Jennifer's Jumbles

My 2012 word is...

2012-01-29T10:06:00.000Z

Organise!

The fact that it has taken me so long to post this on here speaks volumes about how well my one-little-word for 2012 is going for me so far (aka: not very well!). But now that I have my layout created and stuck up on the wall perhaps it will keep me motivated:

Supplies: Crate Paper: Random Paper and Chipboard Elements, Farmhouse Alphas and Chipboard Elements, Portrait 6x6 Paper and Border Stickers; American Crafts 'Thanks' Clear Stamps (stamped with brown ink), Adhesive Gems and Stripey Paperclips from HobbyCrafts, Lace from Haberdashery, Staples, Black Journal Pen.

Journaling reads:

'I'm determined to get organised this year - in various aspects of my life. Planning sessions with Rosie and Ali have helped me work out what I need to do - inc. decluttering, a housework rota, and planning ahead for my blog. Of course, actually implementing all these is another task entirely - I hope I manage it!'

I really want to sort my life out a bit - I feel like I'm always playing catch-up with myself. Hopefully you'll see me blogging a bit more regularly if I put my one-little-word to good use.

Do you have a word that means a lot to you this year? Or do you have any organisational tips for me? Any ideas considered!

Happiness is...

2012-01-20T15:08:00.001Z

I know I said I'd be back with my word for 2012, but there's been a change of plan. Today I'm going to show you a little mini-book I've made, as an example for the first S J Crafts blog challenge, which went live yesterday:

If you enter the challenge you'll be in with a chance to win a £10 gift voucher for the S J Crafts online shop. The theme is 'happy' and the added extra is to 'use a punch'. The closing date is the 15th of February. See all the details on the shop blog here, along with the rest of the DT's examples.

I was inspired to make a very-mini mini-book, credit card sized, so that I can carry it around in my purse and look at it every time I want to be cheered up. Here's how I put it together:

I cut 3 rectangles from My Mind's Eye 'Rosy' 6x6 papers, the rectangles measured the width x twice the height of a credit card (aprox 3⅜ x 4¼" - credit card was approx 2⅛" tall). I folded the rectangles in half, and whilst folded, I rounded the corners with a woodware corner rounder punch:

I put gluestick all over the back of the red rectangle, and then stuck half of the other two rectangles to it, so they were overlapping, and formed a simple accordion-style book:

Then all I had to do was decorate it! Throughout I've used My Mind's Eye 'Rosy' clear stamps (stamped with VersaMagic 'Jumbo Java' ink), 'Ordinary' Label Stickers, and butterflies punched from 'Rosy' papers using the Martha Stewart 'Classic Butterfly' punch; My Little Shoebox mini-alphas, and tiny photos!

I love it, it makes me smile whenever I open it, and it was so quick and easy to make. Also, because I now carry it around in my purse, it will come in handy next time I'm out and someone asks me what 'scrapbooking' is - I don't think anyone really understands until you show them an example!

Don't forget to check out the challenge and maybe have a go at entering. It doesn't have to be a mini-book, it can be any kind of layout, card, or other papercraft project. What does the word 'happy' mean to you?

Bye for now! x

Christmas Catch-Up

2012-01-17T22:00:00.002Z

Hello all,

Okay... so it's been a long while since my last post. I'm not going to give you any lame-o excuses, I'll just hold my hands up and say 'Sorry!' and fill you in on time missed. Here's a little catch up of what my Christmas and New Year looked like:

Just before Christmas we had a 'merry un-christmas' evening, which we have every year with our friends Rosie and David. My daughter had great fun playing with Rosie, and didn't want to go to bed!:

I had made these crochet mug covers for Rosie and David as part of their Christmas pressies, thanks to instructions in Mollie Makes:

We spent Christmas Day and Boxing Day at my In-Laws. Their tree was very pretty:

And my daughter was very pleased with the bike that Santa bought her:

The rag doll I made her for Christmas (following this tutorial) enjoyed riding on the back too:

The dining table looked very luxurious:

And little miss loved her xmas dinner despite the fact she'd been filling up on treats all morning:

I always like it when we wear red or sparkles on Christmas day!:

After Boxing Day we travelled to my mum and stepdad's, and stayed there until New Years Day (though hubby had to come home and work inbetween - boo). It was really nice to spend lots of lovely time with my mum:

And here she is playing charades, love how silly we can all be together!:

And one of the days we had a nice walk to get some fresh air:

Baby boy wasn't overly impressed though:

And on New Year's Eve we had a quiet evening in, which was nice and relaxing:

And we played some games. This one is called 'App-Player', we got it for my Step-Dad for xmas because he loves his I-phone! It was lots of fun:

So there we are, a glimse of my festive season. Sorry again that it's taken so long to post the pics on here. You can probably guess that my JYC album did no get added to very much! I might come back to it at some point, but for now I'm going to push on with new projects.

I'll be back soon (I promise!) with my one-little-word for 2012.

I hope you're all well! x

10 Tree Decorations on the Tenth

2011-12-10T21:48:00.001Z

Hello!

For those of you that don't know, Shimelle leads a 'Ten Things on the Tenth' extravaganza at http://www.shimelle.com/ each month. Here's my contribution. As it is December, and I'm feeling very festive, I've decided to show you my favourite 10 decorations on our Christmas tree:

1. A deer that was always on the family tree when I was growing up. I'm not sure of it's history - I'll have to ask my mum, but I love it's vintage look:

2. The same goes for this kitsch angel:

3. This cardboard stocking is one I made as a child (about 7 or 8 years old I think). It has a picture cut from an Argos catalogue showing what present I wanted most that year - a 'Lite-Brite' pegboard toy. I did not get this gift. I'm sure I got some lovely other presents, and I think one reason I like to put this on my tree each year is to remind myself that it does not matter that we won't ever get everything we want for Christmas. I'm sure I was disappointed at the time that I didn't get this toy, but in the grand scheme of things it didn't matter, I had love and a happy home and that's what Christmas should really be about - and it's something I'm trying to teach my daughter this year:

4. This little elf is one I made at 6th Form College (when I was 16). I studied Textiles A-Level, and we had a challenge for the first autumn term, to make a Christmas decoration from material. Everyone else made big items, but I hand stitched this elf with teeny tiny stitches. He's about 7cm tall. I won the challenge because my teacher was so impressed that I could stitch so small (you unfortunately can't see his cute gold boots in this photo!):

5. And along the elf theme, I made this elf lady (I think she might have been a fairy originally, but if so her wings were lost long ago!) when I was at University. We had a Christmas crafting session in our house, 5 of us making little bits and pieces, as we didn't have enough of our own decorations yet to make the place feel like home:

6. Now for a few shop bought decorations. First up is this one with Aslan on. I absolutely love the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S.Lewis, and when the Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe movie came out I snapped up some Christmas decorations in the Disney Store, and this is my favourite from the set:

7. This one I like because I adore the colours. I also think it's special because I bought it the Christmas before we had my daughter, when I also I bought a lot of other 'grown up' luxurious looking decorations as I was feeling like a proper adult. And then realised the very next year, when my daughter was already crawling around and grabbing at things, that I couldn't put any of them up as they were all delicate glass! Apart from this one which is safe. So it's my one really 'posh' decoration on the tree, for now at least!:

8. This one is simply because penguins make me laugh. And this bauble makes me smile every time I look at it:

9. I also like owls, a fact which my mum is well aware of and she buys me lots of cute owl-themed pressies (thanks mum - I love them!), this is one of her gifts to me:

10. And I'm going to finish with another handmade one. This one was made by my daughter last year at her nursery. I have made wall decorations and cards with her each year, but this was the first tree decoration she'd made and I hope it's the first of many:

I hope you've enjoyed this glimpse at my Christmas tree decorations! I love having such a mix of old and new, handmade and shop bought. It's nice to have bits of my history and personality all displayed each year. Do you have a favourite tree decoration?

Hope you're all having a festive weekend. :-)

Journal Your Christmas 1st - 3rd

2011-12-03T17:10:00.001Z

Hello all,

Sorry there's been a bit of a gap here again. I was ill last week, and the doctor said it hit me worse than it should because I was over-working myself and getting stressed. So I've been trying to take it easy this week. I'm not very good at relaxing, I like to be busy and multi-tasking all the time. This week I have actually sat and watched telly without blogging or crafting at the same time - shocker! Anyway, I think I'm now fully recovered and back on track.

Luckily I had prepared most of my Journal Your Christmas album before I was ill, so I've already been able to complete the first few entries. I haven't done a title or manifesto page yet, I'm hoping to get them done tomorrow or Monday. But I have managed pages for the 1st through to today (the 3rd):

They're quite simple, and not entirely co-ordinated. I'm trying not too worry about it too much - my aim for JYC this year is to get the story and photos down, (and use up a lot of old supplies), as I know I'll treasure it even if the pages aren't 'perfect' for my scrapping style. Then next year I can fuss over it more and get some new, more co-ordinated supplies to use!

I'm feeling in the festive spirit, as I had Christmas tunes on while I was putting these pages together, and I'm off out for a Christmas meal tonight with some friends. I'm looking forward to having a chance to chat, and let my hair down! Hope you are all having fun, festive weekends. x

Giveaway Winner!

2011-11-20T22:24:00.001Z

Hello again!

Yep, two posts in one day, that doesn't happen on here too often these days, does it? It's getting quite late in the evening too, but I've just won a game of scrabble against my husband and my dad so I'm in a jolly mood!

Do you want to know who won my giveaway for this handmade smash-style book?:

I just put the numbers of comments into www.random.org, and it came up with number 1! Seriously, how often does that happen? The first comment was left by Sian, so congratulations Sian, this book will soon be on it's way to you! (I already have your address I believe). I hope you enjoy the book and manage to get some use out of it.

I also thought I'd share a couple of photos I took yesterday. It was quite sunny, so as my Dad was here and able to drive me and the kids around (I have not yet learned how to drive!), he took us to Swanage for a walk on the beach:

It was lovely to get some sea air, I think I like the beach even more in the autumn than I do in the summer - it's a lot less busy for one thing!

I should go and get some sleep now before baby wakes for his first night-time feed. How old do babies need to be before they start sleeping through the night? I've forgotten and I'd like to know when I might start getting a full night's rest again!

slip-slide, a sketch challenge entry

2011-11-20T13:56:00.001Z

Hello all.

First of all I want to say a big THANK-YOU! to everyone who commented on my last post. It really did cheer me up a lot to know that you enjoyed looking at my layouts. And thanks for the encouragement to keep going, on Friday I was a bit sulky and ready to shut my craft-room door for a while, but after reading all your kind comments I decided it would be better to just plunge straight back in with another project, and keep going as if nothing had happened to dent my confidence. It's working so far, as I finished off the below layout and am halfway through creating a card. So thanks again for perking me up and keeping me crafting, you guys are amazing!

The layout I have just finished off is for a sketch challenge over at the My Mind's Eye blog (the challenge ends today - nothing like a deadline to get me to finish something off!), to use this sketch by Anam Stubbington), and as it's autumn, to include the colour brown:

Supplies: My Mind's Eye: Lost&Found2 Rosy 'Best of Friends' Dotted Paper and 6x6 paper pad, 12 Days of Christmas 'Deck the Halls' Paper, Rosy 'Ordinary' Decorative Brads, 'Everything' Stamps and 'Ordinary' Label Stickers, 12 Days of Christmas Chipboard Accessories and Rhinestones, Lost&Found Union Square Glittered Alpha Sticker, My Little Shoebox Mini Alphabet Stickers 'Cream', brown thread, a brown Faber Castell pen for journaling, gold glitter, white acrylic paint, VersaMagic Jumbo Java Chalk Ink Pad, Mod Podge.

I used a piece of paper from the MME Rosy 6" paper pad to make a paper pleat, by spritzing a 1.5"x6" strip with water, pinching it gently together, and then flattening it out a little and shaping it how I wanted it to end up. I then left it to dry (can be sped up a bit with a heat gun). When dry I dipped the bottom edge into Mod Podge and then into gold glitter, and leaving to dry again (this didn't take too long):

I made a journaling block by gutting a rectangle of the main green dotty paper before sticking anything else onto it, and turning the rectangle over to the 'b' side which has text printed on it. To create a space to journal on I painted a block of white acrylic paint, and to finish the block off I dipped it into Mod Podge and glitter the same way as I had with the paper pleat:

Underneath the paper pleat, and under the embellishments in the top right corner, are pieces of light brown paper from the Rosy pad which I cut into semi-circles and then used scallop-edge scissors and my Cropodile Big Bite to make them look like doilies:

I love these banner-like alphas, they are a really fun finish to the page!

Now I'm off to cook steak for dinner - my Dad's down for the weekend so he bought some for us. We've had a nice weekend so far, yesterday was nice and sunny. I'll be back later with a couple of photos and to announce the winner of the smash-style book giveaway.

Thanks for reading! x

Feeling a bit blue :-(

2011-11-18T15:30:00.001Z

I know in the grand scheme of things this isn't much to worry about, but it's got me feeling down today so I thought I'd share. I'd entered some layouts into UK's Scrapbook Magazine 'Scrapbooker of the Year' competition, and I received them back this morning with a polite note saying I wasn't a winner this time. I'm kind of gutted as I put a lot of time and effort into the layouts, as well as typing up all the supplies and instructions, and I thought I stood a chance of a runner up place at least.

Oh well, at least I can share the layouts with you now! And I know that the important thing is that me and my family enjoy the layouts. It's just that as well as enjoying the layouts for myself I like to know that other's like them too - striving to improve my layouts is what I do to feel like I'm 'myself', as well as a mum and a housewife, if that makes sense.

Anyway, I'll stop babbling and show you the pages. I hope you don't mind me having this little rant on here! If you can spare a minute to leave me a comment, whether it's layout love or constructive criticism, I'd really appreciate it :-)

Layout 1: 'Your 1st Trip to London':

See the button and twine clasps? They both hide some 3D elements. If you're a regular reader of my blog you might remember this 3D mini that I made about how much I wanted to make a trip to London. I thought because the mini was 3D my layout about the trip should be too:

I'm glad that my daughter loves looking at the layout too because of these fun elements!

