Aussie Scrap Source

weekend inspiration: paper trunk

 

 

 

 

 

Louise just loved creating with this fabulous pack of Paper Trunk Krafty Collection patterned papers. What’s more, they are made from recycled paper. This is a wonderfully coordinated pack of black and kraft patterned papers with a sheet of diecut shapes that suit journaling, embellishing or photo matting.

Whilst the contrast between the black printed pattern and the Kraft background is bold, Paper Trunk has used fabulous classic design that lends itself to a broad range of layout/card styles and designs.

For this particular layout Louise has softened the bold stripe pattern with a layer of paint which has an overlay of Vintage Pink Glimmer Mist.

A Diecut from the pack has been used as a subtle matt/background for her photo, which has then been framed with a regal shaped frame, which has also been given the Glimmer Mist treatment.

 

 

 

 

 

For this layout Louise has picked up on the bold polka dot pattern and used it as inspiration for her layout design; incorporating the Basic Grey metal book plate to frame her photo, and with the Glimmer Misted backgrounds for her flower embellishments.

 

 

Whilst the polka dot pattern on this background is a little more subtle Louise has chosen to continue the theme with subtle design elements; a round photo, round Hambly Studios doilie rub-ons, the Basic Grey alpha dot stickers, and random spots of Patina Glimmer Mist.

 

For two years the lovely Jolene Pienaar has been designing stunning layouts for Paper Trunk, and she has kindly agreed to allow us to share some of them here.  Here Jolene has created a layout full of movement and life despite it’s near monochrome state, using papers from the new Krafty range alongside vibrant turquoise tissue paper flowers.

 

 

 

The wonderful vivid vibrancy of the Paper Trunk Socialite range is stunning against the neutral Kraft papers as Jolene shows in these two layouts.  She combines the two with perfect balance, the one line complementing the other and adds touches of gorgeous girly detail with handcut flowers and flourishes.

 

 

Here Jolene has combined the Krafty journalling elements with the 1974 range of patterned papers to create a lively and colourful layout that could have worked just as well with more masculine photos as it does with her very beautiful daughter.  Jolene, thanks for allowing us to showcase your amazing talent here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, here is a simple but fabulous card and OTP creation by Corinne Stevens. You can see from Corinne’s creations that the classic Krafty patterned range suits a broad range of design options, and is a striking and classic choice that has the 'FAB' factor!

weekend inspiration: basic grey

 

 

 

Nic adored the Max and Whiskers range from the moment she saw it. She loves the beautiful warm oranges and yellows combined with splashes of red and earthy greens and best of all the grungy finish to all of the patterns. It's a perfect range to compliment a whole range of page themes and is definitely not limited just to pet pages.
Creating this layout however, allowed Nic to take advantage of the gorgeous pet theme when scrapping about her daughter's love of the family cat.

She began with a mat of die-cut paper from the range and added a lined card coloured with Glimmermist, Tattered Angels/Heidi Swapp crepe ribbon and buttons and die-cut stickers from the Max and Whiskers range.

The result is a sweet and simple page detailing an important occurrence in Nic's household.

 

 

Nic Howard showcases the fabulous depth of the blue-greens in the Max & Whiskers range in this fun layout of her son.   She has layered and distressed co-ordinating strips of patterned paper in true Nic Howard style and though the layout has nothing to do with pets Nic shows us the versatility of the range.

 

 

 

One of Kathie’s blog readers recently asked if she thought the Green at Heart line was suitable for creating layouts about little boys. Here, Kathie shows that it absolutely is. The purples, greens and oranges in the line make it possible to create wonderful colour-filled pages for boys. Kathie particularly fell in love with the felt woollies!

 

Suz loves the delicate pastels of the Kioshi range, and showcases them here.  A truly versatile range that works well with all kinds of themes, and the sutlety and repetition of the patterns means that your photos are guaranteed to keep the focus of the page.  Here Suz writes about her sparring children, who can’t even walk past each other without sticking an elbow into the other one at the moment.

 

The beautiful delicacy of the Kioshi doiley seemed like the perfect place to start for this photo of Suz’s mum and daughter together.  She kept all her elements in the centre to better show off the beauty of the doiley and kept her embellishments simple.

 

 

 

 

Kathie found this layout in Stacey Michaud’s 2peas gallery and fell in love with it. The soft colour palette of BasicGrey’s Origins lines works perfectly with this sentimental photo, taken when Stacey’s daughter was born. Stacey created this page when she was guest designer at the sketch blog Pencil Lines recently.

 

 

 

This gorgeous layout by Nancy Damiano showcases how the different elements of the Max and Whiskers range work together so perfectly. Nancy was inspired by the beautiful bold colour palette, commenting that it is perfect for boy pages, yet still bright and fun. We love everything about this delightful page - the design, the patched background, the layering, all of the elements, it's fantastic and we thank you for allowing us to share it with our readers!

