Aussie Scrap Source

weekend inspiration: prima

 

Danielle loved the old fashioned roses and film-style photography in Prima's Hello Pastel paper collection, and based her layout on this soft feel. Touches of green, aqua, teal and yellow add a playful touch, with a slightly rustic feel from the vintage mechanicals. Danielle recommends the washi tape for touches of colour and pattern at random on your projects!

 

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Sue has designed this layout using the lovely Divine collection from Prima.  The Divine collection was designed by Jodie Lee and is a beautiful Shabby Chic range with pretty feminine images.  Sue used the "Chanson" paper in the range to create that lovely quilt like background for her photo.  The gorgeous butterflies on the page are some of Prima's canvas range. If you haven't tried them before, give them a go!  You can alter the colour of the embellishments with ink or mists.  Sue used Georgia Peach and Primrose Colour Shine mists to colour her butterflies.

 

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We love the design of this gorgeous page, created by Lene Bjornerud using Prima's new Lyric collection.  The mix of butterflies, bees and clocks is just perfect!

 

 

Maiko Kosugi Mai created this beautiful, fresh page, using Prima's Lady Bird collection.

 

 

Janna Werner shares with us this beautifully simple but effective layout created with Prima's Hello Pastel range.

weekend inspiration: bo bunny press

 

 

Stacey loved the colours of the Bo Bunny Mama Razzi colletion.  She used the teal and orange to create some mixed media work on her background.  The cameras are also a cool addition to the collection and she cut out a few and adhered them to her page with foam tape.  She finished off the page by adding some of the gorgeous jewels.

 

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Leanne loved creating some cards with the Prairie Chic collection, in particular, the bright and floral papers in the 6x6 paper pad. Leanne loved the way the floral papers featured many of the colours in the co-ordinating patterned pieces which made selecting the papers to use together so easy.  The collection also has many papers which are pre distressed which work well with Leanne’s card making style.  This collection has a great mix of grunge and elegance!
This first card was a quick and simple card featuring hand cut fishtail banners with a layered butterfly punch on the front of the card. To give the butterfly dimension Leanne added foam tape to the wing sections between the layers. 

 

The Prairie Chic collection is so versatile. For this card Leanne teamed up some of the brighter patterned pieces to create this circular card.

 

Another fun bright and cheery circular card!  This time Leanne used the same Sizzix Thinlits Dies – Arrows, Banners, Chevrons & Clouds set and cut the banner in both cardstock and patterned paper to create the banner embellishment.  The 6x6 paper pad has some lovely gingham papers which match so well with the floral papers.  Leanne also used the pre printed lace border on the floral paper as a feature on the card.  Leanne attached both patterned pieces together before cutting her circle with the EK Circle Cutter

 

This cute free standing tag features some of the softer coloured papers in the collection. The chevron striped and patterned striped papers work well together as the 6x6 paper pads prints are perfectly miniaturised for tags. 

 

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Juliana Michaels from the Bo Bunny Design Team used the Prairie Chic collection on this gorgeous layout.  Her layout showcases how well the papers, stickers and flowers from the collection work together. She also used the great new Bo Bunny 8.5 in doilies and has created a great picture tutorial of the technique she used to alter the doilies. You can see the tutorial here.

 

Gabrielle Pollaco also from the Bo Bunny design team has created several stunning layouts she has allowed us to showcase today. 

This first layout was created for the 2013 Winter CHA and we are honoured to share it today!  This one is using the stunning C’est La Vie collection.  The combination of the browns and pinks in the collection are just gorgeous.

 

This layout also by Gabrielle has choose to use the neutrals and greens from the Mama Razzi collection and the little banner under the photo is just too cute. 

 

Gabrielle has also created this layout entitled “Sweet” with the C’est La Vie collection from Bo Bunny.  The layout although from the same range as the previous one has a totally different colour pallet and feel.  Gabrielle has truly shown the versatility of the Bo Bunny C’est La Vie collection on these two layouts.  She has teamed the patterned papers up beautifully with the co-ordinating embellishments and flowers together with lots of the background stamps, including the Distressed Textures stamp, the 'It is Written' stamp set and the 'Flourishes and Such stamp set.

You can see more of Gabrielle’s stunning creations on her blog “Such a Pretty Mess”:and the original post of this page appears on Gabrielle’s blog here.  Thank you Gabrielle for sharing your layouts with us! 

 

 

 

Rachael Funnell has kindly allowed us to share a couple of her gorgeous layouts featuring the Mama Razzi collection.  We love how she has edited her photos to suit the range.

scrapbooking events: boys birthdays

Birthdays are another one of those events where you might take so many photos it’s too overwhelming to edit them down, or if you share your layouts online it might not be appropriate to include other little people’s faces.  They’re one of the most fun events to document though, especially watching your little men grow up as you look back on the years.

Here’s a look at how Louise and Stacey dealt with their son’s birthdays.

 

Louise has created this muted birthday layout using the Basic Grey Bow Ties and Knee Highs range to show that you don't have to go bright to make a page fun. She hand drew and cut out the balloons, using some crochet thread as a fun element to tie the elements together.

 

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For this colourful layout Louise again used the Knee Highs and Bow Ties range from Basic Grey. By using foam squares to raise the adhesive letters off the page, she's added dimension and highlighted the heading to make it really pop off the page.

