All About Scrapbooks Design Team Work

This week whilst designing for All About Scrapbooks, I got to play with the gorgeous Happy Place by Fancy Pants. 

What a gorgeous range!!

Happy, fresh, with a colour palette that works for both boys and girls. 

It has a bit of a funky edge to it, and has triangular and plus shapes, which are very 'on trend' and also cool puffy stickers.  These are perfectly suited to the age of my kids (I have a 14 year old girl, a 12 year old boy).

 

 

I had a play around with some watercolours again in the background again.  I just splattered them on without thinking about it too much. 

I then added a bit of background stamping, ensuring the lines of the stamp followed the direction of the photo.

I added a few layers of papers from the paper pad, some stickers and a flair.

 

   

 

I painted some 2 Crafty chipboard as my title.  This title was actually the starting point for this layout.  As soon as I saw the words, it sparked a story - something my son and I say all the time. 

This is often how my layouts begin - with the story.  With what I want to say.  If I don't have this, I often just sit and shuffle.  But if I know what I want to capture, what I want to remember, the creative process just seems to 'happen'. 

 

What story are you inspired to tell?

 

Have a great weekend.

Love Tam

 

Summer Lovin'

Hi everyone

 

Well it's Friday which means it's my turn to share my latest creation at All About Scrapbooks.

 

This one was taken on a recent family holiday to the beach. We had a ball.....we got lucky with the weather and were on the beach every single day. Bliss.

 

I snapped this selphie with my guy, and wanted to document how nice it was to spend a whole week together, as a family. Without the pressures of work, distance, and all the other commitments, and frustrations.  Perfection!

 

 

As soon as I saw this background sheet of soft creamy woodgrain by Cocoa Vanilla, I knew I HAD to use it.  It's just beautiful.  

 

 I added some spritz, and then tore and adhered lots of little strips of various papers. 

 I LOVE using leftovers, and this technique is a great way to used up little bits of papers from  previous projects.  I try not to think too much at this stage, just stick them down randomly, with some overlapping. 

 

I then added some random stamping around the edges of the paper.  This helps bring it all together.

 

I then adhered my photo with foam tape and added a few finishing touches (2 Crafty chipboard arrows and title, journaling, word stickers, and some final flicks of black paint).

 

 

This technique is something I do often - different colour combos look totally different. 

As I said it's a great way to use up scraps! 

 

I kept my colour scheme to teal, black, cream and kraft, as they have a real beachy feel to them - and they look pretty great together.

 

Why don't you give it a try?

Everything I've used is available from my favourite online store.... All About Scrapbooks HERE
 

 

Fri-YAY!

Hi Everyone

Well its FriYay, so it's my turn to share my latest creation for All About Scrapbooks.  I still get giddy, excited when my DT Pack arrived from them each month, and have to pinch myself. They are an amazing online store who get the latest in all my favourite scrappy brands in!!

 

This time I've played around with some watercolours and some Basic Grey B Side. 

I love the effect of watercolours. And the best bit - it's so simple, and so forgiving. 

 

I started with my photo.  It was a selphie taken of us and friends on a recent weekend away.  It was a bit of a challenge to fit all 10 of us in (no selfie stick)! and also a challenge to scrap, as there were so many colours!! So I printed it in black and white.  I really wanted to capture the fun, craziness of the moment so I went with a few bright colours and fun sayings, teamed with black and white.

 

 

It's important to remember when using your watercolours to apply a coat of transparent/clear gesso  to your cardstock first.  This creates a resist and allows your watercolour to sit 'on top' of the page, rather than soak in.  It makes a HUGE difference!!

 

I used my Prima Watercolor Pencils by applying a lot of water onto a small paint brush and then rubbing this onto the lead or 'color' of the pencil.  I then randomly applied this onto the page by both painting it on in 'blobs' and by flicking it on. 

 Lots of water is required for both of these techniques!  It really is a wonderful technique - just have fun with it, and go for it.  With this page, I felt like I had gone a bit crazy and added too much watercolour, but once I added my papers and photos, I actually decided to add a bit more. 

 

Once my page was completely dry I added lots of frames and paper scraps and Basic Grey die cuts.  I also used a lot of word stickers.  I love that they help create that 'fun' element.

 

 

I finished it off with some 2Crafty Chipboard. Man I love those triangles!!

I covered them in various scrap papers, and added in some hand drawn stitches and some hand-drawn triangles.

 

 

This was so fun to create, and I love that it has captured a happy fun moment in time!!

 

More Like a Girl - Design Work for All About Scrapbooks

Hi all

 

I'm back with another layout I created for my Design Work for All About Scrapbooks.  This week I again used Photo Play and their Like a Girl Collection.

 

Like last week's layout, this one was sparked by the quotes and inspirational sayings within the range.  They are perfect for a young teenage girl! And yep I have one of those!

