Quick, clean and simple (CAS) card

This is such a quick and simple card that took 5 minutes to make.

I cut a piece of patterned paper (from my much-loved but barely used stash) to a size slightly smaller than my folded card.

I then punched out the label shape from one corner, and used a paper piercer and template to pierce around the recess.

I used this frame to stamp the sentiment  through onto the card itself.

I mounted the card on foam pads to give a slight raise, and then stamped and punched the teensy butterfly to stick to the corner. A few bits of sparkle, and job done.

 A really quick and easy go-to design for last minute "I forgot it was *insert name here*'s birthday/anniversary/job interview" card - just change the sentiment, and off you go!

I used:

(Check out next week for a punch review Martha Steward vs Stampin' Up.)

Are you a "Clean and Simple" card maker, or do you like a bit of frills and fancy? Or, if you haven't made your own cards before, what would encourage you? Do tell!

This and That Special Offer - 15% off bundle until end of May 2013

Your life is: Fabulous. Quirky. Exciting. Perfectly messy. And happening really fast. So we’re happy to introduce our newest product line that lets you capture it all on-the-go. This and That will debut in the 2013-2014 annual catalogue, but we’re giving you the chance to get it now!

From 1–31 May you can get Stampin' Up's five This and That products in a bundle for 15 percent off! Or, you can buy them separately through June and into the new catalogue (but why would you do that when you can get them all for at a discount?). Watch for more This and That products added to our line in the coming months!

I'm awaiting my delivery, but once I get it, I've got a very specific purpose for mine. Something that will result in a very special day late October...

National Scrapbooking Day - May 4th 2013

Hellooo there! Hope you're enjoying some spring sunshine today, on (inter)National Scrapbooking Day (or Star Wars Day - May the forth be with you!).

I've got a couple of layouts to share with you today, and a little revelation. I've been scrapbooking on and off since 2009, mostly off, as I have two young children (2 and 5). So the number of layouts I've done in the last year was nonexistent.

But I take a lot of photos. And I would rather do something with them than have them languishing unseen on my hard-drive. Hence my recent "project life" photos-into-divided-page-protectors frenzy.

Now on to the revelation. I'm going to stand up and admit that I like clean and simple. I want to be one of those scrapbookers who can create lovely layers, and artfully arranged embellishments, but I can't! Well, I can(ish), if I agonise over it for about three weeks. Like this one:

It's a gorgeous photo, but there was no story. I'm not kidding when I say it was sat on my desk for three weeks, if not more. And it's not even that complicated. Just some washi tape strips, some splats of ink and some basic embellishments. Three weeks!

Then I did this next layout. Another set of cracking photos, with great colours in it. And this took me about an hour.

 And that's when the revelation hit me. Or rather, two revelations hit me.  1 - If I choose a patterned background, I have to do a lot less fussing, because the paper is pretty enough to use as is; and 2 - I'm lazy Less is more!

I like this LO much more than the first one, and it caused me much less anxiety. Scrapbooking shouldn't be about being anxious. Creating is supposed to help you relax!

And one of my all-time favourite LOs that I did was this one, created for Scrapbook Inspirations magazine for their Ready, Steady, Scrap section:

And that is so simple. Clean, uncluttered, but pretty and with enough little details to draw the eye here and there.

What helped me realise was thinking about all the LOs that I loved creating, and cards that I'd made throughout my life, and realising that "Clean and Simple" is a valid way to scrapbook (as is any way of scrapbooking). I'd indoctrinated myself into thinking that what I was doing wasn't "worthy". And that's nonsense. What we create is so worthy of our time spent creating it,  but only if we enjoy creating it! (otherwise it's just work).

So, that's how I'm gonna roll from now on. Play to my strengths (colour combos and paperpiecing embellishments) and avoid my weaknesses (layers and frills).

Have you found your style/groove yet? Do share :)

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!