SJ Crafts Challenge #7

I've just realised that while I was off having fun on some days out, I completely forgot to tell you all about the new SJ Crafts challenge. The theme this time is 'The Olympics'! How could we not?! 

Your project could use the Olympic logos for design inspiration, or use photos or memorabilia of any of the events, or you could choose to use sporty photos, like I did with this picture of my daughter and her friends running away from the waves:

I used Kraft Cardstock as the base, and spritzed it using Pretty Pink Mister Huey mist through a Tando Creative 'Sequin Waste' mask, to give a nice energetic splatter. That's further enhanced by the scattered pearls and gems! Crepe paper is layered beneath the photo to mimic the waves and the flowing skirts of the running girls. I really loved watching my daughter and her friends play like this, it brought back so many memories of my trips to the beach as I grew up!

For more challenge examples and details see here. The closing date is the 15th of August at 1pm, and the winner gets to choose a 6x6 pad of their choice from the ones in stock at SJ Crafts!

Also, don't forget to link up your scrapbooking projects to my Scrapbooking Soiree, to have a chance to win a Fancy Pants 'Beach Bum' 6x6 pad. You have until the 7th of August, and can link up any projects you've blogged about since the 8th of july!

Hope you're having a fabulous Monday! I'll be back tomorrow with my Month in Numbers, x

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Summer Fun!

Sorry I've been AWOL for over a week, things have been a little hectic here. Local readers will have guessed that one reason for this is that summer has finally arrived in England! Sunshine, wahoo! We have been out enjoying the weather...

... at Kingston Lacy, a local National Trust property with a huge manor house and extensive grounds, with games to play on the lawn, leafy woodlands to walk through, a community farm to visit, and interesting things to spot wherever you look. We went with my friend Rosie and had a fun time exploring all day long:

...we went to a friend's summer party, where they had their large garden filled with bouncy castles, a ball pit, hook-a-duck, a tin can alley, face painting, home made cakes, a puppet show, and a tombola. They also had obstacle races for kids and grown ups, plus a visit from an ice cream van. It was a very fun day:

... we visited the beach with one of my daughter's friends and her mum and baby brother. It was a very very hot day, I got a bit sunburnt on my back because I always coat the kids with lotion and forget to re-apply on myself. But we had a lovely picnic, played in the sea, and built castles, little miss loved being there with a friend to run around with, and my little man kept attempting handstands on the sand:

How alike to my daughter and her friend look here?

This week I was away working from Tuesday to Friday, at my last ever Creative Creatures course (I talked about the end of the business here). It was fun, though a bit sad thinking it was my last course! Rosie presented me with flowers and a card during the presentation to the parents before the kids went home. I'm going to really miss working with her!

When we got back on Friday I was exhausted, but I still managed to stay up and watch the Opening Ceremony, how could I not? Here was my favourite bit:

Photo Courtesy of Shimelle Laine at www.shimelle.com

Up until that point I'd been impressed with the scale but wondering what the point was - once I saw they were smelting the Olympic rings I was like 'oh, cool!' It was such an amazing event and it made me proud to be British! I shall be trying to watch some of the sporting events on TV, I especially want to show my daughter the artistic gymnastics as I think she'd like that!

Yesterday we spent the day out sales shopping. My mum had been down for the week to look after the kids, and she wanted to take us shopping for some clothes before she went home - because we're off to Disneyland Paris with her and more of my family at the end of this week! She wanted to get us some holiday clothes which was very lovely of her. I can't wait to go, I couldn't get excited about it until a few days ago as we were waiting for our passports to arrive, but they're all here now. Yay!

I hope you're all having some nice days out and activities too! x

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A 'Punk Rocker' Page with Pockets, A Pop-Up, Pull-Outs, and Puppets!

In April I spent a day as a punk rocker, to help my friend Rosie realise her dream of being in a girl punk band (it was her 30th birthday so she deserved a treat!). It was so much fun, and I've been really wanting to scrapbook the cool photos. But somehow a normal layout didn't seem like enough. Then I got hold of some Colour Magic Memory Files by Heidi Swapp, and they made it easy to create a special page:

I love it, it was so great being able to match the colours easily to the band's colours of black, white, lime green and hot pink! 

The background is just a sheet of white cardstock, with the band logo (a star with RR inside) misted in the top right - I made the stencil myself by printing it from Microsoft Publisher and cutting it out with a craft knife). The top of the cardstock has a doodled edge, some stamped arrows, and scattered gems:

The main section of the page is the memory files. There's actually two files of the same shape sewn back to back to create pockets. I misted the front file with different patches of colour (I spritzed on a little more after I took this photo to get the colours a bit deeper):

And I sprayed the inside layer just with green on one side, pink on the other, holding the mist at an angle so the outer edge received more colour, so it ended up darker than the middle:

After they'd dried I machine-stitched the two together, so the mist was on the outside (You can see I got a little carried away and started adding the title before I stitched - I had to take the 'R' off quickly so I could sew underneath it!):

The stitching is a ¼" away from the edge, and I sewed down both sides, and across the fold in the centre, leaving both the top edges open to make pockets:

I folded it up and stuck the back of the file to my white cardstock with ultra-strong double sided tape, leaving a little gap in the middle where I knew I'd want to use a paperclip for a closure. 

