{Scrap The Boys} September Challenge ~ You Is A Pretty Girl Mummy

Hi there and welcome yet again to my blog!

I'm here today sharing my take on the September challenge over at Scrap The Boys. This is my first time actually finding/making the time to play along and it is another story told!

The challenge this month was to scrap a photo of your boy/s WITH you in the photo! I chose this photo of myself with my oldest boy. He is seriously the sweetest little dude (when it suits him!!) and is so thoughtful so when I saw the accompanying quote "Theres this boy who stole my heart and he calls me Mum" I knew this was the photo I wanted to scrap because the story is so sweet!

And here is my page. I used the beautiful Maggie Holmes Bloom range and knew straight away which background paper to use! How could I resist the beautiful blue denim look with those adorable deer when my son was being a "dear" to me?!

And a few close ups

I cut the word "pretty" on my cameo using the Shoreline font and coloured it with some distress ink and love how it came out - the perfect shade of pink for this page!

I have wanted to play along with STB for a long time, especially being the Mum to 2 little boys but always miss the deadline! I hope to be back again VERY soon to play along as I have, shall we say, a "couple" of photo's of boys doing boy things! LOL!

Thanks for stopping by and happy scrapping!

Mel

xx

{ScrappingClearly DT} Spring Cyber Crop Challenges and FUN!!

Hi there crafty friends!!

I recently said that I had been busy, busy crafting up a storm and I was not lying ;) Over at ScrappingClearly we had an online Cyber Crop this past weekend and there are 8 fun challenges to play along with! I am here today to share with you my takes on the ones I have completed and I am hoping to fit in more crafting to complete some more!!

First up was my Colour Challenge and you can see all the close up's for that challenge here and also the process video here.

Challenge 2 was by the VERY talented Bernii Miller and she did this recipe challenge!

Don't you love the method!?

And here is my take

And a few close up's! I just loved this challenge and love this story of my littlest guy, he is so funny!!

Challenge 4 was this awesome sketch by the awesome Chloe Neilson

And here is my take.

And some close ups. I just love working with sketches, they take so much of the guess work out if but are so easy to adapt and totally make your own!

And the final challenge I have completed is Tania's mixed media tag challenge. This is not something I ordinarily do but loved it!

I had already had this gorgeous Tiddly Inks image coloured up and thought I may as well pop her onto something!!

The criteria was use paint (I used Colour Sprays as water colours) and feathers (stencilled in bling colour paste). Love how this came out!

So, that is what I have completed so far and I hope to get to the other challenges before the deadline of midnight (AEST) Friday night! I currently have the Mixed Media challenge by Lauren and the PL challenge by Karyn on my desk! Make sure you head over here for the FB group where all the fun was and is happening and upload your entries to the correct albums for your chance to win some awesome prizes!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and happy scrapping!!

Mel

xx

{Colour Blast DT} Water colouring with Mica Powders

Hello there fellow Colour Blast lovers! I'm here with you today sharing this fun pocket page I put together using the Mica Powders in the Colour Blast range for a project I am working on called Learn Something New Every Day. I tell you the name as, as you can see, I have used the letters LSNED on my "cover page" for this project to make this an obvious change of pace as this project will make it's way into our 2016 annual PL album :)

This was super fun project to put together, basically, water colouring and I am super happy with how it came out! You can see my entire (well most of it, somehow I ran out of room on my phone while I thought I was recording!!) process here on my YT channel - make sure to subscribe so you can see all of my projects that are uploaded!!

Otherwise here is my process!

First up I picked the Mica Powders I wanted to use to match the collection I had decided to use for this project so I pulled out a pattered paper with all the collection colours on it and ended up choosing ALL the colours (which are watermelon, wisteria, peach nectar, lemon zing, polar, cool mint and olive grove) except the espresso. Before I did any painting I did put a quick think coat of clear gesso across my whole page and dried that with my heat tool as I was fairly certain I would be using a lot of water!

