Let's Draw!

I am subscribing to this great scrappy magazine Scrap365 a new Uk scrappy magazine. At a time when scrappy magazines and companies are closing down I felt relieved and excited to see a new magazine being published in the UK! We needed it!!!!
I love the layouts published and they have a great online competition
Last month I did one but did not submit it in time
This month I am submitting one in the last day before closing!!

For this I used bits from one of my Studio Calico kits but most came from my stash. I also used some really really old Crate Paper here (the orange one). I feel so much better when I make use of papers which have been feeling unloved in my stash for years. As the paper supply is never ending, I really enjoy mixing in older papers sometimes.

The challenge called for 4 pictures, however; I used a SMASH pocket and a little drawing my daughter did of a mommy pig and  a baby pig. She loves to draw so I wanted to include a pocket with some of her drawings and this one of the little piggies as I love it.  I did a confetti style rainbow at the top since my daughters favourite thing to draw are rainbows. I used a mix of brads, sequins and pearls. I love playing with this sketch! I found it a really fun sketch so I will most likely be using it again

thanks for looking!

You are my Rainbow

Speaking of rainbows ( I am yet to have a rainbow birthday one day!) ...here is a layout I created for another challenge over at Punky Scraps. This time the theme was rainbow. I decided to go cutsey with this one - creating a scene. Similar to the one I won the prize for in the magazine but keeping it a bit different. Its a picture of my daughter I love getting soaking wet at Disney last year. It was soooo much fun!!! I used some old Crate Paper I have lying around - from the Season Collection. I really need to tackle my old stacks of paper as my shopping list for CHA 2012 is wayyyy to long!!

I am also in the process of going through - what I think are a couple thousand- papers and sorting them out by colour. I am trying this out now and see where it takes me. I always wonder how people organise their papers as its such a difficult thing to organise. I have it organised now by theme (xmas, easter, cooking, Disney, baby, travel, home, fairies/pricess, dinosaurs/ pirates etc...) Its a long list. I keep these in large boxes with all the themed embellishments as well. Then I also organise by collections in the Cropper Hopper Paper Envelopes with all the embellishments too. I also keep my kits that I subscribe that way too. Then whatever was leftover I used to keep in these large 12x12 expandable folders. I kept them there by manufacturer, but that was not working for me as I never used them. So I got 4 12x12 Kaisercraft paper stack storage - they are amazing to put them all in. So every evening I tackle a few papers and slot them in there organising them by colour. It has worked so far as I found these old Crate Papers ones!

You are My Rainbow - Brincadeira #16

Este layout eu fiz com a inspiracao de recordar os momentos pequenos das nossas vidas porem inesqueciveis. Esta foto da minha filha brincando com um jato de agua na Disney e um desses momentos. Nunca pensei que um pequeno jato de agua iria fazer-la tao feliz!!!! Foi um dos momentos em que eu a vi mais feliz e bati muuuuuuuitas fotos!!! A felicidade dela me contagiou! Eu que nao queria ficar molhada mas depois que eu a vi tao feliz resolvi colocar as bobeiras de adulto e brincar com o jato tambem. Foi um momento em que eu tambem pude ser crianca!!!!
Aqui eu usei papel e decoracoes do Crate Paper Season Collection. Coloquei botoes nos arco-iris para dar definicao. Adorei a brincadeira #16!!
This layout I completed for a Brazlilian blog called Scrap Playground where the challenge was to scrap a little moment which makes us happy. This was such a moment where my daughter got so happy playing with a jet of water at Disney and I never knew it would make her so happy!

Evelyn's Birthday

This layout I made for a challenge over at ScrapFit again. Their challenges are really great fun! This time it was a challenge for using paper strips. I had this idea for a LO for sometime - using a paper which had stripes and then from that creating some ribbons. I saw this as my opportunity to try this out.
I cut out some strips from some Crate Paper and cut the ends out to make them look like ribbons. For the title I folded the strip a bit to make it stand out a bit more

Granny's Kiss

A layout I made last night for a sketch over at Frosted Designs. It called for some swirls or bling. I am not huge on bling but somehow have managed to build a collection of them...so this was great opportunity to use some of them up. The bling I used was a big one - too big- so I cut it up and layered it as I felt worked best on this LO.
I also had the opportunity to try a few new things I had been meaning to try. I have this Martha Stewart punch which I punched out some borders and then accented them with tiny brands at the centre of the flower border -you can see it in the detailed pictures. I also used an old Crate Paper die cut which I took the centres off and stuck some patterned paper behind it. I then used large foam dots to lift the layers of petals off the page.
Here I used Crate Paper and MME Stella and Ruby

Our Home is where you are

Last night I made this layout for a challenge blog called Challenge me Happy. Their design team is really talented and all the examples on there were amazing! The prizes are really good too so worth having a look at their blog. The challenge was to make a layout with the word HOME on the title and having a feel of home throughout.
I then finally opened my Crate Paper collection pack (it was so gorgeous I did not want to open it yet but with all the new Crate Paper collections out I finally got round to opening it!) I also had this picture of the girls which I LOVE but did not know what to do with. I thought it was perfect for the HOME theme
I then die cut some grass and a fence. Stamped a few houses and clouds on an envelope using Maya Road stamps. The corrugated chipboard house and brand is from Jillibean and I went over some detail with a white gel pen. I also added a fabric brad to give it a more "homey" feel. I also painted with the new Pink Paislee mask using a mixture of paint colors. At the top I also added some blue thread to add to the blue cloud sky feel.
I also recently got this wide washi tape with some squirrels and trees which I love!
I really enjoyed this challenge!

