Sketch club challenge @ the Christmas Craft & Crop

In every spare moment I've been getting ready for the Christmas Crop ...and here are the designs for the sketch club challenge. I've loved making these. I kept the sketch simple as I wanted it to be suitable for card-makers too - and I think it worked! If you would like to see the actual sketch look here.

'Snowy friends'

Supplies: Paper & card - Creative Memories, Papermania; Snowflake border punch - Martha Stewart; Stamps - free with 'Papercraft Essentials' magazine.

 

'Frosty the Snowman'

Supplies - Card - Bazzill bling; Sticker - Penny Black; Ribbon - from stash; Gem - Paper cellar; Snowflake border punch - Martha Stewart; Small snowflake punch - Creative Memories

'Probably ...'

Supplies: Carstock - Creative Memories, Bazzill bling; Paper - Basic Grey; Letter stickers - American Crafts 'Thickers', Stickopotamus, Words & Crafts; Brad - American Crafts; Snowflake border punch - Martha Stewart; Small snowflake punch - Creative Memories; Snowflake die - Sizzix; Ribbon - from stash.

Sneak Peek

Only two weeks to go before the Christmas Craft & crop!!! I thought I'd post a quick sneak peek of the acrylic album. If you'd like to book a place, do email me and I'll send you a booking form x

Christmas Craft and Crop 2011

It's that time of year again! The Scrap Happy 'Christmas Craft and Crop' is on Saturday November 19th at Keene Hall in Galleywood, Chelmsford. Whether you are a scrapper, or a card maker, or a bits'n'bobs crafter...this will be a fantastic day.

Running from 10am til 5pm (with half day options available), you can make the day your own! Spend the day scrapping your own projects or use the time to get your Christmas cards made. Alternatively, book into the classes and enjoy the take'n'makes and demonstrations running throughout the day. Have a look here to find out more, and do email me for further info or to book a place.

Books on the go - The Big Book of Scrapbook Pages

Wow - what a fantastic book! (You can find it on Amazon here.)

On my friend Clare's recommendation, I snuck this into my Amazon trolley when no one was looking...and it's fab! There are so so so many beautiful layouts in here and I've been marking pages with post-it notes so I can go back and have a play later. If you love scrapbooking (and if you're in the UK you're probably still missing Scrapbook Inspirations and Scrapbook Trends), then do get your hands on this book:) 

To journal or not to journal???

The big question about this layout was whether or not to add any journaling. I'm a big fan of getting the stories down, especially in the children's albums...but as you can see, on this occasion I opted out. The photos look great but in actual fact Tom didn't have such a good afternoon. Before the races, the children have a choice of about thirty activities dotted around the field...and the real story is that it all proved too much for Tom and he had a huge stroppy meltdown. The happy photos at the end are thanks to the miracle working of his teacher.
So there is a story to tell, but I chose not to tell it. I really do believe in 'warts and all' journaling...but in years to come does Tom need to read that he had a bad day and it was embarassing for me having a wailing son in front of all the other parents? I thought not! I'm sure those of us who had happy childhoods also had 'meltdown' days but our memories filter out some of those bits. I'm happy for Tom's memory to do the same:)

'I ran in a race'

Supplies: Paper and cardstock - Creative Memories, Bazzill, SEI, The Girls Paperie; Stickers - American Crafts 'Thickers', Cosmo Cricket 'Tiny Type', My Little Shoebox 'Mini Alphabet Sticker'; Journaling boxes - October Afternoon, Echo Park; Bunting punch - Woodware

And at last...I have used my new 'bunting' punch on a layout!

Time flies!

Well, time flies! I can't believe I am now the Mum of a ten year old! It's fun (yet scary) to watch her become more independent and grown up. And to think that she has only one more year left at primary school!
Anyway, the challenge for me was what card to make for an "in-betweenie" - not too babyish, but not too grown up. Favourite colours blues and purples...but NOT pink!
I remembered some old Rusty Pickle paper lurking in my stash that seemed suitably 'doodly' and found some cool badges in Paperchase...and this is what I came up with....

