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Tuesday 26 June 2012

mid week catch up!

Evening!

The girls have gone to bed, and the boys are all busy playing, including Paul..so I get half hour to update you guys on my craftiness lately :)

Today I had a mini scrap day, and managed to get a couple of pages finished. 
Even tho I managed to somehow drop my craft knife and catch it on the back of my thumb, causing a bit of blood and stinging!!!! at least this time i didn't lose the end of my finger, so it could have been worse :)

Firstly i managed to finish a page I started last night, I was inspired by Shimelle Laine's starting point, as always :)

And notice if you will how at the bottom of the post is the page i did last week.It is in the top 4 of Shimelle's favourites :) I was so chuffed, seeing that really made my day :)
thanks Shimelle xxxx

so here is the page that I made from this weeks starting point:


This is a photo of Lola from Christmas time, we visited Santa and did a bit of ice skating at Cadbury Garden centre and this is one of the pics from our family fun day. 

I must add how easy i found this layout to do since sorting out my embellishments bag!
It was getting to a point where all stickers, wood pieces, etc were all getting thrown in everywhere so it was a real chore to try and find anything. so at the weekend i emptied my bag and tidied it up, I now have a section for my chipboard butterflies, you know the type, studio calico, maya road etc... a separate compartment for tags, labels and tabs, another for my chipboard clouds, for my circle shapes, my hexagon shapes, my flower shapes.... so now i know when i want something in particular where I will find it. its been very useful, especially in fighting against my battle of the embellishments. I am trying hard to make my pages less boring, and finally i think I am getting somewhere?!?!!?!?

so my second page is based on a prompt from my LOAD challenge and was to do a monochromatic page, i think I did this one well:


You must excuse the poor quality photo, its getting dark here with the rain and stuff so the colours are not perfect, but you get the idea. 
The photo is one from our collection that we got from our family photo shoot with Clifton photographic company. YES they were dead expensive, but i am very very pleased with the amount of gorgeous photos I have of my gorgeous family.
Today Ali was here and she managed to fill my the photo wall (that my mum bought me for xmas) with my new posh photos, and it looks fabulous!!!!!
Maybe i should take a pic sometime to show you?

Any ways I chose to use this photo of Mike to do a 10 things i love about you at 10 years old page. 
The sketch came from the creative scrappers ebook, page 20 and all the layers seem to work in all the different but similar blue tones. 

thanks for dropping by today, hope to see you soon xxxxxx

Monday 25 June 2012

unexpected peace!

Afternoon bloggers :)

as the title says I've been presented with an unexpected quiet hour, my aunty came down and took Lola out for a spot of girl shopping, Elsie is already out at Zoes and the boys are at school (Dan doing his introduction into seniors!!! SCARY)

So..... I did try to start a new page but its not quite going to plan so instead I am here updating you guys on what I've been up to this week. 

I have a few pages to share with you, its been a bit quiet on the scrapping front, I didn't get my usual craft day last week and Ive not been able to spend too much time in my crafting corner, but the time i have had has been well spent. 
I have done 2 pages this morning for example :)

heres the first:


I love this one... mainly because i really adore the photo! its Lola being typical Lola, laughing out loud!
the pic was taken by Sheila at Weston beach whilst i was away on my craft retreat last month. Lola is laughing at Grumpy who is wearing her hat the other side of the camera. she found it so funny as he was asking her for ages where it was and she was looking for it, then he practically had to stick his head in her face before she saw that he was wearing it! 
I used a page that I was sent in one of my chinese whispers groups to do this page, I love how the stream of natural  butterflies look against brightness of everything else. wonder if Carole will be proud of my faffing????


This second is another one that I have done for a different chinese whispers group. 
a bit more basic compared to the last one, but still as bright and fun. As you can see i used photos from the same day and the journalling tells how this is what they got up to whilst I was away :)


These are pics of Elsie moo wearing Lolas shades a couple of months ago. I had put them on her then she had to adjust lol. 
Ali took these pics and they were so cute that I had to ask her to get me copies too. 
The page itself came from a Jody Wenke layout, and was one of the challenges from the LOAD that I'm working my way through. 
Jody's style is so simplistic so I had no trouble completing this one and loving it :)


This one I'm not sooo in loe with. its ok but I wouldn't say it was great. 
pics are of the kids in Blaise when Paul took them on an adventure. 
I did this for another LOAD challenge which was to peruse the LOAD gallery and choose a page to lift, instead of this, as I'm years behind everyone else... I used a sketch from the studio calico class called sketchbook 4 to finish this one off. 
I do like the title and the off cuts down the side, but not keen on the rest.


