Tracy Scott challenge at Scrap Matrix.

Hi there scrappy friends, I'm back as a Guest again this month at 

Scrap Matrix.

The challenge for October is to use Tracy Scott products.

I'm a massive fan of her stamps and dies and decided to create another scrapbook page.


Using heaps from my Tracy Scott collection, I stamped on water colour paper before fussy cutting out the flowers  and randomly painting them with pinks and yellows to match my Grand daughter's tutu.

 I piled on the flowers, auditioning for harmony among the blooms.  I left half of the heart undecorated to show the scallops and allow some white space to rest the eyes. 

I splashed some ink around the edges, added a butterfly and some sequins and colour corrected the image.

Scrap Matrix Products Used.

Paper Artsy Tracy Scott Stamp, ETS24

Paper Artsy Tracy Scott Stamp, ETS28

Paper Artsy Tracy Scott Stamp, ETS06

Paper Artsy Tracy Scott Stamp, ETS22

Art by Marlene water colour 

Dina Wakley Scribble sticks
Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic paints.

Paper Artsy Tracy Scott Stamp, ETS18

Paper Artsy Tracy Scott Stamp, ETS16

Not in store at the moment, but can be ordered.

Thanks for looking. 

I hope you will feel inspired to join in and perhaps win a gift card from the Scrap Matrix store.

Tracy Scott - Scrapbook Page with Helen

Hi there scrappy friends, I'm back as a Guest again this month at 

Scrap Matrix.

The challenge for October is to use Tracy Scott products.

I'm a massive fan of her stamps and dies and decided to create a scrapbook page.

 I love this bloom and wanted to use this original size as well as a smaller size, so I stamped it out, and reduced the size in Photoshop, to I could do that.

 Then I stamped out a variety of blooms and a butterfly.

I colored them with Paper Artsy Inks and Prismacolour pencils.

Here I'm auditioning a photo and a possible arrangement of flowers on white.  I've stamped the daisy like flower in blue and lightly coloured the scribbly type flower.

I liked the flowers much better on a black background and I flicked a few gold splashes around.

Scrap Matrix Products Used.

Paper Artsy Tracy Scott Stamp, ETS24

Paper Artsy Tracy Scott Stamp, ETS28

Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic, Bubble Gum

Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic, Bougainvilllea

Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic, Lavender

Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic

Dina Wakley Scribble sticks

Thanks for looking. I hope you will feel inspired to join in and perhaps win a gift card from the Scrap Matrix store.

Art Foamies - Scrap Matrix September 2019 challenge

Hello there scrappy friends, I'm back again with an Art Journal page for the September challenge at Scrap Matrix, using Art Foamies.




Have you seen them?   They are quite thick and spongy; and they work brilliantly with paints and gel plates.  

Just the thing to make a big hot mess!

Here is my first attempt to blend pink, peach and yellow on a Gel Plate to get the background colour.  Good grief! That will go in the box that I stamp over, make cards from, or cut into shapes for the Grand children.

I'm still a novice with this technique; so never quite sure what is going to happen and that's half the fun of it.  Hmmm....sometimes not so fun when I can't achieve what is in my mind's eye!

Take three, not what I had in mind and the black is too dark IMHO.

Why am I showing you all these fails you may well ask?  Just to encourage you to keep trying and keep playing.  I used to think I should get it right first time every time, but now know that is rarely the case. 

Finally, I got a background I liked!   If at first you don't succeed!

Next I made a puddle of white acrylic and painted a medium coat directly onto the foamie before stamping it on to the background.

I thought it looked a bit bare so I sponged some white through a stencil to add interest.  I just love the rose girl ephemera.  She is also from Marlene.  Details listed below.

The quotes are from.

Studio light art by Marlene - Quote and letter sticker pad.

I've put this into my Dylusions journal which we made a cover for in one of Tracey Scott's classes last year.

Thinking about booking in this year?  Tracy is a magnificent teacher and I think Vicki still has a few spots left in some of the classes.

 Details can be found at scrap matrix shares

Products used from Scrap Matrix

Gelli Plate

Art Foamies by Marlene, Leaf Geo

Art Foamies by Marlene, http://scrapmatrix.com/balzer-splat-heart-doily/

Paper Artsy paints, Bubble Gum, Peach Nectar

Dina Wakley Acrylic paint, Lemon

Marlene Die Cut Elements

TCW Stencil - Blooming Garden 

this is a 12x12 just to show you what the stencil looks like, as the 6x6 which I used is not currently in stock.  If you really love it, I'm sure Vicki can order one in for you.

