Sorting Patterned Papers.

So my oldest son, Rohan, completed his last HSC exam, turned 18 and did his first shift at Macca's, all in just over a week.  That's a pretty big week!

Currently his plan for next year is to take a gap year before starting Uni the year after, work at Maccas, make art videos and become a Youtube superstar, as you do.

Being the super-proud Mum that I am, here's his channel, MadeByRohan.

At about the same time that he and my husband were making a camera rig for his desk, I bought a huge huge huge stack of patterned papers (all on special of course) so I thought, why not start my own Youtube channel and make my own videos, starting with one on how I sort my patterned papers.  So I did! And here it is:

(Warning: it's literally me rambling on about papers for nearly 15 minutes, so if that sounds boring to you, I won't be offended if you don't watch it!!  Also I didn't check the focus before I started, so it isn't great. Sad face.)

My son said to me, Mum, your channel is called "Spend Less Craft More" and one of the first words you use is "splurge".  And it's true, I have let my stash build up a scary amount since starting this blog however many years ago, so I have a spending freeze challenge in mind for myself in the new year.

Stay tuned!

November Counterfeit Kit - first 3 pages

This year, my blog has read like one long series of failed attempts to get back into the craft room.  Which it kind of has been.  Mind you I still stand by the list of tips I posted here and here
It's been more of a case that I haven't been in the right head-space for crafting.
What's helped me this time (as well as a tip I shared earlier - gather some supplies together into a kit!) is my tip number 5:
Choose some low-pressure photos to scrap
and tip number 6:
scrap in a way that you're comfortable with, rather than trying out something new and daunting  
 
This month's Counterfeit Kit, which I've called "Dinosaur Tales" has a bright, sunny vibe that leans towards little boy photos, so my first stop was Angus' album, and I've pulled a number of photos from 2008 and 2009.  None of them have a particularly memorable story to go with them, but they're memories I'd rather scrap than not.

 It turns out that even when I'm flush with supplies, I still don't find it very easy to cut into brand new sheets of paper, so I chose one or two sheets to match each photo/set of photos, planning to add off-cuts from other sheets as I make them or from my stash as required.

But enough chit-chat, let's see those pages!

There's that dinosaur paper!  (And would you laugh if I told you that I gutted the centre of both the dinosaur and blue papers before adhering them down?)

I've cut a sheet of circles from vellum and added them to the kit, I love how they make a little home for the buttons and wood veneers. 

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you'll take the time to say hello and share with me your tips or stories of how you like to get back to the craft room!

November Counterfeit Kit

I recently had a bit of a splurge on discount papers at one of my favourite online stores. Before I'd even opened the box or seen the inspiration kit for this month, I decided I wanted to make a Counterfeit Kit using these new papers.  Want to see how I did it?

Here's this month's inspiration kit, "City Park" by Cocoa Daisy:

The very top paper in my parcel was a cute dinosaur print from Echo Park "Little Man" and it struck me as being a similar style of whimsical print to the trees and acorns in the Cocoa Daisy kit.  Unsurprisingly, it became the starting point of my November kit . . .

Dinosaur Tales

As you can see, I've taken the kit from an autumn theme to more of a boy/summer theme.  There's plenty of Echo Park here,  as well as "Little Man" there's "Anything Goes", "We are Family", "I Love Sunshine" and "Sweet Summertime".  Then there's  a sprinkling of "Shine" from Maggie Holmes, and some token October Afternoon "Travel Girl", Simple Stories "I Am", and "Memorandum" and "Cedar Lane" both from Pink Paislee.

When it came to alphabets, I had the sticker sheet from "Little Man", so that was an obvious choice, and I've added a set of black Thickers.  The box of wooden icons (from Kmart of all places!) has a similarly whimsical feel, and using some of them might help me work out how to store the rest!

Wanting to keep the embellishments simple, I've added some washi and bakers twine . . . 

and I plan to leave my boxes of buttons, brads and eyelets out on the desk, in the hope that I use some of those too!