Pieces of my life: July 2013

Making your own banners...

Recently I was asked by Scrapbook Creations Magazine to be part of an embellishment special in Issue 99 and I was to be working with ribbons and trims. I didn't want to use them in the usual way so I decided to make a simple banner out of some natural Jute ribbon from Green Tara and some left over scraps of pink ribbons. All I did was cut some pieces to approximately 5cm in length for the large banner and 2.5cm for the smaller banner (the ribbon on the larger banner is roughly 2.5cm wide and the smaller banner has ribbons 1.5cm wide). Then I cut a triangular shape from the bottom of each piece to create the flags for the banner. I glued down some string and then attached the pieces of ribbon along the string and there you have a quick and easy banner that will use up some of those scrap pieces of ribbon that we all have hanging around!

Using Kaisercraft paper from 'Sweet Admirer' , Scrapmatts chipboard Ornate Frame and Bird, Flourish with a Bling Chloe Antique Gold flourish, Prima flowers and vine, Collections Tissue Paper and Butterfly and Pink Paislee Word Title

In between catching up with all the things that were left undone while the kids were on school holidays, I've started working on some Christmas projects. Scary to be thinking of Christmas but it'll be here before I know it ;)

Jingle Bells indeed!

Sonia x

Posted at 11:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Using the stash...

I was going through my stash the other day and realised I hadn't used much of the Kaisercraft Basecoat range that I've got sitting in my paper tray. When I first saw this range at CHA in January I 'just had to have it'! However since it arrived I haven't used it and I have no idea why as I still love it. So before I get brainwashed by the new releases at Las Vagas CHA I'd better get scrapping and use up some of what I already have (I'm sure I'm not alone in collecting more than I use!)

Using Kaisercraft Basecoat 'Weathered', Flowers from Prima and Petaloo, Scrapmatts chipboard words, Flourish with a Bling pearl flourish, Tim Holtz Tissue Tape and film strip, Maya Road Zipper Trim and twine, Jenni Bowlin Month cards, MME Memories tab, Prima Typo Bulb.

As much as I keep telling myself that I'm not to buy anything new I just can't help looking at all of the new releases and I know I'm going to cave. Especially for the new Tim Holtz stencils (because I really do need more templates - right!)

Then Ingvild Bolme showed these releases for Prima (sigh)

Then some of Finnibair's releases for Prima:

I think I might have a problem ;)

Sonia x

Posted at 06:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

A bit of pretty for the weekend...

Having the girls at home for the school holidays has resulted in some very girly pastimes in the last couple of weeks so I'm in a very 'pink' mood!!! So on that note here is a card that was in Scrapbook Creations as part of an embellishment article on using trims:

Using Prima paper, frame, resin cupid and leaves, Maya Road Tulle trim, Scrapmatts Happy Birthday title and Flourish with a Bling Chloe pearl flourish and Self Adhesive Pearls

The tulle flower was made from a piece of Maya Road Tulle trim and wrapping it around a couple of times to form a circular shape and then holding it down with a pearl centre. I'm thinking it would look pretty good in the grey tulle too (time to shop again LOL!)

Talking about tulle and all things girly - who can go past a girl in a tutu and not smile? (excuse the quality of the photos - the lighting in the dance studio is not the best for taking photos!)

Sonia x

Posted at 10:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Step by step misting and stamped background...

Last week I posted this mini album over at the Scrapmatts Ning site and I've had a few requests on how to make the background. It's not difficult but does involve making a bit of mess = lots of fun!

I bought a roll of primed canvas fabric from Riot Craft and cut out the squares of fabric that I needed (measuring 15.5cm). First I randomly sprayed with blue mist (I used Glimmermist Turquoise):

Then spray randomly with green mist (Glimmermist Key Lime Pie):

Follow that with a random spray of yellow (Glimmermist Sunflower):

Spray the page lightly with water to help the colours blend:

When you are happy with the colour blend, heat set your page:

Randomly splatter the three colours of mist over the page (I remove the top of the misting spray and use the plastic nozzle to splatter the mist):

Lightly spray with water to soften the edges of the splatters and then heat set again. If you are making an album then do more than one page at a time - it helps save on the mist with over sprays!

Once I had the pages coloured, I stamped some images using white embossing powder and then painted some Gesso around the edges to soften the colours:

Messy, but so much fun and the possibilities are endless :)

Sonia x

Posted at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Time to play...

Before the start of the school holidays I put together the projects for my July post over at Scrapmatts and had a ball playing with some techniques I hadn't tried before (and it gave me an excuse to use some of my stash that I keep collecting and not using!). When Tim Holtz released his Distress Markers I just 'had to have' them and of course they then sat in my draw unused :( As soon as I saw the 'Scrap your Idol' challenge for the Scrapmatts DT, I knew I'd be scrapping Tim and it was time to break out the markers - and now I looooove them LOL!

These tags are based in Tim Holtz's tags of 2013 and I used January, April and June.

This is the tag based on Tim's January Tag:

Using Scrapmatts Tags CB3010, Scrap Words CB1191, Gears CB1072 and CB1078

This tag was based on Tim's April Tag:

Using Scrapmatts Tags CB3010, Scrap Words CB1197, Gears CB1072 and CB1078, Hinges CB1124 and Australian Federation Corners CB1128

And finally the last tag was based on Tim's June Tag:

Using Scrapmatts Tags CB3010, Scrap Words CB1206, CB1189

I must admit to probably having the most fun with the last tag, only because it is so different from anything I'd tried before and I had a ball playing with different ways to use the Distress Marker pens.

If you want to have a go at any of these tags, then click on the links in the post for each of the tags and you'll find Tim Holtz has amazing and very detailed step by step instructions on how to do these (and many other tags as well!).

Now a little note for my gorgeous Alex who I'm very proud to say received her red stripe in Karate on Tuesday! She's a little powerhouse when she gets going!!!

Just one more week to survive of the school holidays LOL!

Sonia x

Posted at 09:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Some time spent with Tim....

One of my highlights of going to CHA this year was seeing Tim Holtz demonstrate every day (ahhh yes, sad I know!). So when the July challenge for the DT at Scrapmatts included a 'Scrap your Idol' project, I didn't have far to look! Lots of mess but lots of fun to make let me tell you ;)

So for a look at the July projects head over to the Scrapmatts Ning Site and you'll see a bit more than the sneakies below!

Now to take a deep breath and survive the next two weeks of school holidays!

Sonia x

Posted at 11:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Getting ready for the descent of the munchkins...

School holidays start this Friday so I've been desperately trying to make sure I have as much done as possible before then because after that all I'll hear is the call of 'Mum what are we going to do next'!!! Mind you I am looking forward to spending some time with the girls as things have just been bedlam lately and slowing the pace down a bit will be a welcome break :)

Speaking of the girls, this layout was in the last issue of Scrapbook Creations (Vol 12 No 1) in the Transparency Gallery. The big gold swirl on the background is one of the Hambley transparencies. This was also made using the gorgeous Flourish with a Bling Adam Large Vines and Chloe Pearl Flourish in my favourite Antique Gold:

A little bit of detail :)

The word title and butterfly are from Scrapmatts chipboard

I've had a bit of a revamp around here as you may have noticed! I'm not much of a technological person (yep I don't even use Facebook - OK you can pick yourself off the floor now!!) but I must admit to having a bit of fun playing with the blog layout. Give me a bit more time and I may get with the program ;)

Sonia x