Farewell and Thank You with Melinda

Well, I would be lying if I didn't say that this post was a little hard to write however, the time has come for me to step away from ScrappingClearly. 

Before I go any further I firstly want to thank Kylie for the incredible opportunity she gave me when she offered me a spot on this Design Team back in February of 2016. You can see my intro post over on this link!

Over the course of my time here I have not only had so much fun but I have learnt a lot, been inspired by some incredibly talented designers on the team and oh boy, has my heart been filled with such joy seeing all of your kind comments and more importantly, learning I have inspired something in you to create!!

I am not sharing anything new with you today but sharing some of my faves from my time on this amazing team. I will link to each post so if you'd like to go back and read/see more you can and I will also link to any process video's that I have shared so grab a cuppa and come on a bit of a ride back in time with me! Oh, and these are not in any particular order ;)

First up, this is not only one of my fave layouts for this team it is one of my all time, absolute favourites layout of  EVER. My boys in their most "them" pose, a simple page with a love note of sorts tucked in behind the photo for them as they grow up. Blog post for this is here.

This PL page I designed with my very first DT kit from Kylie and I still love this range. This is our closing page in our 2015 PL album. Blog post is here.

I'm not sure what it is I love about this page but I do love it! I think because it is so soft and feminine and for me, I know that stretches my creativity. Blog post is here.

This one was around the time I stopped despising fussy cutting quiet as much as I use to! Those florals are just gorgeous and as soon as I saw them I heard them beg me to cut them out!! Blog post is here. Process video is here.

This chalkboard heart Heidi Swapp marquee piece. It still hangs on my door to my craft room. 

You can see the blog post for this one here.

A page about me. This was created in 2016 and the photo was on my 36th birthday in July. 

Blog post can be seen here. And YT process video can be seen here.

This one was for a challenge as and I really love the simplicity and colour scheme! Blog post can be seen here and process video is here.

This page was done as I was really finding my feet with mixed media. I created this page for a fun CC that we did at ScrappingClearly and it was my challenge piece - from memory - a colour challenge and I just love this page! No blog post for this one! But there is a process video here.

An art journal page! My confidence has certainly grown in mixed media and honestly, I feel most confident when I am making a mess ;) This was also done for a CC. One of the challenges was a top 10 challenge and I chose my top 10 movies and really love how this turned out! Blog post is here. And process video is here.

Another scrapbook page and this one was done this year - in fact I made it for the February challenge and I just really love the way it came out! Blog post is here and process video is here.

And last, but not least, my minc mini album. Something WAY out of my comfort zone. Something so not "my thing" but I really love how it turned out. In fact, I love it so much that perhaps (maybe!!) I may create a few more as times goes on!! These photo's of my youngest, though I have them printed at 6x6 and in his album, I have not really done anything with so I love that they now have this special little album. Blog post can be seen here and there is also a process video here.

That is it for me!

Once again, a massive thank you to not only Kylie but to all of the other girls, both past and present, on the DT, you have made my journey so much fun and the support we have all shared has been incredible! 

Also, a big thank you to all of my supporters, your kind words mean so much and I really am grateful. Though this is goodbye to the team I will still be around in the Share & Inspire group and maybe I will even play along with some future challenges!

Melinda

What About Your Happy Face...

Hey, and hello, and happy Monday scrappy friends!!

Today I am playing along with the March challenges. Well, the March challenge, both have been rolled into one which was a bit different and fun!

Here is my take

And here is my process video over on the ScrappingClearly YT channel.

As I'm certain you noticed, I ended up flipping the page and am really happy with my end result. 

Again, I've started with one of those super cool Ella & Viv papers, "Cardinal and Gold" to be precise, and built my layout on top of that. I chose that paper because it included almost all of the colours from the mood board - the only colours missing were the pink and green but I ticked both of those boxes, one with messy mixed media and the other with, of course my Minc ;)

I've used some Dylusions acrylic paint in Polished Jade with my silicone brush to apply my first messy layer on the background, sticking fairly closely to the sketch.

In line with the sketch my next layer was some watered down black gesso. I found a cool little dropper tool that had been buried in my stash but you could very easily use a big paint brush or a pipette to get the same effect by splattering from high above the page.

I added some pink as a mat under my 3 photos using some of the Heidi Swapp Minc cardstock. I've added more pink using some of the Heidi Swapp pink foil on the title - using the Minc Alpha Stickers - and the subtitle - using one of the Jumbo Words.

With the background being so bright, colourful and busy I didn't feel like I needed to add much more so I added my journalling, which I typed up in strips, and 2 of the Heidi Swapp Sequin Shapes - Disco Arrows and one of the Cocoa Vanilla Studios You Rock Rubber Charm pieces.

I have added 2 dates on this page - firstly the date the photos were taken, and secondly the date the page was made/journalling done. I think I will pop this in his current album so the journalling continues in chronological order.

Make sure you play along with our challenge this month for your chance to win a store voucher. Head over here to the FB page to upload your entry to the correct album. I can't wait to see how you interpret this month's 2-in-1 challenge!!

