Happy Together - CTMH Brushed Collection

It's been hot, and that's reminded me to continue scrapbooking our cruise photos from last year. I had this beautiful collection from Close to My Heart called Brushed. It's a Bring-Back-My-Pack collection so it's only available for a short time. I decided to get scrapping with it and selected a few flowers I had on hand as well as some CTMH acrylic hearts and Julep accessories. I hope you like it. I'll have a process video linked below. You can purchase the collection from my website here until July 31, 2020: https://kikihalbert.closetomyheart.ca/ctmh/promotions/campaigns/2006-bbmp-brushed.aspx

Relationship Goals and a New Challenge Jar

So glad you could be here with me today. I wanted to share a beautiful layout that I made of my inlaws when we last visited in October. Boy that seems so far away now, and it really is. But the feelings from these photos are just as fresh in my mind as ever. I didn't have the perfect background, and I didn't have the perfect lighting but it was the perfect moment to take these snapshots.

Snapshots. We all have them. Do you scrapbook them or think that they aren't worthy of a page. Because I did. And then I realized that I have boxes of snapshots with no story attached to them, and I needed to document them. So I started here.

If you want to see how I made this page, using the sketch I found at Cookin' Up Creations, then check out the process video below.

And be sure to subscribe to the channel to see how I'm going to be using my new Challenge Jar (which is really just a mug). I explain all about how that will work in this video below, where I create a homemade scrapbook kit.

Scrap the Boys May Challenge: Process Video

Hi everyone! I have a quick process video for you today. I recently found a great scrapbook challenge blog called Scrap the Boys. Here's their monthly challenge for May called Baby It's Hot Outside!

You can click on the image above to get to the challenge. And here's my take on the challenge this month:

I used some older Carta Bella papers from the Beach Boardwalk collection kit, and some chipboard from Creative Embellishments. Check out the process video below for a quick look at how to scraplift this layout from the sketch I used.

Back to my roots with art journaling on a scrapbook layout!

It's been a while since I pulled out texture paste, and glass bead gel. It's been forever since I used roller stamps and just randomly stamped around a page mark making. And it FELT SO GOOD! I know that being back to this style of scrapbooking and creativity is right for me, because it speaks to my heart.

I can't wait for you to see my latest creation here:

If you want to create beautiful pages, watch my process and learn new techniques, then start now by subscribing to my YouTube channel so that you don't miss any new projects.

A Masculine Layout with Feminine Touches? YES!

It's been a beautiful weekend here in the Pacific Northwest. Hot and sunny! I hope you enjoyed yours! My husband and I celebrated 15 years of marriage this week, and he bought me some lovely gifts to be used in my craft room. I cannot wait until my new project case arrives. I'll be able to craft more freely, being able to bring incomplete projects from one room to the next, so that I can finish them while watching TV or when I want to be in the dining room instead of isolated from my family. It's been a wonderful stress reliever, being able to get into doing something creative, while this pandemic rolls on. It's given me stress relief, my own space away when I feel overwhelmed, and just a place to be me, on my own. Once in a while we need that, right?

I know that very soon, I'm going to throw art journaling back into the mix as well, because it gives me a voice. Scrapbooking is wonderful, don't get me wrong! But I find it hard to journal out emotions on pretty pages about events that have nothing to do with how I am feeling in THIS moment. That needs another outlet; enter art journaling. When I did art journaling in the past, it was an act of pure creativity, abandoning perfection and an idea of what the end product should look like. And I could just sit, and add layer after layer, being mindful, and work through emotions in my own head, in my own space. That's how titles for pages would often come out. Something random would pop into my head, and end up on the page. Now that I'm reading about Morning Pages, I realize that I had been doing them in my own way in the past as art journal pages.

Now though, I'm scrapbooking again because I have so many memories to get down on pages. After my mother died almost two and a half years ago, I realized that there were so many of her pictures that I had seen, but I didn't know the story behind them. And there was no journaling. My mother had been a bit of a scrapbooker in her single days but decorated her pages, and not done any storytelling. And I inherited these pages, and that changed how I look at scrapbooking. Originally I had viewed it as another beautiful form of creative expression, art really. Now I see them as so much more. A legacy. Someone will read these once I'm gone. I need to tell the story. So you will definitely see a transformation in my pages in the near future. I will still do artsy pages believe me. I have too many beautiful embellishments to use. 

Which takes me to my latest layout. Here's a masculine layout with feminine touches. Who says that scrapbooking the boys and men in our lives has to be snips and snails and puppy dog tails? It can be an eclectic mix of metals and woods, along side flowers and flourishes. Want to see what I mean? Here's the process video for you. I hope you enjoy it and if you do, please subscribe and share it with friends.

So check in with me next post to see a storytelling page and see if you think I'm on the right track.

My own Fauxdori - a new obsession

I have a new obsession. Planners. Recently I bought an Erin Condren planner to help me with my business and myriad of appointments. I love it. It's pretty, but I find it too big to carry with me every day. 

