Sketchifying

I don't know if you have noticed, but down the right hand side of the blog is a link to sketches to go with each set of kits. I have used a few of them this month and this is the first which equates to sketch 6. It was supposed to feature haphazard edges but mine is a little more precise in places!

I did handcut some of the edges but some of them just "needed" to be straight as well. I stayed pretty close to the sketch (if it ain't broke...) but did add in some of that gorgeous Bella Blvd. Sweet Spring Woodgrain pattern Transparency behind the photo mat.
All the papers were inked with Black Soot distress ink and the middle panel was raised on foam dots. 
Using a vellum tag means that you can still (just about) see the lovely patterned paper underneath

 

The blue ribbon is a pretty fine match to my daughter's hair bow so I spent ages making a bow but it was all too big for a scrapbook page and album so in the end it is just one small piece wrapped round another.
I had fun using lots of the Crate Paper Journey Puffy Stickers as well as the lovely sequins included in the kit

Do You Dare.....ing Cardmakers

Hi! Leo here.

I've started cutting into my new Quirky Kit goodies this week with a card for Daring Cardmakers. It's an 'Under the Weather' theme this week. I used papers from the Lite kit, (Thrifty, Textures and Spring) and some of the white card to make the cloud and greeting, (both hand cut out and the greeting is computer printed) then added some of the Pretty Little Studio confetti bits raining down.

I often find it can be difficult to just start digging into kits because it's a bit like ooo where do you start and I'll make plans with certain papers sometimes but I do think that jumping in with a challenge like Daring Cardmakers gets you to just jump in and make a start. So if you've not got your new kit out the box yet for sure pick out a challenge and have a go. It doesn't have to be a card you could translate one of the dares into a scrapbook page or a homemade Project Life card, anything you want to make. There are loads to pick out and new ones every Friday at 10am, (UK time).

http://www.daringcardmakers.blogspot.com

I'm working on another project right now to make a 9x12 scrapbook album and pages. I keep seeing this size on Pinterest and in blogs but it's pretty difficult to get hold of the album size so I thought I'd make one. I'll report back here with more photos when I've done more. :)

xx Leo

Woohoo - new kits!

I'm always excited when a box of deliciousness arrives. This one came just before I have to go away for work for a few days but I did carve out a little time for play so that I could share a layout straight away.
I began with just the Fine and Dandy main kit. As I looked through photos I wanted to scrap there was another of those serendipitous moments when I realised that the pattern on one of the papers mimicked my top and the other side was a match for my friends top (it is hard to see in the photos but you can take my word for it). Another friend had dressed in the shade of the leaf ribbon and the fourth had a very similar patterned top to the other ribbon in the kit.
Have a look and see what I mean...

I started off with a blank cream cardstock and decided it needed a bit of background bling. So I used a Heidi Swapp mask with some Champagne glitter paste. When that was dry I added some sprinkles of gold, olive and pearl mists

I also added some of the glitter paste to one of the kraft tags. I also added vellum behind the heart shape, tied it up with gold thread and popped it up on foam pads.

I layered up my papers and the flowery ribbon. One of the papers was chopped with an American Crafts border punch. Every thing was outlined with black distress ink. I found the words "best friends" together on the Crate Paper Craft Market ‘Inspired’ gold foiled patterned paperand thought that would be a good subtitle. But I felt it was too heavy and so when I found "sweet" amongst the die cut words, put that in instead. Both words have extra dimension with pop dots. The middle photo got the pop dot treatment too.
By the way the frames on the photo were done using Picasa - a free photo editing programme. The frames are called Museum Matte for some reason.

I then had fun added the gorgeous pink leaf ribbon. It started off as a small accent and then somehow the whole lot got chopped up and added all over the shop. I used a pva type glue to stick down the leaves - fiddly but it meant I could twist them into different shapes.

I tried really hard to get my title straight - I stuck the letters to a ruler and everything but I think these letters are quite bendy. Anyway I like things a little wonky. If you don't you will just have to be patient and careful as you stick the letters down.

After adding my journalling, the last touch was to add some of the sequins from the kit and a sprinkling of the fabulous Crate Paper puffy stickers.

Two quick layouts

I knew I had enough goodies left for at least one more layout but the muse just wasn't with me. So I went back to my photo archives and printed out some different photos and that got the juices flowing. So much so that I created two layouts in record time for me - and that included waiting for bits to dry!

Here is the first which also features the latest Ranger Distress Ink - Mermaid Lagoon.

and is based on this sketch

I smooshed round some distress ink and then added some sparkle paste over the top using a loveheart stencil. It is very pretty but hard to see on photos

While it was drying I fussy cut the flowers from two of the cut apart sheets from Simple Stories. I used a pair of great big scallop scissors on the green paper. The "enjoying the little things" phrase was from the same cut apart block as one of the flowers. I then had fun choosing co-ordinating elements from my left over kits. Apart from deciding where to put the flowers (the spray on the far right is a sticker and it was going to go .underneath the photo with the card spray but it just refused to), it all came together very quickly - thanks to Leo co-ordinating the kits so beautifully :)

The second layout was planned with a different orientation in mind. I knew I wanted to tone down the pink of the cardstock so added some white embossing paste and a circle stencil.

while that was drying I chose some papers - the same one as the first layout above and others that created a light, bright background with just a pop of black and white as well. I layered it all up with the plan that the title would then read up the left hand side of the page. I am trying to learn cursive lettering and was very brave in going for it on the page. The "p" is a bit squished as I realised it would not be able to drop below the line...
The secret to this kind of lettering is to add shading - it is very forgiving. I use a cool grey promarker. I also added white pen even though there is a white background

Once that was done and I had added outlines to all the papers and made sure my pink piece was dry I went to add everything as planned and it just didn't look right until I put the title at the top!
So it looks like this now

My final three chalkboard hearts created a visual triangle and echoed the chalk tag. The bonus of turning everything round at the last minute was that I had been wondering where to put the journalling. I had only earmarked a small space before - now I had plenty of room to try and explain the wonder of the photograph. Allan Bank is an amazing National Trust property - very different from any other (I'm going to explain more on another layout yet to be created) and just wonderful. But this is the best bit!

The turquoise tag here had something written on it that I didn't want so I chopped it and covered the join with a lovely fabric brad.