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Sunday 17 June 2012

UK Scrappers June Week 2 Challenge

Karen set a challenge over at UK Scrappers this week to use this colour scheme from the Design Seeds website


I thought it was beautiful, so I decided to join in, if I had enough time.  I managed to scrape it in with just enough time to spare. 



I went to Chelsea Flower Show in 2009 and took scads of photos and have scrapbooked quite a few of them.  I still have loads to do, but somehow scrapbooking the boys has taken over! 

The challenge was to use a nature theme, three photos, and that colour scheme.  I thought I would keep the layout simple but use up some of the mountain of stash that I have accumulated. 

I stickles the spots on the butterfly and backed it and the sticker with white cardstock so that the colour was bright and crisp.  I covered the chipboard flower with "Poppyseed" patterned paper and the leaves with the green patterned paper.  I also used the olive green cardstock to give the flower more punch and also bordered the leaves in the same manner. 

No real techniques here - just another layout completed for my future album!

Supplies:
Bazzill cardstock
Maya Road Chipboard - flower and scroll, covered with Junkitz green paper in my scraps bag
Sticker - K & Co Juliana
Butterfly - Creative Imaginations 12 x 12 transparency
Patterned papers - K & Co Poppyseed
Tim Holtz "Typeset" Sizzix Decorative alphabet

Thanks for stopping by. 

Friday 15 June 2012

Scrapology June card challenge - Vintage

This month, Hels Sheridan challenged the team to create a card based on the vintage theme.  That came quite easily to me, as I had this particular Paperstack out in an effort to use it up!


I made this particular card for my parents' wedding anniversary which fell on 27th April - their 49th anniversary! They have both had health issues over the recent period, so the message on the card was one I especially meant for them. 

The paperstack is "KOlogy" from K & Company.  I remember having a very specific project in mind when I bought it, several years ago, but then the project fell off the radar and life generally got in the way.  Years pass, tastes change, and now I am not really interested in doing heritage/vintage layouts unless it is for a specific purpose ....

The card is quite simple and came together quickly. I cut the background patterned paper and adhered it to the card.  Being a K & Co pad, it comes with lots of different tags and journalling spots.  I matted this tag onto some cream patterned paper, and then outlined the lot with green chalk ink.   The copper dots are Tulip fabric paint.  I was surprised to learn that it dots quite finely - crucial in this type of project.  I wanted something light reflective, so adhered lots of light green faux pearls onto the oval of the tag.  I stuck them on with liquid glue and used a pin to pick up a gem from the pile and place precisely onto the card.  This method is quite quick, once you've allowed the glue to go tacky, and the effect is very neat. 


Friday 8 June 2012

55th Anniversary

Today is my husband's parents' 55th wedding anniversary.  What a marvellous achievement in this day and age!  When I found out that the gemstone which commemorates this anniversary is emerald, I made this card for them:


Quite a simple card, but I like it!  More importantly, I hope they do too - and have a lovely celebration.  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Basic Grey Motifica 6 x 6 pad
DCWV Christmas Stack (pine green card)
Ribbon
Waltzing Mouse Stamps (Vintage Labels 4)
Spellbinders (Vintage Labels 4)
Green Flower
Stickles
My Favorite (sic) Things Leafy Flourish Die-namics
Melissa Francis Stamps - greeting
Tim Holtz Alphabet die - Typeset

Tuesday 5 June 2012

May Sketchy Scrappers Challenge - circle embellishments

Jess asked me to step in and choose a sketch when the scheduled person didn't oblige.  So after a bit of searching, I found this sketch on the internet which I really liked and thought was very versatile. 


This is a Pagemaps design, and was featured in October 2009.  How time flies!

I loved the simplicity and the clean lines of  the sketch so decided to stick very closely to it with this interpretation below. 


All of the embellishments are cut from one piece of paper, which is My Little Shoebox 2009 line "Enjoy Life".  This particular paper is called Slow Motion and I liked it so much, I think I have at least two sheets of it.   

The photos were taken by my mum and depict me feeding my twin sons at the same time, which is a bit of a skill to be developed!  It worked well, until they were too big to lie across the sofa.  I had a big white muslin on my lap in the top picture, so covered it up by undulating the circle embellishments. 

