Scrapping challenges

May has been the most prolific month ever for scrapping for me, I think NSD started it all off and I have continued to enjoy making pages since then.  I have felt very honoured to have 2 of my pages on a couple of websites.......

This page was made for NSD and has been mentioned on SJ Papercrafts blog today and although I didn't win I was chuffed to bits (and the winning entry has already been added to my scrapbooking board on pinterest as it is fab!)

Meanwhile this is the featured layout on the homepage of UK Scrappers (wow I feel proud!!  Is that wrong??  Still jealous of my chums who were chosen as Favourites of Shimelle on her NSD board though! See them pinned here)

I think challenges are the thing that motivates me most of all and I have managed a few this month. SJ posted a sketch challenge here , based on a page designed by Jennifer Grace.....

This is what I came up with (notice the use of sparkly bits especially for Jennifer, they are actually gold and bronze and not as dark as in the photo)

On SJ Papercraft blog was Lisa Jane's take on the sketch that I have totally scraplifted here.....

Sarah's cards monthly sketch challenge used this sketch

which I adapted to make this page

I have also been challenged by K to make 31 layouts in May an average of one per day, which means I need to make another 3 in just under 24 hours... wonder if I will manage???

UKS challenges

Wow the sun is shining and it is a Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK (the two are usually mutually exclusive!!) I am enjoying seeing blue skies and feeling the sun's warmth on my skin. I sat outside in my parents garden yesterday,  playing cards with the children for ages, so long in fact that we nearly missed dinner!! I hope the weather stays good as I am off this week for the Whitsun holidays and hope to be able to get outside a few times at least...... I have a trip planned to the Harry Potter Studios..... very excited!!

On the scrapping front, after making 6 layouts and 5 cards for Jennifers blogging event, I have had a much quieter week!  I made a page for the monthly challenge using this sketch

As you can see I did adapt it but I think you can still see the original in there!  And yes they are more beach photos from Antigua!

I don't think I ever shared this page that I made for the UKS cyber crop last year.  I really enjoyed it and found it totally inspiring and this LO was one that I made trying different techniques including all the misiting and using smaller photos. I actually won a prize for this LO so was really chuffed as it was my first ever Cyber Crop!  I am looking forward to the next one already.

So for this weeks UKS challenge we had to use 'non regular sized' photos, scrap a large event and use 2 from....bows, buttons, badges, beads, brads, bling (I used buttons and brads)

For the weekly challenge I scraplifted the above page. I have scrapped photos taken on my mobile phone when my son was admitted to the paediatric ward almost 2 weeks ago, he has been unwell for sometime now and had to go in for more investigations,  Fortunately we were only there for half the day and didn't need to stay overnight.  I have journalled about how proud I am of his bravery throughout the time and also how hard I have found it and how unsure we are about what the future will bring.  Not an easy topic to scrap but something important to document as it is such a huge part of our lives right now.

onwards and upwards part 3

The final challenge on Jennifer's blog event was 'free as a bird' and although I made a few cards as shown on a previous post, I had to scrap this theme too.

The first page I made is of a pelican just floating serenely on the beautiful waters of Antigua, I journalled about being as free as a bird.

Hummingbird features an amazing bird that was so difficult to take a photograph of but was wonderful to see  in real life.

Finally I scrapped a photo taken on the first real sunny day this year 20th April when I just lay in the garden gazing up at the clear, cloud free sky and wondering what it would be like to soar like a bird.

Thank you Jennifer for a great weekend of inspiration I still have loads of ideas on my list to try and I cannot wait to join you in your new class, Projects that Wow, in June (for more details see here) xxx

Onwards and Upwards part 2

With so many ideas I had to relate some to scrapping, the first page is another for the Antigua album which is almost completed now.  I took inspiration from using lots of yellow (not a colour I am very fond of and therefore rarely seem to scrap with, but loving it on this page) and also went a little bit hybrid and used some Studio Calico from the NSD giveaway that I used on my Olympic pages here.

