Cowgirl

Well folks, it's been a long time since I put up a new post, but that's not because I have nothing to share, it's just because I have been so busy. So I'm going to spend some time writing some posts, and this first one is especially for Kylie. (I would put one of those cute little moving smiley icons waving at you here if I knew how!) I want to say thanks Kylie for having me over to your place last weekend and letting me use some of your masses of goodies! The layout I finished when I got home (because I stupidly forgot to bring the photo with me!!) was this one. I really like it despite its simplicity.

The layout is based on a sketch from Ideas for Scrapbookers called Postage Stamp. While it's really a Christmas sketch, you can see that that's not the purpose for which I used it, I changed the inverted scallop border to a different border (using Kylie's Loops border punch), and didn't put on all the embellishments on either.

Thanks to Kylie I was able to cut out the doilies with a Dienamics die. She also provided the stamp for the middle of the doily (Papertrey Ink), and the bit of brown fibre under the title. The rest of the stuff was mine from my stash. The patterned papers are quite old ones from TLC. I also used some cardstock, flowers, brads, and stick on pearls, none of which I'm sure who by. The title was made using a new alphabet die set that I just bought. I then coloured it with my clear Sakura stardust pen (you know the ones I always rave about) to add some sparkle.

As far the photo is concerned, it is of Kyaa when she attended a friend's birthday party and had to come dressed up as a cowboy. The background (believe me!) was very distracting so I cut just her out of the picture and threw the rest away. I think that it looks quite effective.

Until next time (maybe even today), happy days!

Francine

Our 2 Little Stars

Earlier this month I made this digital layout using a sketch by Pam Callaghan from Ideas for Scrapbookers. I love this sketch so decided to make a paper version of the sketch as well, and use the Wrapped in Paper monthly challenge kit to do it. Since there was a chipboard robot in the kit that needed to be used, I went through some old photos from 1999 of the kids as toddlers, hoping to find some photos of Logan making something. Well, I found these photos of the kids that I’d taken at Floriade instead, so decided to go with the star theme that was both in the robot and the diecut paper. I love how this layout turned out and I think it’s one of my favourites ever. Here it is!

This is the kit I started with: white and grey Bazzill cardstock, half sheet of diecut paper, half a sheet of patterned paper and an A4 sheet of blue checked paper as well as two pieces of ribbon, some red Kaisercraft mini letter stickers and the chipboard robot. I thought that the blue checked paper clashed terribly with the grey cardstock so had to put them as far apart as possible! From my stash I also dug out some orange Basic Grey (I think!) paper scraps, a TLC tiny tag, some mini Kaisercraft beige coloured letter stickers and (shock, horror!) some red star eyelets that have been in my stash forever!

Here’s another look at the sketch I was using. I rotated it 90^o this time.

I found putting this layout together was a bit fiddly, probably mostly because I’m a perfectionist and the circles had to be just so. I cut out the circular photos, circles from the checked paper and rectangles of patterned paper first. Then I laid them out in order and stuck them onto my craft mat with removable tape. I then cut the circular bits out where the circular paper and photos joined the other patterned paper. Then I lifted them all off my craft mat and attached them to the cardstock. I’m thinking there must be an easier way to do this, but I’m not quite sure how. I added the other embellishments and used the 2 from the diecut paper as part of my title.

The end result I think is stunning. Hopefully everyone who votes at Wrapped in Paper will think so too!

Till next time, happy days!

Francine

Pelicans

Well, from spiders to pelicans...

I checked out one of my favourite blogs this morning, Ideas for Scrapbookers and came across this cool layout template. I immediately fell in love with it and had to make a layout!

This is the result.

I haven't made a digital layout for a while, and with the help of the layered template it came together very quickly! I have to admit that as I haven't worked out where I can get 12x12 prints made economically that I haven't printed any of my digital layouts and they just live on my computer at the moment. So, I'm also loathe to pay for any digital supplies. Hence I tend to use the bucket tool and pick colours from my photos. This time though I did use some freebies that I had downloaded . I haven't worked out how to record them well, so I can only tell you that the patterned papers around the photos are by Jessica Sprague from a collection called LoveYa. The background paper by Amy C Bleser is called "acbleser-rds-addon-pp1".

I remembered to write down the fonts this time! They are: for the title - Do you Like Stripes? and for the journalling - Bitstream Vera Sans.

Till next time, happy days!

Francine

Beautiful Curse - digital version

For days I have been travelling past this field on my way to and from work that is covered in purple flowers, called Paterson’s Curse, Echium plantagineum (and known as Salvation Jane in South Australia). It is actually toxic to grazing animals and classed as a noxious weed in parts of Australia. After the Canberra bushfires in 2003 apparently tens of horses had to be put down after eating it for several months. Despite its terrible consequences to grazing animals, it is an amazing sight. I have been meaning to take my camera with me to work and stop and take some pictures, but kept forgetting. Finally last weekend I made a conscious effort to go and take some pictures. They turned out fabulously and I couldn’t resist making a layout straight away. I turned to one of my favourite sites for digital templates – Ideas for Scrapbookers – and picked a suitable template (Two Curves - see further down). The layout came together very quickly.


The template I used is this one. I flipped it 90 degrees first. Before I started, I also made a kaleidoscope from one of the close up photos and used that for the side strips of “paper” in the layout and to make the square embellishments. I picked the purple colour for the “paper” and “cardstock” from the pictures. Stupidly I didn’t write down the name of the font I used so I’m afraid I can’t give credit for it. I have a list of fonts a mile long and can’t find it back again now (and believe me I tried!). So, if you know what it is, please let me know!

I’ve subsequently made a paper layout with one of the pictures as well, but you’ll have to wait for another day for me to blog about that one. I even made some of the patterned paper for the layout as well!

Till next time, happy days.

Francine