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Jill van Iperen has used the K & Co Smash Folio Simple orange and absolutely loves it! She has decided to use it as a place to keep her day to day thoughts, as well as a journal to keep all of her "scribbles" in the one place. (and yes.. many of us wish we could ‘scribble’ like jilly!)
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Welcome to Week 3 in our Design Principles Readers Challenge. Each week we’ll be posting information about a different design concept, together with sketches from Becky Fleck at Pagemaps, and our design team, that work to demonstrate the concept. We’d love you to join in by creating your own layouts, either using any one of Becky’s sketches OR creating your own design that showcases that week’s design principle. This week we are looking at rhythm and repetition in design.
Please email your pages or cards to us by next Tuesday 5 June to appear on our blog. Please try and use products supplied by Aussie Scrap Source brands (you’re quite spoiled for choice there!). Our favourite layout each week (as voted for by our design team) will win a prize pack of Aussie Scrap Source goodies!
WEEK 3: Proportion/Scale - Emphasis
Scale and proportion is all about the relationship of elements to other elements, based on their size. Scale can be used to draw our attention to the unexpected or exaggerated. Creating a focal point draws your attention to the most important element on the page, and one of easiest ways of doing this is by making this element appear bigger than the other elements on your page. This size or ‘visual hierarchy’ is determined by the scale of all the elements on the layout.
Louise Williams often uses a focal photograph with smaller ones and loosely based this layout on the sketch by Becky Fleck. Another way she makes one photo in particular the focus is by making the main one colour and the others in black and white.
Leeann Pearce has used the sketch as this shows a very clear example of scale, but she’s definitely added her own creative twist to it. By enlarging the main photo it makes this the focal point. Leeann has used a mixed of Studio Calico papers and embellishments.
This fabulous layout from Nikki Hobbs is a perfect illustration of proportion in design. The large photo is accentuated by its size whereas the two smaller ones are balanced with the journaling while the whole layout is tied together with the central band of paper.
We look forward to seeing what you can do to create a focal point on your layout using the simple but effective principle of scale and proportion!
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We’ve loved receiving all your responses to this challenge, which focused on repetitive elements and rhythm within a scrapbook page – a big thanks to everyone who joined in. We really enjoyed the creativity using the different repetitive shapes in Becky Fleck’s Pagemap – from stars and hexagons to cupcakes!
Our design team voted, and though it was a close call, we congratulate … Ebony van der Starre for this weeks favourite layout! Enjoy a browse through everyone’s entries below (and stand by for this weeks challenge!)
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The Beautiful Dreamer range of papers from Glitz is so stunningly beautiful, Janine couldn't wait to play with them. The delicate colours lent themselves to be cut into intricate designs for a very feminine page. Janine then mixed it with a touch of the yellow paper from the Dance in Sunshine Collection for a dramatic effect with the butterflies.
Louise W created this boy's layout using the Glitz Pretty in Pink range. With the brown undertones adding a masculine and vintage edge, it's a range that can be made to suit pretty much any theme. Louise utilised the print in the papers as the layout title and tied it all together with a prima vine, curled to frame and add focus to the photo.
Jilly van Iperen turned this gorgeous Glitz Design French Kiss Chipboard Album into her own Paris dream album. The vintage French images on the album, papers and stamps are brilliant for making either classic heritage style album or an album with a slightly cheeky feel.
We loved Sandi Smith's beautifully soft layout using a combination of Glitz and Prima. The torn and sewn edges and sweet heart details add texture and depth while the masking and paint effects in the background lead the eye across the page and tie the colours together beautifully. http://sandi-smith.blogspot.ca/
Karola Witczak has created these two stunning pages using Glitz Designs papers. This first one features the Beautiful Dreamer range which is a perfect range for Karola's feminine style. The second LO features the Dance in Sunshine collection and Karola brings the yellow and purple of this range to life so beautifully! Thanks so much for sharing your pages with us Karola.
The very talented Gerry van Gent created this beautifully layered Glitz based layout. Fussy cutting, punched edges and a pop of blue add drama and interest while paint scrolls add a beautifully soft touch.
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Leeann says she’s not much of a fussy cutter but was keen to have ago and Webster’s patterned papers provide you with the most gorgeous fairlytale like images. Leeann has used mainly the Ladies & Gents line of patterned papers and embellishments. It was just a matter of fussy cutting out everything and then arranging and layering. The fabric blooms are gorgeous and add a beautiful softness to the page.
