GoGoGetaway

I'm back! Earlier this year I took the decision to stop running Scrap Happy (my local crop). I ran it for almost four years and have made some lovely friends...and been inspired so many times over by other people's pages. I have really missed having a regular 'slot' in the month to scrap, but have appreciated having a bit more time on my hands as my work hours increased (and the number of clubs my children needed ferrying to also increased!).

Anyway, my scrapping has been almost non-existent...until last weekend! I had my first experience of a GoGoGetaway and I have already booked for next year:) Run by Janice and Lorraine of  the ScrapaGoGo kit club, it was an amazing weekend with 7 classes, challenges, prizes, late night scrapping and loads of chat. I loved that I made layouts using colours I normally don't touch, using techniques I would normally only read about..and I even made a layout with a photo of me on it! I've come home bursting with ideas (and a bit more paper to add to my stash!).

I made these two layouts as part of the (optional) sketch challenges. For each sketch challenge we were given a sketch and an example layout and the rules said we had to use at least one product from the manufacturers range.

My first layout is for the October Afternoon 'Woodland Park' challenge. The inspiration was this layout from the October Afternoon blog. I really love these papers and the range also has some lovely embellishments! These photos are from a family photoshoot we set up in our living room to get a shot for my Mums 70th birthday. None of these photos made the final cut...but they are great fun!

'Photoshoot'

Supplies: Paper & Cardstock - Bazzill swiss dot; October Afternoon, ; Embellishments - October Afternoon; Letter stickers - Prima, October Afternoon

And this layout is inspired by a sketch from this layout from Bean Talk the Jillibean Soup blog...with a strip of burlap thrown in from one of the classes:)

'Beach Boy'

Supplies: Paper - Simple Stories, Echo Park, Heidi Swapp; Alphas - Jillibean Soup; Embellishments - Jillibean Soup; Journaling cards - Lily Bee designs

Another canvas

I promised one of my best friends a canvas for her birthday...last April. Unfortunately life got in the way and I didn't manage to make it until the autumn. The advantage to that is that I was able to use photos from a glorious day during our summer holiday in Wales when we visited the amazing Aberdulais Falls.

Although this is larger (16" x 16"), I used the same basic sketch as in my 'Hannah' canvas. I then used a mixture of acrylic paints and spray inks to create the background. Unfortunately the canvas didn't 'take' the ink terribly well so I ended up splattering acrylic from my paintbrush to create my splashes, instead of spritzing the inks, but I got there in the end!!!

'Waterfall canvas'

Supplies: Paper - Basic Grey, Bo Bunny, My Mind's Eye, Echo Park, Three Bugs in a Rug; Bazzill in stitch'z templates; Die-cut - Sizzix; Acrylic paint; Spray inks - Ranger Perfect Pearls Mists.

Another one...

I have now made so many layouts from this sketch. I have found it's great to use with scrapping beginners, so each time I need to run an intro session at Scrap Happy I pull out this sketch...again! And of course, I end up making another page, so as to provide a step-by-step demonstration. The lovely thing is that although the pages start the same, they always end up so different once I've added my bits and bobs.

Anyway, this is the latest. To make the bubbles I cut circles from vellum which I then ran through my sticker machine before attaching to my layout. I then machine stitched (rather wobbly) round the circles to give them some definition. 

'Bubble'

Supplies: Paper and cardstock - My Mind's eye, Creative Memories; Alphabet stickers - American Crafts Thickers, Sizzix; Border punch - Martha Stewart; Ribbon from stash;

Passport photo

I have been meaning to scrap these photos for ages. I love these tiny photos of my tiny girl...but as the journaling explains, they were not easily taken (and were rejected by the passport office!). This was one of many occasions as a brand new Mum when I discovered that the simplest of things could be really quite tricky with a baby in the mix!
I didn't want my papers to overwhelm the little photos, so I used glimmer mists to create a delicate background and added a few stitched strips of patterned paper. Similarly, as my story is quite long, I added my journaling in strips, so as not to have too heavy a block of writing.

'Passport Photo'

Supplies: Paper – The Girls’ Paperie, Creative Memories, Fancy Pants; Stickers – The Girls’ Paperie; Alphabets – Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type, Paper Cellar Glitter Alphabet; Tickets – Jenni Bowlin; Ribbon – Rex Home, Sass & Belle; Stamps – Studio g alphabet set; Inks - Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists, Creative Memories chalking ink, StazOn.

Festival girl

Well the children don't go back to school 'til tomorrow, so there's no chance of me getting any scrapping done yet....but in the meantime here's a page I finished just before Christmas. I love these pictures of Jessie at Greenbelt the other year, and wanted to create a really colourful, festival feel to the page.

I used paper piecing to create both the background and some embellishments for this layout. First I used Fancy Pants 'Summer Soiree' Paper for the background and cut along the sun's 'rays' with a craft knife. I then stuck a variety of patterned paper pieces behind the holes and machine stitched along the joins, adding ric-rac for extra interest.
To create the girl and rainbow embellishments, I stamped them onto different scraps of patterned paper and then cut out each section, before glueing them back together.

I stepped right out of my comfort zone layering stickers and alphas and journaling boxes...but I loved making this page!

'Festival Girl'

Supplies: Paper & Cardstock – Fancy Pants, Creative Memories, We R Memory Keepers, Love Elsie, Junkitz; Stickers – Cosmo Cricket; Alphabets – American Crafts Thickers, Sticker Trendz; Journaling box – K & Co.