Living life .. with Alz

Morning peeps!

I'm here to share another "You've been framed" layout with you ..

Living life

I had a ton of fun creating the background for this layout. It was a bit of an experiment with a new product (new for me that is) for adding colour and I wasn't at all sure how the colours would turn out. With a bit of blind faith, and a lot of Prima Metallic Accents Semi Watercolour Paints I made this ..

(I used a sheet of 12x12 heavy weight watercolour paper)

I love the way the colour has seeped into the watercolour paper whilst the mica powder has stayed on top, giving a kind of blended but opaque finish at the same time. Super cool!

Whilst this was drying, I played with the idea of leaving the background as it was to show off the beautiful colour, shimmer and shine, or to add more layers. In the end, more is always more, lol, so I grabbed some stencils (many stencils!) and my Tim Holtz Distress Inks (Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw, Tumbled Glass, Pumice Stone, Tea Dye and Broken China) and using (mostly) like colour on colour, went to town.

(I've used TCW 12x12 Tiny Circles, TCW 6x6 Mini Well Rounded,

13@rts Rain of Dots and Aall and Create Stencil #13)

So I'm digging this, but it needed more because, well, more is always more! It needed texture. Something organic and beach-y. Because this was my photo ..

(I love, love, love the new Tim Holtz Mixed Media Mat!)

The Finnabair Texture Paste in White Sand with the Joggles 9x12 Wander stencil would be perfect, or so I thought.

But, once dry, now you see it ..

and now you don't ..

.. which was a bit of a nuisance cos I wasn't going for 'subtle' lol!

(Oh and this depended on the angle from which you were looking at the background.)

What to do la? It'd been a while since I played with my Faber Castell Gelatos so figured 'why not?'. Using Gold Champagne and Silver Ice from the Metallics pack, I placed the Joggles stencil back over the White Sand Texture Paste and smeared the Gelatos on top of the texture paste with my finger and once dry ..

now you see it ..

and now you don't now you still see it ..

magic! (lol)

That was my background done and dusted.

I knew I wanted to use polaroid style frames and chipboard circles to create a layer of frames behind my photo. Because I couldn't cut in a straight line if my life depended on it, I decided to die cut some frames using both 13@rts Colour Basics patterned paper from the 6x6 pad and Tim Holtz Idea-ology tissue paper which I adhered to white cardstock to give it some substance. Although the tissue paper I used is currently not in store, you could just as easily use the Botanical Collage Paper.

For my chipboard circles I used Blue Fern Studios Graduated Circles, the largest of which measures 11" across. The smallest, which I've used on this layout, measures 3" across. In all, you receive five funky circles in the one pack. Oh and I also used the 6" circle on my layout.

(cool huh?!)

I inked both circles with the Pumice Stone Distress Ink, coated them with Ranger Glossy Accents and, whilst wet, sprinkled on some Prima Art Sugar Glitter in Antique Silver. I stapled my paper frames to my background, glued down my chipboard circles, added White French Lace Embossed Paper Lace, and that was my layers done.

ps: if you check out my yellow polaroid frame you can see

that I can't even die-cut in a straight line lol!!

As you probably know by now, I love using flowers on my layouts. This one would be no different and, luckily for me, Petaloo had the perfect flowers for my page .. Ivory Burlap Blossoms and Ivory Mini Paintables. I tucked a teal bloom Um Wow Flair in with a couple of my flowers and added my title "living life" using individual words from Tim Holtz Idea-ology Chit Chat Stickers on top. I printed my journaling using a free font 1942 report and I was done. Here's a few close ups of my finished page ..

Oh and by the way I forgot to add that when it was all stuck down and finished, or so I thought, I decided to flick around a small amount of Turquoise 13@rts Splash Glitter Ink!

Have you thought of playing along with our "You've been framed" challenge this month? You have until midnight on the 30th to upload a pic of your project to the Scrap Matrix Facebook Shares Page. Oh and heh don't forget to let us know which products available from Scrap Matrix you've used.

That's it for me today. I hope you're having an awesome start to your weekend.

'Til next time.

Cheers .. Alz  :)

Scrap Matrix products used:

Prima Metallic Accents Semi Watercolour Paints

Tim Holtz Distress Inks

TCW 12x12 Tiny Circles

TCW 6x6 Mini Well Rounded

13@rts Rain of Dots

Aall and Create Stencil #13

Finnabair Texture Paste in White Sand

Joggles 9x12 Wander stencil

Faber Castell Gelatos - Metallics pack

13@rts Colour Basics 6x6 pad

Blue Fern Studios Graduated Circles

Ranger Glossy Accents

Prima Art Sugar Glitter - Antique Silver

White French Lace Embossed Paper Lace

Petaloo Burlap Blossoms - Ivory

Petaloo Mini Paintables - Ivory

Um Wow Flair - Teal Blooms

Tim Holtz Idea-ololy Chit Chat Stickers

13@rts Splash Glitter Ink - Turquoise Glitter

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"Imagine" by Monique

Hi Everyone - Monique back again with my second layout for the fabulous "You've Been Framed" challenge over at Scrap Matrix.

