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.

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.

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.

The Butterfly Hunter

During the weekend I spent scrapbooking with friends last month, I made this layout. It was originally inspired by this layout by Kelly Goree but ended up very differently to Kelly's layout.

I used papers from My Minds Eye's Miss Caroline collection and also a sheet of Scenic Route grid paper. 

The mason jar was cut from a sheet of paper from the American Crafts - Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm Collection. A really useful sheet of paper and I can see me using lots of those little jars on layouts and cards.

I punched the butterflies on my layout from scraps of paper and added gems to the bodies of each for added sparkle.

For the title I punched lots of tiny tags and added alphabet stickers. The tags were then hung from bakers twine.

My journalling is hidden behind the photo on the spotted yellow piece of paper and pulls out to be read. It says "Armed with an old fishing net and a jam jar Lara had been running around the garden trying to net a butterfly. She'd been after the orange/brown ones but they are a little too quick for her. She did manage to catch a few white ones which were put in the jar for a few minutes so she could look at them. I was quite pleased when she told me that the best bit was setting them free again and watching them fly away. I snapped this photo of her showing one of her catches to Grandad who was taking a break from cutting the grass. I think they were plotting the best way of catching the next one. August 2009"

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.

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.

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!

Lets Go Fly A Kite

Today I went to my monthly crop at Stamp Addicts. I worked on three layouts but as two of them are design team projects I can only show you one.

Recently I came across the blog of Candian scrapper Stephanie Klauck. Stephanie is on design teams from Jillybean Soup and Elle's Studio. I just LOVE how she incorporates so many photos on her layouts and am inspired by her clean style of scrapping. I decided to create a layout in her style and came up with 'Lets Go Fly A Kite'

I used patterned papers from My Minds Eye (clouds) , Simple Stories (green spot, stripe and red) and Scenic Route (ledger). I also used a few buttons and some bakers twine.

The title was cut on my Craft Robo which since I recently downloaded (rather belatedly) the Silhouette software for it and bought a new blade is cutting so well and I can now see me using it much more.

I think this style of layout is the way to go if I want to incorporate lots of photos from a specific event or day out

Crop Day

Today was my monthly crop. I hadn't actually been to the crop since January due to other commitments so it was nice to go today and spend a day scrapbooking and catching up with the others. I managed to complete two layouts and part finish two more.

The first layout I actually started at Debden but it needed to be finished.



I used white Bazzill card stock, patterned papers from Scenic Route and Echo Park, ribbon, buttons, self adhesive badge from Flair Designs, a piece of a very, very, VERY old Creative Imaginations transparency and alphabet stickers. I've made several layouts with white card stock backgrounds recently and quite like the effect.



The second layout I put together was based on a layout by Gabrielle Pollacco. I used Patterned Papers from Cosmo Cricket's DeLovely collection, Bazzill card stock, ribbon, a paper doilie (thanks Anita), brads, blossoms, unbranded chipboard accent and Heidi Swapp bling. The title was cut on the Quickutz. The frilled border was cerated by pleating strips of white paper which was punched using a Martha Stewart border punch. It took 8 x 12" strips of paper to go all round the edge! After pleating an sticking the first two strips and realising how much more I had to do I did wonder whether it was worth it, but I do like the end result.

Lulworth Castle

Another layout from Debden.......

Last summer whilst on holiday in Dorset we spent a day at Lulworth Castle. The castle was built in the early 17th Century and has changed little over the years.





During the summer visitors to the castle can watch dramatic battles on horseback at the spectacular summer jousting contests held in the magnificent castle grounds and whilst at Debden I created a layout of a couple of the photos I took of the horse display.



I used some very old patterned papers from Scenic Route and I think 7 Gypsies, a scrap of vellum for the journaling, card stock flourishes and title cut on the Cricut and stickled, a making memories metal frame, photo turns and brads. You can see more of my photos of the castle. park and horses here on my photography blog

Scrapping with Scraps

At my monthly crop last weekend I started three layouts. I managed to find time to finish one of them today. The layout is based heavily on a layout by Helen Croft and uses some scraps of some of my favourite Scenic Route Metropolis papers. The title sticker and chipboard are also from Scenic Route and the flowers are from Prima. The little heart pin came from that well known auction site. Ribbon, brads, buttons and thread from my stash.

Last Few Layouts

Here are the last few layouts from last weekend get-together.

