January Project Life: Home and Away

So it's been a month and I am still going strong with Project Life. To the degree that The Belgian claims I am now more addicted to Project Life than instagram. Well folks, that is serious! 
I have completed most of January, but am now waiting to do a big Snapfish order to finish the last couple of weeks. I am finding  it useful to make notes each week and state which pictures I plan to use on the spread. I was going to take a monthly approach but have decided that a weekly approach may help me to be more selective with my photos - as January is sprawling on for spread after spread. It has been a busy month with a break in Belgium and a weekend in London with the Baby and sister. 
So my thoughts on creative a Project Life layout with holiday pictures? Just take the same approach as you would to any week otherwise you'll procrastinate producing it. I chose an orange and green colour scheme and just went for it.
It is also important to point out that at this point I had not yet raided my piggy bank and spent far too much at Hobby Craft so Project Life cards were in short supply. Instead I just cut up 12 by 12 papers and noticed that most American Crafts pads have cut apart pages with ready made journalling cards ready to use. I used mainly Crate Paper and Amy Tangerine on this layout.

I dug out my stamps and made good use of some sets I brought at Two Peas last year. The first is a Simple Stories set which includes the camera and 'Oh Snap' phrase. I think I will be using this stamp set a lot as cameras are my favourite and it works well with all of the little photos. The second set I was using are a Maggie Holmes set and they contain phrases like 'happy day' and 'oh so sweet' and I can see them being used lots on my Project Life pages too. 
My main embellishments here are Freckled Fawn enamel dots and washi tape that I purchased from ebay. I used my favourite free editing website - picmonkey to add text to the photo and I love this font too. 

My second layout is the 'home' part of January. I wanted to capture some of the more everyday moments of our lives - since its not all waffles and Belgian chocolate! So I got a sling selfie as we often go for a wander in the sling in the afternoon. I know there are more sophisticated means like a self timer app - but this does the job. I also documented our current obsession with Grey's Anatomy and captured the shot with our favourite snack - popcorn. I also included a photo montage that I created using an app on my phone - photogrid for the android. I printed these instagram pics with pologram which prints them in a poloroid picture style - which is super cute but I had to trim them to include them in this size pocket. I have also used origrami and was really pleased with the quality and effect and loved that you could get your caption printed onto the back of it too. 
I used lots of Dear Lizzie and Amy Tangerine and some of the Maggie Holmes Flea Market Project Life cards. The pastel colours fitted with the photos and the mood of the page. The bottom middle card I cut the word strips from a 12 by 12 sheet and then stapled them onto the card.

So I am still learning but felt pleased with how I used my existing stash to create these two layouts.

Have you found any ways to stretch your stash in a layout or Project Life spread?

 

Messy Mondays: White paint to brighten a background!

Have you ever made a layout, photographed it and then edited the picture and realised that it was missing something?
Check out the layout below I thought that I would clash floral prints on a Kraft background but when I stepped back I realised that it all blurred into one and it lacked impact overall.
I was inspired to create this layout about my 'kick ass' back to school outfit. The end of last academic year I had two weeks off work compassionate leave after a loss in my life and I was kind of dreading returning to work as I didn't want everyone fussing over me. I didn't want their sympathetic looks or even worse an arm around my shoulder as I was on the edge and needed to stay strong. So I planned my outfit carefully a pencil skirt with a bold patterned silk shirt tucked into the waist and high heels. I wanted to scrap this and so got the Belgian to take an instax pic for me to create this layout.

A close-up of the details - I cut roses out of the paper to embellish the picture.

So that was the before and here is the after. I decided to gesso up the middle panel so that it popped more. You can still see the pattern faintly through the paint. It was tricky to do it this way as I had to try not to get paint of the picture or the stickers. I added some Amy Tan journalling spots and was going to journal on them, but then decided that I preferred them blank instead.

Overall I am really pleased with this layout and feel that it tells the story well and captures the mood that I was feeling at the time of creating it.
Do you ever go back to a layout and make changes to it?

Step-by-step tutorial for making a canvas...

Have you seen those cute canvas' on pinterest with quotations to put up in your hallway?
I was forever pinning them and eyeballing them in shops - but they always seemed too pricey for what they were.
My solution?
Make some myself and here they are...

If you want to see my step-by-step tutorial - check it out here. I am doing another guest post over at Sumo's sweet stuff blog....yep now I have time in the summer I am sharing the love - or 'pimping myself out' as i have heard it referred too. Ohh err!

