Something Blue... April 2018

WOW. The Kraft +1 team came up with another great challenge for April 2018 - Something Old, something new, something borrowed and something blue! I thought long and hard about this, and then thought my digital scrapbooking journey fits those categories rather well. When I started out, I was a total newbie with some Photoshop like training. I didn't know anything! I bought some kits I thought I liked and started to make pages, not realising that half what I bought only had one use, had a whole of host of things in there I didn't like and didn't use, or was poor quality.

However, I still got lucky - there are two or three items and one patterned paper from that very first few kits that I still use. Since then, I've gone here or there, following what others have on their blogs and trying kits out, working out what I need, and trying to find it. Sometimes its still impossible to get what I'm really looking for; then I have to make it up myself, but slowly, the technology has gotten better and there is way more variety out there.

But I'm so glad I came on the digi scrapbooking journey - to have the creative control and do just about ANYTHING I can imagine is pretty powerful. My inspiration for the page was Louise Nelson's beautiful page which I cut and stuck in my layout. This is strange - because years ago, Louise inspired me in the IRL scrapbooking too (look far below to see my early page inspired by Louise)

Something Blue April 2018 Kraft +1 challenge

Kraft+1 challenge

Ingredients: Akizo Designs Wishing & Hoping arrow no 2, Basic Grey Black Tie Patterned Papers - Verlaine (old), Sweetly Scrapped patterned paper - Kraft 1563378,  Kimeric Kollections Sisters - String 1, Dee Bee Designs Love Birds kit [heart & bow], Scrap Art Studios (Cilenia Curtis) Just Basics 01 Tags, Angie Young FYA Aug 2012 Imagine Masks (blue splotch), Tallula Moon Color Block Sunset kit (clip),  Designs by Helly Leave This World Behind (blue flower), CSI #96 Word Art Typewriter Keys, Sarahh Graphics Sunday With Grandma (‘blue’ font), Far Far Hill Love Lyrics freebie kit, etc

'Daylily' my IRL page created in 2010 inspired by a page
created by Lousie Nelson! (and on Kraft as it so happens)
I actually stitched those tiny flower buttons onto the page!

Production Line April 2018

My new years resolution in scrapping is to scrap my day to day just as much as other subjects, so this page is showing one of my runs of card making IRL. I belong to my local artist society and paint with acrylics, but I also sell my art cards - either photos on cards of my work, or, in this case, originals with pen and acrylic. I recently sold four of my cards like these ones that I created in 2015, so I thought it was time to create some more with my skills set as it stands now. The place names on the posts are all in my local area, so it kind of gives it a nice touch for a tourist gift.

Production Line CSI#252 April 2018 digi layout

Ingredients:

 Sarahh Graphics Sunday With Grandma (spotted brad), Websters Pages (yellow material brad),  Angie Young Get Crafty Collage Sheet 36 (bird brad), Studio Basic Designs I {heart} flairs! (light globe and swirls flairs), Disaster Space 1 Lauren Grier (paint splash), Sugar Plum A Boys Story - Paint2 (2nd paint splotch), Akizo Designs Wishing & Hoping kit [label 2 & ribbon 1(striped)],  Feli Designs Gentle Spring ‘Stitches’, etc

Inspiration  (CSI #252) :

I come in peace...

The Double D challenges remind me how much fun I have making a card from scratch - whether it be IRL or digital. Their April 2018 challenge -  I've always wanted to use this cute dog on a card, but have never found the right angle, but the inspiration from Double D helped me pair the little dog with the lion, and then I had a friendship card!

digi Friendship Card - Double D April 2018 challenge

Double D Challenge APril 2018 inspiration

A Whitespace Card April 2018

It's always a challenge to create a 'whitespace' or 'clean' card - ie a card with alot of open space/s on it. Especially when you have pretty things all through your stash and you desperately want to use them. Simplistic is the hardest challenge I find. How do you make a card powerful, pretty and practical if you can only use a few elements on it?

Well, that was the challenge at the ModSquad this month.

I also wanted to challenge myself not to use white as this clean space background - but another colour. As white, to me, has no warmth in it.

And this is what I came up with.

digi card - ModSquad April 2018 challenge 'simply clean'

Ingredients : Far Far Hills (cat, cupcake, floral), Traci Reed Bad Sewing Machine stitches

Jigasaurus April 2018

It was hard not to be inspired by the Archiscraps April 2018 challenge of the spiral staircase, wood and 'lace'.

Archiscraps April 2018 challenge inspired this digital scrapbooking page

I think the wood reminded me of jigsaws, and as my Dad and I and my friend Fran, are continually swapping jigsaws currently, challenging each other with an even harder one, that's what I did my page on. I've never actually taken step-by-step photos of a jigsaw being completed, so it was good practise for that too.

the inspiration - archiscraps april 2018

Ingredients : Far Far Hills (lace), American Crafts Coffee Break, serviette I scanned myself (asian motifs), Aliya Designs Because of You patterned paper (brown paper), Mnine Designs Silly Monsters, Laitha's Designs Nocturn Whispers, JY Family Fun Night, Laitha's Designs Back in Time (lacy flowers/swirls), Rachael's Resin Bits no 12, etc

Trip the Twine fantastic... April 2018

It's been a long while since I had the challenge to feature TWINE on a layout, but at Double D this month that was the task. Wonderful! So I challenged myself to come up with a new way to use twine, as well as create a page about my day-to-day - namely my conversion across to Aldi from regular supermarkets.

This is what I came up with :

The Convert - Apr 2018 - Double D challenge digi scrapbooking layout

I used TWINE and the colours from the inspiration piece :

Double D inspiration April 2018

And here is the ingredients I used :

Angie Young Get Crafty Collage Sheet no 25 (behind journaling/photo), Sarahh Graphics CU Fabric Flowers v2 Rolled Rose and cottflower white daisy, DitaB Designs Click n Summer Memories Add On - Element 10 (leaves), Cilenia Curtis Photo Borders, Kimeric Creations Sisters Kit - no 1, JasO Rope Elements Vol 2 number 2, K Cronin Barrow Christmas Wish letters - letter C, Aliya Because of You kit - patterned paper no 6, Rachael’s Scraps Bakers Twine no 8 (chopped off a bow).