Another beachy layout from me

Morning again!

I'm pleased to be bringing you all a new layout created by me using this sketch from SketchnScrap blog

Once again I have used some Kaisercraft Coastal Escape papers from my May Counterfeit Kit... (I'm still finishing killing the kit!). I also used my own mix of beachy elements.. including Prima Small Art Stones seed pearls etc. Regular followers of my blog will see recognise these!

and here is a close up of the beachy area

I've scrapped this photo before but I really wanted to use it again.. it was taken on my once in a lifetime trip to  Sandals in St Lucia for my 50th birthday a few (ahem) years ago now.

Thanks for stopping by!

Elaine

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Counterfeit Kit Blog Hop

Good morning to all and welcome to my part of the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blogs small but beautifully formed Members' Blog Hop. We are so happy you are here to join us and would welcome you to join in next time.

You should have come here from the lovely Tina's Scrap Corner here where no doubt she will be sharing an inspirational piece of art.

In my case it was Challenge #1 that's inspired me and we had to choose a Summertime Book cover to kick-start our creative process.. From this selection here I chose  Elin Hilderbrands book cover of the deck chairs looking out to sea.. entitled The Rumor... (The Rumour if you're English!) lol

This immediately inspired me to use some photos from last year when I went away to The Isle of Wight with my Mum. As she is now quite frail, there were times during the day that she wanted to sleep, so I used this time to take myself off and find a quiet space near the bar, overlooking the Solent. From these lovely comfortable chairs I could watch the sailing boats go by while quietly sipping my Pimms No.1 cup... my idea of bliss!

Luckily I had selected a perfect piece of paper for this from my Brief Encounters July CKCB Kit so... drum roll.. here's my project ...

I think you can see from this how chilled I was! Isn't that just the perfect piece of paper for this simple layout?

Thanks for stopping by and now you should hop over to Lisa's blog here 

The full blog hop list will be published on the link-to-the-CKCB so if you get lost along the way, head over there to find your way back onto the hop. but here it is in case you need it

CKCB    http://www.counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com

Jemma    http://just-jimjams.blogspot.co.uk

Gretchen    http://www.gretchenhenninger.com/

Tina    http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com

Elaine    http://chidkids26.blogspot.co.uk

Lisa    http://lisahausmann.blogspot.de

Don't forget to leave me a comment to let me know you were here and happy hopping!

Elaine

x

An altered Ikea Mirror

Good morning..

Today I am bringing you an altered mirror that I got on my last trip to Ikea.. it is called the Malma mirror and is only £1.50 so it is a bargain well worth buying and saving until you fancy doing a project like this. It measures 26 cm square.

Here is the finished project

For the colour inspiration I used this mood board from The Mixed Media Place as my starting reference

The pink really jumped out at me as I wanted to hang it n my Grand-daughters room.

To start with I covered the mirror with Daler-Rowney Gesso and Texture paste using a Heidi Swapp Beehive stencil. I then misted it all lightly with some pale coloured mists.

It looked like this at this stage- I had wet a piece of Kitchen towel and placed this over the mirror while I worked on the piece to protect the glass.

I had also Gesso'd (is that even a word..lol) all the wooden and metal embellishments I was going to use for my first layer.. I then laid them on the background to start my composition with a die cut as my base for the clusters 

Once I was happy with the arrangement I knew I would fill in the spaces with flowers and extras from my stash including the roses from the mood board. 

Then I got messy with lots of ink and stains...(but first I added some cheesecloth under the die cut and clusters)

At this point I really wasn't liking it at also I knew I had to make it paler as it just wasn't hitting the right notes for me at all. That is probably because I'm not a really 'pinky' type of girl at all. I much prefer Turquoise blues..but I can't make everything turquoise and even though the mood board has turquoise in it, that wouldn't have gone in my GD's room at all!  lol

So.. I started adding white acrylic paint to the whole thing. Some of the inks bled through the acrylic leaving it a much paler, prettier shade of pink and then I sponged Tim Holtz's Distress Ink, Old Paper onto my craft mat and gently added it to the edges and the highlights of the arrangements and background.

Finally, to give it a little pizazz I added some Translucent Tattered Angel spray mist over the whole thing with a tiny amount of  Tattered Anged Walnut Gold over the top too to give it a little sparkle.

Finally I am finished with it and happy.. I think it's just perfect for a little girls room don't you?

Here is the finished article again.

Do let me know what you think..

Elaine

xx

A kraft layout from me

Good afternoon all

Today I'm bringing you a layout based on the Kraft+Blog challenge. The idea is to use a heap of Kraft card for your layout.. not just a little.. but to make it your major element of the project. Hop on over for a look for yourself if you can.. You'll be impressed with all the creativity there.  

The inspiration this month is this lovely montage of photos..from which I took the Kraft (of course) and the music notes.

