Aussie Scrap Source

scrapping spaces–suz doyle

 

 

As she works from home Suz has commandeered the front end of her living room as a home office and crafting are.  The living area is an awkward long narrow space, and so she moves things around with fairly high frequency, trying to make everything that has to happen in this area flow functionally as well as look pretty.

 

 

Mission Control corner with computer is where she spends the best part of her day. With work over she can just turn her chair to her scrap desk where she has room to create often, happily, with a child doing homework or drawing on the opposite side of the desk.

 

She recently bought the gorgeous new Cropper Hopper expandable holder and embellishment holder with the black and white damask design to contain current products she wants kept within easy reach.

 

A set of drawers on her left contains all of her most used tools and products – a rainbow of Martha Stewart Glitters, punches and of course WeR Crop-a-dile and friends.

 

In a box under her desk she keeps 12x12 patterned papers and sticker sheets, divided by brand using Cropper Hopper dividers.

 

Her printer is slightly precariously balanced on a second box turned on its side under her desk, which also contains product separated for individual upcoming projects in Cropper Hopper paper files.  If this all sounds like an ad for Cropper Hopper, it kind of is, but these products and systems have been working for Suz for years now!

 

 

It’s also an ad for Ikea Expedit as she has the large bookcase and attached desk which is then extended by a second bookcase.  This is currently where her kids art materials live,  where many of her layouts are housed in albums and mini albums are stored in a basket.

 

The other side of her scrap area has been in the planning now for around two years, and bit by bit she’s been working on making it both beautiful and inspiring to her as she works.  It's still not quite finished but her latest project has been creating this little gallery full of both original canvases and framed prints by artists and friends in the scrapbooking community, each of whom have inspired her or touched her life in some way.

 

In the handy pedestal drawers you can see on the right in the picture above, it’s allowed to get a little messier and these are full of art supplies, inks and glimmer mists.

scrapping spaces–louise nelson

 

Louise Nelson is fortunate to be able to rent a small studio space next to her unit which is in a lovely older style house in Adelaide. Louise cant do to much in relation to putting up shelves and have storage units built so with that in mind she has hit the discount stores and used what cheaper storage alternatives she can find. Louise's actual scrap desks are a wooden top tables from the hardware store. She has stained them and sealed them as they were originally raw wood.

Louise has also positioned her main desk under the only window with all day natural light.

 

As you can see from this photo Louise has used a variety of options for storage and shelving. These shelves are actually wooden shoe racks that Louise has bought from the discount store. Louise has used the quite extensively; they are easy to assemble and reconfigure to suit the space. Louise stores her inks and some of her journal pens in the drawer sets and odds and bods supplies that she is currently using close at hand in the plastic handled containers [bought from the supermarket].

Up on the top shelf to the left you may notice the cardboard magazine holders, Louise stores her rub-ons in those.

 

 

 

This the area that louise does her video taping for step-by-steps. At the top of the picture in the right hand corner you can just see a white wire rack, louise attaches her camera to this. It is the shoe rack from her clothes dryer.

 

 

This area is what Louise affectionately calls her 'Spray Booth'. It used to be an old walk in pantry. As you can see Louise has a passion for misting, and has been fortunate to be able to purchase 2 of the Tattered Angels racks for storage of her mists.

 

Louise stores her masks just on a bulldog clip and hangs them on a hook.

 

All Louise's paints etc are stored in cheap plastic containers.

 

 

 

Louise bought this industrial matting from the hardware store to protect the carpet underneath.

scrapping spaces–louise willliams

 

Louise W's scrapping space is a temporary spot in the corner of her circus-themed lounge (not her decor choice!). Lack of storage is a big problem which will be rectified in her new studio shortly, but for now she has a few storage items that have been indispensible.

 

Cropper Hopper paper files have been Louise's storage solution of choice for the past few years. They hold a huge amount of papers and keep them flat and organised (although they need a good sort out!).

 

This $60 cubby unit was an online ebay find and holds a huge amount of products. All Louise's inks, paints, jars, powders and more fit in here and yes, she CAN find what she needs despite it's current state of 'yes this is how I scrap' reality.

