GUEST BLOGGER - Krisy Podolak

Good morning everyone. Today I have a very special guest posting here on my blog, Krisy. Krisy is going tell a bit about her self and her chosen topic for this guest post.

A bit about me…My name is Krisy. I am almost 32 years old and I live with my husband and our two children, Poppy and Leo in Brisbane, Queensland.  I am currently a Stay at Home mum with a third baby due in the next few weeks.  I have been scrapbooking most of my life but not necessarily in the ‘modern way’.  I enjoy all sorts of crafts but my main love is scrapbooking.  To see more of my stuff you can find me on my blog popleopod.wordpress.com, Instagram @krisy28a or Pinterest @krisy5.

Scrapbooking – The Evolution of Style : Don’t Change the Past

I constantly read Facebook comments about people who look back at their past albums and feel the need to go back and redo them.  I ask myself Why?  So many people complain about their inability to keep up with simplified scrapbooking projects like Project Life so why would you go back and redo an album that was clearly a reflection of you and your style at that time?

I have many albums, some coming up to twenty years old and I can tell you that the style of these albums is way different to the ones I am currently working on.  My first album is more of what is referred to as a smash book. This was the style back then.  Then it evolved to somewhat more traditional style. Why would I want to change it?  Not only has the style changed but the quality of my photography has improved and my handwriting but these are all things that make that album unique.  

The other thing that has changed that is reflective in today’s styles is our ability to share ideas and techniques through magazines and social media.  Back then, your style was limited to the one particular party plan company that was dominating the market at the time.  Since then, we are now spoilt for choice not only with physical stores stocking a variety of products designed specifically for scrapbooking and memory keeping but also online stores.  We are now only limited by our imagination and more often than not bank balances not actual products.

While organising my thoughts and photos for this post I came across a page that I did 15 years ago documenting the birth of a friends baby.  We were 18/19 years at the time.  This was the first child for our group of friends at the time.  I took a photo of that page and sent it to her through private Facebookmessage.  Her response to me was I forgot all that stuff.  I think I am going to have to redo that album there was so much inappropriate behaviour I documented in that album.  My words to her…”Don’t change it!  That is what it was at the time.”  At the end of the day we were a group of kids with a kid.  The photos won’t change and the stories won’t either.  “Your right”, was her reply “But…I might do another one to go with it.” I don’t know why!?! 

These are a few of my pages from various albums over the years.  

In the beginning my embellishments were all hand cut from bits of paper.

 I then travelled overseas for a few years.  I didn’t get many photos printed during that time but smashed together cut outs and ticket stubs to document this stage of my life.

Then came the style of cutting photos – I struggled with this one at the time.

And finally today is about one photo, embellishments, mixed media, stamping, paint etc.

So my question to you is, we as Scrapbookers are all about preserving memories, so, why go back and change them? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Deer Designer - #4

Hey everyone Lydia here sharing a 12x12 layout using the beautiful new KaiserCraft Sparkle! and All That Glitter.

I used all of the new Kaiser collection except the black Thickers, enamel dots and tiny word stickers.

I really like how it come together. this collection has all of my favorite colors so that is a bonus.

These very cute butterflies are from the All That Glitter Collectables and I used magic mount foam to give them and the page a bit on dimension.

 for my layers I used a piece of paper from the All That Glitter 6x6 paper pad and I used 2 of the 6x4 cards from the Sparkle! Captured Moments Cards.

I hope you all have a great day.
Lydia xxx

Deer & Fawn Designs - March Challenge and Inpiration

Morning everyone, I am here to share my take on this months challenge for Deer & Fawn Designs. Make sure you go to the blog here to get all the details on the challenge.

Use our logo as your inspiration... Create a 12x12 layout, Mixed Media project or a Pocket Page in these colours...

I loved using the logo as my inspiration as I love the colors and floral.

I knew exactly what products I was going use when I found out the challenge and that was Maggie Holmes Open Book Collection.

I love love love how this layout turned out. I love all the gold on this layout also.

 And a quick close up.

I cant wait to see all of your entries and I hope you got a little inspiration from my layout.

Have a great day 

Lydia xxx

Melissa - CT Post #1

​Hey everyone! This is Melissa here from Melissa Marie Knits. I am excited to share with you a few layouts that I made using an old book. I found the tutorial on the new Big Picture Classes site This class is taught by Maggie Holmes.

For the front cover, I painted it gold and then on the spine of the book I used washi tape to hold it together. My book is really old, but I love old books so it works well for me. I then added various embellishments from different Studio Calico Kits. This book is going to document my last few months of highschool.