The combination of muted tones in the Webster's Pages "Clean and Simple" line and the bright romantic patterns in the "Classic" line provides a crafter with the perfect mix of background papers and elements which can be hand-cut and layered. Aussie Scrap Source designer Iris Uy who is also a member of the Webster's Design Team shares with us a layout featuring the classically beautiful and romantic "Everyday Poetry" collection. You can also see here some of the new embellishments from Webster's.
Here is another layout from Iris Uy this time featuring the stunning, recently released (currently on preorder!) "Girl Land" collection.
Stacey Michaud is part of the "Clean and Simple" design team for Webster's Pages. Here she shows us how to make a stunning page with the new "Palm Beach" line with a clean and simple approach to design. She loves to use Webster's journaling cards and she started building the layout using this embellishment. She then added the chevron pattern to give the layout some moment. Thank you Stacey for this great idea on how to make simple yet stunning pages with Webster's pages products!
Someone who knows exactly what to do with Webster’s patterned papers is this amazing lady Brit Sviggum. She is so incredibly talented with a very unique style. All of her pages are like fairly tale stories starring her children and each page is filled with detail and layers. Thank you so much Brit for letting us share some of your amazing pages. You can see more of her work here.
Gabrielle Pollaco created a stunning work of art with the new "In Love" paper collection. Soft colours, beautiful patterns, romantic embellishments - all in one artfully designed page.
Finally, feel free to gape in awe at this gorgeous layout by Webster’s DT member, Emma Trout. (We might have!) She has created a tutorial for this subtle rainbow page over on the Webster’s blog, here.
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Louise N really enjoyed creating lots of colourful visual texture on the background of this layout. The white resist freestyle pattern was first created with gesso, and then the graded colour was created using three shades of the Tattered Angels Chalkboard Glimmer mist; Inchworm, Valencia, and Polka Dot Pink.
Janine used several techniques while creating this LO to showcase Tattered Angels products. Firstly, she used a mask and sprayed Seven Seas Chalkboard Glimmer Mist onto a sheet of sticky backed canvas. While the mask was still wet she quickly flipped it onto a sheet of white cardstock to get a "stamped" image of the mask at the top of her page. Once the canvas was dry she cut around it for the striking fabric layer in this design.
This amazing canvas [from Canvas Corp], was created by the wonderful talent of Vicki Chrisman.
Vicki used Pop Rocks, Turquoise Blue, and Cupid Glimmer Mists to create the delish colour toning on her canvas. Thank you Vicki for sharing your wonderful canvas with us.
This book was created by the wonderful talent of Lene Vibstad Neby. The book cover is altered using gesso, snow paint, laces and Glimmer Mist; Dragonfly, Chalkboard Grape Ape, Glimmer Mist Pop Rocks, Glimmer Mist Wheat Beer. Thank you so very much Lene for sharing your wonderful creativity.
This lovely layout was also created by Lene. She has created a bright funky background for her photo using glimmer mists. Isn't it gorgeous! Again thank you Lene.
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Iris totally fell in-love with the idea of having her K&Co Smash book to hold an inventory of her art supplies. She currently has an on going love affair with art mediums and goes crazy over the discovery of a new one. Often on the look out for supplies, she sometimes has a hard time remembering certain colours that she needs.
This Smash system will work for her because she simply needs to carry this book with her on her shopping trips and will then be ready with an actual record of the stuff that she already has and those which she needs to buy.
Iris lightly covered the first two pages of her K&Co Smash book with gesso to prepare it for the various art mediums she wanted to layer over this spread. This page represents what motivates and inspires Iris in her art... her two girls. In this page you will see a lot of mediums used such as acrylic paint, gel mediums, glass bead gels, distress stains, pigment powders, mists, and pan pastels.
A sample page of her work with distress stains. A fun way to record Iris' collection of distress stains and an effective way to have a sample of the actual colours on paper.
This page holds notes about Iris' favorite art mediums.. the ones she has, the ones she intends to stock up on, and the ones on her wish list! She has used one of the Smash pockets to hold them.
Iris has a growing collection of smooch inks. She loves to colour stamped images with it as well as add colour detail to her embellishments. The first page shows a sample of an artwork and the opposite page hold a small envelope where she keeps a list of the inks that she currently has.
