Prima - February BAP

I LOVE Prima products, but unfortunately don't have much in my little stock. What I do have, are some older papers, so thought I'd use them to enter their February BAP (at the last minute).
I loved the sketch by Marie-Nicolas Alliot:

And my interpretation, using Prima's Fairy Flora papers:

And some close-ups:

Apart from Prima paper and flowers, I used a Prima stamp, die-cuts (Sizzix and Silhouette), Glimmer Mist, watercolour pencils, punches (EK Success and Martha Stewart), texture paste (coloured with acrylic paint and Glimmer Mist), some little pearls from my stash and alphas from Sassafras.

This is a little different for me (no white cardstock), but I wanted the layout to be soft to suit the photo. The photo itself, I cut the background out from around my daughter in Photoshop, and used a soft paper and a bokeh effect from Anna Aspnes in its place. I haven't done any journaling on the page as I also used this photo on my digital Project Life project:

I don't normally share my PL, but thought I'd just show this page. Last year I did the paper version of PL and happy to say I made it to the end of the year, but this year, thought I'd go digital so that I can then print them off and have a folder for each of my children. For those interested, I'm using templates from Katie Pertiet (Designer Digitals).


Thankyou for coming by.
Thankyou also for all the lovely comments you have been leaving. I really appreciate them all.x

Once Upon A ...Sketch - February Challenge

Although I have often drooled over the layouts of the designers and participants, I have never entered a challenge at Once Upon A...Sketch....until this month! I loved the sketch and the topic, so thought I'd do a little ode to my children.
Here is the sketch:

The topic is: LOVE
More details can be found here.

And my layout:

The texture paste has had paint added to it, which I've done on a couple of previous layouts, but this time, I also sprinkled some fine glitter over it because I wanted the page to have a little sparkle. There are a few die-cuts (LOVE my die-cuts), and some older products - Kaiser, Basic Gray and Bo Bunny paper as well as some older Kaiser elements (pink stalks, rub-ons, black acetate frame).

The journaling reads:
I love that you get along
I love how you play together
I love you for your own uniqueness
I love that I am your mummy.

I feel very blessed that my children don't fight and argue, but play really well together. They are all so different, yet manage to get along so well. Love this.

There is just over a day to get your challenge in.
If you miss this one, don't forget that Paper Stories still has their challenge open for a few more days!

Thanks for looking.:-)

Skissedilla Challenge #197 & The Color Room Challenge #144

This is the first time I'm combining two challenges. By per chance, it just happened to fit with what I had in mind. Love it when it all comes together so nicely and fits into my world.:-)

So the first challenge I came across was Sketch Challenge #197 at Skissedilla:

Followed by The Color Room Challenge - Palette #144:

The sketch is fabulous and has so many possibilities, and I just adore the colour palette. They are some of my favourite colours.
My interpretation:

Supplies used: paper (Kaiser, Amy Tangerine), cardstock (AC), inks (acrylic paint, Glimmer Mist, Glimmer Mist Chalkboard, Memento Ink Pad), gesso, stamp (Hero Arts), die cuts/mask.title (Kaiser, Silhouette cut files). 

I had intended to have the photo and layers further up as in the sketch, but for some reason, I placed it lower down the page to the right, which meant I didn't have enough space for my secondary heading, which I then changed slightly to suit its current placement. Also, although I love the darker green colour, I had difficulty in finding any in my stash of paper and paint. I don't actually think it's a common colour to find. Did anyone else have trouble?

None of my children have had swimming lessons, but some friends have a pool so when it's really hot, we're invited to go for a 'swim'. They bought each of my children a character ring - my son chose the frog and spent his entire time with the frog in the pool - hence the heading, 'happiness with a frog'. It's so wonderful to see his confidence in the water grow and to see him get the concept of having to kick his legs in the water to go anywhere. I love these moments.

The Skissedilla challenge ends in a few hours - but they already have the next sketch up. The Color Room challenge ends in 11 days - by the end of the month.

Thanks for coming by.

ScrapFriends Colour Challenge #10 - Guest Designer

Scrap Friends has just released their latest Colour Palette Challenge - #10. It's completely delicious!
Here it is:

And my interpretation, which is a digital layout:

Supplies used: Template (Studio DD Layer Works No.119), paper (Kara Dudley 'Remarkable'; Gennifer Bursett 'Gidget'-recoloured; Celeste Knight 'Wildflower'-recoloured, 'Menagerie'; Anna Aspnes 'Ablaze'), elements (KDudley 'Remarkable'; Anna Aspnes 'Artsy Blooms'), brushes (Katie Pertiet), word art ( Amanda Taylor 'Taylormade Keywords').

Scrap Friends allow digi layouts for their colour challenges only, so thought I'd do it for this one as I hadn't done one for a wee while. Apart from the colours, my whole layout really revolved around the bloom. I wanted to have a flower curve up at the side of the photo and was happy to find exactly what I was looking for. The whole layout turned out exactly how I had envisaged. So happy when this happens! I think I'll try a similar layout one day soon in paper.

The challenge ends March 14.

Thanks for looking!

