Sorry to followers of my blog for not posting recently. I have had so little time for crafting recently and sadly very little desire to scrapbook that I've not really had anything to post.

Sadly the Mojo Holder blog appears to have folded. I was honoured to be a member of the design team since July 2007 and I throughly enjoyed creating all the layouts during those two years. I will miss the girls on the team and think that the reason I've not scrapped lately is because I no longer have that 'push' or 'reason' to create. The last layout I created for Mojo Holder was one I was particularly proud of but unfortunately it never got to be uploaded to the Mojo Holder blog. The planned guest designer was to have been Christiane Muller. Here is Christiane's layout, followed by mine.

I used a mixture of papers from BasicGrey as well as a small piece of printed transparency. The butterflies were clipart downloaded from the Internet and printed onto acetate.

Before I sign off I just wanted to mention the TV programme 'Flash Forward'. Anyone who knows me will know what an obsessive follower I am of ABCs 'Lost'. I was imtriged therefore when I read about the new science-fiction television series - Flash Forward which doesn't just share a time-traveling concept with Lost, it is being billed as ABC's replacement for Lost which is set to end in May 2010. Well, I watched the first episode of Flash Forward last Monday and think I may just get hooked. So, If you haven't yet seen Flash Forward give it a go but be warned unless you watch the first few episodes I think (just like Lost) you may not have a clue what is happening in future episodes.

I've scrapped!

Its been ages since I've managed to do any scrapping. Its always difficult to scrap during the school holidays. But today I went to my crop at Stamp Addicts and managed put together two layouts and start a third.

Both layouts were created using mainly papers from My Little Shoebox.

The first is an almost complete scraplift of a layout by Alicia Geiss. I have only ever scrapped photos from my childhood once before and felt it was about time I used some more. When I was a child my Dad was a VERY keen amateur photographer and so we have literally hundreds of transparency slides of days spent on the beach, Christmas, birthdays, days out and just everyday activities. The photos I used were scanned from some of those slides and whilst the originals were coloured images I converted them to black and white for this layout which tells of or annual trips to Skeggy.



As well as My Little Shoebox papers I also used a sheet of BasicGrey for the background.

The second layout was based on another layout that I think I saw on 2 peas in a bucket. Unfortunately I can't remember who it was by and can't find it again. (When I find it I'll add the details here). I used some photos of Lara on the beach at Westward Ho!, Devon taken last month.



The background paper on this layout (the one with the clouds) was from K & Company.

Sorry I've not posted for a few weeks. We've just got back from a fortnights holiday in Devon. If you're interested there are daily photos on my 365 blog.

While I was away, two new challenges went live on Mojo Holder. Due to holidays there were technical problems with posting of last Fridays challenge but hopefully they will be resolved soon and that challenge will then go live.

On 7th August Challenge #121 was to scraplift a layout by Micayla Metcalf. Here's Micayla's layout followed by mine.





I used a mixture of papers. Some BasicGrey, some Scenic Route and some Bazzill Cardstock. I'm still trying to use up some of the mountain of older papers.

14th August Challenge #122 used a layout by my all time favourite scrapper - Kelly Goree. Kelly is best known as a fabulous designer for Basic Grey. The layout was a bit of a challenge but I was pleased with how my layout came out. Here's Kelly's Layout followed by mine.





I used BasicGrey Eva papers and chip sticker shapes.

Mojo Challenge #120

This week the Mojo Holder design team were fortunate enough to take its inspiration from renowned scrapbooker Jennifer McGuire. Jennifer is a Garden Girl at Two Peas in a Bucket and is also a member of the Hero Arts design team.

Here's Jennifer's layout, the sketch that Sarah produced, followed as usual by my layout.

Although its mid summer, I decided to create a snowy layout. LOL. I used a mixture of papers from Heidi Grace, Love Elsie and there was even a tiny bit of BasicGrey (well, there would have to be!!!). The snowflakes were from a packet of 'Swell Noel Layered Glittered Accents' by K & Co. I have used these on a couple of layouts before and they seem to go on, and on, and on - like the Magic Porridge Pot, the packet is never empty!

