Scrapbook 1/2019 - December 4 2018

Hi Everyone,

I trust you are all well and getting back into the swing of things now that January is well under way. Welcome to my new followers - Gee Dazee and Tracey from Hotpotch Creations!

I'm slowly getting over my aching jaw and feeling a bit more up to crafting, so much so I've been able to complete this UFO - begun last year!

This is a shameless lift from a layout of Mind the Scrap's Emma using stash from her December kit. I particularly liked how she used the printed vellum over a subtly patterned paper - disguising the adhesive needed to fix it in place under the photograph. Also the gorgeous red and white felt garland looked perfect strung along under the photo panel in the layout.

Supplies used:

• Cardstocks: white for base, black for photo mat
• Papers: Carta Bella Christmas 'Merry Snowflakes'; Crate Paper 'Mistletoe' patterned paper; Pebbles Cozy & Bright 'Home for Christmas'; Shimelle's Head in the Clouds 'Counting Wishes' for the number 4; Making Memories 'Mistletoe' (that last paper from my stash)
• Special papers: Crate Paper's printed vellum 'Merry Days'; We R Memory Keepers Shape 'N Tape adhesive sheets in red; red tissue paper (for matting photo)
• Ink pads: Memories black dye pad and Whispers Cherry Red pad
• Stamps: Dovecraft tiny alphabet for letters and numbers from a set that no longer has a name; American Crafts Christmas date stamp
• Embellishments: Echo Park's Merry and Bright sticker sheet and Pebbles felt garland from the kit; red and white twine; green enamel dots from my stash

The photo was taken just to celebrate the cute coasters I spotted in our local supermarket - I couldn't resist the cute image. It was a lucky coincidence that there was a sticker on the Merry and Bright sticker sheet that fitted perfectly with the photo.

The adhesive sheet from We R Memory Keepers can be used in a variety of ways - here I've just cut two strips and used them in the same way we would Washi tape but it is also possible to die-cut various shapes to make custom stickers. There's a cutting die kit sold separately which includes 18 dies designed specifically for use with the adhesive sheets but I think I will try some of my own dies instead. I think the more basic shapes, e.g. circles, hearts, stars, etc., would cut perfectly.

Take care all and have a great day.

Sunday Snippets ... and snippets of the snippets

Evening Everyone ...

... I hope you have have had a super Sunday and a happy weekend.

Sadly, it's five days since I last posted anything ... sorting out the craft room and even finding time to craft has been very low down on the list of priorities. It seems better to have a fully functioning kitchen than a sorted craft room :)) However, I do have a scrap page and a card to share with you ... both were begun and almost completed before we moved and both include snippets in the making.

I confess that the design for this page was scraplifted from the most recent issue of Scrap365, and if I could find the magazine I'd be only too happy to credit the designer ... but, unfortunately, it's in one of the many boxes still waiting to be unpacked!!! I raided the snippet box for the papers to compliment this cute pic of my granddaughter taken on her 9th birthday last year, and because it's Sunday, and in Jules time honoured tradition, I won't list details ... in truth, I can't remember them anyway :)

The decoration is just a few tiny punched hearts, star shaped sequins and pink gems.
 
Of course, the photo was taken before I added the journaling because I couldn't find my pack of pens. This page will be slipped into the album next to a project life style page in which there will be more photos taken that same day.

The page done, I decided to create a card from the leftover papers. Got is started but had to leave off from finishing it for the removal.

I used a black card base, trimmed the papers into blocks and strips, edged them with ProMarkers in toning shades and added some faux stitching - I found the box of pens :) I think the ladybird perched on the hedgehog's toes is super cute.

With the base being black, the inside needed a panel of something lighter to write a greeting on and luckily there was enough of the green patterned paper left to do the job.

So lots of snippets used in both the scrap page and the card and that means I can pop over to the Pixies Snippet Playground and join in the celebrations ... it's, amazingly, the 100th week since Di took over from Jules - how time flies!

I can't promise when I'll be back again ... so much to unpack and sort out but every day brings progress and it really is beginning to feel like home here. I hope to be able to share some photos with you soon.

Edit Note: I've finally unpacked the box containing the magazine featuring the layout I scraplifted for my page ... entitled Jewel, it's by Ali Paris, and it's in the December/January 2013 edition of Scrap 365. Many thanks to Ali for the inspiration :)

In the meantime, take care and happy crafting,

Passing Out ...

... no, not literally!

Hi Everyone,

No WOYWW today ... I've a busy few days in front of me and I just know I wouldn't be able to give my fellow WOYWWers the attention they deserved :( Besides, there really was nothing on my desk to show ... it's so tidy it's boring. Instead, I have this scrap page to share.

