Friday, August 28, 2015

Discover with 13@rts and an entry for SATW

Hello friends!

I'm up on the 13@rts blog today to share a layout I created, based on the current mood board at Scrap Around the World. When I'm in a creative rut I like to check out the current challenges around and that helps me to get things started.

Here's this month's mood board:


And my take on it:


What I wanted to capture here was the monotonal quality of the photos in the moodboard, but instead of sepia I chose a really calming blue. I also happened to have a photo of the cross-road sign but it was a compass vane instead which I shot while at Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse and it fitted the theme perfectly. Then it was just a matter of picking out my favourite word as the title. I had a bicycle resin piece somewhere in my stash and this layout was a good reason to use it. Now I should have ended there but couldn't resist sneaking in bits of gold and brown for the lovely sandy beach.

Details in the close-ups:


A lovely paste I made from Magic Powder and Ultramarine Chalk Mist, from 13@rts. The background paper I chose is from my collection Mental Vacation (available at the 13@rts store) and titled Summer Snow. If I hadn't mentioned before, the collection is meant to be a series of places I like to go to in my head when things get a little too overwhelming. One of them is undoubtedly the seaside and summer snow describes the sea foam washing up the sand. Isn't it just perfect for the mood board?


A chipboard from Blue Fern Studios which I used for my title.


That resin bicycle!


A little cloud chipboard from BFS which I also altered.

Here's a start-to-finish video showing how I put this whole layout together. Sit back and enjoy!



love,

Friday, August 21, 2015

New Release!

Hello friends!

Popping in today to show you the latest paper collection from Blue Fern Studios, and this is currently my new, new love!!

Presenting.... Autumn Anthology



Loving the details on each page and the beautiful color palette. And this time round, other than chipboards and stamps, Blue Fern Studios will be releasing co-ordinating mists as well for this collection. Do check them out in the store right now!

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Memories with Maja Design

Hello Maja fans!
I'm back in today to share a project I made with the limited edition Nyhavn collection. This time, it's using one of the many IKEA frames I have around the house and turning it into a display piece in my living room.
Here is the project:
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Although I've not been to Nyhavn before, looking at the papers remind me of the seaside places we visited in Perth. One of these was the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse located right at the southern tip of Western Australia and it's where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean meets. We didn't see a lot of boats on our way in, but the place is just as rich in history and we spent some time looking out for migrating whales.

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The frame was originally black but I coated it with white gesso and that gave a beautiful rustic finish which added to the seaside feel. To create my layers, I used strips of papers from the Nyhavn collection and selected them to match the colors in my photo. I left these layers untouched by mediums as I wanted the designs and colors to show.
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A little detail which unfortunately I didn't capture very well in this photo. The grey world map is a bonus sheet found in the collection pack and I deliberately cut out a piece with the map of Australia and tucked it behind the coral chipboard from Blue Fern Studios. The different chipboards I used were colored to match the other paper layers.

For the corals, they were covered with a layer of stucco paste and then colored with 13@rts Matte paint in Apricot. For the border chipboard, I blended a few shades of blue and turquoise gelato. To create a sandy effect, I sprinkled sand grit and mixed in some glass beads.
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Some background work I did - creating resist with embossing powder and painting with Ayeeda mists over. I left some of the more intricate details on the Maja Design background paper untouched.
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Parts of my floral clusters. I tucked in a few shells which we had collected from another beach in Perth. One thing I realised is that we use so many products to embellish our projects that we forget the most basic and meaningful of embellishments are those that we collect on our trips and from our life events. Just as scrapbooking is about collecting memories, keeping these memorabilia is also a huge part of remembrance.
That's all I have for today. Thanks for dropping by!




Thursday, August 13, 2015

With Love from 13@rts

Hello 13@rts fans! 
I'm up on the blog today to share a tag that I made ​​with some fabulous products from the 13@rts store. I liked the peach and pink combination which I used for the August challenge so much that I've combined it with silver for the tag below.



For my background, it was a simple coat of gesso over a large manila tag that we followed my stencilling in, stamping and painting.

More details in the close-ups:


I used Ayeeda modeling paste and let it dry before I randomly stamped with a dragonfly stamp. Then it was light touches of apricot and raspberry matt paint watered down and touched up again for gradations in the tones. This was followed my my order splatters of Pearl Pink mist which I watered down at some parts for accenting and I finished off with some splatters of Splash! acrylic ink in white. For a final touch, I added some silver Microspheres sealed with gel medium.



The chandelier chipboard was given two generous layers of Old Silver metallic paint and one layer of silver glitter paint for that extra sparkle. I also dabbed some of the Silver Glitter paint over my flowers and on the mesh ribbon in the background. That's all I have for today. Thanks for dropping by! 



Sunday, August 9, 2015

August challenge for 13@rts

Hello friends, and to my fellow Singaporeans, Happy SG50!!

