An Unnatural Challenge: Daring Cardmakers Challenge

This weeks challenge on the Daring Cardmakers  blog was an unnatural one. We were asked to make a card using a colour not found in nature, for example purple elephants, or red lions. So naturally i made a card with a pink fox! 

I looked through my stamps for some inspiration first of all and found a Docrafts fox stamp. I then remembered I had a scrap of Bella Boulevard paper with different colour foxes which i had been hoarding for ages and went from there. I coloured the image with Promarkers and used papers from Simple Stories, Crate Paper Oasis and Paige Evans Oh My Heart. I used a sticker from an older Pink Paislee collection  as my sentiment. 

We're all mad here: Daring Cardmakers Challenge

This weeks challenge on the Daring Cardmakers Bloglis to create an Alice in Wonderland inspired card. I am a HUGE fan of over thing Alice in Wonderland so jumped at the chance to take part in this challenge, especially ad i knew i had the perfect stash. For my birthday last year mum brought me some Alice in Wonderland toppers amd papers from Debbie Moore so i dug this out and decided to use a Mad Hatter topper to make this card. 

I decided to mix one of the papers from the collection with some of my scraps just to lift it a bit. I used scraps from Amy Tangerine which seemed to tie in perfectly. 

That one time auto correct would have come in handy!

I dont know about you but i have love hate relationship with auto correct on my phone, it loves to torment me and i generally hate it for this! But just as i sat down to start writing this blog post showing you another one of my recent layouts I noticed a spelling mistake on my title. Granted I could have quickly gone and corrected this, took another photo of it and then blogged it and you would have been none the wiser, but In all honesty I cant be arsed to that so you'll just have to deal with it! This layout I made for the May sketch challenge on Sketchy Scrappers which was set by Elaine. 

After searching through my photos and picking a couple of options, I decided i scrap another photo for my Harry Potter album. 

This photo is of the secret entrance to Dumbledore's office where saying the secret password of Sherbet (not sherbert, although to me it looks right and I've spent a good five minutes googling the spelling so you can make your own minds up!) lemon would gain you entry.  It took me ages to decide on what papers to use and in the end settled for some older papers from Heidi Swapp & Amy Tangerine. Looking through my ebellishments I found a lemon diecut which I couldnt see me using for anything else so had to use it here. 

So what do you think, is it Sherbet or Sherbert? What other words seems to catch you out? 

Eurovision Snacks

So since my craft filled week of 3 layouts and 1 card made in a week i have since made...nothing! Yep normal service has resumed with work, etc so I've not had a chance to sit at my desk other than to watch a couple of episodes of Pretty Little Liars on Netflix in the morning when I've been on a late shift! Before I go one to share one of my recent layouts, has anyone seen Pretty Little Liars? Oh my god I love it but I cant keep up with the twists and turns! I could write a whole blog post about the programme and my theories but I wont! Instead this os the first layout I made during my return of the mojo week. 

This layout was for the March mid month challenge over on the Sketchy Scrappers group on Facebook. The challenge was simply to get messy with mists, scraps, etc. I had this photo of my posh (but cheap) Macaroons which served as our Eurovision snack during last years Eurovison. I made a messy background with some mists and stamps which I then went on to mainly cover up! All the papers, except for the base, were scraps from my basket and to stick with the messy theme I went around and outlined everything. 

I embellished with some oddments i had in one of my bowls which I have on my desk, some wood veneer hearts and the perfect diecut from Paige Evans. 

What did the fox say?

I had a productive week crafty wise last week, completing three layouts and one card! The card i made was for last weeks Daring Cardmakers challenge which was to make a great outdoors, woodland inspired card. I immedietly thought of woodland critters and remembered some diecuts I had from Fancy Pants True Friend collection. 

I decided to use this super cute fox and teamed him up woth papers from American Crafts Autumn Crisp collection plus a couple of scraps from my scrap basket. 

Everything comes in three's

You know how you're waiting for a bus and then three arrive at once? That's how it is with birthdays for me at this time of year, I have noone to make birthday cards for then three friends decide to have their birthday's within a week! I managed to find time a few weeks ago to get organised and make some cards for them.  This first card was for my friend Kelly. For this card I used papers and die cuts from Paige Evans On My Heart collection.

