Color Me Scrappy.

I am so excited to announce that I have been chosen to be one of the new DT members of Color Me Scrappy!  My debut challenge reveal, is on 1st November and I'm hoping you will play along with us.

Here is a link to the Color Me Scrappy blog.

Holiday Blog Hop - Happy New Year!

Welcome crafty friends to the Sketch N Scrap Holiday blog hop and it's my turn to share a holiday inspired project.

 

New Years Day has been a special day for our family for many years as we spend it with some friends at a local pub, eating, drinking and celebrating the start of the New Year. It has become a tradition that we look forward to and have upheld for about twelve years. It's always held in the same pub and as there are eleven of us in total we have to book our table well in advance!

 

 

I wanted to make my layout quite sparkly (more than normal!!) so I added texture paste through a tiny star template and then sprinkled with bronze glitter then spritz shimmer mist over the area around the stars.

 

I made my title using two of each letter and putting the darker colour behind the lighter ones to create a 'shadow'.

 

For my embellishments I simply used the pattern in the backing paper and punched several of the circles in different sizes then adhered them across my page. 'Simples'.

I am enjoying ripped and layered edges at the moment as it creates a softer effect than just straight cuts.

 

I hope you enjoyed seeing my favourite holiday and if you would like to be entered into a draw to win some 'bling' you just need to become a follower of the Sketch-N-Scrap blog (if you are not already!) and also of my blog before midnight CST on the 8th November. Make sure you leave a comment to say you have become a follower (or are already a follower - well done you!) of these two blogs and I will add your name into the draw. The winner will announced here on 12th November.

 

Here is the bling that I am offering to one commenter and although you can't tell by the photo the swirl is actually 8"x6", so a lovely big embellishment to add to a special layout! (Remember to comment before the end of November 8th.)

 

WE hope you have been enjoying the Sketch N Scrap Holiday blog hop so far.

Have you seen the super cute friendship gifts Rachelle made for the hop yesterday? You can check them out HERE. 

If you have missed any of the wonderful inspiration from the previous designers you can just pop on over to the SNS blog to find all the links.

It will be Jennifer's turn to share her favourite holiday with you tomorrow, what will it be?

 

The hop runs until the 8th November so make sure you check out the SNS blog each day.

 

Wishing you Happy Holidays. xx

Design Team Call.

 

 

Sketch N Scrap is excited to announce we are having another design team call! We are looking for both layout design team members and card design team members!  If you love creating with our sketches then please consider applying.  No experience is necessary and international members are welcome to apply!

 

All the details of how to apply can be found HERE.

Sun, Sand & Smiles.

Hello and Happy Friday! I love Fridays as I have the day to myself at home and it means my working week is over! Plus I am off work next week during the kids half-term so we are going to a big shopping centre to stock up on winter wear. Unfortunately there are no craft shops but there is an Ikea so may have to pop in there as well!

I also have my layout to share with you from the second challenge over at Scrap Our Stash.

 

Here is the sketch with the added requirement of watercolour/paint/mist or gelatos. 

 

 

 

I was so pleased with this layout as it came together so easily! Sometimes I struggle and I get frustrated with the direction the page is going but with this layout I had the idea with the stitching and everything else fell into place!

Some more older photo's, this time from 2003 and our holiday in Cyprus. As you can see from the smiles on my daughters face she was really enjoying being buried in sand. (can't imagine why, the thought of all that sand in all those places!! URG!)

 

You can see my watercolour splats in this picture, plus the hand stitched swirls to represent waves. I stitched in some sequins along the way to add a bit of sparkle in place of the stars in the sketch.

 

Some more stitching in the corner.

 

The word 'Smiles' in my title was done using American Crafts Thickers but when I placed them for the rest of the title they were too 'heavy', so armed with some smaller white die-cut letters I reproduced the same design and coloured them with a pink Promarker. I must have had a really steady hand that day because even close up they are fairly neat!

Now that I have got my waffle out the way you want to know all the details for this challenge. Well there are still a few days left to enter the Scrap Our Stash sketch challenge and our Tic Tac Toe challenge (super fun!) as they run until 31st October. All the information and the other DT members inspiration can be found HERE. Can't wait to see your take on the sketch.

Thanks for popping in. xx

 

Let's Get Sketchy.

I am way behind an Let's Get Sketchy challenges! The one I have to show you today is week 1 (I know, I am a totally slow scrapper).

 

Here is week 1's sketch and because of the orientation of my photo I turned it anticlockwise.

 

Here is my take on the sketch.

The papers I used for this layout are all Echo Park - This and That, they are a beautiful line of papers. 

 

 

Lots of my favourite fussy cutting of flowers.

 

A nice easy title using Basic Grey letter stickers.

 

I place of the chevrons in the sketch I stitched some hearts up the side of my photo.

 

Hope you liked my take on the sketch and details of this challenge and the DT inspiration can be found HERE.

 

Thanks for stopping by. xx

 

 

 

 

 

Kitty Love.

