Bella Blvd | Campout...

Hello Friends!  I have another Bella Blvd layout to share today.  This week my challenge was to create a page using the fabulous Campout collection.  Not really a challenge for me as I had tonnes of photos to choose from.  But I did add my own twist.  I wanted to create a layout that would represent an "Under The Stars" theme..

 

"Cobb & Co"

 

products used: cs - American Crafts; pp - Bella Blvd (Campout); alpha - Bella Blvd (Campout); other - Bella Blvd: chipboard icons, word strips.

 

Cobb & Co is one of our favourite camping grounds and I was completely inspired to create this layout from the Campout Borders patterned paper.  The quote on my page "We didn't realise we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun" is the exact sentiment we feel after every visit to this special place.

 

 

The tents (also from the Campout Borders paper) represent each of the families that we call our collective camping fam. By layering these images on top of the Under the Stars patterned paper, I have created the look I was hoping for.

  

 

If you would like to see more detail, please head on over to the Bella Blvd blog.  Thanks for visiting with me today...x

 

 



Bella Blvd | What's New...

Ok.. So the title of this blog post is supposed to say "Bella Blvd | What's New Wednesday".  I think I've kind of missed the deadline on this one! *grin* Oh! It's up on the Bella blog alright, but I definitely missed the mark when it has come time to share it here!  whoops!!

This layout was created using the new Campout collection.

"Our Camp"

products used: Bella BLVD - Campout: Daily Details, Under The Stars, Treasures & Text, Trinkets, Chipboard Icons; Color Chaos: Bell Pepper Strandz, Scallop Strandz, Blueberry Strandz; Lucky Starz: Scallop Starz; Hello Autumn: Treasures & Text; Ciao Chipboard: Whatnots; Sienna Chipboard Alphas: Blueberry; Enamel DooDads: Blueberry; High Five Alpha Stickers: Brown-Cream.

journaling - our favourite part of camping is when we get to sit around the fire, usually on the first night. we relax & listen to the bush settle for the night & watch the stars gently shine down upon us. it's a time to really talk to each other without the distractions of i-devises. I love how we all reconnect - family time.

We love going camping and I am so glad that Bella has created this new line! I can't wait to document more of our adventures using it!  Thanks for visiting..x



Sassy Scrapper | Project Life Week 40...

Hi Everyone!  I just wanted to share that my PL Week 40 is up on the Sassy Scrapper blog today.

 

"Week 40"

 

I would love to know what you think.  Thanks for visiting...x

 

 



Sassy Scrapper | Project Life...

Hi Everyone!  Over at Sassy Scrapper today I am sharing my Project Life | Week 32.

 

 

I  hope you get a chance to drop by Sassy and let me know what you think!  Thanks for visiting today...x



Sassy Scrapper | Project Life Week Twelve...

 

Hi Everyone!!! I just wanted to let you know that my next instalment of Project Life is up and live over at Sassy Scrapper!

 

I'd love to see you there...x Thanks for visiting.

 

Sassy Scrapper | Project Life Week Seven...

Hello Friends!  Long week between blog posts!  So sorry.  We've been dealing with a yucky virus.  Hopefully though we are back on the mend and I can now share with you my latest PL spread for Sassy Scrapper.

 

I've been playing around with some hand stitching this week too.  Please head on over to Sassy and let me know what you think..x  Thanks for visiting.

 

 

 

 

Bella Blvd | Pinterest Inspiration..

Hello Friends.  I am doing a little scrapbook house keeping today and catching up with some Bella Blvd.

 

 

This month I was challenged to use an image of leaves, as a source of Pinspiration for my layout.

I fell in love with the ombre colours and of course had to use leaves on my page as well.  I mixed it up with a selection Bella collections, all of which work and coordinate so well together...

 "Happy Camper"

 

products used: cs - Kaisercraft; pp - Bella Blvd; alpha - Bella Blvd; other - Bella Blvd: chipboard, stickers; studio calico mist; tools - Fancy That Dies (leaves), typewriter.

One of my boys' favourite activities when camping, is to run through piles of leaves as they go crashing through the bush.  This always worries me though, because of the high number of deadly snakes and spiders (wherever we go camping) that could be lurking beneath the leaf litter!  My only consolation is that these boys they make so.much.noise. that any creature, deadly or otherwise, will disappear well in advance of my boys getting near them!  Fingers crossed anyway!

 

If you would like to see how some of the other DT members were inspired by this same image, please visit Bella Blvd here.  Thanks so much for visiting ..x

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While I am doing some house keeping, I thought I would share this awesome free printable created by Stephanie,  owner & creator of Bella Blvd.

 

 

 

She had such a huge response to her first Thanks Giving giveaway in 2011, that she wanted to do it all again, with an updated version!  Stay tuned to her blog in the coming days, because you will be able to download the new version for FREE.  Check out the 2011 version here.  It really is super cute!



 

The Scrapbook Store | Old School..

This month, for The Scrapbook Store, I've been given the task of creating with school themed patterned papers from Little Yellow Bicycle.  I must admit once I stopped and looked at the papers, instead of immediately freaking out! (like I thought I would  *grin*), a multitude of ideas hit me.  Back-to-school papers don't always have to be used for the standard back-to-school photo snap. :)

 

With children entering a the new school year in the Northern Hemisphere, here, Down Under, we tend to get the wonderful opportunity to be reminded about documenting our kids' schooling journey mid-year.  Especially when these gorgeous new papers hit our shelves.  So this is exactly what I have done.  In an upcoming blog post, you will see how I used these LYB papers to document my son's science experiment.  There are no photos of him.  Just a lonely photo of a bean growing from a seed, in a bag! LOL!

 

But today, I have used these papers to create a layout of my children and our family friends' children when we visited a museum last year.  They were fascinated with the old schoolroom and the activities and RULES children had to participate in at the turn of the 20th Century.  They were astonished when they learnt about "the cane".  LOL!

 

 

"Old School"

products used: cs - Kaisercraft; pp - Little Yellow Bicycle; alpha - American Crafts thickers; other - LYB: canvas stickers, chipboard shapes, tear-out tags; Perfect Pearls Mist (Ranger); Kaisercraft clear stamps (class of '87), ink, paperclips, vellum; tools - sharpie pen.

I love these photos taken of them sitting at the long narrow school desk.  So very different to the classroom environment they have today with interactive white boards and computers.  **side note -   When we entered this room at the museum, the kids raced to get a seat at a desk.  I'm quite certain that they aren't so keen to enter their own school classroom every other morning.  :)

The canvas stickers in the LYB collection are easy to apply and add great texture to the page.  And besides, who can go past a super cute banner like the one above!  *grin*  The colours in the photos reflect the colours in the banner too.  Winner!

 

And I couldn't resist cutting up the letters from the pattern paper to spell out a few key words.

For a little more extra detail and to age the layout, I've added the new Ranger Perfect Pearls Mist in mandarin.  I deliberately splashed some onto the ink near the journaling so the red stamped lines would bleed.  It is a subtle touch leaving slight watermarks on my page.

 

Thanks for visiting today.  Please come back soon when I share my video tutorial as mentioned above.  Have a great day..x

 

Jillibean Soup | Blog Hop & Giveaway!!

Hello and welcome Friends to the Jillibean Soup Blog Hop!  You should have arrived here from Laurel's amazing blog.

Today we are sharing the new collection released by Jillibean Soup - Happy Camper Stew.  It has so many cute elements in it you won't be able to stop yourself from falling in love.  And we have a fabulous giveaway for you to win, just by participating and visiting the Design Team's blogs.  I hope you have a great time. 

If you have stumbled onto my blog and would like to start at the beginning, here is the full list of camping stops..

Cindy Lee

Danni Reid

Emily Pitts

Kim Holmes

Laurel Seabrook

Leanne Allinson    <<<

Melanie Blackburn

Melinda Spinks

Nancy Damiano

Nicole Nowosad

Pam Brown

Patty Folchart

Paula Gilarde

Sheri Feypel

Summer Fullerton

Valerie Mangan

Jillibean Soup blog

I think this collection is going to be one of my all. time. favourites!  A big call right? But as a family we go camping all the time and so I have big plans for this fabulous new line!  *grin*  Here is what I have created so far..

 

 

"Cobb & Co"

Supplies:

Jillibean Soup

Patterned Paper: Happy Camper Stew/1 part camping gear, 2 parts adventure, 4 parts great outdoors, bite size bits, scores of smores, Coordinating Label Stickers; Fresh Vegetable Soup/chicken base; Chilled Cucumber Soup/Coordinating Shape Stickers;

Alphabeans: whipped white

Kraft tag: large

 

other - cardstock, Greatest View flair; tools - silhouette portrait, type writer.

 

I knew I wanted to use the map patterned paper (4 parts great outdoors) as a background to my page, as soon as I saw it.  One of our favourite places to go camping has a similar layout with plenty of bushland and hidden walking tracks for us to explore.  I also didn't want to hide all of the gorgeous detail on this sheet of paper, so I have created a mini file folder to hide my journaling below the photo.

 

 

 

 

The next stop on this blog hop is the fabulously talented Melanie Blackburn.  Remember to leave a comment on the Jillibean Soup blog for your chance to win a prize!  Good luck.  And thanks for visiting..x

 

 

 

Jillibean Soup | Muddy Puddles...

Hi Everyone.  I have a quick post today to share with you this layout created for Jillibean Soup. 

