Not quite a wedding towel cake.

I'm going to a wedding on Saturday and didn't really fancy anything on the wedding list so with my normal disregard for whether I actually have time to do it or not, I decided I would make my own gift.  This started off as a very vague idea - it was going to be a towel cake but then I spotted these bargain scrapbooks in Home Bargains (where else) for £3.99 I think but they might have even been £2.99 and I just couldn't resist.

So I decided to make a scrapbook for the couple to use to put their informal photos, etc in.  Again, this remained a vague thought until I had a panic last week and realised I had less than 2 weeks to go.  YIKES!!!! I arranged to go to my friends house for a crafty morning on Sunday and didn't actully do any making but this is the result of some serious planning - helped along by the fact that she has oodles and oodles of beautiful stash to inspire me.  So a big thanks upfront to Emma G for the teeny tiny buttons and the flower punches used on this project.  I'm going to give it with a pack of photo corners and sticky squares to help them along.

The front is coverd with Basic Grey - Blush :Cherish

Pastel pearls to give a bit of a lift

Glossy accents on all the hearts - well it is for a wedding

The button heart is in an aperture - more accurate rendering of the colours here

Inside page showing through the aperture is here....

The wording is cut from the Storybook cartridge on my cricut as is the fram which is cut from a sheet of coredinations jewel.  The backing paper is bazzill dotted swia.  Letter shadowns cut from KI Memories 1821 - Posh Word Play and the letters themselves from some paper from my stash pile.

I made the little flowers from all the offcuts with the middle from a viva pearl pen bought from the craft den.

And finally a few close-ups for those not already asleep ;-)

I'd like to enter this in the Creative Craft World Challenge - Weddings

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Am I the last to say it?

Yes, it really has been that long since I blogged.  Had very good intentions for this year but they went the same way as the diet....again!

My little sis came home for Christmas but sadly had to return to Helmand for a couple more months.  I'd hoped to send her a few pages for her scrapbook in her frist post Christmas parcel but, and I know many of you may not be aware of this - we've had a little bit of inclement weather around here.  Blimey its been cold/snowy/icy, etc.  I've not been able to make it out to collect photos as that little bit of snow (ok it might have been more like 8 inches in my garden) caused no-end of problems.

So just the one LO to send out and it's taken me two evenings to finish it which is ridiculous because it's really quite a simple LO but I wanted it to be Christmassy without being CHRISTMASSY is you know what I mean.  Anyhow it's done now

The photo was tkane on the 20th of December when we all tripped down to London to see the real father Christmas!  We had a great time altho perhaps staying in the campervan in inches and inches of snow was not the best idea we've ever had!
Red background paper is the reverse of a sheet of Bazzill Bling - Ruby Slipper (what a waste but I couldn't find anything else in my stash that was the right colour)
Flower fairies embellishments from LEt's make cards magazine.
Stamps by inkinadoo

The Tower of Treats

Those of you who have been following my blog for a while may remember that I gave my Granny a scrapbook for her birthday and was going to make some extra pages dfor her Christmas present.  Well here they are.........oops I didn't have time (again) so I went for a compromise and have done a shadow box as a gift instead. 

I think its called a shadow box because when you take a picture half the inside is in in shadow!  So here it is without the box.  Papers and embellishments by Cosmo Cricket -  Jitterbug with co-ordinating background from stash.  The picture is of my Granny and Grandad when they first met - she's the one on the left) at a holiday camp on the isle of wight.  The other 2 girls are her friends.

I wanted to give Granny something else too but she is so hard to buy for - she's 85 next year!  So I decided to make her up  hamper of all the things she liked.  I didn't have a basket though and didn't have time to buy one as Mum is taking the presents doewn to Ipswich tomorrow so I hit upon the idea of a "tower of treats"

Golly that ribbon tying was hard but we got through it and I'm very pleased with the result - let's hope she is too.  The boxes were bought from Home Bargains (where else) a few months ago and were £1.99 for 6 (I've got 2 small ones left over) and the ribbon was from my stash.

Clearing the decks part1

Aaarrrgghhh!!!!!
Who's been messing with the calendars? 
It CAN'T be December already! 
How did that happen? 
This was going to be theChristmas that I was really organised. 
Never mind, there's always next year.

