Scrap Matrix challenge - Keep taking chances.

Hello scrappy friends, welcome to my blog on this Spring day.

Today I'm sharing a layout I created for the inaugural Scrap Matrix challenge.

I almost chickened out, because the challenge is the make a page about our Scrap space and mine is a total disgrace at the moment.  

I'm in the middle of reorganising and it's not a pretty sight.

So I decided to tidy just one area, where I keep my mixed media stuff, 

because that's what I enjoy the most right now.  

I love experimenting without any specific goal in mind.

I was inspired by the messy photo; it's an accurate image of my s/crap room at the moment and that gorgeous neat scrap room; something I aspire to!

I used a Blue Fern paper for the background, Seaside Cottage, "Embark".

Most of the pieces behind the photo are from 7 Dots, Lost and Found, elements and stickers. 

The quote stamps are by Dina Wakley - I stamped them and heat embossed them.  

The heart stamping is from Ranger Dylusions.

I treated the chipboard pieces with gesso and gold spritzing ink,

they are from Blue Fern.

The texture was created with a Tim Holtz stencil and texture paste.

I dabbed some Nuvo Mousse over the top.

The little red wooden dog toy is on elastic and he jumps around when I push the bottom.

He's there to remind me to have fun, that playing is essential at any age 

and that nothing needs to be perfect!

Thanks for calling in today - I appreciate the comments you leave - thank you.

Sympathy cards

Welcome back to my blog on this cold day, it's only 10C as I type this

and I'm longing for Spring to arrive.

I've been experimenting again with Tim Holtz Distress Oxides and some under utilized stamps, to create a couple of Sympathy cards.   I'm not confident about what's appropriate when making cards for this occasion, but do like to use colour.

See what you think.

For this one, I used a Stampin' Up set "Thoughts and Prayers 1 of 2"

The inks are Fossilzed Amber, Spiced Marmalade and Peeled Paint.

And for this one, the Gum Tree is from Darkroom Door, "Gum Trees".

The inks are, Vintage Photo, Wilted Violet, Faded Jeans and Worn Lipstick.

Thanks for your visit, I'd love to know your go to theme for Sympathy cards.

Stuck?! Sketches Blog Hop - Movers, Shakers, Mischief Makers

Hello friends!  We have something special going on for our September 15th challenge!  Along with the reveal of a new sketch challenge, and 2 amazing sponsors, we have loads of bonus inspiration for you, in the form of a blog hop with our generous friends at 

My Creative Scrapbook!!

We are teaming up with My Creative Scrapbook to bring you a super fun blog hop, to share loads of inspiration from both design teams and to give you an extra chance to win their prize!  The My Creative Scrapbook design team members will be using a variety of their fabulous September kits to showcase our sketch. Each of the blog hop commenters will earn a ballot and have the opportunity to win one of My Creative Scrapbook's gorgeous September main kits (shown below)!  Read on to find out how you can earn a second ballot to win this prize!

As usual, we have a second sponsor! Thank you also to the amazing, supportive and long-time friend to Stuck?! Sketches, Creative Embellishments  who are also sponsoring this challenge with a $25.00 gift certificate to their online shop for our second randomly chosen winner!

Creative Embellishments is a new family owned company that was created by Michael and Nicolle Kramer. We are a husband and wife team who design and manufacture unique, high quality chipboard, wood and rubber stamp products. It is our mission is to offer fun and inspiring products to bring out your inner creativity that you can add to any project. In the near future we will be expanding into other mediums such as rubber/acrylic stamps and acrylic embellishments.

ALSO, We want to show you how much we appreciate that you play along with us and share your designs and talent with us so we will be choosing one scrapbooker from this challenge to guest with us for our November 15th challenge!

Of course, we still need to share our sketch with you, check it out:

I chose to flip the sketch to suit my photo.

I've used Kaisercraft Papers, "Indigo Skies" collection, one of my faves at the moment.

The flair is from Studio Fourteen 40.

The stamp is from Carabelle Studio, "Nuage d'toiles."

The metal clock is by Prima.

The little enamel dots are oldies from Prima, "Allstar collection."

The journalling is on the back of the page and it reads:-

 It's not often we have a photo of all our Sons together, so this one is very special to me.  It seems such a short time since you were all at home milling about in a state of noisy chaos.  The days were full of sweaty clothes, mountains of washing, school bags, sporting gear, trolley loads of food, dirty dishes and vociferous debating about every topic under the sun.  There was wrestling in the lounge room, corny jokes and loud music.  Often advanced grunting and shoulder shrugging was the response to impertinent questions from parents and you always doled out information sparingly, on a "needs to know" basis.   Only in later years, at family gatherings, have we learned of some of the high jinks that went undetected by us at the time.  Ignorance is bliss, or so they say!   And look at you now; all married with families, careers and responsibilities of your own, yet the boyish glint of mischief in your eyes shines as brightly as ever when you get together.    

Love you all to the moon and back.

   1st September 2012

And now here is your hop order!

 Stuck?! Sketches

Lee-Anne Thornton

Ashley Smith

Wendy McKee

 Debbi Tehrani

Yvette Weber 

 Helen Wallace

 Tracy McLennon

Janice Daquila-Pardo

Angel LeBouef 

Kelly Barron

Jenifer Evans 

 Lisa Moen

Aimee Kid

Monique Liedtke (belongs to both teams!)

Shona Keehn

Natsuko Suzuki

Sandra Brimelow 

Marielle LaForge-LeBlanc

Laura Whitaker (belongs to both teams!)

