Sketch Challenge @ Sarah's Cards.

I managed to get some scrapbooking done last night and this time it was for the January challenge over at Sarah's Cards.

Here is the sketch.

Here is my page created with the sketch which I hope you can still see in my design! The two squares in the sketch above and below the photo have been replaced by two rectangle journaling cards and I have added another layer of patterned paper and a couple of extra banner strips.

I kept this page very clean for me (what no paint splats!!!) but I couldn't not add the doodled lines around the papers!

In my attempt to use up some old stash I placed some corrugated card behind the photo that I have had for about eight years and was originally purchased for my girls craft box. Now it is getting popular in scrapping so I thought it was prime time to blow the dust off. 

The papers are also a few years old (3Bugs in a Rug, Chloe) but so very pretty and this flower was cut from one of the papers in the line.

Another old stash item, this foam butterfly from Paperchase was just the right colours for my page.

I slowly getting the hang of my Silhouette and the other day cut a whole load of speech bubbles. This one I backed with some pink spotty paper to make it stand out.

Now the sketch challenge over at Sarah's Cards finishes in a couple of days but I'm sure you could manage to play along if you got your skates on!

All the details and the DT inspiration (fabulous as always!) can be found HERE.

 Thanks for coming over to see me. xx

22 Years of Friendship.

Brrrrrr, when will winter be finished with us? I'm terrible this time of year when I wish the days away hoping Spring will be here already and the world really starts to come to life (in my little corner of it anyway!).
The layout I have to share with you today is for the sketch challenge over at Scrap Our Stash with the added condition of using pre-made numbers.

Here is the sketch. 

To to remind me of sunnier days my page features me and a friend enjoying the summer in her garden last year. Lots of My Minds Eye papers and my favourite washi tape.

The pre-made numbers are some foam Thickers from American Crafts that I used to make my title.

Last little close-up and I didn't realise it's such a bad photo! I blame the bad lighting, couldn't possibly be my photographic skills!!!

The Scrap Our Stash blog has lots of inspiration from the rest of the DT and of course all the details of this challenge and the awesome prize this month. So if you find some time to have a little crafty fun why not use our sketch to get you started. 

So glad you stopped by. xx

Party Girl.

Just flying by to post a page I created using the January sketch at Scrap The Girls.

Here is the sketch.

Here is my take on the sketch and as you can see I kept pretty much to the design with just a few tweaks here and there!

The flowers decorating the page were cut from the patterned paper and I just added a circle of the same glitter card that I used for the title in the middle of them.

Whilst looking through my stash for a red paper clip I remembered that I used to turn ordinary paper clips into heart shaped ones. Here is a closeup of the finished one.

I have the instructions here if you want to make some yourself. Easy!

All the details for this challenge can be found on the Scrap the Girls Blog HERE. The challenge runs until the end of the month.

Thank you for stopping by.

Published!!!!

I am so excited to be able to announce that I had a scrapbook page published for the first time and it is in the gorgeous magazine Scrap365!! I have had to wait for ages to show you the layout as the process in the publication world is very time consuming (but worth the wait!).
The Scrap365 magazine features an 'I Heart' Gallery and that is the section my page appears in on page 79!

And here is the layout that I submitted. 

Lots of sunny, happy photo's of me and hubby on holiday in Ibiza last year. 

Although the gallery was'I Heart', I didn't want to do a page that was too soppy (it's not who we are!) so I went with a couple of shots of us together having fun and some of the two of us enjoying our evenings out.

My colour scheme was kept to white, blue and gold.

Some hand and machine stitching made it's way onto the page.

I had these two wood veneer people holding hands as I had a sentimental moment whilst making the page!!

There now I have told the world my exciting news! 

Well you lot anyway, my scrappy friends are the people that count when it comes to my favourite hobby!

Thanks for all the support and lovely comments you have shown me over the years.

Love and hugs to each of you. (now I'm being soppy!). 

B is for Buttons.

