A Card (Sizzix)

Hello again!  Today I have a quick post to share a card that I made with the same die I used for my layout yesterday.  Its the Sizzix Thinlits Bright Bubbles die, which you can find here.  I dug into my stash of 6x6 paper pads for this one and used the Dear Lizzy "Lucky Charm" collection, which is one of my favourites of all time!

Here is a close up of the bubbles.  Its such a lovely versatile die!

Here is the die.

Thanks so much for looking!

A L.O.L Moment (Lets Get Sketchy)

Hello!  Today was our first reveal for February over at Lets Get Sketchy, can you believe its the second month of the year already?!  We had an awesome sketch by Brenshevia, and because I had two smaller portrait photos to scrap I decided to flip the sketch to the left.  I used my September Hip Kit (I've finally nearly killed it), and used two of my favourite papers for the large corner pieces.  

The story of this layout is so cute and funny.  Brielle went through a phase of getting into my clean washing pile as I was folding it, and would Azaria and my underwear around her neck like a layered scarf!  Of course I had to take a photo and document the story!!!

This kit has lots of Amy Tangerine "Finders Keepers" in it, and all of the embellishments are from the die cut pack.  When I saw the acetate "totally" I knew I had to incorporate it into the design.  We really did laugh so hard when she put about 6 pairs of underwear around her neck!

Here is the sketch

Thanks for looking!

Carol of the Bells (Artfull Crafts)

Hello!  I'm so excited to be joining in on the Christmas Countdown over at Artfull Crafts, its such a fun way to get in the Christmas spirit and get ready for the school holidays! 

Today I'm sharing a layout I made with Shimelle's new Christmas line appropriately named "Christmas Magic".  I decided to scrap a photo from Christmas 2013 of a group of four of us singing Carol of the Bells.  We sung it at our church Christmas Show, combined churches Carols on the Green and Christmas Day Service.  I was 5 months pregnant with Brielle at the time.

I fussy cut a line of the presents and popped them up on foam adhesive for extra dimension.

I also fussy cut out a row of the lights, and placed them at the top of my layout.  The gold doily is from Studio Calico, and is from my stash.

Thanks for looking!

"Making Lemonade" #2 - Embellishment Inspiration

Hello!  I'm back with the second instalment in my "Making Lemonade" YouTube video series where I'm making layouts to assist in getting the creative flow happening, when its not!  For this layout I was totally inspired by the Crate Paper Wonder collection ephemera which came in my August Hip Kit.

I had these three photos of Brielle that I'd taken when she was eating her lunch in her highchair, and was keen to scrap them together.  The ephemera pieces led me to go with a banner design, incorporating the photos as part of the two banners.  I totally love how this one turned out, and it might just be my favourite at the moment!  The title pieces are gold foam thickers, but in this shot you can't tell!

Of course I had to use the B for Brielle, and the cat was perfect for her love of cats!

This "wild at heart" piece was one of my favourites in the pack of ephemera!

My darling girl, kinda eating upside down!

Here is my video, where you can watch my process for threading all the bits and pieces onto the twine.

Thanks for looking!

Delight! (Lets Get Sketchy)

Hello again!  I'm back with the layout I created for the third week of September reveal over at Lets Get Sketchy, and this week we had a stunning sketch by Laetitia which really challenged me to get my mixed media on!  This is a very different layout from my typical style!

I used my August Hip Kit, and decided to be really bold and use the pink Amy Tangerine paper as a background.  I started my toning it down with gesso, and then did the packaging technique with water colour paint (which wasn't strong enough), so I then used Distress Ink in Picked Raspberry.  Then I used gold poster paint that I got from our local dollar store a couple of years ago.

The photo is of Azaria being towed behind the 4-wheeler motor bike in the snow at my inlaws property.  I just love the look on her face!

I built up lots of lovely layers, and fussy cut out the "sweet ride" from one of the papers.  I added a doily from my stash.

The gold foam thickers are by Dear Lizzy.  I love them so much and could easily have another 10 packets!

And here is the amazing sketch!

I made a process video for this one.

I can't wait to see how you are inspired by this sketch, make sure you link up and play along!

Thanks for looking!

One Paper, 3 Layouts!

Hello! It's week two of the school holidays here and I wanted to share with you three layouts that I made with the same piece of paper from my May Hip Kit.  It was this paper from Dear Lizzy "Fine & Dandy" called Lets Party.  I really wanted to focus on the striped side, and rather than use it as a full background or layering piece I really wanted to feature it on three layouts.

