WELCOME

Thanks for taking the time to have a read of my Heart & Soul blog. You are welcome to leave a comment & any tips about scrapbooking or anything at all really!
LIVE WELL, LAUGH OFTEN, LOVE MUCH.
Happy Scrapping from Susan.

Monday, December 30, 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well this is it....the year is almost over. We wish everyone a safe New Years Eve and wonderful things for 2014. I am looking forward to a few new changes and challenges next year and having fun while I am doing them! So what are your New Years resolutions or are you like me and don't make any! LOL! I have found a saying that suits what I intend to do, so here it is.
"Life is about using the whole box of crayons!".........and the paint and pencils too!



Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Merry Christmas



Wow only 1 sleep to go!!!!! How excited is everyone? My Christmas celebrations will be lasting over a week as we catch up with family and friends..I can't wait.
Memory Maze Designs keep coming up with such great designs and I love all their Christmas ones. I've been catching up on some old photos before the ones for this year are taken.
NAUGHTY OR NICE?
Both of the titles on this layout suit my husband and our sons!
Both of these titles go together quite well and the Santa stuck in the chimney was perfect to fit above our own fireplace in the photo! The frame was wrapped in Washi Tape.

This title comes already coloured in the green and applied glitter glue straight over the top. The tree was coloured in with marker pens then gems were adhered on it.

The Santa piece was coloured in with marker pens then coated with crystal glaze. The "snow" is Stickles in Picket Fence.
 

This title was painted with Smooch in Siren, Green and Solar Gold.

The swirl was misted in gold then embossed in patches with gold embossing powder. Clear Utee was embossed over the whole piece to make it nice and shiny.
All these pieces were quick and easy to do and very effective.
MEMORY MAZE PRODUCTS USED
Santa let me explain KW006
Naughty or nice CO093
Tree CO096
Santa in Chimney
Frame
Swirl LO057
 
Other Products used
Kaisercraft Christmas Carol collection-Away In A Manager, Graphic 45 Christmas Past- Letter to Santa
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CHRISTMAS

I love the snowflake frame with the inner frame as part of the set. As Christmas in Australia is hot I decided to make the colours I chose warm and not the cool ones normally associated with snow.
The frame was misted with Perfect Pearls Mist in Heirloom Gold then sprayed in patches over the snowflakes with Radiant Rain Mist in Persimmon and Solar gold. Small pearls were stuck in the middle of the snowflakes.

Since the frame is quite elaborate I kept the embellishments simple to balance it all out. I sprayed white flowers with the same mists so they would match in perfectly.
MEMORY MAZE PRODUCTS USED
Christmas Frame
Other products used
Flourish With A Bling-Chloe-Antique Gold, Green Tara
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MERRY CHRISTMAS
 
 
The frame was coated with Adiriondack dabber in pearl and the window in Distress Stain in black soot with Distress Stickles in gunmetal. The top part of the frame was covered in Petal Soft in polar white to make it look like snow had settled there. The snowflakes were base coated in Distress Stain in Brushed Pewter and Stickles in frosted lace were applied over the top. The Merry Christmas is already coloured so I  applied Distress Stickles in clear rock candy over the top.
 
 
Wishing everyone a very safe and Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2014.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Christmas Wishes

Wishing everyone a safe and very Merry Christmas.
I hope you all have some special memories to cherish this season......
and remember to photograph it all!!
 


Monday, December 9, 2013

December Goodies

It's how many days 'till Christmas!! I love this time of year and always take lots of photos so now I have a few Christmas albums. I have found that Memory Maze chipboard features in a lot of my layouts as it is so easy to work with and you can do so much with it.
Best Buddies
As I often take series of photos I like to make double layouts to fit in all the photos. These photos are of my husband and grandson and I love the interaction they are having.

I layered the fussy cut flowers with the chipboard pieces to create a frame around the photos.

This word banner is part of a set of 9 banners. I used marker pens to colour it in....quick and easy!

The large lily was coloured in with a marker pen to give it a base coat of colour then painted with glitter paint. The center was embossed with embossing powder.

