After a short break I can finally say the words, its that time of the month again! I made the decision around Christmas that the December sketch would also be the January sketch, giving us all more time to enjoy Christmas and scrap without having to rush the layout. The sketch was chosen by Gemma who gave us this sketch
I decided to scrap yet another Christmas photo and came up with this layout
Vernie and Rodgie were lucky enough to have their own stockings made for them this year and were more than happy to pose with them, even though they were cheeky enough to try and confuse us by getting in the wrong ones lol!
I dont have alot of Christmas stash as I dont do Christmas crafting but i did use two Christmas papers on this layout, the backing paper is Glitz Designs and the shaped paper is MME Christmas paper (sorry I dont know their names). The paper strips are MME and Pebbles, I also created a border type thing with star washi tape I wasnt sure if I liked it at first but I think its ok. The kraft stars, doilies, wood veneer and gem are all from the Current Quirky Kit. The alphas are various Echo Park stickers from past Quirky Kits
Each month my team over on UKS have a monthly sketch challenge to get the old mojo going. This months sketch was chosen by Sandra
I decided to scrap another Christmas photo,this time of our stockings hung on the fireplace, and came up with this layout
I didnt use Christmas themed papers (probably cos I dont own any lol) but decided to pick out the red of the stockings and the beige of the background. The backing paper is the b-side to a piece of MME paper with small doilies on it (I had to get doilies in somewhere lol). The other papers are from my scraps bag, they are MME & Carta Bella I think. I then used some kraft stars, some bling and glittery Thickers from the current Quirky Kit.
I've had a rather productive few days scrapping wise, managing to do two layouts so it looks as though I'm keeping up with my scrap more goal. One layout is for Sketchy Scrappers so I'll share that with you at the end of the month, but the other is for the current House Challenge over on UKS. This month's challenge was to use this sketch
I decided to turn the sketch to the side, grabbed my current Quirky Kits and made this layout
The photo is of a personalised decoration we have on our Christmas tree. Everything used came from the kits. The background paper is from Dear Lizzy "Frith & Frolic" which I love! The papers on the photo mount were cut from the cut apart sheets included in the kit. These are good for journaling or Project Life but I couldnt see myself using them for this but I liked the papers so I cut them up!
As you can see I'm still loving doilies so I was chuffed to bits when I saw all the doilies included in the kit!
Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone had a lovely Chrimbo & New Year, now for the first blog post of 2013. Today is January 10th which means time for 10 things on the 10th. This month I wanted to share 10 of my goals for the coming year.
1: Lose Weight- something I say every New Year but since I stopped going to Weight Watchers a year ago my weight has crept up so at the start of this week I bit the bullet and rejoined. This time I'm following it online rather than going to meetings and now I have an ipad I can keep track of my points on the app. I'll try and keep you posted as to how things are going
2: Learn to bake- probably not the best thing after I've just said I wanted to lose weight lol! I'm not going to lie I cant cook but I have got a very sweet tooth. Last year for the jubilee I baked a Victoria sponge and while it wasnt aesthetically pleasing on the eye it tasted yummy and I caught the baking bug. So I have decided if I cant cook I'm going to bake! I want to try and bake something at least once a month, luckily I received a couple of baking books for Christmas to inspire me including this fab book
3: Scrap more- scrapping always relaxes me and I love the process of putting a page together but I only normally manage 2 layouts a month so if possible I'd like to do a few more (In an ideal I'd win the lottery, give up work and scrap for a living but never mind lol!) This leads to...
4: Use up old stash before buying more- easier said than done when I see images of all the lovely new releases at CHA and I have gotten better since I started subbing to a kit but I still have oodles of stash taking over the place! I keep telling Ian I need a craft room lol!
5: Learn to stamp- again this will help me with number 4! Lovely stamps are everywhere and I have a few but whenever I stamp an image it comes out either blurry or partly missing so I want to improve so I can..
6: Make my Christmas cards- I tried this a couple of years ago and found it stressful as i had to rush so I havnt done it since but then feel guilty when my mum gives me a lovely card shes made. So I recently brought some stamps in the sale over at Visible Image in the hope that I'll improve my stamping to make some quick cards.
7: Get my Beetle- after my car played up last year I decided enough was enough and it was time to sell her, especially after cheering myself up by looking online at VW Beetles and finding out the insurance will be roughly the same and I'd only need to do a little saving. So now I need to get around to advertising Susie and putting her on the market
8: Go to see Wicked in London- I have always wanted to see Wicked and have some of the songs on my ipod so I was thrilled when my bosses brought me a Ticket Master voucher for my 30th to put towards a ticket. But alas the voucher is still sat on the side. But then a couple of days ago a friend asked if I still wanted to go and is looking into tickets yay! Everyone deserves the chance to fly!
9: Blog more- my poor little blog you only usually have two posts a month, probably because I only use you to show my crafty creations but hopefully if I mange some of my goals you'll be used more. I also want to try and keep up with 10 things on the 10th. If anyone wants to know what goes on in my everyday life then I can share that here too?
10: Be happy!- probably the most important goal of all x
Well with only 9 days to go til Christmas I was actually surprised I managed to scrapbook. This is most certainly the last I'll be able to this side of the big day as Wednesday will be my last day off before Christmas and I've already been booked in by mum to take her to get the last of the food then go over and drop the presents off at Kelly's. But anyway back to the point... this weeks challenge on UKS was set by the Dizzy Dots. We were asked to choose one of three sketches, to use either warm or cool colours & to use something new. I chose sketch number three which is this one
I also decided to use cool colours which meant I could crack open my brand new Quirky Kits and came up with this layout using photos taken in Wakerley Woods by Ian at the beginning of the year after some snow
I knew straight away I wanted to use the Teresa Collins white wood grain paper as my base as well as the snowflake ILS paper as they went perfectly with the theme. I'm doily mad at the moment so I was thrilled when I saw all the ones which came in the kit. I covered a shipping tag with pale green chevron Washi Tape to help it blend in more with the layout. Everything used is from the kit except for two strips of scraps (my scraps bag is not get any smaller!), Washi Tape, label & pearls.
In between the chaos of Christmas and half through and 10 day stretch at work I managed to find an hour to do the the weekly challenge on UKS. First we had to use the following sketch
Then we could use either a pink and brown colour scheme or purple and green, and we had to use a flower and a brad. I took a really cute photo of Buster last week snug on the sofa with a blanket and his cuddly toy while it was wet and windy outside, I would have loved to stay with him but had to go to work! Anyway I printed it off and made this layout
I used the reverse side of a piece of MME paper from the last Quirky Kit which has a wood grain effect on it as my base card, then picked out some scraps from my scrap bag. The title and journalling spot came from the MME Nostalgia diecut sheet, I keep all diecuts in a box now as I find I actually use them this way! I then had to go hunting for my flowers and brads as I havnt used them for sssssooooo long!
Can you believe its only 23 days until Christmas? How did that happen! It is also time for another Sketchy Scrappers reveal. This months sketch was set by the lovely Lorna who chose this sketch
A few weeks before the sketch went up my Quirky Kit arrived, inside which was a piece of Studio Calico paper with circles on which I thought would be ideal for the circles on the sketch. I pulled out a photo of Buster I printed ready for the cyber crop but never used and made this layout
Every night Buster takes himself upstairs to the spare room and looks out for any cats who dare to step onto his territory! One night I managed to sneak up and snap this pic of him. One of the layouts featured on the Crafty Templates blog showed using the sequin waste which came in the kit as a mask for misting so I thought I would give this a go. I'm not too sure if I like how it turned out or not, especially as you can see my finger to the left where I held it down, I did try to hide it lol!