Next up was a card for Gemma, whose birthday is the same day! This was a smaller 4x4 card using papers from Dear Lizzy Daydreamer collection and die cuts from her Fine & Dandy collection. 

Finally was a card for my friend Nicola who was celebrating a certain big birthday. She didnt want to draw attention to this so I decided not to put this on the card and instead used a Studio Calico Project Life card which is perfect for Nic as when I worked with her she loved the Jellycat Bunnies we used to stock. I teamed this with papers from Dear Lizzy Neoploitan collection. 

 

The weekend that was...

Monday rolls around again, the weekend is over. This weekend was a weekend of car shows, racing and one last training walk before my sponsored walk on friday.  On saturday we went to Japfest at Donington race circuit to watch another round of Time Attack. I dont think I've been to Donington since i was a kid, unless you count going to a sunday market there one time after a friend had passed her driving test! It was nice and easy to get to only an hour and a half down the M1 and all in all it was a good day deite it feeling some what more rushed than normal so they could evict the boy racers before a bunch of screaming girls came in to watch Little Mix who were playing there that evening. I'm not going to lie i was tempted to hide in the loos so i could sneak into the concert! Yes I admit it, my name is Jess and I like Little Mix! A Little Mix fan who was finally part of the JDM club as i finally managed to get my hands on a Bride rucksack complete with racing harness straps! Trust me when you go to these shows you see these everywhere! 

And I'm a Little Mix fan who thought this was the cutest car there! 

Then on Sunday i did my last training walk around Scammonden water ahead of my sponsored walk on Friday, eek!  Not alot has happened on the crafty front since i made a batch of birthday cards last weekend for my friends with July birthdays. I'll share these once they have had their birthdays just in case they are reading this! I've either had no mojo or when I have felt like doing something Ian has moved everything off the desk to clear space to take photos are bike parts he's wanting to sell! I have got one last project I can share woth you though. A few weeks ago my sister in law sent up a 6x6 paperpad from American Crafts Shoreline which she got ages ago in TK Maxx. To say thank you i deciced to make her a card using some of the paper. 

The boat paper was from thr Paper pad while the red paper was a scrap from Amy Tangerine's latest collection. I used an anchor embosing folder from X Cut and a little boat die I brought recently from Sizzix. I then used a scrap scallop circle and a Dear Lizzy cut apart I had in my bowl of bits on my desk, and a Studio Calico wood veneer. 

Are you sure exercise is good for you?

Happy Monday everyone! How is everyone one today? I hope you all had a good weekend. I'm feeling a tad achey today following a 9 mile walk in on and off heavy drizzle showers, preparing myself for my sponsored walk next week. The past few weeks I've been walking the odd lap here and there around nearby Scammonden Water to build up my fitness ready to walk just under 10 miles along a disused railway line in the Peak District next week for charity. I had managed walking two laps on a couple of occassions which is about 6 miles but yesterday decided to push for one more as it was close to D-Day and walked 3 laps in soggy but refreshing conditions for 9 miles which means today I've been sounding like an old lady (no cheeky comments thank you!) everytime i stand up! If exercise is so good then why does it have to hurt!?!  In my last post i mentioned I had a couple of crafty projects to share with you which i had made before my crafty drought, which by the way is now broken as I had a cardmaking spree over the weekend. In May the Lottie Loves Paper Facebook had a week of sketches to inspire us. I only managed one sketch and started another which is still sat on my desk unfinished. 

I liked this sketch as it had one landscape and one portrait photo. I often have photos from the same occassion but different orientations and struggle to know how to use them together on a layout. I chose 2 photos I've had for ages of the Lovers statue in St Pancreas station which have been hanging around for this reason and scrapped this layout. 

I decided not to angle my papers and photos as i really wanted to use the teal coloured paper which was a scrap and was the wrong size to follow this part of the sketch. The scrap and the background paper were from a paper pad my sister in law split with me and the polka dot paper is from Dear Lizzy Charmed collection. 

I then embellished with some random bits I had hanging around. I used a postcard cut apart as it fit in with the travel theme and decided to use a moustache as it reminded me of the old school goodbyes at train stations you sae on films like Brief Encounter (you see what I mean when I say I'm a bit random sometimes!) 

Are you still out there???

So its been nearly a month since my last blog post...oops! Life has just gotten in the way lately. Work has been busy and now summer is here so is car show season which means most weekends have been taken up with going to those (great?!?!) 

