rarsberry's space

The colour for the month of December is Watermelon Red. I chose to do a Christmas themed photo, so I found an older Santa photo from when Michelle was little and didn't want to sit on his knee and I got to be in the photo. I did some stamping in the background at the top, used some Christmas music paper at the bottom with a border at the bottom. Some white lace and red flowers under the photo with a simple title. I tried to add my own bling swirl but that didn't go very well, so note to self not to try that again!

The colour for November is Pineapple Dream. I used a photo of Chelsea who had learned to do thumbs up!  The doily has been edged in Margarita Mix gelato, and there is a circle of patterned paper that has pineapples on it.  A few flowers and rubons around the page and a Cute banner in the corner.

The inspiration for November is wild open spaces, outdoors, bush, rivers, etc. I chose to use a B&W photo of Michelle balancing on a tree branch.  She loves to sit on the tree branches when we go to the Botanical Gardens, one tree in particular.  This is a new one we found.  She was happy to sit and have photos taken, however Chelsea refused to even try. I used a piece of paper that already has a tree on it, and tried to line up the background of my photo with the lines on the paper.  I added chipboard clouds and arrows, that I inked with distress ink, as well as the title 'laugh'. The leaves have Snow Cone gelato on them and doilies under the photo.

Upon reading that we needed to use something clear on our layout this month, my immediate thought was of the clear clock I have.  Not sure I have anything else that is clear. Then because I decided to use a clock I figured I should use two photos, one older and one current. I found one of Chelsea in her pink Minnie ears from her 3rd birthday and an older cute photo when she was about 3-4 months old. Added a few bits and pieces, and had a discussion with hubby about my spelling of 'flies'!

The colour for October is Pink Whisper, in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Pink has never been my favourite colour, except to scrap with, especially since I have two girls. So I wasn't worried about finding pink things in my stash. I even remember this month to use the sketch, I usually get started on my layout and then remember there is a sketch I can use, then it's too late!! I used the pink striped paper to match her jacket as well as the ribbon.  The little pink flowers were new to me and just the right amount of them to go across. I tried to keep with the lighter pinks to match her jacket and I like the way it has come out.

The colour for September is Soul Pea. I have recently printed just over a hundred photos, so I have plenty of new ones to choose from. This one is of Chelsea having put on her green top all by herself.  However she put it on upside, so of course I had to get a photo of that, and Michelle helped by holding the top up for a better photo!!  The top reads Perfect. I mixed my Snow Cone gelato with some modelling paste and used an icing sugar stencil.  I got a pack on clearance at the Warehouse a while ago for $3 and I will get more use of out them as scrapbooking stencils than for any cakes! I've had the green bunting for a long time, it comes on a 12x12 piece of paper, you just pull of the amount you want, so I've been using bits of it as I need it. Added a tag and a few flowers to finish.

The challenge at Kraft + for September is all about Spring (finally) and bees.  A wonderfully bee filled inspiration image was given and from that I used the idea of hexagons. I found a 6x6 piece of yellow zigzagged pattern paper and used a small hexagon chipboard shape to trace around and cut out lots of small hexagons. Good shape for not wasting too much paper but not always easy to line up straight on the page, for me at least!! I also used a stencil with modelling paste in two opposite corners. I added the date on a black sticker with a yellow rose and a black butterfly as I wanted a bit more black on the page.

The challenge this month is to create a Christmas themed layout without using Red or Green.  Not easy as I kept wanting to use green as I have trees in the photo. I had this photo sitting around that my husband had printed out a few years ago with the idea of using it for something else, but it never got used so I decided this was a good time to scrap it. I used peach/pink for my colours, adding small stars and circles to the background with my modelling paste and painting snowflakes white that I got in a small Christmas pack a few years ago. The photo is from the 17th of December 2011, when Michelle was just little, and we got to go inside a giant snow globe with lots of fake snow.

This month the colour is Silver Light.  Silver isn't a colour I have much of it seems so I did as much as I could find with some greys. I started with a doily, an inked page from an old book, some pretty packaging that I punched the edges of and a journalling card. I painted the title metallic silver and put dimensional magic on top. A silver white butterfly and some pretty grey ribbon to finish.

Usually I get a scrappy challenge done within a week of finding out what it is, but this month I was too busy get ready for Michelle's birthday party, so this comes a lot later in the month. I flipped through some photo albums and found these older photos, from when Michelle was little and was finally old enough to help decorate the Christmas tree. She was so good about helping pass decorations and even carefully put some on the tree herself. She then started the tradition of being able to put the star on top of the tree.  It's a bit heavy and the top of the tree isn't the greatest, so after she put it on, Daddy had to help straighten it up a bit.  They both celebrated with a high 10!

I had to think of three ways to add roses to the layout.  I knew I had a stamp and I found some paper to use and the little flowers were easy, though I wasn't sure if this many around the border was too many or if it was ok.  I went with it anyway! Little bit of lace and some houndstooth modelling paste.

I used one of my purple gelatos with some water to create the shaped border.  I punched out the butterflies from some paint samples I had used for another challenge months ago and added some bling. The page behind the photos is the same gelato on a page from an old book, with a few flowers and stickers added on. I even managed to figure out a word for the title from some shiny purple alphas I have.

