Aussie Scrap Source

focus on journalling: nic finlayson

Nic had a whole lot of journalling to get down about this photo, but didn't want it to take over the whole layout. This is a photograph that Nic took of her grandmother's house when she was moved into a nursing home. This home held a lot of personal memories of Nic's childhood and she wanted to just write some of these memories down as they came to her in a free manner.

By writing freehand over the background of the layout, the writing has become part of the design, part of the patterned background.
To create resting space for the viewer's eye, Nic has accented areas with Hambly doily rub-ons and added Hambly rub-on stitches, and also some carefully placed buttons. These also add to the homely feel that Nic was going for. Further to adding these, she has printed her photo onto calico. The fabric texture again adds homeliness and texture.

It was imperative that Nic get these memories down quickly as she recently discovered that after her grandmother's passing, the house that she lived in for so long has now been demolished and a new one has been built in it's place. Without photos and details such as these, it's as if the house was never there. It's important for us all to preserve this sort of information for our future generations to look back upon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Within a few months of the passing of Nic's grandmother, Nic's grandfather passed away as well.  With the loss of them both so close together, Nic found herself re-assessing what was such a huge part of not only her extended family, but of her sense of security, family and identity.  With this in mind, she was able to express some of her most painful emotion through this layout.  While the information on this layout isn't particularly profound or in-depth, Nic found it said exactly how she was feeling and allowed her to purge some of her sad emotions.

Scrapbooking grief and other hardships can be exceptionally cathartic for not only the creator but also for anyone who reads the page and relates to even a small part of what is written.  A scrapbook page gives us the permission to share feelings that we might have otherwise kept secret.

weekend inspiration: queen & co

 

 

Caz chose to use the music note felt fusion to help create the title for this layout about her girls dancing in the Disneyland Parade, She printed out a blank piece of music with the words of the song the girls danced to underneath and added the felt music notes on the top.

 

 

 

 

 

Louise took 'creative advantage' of the fact that the Queen & Co felt borders are designed in such a way that they can be 'cut-up' to create simple and gorgeous embellishments.

For both her layout and card, Louise has used the felt fusion hearts border to create cute and funky little tree embellishments.

 

 

 

These 2 layouts were created by the wonderful Ginger Williams from Texas USA. Ginger is design team member for Queen & Co. Ginger has featured some of the new release felt borders on her layouts. Arent they just the most fabulous compliment and embellishement for Gingers wonderful creativity!!!! Thank you Ginger for sharing your layouts with us.

weekend inspiration: luminarte

 

Janine discovered how much fun Luminarte Polished Pigments are while creating this layout. She tried different ways of applying them, mixing them and layering them. She discovered that the depth and intensity of the colour achieved could be varied by how much of the mixative solution you mixed with the pigments.

A lot of solution meant a lighter colour could be achieved, but still retaining the lovely iridescence of the pigments. She also discovered they are very easy to mix together to create new colours. Another tip when using these pigments is to make up enough when mixing colours to paint all the items you want a certain colour and a little bit of pigment goes a long way.

 

 

 

 

Suz used a combination of Luminarte’s Perfect Pearls and the water-based Twinkling H2O’s on her layout.  She backed a delicate Twiddleybitz Nero Butterfly with photo paper and blended the H2O’s to colour in its wings, but found the water base wasn’t going to work as beautifully on the Pink Paislee Artisan Element.  So for that she blended Perfect Pearls with the Acrylic Medium which gave a that beautiful saturated finish as well as the gorgeous gleam that the Luminarte paints are so well known for.

 

 

 

 

Gayle Martin has created this stunningly rich LO using Luminarte Polished Pigments to colour the cardboard and the tag. The depth of colour and the shimmer on the cardboard add to the charm of the layout. Thanks so much for sharing this beautiful LO with us Gayle.

 

In this fabulously arty page Gudrun Loennecken has used the polished pigments as a spritz, simply by mixing with water and spraying through a spritz bottle. The more pigments you add the deeper the colour of the spritz.

focus on journalling: louise

 

 

 

 

Louise wanted to showcase this cheeky photo of her four year old son, as well as include the story behind an eventful year. By doing the journalling in a strip, she was able to keep it clearly readable without interfering with the busy details of the photo spread.

 

 

 

 

 

A personal letter to her son is included in this intricately cut layout by Louise. By rotating the flowers and title the letter is revealed, allowing space for the journalling without cluttering the page as well as adding privacy to her thoughts. This easy technique can be achieved by simply cutting a circle and adhering it to the page with a brad, then cutting slots though both so that the circle section can slot into and be hidden by the background paper.

