Starting the holiday album.

In my last post I showed you my Counterfeit Kit I'm using for  our recent holiday to Tasmania.

 Today I thought I'd share with you some of my process of planning the album.


With so many photos, the first step was choosing which photos to print.  I took out my pocketed page protectors (I have 4 different styles and ended up using 3 of them) and then went through my holiday photos on my computer one event at a time. (Our new computer is too new for my old edition of Photoshop Elements, so I'm using Picassa at the moment)

I chose which orientation of page protector worked best for each event, and then chose my photos.  I  cut up a whole bunch of scrap paper and wrote the file number of the photos on them, placing them in the page protectors. I also "starred" those photos in Picassa, ready to have printed.  I used those same slips of paper to hold the spots for title and journaling spots as well.  Here's a typical page at this point:

During the process, I chose which photos I wanted to have enlargements of, and placed a traditional page protector, complete with photo number, in the appropriate spot in my pile of page protectors.
Then I waited with baited breath for my photos to arrive!
I decided that it made the most sense to make the "traditional" pages first, then use the leftover bits of paper to decorate the journaling cards. So my next step was to break my big kit of papers up into a series of smaller "page kits".  Sounds like a job that needs the dining room table! 

 With each of my 16 enlargements sitting against the neutral background cardstock, I started moving the patterned papers and cardstock around, trying to get an even spread of colours that worked with each other and the photos.

Here's my thinking face:

In the end, I added one more sheet of cardstock and managed to get at least 2 full 12" pieces for most photos, or one full sheet and at least one significant sized offcut for the others.  In the kit was also one striped sheet of paper.  I've kept that aside for cutting into strips, which can be scattered throughout the album.
 

Of course I knew at this point that once I started making the pages, I would have more offcuts to play around with.

Here we've got a beautiful waterfall, and a shot of the kids at Salamanca Markets in Hobart, enjoying their Dutch pancakes.

This photo is at the blow-hole at Bicheno, on the east coast of  Tasmania.

As well as my tickets, cameras, and perfected "sequins", I've also added some washi tape and some white Silhouette "fronds" to my kit.  For continuity, I'm inking all my edges in "bark" ink.  I'm also trying to make the most of my stamps and inks by stamping on the coloured cardstock. I'm considering adding some splatter, but I can always do that later, and then I'll do it to all of them.

You'll notice there's no titles or journaling yet, I'll do that in conjunction with the pocketed pages, and work out what needs to go where.  My plan is for all the titles to be in the same font (Franklin Gothic Demi Condensed, 65 pt if you're interested) and cut on my Silhouette - probably using the positive for the traditional pages, and the negative on the title cards in the pocketed pages.

Well I hope all that makes sense, feel free to ask me questions if it doesn't, and I hope you're finding time to get a bit crafty this weekend, too!

February Counterfit Kit, "Down Under from Down Under"

Hello, friends, it's so good to be back!!
 . . . back in not-studying land . . . back in kids-at-school land . . . back in time-to-spend-in-the-craft-room land . . . back in blogging land . . . back playing at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge!
We're also back from a fabulous road trip to Tasmania, and while it's sad that the holiday is over, one of the good things about being a scrapbooker is you get to relive the holiday all over again as you put your album together.  Am I right?

My philosophy for a holiday album hasn't really changed since I completed this one back in 2011.  I'm not interested in creating a masterpiece from every photo (I'm having over 300 printed from the 1800+ taken).  What I am interested in is having an album that tells my story in a cohesive way, where my pictures are the star of the show.  I also want to be able to put it together reasonably quickly, not having it hanging over my head as an unfinished project when the next big family holiday comes along!

Early on in our holiday, Angus commented that Tasmania was "down under from Down Under", (it's the island at the bottom of Australia, get it?).  The name kind of stuck, so in honour of that, I'm naming this month's Counterfeit Kit "Down Under from Down Under":

If the photos are the star of the show, then who will the supporting actor be?

This great big pile of oatmeal cardstock, and some pocketed page protectors, that's who!  Way back here in one of my favourite "ten things" posts of all times, I wrote that I was preparing to start a pocketed "Project Life" style album, as a way of using up supplies.  I quote: "I figure my off-cut stash plus my Silhouette plus my stamps is really all the supplies I need. I already have a bunch of landscape-oriented photo protectors, so at the most I'll be buying some in other orientations, maybe some neutral cardstock and I'm good to go!"
I never did start that pocketed album, but my attitude on how to use them hasn't changed.  My photos can slot in super-quickly, I'll keep the title and journaling blocks pretty simple and uniform, and I'll break it all up with some "traditional" pages with some enlargements of my favourite photos.

Here's all the super pretty papers I've chosen.  While I've tried not to spend too much money over the last few months when I've been out of the craft room, I may have been swayed by a few (or 6!!!) paper pads that were on super-special.  So you might recognise some papers in there that are not-so-new to you, but brand new to me.
I think they include Studio Calico "Wanderlust", Basic Grey "Fact", Kaisercraft "Tropical Punch" and "Beautiful", Crate Paper "Flea Market" and Amy Tangerine "Yes Please".  I've also included a few sheets of coloured cardstock as much to challenge myself to use it as to extend the kit somewhat.
There's also some offcuts in coordinating colours.
I plan to divide them all up into page kits for the "traditional" pages as soon as my photos arrive (just a minute ago someone came to the door, and I was so sure it was going to be the mail man!!! But no, just some door-to-door guy).  That way I can spread the papers around, and the smaller left-over bits can go on the pocketed pages.