I'm really looking forward to the food, fellowship and celebrations later this evening for my country's 50th National Day. We've come a long way and I'm grateful to our pioneers for paving the way for our generation to enjoy the prosperity we have today. And that includes the luxury of scrapping too!

This month, I'm hosting the challenge over at 13@rts and I've kept my rules simple. Counting down right now to Queen Elsa's arrival and I'm just about going nuts with all the preparation. So, simple rules :)
Rules of the Challenge # 33:

1. Create a project based on geometric shapes and pastel colors.
2. Publish your project on your blog and add Link Directly to the post using Inlinkz tool at the right side bar (on 13@rts blog).
3. Please add a link and info about our challenge, where your work is published.
4. You apr submit as many entries as you like. 
5. You can enter your project with a maximum of 2 other challenges and your work must be new, not published before our challenge has started. 
6. The challenge ends on 23rd August.  Winners will be announced on 27th August.


When the challenge ends, our Design Team will vote and pick the best project. It will be awarded with shopping voucher for 13 arts store worth - 60 PLN with free international shipping. The winner will be invited That join us in one of our challenges as Guest Designers. Additionally we will feature a few works with biggest number of points.

And here is my take on the challenge:



This photo was taken while we were visiting Caversham Wildlife Park in May. The boys love animals but my eldest has always been a little hesitant about handfeeding the bigger ones like the roos. After observing his younger brother and dad, he decided to give it a go and he had a blast. The funny thing was when we were there a year ago, he didn't have that fear.

Details in the close-up:



Layering squares of paper from Olga's Starlight collection on the background paper from my Mental Vacation collection. The chipboard is from Blue Fern Studios and I've layered it with different Ayeeda Matt paints. 



Lots of background work here - gesso mixed with heaps of Magic Powder for a thick paste that dries to give wonderful relief. Then it was painting with Matt paint and splattering with Pearl mists. 



Not sure if you can see the crackle effect from the gesso + Magic Powder paste here (it's the white patch where the stamping is, right under the flowers). Adding more details with traced squares from a stencil, stamping and splatters with Splash! acrylic ink. 



Adding more texture with mica flakes, glass glitter and microbeads.

That's all I have for now. Off to enjoy my super long weekend!

love,

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Memories with Maja Design

Good day friends!

Today I'm up on the Maja Design blog and I have for you a layout created with the Nyhavn collection. We've seen a lot of the new Summer Crush last month so I thought I would like to feature a slightly older collection but just as perfect for your summertime adventures. 



I really love the color palette in this collection - it's warm and comforting, yet fun and outdoorsy at the same time. So I chose this photo of Hubby and Eldest playing on the tyre swing, the two of them spending some precious time together. Subsequently I realised, even the colors from the photo match the papers too.

More details in the close-ups:



My floral cluster on top of my paper layers. You can see lots of background work - stenciling, painting with Ayeeda matt paints, splattering, stamping and heat embossing to create resist. My chipboard from Blue Fern Studios was also colored very lightly with gelato so that it blends nicely into the embellishments and allow the colors from the background and papers to stand out.



Another mini cluster where you can see the gorgeous designs on the Nyhavn papers. I've also layered the info strips and used those as subtitles.



My balancing cluster. The leaves were die cut and tucked in to create a nice little bouquet.

That's all I have for today. Thanks for dropping by!

love,

Sunday, August 2, 2015

August Inspiration with Blue Fern Studios

Happy Sunday friends!

We had a very enjoyable evening by the Bay on Saturday watching the aerial and fireworks display for our 50th National Day celebrations rehearsal with friends. It's actually our first time going all the way out for National Day festivities and the kids were just having a blast. Now, taking a break on Sunday and popping in to share my creations for Blue Fern Studios, using the new Paisley and Vine collection. I've kept my layouts and clusters to a minimum because of the strong lines and patterns in the papers. This collection is quite different from the others in terms of color and design and I had to approach it with a slightly different style, but that's all what is so fun about playing with different papers!

First up, here is Michele's sketch for the August challenge:



And my take on it:



Keeping things really simple here because there are lots of gorgeous images on the paper itself that I didn't want to cover.

Close-ups:



Title using a piece from "Playing Cards".



Mod Squares chipboard pieces which I coloured with gelatos.



Lots of stamping and heat embossing to create a textured background with the Journey Stamp set.

Next I have my Educator video, made also with the Paisley and Vine collection. 



I layered both papers and chipboards, and made my own rosettes as well from different sheets in the collection. The papers themselves were so detailed and colorful that I didn't feel the need for additional embellishments other than the chippies and rosettes.

Some close-ups:



Using the centre negative piece as a pop up.



Keeping themes consistent with sun bursts in the background under my Radiant Burst chippies and black microspheres on both chipboard and background.



A title piece from "Playing Cards".

And here is the start to finish video:



I hope you have enjoyed what I shared here. Have a great week ahead!

love,