Texture and old stash

The week 19 of the 52 cards challenge was to use texture in some form on your card.  This month's card challenge on the Scrapology blog is to use stash that has been sitting around for a number of years.  I thought I had a slight problem with this as last year I was really ruthless in preparation for putting the Expedits up in the boxroom and had given away most of my oldest stash to charities and youth groups.  But this year I am on a mission to use some of my oldest stamps, embossing folders and dies, some of them have never been used (hands head in shame).  Whilst rooting around I found two birthday embossing folders that had been bought several years ago and never used and then to my shame I also found these Cuttlebug butterfly die/embossing folders also unused by me. 

So I combined the two and made these four cards - I used a pad of jewel tone Co-ordinations cardstock, a pretty old purchase that had also been sat in a drawer unloved and not cut into.

The gemstones are from The Ribbon Girl.

Thanks Scrapology for a great card challenge and there is still time to enter as it doesn't close until the 15th June.

Beaded Scrunchie

Take 3 cheap stretchy bracelets that you never wear anymore

Break them up and restring them to make one glamorous beaded scrunchie to wear on nights out

It always feels good to be able to make something new out of old stuff

My Freaky Family

This month's house challenge on UKScrappers is to use this sketch.

I used some photographs from my niece's horror themed 21st birthday party that she had in 2011. 

 

The papers used are a mixture of Halloween papers from My Little Shoebox and Bella Boulevard.  The stars were punched using the small double star punch from Creative Memories and were stitched down with metallic purple thread.  The title was cut on the Big Kick using Sizzlet alphabet die 'Santa's Workshop'

April - My Month in Numbers

Goodness me it is almost June and I still haven't posted my Month in Numbers from April yet!!!  So I had better get on and do them as before I know it, it will be time to post my June numbers.

Of course the big highlight of April was going to the UK Marillion Convention in Wolverhampton, 3 glorious nights of music, 3 Marillion gigs plus 4 support acts.

The Friday night gig was extra special as Marillion attempted to set a new world record for the fastest time that a music DVD was filmed and then commercially released.

And they did it!!!!!  In a record breaking 10 hours and 31 minutes!!!!

The album played that night was Radiation so of course it was most appropriate to go dressed in our Hawaiian shirts.

 

1 crazy group photo

2 of my lovely Marillion friends - the Marillion family is very international, these 2 lovely ladies had travelled from the Netherlands and Italy for the weekend

1 quick photograph taken with a very lovely bass player from my number 1 band

 Approximately 5,000,000 pieces of golden confetti fell at the end of the Sunday night gig

It most certainly was an absolutely crazy 3 days and nights spent in the company of over a 1,000 other people who are just as nuts as we are about this band.  The rest of the month was very quiet in comparison.

I did manage to get some crafting done this month including 8 layouts, 5 Christmas cards and
4 other cards.  I also managed 13 blog posts.

If you would like to join in with Julie Kirk's My Month in Numbers, you can find out all the details here

 

Mr P and Mr W

Last week's challenge on UKScrappers was to use this sketch, at least 5 different patterned papers and at least 5 lines of journalling.

This was my take on the sketch and I used my Onwards and Upwards blog event kit

The papers used are a mix of Basic Grey Urban Prairie, WRMK Lovestruck, American Crafts and random scraps from my scraps bag for the stars.

The photos are the two lovely chaps who come every year to our Twilight Addicts crafty retreat at Meadow Barn near Hereford.  Mr P belongs to me and cooked chilli on the Friday night, plus he also goes up to the shop for emergency supplies (usually chocolate and coke!!).  Mr W (short for wonderful) belongs to Lisa and he always makes his legendary fajitas on the Saturday night. 

Roses and Holly

Week 9 of the 52 Cards challenge was to use roses/Christmas plant or flower on your card.

I used a magnolia stamp and some Kanban die cuts for the mat, overstamping the top mat with a Kanban lace stamp.  The sentiment is from Pink Petticoat.

For my Christmas card I chose a holly theme -

Not sure what brand the stamp is as it was in a QVC kit from eons ago, the sentiment is Kaisercraft and I used a Woodware punch for the holly.  I have used red Liquid Pearls for the stamped holly.  The patterned paper is from Craft Creations.

Hopes and Dreams

One of the challenges for the Onwards and Upwards blog event at Jennifer Grace Creates was a recipe challenge. 

The following items were required for the challenge -

1 small square photo (you can crop down a larger photo) or square element

Some encouraging / uplifting / happy words

At least one sticker (alphas don’t count for this)

At least 3 stars

Some yellow!