Clap, Clap

I am getting super addicted to entering Scrappy Challenges this week. I never entered them before until now and now I think they are such good fun!!!! This challenge I found at a blog called Get Picky which is a multi-picture sketch challenge. You have to use more than one photo which is not difficult for me as most of my layouts have more than one picture.
Amongst loads of talented ladies in their design team is Piradee Talvanna (scrapper in me blog) and I am a huge admirer of her work.

I made this layout following their sketch which basically consisted of layering and some clustering. I used Crate Paper Neighbourhood paper, Sassafras Sweetly Smitten and Studio Calico. I had this pink woven material/ribbon which I had not used and I used it for the first time last night (you can see it on the detail) and now I need to remember where I bought it because I want every color! I think it is a great material and added some softness but texture too!

I also had these metal flowers from Peebles which were a bit too white so I painted them with Stickles.

Dream

I just came across a new challenge blog called Bird is the Word. They give you a word and you do a layout based with that word. This is such a great idea for a challenge blog and I am already thinking of ways to do the next word which is LOVE.
The word must be on the title or journalling.
I had these pics of the girls and some more Sassafras Sunshine Broadcast papers and Crate Paper season ones (again... I do own ALOT of other paper believe me!) which I felt were perfect for this theme.
I used my Fiskars Cloud punch and again used the negative of the punch. However this time I put some blue ribbon (you can't really see it here) behind the negative just to give it some more flair. I am getting a haul box full scrappy goodies today from Frantic Stamper (US) which includes amongst lots of other goodies the Large Fiskars Cloud Punch which I am anxiously waiting for!!! Come on Parcel Force!! Oh and lots of SMASH stuff too!! It is a good day today!!!

Never Stop Smilling

As I mentioned earlier I love this Crate Season paper. I used the EK Success Butterly punch, Fiskars Cloud Punch and the Sunshine Broadcast Papers from Sassafras. I love using the negative from the butterfly punch on my layouts and for this one I also used the negative of the cloud punch to add dimension.

Never Stop Running

I subscribe to loads of kits! I love them and find that when I am out of time they are really handy for getting a page done fast! This one I used the August kit from Crafty Templates http://craftytemplates.blogspot.com/. They are called Quirky Kits and I love them as they are different and always include cute embellishments. This one I used Sassafras Sunshine Broadcast and then I added some of my own Crate Paper Season collection paper. I have made soooooooo many layouts with these cloud papers! I am not bored yet though and I still have loads left!!!!
I made this layout following a challenge over at Pencil Lines challenge blog http://www.pencillines.com/. I love this sketch and I see myself using this again!!

You Color My World

I am doing more and more layouts with scenery behind it. It is really enjoyable thinking of ways in which to make trees, rainbows, flowers etc....! I love using the Starbucks wooden stirrers as tree trunks. I pain Tim HOltz crackle paint on them and they crackle and really look like tree trunks. I used this technique in the Messing around in the Garden layout below (which used Green at Heart BG collection) This uses Crate Paper Season collection. Crate Paper is one of my fave brands ever!

3 Layouts about my Kiddos

Here are 3 layouts I have done recently on my kiddos. Using Crate Paper and the Ladies and Gentleman range from Webster's Pages

3 layouts using Crate Paper Die Cut

I loooove this die cut from Crate Paper. There was a shop closing down and these were reduced by 75% so I got a few of them and have been creating a few layouts with them. Here are 3 of them

That's It Folks!

I love this Die Cut Paper from Crate Paper! I used items from Basic Grey and Jenni Bowlin. I love her Bingo cards! Actually I love her whole range!

2 of my first layouts using Crate Paper - How Lovely and She is all Mine

These are two of my very first layouts and boy have I learned alot since then! I think one day I will redo these using some principles I have learned along the way. Some of the principles which I like to use on my pages are to group things together. For example see how some of my embelishments which are not grouped seem to float on the page? This would not happen if they were grouped into clusters. Also odd numbers for scrapbooking embelishments is a good thing! Somehow the eye prefers to look at things grouped in 3s rather than 2s.... Anyway, I thought I would put these as I do like the pictures of my baby!

KIND

This is one of my first layouts. I only started properly scrapbooking about 3 months ago and already my style has changed. If I were to do this one again I would do it differently but I really like the photo of my two babies here! I used Crate paper - I looove ther stuff!

First Bath using Crate Paper

I love Crate Paper!!!