{Colour Blast} Magic & Brains ~ A Scrapbook Layout

Hello my scrappy friends and welcome to my blog today! I'm here sharing my last post for Colour Blast for January. I hope you enjoy my process!

Funny how I came to this design though because I started with a patterned paper background and decided I just didn't love it, heck I didn't even like it really so I thought I would use what I had done to create something I at least liked!!

First up - patterned paper and White Heavy Gesso. A thick-ish/random, smeary coat in the area where I was going to put my photo's. I left that over night to dry.

When I came back the next day I turned my camera on and you can see my process from here on out below and keep scrolling for my step by steps....

I decided I wanted a dark contrast so grabbed my Dusty Charcoal Colour Paste and a stencil and after I marked where my photos were going I added some paste in 2 different areas. And smeared it on the top left so added a 3rd place with the paste.

Before this dried I knew I wanted an orange/black/gold colour scheme so I grabbed my Bling Colour Embossing Powder and sprinkled a little here and there over my Colour Paste and heat set the lot! Not only does heat setting it set the embossing powder but it also makes the Paste all bubbly and gives more awesome texture!

At this point I was thinking "Hrm, I'll add a bit more colour and maybe I'll start to love it more" so I grabbed my Sunset and Saffron Colour Sprays and some packaging and got to work using the smooshing (yep, that's the techy word ;) ) technique, working a small-ish section at a time and drying in between.

While I was working on that it occurred to me that the reason the 3rd spot of paste wasn't gelling was because I hadn't added gesso first, so I told myself "I'll add some smooshing here too and that will work better". TBH with you, NOPE, just nope! Ok, time to re-think my idea!

I grabbed some circle punches and dies and got to chopping up the paper - I did feel some satisfaction here - and immediately I was liking it better!! White cardstock and clear gesso for the background and I was ready to go again!

I added some ink to both my circles and the thin mat I had applied to my photos using Archival Black ink and placed the circles and photos in a configuration, first horizontally, that I thought would work. Meh, so I tried vertically and was like "Yay!! THIS is it!!"

Remove everything from the page again, grab my black archival ink and a couple of texture stamps and stamp, stamp, stamp!!

Next, I used both my Bling Colour Shimmer Spray and Colour Shimmer Pot to apply lots of pretty gold to the background. I sprayed the mist first, I wanted a fine, light coverage then I used the Bling Colour Shimmer Cube with both the packaging technique and also a paint brush and added colour to my hearts content.

Oh, and of course splatters! I used my paint brush and Colour Shimmer Pot. And Colour Spray in Roadbase also using a brush!

I added some gold stitching with my sewing machine through some of the circles and then it was time to stick, stick, stick!

I did add some more Bling splatters after all the circles were stuck down but before the photo was stuck down.

And lots of close ups! Enjoy!

So, just because you are not loving what you started does not mean that either a) you need to ditch the whole lot or b) you have to "put up with" and keep what you don't love!! Play! I'm sure, like me you have a good stash of awesome product that can sometimes be neglected, pull it out and PLAY!!!

That's it for me for this post and January so see you again next month, I cannot wait to play along with the next challenge, it's a fun one ;)

Melinda

xx

{Guest Designer ~ Uniquely Creative} ~ Silly 7 ~ A Scrapbook Page

Hey, hey my scrappy friends!! I'm back again today with my last share for my Guest DT spot at Uniquely Creative!

This page was super fun to put together and I love the bright pops of green on my hand cut letters for my title!

Here is the finished page

And a couple of close ups

You can buy the January kits (and of course other goodies!!) here.

You can find all the most recent and up to date info on the kit club over here on their FB page and this is also where they share lots of inspiration using their kits!

That's it for me for today, so thank you for stopping and I hope your day is scrappy!

Melinda

xx

{ScrappingClearly} Crazy Cousin Photo Antics ~ A Scrapbook Layout

Hey, hey my scrappy friends!! I'm here with you today sharing how I went from the ScrappingClearly January 2018 mood board

to this page!

I have the black, green, and yellow, but it's a funny story how I got to this design, and totally what a mood board is all about!!

A little while ago there was another post published on the blog about this very topic and you can read that post here.

And here is my convoluted process of getting from one to the other!

So, the current mood board made me think of Australia Day, which lead me to think of the Cyber Crop we held last year in honor of Australia Day. One of the challenges for that CC was another mood board which was this

I took inspiration from the colours, the newsprint and the circle shape of the macarons and created this page

Specifically I remembered the blue and the word crazy on this page - and the way I created the fun title - and remembered some photo's I was recently sent from my niece of her and my boys being crazy together and so the idea for my current page was born!!

I hope you followed that rabbit hole all the way to the end but I share this process to show that you can use the mood board in any which way whatsoever that inspires YOU! And it may look NOTHING like the board that you started with but the board is there as a starting off point!!

Onto some more specific details of this page!

I started this page with the title!

I used the Teresa Collins Signature Essentials Alphas, the WRMK Indian Summer thickers and also the blue Tiny Alphas from the Boys Fort collection. I customised the Crazy using Colour Shimmer Dust in Lush with a paintbrush and the word cousin I applied 2 coats of gesso with a brush and then used a palette knife and Colour Blast Colour Paste in Sunshine applied liberally/randomly over the alphas. Love how this came together! I used my FudeBall 1.5 pen to outline each of the letters in crazy as well.

I have created my background with a coat of gesso on the "Thumbs Up" patterned paper from the Boys Fort collection by PinkFresh Studio, blending out the edges so there were no harsh lines. I did the packaging technique with a combination of Scribble Sticks (yellow and blue) and gelatos (green), also making splatters with the same colours.

I added a few messy paper layers behind my photo's using the "Wowzers", "Bold" and "High Five" papers cut to different sizes and layered randomly behind and around my photo's.

