Saturday, March 31, 2018

Christmas trifle!


This was a challenge and a half! To create a double page spread, something I'd never attempted before. Although as soon as the challenge was set at the MTS Cyber crop I knew which photos I'd use. I hadn't intended to take a series of photos of my family eating trifle at Christmas, but when I looked back, I had!



I used some muted toned Christmas papers that I've had squirrelled away for a while, and decided on red for the accent, to make it extra Christmassy. Plus sparkly gold letters, what else. I've really had a lot of use from this pack of Thickers, and I still have quite a few letters left. You'll notive the judicious use of a 3 as a letter E here...


The little felt stars and snowflakes were some I rediscovered a few weeks back, completely by accident- so I knew where they were when I wanted to use them!!! Then a few red gems for some final sparkle.

I think the key is getting papers, or whatever background you're using on a double page spread, to travel across the page, so that the  are cohesive. I'm pleased with it, it's a great way of getting multiple large-ish photos on a spread together.

Elements:

Papers: Crate Paper- Bundled up collection
Card: Red and white from my stash
Embellishments: Felt shapes, and red gems- Hobbycraft
Alphabet- Thickers- Together

Thanks for looking!

Sunday, March 25, 2018

Fan-tache-tic!



For this challenge from the cybercrop I used multiples, so 3 photos, multiple stamps, 3 papers, 2 tags, repeat of the same washi. This is one of my favourite layouts from the weekend.


The photo is from a birthday get together, where we had some fun with stick on moustaches. I went for orange and green as the main colours to tie in with elements in the photos.


The moustache stamps are such a smashing set, from Indigo Blu. I tried not to be too precious about them stamping perfectly, very unlike me.


And then I spent half an hour trying to come up with a moustache based pun for the title. Always the way.

Elements:

Papers: American Crafts Amy Tangerine- Sunshine and good times- Rainbow love
Amy Tangerine collection

Embellishments: Stampin Up- washi tape
Indigo Blu stamps- 
Versafine black ink

From my stash: Black alphabet, orange and white card


Saturday, March 24, 2018

Cyber crop heaven- Hugs!

Last weekend I took part in a fantastic cyber crop organised by Mind the Scrap, and ooh it was a blast. There were 17 layouts challenges from Friday evening to Sunday, and I'm proud to say I kept up! Pretty much one every two hours. The weather looked like this...


...so a weekend snuggled up with paper and a tape gun was very welcome. We did go to my parents' on the Saturday afternoon, but other than that, it was 2 1/2 days of straight crafting bliss!


The stack of layouts!


So my next few posts are going to be all layouts from last weekend. Should keep the blog going for a while, eh? I'm not going to show them in any particular order, or divulge the full details of the challenges, as that wouldn't be fair to the organiser, but I'l give an idea of what each one was about!


This was from the Sunday morning, and was about a scraplift. The page I lifted from is here. I chose a photo of my boy hugging his sister and grandma.


I decided on kraft to pull the whole thing together so I matted everything, and chose matching hearts, tag, and a little envelope.


The stickers are from the March MTS kit, and the rose gold matches the alphabet.


The peachy pink paper is from MTS, and the rest is from my stash. I have so much paper it's unreal, and the muted tones in the green paper seemed to match the feel of the layout perfectly. 

Elements:

Papers: American Crafts Amy Tangerine- Sunshine and good times- Rainbow love
Crate paper- Party Day collection

Embellishments: Crate paper- Here + there stickers
Alphabet- Thickers- Memo
Hobbycraft- Green pearls
Papermaze- wooden arrow

From my stash: White card. kraft card, envelope, tag, paperclip, heart stickers, glitter circle stickers

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Love


Oh I adore this layout. Another scrap along from Mind the Scrap, but it was so nice because I got my stamps out.


The wire love and little yellow envelope are from the new MTS March kit. The doily and grid stamps are from Stampin  Up.


The script stamp is a favourite I've had in my stash for about a decade. I inked it with black ink and then stamped it off on scrap to get a washed out look. 


The splodges of copper were me trying to use gilding flakes without the proper glue, it's not awful, but it didn't work out how I wanted it to!


The words discover and find and the arrows and heart are all rub ons, again from MTS this month. They're fabulous quality, really easy to use.

Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

We heart Grandma


This is the second of 2 pages I made from scraps at Mom's on Sunday. I just took all the leftover bits from Feb's MTS kit and went with the flow.


I used the papers, added a tag and some stickers and other elements. I also used a little stripey paper bag, I managed to make it stretch to the bottom left corner as well, to balance the page.


I've been looking forward to using the orange/peach journaling spot, but it hadn't looked right on anything else. 


Elements:

Paper: Maggie Holmes- Flourish- Songbird
Pink Paislee- Paige Evans- Pick me up 22
Crate Paper- Main Squeeze- Purrfect
Crate Paper- Main Squeeze- Match made

Card: Bazzill- Kraft

Embellishments: Pink Paislee- Pick-me-up journaling spots
Pebbles puffy stickers
Amy Tangerine- Remarks- Harper alphabet
Bramble fox- flair

From my stash: White card
Stripy paper bag
Tag

Thanks for looking!




Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Unicorns and sparkles


Using up more scraps! This is a repeat of the Kiki page I did earlier in the month, using up the offcuts from the February MTS kit. It's gone a long way, I can tell you.


