Cuddles

I couldn't wait to scrapbook this photo of me cuddling my baby boy, and I love the photo so much that I wanted to use some of my favourite scrapbook papers with it. But I couldn't choose which one. The problem was solved by the Sarah's Cards Ltd Blog - I spotted their August Challenge to use 5 different patterned papers on a layout. Cutting up 5 of my favourites was a bit scary at first, but then I realised it meant they'd last me for more projects!

Papers used: WeRMK 72 & Sunny 'Summer', 'Scattered Clouds', and 'Sunkist'
                    WeRMK Madame Royale 'Catherine'
                    American Crafts Abode 'Oak Ave'
                    Cosmo Cricket Togetherness 'Elements'

I actually ended up using 6 patterned papers if you count the Cosmo Cricket elements ('Life is Beautiful' and the journaling spot). The page looks quite bright and busy with all these colourful patterns, but that suits me!              

I love the little bird sticker (from Tiffany embossed stickers by WeRMK) and had to have him perched at the top of my page:

I gave the page a little bit of extra texture and dimension by coating a chipboard bracket with yellow paint, then Sarah's Cards Crackle Glaze, and finally green paint, and added it under the photo:

The page makes me happy when I look at it, so I'd say using a lot of patterned papers worked this time at least! x

Tweet

Mermaid Mesmerised Altered Plaque

This month's theme at Alter it Monthly is 'Sirens, Mermaids, and the Deep Blue Sea'. My head immediately started whirring with ideas when I saw this theme, as I love the sea, and mermaids have always been a magical creature that fascinates me - the one that I really think could exist in some form as we really don't know what lives in the deepest parts of the ocean.

So I've altered a 6¾” x 4½” wooden plaque, which started out as a image of poppies (bought at a car boot sale!) and ended up like this:

Here's how it started:

I painted on a layer of gesso:

Then a layer of turquoise acrylic paint:

I then painted a crackle glaze medium (from Sarah's Cards Ltd), let it dry, then painted blue acrylic paint on top. It crackled nicely so the turquoise showed through. That was the base finished.

Next I painted the mermaid, using drawing pen, watercolour paints, and acrylic paint for the white dots, onto a piece of scrapbooking paper. I scanned her in before I did the next step, so that you can download and use her in your projects if you'd like to! Click on the photo to download - but please only use the image in items for personal use or gifts - not items you wish to sell.

I don't have any more step-by-step photos, but next I tore around the mermaid, and then very carefully burnt the edges. I stamped the words onto the same scrapbooking paper, and tore around them, but just used brown and black ink pads to colour the edges to look like they'd been burnt.

I adhered them to the plaque using Mod Podge, leaving the edges loose to add a bit of dimension. Then I used Anita's 3D clear gloss to adhere the collection of beads, shells, stones, and jewellery items around the mermaid.

Finally I coated the whole thing in gloss Mod Podge to protect it and to give a nice watery sheen to the underwater theme!

Hope you like it. If you like it a whole lot, it's now available for sale in my etsy shop here.

Do you think mermaids exist? Maybe, just maybe? I hope so. x

Tweet

Chopping Paper and Butterfly Challenges

Hello Hello!

I've been working on a couple more layouts for Shimelle's challenges from last weekend's online crop. The first one I have to show you is using my favourite photo at the moment, of my two cute kiddies:

This is for the 'Chop Your Paper' challenge, to create a layout that is embellished with paper rather than fancy scrapbook embellishments. The papers I cut up were these:

72 & Sunny Woodlands Glitter by WRMK

Dollhouse Sweet Things Flat Paper by Brenda Walton

The papers were fun to cut up. When I first started scrapbooking I used to cut up papers to embellish a page a lot more often (before I had so much stash!) I shall have to remember to do it again from time to time! It helped that the animal paper already had glitter on it. The only thing I added was some pink gems to the flower centres:

 

I think the page ended up bright, fun, and cute, just like the photo!

The next layout is for the 'Bingo Cards and Butterflies' challenge, to use this layout of Shimelle's as inspiration:

Even though I didn't have any of the supplies that Shimelle used, I've still ended up with a similar layout:

I really loved the oversized butterfly on Shimelle's layout, so I made my own by hand-cutting the shape from blank chipboard, covering it with yellow spotted paper, and edging with black pen:

I also cut a few words from a book to echo the photobooth pictures:

The photos were taken using this app for my Ipod Touch. The main reason I wanted an Ipod was for the photo apps and I'm loving them!

Hope you'll all have a chance to play, laugh, and smile today! x

Tweet