vrijdag 20 juli 2012

Soft Kitty & Summer Sun

Last year when we visited my parents in law, we visited a Zoo nearby. The Zoo had a playground attached so it was perfect for all of us. 
I already made a mini-album with pictures of Duncan with his grandfather (check out the blog "Edgy Edges"). However, I still had the pictures I took of the animals.

All I had to do was take out Bo Bunny's Zoology and get to work. 
The title is a song from the Big Bang Theory, a series my Beloved and I enjoy a lot. All in all, a jaguar is still a "kitty", right?


This paper is great! See the jaguars shining through? 
 

Here I used a Trinket, mounted it on a tiny piece of jaguar paper, mounted on
a piece of ric-rac, mounted on a piece of paper. That took 
a lot of time and patience (not my strongest suit) and sticky fingers :-)
 

The chipboard letters have been treated with distress ink and crackle paint. 
I also sprinkled a bit of glitter over them. 
The other letters are mounted on pieces of cardstock treated with distress ink. 
Some letters are stickers, others are rub-ons, the long pieces are by my own hand.

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Once finished with a lot of animal lay outs, I wanted something sunny. Last Sunday we went to Sea Life in Scheveningen and discovered it was right along the beach! A perfect opportunity to do a photoshoot on the beach with my two favourite subjects: Morgan & Duncan. 
We walked up to the sea and let the waves touch our toes. To Duncan it was a bit more, as the waves sloshed up to his rolled up jeans. He didn't mind, he was proud to be touched by the sea.
The kids enjoyed the sand, Morgan bent over to pick up every shell (however small!) she saw. Duncan busied himself throwing seaweed back into the sea and tossing sand around. 

A photographer told me once that he makes kids say "appeltaaaaaart" (applepieieieieie!) to make the mouth go into a natural smile. "Smeerkaaaaaaas!" (cream cheese) also works. 
So that's what I make our kids say as well. Good thing, but lately Duncan starts saying "appeltaart" whenever he sees me picking up the camera! That's a bit of a backfire :-).

This shot was great though! 


I grabbed an older collection of Bo Bunny, Hello Sunshine. 
It came in a Power Pack some months ago
so I don't have the whole collection. 
But there was enough of it to make a sunny page.
 

Fussy cutting, yay!!! 
I fussy cut the flowers and added a banner. 


I sprayed water on the blue page to make it rip more easily. 
The chipboard swirl used to be grey. Stamping ink solved that nicely.
 
  
Morgan loved the tiny butterfly! 
The flowers used to be white, but I coloured them 
with stamping ink to make them fit the page.

Thank you for looking!

donderdag 19 juli 2012

At the Zoo

When I was young, I heard great stories about the Zoo in Emmen. Unfortunately it was far away from where we lived, so I never visited it. Occasionally I heard things on the news about a new enclosure for an animal and my wish to go there was re-affirmed. A few months ago we heard the Zoo wasn't doing too well financially and might see a closing in the near future. Sad news.

Then we decided to go on a vacation in a cottage near Emmen. Finally, I was going to see that Zoo! 
The vacation was a bit of a trial weatherwise, rainy, dreary. But that one day when it was bright and sunny, we packed up and went to the Zoo. 

It's not large, it can be seen in its entirety in one day, but it is very nice and well taken care of. 

When asked what animal they really wanted to see, Morgan answered: "The elephants!" 
Duncan wanted to see the giraffes, they're his favourite. 

When we came upon the giraffes we were surprised to see no fence, but a deep ditch around the paddock. We walked on a slanting path that led to a bridge and there we saw the head of a giraffe only 6 feet away! Fortunately for the animal, the body was attached :-) It was grazing close enough to touch. 
We placed Duncan in his stroller as close to the giraffe as possible and let him 
enjoy the view.

  
I used Bo Bunny Zoology for this Lay Out. It was hard to find as it is an older collection. 
But I got my hands on a lot of papers and embellishments.


Notice the writing along the edge? It's the lyrics to "At the Zoo" by Simon & Garfunkel.
I was listening to one of their cd's while I was scrapping this page. 
Their music still inspires me in so many ways.
 


Aside from the schoolpictures, I've never scrapped a photo this large before.
Oh, I've printed photo's in diverse sizes, but never on photo paper. I'm very happy with this size 
and will use it more often.
 

Morgan wanted to see the elephants. We were rewarded with a lot of animals nearby, even the enormous bull, Radza, was close. Last year he got pushed into the ditch surrounding the enclosure. He got out, but broke a piece off his right tusk.



It was difficult to see the outline of the elephant hidden in the beautiful paper.
Still, it turned out right, I think.
 

