Studio Calico Stamps for sale.

I've decided that an almost-Spring clean of my stash is in order.  I've been holding on to things for a long time that I've never used or used only a couple of times.

The first things that I've sorted through are my stamps.

I was a long time subscriber to Studio Calico kits.  In fact, I started subscribing with their second kit.  This was before they started to produce stamps so along the way, I've built up a collection of their stamps right from the first ones they made.

And that's what it is, a collection.  I'm embarrassed to say that many of them are unused.  They're beautiful designs but I just didn't find a use for them myself.

So, over the weekend I have listed about 40 of them on Ebay.  There are hard to find alphabet sets, limited edition stamps that weren't available to buy and plenty of stamps from the monthly kits and add ons.

If you interested, you can find details here.

I have placed some retired Banana Frog stamp sets for sale on the UKScrappers marketplace.

 

*** UKScrappers Cybercrop Class ***

Over at the UKScrappers website, they are currently having a 'Now we are ten! 10th Anniversary Cybercrop'.  There is a literary theme and, using a kit which Sarah and Lianne from Sarah's Cards Ltd put together, I created a class for the event.  The kit features papers from the new 'Ready Set Go' range by Amy Tangerine, a card pocket, border stickers and sticker sheets.  

The class focuses on techniques and effects using punches and making a simple minibook, perfect for tucking away in the card pocket. 

More information, including the instructions, can be found here (as far as I know, you need to be logged in as a member in order to download them: if you aren't already a member, you can easily sign up on the homepage) and there are still some kits, featuring everything that you will need to create your own version of  the class page, available here in the shop if you'd like to purchase one to make your layout.  

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's interpretations of the layout!

No patterned paper...

Firstly, thank you so much for the kind comments left on my last post.  It's nice to know that there are some people out there that are reading and appreciating what I do.

I've spent the last 5 weeks working on a set of layouts for my September blog post on the Sarah's Cards blog which went live today.  Because of regular scrapping/play days at Jen's house through the summer holiday, I was able to actually get some scrapping done as the kids kindly entertained themselves whilst the Mummies played with pretty paper.

Or not actually for me.  This time I decided not to use any patterned papers at all and see what I could come up with using stickers, tape and die cuts.

These are what I managed to complete (there's still a page which is work in progress):

If you're interested in how I put them all together, the post can be found here. 

Thanks for reading x

Recent pages...

It's been a while since I updated here and I am wondering whether to continue to do so.  I'm not one for sharing personal stories and made the decision a couple of years back to make this a purely scrapbooking blog: a place to share my layouts.  I don't do lots of description about what I've made and I don't do angled close up shots either as I like to keep it all short and sweet.

I guess the reason that I have kept on updating has been to give me one place in which all of my layouts can be found together and I do like to look back from time to time.

Anyway, if you are still reading, here are some of the pages that I've done since last time.

A couple of summer themed pages using the new Studio Calico Heyday range:

The following two layouts were example pages for the sketch challenges at the Sarah's Cards blog:

Finally, the next three pages were made using the Simple Stories Summer Fresh range, focusing on ideas for using the pockets that they make:

Thank you for stopping by x

Catch up...

As it's been a while since I last posted, I thought that I'd do a catch up of my most recent pages.

* Sketches for Sarah's Cards challenges:

June 2012 sketch 

full details for entering the contest are here)

 The May 2012 sketch

* Twisted Sketch 153 ('white'):

* My work with the May Sarah's Cards kit featuring papers from Pink Paislee:

* My Sarah's Cards blog work for June using lots of different techniques for adding handstitching to your layouts.  The tutorials and close ups can be found here.

I've also had a few layouts published in magazines recently.

These are a couple of commissions for Scrapbook Magazine.  The first layout used a kit that was supplied by an online store.  The papers weren't very me but by picking out some of the neutral parts and using my craft robo to cut the heart pattern, I ended up with a page that I was happy with.  The second layout was for a feature called 'We'll meet again' and I chose to do a page about my Mother in Law and Evie the first page that I've been able to face doing about her even though it's now five years since she died.

Finally, this was a page that I made before Christmas that was recently featured in Scrap 365 with the theme 'home':

Well done if you managed to make it to the end of that mammoth post!

Using Heidi Swapp Memory Files...

Since the Sarah's Cards retreat back in March, I've been working on a whole new approach for me towards Scrapbooking.  I managed to get hold of the brand new Memory File system by Heidi Swapp.  These are essentially patterned card folders which open out, allowing you to add lots of elements, even thick mini albums as they are scored in several places along the fold so that you can make the spine narrow or thick depending on how you are using it.

These are the two files which I have made so far:

My idea being that they can slot straight into my existing albums simply by punching holes in the right place on the file.  Using them has definitely got me thinking about how I can record events in greater detail and also include many more interactive elements in my pages.

If you're interested in how I put them together then you can find more details here and here.  I also made a couple of videos to demonstrate how they're put together and how the elements work.  It's my first attempt at making a video like this and hope that they're okay.  It's weird hearing your own voice!

