My Mind's Eye gorgeousness

My take on the sketch over at Creative Scrappers this week is full of an array of My Mind's Eye gorgeousness. Here I have to say a HUGE thanks to Amber and the customer service team over at MME for their 'wow I'm speechless' generosity. I had a problem with a product I bought a while back that I only recently opened and they sent me some of the new release goodies to compensate. It is all delicious. Truly. Full of beautiful embellishments and lots of beautiful blinging glitter. It's really hard to tell from the layout photo so I have included a close up shot so you can see that background cardstock. And the die cuts. All glittered. It's seriously stunning in real life.

Anyhow, this is the sketch. Please, please, please check out what the rest of the team did with this sketch. I think it's pretty well the best all round reveal I've seen anywhere for a long while.

And my page (I flipped the sketch and substituted the star with a heart)

Credits:
Pretty well everything My Mind's Eye
with a few extra brads, buttons and a bit of string
The digital frame I used for the photos is from Owl Tree Studio.

And look at all the glitter and beautiful dimensional embellishments.

Not an art lover

That's Josh! This photo is from one of the few times we had a painting session at home. And once he got to Playgroup, forget it! He never bought any pictures back, he hated cutting, sticking, painting, drawing, all of it. I remember getting so excited the one time he did bring a picture home, only to find out that the assistant had done it under his instruction as what colours to use! And he still feels the same way now he is a teen.

This page is for the Creative Scrappers sketch #118 which was revealed yesterday. Please go and check out what everyone else on the design team did, they created such fabulous pages.

Product used:

Papers, die cuts, chipboard, Cosmo Cricket
Star die cuts (from felt) Sizzix
Rub-on alpha Making Memories
Black pen Sharpie
Misc buttons, brads, paint


And this is the sketch. If you play along, please don't forget to add your link to Mr Linky over at the Creative Scrappers blog to be in with a chance to win the monthly prize.

Creative Scrappers toot and Basic Grey goodies :)

I made the sketch team, I'm so thrilled to be continuing with this inspirational site! There is also a call out for the next design team - give it a go, the sketches are all fabulous to work with and Kristine welcomes a whole range of scrapbooking styles!

Whilst I'm here I'll share a few of the projects I did for A Trip Down Memory Lane for July. These four projects use the Max and Whiskers range from Basic Grey. Some really cute stuff in this range, seriously!

This first one is a very old picture of Josh on a visit to Whitepost Farm. He loved the small animal and bird handling sessions. I can't get him interested in going any more (he's 15 now) but at least my daughters still love to visit there.

Another older photo. The cats used to absolutely love going to sleep in the 'comfy' double pushchair which was kept up in the conservatory ready for walks in the village (the fold up double buggy was kept in the car all the time). They are British Blue Shorthair cats, hence the play on words for the title.

I had this plain wooden box from IKEA for YEARS! That long I can't remember buying it! Anyhow, I painted it with a dusky blue paint and added distress inks for an even more muted look. It's a great little container for keeping together the fish food and drops next to the tank - and saves the bottles getting knocked off the table when the cats jump up to watch their very own 'cat tv'.

Lastly this card. I have to admit that it hurt sending this card - only because I loved it so much, not because of who it was sent to - it was sent to one of the teachers at the end of year. I absolutely adore that bunny die cut.

Next shares will be more digital scrapbooking as well as the next reveal over at Creative Scrappers.

More from my scrapping frenzy

from a couple of weeks ago! I've been so busy that sharing these projects fell by the wayside.

This first one is based on sketch #115 at Creative Scrappers

Though, as you can see, I flipped the sketch and extended the title somewhat (LOL!).

Product used:

Patterned papers - Making Memories, Little Yellow Bicycle
Stickers/die cuts - Little Yellow Bicycle
Flower trim - Webster's Pages
Flowers - Prima
Alphabets - Adornit, My Little Shoebox, Scrapworks, American Crafts

Oh and lots of pretty pearliness.

Next up is a page which records the special friendship between my youngest daughter and my husband's closest and oldest friend.



Products used:

Patterned papers - Scenic Route, Chatterbox
Acrylic heart - Heidi Grace
Scalloped Edge cardstock - Bazzill
Phrase sticker - Chatterbox
Chipboard frame - Maya Road
Phrase stamp - Art Warehouse
Dymo, paint, stickles

I painted the frame white and then liberally applied frosted lace Stickles over the top.

