Stamps, paint and excess 3×4’s.
Hello Monday!
I have so many 3×4 and 4×6 Project Life cards in my stash. Lots of old designs which don’t fit in with my style these days. In an attempt to simplify and de-clutter my creative space (and my life in general) I’m trying really hard to use what I already have.
One solution for excess Project Life cards is this. A lot of the older Project Life cards were designed with one side only. The opposite side was either left blank or ruled. A perfect blank canvas for some of our own creativity.
I grabbed my kids watercolour palettes and painted a rough circle, stripe, or shape of some sort. The beauty of using watercolours is that they dry super fast.
Then I reached for my Kellie Stamps stash and my trusty Stazon black in pad.
Give it a try. The whole creative process took literally 10mins. I’m planning on using the cards in my week eleven of my Project Life album.
Hope you’re all having a great start to your week! xxx
These are the fabulous stamp sets I used from Kellie Stamps.
‘That Sucks’ stamp set new for May.
‘Ugh’ Stamp set released in April.
And the wood mounted rubber stamp ‘You and Me’.
Creative Team | Therapeutic Journaling with Sandra.
Hello Wednesday!
We welcome back Sandra today who shares with us a message from the heart. This message is inspirational for us all who love to tell our story.
Be inspired.
Hello everyone!
This month, I’m changing things up a bit. Opening up. Releasing.
This month we’re talking journaling…and in particular, journaling of the therapeutic kind.
Heartfelt journaling, especially sad or tragic stories are extremely personal, so it’s not widely seen on public scrapbooking layouts online. This can work to your advantage, in that you shouldn’t feel the need to compare your work to anyone else’s. It is yours, and can be as short or long, joyful or sad as you need it to be. Either way, how I feel most fulfilled and pleased with the outcome, is to write straight from the heart.
I asked my fellow PDC team members to jot down a few thoughts on their own journaling also…
Jodie | “Writing is like an emotional purge. The bad, the good, the happy, the sad, joyous and scary. Sometimes I hide raw emotions behind the photos. Like a secret stash of thoughts. Seeing the written word reaffirms my feelings of love, appreciation, joy, sadness etc. And seeing those words makes it all real for me. It also relaxes me knowing that that memory or feeling has been captured.”
And in particular, this comment of Jodie’s really hit home to me: “It means I don’t have to hold on too tight in order to remember it.”
Ellie | “I don’t always share the really personal stuff, but it’s good to go back to later after ‘it’ has passed, read it and know that it didn’t break you.” This is such an empowering point…remember ladies, that you are stronger than you realise!
Petra | “For me the therapy is in the memory storage. Once I have written it down, that’s it. Done, dusted, and I don’t have to ‘try’ to remember it. BUT when I go back and re-read it later, it’s like a whole new rediscovery of those feelings or that event, and that’s what makes me happy, smile and gives me that giddy feeling. Whether it’s a good or bad memory.”
Anna | “Getting more personal with my journaling is very calming and releases what I have had couped up inside! Which only shows how emotional journaling can bring tremendous healing and a greater perspective on life and our feelings. I find writing things out to be my best outlet for inner release – things make better sense in writing them down rather than trying to sort out thoughts or speaking it out. I seem to be able to explain things better on paper. It’s a very free-ing experience to just ‘let go and let it flow’.”
In a nutshell, any writing you do on your layouts or journals, can have such a profound impact on your health and happiness. In short, it’s like a great big hug!
Now here’s my verbal hug for you all this month. I chose to record it outside this time to help ground me in case I broke down while I was recording {I didn’t, yay!}. In so doing there’s a bit of background noise, so I apologise for that.
May PDC Sandra – Therapeutic Journaling from Polka Dot Creative on Vimeo.
As I mentioned in the video, I’m certainly not here to tell you what or how to journal. In my opinion, there’s no wrong or right. Just {please} do so from the heart.
Here are a few suggestions for the tougher journaling, based on my own personal experiences…
* Write your journaling on scratch paper or type it first. With emotional content, let it flow, but don’t be disheartened if it doesn’t come out the way you expect on your first attempt. It may take a few sessions before you get to the place you feel it’s “done”. And by a few sessions I mean that it’s absolutely ok for it to take days, weeks, months… however long you need.
