Adore

Did we all have a good weekend? We did absolutely nothing and it was amazing!
I have here a layout featuring Chloe and Jayce. Neither of them is looking at the camera or smiling or doing anything overly special, they are just sitting there staring at each other and that is exactly what I love about this photo!

Adore

The design for this layout came from the Kraft It Up September Challenge which can be found here. This month it is a sketch and you all should by now know how much I love a sketch!

I have again kept really close to the sketch just switching two photos for one and circles for a rainbow of hearts. I knew that just all the same hearts would not be overly interesting so I mixed it up by adding a silhouette heart to each line.

I began by stamping some squares of gesso at random spots before sticking down the hearts. I then added shapes/flower/bling of the same colour in a brighter shade.

I really did krafted it up. I was looking forward to finally using machine stitching on my page, I absolutely love how it looks and have been dying to use it, however the sewing machine at the crop was broken =( so the kraft on kraft looked pretty boring. I fixed this with paint. A dab of each colour matching the hearts at the top and then used an old gift card to scrape it down.

I think 'adore' it the perfect title. They truly do adore each other and the definition from the Kaisercraft rubon sums it up beautifully.

Hope you like it.
XoXoX Nicole.

Materials:
Kraft x2
Amy Tangerine - Ready Set Go - Surrounded
Kaisercraft - Run Ons - Words - Adore
Kaisercraft- Clear Stamps - Serect Admirer - Definitions
Kaisercraft - Take Note - Memo
Kaisercraft - Rhinestones
Gesso, Cricut, Resin Flowers

Bright

Since Jayce was born, and actually while I was pregnant too I think, I have called him My Mr Man. Often with another word inbetween depending what his doing. Eg. My Mr Hungry Man, My Mr Tried Man etc. etc.
Hence I have decided to start scrapping a 'My Mr Man' series, photos of Jayce I like that make him look a certain way.
First cab of the rank is:

My Mr Bright Man

I went to an afternoon crop the other day for only the second time ever. It was good to sit there (well stand actually, I usually end up standing while scraping) and scrap uninterrupted. More often then not a page takes me a few days (if not longer) due to caring for children, housework etc.
I completed one complete page at this crop and wanted to fit another in too.

I had seen this sketch from Ruby Rock-It, so I grabbed all of the papers I had from them and before I knew it, I had completed two complete pages!
The page come together quickly, rather then thinking, moving, thinking, rearranging, thinking, I just sprayed and stuck.

The page began with the Aracdia paper and I sprayed tattered angles mists in colours matching the photo.

Next out came the circle punches. I punched a bunch of them in all sizes from different papers in the Cranival ranges.

I had been thinking about the 'My Mr Man' series since my trip back home and hence had the those three words pre-cut (multiple times) from the cricut. Along with a few other little bits a pieces used here, the smiley face, clouds and balloons.

While packing up at the scrap I came across the PP fabric buttons and with a bit of glue my page was done.
Thanks for popping by.
XoXoX Nicole.

Materials.
Ruby Rock-It - Tranquil - Aracdia
Ruby Rock-It - Carnival Queen - Yackety Yak
Ruby Rock-It - Carnival Queen - Candy Strip
Ruby Rock-It - Carnival Queen - Framed
Ruby Rock-It - Carnival King - A to Z
Ruby Rock-It - Carnival King - Dotti
Ruby Rock-It - Carnival King - Candy Strip
Cardstock - White, Blue, Green, Orange, Yellow, Red, Pink
2 Crafty Chipboard - 2013's
Purple Pumpkin - Fabric Buttons - Dotty
Tattered Angels - Glimmer Mist - Turquoise Blue
Tattered Angels - Glimmer Mist - Rum Punch
Tattered Angels - Glimmer Mist - Sun Sisters
Tattered Angels - Glimmer Mist - Key Lime Pie
Cricut. AccuCut.

Chloe from the Block

Well hello, how are we all?
I've stopped by to share a scrap page with a favorite photo of lil bubba girl.
I started the page with an exact picture in my mind of what I wanted it to look like and it was nothing like this:

The inspiration came from the 1st September sketch over at Stuck?! which can be found here and looks alot like this:

I stayed extremely close to the sketch. Taking it very literal. Stars where there is stars and chevrons where there's chevrons. Two photos, two circles and some paper strips.

I did struggle with the chevrons for quite awhile. The We R paper I have used in the circle is very imposing and didn't give me much room to move in terms of colours and patterns. Everything I put there either completely took away from the photos or could barely be seen hence looked pointless and silly. Eventually I just stuck em all down. I also struggle with the same issue for all the other paper bits and considered backing everything in black, got lazy and just inked all the edges. But it does make a huge difference!

