FEBRUARY PL PART 1

WEDNESDAY, 18 FEBRUARY, 2015

Today I am only sharing one page in my Project Life for February. I know this may seem odd but for those of you that may not have visited my blog before I document my PL in a monthly fashion, or as things happen rather than in a weekly fashion. 

SPACER

SPACER

For my title card I have taken inspiration from Michelle Wooderson, who is phenomenal with her Project Life and basically anything she crafts and creates! If you would like to check out her blog, you can find it here. To see the title card I took inspiration from you can find that here. 

I have fallen behind a bit, not necessarily in the documenting but more so in the "getting the pictures taken and up on the blog" process. Mainly because as anyone in the UK knows there is not a lot of natural light here at this time of year to take photos, good photos that is of your layouts unless it is in the middle of the day, when the sun is out for about an hour or so.  So if you are otherwise preoccupied midday, then it can be difficult to get your photos taken. 

I thought it best to get this layout up on the blog and then if I can manage to get the other page up by the end of the week it will be a bonus. If I didn't put up either, than I would just be even further behind in blogging. Plus, one of my goals this year is to be more consistent with my blog posting, in all honestly it should have been up yesterday. So better to have one page up than nothing at all!

Here is the page that I am sharing today:

SPACER

This page documents one event, Afternoon Tea with a friend of mine. It is quite a traditional British thing to do here in the UK and I have to say I enjoy it very much! 

SPACER

SPACER

Here is my title card for this page. This colour scheme, pastels, is not something that I would normally use in my layouts, I typically go a bit brighter so it was enjoyable to try something new and step outside of the creative box, so to speak. I took inspiration from the colour palette used on the "tape" on the scone card. The background card is by Echo Park with the alphas being a mixture of Lilybee, Simple Stories and Kaisercraft. The banner tag is from an SC kit, the pink star Freckled Fawn and the pink February tag an old PL card I cut up. 

SPACER

SPACER

I did have a lot of fun with this layout as one, I am trying to use up a lot of my bits and scraps and two, I am also trying to do a stash buster this year as I have accumulated so many supplies over the years that I just need to use up already. It was fun trying to find all the tiny pieces I could use. The background paper is K&CO and the pink sticker with Heart This is Simple Stories DIY.

SPACER

SPACER

All of the food was simply heavenly! Everything fresh and handmade. It was definitely a yummy treat. Handmade scones! I used an old PL card for this pocket. I cut along the pseudo washi tape on the top of the card and inserted the picture just underneath it. I then printed out the scrummy scones banner on Bazzill cardstock, added a "can you believe it" sticker from the DIY line by Simple Stories and added a yellow enamel dot also by Simple Stories. 

SPACER

SPACER

These meringues with the fresh fruit were simply to die for! Let me tell you I was absolutely stuffed by the time I walked out of the hotel reception. The card is an old PL card scrap and the pink chipboard star is by SC which I thought nicely mimicked the strawberry on the meringue quite well. 

SPACER

SPACER

This is a picture of the Grand Reception Room where we had our tea at the hotel.  I adhered the photo to a bit of gold vellum and then added a gold label by SC, after running it through my printer.  

SPACER

SPACER

And finally the last pocket, a picture of me all dressed up for afternoon tea!  The round gray sticker is from the DIY line by Simple Stories as is the enamel dot and the purple Love tag is a random tag I've had for a while, it may be American Crafts. 

Thanks as always for taking the time to stop by my blog!

Hope you're all progressing along nicely with your 2015 Project Life!

Any comments are Welcome!

JANUARY PL PART 3 

MONDAY, 09 FEBRUARY, 2015

Today I am sharing my final Project Life layout for January and I'm very happy to be able to say that as I do so want to start on February!

SPACER

SPACER

The first completed page

I had most of this page completed from my previous post except for the two lower pockets down the right hand side. 

Close up of the pockets completed

SPACER

I have finished The Husband's Secret and started reading Thirteen Reason's Why. I have also now finished this book as well. 