* Sit in the emotion. Don’t place time constraints when you’re writing these types of stories. Acknowledge the emotion, sit with the emotion and truly feel it, so that you can move through it. For sad or scary events, aim to get to a place where you can find peace or even joy that the experience happened, helped you grow, and that you are still here to tell the story, and perhaps even help others.
* Say it out aloud. Find a quiet space and talk to yourself (no, that doesn’t mean you’re crazy!) If it’s something I can’t find the words for and struggle to write, I just start talking. Can’t work out how to start? Try starting in the now and work backwards. How do you feel now? How did you feel/what were your actions a month ago, a year ago, 5 years ago? Say it out aloud and you may surprise yourself.
* Approach it from a different angle. When I wrote about my first miscarriage, I made two pages. One was a letter to my unborn baby. The other was factual, more about what happened that week, and who was involved. 3 years on, and I still think about that baby very often. But this letter I wrote to them, was my way of honouring that soul, and my soul. Honouring the bond that will be forever between us. It is something I’ve only gone back and read a couple of times, and each time I read it, the tears still flow. (This is an old layout, so you’ll notice how my style has changed quite a bit!)
* Throw the rule book out the window. To be honest I don’t believe there is a rule book. But if you’re a stickler for a title, photo and the who, what, when, where details… forget it for a moment. Often the heavy stuff evolves over time, and if it’s a big life lesson that continues to show up in different circumstances, the dates don’t often matter. Conversely, a timeline layout could be an option.
* Photos take a back seat. Many of the memories, stories or emotions we need to heal don’t have corresponding photos. And if there are photos, often they don’t suit the story you wish to tell. Don’t feel as though you need a photo to make a scrapbook page.
* Don’t feel obliged to share. There are so many ways to release those emotions on paper. Write to process the story for yourself, but don’t feel as though you need to keep it. If you do choose to keep it, consider putting it into a separate album, if only just for now until the emotions aren’t quite so raw. If you still want to keep it with your other stories, there are creative ways to hide journaling in scrapbooking or pocket pages. You can find (or even make your own) envelopes or journaling tags that can slip in behind photos or other layers on the page. There are pocket flaps that work on both pocket pages and traditional pages.
* Don’t feel obliged to keep it. We often hear of people who burn old letters. If that’s what you need to do, go for it. Write it down, then burn it, paint over it, whatever you choose is fine. Often just the act of writing is all we need to process those emotions, discover how we actually feel, and move on. Sometimes there’s no need to look back!
And finally, for those extremely tough stories, please don’t think you need to deal with things on your own. Talk it out. It is important to seek help when needed. It takes strength, but please know that you have it in you. Talk to a family member, friend, or professional if you need to. We are all here to help each other to grow, and there are always people you can lean on.
Know that I am sending all my love and light to the entire PDC community. I truly hope that some of you who may have been struggling with the big stuff, now have some courage to go a little deeper with your journaling as just one way of letting go…
Sandra xx
Creative Team | Daybook love with Anna.
Hello Wednesday!
One of my favourite ways to memory keep is using daybooks or mini books. For me a daybook creation is like a ‘quick fix’ in the sense that they are small, I can be as creative (or not) as I want, they can be used to capture one event that might be too big a story for one layout or spread in my Project Life album, and I tend to use up bits and pieces from my stash. You can see some of my daybooks/mini books HERE.
Today Anna shares with us a daybook she created for a trip she took with her family to Tasmania.
Enjoy!
Hello fellow creatives!
Today I am going to ‘show-and-tell’ about my new-found love of daybooks. Yep! – there is always more to discover and appreciate in the creative world…and I am so glad I dived into using these little beauties!!
I have come across daybooks/mini books before but have never really used or created one. There is such a vast array of creative goodies on the market and various ways of memory-keeping – it can get a tad overwhelming sometimes! So I just kept admiring and never buying…I resisted the urge 😉
After seeing all the different daybooks in Jodie’s store and what she did with creating one as a teacher’s gift for one of her kids (you can see that HERE)– I decided that I just HAVE to give it go!
We headed to Tassie in February for my sister’s wedding and I thought this would be the perfect way to document our trip, focusing more on the wedding, the lead up to it, and our roles in it. Having this little daybook would, in turn, lessen the page load in my Project Life family album too 😉 And I must say, it’s turned out to be quite a lovely little keepsake of our holiday. I have still documented the wedding and the week’s happenings in our Project Life album but creating the daybook has allowed me to record more details.
