My Trophy "Husband's" Scrapbook Page

Hello!

 

As I am a regular on Studio Calico I have been following along with One Scrappy Doctor (Natalie Elphinstone) for the monthly reveal with her Trophy Husband filming the kit unpacking video.  Which has made for good viewing!

http://onescrappydoctor.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/sandlot-reveal.html

 

In passing I mentioned it to my partner and I should preface this with that ever since he knew I was a scrapper, he has sort of taken the piss when I ask him sometimes how he's going to spend his evening or afternoon.

 

"I'm going to do a bit of scrapping and then smashing.  Or maybe, just to switch it up a bit, do some smashing and then scrapping." (Mind you this is said by me now in that sort of mocking Bert & Ernie voice, that's meant to be his voice, that all us girlfriends & wives take on when answering questions for them, asked by us, to our significant others).

 

So, in mentioning Natalie's Trophy Husband video to him this week, as I only just watched it yesterday, he said to me tonight when I asked whether he was going out this evening, he replied with "no, I'm going to stay in and finally do that smashing scrap page I've been planning on doing."

 

Okay, Mr. Smartypants I said, let's see you do it then!  I threw down the gauntlet.  I figured he would just say I'm too busy which he actually did "I've got a busy evening ahead of me" but then proceeded to sit down at my scraptable and say "whatta ya got" (albeit not in that Bert & Ernie mocking tone).

 

Very well then, game on! We proceeded to select a picture that he was happy to scrap.  I cropped it, printed it and cut it to a 4x6 size with my paper cutter.  We then picked a background paper.  I offered him a multitude of choices - plain, cardstock, patterned: striped, swirly, polka dots, etc.  You name it, I offered it.  He went with the American Crafts wooden fencing, as I call it.

(Sorry not sure on the actual name.)

 (The Planning Process - trying to decide if he liked this sticker.  He thought it appropriate as it says "you've left paw prints on my heart".)

I then asked if he wanted to include a journaling card and showed him a few examples of where I've used them for actual journaling or when I've just used the tabbed word(s) along the top of the card.  I got out an overabundance of supplies - stickers, mini alphas, big alphas, enamel dots, chipboard stars, tags, chipboard buttons, flair.  Again, you name it, I pretty much got it out.  Just to show him what his options were.  Admittedly, maybe I was a tad bit too excited that he was actually scrapping! 

 He picked a few more dog appropriate stickers, mostly from the Simple Stories Dog line.  We added one (me & my dog) along the bottom and then another (love me, love my dog) along the top.

He then decided that he needed something along the top right of the picture as it was a bit bare there, so he selected a 2x2 Insta Square piece from the Sn@p dog line by Simple Stories. (To be honest I was quite proud that he 'saw the hole' and decided to put something there.) 

(The Final Page)

 

 I asked if he wanted to add any embellishments, again a lot of my stock came out.  He said it was too much to choose from and sometimes "less is more".  He did however want to play around with my dog paw print stamp and add some pawprints to the page.  So I showed him how to do this and then we finished it with the date stamp in the upper right hand corner.

 

And there you go!

His first (and to be honest) probably last scrap page.

 

He did conclude this by saying "see, now I've smashed".  Whereby I said, "hold on a minute my friend, I'm afraid you haven't. That is something entirely different."

 

The look that crossed his face was priceless.

 

I did ask if he could see the enjoyment in it to which he replied yes but he said to be honest he felt there was too much choice.  Maybe I should take a page from his book as I know a lot of us scrappers are always saying we spend more time planning and organizing than we actually do scrapping.

 

A thoroughly enjoyable evening for me!

 

Thanks Natalie for the inspiration.

 

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

March SimpleStories Sn@p - part 2

This is my March Simple Stories part 2 post. 

(Picture above) One afternoon after walking Rupert and having just made the bed with clean new crisp sheets I found him curled up near the head of the bed, just tucked up by the pillows, sleeping with his ball. It was absolutely adorable! The stickers spelling out "adorable" are super old and have been in my stash since early day one so not sure what the brand is.

(For the page above) I was so disappointed one day when I got in my car and reached for my favourite American Anthem CD in my glove box and found that the top half had been broken off!!  I had no idea how this happened.  The last time I had put it in the glove box it was fine. I was absolutely gutted when I discovered this as it is my "go to" CD - guaranteed to pick me up no matter what! With good old rock classics from Journey, "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor, "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Love is a Battlefield" to name a few.
Major bummer!

