A Glimpse of Japan

Hey there. One of our favourite places to go is Japan and we've already been twice in the last six months. It's not too far from Hong Kong and we are in love with all things Japanese, not least of all the food. It is Miss C's favourite destination and she loves all the cute "kawaii" products and characters.

We took a mother and daughter trip just before Christmas last year to Okinawa for a few days and we had another trip to Tokyo in early February with our company. Both trips were so much fun and I always look forward to another trip there. These aren't all the photos taken on our trips, of course; just a few. I hope to scrap more of them soon.

 Pika Pika Pikachu

With the huge Pokemon-go mania happening last year, Miss C fell in love with all things Pokemon, so of course we had to visit a Pokemon centre when we were in Okinawa to check out the merchandise. This big yellow Pikachu was so cute and begging for a cuddle. I chose this paper line for the photo as it looks fun and colourful to match.

Adding an arrow and some tags draw your eye towards to photo and title.

 An accent corner to balance out the page.

Pretty Park

Behind the hotel we were staying at in Okinawa, was a Chinese style garden with pagodas and waterfalls. We spent an hour taking photos, feeding the fish and Miss C got splashed by some hungry carp looking for their lunch. I chose this paper line as it has an almost oriental design.

Since the photos are of a garden, I added pots of flowers on the side.

 Always love camera accents.

I  cut alternating coloured strips as the backing for the photos and added some accents around.

 Amazing Happiness

 These next three layouts are from our Tokyo trip in February. This one, we tracked down some early blooming sakura trees in Yoyogi Park. So beautiful and I love how the papers complement the photo with all the beautiful pink flowers.

 Really love the gold foil wood grain ampersand against the pink and green flower.

 I love the dimensional flowers that look a little like the cherry blossoms. I inked the accents a little and also added gold rubon stars and hearts around the page.

 I recently got this blossom stamp and absolutely love it. I stamped the flowers around the photo and on the sides in tattered rose distress ink.

Let's Sushi

 Can't go to Japan without getting sushi and we found a great place that did amazing, fresh, delicious sushi at a reasonable price. Miss C couldn't miss out on her ikura (salmon roe) rice bowl - her absolute favourite, as you can see from her expression - polished it off in record time. I was looking for the right kit to use with these photos and really love the rich red as a background.

 I like the contrast of the glittery gold and criss cross pattern of the chipboard letters. I also love the row of cameras across the page.

 A small accent cluster to balance off the photo.

Products

Papers and accents from American Crafts Shimelle Go Now Go collection

 

Prickly Cuddles

Japan is full of animal cafes and when we heard about a hedgehog cafe, we had to have a look. These cuties are so adorable but they really are quite prickly. We used gloves to handle them but some others were using bare hands. We did try, but ouch. We got to feed them meal worms, which they love. Very cute animals. Don't you love the navy blue background paper with the peach cross paper?

I really like the patchwork hearts and Love that tie in the colours of the papers.

The little bird is too cute and adds a little whimsy to the photos.

I still have more Japan photos to scrap and hope to get round to them when I can find the right papers to scrap with them.

Thanks for looking,

It's All About Family

Hey there. It has been absolutely ages. Last post was in October last year. Wow. It seems like a long time, and yet, not that long. Time passes that quickly.

I have been scrapbooking, not as much as usual, but still have a few to show you. I finally got round to taking photos of my layouts yesterday (they were piling up and needed to be filed). I'll split them into several posts and try to place as much products details as I can, but some of the layouts were made month's ago and so I will have to dig around for the products I used.

Here's the first few:

Family

This layout is especially dear to me as it's the last photo of my dad with my mum's side of the family here in Hong Kong. It was taken early 2016. After that, his health started to deteriorate. I created this layout before he passed but it's taken me this long to publish it.

 I love the soft pastels of the colours and the gorgeous flowers. Absolutely love the letter pendant tucked behind the flowers.

 I painted the wooden swirl in blue to lend a bit more focus for the photo.

 I've seen people use dry wall tape as an accent and found some in my local hardware store, so decided to use some on this layout. I really like it as an additional texture.

Family Cherish and Love

In contrast to the first layout, this one is more positive, with Miss C and her two cousins meeting up during Easter break, all the way in Las Vegas. Hubby attends a convention in Vegas every year, so we thought we would tag our holiday onto it. We were joined by my sister in-law, nephew and niece, who flew in from the UK. It was a lot of fun and this was taken in a stretch limo on the way to a shopping outlet. And boy, did we shop.  The papers are very bright, so decided to turn the photos to black and white.

 I gessoed, then painted the wooden 'family' blue to match the blue polka dot strip above it.

I love all the hearts in this layout, from the background to the clothes line banners and the ones on the cameras to the big together heart on this picture. So cute.

Halloween Boo Wicked

A testament of how long it's taken to post my layouts, this one was done not long after Halloween last year and has been sitting in the pile waiting for me post. Last year, Miss C wanted to look scary, so we did the bloody make up. We also made hot glue "sliced neck" necklaces which we dabbed with red alcohol ink to wear around our necks.

 Love the ghoulish coffins and skulls.

I used a Tim Holtz die to cut out the diamond shaps and added black soot distress embossing powder to give it texture.

 I also stenciled some Halloween words with molding paste mixed with some black soot ink.

Hope you enjoyed these layouts. 

