Metals & Petals layout .... by Lynn

Hi everyone, Lynn here to share my second layout for this months challenge - Metals & Petals.

I have loved this months challenge.  Sadly we had to put our furbaby down a month ago, and I have created this layout in memory of her.

I have used Happy Accident paper, 13 arts stencil and crackle paste to create some texture in the background.  I have used paper artsy paints - Tango, Greeen Patina, Banana and Pumpkin soup.  I have stamped around the area where the layout will go with Tim Holtz Stampers Annoymous Stamp - Perspective.

The flowers have been created using wipe off sheets - this is where I have been making background and wipe off the brayer onto paper.  I have then stamped the Paper Artsy Stamp - ETS22  onto this paper and cut out.

I have randomly used some deco foil around the layout to add some "bling"

Metal flowers have been cut in half and inserted behind the photo 

I have die cut a heart and stamped the word fly from the Paper Artsy stamp set.  The "something to remember" is a sticker from the 13 arts collection - Secret Letters

A white paint pen adds finishing touches on the flowers and a "favorites" sticker from the Mambi sticker set

Products used:

Happy Accident Paper

13 arts stencil

Tim Holtz Stampers Annoymous Stamp

Paper Artsy Stamp ETS22

13 arts Stickers - Secret Letters

Paper Artsy Paints

Brass Flower

Brass Flower Large

Mambi Stickers

White Pen

Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you are inspired to have a go at this months challenge.  You do not need to have a blog just post your layout, tag, card, project into the Scrap Matrix Shares Album in facebook and tell us at least one product that you have used that is available at the Scrap Matrix Store - easy peasy!

Til Next time - Happy Crafting.

"Winter Road Trip" with Alison Callcott

Morning peeps!

I'm baaack. Vicki seems to be having a hard time getting rid of me, lol. This month, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to guest DT with the team and play with the new monthly challenge, a totally awesome moodboard!

Whilst I'm still loving my Paper Artsy stamp sets from last month's challenge, this month I wanted to do something a little different and step away from the stamps. I wondered if I could use just the one piece of patterned paper for my background, building my page with a few tags, stickers and other embellishments. Not how I'd usually scrap; I'm a shocker for cutting into 12x12 sheets of patterned paper for layering. But after this I may just have to start thinking about investing in some of the many 6x6 paper pads you can buy in store ..

Winter Road Trip

If, like me, you love mixed media scrapping and perhaps even creating your own backgrounds from scratch, but sometimes just want something perfectly ready to go, you really need to check out the Blue Fern Studio Happy Accident collection. When I first saw it, I thought I had died and gone to patterned paper heaven. Plus the Blue Fern Studio papers are a really nice weight enabling you to throw a lot of other mixed media on if you choose.

But I wanted this page to be nice and quick. I combined about half a 12x12 sheet of 7 Dots Studio tags, and various stickers from both 6x12 and 12x12 7 Dots Studio stickers sheets, to build up the layers behind my photo. (I have enough of the tags and stickers to create at least another two layouts.)

Once my layering was done, I applied some Colour Blast Colour Paste through a stencil, and basically moved straight on to my embellishments.

As I have done previously, I inked some Kinder Kreations chipboard with an Archival Ink Pad and a sponge dauber for a crisp, clean, matt finish. I layered the chipboard with white feathers and a flower from my stash, tucked in an Um Wow Studio flair and added a Paper Artsy stamped butterfly (and heart). Once again I used my Dymo labeller for the title and yes, once again, I used my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher to make sure those labels stayed put!

I used a mixture of stickers from the 7 Dots Studio sticker sheets to continue embellishing my page, some of which I adhered with foam tape for extra dimension. 

As you can see here, I've used Scrap Dots to raise the wings on my butterfly.

(Isn't that Um Wow Studio flair both gorgeous,

and perfect for this page?!)

Aaand, that's my page done and dusted! I hope you have fun creating with this latest challenge, as I did. There are just so many ways to interpret this moodboard.

Thanks for having me back for a quick guest DT stint Vicki. Thanks to Tammy and Lynn for, yet again, all the help. You guys rock and its been a pleasure. Thank you!

Cheers .. Alz  :)

Scrap Matrix products used ..

