Nerida left a comment on my last post asking how I choose colours and stamp sets to go with my photos. Before we get into all of that, let’s look at the different types of photo’s, there are snap shots that are random moments captured like a birthday party or the kids blowing bubbles and stuff like that. Then there are portrait photo’s, where time is taken to set it up (and the kids get cranky, lol) and then there is photography that delves into the realms of art.  

To give the process of choosing stamp sets an analogy lets compare it to songs and moments in time (songs are the stamp set and the moments are the photo’s) I love looking through my catalogue deciding on my next stamp set. It’s amazing to look at the stamp set images in the catty and think of all the different ways that I can use it, try it this way, think of a song that has been on your favourites list for years….got it?….now let it bring back all of those moments in time that you and the song shared (These are your snap shots). Now since that song has already been with you for so long, it’s likely to stay on your favouites list, right? Now go and look at your favourite set in your stamp stash and grab a stack of photo’s and try the same thing, you’ll find youself thinking of different ways of using that set to create loads of layouts. Then as a challenge with that same stamp set, think of a page you’d love to do and then go about “setting up” a photo to make it happen, if you choose to challenge yourself please email me your layouts, I’d love to see them and I’ll send you a sample goodie bag.

When it comes to colour, I let the photo’s do the talking. I pick a focal colour from the photo as a starting point and start exploring from there. I don’t like to over power my photo’s, after all they are why the album is being made, the only hard and fast rules I have are coordinate and compliment. Here’s a few pic’s I’ve put in as samples and I’ll scrap them over the next couple of weeks, so check back to see the outcome.

Ah, my little helper This pic invokes memories of our time in Mt St Thomas, we had a bit of a potted garden at the front door to make a place of joy amongst the concrete.The page I want to do with this photo is not just about Billy watering plants, but a story a house and the things we did to make it our home. To tie the story to the page I am going with a neutral back ground of Sahra Sand. Then to introduce our garden I have chosen Old Olive, I have chosen Olive as it a great mid range for all of the shades of green in the garden. Now I can add some happiness with some flowers and accents in Perfect Plum, Pretty In Pink and So Saffron. How did I come to that combo? It’s not on the colour coach, but as I had decided on Old Olive and it is similar to Kiwi Kiss, I turned to my trusty In-Colour chart. My chart tells me that both Perfect Plum and So Saffron go well with Kiwi Kiss, so I tried them on Old Olive and they looked just fine. I still needed another colour for flower centres, so I went back to the Colour Coach for some cross checking and right there under Pretty In Pink is Plum and Saffron. Now funnily enough the other colour on that section of the colour coach is Mellow Moss. I could use that if I wanted but it would not express our little colour explosion by the front door. Now that probably sounds like a long drawn out process, when I first started scrapbooking it did take a while to get it just right, but that was all decided upon in only a few minutes. For the stamps I have picked out two sets, Cicle Circus and Seeing Spots. They coordinate well together and I can use my circle punches and scallop circle punch to create some funky flowers. Stay tune for a completed page.

This is of my Mum and I at her 70th birthday. This page is about the people in the photo, but it still has to take accents from the surrounds to keep a sense of balance and harmony. A photo like this is too easy. I don’t  even need a colour coach, I am going to use two of the blues from the Rich Regals colour family, Brocade Blue for the main colour and Bordering Blue as accent colours aswell as some Bella Bleu Designer Series Paper. For this layout, rather than use stamps I thought that I would use my Pretties Kit and some of my punches too. Ok, so the coulours for this page were a little to easy to pick as Mum and I just happen to coordinate with the kitchen, so I have set myself the challenge of no stamping on this page…Hmmm, is that really a challenge? Like I said, checckout the accessories section of your catalogue and you’ll see how easy project coordination is with Stampin’ Up!

