Embellish With Flair DT: Double Page using CKC for Sept

Hello Lovelies!

Would you believe me that I had actually finished the filming and the layout a couple of weeks ago?  I think we're all getting the hang of having a semi-permanent recording set-up, but we're always making improvements along the way.

This layout brings together all-the-things!  What do I mean by that?  Sorta kinda killing two (or in this case more) proverbial birds with one stone.

Firstly, I used supplies from my  September "Counterfeit Kit" to make this layout.  You can read more about that here.  Need a refresher of the inspiration kit for September's Counterfeit Kit Challenge (CKC)?  Just click on over HERE to visit them!

Here's the process video below.

The other thing I manged to incorporate into the layout was the use of a sketch.   Remember, September's Product Focus in the Rediscover Your Stash Facebook group is sketches?

The sketch came from Shimelle's free 4x6 Photo Love class from Two Peas days.  I stumbled across the sketch on Pinterest and upon recognizing it as one of the lessons, I had a look on her blog and there it was!  Shimelle didn't post the sketch, but she shared photos of the two layouts she made and posted them on them on her blog.  Here is Shimelle's blog post and it contains a video of this lesson.

The reason I chose this sketch that CHALLENGE 1 in this month's CKC is "'Curate' Your Project".  This turned out to be quite the drama.  i spend days hunting for the photos but they remain elusive.  I reeeaaaallly wanted to use some museum photos (I knoooow...kinda obvious interpretation) but with Shimelle's "Field Trip" being a museum inspired collection and us having lots of museum photos over the years, it seemed like a good fit.  Especially the number and orientation of photos of one particular trip and this particular sketch

Butterflies were Plan B (more about in the video)!  I guess the zoo is a kind of museum?  And I always imagine "curators" as pinning down insects and butterflies (see where I'm going with this?) onto those numbered plates.   It ended up for the best, because who makes butterfly flair better than Embellish With Flair?  I was spoiled for choice and I don't even have all of them! 😮

I tell you, sitting down to a layout frequently takes you down a rabbit hole and it tells you what it needs.  (What? don't your supplies talk to you??)

Hands up if you have plenty of "vintage" stash that you can't part with.

Yeah I thought so.  I have a lot.  Today I'm reporting that I successfully got them (OK OK THREE of them) on a layout after languishing in my stash for...I don't know...maybe 6-8 years?  I have maybe 4 different packets of these rosettes.  I know I manged to use up almost a full pack some years ago, so it IS possible. 🤔

Regardless of WHAT type of item it is that you're hoarding, the important reason is to ask yourself WHY.  This will be different for everybody and may include a combination of factors.

Is it the fact that you paid money for it and don't want to feel like you're throwing money away if you get rid if it?  You don't have to throw them out.  Ask around at local schools, preschools, childcare and community centres...and hospitals too.  They often have arts and crafts type programs and are grateful for the donations.  You can feel good knowing your stuff will be enjoyed by sick kids.

Not you?  Still clutching your preciousssssesss? 🤣 (Don't worry, clearly I am too!)
hoarding it for a sentimental reason?  Are you waiting for the PERFECT project.  Larger, pre-made embellishments tend to be expensive so I can understand that.
If that's you, then I encourage you to read this article by Shimelle on what COULD happen to "special" supplies if you hold onto them too long. Gives you something to think about for sure.

What if you WANT to use them...TRY to use them, but they just look wrong every time.

That's me, BTW.  🙋🙋🙋 (Actually they're all me, but mostly the last one.)

The first tip I have at getting something to work is to go back to the same collection.  Collections are designed to go together,  They're made so you really just need to add photos, a pen and glue.  I usually mix my collections so this is a step back and chance to refocus for me.

Chances are, if they're older supplies, you likely don't have much (if anything) left from the original collection.  So go back to manufacturer if they are still in business.  The rosettes I had were all brands under the American Crafts umbrella (I have two packs by American Crafts, one by Pebbles and one I can't remember now). Usually the colours have a certain familiarity about them.

You can also try and pull in motifs similar to those in the original collection, paying close attention to the colours.

