A few quick pages

After the couple of pages I shared recently, I was finding it pretty hard to get excited about my June Counterfeit Kit.  Number one, I've got a pile of new purchases bought in the EOFY stocktake sales, and Number two, I've had my eye on some of the new sketches Shimelle has posted recently, none of which match the photos I've chosen to go with my kit.

A short break from the kit is in order, don't you think?

I found some photos to go with this sketch:

I went with photos of Angus from when he was just starting Tae Kwondo.  I loved that the four quadrants of coloured paper meant I could represent all the colours of belts - yellow, green, blue and brown, with white and black also appearing on the page.

There are two things from my Counterfeit Kit on this page - wood veneer stars and white thickers.  I confess the title was inspired by the letters I had left on the sheet, that "o" being my last vowel!

I've been meaning for ages to incorporate their training cards onto a page somehow, and I've finally done it - using a circle cutter to cut the logo out of three cards, and using the back side "the 5 principles of Shi-Gan" as my "journalling"

Awesome! Now let's see if I can get back to that kit, perhaps?

 A Back-to-school page for Maddy from this year . . .

I added in the alphabet paper which is from Studio Calico "Classics".  The kraft butterflies were in the kit, and I die-cut some more in the maroon colour, and added buttons to make my dimensional butterflies.  Then washi tape flags, DIY dimensional dots, and done!

 Now it's Rohan's turn:

This page was using the blue cardstock I wasn't quite sure if it matched closely enough to use.  After a bit of misting and splattering I decided I was happy with it.  All the papers on the page are from the same sheet, which has borders on one side and that geometric pattern on the other.  I decided to make a feature of the numbers on two of the strips, and incorporate the direction of the chevron strip in my design also.

(Journalling still to come)

For some reason, I didn't print out enough photos to do this year's "back to school" pages for all the albums, so let's move on to extreme sports, shall we?
This page uses a bit of a fall-back of mine, three portrait photos lined up in the middle of the page.

This one doesn't have journalling yet, either . . . I need to do a bit of research on the details of the event first. At this stage, I don't plan to add any further embellishment beyond the splatters - but I reserve the right to change my mind!
And yes, another title inspired by my left-over thickers, because if you can't use a left over "X" when you're talking about extreme sports, when can you, really?

Finally starting on my June Counterfeit Kit.

So . . . what's been happening around here lately?  Some working, some sickness, some sewing . . . some more working, some more sickness . . . even the odd load of washing or two!  But finally I've made it into my craft room to play with my Counterfeit Kit!

Way, way back (or that's how it feels!) after I first made my Kit up, I decided to pull out some photos and keep matching photos to papers and cardstock until I'd allocated every sheet in the kit . . .

If I manage to get all those pages done, that would be 7 singles and 2 double page layouts.  . . . and I'll probably be adding a lot more product!  So that's the papers sorted, but my die-cuts don't match so well (note to self: when creating next month's kit: choose papers, then photos, then embellishments!)

OK, enough chattering, where are the pages already?!

A couple of pages for the neglected middle child, perhaps?

One covering the last day of school last year, when he said goodbye (at least in terms of sharing a classroom with them) to some of his best school friends, who have headed off to high school this year.

And one with photos from this year's swimming carnival.  We're not a very sporty family, and neither do we think leadership is one of our greatest qualities, so we were both surprised and delighted that Angus was voted House Captain this year. I love to call him "Captain Angus" at every opportunity.   He loves wearing his badge and, being captain of the red house, that red badge sure does stand out on his uniform!

June was the first kit in a few months that I didn't include DIY "flair" and "dimensional dots", so you can guess what I reached for on both pages, can't you!  Other additions to the kit include thin paper strips and extra washi on the first one, and 6" papers and red diecuts left over from another kit on the second one.

Also some new stamps from a recent spend.  True story: I was a bit annoyed that I hadn't thought to put my stamping on the "Hello holidays" page before I adhered my photos to the page, as there was a bit of a gap where the stamps didn't reach.  I figured I'd make it OK with layering and washi tape.  When I came back later, I realised, OH! the photos actually weren't adhered to the page at all! Ooops! Oh well, like I said, layering and washi tape!

In which my Denim Needle gets a Good Workout.

Well, it's been a while since I've written about any fabric stash-busting. Perhaps I've bitten off more than I can chew this year?
But at last I have something to share with you!

See that embroidered denim on the right?  It's no longer a length of fabric but a skirt!
 

Of course, the path couldn't be all smooth running . . . I couldn't find anything suitable in my (vast) button stash, so put this one aside for a while . . . ironically, when I finally made it to Spotlight I still couldn't find a button that  I loved, so decided to buy 2 jars of button mixes and use all different buttons . . . cheaper than anything else  I vaguely liked, but possibly could have used what I owned after all . . . oh boy, now my button stash is even bigger! 

