LiIac fields . . . with no lilac in sight!

Well I knew that my purple-heavy Counterfeit Kit was going to be a challenge this month, but with four pages under my belt, and the plan to make a few cards, I knew I would be able to play around with the elements in this kit that . . . how shall I put it . . . weren't quite so purple!  And what better way than with this month's Scrapbook Boutique mood board . . .

and here's my page, featuring the cheerful combination of blue and yellow . . .

The map paper I had included in the kit was screaming to be made into a page about my eldest son, and his travel plans, post-HSC . . .

I was able to keep the relevant part of the map clear, and used a trio of rhinestones to show where we live, and the two countries he had visited so far.  Thailand, where he is currently considering going for a gap year programme, is also visible. 

In other kit-related news, I've improved my method of storing my home-made kits. For quite a while now I've been looking longingly at the Iris boxes that some of the American girls own, but with the exchange rate and postage to Australia, the cost would have been astronomical.  In the end I had another "are you a papercrafter or what" moment.  Check out my video to see what I've done . . .

Love is in the air

 
Challenge No. 1 at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge is to scrapbook about something you love.

That's pretty much what we do everyday, isn't it?  I chose to make two pages about my daughter and her friends.  I love how she has maintained friendships with her besties from the two different primary schools she attended, even though she doesn't go to high school with them.  And something that they have in common is their love of all things doggy!

 

 

To make the messy mat on this page, I took two identical sheets of 6" paper and cut a large square out of the corner out each of them. I then layered all pieces under the two photos.  Too easy!

I hope you find time to scrapbook about something you love this weekend!

February Counterfeit Kit - first two pages.

So my February kit "Lilac Dreams" has been a bit challenging to get started.  How did purple, and all it's shades, go from a colour I used to love so much (and still do, to be honest) to a colour I find so hard to use!?!

My first tip, to both myself and to you, is my old stand-by . . . when you're scrapping with older supplies, use older photos!  So here we go with my first two pages, created with photos from 2010 and the help of two different sketch challenges:

First up, it's the challenge at Scrapbooking Top 50 Australia:

and here's my page -

I'm loving playing with what I think of as "beginner mixed media" - smooshing on my gelatos, a bit of stamping and flicking a bit of mist around.  I was so pleased to find the stamp with the lady holding up her skirt and dancing - she deserved to be brought forward on the page!

This next page uses a sketch from Stuck?!

I used this sketch a bit less literally.  I took the row of three photos with the large element behind and rotated it 90 degrees . . .

Then I added a scattering of elements in a diagonal line, to support my story. 

Now, I have scrapped these photos before, in traditional "autumn colours" and while I wouldn't say I was unhappy with the finished result, the pages stick out in my albums as they aren't colours I ever use.  What I did do, though, was sneak in a hint of "winter colours" through the use of  white glitter thickers, sequins and diamontes.

Thanks for visiting! What stories will you be telling in your scrapbooks this month?

February Scrap Our Stash challenge.

Hi, I'm back and today I'm playing with the February Scrap Our Stash tic-tac-toe challenge:

I've used the diagonal line, doily, hearts and tag.

I'm once again using my Cocoa Vanilla "Free Spirit" expanded kit with photos from the shoot taken at my parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary.  The only things on this page from the original Cocoa Vanilla collection are the journalling box from the cut-apart sheet and some of the die-cuts.  I love how the background sheet brightens up the page.
  

If you're interested in seeing how I mixed the "Free Spirit" collection in with some older supplies to make this kit, here's the video again:

February Counterfeit Kit - it's a video!

This month's Counterfeit Kit comes from Scrapdelight:

My kit came together really quickly this month, because the lilac and yellow, and the floral accents reminded me of a 6" pad I own, and still have quite a bit left. I'm calling this kit "Lilac dreams"

Here's a video I made talking about how the kit came together:

And some photos:

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you find time for some scrappy adventures of your own!

100 page spending freeze - January progress.

For a while there it looked like I was only going to get 2 pages made this month, and at a page a fortnight, to make 100 pages it would take . . . yikes! 4 YEARS!?!?!

Luckily my progress did speed up at the end of the month and I have three more pages to show you, all using my "expanded" version of Cocoa Vanilla Free Spirit . . . 

The journaling for this page will tell the story about how our friends offered to look after Tibbets (our rabbit) for us while we were away.  Their youngest was very shy and wouldn't talk to us at all . . . and then unexpectedly fell asleep on the floor in the middle of the action!

Back to the photos taken on the weekend of my parent's 50th wedding anniversary . . .

One last project to bring my total up to 6 . . .

With my seldom-used Silhouette pens, I made a set of labels for my home-made kombucha.  I made 3 for each flavour, and I've numbered them to help us drink the oldest ones first (and in the hopes that my children will manage to finish one bottle before they start on the next one, but we'll see!)