Time to say....

...A fond farewell to our design team Gypsy and Robyn , who both step down at the end of the month.

It is never easy saying goodbye to team members, but it's exciting to watch them go on to new things.

I would like to thank them for the wonderful and inspiring projects they’ve shared with us over the time they are have been with us, and wish them nothing but the very best in their future endeavors in the crafting industry.  I know that they will be successful in whatever they do 💖

But with the sad news comes the happy news!!  I'm happy to introduce 2 new team members, Louise Turner and Julie Kairl.

Below is a little introduction, I'm looking forward to lots of creative fun together!

Louise

My name is Louise and I'm a full time working Mum to 7 year old twin boys. I'm married to a wonderful hubby and have two boxer dogs, Zeus and Zara and a cat Sally at home.

I've been scrapping seriously since 2014 but started over 15 years ago thanks to my Mum and Creative Memories.

I describe my style as PPM - Paper + Medium. I love to combine paper and elements with other mediums, such as paste, watercolor, acrylic paint, distress inks and sprays etc.

I like to film process video's in the hope that I can inspire your creativity, the way others have inspired me.
You can pop over and see my YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLY9_bFvdxi33IB3nPkVlXQ/videos?view_as=subscriber

Julie

Hi my name is Julie and I am a paper crafter. 

I am retired and get to spend as much time as I like in my craft room.  My self-sufficient husband is very supportive of my addiction.

I have one daughter and one granddaughter and they inevitably find themselves on most of my layouts.

I like to make cards, mini albums and art journal pages as well as scrapbooking.  My style changes so often I don’t think I could put a name to it. The photo or a technique I want to try generally dictates the style of my layouts. 

I am also finding that most of my pages have some form of mixed media on them.

I video every project I make. You can find them on my YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCViqJuYgw60Aq93OJ4oeb6Q

Tomorrow is the beginning of a new challenge, our 2 regular monthly challenges are back now that our 2020 competition has finished, so pop back and check out the details!

Have a great day!!
Donna

Oxides and Wink of Stella

On a recent layout I used the Distress Oxide Inks and the Wink of Stella pens to colour the chipboard that I was using for the page.

When I do this I like to test the colours on the waste chipboard from around the design...

Above I have both Evergreen Bough and Mowed Lawn inks and I have brushed over them with the Clear, and Green Wink of Stella Pens to see which I thought would work best On the final piece I combined Mowed Lawn ink with Green Wink of Stella.

For my love title, I was tossing up between Red and brown. You can see above I tried Candied apple Distress Oxide (DO) on the left and Distress Ink (DI) on the right. And below Espresso Distress Oxide (DO) and Distress Ink (DI) below...

I also tried them with the silver and clear Wink of Stella pens. You can see they add a very subtle sparkle to the piece while allowing you to still mostly see the underlying colour- the clear more so than the silver.

In the end, I went with the Expresso Distress Oxide- it felt kind of creamy and dreamy and I added the clear Wink of Stella over the top to add just a little sparkle.

Weekend Inspiration

Here's a page I did a while back with the Colour blast range and some of the flowers from the store. I hope you can use it for your weekend inspiration...

1. Scrap a page about the wildlife that is local to your area.
2. Go with a Green and Cream Colour scheme.
3. Use ribbon to add texture.
4. Mix up your photo sizes.
5. Make a tiny title.
6. Mix up the materials your flowers are made from.
7. Go with a loose block design.
8. Harness the power of the number 3.
9. Do something unexpected like adding stars as the centre of your flowers.
10. Look for materials that reflect textures or patterns found in your photos.
11. Use wax to add highlights to a paper flower.
12. Use a wide column design and balance your page by doing to the left what you to the right.

Tip of the Week

I keep this little note above my scrapbook table. Sometimes I use it before I start a page and sometimes I will use it if I am stuck or my page isn't working. (And yes I did spell Repetition wrong!).

• Is the Emphasis in the right place? 
• Does the page have too much or too little contrast?
• Is the page balanced?
• Have I aligned things well- or are askew objects upsetting the design?
• Can I use more repetition to aid the design? Or maybe I need to take things off? Did I use uneven numbers (they work better)? 
• Where is the flow of my page? Are there any blocks? Are my lines leading to my page parts or into nothing?
• What part of the story do I want to focus on? Is the focus on the right thing?
• What colours will work best? Is the colour too much or too little? 
• Could I use a motif on this page to help tell the story? Like arrows on a travel page or hearts on a page about loving relationships.

Cyber Crop Sketch Challenge

We had such a fun CC this month, the challenges remain open till Sunday 28th - Midnight.

Here's the sketch again....

and here's my take...

I've used a base of Aussie Vanilla cardstock, with Kaisercraft Workshop papers and Native Breeze  Collectables.
A few bits of leftover Cocoa Vanilla enamel shapes and chipboard stickers and ephemera added the finishing touches to my clusters... Don't you just love it when different ranges meld together so well. 

Thank for stopping by...
Happy scrapping!

Scrapbook Gourmet Week Eight

 

It's week eight (the last one!!) in the Mystical Scrapbooks- Scrapbook Gourmet Competition if you haven't already  go check out this week's challenge. It's time for the cheese platter can you see my triangle-shaped wedges? I love scrapping with triangles- but have never used them in this way. I was inspired by a page I found on Pinterest.

I used Oxide Ink and Art Alchemy waxes to stamp my background. 

My title was sprayed with Kaisermist and then I used wax to highlight the tops and bottoms. I also sprayed the gauze and doily with Kaisermist.

