Scrapbook Layouts 2022 - Nos.1&2

Hello Everyone

I hope this finds you all well and enjoying the weekend. I was thinking of going for a short walk this afternoon - I want to build up my fitness again - but the rain stopped play. Maybe tomorrow will be better. 

On to the subject of scrapbooking, although I'm not quite done with December 2021, I thought I should start to share 2022 layouts now before I fall too far behind. 

1/2022 - Silver

2/2022 - And Relax

As you can probably see, the photo in the first page is of Silver and the one in the second is of Bonnie who is no longer with us. 

Both layouts were made in January from the kit I put together for Scrap Backwards (a challenge group on Facebook) that was made entirely of what was left from two old kits, one all cat themed, the other a mix of cat & dog themes. They are Echo Park's Meow and DCWV's Playful Pets. These layouts are based on two of Lisa Sikorski's sketches (Scrap a Sketch on Facebook). 

Of course, because I chose to make my kit from a combination of papers, etc., with a very obvious pet theme most, but not all, pages made in January feature photos of animals, but not all are of cats! 

That's it from me tonight. 

Take care and stay safe.

December Scrapbook Layout No.27

Hello Everyone,

Following on from yesterday's post I'm sharing the next page for that December album today. It was made out of turn a few weeks ago because I especially wanted to tackle the last Scrap Backwards challenge for December.

As you can see it involved an awful lot of circles, fussy cut baubles and more flair than is good for me! The circles were punched from the many scraps leftover from previous layouts and even now there's still more to use up. I think this room is breeding scraps. Sigh. On the plus side, the huge stash of old patterned paper is going down, quite noticeably. 

The photos are of just a few of my favourite tree decorations. For many years, that was up until the first year of the pandemic, I made a point of buying a new, and special, decoration for our tree. Sadly, that's not been possible these last two Christmasses but I have high hopes that this coming Christmas will see that tradition revived. 

That's me done for now. It's bitterly cold outside here but the sun is streaming through this window beside me and it's hot! I may have to take off the cardigan I'm wearing. Hope you having an equally lovely day. 

Take care and stay safe.

December Scrapbook Layout No.26

Hello Everyone,

I hope you had a lovely weekend and Monday hasn't been such a bad day as it's reputed to be. At Casa Worthington each day is much the same as another - that's the joy of being retired. Happily, I've been able to get to my desk and scrapbook a few more pages. Today, I'm sharing one more made for the December album - another one nearer completion. 

I chose a simple Lisa Sikorski sketch, quick and easy too, for this copy of my profile photo with the Christmassy frame provided on Facebook. The black/white stripe background paper is out of a kit from Ella Bonella - Crate Paper's 'Hey Santa'. I used leftover scraps for the side strip and to mat the photo and journaling card.  Apart from the two flairs from  Dotty About Flair everything else is old stash. I'm pleased to be using up so many leftover scraps and bits of ancient stash. Apart from anything else, it's nice to see the piles getting noticeably smaller. 

That's me done for now. Hope you have a good day tomorrow. 

Take care,

December Scrapbook Layout - No. 25

Hello Everyone,

Happy Sunday to you all. I'm still, when I'm not working on something else, trying to finish up my December album. Yesterday I managed to make this page recording our Christmas lunch 2021.

There was just the three of us for lunch on the day, thanks to the pandemic, and, as you can see, the boys enjoyed the meal. The papers used are from a Crate Paper collection, 'Hey Santa' (purchased from Ella Bonella). The huge 25 Peartree Designs cut-file is backed from scraps leftover from the kit I put together for the Scrap Backwards challenge. I'll continue participating in this challenge throughout this year because it has made using up old stash fun. Once again, the layout is based on one of Lisa Sikorski's sketches (No.8). Needless to say, I have, yet again, tweaked the sketch to suit the photos and the title. I'm just rebel!

Just a few more layouts to make and December's album will be complete. At the same time as working on these, I've been making pages from the kit I put together for January's Scrap Backwards and keeping up with the Monday challenges so, as you can imagine, it will be a relief to say that's December finished! Especially, as we'll be moving on to a new month soon with another homemade kit to work from.

In the meantime, I hope you are well and enjoying plenty of crafting time.

December Scrapbook Layouts - No's. 22, 23 & 24

Hello Everyone

Happy Saturday to you all. 

We're nearing the end of the pages made for my Christmas/Winter Album now and the following three pages take us up to Christmas Eve! 