Finally a trio of cards using the Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday range. I love the sheet of 'cards' they are just perfect for cutting up and adding a super easy but pretty element to cards. The sentiment on the first one is a Hero Arts stamp

Sending you smiles and wishing you all an especially happy day (after all it IS Friday!).

Thank you :)

To everyone everywhere for their heartwarming birthday messages yesterday.

Made a snap decision when I collected Josh from swimming to go to the pics, so me and him went to see Inception (was going to be the A Team but I couldn't be bothered to wait until 9.15!). Really enjoyed it, one of those 'huh?!' films but an enjoyable action film which made you think and gave us lots to talk about in the car on the way home.

Yesterday the Creative Scrappers sketch #116 went live, another fabby sketch.

Which I turned upside down cos it suited my photos better doing that.

Products used:

Patterned papers - Fancy Pants, Scenic Route, Sassafrass
Stickers -  Sassafrass, 7Gypsies
Alphas - Doodlebug, Adornit
Fabric brad - Little Yellow Bicycle

Remember, if you join along with any of the sketches for the month, add your links to the blog and be in for a chance to win a prize. Have fun :)

Creative Scrappers yummy sketch #114

You have got to give this one a go, it's one of my faves so far, the page came together so quickly! Remember to link your creations to the Creative Scrappers blog to be in with a chance of winning the monthly prize.

I added in an extra photo, but other than that, I've used the sketch as is. Why change something great?

Products:

All items American Crafts with the exception of:

Paper flower and paint - Making Memories

Quote sticker - 7Gypsies

Stick on pearls - Papermania

Sweet and Sassy

That's Chiara! Growing up SO fast, she just had her two orientation days at high school last week and totally loved it! I'm really pleased. Mia is going to be such a lost little soul at primary school though.

Sketch #112 is now up over at Creative Scrappers. Loved it! Again my interpretation very literal. Very hard to see from the photo, but the background cardstock is a blinging Ivory and the SEI patterned papers are foiled/shimmery too. Very pretty and girly.

Patterned Paper - SEI, Making Memories, Prima
Cardstock - Gemstones
Chipboard - SEI
Alphabet - American Crafts
Stitching template - Bazzill

Digi Delights

Kristine Davidson over at Creative Scrappers gave a shout out to the team to find out who wanted to play with some digi yumminess by Libby Weifenbach. Now I have dabbled with digi in the past and have to say that I should do more of it - I love that I can be creative without either having to (a) tidy up my mess of a desk following a paper crafting session or (b) get my nice clean desk all messy again after I have spent ages tidying up after a paper crafting session! Yep, love paper crafting, tidying is another matter!

Anyhow, I digress ... Libby's stuff is found over at Sweet Shoppe Designs (already in my digi faves folder). I originally chose just a couple of kits to play with, but after contemplating, perusing and contemplating some more, I added some other goodies into the mix, including lots of different clipping templates. As a not too experienced digi scrapper these are hugely helpful in creating fun pages by giving a quick and easy way to add shapes and layers to your projects.

All credits Libby Weifenbach

Desmond and Molly Jones kit

Paper clips cluster templates

Paper clips circle templates 2.0

It's past bedtime now, but I can't wait to get back and play with some more of the goodies I got.

Creative Scrappers

Sketch 110 went live yesterday. Another wonderfully easy sketch to work with. And lots of more fabulous pages by the DT can be viewed over on the Creative Scrappers blog.

This is my interpretation. Can't really call it an interpretation to be honest. I'm rather literal when it comes to working with sketches - which is why a great sketch that doesn't need much tweaking is right up my street!


Some fun photos from an after school visit to the local River Gardens. The colours in the photo weren't great (black/white school uniform combined with green grass and blue and yellow play equipment) hence changing the photos to black and white. Not something I do too much of because I really like the reality of colour photos - well for the most part anyhow.

The page also works with the colour combo over at Color Combos Galore this week (148).
Patterned papers - My Little Yellow Bicycle, American Crafts
Alphabets - American Crafts, Doodlebug
Journaling spot - Maya Road
Butterflies - Papermania
Rub-ons and chipboard - My Little Yellow Bicycle
Inks - Ranger distress ink and archival ink
Die cuts - Nestabilities
Other - bling, buttons, brads


Lots of bling, brads and buttons. Yes I sewed them all on individually. Whilst watching the England/Slovenia match. Well, at least it wasn't a total waste of my time ;)


I used some more of the Little Yellow Bicycle Zinnia range (I had pretty well everything sent to me as part of a prize package from Memory Makers magazine just before it ceased publication). I added some of the circle rub-ons to white cardstock, die cut them using Nestabilities dies and (along with everything else) applied a liberal helping of distress ink to the edges. The gorgeously intricate die cut butterflies are a vinyl material and by Papermania.

