Scrapbooking with Helen

Yesterday Helen came round to get started on her first ever scrapbook so we had a good play, despite my lack of concentration and ability to think coherently because of a stupid cold.

Helen had ordered lots of bits at my Stampin' Up! workshop last week to do an album about her trip to Liverpool with friends. As she hasn't done any scrapbooking before I suggested we get together for a couple of hours to get her started.

We began by choosing a couple of pictures for the first page. The ones we went for are of Helen and a friend having hot chocolate in a yummy cafe. The colours were very funky - brown and yellow, and the cafe had big yellow flowers so we incorporated those. Luckily Helen had been well prepared and got some leaflets from the cafe so we used those as well.



We used a nuetral background and DSP from the Regals stack. The flowers were made using the Fun Flowers die on the Big Shot in coordinating colour card and DSP, and we also embossed some of them. A few buttons, a flower brad, the title and pic from the leaflets and a piece of chipboard Helen had found somewhere and we were done!



Here's Helen looking pleased with her first scrapbook page, and rightly so!

The second page we did featured a few of the Liverpool sights. The Anglican and Roman Catholic Cathedrals and the statue of Queen Victoria. The greys and greens worked well together in the card and DSP, and again, a piece of patterned paper Helen had bought in Whitby. The cartoon images across the bottom are from a sticker book Helen bought in Liverpool - always thinking ahead!



It is titled Did you know ... as the pics were taken on a sightseeing tour of Liverpool. The guide had explained that the Anglican Cathedral was built by a Roman Catholic, and vice versa! So I learnt something as well!

After that we were done in so we nipped out for a buffet and I spent the rest of the evening trying to fight of this damn cold by doing housework!

I'm just going to have to battle through it as I have many things to do, as always, and not enough hours in the day.

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Scrapbooking and stitching

My SU mummy Julie set us all a challenge to CASE a project from the new Mini Catalogue but change a few elements. We had to switch the colour scheme, the size and an embellishment.

This is my entry.



The Sew Sweet Suite immediately appealed to me and I love the piece on the front cover of the catalogue using the embroidery hoop, so I used it as the basis for a scrapbook page.



I cut out the dressing model stamp from Sew Lovely and used the Timeless Type Junior Alphabet Dies in my Big Shot for the initials.



The picture is me working on a cross stitch piece that I turned into a cushion for my mum's Christmas present.



I ruffled up some Seam Binding Ribbon (really easy and so cute) and added lots of Big Buttons (and regular ones) as well as some flowers made from the Sweet Stitches DSP and Fun Flowers die. The middle of the flower is a button from the Sweet Buttons Embosslit.

This has to be one of my favourite scrapbook pages!

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Scrapbooking - my niece and nephew

A few pics today of scrapbook pages I made of my niece Ziva and nephew Samuel.

The two 12x12 pages were done at a class run by my SU mummy Jules. I then decided to do two A4 ones to give to my big brother and his wife.





We used the Nursery Suite DSP and Quick Accents kit, with matching colour cardstock. The backing sheet was stamped andomly using Bundle of Love.



And these are the others I did afterwards, using some Striped Grosgrain Ribbon and the Boho Blossoms Punch.

I must do some more scrapbooking soon. Just need to print pics out!

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The WI and vintage finds

Mondays aren't all bad! Today has been pretty good fun so far and a lovely start to the week.

I was up at the West Yorkshire Federation of Women's Institutes this morning for the membership committee meeting. I am all for getting involved and it's great to be able to help the WI grow. As usual, I came away with several tasks, so I will be busy doing my bit!

And on the way back I called into the antique shop on Armley Town Street. I keep meaning to go in and I'm glad I finally managed to visit today.

I bought a few books ...



The two little ones are for me. I will hopefully alter them and use them in scrapping and card making projects. The motorbike one is for my good friends Hayley and Flower as a bribe to get them to help me restore this ...



Mini sewing machine! I just had to have it! It does work but needs a bit of cleaning up and some oil. I keep meaning to use real stitching on my cards and scrapbook pages but it is such a faff getting out my big proper sewing machine. So once this is up and running I have no excuse!

And to top it all off, the sun is shining! Lovely!

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200th post! I'm with the band!

Wow, 200 posts! Amazing.

I'm preparing for yet another manic week here. Honestly, it never ends!

Yesterday I re-sorted all my craft stuff. My yummy new goodies from the SU Mini Catalogue arrived and I had nowhere to put it all so I had to buy some new bookcases! So now my whole wall behind my desk is taken up with Stampin' Up! yumminess! I can't show you though, because there are things on the shelves that will give the game away about the new catalogue! I have been having a good play with it all and am very excited about the amazing new products we have. As soon as April 1st comes I'll be bombarding you with new projects!

In the meantime, here is a scrapbook page using photos of a band called Stone Sour. I have been lucky enough to tour with several bands in my time, and Stone Sour are one of my faves. I had to take some pics as part of a uni project and I asked Jim, the bassist, if I could use him as my subject. He did offer to pose naked, but I stuck with live shots on stage. I processed and developed the photos myself in the uni darkroom, which was great fun.