Layout 2: Sweet Dreams:

Complete with lots of handmade embellishments including a rocket-ship made from corrugated cardboard, and a cloud cut from felt and blanket stitched around the edge:

And one of my crochet flowers and a fimo button:

Layout 3: Autumn:

Including some leaves hand-cut from felt and embroidered with veins, layered up with skeleton leaves:

Thanks for taking the time to have a look. If anyone wants any more info on supplies or techniques used on any of the pages just let me know.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. I'll be back at some point over the next couple of days to let you know who won the giveaway! x

Garlands Galore and Using Chipboard Uniquely

2011-11-13T21:19:00.001Z

I'm back with a couple more cards following challenges as part of Shimelle's Christmas crafting weekend. First up, the challenge to use a garland on a project:

I had so much fun using up scraps of Christmas paper to make the flags on the garland, that I also added a few to one of my JYC papers so it's pre-embellished:

I also made a card following the inspiration of Leah Farquharson (cool name!). I chose to use the idea of taking a supply and using it in a different-than-expected way. I used some chipboard photo corners, sticking four together at a time into a square shape, and adding a bow on top to make Christmas presents:

I quite like the bright pink-green-brown colour combo on this one, I shall try to make some more cards with these papers.

I've got a few more things I want to make from the inspiration this weekend, including dates for my JYC album, and some gift tags for present wrapping. I'm loving getting some of these things out of the way early, I usually leave it all until December and then have a mad rush and don't get it all done! Fingers crossed I'll get everything done that I have planned this year. x

My JYC album 2011

2011-11-13T17:14:00.001Z

Last year I signed up to Journal Your Christmas, an online class with Shimelle Laine. I didn't end up joining in with it last year, because I was pregnant and exhausted! But this year I'm already preparing my album, so I ought to be able to keep up with it. If you're already prepping a JYC album then link it up to this challenge, as part of Shimelle's Christmas crafting weekend.

I'm trying to just use up old Christmas supplies this year, as I had so many I thought I shouldn't buy any more until I'd made a dent in them! So for my album I'm using this 8x8 scrapbook album by Trimcraft that I bought a few years ago:

And, inspired by Daphne's LSNED album (here) I'm doing my pages as 8" tall by 4" wide. I just need to stitch up the middle of my page protectors. I've cut an array of patterned papers to this size:

So I'm all ready to slot them in! Next I'm going to make some numbers, and collect some stickers / chips / journal spots to match the various pages, and slot them into the right page protectors, so the pages should be nice and quick to make each day. I'm going to use my Ipod Touch to take photos for it like I did for my LSNED album, as it worked well for me.

I'll be back with a couple of Christmas cards later. I'm glad to be getting the Christmas crafting started! x

Christmas Cut-Circles Card

2011-11-12T16:22:00.001Z

Shimelle is having another online cropping weekend, this time with the theme of Christmas crafting. I've been playing with a few bits, but the only one I've managed to complete and photograph so far has been a card following the tutorial by Pam Brown. Even this I had to photograph using a daylight bulb - it's so dark here already!

I didn't have any page elements as large as the poinsettias that Pam used, but I cut the circles out of some 8x8 paper, layered them up, and added a gem to the centre.

Are you joining in with any of Shimelle's challenges this weekend? x

10 things ... in my living room

2011-11-10T14:33:00.001Z

I keep meaning to join in with Shimelle's '10 things on the 10th', and not remembering until the actual day, when I see her's and other's posts pop up. Last month I took these photos of 10 things in my living room, and then I ran out of time to post them. So here they are now. I hope you like having a little glimpse into my house. And I'll try to think ahead about what I can post next month on the 10th, instead of leaving it until the last minute!

In my living room there are:

1. Some very full bookshelves:

They've been spotted on here before but I do love them! My favourite things on the shelves are...

2. Harry Potter books and bookends:

I'm a big fan of the Harry Potter books, and I like having them pride of place, with their own special bookends.

3. A fish that wears glasses:

I actually bought this fish for my grandpa, at least 12 years ago. I recently mentioned to him that I was looking for one of my own, to keep my glasses on (I didn't wear glasses when I bought it for him), and he gave it back to me as he rarely used it. I think it's such a fun place to keep my glasses!

4. A lot of toys:

Mostly purchased at car boot sales or on ebay! The Winnie-The-Pooh drawers were a hand-me-down from my nieces, and it's a great way to store a lot of the little bits. At times it drives me crazy having the living room taken over by toys, but at least they get played with a lot.

5. My daughter's table:

This was such a good buy, from Ikea. She uses it for games, colouring, baking, and eating at, if we're not sitting at the dining table. It has definitely been worth the small amount of money that it cost!

6. A playmat, and 7. A baby hammock:

He's getting a bit big for the baby hammock now, but he did like sleeping in it. Now he likes the playmat more, and he's rolled over on it a couple of times. He does get a bit frustrated that the toys won't reach his mouth though!

Now for a corner of curiosities:

In the back are some fake flowers that my sister bought to decorate mine and my husband's bedroom on our wedding day. Other significant items are:

8. A champagne bottle:

The champagne was drunk on the evening we got engaged. Hubby proposed to me at a picnic we were at with our friends, and then after I'd said yes we had champagne and strawberries. Lovely!

(The windmill is one I made a while back and blogged about here.)

9. A masquerade mask:

Purchased in Venice when I went there for 4 days with my best friend, about 6 years ago. One of the greatest trips of my life! We had such an amazing time, including joining in with the festival by dressing up in regency costumes, and wearing the masks we'd bought there. We also wore them on a gondola tour. So this mask brings back good memories!

10. A cross-stitched pillow:

Made by my sister-in-law for our wedding present in 2008. I thought it was lovely when she gave it to us, but it wasn't until I attempted cross-stitch earlier this year that I realised how much work had gone into it. So now I love it even more as I know she spent a lot of time making something special for us.

So there we go, a little look at things scattered around my living room! Have you got any similar objects in yours?

Before you go, don't forget there's less than a week left to enter my giveaway, see it here if you haven't entered yet.

And I don't think I've mentioned yet that I had another DT project posted on the SJ Crafts blog, a video tutorial for some Christmas decorations. Find it here if you're interested!

Bye for now, xxx

200th post! Giveaway & LSNED catch up

2011-11-05T09:14:00.001Z

Hello all,

Yay, my 200th blog post! To celebrate this momentous occasion, I've made a little something for one of you to win, if you'd like. Details of the giveaway are after a LSNED catch up, so read on...

I finally managed to finish my LSNED book this week. I've been starting to gather bits for preparing my 'Journal your Christmas' book, and thought I ought to get September's project wrapped up before I started the next one. Here's the final pages:

I also wrote an introduction page, and a page about the top ten things I learnt, as well as a little 'blurb' on the back cover. If you're interested in seeing those, or any of the other pages of my LSNED album that you missed, you can see it all in an online photo album here, or you can watch this quick (1 minute and a half) video flick through of the pages:

Now, for the giveaway! I was so pleased that a lot of you liked the way I'd made my LSNED album, from an old ladybird book, that I've made another book just like it, especially for one of you lovely readers to win:

I know most of you could make one of these for yourself if you wanted to, but I also know you might want to, but not have the time! So now you have the chance to win one, and all you have to do to win it is leave me a comment saying what you might use it for. So that you can have a proper think about it, I've made a video (2 mins long), showing you the pages and bits and pieces you get inside:

So what do you think you'd use it for? A smash book? A mini-book along a particular theme? A journal or diary? The winner can ask me to decorate the front and back covers like I did with my LSNED book if they wish, or it can be left as it is, or the winner could decorate it themselves!

To enter win this 'Cinderella' smash-style book, all you have to do is leave a comment telling me what you'd use it for. If you're not a regular reader of the blog, please make sure you leave an email address within your comment so I can contact you if you win. Or you can email me your comment at 'jennifer grace at hotmail dot co dot uk' if you don't want your email address where people can see it.

For an extra entry into the giveaway, you cantell other people about the giveaway on your blog, or on twitter / facebook /pinterest! Just don't forget to let me know you've done it. Here's a sentenceyou could use for twitter: @_jennifergrace_ is giving away a gorgeous handmademini-book, check it out here: http://bit.ly/rIKh85

The giveaway will close at 11.59pm GMT Wednesday 16th of November. I'll try and post the winner the next day!

Thanks for reading, now and always, x

Giveaway winner!

2011-10-28T17:45:00.000+01:00

I just realised I forgot to post the winner of the My Memories Digi Scrapping software. It goes to Akilli Melek (aka Caroline)! Congratulations! She's my fellow UKS teamie too so I can look forward to seeing what digi pages she makes when she posts them to the gallery there. She's a new mum too so it should come in handy for scrapping when she doesn't want to get all the supplies out! Caroline if you read this before I speak to you on the forum then you just need to let me know your email address so I can let you know the code for the software download.

Don't forget, if you want to purchase the software I posted a code here that you can use for a $10 discount.

That's all for today as we are off to our friend's house for dinner. Back soon, xxx

Christmas is coming!

2011-10-24T22:33:00.003+01:00

I've started my festive themed crafting - prompted by my first Design Team package from SJ Crafts. It was full of the gorgeous '12 Days of Christmas' Collection from My Mind's Eye, and I loved working with the bright, fun papers and embellishments. My first projects, a layout and two cards, are now on the SJ Crafts blog, so go check them out here! Here's a couple of sneaks so you have an idea what you'll be seeing:

And while you're over there don't forget to have a browse and see what the other DT members have been up to! Or check out this week's special offer £1 off all 6x6" paper packs ordered before 11pm Wednesday night - see here.

Did you see my last post including a Giveaway of Digi Scrapping software? Don't forget to enter!

Have you started any Christmas crafting yet? x

Digi Scrapping - inc Giveaway!

2011-10-21T15:59:00.001+01:00

Hello!

The lovely Liz at My Memories Suite offered me a chance to try out this digi scrapping software, to let you all know what I thought of it, and then offer a copy of the software as a Giveaway to one of you! This was my first ever try at digi scrapping, so read on to see what I thought of it and to try and win a copy (worth $39.97) for yourself...

I was suprised how quickly I was able to get to grips with My Memories Suite and make a good page. I'm going to point out that I haven't tried using any other programs (like Photoshop) to digi scrap, so I can't compare, I can only say what my experience is with this software.

I found it quite easy to navigate through all the free papers (over 1500), embellishments (over 1300), and other bits and pieces which come with the package. Just using the included items it only took me an hour (after downloading and installing) to browse and then make this layout:

Supplies include Decorative Papers New Orleans 'Sea Foam and Mulberry' and 'Amethyst', Designer Embellishments Princess Diva 'Lace Black', Shapes 'Scallop Circle' and 'Scallop Rectangle'.

I love how realistic the lace looks, and I had great fun playing with things like the opacity of the grey satin ribbon, it's so easy to customise things like this to fit in with your page.

Straight from the start my favourite thing about the software is the 'picker' and 'match' tools. I love that I can find colours in my photos, background papers, or embellishments, and use them for matting, colouring fonts, and more. I like using similar colours throughout the page to bring it all together, so I know this is a tool I'll use every time!

After finishing this page I had a look at the free downloads of extra papers and embellishments that are available on the My Memories website. I downloaded two free items, 'worn paper' and 'loving you 2' and used them, alongside the items included in the software, to create this layout:

Supplies Include: 'Worn Paper' Pack and 'Loving You 2' Pack.

I enjoyed being able to twist, flip, and resize elements to fit my page (like the flourish on this page), something I wouldn't be able to do with paper scrapbooking. And the worn paper and the rose embellishments look quite textural, I like having a variety of surfaces on my layouts.

I think both these layouts still look like my style, I was worried that digi scrapping would stop them looking like mine. What do you think?

I don't think I'd ever convert completely to digi scrapping, as I like playing with stash way too much! But I can definitely see me using it more, especially for certain projects, like ones I'd like to print out several copies of to give as gifts. I can make an album with photos of my kids, and then order copies for my mum, my mother-in-law, and even my grandparents. Plus I can sit and scrap when I'm watching the TV in the evenings without having to bring a load of stash down to the sofa.

The software can also be used for other things. You can input music and videos to create a video (something I want to have a go at sometime!) and you can use it to make cards. It would be quite easy to make a square card, but I wanted to try and make an A6 Christmas card. So I used the 'portrait' setting and I came up with this design using items included in the software:

Supplies Include: Small Polka Dot Paper 'Rose', Designer Embellishments Holiday Snows, Scroll Flourish 'White 4'.

After exporting it as a j-peg I copied it into publisher, and had to trim off the two sides a bit to fit it onto an A6 card front. I printed two to use a whole sheet of A4 paper, and after cutting and folding I added a few adhesive gems to finish the card off (sorry the colour's not great on this photo but I'm away from home at the moment so I can't re-take it):

I've just paid for another pack of Christmas papers so I can make some more Christmas cards like this, it will be a good way to make cards for people I don't know so well, like my hubby's work colleagues. I'll still want to make paper ones for my family and close friends. But this would also be really useful for making a batch of cards like invites or thank-you cards, whether I added an extra embellies or not it would still be making the process a lot faster!

So overall I think this software is great, and definitely good value for money when you compare it's cost to other programs like Photoshop. The only thing I'm not sure of yet is how easy it would be to use with digi packs purchased elsewhere on the web - it's something I still need to investigate. I checked that you can use them with the software, but the website only says that they won't install as easily as those purchased from My Memories, and doesn't tell you how to install them. I guess this is because they want to make it easiest to purchase their kits and promote their own designers, which is fair enough, but it would make the software have certain limitations for me. But, like I say, I haven't investigated it fully yet, and they do have lots of tutorials, and a My Memories blog (which has challenges to win gift vouchers to the site!), so the information may be there somewhere, or it might be quite easy to work out for myself. I'll let you know!

