Tag: dt melinda sweetman

Categories
Uncategorized

Memory Planner | May 1 – 9 2021 | Traci Reed Designs OBG: Hearth & Hollow

Hey & hello my scrappy friends!!

Yes, it’s Melinda and I’m writing a blog post on my own blog 😂 Doesn’t happen often but I thought this would be the easiest way to share this project as I don’t have a process video!

I’m playing with the gorgeous Hearth & Hollow collection by Traci Reed Designs for this months Oldies but Goodies post which means that you can get 50% off this collection for a very limited time!

I pulled out the few bits & pieces I hadn’t used yet from this collection, plus printed all of the 3×4 cards and a few extras. I’ve matched some distress oxide inks: Victorian Velvet, Fossilized Amber & Weathered Wood, added a Rose Gold ink pad & a couple of complimentary alphas.

I’m working on a few pages in my 2021 MAMBI Big Happy Planner. Specifically, 1st to 9th May.

I’ve worked out where are all of my photos are going (I print them on sticker paper to the right size) and stock those in place leaving room for journaling.

Which is often tucked under or behind something, I just LOVE the interactive pieces!!

With my photos & places for stories in situ the FUN begins!! I basically just flipped through my supplies and when I found the “right” piece/s stuck them down.

I pulled in a number of different stamp sets to use with my inks and layered my stamps with all of the fun stickers and cards I’m using.

I really LOVE the travellers notebook signatures that Traci includes in her collections so I chose a few of those to print on my sticker paper so they are as wide as the columns in my album. You can see the 2 rainbow striped ones on the left & the blue one with all the critters is the same!

I took a tonne of photos so I could capture all of the details!! Lots of fun patterns & beautiful colours layered together and I just love these pages!

Did you notice on the photo with both pages the “extra page” I included?? I simply stuck 2 3×4 cards back to back and then punched holes to pop it into my album!

And the right page also has lots of beautiful patterns & layered details!

And more fun interactive elements. The stitching here creates the middle of an “open book!”

And I’ve also included another of the TN signatures, this one was cut down to fit the space I had left.

I am thoroughly enjoying working in this format and especially love that with digital elements I can print them as many times as I want at whatever size I want!!

Make sure if you love this gorgeous collection you head over to the Traci Reed Designs shop RIGHT NOW, so you can grab it at 50% off!

I hope that you’ve enjoyed my share today and if you have any questions at all please drop them here!

Mel xx

Categories
cut to you

CUT to YOU | Hey Bestie | Scrapbook Layout

Hey and hello CUT to YOU family, Melinda here with you to share my latest creation using another beautiful “Gwen” cutfile!!

I’m using the super fun and versatile “Hey Bestie” cut file available here in the store for today’s page.

I recently took advantage of a photo printing special and have a stack of newly printed photos that I couldn’t wait to start scrapping with. Since I recently created a layout with an OLD photo of myself and my bestie I wanted to create a much newer one and thought I would incorporate the cut file with our mutual fave colour, pink!!

For something different I cut my file from some pink pattern paper from the “Classic Heidi Bundle” I picked up recently. I’ve used the paper that is about 2/3 light pink and 1/3 darker pink and love how the cut file has the ombré look to it!!

Side note, the internal letters were SOOOO PRETTY I couldn’t NOT use them so here’s a sneak peek of something coming next month 😉

On with this page!! I backed my cut file with washi tape!!! So fun! I just rolled some tape onto smooth white cardstock, traced my cutfile and then cut out my letters!!

I decided to create my own “die cut ephemera” using a layering stamp set, pink and green/teal inks and matching dies and just love how they turned out!

With lots of layers of pink around and behind my photo I created a mixed media background using BLACK!!! And I just adore how this works! It really makes all the things POP!

I, of course, have a process video for you to see this page come together and I do hope that you enjoy!!

Remember, this month is birthday month for CUT to YOU so make sure you are signed up to all of the things in all of the places so you don’t miss any of the fun celebrations! And Gwen has even put together a bundle of cut files in the store for all of your birthday page needs, with a discount too 😉

I hope you have enjoyed my share today (and my little sneaky peek!!) and I can’t wait to share my next creation with you!! Have a fab scrappy day!!
Mel x

Categories
cut to you

CUT to YOU | This Face

July is here which means it is time to celebrate!! Yep, it’s CUT to YOU’s birthday month which means lots of fun inspiration for you and each of us DT members have been given instructions to scrap lift the boss! Here is the page that I created and I just LOVE how it turned out!

