Swing

Oh gosh, this month has me chewing my fingernails to the quick. We made the very quick decision to sell the flat we live in and had to find another place. Anyone who's moved knows the stress that comes with it. Lots of packing, sorting, arranging, hair pulling. We've been in our current flat for five years; not a hugely long amount of time, but we've accumulated our fair share of "junk". Packing boxes will come on Sunday and then it's pack, pack, pack! Oh my, my scrapbook stuff!! Just the thought of moving all of that has me breaking out in hives.

And all before that, I still have a few layouts I need to get out for HKMC's December kit. In the last week, I did manage to get one layout done during our crop session. This one features the main kit from MCS and I also used the sketch they sent with my kit. It's the same sketch that they are using for the November sketch challenge - of which I haven't submitted any work for the last few months. Time to get back into it again.

This is the sketch from My Creative Sketches

Here's my layout for the sketch

Swing

I love this kit so much as it had a TON of embellishments - die cuts, vellum cut outs, flower cut outs - all to match the papers. It made it so easy to put pages together.

 I love how the die cuts had a mix of normal, gold foil and glitter ephemera for you to pick and chose from.

 Look at the vellum pieces. I so love the hand written vellum pieces.

I added a wooden butterfly from my stash to this cluster.

Products Used

Papers, embellishments and ephemera from Crate Paper Open Book collection

Wooden butterfly from Studio Calico

Chipboard alphas from American Crafts

Photo mat pink cardstock from Bazzill

There is still so much of the kit left and I hope I have time after the move (and before Christmas) to do another layout with them. 

Thanks for dropping by and wish me luck on the move.

HK Memory Chest Kit Club - November 2014

Time is passing so quickly. It's already the beginning of November and only a few weeks left before Christmas and the end of the year. Still not cool enough for the duvet and cat on the sofa but cool enough for hikes up the hills behind our flat. It's amazing when you get up to the top, taking in the breeze and being able to look over our little domain. A perfect autumn day with rare blue skies.

Starting in November, HK Memory Chest is going through a metamorphosis, with a new location, an updated website, a new blog (www.papercraftbuffet.com) and online shop.  It is on the other end of the MTR island line and a little out of the way, but we'll still be there for classes and to offer assistance during our monthly crops. The new address is Room 1905, Trend Centre, 29-31 Cheung Lee Street, Chai Wan, Hong Kong.

On to the kit. This one is packed with stuff and I'm extra excited about it as it combines gorgeous modern elements for the city-fied girl in me. Designed by Kelly Purkey, the kit colours are perfect for autumn, with greens, oranges and purples (and can also be adapted for those Halloween layouts if you so wish).

November Kit 2014
Basic Grey “Second City” by Kelly Purkey 12×12 – Ashland
Basic Grey “Second City” by Kelly Purkey 12×12 – Lakeview
Basic Grey “Second City” by Kelly Purkey 12×12 – Hyde Park
Basic Grey “Second City” by Kelly Purkey 12×12 – Logan Square
Basic Grey “Second City” by Kelly Purkey Chipboard Shapes
Basic Grey “Second City” by Kelly Purkey Wood Veneer Stickers
Basic Grey “Second City” by Kelly Purkey Die-cuts Transparencies
Basic Grey “Second City” by Kelly Purkey Flair Stickers
Hero Arts “Second City” Stencil by Basic Grey
Maya Road Wood Veneer – Clouds
Maya Road Metal Clips – Sunny Day
Studio Calico Alphabet Sticker Book

Optional Add-ons
Sizzix Original Bigz Die – Big City by Marisa Pawelko
Lindy’s Stamp Gang Spray – Witch’s Potion Purple Starburst
Lindy’s Stamp Gang Spray – Silent Night Silver Starburst
Basic Grey Second City Cling Stamp by Hero Arts – City Map
Basic Grey Second City Clear Stamp by Hero Arts – Totally
Basic Grey Second City Cardstock Stickers

Here's the sketch based on one of my layouts.

My Hong Kong

I'm in love with the yellow city grid paper and don't even get me started on the city scape paper. Just too cool; perfect for the pics I took a while back. For the top details, I cut a border sticker in half lengthways for the purple scallops and folded down a corner to add the sun clip.

I clustered some frames and feathers to the left of the photos to balance off the page and added just a bit of stamping to draw your eye. I love the feathers and leaves that come in the kit.

The kit comes with a pack of big pack of alphas and I added them on to give a subtle title.

Bright lights, big city - yup, it may be a New York saying, but does very well for Hong Kong, if not better.

Elefun

This collection can be so versatile and I wanted to show that in a grungy layout. The colours and patterns give off an exotic vibe and I felt went well with the colourful elephants in the photos. Messy stamping and paper tearing for the background compliments the detailed photos.