 

 

 

We absolutely adore this layout by Jing-Jing Nickel. the layout has nothing whatsoever to do with cats, or dogs, or any animals for that matter, it's all about how her young children fight! And can't we all relate to that? We love the design and in particular the fabulous way she applied this range to the theme of her layout. Thanks Jing-Jing.

introducing: trimcraft

 

 

 

Carole loved creating with Trimcraft "Smirk Naughty but Nice" Collection such fun characters you can create some really fun ideas for your layouts. Carole also used the "Naughty but Nice" Glitter Tags and the gorgeous Glitter Cardstock in White. So if you want a layout thats fun to use and very cute and pretty this Collection is for you.

 

 

 

Trimcraft's Laura Ashley Connemara collection consists of patterns and textures reminiscent of old-fashioned linens and wallpaper. With delicious damasks and flower prints all in a muted earthy colour-palette and a touch of glitter, this range could be used for a diverse range of layout theme ideas.

Here Nicole took full advantage of the rich patterns and subtle colours by using this clear bright photo right on top making it "pop" from the page. By adding distress ink to the edges she toned it all down even more and created the perfect base for not only the bright colours of the photo but also for the understated embellishing in the form of handcut butterflies by Webster's Pages.

Nicole added the "lift" that the embellishments needed by painting both the chipboard title and the grungeboard bookplate with Twinkling H20s which she then rubbed down with brown distress ink adding the aged look and a subtle finish. The final result is classically elegant with a sentimental feel, perfect for a Mum's layout about her little girl yet with the scrumptious coziness you find in Nanna's linen cupboard.

 

 

When Sue received her pack of Laura Ashley Trimcraft papers, she straight away thought of cutting out some of the designs. A couple of the papers have a lovely velvet texture which is perfect to cut around. There are a few different colour ways in the pack and so it is possible to create layouts with completely different looks. Sue chose a primarily blue/green combo and added in green October Afternoon paper to give the colours a boost.

A white background gave the layout a fresh look to compliment the colour scheme. A few embellishments from Hambly, Jenni Bowlin and Heidi Swapp, and letter stickers from Sassafras, completed the layout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What better card to make Birthday invitations for a teenage party from than this groovy Glitter Card from Trimcraft. Caz printed off a template of a shoe and a handbag from the internet. Cut the shapes out of the various coloured pieces of glitter card, blinged them up a bit with charms, Heidi Swapp felt flowers and Love You More Gem brads, and added them to a simple black and white background of Luxe Designs paper. All too easy and much admired by the recipients and the Birthday Girl herself.

trends of 2010: bunting

 

 

 

 

Sue just loves the latest trend of using banners or garlands to embellish your pages. They can be created using products that are designed for that purpose, for example the Jenni Bowlin banner stickers. Or you can create your own by handcutting them, or even use a paper punch to create something different, such as the butterfly garland across the top of this page.

Sue used the Crate Paper Paper Doll range to design a fun layout featuring pictures of her daughter Lily and her cousin Keely. The butterfly garland is a fun addition to embellish the photos of the girls playing outdoors on a slip and slide.

 

 

 

For this page, Sue used the Jenni Bowlin banner stickers to create a title for her son Bailey’s school page. The colours in the Sassafras papers compliment the banner stickers well. To emphasise the little letter stickers, first punch a small circle from patterned paper and add to the stickers with mounting tape. Sue also stuck the banner stickers to Kraft cardstock and cut around them, leaving a small border of cardstock to make them stand out a little more on the layout.

 

 

What a fun Easter layout that Lucy has created using primarily Sassafras papers and embellishments. The banner across the top is such a cute embellishment and is perfectly added with the row of stitching across the top. Thanks for allowing us to post your layout Lucy. It is lovely!

 

Lisa Dickinson kindly allowed us to post her pretty layout showcasing a wonderful banner across the top. Lisa has used one of the new Jenni Bowlin Co-ordinations Embossed cardstock for the basis of her layout which adds a lovely texture. The papers are from Sassafras and Cosmo Cricket. I love how Lisa has created the whimsical banner across the top of her page. It is perfectly used to frame her lovely photos. Thanks so much Lisa for allowing us to share your page.

trends for 2010: dress forms

This year at CHA, Janine noticed that a lot of the manafacturers had dress forms in their booths. This also came through in many paper ranges as well, with adorable dress forms featuring on the papers. Rather than use a pre-printed dress form to show this trend, Janine decided to "dress" her own dress form out of paper and lace.