 I figured cameras and tickets make sense as embellishments, so I've cut out a bunch of them.  And those negative (or I guess they're the positive) shaped hearts and stars are pretty cute, too!
I'll probably add some washi tape and stamps as well.  I thought I'd finished my kit, but I had a bit of a "stop press!" moment when I noticed the wood veneer "sequins" in the inspiration kit, and decided to have a bit of a go on the Silhouette:

That's my first attempt, with my smallest camera and a ruler to show you the scale. I'll play around with the sizes a bit but I suspect some kraft-coloured "sequins" will be making their way into the kit sometime soon!

Well, thanks so much for visiting!  I hope you're finding some crafty time too, and I hope to see you again soon,  after the mail man has arrived!

Some Silhouette Wall Art . . .

I wonder if anyone out there understands my love affair with Mod Podge?  It's not so much the product itself, although of course it's great at what it does. . . .

It's more about the fact that when I pull it out, it can only mean one thing . . .

A Special Project!!!!!

I'm just waiting for my photos from our recent trip to Tasmania, so thought I'd whip up a Special Project that's been in the pipeline for a while . . . and show you a few other projects I didn't find the time to show you when I made them last year.

This first one, I made for Maddy's room, when she was having a tough time settling in at her new school:

For the background, I used a bunch of primarily white patterned paper scraps.  I mod-podged them to the canvas and then white-washed over them, before glueing down the words.  I chose the papers for the words from my scraps as well.

This next one makes me so, so happy.  It hangs on the wall that you see when you enter the front door, and also when I leave my bedroom in the morning.

Once again, I tried to use scraps if possible for the words, but I also wanted the rainbow effect, so I think I ended up cutting into one full sheet of paper to get the colours I was happy with.
(Actually, if any of you know your scripture very well, you'd know that two of the words are the wrong way round . . . I made a mistake with which world I cut out in which colour, and decided to stick with the rainbow order, as the meaning of the passage hasn't changed in any way!)

And finally, this weekend's quick project . . . when I first saw this Cut File in the Silhouette store (the other two are from the Silhouette store also, if you're interested), it totally resonated with me, and I knew it would find it's way onto my bookshelf sooner or later . . .

 . . . the background is a sheet of paper which was a bit too yellowy-browny for what I wanted, so I quickly brushed it over with a diluted coat of gesso while the Silhouette was at work . . . easy peasy!

Thanks for dropping by, and I hope to see you again soon!

Batch scrapping

Just ducking in quickly to finish a post I started writing back in August  ( . . . yikes!) about the progress I've made on my "Kit of Kits"!  I've got a couple of assignments due in December, and I'm resigned to the fact that we won't be seeing each other a lot until then.  But in the meantime, here's what I've been up to . . . 

Seeing I had made my page kits in bulk, I decided maybe I could do a bit of a production line and make the pages themselves in bulk, too!So I started sticking papers and photos down on a whole batch of pages until I got bored. At this stage, the only thing I'd added other than paper and photos was washi, twine and doilies to a couple of layouts.

My next step was to spread all the pages out and go through some embellishments, choosing die-cuts, buttons, and a bit of ribbon. Next, I looked at the pages one at a time and decided on the title, choosing either stickers or finding cardstock scraps to cut the title from on my Silhouette.  Once I got each page to this stage, they went back into the "work in progress" folder, complete with a sticky note outlining anything I needed to make/add.

The next part of the process was making the Silhouette cuts.  It definitely took the longest, although admittedly I was picking up kids from school and making dinner at the same time, and I'm sure it was more efficient than doing all those pages separately.  The other good thing about doing all my cuts at the same time was that it seemed worth doing a second cut of each element in my new Sihouette chipboard to add some dimension, a step that I'm not sure I could be bothered doing if I was making each page separately.

I finished the evening by running all but the largest diecuts through my Xyron sticker machine.  I think that next time I have a small window of time to scrapbook, I'll be able to finish a page or two pretty quickly!

So that's where I got up to, way back in August.  Here's the three pages I've finished since then, and with all that work done, they certainly were quick to finish!

I cut the title a number of times in different colours for this one, then off-set the layers to get the coloured shadow.  I also enjoyed putting the Easter egg die-cuts on the slide frames!

Tags and butterflies, what could be better? 

I love this page, particularly for the fact that it uses all those cut off strips and die-cuts from my stash.  (and it's easier to see the stamping on the DIY flair in real life!) 

Thanks for dropping by, and hopefully I'll get a chance to play with another page kit or two before December, but in the meantime, happy scrapping!

The kit you have when you're not having a kit . . .

Well, I don't know how you other Counterfeiters out there go, but the state of my past Counterfeit Kits is a bit of a mess.  Three kits worth of supplies all mixed up together with any other bits and pieces I had pulled out thrown in as well.

