Using up your stash with tips & Techniques - By Alison Callcott

True Colours
*   Basic Grey Urban Prairie Collection
*   Basic Grey Chip Stickers
*   American Crafts Thickers – vinyl blue – rootbeer float
*   Imaginisce blossoms
*   Buttons
*   Tim Holtz Distress Ink – worn lipstick
*   Aqualip pen – black
*   Inkssentials Opaque white pen
*   Font – American Typewriter


Tips/techniques

*   Use a template to lightly draw a border around your LO in pencil and then go over it with pen.  Once completely dry, carefully erase any pencil marks still showing.
*   Doodling with more than one colour creates visual interest.
*   Working with products from the one range (in this case Basic Grey Urban Prairie) makes it easy to have a perfectly co-ordinated LO.
*   When using buttons as flower centres, try using the same colour button as the flower for a subtle effect.
*   Don’t hesitate to add items to your photo for visual interest ... on this LO I added a flower to the photo so that it looked as though my subject had a flower tucked behind her ear.

Thanks alz for a fantastic layout and wonderful ideas....

luv tanXx

Crate Paper Kit by Melinda Spinks

 KIT AVAILABLE HERE

KIT CONTAINS:

4 x Cardstock

1 x Crate Paper 'Paper Doll' Patterned Paper

1 x Crate Paper 'Paper Doll' Chipboard Accents

1 x Large Flower

1 x length of string

EXTRA PRODUCTS REQUIRED:
2 x Photos (6x4 vertical)
Journal Pen
Border punch
Dimensional Magic
Adhesives and Foam Tape

 SINGLE PAGE LAYOUT

STEP 1.

Using the Aqua card stock cut a strip 24cm wide x 4cm deep and alter the bottom edge... I have used a scallop border punch but you can use anything you like. Adhere to the cream card stock approximately 2cm up from the bottom of the card and spaced evenly each side.

STEP 2.
Using the 'Peyton Ellie' Patterned Paper cut a strip across the bottom of the paper to incorporate the red line measuring 24cm wide x 3cm deep and adhere to the layout overlapping the aqua card stock as shown. Cut a further piece of the Peyton Ellie measuring 24cm wide x 20cm deep and adhere to the layout 2cm down from the top of the layout and centred each side.

STEP 3.
Using the brown card stock cut a rectangle measuring 21.5cm wide x 16.5cm deep and adhere to the layout 5mm up from the bottom of 'Peyton Ellie' printed paper and centred either side.

STEP 4.
Cut another rectangle from the aqua card stock measuring 21cm wide x 16cm deep and adhere to the layout centred on all four sides within the brown card stock.

STEP 5.
Adhere your two photos over the aqua card stock.

STEP 7.
Adhere the large pink paper flower to the layout as shown below. Using adhesive foam to give a raised appearance position the "Little Girls are a gift" die-cut centred over the flower. Also using adhesive foam position the 'precious' die-cut to the left of the pink flower as shown below.  You ca also place a couple of the smaller die-cut flowers over the top right corner of the 'Little Girls are a gift' tag, again using foam tape. Cut in half the brown/white/aqua pin wheel flower and using double sided tape only, adhere to the layout as shown. 

STEP 8.
Using a brown journal pen handwrite your journalling in the cream strip between the two pieces of patterned paper. Also using the brown pen doodle a little dot on each of the scallop joins right across the aqua strip on the bottom of the layout.

STEP 9.
Cut three little triangular nicks out of the card stock approximately 1cm apart from each other on each side of the layout - these nicks only need to be small as they are going to hold the string in place once you wrap it around the back of the layout. Using three equal lengths of string place one across the layout and align with the two top nicks and turn the layout over and tape the ends of the string down. Repeat with the next piece of string moving down to the middle set of nicks and then the final piece of string in the bottom two nicks. Slide a small piece of double sided tape under the string where the die-cut button will sit and gather the three pieces of string together and adhere to the cardstock. Tie a string bow through the holes of the button. Place the button over the gathered join and using foam adhesive tape to give the raised appearence adhere the die-cut button to the layout. Lastly, place a drop of dimensional magic on each of the hand doodled dots across the bottom of the aqua strip and leave to dry, this will create an effect similar to a small rhinestone! You can also put dimensional magic on the die-cut flowers as enhancements.

