Dare #7

Inspired by Fashion

This week we kicked off a series of 'Inspired by...' theme. For our first theme, we are going to be inspired by fashion trends. How often do we see a fashion style and wonder how this could be translated onto paper. We have challenge the Dare Gals to be inspired by a fashion item and they have to take a photo to prove it and show us their creation.

We take this opportunity to extend a warm welcome to Michelle Vass, our Guest Designer. Here's what she has to say:

I am Michelle, a Singaporean and have lived in Melbourne, Australia, for 8 years now. I'm married to Peter, a Greek Australian and we have 2 children together, Ellen and Phaedon. I started scrapbooking 1.5 years ago when I noticed that I have too many photos in my hard disc and no one gets to see them. So rather than putting them in an album, I decided to do something nice with them. It soon went from a hobby to an obsession. And when I found out that fellow Singaporeans are also getting into the craft, I was so thrilled. At least I know that whenever I come back to visit, I won't be having withdrawal symptoms!!!

My scrapping style is predominantly linear and geometric (forgot the existence of this word and have just picked it up again from the previous Asian Dare Sponsor, Kristy! LOL), with quite a bit of lumpy bumpy details. I have patience when it comes to this craft, so you'll often see me cutting up flowers or patterns from patterned papers. I have an obsession with inking or outlining almost everything I put on my pages, to make them stand out. I don't have a favourite colour because I can work with anything apart from purple/lilac.

For this layout, I was inspired by a rather trendy-looking scrapbooking apron complimentary from Fiskars. I absolutely love this colour combination of blue and orange. Plus I just can't go pass the swirls.

Here's Michelle's interpretation:

You can find our more about Michelle or see her work on her blog.


Here's what the Dare Gals have come up with:

Audrey: I was inspired by the buttons on the jacket and decided to make use of them in my LO.

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Edleen: I was inspired by my t-shirt's pretty flourishes. As it's only on one side of the t-shirt, it looks like a wing to me so it occured to me to have wings on my LO.

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Karen: I was inspired by the colours and the ornate gothic-ness of the dress.

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Joanne: I was inspired by the print of the shirt. I used only ribbons and lace in my LO. The stitches mimic the trim of the shirt too.


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Michelle: This is a picture of a t-shirt that I'd bought once when I was feeling down. The words "Don't Bother" encouraged me not to let what other people think of me affect how I feel about myself, so long as I am true to what I believe in. The journaling in my layout reflects exactly those sentiments, that I should never forget who I am and to always stay real.

Dare #6

This week Dare is sponsored by Far Flung Craft and Kristy has the honour of choosing the theme for the Dare Gals.

Geometric Designs in Asia

First, a little secret, I hated, despised, and abhorred geometry in school. I only just barely passed high school geometry, my math teacher treated me horribly, I just didn’t get understand it and I struggled with the concepts of angles, circumference and how to determine the area of a triangle. To this day, I still am not quite sure I know who Euclid was and why his theories really matter to me. In fact, my general opposition to all things geometrical still exists today and I cringe at the thought of having to tutor my children someday in the mysteries of math, but here I sit in Singapore surrounded by Geometric patterns, designs and art. I love the look of the Chinese lattice screens, the geometric patterns found on antique floor tiles, and of course the naturalistic patterns of Japanese paper. Living in Asia may just force me to change my mind about all of the geometry lessons I so hated.

The use of patterns as a decorative touch has long seated history in Asia. Examples of geometric patterns can be found on the early bronze works from the Shang Dynasty in China (2000 BC). Geometric patterns have also been traced back to Japan as early as 3000BC in the form of tattoos and let’s not forget all of the geometric patterns found in Indonesian textiles, Polynesian designs and Indian and Tibetan Mandelas.

This weeks dare is to think about Asian geometric designs and use them on your layouts. Perhaps you are a whiz at paper cutting and can design a background using Chinese lattice designs, perhaps you feel inspired when looking at the geometrical beauty of the Petronas towers in Kuala Lumpur. Let’s see us all take on Euclid and prove that Geometry is more than a high school math subject!

Here's what Kristy has to say:

Here's what Kristy has to say:

" Hi, my name is Kristy and I have been scrapbooking in some form since high school. When my I moved to Asia I got serious about scrapbooking but it was hard as Taiwan had no scrapbook stores at the time. Moving to Singapore in 2004 was like a dream come true, real scrapbook stores with paper and cardstock! Ok, the stores have grown a bit since those early days, as has my stash!

I love living in Asia and am love gaining inspiration from all of the images and sites that surround me everyday. I think Singapore is really my second home and I love the Asian Dares, thank you for letting me a part of this! "

This is Kristy's interpretation of the theme. She was inspired by the Moorish architecture in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

You can find out more about Kristy on her blog.


Here's what the Dare Gals came up with:

Audrey

Edleen

Joanne

Karen

Michelle

Sharon

Participants of this Dare will have their names put in a box and one lucky winner will win a Sin$25 voucher to be spent at Far Flung Craft. Please leave the link of your creation either at the comment box on this blog or at the Dare section in The Scrapper's Loft forum. Have fun!