For embellishments I have used 1 of the Printed Veneer pieces and 3 of the paper pieces from the ephemera pack - the 3, the yes and the label above the photo's.

There is a process video available over on my You Tube channel if you'd like to see this page come together from start to finish - just click on the link above, sit back and enjoy!

My finishing touches were some of the Tiny Word Stickers also from the collection, my journalling and some white splatters which I did off camera. I used more of the white gesso and added a little water to make it more liquid and splattered all around the page making sure to cover up my photo's!

I also did go back in with a paint brush and some more of the yellow Scribble stick after I finished recording to add a little more colour to the top right as I felt it was not quiet finished.

And with that called my page DONE!

Remember, you have until the end of the month to upload your take on both the sketch and the mood board to win yourself a $30 voucher to spend on more scrappy supplies. Make sure you load your entries into the correct album in the FB group and please, share how the mood board inspired you!

Until next time, next month actually, happy scrapping!!

Melinda

xx

{Colour Blast} Cherish ~ A Scrapbook (rainbow explosion) Layout

Hey, hey my scrappy friends and welcome to my blog today!! I have my first share for the year for Colour Blast and I even surprised myself with the end design lol

I played along with the January challenge for this page and I even shared this sneak in the Colour Blast Creative Corner FB group so now you get to see the whole page.

And here, again, for you is the January challenge! You will notice that I improvised and use black patterned paper instead of black card stock - I had NO black card stock!! Argh!!!

You can find my process video on my YT channel or just click play below!

First up, black gesso smeared randomly on my patterned paper where I knew I wanted to place my 2 clusters. You can see that I have switched sides with my clusters, I felt my photo worked better on the bottom-ish left so ran with that! That's the beauty of a sketch, right?!

Next up, COLOUR!! I cannot express how much I seriously LOVE the way the Colour Shimmer products pop off a black background!! I used Deep Water, Fire Engine and Sunshine Colour Shimmer Sprays sprayed directly onto the background over the gesso. I started with the Sunshine, then the Fire Engine, then the Deep Water.

My Deep Water gave me a little trouble - it left not only a fine mist but also bigger splatters - which, really, when you think about it, is perfect!! So to add to that look I grabbed my fave brush - it's a round #20, dunked it into the spray bottles of the Sunshine and the Fire Engine and splattered away to my hearts content!

I left my background to dry overnight and came back the next day and started working on my paper layers. I used mostly scraps, grabbed some Charms Creations DIY embellishments and some flair.

Happy with the general placement I added colour to my DIY embellies using Singin' The Blues Colour Shimmer Pot. If you don't have the pot you can, of course, use a brush and Colour Shimmer Spray for a similar effect.

I love the way these turned out!! The beautiful blue colour and all the gorgeous shimmer, oh la la!! Here are the 3 pieces all coloured up, swoon!!

While hunting through my box of chippy I came across my title piece - this "cherish" word that I had previously embossed (you can see lots of embossing fun including my title on this post!) using Tangereen Dream Colour Embossing Powder and LOVED the pop that this colour brought to the page so decided I needed to add a couple more small pops of the Tangereen Dream so embossed 3 veneer hearts with 2 coats each.

Time to assemble all the bits and hence, now it is a rainbow explosion lol

A few close ups

It's so hard to capture just how pretty and shimmery those fabric embellies are but seriously, swoon!

I hope you have enjoyed my post today and we would love to see your takes on this fun challenge this month. Just head over to the FB group and pop your take into the album for a voucher to buy more Colour Blast goodies, and let's face it, who doesn't love more free goodies?!

Have a fantastic (messy) scrappy day and see you again later in the month!

Melinda

xx

{ScrappingClearly} My Little Sailor ~ A Scrapbook Layout

Hey scrappy friends! Melinda here with you today with my next share using the Pink Fresh Boys Fort collection. 

I have run with the browns, greens and blues in this collection for this page and also the January 2018 sketch which I have taken quiet literally!! It's different to my "normal" style but I love playing with "different" and seeing how I can make it my own!

When I flipped through my stack of papers in my kit and saw this sketch there was absolutely no question that I HAD to use the "Wisdom" 12x12 patterned paper for my background with those squares that match PERFECTLY with the background on the sketch!

I have pretty much stuck to the sketch with all of the paper layers, I even added a blue card stock border around my whole page and then used the same blue to mount my photos. The papers I have used for my layers are "Bold" and "Game On" (the banners). I used a tag from my stash for the tag.

I have inked all my edges in Walnut Stain Distress Ink and also added some brown splatters using Colour Blast Colour Spray in Coffee.

I knew I wanted to use the green alphas in the Mini Alphas set in this collection paired with the WRMK Indian Summer alphas so grabbed some green gelatos and did the packaging technique by simply rubbing the gelato onto some plastic, adding water and smooshing it down onto my not gesso'd background. And of course splatters! I tested 4 different green gelatos (Green Tea, Lime, Pistachio and Spearmint) and felt that the Spearmint was the best colour for what I wanted to create so ran with that.

I stitched all of my layers using gold thread and love the extra little something that gives the page! I even stitched my "journal lines" on my tag and love how it looks and the texture it gives.

A few triangles from the ephemera pack and 2 printed veneer pieces, some stamping using again the Walnut Stain Distress Ink and my page was done!

And here is my final page

I do have a (half) process video up on the ScrappingClearly channel if you are interested in seeing this come together. I say half because I thought I had pressed record but apparently, I had not!! Oops!

I had lots of fun playing along with the sketch this month and I hope I have inspired you to play along too for your chance at a $30 store voucher! I will be back again a little later in the month with my take on the January mood board so until then, happy scrapping!!

Melinda