The next completed page

I included a snapshot of an almond croissant that I bought from the bakery. Not something I would usually photograph but they were having a special offer at the bakery and as well it not something that I usually eat, pastry that is. But I just couldn't resist as almond croissants are my favorite! I included a picture of Rupert on one of our walks at Cookham.

It got so cold this week that the bird bath actually froze. Poor birdies. Met with Sarah for our monthly catch up at Stubbing's Cafe for tea and cake. Sarah has now completed her Yoga coursework and has become a licensed Yoga instructor. I have been supporting her in new endeavor by going to her beginning classes. 

Rupert genuinely looking sad when I took the Christmas decorations down. 

Close ups of individual pockets

SPACER

I wanted to try some of the double 6 x 6 inserts as thought this would be a fun size to work with. 

Close up of the 6 x 6 pockets insert

Front 

I had most of this page completed from my previous post except for the two lower pockets down the right hand side.

Back of the insert

Close up of the bottom pocket

I joined a Facebook group for Planner Addicts in the hope that they would help inspire me to become more organized this year. I have come to learn that they are genuine addicts and will probably more than likely get me addicted to loads of stationery rather than help me to actually get organized!

I also purchased a monthly/weekly planner from Paperchase to help me be more structured in my organization. Here's hoping it wasn't all in vain. 

Thanks for taking the time to drop by.

Hope your documenting 2015 is progressing along nicely!

WATER BABY

WEDNESDAY, 17 DECEMBER, 2014

For this layout I did sort of what I'm calling "freestyling".  I don't know if that's a real thing or not in scrapbooking but that is what I am calling it!

Typically when I start a page or layout, there is some planning involved.  I use the term planning loosely as I am not one who goes so far as to draw a sketch or anything like that, nothing that organised.  

However, once I do decide which picture or pictures I am going to scrap I lay that photo down on the page where I think that I want it to go, usually on the paper that I think I am going to use. 

I then pull out all my stock, well not all of it, but the products or items that I think that I will want to use with this photo and/or paper, if I have made that choice yet, in regards to paper.  I will then place the items I like around the page, adjacent to the photo, not sticking anything down yet or adding adhesive until I am certain where everything goes and that I like the look of it.  

Sometimes I may switch or move everything around more than a few times. 

Once I am certain that I like what I see and will be happy with the "final" layout I start sticking everything down where I have chosen.

With this layout I decided not to do that and to take a different approach.  The only pre-planning was deciding what picture to scrap and that I wanted to go with a blue coloured scheme to go along with the water photo and title.  

So I just randomly started pulling things out and sticking them down as I selected them, rather than going with the approach of being certain first and shifting or shuffling everything around  more than a few times.

I also wanted to try a bit of mixed media with this layout.  I started with the polka dot template in the upper left hand corner and a bit of water colour paints.  I decided to keep the template on the page and shifted it to the right slightly, then glued it down. I also did a bit of painting behind the photo and mixed some blues and greens together.

Below is the finished page.

 

 SUPPLIES | Background paper is simple white cardstock by Bazzill. The blue word stickers "Super Cool" and "Water" are by Simple Stories.  The polka dot template at the top left is by Simple Stories. The blue stickers on the photo are Simples Stories as is the blue camera flair button and the love hearts stuck on the Elle's Studio scalloped circular tag. The cutie pie bingo card is by Simple Stories. The blue scalloped trim, at the bottom of the photo, just above the title is by Bella Blvd as is the blue polka dot photo corner. The blue chipboard stars and blue paperclip are Studio Calico. Finally the snapshop sticker is by Echo Park. 

Now I have to say that I don't know how I feel about the page.  It does have some, shall we say, "artistic" ability to it.  I don't hate it but I don't know that I love it either.  Although,in saying that, I did enjoy the process of just putting stuff down on the page as I picked it up. 