This spread contains a small Smash pocket where Iris inserted the colour diagram of her pan pastels. At the opposite page is a sample of her work where she used the pan pastels. This system makes it easy for Iris to have a look at her colour collection as well as provide an inspiration for her whenever she wants to start on a project using this medium.
A page showcasing the effect of vintage glass glitter, Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze and Glam.
Finally, Iris stamped small postage stamp images and colored it with her current collection of distress markers. Each image is labeled making it easy for Iris to identify the colors that she has right now. This way, she will not make any duplicate purchases in the future. A great use for her Smash book - beauty and function combined!
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Welcome to Week 2 in our Design Principles Readers Challenge. Each week we’ll be posting information about a different design concept, together with sketches from Becky Fleck at Pagemaps, and our design team, that work to demonstrate the concept. We’d love you to join in by creating your own layouts, either using the sketches OR creating your own design that showcases that week’s design principle. This week we are looking at rhythm and repetition in design.
Please email your pages or cards to us by next Tuesday 31 May to appear on our blog. Please try and use products supplied by Aussie Scrap Source brands (you’re quite spoiled for choice there!). Our favourite layout each week (as voted for by our design team) will win a prize pack of Aussie Scrap Source goodies!
Welcome to Week 2: Rhythm and Repetition
Repetition is exactly as it sounds, the repeating of one or more design elements to add consistency to a design. It can add visual interest and often reinforce an idea within your page. These elements can be as simple as the repetition of colour, the space between elements or a texture or shape. This repetition creates a rhythm and reassuring predictability to a design.
Sue had a wonderful time creating this page using the Becky Fleck sketch. Using a sketch takes all of the hard work out of designing a page! Sue stayed fairly true to the sketch which surprised her as usually her pages end up looking very different from what she begins with. The repetition of hearts on the page add a lovely softness to complement the photos of Sue's daughter, Lily. Sue has used Prima Fairy Belle papers and flowers to create her page and also added texture with the use of hessian and washi tape. The stitching, sequins and beads finished off the look Sue was trying to achieve.
Chris went for a repetitive pattern and colours on this card. She stamped the Heidi Swapp Foam Dot Stamp with the different coloured inks onto white cardstock then punch them out with a circle punch and alligned them in columns on the card. She then stamped the letters with the corresponding colours to create this very effective card.
June 2009 Cardmaps
Chris says that working with the Becky Fleck CardMaps sketch certainly makes creating easier. Becky had done all the hard work by putting together the design for this card and all Chris had to do was decide on some patterned paper, a sentiment and a little bit of embellishment! In keeping with the repetition theme Chris went for all the same pattern, polka dots and she also went for a repetitive sentiment.
The obvious repetitive design Chris used on this card is circles. There are also little repetitions within the circles, Chris has used triangle wedges, diamond patterns and semi circles.
Chris spotted these great examples of repetition design in the following two cards from Cecilia Hsieh. In this card Cecilia has used the repetitive pattern of the four panels of cardstock and she has also stamped the butterfly from the Antique flowers and butterflies stamp and frame cut set repetitively over the cardstock panels and as the main embellishment for the card.
In this next card by Cecilia we see more repetition in the design. Cecilia has again used repetitive panels and butterfly embellishments. 3 of everything on this card! Cecilia has used Basic Grey Picadilly pattern papers to create this well balanced, repetitive design. Thank you Cecilia for sharing your lovely creations with us.
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We thank all the following fabulous scrappers who have participated in our Design Challenge for Week One. We looked at balance, symmetry and asymmetry, and loved hearing how these design concepts might help you pay more attention to where elements might go in your scrapbook pages.
Congratulations to…. (drum roll!) Sue Althouse for her layout ‘Gateway Arch’!
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Bella Blvd is so bright just like a rainbow! Leeann had so much fun in creating this page. She really made those papers pop by using it against the white cardstock. Leeann has used the Sunshine and Happiness paper collection, journaling stickers, miniatures and buttons from the button market.
Leeann could not stop at one page and decide to whip up another. She adores this picture of Jorja colouring. Here she used the Bella Blvd chevron washi tape to create a quick and simple border. She made a few banners from patterned papers and journaling spots. simply layered them and added a few of the miniature tags. She finished this page of with those market buttons which she totally adores.