Don't they look so, so pretty sitting there all together!! So, as you can see you I have used my water colour brush to pick up the colour from the little pots and apply to the flowers I wanted to colour. I worked with one colour at a time so I didn't get myself confused! I did start by applying some plain water with a paint brush before applying the colour but found that that washed out the colour a bit more than I wanted so I ended up just using the water colour brush and the mica powders.

It's so hard to capture just how shiny and sparkly these powders but you can kind of see it in the above photo!

After I had done most of the page I felt that I needed a couple of other colours so I pulled out some of my sprays - both the colour spray (flat colour) and the shimmer spray (pretty, shimmery colours!) and mixed and matched to get the best colour matches I could! I can't remember exactly what combination I used but I KNOW that I used the Snow White, Tangereen Dream and Deep Water in the Shimmer Spray and the Bubblegum and Lagoon in the Colour Spray.

Once all the colours were dried I cut down my 12" x 12" paper to 6 4" x 6" pieces to fit into the page protector I had decided to use. I knew all along that I would only decorate the bottom right hand card and here is the finished card.

I pulled in a sticker sheet from the collection pack I'm using, a flair from my stash, some pink alphas for the 2016, a few random enamel dots and also a stamp that says September. The big letters I cut on white card stock on my cameo and then used a 0.7mm pen to give them a sketchy outline.

As you can see in that close up I have also used the awesome Roadbase Colour Spray (I seriously love, love, love this product!) to leave some black sprinkles all across the page.

I will leave you with this photo of my completed page and a close up/different angle where you can see some more of that shimmer! I hope this has inspired you to pull out some of your own powders or even the sprays and give water colouring a go - so easy and so effective!! 

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them below or even on the YT vid, I will get back to you ASAP!!

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great scrappy day!

Melinda

{Kraft+ September Challenge}

Hey, hey! I have had a super productive weekend with completing challenges and pages and all I really want to do is SCRAP but alas, I must share on my blog in order to "enter" this challenge so here I am!! haha!

So, the gorgeous challenge this month at K+ is this stunning moodboard - all about the melons ;)

I had so much fun playing along and here is my completed page

I have used some texture paste straight onto the background kraft paper with a stencil and after that was dried I went in with some gorgeous Colour Blast Colour Spray and Shimmer spray as water colours. I simply sprayed a little into a paint pallette, spritzed a little water and then grabbed a paint brush and off I went! I didn't want to add that mint-ish colour as a water colour as I was pretty sure the colour would go muddy so I ended up just using it for sprinkles and water colouring some of those die cut hearts.

Again I just used some of the awesome sprays by Colour Blast as water colours and let them dry over night. I've only used a little wet glue to partially stick them down as I really love the dimension they give! 

Some thread and some stitching. Some very pretty gold glitter thickers and that "hello" was fussy cut from a 6x4 project life card and spritzed with some Bling Shimmer Spray. Oh, and I added a little sprinkle of the watermelon mica powder to some water to create those darker pink splatters across the background, I love the colour and shimmer it brings to the page!

I ended up cutting down the kraft sheet by 1/4" on all 4 sides and mounting that onto a beautiful pin striped ombre paper from Studio Calico that I may have been hoarding but the colour was PERFECT and just gave the page that final finishing pop!

I love how this page came together and love, love, love the challenge over at K+ so I'm so pleased I managed to find some time to get my kraft on!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and happy scrapping!!

Mel

xx

{ScrappingClearly DT} Spring CC Colour Challenge

Hi there!! Thanks so much for stopping by! I am here with you today with a quick share of my page and process for my colour challenge over at ScrappingClearly for our Spring Cyber Crop!! You can see most of my process in a video I have uploaded here. 

I hope you are enjoying all the fun we are having over on the FB group (if you have no idea what I'm talking about head over here and join in the fun!) and manage to get in some scrappy time over the course of the next week to play along!

As I mentioned above my challenge is a colour challenge and here is the page I came up with

My colours are teal, silver/grey, black and white :) 

I was in Target a couple of weeks ago and found these paper straws and I just LOVED the colours in them so picked them up knowing (or hoping!!!) I would/could use them on a page!

Here is a closer look at them since they were the inspiration for this whole page!