I have started to trust myself with inks lately. I like the way they kinda break up the backing paper a bit and make it more personalised. This time I've taken it a step further and used a technique I picked up from an Australian scrapbooking show called Scrapit TV. I've stamped the image with versa mark embossing ink and then rubbed chalk over the top. The chalk sticks more to the ink then the paper and gives a great effect! I used grey chalk this time and found myself wishing it was a bit darker so I went back and just stamped the image in black as well.

I think Chloe looks a lil bit like a gangster with the hat to the side. I was just going to call the page 'that hat' but the my mum actually came up with 'Chloe from the Block' after a song. At the time I was visiting in Victoria and had access to a cricut cutting machine =D (oh did I have fun with it! More on that another time) and quickly cut out the word block in block looking font. To make it look more realistic I have put foam dots under part of the letter and stuck the edge directly to black cardstock so that it does look like a 3D block.

The rock on hand is another cricut cut out that I just couldn't resist doing. I again have to say a big thank you to my mum who is the extremely patient person that glued the lil teeny tiny fingers down and also some other very fiddly bits that I cut out (included the stars layered stars in the corner of the photos).
Thanks mum and thank you for popping by.
XoXoX Nicole.

Materials:
Crate Paper - Maggie Holmes - Click
We R Memory Keepers - Love 2 Craft - Poplin
Sassafras - Indie Girl - Affection
My Minds Eye - Lime Twist - Happy Go Lucky 'Hello' Bubbles
Cardstock - Black and Purple
Cricut - Printing Press and Rock Princess cartiage
Kaisercraft - Clear Stamp - Retro
Versamark - Embossing Ink
Momento Ink -  Tuxedo Black
Chalk

Layout: How LUCKY am I

Hey hi everyone.
I'm dropping in to share a layout a made that actually has me in it!! I think it is only the second page to ever include me! And I just hit the 60 pages mark.

How Lucky Am I

The pictures are selfies of me and the kids chilling on the coach on afternoon. These days it is particularly impossible to get Chloe to smile at the camera so I was surprised when I looked back at them to finally see a happy grin.

I was inspired to scrap these pics when I saw this months challenge over at 'Once Upon a Sketch' here. The theme this month being 'lucky'. And on good days like these I really do consider myself lucky to be able to spend my time with my kidlets. On the bad days... well, that's another story lol

At first I was a bit lost with the sketch, it didn't have any paper layering and really required you to be a bit 'messy' on just one background paper, which isn't really my style. But I love to change things up and try out new styles/techniques.
So I dug out my paints, stencils and kaiser texture stamps. I mixed some texture paste with navy blue paint and randomly splodged it over the brick crafters workshop template, I then splodged it again with just the normal white texture paste to give it a more interesting look.

The Kaisercraft Laugh stamp has the perfect words on it 'Life Love Laugh', I think I will be reaching for it a lot! I used it in a line through the middle and lil bits here and there.

I experimented with getting out the boarder punches and adding other papers in that way, but typical I didn't have that just right punch and decided the strips through the middle needed to be the same 'thing' to not take away from the photos too much

I decided to keep with the 'not my usual style' idea and grabbed my stash of flowers. During my recent trip back home my cousin made me the awesome grey flowers which are perfect here!

This page is very dimensional for me. I knew the flowers would be high but I didn't want them to over take the photos, hence I double foam dotted the pictures and single foam dotted the journaling.

Thanks for dropping by! Let me know what you think!
XoXoX Nicole.

Materials.
MME - Miss Caroline - Dilly Dally 'Celebrate' Tickets Paper
MME - Miss Caroline - Fiddlesticks 'Story' Sticker Labels
MME - Be Happy - Decorative Brads
WOW - Chipboard - Classic Alphabet Lower Case
Dusty Attic - Chipboard - Fancy Trim #2
Kaisercraft - Shaken Not Stirred - Daniel
Kaisercraft - Clear Stamps - Dictionary Meanings
Kaisercraft - Clear Stamps - Laugh
??? - Love Stamps
Cricut - Rock Princess Cartridge
??? - Flowers

No Photo

On Chloes 2nd Birthday I took a million photos of her!! However, probably only 10 are any good! About a month ago now she decided she didnt want to smile for the camera anymore. Not happy!
Anyway, thats what this layout is about.

The layout was inspired by the August sketch from sketcbook 365:

I will edit this post with some close-ups  and description for your reading pleasure later on.

My trip to visit family in victoria was extended (more on that later) and its a real battle to make posts with whats avaliable to me here.

XoXoX Nicole.

Giveaways!

Some amazing giveaways going on at the moment.

Enter this fantastic giveaway here.

Enter this fabulous giveaway here.

XoXoX Nicole.