A little news

Hello there!

Just a super quick post today sharing with you that I have once again bitten the bullet and re-joined Stampin' Up!!

I first fell in love with the products back in 2007 (I think) and immediately upon seeing my very 1st catalogue I joined up as a demonstrator!!

I needed to replenish a few things recently - I seriously cannot go past SU cardstock for my cards - so took the plunge and signed up again!

I don't know if it is good timing or not but the retirement list has just come out again so if there is something you are desperately after that is on the list make sure you jump on it cause once it's gone, it's gone for good!!

You can click here and see the retirement list in 2 categories - stamps and everything else and here if you wish to order - a simple, quick, easy way of ordering and it will get sent straight to your front door!!

So, that's it for me for today, if you have any questions or anything please don't hesitate to contact me either leaving a comment here on my blogpost or if you click the link to shop there is a link there to contact me as well :)

Happy scrapping!

Mel

xx

A Creative Journey

Hi there!!

I've just dropped in today to share the start of a fun creative circle journal I have signed up to participate in with Scrapping Clearly.

For those of you new to this whole concept (which totally included me right up until about 6 weeks ago!!) a circle journal is an art journal that goes around a group of people (in this case, 12) with or without a theme. My theme is "Advice for a younger you". I completed the album construction, the front and back covers, the sign in page and also the page with my own advice. My journal is in transit as I speak to the next person in my group who will complete their own version of my theme on the next pages in my album. It will make its way around the whole group and I will receive it back in 12 months time full of beautiful art work - I cant wait to see how it comes home!! Also, I am super excited to play along in everyone else's journals with everyone else's theme's over the coming 12 months!

So, I hope that makes sense and onto the fun stuff!!

Here is the front cover

I actually did my front and back as one piece before I assembled my bag so here is the front and the back together

As I toyed with different ideas for colours/design while I was working on this I heard my little guys (Master 6) little voice in my head saying "rainbow Mummy" so thats what I did!! First a coat of gesso then gelatos in Red, Pink, Orange, Yellow, Green, Teal-ish and Blue - yep, I totally missed the Violet and that was totally on purpose!!

I used some permanent chalk ink in grey to stamp and then to apply through a stencil.

Here is my sign in pages

I got the idea from a couple of other peoples journals (the tags) and from Suse Fish with her "planner pockets" in her scrapbook pages.

A quick coat of gesso again and when that dried I splashed water all over the 2 pages with a paint brush and then splashed all my pink Heidi Swapp colour shines in the same way to give this fun water colour effect. Next was the stamping - I used grey ink with the stamp set from Amy Tan's Finders Keepers stamp set. When that was all dry I added some black colour shine to some texture paste and applied that through a stencil.

And here are the close ups of the 2 pages

I didn't take a photo of my tag because I thought I would keep that for the people reading the journal :)

And then onto my advise to my younger me

Again, a coat of gesso - I seriously cannot believe how well these brown paper bags stood up to all the water, ink and mists!!

This time I started with some white embossing of those gorgeous Kaiser butterfly and texture stamps. Then I went in with my cheap water colours from spotlight - they have this gorgeous shine to them that I just cant seem to capture on camera. I used some blues and greens and really, really love how these pages came out!

For my embellishments/words I started with one of those gorgeous lace doilies and pulled out a bunch of cameo cuts that I had made both in vellum and in paper using the Dear Lizzy Documentary range! I just love the colours, the words and those florals are just beautiful!

I have a little container on my desk with little bits and pieces that I have been dipping into to get used so I also pulled from that the white and silver arrow and the silver glitter ampersand. Those alphas are one of my all time faves - October Afternoon Mini Market.

I used my scotch quick dry adhesive to attach the doily (after I cut it and the embellishments on it) and then used hot glue to attach everything else!

I seriously love how these pages turned out! Here are a couple of close ups of these last couple of pages

Oh, and my very final touch was adding some splashes of both black and Oceana (I think) colour shine and sticking down a few sequins :)

So, thats the last I will see of my journal until this time next year when it makes it way back to me! I hope you have enjoyed seeing this and I will share my progress as journals come and go throughout the year!!

Happy scrapping!

Mel

xx

Beautiful

Hi there!

I'm just popping in quickly to share a 12x12 layout I made over the last weekend, well, just because! I have this gorgeous Cocoa Vanilla range sitting in my stash (Life Is Beautiful) and I just wanted to play!

Here is the finished project - pretty clean for me but I am super happy with how it came out :)

I have used papers, stickers and the ephemera pack all from the Cocoa Vanilla range and paired it with some gold glitter thickers from my stash.

Unlike most of my pages there is no journalling on this page but I know that there will be other pages to go along with this event in my album so will get around to telling all of the relevant stories on other pages :)

Here are a few close ups

I had to add some ink splatters to finish it off - I pulled out my Heidi Swapp colour shine in gold (of course!!) and navy :)

That's it for me for today, and honestly probably for the next few days at the very least as after I finish work tomorrow the family and I off for a little camping trip! I hope you get to enjoy some of your own scrappy time, especially if you are here in Australia and enjoying the long weekend :)

Happy scrapping!