Firstly, she traced out a simple dress form and then enlarged it on the photo-copier to create a template that she used to cut the form out of chipboard. There were two pieces, the form and the bodice. She then used some sweet delicate papers and folded and pleated them to create a skirt and bodice for the dress form.

To top this theme off Janine also used an October Afternoon paper featuring a dress pattern and some strips of lace, fabric and even a vintage button and pin by Jenni Bowlin to continue on the theme.

Janine adores the femininity of a dress form, something totally girly and beautiful. She wanted to showcase that femininity in this layout, featuring so many pretty things, from Anna Griffin lace edged paper, to Prima Flowers and Zva bling. All these things are a celebration of being "girly".

It is little wonder then that we are seeing dress forms pop up everywhere, from papers, to a home decor item, not just it's original purpose for tailors and dress makers. They really are such a wonderful addition to accent your pages.

Stacy Cohen has created this amazing dress form using Prima products! She has layered canvas paper, lace and strips of paper then embellished with raja centres and diamantes for an amazing result!

In this vintage inspired LO Gabrielle Pollacco has used a Prima Canvas dress form and enhanced it with tulle, flowers and a bit of bling as a delightful accent to her page. The dress form adds the perfect touch of whimsy to a page dedicated to "playing dress ups".

weekend inspiration: sassafras

 

The Nerdy Bird Range from Sassafras Lass is so colourful and full of whimsy that you can use it basically for anybody, from young children to teenagers and adults. Full of polka dots and stripes, Nerdy Bird pattern paper compliments each other as Steph has demonstrated in her layout "nearly three". The Nerdy Bird Banner stickers are also a fantastic product to use on layouts, they are so easy just to peal and stick and enhance the fun just a little bit more with their charm and quirkiness.

The images in Sassafras Lass' range "Apple Jack" are perfect for those back to school pages. Here Kathie's created a vibrant page to capture photos from her son's first day at "fulltime" kindy. In actual fact, by the time his official start-date came around, he'd already been attending kindergarten for two terms so it was quite a non-event. When Kathie pulled out the camera, Jamie was decidedly disinterested in posing for a photo, more concerned with making sure mum captured his kindy backpack.

Kathleen Glossop is a huge Sassafras Lass fan and we love what she's done with the Cherry Delicious range here. Kathleen tells us that she adores this photo of her son; it makes her want to pick him up and cuddle him, which is what inspired her patchwork blanket theme.

Clearly, put Kathleen and Sassafras together and you have an amazing duo for gorgeous layouts! Here Kat showcases her little niece and her fun time down the beach. This time Kat has used Nerdy Bird and you can see how it beautifully frames her subject. Thanks for sharing Kat.

This next layout was created by Tanya Tahir. We love how she’s mixed Sassafras Lass’ Apple Jack with some pieces from Cherry Delicious. The use of colour and dimension on this page makes it a stand out. And the photos of Tanya's son riding Thomas the Tank Engine are just so darn cute. Thanks for sharing, Tanya.

Kay Rogers has used all of the bright Nerdy Bird Patterned Paper in this layout about her daughter. How much fun are they?  Kay has maximised all the wonderful patterns and shapes and they look amazing grouped together and cut into strips. She has teamed the Nerdy Bird papers with the Banner Stickers just to finish of this fantastic layout.

Leila Bentahar has created this most amazing card using Nerdy Bird. It is so full of charm and colour that anybody would love to receive it. The card has a unique shape, and lots of tactile elements that are so pleasing to the eye. Thanks Leila, we just love it.

introducing: the crafters workshop

 

 

 

 

For those who love the look of personalising their pages with doodling or artwork and don’t think they can, The Crafters Workshop templates are the perfect solution.  These are fabulous high quality templates that you can use with Glimmer Mist, chalks, paints, inks, texture paste – anything really.

Suz had a journalling heavy page  where the photo was kind of secondary, and the 6x6 Gathered Flowers template provided the perfect subtle and slightly nostalgic background pattern, while the larger 12x12 Circle Circle Dot Dot template provided a vehicle for her journalling.  Suz used the new Neutral Shades from the Trimcraft Chalks range to create the softness of the pattern she was looking for.

 

 

 

 

Kathie chose the 12x12 Cherry Blossom template to experiment with. And experiment she did! She has used it in a variety of ways on her layout. Firstly, she misted through a portion of it using blue Glimmer Mist. After that was dry, she cleaned and repositioned the stencil, and sponged Walnut Stain ink through it.

She then added the other layers to her page including some flowers made from rolled cardstock. Finally, she traced around some of the shapes on the stencil to create smaller blue flowers from blue paper. Kathie found the template sturdy, easy to position and easy to clean. And she is quite taken with the design of the Cherry Blossom!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Louise absolutely loved creating with the Crafters Workshop templates. Being able to create your own background patterns, patterned papers and embellishments, how versatile and fabulous are these templates!!!!!  For this particular layout Louise has used one of the 4 doily style patterns on the Mums template to create a photo matt/background using a co-ordinating shade of glimmer mist. .

