Surprise Lift

A great challenge at XOXO this month – be inspired by the team being inspired by each other! We got to do what all of you challengers do each month: lift! But it was more: a 'surprise lift each other' challenge – which was a great opportunity for me to finally make something in the style of one of my scrap idols – Michelle. She has a very arty, graphic, laissez-faire style and has a great eye for photos and telling a story on a layout. It was a no-brainer that she would be my surprise lift.

Here is her page (from 2011):

courtesy of Michelle @ myanaloglife.blogspot.com

And here is my lift:

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Heavily influenced, I know. Very similar, I know. But Ioved this page so much for so long and just wanted one of my own. Do you ever get that about someone else’s work? For me it was this one’s great colour scheme, uplifting message, and rock n roll elements like the wings – all in all, it was perfect.

I took specific elements from Michelle’s page and adapted them, sometimes not very much, and sometimes quite a lot, to achieve my own page. I found some cloud paper (remnants from Echo Park’s Sweet Summertime collection) and used my Sass cloud stamps to both stamp and just get a good cloud shape to cut out of patterned paper. I chose some herringbone patterns too – from Crate’s Paper Heart collection, and a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The wings were actually a pair of earrings that were joke-given to me by my mum for my hen party as a nod to me saying how I didn’t want to see halos or angel wings or anything like that (things like this, and L-plates and tiaras, are quite typical British humiliate-the-bride-to-be things and since I was not the typical bride I did not want the typical stuff). I bent the backs flush with the page with a pair of pliers. I used a balloon stamp (Kaisercraft – Up, Up & Away) and also a balloon mask (Prima). For the positioning I pretty much stuck to Michelle’s, but changed the size and the number of photos, and the colour of the title.

And yes, I love it. I wish I’d come up with it myself! Thanks, Michelle – keep on churning out those beauties!

If that's not quite enough for you, there's also a challenge this month to design something for the XOXO webpages: a new site needs a new header, so submit your designs!

Roots

In the middle of a storm of user rights, copyrights, intellectual property rights, and generally a whole lotta difficulty, rumour, uncertainty and confusion, True XOXO has challenged its DT to be inspired by Pinterest this month.

And what did we do? Pushed on regardless. Inspiration and interpretation are ours this month.

Pinterest, for me, at least before this storm came a-brewin', firstly an explosion of visual stimulation, and secondly, a place where I dream about the house that we are currently looking for. From that angle I have scrapped a photo of our little family and how we are putting down roots in this here city, as well as incorporating aspects that I think are visually stimulating, like bright colours contrasted with dark ones, patterned paper shapes, and a little airplain effect that I'm already very fond of!

 Go check out the new XOXO blog and join in with the challenge - you could win a guest DT spot!

Messing Things Up

For the design team at True XOXO this month, the challenge - get messy - was divisive to say the least... but what the challenge has shown, although tough, is that there are MANY different ways you can be messy, and that messy is ALL RELATIVE. I love some of the LOs on this challenge for the personal value - you might not necessarily look at a page and think automatically that it is messy, but once you read the artist's little summary of the page and get to know their 'usual' style, you see how they've gone through a creative process to arrive at the layout.

Mine was intended to truly reflect the messy state of my brain the other week - lack of sleep leads to some interrrrrrrrrrrresting artistic accents, that's for sure!

all kinds of messy

I wanted to get lots of layers on there without turning it into an art journal-style page or mixed media piece, but I think it just looks like I Jackson Pollocked it (I wish!).

Anyway, join in the fun this month and you could win a month-long guest spot on the DT!

One and Only One

There is only one....

....the 'one' challenge at True XOXO Girls, that is. Get on over there this month for you will not be disappointed! There are a few new girls to welcome as they bring their unique creative styles to the blog this year. There are some stunning, beautiful layouts there - and they are all inspiring in their different ways. Some girls chose a 'one love' theme, others a 'one manufacturer', others still a 'one of each' idea. I opted for one colour because I've wanted something all white of my own for a while.

all white?

It didn't come out how I was expecting. And I can tell you, those people who make monochrome layouts make it look easy, because this was DIFFICULT. And I think it shows - I'm not really too happy with it, although I can't seem to put my finger on why? Any help, anyone?

But don't let me put you off. This really is a challenging challenge - if you're looking for a kickstart this new year, you need look no further. Don't forget, there's a prize to be won!

Summer Really Brings Out the Kid in You, Huh?

It's summer! And over at True XOXO the July lifting challenge is up. Go get lifting! Gorgeous prizes to be won!

One of the criteria for creating our liftable pages this month was to use multiple photos that were action shots which really showed our fun side. I browsed our photo collection on the backup drive; then I rummaged amongst the printed photos; and then I dug out the 'old photos' box and went through that. Sad to say, I found absolutely zero photos of me being 'fun'. From this moment forward I resolve to be more 'fun' in photos!

I resorted to using photos of my fiance and his friend, messing about in a playground one Sunday afternoon a few years ago.

 

'Summer really brings out the kid in you'? Apparently that's not the case for me. But I'm happy I could rely on others to live up to this.

Go on, go get lifting! There is so much inspiration on that site right now!

