Paper Obsession

LSNED - A catty fact for Thursday

Well I've done a fair bit of learning over the last few days... and last night, a whole lot of scrapping - and just for the moment I am up to date. I have to confess to slightly changing the order of my pages for 'artistic purposes' but I think in the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter too much.

So I shall start with my page for Thursday 3rd Sept. Here I have recorded a fascinating fact I picked up from reading Georgina's lovely blog, It's Just Too Random. Apparently male cats are usually left handed and female cats are right handed (see this article for more details). Now I tried to find out if this was true for Miss Poppy Cat but she was having none of it. The article said to put some tuna in a jar and see which paw the cat uses to 'fish' it out. Not wanting to waste good tuna, I put some cat treats in a glass on the floor for Poppy to investigate. She sniffed it suspiciously and walked off, unimpressed. I can see I'm going to have to try harder.

{Here is my little secret... I actually learnt this fact on Friday but the colours look so nice next to Wednesday's page I switched 'em around. Shhhh, don't tell anyone.}

LSNED - Day 2 is here..

OK, I have fallen ever so slightly behind already - but I'm NOT going to panic and throw in the towel. I just put the finishing touches to my page for Wed 2nd Sept so now I have to start on Thursday's page. I know roughly what I'm doing so all should be fine!

Before I go any further, I would just like to say a huge Thank You to everyone who's taken the time to pop over to my blog and leave a comment. I really appreciate them!

Anyway, here is my page for Wednesday..

On the left is Charlie (age 3 years and 4 months), on the right is Harry (age 2).

Under the photo there's a tag explaining what happened to prompt the title:

I think the rather stark style of this page was prompted partly by having just read the brilliantly absorbing PostSecret blog, and partly by how I felt about the experience. Also it was based on one of Shimelle's sketches. Lots of frills and pretty papers just didn't suit it, somehow.

If you've got this far, thanks for reading! Prettier pages to follow.. I can't resist adding frilly bits for long ;o)

LSNED - Day 1 complete!

On our way back from the library yesterday afternoon, we bumped into a friend from toddler group who we haven't seen all summer. After a trying time in the library (boys running around, shrieking, pressing the emergency button in the disabled loo...), it was SO good to stop and chat with Giarda for a few minutes. In fact it truly restored my equilibrium and put a smile on my face for the rest of our walk home.

As a complete bonus, while we were chatting, the lady from the library ran over to return my purse that I'd left on the counter.. clearly my mind was in another place this afternoon.

So, here is my page for 1st September: a tribute to Giarda for saving my sanity.

You can lift up the pink label to read the story.

I have used:
Orange Bazzill cardstock
BasicGrey Urban Prairie/Patchwork Quilt paper
Doodlebug paper frill
Blue flower brad
Record cards in pink and white
Cuttlebug and Nestabilities Labels 1 die

My cat and Polly's... separated at birth?

Warning: This is a RANDOM post with little to do with scrapping.. except it will include a link to a fabulous scrappy blog that's well worth a look! (If you are reading this having come from Shimelle's LSNED forum you may be familiar already...

I was having a nosy at Polly's blog, From Devon With Love, when I was AMAZED by the photos of her cat - in fact for a minute I actually thought it was MY cat.. except that she was happily snoozing on our sofa.

SO here is my cat (Poppy):

And if you jump over to here, you'll witness the incredible sight of one cat in two places at once. Apparently.

I was so excited by the uncanny resemblance I just had to share! Next post, back to crafty stuff, I promise.

Learn Something New Every Day: cover finished!

It's taken me a good two or three days, but at last I have finished the cover to my LSNED book. And here it is...

It is made from a piece of chipboard from the back of a paper pad, first painted with gesso, then with yellow acrylic paint on the left hand edge. I did this in case I use the Bind-it-All to bind it at the end, as sometimes it can 'chew up' patterned paper stuck to covers.

The pp is the very pretty BasicGrey Urban Prairie/Monarch paper. I covered the left edge with a little strip of pink and green raffia. The lettering is as follows:

Learn:  Letter stickers from the BasicGrey 'Perhaps' Collection Pack.
something:  Courier New font, printed on to pink BG paper, each letter cut out separately.
NEW:  Hand-cut from turquoise felt, stuck on to double-sided tape and cut out.
every day:  Courier New font, printed on to yellow BG paper, cut into a thin strip, edges inked.

The book-plate is by Lil Davis Designs, I filed it to allow some of the silver metal to show through. I then used a Sakura Souffle pen to write the date on black card and stuck it inside the book-plate, which is attached to the cover using pink brads.

Finally, I added some pink and white glitter to the butterfly for a little bit of sparkle!

Now if each page takes as long as the cover, I may be finished just in time for Journal Your Christmas..

Learn Something New Every Day!

Yippee! I've signed up for Shimelle's new class, starting 1st September, called Learn Something New Every Day. I love Shimelle's classes, there's always a real buzz surrounding them - on UKScrappers and especially on the class forum. At the moment everyone is getting prepared for the off, deciding on what supplies to use or anxiously waiting for kits to arrive from Shimelle's shop.

