Nana's girls

Banners & Pennants is the theme for the latest challenge  at Southern Girls Challenge, where we are spoiling you again with some fabulous prizes from our awesome sponsors.  The DT's have created some fabulous projects to share and inspire you.

For this layout I have tried to keep it clean and simple and let the paper show off its magnificence by itself.  I rarely get to do 'girly' pages, so I've loved the opportunity. Sadly the photo is not a very good quality as I 'borrowed' it off my girlfriend facebook page.



This  absolutely gorgeous paper is from the Kaisercraft 'Key to my Heart' collection, which I  altered very slightly with a little light inking & stamping, using Spun Sugar & Shabby Shutters distress inks.  Random papers were used for the banners & pennants.  I LOVE how the green 'pops' and really lifts the page.  I have kept the flowers to an absolute minimum- again wanting to keep everything very simple.  The letters were coloured with Dylusions Ink Spray 'Dirty Martini' then stickled.

I love how this page has turned out, and will use this style a bit more when I want a quick & easy page.
Thank you for visiting, have a happy, scrappy day.

Nana time

Well I'm really on a roll getting thru all my challenges well before the end of the month for a change.  For this layout I've followed the sketch from Dusty Attic and used another gorgeous photo 'lifted' from facebook of my pommie mate with her grandchildren.  This photo is 'oozing' love which is also part of the challenge.

I started with a Kaisercraft 'Key to my Heart' paper (have I said how much I LOVE this collection), then layered lots of banners on top of stamping & inking.  The DA Skeleton Clock face DA0430 was painted white then finished with crackle paint (not easily seen on the photo). I've used a mixture of flowers from Retail Girl, I am Roses & Dusty-in-Bloom Champagne kisses DA801.  Lettering is DA0476 & 477 mini words #2 & 3.

I love the colours in this layout, which are suitable for both male & female I think.
Thank you for visiting, have a happy, scrappy day.

Feb IARCC

This months challenge at I am Roses is of course 'Valentines' with a colour challenge of pink & yellow (not 2 colours I'd usually put together too much), they also ask for ribbon to be incorporated.  As usual their criteria is to use 2 or more of their gorgeous products . . . easy.

 

Immediately this tag came to mind, with lots of layers oozing texture and prettiness.  I adore the hearts and how they've all come together so well.  The mixture of colours on the ribbons compliment the flowers nicely.

IAR flowers I have used are:  Daisy, Cherry blossom & small S-10 (which I absolutely adore).

 

Thank you for visiting, have a happy, scrappy day. 

Years Ago

My latest layout has a real vintage feel to it with its muted colours and the mixture of stripes, florals & stitching.  I have made this as my entry into the DSD monthly sketch-n-color challenge.  It has been quite intimidating following up last months winning entry, but I think this compares favourably.

 

 

I couldn't get the colours 100% matching with the limited supplies I have to work with, so hopefully I am close enough.

 

I started with 2 Kaisercraft 'Precious Moments' papers separated by DSD 'Trunk in the Attic' Nutmeg Nostalgia, which were all distressed, inked then stitched.  The colours in this gorgeous lace just worked so well with the sketch as well. All but one flower were either Spellbinders bitty blossoms or Marianne Designs mini roses.  The black & white photos, old doily, bling & scrabble tiles all add to the vintage feel also.

 

This has been fun to make, I hope Donna's lovely ladies like it also.  Come on over and join in the challenge, there are some awesome prizes up for grabs.

 

Thanks for visiting, have a happy, scrappy day.



Art Journal 7

For this months Creative Dreams Art Journal I've tried something new for me again.  This is a great place to try out new techniques and combinations. The theme for this journal was 'Attitude of Gratitude'.

 

I started by placing a stencil over the pages and painting with gesso, which created the 'resist'.  Next came Dylusion Ink sprays - London Blue, Dirty Martini & Lemon Zest.  Once I had the spread and colours I wanted and all was dry, I attached the roses & butterflies (serviettes again).  I then stamped on the leaves which I painted, and stamped around the edge with a Dylusions stamp. 

The saying came last "Some people grumble that roses have thorns, I am grateful that thorns have roses - Alphonse Karr", kind of puts everything into prospective I think.

 

These pages actually didn't take too long to make even allowing for the drying time and for a change the ideas came quite easily.  This was a fun page to make, I enjoyed the processes and I'm sure I'll do something similar again.

 

Thank you for visiting.

Summer Days

For todays layout I challenged myself to make a quick simple layout.  Yay - success.  I've been finding lately my layouts are getting more and more complicated, which is not only taking much longer, but is actually taking some of the fun out of it.  This layout only took a couple of hours to complete (paint drying time included).

 

I've used a gorgeous paper from My Minds Eye which has been in my stash forever, and kept everything fairly simple on top of it.  Laces, doilies, paper scraps lay under the photos.  The flowers were painted to match.  Pearls and some highlighting pen finish this layout.

 

 I have followed the layout sketch & summer theme from Artfullcrafts.  Please go over to this site to see all the other gorgeous projects entered here as well.

Thanks for visiting, have a happy scrappy day.

Girls will be girls

Todays layout has been made to share with the lovely ladies at Scrapping Everyday Miracles.  The theme this month is of course 'Love' and here I've incorporated the use of their layout sketch with the theme.  Now that my sister Dena lives in Australia she doesn't see much of her family still living here in NZ.  Here are some lovely photos taken with her with daughter Tessa, grand daughter Zana & niece Anaree.

 

I've used paper from my stash and grunged it up with corrugated card & TH inks.  Doilies underlay the stunning photo's, then random flowers & a Dusty Attic Corner Flourish #1 DA0628 (which I just gave a light coat of gesso) finishes the page.

Thanks for visiting, have a happy, scrappy day.

DT Call for Southern Girls

DT Call - SGC are on the hunt . . .

"Hard to believe that 6 months has nearly passed since our last call.  We are on the hunt for some members for our happy little group.
If you think you may be interested, check out the following info:

We are an open blog so any type of paper crafters can apply.  We are a 3 weekly challenge and the team is split into 2 groups so you are only required to do 1 project per month most months.  We have lots of fabulous sponsors and sometimes they give us images to work with (YAY).  So check our sponsor list and see if these companies are your thing.  If you are a scrapbooker, PLer or OTP artist you will not need to work with the images unless you want to.
We are pretty chatty, about loads of stuff not just crafting, so be prepared to work those fingers in our group message centre on Facebook.
You will need a blog.
You will need to be able to use digital images if you are a card maker.
You will need to be a member of facebook as this is where we do our communicating.
The term is 6 months with an option to reapply.

If this sounds like a DT that may appeal to you please contact Lou & Trace at southerngirlschallenges[at]gmail[dot]com with an email telling us a little about yourself, current (if any) DTs you are on, fave techniques/styles, that sort of thing and attach your fave 3 projects for us to see and also add a link to your blog please. 
We are looking forward to perusing the hundreds of applicants emails and eagerly await all your lovely blog links.
Call closed 14 Feb 2014."

I have been on this DT for the past 6 months and have enjoyed every moment.  They are a fun group of ladies to be involved with and I have found the workload very manageable.  I plan to stay in the group for the foreseeable future if they'll still have me.