Happy [Inter]national Scrapbook Day 2015!!

Yay our very own holiday (if only it was a public holiday and day off work)!!!

This year I participated in a Video hop over on YouTube with a group of other girls from the nicolejones911 Facebook Group.  It was organised by Hannah Lemieux, and the challenge was to be inspired by the famous The Sound of Music movie song "These are a Few of My Favourite Things".  I was inspired most by the line "brown paper packages tied up with string", and I immediately thought of a photo I had of Brielle during Christmas, of her playing with the packaging and ribbon.

I used my hoarded Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party, which is one of my favourite collections ever (second after Lucky Charm).  I fussy cut the flowers out of one of my favourite papers.

Bows are one of my favourite embellishments at the moment, so I was happy to get this one down.  Interestingly I got it from The Warehouse here in NZ.  I also used up a leftover piece of doily.

Here is my video, which you can either watch below or on YouTube here.  

I had a blast!  I'm looking forward to playing along with some of the other challenges that are happening this weekend, and because I'm in NZ and its now our Sunday night, I still have tomorrow to play!

On a personal recording milestones note, I do want to record on here that Brielle took her first small step today at Church during worship.  It was a little step and she fell down immediately, but it was definitely a step none-the-less!

Have an awesome rest of your scrappy week, and see you in blog/YouTube/FB land really soon!

3 Months (Lets Get Sketchy)

Hello! Can you believe its February already!  Well that means another reveal over at Lets Get Sketchy,  and this week we had a really fun sketch by Jenessa Franco to work with.  

I decided to scrap a second page of Brielle's 3 month photo shoot, and this layout will go next to my previous LGS layout two weeks ago.  I used Websters Pages Sweet Routine collection, and some gold tissue paper from my stash.  The letter stickers are really old Kaisercraft, like 4 years old!  Hooray for using up older product!

I started by spraying a large doily with Heidi Swapp Colour Shine to add some visual interest, as I knew I wanted to keep this layout simple, to focus on my darling baby girl.

These embellishments are made from the punching out the patterned paper and cutting up the journalling card.

I also added in some washi tape from my stash.

And of course no layout is complete without some India ink.

I also made a process video for this one.

I'd love to see what you make with this sketch.

Kaisercraft XO Mini Album (Artfull Crafts)

Good morning, I'm up on the Artfull Crafts Blog  today with another project I made with the beautiful Kaisercraft XO collection, which you can purchase from the shop here.

I decided to make a mini album with the cut apart journaling cards, and I included recent photos of our family, and some scripture about love.  I made the cover very simple and minimalistic, with white cardstock which I embossed, and then used two manual dies (through my Cuttlebug).  I used my sewing machine to add texture, and glued the ribbon onto the back of the album.

Here is the cover with the ribbon untied.

I prepared the album before I'd printed off my photos, which is a new process for me, as usually I like to have everything ready to go, especially the photos.  Here are some close ups of some of the inside pages.  You will see that I bound my pages with washi tape.

You can watch how this mini album came together here on YouTube, or below:

Thanks for looking!

Kaisercraft's "Too Cool For School" Layouts (Artfull Crafts)

Hello, well it's almost back to school time for my kids, with two more teacher only days on Monday and Tuesday, and school starting on Wednesday.  My husband is a teacher, and school started back for him on Friday.  

This all means its perfect timing to show you two layouts I created with Kaisercraft's new Too Cool for School collection, which you can find in the Artfull Crafts shop here.

For my first layout I wanted to use the realistic chalkboard background and scrapped a large photo of my 5 year old daughter on her first day of school last July.  Our school is so awesome, they take a photo of the kids of their first days, and give a large print to the parents.  The only photos I had of my daughter were of her looking unhappy and emotional, so it was such a blessing to get this lovely photo of her smiling.  

I kept my layout really simple, made the most of the background paper, then just added some stickers, collectables and washi tape from my stash.  

The pencil collectable die cut "Great Day" works perfectly as my title.

I cut the "today"banner from one of the journalling cards.

The ruler is from the sticker sheet, and I just layered it under my photo, with some washi tape on top. The scalloped border is cut from one of the patterned papers with my border punch.