I love the picture in this layout of Rupert. He was sitting in bed with me one night, right at the top of the bed, all cuddled up on the pillows, actually perched up on top of them.  Simon wasn't there but I mentioned his name to Rupert and he sat straight up against the wall, like he was expecting him to walk through the bedroom door right at that very moment. Luckily I was quick enough with phone to capture it. I used the insert card by Simple Stories from the Dog pack as the cartoon dog almost mirrored what Rupert was doing and I thought it so cute.

SUPPLIES | Cut the middle journaling bit out of a Project Life Blush card and glued it onto an Echo Park card from the original Photo Freedom kit. The "good stuff" arrow sticker is Simple Stories.  The stickers spelling out "this SUCKS" are called Sweet Shoppe letter stickers by Lilybee Design.   

SUPPLIES | I am so bad with keeping track of what Project Life cards I use. This I believe is from the Blush line.  I punched holes in it to use as a journaling insert and then stuck pink & white chevron paper on the back, which you can just see on the left hand side in the picture below.  I suppose I could have loaded up the pics below with embellishments and stickers but sometimes I think that the pictures look good all on their own and don't want to ruin their pretty simplicity by putting anything further on them.

Now I can't deny that Simon is a lover of donuts, me not so much, but nevertheless we are not ones to frequent Krispy Kreme very often.  However, on this particular occasion, as we were leaving The Mission (mentioned in my previous post here) we passed by Krispy Kreme and Simon looked in the window and said "shall we go in and have a look?"  And I know what that means, like every time he just 'looks' at the dessert menu and always ends up having dessert.  So having a look really means more than that!  Let's just say this turned out to be a high calorie evening!

 Simon loves all the flavours of donuts but for me, what actually draws me in is all the different styles and the shiny colours of glaze on the donuts, all the bright colours, like in these pictures!

As the commute to Denham is quite long (or at least for me), about 45 minutes each way I have become bored with listening to the various different radio programmes in the morning.  As it is all the same nonsense and the same group of songs played over and over again relentlessly, I'm starting to find it mind-numbing. I thought it might be interesting to listen to some audio books or books on CD, so I have started with one of my favourite authors Patricia Cornwell and her Kay Scarpetta series.  I did read her books religiously for quite some time and then it felt like she went way off the beaten path with the storylines and the characters seemed to deviate from their original character too much, so I stopped reading them.  This is my first story back in the Scarpetta line and I really enjoyed it.  I do have to say though, it was a bit odd for me and almost difficult to get into it. Having been an avid reader since I could pick up a book, what I like most about reading a book is the fact that you can get lost in a book, in the story, not only lose yourself from the real world but also immerse yourself into the fictional world, get lost in the world that is being created around you, so at first I found it hard to absorb. Have to say I found myself pushing rewind more than a few times, till I got used to the rhythm of really listening, hearing what was being said and retaining it.

SUPPLIES | For this, the "Travel Time" card that was in the Studio Calico Sugar Rush kit was perfect. I cut the white frame off the card and mounted it on a bit of black chevron paper by Amy Tangerine.  The red stickers and the label on the top insert are by Simple Stories. The yellow enamel dot is by Freckled Fawn and from the Studio Calico Sugar Rush kit and the orange dot is a brad by Papermania.

 

Well, that's it for this post, a short one.
As always, thanks for stopping by to have a look, letting me share my post with you. Hope you enjoyed it and any comments you would like to leave would be welcome!

 

Thanks!

Christine x

February (with Simple Stories Sn@p) - Part 3

This is my last post for February! Finally! I only had a few more pages to add to finish the month so this should be an easy one as in not too photo heavy.  

 In the bottom pockets, of the page above, are (2) inserts from my part 2 post.  Above that, on the left is a picture of Rupert walking on the lane.  I just thought it was cute the way he was trotting along.  I cropped the photo and mounted it on a Project Life card from the Sunshine line.  Then added (2) enamel dots in the lower corner (yellow and gold) by Freckled Fawn. The green brad is by Papermania as is the yellow asterisk at the top of the page.  The green "today" sticker is from the Simple Stories D.I.Y. line.  The photo in the top right pocket is of me, yes a selfie, as I mentioned in previous posts, I am trying to include myself more in my albums.   The "smile big" sticker is by Simple Stories.