So without any further ado – let me show you some pages of my daybook…
I chose to use the ‘Hello’ spiral Ready Set Go daybook by Amy Tangerine, purchased from Polka Dot Creative. It’s a very simple cover but I’m fine with that – I didn’t want too much hoo-hah on the front anyway. I’ve used letters from Amy Tangerine Plus One Sticker book and Charcoal Rubber numbers from Amy Tangerine’s Cut & Paste range.
You will see that I use alot of Amy Tangerine products…her stuff is just so awesome. 🙂
So onto the inside…
- First page I added a little lift-up piece to include the photo so I could journal underneath.
- Second page, I created a pocket to pop the tickets in
- The next page spread, I folded a 6×4” journal card in half and attached to the vellum page. This made room for the photo and the journaling. And it just makes the page a lot more interactive which is fun. 🙂
- The embellishments used here are from the Amy Tangerine’s Cut & Paste die-cut pack and I have also used a circle tag from Chic Tags.
- There is a cute little house page in this booklet and I used this part to document the trip to the hairdressers for my spruce up!
- The first part (red) held my journaling and the picture of the salon entrance. The second part (wood print) holds a brad and I attached some extra 3×4 journal cards from the Amy Tangerine Cut & Paste Project Life kit to hold my before and after shots 🙂 I will show you how I added these in at the end – you’ll see that I have done this a few times throughout the book!
- Another cute little page in this book is with the die-cut lady. Onto the front of this I’ve added the date (Amy Tangerine’s rubber Thickers).
- Again I have added another little page. I have used some products from Kellie Stamps – wooden flair and stamps. I strategically placed that wooden flair near the drink but so that it peered through the head of the lady – just cos I thought it looked cool 😉
- I created smaller pics of each of our main meals of the night (very laid back hens night this was!). I have written what we each ate on each of the photos with a white gel pen (a new fad of mine – loving it!!)
- I wanted to document every part of the wedding journey – so the hair trials got in here too. It’s fun to just have a girly little fashion fest 🙂
- Another part of the journey is dress fittings and pickups. This was so special. It was both my daughters’ first time to be flower girls and the dresses were just divine!
- To document this, I created another flip-style insert layered onto a page to keep it all together.
- To record some more details of the wedding preparations, I again inserted a small booklet made with 3×4” journal cards from the Amy T Cut & Paste project life mini kit.
Here are just a few pages from the little insert…
And then came the BIG DAY!
It really was a grand day and the highlight of our trip of course! It was lovely to re-live it as I documented it in this book.
I loved just grabbing things out of my stash to incorporate onto the pages. I loved the ‘He Said She Said’ stamp by Kellie Stamps to use on the I Do page. Her stamp designs are just so great – I can always find something that suits my pages somehow!
INSERTING ADDITIONAL PAGES INTO THE SPIRAL BOUND PAGES.
I must confess that this was not my original idea and so to give credit where it is due, I actually came across this tip via the blog of the lovely Kim Jeffress sometime last year. I have kept it filed away in my memory bank since then and am so glad I could pick it out again and use it.
I have used this technique quite a bit in this book so let me show you how – it’s rather easy. 🙂
- Line up the pages/cards where you want them to be inserted. Use a pencil to mark the location of the spirals. Use a hole punch or Crop-O-Dile tool to make the holes at these pencilled marks.
- Snip from the edge of the paper/cards into holes the whole way along.
- Place page over the spirals and press down gently with your fingers along the edge of the page so that each little section attaches to the binder.
- TA-DAH!
It was a great way to get all the things in the book that I wanted to document so as to not run out of pages. I love seeing the book sitting on my desk all fat and bulging with documented goodness. Feels good to record the details of life hey!?! And now I have my first completed daybook to add to my shelf. Love it!!
I hope you have enjoyed the tour through my first daybook experience – and picked up a few ideas and tips on the way.
Until next time,
Happy creating. Enjoy the journey.
Anna xx
As always, if you have any comments and/or question leave them below and Anna and I will get back to you. Anna also has a beautiful blog called One Big Sunshine Spritzer. I smile every time a say the name of her blog. Just gorgeous. Anna is currently taking part in a blog post a day for the month of May.
See you tomorrow! x
Project Life giveaway winners announced!
Hello Wednesday!
Wow, wow, WOW!
There were 101 comments left on our giveaway blog post and over 870 tags left on the instagram post. AMAZING!
I have drawn the two winners of the 1/4 AQUA PROJECT LIFE CORE KITS.
The winner of the blog and Polka Dot Creative Facebook page giveaway is:
Erin Mould!
And the winner of the Instagram giveaway is:
@j3ss1c4
CONGRATULATIONS to both of you!!!! Please send me your addresses to jodie@polkadotcreative.com.au and I will get your kits out to you asap.
Thank you all for getting involved, thank you for tagging your friends, thank you for liking my Facebook page and checking out Polka Dot Creative via instagram. It was so much fun to read your comments.
I’m going to have another giveaway very soon.
Enjoy your Wednesday all! xx
Creative Team | Video Tutorial | White borders with Petra.
Hello Tuesday!
The kids are back at school today and I miss them. But I look around our little cottage and want to vomit at the sight of it. The debris of the holidays is spread far and wide. But I miss them. Yet I am enjoying the quiet. I love the holidays. Yet I welcome back our routine.
Today Petra shares with us how to add those crisp what borders to your photos. A lot of people have been asking our creative team member how to create the same effect so today she is graciously going to show us. {I’m showing the photo of ‘us’ again. Still tickled pink I got to see my darling friend earlier this month. xxx}
Neat, white, rounded corner borders EVERYWHERE! How do you do them?
- PC or Mac.
- Photoshop Elements or Photoshop (Any version)
- Photo Printer (or have your photos printed)
- Corner rounder
Step 1:
Step 2:
White Borders for PDC from Polka Dot Creative on Vimeo.
Step 3:
Enjoy!
Hope that answers it all. Thanks for watching.
New Brush Script for May!
Hello Wednesday!
I have sold out of my very first brush script affirmation/quote and I just can’t believe it.
THANK YOU!
I thought I’d put another one up for May.
You all know how I LOVE and adore coffee. Well here’s one for all my fellow coffee drinkers who simply can’t get enough of the stuff.
This piece would be fun in your kitchen, workspace or as a gift to a fellow coffee admirer.
‘A yawn is a silent scream for coffee’ is A4 in size, portrait, painted on canson paper using jet black gouache. $19 which includes postage.
You can grab yours HERE. Numbers are limited.
Thank you again for your support and enthusiasm.
I’m having a ball and I’m thrilled you are loving it too.
Happy hump day! xxx
Creative Team | with Ellie.
Hello Creative Team Tuesday,
How are we all after the Easter weekend? We are all coming down off a massive chocolate high around here.
Ellie shares with us some of her Project Life pages as well as a gorgeous notebook that she created using Project Life cards. I love this idea!
Enjoy!
Hello PDC lovelies!
It’s Ellie here and today I’m sharing a couple of Project life pages and a notebook I altered using Project life cards.
Week 1- was a redo as 1) I didn’t really finish it, and 2) I wasn’t entirely happy with what I did do. Instead of trying to get this right the first time around, I decided to leave it and move on, so I wouldn’t get behind with my pages. I made my week title card half the size, which meant I could add a filler/quote card, and in turn added, some colour, to help break up my page. I also cropped some of the photos for more space.
Week 9 – I also had a lot of photos, so I cropped a lot. To break it up I used an Amy Tangerine pocket and stamped it to make my hidden journaling pocket. This way I could fiteverything I wanted to write on a folded piece of card.
I have used: Jodie’s Days of the week Brush Script cards by Polka Dot Creative, XO mini kit word ‘week’ by Polka Dot Creative (ON SALE), Midnight Edition Core Kit, Sn@p – Everyday 3×4 cards, Christian themed Project Life cards by Becky Higgins, 4×6 Textured Cardstock Project Life cards by Becky Higgins, wood veneer camera by Studio Calico, date stamp by American Crafts, Pink Washi by Bella Boulevard, Yes Please Life sticker book & hello there sticker – Amy Tangerine. {For a complete list of materials used visit Ellie’s beautiful blog HERE.}
Altered notebook
I decided to alter a notebook after I found one with a cute pattern. I was tired of losing my little notes of paper, and I wanted something pretty that I would hopefully be less inclined to loose.
I used Midnight edition Core Kit and cut the hello speech bubble from one card. I also cut out the phrase ‘remember this’ from another. I stitched the sides and bottom edges of the ‘remember this’ phrase. Then taking a 4×6 white Textured Cardstock Project Life card I trimmed to fit the front of my notebook. I then stitched around the edge using my sewing machine. Taking a yellow diagonal 3×4 card from the midnight kit I also stitched around the edges. I then adhered this layer on top of white card. Taking Amy Tangerine stitch guide I stitched 3 little x’s on both the yellow and white layers.
I then adhered this to my notebook. The Hello speech was added next. I then glued a piece of doily to the top right corner and adhered the ‘remember this’ piece over the top. I added some glitter Tape and washi to the top and bottom. I used some mini alpha stickers for the year. To finish it off I added 3 different sequins.
I have used: Midnight Edition Core Kit by Becky Higgins, 4×6 Textured Cardstock Project Life cards by Becky Higgins, Glitter Tape by American Crafts, Embroidery Kit by Amy Tangerine. {For a full list of materials please visit Ellie’s beautiful blog HERE}.
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter with family,
Ellie xo
Creative Team | Art Mediums with Sandra.
Hello Creative Team Tuesday!
Sandra is back with a fun video tutorial showing you how to add some texture to your layouts and Project Life pages. She gets really messy and really creative and I REALLY love it.
Thank you Sandra!
A big hello to all creative goddesses in the Polka Dot Creative community! I am so grateful for all the kind comments and feedback from my March video, thank you everyone! My daughter felt so very special. 🙂
This month I thought I’d extend a little further with some of my favourite art mediums. They give such amazing textures and are super duper easy to use (despite how messy things look throughout the process!).
In this example I used Viva Décor Modeling Cream (the silver one) and Viva Colour Ferro Special Effect Paste (the black one). Combining these with any of your stencils or templates means your options are endless, not to mention gorgeous. You can apply them thin or thick, smooth or with loads of texture. In the video I simply used my finger to spread onto my cardstock (it really does come off quite easily), but of course you can use a knife or spatula if you’d prefer.
I also show you a comparison of doing resist techniques with Heidi Swapp Color Shine (left in this photo) and Tim Holtz Distress Ink (right). Both designers are masters of their art, albeit with very different styles, but as you’ll see you can still achieve fantastic results using either product along with your stencils.
Without further ado, please enjoy this month’s video, and as usual, your feedback is so appreciated.
April PDC Sandra – More Art Mediums from Polka Dot Creative on Vimeo.
I often use these mediums on a larger scale also – any size or any project really, as I love these techniques for a whole variety of reasons:
- They can look delicate for girls
- They can look grungy for boys
- Perfect for side projects when I end up “pushing paper” for too long and know I won’t finish a layout (making some quick pieces like this still makes you feel like you’ve accomplished something…. Tell me I’m not the only one who does this?!)
- If I haven’t scrapped in a while and not sure where to start, I find the best idea is to “just do something” so I’ll start with something like this which gets the creative juices flowing
- When I’m not in the brightest of moods and I want something simple to occupy my mind
- When I’m in the best of moods and feel like experimenting!
Ummm…. do I actually need a reason?!?! Haha 🙂
I hope some of you are eager to perhaps step out of your comfort zone and be vulnerable to try some new products such as these, experiment and have some fun.
Till next month, love and blessings,
Sandra xx
You can see more of Sandra’s inspirational work on her blog, The Crafty Bunch – Life on Paper.
Like Sandra said, if you are inspired to give any or all of these techniques a go please join us on INSTAGRAM. We are under polkadotcreative and share your creativity on using the hashtag #polkadotcreative OR…
…post your photo/s on our Polka Dot Creative Facebook page.
We love it when you share with us.
Have an awesome day everyone! xxx
PS | tomorrow I will be launching a GIVEAWAY for a 1/4 AQUA PROJECT LIFE CORE KIT. I received the scrumptious Aqua core kit when I attended the Becky Higgins Project Life Australia Party last earlier this month and I want to share it with you.
All you will have to do is like my Facebook page and leave a comment on the post.
I will also be launching a GIVEAWAY on Instagram for another 1/4 AQUA PROJECT LIFE CORE KIT.
Be sure to check in again in the morning. x