LOOKING RUFF LAYOUT

SUNDAY, 15 MARCH, 2015

Hello Fellow Crafters!

I have been in a bit of a crafting funk lately, seem to have lost my crafting mojo earlier this week. 

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Wanted to sit down and finish my PL for February but it just wasn't happening.  I do hate when that happens. You find the time to scrap and then nothing comes. 

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I played around with a lot of stuff, seemed to get out all of my supplies on my desk, as if this would help but I just couldn't create anything. Nothing felt right. I fiddled around with pictures, changing things - the background card, trying different colours, the position of the pic on the card, adding every embellishment known to man and nothing. 

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So I put it all away and went back to basics, just creating a standard layout, which I blogged about here. 

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Then after I created that layout I found myself playing around with another photo that I wanted to scrap. I said to myself that I would do something quite different from my usual page, a bit more abstract, lots of tiny details and also use a bit of paint. 

This is what I ended up with and I like it!

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A close up of the cute pic that inspired the layout!

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As always, thanks for taking the time to drop by my blog!

Happy Scrapping!

FEBRUARY PROJECT LIFE PART 2

TUESDAY, 24 FEBRUARY, 2015

Hello Crafters!

Today I am sharing part 2 of my Project Life for February. This post is up through Valentine's Day.

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This first page includes my February title card. I would like to get monthly dividers for my album but I'm not keen on the BH ones so not sure what else is out there OR alternatively, if I could make my own and what I would use to do so.

In my last post here, I talked about my title card and how I got the inspiration from Michelle Wooderson. Below is a close up of a filler card I created for the top right pocket as I needed something to go here. 

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The background card is PL (Kraft) and then I punched out a circle of white card after I printed "Don't forget" on it. I added a small gold star from Studio Calico.

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I know I already did a layout with one of my snow pics but I wanted to also include these other shots in my day to day PL. I added some really old rub-ons by Deja Views in a winter theme to the photos. 

In my last post I was finishing up Thirteen Reasons Why.

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Since then I have started another YA book called Slammed by Colleen Hoover, which I have whizzed through! I simply took a photo of the book cover and then mounted it on black cardstock, adding the hashtag #currently reading. 

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Well, with this next layout I will now be found out, that I am a Walking Dead fan.  Yes, I admit it, I have always been a zombie lover. Ooooh, reading that back that sounds a bit creepy and weird. What I mean is I have always been a zombie film fan, even though they scare the living crap out of me, all the way back to the original black and white George Romero days of "Night of the Living Dead".

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I have so desperately been waiting for The Walking Dead to come back on after its mid season break. Honestly I've been counting down the days until it returned. As I am meant to be documenting the day to day and this is kind of a big deal in my week I thought it only seemed right to include in my PL. I document about movies we see, so why not this?! As it airs one day after it airs in the US I have to make sure to stay offline from Sunday night to Monday night to make sure I don't accidentally see any spoilers. Nuts I know!

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As I really enjoyed the episode with Daryl and Beth, the relationship that developed between them, plus with them both being two of my favorite characters, I just had to include the pic below especially with the way the mid season finale ended. It was heart wrenching. 

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The full page (The insert has 2 6x6 pockets)

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In the top pocket I used yellow paper by Simple Stories as my background paper. I wanted the title to be the opposite of the words in the photo above it. The alphas are AC Thickers by Amy Tangerine. I added my journalling to the photo with white text. 

The back side of the 6x6 insert page. This photo of Simon makes me laugh so much. I met Simon at the front door one day when he came home from work and it looked he had been given a really bad spray tan, hence the title "fake tan?". I jokingly asked if he was planning a holiday to Marbs, popular here in the UK as is the fake tanning. Sometimes so much so that people go orange in colour, which is exactly what he looked like. It was actually just brick dust as he had been on the grinder all day. So funny. He was nice enough to let me get a picture.

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The background paper is Teresa Collins. The white alphas are Kaisercraft with both the stickers in the upper left hand corner by Simple Stories.  The pseudo blue polka dot washi tape is actually a strip of paper cut off the top of a PL Kraft journal card as is the grid paper I typed the journalling onto.

I have yet to fill the top 6x6 pocket in this insert. I will have to use it for something later in the month.

