A Frozen Christmas (Christy's Beautiful Life - 30 Days of Sketches)

Hello!! Yes I know, I've been missing again, but things have been active on my YouTube Channel and my Instagram!  I've decided that instead of trying to catch up with posting layouts ever since Ava was born, I need to face the facts that I can't (she's now 10 months old), and instead I'm going to post current layouts on here. 

Earlier this month I was honoured to be asked by Christy from Christy's Beautiful Life to be a guest during her 30 days of sketches during September.  Firstly I want to say that I think Christy is amazing to even contemplate making a process video a day for a whole month with a pre-schooler and a baby!!  She is amazing!

Christy gave me a Page Maps sketch that was Christmas themed.  It was perfect as we'd chatted about needing to catch up with our past Christmas photos.  I decided to use my November Hip Kit from last year, which I'd barely used due to Ava being born.  I created the Christmas Tree with doilies.

I love the dimension that the Christmas tree created!

Another look at the tree, it was definitley my favourite element on the page!

And here is the sketch.

And my process video.

I had so much fun with this sketch!!  Thank you so much to Christy for inviting me to join in!

Celebrate 8 (Stuck Sketches)

Hello!  I've been saving sketches from Stuck Sketches for months now, but haven't had much time to play along.  I finally decided to commit to the 1 August sketch, because I love all of Laura's sketches, and I needed to make a dent in my April Hip Kit.  I decided to scrap photos from Azaria's 8th birthday.  I loved the sketch and stayed very true to it.  I did decide to scrap a smaller photo!

I love adding twine to my tags and stitching on my buttons!

I loved making this cluster with paper strips and puffy stickers!

And here is the awesome sketch.

Love You (The Scrappery CT)

Hello!  I just realised that I forgot to post my layout for The Scrappery here last week!  For this layout I was inspired by the butterfly paper in my Belle kit, and wanted to fussy cut them and create a swarm.  I googled "swarm of butterflies" and found an image to assist my inspiration.  I choose to scrap these two photos of Ava playing with her foot on the bouncer, and I love the one of her looking up, as if looking at the butterflies.

I adhered the butterflies in their centres with liquid adhesive, and folded up their wings for dimension.

The chipboard title was perfect for this page, and I even had it nestled within the swarm.

A fussy cut flower cluster added some weight to the left side of my photo, to provide balance.

And here is my butterfly swarm inspiration.

And my process video.

Thanks for looking!

Hello Beautiful Big Sister (The Scrappery CT)

Hello!  Today I'm sharing my layout that I made for The Scrappery this week.  I used my Belle kits (featuring Cocoa Vanilla Studio's "Wild at Heart" collection).  I decided to scrap an older photo of Shaun, Azaria and a newborn Brielle.  I've had this photo printed for years, but I've always struggled to scrap it due to the light and tones in it.  This collection was perfect.  This week I focused on using up the 4x6 cards from the PLK kit, and they are actually cut from the 12x12 papers by Ronelle.

I finally got one of the rubber charms onto the page!

I had so much fun layering embellishments around my photo, and of course I adore those doilies.

The chipboard title was perfect, and the flair badge filled an empty space on my photo.

Here is my process video.

Thanks for looking!

September 2016 Hip Kit Layout Share

Hello!  Today I'm doing a throw back to last year, because I've realised that I've never shared any of the layouts I made for myself since I started back as a subscriber to the Hip Kit Club.  After I finished my Design Team term with Clique Kits, I decided to subscribe again to Hip Kits, and aside from the layouts that I made for The Cut Shoppe with the kits, I've never shared these here on my blog.  I do have layout share videos on my YouTube channel, but the end of Ava's pregnancy was very busy, as was after I had her, so without further ado, I'm starting with September 2016.  At the end of this post will be my layout share video.

This layout used an exclusive cut file by Ashley Horton, and works so perfectly with the pink in my photos.

Another exclusive cut file, this time by Kim Watson, and featuring gorgeous birds.

A boy layout made with an exclusive cut file title and using mixed media.

My favourite paper in the kit features on this layout!

I had fun with a long title on this one, and I watercoloured some circles and machine stitched them.

This layout is an 8x8 page for my grateful album, featuring the same cut file as the first layout, but cut in vellum.

And another 8x8 page about Shaun, with a stitched title.

And here is my video.

Thanks for looking!

"Dream Big" Traveller's Notebook (The Scrappery CT)

Hello again!  Today I'm back to share with you the Traveller's Notebook page that I made for The Scrappery.  I've decided to change the way that I'm scrapping in this notebook.  I'd been viewing it as a mini album with each page being a new layout, but what I really want to do is treat each set of two pages as a double page spread.  I'd created the left-hand side page at the beginning of my Belle Kits, and when I found a third photo I decided to complete the spread.  This kit features the entire "Wild at Heart" collection by Cocoa Vanilla Studio.

It's unusual for me not to have any journalling, but I'd told the story on the left-hand page.  So for the right page I had fun with embellishing.

Here is my process video.

Thanks for looking!  I'm hoping to share more Traveller's Notebook spreads.

