The Point Is - Challenge at Scrap Matrix

Good morning scrappy friends, I am up on the blog this morning at Scrap Matrix,  sharing my layout for  this month's "The Point Is..." Challenge at Scrap Matrix.

This is a seriously cool, fun challenge - open to all sorts of interpretation.  Just to get the imagination ticking over, there is even a cool mood board for inspiration.

 As you can see, you can use triangles, chevrons, stars, arrows - anything at all so long as there is some "point" to it...lol.

This is what I created:

I am not sure if many of you know this, but my son was diagnosed with ASD (Asperger's Disorder) in 2011.  I really admire him  - every day he gets out of bed and heads off to school, usually without any complaint, knowing that things will be tough for him - he hates all the sensory overload of school, and because he is a little "different" in his mannerisms and his way of talking, he does get teased a lot.  As a Mum, it breaks my heart.  He usually doesn't let anything bother him though and he has a pretty good attitude and self esteem. Largely because we have always been very positive about him having ASD.  Because of ASD, he has so many good qualities - he is a great problem solver and can see patterns in so many things, he has a photographic memory, he is awesome at music, he is loyal, kind, empathic......He call it his "superpower," which I think is pretty cool.  So anyway, I really do think once school is over, he will come into his own.  I know he will find something he is passionate about and apply all that Aspie temerity and intelligence to being the best he can be.  That's what this page is about really.

So, here is a little about how I created my layout:

I decided to be a little different this time and go outside the box a little.  I used the Blue Fern Studio Ups and Downs Chipboard Panel  from Scrap Matrix to create the base of my layout.

I painted it with some Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Acrylic Chalk Paint in Terracotta with a tiny bit of Venice Blue added.  Once it was dry I used my finger to soften it with a tiny bit of Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Acrylic Chalk Paint in Glacier Ice from Seth Apter Boxed Paints (Set 4), then lightly sanded it back to add a little bit of texture.

I then fussy cut the geometric feature out of the Pink Fresh Paper - Escape the Ordinary/Explore and adhered slightly off centre of the chipboard panel.  To give it depth, I used some thick cardboard to lift it off the panel.

Next, I lightly sanded around my photo and adhered it to a piece of black cardstock.  Again, I used some thick cardboard to lift the photo up off the layout - all to give a sense of many layers. (I have to have layers - if I can't use texture paste, inks and stamps I have to do something...hehe.)

I picked some cool pointy embellishments from the Pink Fresh Escape the Ordinary Ephemera Pack and used them to create a visual triangle around my photo.

After I did that I decided it needed some more layers and some pops of black, so I used black cardstock to cover some of the chevron gaps in the chipboard panel, and then painted some of the leftover chevron pieces in black to adhere to the layout.

Finally, I used an Irresistible Pico Embellisher to trace around the black cardstock and the black chevron pieces, and some gold leaf to pick up the gold in the ephemera I used.

Here are some close ups:

Well that's it from me for now.  Don't forget if you want to participate in this Pointy challenge, complete your project by the 14 June and upload it to the "The Point Is.." folder on the Scrap Matrix Shares Facebook Page.

Thank you for popping by the blog.  All the links to the Scrap Matrix shop for the products I have used can be found below:

Blue Fern Studio Ups and Downs 12x12 Chipboard Panel

Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Acrylic Chalk Paint

Pink Fresh Paper "Escape the Ordinary - Explore"

Pink Fresh Paper "Escape the Ordinary" Ephemera Pack.

Irresistible Pico Embellisher - White.

Good morning folks,

It is my turn on the fabulous Scrap Matrix Blog today - sharing what I did for this month's Moodboard Challenge.  If you haven't checked out the challenge yet, it can be found here.

Wow - when I first saw this I fell in love with the colours, and the hearts.  This is what I came up with:

I don't really have a scrap room anymore (one of the negatives of Apartment living.)  I usually create on our dining room table.  To be able to do that efficiently, I find it easy to have all my go-to bits and pieces easily accessible.  My two Raskog Trollies are the absolute bomb.  It is so easy to store all my mixed media and scrapbooking essentials on them, and then have kits of other necessities made up to grab as soon as the mood to create takes hold!

As you can see I was really inspired by the teals and the pinks in the mood board, so those colours formed a basis of my layout with the gorgeous 13 Arts Strength in Numbers Paper range, available at Scrap Matrix here.  I also loved the circular theme to one of the pictures, so I added some of those awesome Blue Fern Studio Broken Rings chipboard pieces - which I coloured yellow with a Faber Castell Gelato in Lemon.

Of course, I had to add lots of layers on my base paper with ink sprays and stamps.  I absolutely adore using 7 Dots Studio stamps on my background.  On this layout I have used the Homegrown Clear Stamp  and the Cotton Candy Dreams Clear Stamp, both available at Scrap Matrix.

Finally, I added some Feathers and Hearts from the 13 Arts Strength In Numbers Chipboard, some 13 Arts Marta Stickers Small Messages A5 which I backed with some coordinating paper, and finished the whole thing off with some well - loved paint brushes and some flowers.

Here are some close ups:

I highly recommend having a go at this challenge - the colours are yummy, the images are lovely, and who doesn't love have a sticky beak into someone else's magical creative place?

Bonus - up for grabs is a Scrap Matrix Voucher.  It is a fabulous shop, with so many wonderful brands and products - Blue Fern, 7 Dots Studio - Vicki is the only stockist of 13 Arts in Australia!!

Also, don't forget to visit the blog to get some creative inspiration from the other DT members.

Don't forget to get your layout uploaded into the relevant album on the Scrap Matrix Shares Facebook page, with your name and country.  For example, Monique Crisp (Australia)

Here are the links to all the gorgeous products I used that can be found in the Scrap Matrix store.

