Buzz and Bloom

Flower Brooch by Sophie Sim-Lawrence

I'm not sure about you, but for me, sometimes in the process of creating, a piece of work does not quite turn out the way I had originally envisage it to be. See the brown crochet flower in the photo?

 
That started originally as a beanie but as it would have it, decided that it looked better of as a flower. =) Instead of believing that the product of my time and effort belongs to the bin, I decided to team it with a crochet yellow flower, DEN Up the Garden Path Multi - Emerald and COR Borderline: Heart Throb - Black to create a flower brooch. 

To create the centre of this brooch using Borderline, all I did was to run a loose stitch through the entire length of the border before tugging at my sewing thread to scrunch up COR Borderline: Heart Throb - Black. The end result is a beautiful flower, which served as the base to rest the bloom I cut off DEN Up the Garden Path Multi - Emerald. A simple rhinestone was sewn right the heart of the brooch to give this creation a little sparkle. Attach a brooch clip to the back and taadah! My very own flower brooch, created from a project that found a new direction!

So I hope you see new hope in projects that might seem to be heading in a different direction from your original intent. You never know what you might really end up with! Have fun!

smiles

sophie=)

I Heart Words & Types - by Sophie Sim-Lawrence

One of those things I am totally in love with are font types and of course, words. Friends of mine often tease me that I don't call fonts - fonts. Instead, they're like my friends, personalised by their own special name. To capture this love relationship I have with types and words, I incorporated different font types on this page.

Besides patterned paper, I used CB Pop Art Alphabet - Basic as a stencil and sprayed a faint layer of glimmer mist over it. While this may not be apparent in the photo, I like the subtle effect created. The title was created using CB Analog Alphabet. These were painted white and had rub-ons attached to them. The strong feel of this font chipboard helped to anchor all the different elements on this page.

Finally, see the acrylic heart at the bottom left corner? That's ACR Be Mine - Cupid (Ruby). I love how my relationship with words and types is succinctly summed up with this embellishment that speak volumes! 

Now that you know another aspect of me, what's something that your friends tease you about?=P

Do share!

Smiles

sophie=)  

Scrapping Process - Anticipation - by Sophie Sim-Lawrence

hmm, so what's my scrap process? I say this is a tough one for me, given the sporadic nature I work. However, with that said, more often than not, I start with a story in mind.

 
This page for instance, is one of those that I've filed away mentally, waiting for the day when all the items we've prepared for Bubby are in order. So, with only some days left before we meet our precious one, this page was created to share with our little one in future about what we have done in anticipation of his/her arrival.

Once I have the idea in mind, the next step for me will be to capture the necessary pictures for the layout. Thereafter, I decide on the mood of the page, before pulling together papers and embellies that will match accordingly. In this instance, CB Daffodils, CB Butterflies, CB Buttons, CB On Cloud Nine and CB Pop Art Alphabet - Basic complemented the story I wanted to tell beautifully. Because these embellies were so versatile, I could colour them to create a softer, subtle effect. I'm usually not a pastel person, but here, I like how the softer tones served to highlight the stronger colours found in the pictures.

At the end of the day, we all scrap for various reasons, of which I believe capturing those really special moments is among them. With this page, I wish you loads of fun in so doing and don't let that story slip you by!

Ta ta for now!

sophie=)

 

Color Combo - Growth - by Sophie Sim-Lawrence

Salutations! I'm back this time with my interpretation of the colour challenge that all of us on the Design Team are trying. I totally love this colour combo and had great fun putting this page together, all the more so as it features bub, at 13 and 20 weeks old! Ok, more specifically, ultrasound pics of our soon to arrive in a few days time baby!

The Beloved and I are counting down now to Bubby arriving and at the same time are awed by how much growing bub does in the womb! Just when I thought I am as big as I can get, bubby surprises us and shows us how much more he/she can grow!

