Tropical Storm...

ooooooooooh a real paper page!!  Oh my I really got carried away on this.  Actually finding the matching papers took me absolutely ages.  How annoying is it when the two sides on double sided paper don't match each other.  Grrrrrrrrrr really frustrating.  I love the blue design here, but the blue on the reverse is a totally different shade and they just don't look right together.  In the end (hours later with every pack of 12" x 12" paper I own out) I opted to use a terracotta paper, which I liked as it matched the tiles on the photo and in my opinion provided a good contrast to the blue.

Other materials used...

• hammered cream paper
• Spellbinder flower, scalloped and plain circle die
• circle punch to punch out photos
• gems coloured using Promarker pen
• Sizzix tag die
• sketch (with loads of alterations) originally from Pagemaps by Becky Fleck  
• Designer papers by ?? - had so many out I really can't remember which pack they were from.

Challenges...

• Oldie but a Goodie - April Showers (items more than six months old - absolutely everything I've used)
• Simon Says Stamp - April Showers bring May flowers
• One Stop Craft Challenge - three circles

Well I'm off to stash away all the papers I've spread out everywhere and generally tidy my craft space.  Hope everyone is having a great day.

Ann xxx

Friends...

Phew think I've just made it with this page for two challenges at Frosted Designs .  I used their present sketch and followed their recipe of 3 patterned papers, two buttons and a one word title.  I don't find it easy to combine patterned papers so this was a toughie for me, but if you look very carefully I did sneak a tiny sneaky bit of a third patterned paper around the edge of the journalling circle.  Quite a clever/lucky break having that paper actually cause it matches the colours on Ann's T shirt.

Materials used...

• G.C.D. papers
• Cricut to cut the large petalled circles and letters
• Spellbinder tag and swirl die
• Flower punch
• inkjet acetate to print journalling on
• tiny buttons and organza ribbon

Additional challenge...

• Pollycraft - Favourite Things (going on holiday, Italy, gorgeous designer patterned papers and most important of all - Friends!)

Have a great week everyone.  I'm hoping to complete the facing page to this one in between work, but it going to be tough.

Ann xxx

Well I never...

Another honour ... two in one week!  Ant and Dec eat your hearts out!

This time I reckon the cuteness of Eli probably had a lot to do with it, but it's still absolutely wonderful to be picked out at Crafty Ann's Challenge. 

You can see the post and the rest of the Top Three here.

Hope your Friday starts as brilliantly as mine.

Ann xxx

oh my goodness...

I am so pround of this...

 

Still consider myself an absolute beginner when it comes to scrapbooking so what a fantastic surprise to be picked out and featured at Lasting Memories with this page.  It really has made my day.

Needed something like this to cheer me up too as I've just done 3 really long overnight shifts at work and come home today feeling really poorly.  Not sure whether I'm overtired or I've caught a bug.  Hopefully a long sleep will put me back on track.

Hugs to all.

Ann xxx

Peach Bellinis Page 2...

Been oh so busy at work that this is first chance I've had to complete my double page spread and it has been so hard to do.  I had absolutely none of the dark mustard paper left to mat and layer on so had to resort to cutting the stripes of mustard from a sheet of striped paper and strip mounting my photos and journalling.  Eeek not easy and my results are not as perfect as I would like, but oh well the memories are preserved and the page finished.

Apologies for the flash reflection on the glass - no time to take another photo.

My materials are the same as in my post here and with luck I can enter my page for the following challenges...

• Lasting Memories - Time for a recipe (journalling includes recipe for Peach Bellinis)
• Practical Scrappers - Clean and Simple
• CES Challenges - anything but a card

This is the finished two page spread...

I'm doing lots of extra shifts this coming week so probably won't be around.  So missing having loads of time to craft, but oh well hopefully things will soon be back to normal and I won't be trying to do two jobs at the same time.

Have a fun week.

Ann xxx

Peach Bellinis...