June Cyber Crop

Welcome to our June Cyber crop.

Who doesn't love a beautiful colour palette to work with!   We have 3 challenges for you each with their own colour palette to inspire you.

Challenge 1 - Sketch and Colour Palette.

This double-page sketch can be used as a single if you like... just pick a side,  if doing it as a double, just pick which title placement to use :) 

And here's my colour pallet to use with the sketch...

And here's my take...

Challenge 2 -  Gypsy's Colour Palette... Your challenge is scrap using some or all of these colours...

My favourite colour is green... though I am quite partial to blues- especially duck egg blue so when I found this palette online I knew it was perfect for me. Here's my page...

Supplies used: Papers: Cocoa Vanilla: Legendary, Chipboard: Dusty Attic and Memory Maze Trellis Nuvo drops: Duck Egg Blue, Bottle Green, and Neptune Turquoise, Gauze squares, Art Alchemy Wax: Old Silver and Peacock, Ink: Bamboo, and Distress Oxides, Kaisermist. Alphas: AC Typo Chipboard Peacock and Jillibean Soup Game Day Chilli Cardstock Stickers.

Challenge 3 - Robyn's Mood Board and Colour Palette.

And here is the example created from the moodboard.

This was super easy to create because these Studio 73 papers do all the work for you.

Supplies Used; Paper is STUDIO 73's "Mystique Nightwind", Fussy cutting from the same papers, and a Dusty Attic Title coloured with a Wink of Stella Pen (Black Glitter). (Clear Glitter) Wink of Stella Pen used to highlight Fairy wings, Horses noses and roses.

Challenge info...

Due date Sunday, 28th June - Midnight.  Please share with your scrappy friends!

Upload your challenge entry to the Galleries on our Mystical Scrapbooks Facebook Chat Page.

Our chat is private and if you haven't yet joined us we'd love to have you. If you have any trouble joining please email me, Donna, with your name and or a link to your Facebook profile and I will send you an invite.

We will be giving away 1 gift voucher valued at $20.00 and each entry receives 1 ticket into the draw.....So the more challenges you do the more chance you have to win!

We will also have a surprise prize!! Our DT members will choose their favourite layout and I will send that lucky person a surprise in the mail.

Happy Scrapping!

Gallery Pick of the Week

Robyn's Gallery Pick of the Week

Debra B layout is beautifully done, I love her circular story of this layout. 

Appropriate for an Easter layout I think. 

Great LO Debra.

Scrunching Paper

This week's challenge calls for you to crumple some paper. Here's how I attacked this challenge. The paper I wanted to use was quite a heavyweight Cocoa Vanilla paper and it was black and white which I knew wouldn't show the creases very well.

I found a similar sheet in my scrap bag and experimented with my Kaisermists to see which was going to work best with my page. I placed each square in a cardboard box in turn and gave them a spray with Grey, Pink, Shiraz, and Coffee. I used quite a liberal amount of spray because I wanted my paper to be quite damp to make it easy to scrunch. Then immediately I literally screwed it up into a ball. If you don't like inky hands you'll want to wear gloves for that stage. Unscrunch, lay flat as possible, and leave to dry. Or dry with a heat gun for faster results. Here are my results...

 

 I chose the pink as the best pick for my page and repeated the process with the 12x12 sheet of paper- CV Unforgettable Pretty Bits. The scrunching process will make your sheet smaller than it starts out so I recommend you don't trim it to fit until after it has dried.

Scrapbook Gourmet Week Seven

It's week seven in the Mystical Scrapbooks- Scrapbook Gourmet Competition if you haven't already  go check out this week's challenge. Donna pulled together strawberries and chocolate- yum!! Here's how I took on the challenge. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else does.

 I am really loving the gauze- it adds great texture and dimension and it's so easy to colour with spray or ink.

Weekend Inspiration

We're up to the Dessert Course in our Scrapbook Gourmet Competition and this week Donna has challenged you to use chocolate and red, to crumple some paper and add a flourish to your layout. I searched the internet to find some pages to find some inspiration as to how you might tackle the challenge...

Gallery pick - Sue Schubert

This beautiful Layout by Sue S was shared in our facebook chat galleries and it's my pick of the week. I love, love, love the soft pretty colour pallette Sue has used- it works perfectly with her sweet black and white photo. The Column design of her layout is perfect for a single photo page. The leading lines take our eyes straight to the photo. There's lots of interest added by all the texture in the distressing, layers and doilies- and that allowed Sharon to use only a few words and embellishments  to finish her page perfectly. Fantastic page Sue, thanks for sharing it with us!

Quick Share: 1st Hair Cut

How cute is this kiddo? He was so little back then. :-) This was a super fast and easy way to document this monent. :-) I have used: Bazzill Cardstock: Raven, Kaisercraft Oh Happy Day Paper: 100's and 1000's and Fire Crackers. My title is Fancy Pants What a Wonderful Day Alpha stickers, the ribbon is Wasabi Candy Cane Stripes the embellishments come from the Cocoa Vanilla Legenday Collection. The journalling tag is Jillibean Soup Game Day Pea Pod Parts and I've used WRMK washi tape.

Weekend Inspiration- Main Course

We're up to the Main Course in our Scrapbook Gourmet Competition and this week I have challenged you to use orange, white and green, add some circles or wedges and use a template or a mask on your layout. I searched the internet to find some pages to find some inspiration as to how you might tackle the challenge...