Back in the Scrapping groove

I've been lucky enough to have another weekend off this weekend and with no jobs which needed doing I finally managed to sit down and do some scrapping! I haven't scrapped in AGES and with challenges waiting to be done, two kits waiting to be used and another being shipped soon I was starting to panic that my mojo had gone on holiday and was never coming back! The first layout I did was for a challenge my friend Gemma had set for us. She wanted both of us to make a layout based on this sketch and to use something round

I decided to rotate the sketch, pulled out a photo from my brothers wedding last year and came up with this layout 

This photo is of my dad's side of the family, the Greys (I'll introduce them later). I decided to use card stock for the background as I felt as though I've been using patterned paper a lot lately as backgrounds, but me being me I had to add some sprinkles of Mister Huey's Boss Lady, Powder Blue & Seafoam as it felt to plain to me! I used Kesi Art, Studio Calico, Echo Park & Dear Lizzy papers, and fussy cut some note lets from an old Quirky Kit. The note lets came in the February kit and have been in my stash since then as I had no idea how to use them as they annoyingly had a copyright thing printed on the bottom! 

I added a doily, some washi, buttons & Dear Lizzy thickers. Now for the family:

From left to right: my cousin Nicola, Auntie Val, Uncle Norman, Auntie Wendy, my brother Vincent, SIL Penny, Uncle Steve, cousin Emma, me, cousin Adam, Auntie Barbara, Uncle Ron, my mum, Emma's partner John, my dad & Ian. 

The second layout I managed today is a companion layout to this featuring my mums side of the family. For this layout I used this sketch set by Caz for Sketchy Scrappers. 

I tried to use similar colours and papers as they sit side by side in my album for some continuity. I don't normally do this, my albums are a mix of colours, papers and products but for occasions such as this and the jubilee I tried to keep them similar. Anyway this is the layout I made

Papers used are Kesi Art, Studio Calico, Crate Paper & MME. More doilies and Dear Lizzy thickers were used but this time instead of ink splatters I tried something different and misted a white tag, nothing amazing and innovative but different for me! 

Roll call again. There are some family members missing as my mums aunt & uncle had wondered back to the car, and one brother and family didn't bother coming at all as they were appalled that children were not allowed! I don't know my cousins kids, but anyway... 

From left to right: my auntie Linda, Uncle Mark, cousin Naomi, her boyfriend Rory, Vincent, Penny, me, mums Uncle John, her Auntie Marie, Ian, mum & dad. 

So there you are I'm back in the scrapping groove and you've met my family! 

Sketchy Scrappers: Bumper Cars

It's that time again... hang on its not quite the end of month I hear you cry! Well Sketchy Scrappers has a new home on Facebook as it seemed easier for most people to catch up with posts there thanks to smart phones, etc and with our new home comes a change in rules where we can upload as soon as we've finished out layouts rather than wait for the end of the month. 

This months sketch was set by Jo who chose this sketch from Shimelle Laine

I love this sketch and actually have it on my sketch Pinterest board somewhere. I sorted through my photos and made this layout

The photo was taken back in May on my first visit to Liberty. As we walked through the doors we were greeted by this display, I'm not fully sure what it was for but it was very cool! 

I'm still trying to use up most of my March/April Quirky Kit as I've got two more waiting to be used (ssh don't tell Ian lol!). I used Glitz, Alison Kreft & Dear Lizzy papers which were from the March/April kit, and gutted a sheet of Echo Park paper for the base. I admit I don't normally gut my paper but I thought the Echo Park would be ideal for matting so wanted to keep some! 

The March/April kit included some small tags which I wasn't sure how to use, but then I vaguely remembered seeing on the  Quirky Kits blog someone using them for either a title or date so I used this idea. I added some stars to them as I felt they were getting lost on the page. 

The top cluster is made up of a doily, a scrap of Glitz paper and MME Nostalgia die cut from my stash. 