The photo in this layout shows me dressed in my 'best', No.1, uniform immediately after my Passing Out Parade in February 1966. I'd just finished the six-week initial training period at Queen Elizabeth Barracks,  Guildford, which, sadly, no longer exists. To my knowledge, this is the only photo of me in uniform still in existence - one for the Family History album, methinks :)

Choosing the papers to go with this particular photo was interesting and not just because it's black and white, the subject didn't lend itself to the obvious 'vintage' style papers.  They just didn't work with it. Unfortunately, I didn't have any swinging sixties style patterns in my stash - pop-art might have been good. I could have tried green ... the WRAC uniform was dark green - designed by no less a man than Norman Hartnell, designer to the Queen! - but that didn't appeal. I finally decided to use the very current Dear Lizzy papers because I like the aquas and teals and the stripes and triangles struck me as more appropriate than flowers/leaves/etc.

The layout is a scraplift inspired by Hayley Morris's page, entitled 'My Precious Memories' in Issue 70, Scrapbook Magazine.  For the background, I chose a dark grey SEI paper which had a tiny lighter grey dot pattern. The embellishments are a mix of ready-made stickers and die-cuts and a few I made myself, e.g the yellow stars were all made using either a die or were punched from Dear Lizzy paper and the taupe deckle-edged circles were die-cut from scraps of Kanban paper. When it came to the journaling, I almost came unstuck - where to write it was a bit of a test. I suppose I could have used a white pen on the grey background but I didn't think I could do a good job with the only white pen I own. As you can see, I went with filling in the area to the right of the photo.

Supplies used:
Papers: SEI Juliette, My Romeo patterned paper(side 2) for base; Dear Lizzy 5th & Frolic paper collection; Kanban Vintage Tapestry
Embellishments: Corners from Docrafts Chronology Die-cut Toppers; My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline Howdy Doody 'Lovely' stickers; Teresa Collins Fabrications 'Canvas' Die-cut sheet & Sticker Sheet; teal coloured tiny brads; teal/white baker's twine; Trimcraft Flower Riverbank Revels yellow polka dot washi tape
Titles: BoBunny letter stickers Country Garden Tiny Type; American Crafts thickers Newsprint
Tools: Docrafts X-cut nesting dies Star & Spiro Circle; X-cut star corner punch

Only a few snippets went in to the layout but I think I'll be skipping over toDi's at Pixie's Crafty Snippets. It's week 59 and I'm keen see what the others in the playground are up to :))

More background to the photo which might be of interest to some readers:  The WRAC - Women's Royal Army Corp - was disbanded in 1992 and women have since been integrated into the rest of the army. Queen Elizabeth Barracks was also known as the 'Powder Puff' barracks - all those women - and was the height of luxury compared with any other army camp I was billeted in - only four beds to a room!  Now redeveloped, it is an estate of private houses and flats, I believe.  We had two uniforms, one for 'best' and another, more practical one for everyday wear.  The best, as seen in the photo, was the least flattering ... it had a way of flattening our natural attributes :) Oh, and I loathed that cap - it had a metal band inside that was like a vice - it hurt! I much preferred the everyday beret :)

Right, I'm reliably informed that there is a pot of tea on the go, so I'm off to get a cuppa and start planning the next project on the to-do list.

Thanks for visiting, take care all and happy crafting,

Laugh, Laugh Often ... SOS Pagerize #24 This Challenge Layout

Hello Everyone,

Each month Scrap Our Stash has a Pagerize This Challenge. Pagerize is simply a scraplifting challenge and a lot of fun!  This month we have been challenged to pagerize this lovely page made by fellow DT member, Karen.

And as soon as I saw Karen's scrap page, I just had to pagerize it. I've chosen to scrap a photo taken of my son 42 years ago when he was only 9 months old and the apple of his mother's eye :) We were on leave from Germany, visiting his grandmother in Ayrshire, Scotland. In fact, almost the whole family gathered to meet him, aunts, uncles and even his great-grandmother came through from Edinburgh to see her first great-grandchild. 

This was the first professional photo I had taken of him and I can still recall it vividly to mind. He laughed and chuckled happily for the photographer throughout the session - hence the title - he was an incredibly happy baby :) Although it's a black and white shot, I remember that he was dressed in palest green so I chose to have that as the main colour with touches of blue, yellow and pink in the embellishments. I've moved the photo cluster up to the right of the page and swopped embellishment clusters round a bit, but otherwise it is more or less the same layout as Karen's.