For y own version, I wanted to start with a dark background on account that the photos I wanted to scrap were very dismal. They were taken on our mini break in May to Devon and Cornwall where we were retracing the footsteps of my husbands Great Uncle who helped to build Burrator Reservoir near Calstock, Cornwall..and it was pouring down!

I also wanted to use this sketch, 108 from Sketch N Scrap blog  

and here is my finished layout. As you can see I used some music paper and I added Kraft letters and bakers twine too with some wooden elements to finish it off.

That's it for today..but do remember to pop back soo.

Elaine

x

WOYWW 372

Good morning desk hoppers!

Today I'm delighted to hear that Julia is back at The Stamping Ground for this weeks WOYWW after an enforced rest. I know Jan at LunchladyJans' blog did a sterling job in her absence so do remember to pop over and say Hi to her too. If you want to know more.. have a look at their blogs.

Meantime, after an enforced absence myself, I am pleased to be back in the hot deskers company to show you my latest vision of untidiness!

Today I am working on a mixed media mirror that I am altering. I have covered the mirror with wet kitchen roll to protect it while I mess about with paint and mists.. there's still a way to go yet but here it is so far.. I'll do a full blog post about how I did it later in the week, so why not become a follower to see the end result?

I've also been very busy with making some mixed media scrapbook layouts too and this is one of my latest ones here which I created using the Funky Flair Mood Board for July. Funky Flairs are an Australian business that sell lovely hand made flair badges and have a wonderful selection. You can find them on Facebook.

I also made this layout here for a sketch challenge group I'm in..the reval isn't for a week or two but only one of the group members visit my blog so I think I can get away with it? lol

Anyway.. that's it for this week.. I'm off for a blog hop to see all the other desks too.. have a wonderful (very hot if you're in the UK) day and I'll see you all next time.

Elaine

x

A mixed media heart from me

Good morning from Kent in my little corner of England!

Today I'm playing along with http://creativeartistemixedmedia.blogspot.co.uk and bringing you a heart that I have made to add to my collection of hearts that I am hanging on my Grand-daughters bedroom wall in our house. I have a small but growing collection of hearts that I am gradually making to adorn one wall. I started out making them all in pinks and reds but I found this too restricting so I am adding different colour hearts now too.

Cue this one!

First I took the same heart in chipboard that I have used previously and added Gesso. Once dried I took a stencil and added Daler-Rowney texture paste on one side using a Tim Holtz Layering stencil called 'Lace THS034'. On the other side I used  Crafters Workshop script stencil called 'Mini Art Is'.

Next I used Paper Artsy paint in Chalk. I then added various pale coloured mists including Rangers Perfect Pearl, Tattered Angel Glimmer Mist in Lemon Zest and  light spray of Tattered Angels Walnut Gold. I dabbed with absorbent paper until I got the coverage I wanted.

Next I took a (long ago) saved photo frame that I had squirrelled away from an old Christmas Cracker (I knew it would come in handy one day!..lol)  and added a photo of my GD. I used Prima Transparent soft gloss gel to adhere a piece of Moroccan trellis chipboard as the base for my collection of Prima flowers, along with some lace, a Prima Shabby Chic resin flourish, broken jewellery parts, spacers, floral thread and a chipboard key and hearts. I finished off with a chipboard word 'Smile' that I tracked down on a Polish store called 13@rts which is much less expensive than most places in the UK! A good shop and reasonable postage too...

I then gave everything a liberal coating of more of the chalk paint and mists. To ensure the photo didn't get covered in mist too I used a piece of wet kitchen roll over the photo to protect it.

Once it was all dried I realised I didn't like the matte finish of it and thought I wanted it shinier so, finally, I covered the whole thing with DoCrafts Artiste Gloss Varnish. If I'm honest I am not 100% sure about the varnish so will probably cover it with pearl glaze at some point to see if I can improve it. That said.. it's nice to experiment and maybe it will grow on me.. I do love the composition though.. and of course the photo of my GD!

As a final touch I used Creative Expressions Metallic Gilding Wax in Pewter to run on highlights of the arrangement and around the edge of the main heart.

So that's it.. do pop back to see me again soon.

Elaine

x  

Another challenge layout

Good morning.. a beautiful sunny day in my corner of Kent and instead of being in the garden sunbathing (or, more like, gardening) I am indoors waiting for a collection of an item I've sold to another crafty acquaintance. She's got a bit lost (she's currently driving around the M25 in the wrong direction!) so I thought I'd take the opportunity to catch up with another blog post.

Today I'm bringing you another layout based on a challenge. I do like a challenge to keep me motivated!

This one is based on a blog called 'Challenge Yourself'. Each month they provide a sketch or similar and you are encouraged to scrap about yourself too! Now, this is notoriously something we scrapbookers are terrible at, so it really is a challenge! It also required it to be a summery theme, and although it isn't overtly summery, it was taken this summer and we are both in summery clothes so in my view, this fits the criteria.  

This is July's sketch

 and this is the layout I have made with this as the starting point.

I again used papers from my Counterfeit Kit and added more of the gold stickers from last months kit too.