 

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What better way to scrap the "Birthday Boy" than with Crate Paper's Party Day collection.  This collection has loads of cute embellishments which worked a treat with Stacey's 1st birthday photos of her little boy. 

 

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wedding inspiration with Sizzix: kim arnold

 

 

This week, Kim Arnold has chosen a more whimsical style rather than the traditional romantic look for her wedding set.  The Walnut Grove range from Pebbles is not a wedding themed or romantic range, however, the fresh floral, kraft chevron and complementary prints work beautifully to create this trendy set for a contemporary wedding. 

Kim has also utilised an old staple, vellum, to print the text for the invitation and other items. The vellum softens some of the brighter colours and adds to the romantic effect.  Instead of ribbon, Kim has used a combination of glitter tape and twine.  The benefit of the American Crafts glitter tape is that it has a strong adhesive backing making it easy to apply neatly to invitations and allows the tape to be trimmed flush with the edge of the card.

By using a variety of different papers and flower embellishment colours, Kim is able to make the best and most efficient use of her supplies.  Kim was able to make this entire set using only one sheet of the chevron kraft paper which forms the base of this theme.

 

Kim has used a Hershey chocolate bar, which conveniently has a cream coloured wrapper, and wrapped it with paper in the same theme as her other items.  This is an effective favour for guests that can easily be created many times over.

 

 

 

 

The invitation opens out to reveal two layers inside with all of the details for the wedding.  The Sizzix oval frame die is a perfect place to highlight the couples initials on the front of the invitation.  The invitation is 6x6 inches square.

 

 

 

The Save the Date card has a similar feel to the invitation but is different enough that the invitation stands out when it arrives.

 

 

 

The Thank you card is a miniature version of the invitation with the same folds, but only 4 inches square and with only one layer inside the card.

 

 

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Finally Kim scrapped this multi-photo double page layout of the wedding.  She has used all of the elements from her wedding set in this lovely layout recording all of the important details of the wedding ceremony.  Kim has used the doilies made using the Sizzix frame dies to include the simple journalling of the date and location as well as the initials of the happy couple.

 

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weekend inspiration: teresa collins

 

 

The Far & Away collection from Teresa Collins, although designed as a travel range, is perfect for scrapping other photos too.  She loves the envelopes in the range and has made a feature out of them, scrapping a photo of her son Bailey, at age eleven.  The pockets are perfect for adding larger amounts of journaling to a page. 

 

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Jill combined the Teresa Collins Stationary Noted Chipboard Elements with the Stationary pack and buttons to create a little book of "wisdom" and inspiration for her 19yo son.  
She found the colours and themes so easy to work with and are perfect for both masculine and feminine themes.

 

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Teresa Collins Design Team member created this elegant little mini folder album using the TCD Stationary Noted Line. 

 

 

 

 

Finally, the very talented Rachel McAffee designed the above set of cards using papers and embellishments from the beautiful Summer Stories line. 

weekend inspiration: pebbles inc

 

Kim has used the Family Ties range to create this gorgeous layout of her parents with her son and new furbaby.  Kim loved being able to create little clusters of embellishments by simply layering all of the wonderful stickers that are part of the range.  She was also impressed with the corrugated Thickers - they added heaps of texture without weight or too much bulk.

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What's not to love about this collection by Pebbles Inc?  Stacey adored working with the Walnut Grove collection and really enjoyed the colour palette.  The patterned papers are gorgeous and she loved the cut out elements (arrows, butterflies etc).  Mix it all together with a little mix media and it makes for a cute, fun page.

 

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A big thankyou to Laura Whitaker for sharing her beautiful layout using Pebbles Inc Walnut Grove.  I love how Laura has created the two clusters - one around the photo and the other around the journalling, highlighting these two most important elements of the layout. 

 

 

We love what Ashley Horton has done with the Pebbles Seen & Noted range.  There are so many interesting details to look at and Ashley's layering is fantastic.  Thanks for sharing Ashley.  Ashley's blog is at

 

 

Thankyou to Katrina Hunt for sharing her lovely layout using Pebbles Inc Walnut Grove range.  Katrina has layered many of the different patterned papers very effectively and I like how she has retained the decorative strip that comes at the bottom of each of the Pebbles Inc patterned papers.

 

 

The lovely Kim Jefress has kindly shared these 2 Pebbles Inc creations with us.  Kim's style is gorgeous, always so clean and neat with little touches of fun and a story to tell.  Kim is also a member of the Pebbles Inc design team. 

scrapbooking events: easter

Is it time to do another reader’s challenge??  We thought so!!  Each week we’re going to focus on one of those events and celebrations that happen annually, and with them often comes a challenge on how to present them in a new way.  Sometimes the number of photos you take can be overwhelming and so they just stay on a hard disk or in a photo packet.

 

This week, our design team looks at easter, from the egg hunt through to the devouring of the stash.  You could check out earlier easter posts too, here and another super cute layout here for inspiration. 

We’d love to showcase your easter themed layouts too, especially the doubles with lots of photos – from project life style through to mixed media projects.  Please ensure that lots of products you use come from our own suppliers – you can check the list here.

Email images of your pages to aussiedt(at)iinet(dot)net(dot)au by next Tuesday 30 April to be in the running for a special giveaway prize pack each week.

