Comfy?

This page is another with an old photo, made for a scraplift collaboration between the Scrap Squad and Scrap Academy groups on Facebook.

The original page that we were asked to lift was made by Suse Fish for Citrus Twist Kits back in 2016. I chose a single photo for my page, and flipped the design to suit the direction that my brother was looking in the photo.

I find that the colours of older photos don't work well with modern white backgrounds so I chose a distressed paper with a diagonal ombre print for mine and then went through my scraps box for coordinating pieces to make up the vertical strips and the layers behind the photo.

Supplies
Paper - Authentique, Crate Paper The Pier, Jillbean Soup, American Traditional Designs 
Letters - SEI
Tags - Kaisercraft
Enamel Dots - My Mind's Eye, Pretty My Page, Marianne Design
Mist - Docrafts

Tools
Big Shot
Dovecraft Tag and Label Dies

Anyone for Cricket?

I'm continuing with the second sketch from the Lottie Loves Paper Summer Sketch Challenge today, and I'm scrapping old photos again, back to 1983 this time for a picture of my brother in the park.

The photo's quite plain but it was taken in August so I looked for summer-themed papers, and turned up the remnants of an old collection from Simple Stories. I only had one 12x12 sheet left so that became my background and I used a 6" wide white woodgrain scrap over it to tone down the pattern and provide a place for all the paper layers to sit. That part is pretty true to the sketch with two tags and some other papers behind the photo, cut from scraps and cut-apart sheets. I've killed off the collection now with a few tiny pieces going in the recycling.

Supplies

Paper - Simple Stories I {Heart} Summer

Letters - Studio Calico, Heidi Swapp

Enamel Dots - Echo Park, Simple Stories

Ink - Ranger

Mist - Mister Huey's, Docrafts

Tools

Hobbycraft Heart Punch

X-Cut Circle Punch

Old Timers

I don't necessarily blog my pages in the order I made them, preferring to group projects or albums together. Now that I've shared all my 2005 pages, I have a few oddments coming up.

Lottie Loves Paper are running a Summer Sketch Challenge until the end of next month, and this page came from the first one posted. 

I couldn't match the two portrait photos here, so went for landscape instead, with old photos from the National Tramway Museum in Crich. I considered rotating the whole sketch but the L shape of papers looked best left as it is. Those papers are old too, a collection called Vintage Charm which matched the tones in the photos perfectly.

I've stopped buying Thickers as the price keeps creeping up and I don't get very many titles per pack before I run out of critical letters. This means I am cutting more and more titles on my Silhouette - all the letters I need, in any colour and font I like. This time I layered patterned paper with an offset cut from kraft cardstock.

Supplies
Cardstock - American Crafts, Bazzill
Paper - My Mind's Eye Vintage Charm
Pearls - Scrapberry's
Ink - Ranger

Tools
Silhouette Portrait
Big Shot & Dovecraft Star Die
Hobbycraft Star Punch

Christmas Play

This is the last page for my 2005 album, and comes from my daughter's school play in December that year. I based my page on the 'Round and Round' sketch from Shimelle Laine's class Start with a Sketch and used a Christmas wreath cut-file from Paige Evans.

I didn't leave myself with enough space for journalling, so it's on a separate card which I've clipped to the top of the page. 

So, 2005 is done now and I'll be moving on to concentrate on a new year. I kept on top of 2019 as we went along, and I've managed to do the same for 2020 so far. Before those, my last completed annual albums are from 2015, so I've decided to look at finishing off 2016 next. 

Supplies
Paper - American Crafts/Shimelle Go Now Go
Die-Cuts - Advent Calendar Swap
Sticker - Teresa Collins
Washi Tape - from Stash
Enamel Dots - My Mind's Eye, Simple Stories
Pearls - Doodlebug
Gems - Love to Craft
Mist - Mister Huey's, Docrafts

Tools
Silhouette Portrait
Paige Evans Christmas Wreath Cutfile

Preparation

Back in 2005, my husband and some of his colleagues took on the Three Peaks Challenge (climbing the highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales in less than 24 hours). He did his training on the North Downs in Kent, hence the title for this page with poppy photos from the fields near Luddesdown.

I used 6x6 papers from a couple of pads layered up and running diagonally across the page. The green pieces are from the branding strip of the background paper.

Supplies
Paper - OneCanoeTwo Creekside, Pinkfresh Studio Escape the Ordinary
Letters - We R Memory Keepers
Die-Cut - Pinkfresh Studio Escape the Ordinary
Phrase Stickers - Tim Holtz Idea-Ology
Enamel Dots - Simple Stories, Carta Bella
Ink - Memento
Mist - Docrafts

Five Go Adventuring Again

Back in May I started working through my 2005 photos with the aid of various National Scrapbooking Day challenges, and then I wandered off through the archives to complete some more. Now it's time to return to that album with a double page from a trip to Adventure Island (a local theme park) for my son's birthday.

I'd planned this page out before NSD, using an old sketch from Sketch Support which I tweaked to suit my photos. 

With wider photos on the right hand side of the page I knew that my journalling would have to move, and earmarked a space below the title. It took a while to come up with that title though - we visited this theme park a lot when my children were small and I've used up all the obvious titles (and repeated some of them). I eventually locked on to the fact that there were five children this time and pinched the title of a Famous Five story which plays on the word Adventure. 

Supplies
Cardstock - Papermania, DCWV, Bazzill
Paper - Studio Calico Snippets, Studio Calico Heyday
Letters - American Crafts, October Afternoon
Chipboard Number - Unknown
Puffy Stars - Pinkfresh Studio, MRI
Ink - Memento
Mist - Docrafts

Tools
Big Shot & Dovecraft Star Die

Saunton Sands

Another page with vintage photos today, a trio of beach snaps from Saunton Sands in North Devon. I used a page design from Shimelle Laine's Layer on Layer on Layer class in combination with a challenge from For the Love of Pretty Paper to doodle in colour on a page. My doodling is simple, just outlining each paper, but I did each one in colours to match the different papers.

Supplies
Cardstock - My Mind's Eye Necessities, Bazzill
Paper - Heidi Swapp No Limits, Sandylion
Kraft Tags - Advent Calendar Swap
Chipboard Stars - Studio Calico Mistables
Glitter Tape - Hobbycraft
Enamel Dots - Simple Stories, Doodlebug, My Mind's Eye
Mist - Docrafts

Tools
Silhouette Portrait
American Crafts Mini Stapler
Big Shot
X-Cut Camera Die
Dovecraft Tag Die

22 Today

One of the National Scrapbooking Day challenges at For the Love of Pretty Paper was to make a page using a set of digital papers designed by Leonora from Crafty Templates. The pink, aqua and navy colour scheme didn't immediately spark any ideas for me so I passed over that challenge at first, but later on I found the perfect birthday cake photo to go with the papers.

There were two larger patterned papers (about 6x8 each), four 3x4 cards and a plethora of banners, tags and hearts (though I didn't use the hearts in the end).

I layered up the two larger patterns, used a 3x4 card each side of my photo, tucked the tags randomly into the top and lined up some of the banners at the bottom. I added my age to one card, a word sticker to the other card, and finished with a few enamel dots and a scattering of white sequins.

Supplies
Paper - My Mind's Eye Necessities
Numbers - Fancy Pants
Doily - Advent Swap
Word Sticker - Crate Paper/Maggie Holmes
Sequins - Unknown
Enamel Dots - Echo Park
Ink - Hobbycraft
Mist - Docrafts

Tools
Sewing Machine

The White Lady

I'm going way back in the photo archives for this page (and the next few); back to 1993 when I was living in Devon.

I made it for a stamping challenge from For the Love of Pretty Paper; I had a new set of outdoors-themed stamps that I wanted to try out, but I wanted just one or two photos for that rather than the multiples that I take these days.

The photo that I used comes from Lydford Gorge, a place that I have visited and scrapbooked many times over the years; in particular, it's of the waterfall there, which is called the White Lady.

I started off with the leaf-print paper which I machine-stitched to the page and stamped lines of boot prints above and below it. I stitched the red paper in place too, and then layered up an assortment of scraps, including a circular element that I had cut and then rejected for a previous page. I stamped and cut out the signpost and camera, and added a few small die-cut pieces around the circle and by my journalling.