The next page that I am sharing is my Valentines Day layout. My title card below I created with supplies from a kit by My Minds Eye called Lost and Found. Everything is My Minds Eye except the letters spelling out Valentines which are by Bella Blvd. 

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We had planned this night to go out to the cinema and then for a meal.  We weren't too fussed really as we are not ones to make a big deal out of Valentines Day. We thought we'd have a casual evening - go see American Sniper and grab a burger at Five Guys. We were surprised to find out that American Sniper was sold out, which was a genuine surprise as we imagined that with it being debut weekend for 50 Shades that everyone would be going to see that. So our movie plans were a bust and then much to our dismay, Five Guys was shut. So all in all, not what we had loosely planned. We ultimately ended up at The Handmade Burger Company, which was just as good. 

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My Valentines Day page

I included a couple pictures of the restaurant and then added a few fillers cards from the same kit by My Minds Eye, Lost and Found.  I also included the little brochure about the restaurant that they have on the table in the utensils bucket and also the little tag they have on the wooden stand where you put your table number after ordering at the bar. I thought the tag would make a nice addition to my album. 

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I have added a 6x8 pocket page to include our Valentine cards in the album.
This is the card that I made for Simon also with the Valentine's Day kit called Lost & Found by My Minds Eye. I am not much of a cardmaker but I had fun with this card. 

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Here's a photo of the back of the insert with the card Simon gave me in it. 

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On the back of the page I included a 6x8 photo of my burger - a New York Deli Burger! Pastrami is so commonplace in the US but not something that is so common here in the UK. I always delight in the opportunities when I find it here. 

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The back of my Valentines Day page in its entirety. A photo of Simon looking so serious, which he always does, plus a photo of both of us and a photo of me in my red Valentines outfit. I have yet to complete my journalling on the 4x6 card but I will do so later. 

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That's my February PL part 2 done!

Hope you enjoyed it and thanks for taking the time to stop by my blog.

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. 

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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:

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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! 

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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. 

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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.

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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. 

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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. 

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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.  

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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!

OCTOBER - AT THE MOVIES & FEGO'S CAFE

WEDNESDAY, 19 NOVEMBER 2014

Since I have been spending the past week catching up with October I will now have a lot of blogging to catch up on as well.

MOVIE TIME
Simon and I do love our films! This week we went to see The Equalizer, a remake of the 80's tv programme.

This page was quite simple - a movie themed filler card, a photo of the movie poster, a project life journal card and then a filmstrip card with two mock tickets.

 A close up of the "movie" tickets.

LOOK @ THIS

This next pocket page is about a mishap (or more appropriately, severe damage) with my curling iron.

Not the best way to start your day.

I wanted the title to say "This Happened" but I didn't have enough "e's" so I ended up with Look @ This.

The journaling card is PL and the alpha stickers are by Simple Stories.

BLACK SEAMED STOCKINGS
I like the retro look and on this particular evening Simon snapped a pic of my stockings just before we were going out for the evening.

I printed the picture in B&W and then did a simple B&W insert card with a stitched font to match.  

FEGO'S
I try to have a regular catch-up with two former colleagues who have become very close friends. 

We try to meet up at least once a month to have a meal, a good chat and a few laughs.

This month it was at Fego's in Marlow.

The background for this page is the restaurant menu printed out onto white cardstock.

I knew that as soon as I saw the pic that this is the way I wanted to use it.

I added a photo strip of some of our food, a group shot of us and the title with American Craft Thickers.

The tiny alphas at the top and bottom of the page are by Kaisercraft. The chipboard button by Webster's Pages and the banner label by Jillibean Soup.

That's all for now! Happy scrapping!

Looking @ Houses

This page actually started out based around the blue alphas spelling out the "Looking" part of the title.  I have had these alphas for quite some time but have NEVER used them.  So today I decided I'm going to create a layout using these letters.

It didn't take long for an idea to come to me.  Simply because all I have been doing over the past few days was look at houses, something I never really thought about documenting in a layout.  But as it is my current "now" life, I thought why not!  I suppose events like this should be documented as well.

Once I had the idea I was surprised at how quickly this layout came together for me.  I have to say that it seems like ever since I made the decision to stop documenting my life in a PL style format that the creativity and the ideas have just been flowing out of me.  It just feels so much freer now. No expectation to keep up or on top of things.  I can just create what I want when I want but still keep it in a loose monthly format.  It's great though because I just don't feel the pressure of "it's creeping into next week so I really need to get last week done" and so on.  I feel like I have my mojo back! 

