Blog Hopping Fun with Off The Rails Scrapbooking!

Happy Friday lovely readers! Aren't you glad the weekend is here? 

The husband and me are going on a movie date later to catch 300: Rise of an Empire. With the boys still growing up, it's so hard to get some time off on our own. What do you do on your date nights?

I have two really exciting news to share today. Firstly, it's the fantastic news that I've been invited to join the team at Off the Rails Scrapbooking! The girls on this team are phenomenal and all stars in their own right. So, so honoured to be working alongside them! But because there are still some loose ends to tie up, I won't be contributing to the blog just yet. I will definitely update again when I start being useful.

And the second piece of exciting news is that Off the Rails Scrapbooking challenge blog is having their very first blog hop!

And the rules to win a prize at this blog hop are very simple:

1. Create a layout based on any 4 embellishments from the DT members' favourite in the blog hop list (see below).

2. Link up your creation back to Off the Rails Scrapbooking.

3. In your blog post, mention which 4 embellishments you are using, and the DT members that you got the inspiration from.

4. Follow OTRS and all of the DT members' blogs.

5. Leave a comment on your blog post, as well as OTRS' that you've completed the blog hop.

And this is what you stand to win from our lovely sponsor Graphic 45:

The entire By the Sea collection!! Which includes the following:

One 12x12 Pad

One 8x8 Pad

One sheet of stickers

One sheet of die cuts

One set of chipboards

Graphic 45 is an award-winning scrapbook and paper crafting company. We offer vintage inspired crafting products that capture the flamboyant style of the 1920's and 30's - with vibrant color, irresistible texture and imaginative design to create products with decades-old appeal that's both fresh and familiar. Let our products inspire your next scrapbook layout, card, album or home decor project.

And this is the blog hop list:

1. Off the Rails Scrapbooking 
2. Narelle Fasulo
3. Deena Otway
4. Erin Manz Reed 
5. Diana Rivero Gonzalez 
6. Carol Theng 
7. Gayle Gordon 
8. Fiona Paltridge 
9. Felicity Wilson
10. Sue Plumb
11. Rose Andrew 
12. Jelissa Mei - you are here!!
13. Wendy O'Keeffe

14. Catie Kennedy

Other than the grand prize, I have also a little RAK for one lucky random person who follows both my blog and my YouTube channel. So do leave a comment below to say that you've done both. The blog hop runs from 14th to 21st March so you have plenty of time. I'll be drawing a random winner and announcing it on 22nd March.

So without further ado, this is what I've created for this blog hop using my favourite chipboard from Blue Fern Studios.

Admittedly I'm not very good at card-making and this is one of my few attempts to. And of course, it has to be mixed media :p

Some close-ups:

Using the circles group panel from BFS. I find panels absolutely perfect for matting photos, creating layers as well as incorporating them into backgrounds. And some lovely Green Tara flowers and ribbon for a feminine touch. 

Some masking with texture paste, stamping and misting.

Yes, you guessed right. Whenever I have scant details it means there's a video tutorial in the post. And you can watch it here to see how I created this mixed media card.

Well, before I sign off, don't forget the blog hop! The next person after me is Wendy O'Keeffe so please drop by her blog and leave some love! That's all for now, happy hopping!!

love,

Guest Designer at 13@rts, and a double challenge entry!

Good day everyone! If you're checking in for the first time, welcome! If you've been a regular visitor, I hope you like the new facelift! There's a reason for this, and I hope to reveal it soon :)

Today's post is a very busy one because I've packed so much into one. Firstly, I've won first place (together with the super-talented Georgia Heald) over at 13 arts and I've been invited as a guest designer for their March challenge. And here it is: to create something (LO, card, journal whatever) with a mixed media background, but without any patterned paper. Sounds like fun eh? And since I have quite a bit of time on hand, I decided to combine this with the March challenges over at Scrap Around the World and the newly remade The Color Rooms:



That's the mood board from SATW, and as my son would say, "Mummy! Your favourite color!"

