Sunday 30 March 2014

White with Latte March 2014


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  WW1

Last year I was lucky to have the opportunity to go to New Zealand to attend a conference for work. Before and after our lectures we were able to go sightseeing. One of the most amazing places we visited was the mud pools and Pohutu Geyser  at Te Whakarewarewa Thermal Valley, Rotorua. Watching the mud was mesmerising, I couldn't resist taking lots of photos determined to get some mud spurting upwards. This is only one of many.




I used Monte Marte Modelling paste and my new hexagon stencil to build texture onto my white textured card stock. Then I mixed Jo Sonja acrylic paints (smokey pearl and raw umber) to make the latte colour and watering it down I dribbled so that it resembled the way the mud moved upwards. I also used this paint mix to paint my words, wood kiwi and spiral I obtained from New Zealand. Cracks were stamped on by using my Lucys Stamps aging block stamp 'cracks' I brought from Kaszazz years ago. 

I selected a few pieces of earthy coloured paper from my scraps and used vintage photo distressed ink from Tim Holtz and a distressing tool to soften and edge the paper before layering it behind the photo. The washi tape of cameras (Kaszazz) I placed behind the papers were added to connect how I recorded this amazing sight that mother nature gave me and my work colleagues. To finish off the page I added some silver leaves to represent the silver ferns; the emblem of New Zealand and  I splatted my watered down paint over the page imitating what the mud did as we watched it.



Hold on I haven't checked it out yet.
Yep... Yep.... Okay you can entry it it passes.










Thanks for checking out my White with 1 challenge blog entry for March, I'll be posting again soon so come and check out more of my blogs and my critic Sebastian, our cat with much attitude.

Pastels, Dream and Frames. March 1,2,3 Challenge blog.

Imogen had been very excited about turning 3 since we mentioned it in December last year.
"It's my birthday today" she would tell us each day. We tried to explain that we had to have Christmas first, then it was 'mummys' birthday first and eventually on the 21st January we could actually say; "Yes Imi, it is your birthday today". 3 At Last we thought. We all went shopping prior to her party and Imi chose all the party supplies; smarties for the chocolate No:3 cake she wanted, purple and pink owl serviettes and purple ballons, plates etc. So it all seemed perfect for this challenge. 




My background constists of : pastel pink 12"x12" card stock, Serviette Imi chose for her party,  Plaid Modge podge to paste and give the serviette a smooth gloss finish, texture was added using a
lace and spot stencil and a crown mask and a selected colours of Ranger Tim Holtz distress stains and distress inks added colour.



I used the Kaszazz 'reason, season, lifetime' stamp and Black StazOn to start my background before adding the serviette
 with the Mod Podge, and used a Kaszazz lace stencil and Monte Marte Impasto to create a clear texture, purposely missing small sections to fill in with distressed ink later.




Combining some Ranger Dylusion vibrant turquoise and white linen I  sprayed over the crown mask and used Lemon Zest onto different areas over the page.
The lace stencil area was covered with squeeze lemonade distress ink , then I used  turquoise mix and white linen stain until I was happy with the effect.
Mixing a small amount of Tim Holtz distress stain dusty concord with Monte Marte Modelling paste I used the dot stencil to produce extra colour and texture. 

I coloured some cheesecloth by spraying it with white linen and dirty martini Dylusions ink then used cotton, flowers and a selection of scrap papers to layer behind the photo. The green frame was placed around one of the serviettes owls as Imi loves owls, a small frame was also placed behind that all important 3,  frame corners were added to the photo and to finish the layout I used the colours from the page to colour the word 'dream'. 

 Thanks for visiting my March 1,2,3 Challenge entry and hope you return to check out more of my blogs.



Sunday 16 March 2014

1,2,3 challenge- purple, spirit, texture

1,2,3 Challenge~ Purple, Spirit, Texture.

My daughters' love is Highland Dance, it has been her life for 10yrs. Throughout these years her teacher and mentor has taught not only the skills of highland dance but the importance of being a part of an extended big dancing family, over the years she has taken all this and adopted it into everyday life and has grown into a wonderful mentor herself.  She is a brilliant role model for the young dancers of the future, taking on the challenge of teaching the  'wee ones' of our school as well as supporting all dancers and parents as much as she can. Becky holds the 'Spirit of Highland Dance' close to her heart and inspires others to be the best that they can be and  the importance to be there for others. 
With this in mind I thought that the photo I took at a ceilidh that the school performed at last year, depicted the 'Spirit' she always demonstrates so well.