Yet more time spent scrapbooking holiday memories.  I never realised before (always a bit slow in some obvious things) how much scrapbooking makes you relive the holiday.  I really feel like I've been away this week and that's just what you need in the middle of winter.

I am really proud of this page for three reasons ...

• it's been put together using really cheap paper that I've had for years and years so my Use it up pledge is being adhered to.
• it was inspired by a sketch in a fantastic book that Laura bought me for Christmas - Scrapbook Page Maps by Becky Fleck - a wow of a book!
• I've only had two sheets of the dark yellow so I'm having to pull all kinds of tricks out of the hat to enable me to do a two page spread. 

Only showing page one today due to having to go to work (so inconvenient) page two will have be completed another day.

Check out the long strip of embossed paper - 12" long with no joins under the photo!  To be honest I didn't realise when I was doing the strip it was going to have parts under the photo or I would have had joins.  Ah well it led to a clever idea for doing extra long strips easily.  I'll share that as soon as I get some photos done.

Materials...

• think the papers are by Papermania from way back and are not the quality they produce now.  Very thin which meant I had to attach the base layer to plain card so that it would carry the weight of the other items.
• Button from stash
• Ribbon - Bazzill Basics - a present from my crafting buddy Max.
• Letters cut using Cricut machine

Challenges...

• Simon Says Challenge - Spots and Stripes
• Challenge up your life - Bingo - line ribbons, buttons and diecuts
• Little Claire's - Anything but a card
• One Stop Craft Challenge - on the spot and ribbon

Well better get a shower and get off to work.  Have a great day all.

Big hugs.

Ann xxx

Holiday memories...

Had two fabulous days scrapbooking holiday photos alongside Laura.  So brilliant to work side by side chatting about the holidays we shared last summer at the same time as scrapping the photos.  Huge amount of photos to do though - good job it's fun.

To create this page I used a sketch I picked up from a challenge last summer so I reckon I'm just a tad late to enter!  I had the sketch printed out on a scrap of paper stored with the photo, but I really can't remember which site it came from.  Great sketch anyway.

The card I've used is by DCWV and the fabulous matching brick patterned paper happened to be in my stash - not sure what company, but isn't it a good match?

Other materials...

• Cricut to cut title letters
• Xyron Design Runner to print journalling on tiny scraps of card
• Xcut star die

No challenges - sigh!

Back at work tomorrow so it may be weekend before I get anymore crafting done.  Might get chance to hop around blog land though hopefully.

Have fun everyone.

Hugs

Ann xxx

More Christmas Scrapping...

Just when Eli thought it couldn't get any worse I found this oh so cute hat with a snowman on the top.  I think when he grows up and sees these pics he will probably fall out big time with his Grannie Annie, but oh well I'll talk my way out of that when the time comes.

Again I've used Scrapbook Artist to digitally create my page.  I'm learning all the time though and so proud of myself as in this page I've actually created my own frame for the photo to snap into.  Cool eh?

The sketch I've used is a fab one by the team at Sketchy Thursdays.  Really enjoyed using this one.

My page is also for the challenges at...

• Craft Your Days Away Challenges - Snowmen

Have a great day.  I'm working all week so crafting time is going to be severely limited, but hopefully I'll be able to play a little.

Ann xxx

Paradise...

After trying to find space for some beautiful new designer papers I bought this week I thought it might be an idea to do some 'real' scrapbooking for a change instead of using Serif Craft Artist and having the whole page printed.

Typically I ended up not using any of my patterned paper at all, but two plain blue sheets of 12" x 12" card by DCWV and a amazing sketch from Sketchy Thursdays.

It was quite nerve wracking to cut my 6" x 4" photos down to just the 3" x 3" that eventually turned out to be the right size for the layout, but I'm glad I did now as I love they way they turned out.  After trimming I matt and layered each photo on to white and the same navy paper as my base colour. 

The title and journalling, which if you look carefully at the sketch, had to include a list, was planned on Serif Craft Artist (hmm still ended up using it for one part of the page after all) and then printed on Inkjet Acetate before being laid over the light blue.  Then I attached the photos and strip of embossed card on top.