Now, if you'd like to win a copy of this software for yourself, all you have to do is pop over to the My Memories website, have a browse of their digi kits, and tell me which one appeals to you (I'm going to look at your suggestions to see which kits I fancy buying next!). You just need to leave me a comment on this post to enter, before next Wednesday 26th Oct 11.59pm GMT. I'll draw a winner on Thursday 27th, so don't forget to come back and check if you've won! (If you think you might forget then please leave me an email address so I can contact you if you win.)

Finally, if you want to buy a copy of My Memories version 2, I can offer you a discount code to get a $10 discount. You'll also get a $10 coupon to the store to buy yourself some more papers or a digi pack! If you want to take advantage of this then use this code: STMMMS40449. I'm going to be honest and say that if you use this code then I get a bonus too. I hope you don't mind me putting it on here, I thought it would be okay, as it would benefit both of us if you fancy buying the software.

I shall stop babbling on now. I hope you've enjoyed seeing my first attempts at digi scrapping. Don't forget to visit the My Memories website and let me know which kit is your favourite, if you want a chance at winning the software.

See you soon, x

I have been busy, honest!

2011-10-17T20:58:00.003+01:00

Sorry it's been a couple of weeks since my last post. I have been busy with lots of bits and pieces, and have also been feeling a bit under the weather (just a cough and cold), but these things have added up to blog laziness. I do apologise!

One of the things I've been doing is some DT work for SJCrafts, hopefully I'll be able to share my DT projects with you at some point this week! I've also been trying out digi scrapping, so I'll post my digi pages in a couple of days too (and heads up - they'll be a giveaway with that post!)

For now I can show you some little bits I've been up to. I'm making my daughter a rag doll for a Christmas present, and while I was waiting for the material to arrive to make the actual doll, I decided to get started by crocheting a blanket for it. I found the pattern via the Ravelry site (which I've recently discovered is a great resource for knitting and crochet patterns), but you can see the pattern by Norwegian blogger Solveig on her blog here. I've got this far:

I just need to add the rest of the off-white yarn to join it all together. I'm trying out making it this size, for a doll, and if I don't get too stressed out with it then I'm going to attempt to make us a large blanket. But that will probably take me all of 2012!

Another thing I've been up to is making a Hippy costume for my husband. He had a charity day at the retail store he works in, so I spent an evening tuning some of his clothes into groovy 60's gear! My favourite was these trousers, they used to be smart business trousers. I stitched in some triangles to make them into flares, and then my friend Rosie helped me paint them with hippy designs:

It was so much fun! And he looked the part on the day, with a bright red wig definitely making him stand out from the crowd (we dressed little miss up a bit too when we went to see him):

So there we go, a little glimpse into what I've been up to. Now we're about to eat some chestnuts we gathered yesterday, and then I may have to force myself to watch Downton Abbey which I recorded last night. My idea of a perfect autumn evening! x

Happy World Cardmaking Day!

2011-10-01T14:13:00.001+01:00

Hello!

I'm getting inspired today by some World Cardmaking Day festivities appearing around blogland! Pink Paisley have uploaded 7 challenges, with a chance for prizes, to their Live Pink forum here, and I've made a card for challenge #1 (to use a neutral background with bright colours on top):

Supplies = Papermania Black Cardstock; Pink Paislee Old School 6x6 Papers, Nantucket and Daily Junque Ephemera; Gold Glitter; and a Black Pen.

And Crate Paper are having a World Cardmaking Day giveaway here, to win kits from 3 collections. You don't have to make anything to enter this one, you just have to comment, but I was inspired to make a card using Crate Paper anyway:

Supplies = Papermania Kraft Card Blank; Crate Paper Portrait 6x6 Papers and Random Chipboard Stickers, Red Glitter, Fiskars Square Everywhere Punch and Leaf Squeeze Punch.

If you want to join in with either of these then you need to do so by Sunday night.

Are you making any cards this weekend? If so, who for? I'm going to send one of these to my sister (who's halfway through a year in Australia at the moment), and I'll keep the other on standby for when I need one!

Hope you have fun, whatever you're up to this weekend! x

LSNED 20th - 24th

2011-09-28T13:49:00.001+01:00

Hello! Sorry my blog is becoming all about Learn Something New Everyday at the moment, but it won't be for much longer. I can't believe September is nearly over. Here's my pages for the 20th to the 24th (the 24th has a few page photos - it was a big day!):

I'm pleased I've managed to keep up with LSNED, but I'm also quite looking forward to next month when I can get some other craft projects done - it's kind of taken over September! I know I'll be really pleased to look back on this book in the future though.

Hope everyone is having a good week! x

LSNED 15th - 19th

2011-09-22T21:43:00.000+01:00

Hello! A few more pages to share from my Learn Something New Everyday book:

Can you tell I like Downton Abbey?! For anyone who hasn't seen this program, it is a brilliant period drama just starting it's second series here in England. I'm loving it so far. I like that it has twists in the tale which aren't always expected (unlike the usual period drama twists!). And Dame Maggie Smith gets some fantastic lines! Anyone else love this program?

Also (just to let you know) Sarah is having a special offer at the SJ Crafts online store at the moment, to celebrate the launch of the Design Team. If you enter the code TEAM5 at the checkout, before 11pm Friday 23rd Sept (tomorrow!), you get 15% discount on your order. That's as well as free delivery if you spend over £15. So go take a look!

Night Night! x

LSNED 9th - 14th

2011-09-21T22:33:00.000+01:00

Sorry I've got a bit behind on showing you my Learn Something New Everyday pages. I'll do the catch up in two parts (and hold myself back from chattering!) so I'm not bombarding you with too much at once! Here's the 9th to the 14th:

I'll be back tomorrow with more! x

Exciting News!

2011-09-20T21:49:00.001+01:00

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to share some great news I had over the weekend - I'm on the new Design Team for the SJ Crafts online scrapbooking and cardmaking store. Sarah has a great shop, and she's getting in lots of new items like this:

How much do I want these chipboard accents from Crate Paper? A lot! I've also just spied the Martha Stewart Classic Butterfly punch in the shop so I'll be buying that from there soon, since you all agreed with me that a butterfly punch is an essential crafting tool!

If you have a chance, pop over to the shop and check it out. Postage is currently free on orders of £15 or more.

You can also see the shop blog, where you'll find news on shop updates, and soon you'll be able to see the DT projects there too. In the meantime you can see who the other DT members are on their blogs:

Jenny

Louise

Lisa-Jane

Or you can check out the Shop Facebook Page here.

Okay, I'm sure that's enough links for you for one evening! I'm going to eagerly anticipate my first DT package of goodies to play with. Hope you're all having a happy Tuesday. (Or whatever day you read this on!) x

Explore ~ a challenge layout

2011-09-18T17:26:00.005+01:00

Happy Sunday to you. It's been a rotten old day weather wise here, so it's been a bit boring being stuck in with the kids while hubby is at work. At least I've managed to finish a layout in among playing shopkeeper, animals, and other fun toddler activities!:

Supplies = American Crafts Ash Cardstock; Pink Paislee Nantucket 6x6 Paper Pack, Wood Shapes, and Ephemera; Pink Paislee Mistables Scallop Ribbon; Pink and Turquoise Acrylic Paints; Pumice Texture Gel; Uniball White Gel Pen; PMA Adhesive Stones 'Red Hot'; Yellow Thread.

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I combined a couple of challenges for this one - the weekly challenge on the UKScrappers forum, to use a beach theme, the colour turquoise, and two photos - and the Sarah's Cards Ltd Blog September Challenge sketch:

I've used a fair amount of the new Pink Paislee Nantucket collection on this layout - I love it! Gorgeous colours and patterns, and the beach theme is great for me as we live near the sea and have a lot of beach photos.

I used four sheets from the 6x6 paper pack to make the circle in the background. To make sure my circle quarters were all even in size I drew around a plate onto a spare piece of paper, then folded it into quarters, and used this as a template on the Nantucket papers:

I placed them on my cardstock (which I'd machine stitched a border around with pale yellow thread) with a 2cm gap in between the circle quarters, and began layering everything else on top.

I knew I was going to like the Nantucket items, but when they arrived I was also pleasantly surprised to see how much you get for your money in the Ephemera:

So many pretty bits and pieces to choose from! I used them all around the page, including under and next to my title, for which I used a Nantucket wood shape. I painted it with pink acrylic paint with a bit of pumice texture gel mixed in to make it look sandy (you could mix in actual sand instead if you have some!):

The scalloped turquoise strip below my photos is some Pink Paislee Mistables Scallop Muslin Ribbon. I coloured it by watering down acrylic paint in an old plastic food pot, and then dunking my ribbon in until it was coated:

I squeezed the excess out, and hung it to dry overnight, with some newspaper underneath to catch any drips. Once dry, I used my Crop-A-Dile Big Bite to punch holes along the scallops, and a white opaque gel pen to add a wavy white edge (the acrylic paint had stiffened the muslin so it was easier to do these two steps - they might not work if you'd coloured the ribbon by misting it. I don't know - I haven't tried!):

The final touch was punching some little suns from the left over 6x6 pieces, and adding them to the layout with 3D dots. I also added the word 'sand' (which was originally 'sand castle' in the ephemera pack) to the top left corner over a tiny tag from the ephemera and a flag which I'd cut from a scrap of the 6x6 paper:

So there we go. What do you think? I warn you, there may be some more projects using Nantucket coming up - I have lots of ideas for how to use it!

Do you have any favourite collections at the moment? x

A curious blog hop

2011-09-17T09:56:00.000+01:00

Kirsty over at Curiouser and Curiouser had the fantastic idea to mail out little embellishments that she'd made, so that we could each do a project with one, and then hop along to see what each other created with them. If you've hopped your way here then it's great to see you, if you've begun here then why not check out the rest of the blog hop chain to see a lovely variety of projects?!

I used my little embellishment to make this birthday card:

Supplies = A6 Papermania Kraft card blank, Pink Paislee Old School 6x6 paper, Anita's Sentiment Stamp, scraps of cream card and kraft paper, DCWV adhesive ribbon, Bo Bunnny rub on, Brown journaling pen, 3 buttons, embellishment courtesy of Kirsty!

I love the little polka dot butterfly and the stripy paperclip. I really, really want a butterfly punch! I see so many projects with these lovely punched butterflies. I'm going to have to get hold of one soon, and then butterflies will probably appear on everything of mine for a while!

September is a big birthday month for our families, we've had 8 over the last few weeks! So I've been making an awful lot of cards. I actually quite like it when I have a lot to make in a row as then I get into a groove and find them quicker and easier to make. And this one was easy as I got to start with such a cute embellie - thanks Kirsty!

Your next stop on the blog hop is Sian at From High in the Sky. I can't wait to see what she's created - see you there! (If you get lost anywhere on the hop then go back to Kirsty's blog for a list of participants.) x

from Starting Points to Stop Motion

2011-09-15T21:37:00.003+01:00

Hello all!

I know I said I'd be back with more LSNED pages, but I changed my mind (though my lesson from yesterday is at the end of this post, so there's some LSNED here...). I have a different Shimelle inspired project for you today, a page created from her latest 'Starting Points' challenge. You have to start a 12x12 page with four 5.5"x5.5" squares of paper, and a narrow strip of paper across the middle. Here's my take on it:

Supplies = Bazill Basics Cardstock, Pink Paisley 'Old School' 6x6 Paper Pack, Basic Grey 'Clay Motif' Paper, Making Memories Shimmer Alphas (Black), PaperMania Curly Font Green, Selection of Embellishments.

I found the starting point a really great way to bring the page together quickly, especially as I had this pack of Pink Paisley 'Old School' papers which I'd been waiting to use on a page, and the colours matched this photo so well:

And I was able to root around in my 'odd embellishments' to add a fun mix of items to the page, including a butterfly which used to be a pendant:

Are you wondering what my lesson from yesterday was? Did you guess from the post title? I learnt to make a Stop Motion movie using this App for my Ipod! I was inspired by movies like this one by Mollie Makes, and this one by Papermash, I think these movies are so cute, and when I found I could get an App for 69p to make one myself I just had to try it!

My movie isn't perfect, as I didn't have a way of propping the Ipod up, and hey, it was my first try. But it's less than 20 seconds long, so if you want to take a peek it won't take much of your time, and you can see my scrapbook page above coming together as if by magic! The embedded video is a bit small, you can view it on YouTube here to get the full effect.

What do you think? I had tons of fun making it. I added the title and music using the 'Splice' App after saving the Stop Motion movie. It took a while to do, so I certainly won't be doing it for every scrapbook page, but I do want to try it again once I've worked out a way to prop up my Ipod.

Would you like to see more movies like this? Do you know of any cute Stop Motion movies you can tell me about?

That's all for now, see you soon, x

Twirling Friends

2011-09-11T21:53:00.004+01:00

I took this photo of our close friends Rosie and David, when Rosie was twirling my daughter, and David was rocking my son. Because of this movement the photo is a bit blurry, but I love the picture - it warms my heart. We're so lucky to have them as our friends, and I love it that they feel as close as family - I know my kids will grow up loving them as much as I do!

Supplies =
WRMK Stitched Cardstock, 72&Sunny Chipboard Stickers, and Citrus Chipboard Stickers
Cosmo Cricket Togetherness 'Birds of a Feather' Paper (A and B side)
PaperMill Shop Chipboard Alphabet (painted with blue and white acrylic paint)
Unknown Chipboard Brackets and Buttons

I used the September Challenge at Scrapbookers Anonymous to prompt the page - the challenge is to use chipboard (could you have guessed? I've used a fair amount!).

The alphas in the title were blank chipboard. I wanted to give them a distressed denim look (to match my friend's clothes in the photo), so I painted them first with blue acrylic paint, let it dry, and then rubbed white acrylic paint on with my fingertip - wiping it with a baby wipe if it got too thick:

It was good to use some of the chipboard from my stash - and I enjoyed keeping the page quite simple so that the chipboard stands out. If you're hoarding some chipboard in your stash then go and make a page and enter the challenge!

