Click for inspiration - lots of it!

Okay, I am not a die hard stamper. I don't think of myself as a great cardmaker. I am a scrapbooker through and through. But I absolutely adore the Hero Arts blog. And the website. And the flickr pool. Just so much inspiration. Inspiration in how to use their stamps, inspiration in great design, inspiration in the little details, and inspiration in the use of colour. It's one of the few blogs that I make sure to check out every single day.

They also run challenges and competitions (with fab prizes) every week. And this week there are double (or more) chances to win! Why? Because they are working up to revealing their new look website. This week, as well as the challenges, there are random drawings, so check out their blog ...

These are some cards I did using my leftovers from the gorgeous My Mind's Eye Bloom collection for the DT work at A Trip Down Memory Lane this month. I have been selling off some old stash to buy some new albums and had a bit of cash left over so treated myself to a really versatile sentiments set from Hero Arts. And rather than sit and look at them for ages, I actually used them straight away!

On the first card I also used the scallop from the dolls set and the flowers (embossed in white on the third card) from the thoughtful messages set (I adore the range of sentiments and their designs on this set, I have used them LOTS!). The fourth card features a sentiment from the dolls set and the small flower from the thoughtful message set. I am really not very good at coming up with different ways to use stamps ... hence my adoration of the Hero Arts site ... but even I am starting to get just how versatile each set can be.






I also used the scallops stamp, a sentiment and little birdie on one of my pages for the DT gallery over at A Trip Down Memory Lane.

Oh, and the black scallop on this fourth card ... well ages ago (last year) I made a mess of a title I was creating on one of the Maya Road sheer journaling spots. I had put sticker letters on and then attempted to outline them with pen. Made a mess, huge mess, but couldn't bear to throw the scallop away! So for this, I just cut out the offending centre section and backed it with some patterned paper! Yes. I am frugal!

Carnival Time!

Yesterday was the village carnival. It's a small village. A small carnival. But it's a great atmosphere and lovely to see everyone congregating in one place enjoying themselves.

There were lots of little displays, dance teams, band display, kite flying display, kids magician and so on. But the highlight of the day for me (and I guess most people there) were the dancing diggers. J C Balls is an excavation and earth moving company based in the village, not to be confused with the rather more well known manufacturer with the same initials (though JC Balls does use JCB's!). These drivers were fantastic. They don't do shows for a living. They don't get lots of time to practice the routines, but it was totally impressive nonetheless. I didn't take my camera with me so I have snagged these photos from their website.

My kids didn't dress up this year, none of them are too fond of dressing up at all to be honest. Joshua, in particular, was very resistant! I did this page a while ago about the year the Playgroup float theme was Teletubbies. Joshua refused to be a Tubby or a flower or a bunny so we compromised and I did a mask for him to hold up to his face and he wore brown and orange and had a crepe paper tail, to be the lion. Yes, at some point at the beginning of the Tubbies there was a lion featured. But I think the pc brigade got in the way and he was deemed to be too frightening for the kids! They obviously didn't ask Josh, as far as he was concerned, the more fierce the character, the better!



I know ... I have posted this layout before ... but I thought this time I would give a bit of information on how I created it.

On a scrap piece of 12x12 (I keep the plain insert sheets from scrapbook albums for this type of thing) I sketched out the sun and sunrays. I used that as a template to cut the sun from the orange cardstock. I originally left the centre of the sun orange, but decided once I had placed everything else that the black would provide for a greater contrast with the photos and title. So I cut out the centre of the sun and backed that with black cardstock. The cut out sun was then placed on the dotty patterned paper background (which I think is Crate Paper from memory).

I attached the photos at varying angles, leaving the top of the larger photo unstuck as a pocket for the journaling tag. I printed the journaling on blue cardstock, leaving space at the top and bottom for the cut down journaling spot (Making Memories) to be added.

As it was such a busy page, I kept the embellishing fairly simple (well, simple for me!). I created the little windmills (pinwheels) to keep in with the Teletubby imagery and used 7Gypsies word stickers for the 'handles'.


