Hi all you Delightful Daisies.
Sharmaine here, still suffering a jet lagged head from my CHA trip.
It’s my turn for dissecting design.
Usually I start with a photo, pick the paper to go with it etc etc
This time I started with a photo but instead of picking paper to go with the photo I chose paper to go with the story I wanted to tell.
I decided that I wanted to use a photo from CHA, of me meeting the awesomeness that is Nathalie Kalbach!
Then I spied the October Afternoon “Patchwork” paper (found in the Pemberley kit)
The side with the cherry print was perfect for what I wanted to say, but the colours would suck up my photo in a heartbeat.
Add some white paint and problem was solved.

I added some gold glitter (for no reason other than I just wanted to add glitter), to the wet paint, and set it aside to dry.
Now instead of stopping and waiting for the paint to dry I kept working on the page.
I started putting together the layers to back the photo.

I pulled out papers, scraps and stickers from the January kits. It didn’t matter that I didn’t have my backing paper, I just kept on playing.

And when I was happy I just used a stapler to keep them all the layers together.

I flipped the layers and used my double sided tape, so it was all ready to adhere to my backing paper.

And by the time I had completed all of this the paint was almost dry.

The page still needed depth so I added some splodges of black paint (always does the trick!)

Now it was time to play with my title

Add some stickery goodness

and my page was complete!

and a moment, in time, is now captured and remembered, fondly, forever.

Hello, it’s Lisa here today. It’s my turn to do the ‘Dissecting Design’ feature.

I went through a bit of a slump a couple of months ago. I just never felt ‘REALLY’ pleased with with I was creating. I’d kind of lost the spark a little. So I went through my blog looking at some of my favourite LO’s that I’ve made over these years to see what it was about them that I really liked. This helped me no end. There did seem to be a common factor throughout and once I had realised this, it really did help me get back on track again.

I thought it would be fun to dissect my work, break it all down in to stages and show you what makes me happy when I scrap.

Here is the layout that I’ve made to show you today using this months ‘Pemberley’ kit..

1. Subject – It’s very rare that I scrap just because I have a photo. I do usually have a reason/story behind the photo. So the story and title is usually decided before I start. For this particular layout, I’m scrapping about my youngest as he’s turning 11yrs this month. I always like to create a LO about each of us in our family just before we have a birthday and record some basic facts with likes and dislikes at this time.

2. Colour Combo – My favourite LO’s are the ones where I’ve had a colour combo in mind. I am sometimes really sad and give my colour combos fancy names just for my own amusement. Lets call this one Sunshine -  Ocean – Pebble.

3. Borders – I do love to add a border.  For me it just finishes it off. I print my photos with borders, I like to edge embellishments and journal cards and I love to add a border to the LO itself too. I love that extra bit of colour.

4. Background – I prefer to use a plain backround. I tend to opt for white or vanilla cardstock and then use stencils, masks, gesso, moulding paste and mists. Once this layer is dry I then start layering my patterened papers and embellishments.

5. Journaling – I am a story teller. I do like to journal on my LO’s. My favourite look is to type up on my printer and then cut in to thin strips. I do also like hand journaling too though. I think it’s important for future generations to see your handwritten journaling too. I know how much I love finding notes or cards that my grandparents wrote. I like to vary the journaling and not necessarily have it all in the one area. I might add the date and place away from the story, sometimes I add hidden journaling behind the photo with some randon notes on the LO. On this page I used some teeny tags that came with this months addon ‘Mr Darcy’ and I also added some handwritten notes on the patterened paper.

6. Embellish – It’s now time to start adding the finishing touches. I don’t think I really go overboard on the embellishing. I do use stamps alot more these days and I add some handstitching to alot of my work. I always feel it’s a great way to bring in a little more colour to tie everything in without going too OTT.

So there we have it. A break down of my favourite ways to scrapbook.

If ever you feel like you’ve lost your mojo, I really recommend you take a look back at some of your favourite work and see if you can see a pattern too of what it is that you love most about your pages. It really helped me.

Lisa xxx

Good Morning and good Monday everyone!  It is cold and snowy here in Montana, finally looks like Christmas.  At least to us.  I know there are lots of others who have lovely warm weather and sunshine for Christmas.

I am going to share a layout this morning that came together by accident.  I had my background paper already picked out and my photo chosen.  I also had an idea rattling around in my head about strips of vertical papers.  I also was really interested in the Pebbles journaling cards found in the Nice to Meet you add-on.  As I played around with the idea of the journaling cards I started to tear them out of their little booklet.  I noticed what was left was just a strip of paper with a hole in it where the book hangs on a display.  That sparked my idea and I took all those little strips and dropped them haphazardly onto my paper.  Voila’ there it was.  I glued them down pretty much where they fell.

Once that “accidental” design element was in place, the rest of the layout came together effortlessly.

I added bit of tape and then white acrylic paint to the layout.  Once the paint dried, I dipped a paint brush into some Maya Mists and lightly washed over those areas.

I wanted to use the October Afternoon pie chart paper banner pieces but they didn’t really pop, so I inked the edges and used some thick glue dots behind them.

I stamped directly onto the layout with a Cocoa Daisy arrow stamp.  I stamped in areas that made your eye move across and around the page.

The title is from a Dave Matthews song.  Every time I hear that song I think of Bill and all the things we’ve been through.

Thanks for letting me share the way my wonky mind works!