Hello There Blue Eyes.

This week I was supposed to be in hospital have an op on my back but it was cancelled last minute. (sad Face). So to cheer myself up I thought I would enter Sarah's Cards Challenge as I thought I was not going to be able to find the time earlier in the month! Every grey cloud has a silver lining!

When I saw this sketch I knew there was a technique I wanted to try. I got two sheets of cream cardstock and got to work cutting one of them out.

 

 

I have not got a machine to cut wonderful shapes for me so armed with a knife and ruler I cut my background out and backed the diamonds with paper from the Authentique Uncommon line. I have been holding these papers back for a perfect time to use them and I am glad I did as the colours were perfect for my photo of my daughter on holiday last year.

 

 

I had even bought some of the chipboard and word stickers that go with the line which I don't normally do, but they made the task of putting the page together so easy.

 

For the top corner I added some scraps, fussy cut flowers and some word stickers too.

I am so glad I managed to squeeze a layout in for this month's challenge as Sarah's Cards have fab sketches, some of which really take you out of your box. So if you have time in the next few hours you might want to enter a layout as there is a great prize for a lucky winner.
All the details are HERE.

  



All That Glitters!

I have a card to show you all today that I had to make last minute although it ended up taking hours because I got the silly idea to make a sunburst!

I haven't had the chance to catch a Retro Sketch Challenge lately so I thought I would see what this weeks one was. I liked the sketch so I decided to use it to make the card I had to give out today.

Here is this weeks Retro Sketches sketch.

 

 

 

Here is my take on the sketch and as you can see it VERY GLITTERY and those of you that know me would say it's very me!
This is the first time I have made a sunburst from bits of paper, I liked the effect but it took so long to cut and then to assemble I'm not sure I will be doing it for a card again.

 

Some glitter punched hearts and a smattering of sequins and I pronounced it finished.

 

The challenge #65 at Retro Sketches runs until 31st May, so you still have a couple of days to enter a card using their great sketch.

 

It was a Bank Holiday here in the UK yesterday we were treated to some glorious weather, so doors were flung open and the garden was given some TLC and our cats were making the most of it by sunbathing.

 

 

I thought I would leave you with this photo of one of our cats who is at his cutest when he sleeps.

Of course the British weather being as unpredictable as it usually is decided to pour with rain today!

Hope you are having a sunny day.

 

New Blog on the Block.

I came across a new challenge blog this month called 'About a Girl' and of course that got me interested seeing as I have three of them! For their first full challenge you have to introduce your girl/s by having their name on your layout even if it is just in the journaling.
So armed with a photo of my three girls I gave the challenge a go.

 

My layout is of my girls on a ride in one of the Disney parks that I have yet to find the details of (hence the journaling is not finished).

The papers are a couple of different Pebbles lines and the banners are Erin Bradley.

I recreated the little flowers on the paper using my Nestabilities scalloped circles and some card candie.

 

A little close-up of the top corner cluster.

 

There are two challenges a month at About a Girl, 1st and 15th of the month. Both challenges end on the last day of the month and the other challenge is to have a sunburst on your page. I would love to have a go at this one too but I think I am cutting it a bit close! (I'm not a fast scrapper).

Be sure to check out this challenge blog if you have plenty of girly photo's to scrap, I just need to find one that is purely for cats now!

 

Hope to see you soon. xx

 

C is for....

CRAFTY COUSINS CHALLENGE!!!

Hello and welcome to my little blog and today I have two pages to show you, one that was made by me and the other made by my crafty cousin Jan!
Why I hear you ask..... well as you know I do love a challenge and when my cousin approached me with a challenge to both scrap a certain family photo, I jumped at the chance.
Now Jan and I are completely different in our scrapping style so it was quite interesting to see what we would come up with armed with the same photo but free to use our own style.

 

The photo is of the cousins in our family during a party to celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary last month.

I have gone for my usual style of bright (Fancy Pants) papers and lots of doodling and layers.

 

 

Jan has used two almost identical photo's on her page, please note that the lady in the middle of the photo's who has changed position is JAN! I think she wanted the photographer to catch her best side!

Jan has what she calls a shabby style of scrapping and I love how she incorporates so many elements into her page, sewing, fabric, buttons and lots of layers. Who noticed we both have banners on our page in almost the same place. (spooky).

