Peg's Christmas Day

Happy December 25th!

I hope your day is beautiful, filled with love and peace.

Christmas is a challenging time of year for me, as with many of you too perhaps. There are too many memories of past times and missing loved ones. So we try to keep the day low key. We have a Secret Santa system where each person gives and receives just one gift. Much of the morning is spent together in the kitchen, a big spread is on the table by about 3pm. We eat, and chat, and laugh, sometimes cry. It's a very casual day, often spent in our pj's.

Sometimes my #2 boy even plays the big piano for me <3

The background of this page was created by wiping the cardstock over my messy mat to clean it. A little misting with water to re-activate the dry colours and mopping it up again. I cut up some leftover Project Life cards, added some punchinella from Gauche Alchemy, cut out some stamped circles, and used a few random embellishments that were lying on my desk. The big Thickers title pulls it all together and a few black splats of mist finish it off. Too easy!

Thanks for coming by and farewell from me as this is my last post for OTR.

I hope I have been able to inspire you in your creativity in some small way during my year on this team.

It's been fun.
Wishing you all a fabulous 2017!

Mood board Brusho watercolour Background with Peg

Hi All, Peg here.

Halloween is not really a thing where I live, some people have parties but there is no trick-or-treating and very few decorate their houses/yards. So I ran with the colours of the mood board for this layout of my son at the end of year presentation assembly. I wanted to highlight the quality of friendships he has using this photo of his mate, Olly, so happy about Ed's achievement.

The background was created by misting heavy-weight cardstock with water and dropping Brusho watercolour powders on it. The colours are made up of several different pigment colours hence the orange spots in the black. I didn't blend the colours in to keep this variety on my background. I quite like the firework effect.

I used up some very old product on this page (7 Gypsies paper tape, kraft frames, Glitz deco tape) and some leftovers from other projects that were lying on my desk, a very cathartic way to work.

All up it was a quick and easy page to create and this important story is in my album. As I'm sure you know, life can be a handful at times so it helps to be able to keep on top of the memory-keeping without too much fuss.

Thanks for coming by, hope you're having fun with the challenge this month,

Bright on Black with Peg

Hi All

Peg here with a 'Black & Anything Goes' page today.

I love creating with black as it makes bright colours really pop.

For this page I started with black cardstock, a Prima stencil and some Colour Blast paste in yellow over a very watery gesso background patch. Because my photos were so bright and colourful, yet taken at night, I wanted to bring in lots of colour but not really lighten the page. This was achieved by splattering (slightly watered down) acrylic paints. 

To make it really sparkle I added a top coat of Tattered Angels

Glimmer Glam in chandelier.

Then I added some Hambly transparencies and Dresden German Foil borders top and bottom, my photos (the bottom strip was printed on a 8" x 12" with 2" x 2" pics and folded to sand the edges), a Thickers foil title, and some journalling with a 1.0mm Uniball white pen. A little Dymo and a Tim Holtz word strip finished it off.

It's the messiest page I've done in ages, I had paint all over me, my apron, AND my clothes by the time I was done. Still, I reckon it was worth it!

So here's the graphic, click on it to go to the challenge post.

You can upload your creation on the side bar, still a few days left.

The prize is a gorgeous Memory Maze gift pack.

Good luck!

Thanks for coming by.

Monochromatic is the theme this month.. and today Peg is sharing with us

 Hi All

Peg here to share with you my monochromatic layout for this month's challenge. 

I had some fun playing with water colour pencils to make this background, scribbling patches of light and dark blue at the top of my page, misting with water and spreading dribbles downwards using a waterbrush. To hide the blended joins I inked through an awesome WoW stencil designed by my artist buddy Lisa Oxley

I also added a little sparkly texture to my background by applying some Colour Blast paste in Snow White through a Crafters Workshop stencil. I sanded the edges of my photos and matted them on black card, coloured over some foil alpha stickers for the 'Hooray', and added a strip of dymo for a sub-title.

I added an inked resist title, some journalling on correction tape, and a strip of patterned paper along the bottom, then painted around the edge black and added some mist splats to finish it off.

Quick and fun. Gotta love a snow day downunder!

Thanks for coming by, hope you're joining us for our monochromatic challenge this month.

Water Colour Wash with Peg

Hi All

Peg here with a simple and effective water colour technique for making beautiful backgrounds. This is my page for the April challenge, I have covered up most of the journalling with my watermarks due to its personal nature.

