Crazy For You

Hi everyone,

It's Heather here. I hope your Christmas was wonderful and that you're relaxed and just enjoying it all now.

In between shopping and wrapping I've been scrapping with the new kit from Scrappy Chat Designs. This kit is a beauty! I love the colours in the papers and I've had heaps of fun with the paperclay.

First up, I have a very clean layout (well, it is for me anyway!) This is a photo of my gorgeous nephew, Archie.

Aww, just look at that face! I can't remember why he looked like that but it was just something minor. And yes, the pic is slightly out of focus. But it clearly showed his expression so I decided to use it anyway.

I had a lot of fun layering those pieces from the kit around the photo. The two 'frames' are actually just the paper from around the 'Rough and Tumble' ticket and the journalling block. I used a punch to punch out some star shapes that were on the papers and I cut out tickets and zigzags to create that clean, crisp look. There are lots of words on the tickets and papers and many of them were so appropriate to Archie's rough and tumble personality.

Those of you who have the kit might be wondering why I've got four of that particular Dusty Attic arrow chippy on there when you didn't get four. Well I didn't get four of that particular arrow either! What I did get though was the negative shape the chippes were in so I took out my paperclay that came with the kit and pressed it into the negative shapes. When they were dry I removed them and painted them. This is a great way to make your own shapes.  You can use anything that gives you a shape but it needs to be around the thickness of chippy to work well. Have a look through your stash and see what you can find.

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a healthy, happy and scrappy 2014. Thank you all so much for your support and wonderful comments throughout the year. Blogging forges a special connection between us crazy scrappers which I very much appreciate.

Ho ho ho!
Heather

Lovable Smile kit release

Here is something to keep you busy over the Christmas holidays!  Yes another great kit to help you learn some new techniques, play with product you possibly haven't before and create 3 fun layouts.

Our new kit is here....

Head on over to our Facebook page and you can see sneaks of the other two layouts you can create with the kit all with the assistance of videos for all three layouts!  

This kit features some cool less consumable product and filled with LOADS of techniques to learn!  All teamed up with newly released Carta Bella papers.  There is Dusty Attic chipboard, We R Memory Keepers washi tape, Cardstock, Maya Road ric rac & twine, Kaisercraft background stamp, paperclay, and exclusive release metallic melts!  As you can see this kit is jam packed with product for you to get creative with!   

Spellbinders dies have been used in the creation of the layouts, and whilst not included in the kit, are very easily adapted patterns for those that do not own a die cutting machine.  Dies can be purchased with your kit, so advise if you are interested in these when ordering.  Dies used in this kit are Petite Scalloped Circles large & Labels twenty-two.  

The techniques are quite unique and so I have included THREE videos to help you nail them for each layout.   

Kits are still $39 + Postage with LOADS of value for you money. 

Here is some more information for those wanting a to know little more information about our kits.

They are self-paced class kits to complete in the comfort of your own home or with a group of friends

We also have some VERY exciting news coming up with this kit so stay tuned!  It will mean even MORE inspiration and techniques to learn!

Each premier kit comes with:

• Video AND written  instructions of the featured project
• Tips (and sometimes additional technique videos) to complete additional projects with the kit contents
• Feature a particular technique or product to be used well after the life of the kit.  (With all of our kits you will have plenty of product and knowledge to add to future projects)
• Photos of each project including close up detail pictures
• All the product needed to complete the project with a list of additional basic items used such as ink/ paint/ gesso/texture paste you will need out of your supplies.

The kits focus on how to use various products teamed up with some pretty paper to compliment them, so there is always less or non-consumable products in our kits, to not only help you complete some beautiful projects, learn many techniques and ways of using the different product as well as taking them well beyond the kit projects.

Kits are $39 + postage and come out monthly

To order e-mail us at orders.scrappychatdesigns@gmail.com

Scrappy Chat Designs Kit club Membership:

This lasts for 3 months is $135 and includes 3 kits at 5% off and postage for all 3 kits (they are released monthly).  As a member you also get ‘insider’ info on what is coming up in the next kit – sometimes even a pic!  You are also guaranteed the kits which do sometimes sell out VERY quickly.  If you are interested in membership, you need to pay the membership fee by the 15^th of the month prior.  So to commence in February (next kit to be released) you need to have your membership fee paid by 15^th January.

Current Kit stocks:
Check out the side bar on the right for kits still in stock.  The numbers are now VERY limited on each of these.

We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Safe and happy New Year! 

Remember, not to hide away scrapping ALL the time and get out there and make the memories to scrapbook as well, and this time of year is one of those special times of the year to do it even more!  

Next kit sneak and a Christmas special

The next Scrappy chat kit is not far away so I thought I would share with you a sneak as to what is in side!

