Haloween sketch challenge

There are loads of great scrapbook challenge blogs out there. Many of them are sketch challenges.  I love scrapbooking from a sketch.  Half the work is done for me so I can concentrate on the creative part.  I used the sketch at Sketchabilities this month. I hope you will give it a whirl.

My kids are teenagers now and so didn't go trick or treatin' this year.  In fact, I didn't even decorate apart from a couple of new purchases.  The Halloween boxes under the stairs stayed stored away. 

So I found some old photos I hadn't scrapped previously.  My soon to be 19 year old when he was in kindergarten. Love that look of concentration on his face as he works on class projects.

Here's my layout.

Unforgettable Memories has all their Halloween papers and embellishments in one spot.  I chose a couple of Carta Bella pattern papers. My background is the text patterned paper with a skeleton in one corner. Love it!

 

I used some yellow and green acrylic paint as well as some 'soot' Glimmer Mist to further colour the background.

 

The stickers are from an Echo Park Halloween pack.

Cheesecloth has a great texture and is perfect for Halloween pages.  I sprayed mine with the 'soot'  Glimmer Mist and used under and around my photos.  I also used some black Prima flowers as embellishments.  

There are lots of layers under my photo.

My title is Doodlebug alpha letters and a big red Bazzill brad heart.

 

Check out sketchabilities for some great sketches and play along.

All Dressed Up

We found this cute collar and tie for my Mum's dog at the Touch of Salt Spring craft and art show last December.  We made him pose for a ton of photos.  Kona was a very good sport about it all and didn't even try and remove his tie.

I started with a forest green Bazzill cardstock. Using MM metallic gold paint and a piece of bubble wrap I added some colour to the base.  I sprayed my cheesecloth with gold Glimmer Mist and spritzed a little on the cardstock also.

I wanted to do a punched border and found this Christmas lights punch in my stash.  I used it along one edge of my gold cardstock.

 The snowflakes are by Maya Rd.  I've used them before on this layout. Here I've dressed them up a little with Kaiser gold bling.

 

The gold stars came out of a Making Memories set of Christmas poinsettia's, leaves and stars. They'd be easy to make.  Just punch a star out of red cardstock and coat with glitter.

 

It's never too late to get those Christmas photos scrapped.  There is an entire section in Unforgettable Memories of Christmas papers and embellishments. Check it out soon!

May's Kraft It Up challenge

One of the blogs I check out each month and always mean to play along with is Kraft It up.  I've linked it in previous challenge posts.  This month I actually got around to making a layout.  Kraft It Up's May challenge is to create a 'vintage inspired layout'.

I had a black and white photo to use on my layout. A picture of my Dad from many years ago.
The packaging from the Prima alpha sets feels vintagey to me. 

I layered patterned paper, fabric filmstrip pieces, washi tape and some Prima under and around my photo. The square bradsand the little dots are Kaiser bling.

I have a million and one different alphabets, but ended up hand printing my title after trying half of them and not finding the "right" one.

 

 

I used some "almost" vintage products on this page. Remember when those plastic slides were popular? I discovered they are very easy to cut with scissors.

The carnival stamp I boughtages ago because it was unique and I loved it. I wondered what projects I'd use it on.  It has worked on a couple of my kids layouts and now this one.

Lots of layers always creates great texture and interest.

So that's my challenge entry!

Check out the Kraft It Up blog to see what others have done with the challenge and enter your own layout if you're up for it.

Overlays and sparkles

Overlays are a great way to add lots of detail quickly and easily to a layout.  Unforgettable Memories has quite a few different designs.  The overlay I used on this layout is a Christmas themed one.  The border around the page, the Love quote along the bottom and the corner scrolls are all printed on the overlay. 

I placed my photo, mattings, 'Smash' journal spot, and a couple of flatter embellishements under the overlay.   The Prima flowers, butterflies, wood stars and Kaiser jewels are on top of the overlay.

My base is white and the words on the overlay are white so I used some green metallic Making Memories acrylic paint under the overlays title and quote so it would show up better.  I also edged my photo matte with the same green.  It matches the green border of the overlay perfectly!

I used a piece of white sparkly cardstock as a base. I love the little flowers Unforgettable Memories got in.  They are great as accents on punched butterflies, as fillers for flower clusters or just on their own.

I put Kaiser jewels on the overlay design in a few places.  They really bling up my page.

My flower cluster is a mix of pretty Prima flowers and leaves. The cheesecloth underneath it all adds texture.

ho ho Ho. The Prima mini letters come in so many different colours I was able to find the perfect colour for this layout.  The sticker words are from the Simple Stories baby line.  The journaling spot is one of K&Co. Smash pads.

