Some OTP fun by Tamara Buckler

Hello again friends,

Well its been a huge few weeks for my little family, as we have moved into our brand new home! This has not been without teething problems, we've had no internet and I've had no where to scrap, plus not a lot of time up my sleeve, but we are past these little speed humps and I expect to be back sharing a lot more with you all now!

I am lucky enough to have a dedicated scrap space in my new home, as well as custom made desk. These are still a work in progress, but I felt the urge to make some OTP projects that can help me store things in this space.

As part of the 'reflection' challenge this month, I decided to redo a little MDF shelving unit I had already done. It was previously covered in Kaisercraft paper and some Dylusions paints, however it didn't match my new colour scheme. I was very grateful to have the We R Memory Keepers 'High Five' collection bundle to work with, and re-did the unit by painting over the previous look with Black Dylusions Paint, and then using the 'Brave' paper from the collection to cover the sides, and the 'Lunar' paper to cover the shelves. I used Modge Podge to adhere the paper to the unit, and then again over the top to seal the paper. I then added some stickers and ephemera from the kit for a little extra interest.

The second project I did was a desk caddy, and I used the much the same techniques and papers as the first project. I did start by priming the caddy with Gesso, and this made the paint soak in a little less and the paper adhere a little better.

I have now loaded up these two little storage units with all my goodies, and have set them up in my desk space, I love the way they look and how practical they are.

Here's a little sneak peak of my scrap space, I still need to add some extra storage to the walls, including some cork tiles to make a notice board, and some frames to display my pages.

Thanks for stopping by today! Cant wait to share with you all again soon.

Big Loves,
Tam x

Moodboard challenge & Dino Friends with Sarah Rosse

Hello crafty friends, Sarah here today with two layouts for you. The first one is inspired by the July moodboard challenge as pictured above - have you given it a go yet? I had this background that I had started some time ago (I like to use a piece of cardstock to swipe brushes of left over paint on to), so I just add to it with colours that matched the moodboard. Using a stencil and ink from my stash I added some interest to the background. I also used a stencil and texture paste to add some further dimension for the background. The large range of stencils from Shop and Crop can be found in store here. Lets take a look at the layout;

Whilst the background is quite busy, I like the grungy look of it - kind of messy like my son's journey to find boxing - something he loves to do. The photo had a white border (also as per the moodboard) and matted with various patterned papers from my stash. The title - 'Follow your Dreams. They know the way.' was again inspired by the moodboard. The colourful letters used here were from the Echo Park Paper Co Dino Friends collection. This collection can be purchased in store here. The second layout for today has been created using the collection mentioned above - the Dino Friends collection by Alisha Gordon, created by Echo Park Paper Co.

The double sided patterned papers in this collection were used for the layout base and matting for the photo. This photo is of my 3 year old son trying on a dinosaur dress up costume that his older brother once wore to kinder. It's still a little big for him but nevertheless, he was still happy to pose for a quick pic. I used Dylusions paints in three shades of green to give some texture to the background, particularly around the photo area. The range of Dylusions paints can be purchased in store here. I added some white gesso around the edges of the laout and some green punchinella under the photo mats and top corner embellishment to give some extra interest on the page.

The Dino Friends collection come with a fantastic array of cut apart cards and element stickers. There are brads (I havent used them for so long and it was fun to revisit them) and they are just the cutest with a lot of bling for the diverse range of layouts and card ideas you could create with this collection. The Dino Friends collection can be purchased in store - if you click here, this will take you to the entire Echo Park Paper Co range (just one of my fav companies stocked by Shop and Crop Scrapbooking!).

I hope you enjoyed these layouts and you will give the July moodboard challenge a go - there's always great prizes to be won! Until next time....

May Crop Kit layout ideas by Sarah Rosse

Hello crafty friends, Sarah here with you with two layouts using the gorgeous May Crop Kit...and I still have lots of product left to use from the Pinkfresh Studio Live More collection! You may have seen my planner layout using this kit earlier in the month - well even after these layouts, I still have heaps of product to play with from this kit. I just love it and it's so versatile for many types of projects.

I am working on my boy's school / day care albums at the moment and wanted to create some cover pages for them. This first layout is the opening page for 2016, using the Live More patterned papers, foiled die cuts and puffy alphabet stickers. I used some paint on the base of the layout to add some additional layers. This kit can be purchased instore at https://www.shopandcrop.com.au

This second layout again uses patterned paper from the Live More collection. I have applied Dylusions Paints to the edges of the layout and to the page to frame the photos. Colour Blast pastes in Deep Water and Sunshine have been applied through stencils and the puffy alphabet stickers used again here for the title. The gorgeous puffy stars also come with the alphabet stickers.

