Long time, no see

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted! Well Venice and Rome were awesome places to visit with lots of Wow! moments. I took Molly's (my dd) Instax camera with me and took some photos everyday which then went into my travel journal along with ticket stubs and receipts.

This was fun to do and will be doing it again in January when we go to Paris. I've told Rob I want an Instax mini for Christmas so it'll get lots of use!!


I'm still working my way through my photos of Lanzarote, and putting them in my big album, and as I was left home alone last night I managed to have a play and completed 2+ layouts. The first one was a scrap lift from Pinterest and I'm really happy how it turned out as there were 3 photos I wanted to get onto the same page.

I used my SU chevron punch then placed a piece of patterned paper behind to show through. The cut outs were then glued/ foam mounted alongside. I used a stippling brush to ink on some of the edges to give a soft injection of colour and used a rub on camera to fill the space under the photos.

The stamps were from a Studio Calico kit and also the acetate capital letters.

The second layout was a mismatch of a few ideas I've seen that I experimented with and sort of threw together to make quite a fun layout!

The acetate letters are, again, from Studio Calico as well as the wash tape.

I've now got the photos from Italy on order and can't wait to start on those so need to get the Lanzarote ones finished! I'm almost there and as Rob is off helping a friend out this morning what better time for getting sticky!!

See you soon :)  x

Footprints in the sand

It's been a busy couple of weeks of working and celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary so haven't had much time to craft but this weekend Rob is at Silverstone so have been crafting all day :) 

When I got back from holiday I followed another of Kathy Orta's tutorials and made an album with lots of pages and elements to fill! I've started to put our holiday photos in and enjoy filling the pockets and matting cards but struggled when I wanted to do a layout on one of the pages that is 8.5 x 12 inches using 2 photos I'd picked out, one of them being our footprints inside a heart. 

I played around with the photos, papers and embellishments but wasn't happy with the page so turned to the trusty old assistance of Pinterest and found a sketch I could adapt to the page shape and size. 

This is the finished page and I'm quite happy with it even though it is an odd size to work on :) 

I've also been making a travel folio to take with me when we go to Italy at the end of this week. I'm taking my daughter's Polaroid camera, as well as my digital one, and want to document the instants as I take them and write our itinery at the end of each day. 

Here's a sneak peek, I'll try to post more tomorrow.

Birthday bowling

Hi, we got back from holiday on Thursday night and by Friday evening I was champing at the bit for a paper fix so went to Emma's to hash out some ideas and came away with my brain doing somersaults!!

We had lots of thunderstorms during the night on Friday which carried on into Saturday, which meant a day in my craft room :) 

Before I went on holiday I watched Kathy Orta's preview of her new Retrospection 365 project and sketched some ideas whilst sat by the pool so thought this would be a opportune time to make them.

 As these are pages with extra elements they are ideal for occasions photos where you have too many to fit onto a single or double page layout. I found some photos from Molly's 7th birthday party and the papers from last month's Studio Calico pack were just right for what I had envisioned. 

I started by making a 3 pocket cascade ( in different colours) and attached it to the left hand side of a 12x12" sheet with a hinge. I then cut a 6x12" piece from another sheet and scored it at 3/4" to fold and attach to the right hand side so that the original 12x12" page was still able to be used as such and  took inspiration from a sketch on Facebook. 

I added a journalling card in the pocket of the fold out page and made a couple of bowling balls with a circle punch and cropodile.

The rest of the photos were matted on cards to slot inside the pockets in the cascade and on the front of the pockets.

 

I'm quite pleased with how this turned out and will be doing more of these pages for other collections of photos where there aren't enough to fill a folio but too many for a basic page.

Thanks for looking and feel free to leave feedback :) x

Challenge accepted

I'm not one to turn down a challenge so when Rob suggested I create some bright tags to go on our holiday luggage I started thinking of ideas, scouring Pinterest, and doing what I do best - playing with papers! 

I am dots mad at the moment so when I came across some dotty papers in my stash I knew that's what I would use. They are from a collection called Here and There by American crafts and came with a sheet of travel associated stickers so fit in with my theme. 

I used my big shot and tag die from a Stampin up set I've got and cut 4 tags. The paper sheet was green with pin markers on one side and had different coloured 4x3" panels on the other so was able to have 4 different tags. 

  

Apart from the stickers in the collection I used some washi tape and other travel based stickers to decorate the tags then laminated them. 

I added eyelets, for strength, and ribbon in coordinating colours to attach to our suitcases. I finished them using poppers so we can use them again.

Hopefully this will mean we'll be able to spot our suitcases easier when they are on the carousel as no one will have the same tags as us :) 

I most probably won't post again now till after holiday so see you all in 3 weeks!! 