Hello friends today I have another layout to share that I made for the layout sketch challenge at Scrapology who have also added badges and/or buttons into the mix!

Here is the sketch based on a layout that can be seen on the Scrapology blog.

Here is my take on the sketch which I did follow very closely although when it's such a cute sketch there is no need to change it!

It features two of my girls enjoying their favorite hobby (at the time!!) of Hama Beads which if you are not familiar with them are tiny beads that you arrange into a pattern/shape and then mum gets to iron them to meld them together so they keep their shape.

Old American Crafts papers were my choice to make this page bright and fun. These banners were cut from some paper that looked like strips of ribbon.

I used these bright digital letters to continue with the fun feel of my layout.

Scrapology has a layout challenge and a gorgeous card colour challenge this month so head on over and check out both HERE

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend. xx

College Photo Shoot.

Hi scrappy friends! This is my second post today so please check out my earlier one further down too. xx

It's the mid month colour challenge over at Color Me Scrappy today and we have a an awesome combo this time that I bet will get you working outside your comfort zone!

What do you think? Some of the DT (myself included) were a bit worried about this one but in the end it turned out to be great fun and not as difficult as I first imagined!

Twist:

Use Tribal Elements

for example: arrows, feathers, etc.

Here is my page and there are so many elements on it- texture paste, ink splattering, painting, stamping, oh I had fun! In the photo my daughter is wearing a tribal pattern top so this pic was perfect for this challenge and to carry on the tribal theme I added stamped chevrons and cut out some feathers with my silhouette.

A close up of the feathers, the texture paste was added through a chevron mask and a strip of black and white washi tape helps frame the photo.

I coloured a wooden camera black and added a card candy in the middle. Do you see these awesome sequins - I have had them in my stash for about five years and they go so well with this challenge as they have tiny little triangles on them!

You really should join us in this challenge, it may look scary but I assure you it's super fun - you'll be surprised at how easy it is to find all the elements in your stash that fit the shades.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the DT examples - so many great takes on the challenge!

You can find the details of the challenge on the Color Me Scrappy blog HERE. 

Don't forget to scroll down for my other post today. xx

On A Winters Day.

Time certainly flies around here! Already it's the middle of January, can you believe it? The good thing though is that Sketch N Scrap have another layout challenge for you to play along with!

Here is the fabulous sketch courtesy of Kelly Holifield.

My take on the sketch is in keeping with the snowy theme although I have done it in a mirror image! This was a fun page to create as I had just got a new stitching tool and wanted to have a play! These are old photo's and some really old papers but I was pleased I managed to use them at last!

A close-up of the stitched snowflakes tumbling down the page.

Some larger snowflakes made from glitter foam and card (glitter is a must on a snowy page don't you think?).

Instead of cutting straight strips top and bottom I decided to rip my way across the page, layering as I went!

We have an amazing sponsor this month!  January's sponsor is Skyline Paperie!  Stephanie Ho is the owner and one of our very own Design Team members!  Stephanie opened Skyline Paperie this past December and is offering up a wonderful prize full of crafty goodies to one randomly selected winner!  

With this fabulous prize on offer I know you will want to play along in one or more of our challenges, to find the details of this challenge and to see the amazing DT examples you just need to hop on over to the Sketch N Scrap blog HERE.

Lovely to see you. xx

Always Smile.

I have a layout to show you today that I created using the current sketch challenge over at Once Upon a Sketch.

Here is the sketch and there was also a journaling prompt of 'lesson learnt'.

Here is my page and as you can see I flipped the sketch clockwise to accommodate my photo. Then I proceeded to stamp on the page with leafy and swirly stamps in brown ink. I recently purchased some papers from the 5th and Frolic line and fussy cut the tiny flowers from the 'Pretty Parkway' sheet and layered them over the stamping. Some paint splats and really old but pretty rub-ons were also added to create depth.

For the journaling prompt I wrote to my daughter about not letting anything get in the way of her sunny nature and to carry on being who she is.

