52 Cards Wk17: Pick a Pocket

Week 17's prompt for the 52 Card Challenge was another sketch which included adding a pocket or envelope to our card 

I knew in my stash somewhere I had some pockets from Papermania's All Aboard collection which I had brought last year. If I'm honest I must have had a mad moment last year as not only did I buy the pockets but also the die cut pack, tags and 6x6 papers. In fairness it was all reduced but why oh why did I buy it? We don't travel so it has all just been sitting there doing nothing so this seemed the perfect opportunity to use some of it up. 

I added a luggage label to the pocket but stuck it in so it is just for show and not serving a purpose. The tickets are a combination of a MME ticket from a strip I received in a grab box and an actual train ticket from a railway in Norfolk my parents had visited. 

Using a kraft card base means the inside is not smooth so any writing inside is not easy to read. In an attempt to actually use this collection up I took another piece of paper and made an insert

The morale of this blog post: think before you buy! Don't buy just because something is reduced! 

Sketchy Scrappers: Not London Bridge!

This months sketch on a Sketchy Scrappers was set my Alison, who chose this sketch from an Australian Scrapbooking magazine. 

I wasn't sure how to interpret this sketch at first but decided to rotate it and use three photos rather than two photos and three tiny photos. 

I did struggle with this layout and in hindsight probably should have used smaller photos, but it is what it is. 

In this layout I take the mick out of myself as when we went to London last year I kept calling Westminster bridge London bridge! The papers are all scraps I had from Maggie Holmes Flea Market. I cut the top one into an arrow to add a bit of interest and added the Found it cut apart from the same collection again to poke fun at me! The title is made with Amy Tangerine Thickers. 

This is layout 18/30 

52 Cards Wk16: Gold

Week 16's prompt for the 53 Card Challenge was gold (admit it you read that singing Spandau Ballet, I know I did). Next week is my aunties 60th birthday so I used the prompt to make a birthday card for her. On her blog Nat mentioned that there were gold (cue Spandau Ballet again) elements in the Maggie Holmes Style Board emphemera pack. I havnt got this collection yet but I do have her Flea Market papers and so used these. 

I pulled out some old gold mirror card and embossed a strip to run along the middle. The butterflies are punched from dictionary paper using a Martha Stewart punch. 

Poetic Platform: Life.Paper.Scrapbook April Sketch

I like a good sketch as a starting point when scrapping and over on Life.Paper.Scrapbooking blogthis month they have a great sketch

I decided to rotate the sketch so the photos would run horizontally and made this layout using photos of the platform at St Pancras Station. 

Running along the platform close to the statue of John Betjamin were plaques with quotes from his poems. I assume they are from Betjamin poems having not read any I'm no expert lol! 

I trimmed the photos to be square but with at least the toes of mine and Jojo's Converse still showing. I mounted these onto a piece of Studio Calico paper I'd had in my stash for ages. It came in a Christmas kit a couple of years ago with one side being snowflakes and the other being this red colour with a snowy village scene on it. I never thought I would use it but thought it was great with these photos as it matches Jojo's shoes. The other papers are Amy Tangerine and Pink Paislee, the background is a B side of a Carta Bella paper. 

I picked up the maroon/red colour again in the title with my Thickers, and raided my die cut box to cluster some cut a parts. 

This is layout 17/30 

52 Cards Wk15 & Scrapology April card challenge: foxy birthday card

For wk15 on the 52 Card Challenge the prompt was "all creatures great or small", to make a card with our furry friends. Common sense would say to make an Easter card as the prompt was before Easter and use bunnies or chicks. But I lack common sense sometimes and I'm still catching UK so Easter has been and gone! I searched through my stash for anything animal related but other than butterfly punches and my bird punch from Stampin Up, I was not feeling inspired.

Then after catching up on my blog reading I came across the Scrapology April card challenge to use freebies. I remembered I had saved a cute fox postcard we received from a supplier at work from the bin so decided to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. The rabbit tag is also a freebie from a Joules bath set I received for Christmas and I intend to make a card with this too at some point. 

The easy option would be to use the postcard as a whole as a backing appear but that would be no fun. Instead I pulled out my Stampin Up postage stamp punch and punched some foxes out. 

I added a scrap of old October Afternoon paper, some Washi tape and some Pebbles letter stickers. 

Purrfect Fit: Challenge YOUrself April Challenge

This months challenge on the Challenge YOUrself Blog is to use at least three trends on a layout. A perfect, or purrfect, challenge for layout 16 of my 30 layout challenge. So once again I flicked through my photos to find any with me in them and then jotted down some trends around at the moment. This is the layout I made, the photo was taken last summer in a shop on Carnaby Street

I don't know why I didn't buy these Hello Kitty glasses cos I love them! 