 

Louise also has a few vintage glass jars and holders which she uses to store ink daubers and sponges as well as tapes and metal embellishments. They sit on her desk so they're always close at hand and were picked up for only $2 each from a local thrift store.

scrapping spaces–danielle quarmby

 

Danielle has a multi-functional desk in one corner of her bedroom which keeps the majority of her art and scrapbooking supplies, packing supplies for her online shops and random paperwork. It's rare that Danielle uses the desk to actually scrapbook, but sometimes uses her laptop or sewing machine here. For storage, she has three Cropper Hopper vertical storage files with dividers for paper storage and a vintage timber shelf for art supplies, inks and mists.

 

The shelves above her desk hold a range of supplies, with book boxes containing photos and other supplies, more art supplies in different vintage camera cases, a stack of washi tape and jars of ribbons. Cardboard pizza boxes hold Danielle's unsorted layouts, and an aluminium case contains her stamp collection. Old mini albums and other random art pieces pile up on the top shelf.

 

 

As well as some Rob Ryan papercuts taped to the wall for inspiration, Danielle keeps a shoe box for random supplies and paperwork on the desk, knowing that these items would just pile up if they didn't have a place to go! Her current projects are usually kept in a single cardboard box nested beneath the desk, but supplies are also scattered among the 8 drawers of the desk when not immediately required.

 

 

This corner of Danielle's lounge is one of the two places in her home where she actually creates scrapbook projects, using the sturdy coffee table as a make-shift desk while watching movies or listening to music!

 

The kitchen table is the other main scrapbooking space Danielle uses often, sometimes with her kids sharing the table and craft supplies or at other times interspersed with unloading the dishwasher or making a meal. With one cardboard box containing all current projects and supplies, it is quick to clean up after a scrapbooking session - everything just goes back in the box, with art supplies being returned to the desk for later.

 

This vintage chest is nestled between Danielle's entryway and lounge room in her small family home and contains boxes of children's craft supplies as well as older scrapbooking items or things that need to be sorted. Danielle regularly culls supplies and donates products to her children's school for further crafty use!

 

 

scrapping spaces–chris millar

 

Chris shares her craft space with the home office used for the family business.

 

 

 

Chris uses these small clear containers to store the cards she creates.  She made dividers to create categories for her cards.

 

 

 

Chris says this is her favourite storage in her craft room.  The Clip-It-Up base unit and upper tier are the perfect solution for storing and displaying rub-ons, stickers and ribbon cards.  It's so quick and easy to find what your looking for when it's stored in this way.

 

 

Chris keeps all her pattern papers and cardstock in the Cropper Hopper divided storage folders.  She says she has them in this trolley under her desk for quick access.

scrapping spaces–iris babao uy

 

Iris converted a corner of their bedroom into her work area. Because her work space is part of their bedroom she has to make sure that it is always a clean and safe space even for her kids. Anything sharp or toxic is kept in boxes far beyond the reach of her children. Paints and most mediums are kept in the plastic drawer shelves behind her work table to keep clutter and mess to a minimum.

The large cabinet holds her papers and tools, the vertical wooden shelves holds her dies. The metal drawers holds her embellishment, punchers, and stamps.

 

The red table runner is actually an organizer which holds her brushes, palette knives, brayers, etc. Iris' rule of thumb... if it's something she uses all the time, it has to be within reach at all times.

 

 

This foam blending tool carousel from Ranger is one of Iris' best buys. Saves her time from changing the foam pads every time she uses her distress inks... which is ALL THE TIME!

If you take a look at the small organizer at the back of her art journal page, you will see that it has small drawers which holds left over alphabets. This makes it easy for her to utilize all of her alphas by mixing random styles of letters for her titles.

 

Office desk organizers find a home in Iris' space and is used as storage for her wooden stamps and as a place for her pens, pencils, mediums, etc.

 

This vintage looking case here is actually a make-up train case. Used by make-up artists...but is a perfect storage solution for Iris - whether working at her space, teaching a class, or crafting with friends. Look at the next picture and see why.