Then I decorated the front of the file, including using these Colour Magic Alphas, which looks great coloured with pink and green ink pads, some 'Sunshine' Trimmings which I re-coloured, and an cute Sugar Chic 'Remember This' Openable:

I re-coloured the trim by spritzing it with pink and green mist, and dabbing off the excess in between layers with a baby wipe:

The openable folds out to reveal a heart shape:

What a super place to write lots of journaling!

When you take off the paperclip clasp that holds the memory file closed, then it opens up to reveal a pop-up page:

I made the pop-up by drawing round the cut-out photo onto a piece of white cardstock (I'd misted the bottom edge to match my layout), and then cutting just inside the lines -leaving a 1" strip along the bottom of my photo. Once stuck on the photo it strengthens it and gives it a stand:

And I cut another piece the same way for the back, misted with pink this time:

And then I stuck these together at the top, making sure there was no adhesive along the bottom 2" above the fold, so that the photo could stand up on it's own:

To stick it into the file, I adhered the front 1" strip (the green one) onto the layout first, using ultra strong tape and placing it about 1" from the memory file centre fold. Then I stuck some tape to the pink 1" flap (I've left the tape backing on here so you can see it easier:

Now this bit is important (if you want to make a pop-up like this) - to stick the pink flap to the back, you need to pull off your tape backing, and then hold the strip flat against the bottom page, while you fold down the top page, pressing it flat to adhere it. This will ensure your back strip is stuck in the right place and the file will stay flat when closed:

The pockets that I made by sewing the memory files together are filled with more memories of the day. The front pocket is filled with song lyrics (we recorded 3 songs that Rosie wrote):

And the back pocket is filled with these puppets of us, which are a cute way to show our individual outfits, and they could be used in a music video at some point!:

I even made one of Rosie's husband, David, as he was our producer and photographer on the day, though I didn't have a full length shot of him. He looks cool anyway!

The puppets have our names stamped onto the bottom of the lollipop sticks:

And they are strengthened at the back with black card, which has more journaling on it, about the individual roles we played in the band, and what bits we enjoyed the most:

So there you go, a special page to remember a special day! What do you think? I showed it to Rosie earlier, and now she wants me to make one for each band member! If you want to see one of the music videos we made then check it out here!

Have you tried Heidi Swapp's Memory Files yet? If so, what for? My head is spinning with ideas for what to do with the other 4 in my pack!

Have a rocking weekend! x

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Funny Faces - a super fast layout!

I was browsing scrap sites just before bedtime, and I saw This Challenge on the Scrap365 blog, with about an hour and a half to go before the deadline. I thought it was a shame, because I'd have liked to enter it. And then I thought: 'get off the internet and give it a go'!

If I ever say I don't have time to scrapbook, I should remind myself of this page, and that things can be done fast if you try:

The challenge was to use one of Riikka Kovasin's techniques from a tutorial, to create your own layout. I chose 'scribble, splash, and splat', and had fun doodling a background with my daughter's crayons, washing over it with pale yellow paint, and then splattering it with mist - once watered down, and once neat.

I managed to use up some Thickers which have been in my stash for ages, because I normally deicide they're too big for my page once I've piled on ephemera or lots of patterned paper. They stand out nicely against the busy background.

I managed to use some of the butterflies that I sat and punched from scraps whilst watching telly, and of course I sneaked a couple of gems / pearls on there!

What do you think? Can you tell it was a super fast layout? I didn't even have to use a heat gun, I just blotted the paint with kitchen paper to pick some of it up, and I didn't wait for it to dry between the different layers. I left it about 10 minutes after the last mist layer, whilst I found my Thickers and butterflies. 

I think I shall try this technique again, with a less scribbly background next time to see how that looks! Thanks for the inspiration Scrap365!

Now I really have to go to bed! x

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A Challenge Entry; and A Challenge Winner!

I was creating this layout for a couple of challenges at the Two Peas in a Bucket CHA Summer Social, and I realised I never announced the winner for my Challenge to Organise. I'm very sorry for the delay - the winner is announced at the end of this post!

It's going to take me a long time to scrapbook all my 30th Birthday Photos, but I've made a start today! I've combined two challenges for this layout, this one to follow a yellow / teal / grey colour combo, and this one to use your favourite scrapbooking collection. I love this colour scheme, and I still have some bits of the gorgeous Pink Paislee 'Nantucket' collection, so this layout came together very quickly:

There's crepe paper stitched along the top and bottom of the yellow cardstock, to help soften the look, and to match the frills at the bottom of my costume. I used crepe paper on the invites, so I want to use it on all my pages about the party!

