Time

Hello there

Tonight I've actually managed to get some crafting done! Last week was awful with my daughter in hospital or very ill at home, so I either didn't have the time or I just couldn't focus on crafting. Thankfully, she seems fully recovered now, so life is getting back to normality now. Change is nice but we can do without that sort of change.

I had intended on doing a friend; Catherine's sketch as appears on her blog but I couldn't remember the date she'd posted about it and by the time I got round to asking and finding out, I had already got underway with some die-cut remains from a couple of weeks ago. Yes, stuff sits on my desk for a long time, even if I do have to clean it around when my mum comes to stay for the weekend :-) Catherine has set up a monthly challenge of creating a sketch and getting her readers to interpret it and share with her. My sketch for her will have to wait for another day now - that's no problem, as Catherine is used to me being slow. Head on over there (after reading this of course) and have a go yourself.

If you saw my last post, you'll recognise elements of this page, as they're the same as I used on that scrapbook page i.e the stamp die-cuts and stencil and the postcard from the Steampunk digikit designed by Sarah Hurley for CraftArtist.
I've also added a gorgeous little sheep from Create A Critter cartridge.

I had to do this as the top photo shows a field, which actually had sheep in it, who got out of the field when we were there - very funny and not dangerous, as I think there's only about 5 cars on the whole island of Muck. It's gorgeous!

I used the stencil from the sheep die-cut and created almost little shadows of him in the right hand corner under the title. I love fun little elements like that, which are impromptu ideas, off the cuff, so to speak. 
The font of the title is 'loop de loo' from the Lyrical Letters cartridge - I sized it on Cricutcraftroom.

The bird tag is from a kit I have and there's that postcard again. I also used some Tim Holtz tissue tape in a couple of places on the page, as I thought that they fitted the theme really well.

Well, I did enjoy that. A stress free, productive yet relaxing evening. Don't mind if I do! :-)

Take care out there

Moving on

Hello there

I've got mixed news for you today.

The good news is that my daughter has decided that she wants to make polymer clay mobile phone charms for her friends' Christmas presents. She's thought about what would be good for certain people, such as headphones for a friend who likes music. We 'had' to go to Hobbycraft after school on Friday to get the basics. They're mega cute and I'm so proud of her for doing such a good job and for making such thoughtful presents. She's been watching youtube videos galore to get different ideas and tips on techniques. Her Christmas wishlist has doubled in size this weekend too, with different tools!
Here's a few examples of the charms.

 

More good news. I have more floor space available in my crafty room/spare room, as we bought a new bed, which is a single yet can be extended into a double if required. It also has two lovely big drawers, which I told Chris would be ideal to keep guests' stuff in. He can believe that if he wants but I thought it'd be brill for some crafty stuff


Space, space, glorious space!

Space for my cutting mat, for example :-)

Another little project I've done lately is to make a wedding card for a young couple, whose wedding was in New Zealand and we couldn't get there unfortunately.
 

 

That was the original version of the card but then I added some Creative Expressions silver lustre pva onto the dress to make it stand out a bit more.



I then stamped some wine glasses inside and used a frame from Craftartist to put the sentiment on. I also stamped the glasses on the envelope too.

The wedding has happened now, so I can only hope that my card has arrived by now as recently my cards and presents for various occasions have taken an absolute age to get there.

 

The bad news as such is that the first placemat of the Christmas set I've made, involved me making a mistake in the binding section but I'm keeping it anyway. It incorporates my very first attempt at free motion quilting, so there's no way I can get rid of it. I love the look of the star, so can't wait to get time to do the others; hopefully before Christmas! :-)

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I've had so much hassle putting photos on this post, and it's nothing like I wanted it to be after over two hours of trying with dinner inbetween. I'm giving up now.

 

I've got loads of projects in the pipeline or on the go, so call back soon to see if Blogger behaves for me next time.

 

 

Take care out there and try to do what makes you happy as much as you can, even if it's only for short periods at a time.

