UK Scrappers 52 Card Challenge Week 30 - Use Inspiring Supplies

Wow - over two thirds of the year completed already - that's scary stuff.  Nat set an interesting challenge this week - with the forthcoming Craft and Hobby Association show coming up in America which shows all the soon to be released new scrapbooking and craft products, choose an item which has been your favorite or most eagerly anticipated, and use that on your card. 

The item I chose was a Simple Stories 24/7 journalling block cut down from the 12 x 12 sheet.  My inspirational supplies are not necessarily Simple Stories - it could have easily has been Echo Park, or Project Life.  I like the different sized journalling blocks available for the pocket scrapbooking system that I have now adopted. 

 

 

The colour scheme was determined by the Simple Stories 24/7 journalling block - dark grey, with splashes of gold, red and grey blue.  I found the scroll die cut when having a clean up - I am very pleased to have used it here. 

 

The rest of the card was mostly scraps; I have also used my Memory Box "puffy clouds" dies for the first time and added foam pads for two of the smaller clouds.  The card didn't look right until I added more of the Doodlebug sequins that I have rediscovered lately - so useful for little accents here and there!

 

I added more dimension to the smaller flower by adding a middle from patterned paper, and then filling it with grey accent beads. Trying also to use up my hoard of rub-on alphas - they disintegrate over time, and it would be a shame to waste them. 

 

Quite a different style of card for me - but I am very pleased with how it turned out! The card would have never turned out like this were it not for the 52 Card Challenge. 

 

Supplies:

Various patterned paper scraps

Freebie magazine paper (Scrapbook Magazine) (Blue arrows)

Fresh "Beauty" Scroll Die Cut - 29th Street Market My Mind's Eye 2008

Memory Box "Puffy Clouds" die

Bazzill "Just the Edge" strip

American Crafts Trademarks "Jane" rub-on alphas

 

 

 



Project Life Mini Album Part 5

This is the final instalment of the mini album I produced for my parents in law, which I gave to them on Father's Day. 

 

I am not too certain of how long it took me to do, as I did it on and off amongst other things, but my guestimate would be two weeks. 

 

 

Page 33 above uses all materials from the Scrap Pad - the stickers, the borders and the tags. 

 

Page 34 adds some small metal tags which I was luckily given in a grab box and the last journalling box contains a poem about the bluebell by Emily Bronte - I found some quotes and poems by googling them. 

 

On this bottom journalling box on Page 35, I used some old stickers and Basic Grey rub-ons.  



 

On Page 36 above I used a leafy flourish die cut by MFT - all other shapes from the K'Ology Verbena Scrap Pad.  

 

Page 37 - a different rub-on, and some small Got Flowers by Prima.  I am so glad I still have a collection in my stash - they are the perfect size for so many things - I often need a small flower to finish off a card.  I think I remember doing a swap on UK Scrappers for different colours - it has certainly come in useful. 

 

Page 38 - More of the same.  Just using different scraps of paper in different colour ways and some of the Scrap Pad stickers - made these pages really quick to do. 

 

Page 39 - Another rub-on by Basic Grey.  I love the shots of the boys here. 

 

Page 40 - Henry in the bluebell woods with another quote - and then Henry by a puddle as Grandma leads Lewis back to the car.  Henry was trying to drink from the puddle after this photo! From here, we have another change in colour and theme.  

 

 

"Daddy and the Flying Babies" - page 41.  Using up Doodlebug rub-on Pool medium Alphas, with mostly Echo Park "Scoot" sticker sheet and some washi tape. 

 

Page 42 - Henry going up up up!  Quickest pages of the album - stick and done - perfect!

 

Last page - Lewis in hover mode.  I love the little coordinating plane paper with lots of stickers, one of which I customised with old rub-on letters.  Last journalling box also contains washi tape and some glittery Doodlebug heart stickers.  Those are probably my favourite pages - more up to date stash, and quickest to do.

 

Here's the album cover - all finished!  Phew. 

 

I had intended to just put the Hodgemoor Wood pictures in, but then the album arrived and was much bigger than anticipated.  My advice would be to take some time organising your pictures and the order you want to put them in, and then go through the album and fill in the picture slots.  Because my album was a number of diverse times, I was happy to change the papers and the decorative elements accordingly to try and use different stash.

