So why did you choose that👇?

 Today I'm back to share a layout made using a bunch of odds and ends 

that I had left over in my hoarder-like chipboard collection 😜 

I thought it migth be a good opportunity to unpack the reasoning behind colour and embellishment choices.

I've been a scrappr for about 25 years now so when I say I have 'leftovers' ...

I mean I have enough to open a small shop! lol 😬 

So I don't reach for the 'perfect' paper to go with a photo anymore... I reach for the ones I can make work from my extrodinaryly large stash of papers, but here's what I found to be true on this journey - with the right colours and some coordinating embellishments it turns out its quite easy to use up all those last few bits of chippies in the bottom of packets, the leftover stickers and the random bits of paper floating around from a long gone collection! 

For example ...

here I've pulled in a hanging light, a bunch of word tiles and a title I had been hanging onto for ages.

 

By inking them all brown it pulled the whole layout together nicely and complimented some of the more pronounced colours on the papers as well as complimenting the tones in the pictures. 

  

But something had to be done to address that giant teal shirt my son has on in the picture - it really dominates the whole scene, so I used a similar coloured paper for the border and linked the photo and borders together by adding this simple chainlink-fence backgound stencil and some teal ink.

I used the large stencil from this set for this page, but I usually use the middle size one for busier layouts with more on them (and the small one for cards). I ALWAYS buy my stencils in sets like this now for this very reason - I love the versatility of size variations. 

Simple, yet so effective for tying 

colours and elements of layouts together!

Next I'm sharing this very busy step card - 

that was quite a challenge for me to make!

 I made it for my wild and beautiful daughter and I was determined to make the card FOR her - which meant it couldnt really be my usual style.  My daughter is increadibly perceptive and if I made her a card in my usual style she would just brush it off as 'mum gave me one of her fussy cards' lol 😆 

So I had to create somethng here that reflected her personality ... 

Wild, messy and free!

The paper itself was more than enough all on its own but I was determined to add in some little touches that showed I had gone to effort. 

One of the Scrapmatts small 'Happy Birthday' titles was perfect for the main content.

And then to contribute to the overall 'messy garden' feel I added in this twig I had left over from this lovely branch and birds set. 

The other embellishments were pretty much just added to give it that 'I just wandered into this field of wild flowers' look. I struggled with how busy this ended up - even the number 'eighteen' at the top I woud have prefered to have mounted nicely on a backing strip and displayed prominitely somewhere, but once again, in an effort to make it less about me and more about the person recieving it, I atempted to relax a bit into a more casual style 💚

And thats it from me today folks... thanks for bearing with me to the end of my creative ramblings. 

I hope you enjoy your own creative adventures until next time. 

Cheers, Kel xo

It's all in the details!

 

Hello creative community ...

I'm back again this month sharing some new creations - no themes this time, just some random pages and a step card I made recently. 

I'm actually on a mission at the moment to do something productive with a bunch of spare photos I have collected ... these have been kicking around in my study for a while so it's time for them to find homes on beautiful papers with some gorgeous detailed embellishments 💚

This is what I love most about Scrapmatts chipboards and stencils - they are incredibly versatile as far as creating your own co-ordinating embellishments goes. All I really need these days is one nice sheet of paper, a patterned stencil for the background and some chipboards I can custom colour 👌

Some pink ink finished off these words perfectly!

And these leaf spray chipboards look awesome with just some 

gold coloured ink added then touched with brown on the edges.

 

I used gold ink on these lovely detailed chippies then filled the lamp 

with liquid pearls to give the finished product a luminescent feel.

 

...and of course I couldn't resist a little bit of background action -

using this cobblestone stencil and ground coffee coloured ink to 

add interest to the flat background paper.

Then there were the little extras I just keep shoving in! lol 😜

- I'm not a fan of doing lots of journaling on my layouts so simple

 expressive words like these help me convey meaning in my pages 

without all the extra writing 💚

Here is my second offering - a layout put together with much the same formula as the last - 

* A beautiful sheet of paper

* A piece of card stock that helps tie in the colours in the photo

* A background stencil to lift my coordinating colour 

* A bunch of chipboard embellishments that compliment and convey meaning

* A few butterflies and flowers I just couldn't resist lol😉

These simple word pack are my go-to solutions for creating easy titles AND they save 

me a small fortune on buying elaborate procreated title embellishments.

