Friday Favorites with Aimee Dow - Project Life

The question I get asked more than any other is why did I give up Project Life? This is a fair assumption given how often I publish a spread, but the truth is I never did. I do less of it because I find it more time consuming than regular scraping and there is only so many PL spreads I can promise to my Creative Teams - there is only 52 weeks in a year after all. So it was indeed very nice to feel the urge to create a Project Life spread with last months Cupcake Kit.

I am pleased to say I didn't use anything that was not in the kit other than a few Maggie Holmes flowers. All in all it's a pretty simple layout. Lots of photos with a few design techniques that I use over and over again for consistency. An example of this would be the circles - circle stamps, circle cropped photos, sequins, flairs and die cut elements.

I know things are a little hard to see in the full spread photo, but I always aim to include one so you can get a sense of balance.

Week 28 was smack bang in the middle of the winter holidays. I chose to use the kit for this week because Heidi Swapp's September Skies reminds me of winter.

I worked hard to create a lot of layers with the flowers and the ephemera this week because it's unusual to have all 3 girls in our house at the one time. I thought it best to grab the opportunity while I could.

I stacked the transparent flowers over the negative space on this photo.

Then I replicated the same feeling above with the Jamie Olive stickers from Safeway, that we had been collecting for our god daughter. Fear not parents, these were doubles. I have come to learn just how serious a matter these collectibles are.

Finally I built up a poise around the flair to finish out the page and add a little more balance. I popped a few up on foam dots so there wasn't such a contrast in height between the flair and background.

So there you have it. I still got it. If you would like to try a page like this for yourself, last months cupcake kit is still available in the store.

Aimee xx

Thoughtful Thursday - Anna Allan ; Add more words...

Hello and HAPPY CHRISTMAS to all!

I am here today to share the last layout I created using the November Main Cake Kit.

I love all the lovely soft tones that the Maggie Holmes 'Open Book' range possess. I delved into the pile of baby photos for my eldest daughter and created a page around that.

I used more of the cut-aparts and the Amy Tangerine ephemera pack - I absolutely adored that gold foil 'Love Love Love' diecut!

With the photo being black and white, I liked how the gold foil letters shone against the darker background and also how the black letters teamed well with the page and popped against all the sweet soft tones.

I did add the large white doily, some glitter tape and some snowflake shapes from my own stash - the rest is all kit!

 I wanted to add my thoughts and feelings about this photo and being a Mum to this girl - however I didn't want to take away from the design of the page so decided to add in a journal pocket that hid the words. 

I have used the photo and vellum backing to create the pocket for the journalling card. When looking at the page it just looks like a part of the layers but when you pull the 'photographer's notes' card you find my thoughts and feelings written down.

Thanks for dropping by!

I hope you enjoy the festive season and have a safe and happy new year!

Anna :-)

Workspace Wednesday - The Procrastination Layout Game with Aimee

I have this friend Emma, she is one of my favorite people in the world. She gets the scrap side of me like no one else I have ever met. I love scrapping with her because she always pushes me to get a ton done, but she will tell you I am not the easiest person to scrap with - Not only do I raid her stash at scrap camp, I have even been known to do it while she is at my house scrapping.  And then there is the matter of desk space. You see, Emma is a "work clean" scrapper. It's a quality that I really admire, but I on the other hand, rain holy hell down upon my work space until it looks like a scene from Apocalypse Now. Poor Emma lives in fear of her craft mat being annexed by a new regime, and as well she should.

So what is the point of this story? Well, I wanted to paint you a picture of desk at the end of any given scrap day, because it's relevant to my new found fun. I want to introduce you to a new game I have created. I am a big believer in clearing off your desk at the end of the day, but some days the piles are just so big, I'm not sure where to start. Over the weekend, I was staring at one such pile that contained the left-overs from Love Everyday, the scant remains of my November A Piece of Cake Designs Kit, some off-cuts of woodgrain paper my husband had used for something or other and I thought to myself... I bet I can make a layout out of this. And so the Procrastination Layout Game was born!

The rules are pretty simple - you can only use what is on you desk. I will make a small exception for a cardstock base and your tools, but everything else must come from the piles on your desk. My supplies looked something like this: the star paper, the black and white striped paper, the tag, the sequins and the "hello" are all from Heidi Swapp's September Skies collection. I know this because they are recent inhabitants of my studio by way of the cupcake APOCD kit. The woodgrain is Pebbles Inc, but you are on your own for the thickers, cork circle and heart wood veneer. The wood veneer I found under my lamp so it should probably be carbon-dated. If you are at all like me, I encourage you to give the game a go the next time you feel despair at the state of your desk. It certainly helped lighten my mood, it reduced the pile and it stretched my creativity. 

