Week 8 Project Life | Hip Kit Club

Hi friends!  This bright and fun project life spread was up on the Hip Kit Club blog over the weekend and I thought I'd pop in and share it here with you as well!

This spread uses the beautiful April Hip Kits, and stays true to my PL style, which is to use a combination of pocket page cards and some elements made with patterned papers and embellishments to really make any spread 'my own' if that makes sense.

 

I love the extra little challenges that we get with each DT project, and for me today that's to use a cut file, and to add some stitching and some sequins.  Can you spot each of those elements in my spread?

Okay, so I might have a slight addiction to shaker pockets.  I made this teeny tiny sequin-filled shaker pocket for one of my 3x4 cards, and added some hand stitching in embroidery thread as well.

I can't even tell you how much I love the Maggie Holmes charms in the April Embellishment Kit, and this one sits just below my shaker pocket, and is tied with some twine from my stash.

This awesome 3x4 journalling card from the Pocket Life Kit has journaling spaces from 1 to 7.  You could totally use that for the days of the week, but instead I used it to document our adventurous morning trying to see the effects of TC (Tropical Cyclone) Oma on our coastline.

My title card came together easily with February spelled out with the exclusive alphas that come with the Pocket Life Kit this month.  I also printed the days of the week out on my printer in an old fashioned typewriter font.

My favourite trick with Snapchat photos in a 3x4 card (since they're totally not 3x4 size) is to print them in their original ratio, which leaves a small strip on the side to add some journalling and/or embellishments.  The 'ta-dah' flag from the embellishment kit was perfect to make my home made pizza look pretty special ha!

If you're counting, the only challenge I haven't covered yet is to use a cut file.  But this rainbow and couple of clouds from the April Rainbow Kites freebie cut file was perfect to fit into a 6x4 custom card.

I cut the rainbow on my Silhouette in three coordinating colours, and then cut the clouds in white cardstock before backstitching just inside the edges with sky blue embroidery thread.

And that's my weekly spread done!  Thanks for stopping by today, and I'd love to hear if you ever incorporate any of these three elements onto your pocket page spreads.

Sweet Mother's Day Mini Album | Hip Kit Club

Hi friends, all this week the Hip Kit Club design team are sharing beautiful Mother's Day projects in honour of those that mean so much to us, our Mums!

My kids are in their early 20's and the first few years of their really adult lives have brought me so much joy and admiration for the people they've grown into. So I decided to make a mini album using photos of just them and me (since the theme is Mother's Day), and add some meaningful quotes from Pinterest, and also use some of the Paige Evans 2x2in phrase tags from the April Pocket Life kit throughout.

Just a quick note before we go any further that the ribbons, lace, embroidery thread and sequins in this project are from my own personal stash. Everything else is from the beautiful April 2019 Hip Kits, and yes that does include those exquisite charms from the Maggie Holmes Sunny Days collection!

Since my photos were all taken at different times and in different situations, to create cohesiveness throughout the album I printed them all in black and white. I also printed them all at 1.5in wide on their shortest side, and layered vellum behind nearly all of them. Because my mini is well, mini, this creates a soft layer without being overbearing on such a small scaled project.

There's a lot of photos from here on in, so I won't talk too much further, but if you have any questions please leave them in the comments and I'll come back to you!

One of my challenges for this project is to use the negatives of cut files. These sweet clouds are part of the April Freebie cut file, and I separated them out from the rest of the cut file and moved them close to each other. So that I could make a shaker pocket out of them I duplicated the clouds then flipped the second set horizontally. Then I spaced them far enough apart so I would have enough room to die cut the heart pages. 

Once the clouds were cut on my Silhouette I placed my two pieces of card together, aligning the clouds (this is the tricky part which is why we flipped one set horizontally!) A little piece of washi helped to hold them in place while I ran them through my Big Shot. Then I pieced them back together in the usual shaker pocket-making method. I think they turned out pretty cute in the pink cardstock!

This is another negative of a cut file and it looks just as pretty as its positive! I trimmed the cardstock I cut it from into a strip and placed the very middle of the letters back inside. It didn't quite fit into the heart but that's okay, I just trimmed a little extra corner piece around the 'H'. That's what's so great about mini albums, the little bits and pieces sticking out from the edges!

To make this interactive element I folded some patterned paper in half horizontally and ran it through my die cut machine so that it didn't quite cut the entire heart out on the left side. This is important to make the flap to hold it together. 