To add to the earthy and rustic feel of the layout, Louise has hand scrunched the misted patterned photo matt before final layering of her photo and embellishments.

 

 

For this layout Louise has used another of the 4 doily (Mums) patterns to create a flower like pattern to embellish her layout . Using 2 shades of Glimmer Mist to create the doily pattern with, she has then cut it up to create a photo frame and a journal frame to embellish her layout with.

 

 

Nicole selected the "Tree of Life" template to create this cute background. She created the trunk of the tree by tracing through the template and then she hand-cut the pieces and inked the edges. She created the leaves by again tracing through the template and hand cutting from various patterned papers, but she alternated some of the leaves by filling in the stencil with watercolour paints and then traced the edges with journalling pen.

The sun and the blue cloud are from the same template adding to the whimsical feel of the page and the "popping out" kite.

trends of 2010: mixed media

This week the Lovely Louise Nelson demistifies a little of the marvellous mixed media trend for us…

One of the many mixed media trends influencing scrapbooking styles are those used by art journalers. Often they will use a variety of pens, pencils paints and gel mediums to create their backgrounds, alter photos and/or collaged/stamped images. With this in mind Louise has printed her photo-shopped photo straight onto the cardstock. Using the Hero Arts Water Colour Paints she has highlighted the black areas of the image to make them stand out and create vibrant and interesting contrasts.

Using the Luxe alpha stamps, another 'go-to' technique for art journalers, Louise has created her title in a 'white space' of her image, and then hand journalled the subtitle in a smaller white space area of her background image.
To embellish her layout Louise hand cut out hearts from cardstock adhered them to the layout and then artistically blended them into her layout by outlining them with black water colour paint and gel pen.

Perhaps the simplest definition for Mixed Media is the use of multiple mediums; for example, paints and gels, various types of papers, found objects, ephemera, pencils, crayons, charcoals, materials, fibers, etc etc. I think you’re getting the idea! Whereas scrapbooking traditionally has been recognised as primarily a papercraft with some use of alternative mediums for embellishment, mixed media depends on the use of so much more.

Increasingly, scrapbookers are introducing other mediums used by artists into their creative process; to not only satisfy their own creative desires but also to add that extra 'something' to their layouts. More recently, scrapbookers are also using more 'artistic' and 'freestyle' methods when incorporating these mediums into their layouts.

For this particular layout Louise has adopted very much a free style method. She has used several layers of glimmer mist and masks/stamps to create a subtle then bold artistic effect for her background. To enhance her design she has used water colour paint, machine stitching, and gel pen to highlight the masked images, create her title, and further embellish the layout. To add visual interest she has also cut out the center of one of the hand painted butterflies.

Louise has no doubt that there is a very strong influence of other artforms and mixed media when search through the online galleries and forums. Until recently, what has been referred to as 'arty' scrappers or the 'arty' style of scrapbooking remained a small and often fringe genre of scrapbooking. Increasingly scrapbookers have started to incorporate what is considered to be arty/mixed mediums and styles into their scrapbooking with the most wonderful artistic and freestyle look.

To demonstrate this, Louise is sharing one of her favourite international scrapbooker/crafters Caroline Rondel [thank you Caroline] from the north east of France. From the examples provided here of a gorgeous mini album and layouts you can see how Caroline utilizes a variety of mediums and techniques, to create her album and layouts. They are a wonderful combination of both art and memory documentation

For this particular layout Caroline has continued to use a variety of techniques and mediums; Paints, and collage, to create a layout of her 'dream home'.

Caroline has created just the most gorgeous layout of her newborn daughter using gel and paint mediums in a wonderful freestyle and artistic manner. She has embellished her layout with machine stitching and loose threads, and material whichs adds a wonderful textural effect.

For this particular layout Caroline has used multiple mediums to create a colourful collaged patchwork background effect; using paint, different types of papers, a variety of stamps and ink, stickers and images. She has used different modes of application with the paint; dry scraping, and circular implements for stamping the paint. Overlying this are the collaged and mosaiced pieces and strips of paper, then on the final layer various shaped stamps.

weekend inspiration: sei

 

Its always lovely creating birthday layouts, and SEI "Happy Day" Collection makes it so easy, starting with the gorgeous designs to the pattern papers and all the yummy Die-Cut Accents and Dimensional Elements. Carole created this layout, for her daughter's 10th birthday so with all the layers and added Glimmer Mist "Midnight Blue", the layout became a celebration.

