Howdy!

Last weekend I had an awesome weekend away with the girls at scrap retreat. I spent the whole weekend crafting with delicious supplies, and in great company.

Managed to get a few pages done which i was super pleased about. 

These three are some I created with the Heidi Swapp range of papers for "Centre Stage at Artfull Crafts"

For more details, head to the Artfull Crafts blog 

Today is also my boys birthday!!! TWENTY!!!!! Thats scary old! .....or maybe it just makes me scary old! 

Have a wonderful day sweet boy! 

Scrappy goodness!

Would it be scary to tell you that Christmas is only EIGHT WEEKS away????? It sure scared me!!! Time to write the lists and start to shop.
This year we have one of our overseas daughters home for Christmas, and I cant wait!

Last year, the two girls met up in the UK, and had a whirlwind trip around parts of Europe and the UK before Loren had to head back to Australia for work. I enjoyed watching their antics on facebook, and stole a couple of photos they took to complete this weeks layouts which uses Christmas Carol
 from the Kaisercraft range.

In this first page, I created a background using mists and a technique using bubbles.
Simply....add dishwash detergent, and water to a cereal bowl and blow into it using a straw until the bubbles are HIGH up of the dish. Spray your favourite mist onto the bubbles ( lots will pop), then swipe your paper across the surface of the bubbles to pick up the colour. Repeat with a second or even third colour to create a lovely bubbly pattern. ( No need to change the bubble mixture in between colours)
The papers were then just layered and an embellishment cluster added. ( If you have not noticed already....I adore playing with paints and inks and mist!!!)

here is a close up of the page to see the bubbly background a little more in detail

For the second page I am sharing today, I have to confess to an "ooops moment" You know those moments when something goes terribly wrong, and you just have to "go with the flow" and make the best out of a bad moment?
Well, my ooops moment was with my pot of gesso!
My original plan for this page was something quite different, I can tell you!

I used a sponge to add a little gesso to the background of this paper seen in the shop.
Suddenly, the little bit of gesso became A LOT!!!!!
Not be deterred, I just scraped it off and spread it all around, giving the paper a whitewashed effect.( You can still see the pattern peeking through, stronger in some areas than others)
I then layered over a 12 x 12 stencil and sprayed with three or four different colours of mists. I chose two reds and two greens to work in with the theme.
I  created my own star stencil using my silhouette cameo, and using a palette knife scraped a gold paint medium roughly over the template.
I then used a variety of Christmas stamps to stamp haphazardly over the page.
This pretty much made up the foundation of the layout.
To finish, I added a ripped border at the top and bottom of the page, and then arranged my photo, and patterned papers to finish the page. For a page that started out as a complete disaster, I was quite happy with the overall effect.

Hope you all are having a wonderful long weekend, and that you are able to search out a little sun somewhere in the country! If not.....its the perfect time to get into your craft room and create a page or three. Do give an artsy background a try....they are super fun!

Don't forget to enter the monthly competitions ....the end of the month is nearly here, and Christmas will be here before we know it!!! 

Cheers

Sharon

This weekend is a busy one for Breast Cancer Awareness Week. No doubt if you are out and about, you will have seen collectors with their trademark pink paraphernalia collecting money to raise awareness of breast cancer in New Zealand.
Sadly, there are too many women who lose their lives to cancer each year. By raising awareness every year, it gives us all a kick start to "check the girls" for any unusual bumps and lumps. If you have not given yourself a self examination.....do it today!!!

In honour of Breast Cancer Awareness week, I have made a layout celebrating the life of my sister, who has fought breast cancer, and is thankfully now cancer free. I feel nothing but thanks to the doctors and oncologists who treated her successfully, and of course I am thankful, that she was one of the ladies in this world who did do regular self exams!!
For her page, I used the new Teresa Collins lines, available in Artfull Crafts store here and here (There is also a lovely Christmas line which is just divine as well!!!)

I created a background using lots of gesso, stamps and ink. I then layered up a heap of different elements from the die cuts and chipboard elements from this range. There are heaps of layers in this layout, as you can see from the close up.....

The second layout I have to show you is from this line Hidden Treasures
This paper collection was perfect for my daughters travel photos to Russia just a few months ago.
In the background, I used this stencil with some texture paste I coloured using acyrlic paint. I love the effect that texture medium gives to a page, and this stencil was just divine.....I can see it getting a work out in lots of my pages, I adore the detail of this stencil....just divine!

Again....lots of layers. Layers of papers, and flowers, and  a lovely heart which I made myself with resin. I then painted it blue to match the page. The mold for the hearts is here. It is the most used resin mold in all of my collection! I love it.

Anyway....heres the finished page...... It is hard to see in this photo, but I have journaled along the right side of the photo mat in a brown pen, it was not my intention for the journaling to be intrusive on this page, but to slip into the background.

Don't forget to enter our October Challenge. The details are here Just use some pink, or follow the sketch, and you are in the running for some fabulous prizes!!!
Have a great weekend !!! Don't forget to put a few coins in the buckets of the collectors when you are wandering down the street today! And most importantly, don't forget to do your self examination....those two minutes could save your life!!!

Sharon

Southern Girls Challenge # 77 - Make Believe

Hi everyone.
Just wanted to share with you the layout I created for the Southern Girls Challenge Blog for August.
The theme was make believe, and I chose to use a photo from about 10 years ago of Blake inventing a new use for supermarket shopping bags!!
I am not sure they were all that successful at keeping him dry in the pouring rain....but he had heaps of fun trying it out!

For this page, I used a lot of mixed media. I created this page using a heavy card with a gessoed background, then added texture paste which I stamped into while wet, and finally lots of spray inks. I then used the papers from the my mind's eye collection, kate and co - oxford lane; to create more layers to hold the photo. The large chipboard star was covered with "lightbulb" washi tape ( courtesy of Chellie Keenan.....thanks Chellie!!!), and accented with glossy accents on the bulb area. A sprinkling of sequins, and a title from thickers, and I call this page "done".

Thanks for looking. And don't forget to share your creations on the blog as well to be up for a wicked prize!

Exciting news!

It's been an exciting few weeks for me.

TodayArtfull Crafts are announcing their design team for the next twelve month term......and I am as proud as punch to let you know, that I was successful in gaining a spot of this team of super talented ladies. I am really looking forward to working with these gals to provide you with scrapbooking and card making eye candy over the next year.

The next twelve months is going to be a busy one, and you will see regular updates on my blog, as well as the artfull crafts blog of scrapbooking projects I have been working on. There will be regular posts on projects, tips and tricks, and just plain old scrappy talk.

Of course with any new design team announcement, there is always a design team farewell, and I would like to thank the girls who are leaving the team this year, you certainly are a hard act to follow!

You can follow Artfull Crafts on their Facebook Page ...........give them a "thumbs up" , and of course the team will be regularly contributing artfull splendour on the  Artfull Crafts Blog . There are heaps of prizes to be won this week, so head on over to the blog and check it all out.

I will be back soon to share with you the projects I have been working on, and to share a few of my favourites  from the last year or so. See you all soon

Sharon xx

Southern Girls Challenge Design Team

Well guys!

I was thrilled to hear that I have been accepted onto the southern girls challenge design team for the next six months.
This is a blog where you can attempt the fortnightly challenges, and win cool as prizes!
I really look forward to playing along, and offering inspiration in the paper arts.
Of course scrapbooking is my paper art of choice, but you never know, you may see a card pop out of my creative area just to keep you in your toes!

Drop by and check out the current  challenges!

www.southerngirlschallenge.blogspot.co.nz

Catch ya
Sharon