There are some papers from Shimelle's Sparkle City collection in this kit, and Shimelle does the most ahmazing branding strips!! The pink and purple polka dot in the photo above and the tiny bunches of flowers in the photo below are both branding strips from Shimelle's papers.

I tucked in the photo for this page with a few extra pieces and held everything in place with a paperclip.

I created a little pocket for this page to place a few bits and pieces into. I cut strips from one of the 2x2in Paige Evans swatches and folded them in half to make tabs to pull out each of my two photos.

I also trimmed down two cards from the Pocket Life kit as fun elements. I stitched some pretty lace onto the end of one, and will add some journalling onto the 'afternoon' tag (both of these photos were taken in the afternoon of their given day).

I thought this was such a great quote to finish off my album. It's so true that raising children is a busy, crazy, frustrating, rewarding, fun, challenging time. But by the time they get to be adults you'll look back and wonder where the time went.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope if you're a Mum you have a wonderful Mother's Day this Sunday, and I also hope you have someone in your life who is a Mum that you can make feel special too!

Happy (inter) National Scrapbooking Day!! | Hip Kit Club

Hi guys, and happy (inter) National Scrapbooking Day!  I hope you've had a chance to get your crafty on today, or at least this weekend (because let's face it, scrapbooking deserves a weekend of celebration right!?)

Hip Kit Club are having an amazing weekend of challenges, fun games, a YouTube hop and so.many.prizes. on their Facebook member page!  Here's a link to where you can find out about all the fun, and I promise, there is a Bunch of fun happening over there.  Pst you don't even have to be a subscriber to join in the fun.. everyone's welcome!!

Each of the design team are posting challenges across the weekend that you can join in and contribute an entry to for a chance to win some awesome prizes.  My challenge is to make something that's just for you, something pretty that you can enjoy.  It can be some wall art or something to sit on a shelf, it can be some bunting made from patterned papers, it could also be something like a bookmark! There are so many options here, but the two challenges you have to meet are that:

• It's for you so that you can enjoy it (not for anyone else); and
• It can't  be any type of spread (no photos allowed guys!)

And here's my challenge piece, an altered mini clipboard with some pretty 3D flowers and my initial embroidered in one of my very favourite colours.  

I had some Maggie Holmes Apple Blossom paper left in my March Hip Kits and it was just perfect for my background.  I trimmed it to nearly size and adhered it with some Mod Podge.  When it was dry I used a large foam nail file to basically file off the paper right to the edge of the clipboard.  To do this use the file at a 45 degree angle to the board, and drag from above clipboard to below the clipboard.  

Then I used some Distress Ink in Antique Linen to distress the edges just a little.  It's been a while since I've used this technique but it works so well with Maggie Holmes collections.

To create that brilliant gold layer I used the gold washi tape from the March Embellishment Kit and adhered it to some white cardstock to give it some body.  Then I measured it to the size I needed and cut a 45 degree angle on each of the corners to make it look like a frame element.

The blue scalloped layer was made with an edge punch from my stash using the Typhoon cardstock from the Cardstock Kit.  I trimmed a few strips out and adhered them under my main white cardstock layer.

To create the letter I typed out my initial in Silhouette Studio in Times New Roman font at 586 size.  I love the classic look of this font for this type of project!

Now this bit is a bit fiddly, I pierced holes around the edge of the letter and chain stitched with embroidery thread right around it.  You do need a little patience for this haha but it's totally worth it!

And finally I get to play with the gorgeous 3D flower cut file!  I pulled all my leftover patterned papers and cardstock from the March kits and cut these flowers out on my Silhouette machine, before winding them up and hot glueing them together to make these gorgeous blooms.

I also added a few leaflets punched from the same blue cardstock with a punch from my stash, and added one of the beautiful Maggie Holmes bows from the embellishment kit and some ribbons from my stash and a couple of charms from the April embellishment kit.

Thanks for stopping by today guys, and I hope you take up the challenge to make something pretty just for you!

Sunshine & Having Fun! | Traveller's Notebook for Hip Kit Club

Hi guys!  I'm popping in to share my latest traveller's notebook spread for Hip Kit Club today, and it's my first with the beautiful March kits.

When I saw the entire pack of Heidi Swapp Color Fresh ephemera in the Pocket Life kit this month, a grid style layout with lots of detail came to mind.  SinceI'm working in my traveller's notebook, I can make just one side a grid style, and use a traditional style on the other side.

