Sail Away.

Hello a quick post today as I am about to head off for the school run but needed to get this page posted as the deadline for the challenge is tomorrow and I didn't realize it was May in the morning!!! I think I'm living in a bubble and the world just plods along without me!
Anyways onto the challenge and this time it's for Scrap The Girls April challenge which is to scrap your girls but with boy colours and papers etc.

Here is my page of two of my daughters with a friend on holiday last year enjoying the dingy that was brought along.

The photo's colours were a deciding factor as to which papers to use and the subject made the embellishment choice easier!

A couple of little close up's.

That's all folks but thank you so much for stopping by and if you are quick you could still play along with Scrap The Girls HERE.

xxxxx

Hey Girl.

I'm back after a rather long scrappy absence, my mojo decided to return and I have been quite productive over the last few days getting DT work done. Not only work, I managed some play time too and created a page for the April sketch challenge over at Scrapology.

Here is the sketch which was based on a fabulous page by Steph Devlin, which you can see on the Scrapology Blog Here.

Here is my page based on the sketch and I really enjoyed fussy cutting all the October Afternoon flowers out.

The photo is of my middle daughter all dressed up for a night on the town (with parents of course!).

I know there is no bunting on the sketch but when I was making up the page kit I couldn't resist adding the sheet with these ones on to cut out and add to my design!

This circle was originally a 3x4 PL card that I cut up and mounted on top of a doily. The remaining piece of of the card had a blue backing so  I made it into the banner under the photo (waste not!).

I found this saying today and thought it appropriate for a page that has no real story to tell.

Lots of lovely Mother of Pearl sequins to add a bit of subtle interest and I was done!

The deadline for this challenge is the 5th of May so still time to play along. All the details and DT inspiration can be found on the Scrapology Blog HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Daily Indulging.

It's my turn today to share the page I created using the sketch challenge over at Scrap Our Stash.

Here is the great sketch and the stash requirements are - 

a) 3 or more patterned papers from 3 or more different collections and/or mfgs.
b) 3 or more embellishments from 3 different collections and/or mfgs.
c) Include one or more of the following items on your layout:
Corkboard, Chalkboard, or Corrugated board.

As you can see I pretty much stuck to the sketch as I liked the design, I also have a green theme going on as it was easier to match by a single colour than to try and match coloured patterns from 3 manufacturers together. 

The paper manufacturers I used are Echo Park, Jillibean Soup and American Crafts.

My embellishments are - Doodle Bug brads, Card Candi and....

this sweet wooden butterfly which was where the colour inspiration came from!

Hope you liked my interpretation and have inspired you to play along with us at Scrap Our Stash.

The details and other DT takes on the challenge can be found on the Scrap Our Stash Blog HERE.

Bye for now. xx

So Sorry.

I am a very bad blogger but I blame my mojo as it has gone walk about! 

Don't you just hate the fact that no matter how much you want to get your teeth stuck into some serious scrapping you can't seem to find the inspiration to get going or when you do get started the project comes to a grinding halt midway and there it sits staring at you!
Well that's been me lately, I started three scrapping projects this month that have gotten nowhere, I have missed a deadline, ripped a page apart to start over and I feel the need to go see if my mojo is hiding out somewhere like Fiji or somewhere else quiet and tranquil.
All is not lost as I have been holding back a couple of cards that I have made lately for when my poor blog is bereft of scrappy goodness!

You will have to excuse the photography on this one as I didn't realise the light had caught the glitter and I have already given the card away so can't re-do it!

Just a simple card for a little friend who loves building sand castles on holiday.

This one was for my youngest daughter who turned 13 this week and that means I have three teenage daughters in the house now, perhaps that's why my mojo left home!

I hope you are having a wonderful Easter weekend.

Thanks for being here with me today. xx 

Be Our Guest!

Hi crafty friends.

Are you a fan of Sketch-N-Scrap?

Would you like to be a guest designer?

We are looking for Guest Designers for both Layout & Card Sketches. Your requirements will be to send a photo and short biography of yourself. Complete two layouts or cards using provided sketches within a time frame.  And post your completed cards or layouts on your blog on the dates provided to you.

Sound like fun? 

For all the details head on over to the SNS blog HERE.

We Only Wish....

Already the middle of April so that can only mean it's reveal day at Sketch N Scrap with a new and fabulous layout sketch for you to play with.

Super cute sketch by Kelly Holifield!

My take on the sketch and I substituted the 3 photo's for just 2 but kept to the sketch otherwise.

The photo's show my daughter and her friend trying to catch fish on holiday with Mini Cheddars! These little cheese biscuits were very popular with the fishes but didn't make them any easier to catch!

I am still enjoying my hand stitching so added the sun and clouds above the photo's.

These little fishes were fussy cut from a sheet full of them and I then stitched some waves for them to swim in!

The title comes from a riddle that Gollum sings in the Lord of the Rings.

That's all from me but I can't wait to come see your take on the sketch!

Creative Embellishments is our wonderful sponsor this month.

For the details of the prize, how to play along and the rest of the DT's awesome takes on the sketch head on over to the Sketch N Scrap Blog HERE.

Bye for now. xx 

Hello Spring.

Hello Spring and hello fellow crafty bloggers!

Over at Scrap Our Stash we are celebrating the arrival of Spring (in some parts of the world!) and so our first challenge for April is to create a layout using a Spring colour palette.

Create a Spring Layout using spring colors and include the following Pre made/packaged items from your stash:  Paperclip(s), Journal card and at least one 3D embellishment.