To create the pinwheels:

Take a square piece of double sided patterned paper. Lightly run two pencil lines diagonally point to point. Make a centimetre or so from the centre along each pencil line.

Cut from each of the four corners up to the marks you have made, rub out the pencil lines and then fold over every other section so the pointed corners overlap at the centre. You may want to use a little bit of glue at each point which meets at the centre to hold in place.

Use a paper piercer to put a hole through all layers and fasten it together with a brad.


I added some 'grass' at the bottom by snipping down a strip of unevenly cut patterned paper. For dimension I flicked some of the snipped edge. I stitched it in place with black thread for contrast. This bottom section provides a good 'grounding' for the rest of the page to sit on.

I finished off the page with stickers and gems. The circle stickers are from the bottom of my stash pile, being very old Artic Frog stickers. Placing them at that corner provides a visual triangle and added balance in relation to the positioning of the windmills. For extra definitioan I outlined the sun and windmills with black pen and added Stickles over the top of the sun outline for a bit of shine.

Bear with me .....

Life just insists on getting in the way of things LOL! Too much has been happening, most of which has not been good at all, so I am going to work on getting more frequent updates to my blog and will be sharing more of my projects (yes, I have been scrapbooking) as a way of diverting my mind from the bad stuff.

I am also going to start working on - starting right now - updating the list of manufacturer websites/blog links which is in the side bar.

If you are reading this and know of any not on there, just give me a link, if you don't mind. I am just going to go and start checking for broken links first and then will be working on adding new manufacturers (and deleting obsolete ones :().

Bright and sunny day!

Hooray! Been waiting all week for some lovely weather so I can get my class projects photographed - the class projects I had the delight of teaching at the Luxurious Angels retreat last weekend at Crewe.

It was hosted by my lovely (and very energetic and organised) friend Roz. The hotel was a De Vere hotel and it was a fabulous venue. Very light and spacious, really nice bedrooms and a very, very comfortable bed and pillow. Apparently the food was fabulous too. Unfortunately I didn't get to sample any :( I have been suffering with a bad tum now for so long it has become normal, but since the beginning of summer things have got worse and worse and only seems to ease when there is nothing in there. Big thanks to Roz for being so caring on Friday night, to Kirsty for swapping around her class from Saturday to Friday and to everyone else for their concern for my health over the weekend. Being in such great company and having the additional comfort of shopping at Sarah's shop also helped ;) (note I have since been to the doctor who has given me new anti nausea tablets, taken some bloods and I have also taken it upon myself to cut gluten out of my diet - OMG I feel a different person - hope this lasts!)

The girls who attended the retreat were all so lovely and really up for having a great time. There were lots of jokes and laughter all weekend which helped perk me up too!

Anyhow, back to my classes ... I needed to take photos as I want to add them into the instructions I am sending out to all the delegates. This is so that anyone who didn't complete the class on the day or who wants a reminder of the various techniques involved, can have all the information at their fingertips. So they will be emailed out either today or over the weekend for anyone who is impatiently waiting for them.

My first two projects were sponsored for the most part by 7Gypsies, using two packs of 8x8 papers (Classic and Outback) I thought they worked really well together so bits of both appear on both projects. Both are a departure for me as I am usually a 12x12 girl through and through.

I have to admit I found the acrylic base rather daunting to start with, but once I had it finished I love it! The whole page is based around this beautiful quote I found on the internet and I found it in a week that I have been advised by school to apply for a Statement of Special Needs for my youngest daughter, so this became quite a heartfelt project for me. The envelope has been left open to allow for a personal letter to be added. (I'm not such a big believer in hidden journaling but sometimes it is totally the right approach.) Credit to Sharia Braxton for her ‘Stay on the Path – Swirls’ product available at Natural Designs in Scrapbooking http://www.ndisb.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3274 which was used to create the quote in the swirl shape. And look at that gorgeous butterly. I had been umming and aahing over buying the Cuttlebug cut/emboss die for ages and I am so glad that I did!