So I started with a heavy weight cardstock (Bazzill Marshmallow) made for mixed media work since this is a very wet technique. I misted all over liberally with water and then dropped Tim Holtz Distress re-inker colours in yellows and blues diagonally across the page. Where it wasn't spreading enough I added more water. Then I dried my page thoroughly. I used a red re-inker with lots of water on my mat and the pressed the corners of my dry page into it. This step was done and dried very quickly to prevent, as much as possible, the re-activation of the cool colours and a mixing into brown. 

The journalling is the feature here so I created a wavy block in Photoshop and filled it with my story, leaving an area for the photo mat to overlap.

After matting my photo to look like a Polaroid, I added a small cluster to the white space at the bottom.

Some Glitz Designs decorative tape, stamps, and black stencilled butterflies finished the whole thing off.

It's a really easy technique, one to play with over and over again. I hope you have some fun with it and join us in our April water colour challenge.

Thanks for coming by

The Struggle is Real with Peg

Hi All,

Peg here today to share how I did my February "Summer's Day" challenge page. I struggled a little with the colour palette, so ended up with something that is not really my usual style, the process went like this...

I pulled together some old product from my stash, along with the pics for the story I wanted to tell (already with sanded edges and black matting). That is some patterned brown contact there.

I trimmed the cream card to a 10 1/2" square and matted it on the dark brown, after removing the middle for later use. I trimmed the contact to 5" wide and applied it to the left side of the page, then misted the salmon colour through a stencil and splattered the brown mist.

 I added some machine stitching to edges, then stuck my photos down, using foam tape for the main one.

I added reference numbers to the pics, then corresponding subtitles and journalling with Dymo and a black gel pen. I trimmed a piece of patterned paper to 2 1/2" x 6", rounded the corners, cut it in two pieces and tucked it under top and bottom edges of my main pic.

I added the title with foam letters, inking over them lightly with a brown inkpad to catch the edges, then outlining to make them stand out more. I printed the quote on vellum and attached it using tiny staples. I painted the edges of the page with a metallic paint.

Lastly I added some bling and flowers and two lines of black stitching to help with visual flow.

Not my favourite page but it'll do.

We have these two challenges going for this month

Why not come and play along with us,
you can find the linky on the right side bar.

Thanks for coming by today

Please welcome some new faces to our Design Team

Please give a warm welcome to our new designers 

Their work is fresh and very inspirational, you might recognize some but others are new around the place, so jump on and follow these ladies. 

ELISA ABLETT

http://2crazycrafters.blogspot.com.au/

Hello, my name is Elisa and I live on the mid north coast of NSW Australia with my lovely husband and two boys.

 I've being scrapbooking since 2003 but have only recently ventured into the online world of challenges and blogs and I haven't looked back. My scrapping style is a little eclectic, mostly mixed media style with loads of colour and technique. 
I am so excited to join Off the Rails DT and feel honoured to be a part of such a amazing and creative team. I am also really looking forward to getting to know you all and hopefully inspiring you along the way! You can catch up with me over on the blog - http://2crazycrafters.blogspot.com.au

Anguree Jansen Van Rensburg
http://anguree.blogspot.com.au/

Hello there, my name is Anguree, and I am absolutely thrilled to be part of such an awesome team.

I am married to an awesome guy and live in tropical Darwin, Northern Territory (NT) Australia. We have no children except for a very spoiled Chocolate Labrador.

I was introduced into Scrapbooking somewhere between 2004 and 2005 and have been addicted ever since. I generally scrap 12x12 pages, but also love art journaling, making cards and off the page projects. My style vary from grungy to shabby but I dare say no style is off limits.

Over the years I've learnt not to get too tied up in what exactly my style is or should be, but rather to enjoy the process of creating. I love to experiment and try new products, mediums, techniques and all the little discoveries along the road.
I have been very lucky and blessed to have been published in Scrapbook Creations Magazine and Scrapbooking Memories Magazine and have previously been teaching at Scrap Matrix. I'm also very proud to be a design team member for Studio M Designs and Colour Stories Inspiration(CSI).

LYNN GOOD
http://memoriesonthepage.blogspot.com.au/

I live on small acreage of the North West Coast of Tasmania with my husband.  We are recent empty nesters and I must say it is quiet and peaceful!!
 I have been scrapbooking for about 12 years but have always done something crafty in my life. I wouldnt say I have a particular style - it depends on the photo and my mood but I love mixed media, flowers, bling (a little hard when you have 2 boys!) and chipboard. 

