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

Day 13 & 14 - Documenting December

Woohoo!!! High 5 me!!! After a crazy, hectic week I'm back up to date with my December Daily. That alone has me super excited. A few very relaxing days away with the family only add to it.

I'm part of the fabulous Documenting December DT for The Stamp Spot and am using the main, red and teal kits for my DD.

I've combined days 13 & 14 on this post simply because together they are one double page spread in my album. There are 2 reasons for this. The first - we've spent the last few days fishing & generally relaxing so there are not as many photos fighting for a guernsey. Which brings me to my second reason - I'm trying to reign in my pages as my album is already bursting at the seams and it's still 10 days to Christmas.  There will need to be some creative displaying in the days to come.

Right, on to the pics. Day 13

The kids are hanging with i devices playing minecraft, as you do on holidays. I added a foil sticker from the Freckled Fawn very merry embellishments kit. 

The day pocket is white card with a repetitive pattern from Kellie Stamps and some water colour over the top. I added washi tape and wood veneer from TSS kits. The number is from the Freckled Fawn very merry embellishments kit.

Finally, the 4x6 is kraft card and I have hand drawn a border around the photo. I have added washi tape, sequin, brad, stickers and enamel dots from TSS kits. The stamp is from Elle Studio.

A pretty simple page, but the memories are captured and that's the important thing.

Day 14:

Finally the balsa wood christmas tree makes an appearance. You can check out my 'how to' here in my foundation pages blogpost. BTW I'm still loving this tree & have even bought more balsa wood for future projects. 

The day card is paper from Bo Bunny Candy Lane range - this paper just sings to me.  I added sequins, stickers and the glitter numbers from TSS main kit.

The pages look like this in my album:

Yep, super simple pages but they really capture the essence of our break away from life for a few days.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you're managing to keep on track with your DD project.  If you want some 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 10-12: Documenting December

These 3 days have been super *SUPER* crazy. School concert, kindy concert, last day of kindy, last day of school.  Seriously I don't know how we keep up. And I've busily documented these days in my December Daily album.

I am so loving this project, mostly for the opportunity just to press pause and reflect on the moments.  I can't believe Zac has finished year 2 and junior primary and will be in a new class with a new teacher next year.  Gosh, when did he get so big?  And another reminder that time marches on regardless... Hannah has finished kindy & can't wait to start school next year. Just not sure where my littlies have gone. Gee, it will be so quiet at home.

I'm part of the awesome DT December group for The Stamp Spot and am using the main, red and teal kits to get our memories documented.

Just a reminder with my photos - I'm away at the minute at our farm/shack and have taken these photos outside on my brother-in-laws ute. Not my usual spot, but they're not too bad.

Day 10.

Today it's Zac's school concert.  This year is a cabaret theme and his group is doing Singing in the Rain. On this page is a water colour circle die cut with a Kellie Stamps attached to acetate {behind this is a TSS flair}. The embossed pocket on the right was created by Michelle from TSS as part of the teal kit.  I added stickers, enamel dots and washi from the teal kit. The number is from the Freckled Fawn very merry embellishments kit.

The tag inside is white card with glitter washi from the teal kit and a sticker from the Freckled Fawn very merry embellishments kit.

The 4x6 is the reverse of my handmade patterned transparency with a nice picture of Zac patiently waiting his turn.

The other side is photos from the concert - which are terrible quality. Action shots, inside, at night - definitely not my area of expertise.  But, they record the memory so they're in! The top right pocket is an embossed vellum card from the main kit with some Heidi Swapp stamps added. The bottom right pocket is white card with enamel dots and the photo attached with washi both from the teal kit.  And a little bit of script writing with my Wink of Stella gold pen.

In my album Day 10 looks like:

Day 11:

Today is Hannah's kindy concert and graduation. The day card is from the red kit and already had that gorgeous ribbon sewn to it.  I added sequins, stickers, wood veneer and numbers from the main kit. The journalling card is also from the main kit and I have added washi from the Freckled Fawn very merry embellishments kit.

The top left pocket is white card with washi from the main kit. The sticker and twine are from the red kit. The top right pocket is also white card with the same red twine tied around it.

I added a sticker from the Freckled Fawn very merry embellishments kit to the photo at the bottom.

Day 11 in my album looks like:

Day 12:

This is it. Last day of year 2. Last day of junior primary. Zac had a few roles at assembly today. The year 2's hosted and Zac's part was in thanking the parent volunteers.  Later in the assembly the junior primary performed the nativity play, Zac was a narrator. Love this school for the opportunities it provides for the kids.

The shaker pocket is from the teal kit. I added washi and numbers. The 4x6 is paper from Teresa Collins Tinsel & Co with a doily and mini tinsel from the main kit. I have used Heidi Swapp stamps.

The journalling card is from the main kit with washi from the Freckled Fawn very merry embellishments kit. The embossed card was created by Michelle for the teal kit.  To this card I added sequins, glitter oval, glitter washi and a tag from the main & teal kits. On the tag I added a Kellie Stamps.

I added a gold foil sticker from the Freckled Fawn very merry embellishments kit to the photo of Zac with his teachers.

In my album, Day 12 looks like:

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you're doing well keeping up with your December Daily.

Layout - She...

And my final traditional layout in this set.  And it is already a favourite.  Lots of bits in this one, so I hope you're ready :-)

Okay, so I had this instagram photo of ME that I was ACTUALLY happy with... now that doesn't happen everyday!  So I actually made it to a scrap page.  Seriously people, wonders will never cease.  And I tied it in with a great quote that is pretty fitting for me at the moment - She turned her cant's into cans and her dreams in plans.  Yep, it's a bit special.

Right so I discovered the new Prima Epiphany Collection at my LSS and it pretty much jumped off the shelf at me.  Yes, I do believe patterned paper speaks to me!  Which kinda accounts for my oversupply.  Anyway I grabbed two sheets of  the gorgeous Prima.  One is the background piece and the other was perfect for fussy cutting - birdcage, pocket watch, key, butterflys and layering under my photo.

I added a large shipping tag with lots of layers.  First layer - a sheet of old book paper coloured with distress inks - crushed olive & frayed burlap plus a birdcage and bird stamp.  Then I thought what the heck & sewed a piece of scrunched tulle straight down the centre of the tag.  On top of this is a pearl flourish from Flourish with a Bling topped of with some butterflies.  Yep, I told you, lots of layers.

Now, the butterflies... two were fussy cut, one stamped & coloured with watercolour pencils and the
other 3 were die cut, coloured with a distress ink blender (randomly it was frayed burlap, crushed olive, peacock feathers, vintage photo & spiced marmalade - I felt a little like Tim Holtz) and then a Prima script stamp used.  Phew.

While it's a lot of stuff, its not heavy looking.  At the very top of the tag is a fussy cut birdcage & a Freckled Fawn wood veneer.

On the other side is the quote title, some Prima & Kaisercraft flowers, a doily almost hidden under it all and a so cute, I just love it, birdcage charm.  The large Prima flower & Kaisercraft roses were given a watercolour from my trusty distress markers watered down.  The other Prima flowers got hit with some chartruese Hedi Swapp colour shine.

And the title is a combo of things - chipboard letters coloured with antique bronze distress paint, chartruese colour shine & then the Prima script stamp over the top.  The Prima letter stickers were also stamped with the script stamp.  And finally my trusty typewriter made an appearance for the remainder of the quote.

The final finishing touch is some die cut butterflies layered over the top of the butterfly pattern on the paper.  And that is it from me today.


Hope your day is a great one,
Gabby