Mojo Challenge #119

Tonight the guest designer on Mojo Holder was Marjolein Bussink, a dutch scrapper who lives in Canada. Marjolein's style is so very different to mine. She loves vintage, mixed media, freestyle, and stamping. Although I was very much outside my comfort zone doing this weeks layout I did enjoy putting my own spin on it. Here's Marjolein's layout, followed by mine.

Mojo Challenge #118

On Friday the Mojo Holder DT used a layout by Kay Rogers as its inspiration. I was really thrilled that Kay agreed to allow us to use one of her layouts because I am a big fan. Kays layout used Fancy Pants papers. My layout used mainly BasicGrey with a little piece of Fancy Pants too. Here are the layouts - Kays first, followed by mine.





Do drop by Mojo Holder to have a look at all the layouts the DT created.

Photo Editing: Frame-ups and Special Effects - Day 13

The final lesson in Jessica Sprague's Photo Editing: Frame-ups and Special Effects online course was all about creating a collage/grid using clipping masks, and then adding extra elements with a brush!

I used photos of the day we finally took the stabalisers of Lara's bike.



Then after mastering how to create to create the photo collage we had the extra challenge of concerting multiple photos to sepia tone, selective recolouring and adding type. Here's my second collage with those adjustments


And now the course is over. I really, really enjoyed this and would thoroughly recommend one of Jessica's courses to anyone. Her videos tutorials are excellent and so easy to follow.

Photo Editing: Frame-ups and Special Effects - Day 12

Day 12 was all about a technique for framing up a set of photos into a storyboard. Jessica showed how to create a three-panel storyboard, including adding some text at the bottom.

Here are my storyboards

Photo Editing: Frame-ups and Special Effects - Day 10 & 11

I had a busy day yesterday and so didn't get around to doing day 10's lesson until today.

The lesson for day 10 was a culmination of all we had learned so far. We learned how to create our own clipping mask from a shape, then add in our photo, two textures, a type overlay, some type in two fonts, and then finish it off with an edge burning technique. Phew ....... lots to do.

I've only had time to try this with one photo.

Before



After

Day 11's lesson was about Selective/Spot Recoloring. I had done this before using a different technique so it was good to learn another way.

Before

After

Before

After

Photo Editing: Frame-ups and Special Effects - Day 9

Lesson 9 of Jessica Sragues Photo Editing: Frame-ups and Special Effects online course was all about edge burning - darkening the edges of a photo, while leaving the center of the photo light. The darkened edges are supposed to pull the viewer's eye subtly toward the center of our photo.

I'm not sure if the effect on my photos is too subtle though because you can't really see the difference!

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Photo Editing: Frame-ups and Special Effects - Day 8

Lesson 8 was all about how to use type on your photos in interesting ways. I was particularly pleased that this was todays theme because I've been trying unsuccessfully to put wording on photos in PSE for sometime, so to finally learn how to do it was great. Here's my efforts. They aren't brilliant - I probably should have taken more time to decide what wording and which fonts to use but having now learned the basics I think I will be able to experiment with the technique further in the future.

Photo Editing: Frame-ups and Special Effects - Day 6

Todays lesson introduced a concept in photography circles, called "Through the Viewfinder". To get a worn, faded look, photographers will actually take photographs through the viewfinder of an old camera. The result is a photo with blackened edges, distortion, scuffs and scratches and marks. Todays challenge was to create an image using "Fake TTV" textures and then also add one or more techniques from the previous lessons (png word art, brushes, additional texture).

Here's what I came up with. Really enjoyed this today.

Mojo Holder Challenge #117

Tonight is Mojo Holder Challenge night. Challenge #117 was to lift a layout by Pearl Liu. Pearl lives in Singapore and designs for Di Hickman's Card Sketches and Such Sweet Tierney ( on Etsy ).

Here's Pearls layout, followed by mine.

Photo Editing: Frame-ups and Special Effects - Day 5

Todays lesson was all about adding texture to a photo and also combining the previous techniques of adding frames and clipping masks.

Here are todays edited photos







Jessica did suggest not using "smiling at the camera closeup portraits" for this technique, and after using such a photo (last one above) I can see why. I don't think the result is particularly good, so I've learned from my mistake.

Photo Editing: Frame-ups and Special Effects - Day 4

Lesson 4 was a nice easy one - Clipping Masks. A clipping mask is basically a shape - any shape - that you can "clip" your photo onto, to cause your photo to conform itself to that shape. For the course we used a rectangular clipping mask with scuffed-up edges, so the photo takes on a worn, aged appearance. Here's my effort.