Things have been a bit dry in terms of crafty goodness too as I've been too busy and when I do get a moment my mojo decides to go on holiday, I have got a couple of things i can share with you though so i'll share those in the next couple of posts.  Talking of holidays, we went away for s long weekend camping to Shell Island for my birthday. 

It was to get away for a couple of days and chill. In typical Wales weather it was windy when we arrived with 20mph winds while we wrestled with the tent. But then it cleared and after a cloudy day for my birthday we had gorgeous warm, sunny weather. 

Being a scrapper with a new iphone 7 (birthday pressie to myself thanks to my upgrade) I took oodles of photos!  So thats me. I hope there are still people reading this, if not i'll carry on posting and talking to myself! 

Sail Away With Me: NSD 2017 Layout

The final challenge i took part in for National Scrapbook Day was to scraplift our first layout. Thats right, it was time to take a trip back down memory lane and scraplift the first layout we ever scrapped. I both cringe and enjoy looking back at my old layouts as it shows my scrappy journey, how my style has changed as I've learnt new techniques, etc. I originally started scrapping as I wanted to document a recent holiday to Wales where we climbed mount Snowdon for Ian's 30th birthday, but the first layout I scrapped was not of the trip but of my adopted niece Ruby. 

Just look at the shaped photos, admit it you did it too when you started out! This was back in the day of limited stash, a problem i no longer have, so I used some free papers from a Scrapbook magazine and some chipboard alphas I brought from QVC. This was how I scraplifted it. 

I stuck with the same design of having a photo in opposite corners but refrained from shaping them! I used a background paper from Studio Calico Atlantic collection to stick with the nautical theme, and some scraps from my scrap basket. 

I carried on the nautical theme by using a cute sail boat I recently brought from Sizzix, a yacht wood veneer and some anchors cut from another sheet of Atlantic paper. 

My Girl: NSD 2017 layout

The second layout i did for National Scrapbook day/weekend was for a challenge where we had to use a tv programme, song title or lyrics for our title. I love challenges like this so i pulled this gorgeous photo of my niece Boo taken last summer and scrapped this layout. 

I decided use a background paper from Dear Lizzy Neopolitan collection and cluster some cut aparts from the same collection around the photo. In one of my use it up bowls i have on my desk I had a scrap of blue lace which i decided to use up on this layout. 

I was torn between two titles; "Whose that Girl?", inspired by the hat she's wearing which reminded me of 80's Madonna, and My Girl which i eventually went with. For my title i used Thickers from Paige Evans. 

Vacay yay: NSD 2017 layout

At the start of the month was the day all Scrapbookers love, National Scrapbook day! We say day but in truth its kind of expanded and now takes over the whole weekend! There are always challenges going on eveywhere during the weekend and over on For the love of Pretty Paper on Facebook there was a weekend of challenges to join in. There were twelve in total and i managed to finish three which i was pleased with.  The first challenge i did was to scrap a spring or summer photo. I looked through my photos from our trip to Wales last year and scrapped this layout of one of the gorgeous sunsets we had.

To keep with the bright summer feel we were asked to create I used some 6x6 papers from Amy Tangerine On a Whim and Crate Paper Oasis along with a bold yellow and white stripe paper i had in my stash. I also used some die cuts from the Oasis collection and a scrap of Studio Calico vellum to break up the different patterns. 

Fabulous work of art: Daring Cardmakers challenge

This weeks challenge on the Daring Cardmakers blog was to make a card using two, yes only two, colours! I decided to make a card different to the normal white card base card i make, as this would count as one of my colours. While sorting my Raskog i found a package from Stampin Up Gemma got me for my birthday last year and in this wwre a couple of pre scored card bases in pink and a collection of pattern papers which included pink, black and gold. So i decided to be completly daring and made a black and pink card. 

This challenge wasnt as easy as it sounded as the patterend papers i picked were black and white patterned which meant i would go against the brief by bringing in another colour! So i decided to for go using any paper! I used a wooden Flamingo from a confetti pack i brought a couple of years ago in Paperchase and thought the sentiment stamp from Stampin Up went perfectly with it! I admit I'm not entirely sold on the black doily at the top, i think i might go back and change this by duplicating the washi strips i used at the bottom. 