  

I really like the new ticket roll by Fancy Pants that I recently purchased from Hey Little Magpie. Was keen to use them in this layout!  I think they add a very fun element to the page for a life event that has been just the opposite of fun.  

For the background paper I wanted paper that was a bit whitewashed, if that's the right word, that sort of looked like the undercoat of a painted wall when you first move into a house before decorating it.  The blue and yellow colour scheme just sort of came together by itself after that. I added a few embellishments and word stickers, wanting it to be quite a full layout. As for the "still" part of the title, I wanted to include this word in the title as it has been over six months now that we have started looking at rental properties but I didn't want the word to be extremely prominent.  So it may look like the colour I picked didn't work well with the background colour but I pretty much wanted it to blend into the page so the title would kind of appear to be simply "Looking at Houses".  I then picked out my journaling label, typed up my journaling in a text box and ran it through my printer.  That's me done! 

SUPPLIES | Background paper by BasicGrey called Out of Print classifieds, this is the B side.  The blue alphas spelling out "Looking" are Simple Stories Vintage Bliss. The yellow letters spelling out "Still" are by Lilybee Designs called Sweet Shoppe.  The letters spelling out "Houses" are Typeset by Simple Stories. The VIP Pass ticket (at the top right) and the Golden Ticket (in the middle on the bottom) are by Fancy Pants called As You Wish Ticket Roll. The cork @ symbol is by Studio Calico. The "Home, Hope & Wishes" Dymo style tape are Life's Journey Black Labels by K&Co, which are super old.  The "oh what fun" and "this again" stickers are by Simple Stories from Daily Grind. The circular #1 sticker are by My Minds Eye, the Kate & Co line called Cambridge Court.  The teeny tiny alphas spelling out "Not!" are by Kaisercraft.  The blue journal tag and the file tag behind the word "Home" are by Simple Stories. The gold chipboard camera is by Studio Calico and the yellow enamel dot in the centre of it is by Twine & Ink.

Thanks for having a look and letting me
share my layout with you all!
Christine x   : )

Adding Some Finishing Touches

Hi!  My name is Christine and I'm a scrapaholic!

 

I think that like most scrappers not only do we have a tendency to hoard (obsess over) things but we also find ourselves feeling the heavy burden of guilt when we fall behind or if you will, don't keep up with projects.  Guilt, obsession, sounds like an addiction, doesn't it?

 

I'll admit I'm just as guilty as the next scrapper that I, let's say "occasionally" don't always manage to finish the things I start.  Great, let's add another positive attribute to the pot - procrastination, oh and easily distracted or should that be short attention span? I can't make up my mind as I'm having trouble focusing here! 

(Created a title page for my 2nd album of 2013)

So we're looking real good here now - obsessive, guiltmonger, procrastinator and extreme lack of attention!  Well, don't they say artists are tortured souls.  Now I'm not so bold to claim that I'm an artist or anything like that, but as my mind tends to wander....

 

(This one just needed the lettering for the title)

Anyhoo, I spent some time this morning catching up or adding a few finishing touches to some of my past Life Documented PL albums for 2013 and 2014.  Just going back through the albums and finishing some of what was missing.  I have to admit it felt good to complete some of these, get a bit of closure.  Isn't that a step in those addicts anonymous programmes?  I'm just saying!  ; )

 

(This one had the 4x4 pics on the left but just needed an insert on the right)

 

 (This one only had the picture and the pink washi tape.  So added a few more details and then added my journaling)

 

(Created a title page for the 2nd album of 2014.  Have to say that I don't really use the wood veneer embellishments for much as I find they just don't seem to go with anything, however they seemed to work for this title page. Probably because the background was wood themed. Weird I know!)

 

 

And as you can see I am still procrastinating as I have yet to add the labels to the actual spine of each album.  Oh well, something to work towards.

 

Wondering how all you deal with not finishing projects or procrastination, or is this a word that does not fit into your vocabulary?  Are you burdened with guilt when you don't?  Or is that also another word that doesn't fit into your vocabulary?

 

Feel free to leave any comments.  Would love to know where you are in your process.

 

Thanks for dropping by!