I made all of these layouts while we were on holiday in Christchurch last week.  Shaun had to go for a coference so we decided to tag along too!  We stayed at a holiday home, and I just set myself up on the dining room table while Brielle was sleeping,  and in the evening once the kids had gone to bed.

For my first layout I cut apart some of the stripes and then adhered them with the white cardstock background between them.  This created a central focus which was perfect for my photo and embellishments.  I had this funny photo of Azaria posing on the deck at Lonestar Restaurant in Wanaka.  She actually has no idea why she was posing of saluting!  It was also the perfect layout to use the flamingo.

For my second layout I used a piece of the paper on the bottom third of my page, added my photos and build my composition around them.  The photos were taken on Boxing Day when Shaun's brother and family came up to visit.

For my final layout I used the final piece of the paper that was remaining from cutting the stripes for the first layout.  I used two photos of Shaun and I with Brielle, and did the package technique with water colours in the background.    I kept this one really simple, focussing on the photos and with minimal embellishment.

I hope you enjoyed these layouts, I loved creating them!

I Am (Child Free Friday)

Happy Friday!  I have another Child Free layout to share with you today, and this is an unusual one for me because not only am I in it, but I took it so its a true selfie!  I used some new papers that I purchased from Artfull Crafts on our way through Timaru from Dunedin to Christchurch last week!  I got some Dear Lizzy "Fine & Dandy", and Simple Stories "I Am".  All embellishments are from my stash, and boy oh boy it felt great to get them on a page!

The photo is a quick selfie that I took in our local park during our summer earlier in the year.  The flair buttons are from Happy Scatter.

The words in the "I Am" 6x6 pad were perfect to layer over the black and white stripe.

I added pink ribbon to the cute black and white paper clip!

Here is my process video:

Thanks for looking and have an awesome weekend!

Beautiful You

Good afternoon!  Well I've spent the last three days (intermittently) on a page for the latest challenge at Sketchabilities, which I've never played along at before.  I just went to check their blog and I've missed out on entering my take by probably a couple of hours.  Never mind, I loved the sketch and am happy to have used it!

I used my May Hip Kit, and scrapped a photo of Brielle from January (aged 9 months).  She was standing up at her little table and was so happy to smile for her photo!  I'm loving mixing gold and black ink splatters at the moment!

I die cut a label and leaves with my cuttlebug, and I love the Pink Paislee Citrus Twist chipboard!

I loved that this sketch called for lots of layering, which is still my favourite technique for sure!

And here is the amazing sketch:

I'm planning on playing along for sure real soon!

By the way, Azaria turned 6 today!  We celebrated with presents, cupcakes for school (which I forgot to photograph) and a little star cake at home for desert.

Snuggles with Brielle while Sam is up to who knows what on the floor behind!

Blowing out her candles.

Thanks for looking!

Using Up Scraps (April Hip Kit)

Hello again.  Today I'm sharing the last three layouts that I made with my April Hip Kit when I was down to scraps.  Often the layouts I create with scraps are my favourites, I think because I'm so limited in what I have left.  I also love the challenge of creating with scraps to push myself to make as many layouts as I can.

The first two layouts are the final layouts for Brielle's 1st birthday.  For this one I cut my cardstock to A4, and then die cut some of the paper scraps with my triangle die.  I added a doily from my stash and then it was just a matter of placing the triangles and embellishments.  I was happy to use up that cut apart card too!

For my second layout I wanted to make sure I used some of the gorgeous Websters Pages square cut parts.  I choose the ones that best fit the theme of Brielle's birthday, and also had colours that complimented the other papers.  I really got into outlining on this one too!

My final layout is one of my favourites that I created with the kit.  We went to Wanaka (next lake over) during Summer and when we got to the top of the Crown Range we stopped for some photos.  Sam took this photo of Azaria and I and I took the photo of the view.  These landscape photos worked perfectly with the kraft elements in the kit.

You can see all of my April kit layouts in this video:

Thanks for looking!

Melissa

In This Moment (Child Free Friday)

Happy Friday!  Hope you are ready for the weekend!  Its been a crazy day here in Queenstown.  We've had mega frosts, and then in the early hours of the morning we had heavy rain resulting in extreme black ice.  The police shut the road into town so our kids didn't get to school until 11am!

I have my second Child Free Friday layout to share with you today, and its the first layout I've made with my May Hip Kit.  Its another page for my informal wedding album, featuring photos that the guests took at our reception with disposable cameras.  This is a photo of my flatmates prior to getting married, and I love that this photo captures us having a laugh!