13 Arts Strength In Numbers "Synthesis"

13 Arts Strength in Numbers "Full Potential"

13 Arts Marta Stickers Small Messages A5

13 Arts Strength In Numbers Chipboard

7 Dots Studio "Homegrown" Clear Stamp

7 Dots Studio "Cotton Candy Dreams" Clear Stamp

Blue Fern Studios "Broken Rings" Chipboard

Fabre Castell Double Scoop Gelato - Lemon

Scrap Matrix Curly Rose Cream Large

Scrap Matrix Swan Rose - White

Thats it from me today - hope to see all your wonderful creations in the Scrap Matrix Folder on the Shares page soon!

Monique

xx

I Have a Confession.....

Like most of us, I am my own worst critic.  Sometimes I HATE what I do creatively.  Most of the time I leave a layout to sit for a few days, and I keep revisiting it, analysing it, trying to find ways to improve it.  There are times when layouts just don't "look" right.  They don't look balanced, the colours seem off....whatever it is, I am not happy until I have one final fiddle to fix it.

One such layout was this one:

Now, don't get me wrong, I loved MOST of what I'd done.  LOVED the background work.....  Even liked it enough to blog about it.  But in my view there was something not right about it....

So I kept it aside, just looking at it every now and then....  worked on something else...  Then I figured it out.  Just to be sure, I consulted with a couple of very talented scrappy friends of mine (Michelle Grant)

Anyway, this is what I did to "fix" it.

What do you think?  Can you see what I've done?

In the end, I decided I wasn't happy with the balance of the photo mat, and I didn't like the way the title blended into the background.  So I got more of the Blue Fern Sudios Number chipboard, and coloured it the same what I coloured the other, then placed it under and above the photos - effectively matting the photos with the chipboard.  I then moved the title down to the bottom right corner.

What do you think?

What do you do when you aren't happy with a layout?

Thank you so much for popping by today - will be back in a few days with another share

xx

Grungy 7 Dots Studio "So Proud of You".

Hi Everyone, thanks for popping by my blog.

I was having a bit of a play with my Dies and my Sizzix the other day, and I decided to have a play with making some stencils out of my Tim Holtz Cog Die.  I wanted to make a nice grungy background for a photo of my nephew.  I used Colour Pastes in Leather and Stormy Weather to stencil in the design, then I used more to blend the design into my background.
At the moment I am really enjoying playing with Colour Blast Colour Pastes.  They are smooth, creamy, shiny, gorgeous pastes that just glide onto your project with ease.
Anyway, I digress.....

Here it is, the paper and embellishments are from 7 Dots Studio's Lost and Found Collection.  I've had this collection a while and it is a real "go to" collection for me - love the colours and the design of the papers.  Perfect for the Grungy Boy layouts I usually do.

As you can see, I went fairly heavily on the grunge factor.  I used lots of Distress Ink and black ink splatters, and also some watered down Gesso splatters.  I did some stamping with Kaisercraft Texture Background Stamps and also used Hession, Gauze, Blue Fern Studios Chipboard (embossed with Lindy's Stamp Gang Embossing Powder in Queen of Sheba Silver) and some Prima and Tim Holtz metal embellishments........

Here are some close ups:

Well it's hard to believe it's Friday again.  Hope you are planning some crafty time - I'm hoping to get some done, but I also want to make some memories with the two men in my life.....

Ahoy There!!!

Hi Everyone
Thank you for popping by my blog today.
Today I am sharing another "Just Because" layout.
I took this photo a little over a year ago.  Mum, Connor and I went for a trip up the Burnett River on the Bundy Belle, a lovely little boat that takes tours on the river.
At one point, the Captain invited the kids to go and have a steer of the boat.  Connor jumped at the chance and I couldn't resist taking a photo of him at the helm.

I have used 7 Dots Studio "Destination Unknown" papers.  I just loved all the nautical elements of the range, and thought they went well with the photo.
My background work included some stencilling with some gorgeous Colour Blast Colour Paste in Bling and Stormy Weather.  These beautiful richly coloured pastes can be purchased from Studio M Designs.  I also painted on some gesso and added some stamping using some Kaisercraft Textured Background Stamps - Film Edges and Grid, which can be found here in the Studio M Designs shop.
At the very end I added some watered down gesso and some black ink splatters to get more layers and added more texture with some Prima Glass Glitter and Microbeads.

Here are some close ups.

Hope you have a fabulous Sunday and are able to squeeze some scrapping in.

CSI Special Investigator Case 197

Hi Everyone,
Thanks so much for popping by my blog.
Today I'd like to share with you the layout I did as a Special Investigator for CSI Colour, Stories, Inspiration Case 197.

Here it is:

As you can see, this challenge comes with a sketch done by the talented Em Stafrace.

This is how I solved the case:

For a change I decided to use a fair bit of pink in my layout, and this photo of my gorgeous niece went perfectly with what I wanted to do. I sprayed a white background with pink and yellow spray, and backed it with black and white paper. Just used a small bit of the pale grey in my title.

The Evidence provided included the stripes in the bow, chalkboard elements, flowers, decorative borders, a lightbulb and my painted chipboard title.My testimony was using a prompt from Easy Street Prompts "Gypsy Soul."I kept mainly to the sketch provided, but used a 6x4 photo and moved the embellishment cluster more to the side of the photo.

Here is a close up:

As you can see, I added lots and lots of yummy layers with paint splatters and stamping as well as the sprays.
These cool leaves are from 2 Crafty, with you can get at Studio M Designs.
I used Blue Fern  "Ombre Dreams" Paper and the other flower chipboard is also from Blue Fern Studios
Well I'm off to do some creating in my scrap space now - hope you get some scrapping done this weekend, and if you would like some inspirations, don't forget to pop by CSI for a challenge or two.

xxxx