Blue Fern Studio - Happy Accident "Incident"

7 Dots Studio - Dreamer 6x12 Stickers

7 Dots Studio - Dreamer 12x12 Stickers

7 Dots Studio - Hazy Days 12x12 Tags

Kinder Kreations chipboard - Zen Leaf

Kinder Kreations chipboard - Doodled Frames

Um Wow Studio flair - Teal Blooms

Paper Artsy EDY02 stamp set

Archival Ink Pad - Russet

Colour Blast Colour Paste - Bling

'A Beautiful Mess' by Elisa Ablett

Hi everyone,

Welcome to the Scrap Matrix Blog!

I am so excited to present my first share on the blog as part of the awesome design team for Scrap Matrix. I am featuring a layout I created for the September Moodboard challenge which is all about sharing your 'craft space', this is a fantastic challenge as you can interpret this in many ways, show us where you create, your storage ideas, the mess you make ... anything really to do with your 'creative space'.

We would love for you all to participate - head on over to the Scrap Matrix Shares facebook page, join the group and enter your layout into the album to be in with a chance to win a voucher to the store. Scrap Matrix Shares Facebook Group

The store is an absolute treasure trove of scrapbooking and mixed media products, including wonderful paper ranges including Blue Fern Studios paper, stamps, stencils and 13arts products.

and here is the layout I created for the design team reveal!

I wanted to showcase my craft room after a mad creating session - a beautiful mess! plus i wanted to feature multiple photos on the page, including a few of my favourite storage items, a small white storage rack that fits on my desk, my two trolleys from aldi that hold all my tools and mediums and an old wooden work bench that i adjusted so that i can stand and scrap as well.

Being creative is like therapy for me so this page represents my 'happy place' along with the things i like most about creating in my space...

I wanted to share with you a few of the techniques and products that I used to create the bright mixed media layout.

First of all, an overview of some of the wonderful products that I used to create my layout that can be found at Scrap Matrix - Blue Fern Studio 'Happy Accident' paper collection, Blue Fern Studio chipboard pieces, 13arts paint, 13arts stickers, Scrap Matrix Metal Filigrees, Flowers and Paper lace trim, Twine, Dina Wakely heavy body paint.

To begin my background I had to prep a the metal pieces and my chipboard with gesso and let them dry. I painted my chipboard title black once dry.

Once my paintbrush chipboard had been prepped with gesso and dried. I painted the handles to resemble wood with a lovely bronze sparkle paint from 13arts and then I used the Dina Wakley paint to paint the tips to go with my background.

I used one of my favourite paper collections from Blue Fern Studios - Happy Accident, I trimmed the bottom strips off and cut a few coordinating pieces from the second sheet of paper to go under my photos.

To achieve the background technique, I first added paint blobs on my craft mat and then sprayed them liberally with water (the Dina Wakely paint waters down nicely), I then placed my paper upside down on the craft mat and blotted my paper onto the watered down paint.

Next step is to add some lovely splatters to your page!

To add splatters, I love to use a fan brush, I added a lovely blob of 'Ocean' Dina Wakely paint on my craft mat then added water, mix with your brush and then tap your brush over your page where you want the splatters to go.

The two colours of Dina Wakely paint that I used are Ocean and Fuchsia.

To colour your metal pieces, I decided on using the bronze paint on the outside and the Ocean paint on the inside of the flowers. Let dry thoroughly and then add a coat of protective sealant over the top. Glossy accents, or spray sealant.

Add your paper lace trim to the outside edges of your layout and then add some stamping to your page - I used a lovely set of stamps available in store today by Paper Artsy - E3 by Tracey Scott 11

Next add some texture to your background by using a gorgeous 13 arts 6x6 Stencil- Her Style and black modelling or heavy gesso and a palette knife.

Last step before you assemble your page is to add some lovely gold accents and messy script writing with the Gold Pico Embellisher and place some 13arts stickers over your layout to coordinate with your theme for example... i used 'practice art everyday' and 'creative mess' 

Here are some close ups!

and here is the finished layout again after assembling all your pieces.

Well that's it from me today, thank you so much for popping by the blog to see my layout and the techniques used to create it.

If you want to see more of my work here is my blog link - http://2crazycrafters.blogspot.com.au/

Head on over and follow me and keep up to date on my work.

Also please head over to join the wonderful new group on facebook called Scrap Matrix Shares, this is where you can enter your project for the challenges and view more of the design team work and SHARE your work with us!!

Hugs xx

Elisa