Locker Room – When Less is More

Hello!  It’s Melissa here with my last post for this month!  For my layout today I really wanted to focus on the beautiful sequin mix from Spieglemom Scraps.  So I decided to make a type of shaker feature with one of the exclusive “Summer” cut files from the Raskog kit.

In order to make the pockets, I used some clear plastic packaging and my trusty Tombo Mono Multi liquid glue.  It was very fiddly, and I wasn’t sure whether it would even work, but it did.  The sequins don’t actually shake in the pocket, but they still give the illusion that they do.

In order to balance out my layout and keep the title (and photo of course) as the main feature, I kept my embellishment to a minimum.  In fact, I didn’t really embellish this layout at all except to add one of the cut apart phrases, and a strip of the yellow embossing plastic (dry embossed with flowers).

A close up of my sequin pocket title.

I love those Pink Fresh Studio acetate words, and I especially love how they look machine stitched.

Here is my process video

Thanks so much for looking!  Have an amazing weekend.

 

Geek Lab -For the Love of Hand Stitching!

Hello creative friends!  It’s Melissa back with you again and today I’m going to share my latest scrappy love!  Before I discovered scrapbooking I was a keen cross stitcher, with projects on the go since I was 14!  What a delight to discover I could combine the two, and my Silhouette Cameo has made the process so much easier and fun!

I recently purchased the Silhouette Pen Attachment (containing three different sized attachments), which enables any type of pen or pencil to be used with the sketch function.  It means I can now draw cut file designs and then hand stitch them.

I decided to create a layout with one of gorgeous exclusive cut files from this month’s Raskog kit.  As soon I saw this one I knew I had to stitch it!

I rotated it to the right, and then sketched it with a pen.

Once it was sketched I left my mat in my Silhouette and then opened another copy of the cut file so I could reduce the size of the three circular shapes.  Then I cut them out on my Silhouette to provide frames.  In hindsight I wouldn’t have made the frames so large.

The next step was to use my paper pierce to create hundreds of holes for my stitching.

Then came the fun but long process of stitching.  I used colours that were complimentary to the Life Noted collection.  Whilst you can see the black of my pen, its not obvious when you look at the layout in real life.

And here is the completed layout, which although it appears clean and simple and quick was a labour of love with all the stitching.  As a busy mum of three I did the stitching in small increments, and I left it on my dining room table so I could come back to it throughout the day.

I embellished with like colours to each of the three circles.  I love the exclusive flair in this beautiful kit!

The Pink Fresh Studio rubber charms had perfect sentiments for my photos.

Love those yellow alpha from the collection too!  I also added a flower that I made with a Sizzix die and my Big Shot Plus.  I added extra embellishments from the Pink Fresh Studio “Felicity” collection that I purchased from the CK store here.

If you haven’t tried the sketch function of your Silhouette you really should, and I highly recommend you purchase the Pen Attachment!

Have a lovely week!

Yearbook -How I Document Birthdays

Hello again!  It’s Melissa here with you again!  Today I’m sharing how I document my children’s birthdays.  As well as doing the usual present and cake layouts, I love to take a photo of them on their birthday, and then “interview” them about their current favourites.  My layout today is all about my oldest daughter Azaria, and her favourites a year ago when she turned 6.

I used this amazing exclusive cut file from the Raskog kit for my background.

I backed the cut file with predominantly papers from the Life Noted 6×6 paper pad, which you can purchase as a kit add-on in the CK store here.

And here is my layout with the photo added in the central open space.

I used my Sizzix Big Shot Plus and a Thinlits flower die by Lori Whitlock to cut flowers and leaves from several of the the 6×6 papers.

And here are the assembled flowers.  I used some really old Stampin’ Up split pins from my stash for the centres.  So pretty with all the different papers!

And here is my layout complete with embellishment and journalling.

That gorgeous yellow acrylic heart is also a kit add-on and you can purchase it here.

 I generally always handwrite my journalling because I like how it looks in my albums, but for a layout such as this with lots of detail I prefer to type it on my computer.  This also enables me to cut it into strips and disperse it on my page.

My daughter’s name is Azaria, but I didn’t want to use so many of the A’s on one layout, so I used her nickname for my title.  I do love that her nickname enabled me to use up two of the Z’s!

