Hi Canaries,

Kate here, sharing some Project Life pages that I created using the September Project Life kit Strawberry Fields & the embellishment kit, Abbey Road. I went to a scrapping camp over the weekend - camp.paper.scissors - and was happy to try to get caught up with my Project Life. I didn't succeed, but I did make a good dent in the outstanding weeks! The spreads below represent 3 weeks over 4 pages.

So, shall we get on with it?


Above is my week 35 spread. I used the papers from the Shimelle range to make all my 4x6 cards, and mixed these with some plain white 3x4 cards that I inked the edges in teal. I also made good use of all the printables this month. They really suited all my photos. Across the 4 pages, I also made a feature of the cork embellishments, also from the Shimelle range. I like how they pulled all the pages together.

Here is a close up of the LHS.



You'll see that I also included the Thickers from the scrapbook kit from this month. I love to use Thickers in my PL, and I always ask Manda if she has purchased extras (from the scrap kit). Most months she has extras, so I just purchase the co-ordinating Thickers to use in my PL. Win win for both of us! I love the labels from the printables, and made good use of them buy cutting in half to label with the day/date. Love my tiny attacher for adding things on. And the Shimelle rub on's! I really like how they turned out as a little extra on the cards.

And now the RHS. I really wasn't sure how I was going to use that clock cork piece. And then I remembered we had been timing Alex on this laps at the BMX track. PERFECT!

I followed the same theme. Patterned paper 4x6, inked white 3x4, cork embellishments & printables. As the year has gone on, I've been finding that I need to simplify my project life, simply to get it done. I find focusing on using a few things repeatedly & then adding in a little stamping - works for me - and enables me to create spread fairly easily. That really is the beauty of using the Scrappy Canary kit. Just lay it all out & apply. All the thinking & matching has been done for you!

Hi Canaries!

Kate here with a beginners tutorial on how to use your stamps for embossing & produce some fabulous results. If you are new to us here at Scrappy Canary, here's a link to a post I did in February with some other stamping tips.

Here's some links to where I've used embossing in my Project Life projects recently. This one here from last month, and this one from earlier this year. As you can see, I love a bit of white embossing powder!! I always find myself reaching for my embossing equipment when the papers in the kit are bright. Not sure why - bright colours seems to be a trigger for me to emboss! And Christmas. I love to do it on Christmas spreads, layouts & cards.

Here's a card I made today with some gold embossing powder on vellum & using the papers from the September Strawberry Field Pocket Life kit. I could also see using this tag with some Christmas papers & sentiment for a lovely, yet easy, card to mass produce.



So first things first - here is a photo of the tools that you will need to do this technique. Yes, it requires an investment - but they last a LONG time! Everything you see in this photo (except the stamps) is over 7 years old.


I hope you've enjoyed my beginners tutorial, and that you might give embossing a go!!

Feel free to leave any questions on the blog or in our VIP room on Facebook.

Till next time,

Kate

Good morning Canaries,

I hope you all had a lovely Fathers Day weekend. I was lucky enough to have a quick visit to Sydney to visit my family. I spent the whole weekend talking! Loved it!

So today I'm sharing a Project Life spread that I created with the "Gypsy" kit & the "Nomad" embellishment kit. To add another little challenge, I decided to try to incorporate the September Sketch into my Project Life kit.  Here's the sketch.

I really love working with kits, because of the mix of fun papers & embellishments they include. There is always something that surprises me (like the arrows this month) that I wouldn't have expected to love so much. I adored this kit. Once I struck on the idea of the sketch & the black background - it really came together easily.

I believe there are still some available in the store here <insert link>. So if you haven't already, please check it out! Also, don't forget there is a fantastic offer on at the moment if you choose to start a subscription. Trust me, you won't regret it!

Good morning everyone!

Hope you are all having a lovely week. Today I'm here showing a layout that I made with a combination of the July kits - Day Trip, Road Trip & Scenic Route. After making a 4 page spread for my Week 26 Project Life with the PL kit, which you can see here, I didn't have too much left over - so I mixed all the kits in. I have LOVED working with these kits - the themes, the colours, everything suited my life surrounded by boys!

So onto the layout.

It all started with that lovely piece of vellum from SC. I think I need more! Then I just built it all up around that. I liked the grey paper - i thought it matched well with the trees in the photo - and the adventure theme of the kits was perfect for our day of exploring the mountains.

I decided to challenge myself a little - instead of doing journalling, I wanted to tell the story using words only - stamps, die cuts, stickers, thickers. I thought by capturing the simple details, I could still tell the story. Here's a close up of the cluster on the top right.


The stamps I used are from Kellie stamps & Papertrey Ink. I just added further to the already printed strips on the paper. It was a cold wintery day in the mountains, but we decided to go anyway. That's the message I wanted to capture in a simple form. The alpha set was contained in the Road Trip scrap kit - the embellishments came from the other two July kits.

Good morning all,

I hope you've had a lovely start to your weekend, with at least a little bit of sunshine! So, I've got a slightly different project to share with you today! You see, I'm getting a little behind with my 2014 Project Life. And if I'm honest, I've been slightly losing my enthusiasm for it. Don't get me wrong, I still love it - but lately, not so much. I have begun sorting out my old photos of my travelling days, and really started reminiscing when I completed this layout with the April kit. My kids are now interested in learning about the world & hearing stories from our travels - and so my new project of 32 Countries was born. An album dedicated to my son's, with a spread or layout per country I have visited.