 

I think the album would be equally effective and quicker to do using just one range of papers and embellishments and sticking to that all the way through.  Using something like a Scrap Pad with its own coordinating stickers and die cut labels is perfect as it cuts down the selection process and the time to prepare. 

 

I certainly would use something similar again, if the pages were a mix of portrait and landscape aspects.  I hope you have enjoyed flipping through the album and covering almost two years of my boys' lives in 43 pages! Thanks for stopping by. 

52 Card Challenge - Week 27 Celebrate the Season

In catch up mode for the above 52 Card Challenge on UK Scrappers - and I am doing pretty well, despite the chaos going on in my life at present!

The Week 27 challenge theme was to "Celebrate the Season" - and here in the UK at the moment, we are experiencing a heat wave!  So Christmas and the cold seems like a lifetime away - but we all know how quickly that can change. 

 

This card is on an aqua background, and the patterned paper is a subtle yellow, with a blue wintry design which doesn't translate onto the screen. 

 

Quite some years ago now, I attended a craft fair with a couple of friends at Port Sunlight, near Liverpool.  It was a great day and lots of crafty items perused - but I do remember buying copious amounts of ribbon there, for £10.  I love ribbon of all sorts and really enjoy using it on my cards. 

 

Supplies:

My Mind's Eye Patterned Paper

Light Blue Glitter Paper

Quickutz snowflakes die

Crystal effects snowflakes clear stickers

Papermania Capsule collection "sunshine" self adhesive gemstones

"Stampin' Up!" scallop punch

Snowflake eyelet

Inkadinkado stamp

"Stardust" Ranger Stickles

Lemon beaded ribbon

 

I love the combination of lemon and light blue - quite a refreshing colour scheme, despite being used on a wintry card. 

 

 

 



52 Card Challenge UK Scrappers - Week 9 Roses

The challenge for this Week 9 of the 52 Card Challenge was to use roses:-

I had originally made a different card for this challenge, but when completed, it was more suited to a different challenge theme. 

It was originally going to be my mother's birthday card, but when finished was too dimensional to send through the post to Australia. 

A very simple card - I misted the fabric wild rose to make it red, and then outlined the edges with a gold mist, which I painted on. 

Using up the wide red satin ribbon, and the black lace.  I didn't want it to appear too much like a Valentine's Day card, as it is for a friend, but it may still be mistaken for one!

The label was raised up with foam pads which I often do, especially sticking over ribbon. 

Supplies:
Black lace
Red Satin ribbon
Prima leaves
Wild rose - unknown?
Flair Designs patterned paper "Roses"
Spellbinders Nestabilities "Labels 4"
Elizabeth Crafts Designs die - "Happy Birthday"

I love these challenges - using up bits and bobs that otherwise may have lingered longer! Thanks for stopping by. 

Scrapology July Challenge - School's Out!

A new card challenge has gone live at the Scrapology blog:-

Claire set the theme for this challenge, which was "school's out!"   I really admire some of the very inventive and innovative ideas the team have come up with, but I couldn't think of anything - my inspiration had left the building.  So I went with the idea of celebrating the summer instead. 

The background paper was part of freebie magazine papers and I love the combination of orange and aqua which screams summer to me. 

 

I stamped the banner onto white card with the orange Stampin' Up ink.  I outlined the banners with the turquoise pen.  Because the white card was quite stark, I got a paintbrush and coloured in the white parts of the banner with the Cosmic Shimmer mist, using it like paint. 

 

I used the washi tape to "ground" the journalling block. A few small flowers and gems just added the finishing touches to quite a simple card. 

 

Supplies:

Banner stamps - free stamp set Crafts Beautiful

Classic Stampin' pad - Stampin' Up ink - "Pumpkin Pie"

Cosmic Shimmer mist - Teal Wash

Kaisercraft Rhinestones

Papermania Capsule Collection Rhinestones - "Sunshine"

Fiskars Paper Shapers - "stamp" scissors

Signo Uniball Angelic Colour pen - Blue

Studio G clear stamps - sentiment

My Mind's Eye Indie Chic washi tape

Versafine ink - Deep Lagoon

 

Does this challenge inspire you to have a go?  We would love to see what you come up with!



52 Card Challenge UK Scrappers - Week 20 Challenge The Printed Word

The challenge for Week 20 was to feature "the printed word" - from literature, a quote, or stories.  This caused me to scratch my head quite a bit, as I haven't done much reading of late.

