My Sketch World - Christmas Card

Back in October, I made a quartet of cards for World Card-Making Day based on sketches at My Sketch World and I was stunned to receive first prize for my efforts. As part of that prize, Lucy invited me to guest for two card sketch challenges.

This is the second sketch and since it's December we have a Christmas theme. I chose a 6x6 paper pad from KaiserCraft and a little holly sticker for my main embellishment. Part way through I decided to switch from a rectangular card to a square one so that my circle would have an even border. I cut a banner from one of the papers but my sentiment sticker was lost against it so I die-cut a tag as an additional layer. The card didn't seem quite finished so I had a rummage for something else to add, coming up with the star stickers which I scattered along the diagonal.

Supplies
Card - Craft Creations
Paper - KaiserCraft Christmas Collections 6x6 Pad
Stickers - Papermania, Gold Label, WHSmith
Ink - Docrafts

Tools
Big Shot & Tag Die

My Sketch World - Thank You Card

Last month I made a quartet of cards for World Card-Making Day based on sketches at My Sketch World and I was stunned to receive first prize for my efforts. I am now the owner of a new set of stamps, and Lucy has invited me to guest for two card sketch challenges.

The first one has a theme of Fall or Thanksgiving. We don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, so I chose to make a Thank You card with autumnal colours. I die-cut my envelope from the leaf paper and then pulled in co-ordinating papers for the other elements.

Supplies
Paper - Amy Tangerine Ready Set Go, Studio Calico Sundrifter
Flowers - Great Expressions
Ribbon - Unknown
Gems - ZVA Creative
Ink - Docrafts, Ranger

Tools
Big Shot, Sizzix Envelope Die & Tag Die
Heidi Swapp Stencil
All Night Media 'Thanks!' Stamp

Land's End

This page forms a pair with the previous one as I was struck by the similarity between sketches 16 and 20 from the Sketch-a-Thon at My Sketch World. Both have rectangular panels of paper (vertical or horizontal) layered with a circular piece; I used number 20 for my last page, and I'm working with Sketch 16 for this one.

I picked pieces from my scrap box which have a beach or nautical theme and matched them to photos from Land's End. I have a few extra panels on this page compared to the sketch as I had to work with the size of the scraps as they were. I also wanted to separate the blue circle from the blue background. I was planning to use the same alphabet here as on the previous page, but I was out of Ls and had to make a change.

Supplies
Cardstock - Papermania
Paper - Travel Expressions Seashells, Buzzcraft, K&Co Sea Glass, HOTP Barnwood, Scenic Route Belleville
Vellum - The Robin's Nest
Letters - Jillibean Soup
Pebbles Spiral Paper Clip
Ink - Ink It Up!

Tools
Fiskars Shape Cutter & Circle Template

Ship Ahoy

I went AWOL for a while this week, but I'm back with my last two pages from the Anniversary Sketch-a-Thon at My Sketch World. 

I was rummaging through my scraps box recently when I realised that I had a lot of pieces with a beach or coastal theme. I decided to use up some of these with three photos from Land's End and two similar sketches for two complementary pages.

The first page is from the final sketch - number 20.

Supplies
Cardstock - Papermania
Paper - HOTP Barnwood, K&Co Sea Glass, Scenic Route Belleville, Buzzcraft
Letters - Craft Creatives
Ink - Ink it Up!
Circles - Pebbles Spiral Paper Clips, Anita's Glitterations Circle Frames

Tools
Fiskars Shape Cutter & Circle Template

Summer Fun

Another page from the Sketch-a-Thon at My Sketch World. This time I used Sketch #12, though as always I adapted it to my personal taste.

I picked a couple of photos of my nephew as a toddler, and a selection of papers for the strips at the bottom, but I wasn't happy with the arrangement. I ended up with a more geometric design, with a row of strips of the same height:

Supplies
Paper - docrafts Spring Chic, plus scraps and unlabelled papers
Frame - Jillibean Soup Macho Nacho
Letters - Papermania

Tools
X-Cut Scalloped Border Punch

Jurassic Park

Back now to the 7th Sketch from the Sketch-a-Thon at My Sketch World. This one had me baffled when it was published as I couldn't find quite the combination of photos that I thought I needed. However once I decided to ditch the idea of using four photographs and to substitute patterned paper for the smaller ones, this page came together quite easily.