 

A close up of the rosette I made using my Tim Holtz die and some washi tape.

 

The Fancy Pants paper I used already had the doodling around the edge so I cut along it enough so that I could tuck my other papers behind it.
You may have to click on the images to see clearer as it was a really dull day when I took the photo's and they are not looking their best.

What did you think of our challenge and do you do similar challenges with your crafty family or friends? It is so much more fun when it's with people you know!

To see more of Jan's page and her other crafty goodness you just need to click HERE.

Thanks for stopping by. 

 

 

1000,000 M&M's!

I have a page to show you today that has been waiting for me to find the time to post it! I find that if I don't get time to scrap for a few days I get quite stressed as there are so many wonderful sketch challenges out there in the world of blogland and I want to be able to do more of them!!!
But of course family life, responsibilities and only having 24 hours in a day tend to get in the way of my 'me time' (sigh).
Anyway enough of what I can't get done to what I have managed to finish, my page today was made using the sketch below and the theme 'NUMBERS' which is the challenge this month over at Once Upon A Sketch blog.

 

I had found the perfect papers for these photo's of my girls in the M&M shop in Florida, all the pipes were filled with the little round sweets and I thought the paper resembles the pipes of sweets. You can't tell from the photo's but the pipes extended all the way up the walls and across the ceiling! My girls (and me) thought this shop was amazing considering all they sold were M&M's!

 

The wording around the page was some rub-ons that I found in my stash that were probably many years old, as were the papers! I put them on some of the papers from the same line and cut around then doodled.
This challenge over at Once Upon A Sketch runs until the end of the month so there is still a few days left to enter. Get all the details HERE.

Thanks for dropping by and hopefully I will be back in a few days.

Sketch N Scrap Challenge #33.

Now if you have been following the Birthday Bash Celebrations over at Sketch N Scrap you'll know how much fun we have been having and there is still plenty more to come for the rest of the month.
Today though we have our 2nd layout sketch to show you and I hope that you can play along with us because it's a wonderful sketch that you can really make your own.

Here is the sketch designed by Brenshevia (don't you just love banners?).

 

 

Here is my page based on the sketch, which for me is quite muted colour wise!

I started off using some sequin waste as a stamp by spraying some shimmer mist on it then pressing onto my background cardstock. (It was an experiment I will be repeating!)

The papers I used for all my layers are all from My Minds Eye (different collections).

 

Chevrons are 'in' at the moment and these ones were cut out from the papers.

 

I haven't got a die to cut banners so I use one of my children's stencils to draw the size I want and then cut out, mount on some white paper and cut out again. It doesn't take too long as it's only straight line cutting. I added faux stitching because although I love the look of stitching on layouts and cards my sewing machine has to be put away in a cupboard when not in use because I craft on my dining room table. Plus, I love to doodle on my pages.

I hope you can join us with this sketch challenge and all the details of how to play are over at the Sketch N Scrap Blog HERE.

 

 

Wonder!

I hope you have a weekend of fun planned. We have a new six month old kitten called Demi and my girls are quite happy following her around trying to play with her, so our weekend will be quiet but fun! I'm sure you will see a page with Demi staring soon!

In the mean time I have a page to show you that I created for the Skissedilla challenge blog sketch #209.

Here is the sketch for this week.

 

 

My page shows my youngest daughter some years ago at a butterfly house, there were such fantastic specimens, is was incredible and my girls were in awe of the fact that the butterflies would just land on them.

 

I started off with my background paper (Jillibean Soup) added ink and paint splashes and then cut out some circles, backed them with Pebbles paper from the Family Ties line (my fav this year so far) and then doodled around the edges of the circles.

Whilst cutting out the circles with a cheap and nasty circle cutter I have decided I need a new and reliable one so if you have any suggestions they would be gratefully received!

 

 

Using my favourite butterfly stamp (Jenny Bowlin) I stamped 2 images onto more of the patterned Pebbles paper.

This is my first chance at entering a layout in the Skissedilla challenges as they are weekly and sometimes I just don't get time (sigh). I have got this one in with only a day to spare too. (phew)!

 

All the details of this sketch challenge can be found over HERE.

 

 

Friendly Challenge.