Azaria is turning 7 tomorrow, I’m so looking forward to seeing what her answers are for her birthday page this year!  Thanks for joining me today, I hope I inspired you to feature journalling on your birthday layouts, and to document more than just presents and cake (which are also important!).

Art Studio – Playing with Mist

Hi it’s Melissa here and I’m so happy to be back on the blog with you this month as we share projects made with the amazing Raskog kit!  This kit features Pink Fresh Studio’s “Life Noted” collection, and is stunning!

I decided to play with my mists for this Art Studio layout, and I envisioned a heart made entirely of ink splatters.  I searched for an uneven heart shape image on the internet, and then opened it in Silhouette Cameo so I could size, position and cut it.  Then I put it over my white cardstock and splattered mist drops in colours present in the Life Noted collection.  I started with the lighter colours first, then the darker colours and finished with big drops of gold Colour Shine.  The photo is from my 12 week pregnancy scan.  Its the original scan photo, I just backed it on white cardstock to stabilise it and also took a photo of the photo to preserve it for perpetuity (just in case the photo doesn’t last, only time will tell).

I wanted to keep the heart very fluid, and initially I thought about doing some white hand stitching around it to define it more, but decided it would be too much.

I kept my embellishment very simple, and I backed my photo with some gold tissue paper from my stash.  Less is more for this page!  The epoxy stickers with gold accents are an add-on to the kit, and you can purchase them in the CK Store here.

Machine stitching was the perfect way to both adhere the acetate title and add texture.  I added some black letter stickers from my stash to complete my title.  I stamped the date in gold ink so it didn’t take away from the title.

I also made a process video.

Thanks for looking/watching!  I hope you enjoy your kits as much as I am!

 

My Creative Space – Melissa

Hello it’s Melissa here and today I’m sharing my own little piece of paradise within our busy house (we have three kids and another baby due in November!).  I call it my craft room, but my 9 year old son calls it “The Gaming Room”.  Its our second lounge and is at the front of our house and gets lots of sun.  I share it with the X-Box (which I gave my husband years ago as a present before we had kids), and I’m known as an “amazing wife” to his friends!!

The entire set up of my space revolves around two main goals:  I have my own business and work from home, so it needs to double as my work office, and I need everything out of reach from my 2 year old!  She got into my May Clique Kit just yesterday and took all the stickers off the plastic backing!!  And in Autumn/Winter, the room has our clothes drying racks.

Here is the desk where I do the majority of my scrapbooking and my filming.  It was wonderful natural light with a window next to it and behind.  I also do my work here.

The large table next to my desk houses my favourite tools, and I also store my stamping inks, a basket of bits and piece for my Silhouette, and my journalling Bible and Grateful album.

A scrappy gals best friends – my Silhouette Cameo and my sewing machine!  Purchasing the dust cover for my cameo was one of the best investments I made.  I keep my MAMBI Happy Planner open on this table too.

This little table has my washi tape, an unfinished December Daily (I have great plans for Christmas in July this year!), and a pile of mini albums.  We don’t use the radiator on the wall, so I use it to store and display my pretties!

A close up of my mini albums!

I purposefully don’t have a large stash, because I couldn’t cope!  Sometimes its a blessing that we live in a country where we have to import most products I love.  So under my table is the extent of my stash.  Embellishments in the top box, and collections in the bottom.

Finally this may or may not be a pile of layouts waiting to go into albums! Lets face it, when I have precious spare time I’d rather be creating!  Above it are some other Clique Kits I’m still working with. And yes, those are X box games on the lower shelf!

I hope you enjoyed a peek into my creative space.  Happy scrapping!

 

Art Studio: For the Love of Colour!

Hello everyone its Melissa here again!  Today I have a layout featuring a photo of myself – which is something I don’t do very often as most of my pages are about my kids. The photo is a selfie I took of myself before going to a friend’s 40th birthday, and the theme was the 70’s.  I do love a good dress up!

I wanted to start with the black and white “XOXO paper”, and my vision was to whiten a portion of it and bring in colours from the Simple Stories “Life in Colour” collection.  I started by gathering my supplies, and things I forgot from my scrappy friend (I was making this at her house and forgot to bring my mixed media supplies!)

I also got my photo ready with a white cardstock border, and found two of my favourite cut-parts.  At this stage I wasn’t sure whether I’d use one of them or both of them.

I started by spreading a thick layer of white gesso.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I waited for the gesso to dry I painted three of the wood veneers with acrylic paint in colours that matched the collection.  I love how these turned out.