See you on the next post,

Halloween House

Hi there. It's been a while. Family issues have been getting the best of me lately and it's been an emotional time here, so I've not been very active with my scrapbooking. I've been trying to get more layouts out and still keeping up with my kid's classes. I have now taken that down to once every two weeks but made them more substantial.

Halloween is always a great time to get ghoulishly creative and the Tim Holtz village dies (love them) are so versatile; suitable for any season. I worked with the village dwelling die and the village bungalow die.

 Halloween House

 Is this not adorably spooky? I set the house on a larger 6" x 6" wooden board rather than the die cut platform as I wanted to add more space around the house and I love the witch flying on the roof.

 I made the pumpkin out of paper clay, let it dry, then painted it with acrylic paint.

 I drew and cut out two cute little ghosts to peek out from the windows. The girls in class drew and cut out all sorts of animal ghosts to make it fun. I also cut out more of the arched door to make tomb stones, which I blotted with white paint.

I used a texture plate on the roof die cuts and then used green and brown acrylic paints to make the texture stand out. I also inked all the window frames and shutters in the same paint.

For the walls of the house, I painted them in a greys and browns before stamping on a brick pattern. I finish it off with a fence surround and some "cobwebs".

Products Used

Black and white cardstock

Tim Holtz Village Dwelling die and Bungalow die

Sizzix ornamental die

The Cottage Cutz Witch die

Paper clay for pumpkin

Acrylic paints

Cobweb

Happy Halloween!

HK Memory Chest Kit Club - August 2016

Hi there. How is your summer? Did you go away? Stayed put? Out of the six week summer holidays, we spent most of it in Hong Kong, but we did have an epic trip out to New York and cruise from Port Liberty in New Jersey to Bermuda and the Caribbean. Such an amazing holiday.

We spent a couple of days in New York before boarding the ship and heading out to Bermuda. The ship itself, Anthem of the Seas, was enormous, with bumper cars, sky diving tunnel, wave rider and countless restaurants and entertainment. An adventure in itself. We snorkeled in Bermuda, zip lined through the trees in St Maarten, explored rain forests in Puerto Rico and sun burned on the beach in Haiti before heading back to New Jersey and New York. We spent a few more days wandering and eating our way around the streets of NYC before heading home.

I can't believe how quickly this summer has passed. Miss C is back in school on Monday and it's back to routines again.

Speaking of summer, it's with deep sadness that HKMC/Papercraft Buffet will cease its kit clubs. This August kit is the last one for a while. Reasons are numerous, but this does not mean the end of my blogs. I will still be scrapbooking and cropping with friends, so keep your eyes peeled for more layouts from me.

Without further ado, here is the final kit.

August Kit 2016
Jen Hadfield “Everyday” – Angled Thoughts
Jen Hadfield “Everyday” – Happy Thoughts
Jen Hadfield “Everyday” – Pops Of Color
Jen Hadfield “Everyday” – Brush Strokes
Jen Hadfield “Everyday” – Sunny Blossoms
Jen Hadfield “Everyday” – assorted 6×6 papers
Jen Hadfield “Everyday” – Decorative Cardstock Tags
Jen Hadfield “Everyday” – Thickers Ella/Floral Chipboard
Jen Hadfield “Everyday” – Ephemera Die-Cuts
Jen Hadfield “Everyday” – Rhinestone Stickers
Petaloo Botanica Blooms – White
My Mind’s Eye “Hello Gorgeous” – Enamel Shapes
American Crafts Thickers – Vanilla/Ivy Foam

The sketch for this month:

 Ahoy!

I'm loving the blue of the ocean and blue of the ship and had to replicate it on my background. The cruise was to the Caribbean, so I wanted that colour and feel to the page.

So cute - the kit came with several anchors and they went perfectly for my cruise photos.

Beautiful white blooms give a tropical feel to the page.

Be Crazy

I love the neutral wood grain paper against the flowers and pops of colour on the page.

A cluster of embellishments to anchor the photo and mat.

Some flowers and I cut out the word 'love' from a larger card to balance off the bottom right corner of the page.

Lovely

A mix of different papers and also the branding strip for the background. I love how regal Miss C looks in the gorgeous scrolled chair.

 Some arrows to pull your eye into the centre of the page and to the other accents.

I love the gold foiled vellum that give a shimmer of pizazz to the page.

Sassy Gal

When I saw these papers, I immediately thought of using the lips photo to keep everything in the red/pink spectrum. 

I cut out the big and small phrase cards and placed them randomly around the page. I also love the enamel dots and gems around the page.

The kit comes with white foam thickers, which I coloured red and pink to match.

Here are some of the layouts from our other ladies:

 

 Lantern Beauty by Belly Lau

Make Everyday Count by Belly Lau

 Sometimes Crazy

Hiking by Belly Lau

 Hello Love by Erika Lui

Camping by Erika Lui

First Taste by Erika Lui

 

We will be having one last kit crop in September, most likely the second Tuesday, date to be set soon.

 

It's been a great pleasure and honour to be on the design team for HKMC/Papercraft Buffet.  I've made some good friends and have loved sharing my passion for scrapbooking with others. Special thanks to Belly Lau for her patience and generosity during the years. I will continue to help out with the company if required and carry on scrapbooking.

 

Thanks for dropping by,