I picked a couple of dinosaur photos from a holiday in Cornwall, and they are once again larger than those in the sketch, so I played around with the dimensions of the other elements and ended up dropping the three circles on the right.

Supplies
Paper - Basic Grey Porcelain, American Crafts Chap, American Crafts Dear Lizzy Neapolitan, Basic Grey Archaic
Border & Embellishments - Basic Grey Archaic
Letters - Gold Label
Ink - Dovecraft

Tools
Fiskars Shape Cutter & Circles Template

Eden Project

I had been working through the sketches from My Sketch World's Anniversary Sketch-a-Thon in order, but as soon as I saw Sketch #11 I knew exactly which photos I wanted to use. We visited the Eden Project in 2004 (pre-digital photography) and I had just three photos from the day, in exactly the right orientation mix, but a little larger.

I was lucky enough won a gift certificate from The Robin's Nest in last year's Sketch-a-Thon, and some of their products are on this page.

We visited again last year and I have 48 photos, plus my husband probably took a similar number. They're going to take more than one page to scrap!

Supplies
Paper - The Robin's Nest Boy Stripes, Basic Grey Periphery, Colorbok Travel
Letters - The Robin's Nest, Pink Paislee
Pearls - from Stash
Ink - Ink It Up!

Tools
EK Success Corner Punch
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch
Woodware Small Daisy Punch

2005 School Photo

The sketches in the Sketch-A-Thon are coming thick and fast over at My Sketch World. This page is inspired by Sketch 5 (sketches 3 and 4 were card sketches). Sketches 7 and 8 have both been scrapbook pages too, so I have some catching up to do.

The photo I picked is larger than the one in the sketch, so I adapted the other elements, but I think the original sketch can still be seen in my page.

I'm pleased to have used up some really old paper here, two pieces marked 2006. Though I haven't had them quite that long, it's still nice to use them up.

Supplies
Paper - Sandylion Green Spice, KI Memories It's a Girl, Echo Park This & That Charming
Letters/Numbers - Making Memories
Eyelet - Vaessen Creative
Ink - docrafts

Tools
Bracket Shaped Square Template (Manufacturer Unknown)

Farm Frolics

Continuing with the February Sketch-a-Thon at My Sketch World, this is Sketch #2.

I pulled out a mixed pair of photos (one landscape/ one portrait) for a page last week that just wouldn't come together, so I still had them to hand for a second attempt to scrap them.

They are old ones of my son in the adventure playground of a local farm and country park which we used to visit every summer.

Supplies
Paper - Crate Paper Restoration, My Mind's Eye Lime Twist, docrafts Spring Chic
Border Sticker - Sandylion
Letters - Sandylion / Winnie the Pooh
Brads - Papermania
Washi Tape - Trimcraft
Animals - Paper Bliss

Goonhilly

February means a Sketch-a-Thon over at My Sketch World. They are celebrating their seventh birthday, and this is the third year that I have joined in. They generally alternate between cards and layouts, and this is the first sketch.

I rotated it for my page, as my main photo was portrait, not landscape. All three were originally 4x6 prints, but I cropped lots of grey sky from two of them. They're from a cloudy day in Cornwall when we visited the Satellite Earth Station at Goonhilly Down.

I have been hand-writing my journalling for ages but I couldn't fit what I wanted to write in the space that I had left myself, so I turned to the computer for the journalling on this page.

Supplies
Paper - My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline, Pink Paislee Indigo Bleu
Border Sticker - Crate Paper Random
Letters - October Afternoon
Ink - Ink It Up!

Pony Trekking

Hurray, I've reached the end of the ABC Crop at My Sketch World. Time to celebrate (and then move on to the next project). Z was for Zoo - create a page with an animal on it somewhere. I picked out a couple of photos of my daughter and niece plus horses, and used more of the K&Company papers, this time in co-ordinating pinks and greens, along with a Starting Point from Shimelle Laine from a few weeks ago.