Woohoo! Billy’s first ever game of pool, I was only about 12 months older when I played my first game. Now this photo is a bit more of a challenge. Mum and Dad actually had an extension built on their old house just to fit the billiard table. They’ve since downsized and it now lives in a very full garage. Here’s the solution…

That’s right, black and white with a little softening. The original photo was way to loud and chaotic (and I have an aversion to Glorious Green, lol) So now I can sigh, Ahhhh. Black and white photography is awesome as almost anything will go with it. I want to go with a bit of an olden days feel, so I have choosen the Windsor Knot Designer Series Paper, mixed with Chocolate Chip, Old Olive and So Saffron. I’m going to use the Wanted set and go with a saloon type theme.

I hope that answers your question Nerida

If your reading this and have any questions, click on the commemts tab at the bottom of this post and type your question in, I’ll do my best to answer them for you. If want to follow the journey of these three pages and you’d like to be notified when I update my blog, scroll up to the top of the screen and you’ll see a goldie glowing icon in the header image. Click on that and follow the prompts.

Live, laugh and dance!

Melanie Packham

Every once in a while I take a good look at the amount of photos I have filed away waiting to be scrapped and I get to thinking it’s time to Keep It Simple Sweetie! To me, scrapbooking is not about having every page looking like the cover of a magazine, it’s about the journey of life and our memories of it. Not every page needs a big flashy heading, but 99% of my pages have journaling on them to capture our story for the generations to come, some only need the date as the photo’s tell their own story.

If you’re like me, (a little wierd…but…you know..) you’re the kind of person who seperates their photo’s into their pages as soon as you get them home and then files them. No? Ok… Then I’ll ask you a question. Do you have loads of time to do your scrapbooking? No? Then it’s time to get organised, if you’re the kind of person who sits to scrapbook and spends the first half hour sifting through photographs wondering what to do. You need to get yourself a Forget-me-not Keeper, they are on page157 of the catalogue. It’s got little dividers in it so you can group your photos to ther individual pages, as you are grouping your photos grab some scraps of photo friendly cardstock and jot down what colour combo and which stamp sets you want to use on the page, pop the info in with your photos and your set. You’ve just added an extra half an hour of scappin’ time  to work on each of those pages. Have you got so many photos that even doing this seems like a daunting task, no worries, this Is just one of the services I offer. My house or yours, give me a call on 0449 639 649.

Getting back to the page above. Pages don’t have to be complex works of art, can simply capture the moment for it’s simplicity. I have used the Heartfelt Thanks (2 step) stamp set and I didn’t even use markers to get both burgundy and green onto the one stamp, just a bit of artful inking. I’ve used the Scallop Border Punch on the burgundy cardstock and added a few buttons as an accent, too easy.

Here are the ingredients I used:

Stamps:

• Heartfelt Thanks

Cardstock:

• Pumpkin Pie
• Old Olive
• Bravo Burgundy

Ink:

• Pumpkin Pie
• Old Olive
• Bravo Burgundy

Extras:

• Buttons (Retired)
• Mini Glue Dots
• Snail Adhesive

If you want to know more about simplifing your scrappin’, leave a question in the comment box and I shall dedicate a post to it, if you are on my mailing list I’ll send you out a goodie bag too. Not on the mailing list? Go to the sign-up box at the top of the right hand column and fill in your details. As per norm only Aussie’s who are non-demonstrators are eligible for prizes, but every one is welcome to participate

Stampin’ Up! create the most gorgeous stamp sets that not only co-ordinate within the set but with others aswell and this page was made with two of my favourties, Eastern Blooms and Baroque Motifs.

This photo was taken on Mothers Day 2008, so I have had it for a while, wondering just what to do with it. There have been many times in life that I have called “time out” and headed off to a patch of rainforest or a grassy hill top for a couple of peaceful hours. Well… we can’t always have what we want, the day contained nothing even remotely close to serenity, Billy was two and a half so lets not kid ourselves here…lol. So I did the next best thing and have scrapped Mum, Billy and myself into a field of flowers for eternity.

Want to scrap yourself in a field of flowers? Here’s what I used:

Stamps:

• Eastern Blooms
• Baroque Motifs
• Lovely Letters Alphabet

Cardstock:

• So Saffron
• Brocade Blue
• Very Vanilla

Ink:

• Rose Red
• Regal RoseBravo Burgundy
• Night of Navy
• Ballet Blue
• Always Artichoke

Extras:

• Stampin’ Dimensionals
• Stamp-a-ma-jig
• The quote was printed on cardstock, in the computer printer.