This is the last one, a very plain and simple double page no embellishment, just a title and photos. I think thats all it needs :)
plus it was beginning to annoy me , as most double pages do eventually so i just called it a day!!!

Hope you are all having a good day, just want to leave you with a photo of what me and Lola were up to this morning:


yup, we gave Mr Skinny legs a hair cut!!!! he now looks neat and tidy:)

see you all soon xxxxxxxx


Sunday 17 June 2012

copy cat!

afternoon ladies and gents?!?!?!

Its nice and sunny here in Bristol, and that makes a nice change from all the rain we've had lately. always makes me happier when the sun is shining :)

I managed to do a page this morning whilst elsie was asleep and everyone else was pre occupied, it didn't take me long as I completely scrap lifted the design and the paper choices from Jen Jockisch....she is my new scrap idol!!!

Jen designs for studio calico and this is the first time I've really taken much notice of the design team pages, but I'm so glad i did. despite receiving the kit every month for almost a year now :o

here is a link to the studio calico page: i hope it works

I scrap lifted the first one .... you won't miss it , you could spot the differences between them lol.
heres mine:


You should please excuse the 'hair shadow' i took this in my kitchen doorway this morning and as you can see my hairs a bit messy! 

I loved how Jen layered little elements up.... I would never have done this page if i wasn't copying someone else's as the bluebird is one little element from a huge 12x12 paper, cut out purely to be added here.
the lovely , beautiful banner is from the flip side of the spots, and was along the top...again i would not normally have cut this out of one side to use on another. 
I did change it up slightly, as Jen used 'wooden' papers that came with the kit, but I didn't wanna cut up a whole sheet just for this tiny scrap, so i used some of my scrap paper that had already been cut into. I also did the same for the chevron paper. 
let me know what you think of Jen and her style. personally i love it and will be trying to remember all of these things when i scrap next :)

Saturday 16 June 2012

challenge upon challenge!

Good morning....

first of all i must start with a confession:

My name is Emma and i am a challengaholic!!!!

there, I said it, i am addicted to challenges, they influence most of my pages and keep me trying new things. we all need something that makes us work don't we????
I say this because at the moment I am running a few challenges side by side.

firstly I am doing an old version of LOAD - the alphabet one, I am working my way through..maybe not at the pace of a layout a day but if and when I can.

I was also sent another challenge from Kerri, a lady who comes to my crop...and this was a list of words to influence my pages. she included me in a challenge that was originally set for her family who are taking part in the olympics, they are not IN the olympics but helping to marshall it (i think).
the list includes words that they could use in diary entries each day, and will give them something to think about. Kerri sent it to me to influence the way and things I scrap about and I have been choosing these every time i do a page to make me think more. 

As well as these 2.... myself and Carole are always challenging each other to do certain sketches from pinterest or somewhere else.And to top it off I've been looking at Shimelle Laines blog again this week and doing some of her things that I fancy. such as her starting point and sketch of the week :)

Oh and i almost forgot, I also came across an old class that i signed up for and had forgotten about. on studio calico and its called sketch book 4! :)

I will show you the outcome of all of these challenges combined now :)


This is my latest page influenced by LOAD challenge H for Holiday: we had to use holiday themed paper for a non holiday page. I immediately thought of this photo of Lola drinking snowman soup. and then found the snowman paper that was in my stash waiting to be used on such a page :)
I also used Shimelle Laines scrapbook sketch of the week to start my page layout.
I quite like how this has turned out, I'm not so keen on the journalling block BUT it wouldn't have gone straight onto the patterned paper and i needed to write stuff down, so it will do :)


This page also started as a Shimelle Laine page. this time it came from starting points. i knew I had the camera sticker and other bits from the studio calico kit that Shimelle used. but I wanted to make it a more feminine page.
I used my first word from Kerris challenge.... the word being beauty. 
This made me want to use what I would class as 'beautiful' papers. The floral pattern is not one that I would normally choose for my pages, if you know me you will know that even having and scrapping about 2 girls regularly does NOT make me girly AT ALL!
I found these photos of Elsie that I love and that have been sat in my collection for a while, originally I was only going to use one, but as they were taken at the same time I thought I would go with them both on one page. just for a change :)
Too add to the challenge I also used the E challenge from LOAD which was embellishments. and yup i had to use a lot of embellishments on my page, I think for me, i did well :)


This page has pics of Paul and the elder kids playing swing ball at a party we went to a couple of months ago. 
The sketch came form my sketchbook 4 class at studio calico, altho it was very basic so I did add in all those arrows and stars.
I chose the word 'direction' from Kerris list.
And for the LOAD challenge I did G for groupings where I grouped the popping out stars at the top. 