Messy Mondays: Creating borders with paints and stamps!

So last week I shared some ideas for using paint to create backing paper for your layouts. This Monday I am bringing you some ideas of how to use paint with stamps to jazz up the borders of your layouts.
The first layout is created using a humble sponge, lid of tin (as a mixing palette), green acrylic paint and a really old stamp which cost me no more than a pound. I very simply created a recurring motif with it - refuelling on paint with each stamp.

A closer look at my handiwork and all the layering. The title is stamped too in the same method.

The second layout was sat 'finished' in my scrap room - but I felt it was lacking something. One Jenni Bowlin paint dabber and a swirl stamp later and I now feel it is finished properly and framed effectively. I just placed newspaper behind the layout and let it hang off the page.

 A closer look at those swirls...

The third layout was less messy than paint as I used my Maya Road mist. I sprayed some mist into the lid and then used my paint dauber and inked the edges to make it stand out more - click on the image for a closer look as this picture wasn't edited first!

Do you like the secret picture between the pritt pads?

Lastly - perhaps my favourite of the four a New Year's Eve layout. I hope my sister forgives me as she thought that this pic wasn't very flattering - but it was all I had. I used my JB ink dauber and a star stamp to create a border around the top. I like the contrast of the black with the bright colours. I also created a 'shaker box' using the packaging from some stickers and lots of confetti and punched out stars - I attached it with washi tape and a paper clip and I was very pleased with the results and think I will play with shaker boxes again soon.

 

Next Monday  I will be showing you a step-by-step how to for creating a mini canvas with paint - till then have a great week and happy crafting. Go get those hands messy...

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I am linking up with a challenge over at Fiskars to use stamping in a project.

Legally Blonde, Lola's and other adventures in London!

So along with nail painting, baking cake pops (see previous post) and making a crazy valentines snack bar for the Belgian's return I also procrastinated my pile of marking with a little layout making post London.
My sister and I had a fab time in London and due to the wonder of Instax I could make a layout very quickly with some of our snaps. The pics showcase an Ella's Bakehouse cupcake (overated), Whole Foods Valentines display, Pinkberry delicious and low fat frozen yogurt from Selfridges and last but certainly not least LEGALLY BLONDE: The Musical! It was the highlight of our trip by far and we've both been avidly downloading the soundtrack and listening. My fav songs are So Much Better and Chip on my Shoulder. We checked out online and found if you go to the Savoy at 10am then the first ten customers get front row tickets for £10. What a bargain! The only drawback of the front row was that you sometimes couldn't see their feet and the little doggies (not a big deal as I'm not the biggest animal lover and they always got picked up too!) It was good as you felt part of the action - one of the super camp dancers even winked at me! Plus you can see the orchestra pit as well and so feel like you get a behind the scenes view of the show too!
I wanted this layout to be bright and use sweet, sugar encrusted girly hues. I used Shimelle's latest tutorial of creating bunting with paint swabs and am very pleased with the result. I stamped the title in bright shades so that it would pop and I like doing title in two lines now!

Anyone else seen the show?

O Christmas tree and intstax your house...

So we are off to Brugges in a few hours and I am procrastinating packing - what a loathsome task!
I have just loaded my ipod up with a Christmas album, plenty of Glee and Rebecca Ferguson's new album ready for the road trip.
I had my hair done (again) yesterday and have the bottom half with blonde highlights and the top still dark with a few round the fringe - I quite like it and may actually stick with this style now.
I have got lots of scrapping to share with you, but I will just leave you with this Christmas layout. I used a prompt from ARTastic which was to use a tree, snowman and the word Christmas in you title, plus a wintery painting for inspiration.
I chose to scrap our first Christmas tree in 2009, the pic is a bit blurry but I am pleased with the layout.

Don't you love that lightbulb parcel tape? It's from Paris!

My other tip is what to do with your instax mini pics - if you don't already own one get it! It's always a crowd pleaser and people laugh at the retroness of it all but you get instant pics and could take a shot and scrap it in one day. So here's our home decor idea...

Although I love it - they're snapshots of our Christmas so far. I also think I would like to scrap these pics - so where is the happy medium?? I can't pass up good scrap fodder! Perhaps I should have taken two of each!
Happy Christmas Eve eve!! xxx