Well it's a quick post..but that's it for now.. do pop back soon though as I will have more to show you!

Elaine

x

Two more layouts from me

Evening all

After a full on day looking after my Grand-daughter I was relieved when my dear hubby and son decided to go to the pub giving me time to play in my craft room today! lol

So.. first I looked at the Pixels and Paper blog as a friend of mine is Guest Designer this month.. check out her wonderful layout (after you've finished visiting me of course!) lol. She has chosen a lovely group of pictures to highlight her 'winter themed layout' which is their challenge this month.

Co-incidentally. over at Whitewith1 blog  they chose a beautiful blue called 'Island Paradise' .. which of course can be interpreted as an 'icy' blue too. ..so I decided to combine the two challenges.. which resulted in this layout here.

 

I used lots of texture paste, Adirondack ink and glitter to create this sparkly, icy layout. I painted and inked the chipboard and layered all of the pieces onto white shiny fabric scraps. I also inked and a diamond die cut, snowflakes and chipboard pieces too. Finally I did the same with the directional arrow which I have used to point out the die cut deer.. which is discreetly to the edge on the left. The reason I chose a deer to put there is because that is what my dogs were looking at in the photo. My husband took the photo and they were looking directly at him, then all of a sudden, out of the woods, ran a deer..so he managed to get this shot just before they bolted off after the deer! I love this photo and the story behind of it just had to be told too so as I didn't want to journal on the front, so as I sometimes do.. I journalled on the back instead.

Secondly, the next layout I did was based on this sketch on Sues blog.. Me and Mine 

 

From this I made this layout here..using my birthday photos from this year along with a picture of the dessert which fitted in with a challenge over on UK Scrappers weekly challenge last week.  

That's all I have time for tonight as I have to go and collect my 'boys' from the pub.. so I'm off now. Thanks for stopping by and do remember to pop back soon!

Elaine

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A couple of layouts from me

Hi all

Today I'm bringing you a couple of catch up layouts made with my July Counterfeit Kit, Brief Encounters. If you want to know more, do pop over to the Counterfeit Kit blog for a look.

Over on UKS I wanted to join in with the weekly challenge and I was given this scrumptious sketch here.

From which we were asked to create a layout using the colours from a favourite photo.. and of course, I had to choose my Grand-daughter Ambers first professional photo shoot. I do so love this little munchkin! Lol

For my next layout I used this sketch from Stuck?! Challenge Blog and created this layout featuring photos from a recent, very rainy, spring holiday in the UK.. well this is England..what do you expect?

The original sketch looked like this

That's it for today.. do pop back soon!

Elaine
x 

A quick layout from me.

Hi again!

Here is a layout inspired from a FB group I am in called Sketchy Scrappers on Facebook. (New members always welcome!)

First I took some papers from my July Counterfeit Kit 'Brief Encounters' and then I splashed red and black acrylic paint onto the white background. I cut red and black roughly shaped rectangles and layered them with someblack and white polka dot card too. I layered the red and black card beneath the photo of me, my Mum and my sister. I used the colours from the photograph as my inspiration.

I used black floral thread beneath the photo and added two clusters of  black and white roses layered on a red flower in each instance. I finished it off by painting a wooden word.. 'gathering' with the same paint and added it as my title.

Thanks for stopping by

Elaine

x

A white space layout from me

Afternoon all

What a lovely sunny day here in my corner of Kent. After a morning of chillaxing in the sunshine in my garden I have spent a couple of hours in my craft room catching up with some scrapping.

First I took this sketch no 207 from Sketchesinthyme Blog.

This is my take on it. I used a mood board I found on a blog hop over on the June Counterfeit blog hop which really shouted out to me.. I am loving gold at the minute so any excuse to include gold in my layouts, I'm taking it!

This is my take on the sketch.. The photo I wanted to use was landscape rather than portrait so I turned the sketch yet left the bunting to go from left to right.

I used a gold doily and gold chevrons and I added small gold stars on the ends of the bunting aswell as a gold crown on the top cluster. The reason for the crown is that the picture is of my in-laws..who are also called King.. so hence the crown.

And there you have it!

Elaine

x

July Counterfeit Kit 'Brief Encounters'

Afternoon..

A rather belated post for my take on the Counterfeit kit for July. I selected my papers and embellishments last week but I have been away this week so haven't had a chance to blog it before now. Due to limited time to scrap this month I have kept my papers to a minimum and added just my usual box of embellishments I usually take to a crop with me. So.. I have therefore called this kit 'Brief Encounters' as it is so limited.

I will probably add more papers as I need them but do expect to see layouts with lots of white space to make up for my lack of papers. lol

Here it is.. short and sweet with lots of pink, turquoise and white and I've added some yellow too. I know I have some sailing photos to use this month too so I've added that lovely pice of boating paper too.

I based it on this collection here

Its not identical I grant you..but it's what I want to work with..so it is what it is.

Elaine

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