SINGLE PAGE LAYOUT No. 2

Extra products required:

- One 5 x 7 pic (Portrait orientation)

- Dimensional Magic or Glossy Accents

STEP 1.
Adhere your 5x7 portrait shaped pic to the centre of the layout. Cut 2 strips of paper 3cm wide x 18cm deep from the patterned paper (floral side up) and 1 strip each of the aqua and brown card stock. Adhere one of the floral paper strips to the left of the photograph leaving approx a 3mm gap between the paper and the pic.

PAPER ROLLS: Using the remaining three strips of paper you will need to turn over onto the reverse side and draw a ruled line down the middle of the strip (from top to bottom) which will form your cutting guide. Still using the reverse side of the strips you need to 'fringe cut' 5mm wide tabs all the way along the left hand edge, not cutting past your centre line. These tabs form the little rolls. Place a strip of double sided tape along the back of each strip on the non-cut edge. Turn the strips over and adhere to the layout starting with the brown strip, then place the aqua strip over the brown leaving the pre-cut tabs comletely visible, and repeat with the patterned paper strip which should be 3mm away from the pic.
You will need a quilling tool or tooth pick to make your rolls. Have your layout facing you with the brown strip closest to you and starting from the left hand side of the patterned paper strip roll the first tab away from you. The next tab should be rolled toward you and continue until you get to the end. Repeat with the aqua strip followed by the brown strip.

STEP 2:

Using the die-cut shapes cut the large lime and aqua flower in half and adhere flat to the layout as shown below. Now you can use foam adhesive tape to adhere your title and the large pink/red flower as shown.

STEP 3:

You need to cut three different size circles using the same papers as the strips. The aqua circle should be approximately 8cm across, the brown circle approximately 6cm across and the patterned paper circle approximately 4cm across. Scrunch each circle up into a little ball to give it the 'wrinkled' effect, then un-scrunch them and place them one on top of the other from largest to smallest. Poke two holes in the centre and tie a string bow to hold them together. 

Also cut two leaf shapes from the aqua card stock and using a white journal pen draw on some leaf lines and then fold a crease down the centre of each leaf.

 Adhere the flower and the leaves to the layout and add some of the remaining die-cut pieces to fill in some of the gaps.

STEP 4.

Using a journal pen in either brown or black, write your journalling below the pic as shown below. Once you have completed all the steps you can use dimensional magic or glossy accents to pick out pieces of your layout and give them a little more dimension!

Once the two layouts are complete you still should have enough bits and pieces left to make atleast one card if not two.

I really hope you enjoy your kit!

Happy Scrapping!

Melinda

THE THOUGHT BEHIND THE PROCESS

I hope you have all had a fantastic Mothers' Day weekend. Spending time with family is one of the most rewarding things that we do - it shows the love and thought and caring we all have for our family and one another. 

My layout today is a page from my 52 week Journal for 2010 that I am creating over on the ScrapChat website.

This one is titled Family and I think it is very fitting for this week as we all discuss what a fabulous time we have had over the past weekend.

Sometimes I truly ask myself what I was thinking when i put together a page. This one is no exception - I love how it has turned out, and I did not plan any of it - it just evolved.

I started with my blank cardstock and had my photo picked out. Because the photograph is black and white it gave me so many options to choose the colors to compliment it, so I picked some of my favourite color combinations - red, aqua, lime.  With all these pages that I have been creating I really love the texture that I have added, the dimension cannot be duplicated even if i did this again, so my project is totally original each time. 

Firstly I had some tissue paper on my desk so I decided to coat my cardstock in glue and then added the tissue paper - folding and crinkling as i stuck it down. Yes it looked messy and unorthodox but then i found some fabric... and not any fabric -- it was heavily textured and worked well on the red tissue paper - on it went.