Creative Scrappers

My first creation as part of the Creative Scrappers Design Team is now up. It's a fabulous sketch to work with and I just LOVE all the wonderful pages the others in the DT have come up with. Here is the sketch:


This is my page


Lots and lots of Prima on here. It was so tempting to go with all purple, but I do love adding colour contrast to my pages and so went with the lovely bright green for the extended photo mat and butterflies instead.


I added a couple of strips of crumpled and twisted purple vellum underneath the tulle to add to the texture and dimension. And the tulle really IS white, must be something to do with using flash and getting shadows which shows it a dull grey colour :( I also sprinkled that all important fairy dust over it (aka Stickles) to give the page even more shimmer and shine.


It would be great to see you playing along - there is a prize available, so check out the blog

Couple of must sees ...

Just a quick post as I am busy today ... but you got to visit both Creative Scrappers for the latest sketch #107, it's a fab sketch and ALL of the DT pages are so wonderfully inspiring!


Remember to complete at least one layout over at Creative Scrappers from sketches 106-110 inclusive to have a chance to win a prize from the monthly sponsor.

Also the DT gallery for June over at A Trip Down Memory Lane went live yesterday. We were all given a selection of Bella Blvd ranges and it's great to see the different and wonderful projects and pages which were put together by the team. Visit the gallery to check them all out - remember to click through on to each page - there are three pages in total. I did 5 layouts and 2 cards. I love the stickers and cut apart sheets - they really make embellishing and titling a page so very easy! Check out the shop for the Bella Blvd products. Even better, they have a sale on! Oh - another thing, check out the blog for more inspiration and a Scrapping Bingo prize challenge :)

Here's some sneaks of the pages I created:

Bunny Girls

I did start this last week but it got left on the desk underneath a pile of paperwork. It's a quick (if you don't count the time left between starting and finishing) page for Creative Scrappers sketch 104 from last week and also for the American Crafts Spring themed challenge week.


Another Easter themed birthday party for Mia - last year - they did crafty stuff decorating baskets for the Easter Egg hunt, plus standard party games. All the girls had these cute bunny ears to wear - don't they look cute?!

Scalloped Cardstock - Papermania
Patterned papers - American Crafts (Letterbox range) and Chatterbox (the blue tapestry and pink dotty ones).
Stickers - American Crafts
Felt embellishment - American Crafts
Epoxy Stickers - DCWV
Alphabets - American Crafts
Edger punch - Fiskars

I was determined to get this one finished today because I want to start on the next one!

Toot toot for me :)

Kristine has very kindly included me in the latest batch of designers over at Creative Scrappers - look over >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

okay and down a bit LOL! (ETA now there's new post, it's ^^^^^^^^^^ a bit!)
a lovely new blinkie to add to my sidebar. I'm so thrilled and really looking forward to working more with these great sketches.

I'm itching to be having a go at sketch 104



but it's really busy, busy, busy for me today and tomorrow. I have got to decorate cakes (one for Chiara's birthday and one for a school fundraiser tonight) as well as do housewifey stuff as Chiara has a friend over for a sleepover tonight and tomorrow we are going on a girly shopping spree. This is what she has chosen instead of a party. Sigh. Eleven. Getting so grown up.

Treasure the Joy of Family

Stuck for inspiration on what to call this post, so thought I would just go with the layout title!

This is a page I've just done today based on a great sketch at Creative Scrappers. This is the sketch


and this is my page



It also fits in with another challenge blog (just found today, blog hopping, as you do!) over at Paper Play Challenges - the challenge was simply to use brown with any other colours. Brown was the perfect choice as the border for this page, providing a bold colour contrast as well as keeping in with the natural setting of the photo.

I've used papers from the Letterbox range by American Crafts, plus some of the brads, flair embellishments and thickers that I received this week as part of my (previously blogged about) prize. The flowers are all cut out from a sheet of patterned paper, love the different patterns and colours on here. And the labels sheet of paper is so pretty AND useful. What a combination!