 

I was keen to bring some of that blue into my background paper so I used this beautiful

stencil to lightly add a pattern to my background.

  

And the birds - of course - I truly believe that success lies in all 

these tiny details when it comes to creating beautiful unique layouts.

.  

My photo was taken on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River so I added in these lovely 

bullrush chipboards to compliment the photo

... the 'CAUTION - GIRLS AHEAD' sign was just added as good advice! 😜

And once more - I let these perfect and already finished chipboard words do my journaling for me...

And last but not least, I'm sharing a card I made for a very special friend...

She's a card maker too so really didn't need another Happy Birthday offering.

Instead I made sure I created something that would let her know how I feel about our friendship 💙

These are the perfect size for the front of cards! 

Of corse I'm up to my old tricks here again - journaling the easy way with chippie words 👌

 

.  

Our favourite thing to do is sit and chat - this park bench will resonate with my mate when I give her this card - its s beautiful when you can communicate so much with one simple image! 💙💙💙

It's been great sharing with you again, happy creating people.

Cheers,

Kel

xo

There's always room for a stencil...

Have you ever got the end of creating a page or card

 and just sat there thinking 

'theres something missing' or 

'it just needs a little something extra...'! ?

For me the chances are that 'something' is one of 3 items ...

1. Bling

2. Butterflies

3. Stencilling

Even though stencilling is much easier to add at the start of a layout (as it sits under embellishments), I often find myself adding it on at the end just to flesh out a page. That can be quite a challenge as you might imagine, so these days I just tend to start with stencils as a matter of course! In fact my new 

creative motto is...

'There's always room for a stencil' 😂

Here are three examples ...

Click on ANY picture in this post to be taken to the corresponding product in the Scrapmatts online shop 👍

The hero stencil for this layout is the fabulous leaf spray... Quick, easy, and versatile, this stencil should be a stable in everyones creative box 💜

My title was a classic Scrapmatts chipboard ... 

I always keep a good amount of these general titles on hand for making either cards or layouts...

a bit of dew drop ink and you are good to go 😉

This is an awesome little chipboard embellishment pack that's fantastic for adding whimsical detail to layouts, both with indoor and outdoor garden themes. 

And these little additions are so simple to toss onto any project that I keep a bunch in my stash as well.... simple flourishes with a frame are awesome for corner embellishing.

.    

I also popped some Ornate Toppers on the page just to make it a bit more fancy... and to ensure I had extra brown elements on the layout beside the hanging lamp and the bird .

When it comes to composition it's important to remember that 

colour creates as much balance as spacial placement.

The stencil I used for this layout is the cute little A6 Heart design.

This is by far my most used stencil - I cant say why for sure - maybe because I scrap my kids and husband so much and I just love them all to bits?? lol 

In any case, these little hearts allow me to tie the whole layout together using the same coloured ink that 

I use on other chipboards and elements with inked edges. 💙

  

This gorgeous chipboard needs very little embellishment as it is just divine all by itself so I just added some of the blue ink to it before laying it across the base of the photo.

This title was a bit of a cut and paste job. I had previously cut the heart off this title to use on a card and just had the words 'A heart full of' left over. I NEVER toss my leftovers out, they get stored for latter use and sure enough I was able to rearrange some letters to make a new title!

I love how versatile chipboard is 

and the way we can use each piece any way we want!

FOLLOW ME CARD

And here we are back with the heart stencil again!! 😝🧡

when it comes to cards the quickest and easiest way to get colour matched 

elements happening is with stencils.

...while the rest is simply sentiments and embellishments...

.  

... a well placed journalling panel never hurt either! 😏

.   

And thats it from me for another month...

I hope you have been inspired to pull out those fabulous stencils

 in your stash and put them to good use.

Cheers form Kel.

P.S. All of the papers I've used this month have come from the Colour Blast 'Love and Grace' paper collection.