Ready for the Xmas Ceilidh Show

Christmas 1998 in Fort William where they certainly know how to party. The photos were taken in our hotel room before being transported to the venue where the ceilidh was being held. There were bagpipers, a fiddle group, Highland dancers - the whole tartan experience. It was Alan's first time at a ceilidh and he loved it. For this layout, I printed out the journaling, then cut it into strips before sticking them under the title. I usually just write my journaling in pen but I quite like this method and might do it more often in the future.

Those Eyes

Two of the prompts for this layout, from Adam at Dotty About Flair, was to use both gold and silver together - not easy - and to use one or more rosettes - easier. I had to search for both my Hougie Board and the Hougie Crafts book which contained the vital instructions on how to make rosettes. Silver, as ever, was more than happy to pose for the camera. Initially, I intended using a gold pen to draw the lines around the edge but none worked. I suspect those I have are just too old so I dug out a box of long forgotten peel-offs to use instead. I can't remember when I last decorated as much as a card with peel-offs but they did the job incredibly well.  

A Crafty Xmas Eve

The two children in the photo are Alan's great niece and nephew. They spent Christmas Eve occupied with making the puppets - their mum's clever way of distracting them, and calming them down, before the much anticipated visit from Father Christmas. Weaving the strips on the background could have been tricky had I not stuck the top edges of the vertical strips of paper in place. After that it was a dawdle to weave in the horizontal strips. It was particularly pleasing to get the last of the puffy deer stickers out of stash and onto a page at last ... Alan bought the sticker sheet from a shop in town which has been closed for quite a few years! 

As I mentioned at the top of this post, we're near the end. Just one more week of layouts to make and December's pages will be all done and dusted. I've been working on my kit made for January's Scrap Backwards and keeping up with the Monday challenges so, as you can imagine, it will be a relief to say that's December finished!

In the meantime, I hope you are well and enjoying plenty of crafting time. 

December Scrapbook Layouts No's 19, 20 & 21

"Scrapbooks remind us

 that life has been good."

I came across the above quote when Googling scrapbooking recently and remembered it when thinking about all the scrap pages I made in December. 

Because the photos I've chosen to scrap have been from not just 2021 but from years past, I've been reminded of all the happy December's, not just this last one just gone.

Here's three more of such reminders. 

Santa's In Town

The photo that this page features is quite possibly one of the occasions most photographed of any Christmas period. These are my two youngest grandchildren and I remember that although her brother took it all in his stride, four year old Shari-Anne was just a bit unsure and you can see it in the expression on her face. Happily she relaxed fairly quickly and went on to enjoy the experience. I think the sticker Santa looks the double of the real Santa. Incidentally, he didn't rely on his sleigh and reindeer to get him to our far flung corner of Scotland, he came by helicopter instead?

With Friends In Girvan

Not strictly December photos but these have made it into the album because the challenge was to make a non-Christmas  page with Christmas themed papers. And I didn't need a better excuse to remember this very happy day spent with two dear friends, Annie (A Stitch In Time) and her husband, Dod. Often the 'B' side of themed papers, as on those I used on this page, are fairly neutral and perfect to use in non-Christmassy pages. 

Twinkling Lights

There's nothing neutral about this page and yet the Vicki Boutin stencil used for the background is definitely not a Christmas themed one. Change the colour of ink, papers and embellishments used and the look would be quite different. Sadly, the Bhaille bakery and cafe where the photo was taken has since closed down. 

I've been a bit under the weather these last couple of days. Nothing to be overly concerned about but it does mean I've been lying on the sofa and resting up. Which means this post has been composed from the prone position! 

I hope you are all well and enjoying lots of creatively crafty time.

Bye for now

Elizabeth

December Scrapbook Layouts Nos. 16, 17 & 18

Hello Everyone,

From a wet and windy corner of Scotland today. I trust you are in a place where the weather is better. It's Thursday and that seams as good a day as any to share a few more of the pages I've been making for my Winter Album 2021. 

Joy

This photo of me and my two youngest grandchildren was taken way back in 2007 when they were so little they still believed in Father Christmas. Happy days! The only thing of note on this page is that I managed to extend this 15cm square stencil to look very much longer than it really is. 

Deck the Tree

Another nostalgic look back to a Christmas past with this photo of my granddaughter, Jennifer. The year is 2002, making her about 10 years old, and the occasion was the first Christmas in Scotland for Alan and myself after many years away. I found this dotted acetate, lovely as it is, difficult to incorporate into layouts so was pleased this time to be able to add it to a page. 