 

This make-up train case opens up to reveal lots of shelves that is perfect for her favorite mediums like pigment powders, glitters, glazes, etc. The bottom part is also deep enough to hold gel mediums, mists, paint bottles, etc

 

Metal drawers from Ikea are perfect for holding varied embellishments and small paper pads. even masks and stencils of Iris lie happily within these shelves.

 

To save on space and to have better view of all the stamps she has accumulated over the years, Iris took out the stamps from their packaging and arranged them in transparent folders. This system saves her space and also provides a quick and easy way to take out stamps and return them in their storage space after use.

 

Another set of drawers this time for Iris' punches. As long as Iris has a specific area for certain things then sorting and choosing stuff for use in her projects are always easy. Iris also goes through her stash regularly. She decides which items she will no longer use and gives them away to her kids and her friends. This way, she is always sure that whenever she goes through her stuff she will only find items that she will actually be working with. That alone saves a lot of time.

scrapping spaces–janine koczwara

 

Janine's scrap area is in her bedroom.  As she has a bay window in a long room she has taken over one end with all her supplies.  Due to such space limitations, her storage all goes upwards!

 

Her Ikea shelf contains boxes with punches, dies, chipboard, stamps, fabric glimmermists and on top of it her papers in vertical storage.

 

The big white baskets on top of her dresser contain alphabet stickers and mini albums, some complete, some still needing to be started!

 

Even her dresser drawer has been taken over with scrap supplies!

Shoe boxes have been converted to storage containers for glimmer mist! She is lucky her husband takes a size 15 shoe and the boxes from his shoes are HUGE!

 

All her printed papers are stored in Cropper Hopper’s brilliant vertical storage.  She recently went through her stash and reduced it by half just so she could fit it all in.

 

Janine recycled some of her Prima tins and labelled them for storage.

 

Janine got her husband  to help her make the white bookcase style shelf. She had one made and decided she needed a second!

 

Recycling old Heidi Swapp jars for some of her flowers.

 

A4 draws from Big W make a great place for storing Prima SIIC, stamps inks and felts.

 

Janine has used these hardware drawers from Big W for her flowers.  She keeps them in ranges rather than just colours as she often has to scrap with certain ranges and it makes it easy to keep it sorted.

 

Ribbons and laces are colour sorted in plastic jars.

 

Punches and Prima Alpha Stickers are kept in tubs under her desk.

scrapping spaces–kim arnold

Kim's scrapping space is in her home office which she also uses for her day job. Kim uses Ikea Billy bookcases as the foundation of her storage space and an old cut down dining room table to scrap on. She stores her papers in Cropper Hopper 12x12 paper holders and embellishments on a Clip-it-up and in a variety of baskets. When things get out of control (which is regularly), she is known to use the floor and cardboard boxes ;o) .... but there are no photos of that!

scrapping spaces–leeann pearce

We thought we’d take a break from the daily grind and show off some of our design teams workspaces.  We hope that you might be inspired by them and find some useful storage and display tips.

 

 

Hello and welcome to Miss Wally's place. Come in and take a look around. Leeann and family made a tree change in August 2010. Leeann is a very lucky lady to have a creative space in her brand new home. You will notice that Leeann is a bit of a neat freak and things do have their place.

 

Leeann was a lucky duck to score this cabinet from a friend who moved. It makes a great storage unit and displaying unit at the same time. Leeann totally loves the pattern paper racks and wouldn't have it any other way.

 

 

Her work station is a large L shape. There are also file draws built in so there's plenty of work space and plenty of stations for all sorts of creativeness.

 

At the moment Leeann is using this space for all her scrapping. But she would prefer to stand. She is waiting on her island work bench to arrive. As you can see all supplies are in arm's reach!

 

The rest of the work station. Leeann loves that she now can also have here sewing machine set up all the time. Thanks for taking a look around and I hope that Leeann has given you a few ideas to help you decide on space and storage solutions.

 

 

Leeann has built in shelves to the ceiling. That is one of the best things in this room as this gives Leeann space and also a place to stash all those creations along with all those lolly jars filled with embellishments! Leeann also stores some of her mediums up here so that the kids can't touch. All other mediums and paints are kept in the file draws under the bench!

