One Girl and her DS - Shimelle's Starting Point

I based this layout on Shimelle's Starting Point. I wanted to document my daughter's love for her DS and record some of her current favourite games!

This was how I started:

And my finished layout

I'm still stash busting and using up paper scraps and old "stuff" including this Girl's Paperie flower embellishment and a "cool" chipboard piece (I've no idea of the manufacturer) that have been in my stash for years!

I'm really enjoying mixing up my old stash with some newer products at the moment.

New Challenge at S J Crafts

Hello 

I hope your week is going well!

It's time for a new monthly challenge at S J Crafts and this time the theme is SCHOOL And/Or LEARNING

More details and Design Team samples are right here.

This was a fairly easy one for me. I wanted to make a layout featuring two photos taken 5 years apart. Both school photos. Both taken on my daughter's first day of a new school year. One when she started in Reception and the other taken just a couple of weeks ago!

She's hardly changed has she? Well, apart from the fringe is gone and she's a little taller! Note how her socks are falling down in both photos - her socks are forever "half asleep"!! 

Still aware of my stash busting promise I used up more scraps. I did use a whole sheet of blue bazzill cardstock for the background but I had a piece of white that was just the right size and I punched the scalloped border with my favourite Fiskars punch. The red gingham and the flower paper is Fancy Pants Childish Things and just about everything else is scraps of Note to Self papers and stickers. I rounded the corners with a punch similar to this one.

I hope you'll enter the challenge  - you have until 17th October!

Craft Space Reorganisation - The Before!

So, as I mentioned on my last few posts I have been thinking about reorganising my craft space to make it work better for me. I want to spend less time rummaging for supplies and more time actually creating!! 

My craft space is in our dining area. I scrapbook on the dining table. We rarely eat at the table in this house. Good job really!! My stash is stored in the corner, just behind where I sit.

Earlier this year I got a 2 x 2 Expedit unit (see this post) and although I love it, a lot of my stash was stored on shelves that are too narrow to be useful.

So, over the weekend hubby and I had a conversation about how we could reorganise the room better - it also stores some of our daughter's books and board games on more shelves that really are too narrow, and agreed another Expedit unit would work better. So off to Ikea we went!! No point wasting time!

Before photos of my craft corner!

It is hard to reach stuff at the back of the bottom 2 shelves but this is the only way they would fit into the space. The boxes in the Expedit unit are also in a bit of a mess!

Today, I have built my lovely new Expedit and moved the room around so that the two units fit next to each other.

I will be using 4 cubes for stash and 4 cubes will be for family books and the board games so that both the "too narrow" shelves can be got rid of.

I'll show you some after pics when it's all done!!

Do you store your craft stash in the expedit system or a similar units? I'd love to see so please do leave a link or any tips you can give for organising craft supplies.

You Can Sit Up!

I'm continuing with my stash busting and using up my paper scraps and half used sticker sheets.

Also, still working through the baby photos of H. This one was taken in 2004 on one of the first times that she sat up for more than a minute or two without support. Up until then she had been supported with a cushion or had fallen over within 20 seconds or so.

It is very similar to the "You Are One" layout I did last week, with lots of white space and a cluster to the top right of the page but as the pages will be away from each other in my album it doesn't matter to me that they are similar.

I used a full sheet of So Happy - criss cross paper for my background (which I flicked some red paint onto) and the blue chevron paper,  stickers and journal card are all from the same collection. The cute little clip on the jouranlling card is a SMASH flag clip. I used up some old Jenni Bowlin circle stickers that I've had for years and added a few more stickers from Little Bo Peep.  The title is a real mix of Studio Calico thickers, a Dear Lizzy word sticker and some tiny alphas. A few pearls and gems scattered around to finish off.

The journalling reads "This was one of the first times you sat up on your own, with no support for more than a minute or 2!! The photo was taken when you were 6 1/2 months old and I can remember just after it was taken you toppled over!!" 

Thanks for stopping by today!

WOYWW 171

I'm very pleased to report that with the house all to myself again I have been scrapping quite a lot lately!! Anyone else pleased schools are back?!

I don't think I joined in with Julia's weekly round up of crafty places all summer so I thought it was high time I played along.

So, as mentioned back here I did have a good tidy up last week but this week I'm back to pulling out boxes (see that tower I'm starting to build on the left!) and rummaging for supplies. I'm still unsure how best to organise my craft space - I'm now thinking I "need" another Ikea expedit unit!

