Monday 31 December 2012

Scrap Everything's 30% off Sale!

Hi everyone,

Just a quick message to let you know about Scrap Everything's huge post-Christmas sale. 30% off just about  everything! Gotta love a bargain.

Happy shopping...

30% off sale

Heather

Friday 28 December 2012

Gone Troppo with KaiserCraft

Hi there and welcome to the last of my KaiserCraft posts.

I've got to say, I'm so loving these new KaiserCraft Collections! Each collection has such a variety of papers that you really can use them for just about any subject. The ones I'm using this week are the Tropicana Collection. Although all the papers coordinate, some are a very vintage style while others are bright and bold. You can have a look at the range here.

I opted to go for the more subtle, vintage papers. I don't have any unscrapped pics of exotic tropical holidays (unfortunately!) but I had this lovely shot of the boats anchored in the Apollo Bay harbour. I really wanted to use some of the vintage postcards as I think they're adorable!

Here's my layout:


The page is an unusual size. It's probably around 12 x 10 inches but it's not cut to a particular measurement, just to whatever size I needed to fit in what I wanted. I don't believe that layouts should always be 12 x 12 or A4. Just make them whatever size works! Then just put them in your album as usual. All the pages in your album don't need to be the same size. I think this size works really well with the vintage theme as it helps it to look older.

The orchid flowers on the Tropicana papers are a gorgeous red but, not one to do things in a straightforward manner, I decided I wanted to use the orange, black and white bakers' twine and therefore I wanted orange orchids instead! KaiserCraft have a matching set of stamps for this range so I used the orchid stamp and stamped it onto an orange section of a KaiserCraft's Secret Admirer Collection paper.  I then cut out the orchids and they worked beautifully.

I then took the cross-KaiserCraft collection concept (try saying that fast!) one step further and used some die-cuts from KaiserCraft's Pickled Pear Collection to add some leaves to the flower cluster. The stamped leaves at the back of the cluster and in the top left hand corner are from the Tropicana range. Here's a close up of the cluster:



After I put my cluster together I finally got to put in the twine that I planned at the start. In keeping with the nautical theme, I knotted the twine as well as added a few loops to soften it a bit. I then topped it all with a gorgeous Manor House Creations orchid.

Here's my journalling:



It's important when creating a vintage layout like this to ink the edges of everything you can. Normally I would use a brown ink but the black outline behind the photo was already on the paper so I stuck with the black. To get that faded look I applied the ink with a make-up sponge that I bought at Priceline but you can also buy one made for the job from your scrapping store. They give a much softer finish than if you ink the papers directly with your ink pad. Another tip for vintage layouts is to keep the design fairly simple. Designs weren't complicated in those times so keep your layouts that way and they will look true to the theme.

I hope you've enjoyed my post and that you find some scrapping time over the Christmas break.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Heather



Friday 21 December 2012

Still Dreaming of Mykonos

Hi there. I hope everyone's managing to keep sane at this busy time of year. It's pretty chaotic in the shops at the moment!

I received a fabulous pack full of KaiserCraft goodies from Katherine at Scrap Everything. These papers and embellies are hot off the press and I absolutely adore them! This set is called Secret Admirer Collection and has rich colourings of greens and hot pink with splashes of other gorgeous colours mixed in.

Here's my layout:


The summery, tropical feel of the papers made me immediately think of holidays. The last hot holiday we had was in Greece and, even though Greece isn't tropical, these papers work really well with my photos. I knew the stark white background of this pic would work with the bold papers but I wanted to use the hot pink paper and bright flowers and I hesitated to use these on a male page. The solution was to add mostly green to the pink paper plus splash some other colours around. I used Dylusions Ink Spray to create the spray and dribbles behind the photo then used the same colour in the title. I also created a more lineal feel by adding long, straight elements behind the photo. This helped to counteract the soft, feminine edges of the flowers.

Here are some close ups:



Nearly everything on this page is from the KaiserCraft Secret Admirer Collection. You can get them here. The die-cuts are sooo easy to use. Just layer them around the photo for a great coordinated background. All the KaiserCraft papers have a decorated strip on the bottom and I cut this up and used it as part of my background.

There's only one problem with scrapping my photos of Greece - I just want to go back!

Good luck with the Christmas shopping and don't forget to allow yourself some scrapping time!

Heather

Thursday 13 December 2012

I'm a Scrapbooking Memories Master!!!




Woohoo - I have such exciting news - I'm a Scrapbooking Memories Master!

The Masters have had to wait nearly 3 long months to be able to tell everyone and I'm so thrilled to be finally able to do so.

Here's a list of all the Masters for 2013:

I'm so looking forward to the year ahead and to working with such a talented group of ladies. What an exciting time!

The Masters Edition of Scrapbooking Memories is released sometime in the next week. I can't wait to see the other Masters' projects and to pore over the Honourable Mentions!

Chat soon!
Heather

Friday 7 December 2012

My "Long" Tutorial

Hi all. I hope you've been having a great week.

It's my turn to put up a tutorial for Scrap Everything! and I've chosen a subject close to my heart - long titles. Now this is not your standard tutorial as I'm not going to show you a new technique, rather it's a new way of looking and thinking about the design of your pages.

I often use long titles on my pages and I find they serve multiple purposes - they explain what the layout is about, they often replace journalling and they become a design element in their own right.

Here's one of the longest titles I've ever done:


Yes, it's an older layout so please forgive the papers, but the title is a good example of a VERY long one! The trick with a long title is to vary the font colours, sizes and shapes. It also must be readable and make sense. Make sure it roughly flows from top left to bottom right, as this is how we normally read text. This doesn't mean you have to physically start in the top left corner, just make sure that the general flow of the text runs that way. Note how my title is split into two sections but, because it runs in a logical way, it is still easy to read.

Here's one featuring my gorgeous nephew:


When using a long title like this, there's no need for any extra journalling, however you might like to add the date and place the photo was taken. Notice how the font sizes vary enormously. With this layout, my key word was "cutest". I wanted this to form the base under the photo. After this I really just fiddled with different letters until it looked right.

Here's one you might have seen in Scrapbooking Memories recently.


This time, I kept the title in a block rather than spread across the page. The title on this one combines with the photo to tell the story. The title tells us he couldn't blow the candles and out and the picture tells us why! (Note that his sister in the background has got the right action happening!)

And lastly, here's one that's not strictly laid out like a title but it's more than just jounalling.


I hope you've got some inspiration to try some longer titles. Go mad with your letter stickers! Try mixing chipboard letters, stickers and hand writing. I'm a strong believer that you can never have too many lettering options. I have drawers full of chipboard letters, Thickers and letter stickers. It's also really handy to have some smaller words and letters too. Mini alphas are great!

I'd love to hear if you make a layout with a long title!

Heather