HK Memory Chest Kit Club - December 2013

Hey there,

Last month of the year, but by no means the last of the HKMC kit club kits. We are finishing off the year with a bang with this very cute line. I love how there are girl and boy papers to suit both including some very cute die cut circle sheets.

December 2013 Kit
Pink Paislee - Hey Kid Hula Hoop
Pink Paislee - Hey Kid Marco Polo
Pink Paislee - Hey Kid Hopscotch
Pink Paislee - Hey Kid Simon Says
Pink Paislee - Hey Kid Ephemera pack
Pink Paislee - Hey Kid Stamps
Pink Paislee - Hey Kid Label Stickers
Pink Paislee - Hey Kid Alphabet Stickers    
Prima Marketing Flowers
Prima Marketing Mini Heart Crystals
Color Box Pigment Brush Pad in Robin's Egg

Add-On Options Maya Road Alterable Wood Bingo Motifs
Maya Road Love Words Mini Chipboard Set
Maya Road Scallop Frames Chipboard Set 
 
December Sizzix Die Sizzix Bigz Bow Die

Here's the sketch I did for this month.

Fabulous Friends

It's so cute to watch Miss C and her best friend together. This was taken at their school sports day. There are so many elements in this kit which makes it so much fun to put together.

Cute die cuts make it easy to put pages together.

 I added a hand-drawn dashed frame to give a bit more dimension.

 Use the ink pad and stamp to make cute embellishments of your own.

Strut Your Stuff

I decided to do an irregular mat for the backing. Just cut curves into your paper.

I thought the lip circle fit the theme very well and the 'fashion statement' stamp was just perfect.

I added some lace and rose trim to give it a more girly feel. Love the texture as well.

Some of the layouts from the other girls.

Climb High by Angela Collingwood

PIP by Angela Collingwood

Kids in the Park by Angela McDaniel

 Serious Music by Angela McDaniel

Gymnastic Kid by Angela McDaniel

Amazing Girl by Erika Lui

Hey Fabulous by Erika Lui

Sheung Wan Crop
10th December (Tuesday)
10:30am - 12:30pm
Hosted by Grace Wong

10th December (Tuesday)
7:30pm - 9:30pm
Hosted by Erika Lui

Discovery Bay Crop
5th December (Thursday)
10am - 12pm
Hosted by Angela McDaniel

Looking forward to seeing what you all come up with soon.

Introduction to Encaustics

Hi everyone,

Yes, it's been another month since my last update. We were away in New York for a few days after my last post.  Always love that city and I had the chance to go with hubby on his business trip, practically for free, so of course, I jumped at it. In business class no less. Ah... the life!

After coming back, I've been dedicating more time working out. I've found that I've been steadily putting on more weight in the last three years and it got to the point where I said enough was enough. I've been going to the gym Mondays and Wednesdays, Zumba on Tuesdays and Thursdays and kick-boxing on Fridays. Now the weather is cooler, I'm going to fit in more hikes as well. We have perfect hiking hills right behind our abode.  Happy to say he weight is slowly coming off.

I've had little time between that and more cake orders, that I've only been able to come up with a couple of craft projects.

This one has been a long time coming. Last CHA, we attended an encaustics class and really loved this medium. Encaustics (wax painting) has been around for centuries, mainly done on wood, although it can also be done on canvas and other substrates.  This link gives a basic overview on encaustics.

We decided to create a class to give others a chance to experiment with this medium. I created a 4"x6" piece on wood, mixing coloured pigment waxes and sealing materials.

Panda Life

This was my sample for the class. The panda was cut out of a magazine. 

Some pictures of the class. Each student got a full set of Purple Cow encaustics tools, including the heat tool, tips and encaustic waxes to take home.

Even I had to do another one, they were so much fun to do.

 I love this snail one so much.

 This one is my second project.

This was a lot of fun, and it was really cool to see all the different colours and themes that came out.

