Creative Inspiration - Week 17

Hello all.

Just a quick one today to share. 

It's the last day of the school holidays for us here in Adelaide and we are off to have some fun at a local playground near the beach.

So.. this week I have been playing around with a new paper range that the lovely Leanne has sent me from Mad About Scrappin.

I LOVE this paper ... the colours look amazing in real life too. 

So I got a chance to make a major mess of my desk by adding some ink blotches to the back ground. So much fun and really added to it. 

I also got a chance to pull out my sewing machine to stitch a border and some decoration to the paper layers. I haven't stitched don a layout for a while and really wanted to. However being a little scrap time poor being the school holidays I decided to use the sewing machine. I loved playing around with it again and my head started to fill with things I want to try with my Project life album. 

I mixed it up with the embellishments for this layout too. Some are old bits and bobs from my stash and some wear from this paper range. I do however LOVE these little Studio Calico cameras I got at the last Mad About Scrappin sale and wished now I had grabbed more. So cute!

I will leave you to enjoy your weekend ahead.

Till next week when I shall share some more of this paper range.

TFL, M x

Creative Inspiration - Week 16

Happy Good Friday everyone.

We, as a family love this time of the year. 

The part that we love the most is being able to share it with others.

Every year the kids and I get together to work out what they would like to be able to give as a small gift to their school friends. 

It has been a tradition that I have done with the kids since Jhane was little (she is now 16 years old). It is a value that I have instilled in the children about sharing with others. We don't do it to get something in return. The children at school get quite excited every time it is a special occasion to see what we have created this time.

This year I have been lucky to have a small bit of this Echo Park paper range left over that was just perfect for what we had in mind.

So here's what I came up with this year.

So.. I had to make 100 of these little Easter treats.

With that in mind and trying to keep to a strict low budget to enforce the "its the thought that counts" motto, these ended up only costing me 

Paper bags - $2.00 for 100 

Garden twine - $2.00 for HUGE ball which I have 99% left

Echo Park paper 12'x12' sheet - $1.05

Yellow Card stock 12'x12' - .50c

Star Patterned Tooth Picks - $2.00 for 100

Mentos - bought in bulk bags $6.00 for 2 450gram bags

Ink from own stash

White Card stock for tags - recycled from album inserts 

Printer ink - very little

Total cost = $13.55 average (not including printer ink and recycled white card)

However still worked out to be about 14 cents each. 

The paper bags are only little (2 1/4' x 4') in size to give you an idea of the overall idea of size of these Easter gifts. However they are big enough to hold 3 individually wrapped Mentos lollies. Like I said it is a token, and more about the giving. Plus we tend to focus more on the craft aspect too so the kids aren't over loaded with lollies. 

Now I wanted to keep them simple due to the sheer quantity that I needed to make. I had found the PDF for these cute rabbit tags via a Google search. They were designed by Funky Time for Handmade Charlotte. Lots of good craft ideas on there I have found for the kids too!

I finished off each little parcel with a little star tooth pick I adhered to a scalloped circle I had stamped. I then added a little bit of bling with a pearl dewdrop. 

Was glad they all go done in time for the kids to hand out. Loved the look on their friends faces. Just warms your heart that's for sure.

Happy Easter everyone.

Till next time.

TFL, M x

Creative Inspiration - Week 15

Hello all. 

Wow... still hard to believe that it is April. The months are just whizzing by this year.

This month is another busy one in this household with two birthdays, Easter 

AND school holidays all in the mix.

So I have gotten busy with the last bits and pieces of this yummy Echo Park range to try and stay on top of things scrap wise.

So first up at the end of this week is Miss K's birthday. Now this year we have decided not to have a big party as she had a big party last year. Instead we are taking along some of her friends to the movies to see Sherman and Mr Peabody which she has been longing to see. After the movie we will come back home for pizza and cake. Super simple and a special way to celebrate with a few good friends.

Now despite the fact that we aren't having a party as such we still wanted to be able to give a small party bag to her friends to say thank you for coming to help Miss K celebrate. 

So with that in mind I have managed to prepare these little bags full of fun surprises from this bright paper range by Echo Park.

I am love with these little party bags I found ages ago at the cheap shop, however I love them even more now they have been personalized.