I had a photo in mind for this title- my girlie in her new unicorn dressing gown that she wore most of Christmas day. Why I bothered buying the pretty dress I don't know! She did the same the year before, only it was a Minnie Mouse onesie.


The layers are fairly randomly placed, apart from trying not to put 2 the same next to each other, and balancing out the dark colours.


I had one little fussy cut birdie from January's kit left, and the colours fit, so on her popped!

Elements:

Paper: Crate Paper- Main Squeeze- Match made
Pink Paislee- Paige Evans- Pick me up 22
Maggie Holmes- Flourish- Songbird
Crate Paper- Main Squeeze- Purrfect
Crate Paper- Good vibes- All good

Card: Bazzill- Kraft
White from stash

Embellishments: Dear Lizzy die cut phrases
Pink Paislee- Pick-me-up journaling spots

Thanks for reading!

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Z for Zentangling


This layout was created for an a-z challenge. Z is for zentangling. this is all hand drawn, so it took a while! I thought I'd share the process, so hunker down, this is a looong post.


Step 1 was to mark out the page in pencil. I went for a border first, to give the page a definite ending. I chose and trimmed a photo, backed it in black card and measured it. Then I drew a box to fit it in the centre of the page and pencilled in lines radiating out from that. 


Nest the ink- I use a uni-pin pen. Usually in about 0.5, but I use anything from 0.2 to 0.8.


I inked in the lines using a ruler. I gave each section a border so that it has a white space to define it. I wanted each tangle pattern to stand on it's own. Not having a border makes the patterns blend together, and that wasn't what I wanted for this piece.


Now, onto the zentangling. This is really just doodling. I have my own set of patterns that I've always doodled, and I've learned many more via the hundreds of amazing tanglers out there who share their patterns. If you want to have a go, just google zentangling, you'll find lots of guidance, step by step guides to producing patterns,and oodles of inspiration.


I go for whatever comes into my head. My bubbles always come out, and I love the regular patterns that i can get into a rhythm to produce.


Here's the page with the mains sections all inked, before the shading. Shading wasn't something I did to start with, but it really makes the patterns pop off the page.


The photo above is an example of how shading changes the pattern. the zig zag on the left is shaded, the one on the right isn't.


This is my favourite pattern to create. It takes forever, but it's so relaxing to do. Shading it gives it depth, but oh my, it took a long time!


Even a tiny bit of shading on each circle makes a difference. I used a B grade pencil, and a top tip is to rest your hand on a scrap piece of paper, otherwise you'll smudge the areas you've already shaded. If that happens, just get an eraser out!


Shading completed!


The final bit of inking was to create a border I drew the horizontal lines for the black and white border lines with a ruler. Then my favourite border- the hundreds of little lines to look like a fringe. I loooove drawing those lines!




And the final page again, with picture in place.



Oh my word, I just mistakenly deleted the whole post!  Thank goodness for the undo button. 
Thanks for looking!


Love you


The Mind the Scrap February kit had a pack of Pebbles puffy stickers in it. They didn't particularly appeal to me at first, but I have used one of two here and there. Then I spotted a version of this layout on Facebook, and I've been itching to have a go at it.


I cut a large heart template out from scarp card and used it as a stencil to drip blue chalk spray round the edges but not in the centre of the heart. I drew round it in pencil so I'd have a guide for my hearts.


The stickers are quite tactile, they're squidgy soft, and the colours are lovely. I spaced them out evenly by putting them on opposite sides of the heart in order. There was a little bit of moving them about, but not too much, and they peeled up really easily. I went over the pencil marks with blue gel pen, and added little arrows.


Oops, sideways photo. I won't change it, I quite like it! The alphabet is from my stash, but it's just the right metallic colour. The journaling card is cut in two to make it stretch across behind the photo!

Elements:

Embellishments: Pebbles puffy stickers
Pink Paislee- Pick-me-up journaling spots
Cosmic shimmer chalk spray

From my stash: White card, bue gel pen, alphabet

Thanks for looking!

Saturday, March 3, 2018

First day together



Just when I think I've finished my MTS February kit, I squeeze another page out of it... Along with every other scrapping parent out there, I have a pile of first day at school photos. I'd like an album that takes my lovelies through the years, but that seems quite daunting, so I decided just to start on the latest one!


I didn't have any full pages left from the kit, so I went for Sue Fish inspired layers. There's snippets from the kit papers in there, a folded doily, offcuts from the kraft card, journaling cards...all sorts!


I'd fussy cut one of the songbirds, so he had to go on there, I wanted something at the bottom of the page for balance, so he ended up perched on top of the title. the blue and white spots are from a little paper bag.


The ink splashes are a Cosmic Shimmer chalk spray, flicked onto the page at the end. 


Layers work! 

Elements:

Papers: Crate paper- Main squeeze- Match made
Maggie Holmes- Flourish- Songbird

Card: Bazzill- Kraft

Embellishments: Pink Paislee- Pick-me-up journaling spots
Pebbles- Puffy stickers
Amy Tangerine- Remarks- Harper alphabet
Typed phrase- Lollipop box club kit
Cosmic Shimmer chalk spray

From my stash: Paper bag, doily, staples, white card, grid card

Thanks for looking!