On this page, I used CB Cherry Blossoms and CB Vette Alphabet - Lower Case. One of the things I really like to do with my chipboars is to first coat them with a layer of white paint, before applying pigment inks on them. This was the case with the Cherry Blossoms, which I could colour to match the papers. As for the title, leaving it white allowed for it to stand out on the page. This allowed for a different viewpoint and enabled the chipboards to guide the eye across the page.

Till my next post, have fun experimenting, be it with colour, photo placement or altering your chipboards!

smiles

sophie=)

Colour Technique Collage - by Sophie Sim-Lawrence

Are you as crazy about colours as I am?

One of the reasons why I adore chipboards immensely is their versatility - the fact that I can play with them in many ways to get the colours I want. So, in anticipation of Bubby's arrival, I did a series of mini canvas to grace our wall, all covered with Buzz and Bloom's wonderful products!

See the words on each canvas? These were CB Urban Alphabet and CB Distracted Schoolgirl Alphabet painted white before inked with pigment ink pads. In order to get the gradation in colour on each letter, these steps were taken:

1. select 2-3 inkpads belonging to the same colour family

2. Apply a coat of the lightest colour to the top of the letter

3. Apply a coat of the middle colour from the middle of the letter to the bottom

4. Finally, apply the darkest colour to the bottom of the letter

5. If you want more contrast, brush each letter on its side with black ink

Here's a close-up of "Dream"

For the colours on CB On Cloud Nine, I used a sponge to add the different shades of blue on the chipboard, before coating them with clear embossing powder to give them a shine.

For stronger colours, as seen here on CB Grand Flourish, the chipboard was coloured using markers, inked on its side with black ink and finally coated with a sparkly embossing powder.

On a side note, for the paint splatters on each canvas, this was achieved easily. Each canvas was covered in gesso to give it some texture. Thereafter, they were each misted or painted for a base colour. Finally, holding my paint bottles right over each canvas, I simply hit the bottle on the base, achieving the splattering effect. Talk about simple!

All the other Buzz and Bloom products used were:

ACR Seedlings - Mirror

ACR Be Mine - Cupid - Ruby
ACR Totally Too Tweet - Blueberry  

So, have fun getting your fingers messy and have loads of fun with yout paints, inkpads and mists!

sophie=)

Cute As A Button - by Sophie Sim-Lawrence

Come May and the Beloved and I will finally be meeting our little bubby in person! We're totally excited and my level of excitement is certainly spilling over into the layouts I create! So when I saw Buzz abd Bloom's

latest products of CB Buttons and CB Butterflies, they were the perfect embellies for this page, featuring none other than bubby - in me=) Yup, I'm at that point in my pregnancy where my belly button has popped out and is keeping my bump company=)

 

The CB Buttons added the perfect touch to a layout with a title of this nature and I love the fact that they complemented the whimsical patterns and designs. Helps too that they can easily be coloured to match the other elements! As for the CB Butterflies, what a beauty they are! All I did was to coat them in white paint, coated them in embossing powder, used CB Head Start: Blossom (sorry, I think these are no longer available, but there are loads of other gorgeous blooms out there!) as a mask to get some florishes on them, heated them and behold, lovely butterflies with texture on them! I say they are the perfect visual embellies for the constant butterfly sensations I get when Bubby kicks me=)

Finally, for the title, I used CB Pop Art Alphabet - Fineliner and CB Pop Art Alphabet - Basic. These had pigment inks sponged over them before spraying a pearl mist on them to get a softer feel. I like how by simply mixing the two diffent textures found in the alphabet sets, a more playful effect is created.

So there you have it, a page all ready to greet our little bubby, with a simple journalling written round my bump and wonderfully accented by lovely Buzz and Bloom products!

You have fun with your creations too!

smiles

sophie=)

I * Woman - by Sophie Sim-Lawrence

Salutations! Where has all the time gone? I'm back with another post, this time with Buzz and Bloom's latest goodies!!! We're all in for loads of fun!