Mel

xx

A couple of cards!

Hello there! I'm here today sharing a couple of cards I put together using the ever so fun Simple Stories "Life In Color" range (again!) for Scrapping Clearly. I have said it every post but I really, really love this collection and sadly, it is running low but I plan to use every single piece!

When I first opened my box of goodies I was hit with the idea of PL pages and cards! It took me a little while to be comfortable to use up some of those papers on cards (we all have that same hesitant feeling when it comes to cutting into a brand new 12x12 sheet, yeah?!) but I did it and am super happy with the results!

Card #1

For this card I decided to go a bit feminine! I love, love, love that pink paper I have used on the card base and those butterflies are just adorable! The pink paper is from the collection pack and the butterflies are from the bits and pieces pack. That flair (isn't it just gorgeous!) is from the MME On Trend 2 collection.

I did do a little mixed media in the background, it was looking very plain! I added a light coat of gesso and then used some gelatos and the very technical packaging technique. Once that was all dried I went back in with some Heidi Swapp colour shine in butter (love this colour!) and then adhered all my pieces. I thought the card needed just a tiny bit of something else and pulled out the sequins from Cocoa Vanilla Studio in the "Made of Awesome" range - that blue matched perfectly!

And here is a little close up :)

For my sentiment I just went with one of those gorgeous clear stickers and kept it pretty versatile :)

Card #2 - and just secretly, this is my fave ;)

I love how this card came out! I started with the pieces from the bits and pieces pack - so the tags, the globe and that hello. I thought it needed something more so pulled out the 12x12 sheet that has all the polaroid designs printed on it and cut that out to add to my layers and also added a plain old paper clip where there was one printed. I used my craft knife to cut around the edge of the heart and do some tucking of the layers.

I found my piece for the background (that gorgeous yellow and white stripe), layered my cluster on top and thought "it needs something!" So, out came the washi strips, the clear stickers and the sentiment strip stickers (from the 12x12 sticker sheet in the collection pack). And, of course the stapler!

Once I had my washi down, I again decided it needed a little more so pulled out the trusty gesso, a red gelato and some water. I also knew I wanted to add a few more small pops of silver so out came the silver thread in the sewing machine!

One final touch! Since they were on my desk already, I first reached for the sequins and that yellow was PERFECT! I scattered a few and called it done!

Here are a couple of close ups!

Again, I am totally loving this collection and thinking I need to make some more cards with the bits and pieces I have left! 

I hope this has inspired you to maybe use your traditional supplies in a little bit of a different way! 

Happy scrapping!
Melinda
xx

PL Week 3 2016

Hi hi, I'm here today sharing my next project with you using the awesome Simple Stories "Life In Color" range!

So, I have jumped ahead in our PL album/s, I really wanted to do something current so I pulled out our week 3 for 2016 and got to work.

My process always starts in a notebook deciding which photo's to print and which stories I wish to tell. I then print my photo's at Big W while I do my food shopping. Photo's into pockets, cards with photos in pockets and then I get to play putting it all together!

I have lots of photo's to share today so I grab a coffee and take 5 ;)

First up, the double page spread using an K design on the left and an E design on the right.

I love this range and how it came together so easily for me!

Onto the left hand side

And some of the cards

A close up of the title card for the week. That chipboard clip is actually silver but, oh boy, silver is eve harder than gold to photograph!

I really love how this card turned out so I wanted to share a close up! I have used one of the 12x12 cut apart sheets that had the 4x4 cards pre-printed. I cut along one of the printed lines and tucked my photograph underneath. I added one of the clear coloured stickers to the printed label, did my journalling and added the date :)

And I just wanted for you to be able to see these cool clear coloured stickers again - love how they look on top of a photo - especially those paint brush strokes one!

And onto the right hand side :)

This card is actually in a flip pocket - I often use them to add an extra photo or story, so easy!

And the back side of the flip with a little embellishment and a fun collage from my oldest son's birthday :)

This week also includes a 5x7 insert - it's pretty simple but a story documented and some words written to my son :)

The front of the pocket - I printed the photo at 5x7 with a border and trimmed off alot of the border and then mounted it on one side of the patterned paper I wanted to use.

And the back of the pocket. I just ADORE this paper and did toss up using it behind the photo but decided I would see more of it if I used it this way :) Typed up my journalling, cut it up into strips and stuck it down with some wet adhesive. 

And YAY, extra space that I could do a little embellishing in! Some stickers from both the sticker sheets and the clear sticker sheets. Also a couple of strips of washi from the washi strip pack.

That's it for me for today! I have another PL spread to share soon so until next time happy scrapping!!

Melinda

xx

Products I have used: Collection Kit, Clear Stickers, Bit & Pieces, Washi Strips, Chipboard Stickers, Stickers