This was a page that I did on a scrapping day with Carole. :) always love wednesdays xxx
Carole chose the sketch and we both did our own version of it, one day I will get her to send me a pic of hers so that you can compare our style, I'd say pop over but she's a bit slow at blogging :) (luv u xx)

I also chose the word 'capture' from the list of words and the letter F for five in the LOAD challenge.
the five challenge involved using 5 in something on your page. it could have been a number 5, or the word, or 5 items, or 5 photos. it was pretty open for interpretation. i used 5 pink flowers in the bottom right corner :)
Love this photo of Lola from when we went to Bristol zoo back in April. she's a natural poser and I've had comments about how this photo looks like a page from a catalogue! little model in the making :)

right so thats enough from me for now.
I received my new studio calico kit yesterday so expect lots of nice shiny new products on my next few pages....

see you soon xxxxxx

Monday 11 June 2012

Catching up :)

Hello :)
Who told summer that we didn't want it this year??? I'm a bit fed up of this nasty wet weather, the kids can't go out to play and my washing won't dry nicely lol.... can't wait to see some more sun, if you've had some please send it my way..... on the plus side of rainy British weather, as a result of not being able to go anywhere its a good excuse to sit and scrap.

i hope you too have been making the most of it, as i have..... it was also Lollicrop on Saturday.
I was overwhelmed with new faces, it was brilliant. we were joined by Carole and Angela, who drove all the way up from near Bournemouth to be with us for the day. Of course I've seen Carole before but we've never 'properly' scrapped together, only ever via Skype. and it was lovely to meet angela who i have heard wonderful things about but had never met. 
We were also joined by a friend of Ali's, her real name is Chris but she is know to us as Tiggy. (a name she received from being a brownie helper) she was well away with photos and definitely knew what she liked and what she didn't like which is so nice to see in a newbie. 
and last but most definitely not least we were also joined by Emma and Louise, 2 lovely ladies who were pointed in my direction by Louisa via Netmums website. 
Louise fitted right in, as crazy and up for it as the rest of us and Emma, altho a little shy was a very hard worker, she didn't need much encouragement or leading into making 2 fabulous pages and was very keen to jot down new ideas and places to look online. I can't wait to see what they all do with their new found hobby :)

I didn't get too much done at crop, busy helping others and making sure everyone was ok... but thats how I like it. if i didn't i wouldn't be a very good leader now would I :)
I did manage to finish a page see below:


I started this at home and added the finishing touches when I got a minute at crop. 
it was done for the LOAD challenges that I'm currently working through and this one was D for Distress.
I chose to roll up some edges, edge distress a few and stamp around a bit with black ink just so it wasn't as straight and flat as my pages normally are. 
I also added a rosette and some stars to give interest with a bit of journalling to explain the story. 
the photo is of myself and Ali on our way to our crafty retreat a fortnight ago. i took the pic as we were driving along, and Ali tried posing as well as driving, which I did tell her off for!!! lol
it was great fun and i think the pic shows what a good time we were having, even on the journey up there.


This one I started at crop, but finished yesterday.
The pic is of Daniel and Elsie after missing each other for 3 or 4 days :)
He is such a mother hen, always looking out for the younger ones and worrying about everything. i caught this moment between them, and love how they look and the feelings it shows. This isn't just a one of either, they are always like this, for now anyways.
The sketch i borrowed from Carole, but I didn't have it to finish of so winged it :) 
i hope it looks ok, i also got to use some of my new wash tape, yum yum yum and some new tim Holtz tickets , I was very happy.


I decided to delve into my old photo box for this challenge. which was another LOAD one. The pics are of Elsie at halloween, looking cute in her kitty costume. 
The challenge was to scrap lift a page by Kelli Crowes, as I couldn't get onto her talk about her challenge i just chose a page of hers through pinterest. It was pretty basic so I added embellishments to suit me. 
Carole you had best be proud lol.
the title came to me straight away, but everything else just unfolded as i went along. 
I USUALLY stick to a rule where i only use embellishments that match the theme or topic of my page, but here i thought outside of the box. 
The dolls have no connection to the page at all, or even to the theme of halloween, or kittens or anything. BUT I knew I had the yellow tutu trim in my box and i wanted to use it, so I chose to dress up my mannequins with it and did a large one to represent me, and a small one to represent Elsie. 