The Cut Shoppe - My Final Project

Hello!  It's with sadness today that I share with my last post for The Cut Shoppe.  If you're not aware, Ashley decided to finish The Cut Shoppe at the end of the current Design Team term being June.  The Etsy Shop will continue to stay open, and there is an amazing selection of cut files to choose from.

For my final layout I choose to work with the Follow Your Heart Background cut file.  It reminded me of super heroes, and especially when Sam used to dress up in costume!!  These older photos of him as Superman were perfect!!  I used my April Hip Kit, and decided to go bold with my background paper!

I find working with primary colours a challenge, but the best thing for me is to incorporate some of the same colours into the page design.  I partially backed the heart with yellow.

I made several clusters of embellishment on the heart.

And here is the cut file:

Finally I want to thank Ashley Horton for the amazing opportunity she gave me on her Design Team. She is one talented and inspiring lady, and I loved my year designing with her beautiful cut files.  I loved making new friends in the DT too!

Thanks for looking!

You Two (The Scrappery CT)

Hello!  Today I'm back with a layout I made with my Belle Kit a couple of weeks ago for The Scrappery YouTube Channel.  This kit features the entire Cocoa Vanilla Studio "Wild at Heart" collection (if you get all three kits).  I decided to use the patterned paper with painterly features on it as my background, and lots of frames.  Frames are an embellishment that I want to use but struggle with.  I used some older photos of Brielle and her lovely friend Dexter.

So happy that I could use up all these frames!!

Layering chipboard embellishments on chipboard frames!

And here is my video.

Thanks for looking!

Oh Boy (The Cut Shoppe DT)

Hi there!  Today I'm back with a layout I shared on The Cut Shoppe Blog earlier this month.  Its a really old photo of Sam as a baby, and I've had it printed for many years, but haven't scrapped it until now.  I used Cocoa Vanilla Studio's "Oh Happy Day" collection, and the Social Butterfly Background Cut file.  Its a really old photo, and not the best quality, but I love what I created!

Thanks for looking!

Happy Unicorn (The Scrappery)

Good morning! I'm back today to share a layout I made a couple of weeks ago for The Scrappery Kit Club.  I used my Belle Kit featuring the entire Cocoa Vanilla Studio "Wild at Heart" collection and an adorable photo of Ava in her unicorn onesie.  Of course I had to use the Unicorn Xing cut file set from The Cut Shoppe.  

I enlarged my title and made it a feature of my page.  The gorgeous floral patterned paper is my favourite from the collection.

Gun layering with a doily, ephemera and a flair badge.  The gold acrylic paint is by American Crafts and came in the colour kit.

And here is my process video.

Thanks for looking.

Cupcake Mini Album (The Scrappery)

Hello again!  Today I'm back to share with you a project I made with my Belle kit from The Scrappery Kit Club.  This kit features the Wild at Heart collection by Cocoa Vanilla Studio, and if you purchase all of the kits you get the entire collection!!

My friend's daughter turned 5 in March, and we had a party for her with cupcakes at our local park.  I took some photos and decided this kit was perfect for a mini album to record her birthday.  I made my own cupcake cut file to make the album, and in my first video you can see this process and the making of my cover.

Here is the first video:

My second video focussed on making the album pages and embellishing them.   Here are some photos.

The page on the right is made on the speciality vellum in the kit.

And here is a photo of the finished mini album.

Here is my second video.

My friend and her daughter loved the album, and I really enjoyed making it!!

Thanks for looking!

Oh Ava (The Cut Shoppe)

Hello!  Yesterday I was up on The Cut Shoppe Blog with a new layout featuring Ava and my March Hip Kit.  I decided to go for a big title, and I used the All Caps Alpha backed with patterned paper from Paige Evans' "Oh My Heart" collection, the paper with all the squares.

I outlined each of the letters with watercolours in the corresponding colours.  Head on over to the blog for more details and some close up shots.

Thanks for looking!

Jade Kit Projects (The Scrappery)

Hi Friends, I know, its been a while again.  I'm not going to lie, life with 4 kids and a business is hard,  and sometimes creating has to take a back seat for a while.  In an attempt to get my blog back to being up to date, I need to post several times with lots of layouts, starting with my projects for The Scrappery Kit Club that I made with the Jade Kit.

The Jade kit was a mix of products from Kaisercraft, Cocoa Vanilla Studio and Simple Stories.  My first project was a layout with a background of acrylic paint by Brielle.  I used a free cut file from Paper Issues.  

A second layout featured a cut file by The Cut Shoppe and a older photo of Shaun and Brielle that I've struggled to scrap for years!

Next up was a mini album of my favourite summer SnapChat photos.  

For this next layout I used the exclusive stencil and used texture paste mixed with the pink acrylic paint from the colour kit.

The kit came with a speciality die cut paper, and I layered it over a Simple Stories colour blocked paper for a quick and easy page.

I even made some cards.

And finally I made my first ever Traveler's Notebook, and I love working in this smaller canvas.  This notebook will document all my photos of Brielle that I take of her sleeping.

If you read this far then I thank you from the bottom of my heart, as this was a large photo heavy post!  You can find process videos for all of these on my YouTube Channel here.