Val-Belle's Ramblings

Here is my take on the challenge.

Scheme - I used all the colours.... (in the photo to orange splats look way darker than in real life and the kraft looks greyer :( )

Evidence - Birds, metal kraft background.

Testimony - 5 Things.

Journalling on the back of the layout reads:

I started of by mixing some gel medium with inteference red powder and stenciling the brickwork. Once it was dried I doodled around the edges and coloured the bricks with watercolour paint. The paint splats were added too. I cut the fence in half and painted it using Tim Holtz's distress paints which are wonderful to use and if you spritz with water while they are still wet they blend beautifully together. I used some watercolour paint to add some shadows and the doodled on them too.

The borders were punched using my Martha Stewart punch and then layered. The shell rub-on was added too.

Once the layout was all put together I added the rub-on quote and word, doodled around the page and added the flowers and butterfly and the little metal bird.

Thanks for taking a look :D

This first one is a Pointsettia stamp that I borrowed from a friend because I really love it. I stamped the image using Versamark ink and then covered it with gold embossing powder. It is important to remember when you are using embossing powder that it will stick to anything on a layout like finger prints so you need to swipe your paper with an anti-static pad before stamping, this removes any traces of oil from the paper. Then heat the embossing powder until it melts. Once this was done I coloured the image with watercolour paints and then diamond glazed the whole thing. I also used a glue pen around the edges and embossed that too. I love the richness that this gives. The image was matted onto white card, then red and onto a green card. I added the green meshy stuff for interest.

This next card is a Geisha - also borrowed from a friend and stamped with black ink and then I coloured in parts of the image with a deep cerise. The image was layered onto music paper and then a black card. I added the cerise ribbon and the Chinese coin for interest.

This last card was such fun to do and is a cool way to make your own embellishments. I used the bear stamp  and stamped the image once on to pale pink cardstock. I also stamped the image onto shrink plastic. Both images were then coloured - the large one with watercolour paints and the small one with chalks. You then have to shrink the plastic carefully using a heat gun and once it has shrunk place it under a heavy phone book or something for a few minutes so it stays flat. It creates a cool little bear about a quarter of the original size. The large bear was put onto the dark pink dot and the ribbon was added it was then stuck onto a pale pink card. Right at the end I added the little plastic bear.

This is the sketch to be used for this week's layout. Another one by the amazing Em Starface. Her layouts are just so nice to work with.

Here is what I managed to do with it all, after a loss of mojo - which is not nice :(

I knew exactly what photos I wanted to use for this layout and even the song which is Bicycle by Caroline... no big hit but the words were perfect for me. Here is how I solved the case.

Scheme     - all of the colours are there.

Evidence   - Bicycles, circles, birds, doodling.

Testimony - Song title/lyrics as inspiration.

My journalling (which is on the back of the layout) reads :

I can't remember your face but I remember your bicycle how it took my breath away. When we went racing down our favourite street I tried to catch up with you. I can't remember many things but I remember your bicycle how it took my breath away... the words of this song Bicycle by Caroline seemed perfect for this week’s case file. I love to take photos of things and pretty things in particular and one of my favourite things is bicycles. What fun I had in Amsterdam with all the bikes. I had never seen so many in one place in my life, old ones, new ones, big ones, small ones, loved ones and abandoned ones, colourful ones and plain ones. There were bicycles everywhere, they even had parkade parking for bikes – three stories high, I sat for hours watching all the people go about their day on their bicycles, going to and from work, dropping off and fetching kids, men in suits and sweats and women in dresses and jeans. High heels and flats, smart shoes and trainers it didn’t matter. It fascinated me. It took me back to my childhood, riding to school each day, meeting friends at the crossroads and all riding together, up hills and down hills the wind in our faces and I wanted to feel that freedom again. So why didn’t I do it? What was I so afraid of? That I would fall off? SO... Instead I took my camera and wandered the streets taking photos of all the bikes. It was heaven. We are going back to Amsterdam in a month’s time and this time we are going to do a bike ride, just the four of us.

I mounted the banner onto grey cardstock, fussy cut the birds from the co-ordinates that come with each case file. The top banner is also from the co-ordinates. I did lots of doodling on all the cardstock and added a flower to the point of the banner.

The bicycle in the circle was cut from Theresa Collins paper, and the bottom one was cut on my silhouette. The arrows are chippies covered with card stock.

My Storm is back home safe and sound after a trip to Amsterdam with her boyfriend Jason, he got the trip through his company and was allowed to take a partner. They had a ball and I have some stunning photos to scrap again. I am so glad she had this opportunity and I am so glad that we are going back again as a family.

I will be back later with the post for Scrap your Story. The DT term ends at the end of May and I am retiring, I just have too much on my plate until after I get back in July and then I will reassess.

Here is my card...

I used the left overs from the Spring page I made a while back. I added a banner, a couple of flowers and the little Hello button. Nice and simple..

I am busy with the layouts from the Convention on Saturday which was wonderful, so I will post those once I am done. I got to meet Erica who is on the DT with me at Let's Scrap and also Roulien who was on with me before. So nice to meet the people you talk to everyday online. Will put up those pics later too.

Bye for now.

Here is my layout for the sketch. I loved working with this one.