 

So if you're looking for a quick way to dress up a page check out the many different overlays at Unforgettable Memories. This one was in the Christmas section.  There are some cute summer & beach ones as well as some really interesting Halloween ones and many more themes.

Coffee time

Have you seen the wonderful coffee themed kraft papers in the store?  I cut the coffee banner directly from the paper, for my title.  I love the strip with the little coffee cups on it. One of our Whistler traditions is to walk down to Starbucks every morning at 7:3 gr frappacino. No sleeping in when we're on holidays with Grandma :)

The background is red bazzill sprayed with brown mists, splattered with black paint and dabbed with white dauber.

Here are some closeups...

The big Bazzill buttons are great for flower centers.  I use them a lot.
The  chipboard jar is wrapped with bakers twine and I added a butterfly just because.

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 I used some brown jute to hang my banner with Prima flowers at either end.

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The lightbulb strip is some washi tape.  Unforgettable Memories has a great selection of tape scattered throughout the store. I want one of each.

 

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Some more tape, chipboard and layered beneath it all is 7Gypsies tissue paper, cardstock and vellum.

 

My photos are all 2x3 size.    Unforgettable Memories developes in all sizes. Big and little.

The Family Cat

Have you seen the Basic Grey pet lines in the store.  I picked some papers and embellishments up last week and put together this layout.

The photos are of our cat, Turbo, playing in the Christmas wrapping paper after we were done opening presents, this year. He is such a fun cat.

I started with a couple sheets of white Bazzill and painted a big blue circle in the middle, because Turbo is always going in circles... fast. I splattered some yellow paint.  The yellow vellum is crinkled and torn to look like the yellow tissue paper Turbo is playing in.

The word paper is from the Basic Grey pet line as are the epoxy clips.

I used some scraps of Daisy D from a few Christmas's ago(red pp) and some BoBunny(cream pp).

Here are some close-ups...

Those felt birds are Maya Rd.  I bought a tin of them a couple years back and they are on many of my layouts.  I love it when they package unique little embellishments in big packs so I can use them again and again.

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The butterfly is Prima. My title is BoBunny (family) and Flair (le Chat metal tag). The Santa ticket is Jenni Bowlin.  Did you notice the Basic Grey clip?

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 I used 3 of the big blue Bazzill brads on this page.  And the yellow twine again (I used it on my last couple layouts)  It's a tangled mess because that's how Turbo does it :)

I just had some puppy photos developed so I will be picking up some of Basic Greys puppy dog line.
Can't wait to play.

Tropical holiday photos.

I scrapped my sister's first Mexican holiday album using the Making Memories vacation line.  It was quick and simple with clean lines. I think I did most of it in a weekend.
But that was almost 3 years ago and I'm really enjoying playing with my masks and spray inks now. I hope she likes this layout as much as her previous ones.

I used a Heidi Swapp hibiscus mask on my background and sprayed it with pink Glimmer mist. Then I found an old package of HS hibiscus rubons so I layered them on top of the misting. They must have been past their 'use by' date because they didn't go on very easily.  I really like the cream on top of the black on top of the pink on top of the white.

The turquoise vellum I wet, scrunched up, then laid flat to dry. I edged it with light blue stickles and then sprinkled a little dark blue glitter on top of that. I thought it looked like a pool of cool rippling water.

The patterned papers are all Karen Foster. I also used some Mulberry paper because I love the texture. And my border punch that I think looks like a sea shell.

The alphabet chipboard is a Basic Grey set.  I love their sets.  You get a ton of letters.  I've used this set a couple times before and I still have lots of e's and a's left for more titles.  I swiped some blue and pink ink across the white so it wasn't so bright.  And then sewed the letters down to secure them. 

The colour combination is from this weeks Color Room challenge #56.

Cropping at the Blueberry.

This is another layout I worked on last weekend at the Blueberry retreat. 

As soon as I spotted the Karen Foster wave paper I knew I was going to cut it out. The colours matched perfectly with my photos.  I love the two together.

I took a couple of water themed stamps out with me because I have so many stamps and I rarely use them.  I managed to find a place for both stamps on this layout.  The yaght I stamped on a pale yellow pp and cut out.  Then I popped it in between the pale blue mulberry paper and the waves. The shell and text stamp I used in the top right corner under some other embellishments and again under my Little Yellow Bicycle acrylic journaling piece.

I sprayed Jazz Blue and Frost glimmer mist over one of my scroll glimmer screens. I accented the curls with some little blue Kaiser jewels. The ric rac I scrunched over top of my photos feels like fuzzy terry. The fish beads I've had forever.  I strung them on some Karen Foster black twine and let them play in the waves.