As I said in my first post for this challenge, the thing that really appealed to me about the challenge was just how diverse the interpretation of the challenge could be.

For this layout, I decided to use the "Negative Frames" as the "Frame" component of the challenge.

This is what I came up with:

I found some old Kaisercraft paper which had some cool film strip edging, which I cut off to edge the paper I wanted to use, and I also had some old negative transparency which I layered under my photo clusters, but you could use this Blue Fern Studio Film Strip chipboard and paint it black and it would have the same effect.

Here is a quick step by step of how I created this layout.

1.  I used a teal/copper coloured piece of paper from the Stamperia "Clockwise" Paper Pad.  

2.  First, I used some TCW Clear Gesso to add some protection to my base paper.  I use clear gesso all the time with my layouts as I tend to use a lot of medium and it really protects the paper and stops the paper from getting too warped and crinkled up.

3.  Apply some Texture Paste using the TCW 12x12 Tuscan Wall stencil.  Layer on some Lindy's Stamp Gang Ink Spray, diluting with water and drying between applications to prevent creating a "muddy" look.  I used Cattail Copper Brown and Danny Zuko Denim.  Once I was happy with that, I rubbed the raised areas of the texture paste with some Finnebair Art Alchemy Metallique Wax in Rich Copper.

4.    Add some layers - I cut some clocks out of another piece of paper from the Stamperia "Clockwise" Paper Pad, and then added them to my base paper using matte medium.  I then added my negative shapes - as shown.

Like I said before, I used some old transparency I had, but you could just as easily use this chipboard,  painted black. 

5.  Next, create some paper layers -  I used the "Tags" paper from the Stamperia "Clockwise" Paper Pad, and cut several tags out, inking them and layering them with a piece of scrap paper from the same range.  

6. Place the layered photo mat on my base, raising it up slightly with some thick card to add some dimension and give me some height to tuck under some embellishments.

7.  Mat your photo with some scrap paper - I used some scraps from the range I was using.  Add your photo on top of the tag cluster using some more thick card to add some more depth and another opportunity to layer.

8.  Time to embellish - get some gear - type chipboard.  I used the Blue Fern Studios Cogs and Gears and Moving Parts Chipboard,  which I painted with some brass coloured paint, and a touch of teal and mint to add a patina effect to them.  I added them to my layout with some Prima Mechanicals Rustic Washers and Prima Mechanicals Rustic Steampunk Gears.

9.  Finally, add a title.  I used the "Imagine" word from the 13 Arts Strength in Numbers Chipboard sheet.  Flick on some black paint, add some black string to the tags and any other bits and pieces to add interest.

Hope you enjoyed my little tutorial.  Don't forget you still have two weeks to weeks to get in your entries.  You can interpret this challenge in so many ways - use chipboard frames, frame your photo, add some polaroid frames, use negatives, stamp some frames.....  the choice is almost unlimited!

Once you have completed your entry, don't forget to upload it into the "You've Been Framed" album on the Scrap Matrix Shares Facebook Page.

I can't wait to see your creations so please be sure to play along.

Here is a full list, with links, of the products I've used from the Scrap Matrix Shop.

Stamperia Paper Pad: "Clockwise"

Blue Fern Studios Chipboard: "Moving Parts" and "Cogs and Gears"

13 Arts Chipboard Sheet "Strength in Numbers"

TCW 12x12 Stencil: Tuscan Wall

LindyStamp Gang Ink Spray "Cat Tail Copper Brown"

Finnabair Art Alchemy Métallique Wax - Rich Copper

Prima Mechanicals - Rustic Washers

Prima Mechanicals Steampunk Gears

String Trim in Black

TCW Clear Gesso

Thank you so much for stopping by xx.

Inhale Exhale .. with Alz

Morning peeps!

You could be forgiven for thinking I'm about to run a relaxation class from the subject heading of this blog post but, trust me, I'm not. Instead, I plan to put you to sleep with my waffling instead.  ;)

Whilst I had several Aall and Create stamps and stencils laying around on my desk from creating projects for this month's Scrap Matrix Aall and Create challenge I decided to keep playing and came up with this ..

