Paper Obsession

A simple Valentine Card

I really enjoyed making my DH's Valentine card this year. I am going through a phase of 'using up the scraps' at the moment, so I started with the intention of doing just that. I found some deep pink cardstock, a scrap of purple Bazzill card, a piece of corrugated card from a paper cup that Charlie pilfered from the coffee machine in the Co-op, and a tiny bit of pale pink pearlised card. I just liked the colour combination and wanted to keep it pretty simple.

I used my Cuttlebug to make the embossed heart stamp (the die + embossing folder came free with the Cuttlebug). I layered this on the corrugated card, then on to the purple card, then on to the hot pink folded card. I added a small piece of pink grosgrain ribbon, onto which I applied a rub-on 'you'. In hindsight, it would have been better to have rubbed on the 'you' before sticking the ribbon to the corrugated card to avoid flattening it.. oh well, I live and learn.

One other thing I did was to use my Fiskars Threading Water punch on the purple card to add a nice scallop detail. And that was that! I don't know what my DH was more delighted with, this card or the box of Guylian seashells I gave him.. ; )

Scrappy stuff to share

As promised, I've taken some pictures of recent projects so here goes!

First, a layout of Harry in London. I've been meaning to scrap this photo for ages as it's one of my favourites. In the end I was inspired to get on and do it by a gorgeous layout on this blog - I adore Stephanie's work, and her blog is always a great read.

 
I have been loving those tiny alpha stickers by Making Memories for ages but decided to have a go at making my own. So I chose 'Teen' font, typed the words I needed, highlighted it in black and turned the text white. I printed them out, cut them into strips then stuck double-sided tape on the back, THEN cut each letter out, complete with sticky tape. Voila - no fiddling with glue or tiny bits of tape!

One other thing I'd like to share now is this little mini-book I made to record Harry's milestones during 2008. I'll just put the cover photo here and the rest will go in an album later. Here it is:

Phew, that's enough for now! These pics take so darned long to upload.. I'll add some more later.

Been a busy bee

I've been doing lots of crafty scrappy stuff in the last couple of weeks which I'm dying to share - just need to take some pictures! Tomorrow this is my no. 1 task. Meanwhile, I have uploaded some pictures of Harry's little book for 2009 - they are all in the Photo Album.

Also, I've completed a double-page for Dec '07 for Harry's baby scrapbook - that's in the 'Harry's Scrapbook' album. Hurrah, now just a year behind on that one..

The other day I printed twelve tiny pics of Harry taken each month in 2008 to go on a 12x12" layout. But I found I couldn't fit them nicely on to the page (just not enough room for pretty papers and journalling!) so I ended up making another mini-book. It took just two evenings - SUPER quick for me! I have used the Bind-it-All to bind it and have made my own cover out of felt to go round the whole lot. I'll post pics tomorrow!

My DH very cleverly gave me a book 'The Busy Scrapper' for Valentines Day (OK he received a fairly hefty hint) - and it's great! Lots of inspirational ideas which I shall certainly be putting to use. I spend FAR too much time agonising over paper choices etc and too little time just getting on and creating stuff. But I think I'm getting a little better! Now I just need to photograph and publish the evidence... will be back soon!

My beautiful boy... asleep

Just wanted to share a layout of Harry which I did yesterday. He looks so beautiful when he's asleep. He is something else entirely when he's tired - a grizzly, clingy little monster in fact. But no, most of the time Harry is a sweet-natured happy little boy. Compared with Charlie he is still very much a baby but there are times when I realise he is growing up fast - and turning into a wilful, independent-minded toddler. Aaargh!

I used a sketch (no. 116) from Pencil Lines to help with this - it actually doesn't follow the sketch to the letter but it really helped me to get going. I seem to agonise for ages before sticking anything down when scrapping - and I just don't have the time for that! The papers are BasicGrey Urban Prairie - I LOVE BasicGrey at the moment!

Back to the blog...

I seem to have had an extended blog holiday but now I'm ready to go again. December was exceptionally busy - I got rather too involved in Journal Your Christmas, leaving my City & Guilds photography work all to the last minute (so typical.. never been any good with deadlines). In fact I managed to miss the deadline completely and ended up spending two VERY long nights getting it all done. Never Again! I will be more organised this term, I swear.

I have now uploaded the photos I submitted for my two portfolios - 'My Family' and 'People, Statues and Buildings'. They are in two Photo Albums which you can click on to see the pictures. We just got our marks back yesterday and I am delighted to say I passed with distinction!