Here is the Boss Lady’s original page that I lifted.

Pretty close, yeah?! AND I was able to totally make my page more ME!!!
Did you notice that in Gwen’s original design there is NO cut file?!? Well, I can’t scrap lift the boss for birthday month without using a cut file so I chose this gorgeous Floral Banner #3 (yep, I’ve used it before!!) to replicate the horizontal lines in Gwen’s orginal page.

The other very obvious (to me at least!!) thing on Gwen’s page that I wanted to include on mine was the almost vertical design with the florals and the photo. I have manipulated the Floral Banner #3 cutfile in the Silhouette software to replicate and re-size just the florals and then cut those on white cardstock as well.

I chose the Cocoa Vanilla Studio “Unforgettable” collection for this page. I thought that it would compliment the photo’s I’m scrapbooking perfectly and I couldn’t have been more right!! I love it!!

I’ve backed the cut files using the 6×8 Paper Stack. And then in true Gwen style I have created cascading clusters both above and below the photos. Even chopping off parts of the extra florals to then tuck in else where!

Gwen also used a couple of butterflies on her layout so I knew that I simply HAD to incorporate a couple into mine! There were 2 left in the ephemera pack and they worked beautifully, one on either side of the photos!

In order to take this page from “Gwen” to “Melinda” I added some messy thread behind the 2 butterlies and finished off with some Rose Gold splatters to tie in the Thickers I used to build my title. Definately a “Melinda” page but I think I totally nailed the “scraplift the Boss Lady” brief! What do you think??

I’ll leave you with my scrapbook process video below AND make sure you are a member of the CUT to YOU HQ group on FB – you really don’t want to miss any of the fun for birthday month!!

I hope that you have enjoyed my share today and that you are thoroughly enjoying all of the extra inspiriation we have for you this month! Remember to check back in the store for NEW RELEASES (so fun!!) and, if you haven’t already, make sure you check out this post for all you need to know about applying to be a part of this amazing DT team!!

Until next time, happy scrapping!
Mel
xx

Categories
Uncategorized

CUT to YOU | For The Record

Hello and welcome to my blog today! I’m excited to be sharing my first project for CUT to YOU for August with you!

As you can see I’ve used the fun new “Office Clips” cut file. I’ve cut 5 of these on textured white cardstock after I altered them a tiny bit to make them like Instax prints.

On a whim I had also cut this “For The Record” title to fill the empty space on my white cardstock and then decided that it would work perfectly for the title for this page!

I’ve used the Shimelle “Never Grow Up” collection for this page and I really love the fun, kinda whimsy look of my finished page. You can see this come together on my YT video which is linked below!

And to finish off, here are a few close up shots!

I hope you have enjoyed my share today and I can’t wait to come back later in the month with my next page which I am already working on!! Until then, head over to the shop here for the awesome August release and make sure you sign up to the newsletter for the twice a month freebies!!

Happy scrapping,
Mel
xx

Categories
Uncategorized

CUT to YOU | You & Me | Scrapbook Layout

Hey everyone and welcome once again to my blog!! So glad you stopped in! 

Today’s inspiration is my latest share for CUT to YOU. This month Gwen is sponsoring the great Aussie challenge site Made to Scrap the Aussie Way and created this VERY cool cut file that is available both as a custom cut and a digital file.


I, of course, made use of the digital cut file and when I opened it in the Silhoutte software I manipulated it so it was a tiny bit shorter than 12″ as I was totally and completely inspired by the tattoo in the inspiration piece from Made To Scrap. I wanted to mimic that so I cut the file in black cardstock.
TIP: I found using a new blade did the trick in cutting the black perfectly so if you have struggled like me, perhaps you need a blade or a “special” blade for black?! While I was cutting black I also cut the fun Constellation file a few times, filling my page with different sized stars and re-sizing them to fit around and fill the whole page.


Anyways, here is  my page


For all of that pretty, messy fun background I have once again used my Distress Oxide inks. 