The background TEXTURE was made with my new mini diamond stencil (Balzer designs) and Mont Marte white Gesso, after it dried I dabbed PURPLE Distress Stain (Ranger Dusty Concord from Kaszazz) onto the diamonds and sprayed it with water letting the ink spread out and dribble down the page. Stamping I added to the background included; diamonds (Stampin up set of 5),  and Texture stamp (Lucy's Stamps Aging Block).  On the top of the layout and under the photo and paper stack I used music Washi tape (Kaszazz) with PURPLE Artist Chalk (Kaszazz) for added colour and texture. To finish off the background I added water to some Dusty Concord Distress Stain and using a paint brush, splatted it onto the page.
Paw of Approval from Sebastian.



I chose a range of papers from my scraps and tore the edges to soften the look and used a stamp that I had purchased at a highland dance competition, a pair of pumps (highland dance shoes) to decorate one of the papers and to define the photos I edged them with black Gesso



My heading is 'Love The Highland SPIRIT' and is made in 2 parts. 'Love'  is made from my 'Love will find a way' stamp (Stamp-it) edged with Distress Ink (Ranger Vintage Photo and Dusty Concord) and black Gesso and decorated with a highland dancer I made by stamping another of the highland stamps I purchased at a dance competition onto Shrinky Dinks (Kaszazz) and heated in an oven for approx 1 min.   'The highland' is handwritten and the word SPIRIT was made using Kaisercraft chipboard lettering painted with PURPLE Distress Stain (Ranger Dusty Concord from Kaszazz) and then when dry I covered each letter in  Dimensional Magic (Plaid Royal Coat). 


Thanks for visiting my first 1,2,3 Challenge entry and hope you return to check out more of my blogs.

Sunday 9 March 2014

'Bling it up' -Off the Rails DT reveal


'Bling it Up' - Off the Rails Scrapbooking

It's taken me a while but I have eventually got to scrap my beautiful eldest daughters Yr 12 graduation day. Even thou the day tried to dampen our spirits with light showers it also provided us with the opportunity to get some wonderful natural photos, the umbrella was a great prop that helped give the photos that something different.


I chose the royal blue card stock as it complimented the beautiful colour of Bels' dress, to add dimension I sprayed Ranger Dylusions ink 'white linen' in different areas over the whole page, I then using my new Balzer Designs 'mini diamonds' stencil and Mont Marte modelling paste to add depth to my layout. The embellishments on her dress were diamonds that were decorated with rhinestones; so the stencil and rhinestones I used seemed the perfect choice to add to the layout. I sprayed Ranger Dylusions ink 'London blue' over my stenciled diamonds after they dried to tie everything together and soften the effects. 


As it was raining and there were rain droplets on the umbrella I thought I would add a glimmer effect to the paper by adding Tattered Angels glimmer Mist 'glacier' over different areas of the paper above the photo, and then to resemble the rain I added smears of 'Ice Stickles' from Kaszazz and rhinestones cut from Kaisercraft Rhinestone Flourishes.




Other bling I used included Border scrolls and the double rhinestone circles from Kaisercraft and a high heel shoe similar to what Bel wore on  the day. 



I used  black 'crafter ink' and Jo Sonja's acylic artist paint to edge the papers and photo and to stamp patterns over the papers that I layered under the photo and the white embossed letters 'graduation MHS'. The letter stamps were purchased from my local Lincraft shop, stamped with 'Tim Holtz' distressed ink embossing pad and embossed with white embossing powder (Kaszazz) and set with a heat gun onto paper sprayed with 'London blue' dylusion ink spray. The circles were made by dipping the end of different size in the white watered down paint and a 'Lyra aquacolor' crayon (Kaszazz) was used to draw the black circles. 




To finish off I traced the letters with a black fine tip pen and used watered down Jo Sonja's white and Ultramarine deep blue artist colour paint to splash specks across the page.




What do you think Sebastion? I gather you liked it as you gave it your lick of approval as usual. Thanks so much for your input.


A big thank you to  Hobbies from the Heart for being our sponsors for the Off  the Rails Scrapbooking 'Bling it up' challenge 
Hobbies from the heart
 Thanks for visiting my 'Bling it up' contribution to the Off the Rails Scrapbooking Blog design team, I hope this has helped to inspire you and you have lots of fun and I'm looking forward to seeing how you have added bling to your next layout.