Following a layout

Hello there

I rarely follow a layout for my scrap pages. The reason being is that I find it quite hard to match the layout to what I want to talk about or which photos I want to use. I have given it a try this time. I look at layouts regularly but this one came from PaperHaus Magazine's Facebook page, which linked to their blog.

This blogging business really demands better photography skills than I possess

I've still got some of the paper from the Craftseller magazine on my desk and since that has circle designs on it as it displayed in the Paperhaus sketch, I thought it would be fine to use up some more. I cut out some of the half shapes as elements for the edges.

I knew which photos I wanted this page to be about, so then I went to Craft Artist to practise the layout before printing them out. That was a really useful thing to do this time, as the sketch shows text around the photos, I decided to use the text flow function within the programme to do just that. It's a brilliant way of journalling differently.

The paper in the middle of the page is the name sheet my daughter wrote on and wore for the walk.

It took quite a bit of fussy cutting to layer up the flowers but it's worth it to make the page pop. The rounded edges are also necessary to link in with the circles and it's on the sketch too.

I got everything into the layout I wanted, so I'm a happy girl.


Take care out there

What can I do with these?

Hello there

I'm going to craft as I blog with some scraps I've found on my desk. It's actually looking semi-tidy at the moment, other than an old pencil case of my daughter's, which is going to be pulled apart and made into a new one, soon, sometime in the near future. That's it; no other scraps of paper at all, other than my work schedule, which shouldn't really be on this desk at all.


umm, what to do with this lot?

I've just found a scrapbook layout as I was looking at Katrina Hunt's blog where she tells us about a Scrapbook Generation giveaway of a layout download. Unfortunately it's a double page L.O, so I'm sitting here trying to work out which photo/s to use along with these bits of paper and how to make them into a single page L.O or a card.


This has no relation to the S.G layout
but it's one of the ideas I've had.

After picking up a pack of handmade papers I found down the back of a drawer yesterday, I've now got this far:

I can't think which photo to use though. My daughter made me breakfast in bed this morning and I have a photo of her, so I'm mulling through my head if I could use that.

I've opened CraftArtist so that I can get an idea of
the size of photos I'll need to print off

I've got a list of words I think
 would be great on the page.

After drawing around the gold thin frame onto some of the darker blue paper and cutting it out, I placed that as a mat for the gold infill from the frame.

I inked round the edges of everything with my Adirondack gold dabber,

printed off the photos and matted them onto the same gold card as used elsewhere on the layout

and hey presto (after some writing too and some ribbon/baker's twine)

My layout is done and I'm so pleased with it and the fun I had creating it from nothing really. Superb fun!

When I printed the photos out, I found some scrap patterned paper and a flower left over from a die-cut. I can't wait to see what I manage with them.

Take care out there



My first scrapbook page

Well, I've gone and done it; my first scrapbook page! I've bought other people scrapbooks and I've got an 8x8inch one myself but I haven't done an official scrapbook page myself. That actually is a lie in reality as when I was younger I had a colourful A3 type size scrapbook but there wasn't anything crafty about it; it was literally just full of photos and memorabilia of my youth. Goodness only knows what happened to it. This scrap page has similiar things on it but I used Craft Artist to help get me started with a layout and I've personalised it and added the wrist band that you need to go on rides in Blackpool these days apparently. The awful Valhalla skull photo is one of Maggie's favourite rides apparently. Maggie loves fairground rides but I really don't, so it's a good job she's been able to go with the Youth for Christ group here. Most of her school mates went too, so there were loads of people around that she knew. She went on Thursday June 2nd 2011 which is pretty obvious when you look at the page.
Anyway, it is what it is- the flowers aren't suitable really as they don't match the subject but they're pretty. It's from the 'Spring in your step' digikit.
I've just found out about a Cricut lite cartridge called Carousel so I'm going to try to get that for cheaper than £45 as shown on ebay. The Cricut website shows them for $39.99 which is about £24 but I don't know how much postage will cost and then tax, so that's a work in progress really. It has allsorts of fairground rides on it so it'll be great for future pages or cards I make.
Here it is:

Take care out there