Laura Rumble - Crafter

I'm taking part in a video hop challenge over on the For The Love Of Pretty Paper facebook group.  Pop over and take a look! This started as another layout as a mixed media background.  I hated how it turned out and it sat unloved for 5 weeks!  I decided rather than throw it away I would cut it up.  I like it as small pieces (thankfully!) The orange stars are hand cut, the vellum stars are a free cut file from SpiegelMom Scraps. Lots of sewing with the machine.  Straight lines are over rated! Can you count the layers on the mixed media stars?  I reckon there are at least 7. Many of those layers had glitter or shimmer in the which adds so much in my opinion. Thanks for looking!

Sequin confetti, of course!  Hi, I'm here today with a bunch of ATC's.  I am taking part in a swap you see... 52 cards themed 'Love, Kindness and Hope' and in return, I get 52 cards from all over the world made by different artists. I start with a master board - a big piece of watercolour paper that will eventually be cut down to size.  I made three sheets with different colours using mainly Shimmerz sprays in different finishes.  I added some stencilling with Dazzlerz paste for some texture. Next, I moved on to the fun bit - filling up 52 little glassine bags with sequin confetti.  I won't list all of the sequin mixes I used as there are far too many!  You can find them all here ! I printed out the phrase "throw kindness around like confetti" and trimmed them down to small slips of paper.  I have all my elements ready now so I set up my sewing machine.  I picked a background, a glassine bag of confetti and a sentiment sl...

In the mood for a mood board that is! Have you seen SpiegelMom Scraps January challenge over in 15 Minutes to Scrap ?  It has been set by the lovely Hannah Lemieux and it is to use this mood board as inspiration.  Hannah also asks us to pay particular attention to textures and use one of the textures displayed in the mood board. When I start scrapping based on a mood board the first thing I notice are the colours.  I adore these colours - rich teals, metallics and greys are what stand out to me most.  However, you could also run with duck egg, wood, and white with a pop of mustard. Next, I notice the finishes - wood grain, velvet, hammered metal and - my favourite - woollen pompoms.  Seeing as Hannah specified texture I thought I would attempt to make some mini pompoms for my layout.  After five attempts I came up with something usable and gathered some other supplies... I knew I wanted to make a segmented sequin shaker pocket from vellum....

It is new challenge day at Crafty Ribbons Challenge and it is my choice of theme.  You must know by now I'm not crazily keen on pink, so I chose the theme of blue! I've had fun on the background with a few Shimmerz sprays and a texture paste and stencil. I used some hand dyed ribbon as a layer and tied some 3mm around my photo.  The paper is from Cocoa Vanilla Studio and the glitter stars are Freckled Fawn.  The sequins and doily are from SpiegleMom Scraps. I don't like to waste any ribbon and keep the 'tails' I trim off when neatening the ends of bows.  When folded over and tucked under a paper layer they make the sweetest little loops. I hope you can join us over at Crafty Ribbons this week!

You know my love for sketches - both designing them and using them in my scrapping.  I was delighted when I learnt SpiegelMom Scraps was linking up with Let's Get Sketchy .  I don't have a SpiegelMom's project due for this week but I have played along with the sketch anyway.  I love it - it is designed by our very own Sara. I had a play with my Shimmerz Dazzlerz, paints and mists for the background.  I was desperate to use my new stencil. I'm having health problems at the moment and these are the best photos I can get - My hands are so shaky!    I've used Autumn Joy sequin mix, which match the paint colours perfectly. I've used some big scallop washi tape in glittered gold (from like for ever ) for layering pieces and some torn cardstock painted with Shimmerz. Thanks for stopping by today, I hope to be back soon

I've used one of my exclusive sketches from the latest like for ever kit for this layout.  I make the sketches ahead of time, and there are a couple in this kit that I have been bursting to use! I had a fun time playing with green mists in the background.  I wanted to tie the green grass in the photos in with the green puffy heart stickers.  There was no green in the papers, though, so I turned to mixed media. I love the way Adele (Inkie Quill) adds mist to her photos and thought I would have a try.  I've also added some tiny sequins.  I like the effect and think I'll do this more often if the photo had any dead space. I used the flair as my title (from Feed Your Craft) and added some extra star sequins (from SpiegelMom Scraps) There are a tonne of these puffy heart stickers in the kit and I am determined to use them all this month!! And the rub ons too, they have a limited shelf life so I aim to use them all up this month.  We'll ...

I've been attempting to tidy my desk...  It hasn't gone well.  I keep getting tired or distracted and it isn't really something I can have help with.  So I carry on at the rate of 20cm squared tidied per day!  I found some bits and bobs buried under other bobs and bits and they were crying out to be made into a layout... A little snippet of a yellow doily, a frill of lime tissue attached to some gold scalloped washi tape that didn't make the cut on a previous layout, a piece of card that I had played with inks on... the photo I chose picked out the yellows and oranges and I was away! As he noticed I was taking a photo of him he stuck his pinky up, the dafty!  It is impossible to get decent photos of him!  So there was my title - and I hand cut the letters out of the card I had tested my inks on. The mixed media work is all Shimmerz stuff, that hadn't been put away when I had finished with it.  *tut tut*  At the last minute I though...

Carrying on with the layouts I made on NSD, this one has my heart... My nephew says the funniest things, this one needed to be recorded. "Bobby came home from the childminder and announced he had had a carrot and a beer for lunch!" I worked on a few challenges set for NSD - one was for SpiegelMom Scraps - use inks, stencil and stamping.  One was for For The Love Of Pretty Paper - use rubber stamps to make your own embellishments.  I stamped a pint of beer (from a take away coffee cup!) and a carrot.  I also used ribbon which made it eligible for another challenge!  I was all about the challenges over the NSD weekend.  (It made me very productive - I still have a few more in my drafts folder to share with you!) Most of the products are from like for ever's May kit, with some SpiegelMom Scraps thrown in fro good measure.  I have major issues with the wood piece as favourite is spelt wrong... Other than the American spelling I adore this lay...

One of the challenges like for ever ran for NSD was to cut around the subject of your photo.  Hmm, not one where an obvious photo or layout sprang to mind!  I waited for my fellow subscribers to submit layouts and basically lifted the lovely Sarah Packer . I've used papers from my latest lfe kit, the previous lfe kit, and my stash.  Alphas are Amy Tan and Basic Grey. I've used my black India ink, and some Heidi Swapp colour shine on the background.  I was channelling the theme at Try It On Tuesday - spots, dots and splashes. I embellished with a bunch of enamel dots and shapes - most are Lora Bailora with a few Cocoa Vanilla Studio too. The flair is from Feed Your Craft. Over all I just had fun with this, and isn't that what it is all about? Thanks for stopping by!

I'm going to start doing a few step by step walk throughs of how I create my projects.  For the first one I'm going to show you how I create a background for a scrapbook layout. 1. I started off knowing I want to use some holographic heart stickers.  They are pinks, purples and blues and these prompt me with the colours of inks I want to use.  I also add a neutral grey and my trusty clear gesso. 2. I know I am going to be using water and that my card is regular thick card - it will warp.  You could use watercolour paper if you wish.  To help combat the warp I spread the thinnest layer of clear gesso over my card.  I use a pallet knife to spread it as thin as possible - you really don't need much. 3. When the gesso is dry I start flicking my mists.  I tend to start with the neutral colour. 4. I spritz the ink droplets with some water to spread the colour and give a more painterly look. 5. I then took my lilac mist and blue mist and fli...