When I picked them up my mind went straight to the Colour Blast products I have used - Deep Water and Steel - in both the Colour Pastes and the Shimmer sprays. 

I spread both Deep Water and Steel through a stencil from my stash onto the background and also lots of sprinkles of both colours with the nozzle from the bottle. I actually managed to leave it to dry overnight - my impatience was occupied with other projects as I started this page while I was away on a recent retreat!

I have also used the Shimmer Sprays (in both Deep Water and Steel) to paint that fun banner from the Banner Delights pack by Heidi Swapp. I just used a paint brush and a little water :)

I stitched the banners down below the photo and straws and left the threads long as I wanted this page to be a bit fun and almost party like as this is a photo of myself and my littlest guy on his recent birthday.

That gorgeous fun white veneer word from the "Today" Heidi Swapp veneer pack fit in nicely between the layers and gave a bit more fun texture to the page.

Alphas from my stash for my title - again, something relaxed and fun!

I stuck the photo down with some fun foam to match the dimension the straws brought to the page, added some of the really cool WRMK Clearly Posh enamel shapes, some star and circle enamel shapes from my stash, my journalling, a little stamping in 3 places and finally a few little lines of stitching.

I'll leave you with a couple more close ups and hopefully lots of inspiration to play along! Make sure you head over to the FB group to see all the fun challenges and play along with all of the games happening over this weekend!

Happy scrapping and thanks so much for stopping by!!

Mel

xx

{ScrappingClearly DT} PL 2016 WK16

Hi there, I'm here with you today sharing one of my Project Life spreads I have put together using the gorgeous Maggie Holmes Bloom Collection!

I just love, love, love recording our every day and love the concept of Project Life but am "behind" in 2016. I use that term very loosely as I don't think of the project as a "I must be caught up type thing", it would be WAY too much like "work" and not FUN so here I am sharing our week 16 which is back in April!

First up I'll share where I start ALL of my PL pages - the title card for the week

  

I made these hearts as I missed out on them in the store but they are super easy to put together and I actually recorded my process in a previous process video which you can see here if you are interested - you could so make these with any products, any colours, any ranges and they would look so gorgeous!! 

I have used 2 of the E design page protectors - personally one of my faves - which has 4 6x6 pockets so I tend to reach for my 6x6 paper pads and this week was no exception! 

I always start my pages by planning (yes, I PLAN my pages otherwise I get way too confused!!) my photo's, printing my photo's and then slipping said photo's into the designated page protector/s for the week. Once that process is done I grab some papers or PL cards - and honestly, due to the nature of the day to day photos I work with, whatever supplies inspire me to create at that very moment! So when I got to the is week I was like right, Maggie Holmes Bloom is speaking to me and I have all those 6x6 pockets to work with!!

I slipped all the papers into the pocket from the 6x6 pad I wanted to use and got to creating my LO

Here is the completed left hand side

As you can see I do almost mini LO's on each pocket! I have used some of the pieces from the ephemera pack, the very pretty glitter thickers, some of the washi strips and of course some of those GORGEOUS butterflies I had cut from the "Flutter" 12x12 paper. I also added in some labels from my stash :) Oh, and I added in stamping using a fave roller date stamp.

Here is the right hand side completed

More ephemera, yummy thickers, washi and butterflies - this time cut from both the 12x12 paper and the 6x6 paper. More labels and stamping from my stash.

You will notice too that I tend to have lots to say! What can I say, I am predominately a story teller and that is what draws me so much into this awesome hobby of mine!

This week also has an insert. For that I used a 5x7 vertical page protector and this is the photograph in the front 

One of my absolute all time favourite photographs of my boys!!

I used the B side of the "Flutter" paper for the back paper layer for the journalling on the back of this photo and here is a photo of the finished insert

Another of those hearts made with some off cuts of papers, some of the vellum and some of the washi strips. And machine stitching :) A couple of the washi tape layers behind the heart, lots of journalling and a very simple, effective title with those beautiful thickers.

