Entering Stavanger

Another page for my Norwegian Cruise scrapbook - this one is actually the page before the last one, and it describes our arrival in the city of Stavanger and our plans for the day. I used Shimelle's Starting Point from last weekend for this one, with three strips of the same paper running the full width of the page. It's hard to see, but there is an additional piece of scalloped paper at the top of the widest strip:

I kept this fairly simple, with two 4x6 photos mounted in a block. I cut more scallops along the bottom of my journalling panel and slipped it under the scalloped border on the widest strip.

Supplies
Paper - The Paper Loft Green Grid, Junkitz Earth Petite Plaid, Basic Grey Eva Pomade, Basic Grey Blitzen Pear
Letters - Papermania

Gamle Stavanger

Get Picky is celebrating its first birthday with a blog hop and this sketch:

I returned to my 2009 Norwegian Cruise album to make this layout about the old part of the city of Stavanger, with its pretty clapboard houses and cobbled streets.

Most of the papers come from the same paper pad; it has some pages of borders and tags which makes co-ordination really easy. I decided to chalk the flowery paper to change the background from white to peach as the white was too big a contrast with the other papers. My journalling is on a small tag which tucks behind the photo of my daughter. There's no real need for it to be hidden; I just ran out of space.

Supplies
Paper - First Edition Spring Feast paper pack, DCWV Far East stack
Letters - Pebbles Inc
Buttons - Meiflower
Ribbon & Flowery Paper - from Stash
Chalk - Studio G

One In ... One Out

I decided to work on the challenges from Pencil Lines and Scrap Whispers simultaneously in order to create twin pages about my daughter joining Scouts and my son leaving. These should have been separate events but they ended up happening on the same night, so I wanted to use the same papers and common elements while arranging the photos with two separate points of focus.

Both sketches are quite simple and leave plenty of room for interpretation:

I added horizontal strips of paper to the Pencil Lines sketch and extended the ones on the Scrap Whispers sketch so that they met in the middle. I also re-sized the photos so that the two on the left have about the same total area as the one on the right. 

I split my journalling across two mirror image tags, scanned the Scout badges to use as embellishments, and added a few circles to opposite corners of the layouts.

Supplies

Paper - Kit ''n' Kraft, DCWV Far East Stack

Letters - Pebbles Floral Lane

Cord - from Stash

Horsey Mere and Windpump

"Embrace the wonkicity," said Shimelle Laine, when she posted this Scrapbook Starting Point with its wonky strips of paper last weekend: 

So I did. This is my layout at the same point, though I have changed the sizes of some of the pieces of paper to suit my eventual layout. The horizontal piece is one that I stamped with a background stamp and I'm quite pleased with the effect. I had to stamp 6 or 7 times and you can't see any overlap or repetition.

And this is the finished layout (photo taken with much better lighting):

I even embraced the wonkicity with my title. I have a set of individual wooden letter stamps that I hardly ever use as I find them impossible to stamp straight. I stamped 'Mere and Windpump' with them here (although not as faintly as they appear to be in the photo).

Supplies
Card - Papermania Krafts Basic
Paper - Kit 'n' Kraft (Stripes), Chartwell Studios (Cream), Green from Stash
Letter Stickers - Scenic Route
Border Stickers - Doodlebug
Word Stickers - Crate Paper
Stamps - Lakeland, Hampton Art
Ink - Papermania
Brad - from Stash

Look At What I Can Do Mummy!

It's been a busy week at work so not much time for scrapping. I did manage to make this layout for Pencil Lines' Sketch 254 yesterday evening but haven't had time to blog until now. My version is somewhat simpler than the sketch as my patterned paper was too narrow to add embellishments around the photo. I was going to scatter stars across the right hand side in place of the butterflies, but they just looked silly so I left them out too.

The layout is about the first time my son pulled himself upright in his cot. I love this childlike alphabet but there aren't very many layouts that it suits. The background paper looks a bit purple on my screen, but it is blue in real life.

Supplies
Paper - Pebbles New Addition, Fancy Pants Papa
Letters - Sandylion/Winnie the Pooh
Ribbon/Tag/Star - from Stash 

Go Karts

Shimelle's Sketch of the Week was back last week and I teamed it with some of my new Pebbles papers for a simple two photo layout.

Supplies
Paper - The Paper Loft Green Grid, Pebbles Inc Fresh Goods
Letters - American Crafts Foam Thickers
Stickers - Pebbles Inc Fresh Goods Masking Tape Stickers
Gems - Dovecraft
Paint - Wilko

Rebecca

This is my first layout for a Creative Craft World scrap map; I found the blog via their shop which was advertised on Facebook. I started from this sketch:

and ended up with this layout:

I substituted a chipboard swirl (coloured with ink and chalk) for the large circle, and felt that I needed a second piece in the opposite corner to balance it. I also wanted to use larger strips of paper to show the flower and butterfly patterns. This meant that my title had to move from the top to the left, where I surrounded it with a flock of butterflies, rather than the circles in the sketch. 

Supplies
Paper - My Mind's Eye Bohemia, Laura Ashley Contemporary Paper Pack
Letters - Mustard Moon
Chipboard - Papermania
Ink - Papermania
Chalk - Readicut Crafts

Andy & Cath

Hurray, it's only Saturday and I have done this week's Sketchy Thursdays challenge. Let's see if I can be as quick next week, or if it reverts to a Wednesday scramble. 

This sketch was peculiar in that it made me work 'backwards'. I normally start with the photos, then choose my papers and finally add any embellishments. 

This time I started from that big swirl.  I have a pack of chipboard shapes that I have never actually used as they never 'fitted in' by the time I reached the embellishment part of the process. I chose a large leafy shape and coloured it with green inks, then found a single 'outdoor' photo and chose my paper to match the colour of the leaf. I kept my journalling on the right of the layout, but not so much as there is in the sketch.

Supplies

Cardstock - Bazzill Basics Kraft, Papermania

Paper - Basic Grey Perhaps

Letters - Scenic Route

Chipboard - Papermania

Ink - Papermania Rainforest Trio

Stamp - Dovecraft Beautiful Borders

Sun, Sea ...

Why do I always wait until Wednesday before I do the Sketchy Thursdays sketch? Am I the only one who leaves it until the last day? And will I ever change?

Here is the latest:

The title probably looks a bit strange, but this is to be the left page of a pair. The right page will feature my children buried in the sand on the same day and the full title will be "sun, sea and sand." This is also the reason that I moved the title to the bottom of the page and moved the body of the layout to the right a bit. I am not sure where the journalling will go yet, probably on the other page.

Supplies
Paper - Basic Grey Marjolaine, Travel Expressions Seashells, DCWV Beach Words, Buzzcraft
Letters - Doodlebug Design
Wave Sticker - Sandylion Camping Sticker Borders

Two Little Monkeys

A few days ago, my son asked me how long it takes me to make each scrapbook page and I couldn't tell him. I guessed at two hours but I usually work in small bursts so I don't really know how long each one takes. As I have the house to myself today, I decided to work on a layout from start to finish and time myself.

10.50 - I started from the latest Scrap Whispers challenge, inspired by this picture, to use orange, brown and grey on a layout. To me, this means autumn so I found some pictures of my children from September 2006.

11.00 - I sketched a rough layout and collected together some papers, ribbons, alphabet stickers and a chipboard leaf. This part was probably quicker than usual as my colours were dictated by the challenge.

11.10 - I cropped my photos and cut my papers to size, assembling the layout, but not sticking anything down yet. I also coloured my chipboard leaf with two colours of brown ink.

11.30 - Now for a problem - that leaf was going to take some time to dry, so I had to take a break. Never mind, 40 minutes so far and I thought that I had made pretty good progress.

13.40 - With my leaf almost dry, I began to stick everything together. I decided that my grey background was too pale, so made it a bit darker with chalk.

14.05 - On to the title, another problem. The brown letters I had picked out were too pale and lost against the orange. Tried some Thickers, but they were too big and I couldn't fit my title inside the circle. Aargh. Searched through my letters and rejected them all. Eventually, I decided to stamp the title (with my new Pebbles stamps). This was the first time I used them so I took a little time to practice on scrap paper first.

14.40 - Title finally done, I realised that I had forgotten the edging I wanted above and below my horizontal panel. I rejected the ribbons that I had pulled out earlier and went with a tiny strip of paper that was on my desk. I do mean tiny - just a few millimetres that I had cut from a layout on Saturday to make it fit the page protector better. I don't know why I hadn't thrown it away but it was perfect for this.

14.50 - Final touches. I printed out the date and location and layered it in the bottom corner.

15.10 - Finished. 

Hmmm. 2 hours and 10 minutes. My guess wasn't too far out after all. But I wasted a lot of time with that title. It's been an interesting process and I think that I will time myself again another day.

Sorry for making you read such a long post (if indeed you read it all), but here is the bit you have been waiting for, the finished page:

Supplies

Paper - Chartwell Studio (Grey), Basic Grey Indian Summer, Sandylion, Pebbles Fresh Goods (reverse)

Chipboard Leaf - SIL

Ink - Versa Color and Papermania

Letter Stamps - Pebbles

Chalk - Readicut Crafts

Staithes

A layout with a difference - one that is all my own work - no sketch, no scraplift.   This one has actually been some time in the making; I planned the layout and picked the papers weeks ago, but I put it to one side as I did a stream of challenges, and didn't get round to printing the photos until yesterday.

I started with an 8" x 8" panel of paper, and edged it with two 1" x 11" strips and two stripes of paint. I cut the journalling panel using a Fiskars template and edged it with the same paint, layering it with my pictures.

Supplies
Paper - S.E.I. Be Bop, Kit 'n' Kraft, My Mind's Eye Bloom & Grow
Letters - American Crafts
Paint - Folk Art

Our Family

The latest sketch, number 253, from Pencil Lines is only 6" x 12" but I've stretched it; my panel of patterned paper is about 7" wide and I've added it to a piece of 12" x 12" - this is the reverse of one of the pieces on my prize from Pebbles - a white grid on kraft. Sometimes I prefer the quieter patterns on the back to the bolder ones on the front of my paper.

I tried a few alphabets in co-ordinating colours on this layout but they got lost  on the multi-coloured background. Somehow the pink ones worked, possibly because both they and the paper are from Crate Paper, albeit from different collections.

I don't take many pictures of me or my husband, something I am trying to cure. I took these photos of all our family in the garden before our 40th birthday barbecue.

Supplies

Paper - Pebbles Fresh Goods Mom & Pop (Reverse), Crate Paper Sweet Branch Hope

Letters - Crate Paper Mia

String - Reused from clothing tag

Heart - Reused from broken earring

Month Rub-on - Rusty Pickle

The Gar Seat

This week's challenge from Scrap Whispers is to use stamps on a layout. I don't have many stamps but after rummage I came up with one that is an irregular square with a border, just less than 2" x 2". I decided to use it to make a background paper, stamping onto a white scrapbook insert in three colours of green ink. Once I had done this I thought that the white background was too strong a contrast with the green squares and used chalk to turn the paper pale green instead. The actual page is quite a simple design, teaming the stamped paper with plain cardstock and woodgrain borders:

Supplies
Card - DCWV Neutral Stack
Paper - HOTP Barnwood
Ink - Papermania Rainforest Trio
Stamp - Unknown (free from a magazine)
Chalk - Readicut Crafts

Pebbles Prize

Those of you who follow Shimelle's blog will remember her Online Scrapbooking Weekend in August; you are less likely to remember that I won the Half Page Challenge with this layout:

Well, my prize finally arrived today, a big box from Pebbles in the USA. Obviously, as is the case with all big boxes, it was mostly filled with scrunched brown paper but I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of products carefully packaged at the bottom of the box.

Papers, embellishments and alphabets from the Floral Lane (left) and Fresh Goods (right) lines:

Both pink and blue papers and embellishments from the New Addition line: 

Plus Welcome Christmas papers and embellishments. Plus more alphabets, co-ordinating buttons and rosettes and a set of alphabet stamps.

You can click on any picture to see larger images of these collections.

Thank you to both Shimelle for organising the weekend and Pebbles Inc for sponsoring this challenge.

Now...which one to use first?

Anglo-Saxon Warrior

I used a sketch from Sketchy Thursdays as a starting point for this page, but, as you can see, I rotated it, flipped it and generally re-arranged it to get a layout that worked with a single portrait photo.

I had intended my journalling to be on a single 2x2 square on the right, but I was working with small offcuts and my printer chewed up some of my paper; hence the repeat of the plaid paper with a smaller square of journalling on it.

The page doesn't seem quite "finished" to me, but I can't see what to add. Any suggestions?

Supplies

Card - DCWV Neutral Stack

Paper - My Mind's Eye Wild Asparagus, Basic Grey Archaic

Round and Round

After the intricate work of the last layout, it was time for something much simpler. Three photos, some strips of paper and a big title for Shimelle's Sketch of the Week.

I had a journalling spot which was the perfect shape and size for this, but happened to be bright pink. I made my own by drawing round it, inking the edges and stamping a similar pattern down the edge. Rather than use a whole line of embellishments on the right, I just used five yellow gemstones.

Supplies

Paper - Pixie Press Buttercup Suns, My Mind's Eye Bloom & Grow

Gemstones - Dovecraft 

Letters - American Crafts

Journalling Spot Used as Template - Crate Paper

Stamp - Dovecraft Beautiful Borders

Ink - Papermania

St Petersburg

We went on a Baltic Cruise this summer, and I will obviously create a holiday scrapbook in due course, but I also want to do a page about each destination in my general 2011 scrapbook. Most of the cities will be OK but we spent two days in St Petersburg, visited lots of cathedrals and palaces and took hundreds of photos. How on earth could I condense this to just one page?

Enter Shimelle Laine with her 4x6 Photo Love classes for Two Peas in a Bucket. Each month she creates a new layout with increasing numbers of 4x6 photos and September meant nine photos on one page! She achieved this by creating a large pocket with one photo on the front and eight more on extra cards inside. You can find a video of how she made it here or a PDF with more information here.

This is my version:

and these are the two sides of my inserts:

You might spot that I cheated a bit; I squeezed in a panoramic picture on the outside of the pocket, one of my pictures was portrait so I used a smaller landscape picture on that card, and two of them were proportioned 3x4 and couldn't be cropped to 4x6. Nevertheless I kept true to the overall design.

I made my pocket from vellum which I hand-stitched to my background paper, a piece from the Basic Grey Periphery collection. I used small pieces of the similarly-coloured Basic Grey Archaic papers and some epoxy flowers across all the layouts to tie them together.

All in all, it was a huge amount of work, more like 5 layouts than one, but I am very pleased with the way it turned out.

Supplies
Card - DCWV Neutral Stack
Paper - Basic Grey Periphery, Basic Grey Archaic
Vellum - Paper Adventures
Letters - Mustard Moon
Flowers - WHSmith
Camera Die-Cut - atd