Supplies: Cardstock - Bazzill Bling; Paper - Rusty Pickle; Badges - Paperchase; Stamps - Sizzix; Punches - woodware; Die-cut numbers - sizzix 'bigz sassy serif numbers'

I coloured the paper using my pro-markers (fantastic pens btw). I used pliers to remove the pins from the back of the badges, and then attached them to the card using sticky foam pads. The card then opens to reveal a big glittery '10' cut using sizzix dies.

I am now thinking of all the other cards I could make using badges...so watch this space!

July Sketch Club

This month's sketch is based on my 'Keep off the Grass' layout that you can see here...I thought you'd like something nice and summery:) I look forward to seeing your pages!

Books on the go

I love reading! As a child I read under the covers by torchlight (and now tell my children off for the same offence!). Taking inspiration from Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers course I thought I'd try to add a quick weekly post about what I'm reading at the moment. Having always read avidly I have found myself dipping into magazines more in recent years, as life with three small children meant I didn't have the time (or energy) to get properly stuck into a book. I loved Scrapbook Inspirations - and still miss it:(
But now, with the children all at school and all sleeping through the night, I have been making up for lost time. I'm still sometimes limited to grabbing a few pages whilst I clean my teeth but I've enjoyed catching up with a few old favourites and finding some new gems!

And for the past couple of weeks I've been having an Austen fest. I've reread Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma and Persuasion countless times..but can't remember the last time I read Northanger Abbey or Mansfield Park, so I've thoroughly enjoyed it. I love the modernity of the books - I always tend to think that facetious, understated sarcasm is a very modern style of humour...until I read Austen and realise that people have been the same for a long time regardless of the outward trappings. Anyway, I hope to finish Mansfield Park today and then its on to Sense and Sensibility.

The littlest bridesmaid

When I first made this page for the Papermaze blog I ummed and aahhed for ages trying to decide which photo to use...and ever since then I have been meaning to make a second page using the 'other' one!

And I have finally done it! I've changed the colours to match the wedding colour scheme, but other than that it's a straight scraplift (which is ok because one will go in Jessie's album and the other in Hannah's album). I'd love to know what you think x

'The littlest bridesmaid'

Supplies: Paper - Bazzill swiss dot, My Mind's Eye, October Afternoon, The Girls Paperie; Alphabet stickers - Cosmo Cricket, American Crafts 'Thickers'; Flowers - Prima; Ribbon - RexHome; Die cut - Sizzix 'Tattered florals'; Stamps - Sizzix, Hero Arts; Bazzill In Stich'z templates;

Keep off the grass

I've had this layout on the go for a few weeks...but have finally finished it:) I love this picture - Hannah crawled round and round the blanket but wouldn't venture off onto the grass.

'Keep off the grass'

Supplies: Paper - Creative Memories; Stickers - Creative Memories, Echo Park; Glitter border - We R Memory Keepers;

a bit of a birthday layout...and a sketch

...and here's this month's sketch and layout!

I seem to make lots of pages using three photos and this is no exception as I couldn't choose which photo to use. This is Jessie looking ever so grown up on her 7th birthday (in new birthday clothes)...and the photos show her having just blown her candles out before we had had a chance to sing, then joining in singing 'Happy Birthday' to herself, and then finally blowing her candles out at the proper time!

I really enjoyed going all girly, and piling on the bling for this page...and I was pleased with myself for using up some old Creative Memories paper lurking in my stash (the checked pattern) - something I should do more often!

'Cake'

Supplies: Paper and cardstock - Bazzill bling, Creative Memories; Journaling card - Elles studio; Ribbon, flowers and gems - WHSmith; Butterfly border - sizzix; 

Such a long time since I posted anything on here....unfortunately life has been rather manic with builders and family!
But here are a couple of pages I have managed to finish recently. The first I did at Cropping Bug - a new crop held in the Reading Rooms in Billericay. It was lovely to be a punter at a crop instead of running one and I've already paid my money for next month...thanks to Nina for organising a lovely evening.