 

 

Leeann re-vamped this rusty old muffin tray. She gave it a light sand all over then used a matt spray paint and just filled each muffin ring with assorted buttons.

 

 

Leeann loves having her embellishment where she can see them. Leeann had a heap of old canvas frames and decide to revamp them. With the help of her DH Leeann took charge of the power tools. Measuring Cutting Sanding Painting and Nailing. Now all Leeann has to do is reach up and grab her favorite embellishments to finish of her creations.

 

As you can see here Leeann has used old food tins and has covered the outside with pattern papers. The inside has been cleaned and then sealed with a clear sealer. She has all her tags.stickers and banners etc stored in a 7 gypsies wooden draw. Leeann also loves glass bowls and finds these at the thrift stores all the time. They are her embellishment bowls at her finger tips.

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.

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.

introducing: another new design team member!

 

Louise Nelson is our second addition to the Aussie Scrap Source Design team.  We love her unique style and look forward to seeing her take on Aussie products.

With her first brief we asked to her share something of herself using her current favourite brands and products. 

Welcome Lou!

 

Louise just couldnt go past the colour palate of the Basic Grey Indian Summer range; it was the perfect contrast, and at the same time complement, to the rustic earthy toned colours of her photo. Couple that with the lush and vibrant 'Sapphire' Glimmermist and she has achieved a delicious visual vibrancy with this layout.

 

Louise just loves to use Hambly overlays. Their versatility and often quirky designs lend themselves perfectly to her style and love of the unique. Whilst she often prefers to scrap simply she still loves to use embellishments to complement her photo(s) and layout design. The textured wicker paper and the sublime earthy colours of the SEI buttons were a perfect compliment to the subtle grunge pattern of the Hambly overlay.

The rustic Pressed Petal metal alphas Louise has used, have 'completed' the subtle grunge effect she has created.

 

 

   

If there is a product that Louise cant go past it would be one made of fibre!! On this particular layout Louise has incorporated her love of fibre and texture, the natural look wicker, and material and vinyl tags along with the embossed chipboard and elegant pearlised buttons, have helped her to achieve a soft, slightly grunged, earthy look to complement her photo.

weekend inspiration: collage press

Jaimie has made no secret of her continual search for ranges that suit teen boy projects and Collage Press has outdone themselves with the Knave of Hearts range. The subdued colour palette is given pop with the strong reds and the packs have all you need to create many projects for that teen/tween in your family. Lots of patterns to cut out and layer in this range and Jaimie has created a cluster embellishment around her photo by using the diecuts that come in the range.

Layered strips from the paper pack create a border along with the circle cut out which frames her journalling. This range definitely has the thumbs up from us. A lovely strong masculine page.

The Sweet Shoppe range by Collage Press is the perfect mix of a candy-coloured palette with a Retro influence. Delicious warm brown and orange combined with candy pink and bright green and blue are fun and funky and perfect for these birthday photos of Nicole's daughter Madeleine. Nic found this one of the easiest paper ranges she has worked with for a while and used elements from the new die-cut circle sheet along with die-cut labels and flowers.

A strip of Hambly circles, a touch of pink cotton lace from Webster's Pages and a touch of handstitching finishes Nicole's layout beautifully.

Nic Howard has outdone herself yet again. Her beautiful design and layers allow the viewer to find something more with each look. Nic says that Collage Press has some of her favourite papers right now and she loves the Knave of Hearts collection. So do we! Thanks Nic

Jill Sprott from Oahu, Hawaii has kindly let us show her page using the Knave of Hearts range. Jills border from the die cuts that sits under the photo is lovely as is the 'connected' circles on either side of her title to mirror the intertwined circles that sit behind her picture. Thanks Jill for letting us show your beautiful work.

We are delighted to welcome Collage Press Design Team member Kristen Faust to our blog. Here Kristen shows a gorgeous example of the new die cut rings and accents in the Sweet Shoppe range. Delicious photos as well, thanks Kristen.

