Lifetime Memories

Another week, another layout. In fact, I did a couple more but forgot to take photos. Duh...

The other two were for two good friends who are leaving Hong Kong very soon. They are also regular crop buddies; part of our Thursday sessions and it will be really sad to see them go. We'll be down two wonderful ladies and they will be sorely missed. I had done two layouts; one for each of them and we took a lovely group photo yesterday, which I stuck to the layouts with hidden journaling and sentiments from each of us. I then handed them over before remembering to take a photo of the layouts. I think the recipients were well chuffed with the little gifts.

During the crop session, I was able to start this page and finished it today. It's been a while since I've done a shabby chic page and this one was fun and easy to do as the papers were so gorgeous.

Lifetime Memories

The papers are naturally grunged up already, with gorgeous distressed patterns and even the corrugated cardboard is a printed effect. Such a great background paper. The photos was taken on New Year's Eve last year on our cruise to Singapore.

 Look at all that printed texture on the paper. I pretty much left the paper alone and only used some light molding paste through a floral stencil. No inks or sprays necessary. The flowers are so stunning as well and go well with the paper line.

I love the music note motifs in the patterned paper and I left the title simple, cut out from some of the sticker quotes in the kit.

I backed the photos and photo mats with a natural weave burlap. 

Products Used

Patterned papers and stickers from Kaisercraft Kaleidoscope collection

Flowers, pearl flourish and floral stencil from Prima Marketing

Light molding paste from Golden

Vintage Photo distress ink by Tim Holtz for Ranger

Bisque liquid pearls from Ranger

Blue lace

This page is going to be a gift for my in laws, so I'll be placing it in a shadow box and lugging it over to the UK with me next week.

The next few days before we go will be pretty manic. This coming Sunday, Miss C will receive her Sacrament of First Holy Communion, followed by a small celebration. I still have to make a little cake for that. I am also trying to finalize some plans with our contractor as we are getting the flat repainted and having some repairs done to our windows and eaves while we are away. I plan to bring a minimal amount of supplies with me on our trip, so hopefully, I'll be able to get some layouts done when we're over there.

Hope you enjoyed looking and happy summer to everyone,

 

May Sketch Winner!!

Happy Father's Day everyone.

We had a quiet brunch celebration with my parents, Miss C and I. Hubby took off this morning for Singapore, so he got his pressie and card last night. I think he was pretty chuffed with it.  For my dad, I made another mini album, filled with my childhood photos. He was so touched and I think that is the best kind of gift. Sadly, I didn't take any photos of it before it was handed over.

I got a nice surprise today when looking through the MCS sketches site. I was picked as the winner for the May sketch challenge. Yay!! I am really happy and can't wait to play with the kit they are sending out. Thanks MCS.
 

This is the layout I put up for the challenge, which I posted on my blog a few days ago.

Stay creative,

It's A Sunshiny Day

Another month gone and only two more weeks before we're off on our summer holidays. We'll be going back to the UK to visit the in laws. Miss C is so excited and counting down the days until she gets to see her cousin again. It's been too long.

Today, I had the chance to complete the My Creative Sketches May sketch challenge layout. The sketch may look simple, but it's your choice to make the layout as simple or complex as you like. This time, I kept it quite literal and followed the sketch closely.

Today Is A Bright Sunshiny Day

I just love the bright bright colours and patterns on this layout. The photos were taken during our Easter break at Wet n Wild in Orlando. We actually only had a patch of sand to play on but Miss C had a blast trying to bury our gear. I kept this page pretty simple to play up the colours instead.

 Such cute chipboard embellies. I also turned the banner stickers into a chipboard banner instead.

This sunshine was on one of the papers. SO cute. I knew I had to use it and it is in the perfect spot to highlight the big photo.

Products Used

papers, stickers, chipboard from Echo Park A Perfect Summer

Yellow flowers from Petaloo

White cardstock 

Thanks for dropping by,

A Father's Pride

It's only a week away from Father's Day and this year I'm well prepared - card has been bought (bought, you say? Yes, I'm not much of a card maker), presents have been purchased (just needs wrapping) and I've even completed a layout to mark the occasion. Still need to get the little one to put her personal touch to the card. The only problem is that hubby will be flying out to Singapore for business on the actual day, so we will celebrate on Saturday.

HKMC just brought in some Chickaniddy Crafts Date Night papers and it was too cute to pass up. Made up of greens and peaches, the colours are neutral enough for boy or girl pages.

A Father's Pride

 I wanted to do a mixed media page, to tie in some grunge to the pastel colours. I love the green and orange combo on the wood effect background.

For the background, I brushed on different shades of oranges in specific areas of the wood paper, I then added orange tinted molding paste through the blocks stencil, after which I stamped the circular stamp and the triangles stamp in strategic areas. I also splattered on green paint and gelatos randomly around the page.

 I added lots and lots of doodling in black and white to give the page a more grungy arty feel and to highlight the lighter pastel colours. I had some wood veneer letters left over from a used pack that spelled "remember", so I stuck them randomly around the page.

The doodling part was so much fun and very easy to do. The issue is knowing when to stop. I'm sure I went a little bit further than I should have but I still love the sketched look.