After I'd civen myself up to panic for a while I thought I'd better clear the decks of a few things that have been hanging around my desk waiting to be finished so that I can get cracking on Christmas in earnest tomorrow (honest!)

So,  the fist thing I needed to do was get my sisters parcel out of the way - she's home for Christmas in a couple of weeks so this should be the last one I have to send out for a while.  In addition to the 'yellow submarine' scrapbook LO I've already blogged there's this page too.  All papers and embellishments from basic grey (cupcake) I opened my scalloped oval nesties that are for Christmas just to make sure they worked.

Was I right to confess in my letter that the boys' diet may have been up to 25% ice-cream some days on holiday?

 I like to send her something hand-made in her package too so I've made a little coaster calendar.  Thanks paddington for the calendar tabs! and also thanks to rainmac for the inspiration.

I've put a little magnet on the back just in case they don;t have nails in the wall (I'm assuming she has walls - her office is in a portacabin but she sleeps in a tent so I thought I'd give her more options. )

And finally I made a card to send with her package which also includes sherbert fountains, sherbert dip dabs, minstrels and some fake snow .  It's not her Christmas card but I thought I'd do something a bit Christmassy to get her in the mood

In the town where I was born.......

Another scrapbook page to send out to Helmand to attempt to brighten my poor sister's days. 
The whole family (minus her) went to Gran Canaria at half term and this picture is of her hubby and boys (+ my boy) getting ready to go on the Yellow Submarine in Puerto De Mogan.

I had big plans for this - was going to attempt to recreate the beatles yellow submarine in collage but decided that might be a step too far.
Not sure what make the background paper is - I got it in a stash swap over on crafty place - but the pattern reminded me of waves.  The letters and fish are all cut out on my trusty cuttlebug - some in paper, some in foam to give a bit of texture.
Finally, I've aded a bit of glossy accents to pick out the waves.

Red Cross Box

Gosh, how time flies.  I've set myself a target of sending my sis a "red cross box" out to her every fortnight.  She's working so hard - 14 hour days, 7 days a week so I like to send her something out to cheer her up.  It was the notepad last time but this time I'm sending her some scrapbook pages to add to the scrapbook I sent out in her first box.

I don't think I've done 2 LOs in one night for a long time and I seem to have just lost 4 hours of my life but here they are.....

My sisters youngest is the spitting image of her when she was little so I've deliberately mixed their names up.  "& son" doesn't get humour that isn't toilet related so he thinks I'm going senile and genuinely can't see that one of them has 70s trousers on.  Background paper from my stash - I drew the question marks on myself.  Chicks also from stash.  Alphas by Stickopotamus.

And here's one pf her eldest with some produce from her garden that she worked so hard on all year and didn't really get to see the fruits of her labours as she was deployed before harvest time.  Background paper, flower and grass from My Minds Eye Bloom & Grow.  Letters and leaves cut out by cuttlekids machine - shh don't tell "& son".

I'll be sending this card out with the parcel too - its my first proper stab at "colouring in" for a while (since primary school maybe?) altho its amazing how things come flooding back.  "&son" was astonished by my ability to play both the main menoldy and the descant harmony of "utumn Days" a fave hymn from my prmary school days.  I'd not attempted it for 30+ years and got most of the notes right!  the lovely image below was sent in a stash swap parcel from cazarol and was coloured in with the latest love of my life - promarkers!

EDIT (DOUBLE DAMN - THERE WAS OBVIOUSLY A PIECE OF DST BACKING ON THE SCANNER - I suppose this could be a new gmae - spot the DST backing on the LO!)

Craft Den Scrapbooking class

Finally managed to make it to one of the Thursday night scrapbooking class at the Craft Den. Lynne provided us with a basic idea of cutting away the edge of a piece of Daisy bucket designs Playful Petals: Katy and the idea of the 'grass' and then left the rest pretty much up to us. The curve of the edge said more 'tree' than ground to me so I used it vertically rather than horizontally. Nearly got it finished too - just had to add the wording on today which was a bit problematic - see this is the problem if you're on a self-imposed stash free month.