Back soon with more LSNED... x

LSNED 3rd - 8th

2011-09-09T23:49:00.000+01:00

Oops, I meant to post my LSNED pages more often than this, sorry! I'll keep it short and sweet and just share the photos (rather than babbling on!) because there's so many pages...

I'm glad I'm keeping up so far, sorry it means I'm not blogging quite so much though. I should be back at some point over the weekend with a layout, if all goes to plan!

Anyone else have a million ideas for crafting in their heads and no time to do them all? Hands up - you know you're out there! x

LSNED 1st and 2nd Sept

2011-09-04T21:36:00.003+01:00

A brief post to show you the first couple of entries in my Learn Something New Every Day book (if you don't know what I'm talking about see previous post here).

1st Sept:

2nd Sept:

I'm having fun using my Ipod Touch for all the photos. The photo booth ones were taken using the PocketBooth App, and the others were all taken with the standard camera, and then effects were applied in the BeFunky App. The quality of them isn't perfect, but they work well as little prints for this kind of 'smash' book.

Hope you don't mind me doing an Ebay mention - I'm currently selling some scrapbooking and cardmaking bits, including papers, a scrapbook calendar kit, stamps, and more. If you'e a uk girl and you fancy grabbing a bargain then check them out here (scroll down - there's a few items of maternity clothing at the top!).

Now Mollie Makes issue 5 is calling me to read it! Bye for now x

My LSNED book

2011-08-30T21:57:00.004+01:00

On the 1st of September Learn Something New Every Day will begin at www.shimelle.com. I took this class for the first time last year (you can see the art journal I made for it here), and I've been really looking forward to the class stating again. I love looking back on my book from last year and I hope I'll like this year's one just as much!

For this September I've made myself a counterfeit smash book, turning an old, damaged Ladybird book into a journal:

Here's a photo of the book when I'd just cut the front cover off, so you can see how battered it was (to cut the covers and pages off I just used a craft knife and metal ruler):

I punched the holes in the cover for the book rings by using my Crop-A-Dile Big Bite. To see what else I've done to get the book ready for class, you can watch this you tube video. The book is packed with papers and other bits and pieces, all ready to go (to view the video larger on You Tube just click on it once it's started playing):

Sorry about all the 'errrms'!

Things mentioned in the video (except Shimelle's site which I've already linked above!):

I've made the book a bit like a smash book, to see the actual branded Smash Book that I got the idea from then check out this YouTube video.
Some Studio G alphabet stamps like the ones I used can be purchased here (I bought mine a long time ago from The Range Home and Leisure)
Julie Kirk's blog: http://www.notesonpaper.blogspot.com/ (I won the Airmail twine on a giveaway on her blog, and she sent the fabric strip in with the prize!)
The airmail twine can be purchased from The Ribbon Girl here.
The kraft paper I used for the pages inside can be purchased from Paperchase here.
Kirsty Neale's first post on security envelope decorative tape is here, and her second post about using other papers is here.
The Stick It glue dots that I've used on my page markers can be bought here.

The book is a little bit smaller than 6"x4", so I could slightly trim down a portrait 4"x6" photo if I wanted to include one full size. But I'm planning that if I include photos they'll mostly be ones from my Ipod Touch Hipstamatic or Instagram Apps, so I'll print them as 3"x3" square pics to stick in. To do my 'dates' each day I'll either just handwrite them, or I'll cut them from a newspaper or mag to stick in.

Hope you've enjoyed having a look at my book! If you have any questions, eg. if you want to know the make of a particular stamp or scrapbook paper then let me know as I should be able to tell you.

Are you taking part in LSNED this year? Do you have any lessons that you want to learn this month? Or are you going to just take each day as it comes? I'd like to learn how to make blackberry jam. Let's see if that happens! I'll be showing my pages throughout September as they get filled up, I hope you'll be back to see them!

Cuddles

2011-08-27T21:31:00.000+01:00

I couldn't wait to scrapbook this photo of me cuddling my baby boy, and I love the photo so much that I wanted to use some of my favourite scrapbook papers with it. But I couldn't choose which one. The problem was solved by the Sarah's Cards Ltd Blog - I spotted their August Challenge to use 5 different patterned papers on a layout. Cutting up 5 of my favourites was a bit scary at first, but then I realised it meant they'd last me for more projects!

Papers used: WeRMK 72 & Sunny 'Summer', 'Scattered Clouds', and 'Sunkist'
WeRMK Madame Royale 'Catherine'
American Crafts Abode 'Oak Ave'
Cosmo Cricket Togetherness 'Elements'

I actually ended up using 6 patterned papers if you count the Cosmo Cricket elements ('Life is Beautiful' and the journaling spot). The page looks quite bright and busy with all these colourful patterns, but that suits me!

I love the little bird sticker (from Tiffany embossed stickers by WeRMK) and had to have him perched at the top of my page:

I gave the page a little bit of extra texture and dimension by coating a chipboard bracket with yellow paint, then Sarah's Cards Crackle Glaze, and finally green paint, and added it under the photo:

The page makes me happy when I look at it, so I'd say using a lot of patterned papers worked this time at least! x

Mermaid Mesmerised Altered Plaque

2011-08-25T00:31:00.002+01:00

This month's theme at Alter it Monthly is 'Sirens, Mermaids, and the Deep Blue Sea'. My head immediately started whirring with ideas when I saw this theme, as I love the sea, and mermaids have always been a magical creature that fascinates me - the one that I really think could exist in some form as we really don't know what lives in the deepest parts of the ocean.

So I've altered a 6¾” x 4½” wooden plaque, which started out as a image of poppies (bought at a car boot sale!) and ended up like this:

Here's how it started:

I painted on a layer of gesso:

Then a layer of turquoise acrylic paint:

I then painted a crackle glaze medium (from Sarah's Cards Ltd), let it dry, then painted blue acrylic paint on top. It crackled nicely so the turquoise showed through. That was the base finished.

Next I painted the mermaid, using drawing pen, watercolour paints, and acrylic paint for the white dots, onto a piece of scrapbooking paper. I scanned her in before I did the next step, so that you can download and use her in your projects if you'd like to! Click on the photo to download - but please only use the image in items for personal use or gifts - not items you wish to sell.

I don't have any more step-by-step photos, but next I tore around the mermaid, and then very carefully burnt the edges. I stamped the words onto the same scrapbooking paper, and tore around them, but just used brown and black ink pads to colour the edges to look like they'd been burnt.

I adhered them to the plaque using Mod Podge, leaving the edges loose to add a bit of dimension. Then I used Anita's 3D clear gloss to adhere the collection of beads, shells, stones, and jewellery items around the mermaid.

Finally I coated the whole thing in gloss Mod Podge to protect it and to give a nice watery sheen to the underwater theme!

Hope you like it. If you like it a whole lot, it's now available for sale in my etsy shop here.

Do you think mermaids exist? Maybe, just maybe? I hope so. x

Chopping Paper and Butterfly Challenges

2011-08-21T08:59:00.005+01:00

Hello Hello!

I've been working on a couple more layouts for Shimelle's challenges from last weekend's online crop. The first one I have to show you is using my favourite photo at the moment, of my two cute kiddies:

This is for the 'Chop Your Paper' challenge, to create a layout that is embellished with paper rather than fancy scrapbook embellishments. The papers I cut up were these:

72 & Sunny Woodlands Glitter by WRMK

Dollhouse Sweet Things Flat Paper by Brenda Walton

The papers were fun to cut up. When I first started scrapbooking I used to cut up papers to embellish a page a lot more often (before I had so much stash!) I shall have to remember to do it again from time to time! It helped that the animal paper already had glitter on it. The only thing I added was some pink gems to the flower centres:

I think the page ended up bright, fun, and cute, just like the photo!

The next layout is for the 'Bingo Cards and Butterflies' challenge, to use this layout of Shimelle's as inspiration:

Even though I didn't have any of the supplies that Shimelle used, I've still ended up with a similar layout:

I really loved the oversized butterfly on Shimelle's layout, so I made my own by hand-cutting the shape from blank chipboard, covering it with yellow spotted paper, and edging with black pen:

I also cut a few words from a book to echo the photobooth pictures:

The photos were taken using this app for my Ipod Touch. The main reason I wanted an Ipod was for the photo apps and I'm loving them!

Hope you'll all have a chance to play, laugh, and smile today! x

Half Page and Colour Story Challenges

2011-08-14T23:01:00.000+01:00

I managed to get a couple more challenges completed this evening. Thank you hubby for putting little girl to bed. Now if only he could learn to breastfeed so I didn't get interrupted by baby...!

This layout is for Shimelle's 'half page' challenge, to scrapbook only filling half a 12x12 page. This one was a real challenge for me as I don't 'do' pages with white space (in case you hadn't noticed!).

I overcame it by thinking about what Shimelle said about it showing off the patterned paper in the background. I found this Sandylion 'fairy garden' paper that has been in my stash for years. I love it as it's so pretty, but I could never use it on a page because it's overwhelming and I usually put tons of embellies on my page. By keeping the page simple and leaving half the page blank it shows it off, but still keeps the photo in the foreground:

Journaling reads: 'You really don't like standing still for photos at the moment - you always want to be dancing, waving or pulling funny faces! It can be annoying but at least you're energetic!'

I was pleased with the end result, and it was quick to scrap. I shall try this again!

I've also completed something for the 'colour story' challenge - to create a project in red, white and aqua. As I have about a million birthdays coming up in September I opted for a card:

I bought this papermania 'Happy Birthday' stamp yesterday and couldn't wait to use it. I highlighted the letters with white gel pen to make them stand out more. I think the colour combo makes the card nice and cheerful!

I'm off to bed soon so no more scrapping today. I'll try and complete a few more of the challenges this week though. Anyone else taking part? What do you think of online crops? And if you've been to real life crops then which do you prefer? I've never been to an actual crop in person, and I don't know if I'd get much done if I did - would I be too busy chatting?

Night! x

'add to the story' & 'grid it up' Pages

2011-08-14T19:16:00.002+01:00

The wonderful Shimelle is having another online cropping event this weekend. As I was at my best friend's wedding on Friday (photos to follow!) and didn't return until late afternoon Saturday, I haven't been able to do too much yet. But despite having to go food shopping this morning, and cooking dinner etc, I have managed to do two challenges today. Yay for hubby being off work to entertain the kids!

The first challenge I've completed was to 'add to the story' by looking back on an old scrapbook page and finding a way to add more journaling to it. I chose this 'home' layout which I created in May 2010:

I still had some of the paper with houses on, so I was able to just cut another sheet the same size as the last, and use it as a flap which could be lifted to read journaling on the back. I added the little 'open' sign so that viewers would know there's more to the story.

I enjoyed adding this description of our house. We might still remember the rooms in years to come, but we might never think to tell our daughter about it. Now she can read about it. And it's recorded in case our memories fade, and we forget things like how hard it was to mow the sloped lawn!

The next challenge I've completed was 'grid it up' - to create a layout with a grid element. I thought this one was perfect as I just had some Hipstamatic prints from my Ipod touch delivered, they worked great in a grid:

Papers = BoBunny 'Beautiful Life Stripe' & 'Turquoise Dot', Pink Paislee 'Old School', music paper unknown scrap, Journaling spot = Making Memories 'Great Escape', Alpha's = Anita's, and studio G stamped alphas onto paper scraps, Lace = from haberdashery, Journal pen = Sakura Gelly Roll Green Moonlight, Adhesive Pearls = Papermania. Also grey pen, adhesive ribbon, outline dress sticker, yellow ribbon, turquoise button, little bird sticker (various manufacturers)

Journaling reads: 'The visit to Bath Fashion Museum was a last minute addition to Rosie's Hen Weekend, and I'm so glad we went there! We had great fun giggling at some of the crazier outfits, and being awed by the intricate, beautiful wedding dresses they had there. It was also brilliant trying on corsets and crinolines and dancing around in them. I would definitely recommend it!'

I handmade the ribbon flower, and included a button in the centre which I bought at a flea market the same day:

There's lots more challenges I want to enter! I shall try and complete another this evening. But they are open until next Sunday (21st August) so I might manage a few this week - if you want to join in too then head over to www.shimelle.com and check them out!

xxx

Going Postal Bracelet

2011-08-04T15:47:00.001+01:00

Julie Kirk at Notes on Paper is currently running 'Going Postal' - a mail themed blogging extravaganza, with giveaways, lots of inspiring blog posts, and the chance to join in by writing your own post which Julie can link to a Pinterest board. So here's me joining in!

I bought a bumper pack of worldwide postage stamps from Ebay a couple of years ago, and have been working my way through it by adding the odd few to cards, scrapbook layouts, or altered art projects. I wanted to do something different with them this time, so I opted for a bracelet, for some philatelist ornamentation (!):

It's very basic, as my crafting time is limited right now, but if you would like to make your own here's what I did:

1. Cut a 1.5" deep strip off the bottom of an old cardboard tube, from inside a kitchen paper roll or similar. Cut a slit up one side - it will automatically open to be a larger gap:

2. Using PVA glue, slightly watered down (mod-podge or acrylic gel medium would work too), coat the outside of the cardboard tube with stamps, overlapping them so there's no cardboard showing through. Put the PVA on the back and the front of the stamps, smoothing them down as you go so there's no bubbles and to make sure the edges are coated. I folded some over the sides of the cardboard tube, and left some showing whole so that you can see the edging to the stamp.

3. Once the cardboard is all covered, leave it to dry, holding it in shape with something (I used tools that were within reach!):

4. Once the PVA was dry, I then put on a coat of sparkle mod-podge to give it a nice glittery finish (you could just use plain mod-podge or more PVA if you're not a glitter lover!):

5. And I left it to dry again in the same position as before.

That's it, ready to wear! You could maybe go fancy by painting the inside to give it a more finished look, or even lining it with felt to make it softer. My bracelet seems to be holding it's shape perfectly - the gap is big enough to push the bangle onto my wrist but small enough for it to stay on - the PVA and modge-podge stiffened the tube. But if yours needs help staying on your wrist you could attach ribbons to tie the gap together.