It was freer. Like when you were a kid in first or second grade and it was the session of class where you got to work on art projects. You never gave great thought, typically, to what you were doing.  You just grabbed a pot of paint or two, a giant pad of paper for your easel and went to town!

OCTOBER - SWEATER WEATHER

TUESDAY, 16 DECEMBER, 2014

(This blog entry was written at the time I took these pictures, which I do sometimes to ensure I get the journaling accurate. So this perspective is from October although I didn't get time to pull it together and post it until December)

We have been really lucky with the warm weather here, from a UK perspective. It is unusual for it to be so warm this time of year.

SWEATER WEATHER
However, this week the weather has finally turned. We caught the tail end of Hurricane Gonzalo and it has been windy, wet and rainy.

Within minutes there was two to three inches of standing water by the back door. I captured this reflection as I was sitting there watching the rain come down. 

I think the hats, gloves and scarves will need to be taken out of the back of the closet this week!

SUPPLIES | Blue chevron paper is by MME and came from the SC Two Scoops kit. Alphas are Amy Tangerine Thickers by AC. The bobble hat, which I love is an old Jolee's Boutique that I have had for ages. The rain drops are Jolee's and the cut up typed words are from Pebbles - Garden Party.

INSTA-PAGES

TIME FOR TEA & CAKE and I LOVE CHALLAH

This is the back of my Insta-page titled Sunday Dinner & Good Dog.

Found it enjoyable creating these little squares and it's also a good way to use up your teeny tiny scraps.

Both pics were taken using a new app I love called Photofy.

SUPPLIES | Polka dot paper is by Simple Stories as is the cup sticker. The pink paper is part of an insert card by Echo Park and the ampersand is Cork by Studio Calico. The beige cardstock is Bazzill with the alpha stickers by Simple Stories as well as the chipboard love heart and the bread & bakery embellishments are Jolee's.

SOMEONE IS TIRED

I know my pages are monopolised by pictures of Rupert but I just can't help it! To me he is so very cute!

This particular day we went for a very long walk in Cookham and ended up with a very tired dog.

Plus, in this moment captured, he was quite smart! He stole the cushion from the kitchen chair (which I was unaware of until I saw him under the table) to put over the wooden beam underneath the kitchen table to make it more comfortable to lie on.

SUPPLIES | Alphas are a mix of Simple Stories Typeset, Stickers Letters, Urban Traveller and Daily Grind. The "This is a dog's life" is from the Simple Stories Dog line. The big arrow is K&Co and the green background paper is called Sand & Surf by Stephanie Hunt with Bella Blvd. The pink background paper is from Garden Party by Pebbles. The pink love hearts are by Studio Calico.


STUDIO CALICO OCTOBER LOAW#3 CHALLENGE

This was shared in a post for the October SC LOAW challenge here.

I included it here simply to show where it went amongst the other pages in my album.

That's another one done for me.

See you next time!

DECEMBER DAILY

"TITLE PAGE, DAY 1 & 2"

WEDNESDAY, 3 DECEMBER 2014

As mentioned in my previous post I have decided to do a December Daily album, albeit at the last minute! I am hopeful that I will keep up with it daily, however I have to say, if I'm honest, that this concept of daily is not the best approach for me so I will see how I get on.

As well, as I did not think that I would have enough of my own stuff to include in the December album I have decided to a use a photo-a-day prompt list for the month, just in case.  If I don't have something to include for that day, then I will fall back to the prompt from the photo-a-day list. 

This is my title page for the album. Kept it simple. Actually had something else but went with this instead. Still feel like it needs something else though.

DAY 1
"TEMPERATURE"
My first photo prompt was to capture the temperature for the day.

As the page was so small there wasn't room for journalling so I punched a hole in a insert card to include the journalling on the facing page.

The page below titled Merry & Bright is not part of the photo-a-day prompt. It is simply a picture I took of Christmas ornaments which I liked so decided to scrap it. 

