Smile

Just a simple page from me today, and one that came about through a chain of coincidences. Firstly, while rummaging through my scraps box yesterday, I noticed a largish piece of spotty paper and a smaller piece of stripey paper that came from the same collection but were quite separate in the box. I put them together on the top, wondering what else might be in there that would match them, and what photos they might go with.

This morning, while checking my reading list on Blogger, I noticed a post from Sketch-n-Scrap about their birthday party next week and clicking through to the blog itself I spotted the perfect sketch for my paper, with one larger box and one long strip. Sketch #30 (from 1 April) is actually a four photo sketch, but I decided to adapt it for just one 4x6 print, mostly due to the existing sizes of my paper pieces.

My background is from Dear Lizzy as I wanted it to be pale and this sheet picked up the off-white tones in my other papers. I had some blue letters picked out for my title, but no real idea what my title was going to be. When I was deciding on embellishments, I happened to check what else I have from Dear Lizzy, I found the vertical "Smile" piece and settled on that for my title, matting it on an offcut from my photo mat.

Supplies
Paper - American Crafts Dear Lizzy Neapolitan, Sweetwater (Dots/Stripes), Various Scraps
Border Sticker - Doodlebug
Washi Tape - Queen & Co

Tools
Fiskars Postage Stamp Border Punch
Woodware Scalloped Medium Circle Punch
Hobbycraft Medium Star Punch

When I Grow Up I Want to be a Pirate

The second monthly challenge at Scrap Our Stash is a sketch with a twist, the twist this month being the requirement for six buttons on the page.

I picked two old 4x6 photos of my son with pirate face-paint for this one and cropped them to 4x4. I wanted to use a skull and cross-bones border strip so I rotated the whole sketch to accommodate this better, and made the circle larger to encompass my title. I normally like to have matching buttons on a page, but I have an assortment here, five on the left and one at the top right.

Supplies
Cardstock - DCWV Linen Closet Stack
Paper - Junkitz Extreme Boy
Letters - Junkitz Extreme Boy, Lily Bee Double Dutch
Ink - Ink It Up! 
Buttons - from Stash
Thread - DMC

No! I will not hold his hand!

It's been a long time since I did a challenge from the Scrap Our Stash blog, but they've had a makeover and posted some interesting challenges this month. The first one was a stash-busting challenge - to use at least one polka dot paper, one striped paper and one bird, butterfly, or bee.

This challenge sent me straight to my scraps box as I knew I had both a multi-coloured stripey paper and a brown polka dot paper there. While rummaging, I also re-discovered a butterfly print paper in the same colours. I was trying not to dither or waste time, so I picked the first photo that I came to that worked with these colours - my children on the village green in Thorpeness, Suffolk. I'd asked my son to hold his sister's hand while I took the picture because of the pond behind them but she wasn't having it, hence the title.

I fussy cut one of the butterflies from another scrap of the same paper as an embellishment. Its paper antennae were too fine to cut around, so I replaced them with a length of wire, and used pop-dots under the wings.

Supplies
Paper - Lily Bee Double Dutch, Basic Grey Eva & Porcelain, Glitz Design Laced with Grace, Crate Paper Little Sprout
Letters - American Crafts Thickers, Fancy Pants Fundamentals
Washi Tape - Trimcraft
Ink - docrafts

Tools
X-Cut Scallop Border Punch 

A Mess of Chocolate

On to my third page from Glitter Girl's Adventure 65 at Two Peas in a Bucket. This video was all about creating three pages from a limited kit of supplies, and I've already posted the first and second pages I made, with three and two photos respectively. 

The third page is a single photo layout, which Glitter Girl made by cutting leftover papers to rectangles and layering them up on the page with her photo on top. I had put my kit together from part sheets so I had trouble with this; I ended up pulling more pieces from my scraps box.

My photo is from my son's first Easter when he had been eating chocolate so the grungy papers tied in with the mess on his hands and face. I had previously used modelling paste and a stencil on one piece of paper in an experiment gone wrong, so I tore that and layered it in the mix. The white letters that I used on the previous pages were too large for this one, so I stamped my title in brown ink. I did the two lines separately and I must have used less pressure for the top line as I have ended up with a two tone title, but I don't mind that.

Supplies
Cardstock - MME Kraft Funday
Paper - Fancy Pants Papa, MME Follow Your Heart 6x6 Pad
Stickers - Crate Paper Farmhouse, October Afternoon, Cosmo Cricket
Modelling Paste - Farrel & Gold
Washi Tape - Trimcraft
Brads - Papermania
Ink - Dovecraft

Tools
Big Shot & X-Cut Ticket Stubs Die
Tando Creative Harlequin Mask
Pebbles ABC Stamps (Floral Lane)
Hobbycraft Medium Star Punch

First Time Grandad

This is the second of three pages that I am making inspired by Glitter Girl's Adventure 65 at Two Peas in a Bucket, all about creating three pages from a limited kit of supplies; I shared the first one yesterday, so you might want to go back to that one.