Inhale Exhale

Initially, I struggled with this layout big time. The background was killing me! I started with a sheet of 7 Dots Studio Dreamscapes patterned paper (Sunrise) because on the reverse there was about a three inch section that had the perfect colours for my photo. Thing is, those colours blended into a mostly rose pink-ish colour which, whilst also perfect for my photo, just wasn't doing it for me. I really wanted to bring in more of the yellows and oranges but hard up against the far side of the paper where that rose pink-ish colour was quite dark, it just wasn't working. Aargh!

(I used the reverse and you can see the colours I wanted to use in the top right hand corner)

What to do?? After contemplating my navel (and scrapping supplies) for oh, I'd say an hour, easy, I figured 'what's the worst that could happen?'. Right? So I pulled out my Tim Holtz Distress Oxides which, I'll confess, I haven't played with as much as I should have considering how long they've been gathering dust in my stash. Anyways. I figured Wild Honey, Fossilized Amber and Candied Apple might do the trick. At this point I wasn't sure exactly what that 'trick' would be and I was feeling kinda nervous. So I went back to what I know and smeared on a little white gesso with a brayer and spread about some Finnabair Texture Paste White Sand using Aall and Create Stencils. I used #10 (I think this is my favourite) and #8 which I especially love for travel pages. I went over my page again with a brayer and the white gesso to highlight the White Sand Finnabair Texture Paste as it had faded into the background just a wee bit, although the sandy texture was perfect.

Once all that was dry, I started mucking about with my Tim Holtz Distress Oxides. Other than watching some tutorials quite some time ago on You Tube I really didn't have a clue what I was doing.  I knew that if I heat dried them between each application the layers would sit on top of each other versus blending and potentially making a big muddy mess. I also knew that they would dry with a chalky finish. I knew I had seen a lot of successful finishes achieved on tags and cards, but not on a piece of 12x12 which I thought would be less manageable (I was wrong). Figuring I had nothing to lose I squished my ink pads onto my craft mat, spritzed the ink with water and literally started 'splodging' my page into the ink and drying it with a heat tool. As I continued 'splodging and drying' I could begin to see which sections on my page needed more of one colour than another. In the end, I had pretty successfully (or so I thought lol) blended the colours I was first drawn to in the 7 Dots Studio Dreamscapes Sunrise patterned paper, and I loved, loved, loved the way the inks sat on the White Sand Finnabair Texture Paste ..

I had ink left on my mat so also inked up a couple of paper doilies to use behind my photo and strands of gauze I later used to tuck in here and there. I used a Blue Fern Studio stamp (London Chronicle) and Jet Black Archival Ink to add some stamped detail on my background, one of the tags from 7 Dots Dreamscapes Tags 12x12 which I used to mat my photo, and one of the doilies.

I stamped some feathers from Aall and Create Stamp set #11 onto kraft cardstock, cut them out and stapled them together with a black feather from my stash. These were the foundation for my primary cluster of embellishments which also included some of that inked gauze strands, a Prima Archivist Ledger flower, a stick pin from my stash and a couple of leaves I made from a Large Square Brass flower (#5). These brass flowers are super easy to break up just by bending them back and forth and, in this instance, I painted them with black acrylic paint.

To balance my page I created another, smaller, embellishment cluster to the right of my photo. I cut a heart from one of the 7 Dots Dreamscapes Sunrise Tags 12x12 and inked the edges black. I added another Prima Archivist Ledger flower (it could not have been a more perfect match), another 'leaf' and more strands of gauze. I used Black Fitzgerald Thickers for my title and, because it was done and dusted (or so I thought) generously flicked around some heavy drops of irResistible Pico Embellisher in black. Unfortunately, whilst my page was drying, I accidentally smudged a drop of the irResistible Pico Embellisher and, taking into account Murphy's Law, it had to be the drop that was dead centre, right at the very top of my page. Aargh!!!! Buuuuut as we know, in scrapbooking, a mistake is just an opportunity and whist I could have used a sprinkling of something like black sequins from my stash, that didn't occur to me at the time lol! Instead, I grabbed one of my Tim Holtz pads with sayings printed on black and white strips (very similar to his Small Talk) and added a few. I actually reckon it might have just added the finishing touch I didn't know my page needed, and that was that.