I tried to print out the writing on the velum but my printer was not having it so I printed it out on plain white and laid the velum over the top. The leaves are hand drawn and finished and I put some left over swirls on the 'grass' to add a bit of interest

It's done! (and only just in time)

Mum and Dad are travelling down to Granny's tomorrow so I had to finish the album tonight. Her's the final 3 pages

Fisrt up is my favourite of them all - it's photos of me and my sisters when we were little. Photos from this era seem to be a bit thin on the ground. The papers are so beautiful that I really didn't want to do too much to them in case I spoiled them. They're from Cosmo Cricket; Gretel. The background paper is called Butterflies, the frames 'Woodland'. Lettering from Basig Grey - sugared.

Secondly 'Mum'

The first photo is from Granny and Grandad's 40th wedding anniversary celebration in 1998. The second one is of the family on holiday with Grandads trusty Standar 8 car by the side. Papers are by Crate Paper. Went a bit wild with the embossing on this one - have just treated myself to a cuttlebug as an early birthday present and embossing everything in sight!

Last one - 'Great Granny'. Photos of my Granny nowadays are few and far between - she's really not keen on having them taken but I managed to find 3 photos that between them have pictures of all 3 of her great- grandsons. Paper by Chatterbox: Paper Walls. Background paper is called Pebble Stripe, Frames are cut from 'Sunny Pinwheels.

I've posted the album in its entirety on my 'pics only' blog here

Assessing Deliverables

Had my project management hat on this weekend First I assessed the current situation;

My album has 15 leaves, I have 5 completed layouts.

Then the available resource;

Mum and Dad are going to Granny's on Friday so I have to have it ready and wrapped by Thursday evening. So 1 weekend and 1 full evening available.

I realised if I was going to try and get all that done this scrapbooking business might not be so much fun!

So I've decided to remove 5 leaves from the album. Leaving 5 layouts to do.

Here's 2 from yesterday / today. Am going to try and get at least one other done this evening.

Guess who bought some card candy today! Popped into the craft den looking for some papers suitable for retro seaside pics but had no luck. Still it was worth the visit. I'll deffo be back for some more colours now I've tried them.

First up - the betrothed page - not 100% happy with the wording as it's merging into the background but it will just have to do. The first picture is of Granny and Grandad when they were engaged. The second is when they went on holday before they were married and had to take Granny's Granny and brother as chaperones. Papers from my Costco collection.

Secondly; Family;

Was going to put a picture of Granny and her Mum at Mum's wedding on this page then decided it would be nicer to have the whole family group. Paper by Crate Paper: Sweet Branch Collection - Flutter. Card candy by Craftwork Cards from the Craft Den.

2 down - 10 to go!

Another layout of my Granny. This one was taken when she was pregnant with My Mum so was probably 1948. I struggled with this one a little as I wasn't quite sure what to do for the wording. I nearly went for 'with-child' as it seemed more like something I would imagine they would say in the forties. I was going to go with something along the 'blossoming, blooming lines but that seemed a bit too informal. Then 'mother-to-be' but that seemed a bit over formal. so I plumped for mum to be - Isn't if funny how the simplest part of your layout can take so long to sort out!

A mix of papers on this one. The background paper is by KI memories: Choices Collection - Posh One word. The frame and cut-outs are by Crate Paper; Baby Bee Collection - Pollen. The cream card used for the lettering and baby stickers are from my stash and the ribbon is from Craftastic in hillsborough, Sheffield. You'll have seen it before in blue on some of my baby cards.

Aaaarrrgggghhhh!!!!!!

My Granny's birthday is in June not July!

How did I get that so wrong?

So, if I'm to giver her her scrapbook for her birthday, I have to 12 layouts in the next 9 days!

I'm going to give it a try though. Would it be rubbish to give someone a scrapbook with some empty pages at the back? I could give her some extra pages for Christmas then.

So here's the first of 12. How smart does my Grandad look with his gloves? And how beautiful and young my Granny looks! I can tell you I shed a tear (just a little one) doing this layout - they were so much in love!

Papers from my Costco collection and the paper lace was from Oap on the Crafty Place Forum. She sent me it in the stash swap and I've used it all up now. Will have to buy myself some as I really liked using it.

Baby Granny

It's been a busy old crafting day to day. I think I must be in a minority when I say that I really do not like the sunshine. IT gives me a headache! So I've loitered indoors all day enjoying the natural light through the windows instead.