I hope you enjoyed these layouts and they have inpsired you to use them in your next layouts.

Lets Play Tic Tac Toe

Hello

 Is it really the middle of May already, I think I blinked and missed the first half of the month.

Have you participated in our monthly challenge yet, if not we would love to see you play along with us and if you have thank you for playing.

 

 Do you remember how to play? Just choose a straight line, vertical, horizontal or even diagonal. The line I chose to play with was the one on top, stamping, flowers and a paper bag.

 

 

 Would you like to see how I create my inspiration?

 

I went through my stash and found some paper bags, wasn't really sure which ones I had planned on using.

 

First I sanded the box as the outside was shiny, then I covered it with a couple of layers of gesso

I didn't just want to use a canvas or an artist board so I found the box in my cupboards, now I am not sure how long I have been carting the box around for, at least 12 yrs but I am positive its a lot longer than that, over the years it has been used for different things.

Once the gesso was dried, with the help of my heat gun, I worked out where I wanted my horizon line to sit, I marked this with a water colour pencil so if I needed to get rid of it all I need to use was water and wipe it away. If I had used a grey lead it would have been harder to remove and grey lead can leave an oil residue when you cover them so it still could show through depending on what you are covering it with.

 

I decided to use the black paper bag as at this stage I still had no idea what colours for the background I was going to use. I used a metal die and bigshot to cut a circle. I placed my die just off the edge of the bag so I had a flat edge, you will see on the finished piece that I actually cut another piece of the circle, so that I had two flat edges. 

 

To create my table I used tissue paper, a stamp, watermark ink and clear embossing powder.

 

Using a matte gel I glued my tissue paper to the surface of the box. I also put a layer of the matte gel all over the surface of the box, this could prove useful as if I don't like something I can wipe it away and start again.

 

With a make up sponge I added my paint to the heat embossed tissue paper, keeping the layer of paint light so the texture of the embossing came through. I did loose a bit of the texture under the matte gel but I hit it with some heat and a bit more showed through.

 

To create the wall again I used a make up sponge to lay the paint down to keep it light. I used some ink and a stamp to add a little bit of interest. I didn't want a full impression of the stamp, so once my stamp was inked I used a piece of scrap paper to take some of the ink away.

 

Using matte medium I attached my paper bag vase and put another layer of medium over the surface of the box. Once this was dry I then found my green water colour pencil and drew the stems of my flowers, not that you actually see them but it gave me a shape to work with when sticking down my flowers.

 

To create them flowers I used a brown paper bag, a die and ran them through my die cutting machine. I folded my bag in half so I had four layers of paper. I ended up with 50 flowers, which I then used a white pen to draw around the inside edge and attached a small pearl to the middle.

 

 

Do you remember me saying that I covered the entire surface of the box with matte medium and in doing that if I didn't like something I could wipe it away. This came in handy when I was stamping the  sentiment. Even though the surface of the box was flat it was slippery and also gave a little when I pushed the stamp onto so the sentiment was not great. I wiped it away and tried again, this time placing a hard surface underneath for support when I stamped.

 

 Here is a list of the products that I used that can be found in the shop. Dylusions paint - melted chocolate, VersaMark - watermark stamp pad.

 

If you decided to visit the shop please use the code DO5 to receive a discount on your purchases.

Happy Creating

Tic Tac Toe May Challenge

Hello crafty friends, Sarah with you today - feeling so inspired by the May Tic Tac Toe challenge that I have two layouts for you! The first one, as pictured above uses a red and white striped paper bag (from D-lish Scraps), patterned paper (some of the last of my Crate Paper Cool Kid collection available in store here) and cardstock (from my stash). Let's have a look at the challenge set by Shop and Crop...

For this layout I created the background smearing on Dylusions paints in Postbox Red and Campso Teal with a palette knife. The range of Dylusions paints is available in store here. I left this overnight to dry as I tend to be a bit heavy handed with paints! I then used some stamps from my stash to add a little more background interest. The Shop and Crop online store have a great range of stamps, particularly mixed media ones.

I used the paper bag in this layout as a pocket to hold a large tag. I used the small piece of vellum I had left over from the Cool Kid collection to cover the tag and wrote on the back some points about my son at the age of 3 that I wanted to remember - his favourite foods, traits about him I love, what he calls himself etc. The photo is layered on Cool Kid patterned papers and stickers from this collection were used as embellishments. That cute handmade heart embellie is from Charms Creations. Let's take a closer look...

Now for the second project, a Planner Page layout. This is a Basic Planner Kit from Scrapper's Delights. I am pleased to have been offered a position on their Planner Design team. For more information about setting up and decorating your own planner, pop on over to their website by clicking here. I designed this layout also inline with in the Tic Tac Toe challenge, I used cardstock (300gsm cardstock that the planner page was printed on), stamps and embossing powder (gold from Stampin Up).