For a heads up on future themes, we’re looking at both girls and boys birthday parties and then the ubiquitous Aussie events – Anzac Day (so get your cameras out tomorrow!), Australia Day or just a typical summer barbeque.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sue Tonga has designed this double-page layout using the Webster's Park Drive collection, mixed with a little Prima.  Sue has made the left page her feature and then created a simple collage for the second page.  This allowed her to scrap lots of photos from their Easter Hunt last year.  By keeping the colour palette fairly soft, Sue was able to incorporate lots of colourful photos without having them all compete with each other.

 

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Even though most Easter ranges include pink, Kim has used the Echo Park Easter Mini Theme papers and embellishments to good effect for the layout to record her son's Easter egg hunt in London.  Kim has minimised the amount of pink she used and drawn out the other colours in the range by introducing a yellow paper from Simple Stories by MemoryWorks and with paper tapes from Bella Blvd to create the random strips at the top and bottom of the page.  This has allowed Kim to still utilise the "theme" elements of the range without the page becoming too feminine.

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wedding inspiration: stacey young

We’re excited to introduce a new series here on the Aussie blog.  Inspired by romance, love and all things wedding-ey, we’re taking ordinary scrapbooking supplies, gorgeous Sizzix dies and some talented designers and providing you each week with wedding inspiration to die for.  Each of our design team has been challenged to create a whole wedding story, from save-the-dates to invitations, placecards, favours, and even post-wedding scrapbook layouts.

We hope you enjoy what they come up with.

 

Stacey Young was so excited for this wedding series assignment and we think she kicks it off in style.  Of course she choose to use none other than Prima papers and flowers to create a gorgeous, romantic, shabby story.  She choose the elegant and versatile line of Engraver and popped her own splash of pink colour into the brown, beige and black mix.  With the help of a lace Sizzlits border die all of her elements complemented each other beautifully.

 

 

 

To construct the Invitation, Stacey started out with a piece of cardstock and 2 folds towards the centre.  Four folds were then made from the centre point to each corner.  Leaving a centimetre space she then created another four folds, 2 towards the top and 2 towards the bottom of the invitation.  It was then easy enough to adhere the lace border to all of the edges shown, just cutting the pieces to fit.  Finished off with some string and a flower.

 

Stacey's napkin holder was so simple to make.  She cut a piece of patterned paper about 5 cm wide.  Using the Sizzlits lace  border she adhered a piece to fit on each edge of the cylinder.  She then wrapped some string around and tied in a bow and topped it off with a misted Prima flower.

 

 

As a little thankyou gift Stacey decorated a small jar.  You may also like to fill it with something sweet.  Although this option may seem a little expensive it's amazing what you might find in op shops or when buying in bulk you are likely to receive a nice deal.

 

 

Stacey's place card was also quick and simple.  The border die was once again added to the top and bottom of the patterned paper.  String was attached to the top and tied off at the side. Flowers were adhered with a touch of Gesso and more misting.

 

 

Stacey created a beautiful centrepiece using a birdcage and plenty of gorgeous Prima flowers.

 

 

Stacey adhered the patterned paper to each edge of the numbers.  Misting a little colour and then placing the lace border on the edges to tie the whole theme together.

 

 

Stacey's wedding layout is a lovely match for her theme.  Ten years ago when she married, pink was also her chosen colour.  She also incorporated the Sizzlits lace borders into her layout.  The Engraver collection is a wonderful paper range to use for your wedding, perfectly neutral to add whatever colour your theme may be.

 

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weekend inspiration: echo park papers

 

 

Leeann loves anything with spots and chevrons plus having the pattern papers that are double sided with lots of paper accents gives you so many more choices when designing pages. Leeann wanted to use a bit of everything and created a collage page, each piece of paper and accent just overlapping with a bit of machine stitching for added texture.  She finished the page of by using the stickers from the sticker sheet and throwing in a few buttons.

 

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Jane added quite a bit of detail to this card, lets see  - she cut up the puzzle paper and used the words as a frame, uneven areas and corners were filled in with a cut-out star square, she added small pieces of the Washi tape behind the sprocket gears and glued them in place. Jane also used the gears embossing folder with the blue paper and sanded it to tie it all together.

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Jane has a thing about arrows at the moment and they work really well on male cards! The chevron Washi tape was trimmed to look like arrows and a row of metals game spinners were added to create more interest. The number wheel sticker can be pointed to the recipients age or if they are older you could place numbers stickers over one area!

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We would like to thank Chantelle Huizenga for letting us share a few of her fabulous creations using echo park scoot collection. This page is full of fun and pops all those primary colours.

 

On this page Chantelle has made  great use of all the accent cuts and stickers, by framing the focal point.

 

 

and lastly coordinating the papers and accents to work with different types and colors of photos.
You can see more of Chantelle's work here.

weekend inspiration: studio calico

Sue never has many school photos as her kids always find it embarrassing when she takes her camera into school!  However, she does try to make sure she has a photo each year of the kids with their respective teachers.  Sue has used the Yearbook collection from Studio Calico to scrap Bailey’s photos from last year. The pop of turquoise in the collection is the perfect accompaniment to the red and yellow tones that are often associated with school ranges.  Sue has used one of the album inserts for the handbook to add a folder to her page.  Sue intends to add a copy of Bailey’s report and any other little bits and pieces she has collected during the school year, to the inside of the folder.

 

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Darling Dear is this year’s valentine collection from Studio Calico, and Suz loved that they stayed away from the traditional pinks and reds, and instead went for a colour palette that celebrates the men in your life.  She’s combined a few of the graphic patterns in this layout which tells the story of her son’s drumming concert, complete with handmade ticket in one of the cute Studio Calico pockets.

