Hi from Susan....as the cool weather sets in, it is a wonderful time to stay indoors and scrapbook! I hope my layouts and the great Memory Maze Design chipboard pieces give you that inspiration.

BEAR BUM!

We live by the beach so our grandchildren are fast becoming water babies! They love swimming and playing in the sand. The "Bear Bum" title was perfect for this layout. I drew the sun on the back of a piece of patterned paper then cut it out. I distressed the edges then inked them to create shadowing.

The banner was covered with paper and the edges were inked to match in.

As soon as I saw the sheet of feet I knew what to do with them..... I coated them with PVA glue (runny white glue) then presses them into sand. Once they had dried I coated them with dimensional magic to seal in the sand and make them look wet.

The words in the title were painted with Radiant Rain in teal zircon with Glitzee Glue in aqua over the top.The bear was painted in nutmeg with Distress Stickles in vintage photo and antique linen smudged together over the top.

MEMORY MAZE PRODUCTS

Bear Bum (so603)

Feet Set (so766)

Triangle Banner

OTHER PRODUCTS

Kaisercraft - Tropicana-coastline, collectables, paper leaves, hessian flowers, Radiant Rain, Dimensional Magic, twine, glitter glue.

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CHERISH

Embellishing with chipboard doesn't have to be an expensive time consuming effort ( unless you want it to be!). It still looks good with a couple of coats of paint.The frame was decorated to reflect the colours in the paper and the floral headpiece of the flower girl. (The photos aren't the best because they are original ones of me as a flowergirl in the mid 60"s!)

The wreath was painted with Distresss Crackle paint in weathered wood. When dry I glued on the flower layers. A quick, simple but effective finish for the chipboard

The heart banner as well as the 2 small hearts I cut off the ends were painted with gold paint.

I changed the colour of the rhinestone word with alcohol ink in orange as I wanted the contrast with the blue colours.

MEMORY MAZE PRODUCTS

Vintage Lace Frame (vow003)

Heart Banner

OTHER PRODUCTS

Paper flowers & roses, Kaisercraft - Marigold collection-mustard, rhinestone word, alcohol ink. gold paint, lace, rose ribbon.

LAUGH, FUN

I chose the backing papers to highlight the feathers which I cololured to match in with the paper! The background sheet was plain cardstock that I sponged with bubble wrap dipped in black acrylic paint. I machine stitched around the edges.

The feathers and the cogs were inked in maroon, blue and grey smudges beside each other and blended in using a small sponge. Glitter glue in crystal was applied over the top and when it had dried I coated it with Dimensional Magic.

These cogs were inked the same as the ones above. The other embellishments on the layout were chosen to bring out the colours in the cogs and feather. There was a lot of fun to be had making this layout.

MEMORY MAZE PRODUCTS

Micro Feathers (so747)

Cogs Multi Pack (so091)

OTHER PRODUCTS

Plain cardstock, bubblwrap, black acrylic paint, cotton, Kaisercraft timber letters,ink, glitter glue, dimensional magic.

It was fun this month to try a few different techniques with the chipboard to customise them to fit in with the layout themes. I hope you have fun with yours too!

Cards For You

I haven't made cards in awhile and with a couple of rainy days I made the time to have a play! I am also making some kits using Kaisercraft Summer Breeze range...It is an idea out of their magazine...soon to be completed and I'll post the photos of them.

These cards were made from my left over bits stash! I keep the papers filed by their colours in plastic envelope folders so it is easy to find what I want. I also find papers that go together quite easily.

The smaller pieces of card and paper I keep to fussy cut and to make tags and journalling blocks.

Odd flowers and left over cut pieces of bling and swirls go together nicely. Big tags can be cut to size to fit on smaller projects. Some stamping personalises your projects and adds that special touch.

Behind the Scenes

Here are a couple of photo tutorials to show you how the mini book and frame from the previous post were made.

Join two pieces of card together so the base of the mini book is 19inches x 6 inches.

Cut 2 inner pices 12inches x 6 inches.Score at 3, 8 1/2 & 9inches on both pieces.

The kaisercraft frame was painted with black gesso and when dry was dabbed with gold ink.

Jolly June

 I can't believe we are already half way through the year. This time I thought I would show you ways to use your chipboard on different projects....

FAIRY IN MY GARDEN



This isn't a typical baby layout but I love the brightness of it. The frame was crackled the original way of a 3 step proceedure. The base coat was painted in red acrylic paint and when it dried a layer of clear crackle medium was applied. When this layer dried a coat of pink acrylic paint was added then the crackling started. Once this was dry I adhered the flowers and the fairy in the corner with the butterflies. It really doesn't show up in the photo but I also brushed over a light coat of Perfect Pearls in interference red.

To decorate the fairy I used....Smooch in green apple, taffy and silver,Glitzy gllitter glue in crystal, Distress Paint in victorian velvet, Distress Stain in spun sugar, Kindy Glitz in pink and 3D Kindy Glitz in glitter hot pink.