Then I saw a friend of mine post her fauxdori on Facebook and I had to know what it was. What followed was a plethora of Google searches on Midori Traveller's Notebooks, and their DIY versions, along with insert. I found that I could have a planner, a journal, a sketchbook and more all in one lovely purse-sized notebook.

So I did some research on YouTube and other areas, and found Ray Blake, and decided to use his method for making a cover. Instead of leather, I decided to go with some denim that I glued to scrapbook paper for reinforcing. I sprayed it with sprays and painted some feathers through stencils too. I used several  different embellishments that I had laying around, namely Tim Holtz charms, clips and chain, some washi tape, a Simple Stories Snap Album insert, some metallic elastic, and journal cards.

I made my own inserts for my bullet journal using Ray Blake's inserts that he has generously put on his blog for download, and went to town making my own fauxdori.

I made a pen loop from duct tape and a brad, and it holds my pen quite nicely.

I love how thick and juicy it is without being cumbersome. And the discovery of a bullet journal works for me! So easy to keep notes, lists, and a brain dump all in one spot.

Hope you like the project and I've listed links below to the places where I found my inspiration and downloads.

Inserts:
Ray's insert downloads
Plastic pocket inserts

Cover:
Ray Blake's DIY notebook cover which inspired my cover

Other great resources for your own notebook on YouTube:
Rhomany's Rhealm
Jennifer Harvey

I love GRUNGE journal cover

Hi everyone! I shared my recent project on the Gauche Alchemy blog. Did you catch it there? No?? Here it is! 

Kiki here with my first project for Gauche Alchemy. As you’ll soon find out, I love grungy texture. No, scrap that. I have an OBSESSION with texture. I cannot seem to create without it, and look at the project and say I’m done. The more texture the better. And the more unusual the texture, the more fun it is to play with it.

This month for the February Challenge, I put a lot of different textures into the project. I love grunge. Love isn’t always pretty, soft and lacey. Sometimes it’s messy, chaotic and dirty! LOL

Want to see what I mean?

There’s so much texture in there I get giddy. I used gesso and drywall tape, inked up canvas, washi tape, paper scraps, cardboard, wood, cork, thread….ahhhhhh.

So what did you get out of the monthly challenge inspiration? I’d love to see your projects so make sure to play along, and please link me up to them so that I can go and leave you some love!

A delightful return

I love days like this - where the sky is grey and looks so cold but I set out to do something creative and productive. I dug out my art journal supplies and loaded them into a box I had and brought them downstairs to the kitchen table. Then I started on a page with splatters and streaks of colour.

It felt so good to dive into the stencils and textures, and get my fingers into gesso, and sprays. And so the name of the page - Return. In hindsight, I did notice a little something on the page that might be an alternate title. See if you see it as well.

Did you notice the title that popped off the page? Return Ticket. I thought that was kind of fun. I had no intention of that going together but they did.

This page really is like a return to art journaling for me. A return to my roots of journaling with textures, sprays, stencils, inked canvas and cardboard. I definitely live for the grunge when it comes to journaling.

I hope you enjoyed looking at this and get to journaling too sometime this week. It's a great way to clear your head after a week of craziness.

Latest projects

Seems like it's been a while since I've posted anything that I've been working on here on my blog. Time to catch up. These are just a few of the projects I worked on recently this past weekend.

I have to say, I still love Prima for my mixed media layouts. Hope you enjoyed these and if you have any questions about the projects, just comment below! Have a great week!

Mixed media bookmark fun

Up until last night we finally got some glorious sunshine and warmth again and it completely lifted my spirits. I decided to get into my craftroom, open the roman blind, and let the sun pour in to inspire me. 

I've been a collector of paint chips from just about anywhere I can get them, from the time I started doing art journaling. Not only do I love the colours, but they make an excellent journal strip if you need something colourful and practical at the same time. But a couple of days ago, I decided on another use for them....mixed media bookmarks.

Whenever I go to Chapters with my husband, I'm always looking for unique bookmarks and I came up short last week when I went to get one. So it was time to make my own, I figured. I created one using a pink chip, some Prima paper scraps I had that I love, and some canvas and Prima embellishments and stamps. I adored how it turned out, so I made three others to give away to friends.

If you want to make your own, I would highly recommend that you reinforce them with some strong scrapbook paper glued to the back. That way you know the bookmark will last for a long time without becoming ratty and torn (unless of course you like that look).

I hope you are inspired by this and have fun with your scraps to create something similar. I'm going to make many more of these in the near future because they make me happy.

Have a great week!

Strong silent type

I really felt the need to do a layout that's about my hubby's strong silent moods sometimes. He makes me laugh a lot but lately I've been needing his strength, and he's given it to me in spades.

I used lots of Prima flowers and embellishments from the Engraver line.

Who says you can't have flowers on a masculine layout? :) The final touch was using the Lump of Coal by Lindy Stamp Gang. It's a black pigment with gold glitter.

Hope you enjoyed this, and have a great weekend!