If you are a follower of mine, did you see that I used PURPLE?! In fact, I not only used purple, I purposefully MIXED a purple lol But the page needed it and purple is one of my niece’s fave colours and since it’s a photo of us I figured I would include it!


Here are a few more close ups!


And even a process video


Make sure you keep an eye on the CUT to YOU HQ page to see the other girls awesome pages and also to see what other cut files people are playing with! Also, if you are inspired by the challenge head over here to enter your take to win some awesome CUT to YOU goodies!!

I hope you have enjoyed and as always, thanks so much for stopping by!

Happy scrapping
Mel
x
Categories
Uncategorized

{ScrappingClearly} Ohh La La ~ A Scrapbook Page

Hey, hey and Happy Boxing Day!! I hope that however you spent yesterday you had a fabulous day surrounded by those you love! If your celebrations (like mine!) continue on for a bit longer I hope you have the very best time and manage to sneak in some scrappy time!

Today I am here sharing with you a page I created using the Pink Paislee C’est La Vie collection. I absolutely love this collection and have kind of been keeping it for a “special” occasion so every now and then I pull it out and have a play!


I don’t know what it is about this paper but I love it! Simply adore it so I decided to go with that as my background. I have used some Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide ink in the background with the packaging technique for a little colour and texture!

A couple of paper layers behind my photo as a mat which are Papers #2 and #8


I knew straight away I wanted to use the acrylic mirror words for my title so also decided to add a little gold in the background with my Bling Colour Shimmer Pot. I love the colour but also the way this paint dries if it’s a bit thicker, it’s almost like a puffy dot of colour!!


I grabbed the “feeling fancy” piece from the Cut Apart Paper #1 and the floral acetate tag from the ephemera pack and layered them up next to my photo. I’ve also used a plain white die cut I had on my desk as a layer and then I found a scrap of this paper and fussy cut a few butterflies for my finishing touch along with some gold sequins by Studio Calico.


This page is a little “not me” because, as you can see, there is no journalling! It’s not often I have a page with no journalling but sometimes I don’t need to add any. Like in this case, I have other pages that go with this event and this is just a photo of me that I really like, I feel pretty fancy and the cut apart sums that up along with the title!

That’s it for me for today, and in fact this year, however I will be back VERY early in the New Year with another share! I will be playing with the Pink Fresh Boys Fort collection and cannot wait to pull it out and find time to play!

Wishing each and every one of you a very happy New Year, may 2018 be YOUR year and may it be filled with lots of love and laughter, and of course, LOTS of scrappy time 😉


Melinda
x
Categories
Uncategorized

{ScrappingClearly} Don’t Grow Up ~ A Scrapbook Page

Hey, and hello, fellow scrappers! I cannot believe we are in December already but here we are and here I am with my first share for ScrappingClearly for the month!

Again, for this post I am sharing in detail one of my takes on one of the 10th Birthday challenges and this was a little bit of a struggle for me as I chose the “Use the ScrappingClearly Colours” on your project. Which happened to be 85% pink and with 2 boys it can be tricky! I did however get permission from my almost 8 year old, and off I went!

Here’s my page, and though it probably is not 85% pink I really do love how it came out!


And here, if you are interested, is my process video.
This one is short and sweet, this page practically put itself together for me!!



I started with a white cardstock base and a photo of my big boy from his 7th birthday party in January this year.
He just looked so grown up!! I knew IMMEDIATELY that I would use the “Don’t Grow Up” puffy stickers for my title from the Boys Rule collection.


I wanted to do some stamping so grabbed my Arrows stamp set by 49 & Market and my Black Archival Ink and got to work stamping some of those gorgeous arrows in the 2 corners.


I added in some splatters using a range of Colour Blast Colour Shimmer Pots. The colours I have used are (lightest to darkest) Blush, Punch, Lipstick and Fire Engine.

While that dried I dug into my paper scraps box and pulled out the first 2 pink patterned papers I found, which were this one from the Maggie Holmes Bloom range and this one from the WRMK Crush range. I cut them slightly bigger than my photo to use as photo mats. I also distressed the edges of both patterns.