Now, if you're anything like me, when you've finished creating you end up with one giant, big, chaotic mess of products on your table. Included in my messes are invariably bits and pieces I made which didn't make it onto my page. Ordinarily I store those bits and pieces in all sorts of places where they get lost and forgotten about. I'm kinda tired of that happening but find it soooooo hard to throw out these little creative 'gems'. My mess after this layout was finished included tissue paper, bits of doilies, gauze strands and seam binding, all of which I'd inked with the Distress Oxides. Also in my mess were packets of products I'd used and some I didn't (Yellow Crystal Stems and Nottinghill Black Embossed Paper Lace). Whilst wondering what I could do with my 'gems' and other products I remembered something I had seen shared in the Scrap Matrix Shares Facebook page .. Karen Stepney had decided to take her art journaling an extra step and made cards with a spare piece of paper on which she repeated her art journaling. Does that make sense? I figured, why not make a tag? I could always use it on a page down the track or even add it to a card. Who knew? I certainly didn't. But the idea was appealing, and so this was born ..

(thanks for the inspiration Karen!)

After all that it was time to clean up my mess, write a materials list, photograph my layout, write some blog posts, wipe down my table and sweep up the mess I'd made on the floor. What I wouldn't give for a personal assistant lol!

Anyways, you now only have until midnight on the 31st to get your project done and uploaded to the Scrap Matrix Shares Facebook page so you'd best get a wriggle on!! Oh and heh, don't forget to tell us which products you've used from Scrap Matrix .. I need inspiring!!

'Til next time!

Cheers .. Alz   :)

Scrap Matrix products used:

7 Dots Studio Dreamscapes - Sunrise

7 Dots Dreamscapes Sunrise Tags 12x12

Finnabair Texture Paste White Sand

Aall and Create Stencils - #10 and #8

Aall and Create Stamp - #11

Tim Holtz Distress Oxides - Wild Honey, Fossilized Amber, Candied Apple

Blue Fern Studio stamp - London Chronicle

Archival Ink - Jet Black

Prima Archivist Ledger flowers

Large Square Brass flower (#5)

Thicker - Fitzgerald Black

irResistible Pico Embellisher - Black

Crystal Stems - Yellow

Embossed Paper Lace - Nottinghill Black

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"Stunning" by Monique

Good morning Scrap Matrix fans, Monique here sharing a layout I created whilst on my recent school holidays.
 In case you don't know there are some absolutely gorgeous new Scrap Matrix products in the shop at the moment.  I went for a bit of a shopping spree recently and when I saw the absolutely divine 7 Dots Studio Garden Party Range I just couldn't wait to play with it.

This is what I created:

For this layout, I used the Fairy Lights and Dreamy papers, as well as the 12x12 Tag Sheet, the 6x12 Word Sticker sheet, and the Garden Party Stamp Set.

First I started on the background.  I used the  AALL #16 stencil and added some texture paste to the background.  Next, I added some purple ink and then rubbed some Finnabair Art Alchemy Metallique  Wax in Vintage Gold over the raised bits.  I also did some stamping with the Garden Party Stamp Set.

I then decided to add a bit more texture, and a few more images from that gorgeous stamp so I got a blank piece of tissue paper and stamped some more images onto it - like this:

Next, I carefully tore around the images and adhered to my page using matte medium.  I love adding stamped images this way, the tissue paper gives the stamped image a bit of texture and the matte medium dries clear so all your see is the image and the texture of the paper.

Once my background was finished I put some muslin down under where I wanted my Picture to go, and then backed my picture with a piece of Garden Party - Annual and some tags from the 12 x 12 Tag Sheet.  I added my photo to the background and then started embellishing with some fussy cut flowers from the Garden Party Dreamy paper, some stickers from the 6 x 12 word sticker sheet and some flowers from my stash.  I used a word from the 12 x 12 Arias Story Chipboard Words sheet, which I painted in purple ink and some gold paint.

Here are some close ups, you can see some of the stamped tissue paper images poking out from under my embellishments, so I hope you can see what I mean about that little bit of added texture.

Well, that's it from me today.  I hope you have been inspired to get yourself some of the gorgeous 7 Dots Garden Party range.

Here is a full list of the products I used from the Scrap Matrix shop:

7 Dots Garden Party Paper - Fairy Lights, Dreamy and Annual

7 Dots Garden Party 12 x 12 Tag Sheet

7 Dots Garden Party 6 x 12 Word Stickers

7 Dots Garden Party Stamp Set

AALL #16 Stencil 

Finnabair Art Alchemy Metallique Wax in Antique Gold

Aria's Story 12 x 12 Chipboard

Thank you for popping by xx.

Cherish .. with Alz

Morning peeps!

Important notice

Our challenge now runs from the first day of the month to the last!!!  :)

Today I'm sharing my first layout for the current Scrap Matrix challenge ..

Cherish

 

 

I was inspired by the soft photo of the baby in the moodboard ..