Warmest wishes for your day,

Melanie Packham

For those of you who may not know, I hold a trade in decorative glass work, specialising in leadlighting and sandblasting. When I first saw the Baroque Motifs stamp set, I got to thinking of a Victorian period house I did a load of sandblasted glass work for, here is a pic of one of the side lights for the main entrance.

Mathew, the owner/builder is also a person with passion for his craft, he managed to get hold the original plans for a victorian style house and created his dream. He tried various places for his glass work until he heard about me, he wanted his glass work to be hand cut in the traditional slyle.

This small pannel of four roses took 5 hours from start to finish, the entire project included 36 roses, Then there were transomes and other little bits and pieces too. A huge job in all and I am yet to make it back to Melbourne to see the finished house…one day.

I am not working with glass at this point in my life as my son is only 3 1/2, when he is a little older I shall take it up again. So for now I will gather inspiration from the past to create in the now.

Now you know the story behind the design, let me share it with you. I have used the Versamark on the Rose Red cardstock with the vine design from Baroque Motifs. I then stamped 3 of the bolder style flower onto a piece of Regal Rose cardstock, I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to line them up too. I then popped a new blade into my craft knife and cut the stamped images out, turned it over and added some razzle dazzle with the rhinestone brads. A couple of thin strips of vanilla added to the underside edges and then used dimentionals to stick the rose strip to the red base.

The Ingredients List

Stamps:

• Baroque Motifs

Cardstock:

• Rose Red
• Regal Rose
• Very Vanilla

Ink:

• Versamark

Other Bits:

• Stampin’ Dimentionals
• Rhinestone Brads

If you’d like to know more about the products and techniques used in this project, please feel free to contact me.

Warmest wishes for your day,

Melanie Packham

I have had these photographs for a while now and the other night it hit me how I wanted to scrap them, what they need is a good dose of less is more. My dad plays Trad Jazz on the banjo, he and mum did a bit of a tour around the United States going to various jazz festivals. One of those stops was at San Francisco, where dad got to partake in one of his other hobbies…fishing. These are the only pic’s I have of their trip, quite possibly because dad knows that “San Francisco Bay” is one of my favourite tunes.

I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of an order of goodies from the new catalogue, so I am distracting myself by using products and techniques that I have not used in a while. Both stamp sets and the patterned paper used for this page have been deleted, but I am so happy to see the return of the 1/4 inch Choc Chip Grosgrain Ribbon.

I love to journal and hiding it is not my usual style, but some times you have photo’s that speak for themselves and these ones I felt should be left to do so. I have made a tag for a bit of hidden journaling using a jumbo eyelet and grosgrain ribbon, tied off with a little linen thread.

The Ingredients List

Stamps:

• Letterpress Alphabet (Retired)
• Office Accoutrement (Retired)

Cardstock:

• Close to Cocoa
• Very Vanilla

Ink:

• Close to Cocoa
• Chocolate Chip

Other Bits:

• Patterned Paper (Sentimental Journey, retired)
• Antique Brass Jumbo Eyelets
• Crop-O-Dile
• 1/4″ Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon
• Linen Thread
• Stampin’ Dimensionals
• Stamp-a-ma-jig

This is a page for Billy’s Alphabet Album. If you havn’t heard of an alphpabet album before, they are a great to do for children as they discover more about the alphabet through themselves. As an adult I have so many odd pics from parties and get-toghethers over the years, with these photos I am making an album titled, The A toZ of me.

We get so many native birds in our backyard and Billy drew a magpie on his chalkboard, what a great photo for the “M” page. My formula for the pages in a childs album is to keep it simple, with a combination of a big on board letter, a 5×7 photo, a bold alphabet and a coordinationg stamp set.

With the base cardstock for this page being very close in colour to the patterned paper used for an accent, I have roughened the edges of the letter with a sanding block, giving a defining edge to the letter and helping to draw it out from the background. These chipboard accents are great for adding that little extra something to your pages and Stampin’ Up! have four different On Board packs on the retiring list at 25% off. At the moment they are all sitll available, be sure to get in quick before they disappear.