Super hero fun: Daring Cardmakers challenge

This weeks challenge on the Daring Cardmakers blog was in honour of National Superhero day. I admit I had to really rack my brains for this one as I can't say I have anything that screams superheroes. But after looking through my stamps I found something that may work. 

I kind of bent the rules of the challenge and decided to use a knight in shining armour as my superhero and used a CC Designs stamp. After colouring the image in I found an old Elle's Studio flag which matched the feather and shield perfectly. I also managed to use some more scraps from my refusing to go down scraps basket! 

April Sketchy Scrappers Layouts

How are we in May already?? It's scary where the year is going! I thought I'd share a little scrappy catch up with you today. I didn't manage a lot of scrapping during April, I only managed two layouts for both of the April challenges over on the Sketchy Scrappers Facebook group.  The first layout I scrapped was for the sketch challenge. This months sketch was set by Nikki who gave us not one but two sketches to choose from. I chose this sketch

I originally ruled this sketch out due to the fact that it would need more than one photo. But then one Saturday evening I had a brain wave (don't all fall over at once!) why not use project life cards instead of photos? I have loads of PL cards and I don't even do project life! With that in mind I scrapped this layout

I had a go at replicating the messy background. I used some mist and did the packaging technique to give a watercolour effect and then used some stamps from Stampin Up. I used some project life cards from Simple Stories, choosing the bottom one to be my title. I'm really pleased with how this turned out, so much so that I decided to frame it instead of popping it into an album.  For the mid month challenge I set everyone a colour challenge, asking them to scrap a layout with this palette using at least two of the colours from it. I chose this palette because it had an Easter theme. 

I picked out the green, cream and light brown colour which reminded me of the in laws dog Skip and scrapped this layout. 

I decided to use a Kraft card stock for the base and used papers from Dear Lizzy, Crate Paper and Teresa Collins. I pulled some embellishments from the little bowl I have on my desk and added some wood veneer hearts from Cosmo Cricket. 

Five times the fun: Daring Cardmakers card

I've not had the chance to join in with the Daring Cardmakers blog recently but I've realised I need to start using my scraps more as my basket is filling rapidly, so when I saw the challenge this week was to use five pattern papers I jumped at the chance to join in. 

My intention was to use five different papers from my scrap basket. How many did I use in the end? Two, the floral paper was from October Afternoon and the pink paper from Maggie Holmes Flea Market. The other three papers came from a WRMK 6x6 paper pad. I then used a sentiment from a Studio Calico stamp set. 

Happy Birthday Ian!

Today it's Easter Saturday and it's also Ian's birthday. I was actually organised this year and made his card a couple of weeks ago. 

 I wasn't too sure what to do for his card to be honest. So one evening I looked through my stamps to see if anything inspired me and found what seems to be my go to camper van stamp from Hobby Craft. I wanted to try and do something a bit different so dug out my Amy Tangerine On a Whim 6x6 paper pad as it was nice and bright and not the duller, more muted tones I tend to go to when I make male cards. I spotted the You're straight up awesome on a cut apart sheet and by pure fluke the stamp fitted on it perfectly so I decided to make this my topper. I struggled having two different, bright patterns layered together so used a black and white scrap to help break them up a bit. 

100 Days of Happiness: the final week!

Welcome to week 14 of my 100 Days of Happiness challenge which is also the final week. That's right folks I've actually completed a challenge for once! I really enjoyed taking part in this challenge this time around and I think after a short break I might try doing it again starting on my birthday in June, what do you think? Leave me a comment and let me know.  So without further ado this was my week and a day! 

The week started, and continued, on a sunny theme as the weather turned and it felt like spring was finally starting to spring. On Monday I noticed that the garden was starting to come back to life as the flowers started to open, adding some much needed colour. Tuesday was another sunny day where I could actually wear my sunnies on the drive home. On Wednesday we popped into Asda for a couple of bits and I picked up some cute Easter crumpets. Yes I know they taste the same but I had to buy them as they were cute bunnies! Thursday was another sunny evening with beautiful blue sunshine as I washed up. 