Festive Lattes

I don't think it's a secret that I love latte. Anytime, any place, but particularly at Christmas when they are spiced up with festive flavourings. And it's never too hard for me to find photos for a page when called for. I usually forget that I have a beautiful stash of trims but the sketch this layout is based on, which included an item that looked like a circle of ric rac trim, reminded me that I had this sparkly white one. With it's suggestion of snowflakes it was the perfect substitute. 

That's it again for another day. I'm off to the craftroom to tackle yet another December challenge. Still catching up but it doesn't really matter how long it takes as long as my album is complete before it gets filed away on the shelf with the others.

Take care everyone and stay safe. 

December Scrapbook Layouts - Nos 13,14 & 15

Hello Everyone

I trust this finds you well and raring to go now we're well into 2022. For some of you, I suspect the majority of you, it's back to normal today but for us lucky people in Scotland it's another Bank Holiday. Not that a retiree like me will notice much of a difference. One day can be much like another and it would if it wasn't for the weather. I've just spotted a few tiny snowflakes fluttering by and it comes with the promise of more tomorrow. I love snow. It makes the winter garden look so clean and pristine if only for a few days. 

I'm still trying to catch up and record the last of the scrapbook layouts of 2021 so here's three more. Of course, they were all made for the Facebook group challenges already mentioned in previous posts - Scrap Backwards, Dotty About Flair and Scrap A Sketch. 

Feelin' Frosty

The photo scrapped in this layout is from several years ago - it isn't just my stash that's old, my photographs can be too - when something very extraordinary happened to the surface of the River Ayr. It was an unusual phenomenon - isn't the one of the most difficult words in the English language - that happens when the first thaw comes after a big freeze. The ice broke up into shards  upriver and was carried downstream only to freeze again when the temperatures dropped once more. For this layout,I followed sketch, No.13 more or less as was and really the only thing of note is the title die-cut. It's dated 2001 and I remember it was included in the kind of kit, small and themed, we could buy back then. When I first started scrapbooking I relied on these ready-made kits a lot. I'm not sure they are even available nowadays. 

Movie Night

Just kidding. We don't rely on Silver to choose films for us. However, she does love to climb into the shelves and hide behind the DVDs, peeking out occasionally to see if we have noticed. The eagle-eye Mrs Dunnit might recognise the holly berry patterned paper, Anna Griffin no less, in the background as it was included in a pack she donated to the raffle at the WOYWW crop, 2018 if I remember correctly. I've been hoarding it, and periodically stroking it, ever since. 

Star Light, Star Bright

I think this photograph of my grandson holding up his son to put the finishing touch on the tree is quintessentially Christmas. The first time I saw it I couldn't help going all sentimental and remembering my own children doing much the same many hundreds of years ago ... well, it always feels so very long ago now that they are both in their 50s. Two items of note on this page. The first is the background paper - another hoarded and stroked beauty - 'Gold Dots' from the My Bright Life Collection by Jen Hadfield. The camera doesn't do the gold dots justice but in real life they are stunning. The other is the rub-on that's under the title. It's from a sheet, Kaisercraft Basics Rubons 'Jingle Bells' which is more than several years old. Rub-ons are notorious for aging badly so I was delighted when this one still adhered well. Here, just in case it can't be read on screen' are the words. 

Christmas may be MANY

things, Or it may be a few

For you, the JOY is each NEW toy,

But for ME it's watching YOU

Very apt, I think!

That's it from me today.

Keep well and stay safe,

January Scrap Kit

Hello Everyone

I hope you've enjoyed the bank holiday. We've had a quiet day here in Casa Worthington. The 'boys' amused themselves, Silver was in and out like a yo-yo, and as soon as I had some spare time I nipped up to the craftroom. I was a woman on a mission to put together a kit from my stash for the Scrap Backward challenge this month.

The idea behind the Scrap Backwards is to choose an item from old stash, ideally started but not yet finished, and build a kit around it. This month I've chosen this sticker sheet from Echo Park's 'Meow' collection. Sticker sheets are good items to start with because there's usually a few colours to use as a guide when choosing the rest of the kit. 

However, this time I've made it really easy for myself by combining the few papers and scraps that I had left from from the 'Meow' collection with the leftovers in another pet, dog, themed kit, 'Playful Pets' from Ella Bonella. Both kits are several years old. 

There's even a few cut-aparts, an alphabet, ribbon, ephemera and other embellishments which I've sorted into a tray ready for using. 