Live life as you have imagined

Yesterday was a pretty productive day overall for me. Some days I have a lot of energy and so I try to use it wisely. And once I was done with the day's chores, I sat down to play a little. I looked for a fun challenge, and found the July challenge for Creative Embellishments and Paper Wings Production. It's an inspiration challenge and we had to emboss something, either dry emboss or heat emboss. I've not done a lot of either, so I thought it high time to use my new Lindy Stamp Gang embossing powders I had won a while back, and used some of their gorgeous sprays as well, to create my background. Here's the picture that was used for the challenge.

I was definitely inspired by the tropical feel of this layout, but also what it meant for me... vacation. So I scrapbooked a photo from our vacation in Quebec a while back. I loved the feel of the building behind me, with its bright windows and its old stone.

I used quite a bit of Prima materials in this layout, including the old brick stencil, flowers, butterflies and chalk ink, and Creative Embellishment's chipboard flourish and greenery.

I love when I can dip into my stash and find a whole bunch of items that will work together on a layout. So here are some closeups so that you can see some details.

The chipboard flourish is heat embossed with Lindy Stamp Gang embossing powder

Chipboard with Prima chalk ink. I love how opaque it is

I thoroughly enjoyed working on this layout, and it's been good to get back to a scrapbook style that is so free and fluid. I hope you enjoyed seeing it.

Have a great weekend!

On an art journal train

When I cleaned up my craft room I found my Train CD that I've been missing so much. And then saw a quote from Drops of Jupiter, and figured it was time to do a Train inspired art journal page.

I sang this once with a band of friends at a large party. Was really fun! Those were the days!

Now that she's back in the atmosphere

With drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey, hey, hey

She acts like summer and walks like rain

Reminds me that there's a time to change, hey, hey, hey

Since the return from her stay on the moon

She listens like spring and she talks like June, hey, hey, hey, hey

But tell me, did you sail across the sun?

Did you make it to the Milky Way

To see the lights all faded

And that heaven is overrated?

Tell me, did you fall from a shooting star?

One without a permanent scar

And did you miss me

While you were looking for yourself out there?

Now that she's back from that soul vacation

Tracing her way through the constellation, hey

She checks out Mozart while she does Tae-Bo

Reminds me that there's room to grow, hey

Now that she's back in the atmosphere

I'm afraid that she might think of me as

Plain ol' Jane told a story about a man

Who was too afraid to fly so he never did land

But tell me, did the wind sweep you off your feet?

Did you finally get the chance

To dance along the light of day

And head back to the Milky Way?

And tell me, did Venus blow your mind?

Was it everything you wanted to find?

And did you miss me

While you were looking for yourself out there?

Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken

Your best friend always sticking up for you

Even when I know you're wrong?

Can you imagine no first dance, freeze-dried romance

Five-hour phone conversation

The best soy latte that you ever had, and me?

But tell me, did the wind sweep you off your feet?

Did you finally get the chance

To dance along the light of day

And head back toward the Milky Way?

But tell me, did you sail across the sun?

Did you make it to the Milky Way

To see the lights all faded

And that heaven is overrated?

And tell me, did you fall from a shooting star?

One without a permanent scar

And did you miss me

While you were looking for yourself?

na na na na na na na na na na na na na

And did you finally get the chance

To dance along the light of day?

na na na na na na na na na na

And did you fall from a shooting star?

Fall from a shooting star?

na na na na na na na na na

And were you lonely looking for yourself out there?

 

Gelli print background with stencils, hearts cut from previously inked paper,
paper towel, canvas, lace, Heidi Swapp heart, Dina Wakely stamp and a little Prima heart button.

And for the first time ever, I played with some embossing powder from Lindy Stamp Gang to give this heart some purple shimmer. I love the effect!

And I'm back to loving my SEI sprays in neon colours. I just can't resist that neon pink.

Have an amazing weekend!

Back in my journal

I had so much fun today getting back into my art journal. I used my altered book that I've been using for a couple years now and just sat down to play. There are so many layers in this spread that I really don't know how to explain where the pages begin and end. But there are a few gems that are tucked into the pages, like the seed beads that I adhered, and the music paper, as well as yummy texture paste.

It felt really good to sit down and play with my Lindy's sprays and stencils, along with my stamps and texture pastes. I had almost forgotten how much fun it could be. You'll be seeing more of my art journal pages in the future for sure.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Spectacular photo layout

Good morning everyone! Just thought I'd quickly post this layout I did this weekend. I was playing along with Creative Embellishments blog challenge for the month of June. I had these beautiful photos that I had taken in Oregon some time ago that I wanted to scrapbook and this layout just came together so quickly once I decided how to use the lighthouse chipboard and some mixed media with the I heart Summer collection by Simple Stories.

Hope you enjoy these!

High time for a new canvas

It's been a while since I've slapped paint, modelling paste and fabrics onto a canvas. I decided that it was high time that I design something for our home, and get some use out of all the Prima embellishments and flowers I have in my craftroom. So here's the result of an afternoon of play.

I love all the hidden details in this piece.

My only difficulty now is figuring out exactly where to put it!