Use it or lose it.

Now if you are regular visitor to my blog you will no doubt know that my dear friend Helen and I have a challenge every few weeks with each other. This time around it was to use an item that we have bought, had for a long time and never even opened the packet!
I know we all have those items in our stash that we have liked at the time of purchase, it was a bargain and would come in useful for a page at some time or just haven't found the right time to use it.
I keep meaning to have a sort through my drawers of crafty goodness and use it or lose it because I have a limited space to store my stash and it's overflowing! So what better challenge for me than to get an item out of the drawers and do something creative with it.

 

This is the item of stash I have had for years, a sheet of rub ons that I thought I could use with one of the many Disney photo's I took the first time we went to Florida. All pink and girly just not my style anymore (not sure it ever was).

 

Here is the page I made using the rub on's, some of them went straight onto the page and others like the castle were put onto cardstock and cut out then I used sticky foam to adhere them to the page to add some dimension.

 

Here is Helen's item of old stash and was also bought with her Disney trips in mind.  

 

 

Helen was really pleased that not only did she find the photo's she wanted to use from her vast selection but the she found some papers that matched perfectly with the colours of the dimensional stickers.

I was impressed with Helen's title, as her daughters birthday celebrations were at Disneyland Paris she put Happy Birthday in French! 

Home Made Mask.

I have never really embraced masking as it seemed quite a messy thing to do on my scrapbook pages, I see myself as a neat and tidy kind of scrapper.
But I have seen so many beautiful pages on other blogs lately that I decided to take the plunge in to the great unknown. You may have noticed a few splats of ink here and there on my pages of late and I think that was me tentatively dipping my toes in.
Anyway, in order to delve in I needed a mask and I had the bright idea to make use of some old acetate sheets that were collecting dust and make my own.

Here is my first attempt at mask making, it took ages as it was cut by hand after drawing the hexagons on first.

I did not spray the ink directly onto my page base but onto some white card and then roughly went round the outside with a black pen. Then proceeded to cut them out and ink the edges.

Then I used the mask as a stencil on my page base paper in three different places around the page.

As you can see by my finished page the stencilled hexagons are a base for the other cut out ones.
This page was so much fun and I have cut out some other masks (using my big shot this time -soooooo much quicker) so I will play some more another day.

Here are a few close ups and just click on the images to get a better look. 

 



  Now this is the sketch that I wanted to use the hexagon mask for as it seemed perfect for my little trial run.
It is the Scrap365 September Sketch Challenge and does not close until the 20th September so why not have a go too! 

Back to crafting.

Summer is over and it's back to school today for two of my girls. Routine school days are nearly back, although it will take some getting used to again. (I've never been a morning kind of gal!)

But with the end of the summer holidays comes the restart of Bradfield Craft Club and that's something I have been looking forward to. Last night was our first meeting of the Autumn and there was blackberry and apple cake to help us celebrate.

Of course I set a  sketch challenge just for fun before we broke up and I thought I would share them with you.

Here is my double page.

(please click on the images for a better view)

 



This one is Joan's.

 



 

This one is Sue's.

 

Here is the sketch we used that came from Easy Scrapbook Sketches.

Jackie made a card reminding us that Christmas is just around the corner (eek).

 



  This is the sketch from Pagemaps that she used.

 

We have an all-day crop organised for the 15th of this month and that's something I am really looking forward to as it's uninterrupted crafting and cake eating from 9 til 5!

 

I have a page to share with you in the next day or two but here is a sneek peek.....

 

Have fun and pop back soon.

 



Quick Card.

I was plodding through my ironing the other day and thought I would just check our birthday list to see what cards I had to make for September and realised that I had not sent a card to my niece who's birthday is in August!
Of course I tore myself away from the ironing to make her a quick card and got it in the post so that it would get to her in time.

 

 

Here is the card I made for her using some digital paper from MissTina, she has a wonderful digi shop and some gorgeous free printables,  CHECK HER OUT HERE.  The fairy image is a die cut from Lilly Of The Valley and the Happy Birthday stamp is from my new Paper Smooches set Sentiment Sampler.

If you are in the Uk I hope you are enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend.

 

Where have I been?

If you have been visiting my blog lately and noticed the absence of activity, I have a really good excuse............

Can you guess we we've been?

Me in the Med.

Great snorkeling.

Pool antics.

Flying children!

1st ever banana boat ride for my kids.

Just chillin' with a friend.

How much of the beach can we take up with our sandcastle?

Happy children!

Sunset swimming.



Although we are back, all family holidays end with an Everest of washing and the fallout from unpacking and mine is no exception. So I will hopefully be back to crafting soon (I have a few more photo's to scrapbook!!!!!!!)  till then if anyone wants to volunteer to do my ironing I pay in Kerry's Cake Currency!

Paper Bows.

I follow the Scrapbook and Cards Today blog and today they are showing how to make a paper bow like the one on the card below.

Not only are they providing the instructions but there is a FREE printable download for the pattern, so what are you waiting for, pop on over HERE to the Scrapbook and Cards blog.

Colour Inspiration.

Pinterest is a wonderful place for inspiration, not only other crafters work, photography and cooking but for colour palettes aswell. Pinterest is where I store the colour inspiration I find around the web to use for my starting points.



This colour palette I couldn't resist as it reminds me of the lovely fresh produce I have been cropping at my allotment lately, especially strawberries.

As you know I am a great lover of American Crafts papers, the bright colours they use are so up my street. So when I was looking for the right papers for this challenge I went straight to my AC stash and didn't need to look any further!
I am really getting into paint splashes lately too and glitter card of course is where I go for my title cardstock of late.
My photo shows me with my girls at Dover Castle, my husband trying to get the two teenagers to smile for the camera. As you can see he didn't have any luck!!!

A couple of close ups.

I know I have been absent for a week or so but the summer holidays/ decorating and a good book have been keeping me from blogland, so please be patient with me and I will be back soon hopefully.