Pyjama Day

Last Sunday i tweeted that i was planning on staying in my pyjamas all day and scrapbooking. i don't think i ever got such an overwhelming response to a tweet! It seems that a lot of my followers think that's a perfect way to spend the day. Now, it's not every week that i get to spend my Sunday in such a lazy manner, but if i do get the opportunity to indulge then i take it. This all led me to thinking that i should make a page about it.

Supplies: Tags: Elles Studio, Stamps, Buttons, Veneer Banner, Garland: MME, Paper: October Afternoon, Pebbles, Alpha Stickers: Pebbles, Tag: Amy Tangerine, Ink: JBS Date Stamp: K&Co Other: Pearl stickers

This is mostly the Salvaged add-on from Studio Calico with some Elle's Studio tags and MME Kraft Fun Day mixed in.  i'm really enjoying playing with bits and pieces on my pages lately and i'm still obsessed with that kraft garland from MME. i'm trying to actually use my stamps more too. i hope you are having a happy Sunday, be it a pyjama day or not! 

Circus Circus

Firstly, thanks so much for all the supportive comments and e-mails i've received in response to my last post. i was anxious about sharing so much personal stuff here, but it turns out i needn't have been. It was a bit of relief to get it out there & i'll try to do honest posts more regularly, maybe once a month? i think a lot more people are struggling more then we ever realise, so remember to be careful with one another.

But now for happier things! Last summer, the circus came into town so She Who Must Not Be Named & i went along. i hadn't been to one since i was a kid so i was really excited.

Paper: Echo Park Paper, Crate Paper, Button & Ribbons: MME, Stickers: Sassafras, Crate Paper, Mist: Studio Calico, Maya Road, Punch: Martha Stewart, Banner: Pink Paislee, Embossing Powder: American Crafts.

This one mostly uses Studio Calico's Add-on Lollipop from February, plus the Crate exclusive stickers from the main kit and the Pink Paislee banners from April's main kit. i used some Zing! to emboss it. i wanted to use fun bright circusy products on this one, because my photos were black and white. Most venues are a bit weird about allowing SLR's into them so i just took a few pics on my iPhone, they're not the most amazing but in my opinion photos don't have to be perfect to capture the memory.

Some fun things coming up over the next week. Southsea Fest tomorrow. It's a local music festival and one of my favourite days of the year! i'm most looking forward to Matthew and the Atlas, Paper Aeroplanes and my favourite local bands The B of the Bang and The Dawn Chorus. i also just signed up for Amy Tan's class at Big Picture Classes, can't wait for that to start! Anyone else in?

Elle's Studio Sketches

In order to make way for some of the fabulous new Elle's Studio releases i've been trying to use up some the stash of journalling tags i've got from previous releases. i didn't need to look far for inspiration because there's lots of fun stuff over at Elle's blog including weekly sketches!

i stayed true to the first sketch i used, i just flipped it. It's based on a layout by Lisa Dickinson, love her graphic style.

Tags: Elle's Studio, Mist: Studio Calico, Maya Road, Paper: Girls Paperie, Stamp: Studio Clalico, Ink: JBS, Tape: Martha Stewart, Other: Twine, Tiny Attacher.

i mostly used tags from Elle's Project kit here to document my favourite thing about summer: picnics on the common! Although there haven't been many this year because we are having a typically British summer ie. no sunshine. i'm rather enamoured with that Martha Stewart tape that i found in my local Hobby Craft, it's very Cath Kidston and therefore, very me.

Here's the second sketch i used based on a layout by Melissa Mann, i've yet to see a page of Melissa's that i didn't love! Her designs are so original and her pages are always so colourful and fun.

Supplies: Stamp: Studio Calico, Tags: Elle's Studio, Paper: Crate Paper, Echo Park, Stickers: Crate Paper, Alpha Stickers: Sassafrass, Mists: Studio Calico & Maya Road, Large Rik Rak: MME, Ink: Jenni Bowlin, Kit: February Add-On from Studio Calico, Other: Tab

i ended up going a little crazy with the mist here (i think i used 6 different colours!) but i ended up really liking it and the night was fun so it fits the page. 

And i loved this week's sketch based on a layout by Waleska Neris, whose pages i always adore!

Tags: Elle's Studio, Paper, Alpha Stickers:  American Crafts, Sticker: Crate Paper, Mist, Stamp: Studio Calico, Ink: JBS, Other: Buttons, Twine, Eyelets, Tab.