 

 

This cheeky layout by Shanna Vineyard caught Louise's eye and she just had to read the journalling. She loved the simplicity of the story of a short but funny conversation, that if it hadn't been scrapped, would have otherwise been forgotten.

trends: iris babao uy

 

With this post we are super thrilled to welcome our newest design team member, Iris Babao Uy.  She needs little introduction as her talent with many of our favourite brands, including BasicGrey and Prima, is well documented.  Here she documents the current kites trend.  She writes…

 

 

 

 

I have been seeing a lot of kites in patterned papers, stickers, and stamps. It adds a fun and whimsical element to scrapbook pages and cards.I am mostly inspired by products and for this page and I created the design around this beautiful chipboard tree sticker and pop-up Kite sticker from BasicGrey. Placing two small photos at the bottom of the tree allowed me to feature the tree and kite right in the center of the page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had so much fun creating this page. Lots of cut-outs from the Rouge de Garance papers. Thinly cut strips of Rouge de Garance papers embellished the top left corner, while Hambly doily stickers and a BasicGrey Pop up sticker dressed up the right corner. I also created the kite using the same papers.

 

Cheryl Nelson is the creator of this wonderfully lively page.  We asked her for a few words about it and she wrote the following:  ‘What could be more fun than a day at the park with my grandchildren?!! I just love watching them play! Almost as fun is the fab new stamp from Digital Doodles...K is for Kite. I thought it would be fun to use it on a layout. So versatile...pick your colors, pick your size and use it on whatever you want. Love it!’

 

We thank Frances Sylvia for sharing this fabulous October Afternoon layout.  She writes: ‘I wanted to keep this layout simple, to ensure that my picture was highlighted. No to mention, the little fella on the bottom flying the kit was plenty of yummy to look at!!’

focus on journalling: suzanne tonga

Sue usually journals in some form, on all of her layouts but she doesn’t typically begin the layout with the story in mind. So this is a different approach to what Sue normally takes. She was inspired by Ali Edward’s blog to create the journaling on this layout of her beautiful daughter Lily. She wanted to remember things that she feels like she always will, but knows in reality perhaps her mind might fail. Now Sue’s thoughts are forever recorded for Lily to read in years to come.

One of the great things about scrapbooking is that it encourages you to record the everyday details about your life and your family. Sue chose to record three things about her son Bailey at this time in his life. She loves the fact that Bailey can look back on this when he is older and have a little insight into what he was like at the age of 8.

Amy has not only told her story in photographs on this page but also in words. She has created a balanced design by having the text and the pictures run vertically down the page, with both broken by a strip of paper and bloomers. Just a gentle smattering of Glimmer Mist and a few pieces of paper add colour and contrast to this design without taking your eye away from the story.

weekend inspiration: we r memory keepers

The name of the paper range says it all!!! This is a marvellously bright and fun range of papers and embellishments With the colour range you would be able to scarp an assortment of occasions ranging from 'a day at the beach' to a child’s birthday. Louise just loved creating with a little more colour than she is used to. The Scrapbook Pad pack that she used has the most perfectly coordinated range of patterned papers, chipboard alphas, diecut shapes and embellishments.

Louise got it in her mind that she wanted to create a range of layouts and cards with a focus on a single monogram, as she wanted to highlight the wonderful glittery chipboard alphas in the pad. As you can see from these layouts and the next she has used just the single lowercase alpha to title/embellish her page. The other embellishments were either taken from the diecut sheet included in the pad or shapes cut from the patterned papers.

 

With these cards Louise has continued her focus on the single alpha/monogram. Included in this pack also is a sheet of smaller alpha stickers in both upper and lowercase, in a coordinated polka dot pattered paper in an assortment of colours.

72 & Sunny is a fantastic summer range of papers but Sue thought it would be perfect for scrapping some baby photos of her new nephew. The 'You are my Sunshine' tag made a cute title for the page. Sue cut off the tag top to make it into a circle, sewed around it in black thread to add interest, and mounting it on top of the scalloped circle she cut from one of the papers.

This glorious single layout was created my Natalie May who comes from South Australia! Natalie tells me that she has just come back from a lovely holiday in Qld, and couldn't go past using these bright and fabulous patterned papers from WeR Memory Keepers to scrap her holiday photos with!! Thank you Natalie fro sharing your fabulous layout with us.

weekend inspiration: crate paper

Sue is a huge fan of the Crate Paper Collections. This last release has been one of her favourites. The Pink Plum collection was the perfect colour palette for scrapping these gorgeous photos of her daughter Lily. Lily recently celebrated her 6th birthday and one of her presents was a spunkerella pettiskirt. Which of course presented the perfect opportunity for a little photoshoot! The chipboard sets that are available with each of the Crate Paper collections are fantastic value for money.

They contain two sheets of chipboard embellishments which really provide all you need to create many layouts. Or you could even use some of the left-overs to create gorgeous cards. Sue often layers the chipboard elements to add more interest. Although it is hard to photograph, many of the elements on this page have been sprayed with Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist to add that extra sparkle.