I used some thickers from last months kit.

Gold Colourshine was the perfect finishing touch.

My top right cluster, and why not add another pineapple embellishment!

Here is my process video:

Thanks for looking and have an amazing weekend!

Friends (Child Free Friday)

Good evening!  I was looking through a big stack of photos trying to decide what to scrap next when I suddenly came to the realisation that 99.9% of my photos are of the kids!  So I decided to remedy the situation by starting my first ever series on my YouTube Channel called "Child Free Fridays.  The purpose of this series is to challenge myself to create more layouts for my scrapbooks, which will also achieve my goal of finishing some albums.

My first layout is for my informal wedding album. We got married nearly 12 years ago, and back in the day we had disposable cameras on the tables at our reception for the guests to use.  The deal was that they had to leave the cameras for us to develop.  We got a really good stack of photos, and I've been slowly (over about three years) working my way through scrapping them.  

This layout is of Shaun and his best man and groomsman.  I'm down to the last scraps of paper and bits and pieces of my April Hip Kit, so it was a good challenge to try and use some of them up.

I used a metalic mint gelato in the background, and I was so determined to use up two of the Amy Tangerine frames.

I'm loving those Amy Tangerine gold thicker words, and it was good to pull out my India ink for this one.  The "Together Fun!" was cut out of one of the papers.

I created a small cluster at the top left, and doodled a border around the edge, again!

Heres my video, I also include a quick flip through of my wedding album so far.

Thanks for looking, and have a blessed weekend!

Sam @ 8 (April Hip Kit)

Hello!  I've been documenting birthdays lately because three of us have our birthdays from 29 March to 15 April.  Our oldest Sam turned 8 at the end of March, and being the family memory keeper I took lots of photos to capture the moment.  

For the first page I documented Sam at age 8 in my words.  I used my April Hip Kit, which was a predominantly girly kit, but I made sure I got these layouts done by pulling the more boyish papers and embellishments.

I used my April Hip Kit, which was a predominantly girly kit, but I made sure I got these layouts done by pulling the more boyish papers and embellishments.  I'm loving the look of multiple ink splatters right now!

I kept my embellishment a lot less than my usual style, as I really wanted to feature the arrow paper and frame.  I cut apart some of the small Websters Pages squares and layered them under my paper.

Of course I had to include the paper plane die cut, in fact when I first opened up the pack of die cuts I had to show Sam.  Sam has been making paper planes for the past 4 years - he started when he was 4 and used to bring home bags of them from childcare.

I also love to document my children's favourites around their birthday, and I think it'll be so interesting to look back on when they are older.  My second layout has been designed like a second page, and I've included lots of similar elements.  I interviewed Sam to make sure I got his voice in the journalling.  Because this layout is smaller at A4 (similar to 8.5x11) I typed Sam's answers on my computer and printed them out.  I generally prefer handwritten journalling, but for a layout such as this I think it works well.

I love the skinny black Thickers in the kit, and I added enamel dots from my stash.  And yes, I have used the green paper that I said I was struggling with in my previous process video!

Tucking more Websters Pages squares under the paper helped with the continuity between the two pages.   And this photo really sums up his playful personality!

I still have lots of birthday photos and will likely make some pocket pages.

Thanks for looking! 

Happy Birthday (Lets Get Sketchy)

Hi there!  Well if its half way through June it must be half way through the year!  How can that be!?

Its time for the third reveal of the month over at Lets Get Sketchy with a fabulous sketch by Jenessa Franco.  I used my April Hip Kit, which was perfect for this 1st birthday photo of Brielle (I love her sweet little face in this photo!), as it had the Maggie Holmes Confetti Chipboard.  I was even super brave and for the first time ever machine stitched through the chipboard letters. I put my foot down and went for gold!

I added the epoxy "1" sticker onto the Amy Tangerine camera.

My title was made with the chipboard words, and also below is a close up of the layered Maggie Homes sequins which I stapled first then adhered with a glue dot.

Love that layered fabric "LOVE" tag from the Heidi Swapp!

I also made a 6x12 pocket page with some of the remaining photos.  Here is a shot of the two pages side by side, as they'll appear in the album.  I have two other 12x12 pages that I've made for her birthday, and I'll be sharing them this week.

And here are the two pages side by side.  I used lots of the same papers, but kept the embellishments very simple.

And here is the awesome sketch:

I made a process video:

Thanks for looking, and make sure you play along with us at Lets Get Sketchy!