Due to technology issues, yesterday's Colours and Words post will go up next week.  That means, if you ran out of time, the deadline is extended to next Tuesday 11 August!

design team picks: steph

 

It was love at first sight when Sassafras introduced their Paper Whimsies at the last trade show. Steph adored the flowers and little cards and couldn't wait to start working with them. Here in this layout, she has grouped together the Flower Paper Whimsies and made big beautiful bloom out of them. She has then added sequins and Pearl Glimmermist.

With the delightful Paper Whimsy Cards, not only has Steph used them in the design of her page, but joined two together for journalling purposes. You can see the effect of these on the close up images above.

 

      

This fun OTP project was created by Steph for her eldest daughter Emma. Emma needed a blackboard to write reminder notes, and Steph found this gorgeous item at a garage sale. She painted it and re-decorated it with Sassafras Patterned Papers using Sassafras's gorgeous edges and a photo of her two girls. The Paper Whimsies looked so colorful and bright along the side of the blackboard and Steph used Sassafras's Felties as the playful centrepiece in the Flowers.

Sassafras's wonderful products are perfect for children's decor and add life and fun to their little abodes.

 

 

 

Sassafras is perfect for anything to do with kids, so Steph thought she would make a card for her daughter's birthday. the paper whimsies have a gorgeous texture which give the card an interesting look, and combined with Sassafras's Alpha Letters and Felties make this project the perfect accompaniment with a present for a little girl or boy. Sassafras's stunning products take all the hard work out of designing projects, and this card took no time make and the result is a beautiful keepsake.

design team picks: caz

Caz's favourite product pick from CHA ended up being a paper range that she was a bit dubious about at first sight. She loved the girly butterflies, sweet birds and pretty roses of Basic Grey's Porcelain range but was worried that the papers were a bit too pale and washed out for her liking. All that changed when she saw a layout done using the papers and realised that they were brighter than she had first thought.

It's a well known fact that Caz's eldest daughter can't walk past anything shiny without looking in it so when Caz saw this chipboard frame she couldnt resist turning it into a mirror using some foil, and adding it to the front of a star album she made her daughter to fill with her favourite photos (probably of herself, lol). The pretty pinks in the album match the colour of the wall that Darcy's room has recently been painted so it makes a pretty addition to her desk.

 

Caz has a sponsor child in Zambia who she corresponds with. As she is unable to send gifts she thought that she would make some pretty cards to send which would be a bit more interesting than just a letter.

This sweet little bird is one of the Basic Grey Porcelain Chip Stickers. Caz added chipboard wings and an eye using the Opaline Half-Pearls for a bit of dimension, before perching him in a flourish nest decorated with a small piece of Basic Grey fiber.

 

design team picks: chris

 

 

With so many fabulous products released at CHA it's quite a hard choice to pick a favourite, however, over the past 6 months or so Chris has discovered quite an addiction to stamping and in particular Hero Arts stamps. From the cute little character stamps to the decorative border stamps and lovely traditional wooden stamps Chris is hooked well and truly! Join us now for a look at Chris's creations using the stamps shown above by Hero Arts.

Chris also couldn't resist showing us some fabulous cards from her stamping buddies Lucy and Jenn.

 

Chris created these fanatastic stamped candles using the Clear Whimsical Elements teaching kit and the Sparkle Clear Arigato set of Hero Arts stamps. Simply stamp onto a single piece of white tissue paper, then cut around your stamped image (you don't need to cut around every fine detail, cut close to the edges) then place the stamped tissue image onto the side of the candle and then heat with a heat gun. You will see the tissue paper melt into the candle after just a few seconds.

And it will appear as though you have stamped directly onto the candle.

Chris used both Colorbox Chalk inks and Memories black ink to stamp onto the tissue paper. Cheap white candles work better for this as the wax melts quicker. Chris learnt this technique from a Hero Arts blog video tutorial.

 

Chris used masking techniques with the frog and mushroom stamps from the Whimsical Elements teaching kit to create these fabulous cards. For the background on the 1st card she used the Woodgrain background stamp which covers nearly the entire surface of a Hero Arts pink notecard, Chris just trimmed off a couple of cm's of card that the stamp did not cover. Chris coloured in the stamped images with coloured pencils and used a shading effect to create depth.