 

 

It may look like Caz bought this pink and green birthday cake for her daughters fifteenth birthday just so it would match the gorgeous SEI Jocelyn paper, but she didn't. Really. Caz prefers to scrap pages with more than 1 photo on them but for special occasions like birthdays she is happy to bend the rules.

Caz cut apart one of the Adhesive Rhinestone flowers and it them as feelers for the chipboard butterflies, another forms an interesting center for a flower cut from patterned paper. The title was her daughters idea. A line from one of her favourite Taylor Swift songs.

 

 

Thanks to the lovely Ronda from Colorado for allowing us to share this cure page of her sweet nephew's 3rd birthday. Ronda made tiny pennants from scraps of paper from SEI's Jocelyn collection and stitched them down to create banners across the page. She then cleverly added in tiny chipboard letters to create her title.

 

 

 

This gorgeous layout and the card following it were created by the talented Star from Illinois using SEI's Jocelyn collection. We love the way she has created the punched border around the photo mat and tilted the whole inside of the layout for added interest. And who wouldn't "Be Happy" receiving this sweet card. Thanks so much for sharing with us, Star.

And who wouldn't "Be Happy" receiving this sweet card. Thanks so much for sharing with us, Star.

weekend inspiration: jenni bowlin

 

 

 

The Jenni Bowlin Die Cut papers are a favourite of Sue Tonga's and she uses them often with other scrapbooking ranges. Here, Sue has primarily used the Homespun range. It has a lovely colour palette of red, pink and green. Instead of leaving the die-cut paper with a green border, Sue cut around the inner pink section and adhered it to the cream coloured die-cut label paper. This added a softer feel to the layout. One of the papers in the Homespun range (Quilted Floral) is perfect for cutting out.

The resulting flowers and leaves were used to create the frame for the photo strip and also to provide the foliage for the Chipboard bird to nest in. The papers were accented with a Hambly lace overlay, a chipboard swirl from the Crate Paper Pink Plum collection, and flowers sprayed with Viva Pink Glimmer Mist. Sue loves lots of elements and couldn't resist adding in a bingo card and the Jenni Bowlin Banner Stickers to add the wording for the layout. Sue also finished off the layout with a little sewing.

Janine loved these adorable mini baby boy bingo cards by Jenni Bowlin. Not only did they offer the perfect way to embellish her page but they also added the benefit of a subtle sub title as well. Whether you use just one card on a page or multiple cards together, they are a fabulous accent.

 

Toni Kelly created this adorable little boy page which showcases how beautifully the Jenni Bowlin bingo cards slip effortlessly into a collage accent. The words on the top of the cards are perfect for adding another piece of subtle journaling to the page.

 

The papers from the Homespun range are perfect to showcase the beautiful photos in this sweet layout by Amber Ulmer. The simplicity in design is delightful. Thanks Amber for allowing us to share your page.

 

This is such a beautiful page by Amber Ulmer. The photos are precious and are showcased by the simplicity of the Jenni Bowlin papers and embellishments. Don't you love Amber's handmade flowers where were created by rolling strips of the patterned papers and accented with the Jenni Bowlin buttons.

 

A gorgeous layout by Anabelle O'Malley using the Homespun range. The layers of scalloped frills on the page create a lovely soft effect which compliments the large banner across the top. I love Anabelle's use of the lettering stickers for her title, mixing things up and sewing across them all. What fun!

 

 

Anabelle is also the talented creator of this stunning layout using the Homespun range. Birthday photos are sometimes difficult to scrap but Anabelle has done a wonderful job here, capturing a joyous occasion with her fun use papers and embellishments. I love the journaling cards slotted in behind the photo and the banner is simply perfect! Thanks so much Anabelle for allowing us to share your layouts.

 

Finally, how adorably sweet is this card by Danielle Flanders, using the Jenni Bowlin Bingo cards. I love the way she has cut away the numbers from the card and replaced it with the word baby. Such a fabulous way to use these cards.

introducing: zva creative

 

 

 

Janine knew from the moment she saw the fountain swirl by ZVA that it was going to become the "stem" for some flowers. Rather than cluster a lot of embellishments together on a page, Janine chose a simple approach to allow the ZVA elements to stand out.

 

The Material Brad designs by Zva are both classic and contemporary, and a wonderful choice of embellishement for most styles. For this particular layout of her mother on her wedding day, Louise has created her layout in a funky vintage style, which suited the fact that it was a small low-key family, home town country church wedding, in the late 1950's. The colurs are earthy and classic to suit the venue environment and design theme. The Rose bushes in the photo background also inspired the design.

 

Using the original photo as additional inspiration [her grandmother was leaning aginst a fence with a bushland back drop], Louise has created a layout of earthy subtle contrasts to depict her feelings about her grandmother; soft gauze and diecut papers, earthy toned colours, rustic design elements, and the use of the Zva classic design crystals and regal material brads.

