Thursday 14 July 2016

Scrapping through my 12" pattern papers A to Z series

Hello my fellow crafters. I'm sure many of you, like me, love to acquire paper crafting products.  I have heard, and agree with other scrappers that purchasing product is just as much a hobby.  In our desire for more product, we may favour one type over another.  As an example, I have a friend who loves stamping and therefore she has a huge collection of stamps.  As for myself, I love pattern paper, particularly 12" followed closely by 6".

Like many fellow crafters, I have put myself on the odd craft spending freeze.  There are weeks, even months that I do really well before "falling off the wagon".  In nearly all instances there will be some 12" pattern paper.

One way to encourage myself to use up my product, with emphasis on my 12" pattern papers, I have put together my own scrapbooking kits.  For more information on that, see my blog post title Scrapbooking - How to create your own scrapbook kit.

Working with my own kits has been great and it is something I really enjoy doing.  However, I was looking for a different approach, just to shake things up, and one I thought that would be just as effective in helping me, even inspire me to use up my product.  This led me to come up with this series.  I had a number of title ideas, for example "Scrapbooking through the manufacturers A to Z" or "Scrapping A to Z".  However, I couldn't decide if they are manufacturers or companies.  For example, American Crafts owns so many brands such as Heidi Swapp and Bella Boulevard and Pink Paislee, who I categorise in their own right, so it just became too confusing for me.  I also didn't want a title that may be misleading, especially to someone new.  As such, I decided the title for this series is "Scrapping through my 12" pattern papers A to Z".

To clarify, I am someone who sorts my 12" papers, and in fact the majority of my craft products, by their brand e.g., American Crafts, Simple Stories, Graphic 45 etc.

My plan is to start with my 12" papers under the letter A i.e. American Crafts, Authentique etc.

Now, American Crafts has generic paper collections and a number of designers e.g., Amy Tan, Elizabeth Kartchner and Shimelle Laine.  Where a collection and/or designer has embellishments and other coordinating product they will be paired up with their 12" pattern paper.  Where there is not embellishments and other coordinating product, I will pull from my stash those brand products that I do not have any 12" pattern papers for e.g. flairs, sequins, wood veneer, kit club cut-a-parts, recollections etc.

This approach will allow me enough flexibility to be creative, but will also help me to work through my huge stash of 12" pattern papers.

Here is a photo showing how I store my 12" pattern papers and cardstock.


So, the 'brands' in my A to Z 12" pattern paper line up are:

  • American Crafts
    • Generic
    • Amy Tangerine
    • Dear Lizzy
    • Shimelle
  • Authentique
  • Basic Grey
  • Bazzill
  • Bella Boulevard
  • Bo Bunny
  • Carta Bella
  • Chickaniddy
  • Close to my Heart (CTMH)
  • Crate Paper
    • Generic
    • Maggie Holmes
  • Creative Memories (CM)
  • Daisy D's
  • Die Cuts With A View (DCWV)
  • DoCrafts
  • Echo Park
  • Elle's Studio
  • Fancy Pants
  • Francheville
  • Glitz Design
  • Gossamer Blue
  • Grace Taylor
  • Graphic 45 (G45)
  • Hazel and Ruby
  • Heidi Swapp
  • Jillibean Soup
  • K&Company
  • Kaisercraft
  • Kaszazz
  • Making Memories
  • Miscellaneous
    • There are many one-off pieces that I have stored under the general brand of 'miscellaneous'. In other words, not enough or not important enough on my scale to rate having a row with their own brand name.
  • My Mind's Eye (MME)
  • October Afternoon
    • I currently have no OA and am debating on whether I continue to keep a row for this brand.
  • Pebbles
  • Pink Paislee
  • Prima
  • Ruby Rock-it
  • Rusty Pickle
  • Sassafras
  • S.E.I
  • Simple Stories
  • Stampin' Up!
  • Studio Calico
  • Teresa Collins
  • Tim Holtz
  • The Girls Paperie
  • We R Memory Keepers
  • Webster's Pagers
As you can see, I have many brands.  This project is a very large undertaking, so I am not going to give myself an end date or even a duration of how long I will spend on each brand.  My initial view was to spend about a week or two per brand, but I have since changed my mind and will spend as long as I want, moving on when I am bored and/or no longer inspired by what is left or I just want to change to another brand.  I will be aiming to work A through to Z in this order. My OCD can't really cope with the idea of jumping around the alphabet in any random order LOL.