Thanks for looking,

HK Memory Chest Kit Club - November 2013

Hi all,

How is everyone doing? It's been a slow month, scrapbooking-wise, for me. After the retreat, I was bogged down with cakes and then we went away for ten days. Wow, what a great time we had: Rome, Sicily, Greece and Turkey; cruising around the Med. Three days in Italy and seven days on the cruise. I love cruises, but they're also the worst things - for your diet (that is). So much food on board and everything is five minutes walk of each other. I think I had to spend more time in the gym than anywhere else. Mind you, we had mini golf, ice skating and rock climbing to keep us active as well.

Right after coming back, I had to dig right into making my cousin's wedding cake. A beautiful three tier ivory creation that took 20+ hours to complete. I think the most hair-raising challenge was to get it to the venue in one piece, which, luckily it did.

I did, however manage to get two November kit club layouts done. Funnily enough, I did both of them before we went away and for the Roma layout, left the photo areas blank until we came back.

November 2013 Kit
October Afternoon - Travel Girl Pattern Paper - Guide Book
October Afternoon - Travel Girl Pattern Paper - Subway Token
October Afternoon - Travel Girl Pattern Paper - Journal
October Afternoon - Travel Girl Pattern Paper - Train Case
October Afternoon - Travel Girl Designer Brads
October Afternoon - Travel Girl Border Stickers 12"
October Afternoon - Travel Girl Tin Pins
October Afternoon - Travel Girl Cardstock Die-Cuts
Prima – Flowers
American Crafts - Little Bo Peep Thickers Alpha Stickers Lullaby Foam (Grey)

Add-On Options
October Afternoon - Travel Girl Label Stickers
October Afternoon - Travel Girl Word Stickers
October Afternoon - Travel Girl Washi Tape
Hero Arts x Basic Grey Carte Postale Clear Stamp Prima – Flowers

November Sizzix Die
Sizzix Bigz Suitcase Die

Here's the sketch and layouts I did.

 Look To The Horizon & Beyond

For some reason, these papers spoke to me for the photo. I kept this one simple, showcasing the papers and elaborated on the title instead.

I had these glass pebbles that I used to create a bit of oomph to the plain chevron.

I masked off the sunburst stencil and sprayed it orange to give a sun rays effect.

Create your title with different sizes and colours of alphas to add interest.

Extra Elements: Sunburst Stencil by Crafters Workshop, EK Success notebook punch, Prima mini alphas, brown cardstock, glass pebbles of various sizes

Roma

This was the layout I put together before we left on holiday. I used blank cardstock cut to size as my "photo holders" until we came back and I had actual photos to swap them out for. I only have five photos here, so I may expand this layout to a double page with more photos when I have time.

 This the cutest suitcase die. I really had fun die cutting this one and putting it together. Whoever thought of this die is a genius.

I looped the baker's twine around the page and across my title so that your eye will follow it to the tiny little plane on the top right of my layout. I had to dig in my stash for a geotag. I love them.

Another little accent square to break up the photos.

Extra Elements: Baker's twine from Doodlebug, wooden geotag from Studio Calico


Here's a few of the layouts from the rest of the team.

Central Park by Angela Collingwood

Travel Log by Angela Collingwood

Home by Angela McDaniel

Oh, The Places You'll Go by Angela McDaniel

Travel by Angela McDaniel

 Get Lost by Erika Lui

 Have Fun by Erika Lui

Sheung Wan Crop
19th November (Tuesday)
10:30am - 12:30pm
Hosted by Grace Wong

12th November (Tuesday)
7:30pm - 9:30pm
Hosted by Erika Lui

Discovery Bay Crop
14th November (Thursday)
10am - 12pm
Hosted by Angela McDaniel

Note that my Tuesday crop is on the third Tuesday of November, not the second week. Reason being, I'm off again tomorrow to NYC. Yes!! Gallivanting around the globe with the hubby, yet again. Yeah, yeah, I know. Such a hard life.