My second layout is a mixed media page where I created my own background by cutting apart one of the papers, gluing the strips down randomly, adding some punched stars, and then covering the whole page with gesso.  Next I added some water colours, my photos in a row, and then just added stickers and collectable die cuts (much like the previous page).

The page is about my son who won a special award at school in 2013.  The blurry photo in the middle is the only photo we have, which was taken with an iPhone.  I took the two photos of the award with my DSLR, just before we had to give the trophy back.  So whilst the photo in the middle isn't great quality, the story needs to be recorded in Sam's album.

A close up of the background paper and my journaling. I trimmed away the white border around the "Achievement" pencil to fit with the other embellishments.

I made the star embellishments with my Epiphany Crafts punch.

Thanks for looking!

Hello Fall Blog Hop (Lets Get Sketchy)

Hello and welcome to the LGS Hello Fall blog hop!  If you have arrived here from Connie's blog welcome to the hop!  If you have stumbled across this by chance and want to play along then you can head back to the Lets Get Sketchy site to start at the beginning.

The girls here at LGS are excited about the change in the season and thusly we are celebrating with a “Hello Fall” blog hop and giving away lots of daily prizes and a grand prize of a $25.00 gift voucher to Creative Embellishments.  To be eligible win any of our hop prizes you will need to visit each designer’s blog, leave some love on each of our design team’s blog’s and follow their blogs. Each member of the DT will be sharing a Fall themed project for your inspiration.  To find out how to win our Grand Prize as well as lots of other giveaways, make sure you visit the LGS blog!

For your Fall inspiration I have created a Project Life spread for this May (which is our last month of Autumn here in New Zealand) for the blog hop:

Scrap Stash Kit Club is an awesome way to use up scraps!  Our darling baby girl was only 3 weeks old on Mother's Day, and we had her dedicated at Church, then out for lunch in Arrowtown.  Sam (aged 7) drew the cutest Minecraft pictures and left them lying around the house, so of course I had to include them!

I used my September Scrap Stash Kit Club (Mr Fox), which worked really well with the Autumn colour scheme of reds and oranges paired with neutrals.

I'm offering a randomly drawn RAK to one lucky Australian or New Zealand blog hopper, so make sure you leave a comment (including where you are from) and follow my blog to be in to win!

Next up on the hop is the lovely and very talented Wendi.

Line up is:

Brenshevia - http://scrappingeverydaylife.blogspot.com/2014/09/lets-get-sketchy-hello-fall-blog-hop.html   

Nadine - http://myscrapnstuff.blogspot.com/2014/09/hello-fall-lets-get-sketchy-blog-hop.html

Melinda G. - http://melindagarner.blogspot.com/2014/09/fall-blog-hop.html

Mayoori - http://butterfliesnbuttons.blogspot.com/2014/09/lgs-fall-blog-hop.html

Lisa - http://lisasscrappyhideaway.blogspot.com/2014/09/lgs-fall-blog-hop.html

Shirley - http://mascarinashirley.blogspot.com/2014/09/hello-fall-lgs-fall-blog-hop.html

Devra- http://mycreativeview.blogspot.com/2014/09/lets-get-sketch-fall-blog-hop.html

Joefil - http://joefilcate.blogspot.com/2014/09/lets-get-sketchy-fall-bloghop.html

Melinda F. -http://scrapmhel.blogspot.com/2014/10/falling-leaves-hello-fall-lets-get.html

Jenessa - http://jenessafranco.blogspot.com/2014/09/lets-get-sketchy-hello-fall-blog-hop.html

Lynn G. - http://memoriesonthepage.blogspot.com/2014/09/lets-get-sketchy-fall-blog-hop.html

Michelle -http://michellesscrapdesigns.blogspot.com/2014/09/lets-get-sketchy-fall-blog-hop.html 

Connie - http://timestocherish.blogspot.com/2014/09/lets-get-sketchy-bloghop.html

Melissa - http://yesterday2day4ever.blogspot.com/2014/09/hello-fall-blog-hop-lets-get-sketchy.html

Wendi - http://scrappydayinparadise.blogspot.com/2014/09/hello-fall-lgs-blog-hop.html

Tone-Lill - http://tone-lillpapirdill.blogspot.com/2014/09/lets-get-sketchy-hello-fall-blog-hop.html

Valerie - http://www.valeriehuangdesigns.com/2014/09/hello-fall-lgs-blog-hop.html

Danie - http://scrappydanie.blogspot.com/2014/09/lets-get-sketchy-hello-fall-blog-hop.html

Thanks for hopping!