Friday was another Fat Friday in the training room (i'll be glad to get back to normality!) and this week we had Dominoes which meant we had extra dip which we didn't use so I was able to bring it home! On Saturday after collecting my new glasses we popped to the Farm shop as they had posted on Facebook that they had punnets of strawberries for 99p, which was a bargain especially as they were huge strawberries! On Sunday we went to Harewood Hill Climb which is basically cars going fast up a hill! It was a glorious day and I even managed to come home with random patches of sunburn! Then finally on Monday I reached day 100 which made me happy as it meant I actually completed the challenge! 

Dukes Farm Layouts Part 3 plus a bonus

Yay I've finally caught up on my projects to blog! These are the last two layouts I made at Dukes Farm a month ago plus a bonus layout I made a couple of weeks ago! 

This layout is about one of my old haunts, The Bull & Swan, where we would spend a whole evening in the summer in the beer garden drinking and having a laugh! (I've noticed that most of my layouts lately have involved pubs and drinking!) I used papers from Jen Hadfield and went for a bright colour scheme as the photos were quite dark. 

This was the last layout I scrapped at the retreat. These photos were taken at my second Bon Jovi concert at Milton Keynes bowl. I went for a grey and yellow colour scheme as the photos were quite dull but the yellow picked up on the sky scrapper above the stage. I used papers from Studio Calico and minimal embellishments as I was starting to lose my scrappy mojo!  Now for the Brucey Bonus I scrapped a couple of weekends ago when I had the weekend to myself! 

This layout is about my friend Dan who I became good friends with one Christmas when we both worked at HMV. He was something of a character but always a laugh. The last I heard he was living down in Brighton and was a freelance writer for Kerrang magazine. I decided to try and use some of my scraps for this layout. I would say my basket has got a huge dent in it now but I'd be lying! I think the papers are Jen Hadfield, MME, Echo Park and Basic Grey. I'm determined to get through my scraps so I'm going to try and delve through my basket before cutting into new sheets of paper for the next few projects. 

100 Days of Happiness: Week 13

My 100 days of happiness are slowly drawing to a close and I can't believe how fast the time has gone! This was week 13. 

At the start of the week I was able to do a bit of scrapping, finishing a layout I started over the weekend. On Tuesday Ian came back from a couple of days away in Stamford. While he was there he went to the mid lent fair which was in town and brought me some naughty sweets back. On Wednesday the first of my happy mail parcels arrived with my parcel from Craftie Charlie landing on my doorstep. Thursday was the second of my live learning days for my training. Both days went well but I was still glad to get home to a cup of tea. 

On Friday and Saturday I had more happy mail arrive. On Friday my cute sign from Kirsten & Belle arrived, and on Saturday my Stampin Up order from Fiona arrived. On Sunday I was super organised and had done the supermarket shop and my jobs by lunch which meant I good chill, do some reading and watch the BTCC on the telly. 

Dukes Farm layouts: part two

So better late than never I thought I'd share some more of the layouts I made at Dukes Farm. These layouts are again using some of the old photos I found at my parents house so prepare to cringe! 

These photos were taken when I went to my first ever Bon Jovi concert which was also the last ever concert to be played at Wembley Stadium before the pulled the two towers down and rebuilt it. I used papers from Amy Tangerine Stitched collection and a random scrap from Gemma's box of scraps. I used my Stampin Up camera stamp which I love to use to make embellishments, a Stampin Up doily, stars from Studio Calico and letter stickers from Elle's Studio. 

These photos were taken from my second year ball at uni. It was also the year I thought it would be a good idea to cut my hair short, cringe! I used papers from Pebbles and embellishments from Jen Hadfield. 

This is a silly layout about the giant wine glasses I used to have. This was how I used to spend my Saturday night...who am I kidding this is still my Saturday night! I decided to pick up on the yellow and blue from my busy wallpaper, and used a mixture of scraps from Studio Calico. The fun die cut is from Amy Tangerines new line, the delightful I've had in my box of bits for ages.  I've still got a couple more layouts to share but I'll pop those in another post! X

Mother's Day Cards

So last weekend it was Mother's Day. I did the good daughter/daughter in law thing and arranged for some flowers to be delivered and made a couple of cards. 

I used papers, including the sentiments, from Paige Evans and die cut flowers from Jen Hadfield. I originally thought about using an embossed background so I used a heart embossing folder from Stampin Up, but I couldn't get it to work so ended up just using a tiny slither. Why is it how you picture things in your head never come out right on paper?