LAYOUTS

Although my blog has not been updated for a little while I have been finding some time to scrap recently and share some of these with you now.

A b&w photo my mum recently gave me of myself as a little girl.  I can actually remember that pink velvet dress but I'm not sure how old I was; maybe about 3.  I used the Stampin Up Beautiful Wings Embosslit to cut the butterflies out of vellum and I sewed them on individually with my sewing machine.  And here is a  close up of them.

This is a layout using October Afternoon 9 to 5 of my daughter as a holiday rep in Lanzarote.  I chose the title as I remembered a fly on the wall TV programme quite a few years ago about holiday reps and the theme music was the song There She Goes by the La's, so I thought it was quite fitting.  We went out to visit her at the beginning of May and it was so exciting seeing her on duty at the airport.

A photo of my son soon after he started walking around the furniture.  Not the best photo in the world but a milestone that needed recording.  I absolutely love that stencil paper from Jenni Bowlin Studio.  I must get hold of some more as I think it could be used in so many more ways too.

I cut the pattern from the Paper Lace cricut cart and copied a super idea from my friend Ali.  It really did take me forever to decide where to piece the cutouts!  Shame the photo was so dark but I  didn't spend too much time adjusting my camera as I can honestly say our visit there was the coldest I have ever been in my life and my enjoyment was marred enormously as I am not a cold person.  Note to self:  don't visit NY in February!

 OK that's plenty for today but I do have some more stuff to share with you soon.

Happy crafting.

Sandra
x

Dummkopf! - Duckies and a bit of Treasure

I came across a challenge over on the Bellaboo site and was inspired to scrap some photos taken on holiday last year.  Only when I had completed my layout did I realise I should have used products they sell in their shop, which to be fair to them is the whole point of the challenge which I missed!!!  Needless to say there was nothing on my layout I could find in their shop so note to self - read the small print in future!!  Anyway it's not all bad because I am actually very pleased with what I ended up with. 

Who could resist such cuteness!!

An update on our little duckie visitors.  They are still coming daily and sometimes stay the whole day til dusk, come rain or shine!  They are so tame coming right up to the back door for scraps and not minding my lens at all!  Today just Mrs is here, not sure what's she's done with him but he's sure to have cheesed her off so she's escaped for some peace and quiet.  Here she is on the pond, which is in need of some tlc when we get some decent weather!

And last but not least here is a little something I found in the charity shop today. 

I was so happy to find the Falcon Ware sign underneath the £2.50 price tag and have managed to age it to the 1950's.  My husband asked me what I wanted to buy someone else's junk for when I gleefully showed it to him.  I wonder if I can find someone else's pond to sit in!!

Anyway I think it is going to look swell in my dresser which is currently undergoing a makeover and  looks like this right now:

An after photo will be along some time but first I must swap over those bottom slidey doors as it wasn't until I looked at this photo that I realised they have been closed incorrectly - probably forever!

2 Layouts from a scrappy weekend.

Hello - I  am super excited this week as I am going to visit my daughter working out in Lanzarote - I CAN'T WAIT to see her and catch up with everything.  I can't believe she's been gone 6 weeks already - my house seems very male now - it has always been 50/50!

At the weekend I was lucky enough to scrap with some lovely friends through all that rain - we hardly noticed it.  I managed to complete 2 layouts and have another in progress:

A scraplift from Justem at Club CK - I adore the circles and the title is inspired by my sons's t-shirt.  Thanks Gaye for deciphering what it said as I couldn't remember and my eyes aren't so good these days!!

This was inspired by a layout by mercytiara (see my last post).  When I came to file it away however I discovered I had already scrapbooked this photo and had used the title Isn't She Lovely?   Have you ever done that or is it just me?!

 And last but not least - I received this in the post this morning.  :D

Melody Miller Ruby Star

I have something in mind to make it into. ;-)

See you when I get back from my trip.
xx

Scrapbooking Contest Entry

I do like to view scrapbooking and craft videos on YouTube and recently discovered the talents of mercytiara who shows the process she goes through to produce the most outstanding layouts in a fun and interesting way.  I actually found her video channel through a link from another blog (sorry can't remember which) showing the great idea of how to use QR codes on your scrapbooks.  Feeling curious?  Then look here to find out what I mean.  Genius!

Anyway currently she has a challenge to upload something that celebrates scrapbooking and mine just had to be a tribute to the many lovely friends I have made through my hobby.  These particular photos include some of us on the annual exodus to Eastbourne to scrap, chat and be a bit lot silly.  As my journalling says, I don't know what I would do without my lovely craft friends - those present in the pictures and those who weren't there too of course!!!

I hope you like my layout and thank you for looking.

(That's me with the silly green headgear!)

Challenge 4 - Colour Adventure

Despite all good intentions this is the last of the challenges I am going to get done before the deadline for uploading layouts on Shimelle's blog.  I have been very inspired by all the challenges however and will continue to work on them beyond the deadline.

Challenge 4 was to pick another colour to scrap with in addition to yellow and grey.  I actually love all the yellow and grey about at the moment and for that reason have an abundance of it in my craft room.