Oh I loved loved loved this sticker and so wanted to use it! 
The kids have heard me saying this once or twice about their rooms, hihi. 
I used a Noteworthy from another Bo Bunny collection as a mat under the sticker. 
My motto: If I don't have it, I can make it myself. 
It may not be perfect, but it'll be all mine.
 


 Thank you for looking!
 

woensdag 11 juli 2012

Little Miss Mini-Album

After the last mini-album, I thought to make another one for my mother in law. 
This time I went back to my comfort zone, back to Bo Bunny material. I knew immediately  it had to be a Little Miss album. 
Then the big task: which pictures would go into it? 
Little Miss... dresses... dressing up... ah, there's an idea: Morgan in her pretty dresses!

Due to the fact that I'm a teacher, I also have 6 weeks of summer vacation. The kids are going to day care, that way I have a lot of time to putter around with my papers and really get lost in scrapbooking. It's wonderful!

This is how it turned out:

  
I found an example on Bo Bunny's Pinterest. Agnieszka Piskorz made a Little Miss album. 
Her album inspired me. 
 

Awesome quote by Audrey Hepburn!
 

During the Edgy Edges workshop I worked with crackle paint again, and I caved.
I bought it. The flower in the top left corned has been treated with it.
 

I love how the quotes from the big papers can be used to accentuate pages.
 

My mom in law made this dress for Morgan, it's very much her colour.
I especially like the shiny ribbon around the neck. 


Fussy cutting: the bird cage and the beads. Love fussy cutting!
 

 Sometimes sepia coloured photos work better than coloured.
This photo is so sweet.


 See that swirl? I made that with my Sizzix Sidekick. 
Almost broke the machine getting the die through! It still works, for now.
 
  
Again the crackle paint. Used on the flowers and bird.
Glossy accents on the quote to make it shiny.


This was a quick page. Simple yet lovely.
 

The little girls belonged to a long strip of girls, but I fussy cut them to make them fit this page.
 
  
This dress was made for Morgan for Christmas. Unfortunately the gold fabric was very thin and delicate.
Much to my mom in laws (and Morgans!) chagrin the skirt was torn within a few minutes of putting on the dress. It wasn't easy to get Morgan to smile when she found out, hence the look on her face in this photo.




A new mini-album? I don't know yet. Maybe. I know I can do this now, and that I like it.

Thanks for looking!

Edgy Edges

A while ago I saw a tool for scrapbooking. It looked like some sort of file to chisel off calluses of ones foot. Thinking it usable, I bought it. Unfortunately I only used one part of it, the part I understood, the edge distresser.
It's that small part on the right bottom picture, that part I understood.

Then my eyes fell on a workshop in my favourite scrapbook store. The tool would be used and explained. I was soooo going to be there!!!

Saturday June 30th was the Big Day. I packed up my tool kit and expectations for the day. A whole day of messing around with paper, inks, masks, glues and stamps!!! No asking for lemonade, no bickering, no whining about how hungry who is and who's the more hungry. 

The store was an oasis everything was laid out and ready for lift-off, strike that, cut-off. 

It felt like cocooning, I loved it! When I left the store, I had done 2 pages, prepared the rest so I could finish it at home. Jokingly I promised Dana (our workshop leader) I would not finish it the next day.  It came close though! 
And: I now knew what all the parts of the tool could do! Yay!!!

In a few weeks this album will be a gift to my father in law. He's a gem.


 The stamp on the transparent was horrific!!! I had to try 4 times to get it right! The ink didn't hold, the stamp slipped, aaaarhg!!! Being stubborn, I stuck with it, and got a good print at last.


This was a great page to make. Ink the whole page and then stamp over it! 
Huge stamps, love them!
I even found the real admission tickets to the zoo in my wallet. 
 


 I loved this photo! The edges have been roughened with the iron brush in the tool. 
Scary to attack a photo like that, but also oddly satisfying. 


The clock is made out of a cardboard box, then inked and distressed. 
  I used one part on this page...


...and the other part on this page. 
The frame contains a few lyrics from an old Dutch Song about a granddad.
 

Using the iron brush on every photo brings balance. Although on every photo there's a chance to mess up and go right through the photo paper.
 

Duncan having one of his more thoughtful moments. 
This page is my favourite because of the wonderful elephant stamp. 


 The number 6 got a bit lost under the lace, 6 persons.


 I had to chop off a lot from the photo to keep the masking on the background visible. 
 Worked out fine, I think.


2 men zooming around on a tiny bike. It's a guy thing :-)
 

On the backside I used a Bo Bunny stamp and added the label from the Echo Park papers. 
 

When I finished the album I thought: well, maybe I can do this after all. Mini-albums, why not?

Thank you for looking!