Hello and Happy Friday!
I have had a wonderful day today spent at my dear friend Helen's house mostly in her scrap shed crafting and chatting, only going inside for a scrummy homemade soup and bread lunch (thanks Chloe for making the soup!)
Every time Helen and I meet up we compare our challenge layouts with each other and this time our challenge was to use some webbing that Helen purchased recently on one of our crafty shopping spree's!

 

This is the webbing, which came in pure white (the piece on top has been inked).

Now unfortunately both Helen and I had grand ideas about what we were going to do with this webbing but it was not to be! The material that it is made from did not want to be punched, die-cut or even used as a mask successfully!

So both of us had to resort to basic use.

 

 

Here is my page and all I did to the webbing in the end was spritz it with green Shimmer Mist and use it as a background to my papers and a backdrop to the flowers I placed on the page.

 

A close-up of the fussy cut flowers with the webbing behind.

 

Helen has used the webbing in the same way as me but just kept it white as it complimented her photo's. (those were the days when the children were happy with some netting and a Mac D's cardboard crown!!!)

 

Some lovely flowers that she cut with her Nestabilities die and shaped for dimension.

 

 

I loved how Helen altered her wooden heart by inking it and then adding some glitter glue. So cute!

 

Now even though Helen and I thought that the webbing has limited use we both agreed that we still liked the effect it gave when used as a backing material. So you may still see it on my future layouts.

 

Before I left to go home we decided that our next challenge will be 'Before & After' DIY pages!

A new one for both of us, so a great challenge.

 

Thanks for dropping in and seeing our layouts, hope you liked them.

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Sketch N Scrap.

Good morning everyone and welcome to my little space where we are continuing the 1st Birthday Celebrations of the fabulous Sketch N Scrap Challenge Blog. We are not just having fun on one day but the whole month of May, with challenges, inspiration and Prizes!

So today I have a challenge for you scrapbookers - Tic Tac Toe!   

 

I know most of you know how it works but for those of you who are not sure you will need to choose 3 items from the grid below but they must be in a row. Horizontally, vertically or diagonally, you choose the direction that you fancy. (For example you could choose buttons, two photo's and ink. Or yellow, stamping and buttons. Etc.)
Then the easy part...... create a page incorporating your chosen row of elements.

Here is the RAK I am offering to one randomly picked participant. There is chipboard and stickers, glitter borders and rub-ons. Chipboard album and a pack of Bazzill Big Shapes.

 

THE CHALLENGE RULES

 

The layout must be created for this challenge and not be an old post that 'fits' the grid.

 

Leave a comment with a link back to your post so I can come and see your creation.

 

You must provide a link back here in your blog post of your layout. 

 

Become a follower of my blog (if you are not already).

 

You have until midnight 31st May GMT.

 

HAVE FUN!

 

I have a page to show you that I made using my Tic Tac Toe grid.

 

 

I had chosen the middle vertical row.... Stamping, Two Photo's and Light Blue.

 

This page shows my eldest daughter 'Caught on Camera' eating a big toffee donut in the park!

The two photo's and the light blue were easy enough to accomplish but I deliberately chose stamping as I admit to shying away from it on my pages! I started out stamping a quirky frame around my background paper.

 

 

Then I stamped these arrows (from Maya Road) onto some white cardstock in different colours and then doodled an outline around them.

 

 

The camera was made by multiple stamping and paper piecing.

 

Why not choose a row from the grid that takes you out of your comfort zone too.

 

I very much look forward to seeing your pages, so don't be shy have a go and you could be the winner of the RAK!

 

There will be another challenge tomorrow from one of Sketch N Scrap's new card designers Ria so you will need to check out the SNS blog again in the morning. Plus if you haven't seen the challenges from Lisa, Kelly and Lynette yet the links to them all are on the blog too.



 

Cherished.

Good morning and I have another layout to show you, this one was created using the fabulous sketch challenge over at Paper Secrets blog. The twist is to use a Polaroid on your layout as well.

Here is the wonderful sketch, I loved it straight away because of all the layers it has whilst still making it neat and tidy.

 

I have basically followed the layout of the sketch except my Polaroid is on the other side because the image of my daughter is on the right in the photo.

All the papers are My Minds Eye - Miss Caroline.

