products that I already had in my stash.

AT MY BEST...

'Hello Little Miss'

'Cheeky Charlie'

'Sashimi'

'Life is Amazing' - Words or Whatever January Challenge

Card Files - Using Memorabilia

'Family' - 9x9 Shadow Frame

'Merry & Bright'

December Daily Kit Preview 2015 - Gossamer Blue

'Paradise' Desk Frame - Hawaii Theme

'A Day at Bondi' - Project Life Mini Album

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