Today is your last day for the month girls to get your comments in - remember every comment earns you an entry into the prize draw to win a $15 ScrapAWhile voucher!!

So don’t miss out!

Thats right girls - you read correctly!!

We have a tutorial online this Saturday night - 5th December at 7.30pm.

So jump over to the forum and register for - Bring on the Sunshine!!

Packs are still available from the online store and shop for $10.

Bring On The Sunshine this summer with some fun and easy techniques to inject life and vitality into your pages. My tips on making your own embellishments will prove that you don’t always need a stack of product to create a beautiful layout that is truly unique. So get your black pen and sewing machine ready and I’ll meet you online!
Keep an eye out on the forum for a full list of materials and tools you need to create your page.

Here’s a little sneak peak on what we’ll be doing

Yes we are having a sale here at ScrapAWhile so jump onto the shop and grab a bargain or come in and find yourself a nice bundle of goodies at a great price. 

ALL Kaiser, Bella, Birch, GCD, MLS & Darkroom Door papers HALF PRICE!!

Get ready girls and register here for Penny’s tutorial - Bring on the Sunshine!!Saturday 5th December at 7.30pm - Packs are available from the online store and shop.

Bring On The Sunshine this summer with some fun and easy techniques to inject life and vitality into your pages. My tips on making your own embellishments will prove that you don’t always need a stack of product to create a beautiful layout that is truly unique. So get your black pen and sewing machine ready and I’ll meet you online!
Keep an eye out on the forum for a full list of materials and tools you need to create your page.

Here’s a little sneak peak on what we’ll be doing

Review

Barnyard Buddies by Penny Hackney

The cute and comical farm animals are the stars of these delightful Barnyard Buddies double sided papers and stickers by Reminisce.  But if you think you are going to be limited to creating pages about petting zoos, the local show and farm stays, you would be mistaken!

You will also find the cutest suns and clouds, and the reverse side of the papers feature versatile plains, stripes and (my personal fave) polka dots.  The unusual but surprisingly fresh colour combination of taupe, deep burgundy, sunshine yellow and duck egg blue could work just as easily on a boy page, a girl page, a beach theme or even for a heritage style.

But, living on a cattle property, I just had to take the opportunity to showcase this collection of photos of my youngest daughter, Mia, getting up to all sorts of mischief around the farm. 

Kraft cardstock is the perfect base for this range, but white or black would really pop too.

The picture of the piled-up animals had great potential as my main embellishment.  By cutting it out from the patterned paper, although a bit fiddly to do, it gives you the freedom to move it around wherever you like. With so many embellishments available to play with, I kept the background fairly simple with the taupe polka dots (although the other side was covered in the cutest sheep!), adding a thin plain blue strip and a fun hand drawn scalloped border along the bottom. 

When using several photos, I find it handy to have them printed two to a 6×4 print, so they are essentially half-size.  You can do this at a photo booth by selecting the packages option.  I grouped my photos horizontally on my layout, leaving plenty of space around them for decorating.

The sun and cloud were cut from one of the patterned papers, and I drew another cloud from a scrap of the blue.  The pack of word stickers is fantastic value - 66 in one packet!  They look great stacked together along the edge of a layout or a photo mat.  The packet also includes a couple of full length border stickers - don’t be afraid to cut them up as I did!

The journaling sticker pack has some lovely matching journaling spots in a variety of shapes.  If they seem too small for the amount of journaling you wish to write, a few grouped together does the trick - and looks funky too.

Lastly, I added to the “cute” feel by mimicking the black pen lines of cartoon drawings - around my photos, background papers and embellishments.  This is a really easy technique and a great introduction to doodling!

What’s Happening

Wednesday 11^th November – Layout Class

6.30pm – 8.30pm

Thursday 12^th November – Book Class

10.00am – Midday

Friday 12th November – Crop Night

Starts 6pm finishes Midnight

Saturday 14^th November – Forster Crop

Holy Name School

Forster

6pm  - midnight

Monday 23^rd November - Crop & Scones

Terracotta Teahouse, Failford Road

10am – 2pm

$25.00

Bookings are required for all ScrapAWhile events – contact us on 6551 7776 or email scrapbooking@iinet.net.au

TECHNIQUE TIME:

With Amanda Rixon

Shabby Chic Scrapbooking

What is Shabby Chic?

Originally shabby chic was a form of interior design where furniture and furnishings were selected because of their age and signs of wear and tear or alternatively new items were distressed to achieve the appearance of being an antique.

Shabby chic items are often heavily painted with layers of different colours showing through obviously worn areas. The style can be achieved by ‘faux painting’ using glaze or paint then rubbing and sanding away the top coat to show the base coat of a different colour. Fabrics tend to be cottons and linens, with linen being particularly popular, inspired by old French linens. Whites and worn pastels are favorite colours. Fabric is often stained with tea to give it the look of old fabric. Bleached and faded are terms often applied to the style.

Thus the essence of shabby chic style is vintage and antique while features are painted white or soft pastel and distressed at the edges and corners by sanding. It is a soft, relaxed feminine style that looks comfortable and inviting and thus translates perfectly to a scrapbooking layout.  Some things seem to get better with age and use so recreating the well-worn vintage look through the use of distressing, inking and layering, then sanding, paint on pattern paper, cardstock, embellishments and even photographs is sure to produce unique and attention grabbing layouts.

