6ichthusfish

A Cute Scrapbook LO...

There has been some discussion on the topic of 'cute' regarding scrapbook LOs.  There is a scale of cuteness... the LO below is on the 'very cute' end of that scale... BUT seriously, our little girl, all ready for bed on Christmas Day evening, playing with her new Barbies and furniture... if that's not cute I don't know what is!!?!

The video that went along with this prompt was excellent.  I feel like I understand layering and embellishment clustering so much more (given me a happy face for sure). 

Funny that the pp is from a collection called CHLOE (by 'Three Bugs in a Rug').  That is such a great name!?! xxx 

Scrapping a boy's LO ...

I am enjoying Shimelle's latest online class called Scrapbook Remix. What's it about?  "Scrapbook Remix is an online scrapbooking class that shares the secrets to mixing patterned papers of all kinds and then creating a range of pages with this combinations. We’ll talk colour, pattern, scale, size, technique and more." Yay.

Here's a LO I made in response to Shimelle's challenge to make a boy's LO from option 3, prompt 5...

Back in 2010, Ds loved to get three of his mice all out to play at once.  We had a fourth mouse who was too delicate to play in a messy group and she had her own playtime.

Here's two close-ups...

I ordered the badge (flair) with the camera on it from the USA.  It was from an etsy shop called 'A Flair For Buttons' and by 'buttons' she means 'badges' without the pin in the back :)

On the photo above you can see a pale blue piece of cardstock that I ran through my Cuttlebug in a 'Tim Holtz' embossing folder called 'Bubble Wrapping'.  Most of it got covered up but it added a nice bit of texture.  I love the Hambly  Camera screenprint too. 

Any scrappers out there interested in joining this class?  It's not too late and the materials stay available to you to go back and revisit whenever you want.  Today I watched the prompt 7 video and it was brilliant.  Lovin to learn and improve my LO's.

Jubilee Scrapbook LO (following a sketch)...

Sometimes I just love to follow a sketch when scrapbooking because I still get to choose the photos, pretty papers and embellishments and don't have to worry about design issues like 'balance' 'flow' or 'focal point'.  I used this fab sketch (140) (scroll down a bit) by Valerie Salmon on the site 'Got Sketch?'   

The 'Got Sketch?' site is full of  great sketches which you can see here and there are some inspiring designer layouts on the blog too.  This sketch blog gives permission to use their sketches for personal use.  I had originally intended to post this LO as a DT project for the crafty blog IACW but didn't hear back when I asked for permission, so am only allowed to post it here on my personal blog.  This post is very step-by-step trying to show my process for following a sketch and hopefully encouraging other crafters to try a sketch if they've never used one before because when I'm in the right mood I find it very satisfying.  I know some people end up with a LO very different to the sketch, but you'll see that I followed it quite closely.
 
I like to have the sketch close by on my i-pad and began by choosing the background pp  (from a collection called Portobello Road by Papermania).  I chose to use three photos instead of four like the sketch, and matted them onto blue pp with a very thin mat.  Then I cut a long piece of pp in red and white (by Cosmo Cricket 'Odds and Ends') just wider than the blue photo mat.   I liked the rounded  corners  on the sketch so rounded my corners too...

Next, I punched a strip of pp in the same  blue as the photo mat and cut a length of red and white baker's twine...

I used glittered cardstock to make the pennants.  On the sketch there are 5 pennants which is better design wise (to use an odd number) but my line of pennants looked strange so I cut two of each colour which gave me 6 in total but that looked more balanced than 5.  These were raised up on foam pads to add dimension.

 

 I usually ink edges of my LOs in brown but chose blue chalk ink to ink the diecut from the Portabello Road collection...

The title 'Jubilee Tea' isn't the most creative but it is to the point(!) I nearly always stick my title letters onto a see-through plastic ruler so that I can move the title about and check the position I want, then when I'm happy with it I glue the letters down.  I positioned my title in a different place than it was on the sketch as I didn't have space up above the line of pennants.

I used Hi-Tack wet glue to make sure the pennants stayed put on the twine...

 

I do like a bit of stitching on a LO but sometimes using rub-on (fake) stitching is called for ...

I cut a Cosmo Cricket frame sticker in half and cut around it on the front page of the pp collection (as the pattern was a cute, small version of the background pp).  This was for the date.  It's the same brackety shape as the large Union Jack die-cut.

Some pretty ribbon (bought locally) was raised up on foam pads, directly under the date... 

I used a standard tag to cut around for the title to go on (again pp from the front page)...