I then decided it was time to add the picture before i took to the layout with my sewing machine. When I approached the sewing machine it was laden with some very lush lime green rayon cotton... what a perfect color to introduce into this artwork I thought to myself. Because my layout was about family I thought it was fitting that i framed us all in a big heart - so many layers of stitching later i had created my border.

After the stitching I added some red mesh. I printed out my journalling and added lime watercolors to it as well as the tag on the left top of the page. The journalling was then sewn onto the layout and the tag was stapled on. I felt that the tag lacked something so i added some more red by introducing the heart and a making memories metal embellishment.

The title was added in a making memories label holder and a we are memory keepers lime swirl deco eyelet was added. At this stage it still needed more .... i was wracking my brain.... I felt I needed to introduce black because of the colors in the photograph so a black flourish rub on was added to the right bottom. The layout still needed a little more - so I added some lime green beads with dimensional magic. These i added a little over the flourish and up the stitching to help tie in the photograph with the journalling.

So that is my takedown of this layout. I hope you like it and I truly hope that you can have the courage to just have a go - set yourself no rules, have no boundaries, and create with what is in front of you and go with the flow.

Enjoy your week creating

tracey

Scrap N Craft with T 2010 'Embellish it' MAJOR YEARLY COMPETITION

Our Scrap N Craft with T MAJOR YEARLY COMP has come around again! It was so popular last year we thought we would give it a go this year and hope to make it bigger and better. We have 2 parts this year, so please read carefully.

To register by the 6th of June please ....

1. email your full name and gallery name to: admin@scrapncraftwitht.com.au We also need to know which competition you would like to be a part of (see details below).
2. register in the gallery: www.scrapncraftwitht.com.au/gallery
3. register in our shop: www.scrapncraftwitht.com.au

'EMBELLISH IT' COMPETITION...

1. Will run for nine (9) weeks starting with the first challenge on Friday the 11 ^th of June at 12 midday AEST.
2. ALL challenge entries will need to be put up in the Scrap N Craft with T Gallery by the following Wednesday, ready for our lovely Design Team girls to judge.
3. Only one entry per person. Your first entry for the week is the one that will count regardless of if you have or have not met the criteria.
4. No step by step photos allowed please. If you would like to do this please email us and we can do a separate blog post in a future week.
5. Everyone will need to register to participate. This is to be done in the gallery and shop. You will also need to email me with your gallery name and real name to make it easier to work out who has won the prizes.
6. Each Design Team member will provide 5 points that each week's criteria for their project will be judged on. This will change every week due to different projects that the Design Team member will do.
   
7. There will be weekly prize of a $20 voucher to the week's winning entry plus a Design Team gift.
8. The overall winner will receive a $100 voucher and $50 of goodies included in their order with a total of $150 for the winner. Second place will receive a $75 voucher and third place will win a $50 voucher.
9. There are permanent Design Team positions up for grabs but this is optional if you accept.
10. This year we are offering everyone who enters our competition and completes their weekly entries (in both the main competition and challenge section) a 10% discount in the shop. If you fail to create an entry for a week, your 10% discount ends.
    

Challenge Section

If you don't want to be elimated and want to just feel challenged and want to extend your skills, than this is for you!

1. This is just for fun.
2. There will be the same challenges as the above competition challenges
3. If all criteria isn’t met it will not matter.
4. There will be no judging of your work. Entering each week is the fun part, and will keep you in the running!
   
5. At the end of the ninth week, we will have a first and second prize that will be picked by Tanyah Payne (owner).
6. All eliminated entrants of the main competition are allowed to enter and be part of this challenge and be in the draw to win the first prize of $40 and second prize of $25.

hope to hear from you all soon
enjoy
luv tanXx

Saturday Scrapping Stimulus...

Welcome to another weekend full of *hopefully* creative promise!

I liked today's quote because of the fact it's fairly short (therefore less alpha stickers used up! LOL), it's kinda funny, and it tells you to get up off your butt and DO something! I certainly need that reminder sometimes!

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"Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there."

~Will Rogers

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I hope you get a chance to express yourself creatively this weekend, even if it's only in a small way...

