Summertime

On of the good things about living in our town is that in the summer there are free concerts in the park on a Sunday afternoon.  The music isn't always what we would have paid to go and see but the whole ambience is so wonderful that we try and go as often as we can.

The font for my title is hand drawn, but copied from a free font (Musiker) which I found on-line.

I used a mixture of butterflies to give some dimension to the layout.  This one as cut from parchment.  I painted flower stamens gold to use as antenna.

Cut from patterned paper these butterflies had a single strand of embroidery thread wrapped round the centre and very small beads tied on to the ends of the thread.

For this btterfly I modified an embellishment I had had in my goodie box for quite a time.

It was very bling which would just not fit the layout so I used the back of it.  Using my distress stains I coloured it.  Then with a permanent marker I coloured the centre in.  I finished it with small beads stuck on the wings.

I made three little tabbed journalling blocks.  Labelled them with small alpha tiles mad with my little stamps and made a pocket for them to all slot into together.

One Year on

I made this mini album to celebrate my nieces first birthday.  It was a quiet celebration with just us and her two sets of grandparents.  I wanted to show not only photos of her but photos of the rest of the family.

 

 I kept each page with the same layout.
I cut flowers from patterned paper and embellished them with a button in the centre.

On the front of each tag I created words using tiles made using my mini alpha stamps.  On the reverse of each tab I punched a small flower, coloured it using an ink pad and then clear heat embossed it.   For the flower centre I used an old yellow nail polish and then mounted it on a clear plastic leaf.

 I used several stamped mini tags on each page to hold my journalling.  Instead of punching a hole at the top of each I embellished them with small red beads.

 On each page I used a word torn form a dictionary.  The words were of course all relevant to the occasion.  I coloured them using my chalk pastels.

Coincidence

Thanks to Creative Craft World for inspiration for this page.  It records a chance meeting with a friend.  At the time I wrote down how Peter and I had come to be in Windsor that day and recorded odd bits of our conversation.  I have used these as journalling on the tags. 

I mounted my photo onto old packaging and used some wooden embellishments Mum had given me for Christmas to decorate it with.  I left the three main circles plain but dyed the two in the corner with my distress inks.

Jubilee

Once again sorry I can't show the photos here.
I kept this LO very simple but was pleased with the final effect.

The circles around the photos I made by inking the rim of a glass and using it to stamp onto the page.  I then used my sewing machine to stitch the circle.  The title I made by writing it in pencil and then zig zagging over it.

Moving On

My creativity took a walk on this LO but although I struggled to come up with this idea I am moderately pleased with the finished page.  Sorry that I can't publish the photo for this or my next post.  This page celebrates my last day in my job before I moved onto my next one.  I cut the photo into a chevron shape to give the idea of movement and then painted the alphas with stripes to give the same impression.  The small circles have been punched out of netting which I coloured with alcohol inks.

Holiday in a Shed

This layout is based around a holiday on the Welsh Boarders where we stayed in what was grandly described as a log cabin but in reality was a large garden shed.  In my attempt to use up some of my scrap paper I have used multiple strips to layer my photo's onto.  I have also used parts of tourist guides and maps.  A couple of the strips are from cardboard boxes/baskets which contained easter eggs and one piece is from an oat cakes box.  I gutted the base card behind the photos and strips so that I could use it for my title and the mat my photos.

 For my journalling label I cut out the outline left over from a label sticker and stuck it onto and old map.  I then cut out a disc from the map and attached it as as tag.  The label slots behind my photos.

 To attach the tag I used a small piece of recycled cord which was one of many strands which had made up the handle of my old torn shopping bag.  The bag has been used in many layouts as it is a lovely Hessian.

 I was really pleased with the title as when I came to stamp it I found that I had lost the 'a' stamp.  So i made a stencil from another 'a' stamp, and inked over it leaving a silhouette of the a on the card.  I then used my glue pen to fill in the centre and put embossing ink over it all. Then I cut the ragged edges off to form a nice smooth square.

Ducks

These photos were taken in 2009 and I was so pleased with the main one, although I have to admit that a lot of it was luck.  I don't do many family LOs and so was a bit stuck on how to use up this piece of patterned paper, however a family of ducks was just the thing.  I have inked and painted the borders around the photos instead of matting them onto card.

For my main duck I stuck the upper beak onto the lower one and then coated them both with UTEE.  For the eye I stuck a UTEE covered black disc onto a white button.

 My letters are made form covering raw chipboard with the patterned paper and then inking and painting the edges.

Dad

I knew when I visited my father that he was getting more and more infirm and that this could be one of the last times we would walk out together.  I was right I will never walk with him again for more than a few steps.

 For embellishments I used parts of an old iron which I rescued.  I filled this 'frame with embossing powder round the edge and then stamped my title.

 I cut out an arrow from paper which I covered with UTEE and then stuck on this metal disc form the iron.

 Two of my labels are suck down but the top one hold my journalling on the reverse and just slips behind the photo.

January Catch Up

I'm surprised that there are as many as these layouts to upload as I really haven't felt like scrapping for what seems like ages.  There have also been a couple of LOs which I couldn't put on-line so all in all I didn't do as bad as I thought.

My first couple are of my niece.  This one records how she would move over the floor before she learnt to crawl.  I did my journalling as a flow chart as progress across the floor to her boing ball was definitely a repetitive process.

Because I made a spelling mistake I had to cover it some how so I chose to make a paper spring to mount the words on.  This reflected the words 'shake shake shake it'.

I hand drew all the animals and made their tails by plating them out of embroidery silk.

 My second layout was inspired by a James Bond film. The introduction showed bright coloured circles moving across the screen in different formations.  Circles did not work but arranging these punched flowers in different ways did.

 For the larger flowers I stamped onto coloured card and embossed with white powder.  It gave a lovely mottled effect.

 This layout celebrates our Jubilee street party.

In my stash I had a large gold postage stamp.  I mounted it on a pieces of card and used it as a journalling tag.  A fine red gauze bag (another left over squirrelled in my stash)

 I wound ribbon round the jumbo ric rac under my main photo.

 I didn't want to mount my small photos but just sticking them on the page didn't look right so I stitched over each corner.

This layout celebrates the first anniversary of our return to the UK.I coloured the backing doily using my pastel chalks.  I hand made the playing cards and used a stencil and chalks to make the clock paper.

 This photo dosen't show this layout off to it's best.  I have used two subtley different red papers, cutting borders and a journalling block from one.  I also stamped words and flowers onto this card as well as mounting stickers on to it.

I backed this painted chipboard heart with paper ans then stuck on the small hearts.  I filled the whole shape with ultra thick powder and placed it on my craft iron.  When all the powder had melted I pushed the larger heart into it.

Living Art

This was a fun lyout to do.  I painted the background using water colours and acrylics and then hand drew and painted my title.

My embellishments were old computer parts, video tape, metal curtain rings, buttons and a wire hoop.

I used my trusted old shopping bag to back my turned down corner.

99.5 years apart

When I saw the Scrap 365 October Shake It Up Challenge I realised that this was the perfect photo for it.  My 6 month old niece and 100 year old great aunt.  Sorry about the blob on my nieces face but my brother doesn't want her photo on line.

For my journalling I used the back of the group of tags attached to the bottom of the LO.

Having to use a ticket stumped me as I didn't have any.  However I made this one using the bottom edge of one of my tag stamps and punching holes along the edge.  For my wood grain I used a small wooden heart which I lightly smeared with paint.  I haven't taken a close up but I stitched the crochet strip under the photo onto the LO.