This cute little stamp set is called Be Happy and I am a little sad to see it on the retiring list. If your looking for a fun and versitile stamp set for children, this is it. Not only is it fun and dynamic for scrapbooking, it’s also great for cards, invitations, gift boxes and a whole range of off-the-page projects, it also lends itself to projects for boys and girls. What more could you want?

I have used the Stampin’ Write Markers on the Laugh,Play, Share stamp to get a multi coloured image. The brush tip end of the markers are great for isolating a section of a stamp, while the fine tip is great for journaling in a coordinating colours.

The Ingredients List

Stamps:

• Be Happy (Retiring)
• Big Deal Alphabet

Cardstock:

• Brilliant Blue
• Whisper White

Ink:

• Brilliant Blue
• Real Red
• Green Galore

Other Bits:

• On Board Simon Lower (Retiring)
• Jersey Shore, Double Sided Paper (Retiring)
• Bold Bright Buttons (Retiring)
• 1/4″ Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon
• Stampin Dimensionals
• Anywhere Glue Stick
• SNAIL Adhesive

If you’d like to know more about this project or the products used, please contact me.

Warmest wishes for yor day.

Melanie Packham

My Billy loves his bushwalking, he especially likes looking for dinosaurs along the way. Our last home was right at the begining of the Mt Keira Ring Track in  Wollongong NSW. He will walk for a good for a good hour or so (Up hill) and then sleep for a couple, a great time for me to get into my papercraft.

I have used the Natural Beauty stamp set for this page, it is a gorgeous set and I am sad to see it retiring. I find this type of detailed stamps have such versatility, I have used it in two different ways to create this page. Firstly I hve stamped with black Stazon and used the Watercolor Wonder Crayons to make my own embellishments for the layout.

I have also used the single leaf image with my VersaMark ink pad to create a patterned background. This creates a subtle and unobtrusive, tone on tone base for the page. 

For the strip of accent colour I have used More Mustard cardstock with More Mustard ink for a more pronounced tone on tone effect. This was done with the Canvas background stamp, which is also retiring and will be greatly missed by me.

I have used 1/4″ grosgrain ribbon to seperate the two patterns. They looked far to busy right next to each other, but work well together with the fine block of colour between them.

The Ingredients List

Stamps:

• Natural Beauty (Retiting)
• Canvas Background (Retiring)

Cardstock:

• Old Olive
• More Mustard
• Bravo Burgandy
• Very Vanilla

Ink:

• Stazon Black
• VersaMark

Other Bits:

• Watercolor Wonder Crayons
• Aqua Painters
• 1/4″ Bravo Burgandy Grosgrain Ribbon

If you’d like to know more about the products I have used to make this page, please feel free to contact me.

Warmest wishes for your day.

Melanie Packham

This month I am saying farewell to some of my favourite stamp sets and accessories. Why farewell? Sure I can still use the stamps and accessories but that would just be teasing you. I can show you the things I create with them and then tell you that you can’t have them, that would just be mean. So I will dedicate March to my retiring goodies.

This is one of my favourtie photo’s, it was taken at Billy’s first birthday party. What a wonderful day it was, we celebrated with family and friends, Billy had his first chocolate crackle too (those things can be so messy).

The design for the layout is from the fabulous Becky Fleck and her Page Maps site. If you’re ever stuck for a layout for scrapping, cards and tags, page maps is the place you should visit. For the colour scheme, I relied upon my old faithful Stampin’ Up! Color Coach. The Color Coach takes all the guess work out of coordinating Stampin’ Up! cardstock and accessories. At $18.95 it is a must have in any Stampin’ Up! collection.

The small spots on the Old Olive were done using my beloved Itty Bitty Backgrounds stamp set and a VersaMark ink pad. This set has been one of my favourites and quite possibly the most used, it is so handy for adding a bit of visual texture or making your own patterned paper.  The larger dots on the Pumpkin Pie were made with the Sweet Shapes stamp set and a Choc Chip ink pad. Both of these sets are retiring, for more information scroll down to the “Retiring List” post.