Lots of scrappy offcuts!

Plenty of paper - with plain card-stock filed away but extra Basic Grey "Hey Girl" papers included.

Other bits and pieces

  Now obviously part of the reason for that is the busyness of the last 12 months has left less time than usual for craft, and perhaps I was a little over-enthusiastic in kitting up . . . but regardless, something needed to be done! I'm too lazy busy to put it all away, so I came up with a different plan . . .
I decided to see how many "page kits" I could come up with using only (or mainly) the papers I had out.  Maddy soon joined in the fun, and the kits came together suprisingly quickly . . .

I wasn't sure how it would go at this point . . . I mean, I've made page kits before, and I've even done a few at a time before, but my general rule of thumb is to start with the photos first and pick the colours from there.  So my next step was to go through some albums and find some photos to go with each kit. 
The obvious place to store these "page kits" is a "work in progress" folder which I own.  Of late, it's gone from a place that pages move in and out of fairly regularly, to a bit of a lost corner where the end bits of kits and pages I haven't quite finished go to hide.
So while I was in the kitting up zone, I swapped around some of the papers from kits already in the folder, in the hopes of making those pages more appealing . . . 

So what I've got to play with for the next few months is a mammoth "kit of kits", consisting of a whopping 29 page kits and another 10 half-finished pages!

Silhouette page 10, and some bonus backgrounds . . .

Well it seems that no sooner had I posted my "mixed media" pages last week, but Ashli Oliver posted yet another beautiful page in which she used the "left over" diecuts from her previous page.
You can see that beautiful page (complete with video) here.

And so I was inspired to make a page that resembles Ashli's page . . . not at all!!!! But that's OK, because I had a lot of fun and challenged myself to see what diecuts I had that I could use on a "boy" page (like I said, not like Ashli at all, who has 4 daughters!)

This page for Rohan, back when he was ten, will sit next to a divided page protector with a bunch more photos, journalling and a couple more diecuts.

But then I was feeling in kind of a mixed media frame of mind, so I pulled some more "boy-friendly" diecuts and placed them on a sheet of cardstock in a colour I don't love . . .

and gessoed over the whole lot!

Then, while I had the gesso out, I did another background, using the negative pieces from a stencil I had cut, which I'd saved for just this reason . . .

Can you foresee some more mixed media fun in my future?  I hope so!  And do you think I might have pressed the "checkout" button to purchase my new Silhouette blade before the gesso dried . . . ?  Well you might not be far wrong!

Last question: do you think I've managed to "use up" my die-cuts?  Lets have a look, shall we . . .

Me, attempting to go all mixed-media!

. . . and pages 7 to 9 of my Silhouette challenge.

Can you think of any Scrapbookers out there that you love . . . but your style is nothing like theirs?  I can't get enough of the beautiful Mixed Media work of artists like Wilna Furstenberg and Ashli Oliver . . . but my own work tends towards the Clean And Simple.  I had to have stern words with myself when my local Scrapbooking Shop offered a pre-order discount on gelatos . . . I don't use the media I already own any way near enough to buy any more, no matter how beautiful they are!

But I thought that my Silhouette challenge I've given myself might just be the perfect time to take some inspiration from those lovely ladies I've just mentioned, and see what I can come up with . . . 
(supplies from a range of past Counterfeit Kits, as well as my stash)

This page started with one of the scrap paper backgrounds that I gessoed a couple of months ago.  I tried adding a bit of extra dimension with some stamping, as well as misting over a mask (white mist, so it's a bit hard to see!) Then I went to town with white die-cuts!  I decided it needed a little bit more, so I added paper flowers and kindy glitz, as I was using these quite a bit at the same this photo was taken, so in that respect it will sit quite well chronologically in the album.  Does it look better, worse, or just confused?  I'm not really sure!

This one I am sure about - I absolutely love it!I started out by covering a thin sheet of white card-stock with gesso.  Once it had dried, I used my Inktense pencils, then added enough water to get some flow.  The pencils certainly didn't apply in that beautiful way that I've seen gelatos used, but once there was enough water, I was still plenty happy with the results.  Die-cuts on this page include the kraft "journey" card, vellum doilies and white leaf sprays which I also used Inktense pencils on (note to self, thin white card-stock on its own doesn't cope with watercolour so well, try Wilna's idea of cutting from watercolour paper, or use a drier method of adding colour next time!)

Ok, so this one isn't mixed media, but it is page 9 of my Silhouette challenge, and there is a funny story that goes with it!  Maddy was hanging around as I was doing some work on the computer, and I suggest that she choose some shapes that went with this photo.  She chose an owl with glasses.  I had cut a bunch of owl shapes for a previous Counterfeit Kit, some made up and some still in pieces.  The problem was, I didn't have a piece for the body in a colour that matched the page.  Maddy's solution?  Cut one out. . . 

With scissors. . . .

Oh.  That was easy, wasn't it?

Some of you have been sharing that you're working on your own stash-busting challenges, which always makes me so happy to hear!   If you're not, I dare you to try!