As I finish with a brand, I will share my layouts.  Until then, happy scrapping.

Cheers FiLoMa


Monday 14 March 2016

Calvinball 2016 - Scrapbook Layout Share #01

Hello fellow crafters.  If you have read my earlier post, Calvinball 2016, you will know that I am participating in this challenge.  I am, unfortunately, off to a slow start.  The weather in Canberra, Australia has been hotter than usual so my home has not been the most comfortable for scrapping, even with a fan.  This means that I have not had very much inclination or mojo to spend time in my craft room.  However, the weather seems to have now turned and it looks like normal Autumn temperatures are starting to appear.  As such, I took the time to create a couple of layouts this weekend.  I had hoped to do more, but other interests kept me from making scrapping a priority.  Without further ado, here are the three scrapbook layouts that I have made since 1 March.

This layout was made using my FMAK #6/2015 - Puddles.  I've titled it "Shopping Day".


This layout was made using my FMAK #6/2015 - Puddles.  I've titled it "But I need it".


This layout was made using my FMAK #7/2015 - Treat.  I've titled it "Hooray".


Thanks for taking the time to check out my layouts.  If you haven't already, jump on over to the Get it Scrapped Forum and check out what other crafters are creating for the Calvinball 2016 challenge.

Cheers FiLoMa

Saturday 27 February 2016

Calvinball 2016

Hello my fellow crafter.  I have decided to participate in the Calvinball challenge hosted on the Get it Scrapped (GiS) Forum.  I have never participated in this type of challenge before, and come to think of it I don't think I've even participated in any challenges in the past, but I thought it would be fun to give this challenge a go.

Calvinball, which was created by Doris Sander and Celest Smith, is based on the 1980's comic strip Calvin and Hobes.  If you would like to know more about how it started, check out the podcast Calvinball: The Original Story over at the Digital Scrapbooking HQ.

Clabinball 2016 runs 1-31 March.  The aim of Calvinball is to have fun and participate in the community over at GiS.  You earn points for different projects, for example one point for a scrapbook layout.  The rules change constantly and can be added to by participants as they play.

As this is my first time participating in Calvinball I really don't know what to expect.  My focus is to ensure I have fun while trying to make as many layouts as I can, and to find inspiration, and maybe provide inspiration, from my fellow challengers.

I haven't really prepped to much for this. However, I do already have three homemade kits that I can use and have set them up on my craft desk for easy accessibility.

I plan to use the following kits, which you can find more information on by clicking on the link for that kit:


I have also done up a quick video showing how my craft room is set up for this challenge.

YouTube
FiLoMa's set up for Calvinball 2016


If you haven't heard of Calvinball, I recommend checking it out and consider joining in the fun over at GiS.  I know that it is going to be a great motivator for me to try and make as many scrapbook layouts and possibly art journal pages while using up my existing stash.

Cheers FiLoMa


Sunday 21 February 2016

FMAK #1/2016 - Kit Contents - Beautiful

Welcome back fellow crafters.  Those of you who stop by regularly will no doubt be aware of my love of putting homemade scrapbooking kits together.  It is a great way to use up your stash as well as encouraging you to stay motivated by limiting your product.  It can be quite easy to get overwhelmed if you have a huge stash and don't know where to begin.

I am still working with FMAK #6/2015 titled Puddles and FMAK #7/2015 titled Treat, but I'm ready to put together another kit.  The first one for 2016.  This kit will coincide with Calvinball, but I'll do a separate post for that.

My first 2016 kit is titled Beautiful.  I came up with that name because the primary two collection kits that I am using, My Mind's Eye (MME) My Story and American Crafts (AC) Hello Love, are very beautiful to me.  I have also thrown in a few other products from my stash.  However, what I am not showing is any mixed media product that I may use, for example gesso, modelling paste, mists, watercolour paints, stencils, stamps etc.  I will include them as I go along.  In addition, I will just pull thickers from my stash depending on what colour I may want to use.