I have decided I really MUST use up some of my existing paper mountain rather than buying anything new. After much agonising I've decided to go with BasicGrey's Urban Prairie range, along with various bits and pieces from my stash that seem to coordinate. Here's my little bundle of stuff:

So far, I have cut some chipboard covers, 6.5 inches square, given them a coat of gesso and covered one of them with black paper. Not sure where to go from there, so I'm waiting for further inspiration to strike! I've also prettied up a little notebook which I'm going to use to write in my daily thoughts for the month of September.

So class starts on Tuesday.. and I can't wait to get started!

A riot of colour

I just completed a new layout for this week's Scrap Like You Mean It (SLYMI), a weekly challenge by Shimelle Laine on UKScrappers. The challenge is to... Scrap a square within a square – take a piece of cardstock or paper that is the same shape as you finished layout format but smaller. Scrap your layout onto that and then add it to your normal sized layout.

I decided to scrap some of my photos from our walk round Glenthorne Allotments back in June. I was amazed by the size of the place, it is HUGE and absolutely fascinating! I took loads of pictures of stunningly architectural plants such as Allium and Globe Artichoke, as well as the brightly painted sheds and other gardening bits n' bobs that added such startling splashes of colour to the landscape.

Here is the finished article: A riot of colour.



And here's a closer look:

SLYMI is definitely worth a look - Shimelle always has wonderful ideas for layouts, and I am finding online challenges such as this are fantastic for inspiring me to get scrapping.

A very shiny anniversary card

Here's another card I made using Shari's Sketch #1 on the Hero Arts challenge blog. This time I have used my favourite stamp, Heart-winged Butterfly, so I can enter it for the challenge! I love the HA blog community, there is such a buzz on both the blog and the Flickr group, with hundreds of fantastic creations being posted online each week in response to the challenges set by the HA team.

I made this card for my DH's aunty and uncle who celebrate their Silver wedding anniversary on Sunday.

And here is a close-up of that glittery butterfly:

Supplies:

Silver mirri card
BasicGrey Scarlet's Letter paper
White card
Silver glitter and gemstones
Cuttlebug and Script embossing folder
Nestabilities - Scalloped Circles
Hero Arts 'Heart-winged Butterfly' F5158
Banana Frog 'Simple Greetings'
Silver, red and black ink-pads

First I cut scalloped circles out of BG paper and silver card. I embossed the BG paper with the Script folder and inked the script with silver and the edges with red ink.

I cut squares from silver card and BG paper, rounded the corners of these and the white base card and layered them up. I stuck the scalloped circles to the base card with foam pads to raise them up.

I stamped the greeting on to white card and cut into a strip, adding some tiny heart-shaped gems and inking the edges in silver before sticking to the card with sticky dots.

Finally, I stamped the butterfly on to more BG paper with black Versafine ink, cut it out and added fine silver glitter using Art Glitter Designer Adhesive. This was stuck to the card using a sticky dot.

The photo doesn't really show how shiny the silver card is - it is actually quite dazzling!

ETA: Well, I am chuffed to bits - my card won second place - hurray!!! Thank you Hero Arts.

A very flowery wedding card

A friend of mine is getting married on Friday and unfortunately we can't be there - but I've just spent a happy hour or two making them a pretty card. It was inspired by this week's sketch challenge on the Hero Arts blog but as I haven't managed to shoehorn in any HA stamps, I can't enter it for the challenge.. shame! Once my prize shopping voucher reaches me, I'll be able to extend my HA stamp collection but I'm still waiting as yet..

Anyway, here is the card I made:

I started by embossing the square white card blank with the Cuttlebug Swiss dots embossing folder. I had to put it through twice to cover the whole card (I wish they'd make them bigger... in fact I think the new range are going to be slightly bigger, which is good news). I then inked the edges and some of the dots with pink ink.

Next I cut a scalloped circle of BasicGrey Urban Prairie/Meadow paper to include the two birds in the middle, adding a few pink pearly gems to the flowers under the birds. I matted this on to a bigger scalloped circle of pink Urban Prairie paper. To make the petally surroundings, I cut up a few pink paper flowers and stuck them underneath.

I inked and stuck down a Doodlebug paper frill about a third of the way up the base card, then added the flowery centre piece. Finally I added the Congratulations sentiment to another bit of papeer frill and stuck this on the top, slighly off-centre to avoid it looking too symmetrical.

I've never done anything quite so pink and frilly before.. and I rather like it!

Catching shrimps at low tide

We're just back from a wonderful week in Eastbourne staying with Gareth's parents. They live a stone's throw from the beach and the weather was much better than we had hoped, so we spent most afternoons building sandcastles and poking around the seaweed hunting for seashore treasures.

The pictures in this layout show the boys playing in the water with excited seagulls screaming and flapping about in the background.

Here's a close-up of the little bird detail:

Supplies:
White Bazzill cardstock, inked around the edges with blue and green inks
American Crafts Thickers - red felt 'Playroom'
Dymo embossing labeller
Dulux paint chip card
White Magic Mesh
Hero Arts stamp: B4751 Decorative Bird III
Banana Frog stamp: Take Note
Versamark ink pad
Silver Pearl embossing powder
Black watercolour pencil

I stamped the Bird twice on white card with Versamark ink and embossed with Silver Pearl embossing power. I then coloured the wings with black watercolour pencil, cut out the wing of one bird and stuck it on the other bird raised on foam squares.

The red squares were made by covering a red paint chip card with Magic Mesh and cutting out squares.

I have so many other pictures to scrap and can't wait to get going with them - a week is a long time with no scrapping!