The scenic route

Good afternoon!!!

Its crafty Tuesday again :) Carole and I have been working away like little bees this morning and have so far created 2 pages.

They both originated from Shimelles blog again, I do love to try and finish what i start and this time I dragged Carole into it with me.

* The first started with a a few pictures of the same event. I chose this set of travel stickers to embellish the layout, as although we weren't on the road they were moving and we were outdoors.

* TOP TIP OF THE DAY: make things work for you... I've wanted to use this sticker set for a long time and we don't often go on long car journeys or road trips so I was worried I'd never get the opportunity to use them up.

* As I've said before, if it makes sense to you, then go with it, as our pages are for ourselves!!
I chose stickers that would be relevant in this situation and covered up pieces that didn't quite fit the theme but that I liked and worked colour wise.

* this is the second cluster, I really had fun with this one and added weird and wacky pieces!!

* The journalling.....

* The end result: I loved the diamond squares adding extra movement to the page and although we were working from the sketch, i preferred the added horizontal piece which the first lady had on her layout.

* I didn't add a third cluster t this page, which is odd for me but it just felt like it would be too much so I left it as it was. I also didn't add a proper title as there were already a lot of words on the page within the stickers.

* This is the second page..... a little plain in comparison but I used photos that may not have otherwise been scrapped on their own. by grouping images that aren't too special, it allows you to tell the story with a sequence of bits from the same timeframe without having a stand out shot to back it up.

* What do you think of my makeshift letters???? so bad that it makes it quirky and ok???? yeah i thought so too!!!!

spots are hot

Good Afternoon!!

I'm carrying on, making my way through Shimelle Laine's challenge weekend posts, I'm on number three which was another sketch.

* When I chose this particular set of photos I knew the title I would use before I made the page.

* I wanted there HOT to be in pink to match the shoes and I would have loved a navy alpha for the rest but as I didn't have a navy alpha I went with black, it goes with everything :)

* These are the bits I was really looking forward to re-creating when i saw the sketch.... I haven't used my sewing machine in a few weeks and i saw potential in the borders of this layout.

* TOP TIP OF THE DAY: sketches are there to be interpreted in your own way.... normally I would immediately have assumed that these sections needed to be paper, but i wanted to trey something different and so I sewed the strips, it was only after that i chose to fill a couple with washi tape to bring in some colour.

* the heart is duplicated in 3 places to make a triangle around the set of pictures, they are cream and not white like the paper but in this case I think it works.

* My journalling, which was not in this location in the sketch but it fitted well here for me. Also note the second heart.

* the finished layout.

* I added the third heart above the date, which i forgot to include in the journalling.

* I love this very minimal page as its definitely all about the pictures!!!

Thanks for dropping by, see you soon xxxxxx

the date day rules

Good morning scrappers!!

I hope you're all having a fabulous weekend and enjoying the sunshine, I know I am :)

This page continues along Shimelles challenge list, this one is for challenge 2 which was entitled 'your significant other'.

I combined this with a sketch over at creative scrappers, sketch 271... make sure to visit both of these places to get some inspiration from the experts!!

* With such a centralised design I knew from the beginning that I wanted a longer title to stretch across the middle. I did the main part "date day" in larger letters and the surrounding title pieces in a tiny type alpha to stretch it out.

* Can you believe this is the only bit of hand written journalling I've done on this page?!?!!?!

* there wasn't really a massive story behind this picture, other than i took it whilst we were out so I took my layout in a different direction and just added the date and place for future reference.

* I don't often use gems but i think they fit this page and colourings beautifully. layered on top of the stitching they add interest to an otherwise boring line.

* An extra word piece at the bottom of the page, not only does it sum up our date but also the rules!

* More stitching creates a continuing theme through the page and makes it easier flowing.

* Did I cheat a little by using alphabet stickers instead of handwriting the rules?!?!

* TOP TIP OF THE DAY: If you have letters use them.... Im not a great one at saving products for best or something special, if something works then I tend to use it no matter how long I've had it or how much I've paid for it.

* I knew I wouldn't be happy with my handwriting scribbled across the whole page and I knew it would be too small to make any impact so this time around I opted for an alphabet to do the talking for me.

Thanks for your time, enjoy the rest of your weekend and i hope to see you again soon xxxx

meet the crazy

Good evening....

Today I HAD to scrap, Shimelle Laine has kicked off a weekend of crafty challenges so obviously i needed to join in.