 I'm loving the colourful street map paper which really pulls your eye into the photos. I edged a lot of the layers with black soot distress ink to give it a more definition.

I sprayed a doily with matching colours to lay behind the photos. The kit has a great selection of chipboard, die cuts and wooden embellishments to choose from and I enjoyed putting my accents together.

The title is an amalgamation on the word "elephant" and "fun". For the stencil on the top edge of this picture, I inked the arrows horizontally to go with the paper pattern orientation.

This Way 2 The Good Stuff

For my last layout, I love the ombre orange background paper as a contrast to the predominantly blue photos. The photos were taken in England last year where Miss C had hilarious fun trying to run around in a water zorb.

I pieced together different accents from the kit to make the title.

I added gold glitter to the heart in the cloud before adding glossy accents to keep the glitter in place. I found a little arrow stamp in my stash and stamped them in gold around the page.

To add interest around the photos, I cut up the street map paper into "patchwork" pieces to frame the lot. I added more word stamping and cut up some of the transparent pieces from the kit.

Here are some of the work from the rest of the team.

Here There Everywhere by Belly Lau

 Let's Go by Belly Lau

Hello There by Belly Lau

Fisheye Fun by Belly Lau

 Macau Mini Album by Belly Lau

Hanging Ornament by Belly Lau

School Camp by Angela Collingwood

Amazing Singapore by Erika Lui

Hello There by Erika Lui

Chai Wan Crop

11th November (Tuesday)

10:30am - 12:30pm

Hosted by Grace Wong

13th November (Thursday)

10:30am - 12:30pm

Hosted by Belly Lau

The shop may have changed locations and may be further away for some, but we hope and look forward to seeing you there for the crops. 

Happy scrapping

Just Me

Looking back at all my layouts, I could probably count on one finger how many I've done of just myself. That's right. None. Can you believe it? Not one. There's always someone else in it with me, or rather I'm always with someone else.

I was working on a new layout, with the intention of having Miss C as my subject as usual, but I smudged the photo I was going to use and I really wanted to use a close up photo for the page, so took some selfies instead. Oh, and flowers are back!! Been too long since I used flowers on my layouts.

 Just Me

Such pretty papers, Prima does it again. I love the soft yellow and pinks together. I decided to die cut the photo into an oval just to frame my face and I think it works rather well.

The flower clusters and teapot set are just too cute. I had some 1/2" tall foam squares and they really pop up the teapot and cup above the flowers.

 I cut out the stacked teacups from one of the papers and coloured them with distress markers. My new favourite tool is the Wink of Stella clear glitter brushes and you can sort of see the glimmer on the teacups and some other accents. I just love dabbing it here and there to give a subtle shine. Little flower clusters frame the main focus area and I inked the title with brown ink.

On the background paper, I stenciled in hearts and doilies with light molding paste before adding some pink and yellow staining and sketched around them with a distress marker. I also stenciled in the diamonds with gloss gel.

I was pulling out some flowers from my stash and I used the cherish from one of the packaging backing cardboard.

Products Used

Papers and die cuts from Prima Marketing Coffee Break collection

Flowers various from Prima Marketing

Wooden elements from Bo Bunny

Wooden letters from Freckled Fawn

Stencils from Crafter's Workshop

Distress Markers from Tim Holtz for Ranger Ink

Shimmer sprays in pinks and yellows
Wink of Stella clear

Golden light molding paste and regular gloss gel medium

Thanks for dropping by and see you in the next post.

November Musings

Just as October is breast cancer awareness month,  November has the tradition of Movember, bringing awareness to men's health by promoting the growth of upper lip adornment. You'll see normally clean shaven men trying to sprout lip fur all around town and although it is indeed a worthy and serious cause, it is probably what has given form to one of the cutest design trend - the moustache.

We were shopping in Accessorize the other day when Miss C was tickled pink by a moustache pencil and had to have it. I took a few pics of her and did a simple layout and I thought how appropriate to post the layout for November.

I "Moustache" You A Question

A very simple layout with just a few elements dotted around the page. I love the red polka dot background that contrasts so well with the greens and golds. I love the gold frame which give that something extra to the page. The framed moustache was from my crop buddy who was working on papers that had the moustache as well.

 I freehanded the moustache for the title before popping it up with foam squares. I wanted the word question in the same lettering but felt it didn't fit in the space I had, so I used lots of different question marks instead.

Cute stars popped up around the page to add balance.

 Yes, you are. To me, you will always be the cutest.

Products Used

Papers, chipboard and die cuts from My Mind's Eye Jubilee collection

Banner shaped alphas from Pink Paislee Pen Pals collection

Mini circle letters from Fancy Pants Designs Everyday Circus collection

Questions marks from various alpha packs

Hope you enjoyed looking. Need to do a flowery page soon. What do you think?