Spring - Summer catalogue

I have 4 sets of Stampin' Up 2012-2013/Spring-Summer collection catalogues up for grabs - you can have one if you just pay the £2 P&P.... Great for inspiration! Some products are retiring soon, so get one and get your order in fast! I offer free P&P for orders over £50.

Main Catalogue

A gluey papery journey

Well hi there. Nice of you to pop by. Have a seat and grab a cuppa.

I mentioned yesterday that I'd had a go at art journaling. I've never been a diary/journal writer. But then I've always reflected about things. Actually putting stuff down on paper just seemed a little bit like hard work to me.

I've been hoarding a couple of Julie Kirk's Plundered Pages packs, with the idea that I'd eventually get round to doing something awesomely arty and deep and meaningful with them. Then came the day when I had gathered enough self-confidence, gesso, glue and something to journal about. My daughter has been mithering me for ages about when she is going to get glasses, and her only reason is that she wants to be like me. This made me feel both flattered and worried! Something definitely needed writing down.

So I started with a piece of A4 card cut in half, and stuck two pages from an old dictionary from my Plundered Pages pack (henceforth known as PPP) - I ripped them a little, and turned one upside down.

I then painted some gesso all over the printed pages, using a sponge. (Gesso is pronounced "jesso" - who knew? Not me, as I discovered when I went in to an art shop to buy it!)

I then flicked and splatted some brown watered down ink all over the page, discovering as I did so that it had split into its component colours, pink and murky green.

Now this was unexpected, but like most crafty accidents, totally serendipitous in that it helped me choose a colour scheme! So I pulled out my green, pink and brown ink pads, and grabbed a few stamps and went to it. I stamped mostly in three focal areas on each side, just because that's how I arrange my embellishments etc in scrapbooking. The ink that was stamped on the gesso went a lovely muted colour, another unexpected effect.

 

 

I then flicked a load of pink ink on the page, and stood back to admire my handiwork. There was a bit of empty space in  the middle of the bottom, and so I took a large ornate stamp and stamped it in different directions on each side of the page. This squidged the pink ink quite nicely, adding to the arty farty look of the page (!). I added a few little pink flower stamps to balance out the green and brown clusters...

... then I decided to stick down the pictures I'd torn out of a magazine earlier. I also cut up a children's book page from my PPP, and split up the appropriate phrases to stick on my page.

I then picked up my pen and bravely journalled (journaled?) my actual feelings - go me! The black ink of my favourite handwriting pen looked so stark on the muted page, and so I rubbed some white chalk over it to soften it a little.

 

 

A little outlining of the pasted images, and I was done.

 

 

 

I'm really quite pleased with the finished project. I think it will provide a foil for the project life mass photo display/storage, adding more meaningful day-to-day life stuff. If that even makes any sense!

I was greatly helped in this by reading Julie Kirk's much pinned art journal tutorial and the UKScrappers series on art journaling (thread here). Thank you to those people who put all that effort in!

So, what do you think about Art Journaling? Have you ever tried it? Thought about it? And most importantly, is it spelt with one or two 'l's? I still don't know! Do tell...

A little teaser

Hello folks. How is it in your neck of the woods today?

I may have been quiet on the blogging front recently, but I've been beavering away in my craft space. I've managed a few LOs and cards which I shall share soon, but I just wanted to give you a little peek into the project I finished today - my very first art journal page.

I'll share the finished article tomorrow, but am putting this up in order to ensure I go through with it!
What do you think about Art Journaling? Have you ever tried it? Thought about it? And most importantly, is it spelt with one or two 'l's? Do tell...

Seasonal Blogging Syndrome

Hi folks! Nice to see you. I hope you've been well, and that life has treated you kindly since we last met. Or, if you're a first time visitor, welcome! Dust off a chair and park yourself for a while.

Looking back at my time in blog-land, I can see a distinct pattern of posting. And this same pattern is reflected in my crafting - during the winter, I curl up on the sofa with some yarn-based project and rarely leave the house unless provisions are needed. Except the twice-daily trek to school and back. Oh, and work, of course!

But as spring starts to finally peek its nose out from behind winter's long cloak, I usually start to get my paper-craft urge on, and also dust off the blog. This year, however, I have a further motivation to get cracking. I am determined that this year I will crack the 5-year backlog (!) of photos for scrapbooking.

"Surely not, Sarah!" I hear you cry, "You must be mad to think you can scrap all of those thousands of photos without losing the plot."