Green was not an obvious choice for me but I so wanted to use this gorgeous paper from Glitz as I thought it was fitting with my son's preferred mode of transport in this particular photo!  When I showed him the completed layout his first reaction was "why the flowers?"!  I said they reminded me of Grandma, which he had to agree with, and he was really pleased I had scrapped the photos, taken 5 years ago, to remind him of the fun times he had on it, to put in the album just about him.

Challenge 5 Inspiration Points

I am continuing to enjoy playing along with Shimelle's online crop from last weekend.  Challenge 5 was to take inspiration from an absolutely gorgeous layout by Wilna Furstenberg and I came up with this layout.  The photo was taken on a day out to London with friends and my friend Sarah made me laugh so much when she hopped onto one of the Mayor's hire bikes - she is a very unlikely person to find on a bike usually!  It was a great excuse to use my new Studio Calico bicycle stamps and Hero Arts shadow inks that I absolutely adore. 

Thanks for looking! 

Online Crop with Shimelle

Shimelle was hosting a crop on her blog last weekend and I have been inspired to join in.  Details are here. 

Challenge 1

The first challenge was to take inspiration from a very pretty scrapbook page by Jaime Warren.  I chose the vertical placement, single photo,  embellishment clusters on either side and scattered embellishments as my inspiration points.  It was also a great opportunity to use my new Tim Holtz camera die, although my close up of this has made me aware that I need to clean my camera lens!

Challenge 2

The second challenge of the day was to create a page using three or more paper collections and this was right up my street because my style is generally to mix and match my papers and embellishments rather than stick with one collection.

I used Basic Grey Picadilly Bread Box as my background and then added strips of Classic Studio Calico {Woodgrain One}, Pink Paisley NanTucket CrabCakes and a strip with the word 'together' on taken from a sheet of paper from a very old K & Company Poppy Seed paper pad pack.  I also used a shaped s.e.i. border strip raised up on foam tape along the top.  When I thought I was finished I noticed the top background panel didn't look quite right but I managed to rescue it with a few drops of Frequent Flyer Sprinkler from OA.

Thank you Shimelle because I am still feeling very inspired to scrap and off to choose another Challenge to start this evening.

A bit of a catch up.....

So I was very disappointed when I saw the quality of the photographs on my last post.  I shall not be taking any important photos with my new iPad from now on, I think the camera is really only there for things like Skype, which is proving invaluable with my daughter now working in Lanzarote for the Summer.

Oh and hi out there to Mum & Dad who have now gone all technical and linked to my blog {waves}!

First of all a couple of welcome visitors to my garden recently.  They turn up every day looking for food and for a swim in our pond!  I am keeping my fingers crossed they consider our garden a good place to nest.

And some more garden goodness that made me smile when I looked out the kitchen window.  I just had to grab my camera and get some shots of Spring.

  

DH and me waiting to see....Barry Manilow - well we were in Vegas so it had to be done!!!

My gorgeous boy!  Funny how I can never get Thickers to stay put ... except here where I placed them down with the intention of moving them about and you guessed it, they stuck fast.  But I think I just about get away with it!  Inspiration from Shanna Noel.

A layout I did a while back but I was quite pleased with the result and I wanted to share.

This is from an idea by Shimelle where you make the layout first and then find a photo/s to fit.  Genius!! 

Another from Shimelle's idea of create the layout and find a photo that fits.

This is a scraplift from Lisa Truesdell.  As soon as I saw it I just had to have a go.

I know this was on my last post but it wasn't a very good photo and M&D would like to see a clearer version I am sure!

Sorry for so many images but I did need to catch up!

Four recent layouts

Hello I apologise for my silence since my last post but I've had lots of stuff happening including preparing my daughter to begin her life as an international holiday rep; she is currently on location in Lanzarote and I am trying to get used to her not being here, which is very hard after 19 years I can tell you! I have also had a rush into hospital with appendicitis which left me a bit dazed for a while, particularly as it was eventually decided not to operate this time after being nil by mouth for a couple of days In hospital awaiting surgery.

Anyway I am really here to share some of my recent layouts as whatever happens I always have some scrapbooking on the go in my craft room. I am blogging with my new iPad so not quite sure how this will turn out so here goes.

 

This is an unashamed scraplift from Allison Waken. As soon as I saw her stunning layout I knew I had a stack of photographs that would be perfect tochoose from a road trip in California last year. This is one of my favourite layouts ever and I think it is going to be on the wall for a while before it goes in my album

This is a fun layout with a retro theme. Goodwood is a really good day out and Goodwood Revival is on my list of things to do some time too.

 

Hmm I seem to have got this off centre but anyway this is a pre-digi photograph of my mum with my daughter. This is a Scraplift from a layout on Amy Parker's blog that has been sitting in my Pinterest folder since last summer.

 

A very green layout for our trip to Dublin with loads of journaling.

So that is all for this post as I have found this quite a slow process on my iPad as I'm having to learn so much as I go. Thanks for dropping by and I shall be back soon to share some more of my backlog!