Less is More–Pick a Square

This week at Less is More the challenge is to make a card placing your design in only 1 of the 5 squares in the sketch.

Here is my card;

 

                                                                                                                                    

I used my lovely Ruffled Bloom stamp again which I stamped with Adirondack Watermelon Ink. I used a fine wet brush to drag the ink and colour the image. I added tiny dots of Glamour Dust to the centre of the flower and then mounted the image onto dark and lighter shades of pink card.

Thank you for the lovely comments on last weeks card – they are much appreciated.

Another Sketch of the Week

There are three photos on this sketch  at Shimelle’s Sketch of the Week and is just the right thing to scrap some photos from last summer of Brighton Pavilion.

I was absolutely amazed at the Royal Pavilion , I have driven past it several times but last year was my first sight of the inside . I was just amazed at the sheer extravagance of the internal decorations, it was a real eye opener but it was just such a shame that it is forbidden  to take any photos inside!

I have used just one sheet of Prima paper as I made good use of using both sides. The only other supplies were a few gems, lots of punches and a Hambly rub-on for the journaling.

I’ve been busy!

It was pretty wet and rainy yesterday not to mention the thunder but it did mean that I could play in my craft room instead of doing the gardening.

Here is a card made with my bargain stamp. I bought it recently for £1 from a bargain bucket. I was a little put off at first because the coloured picture on the front of the stamp really didn’t look very clear but it stamped beautifully – just right for my mum and dad who enjoy walking and it is their wedding anniversary coming up.

I used My Minds Eye Bloom and Grow papers, ribbon from Scrapbook Sisters, circle and scalloped circle Nestabilities and a stamp from my collection.

I would like to enter this in the following challenges;

Mojo Monday – sketch

Crafting For All Seasons – Anything Goes

Make it Monday – Anything Goes

The Emerald Fairies – Anything Goes

Penny Black at Allsorts Challenge

This is a challenge that I always like to do because I love Penny Black stamps. The challenge this month is to make a card that is not a square or a rectangle so I decided to think way outside the box and made a card in the shape of a wellington boot!

I cut the card shape using a chipboard shape that I bought at a craft show years ago as a stencil. I covered the front with a all over pretty patterned paper, cut cardstock for the band at the top and the sole. I stamped the card with the Lace Flower stamp and then stamped the two little ladybirds from Hedgehog Visit which I cut out and stuck on separately.

I would like to enter my card for the Penny Black at Allsorts Challenge

Row, row, row your boat

Oh my goodness I really found this one a challenge. I really couldn’t think of what to make for this weeks Scrapbook Sisters Challenge with the theme “Row, row, row your boat”.  The only boat stamps I have are not the sort of thing that you would row.

Time for a re-think! I started by cutting a boat out of cardstock and then when I looked in my stamps for something to put in the boat to row it and I found my old friend the Hobby Arts bear. He has often helped me out of a sticky situation when I’ve been short on inspiration.

I deliberately kept the card simple and unfussy.I used a scrap of American Crafts paper for the background, turquoise vellum with a torn edge for the water. I hand cut the oar and cut the fishes out of some Cosmo Cricket paper.

What can you make for this weeks challenge?

P.S. sorry this post is a bit late. My laptop caught a nasty little bug but it’s much better now!

4x6 Photo Love Month 4

Here is my layout for this months 4x6 Photo Love Class.

And here is the layout with the hidden journaling and the 4th photo

 

I have used Creative Expressions papers and stickers from the coordinating sticker sheet.

I have also uploaded it to my 2 Peas in a bucket gallery here

I’m looking forward to the next class  - how do we fit 5 photos on a page? – or will it be a double layout?

Sketch of the Week

Here I am again with Shimelle’s sketch of the week. This week I have used some gorgeous K & Co Wild Raspberry papers. I’m not a huge K & Co fan, I find it’s a bit hit and miss, but I do love this collection!

Here’s the sketch;

Here’s my layout;

I made my own embellishments;

 

This sketch is a great idea for using 6x6 papers on a 12 x 12 page. I usually think of them only for card making but I shall look at them again . I know that we have lots of lovely 6x6 pads in the shop at Scrapbook Sisters at the moment. Oh well, there goes my wages again – who needs to eat anyway!

Less is More–but is it enough?

As you can tell from my tile I have had doubts about my card today for the Less is More Challenge. The theme is butterflies.

I have had fun using some stamps that I have had for a while but not used although I have used other stamps in the sets. I even had a practice on some scrap paper.

I have avoided using patterned paper, punched butterflies and gems but is it enough. Now the card is finished I’m not sure. I did consider mounting the card front onto a larger card blank to layer it up.