Kylie

'You & Me' - a step by step layout by Ingeborg Dijkstra

Here is a list of materials that I have used for this layout:

• Pink background paper (Green at Heart collection, Basic Grey)
• Patterned paper (Green at Heart collection, Basic Grey)
• Coloured Chipboard Stickers (Green at Heart collection, Basic Grey)
• Felt Shapes ' Woolies' (Green at Heart collection, Basic Grey)
• Die Cut shapes 'Pieces' (Green at Heart collection, Basic Grey)
• Micro Mono Alphabet Stickers (Green at Heart, Basic Grey)

Mother's Day is just around the corner and we normally do a 'Mother's Day Photo Shoot'. I encourage you to do the same! Obviously most of us take pictures regularly, but if you take pictures around the same time every year, it is fun to watch how the kids have grown (and yes, how much 'older' we mums are too) ... Anyway ... these photos were made by our son Tom (10 years old) of our daughter Emma and myself.

The new Basic Grey collection 'Green at Heart' fits perfectly if you look at the pink and green colours of the photo. I wanted to create a layout with quite a few photos, since there were so many nice pictures to choose from and I wanted to use more than one!

I started with the pink paper as my base colour. My daughter and I were both wearing pink (we both just love pink) and therefore I just had to use the gorgeous pink paper to match our clothes. I added a large strip of the patterned paper at the bottom of the page.

I added some more colour by using another sheet of patterned paper. I used a border punch to create a fun border at the bottom of this piece of paper. Click HERE to see some of the border punches that Tanyah has in her shop.

I cut my four photos to the same size, because I didn't want to make the layout too busy. I put them in a rectangle shape with a 'gap' in the middle. I already knew which of the cute embellishments I wanted to use and wanted to leave some space for those ...

Using the cute new mono stickers I stuck my title on one of the die cut shapes. I used another die cut shape for my journaling. I added some stickers, a chipboard sticker and a cute felt flower and done!

By the way .... I made this layout at night as you can see from the 'yellowy glow' at the photos above. I took a photo of my finished layout during the day and you can see quite a change in the colours. The colours are more like the colours on the picture below ...

SIA 2010= Wow what FUN I had!...

Hello everyone…

Warning.... long post ahead....lol!...

Today I am back to reality and went to enjoy my little shop and catch up on things i hadn't done for 3 days...lol Thanks so much shazz for helping and looking after my store while I was away. Your a gem and love ya dearly.

SIA was amazing and well worth going. SO many companies to check out, ones I hadn’t heard of and so much more! They all had cool stuff and I WANT IT ALL....lol!

Working for Bella was amazing and can’t thank them enough for having me there to enjoy this experience. The booth was very neat and lovely presented and their new ranges are YUMO!  We have 2 Ruby rock-it colelctions Summer house collection ( my favourite...hehe) and the Upstairs and downstairs collection. Their is  also  a sneek peek of what is coming in July for Bella.

And guess what... for those who want that scrap it DVD, You will have it very soon for purchase. Please email me if you want me to hold you one. I will have all these  up for pre-order very soon.

The make and takes went well and my class went ok too! I would like to thank my class helper Kylie Broadbent, man alive was she adorable, amazing and wonderful, with providing me coffee, a massage and so so helpful I can't thankyou enough. xoxoxoxo

Those who would like a class on how to use the score pal and are local please email me to book.

The other wholesalers were amazing... The collections Rubber Stamps booth was just opposite the bella Booth and man I adored everything in their... so may treasures and gorgeous little things I just have to have...lol!

 The Green Tara store was great to see, although i am totally addicted to this store and not very hard to love it lots....lol! Their were quite a few chipboard companies this year and they all looked amazing and their ranges were all quite different.

It was really lovely meeting Su Ping and K Ka from Kay's Company from New Zealand. Your truely wonderful people and was a pleasure to be able to meet you both. This layout was taken in the Bella Booth which is really cool!

One store that I was blown away with what they had coming soon was from 'darkroom door' by Rachel Greig... oh my... this is totally cool and yep we are getting it in for sure! no question about it...lol!