Iris had so much fun creating this layout of her daughter playing with clay on a warm summer afternoon at the park. The Bella Boulevard papers and embellishments were a perfect complement to the colourful world of a child. She only used stickers here and embellishments and was still able to complete the look of the page.
She used a mistable paper as base and applied pastel colours to create a colourful base for the stickers and embellishments.The edges were then texturized with texture paste and coloured again with pastel colours, paint, and gold metallic pigments.
The Bella Blvd collection doesn't have to be all about baby creations. Here Chris has decorated one of the new Jenni Bowlin Chalkboard Easels for her daughters bedroom. Chris fussy cut around the cupcake image and used 3D foam tape to adhere it to the chalkboard. She also did the same with the stickers from the Baby Girl miniature stickers and formed them into a garland. The chalkboard easel comes with it's own chalk pencil for writing reminders or little notes on the board.
You could be forgiven for thinking that the background of this card was stamped, but alas, it is the gorgeous pattern paper from the Bella Blvd Baby Girl collection. So soft, pretty and easy to create with! Chris fussy cut around the elephant image and added one of the divine crochet flowers embellishments to the image.
Chris saw this cute little monkey image in the Baby Girl collection kit but didn't want to fussy cut around the edges of the image, so the solution was to use the Sizzix fancy label die cut to cut around the main parts of the image and create this adorable baby girl card.
Chris found it hard to stop creating cards with the Baby Girl Collection. This time she also combined the papers and stickers with some twine from Jillibean Soup.
This bright and funky page was created by Kim Watson. You can see her published frequently in magazines and craft books and this page with it's crisp lines and rich details show us why her pages are loved by so many. This page was one of her creations for her guest designer spot at Bella Boulevard.
Our very own Kim Arnold is also a design team member For Bella Blvd and she jumped at the chance to share these gorgeous layouts using the Baby Boy range with our readers! Kim says that the chipboard icons in this range are super cute and along with the papers are a match made in heaven - such a versatile collection.
Kathy Martin is a design team member for Bella Blvd and has created three very gorgeous cards. We adore how happy and bright they are. Thank you so much Kathy for letting us share some of your cards.
Lia Abdulah created this masterpiece of a monogram for the product swap and blog hop of Bella Boulevard and Maya Road. She created fun and colorful embellishments with the Bella Boulevard Papers and came up with a design that will cheer up and corner of the room.
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Prima is one of those brands that you can’t help but fall in LOVE with. Leeann adores everything that prima brings out. The one item that Leeann adores the most is the fairy tale roses. Leeann has used a mixed of roses, vines and lily’s and created a cluster under the photo. She also used a couple more of the roses and created smaller clusters around the page and finished off by adding the resin birdhouse. The base pattern paper is also by prima and adds a touch of lovability to this layout.
What is there not to love about Prima Songbird collection?! Jane is in love with this range and has created this card using the 6x6 paper pad, trinkets, pixie-vine, Kennedy vintage flowers and she adores the black wrapped genie stones!
Jane used one of the Prima Songbird 6x6 papers that looks like a patchwork, she said it saved time in not having to cut and arranging them yourself! She then stamp the Songbird branch numerously in the top left-hand corner to add more detail and then collated a spray of flowers and trinkets over it.
Here we have two amazing pages created by Stacey Young who also happens to be one of the many talented designers for Prima. Stacey puts a lot of work into each of her pages; there is an enormous amount of detail and technique. Thank you Stacey for letting us share some of your amazing creations.
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Suz Doyle chose to play with the latest Dear Lizzie Neopolitan range. She found some old photos of Phoebe still at toddler stage, getting into her scrapbook supplies, that she’s been wanting to scrap for aeons which suited the colour palette and theme of the papers perfectly. Her favourite thing right now is playing with Thickers and combining fonts, colours and textures in the one title. The embellishments in the Dear Lizzie range are just beautiful and unusually Suz wanted to use them all – cut out mason jars, fair ribbon accordion flowers and she finished it off with a big beautiful splashy Prima flower.
Janine had so much fun with this versatile range by Amy Tangerine for American Crafts. She adored the combination of grey and orange in the range and decided to accent with touches of the green for added impact. There were wonderful elements to hand cut out as well as totally cute stickers to finish off the design, all the while keeping the focus on that cute little face of her youngest boy!
