The look

 Another Suse Fish inspired layout to show you today, again using lots of paper and bits an pieces from the Mind the Scrap January kit. I'm getting so much out of this kit, and it's really kick started my creativity again.

I loved putting all the layers together, it's quite addictive. The die cuts are all from the MTS kit, a Vicki Boutin set.

The alphabet are Thickers, and sooooo sparkly.

Thanks for looking.

It's all good

You know that moment when you have the idea? The really, really good idea. The good idea that won't let go. well, that's what happened with this layout.

I adore this photo of my son helping my daughter across a rope bridge. It felt like it needed something of a nature theme, so I thought I'd go for a ring of flowers. Sounds simple...

Cue me stamping and cutting out about a zillion flowers. Fussy cutting is time consuming, but there are a couple of top tips.

1. Get some comfortable, sharp scissors, not too big. Mine are by X-cut, I've had them years and they have generous holes with some rubber for grip and comfort.

2. Move the paper, not the scissors. Sounds weird but it totally works.

3. If you're cutting lots of little things out, actually whatever you're cutting, cut off any big bits of excess paper first, and cut into individual pieces, they'll be much easier to handle.

I stamped out some of the flowers and leaves onto patterned paper (from Mind the Scrap's January kit), and others onto lined white paper and plain white card. I used a mix of Stampin up stamps, an old Craft Stamper freebie, and flowers from an Innovative Stamp Creations plate called Friendship.

 I layered all the flowers and leaves in a ring, then added a doily and my photo. The journaling was printed out, and tucked slightly behind the photo.

And the final touch was a title sticker from the Mind the Scrap kit. Its all good!

Walking home- a scraplift

The challenge this week on Mind the Scrap is to be inspired by Suse Fish. I've taken her wonderful work and tried my best! 

Suse's style is lots of layers, she talks about trying to recreate a pile of papers on a desk. I didn't think I'd get to grips with it, but I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly I got into a groove with it.

I used lots of lovely die cuts and cards from the latest MTS kit, layered with foam tape.

The little words are from Lollipop Box Club kits, I've got a little stock of these now.

I used a little bag as part of the layers, so I thought a journaling tag would fit in perfectly.

A quick desk shot and we're done!

Cousins

In July 2017 we went to the London 2017 para athletics. Wow, did we have a good day. We saw Jonnie Peacock win Gold, my son and nephew got a high 5 from him, and we limped home on the train to my brother's house, exhausted and happy.

This photo of my son and his cousin shows their relationship perfectly, and it's a favourite.

The letters are from an old Cosmo Cricket set, they're chipboard, and outlined in black to make them pop a bit.

The quote at the bottom is taken from a 12x12 sheet I've had forever, but the words seemed to fit.

The hearts and arrows are punched from print outs from Lollipop Box Club kits, as is the twine I think! 

Mind the Scrap unboxing video

So. I am ever so slightly obsessed with unboxing videos on YouTube.... So much so that I had a go at it myself.

I've also been looking for a monthly scrapbooking kit to buy, and I discovered Mind the Scrap, which is a really versatile system of 3 different parts to the kit. I had the main scrapbooking kit and the extra embellishments kit too.

Take a look, see what you think!

Keeping it simple

Emma at Mind the Scrap has set a challenge- to embrace minimalism and create a simple scrapbook layout. I had a photo in mind as soon as I read the challenge- one of my brilliant boy in a taekwondo kick.

I stamped the title using a really, really old foam stamp set I've had for an eternity, and edged it with torn strips of stripy paper. The challenge allowed for a couple of types of embellishments to be used, so I went for gold stars and some black gems.

He's kinda cool isn't he?

Scrapbooking

So 2018 is to be the year of scrapbooking. Ive not been making the time to craft over the past few months, but I have watched a lot of YouTube videos, and read a lot of blog posts, and scrapbooking is calling me!

Here's yesterday's spread. I had a free stamp lingering on my desk, and inspiration struck. I stamped and masked away for a while and ended up with this little beauty. I used a spray and drips of black ink for some contrast.

The doily, heart and paper bag are all from my Lollipop Box Club stash, oh and so is the little tag I used to journal.

I'm chuffed with how it turned out, the bright green is fab with the black and white. The picture of my little lovely is the best bit though...