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We love this page by Robyn Werlich from Studio Calico’s creative team.  She has used the very gorgeous Sundrifter line, and and we love how she has connected the photo with the patterned paper title using Studio Calico’s fab little wood veneer speech bubbles and other embellishments.

 

 

Here & There is a great, bright collection and Kelly Noel from Studio Calico’s creative team shows it off perfectly with this fabulous layout.  Boys, wood grain and bright colours – we loved this combination.

weekend inspiration: inkadinkadoo

 

Rather than using the stamps in the holder to create the usual circle, Louise chose to stamp the petals individually, fussy cut them out then ink and shape them individually to create unique and beautiful flowers. She also used a charcoal pencil to create some dark shadowing effects that give a lighter finish than ink would.

 

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Jill took an old Ikea frame and decided to revamp it to show off how stunning the new Inkadinkadoo Stamping Gear looks - even on OTP projects. 

She found the Inkadinkadoo Stamping Gear so easy to use and the possibilities for its use are almost endless.  Using the "Gear" as a guide, you can easily repeat your pattern and know that its going to be perfect every time.

 

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This layout by Jennifer Snyder illustrates some of the effects you can get using the Inkadinkado stamping gear. Repeating the pattern with contrasting colours give a detailed and pretty frame effect.

 

This layout, also by Jennifer Snyder, again illustrates some of the soft, subtle framing effects you can achieve with the stamping gear.

 

This eye catching layout from Kelly Foster shows how layering some simple stamps can add depth to your backgrounds. The domino stamp draws your eye through the page and highlights the childlike feel.

punches and dies: dimensional shapes

 

 

 

 

Sue loves border punches however this was her first time testing out one of the Dimensional flower designs.  Sue chose the doily petal punch, which creates a lovely delicate flower.  To make the flower design, you need to firstly punch two 12 inch strips of paper.  Sue used two different patterns of paper for the strips, which resulted in a very pretty flower.  A crystal brad in the centre was the accompaniment.  Sue has used the MME Lost & Found Ruby collection to scrap her page and the doily petal flower works beautifully with the doily designs in the Ruby collection.

 

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Anything that can add dimension Leeann is totally into. Leeann started out by playing with the EK success dimensional flower punch. At first she made the flower up and soon realized this punch gives you that option of more than one way. Leeann wrapped a punch strip around a used Sellotape roll creating a funky frame which helps to highlight an area on the photo. There are plenty of great ways in using this punch and all it takes is just a bit of playing around… the possibilities are endless!

 

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Suz has injected dimension into this pretty card on a multitude of levels.  The base panel was embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder, and she then cut out the inside shape and filled it with one of her favourite memory box dies – the floral square which is then adhered with foam tape to the base card.  The sentiment is also embossed and inked to enhance the relief.  The leaves come from the extraordinary versatile Tim Holtz strip die and then she quilled the flowers using the Memory Box Pinwheel Posie to sit inside the leaves finishing them off with a spritz of Glimmer Mist and a pinch of glitter.

 

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meet the design team: jane clark

 

What three words best describe your personality?

I’ve been told I’m compassionate, spiritual and easy going.

 

What’s your worst habit?

Being a perfectionist, but I’m trying to be better at this he he.

 

What are you currently reading?

‘Change your words, Change your life’ it’s a great motivational book!

 

Did you make any new years’ resolutions?

No

 

What’s your favourite quote?

‘Do to others what you would have others do to you’ and ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained’.

 

What would be your theme song?

Don’t worry be happy, always makes me realise life is too short to stress!

 

Are you on pinterest?  What’s your favourite recent pin?

 

 

 

This one is my absolute favourite to give me a giggle, as I’m terrified of birds and this pic reminds me of me LOL!! 

 

If you could go anywhere (real or not) where would you go?

Paris, I would love to see Eiffel tower!

 

How do you feel about garden gnomes?

Scary, sometimes I feel like they are going to jump out at me!

 

 

What part of creating do you enjoy most?

I love stretching the boundaries of products and experimenting, when it works that’s what I enjoy the most!

 

What sort of stamps do you most like to create with?

I love silhouettes and sentiments with different fonts in them.

My favourite stamp would be Hero Arts Silhouettes HAS-K5353  ‘In The Garden’ and my favourite card is one that I stamped the image on vellum and coloured the back of the vellum with Glimmer Mists. Silhouettes don’t have to be black.

 

 

 

Is your dress or decorating style similar to your scrapbooking style?

No, I love vintage with shades of brown, creams, dusty pinks and don’t own any clothes in those shades.

 

When did your style click for you?

About a year into my cardmaking, I feel in love with doilies, old fashion images of ladies and all things vintage and my style grew from there on, but I love all styles.

 

What is your best piece of advice for starting out cardmakers?

There is no such thing as a mistake, create your way and enjoy the whole process from creating to giving!

 

What’s your current favourite cardmaking trend?  

At the moment I just love die-cuts and washi tapes, can’t choose between the two. I love how die-cuts can be cut from card or beautiful papers, used as masks etc!  Washi tapes are easy and equally stunning!