I embellished the LO with some little silver charms hung from the title on blue twine and a diamond and gold brad to dot the 'i' in Jubilee.

 At this point I decided to add some more fake stitching..

A small photo of the outside of the Teashop went onto the journalling tag, which is hidden on the LO behind the photo mat.

The finished LO (and yep we did wear those colours on purpose... sad I know!!?!)

 

A close up...

I made this LO in the Summer.  It seems so long ago now.  Also, I just want to mention that I stepped down from being a designer over on the It's A Creative World blog.  I really like the variety of crafts offered on that blog and will miss being a designer.  Over the last nearly two years I have made and posted about crochet toys (Amigurumi) crochet motifs and trim, scrapbooking, yarn-storming, quilting, beading, messy mixed-media and probably other things I can't remember :)  it was a fun season for me but I decided that it is time to move over and let others bring their fresh ideas and talents to the blog. 

Getting Textured and Misty with a Skissedilla Sketch...

Ooh, I do love it when messy media and photos get together with a fab sketch... all you need is cheap white wine and pretzels and you've got a party!!!  I'm supposed to be tidying up my craftroom so we can get down the suitcases and start packing for a holiday, but when I saw this Skissedilla Summer Sketch (by Nabon) earlier this month I seriously wanted to join in (not to mention fab prizes on their site).  So... while dh and the lads watched lots of the Olympics on the TV, I flitted in and out and finished this LO.

Here's a couple of close-ups...

I'm so happy to scrap these photos of dh and me last year at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.  We enjoyed the day very much and I'm not sure what it is about good Art (and sculpture in particular) that brings out the lovey-dovey in us... so the title is about loving this sculpture by Spanish Artist Jaume Plensa and feeling the love for eachother too.  You can't beat getting up close and personal and touching a mega sculpture with the love-of-your-life by your side to enjoy it.  Sigh.  I found loads on YouTube about Jaume Plensa  and these sculptures if you want to see more info :)

Because it turned out to be a fave LO I wasn't too sad to cover up most of the scrummy texture I added with texture paste on the background.  Took these pics before I added the photos and embellies...

...and before the colour...

Here's the fab sketch by Nabon...

It's a Creative World blog have changed up a few things since our Summer break and I will be posting about this LO with tips on the messy misty masked bits (including what didn't work when I put together this LO).  Not sure what date yet :) 

Ok... MUST tidy up now :)

 

Scrapbook weekend with Shimelle Challenge 11...

I have just finished challenge 11.  Here is my LO 'TwinTime'...

... and a close-up...

Here's Shimelle's challenge for number 11...

 "This challenge may be easy, but you need to follow it carefully. Choose two patterned papers with contrasting designs – things that are obviously very different. Chevron and doodles, hearts and stripes, sunshines and polka dots… just make sure they are very different types of patterns. Then use them to create the background of your page: two-thirds one pattern, one-third the other pattern."

I chose stripes for my 2/3rds and blue checks for my 1/3rd.  I scraplifted Shimelle's LO (see below) and added hand stitching.  In the photos of my LO, the pink looks very 'peachy-red' which it isn't. What can you do without natural light at 10pm?  Never mind.  the photo of our twins when they were 11 back in  2006 now has a place in the album and their close relationship won't be forgotten :)

I have another LO I've been working on, so we'll see how my time goes for that one.

Scrapbook weekend with Shimelle Challenge 4...

I have jumped to Challege 4 because I really fancied doing this challenge.  Use yellow, grey and another colour of your choice.  I chose pink as I think this is a lovely combination.

This is a photo taken last Spring of dd aged 16.  It wasn't very long after this photo was taken that she had her haircut and styled, started at College and got braces on her teeth.  I wrote quite a bit of journaling on the hidden tag about my thoughts as she grows up into a beautiful young woman, both inside and out.  Here's a close up...

I lifted the idea of Shimelle's butterflies fluttering upwards from her Easter LO (see below).  The colours are a bit off in my photos (especially the pink crochet flower... it's not so reddish IRL)

Husb had to work today so this was a good way to spend my Saturday.  I think I'm going to double back to the previous challlenges, depending on what's coming up next :)  Loving the scrapping weekend.

Scrapbook weekend with Shimelle... Challenge 1...

I am super happy to be scrapping this weekend with Shimelle.  This is my LO from the  first challenge  ...

Here are a few close ups...

The tag in the LO above was made during the class I took online with Julie Fei-fan Balzer. Here is a link to her blog.    Not my usual style but the challenge was to scraplift this page from Jaime Warren... 

Shimelle also scraplifted the same page...

So, on to the next challenge!