I'm contemplating putting a scrapbook together for Granny's birthday - I posted a page of Granny and Grandad on their honeymoon a while ago so I could add that one in too. Will just have to see if I have time- if not, it may have to wait for Christmas.

Anyhow, here's a picture of her when she was a baby (1920). Bless her. I started the journalling but wanted to check if she knew the time and place of birth so have left it to be finished when I speak to her next.

Crafty Place - June Challenge Entry - Summer

Why not pop along to the crafty place. There's challenges and swaps galore!

http://craftyplace.yuku.com/directory

This is my entry for the summer challenge over there.

I've never used this type of paper before and was hoping that having something with a bit of structure to it would make laying out a bit easier - no chance!

I do like the papers though. I bought them from "3 Jolly Crafters" - whose service is second to none!

Tha main paper is Dream Street; Bright n Sunny - Recipe for Fun

The red spotted paper used for lettering and accents is also dream street ; Bright n Sunny -- Bowl of Cherries

A little bit pf basic grey 'cupcake' and

A tag from an SEI 'Aunt Gerti's Garden' tag sheet

Granny and Grandad on honeymoon

This page was originally my son and his 'first love' age 3 but it seems to have morphed from that through a layout of my Granny and Grandad's engagement to one of them on honeymoon.

Papers were all from a pack that I bought from Costco. Wording is word art - Book Antiqua

Special thanks to Saveapenny on the MSE forum for sending me the template I used for the flower. I can see a few more of them coming your way some time soon

Another bright scrapook page on the way. I don't seem to be able to do subtle at the mo but I guess that's what happens when all your pictures are of boys!
This is one half of what will be a 2 page layout from my sons 8th birthday party. We took him and a few friends to see Horrid Henry.
The background paper is another one from bazzill. I've used some polka dot material and red felt in the bottom corner to try and stop is being too stark.

Cousins

Couldn't sleep last night. Must have been all the excitement of setting up my blog and spending most of the evening looking at my Dr Who (sorry Hamlet) pictures.

So dragged myself out of bed and did this layout. Very simple as I was very tired, using seven gypsies(outback range) paper laid over some bazzill cardstock in a mustardy colour.

The picture of these 3 cousins was taken at Christmas dinner and makes me chuckle. The eldest looks knackered - he'd been up since 6ish and had gone to bed really late. The middle one is to the forefront. He was really enjoying himslef by then. The youngest on the right had refused to play ball all morning (to the point of refusing to open his presents) but he suddenly came alive at dinnertime. Look at that grin!

Craft Den Crop April 09

Whilst the cats away..........

Tom's off on holiday and has left me behind so I made the most of it and booked myself into a crop at the Craft Den.

It's the fist time I've been to a crop of any kind so I was a little nervous but Lynne and the girls made me feel very welcome and I learned lots of new skills and came away brimming with ideas and lusting after several items in Lynne's lovely shop.

We did 3 layouts on the day. I'm very pleased with all of them - they're way out of my league!

The first was browns and pinks - very girly but I loved it!

The second is so elegant. I used one of my fave pics of my grandparents and Mum.

The final one was very bright! With flowers and ribbons. I was convinced that one wasn't for me but I think it worked well in the end. Not too girly for a picture of my boy after all


Needless to say I've already booked in for the next one. Can't wait.......

Hamlet Scrapbook Layout - At last!

I've been putting off doing my first post as I was unsure whether to try and post chronologically (as I made things) or not. I have a backlog of things I'd like to post but have decided to start with my newest creation and 'catch-up' with the backlog as and when I can.

This layout has been on my table for what seems like ages but I seemed to have some kind of mental block. Either that or looking at the pictures sent me off into some kind of dream land so I never got anything done.

Finally though, I've done it. Not 100% happy with it as the pages seem a bit bare but its growing on me and, to be honest, it was starting to become a bit of an albatross around my neck.

I decided to brave it and attempt some tearing and patching )Thanks to Lynne at the Craft Den for the inspiration. The letters are cutout from word-art and could be a bit neater. I'd have liked to have inked the edges with some distress inks but as I haven't actually convinced myself that they are essential ~(yet!) I've managed without.