Detailed below are photos of my kit contents, as well as a link to my YouTube video for those of you who may be interested.

Note: if you would like to see the 12"x12" papers, 6"x6" papers and embellishments in more details, please check out my Google Photos album - FiLoMa's Make A Kit #1/2016 - Beautiful.

YouTube
FiLoMa's Make A Kit #1/2016 - Beautiful



MME My Story Collection

Paper and Accessories Kit Overview

12"x12" papers from kit

6"x6" paper pad cover overview

6"x6" papers from pad

Overview of embellishments

Embellishment packet

Pocket Page cards



AC Hello Love Collection

12"x12" Paper pad cover

6"x6" Paper pad cover

Sticker sheet

Tags

Embellishment packet


Additional product from my stash

Crate Paper 6"x6" Love Notes paper pad

Crate Paper (CP) 6"x6" Paper Heart paper pad

3"x4" pocket cards
I believe they are from CP Love Notes



4"x6" pocket page cards
I believe they are CP Love Notes



AC Chipboard
Craft Market (L) and Kiss Kiss (R)

Element and Alphabet/Number Stickers

Top Row
AC Craft Market, Kaisercraft All that Glitters, AC Open Road, AC Love Notes

Bottom Row
MME On Trend, CP Maggie Holmes, Echo Park Dots & Stripes

Top Row
Fundamentals (I think through Ruby Rock-it)

Bottom Row
Ali Edwards Story Kit and AC Dear Lizzy

Miscellaneous
Thread, Washi/Tissue Tape and crate streamers

Cheers FiLoMa

Tuesday 26 January 2016

FMAK #5/2015 - Layout Share

Hello my fellow crafters.  In 2015 I put together several homemade scrapbooking kits.  Today I'm sharing with you the layouts made from FMAK #5/2015 Triad.

I found working with this kit very challenging. As mentioned in the kit contents blog post and video, the colours within this kit are not what I normally work with.  Given that it had been a few months since I had scrapped, using this kit became even more challenging.  I actually think I put off scrapping because I didn't know how to proceed with this kit but didn't want to pull anything else out from my stash.  In the end I persevered and made five layouts.  I pulled out photos for seven layouts, but decided to stop after my fifth.

This first layout was inspired from Shimelle's Glitter Girl series, specifically #123.  Mine isn't exactly the same as hers, but I'm still quite happy with the overall look.



This second layout was inspired from a layout I saw on a fellow YouTuber's channel in 2015.  I don't recall who the person was, and I didn't refer to the layout to make mine. I recall watching the video, liking a few features from the layout, specifically the top 1/3 pattern paper, the bottom 2/3 plain cardstock with the photo to the right. I decided to place my photo to the left based on where the people in the photo were looking.  Orange certainly isn't a colour I'm comfortable playing with, but I'm happy with the overall layout.



This third layout design is one I've used before. Because it was a tried and trusted design, I knew that I would be pretty happy with the end result and I was. My challenge was just making it all work together in a cohesive manner and pleasing to my eye.  Green is another colour I'm not use to working with in such large quantities.



This fourth layout was based on a design principle class at Get It Scrapped.  Since I was following the first lesson of the class, the layout came together pretty quickly.  The accent paper is not what I had planned, as I found the floral paper really pretty and didn't want to cut in to it. However, I took the plunge and decided that if I didn't use it now I probably wouldn't.  Though I didn't follow all the principles in the class I'm really happy with how this layout turned out.



The fifth and final layout was also based on a design principle class from Get It Scrapped.  This one is from lesson two. Again, this layout is not completely in line with the design principles but I'm happy with how it came together. I'm also happy that by following the class I was able to make this layout pretty quickly.



In case anyone is interested, here is a quick video showing the layouts and explaining some of the product and what I did on each layout.

FiLoMa's Layout Share #1/2016
Layouts made from FMAK #5/2015 Triad


Cheers FiLoMa