So anyway, here are Jim and Corey at Manchester Academy.



I kept this page nice and simple. The photos were mounted on Basic Gray card andedged with the Spiral Border Punch to give the roll of film look.





The names were added right on to the photos using the Rub-Ons. I think they look fab.



I also used the Rub-Ons for the title, as well as some film strip. And, of course, the Music Notes Wheel and Star Punch.

So, I am off now to tackle this week! Don't expect too much of me - I have exactly no spare time at the moment!

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Fairground scrapping

Yesterday I had a bit of scrapping fun with an old pic of myself and a former housemate, Vanessa.



We used to live together in Stockport and would go for a long walk at the weekends. One time we went to Oulton Park and had a go on the carousel there!



So for this page I started with a white background and coloured in a paper doily by rubbing my SU ink pads over it and coating it in Shimmer Paint. This turned out fab and is a great match to the horses. I used lots of different bits, including some different ribbons, Pearls and Gold Brads.



Lots of flowers and stars, and tons of Pearls and Rhinestones!



I used the Rub Ons for the title and scrolled the paper to match the one on the horse. His name is Troy!



I also tried out some Grungeboard.



And this is the journaling! Basically, we got on our horse anbd the carousel started going REALLY slowly. After a minute the guy in charge came walking round, looked at us and said: "There's too much weight on one side"!! That was it! So we had to move to balance it out with all the kids!

Was good fun to do this page, although it took quite a while to stick everything down!

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The end?

The weekend is here again! Time really does fly at the moment.

So here's another scrapbook page. I now have quite a few done for my gorgeous Stampin' Up! scrapbooking album, and it looks amazing.

For this, I went black and white to complement the images. They were taken about 10 years ago while I was at uni in Cambridge. I did a photography module and was experimenting with processing the images in the dark room. I used to live next door to this graveyard during my first year, and would often walk through it for a bit of contemplation and me time.



The DSP is Love Letter, which features yummy black, white and red patterns in a lovely vintage style without being too OTT. I kept the whole thing quite simple with the aim of posing a question rather than making a statement.



For the title I used the chipboard letters from the On Board Alphabet Soup set. Instead of colouring them in or covering them, I simply distressed them a bit by daubing them with ink. I was very pleased with the result.

I really must start taking photographs again. My digital cameras were stolen when my house was broken into a couple of years ago, but luckily I still have my dad's old film camera (which these pics were taken with). That's much more fun anyway. If only I had my own dark room ...

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My many names

I had a brilliant time at our Buns & Roses WI meeting last night. My good friend Helen led the way, with the help of member Liz and a lovely lady called Sarah who is deaf.

They told us what it was like to be deaf and how we can all communicate with those who cannot hear. We learnt the alphabet, numbers, colours, some fun words and two songs!

It was a real eye-opener and very touching to get to know Sarah and commiunicate with her in a way that suits HER, not us.

We all came up with a sign that would reperesnt our name too. Mine looks a bit like doing needlework!

And here is a scrapbook page with another name for me - Curly Sue!



Tonight I'm off to my joint birthday party with Tessa, Helen, Ellie, Georgie and Brendan. Best start getting ready!

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A cheeky scrapbook page

I've been scrapping a few old photos recently, and although this one is a bit embarassing, and rude, I think it's awesome so I decided to share!

No idea what's going on here, but it obviously amused my parents!



Sweet ass! I went a bit 70s (even though I'm not that old!) with the funky patterned paper.



The chipboard letters are the very fun Stampin' Up! On Board Alphabet Soup, which I coloured using the Sponge Daubers with Chocolate Chip and More Mustard, and I remembered the Fleurettes - crochet flowers - that are perfect!



I've just got a Crop-A-Dile so I had to have some eyelets somewhere! And my fave embellishment - buttons with Linen Thread.

So yeah, that's my butt!

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Scrapbooking again - something to brighten the day

I have quite a few scrapbook pages done now, ready for when my album arrives with the UPS man tomorrow!



This page features a few snaps from my holiday in Antigua a few years ago. I entered it in a challenge over at the SplitCoastStampers forum. The mission was to use two main colours and one accent and use embellishments in odd numbers.



My colours are Pumpkin Pie and Rose Red, as seen in the absolutely beautiful Sweet and Sour DSP. I adore these papers as they are so bright and fun. They fit perfectly with my outfits in the pictures and I chose Pacific Point to bring out the amazing blue sea.



The title is "fun in the sun" and I used a bit of ribbon and a few brads to add some more sparkle!

Tomorrow is my birthday (all cards and gifts greatly received!) and as well as waiting for the UPS man to bring me more Stampin' Up! goodies (I had to treat myself!), I will be off to see the stop smoking adviser and then spending the evening with my good friends Hayley and Helen drinking Cava and eating takeaway!

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Bitten by the scrapbooking bug!

I have definitely got another love now - I am well and truly hooked on scrapbooking!