Materials:  Papermania, Happy Days; Imaginisce For Peep's Sake, Spring Fling; Fancy Pants It's, The Little Things; blue BoBunny cardstock; Hot Of The Press, Serendipity; Nitwit Collection, Bumbleberry Cottage; Champion Art Stamps, Laugh Often; WH Smith, blue label; all the other embellishments from stash.

If you would like to have a go at pagerizing/scraplifting Karen's layout, you have until the 12th of December to submit to Scrap Our Stash - full details can be found on the blog.

Thanks for looking. 

Happy Crafting,

Birthday Hug - A Scraplifted Layout

Hi Everyone,

Still catching up with some of the projects I have to share with you - this time it's scrap page featuring a favourite photograph of two of my youngest grandchildren. I asked Shari-Ann to pose so I could take a photo of her on her ninth birthday and she insisted that her big brother, Alun, be in the shot too - so he gave her a big hug :)

For this page I scraplifted the layout from Anna Bjorklund's NYA page, featured in the July issue of Scrap 365 magazine.  Of course, not having any of the materials used in the original, I improvised and compromised, but stayed fairly faithful to Anna's layout. Anna printed her photo on to acetate and layered over text paper, which looks great, but as I didn't have acetate to print on to, I opted to use an ordinary photograph matted onto a script paper instead.

Anna chose stars to embellish her page but, having no stars, I've used Prima flowers, layered, inked and stickled, with card candi centres, and buttons tied with baker's twine.

If you are looking for more inspiration, Anna has a blog, My Messy Spot, which is well worth a look. Her most recent post features a fab altered canvas with the most stunning butterfly embellishments made with modelling paste.

Materials used in my layout were:
My Mind's Eye, Boo to You! "Creepy Crawlers", 12x12 paper (it's got cute spiders on the other side) 
Large white doily bought from a pound shop
White card, wax embossed and inked with TH Victorian Velvet distress ink
Snippet of script printed paper - apologies, bought this paper years ago so maker/name long forgotten
Alphas: Fancy Pants Designs Kraft Kuts Sticker Pink Alphas; Docrafts Papermania Henbury Lane alphas
Embellishments: Anna Griffin Lulu stitched grosgrain ribbon; Prima flowers; Stickles Fruit Punch; Card Candi Sherbet Pips; Ribbon Girl baker's twine, camel/white; buttons from Handy Hippo

After all the bright sunshine of the last couple of days we are now back to overcast and threatening rain ... in fact, there's been a few spatters already this morning  - so no fun in the sun for us today :(

I'll just have to go craft instead :)

Hope you are all having a lovely Sunday, whatever the weather wherever you are.

Happy crafting,

Heart Teddy Birthday Card - Sunday Snippet Make

Good Afternoon,

It's hot here in Ayr, in fact, our back garden is a super hotspot at the moment ... the thermometer on the patio registered 90°F (around 32°C) yesterday! Much as I like the sun, that's just too hot for me. However, the craft space is a cool and welcoming refuge :)

The postie delivered the latest issue of Scrapbook Magazine on Saturday and I couldn't resist settling down with a cuppa for a good read. A lovely layout by Helen Eddie, featuring punched heart embellishments inspired me to make this cute little teddy card. Here's a snap of Helen's scrap page:

I just thought that the design would transfer well to a tall card, so scraplifted it, replacing the photo with a Cute Teddy Bear topper - from Cardmakers Delight ... another example of me being led astray by my friend Di! ... well, what are friends for after all :))

Helen has a blog, Little Miss Scrapper, where you can see more examples of her lovely scrap pages.

The hearts and the matting on my card have all been made from snippets qualifying it for submission to the Snippet Challenge # 22 over at Di's place, Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

Materials used:

• White card measuring 8" square folded in half to form base.
• Teresa Collins, Celebrate paper collection - free from Scrapbook Magazine - for the polka dot design paper and the sentiment topper.
• Cute Teddy Bear topper from Cardmaker's Delight
• Snippets of paper from various sources, the only two I can name with any degree of certainty are Cosmo Cricket, Earth Love Borders and American Crafts, The Colour of Memories.
• Heart template from Memories Forever, maker Westrim Crafts - I've had these scrapbooking templates forever ... well, since 1996 at least - I think I brought them back from the US ... and they are soooo useful, especially when I haven't got a punch or die of the right shape or size.
• Small Woodware heart punch
• Buttons, black marker, ribbon and embroidery floss from stash

I worked on this card some of yesterday, and I thought I'd finished it ... I even took the photos ready to post early this morning. However, when I looked at the card in the cold light of day, I thought there was something missing ... it needed a little something extra. Here's last night's photo:

Spot the difference!

Right, I'm off to see what my fellow bloggers have been up to - if not soaking up the rays :)

Happy crafting,