Something Simple...

In my craft room I have a huge box labelled 'Ongoing Projects' (which really means all those layouts that I've started at crops but never quite finished...but I thought 'ongoing projects' sounded more positive!) Anyway, I have finally got around to doing some finishing off... and this is one of those layouts.

Tom isn't really into football - he goes to the little club at school one term and then skips the next..but I love these photos of him in his football kit.  Although I'm an expert at buying ballet shoes and tap shoes etc it was quite daunting to venture into SportsWorld in search of football boots and kit.

(..and sorry...but I started this one so long ago that I can't even remember all the paper manufacturers etc..I'll add to the supplies list as I track the papers down!)

'Football Crazy'

Supplies: Paper and cardstock: Creative Memories, MAMBI; Stickers: American Crafts, Doodlebug, Paperchase; Dymo labeller; gift tags

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

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;

Christmas Cards

I know...everyone else posted their Christmas creations ages ago...but I've been busy writing and literally posting my cards amongst other things. So here are a few cards made - some to send but some to sell in aid of our Church's Big Project.

The ones above were made courtesy of a trip to Tesco! Starting with a Papermania card blank, I used Tesco Christmas paper chains to cover a triangle of card...and a Tesco 'table scatter' snowflake as an embellishment. Very quick..and very easy!!!

Below, are a few from a set of photo Christmas cards I made,inspired by Fiona Beckman's card on page 83 of Papercraft Inspirations (Issue 80). Take a few Christmassy photos, one sewing machine and add in some dymo tape....

And talking of magazines...do check out p77 of the latest Scrapbook Magazine (issue 51)!!!

Better late than never...

I've been making cards...and even managed to get some made for my own family, rather than just for other people. So here's one I made earlier...

Valentines card for Andy

supplies: paper - kelly panacci; dies - sizzix, cuttlebug; dymo labeller

...and in my defence, I did give Andy this Valentine's card on time - I just didn't get round to photographing it and posting it on here:)

Finishing off

After a frantic few weeks of extra hours at work and family birthdays (will post pirate party photos later), I finally snatched a couple of hours scrapping yesterday morning. I went straight for the 'ongoing projects' box and managed to finish several pages that have been sitting around waiting for dates, titles,journaling etc. And here are a handful...

'Fairy'

Supplies: paper - fancy pants, my little shoebox; mini alphas - my little shoebox; overlays - fancy pants; badge - Tesco

'Sweet'

Supplies: Paper - Bo bunny, my little shoebox; sticker - Bella BLVD; dymo labeller; felt flowers - freebie

'Zoo'

Supplies: Paper - Creative Memories, Fancy Pants; Stickers - Tesco; Journaling sticker - American Crafts

Scrapping without photos

These are some of the hardest layouts I've ever made - not because they are anything fancy but because they are about one of my best friends, Stephen, who died in a car accident last week.

A scrapbookers dilemma - I have so many memories of Stephen that I want to record and yet I've found I only have a handful of photos from university - nothing more recent. I guess in our twenties we felt no need to record the day to day stuff - everything seemed permanent (and there were no digital cameras!)

This first layout is simply an 'in loving memory' page, using a photo I found on facebook.

'Friends'

Supplies: Paper - Fancy Panys, Paper Pizazz, Scrap within reach, Core'dinations; Stamp - Stamps away; dymo labeller

This next one however was more of a challenge. We used to spend hours listening to music and browsing in HMV and Virgin...but our musical tastes were really different. He loved shiny, trashy pop and I was a bit of an indie girl. There were just a few things we agreed on and I wanted to remember some of the gems. I have listed (with my trusty dymo labeller!) some of our favourite tracks. The 'friends' tag can be lifted to open up the circle, revealing far more journaling about favourite songs, concerts, memories etc.

'Playlist'

Supplies: Paper - Fancy Pants, Scrap within reach, Core'dinations; Alphas - thickers, MAMBI; border punch - Martha Stewart; Stamp - Stamps away; dymo labeller

Some of you know how much I try to get everyone journaling - but I hadn't expected to lose the photos all together! However I am sure I will be making more 'photo-less' pages about Stephen - a very special person to remember :)

More dymo tape

Yay! Jaynie bought me some more dymo tape -these ones are red, lilac and pale blue - looking forward to playing some more!!!!

Monster cards...

In a bid to save money and tidy up, I've recently set myself a challenge. I thought it was time to start using up some of my stash....so the challenge is to grab a pack of stickers or embellishments from my cupboard and use them to design a batch of cards.

...and these were yesterday's attempt! I had a lovely time (with my dymo labeller of course!) using these monster stickers. I can't remember where I got them from but it was somewhere like Tesco or Poundland...and I'm rather pleased with the results - makes a change from all the girly stuff!

I love ... my dymo labeller

Is there a prize for the most journaling using a dymo labeller?? If so....

I made these layouts months ago (just after the 'big snow' in fact) - but never got round to adding any dates or journaling ... until today!

Although not a double LO they do sit opposite each other in my album so it was nice to give them a similar treatment. And yes...I love my dymo labeller!!!

'Cool'

Supplies: paper & cardstock - Creative Memories, Daisy Bucket

'Sledge fun'

Supplies: Paper - Creative Memories; Stickers - Creative Memories, Creative Imaginations, Scrapbook Inspirations freebie

A few more reasons why I love my dymo:

• It's great for journaling strips (and everyone knows how much I like journaling strips)
• It's quick and easy - great for lazy people like me who look for ways to avoid anything too fiddly
• Its kind of grungy
• There are funky colours (I now have black, blue, red, yellow, orange & green - but need to make a trip to Basildon Staples to get the cool clicks colours)
• You get white text without any fiddling on the computer or using less than brilliant white pens

Need I say more?????