Been Scrapbooking at the Pretty Paper Party.....!

I feel like a late comer to the Pretty Paper Party, hosted by Shimelle  but made this LO a few days ago and haven't had a moment to photograph and upload it   I made it for prompt 4 all about using dots and stripes. I loved this challenge  and have never used so much dotty pp on a LO. These photos were from our 16 yo twins' 5th Birthday party. Big brother, Roman,  and little brother 'Smurf' were dressed up too. It was a special day for everyone, back in the year 2000.

There's a stripy strip and I made the embellishment with the big white 5 on it by embossing stripes into the yellow card stock with my Cuttlebug and wood-grain embossing folder. This reminded me of how much I love the textured look of embossed patterns.

There was lots of journaling so I added a tag behind the LO...

It's not my usual thing to scrap older photos, but I am so pleased this special day will remembered and in the album.  Maybe I'll scrap more older photos.  We'll see.  Here's one last close-up...

Feels good to be creative again :)

Explore LO.... TRAVEL.... Day 5 by Shimelle

I knew today was going to be putting together a project, tied to what we've been doing this week.  I'm a 12" by 12" scrapbooker, so that was my chosen LO size.  We began by gathering our thoughts to find a theme and a story.  I had a photo of ds 2 (16) on a rope bridge and from that photo the idea evolved to make a LO about him, not just travelling across the rope bridge but onto the next stage of his life (going to Catering College full-time in September)...

 

Shimelle encouraged us to use the embellies we made yesterday.  I had already used the colours to go with the ordinance survey map, so decided to keep these as they went well with the male/outdoorsy kind of rope ladder TRAVEL theme.  I  used two of yesterday's embellies and had quickly made 7 more today of the same size...

 

There were some helpful sketches and I loosely used the first one but moved my journaling down, to run across the bottom.  I have done a lot of handwritten journaling recently and that went well with the personal style of journaling (kind of like I am speaking to my son). 

 

Shimelle also drew our attention to a 'pintrest' collection gathered with photos to inspire us in class.  A  Maggie Holmes LO called 'You are the cutest girl ever' had a 9 circle block that was divided up with a machine stitched grid.  I loved this LO and put a machine stitched grid onto my LO.  I also added words with my DYMO machine as I'd run out of the American Crafts stickers from yesterday's embellies.  Finally, Shimelle spoke about the words for this project.  I probably spent longer than usual thinking about the words and adding them carefully.  The words say...

"As I look at you on this photo, Robin, about to cross this rope bridge at 'Go Ape'... it strikes me as very symbolic for where you are in your life right now.  You will be leaving home-education behind & moving forward to Catering College to persue your chosen career as a Chef.  I see Chloe (your twin) still in the picture but at a distance.  The time has come for you to travel forward alone.  I know you can do it.  Love Moogie...Photo Aug 2010, Journaling July 2011."

This LO came together really quickly and I still have a pile of similar embellies to use another day.  Totally loving this class.  I have had more time on my hands than usual, so hoping I can still keep up next week :)

 

Thoughts on 'perfection' day 4 EXPLORE

Thoughts on 'perfection' .  Although I definitely try to do my best, I am no longer striving for perfection... I do think that's the road to misery.  I made a card for my Playbook/file...

 

There was also a suggestion about quotes.  Quotes are not something I do very often but the quote I used was a rub-on by Fancy Pants and I thought it went with the theme and do believe trying to be ferfect does not lead to happiness.

On the back of the card I wrote some waffle  deep reflective thoughts about perfection and why I chose that photo to illustrate them...

 
the words say...

"I would say that I have 'perfectionist tendencies' if that's even something that exists.  It's not something helpful.  I've learned to aim for "good enough" these days... saves a shed of heartache.  So... why the family photo on the other side - what's it got to do with thoughts about 'perfection' ?  It was taken on the day of the Royal Wedding.  I'd really wanted to find a Street party to go to (like on the T.V.) but **** was quiet and deserted, so we headed to the local park, thinking there might be other folks there.  I'd asked the family to wear red, white or blue clothes for any photo opps.  When I look at the photo I see everyone except me in red, white or blue ... I was cold so popped a sweatshirt over my blue T-shirt.  I see a couple of plastic flags... acquired from the ********* pub.  I see genuine smiles and all of us together (rare these days now the children are growing up & have jobs or other commitments). I kind of see my life... not perfect but pretty good.  I really think perfection is a myth. "

I don't think it's a bad idea to reflect on these things.  I'm sitting here now feeling very blessed with my lot.  Good enough is pretty good.