Excerpts from the diary of a designer 3

Wednesday 8th February 2017

Dear Diary...

Feeling like I just won the lottery -The kids have gone back to school !!

.... the house is suspiciously quiet but I'm determined to get used to it ....quickly.

With the distinct lack of noise, blasphemy, mess and monetary requests I'm feeling much more creative and on top of the 'winning the lottery' feeling following me around I'm also rocking a 

'queen returned to her throne' vibe  as I have just rediscovered the wonderful box card .... 

I LOVE THIS CARD DESIGN TECHNIQUE:)

These cards are so easy to make and can be decorated with next to anything. They also fold flat to go back into envelops ... I will likely never make any other kind of card ever again now <3 

 

A few choice pieces of Imaginarium designs chipboard painted with gesso really helped make this card pop  and the best bit is that the Chipboard sits up all on it's own and actually adds to the structural integrity of the card giving it extra adornment and support :) 

I'm completely jealous of other designers with grown up kiddies ... Alison Bevis never has to take the holidays off to pull her hair out for a few weeks .... she just keeps on creating gorgeous work month after month ... I just want to rub up against people like that so some of their inner magic can transfer onto me ... I'm pretty sure I actually tried that  at last year's Brisbane craft show ... do I have a picture of that? Must look into it for tomorrow's project!!

Thursday 9th February 2017

Dear Diary...

BINGO!!

Found this FABULOUS photo of myself, Alison Bevis and Sue Smyth ( drop names much?) at Brisbane craft show last year ... Was determined to scrap this one today ...

alas Imaginarium Designs had no titles along the lines of 

'Rub up against me for Good Luck'

I drafted a lengthy and indepth post to owner Jane Tregenza suggesting this and several other less heard of titles be made into chipboard phrases... am convinced she will see the wisdom and massive revenue raising potential in such a collection and am eagerly awaiting their release.

In the meantime I had a ball creating this page ... I used midnight black dew drop ink on the chipboads .... which I must say turned out suspiciously like gold!!???? In any case I loved it and sealed them with clear embossing enamel before popping them on this page I made using the new Kaisercraft 'Wildflower' paper collection.

*I know .... it looks like Sue Smyth is trying to get away in this photo right? 

A friend also gave me a huge black ball of yarn... potentially it was to knit a scarf with? but scarfs be blown... I AM DIVERGENT.... all I saw when she gave me this yarn was page borders!

how OFF THE CHARTS is this black yarn? 

I just cut 4 lengths and stuck it around the page ....

 I LOVE THE EFFECT! 

Where does this yarn come from? I can just hear people asking ... the truth is I dont know... my scrapbook spy at the local op shop picked it up.... 

I really am a shakespearean tragedy of scrapbook supplies. 

In order not to be accused of taunting people I have decided that I if anyone wants to send me a self addressed and stamped envelope ( to 19 Brumby Place Casino NSW 2470) then I will send them 2 meters of this fabulous yarn for free :)

To buy the fabulous chipboards people will still just have to duck on over to the 

ID shop at THIS LINK :)

These are the bits I use on this page ... there really is no better way to lift your page than with these funky and trendy chippies!

Friday 10th of February 2017

Dear Diary...

Still feeling all springy and fresh with the kids trotting off to school every morning :) I think it's fascinating the way our moods are reflected in our pages.... I learnt a long time ago never to scrap angry .... the pages I make when I scrap angry are just DISGUSTING ... this rule also applies to drinking .... but for different reasons of course.... unfortunately I can't hold my grog at all either.... one glass of wine and I'm on the table dancing...two glasses and I'm under it asleep! 

Also I have this awful habit of telling people what I really think when I drink 

( my usual mindless chatter unsensored is NOT a good thing) ... 

Take for example the page I did today ... I scrapped this super cute photo of Daisy with her first loose tooth .... I used the ID chipboard title 'Cheeky Grin' because it suited it so perfectly ..... 

had I been drinking this page definitely would have been titled 

'Damn girl .... you look like Nanny McPhee!!!!'

Hence there is no more drinking and scrapping allowed in my house :( 

The chipboards on this layout were inked in burgundy and covered with Crystalina Kindy Glitz.

Monday 13th February 2017

Dear Diary...

Have just finished reading the ID blog post for today entitled 'Marvelous Monday with Alison Bevis' 

DAMN THAT GIRL IS GOOD! I really should have rubbed up against her more!

I'm not saying I'm going to hire an assassin or anything ... but she is good 

....faaaaar toooo gooooood!! 

Despite my scrap jealousy she inspired the heck out of me today so as the doctor suggested I channelled that energy into another layout using more ID chippies .... this time a distinctly pink page also made using the Kaisercraft Wildflower paper collection.

Its one of my favourite tricks to take the chipboard frames and cut them in half to use on layouts and thats what I did again here on this page. All the chippies on this layout have simply been inked in Pink.... that beautiful flourish at the bottom of the photo is of course the hero of the layout ... I love the way one good embellishment can make or break a design :)

Pretty sure Alison Bevis knows exactly what I'm talking about!!??!!?

I bet she's the first one to send me a self addressed stamped envelope so she can get her talented hands on my groovy black yarn!!!??

Wednesday 15th February 2017

Dear Diary...

Had to prepare a project for Imaginarium Designs today looking at my favourite altered Chipboard technique... didnt take long to do as I just love stamping on embossed chippies but at the end of it I had all these chip boards that I had made and had no page to live on.

I just can't make an embellishment and NOT use it... this might be my greatest weakness ... my very own kryptonite ... designing pages around embellishment rather than photos!! 

[inset shock and horror emoji]

Scrapbooking is meant to be about showcasing your photos right?

WRONG!!

It's about finding the right photo to go with a DROP-DEAD-GORGEOUS EMBELLISHMENT!!

I had one sheet of paper left from the Kaisercraft Wildflower collection so I got to work with my predone chipboards .... 

seriously ... you almost don't need a photo on the page with chipboards this gorgeous <3 

I've run out of papers and Chipboards now so I guess that's it for this week... of course the end of scrapping does herald in 'wine time' .... so I'm off to over indulge ...

Will ask my husband to disconnect the internet first so that I don't accidently send Jane T anymore of those 'title ideas' emails .... the cold light of the next day always makes what looked supremely clever the night before, look disturbingly inappropriate in retrospect :(

Methinks there something in that for all of us! ;)