American Crafts Guest Designer

I was so very honoured several weeks ago when I received  an email from Paige Evans asking me if I would like to be a   Guest Designer for American Crafts. I was very very excited and couldn't wait for my box of goodies to arrive. This week American Crafts have been showcasing banners so my 5 projects ( 3 layouts, a card and an otp project ) had to include banners.
My first layout utilized the pretty patterns in that Dear Lizzy Daydreamer paper as a base for my layout. I then created a blocked effect with pattern papers and rubons to complete my layout.

My new favourite photo of my husband and I taken on Mothers Day, at the beach.

For the banner I simply trimmed some scrap paper into small triangles and stitched them down with my sewing machine.

I wanted my second layout to be vibrant and fun, I have had these photos of my first time  meeting Amy Tangerine when she came to Australia 2 years ago just waiting to be scrapped, and when I received the Plus One collection I knew straight away what I was going to create.

The  diecuts placed randomly  create a fun background and I made a tone on tone banner for a bit of extra texture to my page.

For my third  layout I grabbed some American Crafts white cardstock and my water colours to create my background mat. Once dry I machine stitched to frame the water colour block.  I layered it over that striped pattern paper to repeat the striped effect.

Another banner stitched using my machine.

My favourite photo of my son and his best friend.

I wanted a bright bold card so I could use those fun acrylic Die Cut shapes from the #Summer collection. I layered several pieces of paper from the Plus One collection and added some machine stitching. To complete I tied some twine around the top of the banner and stapled the acrylic pieces in place.

Finally, I made a little holiday/vacation bag that can be filled with crayons and pencils for the kids or a book, sunglasses and lotion for me and popped into the car ready to go. I opened the calico bag and slipped the bag into the bottom of my sewing machine and stitched the banners on. To complete I added in that painted peg for a bit of extra fun!

What an honour and privilege it has been this week to be GD at American Crafts, I am very thankful !

Turning 2

If I didn't scrapbook I am sure I would forget how little my boys once where!
This layout up on the Jillibean Soup blog recently celebrates my youngest second birthday.... with only 5 months till he turns 6 I am so glad I get to cherish these memories for ever.

Love this little guy!

I think I  am now a converted stamper, they seem to crop up on all of my projects lately!

All this week on the Heidi Swapp blog we have been sharing stories about our selves and our selfies!

I decided to create a layout with an added bonus of a memory file which allows for extra photos and hidden journaling inside. I used the soft pastel colours of the Dreamy collection to create my project.
 I went the brave route and decided to use a full sized selfie photo as the cover of my memory file.

I added a few pieces from the Dreamy Ephemera pack to finish the cover.

Upon opening the album you will find this double page spread.

On the left I layered another photo on some Dreamy pattern paper.

 

and used one of the layered stencils to spritz some Color Shine polka dots on the water colour tag.

 

 I  created my own patterned transparency using some texture paste, Color Shine and a transparency.
I share the technique in this video here.

Underneath the transparency I added some favourite family selfie photos and a jumble of Dreamy ephemera.

On the left side I used the selfie cut file Heidi created just for the selfie series on a memory file and added some more Dreamy pieces to create the cross word effect.

To add some hidden journaling I used the photo stack from the Dreamy collection to create some layers. I had my husband, boys and a few friends write me a simple note to add to my project.

and I added my journaling as well to complete my project. It was a very rewarding  process to get my thoughts down and more importantly very cathartic too.

I hope you had a chance to play along with us on IG sharing your selfies, it was a lot of fun !

happy birthday

Popping in quickly to share a few cards that were up on the Jillibean Soup blog recently. I have been playing with the fun Birthday Bisque collection. Super easy to get some Birthday cards whipped up in a hurry.

2 months later....

Today I am sharing almost two months of my Heidi Swapp Memory Planner, yikes where is the year going...
Lets start with April.

For April I decided to dedicate the month to things that make me happy!

I added in a  QR code of my favourite song at the moment Happy so when ever  I want to watch or listen to the song I can simply scan it with me phone.

Being School Holidays there were lots of fun kids activities.

 

I included a gorgeous drawing from my youngest.

 

 

Turning the page to the calendar page.

More school holiday fun.

I love that I have captured the every day in our lives.

Next comes May.

Being the month of Mothers Day I decided to use the prompts page to record some thoughts on being a mum.

Favourite photos from Mothers Day, along with Heidi's FREE printable found here.

May isn't over yet , I still have some photos to add but I wanted to record our selfie series on Heidi's blog this month.

My boys made me some Mothers Day cards at school and I needed a way to keep them safe in my planner.

 

I used some small magnets disguised by paper circles on the planner and magnets on the back of the cards to hold them in place but can be easily removed to add to or view the calendar.

 

More QR codes of videos of my boys that I want to cherish in the future....

Ill be sure to share June very soon.