Until next time, happy scrapping!!

Melinda

Mixing it Up with Pocket pages and 12 x 12 with Melinda

Howdy and happy Hump Day!

Hope your week has been kind to you so far, I know the beginnings of my weeks are always super busy.

However, here in WA we had a public holiday and I spent the day at Adventure World with my family, so today only feels like Tuesday!

I have a bit of a different share for you today but first, here are the photos of my 2 pages

that I created using the adorable PhotoPlay Boys Rule collection pack.

Yep, that is a 12x12 page and a pocket style page. Here is a little of the back story!

I like to have something in the boys' albums for each month to sum up what life was like for them that month.

I've found the best way for me to achieve that is to include a few small stories in a pocket page that make up their every day (like in this spread of Hunter setting the dinner table).

Then I do 12x12 pages with the bigger kind of stories (like this month his first day at 3-year-old Kindy). Depending on the month I have 1 or 12 lol

I'm not a huge "this is a really cute photo, I've gotta scrap it" kind of person,

I'm more of a "this is a great story and I have this awesome photo that goes with it" kind of scrapper

which works really well for me.

How do you like to get your stories in your albums?

Are you more of a "this is just an adorable photo" kind of scrapper?

I love learning what inspires others!!

So, I made a process video for this which you can see here.

My very first step was choosing which 12x12 paper I wanted to use for my background

and making sure that I included that as the title card for the pocket page spread.

I tossed up between the "Seeing Stars" and the "Mr Mischief" papers from the collection pack

and ultimately decided the photos popped more on the "Mr Mischief".

I now had a starting point!

I started on my pocket page and picked patterned papers that I thought would work really well then cut them to size (using some of the cut-aparts but also just chopping down some of the 12x12 papers).

I love the continuity over the pocket page and the 12x12 page.

I've used the Heidi Swapp Black Glitter Chipboard Letter Stickers for my title on both pages.

I've used quite a few of the stickers from the Boys Rule collection pack sticker sheet on both pages as well, I love all those little stars that I could sprinkle across both pages!

I worked on 3 areas of embellishment on my 12x12 page layering, a few bits of papers and quite a few stickers. I've also popped up a couple of the stickers to give more dimension and interest to the page.

My very final steps were adding a few stickers from Heidi Swapp's Puffy Stickers sheet,

my journalling in 2 places, and some Bling splatters using my Colour Shimmer Pot by Colour Blast!

I'm super happy with how this spread came together, and even happier that I now have these photos

out of the photo storage box and into Hunter's album!

Thank you, as always, for stopping by,

until next time, happy scrapping!!

Melinda

Hello Hipster Bar with Melinda Sweetman

Howdy scrappers!
Melinda here with you today on the Scrapping Clearly blog.

I am sharing my take on the sketch for February and after a bit of a rough start - stress has kinda made my mojo harder to find - and picking photos, off I went!

Here again is this months sketch

And my interpretation

This layout came together reasonably quickly for me and I even contemplated the idea of no mixed media but the messy 3-year-old in me won out!!

There is also a process video which you can watch over on the SC channel here.

I started with Paper #07 from the Pink Paislee C'est La Vie collection (yes, still hanging onto some of this gorgeous collection ;) ) and added a torn strip of Paper #03 to the middle-ish of the page.

I built my title knowing I wanted to use one of the gorgeous "Jumbo Words" by Heidi Swapp for the Minc but not sure which one. After picking my photos I came up with "Hello Hipster Bar" and my word was chosen! I went on the hunt for some smaller alphas and found the Something Wonderful Alpha & Label Sticker Sheet by Teresa Collins which helped me pick my foil colours!

I went with the holographic foil for the title and one of the sheets from the Minc 6x6 paper pack, and then chose mint foil for another of the 6x6 papers from the same 6x6 pack which I layered behind my 2 photos.

This is where my inner messy 3-year-old came out!! I started with some black texture stamps and then I've used Colour Blast Colour Shimmer Spray in Envy with the packaging technique and also the Colour Shimmer Pot in Envy to add splatters. While that dried I Minc'd my pieces and then went back to the background.

I've added some extra texture using some Glass Bead Glitter Gel and a text stencil. This is so pretty - I really love the added texture!! Tip - if you have this (any kind!) in your stash USE it!! Mine is at the point where I really ought to throw it out - it is almost completely set in the tub - but I am going to experiment with hot water before I give up!

Time to stick everything down!!

I ended up using some fussy cut flowers from the Pink Paislee C'est La Vie collection Paper #08 and also fussy cut some butterflies from the gorgeous "Flutter" paper in the Maggie Holmes Bloom range.

A few gold sequins from Studio Calico, my journalling, and a date stamp, and I was done!

I hope I have inspired you to play along with this months sketch, remember there is a $30 store voucher up for grabs for one lucky participant! Load up your entries here in our Facebook group!

Until next time, happy scrapping!

