Adventure in The Land of Oz

This is going to be a quick post as there is not much techniques involved in this layout except lots and lots of cutting. And lots and lots of layering using foam dots.

Laines and Papermarket is having a 45% discount off regular items and 40% off yellow price tag items. This is a good time to stock up on tools. Foam dots are also entitled to the discount!!!.

The only technique used here is making the title "pop" more out of the page by the using Gesso to create the white border. The use of Gesso also creates dimension unlike white acrylic paint. To create this, simply use a brush and swipe Gesso across the letterings. Then quickly use a wet wipe to remove the Gesso on the letterings.

The next technique that is not very visible is the transparent tape that sits below the Gesso. It's created by using the transfer technique to transfer the image onto the sticky tape so that it creates a translucent background.

Rock candy crackle paint was used on the "Yellow Brick Road" embellishment to create the cracks.

Materials Used: G45 Wizard of Oz papers, Gesso, Crackle Paint (Rock Candy), Glossy Accents, Black Cardstock.

Fly...Fly...Fly

This layout was inspired once again by a student in a design class today. She's a doctor who claims to be a frugal scrapper. Since frugal is THE word, I've decided to create a layout with minima expenditure. Hmmm.. or perhaps is making use of stuff that can be re-use instead. As the things used in this layout aren't cheap, but they're are RE-usable. So not just are we going to be frugal, we're going to be green!!!

The background is created by using Hero Art stamp and distress ink in Pumice Stone.

If you look really close, you can see some blotches of ink. Though distressing ink is soluble by nature, you won't really get that watery effect if you stamp diectly. The trick here is to spray some water on your stamp after you've ink it before stamping it down on the plain cardstock.

After the stampinh the dollies, stamped with a wording stamp in Forest Moss. Double stamp to create the fainter look.

Next, resist stamp the swirls at the alternate corners. Finally use the blending tool to create the redness around the corners. I've used my new favourite "Victorian Velvet".

For the final touch, edge all round the edges with walnut stain to give the edges a darker look.

Another technique, instead of inking and distressing edges with ink, we can actually distress edges with embossing powder. Ink round the edges with embossing ink and emboss in whatever colour you like.

In this case, I' ve recently bought the aged gold embossing powder from Tim Holtz series. However, I think there is not much difference in the appearance from the normal gold. I don't see how aged this is as compared to the non-aged one.

Materials used: Plain cardstock, 7 Gypsies Pattern Paper (Magpies), Recycled Vellum (From previous amazing layout)

Alterated Mooncake Box

Mid Autumn Festival has just passed and as part of our school's welfare, each staff has been given one piece of mooncake. I guess it didn't taste too well as I have not and will not try it. But, the box , which is of more interest to me, is very inspirational and scrap-pable. Hence, this week will see 2 projects being shared...

This is the ordinary mooncake box:

This is the altered mooncake box.

I altered it to a jewellery box cum mini album box

The mini album inside will be used for my recent Hanoi Exchange trip. As I've also promised the students that after their exams, I will provide a scrapping session for them. This will be their project. The best part is, I've got more than 20 of such boxes, donated by the other teachers and staff who would otherwise throw away this piece of art.

Hinges on the side, bought from Homefix.

So it can open up like a jewellery box.

Cost of this whole album: Approximately $5 to $7
Materials Used: G45 ABC papers (for the outside), 7 Gypsies Paper (for the inside), Tim Holtz Masking Tape, Hinges (the most expensive one), Trims and Twine.

The are many more ideas to create using this box. I will definitely share more when I've managed to design it.

Meanwhile, Joyce has created a photo frame instead, using the G45 Wizard of Oz series.

And YES!!!! ... it's a relatively cheap project as well. As Laines and Papermarket is having a 40% discount for any 4 items or 10 pattern papers for $10. So make use of this good opportunity to stock up on any scrapbooking products that you've been wanting to buy for a long time.

Amazing Webster pages

Webster pages are on discount. In fact, lots of scrapbooking products have prices much lower than usual. For example, Webster pages vellum are only going for $1.90 instead of the usual $2.90. 3D foam dots are only $3.90 instead of $4.90 a pack! And they are all available at Laines or Papermarket. :)

I just came back from trip and had to do classes the next day. And I was super distracted with the "new arrivals" from Webster, while teaching. During the START class, I was even more distracted by a customer who chooses to use Webster to do her page. Hence, I created this layout in the midst of my tiredness after a long day.

Lots of distressing used. In fact, 3 different colors. As masking to create the scallop effect on glimmer misted paper, distress the edges and colouring the white doily paper in Victorian velvet.

Background of photo was dark, so instead of matting, used dry painting to create the border.

I’ve used Tim Holtz fragments to create the embellishment. This is my first time using that after watching the technique from Tim Holtz website. I think there is plenty of room for improvement.  I will continue to work harder. There are also many other ways to used the fragments which I will try them out in the other projects.

Materials used: Webster Pages Vellum (Ladies and Gents), Webster Pages (A Sweet Life), 7 Gypsies (Orchestra), Manila Cardstock, Tim Holtz Fragements, Prima Flowers, Ribbons.

Shadow Box

This is an early entry as I will be off this Friday for an exchange trip to Vietnam, Hanoi.

Suddenly, had the urge to scrap today using something vintage and brown. And surprisingly, whatever I grab from the cupboard of mess today made sense.
The shadow box is something that I had bought in bulk from IKEA some time back. However, they have been a white elephant since.

Nothing really wow about this layout, no techniques at all. The only one thing I'm proud of is the $0 cost corks. There is this place, Merz @ Orchard Central, that offers 1-for-1 beer in the afternoon. So we had an early drinking session in celebration of Teacher's Day.

I must also make the effort to stress on the fact that this layout is super easy and cheap to make. First, for the embellishements/accents at the background, I simply use a recycled paper and recycled trims/lace to form a heart shape. Lots of inking and distressing at the sides though.. coz I love to distress.

Also, lots of Tim Holtz embellishments with Prima flowers to create the masculine yet feminine, vintage look.  Notice the background heart, I used Tim Holtz film strip. Do try to grab these if you happen to see them, coz they are so easy to use, and nice enough for you to create that professional look.

Materials use: Recycle Cardstock (any colour), Lace/trims, Tim Holtz embellishements, Kasier Craft Bonjour Collection (still available in Laines and Paper Market),  Making Memories Paper Reverie, Prima Flowers and swirls, Martha Stewart Punches.