Alphabet Soup...

Who doesn't love a bowl of hot soup filled with itty bitty pasta alphabets? Well my kids do and I used their love of making words from the noodles as inspiration for my layout. Now all this came about from my latest design team assignment from Little Yellow Bicycle named 'Alphabet Soup' where we were asked to create a project focusing on the use of the Naturals alphas.

Using the Naturals Canvas Alphas in white I started my layout by placing small words onto the cardstock that held some relevance to the theme I was aiming for. I placed a block on the page to allow for my photo as I didn't want to unnecessarily use my alphas when they weren't going to be visible.

I chose four shades of yellow fom my Pan Pastels collection and began to cover the alphas in a gradient of yellow starting from the darkest in the centre and working my way out to the edges with the lightest. I was suitable impressed with the way the Pan Pastels adhered to the canvas alphas and how it went on like butter and stayed true to the vibrant colour without any fade.

Now, clear stickers have really become such a fun favourite of mine because I love that you can layer them over elements on your layout without compromising too much of what lies underneath.

How sweet is the clear sticker butterfly that is barely visible but still adds a touch of interest to the page.

I have really been making a conscious effort to improve my journaling skills so I enrolled in Amy Sorensen's 'Textuality' course at Big Picture Classes. I'm only into my first week but already I have picked up a wealth of information that is transforming the way I incorporate my design around the text rather than trying to fit my text into my design.

I have another new Fiskars Hand-Held punch and I'm totally hooked on this little triangle.

Products Used:

Little Yellow Bicycle 'Poppy' - Sprintime Bands/Aqua Chevron
Little Yellow Bicycle 'Poppy' - 6x6 Paper Pack

Little Yellow Bicycle Naturals - Canvas Alphas White, Esfera

Little Yellow Bicycle Journaling Cards with Thermography

Little Yellow Bicycle Cardstock Stickers - Fresh Verse
Little Yellow Bicycle - Vellum Tape

Little Yellow Bicycle Clear Cut Shapes with Glitter Accents

Other:

Vellum, Pan pastels, Hand-Held Triangle Punch, Mr Huey's - White Opaque 

Happy Stamper...

I'm a little slow in posting this as the announcement was quite a few weeks ago now but I'm a big believer in 'it's better late than never'! I was so delighted to have been given the opportunity to join the Hampton Art design team so I'm going to be busy stamping up a storm with a wonderful and talented group of designers.

Kimber McGray kimbermcgray.blogspot.com - Design Team Coordinator

Beverly Sizemore http://bevscreativepath.blogspot.com

Britt Bass http://pinkpapercrowns.blogspot.com/

Dana Warren www.kraftpaperstamps.blogspot.com

Gini Cagle http://ginicagle.blogspot.com

Gloria Stengel www.gloriascraps.blogspot.com

Kim Frantz http://secondhandcraft.wordpress.com

Kim Holmes www.theholmescrew.Blogspot.com

Laurel Seabrook http://www.want2scrap.blogspot.ca

Leanne Allinson http://leanneallinson.blogspot.com.au/

Melinda Spinks http://www.thescrapfarm.blogspot.com.au/

Nicole Nowosad Www.justnicks.blogspot.com

Pam Brown http://happytobecreating.blogspot.com

Patty Folchert http://www.patriciasperspectives.blogspot.com/

Vivian Keh http://contadinak.wordpress.com/

KI Memories Team

Shannon Tidwell http://www.shannontidwell.com

Gretchen McElveen http://gretchenmac.blogspot.com

And here's a couple of my cards that have been on the Hampton Art blog recently...

Supply List:

Stamps: Hampton Art Licensed Echo Park Clear Stamp Set - Bundle of Joy
Ink: Archival Brilliance - Moonlight White
Paper: Echo Park 6x6 Paper Pad - Bundle of Joy
American Craft Cardstock - White
Clear Finish Embossing Powder
Doodlebug Pearls - Bumblebee Yellow

Striped Ribbon
Rounc Corner Punch
Foam Adhesive

Supply List:

Stamp: Hampton Art Licensed Jillibean Soup Stamp Set - Irish Farm House
Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Mustard Seeds, Peacock Feathers, Mowed Lawn

Paper: Jillibean Soup Stamples II - Yellow Salt
American Crafts White Card Stock
Clear Finish Embossing Powder
Doodlebug Chunky Brads
Round Corner Punch
Hand Held Circle Cutter

Foam Adhesive

Greatest View SALE and New Release!