 

Facebook or Twitter? Facebook

Harry Potter or Twilight? Harry Potter

Chips or Twisties? Chips

Bath or Shower? Bath

Cheese or Chocolate? Chocolate

Coffee or Tea? Coffee

Jeans or Skirts? Skirts

Christmas or New Years Eve? Christmas

Ikea or Op Shop? Op Shop

Ninjas or Pirates? Pirates especially if they look like Johnny Depp!

Pool or Ocean? Ocean

Sunset or Sunrise? Sunset, never up early enough to catch many Sunrises

Phone or Text? Text

Desert or Snow? Snow

weekend inspiration: my minds eye

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Minds Eye has the most amazing coordinated paper ranges and Louise just loves the colour ranges . When you are scrapping everyday moments these ranges with the word stickers are just perfect to document the moment/memory.

 

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Jane needed to make a male thank you card for a friend and found that these papers were perfect even though the cover on the 6x6 pad was predominantly female tones. She die-cut the word ‘Thanks’ out of two of the papers and chopped off the ‘s’ so she then could add the small word ‘You’ separately which was from one of the other papers. Jane said that by layering the two die-cut pieces over each other it creates a shadow and makes the word stand out more. She also created a chevron banner to add more style to the card.

 

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You have to love a stamp set that has words, frames and motifs in it, they all compliment each other and make creating a card a breeze. Jane used the circle designs with a VersaMark inkpad to create a subtle background on the rouge card, she also stamped the square floral design on one of the pink papers for pizazz. Small flowers were cut from one design and the sentiment was stamped within the frame and cut out. Jane also used the flower punch to add a creative edge on the card.

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We would like to say a huge thank you the the fabulously talented Gina Rogers for allowing us to share all the above layouts created by her using beautiful My Minds Eye paper ranges.

punches and dies: nesting shapes

 

 

 

 

 

Nesting dies are a great way to maximize your patterned papers. You can create embellishments and frames like what Iris did here. To add dimension to the paper frame, Iris used the same nesting die on a sheet of thin foam. She adhered the die-cut foam and paper together and used it to frame the photo of her two sweet girls.

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Danielle used EK Success's 1 1/4" Scallop Square Nesting Punch to create a feature banner on her 'Chook Love' layout. Cutting each scallop square out of double-sided patterned paper meant that the punched squares, when folded diagonally but unevenly, showed two different patterns at the same time. Each banner flag appears to have a scalloped border as a result of this folding method showing both patterned sides of the paper.

 

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Sizzix Framelits are a nesting style set of dies that allow you to easily create beautiful dimensional frames or layers that fit snugly within each other.  They can be used in many different ways and suit scrapbooking, cardmaking and OTP projects.   This week Leanne has had fun playing with the Sizzix Framelits Fancy #4 Label dies and has created three cards using the dies in a different way on each card.

For this card Leanne used the label die to create some unique pieces for the front of the card. By trimming the labels into sections you can create an edging for the label.  You can also transform the label into bracket pieces to create a cute rectangular styles label shape.

 

 

Leanne used the Framelits dies to create cards that are uniquely shaped.  The different sizes allow you to layer up the front of your card as each layer sits neatly in line with the last.  Leanne also teamed them up with and oval die to make a feature label for embellishing.

 

 

Here Leanne used the label die to create a beautiful layered embellishment featuring a mounted frame. Embellishments and a sentiment were placed both inside the layered frame and on the mounted frame border. 

 

 

 

Elizabeth V shares with us her craft garland project, using a circle nesting punch to create this cute decoration!

 

Finally we thank Barb Engler for allowing us to share this lovely card she has created using a snowflake punch and some gorgeous arty details.

meet the design team! kim arnold

Each week we’re putting a member of the design team under our interview spotlight.  This week we fire our intrepid questions off at the lovely and talented Kim Arnold.

 

 

What three words best describe your personality?

Genuine, active and humorous (or some would say sarcastic!).

 

What’s your worst habit?

Procrastinating.

 

What are you currently reading?

I have a Kindle and read a large range of independent authors that self publish through Amazon. I love the ability to be able to access all these new authors so easily. At the moment I am reading Shiva by Carolyn McCray.

 

Do you have any new years’ resolutions?

To reach my goal weight this year!

 

What’s your favourite quote?

If you can dream it, you can do it.

 

What would be your theme song?

Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield

 

Are you on pinterest?

Yes, love it for recipes in particular!

 

If you could go anywhere (real or not) where would you go?

A luxury 5 star resort on a tropical island

 

How do you feel about garden gnomes?

Haven’t thought about them a lot before having to answer this question, but I am not keen!

 

What part of creating do you enjoy most?

Starting with a blank canvas and having it all come together with an end result that I am really happy with. I also love looking back on older layouts and feeling the memories rush back.

 

What sort of photos most make you want to scrap?

Photos with stories attached to them. I also love family and relationship photos.

 

 

 

Kim is a huge fan of the various Simple Stories ranges that MemoryWorks produces.  She finds the clean colours and crisp designs work so well with her style, and there are always a huge range of coordinating embellishments available to work with.  Kim has used the [email protected] range for both of her layouts, adding in some of her current favourite techniques of mist splashes, sequins and chevrons.  Kim has always been a fan of embellishments with words and phrases on them, and the [email protected] range is perfect and she has incorporated many of these types of embellishments into both layouts.

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Share a favourite photo and how you would scrap it.

