Father & Son (Child Free Friday #8)

Good morning!  I'm getting excited here because its nearly Spring, which has got to be one of my favourite months of the year.  I had my 8th Child Free Friday video up on Saturday (I was late).  It's another wedding reception photo, and features my Father-in-Law and his Dad.  

I had found an old partially used Paper Bakery kit when I was tidying up my scrap space.  Its a spring themed kit, and I probably didn't use it because it would have been Autumn her in NZ.  I added some extra embellishments.  Because my photo was so dark the kit was perfect and I played with mixed media (water colours, texture paste and ink).  I wanted to feature my favourite paper in the kit behind my photo, so kept it big.  I used an Authentique ledger paper for my background.

I even stamped my title with some new letter stamps from The Warehouse (NZ), they were literally about $7 and stamp like a dream!  The ampersand is from an old Studio Calico stamp set.

I placed the Elle's Studio cut-aparts down the side and machine stitched them  down.  I popped up the right side of each with pop dots.  

Here is my process video:

I hope you enjoyed.  I'll be back later today!

His Books

While we were in Invercargill waiting to have Brielle we did some shopping at Spotlight.  I was really excited to find some Heidi Swapp Colourshine in gold, so was very keen to try it out.  I'd printed out this large Instagram photo of Sam's school books s while ago and had been putting off scrapping it, I think because I took it at night (after a marathon session of covering his books with Sponge Bob), and it had a lot of green in it.  Well I finally made myself scrap it with a Paper Bakery Kit.

I'd played around with the colourshine on a piece of white card stock, and was keen to use it, rather than waste it. I gutted that gold heart paper from My Minds Eye, and then used it as a background border sheet, and sewed it together.  Next it was just a case of using a Heidi Swapp polka dot stencil to add some more mist, layering some papers, and then adding a title and embellishments.  I even used the piece of washi tape that had been securing a glassine bag of embellishment.  

Some close ups.  I included the clock as this was a last minute exercise on the Sunday night before the first day of school.

I decided to do some doodling on this layout, as its a technique that I love the look of and often forget.  Some journaling and my date stamp, and I was done.

Another layout that is for Sam's album, which I have been neglecting lately as I ran out of photos.  I got some printed last week, so be on the look out for more boy layouts!

Thanks for looking

Melissa x

Lets Get Sketchy "Inspired Magazine" Issue 3 - May 2014

Hello, well I'm so excited to announce that the third Lets Get Sketchy magazine is live here.  Brenshevia and Laura have done an amazing job again!

I have three layouts published this time. The brief for this first layout was to use twine.  I wanted to try something different, and was eager to use Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party, so I punched circles and butterflies and tied my twine on the butterflies.  This photo was taken during my nesting phase when I washed all the newborn baby clothes in preparation, and I just adore it against the blue sky.  It's hard to believe that Brielle is here now, and she is so little that she swims in that hat and all the newborn clothes!

Some close ups:

The design brief for the second layout was Summer or Spring.  This Instagram photo that I took at the wedding rehearsal for my friend's was perfect.  Shaun and I were singing at their wedding, and the location was so breath taking that of course I had to take some photos.  I used a Paper Bakery Kit for this one, and my journalling is hidden in the pocket.

A close up of the fun elements:

The final design brief that I created a layout for was to use Echo Park Paper products.  I used the Beautiful Life Collection, which is lovely and girly, so of course I had to scrap Azaria.  I started with the 4 x 6 card, and the rest of the layout flowed from there.  I used some modelling paste mixed with white acrylic paint to add some texture to the background, and also added a doily. Very minimal patterned paper on this one, I decided to mainly work with the sticker sheet and cut apart sheet.

A close up of my texture and journalling:

Thanks for looking.  Make sure you check out the magazine, it is so beautiful.

Melissa x

Love Her

Hello, well today is Anzac day, a day in which New Zealand and Australia remember those men and women that served in the war.  This year I will again remember the Granddad I never met, my Dad's Dad Jim.

When we spent time in Invercargill waiting for Brielle to arrive we stayed at family friend's house while they were away.  Of course I took some scrapbooking supplies as I find it hard to go a day without being creative, even if just for 15 minutes.  The easiest way to not overpack was to take two Paper Bakery kits, some extra thickers, and of course my first set of photos taken with my new camera.

Here is one of the layouts I made which isn't for any Design Team work:

I loved the background paper so much that I really wanted it and the lovely photo of Azaria to shine, so I did very minimal embellishment.

I love those Simple Stories Chipboard elements.  With the addition of a doily, some white ink splatters and some sequins, I was done.

Have a blessed Friday.

Melissa 

Capture (Lets Get Sketchy)

Happy Easter and welcome to our second reveal over at Lets Get Sketchy for April!  Autumn is well and truly here in New Zealand now, but the days are still warm.  A few weeks ago Azaria and I went to Arrowtown and went for a walk next to the Arrow River, of course I had a great time playing with my new camera and snapped the photos in this layout.