Happy Tuesday! I have managed to get some scrapping in today whilst waiting for the boiler man to fix our troublesome boiler (insert sad face). Luckily it's been unseasonably warm here in the UK so the boiler has not been needed quite so much.
Anyway enough of my heating problems I have a page to share with you that I have entered into two challenges,

 

This lovely sketch from My Scrap's and More.

 

Teamed up with the tic tac toe challenge from 1-2-3 Get Scrappy.

I used the last column - stitching, orange and more than 3 patterned papers.

 

 

This page is staring our elderly cat Molly who is just adorable and sweet natured.

The patterned papers (4 different ones) are from unknown manufacturers as they were all given to me by various generous friends.

 

This photo shows the stitching around the edge and the word 'LOVE', this was stitched using a template from American Crafts.

 

One last close-up of the die cut leaves and flowers.

 

Both of these challenges are open until 31st October.

 

Thanks for stopping by. xx

 

P.S. Don't forget that Sketch N Scrap's Holiday blog hop is up and running and todays inspiration comes from Kelly. So pop on over to the SNS blog HERE for details and the link to Kellys blog. 

 

Holiday Blog Hop.

Welcome friends.
Today is the beginning of the Holiday Blog Hop over at Sketch-N-Scrap where each day until 8th November one of the design team will share a project with you that has a holiday theme.
Now there are so many holidays during the year and each DT member has picked their favourite to celebrate.
Today Heather Hall is sharing her favourite with us and if you pop over to the Sketch-N-Scrap blog there is a link to her blog and a hint as to her theme!

Hope you will stop by the SNS blog each day to check out the rest of the DT's hop day. xx

I CAN DO IT MYSELF.

My second posting today! Steady on Kerry!!!!
I had a couple of layouts that just had needed few little additions, and today I had a couple of spare hours so I finished them off and thought there is no time like the present to get them posted. So after this post keep scrolling down and you will find another posting (if you are not too bored by then of course. LOL!).
This layout was created using the October challenge from Scrap The Girls which is to use -
Hexagon,
Squiggle,
Circle,
Rectangle and
Strips on your layout.

 

This photo is of my eldest daughter from way back in 1997! We were on holiday in Corfu and she decided that at 15 months she was quite capable of applying her own suncream! But she was totally absorbed in what she was doing and didn't notice me taking a photo.

Ok, now the hexagons are easily visible and the squiggles are around the doodled border, the rectangle is the paper behind my photo,

 

I used buttons to represent the circles.

 

 

Last but not least the strips are represented by these quote printables.

 

 

This cool Scrap the Girls challenge is open until the end of October, the details and DT inspiration can be found HERE.

Hopefully I will be back tomorrow with news of an exciting blog hop.
Bye for now and thanks for stopping by. xx

 

 

 

When September Ends.

It's that time of year in the UK where I go around my garden and tidy away all the dead plants and leaves. But just last week the sun was shining and the temperatures were surprisingly warm for the time of year and whilst I was clearing the debris I noticed that some of my plants were still flowering away! I didn't have the heart to cut them back yet so instead I took some photo's to remind myself how lucky we are for the mild weather.

 

 

The sketch #252 for Creative Scrappers gave me the idea to make a photo collage of my flowers pictures instead of individual prints.

 

I wanted to create a rainbow effect background so I watercoloured some paper with the same shades as my flowers and then cut it into strips adding faux stitching between. I added some black watercolour splashes and a film strip to bring in some more black and the word September in the title was originally green letter stickers but they were not bold enough so I just coloured them black with a Promarker.

The inspiration for the title came when I heard the Green Day song 'Wake me up when September ends', just beautiful! You can hear it HERE.

 

 

I watercoloured my butterfly images and added some glaze to give them some shine. 

 

A few more little embellies and I was happy.

 

 

For the sketch challenge #252 the link is HERE and there are the wonderful DT examples to inspire.

 

Thanks for popping by and I hope you are having a great crafty weekend. xx

 

Sketch N Scrap #43.

Hello and welcome to my humble scrapbooking abode. Today is the middle of October (gasp!) and it is of course the day of Sketch N Scraps second layout sketch release.

Kelly has produced a Halloween inspired sketch for us to play with!

 

 

Totally different 'feel' to my normal scrapbook style but what a lot of fun to create something unusual. The photo is of my youngest daughter enjoying some dressing up play and she was using my broom as her broomstick! (I do only use it the sweep my floors, honest! No flying involved).

 

 

I started off with some splats of glue and added purple and lime glitter to it. (I told you I had fun!).

 

 

These BOO! signs were originally in white so I coloured them with Promarkers to match my page.

 

I added the word 'cute' in these alphabet brads that I have had for more years than I care to admit!

 

Alrighty now it's up to you! Have you got itchy fingers to go off and create a layout with this sketch? Well, all the details and the rest of the DT inspiration can be found on the Sketch n Scrap blog HERE.