DAY 2
"FAVORITE HOLIDAY MOVIE"

The prompt for Day 2 was Favorite Holiday Movie. This was tough for me as I have quite a few favorite films for this time of year, however I suppose if I had to pick one it would have to be Elf!

For the left hand page I used a printable by invitingprintables which I found on Pinterest that you can find here. The 3 x 4 insert card with the Elf legs (in the top right pocket) and with the quote from Elf is by Leslie Jean Jacobs and can be found here on her blog. 

The page below is not part of the photo-a-day prompt either. Just something I chose to include. 

The reindeer insert card in the top left pocket is by Ashley Horton. It came from a full sheet of festive fun printables by her and can be found here on her blog. The photo on the right is a picture I took while shopping at TK Maxx. I love shopping at TK Maxx and luckily a new location just opened by our house. The card on the bottom I created with free clipart from Google. 

The quality of the pictures I have taken are quite poorly as getting good light for photographing in the house this time of year in the UK is virtually impossible. I have done my best to lighten them in an editing app, but I think they are still not the best. 

Well that's my December "Daily" so far!

Happy Scrapping!

Reading!

Hello!

This is just a simple one today.  Again, sometimes it's the everyday stuff that I just don't think about scrapbooking or documenting.  I have seen a few other scrappers online document what they are reading right now so I thought I would create a layout about what I am currently reading.

 I had just finished reading 'If I Stay' and had heard a lot of good things about this YA book, 'Eleanor and Park'.  A coming of age first-love story about this odd couple. So far I am enjoying what I am reading.

 I wanted this layout to be simple, to just focus on the book cover.  I also wanted to echo the written text from a book into the layout somehow so this patterned paper was perfect.  Also, as Eleanor's flaming reddish orange hair was such a big part of who she is and part of the cover art I wanted to use the colour orange as a primary colour in this layout.

 

 I wanted a small label to notate my journalling. I picked this label as it had an antique effect which went well with the patterned paper as well as the feel of the layout. 

 I added a few embellishments, some stickers, the designer brad and then thought it needed something else.  As the book cover and the title had an ampersand in it I thought it would tie in well to use an ampersand as an embellishment and this one couldn't have been better.

The full page:

SUPPLIES | Background paper is brown Bazill cardstock.  The patterned paper is an antique newsprint style paper, which I'm not sure what brand it is simply because I have had this paper almost since I started scrapbooking (which by the way is a looong time). The orange and white polka dot paper is by Echo Park called "Dots & Stripes".  The designed brad is by My Minds Eye from The Sweetest Thing line.  The brown wood ampersand are Thickers called Patchwork by American Crafts. The "let's go!" and "wow" stickers are called Typeset by Simple Stories. The journalling label is by RJB Stone called Sass & Belle. The letters spelling out "Reading" are by American Crafts from the Everyday kit.

Christine  : )

Hole in One (nearly)

First my disclaimer for the quality of these horrible photos: I tried taking these pictures a few times, at different times of the day and in different places in the house but these are the best shots that I could get.  I can't believe that it is already that time of year in the UK where you can't get decent light in the house for the purpose of taking photos. It's not even officially Fall, or as they say here, Autumn.  Fall to the Brits is something you do when you trip, not a season (as it is to us in the US)!

This layout is to document the great shot that Simon made one day while out on the golf course.  He was so pleased with himself that he took a picture of the shot and sent it to me via text.  I literally laughed out loud when I looked at the text message and was genuinely well pleased for him. It was a great shot indeed. Only sorry I wasn't there to see it!

At first with this layout I struggled with the background paper, I tried so many different variations and different brands, trying to find the right fit.  I tried so many patterns, thinking I just hadn't found the right one yet or the one with the right colours, but that wasn't it.  Then I thought, well, maybe patterned paper isn't the way to go and I should just go with a coloured cardstock but that didn't work either.