Heres how the first sketch challenge went:

* Lets start with the title piece, Loud funky colours setting the mood of the page.

* The top banner piece is supposed to be one single piece but I added extra embellishment to it.

* the extra banners are just there to tie in the colours a little more as I didn't want the burst of colour in one spot and this links it nicely without being too much

* I repeated the butterfly on this mini cluster next to the photograph which just brings the two sections together.

* To fill in the corners which were looking a little bare i drew in some doodling lines, the black alone was ok but you couldn't see it as well as I'd like so i put in the white lines and that had an immediate lifting effect.

* TOP TIP OF THE DAY: when in doubt add a tag!

* The title block was meant to house the journalling but I wanted this piece to be blank so that the whole section wasn't too overpowering over the photo. instead I made the photo mats into a pocket and added a tag for hidden journalling behind.

* this adds more interest to the page as it gives more depth and more to see, and being a tag you can clearly see that it needs to be pulled which is just what you want from hidden journalling that isn't personal.

Thanks for dropping in today, I hope to catch up on more shimelle classes as the weekend passes so watch this space

xxxxx

fun and games

Good afternoon!!!

Im back after almost a week away from my desk... SHOCK!!!!

I've been a busy bee raising money for cancer research charity, so my absence was in a good cause... Carole managed to join me today for a long overdue scrap and catch up and this is what I came up with:

* lets kick off with my favourite piece of the page, the title.... I love that AND sticker and it went well with the res tot my layout so i had to use it, I made up my title based around that sticker...is that wrong?!?!?! lol

* A frame collection in the corner of the photo. I cut these from a 12x12 sheet which held loads of different ones, so i chose a few and stacked them up to create a point of interest.

* The usual journalling spot, a bit sideways :)

* A moustache paper clip that has 2 purposes leading to my .....

* TOP TIP OF THE DAY: if you make a mistake cover it up!! under this cleverly disguised embellishment is a horrible black pen line where I slipped as I traced the outline of the circle. 

You'd never have known if i'd not have told you and this will work for you too!!!

* How it turned out.....

* a picture stolen from my sons Facebook, of him messing around at school with his friends... I loved being able to print this of him with his mates.

* I also loved being able to place the title over the photo so much, it sometimes helps to trim the picture down but in this instance I wanted to use the dead space by placing my title on it and making it part of the main focus.

Thanks for joining me today, I don't want to keep apologising if i don't get around to making a page for a while so no more promises..... see you when i next create :)

February

Good afternoon and if you're a dad, Happy fathers day!!!

Im sorry I've been a bit slack lately at posting on here, you see when the sun comes out I have to make the most of it, it doesn't happen too often here in rainy old England... Every other day works tho right?!?!?!?

* so yesterday I held a 12 hour crop, it was great and I managed 4 pages but heres my favourite one, even if it want to begin with!!!

* Lets start where I normally finish, 2 sections of journalling. I had to do the writing on the kraft pretty much straight away as I needed to get a feel for the page.

* the second piece of journalling on the yellow was a gap filler, the empty space was too big for my liking so i filled it with a few words.

* Butterflies, butterflies and more butterflies.... Originally i just used the kraft ones on the page but it looked weird to me, so when I text Carole and showed her a picture and that I wasn't happy, she just text back with.... MORE BUTTERFLIES! so thats what i did

*TOP TIP OF THE DAY: lesson learnt for me, too much of one colour can get too overwhelming, breaking the page up with something else makes it flow a lot nicer and makes it feel less
claustrophobic.

* Here I added a few yellow butterflies amongst the kraft, then a few brown and finished with 1 single blue one to tie in with Elsie's makeshift hat. I think the layering also helped the page look less boring.

* I've had this title piece in my bag since the end of Feb and only now in June do I get to use it, I took my chance and went for it.

* i tucked it behind as i didn't want it to take centre stage over the photo, i balanced it out with a 2014 piece on the opposite side of the photo, it also acted as another gap filler.

* The finished layout, I loved wing able to use the bright yellow with the kraft.. and I loved finally scrapping this photo of my dirty faced angel!!! Thanks to Carole for setting me this pinterest challenge to begin with!!!! even if it did stress me out, and I'm sure she knew that it would too!!!!

* hopefully be back tomorrow with more pages, but if I'm not, please don't give up on me... every other day at the least xxxxx

what a view!

Hello blog followers, old and new ):

I ran out of time yesterday to post a layout, even though I did do one!!!

but heres one for you for today:

it came from a pinterest sketch, the link doesn't work anymore but it does say that it came from the studio challenges blog.

