Monday 15 October 2012

An October Afternoon Scrapping....

Yes...I actually spent an afternoon, in October, scrapbooking with papers and embellishments from October Afternoon. Fancy that!! The lovely new Midway line to be precise, and the bright, happy hues and geometric patterns were just what I needed to inject some colour into a dull Autumn day. As always, direct links to the products I have used can be found at the end of the post.

My first page uses pictures actually taken just this weekend - Mr T and I attended a children's rollerblading party where towards the end the adults were all getting in on the action too. I must admit, I wasn't keen and was somewhat harassed into having a go, but I did manage a length of the sports hall and back without breaking any bones! It was good fun :) The round designs on the papers were perfect for recording our "wheely" fun adventure (see what I did there?!!) *ahem*...moving sharply on to the layout then.....

I'm totally in love with the new washi tapes that match the Midway range -  you can see a strip of the "Word Bubbles" across the photo of Mr T, and the "Photo Log" one along the bottom of the page. They are so usable - it is going to be ridiculously hard not to pop these on every page I make!

I had a pack of Pink Paislee "Artisan Words" to play with, and loved the puffy, rubbery texture they added to my page - and how they made incredibly light work of adding a title to my page.

 

The Artisan Words also contain elements other than text, and the Travel pack contains lots of fun stars and arrows. They can be used in their natural state as I did with my title, or customized using many mediums- inks, stains, markers, paint....... I chose to colour some of the stars for this page using mists (spraying liberally and mopping up any excess with a tissue).


I made little flag embellishments by wrapping strips of washi around decorative pins - you can layer up as many different tapes as you like, here I used two:

I then added a word sticker from the October Afternoon sheet, and popped the finished flag onto my page:


My second page utilised the funfair theme of the range to document a recent visit to the fair - and my niece and stepdaughter's first ever ride on a "roller coaster" - it was only a small one for children but I think it's fair to say they both loved it and will be raring to have a go on proper ones when they are big enough.

I wanted the page to be really busy with lots of movement to reflect the chaos of fair rides, and created this by adding lots of layers of elements and using them to move the eye around the page. The long vertical strip on the right takes your eyes down the picture to the title; next the horizontal strip runs your attention from the title across the page, and finally the arrows on the left return your gaze to the photo.

I created the assortment of arrows by beginning with a misted pattern using the arrows from the Artisan shapes as masks - the rubbery texture allowed me to pop them down, mist my paper, and peel them away easily to leave a negative shape. Plus, as they wiped clean, I could return them to the pack to use on another page. I mixed these with arrows hand-cut from one of the strips on the Duck Pond paper.
And now for something completely different.....my third page is very unlike my usual style but I'm pleased with it. It sort of made itself - I kept trying to add little things which I think are my "signature touches" to it, but it kept looking overdone. So I left it as it was - and it is the perfect addition to my pages about our short camping trip during the summer. It just goes to show that sometimes just a few basic elements are all you need to create a page - here I used one sheet of paper, some of the Studio Calico Ephemera, Pink Paislee Artisan Words, mist and a single strip of the Photo Log washi tape, and I was done.

Thanks as always for joining us at the Sarah's Cards Blog!

My Supplies included:

6 comments:

Lesley G said...

Love all those colours Nat.
The "travel" title is fab as are your pages x

Cathy C said...

Love all these pages Nat, you did a great job with those papers/embellies x x

Tracie said...

As always I am in awe of your gorgeous layouts! Need to get me some of those washi tapes!!! x

Ifa said...

Gorgeousness. I need some of those colours...definitely what one needs on a grey October day.

Jenga said...

Naughty Nat!!! You made me spend money lol. Love the pages you've shared. x

Tracy said...

Gorgeous pages Nat. I just love all the details you add to your pages. xx