For my part, in this particular case, I often felt they were too big...as are many supplies I LIKE, but just struggle to use (often due to size).  In this particular instance, spreading them over a two-page layout seemed like a logical way to start.  It was going to still take a bit of work since the photos took up a fair bit of space.  What I DID like about using these rosettes is that they make a perfect nest for a flair badge! 🙌

They're so old the foam pads on the back just fell off!  🤣
Many are topped with a button and the button is almost always without thread. 😱 Naked buttons make me twitchy!  Whatever adhesive was used to attach the button to the FRONT of the rosette was certainly more effective than the one used for the foam dots on the back! 😂 That rosette slightly popped open.  Glue Dots fixed this, attached the flair and then the rosettes to the layout (don't even get me started on chipboard Thickers)...along with some of the other bits and pieces.

As you saw in the video, I chose the colours carefully to co-ordinate with both the flair and layout itself.  The Pebbles ones had white circles with tiny "happy birthday" text that I never noticed before.  Since I don't celebrate them and it's irrelevant to the story anyway, I pulled them off.

This is where you can start to bring the supplies into the modern era by replacing the various layers with punched circles of papers from your layout.  Suddenly they don't stick out as much!

Since I was trying to draw attention to the flair badges,  I chose not to replace the circles.  The white flair against the blue/aqua looked really good. Flair, rather than buttons, gave them a fresh new look and I'm really pleased how they turned out.  I can't say the same for all the other parts, but overall pretty satisfied given  don't two page layouts

I think what I'm going to do is place all my "too hard" supplies in one basket nearby, so I'm looking at them and through them more often and don't miss opportunities to use them.  An actual "too hard" basket! 🤣🤣🤣

Oh you probably want to see the rest of the layout, right?  😳😂

OK here is the title and journaling (yes I added the butterfly and black faceted gems after I stopped filming!):

 

And the whole spread:

The Butterfly House

Looks like the resident photographer had some "halp" and rather stringent quality control.  It appeared to be the subject matter was all wrong, but as you can see below she fixed it!  Phew!  🤣






I hope I've addressed most of the reasons why you might be holding on to supplies and how to get past this road block.  Leave me a comment or email if you have any questions.  I'll be happy to have a chat about it.

Love and Embellish With Flair,

Quilters Vibe September: "Cousins are Sisters You Never Had"

Hello Lovelies!



I'm really pleased to be able to take part in Sara Scraps' monthly series called Quilter's Vibe where a group of ladies make a layout inspired by a quilt.  Their channels are linked here and on YouTube.

The process of turning this block into a layout sort of took on a mind of its own as it often happens with me.  I hope you watch the video and see what happens.

I did choose an outdoor photo to tie in with the leaf, but after that it's not a really literal use of the leaf block (or quilt for that matter).  I was inspired by the start of Spring here in Australia.  Instead of leaves changing colour and falling off, we're getting fresh new leaves and the photo used in the layout was also taken in September.

Here's the video if you want to have a look:

The story and journaling took on a somewhat unexpected turn.  I just went with it.  I ended up using both sides of the little fold-out journaling card I made to fit it in.

 

I did try to record the machine stitching part on my phone, but there were some technical issues!  I liked the tight zig zag around the edge of the leaves...the cross hatch only a little.🤷

The embellishment component lately has been taking a long time.  Too much choosing and rejecting because something just doesn't look "right".😖

In the end, I managed to get the two embellishment clusters mostly how I wanted them.  I used the slightly smaller fox sticker from the sticker book rather than the die cut and moved him slightly.  At least it's one fox used and three of those pretty old Dear Lizzy buttons.  It feels so satisfying to use something that has wanted a home on a page for long time!

As I mentioned in the video, I left the title (which is a quote by Reah Glowstorl) exactly as is partly because I'm making the layout and telling the story and this is my reality and because then I could write "and the daughters I never had" as the intro into the journaling (kind of a subheading I guess).  Also partly because if I changed "sisters" to "siblings" (which would be more applicable to all the kids in the photo), writing "children" instead of "daughters" as an intro is sort of misleading, so in the end it seemed to ask to be left as is.  (yes my supplies and layouts talk to me.  Don't yours? 😲)

Besides stitching down the buttons, I added a date stamp to the journaling card.  Here's the whole thing!  

Cousins Are Sisters You Never Had

Well that's all for now.  Thanks so much for stopping by!  Come back soon and I hope you enjoyed the video.  Please visit the other ladies and watch their videos:

Sara Scraps
Christy's Beautiful Life
Daisie's Scraps

Love and quilty vibes,

Arty Divas 24 September DT Project

Hi Lovelies!