Supplies
Paper - Crate Paper Journey, Prima Marketing Zella Teal, Basic Grey Mon Ami, Pebbles/Jen Hadfield Warm & Cozy, Crate Paper Mia
Letters - Basic Grey
Die-Cuts - Pinkfresh Studio
ink - Ranger

Tools
Sewing Machine
The Great Outdoors Stamp Set (Creative Stamping Magazine)
Silhouette Portrait & The Cut Shoppe 'Right on Target' Cutfile

I Want to Ride my Bicycle

I made this page for a challenge from For the Love of Pretty Paper to include texture on a page. I went with the obvious, using texture paste through a star stencil, but first I laid down some ink through a mask for colour and pattern on my plain white cardstock.

I used a photo of my son on his tricycle, taken shortly after his second birthday, and layered up on an assortment of predominantly turquoise papers which included a bicycle print.

Supplies

Cardstock - UK Crafts, Papermania

Paper - Echo Park, My Mind's Eye

Letters - Hobbycraft, American Crafts/Shimelle

Word Stickers - Tim Holtz

Puffy Stickers - Jullibean Soup, MRI

Enamel Stars - Label Shop

Structure Paste - Flying Tiger

Ink - Ranger

Mist - Docrafts

Tools

Big Shot & Dovecraft Label Die

Tando Creative Harlequin Mask

Creative Embellishments Star Mask

Heidi Swapp Spray Mask

Love You to the Moon

Blue Moodboard

I've wanted to use this cut-file for a while, and always intended to pair it with a photo of our son as a baby. An NSD challenge from For the Love of Pretty Paper with a blue moodboard finally got it out of my head and down on paper.

I stayed mostly monochromatice, but I did inject a touch of red with one of the layers behind the photo. The strip on the left was a late addition after I smudged ink on the edge of the page. Extra blue paper there looked off, but the red looked more deliberate.

Supplies
Cardstock - Bazzill Swiss Dot, 
Paper - Basic Grey, Carol Wilson, Jillbean Soup
Puffy Stars - Bella Boulevard
Word Sticker - Tim Holtz
Washi Tape - Unknown
Mist - Docrafts

Tools
Silhouette Portrait & Paige Taylor Evans Cut-File
Big Shot & Dovecraft Star Die
Fiskars Postage Stamp Border Punch
Hobbycraft Star Punch
Woodware Tiny Star Punch

My Little Brother

Maria's Page

One of the NSD challenges at For the Love of Pretty Paper was to scraplift another member's favourite page. There were some gorgeous pages to choose from, but this one from Maria Kennedy struck me immediately.

I replicated her circle by manipulating the Very Squarey cut-file which I backed with Bo Bunny papers. I only had four patterns but I found that I could use the large spots behind the small squares which gave me plenty of colours to play with.

I think that the coloured corners of Maria's page are pre-printed on her background but I had nothing similar. I picked a paper with a distressed finish and added ink to it by both stamping direct from the ink pads and dragging the pads over the paper. I then stencilled stars and stamped polka dots and asterisks over the inky background.

I copied Maria's small word stickers to add 'my little brother' to one of the squares and ultimately decided that was sufficient to be my title. The photo's an old one so I have no memory of it being taken and no story to go with it.

Supplies
Cardstock - Stampin' Up
Paper - Bo Bunny Shabby Princess
PL Card - Boys Rule
Wood Veneer Stars - Studio Calico
Puffy Stars - Bella Boulevard
Washi Tape - Unknown
Ink - Ranger, Memento
Mist - Docrafts

Tools
Silhouette Portrait
Very Squarey Cut-File - The Cut Shoppe
Amy Tangerine Stamp Set
Star Stencil

Hello Summer

Laura's Sketch

I made this page for the final NSD challenge at For the Love of Pretty Paper, and it was a jumbo challenge - a sketch by the fabulous Laura Rumble with bonus points for including items from a list of 18 stash pieces, colours and techniques. Of course, if you give me a list like that then I set out to bust them all.