MEMORY MAZE PRODUCTS USED

Frame ( )

Fairy In My Garden( )

OTHER PRODUCTS USED

Creative Imaginations paper, handmade foil tape frame, tags, bow ribbon, rubons.

SEASIDE

I used a few different chipboard pieces on this beach inspired frame. The feet are part of the micro feet set. They were inked with a creamy coloured ink and topped with distress stickles in linen to give them a sandy look. The ATC frame was painted with Radiant Rain in yellow rose and Smooch in gold lame and kiwi. The word journey was coloured with a papermania marker pen in brown and covered in Kindy Glitz in Aztec Gold.

The banner was first covered with Distress ink in wild honey and the edges sponged with brown ink. The letters were stamped on in black ink. It was then covered in Dimensional Magic to make it shiny.

The corner swirl was coloured in with a Papermania marker pen in mustard and coated with Distress Stickles in antique linen. The scallop border above this was a piece left from another project. It was coloured in with a marker pen and covered in Gllitzee gllitter glue in aqua.

The feathers are part of a sheet of feathers and I used Smooch in 4 different colours and dabbed them on to give a shimmery effect.

MEMORY MAZE PRODUCTS USED

Triangle banner( )

Scallop border( )

Flourish corner swirl( so524)

Journey (goo78)

ATC frame( )

Microfeet( )

Feathers( )

OTHER PRODUCTS USED

Kaisercraft frame & collectables, handmoulded shells & perfect pearls, stamped acetate, ribbons.

MEMORIES MINI BOOK

I love seeing old photos of my Mum and Nan dressed up. This mini book is dedicated to my Mum and some of her fashions. The word memories was painted in olive acrylic paint and dabbed over the top with Dimensional pearls in olive. The swirl was simply coloured with green ink. The dress form is part of a set with coathangers.The dress was coloured with Distress paint in pink and coated with Glitzee glitter glue in crystal. The stand part was painted with Smooch in molasses.

These vintage scissors were painted with Smooch in silver.

This old sewing machine matched in perfectly with the theme and it was painted with Distress Stain in black soot and the trims with Smooch in silver.

On the left side, the cotton reels were painted with Distress Stain in bronze and Smooch in pink for the cotton. On the right, the vintage corset was dabbed with Distress Stain in peeled paint and the edges touched with Smooch in crystal to add a bit of depth. The coathanger above it is from the dress form set. It was painted with Smooch in molasses and silver.

This is what the mini book looks like from the top view.

MEMORY MAZE PRODUCTS USED

Dressform & coathangers( )

Swirl( )

Memories( )

Sewing machine(co132)

Cotton reels(co128)

Vintage Corset( )

OTHER PRODUCTS USED

Kaisercraft Needle & Thread -fabric & collectables, paper & acrylic doilleys, sticker corners, handmade paper & material flowers, haberdashery items, ribbon.

Winter Chills

Even though it is cold, the days will begin to be longer from here on in! The cool nights are a good excuse to stay in and be crafty. I am trying to finish off all those "nearly" completed projects before starting anything else. My want to do list seems to be growing longer with other things taking up my time.

On this layout I have used up some of my stash as well as the scrap pieces I have ( I store scrap pieces A4 and smaller in plastic envelopes in a hanging file box for easy access to the colours that I need). The new pieces are the Memory Maze chipboard and the flowers. The small scallop edges were dabbed with purple ink and the star sprays were painted with silver smooch.

The 30th was dabbed with purple & gun metal glitter paint. The word beaurty was painted with purple glitter paint.

Once again I used papers and embellishments from my stash. The easter basket with the bunny was an Easter card and the colours matched in perfectly with the papers and other embellishments.

The swirl and egg are from Memory Maze chipboard. They were inked in pink and perfect pearls in interference red were dusted over the top.

Keep warm and here's to crafty moments that we can grab!

JUNE SALE!

It's here! Our sale is on for the whole of June with 10-50% off everything to make way for new stock. So come in and grab a bargin. Have a look at the shop hours for June as a couple of days have changed. New Memory Maze chipboard has arrived with some wonderful new designs.
The layouts I did here have the MM doiley on them.

This is a good way to add more photos to your layouts. Some layouts look good with just one photo on them but sometimes a cluster is what you want or you just don't want to do a lot of pages with the photos you have.

Half way Mark!

I can't believe we are half way through the year already. It's that time of year when the sales begin....and we have a sale as well! Everything is on sale from 10-50% off, even reduced items.Pop in and have a look and be sure to check out the discount for buying 10 or more sheets of plain or patterned papers & cardstock.
I hope everyone enjoyed the Memory Maze Designs blog hop last month. Don't forget to keep checking on their blog site for more great inspirational ideas and their website for all their products.