Oh Canada, how i miss you! Glad to have use for that lovely AC paper and i'll never get bored of this SC stamp, i think it's my all time favourite. i love that Elle's tags work well together even when they're not from the same collection. And they are so easy to mix with products from other lines. i've been challenging myself to use eyelets lately. i don't think i've touched them since 2005 but i've managed to get them on 2 layouts in the last week and managed a grand total of 4 on this layout!! Have you been using any of your old stash lately?

Don't forget, there is still time to enter the Ebook giveaway!! i'll be drawing a winner tomorrow. 

Shimelle's Blog Party

If you're part of the scrapbooking community you'll probably already be aware of the Blog Party Shimelle hosted last weekend & what an awesome girl she is for organising such an event. Last year's was a lot of fun so i tried to complete as many challenges as i could this week. i think 6 pages in a week is some kind of record for me!

Chop Your Paper Challenge

Paper: October Afternoon. Transparency: Hambly, Alphabet Stickers: Sasafrass, Stamp & Mist: Studio Calico, Ink: JBS, Punch: Martha Stewart, Other: Embroidery Floss, Tiny Attacher

Oh my, how that OA paper scared me! But i was determined to use it. Given that i am not much of an embellisher anyway you'd think this challenge wasn't too hard for me, yet i still couldn't resist adding some hand stitching, stamping and misting. Photos taken with a disposable camera. 

Add to the Story Challenge

Paper: Studio Calico Advert, Stickers: Jillibean Soup, Chipboard Button; Maya Road, Frame: K&Co. 

Above is a layout that i did last year. To add to the story i used an American Crafts divided page protector to include additional photos and journalling. This is something i do a lot in my travel albums. 

Half A Page Challenge

Paper: Crate Paper, Basic Grey, Brads: Basic Grey, Stamp: Studio Calico, Mistable Trim: Pink Paislee, Mist; Studio Calico, Tag: Elles Studio, Alphabet Stickers: Sasafrass, Other: Twine, Eyelet, Tiny Attacher, Kit: Studio Calico, Boardwalk

This is also something i do naturally on my pages from time to time, but i struggled to fit in my journalling on this one so i ended up hiding it away on the Elle's Studio Tag. 

Grid It Up Challange

Paper: Pink Paislee, Other: Twine

Does this count as a grid? i'm not sure. i felt that the paper i conveyed the theme on this page well enough to manage without any photos. 

Bingo Cards & Butterflies

Paper, Button, Sticker, Bingo Card, Journalling Card: Jenni Bowlin Studios,Tape: Pink Paislee, Stamp, Veneer Stars & Rub-Ons: Studio Calico, Ink: Staz-On, Other: Twine. 

This challenge was to draw inspiration from the page that Shimelle posted. i also used a Bingo Card as my base and framed it with tape, like Shimelle did with paint. To carry on the old photo theme, i used a polaroid stamp. As for the butterflies, i'm afraid it's quite tricky to work those into a Halloween theme.

Hot Pink Hoopla

Paper, Chipboard Aphabet, Doilies: Cosmo Cricket, Alphabet stickers: Sasafrass, Stamp: Studio Calico, Ink: JBS, Stickers: Do Crafts Tape: American Crafts Other: Embroidery Floss

i figured hot pink would be fitting for these pictures of a girls night we had recently. And p.s. Kool-Aid works well as a mixer ;)

Getting creative with twine

You may have noticed that this year i've had a slight obsession with twine and it's made it's way on to most of my pages. Last week's challenge over at the SC blog was to use twine on a page and tried come up with a few new ways to use it.

My standard favourite thing to do is just to add twine as a border and use my tiny attacher to adhere it to my page. With this layout i did just that but tied on a few extra bits of twine to change things up a bit.

Paper:  MME & Hambly, Twine: MME, Alpha Stickers: Studio Calico & Sassafras, Mistable Trims: Pink Paislee, Brads; Basic Grey, Mist: Studio Calico, Other: Tiny Attacher, Kit: Studio Calico Boardwalk

For this page i made hoops of twine. It's really easy. Just wind your twine around a circular object. i used an egg cup, but you can use something smaller or larger depending what size you want your hoops to be. i wound mine around the egg cup about 5 or 6 times and then secured it by tying it with more twine. i used a liquid adhesive to attach to my page, but you could also sew them on. 