 

Using the Whimsical Elements teaching stamp set again Chris has created these very simple and fun cards. One of the cards Chris has just stamped with simple black ink and the other she has stamped with brown ink and coloured with pencils using the shading technique again. Pop dotting your stamped images also really makes the card stand out!

Chris can't stop creating with these fabulous stamps and she has now created these fabulous cards using the cute critters from the Whimiscal Elements teaching kit. Chris stamped the critters directly onto Scenic Route pattern paper and then cut them out and mounted them onto her cards.

 

Chris loves these Creative Tree stamps and wanted to use them on an 'outdoors' layout. She had these great photos from a recent Houseboat trip and creating a grid of squares she put together this fabulous layout. Chris heat embossed each tree image using Hero Arts white embossing powder. She inked around the edge of each square and then adhered to her layout.

Chris also used the scallop border stamps on this layout, she stamped the border onto pattern paper and then cut it out and used it next to the pattern paper strips as a wonderful scalloped edge to her layout.

 

Chris has found she just can't leave the Creative Tree stamps alone and has created another layout using these lovely stamps, this time stamping onto bright cardstock and backing this on kraft cardstock.

 

Chris really utilised her many Hero Arts stamp sets in this layout to create this fabulous layout inspired by Kiara Lee. Chris stamped the Stitched flower stamp onto the pink cardstock and masked off the flower part of the stamp so that it did not stamp, but instead Chris placed Hero Arts spring art flowers in place of the stamped flower image. Chris also stamped butterflies from the Clear Design Share Laughter set using Violet ink to create a pattern paper effect on the purple cardstock.

The flourish border stamps create yet another interesting effect at the border of this layout and Chris finished it off by stamping a couple of sentiments.

 

Here Chris has used the same technique with the Stitched flower stamp but this time on a card. She has also used the Clear Scallop border stamps, some gems and other smaller Hero Arts stamps.

 

These gorgeous cards were created by Lucy Abrams and were part of the inspiration for my layouts above. I just love the way Lucy white embossed the Creative Tree stamps onto the Hero Arts Kraft note cards - such a stunning effect. Lucy has also used some Hero Arts gems and various other buttons and pearls to embellish the tree images.

 

 

And here again Lucy has created another faboulous set of cards using the Creative Tree stamp set. We love the way Lucy has co-ordinated the button colour with the colour stamped behind the tree image. All buttons and stamps that Lucy has used are from Hero Arts, infact Lucy says Hero Arts is her favourite and mostly used stamping company.
Many thanks Lucy for sharing your stunning card creations with us!

 

       

We've shown you Jenn Biederman's beautiful work before and here she is again with these absolutely adorable cards created using the new Hero Arts 'Sending happy thoughts' stamp set. Jenn is the master at creating little scenes with the stamps on her cards as you can see by these 3 cards. I'm sure you are inspired as much by Jenn's cards as we are, so thank you very much Jenn for sharing your inspiring cards with us.

design team picks - nic howard

 

 

 

As soon as Nic H saw the 'Knave of Hearts' collection from Collage Press, she knew it would become a firm favourite. Knave of Hearts has everything Nic loves about a paper line. It's filled with reds, teals, ledger colours, swirls and has the occasional splash of green to brighten up your projects. It has an element of grunge, which makes it perfect for those 'guy' pages, but it is pretty enough to be used with girlie pictures as well, and that is where Nic started creating.

 

Not just a pretty face - it's a whole lot of favourite papers too! Nic started with a base of the Knave of Hearts papers and added a layer of Aussie Scrap Source white cardstock on top. A quick spray of Turquoise glimmermist to add a little interest and a pop of colour and Nic was ready to start adding strips of paper on top.

A few small embellishments, including more of those Collage Cuts (see those red dots? Nic popped them out and dropped them on the layout and that is where they landed... don't ya love it when it works like that?!). She finished the layout with some of the matching alphas from the Knave of Hearts collection and a new Hambly transparency to add that block of black.