 



"Muddy Puddles"

products list: cs - Kaisercraft; pp - Jillibean Soup; alpha - Jillibean Soup; other - Jillibean Soup: clear stamps (large butterfly), Pea Pod Parts, Soup Labels, Wise Words; Greatest View sequins, OA mist; tools - machine stitching, black pen.

I have a gone through my stash and used quite a few left over strips of patterned paper.  They were simply arranged in fading colour and machine stitched straight onto the cardstock.  I wanted it to look a little messy as the photo shows my boy jumping in the mud!  *grin* And with that thought in mind, I also added the splashes of grey mist to the page...

From the above photo, you can see that I've mounted the photo onto foam tape to add dimension to my layout.  The wings on the butterfly have also been bent, just to add that extra depth as well.  The butterfly is a new Jillibean Soup clear stamp, available through Hampton Arts.

 

Now, don't forget to visit Jillibean Soup to see what some of the other DT members have created.  Thanks for visiting me here.  I really appreciate reading your thoughts..x

 

 

 

Life.Paper.Scrapbook | Sketch..

Hello! Who is ready to play along with Life.Paper.Scrapbook's 2nd sketch challenge?  The team have put together some fantastic examples for you all to enjoy!  Check out the Design Team layouts >>here<<.

Here's the sketch...

And my sample..

 

"Sand Pies"

products used: cs - kaisercraft; pp - Bella BLVD, Jillibean Soup, Echo Park; alpha - Amy Tangerine American Crafts; other - Jo Sonja's paint, Jenni Bowlin paint dabber (yellow); tools - black pen (sharpie), star punch. photo credit: Cindy Devine.

This sketch is very minimalist.. even for me!  LOL!  But I have beefed it up by using layers of paint and pen where the circles are.  To create them, I used different sized sponge dabbers for circles and the small green ones were made with the eraser on the end of a pencil.  I didn't want to go too crazy with the paint but I still wanted the illusion of movement across the page.

 



After the paint was added and the photo positioned, I used a roll of washi tape to sketch out the circles..

This month Give A Girl... is giving one lucky person a stamp set of their choice. Give A Girl... is an Australian online store that sells fabulous clear stamp sets designed by the talented Kellie Winnell AND if your blog needs a freshen up with some beautiful graphics she does that too! (find out more about that here)..

 

 

So, here are the details for the sketch challenge:

 

 

- You can submit ANY kind of project - cards, layouts or anything you can use the sketch for

- You can use the sketch and colour challenge together just make sure you link it up to each so you have a chance to win in both.

- Sketch challenge #2 runs until 11.59pm 15 March. (Don't forget we are in Australia)

- The winner of the prize will be randomly drawn

- We will also feature three of the favourite layouts and the selected layouts will be asked to guest design for the next sketch challenge.

***AND there is a chance we may select your project for our March issue. 

 

 

Link your layout using this sketch over at Life.Paper.Scrapbook.  Good luck!!  And thanks for visiting..x

 

 

 

Bella BLVD | Mini Album...

Hello Everyone!! Today I am excited to share with you my little mini album created for Bella BLVD and the Basically Bare team up!  I am also a little aprehensive too because I don't normally venture outside of scrapbooking layouts.  But I figure, if I don't challenge myself every now and then, how will I know what I can achieve!  *grin*..  So here goes...

 "Home Away from Home"

My main objective with this mini was to create something I can keep all of our favourite camping memories in.  We go camping a lot.  And the kids love these adventures.  So... I really needed to create a space for these memories to be kept together and of the main camp sites we visit over and over again.

The first few pages are half the size of the Basically Bare album itself.  I wanted to document things we always do regardless of where we spend time camping - bike riding, bush walking, swimming and setting up the tent.

The mini album came with envelope inserts and in these I have kept essential information and details such as location, contact details and price lists. :)  It will be interesting to be able to compare these things in a few years time.

What I have found that I love the most about this mini, is that I can continue to add to it...  The more adventures we have, the more places I can document about.  Sort of a bucket list to tick off as we travel and explore.

If you would like to see more photos, please visit this blog post over at Bella BLVD.  Thanks for visiting...x

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products used: mini album - basically bare - bare Booklets; cs - DCWV, Kaisercraft; pp - Bella BLVD: Thankful, Finally Fall, Sophisticates; alpha - Bella BLVD; other - Bella BLVD: crochet flowers (juniper), ciao chips, designer tapes & flags, basically bare: chipboard embellishments (stack-a-bellies birds and happy little houses), kaisercraft: pearl flourish & ink, Tim Holtz distress stain, Greatest View: twine, chevron & sunburst badges, Mister Huey's color mists, versacolor ink, Fancy That Dies: mixed Leaves, recycled map.