Life.Paper.Scrapbooking. Sketch Challenge #1

I found a new sketch challenge site courtesy of the lovely Lizzy Hill (thanks Lizzy).  LPS (Life.Paper.Scrapbook) has their first sketch challenge up. This is the sketch:

I spent a day trying to work this sketch (in-between housework and parenting) which resulted in paper being cut up only to be tossed aside for another future project, and some backgrounds thrown away never to be the base of a finished layout. But then, by some chance, I flipped the sketch to look like this:

I hardly ever think about rotating the sketch ('Why not?' You may ask. 'No idea!'). In this instance, once I did, the layout was far more enjoyable to create. Here's my interpretation:

And some close-ups:

Supplies used: paper (Tim&Beck, American Crafts, sassafras), cardstock (AC), inks (Tattered Angels Chalkboard, Glimmer Mist, Ranger Distress Inks), stamps (Hero Arts), brad (AC Dear Lizzy), masks (TheCraftersWorkshop, Silhouette cut background), arrows (Studio Calico), die-cuts (Silhouette and EK Success punch), twine, gesso, black pen, pencil, button (craft stash).

Next time I'm stuck, I'll have to remind myself to look at the sketch differently and try rotating it.
The deadline is Feb 15th for this sketch.

If, however you can't make this sketch, there is still time (2 weeks) to enter the sketch challenge at Paper Stories. Hope to see you there!

Thanks for coming by.

The Color Room Palette #143

Although I had visited The Color Room challenge blog some time ago, I was reminded about it through Heather Jacob's blog with her beautiful Design Team layout. I was inspired by her layout and the colour palette so thought I'd give it a try:

and the sketch that went with it:

So here is my interpretation:

and some close-ups:

Supplies used: cardstock (AC, Bazzill), paper (AC, Fancy Pants, Crate, Kaiser), die-cuts (Sizzix, Silhouette), stencil (Balzar Designs), stars (RW Laser Cuts), washi tape, inks (Distress Inks, Mr Huey's, Glimmer Mist, acrylic paint), rhinestones (Kaiser, Studio Calico), stamps (Kaiser, Hero Arts, Stampin' Up), stitching, gesso, texture paste, alpha's (re-coloured) and paper clip (Basic Grey), twine, button.

Fortunately I found some old American Crafts paper which happened to have all the colours of this combination at the back of my stash. Knew it would come in handy one day! Also happy to use the scalloped cardstock that I had since the beginning! So glad to be using some of my older stock.

Thanks for coming by. Here is the link to the Color Room Palette #143 to enter.

ScrapFriends Colour Challenge #9

Some people find purple a difficult colour to scrap and avoid it like the plague. Personally, purple is one of my favourite colours and so I don't mind working with it. However, I can't say the same for red. I find it a difficult colour to scrap, probably as it's not a colour I'm drawn to. I like it, but I guess I just don't have a red personality (meaning vivacious, bold and energetic). So the #9 Colour Challenge at ScrapFriends took me out of my comfort zone a little with its burst of red amongst the softness of the rest of the palette. Even with the red, or perhaps because of it, I loved this palette. Here it is:

And my interpretation:

And some close-ups:

I used a combination of Studio Calico and Basic Grey papers with Studio Calico Mistables and Mr Huey's spray ink. Some paint and masks, twine and thread, buttons and a brad.
The title and journaling read: 'sweet moments like this make it all worthwhile'.
My children are generally really good with each other and play constantly together. Being close in age possibly helps this. However, sometimes there are days when I feel overwhelmed, not necessarily by their behaviour, but by sole parenthood. When I capture moments like this, it reminds me that everything I do and am doing is worthwhile. It gives me strength.

Thanks for coming by!

ScrapFriends Sketch Challenge #10 - Guest Designer

ScrapFriends has Sketch Challenge #10 up! I was very fortunate to be a Guest Designer for this amazing sketch, which looks like this:

And my interpretation:

Supplies used: Bazzill cardstock, paper (Kaiser, Basic Grey, K&Company), washi tape, Glimmer mists, Mr Huey's, prismacolor pencils, printed digital elements: Kitty Designs (Knights Tale), Juliana Kneipp (Craft Time-Boys), sodalicious triangles, gesso.

The photos are of my son. He just LOVES anything to do with knights - his sword and shield are never far from his side. The dragon with the fire and some of the other paper elements including the 'HERO' title, all come from digital kits that I arranged on an 8.5 x 11" space in Photoshop then printed on Bazzill cardstock.

I had loads of fun doing this layout.
The other guest designers and design team have just done amazing work with this sketch. Go see them here.
Hope you add the sketch on your to-do list for the month!

Thanks for coming by.

Paper Stories - February Sketch - DT Layout

It's February. The start of another month. This means a fabulous new sketch challenge at Paper Stories!
Last month saw some gorgeous layouts by everyone - we all had a difficult time choosing the winners. But I love seeing everyone's interpretation and being so inspired. There are so many talented, creative people!

The sketch this month:

Isn't is fabulous?? Head over to Paper Stories to see what the design team have all done, if you haven't already. Their work is amazing!

Here is my layout:

I would like to say I used Pan Pastels for the background, but I've only used cheap pastels that my children use (Pan Pastels are on my wish list!). Then I splattered some Glimmer Mist. I have also used a border die-cut for the white on white effect (which I just LOVE) as a hint of texture. This was cut from my Silhouette - and the pattern, I just adore!
I covered the old Kaiser chipboard number 4 with Basic Grey paper, then inked the edges, but got carried away and it ended up looking like a dark, murky mess, so then I painted over it with gold acrylic to cover my mistake. After that, I was too scared to do much more inking! LOL!

I hope you like it, and it inspires some!
Be sure to link up before the end of the month. Can't wait to see what you have done!

Thanks for looking.