I'm excited to share the latest round of products from Greatest View and believe me it's hard to pick a favourite, actually it's almost impossible. Gail has been carefully designing another round of modern, fun and chic badges to compliment any product and project, which you can find on the Greatest View Etsy store HERE. And don't miss the SALE section for all your past favourites because Gail has decided to finish some of the past popular designs to make room for more new releases... so once they are gone, they are gone!!!

Here's a look at what's in store...

GREATEST VIEW STORE

Little Yellow Bicycle get sketchy...

PageMaps are celebrating their 7th Anniversary with a month long party and Becky Fleck has released another wonderful line-up of sketches to start the ball rolling. I was delighted to have the opportunity to provide a sample for one of her designs as part of the Little Yellow Bicycle Design Team. My layout uses a combination of The Naturals collection and the new Fern and Forest Boy collection from Little Yellow Bicycle.

Nothing beats a good sketch and Becky seems to know how to balance all elements perfectly which is the reason why I chose not to deviate too far from the original design.

Instead of using the two single photos I stuck with my style of layering three of the same photo over each other to create a softer edge and dimension plus highlighting Teddy's precious little hand by the repetition.

I'm loving the Naturals products from Little Yellow Bicycle as they match beautifully with just about any product and the added texture makes such a statement.

I have a couple of new punches... a square punch to make light work of the patchwork style background (oh how I needed this when I created THIS layout) and a new star edge punch which is just a bit 'special'.

Supply List:
Little Yellow Bicycle - Just Because 'Full Bloom/Pinstripe Grey'
Little Yellow Bicycle - Fern & Forest Boy 6x6 Paper Pad

Little Yellow Bicycle - Fern & Forest Boy Journaling Shapes

Little Yellow Bicycle - Fern & Forest Boy Chipboard Shapes

Little Yellow Bicycle - Naturals Collection Burlap Shapes (Hearts)

Little Yellow Bicycle - Naturals Collection Layered Burlap Flowers (Mum)

Little Yellow Bicycle - Clear Word Stickers (Boy)

Fiskars Handheld Punch - Star
EK Success - 3/4" square punch
Martha Stewart - Star Border Punch

Embroidery Thread
Mr Huey's - White

PageMaps are having a whole month of celebrations including lots of challenges, prizes, give-aways and inspiration which you can download the calendar HERE so you don't miss the fun.
 

A new technique...

Apologies for the complete neglect of my blog but I'm afraid my crafting had to take a back-seat due to an urgent need to drop everything and devote my time to my brother and his children.

So, I'm going to ignore the fact that my house is less than tidy, the washing is piled high and waiting to be folded, the book work needs some urgent attention although it's too late at night to be concentrating on accounts. I have a 15 minute window before I seriously need to head off to bed so I thought I'd sit down and post a project that I created a couple of weeks ago for Greatest View. However, the dishwasher is gently swooshing away in the background and I'm trying my best not to nod off to sleep. This could be interesting...

I have never really thought about just how many crafts my mother taught me as a child until I started scrapbooking. I can honestly say it's the first time in years that I've dabbled in crotchet, knitting, cross-stitch and now applique and I'm so glad that I can apply most of these techniques to my paper-crafting... much to my Mum's delight!

I created this layout using a combination of the gorgeous Now and Then collection from Teresa Collins, my favourite 'In Style' badges from Greatest View, and a new technique of adding applique to my layouts that has been a work in progress. Each leaf consists of fabric and foam cut to the desired shape and then hand stitched in place. Quite fiddly to get it all sitting nicely, however I'm really enjoying the process and I love the overall look and texture it adds to the page. Hopefully I'll be able to put together a tutorial soon.