I had already pulled out this tag from the K and Co Mira tag pad to use on another challenge, so decided to cheat a bit by using this quote - which is a Kundalini yoga blessing, or an Irish blessing, apparently.  Quite a bit of cultural difference there then!

 

I just adore these words:

 

May the long time sun

shine upon you

All love surround you

And the light within you

Guide your way home. 

 

 

I pulled out the same collection patterned paper and went from there - I remembered I had some paper roses bought eons ago that I thought would come in handy. 

Much as I love looking at all the heavy dimensional works of art that abound on the web, I usually limit myself to fairly flat scrapbook pages and cards for the practicality of it.  This time, I decided to break out of my mould - I am sure the card will still fit in the envelope, and as I am hand delivering it to a friend, I decided it could be as bulky as it turned out to be!

 



I edged the orange paper with pink chalk ink and then laid my washi tape and velvet orange daisy ribbon over the top.  I had hand cut the leafy embellishment from the other side of the paper - this particular piece was quite heavily foiled - I am not such a fan, so I was really pleased to have cut into it. 

I thought it was a mistake to have run the ribbon along the whole width of the card, but in the end, it was the right thing to do as it hid the stems of the roses, and was somewhere for me to hide the glue!

I stamped the leafy elements in Cactus Green stazon ink, as the green paper was glossy and really thick in weight.  The green paper is from the DCWV Taj Mahal collection which I bought to scrap my elephant photos - I haven't made much progress so far.  That is a "one day" job.  :lol:

Supplies:
K and Co Mira Paper Pad and Tag Pad
Doodlebug Boutique Trims
Indie Chic washi tape
Papermania Spring brad
MME Wild Asparagus embroidered brad
Cactus Green Stazon ink
Sizzix and Hero Arts stamps and framelits "Flowers and Butterflies"
Assorted flowers

I love this assortment of colours - something quite exotic about them - like being in Kashmir! I am really pleased with how this card turned out and hope the recipient likes it too. 

Butterfly mobile

I was very inspired when I saw my friend Carin's entry on the Bo Bunny blog where she made a butterfly mobile.  It turned out so beautifully, I decided to make one for my niece for her second birthday. 

I pretty much followed Carin's instructions to the letter, except I used the K and Co Mira range.  What I love about these papers is that the colours are bright and quite intense - royal blues, fresh greens, reds, oranges and pinks - so pretty and feminine. 

Another key point of difference was that I ran a string of butterflies from the middle of the mobile, by  running two interconnecting fishing lines and knotting them together.  I used my Sizzix Bigz Flower Daisy Die

Unfortunately, I found it vey difficult to get good photos and ran out of time, as my Mum had to pack this away in a suitcase for her return today to Australia.  



Henry and Lewis - Happy Second Birthday! - Two Year Update

I am so pleased I use this blog to jot down little notes during the month the things you have done and said over the past four weeks!  It is far too easy to forget all the amazing, but little things that happen so frequently.  I especially notice it now that I have started your "Project Life" scrapbooks where I am including my pregnancy journal and blog posts.  I very much feel the passing of time as we are so busy preparing to move to Australia and I am also trying to plan and organise your coming birthday party. 

9th June - Today we visited Grandma and Grandpa Jones.  The words that you said today Henry were "Computer" and Biscuit - clear as a bell!
10th June - Henry, today your word was "cuddle".  So cute that I gave you one straight away!

On Wednesday, 19th June, we went to toddler group at Maple Cross, like we try to do most weeks.  It was the hottest and sunniest day so far of the summer. 

There was a fire engine visiting, complete with five to six firemen.  They were very good at showing the children around the truck and where everything was stored.  Henry, you loved being behind the wheel in the huge cab and were into everything! 



You were pretending to phone on their radio, and were picking up their keys and all their personal effects.  You were trying to drive the truck, and were grabbing the wheel and making "brrrm brrrm" noises. 



Lewis, you weren't so sure, but were happy to get up into the cab if Henry was there.  It was a long way up and a huge vehicle at close range.   



Graeme, the volunteer at Maple Cross toddler group, always helps us out - he is a lovely friendly man and you are here with him in the back of the fire truck. 