Caz adores this photo of Jesse and two of his best mates taken recently on his 9th Birthday. The absolute joy of being a boy surrounded by your mates just shines through. She then remembered a photo she took 2 years ago of the 3 so decided to include it on the page as well to show just how much they had all grown-up. Caz created a photo mat to encompass both of the photos by cutting squares from the lovely muted Brook collection and sticking them down in a slightly haphazard fashion.

Christine Middlecamp is an enduring inspiration and nobody rocks the Crate Paper quite like her!  We love this wonderful example she has created using the Pink Plum range.

Suzanne Sergi has kindly allowed us to share her beautiful layout, 'Isn't She Lovely'. The photo captures her daughter Maci's playful nature and the pinks and oranges in the Pink Plum range, set it off beautifully. We love the cute butterfly Suzanne created from scalloped circles and chipboard and die-cut embellishments from the range. Thanks so much Suzanne.

 

 

Zoe from Canada was happy to allow us to share the above two gorgeous layouts with you. The first one using the Brook Collection. Such a wonderful reminder of just laying in the grass and chilling out when we were kids. The second one uses the sweet Paper Doll collection. How cute are those little girls in the photo? Thanks so much for allowing us to share with our readers, Zoe.

 

A big thanks to Alyssa from Indiana for letting us share with you her layout using the Pink Plum Collection. The clever use of the arrows as compass points ties in perfectly with the title. And how cute is that photo?

focus on journalling: caz

 

The animals in Caz's household are important members of the family. Inspired by the cute BasicGrey Max and Whiskers range she decided to write about bringing them home for the first time and the antics they get up to. This is particularly important to her as Jemima the families German Shepherd is getting old and probably wont be with them for much longer.

trends: kim archer

This week we’re thrilled to have the ever lovely Kim Archer bringing you her favourte current trend.  Kim writes..

Who can resist adding some textured crepe paper loveliness to their layouts and paper projects? I've noticed that everyday crepe paper is starting to make it's way onto many of our scrapbook layouts lately. I'm seeing little ruffled crepe paper strips stitched into place and pretty crepe paper flowers. And it seems that scrapbook manufacturer's are noticing the crepe paper trend also with the recent release of products such as Jenni Bowlin's Crepe Paper Ribbon and Tattered Angels (Mist).A.Bles Crepe Ribbons from Heidi Swapp.

Remember scrunching up little balls of colourful crepe paper as a kid and sticking them down to create works of art at school? Well, crepe paper has come a long way since then and scrapbookers are finding more sophisticated ways of incorporating it into their work.

Crepe paper is my new favourite thing. I love the vibrant colours (especially aqua) that it comes in. I love the added texture it gives my work. And I love the fact you can staple, stitch, ruffle, Glimmer Mist, scrunch or pleat it.

 

 

 

In this layout I have used a strip of Jenni Bowlin red polka dot crepe ribbon to add a stitched and ruffled trim along the bottom of my project, catching in a little felt heart as I stitched it into place. I have also included a strip of aqua crepe ribbon held in place with a few staples and some machine stitching.

To make a simple crepe paper flower embellishment, I've folded several layers of crepe paper together and cut out a flower shape, securing it in place with a button centre.

 

 

 

The Tattered Angels crepe ribbons have taken crepe paper a step further by creating wide crepe ribbon with fancy scalloped edges and printed book paper, sheet music, damask patterns and other cool designs printed onto the crepe paper. I've used several of the ribbons here on this layout, ruffling, scrunching and stitching into place.

 

 

 

It would be remiss of me to not include Gigi Kennedy in this article about the crepe paper trend as she is the Crepe Paper Queen and recently designed and taught an incredibly popular online workshop for me over on my website based on using crepe paper in your scrapbooking. Here, in her Our Kate layout, Gigi uses a vibrant daffodil yellow crepe paper to create a ruffled photo mat.

 

And in her I Love...layout, Gigi has taken strips of crepe paper, cut the edges with pinking shears before ruffling and stitching them in place.

 

 

 

 

Lisa Pate has used several layers of crepe paper to add strips to her layout, A Twist of Lemon. I love how Lisa has chosen a pale lilac crepe paper and a strong black background and an orange thread colour. Looks great.

So with so many possibilities out there, are you ready to add some texture, vibrant crepe paper to your next project?

 

I am!  Thanks so much Kim for such a vibrant and informative post!

weekend inspiration: the crafter’s workshop

Kathie admits that she is a bit circle-challenged when it comes to scrapbooking. So when she spied the new Crafters Workshop Dots all Around templates, she thought they might be a useful addition to her collection.

