Saturday, January 14, 2012

Shiny Chipboard

Following on from yesterday's post, I wanted to show you my altered chipboard word.



















I chose 'adore' because to me, it fit with the Romance theme, and it fit the photo for my layout.


I coloured my chipboard word with Smooch (in Carrot). Wait for it to dry, then applied Glossy Accents over the top in a thick layer. The Smooch adds a little shimmer, and the Glossy Accounts finishes the chipboard so it's shiny and looks like it was store bought.

To keep the chipboard still while I Smooched and Glossed, I adhered it to my work mat. I only removed it after it was completely dry. Adhering it to my work mat also meant I could move the whole mat out of my way so I could keep working without worrying about smudging my drying artwork!

How do you alter chipboard?

Friday, January 13, 2012

Romance Challenge




I love this time of year. Everything seems fresh and new. People plan for the year ahead and are excited about what the new year holds for them.



I'm excited about the Team Training Days (TTD's) being held this weekend. Kaszazz release new products three times a year - January, May and September. The new products released in January just add to the beginning of the year excitement for me. The TTD's are where consultants get to view and play with the new products before they're released on Monday - it's so much fun!


Before each TTD, Kaszazz put out a bit of a challenge. This time round, the challenge was to create something with a Romance theme that features at least one photo that is not standard size (6x4). Of course, we are only allowed to use current Kaszazz products.



Usually I get an idea for the challenge, but am still working on it the day before TTD. This time has only one exception - I didn't get an idea straight away! If the challenge didn't include a photo, I might have done a little better with my idea. I'm a better cardmaker than I am a scrapbooker (or at least in my own mind).

Yesterday I was reminded of the challenge, and with only two days before TTD, I knew I had only two choices: 1. Not enter the challenge, and miss out on the fun of creating something from scratch, with guidelines; 2. Get an idea, and get working on it! I decided to go for option 2! Having a challenge is great as it allows (or maybe forces) you to think differently. I love this process! It's like exercising your creativity!

Unlike so many scrapbookers, I don't take a lot of photos. This is where I usually run into problems when creating layouts. As it turned out, I happened to have some photos of my nieces on my desk that they'd sent us for Christmas. Double bonus! The photos are great, and I've been after them for a while, so this solved my first issue of a photo. Second issue - which photo do I use and can I use it for a Romance theme? I got out my cardstock and paper, and tried each photo on paper and cardstock I thought would work, before narrowing it down to one photo and a few colours.




My next obstacle was how to make the layout fit into the Romance theme. I decided that Romance can mean many things. It's not just limited to candle-lit dinners and twilight strolls in the park. Something (or in this case, someone) beautiful can also be romantic. Isn't that where we get our ideas of romance from in the first place? When we see something beautiful? In a person, in nature, in something someone said?


My layout is almost done now.  As I look at it, I'm happy with what I've done, but I know it needs something extra. That's just my creative process - sometimes I need to let my projects sit on my desk before I get an idea (the inspiration) that will finish it off (hopefully I get the idea before tomorrow)!

Tomorrow I want to share with you how I altered a chipboard word to match my project. In the meantime, I thought it'd be fun to extend this challenge to you! If you had the opportunity to participate in this challenge, what would you create? Leave me a comment below, or add a link to your own 'entry' for this challenge! What's your idea of Romance?

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Happy New Year!!

Wow! I can hardly believe we're already in 2012! The past few days I've been planning out the year as best I can and it's already looking like a busy year!

Thank you for following my posts in 2011 - it's been exciting starting a blog and I'm hoping to keep it going strong through 2012!

Here's wishing you a very crafty year!

Happy New Year!