Leah Farquharson has a stunning tutorial on the American Crafts blog showing how she created the above canvas using the Dear Lizzie Neopolitan range and Mister Huey’s Spray Mists.
Thank you to Leslie Ashe for sharing these amazing cards created from the American Crafts Amy Tangerine range. Leslie shows how a touch of funky elegance can be achieved with these cool papers mixed with some vintage lace.
Check out this super-pretty card by Melissa Mann from the American Crafts design team. She has used the 6x6 paper pad and the gorgeous pinwheels, stamps and trims from the range.
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Leeann was super excited to receive her K&Co Smash Book and though it was a little intimidating to start with, the products are just fun and accessible and it wasn’t long before she got stuck in.
Once she started smashing into her album she soon realized what she really wanted to do. Leeann decided she wanted this album to be completely free and random having no rulz or guide lines. “It’s all about being totally random quirky and fun.” Leeann now carries her smash album with her at all times (stashed in her handbag) so that she can “smash it” any where, any time!
Leeann has an assortment of favourite photos that she just carries around. Now this is the perfect place to have them. Leeann used a heap of leftover scraps on these two pages. She used some of the K& Co Smash embellishments you can get to help fill your album. The washi tape is super colorful and fun. The tabs help flip pages and divide sections in your book and come in a few different designs.
These are fun completely random pages made with scraps from here and there. Leeann added a simple doodle border using the pen that also comes with the album and on the other end is a glue stick. This makes Smashing instant! The other bonus was already made pockets. Leeann cut out a few extra mason jar shapes and has them stashed in there. She really loves the pockets as they are perfect for all your extra scrappy stash, ready to smash later.
Once again another pocket this time filled with photos ready to be smashed!
Another fantastic idea are the zip locked doodle bags. How cute are they! Leeann used hers like a memory jar but in this case a memory bag. Fill with glittery flakes and a photo and finish of with a tag and button, you can’t help but love these K&Co Smash products!
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We’re starting a new series here on the Aussie Blog, covering basic design principles. We’re lucky enough to be using many sketches by Becky Fleck of PageMaps to illustrate many of the concepts, and we’d love you to join in with us as we go through them.
Each week we’ll be posting information about a different design principle, together with sketches. You can use the sketches, OR create your own design to illustrate the concept of the week. So for this first week for example, you could create a page using either sketch below, make up your own design that clearly showcases either the symmetrical or assymetrical concept, or even use our design teams layouts as a basis for your own. Cardmakers are welcome too, and we’ll include CardMaps from Becky as well where they apply.
We would love you to join in our Design Challenge and we have a prize pack to give away each week to our favourite layouts! As always we’d prefer you to use our suppliers, but with so many fabulous brands to choose from this is an easy task! Please email us your pages by next Tuesday 22 May to appear on our blog in our next post.
Balance – Symmetry
Balance is the concept of visual equilibrium. It’s about using elements in a composition that results in visual stability. This can be achieved using either perfect or implied symmetry or less obviously though asymmetry.
Symmetrical pages, like the sketch above, are where elements are organised aligned along a vertical or horizontal axis, like a mirrored image. So if you were to fold your page in half (in the case of this example, in half vertically), each half of the page is identical.
Suz has used the sketch above to create this simple but effective layout using Heidi Swapp’s new line with Pink Paislee, No Limits. As you can see what is created on one side of the page is echoed almost exactly on the opposite site.
Louise has used 3 element points; Prima Cloissone flower, Tattered Angels Chalkboard mist, and an alpha title to achieve balance in this layout. These three elements come together to create symmetry, despite all being very different in size and design. The centred arrangement and colour coordination helps to ensure a visual balance.
Balance: Assymetry
Assymetrical balance is achieved where design elements that differ in size and/or shape are organised and positioned against each other. This is more difficult to define, but balance is achieved where the elements are equal in visual weight, rather than shape or size. For example a darker graphic element may need to be balanced by several lighter items, or a small photo and details can be balanced with texture in the background papers. Though this asymmetrical balance may appear more casual, it can be more difficult to achieve successfully.
There is an obvious asymmetry to this page and yet visually it is balanced by the equal weight of the elements on either side.
Here Louse shows how smaller areas with more detailed textures or elements can balance a larger area with less texture or detail.
