Summer Holiday Craft - Day 5

On Friday Lara made some 'Origami Winking Eyes' using instructions found on krokotak.com (Found on Pinterest).

These were really easy to fold and colour and Lara made several.

Summer Holiday Crafts - Day 4

On Thursday we used a tutorial on craftpassion.com (found via Pinterest) for a zip-itself purse. Lara has a pencil case and a bag which zip-into themselves so we were keen to try and make one our self. The tutorial is not for the faint hearted! Boy did we stress over making this and will NOT be making another!

We used a 20" zip and a 20" piece of animal print patterned ribbon.

All was going well until the last step where we had to finish it off. The purse should have been a tetrahedron but we decided to make it rectangular instead. Lara's please with the finished purse and it works. It can be unzipped to form one long strip or zipped up to make a cute purse. We decided not to line the purse.

Summer Holiday Crafts - Day 3

Wednesday's craft came from Crafty Kids 101 blog (found on Pinterest) Lara made tubular bracelets from clear acrylic tube and beads.

I bought clear acrylic tubing in two different diameters (8mm and 5mm) from Ebay and we raided Lara's bead box for some beads that would fit inside the 8mm tube. 1m of each diameter of tubing on Ebay cost approx £1.99 pm and made 4 bracelets.

Beads were fed into the 8mm tube and then the ends were joined by pushing a 1" piece of the 5mm tube into each end. We could have filled the tube with beads or hundreds and thousands or glitter or anything small enough to fit inside.

Summer Holiday Crafts - Day 2

On Tuesday we used another kit from The Works - Robot Bobble-Heads. The kit contained everything needed to build 8 robot Bobble-Heads and at just £1.99 (RRP £6.00) I think it would be an ideal stocking filler. 

Lara simply Cut out the shapes, folded, glued and assembled them - easy as that. 

Summer Holiday Crafts - Day 1

Regular readers of my blog will know that each summer I try and come up with craft projects to keep Lara occupied. Because of our holidays we weren't able to start the projects until this week, But, better late than never!

On Monday we used a £1.49 'Create Your Own Bunting' kit from The Works. The Works is a place where I have bought craft kits and supplies in past years and this year I was able to pick up a couple more kits. 

Lara glued the bunting shapes to some of my older scrapbooking papers and then cut them out.

When the 25 shapes were all cut out she decorated them with letters and shapes cut from scraps of card stock on the Craft Robo and then strung them all together to hang in her room.

Scrapology - August Card Challenge

Last week the August Card Challenge went live on Scrapology.  Design team member Sandra challenges everyone to create a card this month with a 'Milestones' theme - a special birthday, anniversary, etc. 

The design team usually know several months in advance what the monthly challenges are so for this months challenge I was able to make an Emerald Wedding Anniversary card for my parents anniversary in June,.

I decided to only just the colours white and emerald green on my card and found some gorgeous green glittery card from Dovecraft and a scrap of green ribbon in my ribbon box. 

From white card I die cut a beautifully intricate tree shape on the Craft Robo and made this sparkly with white ultra fine glitter. The tree was stuck onto a piece of white card which I had already printed my greeting onto. I them punched hearts from the green glitter card to decorate the tree and glued a ribbon bow on the tree trunk. The whole thing was then matted on more green glitter card then onto a white card blank.

I was pleased with the simplicity of the card and my Mum & Dad really liked it too.

Please pop on over to Scrapology to see the rest of the teams cards and for full details of the challenge.

Scrapology - August Layout Challenge

We've been away on holiday for the last two weeks but whilst away the August Layout Challenge went live on Scrapology. The team decided to take inspiration from a layout by French scrapbooker Sandrine Dawes and as an added challenge the team created 'Shabby Chic' layouts.

For my layout I chose to use a photo of my grandparents on my mothers side. The original photo taken in the early 1930s was really small - about 3"x2". I had the original photo scanned and reprinted larger several years ago and so I was able to use a much larger copy of the photo. I don't know the story behind the photo but given the way they are sitting together and my Nan is holding her left hand I wonder whether the photo was taken on the occasion of their engagement.

I used papers from Prima's 'Lyric' Collection. The papers had a Shabby Chic feel to them and I thought they were perfect for the layout.