I've kept this kit deliberately small because I'm still behind with the December challenges and I'm determined to complete all there are for the month. For that reason, I don't see me making many more layouts beyond the ones set by Kathy each Monday throughout the month. 

I should get off to my bed now. I've reached the age where 10pm is the new 12pm and Silver seems to agree. 

Goodnight all.

December Scrapbook Layouts Nos. 10, 11 & 12

Hello Everyone

I hope you had a lovely first day of the year yesterday whatever and however you celebrated. We skipped the Hogmanay celebrations this year - bed and sleep being a much more attractive proposition than partying into the wee small hours these days. But we did enjoy the traditional New Year's Day dinner to welcome in 2022 with a heartfelt wish for a better year than the one just gone. So far, so good. 

And I'm back with three more scrap pages made in December for my Winter Album. 

10. The Christmas Rose

I love my Christmas Roses, hellebores. They are special as they are often in flower when nothing else is in the garden. I usually steer away from black backgrounds - black is scary - but I thought it would show the pristine white of the flower very well. Disappointingly the mixed media looks so much better in real life than it does in this photo.

11. Hustle

This beautiful dog is one of my middle grandson's fiancée's collies. She has several that she trains for shows and they are lovely dogs. Hustle's coat is very different from the more usual black and white. I believe it's known as Lavender but why it's called that I really don't know. Because the photo is so striking I kept to a very limited white/black/silver colour choice and can't deny I'm pleased with the result. Most of the embellishments were made by either punching out circles or die-cutting snowflakes. 

12. Christmas Wedding

Another limited colour palate for this page. The photo is of my younger brother on his wedding day 46 years ago. There's is a marriage that has stood the test of time. The frame is from a pack of special die-cut paper that isn't quite as old but it's been in my stash for a very long time - DCWV's Holiday Specialty Diecut Stack from 2009. 

All layouts inspired by the same three Facebook challenges I've been participating in throughout December. Even though I've fallen behind, I aim to continue until done - it would be quite something to have a completed album for winter 2021. For more information scroll down to the previous December Scrapbook Layout post or click here. 

That's it for today but there's more to follow. 

Take care, stay safe and have a lovely evening.

December Scrapbook Layouts Nos. 8&9

Hello Everyone

I hope you are well and have had a good weekend. Around here it's been really quiet with not much going on now that the rules have been tightened again to cope with the new variant of Covid. It's such a shame for everyone, especially if their festivities have been cancelled as a result.

Happily for me, I was able to take myself to my craftroom whenever I had a bit of free time and work on pages for my winter album. In fact, I did really well on Sunday and completed these two layouts. 

No.8 - Merry Christmas

The photo is an old one, taken in 2007, of my two youngest grandchildren. They were such a cute pair, they adored each other and were inseparable back then. They are still quite close now they're grown up but no longer inseparable. 

I've added red machine stitching to this page and the bells, stars and poinsettias were fussy cut from a pack of papers that were included in an issue of a now defunct scrapbooking magazine. 

No.9 - Holiday Cheer

Another old photo here. This time from Christmas 2002. It's a rare shot of me with a glass in my hand. Not alcohol, but non-alcoholic mulled wine. We'd just left England and moved up to Scotland to live and I was celebrating getting the tree up and decorated. Moving home just days before Christmas is not to be recommended. 

The die-cut hexagons took time to prepare and I think I could have made a better job of keeping them straight. Too late and I won't be changing it now.

Most of the materials are, like the photos, old but still good. The exceptions are the base papers on both layouts. They are:

Merry Christmas

- 'Holly Jolly' from Photoplay's Tulla & Norbert's Christmas Party collection. 

- 'Tis The Season' from the Holiday Magic collection by Pink Fresh. 

Holiday Cheer

- 'Starry' from 49 and Market's Vintage Ancestry Peace & Joy collection. 

All from Mind the Scrap's December kit. The flairs are from a Christmas set from Dotty About Flair. 

I had a day off yesterday so I'm hoping to do a bit of catching up today. After, that is, domestic duties have been attended to. 

Have a lovely day and stay safe and well. 

December Scrapbook Layouts - No's. 5&6

Hello Everyone,

Back again sharing and recording the two latest pages for December. 

This is just a better pic of the one that was on my desk post yesterday. The background was made with two Brusho powders, Leaf Green & Orange. I had a moment or two of doubt whilst doing it but, once it dried, decided it would do. I kept the embellishments fairly minimal so the simple shot of rosehips in our frosty garden didn't get lost on the page. 

