July ARTastic challenge

It's been a while since I shared any papercrafting projects but I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things, starting with this month's ARTastic challenge. The challenge for July is to make a project inspired by the following artwork by Roger Kemp, and to also use pen.

I was inspired to by the colour pink to make a pocket page featuring some photos of my daughter on her first birthday.

I used a pen to outline some of the elements (including the hand-cut "1") and to add the journalling. It's amazing to see how much she has grown in just a year. As you can see from the layout below (that I made earlier but forgot to share here), she was such a tiny little angel.

As promised in my last post, here's a look at the quilt that I finished up for her first birthday (one of the projects from my quarter 2 list of proposed finishes).

Given that it seems to take me a year to finish a quilt, I had better get started on the one for her second birthday :)

Kat

April Kraft+ Challenge

Today I'm sharing a layout that was inspired by this months Kraft+ challenge.

It has been aaaages since I joined in the Kraft+ challenge but this one was an easy one for me to decide what to scrap about: my little sister's wedding.

For the 'something old' I've used an older Kaisercaft paper collection, which is actually called 'Something Blue'. I used a couple of blue bits and pieces from the collection as well, just to make sure the 'something blue' criteria was well and truly covered ;)

For the 'something new', I used a 'new' (previously unused) stencil to add a bit of detail to the background. The 'something borrowed' critera was a little harder but I think I've covered it three ways; 1) the design of the layout was borrowed (scraplifted) from this layout I saw on instagram earlier this week, 2) the lace was borrowed (re-used) from the wedding invitations and 3) the vellum elements were borrowed from another collection (I'm normally a one collection per project kind of gal so this is unusual for me).

I haven't added any journalling as this layout is actually for my sister's scrapbook and she'll add it later. She's not a scrapper herself (I am trying to convert her to the dark side) but has an album of pages my Mum and I have made for her (often at her request).

While I had the photos and supplies out I also made a couple of quick PL pages for my 2016 album.

I  still feel like I'm missing my scrappy mojo, but I'm hopeful that if I keep going with my 100 day project I'll eventually find it again.

Kat

January ARTastic challenge

I'll thrilled to be joining the ARTastic Challenge creative team for another year. I really enjoy this challenge as it is not as prescriptive as other challenges (such as sketch challenges) - we accept ALL forms of papercrafting as entries from traditional paper layouts, mixed media work, project life spreads to digital entries.

As always, the challenge is to create a project inspired by the selected artwork. Our first inspiration for 2018 is this fantastic painting by Arthur Streeton called Beach Scene. Head over to the ARTastic Challenge blog for all the details of the January challenge.

For this challenge I was inspired by the scene in the artwork and the title, to create a project life spread about a recent visit to Bribie Island with my sister and her family.

It's a quick and simple page, but I'm glad to have the memory documented. One of my goals for 2018 is to do more scrapbooking, even if it's just a quick pocket page. I didn't do much papercrafting last year, and on reflection I think it was because I felt intimidated by all the amazing work out there with lots of layering, mixed media and intricate cutting. Perhaps one day I'll have more time to create detailed works of art, but for now I'll just focus on getting memories documented (and perhaps making a dent in my overflowing stash of papers and journalling cards).

I hope you'll be inspired to play along and create a project that captures a memory from one of your vacations.

Kat

August ARTastic challenge

Today is mid-month reveal day for the ARTastic challenge blog. This month we feature this striking artwork by Joshua Miels called Illustrations.

The challenge for August is to create a project inspired by the above artwork and use Black and White PLUS One (which can be any colour). For my example, I made a pocket page using black, white and gold. I was inspired by the faces in the artwork to document my children at their current ages.

Head over to the ARTastic challenge blog for all the details and lots more examples. We hope you can join in this month.

Kat

More pocket pages

Over the weekend I managed to get a few more pocket pages done, using the Kaisercraft January blog challenge as inspiration.

For my first pocket page I experimented with different sized pockets (rather than the usual 4x3 and 2x3). I picked the STITCHING, CONFETTI POCKET, PRINTED PAPERS ONLY and TYPED JOUNALING line from the bingo board  and made a layout about the cruise that we went on while staying on Hamilton Island last year.