I loved the caterpillar - it goes so well with the feeding theme and had to include it here.  Unusually for me, it was a layout that I finished quite quickly and I am happy with the end result, too. 

I dusted off my "Opposites Attract" Cricut cartridge and cut out the word "feeding" using red paper.  Weirdly, though I have stocked up a bit on American Crafts Thickers alphabets, for some reason, I don't seem to use them often, so I was determined to change that on this layout. 

My journalling reads: " Whilst the midwives were visiting us during your first couple of weeks home from the hospital, Rosie went on holiday and Sam covered in her place.  You were due a bottle and Sam propped you both up on pillows and fed you at the same time – which was so fast compared to what I was doing!
This tandem feeding then continued until you were both too big to fit on the sofa! 
Photos by Grandma Brierley 23 July 2011"
One of the best parts of being in a sketch challenge group is that there are 10 different layouts to see that have all used the same sketch as inspiration.  It is fascinating to see the end result. 

Thanks for stopping by. 



Friday 1 June 2012

June Scrapology Challenge - W is for White Space!

Welcome to June, and another new challenge this month at Scrapology!  We are lifting a fabulous layout by Ro Philippsen, who is on the design teams for My Little Shoebox, Doodlebug Designs, and Imaginisce. 

Here is her layout, which she originally scrapped from a Pagemaps Sketch. 



Here is the Pagemaps sketch.

I think her layout is stunning!  I love the clear crisp background (even with the misting and splodging) and the bright colours and graphic design of the papers. 

I normally lift from the layout, but this month I went back to the sketch and interpreted it very literally as I loved the design so much.  Here is my interpretation:


 

For something a bit different, I decide to do a Circle Journal entry,  as it was something I needed to do in any case, and it was also a happy coincidence that the sketch fit in really well with the smaller size format.  Trouble is, not so much white space left, but there is still some to fit the criteria, thankfully....

I used scraps of patterned paper from my scraps bag.  The background damask stamp is by Heidi Swapp.  The Ticket date stamp is by Tim Holtz, around which I added some twine.  In the absence of a border punch, I used a cropadile to punch a series of holes and then ripped through some of them to emulate a page torn out of a spiral bound notebook. 

I loved the red and white graphic paper, but if you look closely, it is Christmas paper!  I didn't think it mattered for this little snippet, but I should have actually covered up the word "christmas" :lol:

Here is the matching journal page. 


I was very pleased to have used up a rub-on from Royal and Langnickel that I've had forever! I put this page through my printer by testing the journalling on normal printer paper first, and then adhering the rounded page onto the printer paper with repositionable Herma.  I just had to work out very carefully how everything would fit onto the journal page, and after  lot of fiddling about am very pleased with the final product.

The colour scheme is very fitting this particular month, celebrating the Diamond Jubilee.  What a very special year it will be for this country, with the Olympics shortly to come to London the following month.  I am determined to make the most of this summer, which will hold even more special significance, as it will be our family's last one in the UK, before we emigrate to Australia early next year. 

But in the meantime, why not join in with our challenge at Scrapology?  I would love to see how you interpret the sketch and the artwork your produce.  Have a great month, and thanks for visiting .... enjoy your June!

May Sketchy Scrappers Challenge

Jess asked me to step in to find a sketch for our group for May.  I originally wanted one that incorporated a lot of photos, but then decided there wasn't enough background to do anything very pretty. 

So here is the sketch I chose - from Pagemaps, October 2009. 


And here is the layout that I produced as a result. 


 
These photos were taken by my mum and were of the first occasion when I tandem fed the boys.  Henry is on the left, and Lewis is on the right - just in case I ever mix up the difference in hair colour!  

I had chosen these two photos to use, but they printed out much bigger than I had intended.  So I decided to run with this version, but then simplify the background.  I used stitching as a background detail, because I wanted to keep the rest of the layout very simple, after I had chosen to use this piece of patterned paper - which I thought contained all the detail that was necessary!  I just raised some of the flowers on foam pads for a bit of dimension. 

Supplies:
Bazzill cardstock
American Crafts "Tropical" A4 cardstock (green mat)
My Little Shoebox "Enjoy Life/Slow Motion" patterned paper
Thickers green alphabet
Cricut cartridge "Opposites Attract"