The white flowers were from Wild Orchid Crafts but I made some of them larger by adding some extra petals  punched from some scraps of cream paper.  I also used some antique trim which I inherited from my grandmother. She was a crafter too and when she passed away I was given a huge box of ribbon and lace and trimmings. A few antique buttons, pins and some lettering cut on the Craft Robo completed the layout.

Here's Sandrine's original layout ......

..... and the sketch

Please pop over to Scrapology to see all the teams layouts and to find full details of the challenge.

Scrapology - July Card Challenge

This months card challenge on Scrapology has been set by Claire Bell and she challenges you to make a card on the theme of 'School's Out!'

For my card I found a vintage image at freevintagedigistamps.blogspot.co.uk which I altered slightly in PSE to say 'Schools out for Summer!'

I printed the image on photo paper and then matted and layered this using patterned paper scraps from Scenic Route and a sheet of cork. I embelished the card with a bow made from some genuine vintage seam binding (inherited from my Nan) and an 'A+' brad which I've had for quite some time - I think is from Pebbles Inc.

Pop on over to Scrapology to see all the cards that the design team have made and have a go at making your own card to celebrate the school holidays, summer and continuing hot weather.

Scrapology - July Layout Challenge

This month on Scrapology we are scraplifting a layout made by our own design team member Linda, which uses  many different mediums together on one layout. Linda's layout was inspired by a sketch by Emilie Chamel for Merly Impressions so we challenge you to create a MIXED MEDIA layout taking inspiration from Linda's layout and Emile's sketch. 

I will confess, Mixed Media doesn't really rock my boat and I struggled with my layout but now it's finished I sort of like it. It's very simple but that's OK by me.

Last year, my daughter took part in the Red Cross 'Dance Make Your Move' Dance Competition. Her small village school got as far as the Regional Finals and I decided to use one of the professional photos taken at the competition on my layout. The dance had a military theme and I thought this would suit a grungy layout.

I used white Bazzill cardstock as my background and as I didn't have the right colour of glimmer mist needed for the layout I created my own mist by mixing some green acrylic  paint and water in a spray bottle. It worked perfectly creating just the right amount of mist and paint drips I wanted. I also stamped a chicken wire design using black ink onto the layout and dry brushed some black acrylic paint round the edges. The photo was inked round the edges and mounted with 3D foam on top of a small piece of camouflage paper. Title lettering cut from black cardstock on the Craft Robo, alphabet stickers and a scattering of a few sequins finished the layout.

Here's Emilie's original sketch .....

..... and Linda's layout.

Hop over to the Scrapology blog to see all the teams layouts and to find out how you can take part in the challenge.

Scrapology - June Card Challenge

I was honoured to be able to set this months card challenge on Scrapology and I decided to challenge blog readers to create an 'English Country Garden' themed card.

I created a Tent Topper card and used a digital image from Holly's Secret Garden Collection by Cheryl Seslar. 

I also used Bazzill Cardstock, a sentiment from Craftwork Cards, punched leaves and some KandCompany Bright Flowers Layered Accents and I added some Stickles to the image to add some sparkle. 

Please pop over to Scrapology to have a look at all the teams cards and have a go yourself.

Scrapology - June Layout Challenge

For the month of June the Scrapology team are scraplifting a lovely layout by Maria Featon and challenge you to frame your layout with your papers and use the sketch to create your layout.

For my layout I choose to use a large photo taken of my children 5 years ago in Dorset.

I used papers from Websters Pages A Sweet Life Collection and cut and layered the papers with 3D foam to create my frame.

I also used some tiny alphabet stickers for my journalling and some stickles to accent some of the flowers. I punched a tiny tag and hung it with twine from the picket fence with the date on it.

Here is Maria's original layout and Lynn's sketch.

As always pop over to the Scrapology blog for full details of the challenge and to see all the teams layouts.

A card for Lynn

Last week was Lynn's birthday so I made her a card using the same design as this card I made for the Scrapology blog. For Lynn's card I used papers from My Minds Eye's 'On The Sunny Side' collection. 

Pensthorpe

Whenever we have days out I take loads of photos, get a few printed and then they just sit in a folder. I really wanted to put this right and use some of the many photos I've taken at Pensthorpe in Norfolk over the years and took inspiration for my layout from a multi-photo layout by Pam Callaghan from the Ideas for Scrapbookers blog.  

