Believe and Family - Lauren Tomecek

Hello chipboard fans. This is a very sad post for me, as it is my last design team reveal after 5 years with Scrapmatts. I have had such a great time on the team, made fantastic friends and loved every day of working with the amazing designs.

My last two reveals are both created for CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration. First up is the reveal for the current December challenge. I've used a 2016 Santa photo and can't believe how much older my boy looks in just one year. That wonderful title piece comes from CB6111 Assorted Words 27.

I love the range of reindeer chipboard designs available and had this lovely guy left over for a while now from CB5050 Reindeer 07. The 'falling snow' in the background uses the ST5003 stencil, first with gesso applied through it and then a bead mixture with matte medium once the gesso was dry. 

I loved the CB1053 Christmas Ornaments 03 and just coated them in some silver embossing powder. My flourishes are offcuts from CB4069, inked in black for contrast. 

If you want to see the CSI reveal, it is based on the below image. I used Christmas/winter elements, silver, circular elements and something fuzzy. I actually forgot all about the journaling component though. :(

Design number two was actually created for November's mid-month reveal so has already gone live on the CSI blog. My family travelled from all around the east coast of Australia to attend Harrison's 3rd birthday party and I was able to grab a photo of us all together. 

I've used a couple of different chipboard pieces in this one. I like using the shaped pieces to add some extra dimension to my backgrounds. If you cut them up they will last for ages, I've actually only used half of a sheet of CB5142 Retro Squares 02 on this layout but it looks like much more. The title comes from CB6105 Assorted Words 23.

I have used CB5056 Twigs 02 along the bottom of the photo to mirror the trees in the background of my photo. 

 I was inspired by the repeating squares/rectangles of 'The Scene' and used that to build up my paper layers. I loved 'The Scheme' with the focus on brown/green/white. My 'Evidence' includes clips, leaves, stamp, button, tags and string. My 'Testimony' has been written on a tag.

Thank you so much for looking at my work over the past 5 years. I hope it has inspired you in some way and look forward to seeing what you can create with Scrapmatts products. If you want to keep seeing more of my work please check out my blog or Instagram.

My Boys - Lauren Tomecek

I'm normally a pretty bright and colourful scrapbooker but this month I've taken it to the extreme! First up I have a rainbow explosion page with a photo of my husband. I told him if he wants to take silly selfies then he should expect to see them on a layout. :)

I started by doodling my background in Gelatos, then washing that out with some water and playing with how the drips ran. The background has some extra texture as I applied gesso through stencil ST5003 on the left and right sides. The heart topiary (CB1110 Topiaries 01) is a classic chipboard piece, I've used two packs in my time with Scrapmatts. CB4063 Leaf Spray 13 flourishes in black provide some contrast to all the colour. I've used CB1159 Hearts 05 in the red, CB1166 Cupids 01 in white mist finish in the purple and CB6116 Assorted Words 29 for my title.  

My second layout for this month is another bright and colourful boy themed layout about my son and his messy feet. They are always running or jumping or climbing or kicking.

I really wanted to capture the 'messy' aspect of having an active toddler, while still keeping a 'clean' layout design. The paint splatter stencils ST1009 and ST5010 were perfect to create that effect, using a little bit of mist. I mixed the same mist in with some texture paste and painted the title pieces from CB4055 Assorted Words 09 as well as some CB1078 Gears 05 pieces, you can see the great effect this created in the close ups. I covered a CB5117 Tabs 01 piece with patterned paper and added it to my top cluster.

I also created a little bonus project this month. Harrison had painted these wooden star bases earlier and I was saving them for a 'special occasion'. We had a few elderly neighbours pop round to give him some Easter treats, so I turned the stars into thank you gifts with the addition of a photo and some Scrapmatts chipboard. The sentiment is CB6020 Words 06, coloured with a silver sharpie. I've also added a couple of stars from CB1223 Stars 03 painted with acrylic paint.

Birthday Card - Lauren Tomecek

Hello chipboard fans. It's great to be back on the 2016 design team, I'm so excited to see how different everyone's styles are. Unfortunately, having my reveal day moved to earlier in the month has caught me off guard, so I only have one card to share today.

 

 

I've mixed CB6018 Words 02 Happy Birthday and CB5137 Ornate Toppers 01 with the ST5003 stencil.

 

I did have an amazing shaker card to share too, but I already gave it to my husband and he took it to work before I could get a photo. :(