All Change!

There's a lot going on behind the scenes generally at the moment, but in particular I'd like to mention that after a short hiatus, the True XOXO Girls scraplifting challenge blog will be up and running again in a bit with a new challenge.

It'll be blogging inspirational posts throughout the month, as well as giving the chance to win a great kit for scraplifting one of the DT's layouts.

Despite the hiatus, we all went ahead and made a layout for last month anyway.

There's a change in the weather, too: much-needed rain for the strawberry plants. All round this should mean a clearing of the air and a fresh start. Keep an eye out for my next XOXO post because that'll mean the challenge is up and running!

Just for the Record: I'm Lifting Again

Look at that. I'm getting good at this headline-creating business.

It's layout time. More specifically, it's gorgeous spring yellow, For the Record time.

A blogospherical friend of mine who is rather good at making layouts (not to mention dresses, and cards, and mini albums) made a page a while ago that I kept thinking about. In creating my most recent layout I managed to lift her and use masses of the amazing collection that is For the Record. It's so versatile, with so many different potential 'looks' - I can't stop praising it.

What I'm loving about this page, other than For the Record: clouds, journalling, masking tape and Versamark stars. Thanks to Sabr for the inspiration!

Nothing Like a Bit of Lifting to Start the Day

The April inspiration on the True XOXO Girls blog is so good this month, I even lifted one myself! I'm not going to enter it though, since I'm on the DT and all :-) 'Winning' March's lift challenge (and getting an honourable mention) is plenty enough praise and flattery for me, so I'm going to toot someone else's horn instead.

This fabulous layout by fellow DT member Linda inspired me to run off and make my very own layout.

 The main ingredients are For the Record and Restoration, with a lot of other little things thrown in (as is my way).

Go check out the lifting inspiration - you could win an amazing kit sponsored by Candy Shoppe Designs!

When I Was...

Not only is the April scraplift challenge about to go up over at the True XOXO Girls blog, the blog has also had a facelift and will soon be featuring posts from us Lipstick Chicks throughout the month to further inspire you.

My page for scraplifting this month is made - finally - from a kit supplied by the lovely Sandra at GottaCraft. The photo is from a couple of years ago, when I was interviewed by the BBC for an event I'd organised. My mum, of course, scrapped the photo straight away, but I kept it, not knowing how to. Then 'For the Record' came out, and suddeny it all made sense. I put the two together, and this is what I got:

I've included lots of close-ups, because I love this collection so much, and to show you how it has inspired me...

The gorgeous reds, yellows and greens are offset so strikingly by the black and white. I paired this with bakers' twine, painted flowers, a doily and a transparency.

I can't get enough of this collection. It's  a good thing, then, that there's still quite a lot of it left in my scraproom!

If you play along at True XOXO Girls, you are in with a chance of winning a yummy kit, as always, so get on over and get lifting! 

A Blank Canvas

On Monday I said I would share a few more things from the market, so here I am, with my first real foray into mixed media canvases.

Up until last week I had three small (A6-ish) canvases sitting in a drawer, since forever probably, and although I knew they were waiting patiently for the right time to be unfurled to the world in their proper state, I was a little impatient with myself for not being ready for this magical time to occur.

Last week the time came. I laid out inks, sponges, brushes, paints, stamps, glue and a few other miscellanies and got messy. Here's what I came up with:

... and now I've released them to the world, where they can fulfil their destiny.

While I've got your attention, I'd like to announce quickly that following a short delay, March's scraplift challenge is up and running at the True XOXO Girls blog - pop on over if you feel the need for some layout inspiration. If you do end up lifting any of the gorgeous pages there, including mine (let's just take another look at it)...

....then you'll be in with a chance of winning a luscious prize from Candy Shoppe Designs. I know their kits, and I can tell you they are DELICIOUS.

To Cheat or Not to Cheat?

In the interests of having a decent-sized stall at a craft market this coming weekend, I've been fairly absent (from life in general) and intensely busy making things to sell. (I can't wait to show you some of them!)

Because of the craft market's demands on my time, I have to confess that I did consider cheating on the Postcard a Week challenge by sending a pre-printed postcard. But at the last minute I thought that no, I really mustn't, and instead I will make this week's when I have time and inspiration next week, and send two at once.

So, cheat-free and with a clean conscience, I bring to you today a couple of cards that had to be made for birthdays just gone. First, in order to polish my little halo just that bit more, I'd like to draw your attention to how I said in my 2011 resolutions that I would only make cards from paper and materials that were no longer loved and that I won't use in any other crafting... and then show you a card which 100% fits the bill.

A little card for a music-loving friend, using scraps of paper, stamping, and a fountain pen ink cartridge:

Then I'd like to preface the next card by pushing my angelic side so that it's not so important that I didn't follow the resolution rules for this one: it's for my mum, and since we all know how special mums are, I confess that there were some materials used that were not in the waste pile. A long time ago I scraplifted a card; well, I had to come back to it. It's just too beautiful.

Well, it's back to the workbench for me. The craft market is going to be a joint (ad)venture with my crafty friend Chocodeline; let's hope we have bonne chance!