Page No. 6 features Alan in better times - 2018 in fact. Long before Covid. And he's wearing his favourite Christmas jumper. We'd stopped at the supermarket cafe for tea - our reward to ourselves after doing the Christmas shopping. 

As in the previous pages, I used Lisa Sikorski's sketch of the day in her Facebook Sketch-a-Thon for each page. I will continue to use her sketches for the rest of the month.

Similarly, I'm participating in the Scrap Backwards group challenge. This involves creating a kit from stash based on a sheet of stickers that has been broken into but not finished or, failing that, old embellishments like those ancient wooden stars in No.5. Admittedly, my kit for this month is enormous because I just dragged out ALL my Christmas stash. My aim is to use it all up so I can treat myself to a new collection for December 2022. 

And, because it's fun I'm doing my best to include each of the three items in Dotty About Flair's daily prompts. Day No. 5's prompts are, Texture, Rustic & Green, and No. 6's are, Water, 4 patterned papers & Silver. 

No doubt I could make scrap pages without participating in these challenges but it wouldn't be half as much fun. It also helps to see my daughter's inheritance shrinking some! 

Bye for now.

Elizabeth

December Scrapbook Layouts - Nos. 2,3,&4

Hello Everyone,

I hope this finds you well and you had a good day. We've had foul weather today - wet and so cold - and I stayed cosy indoors.

I'm back catching up with the next 3 pages made for my December daily. As before, all challenges and groups mentioned can be found on Facebook. 

No. 2

This page is based on Lisa Sikorski's for Day 2 of her December Sketch-a-Thon, as are page no's. 3&4. This photo of Alan was taken two years ago before he caught Covid. He looks so well. For him, putting up the Christmas tree is all about the lights. Will they still work after 11 months in storage? They did that year and they did this year too.

Everything used on the page is from the kit put together for the Scrap Backwards challenge this month. Once again the flair in the lower cluster is from Dotty About Flair. There's three daily requirements all this month over on this group - on this day they were hearts, snowflakes and the colour teal, all of which I managed to include. 

No. 3

Dotty About Flair's prompts for Day 3 - circles, florals, red - are all included in this page. I chose the spray inks, red and navy blue, for the background spatters after picking out the papers, from my kit of course. For more about the photo scroll down to yesterday's post.

No. 4

This page was completed today. The prompts for this one was Christmas decorations, sequins and Kraft. The beautiful background paper is 'Sweet Winter Season' from StudioLight which is so old I can't find a date for it. The cute Docrafts Papermania snowman and deer are a few years old too. 

The photos are of my youngest great-grandson. I'm not sure I've mentioned this before but Callum is autistic and he's amazing. His main interests are geography, space & the planet's and maths and he's ace at puzzles so this jigsaw of the world map is just perfect for him. He made it up in only two days! He wants to be a scientist when he grows up and I don't doubt for one moment that he will.  

Even though I'm not exactly up-to-date, I'm pleased that I'm not far behind and enjoying scrapping a mix of old and new photos, all taken in December. Having a monthly theme is helping me work my way through a ton of old stash too. 

Now it's late so I'll bid you all a good night. Have a good day tomorrow. 

Bye for now,

Elizabeth

December Scrapbook Layout - No. 1

Hello Everyone,

I hope this finds you well and keeping warm - unless, of course, you live in the southern hemisphere where you are probably trying to stay cool. 

Following on from my WOYWW post yesterday, I've decided to post the pages made in December daily rather than sharing them later when it could be way past the event. Here's the page for December 1st - all challenges and groups mentioned can be found on Facebook. 

It's based on Lisa Sikorski's sketch for Day 1 of her December Sketch-a-Thon. I tweaked the sketch to enable me to use the green cut-apart - it just had to go on the first page of the month. 

The photo is of the Christmas lights on Ayr High Street taken on my birthday at the weekend.

Everything used on the page is from the kit put together for the Scrap Backwards challenge this month. The oldest item is the 'Holiday Words' patterned paper from American Traditional Designs dated 2006! I'm chuffed to bits to have used it at last :) 

The flair in the lower cluster is from Dotty About Flair. There's three daily requirements all this month over on this group - for this month they are, paper layers, gold and a rainbow. I stamped and coloured the rainbow from the April Showers stamp set from Clearly Besotted. I forget where I got the gold enamel dots but it was a long time ago. 

Before I go, I just want to say that my thoughts go out to anyone who is still living without electricity. It's the sixth day for many and that's too long to live without heat, light and cooking facilities. In the meantime, I hope you're all managing to keep warm and stay safe.