Monday 15 September 2014

Carfest North

At the bank holiday weekend in August I managed to rattle off a few pages due to the combination of a poorly me and some rainy weather!

I finished off a Gossamer Blue kit and, without the aid of a sketch, threw all the bits on the page to create this;



We had a great day at Carfest North last year but by far the best bit was the concert in the evening.  It was made even more special by a beautiful sunset.

Thanks for cheking in.  Not much scrapping going on round here due to a new job, fund raising planning for Alex and her trip with Guides next year and two weekends away coming up.  Normal service (whatever that is!) will be resumed soon!




Saturday 13 September 2014

One Photo & Twenty Words


My mum, looking so fit and well for 80.  A Grandma they love and adore.  
A rare family moment captured.

I am linking up with Abi over at Creating Paper Dreams for her fabulous monthly meme "One photo & Twenty words".  Find a photo and tell your story in just 20 words.  It's not as easy as you think!


Monday 25 August 2014

Sizergh Castle

This bank holiday has been a bit of a wash out up here in the North West - lots of rain and cold wind!  So what better to do than some clearing out of cupboards, book shelves and desks (in both kids rooms) and a little scrapbooking?  At least I have a sense of achievement!

So on Saturday I completed the challenge  #1 in the UKScrappers Summer Scrapbooking Challenge which was to "Lets get started with a sketch"...


As per usual the two photos I wanted to use were portrait and landscape (I never seem to think about this when taking the pictures!) so I cut them both down so they would work with the sketch.  

I'm on a mission to use up my Gossamer Blue kits so carried on scrapping with the same kit as my last few pages...


Once again I've used embellishments from my own stash as the kit ones were pretty much all gone...


Plus some gorgeous new flair from A flair for buttons and some bits from my "For goodness sake use me up" pile...


Back soon with the final page from this kit.  Hope you've had a lovely bank holiday weekend wherever you are and that the weather has been kinder to you!

Friday 22 August 2014

More Florida pages...


I've finished my second UKS Summer Scrapbooking challenge.  This time number 5 - Use a sketch and typography.


Sticking with the same Gossamer Blue kit as my last page I chose to scrap about our villa in Florida.  I didn't have any PL cards to use for the typography element which meant me heading over to Pinterest (My nemisis! I really don't go on it as it's such a time stealer!) and finding some free printables to download.  I couldn't believe how many were out there!  I found some great ones from Plant Your Story that fitted with both the theme and the colour scheme.

I added a lot of my own embellishments as I seem to have decimated the kit of these!  Plus some stars and some clear, patterned ribbon from my "Must use it up" dish.

I made the facing page to co-ordinate from the same kit and completed my Sketchy Scrappers July challenge.  The sketch was set by Karen this month and was based on a project life type spread...



 I decided to flip the page to use some portrait photos from our "pool days" at the house - we needed one every few days just to recover from the park days which were fun filled, action packed and very tiring!


I do love scrapping out of order. These photos are 6 years old but it's great to scrap them now as it brings back all the memories too.  

Still struggling with a virus and very bad cough so no day out for us today which probably means more scrapping for me :)  The UKS Summer Challenge is open until 30th September if you want to take part.









Thursday 21 August 2014

The Playlist

Sheena set the sketch for June with a little extra challenge to use flowers. 




I kept my embellishments simple and encorporated flowers on the patter paper instead. Around the outside I have written a list of songs from one of Alex's playlists that we listened to on a drive to one of her International meetings in deepest, darkest Cheshire. 


I also combined my challenges on this one and completed number 7 on the UKS Summer Challenges list - scrap the everyday.  My first of the challenges done.

I used a Gossamer Blue kit with some sequins, sprays and a flair badge from my own stash. 

Have you been joining in the Summer Challenge?  If so how many have you done so far?



Monday 11 August 2014

One photo and twenty words



A sunny Summer's afternoon at the races.  Two winners, great company, prosecco, Tom Jones and you, of course, always you x

I'm linking up with Abi today at Creating Paper Dreams for her meme - one photo and twenty words.  Choose a photo and describe it in 20 word.  What will you post?

Sunday 10 August 2014

Summertime Scavenger Hunt round up - The Conwy edition


Rinda has asked us to link up and share our scavenger hunt photos so I thought I'd run through the few I got at Conwy recently where we went for a long weekend with 8 other families.

#4 A group of tourists. These were all sat along the quay wall either eating lunch (and trying to keep it from the seagulls) or ice creams. It looks very dark and cloudy (not helped by the filter I used) but boy was it warm!


#6 An urban street scene - the Main Street in Conwy


#5 a rack of postcards. Taken outside the smallest house in Britain. 


#9 a bakery - and it was just as pretty inside too


We had to delay arriving as I had my interview on the Friday so on the Thursday we headed off to Alderley Edge and enjoyed the sunshine where I got #7 A rural landscape


I need to check how many I have left but it feels like I'm half way there! Looking forward to two weeks off when I should be able to tick more off the list but first I have 5 days left to work in my current job - wish me luck!