Glitter Girl's two photo page used one landscape photo and one portrait photo, but her alter-ego Shimelle posted an alternative trio of pages on her blog, using the same kit principles. Shimelle's two photo page used two landscape photos and my page is closer to hers than the original Glitter Girl page.

My kit of papers was large enough that this page has very little in common with the previous one, just the red paper for the photo mat, a bit of washi tape and those large white letters. My title was slightly longer than the photo mat so I added the brown border sticker to disguise the mis-match and I think it worked.

My photos are of my baby son with his grandfather, but I had chosen the papers without particular photos in mind. My page ended up using rather heritage colours, so I changed the focus from the baby to the adult via my title. The dictionary paper has the definition of family (among other words) which I thought was perfect for the page.

Supplies
Cardstock - DCWV
Paper - Teresa Collins Timeless, Fancy Pants Wavesearcher, HOTP In the Kitchen, MME Follow Your Heart 6x6 Pad
Letters - American Crafts Simply Chic, Basic Grey Curio
Border Sticker - Echo Park
Paint - Folk Art Coffee Bean Acrylic Paint
Washi Tape - Trimcraft
Metal Swirls - Pebbles

Bath Time

I am an avid watcher of the Adventures of Glitter Girl videos at Two Peas in a Bucket and a couple of weeks ago she tackled the subject of increasing your productivity by limiting your supplies. She posted a kit list and guidance for creating three pages from that kit in her Adventure 65, those pages being designed around one, two and three 4x6 photos or photo blocks. I decided to give it a go, creating a kit with a lot of aqua, but also yellows, greens and reds. This is my first page - with three photos:

(NB The star on the third photo isn't part of the design - I think you know why it's there.)

Glitter Girl's page actually had a large block of journalling and a smaller title to the left of the photos, but I had very little to say, and I wanted to try and use up some older supplies, hence the very large title letters.

Supplies
Paper - Paper Adventures Tropical Breeze Sea Glass, Fancy Pants Wavesearcher
Letters - American Crafts Simply Chic
Washi Tape - Trimcraft

Tools
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch
Hobbycraft Medium Star Punch
Woodware Tiny Star Punch

What do I do now?

Following on from yesterday's post, I really do think that this is my last March/April challenge page for Scrap Whispers. Challenge 138 looked back at Steph's inspiration pages used for previous challenges and asked us to take a technique from each and combine them.

I picked overlapping circles of paper, a long title and a machine-stitched central square from the three pages. I also added flowers with brads, which appeared on two of Steph's pages. 

My photo is an odd one of my daughter holding tight to the top of the slide in the park when she was a year old. She didn't seem to know how to get down, despite having a smaller slide in our garden, which led to the title for the page:

Supplies
Cardstock - Moments Scrapbook Insert
Paper - Cherry Arte Arcade, Dovecraft Princess Fairytale 6x6 Pack
Letters - Doodlebug Teensy Type
Flowers - Bo Bunny Mama-Razzi
Brads - Laura Ashley
Gems - Dovecraft
Ink - Papermania

Tools
Kreaxions Circle Cutter
Sewing Machine

Fun at the Beach

I thought that this would be my last page for the March/April challenges at Scrap Whispers, and I would have done them all, but no, they've posted another one this morning. Never mind.

Their Challenge 134 was a straightforward one - to scrap a summer layout. I went with the beach theme of the example page, and pulled five old 4x6 photos of my children on the beach near my grandparents' home. The number and size of my photos meant a double page and I decided to kill off a kit with Fancy Pants Wavesearcher papers in it. My page design was largely based on the sizes of the remaining pieces in that kit.

Supplies
Paper - docrafts Spring Chic, Fancy Pants Wavesearcher
Vellum - American Crafts Dear Lizzy Neapolitan
Letters - Papermania Alphamania, Pink Paislee Bitty Blocks
Washi Tape - Trimcraft
Gems - Dovecraft
Buttons - from Stash
Ink - Ink It Up!

Tools
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch
EK Success Corner Punch

Mascot Hunting

Challenge 135 at Scrap Whispers was a colour challenge - to use red, aqua, white and kraft on a page. I picked a couple Olympic mascot photos and printed them at 4x6 and I pulled out an assortment of papers but I started the page without any clear idea of where it would end up.

