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Tuesday, February 28, 2017

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! ;) 



Saturday, February 25, 2017

February Ranges from Kaisercraft

Thought I pop into blogger world and share a few projects I did using the Kaisercraft February collections ... it was a good month for Aussie paper lovers :) 





http://www.amothersart.com.au/Kaisercraft-Collections/product/416-island-escape.html





http://www.amothersart.com.au/Kaisercraft-Collections/product/417-kaisercraft-hanami-garden-kelly-ann-oosterbeek.html

Cheers from Kel


Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Excerpts from the diary of a designer 2

No Pressure ...



Monday 2nd of January 2017
Dear Diary...
Cannot believe how beautiful it is at the beach ... heard from a friend in Casino that it hit 152 degrees Celsius yesterday!! Soooo glad we have taken this camping trip despite the ever present sand in my shoes/eyes/underwear.   Still. Worth. It !

Wandered up the 'high' end of the park this morning to try and get 2 bars of reception on my phone... if I stand just so with my tongue in just the right spot I can actually get my mail to download and look at facebook. The second I connected 10,000 mail messages appeared .... I waded through them and to my pure and utter delight I found out I made it onto the Imaginarium Design team .... YES! I did a fist punch to the air and promptly lost connection. 
. Bugger. 

After climbing a BBQ block I was able to reconnect and get a good look at my fellow designers .... OMGosh .... I'm not joking these girls are pretty much all spectacular designers.
I'm going to be honest here, I was a tad intimidated at the line up .... Alison Bevis, Leonie Neal-Dawson, Sonia Thompson, Tracey Fowler, Adriana Bolzen, Louise Nelson, Sandi Spink, Solange Marques, Chitose Nakamae, Karyn Schultz, Miriam Hagger, Belinda Spencer, Tanya Palamarchuk and for heavens sake .... Sue Smyth!! Thats Right SUE SMYTH!! 

These guys are ALL AMAZING .... a fact that really struck me while I stalkerishly Goggled them ... I'm feeling a bit worried about my ability to keep up with a group this talented! Not to mention there are certain people in this group who I'm pretty sure have some questionable video footage of me .... you know who you are!!  'Intimidated much Kel?' 
was the very question I was asking myself when I suddenly slipped and fell off the BBQ ... on the upside it was really relaxing in the air conditioned ER room at Taree District Hospital and the staff were all really very lovely :)


Friday 6th of January 2017

Dear Diary….
Am home from holidays …. I have determined that I will not let my awe of fellow designers intimidate me … I will just have to get extra clever in order to keep up with their brilliance :) 
The first chipboards I have to use are these brilliant arrows and chevrons …. 




I’ve decide to jump in with a set of cards … with beach holidays still fresh in my mind I chose some of Kaisercraft’s beautiful beachy 'Island Escape'  papers and made this set of 3 step cards… I kept the chipboards raw as they complimented the beachy feel of the papers perfectly as they were … I love it when embellishments can pull projects together with so little effort :)




then I spent the whole afternoon stressing that
 I just hadn’t put in enough effort!! 

‘Right’ I thought to myself …. 
tomorrow I’m going to do a layout where I actually 
DO SOMETHING TRICKY to the chip board! 
I so hope I dream of said tricky thing some time tonight!!?!


Saturday 7th January 2107.

Dear Diary...
Did not sleep a wink last night  and cannot think of anything Tricky!!!????!!!


Sunday 8th January 2017 

Dear Diary...
Slept like a log but was too overtired to remember dreams 
so if I did dream of something tricky it's long gone now!! :(

Monday 9th January 2017

Dear Diary...
OK so this is just silly now!!!!!!!
I feel like I have massive performance anxiety … 
do you think Sue Smyth has performance anxiety? 
Methinks NOT!! 
I bet if she spit on the ground something unbelievably 
creative and beautiful 
would form before it even landed!!

‘OK’ I thought to myself ‘enough of this nonsense … I’m just going to take my chipboard out and see what happens’ so thats what I did… and I was thrilled with the layout that popped out of my suspiciously uncooperative mind.





I ended up covering this ‘Lazy Days’ title, a round flourish frame and a set of double hearts with Colour Blast heavy white gesso, then using a hessian patterned background stamp and blue ink to stamp a pattern over them all. 








The blue ink helped to tie the chipboard into the blue background of the layout and the blue wisteria pearl vine that I layered around the photo.




getting my hands on the products was all I really needed to do I think because quick as a wink I grabbed some more of this beautiful paper range ( Cherry Tree Lane collection from Kaisercraft) and did a second layout … this time using some glimmer mists to colour butterfly chipboards and black ink and a white gel pen to make the ‘Little Cutie’ title pop. 




I used more of the black ink to create splatters in the background and a sharpie to draw black doodling around the outside that tied the whole layout together. 

   
I just adored those butterfly chippies … and the best bit of all was when I sprayed the chipboard thoroughly with the purple glimmer mist it caused the butterflies wings to arch up slightly … once I stuck their centres down they still had the perfect little natural lift to their wings :) 

I thought this was very tricky!! lol

Tuesday the 10th of January 2017

Dear Diary...
In my house now there are 7 children at home on holidays … for this reason I have decide to abandon the house all together . 
It is a sign of my superior reasoning skills that I can assess and accurately understand the situation as it currently stands … if I clean a surface at this present time it will take roughly 7.5 seconds for someone to dump something on that clean surface ... therefore there is no point in cleaning anything again until the 30th of January when they all return to school where they belong!!
I am not lazy …. 
I am the smartest woman alive!!

So I spent yet another full day out in my workshop creating while my beautiful family continued to spread the school holiday carnage.

I think I’m actually on a roll now …. I have all these beautiful ornate chipboard frames that Imaginarium sent me and I know just what to use them for :)

Kiah wants to redecorate her pigsty of a bedroom in a vintage country theme.
I explained to her that you can decorate a wheelie bin any way you like…
 in the end it’s still just a place for garbage!
She insisted that she would be significantly more inspired to clean her room completely if she had some new decorations to hang in there.
I live in hope….
I am the dumbest woman alive!!

So today I decided to make her a banner in the vintage country theme.
These are the chipboards I used ….






I also used a bunch of flowers and leaves from various companies, white paper doilies and a bunch of gorgeous funky fibers. 



This was soooooo fun to make …. Im overjoyed at how it turned out and really felt like I had succeed in channelling my inner Sue Smyth :)









Kiah  loved it and thought I was extremely tricky :)

With the leftovers from this creative forey I managed to squeeze out one more step card as well 


The extra chipboard I added was this beautiful Imaginarium flourish which anchored the card perfectly.





http://www.seriouslyscrapbooking.net.au/home

And so I am done!
I have no more tricks up my sleeve.

It's going to be quite a year trying to keep up with this brilliant new DT

I'm sure this shove in a new direction will do me the world of good :) 

No pressure right?


www.kellyanno.com



http://www.kellyanno.com/