And then wear your stamps with philatelist pride:

I was also inspired by another blogger's idea for the theme - Kirsty Neale's post on DIY deco tape using security envelopes. You can see her post here. I've been making some of my own from envelopes I'd been collecting for their funky patterns:

I haven't used them on any projects yet but I'm itching to! I'm glad I have them cut and ready to use when called for. Have you looked inside the envelopes your bills arrive in? If not, check out the next one - free, funky, patterned paper is always a plus!

x

My month in numbers: July

2011-07-31T21:34:00.000+01:00

Hello. How have you all been? Sorry I've not been around much, I'm dropping in on your blogs whenever I get a chance!

We've been getting along fine, baby boy is quite well behaved, and already sleeps a lot at night. Still settling into things though, especially now hubby has gone back to work, and my mum and step-dad who came to visit have both returned home - it's going to be interesting trying to cope on my own when hubby is at work!

I wanted to share you a few more photos, and decided to do so by joining in with Julie Kirk's 'My month in numbers' which is a regular blog post for her throughout the year - see her latest here.

My month in numbers goes like this:

2 = the number of children I now have. Still seems a bit surreal!:

14 = the number of photos of my daughter NOT looking at the camera before I got this photo, when we went to feed the ducks. She was too busy running around and getting her socks and shoes wet in the river!:

46, 47, and 48 = the numbers of our 'ducks' in the rubber duck race our town has as part of carnival week. We didn't win even though we were at the riverside, cheering our ducks on in the rain:

15 = the number of buttons my daughter chose to put on the 'thank you' card she made for the staff at her pre-school, to give to them on the last day of term:

8 = the 8th and final instalment of the Harry Potter films. Me and hubby went to see it with our good friends Rosie and David - we have seen almost all the Harry Potter films at the cinema with them. We went to see the first one with them in Rosie and I's first year of university. It felt like the end of an era going to see the last one, so to commemorate the evening me and Rosie went in costume, wearing cloaks and taking a chopstick each as wands! It was fun. The boys pretended they didn't know us though!

(P.S. the film was awesome by the way):

7 = the number of slices of bread I buttered for a picnic on the beach with my mum and step-dad:

1 = 1 well used picnic blanket now being used as a comfy bed on the beach for the newest member of the family:

30 = the factor of sun-cream we put on, only for the sun to disappear five minutes later:

3 = 3 lovely hours spent with my Nan and Grampa when they came to Bournemouth for the day on a coach trip. We ate fish and chips and then sat on the beach. It was great for them to meet baby boy, and spend some time with little miss:

A Gazillion = the number of cuddles I've had with baby, each one super lovely!:

I have a couple of crafting projects in progress, so I should return soon with some to show you! x

Welcome to the world...

2011-07-10T11:45:00.001+01:00

My little man, born on the 7th of July 2011 at 11.35am. Born on his due date - let's hope he's always this punctual!

He weighed 8lb 1oz, and was delivered with forceps because he decided to turn back-to-back just before delivery... grr!

But he's worth all the pain!

Now we're enjoying the new addition to the family. His big sister is very proud of him, and she's being very helpful looking after him!

I'm sure you'll understand if there's a bit of blogging absence over the next few weeks, I'll be back with you when I've settled into the new regime!

xxx

Hen Party Gift Bags

2011-07-04T11:41:00.003+01:00

I can now show you one of the things I'd been working on during June. It was my best friend Rosie's Hen Weekend last week, and we had a fantastic time (Hen Party also known as Bachelorette / Stagette party for those reading in America / Canada!). I was in charge of organising the weekend - although Rosie chose all the activities, location etc - I was in contact with all the hens and planned a few surprises for Rosie too. You won't be shocked to hear that some of these surprises were crafted items!

The crafted items that took the longest were gift bags which I made for all the hens, including Rosie, so 13 in total. To keep things a little easier I stuck to a theme when creating everything, using book papers and a vintage style. Rosie loves books so that was a perfect excuse to go with this theme, and the weekend was quite grown up and genteel for a hen party - partly because her mum and mother-in-law-to-be were attending, but also just because that's more Rosie's style - so the vintage theme fit the bill.

The first items I made were welcome cards. I used Papermania A6 kraft card blanks for the base, watercolour painted a piece of book paper for the background, and added some vintage bird images which I downloaded from the Graphics Fairy blog (Rosie's surname is Bird!). I also added a quote to each, and some ribbon and buttons:

The quote on each card was different, some funny, some inspiring, some about women, some about friendship. I turned this into a game, by not writing who said or wrote the quote, but giving a list inside the card of all the right answers. The hen then guessed who spoke or wrote their quote by handing the slip back in to me. It was just-for-fun, a way to get people chatting to each other if there were awkward silences while we got to know each other!

So the inside of the card had the game details, the answer slip tucked behind the details, a welcome message, an itinerary, and a map of the city of Bath where we spent the weekend:

I also decorated the envelopes with a stamped frame for the hen's name, and glued on postage stamps with different images on. I couldn't get the envelopes to photograph well though.

The next thing I made for the gift bags was name badges. I cut a circle of card from a cereal packet, glued a circle of book paper to it and inked the edges, then stitched a smaller circle of vintage material to the centre. I stamped the names with black ink onto cream card, and then used brown watercolour paint to darken the edges and make them look a bit vintage. I used a hot glue gun to adhere a safety pin to the back to turn them into badges. Hey presto!:

It worked out that the badges co-incidentally matched the clothes people were wearing on the Friday evening!

Another paper-crafting item I made for each Hen was a notebook. I made them A6 size, by cutting six sheets of A4 paper in half to make them A5 size, then folding this in half again to make an A6 book of paper (so I got enough paper for two books from the A4 sheets). I then cut patterned scrapbook paper (the thicker sort) down to wrap around this as the covers - making sure they were a bit larger than the plain paper so you wouldn't see the pages from the outside. I stapled the covers onto the pages using a long-reach stapler.

I decorated the covers with images copied from vintage children's books which I own, along with a stamped flower image, a book paper flower with a button centre, a gem, and the word 'notes':

I also made lemon biscuits to go in each gift bag, three biscuits for each hen, one flower shaped, one heart shaped, and the biggest biscuit was a gingerbread-girl shape, which I wrote 'Rosie's Hens' on using black food colouring and a paintbrush:

Sorry it's a bit shiny - they were all wrapped in cellophane!

Lastly I made the gift bags themselves, following this tutorial here. I adapted it a bit, by cutting slots for the handles instead of attaching ribbon, as it would have used up so much ribbon! I also had to use a hot glue gun to stick them together, as my tape-runner wasn't strong enough for the DCWV metallic cardstock I was using.

I added a tag which I'd made in publisher, with a 'welcome' message and an embarrassing photo of Rosie dressed up in costume as a young girl. She says the costume was a Victorian lady, but she looks quite bride-like in the photo so it worked well for the hen weekend! I also added a little pack of love hearts and a pencil to the gift bags. Here's a complete bag:

I think everyone appreciated them! I loved seeing everyone wear the badges all weekend.

I'll do another post to share the other handmade surprises for Rosie, and show you a couple of photos from the weekend. That's assuming I haven't gone into labour before I get a chance to type up the post - only 3 days until I'm due!

In the meantime, Rosie has been blogging about her wedding invites, and some bunting we've been putting together to decorate her wedding venue, so if you're interested head over to her blog here. xxx

Catch up: cards 'n' stuff!

2011-06-19T13:17:00.000+01:00

I know it's been over a week since I posted, but I've been a busy-bee behind the scenes, getting ready for the baby (less than 3 weeks to go until due date!), planning my best friend's Hen Weekend (next weekend!), and making lots of bits and pieces, some of which I can't show you yet.

I haven't been on the internet much because of all this, and I got a nice surprise when I logged on today and checked the Polkadot Door Designs blog - I've been voted their 'featured designer' for June!

Very exciting! I loved taking part in the blog hop, and making my hot air balloon project (if you missed my blog hop post you can see it here). I can't wait to see the projects made for the July blog hop - I've seen a sneak peek of the July inspiration photo and I can tell you the creations will be fabulous, so don't forget to look out for it.

I've made a few cards over the last week or so, the first was for my little sister who turned 20 last week:

She's travelling in Australia at the moment, so I took lots of photos of the card and sent them to her on facebook, I had not been organised enough to post it to her! We chatted to her on Skype on the day though, and she was having a wonderful time of course!

I also made some father's day cards. I make cards every year for my dad, my step-dad, and my father-in-law. I usually make them all different, but as I'm so busy this year I just chose one design, and then used different colours for the three cards. If they ever find out I'm sure they will understand!:

I also made a little something for me this week. It's my birthday next Friday (24th), and I know what I'm getting for my pressie - an ipod touch. I'm very excited about it! In preparation for this I made the free smart-phone felt case which came with last month's Mollie Makes magazine. I used my own design as I wanted an owl on it, and I added some turquoise felt, and a popper so the ipod doesn't slide out so easily.

The blanket stitching isn't the neatest I've ever done (I sat up until 1am one night to finish it!), but I like the case, I just can't wait to put my ipod in it!

Now we're off strawberry picking, my hubby's choice for how to spend father's day. I took this photo of him and our little girl yesterday at a local summer fair, they look so cute together:

Bless! x

10 things my daughter says a lot!

2011-06-10T08:29:00.001+01:00

See Shimelle's blog here if you want to see why I'm listing 10 things!

Here's 10 of my daughter's phrases which are well used at the moment:

1. "Scrubbly" - as in, 'it's all lovely and scrubbly', or 'that's too scrubbly' - I think it's her word to use when she doesn't have a word that fits!

2. "The naughty crocodile did it" - she won't admit to being the culprit at the moment. This last week she has cut off a bit of her hair, and spilled a drink of apple juice all over the coffee table, but it wasn't her - it was the naughty crocodile.

3. "Smile at me mummy" - when she knows she's being annoying she gives me a very cute, smug smile, and gets upset if I don't smile back.

4. "Just pause it, I need to talk to you" If we ask her to be quiet when something good is on the telly. Of course, we can't talk during her programmes!

5. "Just a little bit more playing" or "play with me a little bit mummy?" - kind of irresistible, even when we're late getting ready to go out.

6. "I'm not a girl, I'm a pussycat" - or a tiger/lion/doggie - there's been a lot of crawling around on the floor lately, even in the library.

7. "I'm good at winning aren't I mummy?" - we've been playing a lot of 'snap' with Disney princess cards. She's surprisingly good at it. Or I'm just really bad at it!

8. "I need a huggle" - I really don't want to correct this one, I love it that she's put the words 'hug' and 'cuddle' together! She pronounces most words really well so I'm letting a couple of wrong ones slip through for now as they're just too cute! Another one is 'forgetti' instead of 'spaghetti'!

9. "I'm going to be bigger soon" or "I'm going to be four soon" - her birthday isn't until March. Why do they start wanting to grow up so young?

10. "Love you mummy / daddy" - Ok, I know this one isn't funny, but it's my favourite thing she says, for obvious reasons!

Do you know any kids with cute phrases? x

Counterfeit Kit 2 May Pages and JUNE Kit!

2011-06-08T23:23:00.002+01:00

I wasn't going to make a June counterfeit kit. I really wasn't. (If you don't know what I'm talking about see the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog). I still had lots left in my May kit. But then I saw Clair's kit, and spotted the cloud paper she'd added, and I remembered a piece of cloud paper I had that I could add to the kit. So I thought, oh, I'll just make a smaller kit this month. But of course, once I started pulling bits together I just couldn't stop! So it's at least as big as last month. And even though my kit looks nothing like Clair's, I'm still going to blame it on her that I caved in and made one!

I will show you my June kit. But before I do, to make me feel better about it, I made two last pages with my May Counterfeit Kit to use up some more bits before I integrated the rest back into my stash. So here's those two layouts:

Layout 1:

Background Paper = Reminisce 'Princess Stripe', Alphas = Doodlebug Design 'Alphablocks',
foam white 'fun' from Sifcon Int, Card behind title = DCWV 'Glitter Cardstock Matstack,
Frame Unknown, Card behind photo = Papermania Scalloped Cardstock,
'Baby it's hot' = Bella Blvd SHS 'Borders n Blocks', 'Happiness' sticker = Papermania,
Tag = homemade, Assorted brads and a button.

This was quite a basic layout for me - hardly any layering - but that background paper was so bright I couldn't add too much to the page. Plus I didn't want to detract too much from that gorgeous smile:

Layout 2:

Background Paper = Papermania Yellow Cardstock, Green Card behind title & Blue Card behind houses also Papermania, Patterned Paper = Junkitz 'Salsa Hoops', Houses strip = Bella Blvd SHS 'Borders n Blocks',
Brown Luggage Tag = WHSmith, Train stamp = Royal & Langnickel 'journey',
Journal Pen = Sakura Gelly Roll 'moonlight - blue',
Alphas = Papermania 'Felt Alphabet', Royal & Langnickel 'Baby Blocks Alphabet',
Papermania 'Dome Stickers Alphabet', Assorted Embellishments.

I wrote 'chugga-chugga' all around the yellow cardstock border because that's what my daughter says for 'train noises'!

So those pages used up a lot of my May kit. I've put the leftovers back in with my stash, except for a couple of bits which I was able to add to this month's kit. (This month we're counterfeiting 'Burlap & Buttercups' current kit.) Here's my take on it:

The Papers:

I'll list the paper manufacturers etc. when I use them like I have done on the layouts above, if you're desperate to know what any of them are then just ask and I'll let you know!

I home-made these embellisments (except for the birdies, which are cut from a patterned paper scrap):

I followed this tutorial for the bakers twine, I used an off-white colour yarn, with green thread on the reel and blue thread in the bobbin. I was quite pleased with how easy it was, I'll be making more of this I think!

So there we go, I'm all ready to join in for another month. I just have to find time to scrapbook now! x

giveaway winner - + etsy shop special offer!