The 2 corner pieces are from a larger set so you get lots of wonderful pieces. I embossed this with Distress embossing powder then embossed in patches with the glitter embossing powder for a rustic look.

Another quick way to embellish the chipboard is to ink it in one colour and then ink the edges in a darker colour to give it a shadow effect.
Memory Maze Products used
Lily (150x150) LO060
Swirl corners ZO029
Best Buddies SO048
 
Other Products Used
Kaisercraft Rhinestones & Just Believe-Hymn & Glisten, Christmas Carol-Away in a Manager.
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CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS
Each Christmas I like to make a decoration or two for our home. I used the same base piece for each of these decorations but did a girl and a boy theme. The other chipboard pieces are not Christmas themed but were painted to fit in with the decoration colours.

The decoration on the left was base coated in Distress Stain in brushed pewter. The frame was painted in Smooch-taffy and the swirl in Smooch-grape.
The decoration on the right was base coated in Distress Stain in tarnished brass. The star was made from a banner that was cut down and bent to create the star frame. It was coated with Radian Rain in spiced pumpkin. The small plaque was painted with Adirondack Acrylic dabber-snowcap. The numbers and the crown were painted with Smooch in blue and gold.
Memory Maze Products Used
Christmas Candel SO108
Frame
Small Swirl
Banner
 
Other products used
Ribbon, holly. paper flowers and angel.
 
With only a couple of weeks until Christmas I hope that these help to bring the Christmas spirit to you. Have a safe and Merry Christmas.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

24 Days To Go

This is the inspirational picture from Archiscraps for their December challenge. The added criteria is Christmas.

 Here is my take on this layout.
I used gingerbread as inspiration for the colours in the layout and the thin cork reminded me of gingerbread.
Happy scrapping and remember to take lots of photos this Christmas season. 

Monday, November 25, 2013

IT'S STARTING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas! In case you haven't checked lately, Memory Maze has loads of great Christmas chipboard for Scrapbooking, card making and off the page projects. Not only does the Christmas chipboard look great on your projects but you can also alter their other chipboard to make it Christmassy! I have some examples to show you today so enjoy.
SANTA PHOTO
It took awhile for my grandson not to be afraid of sitting on Santas knee and have his photo taken. Now he stops and poses whenever he sees a camera!!
This wreath started out as plain chipboard and not even a Christmas piece but with a bit of green acrylic paint mixed with some PVA glue and a pile of green glitter on top and left to dry then add some stick on pearls......then WOW!...Christmas wreath. The gold doilley underneath the wreath just adds a bit of brightness to the layout.

The words precious and memories were decorated the same way. I used green, dark green and red marker pens to shade the chipboard. Dimensional Magic coated on top gave the words a nice shiny finish.

MEMORY MAZE CHIPBOARD PIECES USED


vintage lace frame (vow3)

(go197)

Other Materials Used
Acrylic paint, PVA glue, glitter, Kaisercraft stick on pearls, marker pens, Flourish with a Bling swirl(cut in half) & Dimensional Magic
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CHRISTMAS PHOTO SHOOT
I decided to do a photo shoot one year( and never again!) outside in our yard for family photos for our Christmas cards.......Well between my hubby and 2 sons it was adventure! I finally had a family shot that was worth printing and decided (I still hadn't learnt my lesson yet!) to take individual shots.
This is my younger son who talks non stop so I just kept taking photos until I had one where he stopped for breath and smiled. It was a fun afternoon because we all spent time together decorating the tree, playing Christmas music and eating Christmas goodies. That's what I love about scrapbooking.....it keeps those memories alive.

I have taken a real liking to the Memory Maze frames and they seem to have one for all occassions. It also makes a layout come together quicker. The frames can be used as one piece or cut apart to use as many different pieces. With this frame I added more pieces onto it. The more the merrier!
The square part of the frame was painted with white crackle paint and the other parts were painted using distress stain and luminare paints.
The sayings were painted with Luminare paints in Bronze Medallion. These were layered onto the frame to add extra touches.

The candle was painted with white crackle paint and the other parts were painted with Smooch and Luminare paints.