* Look at this scrumptious paper???!!!!!
All of this yumminess is already printed on the page, just need to add pictures if you wanted to, love it!

* Even tho it had all of those words down the right hand side, I needed something on the let to balance it out a bit, so on top of the embellished heart I added a title that was more suited to the photograph.

* On the heart at the right hand side I added a little cluster, which includes this camera and a couple of banner pieces.

* along the top of the journalling card I added a star and then some drawn lines for extra embellishment.

* TOP TIP OF THE DAY: Doodling is sometimes all you need to embellish a particular spot on your layout. I added three straight lines in 3 different locations around my page just to tie all of the spots together and I think it looks fab.

* My usual journalling shot :)

* The finished layout..... See how the lines create a frame around the central piece?

* I love that it has so many words and yet you still focus on the photograph, maybe I've finally got my mojo back?!?!?

see you tomorrow xxxx

& then there were 4

Good evening fellow scrapbookers!

Today I was abandoned by Carole on our normal crafty Tuesday, so I played with my new toy..the cricut explore.

Its difficult to get your head around when you've only been used to pushing buttons but with a few trial runs i think it will become a lot quicker and easier, heres what i did with it:

* It all started with this very cool ampersand which i purchased from studio calico for $0.99, bargain!

* I did have to play a little bit to get the solid shadow background, but I managed it eventually. I cut this out before i chose anything else to go with, I found the photo and papers after cutting this piece in the white and woodgrain.

* After adding the photo and choosing the background i then added my title. I chose pink as i wanted it to be completely different to the rest of the woody, natural bits that were already going on on the layout.

* This pink looks completely different as the one above in these pictures but they are from the same paper pack and don't look so different in real life I promise.

* I chose to do the 4 a couple of inches bigger than the title so that the emphasis is on that as it is an important part of the story.

* This was the last bit of detail to be added to my layout. just a couple of feather stickers and a word banner which I lifted with pop dots.

* So this is how it ended up. The cricut was used to cut the ampersand and the title with the number piece.

* TOP TIP OF THE DAY: Just something that i've picked up over my time of scrapping.... These sky papers are always hard to use, the best way i would approach them is with a picture that doesn't have sky in it!!!

* when you use a photo with sky in because you think this paper would be appropriate, it never works as you are trying to match one sky with another, the same principle as double denim?!?!? does that EVER really look good?!?!?!

* I can get away with an outdoor photo here as you don't see much of the sky, its blocked by the trees, give it a go...use your sky papers with a non sky photo, see what you think, you can even test it with a sky photo to see what I mean :)

* I added journalling along the bottom of the page as i wanted to see the detail in the paper and the title and photo says a lot so I didn't need to add too many words.

I hope you've enjoyed today, see you all tomorrow xxxxxx

CREATIVE BLOG HOP

Good Morning Scrappers!!!

EEEEEkkkk...... So todays post is slightly different to my usual.....its my turn to carry on this blog hop in honour of creativity!! 

I was asked to participate in this blog hop by the lovely and talented Danielle  A.K.A Ecoscrapper a couple of weeks back... the idea is to pass on the joy of what can be made with a little inspiration and a few pretty things :) 

Please read on to find out a little about me and then to see who I have tagged to carry the torch on for next week!

1. What am I working on?

With LOAD now long gone I'm left to my own devices.... so currently on my desk I have this as my view:

* This is the page I'm currently trying to piece together. It only started with those frames as I was trying out what my new Cricut Explore can do, so I cut them out and as I didn't want to waste them I decided to use them on a page right away.

* the stars are also cut on the explore, definitely a good purchase if you would use it a lot.

* I would like to be able to say I'm working on this album or that album but truth be told, i don't scrap in any order, I just use photos that i like at the moment that I like them.

If you could see the overflow boxes of pages that won't fit in any of my albums! and yet I have 32 albums and they are all full to bursting. I must love my hobby!!!

2. How does my work differ from others in my genre?

* I'm not sure that it does?!?? I guess the only way in which i can separate myself from other people that scrapbook is that my pages are ALL DIFFERENT!

* See how this page is very clean.. hard straight lines and minimal patterned paper with a splash of paint and stamping, To this:

* A page full of pattern and colours, very busy but still with the focal point of the photographs.

* I do like to try new things and I'm not afraid to get messy, or on the other hand use white space. Im kind of an all rounder and I surprise myself from one page to the next with how they change in style. 