Maja Nowak

My Creative Scrapbook

You can also earn a second chance to win the My Creative Scrapbook September main kit by playing along with our September 15th sketch challenge and linking up your entry as usual!  As always all winners will be chosen randomly, though we will be doing a random manual draw for the My Creative Scrapbook prize, and our usual random.org draw for the Creative Embellishments prize.

Scrapmatts DT September 2017 - Together and Believe

Hello and welcome back to Scrapmatts.

It's Helen with you today.

First I'm sharing a layout about a newborn baby meeting her Daddy.

The photo was slightly out of focus, but too precious to discard, so I added a watercolour filter, to blend in with the ombre background paper.
All the papers are from the  Kaisercraft collection, "Indigo Blue." 

The flair is from Studio Fourteen 40.
The puffy clouds is from Amy Tangerine "Cute overload".

I'm not sure where I got the spotty flair, apart from the bottom of my stash, maybe G45?
I left all the chipboard bare apart from the heart which I wet embossed with 
Stampendous "aged Taupe."

I based my layout on a sketch by Laura Whitaker.

Scrapmatts products used:-
CB1229 Chains 02
CB1071 Hearts
CB5142 Retro Squares
CB6112 Scrap words 31
Heart Stencil

Next up is an older photo from a Christmas 2014.

Still stash busting, I've used scraps of older papers to make the red and patterned trees;
then combined them with a new Kaisercraft Christmas collection "Letters to Santa",

for the green tree and green mat.  I think that the gorgeous
 Scrapmatts products have added a touch of festivity and sparkle.

I used various water colours and Tim Holtz Oxides to paint the Holly leaves.

The Believe title, the Frame and the stencilling was done with Nuvo Mousse. 

Scrapmatts products used:-
CB5163 Holly leaves Holly 04
CB 6111 Assorted Words 27
CB6093 Ornate Frames
ST 1037 Bling
ST5041 Stars

I based my page on a sketch by Laura Whitaker

Did you know you can order direct from Scrapmatts?

CLICK HERE to see the amazing range.

Thanks for calling in today - you can see more Design Teams reveals every couple of days, so be sure to check back for more inspiration.

Stuck?! Sketches DT - 1st September 2017 "Let life surprise you"

Welome back to my blog today where I'm sharing a DT page for

Stuck?! Sketches! 

I used Kaisercraft Indigo Skies Collection

The red hessian heart and the denim arrow are from Charms Creations.

The little puffy sticker house is an oldie from Amy Tangerine

The flairs are by Studio Fourteen40

Love the new Tim Holtz Oxides - the background ink is called "Broken China"

The enamel dots are by Doodlebug

The journalling is on the back of the page and it reads:-

I love the feeling of happiness and unity captured here with your Mummy, Daddy 
and your beautiful big Brother, in a rare family photo.  

We were celebrating Christmas in Melbourne with the extended family 
on a stinking hot day - it was about 42C.  That didn't stop us enjoying all the traditional Christmas food though, including hot Plum pudding.
You and your cousins enjoyed jumping in and out of a paddling pool 
with Alfie the dog joining in the fun.  
Love Granny
Photo taken 25th December 2016

I hope you will feel inspired to join in and be eligible for one of the lovely prizes

Our sponsors this time are:-

They are donating a $25.00 gift certificate

They are donating a Scrapbook kit to the value of $45.00

Thanks for calling in.   I love it when you leave a comment; I so enjoy reading them.

If this is your first visit to my blog - welcome, I hope you found something to inspire you.   New followers are very welcome, just click on the Follow me on Bloglovin' button 

Kraft + DT September - Hello

Hello again Scrappy Friends, welcome to Spring, where today I'm sharing a page for 
Kraft+ 

The theme is...What's the Buzz...Be inspired by BEES. 
You could use a bee element..or honey colour..or honeycomb..or yellow & black stripes. 

I love the graphics and was inspired to use many of the elements on the mood board.

Although the photo is not great, it tells the story of our latest Grand Baby meeting her big cousins, on Mother's day this year.  How exciting to have everybody home for Mother's Day. 
The papers are from Kaisercraft "Golden Grove."

I used a Scrapmatts stencil with crackle paste to make the big hexagons.
Inspired by the "flight paths" on the graphic, I stitched a few on my page.
The yellow stamping was done with a Darkroom Door stamp, "Arty Hexagons." 

The little bee is a button and the stamped border 
was created with a Viva Las Vegas stamp, "Punchinella."

I found the metal bee embellie at a craft fair.
The inking was done with Tim Holtz Distress Oxides; Spiced Marmalade,
 Fossilized Amber and Peeled Paint.

The chipboard title is from Scrapmatts.

The journalling is on the back of the page and it reads:-
I was in the kitchen when one of your Aunties came to me saying, "Can you please come to the play room now Granny; you won't want to miss this"!  You had just been fed and changed and all your cousins gathered around in awe at how small you were.  They were fascinated by the fact that you could not talk, or walk, or move very much and that you didn't know who they were.  One of your other Aunties suggested that they introduce yourselves and explain things to you. One by one, they said their names and "Hello and I'm...this is your little hand", "Hello, I'm...this is your little leg" and so on. They were so lovingly tender and you just grabbed their fingers and smiled. With the sun streaming in the window illuminating their faces, it looked a bit like the Adoration of the Magi; a Sacred moment, in the middle of an ordinary day.   
Love Granny, 15th May 2017

I enjoy reading your comments and appreciate you leaving them.  Thank you.

If you leave details of you blog, I'd be happy to return the favour.

If this is your first visit to my blog - welcome, I hope you found something to inspire you.   New followers are very welcome, just click on the Follow me on Bloglovin' button.