I was able to include 7 photos  in the layout by cutting them into circles and matting them on larger cardstock circles. I also used various patterned papers. I'm not sure but I think most of the papers are from Echo Park. The sun, cloud and title were all cut on the Craft Robo and the stickers were from various sheets of labels.

Red Nose Day Lauout

A very simple layout today recording  Red Nose Day 2013. 

I used white and red Bazzill cardstock, patterned papers from October Afternoon (red circles), My Minds Eye (red stripe) & Scenic Route (graph), brads, paper doilies, sticker from My Minds Eye and Red Nose Day logo downloaded from the Internet and printed onto cardstock. 

Someone told me that the doilies at the top of the page look like three lacy bras hanging over the top of the page. LOL.

Scrapology May Card Challenge

Alison from the Scrapology design team has set this months card challenge. Alison challenges the design team and readers of the blog to create a card using craft supplies that have been sitting around for a long time. 

For my card I dug deep and found some SEI Granny's Kitchen papers from 2005! 

Eight year they have been sitting doing nothing! I didn't have the full collection, just a few sheets and I was somewhat surprised that I still had them because the colours used in the papers are one of my favourite colour combinations - my bedroom is decorated in these colours!  I cut a honeycomb square from brown Bazzill cardstock on the Craft Robo using a cutting file from the Silhouette Studio and put the papers behind, I finished off the card with a Making Memories Defined sticker (These are soooooo old!!!!) and a piece of chocolate brown ribbon.

Pop on over the Scrapology to have a look at all the cards created by the design team and the gorgeous prize Alison has put together for the challenge winner. You've got to be in it to win it!

First Snow

When Millie first experienced snow it was so funny. She was so excited by her new white world and ran around like a mad thing. I decided to make a page to record this.

I couldn't find any snow themed paper in the colour I wanted so instead used an older sheet of turquoise paper from My Minds Eye's Dreamy 2 collection and placed a 'Frosty Snowflakes' transparency from Hambly over the top. I also added some turquoise and white sheet music paper from Prima. Some of the snow flake embelishments were cut from a die cut sheet from KI Memories and others were from a pack of unbranded vellum snowflakes. I finished the layout with a date sticker and a circle of diamante from Heidi Swapp.

The title letters were from American Crafts and I zhushed them up with some stickles for added sparkle.

Teatime with Ted

For several years we holidayed in North Norfolk during the October school holidays and on each occasion we spent a day shopping in Norwich. The children loved to go to the Bear Factory and one year Steven bought a lovely brown bear and union jack shorts and t-shirt for it. I came across some photos from that holiday a few weeks back and decided to use them on a layout.

I used an assortment of papers - Scenic Route (Grid), Papermania (Blue Spot),  My Minds Eye (Red Stripe) and SEI (Grey Embossed). I also used some Bazzill Cardstock for my base, some ribbon, stickers from My Minds Eye and Thickers for my title.

The little teddy embelishments were cut on the Craft Robo using cutting files from the Silhouette Studio. I added a union jack printed from the Internet to one of the bears to replicate the bear in the photos.

Its All in the Details

Eighteen months ago Lara was a bridesmaid at my niece's wedding. She wore the most beautiful dress and accessories and for today's layout I wanted to capture all the details of her outfit. I used photos of her dress, shoes and flowers and the layout was inspired by this layout by Jana Eubank. 

I used Core'dinations cardstock and the cream patterned paper was from Fiskars. To draw attention to the lacing down the back of the bridesmaid dress I laced two pieces of paper together using seam binding ribbon and instructions downloaded  from the Internet. (Thanks Zoe for tying the bow for me!)

I also used some paper doilies, eyelets, some adhesive gems and some alphabet stickers.

More My MInds Eye

Today's layout is a scraplift of a layout by Guiseppa Gubler which I found on the Simple Stories blog.

The background paper is from My Minds Eye and the heart background, title, flowers and leaves were all cut from scraps of patterned paper using cutting files from the Silhouette Studio. The journalling card was from Simple Stories and the words strips were from various manufacturers (Jillibeans Soup, etc). A couple of buttons finished off the layout..