There's my bag at the back which still needs unpacking from a crop I went to at the weekend and next to that a pile of magazines (with my button box on top!) that I had been looking through and are now awaiting a new home - maybe in a new expedit unit?!! 

The rest is just various papers, stickers and stuff I've pulled out of the boxes that I might use on the layout that you can see in progress.

Right, I'm going to make another cuppa and go visit some crafty desks!! 

Happy WOYWW x

You Are One!

Happy Monday to you! 

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! On Saturday I was at the Littlegreen Crop, with my shop and had once the shop was all set up I had a little time to do some scrapping alongside the lovely ladies that were there!

Inspired by Lisa-Jane's recent blog posts on using 6 x 6 papers which in case you missed them are here, here and here! and in line with my current Stash busting efforts - I grabbed a half used Crate Random 6 x 6 pad (with a fair few part used sheets in it!!) and came up with this layout.

Sorry, it's not a great photo - there is no decent daylight here today! 

I picked out a 6 x 6 sheet of denim paper to match H's little dress in the photo and trimmed it for a photo mat. I then added a "ruler" sticker, pink washi tape and a scrap of patterned paper from the pad which I punched with a Stampin Up border punch underneath the photo of H on her first birthday

I trimmed some more of the 6 x 6 papers and tucked them under the top of the photo. In the top right hand corner  2 more little stips of paper and some washi tape create a cluster to balance the layout.

My title is Dear Lizzy Glitter Thickers and I added some punched butterflies, tiny alpha stickers for the date, some little pink gems and a few "flicks" of pink paint!

Don't forget to add your projects made with 6" x 6" papers to this blog post by 16th September to be in with a chance of a prize!

I did start another layout at the crop but just need to finish it off before I can show you.

I'm also linking up with the September Soiree - a fun place to link up your projects hosted by the lovely Jennifer.

Bouncy Chair Layout & Stash Busting!

So with H back to school yesterday and hubby back to work after a few days holiday, it's back to normal (whatever that is?!) in this house. 

With a quiet house yesterday and a couple of hours to myself I tackled my craft area and had a good sort through my stash and a much needed tidy up. I badly need to review my craft storage as I've a tendency to "not use it if I can't see it". 

I'm not quite sure how to make "my space" work for me at the moment. I know I need to have more of my supplies within reach and better organised so I can easily see what I have. But for now, I've sorted out the "piles of stash" and discovered lots of buried pretty things!!

I love the idea of Niki's "Only Scraps Allowed" challenge where she uses just one 12 x 12 sheet and the rest is all scraps and off cuts. So I've challenged myself to use up more of my scraps and "old stuff".

So with this idea in mind, I gathered together some supplies I've had a while and rummaged through my (now sorted! bag of paper scraps. I chose some older photos too - when H was a baby in her little bouncy chair!

The only complete sheet of paper I used was the cream bazzill for the background. Everything else was off cuts of paper, stickers from half used sheets, alphas from packs with most of the letters missing. I resisted cutting into anything new and used up lots of flowers, pearls and brads I've had for ages.

Looking at these photos now, I can hardly believe they were taken nearly 9 years ago! 

Do you use up your scraps or do you prefer to use new supplies?

How do you store your stash so that your older supplies don't get forgotten - any tips and ideas?

London!!

Is it really September? Yes!!!! Can you believe it?

We have been looking forward to September for ages .... and our few days away .... just the 3 of Us!! We caught an early train on Sunday morning and arrived into a beautiful sunny London!

Dumping our bags at our hotel, which was right opposite Kensington Gardens we strolled through the park enjoying the good weather.

The gates to Kensington Palace were adorned with flowers and tributes to Diana for the 15th anniversary of her death. 

I actually felt quite emotional and choked up!

We packed in a lot during our 3 days .....

Knightsbridge and Harrods followed by dinner at TGI Fridays!

Monday morning. I loved wandering around Portobello Road and Notting Hill. Just taking in the atmosphere. Enjoying the sunshine. Relaxing.

Of course, we couldn't resist a photo outside the bookshop that featured in the film! After a late brunch we took Hannah to Oxford Street for some serious shopping!

Whilst we were away it was my hubby's birthday so it seemed only fair the choice of show should be his!! He chose well!! Wicked was fantastic!! 

Hannah enjoyed her first experience of seeing a London Show!!

Tuesday morning was another gorgeous day with blue skies. Perfect for a lazy (and late!) breakfast at The Orangery, in Kensington Palace gardens!

There was just time for a wander around Convent Garden before catching our train home!