Once the gesso was dry I applied watercolour paints and the pink gumball Paint Dabber with the tried and true much loved packaging technique.  I also let some of the water colours flow.  I love the painterly effect I create so easily.

Once that was dry I placed my photo, cut out the speech bubble from the cut apart card, layered one of the exclusive cut file laurel wreaths (cut on my Silhouette Cameo), and embellished to my hearts content!

And some close ups.  I loved getting that gorgeous exclusive acrylic camera on the page!

I love how all the embellishments pop off the white background. I’m in a tangled thread mood at the moment, and had to add some behind my butterflies.Thanks so much for looking, I hope I’ve inspired you to use your April kit in some different ways this month!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Locker Room:Patterned Paper Inspiration!

Hi there, its Melissa here again, and today I’m back with a 12 x 12 traditional layout for you, made with the amazing April Kit “Origins”.  Recently I had a request via a comment on my YouTube channel for more boy layouts, and it was from a friend who has three boys.  I have one boy (turing 9 on the 29th or March) and two girls (aged 6 and nearly 2), and of course there is also my husband.  But if you know my scrapbooking, you’ll know that I always gravitate towards girly product and layouts!  I’ve noticed that my daughters are starting to either catch up or take over my son in the number of layouts – not that its a competition, but I do scrapbook because I love to record their memories.

So I’ve decided to make an effort to scrap more pages of my son, and thats what todays layout is about!  I was totally inspired by this piece of paper called “Happy Little Moments”, and I knew I wanted to cut it up.

Here is my layout featuring a photo of Sam jumping off the play tower after a Nerf War, which was his summer obsession this year (its currently Autumn here in New Zealand).  I made a process video (below) and you’ll see my process with deciding how to place the triangles once I’d cut them apart.

I didn’t need to add much more patterned paper except for the border around my photo, because the background already had enough going on.  I made my title with one of the chipboard words (which you can purchase in the store as a kit add on here).A close up of my triangles, I machine stitched around the outside, and then lifted up the edges for dimension and interest.I love the look of joy on his face!  I used the wood veneer paper clip as an actual paper clip. You can purchase the wood veneer pack as a kit add on in the store here.

And here is my process video.

Please check out and subscribe to my YouTube Channel if you enjoy my videos, and also to the Clique Kits YouTube Channel for more inspiration with these amazing kits!

 

 

Thanks so much for looking!  I hope your Easter weekend was blessed!

Geek Lab: Tag Cut File Mini Album

Hello, its Melissa and I’m back again.  You’ll know by now that I love making mini albums, and today I have a mini that I made using this months exclusive tag digital cut file as my base.  Of course I’m using the gorgeous April Kit “Origins”.

Here is the tag cut file:

I cut the cover of the album in white card stock with the entire pattern, but for the pages of the album I only cut the tag shape.  I enlarged the cut file to make sure my largest 4×6 photo would fit.Here are all the tags cut and ready to go. I always start my mini album by adhering my photos.  The mini album is about my youngest (20 months old at the time) and her dance that she performed one morning around the kitchen. I was so lucky to capture these sweet photos!  You can purchase the Tombow Mono permanent glue tape in the CK store here.And then the fun part of embellishing, always my favourite time!  Look at all the gorgeous embellishments from the kit.I made the cover very minimalist.  I backed the cut file with a silver cupcake wrapper, and used a butterfly ephemera piece, black Bella Blvd letter stickers and an Illustrated Faith enamel heart (love them!).And here is my finished album.  The yellow ribbon is from my stash.I stuck a white card stock label to the back cover to hide the cupcake wrapper, and I used a cut apart card for my journaling.  The chipboard add on was perfect for extra dimension, and you can purchase it here.The first photo shows my daughter starting her dance.  The photos were taken with my iPhone, and aren’t the best quality, but I love them because they capture the moment!  When an impromptu dance is happening theres no time to go searching for my DSLR!!On the back of each photo page I embellished.  For this page I fussy cut the sentiments out of one of the 4×6 cut apart cards.She continued her dance through the kitchen, and I made this tag from the Bella Blvd heart acetate.  I also used lots of enamel dots, another kit add on which you can purchase here.The back of the acetate was potentially problematic, but I decided to not be too concerned about what could be seen through it.  I framed one of the exclusive printables with a Simple Stories chipboard frame.My final page is the finish of her dance, I love her little foot over the vacuum cleaner cord!  The paper that I cut this tag from is one of my favourites, which is why I choose it for this smaller photo.I hope you enjoyed this tag mini!  I certainly had a blast making it.  Have a lovely weekend!