Twisted Sketch 149

The twist this week was 'distress' and I took inspiration from this word to make a layout about how since George has got older, he is either really happy or really sad.  When he was small, he was incredibly easy going and very content but he certainly lets us know when something is wrong now and my journaling describes this contrast of mood.

The sketch and other examples to inspire you can be seen here.

Sarah's Cards March 2012 kit work

These are the layouts that I created a while back now with the March 2012 Sarah's Cards kit.  It featured papers from 3 Bugs in a Rug as well as embellishments from October Afternoon, Authentique and Cosmo Cricket.  The colours were very 'me' and I loved working with the it all.

My Girl

Smiles & Laughter

 

  

   Bear Love

 Thanks for looking.

Twisted Sketch 147...

This week's twist is 'animal'.

My layout's about what we refer to as 'going on a Charlie walk' which means taking our dog for a walk.  I don't think I've ever really included the dog on any of our pages so it was nice to given a reason to record this part of our lives.

You can find the sketch and more ideas for how to use it here.

I'm still getting good use out of the Echo Park collection park and most supplies on this page are from that range.

 

Try!

It's time for the April Challenge on the Sarah's Cards blog.  This is my take on this month's sketch:

I actually made this page last night whilst suffering with horrendous sinus pain and general viral nastiness and was feeling very uninspired when it came to the title and journaling, hence the extremely lame title of 'Catch!' that I originally gave it and which you can see on the challenge post.  I'd spent ages trying to think of a rugby/ball related and short title and that was the best that I could come up with.  It was only when I went to bed that I realised that the perfect word was actually 'Try' and tonight peeled off the stickers and replaced the title.  I may actually add some more journaling too to be slightly more descriptive when I'm in a better frame of mind.

You have until the end of the month to enter the challenge to win £20 to spend in the shop. Look forward to seeing your takes on the sketch :)

Pin it...

My monthly work for Sarah's Cards in now on their blog.  These are the layouts that I created this time using Echo Park 'Note to Self' papers.

There's more information on my blog post there about how I put them all together.

Twisted Sketch 145...

The latest Twisted Sketch had the twist of 'yellow'.  I had some photos of Evie to use dressed up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and incorporated the twist into the title 'Follow the Yellow Brick Road...'  I dug deep into my box of old papers and pulled out some October Afternoon and Sassafras pages which were the perfect style for this layout.

And here's another version of the sketch.  I'll admit that this was actually supposed to be my layout and as I was about to email it off, I realised that I'd forgotten about the twist and started all over again.  I guess that I could have used the tenuous link of the page being about tartes and one of our favourites is lemon tarte which is yellow...  

Anyway, here's my alternative layout:

Thanks for reading :)

Sarah's Cards March 2012 Retreat...

Even though my day job is teaching, as this last weekend approached, I was getting increasingly nervous about teaching at the Sarah's Cards Retreat.  Teaching adults is very different to teaching children and being a teacher, I felt as though I ought to know what I was doing.

It all went okay though (I hope!) even though one class managed to get a couple of 'shushes' out of me! :D

When I was asked to design a page, I started off making a prototype to try out some ideas:

Then I got to choose the items I wanted in my kit.  When I was a delegate at the retreat, I always set about adapting the class layouts to A4 size, so I decided to create a page that could be 'any size'.  The white base of the layout being slightly smaller than A4/8.5 x 11 with the aim being that this can be mounted onto the finished size of choice.

These were my two examples:

The two main techniques demonstrated were adding the splats of glitter and then cutting and constucting the chevron pattern on the card section, which opens up as a place to add more journaling or photos.  I really enjoyed seeing how people picked out different colours and patterns from the four sheets of paper provided to make their chevrons look unique to them.

Finally, here's a photo of me and Jen, my wonderful assistant who kept me calm and was super organised and efficient, and our different sized versions of the layout:

After my initial nerves, I really enjoyed the teaching and chatting to the classes and look forward to doing it again.

There's loads more photos and the rest of the class layouts can be seen on the Sarah's Cards blog or facebook page. 

Having fun?

Here's another layout using up some of my recent Dear Lizzy purchases and trying to show that even though they are particularly girly and summery, they work for boy layouts and also pages about winter rather than summer.

On the one day this year that we had a large snowfall, we went out for a walk and had a little photoshoot.  Oliver looks fairly content in this picture but the real story behind the photo was very different to his appearance.  So I wanted to document how Oliver really didn't enjoy the snow and the cold that day.

Technique wise, I had a play with a Studio Calico interlocking circles mask.  I sprayed through it with white Mr Huey mist and then also stamped with it whilst it was covered in the white ink.  I also have a matching stamp which I used to add some more detail to these areas.  A few splats of some different coloured mists also added to the background effect.  I certainly had fun playing with inks on this page!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Twisted Sketch 143...

My first layout for the Twisted Sketches challenge blog has been posted.

I used it as an opportunity to scrap some photos of George when he was 8 months old which, along with the typed journaling, have been hanging around in need of being added to a layout for a long time.  

You can find the sketch here  along with other examples from the rest of the team. :)