I love this “selfie” of Benson and I when we had reached a waterfall we were walking into. It is not a perfect photo by any stretch, but when I took it Benson said we needed to take one of these type of photos on every bush walk we do – and I particularly love that. I will scrap it using fun and happy colours – it never worries me about having too much colour! Probably splashes of mist, lots of different patterned papers, and twine – I might even be able to sneak a flower or two on there since I am in the photo.

 

 

Is your dress or decorating style similar to your scrapbooking style?

Yes, I like to scrapbook with colour and I like to wear colour.

 

When did your style click for you?

When I stopped trying to scrap like someone else. I tried a range of styles and techniques and then found what I liked and since then have pretty well stuck to that. From time to time I will lash out and try some new techniques, usually for a DT assignment that pushes me outside my comfort zone. Most of the time I will only do them once or twice, but occasionally something new will stick – like mist splatters ... love them.

 

What is your best piece of advice for starting out scrapbookers?

Try scraplifting a range of styles to find the one that works for you and that you enjoy the most.

 

What’s your current favourite scrapbooking trend?

chevrons, twine, sequins and mists.

 

Can you share a few of your favourite layouts from the last 12 months or so?

 

I love this layout because I love the photos that Gary and I took in a photo booth while out on a date night.  I also love the colours and all of the fussy cut flowers.  This was also one of my first attempts with the swiped painting technique, which I still use from time to time.  I have also used twine, which has been a favourite product of mine for a number of years now.

 

I love this layout for the design - mist splashes and sequins are a favourite of mine.  I also love this photo of me and my best friend Daniela.  I treasure that I have so many photos of us together over the years of our friendship and that I have the layouts to highlight them.

 

Finally, I love this layout for a number of reasons - firstly the happy memories this photo holds, secondly the bright happy colours of this October Afternoon range and finally, the design, which is one of my go-to basic page layouts.

 

Facebook or Twitter? - Facebook

Harry Potter or Twilight? - Harry Potter

Chips or Twisties? - Chips – Cheese and Onion

Bath or Shower? – Shower (unless my legs are seriously sore after a workout and then it is a hot bath with Epsom salts)

Cheese or Chocolate? – Can’t I have both (but not together)?

Coffee or Tea? - Coffee – strong hot skim latte please

Jeans or Skirts? – It use to be jeans, but in the last year or two I would say skirts.

Christmas or New Years Eve? – New Years Eve

Ikea or Op Shop? - Ikea

Ninjas or Pirates? - Ninjas

Pool or Ocean? - Ocean

Sunset or Sunrise? - Sunset

Phone or Text? - Text

Desert or Snow? - Neither – prefer the beach!

meet the design team: louise nelson

The lovely, quirky and super-talented Louise Nelson is under our spotlight today. 

 

 

What three words best describe your personality?

I wasn’t sure about how to answer this so I asked some close friends and this is what I came away with; Passionate, Creative, Singular.

 

What’s your worst habit?

Its a toss-up between Procrastination, and a strong tendency to ‘carry-a-grudge’.

 

What are you currently reading?

I no longer read books as such, but I have taken up other hobbies that fill that void; knitting, crochet, and stamp carving.

 

Did you make any new years’ resolutions?

No just staying committed to resolutions I have made day to day.

 

What’s your favourite quote?

I have a few; Be nice! The World is a small place!

 

What would be your theme song?

Absolutely no idea! seriously!,........what do you think would be my theme song? I would love hear what you think? :) :) :)

 

Are you on pinterest?  What’s your favourite recent pin?

Yes, Hmmm hard to choose but probably this one, oh and this one.  There’s also this one oh aaaaaaaand this one too!

 

If you could go anywhere (real or not) where would you go?

To the ‘other world’ and spend 1 day with my Dad.

 

How do you feel about garden gnomes?

I used to adore the ones in my Aunt’s garden when I was really young, along with every other ‘Australiana’ statue she had in her garden; it was like a mystical garden, and it gave us hours of fun to run around and play in. The only time it wasn’t so fun was in the height of summer when the ‘snakes’ were out sunning themselves, it used to scare the ‘you know what’ out of us!!! :)

 

What part of creating do you enjoy most?
all of it :) though I probably spend way more ‘fun’ time day dreaming about creativity than  I actually spend doing it :)

 

What sort of photos most make you want to scrap?
Those that ‘speak to me’

 

Can you share with us a couple of layouts featuring your current favourite products?

 

 

 

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This is a layout that I created to celebrate the feelings I have for my young friend Jessica.

 

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Share a favourite photo and how you would scrap it.

 

I would keep the style and embellishment simple, my background white and maybe create some visual texture with texture paste and a mask on my background, add highlights of colour with mist, keep the title and journaling simple and to the point.

Is your dress or decorating style similar to your scrapbooking style?

There are areas of similarity; simplicity, a touch of uniqueness, simple colour schemes.

 

When did your style click for you?

I am still exploring :), but I will always tend to be a minimalist in approach

What is your best piece of advice for starting out scrapbookers?

Hmmmm not really sure to be honest! Perhaps, Explore; look at art and craft books/magazines, surf the web and look at lots of blogs, and forums and art styles etc.,  to see what ‘speaks to your creative heart’.  Experiment; after seeing what excites you, have a play and try it out for yourself, that includes product, styles and techniques. Take classes; online and at your local stores and fairs, watch online video’s, you will learn a lot and meet lots of other like minded creatives.

What’s your current favourite scrapbooking trend?

Mixed Media,.............oh and Feathers!!!! :)

 

Can you share with us a few of your favourite recent layouts?