I didn't add any extra embellishments as I really liked the simplicity of the page.  Hope others do too!

My page is also for the challenges at...

• Crafty Ann's Challenge - Monochromatic (eeeeek well it is apart from photos)
• Scrapbook Sisters - Anything Goes

Wow - three posts in one day!  I'm on a roll which is about to come to an end as I am working all weekend.

Ah well needs must have a good weekend everyone.

Ann xxx

Eli and Gran Part Two...

Here's the facing page to the 'Cherish' page I created last week.  I used the sketch from Sketchy Thursdays, but left out the title due to lack of space and already having a title on the facing page.  I really love these two photos that give the impression of Eli and Gran having a long conversation.

Again I've used Craft Artist and tinted the photos in the back ground to match the papers on the page.

My page is also for the challenges at...

• Squiggles and Giggles - Anything but a card
• Inspire me Fridays - Anything goes

Ann xxx

Cherish...

Another page created on Serif Craft Artist.  I'm loving using this and the best part of all is that there's no tidying up.  Yeah no bits on the floor - no DST everywhere and no mounds of stamps, ink pads etc to put back in their homes.  There really is quite a lot of perks to digital scrap booking.

Most of the elements in this design were freebies from a very talented member, called Trulytango, on the Daisytrail Forum.  I love the large heart embellishment she created and I managed to create the smaller heart with matching stitching myself.  I also added a pearl embellishment to each heart to add both add detail and ensure they blended together.

My latest page is intended for the challenges at...

•  Lasting Memories Scrapbook Layouts - Cherish
• Squiggles and Giggles - Go Dotty
• Cooking it up with Katie - Anything but a card.

ooooooooooops almost forgot to say to create this page I used a fabulous sketch I found at Bo Bunny.  There are some amazing designs on there - truly inspirational and also full of real depth which you don't really get with digital.  Love all the samples they have using Scor buddy - do check the work out it's amazing.

Have a fun Saturday night everyone.

Ann xxx

Be afraid...be very afraid...

Someone is teething - eeeeeeeek!  Check out Eli with his special Halloween bib that Auntie Laura bought him.

Again I've used Serif Craft Artist and the sketch from Stuck On You Sketches. 

I feel happier about my interpretation of the layout this time.  I think using the same (or virtually the same) photo three times was far easier as I didn't have to worry about part of the photo being covered plus I think it adds impact to the main photo.
I've even completed the facing page using a sketch from Sketchy Thursdays. 

I was so pleased to see this sketch as it meant I could focus on my favourite photo and really have it large on my page.

I'm still loving using Craft Artist to create pages, but will be using the real stuff as soon as I have a bit more time.  I do think the Craft Artist software is helping me to learn more about scrapping though as it's so easy to move things around and change colours etc.  It's really good fun.

My pages are also perfect for the challenges at...

• 365 cards - Smile (checked the rules and scrapping is allowed and what better smile than a baby's)
• Hooked on Crafts Challenges - Halloween
• Pollycraft - Anything Goes
• Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Have a great day all and thank so much for the lovely comments about Eli.  I think he is super cute too, but then I am a little bit biased.

Ann xxx

More Playing...

Here's the facing page to yesterday's quick (not that quick as once you start playing with digital crafting it's all too easy to while away the hours) page about Eli.

Again created using Craft Artist and the digi kits available at Daisy Trail.  Both pages are 12" by 12".  I use DS Colour Labs to get them printed as they do an amazing job.

I'm entering my latest page into the following challenges...

• CD Sunday - cats and using a CD to create your project
• Come and Get it Challenges - Anything Goes
• Dream Valley Challenges - Anything Goes

Got a whole day off tomorrow - can't wait, but meanwhile I better go and have a shower ready to set off to work.  Have a good start to the week everyone.

