LO: Love Fun

For me, layouts come about for lots of different reasons. This layout is all about capturing Hannah's pure excitement on the flying fox for the FIRST time. 

The fishing playground (nick named by the kids because part of the play equipment is a boat) has undergone a huge revamp and a double flying fox has been added. Zac saw it and was instantly beside himself. He jumped onto the platform & pretty much didn't play on anything else.

Hannah, on the other hand, had never been on the flying fox before and she was too scared to try. Instead I pushed her a THOUSAND times on the tyre swing and then, when my arms were just too sore to go on, she wore out the slide.

Eventually, I was able to coax her over to the flying fox. And after what seemed like forever, but only really a few minutes, she decided to give it a go. Zac & I helped her get on the seat and then gently let her go. Off she went. Hair flying behind her and a grin bigger than the sun. LOVED IT is an understatement. She had so much fun and was so proud of herself for being brave in giving it a go.

And for all of that, she need her own layout.  

For this layout I have used lots from Amy Tangerine Stitched collection. I started with the Continued paper for the base, swiping some gesso on the left side just so my photo wouldn't be overwhelmed by all that gorgeous script. I highlighted a few of the script words with watercolour paints and then added some gelato colour to the gesso.

Next I layered pieces from the other patterned papers in the collection I had - map of my heart, moments and jumble stitch - and also the fabulous die cuts. I cut some *I think 10* circles from these papers, scrunched them up for some added texture and then machine stitched them to my layout. I really wanted my stitching to be a little free & easy, however... I can be more than a little particular about straightness & evenness. So as you can imagine, haphazard stitching is a real challenge for me. But I gave it a go. 7 circles were added to the layers under the photo and 3 were added to the bottom right corner of the layout.

Time to finish it up. I attached a block from the jumble stitch paper to a kraft tag for my journalling. And then it was the pretty bits... Freckled Fawn arrow paperclip & wood veneer, Amy Tangerine foam word, MME enamel dot from the Cut & Paste collection and more of the great Amy Tangerine die cuts.

Products: Paper - Amy Tangerine Stitched; Die cuts - Amy Tangerine; paper clip & wood veneer - Freckled Fawn; thickers - Amy Tangerine; enamel dot - My Mind's Eye; Tim Holtz mini attacher, machine stitching, gesso, watercolour paints, Faber-Castell Gelatos

Documenting December - It's a Wrap!!!

I was pretty darn excited to finish my December Daily album last month. Between prepping for the album, scrapping each day as it happened and blogging about it, I was done. Love December, lurve Christmas & loved my first December Daily album, but I was pretty over looking at it come mid-January.

And while things are still fairly fresh in my mind, I wanted to wrap up my album with a few notes to myself so that when November (kidding, really October) hits this year & I start to get all gung ho again about DD I can have a reference point. Mostly a reminder not to go too overboard, as per usual.

Last year I was incredibly fortunate to be selected as a Documenting December team member for The Stamp Spot. Michelle from The Stamp Spot is fabulously talented and also a wonderful person. It was such a pleasure working with her great kits. For my album I used the main kit which was gold, white & kraft.  I also purchased the teal & red add-on kits. They were all divine & the quality was outstanding.

For the album I used a Snap! 6x8 with a variety of pocket protectors. My trusty sewing machine also helped to alter the protectors too.

Okay, notes...

Will I do December Daily again?

Yes, absolutely. I loved it, however there will be some changes.

Album size...
I'm happy to go with a 6x8 again with the pocket protectors. And that's a bonus because I have so many protectors left over! *bazinga*

More of...

The stories & traditions. I got so caught up in the daily aspect that lots of the little (but oh so important) things were missed - or I just didn't have the space.
One story/photo a day. Make them work for my album and spread it over the month.

Less of...
Everything!!!! Hahaha. Mostly kidding. As you can see from the photo, my album is BURSTING at the seams. So this year there will be less photos, less of the daily - that stuff is for my PL which will be up to date **don't ask me how I'm doing on that!!**.  Less of succumbing to my own crazy notions that I need to document it THAT day.

Will my album be less full this year?
Unlikely!!! But the really important stuff will be in there.

Major note to self... Read this post again in October!!!

Documenting December: Days 18-25

This is it! I'm FINALLY blogging the last of my December Daily album. I finished about a month ago but haven't managed to get around to putting it up on the blog... mainly due to that little thing called life! But today I.AM.DOING.IT! 