The full list was: ink splatters; flair; gold; twine; camera icon; kraft; sewing; teal; 3x4 photo; sequins; handwritten journalling; scraps; wood veneer; Project Life cards; tags; puffy stickers; washi tape; something from your random junk bowl. That bowl was something we were asked to start at the beginning of the weekend, a place to put the leftovers and reject pieces from one page ready to incorporate them on a later page.

I stuck with my childhood for these beach photos (I'm the one with dark hair) and pulled out some scraps and coordinating Project Life cards. Starting with the background, I laid down some stripes of ink directly from my ink pads, and then added some lines of machine-stitching. I found the large tag in my scraps and decided to use it as my title, with its size and orientation dictating that it went in the previously empty space at the top right. Having established that I didn't have to keep the Project Life cards whole, I cut and punched various pieces from them and more scraps to include in my embellishment clusters, while taking care to include all the other items from the list. Can you spot them all?

(My 'random junk' was the pink puffy camera, the twin of one on this page. I'd already stamped tiny cameras on the background to fulfil that element of the challenge.) 

Supplies
Cardstock - DCWV
Paper - Crate Paper Craft Market, Crate Paper The Pier
PL Cards - Summer Mini Kit
Wood Veneer - Advent Swap, Studio Calico
Puffy Stickers - Pinkfresh Studio, MRI, American Crafts/Shimelle
Word Stickers - Pretty Little Studio
Flair - Imagine That
Sequins - Pretty Little Studio
Washi Tape - Ebay, Pretty My Page
Ink - Ranger. Hobbycraft
Mist - Docrafts

Tools
Sewing Machine
Woodware Tag Punch
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch
Big Shor
Dovecraft Tag Die
Studio Calico Pinked Circle Die
X-Cut Bunting Die
Studio Calico Camera Stamp

Snapshots from Bognor Regis

It's not often that I can put a whole year on one scrapbook page, but when I raided my parents' old photo album for my childhood photos there were just four pictures for 1972, and they all came from our summer holiday in Bognor Regis so they all went on one page.

I've had this large scrap of floral paper for a few weeks, and when I saw it with the pink I knew that I had the colour scheme for a new page. I lined the photos up in a row, layered them on some more scraps and machine-stitched a couple of overlapping circles around them. I used a mask for the two lines of chevrons for a challenge from For the Love of Pretty Paper and included a shaker pocket in my layers for a subsidiary challenge from the same group to combine one with any other challenge. 

Supplies
Paper - American Crafts/Dear Lizzy Saturday, Crate Paper Random, American Crafts Shimelle Head in the Clouds, My Mind'd Eye Cut & Paste
Letters - Studio Calico, Creative Devotion
Puffy Stickers - OneCanoeTwo
Washi Tape - Dovecraft
Star Gems - Simply Creative
Enamel Dots - Echo Park
Ink - Memento
Stars and Micro Beads - from Stash

Tools
Sewing Machine
Big Shot & Dovecraft Tag Die
Pretty My Page Borders Mask

Christening Day

I'm going back to my childhood for this page; I'm the baby being christened here. I had scans of two photos from the day and they are both quite small (as were the 1970s originals).

A two-photo page meant that I had another go at Hey Little Magpie's NSD recipe challenge (having failed at an earlier attempt when I couldn't make all of the elements work). This called for sewing, fussy-cutting, something shiny and twine or ribbon to go with the two photos.

Original Page

I spotted scraplift challenge #18 from Scrap Squad and made this the basis for my design. The original appears to be a DT page for The Digital Press but I haven't been able to find the original creator.

I chose a soft pastel floral for my triangle but didn't have many other papers that matched it so used Project Life cards for my photo mat and arranged the recipe pieces around them. I added the extra smaller triangle in the opposite corner for a challenge from For the Love of Pretty Paper to use at least two triangles on a page. 

Supplies
Cardstock - Stampin' Up!
Paper - Docrafts Spring Chic
Cards - Project Life
Doily - Dovecraft
Family Charm - American Traditional Designs
Washi Tape - Efco
Flowers - Unknown
Pearls - Scrapberry's
Gems - TPC Studio
Ink - Memento
Mist - Tattered Angels

Tools
Silhouette Portrait
Sewing Machine
Big Shot
Dovecraft Tag Die
X-Cut Bunting Die
Dovecraft Butterfly Stamp
Woodware Flower Punch