 

 

This is a layout Louise created for a colour challenge site. It is of one of her fabulous friends Anne-Marie and her darling son.

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And finally…

Facebook or Twitter? 

 Facebook .....but I love Instagram the mostest!

 

Harry Potter or Twilight? 

Harry Potter! I must confess I have no inclination to see Twilight yet, but then it did take me a few years after Sex in the City finished to actually watch one of those shows and fall in love with the series.

 

Chips or Twisties? 

Awwww that's mean! Please don’t make me choose, I love them both! ….......oh okay if you insist.....Chips!

 

Bath or Shower? 

Shower

 

Cheese or Chocolate? 

Cheese! A box of Chocolates and or an Easter egg can sit in my fridge and go out of date by a couple of years, I rarely eat chocolate any more. I blame menopause!

 

Coffee or Tea? 

Tea; prefer pot, white china, that has only ever be rinsed not washed! Oh and preferably Liptons :)

 

Jeans or Skirts? 

Jeans, but I reallllllly much prefer dresses.

Christmas or New Years Eve?  Christmas most definitely! The joy and looks on the kids faces is priceless and the memories of them are burned into my memory.

 

Ikea or Op Shop? 

Op Shop

 

Ninjas or Pirates? 

Ninjas

 

Pool or Ocean? 

Ocean, but seriously I don’t ‘DO’ either! I had two near-drownings [vivid memories] when I was younger and have never learned to swim properly. But if you are talking from a scenic perspective then the ocean.

 

Sunset or Sunrise? 

Sunset!! I am usually just going to bed sometime around sunrise.

 

Phone or Text? 

Text

 

Desert or Snow? 

Desert, but both are stunningly beautiful in their own way.

weekend inspiration: carta bella

 

 

Leeann was giving the opportunity to play with some of the Carta Bella products. She liked the look of the solid coloured papers and it was to her great surprise that the actual finish on the pattern paper is what she loves. It has a flat matt finish with the texture of watercolour paper, giving you great possibilities with assorted mediums.

The sticker sheet was also fabulous giving you plenty to work with, she really loved the tiny stickers and likes to add them randomly to pages as they always add pops of colour. Leeann has a little tip when it comes to stickers. Simply dust a little baby powder on the sticky back after you have apply your 3D or double sided tape. Then peel the tape off and adhere.

 

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Kim thought that the soft tones and floral accents in the Traditions range by Carta Bella would be just perfect for these photos of her son with his Grandma - and we think she was right.  Kim has utilised various sticker embellishments as well as cutting tags from one of the patterned papers to provide many layers of interest to this layout.

 

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Thankyou to Belinda Spencer for sharing her delightful and fun layout using Carta Bella's Alphabet Junction.  I love how Belinda has cut various elements from the paper to create this layout.  The misted background works so well with this bright and happy range.

 

 

 

A big thankyou to Lisa Swift for sharing her beautiful layout using Carta Bella Paris Girl.  I love how Lisa has combined so many elements and yet kept her layout looking clean and elegant.  If you would like to see more of Lisa's work, you can visit her blog here.

 

We love this page by the talented Rachael Funnel who has used the Paris girl collection by Carta Bella. Certainly love all those layers and that cluster of flowers and die cuts. Thank so much for sharing your work with us Rachael. You can see more of Rachael’s work here.

 

 

We also have a fabulous page by Felicity Wilson who has used a few pattern papers from the beautiful moments collection by Carta Bella. Thanks for sharing this page with us Felicity and you can see more of here work here.

 

 

Thankyou to Andrea Wiebe for sharing her beautiful layout using the Carta Bella Devoted range.  I love the heart shape that Andrea has created using random strips of the various patterned papers. 

punches and dies: pop up card dies

 

 

WOW was the only word Jane had to say about the die and how easy it was to create these pop up cards! This is now her favourite go to product to create that quick effective card!! Jane has used the Crate Paper DIY collection to adorn the inside and front covers.  The first step Jane did was to cut a die-cut from cream card, then another from the Crafty paper. She cut the pop out section from the paper die-cut and lined the inside of the cream piece with it using plenty of double-sided tape. The piece was then encased in folded crimson card and decorated further with more Crafty paper on the front, sooo easy and sooo much fun!!

 

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This die could be used for any occasion, just decorate to suit your theme and you’re done, Jane can’t give enough praise on this die. The label panel that pops up is just perfect for your sentiment and the die cuts perfectly each time. Don’t forget you will need the extending pads for these dies.

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Sizzix Movers & Shapers Flip Its dies are really fun to create with as they add a surprise element of motion into your card. Leanne chose to work with Sizzix Bigz Movers & Shapers - Circle Flip-its Card Die by Stephanie Barnard to make three creative and interactive cards.  With this first card Leanne cut a base card from cardstock and used some patterned paper strips and a circle to embellish the card base.  By adding some faux stitching and lettering afterward the card was complete!  Very quick and simple but the use of the flip its die makes this card a little more special than a traditional folded base card.

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For this second card Leanne added some additional layers of patterned paper to the card base using the Flip-Its die to make sure all the layers work together.  Trimming and edge distressing the outer edges allowed the vanilla card base to act as a border for the front of the card.

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For this card Leanne flipped the Flip-It’s base on its side and mounted it on a rectangular card base.  She then re cut the Flip Its base in sections out of patterned paper to cover the card base. Careful placement of a die cut border and ribbon trim brought the layers of the card front together.

