Diamond Jubilee Cake

Every weekend Lara brings a piece of homework home to complete before the following Wednesday, but this term in the lead up to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics the format has changed. The whole school are learning instead about London and have been given a whole list of homework tasks from which each child can choose one to complete each week. For example one week Lara chose to make a model of something to do with London (she made a red double decker bus), the next week she did a PowerPoint presentation about Buckingham Palace and last week she created a London word search. This week she decided to 'bake a cake to celebrate the Jubilee'.


I wonder whether when the teachers set that task they were anticipating the number of children who would rise to the challenge and just how many cakes would be taken into school! Every week it seems that at least two children have taken in a cake - which the teacher has cut up and to the children's delight let them eat.


Inspired by the Rainbow Cake I made last month for Christopher's birthday, Lara decided to make a red, white and blue Jubilee Cake. Apart from putting the cake tins in and out of the oven and tipping the cake out of the tins she made it all herself with me just telling her what to do. She can even recite the recipe from memory now!


Here's the finished cake complete with flags printed from the internet........

......... and here's the portion that came home after the class had had their fill.

It certainly was a VERY BRIGHT cake and we may have to make another one in a few weeks time for the Jubilee Weekend!

Scrapology Layout Challenge - C is for Charms

 Yesterday was new challenge day on Scrapology and this month the challenge is to use Charms in your layout and also take inspiration from a lovely layout by Karola Witczak.

For my layout I decided to rescrap a photo of Lara taken in 2005.

I used papers from Scenic Route and My Little Shoebox and made some handmade flowers inspired by a Pinterest pin.

The flowers were made by layering varying sizes of die cut flowers (cut on the Craft Robo) with 3D foam. Before layering them I sanded the edged slightly and curled them. A button was glued in the centre of each layered flower

My charms were Doodlebug acrylic charms.

Here's Karola's original layout ...........

.............. and Lynn's sketch.

Pop on over to Scrapology to have a look at all the design team layouts and perhaps take part int he challenge yourself.

Carry on Nursing

A slightly unusual layout from me today. Apart from a tiny little strip of patterned paper at the bottom of this layout I only used card stock. I really love patterned paper and so to use so little on this layout is quite rare for me.

The photo collage was made in Picasa and I cut various nursing bits and pieces on the Craft Robo as embelishments. The title was made from BasicGrey stickers and the strip of stripe paper at the bottom was, I think, from Bella Press.

Lovely

This layout was made using the gorgeous My Minds Eye Follow Your Heart Be Happy paper collection and is a scraplift of a layout by Susan Goetter. I absolutely LOVE this collection and really enjoyed putting the layout together using one of my favourite photos of Lara.

As well as papers from the Follow Your Heart Be Happy collection I used Bazzill Cardstock, My Minds Eye Laundry Line Rub Ons, Clear Plastic Buttons, Butterflies printed form the Swirlydoos website and title lettering cut on the Craft Robo.

The hexagons were cut from the patterned paper and paper and I used a black pen to doodle faux stitching round the edges.

Hunstanton Rocks

Another layout for last weeks Scrapbooking weekend using photos from a trip to Hunstanton, Norfolk in 2009.

I used a real mixture of papers for this layout - Scenic Route Grafton (Orange), BasicGrey Ambrosia (white), BasicGrey Marrakech (green) and My Little Shoebox (Ledger). I also used Bazzill cardstock, BasicGrey lettering , an MME die cut Calendar journalling card and a few buttons. The photo collage was created in Piccasa.

Tux

Not wanting to show favouritism towards Millie the Puppy, todays layout is of Tux, our 2 year old cat. The photos were taken last year in the garden and the layout was inspired by Candice Greenway's gorgeous animal layouts.

I used papers from My Mind's Eye Coastal Collection. The photo of the layout doesn't do the papers justice as they are really beautiful and very glittery ... oh and I've had them unused for at least 3 years. The only embelishments I used were a sticker from a packet of 7Gypsies 97% Complete Stickers and a small round chipboard accent from  Prima.  

I'm Sticking With You

Today's layout is of my puppy Millie. She just loves to chew on a stick and I snapped these photos last month when she was doing just that.

I used Simple Stories Year.o.Graphy paper and apart from adding a few stickers down the side from a packet of 7Gypsies 97% Complete Stickers , some very old re-coloured K & Co Title Stickers, a scalloped circle punched from another sheet of Simple Stories paper  and journalling on a transparency I added nothing else. These Simple Stories papers don't need lots of embelishing and are too nice to cover up.

Winter Wipeout

Another layout today from my weekend away called 'Winter Wipeout'. I am making a concerted effort to make more multi-photo layouts and for this layout I used 3 photos of Wayne & Lara playing in the snow earlier this year. The layout was probably subconsciously inspired by Canadian scrapper Stephanie Klauck's layouts.