None of the papers were plain enough for journalling on, so I decided to look through my digital kits for a suitable journalling card. I didn't actually find one, but I did use a digital paper, cropped and resized, as a background for my printing.

Supplies
Paper - Best of K&Company Too (Peabody Collection)
Stickers - K&Company Hannah Scrap Pad
Letters - American Crafts Thickers
Journalling Box - Adapted from the Long & Winding Road Digital Kit by Shimelle Laine at Two Peas in a Bucket
Ink - Dovecraft

Tools
Fiskars Apron Lace Border Punch
Fiskars Shape Cutter and Circle Templates

Yellow Butterfly Card

This is my final card from the ABC Crop (as we are alternating between cards and layouts), and it is for the letter Y. I was quite disappointed to see the instructions - Y is for Yellow: Create a card using yellow - as we also had to use yellow with L is for Lemon. Never mind, yellow it is.

I recently bought a 360 sheet pad of paper from K&Company - the Best of K&Company Too. It was quite inexpensive and there are three sheets of each design so I really don't mind cutting it up for cards. There's no feeling of keeping it for something special or for just the right project. I cut into a couple of sheets (one for the background and one for the butterfly) and added a ribbon and a journalling spot (turned over) that was lying on my desk and was just the right size and colour.

Supplies
Card - WHSmith
Paper - Best of K&Company Too (Cut 'n' Paste Collection)
Journalling Spot & Ribbon - from Stash
Ink - Papermania

Summer Ball

The end is in sight. I've reached X in the ABC Crop. X is for X-ray - create a page using only black, white and grey. This was a tough one. I've got plenty of cardstock in these colours, but just one sheet of patterned paper, so I had to use this damask print in two shades of grey. It's a formal paper so I paired it with a formal photo, one of me and my husband at his company's Summer Ball in the early 90s. I used my bracket punch on both the grey patterned paper and some dark grey card to make the borders, which I embellished with tiny pearls.

A close up
of the border:

Believe it or not, I didn't have enough of the right letters in either black or white for my title, so I turned to my Big Shot and used the same grey card. I will add some journalling to the page, but I'm not sure what memories I need to record. I should have a clearer idea when I do more pages from that era.

Supplies

Cardstock - Chartwell Studio, DCWV Neutral Stack

Paper - Teresa Collins Timeless

Pearls - Dovecraft

Tools

Fiskars Bracket Border Punch

Big Shot & Provo Craft Alphabet Dies

Layered Card

And a quick card for W in the ABC Crop: W is for Wavy - Create a card using at least two things that are wavy. I reckon that the Apron Lace punch qualifies as wavy so I punched and layered several strips of patterned paper and added a sentiment sticker and a tiny butterfly.

Supplies
Card - WHSmith
Paper - Spring Fever Collection
Sticker - Robin's Nest

Tools
Fiskars Apron Lace Border Punch
Craft Creatives Butterfly Punch

Cheerful Day

Well, the ABC Crop is officially over, but I have five more challenges that I would like to finish. The first is for V: V is for Variegated - create a page using striped patterned paper.

I recently received my kit club parcel with some Dear Lizzy Neapolitan papers, including a pretty stripe. I decided to use this, and picked a picture of five of my Grandad's great-grandchildren (my children, my sister's child and my cousin's children). This was taken on his 90th Birthday, so I used the balloons from the same collection. Other pages nearby in the album will make the birthday theme clearer. I'm not sure what to use as a title for the page; I'd picked the sticker that says 'Cheerful Day' and I'm thinking that I won't actually add a proper big title. Does every page really need one?

Supplies
Paper - American Crafts Dear Lizzy Neapolitan, KaiserCraft Seaside
Sticker - American Crafts Dear Lizzy Neapolitan
Metal Embellishments - Papermania Floral Circles
Washi Tape - We R Memory Keepers
Ink - Papermania

Red, White & Blue Card

It's back to cards for U in the ABC Crop where U is for U.S.A. - create a card using only red, white and blue. This was indeed a challenge as they are colours I just don't use. My scraps box is full of greens and browns; there are a few blue bits but hardly any red. In the end my card was mostly blue and white, with just a scrap of ribbon and a brad contributing the red.