This first one is of the day we took the stabilisers off of her bicycle. I used Patterned Papers from Scenic Route, cardstock from Bazzill, Brads and the title lettering and swirls were cut on the Cricut. (Oops just realised I've lost the letter 'i' from the layout. Hmmm I wonder where that is?)



The flower embelishments were hand made lollipop flowers - just three graduating sized circles of cardstoock which was crumpled up, layered and then fixed with a brad through the centre. A simple way of making a handmade embelishment to co-ordinate with your layout and only needs tiny scraps of paper.



This next layout is of an afternoon last summer spent at Hitchin Lavender. I used patterned papers from BasicGrey and Prima, cardstock from Bazzill, various flowers, self adhesive pearls and the title was cut on the Cricut and then coated in Doodlebug glitter. The photo collage was created in Picasa.



The final layout is of Lara in her High School Musical cheer leaders outfit. On July 4th 2009, Lara's Rainbow unit joined with other Rainbows from the area for their summer celebrations. As the event was held on Independence Day the theme was 'America' and they all had to dress up based on that theme. There was no way that Lara was going to wear anything other than the HSM costume.

For the layout I used patterned paper from Adornit Carolees Creations and Teressa Collins, cardstock from Bazzill, a few buttons, a bling swirl from Prima, some velvet paper and American Crafts Thickers for the title



The flowers were another handmade embelishment. Yo-Yo flowers made using netting. I've never made them from net before but wanted to try and create a pom pom effect. They didn't turn out too bad.

I have one more layout to post but I still need to do some work on that one so

I am such a bad, bad blogger! I've been regularly posting photos to my photo blog but have neglected this blog. But for the first time this year I have something crafty to show you. I went to the monthly crop today at Stamp Addicts. It was the first time I had been able to go since November and was the first time I had scrapbooked since then too. I managed to complete three layouts despite accidentally leaving a lot of the necessary stash at home.

The first layout used photos of some rather cute little marmosets taken a couple of years ago at Cricket St Thomas Wildlife Park at Chard in Somerset. I used BasicGrey papers. The title lettering (cut on the Craft Robo) has a soft feel to it as I've coated with Doodlebug Crushed Velvet Flock.

The photos on the next layout were taken at Abbotsbury Children's Farm, Dorset. I used Scenic Route and BasicGrey papers. The word 'Pony' in the title is very glossy IRL. I used chipboard letters which were inked, stamped with a slightly different colour and then coated in Diamond Glaze.

The last layout I put together is of Lara's fascination with a clam which we found on the beach at Westward Ho!, Devon last summer. I used Fancy Pants papers. The swirls are Doodlebug Designs 'Stick With It' stickers which I've coated with their sugar coating glitter. The title lettering (cut on the Craft Robo) is also coated in the same glitter so the layout is quite sparkly IRL.

Before I go, a quick reminder to UK fans that Lost Season 6 starts next Friday, 5th February on Sky One and Sky HD at 9pm. Its going to be the last season - OMG what will we do when it finishes!!!!

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.

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!).

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.

Todays Mojo Holder challenge was a scraplist of a lovely LO by Jasmine Brahim. Jasmine's style of scrapping is gorgeous! Here's Jasmine's LO followed by mine.





Please do go and check out the rest of the Mojo Holder teams LOs.

By the way, if you read, this please leave me a comment. I am so curious to know who visits my blog and it would be lovely to find out who some of the visitors shown on the traffic feed are. :)

It's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas.

Tomorrow is December 1st and it's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas. I have started my Christmas Shopping and earlier this week a gorgeous box of goodies arrived from the UKScrappers Advent Swap. 25 presents all wrapped up in black papers with gold tags each bearing a clue to the contents of the presents. My Secret Santa hasn't revealed their identity yet but the postmark on the box was a clue (I think) and I therefore have my suspicions. I've been comparing the writing on the tags to the handwritten journaling on LOs posted in my suspects UKScrappers gallery and I think they are a close match. Time will tell is I have the right person.


I hope the person I have sent gifts to hasn't guessed my identity yet - it's nice to keep them guessing.


Friday night was Mojo Holder Challenge Night and challenge #92 was to scrap lift the awesome Betsy Veldman. I loved Betsy's LO - so bright and cheerful. I scrapped a photo of Lara and used BasicGrey Euphoria and Scenic Route papers.