I wanted to get as much pink on the page as I could so I dug into my little bowl of “too big to go into my boxes” ScrappingClearly stash and pulled out one of these gorgeous Heidi Swapp bulldog clips. I have had these in my stash for AGES and haven’t been able to find just the right place so I was super happy to get one on this page – it looks adorable!


I knew that I had some giant acetate numbers left in my C’est La Vie ephemera pack so I checked that the colours for the 7 would work and voila, pink and white!! Winning!

While I was in that box of goodies I saw these awesome black vellum word stickers with gold and added a few of those.


My final touch were some enamel dots, again in pink, with a few white stars thrown in too! Oh, and of course some journalling, in pink as well, and my date stamp.


This layout came together really quickly for me after I knew that my boy was ok with me using pink on his page and, I’ve already said it, but I really love it!!

I hope I have inspired you to create with your stash and while you’re at it maybe you should check out our December challenges in the FB group – ScrappingClearly – both will give you the chance at an awesome $30 store voucher!

And don’t forget our special Christmas challenge, which could bag you a WeRMK sewing machine!!


This one is due by midnight Sunday 10th, here.


Until next time, happy scrapping!!
Melinda
xx

Categories
Uncategorized

{ScrappingClearly} Top 10 ~ An Art Journal Spread

Hello fellow blog lovers, Melinda here with you today with an art journal page!

This spread was inspired by the recent 10th Birthday celebrations for ScrappingClearly – once again Happy Birthday!! – and to be specific Birthday Challenge #1 – Listing Your 10 Favourite Things.

Here’s a little peek at what I created and to be honest with you, when I started I just grabbed some paint and set off! 


If you’d like to see my whole process just click on the play button below and you can follow along right in your browser otherwise head over to the YouTube channel and subscribe so you are the first to know when one of us uploads a new process video!!


I recently stocked up on some of the GORGEOUS new Dylusions Paints and HAD to bust them out to play! 


For this page I have used Rose Quartz, Peony Blush, Bubblegum Pink and White Linen. I used a combination of a brush/brayer and my fingers to spread the colour around, starting with the lightest and adding more colour where I felt it needed it.


I added some stencilling with the White Linen and a Tim Holtz stencil.Next I added some stamping using both a grey and black archival ink and a mix of stamps from the 49 & Market “Arrow”, “Gabi’s Line Stitch” and Darkroom Door “Arty Circles” stamp sets.


At this point I felt it was too bold so I grabbed my White Linen again and spread it over most of the 2 pages in a really thin layer so you could still see all the different layers I created and let that dry.

I hand cut some circles from an old book and stuck them down with some matt medium. Then outlined them with a Stabilo Aquarellable Black Pencil and activated with a small paint brush and a little water to blend the harsh black out and the edges of the circles in a little. To tone down some of the book paper I again grabbed my White linen and used my finger to smear some colour over some of the circles – which picked up some of the black and tinted the white grey and I really love what it adds to the page!

I also used the same brush and my pencil to flick black splatters around my page.

I added in some textured details using another 2 Tim Holtz stencils – this time mini layering stencils – using both the Dusty Charcoal Colour Paste by Colour Blast and also the Bling Colour Paste.


I finally came up with an idea – I would write my 10 favourite movies. I typed up the list on my computer and printed it out, adhering the standard printer paper to some white card stock off cuts then outlined all the strips in black ink.

I used these gorgeous Hazel thickers for my title and decided to pop half up the top and half down the bottom, where the extra details were. Love the addition of the gold!

And here is my finished Top 10 Movies Art Journal spread!


I had a lot of fun playing along with the challenges I managed to participate in and now have 3 more things documented. If you have something new I really recommend pulling it out and having a play, who knows, maybe what your purchased is just the right thing for one of our monthly challenges and you could win a gift voucher just by having fun!

Please head over to the FB group to share your creations and purchases but also to be inspired by not only the DT but also all of our lovely customers who share away in there!

Until next time, happy scrapping!
Melinda
x
Categories
Uncategorized

{Colour Blast} Spread Your Wings ~ A Mixed Media Card

Hi there, today I am sharing my latest DT project for Colour Blast Australia. I have created a card I made for a work friend who has left and started a new life for herself overseas!

Here’s a little peeky….