The firemen were demonstrating pulling out the fire hoses and squirting the water out.  They were setting up in the park, but unfortunately got called away! 

Henry, when you see Daddy at the moment you say "Down, down" which means that you actually want him to pick you up and give you a cuddle! You play tug of war games with your cot sheet, so I have to put you in Lewis's cot whilst I remake your bed every morning.  It was so lovely to see Lewis greet Henry by giving him a kiss, and then doing Eskimo noses! 

Lately, if Henry has been upset about something, Lewis you will come up and stroke Henry's hair and pat him on the head.  It definitely is an "awww" moment!

Lewis, you are getting more and more sociable and coming out of your shell.  It makes me so happy to see this! However, if one of you is naughty (usually Henry) then Lewis will come along and be naughty too! I have stopped putting you on the wall at the same time, because then you think it is a big joke and huge fun. 

Daddy recently bought you a plastic football and Lewis, you especially love this and try to bounce it up and down like Daddy does.  You are an excellent thrower and are really accurate with your aim.  You also possess great skill with your cutlery and eat your porridge or cereal with skill and quickness.  Henry, you love to play with your food and your spoon is often upside down! You instinctively go to pick things up with your left hand and if Daddy puts things in your right, then you will switch it over straight away. 

Both your language skills are progressing and you seem to listen to your stories after lunch with great interest.  I confess here and now that I choose library books by the ones I want to read to you, and I am astonished at the imagination and skill of the authors and illustrators out there, and quite often want to keep these books because of their beauty or amusement value.  Some of my recent favourites have been "The Terrible Plop!" and "Eliza and the Moonchild". 

Henry, yesterday (3rd July) you said "pussy" and then "miaow" so I know you understand their connection.  I have no idea where you got "pussy" from, as I always say cat!

I am busy organising your party for next weekend, and it will be lovely to see some of our friends and relations in one place both to celebrate your birthdays and to say "adieu".  Hopefully, we will gets lots of lovely photos to put into your scrapbooks, so that one day you may even vaguely remember who these people were. 

Daddy and I bought you a Bosch toy work bench for your birthday and you both love to unscrew the nuts and bolts and pretend to use the screwdriver, just like Daddy does. 

 

We also bought you some Lego Duplo and despite having to pick up hundreds of pieces at the end of the day, I am never bothered when I see you happily playing together. 



We love you always and are so thrilled that  you seem to be growing and progressing well and are happy. 
Love always, Mummy. x

52 Card Challenge UK Scrappers - Week 16 Negative Die Cuts

I've just completed the Week 16 challenge for the 52 Card Challenge on UK Scrappers. 

 

This challenge gave me lots of head-scratching moments and I looked around on Pinterest for some inspiration.  It is one of Paul's fishing friend's birthdays coming up soon, and I remembered the set of tropical fish Sizzlets dies that I bought years ago and never got around to using.  I haven't sold them, because I knew I really liked them - just hadn't used them yet! But now, they have finally justified their existence in my stash and been used in the card below. 

 

 

I cut the dies out directly from the front of the card - it was a challenge to make all the fish face the one direction, and I had to cut some of the fish from inside the card.  This was a mistake, as it has left the front of the card a bit scored and marked which you can't see here. 

 

I coloured the die cuts with Promarkers, and placed them back into the aperture and then glued them back so that they would show in exactly the right place on the inside of the card.  I then added Starburst Stickles on the fins to give them some shine, and also White Enamel Accents for the eyes, as that is dimensional and makes them really stand out! We were in such a rush to post the card that I neglected to take a photo of the inside, which would have showed the fish off better.  Never mind!

 

I was stuck as to how to resolve the front of the card, but hit upon the idea of bubbles - which then led to sequins.  Love this card and will have to replicate it in the future.  Slowly catching up!

 

Supplies:

Sizzix Sizzlets dies - "Tropical Fish?"

Ranger White Enamel Accents

Stardust Stickles

Doodlebug sequins and various

Promarkers

 

Project Life Mini Album Part 4

 

Hello folks and welcome to the penultimate instalment of my mini album project for my in-laws, which I gave them on Father's Day. 

 

 

 

These first couple of pages continue with the "Up Up and Away" paper stack from First Edition, which I bought when the boys were born, and used in their showcase albums.  Above is Page 25, and I have covered 18 months up till this point!