I also took inspiration from the Jot Magazine January Mood Board.

In order to find the right mix of blue, raspberry, peach and grey, I did something I rarely do and used multiple collections in the same project. In this case I used papers from the Kaisercraft Sail Away and Finders Keepers collections.  For the stitching, I made a string art anchor, inspired by the blue anchor in the mood board image.

My second pocket page was from the same holiday, but a different event. For this one I've chosen the HANDWRITTEN JOURNALING, FAVOURITE PHOTO, PRINTED PAPERS ONLY and SPECIAL EVENT line from the bingo board and used papers from the Happy Snaps collection.

I included my favourite photo from the trip, which is the photo of my little many with his face painted. He rarely smiles for photos (and when he does, it doesn't look right) so I was really pleased to capture his natural smile.

I'm really starting to enjoy putting these pocket pages together and find that they are coming together faster and more easily. Hopefully with more practice I will get better still!

Kat

January Kaisercraft blog challenge

Last year I set out to start documenting our everyday family adventures using pocket pages. Unfortunately I failed miserably and only managed a double page spread for January and a couple of random pocket pages made for challenges. I'm hoping to catch up on my 2016 album before we get too far into 2017 so I was delighted when I saw that the Kaisercraft January Blog challenge was about making pocket pages.

For this challenge I made a double page spread about my brother's wedding in September last year, using a patterned papers, stickers and collectibles from the Something Blue collection and some coordinating Captured Moments cards.

Here's a closer look at the left hand side:

And the right hand side:

I actually chose two sets of four from the bingo board because I couldn't make up my mind:

QUOTE, DOUBLE SPREAD, A SPECIAL EVENT, BLACK + WHITE PHOTOS ONLY
STITCHING, CONFETTI POCKET, PATTERNED PAPERS ONLY, TYPED JOURNALING

For the quote criteria, I used Captured Moments cards with quotes and added a quote from the Something Blue sticker sheet. I thought this was was perfect given the message on their cake:

I also 'quoted' the bride and groom by typing up their vows (for the 'typed journaling' criteria) and printing them on patterned paper (for the 'patterned paper only' criteria).

For the 'stitching' and 'confetti pocket' criteria I made 4 mini confetti pockets using 3x4 journalling cards (cut from a 12 x 12 sheet), circles punched from patterned paper, plastic sheeting from a page protector and my sewing machine.

I am going to try and get another one done by the end of the month as I have a nice collection of Kaisercraft Captured Moments cards just waiting to be used and a whole lot of other months to catch up on!

Kat

Scrapbooking Top 50 Aus January Challenge

The mid-month reveal is now up on in Scrapbooking Top 50 Aus blog. We are kicking off the new year with a quote challenge!

We would love to see you use this quote on your layout, cards, pocket pages, off the page projects, or what ever you choose to make! For my Design Team example I made a pocket page to finish off my 2016 album.

I used the Simple Stories 'I Am' collection for this page because features lots of fabulous phrases which are prefect for this quote. It also includes lots of gold foil elements (which are really hard to photograph).

Swing by the Scrapbooking Top 50 Aus blog for more details and Design Team examples. There's still plenty of time to join in.

Kat

Anna's Craft Cupboard January colour challenge

Today I had a day of annual leave and was lucky to be able to spend most of the day getting my craft on.

One of the projects I worked on today was a double page Project Life spread about my brother's wedding last year. For this page, I played along with the Anna's Craft Cupboard January colour challenge, because I thought the event worked well with the garden party image.

Inspired by the colour palette, I used papers and embellishments from the On Trend 2 collection by My Minds Eye which features lots of pink, aqua, dark navy, white and fold foil.

I used papers with floral designs and polka dots to match the images in the challenge graphic. I also added some extra confetti and some tassels to match the image on the left.

My favourite is the dark navy paper with the gold floral design embossed in it. So pretty!

I've recently discovered that some prints from this collection are now available in patchwork fabric. I think some of these might make their way into my shopping cart in my next fabric order :)

Kat