The stars are made with the Large Star Punch and I’ve drawn the lines for the inner border with my Chocolate Chip Stampin’ Write Marker. The faux stitching is also done with the magic little marker.

These gorgeous buttons are retiring too! I have complete faith that if Stampin’ Up! is retiring these beauties, they will replace them with something just as versitile and stylish. These ones are the Old Olive buttons, from the Earth Elements collection. I have always found that the best way to adhere buttons, ribbons and othe such accessories is with the Glue Dots, they are no-mess with a super strong hold.

The Ingredients List

Stamps:

• Sweet Shapes (Retiring)
• Itty Bitty Backgrounds (Retiring)

Cardstock:

• Brocade Blue
• Old Olive
• Pumpkin Pie
• Chocolate Chip

Ink:

• Classic Chocolate Chip
• VersaMark

Other Bits:

• Earth Elements Buttons (Retiring)
• 5/8″ Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon
• Large Star Punch
• Chocolate Chip Stampin’ Write Marker
• Glue Dots
• SNAIL Adhesive

If you have any questions or would like to purchase any of these products, please feel free to contact me.

Warmest wishes for your day.

Melanie Packham

The great news for you is, this year Stampin’ Up! have decided to send out the current catalogue with a BANG!!! There are so many stamp sets and accessories retiring, it’s incredible.

Just in case you miss the fine print on the flyer, I’ll explain the asterisk legend. Any item with (*) has been reduced by 25%  Any item with (**) has been reduced by 50%  Please note that prices have already been reduced for you. Any item with (***) half of the purchase price is being donated to the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal (Scroll down to the next post for further information about this fundraiser).

If you have not yet lived through a Stampin’ Up! retirement, let me give you a few tips. If there is something on the list that you have to have, order it now, products on the list have a habit of just disappearing. If there is something you are thinking about, keep a lookout here every day, I will daily update the list of what is getting low on stock (Chocolate) and what has run out (Red). Please be aware that items can go from plentiful to unavailable in the setting of an eyelet. Can you believe that at the end of the first day 11 products have already sold out!

To view the retiring list in alphabetical order, click here. To view the list in order of page number, click here. There are two pages to each link, one of stamps and one of accessories.

If you don’t have a catalogue of your own, go the right hand column of this blog and under the heading of Favourite Sites, click on the 2008/2009 Idea Book & Catalogue. This will allow you to view the catalogue and the list on dual windows. This link will be changed on the 1st of April to the 2009/2010 IB&C for your viewing pleasure.

Now that the catalogue is finished I have removed the rather long list from this post, if for no other reason than you’ll get to the next post quicker

Warmest wishes

Melanie Packham

 How can you play the vital role in this fund raiser? By purchasing from a specially selected group of 10 stamp sets, Stampin’ Up! are donating 50% of your purchase price to the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal. This campaign finishes on the 31st of March. I will keep you posted on the growing tally too.

The names of the stamp sets are linked to the on-line catalogues, so just click on the name and scroll to the page number you’re after. The stamp sets with an asterisk next to them will be on the retierment list, due out on the 1st of March, so they’ll only be available while stocks last.

Priceless  #112312  $48.95  page: 105

Seeing Spots  #108909  $29.95  page: 89

Baroque Motifs  #11238  $39.95  page: 98

Live Your Dream  #114261  $55.95 (Summer Mini Catalogue)  page: 3

*Looks Like Spring  108864  $58.95  page: 76

*The Snowflake Spot  #108934  $39.95  page: 27

*Bodacious Boquet  #108756  $58.95  page: 80

* Polka Dots & Paisley  #108756  $35.95 page: 46

*G’day Mate  #111973  $35.95  page: 115

*Be Happy  #108744  $39.95  page: 51

If you’d like to support the appeal and purchase any stamp sets from this list, please call (02) 4238 3444 or send an email to mel@melaniepackham.com or for more information on purchasing Stampin’ Up! products through me, just click here. 

Warmest wishes for your day.

Melanie Packham