I kept it really plain with white cardstock and the watermelon colour from the roses. I also added some turquoise and  white stripe paper  for a little contrast. Here are some close ups. The quote says "In dreams we catch glimpses of life larger than our own." So true.

I made a little banner in the top corner and doodled along the edges just to give them some character.

This time I didn't deviate too much from the sketch because I really liked it. I added a row of bling and also the little triangular banners.  All of the mats and banners have been doodled. The flowers matched perfectly. I love it when a plan comes together.

The chipboard title was just coloured using Tim Holtz distress stain - Black Soot.

The journaling on the back of the layout just says...

" Everyone who knows me knows that I have always taken loads of photos. Photos of flowers, cars, windows, park benches and all manner of completely random things that make me happy. For Christmas last year Simon surprised me with a beautiful new camera, the Canon 7d. The 7d is so different to the 40D that I had used before and I have to say I was a little intimidated until I opened the gift from my son, which was a photography course that we would do together. This was a six week course that covered every aspect of photography and the technical side of the cameras too. I loved it and each week I could see my photos change and improve. I still have loads to learn and most of it is just practice. I really love to take photos of flowers and macro photography. These are just a couple of the latest ones that I have taken and I have to say that they make me very happy. Capturing memories - whatever they are makes me happy and committing them to paper like this layout makes me even happier."

Thanks for taking a look. I just want to let you know too that I appreciate ever single message that is left for me. I warms my heart to know that you have taken the time to visit and either read or "skim" the post and leave me a note. I just wish I had a reply button but for the life of me I can't work out how to do it. :D

For all the South African mommies out there I wish you a very Happy Mothers Day! I hope that your children spoil you rotten. I have given my kids a couple of hints ;) You may like it too :D

All you need to do is be inspired by the mood board (in ANY way) 
& use our sketch as your starting point.

So seriously, how easy is that. :)

Here is my layout. I was inspired but firstly the colours. Turquoise and brown is one of my favourite colour combinations, I was also inspired by the flowers, and also the bling in the chandelier.

I started off with the turquoise cardstock and added a kraft colour on top which I stamped on, doodled, distressed and then added the splats. The doilie behind the photos was misted with brown and turquoise mists and left to dry. I found these Authentique papers, which were a perfect match, for the tags. The quote says "A daughter is a little girl who grows up to become a wonderful friend" which is so true for Storm and I. Then I added the flowers, bling and twine to the tags. The photos are of Storm from a photo shoot a couple of years ago and I just love them as they completely show her personality.

I have journaling on the back of the layout that says:

It has not always been this way for Storm and I. She is wilfull and strong minded, independent and somewhat stubborn, and she has very strong views about most things. The world is black and white. Right or wrong. Now that she has left home and is living on her own she has changed somewhat and mellowed and sees all the shades of grey that make up day to day life. She has come to realise that you don't always make the best decisions or choices and it is not for lack of trying, but that sometimes you have to be a little flexible. She will often come to me and say... now I know why you did this or said that. Now that she is living on her own she is realising just how cushy life was at home without a worry in the world. I really enjoy doing things with her now and spending time with her without feeling defensive and on edge the whole time. I love that now we can communicate on the same level as adults and now when she asks for advice she takes in what I have to say and doesn't just dismiss me as a fool. So much has changed since she was a teenager.:)  I love my little girl and no matter how big she gets or how old. She will always be my little girl. <3 you Stormie.

Thanks for taking a look.

Here is my layout for the challenge.

I have been trying to gather photos from my childhood as I don't have many, maybe half a dozen or so and I found these four photos among my Aunts' photos so I scanned them in, fixed them up and re-sized them. I used cream card stock as my background and the added the purple and green. The papers are very old ones from Making Memories. I kept the layout very plain and simple and added the punched border and the flowers and tags.

My journaling reads...

"I am not sure where we were going all dressed up in our Sunday best, but I do know it was not to church, so maybe it was for a wedding or some other special occasion. These photos were taken on the steps of the verandah at the old house in Vumbwe, Malawi. There was a date on the back of one of the photos 1958 so John would have been a year old and I would have been two. I am sure that Gran would have made my dress for me and judging by the large hem was hoping that it would last me a long time. :) How young and innocent we both look. Not a care in the world."

Over at Let's Scrap we are hosting a challenge a day for the whole of the month of May for National Scrapbooking day. It was my turn to host the challenge and I wanted to incorporate a new photo aspect to the challenge to create a layout of your day, so that could be something you did, somewhere you went, your schedule or however you want to interpret it. You can also only use cardstock, it must also incorporate photos that you took of your day. I used the right hand side of this sketch for my layout.

Here is my take on the challenge.

Everyone knows that I spend all day in my studio creating, I don't want to do anything else. So it stands to reason that my shopping experience relates to that too. So I created a layout for both. Title is "Retail Therapy is all I Need" (the photos are all of my studio and my stash).

I used white cardstock and printed my journaling directly onto the layout. I painted the chipboard title and numbers with brick red paint to match the cardstock that I used to mat the photos.

I added some washi tape arrows and then some embellishments in the colours of the tape. Brick red (the photo looks a bit orange), blue and green.

So why don't you take a look and maybe join in ... it is a lot of fun.

Thanks for taking a look.