A close-up of all those lovely layers!

A homemade heart paperclip that I positioned in the corner of the photo along with  a sticker.

The challenge over at Once Upon A Sketch is open until the end of the month and there are the fabulous DT examples to check out. Find all the details on the blog HERE.

Hope you like my layout and thank you so much for stopping by.

Friendly Challenge - Minimal

Hello and welcome to my little corner of blogland! Today I am sharing a couple of layouts that my dear friend Helen and I made for our friendly challenge to each other. This time the challenge was to do a minimal page which we both admitted was harder than we thought it would be, the compulsion to add more elements to our layouts was very strong!

Here is the page I made and the good thing about a minimal page is that it was finished in no time compared to how long I usually take! The flower in the top corner reminded me of a sun so I placed it above the photo.

Four more flowers cut from some patterned paper, some sequins and half a doily (down to my last one, so trying to make it last!).

My title was cut from white card stock and painted with my watercolours, merging the different colours as I changed them.

Now onto Helen's minimal page and just a few strips of Basic Grey paper made the basis of her page. Some stamping and punched borders were added.

Some spritzing on the plain cardstock made a lovely backing for the title.

A couple of sweet handmade crochet flowers surrounded by the ever versatile sequins.

Well that was our little challenge for this month and for the next one we have given each other a kit that we have made up from our own stash. I would love to hear of your friendly challenges if you do them or perhaps I can convince you to find a scrappy friend/s and indulge in a little challenge just for fun!

Until next time, have an awesome week. xx

Scrap Our Stash Challenge #11.

Happy Saturday everyone and I have another layout to share with you today, this one is a stash challenge for Scrap Our Stash.

Here's how this challenge works:

Create a layout and you must add….

(5) of one item 

(4) of another item

(3) of one more item

(2) of yet another item

AND.....

(1) RUB ON!!!

All items used for the countdown must be PREMADE/PACKAGED scrap products.

(Example: (5) Flowers, (4) Patterned papers, (3) Wood Veneer, (2) Chipboard pcs (1) Rub On

Here is the layout I made for this challenge and it had me hunting through my boxes for a suitable rub-on as I not a big fan of them and don't own many! After choosing the 'Life Is Good' rub-on I then picked 

two border stickers,
three chipboard letters,
four felt embellishments and
five brads!

I  placed the rub-on onto some pink card stock, cut around it and mounted it on this cool bubble effect foam that I had die cut circles out of to make some bubbles for my layout.

I have some old felt embellishments that were the perfect colour for my page.

Hope you can join us in our Countdown Challenge as it's so versatile and fun. Finding the items in precise numbers made for an interesting game!

The details of this challenge and the rest of the DT's Countdown layouts can be found on the Scrap Our Stash blog HERE.

Hopefully I will be back tomorrow with some more layouts to share you! Until then have a fabulous weekend. xx

Inspired By Challenge.

Over at Sketch N Scrap we have a new challenge starting in addition to our regular sketch challenges. This one is a sketch inspired by a layout from one of our design team members. For our first one the layout was one designed by DT member Stephanie Ho.

Here is the sketch we were given to work with but we were not shown the original layout by Stephanie.

Here is my take on the sketch challenge and it shows an old photo (2005) of me being silly in our garden during some renovations (hence the messy garden!).

I used plenty of bright fun papers and elements to reflect the title.

I am slowly getting the hang of my silhouette and this title gave me lots of practice with welding my letters together! Although I cut it out in white I re-coloured some of the words in order to make them stand out.

This cute little owl has been sitting in my stash waiting for the 'right' layout, he came off an old birthday card (waste not!) and I like the way he is looking up at me! 

If you enjoy sketches you will love joining in with our newest challenge and if you pop on over to the Sketch N Scrap blog HERE you can see the layout by Stephanie Ho that inspired this sketch and also how some of the DT members interpreted the sketch (including a card!).

Thanks for dropping by and have a great weekend. xx