2011-06-07T00:30:00.004+01:00

Hello all! Sorry this post is a bit late, I've had troubles uploading a video but it's sorted now!

It's time to announce the winner of one of these kits available in my Etsy shop (if you're not the winner then keep reading for a special offer on the kits):

Here are the names of everyone who commented about their favourite kit (name written out twice if you also mentioned being a follower):

I folded all the names, put them in a glass bowl, and had my daughter pick out a winner, here's the video of her plucking out the name (if you don't want to watch the video you can just scroll down to read the winner's name):

So the winner is...

...

Annie!

Annie said:

I love the gentle romance set, but they are all lovely! I love that you've made it all, the fimo buttons are fab.

Annie B

27 May 2011 14:27

So congratulations Annie, a Gentle Romance Kit will be on it's way to you as soon as I have your postal address! Email it to me at: jennifer grace (at) hotmail (dot) co (dot) uk.

If you're not Annie and you didn't win then don't be disheartened - for one week only I'm doing a special offer on these kits - I've taken a $1.50 off the kit price. So if you'd like a chance to play with one of these kits head to my Etsy shop to grab it now - the price will go back up next Monday (13th June).

I've also added a few other bits to my shop today:

Okay, that's all the Etsy plugging I'll be doing for a while! Thanks to everyone whose said nice things about the kits, the projects I've made with them, and for wishing me well on the Etsy venture. I promise my blog will not become all about the shop!

In fact, to prove this, my next post will be about my June Counterfeit Kit... watch this space! x

*gentle romance projects

2011-06-05T15:22:00.010+01:00

I have one more of my kits to show you some example projects for.
This is the Gentle Romance Kit:

Lots of soft, pretty colours, so of course I had to make something for my little girl using this kit! She was a bit jealous of my altered vest top, so I altered a white one for her:

I used two 7" strips of the pink lace trim to stitch onto the shoulders:

And then pinched a bit of the bottom of the vest top and stitched it to hold it up - I could then sew a 7" strip of the floral fabric behind it, so it peeps through. And I added the cream crochet flower, a fabric covered button, and the fimo heart button:

My little girl especially likes the heart, she keeps looking down at it!

I used most of the rest of the kit on this layout:

Background Paper = WRMK 'Girls Night Out - Vavoom', Kraft Paper = Paperchase,
Photo Mat Paper = Papermania 'Exquisite' 6x6,
Alphas = Crate Paper 'Crate Avenue', Doodlebug Design 'Just Plain Simple', Papermania 'Curly Pink',
Thickers 'Gift Box', Foam Letters Unknown, Exclamation mark - Thickers 'Roller Rink',
Journal Spot and cut out sheep = Papermania 'Honey & Hugs', Stamp = Studio G,
Fake Stitching = Sakura Pen-Touch White Opaque Medium,
Everything Else from Gentle Romance Handmade Embellishment Kit.

I love this photo of my daughter from a farm visit, she wasn't convinced it was a good idea when she was told she could stroke the lambs!

I machine stitched the fabric on, just adding the pleats as I went, and adding the crochet flower near the woolly sheep:

I used up some more of the kit on this birthday card:

Card Blank = Papermania A6 Kraft Cards, Stamp = Whisper's Words,
Paper Scrap Unknown, Fake Stitching done with Uniball Signo White Gel Pen.

I like the layout of the elements on the card, it makes me think of a layered cake. I've turned it into a quick card sketch for you if you'd like to try it out:

Let me know if you give this sketch a go!

I used the last two bits from the kit - the flat felt flowers, to make this brooch:

With a little embroidery and a few beads added. Here's my lovely daughter modelling it on her hat:

The Gentle Romance Kit is available in my Etsy shop. Please take a look!

Hope you're having a lovely Sunday, x

Summer Brights Projects

2011-06-03T20:37:00.003+01:00

It feels appropriate that I'm posting my projects made with the Summer Brights kit today, as it's been boiling hot here, with glorious sunshine in a vibrant blue sky all day. Very nice I'm sure, but at 8 months pregnant it's a bit too sweltering for me!

Here's the kit I've used:

And I utilised it on a layout, a cuff bracelet, and on altering a top.

Here's the layout, a nice colourful one to match the kit:

Cardstock = Papermania, Alphas = Thickers 'Sprinkles' and 'Rootbeer Float', Also used a cocktail stick
and home-made acrylic mist, Everything Else from Summer Brights Handmade Embellishment Kit.

I wanted to mist the yellow cardstock, but leave a rectangle in the middle free for the photo, embellies, and title to stand out. So I simply cut a rectangle of paper and stuck it onto the cardstock with low-tack masking tape while I sprayed the mist:

And then once it was dry I just had to write the journaling and stick everything down! I used strong glue dots to adhere the summer brights embellishments to the page. The fabric along the bottom is about 10.5" long, so there was some left for my cuff bracelet!

I made an extra embellishment for the page by glueing (I used Copydex) a tiny scrap of the vintage fabric onto white cardstock, cutting it into a triangle, then piercing a cocktail stick through it, so it looked like a little flag. It helps balance out the layout - otherwise the right hand side was heavier because of the journaling:

I took what was left of the vintage fabric, and used it as the main inspiration for this cuff bracelet:

As the fabric was just under 8" long I cut a 8¼” x 1¾” piece of denim from some old jeans to back the fabric with and give it strength. I didn't hem the edges as I wanted them to fray:

Then I just sewed the fabric button and blue crochet flower onto the vintage fabric, machine stitched the vintage fabric onto the denim, and then made a button hole. It was the first time I've ever made an automatic button hole using my machine, and it took me quite a few goes on spare fabric to get it right! My button was just under an inch across.

I quite like the pretty / rough contrast of the finished cuff:

Finally I used up the bits from the kit by altering a cheap vest top. I had to buy one as I was fed up of my warm-weather tops not quite covering my bump! But it was a bit boring until I added some lace trim and flowers:

Now I feel summery, though still too hot! I definitely think I'll be altering more tops like this though, as it was so easy to stitch the lace trim around the neckline and then sew on the flowers. And it makes my top one of a kind - I like to be different! Have you altered any clothes to make them less high-street?

Hope you've found some inspiration from these projects. The Summer Brights Kit is available in my Etsy shop, along with some kits in different colours.

Bye for now, x

Polkadot Door Blog Hop!

2011-06-01T08:01:00.003+01:00

Do you want to see some fabulous inspiration and have a chance to win a prize or two? Then keep reading, because It's time for the Polkadot Door Designs June Blog Hop!

If you're already hopping along then you should have arrived here via Nicole B's blog. If you have just happened along today then welcome! I was excited to be asked to join in the hop as a guest designer for June - I had so much fun looking at all the DT's projects last month.

This month's inspiration challenge is this picture:

I was inspired to create this:

If you'd like to create a balloon of your own you can download this template by clicking on it (you should print it out at A4 size):

I cut five of these shapes from scrapbook paper (I cut a template from cereal packet card to make it easier to draw around 5 times):

Papers = Wube 'Weathered Travel Quotes, Flair Designs 6x6 Calendar Blanks with some bronze acrylic misting,
Sandylion 'Treasure Map', K&Co '12x12 Life's Journey Dictionary'.

I machine straight-stitched them all together about 5mm in from the edges. I kept the threads long when I cut them off, so that they could be used to hang the basket underneath, and to hang the balloon from the ceiling at the top:

The balloon looked like this all stitched together:

I was able to put my hand inside to gently push out the paper and make the balloon shape:

I don't have photos for all the other steps. My basket started out as a yoghurt pot though:

I covered it in book paper using matt gel medium, then tied twigs around it using brown string to make it look more basket / nest like. I used a paper piercer to make holes for the balloon strings to go through - making sure one side was more open so the bride and groom didn't have strings in front of their faces.

The people were made from dolly pegs, their clothes and hair were mostly stuck on with a hot glue gun. I used a bit of lace trim for the bride's veil and an old (cheap) ring of mine for her tiara!

I used part of the phrase from the inspiration picture, but changed it so it became 'How much more beautiful life becomes with love':

I think this happy couple are going to float off into the sunset, while I hop along to the other DT blogs! Here's the list of everyone on the hop:

Marivic
Jennifer
Valerie
Amanda
Diana
Sabrina
Nicole B.
Jennifer G.
Polkadot Door Designs

You should check out the rest of the hop - not only am I sure that they'll be lots of fabulous projects to see, but you also have a chance to win some tags from Berry71Blue if you complete the hop, and from PinkPearlStudio if you join in with the inspiration challenge - which could also give you a chance to be on the July design team (for details on entering the inspiration challenge see the Polkadot blog current challenge page).

The next stop on the blog hop is also the last (but by no means least)- you're going to the Polkadot Door Designs blog. Once you get there you can vote for your favourite designer from the hop (for them to win a prize and the 'featured designer' spot), so if you like my project the best please vote for me and I'll send happy vibes your way!

Before you disappear I have a GIVEAWAY going on at the moment (closing Sunday 5th June), so check it out here to enter for a chance to win one of my handmade embellishment kits.

Thanks for reading,
Jennifer G, xxx

Country Vintage Projects

2011-05-31T23:07:00.001+01:00

I took one Country Vintage Kit:

And used the embellishments on a cushion, a layout, and a brooch.

The cushion is a warm-looking stuffed cushion to sit on my blue sofa and make people feel at home:

I made it using two pieces of fabric approx 9" square, the front piece is hessian/linen type fabric, the back piece is grey felt:

I embroidered the word 'home' using backstitch and cream wool:

And once I'd sewn the rest of the embellishments I wanted onto the front, I sewed the cushion right-sides together, leaving a 3.5" gap to pull it right-side out, and to push the stuffing in:

The 7" fabric strip was ironed on with bondaweb and then machine zig-zag stitched over, everything else is sewn on by hand:

Here's my layout, about visiting Gold Hill in Shaftesbury (the location of this hovis advert if you're interested!):

Background Paper = Basic Grey 'Phoebe', Photo Mat Paper = DCWV 'Once Upon a Time',
Gold Outline Stickers = Anita's, Pink Alphas = Papermania,
Journaling Spot = We R Memory Keepers 'Tiffany's', Kraft Flower with button = homemade,
Everything Else from Country Vintage Embellishment Kit

My daughter just had to go down the hill and back up again, so of course me and her grampa had to as well!

I cut five 2" pieces from the vintage fabric strip in the kit, sewed them to the centre of the flower
at the same time as the button, and then glued the fabric pieces to the layout using Copydex.

Finally I used the bits left in the kit to make this brooch, adding a quirky button I bought in a haberdashers:

The brooch was made by taking a strip of the white lace trip (approx 11" long), and stitching a loose running stitch along one edge:

Then pulling it all together until it formed a flower shape. Once it was the right shape I sewed the two ends of the lace together to hold it in place:

Then I just had to sew the lace, crochet flower, and button onto a brooch back:

And attach it to my handbag!:

What do you think of the Country Vintage Kit? What would you make with it? This, and some other style kits, are now available in my Etsy Shop!

Check back tomorrow for a blog hop:

I'm very excited about it! xxx

Dreamy Evening Projects

2011-05-29T21:08:00.003+01:00

Hello all,

When I announced my Etsy shop I also said that I'd show you a few things I've been making with the kits. So today here are the projects I've made with one Dreamy Evening Kit like this one:

A layout:

Papers = DCWV 'Taj Mahal' & 'Old World', Journaling spot = My Little Shoebox 'Robots Uncut',
Cute Word Bead = Magnetic Poetry, Proud Alphas = Thickers 'Roller Rink', Daddy Alphas = Papermania,
Everything Else from Dreamy Evening Kit.

If you're wondering why the 'u' is a strange size,
it's because I had to cut down a 'q', I had no 'u's left!

I love the photo of hubby holding our newborn daughter, and am glad to have finally scrapped it. I also have a photo of me holding her the same day, but I look like such a mess that I never want to use it on a layout. I don't know whether to go ahead and scrapbook it even though I hate the picture, or just do a non-photo page about my first memories of her and just keep the photo in the family album!

I used some more of the kit for an elastic Alice Band:

I cut the vintage fabric strip down to 14", and backed it with some lilac felt to strengthen it - my felt wasn't quite long enough so I used two strips, just making sure the join would be hidden behind the felt flowers.

I attached two strips of elastic because my elastic was quite thin and I didn't want it to twist too much. If you're clever you can sew the elastic between the vintage fabric and the felt - I didn't think of it until afterwards so the back of my alice band is a bit ugly where I attached the elastic!

It only took a few hand stitches to attach the felt flowers for a cute finish. I'm going to have to make one of these to fit my daughter too!

I used up almost all the rest of the kit on a birthday card:

Card Blank = Papermania, Outline Stickers = Anita's, Happy Birthday Stamp = Whispers Words,
Flower Stamp = Anita's, Fimo button, crochet heart, and fabric from Dreamy Evening Kit

I think I'll keep this card for my Mother-In-Law's birthday, she loves these colours.

So there we go, three projects from one kit! I even had a little bit of the white lace trim left to use on something else. If you'd like to buy a Dreamy Evening Kit then head over to my Etsy Shop!

I hope you're all having a relaxing Sunday, xxx

Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog Hop

2011-05-28T05:15:00.003+01:00

Hello and welcome!

If you're starting here and haven't seen the rest of the Blog Hop, then start back at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog to find out what it's all about, and to check out all the inspiration along the way!

If you're already hopping, then you should have landed here via Milissa's blog, and I hope you've been enjoying your journey. The challenge for the blog hop was to find some inspiration from your favourite scrapbook manufacturer's blog. As I had a couple of sheets of Bella Blvd 'Sunny Happy Skies' paper in my kit I headed over to their blog, I love the bright patterns and cute images on their products.