Both the 12x12 and the 6x6 template have been used on this page. Kathie used the guides on the larger template to shape her layout into a circle. She then inked through the smaller template to create the circle design on the background of her page. Finally, she added a mix of Webster’s Pages Life’s Portrait and Lullaby Lane, with some Hambly and October Afternoon to complete her page.

Louise just loves the versatility of The Crafters Workshop templates. Not only can they be used in the creation of an assortment of projects; Layouts, cards, ATC's OTP, but also in the projects utilising an assortment of styles. to illustrate this Louise has scrapped both a simple fun looking layout and a more grungy freestyle looking layout. She has used two different patterns from the same template, which actually has four in the 12 x 12 format.

For both layouts Louise has used a black Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist. For this particular layout she has used the template pattern to create a background pattern on her paper covered cardstock.

 

And on this layout she has used it a a patterned background to her matted photo and chipboard alpha title.

This layout was created by Rhonda Van Ginkel, for a sketch challenge.  The sketch was created by Anam Stubbington. Rhonda has used the 'Cosmic Bubbles' Crafters Workshop template to wonderful effect to carry through the bubble theme in her gorgeous photo.  Thank you so very much Rhonda for sharing your gorgeous layout with us.

 

We thank Ranjini Malhotra, USA, for this next layout. Ranjini has created a beautiful stylish page. She applied metallic ink through a Mums template to create a stunning effect next to her photo. To give the stencilled image extra glitz, she’s added a glittery yellow button right in the middle.

We thank Kim Watson, Cape Town South Africa, for this next layout. Kim has used the Arabesque template as a mask and misted through it with Bubblegum Glimmer Mist. It creates a perfect soft background for her page. Kim's built up her page with a mix of bright elements and then finished it off with a beautiful orange ribbon fixed to the page with decorative pins! Stunning work, Kim!

In this adorable page, Lisa Dickinson, Colorado, has used the Mums template to create floral embellishments. She has misted through the templates and then cut out the resultant shapes once they were dry. These summery flowers contrast perfectly against the ledger paper in the background and are a great accent on this beach layout.

weekend inspiration: carolee’s creations

Janine chose to mix and match a few different pieces of Carolees paper together to create this page. She used the Bird branch paper as her starting point and then chose other papers that would work with the colours in it. She also wanted to add more depth to the layout so she incorporated the vellum stickers to help add layers.

Janine loved the fun foam alphabet as well, the font was eclectic and fun to use. She finished off the page by adding a touch more texture with Twiddleybitz chipboard and some Webster’s lace trim for a fun and vibrant page about her house being full of both children and love.

Suz loves that Carolee’s papers aren’t just pretty and pastel – there are heaps of fabulous and versatile themes in there.  Now her son is getting a bit older (and apparently a lot cooler) her patterned paper needs for him have changed too!  These papers were from the Rev’Em Up collection - technically a motor racing page, but because checkerboards are so in amongst scooter-ers, and flames are always ‘wicked’ these papers worked perfectly.  Suz kept it simple and bold and graphic and let the photos and the few embellishments do the talking.

Above we share some layouts from Georgana Hall from Carolee’s Creations showcasing some of the gorgoeus new lines we’ll be bringing in over the next few weeks.

   

Creating themed pages for sport or family events can be difficult, but Carolees has so many papers that are perfect for these occasions. In this page Kylie Cornish has found the perfect match of paper for these photos and handcut the stars out of the paper, to emphasise her title.

How adorable is this little card box and Card by Nora Grindheim. The cute little critter paper by Carolees Creations is perfect for such a cute little boy card and gift box. By simple matting with co-ordinating coloured cardstock a very striking result can be achieved.

focus on journalling: janine

Janine was feeling like her youngest son has been a bit neglected in the recording of some of his milestones, so she wanted to dedicate a page to recording a few things. As she wanted to include a large amount of text, she typed it up on the computer and then cut a piece of cardstock to A4 to fit through her printer, making sure the dimensions of the text would fit in with her page design.

Despite the fact that the page is very "full" the text acts as the negative space and allows the LO to breathe. The story is supported by a lot of handcut paper elements and the artisan label paper all by Anna Griffin. Janine has added a touch of texture with Prima flowers and leaves as well as a BasicGrey

 

Janine often finds that she spends so much time on the details of her layouts that she is left with very little room for her journaling. On this layout, Janine decided to cluster her patterned papers around her photo, stick to one simple embellishment and give herself some room for strip journaling.

Rather than trying to journal in one big block, Janine has broken it up into paragraphs and spaced them across the page in an ordered but random fashion. Your eye is still drawn through the journaling, but it adds interest to the design of the layout at the same time.

In this wonderful page Lydell has placed all the focus on the photographs and story. The simple succession of photos gives pictorial evidence of the story below. I love the way the entire page has been designed around the story, and Lydell has used her beautiful handwriting directly on the page.