Turning Four!

I started this layout ages ago as part of Shimelle's on line crop weekend. I think the challenge was to scrap using grey and yellow, which would not be a natural colour combination choice for me but once I had added a splash of pink and brown I quite liked it.

Inspired by Jennifer who often scatters gems and pearls across her layouts I gave it a try with some little pink and yellow ones for this page.

As you can see it's dated 2007 .... I'm pleased  another photo from the pile of "Older photos of H To be Scrapped" is in my album and the memory recorded!

I've been lucky enough to be able to get along to a crop today and last weekend (2 different ones!) so have been quite productive with my scrapping. Just need to get them photographed now!

i hope you are having a lovely weekend!

Biddys Layout!

I hope you have all had a wonderful long bank holiday weekend!

My daughter was in a show with her dance school on Sunday so our weekend was busy with last minute costume preparations, rehearsals on Saturday and then the actual show on Sunday afternoon but I did manage to squeeze in a little crafting.

I seem to have a pile of "half done" layouts which all just needed finishing off so over the weekend I settled down and got a couple of them finished. 

Last year, whilst in Northern Ireland visiting family, my hubby and I got a rare couple of days away on our own in Donegal whilst H enjoyed some quality time with Grandparents! On the way to Donegal we stopped at the famous Irish Pub, Biddys O' Barnes, nestled at the foot of the Blue Stack mountains. I adore old traditional pubs like "Biddys", with it's original flagstones still on the floor and roaring open fires!!

I used mainly Echo Park's Note to Self papers, alphas and stickers. The brown woodgrain paper is from MME's Miss Caroline collection and I added some brown tiny letter stickers and used my EK Success punch to create the notebook border edge. All the papers are inked with brushed corduroy distress ink.

A fairly simple page but right now I'm all about getting the photos into my albums and the memories written down! 

Note to me: Add the date to this layout!!

I'll be back soon to show you the other layout I got finished!

Thanks for stopping by!

Shimelle's On Line Crop

Oh dear, long time since I last blogged.

I won't bore you with reasons why!

Let's just say life got in the way of my scrapping and blogging time!

Anyway, last weekend the lovely Shimelle hosted an on line crop. I was determined to find an hour or two to scrap. I decided to have a go at the first challenge which was to create a layout inspired by this beautiful page by Jaime Warren. Details of the challenge are here!

I loved the placement of the photo and the papers at the top and bottom and the clusters going off the edges .... so I took those elements and came up with this page:

I am making an effort to scrap some more of H's baby photos - this one is from 2004!

I used up some old Crate Mia paper for my background, MME Miss Caroline Fiddlesticks 6" x 6" paper, Echo park chipboard and some scraps of Crate Random paper and various stickers from my stash!

The scattered embellishments across the page is a new idea for me, but I do like the finished look!

Here's hoping I manage at least another one or two of Shimelle's challenges!!

Budget Challenge for Scrapbook Magazine

It seems like ages ago that I was first asked if I would take up the "Budget Challenge" for Scrapbook Magazine. Of course I said "Yes"!! The next available slot, they told me, was for issue 62!!

I made my 3 layouts using just £10 of supplies, typed up the text and e mailed it off to SBM back before Christmas. Then we had a long wait ... until last week when issue 62 was on sale. I was so excited as I opened up the magazine to see my layouts in print!

Two of my layouts featured my daughter so you can imagine her delight at seeing her photos in the magazine!!

These are the layouts I made using mainly Crate Paper's Random Collection

These photos were taken in the Butterfly House at the Natural history Museum in London.

I punched little circles and positioned them down the edge of the photos to create a scallop border.

More punched circles and punched butterflies make up the row of embellishments below the pictures.

For this layout I distressed the edges of the patterned papers, punched a few butterflies, added a "beautiful" sticker and a title and I was done!

The pink dots on the butterflies are from my pack of Thickers letters. I would usually use gems/pearls but my £10 worth of stash wouldn't stretch that far so I used the full stop instead!

My 3rd layout uses up the scraps of pattern paper that were left. I punched the edges with my bracket border punch and layered them up. I made 3 embellishments from punches circles with a button centre. The journalling reads "On our weekend trip we visited Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, a lovely place with amazing views, pretty cottages and great for taking photos!"

One of the things I found difficult with such limited supplies was only having one pack of letters for my titles and not being able to dip into different packs and sheets of alphas!!

Thanks for stopping by!

FREE P & P in my shop all this weekend!!

It's a FREE Postage and Packing weekend at S J Crafts!!!

To receive FREE P & P on your order this weekend simply enter FREEDELIVERY in the coupon code box & select UK Standard delivery.

Minimum order is just £5!!

UK delivery only!

Offer valid until 11pm Sunday 11th March!

Click here to shop now!

Enjoy!! :)

WOYWW #144

Oh dear, two weeks since my last blog post! Very naughty! Sorry, I have no real excuse apart from being very busy with the shop and preparing for forthcoming classes.

I do love Julia's WOYWW and I can never resist a nosy around all the desks so it's only fair that I show you mine too!!

So, here's how things were looking earlier this afternoon!

You can see that rather large stack of photos - my last order from Photobox! I have been going through it picking out some to scrap. This is how I usually start off when I'm making a new layout. I've pulled out some papers (the ones on my table are the new collection from Cosmo Cricket ) and then picked out photos that work with the papers. Sometimes I start with the papers and sometimes the photos. Next I've pulled out some embellishments from my stash that I think might use on my layout.

There's also my lovely new stamp set and punch that I recently bought at a friends Stampin Up party. I'm planning on using them on this next layout.

Regular readers of my blog will recall my "exploding basket" of stash - look, it's still there at the back of the table - still not sorted - and as full as ever!

Right, I'm going to make another coffee (yes, the one in the photo is long finshed!) and have a nosy around some more crafty desks and then finish the layout!

WOYWW # 142 .... & A Finished Layout!!!

Hello from a rainy and rather chilly Dorset! Perfect weather for staying indoors and scrapbooking!

I have had a few days break from my little blog. There's no particular reason for the lack of posts apart from it was half term last week and I was enjoying spending time with H. She is such great company and growing up so fast, I wanted to make the most of our time together.

Anyway she is back at school this week so I'm back at my craft table again. It's good to be back!

So for those of you who are here for a nosy at my craft space - this is how it was looking earlier this morning!!

This week I've taken the photo from the other side of my desk so that you get a glimpse of the units and shelves behind me where I store my stash! To the right hand side of the photo is a pile of letter and alpha stickers. I had to have a good rummage through them to find enough letters to make a title. There are so many sheets with just a few letters left. My fabulous Martha Stewart butterfly punch is there again. Will I ever tire of it?

I've actually managed to finish a layout today!! Woo hoo!! I started off following a sketch by Jules Dix which was in Scrapbook Magazine, issue 61. My finished page looks quite different though.


The photo is H and my niece L (the two of them often get referred to as "the girls") on a walk in the forest just over a year ago. My journalling is about their lovely relationship and how they are very close and enjoy each others company sharing lots of fun, giggles and happy times.

My supplies included: MME Miss Caroline papers and stickers, a Ranger tag, MME Kraft Funday twine and Prima pearls.

Right,I must get on over to Julia's blog to see what all the other WOYWW participants have been up to this week!
Thanks for stopping by!!