Using this sketch by Shimelle as a starting point - this page shows photos from a glorious day's sailing (probably the best we've had since having the children) but the hidden journaling tells the story of our later trip to casualty when Tom tripped and ended up underneath the boat and trailer. Thankfully he had no bones broken and although he limped for a couple of weeks he is now fine and back to trampolining lessons....and he also wants to go sailing again which is good:)

'Calm'

Supplies: Paper - Creative Memories, We R Memory Keepers, Echo Park; Stickers & Alphas - We R Memory Keepers, Echo Park, Doodlebug, Artoz; Stamps - Anita's, Danette Johnson; Border punch - Martha Stewart, fiskars 'threading water';

And I made this page as a demo for an 'introduction to scrapbooking' session for the local WI. I had a lovely time on Monday morning with the Tile Kiln Women's Institute (nice cake!)and may have some converts to scrapping. I did a step by step using this sketch and it was lovely to see how different each layout was, even from the same starting point.

'Reach for the skies'

Supplies: Paper & Cardstock - October Afternoon, Creative Memories; Journaling tags - October Afternnon; Alphas - Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket; Punches- fiskars, woodware

Think Pink cancelled

Unfortunately I have had to cancel the Think Pink crop for the 7th May due to family circumstances … hopefully it will be possible to book another date sometime soon.

However Tuesday Scrap Happys ARE still on however so I hope to see some of you on Tuesday 3rd May.

Thanks for your understanding…and sorry for the inconvenience.

Mothers' Day

I know...Mothers' Day was two weeks ago...but the builders started the next day so I haven't had a chance to post these. We were so behind on jobs that we had to spend much of the day clearing the kitchen ...but nonetheless I still felt pampered.

Jessie gave me this beautiful peacock card that she had made at school - simply gorgeous. And I love the message inside. Proof that it is worth sitting up on the nights before the children's birthdays to make them a card, rather than dashing to the shops!

Tom also made it all seem worth while with his note! Written on a flag, stuck into a plant pot, it reads "Thank you Mummy for making me scones. Tom". What fab writing:)

And to top it off I spent the morning crafting! I hadn't had a chance to make my Mum a card during the week so I had to do it on the Sunday morning. Sounds like another job to do?? Not at all - how lovely to have 'permission' to spend my time crafting when I would otherwise be busy.

The finished product is quite a quick make but it gave me a chance to play a bit more with my Martha Stewart Round-the-page punches and discover that I can cut denim with my BigShot (the flowers are Tim Holtz's 'tattered florals' which I love). My Mum was suitable impressed that I had actually got out needle and thread to make her card as she knows how rubbbish I am at sewing. (I know Jessie's card had rather more proficient needlework on it!).

Scrap Happy Think Pink - 4 weeks to go

Only four more weeks until the Scrap Happy 'Think Pink' crop and I'm busy planning sketches and hunting down gorgeous bits and bobs for the goody bags.

The Think Pink Crop is on Saturday 7th May at Keene Hall, Galleywood, from 10am - 5pm...and it will be a fantastic day raising money for Cancer Research UK with loads of classes, demos, shopping, refreshments etc to fit in as well as scrapping and chatting! You can choose to spend the day scrapping your own projects or join in with the classes and demos available.

The programme for the day is as follows:

10am Registration and welcome
11am – 1pm Class – ‘Exploding box albums’ (pre-booked)
1.45pm - 2pm Demonstration
2.30 – 3.30pm Class – ‘Focus on Design – using white space’ (inclusive)
4pm Raffle and competition winners
4.30pm Shop closes
5pm Home!

For those of you who are planning to come…but haven’t yet sent me your forms, please do let me have them asap. The 7th May is fast approaching and I need to know numbers for goody bags etc.If you aren’t able to come for the day, do pop in for a coffee and cake (entrance £1 into the charity tin) and feel free to invite your friends - ‘non-scrappers’ are welcome – this is a chance for them to come and see what all the fuss is about!

