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. 

CNY In IFC

I've been busy this week working on next month's HKMC kit, to be revealed in early May and I can tell you, it is so much fun. One hint: watercolour.  I can't wait to show it to you but alas, we will have to be a patient a bit longer.

At today's crop, I decided to change tactics and instead of thinking up an original layout, I wanted to follow a sketch. It also gave me the opportunity to finally submit another layout for the MCS sketch challenge and this is my entry for April.

And here is my layout:

CNY in IFC

I love the colourful triangle paper and although it's quite busy, I wanted something cheerful and bright for the colourful photos. I tried to leave the rest of the details pattern free to balance off the busy background, although I do love how the pink cut out flower really pops off the page.

I added an accent corner on the top of the photo, just a small cluster of flowers and tags.

I love the wood look camera - it also adds a bit of 'neutral' to all the colours.

Products Used

Papers, die cuts, washi tape and sentiment stickers by Amy Tangerine Rise and Shine collection

Flowers by Marion Smith

Tag and canvas heart by Crate Paper Craft Market

Canvas Thickers by American Crafts

Grey cardstock by Bazzill Papers

Thanks for dropping by,

Love With All Your Heart

I always look forward to my Thursdays, when the ladies come over for lunch and scrapbooking. All of us managed to finish/semi-finish one page and it's always a delight to see what everyone is working on, be it the umpteenth birthday layout or some new experimentation. I love seeing it all come to life. This week, I was excited to play with inks, flowers and some new stamps.

 Love With All Your Heart

 A combination of Marion Smith papers with Prima flowers and embellishments is a match made in heaven. The photos were taken just before leaving the villa in Bali by one of our friends. She styled Miss C's hair and did the golden 'tattoos' for her. I just love this photos.

 For the background harlequin paper, I first added light molding paste through a linked circle stencil. I then stamped randomly around the page in aqua and brown pigment inks with the new Prima splatter stamps - seriously, the best stamps ever.

You can see a glimpse of a chipboard lattic in the back which I painted with acrylic Silks and embossing powders. I love the printed wooden embellishments, especially the mirror and of course, flowers. Lots of lovely flowers.

I even brought out one of my embossing folders for some added texture to the blue damask paper. Is the little wooden comb not the cutest thing?

Products Used

Patterned papers from Marion Smith (several collections)

Flowers, wooden embellishments, brads, pearl arrows and splatter stamps from Prima Marketing

Lattice chipboard by Blue Fern Studios

Wood effect title Thickers by American Crafts

Mini title phrase by Tim Holtz

Linked circle stencil by The Crafter's Workshop

Embossing folder by Sizzix

Pigments inks by Avery Elle

Silks acrylic paints

Embossing powders by Lindy's Stamp Gang

Distress Inks by Tim Holtz for Ranger Inks

Light molding paste by Golden

Thanks for dropping by,

BeYOUtiful You

How has everyone's week been so far? It's been a slow week here; quiet with Miss C back in school and hubby still away on business. Time enough to do a couple of layouts this week.

BeYOUtiful You

 The patchwork square is a shrunk down version of a full 12"x12" patterned paper which I felt was too big for the page. I just cut out the patchwork from the full page and assembled it on an 8"x8" square before pasting it on the wood grain background.

I die cut the polaroids and added some journal cards in the frames. For the title, I die cut the 'beYoutiful' and added gold embossing powder.

I wanted to add a secondary title so I die cut the 'life' and added a white border around it to match the other ready die cut words that were in the embellishments pack.

Products Used

Patterned paper, die cuts and chipboard by Simple Stories Life Documented collection

Polaroid and title die by Kaisercraft

Gold embossing powder by Ranger Inks

Thanks for looking,