Today is Challenge 5 at Arty Divas.  This is a FORTNIGHTLY "anything goes" (any type of project and any theme) challenge with a design team who makes projects showcasing the sponsor who often offers PRIZES!

This week's sponsor is Artsystamper
Artsy's Etsy Store
Prize:

Since there is still a week of September remaining, I'm still using sketches which are the "product focus" of the month at Rediscover Your Stash as I have mentioned before.  Mojo Monday is a great place to start for cards.  I felt that I could make the current sketch work with the mermaid image.

I used Inktense pencils to colour her since I could get into small areas. The colouring looked better before I added the background in, but that's what happens sometimes! 🤷

I did want to colour the background somehow since the watercolour paper is a cream and the patterned paper (from Pink Paislee Summer Lights) I used is most definitely a white based pattern. 

Shimmer and sparkle reminds me of mermaids and I had a small pot of Finnabair acrylic paint in "Unicorn Hair".  Since it's very gold, opaque and thicker than I wanted, I diluted it with both water and a couple of shades of blue Distress Stain.  It did give a reasonably good oceanic greenish blue.  The different layers of shimmer in the paint is also nothing quite like I've seen before!  I diluted a little bit more with just water and splattered some with a paintbrush.  It looks and feels like molten metal! 😍



Overall, it's not quite how I imagined, but isn't that always the way with me? 🤣

I had to reverse the sizes of the circles to accomodate my larger (and more oval) mermaid image, but the smaller circle behind her seemed to be a good place for the sentiment.  This one by Reverse Confetti appeared perfect in size and shape as well as feeling  hoped to evoke.

The mermaid is adhered with Permanent Glue Dots to fun foam since the strong pull of even flattened watercolour paper tends to cause regular adhesive to come away.  I added more to the sticky side just for good measure!

The placement of the horizontal band is slightly different.  I had some sparkly ribbon in aqua, and I distressed the ends so they would fray and add some texture. 

Glue Dots to both sides of the bits of ribbon held it in place just under the circles.

Kind Heart Fierce Mind Brave Spirit Card

Thank you so much for visiting and I hope you come back and participate in our challenge!

Love and shimmery stamping!

TTCRD Design Team Project 24 Sept

Hi Lovelies!

Today is challenge day for Design Team B for the Through The Craft Room Door Challenge.  This is a WEEKLY "anything goes" (any type of project and any theme) challenge with 2 design teams who alternate weeks to make projects showcasing the sponsor who often offers PRIZES!

This week's sponsor is Wink Wink Ink.  You can read a bit more about them below.

Prize:  Three images as used by Design Team

https://www.etsy.com/shop/WinkWinkInk
Blog: http://www.winkwinkink.com/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/winkwinkink/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/digital.stamps/

As there is still a week of September remaining, I'm still using sketches which are the "product focus" of the month at Rediscover Your Stash as I have mentioned before.


I found this sketch online while looking for inspiration so I could translate this challenge to card projects as well.  It's the most recent one from Freshly Made Sketches.  Timing was such that it didn't work to enter this card as their challenge finished before this one started,  It was fine since I'm not sure whether my splodgy background (made using the "packaging technique" and Distress Ink) really fit into their guidelines.


I really like it and will definitely be trying it again!

The best bit is that I pulled ALL the bits of patterned paper from my scrap box as I was hoping to do with this month's Counterfeit Kit Challenge.  👍

The execution was a little tricky since it was a digi I was limited as to which paper will go through the printer.

At first I thought I'd have to mask the worm and I learned the hard way what disaster can strike from colouring first then masking on the wrong paper!

I also wasn't sure whether I wanted to watercolour, use Inktense or Copic markers.  I decided to try Neenah in the 80lb weight.  Copics will work well enough on Neenah, but my personal preference for Copics (X-Press Blending Card)  is a huge no-no when it comes to masking,

It turns out that even masking Neenah wont stop the splodgy ink soaking through and bleeding under the image, so I tried a second time and didn't bother masking.  I just used much less of the ink doing my best to avoid the worm.