The first step was to measure out my grid in approximately 2x2 inches square.  I say approximately because each side of my TN measures 8 in x 4.25 inch.  But really you can't even tell that one side of each square is a tiny bit bigger than the other.

I used my favourite trick when it comes to hand stitching, which is to run my page through my sewing machine with no thread.  This makes really evenly spaced holes that are so easy to hand stitch.

I used a beautiful golden yellow embroidery thread in a backstitch to define my grid pattern.

Once I had that finished I had a bit of fun placing elements together on the page, some entered on their grid piece, some overlapping the edges.

I also created a little 2x2 inch pocket as an interactive element.

The left side came together really quickly with my photo and a few layers of patterned paper behind, it.  Then I added my title and a few extra pieces of ephemera and finished this side off with some gold Doodlebug Design jewels from the Pocket Life kit, and some strip journalling.

I really love how bright and happy this spread turned out! If you haven't checked out the March Hip Kits yet you still have time to over at the HKC website.

The April kits are almost ready to ship as well so be sure to have a look at those while you're over there.

Okay guys, I'm kind of excited and kind of petrified.... but I have my very first Youtube Video up tonight on my channel, and it's a walkthrough of this layout.  Hopefully my next video will be a process video, but baby steps right!?  Here's a link if you're interested in checking it out, and if you'd like to keep up to date with my latest projects and videos, please subscribe while you're over there.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hip Kit Club | Traveler's Notebook Fun!

Hi friends!

I haven't popped in here in a hot minute, and I have some amazing news to share...

Yup!! That's little ol' me right there on the Twenty Nineteen Hip Kit Club design team!!

I can't even tell you how lucky I feel to be designing with these amazingly gorgeous kits, alongside such talented DT members and with the lovely Kimberly Hutchison and Kim Watson heading up the team.

And, without further ado, here is my very first DT project for the Hip Kit Club!

I've used the beautiful January Project Life and Paper Kits that feature Pinkfresh Studio Everyday Musings and Crate Paper La La Love collections, of course exclusive project life cards.

And I have to say at the very start, one of the things that I adore about Hip Kit Club is their choice of colour palettes each month.  They're fun and elegant at the same time, with lots of pretty pastels that suit my style absolutely perfectly.

On this TN spread I made the left side very symmetrical and added layers and visual movement to the right side.

 I fussy cut these little blue daisies and positioned them at the top of the page around the Maggie Holmes heart gem.


And then added a bow gem at the bottom of the journalling card, after printing my journalling out on it.

This phrase sticker was perfect for a spread about a fun family holiday.

To finish the layout I added some sequins from the kit and some watercolour splatters from my stash, and called it done.

Stay tuned for many more creations with the gorgeous Hip Kits.  You can find their website, blog and socials here, be sure to to check them out!

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Facebook Group
• Website
• Blog

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Week 18 // Project Life 2018

Hi guys!  

I hope you'll forgive me, but I'm jumping around with my weeks in project life shares at the moment.

I'm back to week 18 today with a spread created with the Studio Calico Golden Hour Documenter Kit.  I also grabbed one of the add on paper packs and some puffy stickers from the Studio Calico shop this month.

I let the neutral browns and red tones in my photos guide my colour palette this week, and added some contrasting black elements as well.

I put together the title card by recolouring one of the Studio Calico label stickers in my digital stash to black, and adding text in Photoshop Elements for the week number and dates before printing it on white cardstock and trimming it.  Those star wood veneers were perfect to add a little finishing dimensional touch.

I'd been saving this amazing beer from Hawaii for a special occasion (yup, I'm weird like that!) and I wanted to record why I'd chosen this day, 5 May, to open it.  One of the puffy stickers was a number 5 - perfect match to the day I wanted to record!  So I added that and a couple more teeny star wood veneers to my journalling card.

I just adore the scripted font cards from Studio Calico.  I decided to add a few accents in wood veneer and chipboard to this one.

Not counting date stamps, I've always been a little scared to use stamps in my project life.  But I've been so inspired by awesome scrapping friends that stamp... a lot... like Heba Alsibai, Meghann Andrew and Diane Williams that I've started using them more.  For this journalling card I printed the text on my printer first, and then stamped the 'Here + Now' Title and red accents.

And finally my favourite filler card for this spread!  This came together quickly with a 3x4 card and banner cut from the paper pack, the chipboard tag threaded with some embroidery thread, and a strip cut from one of the gold foil 3x4 cards from the kit.

I know I say this a lot, but this is totally one of my faves so far this year!

Thanks so much for dropping by today.