...And if you are reading about this, but live too far away to join us, please do watch this space. I will be posting some 'Think Pink' bits and pieces for you to join in the fun and if you would like to donate to Cancer Research UK you can do so by following this link. 

I hope you can join us - I look forward to hearing from you.

Birthday boy - some more double layouts!

Last week was Tom's 5th birthday...and as well as making some new birthday pages I've been looking back at some old ones...
I love these photos of Tom earlier this year at my 40th birthday party. He's suddenly turned into such a cool dude and he had a fab time dancing to 'Five colours in her hair' by McFly - his favourite song of all time! ....and I had a fab time making this page! It's a million miles away from the girly pink pages of the girls or even the slightly more softly softly pages of him when he was smaller. I probably ought to go shopping for some more supplies!!!!

'Air Guitar'

Supplies: Paper and Cardstock - Bazzill bling, My Minds Eye, Fancy Pants, Creative Memories; Stickers - American Crafts, Creative Memories; Sizzix dies - Phrase Boys Rock, Stars w/swirls


And I can't believe this layout is now two years old! I took these photos on Tom's 3rd birthday. I had just been reading Cathy Zielske's 'Clean and Simple Scrapbooking' when I made this and was really inspired by her style..so this is my take on it!
The journaling reads:

Tom loves his new bike…he loves the bell…he loves the ‘treasure box’ at the back…but at the moment, actually cycling is just “too hard”!
The photographic ‘evidence’ to the contrary is deceptive – he may look as though he is cycling along the pavement but actually he is stationary (far easier to get the shot in focus though!).
Instead “me look daisies”. Tom enjoyed taking his bike for a walk and collecting dandelions for his treasure box.

'Tom's new bike'

Supplies: Paper and Cardstock - Basic Grey; Stickers - Basic Grey; Embellishments - Basic Grey; Sizzix dies - Baby Says Yeah alphabet

seeing double

Just a quick post...we've got builders in and are living in chaos at the moment...but I thought a quick foray into blogland might take my mind off the dust!!!

I have been making a lot of double layouts recently - mainly because I take far too many photos and I am hopeless at narrowing my selection down to just two or three! I also like to have a bit of space around my photos and hate to cover up too much patterned paper!
This sports day layout was inspired by a fantastic page by Melissa Inman (found on p163 of '365 Days of Scrapbooking Ideas'). I've created a sketch from it which can be found here if you'd like to have a go. 

'Challenge'
Supplies: Paper and Cardstock - We R Memory Keepers, Creative Memories; Stickers - doodlebug; Embellishments - We R Memory Keepers; dymo labeller; journaling stamps

And this layout has been lurking in my 'Ongoing projects' box (aka 'haven't got round to finishing' box) for far too long. But I have finally added my finishing touches and I love these photos of the girls in Portugal - they don't always look that sweet! I love the Basic Grey paper and embellishments...so much so that I inadvertently bought the same pack of embellishments twice. I guess there are worse mistakes to make:)

'Strolling along'

Supplies: Paper and Cardstock - Basic Grey, K & Co, Creative Memories; Stickers - Basic Grey; Embellishments - Basic Grey

Not terribly serious....

And here's a very unscrapping challenge for you....

1: go to google maps and select "get directions",
2: select Japan as the starting location, and China as the end,
3: scroll down to number 42 on the instructions


Have to say I'm a little worried about my luggage!

Craft room!!!!!!

I do have an excuse for not blogging much recently...and that is that we've been decorating! Next week the builders come to start demolishing supporting walls and (hopefully) build a new kitchen. In the meantime we have decorated Tom's room (so much textured wallpaper to remove - uuurgh!) and created a craft room !!!!