And I'm doing 8 days in one post so WARNING - it's going to be photo heavy - especially since we had 2 Christmas days in that time. 

A quick refresher - I was a part of the fabulous DT Documenting December for The Stamp Spot. Michelle created some gorgeous kits for this project and I used the main (gold, kraft & white) kit and also purchased the teal and red add on kits. 

And for those that have stumbled across this post and are wondering what the heck is December Daily - well, it's a concept created by Ali Edwards with the idea being to create a special, usually mini, album dedicated to capturing the spirit of your Christmas - including traditions, special events and other memories. Be sure to check out Ali's blog for more info.

Some of my favourite pages are:

Day 19: This page protector started as 2 4x4 pockets and 1 8x2 pocket. Out came my trusty sewing machine to alter the 8x2 pocket into 4 2x2 slots which I filled with sparkly goodness from the kits.  I also machine stitched on the number card to create a triangle shaker pocket - totally inspired by Michelle's kits.

It's Day 20 & Santa has been! What??!!! I hear you ask.  Well, my husband does FIFO and headed to work on the 22nd so a special request was sent to Santa and he very, very kindly agreed to visit us early. Yay!

The balsa wood in the top pocket is from the main kit. I used a tree die cut before gold embossing the outline, adding a star sticker & also drawing gold stars with the gel pen from the kit. 

Day 20 was really, really busy in my album and there was just no pocket space for journalling - even after I added a Heidi Swapp mini memory album for  more photos. So I solved that problem by writing on an acetate sheet with my trusty black sharpie. It took a couple of days for the ink to dry but was worth the wait.

Day 23 - our church held Christmas carols at the local winery. I know... how good is that? Right! I just love this picture of Hannah with her friend singing merrily. Hannah's job was to jingle the bells & Stephanie's was to turn the pages on the singing book - because she's at school already & can read, of course!

In the top left pocket, the foil came as part of the main kit. Again I used the tree die cut and then a star embossing folder. The 'joy' is from Heidi Swapp was cut on my Silhouette from gold foil paper. 

Day 25 - the standard day is here. No, Santa didn't visit twice, much to the kids disappointment. He did however swing past to collect our elf and also to leave a lovely letter for the kids. However, the day was not without presents. We celebrate lunch & dinner at my sister's and there were kids, gifts & food galore.

I used my trusty Silhouette again to cut the 25 from gold foil card. I created a flip card to record my journalling.

The finish... Being my first year of December Daily I wasn't quite sure just how to finish up my album. Day 25 is my last day and the last pocket is a reminder of everyone's favourite memory for December. They are all different and interestingly enough, neither of the kids actually listed presents.

This final card uses washi, stickers & a flair from the main & teal kits. I also added a gold foil heart die cut.

Now for the other pages:

  

  

Thanks so much for stopping by. If you did a DD album for 2014 I hope you too have been able to finish it.

Cheers,

Day 17 - Documenting December

We had an overnight visit from a gorgeous friend & her 2 kids as part of their Christmas break.  It was so great to catch up. The kids played mostly well and loved their giant sleepover in the lounge. The grown ups talked and laughed until the wee hours and drank more than a few wines. And it was genuinely great fun. However, today I'm a little less than enthused to achieve much at all. And today, more than ever, I'm grateful for those foundation pages I created in November.

I'm part of the fantabulous DT Documenting December for The Stamp Spot and am using the main, teal & red kits for my December Daily album. Partly due to my lack of motivation but also by my bursting at the seam album, Day 17 is a single page. And it just happens to match nicely in my album with Day 16.

Both of the cards are from the main kit - Teresa Collins Tinsel & Co range. The day card has numbers, sequins and wood veneer from the main kit. I gold embossed the star wood veneer. I also added washi from the Freckled Fawn very merry embellishments kit to the card background.

The journalling card has a Kellie Stamps on the bottom with watercolour over the top. The stamps at the top are from Heidi Swapp. I did some script writing with my Wink of Stella gold pen and added just a couple of random heart stamps.  It's pretty simple today.

In my album the pages look like:

Thanks so much for stopping by.  For more inspiration, check out Michelle from The Stamp Spot and also the other awesome DT members:

Stacey-Lee Collis

Beck Holder

Melinda Sweetman

Amanda Horne 

Bernii Miller 

Beth Patfull

Kirsteen Young

Amanda Miller

Have a fabulous day.