I double masked the white background and sprayed it with yellow and orange mists. Then finished off the layout with some coloured pearl drops.

 

 

The large flowers are fussy cut from the wood plank effect paper, (Howdy Doody - Happy)  they look like they were stamped on it.

 

My Polaroid looked a bit bare so I decorated it with fussy cuts from the papers.

 

Now to the details of how to enter the Paper Secrets sketch challenge, you must admit it is a great sketch!

The challenge runs until the 14th May and all the details and the DT inspiration can be found HERE.  

 

Bye for now. xx

 

 

FUN, It's a Serious Business!

Happy Wednesday to you all, I have a page to share with you today that I created for the May Stash Challenge #3 over at the Scrap Our Stash blog.
The challenge is to use 3 different pattern papers from 3 different manufacturers and then to use some rub-ons as well.
Sounds easy? I had so much trouble finding the papers that I was happy to put together and I also have not got a great deal of rub-ons to choose from in my stash. But not to be put off  I went ahead with what I had and just went with the flow.

 

Here is my finished page and the papers I used are

Fancy Pants - About A Boy - Chillin'

Chloe's Closet - Six Below Zero - Wind Chill

Pebbles - Basic's - (background sheet).

 

The title is partly made up of rub-on's from Sizzix.

 

 

I didn't want to just use rub -ons for the title so I rummaged around and found some bar code ones that I had forgotten about.

 

Last close-up of the sweet stamped butterfly above the photo.

 

If you fancy having a go at this great challenge you have until 29th May to post your page. For all the details go to the Scrap Our Stash blog and check out the wonderful DT pages at the same time!

 

I will be back later with another page to share with you.

Thanks for dropping by.

 

 

Back to the 80's!

Well Hello there and welcome to the weekend. I have a really busy one coming up, an all day crop tomorrow, our decorator is coming around Sunday to paint our lounge at long last and it's a Bank Holiday here in the UK on Monday and we are hoping to spend it with friends.
I'm sure your weekend is equally busy and I hope it's with lovely activities too. (at least some scrappy time!)
OK, today I have finished a page I completed for the challenge over at 1,2,3 Challenge Blog and the recipe is.....

 

I was insure at first about the balloons but then I remembered that I had some American Crafts paper with glittered balloons on, so the rest was easy!

 

 

Here is the page I have submitted and the colours in the photo's are perfect for the AC papers I selected. Our cat Ginger (original name huh!) took a liking to the hot water bottle that I use on my back (slipped disk) so every time I discarded it to go out or to bed Ginger would go and lay on it to get the benefit of the remaining heat!

Now you are probably wondering at the post heading 'Back to the 80,s' and what it has to do with our cat? Well the title for my layout is from a British comedy sitcom called 'Only When I Laugh' that was on telly in the early eighties and you have to sing the title by sounding out the HAPPY letters one at a time.

 

I'm H. A. P. P. Y.

 

I'm H. A. P. P. Y.

 

 I Know I am,

 

I'm Sure I am,

 

I'm H. A. P. P. Y. 

 

Do you remember? HERE'S a reminder!

 

I actually sing it to my girls when someone is being grumpy, it's well known in our teenage girl abundant home!

 

Lastly, a close-up of the top corner where the balloons are and the little cloud 9 that was written with rub-on's.

Now this challenge over at  1,2,3 Challenge Blog runs until  31st May so there is PLENTY of time to have a go too. See all the details and the design team examples HERE.

 

 

 

Sketch N Scrap May 1st Challenge.

Hello and welcome to my little blog and sorry I have been lacking in the posting department but I have been scrapping for challenges that I can't show you yet...... except this one today!

It's the beginning of a new month so that could only mean one thing, the 1st challenge over at Sketch N Scrap.

Here is the fab sketch by the talented Lisa Hidy. 

 

Here is my page using the sketch, I have turned on it's side and used three larger photo's instead of four smaller ones. The papers are My Minds Eye - On The Bright Side.

 

A close up of the flowers at the top which were made from a Martha Steward punch and some co-ordinating brads.

 Now, I know you love a challenge and what better place than Sketch N Scrap to get those creative juices flowing and be in for a chance of winning a fab prize!

All you have to do is click HERE and you will find all the details of this challenge and of our Birthday Bash which will be going on from 7th May.