I then remembered that I had quite a few pieces of vintage style paper on my shelf and that maybe something in there would work.  I recalled that I had an "old college style sports" paper by K&Co so pulled that out.  I pulled it from the stack, laid it on my craft table, put the picture on it and it seemed to work so perfectly.  The background really made the picture pop.  After that the rest of it was pretty easy to pull together - add the title, a few embellishments and I was done.  Love pages that happen that quickly, once you're going.

I also had an 8 x 8 paper pad from Graphic45 called The Proper Gentleman Collection.  I flipped through this looking for something that would work as a golf embellishment.  I happened upon one piece of paper, called Sporting Aristocrat, that was a collage of many smaller pictures so used the 2 x 2 square of the man playing golf. Thought it worked quite well on the corner of the page.  

The Full Page

SUPPLIES | The background paper is by K&Co which I have had in my stash for years so not sure on the name as it did not have a name strip at the bottom nor on the back. The alphas spelling out Hole and One are by American Crafts called Kitten.  The letters spelling IN are by Echo Park from their original Photo Freedom kit.  The round metal tag is by Making Memories and comes from a "make your own tag" kit.  Rather than inserting paper in this I just inserted a round camera sticker from the Simple Stories DIY Boutique line and then pressed the edge round the metal tag to seal it.   The small Cruden Bay picture is by Graphic45 from the Gentlemen's 8 x 8 pad. And finally the green "play" sticker is by Bella Blvd from their Boy Play line.

This is just a snapshot of the back of the golf page.  Having used a 6 x 8 page protector for the golf layout I needed to put something on the back to finish it off.  As the golf page was the last layout for the month, I didn't have any further pictures to add so instead created some text from one of my favourite works of literature, Pride & Prejudice, to complete the backside of this pocket page.

Thanks for dropping by to have a look and letting me share my layouts with you.

Christine   x   : )

Trying to Exercise More!

Hello my fellow crafters!

I recently was lucky enough to acquire some new scrapbooking supplies through a Facebook destash group.  Suffice it to say I have already put them to good use!

Even before the kit arrived I thought that the colours would tie in well with a layout I wanted to do about my fitness routine lately as the colours in the photo I was using were pink, green and grey.  I have been exercising a lot more recently and thought that it would be fitting to document this as well. Again, sometimes I just don't think about documenting these types of things. 

Due to a general lack of energy attributed to health reasons it has been some time since I have had a regular exercise routine, despite my best intentions.  As well, with bad joints, there are only so many types of exercise that I can take up that won't inflict further "injury" or severe impact on my already defunct bag of bones.

However, due to a bad back (which I gained by being the lucky recipient of a car accident some years ago-someone who was going way too fast who then failed to stop in time, thereby rear ending me putting me in bed for two months) plus a chronic sciatic nerve that can rear it's ugly head at the best of times, it has been advised that I should develop a regular exercise routine, despite all of this.  Geez, reading back over that it sounds like I'm falling apart and I'm only forty...(mumbling) something.

I did enjoy pulling this layout together and already sort of had the layout design in my head, so I thought it would have gone quicker than it did, but I suppose no surprise there.  I liked working with all the bright colours in this kit.  I do typically use bright colours in my layouts but I think I use them more sparingly so this was a bit different for me to have a complete layout like this.  I also liked that this kit had the numbered paper which I thought would work well for a fitness layout.  After adding my embellishments around the page I was looking for something further to add along the left side of the photo so even went so far as to cut the name of the kit from the packaging to use that. 

(See photo below)

And the final result....

SUPPLIES | Blue title letters are by Simple Stories from Vintage Bliss. The blue chipboard camera is Simple Stories. All the paper used is American Crafts from the Everyday kit. The pink polka dot paper is by Echo Park called Dots and Stripes. The blue photo corners are by Bella Blvd from the Playdate line. The pink polka dot washi tape is a sticker by Simple Stories. The September banner at the bottom of the page is by Echo Park and the "remember" sticker below that is Simple Stories Typeset.  The white enamel dot is by Simple Stories from the DIY line.

Thanks for having a look!

Christine