Hellooo ... it's been a while!

Hellooo ... I know, I know, it's been a long time!

This blog has been a little quiet this year ..... But that's about to change!!

So far in 2014 I've been to several crops, a whole weekend scrapping retreat and an all day Charity crop as well as some scrappy sessions here at home, so it's fair to say I have a few layouts to show you.

I'll kick off with this one for today:

This was a layout I made for a commission for Scrapbook Magazine which appeared in issue 78 back at the start of the year for a "New Beginnings" feature.

I created a page about how we gave a new home to Lola, one of the two young kittens who had been rescued by our local RSPCA after a member of the public discovered them abandoned in a park in a cardboard box.  We actually ended up bringing both kittens home and the two sisters are now very happy with us.

The papers, stickers, fabric frame and resin flowers are from the Crate Flea Market collection. I also used some Studio Calico wood heart and arrows, Mister Huey mist, enamel dots and some of the lovely hearts washi tape.

It's good to be back on my little blog and I'll be back soon to show you another layout or two!!

Thanks for popping in!

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!

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?

Love Crate Paper!!

Crate paper has been one of my favourite manufacturers for a long time!

Their new collection Little Bo Peep is gorgeous! Many of the " a " sides of the papers and some of the stickers are clearly designed for baby girl layouts but I love that the " b " sides and many other elements are more general and can be used for a variety of different themes.

I used the Little Bo Peep papers and a few bits from my box of paper scraps to make this layout.

The journal card and "Cute as a button" sticker are also Crate Little Bo Peep and I used my new Studio Calico thickers for the title. There are more details and close up photos here!

I'm still working my way through a pile of half finished layouts so hopefully I'll have a few more completed layouts to show you soon.


I've entered this layout to Jennifer's  Scrapbooking Soiree party ... don't forget you have until the 7th of August to link up your layouts created since the 8th July!


Have you been watching the Olympics?
Our house has "olympic fever" and it was great to see Team GB win a couple of gold medals today!

Shimelle's On Line Crop

Oh dear, long time since I last blogged.

I won't bore you with reasons why!

Let's just say life got in the way of my scrapping and blogging time!

Anyway, last weekend the lovely Shimelle hosted an on line crop. I was determined to find an hour or two to scrap. I decided to have a go at the first challenge which was to create a layout inspired by this beautiful page by Jaime Warren. Details of the challenge are here!

I loved the placement of the photo and the papers at the top and bottom and the clusters going off the edges .... so I took those elements and came up with this page:

I am making an effort to scrap some more of H's baby photos - this one is from 2004!

I used up some old Crate Mia paper for my background, MME Miss Caroline Fiddlesticks 6" x 6" paper, Echo park chipboard and some scraps of Crate Random paper and various stickers from my stash!

The scattered embellishments across the page is a new idea for me, but I do like the finished look!

Here's hoping I manage at least another one or two of Shimelle's challenges!!

Budget Challenge for Scrapbook Magazine

It seems like ages ago that I was first asked if I would take up the "Budget Challenge" for Scrapbook Magazine. Of course I said "Yes"!! The next available slot, they told me, was for issue 62!!

I made my 3 layouts using just £10 of supplies, typed up the text and e mailed it off to SBM back before Christmas. Then we had a long wait ... until last week when issue 62 was on sale. I was so excited as I opened up the magazine to see my layouts in print!

Two of my layouts featured my daughter so you can imagine her delight at seeing her photos in the magazine!!

These are the layouts I made using mainly Crate Paper's Random Collection

These photos were taken in the Butterfly House at the Natural history Museum in London.

I punched little circles and positioned them down the edge of the photos to create a scallop border.

More punched circles and punched butterflies make up the row of embellishments below the pictures.

For this layout I distressed the edges of the patterned papers, punched a few butterflies, added a "beautiful" sticker and a title and I was done!

The pink dots on the butterflies are from my pack of Thickers letters. I would usually use gems/pearls but my £10 worth of stash wouldn't stretch that far so I used the full stop instead!

My 3rd layout uses up the scraps of pattern paper that were left. I punched the edges with my bracket border punch and layered them up. I made 3 embellishments from punches circles with a button centre. The journalling reads "On our weekend trip we visited Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, a lovely place with amazing views, pretty cottages and great for taking photos!"

One of the things I found difficult with such limited supplies was only having one pack of letters for my titles and not being able to dip into different packs and sheets of alphas!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Shimelle's Starting Point

It's almost too warm and sunny today to be at my scrapping table but as I've got the whole day to myself (I don't even have to go on the school run later!) I thought I would use the time to get scrapping as I had seen this week's starting point last night and I really wanted to have a go. I'm not great with "wide open space" on my pages so I thought this challenge might be good for me.

So this is what I started with ....

Look at all that open space!!

At this stage I hadn't yet stuck the papers to the base cardstock as knew I wanted to place my photos off the page slightly and would need to be able to trim the overhang on the right hand side. I used Crate Random Vintage and Pattern and a small strip of Curtains and also some Crate Neighbourhood from my scraps box.

This is the finished layout ....

Not much "open space" left is there?! lol!

The "Enjoy Life" sticker, the half circle at the top left and the journal spot with the date on are all from the Crate sticker sheet. My title is thickers glitter alphas and I think the tiny letters are My Little Shoebox. I've also used my favourite MS butterfly punch, some fibres that I've had for years and orange gems. I've inked all the edges with my brushed corduroy distress ink.

Right, time for a late (very!) lunch and then I have a couple of haf finished layouts to try to get finished and I might even sit in the garden in this beautiful sunshine for a bit!

Thanks for stopping by!