Killing a Kit (June Hip Kit)

Yes it does sound a bit scary, but killing a kit pretty much means using it all up until its all gone, and no more layouts can be made.  I've always been one for challenging myself to use up a kit, and once I start I like to use it until all I have left are scraps.  Normally I just make pages and share them as I make them, but with my June Hip Kit I decided to hold off sharing the majority of pages (with the exception of about 3 layouts I made for Design Team work).

First up, here is the Main kit for June, full of Elle's Studio, Echo Park and October Afternoon goodness!

I also got the Stamp Add on, mostly because I wanted the distress inks.

I made a total of 9 layouts, and I love that they are all different, yet all from the same kit!  I added in cardstock and doilies from my stash.

This first one is a mixed media one that I've already shared over at Lets Get Sketchy.  

This one documents the Brielle's birth when she was checked by the Paediatricians after she was born.  I did some water colouring on this.  When I first saw the October Afternoon clock paper I wasn't sure how I would use it, until I saw that it had Brielle's time of birth on it!  Of course I had to cut this out with my circle punch, and include the written time too!  So perfect!!

This is the first layout I made; I often find it hard to start as it means making the first cut!  I also made it at my monthly crop, and I'm so used to scrapping on my own that I find it hard to scrap in a group.  Love my crop though as I've become such good friends with the other girls that go.  I used the distress ink like watercolour paint.

This one was for a sketch challenge over at Stuck?! Sketches, and I just adored all the triangles. 

This one documents Brielle's first trip out after we got home from both hospitals.  We went to our favourite Cafe, and I enjoyed a real coffee!  Of course she slept the entire time!

I was in two minds of how to use the paper with the circle.  Part of me wanted to cut it out, but then I decided to keep it whole and really feature the circle.  I punched out the viewfinder hearts with my punch, and also added the circular wood veneer.  I added the gold resign flower from my stash as I felt that the layout needed something special as it is relatively simple.

This page is all about Azaria's new fringe, which she had to have before her first full day school visit. I used the washi tape, washi stamps, and distress inks on this one.  I added a doily from my stash.

This layout captures my Mother's Day this year, and although I'm not a materialistic person who is "all about the gifts", my kids were so very excited to give me the treats they had made (or gathered), and actually gave these to me two days before!  Of course I had to get a couple of photos!  I especially love the title on this one.

I've saved my favourite for last!  I adored that Echo Park paper, and managed to include it in 5 layouts by cutting it up. I adore this photo of my girls, and the clean and simple design allows the photo and paper to shine!  This photo was from my 2 month photo shoot for Brielle, and Azaria wanted to jump in too.

If you made it to the end of this post, then I truly appreciate you for reading this far!

I've been scrapping with my July Hip Kit, and my August one arrived late last week, so I have lots of product to use up!

Thanks for looking!

Celebrate The Little Things (Studio Calico Stitched Class)

Hello hello!  Well as I've already shared, I've been scapping in small increments around breast feeding Brielle.  Life is certainly tiring with a newborn, and I'd forgotten all about feeding around the clock.  Breast feeding is the best, it's hard work to establish during the first 6 weeks of a babies life, but is God's perfect food and so worth it in the longterm.  Scrapping is and always will be a creative release for me.

Here is another layout I made for the Stitched class over at Studio Calico.  I'm really enjoying all the inspiration and creative ideas that this class provides for both hand and machine sewing, and now that I'm not pregnant and sick, my creativity is flowing.

I wanted to feature washi tape, so I stuck tape to white card stock and die cut different sized circles with my Cuttlebug.  I took these photos of Azaria at the Chinese Village in Arrowtow, and even die cut two of them.  I started my layout with my main photo and journalling cards from Kaisercraft's Captured Moments Happy Days Collection.  I love using journalling cards meant for pocket scrapbooking on traditional layouts.  I also used some older Bella Blvd Birthday Girl stickers.  

