Blogtober Day 16 - Confetti Love

Another layout from last year's ATDML Disney themed cybercrop.

This challenge was called CINDERELLA and you had to use stitching on a layout.  I combined the challenge with this sketch from the Sketchy Scrappers group.

I used a photograph taken at the end of last year's Marillion UK convention.

The papers used are Fancy Pants 'Trendsetter' and Pebbles 'Seen & Noted'.

The stamps used for the embellishments are by American Crafts and Personal Impressions.

Blogtober 2015 Day 10 - Down the Dinkum

I am slowly catching up with blogging layouts that I did earlier this year - this one was using the March sketch for the Sketchy Scrappers Facebook group.

This is the sketch we were set -

Gemma did her's whilst we were away on our annual crafty retreat to Hereford and I loved it so much that I asked her if she would mind if I scraplifted it - you can see her layout here, it is the first one.

The photos are from summer 2014 when our Swedish friends stayed with us for the weekend, one of the things they wanted to do was go to an English pub.  Sadly that weekend the best pub in our small town was closed as they had been flooded out earlier that day in a torrential downpour so we had to make do with The Dinkum (also known as the Stinky Dinky locally).

The papers are all Simple Stories 24/7 and I used the Stampin' Up arrows punch.

The title was cut using Sizzlet alpha' die 'Naturally Serif'

Thank you Gemma for giving me the inspiration to use the Stampin' Up punch on this layout.

Blogtober 2015 Day 7 - Getting Messy

I did this layout a while ago for a challenge set in the Sketchy Scrappers Facebook group for National Scrapbook Day.

This was the sketch from PageMaps

 The other challenge criteria were to use stash that you don't like, use flowers and make your own embellishments.

I always loved the kits that we use to get from Sarah's Cards but just every now and then there would be a kit that just didn't do it for me and the February 2012 kit was one of those.  It was based around Authentique 'Splendid' and I'm not sure why but think it might be the texture and thickness of the papers that I didn't really like.  So I grabbed this as my unloved stash and found this photo from our annual crafty getaway to Hereford.  The photo was perfect to use with the sketch with all it's ink splats as this is me getting messy with Brushos.  I don't usually like doing messy crafts but Sy brought her Brushos with her so I could have a play with them.  They are great fun and I have already shared the cards that I made with the backgrounds that I did that weekend.  Anyway Lee grabbed this photo of me working under the close eye of Sy. 

I made the flowers using a retro flower punch and a Tim Holtz leaf die.  I stamped the ink splats using a stamp from the Stampin' Up set 'Gorgeous Grunge'.  I also made my own foam Thickers using Sizzlet alpha' die 'Naturally Serif'.  I've also been colouring a doily again - the white was too stark with the cream based papers so I warmed it up using a Ivory Promarker.

How to Kill an Audi

Another sketch from the Sketchy Scrappers Facebook group that was set in November of last year.

 A year ago today we went out for the last time in Mr Ps beloved Audi.  Our Swedish friends Darren and Diana were staying with us for the weekend and we thought we would go out for breakfast.  It had rained heavily in the night and the bottom end of our road was flooded but other cars were getting through so we thought it would be alright.  Well the car got through but then as we reached the end of the road it just died.  Shortly afterwards the fire brigade turned up as even though the water wasn't very deep it was going into the houses at the bottom of the road.  I got these photographs whilst we were waiting for the AA to turn up.  We eventually got back into our house when our neighbour opposite walked round to see what was going on, so we could ask her to open her back gate and then take a short cut through her house without getting our feet wet!!!

I used a really old Sarah's Cards kit (December 2010) - the papers are all from Upsy Daisy 'Home Sweet Home'.  The bottom strip of one sheet of paper made me laugh and sorry Mr P but I had to alter the wording to 'Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance drive in the rain'

The title was made using Sizzix 'Naturally Serif' alphabet sizzlet die and some funky foam.  The butterflies are a Cheery Lyn die and the chevrons are a Stampin' Up punch.

We never got our breakfast out in the end, but we were able to go out later in Darren's car once the Audi had been towed to the garage.  We ended up being car-less for four months but we now have a lovely Nissan Juke - not as glam as the Audi but so much easier for me to get in and out of!!!

The Rijksmuseum

This sketch was set back in October last year in the Sketchy Scrappers on Facebook group.  I made a start on it at the 12 hour crop in February but have only recently got it finished. 

 I used a kit bought quite a while ago from Papermaze with papers from Kaisercraft 'Save the Date' and Echo Park 'For the Record 2'.

The photographs were taken at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam on our trip last summer to see our friends in Nijmegen.  It was a scorching hot day, getting up to 39C at one stage so it was blissful to be in the air conditioned museum.  It was also lovely to get up close to Rembrandt's De Nachtwacht (The Night Watch) and a self portrait by Van Gogh.  I used AC Thickers for the title and the butterflies are a Cheery Lynn die.

Christmas Cruise 2012

I've got quite behind with blogging some stuff - luckily I keep a list of everything that I make and then cross it out once I've blogged it.  At least that way I can see how behind I am with some things!!  This layout was using the sketch set in Sketchy Scrappers last September but I think I only got round to actually doing it back in February at the Cardinal Colours 12 hour crop.

 I made a layout to be the title page for our Christmas 2012 cruise to The Canaries

I used Fancy Pants 'Down by The Shore' papers and alphabet and the anchor die is by Cheery Lynn.  The sequins are from my stash.

At The Pannenkoekenhuis

I am still completing challenges that were set in various Facebook groups for National Scrapbooking Day.  In the Sketchy Scrappers group I combined two challenges, the first one was to use this colour chart for inspiration

And I combined that challenge with this sketch -

As soon as I saw the colour chart I knew which papers would be perfect for the challenge - Basic Grey Euphoria.

I used stamps from the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set (Stampin Up) to make the ink/mist splatters on the background paper.  The title was cut with Sizzlet die 'Naturally Serif' from pink funky foam.

The butterflies were die cut with a Stampin Up Sizzlet die and some smaller Cheery Lynn dies.  I did have to tweak the sketch slightly as I used two photos of similar size.

Tivoli Gardens

This was the December/January sketch for the Sketchy Scrappers group -

And this is my layout based on the sketch -

I used a very old Sarah's Cards kit based around Prima Blooming Retro - I think this was the March 2010 kit so these papers are pretty old.  The rub on flowers were in the kit and are Crate Paper Cottage Collection.  I cut the title using Sizzix Santa's Workshop alphabet die.  The photographs are from my birthday last year which was spent in Copenhagen whilst on a Baltic cruise.

Marillion UK Convention

It was my turn in February to set the monthly sketch for an online sketch group that I belong to, I chose this one from Pagemaps

I used a collage of photos from the 2013 Marillion UK Convention and substituted the large Santa for a shaker box containing some of the confetti that was released at the end of the final night, I swapped out the two bottom photographs for my ticket.

The papers are a mixture of Cosmo Cricket Delectable and Simple Stories Vintage Bliss.  The Thickers are Amy Tangerine glitter foam.  It was nice that the sketch featured a large space for journalling.  Mr P and I had had to miss the Dutch convention as we were both so ill with 'flu and could not travel, so getting to the UK convention meant so much to us.

I made the shaker box using square dies and a small piece of acetate.

Sketchy Scrappers - July sketch (Windmill Heaven)

It was my turn to set the sketch in July for the Sketchy Scrappers and I chose this one from Pagemaps

I made two pages using Project Life style page protectors, I have been planning for some time to do these style of pages to speed up the process of scrapping all my holiday photographs.

The front side -

The back side -

The papers used are Fancy Pants 'Park Bench' and Lily Bee 'Buttercup'.  I also used the Stampin' Up Chevron punch and an EKSuccess butterfly punch.  The doily is a Cheery Lyn die and the title was cut using Sizzlet alphabet die 'Naturally Serif'

Blogtoberfest 2014 Day 5 - Service

This is the August sketch for the Sketchy Scrappers group.

 I combined it with a UKS weekly challenge which was to document about a team or group, journal your feelings about it and to use 6 of the same element.

I used some photographs from my time in St John Ambulance and journaled my feelings about completing over 30 years service for the Brigade.

I used 6 different patterned papers on the layout including Stampin' Up, Doodlebug and Craft Creations.  The banner was made using the Stampin' Up Banner blast stamp set and matching punch.

My Mum, My Friend

As always there was a lovely sketch set for our monthly sketch group challenge.  Sheena set this one and also challenged us to use flowers, the sketch is from Scrap365.

I used scraps from my scrap box (I think most of them are Fancy Pants Park Bench) and the misting was done with Mr Huey's and a Heidi Swapp mask.

The title is a mixture of Thickers and Making Memories alphabet stickers

The Company

A great sketch chosen by Jessie for our May Sketchy Scrappers challenge, she also challenged us to use song lyrics on our layout.

And this was my interpretation of the sketch -

 My title is a Fish song and the photos were taken with some of our friends at a Fish gig last November in Leamington.  The journalling is a line from the song 'the sooner you realise I am perfectly happy, if I'm left to decide the company I choose'.

The papers are Crate Paper 'Random'  and I cut the title using Sizzlet 12" alphabet 'Naturally Serif'

Round the UK Cruise

I am catching up with posting the layouts I have made for our monthly Sketchy Scrappers group.

This is the sketch from April

And this is my layout using an old Sarah's Cards kit - Jillibean Soup 'Old World Cabbage'

The windmills were made using a Stampin Up die

Time to Say Goodbye

This is the sketch that Sandra set us for our March Sketchy Scrappers challenge.

As the sketch was fairly simple, she also set us a colour challenge.

I adapted the sketch to use two photographs from the last day of our lovely holiday last year to Guernsey.  We had a wonderful time and one of our favourite places was Vazon Bay so we popped in the beach cafe there to have a lunch before getting our catamaran home.  There was just time to have a last wander on the beach.

I used an old Sarah's Cards kit which contained October Afternoon papers 'Modern Homemaker'.  The title was cut using a Sizzlet alpha' die 'Naturally Serif'.

Thanks for a great challenge Sandra!!

Now you see me, Now you don't

Fiona from Staring at the Sea chose the February sketch for the Sketchy Scrappers group.

I don't have any instagram photos so cut down two 6x4 photos instead.

I used papers from First Edition 'Boho Chic' collection, a Prima script stamp and a Paperartsy ink stain stamp (thank you Wendy for the loan of - I have now added this stamp to my collection LOL!!).
The lace border is a sticker that I found in my box of 'bits that might be useful one day' and the hearts were cut with a SU embosslit die.  The letters are punched with a Martha Stewart alphabet punch and I coloured the doily with a Satin Promarker as it was too white up against the other papers.

The photos are of dear niece - when she use to stay at our old flat, she was small enough to curl up inside of Mr P's PC cover LOL!!

Thank you Fiona for finding us this lovely sketch xx

Champagne Charlies

I'm still catching up with blogging layouts from last year.  This is one that I did for the October Sketchy Scrappers monthly challenge.

I set the sketch that month and used this one from the 4x6 photo sketch blog

And this is the layout - myself and my parents on New Year's Eve on the cruise we did last year, we really enjoyed all the free champagne that was given out at the deck party that night!!

I have no idea what the paper is - I just know it is from an old Sarah's Cards kit - it might be Crate.  The title was done using AC Thickers and the stars are a Stampin' Up punch