This week we had an awesome sketch by Jenessa Franco, and I used a Paper Bakery Kit to make my layout.  I just love the Studio Calico Print Shop paper in this kit, and I fussy cut the title.  The Pebbles From Me to You card pad was perfect to be cut up into layers too.  I painted the background with some white acrylic paint to soften the woodgrain.

Here is the awesome sketch:

Make sure you play along.  I look forward to seeing what you make.

Hope you had a wonderful Easter.

Melissa x

Getting Ready For You (Lets Get Sketchy)

Hello, today is the first reveal for April over at Lets Get Sketchy.  We had an awesome sketch by Laura Whitaker to play with, and a I had two 4x6 photos that I wanted to scrap I choose to rotate it to the left.

I'm currently 38 weeks pregnant, and these photos are of the nesting phase of washing baby clothes and getting ready.  We didn't find out the sex of the baby, so I washed neutrals, boy and girl newborn clothes.  Having never scrapbooked a pregnancy before I wanted to capture many different aspects of the pregnancy, both good and challenging!  

I used a Paper Bakery Kit, and stuck pretty closely to the sketch as I loved it so much.  I used modeling paste for the first time, and made the hearts with a Heidi Swapp stencil for some subtle layers.  Sequins were the perfect finishing touch.

And here is the awesome sketch:

Make sure you play along and link up.

Thanks for looking.

Melissa x

Remember Right Now (Lets Get Sketchy)

This week over at Lets Get Sketchy the fourth Monday of the month challenge is to scraplift one of your first ever scrapbook pages.  I was too late getting mine loaded up to the blog, but I still wanted to share it.  My new layout is a couple of Instagram photos I took on my Iphone at the Wanaka Rodeo in January. 

I used a Paper Bakery kit, and mostly made the most of the scraps and embellishments I had left.

As you can see, I've remastered taking photos with my DSLR with my huge baby belly in the way!

And here is my original scrapbook page, created for Sam's baby book, and the first photo of me holding him!

Oh how my style has changed!  

Thanks for looking!

Melissa x

Moments Recorded

As I'm nearing the end of this pregnancy (just over two weeks to go!) I've been doing a little bit of scrapbooking just for myself, and this layout is one of them.  I used one of my Paper Bakery Kits, and really wanted to focus on the "Moments" scripted word that I fussy cut out of the Studio Calico Print Shop papers.  I chose to scrap a selfie for my pregnancy album, me at 27 weeks!

I just placed the photo in the middle, and then layered papers and embellishments around it.  The background paper has numbers on it, which is appropriate as my journaling talks about nearing the 30 week countdown.  I finished my layout off with different sized drops of India ink.

I had to take this layout photo with my iPhone, as my belly is so big now that I struggle to line everything up with my Cannon!  Has anyone else had this problem?!

Thanks for looking

Melissa x

Sometimes You Slept (Lets Get Sketchy)

Hello!  Well March is flying by, and its time for our week 3 reveal over at Lets Get Sketchy.  This week we had a lovely sketch by Lanette Erickson.

I used it to scrap some more old photos of Sam when he was a baby (he's turning 7 in less than a week!).  My layout is all about how difficult it was to get him to sleep during the first 6 weeks.  This photo is him sleeping, of course during the day.  We always sleep our babies in the lounge during their first few weeks and carry on like normal around them to get them used to sleeping in the day and with noise like the vacuum cleaner and music.  No "Shhh the baby's sleeping" in this house!

I used a Paper Bakery kit, and my new roller stamp from Glitz Design.

I love the exclusives in the kit like the flair and paper feathers.

And here is the sketch:

Thanks for looking, I hope you play along with us this month!

Be blessed
Melissa x

Gingerbread Cutie (Lets Get Sketchy)

Hello!  Wow can you believe it's March already. For most of you that means Spring, but for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere it means Autumn!  As its the first week of March its time for our first reveal of the month over at Lets Get Sketchy.

This week we had an awesome sketch by Brenshevia, featuring two photos, however I decided to switch out the smaller photo for a framed embellishment.  I made my layout with a Paper Bakery kit, and its all about my son several years ago and a gingerbread man that Grannie gave him.  I just adore that woodgrain paper by Amy Tangerine!  I made my stars by piercing around the Studio Calico stars as a stencil, and then hand stitching with white thread.

And here is the sketch:

Thanks for looking, make sure you play along this week, and play along with our birthday blog hop challenge too!

Be blessed

Melissa x

Teamwork (Scrapstuffz)

Hello! Whilst it's been quiet here on my blog this past week I've been scrapping heaps lately to get ahead with some Design Team projects before my baby arrives in approximately 10 weeks! We're starting to get really excited to meet him or her!

I'm up on the Scrapstuffz blog today with my February reveal. For the first time ever I took a literal interpretation of the inspiration photo and scrapped a large photo collage of cupcakes and baking that we made for school fundraising at Arrowtown Autumn Festival last year.  I used a Paper Bakery Kit.  I kept this one very simple as the photos already have so much going on. I must say that the stamps that Sarah designs are such good quality, as they stamp really clean straight away.