I am also trying to 'Stash Bust' and use old and new papers from various manufacturers. For this layout I used papers from SEI (white spot background), 3 Bugs in a Rug (blue spot), Cosmo Cricket (snowflake) and My Little Shoe Box (blue square). The snowflake border which is stickled and embelished with adhesive gems was punched using a Martha Steward punch that I borrowed from Linda (Thanks Linda - I love that punch and must get one myself). The large glittery snowflakes were from a pack of Colorbox Doo Dads, the title lettering is made from American Crafts Thickers and the pom pom trim at the bottom is from Maya Road. As an after thought I also added some very old Doodlebug rub-on stitches.

Gorgeous Gifts

Today rather than show you another layout I thought I would show you some of the beautiful handmade gifts I received from my friends last weekend at our weekend crop. We traditionally give each other little gifts and  I am always amazed at how creative people are.

Anita gave me this gorgeous beaded keyring. My photo doesn't do it justice - it is stunning in real life.

Linda gave this jar of embelishments. I have to admit when I received it I thought the flower on the jar was a sticker but having read Linda's blog I now know that she actually stamped and painted them. How cool is that!

Lynn decorated some flip flops for everyone. I can't wait for some nice dry, sunny weather so i can wear them but at the moment it's very wet and very cold here.

Sue decorated large pegs with papers and blossoms and pins ........... and they were so, so pretty. This makes me smile every time I look at it.

I gave everyone some pencils which I had made with the name of our crop on them as a souvenir of the weekend. I bundled these up with a bar of chocolate and wrapped them in punched paper and friendship printed ribbon.

I also received some lovely sweets and chocolates (mostly eaten now!) and stash and other generous gifts from other friends . Thanks you everyone. You are all so thoughtful.

Time For Tea

Last weekend I spent a lovely few days with friends scrapbooking at our annual Blossoms Weekend Crop. We had a really good time and as well as chatting and eating and laughing and generally enjoying the company we were very creative and put together lots and lots of cards and scrapbook pages.

This was one of my pages - Time For Tea

I used patterned papers from My little Shoebox (pink spot) and Scenic Route (yellow print). The journalling was also printed on a scrap of Scenic Route Ledger paper and the stack of tea cups were cut on my Craft Robo from more scraps of Scenic Route paper using a shape downloaded from the Silhouette online store. The title was cut on the Craft Robo too, mounted on 3D foam to raise it and was finished off with a  self adhesive gem to dot the i.

PS I'm loving the new look Blogger and really like the new post editor. Look at that huge picture!

Do you think the buyer at Vertbaudet is a Scrapbooker?

I noticed these cute kids T-shirts in the Vertbaudet catelogue. Do you think their buyer is a Scrapbooker? LOL

Happy 18th Birthday Christopher

Today we celebrated Christopher's milestone birthday. 18 years old? How did that happen? It doesn't seem that long ago that he was just a little boy.

And suddenly he's a strapping 18 year old with hopes and dreams for a bright future ahead.

We celebrated quietly (at his request) by popping open a bottle of bubbly and sharing cake. I made a Rainbow Cake to mark the occasion. I'd been wanting to make one for some time. It didn't look much from the outside.

But when it was cut open .......... WOW!

Happy Birthday Christopher. We're so proud of all you've achieved so far and all that you have yet to achieve.

Scrapology - April Card Challenge

Drip, drip, drop

Little April shower

What can compare with your beautiful sound?

It's the middle of April which means that over on Scrapology its time for a card challenge. This month Elaine from Quixotic Paperie has challenged Scrapology readers to make a card with an April Showers theme. How you interpret this theme is up to you. You could think rain or baby showers or whatever you like.
My card is a gate-fold card and I used some pretty papers from October Afternoon's 'Fly A Kite' collection.

The image is from The Greeting Farm 'Miss Anya Rain Snow Shine' Stamp Set available from Quixotic Paperie and I coloured it with Promarkers.

I also used an embossed scallop frame from Craftwork Cards, a sentiment stamp from Denami Designs, organza yellow spotty ribbon and a few self adhesive pearls.
Do hop on over to Scrapology to have a look at the rest of the gorgeous card made by the design team and also have a go yourself

Scrapology April Layout Challenge - L is for Lace

For our April Layout Challenge on Scrapology we challenge you to use Lace in your layout, be it paper or fabric.and this month we are scraplifting a beautiful layout called 'Cherished Memories' by BettyLou1 from Scrapbook.com.

For my layout I choose to use some photos of my daughter taken a few years ago to celebrate St George's Day which happens to fall on 23 April.

I used scraps of red patterned paper from my scrap bag, Red Bazzill cardstock, Paper doilie, white lace punched paper, lace, self adhesive gems and a mixture of flowers from my stash. The small shields were simply images printed from the Internet onto cardstock which I cut out and glazed with Diamond Glaze to give them some shine. The title was cut on my Craft Robo and mounted on 3D foam.

Here's Betty Lou's original layout ........

.... and Lynn's sketch.

Pop on over to Scrapology to find out all about the challenge and the great prize up for grabs.

Craftwork Cards - Warren

It was my friend Maria's birthday recently so I quickly made her a card using a Craftwork Cards die cut pre coloured image from their 'Warren' Collection, Sweet Meadow paper and bunting, die cut scallop circle and flower and a sentiment. The only non Craftwork Cards items were the little pink flowers which were from Hobbycraft.