The second project also uses a quote and features a paper weaving technique (which is rather easy but really effective) and lots of stitching (sorry, girls!). The little tag on the front opens out to allow for a little journaling or more photos.





Making Memories sponsored a further two classes by providing project packs featuring the Funky Vintage range. I love this range but it can be quite overwhelming with the bold colours and busy patterns. The kit came with LOTS of stickers too so I made a point of trying to use them in various ways on my pages.

Sorry that these pages are looking a little on the tatty side. They were created on a paper background as opposed to card and obviously they were handled a lot as they were passed amongst the delegates.







My make and take projects were sponsored by Pebbles Inc. I don't know why, but we don't see much of their products over here, which is such a shame as the quality of the papers, stickers and ribbons is absolutely fantastic! For those who attended, the word document for the calendar will be included with the instructions so they can print out and make more. They are such a cute little size and would make great gifts for work colleagues and so on.




The little take out box features a little butterfly I punched out of plasma and heat embossed. I have a thing for butterflies at the moment (which is probably evident from my projects this weekend!)





Phew! I will be back tomorrow with more news and perhaps some more pretty things to look at if I can be bothered to photo some more of the huge pile of pages sat on my desk waiting to go into albums.

Oh and a little by the way, the Color Combos challenge for this week is missing because Janet has had some family issues to take care of which have taken her away from home and the computer, but keep an eye out as there should be a new combo up next week as usual.

Happy, happy, happy!

That was how I felt when I saw the colours we had to work with this week for the Color Combos Galore blog. They are such lovely, fun, colours. And I am always amazed by the different ways in which each of us on the team work the colours we are given. Janet really does come up trumps with this blog. Each week there is a guest designer, and this week another three new inspiring scrapbookers have been added onto the regular team - Nikala O'Brien, Belinda Venables and Delphine Paslin. They all do such wonderful work (I have added their names with hotlinks to their personal blogs in the sidebar under the Color Combos blinkie and slide show).

This week I took the blues for the focus for my page. The photo is of my dear father in law with my two daughters. He is such a wonderful person.



The background paper is Little Yellow Bicycle. I have used a Hambly transparency to create a pocket, a Fancy Pants die cut label and a teeny tiny scrap of Pink Paislee patterned paper there at the top too.



I'm so pleased that I managed to find a way to use some stamps on this page. I have quite a little collection of stamps and really don't use them enough (actually I used quite a few at crop on Saturday, so perhaps this is a new phase for me!). I embossed the heart using blue ink and layered it over the plain black stamped image just for extra interest and dimension. I also chalked the edges of the journal blocks to make them less stark.



This die cut journal block is by Pink Paislee, the stamp is by Inkadinkado and the clear sticker quote (which is very, very old) is by Cloud 9. I invested in quite a few of those sticker sheets (thankfully). I love the sayings and sentiments on them and have used lots over the years.

The bead trim was an absolute nightmare to stick. Glossy Accents holds it down in a few areas and the stitches do the rest of the work. The sequins and crystal flowers were bought at crop on Saturday and finished with lots of little stick on pearls (thankfully bought on BOGOF!)

The wonders of being watchless ... and organised!

Just a quick post. Managed to drag myself out of bed at a decent hour this morning (only used the snooze button once) and we got to school before it opened. Pretty amazing as we are usually dropping off at nine on the dot. I put it down to the fact that I took my watch off (which I only usually do for a bath or shower) and can't remember where I put it. So I was working on the premise that it was later than it actually was. Plus I was actually fairly organised and did the PE bags, checked name labels, put the school bags out and polished shoes last night.

Have had a lazy day. Well actually I was faffing around finishing off my page for the Color Combo blog this week (which I started last night). And now I have got a really messy desk I need to clear off (that really is THE worst part of scrapbooking, the tidying up after creating).