My first step was to use white mist and a stencil to make a pattern on my kraft cardstock background. Then I discovered that my photos would cover most of my stencilled area if I laid them side-by-side so I ended up placing them in a vertical column with strips of paper and ribbon. I tried to counteract all the vertical lines with some horizontal washi tape and a white circle around  my title, which I stamped because I didn't have sufficient letter stickers in the the right size and a good colour. 

Supplies
Cardstock - Papermania Kraft Basics
Paper - MME Lime Twist
Washi Tape - Trimcraft
White Stickers - Anita's Glitterations
Gems & Ribbon - from Stash
Mist - Mister Huey's Opaque White
Ink - Papermania

Tools
Pebbles ABC Stamps
Dreamweaver Background Dots Stencil
Amy Tangerine Roller Date Stamp

Sitting Pretty

The main scraplifting game for March/April at Scrap Whispers is coming to an end (more info here) so their challenges 132 to 137 will close soon too. I've done several of them, and this page is for Challenge 133 - Circles. It was a nice easy one where we just needed to create a layout with at least three circles, whether these came from the patterned paper or in the embellishment.

I chose my paper first - a pink one one with a variety of circles that I have had for ages. I really like it but I never pick it out when I start my page from the photos and then choose papers. Call me predictable, but pink paper means photos of my daughter, and I chose some from when she was a baby. 

When I want a large circle of paper, I used to draw round a plate and cut it out with scissors. However, I have a new crafty gadget that I won following the recent sketch-a-thon at My Sketch World. The Kreaxions circle cutter is totally flexible, cutting circles any size up to 10" diameter. I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do with it as it is much more versatile than my Fiskars shape cutter (or a plate).

Supplies
Cardstock - Doodlebug
Paper - Junkitz Athlete, Circles Unknown
Border Sticker - Making Memories
Vellum - from Stash
Letters - American Crafts / Amy Tangerine
Ink - docrafts

Tools
Kreaxions Circle Cutter
Fiskars Apron Lace Border Punch

Snapshots London 2012

The Athletes' Parade should have been the end of my Olympic and Paralympic album, but it was a double, which means that I have one final page to fill and I decided to dedicate it to those photos which didn't manage to fit in anywhere else for one reason or another. 

Yesterday's Challenge #137 from Scrap Whispers was all about using up our paper strips, which lead me a page repeating December's & Now for Something Completely Different class from Shimelle Laine at UKScrappers. All the papers on the left were offcuts of various lengths and widths of the papers that I used throughout the album.

And now I've finished the last page of this album, though I do want to go back over the pages and add bits and pieces, especially where I started using a product part way through. I also need to stick down a few errant letters which are falling off the pages already. 

Now, what shall I do next? Malaysia 2009? Baltic Cruise 2011? General 2012? General 2013? So many albums; so little time.

Supplies
Cardstock - Papermania Kraft Basics
Paper - Papermania Portobello Road, MME Wild Asparagus, K&Co Cut 'n' Paste
Letters - MME Lush, Unlabelled
Washi Tape - Trimcraft
Ink - Ink It Up!

Our Greatest Team - The Parade

I'm nearing the end of my Olympic and Paralympic album now - with a double page for the Athlete's Parade based on Sketch 12 from Shimelle Laine's Sketch to Scrapbook Page series. I've done some serious adapting of that sketch, rotating it, stretching it to the double page and substituting portrait photos for square ones, but I hope that you can still see the original idea behind my page.

Supplies
Cardstock - Papermania Kraft Basics
Paper - MME Wild Asparagus, Papermania Portobello Road
Letters - Papermania Alphamini Stickers
Washi Tape - Trimcraft
Gems - Mark Richards Emporium
Ink - Ink It Up!

Silver for Shelly

Did you miss me? I've had a week's holiday on the Peak District, followed by a weekend in Norfolk for my sister's wedding. Lots and lots of new photos to scrap, but first I need to finish off that Olympic and Paralympic album that I was working on before.

This page is actually from the same day as the last one I did, and used an offcut of the union flag paper from that page. It features the women's wheelchair marathon, where Britain's Shelly Woods won a silver medal. I actually have all three medallists in my photo and I ran my title 'around the corner' of it for Challenge #136 at Scrap Whispers. 

Supplies
Cardstock - Papermania Kraft Basics
Paper - Papermania Portobello Road, MME Wild Asparagus
Transparency - Fancy Pants Wave Searcher
Washi Tape - Trimcraft
Ink - Ink It Up!

Tools
Big Shot and Ticket Stubs Die
Hobbycraft Star Punch