And this time last month I would have agreed wholeheartedly with you and continued to only tell some of my family story in photos. Now, however, I have discovered Project Life. I don't mean the Project Life where you scrap a photo a day, and feel guilty about missing some, because surely we craft to enjoy ourselves, not to add to the massive burden of guilt that most women seem to develop over a lifetime. This is how I want to feel about my scrapbooking:

And I do believe that I am actually going to be able to churn through the years of backlog fairly quickly. Let me tell you how.

I ordered 1000 (I kid you not) photos from Photobox covering last year, 2012, all at 4x6. I sorted these into date order (a large glass of wine and some good TV helped smooth the way). Then I collected all the page protector types that I had purchased (some specifically for Project Life, some American Crafts) and stuck them in a spare 3 ring album. This was the hardest part, because they're slippy little buggers when you're trying to group them all... though on second thoughts, perhaps that was the fault of the wine! It does however make for easier selection when I've decided on my photo layout.

The process:

Now comes the satisfying part. I take each month one at a time, and select first the photos that I think I will get round to putting on a "traditional" scrapbooking page. I put these in a spare 12x12 protector, and include them in the album for easy finding.

I then choose more photos that aren't easily scrappable in my opinion (i.e. bad lighting, dodgy backgrounds, weird colours etc) but that still tell a story of what we were doing at that time. Cropping where appropriate, I then stick them in a page protector.

I look for some colour that is unifying with all the photos, and have a look through my stash to see if there is any paper/plain card that will co-ordinate with them, and use this to fill in the gaps.

(That gap there in the bottom row is where I've run out of that card colour!)

Then I get to play with stamps, stickers, rub-ons, punches and all that jazz. Can you see I've even written on the photos here and there? That is a real evolution for me *polishes scrapping bravery award*. These are all in the early stages of development, I'm adding to them here and there as I work my way through my enormous, untouched-for-a-year stash of paper, card and embellishments.

So, there are several guilt-reducing reasons to like this way of documenting everyday life (not every day life, because for me that would be very, very dull. Housework layouts, anyone?).

1. The photos are off my computer and into an album.
2. I don't have to spend a lot of time thinking about what looks good with each photo (a standard LO usually takes me days!).
3. I'm using my stash.
4. I'M USING MY STASH! (that one is so important, I just had to say it again, but louder)
5. It's also making me take more photos now of normal stuff, so I can include it this year.

There are two other things I have discovered:

1. I'm not that keen on the rounded corners, which is a shame because I invested in some of the Project Life digital files, and they're all rounded edges.
2. I think you could easily mount these on 12x12 sheets and just use the normal undivided page protectors. I can see me having to put this into practice because I am drawn to very specific layout styles, and I'm fast running out of those page protectors!

I'm still including my traditional LOs in between the Project Life LOs, it's so satisfying to see them all filling up the album. I've only been dabbling for just over a week, and I'm already up to August in terms of actual photos in protectors. The prettying up will take a bit longer, but it's like having a load of ATCs to do, quick and easy, here and there!

I hope I've given you a little food for thought, please let me know if you're in a similar state of affairs, I'd love to mosey on through the blogosphere and meet some new people!

More scrapping? Oh yes.

This is the last scrap post for a few days - I've not run out of steam, mojo or stash, but I must get on and finish some other projects that are piling up on my hypothetical worktable! It's yet another response to Shimelle's online crop challenges, this time, number 5 - to take inspiration from this layout by Wilna Furstenburg. I love the picture on this layout, expecially because it's black and white. I'm also fond of the bird on a wire detail across the top of the picture - I'm guessing it's tape of some description. I want it though!

 
My version uses two photos instead of the one panoramic photo.

 

I've not completely finished yet, I think I'll probably add a few more little bits and bobs here and there, it's a bit too clean and clear for me! I'm still enoying making my own embellishments, though I have used a lovely bit of ribbon (twill?) I got free with MollieMakes magazine a few months ago. (which if you haven't seen, you really must. It's stunningly lovely crafty eyecandy).

Right, I shall love you and leave you. I'm off to try to do a big chunk of cross-stitch as a favour to my "mother in law". Have fun, folks!

Something bold, something new...

Hey up! It's yet another layout inspired by Shimelle's online crops and challenges from last weekend - the fun is still running til this Sunday, if you fancy joining in.The challenge is number 10 in a series of 17, I think, and it involves scrapping two photos on a bold background. I have been saving this paper for a special project, you know, one of those pieces of paper that you can't use because it's just too pretty? Well, this is one of those sheets of paper. I thought that scrapping last Mothers' Day with my two darling daughters was finally a special enough project.

I've also used some printable notecards that I swear I got from Kirsty Neale's awesomely inspiring blog, but I can't find the link for the life of me (I downloaded them about 3 years ago, so that could be the problem!). ETA: Apparently, they're not Kirsty's, so if anyone knows who's they are, please give me a shout and I'll link appropriately! There are actually 5 coloured circles, but the turquoise and green ones didn't go with the colour scheme, so they have been cunningly covered up by skillful placement of stuff.