This is also my UKS weekly challenge which was to use the sketch below, 5 patterned papers and at least 5 lines of journalling.

The next page I tried was something a bit different from me and I took general inspiration from Jennifer just to try something new.  I used black patterned paper as my base, again black is a colour I don't really like, but again it seems to work well. I also used a larger square photo taken on my camera using the retro camera app which is different to my usual photos too. Specifically though I did add all the gems, sequins and buttons as a direct tribute to Jennifer's sparkly style here.  Also did you notice both this photo and the last one feature clouds???

My third LO is completely different for me again as I took Jennifers ideas literally and combined the idea for using a detailed die cut object or paper doily with combining a woodgrain background with something pretty to make this page about the Hibiscus flower growing in Antigua.

Onward and Upward part 1

Wow, I cannot believe 2 weeks have passed since National Scrapbooking Day, I had such fun and was soooo inspired.  Fortunately for me the inspiration continued last weekend when the amazing Jennifer hosting a full on blog event at Jennifer Grace Creates.  There was so much creativity I have a huge list of ideas and here are some things I have made after seeing all the talent showcase on Jennifers blog.

Firstly a few cards

The first card was partly created from a leaflet that came through the door with a balloon on and the words, it was actually advertising a funeral service would you believe (and that is where the word 'fun' came from!) inspired by this post and I added the clouds made from vellum. The 2nd card was made from some scrapbook paper scraps for a friends son and the last 3 cards are tiny pale gold pearlescent cards and I used stickers that my cousin sent me to decorate them, very simple but definitely perfect for a bird theme here and  cards generally are inspired by this post.

NSD the final challenge plus onwards and upwards!

I have had the best time in the last week I have made 17 pages including the divided page protector one!!  I have never made that many before WOWSER!!

My final page is to scrapping a milestone.... I nearly took a photo of myself scrapping as completing all 24 challenges feels like a major milestone to me!  However in the end I just went for a birthday and scrapped 2 photos of a birthday cake made by my daughter with the addition of a huge candle thing!

I have also taken the opportunity to combine this page with a challenge for Jennifer who is hosting a blog event called onwards and upwards over here.  She has posted hourly during the day since Friday afternoon and it has been fantastic.  I am bursting with even more ideas.  Plus there are some amazing giveaways.
This challenge was to  use:-
a square photo ......I used 2 square photos
something sparkly ....I am beginning to embrace sparkly on my LO's using old sparkly chipboard here
encouraging/happy/uplifting words...celebrate and birthday and make a wish are all very happy!
at least one sticker...... puffy heart sticker
3 stars.... 2 chipboard ones and a punched one plus stars on 2 of the papers
yellow.....all the stars and the word wish
1 stamp..... I stamped the date

I want to say a huge thank you to Shimelle and Jennifer who have taken lots of time preparing some amazing posts on their blogs to keep me inspired and get me scrapping and all for free!!.  I do appreciate how much time it must take putting it all together so thanks a million xxx

NSD almost finished Shimelle's 24 challenges.....

I only have 4 challenges left to complete and have had a great time scrapping all week (though no pages were made on Thursday or Friday as I ran out of time!).

The first of these challenges that I tackled was to 'write a letter' something I haven't done before on a scrapbook page.  I really loved Shimelle's idea of writing to a place, so I wrote a short letter to Antigua. 'using repetition' ...

Sticking with the Antigua photographs, I made my first ever divided page using 'divided page protectors'.  I have already made 3 12x12 pages of the day we went snorkelling and swimming from the boat so adding these to the album like this seems like a great alternative to more of the same.  I think I may need to tweak it slightly but overall I am happy with it.  On the reverse side I have all underwater photos that really didn't turn out that well.  Probably not great for a scrapbook page but once I have embellished the pages a bit they will look fine in the divided page and the memories are preserved. (journalling added post photography!)

So 23 out of 24 challenges completed and only one more to go...... I will be back soon.......