Ann xxx

Playtime...

oh so long since I did any scrap booking and I have so many photos of Eli and holidays to catch up on.  Eeeeeeeek need more hours in the day methinks!  After getting home from work today I decided to chill out and use a sketch from one of my favourite blogs, Stuck on You Sketches to do a page about Eli playing on his jungle play mat.  I'm using the term 'playing' very loosely here as it's more a case of grap an animal and gum it into submission, but hey it's all good fun.

My page was created using Serif Craft Artist - ideal for those times when you're just too tired to get the real papers and embellishments out.  No tidying up to do just a case of closing down the computer and off to bed - brilliant.

Goodnight all.

Ann xxx 

Italy MIni Album...

Just finished this mini album for my friend Anne, who I went on holiday with earlier this month.  I used one of the brilliant sketches at Sassy Lil' Sketches as the basis for the front cover.  It's only a small album - just big enough to take 6" x 4" photos matted and layered on to designer paper, but I think she will love it.  Well I hope so anyway.

Here's a peak of the inside which I've kept really simple - well it had to be I've been at work most of the time since last Thursday.

All the papers I've used are by Kanban and I've kept to the monochromatic colour scheme.

I'm also very proud to say that thanks to Jules at Always with a heart I'm really trying to use 'snippets' left from other projects.  I do tend to be quite a wasteful crafter and although I don't throw the snippets away - they go to a good home (the ladies I work with at Mencap) I really should use more up myself.  So check out my frame and butterfly cut from this small left over piece of black glitter card...

Think using it definitely qualifies me for this week's Crafty Snippet Challenge.  

Hope everyone is having a great weekend and special wishes for my friend Max and her daughter who are over in Ireland.  Check out why HERE - wow how cool is that?
PS:  The 'T' in 'ITALY' has been suitably told off and is now standing up straight.

The Future is Mine...

Well I've had another go at the sketch at Sassy Sketches...

 

 

I was determined to use that cloud idea and seeing as Eli was with me over the weekend I had chance to take some photos.  Annoyingly some have not worked due to using a setting on the camera that sounded good, but in reality produced fuzzy pics.  Not to worry the ones I took on the normal setting have worked fine. 

My whole page was created using Serif Craft Artist.  That programme is so much fun.  I find myself playing for hours with all the different effects.  The page is 12" by 12" and I will be saving it until I have done a few and then I will send it to be developed at  DS Colour Labs who were recommended on the Daisytrail forum.  I had my first pages printed there last week and the results were fantastic. Great service too with packaging that meant that the prints couldn't possibly get damaged in the post.

My page is also for the challenges at...

•  Incy Wincy Designs - anything but a card

Here's the facing page that's hot of the press.  Same programme of course and I've used some elements from the first page to tie the two together.
Hope you like them.

Have a fabulous evening everyone.

Ann xxx

New Playmate...

While sat at a bar on the hillside in Zia waiting to see the famous view of the sunsetting over the coastline Laura made some new friends.  Good job she only had a small bag with her as I think this guy may have ended up being smuggled on to the plane home.  What a cutie?

To create my page I used a sheet of paper from a fabulous new paper pad I've just bought by G.C.D.  It's called Homespun Chic in the Melody Ross Designer Collection and has probably been out ages as I got it at a bargain price as usual.  Can't afford to buy things when they are first released - what a cheap skate!

It's double sided paper but I've only used the one side of this sheet with it's fabulous flowers that have a shiny coating on them almost as if they have been varnished or embossed with extra thick embossing powder.  I mat and layered my photo in matching colours and then slit around the flowers so that I could tuck the photo underneath. The bird was also already part of the designer paper.  Eeeeeeeeeek didn't leave me much to do really did it.

I knew I want to have cat prints on the page so after much cupboard searching I found a punch bought many years ago and started punching the paw prints out in the same paper as my matting and layering.  Then I remembered the Xyron Design Runner disk (that was part of a set and one I thought I would never use) with pet sentiments.  Eureka I spotted the 'Pounce' one and realised that it would be too small printed on my page, but with the power of the Cricut I could cut the letters and a circle for the 'O' and then punch the paw print inside.  Yay I'm so pleased with the result.    One of those moments when things come together with very little hair pulling out!