Shabby chic works well with heritage photographs but it is not limited just to these; black and white photos or coloured photos converted to sepia work equally as well. So read on to find out how to highlight your photos using a range of techniques in shabby chic scrapping style………………………..

Getting the look:

Sanding:

Nothing scratches like sandpaper so this is the fundamental tool for shabby scrappers. It works best on cardstock or a heavy weight patterned paper with a light-colored core. Use a medium grade sandpaper so it’s strong enough to roughen up the surface but won’t rip your papers and cardstock to shreds. Rub sandpaper over just about any scrapping product and instantly an aged, timeworn look is achieved. The direction in which you sand (up and down, backwards and forward or even round in circles) is entirely up to you and dependant the look you wish to create.  The pressure for sanding is also one of personal preference but heavy sanding will give deeper scratches and more ragged paper whilst a light rub will give you a softer, more minimalist effect. After sanding use a soft cloth to brush away all the particles before adding embellishments or photos to the layout.

For gentle sanding or small, hard to get at areas (like the edges of a chippie alpha) try using an emery board. It’s great for edges too as there’s more control over where the distressing is placed when compared to a piece of folder sandpaper.

Steel Wool:

Rubbing glossy stickers, die cuts or bright patterned paper with a fine to medium steel wool will give these products a more subdued, aged look. Rub slightly harder around the edges and dust with brown chalk to heighten the aged effect. Just a hint - use the steel wool prior to adhering the items to the layout.

Wire Brushing:

There is less control when using a wire brush rather than sandpaper so the brush tends to leave paper surfaces more nappy and rough. Spray heavy paper/cardstock lightly with water before using the wire brush for a better finish. Brush in one direction and the top layer of the paper or cardstock roll off. Don’t scrape this layer off; but let it dry and harden for a rough, uneven surface.

Sponging:

Use of an archival stamp pad will give cardstock and pattern paper a timeworn feel. Try experiementing with different applicators  such as a dishwashing sponge, wadded plastic wrap, bath sponge, wrinkled aluminum foil, sea sponge or even a rolled-up mesh orange bag. Cover it with inak then daub onto the paper or cardstock.

Wrinkling:

To create a wrinkled texture in paper or cardstock dampen the surface first then scrunch it up into a ball. Flatten it out and repeat the process until the desired texture is achieved.  Most pattern paper is easy to wrinkle as it tends to be thinner than cardstock which may require the application of more water to make it workable. Ironing the cardstock after it’s been wrinkled helps fix the texture.

For additional depth and character tear the edges of the wrinkled paper and chalk them lightly with black or brown chalked for an additional aged or even burnt look.

Re-crimping:

Achieve a leathery leathery by running a piece of cardstock through a paper crimper serveral times changing direction each time. Try this with photo mats and die cuts for great looking page accents.

Aging:

Use an eyedropper to squeeze drops of tea onto light-colored cardstock or splatter paper with a wet toothbrush dipped in archival ink. Use archival inks around the edges of just about anything to enhance the shabby chic look.

Painting in layers:

Coat page elements with at least 2 layers of paint using a lighter colour as the base and a darker coloir as the top coat. Allow each layer to dry before applying the next coat. Once all the layers have dried lightly sand the surface to reveal glimpses of the colour underneath. For a more dramatic effect use a crackle medium between the layers. This technique works on just about any scrapping product that can be painted but works especially well with metal embellishments.

Distressing kits:

Scrapping manufacturers like Basic Grey and Kaiser have produced kits to make shabbying up you scrapping supplies much easier. There’s sanding tools and files of various sizes and textures specifically designed for scrappers.

Another great tool to enhance the shabby chic look is the Heidi Swapp Edge Distressor; a really easy to use and nifty little item that has just got to be a part of every scrapper’s stash.

Have fun, experiment and try out some of these techniques in your layouts to create an aged and well loved look along with a soft and warm atmosphere.

We are very fortunate to have the talented Penny Hackney as our Designer of the Month.

I met Penny some time ago and have since been a frequent visitor of her blog and a fan of her work.  She is planning a great challenge for the forum this month plus will be doing a tutorial on Saturday 6th December (more details soon)

Here is just a selection of her fantastic layouts

Last Friday night was our annual Girls Night In Fundraiser.  Lots of laughs and lots of fun.  The girls all wore their bra’s (on the outside) and then we scrapped them. 

Played musical scrapbooking as well which was great cause everyone got a page finished! 

 If you come around the shop you will be able to see some decorated bras  - thanks to the girls.

Pink Packs for sale

Cute little heart boxes (made with the Do Craft Template) made by Linda

Bron and Janine hard at it!

Musical Scrapbooking time!

Getting the page done and singing to the music!

Another layout in action in Muscial Scrapbooking!

And then the fun began!!

Mother!

Daughter!

One of the decorated bras

Getting ready to scrap

Who owns this mystery blue bra??

Gwenda and Janine - out the front!

Janine

Outside the shop playing up!!