Arty Divas Challenge 20

Hi Lovelies!

Today is Challenge 20 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 Fred She Said
Online Shop - http://fred-she-said-store.blogspot.com
Prize:

 I opted to use the uncoloured version of this image.

I'm less then thrilled with my colouring.  It's absolutely true what they say about practice!  It looks better "in person" than in the photo.  The issues with the light direction on the frog seemed to be magnified once the ink dried so I will have to come back and touch it up.

Once I was done, Shimelle's Head in the Clouds collection provided the perfect backdrop!  I splattered gold mist before adhering "Nolan" using foam squares.

I used tiny letter stickers for the sentiment.  Pretty simple, and once I touch up the direction of the light on the image, I'm sure I'll be happier!

You Are Toadily Awesome

 

Love and creative colouring!

The Paper Girls Challenge #198 Girl Time

Hi Lovelies!

It's challenge time again over at The Paper Girls Challenge Blog and Challenge #198 is all about Girl Time. 

This might mean different things to different people, but whatever you enjoy doing with your besties is something to treasure. 

In the current climate of Covid-19, remembering the days we could get physically together with our friends and go out can be bittersweet, but it wont be too much longer I hope.  As someone whose health depends on everyone doing their part to adhere to lockdown restrictions, I'm very thankful to each of you playing your part.

In the meantime, I treasure the moments of the past by documenting them and staying in touch by virtual means.
 
Pretty much exactly a year ago, my sister and I enjoyed a spa day together, and this is the first of a couple of layouts about this trip to a town famous for its day spas.

If you are taking Shimelle's Start with a Sketch class and think my take on sketch #5.1 looks awfully like Shimelle's example in terms of supplies then you'd be right.



I tried various lines of paper that combined some florals with an autumnal colour palette, but they didn't have the vibrancy and fun I was looking to convey. 






See here's the thing.  Autumn in nature is beautiful, but in craft supplies it often seems to translate to orange and/or brown and of all colours, I rarely use these unless I'm working on a boy page maybe.

I only have the paper pad and some embellies from Paige Evans' Truly Grateful line, so my choices were slightly more limited, but seeing that beautiful bold floral in the background of Shimelle's page meant everything else paled in comparison.  I was also inspired by two of Shimelle's choices for the angled paper strips and while not identical, they are similar.

I was very pleased to use TWO words/phrases from those Thickers sets we all seem to buy byt struggle to use.  These ones were from Shimelle's Head in the Clouds line supported by some small puffy alphas from PinkFresh Studio.

There are several places where things didn't quite go to plan, but overall I'm fairly satisfied with the way it turned out. 

I was in a hurry to get it finished and cranky with the way the first official day of remote learning for TallCraftyDude was unfolding,

I guess I will have to wait and see how sketch 5.2 turns out!


 

Rise + Shine For There Are Adventures to Be Had

Love and scrap all the things!

Arty Divas Challenge 19

Hi Lovelies!

Today is Challenge 19 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 Jan's Digi Stamps
Online Shop - https://www.janmahew.com
Prize:



This time I decided I would use the shaker element I made last time and tuen it into an actual card. A goft card holder to be precise!

Here's how I went about it:

First I cut a card base (tent folding) just a bit larger than the shaker and cut a piece of patterned paper a quarter of an inch smaller than the card base to leave a small border as shown below

Then I used a loyalty card as a template for a gift card to a certain coffee chain which has a famous seasonal (and limited!)  pumpkin flavoured  coffee drink.

The card measured at 2 1/8 inch so I added to that the width of a strong red tape to either side (a total of 1/2 inch) plus another 1/8 inch either side to allow for the depth of the pocket.  This totals 2 7/8 inch, so I just rounded up to a width of 3 inches.  The length isn't so important since you want plenty of room to be able ti see and remove the card.

Add the strong tape to the back of the pocket to the bottom edge and sides.  Remove the backing and stick in place, 

Double check that the card fits...

 Using a strong adhesive (such as Glue Dots) add the shaker to the front of the card

I wanted to emphasize the pumpkin theme so I cut out one of the squares from this cut-apart sheet and ended up fussy cutting since it was too big otherwise.