NSD and creative craft world challenge

Shimelle's first challenge was to 'scrap in pink' and I thought I probably wouldn't manage this one as I am not really a pinky kinda girl. However when I was looking through my Olympic photos I realised that actually quite a few feature pink!  In fact I haven't used as many red white and blue papers as I thought I would so they will have to be used for something else now.  I cut the 4x6 photos down to various sizes so i scrapped 'smaller photos' and this is the page I made,,,

 For the next page I used the Creative Craft World Sketch for May

and created another Olympic page to co-ordinate with the hockey one this time featuring Basketball.  I used 4 square photos, inked over a doily to create the circle effect and I made similar embellishments to those on the hockey page (with circle punches and netting fabric) so I managed to get fabric on 2 pages with the addition of more brads thus completing another challenge.

NSD more Shimelle challenges

How I have loved scrapping this week... it was great to have a long weekend with the Bank Holiday then I only work a few hours on a Tuesday and Wednesday is my day off.....perfect!

I bravely tried the use mist and use paint challenges and attempted to go a bit arty on this page with more Olympic photos..........

to be honest I am not sure that it worked!  I don't think I like this page but at least I tried something different!

Next up I used a sketch from Sketchbook365 the Scrap 365 challenge blog (just got the latest issue delivered today so will be indulging in an inspiring read this weekend no doubt)

I adapted the sketch to use larger photographs and to record our experience of using games mobility at the Olympic Games and the journalling expresses my gratitude to the wonderful Games Makers and the games mobility team who really looked after us and were so helpful.

I have left out almost all of the swirly elements and the flower and butterfly embellishments (I have featured umbrellas instead!!) but I think you can still see the original sketch in mine and it fits Shimelle's challenge about recording gratitude.

NSD Challenges

So obviously throughout the week I had to make more pages and the next challenge I tried was to make a mood board, a totally new concept to me, I guess I do get inspiration and ideas from various places and media but have never tried putting anything together before.  I collected some things on pinterest but had also got ideas and my scraplifted page from the Scrapbook Remix Class that I am retaking at the moment so I wasn't able to pin any of those. The power of 3 challenge is also met in this LO although I could have put almost any page up for this challenge as I am definitely a cluster of 3 kinda girl these days! This is another Harry Potter page talking about wigs and make up from the films.

Next up keeping in the HP theme was a page created from a themed Harry Potter scrapbook paper.  This proved a challenge in itself to use as it had a large picture on the paper and made placement of my photos really difficult.  So I cut the paper up, removing the picture completely (hoping I will use it elsewhere in my HP album) and remodelled it so there are actually 3 pieces of the original, stuck back together slightly differently. I needed to fill some gaps so used an embossing folder to create the coggy journalling card, some cog dies to fancy cut  (another challenge) some cogs and gears, I kinda fussy cut the photos to get rid of distracting background colours, punched a few stars, photocopied something on the printer and used up a 3d border sticker that I have had forever....all stuck onto a heavy weight gruesome patterned paper that I would never have used!  So I definitely 'stretched my stash' as this was the ultimate stash buster for tools and paper goods as I used lotsa scraps too.

NSD the Knight Bus

On Bank Holiday Monday I did persuade (and it took quite a bit of persuading!) all the family to go out to a local National Trust property for a walk, some fresh air and to enjoy the good weather whilst it lasted.  The previous post shows a photo I took whilst there.

Of course I had to continue with my NSD challenges and I decided to make a double page as this is something I rarely do but was something Shimelle had asked for here.  

I had these photos of the Knight Bus taken at the Harry Potter Studios and really loved them so a larger LO was perfect for showcasing them. Can you see the 3 little black and white buses?  These were actually cut from the side of a box of tissues and mounted on acid and lignin free paper before being added to the pages, which I think definitely meets the 'use unexpected supplies' challenge.

On Tuesday I decided to construct my page for the UKS weekly challenge which was a masculine page, with added flowers made using this sketch

This is the page I came up with....