I generally do 12x12 pages but love the odd canvas, off the page project, art journal and cards. You can find my work on my blog - http://www.memoriesonthepage.blogspot.com.au/ if you want a peek. I am excited to be a part of the team at Off The Rails and look forward to sharing my creations with you all.

MANDY MELVILLE
http://mandymelville.blogspot.com.au/

I live on the beautiful Central Coast of New South Wales in Australia. I’ve been married to Andrew for 13 years and we have three children, Abigail (11 years), Isaac (8 years), and Eleanor (1 year). 

I’ve been scrapbooking for about 11 years, since my oldest was a baby, and it has become more than just a hobby, it’s my passion! I love preserving my family’s memories, and I equally love the creative outlet that scrapbooking provides! My style varies as I like to let the mood of the photos dictate the style of the layout and I like to try out different techniques, though most often on my layouts you will see layering, clustered embellishments, pretty patterned papers, and sometimes a little bit of mixed media. 

I also love to use my Silhouette Cameo to create titles, backgrounds and other elements for my layouts. I am very lucky to be regularly published in Scrapbooking Memories Magazine (an Australian mag) and to be on some awesome design teams including D-lish Scraps, Stuck?! Sketches and Scrap the Girls. I am so thrilled to have been invited to join the talented bunch of designers on the Off the Rails Scrapbooking Design Team and I can’t wait to start sharing my projects with you! If you’d like to take a look at my work, you can visit my blog at http://mandymelville.blogspot.com.au/



Tania Ridgwell
http://taniaridgwell.blogspot.com.au
 
 

My name is Tania Ridgwell and I live in the North Eastern suburbs of Adelaide with my partner of 13 years and our beautiful 9 year old daughter Chloe. 

 My Paper Crafting journey started soon after she was born and she is my never ending source of inspiration. I am totally addicted to all things craft and love to create anything from layouts to cards though my absolute favourite is for anything Off The Page.

I love to try new techniques and though I don't have any one specific style I would have to say the majority of my work is "feminine" and I love to incorporate mixed media into my work along with chipboard, blooms and plenty of bling!


 Peg Hewitt
http://pegsplaytime.blogspot.com.au/
 

Hi, I’m Peg.

I’m quite excited to be joining such an illustrious line-up of past and present designers here at Off The Rails. I only hope I can measure up! So a little about me...

For 15 years I’ve been a die-hard scrapbooker (who now occasionally toys with art journalling or canvas). Grunge and mess are common aspects to my work and I nearly always use some type of wet medium in my creations.  My style varies depending on my mood, the time I have at my disposal, and what is sitting on my table at any given moment. My process is rather organic as I don’t pre-plan and rarely know what my finished project will look like when I start. My primary motivation for creating anything is to tell a story, it comes from the relationships and experiences in my life, warts and all. Scrapbooking, to me, is cathartic. It keeps me sane.

I have been regularly published in the Aussie mags for a number of years, being both a Creative Team member (2014) and a ‘Master’ (2015) for Australian Scrapbooking Memories Magazine. I was a member of the Tattered Angels Design Team for 2011, and spent 3 ½ years designing for Gauche Alchemy among numerous other positions.

On the more personal side, I am happily married to a marvellous and supportive man and together we have 4 children (3 boys and a girl) aged from 20 - 11. We live in a country town in regional NSW on a 2 acre block with chickens, a cat, and a gorgeous garden/yard. I am a work at home mum and do the paperwork for our business as well as helping out at school with crafts and ethics.

Blog - http://pegsplaytime.blogspot.com/

Tanya Cloete

 

My name is Tanya, I am 28 years of age and live in South Africa.

 I have been scrapping for 6 years now.  It all started with seeking a ‘hobby’ to keep me busy during the day, little did I know what I had led myself into J.  I have always loved doing crafty things but never knew that scrap booking would develop into such a passion!!!

Photos are memories to be treasured forever and what better way than to tell a story by the beautiful layouts or albums one can make!!!

I love creating ‘booklet’ type albums and single page layouts but I have recently developed a great new love for making 3D projects!

Scrap booking is a lot of fun and very relaxing!

We are so excited to be introducing 7 new designers to the team, they are all beautiful and are extremely talented, and absolutely adorable to chat with, you will get a lot of inspiration from these ladies.