At last some scrapping!

Hi Scrappers, seems like ages since I posted a scrapbooking layout so I looked to a sketch to kickstart my mojo at Handmade by Suzanne. I'm just loving the sketches on this site, particularly the one for this month:

I made a few changes - masked a star using Glimmer Mist on a kraft background and outlined it in black paint to make it pop a bit, added a few lines of journalling (oops - forgot a date!) and did my own version of bunting with a cuttlebug die and some thread. It came together pretty quickly - you can probably tell! This is the first layout I've done using Kraft as the base and I really like how it's turned out.

So I'm hoping my mojo has had a good kicking and that I can get back into scrapping mode. There's nothing more frustrating than looking at a blank piece of paper and not knowing where to start. Here's hoping that July will be a scrappier (and not crappier) month!

Cheers for stopping by,
Claire xx

It's that time again

Happy Sunday everyone!

I'm beginning to wonder why I call myself a scrapbooker as I seem to be spending most of the time making cards at the moment. I'd love to have done the scrap sketch on the MME blog this month but since we've had a house full of visitors for over a week I only had time for a card. The theme for this month was 'Song Lyrics'. Here's the sketch...

...and here's my version

Star Spangled Banner are the lyrics that have inspired this. With July 4th just round the corner it's my tribute to all things American so what could be more appropriate than using red, white and blue! I mainly used MME's Alphabet Soup for this one and a few red brads I had laying around in my stash. Not sure why I thought this would be quicker than a layout - those flags took forever!

And just to finish - a huge congrats to Kerryn Lawson and Geli Duncan who won Scrapbooking Memories 'Express Yourself' competition (traditional section.) Make sure you check out their blogs to see their beautiful creations.

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Green Tara

Hi there Happy Scrappers!
What do you do when a scrapbooking/card company are just down the road from you? Ring them up and ask if you can go and see them of course! How convenient that Green Tara, who import beautiful ribbons, skeleton leaves and other goodies,are based about 2km down the road from me. I met the owners last year at our local preschool where I was selling my cards and, since some of them had Green Tara products on, they very kindly bought a couple and put them up on their blog.

So I popped over last week with the intention of just getting a packet of skeleton leaves (little did I know!) They had lots of gorgeous new products, some of which aren't even in the shops yet. Here's a sneaky peeky at what I bought and how I've used it on a couple of cards I made...

Check out those striped ribbons..perfect for a boy layout or card and the pink, frilled ribbon is just beautiful. I also got some paper string in 4 different colours and of course the skeleton leaves which I've been using for ages.

And here's the cards -

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Copic Crazy

Hi fellow scrap addicts!
What a crazy couple of weeks it's been - the preschool fair (where I volunteered to go on the garden stall - pretty dumb when you consider that every plant I've ever owned has died), a kids birthday party, a 40th party and countless kid stuff inbetween. Not much time for scrapping unfortunately!
Its been a while since I went to a card making class but I've been meaning to take a lesson in Copic Markers for months. I bought some of them last year but hadn't a clue how to use them - to me, they just looked like normal markers. I've seen so many beautiful coloured, stamped images on various blogs that I decided to take a lesson so off I went to my local craft shop and had a practice with some cute stamps, supplied by the store. My first attempt was nothing short of pathetic - I completely overdid the colour and saturated the paper but eventually I managed something passable! I've only completed one card so far and it's very simple. But to be honest, I think the images are so vibrant, that not much else is needed.

Anyway, this is my first attempt at colouring with Copics. I've never been a huge stamper but I reckon I could become a little Copic crazy if I'm not careful!

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

Bits and bobs

Oh dear, my scrapping mojo seems to have all but disappeared at the moment. Too much going on to concentrate on anything else. In an attempt to find it I managed to get one of the cybercrop challenges done at the LSBS on the weekend. Belle's challenge was to use her image and layout as inspiration and scrap about something or someone who turned out differently to what you expected. We also had to use blue somewhere on our layout. This is what I came up with -

I chose the subject of my youngest son. I was absolutely convinced that Tom was a girl - for no reason other than that I couldn't see myself with 2 boys. When we were about to go into the operating theatre, there was a whiteboard outside with a poem on called Awaiting Grace. This seemed a sure sign it was a girl, since our chosen girl's name was Grace. Obviously I was completely wrong as out came a little bub, complete with dangly bits! Of course, now I can't see myself with anything other than boys, although I have to say that scrapping in pink would be nice for a change....

Since my scrappy mojo has gone AWOL I took up Julie's card challenge over at Scraptherapy. Her challenge was to make a card using fussy cutting and lace. Since I'm one of the least girly girls on the planet, using lace was a first and a definite challenge so I just left a strip peaking out from behind some patterned paper.

I used Kaisercraft's Peachy Keen collection for this one. It's got flowers but isn't too feminine so perfect for both boys and girls. I expect I'll be making a few more 40th cards in the next few months...how depressing! It doesn't seem 2 minutes since I was celebrating 21st birthdays. Time to discover the wonders of Botox perhaps.....?

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx

A new challenge

I've been taking a peep at the Handmade by Suzanne site for ages so thought it was about time I had a go at one of the monthly sketch challenges. There is some absolutely stunning stuff in the gallery so go and take a peak for some scrappy inspiration. The sketch for this month looks like this -

I found it a really tricky sketch to work with - it's not like me to use up the whole of the paper space. On top of that I was working with one of my LEAST favourite colours...purple. Love it on my favourite flower (hence the irises in the wedding bouquet) but don't like it on my scrap pages! Anyway - here's the finished layout...

I've been meaning to scrap the story behind my wedding dress for ages - as the journaling says I won it in a competition...there's definitely not too many brides who can say that! Unfortunately the lovely, expensive tiara I bought fell half way down my head for most of my wedding photos. Never mind...makes a funny story and some may say that was an improvement to my overall bridal look anyway....

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire x

MME Sketch Challenge

It doesn't seem two minutes since I was doing the April MME sketch challenge but May is already upon us so here it is....

As you can see my obsession with all things Stella and Rose is continuing. I think it's their best collection yet, but then I always think that until another collection of MME goodies comes out. The theme is 'Anything Goes' so I picked another photo from Mothers Day - let's face it, it's so difficult to get a good pic of the kids that when we get a few decent ones we want to scrap them again and again and again!

Image courtesy of LSBS

It's pretty much all MME except for the chipboard, letters and pin. The flower was done using a leaf punch I've had for ages but never really used. Just shows how we should all raid our stash once in a while and use those things that have sat there for years gathering dust! Now that reminds me...where's my husband?

Cheers and thanks for stopping by,
Claire xx