And that's the palette for this month. Quite perfectly matched! And this is my take on the three challenges:

I was clearly inspired by the pink and flowers from the SATW moodboard as this LO featured the cherry blossoms I shot ad nauseum while in Okinawa. The paint brush made me decide to work with the lovely matt paints from 13@rts into my background to create a watercolor effect. 

The typewriter.... now, that's a whole story by itself. Typewriters always make me want to do journaling and I was quite filled with emotion during the creation of this layout. Some of you may know, "A dream of spring" is the last book in the "Song of Ice and Fire" series, a fantasy epic I've been following both in print and on screen (it's also known as Game of Thrones). It has yet to be published, but it promises that all the conflicts and war we have seen and read so far will be resolved and at long last, the cold dreary winter will end (as the wise men in the series like to say, "a long summer always meant a long winter to come"). Plus, there was the on-going conflict in Ukraine and the subsequent invasion by Russia. I've never been through war, but I've seen enough documentaries and read enough war stories to not wish it upon anyone. Just like the blooming of the cherry blossoms means that winter is almost over and Spring is near, I pray that the situation will come to a peaceful end. Our world is full of beauty; if only people can stop surrounding themselves with violence and live for what is beautiful and precious. Besides, I'm also quite sure my friends in the USA and Canada experiencing the polar vortex have had way too many dreams of spring!

I've pretty much followed the color palette as well and as for the recycled junk mail, I didn't really have any. But I was inspired by the little pile of letters with stamps on the typewriter in the SATW mood board so I used the Polish stamps that came with my 13@rts parcel. Lovely!

Some closeups:

Gorgeous Blue Fern Studios chippy in the background (Circle Group panel) which I snipped off a small bit. I re-used the in-between circle chippies by painting and stamping them.

Texture fun! Resist canvas, dry-wall tape, texture paste and some tiny beads in the circles. Some stamping and heat-embossing on a piece of product package which I used to mat the photo.

A very meaningful haiku for journalling - "the cure for the raucous world, the late cherry blossoms".

And these are what I used to create my layout:

That's all I have for now. I hope to be back within the week with some exciting news, and also a chance to win something (again!). Until then, I leave you with a poem my 4-yo has been reciting:

春 眠 不 觉 晓,

处 处 闻 啼 鸟。

夜 来 风 雨 声，

花 落 知 多 少。 

love,

ps. see here for translation and meaning.

BFS March Sketch

Hello folks, how fast time flies. We are already in the third month of 2014! Today is exciting because we are going to a wedding where my eldest will be page boy for the very first time. I'm hoping to get some nice pictures of him for memories (and you all know that's just an excuse for more scrapping). 

But before that, let me share with you the layout I've done for Blue Fern Studios March Sketch Challenge. Below is the beautiful sketch by Michelle Singh: 

The winner will be randomly drawn and this lucky person will stand to win a batch of BFS's new chipboard goodies!

And my take on it using the fabulous new line from BFS - Blue Fern Garden. I've flipped the sketch to have the title on the top:

Yes, it is another vacation photo - our second stop on our first day at a sea salt factory. The factory wasn't much - most of it was closed - but the scenery around was breath-taking. Since the oldies were occupied with the gift shop, I took the boys out for some fresh air and happy photo-taking.

Some close-ups:

Love the new Beaded Strings chippie from Blue Fern Studios. Like the graduated rings, it's just perfect for framing photos. I've misted mine here and added some epoxy baubles and dimensional paints. I also tucked in a piece of the Shabby Brick Bits behind the photo.

Love the new papers from Blue Fern Garden, especially the "Calling Cards" paper which has so many elements for cutting out and layering, as well as words that you can use for both titles and little sentiments.

I've used the "Treasure the Moment" chippie for my title, misting it with two different blues to get a graduated tone effect. I also fussy-cut out a corner from "In Bloom" paper and layered it beneath banners made from the extra strips of paper at the bottom of the patterned paper. Don't throw those away!

That's all I have for today. Now that the dust has more or less settled and I'm spending a bit more time at home, I hope to get more active on the blog and whip up more fun stuff in the studio. There are still decisions to be made about where my life will go from now - in fact I'm a little blown away by how doors have opened - these are not easy decisions but I'm trusting God to lead. 

Until I see you again, keep calm and carry on creating!

love,