Here is the card and the inside;

 

My first version was in black ink but that looked a bit stark and in this one I didn’t mask the wording so there is a slight overlap!

The stamps are;-   Prima – for the frames

                             Kaisercraft – for the sentiment

                             Cavallini ( from Waterstones) –

                                                                    for the butterflies

Favourite Old Bear

Here is an old favourite stamp of mine. It is from  PSX but I got it in a mixed bag of stamps ages ago from eBay. I used to love buying grab bags of unmounted stamps to build up  my collection but I am a little more fussy now although I still find it hard to resist a bargain!

I have stamped teddy with brown Memento Ink and then coloured him with  Copics. I have used Basic Grey Periphery and Prima Madeline collections for the backing papers and then finished it with some lace, rick-rack, a chipboard butterfly, pearls and paper roses and leaves .

I would like to enter this card for the following challenges;

Southern Girls – lace and pearls

Allsorts – Teddy Bears

The Sweetest Thing – sketch

Pennys Paper Crafty Challenge = anything Goes

A Spoonfull of Sugar – anything goes

My Time to Craft – something found in a toybox – teddy bear

Sweet Summer Days

The photo on this layout shows me and the children on the beach at Lynmouth in Devon some 14 years ago. I know that the photo isn’t well composed but I think it captures us as a family at that time. It is also a rare photo with me in it  - as I am the photographer in the family, there are often no photos of me.

I have made this layout with 2 challenges in mind;

Basic Grey – mix it up – use different Basic Grey papers

Creative Scrappers – sketch

I have used many different Basic Grey papers but must admit they are all from my scraps drawer! I have quite a large collection of Basic Grey and sometimes struggle to use it – not because it is hard to use but because it is precious and I treasure it!

I would like to enter the following challenges;

Basic Grey – mix it up

Creative Scrappers – sketch

Scrapbook Sisters Card Challenge No 36–Black and White

I’ve had fun with my stamps this week, even stamping my own backing paper.

The main stamp with the sentiment is from Cherry Pie Art Stamps and I think that the other two dragonflies might be too but they have been in my stamp stash for a long time so I’m not really sure!

Everything has been stamped with Black Memento Ink on to white card and then mounted on to black. The scalloped border is made using one of my current favourite punches by EK Success. I cut two borders and added the white one over the black one. I also added a few little black Papermania gems.

Black and white is a nice easy challenge so why not pop over to Scrapbook Sisters to enter the challenge and also check out the fab new Bo Bunny papers.

Less is More

Here is this weeks card for the “Less is More” challenge

The theme this week is to make  a single layer card with embossing – heat embossing or dry embossing.

After playing with some stamps and embossing powders I was not happy with what I had created so started to look for something different.  I decided to try embossing on Kraft Cardstock which I hadn’t seen before. I went for copper embossing powder to keep the colours in the same colour range and I like the simplicity of it!

The stamp is Inkadinkadoo I think and the wording is Paper Artsy.

Happy Blog Birthday To Me

I started my blog two years ago today. I started it just as a means to keep a record of my creations. I used to post only once a week or so. Then I discovered challenges and started to post more often. Now DT work for Scrapbook Sisters keeps me posting at least once a week and has seen my blog climb in the Crafty Blogs listings.

Now my blog is part of my daily life – I am always checking for visitors, checking my position in the Crafty Blogs listings and writing up the next post!

Happy Blog Birthday to me! – and thank you to all my followers!

National Scrapbook Day–Challenge 4

Here’s my second post of the day  with my layout to  for Challenge 4  to make a layout with a story the photo.I’ve been having a few problems with Blogger so lets hope this works!

 

I have used Jeni Bowlin papers which I have used  on a couple of previous layouts here and here – but that's it there’s  only enough left to make a card or a layout with a lot of white space.

The photo shows Holly all dressed up and made up ready to go to a “Gangsters and Flappers” themed party

National Scrapbook day–Challenge 3

Here is my layout for Challenge 3 which is to add a border between two photos.

I have used a couple of photos that I have been wanting to use for ages. They were taken in 2000 when we took a trip to visit the Millennium Dome. There was a lot of controversy about The Dome with lots of bad reviews but we loved it and wished that we had gone sooner.  I only took 4 photos of the day because we were so busy and it was back in the day before digital where we now snap away with as many shots as we want!

I thought that I was rather brave adding rub ons to the photos as me and rub ons have a bit of a love/hate relationship. The papers are American Crafts, the rub-ons are Doodlebug, chipboard numbers are from Woodware and the pink alphas are Papermania.

I have nearly finished Challenge 4 – I just need to add a title and I should be able to post it later today. Happy scrapping!