I've also added some turquoise Hambly rubons, foil shells, blue netting, black photo flips and a watch glass with some little seashells underneath (like a little shaker box).

Doilies, mists and ribbon

We went to see the 12 Days of Christmas at Butchart Gardens when we were visiting Victoria in December. I took a ton of photos; some with the flasth on and some with the flash off. These were all taken with the flash off.

I sprayed yellow ink using a doily as a mask on my shiny black cardstock.

Now I have a bright yellow doily to use on another project.

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I used some Hambly turquoise rub-ons on the purple mulberry paper.

I really like how this corner rub-on embellishes my big photo.

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My journaling is on the tag slipped behind the photo matte.

The 4 Calling Birds were my favorite scene.  They had cell phones in their beaks.

I found another colour challenge blog.

It's called Color Combos Galore.  It is set up very similar to the Color Room I showed you last month but instead of a sketch this one has an inspiration challenge.  Here is last weeks challenge combo and inspiration.

I love pink and green together so I had to play along.  I started with a white sheet of Bazzill cardstock and used my mask letters for the title.  You could place chipboard or even paper alphas you had cut out yourself for the title.  Just lay it down and spray with Glimmer Mist.  I also used the backing from a Prima felt border  to create a border along the lower part of my page.

I planned on putting an acrylic sheet with green butterflies over my background (you can see it below) so I roughly sketched where the butterflies weren't so I had a place for my journaling.

Once I had my journaling all written out I adhered my acrylic butterfly sheet (by Hambly Screen Prints) down to my background and began building my matting and other embellishments for my layout.

And here is the finished layout. The doily was one I inherited from my Grandma.  It had a 17c price tag on it, from Woolworths.



I love the acrylic overlays.  Unforgettable Memories has a variety of designs.  Make sure you ask about them the next time you're in the store.

The pretty flower spray is by Prima.  There are few colours in the store.  This pink spray was packaged with a purple spray.  I can't wait to use it on a layout.  They are so sweet.

The buttons are Jenni Bowlin.  There must be half a dozen colours in the store.  I've used the green ones on a few layouts recently.

I used 3 different border punches on my papers.  I think the border punches are the best value for the money when it comes to scrapbooking tools.  I use mine over and over. I never get tired of them.

Help with colour

One of the most time consuming parts of scrapbooking for me is deciding on what colours work together.  So when I came across this website I immediately bookmarked it.  The Colour Room puts out a different palette each Friday. 

Here is this weeks palette...

The Color Room also provides a sketch for those of you that like sketches.  I didn't use the sketch on my layout but it's an option I might try in the future.

Did you notice my two little birds?  I made those with the new stamp and punch set I mentioned in my last post.  I'll show you some more examples and how I did them in my next post.

Bazzill Matching Site

The other day while I was doing some research for a project that I'm working on I found this wonderful site that I just had to share! Bazzill Matchmaker.

"Puzzled?

Let Bazzill's color experts do the matching for you!

We are happy to help you find the perfect Bazzill cardstock to coordinate with your favorite patterned papers. We realize with more than 500 colors and 7 textures of acid-free, lignin-free cardstock it can be confusing.

Hey, there is no point in kissing any frogs...with the Bazzill color experts you get the prince every time!

It is easy to do. Select the manufacturer above and use the suggested Bazzill cardstock colors for layouts, cards, invitations, or any paper craft."

So I decided to give it a whirl. I tried Basic Grey and up came all of the lines, back to Wisteria. Not only did it suggest colours but it also showed what the papers from the line looked like just in case you didn't know which line it came from.

So if you are ever working on a project and need to know which colours coordinate, go to Bazzill Matchmaker and give it a try.

In Stitch'z Floss

Everything you need to get start - even the needles!

Goes with the templates that I mentioned yesterday. Comes with 6 Bazzill colours, 8 yards per colour, 2 needles. Colour-matched to coordinate with Bazzill Basics Paper cardstock colours.

Specifically manufactured for use with paper. Won't leave dust when sewn through cardstock.

Woven, natural fiber thread won't separate or shred while sewing.

In Stitch'z Scrapbooking Floss is perfect for a personal handmade touch to any scrapbooking layout or greeting card.

A great way to get in "Stitch'z"

In Stitch'z Templates by Bazzill.
Add a handmade touch that says, "I made this for you!"

Each package has four, 3x5, reusable, templates filled with easy-to-follow stitching designs for adding a personal touch to any scrapbooking layout or greeting card.

Watch tomorrow for Bazzil's Floss packs that work great with these templates!