Here is my process video if you are interested in seeing this card come together



And read on for my step-by-steps


First up, after I cut my card front to size (10cm x 14.3cm) I grabbed this very pretty stencil from my stash (it is a Dusty Attic one) and my Bling Colour Paste. I’ll tell you a little secret here – I wasn’t 100% certain of where I wanted this card to go so I took inspiration from my last DT project and ran with it!


I let that air dry and then came back and started to add colour. I had already picked some pieces I wanted to use to embellish with so grabbed my matching colours in Sunshine and Tangereen Dream in the Colour Shimmer Cubes and clean cup of water. I added a little water over the top of the stencilling and then added my colour, moving the card stock around to get the colour to move and adding water/more colour when necessary.


I did get impatient and used my heat tool to dry that off so I could move onto my next step. Splatters! Using the same colours and paint brushes I added in splatters – Sunshine to the Tangereen side mostly and Tangereen to the Sunshine side. 

When that was dry I grabbed a damp baby wipe and rubbed over my Colour Paste to get the Bling to pop once again without any additional colour on top! Did you know that you could do that?? 
It really makes the colours of the pastes pop once again!


Next up, I dumped all of my pretty things onto my base and decided I needed a dark pop of colour behind all the bits so I grabbed a mini doily from my stash and my Dusty Charcoal Colour Shimmer Cube. 

I love having white options because it makes it so easy to customise colours for any project. I just used a paint brush and painted over the doily – be careful if you are doing this that you are not too rough or you may rip/tear the doily! I almost did!! Again, I used my heat tool to dry this off and then applied a second coat in the same way.


One last step before bringing it all together – splatters in Dusty Charcoal. Again, same as above but with a different colour. I love the contrast it gives and that darker colour really makes the whole design just pop! 


And here is my finished card. I think my friend will love it – it is being hand delivered by another friend to Dubai next week! I added in some stamping in a dark grey ink and mounted my card front onto this fun and bright yellow card stock to finish it off!



Thanks as always for stopping by! I hope I have given you some inspiration for whatever you have currently sitting on your desk and I’ll see you again in couple of weeks! Please make sure you head over to the FB group, Colour Blast Creative Corner, to share all of your projects using Colour Blast goodies, we love seeing them and being inspired by you all!

Melinda
xx
Categories
Uncategorized

{ScrappingClearly} Merry & Bright ~ A Scrapbook Layout

Hey and welcome to my blog today!
Today I’m here with you sharing my take on the dramatic and bold November mood board for ScrappingClearly – once again designed by the very talented Peg!!


I was drawn immediately to the colours (as I’m sure you worked out already!) and decided that it would the perfect time to scrap last years Santa photo of my boys. Here’s a little refresher of the mood board.


I’ve used a white card stock base as I knew straight away I wanted to randomly spread some black gesso on my page in 2 places – one for my main photo and the other as a smaller embellishment cluster to the side. When my gesso was dried I grabbed my Bling Colour Shimmer Pot by Colour Blast and my biggest round paintbrush to add splatters. I love how the gold pops off the black!


I used a couple of paper layers behind my photo, Peppermint Stix (the text side) 12×12 paper by Heidi Swapp and also the Joyful Christmas 12×12 paper by Pink Fresh Studio from last years Oh Joy collection, cut to size and distressed the edges using my scissors (I couldn’t find my tool!).


I have grabbed 2 tags from the Teresa Collins Tinsel & Co Tags Ephemera pack (and chopped off the bottoms) to also layer. I also used a punch from my stash to cut a couple of labels to use – one from one of the tag off cuts and the other from one of the patterned papers to add into my layers.


My title came from the gorgeous Oh Joy Gold Acrylic Stickers sheet – however a note – be super careful as you pull them off – the delicate ones are fragile!! Love the way it pops on that black!


My final steps were my journalling using a white gel pen and some splatters watering down some white gesso and using a paint brush (one of my new ones by the way, I picked up in the store here during the Black Friday sale!!) to splatter all over (I actually remembered to cover my photo!!).


I really love how this page came together! Better than I had expected in fact. You have until the end of the month to get your own challenges completed and loaded up into the correct FB album on the ScrappingClearly group, so I hope you get some time to play and go into the draw for a voucher to the store!

Until next time, happy scrapping!


Melinda
xx