Marion Smith Design Team 2013 - A Year In Review

“When life offers you a dream so far beyond any of your expectations, it’s not reasonable to grieve when it comes to an end.”

 -Excerpt from Twilight-

And so my year on the Marion Smith Design Team concludes.  It has been my immeasurable pleasure and honour to be amongst those hand picked by Marion to showcase her inaugural collections.

Not only have I loved creating with her paper designs, but it’s been so exciting to see the development of her complimentary products such as the never ending gorgeous Junque Gems, the intricately designed stamps and of course the Bloom Impressions tool.

I am sure Marion will continue to forge her success in this industry,  supported by her fabulous, fit and equally talented husband Garett, and I know that I will continue to enjoy her collections, both past and present. 

So I’d like to leave you with a short slide show of the Marion Smith Designs projects I have enjoyed creating over the last 12 months.  Thanks to you all for your inspiring comments left on the blog and your own support of Marion’s products.  Xxx

Finalist Entry Kaisercraft DT 2014/15

Hello fellow crafters!

I was delighted to receive two new Kaisercraft Collections to create my Finalist DT Entry projects with. Base Coat Christmas and Tropical Punch.  What a wonderful palette of colours to play with!  I'd love to share with you some images of the projects.


Basecoat Christmas Collection 2014

I created a layout depicting a Christmas Wreath.  This collection has so many wonderful images to fussy cut and use as embellishments, so these became the decorations for the wreath.

I crafted the actual wreath base from corrugated cardboard, primed with gesso then aged with distress stains and antique gold embossing powders.

I also decoupaged some dictionary definitions from an older Kaisercraft collection, randomly over the wreath to add another layer of interest.

There are lots of little details, including wooden Kaisercraft leaves and hearts, ruby coloured beads and the occasional festive charm!

All I need now is some pine needle scent to spray over it - to really invoke the Christmas spirit!

Tropical Punch Collection

I must admit, I had difficulty deciding which photos to use with these papers - since they all pretty much worked!  The palette in this collection just screams of summer days and balmy tropical holidays!  Here I have created a layout of my beautiful daughter - whose personality matches the colours!

Once again, I let the paper be the star of the show here, by using the images as embellishments.  All the floral images are double layered and slightly shaped ( a-la paper tole) to give definition and a more realistic look and feel.

The papers in this collection are such that they would work for boy and girl themed layouts as well as general holiday/home/garden.  A multitude of options - this collection will become a 'go to' choice for me!

Short & Sweet

To finish today, here are some short and sweet projects - a simple layout and a fun bookmark...and yes - I mixed the papers from both lines for these!!

Lots of white space (literally!) on this layout!  This photo makes me feel pretty happy!

Love the combination of yellow and wood grain papers - almost reminiscent of the 70's!  And yes - that's a feather tucked in the left side there - my feather fixation still continues!!!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today - I hope these projects and papers inspire you!

Maggie

Renaissance Scrapbooking - A Return to Basics

Hello to all my crafty friends!

Have you seen this?

Welcome to the Renaissance Scrapbooking Group - celebrating a return to the basic premises of scrapbooking. Borne from a discussion about the need/want to get photos and journaling on a page in an aesthetic and fun way, without feeling obliged to go down the mixed media route. This group is not about dissing mixed media - which I personally love too - but rather rediscovering a simple, old fashioned craft.

To join the group we only ask that you share with us the one thing that you enjoy most about this craft. I love to handcraft embellishments for my layouts - using paper, stamps and anything else that take my fancy!

We hope that this group will be a fun, informative and inspiring collective for 'paper artistes' around the globe! Once again - welcome.

If you would like to join our group click here  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1498801960333823/

Cheerio
Maggie

Gluedots and Marion Smith Designs - Welcome to our Bloghop!

Welcome to our bloghop!  Thanks for finding your way to my blog - I hope to inspire you today with an altered piece I made with Easter in mind.


I was thrilled to receive a healthy supply of Gluedots a few weeks ago, and even better still - a fabulous pink Gluedot dispenser!  Gluedots are the perfect adhesive for an altered project like mine, and as they come in different sizes (small, med, large, xlarge etc) there was no need to cut up the dots to suit.

So, I'd like to share my altered cross with you.  I started with a plain MDF cross which I painted with gesso then black acrylic paint.  I then covered the front with paper from the Nirvana Collection by Marion Smith Designs and lightly sanded back the edges.

Choosing which Junque Gems and resins to use was the hardest part really!  Since they are all so gorgeous I ended up making a random selection and just going with the flow! Little strands of dyed and distressed muslin are tucked in here and there to soften the effect.

And a few inspirational sayings added the final touches.