 

This layout is about being brave, facing your fear, having fun and doing things you love without worrying what others think!!  You see last year my daughter and I participated in a flash mob dance at my son's end of year concert at Primary School.  It was so much fun!! I was so nervous for a number of different reasons.  My girl - she gave me the confidence. She was nervous too but she kept saying to me "Mum you can do this, let's do it together".  Yep I've said those words to her many times over the years.  I often talk to the kids about 'stepping out of their comfort zone', about 'being yourself and being proud of that', about 'not worrying about what others think'......oh there's so many more!! LOL! Well this was a moment where I really needed the strength of my girl, and yep we rocked it!!  This photo was taken shortly after and we were on such a high. 

I wanted to capture that emotion, that feeling of how awesome that was, and how proud I was of both myself and my girl.

It was one of those moments that we will always remember - always share - and always laugh about!

Yep totally cool.

And you can bet my son got a huge shock seeing his sister and mum rockin it on the stage! Ha ha!

 

 

One of the papers within this range is just full of these cool quotes, which you can see suited the situation perfectly.  So I cut them out, and placed them across the page. 

I decided to stay with predominantly black and white and teal.  I added a few pops of coral and peach just to lift it a little.

I created my background with gesso and some splodges of black paint and spritz.  I added some stamping and then some black and white paper, torn into small sections.

As I'd added so much, the photo got a little lost, so I mounted it onto some bold patterened paper, and used some 2Crafty Chipboard Circle Frames. 

This helped focus the eye to the photo. 

 

 

 I also added some chipboard arrows, and some stickers for added interest.

 

 

I'm really happy with the end result, and hope it inspires you to get creating.

This range was so fun and easy to work with!

 

See you soon

Kit the Habit and Project Life

Hi everyone!

Well I just can't stop playing around with Kit the Habit's first Kit Release!  It's gorgeous (if I do say myself!) and lots of fun to play with.
For those of you who don't know Kit the Habit is Me and my dear friend Emma Zappone.  We've teamed up to create some fun bits and pieces to enhance the scrapping in our lives and hopefully in yours too.  We have lots of ideas and plans, but first up we released our first Kit and Kaboodle.  It's full of pretty soft colours, feathers, birds and quotes.

I have previously made 2 layouts with this collection, but thought this time I'd create a Project Life Spread.  Many of you who have purchased the kits like to dapple in Project Life, so here's hoping this gives you some inspiration.

It's so hard to photograph Project Life because of the shine off the plastic!
Here's the left hand side......

And here's the right:

I loved using the quotes, the flairs and the die cut feathers! 

I added a couple of black and white cards - for those who follow me you will know that black and white really inspires me and ends up on nearly every layout!  I think the black and the white helps to pull everything together.  So I've added a couple of cards.  I actually just cut them from some scraps of paper that were sitting on my desk (leftover from the last layout I created).

I really like the pops of yellow and so I added a few more by spritzing the die cut feathers and arrows. 

I'm a big fan of words.....I love the way they sound, the way they look - everything about them.  So I added some words to the 2 Crafty Chipboard Feathers!  First I applied Gesso, and then I simply stamped with black ink.  I really love how this looks.

Often with my Project Life Spreads I want to add more photos, or journaling that is perhaps a little bit private. I do this by creating a 'flap'.  It's so easy to do.

 

I attach photos together, back to back, and then adhere to my PL Card using Washi Tape.  They actually sit outside of the plastic, so can be easily opened when looking through the album.

I use them all the time!

 

 

For those of you who missed the Kit and Kaboodle, here it is:

 

 

For those of you who purchased it - yippee!!! We are so happy and thankful. 

We hope you love it as much as we do. 

We invite you to share your creations in our facebook group Kit the Habit.  

Anyone that loves creating can join the group! 

 It's a great bunch of positive, like-minded crafters. 

 

Thanks everyone for stopping by.

 

Now go get your Kit On!

xx

 

 

STG Feb Reveal

Can you believe it is February already??
So where did January go?  Man I have a feeling this year is gonna fly.

So a new month means new challenges, and just wait until you see the new challenge, and what the very clever Designers have created over at Scrap the Girls!! Wow! Blows my mind.

Without further ado, here it is....this month it's a mood board:

All that gorgeous gold! This month's board is created by the fabulous Rikki Graziani.  So so cool.  There's a great prize available from Anna's Craft Cupboard.  They are donating a prize pack with yummy goodies and postage is included!  So come join us at Scrap the Girls.  I can't wait to see your entries!

Oh yeah, I nearly forgot, here's my layout:

 

Lots of fun and messiness in there!
Here's some close ups:

 

(out for publication)

 

Bye for now

I'll be back soon!!
xx