A recent photo ...

of my darling boys, taken on 18th November, when they were 19 weeks old.  How they've grown!  Lewis on the left, and Henry on the right, dressed in their bargain jammies, at 50p each.  We were staying at Grandma's, so I took advantage of a little holiday and did a bit of a photo shoot with the boys.  :) 

It shall be scrapped in due course, naturally ....



Quidco

All about ways to save money at Christmas and all throughout the year?  I am, especially with only one wage coming in, and two more mouths to feed ...

If you do happen upon this post, and are interested in saving money, then Quidco is a special website which offers deals, and then gives you cashback at the end, depending on how much you've spent with them.  For instance, I recently bought a pair of Clark's shoes on line, which were not only 50% off, but I also earned a cashback reward, simply for clicking through the Quidco site!

If you are so inclined, follow this link, and then start referring other people too, for more cashback rewards ....

http://www.quidco.com/user/1057273/

Happy shopping!

Scrapology November card

This month, the card designer who set our monthly challenge is Joanna Sheen.  She challenged the Design Team to use a mouse image on their cards.  Bearing in mind the time of the year, I decided to try and incorporate the mouse with Christmas in the cheesiest way possible - get it!   (Hee hee hee .... )



Thanks to Linda for sending me some images as this is not really my normal style of card. 

I dug out an ancient piece of patterned paper for the background and made sure that I coloured in the image to match accordingly. 

I made it more "Christmassy" by sticking some felt snowflakes over the top and then stickled them to make them glitter.  I also glittered on the patterned paper on top of the stars to pull the card together. 

I then stamped out my Christmouse message using my PSX Playful alphabet stamps - I have several sets of small alphabet stamps.  I still consider them to be an essential part of my scrapbooking/ cardmaking tools, even though I don't use them nearly as often as I used to.  Great to get out these things from time to time and dust them off!

I then "enamelled" the outline of the flower using the Ranger white enamel accents.  It was my first time using these - they add a considerable dimension to the card, and hopefully look like snow!  The liquid flowed out of the nozzle faster than I thought it would, so I would recommend caution if using them for the first time.  Hope you join us in the challenge, and have lots of fun playing along! 

Supplies:
Patterned paper:  Colorbok Starry Sky
Ranger white enamel accents
Diamond Stickles
Make It Yourself Furry white snowflakes
PSX Alphabet stamps - Playful
Promarkers

Sketch and Scrap November

For my group's challenge on UK Scrappers this October, we were challenged to create a layout using this sketch:

I decided to use a picture of my boys, and make a companion layout to the one I produced for Scrapology for November. 



Supplies List:

Bazzill cardstock
Journalling pen:  A fine black permanent marker
Patterned papers: Urban Lily "Polka Dot", Chatterbox Scrapbook Walls "Stitched Ivy", 7 gypsies "Life Blanc", Sassafras Lass Indian Summer "Pumpkin Patch"
K & Company Metal Art
Doodlebug rubons Sew Easy Lilywhite & Black
Maya Road Office Sheers Journalling Spot
Wooden Buttons: Hobbycraft
Buttons
Ribbon, Lace, Felt, Fabric, Gem, Pearls

It's very satisfying to create what I think is a beautiful result from old supplies and great to get some of this hoard of stash used up! 

The photo is of my Mum with the boys when they were just over two weeks old. We did a photoshoot with a local photographer, and were so pleased we did it. I loved the photo - it's a very precious memory and is just what it says a "special moment".

Scrapology November Challenge

This month, over at Scrapology, we are scraplifting Hannah Young's layout below: 



The challenge this month is to make fabric flowers. 

This is my interpretation.  I decided to interpret the flowers rather differently, so had a shufty through my materials to see what I could choose from.  I had black tulle, bits of left over felt, and various bits of material.  The larger red flower is made from wide wired ribbon.

The photo is one taken at a photoshoot when my boys were 3 weeks old and is of my mother and I.  All the patterned papers have come from my scraps bag and are all ancient - how satisfying is it to use them up?



Supplies:

Bazzill cardstock

Patterned paper:  Urban Lily "Polka Dot", Chatterbox Scrapbook Walls "Stitched Ivy", Scenic Route Laurel "Sailmaker Lane", 7 gypsies "Life Blanc"

Tim Holtz:  Mini Labels movers and shapers die

Alphas: K & Company "Handmade mini alpha", Making Memories "Tiny Alphas white on black"

Stickers: Scenic Route Laurel Monogram ABCD

Wooden Heart: Hobbycraft

Buttons

Ribbon, Lace, Bonbon

Felt

Fabric

Because my target photo was a completely different shape to Hannah's, I had to reinterpret the sketch somewhat, and also decided to simplify the colour scheme. 

I am really pleased with how this layout turned out.  I shall be making a companion page for the boys' albums using another sketch challenge!  Why don't you join us - Jill from Cardinal Colours has once again donated a fabulous prize - check out the Scrapology blog to find out what it is!

Scrapology October Card Challenge

This month, the challenge set by Sue (Doogle 007) over at Scrapology is to use eyelets!  Goodness knows, if you've been a crafter sometime, then you probably have quite a stash of these in your craft drawers. 

I decided to make a card for my niece Erin who has a birthday coming up later this month. 



I used Autumn Leaves Freestyle Alpha by Tia Bennett.  I stamped each letter onto a different piece of green patterned paper scrap - I find my scraps do come in very handy for all sorts of things! 

This photo was taken outdoors in that amazing bout of late summer weather we had at the beginning of October.  The boys and I really enjoyed being out in the garden those afternoons - hard to believe we had that mini heatwave, after the wintery weather we've had just lately. 

I really like how this card came together and have decided to really use those eyelets more often.  Why don't you go check out the other girls' work and join in with the challenge?

Ace of Spades

As part of the Sketch and Scrap challenge on UK Scrappers for September, we were asked to follow this sketch:

It was fairly similar to a sketch that came up earlier in the year - so I had previously prepared the photos and already decided on the background colour for the layout.  I failed to complete it, however, due to being pregnant and intensely tired and not really interested in being creative!  So when I saw this sketch, I was very happy that I had already started the process of pulling things together. 



The photos are from Chelsea Flower Show 2009 - and the garden is called the "Ace of Spades", designed by David Dumoney. 

My journalling reads:  "Designed by David Dumoney, the 'Ace of Spades' garden fell in the Urban Garden category and gained a silver gilt medal.  He was inspired by listening to the Motorhead track, whilst working on his bike at home.  A giant Ace of Spades was set on the back wall, created out of garden spade heads.  The 'Alien' furtniture was constructed from old motor parts by artist Susannah Trigg."

I particularly love drawing inspiration for a look and feel of a layout from the photos, so I wanted to achieve an industrial, grungy theme - tying in with the heavy metal song and the extensive use of metal in the garden!  I outlined the border and my photos with paint, and also had great fun flicking paint onto the cardstock with a paintbrush.  I used lots of silver metallic card to mat the photos and other elements.  I found the "Ace of Spades" logo in Google images and printed that out and stamped some additional swirls around the edge. 

Supplies:

Bazzill cardstock

Heidi Swapp mask "Floral Bouquet"
K & Company Handmade embossed stickers
Stamps:  Technique Tuesday "Irony", Autumn Leaves Stampology "Round & Round"
Dawn Bibby Silver mist
Black Distress ink
Jo Sonja black acrylic paint