Sorry for rambling!  My page is perfect for the challenge at Stuck on Sketches where they have started a new challenge for people to encourage the use of die cutting machines.

I'd also like to enter the challenges at...

• Creative Craft Challenges - Anything but a card
• Try it on Tuesday - Anything goes
• Bling it on - challenge to have things beginning with ABC on project ...A = artwork, B = bird and blooms, C = cat.
• Sir Stampalot - Whatever you fancy!

Well I'm off to do the facing page to complete this project.  Have a great day everyone.

Later in the day and here's page two!

I was really lucky to find some WR Memory Keepers ring bound scrap books at TK Max a little while ago.  They had 10 pages in them, but they weren't the normal type of scrap book page.  Each page has a long slot at the top and 4 clear pockets for 6" by 4" photos.  At first I didn't think they would be any use, but actually I love them, because it means I can plan one full normal 12" by 12" scrapbook page and then on the other side use the 'strange' page to show some of the other photos.  The top slot gives a space to be a little more creative. On this page I've used the stripey designer paper and edged it with paw prints using the Xyron Design Runner.  I printed the sentiment 'Can we take one home Mum?' on to acetate and attached it to the top of the paper.

Love and hugs,

Ann xxx

All tuckered out...

After all those cuddles and playing Eli was just plain tuckered out.  I've just completed this page to go alongside my first page about his visit HERE.  It's a sort of before and after double page spread.  Again I used Serif Craft Artist to create the page.  Just love that programme.  I've actually uploaded all the 12" x 12" pages I've completed so far and sent them off for printing at DS Colour Labs.  Hopefully they will turn out really well and I can add some bits and bobs and put them in my album.

My page is also for the challenge at...

• Make it Monday - anything goes

Have a great day everyone - I'm off now to do my card for the new Bah! Humbug! challenge on Friday.  

Ann xxx

A real page...

Yep I've actually broke away from using Serif Craft Artist and actually used real papers and embellishments for once.  Very brave of me I think especially as I included some of my own handwriting too.  Not sure about that, but my daughter always says that it makes the page more personal.  I'm undecided as I like things just so and my handwriting wobbles especially when I'm trying to be my neatest.

Yet again I used the sketch from Stuck on Sketches and this time (even though not an essential part of this week's challenge) there are plenty of die cuts.

Materials used...

• Cricut Story Book cartridge to cut letters and large mount
• Cuttlebug dies for shells and starfish
• Starfish charm (from Primark bracelet)
• Sizzix die for wave swirl
• double sided card from massive pack from Costco

My page is also for the challenge at Rainbow Lady's challenge blog where the theme this week is a special island.  Thank you Cynthia for coming up with the perfect challenge for me to showcase a page about my recent holiday on the very beautiful island of Kos.

and here comes the new improved version...

printed journelling and a couple of extra starfish.  Think I'm happier with the result now.  What do you think?

The little 'Goodbye' was printed using my Xyron Design Runner so it was worth spending a fortune on that piece of kit after all.  LOL.
Thanks for all the lovely comments about Eli on my previous post - so kind.
Ann xxx

Back from holiday...

and of course just had to see Eli.  Here he is having a cuddle with Auntie Laura.  We are all absolutely besotted by him.

My scrapbook page is yet another created using Serif Craft Artist and I used the latest sketch at Stuck on Sketches as a starting point.  I have a 'real' traditional scrapbook page on the go that also uses this sketch, but it will be another few days before that one is finished.

I haven't got a printer caperble of printing 12" x !2"so I'm saving these pages and intending to have them printed professionally when I have enough to make paying the postage worthwhile.  When they are printed I'll probably add some gems or something a little 3D to perk them up.  We'll see.

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer even if it is a little cold here in England.

Ann xxx