Monday 4 August 2014

Sketchy Scrappers Challenge - May


Loved the sketch in May set by Jessie and set about using up some more of my SJ Crafts kit  - so sad she is closing just as I have discovered her kits.


This time I did a page and a bit :)  The left hand page  is based on the sketch with photos of me as a Brownie when we attended our Tawny Owl's wedding as the guard of honour!



I added some sequins from my own stash and played with my new pot of embossing paste for the first time (dd loved it so much she has stolen some for her Art GCSE work!) This paste isfrom Wndy Vecchi in white.  Jessie also set the added challenge of using a song title so I pinched some words from the song we open each meeting with...



The right hand page holds a couple more pics from the day together with a glassine bag in which I have pt my Big Brownie Birthday badges that I have earned this year for being a Brownie leader and helping organise a couple of events for the girls in our village.  I have also added a Brownie tab that fell off someone's uniform!


In the pocket there is also a tab with lots of journalling about how I find myself volunteering for Guiding 40 years after these photos were taken and how I love it!

Thanks for stopping by.  This kit is all used up now so on to using up my Gossamer Blue kits and catching up on sketches and the UKS Summer challenge.  What scrapping challenges are you taking part in this summer?


Sunday 3 August 2014

UKS July Challenge

The July challenge on UKS was to use a sketch. Sorry I can't post it from my iPad but it here if you want to use it
http://www.ukscrappers.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=348008

I wanted to use up the last of my SJ crafts kit and grabbed a last photo from Christmas 2013 that I had not yet scrapped. I like the fact I have scrapped Christmas using pastels - it's quite refreshing!

I added some washy tape from my stash, some letter stickers and some crystals and enamel dots along with a spatter of Mr Hueys. I'm really not sure about the journaling as it seems to have gone a bit north!  I'll live with it for a bit and see how I feel :)



This is my first attempt to blog from my iPad and it's OK but it's not got all the features on the app that there are on the PC.  If anyone has any tips I'm all ears!

Friday 1 August 2014

Come and have a cup of tea...

Hello.  Hi.  Come on in!

Forget the tea or coffee I have a nice bottle of a Prosecco chilling in the fridge!  Why you ask? We'll tonight I am celebrating a new job and the fact I handed my resignation in today. If you were sharing a glass of fizz with me you'd probably comment that I was in a similar position last year and you would be right but the job I took then was not for me and I am really excited about this new position. I'm also excited that I only have two weeks to work and then two weeks off :). I would tell you how I was looking forward to visiting my parents, especially my Mum who I have not seen since her heart by-pass operation, and spending time chilling at home and taking the kids on days out (while they still want to) 


I would ask you what plans you had for the summer? I would tell you we have already enjoyed a lovely weekend away in a North Wales with 8 families ( and numerous dogs and children!), that Josh is currently ways enjoying scout camp and that Alex heads off to Germany on her first international trip with Guiding to visit a massive scout and guide jamboree next week. 


At this point it would be time for crusty ciabatta and an olive oil and balsamic vinegar dip (to help soak up the prosecco!) 

I would ask you what you have been up to craft wise and be enthralled by your creativity. I would let you know I am pleased that I have two weeks off so I can "catch up" on the 52 card challenge and some more scrapbook pages. But we would laugh together as we realised there was no such thing as "caught up" in the scrapbooking world. 

I would let you know on the quiet how proud I am of my daughter for completing her Duke of Edinburgh Silver and that I secretly hope she'll take me to the Palace as she hopes to complete her Gold next year!

I would ask if you were partaking in Rinda's Photography Scavenger hunt this Summer and how many you had found? I would let you know I'm doing quite well but you'd have to read my blog update later this weekend to see! I would tell you how I am loving it for the third year running and that is making me take different photos than normally. I think I would like to put them all in one album and I would ask you if you knew anywhere in the UK that stocked WeRMermory keepers Instagram albums?

But by this point we would have been a fair way through the bottle and it would be time to part until next month. I'm so glad I was able to share my good news with you and I look forward to hearing yours. If you want to join in for a cup of tea (or any other beverage) then link up with Abi at Creating Paper Dreams

Until next month... Cheers!

Wednesday 16 July 2014

2014 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt




This was post was going to be a round up if what I've found so far but it's less round up more slow herding as I realise I've only taken a couple in the list. Best pull my finger out!

In the meantime here are my finds...

1. A sign welcoming people to your home town.

This is the signpost for my village. I need to capture the town one when there's less traffic around!


2. A garden gnome

These little chaps were for sale in Sainsburys a few weeks back but I think after England's departure they,ll be sold off cheap now!


10. A photo bomb. These lovely ladies helped me celebrate my birthday the other weekend and I noticed my friend's daughter had joined in the action!


Lastly number 14 A parade. The neighbouring village to ours has a carnival every July with a traditional parade of floats pulled by tractors. This year Alex's best friend had been chosen as Carnival Queen so we headed down to see the floats before the parade headed off. They were all fabulous with so much effort put into decorating them...



Thanks for stopping by. I'm off out with my camera this weekend to track down some more pictures. If you would like to join in then grab your camera and check out Rinda's blog for the full list. 




Monday 14 July 2014

One photo. Twenty words.