Melinda
x

How I Interpreted the January 2018 Mood Board.....

Hey, hey my scrappy friends!!

Melinda here on the blog today sharing how I went from the January 2018 mood board

to this page!

I have the black, green, and yellow, but it's a funny story how I got to this design, and totally what a mood board is all about!!

A little while ago there was another post published on the blog about this very topic and you can read that post here.

And here is my convoluted process of getting from one to the other!

So, the current mood board made me think of Australia Day, which lead me to think of the Cyber Crop we held last year in honor of Australia Day. One of the challenges for that CC was another mood board which was this

I took inspiration from the colours, the newsprint and the circle shape of the macarons and created this page

Specifically I remembered the blue and the word crazy on this page - and the way I created the fun title - and remembered some photo's I was recently sent from my niece of her and my boys being crazy together and so the idea for my current page was born!!

I hope you followed that rabbit hole all the way to the end but I share this process to show that you can use the mood board in any which way whatsoever that inspires YOU! And it may look NOTHING like the board that you started with but the board is there as a starting off point!!

Onto some more specific details of this page!

I started this page with the title!

I used the Teresa Collins Signature Essentials Alphas, the WRMK Indian Summer thickers and also the blue Tiny Alphas from the Boys Fort collection. I customised the Crazy using Colour Shimmer Dust in Lush with a paintbrush and the word cousin I applied 2 coats of gesso with a brush and then used a palette knife and Colour Blast Colour Paste in Sunshine applied liberally/randomly over the alphas. Love how this came together! I used my FudeBall 1.5 pen to outline each of the letters in crazy as well.

I have created my background with a coat of gesso on the "Thumbs Up" patterned paper from the Boys Fort collection by PinkFresh Studio, blending out the edges so there were no harsh lines. I did the packaging technique with a combination of Scribble Sticks (yellow and blue) and gelatos (green), also making splatters with the same colours.

I added a few messy paper layers behind my photo's using the "Wowzers", "Bold" and "High Five" papers cut to different sizes and layered randomly behind and around my photo's.

For embellishments I have used 1 of the Printed Veneer pieces and 3 of the paper pieces from the ephemera pack - the 3, the yes and the label above the photo's.

There is a process video available over on the ScrappingClearly channel if you'd like to see this page come together from start to finish - just click on the link above, sit back and enjoy!

My finishing touches were some of the Tiny Word Stickers also from the collection, my journalling and some white splatters which I did off camera. I used more of the white gesso and added a little water to make it more liquid and splattered all around the page making sure to cover up my photo's!

I also did go back in with a paint brush and some more of the yellow Scribble stick after I finished recording to add a little more colour to the top right as I felt it was not quiet finished.

And with that called my page DONE!

Remember, you have until the end of the month to upload your take on both the sketch and the mood board to win yourself a $30 voucher to spend on more scrappy supplies. Make sure you load your entries into the correct album in the FB group and please, share how the mood board inspired you!

Until next time, next month actually, happy scrapping!!

Melinda

My Little Sailor - January Sketch Challenge with Melinda

Hey scrappy friends!

Melinda here with you today with my next share using the Pink Fresh Boys Fort collection. 

I have run with the browns, greens and blues in this collection for this page and also the January 2018 sketch which I have taken quite literally!! It's different from my "normal" style but I love playing with "different" and seeing how I can make it my own!

When I flipped through my stack of papers in my kit, and saw this sketch, there was absolutely no question that I HAD to use the "Wisdom" 12x12 patterned paper for my background. Those squares match PERFECTLY with the background on the sketch!

I have pretty much stuck to the sketch with all of the paper layers, I even added a blue cardstock border around my whole page, and then used the same blue to mount my photos. The papers I have used for my layers are "Bold" and "Game On" (the banners). I also used a tag from my stash.

I have inked all my edges in Walnut Stain Distress Ink and also added some brown splatters using Colour Blast Colour Spray in Coffee.

I knew I wanted to use the green alphas in the Mini Alphas set in this collection, paired with the WRMK Indian Summer alphas, so grabbed some green Gelatos and did the packaging technique by simply rubbing the gelato onto some plastic, adding water and smooshing it down onto my ungessoed background. And of course splatters! I tested 4 different green Gelatos (Green Tea, Lime, Pistachio and Spearmint) and felt that the Spearmint was the best colour for what I wanted to create, so I ran with that.

I stitched all of my layers using gold thread and love the extra little something that gives the page! I even stitched my "journal lines" on my tag and love how it looks, and the texture it gives.

A few triangles from the ephemera pack and 2 printed veneer pieces, some stamping using again the Walnut Stain Distress Ink and my page was done!

And here is the full page

I do have a (half) process video up on the ScrappingClearly channel if you are interested in seeing this come together. I say half because I thought I had pressed record but apparently, I had not!! Oops!

I had lots of fun playing along with the sketch this month and I hope I have inspired you to play along too for your chance at a $30 store voucher! I will be back again a little later in the month with my take on the January mood board so until then, happy scrapping!!

Melinda