Pink isn't my favourite colour, it's blue.  But over the last 8 years of scrapbooking, it's the colour I seem to use the most, as I have two girls and it's their favourite colour and it's a girly colour. So naturally it's a colour I have a lot of in my stash and I figured I may as well go with pink for this challenge knowing I had lots to use. As it turns out, by the end of the layout, I hadn't actually used as much pink as I thought I would but I do like the way it looks. I chose photos of Chelsea this year at Easter.  She got to chose her Easter treat and she chose a pink pig called Truffles.  The photos show her first initial bite into it. I had recently got the burlap and lace trim so wanted to use that, and the small flowers are also new. I added more white almost than pink, maybe I was trying to contrast the pinkness of the photos!!

This month's colour is Teal Sequins.  Teal isn't a colour that I have much of so I hunted through my drawers to see what I could find. I found a bunch of photos from a time we all went to the Groynes together.  I had to take some out as they wouldn't all fit on one page, the ducks will have to go on a page another time! I had 2/3 of a page with the teal circles so I cut them out and attached them.  The title is a bit more green that teal but fitted so well. It's a fun colour to work with so I really should get some more.

This months White with 1's challenge colour is Deep Black. When I do a colour challenge I go through my stash and get out everything of that colour, so I did this with the black. I decided to ink the doily black and I then thought I would try putting a thin layer of dimensional magic on it.  It went pretty well, only a small part of it tore but I was able to hide it under the photo.  Looks better in person than in the picture, nice and shiny. I found some older banner pieces to use and some black lacy ribbon. A few flowers and buttons and a strip of sparkly bling to finish.

The challenge for May is to think Outside Of The Box.  Any photos used could not be square or rectangular. I started to think of which shape to use, lots of inspiration from the DT. I started to look through my stash and found two old kraft coloured circles I'd had from a layout a long time ago, so it was decided I would use circles. I chose some photos of Michelle with her first chocolate Easter bunny that was all hers, she was very excitited by it. I also found I had a black and white photo of her with the bunny so I cut her out of the photo to go in the corner. Kept the layout simple but colourful.

Swatch it up!  This month the challenge is to use paint swatches. I chose my photos before getting my paint swatches so I would know which colours to get. I went to Mitre 10 Mega and found the 5 colours that best matched the butterflies and white in her dress.  I then got some other types of swatches in all colours of the rainbow for future use!!  May as well since I was getting them. I found an image I liked on Pinterest but it had butterflies cut out of the top of the pieces.  I didn't want to do that as I wanted to keep the names there, they worked well with the photos.  I was glad I had taken two of each colour so I was able to extend them down under the photos. I very carefully lined them all up with rulers so they were not crooked.  :) A fun challenge this month, I wouldn't normally use paint swatches on my layouts and now I have plenty more to use.

This month the challenge is Helium Blue, like the blue of the sky after the rain we have had lately. And since blue is my favourite colour, I was happy to do it again. I thought about using the sketch but forgot all about it! Instead I went with the idea of blue sky, clouds and sunshine.  Especially after finding the cute photos of my youngest daughter, 3 months old on her tummy in the sunshine. I used blue gelatos to make the sky.  A dark blue gelato under some modeling paste for the clouds. And some gold sticky dots for rays of the sun. So good to have the sun back after days of rain.

This months challenge is called Orange Peel.  Orange isn't a colour I use very much when scrapbooking so I went through my drawers to see what I could find. I've had the big flower for a long time so I was determined to use it.  I coloured in the chipboard to be orange to fit in better. The title placement was somewhat accidental, I realised near the end that I needed to put the title in so I fitted in it vertical rather than horizontal.  I think it goes well with the climbing theme.

This month's challenge at Kraft + is a Denim Revolution, to use denim in some way on your creation. I had at once stage had a pocket from an old pair of jeans sitting in my drawer but it seems that I had cleaned it out as it been there so long and I thought I wouldn't need it for anything. So I went down to the local opshop to look for a cheap pair of jeans, and found one with a pretty pattern on the pocket.  I was ok to chop them up for the pocket as they were a size 10 and would of course never fit me! I then found a photo of a younger Chelsea in a pair of overalls so that photo had to be used.  Neither of my girls got to wear overalls much so I was surprised to find the photo. I struggled for a while with the title.  I wanted to use those alphas as the colour fit in well but there was only one 'e'.  I knew I had the word 'overall' so spent time searching for another word without an 'e'.  I liked the play on words, even if hubby found it a bit...

I have seen someone posting their layouts for this challenge group but never done anything for it, until now. I don't normally scrap on white cardstock, I prefer more colour in my background paper.  So I decided to try it for this months colour, since blue is my favourite colour. For this challenge there is a sketch provided and I used parts of it for my layout. And this is my take on the sketch, using blues.  I tried to get my gelatos to run down the page with water but it didn't turn out as well as I had hoped so I will have to try that again.

For the month of February, Kraft + has a challenge called Coastal Chic.  A sketch and colour challenge. Blue-greens and browns with a great sketch.  I love using sketches to help me scrap, makes for less thinking for me.  And blue is my favourite colour, even though I don't have a lot of it to work with as pink seems to have taken over! In spite of my lack of blue, I managed to create two layouts this month.  The second one I did as I recently purchased some lovely Faber Castell gelatos and I was keen to try them out. Here is the sketch: This is my first layout: And this is my second layout, much more happy with this layout: