scrapbook studio: September Design Team Member Magic!

Hello all!! It is time to introduce our Design Team Member for September, the amazing and talented René Sharp!

Hello, my name is Rene’ Sharp and I live in a small town Dundee in Northern KZN. I have been happily married to my hubby Ray for 13 years now and we have 3 sons, Caide – 12, Bryce – 10 and Jamie – 4. I absolutely adore being a Mom and Wife and love the life we live in our little town. It’s a great place to bring up our boys!!

I have been scrapbooking since 2005 when I was shown a small demonstration, and have been hooked ever since. I am absolutely passionate about this hobby, and love the rewards it brings. To me there is nothing better than when my boys pull out their albums and they get excited remembering occasions and events from years gone by. I starting stamping and cardmaking a few years later, and also thoroughly enjoy the creative outlet this provides me!!

I am currently on the DT for two sites called Sketches in Thyme and Southern Girl Challenges, and in the past years have been on numerous scrapbooking and card making Design Teams.

It has been a dream of mine to design for a Scrapbook Company, so I am overjoyed to have been chosen to be a Design Team member for Cariena and Scrapbook Studio!! I have “known” Cariena for years, and have come to know her as a wonderfully sincere, honest and hardworking lady, she runs Scrapbook Studio with passion and enthusiasm. It is going to be an honor to represent such a wonderful company!!

I would love for you to drop by my blog http://www.stampinginsunnysa.blogspot.com and say “hi”.

And here is René's first stunning layout! René recently got a Silhouette Cameo Die Cutting Machine for her birthday. She loves her machine, and enjoys cutting all kinds of amazing things with it for her layouts! She only has boys, so for all of you out there who sometimes need new ideas for scrapping the big and small men in your lives, look no further! Remember that this kit can be ordered by just emailing sales@scrapbookstudio.co.za with September DT kit in the subject line!

And here is the step by step tutorial!

STEP 1:

Position stencil. I placed mine in the left hand corner. Be careful to cover all the rest of your cardstock so as not to get mist all over. I used Studio Calico Mr Huey’s Color Mist in the colour Opaque White.

In hindsight I realize I should have positioned the stencil slightly more to the right!

STEP 2:

Gather the elements from your kit that match with your photos. I am going to use this series of photos of my youngest son riding his bicycle for my layout, hence the bicycle stencil. I want to use the large arrow in my title. I used a free Photoshop action called CoffeeShop Denim to alter my photos and bring out more blue in them.

STEP 3:

Cut out your photos and arrange all your elements in the following design, or any other that may better suit your photos. I kept my layout pretty simple so that the photos and bold bicycle misted shape would be the main focus of my page.

STEP 4:

Add more embellishments to your layout as desired. I chose to use the bold red paper in the kit to cut out the word “rider” as well as the arrows. I used my Silhouette Cameo to do this. (you can order your own Silhouette right here) I also added some stamped circles in white.

STEP 5:

This is just something I do personally. After arranging the layout as I would like it, I take a photo with my phone so I can remember the exact position of each element, so I can stick it all down correctly.

STEP 6:

I add some straight stitching with my sewing machine. I often sew on my layouts as I love the homely effect it gives my page, as well as extra texture. I did a bit of free hand stitching along the side of each semi-circle.

STEP 7:

I totally love this old typewriter which I bought on auction. If you notice on most of my layouts I love to do my journaling in strips, and the old font and effect I get from the typewriter is just perfect for me. I type out my journaling and then cut into strips and adhere to my layout. Here is the end result!!