The craft room started life as a playroom but with the kitchen works being imminent we realised we would have to find somewhere to store all my lovely craft stuff (previously living in an enormous, soon to be destroyed, kitchen cupboard). And so, after a bit of negotiating, we decided to create a craft room, on the proviso that I played nicely and shared it with the children. (Space has therefore been found for poster paints, moon sand, play dough, wiggly eyes etc). 

Just before Christmas a carpenter friend of ours came and built huge floor to ceiling shelving along one wall. One laminate floor, two tins of duck egg paint and two fantastically groovy polka dot blinds later ... and I was ready to start moving in. It's taken a long time to sort things out, and I'm still not there...but today I sat at the table, in the sunshine, and did some scrapping in my very own craft room. How cool is that??

Sketchy Thursdays

I have just discovered Sketchy Thursdays - another brilliant blog full of scrapbook sketches. Do check it out - there are some fantastic layouts on there. They can also be found on facebook - Sketchy Thursdays on Facebook.

Thanks to Clare for sending me the link:)

Catching up...

Oops...It has been such a long time since I blogged. Life has been rather busy with work and birthdays and decorating Tom's room and so on and so on...

Anyway, lots to catch up...

Firstly, the booking forms for the Think Pink Crop on 7th May are now available! This will be a fantastic day...choose to spend the whole 7 hours scrapping, or join in with the classes and demonstrations. We'll be raising money for Cancer Research UK as we scrap...and there'll be plenty of coffee and cakes and chat to help us! (And I've just ordered the papers for the goody bags - I won't give it away but they're rather lovely!)

Have a look here to find out more.

We 're now in birthday season in our family, starting with my daughter's 7th birthday. Here is the card I made for her - not as pink as most 7 year old girls' cards...but she was desparate for a 'jungle book' party so that they could play 'Please Mr Crocodile' (a game she plays at Rainbows). Anyway, the party was a great success with jungle games and jungle crafts and a very jungly cake...And this is the card I made for her, using toppers from Hobbycraft and some gorgeous We R Memory Keepers papers.

'7 today'

Supplies: Paper - We R Memory Keepers, Bazzill Bling; Toppers - 'Express Yourself DIY' Hobbycraft; 'Happy Birthday' border punch - Martha Stewart; Sizzix Dies - Go Slim, Sassy Serif Numbers;

And in the midst of everything else I have found time to browse some of my 'Christmas' books. I am really enjoying this book (365 Days of Scrapbooking Ideas). So many ideas - some of the pages are stunning and I just need to find some more scrapping time...I really recommend it!

Playlist

Having made an ultimate playlist for my 40th birthday party the other week, I thought I'd carry on and make a Scrapping playlist. Check out the playlist on the sidebar...some of my favourites...and at the moment I have 'The Call' by Regina Spektor on repeat play...simply gorgeous!

Family Christmas cards

I promise these will be the last Christmas cards I post for a while...but these are the cards I sent to my family. They're all fairly similar in style but I had a lovely time playing with some of my new 'birthday' tools and dies. These included rounding the corners with my Crop-a-dile Corner Chomper, and making lovely snowflakes with my Martha Stewart deep edge snowflake trim punch. For Jessie's cards I also got to play with my new Letraset Promarkers. These pens are simply fantastic - they create a brilliant finish with no felt-tip lines, and the colours are gorgeous. I never knew colouring could be so much fun!

'Tom'

Supplies: Paper - Papermania 'deck the halls'; Sizzix penguin die; Lettering - sizzix 'rat-a-tat' alphabet; punch - Martha Stewart deep edger snowflake trim

'Hannah'

Supplies: Paper - Papermania 'deck the halls'; Sizzix reindeer die; punch - Martha Stewart deep edger snowflake trim; dymo labeller;

'Jessie'

Supplies: Paper - Bella BLVD; Angel stamp - hero arts; Lettering - Sizzix 'Girl's are weird' alphabet;

'Happy Christmas'

Supplies: Paper - Papermania 'deck the halls'; Stamp - Personal Impressions; Gems greeeting - WHSmith;