I've used some more older photos, these are from a holiday to Tenerife in 2002. Crikey I can't remember Chiara ever being so small! There was a small arcade near where we stayed and we tried the girls on this little ride. Oh sure, they were happy enough to sit on it, but once we put the money in and the thing started moving, they really weren't so keen. Needless to say we only ever put money in the machine once!



I like the look of the chipboard scrolls placed that way (I cut apart a larger piece) as it is sort of reminiscent of horse reigns and also gives the feeling of movement. I covered them with Bazzill but thought they looked a bit flat. So I used the Autumn Leaves flourish stamps with Versamark ink and then embossed them with some yellow Blonde Moments embossing powder. Just gives them a bit of interest. The two smaller pieces of chipboard (Woodware Paisley) are backed with some pink Bazzill to tie in with the pink on the Bam Pop frame and then blinged up with some Stickles. I outlined around the chipboard with my brown journaling pen just to add a little definition to the edges.



Products used - patterned paper background by K&Co, brown scalloped rectangle (cut on the Craft Robo) is Scenic Route, frame (cut apart) by Bam Pop, chipboard by Fancy Pants and Woodware, letter stickers by American Crafts and Doodlebug and letter rubons by Scrapworks. Some ribbons, blingy bits, flowers and Stickles provide the finishing touches.

A Splash of Colour

Is just what is needed to brighten up another grey, dreary and rain filled day.

So we have had Summer. Apparently. A couple of dozen good days and many more grey ones. At least it is only rain. Compared to the hurricanes being experienced in other parts of the world, for that I am grateful.

Monday sees the start of the new school year (for us, a bit late compared to a lot of areas I know), Josh doesn't start until Tuesday due to an extra INSET day at the High School. Josh is just about to start Year 9, I really hope he starts to focus better on his work this year, especially given that it is the year he needs to figure out which options he wants to take for the next few years. Not that they get much choice nowadays. They have so many core subjects it is unreal. Including French. Gah! this is a major sticking point for Josh as he detests this subject with intensity.

Chiara starts the top class at Primary school. At our local village school there are only three classes because it is a small school. Chiara will be Year 5 but is really looking forward to moving up and getting closer to some of her older friends. Plus she has had her hair cut. Cut as in properly cut, rather than just a trim and shaping which she has only ever had before. It had taken 9 years to get it down her back and then this last week. Chop. She decided in an instant and it is now a shoulder length bob. I was fairly choking back the tears in the hairdressers.

Mia, bless her, is starting Year 3 and should really be moving up to class 2, but she and another girl are being held back until the January term. I hope that things continue to 'click' for her and that the extra support the school are so great in giving really continues to pay dividends (Mia has some developmental delay relating specifically to language and speech, though to hear her rattle on you wouldn't really know it!).

Anyhow, I haven't really done much scrapbooking over the Summer. Which is why I am so glad to be on the Color Combos DT because it gives me the kick up the bum I need each week to get something done. One of the things that attracted me to scrapbooking initially was the array of colours and patterns available in the products (which was one of the things that attracted me to cross stitch too when I took that up). And which is why I love the concept of this challenge blog so much. Especially as it is so easy to get into the habit of gravitating towards the same colours all the time. Working with the colour swatches that Janet provides can really get me out of those ruts. The other thing is that it has prompted me to play with mixing up the product I work with on a page rather than sticking to everything from one range.

These are my pages from the last three weeks.

This first one uses photos from ten years ago, when Josh was three. Quite a different page for me, but I just had this flash that I wanted to use the sunshine, grass and windmill imagery from the children's tv show Teletubbies to match the theme of the photos.







This page features some snaps taken of Mia with Ben (my friend Roz's son). I used the sweeping wave to echo the action of the swing.





And this third one. Well, it's a photo I have been wanting to scrap for ages. It's a picture of Mia with one of DH's uncles. I love the look on both their faces and the beautiful colours in the photo too. I used these gorgeously bold patterned papers from Tinkering Ink, which were just perfect for the photo and the colour combo too. I added a bit of extra interest by distressing the paper and machine stitching a border.



Off now as I am being nagged to get tea ready!