That's it for me for today! I am always working on some part of our PL album, I just love it and I hope that one day my boys will look back and enjoy this glimpse into what life was like as they were growing up! Remember to tell your stories, big, small, good, bad or anything in between, life is life and it is yours and so worth recording!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a happy, scrappy day!!

Melinda

PS. Are you guys as excited as I am for the upcoming Cyber Crop at ScrappingClearly this weekend?! Make sure you stop by the FB group here for all the fun!

Together

Hi there! I'm just popping in to share a layout I created using some beautiful Cocoa Vanilla Studios products. Generally, I hear that brand and drool! Zoe has some amazing collections and really makes me wish more than ever that I had an unlimited scrap budget!!

Anyways, enough of my gushing, here is my page!

I didn't do much to the background except use my very pretty Bling Colour Blast Colour Paste through a Dusty Attic stencil. A pretty clean and simple page for me but I love it!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a happy, scrappy day!!

Mel

Xx

{ScrappingClearly DT} Some People Scrapbook Layout

Hello there, I'm here with you today sharing my latest layout using the gorgeous MME "My Story" range available in the ScrappingClearly store!

Here is my layout and I really love how it all came together!

I started with that big cut file that I got from Just Nick studio. It's called Some People and I seriously LOVE it! I used a mix of Colour Blast Sprays in Love and Sunset (these 2 are colour spray - flat colour, no shimmer) and also Sunshine, Tangerine Dream and Bling (these 3 are shimmer spray, so, so pretty!!) and the very fancy plastic packaging technique after I applied a coat of gesso and VERY carefully peeled the file off my cutting mat!

Here is a close up of the cut file and I love all the different colours in it. I chose my colours based on the colours in the MME collection florals.

I have a couple of layers behind my photo using the Grandma's Quilt paper and also some of the GORGEOUS vellum from the Maggie Holmes Open Book collection. The background paper is the B side of the BEAUTIFUL Heirloom Rose's paper and thankfully I had a second sheet so I could fussy cut some of those stunning florals!

I added a very subtle detail using a stencil from my stash and some pretty Colour Blast Bling Colour Paste on the area behind the photo.

I've kept the embellishing pretty simple with only a couple of the floral clusters, some of the cute as cork hearts from the Pink Paislee C'est La Vie collection, some of the WRMK Clearly Posh giant enamel dots and a few sequins from the Red/Pink Studio Calico sequin pack.

And of course, it was finished off with a sprinkle of Colour Blast Bling Colour Shimmer spray and also a simple label sticker from the Paper and Acessories kit. I didn't feel like this page needed any journalling (which is unusual for me!) because that title said everything I wanted to say :)

Here are a couple of close ups and I also have a process video you can watch if you'd like to see this page come together you can see that here.

That's it for me for today, please if you have any questions or comments leave them below and I will get back to you ASAP!

Thanks for stopping by and remember to go and create something!

Melinda

An idea inspired by Missy Whidden

Hi there friends!!

As the title suggests I am here today sharing a layout I was inspired to create after watching this Missy Whidden video! I love, love, love how that paper turned out with the white paint and all the fun colour added so I took inspiration from that and pulled out a paper I had 2 of that I was happy to sacrifice (in case it didnt turn out!!), some white acrylic paint and some gelatos! 

Here is the paper, bare, in progess and as butterflies!

And I decided to use 3 of them on another wedding layout! Another has made it's way onto an art journal page and I think that leaves me 1 or 2 to find homes for!

And a couple of close ups

I used the beautiful Snow White Colour Paste by Colour Blast in the background and the bling shimmer spray and snow white for splatters :)

The title is from Dusty Attic and I just heat embossed that with the gorgeous bling embossing powder from Colour Blast as well.

The papers are all from my stash - I have a box of supplies put aside for wedding layouts and when I feel inspired I'll pull out product and photos from there and create yet another page for our album.

Just a super quick share for today, my life is currently going a million miles an hour, which is apparently what adulthood/parenthood is all about!!

I hope you get some scrappy time in this weekend and I hope that between myself and the very talented Missy I hope you are tempted to just have a play with what you have in your stash!!

Mel

xx