 

Thanks for hanging here for a while and would love to know that you visited so say Hi. xx

 

 

Enjoy Life - Sarah's Cards Challenge.

Here I am with a page I have completed for the Sarah's Card's challenge for October. I managed to get it done without rushing at the last minute as I usually do!

 

Here is the great sketch, nice and simple with plenty of scope to put your own mark. 

 

 

Here is my page (using up some more older photo's, go me!), my girls love Mr Softy icecream and I had promised them one after dragging them around the shops.

The papers are all from American Crafts Neopolitan and I added some paint wash in the same colour combo.

 

I have become a sucker for easy adhesive letters and I had got these ones from Sarah's Cards sale and was so pleased with how they looked together on this page. I know I should cut letters out with my Bigshot but sometimes it's so nice to be able to make a title, especially a long one, in so little time.

Now there is still plenty of time to enter the sketch challenge over at Sarah's Cards, it runs until the end of October. All the information and the DT's fab takes on the sketch can be found HERE.

 

I will be back tomorrow so until then have a great evening. xx

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

It's All In The Smile.

Today is my turn at Scrap Our Stash to reveal the page I made for the first challenge of October. It is a tic tac toe grid and I adore doing this type of stash busting challenge,  there are so many options to choose from it's easy to find a combination to suit your photo/stash.

Here is the tic tac toe grid.

 

 

And here is my page, the grid choice I went for was washi, decorative pins and twine.

All the papers I used were My Minds Eye and the die-cut I used for the title was from them as well.

 

 

I wrapped some twine around the banners at the top of the page.

 

I found some cute heart pins to match my colour combination and mounted some strips of washi onto banner shaped card to give them some lift from the page.

 

 

Lots of fussy cut flowers laid on top of a doily (I know, hardly worth putting the doily on, I could of got away with only using half of it!). Don't you find that sometimes you adhere some pretty paper or embellishment to your page only to end up covering it up with something else (or is that just silly old me?)

 

This tic tac toe challenge is proving to be very popular so I guess everyone likes it, not just me! So if you fancy joining us at Scrap Our Stash you can find all the details and some other DT members inspirational pages HERE.

 

Tomorrow I have an all day crop organised so I will be scrapping and eating cake with lots of my crafty friends. I am hoping to have some layouts to share in the week ahead so until then I hope you have a wonderful weekend.   

 

Thanks for stopping by. xx

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrate.

Good morning and after a wet and blustery start the sun is now shining and I have a page to share with you. The day just keeps getting better!

I am entering this one page into two challenges -

This colour challenge at Two Scrapbook Friends.

 

And this sketch at Life, Paper Scrapbook.

 

 

 

This is a page using some more of the photo's from my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary earlier in the year and as I offered to be their photographer for the evening I have lots of photo's to scrap of my relatives!

I am trying to use mostly Fancy Pants papers as it gives the pages a uniformity in the album. Luckily I had some FP papers that went with the colour challenge.

 

I dug deep into my stash and found a naked chipboard frame that I painted with my trusty watercolours which gave a nice rustic look. Then added part of the title inside with rub-ons and die cut some letters to place on a banner for the word 'celebrate'. Fussy cut some flowers of course and even put my journaling on before I took my photo, so now you can see how bad my handwriting is!

I will be back tomorrow, so until then have a great day and thanks for visiting me. xx

 

 

 

You Captured My Heart.

I have another layout to share that I made last night that amazingly just came together so easily I couldn't believe it! Why can't my mojo work like that all the time? The stars must have been aligned to the planet Pluto and the galaxy was the right way round or some such nonsense!
Anyway here are the challenges that I made the layout for (I know two at once, go me!).

 

First I started with this sketch from Paper Secrets 1st October which also has the twist of having to use dots and stripes. Lots of lovely layers to this sketch which was designed by the multi talented Kelly Holifield.

 

 

Then I applied this combination which is the October challenge at the 123 Challenge Blog. I loved the idea of working with yellow again and mixed alphas is always a challenge for me!

 

 

 

Here is my layout combining both challenges, with the sketch from Paper Secrets I replaced one of the photo's with a tag but the rest of the layout follows the sketch and I have included stripy paper and dangling spots all from the Pink Paislee Indigo Bleu line.

For the 123 Challenge Blog I have used yellow patterned papers (same paper line) The word Heart and four different fonts in my title.

 

Here is those dangling dots that I fussy cut from the papers.

 

 

The word Heart, in glitter of course!

 

Do you like my doodled hearts? I washed some blue and yellow watercolours on some card and then doodled the hearts before cutting them out and using as embellishments. So easy and fun, you should try it!

Ok, now I have rattled on, here are the links to the challenge sites details....

Paper Secrets, challenge open until October 14th.

123 Challenge Blog, challenge open until October 31st.

Hope you enjoyed see my layout and make sure you have a go at watercolour wash/ doodling. I will visit your blog and check!!!!

 

Back soon. xxx