This kit is full of real boy fun so it was a really easy one for me to create the three layouts that you will have the videos and instructions to be able to re-create yourself!!  I'll be showing you some really cool techniques in this one.  Heather will also be joining us again providing her beautiful inspiring layouts.  Keep checking out the blog and/or Facebook to keep up with all the happenings.  

We still have some of the Christmas kit left so if you want to get your hands on one you might need to get in quick as for any orders placed and PAID by December 18th you will get free postage!!!  Yes you read that... free post on the Merry Christmas to You kit.  Again a kit where you will have the videos and instructions to be able to re-create yourself.  Head on over to the kit release post info for all the details.  

A Claytons Christmas Layout

Hi there!

I confess, you probably have to be over 40 and Australian to understand the title of this blog post. To those who aren't both of those, Claytons was (and is it still?) a non- alcoholic drink that advertised itself as being 'the drink you have when you're not having a drink'. Well this is the layout you make with Christmas papers when you're not making a Christmas layout!

This is my third layout for this month's kit for Scrappy Chat Designs. The kit is a Christmas themed one, but my challenge was to make a non-Christmas layout with it. After all, don't we all end up with all those Christmas papers that we don't know what to do with for the rest of the year?

So here's my non-Christmas layout using the Christmas range of Simple Stories papers:

For those of you who are regular followers of my blog, yes that is my daughter on the left. She has dyed her hair black!

When you're using a themed paper range for a different purpose, look for the more general papers or even sections of papers that you can utilise. I cut out sections of papers about 3 x 4 inches that didn't include specific Christmas items. I then decorated each piece, rounded the corners and inked and stitched the edges. Here's a closie of one piece:

I used scraps to make the banner and to decorate the individual sections. On some I added punched borders or flowers and cut shapes such as hearts and arrows. The Liquid Pearls from the kit made great flower centres and added a bright touch as well.

The chipboard flourish was lots of fun to play with. I first applied VersaMark ink to the flourish part only then covered this lightly with Metallic Melts. I heated this to create that gorgeous beaten copper effect. Metallic Melts aren't quite available commercially yet but you can inquire here in the meantime. I then painted the title section and, when it was dry, added a light layer of VersaMark again and sprinkled a very light layer of Metallic Melts on this section. I heated this so I just got that sprinkled effect. I then stuck my title on top.

My letter stickers really didn't like sticking to the uneven surface that I created so I had to glue them down with Helmar 450 glue. They took a bit of convincing but they stuck in the end!

Here's a closie of the effect the Metallic Melts created when I used them in the method described above.

That's all from me today. See you soon.

Heather

Heather shows us a how to with the new kit

Hi there,  Heather here again with another share.

I hope your week has been a good one and you're on top of the demands of the crazy season.

I've had fun scrapping with the Merry Christmas kit. I had these great photos of my family discovering the snow machine last Christmas Eve when we were out looking at the Christmas lights. My son and I knew the machine was there so we planted my unsuspecting parents underneath it. The machine started up and covered mum, dad and Connor in 'snow'. It was really funny. I had so many photos that I decided to go for a double page layout. I added two sheets of white cardstock for the double page background but, apart from that, everything is from the kit.

And here are the two pages individually cos it's a bit hard to see details on a double page:

OK - so here's how I made the "Let it snow" background.

Firstly, I cut the words 'Let it snow' from an old piece of thick paper using my Cricut machine. It doesn't matter what you use to cut the letters - all you need is the negative shape of your chosen letters. These can even be the shapes left over from letter stickers. I then used clear VersaMark ink through the stencil before I applied the grey Pan Pastel from the kit on top of that using a make-up sponge. The VersaMark helps anchor the Pan Pastel to the page.

I applied the Pan Pastel unevenly to create a bit of depth and interest to my words.  I placed the words where I wanted them, keeping in mind that a lot of the background would be covered with photos and embellies. The words can be placed as randomly or as evenly as you like. On a double page, ensure at least one word crosses the two pages to help link them together. When I had finished, I sprayed the background lightly with hair spray to seal the Pan Pastels. It also made my page smell lovely!

I then built my layout on top of the background, letting enough words peek out so the saying was instantly recognisable. I also added the same words using the letters stickers for the title. The saying/song title is so appropriate to this page that I really wanted to accentuate it.

I fussy-cut quite a few items from the papers to create my embellies and stapled the string across the two pages. I glued the string in place where I had to cut it at the join. One of the postcards made a perfect journaling block. My mum's name is Joy so I couldn't resist adding the 'Peace, Love, Joy' words under my pics. I punched some snowflakes from the paper as well.

If you're one of the lucky people with this kit I really hope you have lots of fun with it.

Cheers for now,

Heather