The background of the planner pages were completed using distress ink and the 'smoosching' technique. The range of distress inks can be purchased instore here. The stamps used with the gold embossing are the Kaisercraft Captured Moments Calendar stamps - also instore here. The day and date stamps are stamped with black ink with the Echo Park Paper Co Through the Year Calendar stamp that is also available in store here. The cute bear stamps are the 'Honey Bears' by The Ton. Lets take a closer look...

Whilst I have never really been in to 'planning' in the creative sense, I am using this planner to capture my Design Team commitments and a few photos of my children week to week. For more planner layouts, please see my blog here. I like to include reminders of everyday chores, appointments, events etc - all in a pretty format that is alot of fun to design and create. Lets take one last look at those cute bears - they are stamped in black ink, embossed with clear embossing powder and coloured using Zig Clean Colour real brush markers.

I hope you enjoyed these projects and the versatility in creating projects with the May Tic Tac Toe challenge. Until next time...

'Dreams' and 'Happiness' by Sarah Rosse

Hello Shop and Croppers, Sarah here with two layouts using more of the Kaisercraft Indigo Skies Collection. This first layout I have called 'Dreams' - it pictures my oldest son in three of our favorite outfits when he was younger. The layout however highlights some key messages that I'd like him to take on his life journey. This collection is in the April Kaisercraft kit which can be purchased in store by clicking here. This can be purchased as part of a kit subscription or as a once off purchase.

The base of this layout uses the Indigo Skies 'Misty' patterned paper. I have used a stencil from my stash with Dylusions 'After Midnight' paint and Brushos to create the background. Brusho Crystal Colours are amazingly versatile watercolor ink crystals that can be used in a myriad of different ways. Sprinkle them directly on a wet substrate and watch intriguing organic patterns appear almost like magic. Or sprinkle Brusho Colours on a wet brush, painting knife, or texture tool to create a variety of gorgeous effects. Another alternative to this is the Ken Oliver Colour Burst powders or the new Lindy's Stamp Gang magical shakers.

The frames on the layout are from the Indigo Skies emphemera pack and the sentiments are from the Indigo Skies sticker sheet. Lets take a close look at the sentiments and the lovely colour on the page.

For the second layout today, I have called this 'Happiness'. I love this photo of my youngest son sitting and watching his dad work on his beloved car. The 'love' reference in this layout however is directed at the love my husband has for his car. Whilst he made the decision recently to sell it, it was a special car that meant so much for many reasons.

Again, this layout used the Indigo Skies patterned paper 'Blue Moon' as the base. I smeared some white gesso to tone down the background. I applied some Brusho (I cant help myself!) and some splatters of the same Dylusions paint in 'After Midnight'. Following on from the first layout, I had turned the wet stencil over onto another piece of paper to make a print - makes the perfect connection between the two layouts. The photo was layered on patterned paper from the Indigo Skies Collection - just love the denim look paper! The title thickers are from the We R Memory Keepers High Five collection, available instore now! Lets take a closer look...

Thanks for joining me - please be sure to check out the wonderful inspiration from the Design Team on the Shop and Crop blog by clicking here. Until next time...

It's all about a cute girl...

Hello All!

I'm so pleased to be here for my first DT share! Today, I'm here to share my take on the April challenge, plus another layout, put together with the awesome Crate Paper Cute Girl Range.

I don't know about you guys, but when I'm crushing hard on a paper range, I really struggle to use it! It's all just so pretty and I want to use it all at once, on the one page! Which never works!

Inevitably, I have to get a grip on myself, and pare it back.  

My first layout features the Cute Girl Story Book paper. I went for high impact by using the black b-side of the paper, and white die-cuts, with pops of the coloured Cute Girl Fancy peeking through.

I, of course, had to add a generous sprinkle of the fab puffy and chipboard stickers as embellishment!

The XOXO cut file was gifted from a friend, I believe it is from the Cocoa Vanilla 'Colour Me Happy' range. You can see more of this range in the store here.

My second layout went a lot easier on this range. With the April challenge mood board focussing on pink and yellow, it was a great excuse to fussy cut the pink flowers from the Story Book paper.

I accentuated these colours by getting messy with some Dylusions paint in Lemon Zest and Funky Fuschia, and some Colour Blast paste in Sunshine. And then I grunged things up with black Staz-on to tie back to the flowers.

I also tucked in some paper flowers, some tags, die cuts and some Tim Holtz 'Small Talk' stickers (I love these!)

I love the way these pages turned out, and how even though they are from the same paper range, they are so different!

Thanks for stopping by to check out my layouts! I'd love to hear your comments below!

Cheers, Tamara