 

Steph always seems to use bling on her pages, just to tweak them a little or to give them an undeniable accent of beauty and flair. Here she has used them as a showstopper to frame her daughter, and add some glitz to her layout. Zva Bling is so easy to peal off and adhere to your layout and the result is just sensational. Even the strips of bling can be used artistically, as Steph has shown here, to dangle her chandeliers from.

 

 

                                                                              Jana Eubank

 

                                                                             Angelica Franssen

 

 

                                                                            Anabelle O’Malley

 

                                                                               Becky Olsen

 

 

                                                                                Sherry Wright

trends of 2010: homespun

We’re starting a new series from today. We have asked each member of our design team to identify a current scrapbooking trend and create and find some fabulous examples illustrating their trend.  Kathie Link kicks us off with the ‘homespun’ look.

 

An article in The Advertiser newspaper recently reported that young women are flocking to homespun crafts like sewing, cooking, knitting, gardening and even raising chooks in the family back yard. There is a trend towards the hand-made, towards home-grown, towards repurposing the old.

Kathie’s noticed this homespun trend in the scrapbooking industry too. Several manufacturers have lines that reflect the focus towards home grown, farm fresh, handmade, thrift shopping and wholesome cooking. Browsing through the galleries, it would seem that scrappers are welcoming the theme with open arms.

Soft floral papers and fabrics are being pleated and ruffled onto layouts, old coupons peek out from behind vintage toned photographs, images from old sewing pattern envelopes are being paired with machine stitching, pennant banners drift across the page, and pretty checks and ginghams abound.

In this first layout, Kathie’s used Jenni Bowlin’s Homespun range. The warm vivid colours of line really do say “homespun” in and of themselves. Then, to accentuate the homespun feel even further, Kathie’s added old coupons and newsprint, chipboard buttons (reminiscent of old bottle-tops), fresh gingham, ruffled fabric trim, a little pennant banner and loads of machine stitching.

 

 

 

 

In the next layout Kathie’s adopted an entirely different colour palette but still gave it a homespun feel.

October Afternoon’s Thrift Shop line contains imagery of pretty vintage florals, lace doilies, and old sewing patterns. Kathie’s combined the October Afternoon papers and accent stickers with a Hambly dress-form rub-on, some floral fabric from her grandma’s stash and Websters Pages ball trim to further the fashion theme of the page. A flower shaped from a sewing pattern graces a yellow lace doily for a pretty vintage feel.

 

 

 

There are several Australian scrapbookers who have a natural homespun feel to their work. Mardi Winen is one. Here we share her layout "Maybe", which features her adorable grandaughter. We love how Mardi's teamed pretty vintage florals with sewing patterns, old book print, ledger paper and crochet trim. Thanks for sharing Mardi.

 

 

Jodie Butler is another scrapbooker who always seems to add little pieces of homespun goodness to her pages. Her pages always incorporate fabric and crochet trim, adding texture and making you want to reach out and touch the page. We love how she's curled and distressed the edges of the layout, allowing a warm red background to peek through in places, adding to the warmth of the page.

weekend inspiration: cosmo cricket

 

 

 

 

 

Carole created this very cute layout using "Material Girl" Collection by Cosmo Cricket. The 12" Ready Set Chipboard was a favourite of Carole's, just so easy to use and so adorable, with added buttons and the gorgeous pattern papers. Carole also added some stitching for that homespun feel and some layered flowers.

 

 

 

Kathie loves Cosmo Cricket's Joy Ride line. It has so many cute images for little boy pages. In fact, she had to restrain herself from trying to use the entire sheet of chipboard die-cuts on this page. It was so hard to choose between them! With a combination of neutrals (greys, black, straw) and brights (aqua, orange, purple) the range is extremely versatile. Here, Kathie's teamed some of the neutral colours from the range with bright accents.

 

 

 

Kathie spied this double layout in Pip Prosser's gallery and had to share it with you here. She loves how Pip has scrapped these photos of her "little farmer". Pip's used Cosmo Cricket's Garden Variety line, which includes the delightful chipboard animals that Pip's allowed to wander whimsically across the bottom of the layout. Thanks for allowing us to share your page Pip!

 

Danielle Flanders has created these three gorgeous creations using Cosmo Cricket collections, and as you can see she has done such a fabulous job.  Danielle’s style is so fresh and such great use of colour, thank you Danielle for sharing your beautiful projects with us.