I really wanted to try to keep the book in it's original form. So I didn't add any papers to it, just kept it simple. This year I really like the quote what if I fall? Oh darling, what if you fly? It means a lot to me so I wanted to put it in here. I wrote it on the original book paper using a sharpie. 

On the next pages I used a picture of me taken on January 1^st. This spread is all about new beginnings. The left page I painted parts of the cut out pieces blue and then added the phrase don't give up.

Thank you for taking a peek. I'll be back soon to share more pictures of my book!  

For the supplies, I used Far Far Away Scrapbook kit, Firsts kit, Magic Carpet kit, Botanical Labels, Color Theory Mint paint, Piccadilly kit, Maggie Holmes Open Book Ephemera pack, Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm die-cut pack, Heidi Swapp Gold Foil kit, Teresa Collins Signature Essentials. 

-- 

Melissa Marie

www.melissamarieknits.com

she knits & creates. 

Guest Blog Post Call - #2

Afternoon everyone. So here I am with another Guest Blog Post call. 

I am look for about 2-5 crafty people to do a guest post right here on my blog. You can be a crafter of all sorts, Project Lifer, Traditional Scrappbooker, Card Maker, pretty much any sort of a crafter.

 

This isn't a every long call so make sure you email me ASAP ( lydiagibson@y7mail.com ). 

What I want to see in the email. - 

- 3 recent projects 

              &

- a little bio about yourself 

              &

- links to all your social media (Instagram, Facebook page, Pinterest)

That's all I want. I will email and stay in contact with you if you are chosen. Your guest post will be featured here on my blog in the in mid April or early May

I hope to see many emails regarding the call. 

Lydia xxx

"Smile" - 12x12 Layout

Hey, I am back again with a 12x12 layout I did as soon as I got up this morning. I just felt a little creative.

I used all products from Amy Tangeraine except the dollie, wood veneers,paper clip, twine and the pink love heart sticker.

I am absolutely loving these super cute Chic Tags wood veneer sequins.

Lydia xxx

The Documented Life Project (DLP) - Weeks 1 - 9

Good morning everyone on this lovely Sunday morning. This morning I thought I better do a post of all my DLP pages so far this year as I haven't posted any. So here they are. 

TITLE - I used watercolours for the background and stamps and just alpha stickers from my stash.

WEEK 1 - Challenge - Book Paper

I ripped up old book paper and stuck it down and just used water colous for the background.

WEEK 2 - Challenge - Gesso

I really loved this weeks challenge as I really love gesso. I used a different medium for the background and used party streamers. I then just gessoed over the top and added a quotes and a little photo and journaling. (The bubble on the right hand side weren't meant to be there but once I did the next week and heat tooled it the bubble made a extra effect)

WEEK 3 - Challenge - A Colour Wheel

Now each week also has a journal promt as well which is where the shapes came from on the page. So the rainbow is just watercolour as I loved how the colours blended together. I didn't have any plan for how the shapes would go but that is just how they turned out.

WEEK 4 - Challenge - Writing

First of all to get the effect with the watercolours I used gesso but only did it in places quite thick than once the gesso was dry I use watercolours to do the background. I found that my colours had to be really watery as well. Now for the writing part, I just used a Postca white paint pen to write friends in the background and to add little detail. U also used a Gold Postca paint pen for the quote and just traced around it with a sharpie.

WEEK 5 - Challenge - Under Paper

I had this under paper from when I watercoloured and really loved the bright colours so I really didn't want to do much to it so I stuck the paper down and added from plain white sptexture paste and used my Postca paint pen again to add a few details.

WEEK 6 - Challenge - When Not To Stop

This week was a challenge as I didn't really know what do to so I ended up with this but I still don't think it is finished. Not sure, will come back to it later.

WEEK 7 - Challenge - Cover Up Good Stuff

I had some left over coloured doilies from my DT goodie from Deer & Fawn Designs so I decided to use them. The bottom layer is old fabric patters ripped up with just white paint over the top. Then I used a nifty idea from my follow DT buddy at Deer& Fawn Designs Connie who used lids on one of her scrapbook pages. I also used a cork from a wine bottle also to add detail and some texture paste.

WEEK 8 - Challenge - Repeating Elements.

It's pretty obvious what I repeated. Again I used a lid with Staz On ink, stamps and paint.

WEEK 9 - Challenge - Using At Least 5 Layers

Layer 1 - Tea & Coffee died book paper 

Layer 2 - Light cover of gesso

Layer 3 - washi Tape 

Layer 4 - Stamps and doodling 

Layer 5 - Qoute (alpha stickers)

So I hope you enjoyed looking at my DLP pages and I will be back soon to share more.

Have a lovely Sunday .

Lydia xxx