My layout is up on the Scrap Our Stash blog today so I can now share it with you here.

The star today is our little kitty Demi who was captured on camera by my eldest daughter whilst enjoying some of the first sunshine of Spring.

I decided to use some Project Life cards in a grid design along with my Spring colour palette of blue (blue skies at last!), yellow (sunshine and daffodils), and green (fresh new growth).

As Demi is a black cat I could introduce some black accents to my page.

And the flower in bright yellow reminded me of the sun so I placed it at the top of my page. 

The paperclip I used is this cute flower one that has been in my stash for years.

My 3D butterfly embellishment sits on top of the journaling card from Pebbles that I cut down to fit inside the grid.

Well that just leaves me to thank you for stopping by and to invite you to play along with us at Scrap Our Stash. All the details on how to play and to see the rest of the DT inspiration just head on over to the SOS blog HERE.

Hope the weekend is going to be bright and sunny where you are in the world. xx 

  

Sweet Child of Mine.

Happy Thursday everyone!
I have been having a lovely time in the garden this week as the weather has been delightfully pleasant, lots of weeding done and I've pottered around tiding my shed, trying to find places for all the gardening paraphernalia that was just thrown in there without any order!
Apart from all the fresh air and general busyness, I also managed to play along with this month's 'Inspired By' Challenge over at Sketch N Scrap, this sketch by Kelly Holifield was inspired by a layout by DT member Surama Carvalho.

The sketch!

Here is my take on the sketch, featuring my middle daughter way back in 2002!

The papers are from the sweet paper line by American Crafts called 'My Girl'.

The heart card is a Simple Stories PL card and I cut part of the heart so that it would go over my photo slightly. 

Right on trend is a doily and hand made crochet flower (not by me though!).

For the confetti in the sketch I stamped lots of little hearts in blue ink.

I really hope you can play along with not only this 'Inspired By' challenge but our other card and layout sketches this month.

This month we have Creative Embellishments as our sponsor!

Thanks for dropping by and hope you are have a great week! 

The Great Descent.

I have managed to squeeze in a layout for the Scrap365 sketch challenge this month, it is only open until 11th April so I was cutting it a bit fine!

Here is the sketch.

And here is the layout I created using the sketch.

During our holiday last year in Ibiza we discovered a great beach but there was a drawback! The climb down! There was a good path but it was so very steep as the beach was below a cliff and whilst the descent was ok as it was early morning and down hill, coming back up in the midday sun was torturous!

I wanted the page to have movement due to the theme of my photo so I added some texture background through a homemade triangle stencil. Then I recreated the chevrons from the top printed cluster using some white card chevrons re-coloured using Promarkers.

Some more chevrons (good job they are trendy!) this time cut from some patterned paper and placed around my title. A smattering of sequins and a couple of labels to finish.

All the details and the awesome DT inspiration can be found on the Scrap365 Blog HERE.

Thank you so much for stopping by today. xx

Summer Bliss.

Scrapbooking trends come and go and we all love to try the new techniques and products to see if they work for our style of crafting. Some products have come along and stayed for the long haul, others have been more short lived, but what is trending at the moment?
Some of my favorites are -
Watercolours,
Texture Paste,
Chevrons,
Masks,
Stitching,
Brush Script,
Washi tape,
and Polaroid style frames.

This month at Challenge YOUrself we are challenging you to scrap about YOURSELF and use at least THREE trending products/techniques on your layout.

Here is my trends layout, and the photo shows me enjoying some relaxation by the pool with my second favorite pastime - reading.

The trendy items on my page are - washi tape, hand stitching, wood veneers and brush script.

I was totally cowardly when it came to the brush script and wrote it onto some cardstock and then cut it out before adding it to my page. I certainly couldn't trust my handwriting enough to brush straight onto my layout!! (It took about a dozen attempts before I was happy with the results!).

With the hard bit out of the way I could relax and enjoy adding the other trendy embellishments. I love these wood veneers stars from Studio Calico.

I don't think washi tape will ever go out of fashion!

Here is a close up of my wibbly wobbly hand stitching!

I know we all have our favorite trends and us girls at Challenge Yourself  would love to see those photo's of the fabulous YOU scrapped with your go-to trends. So please join us this month in front of the lens! 

There is lots more trendy inspiration to be found at the ChallengeYOUrself blog with details of how to play HERE. 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to get some scrappy time in even with children and hubby home for a fortnight!

Rain Stops Play.

Hello and welcome to my little chunk of blogland where today I have the 1st layout sketch challenge reveal over at Sketch N Scrap to show you.

Here is the sketch - designed by the lovely and talented Lisa Hidy.

Here is my take on Lisa's sketch and it shows my daughter and her friend waiting out the downpour in one of the Disney Parks during our trip to Florida in 2011 (yes I am way behind in my scrapping!).

I had fun punching out these raindrops and then doodling them before adding foam pads to bring them off the page a little.

I love this playful font that I used to cut these letters out with my Silhouette, it's called Boopee.

Of course the rest of the Sketch N Scrap Design Team's layouts can also be seen at the SNS blog HERE. Along with all the details and rules of the challenge.

This month we have Creative Embellishments as our sponsor!

Creative Embellishments is offering one lucky participant a $20 gift certificate to their store!!! 

But remember you can't win if you don't play! 

Hope you can join in with us and I look forward to visiting your little corner of blogland too.

Bye for now and have a wonderful day. xx