Callibee Scraps: HK Memory Chest Kit Club

Happy Chinese New Year - yes it still is. We're on day 11 of 15, which is the length of celebrations for CNY, although most people don't celebrate that long. Most have already gone back to work and school and life is back to normal.

The weather here is already changing for Spring showers and humidity; not that it got very cold here this winter. I think the lowest it went was 13 C. Speaking of Spring, the HKMC March kit is full of Spring and Easter connotations - birds, feathers, pastel colours, eggs... Such a pretty, jam-packed kit to work with and I just love feathers as an embellishment.

March Kit 2015
Webster’s Pages Nest – Catch Your Dreams
Webster’s Pages Nest – Tickled
Webster’s Pages Nest – We Belong Together
Webster’s Pages Nest – My Home
Webster’s Pages Hall Pass Printed Vellum – Journaling Cards
Websters Pages Handcrafted Paper Kit – Toppers/Feathers
Freckled Fawn Enamel Dew Drop Stickers
Maya Road Kraft Die-Cuts – Doilies
Maya Road Bird Resin Embellishments
Prima Marketing Cradle Bird Nest W/Eggs – Robin
Prima Marketing Resin Icon Embellishments – White Feathers
Prima Marketing Junkyard Findings Vintage Trinkets – Small Typo Bulbs
Prima Marketing Flowers
Paper House Snap Shots Stickers – Nature
American Crafts Happy Day Thickers Alpha Stickers – Woodland/Wood Print Chipboard
Viva Decor Paper Pen – Glitter Gold Transparent
Cotton Baker’s Twine – Creamy Pastel
Cotton balls

Optional Add-ons
Dear Lizzy Day Dreamer Dies
Hot Off The Press Acrylic Stamps – Feathers
My Mind’s Eyes Jubilee Sherbet Chipboard Stickers – Peace

Here's my sketch for the month:

Birds Of A Feather

I just love the background paper with all the feathers and so had to title my page accordingly. This page is more messy and grungy - haven't done that in a while.

All the embellishments are just too sweet. I love the little bird's nest and resin feather and that light bulb - too cute. I used distress inks to colour in the die cut hearts.

I die cut the scalloped rectangle and used another one of my dies to cut the inside window to create a frame around my photo. Behind that, I stamped on a solid black feather and added silver perfect pearls for the details. For the background paper, I used a weave stencil with light molding paste and aslo added splatters of spray inks and stamped on matching coloured feathers all around the page. The two birds were a bit fiddly to cut but I love how they sit next to the photo.

I punched out two contrasting borders with my doily die to anchor the photo. I love the wood effect Thickers; they bring a bit of "nature" into the page. A few colourful enamel dots around the page pulls everything together.

Extra Elements: Dylusions black, teal and Colorshine pink spray inks, Prima weave stencil, Golden light molding paste, Martha Stewart doily punch, Tim Holtz distress inks, Hero Arts shadow inks in various colours

Love To Dance

My sweet girl in her ballet performance outfit - she's a fairy - all made up and pretty. I love the colour and dots on the background paper and felt they matched the costume nicely.

I used the same distress ink coloured paper I used to die cut the hearts for the previous layout to die cut the "love" and also in white, offsetting them to create a "shadow".

The gorgeous flowers come in the kit and I cut all the strips into them to give them a feathery look (no pun intended).

For the background paper, I stenciled in some random circles and dabbed on the gold glitter pen. I also stamped and clear embossed some words on the background to give it more interest.

Extra Elements: Golden molding paste, Heidi Swapp stencil, Kaisercraft and Paper Smooches stamps, Versamark ink, Tim Holtz distress inks

Sugar Fluff

I'm not a pocket style (Project Life) scrapbooker, but I did want to try a bit of the look on a layout. The photo was taken a year ago on our New Year cruise. The cotton candy is the funniest - looks like an umbrella or a cloud.

I added some dry embossing on a couple of the panels to give more texture to the layout. I cut out two of the ribbons and layered them together before adding an enamel dot. I kept the title simple to match the clean look of the layout.

The "love this" was cut from a new die I got from HKMC. I kept the resin feather as is, but you could colour them with anything from water colours to spray inks and paints. I thought the mini cloud polaroid matched the layout perfectly.

The kit came with a nice challenge - cotton wool balls. I thought of several ways to use them on a layout, but I think I like this one the best. The idea came from the new We R Memory Keepers Fuse Tool which allows you seal elements into your page protector. I don't have a Fuse (yet), but I do have an encaustic heat tool which is pretty much the same thing but is missing the rolling stitch atip which comes with the Fuse. Using my encaustic tool with a pointed tip, I cut out a cloud pattern in a page protector (this will also seal the edges), leaving the straight edge open to form a pocket. I then filled the pocket with cotton fluff and sealed the bottom with the encaustic tool.

Extra Elements: Sizzix embossing folder, Kaisercraft love this die cut, page protector, Tim Holtz distress inks

Sweet Happy Life

For my last layout, I had one full sheet of paper left and it was also my favourite, featuring a collage world map on one side and city signs on the other and was torn about which side to use - don't you hate that? In the end, I chose the map side, but then promptly gessoed over it to tone it down for my layering. We love our macarons and once in a while, you just have to indulge with the best from Laduree.

After gessoing the page, I added some water colours on top to bring out the pastel tones. I used a lot of add-on chipboard for this layout and love the silver elements in this pack. I added the gold paint pen for the white polaroid frame to give it more pizzazz.