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Sunday, 25 December 2011

Christmas Wishes...

Life has been so crazy and hectic, especially for the past month. I'm sorry I have neglected my blog - so not my style at all. I promise once we are settled in Adelaide (early in the New Year), things will start to return to normal, and my posts will become regular again.
I have received a happy, happy email, and can't wait to share the details with you. But again, this will have to wait until I am settled. Sorry, just had to tease, lol! I also managed to scrap one layout before I had to pack up my stuff for our move south. I can share that in the New Year too. You have no idea how much I am missing my scrapping at the moment - the withdrawal symptoms are bad, lol!!! I think it's time to start doing more digital scrapping (I've been dabbling - still have a lot to master).
I just wanted to take a moment to wish a Merry Christmas to all my family, friends, followers, and blog readers, both near and far. Please have a wonderful time with your family and friends, and please stay safe. I'll see you on the other side - once I've recovered.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!

Monday, 12 December 2011

Because I'm Addicted....

Because I'm addicted to chipboard (and scrapbooking in general), and because I am also crazy, I have decided to throw my hat in the ring for the Imaginarium Chipboard Design team call. This means I get the opportunity to share my favourite top 10 layouts using chipboard, and that we all get to wait impatiently together to find out who makes the cut. At least this time, I don't have to suffer alone, lol!
Love - I created the banner title using chipboard banners that I painted, glittered, and enhanced with rhinestones. I then added Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots underneath to add some dimension. And finished by adding chipboard letters for the title.
Rejoice - I LOVE chipboard frames. I can't get enough of them. The just look so beautiful when they are coloured and glittered, and used to frame a favourite photo. In most cases, my go-to for colouring chipboard is Glimmermist because it has a built in sparkle and can be sprayed on (I usually add a coat of gesso first so the colour doesn't soak in and disappear). My second favourite would be Twinkling H2Os (and they don't usually need a coat of gesso).
Daddy And His Girls - This was one of my first opportunities to play with the Helmar Crackle Medium and chipboard. I simply coated the chipboard with Glimmermist (for sparkle of course!), and then coated with the two step crackle medium. The result? Beautiful vintage looking chipboard pieces, which I then coated with Dimensional Magic for shine.
Do I Look Comfortable? - Do you see that great, big orange flourish? I created that using the left over chipboard that held a chipboard flourish. I kept the backing (negative space) and simply placed it on my layout, added scrap paper around the entire outside edge so the spray would not go all over the page, and sprayed with glimmermist. I always keep any negative pieces and templates from chipboard. They make fantastic masks!!!
8 Yrs - My other chipboard weakness, is decorative borders. They make such a dramatic statement on a page. The trick is not to overwhelm the border with too much embellishment. In this case, I have simply coated it with a bold coloured Glimmermist, and added some clear rhinestones for sparkle. Talking about sparkles, they also work well to jazz up pre-made and coloured chipboard. I have simply taken the Crate Paper chipboard pieces and added glitter glue (Kindy Glitz) to add a little sparkle to flat chipboard pieces. Rhinestones also work well in such situations. (-:
Tangled - I wanted a different shape for matting my photos, and for journalling. So I took six shaped chipboard pieces, covered them with scrapbooking paper, and added my photos (and journalling) on top as desired. I then added Helmar Liquid Glue Dots underneath to raise them and add some dimension. I love the end result - it gives a nice splash of colour without all the straight lines of squares.
Just Being You - this layout was all about experimenting. I had several new glues to try, and I wanted to see how they worked with chipboard. The green chipboard photo frame - that's Helmar Craft Glue and flocking powder. Isn't the colour magnificent? The chipboard borders were decorated with Glimmermist, coated with glue, and then sprinkled with glitter. The end result was a beautiful pink border full of sparkles.
Sweet You - I wanted to create a whimsical background for this layout. So I used my chipboard pieces to create that effect (sun, rainbow and clouds). To create my visual triangle, I simply painted the chipboard cloud and three chipboard words white, then coated them with glitter. That helps my visual triangle to pop on a background full of colour.
Photo Display Frame - what can I say? Chipboard is so versatile and fantastic for Off-The-Page projects. I've used so many techniques on this project - glittered it, sprayed it with Glimmermist, coated it with Dimensional Magic, inked it, and covered it with paper.
Treasure Box - this is by far, one of my favourite Off-The-Page projects. My daughter fell in love with this chipboard treasure box and asked my to decorate it for her. How could I say no? I used a beautiful rich brown (Glimmermist) as my base, then coated it with Helmar Crackle Mediums (in two steps). The end result was this stunning, vintage looking treasure box. Let's just say my daughter was lucky to get it back, because I really, really wanted to keep it for myself, lol!
Thank-you for joining me on this little tour through my favourite chipboard layouts and projects. It's been a wonderful opportunity for me to share my ideas and thought processes with you. I hope it entices you to go and play with your chipboard - after all, it is one of the most versatile embellishments you can use on your layouts. Seriously, you can do ANYTHING with chipboard!!! Don't be scared to experiment either... (-:

Thursday, 1 December 2011

Bad Scrapper!!!

I'm so sorry! I know, I've been a very bad scrapper neglecting my blog. Believe me, it's not intentional - because all I WANT to do is sit down and scrap, but life has other ideas at the moment (like creating kits for the store, and packing for our move to Adelaide). But maybe this will make up for it?
Here's the December sketch for Crafty Sketches (created by Kim Kendell). Just click on the link if you want to play - all the details are on the blog.
And here's what I was inspired to create. This is a layout about my baby brother, who is now a proud daddy (which still seems surreal to me at times - my baby brother is a father!!!). I don't do masculine pages often, but I really enjoyed the process of creating this one. It was very unexpected. :-)