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. 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