And here is this month's inspiration photo:

Make sure you play along for a chance to win!

Blessings

Melissa x

Sleep Sweet Boy (Shimelle.com)

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I also played along with Shimelle's Sketch 33, which is all about putting one photo centre stage.  Once again I scrapped a photo of Sam, and once again I used a Paper Bakery kit.

This photo is the final photo that goes with the epic 16km mountain bike ride that Sam and I did with our Church group one Friday night.  This photo is all about Sam falling asleep after the ride with his beloved Spotty Dog on his shoulder!  Its such a great feeling to have a story recorded and complete.

I love that confetti paper, I just softened the edges with some gesso.

As you can see, I stuck pretty closely to the sketch, as I loved it so much.

Thanks for looking.

Be blessed 

Melissa x

Happiness (Lets Get Sketchy)

Welcome to our third reveal for January over at Lets Get Sketchy.  I decided to scrap a couple of photos I've had printed for a while now, and they are of my kids at our local Coffee Club cafe, which Azaria used to affectionately refer to as "The Fluffy Club".  In my part of the world fluffies are steamed milk in a short black cup with sprinkles or chocolate on top.  My kids have since graduated to hot chocolates!

I used a Paper Bakery kit (plus some washi tape) for this layout, and decided to go somewhat monochromatic with blue and green.  I struggled with this layout, not sure why, but I do know that creativity can ebb and flow.

I started with some Heidi Swapp Colour Shine mist as a background, then added my paper layers and photos.  I finished off with the banners, washi tape and stamping.  I then spent over an hour searching on my laptop for the date that these photos were taken, but with no luck.  I'll add it later on once I find it, so this layout will be added to the "date needed" pile.

Here are some close ups:

And here is the awesome sketch designed by the very talented Bev Code:

It's been so awesome to see so many scrapbookers that are new to LGS playing along with this months sketches, make sure you link up your layout to be in to win a fabulous prize.

Happy scrapping!
Melissa x

My Boy & I (Shimelle.com)

I'm so excited that I actually managed to do some scrapbooking that wasn't Design Team work again!  I love everything that Shimelle does, so I was really keen to play along with her recently posted sketch challenges.  I played a couple of times last year, then got sick and struggled to just get my design team commitments met.

The first sketch that she posted for 2014 was Sketch-Thirty Two, which involved scrapping two photos on a patterned paper background you really love.  This was perfect for the Dear Lizzy paper I've used, and once again I used my August Paper Bakery Kit:

I've been making lots of pages about Sam lately, in my effort to be somewhat caught up before the baby arrives.  I love that Paper Bakery Kits work so well with any photos, whether they be masculine or feminine.  This layout features two photos that my Mum took 5 years ago, I just trimmed them to 4 x 4 to make them work for this sketch.  Very simply embellishment, but I think it compliments the boldness of the script paper.

Here is the sketch:

Thanks for looking.  I'll be back later in the week with my take on Sketch Thirty-Three.

Melissa 

Fun Times!

Two nights ago I wasn't feeling very tired, so I headed into to my craft table and played around with my August Hello You Paper Bakery Kit.  I'd printed off the printables for August, and had already cut them out, so was keen to get them onto a page.  I've also been working my way through a stack of photos that I've had printed for a couple of years, including a fun one which was taken after at Church after Azaria's baby dedication.  I'd pre-splattered my white card stock with some Heidi Swapp Colour Shine mist, and I quickly made this layout in about 25 minutes.

I just love our faces in this one!  Azaria was only about 11 weeks at this stage, and Sam aged 2.5!

Here are some close ups:

I just love the glimmer that the Colour Shine mists have, and if definitely makes a big difference when you give them a good shake up before using!  The "fun" word sticker came from a previous Paper Bakery Kit, and was a perfect colour match for this kit.

I used one of the glassine bags that contained goodies from the kit, and layered it under my paper layers, stapled it closed onto the paper, and then lined up 3 enamel dots.  I love the added texture it adds to what is otherwise a pretty simple layout. 

Thanks for looking

Melissa x

Sam @ ChCH (Lets Get Sketchy)

Hello and welcome to the first reveal for 2014 over at Lets Get Sketchy. Although I've posted a layout already this year, this layout is officially my first created page for 2014!!

 My layout this week is a really old photo of Sam when he was only 3 months old.  Sam and I flew up to Christchurch (CHCH) for an interview for my professional planning membership, and Mum flew down from Auckland to look after him.  I just loved this velveteen suit that he was wearing, he was just (and still is) so cute!

Here is my layout which I made with my August Hello You! Paper Bakery kit.  I used the Scrapbook Kit and Capture 365 Kit (I don't do Project Life anymore, but loved this kit so much for the extra embellishments it contained that I could add to my pages).

And a couple of close ups:

And here is the sketch designed by our awesome leader Brenshevia Baker:

We all loved the chevron on this one; I extended some layers to the left to provide for journaling and a confetti pocket made from a glassine bag.

Thanks for looking, make sure you play along and link up your layout on the blog.

Be blessed

Melissa x