Once I'd layered up and arranged all my circles and the photo, I added some drops of Mister Hueys Opaque White, and let it dry for several hours.  As a finishing touch I hand stitched around some of the circles, and in the process smudged my mist.  However, on the black patterned paper the smudged mist looked like chalkboard, so I went with it and smudged the rest.  I love it when a mistake becomes a feature!

And here are some close ups:

Above, I used the prompt on the journaling card to document five things I love about Azaria right now.

Above, the "AV" are her initials. I love way Maggie Holmes includes her kids first initials on her layouts.

And below, a close up of my hand stitching.  No measuring, just freehand hole punching.

And here are a couple of photos of our little darling, she is two weeks old today:

Above, sleeping peacefully during the day, and below wide awake at 3am!

Thanks for looking

Be blessed

Melissa x

I Love This (Studio Calico Stitched Class)

Earlier in April while I was still in the midst of morning sickness I decided to treat myself to the Stitched Class by Paige Evans over at Studio Calico.  I just love Paige's unique style, and I love how down to earth she is.  I had a vision to make this layout with Azaria's childcare photo from last year, and I wanted to feature lots of tone on tone white butterflies on a white background.

The photo was taken by Sue Williams Photography, and I just adore it.  We actually loved two of them so much that we purchased both.  I'll also be scrapping the second photo very soon.

I decided to break into my Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party, and it looks great with the pink and silver in the photo.   I started by mixing some pink and white mist and applying it with a plastic bag to provide some artsy texture.

I machine stitched the butterflies, and added an extra vellum butterfly onto some of them to provide more dimension.  I also stitched my paper layers behind the photo and I stitched the white card stock onto pink cardstock for a frame.

 I incorporated hidden journalling into an envelope, as I really wanted the photo to shine.

I love the contrast of the chalkboard-style title card, and no layout of mine seems complete lately without some sequins and big drops of India ink.

This layout took me about a week, life with a newborn and recovery from surgery is certainly busy!  I just love scrapping 15 minutes here and there.

Thanks for looking

Melissa x

Kaisercraft Kaleidoscope Layouts (Artfull Crafts)

Hi all, my first blog post for April is up over at the Artfull Crafts blog.  This month I got to play with the gorgeous Kaleidoscope collection from Kaisercraft.  It was perfect for scrapbooking a newer Instagram photo of my daughter riding a bike for the first time, and for an older photo of my sister with her newborn baby.

I was really inspired to scrap this photo of my daughter all based on the bicycle on the patterned paper, and the cut apart quote card, which was perfect.  I loved that the paper had distressed elements already printed on it, which meant all I had to do was layer up my papers and die cuts, and add extra ink and stamping (pink hearts).  I also added some word stickers to the existing printed layers on the bottom of the page.  I even used a flower, which is a big step for me (as I find flowers very challenging!).

For this next layout the blue patterned paper worked so well with this photo of my sister and her newborn baby, with the white in the photo pulling out the white of the printed doily.  Once again I layered paper under the photo, and then embellished with the butterfly sticker, push pin, washi tape and another flower.  Then I dressed up the doily with washi tape and a blue ribbon which I tied in a bow.  As a final touch I dropped on some dark blue ink for a quick and easy layout.

You can purchase Kaleidoscope in the Artfull Crafts online shop here.

Thanks for looking!
Melissa

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

Lets Get Sketchy's "Get Inspired Issue 2"

Hello, as I said in yesterday's post, Lets Get Sketchy's online magazine "Get Inspired" is now live, and you can view it here.  Just to warn you , this is a layout heavy post from me to share what I created as part of the Design Team.

This first layout had to have a pocket on it.  I decided to do a pocket page to show how I scrapbook an event with lots of photos.  This is the second page about Sam's 5th birthday party (its a real challenge to photograph divided page protectors).

My second layout had to include memorabilia.  Rather than use tickets, I included Sam's certificate from rugby last year.

My third layout had to incorporate stitching. This layout is about Azaria's first plane flight when she was about 3 months old.  I used both machine and hand stitching.

My fourth layout had to include a selfie, and this is me at 17 weeks pregnant. You should see how big I am now!  I used a Paper Bakery kit.

My final layout had to be a white space page, and I scrapped these photos of banana berry muffins I baked for our church cafe a few years ago.

Thanks for making it this far!

Melissa x