Prima BAP - Guest Designer

Hello everyone,

I am so thrilled to say I am a Guest Designer over at Prima this month. It is such a wonderful honour, I feel very blessed.

The Prima BAP by Lene Bjornerud has just been released and it's inspirational!
Here is the sketch:

And my version:

Everything on the page is, of course, Prima. The paper, flowers, embellishments and alphas. I used mists to colour most of the papers to suit the background piece which was from the 'Sunrise-Sunset' Collection. The other papers I used were from the older collections, 'Annalee' and 'Fairy Rhymes'.

And a few close-ups:

Go HERE to see the sketch and gorgeous work by the Design Team.

Thank you for coming by.

ScrapFriends - Sketch Challenge #22 - DT

Hello everyone.

Today marks the first of the month and therefore a new sketch release at ScrapFriends. I hope you like it. It is the first sketch I have done.

My layout has the most recent photo of my children and myself - taken 2 years ago. I don't have many photos of us together, probably time to ask a friend to take another.

Loving gold at the moment. I dabbed gold paint through a stencil then added the glitter. Same with the heart chipboard. After, I sprayed with hairspray to fix the glitter.

This is a lot simpler in background texture and layers than I would normally do. I was trying to simplify my scrapping due to time constraints at the moment however I didn't really like it, because I like to do more detailed and involved work. So late last night before posting this challenge I added the background splatters digitally. I take photographs of all my layouts to print later on 12x12, so I shall only have the original without enhancement and the children will each have a print of this one in their folders.

Thank you for coming by. Hope you are able to play along this month. Make sure to go HERE to see all the amazing work of the Guest Designers and Design Team.

Stamping with Twinkling H20's by LuminArte

Hello all!
Earlier this month, I had a little tutorial on the ScrapFriends blog. Thought I'd share it here too.

Something I do quite often on my layouts is to stamp using those gorgeous little tubs of shimmering watercolour paint - Twinkling H20's by LuminArte.

Here are some close ups of layouts that show where I have used them:

• the first layout is on the diamond stamp.
• the second layout - with a Prima Finnabair stamp in 'Lemongrass' (LOVE this colour). NOTE:  it's not the misted stencil of the same design, but the stamped image in the upper part of the photo.
• the third - a chevron stamp.

And below...

• the first, a flourish stamp in soft aqua.
• the second, the same Prima stamp from above in 'English lavender'.
• the last layout, a background dot stamp.

I love the extra layer and colour they give.
It's ultra easy to use them, too. All I do is...

• spritz with a water sprayer first - mini misters are good as they give a finer mist, however, any spritzer will do.
• using a paint brush, mix the water with the paint, then brush onto the stamp, and stamp your paper!

Depending on how much water you spritz on, depends on the clarity of the stamped image. If it's a watery pool, then don't expect a clear stamped image. It may take a practice run or two to work out how much water should be in the pot, or rather, what consistency the paint should be, to find the effect you are after. I usually just go for it and hope for the best. :-)

Thank you for coming by.

ScrapFriends Colour Challenge #21 - DT

Hello everyone!

Thank you for stopping by.

Today is the release of the new Colour Challenge (#21) for ScrapFriends.

I love these colours and hope you do too (although I'm a little biased). This is the first colour challenge that I have put together for ScrapFriends. Please go HERE for loads of gorgeous inspiration by the Guest Designers and Design Team - they have all done such marvellous work.

And here is my version:

And some close-ups:

My papers are mainly from Basic Grey (Indian Summer and Green at Heart) a sheet from Glitz and another from American Crafts. There are also a few die cuts from Kaiser and some digital elements printed off.

Hope you are able to join us this month!

Scrap Friends Sketch Challenge #21 - DT

Hello all!

Welcome 2014! Hope everyone has recovered from their new year celebrations and eager to get creative.

The new year has seen some changes happening over at Scrap Friends. We have a great new Design Team, and I have taken over the role of challenge and blog host, sketch artist and DT co-ordinator. It is all new and exciting for me and I am learning so much, which I really love.

This month's sketch challenge is still by Angela Star, and is another beauty. The new Design Team and Guest Designers have all done beautiful work. Please check it out HERE.

The sketch:

My interpretation:

This is a rare photo taken in 2006 of myself and my eldest daughter who recently turned 8. It is one of my favourite photos.
The paper I used is all from the line 'Country Escape' by Tilda. The chipboard is from wycinanka. They have beautiful, delicate chipboard which I love. Also my Silhouette was very busy as you can tell. The background pink is made with ecoline watercolour. I also did a lot of stitching on the page, but covered most of it with my layers. Still, I find it therapeutic to do.

For more inspiration, go HERE. Hope you are able to join us this month.

Thank you for coming by.