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!

Hair By Sam (Sketchabilities)

Hello again so soon! Yes two posts in one day because I really wanted to get this layout onto my blog, and I wanted to keep it separate from my first post!

I made this layout with the latest sketch over at Sketchabilities, and this is my first time playing along!  I've made the sketch work for me because the photo has Brielle looking to the left (of the page), so I wanted her to be looking into the page, not off it (hope that makes sense!).  Sam (aged 8) did her hair with a loom band one day, so of course I had to get a photo, because how often does a big brother do hair styles?!  I used my May Hip Kit.

I loved layering up my papers, and then added some of my favourite embellishments.  This leaf cut was left over from another layout.

I really challenged myself to do some stamping on this one!  At first I wasn't sure about those thickers, but I love how they work with this kit.

And here is the awesome sketch.

Thanks for looking!

Just Add Water (Stuck?! Sketches)

Hello!  I'm playing along over at Stuck?! Sketches today, and I'm not sure if I've already shared, but I'm on a real sketch kick at the moment!

This sketch was awesome, and I made it work for 4 photos of Brielle being cute in the bath!  I used my May Hip Kit and had a blast using all the fun embellishments!  

I went a bit full on with mist splatters on this one, I almost didn't know when to stop!

And yes those home made epoxy stickers are from patterned paper, totally inspired by Adele from Inkie Quill (on YouTube)!

I'm really into outlining and stapling at the moment!

And here is Laura's super fun sketch.

Thanks for looking!

Lovely (Lets Get Sketchy)

Hello!  Its time for the first reveal for July over at Lets Get Sketchy, can you believe the year is more than half over?!  This week we had a pretty sketch by Brenshevia, with banners, white space and splatters.  I used my May Hip Kit (I'm trying to get caught up with my kits), and scrapped a selfie I took of Brielle and I during our recent snow storm.  The photo is a little over exposed because of the intense brightness of the snow behind us.

I loved that this sketch could be used to feature white space (creating a layout with a lot of breathing room), and I decided to use white cardstock to really play up my splattering.  Everything is from the kit except for the doily, "lovely" sticker,  glassine bag, and silver gems.

I used my pink gelato to colour the wood veneer, and I love using those acetate Dear Lizzy shapes by stapling them.  The triangles are with Molding paste and the Triangle stencil by Happy Scatter.

Lovely layers, including some waste chipboard behind my photo.  I used glossy accents to glue down the acetate heart, which worked really well.

A close up of our #nomakeupselfie!  I added the doily and glassine bag into my layers for added interest

And here is the awesome sketch!

Make sure you check out the LGS blog to see what the other DT ladies created!

Thanks for looking!

Just Plain Wonderful (Child Free Friday)

Good morning!  It's Friday, which means time for another layout that doesn't feature my children!  This week I decided to scrap this beautiful photo of our current favourite Summer holiday destination - Lake Wanaka, which is only 45 minutes away from home.

I used my May Hip Kit again, and this week really wanted to make a simple layout that would let the photo and title shine as the main features!  The heart paper from Dear Lizzy Fine & Dandy was perfect as a backdrop for my photo.

I saved these thickers from last month's kit and I was so happy to use them for this layout.

Love the combination of the tag, machine stitching, the little "To-Do" die cut from last month's kit and the gold photo corner!

This label was perfect, because Lake Wanaka really is a paradise to us!  I managed to get gold ink on my photo, but inspired by Adele (Inkie Quill) I decided to go with it!

You can watch my process video below:

Thanks for looking! 

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