So join in! We’d love to see your pages as we go through the Design Principles together. If you have any questions about the series, leave us a comment and we’ll get back to you with answers!
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We’re thrilled that Graphic45 is now one of our suppliers, and they are becoming a fast favourite brand amongst our own design team. Enjoy these awesome projects they have compiled for you.
Jilly van Iperen found the Graphic 45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe papers were almost too easy to work with. Here she's turned them into a mixed media book by cutting and stitching a careful selection of the papers onto cotton batting.
With an insatiable attraction to all things a little left of centre, Jilly van Iperen couldn't resist the Graphic 45 Old Curiosity Shoppe Range. Here she's taken one of the 5x5 Kraftboard Shadowbox and Kraft Album and turned it into her own little box of the absurb.
Jane was super excited when she found out Aussie Scrap Source was stocking this brand, as she is a BIG fan of Graphic 45 because vintage is her thing!!The images on the Botanica sheet are perfect sizes for cards with a wonderful collection of pictures.
Jane has a bit of an obsession with birds and flamingos are a particular favourite! Jane used a range of Distress Inks to create this colourful collage. One of the leaves was cut from the rainforest paper and inserted behind the floral postage image to keep to the tropical theme.
Louise W created this beautiful little Graphic 45 Kraft mini album and box for a friend who's expecting a baby shortly. She's created boxed frames from strips of cardstock to allow the recipient to put her own photos inside and added ribbon inside the box to hold the book in place. A light layer of white gesso and some pink distressing ink sets the look while fussy cut G45 Little Darlings and Olde Curiosity Shoppe papers combine with G45 metal flowers and some small Prima roses to add the detailed touches.
We loved this gorgeous little printers tray created by the talented Nancy Wethington. She's created a set of intricate little scenes using the Olde Curiosity Shoppe range along with lots of cute little oddities and embellishments.
This first beautiful layout by artist Yuka Hino was created with the Little Darlings range and is full of amazing little touches that we adored. The laced heart and fussy cut detailing co-ordinate perfectly with the soft vintage distressing and layering to bring together a simply stunning page.
This second layout by Yuka brings a more masculine feel but features her signature fussy cutting and inking. She cleverly draws your eye to the photograph with clustered details and dimension.
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The K&Co Smash range has finally arrived in Australia, and so we sent them out to our design team to have a play with and see what ideas and inspiration they could come up with for making the best use of the fab products. The results, as you will see, are breathtaking -
Janine wanted to use her Smash album for an art journal as she often finds herself wanting to play with art mediums and techniques but is too scared that she might mess it up, or is unsure of how some of the products will react. For the cover, Janine covered the album with white gesso and then used gel medium to apply this pretty napkin to it.
Janine wanted to play with merging glimmer mist colours and some embossing enamels. After applying gesso to the page and sticking down a few random elements, Janine then applied a thick layer of embossing enamel to the heart area and heated it up until it went molten and the different colours merged together. Then while it was still hot she stamped into it with the bird stamp. She then used 3 shades of chalkboard glimmer mist on the rest of the page, allowing the pools of colour to blend together.
This page had a bold dice paper image on it. Don’t be afraid to use these bold pages for bases of art journal pages. Just apply gesso liberally to the page and it will soften the effect of these papers. On this page Janine played with glitter effects, from mixing it with white gesso for a grainy effect to applying it onto a thick smear of gel medium. Lots of fun and a great way to experiment.
By applying a thick smear of gel medium and then applying glitter on top of it and gently pressing it into the gel medium you can achieve a thick glittered effect on your page as shown here.
On this page Janine was playing with the effects of gesso as a partial resist while using water soluble oil pastels and also the effects of layering tissue tape and napkins with gel medium.
You can see how the Tim Holtz tape and the napkin have both "melded" to create a triple layered effect on this page as you can see each of their individual images as well as seeing the layers below. Janine LOVED this effect.
Most of the time Janine merely uses glimmer mist to add some splatters to her pages of colour flowers and lace. On these pages she was experimenting with spraying at close range and holding the book upright so that the mist would run downward on the page, creating this fabulous drip effect. She then went back and highlighted with gentle patches of yellow on an otherwise pink and purple misted page to warm the overall effect. Once again she had so much fun experimenting and this smash album is the perfect opportunity to try techniques but still keep it all together and by adding photographs can become a keepsake album at the same time.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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