HK Memory Chest Kit Club - May 2015

Hello there,

Can you believe it's already May and we are revealing the second last kit of the 2014/2015 HKMC kit season? As I said in a previous post, I can't wait to show you the May kit. What fun I (and the rest of the design team) had with these kits. When I saw this during the Winter CHA releases, I fell in love with it and I'm so glad HKMC has added it to this month's kit.

Water colouring seems to be a huge trend in scrapbooking and it is so fun to experiment and play around with colour. The Cosmo Cricket water colour paper in the kit comes with pre-printed "hidden" designs; just add water colour and see them appear like magic. In addition to the paper, there is again a ton of embellishments in the kit, including a water colour paint palette so you can get started on those layouts straight away.

May Kit 2015
Cosmo Cricket 12"x12" Watercolour Paper Pad
Watercolour Paint Set
Prima Watercolour Mulberry Paper Flowers – Aquarelle
Prima Art Ingredients Mica Flakes 1oz – Gold Leaf
American Crafts Mini Bags 3.94″X2.6″ – White
Bo Bunny Double-Dot Alpha Stickers 12″X12″ – Tuxedo
Crate Paper Craft Market Ephemera Die-Cuts
Crate Paper Craft Market Printed Wood Crate Paper Veneer Shapes with Gold Glitter Accents
Crate Paper Craft Market Wood Veneer Hoops – 2.5″ To 4.5″
Cottage Living Stickers – Jewel
Cottage Living Jumbo Paperclips – Gold
Gold Twine
Felt Pom Pom – Assorted Colors

Optional Add-ons
Tim Holtz Water Brush – Broad Brush Nib – 6″
Craft Market Self-Inking Stamp Love You To The Moon & Back
Craft Market Standouts Layered Stickers With Burlap Accents

Here's the sketch for the month based on one of Belly's layout:

 H2O Just Add Water

I love the colours of the background, which I tried to tie in with blues and purples in the photos. It's a bit of a balance not to have the background overwhelm the photos and still have them stand out. The title comes from a kid's show about mermaids.

I die cut some foliage from extra water colour paper and coloured it in. A small cluster of flowers finish the page.

 I added glass bead gels, the gold flakes and stamped some hashtags around the page to bulk up the layout. The water colour paper comes with pre printed patterns that will show up once you add your colours, creating some awesome effects.

Extra Elements: hashtag stamps, glass bead gels, olive branch die

 I Will Love You Forever

I kept the colouring on the background paper subtle as I wanted the pre-printed gold patterns to show through. The paper itself is also pre-printed with a lovely geometric flower pattern. The big LOVE in the photo is a fixture in our community plaza which was placed there on Valentine's - so cute.

I layered up lots of die cuts and a couple of flowers to surround the photo.

I love the sweet die cuts you get in the kit. Great for layering. I used pigment inks to colour the title stickers and water colour for the die cut 'forever'.

Extra Elements: 'forever' die, pigment inks

Sunset Dreams

I've wanted to do a segmented photo layout for a while. The last one I did was a few years ago and I thought this was a good photo to create another. I printed it out so that the focal point (us), would be on the third column. I wanted the photo in black and white so I could create my own 'sunset' background with the water colour paper. I die cut the bottom of the columns into a curve for added interest.

Just one corner of accents to add some detail to the layout.

I water coloured the background paper as a whole piece before cutting it up into four columns. I ran a black marker around the edges to give them definition. The colouring is to mimic the sunset which is in the original photo. A few drops of black paint and gold glitter on the corners allows the eyes to travel across the page.

Extra Elements: tan cardstock, gold glitter glue, stitched edge die

That's My Family

 For my last layout, I did some colour blocking on the background paper in blue, yellow and peach. As the colours were quite strong, I machine sewed on a 12x12 piece of vellum overlay. This muted the colours and allowed me to add my photo and accents on top without being overpowering. You could also just tone down your water colours to begin with but I also love the hint of vibrant colours showing through.

 We were again given a cute embellishment - felt mini balls, so I strung them up on three strands of thread and laid them across the page. I also water coloured the pink heart paper.

A cluster of tickets and tags balance out the top of the page.

Just a few brush strokes of colour across this card highlight the hidden words and brings them out.

Extra Elements: rose die, vellum paper, gold and beige thread

Here are the other DT layouts:

Enjoy The Day by Belly Lau

Just The 2 Of Us 4 Ever by Belly Lau

 At The Stairs Pagoda by Belly Lau

 Artso Buddies

Who's The Best by Belly Lau

Amazing You by Erika Lui

Enjoy Now by Erika Lui

We're changing it up this month for the crop locations. Instead of my crop date at the shop, we're doing it in Discovery Bay at my place. Give me a buzz at 94190193 for directions.