 

We love these cards made by Debbie Olson, using Cosmo Cricket's Joy Ride range. Debbie's featured the chipboard shapes, and created stunning backgrounds for them using the coordinating patterned papers. Machine stitching, twill and twine add texture to these fun designs.

weekend inspiration: rouge de garance

 

Caz fell in love with this bag in the duty free store on the cruise she went on recently. She walked past it and admired it so many times that her friends told her in exasperation to "Just buy it". Caz has used the gorgeous Rouge de Garance Gustave/Paris papers as she loved the soft colours and prints, plus the journaling tag had 'souvenir' printed on it which fit in perfectly.

The Hero Arts Collage Art Flowers and Pearl Accents, white chipboard swirls and chipboard sub-title help to make an interesting circular border framing the single photo

 

 

Steph loves to incorporate transparencies into her projects, and the Rouge De Garance transparencies have a young funky feel to them. Here Steph cut out the middle of her cardstock and placed the transparency over the back of the cardstock. From the front, a window now appears that you can adhere images or rub-ons onto. This is very effective as shown here by Steph's cut out Rouge De Garance flowers and embellishments. This technique gives yet another versatile look to your layouts.

 

 

These two breathtaking layouts come from Lesley Cooper of Auckland, New Zealand.  We love how she has incorporated the designs and the colour palettes of the patterned paper into the themes of her layouts, with stunning results.  Thanks Lesley!

 

 

We adored the simplicity of a layout using one of the busier Rouge de Garance patterned papers in this eye-catching layout by Nina von Loeper, of Germany.  Love the amount of journalling she has fitted in, love the gorgeous old Sassafras owl rubon she’s included in her embellishment cluster!  Thanks so much Nina.

 

 

 

The greens, blues and browns of the Aile ou Fleur range are stunning at the best of times but combine them with a touch of Queen & Co Felt Fusion, Prima flowers and Hambly Rubons and you have yourself a layout as gorgeous as this one above by Melanie Blackburn of Ottawa, Canada.  We love the pop of lime in the colour palette, and the beautiful photography.  Thank you Melanie!

 

 

This stunning rainbow layout and gorgeous carousel covered in Rouge de Garance papers comes to us from Larissa Albernaz of Brazil.  Her beautiful bright choices of rainbow papers just make her projects jump out of any gallery.  Thanks for allowing us to share your work here, Larissa.

product focus: transparent elements

 

Using transparencies is a staple when Steph creates her layouts. Aussie Scrap Source is now wholesaling 7 Gypsies and they have some stunning transparencies available. On this layout, Steph used the ATC transparencies and mixed them with a few Hambly Transparencies. You can see the square angles of the 7G ATC Cards, and the floral motifs and clock have been hand cut from the ATC Cards.

Here Suz has layered transparencies from Little Yellow Bicycle and Pink Paislee.  She has used a large photo transparency to ‘frame’ the image her daughter would have been taking of the ducks on the lake while still keeping her own image including her daughter intact. 

The ‘capture the moment’ strip underneath the photo is one of Pink Paislee’s Borderline Clear Stickers from the 365Degrees line.  The daisies she has scattered over the page are not only translucent, but glittered, and really, no layout of Phoebe would be complete without a smattering of glitter!

inspired by: our children’s art

Kathie’s four year old son draws and paints with creative abandon. She was particularly taken with this example of finger painting that he brought home from kindergarten just before Christmas. The paints have been mixed with glitter, so it’s a beautifully textured piece of “artwork” (as he refers to his paintings).

Kathie based the colour palette of her layout on the colours of pink, turquoise and white that Jamie selected for his painting. The design of Jamie’s art provided the starting point for the design of the layout – with glimmer mist used to colour the right hand side of the plain white backdrop.

While Kathie was tempted to finger paint the background, she’s settled for a simple misted background, which allows her to build up the layers on the page. To finish off the layout, she has applied Stickles liberally.

The font Kathie’s used for her title was inspired by the perfect handwriting that pre-primary teachers universally seem to have perfected. The placement of the title is in a similar position to the label on Jamie’s painted page.

On Easter Saturday, after the kids had gone to bed, Nicole walked past her daughter Madeleine's room and spotted the note Maddy had left for Easter Bunny. She had carefully written it on her whiteboard and then created a little basket to hang on the doorknob ready to receive her treasured Easter eggs. It was so cute and quietly thoughtful that Nic just had to photograph it before the bunny had been and the set up destroyed.

When it came to scrapping said memory, Nic took her inspiration directly from the source and used an Easter card that Maddy had created for her, complete with beautiful drawings and glued on flocking. Nic created a coloured photocopy using her scanner and printed it onto a piece of October Afternoon grid printed paper. This gave the handmade embellishments some softness and depth making them look more like embellishments than drawings.