 

The embellishments continue to be paper scraps, the flowers and the hearts are from the freebie stamp set of Tara's as per previous pages, and I added a couple of old stickers and some stamping and Dymo labelling. 

 

 

Page 26 above uses up an old Doodlebug Christmas tree sticker from yonks ago, a dimensional holly button embellishment, a sequin, and some buttons, amongst other things.  The dimensional elements were a mistake - the album is not unduly distorted, but it still does slightly buckle, which doesn't please me.  This is why I don't use large 3d flowers or things like pinwheels on my pages - I love the look of them, but not in an album! I loved the photos of the boys in their Christmas hats. 

 

 

Page 27 above is of photos taken this year.  Henry and Lewis loved their ball pool, but they were already probably too old for it when I bought it for them!  The best bit for them was when I tipped all the balls from the bag and rained them on their heads.  They loved all the colours cascading down, and got so excited! "Baby Joy" sticker from the Poundland set. 

 

 

Page 28 above is them experiencing their first snow! That was a fun day, even though Lewis really wasn't sure.  "Fun" sticker from a very, very old set - probably nearly 10 years old. 

 

 

Page 29 above utilises more Poundland stickers from different sets and marks the end of the use of the First Edition pad.  I just adore the bottle photo above - the boys sometimes really demonstrate the closeness of twins when they have moments of pure fun and connectedness as when they were having great fun with their bottles - both boys grabbed a cushion each and lay down together and had their bottles.  They were laughing and giggling with each other and times like this make me so happy and feel truly blessed. 

 

 

Page 30 above is the commencement of the photos from the day we took a walk through the bluebell woods with Grandma.  I am desperately trying to use up stash that I no longer love, and I am really pleased that I grabbed my K and Co "Verbena" Scrap Pad for this batch of photos. 

 

 

Something like this Scrap Pad is actually perfect for mini albums - the tags and stickers etc all look dimensional, but are perfectly flat.  I had to coordinate double sided paper with the colours of the photos, but this part of the project was a lot quicker to complete than the pages up til now. 

 

 

Back to share the last part of the project soon! 

 

 



Project Life Mini Album Part Three

Here I am, back again to share Part Three of the mini album I made for my in-laws of the first two years of my twin boys. 

 

I particularly like the tree! From a freebie set of Tara's, which has formed the basis of a lot of these pages.  Very quick to colour in with the Promarkers. 

 

 

I suppose I was inspired by the gold in the giraffes, so I chose to use that lion sticker.  The drawback to that was I had to get gold into the other pages!  I found that a bit difficult and quite time consuming.  A quicker method to doing an album like this is to just use the same paper pad or colour scheme throughout, irrespective of the colour in the photos. 



 

I got out my Dymo tape to coordinate with the Poundshop stickers. 

 

 

For Page 18 above, I cut out some of the elements in the Amy Tangerine 6 x 6 pages to bring out the gold.  Some of the smallest Prima "Got Flowers" in the gold were the easiest way to bring in the colour for the fourth page.  Lots more stamping on here, too.  I stamped the date on the pages pertaining to the photos so that people who saw the album could work out the boys' ages if they wanted to.  They were four months old in the above photos. 

 

Time to change the paper for the theme, so I cut up a Christmas 12 x 12 that I wanted to use up as it had snowflakes on it.  One of my favourite photos of the three of us here on Page 19.  The boys were just so squidgeable!  :D

 

 

The boys with their paternal Grandparents below right.  The boys particularly loved Grandma's shiny earrings!

 

 

 

Washi tape thanks to Tara, stamping and very simple embellishment to tie it altogether. 

 



 

Page 21 and 22 above are my favourites!  Simple stamping and images and very coordinated.  Amazing how one set of stamps has proved so perfect here I think! I still find my PSX alpha stamps very useful from time to time - something that I don't think I will ever get rid of. 

 



 

What a pair of imps in that last photo!

 

 

As I worked from back to front, and then front to back, this set of pages was the last one I completed when time was so short!  So the decoration consisted of a series of stickers that was thrown quickly onto the page. 

 

 

The last block contained the baby monkey from the Cuttlebug baby animals set.  these dies have proved so handy and quite versatile!  All other stickers courtesy of Tara and Poundland, I think. 

 

So Page 24 of 40 - we're more than half way through.  I'll be back soon with the next instalment! :D