Creations From The Heart

my favourite CJ so far

Thought I'd share a Circle Journal layout I've just completed in Naomi's CJ which is "Inspirational places to go before you die".  Most people have done layouts of one or two places they'd like to visit and scrapped about that place but I took a different angle and just listed some places I'd love to go and a couple I've already been too that I'd love to go back to again.  I think this layout is my favourite so far in all the CJ's I've done.  Just had a vision of something soft and vintagy and it came out just that way.  I wanted to layer the elements and grunge them up a bit with lots of distress ink so it's very soft and pretty.

I've used a mixture of things out of my stash.  Let's see if I can remember what I've grabbed!

• Basic Grey paper & buttons
• My Mind's Eye tag & floral rubon
• 7 Gypsies tag
• ATC card
• Heidi Swapp chipboard clock, Escape stamp and ghost label holder
• American Crafts chipboard flowers
• Stampin' Up butterfly & background stamps & cardstock & Chocolate Chip marker
• K&Co mini postcards (i think)
• Making Memories tape (flower stems)
• Tim Holtz distress ink - Vintage Photo
• tulle, lace, sequin trim, flowers, gemstone brads, thread

more circle journal pages

Here's a double page layout I've done for Tracy's Circle Journal titled "Inspiration".  I thought I'd whip up another digital creation as it's much more fun for me to do...I've certainly strayed right away from paper scrapping for quite some time now!  If you're keen to find the credits, hop over to my digi blog.  I'm a little behind in my CJ's so wanted to MAKE sure I got it done tonight so now off to beddy-byes!

Donna's "Colour" CJ

Most of you blog lurkers know that I organised a group of 10 ladies including myself to participate in a Circle Journal late last year.  I have just completed my first digital CJ layout for Donna's "Colour" journal.  So here's my two-page spread with my take on colour.  All the credits (and there's quite a list of them) are over at my digi blog.

Lisa's Circle Journal

Finally got around to finishing off the current Circle Journal I have here which is Lisa's.  Her topic was to scrapbook your layout using your favourite products and also incorporating your family into the layout.  I have used Heidi Swapp XL photo corners, Carolee's Creations tiny alphabet stickers, Queen & Co felt flower, Kindy Glitz, Kaiser rhinestones, Fancy Pants stamps (In My Words set), Stampin' Up stamps (Carte Postale set from Summer Mini), Stampin' Up olive organdy ribbon and MOD rubons.  Using Adobe PSE, I added some fairy wings to each of our pics and cut them out and added some Kindy Glitz for effect.  A little bit of an ecclectic layout from me but I like!!  PS: click on the images to see them in more detail.

Susan's Circle Journal part 2

Here is the final version of Susan's circle journal I showed in yesterday's post.  I seem to be using loads of bright colours at the moment. Included some flower shaped tags in a clear pocket which are stamped from the Big Blooms set and cut out.  Used some of the Queen & Co. felt rolls which are just so gorgeous - the orange scroll one here.  Used some Doodlebug paper frills for the tag tabs, Heidi Swapp alphas for words 'My' and 'World' on title page and foam alphas from my stash for the word 'Colour'.  Used Making Memories Cheeky chipboard flower shapes.  It's so much fun doing this circle journal!

Susan's Circle Journal

Here's a little sneak peak of the pages I'm doing from Susan's circle journal.  Her topic is Art & Colour so I've chosen some nice bright colours to set the scene.  Bright colours seem to be my choice of colour lately as they are so cheery and brighten my world up for me.  I've used an emboss resist technique here by stamping in Versamark onto the chipboard background.  I've then used Fuschia UTEE Brightz to emboss a flower stamp from the brand new Summer Stampin' Up mini catalogue that is about to be launched on 1st December.  This flower is from the Big Blooms set and I just love it.  They are so easy to stamp and cut out or emboss as I've done here.  Once I finish my pages tomorrow, I'll post another photo of the 'after' shots...these are really the 'before' shots.  After the embossing, I painted with a Adirondack Brights Acrylic Paint Dabber (Citrus) all over then wiped the excess paint off with a tissue to reveal the embossing underneath.  Very simple and effective technique to use.  If you wanted the underlying background to show through, just emboss with clear embossing powder rather than a solid colour like I've used.

Stampin' Up & circle journals (very long post ahead)...

Thought I'd share what my neighbour Mary has done with some Making Memories 8 inch photo decor letters.  The 'K' is for her daughter Kara's bedroom door and she has used the Stampin' Up 'Scribbles' jumbo roller and Kara has coloured it all in.  The 'H' is for her daughter Hayley and Mary used Stampin' Up 'Flitting By' jumbo roller along with some StazOn inks.  Very effective way to decorate some plain old chipboard!

And here's some more pics from my Circle Journal....

the back all modge podged with orange tissue paper (I showed the front a few posts back)....

The inside cover pocket made from felt and flower trim - this is where each person in the CJ is going to pop a tag in about themselves....