The result, which I'm sure you will agree is adorable and completely unique and within the feeling and theme of the photos and story and best of all Miss Maddy was delighted that her Mum made this page with her special drawings on it.

weekend inspiration: little yellow bicycle

Scrapbooking product needs to grow up before our very eyes along with our children, and for those of us who started out with moons with faces and paper pieced teddy bears 6+ years ago for our toddler pages, are now starting to need designs a lot like these ones.  Little Yellow Bicycles Generation Z product range include ‘awesome’ papers, stickers, 3d stickers and alphas designed for the skate park, the bmx track, the guitar hero loving tween or teen in our lives.

Suz loved this range and so did Alex – it’s the first time he’s shown an active interest in scrapbooking himself as she lost the fabulous blue and silver checkerboard paper in the line to his graffiti/art.  When he finishes she’ll probably swipe it to add to his album.

 

Shhh! don't tell Caz's son Jesse that she has really put a flower on a layout with his blokey looking birthday photos, she told him it was a swirl. lol. Caz hangs onto some of the more funky looking tags that come off her kids clothing just for times like this. The Bad Bay tag really suited the pictures and when paired with the blue in Jesse's shirt, matched the Lucky Me range by Little Yellow Bicycle perfectly.

The Lucky Me range has some of the most gorgeous rich coloured papers and accents. Many of them made even more special with hints of gold through them.

 

 

Caz decided that the Generation Z range from Little Yellow Bicycle was the perfect range for this simple album she has created listing her sons accidents and hospitalizations so far. The paper tablet was the perfect place to start. Caz used the cardboard from the back of the paper tablet as her front cover. Covering it with one of the papers she then added a vinyl cut-out, a dimensional sticker and one of the journaling spots.

To create the pages she simply folded each one over at the bottom and stuck them down so that the pages were different sizes and as they are double sided they ended up with a contrasting bit on the end. Some were left full length and others were cut in half.

Journaling spots, stickers, rub-ons and random alphabets completed the pages. And the beauty of this style of album is that you can add plenty of pages as you go. Jesse is only 8 and there are already 6 double pages in the album. Caz is hoping that things may slow down a bit or she will have to purchase bigger hinged rings.

 

 

 

 

We have Greta Hammond from Northern Indiana to thank for these cool layouts using Little Yellow Bicycles new Generation Z range. She has this to say about the products.

Gen Z is really a great line with bold colors and patterns. There is a great mix of patterns, shapes and textures in the embellishments. It's very easy to get a number of different looks from this line.

For the "Just Be" layout, I combined the clear cut frame over my photo and then started layering other pieces on top. I stuck with the grey/black/yellow colors on this layout to go along with the music theme.

For the "Risk Taker" layout, I used another Clear Frame to emphasize my photo and then blended in other clear cut pieces to frame it even more. I chose turqouise and orange colors for high energy feel, a completely different feel from the the previous layout but all within the same line.

 

 

Caz and alot of the other girls in the design team fell in love with this display of ATC's (Artists Trading Cards) created by the talented Alexandra S.M. from the USA. She has used a 7Gypsies ATC tray and one of the new collections from My Little Yellow Bicycle called LUCKY ME. Seriously gorgeous!

 

Alexandra also created this cute album using the Traveler range from Little Yellow Bicycle. She has created an album with a concertina spine containing pages which act as envelopes. Into these envelopes she has inserted mini pages containing photos and journaling. Thanks for sharing these lovely projects with is Alexandra.

weekend inspiration: twiddleybitz

 

 

 

With this post we welcome Carol Thompson to the Aussie design team.  She has been creating amazing projects for Twiddleybitz and we were lucky enough to have her accept a position as our specialist Twiddleybitz designer here at Aussie Scrap Source as well.  She has created this first project on canvas, using one of their stunning new trees, birds and other bit(z)!  She has paired them with the gorgous happy Crate Paper Lillian papers and embellishments.

Welcome Carol!

 

 

 

Caz fell in love with the Twiddlybitz Combi the first time she saw it being a big fan of the movie Little Miss Sunshine and combi-vans in general. She decided to decorate hers just like the one in the movie and began the laborious process of covering it in BasicGrey paper. A tip for you guys out there from Caz – If you don’t have a lot of time to kill, go for a painted finish!

Caz cut a couple of surfboard shapes out of chipboard and covered them with some groovy We R Memory Keepers papers. She hasn’t decided what to do next, depending on who the recipient will be she is toying with the idea of either adding photographs of her family pushing and jumping into the side door of the combi aka. Little Miss Sunshine or maybe decorating the side of it with little birds and the words “C’mon Get Happy” for a Partridge Family Fan.

 

 

 

The soft, small scaled geometric designs of BasicGrey’s Kioshi line seemed perfect to Suz to use on the Twiddleybitz Funky Townhouse.  There is a level of detail provided with the house, from the window surrounds to the gorgeous little garrett window supports, but it’s still a fairly quick and easy project.