One stamp.

I also took inspiration from this post about hopes and dreams.   Mr P is currently going through big upheaval at work as they are closing all the signal boxes and relocating all the signalling controls to a regional centre so in two year's time he faces redundancy after spending all his working life on the railway.  We are now facing a lot of uncertainties about the future as it is not guaranteed that he will get a job elsewhere.  So it was nice to have his input into this layout and to document a bit about him for a change.

I used the kit that I put together for the blog event -

Paper - American Crafts

Bunting - American Crafts

Buttons - Cardinal Colours

Stamps - Stamps Away (Stars), AC Dear Lizzy date roller stamp

Bakers Twine - Sarah's Cards

Stickers - Authentique, Pink Paislee

Alphabet - Echo Park Springtime

Star gemstones - Poundland

Sequins - stash

Weeks 7 and 8 - 52 cards challenge

I have been catching up with uploading some of the cards I have made for the 52 cards challenge on UKS and also need to catch up with blogging them.

The Week 7 prompt was to feature a heart, I have already shared the Valentine's card that I made for Mr P but here is the Christmas card that I made for the challenge.

The paper is a magazine freebie and the sweet reindeer was from the same magazine, the sentiment is Stampin' Up and the punched mats are also Stampin' Up.

The week 8 prompt was to use the colours Red, Pink & Aqua - here are the two cards that I made -

The papers are leftovers from a class page kit ?? Echo Park.  The sweet teddy is a Penny Black stamp and the Rudolph is a digi-image from Digi Stamp Boutique. 

Chillax

Another layout inspired by Jennifer Grace's Onwards and Upwards blog event.  One of the posts was about Digi and Hybrid scrapping.  Digi scrapping really isn't my thing but I do like the idea of printing things out to use in your scrapbooking.

I used some flags which were a free download but I am really sorry I can't find where I got the download from - if you recognise the flags then please let me know so that I can give a link.

I used the kit which I had put together at the start of the blog event.  The papers are Heidi Swapp 'Carefree' and American Crafts 'Letterbox'.  The title is AC foam Thickers and the windmills were cut with a Stampin' Up sizzlet die. 

These two gorgeous dogs belong to my sister and niece - it is amazing that the pair of them are actually sat still long enough for photographs to be taken - it must have been a hot day as they are usually bounding about all over the place!!

Cute bear cards

The May Penny Black Saturday Challenge is Anything Goes, so a lovely easy one.

I used a new to me stamp featuring some very cute teddy bears.

The sentiments are from Pink Petticoat and the papers are magazine freebies.  The mats are Spellbinder nestabilities and the sentiments were punched with SU punches.

The Promarkers used are - Vanilla, Blush, March Hare, Tan and Pastel Pink for the bears and Capri Blue, Peony, Pink Lobster and Mint Green.  The shadow effect is Powder Blue and the ground is Pastel Beige.  I used a white gel pen for the polka dots.

I Have Chosen To Be Happy

Here is my first layout for Jennifer Grace's blog event Onwards and Upwards inspired by this layout based on a quote.  I love how the title is so big and takes up a large proportion of the layout.  I also love that it uses a mix of alphabets - a good way of using up half used packs of Thickers when you don't always have enough letters to use the one pack for the whole title.

A quote that has been resonating with me for a little while is -

"I have chosen to be happy because it is good for my health"  Voltaire

I enjoy being happy and do make a conscious effort even on bad fibro' days to be happy as I find a low mood does have a direct bearing on how I physically feel and my pain levels.  I do find this hard though when some of the people around me seem to think that because they are miserable or unhappy then everyone else around them should be unhappy too.   I have taken to calling these people Dementors as they do seem to have the ability to suck every ounce of happiness out of your body LOL!!  So finding this quote really made me happy, as when I get up in the morning I do have two choices - I can wallow in misery and bemoan what life has decided to chuck at me (and make myself feel ten times worse) or I can just suck it up, smile and count my blessings as believe me life could always be an awful lot worse.  I have a lot of blessings in my life and it was nice to be able to do a layout about the things that do make me happy.  And I know I will smile everytime I see this layout!!

I used a mixture of Thickers for the title, plus some CM alphabet stickers and some other stickers that I have no idea what brand they are.  The papers and embellishments are from a Sarah's Cards kit (March 2012) - 3 Bugs in a Rug 'Ashtyn'.  I added a scattering of assorted gemstones and pink stars from my stash.