I stamped a more appropriate sentiment and cut it into two to make it fit better and covered the wording on the pumpkin then added next to the shaker on the front,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The front of the card:

I also cut out one of the critters to add inside:

That's all from me for today!

Love, and get crafty in quarantine

The Paper Girls Challenge #197 Florals

Hello Lovelies!

It's challenge time over at The Paper Girls and Challenge #197 is Florals.  What a lovely theme, isn't it?  My lovely friend and fellow Newbie to PGCB Lori is hosting it!

I was disappointed that I didn't get to make a project in time for challenge #196 which was Babies, so I combined both for this one!

I love to fussy cut and when I see a paper with large florals, my scissors are just itching to get into my hands.  Maggie Holmes papers are perfect for this and my layout has both fussy cut flowers and flowers from the die cut pack.

I also cut apart the floral chevron called L'il Bit Lovely.  I picked the ones I wanted, inked them and lightly tacked them to the page before stitching them down.

This paper along with the chipboard sheet from Maggie Holmes Shine collection were the driving force behind this layout.  

The photo was matted with my usual messy stack from the scrap box (yay! 🎉🎉🎉)

I used the "Bloom & Grow" along with additional thickets for the titles and also added the deer and some hearts from the sheet which to that point remained untouched.  

I was awfully pleased with the dent I made, but as you know, all chipboard made by American Crafts needs extra adhesive and Glue Dots in various sizes are my jam.  I'm not saying it's a bad thing actually, because I do like to move my embellies around a bit before I commit. 

There were other pieces from various collections (mostly Maggie Holmes). a sweet doily, gold mist and gems and enamel dots.  In hindsight perhaps I went too far with the gems, but more is more, right?

My journaling is below and pretty simple, but I liked how it flows into the title as the last line.

 Bloom & Grow Little One

Before I sign off, I thought I'd leave you with a few photos of the infamous photobombing NewCraftyCat!

I hope you visit the link to The Paper Girls and have a go at the challenge yourself!
 
Love, and fabulous florals

Boy Mamas Unite March

Hello Lovelies!

What's this?  Another BMU for the second month running?  I guess it really must be a sign of staying inside too long and going stir crazy, maybe?  To be honest, as a Spoonie life in lockdown isn't really any different for me. 

Aaaaanyway, when Sara asked me whether I wanted to do another BMU this month, I told her yes (natch) and she promptly gave me the inspiration piece below:



Oooh nice one, right? 
Great prompt for journaling!  And you know I love a good bit of journaling 

As the cylinders in my brain started up and I pondered my options, she informed me that Jody of SpiegelmomScraps had designed a cut file loosed based on last month's BMU since Sara had some issues getting it to cut properly on her machine. 


OK. That narrows down the options somewhat.  I'm glad cos I don't have to think as hard.  What's that?  It's going in the SMS newsletter AND we have to use sequins??

I'm joking!  Sara isn't bossy at all.  I 💖 her!  And it's lovely of her to offer to include my project in the newsletter!

All those elements combined in my head to come to a single conclusion - make a montage using all the photos from TCD's* season of summer soccer and turn it into a 2 page layout vaguely reminiscent of layout 2.3 from Shimelle's Start With a Sketch class.

Here's the link to the video, otherwise keep reading to see more pics.

Since I'm not a boyMOM, I didn't use that bit of the cutfile (watch the video to see exactly how I used it).  I couldn't really cut off the "mom" and change it to "Mama" because the font had the letters really closely welded together.  Besides I already did that.

The hashtag Jody included reminded me that on my social IG I would use #soccermum when I shared pics so I went with that as the title and just use the subtle "balls everywhere" bit.

I turned each ball into a shaker and it wasn't easy given how thin the outlines were.  I'm happy enough with it, though.

Here is my journaling which I talked a little bit about in the video.

Aaaand the embellishment clusters:

Lastly the full layout

#Soccermum

Well that's all from me for now.  I do hope you take the time to watch my video and also see Sara's Video.

Love, and Boy Mamas Unite!

*Acronyms and weird words <---