 This page was an easy page as well.  As I had out the acetate overlays from the original Simple Stories Snap 12x12 starter kit (from my Valentines layout) I thought I would try using one of the overlays in a pocket on its own, just "floating"as they say.  I kind of like the way it looks but not sure on how to keep it from moving around a bit, without using anything like adhesive, that you could see.  To the right of that is a picture of Rupert crashed out on a Sunday morning, a lazy Sunday morning to be exact.

 

In the bottom 4x6 pocket of this page is an insert I did to document some of the best birthday presents I have ever received.  A childhood friend of mine, actually more like a big sister really, recently became a published author and I couldn't be more proud!  I have read both of her books to date and can't wait for the next series.  Granted I am probably a bit too old to be reading her books, as she writes YA or Young Adult, but I don't care.  I love them!  (Here is a link to her website, if you want to check it out).

SUPPLIES | I couldn't tell you the name or the manufacturer of the background paper if I tried as this was a scrap of paper in my "patterned paper" scraps box.   All the stickers are Simple Stories with the exception of the teeny tiny alpha letters that spell out "pressies", these are by KaiserCraft.

SUPPLIES | For the top left pocket both stickers are Simple Stories from the new Dog line.  On the bottom I have used Simple Stories polka dot paper and the large "Birthday" stickers are by Simple Stories whereas the "My" and "Bounty" stickers are by October Afternoon from the Studio Calico Sugar Rush kit.

 

This page was an easy page as well, or maybe I was just on a roll! The top pic is of Simon and Rupert.  Simon came home one evening and Rupert was so excited to see him that he jumped up on him on the sofa and literally dove, or more like burrowed down the front of his gilet.  It was hilarious and luckily I was quick enough to get a pic.  In the bottom 4x6 pocket is a picture of the bonanza of scrapbooking supplies that I received for my birthday from my sister-in-law and Simon.  I was overjoyed, simply over the moon.  So many wonderful things that I wanted and all from Sarah's Cards!  It was brilliant, I just let them log on as me to view my wish list and they ordered EVERYTHING on it! 

  

When I post stuff like this next page I always worry that it may come across as a bit vain or narcissistic (note to self: maybe I should work on my self confidence) but its quite the contrary  As I may have mentioned in previous posts, when I was growing up my father fancied himself as somewhat of an avid amateur possibly "up and coming" photographer so my brothers and I constantly had a camera lense shoved in our faces.  We couldn't do anything, and I do mean anything without my father wanting to capture it on film, to the point of near annoyance.  Not to mention the ridiculous posed scenarios we were put in to fulfill his photography "aspirations".  So although I have always been one to want to take pictures of things myself, I tend to shy away from having my picture taken.  This shot below probably took about 40 other shots just to get this one good picture, and that's no exaggeration. Even now, whenever a camera is pointed in my direction, I tend to tense up, or turn away, which doesn't make for a good pic.  Nonetheless, on my birthday I decided to treat myself to a cut and style at my favourite salon because there is nothing like going to the hairdresser.  You're guaranteed to walk out feeling like a brand new person, exactly what I needed, especially lately.

SUPPLIES | The "So Delightful" and "Happiness" stickers are by Simple Stories as is the background paper.  A 12x12 page from the original Simple Stories Sn@p album kit cut down to 6x8.  The "Tickled Pink" sticker is also Simple Stories.  The multi-coloured chipboard letters are Thickers by American Crafts called Eric.  At the bottom of the page, on the left, the pink "Smile" sticker is by Simple Stories and the pink metal charm plaque is by American Crafts from their elements line. (Note: this is super old and has been in my stash for a while)

 (Close up of details on top right corner)

SUPPLIES | The pink metal brad is by BoBunny and from my stash. The "2014" was cut from an Echo Park card. The enamel dots are by Freckled Fawn from Studio Calico Sugar Rush.  The pink flower is from a Classic Winnie the Pooh Collage set by EK Success.

(Close up of details on lower right hand corner)

SUPPLIES | The "Cut" & "Style" stickers are Simple Stories - from (2) different sets, the travel line and the Typeset stickers.  The pink ampersand is also Simple Stories as is the "something splendid" sticker.  The chipboard button is by Webster's Pages Button & Twine kit and the tiny red dots are simply the bits that came out of the button holes.

Thanks for having a look!

Any comments or thoughts would be welcomed.

 

I can now move on to March.  Yippee!

 

Christine   : )