I found a 7 gypsies journalling card about being happy and made the following list - the ten things that make me happy are Family & Friends, Holidays, Sunshine, Flowers, A good night's sleep, Music, Pampering, New Clothes, Ice cream and Chocolate.  The four things that make me ecstatic are Mr P, Marillion, Cruises and Live Music.

 

Thank you Jennifer for sharing your layout and giving me the inspiration for this one xx

A Lovely Day Out

Last Saturday was National Scrapbooking Day and SJ Crafts currently have a sketch challenge on their blog.

I used an old Sarah's Cards kit from June 2012 - Fancy Pants 'Be You'.

The photograph was taken last April on a day out at the Liberation Museum in the Netherlands.  I used an SU butterfly punch, Hobby House pink pearls and assorted sequins from my stash.

The sketch challenge is open until 31st May if you want to have a go at the challenge.

Onwards and Upwards - weekend blog event

This weekend I am taking part in Jennifer Grace Creates blog event - Onwards and Upwards.  It started yesterday and one of the challenges was to build your own kit.  I have never done this before and have stuck to either using collection packs or kits that have been put together by a retailer.  I don't have any shortage of stash so I started sorting through piles of random paper and put a collection with co-ordinating cardstock together.

I added in chipboard, bling, bunting, blossoms, journalling cards, stickers and alphabets - it was good to go to my odds and sods bag and pull out some half used sticker sheets. 

I also found some stamp sets which hopefully will be useful to use with my kit.  And now looking at these photos I realise that I have forgotten to add any buttons to the kit - I am off to rectify that LOL!!

Hopefully I will be able to make a few layouts with my kit - I rarely ever mix up papers and use an assortment of manufacturers so this will be an interesting experiment for me.  I think I may have made the kit a little bit too big as well - once I started choosing papers last night I couldn't stop!!!! 

Fiona & Jules meet Rodger & Vern!!

I am gradually getting all my photos of the Meadow Barn girls from our 2012 trip scrapped.

Over the weekend everyone had their photographs taken with Rodger and Vern (two of Jessica's friends).  Here are Jules and Fiona -

I used a Sarah's Cards kit - Fancy Pants 'Be You'.  The flowers were punched with two different sized EK Success retro flower punches and the zig zag lines of stitching were made using a stitching template. 

More Memory Wire Bracelets and blog event announcement

Here are some more memory wire bracelets that I have made for my planned autumn fundraisers.

Sweet Princess (side view)

Sweet Princess (top view)

Pebbles on the beach (side view)

Pebbles on the beach (top view)

Deep Blue Sea (side view)

Deep Blue Sea (top view)

Raspberry Ripple (side view)

Raspberry Ripple (top view)

Sweet Candy II (side view)

Sweet Candy II (top view)

Jennifer from Jennifer Grace Creates is hosting one of her weekend blog events from Friday 10th to Sunday 12th May - if you get a chance to join in, then have a go.  The one she did last year was great fun.

I know what I am up to next weekend!!

The Worst Boat Ever - Pretty Paper Party, Prompt 3 - Part 7

It is time once again to reveal my layout for the Sketchy Scrappers (on UKS) monthly sketch challenge.

It was Sandra's turn to set the sketch and she chose this lovely one -

As soon as I saw it I knew it would be perfect for using up the scraps of the kit that I was using for Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party - Prompt 3.  I used some photographs from our last narrowboat holiday in 2011 on the Lancaster Canal.  We were limited to choice with boats as we were going to be a party of 5 instead of our normal 4 so we ended up hiring a right heap of junk LOL!!  The heating didn't work properly, when it rained (and it rained a lot that week!!) some of the windows and side seals leaked resulting in wet beds - most nights we played musical beds trying to find dry beds and often in the middle of the night you would wake up to find your bed was all soggy.  Also one of the toilet tanks hadn't been emptied so by day 2 we had a very stinky boat until we could get to a boatyard and get it pumped out.  Mum re-christened the boat 'The Floating Poop Palace' LOL!!!!!  I omitted the bunting from the sketch as the only time that week we felt like hanging the flags out was when we got back to the boatyard a week later and could go home!!

The papers are Cosmo Cricket 'Tea for Two'.  The title used AC Sunrise Thickers coloured with a Burnt Sienna Promarker and Simple Stories Yearography Expression alpha' stickers.  The punched butterflies are a Stampin' Up punch. 

So I have managed to get a total of 9 single layouts and 1 double layout from my chopped up kit.  You can find my other blog posts about this approach to using a kit here - Part 1, Part 2 , Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6 .  The scraps that I have left now will be used for cards which is perfect for Week 17 of the 52 cards challenge - to use project leftovers.