Products Used

Patterned papers, stickers and enamel hearts from Chickniddy Crafts Date Night 

Circular stamp from Hero Arts

Triangular stamp from Kaisercraft

Mini blocks stencil from Dylusions for Ranger Inks

Various paints, water colours and gelatos for background

Thanks for looking,

Happy Girly Tea Time

A couple of weeks ago, we were kindly invited to afternoon tea by Angela McDaniel, friend and fellow scrapbooker. Our daughters are also good friends and school mates, so after picking them up from school, we all piled into a cab in our afternoon tea finery and headed to the Mandarin Oriental for a posh tea. It was so cute to see little girls nibbling on warm, delicious scones and sipping tea from dainty tea cups.

Happy Tea Day

I love this pretty spring paper line, filled with gorgeous pastels. I kept the layout a bit simpler to focus on the photos of the gorgeous girls and the yummy tea set.

The adorable teapot and cups were kindly donated by Angela, who cut them from a Cricut cartridge for me.

Got a pack of buttons and pennants? Why not string them all up to make a banner.

Products Used

Patterned papers and stickers from Echo Park Splendid Sunshine

Paper flowers from Simple Stories Fresh Air

Burlap flowers from Prima Marketing

Decorative buttons and green word phrase sticker from My Mind's Eye Cut & Paste

Wood veneer hearts and quotation marks by Studio Calico

Yellow baker's twine from stash

Thanks for dropping by,

HK Memory Chest Kit Club - June 2014

Here it is. The last kit for the 2013 - 2014 HKMC kit club year. We're finishing off this kit club year with a star studded bang. Chock full of stars and rainbow colours, this kit is perfect for sports pages, encouragement pages and everything in between.

June 2014 Kit 
Bella Blvd Lucky Starz Pickle
Bella Blvd Lucky Starz Gulf
Bella Blvd Lucky Starz Surf n Turf
Bella Blvd Lucky Starz Color Crazy
Bella Blvd Lucky Starz Trinket Stickers
Bella Blvd Lucky Starz Alphabet Sticker Sheet
Bella Blvd Lucky Starz Candid Cards
American Crafts DIY Shop Chalk Badges
Hazel and Ruby Fat Roll Washi Tape
Stitched-edged ribbon

Add-on Options
Freckled Fawn Wood Chips Frames
Freckled Fawn Wood Chips Emoticons
Freckled Fawn Wood Chips Speech Bubbles
Freckled Fawn Paper Clips LOVE
Freckled Fawn Paper Clips THIS

June Sizzix Die  
Sizzix Bigz Die - Tim Holtz Alterations Prize Ribbons
 
I did two sketches this month, one based on Belly's layout and one of mine.

Little Sports Star

I love the bright coloured papers. They are just so happy. 

 I added a scalloped tag to add a little accent on the top left of the page to balance it off. I also had some enamel dots in similar colours, which I added to the stars on the backing paper.

I like how the alphabet sticker sheet has a variety of fonts to choose from. Isn't the little emoticon the cutest? I cut the star out with my eClips, backed it onto the dark blue cardstock before cutting around it with my scallop scissors.

Extra Elements: white, light blue, dark blue, orange and tan cardstock, arrow clip by Freckled Fawn, enamel dots by Prima Marketing, silver embossing powder for the mini stars

Remember & Cherish

 This is one of my favourite layouts, with the title being the main focus. I've used one of the photos before, but I love them so much, I had to put in a series.

 I heat embossed the wood frame in gold before framing one of the photos. I love the fat washi tape on the left, filled with lots of inspiration quotes

I cut out the words from one of the paper sheets and turned them into the title.

Extra Elements: red Thickers ampersand, red script alpha stickers by Doodlebug, black ink and gold embossing powder

Sweet Life

I couldn't go without doing a page with flowers, so I dug out my stash of flowers to match the papers. I kept the background white, with a pink border to tie it together.

I scattered the DIY chalk badges around the layout and instead of using chalk marker, I had some left over cut words which I stuck on instead. I love the contrast of black against the colourful papers.

I nestled the flowers and chalk badge together for an accent corner. The little orange tag was made with the fat washi tape, stuck on some white cardstock to give it stability, and propped up on the flowers behind it.

I wanted a script font for the title, so cut out the "sweet" with my eClips.

Extra Elements: white and pink cardstock. flowers Prima Marketing, wood veneer accents by Studio Calico, dark pink Thickers, pink ink sprays, pearl flower centers.

Here are the layouts from the rest of the team.

Thank You For Being Spectacular by Angela McDaniel

MMMDelish by Angela McDaniel

Hello Tea Time by Angela McDaniel

 Enjoy The Ride by Erika Lui

Don't Forget To Be Awesome by Erika Lui

 My Sweet Heart by Belly Lau

Hotel Fun @ Macau by Belly Lau

Time To Play Hard by Belly Lau

Sheung Wan Crop

3rd June (Tuesday)
10:30am - 12:30pm
Hosted by Grace Wong

3rd June (Tuesday)

7:30pm - 9:30pm
Hosted by Erika Lui

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

I hope you enjoyed looking and had as much fun with these kits as we did. The next HKMC kit club will start on September 2014 and run for ten months through to June 2015. Subscriptions are now open and we'll be bringing you more exciting kits, with more new products and ideas. To subscribe, contact Belly Lau at info@hkmemorychestonline.com or ring +852 2559 0175.