London Day Trip

Hi there. Only two weeks left before the summer holidays begin and everyone is running around trying to get all those end of school year things done before they go away on holiday. We managed to squeeze in a crop session this Thursday. Here's what I came up with.

London Day Trip

I love the ledger background and it's a good neutral pattern to add other papers to. The used this sketch for the layout.

 I machine sewed a large circle on the background page, before dry brushing on a thin layer of gesso and then splattered the page with some glimmer mist.

Just a small cluster of accents to anchor the page. I love the little printed flower to add some dimension.

I love the ready made pre-stitched vellum label on the left. 

Products Used

Papers, embellishments and mini letter stickers by Crate Paper Open Book collection
Printed flower by Prima Marketing
Thickers letters by American Crafts
White gesso by Golden
Glimmer spray by Smooches

Happy Day

Hi. It's the start of another week and Miss C is counting down the days to the end of school. Three more weeks. Still have teacher's gifts to sort out. Any ideas out there?

Happy Day Ocean Park

Here's a quick layered layout for those days when you only have a few minutes to spare. Lots of bold colours and patterns can really make a simple layout look more complicated and layered. And having an enormous giraffe as an accent doesn't hurt either.

 Add strips of patterned paper behind other ones to add to the illusion of layering without actually wasting large pieces of paper. A bit of bold washi adds more even more interest. A small accent corner with some tickets and a gold star balances out the left side of the page.

I placed the gold arrow overlay on the photo for an added interest. I love the triangle pattern paper which I cut to follow the pattern.

Products Used

Papers, vellum accents and stitckers from Crate Paper Confetti collection

Photo overlay by My Mind's Eye On Trend collection

Enamel dots and washi tape from stash

Thanks for dropping by,

Love You Darling Girl

Hi all. This week has been pretty wet here in HK, after months of dry, cool weather. Ironically, my sister in-law and nephew will be arriving for a one week holiday (getting away from the cold and wet in the UK) and now they are coming here for more of the same. Fingers crossed the rain will hold off for the week.

This week, I managed to get just one layout done. I've now had to move half my scrapbook stuff from the study to make way for a blow up bed for my sister in-law, so no more layouts for a week or two.

Love You Darling Girl

 I love the colour combinations and little embellishments. The photo was taken on a forest patterned wing back chair at a shop and I love the dark colours against Miss C's outfit.

 Cute die cuts add layers and dimension from Crate Paper.

 I love the plastic leaves which match the photo and you know I love my little clusters of flowers.

 I added some chevron patterns with molding paste on the background. I went into my stash for the wooden accent and star pin.

Products Used

Papers and acetate shapes from Crate Paper Confetti collection

Die cuts from Crate Paper

Wooden accent, gold rub ons from Studio Calico

Gold star pin by Maya Road

Gold paint and black ink by Ranger Inks

Thanks for dropping by and will see you in a couple of weeks.

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.

Sweet Girl and Chosen Featured Layout

It's been a bit busy around here so I haven't had a lot of time to scrapbook (or blog) in the last week.

We attended our annual charity ball last Saturday and got to dress up. You'd never think it would be a stressful affair, getting ready for a ball, but you have to pick a dress, hair, make up, nails and being sure that your shoes will be comfortable enough to totter around in all evening. Not things I'm used to - I've never been a girly girl and choosing the right accessories and applying makeup in a straight line is a challenge for me. Regardless, we had a great time and the main thing was, we raised money for several organizations.

Prior to this, I was able to finish a couple of layouts; a single and a double.  Oh, and very excited to share some good news: I got picked as one of the featured layouts for the April My Creative Sketches challenge for this little layout so I get to post this little banner on here.

On to my next layout:

Sweet Girl

My two favourite colour combinations at the moment; teal and pink. They work so well together. I love this photo, with the bright, colourful flowers behind.

This kit had the cutest die cuts and chipboards. I just had to use the little girl chipboard.

Just a little bunch of flowers to balance out the page. I love the cassette tape die cut; something you don't see much of anymore.

Add some detailing by placing some pockets behind your photos to hold tickets and other ephemera.

Products Used

Papers, chipboard, die cuts and other ephemera from Crate Paper Oh Darling! collection

Wooden leaves and butterflies from Studio Calico

Flowers from Prima Marketing

Thanks for dropping by,

Snowy Fun

Hi there,

It's been nice and quiet the last few days. School holidays don't end until Monday and we're trying to avoid crowds of people everywhere, so we've been staying home mostly. It also means more time to do some layouts. After our Japan holiday, I've been dying to scrapbook the snow photos and I had the perfect papers for it from my December MCS kits.

Snow Angel

How cute is the paper. Love the pinks and greens, and the snow angel chipboard and cut out are too cute - absolutely perfect for this layout. I decided to make a landscape of the layout, with the hills and trees.

Layer your embellishments in such a way to give an illusion of dimension on landscape style layouts.

I was wondering what to do with the empty space above the photos when I thought of using the cut out tags that came with the paper line. Just a bit of blingy stickles and tinsel to give it that wintery festive feel.