I had to add some pearls or gems somewhere, they work well as little fish bubbles!

I added the yellow chevron Heidi Swapp trim at the top of this photo, as I figure just because it rained lot on the day, it doens't mean my layouts can't be sunny! I used the scallop trim (mistables by Pink Paislee) to echo the scallop on my outfit, which was a last minute addition when things were going a bit wrong!

I'm definitely going to fill a whole album with photos from this party!

Are you joining in with any CHA fun?  Have you seen that Shimelle's blog posts from the show have started?

And, to announce the winner of my Challenge to Organise, it's:

Furrypig!

Drop me an email at jennifer grace (at) hotmail (dot) co (dot) uk, and I'll get the American Crafts Knock Out Border Punch on it's way to you! Thanks to everyone who entered. And don't forget you can still link any of your scrapbooking projects from this month to my Scrapbooking Soiree, to be in with a chance to win a Fancy Pants Beach Bum 6x6 pad.

See you soon! x

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My 30th Birthday - lots of photos!

Sorry it's taken so long to show you these photos - it's been 3 weeks since my 30th Birthday Party. It's taken me a while to sort through the photos and choose the best ones to show you - I warn you I couldn't whittle it down too much so this is a long, VERY photo heavy post! 

My birthday party was a joint party with my sister, who turned 21 in the same month. So we had a lovely family do, with a few friends coming too. We held the party at my stepdad's brother's pub, which has a lovely big garden, and he was kind enough to let us camp in it for the weekend. The party was on the Saturday, but we arrived on the Friday to camp:

My daughter and my niece helped set up camp for a bit, and then they just played together, looking all grown up and cheeky:

 We had an early night that night, which was lucky because the kids woke us up early to play in the tent:

And then the bouncy castle arrived and we all had fun testing it out:

In the afternoon we got all dressed up. Our theme was 'Disney' as we both love the films. We were very impressed with all the effort that everyone went to with their costumes, especially as a lot of them were handmade:

Here's some of them in more detail...

I was 'Ariel' from The Little Mermaid (I spent a lot of time sewing my outfit!), and my sister was 'Belle' from Beauty and the Beast:

My hubby was Captain Hook (from Peter Pan), my baby boy was Flounder (also from The Little Mermaid), and my daughter was Rapunzel (from Tangled):

Hee hee!:

My mum and stepdad were Mary Poppins and Bert:

And my grandad was Jack Sparrow (from Pirates of the Caribbean):

My friends Rosie and Ali were Jasmine (from Aladdin), and The White Rabbit (from Alice in Wonderland) - she was rather warm in her outfit!:

And I was quite impressed with my Aunt Julie as Cruella De Vil (from One Hundred and One Dalmations):

We had a lovely cake, made by my Mother-in-law. We designed it based on this cake we found on pinterest, but ours just had an Ariel layer, a Belle layer, and a Mickey Mouse layer. My MIL spent months making it:

Isn't she brilliant?

For the room decorations me and my sister had brought balloons, banners, and rose petals & seashells for the tables. Then my lovely mother surprised us with photos of us all over the room:

We made a photobooth area for the party. I know we were already dressed up, but as you can probably tell from the costume photos, we're always happy to do more dressing up! So we took some wigs and glasses, etc, plus a chalkboard we could write messages on, and I cut some lengths of material for a bunting backdrop. It was a shame we had to move it indoors because of the rain, but we still had lots of fun with it. Here's some of my favourite photos from the 'booth':

In case you're wondering, the chalkboard has 'Maddy' on it because she was the only one from 'Rosie and the Rockettes' (you'd need to scroll to the bottom of that post) who wasn't at the party!

The sunday was my actual birthday, and we had a lovely cooked breakfast at the pub in the morning, before we packed up the tents. We had a couple of bright spells before the rain set in:

But our shoes soon got all muddy again:

And I received some lovely presents, including this wonderful scrapbook-canvas that my sister made for me:

It features so many photos of me, and stories to go with them, some that I'd completely forgotten about! It also has sweet notes and a letter from my sister. I shall treasure it:

And Rosie and Ali made me this fabulous board game called 'Jennopoly'. I'm really impressed they kept this quiet as we live so close together, and they even borrowed some acrylic paint off me for it, though I didn't know what it was for!:

The playing pieces are cars made out of silk-clay, with me driving them (I passed my driving test a few months ago). You have to go around the board collecting my family members (also made of silk-clay), answering questions and completing tasks based on my life. You end up having a picnic on the beach! It even comes with a bunch of props to help you complete the tasks:

Including some glassline bags filled with bits to make a mini-scrapbook page! This game is hilarious, it made me laugh so much when I opened it and each time we play it!

Well done if you reached the end of this loooooong post! I know I'm very lucky to have had such a wonderful birthday. Thank you to all who made it so special! 

What do you think? Is there anything here that might inspire your next birthday celebrations?! x

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