Sketchy Scrappers: All the fun of the fair

Welcome to the second half of 2013, scary huh! Well it's July 1st which means Sketchy Scrappers time. This months sketch was chosen by Julia who chose this sketch from Page Maps

I have to admit it took me a while to think of what to do, I don't know wether it was the photo size suggested or the circle but it took a while for my brain to get into gear ( no rude comments please!) Eventually though I found three photos I liked and decided to cut them to 4x4 instead and came up with this

I have blogged these photos taken around Stamford's Midlent fair, and I think used the title for the blog post, before. 

All the papers & the alphas are Amy Tangerine. The base paper is from Ready, Set, Go and came in Octobers Quirky Kit, the blue & red paper are both sides of the same sheet of Yes Please paper from the current Quirky Kit. The alphas also come in the current kit. After I had stuck them down I felt I needed to outline them to make them stand out, this kind of gives them a water colour or pencil crayon look in my opinion. 

I added buttons, sequins & punched hearts to create the invisible circle which originally had me stumped. 

Return of Sketchy Scrappers

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

All Set & Ready To Go

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.

O' Christmas Tree

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!

Winter in the Woods

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.

Cutie Pie

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!

Ready for Night Patrol

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!

After the Shower

Last week saw the start of UKS Now We Are 10 cyber crop, I signed up and printed photos ready for the upcoming classes & challenges all excited as this would be my first big cyber crop but nothing inspired me at all :-( But then on Tuesday Leo from Crafty Templates, home of the Quirky Kits I sub to, set a challenge to go for a walk or just find something in our home, take a photo and tell the story behind it. This appealed to me as I had printed two photos taken during walks with Buster, photos which looked random but had a story behind them, so yesterday I plonked myself on the floor picked a photo and scrapped this

This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago on my phone. We were walking around the local quarry, we on the homeward stretch when out of nowhere it started to rain. All around us was blue sky apart from one, small, grey cloud which decided to soak the right side of me for 2 minutes then stop! But this did have a perk as we then had a cute rainbow. I altered the photo on Picmonkey to darken the edges and make it look older. I mainly used bits from the last Quirky Kit apart from the bag with star confetti which is from the current kit & a cabochon from my own stash.

Birthday at the Beach

I managed to do a quick layout last night for this weeks weekly challenge on UKS. The criteria asked us to use a birthday theme, two or more photos, and to use brads, eyelets and/or buttons. I am also entering this into this months challenge over at SJ Crafts which is a birthday theme. This year for my birthday my SIL & I went to the beach for a picnic so I had a search through the photos and made this layout

Even though my birthday is in June, we didn't exactly have summery weather, it was cloudy and v windy so we used beach towels we took in case we dipped our toes in the water as blankets lol! I couldn't find a suitable shade of turquoise card stock in my stash so instead used the reverse of an old American Crafts paper I've had for ages. The chevron paper and the Polaroids behind the photographs are both from the last Quirky Kit, the pink paper is from my scraps bag.

I went to a craft show with my mum a couple of weeks ago and brought a cloud die which I have been looking for for ages! When I mentioned to my SIL I was doing this layout she said to cut out some clouds as it was a cloudy day, so I thought it was the best time to try my new die out. I then journaled around the edges of the clouds. Add some Thickers, Echo Park letter stickers, buttons and some Washi tape and you have a finished layout :-)

Pink House

I'm having a lovely, relaxing week off work this week. We did think about going away but seeing the weather its cooling down alot at night so will be a tad chilly for camping so instead we're just having a lazy time at home, which means I can actually sit down and do some scrapping!! So far I have made a thank you card (which I forgot to photograph before sending) and two layouts. One layout is for Sketchy Scrappers so I'm unable to share with you until the end of the month, but the other I finished this morning for the weekly challenge on UKS.

This weeks challenge was just by the Bijoux Belles. They asked us to use pink shades, mist or bling, paper scraps, & this sketch

I knew when I saw the sketch that I wanted to have another play with my mists and use the Hexagon mask from the current Quirky Kit. This is the layout I made

The misting didnt turn out how I had it in my head but thats fun with it isnt it? I used pink paper, mist, thickers & gems. The papers are Carta Bella, Kesi Art & MME from my scraps bag. The butterflies were punched with a Martha Stewart punch, the flower in the top corner with a SU punch. The other flowers are embellishments I've had hanging around for ages. The photo is of the pink house in Port Meirion I have claimed as my own Lol!