Paper: Basic Grey, MME, Crate Paper, Twine: MME, Stamp, Mist: Studio Calico, Alpha Stickers: Studio Calico, Sassafras, Border Sticker: Sassafras, Other: tiny Attacher, Kit: Studio Calico Boardwalk

They're messy and imperfect, but that's ok with me!

i really really love this kit! When i first saw the colour combination i knew it would go well with my New Zealand pictures so i'm trying to scrap with some of the 4x6 photos i already have printed. i am so used to scrapping with smaller pictures these days, i'm struggling a bit with the size, but i'm determined to use them!

Because of... *effer dare 17*

Yay! The effer dares are back, and this pleases me so! i've missed those girls & they're crazy inspiring posts/creations. And this time April Foster of Studio Calico is playing along too, double yay! The prompt is 'because of...' This instantly made me think of everything my mum has done for me. When you 'grow up'  (put in brackets because i don't really consider myself a grown-up) i think you start to realise what a huge responsibility being a mum is. It goes well beyond, cooking, cleaning and entertaining, it's the most important job there is! My mum's influence has shaped me into the person i am today, which most definitely is a good thing, because she is rather wonderful.

Paper: Cosmo Cricket, Sassafrass, Stickers: Sassafras, American Crafts, Flower; Sassafras, Alpha Chipboard: American Crafts,  Mist: Tattered Angels, Maya Road,Kit: Back 40, Studio Calico.

As SC are sponsoring the dare i figured i'd used one of my kits. i'm nearly done with Back 40 so i got that out to play with. Just another page or two and i've officially 'killed' it, that'll be a first! This picture is of my mum and i, aged 11 months.

Happy iNSD!

What is iNSD i hear you say? {inter}National Scrapbooking Day of course! And actually yesterday was iNSD, not today, so i'm a little late. But yesterday was all full of fun-ness but no scrapbookey things for me, which a story for another blog post.

Anywho, i hope unlike me you managed to get some scrapbooking done on this wonderful day! i have been celebrating this amazing hobby today instead and getting crafty. This year marks a decade of scrapbooking for me and i am so thankful to have found it, not just for the creative outlet but also the wonderful people i've met along the way. If you'd like a giggle you can check out last year's post in which i shared a few of my very first pages!

This year Big Picture Classes teamed up with Creating Keepsakes for a Creative Crop, in which a different challenge was set every hour for 12 hours. i took part in a few including this one based on a sketch by Lisa Day.

Studio Calico Kit: Partly Sunny. Paper: American Crafts, October Afternoon, Studio Calico, Mist: Studio Calico, Alphabet Stickers: American Crafts, Stickers: October Afternoon, Flowers: Making Memories, Punch: Martha Stewart, Other: Twine, Tiny Attacher.

Around this time last year i started Flat hunting with my Bestie, She Who Must Not Be Named. It was a big decision to move in together, but one that has worked out happily. Mid way through our first day (and what turned out to be the only day) of flat hunting we stopped at a diner for lunch to talk things over. What better way to make a big decision then over pancakes and milkshake?

Some other fun things are going on in celebration of iNSD in a few of my favourite places: Studio Calico, Jenni Bowlin Studio and Elle's Studio. Be sure to check them out if you haven't already as they have challenges open until the end of the week! i'm hoping to complete a few more before the deadline, so i'll be beack during the week with more layouts to share. i hope you had fun on iNSD!

Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day in the UK and i was fortunate enough to spend the afternoon with my very own mama. We took a picnic to the common and went to the Little Black Dress Exhibition that is currently being exhibited at the City Museum. My mum is the most caring person i know. i inherited my best qualities from her. Except for my curly hair, it's still a mystery where that came from. 

When i saw this sketch over at the Stucio Calico blog based on a layout by the fabulous Emily Pitt's, it screamed 'instax photo' at me. 

And i happened to take a picture of my mum + i this afternoon with my instax camera. i don't think i've ever scrapped a picture the same day i took it before. i used my favourite SC kit ever, Granny's Cupboard for this one, along with some sassafras stickers. i still dig into that kit all the time, i don't ever want it to be finished. It was the most 'me' a kit has ever been. And i'm still in love with that paper from Girl's Paperie (which i am sad to hear will be no more). i'm glad to finally have a page to share with you. i'm working such long shifts at the moment i feel like my life has been put on hold a little bit!

Paper: Girls Paperie, October Afternoon, Die Cuts & lace: K&Co, Alpha Stickers: Sassafras. Baker's twine.