Paper Obsession

My little sweetheart

Well, the butterfly obsession continues as I predicted in my last post. This layout was inspired by last week's challenge (Be Inspired # 32) on the Cuttlebug Challenges Blog, which was to create a project with the theme of Butterflies and Hearts, ideally made with the Cut & Emboss combo sets. I just HAD to play along with this one!

The photo is of Charlie at 9 months during a holiday to Bruges. He had crashed out on the bed in our hotel and just looked like an angel. [A far cry from the little monster he has turned into at 3 years old, but that's another story...]

Supplies used:
Cardstock:   Bazzill Basics
Patterned paper:   Heidi Grace
Buttons:   S.E.I. Chick-A-Doo
Letters:   Doodlebug Simply Sweet
Punch:   Fiskars Threading Water

Pay it Forward!

Today I received a beautiful gift from my blogging and scrapping friend Sarah, as part of an initiative called Pay It Forward. In a nutshell, I promise to send a small, hand-made gift to the first three people to comment on this post. These people then promise to do the same via their blogs. I commented on Sarah's blog and she sent me this lovely tote bag decorated with little hand-made felt flowers and embroidery. I am chuffed to bits! A big thank you to Sarah.

I'll be taking the bag to the Big Stamp & Scrapbooking Show at Alexandra Palace on Sunday to fill with lots of lovely new stash! My birthday's coming up so I'm spending birthday money/treating myself in advance. I have a few little ideas for making Pay It Forward gifts of my own, so all I need are a few supplies... and a few commenters to send them to! So if you are reading this and fancy taking part, please leave a comment below. I would be so delighted to send you a little gift!

Charlie's little book - March 2009

I've been trying to do a bit of catching up on my boys' 'little books' for 2009. So here are some photos of Charlie's page for March. I am using the gorgeous Basic Grey Offbeat papers for this book and sticking to a simple layout. Makes it quick and easy to complete a page!

Above: double page spread

Above: Left side close-up

Above: journalling card which is behind the photo.

I'll do a separate post for Harry's little book as there are quite a few pictures to include.

Inspiration when you least expect it

I saw this ad in the paper a couple of weeks ago and thought - Hey, what a great sketch for a scrapbook page! After a few days thinking about it, I traced the sun's rays and used pieces of cardstock to put together a very similar design.

So here is my version! The lettering was fun to do - who needs letter stickers when you can make your own?

I'm still thinking about adding butterflies.. but this is it at the moment.

Been caught scraplifting

I just started subscribing to Scrapbook Magazine and my first issue arrived last week. Immediately I was inspired by some layouts from Cleo Jarvis to have a go at doodling. I kind of cheated a little as I used wooden stamps to create the flowers rather than drawing my own.. but I'm pleased with the overall result. The papers I used were freebies with the mag too! Bargain..

And here's a little close-up of the journaling:

Useful tips I learned from this which I'll definitely be using again:

• Drawing a scalloped circle onto a lined record card makes an easy journaling card - and so easy to customise with watercolour pencils.
• Raising elements on foam pads - I do it all the time when making cards but not when scrapbooking for some reason, but it does help to give some dimension.
• Buy plain white alpha stickers and colour them myself to match the layout - easy-peasy!
• Don't be afraid of 'ruining' a piece of cardstock - just go ahead and doodle! What's the worst that can happen?

I have lots more to share so will be back very soon!

My Bundle of Fun

OK I just wanted to share a layout I did yesterday afternoon while the little ones were napping. I was inspired by a LO in the book The Busy Scrapper and used papers from the BasicGrey Offbeat collection pack which is gorgeous! The layout features Charlie on a Sunday morning walk round High Elms country park last October. There is further journalling on the tag tucked behind the photo.

Harry stirred from his nap before I had started sticking all the pieces down so I grabbed the stapler and just stapled everything down - done in record time! SO much easier than glue and I rather like the effect..

Talking of Harry, this morning he uttered his first (very short) sentence. I was changing his nappy and putting the old one in a bag when he said 'Bye-bye poo-poo' and waved at the nappy bag. What he actually said was 'Ba-ba bboo-bboo' but I knew what he meant! 

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.

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

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!