                         
Another Brownie term over. One sleepover, two badges and eighteen girls growing in confidence. Loving my end of term gifts.

I'm linking up with Abi at Creating Paper Dreams for her monthly meme. Take one photo and describe it in twenty words.  Why don't you join in too?

Silverstone

I hadn't done a weekly challenge on UKS for a while but I took a look at this one and knew straight away what I could scrap.  I'd printed the photos off a couple of years ago (yep, I have a pile of pics that goes back that far...or further!) and together with some Gossamer Blue kits I'm trying to use up it was game on!

The challenge was...

Scrap about a summer or sporting event - The British Grand Prix ticks both those boxes :)
Use patriotic colours - plenty of red white and blue in my photos and papers
Use 5 photos or more - I used 5 with the help of a Shimelle 4x6 Photo Love sketch

So here is my double layout...


And the two separate pages...




In the interests of using up old stash on every layout I also sprayed some Basic Grey chipboard alphas.  Do you remember them?  The ones we used to buy before Thickers came along?!

Feeling my mojo return now after a scrapping hiatus so off to see what this week's challenge is...What has got you scrapping again?

Sunday 13 July 2014

Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt 2014


Rinds is running her fantastic scavenger hunt again this summer. This was my first find - Number 16 a sign in a foreign language. 

We have walked past this little chapel on the hill up to our apartments in Kefalonia so many times both this year and in 2006 but we had never found it open to be able to look inside. When I read the list on the last day of holiday it was the first thing I thought of to take a photo of.   Sorry this post is a little photo heavy but I wanted to share the beauty of this little church. 










Inside the altar was so ornate and beautiful...


The right hand side is built into a cave and here there were little lamps with candles burning...






It was a very peaceful place to visit and I'm so glad the hunt made me grab my camera and stroll down the road to find it open. 

I'll be back later this week with more of my finds. In the meantime it's not too late to join in as the hunt runs until the middle of September.  You can find the full details on Rinda's blog here,

Happy hunting!








Tuesday 10 June 2014

Expanding Blog Hop!

The other week my friend Gemma tagged me to take part in this blog hop and with a mad busy week I had forgotten all about it until our other friend Fiona posted about the fact that Gemma had tagged her too!  So it's home from work, tea done, jobs done and out with the lap top to complete my post!

What are you currently working on?
I only have time for scrapbooking and a bit of card making.  I am trying to keep up with the 52 card challenge (but failing miserably) but mostly I do pages based on challenges I find around the blog sphere...the UKS Challenge, an online sketch group I am part of (The Sketchy Scrappers) and anything else I have time for.  I also have an idea for my neice's birthday for a heritage album. Right now I need to finish off a 6x12 page to go next to this one...

I am also working my way through Rinda's list for the 2014 Summertime Photography Hunt which you can check out on her blog here.

2. How does your work differ from others of its genre?
I'm not sure it does except it features photos of my family and friends. lol!  I get inspiration from blogs I follow including the lovely Louise, from Shimelle and Mercy Tiara videos, and from the manufacturers blogs on any new product I buy.

3. Why do you write/create what you do?
I love to record our family life, from the small things to the huge. From major milestones to little moments.  I also love to play with paper, glue & sparkly things and it is a great way to lose myself for a few hours in the midst of a stressful life.  I am learning to write more from the heart and have captured a few things now that I am pleased with such as being reunited with my brother after 18 years, the birth of my daughter 5 weeks early and a painful divorce which meant losing the majority of photos from my late 20's 

4. How does your writing/creating process work?
I am lucky to have a room I can keep my work out all the time so how much I create depends how much we have going on in the family that week.  I can spend 10 mins playing with something or sit down for over an hour.  I can get up early before the rest of the house is awake or stay up late when all have gone to bed.  I have no real routine I just try and fit it in when and where I can.  I usually start with a photo and story I want to capture and try and use up some old stash (an ongoing battle!)  Here are a few pictures of my very tidy room from a couple of years ago!



I have seen quite a few posts about this blog hop now like Fiona I have left it too late to ask anyone if they minded me tagging them. Instead I am going to throw open an invitation to anyone reading this post. If you haven’t yet been asked to take part and would like to, please leave a comment below and I will pick the first three people. Your post would need to go live next Monday, the 16th June

Thanks, as always, for stopping by :)

Monday 2 June 2014

Title help needed...

No, not the title itself (although I have been known to ponder this for days on some of my pages!) but how to do a title on the cheap. 

I am planning on hosting a little scrap class for some friends as a fundraiser for Alex's international trip with Girlguiding UK this year. I have the page planned mostly using the items below and some bits from my stash and have kept the price down to a reasonable price. But the the title is causing me trouble...



I realise how easy it is to reach for thickers (my first love when it comes to titles) but this would wipe out any funds we might raise! 

So I'm opening the suggestion box up to my friends in blog land. So far I've thought of stamping (but I don't own much in the way of large letters) and stitching. Anybody else out there got a great suggestion I could "borrow" that is cheap and easy to teach?

Answers on a post card please (or preferably in the comments section below!)

Thank you all!