Yearbook: Easy Holiday Scrapbooking

Hello!  It’s Melissa here and I’m so happy to be back with you this month!  Today I’m sharing with you the easiest way I’ve found to scrapbook photos from a family holiday we took last year.  I don’t know about you, but I scrapbook so much and aside from all my albums, I have so many layouts piling up (literally!).  In the school holidays last year we went on a road trip to two different New Zealand cities – the first was only for one night for my husband to attend an appointment, and then we headed north to Christchurch where he attended a conference.  The kids and I were along for the ride!

I’m using the fabulous April kit “Origins”, which features gorgeous product by Simple Stories “Life in Color” and “Carpe Diem” collections.  Simple Stories always have amazing cut apart sheets, so perfect for pocket scrapbooking.  Here is a look at the kit:

Because we were in two cities, and road tripping, I organised my photos and then worked out what sized page protectors I’d use.  The first two photos were from our guesthouse in Dunedin, so I decided to used a 6×12 Becky Higgins page protector to start the telling of my story.  As always, when it comes to pocket scrapbooking, I kept my embellishment simple.

The second page captured one photo from our Moeraki Boulders stop (I’ve already made a mini album of these photos) and unpacking at the Christchurch holiday home we stayed in.  I used labels from the ephemera pack for my journalling.

For my next pages I moved on 12×12 WR Memory Keepers page protectors.  These photos were taken of our home for the week.  I made a conscious effort to take photos inside the house so we’d always remember.  And of course Sam had to photo bomb two photos!  The top journaling spot is an exclusive printable label.

The fourth page includes a photo of the joy that was across the road from our house – Coffee Culture!! Perfect for the coffee addict that I am!  I used the “everyday” exclusive die cut from last months kit.  We had an awesome time at Sumner Beach, and an adventure as you can read in my journalling!

On our final day we went to Orana Wildlife Park, which is New Zealand’s only open range zoo.  We had so much fun watching and looking for the animals.  The photos were very self explanatory, so only needed minimal journalling and embellishment.

The final page documents the kids playing at the park.  With young children we visit a lot of parks!  Because the photos were so busy I kept everything simple again.  The Simple Stories clear stickers were perfect for embellishment directly onto my photos.

I hope you enjoyed my process for documenting our holiday.  Making these spreads makes me realise how important it is that we as the scrapbooker get out from behind the camera, if I could turn back time I’d make sure I was in some of the photos too.

Have a blessed Easter.

How to Scrapbook Extra Photos

Hi everyone its Melissa here and I’m back today some pocket pages made with the gorgeous Hot Mess kit! But before I share my project, I would like to remind you that there’s still time to participate in Clique Kits and Bella Blvd’s hop. Be sure to leave a comment on the blogs so you don’t miss out on a chance of winning an XOXO kit of your own. Click here to participate in the hop! This time last year we went to the next Lake to the north called Wanaka for three day mini holiday.  We live in a very busy tourist alpine resort, and it was great to escape to a quieter lake.  I’ve scrapped lots of 12 x 12 traditional pages about this holiday, but still had several photos left over which weren’t special enough to justify their own page.

The Maggie Holmes Shine collection was perfect for scrapping these photos, especially the ones taken at the Transport and Toy Museum.This next page is the back of the first page, and the next two pages are about the museum.Our oldest son loves Star Wars and was so excited to see old toys!  The cut apart sheet sentiments and “Rad” flair badge explained his delight!I made my own journaling cards with white cardstock, Heidi Swapp Colour Shine, stamps by Honey Bee Stamps and some of the exclusive printable banners.  I love how they turned out!This exclusive card was a fantastic spot for more journaling.  I just added a heart sticker to cover the staple from attaching the acetate piece on the reverse.The vintage images in the Shine ephemera were perfect for documenting the now retro toys, and I used the shadow box for my little card.Its always a perfect day when you get to sit in a Starfighter!I hope you enjoyed a look into how I scrap my extra photos!  These pages will go into our family album, and our family will love to look back on them in the years to come.

Thanks so much for looking 🙂