Christine  x

 

Dog Tired & Goofing Around

Well, the Muse is still in the house so I have been scrapping away today. 

 I have actually been contemplating whether I will continue with the whole PL style aspect of scrapbooking.  I was never really a big fan of the actual Project Life product line when it first came out and found that I instead leaned more towards the Simple Stories Life Documented range.  I just preferred the 6 x 8 size, liked the bright colours and the products they had to offer in that line.  However, in the past few days when I've been creating the "traditional" layouts (even though they are only 6 x 8) I find that I am enjoying these more than the detailed pocket page layouts.

 Granted I am already documenting monthly, although I did start out weekly, so this is or should be a more laid back way of keeping track of the day-to-day things.  But I am finding that I still fall behind, even though this is a more looser approach and I just don't like feeling guilty over something that is meant to be relaxing and help me de-stress from the woes of day to day life.  Yes, I know we only put upon ourselves what we allow.  But even the giants, the old pro's and the dinosaurs of the industry (if you read their blogs) they too feel guilty as well when they fall behind or cannot keep up. So it almost seems inevitable, the feeling guilty that is. That's why I've been thinking that I may just go back to scrapping when I feel like it with no time or calendar restraints adhered to. Not keeping track of my day-to-day weekly or monthly but just whenever.  Plus, if you look at the way the PL style was marketed it was supposed to make scrapbooking faster and easier but it has become so involved now (and yes again, it is what you choose to make it).  If you look at all the giants or gurus that everyone follows, most of their PL layouts are not simple and basic, a lot of time and work goes into them.  But again, these are just my thoughts.

 

Moving along.  I have put the journaling about this layout hidden behind it as one, there wasn't enough room to include it along with the photos and two, its kind of a bit private.  In short it talks about how in my 20's I was starting to learn to love myself, figuring out who I was and what I was about, developing self confidence and building my self esteem.  Eventually I got to a place where I liked who I was with a healthy dose of self confidence but not arrogant about it.  However as of late, I haven't been loving myself very much and was pondering as to whether this is due to circumstances - being made redundant over a year ago, struggling with money, have relationship problems and finding a place to live OR whether it is just a stage in my life, such as age and being in my 40's, learning to re-adjust and find myself again.

SUPPLIES | The black and white background paper is from my stash, old 7 Gypsies Paddington Paper called Piccadilly. The stickers spelling out "Goofing" and "Selfies" are both by Simple Stories - the first from the D.I.Y. line and the latter called Typeset.  The pink and white love heart I cut out of the middle of a PL card. The tiny alphas are by Kaisercraft. The "Today" circle, the three pink hearts on the grey background and the pink polka dot paper are all scraps from PL cards that I cut up.  As well, the "Read Me" tab is a scrap from a PL card stuck onto another PL card to create the journaling.  The lettering for that is by Simple Stories. The pink camera is from the Borders paper by Bella Blvd.

 

Nonetheless I am trying to get better, or get back to, loving myself.  As we (scrapbookers) typically don't include ourselves in our scrapping and as well, being our own worst critics I thought it might help me in some way, especially right now to include myself more in my layouts/pages.  So was goofing around (hence the title), taking some pictures of myself and trying to love what I saw or what was captured. I wanted the goof part of goofing to stand out (as that's what I am!) so used the pink letter and grey letters to make it pop more.  Trying to have a bit of fun with it.

 

For something a little bit less "serious" I have also included a layout today called Dog Tired.  Simon has been working really hard lately as he's been full on with work.  He has also been working some Saturday's just to stay on top of it.  This particular Saturday he came home and crashed out on the sofa.  As per usual, whenever and wherever Simon is, Rupert has to be right along side him.  Captured this moment as they were sleeping as I thought it was so heart-warming. Decided to keep this one simple, don't think it needed much detail.  

SUPPLIES | The "Cherish" sticker is by Simple Stories Typeset and the "Life is Ruff" sticker tag is by Simple Stories Dog pack.  The background mock notebook paper that the photo is mounted on came from the original Simple Stories Sn@p kit. The brown and white polka dot washi tape is by Queen & Co.

SUPPLIES | Black alphas spelling "Dog" are by LilyBee Designs called Sweet Shoppe.  The love heart and the letters spelling "Tired" are by Simple Stories Dog pack.

Thanks for stopping by to have a look and letting me share my layouts with you!

Christine  x