Well that just about wraps it up for me today. I wish you all very merry Christmas and if you don't happen to get what you want - The cupcake kit I used for this layout is still on sale and I'm telling you it is well worth the money and scrappy happiness.

Aimee xx

Messy Monday - Texture Paste with Aimee

Hi! Welcome to Messy Monday with me - Aimee Dow. I know, right? I was the absolute last person you expected to see here today. When we first started discussing assigning themes to days of the week, I said "Fantastic Idea, uhh but Messy Monday's are all yours.". This past month though, I've been so transfixed by the stencil in the cupcake kit that I thought I would try something new.

I went to stay with my Mum, who is really awesome with Mixed Media. I asked her to give me a quick lesson in gesso/texture paste and what I discovered was really very interesting. I don't hate it. And by that I mean that with enough paper towel and baby wipes to stay clean, it's actually quite fun. This is a huge thing for me. Would you like to see what I came up with?

I used the polka dot stencil on the top with some Prima texture paste. Should I ever attempt it again, I would certainly be looking for a paste that is a true white (suggestions welcome).

I finished the layout off with a few stitched elements. All in all, the only things not in this kit were a few wood sequins I happened to have lying around.

Thank for stopping by,

Aimee

Thoughtful Thursday ... Cards with Natalie May

Hi there

It's the time of the year when Thank you Cards and Christmas Cards need to be made.

I used my November kit to whip up a couple of cards for a few special people in our lives.

This first one was created for Jessica's teacher.
I friend made a print for me with a hand carved stamp so I used it for the main element then added some papers from the kit as a background with a super cute Cherry Flair!

Simple but effective!


The next one is for Jess' OSHC carer.This chick is a champ and I love her to bits!
Using a simple Heidi paper in the background, I used the die cuts as the main elements and stapled on the acetate words to keep it super simple with a Cherry Flair being the hero of this card!
I hope she like it ( I have also got her a custom print from the gorgeous Jodie at PolkaDot Creative)

And this final card is for my sister who has her birthday in the first week of January.
I've been making a few shaker cards recently - I have forgotten how easy and effective they are!
This is my fave paper from this collection - it's nice and girly and will suit my sister perfectly!

I added a couple of flowers from my stash and some seam binding to add some dimension to the card.


Thanks for stopping by & have a great day
Natalie

Tutorial Tuesday - Anna Allan : My heart is full...

HELLO!

I'm here today to take you through a layout I created and how I went about it.

I am using the November Main Cake Kit.

As you would be aware from my Friday Favourites post, I am loving the Amy Tangerine 'Stitched' ephemera pack!

And usually I struggle with how to use the cut-apart papers because I have a small complex with cutting into papers...I am slowly getting over this as you will see here! ;-)

So basically for this layout I have:

- chosen a photo I want to use

- cut up the Maggie Holmes 'Open Book' cut apart paper and chosen what bits say and portray what I want - loved that 'my heart is full' panel as it teamed perfectly with my photo of being a new first-time Mum so created the page around that sentiment!

- I've gone with the panelled collage-y look again and used some die-cuts from the ephemera pack too. I love how well the two different products from different lines teamed so well together - it just demonstrates Raquel's expertise in creating kits with products that co-ordinate super well when put together!

- I have added extra embellishing with the sequins (for some bling), gold stickers (for added shine!), and the flair (for the cherry on top!).

I didn't need to add any extra journalling as the sentiments of the papers said it all really! Gotta love that :-)

Thanks for popping by! Seeya next time!

Anna :-)

Friday Favourites: Anna Allan - Fill the page...

Hi Anna here! 

Today I am here to showcase my favourite things from the Main Cake kit for November.

It's actually not that easy to pick a fave from such awesome kits but I guess I can narrow it down to what I go to the most.

And in this case, it was the vellum (Maggie Holmes 'Open Book'), the ephemera pack (Amy Tangerine 'Stitched'), and the cut aparts paper (Maggie Holmes 'Open Book').

And I really did love those gold stickers from Maggie's Open Book range too but MAN! they are really hard to photograph! I ended up having to get my six year old to hold her hands just the right way over the page so it created a shadow over the sticker part and the words could be visible and not have any glare. Surely there is an easier way but hey! that's the way I did it ;-) LOL!

Now -- you are probably thinking "Well, she's gone to town with that ephemera pack!" and you would be quite correct! It's just got some lovely little die-cuts and sentiment pieces. I also used some words and such from the cut aparts paper. I decided to pop the photo in the centre as it is the focal point after-all -- and then just compiled a tiled look with all the ephemera pieces I liked. I've jotted down some little notes/memories in my own handwriting here and there too - just to add the story in.

Thanks for popping in!

Until next time...

Anna :-)