Scrapbook Sisters Card Challenge–Birds

When I first saw kraft card I wasn’t very keen on it but now it has grown on me. I like the contrast of the white and brown together and the white journaling pen works beautifully on it.

For this card I used a square card blank and I die cut the aperture in the front and added acetate to the inside. I then die cut 2 bird branched from my Marianne die in white and stuck them to the front with a tiny amount of PVA glue. I used the white pen to create faux stitching around the aperture and added a white tulle bow to finish. Inside I die cut a smaller  shape to add a greeting to later.

Have a look here to see cards from the rest of the Design Team and to enter your card for the challenge.

National Scrapbooking Day–Challenges 1 & 2

Saturday was National Scrapbooking day and at Scrapbook Sisters we were all busy with our crop at Rainham School for Girls. I think there was about 70 of us there and a good day was had by all – even though I was busy working and not scrapping it was great to meet up with everyone.

Meanwhile Shimelle was celebrating by holding some scrapbook challenges. the first was to create a layout using patterned paper as the background.

I have used Teresa Collins Boardwalk papers and die cuts.

Challenge 2 was to create a layout with a triangle.

I have arranged wallet shaped photos here to create a right angle triangle. The papers are all from my scraps drawer.I have also hand cut some clouds and cut a kite from another scrap of paper. The tail of the kite is made from bakers string with some turquoise ribbons tied on.

The photos on this layout were taken on last Monday on a very, very windy day at the seaside.

Creative Scrappers Sketch #155

The sketch this week at Creative Scrappers immediately appealed to me this week.

Here is what I did with it;

I used these lovely K & Co papers which were left from last years Birthday Class at Scrapbook Sisters. The butterflies are stamped using a set of stamps from Waterstones bookshop and were a Mothers Day present several years ago. I’ve kept it simple and just added some Glossy Accents to the butterflies.

Less is More–White On White

This weeks card challenge at Less is More is to make an all white card with no colour at all.  I found this quite tricky to start with but I’m now quite pleased with the results – it looks pretty and might make a good Wedding card.

I used the same pearlescent white cardstock for everything. I made a square white card base and then I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder  which I cut out and mounted on foam pads. I thought that if there was no colour then layers would add interest. I added a punched flower which was three layers shaped and layered up with a couple of punched and shaped fern leaves behind. I finished it by adding some white beads to the centre of the flower.

I punched a butterfly which I was going to add to the opposite corner to the flower but I resisted and have saved it for another card!

Thank you to all the lovely people who left comments on last weeks card – it is very much appreciated!

Sketch of the Week

Here I am again with this weeks sketch from Shimelle. I had some lovely comments last week about my layout of me and Charlie Chaplin, so thank you!

Here is this weeks sketch;

Here is my layout;

I’ve used the lovely Cosmo Cricket Snorkel range of papers, which I have used several times before. I have also used various stickers and journal tags from my stash and some American Crafts rub ons. I have used a cut down photo to make my title but there is a bit of glare from the photo.

The photos were taken last year when we had a day out in Brighton which was lovely and I do intend to make a return trip this year.

Scrapbook Challenge No 3

This month the new challenge at Scrapbook Sisters is

 

Flags and Banners

I knew immediately what I wanted top do as I had noticed all the bunting along Rochester High Street at the weekend when I was at the Sweeps Festival and knew that it would be great to incorporate into a layout of the Morris Dancers.

I used Doodlebug dotty papers and American Crafts papers for the Orange dot and loopy lines papers. I also used some orange bakers twine which I bought in a fabric shop in Rochester while I was there along with some cute buttons which will probably appear on another layout before long.

I have always fancied having a go at Morris Dancing but it would have to be the right costume – I’m not sure that I fancy a long green pinafore like theses ladies too perhaps something a little more funky like these ladies?

I hope that you like my layout and that it might inspire you to have a go at entering this months Scrapbook Challenge!

Card Challenge No 34

Here we are at Scrapbook Sisters card challenge No 34. This week it’s a  recipe; 2 ribbons and a flower/brad. Here’s my card;

I used a MFT stamp, coloured with Copics, Prima flowers and ribbons and I think the patterned paper is My Minds Eye. I like the turquoise and brown combination of colours with a little dash of lime green .

Why don’t you have a go at the challenge?

Rochester Sweeps Festival

I usually only post scrapbook layouts and cards on my blog but for a change today here are a few photos of my day out yesterday to the Sweeps Festival at Rochester.

And I want some of these;

They sound so good as they walk along with the bells jingling but they are £140 and made of wood so I don’t think they would be very comfortable so perhaps I’ll stick with my Birkenstocks.