Thanks for looking. I hope you will feel inspired to join in and perhaps win a gift card from the Scrap Matrix store.

Scrap Matrix DT Challenge - Art Foamies September 2019

Hello there scrappy friends, I've been MIA due to ill health, but have found time to create a little something for the September challenge at Scrap Matrix, using Art Foamies.




Have you seen them?   They are quite thick and spongy; and they work brilliantly with paints and gel plates.  Just the thing to make a big hot mess!

I set out to create magic with my gel press and fell flat on my face in a big pool of mud!  

So, I started again, much more carefully with the colour mixing, still not magical; but I managed to salvage these three blooms by fussy cutting them and adding some leaves.

I'll be back later in the month with an at an Art Journal page - fingers crossed.

Products used from Scrap Matrix

Art Foamies by Marlene, Leaf Geo

Art Foamies by Marlene, Small Poppy

Dylusions paints

Paper Artsy paints

Thanks for looking. I hope you will feel inspired to join in and perhaps win a gift card from the Scrap Matrix store.

Scrap the Boys - Road trip adventure July 2019

Hello Scrappy Friends, welcome back to my blog today 
where I'm sharing a DT layout for

Scrap the Boys.

 The challenge is to use this sketch to scrap about the boy/s 

(of any age) in your life.

I chose to interpret the adventure not as a road trip, but as an adventure into the world of team sport, which these two little tackers took to like ducks to water. As well as Soccer, they now play Basketball, Tennis and Aussie Rules Football.

First, I searched for some paper to complement their lurid green uniforms with the red crest and came up with this very old Basic Grey paper from the Porcelain collection called "Wedgewood."

The cut file from Gwen Wruck at Cut 2 You was originally white and I matched the red on their uniforms by mixed a variety of watercolour paints.

The circles were all cut from an old sheet of Pink Paisley paper 

called Hey Kid, Hula Hoop.

An equally ancient paper from Simple Stories, Say Cheese, 
provided the Special Event tag.

I find the quote stickers really useful on any page; 

these are from Tim Holtz, Small talk.

The camera brad is from Teresa Collins.

I hope you will feel inspired to play along and be eligible for a prize.

I appreciate your kind comments and so enjoy reading them.  Thank you.

Scrap the Boys DT - Me and my best friend

Hello Scrappy Friends, welcome back to my blog today
 where I'm sharing a DT layout for

Scrap the Boys

I adore this mood board; there is something a bit pugnacious about the dog, which reminds me of occasional grumpy moods our Grand Boys display.   But put a Puppy within cooee and they instantly become the kindest, gentlest kids on the block.

I chose an older paper because it went with the T-shirt and the black accents to match the dog!

The papers are from Crate Paper, Cool Kid, "Wild One" (red)

 and "Buddy" (Black and White)

The title, the circle and the paw prints are all free cut files from Paper Issues. I thought they were perfect for this simple page.

When we collect the Boys after school and take them home, the joyous barks from the back garden can be heard as we pull into the driveway.  Then, no matter what sort of a day they've had, Maggie is there to cuddle, to chase and to listen to their concerns.  

Every Boy needs a Dog and every Dog needs a Boy or three.

I hope you will feel inspired to play along and be eligible for a prize.

I appreciate your kind comments and so enjoy reading them.  
Thank you.

Scrap the Boys DT May 2019 - Mother

Hello Scrappy Friends, welcome back to my blog today 

where I'm sharing a DT layout for

Scrap the Boys

 The challenge is to use this mood board to scrap about the Boy/boy's (of any age) in your life and because May is Mother's day, please include a photo of yourself with your Boy/Boys.

I chose to use the gorgeous wreath paper from the Cocoa Vanilla 

Happiness collection. The symbolism of the wreath; eternity, seemed perfect as our whole family was gathered to witness the marriage of our youngest son.

To allow room for the title on the Left, I slit the flowers on the right and tucked the photo in to the space.

I fussy cut the butterflies from a sheet called Bright and Beautiful and added a few shimmery bits from my old Prima stash.

I hope you will feel inspired to play along and be eligible for a prize.

I appreciate your kind comments and so enjoy reading them.  Thank you.

Scrap Matrix DT April 2019 - Fly with Helen

Hello crafty friends, thanks for visiting today 

as I share a DT page for the April challenge for

Scrap Matrix.