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Louise created this set of three cards using the Pop’n Cuts Label die from Sizzix. The die lends itself to any number of styles but she chose to stick to her usual slightly vintage, detailed style and utilised the Pink Paislee London Market range to create 3 very different cards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The die, designed by Karen Burniston, is easy to use and makes it a breeze to mass produce designs. You can see more of Karen’s die’s and examples on her blog at as well as her YouTube channel.

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This party card by Gretchen Schmidt just screams FUN and shows how effect the Sizzix dies can be - party invitations can be made in no time! Gretchen has a lot more examples on her blog  including instructions for creating them.

 

this second lovely example from Gretchen uses the same label die but has a completely different look when combined with some Sizzix on the Edge dies too.

You can see a full tutorial on Gretchen's blog here.

 

 

This stunning card from Helen Cryer utilises both the Label die and the Love one beautifully. The addition of rosettes and banners add a simple but beautiful touch and are cleverly concealed when the card is closed. You can see more of Helen's work here.

meet the design team! louise williams

This week the spotlight shines on the mixed-media-scrapbooking talents of Louise Williams.

 

 

What three words best describe your personality?

Honest, opinionated, loyal

What’s your worst habit?

Ummm... Probably saying what’s in my head

What are you currently reading?

I’m re-reading Cross-stitch by Diana Gabaldon. Third time through and still loving the series.

 

Do you have any new years’ resolutions?

Yep! I plan on giving building up my business to a point where I can work as a full time artist

What’s your favourite quote?

She believed she could, so she did

What would be your theme song?

You ain’t seen nothing yet... ;)

Are you on pinterest?  What’s your favourite recent pin?

LOVE Pinterest, total addict... Favourite pin of late would be of colour ideas for my new studio

If you could go anywhere (real or not) where would you go?

England. I was born there but emigrated to NZ when I was 2 so would love to see where I was born and where we lived. 

How do you feel about garden gnomes?

They affect me deeply. I hate them. We bought a house where the previous owners loved them and we were still finding them in the garden 2 years after we thought we’d cleared them all.

 

What part of creating do you enjoy most?

I like gluing it all down! I tend to lay everything out and get it all on there before I touch any adhesive.

What sort of photos most make you want to scrap?

Anything I find inspiration in but usually they’re of my two boys

 

This layout is typical of my work - lots of dimension, clusters of embellishments and some dimensional paint dots for interest. The addition of the punched leaves adds a softness to the flowers and is a consistent feature in my designs.

 

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I often use a circular feature in my work as it ties all the elements together for a cohesive look. Here I’ve added a digital element - printed and cut out - to add a feature to one of the clusters, while placement next to the heading draws the eye across and down to the other one.

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Share a favourite photo and how you would scrap it.

This photo of my boys is definitely one of my all time favourites. I’ve scrapped it before and have done a mixed media portrait of it too, but I still want to do a framed layout of it. Because it’s quite a light picture the next version will have a textural white background – layers of different white tonings with texture paste and laces.

I’ll no doubt do some clusters of flowers and leaves and would add a hint of green and blue to tie in with the t-shirt colouring. I’d keep it all very light and washed out though and would do a layer of gesso over most of it – a light version of Anna Dabrowska’s style.

 

 

 

Is your dress or decorating style similar to your scrapbooking style?

Yep I’d say it’s similar. I like a mix of modern and vintage, not retro though and despite the fact my house is currently what I like to call ‘circus themed’, I prefer more sedate neutral colours than brights.

When did your style click for you?

When I stopped worrying about acid-free and how thick my pages were, I just went for it adding what I liked and kind of found my groove.

What is your best piece of advice for starting out scrapbookers?

Start with a sketch if you don’t know where to start, they’re great for giving you a base to work from and you know if you like the sketch you’ll like the page that results.

What’s your current favourite scrapbooking trend?

I love the vintage thing so all the lovely little detailled birds are just so me. Loving all the resin elements too, they add so much dimension and detail.

Can you share a few favourite layouts from the last 12 months or so?

 

Proving you can do pink on a boy's layout, this one remains one of Louise's favourites for the year. The simple structured design, distressed inking and classic circular clusters are typical of her style.

 

Quite different from what Louise normally does is this layout. Still present though are the small circular touches and a handcut heading, created from the paper she's used. It's a favourite because of it's simplicity and the gorgeous photo of her young son.

 

And finally…

Facebook or Twitter?   Facebook

Harry Potter or Twilight?  Twilight all the way... I love me a glittery vampire

Chips or Twisties?  Ummm chips – Balsamic Vinegar and Seasalt ones

Bath or Shower?  Shower, who has time to sit and soak?

Cheese or Chocolate?  Definitely chocolate

Coffee or Tea?  Coffee... Tea tastes like dishwater to me

Jeans or Skirts?  Jeans. My legs haven’t seen the light of day since 1985.

Christmas or New Years Eve?  Christmas :D

Ikea or Op Shop?  Op Shop seeing as we don’t have an Ikea here in NZ

Ninjas or Pirates?  Pirates. You can thank Johnny Depp for that.

Pool or Ocean?  Pool definitely, don’t like wildlife where I swim...

Sunset or Sunrise?  Sunset – it means my kids are heading to bed soon.

Phone or Text? Phone if I have to choose but would prefer email over anything else

Desert or Snow?  Snow... I find it easier to warm up than cool down