On this layout, the following products were used:

CB Elle

CB Catwalk

On first look, these ladies are not shapes that I will usually scrap with. However, that's where I was proven wrong! What better than to get all reflective and consider my role as a woman, especially leading up to the month of May when International Women's Day is celebrated!

Being one in a million women, this page has no pics, but my thoughts on the different roles I play - Wife, Mum-to-be, daughter, sister.... What I really like about the Chipboards is the mood and shapes they bring to the page. See the background? Using the chipboards, I first misted them, then traced their silhouettes and finally attached them to the page.

So my challenge to you this month is to think out of the box, use a totally different product and journal your thoughts on your creations!

Here's to girl power!

sophie=)

Hmm... - by Sophie Sim-Lawrence

One of those crazy wishes I have is to possess the ability to have posts written - just by thinking of them. Unfortunately, even with advancements in technology, I doubt the likelihood of that happening anytime soon. With our baby soon arrving in May, the Beloved and I have been having loads of conversations of the type of personality bub will possess, how to parent, bub's gender etc... So, to capture all these thoughts that we have, here's Hmm...

I love ACR Shout Outs - Fuchsia and ACR Shout Outs - Gloss Black. They were totally in line with the idea of the page and the colours screamed for me to work the colour theme right around them! So with candid photos of ourselves and a handful of Shout Outs, our thoughts and questions were captured. I like how COR Borderline: Heart Throb - Black was 11.5" in length, enabling me to ground the pictures using it. It was certainly an added bonus to have it in black.=)   

For the title, CB Distracted Schoolgirl Alphabet was used. Isn't it great to have a font that has a hint of a comical touch for a page of this nature?

With this page, you can tell that we're totally excited with meeting bub in real life and ultimately, at the end of the day, we wish only for a healthy baby, and one who loves the Lord. So have fun with your layouts and do capture some of your inner thoughts today!

Keep the memories alive!

Smiles

sophie=)

12345 - by Sophie Sim-Lawrence

For me, one of the main components of a layout is the title. I love having fun playing with words and seeing what can be used to capture the essence of a particular memory.

So when I laid my eyes on ACR Analog Alphabet - Bubblegum, what caught my attention were the numbers found. So, deciding to do a page where there was no restrictions on the choice of colours, I scrapped a wedding picture of the Beloved and I, where using the numbers, the journalling for the page was composed. The journalling reads, "One Union, Two Lives, Three-mendous Possibilities, Four-ever Together, High Five!"

I love the soft feel of the picture and chose to add DEN On Cloud Nine -Blush and COR Grand Flourish - Azure to add texture to this feel.

So the next time you have fun with your stash, have a whale of a time coming up with the title and journalling too!

Have a writing great time! 

smiles,

sophie=)  

Live Life to the Fullest! - by Sophie Sim

Salutations! I'm Sophie from the fringe of NSW, where two minutes away, lies Canberra. My Beloved and I moved here from Singapore a few months back and we have since adjusted to life Down Under. We love the pace of life here and for me, I'm glad that I've moved to the land of Buzz and Bloom!

I enjoy creating colourful pages that capture our everyday and journalling is a definite must for my creations! So for my maiden post, here's "Live Life to the Fullest!" an ode to our passion for living in different places, not just travelling.

 

We love to take in the cultures, sights and sounds of different places and when I saw ACR Take The Cannoli, I knew that it was the perfect embellishment for this page of multiple pics from different moments in our "living". The cannoli became the spot for my journaling and to add colour to this layout, I used Heart Strings: Cut-out Chipboard Tags. (These have been discontinued, but many stores still have stock!) I love the versatility of chipboard, where the possibilities of altering them are endless! This was gesso-ed, before paint was added and finally glittered. To add a final touch of colour, CB Seedlings were coloured using different ink pads and voila! My page is done! Hope you have fun too adding colours to your creations!

xx Sophie