Inktense doesn't work at all well on Neenah so I thought using Copics dark enough to mask the few bits of worm that  still managed to be hit with ink.  It turns out that what does and does not qualify as "worm coloured" is actually a rather controversial topic in our fam bam.  Who knew? 🤣🤷

I just KNEW I wanted "hang in there" as a sentiment and was pretty sure I had at least one stamp with this sentiment.  I also hoped for a squiggly "wormy" looking scripty font.  It was Honey Bee stamps (in a cat themed set no less) for the win! 🙌

Since the worm image was tall, I felt it was a good opportunity to try making a narrow "DL" card.  

I adhered the Neenah card front to the blue mat with a copious quantity of Permanent Glue Dots since past experience has taught me that even flattened water coloured paper will naturally want to pull away and regular adhesive is not strong enough.  I then used foam tape to adhere to the card base for a bit of dimension.  More glue dots for the sequins of course.

In retrospect, I could have stitched down the sequins and the paper layers on the front.  It wasn't possible after adding the glue dots since it would gum up the needle.  I'd have to have stitched the card layers together which would have been nice too.

That's all from me and I hope you stop by the TTCRD blog to enter this week's challenge!

Love and creative cardmaking,

August CKC Challenge 2 layout (Better late than never, right?)

I forgot to share this layout that I made with last month’s Counterfeit Kit.

I promise I ACTUALLY made it last month!  No, honestly, I really did!  This is last month's inspiration kit and a bit about how CKC works!

I was determined to try using the citrus paper and it might even work for Challenge 2 in August which is “What is Summer to You”. 

Being hot and uncomfortable.  Nothing says hot and uncomfortable like having to make jam in 40°C heat (104°F).  YUCK! Sweat was pouring down my face and pooling in my glasses.  I wish I was joking!  I had a whopping case of Dave's Syndrome. 😓😓😓

I struggled with that paper for a long time despite really loving the style of the illustration.   I decide to do a close scraplift of this layout from Shimelle.

I COULD HAVE actually scraplifted each and every piece on that layout since I had all the supplies, but butterflies and rainbows were more suited to Shimelle’s story than mine.  I could be wrong, but she may have scrapped this on video in her behind the scenes class if you've taken that or want to.

Since my jam was nectarine (with some peach and apricot thrown in I’m pretty sure) I decided to embrace the fruit theme (of which there seem to be countless supplies). There is one pale peach clear sticker, but I added strawberries, oranges and aaaall the fruit.  🤷

A use for the big orange shaker sticker!  It COULD sort of pass for a nectarine or more likely an apricot, right?  In any case, just fruit was...well a LOT of fruit so flowers seemed like a logical connection.  I admit I added a few butterflies because THEY were a logical connection to the flowers!  I mean they’re attracted to nectar and blossoms, right?

If that wasn't enough, I finished with sprinkles of peachy and apricoty coloured sequins from Spiegelmom Scraps!  Just because Summer is hot and uncomfortable, doesn't mean I'm not fabulous! 🤣. Because crafty girls sweat glitter and sequins and stuff like that. 

Thank You Glue Dots for adhering the sequins and the notorious chipboard Thickers!  🙌🙌🙌

I also managed to use another of those big plastic clips! Woohoo! That's Challenge 1 TWICE over! 💪💪💪 Boom!

 That's My Jam

Well that's all from me for now.  I'm off to battle the tech dragon and attempt to shoot a video using September's kit during...September!  🤦

Love and successful (kit) slaying!

September Counterfeit Kit

 Hello Lovelies!

I've really outdone myself this month with there being less than 2 weeks left to pull together a Counterfeit Kit! 🤦🤦🤦

In my defense I truly started planning (and pulling) the kit in the first few days of the month but then other projects and commitments kept pushing it aside.  Largely because I wanted to shoot another video share of the kit.  I thought it would be easier than painstakingly arranging pieces for photos of all the partial components and then the full kit.

Wanna see the inspiration kit for September?  Head on over to the CKC September Reveal.
My main girl Khristina of Redefined Kreative and The Secret Not Secret Kit Club designed the inspiration kit.  If you visit her site, all her links are on the pull down menu on the right!