I was inspired by the orangy colours when choosing my photo and I'd discovered a great quote which I thought would be perfect for my outdoorsy Grand daughter.

The photo was taken at Womadelaide in early Autumn this year and Miss E had climbed a tree to get a better vantage point of one of the many music stages.   This lead me to using a couple of sets of leaf stamps and borrowing my DIL's stamp to make the little girl with the kite.

Hmmm, that's a bit of a long lead in, but its how my layouts evolve.  I hope you're still with me!.

Next, I went hunting for a patterned paper which would look good with her top and perhaps have some leaves on it too.

I found the perfect paper by Studio 75, Lavender morning. I just flipped it so that the leaves came down from the top.

First I stamped the little girl flying the kite and embossed it with clear embossing powder.

Satisfied with placement, I created the title on my computer.

The next step was to make some mats for the photo, using scraps of paper from 7dots.

The stamping was done on some old music paper, using Tim Holtz archival ink.

Using Jane Davenport water colour inks, I randomly painted the leaves, with three of four Autumn colours.

I wanted to highlight the beads on her T-shirt, so I added some brown ink through a stencil. I mixed a Dylusions paint with some thick white gesso and dabbed it through a stencil.

Finally, the tricky bit of deciding how to arrange the leaves.

I always make twice as many as I think I'll need, so that I don't have to try and match paint if I don't have enough.

A bonus by doing this, is that I always have 

something pretty to add to a card!  

I hope you find time to play along, just add your entry to the Scrap Matrix Shares page in the corresponding folder and don't forget to let us know what Scrap Matrix products you used and what inspired you.  You could be in the running for a generous gift voucher or perhaps a Guest Design Team spot down the track.

Scrap Matrix Products used:-

Studio 75 Paper, Lavender Morning

Jane Davenport Water Colour Inks,

Carabelle Stamps - Leafs

Carabelle Stamps Scribbled leafs and Textured Circles

AALL & Create #13 Stencil

Tim Holtz Archival ink

Finnabair Heavy White Gesso

Dylusions Paint, Melted chocolate

Ranger embossing ink

Scrap Matrix DT April challenge - Fly

Welcome back to Scrap Matrix this month 
where we are challenging you to use a quote with the word
FLY in it.

You can create a layout, a card, a canvas or something off the page.   

The quote I chose is one that is packed with meaning for me, 

so I wanted it to be central to the page.

I also wanted to challenge myself to use warm colours, reds, oranges and yellows; colours I tend to avoid.  I used some teal for a pop of contrast and I think it turned out O.K.

I typed out the quote and printed it on water colour paper.

Then I cut out the triangle with a steel ruler and a sharp blade.

I taped the paper to my craft mat to stop it warping when the ink went on.

Using Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks, I smooshed some green randomly around the triangle.

Next, I stamped out a variety of flowers on heavyweight 

water colour paper. I used Jane Davenport water colour paints, "Glitz-Sea" to colour them in.

Assembling the flowers over the edge of the cut triangle proved to be a bit tricky, but by using soft matte gel and a sturdy book, I managed to get the water colour papers to stick together.

The flowers looked a bit lonely so I added some flying creatures!

The butterflies and dragon fly were white embossed on vellum.

Using Dina Wakley Scribble Sticks, I added some faint colour on the back of the vellum.

The black leaves I created with Tim Holtz Ideology foam stamps,

 "Cut out floral".

For a bit of shimmer, I added gold to the centre of the flowers and flicked Paper Artsy gold ink all over the finished piece.  I hesitated to do that, as I've wrecked other projects by trying to "Gild the Lilly!"

Luckily it worked fine this time.

I hope you find time to play along, just add your entry to the Scrap Matrix Shares page in the corresponding folder and don't forget to let us know what Scrap Matrix products you used and what inspired you.  You could be in the running for a generous gift voucher or perhaps a Guest Design Team spot down the track.

Scrap Matrix Products used:-

Jane Davenport water colour paints - Glitz-Sea

Paper Artsy Stamp - ETS21

Paper Artsy Stamp - ETS16

Paper Artsy Stamp - ETS06

Paper Artsy Stamp - EEB10

Paper Artsy Gold Ink

Tim Holtz Black Archival ink

Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks

Stampendous clear embossing ink

Dina Wakley scribble sticks

Finnabair soft matte gel

From Scrap Matrix - not currently in stock

Paper Artsy Stamp - ETS18

Paper Artsy Stamp - ETS22

Tim Holtz Ideology Stamps - Cut out Floral

From my stash

White embossing powder