Art journal - love is all you need

Today I've been art journalling. I'm part of a journal circle & each month create a new page on a mini art journal. Once complete I send off to the next person & wait to receive the next journal. This is today's effort:

The base is a glad wrap ball tapped on various distress inkpads & patted on the paper. Inks I used were bundled sage, iced spruce, peacock feathers, crushed olive (my fave), antique linen, mustard seed, frayed burlap. I think that's all of them. A quick spritz of water over the top. 

Next some script writing using black soot distress paint and some painted love hearts. I also hand cut some love hearts out of washi & added torn strips of washi. 

Finally I doodled around the edge of the paper with black pen adding love hearts & a pattern. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great day. 

Gabby xx

Day 16 - Documenting December

Last week the lovely Michelle from The Stamp Spot suggested to the DT to include some specific journalling around 14 for 2014. The idea being to include 14 items in whatever theme you wanted on day 14. Well, it's day 16 so I obviously missed the 14th, but that happens. However, I love the idea of a  year in review so I have done it today. Today has ended up being a one pager in my DD album with no photos.

The day card is a gorgeous piece of bokeh vellum from the teal kit. I added the doily, numbers and wood veneer stars from the main kit. The large star I covered with gold glitter washi.

The top card is lift up flap. The outside is kraft card with washi from the teal kit and stickers from the main kit. I added a gold foil word cut with my Silhouette.

The inside of the flap is vellum where I have written the first 12 things.

Between the vellum & the photo behind I have created a file card from white card. I have written the final 3 things on this card and then placed it backwards in the pocket - ie so it can't be seen through the vellum. There is a washi covered tab sticking out the top indicating that there could be something more in there. However, my more personal journalling is on this card so I'm not really fussed if people don't pull it out.

I really enjoyed the process of looking back over the year. I initially was worried I wouldn't have enough to write for 14 things. I ended up with 15 and could have written more. Thanks so much Michelle for the prompt :-)

Thanks for stopping by to check my DD progress. For more inspiration, check out Michelle from The Stamp Spot and also the other awesome DT members:

Stacey-Lee Collis

Beck Holder

Melinda Sweetman

Amanda Horne 

Bernii Miller 

Beth Patfull

Kirsteen Young

Amanda Miller

Have a fabulous day.

Day 15 - Documenting December

It's the last day of our short break away.  Tomorrow is back home to the never ending list of jobs and the craziness of only 10 sleeps till Christmas. *breathe deep, grit teeth and enjoy*

I'm part of the awesome DT Documenting December group for The Stamp Spot and am using the main, teal & red kits for my December Daily.

Left side:

A couple more pictures from time in the boat. My husband, the captain as always. Quite frankly, I wouldn't really know what to do, but Zac is all over it.  He'll have his boat licence before me. We hit the water early one morning and the kids ate Cheerios in the boat. And of course played with their food. The stickers are from the main & teal kits.

The balsa tree at the top is the back side of day 14. Tree is the same both sides in a see through pocket.

As for the songs card... well, that was a 'filler' card I created when doing my foundation pages. The music print perfectly lent it to documenting our favourite Christmas songs.  Does it fit here on this page? NO! But it has stayed because it is the reverse of the day 14 date card & I wasn't re-doing that one. I'm just going with it being one of those odd things that get put together.

Right side:

During this whole DD journey, I've been enormously inspired by Ali Edwards and printed a 5x7 photo with a large white background. Still the same printer issue that I haven't spent any time trying fix it. One day I'll work out how to print them at 6x8! I added text prior to printing, using one of Ali's favourite fonts Remington Noiseless.

And the big question - where is the day indicator? When making my foundation pages I made a day 15 6x4 card on acetate. I had planned to cut it down & pop it in the pocket where the songs card is. But I couldn't swap that card out. So instead I turned the card on its side, punched some holes & have slotted it in between my two pages.

 

The number is a wood veneer from the Freckled Fawn very merry embellishments kit on a gold glitter circle. This is attached to acetate. The reverse side is a doily and a vellum piece with joy embossed - Michelle created this as part of the teal kit.

This is how it looks in my album:

Thanks so much for stopping by. For more inspiration, check out Michelle from The Stamp Spot and also the other awesome DT members:

Stacey-Lee Collis

Beck Holder

Melinda Sweetman

Amanda Horne 

Bernii Miller 

Beth Patfull

Kirsteen Young

Amanda Miller

Have a fabulous day.