Here's the introduction page that tells everyone what my CJ is about...I've used Stampin' Up pink pixie card, KI Memories Love Elsie 'Toby' embossed cardstock, I've stamped on the pink card with the 'Print Pattern' background stamp and chalked with pink S/Up chalk, then I've stamped the flowers at the bottom from the 'Simple Somethings' set in Old Olive S/Up ink then I've coloured, added sequins and Kindy Glitz to them.

Then here's a divider page I made from Hambly Screen Prints transparency 'Vintage Wallpaper' - I've cut a photo out of myself and added some Heidi Swapp circle bling around it, I've used some Carolee's Creations tiny alpha stickers to spell out 'circle journal', I've used a Daisy D's metal index tab and set some We R Memory Keepers eyelets in with my Crop A Dile.

Last night I started working on my double layout pages as to what my creative escape is. This is so much fun!  This is the first page of my layout but only a work-in-progress so far...used a Fancy Pants paper with butterflies on it, some coloured UniTrim braid I found, the green paper is from Imagination Project Gin X, I've used the S/Up spiral punch on the side of the green paper, I've punched an index tab out with some more I/Project paper with the S/Up Round Tab punch out of the mini Spring catalogue, used some silver brads that I hammered to distress, I used the Scribbles jumbo roller on the pink background then coloured in with the S/Up markers, used some Tim Holtz 'Shabby Shutters' distress ink on the green paper, stamped a flower from my 'Scribble This' stamp set then cut another one out and coloured with S/Up markers and crayons and added some S/Up Glitter Effects into the S/Up Crystal Glaze!  Phew, what a mouthful and as I said this is just the beginnings of my first page for my double layout.  Still have to incorporate all my journalling somewhere but am all excited to finally get some of my S/Up goodies out and ACTUALLY USE THEM!!!

Here's the same page with the green paper flipped back...will show you more as I get there...

 

Circle Journal share....

Couldn't wait to share the cover of my Circle Journal with someone...I just love the rich, vibrant colours that I've found amongst my bits and pieces and it's not often I like what I make to start with...usually takes me a few days to warm to my projects but this just jumped right out at me!  I've modge podged orange tissue paper to the chipboard album base, used some ribbons, trims and fabric ruffled up.  The colours are not so vivid in this pic but it gives you an idea.  I've titled my journal 'My Creative Escape' where I'm going to document what I do to get creative and at the same time get some much-needed time away from the reality of kids, cooking, cleaning, etc.  My only creative outlet these days is scrapbooking of course and photography...I used to do glass mosaicing before the boys were born and I've still got a cupboard full of glass and tools but it's not something I can do in the house and especially with the kids around.  So I might get back into that again one day.  But given my love for taking photos, scrapbooking has become a very therapeutic outlet for me to document our lives, especially for the kids to know about their parents in the future when we're not around.  So hope you like it as much as me....these vibrant colours are typical of me as Donna would say!  I just love red and orange and thought I'd throw in some pink and green to boot....the Hambly Screen prints and some of the Love Elsie papers are next on my agenda to start the inside of my journal, so look out!!!

Anyone want to join our Circle Journal?

It's time to get the ball rolling on a Circle Journal that I have decided to start up.  A few of you showed great interest in joining one and they sound like heaps of fun.  So could anyone interested, please let me know by Monday 27th August, then I can allocate the groups and get you all started.

It will be easier if we stick to no more than 12 per group, so there may end up being a couple of groups or a couple of smaller groups if we don't get huge numbers.  You will have a month to complete a layout for each journal and if we start to get through them quicker, we'll review the duration then.  It will also be great if we can stick to the same size album so that some aren't doing 12x12 layouts and some doing say 6x6 layouts.  I thought maybe a 9x9 inch album or the 6x6 inch, depending on what's available.  My choice would be to go for an album with pockets in it so that you can slip your layouts in and there'd be plenty of pockets in most albums to allow for a double layout spread each.  But the choice of journal/album is completely up to you.  I am happy to get all the albums or you can source your own, but you'll need to make sure there's enough pages for everyone in your group to complete a layout on.

Just clarifying for those that have never heard of Circle Journals, you all purchase one journal each and you kick off by scrapbooking a layout about the topic you choose your journal to be on.  For instance, you may want to call it Things I Love and you may do a layout about how you love scrapbooking or how you love your family or how you love to cook, etc.  The topic cannot be too specific (ie My Kids) as some people may not have kids.  In your layout, you need to incorporate a tag with a bit of an introduction about yourself.  This can be hidden within the layout or incorporated into it.  This way, you'll all learn a little about each person that contributes to your journal.  Once you've done your layout, you'll have a list of ladies in the circle and you'll pass yours onto the next lady on the list who in turn will pass the next one onto someone else.  Thus you'll end up with another journal with a different topic to scrap in.  You will have a month to complete the layout in each person's journal and at the end you'll get your own journal back with lots of contributions from everyone.  Does that make sense?

Have a think about a topic you wish to cover in your journal and when I collate all the names, we can get things going.  Don't forget to go online and Google up Circle Journals as there's lots of information out there on the internet about what they are and what you could include in yours.  It's a bit of fun and a great keepsake for you and you may get to make some new friends along the way.  I thought of even having some special get-togethers to work on our Journals throughout the year too.

If you would like to join up, please let me know or if you want any information about it, please contact me.