I chose two bits of inspiration from there, first a tutorial on embossing alphas (see the tutorial here, though my letters are pearly rather than glittery because of the embossing powder I had to hand!) I also scraplifted ideas from this gallery layout by Ebony Van Der Starre (see it on the Bella Blog here):

I loved all her layers and clusters of embellishments, and I used my 'sunny happy skies' cloud paper as a background like Ebony's flower pattern. Here's my layout:

All my embellishments were from my counterfeit kit, all I added for my page was the We R Memory Keepers stitched green cardstock for the background, and the pink Papermania scalloped card for the photo mat.

I was happy to finally use one of the tags I'd made, tucked into the top right under a banner strip from the sunny happy skies 'borders & blocks' paper:

I also used cosmo cricket 'togetherness' journaling card, and layered lots of bits on top of it, including one of the fabric buttons I made for my kit:

I had fun making this page, I've felt happy every time I've used my counterfeit kit, because not only am I using up some stash, it's also that the colours are so bright they cheer me up when I look at them!

Okay, time for you to head to the next stop on the hop, Lesa's blog. Before you scurry away though, don't forget to check out my current Giveaway here.

Hope you have fun on the rest of the hop! x

giveaway NOW CLOSED

2011-05-26T20:09:00.016+01:00

Hello all!

As promised, here's a giveaway for you. I have been cutting, crocheting, moulding, and stitching, and have put together some Handmade Embellishment Kits to sell in my Etsy shop. To celebrate this I want to give you the opportunity to win one of the kits for yourself:

All you have to do to win one of these kits is visit my Etsy shop, have a look at the kits, then come back here and leave a comment telling me name of the set you'd like to win. That's it! Just make sure, if you're not a regular reader of my blog, to leave your email address in the comment too, so I can easily contact you if you win. (You can disguise the email address eg. jennifergrace(at)hotmail(dot)co(dot)uk)

For an extra chance at winning, you can also become a new follower, and leave a second comment telling me you've done so. Or if you already are a follower, leave a second comment reminding me of this fact!

I hope you like the kits, and enjoy browsing the shop. If you have any other advice / suggestions on the shop or kits then I'd love to hear them, it's a new venture for me so I'm happy to hear what you have to say!

The giveaway closes on Sunday 5th June, midnight GMT, I'll pick a random winner the next day (or my daughter will by pulling a name out of a hat!) In the meantime I'll also be doing a few posts to show some of the projects I've been making using the kits. (Update: for example projects using the Dreamy Evening Kit see here, for projects using the Country Vintage Kit see here, for projects using the Summer Brights Kit see here, and for projects using the Gentle Romance Kit see here).

Bye for now, x

I'm a lucky lady!

2011-05-24T14:43:00.000+01:00

I've been the lucky recipient of a few crafty items lately:

First, I won a giveaway on Meghann's blog, and received some fabulous robot themed papers and rub-ons - I've already dipped into the journaling spots but can't bear to cut into the paper yet!
Then I won a giveaway on Fay's blog, and she sent me a very pretty bag which she made herself - I think I'm going to use it to keep some crochet bits in.
And then yesterday I received some rainbow ribbon from Lea - she offered to send me some after I said how much I loved it on this layout of hers.

I want to say thank-you to you wonderful ladies for your generosity, I love all these bits and will enjoy using them!

I'm going to pass on the generosity by doing a giveaway of my own. If all goes to plan I will post it here on Thursday (26th May), so check back then!

If you can't wait that long to try and win something, then head over to the Sew, Mama, Sew! blog, as they currently have three lists featuring hundreds of blog giveaways taking place right now as part of their spring 'giveaway day'. It's mostly sewing blogs participating, but there's other stuff too, and you can win handmade items or supplies. But you'll have to hurry - most of the giveaways need to be entered by Wednesday night (25th) so you only have a day or so to try your luck. Don't blame me if you now spend hours and hours going to all the links - like I have been!

Hope everyone is having a sunny, happy Tuesday. x

Holiday Harmony

2011-05-21T21:27:00.010+01:00

I have a layout to share which I made for a challenge on the Cocoa Daisy Spring Crop - the challenge was to find an old holiday photo and to alter it somehow. I used one which I blogged about here just over a year ago, of a family holiday to Scotland when I was young (click photo to enlarge):

Me and my siblings were often fighting at the time, just because of the awkward ages we were at, but on this holiday we also found harmony. It's my favourite family holiday to remember because of the games I can remember us playing and the songs we sang along to.

Have you got any old holiday snaps you really should scrapbook?

x

I am happy today because...

2011-05-19T21:05:00.001+01:00

... we went shopping. I know I shouldn't be so pleased about material things but wait, look what I bought.

First, after checking several shops, I managed to grab the last copy of Mollie Makes off the shelf in Sainsbury's:

Shimelle blogged about the magazine the other day here (her post also contains an awesome project to turn a t-shirt into a ruffled cardi), and I was dying to have a look. But the mag is selling out fast, so I'm glad to have got hold of a copy! I can't wait to read it later, probably in a hot bath with a bar of choc to hand. I haven't been so excited about a magazine since Scrapbook Inspirations was cancelled.

That purchase was enough to put a big smile on my face for the afternoon. Then, I went into TK Maxx (a UK store which sells discount brand-name clothes etc) - they often have random craft bargains. Today they had these scrapbook packs of We R Memory Keepers papers and embellies, reduced to £2:

I couldn't open them up while in the store, but it looked like they had a few sheets of paper and a couple of packs of embellies in each, and there was lots of different themed packs, so I bought four packs. Then, when I got home and tipped it all out, I was very excited to find all this:

That's 8 x glitter papers, 14 x double sided papers, 2 x sewn cardstock, 8 x die cut papers (so total 32 sheets of paper/card), one pack of layered chipboard and one of buttons, 2 packs of brads, a die-cut journal pad, self adhesive glitter lace, one sheet of dimensional stickers and one of rub-ons. All for £8!

It includes the ranges '72 & Sunny', 'Tiffany', and 'Madame Royale', with one or two other random bits. I especially love the 72 & Sunny products, they really fit with my love of brights at the moment. I can't wait to play with it all.

So now you can see why shopping made me happy today! If you have a TK Maxx nearby then go check it out!

Have you made any fabulous purchases lately? x

counterfeiting for our anniversary

2011-05-18T21:05:00.001+01:00

It was our 3 year wedding anniversary yesterday, and I got the inspiration for a card for my husband from this sketch, set as a mini-challenge on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog:

Here's my card, created using bits from my counterfeit kit, including a Cosmo Cricket Togetherness-elements 'love' sentiment, Junkitz Salsa Dots paper, and a little girl and boy punched from pink and blue cardstock (click pic to see card larger):

I think it proves that we're meant to be together that we both chose cards with one detail in similar - I put the little 'you & me' sticker onto the card for him - and just look at the card he got for me:

Great minds think alike!

He also bought me these, which was a nice surprise:

I don't often get flowers from him, so I'm enjoying looking at these.

I also realised I haven't blogged about a layout and a card I created at the weekend for the Cocoa Daisy online crop. This layout was for a one hour challenge to use a hybrid element on your page. The background paper was from my counterfeit kit - a piece from DCWV Taj Mahal stack. Because the layout was made so quickly it's a lot simpler than my normal style and I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with it:

It was fun to try and get a page done so fast, but I don't think I'll pressure myself like this too often!

This card was for a challenge to create a tiny card, mine measures 10cm x 7.5cm:

I used only things I had to hand, mainly bits left over from the one hour challenge layout.

That's all for today. I've signed up to both twitter and pinterest over the last couple of days, so if any of you use these let me know! I'll post my details for them on here once I've got the hang of it a bit more!

One little monkey...

2011-05-13T23:11:00.001+01:00

... jumping on the bed!

My second layout using my counterfeit kit, and using a sketch from a Two Peas in a Bucket NSD challenge (link to the challenge is here).

The sketch:

My layout (click to enlarge):

I loved being able to pull most of the bits for this from my kit, it made it all come together so quickly! I added the orange circle of paper, and printed the little monkey from clipart. The title is from a song my daughter sings at playgroup about monkeys jumping on the bed, luckily my daughter has not yet bumped her head like the naughty monkeys do in the song! I added some paint (the white circle and the swirl) and then doodled on top. I hope the page reflects the fun and energy in the photos.

I had been waiting to scrap these photos for a while, I like it when I catch my daughter playing something by herself. The other day I managed to get this picture of her:

These 'My Little Ponies' were mine when I was a little girl, I kept them all this time hoping I'd have a daughter. This is the first time I've caught her playing with them by herself, she said they were all reading the magazine. It was so sweet! Now I can't wait to scrap this photo! x

Smile ... it makes people wonder!

2011-05-11T18:19:00.001+01:00

Well, I couldn't wait very long to dip into my Counterfeit Kit (see post here for my kit contents). I made a layout today using bits and pieces from my kit - with a few added papers and embellishments because I was inspired by this picture from the Polkadot Door Designs blog:

They set this picture as an Inspiration Challenge, and I loved the mix of colours and elements. There was a blog hop of fabulous examples too, so I couldn't resist joining in - it just meant that I added a few things to my counterfeit kit contents.

I got inspiration from everything in the picture - the colours, the embellies and the quote. Here's my layout (click image to see it larger):

I made the crochet flowers and the pinwheel, and used buttons, brads, the flower paper, alphas and the journaling card from my counterfeit kit. I also zig-zag stitched the flower paper onto a metallic green piece of cardstock - I always have trouble zig-zagging like this - when I get to the corners I keep going the wrong way. It's very annoying but I guess I just need to practice more!

Once I'd finished I challenged myself to make a quick card using leftovers and the same inspiration picture. The card didn't end up being a quick make though - because I had the same trouble with the zig-zag stitch and ended up finishing it by hand stitching! Here it is (click to see it larger):

I just bought these A6 Papermania Kraft card blanks the other day and I love them, I think they'll be appearing a lot.

If you're inspired by the Polkadot Door Designs picture to make something, then you have until the 15th to enter the challenge - head on over and take a look here.

Or if you've been inspired to make a counterfeit kit and don't know what that's all about, you can see the blog here.

I think I'm having a crafting splurge before the baby arrives (due 7th July) - it doesn't seem like long left now! x

My Counterfeit Kit

2011-05-10T19:17:00.000+01:00

I've been following the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog for a while, since Sian posted about it months ago. I keep thinking I will get around to it... next month. Well, May appears to be the month when I finally join in the fun! I had to have a go after seeing this Work In Progress kit which is this months inspiration - the bright colours are very me right now!

I didn't have anything at all that's in the original kit, so have made up my own entirely, and handmade a few bits to go along with it. Here's my kit:

The alphas are all packets with odd letters missing, but as they're all bright I'm hoping I can mix and match. I've got some Heidi Swapp Journaling spots in there which I bought at a car boot sale, and some stickers that were bought in a Paperchase sale last year. There's a couple of Papermania mini albums in there, I only plan to use one but I don't know which colour yet.

Here's a close up of the papers:

The papers include a couple each of Bella Blvd 'Sunny Happy Skies', and Cosmo Cricket 'Togetherness' - I've been hoarding these for a while as I like them so much, I'm hoping that having them in this kit will push me to use them! Other papers are a mixture of some Basic Grey, some DCWV 'Taj Mahal', and other random bits that I've had for ages.

Here's a close up of some of the embellishments:

I made the tags using a template and eyelets, and I HAD to make some fabric covered buttons (the three round flower buttons) after seeing the tutorials on the Counterfeit blog here. Luckily hubby works in a shop that sells the supplies to make these - I was able to make some the very evening that I'd seen the tutorial rather than having to wait for supplies through the post!

The little cloud is hand drawn, and so is the little girl. I didn't have any cute little kid images like in the WIP kit (though I did find the girl & boy punches in my stash) - I wanted a kid image that looked a bit like my daughter. So I drew one myself, then scanned it in and printed it onto card before colouring her in - so that I can print more if I want to and colour them differently.

If you'd like to use this cute flower girl image for your own personal crafting you are welcome to. If I've done this right you can click on the image below to download her from 'keep and share' documents - it will open as a word document. Or you could just right click the image and save it to your computer, but the quality might not be as good:

So that's the kit all put together, I just need to start using it now! I'm sure I'll be back to share some cards or pages soon. x

See water must splash!

2011-05-09T21:59:00.003+01:00

Evening all,

I've been busy today while little miss was at nursery, and alongside the mountain of washing up and laundry I also managed to complete another of Shimelle's NSD challenges. This one was to create a layout with a triangle of elements. This was the challenge of hers that appealed to me least, I don't know why, but possibly because I hate coffee and Shimelle's layout was all about that! But I then saw Rachel B's layout for this challenge, and LOVED her take on it. So I asked if she minded me scraplifting it! You can see her page here. (And thank-you Rachel for saying yes!)

I liked the way her photos all overlapped in the centre of the page, and that her title was on top of the photos. I also 'lifted' the fact that she had strips of paper either side of the photo triangle. So here's my take on it (click to see it larger):

I used a piece of Basic Grey Pheobe paper for the background, but it was a bit too bright so I coated it in a thin layer of gesso. I then spritzed some blue acrylic paint on for 'splashes'. I also added some silver glitter swirls, though they're a bit hard to make out in the photo.

I machine stitched the white lace trim to the layout, but almost had to do it by hand - my sewing machine wasn't working. The needle wouldn't go down properly, and I couldn't figure out why - there was no thread caught or anything. I started fiddling with switches and then finally, when I switched from straight stitch to zig zag stitch, a handful of buttons fell out of the thread take-up lever slot! My daughter had been playing with my button box this afternoon and must have 'hidden' some buttons by posting them through the handle slit in my sewing machine cover. The little madam! At least my machine is working now!

I've been making a counterfeit kit, so I'll probably be back tomorrow to show it to you! x

she (really) loves sweetcorn!

2011-05-07T22:10:00.003+01:00

My second post of the day, and it's another layout! That's got to be a record for me lately, my scrapping mojo is definitely coming back in full swing!

The lovely Shimelle (www.shimelle.com) has been posting challenges all day for National Scrapbooking Day. You can join in with them until 15th May, so go take a peek and see if you want to participate!