I have jazzed up the top edge of the party bags with some paper strips that I have given a decorative border punch then added a plain contrasting strip to match. 

Now I have played around with a digital brush and some Project Life graphed journal cards to create the base for the embellishments I have added to the front of the bag. Then I added another strip with the cupcake pattern, which worked perfectly with the theme. 

I finished off the bag with a little pennant flag I made from the lolly print paper, added a twine bow and finished off the flag with a stamped cupcake I mounted with 3D foam tape. A little bit of glitz was added to the cupcake icing as I just couldn't resist adding a bit of sparkle. 

I don't know who is going to love them more.. me or the kids. 

I love being able to take something and make it my own. This time around it was super easy thanks to this paper range by Echo Park which worked perfectly with my theme.

Have you personalized something yourself lately.

Why not give it a try. 

Till next week.

TFL, M x

Challenging Inspiration

Hello Everyone,

Isn't this sketch designed by Mad About Scrappin's Creative Team Member, Amy Prior amazing !! 

I absolutely loved playing along with this sketch.

Once again  I have used this kit from Echo Park to create my take on this months sketch at 

Mad About Scrappin.

So here's my take on the sketch.

I have been cleaning out my scrap stash again and found some papers that I have had laying around for ages. The background paper I thought would be PERFECT for the base of this layout. It also matched perfectly with the Echo Park kit too without taking over completely. I also decided to do my take on the sketch and only have one photo. However I did use a 3'x4' journal card and some scrap to create the two other "photos" from the sketch. That way I felt like I was making it my own.

No I was really inspired and my scrapping mojo was flowing when creating this layout. I played around with some texture paste and a stencil I had gotten from a Mad About Scrapping sale to add some texture to the base of my layout.  I then added layers of patterned paper, washi tape and a large paper doily till I was happy with all the layers. 

To mix things up a little and because I really didn't have a lot that I wanted to journal on this layout I have instead created an embellishment cluster there instead. By making my own pennant flags and mixing it up with some matching bakers twine I was able to tie it all in together.

Why not give this month's Mad About Scrappin's challenge a go. 

REMEMBER!!!

There are 2 prizes up for grabs this month at Mad About Scrappin !!!!. One voted by the Creative Team and a random draw so don't forget to get your entries in by the 30th of April!!

Challenge Details :

- Challenge is for Australian Residents Only.

- Entries are to be created exclusively for this challenge and must not be used for any other challenge or Design Team work.

- One entry per person.

- Entries must be added to the link by midnight on the last day of the month.

- Please link to the post that contains your challenge entry, not just your blog.

- A prize will be awarded each month as voted by the Design Team & a Random Draw Prize.

- Winners will be announced on the Blog and our Facebook Page

Creative Inspiration - Week 14

Hello again.

I have had been rather busy here the last week. We were lucky enough to be able to host another student from Japan for a week. It was nice to be able to share our family with someone else. It was also fun to be able to show our student, Yuzu, some of our favourite places. I was able to get lots of photos to play with too whilst visiting our favourite places. 

The kit Echo Park Kit I have been playing around with these past few weeks was PERFECT for some of the photos from the beach we took on our weekend sightseeing tour with Yuzu.

This week I decided to take a Project Life approach to my layout. There were so many good photos from the day that I wanted to showcase each one in their own little way but still have them all tied together.

So here's this week layout.

I love how bright the papers are and how well they fit with my summery feeling photos. 

For my title I have used two of the 3'x4' journal card spots in the page protector to create the space for my title. By using a mix of patterned paper from the kit, stamping and a vinyl doily I have been able to create my title rather easily. I like how my title sits between the two pocket spaces. It gives a bit of contrast and really helps create the paper as a feature of the layout.

I loved being able to use the arrow shaped clips as embellishments. They make it really easy to highlight something. I have used them on some journal cards that I have stamped and jazzed up with some matching washi tape.  Super easy and yet so effective. 

I love how easily some pattern papers can be used for different types of layout. This particular paper range has some great journal cards too which made using them for Project Life style layout super fun.

Why not get out of your comfort zone and try a different style of layout.

Get Scrapping.

TFL, M x