Here are a couple of close ups, so you can see the details...

 Thanks for joining us today on this fun blog hop!

Cheers
Maggie

Kaisercraft DT 2014

Hi again ladies and gents!

This time around I am posting my 3 projects that I have created as my Kaisercraft DT Application.  Seriously, Kaisercraft have some of the easiest products to work with and such a huge variety, it would be a  creative dream to work with their collections!

First up is an OTP project - I chose to alter a Kaiser Wood mirror for my daughter, using lots of bits and bobs, gesso, sprays an gold patina wax.

The background was covered in paper from the ever populr 75c range, and an abundance of flowers, plaited muslin and trinkets were added.

Next up is a layout using papers from the new Mr Fox collection, and a couple of elements from the Here and Now Journal cards.  I thought these papers were perfect for showcasing multiple photos - something that can sometimes be a challenge!

I backed some of the Viewmaster cutouts onto chipboard to add a little more dimension to the layout, and facilitate more effective layering.

And lastly, a sweet card for someone very special.  I love using the Kaisercraft wooden ladders as they are so versatile.  In this instance, I have used a ladder as a trelllis for the beautiful blooms to climb on.

Base Coat papers make perfect card backgrounds, especially the 6x6 paper pad. 

Well, that's my 3 Kaisercraft projects!  Thanks for stopping by!

Maggie

Burlap and Canvas with Marion Smith Designs

Who doesn't love the textural combination of creamy canvas and rustic burlap used together?  I was inspired to make these mini albums after seeing some on sale at Spotlight (NZ equivalent of Michaels - only on a much much smaller scale!!!).  Being a typical DIY crafter, I thought to myself that they would be simple to make, and sure enough they were!  And of course, what better papers and embellishments to use inside than MSD!

The front covers feature animal/insect motifs cut out of some left over fabric, and set the scene for what was inside.

The first one is done in pink tones, with Marion's Motley Collection being the perfect choice inside, and a dash of Mad Tea Party here and there.  See the cute teacup and saucer gracing the clock there?  A delightful little charm from MSD.

For the second album, I wanted more neutral tones, so Nivana was the logical choice, with more sweet little charms and embellishments scattered here and there.

Here is a collage of some of the inside pages of both albums.  They were super fun to create and stitch together.

Marion always includes a journaling style page in each collection which are just perfect for mini album pages, or part of.  For those of you who create using the pocket page system, you would love these too.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Be sure to leave us a comment!

Maggie

Radiance of the Sea - 7 night cruise April 2015

Completely excited to be able to announce this fantastic adventure...

‘Radiance of the Sea’ – 7 Night Cruise

12th – 19th April 2015

Sydney – New Caledonia

Cruise cost $1450 for Inside Cabin or $1490 for Outside Cabin AUD per person twin share
Crafting Workshops $495.00 per person – Limited Seats Available...
Package includes:
Accommodation, gratuities, taxes and port charges
Meals & entertainment
8 Classes with Maggie Armstrong and Lisa Oxley
Welcome Cocktail Party
Farewell Cocktail Party
24 hour Crafting Room
Goodie Bag, prizes and more

To secure your spot pay a deposit of $100 and balance due January.
We can arrange a payment plan if you wish.

If you would like to book your spot either pm me or send an email to rose@scrapwithfriends.com.au

Marion Smith Designs meets Petaloo!

Welcome to the Marion Smith and Petaloo combined blog hop!  Thanks for finding your way to my blog - I hope what I have for you today will inspire you!

I decided to team up two of Marion's recent collections - Motley and Garment District as the vintage tones blended so well with the prettiness and sparkle of the Petaloo blooms.

First up I'd like to show you a layout I created using Motley, a selection of Marion's resins and Junque Gems, and of course some gorgeous soft Petaloo blooms.  I also stamped and clear embossed the background teal card stock with a couple of Marion's new texture stamps.   This just breaks up any 'blank' spaces very subtly.

Products used:

Motley Collection by Marion Smith Designs

Texture Stamps by Marion Smith Designs

Petaloo Botanica Collection -  Soft Pink

Moving on now to a sweet card and coordinating envelope, using Garment District papers and Petaloo blooms in teal tones.  I managed to sneak in one of Marion's cute little paper doillies and a shabby white metal embellishment!  I just love the demure tones of this collection.

Products used:

Garment District by Marion Smith Designs

Petaloo Botanica Collection - Teal

Petaloo Velvet Hydrangeas  - Aqua Blue

Well, thanks for joining me on this blog hop! I hope you are enjoying yourselves so far!  Click here to return to the Marions Smith Designs blog or here to look at more gorgeous blooms from Petaloo!

Till next time!
Maggie