But one "very easy" wrap-around skirt doesn't make a "good workout", does it?  While I had the machine out, I also hemmed a couple of new pairs of jeans . . . and . . .
. . . deep breath . . .
Now for confession time!  The fabric stash I never told you about! About four years ago I purchased a book on various methods of re-purposing old jeans.  I bought a bunch of old jeans at various second hand shops and sewed like crazy, mainly bags, and several ended up as Christmas presents.  But then the rest of the jeans sat in one of those under-bed storage boxes for the next four years or so.
So I figured while I was in the denim-sewing frame of mind, I might as well try and reclaim that storage box, ('cause, boy, I sure could use it!)
So I sewed up a couple of heat packs from the legs of one pair of jeans . . .

(photo coming soon)

. . . and finished off this gored skirt I started all those 4 years ago . . .

That's four pairs of jeans sacrificed for this skirt!

With what was left in the box, I've bagged the remaining intact jeans up to be re-donated, and selected a few of the bigger pieces to be put aside for a couple more heat packs and another project I've got in mind. . .

Hooray! Two new skirts and I've got a whole storage box to use under my bed!

My June Counterfeit Kit

This month, the Counterfeit Kit Challenge has two choices of a kit to copy, both from Scraptastic.

I chose to Counterfeit the "After the Storm" Kit, as I thought I could match the colours the best, and I knew I had something similar to that floral in the top left corner.

I also figured the blue/green/yellow colour scheme (with a few feminine touches) is very versatile for all kinds of pages.  And because it ended up looking so fun, I've named this months kit,

Come Out to Play

I can feel some shopping coming on soon, but in the meantime, I'm trying to make use of what's sitting in my stash.  How did I do?
Papers from: EP For the Record 2:Documented (2) Studio Calico"Take Note" (2) and EP For the Record 2:Tailored (1)
Echo Park "All About a Boy" (3) and Pink Paislee: Portfolio (1)

It's getting harder and harder to match cardstock from my stash, particularly blues.  I've added a few sheets in, but will I manage to use them somehow, go shopping for  a better match or leave them in the bottom of the box?  Your guess is as good as mine!

I've included 3 different Echo Park alphabet sheets, and I'm secretly hoping to somehow get one more use out of my one and only set of Thickers!

Here's a super-old sheet of SEI tags.  Once they're pulled apart, I think there are a few that will work in nicely with the colours.  I've added a bund of other tags and journalling cards, mostly cut-aparts from the collections mentioned above.

I managed to put a sheet of kraft cardstock through my Silhouette before I got bored.  Love, love. love the butterflies, and the fact that I've got both positive and negative to play with in all the "project life" style cards!

The one purchase I have made recently was washi tape, so I've included a generous 5 rolls this month!  I still own three sets of wood veneers and I still love them, so here they are again!  

Because I wanted to include something a bit different this month, I've pulled out some (old!) star paperclips and (probably older!) slide frames.  I think they look pretty good framing wood veneers, don't you think?

How's your creativity this month? Are you going to "come out and play" with the Counterfeit Kit Challenge, too?

Mixing it Up with PageMaps

Just dropping in quickly to show you a page I made using this PageMaps sketch:

as well as the challenge to "mix up" some patterned paper.

I've stretched the sketch a bit to make it a 12" page using larger photos.  My papers are from Pink Paislee and Echo Park (the tape measure is from the reverse side of the tangerine paper) as well as a scrap of a very old Basic Grey (I think!) paper to make the DIY flair.

The idea to use washi tape to make a banner is one I found at a tutorial by Azumi Azuno at Shimelle's blog here.  I think it's one I'll be using again!

P.S. Thanks to Lesley for the prompting to link up with "Whimsical Wednesday" at The Memory Nest again this week!

First day of winter - and May Counterfeit Kit Wrap-up

 

Yesterday, as I was in the yard hanging out the washing, I thought to myself, autumn has finally arrived, only to realise, hey! It's the first day of winter!
So for those of you in the northern climes who are heading into summer, here's what our place looked like yesterday:

Would you have guessed it was winter if I hadn't told you?

But what's a cold, autumny/wintery sort of day for, but spending in the craft room when the chores have been done?!

I have one more page to show you, then I'll show you what's left of my May Counterfeit Kit.  I used the following PageMaps sketch . . .

for one of their current challenges, which is to replace the floral embellishments with something a little more creative.


I used a (fairly ordinary) photo taken on our 20th wedding anniversary, and the largest piece of patterned paper from last month's kit, then added bits and pieces from there . . . 

As you can see, I've replaced the flowers with clusters consisting of washi tape, grey flourishes, wood veneers (2 in each cluster, representing the two of us!) and some sequins for a bit of bling!

So, last month's kit.  You might remember, I was giving Shimelle/Glitter Girl's "Layouts Within Limitations" a go, which had the goal of 3 finished single pages.

  I managed those three single pages, plus two more,

with bits pulled from the kit to make the above page, as well as two more:

From 5 full sheets of paper, 5 sheets of cardstock and 5 6" sheets, here's what I've got left:

Oooh, I think for the first time I might truly be able to say I've "killed my kit"!

Here's what's left of my sticker sheets:

They look pretty picked over, don't they?  But I'm happy to say that it doesn't look like I've used all the "good ones" and left the duds! I think there's more stickers there that I'll use, and hopefully I'll be more relaxed doing so!

How have you been going using your supplies lately?  I've already got my thinking cap on for my June Counterfeit Kit, how about you?