 It documents the pictures that were taken in our local cafe. I very rarely am on the other side of the camera, so photos of me are rare. Not only that, but getting three people to look at the camera and smile at the same time, particularly when two of those people are wriggly children, is darn near impossible! Hence the title - "2 out of 3 is not bad".

It also uses my new Martha Stewart butterfly punch, and my favourite pearls, of which I am running low - time for shopping!

And a little cluster of journalling spots, and there we have it! Job's a good 'un, as they say.

 

Just how many pieces of special paper are you hoarding?  Go on, make something, I dare you!

Shimelle Challenge 6 - from one to another

This is the sixth challenge in Shimelle's weekend-long online crop, and the third one I've managed to complete thus far. Which is not surprising, given that I have two children under five and a 4 bed house to upkeep solo (yes Trees, we finally got that extension - though if you're reading this, where are you?)!


Anyhoo, back to the scrap. The challenge was to scraplift a layout we liked, either one of our own or someone else's, but, we had to change one major thing. I chose this layout from mrsski07 on TwoPeas, and I decided to make it with darker colours. I've clearly been inspired by the red and yellow from the last layout, because I've used them again!


My favourite part of this layout? Apart from the very cute subject? It's the treasure chest that I adapted and enhanced from a card topper. I'm hoping it's not too twee - honest opinions accepted where offered!


So three challenges down, umpteen still to go. I don't expect I'll manage to do them all, but I shall do my darndest. Hope you're enjoying playing along!

Shimelle challenge number 4

Amazingly I have managed to complete another layout for Shimelle's online crop this weekend. Not only this, but it uses two of my least-used colours, mainly because I can't wear them, so don't automatically pick them to scrap with.


It's the fourth challenge of the crop, but it also fulfils another challenge, number two. Challenge 2 is to use three papers from different manufacturers. The three papers used here [are very old, and] come from Sassafras "life is Beautiful", Fancy Pants "Celebrate", and Tinkering Ink "Botanical Bliss" ranges. All were released before this current decade began, so it's nice to finally get some use out of it.


Challenge number 4 is to use grey, yellow and one other colour of my choice. This is the hard one for me, since I rarely use yellow. I do have it in my collection though, and managed to dig out some photos with yellow on too. The only grey paper/card I possess is some A4 sheets from my 1990s cardmaking stash (yes, I have already admitted I'm a hoarder!), but I think that this size worked well with the small photos. The photos also decided the other colour for me - had to be red to go with my DD's coat.


I also got the chance to try out bunting finally. I've had desires to do a LO with bunting on, and I like it, a lot. I can see me and bunting becoming good friends! I also got to use some baker's twine, which I got with a Folksy purchase recently, so I've clearly redeemed myself and come bang up to date with that. I'm enjoying browsing everyone's layouts, and am looking forward to more challenges too. Please let me know if you're playing along...

Back from the dark!

Well hello! I hope you're all fine and dandy, and that your lives have been treating you well.

It's been (shhh) since I was last here, and far too much has gone on for me to fit it into a quick post. Suffice to say, I have a craft room now, and so am finally back to scrapbooking after almost two years off. Two! So I decided a really good start would be to join in with Shimelle's online scrapbook crop this weekend, and see if the mojo has left or has just been hiding under a rock, out of sight.


Here's the first challenge, to scraplift or take inspiration from a totally gorgeous layout by Jaime Warren. And here's my take on it. I don't usually use green and pink, which is probably why these journal cards from Prima have sat around for about 3 years. I am a definite convert though.


Doing this has really re-ignited my love for paper-scrapping, reminding me why I enjoy it so much. It's all the teeny tiny details, that you wouldn't notice at first glance. Like the fact that the teeny tiny leaves have been creased where the middle vein would be (and how that teeny heart above has actually moved down by an inch in the finished layout - shh).


And the way that you can link things in threes, like the hearts, and the three areas of embellishments. Oh, and the pretty pictures of course!

Let me know if you're joining in, though I'll probably find you through the links on Shimelle's posts, if you've shared there! Looking forward to seeing what you all have been up to...

Cut down in my prime

Just as I was pootling along quite well, I've been struck down with an 'orrible virus. So please excuse me as I defer my promises for another couple of weeks. Our family has been battered recently with illnesses (albeit minor ones, for which I am very grateful), and I need a bit of time to fully recover - or it'll just just happen all over again.

Toodle-oo for now, folks. I hope you and yours are hale and hearty x