Photo Editing: Frame-ups and Special Effects - Day 3

Todays lesson was all about a technique you can use to create a cool hand-tinted special effect for photos you'd like to add a soft, antique feel to. It was about Adjustment layers and Blending Modes. I had never head of these before doing the course.

As well as adding an antique effect to photos the projects also built on the previous days lessons and included adding a frame and where appropriate some soft glowy stars with a brush.

Here's some of my photos before and after. The photos probably weren't the best for this lesson but I liked the effect anyway.

Photo Editing: Frame-ups and Special Effects - Day 2

Todays lesson was all about using brushes. The only brushes I've ever used have been to brush my hair with or occasionally the floor! LOL. My finished photo.



Nothing spectacular but the video tutorials are so easy to understand that I'm really chuffed that I managed this. I keep thinking of all sorts of possibilities and ways of using brushes on my photos in the future. I'm really enjoying the course and finding it surprisingly easy.

I then found some more brushes on the the net and had a play around and came up with these

Photo Editing: Frame-ups and Special Effects - Day 1

A few weeks ago I signed up for one of Jessica Sprague's online courses. Today her course entitled "Photo Editing: Frame-ups and Special Effects" began. The two week course promises to show how to use cool Photoshop techniques such as brushes, masks, frames, and special effects with layers and if the first lesson is anything to go by I'm going to enjoy it.

Todays lesson was all about adding PNG frames and word art to photos. Having been shown in the video tutorial how to do this, I can't believe how easy it is and I will certainly be doing this more in the future. This was my first effort using the free frames and word art supplied as part of the course. I know the colours probably aren't ideal for the colours of my photo but as a first attempt I'm happy with it.

And then I thought I would have a go with some of the digital frames I already had. I had downloaded some previously from various online stores but never really got to grips with them and on the odd occasion I had used them I had printed them onto a trasparency and used them as an overlay on my photos. So much easier to actually add them to the photo before printing.

Hello Blog

Sorry! I have neglected my blog lately. I can't believe three challenges have been posted on Mojo Holder since I last updated this blog.

On 19th June the team lifted a layout by Laura Price Fiore. Laura's layout was Christmas themed whilst mine used photos of Lara messing around with my old guitar. Here's Laura's layout, followed by mine.

On 26th June, Nancy van den Berg kindly let us use one of her layouts. My friend Lynn first showed me some of Nancy's layouts and ever since I have been a huge fan and have followed her blog for sometime. He layout was a gorgeous baby themed layout. Mine used photos once again of Lara, this time in the snow.

And finally, tonight the design team lifted a layout by Edleen Maryam. Edleen's layout was lovely but I really struggled to come up with a layout this week. I left it far too late in the week to create my layout but after going to the dentist on Monday and having to have a tooth out , I really didn't feel up to scrapping for a few days. Then the hot, hot, HOT weather we have had this week hasn't helped. With temperatures in the upper 20 degrees I think my Mojo became dehydrated, or maybe it decided to go somewhere cooler. Eventually I managed to put together a layout this morning. I'm not that pleased with it but perhaps it will grow on me.

Here's Edleen's layout, followed by mine.

I used some photos on my layout that we took at Westward Ho!, Devon last summer. We have got in the habit when we go out as a family of taking group photos with the cameras self timer. These photos were taken on the beach with the camera perched on an upturned bucket! The only problem with not looking through the viewfinder of the camera is that I can't always tell if everyone is, shall we say "behaving themselves", when the photo is taken! In these photo Christopher was pulling stupid faces and sticking his fingers in his ears, Steven was either sticking his tongue out or biting Lara's bum (!) and even Wayne joined in by lifting Lara upside down in one of the photos! Ho hum!

Don't forget to have a look at the Mojo Holder blog. As well as being able to see all the design teams layouts there are brilliant sketches on the site prepared by Sarah.

Another week has passed and so tonight is Mojo Holder Challenge night. Inspiration for Challenge #113 is a layout by the fabulous Frances Sylvia. Frances layout has a clean and fresh look and I love it!