I was able to complete 2 classes myself

One was with the amazing Wendy Senger  who owns and created glimmer mist and was I wowed by all of the techniques and was cool to find out what I was doing wrong and why it wasn’t working for me. BUT I AM ADDICTED NOW!... thanks heaps Wendy for signing my book. Your class blew me away and I am sure going to get that glimmer mist in my store asap!...

If anyone wants to do a class using this amazing stuff please email me!..

The other Class was with Janine and she was amazing and I loved using the paintables and who doesn’t love using PRIMA products…lol! I loved my finished layout and had a tone of fun. You should have seen the make and takes everyone one did from PRIMA, oh my where they just divine!. mine is quite ordinary for I had to rush to get it done before i did my class for their was no way i was missing out on this make and take!...lol

Another amazing part of SIA was meeting SO many facebook friends that I have spoken to or have done Guest DT’s or have done my challenges and competitions. It truly was wonderful meeting you all, their are so so many of you and lots i didn't get a pic of and wished I had or the pic wasn't that great so I thought it best not to post up.

Me and Jane Clark...

Here is the gorgeous Lisa Warren... man alive I LOVE YOUR WORK... it is amazing and your one tallented, clever lady.

Oh and this amazing girl below saved me from starving and gave me a meal ticket...lol, yep i lost mine and gave me one of hers,...isn't she adorable!...

One very special girl Linda Baldock gave me on the second day a neck lace she had created from Scrapware. Lisa is on their Design Team and wow does she do incredible work. The butterfly was decorated with embossing, pearl mediums and fantasy film and alcohol inks. Doesn’t it look fantastic and I am so blown away you wanted to give this to me Linda and will cherish this forever.

Tuesday night we did a 3 min challenge. Those who know me know that just isn’t me and the thought of me doing it you would giggle…well guess what I did and how satisfying it was to know you can achieve so much in such a sort time.

We also had a sketch to do with a kit that was given to us and that was another challenge…lol! I will add a pic of my 3 min challenge and my sketch challenge later if you like...lol!

It was also wonderful to see my besties ( sarah rickard's) layout  and my layout on the Scrapbooking Memories Magazine wall. Also to see my layout and card on the Scrapbooking Creations magazine wall as well...

Thankyou to all those who organised this advent you all did an amazing job and I had a wonderful time!
 I probably forgotten to type in so so much, please forgive me if i have but it was totaly a fun 3 days...

thanks for reading
luv tanXx

Masking techniques - Nicky Amber

Today I am running through some masking techniques you can use on your cards and layouts.  Masking is basically protecting an area from change.

Here's an easy step-by-step card using masking techniques:

Firstly, I have a placed some alphas over the top of the card.

Then I painted over the top using a stippling motion.

This is the result when you lift off the alphas.  The area under the alphas were masked off from the paint.

I then outlined a bit with a journalling pen and punched out some butterflies. I placed the butterflies on the card and painted over them also.

To add some added dimension, I laid some plasterer's tape over the butterfly masks and brushed over with a different coloured paint.

To produce this effect...

The finished card.

 Here I have used a freehand cut out circle to create a do-it-yourself journalling spot.  I just placed it on the paper.

Inked and stamped over it

Then lifted off the circle, added some lines with a journalling pen to reveal the finished journalling spot.

Tanyah showed us recently the Maya Resist.  I am loving this stuff!  The tip is quite fine so you can write with it and do some intricate drawing.  Here's some more playing...

 I drew some stars onto a piece of card.

When dried, I painted over the top and peeled off the Maya Resist.

Here I stamped an image then used the Maya Resist to mask off inside, inked over the top then peeled off.

You can use just about anything as a mask:

• punched shapes (also the negative space from punched shapes)
• cut out images from a magazine
• alphas 
• Masking fluid (eg Maya Resist)
• plasterers tape or magic mesh
• stencils / plastic templates
• lace
• and more...

Hope you have fun experimenting with masking.  Remember to share with us in the gallery.

nic...xxxooo