The crop ends officially at midnight PST tonight so this is the last challenge I will enter. However, with only five left, I think I will try to finish them off after the deadline.

Supplies
Card - WHSmith
Paper - Making Memories Fresh Anthology 6x6 Pad
Flower - Papermania
Brad - Laura Ashley

Tools
Fiskars Apron Lace Border Punch

Chelmorton

When I was digging out the photo for the last page, I found a trio of photos from the same holiday that fit together. I decided to use them for the T challenge of the ABC Crop at My Sketch World: T is for Twine - use twine on your page.

I'm also using the prompts from Shimelle's Something from Almost Nothing class. Prompt 1 was to use metal and prompt 2 was about using up paper scraps. I punched a stack of 1" squares from scraps to make a border, set a few eyelets in the squares and wrapped twine around the whole thing. 

Unfortunately, the photo colour is slightly off, as the background paper is beige not grey.

Supplies

Paper - American Crafts Dear Lizzy Neapolitan, My Mind's Eye Follow Your Heart, plus scraps

Twine - Brown Sugar Divine Twine

Letters - All My Memories

Eyelets - Creative Collection

Ink - Papermania

Tools

Dovecraft 1" Square Punch

Flower Card

And S is for Stickers - use stickers on a card. Easy enough as I have plenty of these. I picked a sticker with a vase of flowers, stuck it to white card, cut it out and used foam squares to raise it above the background. That background is a piece from a border sheet. I inked the edges and there is room on the dotty stripe for a sentiment when I know what it will be.

Supplies
Card - WHSmith
Paper - Pebbles Floral Lane
Sticker - from Stash
Ink - Papermania

Victoria Tower

On with the ABC Crop, and I'd done Q before I returned to J. R is another layout, with everything clustered on the Right hand side of the page. I decided that a single portrait photo was the best way to achieve this and went back to 2005 for one of the Victoria Prospect Tower in Matlock Bath. The tower is a folly built in 1844, to give unemployed labourers something to do!

Once I started my page, it was all getting a bit vertical and I wondered if I should have picked a landscape photo instead. I persevered and added the horizontal paper and my first strip of washi tape. Then I took my title further to the left and I think I've beaten out the verticalness (if that's a word) of the page.

Supplies
Paper - Basic Grey Wisteria
Letters - Bo Bunny Et Cetera
Brads - Papermania
Embroidery Thread - DMC
Spiral Paperclips - Pebbles
Washi Tape - We R Memory Keepers

Tools
Woodware Scalloped Circle Punch
EK Success Corner Punch (for scalloped border)

Theme Park Joy

I'm returning to J now on the ABC Crop at My Sketch World. It's taken a little while for me to decide how to make a scrapbook page using the word 'Joy' in the title. I was putting my 2012 pages in an album and checking through my photos to leave spaces for the pages I haven't made when I saw this picture of my son at the top of a theme park ride. It's not a great photo, but he is looking at the camera and smiling, which is an achievement and that is what I journalled about.

This page will be near to this one in the album, so I pulled out the same papers to work with. I started with a white background but I changed it to beige dotted swiss along the way.

The layout is loosely based on an old Sketch of the Week from Shimelle Laine, and the row of eyelet brads in my border are a consequence of her Something from Almost Nothing class which I started recently. Prompt 1 is about using up our metal embellishments; I've used 9 brads from a pack of 20 that I bought last September and hadn't touched since.

Supplies
Card - Bazzill Dotted Swiss

Paper - Echo Park Sweet Summertime, Pebbles Season's Greetings, K & Co Hannah, Pink Paislee Snow Day

Border Sticker - Crate Paper Farmhouse Collection

Letters - JoAnn Craft Essentials
Tickets - Paperhouse

Eyelet Brads - Pebbles

Ink - Dovecraft

Tools

Fiskars Bracket Border Punch
Papermania AlphaMania Clear Stamps