I really liked all the combination of all the blue with my son just gazing out over the sea in Antigua whilst on a boat trip.  I copied Shimelle's idea of combining lots of embellishments by creating a banner (I have buttons, tags, twine, chipboard and gems) therefore 'lining up embellishments' and I 'used brads' in the middle of each flower and on the punched turquoise border. So 2 more Shimelle challenges completed with this page.

How I wish I was back on that boat..... sigh........

May 10 FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop

Wow the last month has just flown by and here we are again hopping around the world to look at family photos..... if you haven't joined us before please pop over to Margie's blog who created the idea and she will tell you all the details.  But in a nutshell a small but dedicated group of us get together once a month and share photos of our families so we have a record of the changes and for me personally it is a rare photo of me and an uncommon snapshot of us all together!

This is my hot of the press photo only taken this weekend as I realised I didn't have a family photo to share.... thank goodness for self timer.  Taken at a local National Trust house in a quiet spot as it was busy this Bank Holiday weekend.

Please take some time to visit this months participants

Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog

Ruth http://www.chattycraftyartypig.blogspot.com

Patricia  http://patoliveira.wordpress.com/ 

Louise http://www.scrapbook-me.blogspot.co.uk/

Diana www.thestudio56.com

Welcome to Diana who joins us for the first time and I am sooo pleased that Louise is back for her 2nd family blog hop.

Looking forward to seeing all the photos xxx

NSD with Echo Park

Over at the Echo Park blog they organised 4 challenges and I managed 3 of them and they all had to be completed by Sunday.

First up was a summer card, so I created something incredibly simple......

The 2nd challenge called for a LO of Love so I made this page about my family using all Echo Park products... I am a bit or a collector of EP papers but it felt really good to actually use some of EP note to self finally!  This page also fits 2 challenges from Shimelle which are to scrap about me and using favourite papers.  Over at SJ Crafts they suggested we make a page using one manufacturer and both these pages fit that challenge.

The last challenge was 10x the love, where you had to use 10 of something and I opted for 10 different opapers but got a bit carried away and used 12!! I scraplifted a page I made a few weeks (see it here) ago so this fitted another Shimelle challenge to 'scraplift yourself'.... I am hoping it is ok to scraplift yourself when you originally scraplifted Shimelle!! 

National Scrapbooking Day (NSD)

I attended my local crop again on Saturday which fitted in perfectly with National Scrapbooking Day... what better place to be!!  It was great to be with the lovely girls all scrapping such beautiful pages.

There have been lots of blog posts from many sources around NSD and I decided to try out some of the challenges that took my fancy.  So at the crop I decided to scrap some Olympic photos from last year....

On both of these pages I added some freebie digital elements that were given away  here  as part of the NSD celebrations, by Studio Calico.  I loved them so much that I printed some off in the morning and took them to the crop to use and to show everyone how awesome they were! So obviously I had to enter the Studio Calico 'mix in a digital element' challenge with these pages and they also fit the challenge to use 5 different patterned papers.  This is my first time entering anything on Studio Calico but I have followed the blog for ages as it is packed full of ideas.

Another blog I have followed for ever is Shimelle's, she is a scrapbooking Godess and I love almost everything she creates.  For NSD, Shimelle totally rocked my world by blogging a total of 24 challenges and I set myself the challenge of trying to complete them all (some are definitely more challenging than others!!).
So my first LO is for the 'make it sparkle' challenge as I have added sparkly brads and fussy cut some glittered paper into circles.
The second page about the opening ceremony (journalling  is added post photo) tells the story of how proud I was that we hosted the Olympics and wished I had been there on the opening night... these pics were taken from the television! This page was my entry for the UKS weekly challenge to scrap an achievement/something we are proud of/ a butterfly..... the pic on UKS has the butterflies this was obviously taken before oops!....and yellow. I am submitting this one for 'use 4x6 photos'.