When Nic first got these papers she said "This may be my most favouritist collection ever!" It is a collection that suits a wide range of scrappers, and I could definitely see why Nic loved it. All the easily used embellishments are a bonus to a collection that just screams out "grab your guy pictures!" but as you can see it's not limited to just pics of your favourite boy. Nic has quite beautifully scrapped an album for her daughter .

Knave of Hearts is a collection that will suit a variety of topics for all sorts of scrappers. If Knave of Hearts is this versatile, we look forward to seeing what they release at the next CHA!

Layer upon layer of slightly grungy papers with splashes of contrast - especially red, that is Nic's favourite scenario and this layout is no exception!

Nic combined many different Knave of Hearts papers along with one of the new Collage Press Zig Zag diecut papers to create this layout. Take a look at the details, it was so easy to add interest with the Collage Cuts that go along with this line, just pop 'em out and place them on the layout!

 

 

             

This 6x6 mini album is a white chipboard version by Little Yellow Bicycle. Nic used her Black Stazon ink pad directly on each page to make it black - black was the colour she wanted to create contrast with the reds and ledger colours of the Collage Press Collection.

She decided on some of Abby's favourite photos - they are ones Nic has scrapped before but Abby wanted an album for herself. The album was aptly named 'Hand in Hand" with the inside page reading "A Collection of Fav photos for Abby".

This is an idea that is perfect as a gift or for the kids, Abby treasures her pictures and keeps the book on her bedside table. Note that Nic has left a few gaps to add further photos - she just didn't want to stop the creating and may also add extra pages in the future!

Collage Press has thought of it all when designing this collection, from the double sided papers, to the way the papers all work beautifully together, to the coordinating embellishments. Nic used a lot of the die-cut journaling cuts in this album, making it really quick and easy to complete. Most pages include a background paper, a few strips of contrasting colour, some journaling blocks and the occasional punched heart! Jewels and pearls from BasicGrey add interest all the way through.

 

design team picks – nic finlayson

Nicole loved so many releases from CHA that it was hard to settle on one, but the overall standout for her was all the fabulous felt products.  Queen and Co have released new sport themed packs of Felt Fusion and also Felt Fusion by the roll, pre-cut into manageable 1 yard lengths meaning you can buy a smaller quantity rather than a whole pack.  Sassafrass Lass have released "Felties" which are adorable pre-pieced felt embellishments that even come with adhesive attached ready to place in the perfect spot on your projects.

With this layout, Nicole combined Felt Fusion from past Queen and Company ranges with a couple of the new releases from CHA. She used the previously released Star/Scroll and mixed it with the newly released Harlequin in black which comes by the yard and the Basketball which comes by the pack.

The appeal for Nicole is that the newly released Felt Fusion mixes so well with past ranges that the need to replace older with new is eliminated, rather the new releases enhance what you may already have.
Nic has use elements from the newly released "MVP" range by We R Memory Keepers to finish this page off.

Nicole whipped up this cute little journal by covering a Jenni Bowlin 4" mini book with patterned paper. She then cut the hill and clooud shapes from Queen and Co. adhesive felt strips, attached a Queen and Co Felt Frenzy flower and finished with an adorable little Feltie from Sassafrass Lass - too easy, the only adhesive she needed was for the paper.

Unable to resist the adorable Snack Attack Felties from Sassafrass Lass, Nicole used one here as a button cover on her cute little felt envelope housing a mini album created from the new Sassafrass Lass Paper Whimsies. Nic simply cut strips from Queen and Co self-adhesive felt and attached it to a swatch from Junkitz before cutting into pieces and stitching to create this little envelope.

Not strictly felt for a felt post, but still one of Nicole's CHA favourites, the little Paper Whimsies by Sassafrass Lass are the perfect size for a delightful little mini album.

Another super quick and simple idea is to attach the Sassafrass Lass Felties to other pre-cut felt shapes to create cute accessories usually only found in funky handmade craft shops and on Etsy.

Nicole used a Jenni Bowlin felt star as her base, attached an eyelet to the top for strength and adhered a Sassafrass Lass Feltie on top. All that was left to do was to attach a Tim Holtz jump ring, a leather strap and her daughter Maddy had a new necklace that she didn't want to take off. Very Rock Chick!