This term it's Digital Darkroom - that is, Photoshop. And I'm finding it really hard! The portfolio requirement is going to be very, very different from the last one as we have to really show our Photoshop skills. We shall see how it goes.

On top of this, I am determined to do lots of scrapbooking and already have two new projects on the go. I have just started two mini-books on Charlie and Harry. Each month, on the day of their birthdays, I am going to complete a double-page layout to document little bits of information about them. I wish I had done this right from their births, of course, but there you go. No time like the present. By the end of the year, I should have two albums showing lots of little changes and milestones for each of them.

For Harry I am using BasicGrey's Archaic papers. Each page is A5 size, bound in landscape format. Charlie's is also A5 size but it will be bound in portrait format and I am using BasicGrey Offbeat papers. I LOVE BasicGrey, some of their ranges are absolutely gorgeous!

I will upload more pictures of these albums shortly.

It's good to be back! Will try to blog more regularly now, I promise.

Sarah x

Christmas card crisis - JYC day 3!

Well, I was up to date for three whole days.. then yesterday I had to put Photography course first as it was our last class before Christmas - and so the last opportunity to show Kim (my tutor) the pictures I'm thinking of submitting for my portfolio. I will post my selections very soon.

Here is my JYC day 3 page:

Christmas Journal, part 2

Just a quickie to update on my page for the Christmas journal yesterday:

 

 I used a snowy picture from our back garden on 6th April this year. The snow we were tentatively forecast for today never arrived, although we did have a bit of ice. It's freezing again tonight.. maybe tomorrow for snow then?

I'm now going to attempt prompt 3 - all about Christmas cards. Another quick easy one would be great!

Sarah x

I'm Journaling my Christmas!

After all the anticipation... JYC has started! I managed to complete the first page yesterday evening and have some photos of it to include here. I am currently working on today's page but I think this might take a little longer. I so want to keep up with this class.. but I still have my Photography course work to complete, which really should take priority! But it's so easy to get swept away with the breakneck pace of theJYC forum.. people are doing such gorgeous work - and so quickly!

If only I didn't need to sleep (or at least try to sleep).. the time I waste lying awake in bed each night is ridiculous.. I could be down here creating instead.

So here's what I've done so far.. I made the trees using the Cuttlebug + Spots & Dots embossing folder.

The journaling reads:

I promise

• I will spend at least fifteen minutes a day on my Christmas journal.
• I will remember the magic of my childhood Christmases and try to recreate that magic for Charlie and Harry.
• We will start to create our own family traditions and I will do my best to record them here for the future.
• I will sail through the festive season with Christmas cheer and I will not stress!

Sarah xxx 1st Dec 2008

Park Life

Here's a very quick layout I did a couple of days ago of Charlie at Beddington Park. I love it when a page comes together without all the agonising. I wish I could say my scrapping was always like that!

Just splashed out on a Dymo labeller - I think this is one gadget that I'll use lots - great fun. Here are a couple of close-ups. Fuzzy I'm afraid due to appalling light conditions this week. Where did the sun go?!

 

Nearly time for Journal Your Christmas!!! Starts tomorrow, and so starts the run-up to Christmas. We will put our tree up next weekend. Yippee!

Journal Your Christmas - three sleeps away!

Monday 1st December marks the start of 'Journal Your Christmas' 2008 which will, no doubt, become my obsession for the month of December and beyond. JYC is an annual online class by Shimelle (details here) which started five or so years ago and now seems to have hundreds of followers all over the world. This is my first year and I, like so many others, have been itching to get started for weeks. The online forum is buzzing with chatter about preparing for the class, who's using which patterned papers, and what makes this such an exciting class to participate in.

The idea is to reclaim your Christmas by setting aside a bit of time each day from 1st Dec through to 6th Jan to journal, blog or scrapbook on what the festive season means to you. Shimelle will be sending an email prompt every day containing suggestions on the focus for the day. There is no pressure to complete a scrapbook page every day - in fact I will be astonished if I manage to do that! But I will be trying to save an hour or so every day to jot down some thoughts, maybe even complete a super-quick layout as time allows. I have a gorgeous new 12"x12" album on my shelf and have even prepared a few pages ready to add photos and journalling - how organised is that?! 

Of course I have still to finish my Photography work-book and Portfolio - my last class of this unit is next Thursday and I would love to be able to hand in at least the work-book. The Portfolio, I fear, could take a bit longer..