Today I'll share with you the first 3 pages of this album, using the June Pocket kit - Tea & Toast, Embellishment kit Cocoa & Chocolate and the Add on Pikelets with Maple which is still available in the store. All 3 pages have these kits mixed in together.

Shall we begin!

Good morning friends,

Happy long weekend to you all. Hope you're all enjoying a bit of sunshine where you are! I'm here today to share my Week 19 Project Life spread, using the stunning Tropical Twilight (PL) & Trade Winds (Embellishment) kit from May. I think these kits are my favourite to date (although it's a tight race with the March kit!!). So bright, and cheery & perfect for my Week 19. And full. Jam packed full! So far, I've managed to do 2 x 2 page PL spreads & a layout, with PLENTY more left. I'm thinking I might make a card gift set. Anyway, onto Week 19!



This was the week of Mothers Day, which for us this year meant the Mothers Day classic. For once, I was able to grab, and use all the pink stuff in the kit!!!! Because my photos were quite bright and full of all sorts of colours, I decided to add some white base cards into the spread to tone it done a little. I went through all the papers, began cutting strips to use, and all of a sudden a city scape was born! Suited perfectly because of our trip to the city on Mother's Day!

So, looking more closely at the LHS


It's a toss up for me whether the Amy Tan wood veneers, or the Heidi Swapp embellishments were my favourite things on the kit! I just love those small triangles & couldn't stop myself using them everywhere! Our week really was a very happy week, so I wanted to highlight that on the Title card.

Good morning Polly fans,

Kate here to start the morning with a layout of my son, using the divine (and so far my favourite!) Spearmint Leaves kit. Sadly, it's sold out, or I would grab another one myself! When I saw a gorgeous layout from Kayla, which you can see here, I knew that I wanted to try to scrap lift it. So, on National Scrapbooking Day, when I was busy scrapping with Carol, I decided to give it a go. And here is what I came up with.


When I first saw the colours in the kit, I knew that I wanted to scrap these photographs of my middle son, Luca. There were taken about 18 months ago, but I love the expressions on his face. And those eyes!! But when I was looking at the photos, I just couldn't choose a favourite, so I decided to go with both, and turn it into a two photo layout. I was really inspired by the diagonal line of Kayla's layout (and I'm still tempted to add some of those gorgeous wood veneer stars to the page too!) So I played around until I was happy with the placement of the photos & the leaves to create that diagonal flow. I also loved the title on the side. I really love how that looks. I didn't want to add too many layers, as I really wanted the photos to be the centrepiece.

And then came the fun part. The stitching. You see, I haven't sewn for about 20 years, but as I was over at Carols, I had access to a machine. So I went for it. Let's just say it provided us with some laughter, and quite a bit of unpicking was required! But I love the final look to the layout, with the stitching around the edge and the stripe of transparent trees sewn directly to the photo.

Here's a closer look at the journalling. Just a little message for him. This layout will go into his album.


 When I posted a photo of this layout into our DT group, Ruth instantly said that she wanted to lift this one. And so the DT Lifting Chain Challenge was born! I think it might go on for a while! And so now, I'll hand over to Ruth to show off her lovely lift of my layout!

Good morning Polly peeps - and Happy Mother's Day to all those fellow Mums celebrating today.
When I realised that I had a post scheduled for today, I thought long & hard about what kind of project to present. I thought about doing a layout to celebrate my mum; then I thought maybe I should make some Mother's Day cards or a PL spread celebrating motherhood. But when I saw the April kits - April Showers & French Kiss , I was heavily influenced by the "French" theme, and decided instead to scrap an old photo of me in Paris - pre-kids. And here it is.


I then added those great wood veneer arrows, and some words from the Wanderlust stickers. I couldn't resist a spot of French & added j'adore to make up my title "j'adore Paris". Oh how I adore those thickers. The colour, the size. They were my favourite part of the kit this month.

Paris & I have quite the history. I have a degree in Art History, so had always dreamed of going to Paris to visit the Louvre & all of the other beautiful museums. But for one reason or another, I let a couple of opportunities to go fly by. So many years after graduating from University, I finally made it to Paris in 2003, after spending 6 months working through a cold & dark winter in Korea. Can you believe that after arriving in Paris into the beautiful spring sunshine, I didn't want to go inside. I wanted to drink in all the sun! So this is my only photo at the Louvre! Because after all those years waiting, I didn't go inside!!!! But I had a glorious time anyway.

I used a typewriter to do some journalling, and have completed some more on the tag tucked behind the photo. I love this method of journalling. Adding more details to the stories without being on display.

Good morning girls (and guys?)

Kate here to share with you my latest Project Life spread using the April Showers Pocket Life kit.

Good morning Polly fans,

Kate here with a weekend post. Lately, I've been seeing a lot of photos on Facebook of glorious (and enormous!) crafting spaces! I look, I drool & I know that I will never get to have anything like that! It got me wondering if anyone else has a small scrapping space too. So, I decided to keep it real, and share my tiny space & some of the solutions that I've had to come up with to manage my stash :) That's why I love kits so much - because I get a little bit of everything, without having to buy whole packs of things. Kits are PERFECT for those of us without much space! So here is my little crafting corner!