BeYOUtiful - The Cut Shoppe GDT and giveaway

The lovely Ashley Horton from The Cut Shoppe has asked me to Guest this month, how exciting.

I chose two files to play with, 'I'll Fly Away' and 'Just be You'. They were perfect to document my little one's birthday a couple of years ago. Her wish was to play the day away. Starting with a makeover for me and some face painting for her, we had such fun together! I've also used the gorgeous new We R Memory Keepers Flower Girl collection, pulling lots of butterflies and floral elements to compliment the sweet butterfly cut file.

I knew I wanted to use each file a slightly different way. The butterflies would be drawn as a base to give lots of lovely interest without the bulk of an additional layer. I placed both files in a 12x12 file in Silhouette Studio and tweaked the size/positioning until I was happy.

I then created the cut lines for each. I split the complex path of the butterflies and duplicated a couple, rotating them slightly...

By rotating them a bit, it's given them a bit more of an edgier feel which I really like. After they were drawn on my patterned paper, I then coloured a few lightly with some watercolour paint and a water brush pen.

For my title, I've used a sheet of 'Garden Path'. 

The little white dots were just a touch too distracting so I've misted it with Navy Color Shine. This has toned it down nicely, making it much easier to read.

Lots of lovely layers!

It just so happens that today is my birthday and to help celebrate, I'm giving away one of my favourite files from the Cut Shoppe! If you're on Instagram, head over to my feed to leave a comment to enter. The winner will be drawn this Friday 6th at 6pm EST.

Good luck and thank you for stopping by!

Wanderlust Suitcase for Kraft Plus Challenges

There are a few days left to get your entries in for the December kraftboard over at Kraft Plus Challenges. This month there is a 'Wanderlust' theme with the criteria being:

Kraft + Travel + Maps 

I was completely inspired by the suitcase in the photos. There are so many places I would still like to visit! I found the cutest suitcase cut file in the Silhouette online store and created this travel case using Simple Stories 'Summer Vibes' and 'So Fancy. 

There is a little drawer which slides out to reveal four mini albums, one for each of the four holidays we took over the course of 2005...

Hello Amsterdam, Greece, Paris and South Africa!

The albums have been simply bound using a book ring. Each has about 6 pages, with a postcard at the end (old October Afternoon) where I can jot down my memories. To save you trying to decipher my scrawl, I hadn't written on them for the photos, hehe.

The inside of the Amsterdam one. My printer was running out of ink by this stage, so the photos are a little washed out, unfortunately.

Greece:

South Africa. How I miss that beautiful mountain!

All pretty simply embellished, but so cute together.

Thank you so much for stopping by today. Sadly, this will be my last DT project on the K+ team. I have loved the clever challenges Sandra has put together for all of us kraft lovers and can't wait to see what amazing creations will be coming out of the K+ group next year!

I hope you will get a chance to play along if you haven't already.

Take care,

May Sassy Scappers moodboard inspiration

Hello again! Have you seen the new Sassy Scrappers moodboard for May? It's so gorgeous. Anita does an incredible job!

That amazing heart and the phrase stood out immediately! So I decided to create a crazy puzzle of my little girl's face. To be honest, I wasn't really sure how it would turn out, but that's half the fun!

I printed off the photo onto an A4 piece of photo paper. I then measured it exactly and set up the rectangle in Silhouette Studio. I went about placing loads of butterflies in various sizes all over to fill the space.

 

I cut it with blade set to 7 and a slowish speed of 3. Ta da! It worked (this is where I did a little dance!) I very carefully pulled off the negative of the cut and left the butterflies on the cutting mat.

It took about an hour, but I transferred each little butterfly into place, glueing as I went with Glossy Accents. Half way through I was really not convinced, but as soon as I had finished and took a step back, I was pretty chuffed with the outcome!

It was at this point that I decided I would frame it. I wanted to have some sort of title and then I remembered that a few years ago, I asked Heidi Swapp to write my kids names on a piece of paper. How perfect for the title! I scanned the paper in and then converted it to a cut file for my Silhouette Cameo.

I liked the paper cut but I really like the subtle shadow effect of her acrylic words, so I figured I'd add some! Again, this was an experiment, cutting an acetate sheet. I gave the cut file a small offset and sent it to cut....

How cool does it look once the two are layered!

If you decide to give this a go, please show me! I'd love to see. You can tag me @chantallemcdaniel if you have an Instagram account, or link it up on the Sassy page. The April winners will be announced this week. I hope you will join us!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great week!

Never give up what you love - 17 Turtles

My DS has had a few worries this year - perhaps it's the age or hormones or something we can't quite put our finger on... One of these was the idea that he wasn't tough enough or good enough to continue to play rugby. As a parent, it was difficult to see my child all of a sudden shy away from something he normally loved (and is good at!) With lots of support, we are working through these fears and this layout serves as a note to him, to not give up on his dreams.

If you love your Silhouette, then you are going to love the very talented Juliana Michaels' blog and store, 17 Turtles! She has kindly allowed me to work with some awesome cut files that she has created, like the set I worked with on this page -  Houndstooth Hello.

I found this set very versatile in that it could be used for a patterned background, for title work, for frames, circular embellies... the list goes on!

Working with the individual shapes, I have created lots of movement across the page using coordinating prints (We R Memory Keepers - Indian Summer) Tossed in there is some raw chipboard which I have cut on my Silhouette and heat embossed with a gold peacock feather stamp. Machine stitching adds just a touch of texture.

The title has been given a spritz of Gold Lamé Color Shine.

I also have another layout up on Juliana's blog today that I would love you to see. Lots of info on how I created it along with close ups. Pop over if you would like to have a look. Here is a peek:

Have a great day and thanks so much for visiting!

Oh Yeah, the beach

Vellum... I love. Woodgrain... I love even more!

Beautiful Webster's Pages choices available in the Sassy store right now. I have used a couple in this layout (along with Basic Grey's 'Highline') which was on the blog on Friday. It was inspired by our new September moodboard which has been created by Leonie. Hop over for close ups if you fancy. We hope you will join us for some fun!

         

Pretty & Fabulous - Sassy Scrappers

Hello again, I am 'eeeeeking' in a big way today, as tomorrow I will be teaching at QLD Scrapbooking Retreats in Kilcoy! I am so excited (and rather nervous) I hope all the ladies who attend will enjoy creating their layouts!

My beautiful niece in on the Sassy Scrappers blog today - some Silhouette tips included in the post as well :)

Have a fabulous weekend!