Products Used

Patterned papers, chipboard and cutouts by Crate Paper Bundled Up collection, photo matting patterned paper from Lilybee Design, foam glitter Thickers by American Crafts, Icicle Stickles by Ranger, pumice stone distress ink by Tim Holtz for Ranger, tinsel

Snow Much Fun

These are some of my favourite photos. I love the white snow background in contrast with Miss C's snow outfit and her happy smile. Good thing it all matches the papers too. How do you like Miss C's snow cat?

 I edges the papers in green to pull the papers together and also added some silver stickles to some of the chipboard to mimic the snow.

What cute and fun die cuts and chipboard pieces this kit has. Although I did add glitter to some of the written labels, I love how some of the other pieces are pre-glittered as well.

Products Used

Patterned paper, chipboard, diecuts from Crate Paper Bundled Up collection, small beaded peony flowers by Petaloo, white foam glitter Thickers by American Crafts, silver Stickles by Ranger, evergreen distress ink by Tim Holtz for Ranger

OK, time to get some other projects done. I've been really bad about handing a class project to HKMC for the last few months, so I better get a move on that before they disown me, haha.

See you soon,

HK Memory Chest Kit Club - February 2014

Kung Hei Fat Choi!!

How is everyone doing? Hong Kong has ground to halt as we welcome the year of the horse. It's so quiet and a lot of shops and businesses are closed until Tuesday.  It's such a great time to meet up with family and friends, eat lots of Chinese puddings and cakes and for the little ones and singles - to get as many lai see packets as possible.

January was such a jam-packed month for me and it's nice to get into February, hoping things will be more settled. Of course, February is also the month for love, so this month's kit pays tribute to St. Valentines.

February 2014 Kit
Crate Paper Love Notes – Dearest
Crate Paper Love Notes – Checked Out
Crate Paper Love Notes – Sparked
Crate Paper Love Notes – Classic Love
Crate Paper Love Notes Chipboard Stickers
American Crafts Thickers – Pink Foam Alphabet Stickers
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Stencil Marks
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Gem Clips
Ribbons
 
Add-On Options    
Crate Paper Love Notes – Layered Stickers
Crate Paper Love Notes – Photo Overlays
Crate Paper Love Notes – Vellum Specialty Paper
 Prima Everyday Vintage – Chalkboard Paper Notecard Set

December Sizzix Die    
Sizzix Bigz Window and Window Box

Here's the sketch I did for this month.

 Love Your Giggles

I love the non-traditional colours for this Valentine's collection. The minty greens and soft pinks go so well with the bold reds. I was reorganizing my desk when I came across these photos. I'd printed them out years ago and "lost" them under all the papers and bills in my filing bins. My cutie was only two in these ones.

The foam alphas come in two colours for the one pack; fun for mixing it up. The hand was cut out from the Prima chalkboard cards.

I stenciled on the pink hearts with Tim's distress paint but I didn't want a crisp image, so just dabbed it on randomly to get the splotchy look.

Extra Elements: Heart stencil and Worn Lipstick Distress Paint by Tim Holtz for Ranger

You & Me

I love how the peppermint stripe paper against the heart paper and dark grey cardstock. I finally pulled out my sewing machine to do the scraggly border around the heart paper. Not happy that the machine was dropping so many stitches. I think I need to check my tension again. The photo was taken almost four years ago at a friend's wedding.

 Don't you love the window die with the heart peeking through one of the window panes? I also strategically cut out the journal paper to have the red title and date stamps show in just those places.

I punched large scallop on to the XO paper and it contrasts well with the pink foam alphas. The chalkboard banner was cut from one of the notecard sets, before writing the sentiment with a chalk marker. I finished off the layout with a bit of stickles to give the chipboard pieces some shimmer.

Extra Elements: Frosted Lace Stickles, Zig chalkboard pen, Pumice Stone Distress Ink


Updated Entry on 05/02/2014 (extra layout)

Apple Of My Eye

 I was going to try something with the cardstock scallops but then changed it around halfway through and this is what I ended up with. I love this photo with the apple.

Love this kit has so much chipboard and 3D embellishments to play with.

I altered some large chipboard alphas to match the layout.

I punched scalloped borders in co-ordinating cardstock colours and added white chalkboard highlights on them.

Extra Elements: cardstock in several colours, large chipboard letters, distress paint in worn lipstick

Here are some of the lovely layouts from the rest of the team.

I Love Art by Angela McDaniel

Tooth Fairy by Angela McDaniel

You Are Hilarious by Angela McDaniel

Across Ages by Belly Lau

 Love Your Happy Face by Belly Lau

Be Mine by Erika Lui

 Life Is Amazing With You 2 by Erika Lui

Sheung Wan Crop
11th February (Tuesday)
10:30am - 12:30pm
Hosted by Grace Wong

18th February (Tuesday)
7:30pm - 9:30pm
Hosted by Erika Lui

Discovery Bay Crop
13th February (Thursday)
10am - 12pm
Hosted by Angela McDaniel

See you all at the crop,