On my layout I used photos I took last June of Steven in a tree at Wrest Park and papers from the Fancy Pants Daily Grind range and Primas My Mommy & Me range. The boys rarely pose for photographs but when they do, Steven in particular really shines. I loved the photos and have wanted to scrap them for sometime.

Here's Frances layout, followed by mine:

Lara, really seems to be developing her creative gene at the moment. She is always drawing, sticking or colouring. One day she asked if she could do some cross stitch. Apparently she had done some at school and wanted to do more. So I gave her a small piece of aida and some thread and away she went. She sat for most of the day sewing small neat rows of crosses. This week she found that scrap of aida and has added a few more crosses. I wanted to remember her first taste of sewing so put together this layout. My friend Dierdre kindly let me use her Autumn Leaves Freestyle stamps for the title which were perfect.

Last night's Mojo Holder challenge #112 was to use a layout by Danielle Flanders as inspiration. Danielle is a published scrapbooker and is on numerous design teams including Pink Paislee an Melissa Frances.

Danielle's layout used papers by Pink Paislee whilst I used mainly papers by My Little Shoebox.

Another weeks past and so tonight was Mojo Challenge night. Tonight we challenged vistors to the blog to scraplift a fab layout by Nicole Stark. Nicole is an American scrapper who has had layouts published in Cantata Books, Scrapbook Trends, Blue Media Designs, Leisure Arts, and Memory Makers Magazine. She currently does design work for Imaginisce, Dream Street Paper, and Sweet Pea Scraps kit club. Here's Nicole's layout, followed by mine. I used some photos from the summer of 2006 taken in Lynmouth, Devon and papers from BasicGrey's Granola range.

Last night Mojo Holder challenged visitors to scraplift a LO by May Marix Marte. I used a photo taken a few years ago at Colchester Zoo and some just as old BasicGrey papers. Here's May's LO followed by mine.

Seems ages since I up dated this blog. I'm afraid I've neglected it a it in favour of my 365 blog but I promise I'll try and be a better blogger in future.

On May 1st the Mojoholder challenge #107 was to scraplift a lovely LO by the author and scrap artist Sherry Steveson. I really, REALLY loved Sherry's LO and hope my lift of Lara on Christmas Day morning did it justice.

The following week on May 8th, Australian scrapbooker Chris Miller provided us with a LO to lift. Chris has been widely published in the Australian scrapbooking magazines and is a former member of the Chatterbox design team. Chris' LO was another multi photo LO and I used some photos taken at RHS Rosemore in Devon last summer.

Tonight, challenge #108 featured a LO by Lizzy Wurman. Lizzy lives in Chile and is on the Cottage Arts.net design team. I used a photo of Steven taken recently at Wrest Park on my LO.

I promised that I would post some more LO from my weekend away last month. This LO of Lara used papers fromTeressa Collins' Crush Collection. I created the photo collage using one fo the free collage templates from BHG Scrapbooks etc website ( I love that magazine!).

Weekend Scrapping

Got back yesterday from a great weekend away scrapping with a fantastic group of friends from UKScrappers - lynncooper, anita m, doogle007, JayC, Sophiesmum, linda f, Jillybeans, Gilly and me. This years 'Blossom Babes & Friends Get Together' was just as good as previous years and we spent the whole weekend laughing, larking-around, chatting, eating (lots of eating!!!), drinking and of course scrapping. In total the nine of us created 96 layouts.

The weather was gorgeous most of the time - sunny and bright, and I took loads of photos. Here are a few.

Oops just realised Jill isn't in any of those photos. I think she must have been taking the group shots and so isn't in them.

I'll show you my layouts when I get around to scanning them, but here's one for starters. Its based on a layout by Sarah Moore (sarahlm on 2ps). I had never made the round paper flowers before, despite seeing them on other people's layouts, but I was really pleased how they came out.

Last night challenge #106 was a scraplift of a layout by the talented Bernadette Henderson. Bernadette has just finished her term as a Fashionista at SIStv and is a talented stamper as well as a brilliant scrapbooker. Here are Bernadette and my layouts. My layout features photos of my son Steven - he was 11 last week.

Apologies to readers of my blog. I never seem to have much to blog about and this week is no exception. School Easter holidays are upon us and so with the children at home there hasn't been much time for crafting this week. I have put together a layout for Mojo Holder which will go live tomorrow evening. Last weeks challenge was to lift a layout by Rachelle MacIver. Here's Rachelle's layout and my version.





Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with this weeks Mojo Holder Challenge.

Last night Kimberley Garofolo Neddo kindly allowed the Mojo Holder DT to use her layout as inspiration. Kimberley is a much published scrapbooker and a member of the Sassafras design team. I struggled with my version of Kimberleys LO and am still not entirely happy with it. Here are the two LOs:

Last night the Mojo DT scraplifted a layout by Tammy Tutterow. Tammy is an American scrapper who has worked with some of the big names in scrapbooking - BasicGrey, Pink Paislee, Provo Craft, Sweetwater, Prima, and Glitz Designs. Her layout was absolutely gorgeous and incorporated 7 photos. Check out her blog it is truly inspiring. Here's Tammy's layout and mine.

Last weekend I went to my regular crop at Stamp Addicts. As well as the above layout I also created two more.

The first used some of the gorgeous My Little Shoebox papers. It involved lots of handcutting to create embelishments from some of the paper and I used photos taken last year of Lara helping to water the flowers in the garden. I used a collage template downloaded from the BHG Scrapbooks etc website to make a grid of photos.

The second layout was so simple. I took lots of photos of the house and garden when it snowed in February as part of the 365 A Photo a Day project and wanted to make a layout of them. I used some BasicGrey paper and placed a printed transparency on top. I used some really cool Prima Galaxy Stars to embelish plus some silver coloured ribbon, a few brads, a charm and a tag. So simple but I wanted to keep the focus on the photos. I used another collage template from BHG Scrapbooks etc on this layout too

Well I think that's all for now. Hopefully be back again next week.

Comic Relief - Red Nose Day

I'm watching the Comic Relief's Red Nose Day programmes whilst I make this post. LOL at Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French and friends doing Mama Mia. To mark the occasion I decorated some cakes for us to munch while we watch and yummy they are too.

Tonight the Mojo Holder DT scraplifted Marla Kress. Marla is a fabulous photographer as well as an inspiring scrapbooker. Marla's LO was very bright and funky - mine was more subdued.

Another week gone by and nothing really to blog about! So, as usual I'll just show you the LO I did for Mojo Holder this week. For challenge #101 the DT took inspiration from a really fabulous layout by Jill Godon. I loved the LO we took inspiration from but really struggled to produce a LO I was happy with which surprised me because the style of Jill's LO is probably very similar to my own style - very clean and uncluttered and so I didn;t think scraplifting it would be a problem. Boy was I wrong! Not 100% pleased with it but perhaps it will grow on me.

For tonight's 100th challenge on Mojo Holder, the team lifted a layout by the fantastic Robyn Weatherspoon. Robyn is a Prima Endorsed Educator and is a member of many design teams.

I used a photograph of Lara and Wayne that Steven took last May Day at Southwold in Suffolk. Such a cute photo. Here is Robyn's Lo followed by mine.

Last Friday the Mojo Holder team scraplifted a LO by the very talented Elizabeth Carney. Elizabeth is on the Piggy Tales design team and has been published in several magazines. Elizabeth's LO was beautiful and I loved scraplifting it. On my LO I used some photographs of Steven taken on French Day at school last year. He really looked the part. LOL

Last weekend this little book that I had ordered was delivered. I had pre-ordered it from Amazon but when the publication date came and went and the book was still not available I cancelled it and bought it elsewhere. Not the first time Amazon have let me down! Have to admit the book was somewhat smaller than I had imagined (only about 6" x 4") but what it lacks in size it makes up for in entertainment. I am rationing myself and only reading a little bit from it each night to make it last. It's a great book - you can download a pdf excerpt from the book here . I paid £6.45 + p&p and it's well worth it.

Finally, Vicki one of my fellow 365's gave me an award earlier this week.

I'm really not sure I deserve it 'cos Vicki takes gorgeous photos without any encouragement from me, but thanks anyway Vicki. I am supposed to nominate 5 other people for the award too but have to admit that being the sad person I am I don't know 5 other bloggers well enough. :( 1 or 2 maybe, but that's all really. I know a lot of people who encourage me but they don't have blogs :( So I am going to display my award, thank Vicki once again for being so very kind and if I think of 5 people I'll nominate them later.