How Did You Do That?

I have been asked how some of the artwork has been created,  so thought I would start posting some "how to" pages to share with you the process I or others have gone through to create our art. 

Supplies are: Sophisticated Ladies, white tissue paper, re-positionable spray adhesive, candle, grease-proof paper, and heatgun.

 Hope you enjoy.

Garden Journaling

Hi! It's Natasha here with the latest "goings on" from "The Brambles". "The Brambles" is the unofficial name for my garden and I'm sure I do not need to tell you why! 

I've been journaling my garden on The Brambles blog since June 2013. The style of my journal has evolved over that time and no surprises, but I'm currently scrapping booking it :)

It all starts with me each week taking a note of what I've seen in the garden and the little stories of the "goings on". When the flowers are out I like to take photos of them, and the birds and wildlife if possible. Luckily flowers are not as camera shy as birds and squirrels :) Some weeks have more "goings on" than others! These range from the rubber ducks in the pond ending up on the garage roof to the friendly Ms Blackbird that keeps Steve, my partner, company whilst he is out cleaning the car! She's really got it sussed though and knows she'll get some extra mealworms :)

Here are my top two tips for journaling gardens:

1. Journaling Tip - keep a notebook handy to write down what you see, so you don't forget.
2. Photography Tip - make sure your camera is ready go with charged batteries and an empty memory card.

I find that scrapbooking is a great way to create my journal with. For times when I am short of photos or journaling I add more scrapbook elements. I use kits that fit with the time of year and the elements are therefore a great match.

I create my log book layouts as 8x8 inch size as this size works for printing out on an A4 printer on A4 card (and then trimmed to size).

It's fun just to try out different ideas and when I find something I like I alter it for the month. This gives a little consistency to my log book but also the freedom to change it too for each new month.

To create last weeks Brambles page I've really mixed and matched Lynne's amazing kits, using the following:

• Shutterbug
• Journey
• A Scrap of Yellow
• Back to Basics
• Tatty Treasures

As always we'd love to see what you've been creating with Lynne's kits, so don't forget to share a link in the comments and we'll be sure to pop over and take a look. It's bye for now, I'll be back soon, Natasha :)

P.S. If you'd like to catch up with my blog "The Brambles" hop over to it here: The Brambles, a tale of a garden.

Scrapbooking with Word Art

Hello! I know it's been a while since I last posted but I've been keeping up to date with your layouts in the gallery and I'm totally inspired them. They just make me say WOW! Amazing crafting with Lynne's kits and many other wonderful designers too :)

Today, I am taking a look at Word Art. Lynne creates such beautiful Word Art kits and in this layout I'm using A Scrap of Yellow WordArt. I'm also using her wonderful kit A Scrap of Yellow.

Instead of starting out with a photo, journaling or even an idea I decided to start this project by selecting one of the word arts. Next I added a background paper, some overlays and a few elements to make the basis of my page. 

Now I focused on the word art that I had chosen. I thought about what it brought to mind. And this was a number of photography projects I'd completed for an A level in photography I took part time a few years ago. I journaled how I thought about one of the projects. How I got over the difficulties by imagining the end product and not initially how I would get there in real terms. My journaling fitted perfectly with another word art, which was great for ending this section with.

To finish off the page I added two of the photographs that I'd taken for the project. These photographs were a little too colourful and the wrong colours for the page. So I turned them black and white, which I think has worked perfectly. Finally I added frames to them and my layout was complete.

I loved this way of putting my page together by starting with the word art. It was a great way to think about what those words were saying to me and then visualising them on paper, in words and pictures.

I created my layout with the following wonderful kits by Lynne Anzelc Designs:

A Scrap of Yellow WordArt

A Scrap of Yellow

Now the next part is over to you! We'd love you to take a piece of word art that inspires you and create a layout that is based on what inspires you from the words. Then we'd like you to share the layout you've created by adding a comment and link into comments below. We hope you are inspired to have a go :) I'll be back soon with some more creative ideas and to catch up with your word art pages, until then keep creative, Natasha :)

An update

I have been remiss with my postings, and am grateful Natasha posts her fabulous tutorials!  There have been several new products since my last post, and you can see them to the right of this post, and if you want a closer view, you can just click on the image and it will take you to the shop where there is a description and examples.  But I always love to show you samples of my team's work, so a handful are posted below.  I am planning a blog post of some of my customer's artwork in the near future, how cool is that? Several people gave me approval to show you some of their own artwork using my kits, and I could not be more proud. So keeping checking out my posts to see what some of YOU are doing in the art world.

But for this week, here are some pages from my fabulous CT team, whom I could not imagine doing without.  Thank you Beth, Gina, Judy, Hayley, and Ona you are the best!!

Using Lily Pond

By Judy

by Haley

by Ona

by me :)

Using Purple Rhapsody

by Gina

by Beth

by Judy

Using Aging Beautifully

by Hayley

by Judy

by Beth

by Gina

Thank you for looking

Blending Ideas

Hello :) As you can see I've been doing a spot of blending! No surprises there I know :) I've chosen one photograph, one blend mode; colour burn, and a variety of different papers. The elements are essentially the same in each layout, just a slight difference in one due to the paper used. For each layout it is the paper that changes.

Blending is a great way to liven up a photo, create quick layouts and create pages that attract the eye. I never fail to be amazed at what can be created with the right photo, paper and blend. I've used Lynne's amazing kit Gone Fishing. 

The paper is layered at the bottom, then the elements (for which I reduced the transparency on some or blended with the paper for the others), and the photo is the top layer. The colour burn blend mode is applied to the photo. All of these looks were created by just changing the paper. The Creativity sheets below show which paper I used and the final effect. Why not grab a photo of your own and have a go too :)

Kit by Lynne Anzelc Designs, Gone Fishing.

Creativity Sheets also created with Gone Fishing.

I'm loving getting creative with Lynne's kits and I know you all are too, I've been spying great layouts in the galleries. But we'd also love you to share them here too :) We'd love you to leave a comment and link in comments below. Have a great week scrapping and I'll catch up again soon, bye for now, Natasha :)

Blending Technique with Lily Pond

Hi :) We are just loving the layouts in the galleries that we are seeing. Every day brings more wonderful pages and ideas. Don't forget that we'd love you share a link to a layout using Lynne's kits, so go ahead and add a comment and link in comments below :)

I've been having a play with Lynne's latest kits, Lily Pond and Just a Thought WordArt and Brushes. Lily pond is just gorgeous with its delicate colours, wonderful mix of papers and beautiful embellishments, I just couldn't resist it!

Blending is just one of those techniques that I couldn't do without and today's layout starts out by blending a photo taken with my phone camera into a soft dreamy paper. Take a look at the creativity sheet below to see how I created my Lily Pond layout.

All kits by Lynne Anzelc Designs:
Lily Pond
Just a Thought WordArt and Brushes
Creativity sheet paper and elements are also from Lily Pond.

I'll catch up with you again soon, until then have a great time scrapping, Natasha :)

A Scrap of Art

Newest kit in the shop is A Scrap of Art. Its all about playing with whatever style of art you prefer. Just take some time to create something meaningful to you!

And here is some inspiration from the most fabulous team: