Climbing Wall

I haven't done a workout at ScrapFIT since they teamed up with Sketchy Thursdays back in September, but a link on another blog led me back there for their workout #58 - to use mini pictures on a layout. I took these pictures of my children on a climbing wall with my mobile phone, and once I had figured out how to get them on to the computer they were disappointingly small - only 3.3cm x 4.4 cm at full size - but perfect for this challenge. I concentrated my layout into half the page and left plenty of white space:

Supplies
Paper - Sandylion Biscotti, Basic Grey Mellow, HOTP Sandstone
Card - DCWV Neutral Stack

Goyt Valley

Another layout for Scrap Whispers - their Challenge 112 was to use a cluster of photos or embellishments on our pages. I used two clusters of three flowers on this layout, one of a series about a holiday in the Peak District:

The picture isn't great and it's hard to see the paper patterns - I'll replace it when I can take a photo in daylight.

I wasn't consciously scraplifting when I made this, but having looked at the Scrap Whispers blog again I see that Rosey's layout there also has three vertical panels of paper, so this must have been in my mind as I worked.

Supplies
Paper - KaiserCraft Bumpercar, Glitz Design Laced with Grace, MME Wild Asparagus, First Edition Spring Feast
Letter Stickers - Basic Grey Hopscotch
Dewdrops (Flower Centres) - Papermania
String - from Stash

To Bounce or not to Bounce

As soon as I saw the last Scrap Whispers sketch (Challenge 111) I had a clear idea of the layout that I wanted to make, one with a single portrait photo and three panels of patterned paper, although I had no idea which photo.

I plumped for an old picture of my son and matched my blue and yellow paper to his clothes. I added some red to liven up the page, moved my title to the top and added my journalling on paper strips:

It's a very simple page, but I am pleased to have used up some VERY old supplies. The background paper is marked ©2002 but I think I've only had it for about three years; the patterned paper is from some old 5" x 7" pads of similar vintage but I cannot remember the manufacturer.

Supplies
Paper - Sandylion Denim Paper, plus some from stash
Card - Papermania?, plus a white scrapbook insert
Stars - Hobbycraft
Letter Stickers - Craft Creations?

Beside the Sea

The days are whizzing by in the run up to Christmas and there isn't much time for scrapping. I did manage a layout for Creative Craft World last weekend but it's taken me until now to share it with you.

When I first saw this sketch I imagined scrapping a picture of my daughter with a scattering of flowers, but it turned out rather differently. Most pictures that I have of her are either portrait or part of a set and I didn't want to alter the sketch that much, so I went hunting for a single landscape photo.

I came up with a picture of my son on the beach and teamed it with a beautiful water colour paper:

I didn't want to cover up too much of the paper so I used translucent items for most of the layout. I matted my photo on vellum, punched the edges and drew a simple silver frame around it. Then I moved the title to be part of my row of circles and surrounded it with clear epoxy bubble stickers. The journalling spot is a postcard, a digital element that I printed out.

Supplies

Paper - Park Lane Paper British Beach

Vellum & Stickers - from Stash

Journalling Spot - Long & Winding Road by Shimelle Laine for Two Peas in a Bucket

Pagerize This

I am pleased and amazed to report that I won the latest 'Pagerize This' challenge (#16) on the Scrap Our Stash blog. It is basically a scraplift challenge and I blogged about my entry last week - see it here. It is now my job to supply a layout for 'pagerizing' this month (and to choose the next winner - eek!). 

This is the layout I chose - one about the Flåm Railway in Norway. It will be interesting to see what other people do with all my circles and how much embellishment they add to my very simple layout.

This challenge will be open until 12 January. If you want to play along, go to the Scrap Our Stash challenge post for more information.  

Christmas Decorations

After my last somewhat mundane post, I thought I'd share something more Christmassy for the December 'Anything Goes' challenges at Scrap Whispers and Scrap Our Stash. I've had these frames for years - they were a freebie from Cross Stitch Crazy magazine and they came with charts to stitch.

Each December, I realise that I don't have time to stitch them and I resolve to do it in the Spring ready for next Christmas, but the months tick by until it's December again. Last year, I decided to fill them with patterned paper, but I couldn't find them anywhere. This year I found them, lost them again and finally found them again. I cut patterned paper to size and filled the frames. covering both the back and the front of each card insert so that if they twist round on the tree it won't be too obvious if you see the backs.

I used scraps of the Peppermint Twist collection from We R Memory Keepers for the tree and stocking. The stocking cuff is an old piece of velvety paper and the star is cut from an 8" x 8" Papermania paper from a mini Christmas album kit. I haven't added anything extra such as beads or sequins as I think they'd just fall off. Now to add them to the tree....

Tour de France

Both Scrap Whispers and Scrap Our Stash have published an 'Anything Goes' challenge for December. This is supposed to make life easier at a busy time of year - any layout, card or project at all. However I find it much easier to create a layout when I have some parameters, whether these come from a sketch, a scraplift or a colour combination. They help to cut down all the possible layouts and give me a starting point to build on.

With no restrictions, I struggled to get started. I kept looking at various photos, waiting for inspiration to strike, but it didn't. Eventually I decided to scrap the next set of pictures chronologically going backwards, to fill in a gap in my 2007 album. This meant a multi-photo layout and I decided to just scraplift myself, making a duplicate of a recent layout. 

I started from the red, cream and aqua layout I made last week, played about with the photos and changed the colour scheme to make a new version:

I dropped the stitched border as I thought is was unnecessary on the patterned paper and I changed the orientation of the title. I bought the circles paper specifically for these photos at least 18 months ago but I've not got round to making the page until now.

These two pages will be in different albums so I don't think their similarities will matter. 

Supplies
Paper - K & Co Hannah Scrap Pad, We R Memory Keepers Hoops
Card - DCWV Neutral Stack
Letter Stickers - American Crafts
Border Sticker - Crate Paper
Vellum - from Stash

Paul and Emily

I have discovered yet another blog with some great challenges - Scrap Our Stash. Their 'Pagerize This' Challenge is a scraplift. The starting point was this layout from La Vikinga:

I took my inspiration from the bubble wrap stamped background and also used a single portrait photo with flowers, ribbon and black letters, but changed the rest of the colour scheme, and came up with this version:

Supplies
Card - Papermania
Paper - free with a magazine
Letter Stickers - Papermania
Flowers - Paper Cellar
Dewdrops - Papermania
Ribbon - from Stash
Heart Stamp - Banana Frog
Paint - Wilko
Pen - Faber-Castell

ADDITION: This layout was published on the Scrap Our Stash blog on 11 December.

ADDITION: I won the challenge!! And set the next one. Why not join in?

The Bridge

Another page for my Norwegian cruise album - the end is in sight. Just as well as it has taken me about two years so far. This layout is in response to the Colour Challenge on Scrap Whispers this week - to use red, aqua and cream. 

The photos were taken on the ship's bridge on the final day of the cruise so this will be the last page of the album. Lots of cruise-related papers use a red, white and blue colour scheme but I ended up using much simpler supplies rather than themed ones. The narrow horizontal strip of paper is cut from a travel paper - it was one of a job lot from Sunshine Scrapbooking so I don't know the manufacturer. I like the black and white number line which is reminiscent of the grid around a map or chart.

Supplies
Paper - My Mind's Eye Wild Asparagus, HOTP (red - free with Scrapbook Magazine)
Letter Stickers - docrafts
Stamp for Journalling Spot - Kaiser Craft
Ink - Stampcrafts Colour Brushers
Embroidery Thread - Designs for the Needle

Valbergtårnet

I am finally nearing the end of my Norway album, and I added another page with the help of Shimelle's Sketch of the Week. Her sketch was quite plain and, although her finished layout had a lot more embellishments, I stuck with the simplicity of the original.

The main differences were painting a border around the block of photos and paper, and moving the journalling circle up to accommodate my longer title - by the way, Valbergtårnet is Norwegian for The Valberg Tower. This was an old fire watch tower in Stavanger. 

Supplies
Cardstock - Unknown from Stash
Papers - Fancy Pants Papa
Border Stickers - Doodlebug
Letter Stickers - American Crafts
Paint - Folk Art - a mixture of Cocoa Bean and Yellow Ochre

Explore

I said earlier in the week that Pencil Lines had had two good sketches recently and this is the second - Sketch 261 from 27 November. 

I want to finish the album from our trip to Norway in 2009 so I adapted the sketch for three photos of Stavanger. I am working mostly chronologically in this album and the previous page was on double-sided cardstock so I kept the green background and used a mask with chalks to make the bracket shaped border. I made the circle a bit bigger to accommodate my pictures and moved the title down to the horizontal strip of paper. I also moved the punched circles and butterflies around. The patterned papers are both double-sided and have the same patterns in two colourways, co-ordination made simple.

Supplies

Cardstock - First Edition Paper Spring Feast Pad

Paper - s.e.i. Dill Blossom - Dill Seed & Fennel

Letter Stickers - Authentique

Chalk - Readicut Crafts