Simply gorgeous hairclips can be created quicker than it takes you to read this post! Take a normal hairclip (the kind that click when you bend them) and attach a pre-made Feltie and you've created instant hipster hair clips!

  

Another quick idea for Queen and Co Felt Fusion of any kind is to attach it to a plain headband and colour with Distress Inks or Glimmermist. Glue on a few jewels and you've got an accessory fit for a princess! With all of the delightful patterns in the Felt Fusion range, you could make one to co-ordinate with every outfit!

design team picks – mel

 

 

Deciding on a product to use for this challenge was an easy one for Mel. The Pink Paislee stickers caught her eye as soon as they were released at CHA and therefore the hardest decision for Mel was going to be narrowing down which range to use for her projects (fascinating, fetching, enchanting or captivating).

Each sticker book is made up with three pages including a sheet of alphabets, embellishments and beautiful decorative strips that can be kept whole or cut up into smaller pieces for projects. The alphabet sheet also includes a generous amount of numerals, plus a few mini brackets, stars and various other small designs.

For this layout Mel has used the sticker strips and cut them up in various sizes to edge the outside of the photo. At Easter time Mel made some small felt finger puppets to use in their home made puppet theatre and the lovely orange and blue tones of the Fetching Sticker Book worked so nicely with the photo that it seemed like the perfect picture to show off the sweet stickers in the book.

The title was created by using the alpha stickers included and Mel also added the year onto the left hand side of the photo with some matching numerals. A larger embellishment (from the first sticker sheet inside the book) was added to the right of the photo and a chipboard embellishment (Technique Tuesday, Classic) was placed over this, after being sprinkled with some orange crush glitter (pixee stix). To set the glitter in position a thin layer of dimensional magic was trickled over at the end.

 

For this page Mel has used several of her left over camping photos and added them in a cluster on top of the diecut (Little Sprout, Stuffed). Because there were several photos, numeral stickers (Fetching sticker book) were the perfect solution for numbering the photos and adding corresponding text for each picture on the bottom section of the layout.

A sweet door was added to the treehouse by using an embellishment sticker and like the first layout, sticker strips were cut into small pieces to finish off the page.

 

Mel's daughter Bella is constantly drawing pictures with different mediums and although she has quite a few store bought drawing books that are used over and over, Mel started thinking about creating her a really special hand made version. Something simple where the pages could be increased when needed and also a design that was pretty, interesting and could stand being possibly trodden on, left on the floor to gather dust and more than likely squished into a school bag.

The base was created with a Teresa Collins bracket shape chipboard cover and down the spine Mel used another sticker strip from the book. {draw} being the title, was included with the alphabet stickers and those little dots were a mix of bling and the leftover circles from another sticker strip. Holes were then drilled in the side of the drawing book and sheets of nice, thick paper were added inside (cut to size).

As you can see the sweet sticker book has stretched very easily across Mel's three projects and there are plenty of stickers left over for future layouts as well!!

design team picks: carole

One of Carole’s favourite things to work with are die cuts where all the cutting out work is done for you, and she said she nearly flipped when she discovered these new releases from Crate Paper.

Carole used Crate Paper Little Sprout Collection - 12 x 12 and Glitter Diecuts as you can see they are just adorable, teamed with the Little Sprout pattern papers, so vibrant, yet very sweet for little sprouts such as her baby photos of Chaise.  The diecuts worked perfectly for Carole's design, using the 12 x 12 mushroom tree as the main feature and embellishing with the gorgeous Glitter Diecuts.

  

Carole created this second Project also using Little Sprout Collection 12 x 12 and Glitter diecuts. She created this cute little flip up Layout, it does lay down to go into your protector to fit into your album, but when you stand the top of the layout up it pops up.

Well who doesn't like a good Rocket and Alien Layout lol !! This gorgeous "Orbit Collection" by Crate Paper is just adorable, with its very cute Glitter Diecuts of Aliens and rockets, and also the very versatile 12 x 12 Diecut, which can be cut up or used as full piece to create your design for your individual layouts.

Carole really enjoyed creating this layout of her Son Chaise, and Chaise loved it too !!