 

 

 

How could I not be? That baby is such a cutie patootie don't you think?? Anyways I have some photos of our friends' little girl Selina from when she was just a wee little baby. I'll be scrapping another photo of her soon and you'll see that she's grown just a tad. In fact, I think she's three now. But I'm terrible with dates and ages and stuff.

Moving on. lol. I really wanted to keep my page 'soft looking' (if you know what I mean) so decided to keep to a monochromatic colour scheme with a slightly shabby chic feel. I knew the Maja Design Coffee in the Arbour vintage pink tones would be perfect, and I love using patterned paper for my backgrounds, so used the Raspberry Cupcake. Oh and the Maja Design papers are just beautiful .. a lovely heavy weight, soft to the touch, perfect for distressing, and the patterns just sublime.

Although the Raspberry Cupcake would have been perfect just as it was, I wanted to add my own touch to the background.

I did this by applying white gesso with a brayer (you can find one in here) adding some Finnabair Texture Paste White Sand with Aall & Create stencil #10. Once all this was dry I reapplied the white gesso with a brayer over the texture paste. Then, once that was dry, I flicked on some Rose Bud irResistible spray.

I love, love, love the irResistible sprays. They dry almost glossy or even plastic-y and 'sit' on the surface as opposed, I guess, to being absorbed. Does that make sense? This colour (Rose Bud) was perfect for adding just a little pop of contrast.

Although I have other Maja Design Coffee in the Arbour papers I could have used for layering, I wanted to play with my Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Victorian Velvet was a perfect match for the Raspberry Cupcake paper. I dyed tissue paper, gauze and seam binding by squishing the ink pad directly onto them, spraying with water and working in the ink. I repeated this process several times to get the exact saturation of colour I wanted.

You can see I ended up tearing the tissue paper. Oops. I knew it wouldn't matter though as I could easily hide the tear in my layers. If you look again at my finished layout you'll notice I didn't end up using the gauze. It just didn't work. It was making the page too bulky and besides, didn't Coco Chanel say something about 'taking one thing off', meaning, I think, that simplifying things makes them more beautiful or classy or whatever?? Never mind. The gauze just didn't make it onto the finished page.

I also used the Distress Ink to colour a Chipboard doily border and Chipboard swallow. I painted the chipboard pieces with white gesso first so that I'd get the true colour of the Distress Ink shining through. Whilst the ink was still wet, I applied Glossy Accents. The Glossy Accents mixes with the Distress Ink, resulting in a lovely variegated, watercolour-like effect. I treated another chipboard piece, a flourish, exactly the same but I just wasn't happy with it and, in the end, these three pieces of chipboard on the layout were just one too many. So I left it off. But you can see it in the top right corner of a photo above. I'm setting it aside with the gauze to use on another project down the track some time.

Talking about setting things I don't use aside, a while back I sprayed a length of Embossed Paper Lace (White French Lace) with a Lindy's spray. It ended up not working for whatever project I was planning to use it on. So, I set it aside. Whilst rummaging through products to use on this project, I came across it and noticed the reverse was perfect for this layout! Bonus!

eeeek!

perfecto!

So I had my layers set and it was time to embellish. Keeping it simple, I used my chipboard pieces (duh lol!), I tied a double bow with the dyed seam binding, and added some Petaloo flowers .. Mini Paintables White Blooms and Fuchsia Botanica Minis.

I kept my journaling fairly simple; just a few words and a name and date. I printed these onto white cardstock with a free typewriter font I found online ages ago .. 1942 report. Then my title, which I also kept simple, using the word "cherish" from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Chitchat stickers - Verbiage. Finito!

Don't forget Scrap Matrix has changed its challenge format. We now run our challenges from the 1st of the month to the last of the month. So you have until midnight on the 31st to get a pic of your project uploaded to the Scrap Matrix Shares Facebook page. Plus we'd love to know what products you've used which are available at Scrap Matrix .. I'm not alone in wanting to be inspired by your use of varying products!

Other than a few close ups ..

.. that's it for me today. I sooooooo look forward to seeing what you create for this month's moodboard challenge.

Happy crafting!

Cheers .. Alz  :)

Scrap Matrix products used:

Maja Design Coffee in the Arbour - Raspberry Cupcake

Aall & Create stencil #10

Finnabair Texture Paste - White Sand

irResistible spray - Rose Bud

Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Victorian Velvet

Chipboard doily border

Chipboard swallow

Inkssentials Glossy Accents

Embossed Paper Lace - French Lace White

Petaloo Mini Paintables White Blooms

Petaloo Botica Minis Fuchsia

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Chitchat stickers - Verbiage

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