Yesterday (actually today still as I've scheduled this post for the morning! That'll confuse ya!) I made THREE pages! And I've not even shown you the ones I did at mummy Julie's club yet! Or the many other cards I have made and stored up to show you!

But one of yesterday's (today's) layouts to show you first!

My mum sent me a selection of pics a while back so I have finally got a good use for them! There were two lovely ones of the two of us - one when I was a baby and we were off to someone's Christening (I think, could have been a wedding!), and the other from my cousin's wedding in Cyprus a few years ago.



The problem was they didn't really go together as their main and accent colours were different. After some deliberation and a few tips from my fellow crafters, I sat down with my stash (this was at 10.30pm) and discovered that the Greenhouse Gala and Woodland Walk DSP from Stampin' Up! each matched a picture perfectly!



To bring them together I cut out a flower from each and added it to the opposite photo and then used the green and red in the title and journaling (to be completed with dates when I find them out!) to pull it all into one.

I'm really pleased with it and will now be on a mission to find and print lots more photos!

Today (tomorrow!) I am off to my first WI committee meeting at the federation offices before coming back for some work. I have half resolved not to do more crafting for a few days as I have a lot of writing to do, a class on Thursday at Buns & Roses WI and my mum is coming up to see me!


PS This is actually the third time I have posted this now as I kept forgetting to schedule it and it just went live. So I have no idea what day it is anymore! All this crafting makes me giddy.

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All-day training with Julie's Jems

yesterday, mummy Julie held her first all-day training so I got to spend a whole day crafting and nattering with great friends! I had a fantastic time and made lots of yummy projects, as well as gathering plenty of ideas!

Here are all the beautiful swaps I received ...



And this is me crafting away with Jules, mumm Jules and Allie.



Here is one of the projects I made - a quick and easy gift bag and a matching card!



Can't wait for the next one in April.

Now, I seem to have been bitten by the scrapbooking bug, so I will be spending the afternoon trawling through photographs and playing with layouts!

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Scrapbook page: My trip to America

Yesterday I went round to mummy Julie's to help her out with some crafty things. We had a good natter and got loads done. While I was there she made a scrapbook page and with that and her class this afternoon, at which I will be scrapping some pics of my niece and nephew, I got home and was in the mood for getting stuck in!

So, I dug out a picture of me I have been meaning to do something with for ages. It was taken in May 2007 in a bar in Minneapolis. I had been sent to the USA on a press trip and on arrival handed the keys to a brand new Chrysler Sebring and told to drive 400 miles around Minnesota and Wisconsin! Bear in mind I had passed my test just a few months earlier and had only ever driven a Vauxhall Corsa!

Anyway, it was so much fun and I survived going the wrong way down a one-way street, the lack of roundabouts and being shouted at for doing U-turns and "parking improperly".

For this page I focused on the awesome Newsprint DSP. This is totally me and I use it as much as possible. This background sheet is just perfect for scrapbooking.



I matted the image on to Pacific Point card, which is pretty close to the colour of my top, and used the Spiral Border Punch to make it look like a notebook page. I added a paperclip from the Clips Assortment. The typewriter is from an American SU set called Puns From The Past. The ribbon is Basic Black Striped Grosgrain and Twill Tape, stamped onto randomly with the Just Perfect Alphabet.



The map is actually another design in the Newsprint DSP stack. I went to town with the Distressing Essentials kit, using the sanding block to roughen the edges and the Tea Stain Ink Spot to age it.I stamped USA with the Broadsheet Alphabet. I used brads and some Linen Thread and 3mm Taffeta Ribbon to decorate and marked the places I stayed with Xs. The arrow is a piece of chipboard from the On-Board pack, covered in Blueberry Crisp DSP.



The journalling is done on the oval stamp from the Notably Ornate set, framed with more chipboard pieces, this time covered in another pattern from the Newsprint DSP.



Finally, I decided to highlight some of the super adverts on the Newsprint DSP. Again, I used the Distressing Essentials to rough them up.



This one is my favourite!



I definitely have the scrapbooking bug now so expect more layouts soon!

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Gift tag page

This is another of the mini scrapbook pages I was playing around with a few weeks ago. I love making gift tags, thay're my new favourite thing!
This is the awesome Marina Mist card and uses the gorgeous Bella Toile MASSIVE background stamp on the Basic Grey card. I punched the bottom, added a sentiment from Tiny Tags on the Scallop Square Punch and decorated with ribbons and buttons and brads.
I think the blue and grey is such a classy combination and am really pleased with how this turned out.

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Vivienne Westwood scrapbook page

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Mulberry scrapbook page

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First ever scrapbook page - F1 theme of course!

Here is my first attempt at a scrapbook page.
The picture of Sebastian Vettel and the quote from him under the flag were from an interview in the latest Red Bulletin. I made the flag by weaving strips of paper. The big wings were in a mix bag of embellishments I ordered off eBay and I think the yellow ribbon came from some sort of goody bag as well. I stamped Vettel on to corrugated paper then went over it with a Sharpie to make it clearer.
Overall I am pleased with the result. I think it was actually a tough theme to start on.

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