See you soon,

Three For Two

Hey there,

Finally getting round to posting on the retreat layouts I did. During the spring retreat, I got through four layouts in two days; this time managing to get through three full layouts and finishing off one I had been working on, so I'm not counting that one in my production count, although I will post it on here. Hopefully, this is not becoming a downward trend, or else I'll be coming away with just two layouts for the next retreat. Hope not!

Here's what I got through in the two days.

Lush Picks

 I was working on this at home and couldn't quite get it the way I wanted, so it was kept on the back burner for a few weeks. In the end, I got mad at myself and just told myself to finish it. All it was really missing were a couple of extra embellishments and the title. So here it is.

 I love the words strip and felt it would have been a shame to cut it all up, so left it whole. I do like the little postcard behind the photos. The title took forever to choose. We go fruit picking every time we're in the UK for the summer, so I was running out of suitable titles.

This paper collection is a lot of fun, with so many colours and cute embellishments.

Cute little 3D stick bike that I just had to put somewhere on the layout.

Products Used

Papers, chipboard, stickers from Simple Stories I [heart] Summer

Yellow cardstock
Yellow foam Thickers from American Crafts

Be Free

Chalkboard is a huge trend this year. Seems like all the paper lines have incorporated black/chalkboard papers or embellishments somewhere in their collections, and I am loving it. Any layout with a little (or a lot) of black really makes what ever you put on it pop.

I used a few fussy cut and sticker flowers and leaves to frame the photo.

I splattered on some Celadon and Ginger Flower Silks Acrylic Glaze on the background paper to add another dimension and bring out the colours of the paper line.

I free-handed the "be" to match the paper line. I like the added white acrylic paint accents around the elements. I think it adds movement and visual interest.

Products Used

Papers, stickers and quote card from We R Memory Keepers Chalkboard collection

Celadon and Ginger Flower Silks Acrylic Glaze

Black foam Thickers from American Crafts

White acrylic paint

   Lovely

Using the same paper line as the above layout, I used the ombre peach paper as the background this time, with black as a secondary colour. I love the shabby chic look of this page.

For the background paper, I added Carmen Silks to molding paste, before spreading it randomly through a circle lattice stencil. I then highlighted them with gesso. I rough distressed the edges of the papers before stacking them down, lacing ribbon around two of the pieces.

 Lots of pretty Prima flowers frame my cutie on both sides.

I added a gorgeous resin heart which I found locally, placing it in a chipboard frame. I also love the little bird and nest. I finished everything with a brush of gesso to highlight.

Products Used

Papers from We R Memory Keepers Chalkboard collection

Chipboard frame and decorative brads from My Mind's Eye Chalk Studio collection

Flowers from Prima Marketing
Black glitter chipboard Thickers from American Crafts

Circle Lattice Stencil by Heidi Swapp

Carmen Silks Acrylic Glaze

Enamel dots by My Mind's Eye

Heart, bird nest resin and ribbon sourced locally

White gesso from Golden

Zoommm

Here's something different from what I usually do. The colours are super bright and were perfect for these photos. I laugh every time I look at them. In the first one, hubby is driving with a fierce look; in the second, Miss C is driving, hence his scared look. I've decided that I really do need a line or two of journaling on the layout about this.

I wanted to complement the photos with all the accents - using frames to look like race tracks and arrows to suggest speed.

I love the cute tags and cameras. Again, another paper line with chalkboard papers and accents.

Love the little speech bubbles - they match the fun aspect of the layout.

Products Used

Papers and stickers from Echo Park Here & Now collection

Paper frames, arrows and arrow button from Fancy Pants What A Wonderful Day collection

Grey cardstock from Bazzill Papers

There you go. Three (and a half) layouts done. Wish there were more, but I guess I will have to challenge myself on that next retreat.

Now it's time to finish off my November HK Memory Chest kit club samples before we go away this Thursday. Miss C has her mid term holidays next week and it's also our 10th wedding anniversary on the 18th, so we're off to Rome and onto a cruise through the Mediterranean. What a trip that will be. Can't wait!!! Right after we get back, I'll be doing the biggest and most challenging cake ever for my cousin's wedding.

I'll see you back in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for dropping by,