Discovery Bay Crop 

11th May (Mon)

10:30-12:30

Hosted by Grace Wong

Chai Wan Crop
12th May (Tue)
10:30-12:30

Hosted by Belly Lau

I will be posting some step by steps on how I created a couple of my layouts above in the next post, so stay tuned.

Thanks for dropping by and I can't wait to see all your lovely creations. 

Mini Trinket Drawers

I love working with wood as a base. You can sand it, paint it, paper it, ink it, stain it. The possibilities are endless.  Kaisercraft, an Australian company has a huge range of raw wooden products; from embellishments to storage solutions. In this project, I actually took inspiration from the sample shown on the Kaisercraft website, but put my own twist to it.

Just the right size for your jewelry. Such a beautiful addition to your dressing table. I added button brads to the front of the drawers to mimic drawer knobs.

The wood and drawers were painted and stained a lovely warm brown and given a smudge of silver to give it an aged look. After assembling the box and drawers, I covered them in pretty papers. I die-cut the dress form from chipboard and sticky-back canvas before inking and adding other elements.

For the back, I used stencils and Glimmer Mist before adding a little saying and other trinkets. For the side, I added a pendant trinket and also a couple of hooks.

For the top, I again added a flourish mask as well as a few well placed "teacup stains" to finish off the distressed/used look.

Products Used
Wooden Box, pearl flourish, paper flower and brown "mud puddle" paint from Kaisercraft
Papers from Cosmo Cricket Tea for Two and Evangeline lines
Sticky Back Canvas from Claudine Hellmuth for Ranger
Dress form/bobbin die cut from Tim Holtz for Sizzix
Distress inks and stains from Tim Holtz for Ranger
Vintage brass hooks from 7 Gypsies
Button Brads from Imaginisce Trade Winds Collection 2006 (discontinued)
Trinkets, resin flowers, bird and silk flowers sourced locally

My Sweet Girl

I was asked by Carla if I could do up a layout with some Cosmo Cricket papers for a crop session for the ladies in DB. I originally asked for the Tea for Two collection, but got the Baby Jane line instead. I'm glad I did as the embellishments are very cute and the sewing/embroidery/stitching design is very on trend at the moment.

Cosmo Cricket always has a great vintage vibe to their papers and embellishments. Since the collection is mainly based on sewing and stitching, I cut the papers into different sized patches to look like swatch patterns.

Adding a printed stitching font ties the title into the theme.

Cute vintage chipboard embellishments pulls the page together. Black and white baker's twine adds a visual anchor across the page.

Small round stickers scattered strategically around adds a little whimsy to a precisely aligned page and balances out the other elements on the layout.

Products Used

All papers, chipboard and stickers from the Cosmo Cricket Baby Jane collection
Bakers Twine from Hemptique
Antique Linen Distress Ink from Tim Holtz for Ranger

Canvas Mixed Media Class

Hi all. Two weeks off from scrapbooking/crafting while Miss C was on holiday, but now she's back in school (since Monday) and it's back to classes for me too, although I'm on the other side of the table, teaching the classes instead.

On Tuesday, I got to teach my mixed media canvas class. I'm not going to go through too much details on the blog as it would be unfair to those who actually took the classes, but this canvas incorporates the use of gel mediums, gesso and acrylic paints as well as scrapbooking papers, embossing powders and lots of trinkets.

My original canvas

Layering of mediums, trinkets, paints and stamping.

Cluster of different elements to give the canvas texture and dimension.

The class (along with my other classes), are taught at the HKMC shop in Sheung Wan. For this particular session, I had seven students all eager to learn some new techniques.

Oh good. Smiles and laughter means happy students, I hope.
(photograph courtesy of HKMC Virginia Lam)

Kimmy contemplating her next move.
(photograph courtesy of HKMC Virginia Lam) 

A different take on the layout - Sonia cut and stuck a photo down to enhance her canvas.
(photograph courtesy of HKMC Virginia Lam)  

Adding finishing touches for texture.
(photograph courtesy of HKMC Virginia Lam)  

I have another one of these classes on the 24th from 7:30pm - 9:30pm. Details can be found on the HKMC website.

Products Used
Mini art canvas from an art store
Papers from Cosmo Cricket Evangeline line
Gesso, gel mediums and glass bead mediums from Golden
Trinkets sourced locally
Paint from Kaisercraft