This layout is for the challenge to 'use a border between two photos' (you can go straight to that challenge here). I'm hoping I won't be disqualified for also adding a button border beneath the left photo - the main border is still between the two pics! (click photo to make it larger):

I was quite pleased how quickly this page came together, layering the border between the pics meant the page had instant focus and I just had to build around it. I had to squeeze my title on because the letters I wanted to use for the word sweetcorn were quite wide, but now I really like how it looks with the letters overlapping!

I wanted something in the top right corner of the LO, but I didn't have any ready made embellies that I liked. So I hand drew a cloud onto yellow dotty paper, and then drew a little hot air balloon onto white card and coloured it in. I stuck the balloon onto the page with 3D dots to add a bit of dimension, and then managed to find a little cloud button that I could tuck underneath it:

I might have to join in another challenge or two while the scrapping frenzy is still with me! x

Food Splatter!

2011-05-07T15:52:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone, and happy National Scrapbooking Day!

I've actually managed to do some scrapbooking today, and might try and squeeze in a bit more later when little miss has gone to bed!

This morning I finished off this 'food splatter' layout, using some pics from 2008 when my daughter was 6 months old. I've had these photos printed and waiting to be scrapped for simply ages, and was prompted to finally get them onto a layout when I saw that The Paper Variety Challenge this week was 'let's get messy!' A perfect theme for these pics (click photo to see the page larger):

I had fun splattering thick orange paint onto the pink textured cardstock I used for the base, though it was less fun when I realised I'd also slightly splattered my cream carpet! Don't tell my husband (he'll never notice the little tangerine speckles if I don't point them out!) The paint looks really similar to the orange goo that my daughter had all over her face, I wish I could remember what flavour the food was, probably sweet potato!

I used one of my little girl's stamps to create the little dots of paint on the turquoise cardstock, and edged them onto the photos a bit to really show the mess factor. I also ink-stamped a couple of circles just under the turquoise cardstock, to mirror the ring pattern on her chair.

I also painted this wooden circle yellow, and then drew a circle of red pen on top, also to mirror the rings on her chair. For a final messy touch I scattered a few blue glitter dots around the top left and bottom right corners of the page - I usually only use gems or dots in a very neat line or pattern and I found it quite hard to make them look less organised!

It feels good to get those photos scrapped!

Hope you're having a great day, and managing to get some creating done, wherever you are! xx

Coastal Cutie and Dandelions Dancing

2011-05-02T15:05:00.001+01:00

Yay, a scrapbook page at last! I've been struggling to find my scrapping vibes, but hopefully this layout will help me ease back into it - after all I have a huge stack of photos to scrap before new baby arrives in July and I have another load of newborn pics to use as well!

This one uses photos from the beach last summer when my daughter had a very sweet swimming costume that I wish I could enlarge somehow, so she could keep wearing it (or, even better, I'd enlarge it enough for me to wear!) I took inspiration from the polka-dot straps on it to add a couple of home-made polka-dot elements to my page, that way I can also enter it into The Paper Variety challenge this week! Here's the layout (click on the big photo to enlarge):

I was finishing this page off today, and it was cheering me up - the weather here has now turned grey and dismal and the rain is battering my window pane - it was nice to have these bright colours in front of me!

Speaking of bright colours, I also just finished off an art journal page. I created this page because of the Creative Wildfire book by L.K.Ludwig. I hired it out from the library months ago and keep renewing it because it's so good (it's going to have to go on my birthday wish list!). In the back of the book was a recycled, blank art journal for the purchaser to use - I felt a bit sorry for the empty pages, wondering if because it's a library book it might never be used. I decided I couldn't let that happen, so I wrote a note in the front suggesting that everyone who borrows the book could add to it, and then I created a page about dandelions:

My daughter keeps blowing the seeds off any dandelion clock she can find, she calls it a fairy flower because the seeds look like little fairies as they fly away. My dad moaned and said I shouldn't let her blow them because she's spreading weeds, but I can't bear to stop her doing it because I think they're pretty! And she loves it so. In fact, I think she was about to blow some dandelion seeds the other day, when I was tidying the living room and heard a loud crash from the garden where she was playing:

"Are you okay?" I shouted.
"Yeah..." she replied, in a thoughtful voice, "...but I think I'm maybe stuck."

Hee hee! Of course, being a scrapbooker and a blogger, I couldn't possibly help her out until I took a couple of photos! She was fine, although I can't say the same for the dandelion clocks after I'd pulled her out!

See you again soon, xxx

Things I've been making...

2011-04-25T14:11:00.000+01:00

... some with help from a certain three-year-old!

I promised a post with a catch up of some of the things I've been creating the last couple of months. I haven't, shock horror, made a single scrapbook page. The urge deserted me for a while, but I have one in my mind now that I just need to find time to put together! Instead I've been art journaling / card making along with other bits and pieces. Here's a few things for you to see.

First up is an art journal spread I created about some of my pregnancy thoughts. I included a scan photo, and my daughter helped me out by printing a hand print onto the bottom right corner:

Then at the end of March it was my dad's birthday, and we also sent cards to my mum for mother's day at the beginning of April, so me and my daughter made these (see if you can guess which ones I made!):

For my dad:

For my mum:

At the beginning of April it was my friend Rosie's birthday, I don't have photos of the cards we made her, but I also made her this bib style necklace. It ended up a bit bigger than I intended because I kept finding more bits and pieces I wanted to add to it (the large buttons and flowers were made by me too):

And then, last Friday me and little miss sat down to an afternoon of creating. As it was Earth Day 2011 I set my daughter making this:

It sort of looks like the world! I know it's not a very accurate depiction but hey, she's three, and it was still useful, as it helped me to talk to her about countries and seas, etc.

While she was making that, and in between me having to wash blue paint off her fingers and glue from her hair, I was making this:

Nothing to do with Earth Day, but it was inspired by something I'd seen a couple of days before on Julie Kirk's blog, about how to use stamps to make a cute photo-booth strip. You can see her post about it here, or the tutorial on how to make one is here on the 'it's a creative world' blog, so check them out - Julie's examples are so sweet and fun!

I don't have a huge array of stamps with characters on, most of my stamps are twirly backgrounds or phrases, but I managed to find this frog and bird, who I think had a little romance going on in the photo-booth! It was fun to make but now I want more cute stamps to create with. I was thinking you could also use the same technique to create a simple comic strip, so I want to try that out too.

That's all for now, but hopefully I'll be back soon with a scrapbook page. Especially now my study is all tidied and organised since it was swapped around with my daughter's room. She keeps telling everyone with pride how she's now got the BIG bedroom. I sulk a little bit at having my stash depleted and squeezed into small spaces, but I know I'm lucky to have a separate room to work in at all, even if it's a small one. Next year I'll probably have to give this one up too, when the new baby (due in July) moves out of our room. Until then I'm going to try and appreciate having my own space! x

Family trip to London

2011-04-17T12:37:00.000+01:00

Those of you who read my blog regularly might remember that back in October I made this 3D mini-book about how much I wanted to go to London for a short break:

We got to go at the end of March for 3 nights. We booked into a Travelodge, getting a good deal on an advance booking. We had booked to stay at the new Ealing hotel, due to open at the beginning of March, but they put back the opening - so they transferred us to London Southwark Travelodge for no extra cost. We were lucky - this one was much more central!

It also had a convenience store right next door, so we were able to pop and buy milk each morning to eat cereals in our room with the plastic bowls and spoons we'd taken - saved us some money!

Our first day we spent at London Zoo (ZSL), as we had a voucher for 2for1 entry because we travelled into London by train. I was excited to take my daughter there as she hadn't been to a zoo yet, but though she enjoyed certain animals (especially the tigers) she did spend a lot of the day chasing around the pigeons and asking to go in the playpark! Oh well, she had a good time I think!

Butterfly landed on hubby in this one:

The next day we went to do some sightseeing. First we went to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace, but it was super busy so we couldn't see much - I only managed to get this photo by being pushy and shoving my way through to the front for a minute:

After that we went to see Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey (from the outside - we couldn't afford to go in!)

And we had a yummy lunch in a Yates restaurant. We saved money on lunches and dinners for the week by getting hold of a TasteCard free trial - it's a card that allows you to get 50% off food or 2for1 meals in loads of different restaurants. You have to pay if you want to have the card for a year, but the month free trial was perfect for us for now! We also converted some Tesco clubcard vouchers (supermarket reward scheme) into restaurant vouchers so we used those for a couple of meals too.

And that afternoon we went to Hamleys toy store and spent almost two hours watching all the demos and playing with the toys!

We also had a short wander in Covent Garden - but by that time we were all getting very tired! (We were back in our hotel room by 8pm each night - utterly exhausted!)

The next day we spent all day at the Natural History Museum which was fantastic. None of us had ever been there, so me and hubby enjoyed it as much as little madam! She especially loved the dinosaurs, she kept asking to go back and see the roaring T-Rex again!

This was in another tastecard restaurant, GBK, where my daughter had her first strawberry milkshake - she was very excited about it:

And finally the train journey home:

We kept little one amused on the train with a sticker book and some sweeties. Otherwise she just want to run up and down the aisles!

It was a lovely, though very tiring, trip. I don't think we shall be going to London again for quite a while though so I enjoyed it! And I kept a diary for my daughter, sticking in bits of memorabilia and leaving space for photos, and she did a few drawings and stuck her stickers in too. So even when the memory fades she'll always have a record of it.

Sorry this was such a long post - though I assure you I could have added a lot more photos! I will make sure my next post is full of some crafty items I promise! x

how time flies...

2011-04-13T15:43:00.000+01:00

I can't believe it's been two months since my last post, 2011 seems to be going by in a flash! I've been busy visiting people, having people to visit us, going away for a few days to London (yay!), arranging my daughter's 3rd birthday party, and re-organising the house. Oh, all at the same time as being pregnant of course! I'm tired a lot of the time right now!

Anyway, here's some snaps from the last two months. I'll do a separate post with pics from our London trip, and another to show a few bits and pieces I've been creating, though there hasn't been too much of that with everything else I've had to get done!

I'll start with a few pics from the week I went to visit my mum, step-dad and sister up in Kent, at the end of February. We went to the farm:

Shopping:

And played some games! (This is my teddy bear. He's called Spencer):

Then on the 19th of March it was my daughter's 3rd Birthday. Unfortunately I was working that day, but my sister was down for a week long visit, so her and my husband gave the little princess all the attention she deserved:

This is the same day, at a veg plot we've recently acquired as part of a free local scheme to get parents gardening with their kids. It's a lovely community place to go and my daughter loves planting seeds and watering, it's great for us as we only have a small patio/courtyard style garden so it's nice to go and play in the mud:

And it also helps that the play park is right next door!:

We had her birthday party in a chuch hall the weekend after, with 12 of her friends coming for princess games and a clown show. My mum is a clown (you can see her website here if you're intrigued), so she had offered long ago to do a show at little one's 3rd birthday! My daughter loved it!

And my mother-in-law made this fantastic princess castle cake:

Isn't it just what every little girl dreams of? Aren't I lucky with my parents? I hope they realise how much I appreciated all their help! (And my sister's help too, her and my mum helped me make paper chains and paper bunting, we put all the party bags and pass-the-parcel together, and mum even made the big castle picture that's behind her and my daughter in the above pic. I have the best family ever!)

Okay, that's probably enough for one post. I've already sorted out the London photos so hopefully it won't take me too long to post them. I hope everyone out there in blogland is doing okay, I have some major catching up to do on my blog-reader. And I'm going away again tonight for a week, back to my mum's - as my sister is leaving to go travelling for a year on Monday so we're going to say 'bon voyage'!

Bye for now, x

What I've been up to...

2011-02-13T20:11:00.000Z

Oops, another blogging gap, sorry! I'm still getting tired a lot with the pregnancy and sitting on the internet is just not tempting for me most of the time right now.

We've not been up to much, as my hubby has been working a lot, but we have had a couple of trips to Kimmeridge bay, a local stony beach where you can hunt for fossils and walk along the cliff to Clavell Tower - a historic building that was moved 25 meters inland in 2004 to stop it tumbling off the eroding cliffs. We went once just our little family, and again with my sister-in-law, her partner, and their dogs:

My daughter loves it there, especially throwing as many stones into the water as she can!

I've not done much creating lately, partly because of the tiredness, and parly because I've been trying to sort out my craft room - I'm downsizing to the small spare bedroom and have to give up some stuff. I'm way too much of a hoarder and it's really hard to get rid of anything!

Me and my daughter are going to stay at my mum's in Kent for a week, I'm very excited to be going to visit all my family there. I hope you all have a good week whatever you are doing! xx

getting hooked on art journaling

2011-01-23T23:07:00.000Z

The other day I mentioned that I'd been doing an art journal page. It was about how I'm looking forward to spring - I can't wait for colour to creep back into England! Here's the page:

Lots of layers of paint and stamping, with some paint detail on the face. I wanted to make her look like a nature spirit, and have her blending in a bit with the background:

I also used some fountain pen ink on the page when the paint was still a little damp, so the ink ran, like fresh spring shoots creeping up from the ground, all wet with dew:

After I'd done this page, I was trying to think how to do my next journal page. I have been using layers of painting and stamping, using the same kind of techniques, on all my pages so far. Then, when I popped into the local library, this book happened to be sitting on the just returned shelf:

It's fabulous! It's one of those creative books that makes you think 'ooh, I want to try that, and that, and that' every time you turn the page. It's got all kinds of ideas tumbling around in my head. Here's the first page I've completed since reading it, about how much I'd love a holiday:

My main aim for the page aesthetics was to cut bits from magazines and books, and stick them on without them looking out of place:

I love the plane stamp in the top right corner, I want to use this on a scrapbook page soon too:

I have about 5 pages in my head that I am looking forward to putting together already. It feels very therapeautic to do, because it lets out some thoughts and feelings, whilst also doing my most favourite hobby of playing with paints and papers!

What to you think? Do you do any art journaling, and if so, can you suggest any great books or websites for even more inspiration? Let me know. xxx