Going back in time

Hiya, this week I've been sorting out all of the photos that were hidden under the bed. I've set myself the challenge of getting them all out of the packets and into folios so have sorted them into date order. As these are photos we had developed when we had a film camera they go back to the early days of mine and Rob's relationship, so I've started at the front of the box and made a mini folio for these.

The papers and elements I've used for this folio are by Echo park and the collection is called Reflections by Lori Whitlock.
I made an A5 sized album as I didn't have many photos to fill it with but still included pockets and matting cards inside.

I apologise for the amount of photos in this post but felt it would be good to show you the album before and after I filled it.

I had 2 sets of photos from day trips we'd taken in the same year (1992) to Cheddar and Alton towers so used the left hand side for Cheddar:

and the right hand side for Alton Towers:

As you can see, I've journalled some of my memories from those trips, even though they were 22 years ago, and felt quite comfortable writing them surprisingly!

I sometimes find it a bit restricting working on such small pages but had lots of fun making the layouts different with the use of the sticker elements and journalling cards.

The next photos in my box are our engagement and wedding photos so I will be doing lots of planning and manipulation of the folio styles to make it the way I want.

I will keep you updated as I go and will also be showing off a new project I'm working on in the very near future :)

TTFN

Creative blog hop - my turn!

Hiya, last week my good friend Emma tagged me in her blog so this week it's my turn to carry on the hop by sharing my creativity with you before introducing you to some of the blogs I follow and get inspiration from :)

1. What am I working on?

Today I have been playing with my ink pads and stamps to make some cards. I've been dragging the ink pads directly across the card to create a background then stamping on top. 

Also at the moment I'm experimenting with ideas and designs of cards with pockets and hidden elements. 

2. How does my work differ from others in my genre?

I wouldn't say my work is different from the others but I think I make it individual by taking inspiration from more than one piece of work and combining ideas. 

Up until recently I hadn't found my niche, as such, and dabbled in so many medias and materials I wouldn't have put myself into any genre to compare myself to others.

3. Why do I write/ create what I do? 

I started card making about 10 yrs ago as a way of relaxing after stressful days at work. I soon became addicted and joined a forum that introduced me to the wide variety of paper crafts out there, so obviously I had to try them all! 

Nowadays my crafting projects are for personal use, to document my family's memories, or for friend's birthdays, weddings or any other celebrations worth a card/pressie :) 

4. How does your writing/ creating process work? 

I don't have a certain way of doing things but take inspiration from things I see whilst out and about or on the internet. I then mull it over in my mind and try to think of ways to make it work for me. 

I'll then go into my craft room and start cutting and folding card/ paper until I get to a stage I'm happy with or throw it in the bin and start again! 

Right, that's a small glimpse of my crafty thoughts and now it's time for me to share some fab blogs from some very clever women ;)

1. My friend Sharon designs and makes some Gert Lush jewellery, bags and home accessories. She's currently making me a tote bag to match my favourite Dr Marten boots :)

I like to experiment with wire, making jewellery and home accessories. I also experiment with fabric, using my own batik fabric and selective bought fabrics to make bags, wall art and random, quirky creatures. Finally I create my own art work in the form of doodles and paintings sold as prints and greetings cards.

2. I have known Kathy, in a virtual sense, for quite a few years as we were both on the same forum.  She makes the most exquisite cards and is a design team member for several sites including the Daring Card Makers. She also has some great tutorials for inspiration on her blog.

The ramblings and musings of a Daring Cardmaker, the waffle and trivia of my everyday existence, come in, pull up a chair and have a coffee....

3. The last blog I'm going to share with you is from Lynn. She's a Scrappyhappymom from Canada who creates some fab layouts, cards and project life pages. Since following her blog I've found a lot of similarities between us in the way we both create not just 2D paper projects but 3D elements and mini albums :)

I'm Lynn and you can usually find me in my studio with the doodles scrapping away!!

Please take the time to visit and follow these blogs as we are all unique and love what we do and want to share our creations with as many people as possible. 

See you soon :) 

Sidetracked

I was supposed to sorting and packing for tomorrow's crop and got a bit sidetracked!

The friend I'm making the wedding album for is having her wedding reception tomorrow evening and I was planning to make a card for her at crop by my mind was running in circles with ideas so just had to go with it there and then ;) 

Having seen her wedding photos in the week I saw that the colours of her flowers were cerise and orange so used these colours as well as the pearlised ivory card and cerise ribbon I made her invitations with. 

These box cards are so addictive and attractive and versatile for any occasion. 

I'll have to plan something else to do at crop tomorrow but that shouldn't be too hard, I have lots of ideas and plans running round my head at the moment. Maybe now is the time to write a list before I forget them!