The design was the same as a card I made for the Scrapology card challenge last September but for Maria's card I used slightly different colours. I think if you like a design, its good to recycle it?

Hope you had a lovely birthday Maria.

Scrapology - March Card Challenge

This month Karen from Charmed Cards and Crafts have sponsored our card challenge over on Scrapology.

The challenge is to use a digital stamp on your card. The design team used digital stamps available from Charmed Cards and Crafts and I used an image from the Sugar and Spice bundle.

I coloured the image with Promarkers and used papers from Papermania's 'Rose Garden' collection. The border was punched with a Fiskars 'sunburst' border punch and the self adhesive pearls were from The Hobby House. The sentiment was from a QVC kit.

Please hop on over to Scrapology to see all the design teams cards and if you create your own card using a digital stamp and submit it you could win two digital collections of your choice from Charmed Cards and Crafts.

Scrapology March Layout Challenge - G is for Glitter

This month on Scrapology the team chose a super layout by our own design team member Anita as inspiration. With the challenge to use Glitter on the layout this was a good opportunity to break out the Stickles, glitter, glitter stickers and all things bright and sparkly.

This was my layout.

#

I used papers from My Minds Eye 'Lost and Found' collection, 'Dreamy 2' collection and 'Quite Contrary' collection and with some careful gutting I was able to stretch those papers to enable me to mat and layer to create a frame effect.

I made the flowers from some scraps of paper cut into flower shapes on the Craft Robo and Stickled them to make them sparkle. I used brads for the centres which I glittered.

The chipboard lettering used for the word 'Dream' came from a Lisa Bearnson chipboard kit bought from QVC probably 5+ years ago. I covered the naked chipboard and edges of the photo mat in microfine glitter to match the glitter on the sheet of MME Lost and Found die cut paper. I finished the layout with some glittery butterfly stickers

This is Anita's stunning layout which was the inspiration for mine and the rest of the design teams layouts .............

........ and this is Lynn's sketch.

Please pop along to Scrapology to take part in the challenge. The prize up for grabs is amazing!

Scrapology - February Card Challenge

This month on Scrapology the sponsor of our monthly card challenge is Amy from The Crafty Purple Frog. The challenge is to use Layers and Amy kindly provided the design team with digital decoupage sheets created from fantasy artwork by Ching-Chou Kuik.

I used a sheet called 'Dreamy Moon' to make my card.

I used papers from BasicGrey's 'Green at Heart' collection and Hot off the Press (I think) as well as quote a bit of black Bazzill card stock and flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts.

It doesn't really show very much in the picture but the decoupaged image was stickled to an inch of it's life to make it sparkle. (I think I may be addicted to Stickles because recently everything I have created has had to include some Stickles!)

Please pop along to Scrapology to join in with this months challenge.

Valentine's Day Baking

"Happy Valentine's Day"

This morning Lara and I continued our tradition of baking some sweet Valentine goodies. This year we made mini heart shaped iced cookies.

Echo Park Birthday Layout

It was my daughter's 9th birthday in December and I am quite chuffed that I have already scrapbooked photos taken at her party. I struggle with birthday layouts so for me to get one completed within 2 months of the big day is quite an achievement.

I used Bazzill cardstock, papers from Echo Park's 'Playground' and 'Walk in the Park' collections and cardstock stickers for Bella Blvd's 2009 'Sweet Celebration' collection. I used a white cardstock background and I matted all the photos, patterned papers and elements on black cardstock to make them pop and hopefully create a bright, fun layout.

Scrapology February Layout Challenge - P is for Patchwork

This month on Scrapology we are scraplifting a layout designed and created by SJ for the Cardinal Colours Retreat last autumn and this month our technique is to use your papers to create a "Patchwork" background.

Some of my readers may remember this layout that I created last year using BasicGrey's Offbeat collection. I really liked the colour combo and the papers were perfect for a series of photos I took of my daughter playing in the snow, so I decided to use the scraps of paper I had left from my original layout to create this challenge layout.

Just as scraps of fabric are perfect for patchwork quilts, etc. , scraps of paper are perfect for patchwork layouts. I used a square punch to punch my 'patches' but could have easily just measured then and cut them with a paper trimmer. After sticking the patches to my background card (which I had punched a fancy border round) I machine stitched over the joins. I used snowflake embelishments from K&Co and felt snowflakes from Papermania. I added some unbranded silver alphabet stickers for the title, tiny alphabet stickers from Adornit and metal corner embelishments.

To add a bit of sparkle I sprayed the whole layout (except the photograph) with 'Spray and Sparkle' glitter varnish from Crafter's Companion. It really does Sparkle & Shine in real life.

This was SJ's original layout ....

... and this is Lynn's sketch.

Pop over to Scrapology to see all the design team Layouts and maybe have a go at the challenge yourself. There is a great prize on offer and as they say, "You've got to be in it to Win it".