I'm always mortified by the size of my kits.  As TallCraftyDude would call it: "an absolute unit".   Need a visual?  Allow me to illustrate: ⇛⇛⇛

(That, BTW is more or less what Fitzy aka NewCraftyCat looks like trying to get to the kitchen tap for a drink)🤣🤣🤣

See, if I make a video, the full horror hides neatly in one thumbnail!  A 30 minute one admittedly, but sometimes you need to live in a bit of denial. 😳🤷

Here's the link to the video of yet another of my Counterfeit Kits of Doom:
(you can see a few stills below)

September "Home With The Boys" Video

"Home With The Boys" September CKC Kit

If you watched the video, I discussed (very briefly) some of my storage "solutions". a I showed you my scrap box in all it's disastrous glory.  I have been sorting it out in the days since shooting said video.  Here's a progress report:

Here's how the actual box looked.  It's definite progress (I still have a way to go), but who knew that adding air to scrapbook supplies causes them to expand exponentially??  I'm still astrounded at how the mountain on the desk ever fit in there!

It does help when our chonky cat helps compact it.  I wouldn't mind quite so much about the slightly rumpled papers since I love some texture but I draw the line when he starts eating it.

I found the following evidence.  I shall use it on a future layout, I daresay.

 

And while we're still on the topic of the scrap box, I found these scraps which I immediately grabbed to throw into the kit.

And while we're on the subject of adding in extra stuff, I'm recycling these from last month.  The actual white star clip I REALLY hoped to use is currently MIA, but I'm sure it will show up before October!

Well I hope you come back and see what I made!  I still have one layout to share that I made from last month's kit...last month!  🤷

Love and creative kit curating,

Learning is an Adventure YouTube Hop

Hello, lovelies!

I have something exciting and a bit different to share with you today!

Sara Scraps hosts a YouTube hop every September about school since that marks the beginning of school year in the northern hemisphere.  I'm so happy to be taking part and Sara has done an incredible job running the hop so smoothly and organizing so many people so efficiently!

As I mention in my video (link below), the product focus for the month of September in Sara's Facebook group Rediscover Your Stash is SKETCHES.  I decided to extend it a little further and include scraplifts as well since the two are pretty similar in my mind.

I chose to scraplift this layout (click on following links) of Shimelle's which can be found both on her Instagram and Facebook pages.

Here's the link to my video and I hope you visit all the other ladies taking part too.

YouTube Process Video

We're still fine tuning my filming set up so it's not ideal yet and depending on the size of your screen you may miss some of the details.

I opted to make a "first day of school" layout, but it was the first day LAST year rather than this year since I just felt like telling that story.  I don't scrapbook chronologically so I'm always up for any theme or story any time!

Here's the journaling that was key to the story:

It was a beautiful morning and combined with Max's mood it seemed an appropriate choice!

"Best Day Ever" phrases make me a tad twitchy (but I'm quite OK with using them facetiously 😝)

 Yucky Year Eight Layout

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you watch all the talented ladies taking part.  You can find their videos in the description box when you visit the link to my video above.

Love and crafty collaborations!

Arty Divas 10 September DT Project

Hi Lovelies!

Today is Challenge 4 at Arty Divas.  This is a FORTNIGHTLY "anything goes" (any type of project and any theme) challenge with a design team who makes projects showcasing the sponsor who often offers PRIZES!

This week's sponsor is LilyMelba
Lily's Etsy Store
Prize:

I was pretty intrigued by these vintage ladies.  They reminded me of the Dyan Reaveley sassy and snarky phrase stamp sets.  I felt I could possibly somehow make some wall art or other "off the page" project combining the stamps and ladies.

I printed the three collages of ladies (sized to fit inside these shadow frames) twice each.

I used some distress inks in Victorian Velvet and Milled Lavender through two stencils (I'm really not that great at this sort of thing!) then fussy cut all the ladies from the duplicated prints and stamped phrases.

I wanted just the smallest amount of dimension and slight offset when I stuck the the fussy cut lady over the top of the background so I used the last of my Clear Tack adhesive "foam" squares.

The sentiments got proper dimensional foam.  I only had space for around three per frame, so I chose the most appropriate ones to the ladies.  I was most inspired by this quote from my favourite Downton Abbey character, Countess Violet

Lastly I chose three different packs of Spiegelmom Scraps sequins (which may or may not match the colours I envisage for a craft studio not yet in existence)  and added some of the "Into the Woods" mix into each one to add a more vintagey vibe.

Many sequins get stuck around the elements which I'm fine with, but most gather at the bottom of each frame when upright (they were photographed flat).

While they didn't turn out completely the way I imagined, I'm more or less happy, although I think I would like to repaint the frames.

Here are the three frames in their entirety:

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you submit your own creation in the challenge!

Love and vintagey vibes,