The trends I used were chevrons which were leftovers from a card I'd just made for Ian, sequins, cameras and a wood veneer frame all from old kits. 

The background paper is a Dear Lizzy paper with mist on it, but as I didn't do the misting I didn't include this as a trend. The other papers are both sides of a paper from Pebbles, Dear Lizzy cut a parts and a scrap of Lily Bee paper. The title is made with Authentique alphas. Title credit goes to Gemma's husband Mark who I will be calling on again lol! 

52 Cards: Happy Birthday Ian

I'm yet again playing catch up with the 52 Card Challenge. For week 14 Nat set is another photo inspiration prompt

You know when you've got lots of ideas in your head but they never translate onto paper? That happened to me. When I saw this photo 2 weeks ago I had ideas of using my new chevron punch to create a minimalist card with some wood grain Washi tape and a bold sentiment. But this never materialised, probably because me being me I left making Ian's birthday card right to the last minute so made a rushed card which is ok but not what I would have liked it to be. 

I did at least use my chevron punch! When I saw the coffee cup sticker from the Hello Again collection I knew I could only use it for either a card for Ian or a layout about him as he is a big coffee drinker. I thought the colours from the collection were fairly similar to the wall in the inspiration photo and used the coffee cup as a focal point just as the chair is in the photo. As I said, it is an ok card I'm not happy with it but Ian liked it so that's the main thing. 

Me & my Monkey

All together now... Whoa I'm halfway there, whoa Living on a Prayer! Oops sorry but I'm a tad excited that I'm halfway through my 30 layout challenge. That's right, 15 layouts down 15 to go! In Sunday I sat down popped a DVD on and scrapped with Daniel Craig

Although if it's ever going to work between the two of us he's going to have to shop distracting me while I try and scrap lol! As you can see I decided to scrap two photos of both Ian and I with Rodgie. The inspiration for this layout came from a friend who commented on Ian's photo on Facebook with the title of a Robbie Williams song

The papers are all from Crate Paper Close Knit, I think the background paper is becoming one of my favourites for backgrounds as it's nice & neutral. I'm slowly getting through the cut apart tags which also came with the papers and used two here along with a Dear Lizzy cut apart. The material flower and wooden hearts came from a Quirky Kit. The alphas are Alison Kreft. 

Time to start the next 15! 

Big Stepper

In my quest to complete 30 layouts before stash shopping I took part in this weeks challenge on UKS. This week we were asked to use this sketch 

And to use square photos, stars & chevrons, three things I love! Another thing I love is the programme Ghost Adventures, think Most Haunted but with actual evidence and no Yvette Fielding screaming at her own shadow! One of the guys from the show has a website called Big Steppin, to achieve our dreams and goals take big steps not little steps. Anyway, while on there I saw some t-shirts I liked and ordered a couple, took these pics on Instagram and now I'm on the fan page of the website! 

I decided to go for bright papers on black card to make the photos pop. The papers are from a paper stack I had split with Gemma. I had originally planned to use my new Stampin Up chevron punch but for whatever reason I couldn't think how to make it work on this layout so used chevron Washi tape stars instead. 

This is layout 14/30

Selfie at the Palace

A quick post to share layout 13/30 which I completed over the weekend. 

This photo was taken last summer when Jojo and I went to London for the day. After going to the London Eye we wandered to Horse Guards and through St James's Park to Buckingham Palace. We joined the other tourists at the gates and took lots of photos including a selfie. 

The papers are all Maggie Holmes Flea Market, including a couple of Project Life cards which go with the collection. I had intended to add an ampersand to the heart of the title card for my title but annoyingly none of my stickers had any! I painted the chipboard camera from an old kit with Picked Raspberry distress paint and added some gold stars from another old kit. 

Perfect & Awesome

I was back in the scrapping groove on Saturday, I had the day off, Ian was tinkering with a bike, I had a new trimmer to play with, it was all systems go! Along with my layout on the previous post I managed one more, not as productive as I am at Meadow Barn but better than nothing. I think when I'm at home I'm distracted by the TV, etc which doesn't help my indecisiveness so a simple layout takes me well over an hour lol! Anyway...

This photo is of my niece wearing a t-shirt which sums her up pretty well! All the papers are from Maggie Holmes Flea Market, including some cut a parts from an accompanying cut a part sheet. I love this collection so much I brought the Project Life mini kit to go with it, and Maggie Holmes new collection is on my wish list for when I've completed my 30 layouts. Speaking of which this is layout 12, only 18 more to go.