3. Why do I write/create what I do?

* I can honestly say that I scrapbook because of how much I LOVE it!

* My main reason for starting scrapbooking tho was for my children, I want them to remember all of the fun we had when they were growing up and I want them to know how much they are loved.... I tell them i love them everyday but other feelings may not be spoken about as often as they should.

* I want to preserve their memories but maybe by adding my point of view, so that when they are older and have children of their own they will see what we did, what we went through and I'm mainly looking forward to them being able to compare their behaviours with those of their babies!

4. How does your writing/creating process work?

* If you ever have the time to read my journalling you will see that i write as if I'm talking to the person / people in the photograph. by doing this i can focus on what it is I want to tell them about the pictures and I can also express my feelings to them without it just being a bunch of words on a page.

* As for creative process.... I tend to work in this order::

- choose a sketch or inspirational piece

- choose the photos

- Papers, but only as i go along, I don't go through my stash and pull everything i want at once, i tend to do this as i work my way through the design process.

- Title

- embellishments

- Journalling

* sometimes I have a photograph, or set of, that I really want to work with and in this case my first and second steps will swap places, but this is my general go to process.

Seriously thats plenty about me. Let's learn about the three people who are up next on Monday, June 16th. 

* Di Willcox: I've chosen Di as my first blog stop as she's a great inspiration to me and an even better friend. Di is a serial experimenter! what she can't do with paper definitely can't be done :), heres what she has to say about herself:

Hi, my name is Di and I live with my husband, Rob, our 2 children, Molly and Luke, my 3 stick insects, and Molly's bunny, Blue. 

I work from home as a childminder and am known in my circle of childminding friends as The Crafty Queen, the one they turn to for craft ideas! 

In my spare time, I like to play, experiment and construct with paper. I love a good challenge and finding new ways to make things if I can't find the instructions :)

* Karen Boughton:  I've chosen Kaz as my second blog stop as she's just AWESOME! 

Kaz is one of the most talented ladies I've ever met and although we do slightly different crafts I am always in awe of her work and as often as I can I try to use Kaz's inspiration and style in my own pages. Karen mainly does art journalling and heres what she has to say about herself:

I live by myself, by the sea. I've had ME since 1999 and this has led me to discover that I have a creative side, despite failing art O level!!!!

* Anne: As well as being creatively inspiring, Anne is also inspiring to me as a person.... she currently has her own life struggles and yet still lives her life to the max. Im amazed at her strength and ability to keep crafting through the roughest of times!!! Heres what Anne has to say about herself:

Mother to one boy and wife to one....much larger and older boy, I've committed to preserving my little families  memories for the past 7 years.
I'm very comfortable making masculine pages, but I keep a stash of paper flowers just in case.
I'm also a bit of a challenge junkie, which is of course the focus of my blog. Of course the flip side of this is that I love to read other peoples blogs: so if you think you have something pretty awesome to share, let me know that i should follow you too!

* I hope you've enjoyed learning a little more about me today, please visit my 3 inspirations and be sure to bookmark them so that you can find out more about them this time next week!!!

See you tomorrow, when things will be back to normal :)  xxx

Great times

Welcome back!

I've managed a few layouts today and even got to play with my new toy.... A cricut explorer, it was fun!

I'll share my favourite page for today with you now;




* this card was one of the first bits that I pulled out to accompany my photo for this layout. It's words spoke to me and the colours were perfect!




*well I had to test my new machine didn't i?!?!? I cut these title pieces and hearts from the explorer, it takes some getting used to but I got there in the end.

*i just love this bird button badge, and as it's colours were a math for the page, I could eventually use it.




* this badge may not seem relevant to the onlooker but to me it says that I am hers, and that I am!!!




* my usual journaling shot, in the layout tho it will be hidden




* the final product... I added a drawn frame to ground the design.

* TOP TIP OF THE DAY: when life gives you lemons make lemonade!!
see that black strip at the bottom??? It wasn't there until maybe 2 hours AFTER I declared the page finished.

* It wasn't until I was stacking my finished layouts that I noticed it was shorter than my other layouts and discovered that somehow I'd lost an inch ?!?

* I added the black strip to make it the same size as normal and now I think it makes the page, I also brought in the pink washi to make it look like I wanted the black there! Clever disguise eh :)
I brought it in a couple of other places so that it too looked purposeful!

I hope you have some lemonade moments today xxxx