Supply List:

Greatest View 'In Style' Badges,

Greatest View Sequins,

Greatest View Triple Pearl Pins - Avacado,

Greatest View Petite Doilies,

Teresa Collins Now and Then Collection - Wood Grain,
Teresa Collins Now and Then Collection - Floral,

Teresa Collins Now and Then Collection - Newsprint,

Teresa Collins Now and Then Collection - Bee,

Teresa Collins Now and Then Collection - Decorative Brads #1 and #2,

Teresa Collins Now and Then Collection - Chipboard,

Teresa Collins Now and Then Collection - Stickers,

Basic Grey for Moda - Hello Luscious Fabric,

Embroidery Thread.

Project Life... to be or not to be?

Project Life... so who's had the great debate with themselves over whether or not they wanted to jump on board with Project Life? Well that would be me!!! At first I was like... no way, it's just not for me, I enjoy my layouts far too much. However it just seemed to go from strength to strength and was popping up everywhere on the internet so made it impossible not to be slightly intrigued by this growing phenomenon. I couldn't ignore it any longer so I set about researching everything there is to know about Project Life 'PL'.

After much deliberation I realised there was quite possibly a place in my scrapping for PL and that it really did present a new path of creativity. The main attraction was the ability to keep up-to-date with memory keeping and use all my photos 'warts and all' rather than just my favourites on a single layout.

However, I have chosen not to go out and purchase Project Life specific kits or products 'just yet' as I really wanted to make sure this new concept was going to be 'do-able' on a long term basis. And I do admit that I'm very fortunate to already have quite a pile of Design Team products that can easily be converted to the PL way of life.

I think the title for this album should be 'better late than never' or perhaps even 'warts and all'!

Now you will have noticed immediately that my pockets aren't the standard size of Project Life and that's because I have chosen to use what I had on hand being the Doodlebug page protectors that come in a vast array of different shapes and sizes. And to be honest, I really like the ability to have larger photos.

And just look at that little flair badge from the Greatest View... it matches beautifully with the Doodlebug Take Note collection, so much so that it almost disappears into the pattern.

My inside page is an eclectic mix of the new Doodlebug collections using Take Note, Flower Box and Fruit Stand and I broke into my new 4 x 6 Simply Put Album inserts. These little pads are created with the intention of being able to slip straight into the 4 x 6 pockets and have both horizontal and vertical configurations of each page.

I have added a secret little journal card hidden inside the Take Note mini pocket .

Now I decided I wanted to include some of my facebook posts as I share lots of my photos on-line with family and friends yet my husband or children never get to see the beautiful comments about their photos. I simply took a screen shot of the original post on facebook, sized it to fit then printed it onto photo paper.

I must admit that although I carried a small amount of trepidation with this concept of scrapping, I have thoroughly enjoyed the new process of being able to document the everyday moments of our lives which might not have found their way onto a 12 x 12 layout. However, the utter chaos on my desk is another matter!

Teddy's first flower...

Well the weekend is all but a distant memory now, although I'm still relishing in the fact that I had an extra hours sleep due to the end of daylight saving. Saying goodbye to the extended daylight at the end of each day is a little sad as I love the extra time to potter outside.

Today's layout is one that makes me smile because I just love these photos of the Tedster with his very first floral experience. Our little guy had never held a flower before so when he got hold of this one he made the most of it... so much so that it ended up having to be put in the compost bucket. Let's just say there were allot of 'he loves me, he loves me not' moments all over the floor.

I have used the latest designs from Jillibean Soup which are some of my favourites as I love the soft tonings of the aqua, grey, yellow and creams along with the subtle patterns in each of the patterned papers.

I had a little mad moment and decided to create the brick background by using The Crafters Worskhop Brick template and tracing and fussy cutting each piece.

I've been keeping up with my goal of journaling on the front of my layouts and not having it hidden away on the reverse side. So far so good, although I'm still using hidden journaling!

xxx

Supplies:

Jillibean Soup

Patterned Paper: Chilled Cucumber Soup/Bite Size Bits, Peeled Cucumber, Yellow Tomatoes; Fresh Vegetable Soup/Crushed Ginger; Irish Farm House Soup/Sliced Turnip; Soup Staples II/Gray Salt, Yellow Salt

Alpha Beans: Grilled Gray

Bean Stalks Twine: Mustard

Soup Labels: Apple Cheddar Soup

Wise Words: Yellow Happy

Other: Pan Pastel (Raw Umber), Flower Punches, Twig PUnch, Maya Mists/Sunflower Yellow