To have clearer, brighter colours with the paint you can undercoat the chipboard with white gesso.

I like to paint the chipboard with a brush because you can blend the colours more easily and be more exact where the paint/medium goes. The fob watch was added onto the frame.
MEMORY MAZE CHIPBOARD PIECES USED


(co157)

(co077)

Christmas candle(so108)

Christmas frame(zo051)
Other Products Used
Distress Stain-brushed pewter, Smooch-siren, silverfox, moonlight & gold larme, Luminare-heavenly bamboo, bronze medallion, ribbon flowers, paper flowers, tags, Kaisercraft pearls & gems.
It's been a lot of fun creating for Christmas so I hope I have given you a few ideas you can try yourself. Until next time...Happy scrapping!




Saturday, November 9, 2013

Memory Maze Post


Hi again and this month I'm showing a couple of layouts with lots of wonderful chipboard pieces on them. I love using the Memory Maze Designs frames and there is a large range to choose from.

PIRATE PHOENIX

Like most children, my grandson likes to dress up and play different characters. This pirate frame was perfect for this layout. It comes as a black piece so I left it as plain board and just decorated it with the pirate word sheet and other embellishments.



Ahoy matey was inked in black then coated in Dimensional Magic. Argh was coated in red ink with the edges dabbed with black ink. Treasure was painted with glitter paint in red.


Buccaneer was ink in red and black. Pirates was painted with red glitter paint. I placed white mesh ribbon behind the skull on the flag and sequin waste as reflection behind the light house.

MEMORY MAZE PRODUCTS
Pirate frame 20036
Pirate word sheet SO811

Other Products Used
Washi tape, Kaisercraft Rubons, stickers, sequin waste, mesh ribbon, twine, My Minds Eye-the spiders web, KC-Old World-Northern Star.

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FUN IN THE SUN



Living near the beach we have a lot of fun in the sun. The frame was sprayed with Maya Mist in blue hydranga and the circles painted with Lumiere in Halo Blue Gold, Pearl Turquoise and Russet.
The flags were embossed with an embossing folder and sprayed with Maya Mist in Hydranga Blue and Radiant Rain in persimmon.

This title was sprayed with Glimmer Mist in Jingle Bells and the bottom half with Radiant Rain in Persimmon. It gives it a graduated look from light to dark.

This title was sprayed with Radiant Rain in Persimmon and the heart was coated with Glitzee in pink.
MEMORY MAZE PRODUCTS USED
Fun in the Sun 0702101
Metro Frame LO046
I Love Summer Set with flags
Other products used
Green Tara Flowers, paper flowers(mist sprayed to match colours), Kaiser -Tropicana-coastline, Imaginisce copper pieces.
Titles are such an important part of your layout and they can add information without a lot of journalling. Look for the great range of titles and word sets that Memory Maze Designs has to offer.
Happy Scrapping

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Archi-scraps November Challenge

The background page of this layout started as a white sheet of card. I sprayed mists over a mask onto the background then turned the mask over onto the sheet again and pushed down onto the mask to let the ink seep into the card stock. It creates a negative effect to the mask imprint. The Memory Maze Designs chipboard net was painted with distress crackle paint in pocket fence. The plaque $ just kicking back title were sprayed with mists.


This months archiscraps.blogspot.com.au challenge is this picture with the added criteria if a sea theme. Head over to their site and have a look to see the projects that have been done and maybe have a go at their challenge.
Happy Scrapping!

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

PINK!

This month is breast cancer awareness month and this is a layout I made.


The bras were decorated with paint, glitter glue and stick on gems.

The border was made by putting the "boobs" side by side and then gems were added as nipples!

The words were sprayed with mists.

The title was sprayed with mists then coated with Utee in hot pink. It's a bit patchy so the colour underneath can show through.
 All the chipboard that was used is from Memory Maze Designs.
Look out in November for the big sale......more details to follow as it becomes closer!
I am still becoming use to my new Ipad so if anything looks a bit strange its probably because of that.
It would be great if you could let me know so I can try and fix it. Thanks.