I love it anyways, love the photos, love the colours which is really odd for me to love something i have done. yay me :)

right everyone is up now so best go sort them out, might see you later :)

bye bye for now xxxxxxx


Thursday 7 June 2012

whilst its quiet :)

Its Thursday in half term, that means a lovely quietness happens in my house as both of the girls go to does for the day and I only have the boys to worry about. :)
At this particular moment Daniel is in his room watching Lost and Mike is on the sofa, having just made chocolate cookies by himself... and he's about to watch the cat in the hat movie...AGAIN!

This means I get to do what I want, and today that means play time and catching up on my blog, you lucky people! :) lol

here are my 3 latest pages and some explanations behind them:


This is the page i have JUST finished.... It shows Lola playing with the water when it was hot all those weeks ago, (i know its not that long but it seems it, I want summer back :( )
I had these smaller photos printed to take away with me on retreat but i still have some left and they worked perfectly for a sketch i found this morning on Caroles pinterest board :)
I also did the day 4 challenge form the current LOAD that I'm working through.
It is C for card stock!
yup, we were only allowed card stock on our pages, no patterned papers at all.... we were also allowed alpha stickers (which i didn't use) and one type of embellishment. i chose buttons.... I think the simple sketch works well showcasing the photos and also with the plain card stock route. 
what do you think??? bit boring????


This one was done for my chinese whispers group so sssshhhh!!!
The page i received wasn't really to my style so I found it a hard one to adapt, but thats what this challenge is all about. 
I changed it up a little to suit me better and I even MADE the B for Britain (or Bristol) male flower stack, prou of myself or what!!! especially as my cricut mat is very dodgy and unstick, i had a terrible time getting all of the pieces cut out, it nearly went in the bin.
The felt camera i bought from a lady called Kate from Facebook, i got 3 all together so expect to see a couple more of those on upcoming pages, they are zoo cute and i order the red white and blue without thinking about it, I got it for boys pages but it worked perfectly for this patriotic theme. 
photos are from when we went to see the olympic torch running through Bristol, was a fab morning and one I'm glad we bothered to take part in :)


This last one is of a photo of Mike also take whilst we were seeing the torch. 
The sketch i also stole from Carole, as she was doing it for a page of her sister.... I loved it and wanted to try it too. altho she finished hers before i had even started mine, i haven't seen what hers looks like so will be fab to compare layouts when we see each other again.
I used the PRIMARY colours of blue and yellow as my basis and added a touch of grey to tone it down, the sun and other yellow sticker embellishments were going to be stars, but I was being lazy and didn't want to badly cut more on the cricut so I raided my sticker stash for stars, and instead came across the sun at first and then other yellow pieces that were suitable. funny how we have our minds set on one thing and it always turns out completely different.

OK so thats me done for now, i still have some hours left to myself so don't wanna waste them here, will be back later if I get more done.

bye for now xxxxxx

Tuesday 5 June 2012

Just a few

Phew.... its been a busy couple of weeks, but I'm here.... for at least 5 minutes with a few pages to show you.
these aren't all the ones I've down over the past couple of weeks but just a few of my faves. 
I'll not bother talking too much but just get straight into it as my soup is bubbling away :

 This is one i've just finished, its page 2 for the new to me, but old LOAD that I am doing. 
the new LOAd is called A-Z define my style.
This is the page for the second day and the prompt was A for Adjectives! 
we had to describe ourselves in 3 words and use this on a page.
This page tells how i found that hard and asked other people for their input. 
I guess my style here is minimalistic ??

 This was page 1 for LOAD with the prompt of make a page how you normally would, I would normally use a sketch or a scrap lift as inspiration for creating something so thats what I did here. 
I used inks and paint to create my 'messy' background and sequins just to finish it off.... must admit they aren't normally the thing on the top of my to use list but I added them anyways :)


Last week my lovely friend Carole was recuperating from an operation and as she wasn't feeling to bad we set about doing a bit of scrapping. She however did a lot more than I did and this page was made as i was trying to play catch up :)
I have seen her version of this page from the creative scrappers ebook, and it looks nothing like mine, but thats kinda cool, we always put our own spin on things and thats whats nice about scrapping. you can make anything  your own :)


This page includes pics of Elsie and Paul from when we went to see the olympic torch run in Bristol. 
I did this page whilst away at retreat and i think its my have from there 


This is another that I completed whilst away. pics are of the girls playing in our back garden, enjoying the sunshine... I decided to crumple up the edges of all the papers to give the page a bit of depth. 
finally a page of Lola when she was riding the merry go round on our visit to the zoo. This is another lift from the creative scrappers book and another that I had to catch up to Carole for :)
am missing my friend tho, we've both had busy long weekends and I haven't spoken to her in a while....maybe tomorrow at some point on our scrappy, but probably not scrappy day :)

xxxxxx