Dotty Diva

I've been introduced to a new challenge site called Dotty Divas. They have a really fun ad challenge going on at the moment. The ad is really vibrant and as soon as I saw it I knew what I wanted to do. So out came the Basic Grey "Two Scoops" clear swirly stamps, I hand cut some flourishes and added this pic of DD, which I just LOVE. And hey presto! This is my take. The photo looks really light here, but the backing paper is Basic Grey Urban Couture Chiffon, which is quite bright yellow. Click here to see the challenge. Thanks for looking. Kel x

2 in 1

I managed to squeeze 2 challenges into one this week. Over at papertake weekly there is this fabby sketch to follow and Colour create's colour combo is Pink, Orange and Green, a lovely fresh and summery combination. So with the sketch and the colours I came up with this, using My Minds Eye - Bloom & Grow and Wild Asparagus papers, pink rick rack, Sugar Nellie "Lola's Tea party", some random buttons and a little present. Thanks for looking. Kel x

Playing in the Sugar Bowl

Today there is a sketch challenge over in the Sugar Bowl, with the extra "please include" option is doodling. Here is the sketch by Marlene And this is my take on the sketch. The stamp is "Hamish with Teddy on sleigh" available from Sugar Nellie of course. The papers I used are by Dovecraft and Anitas For the Doodling, I doodled some faux stitching around the edge of the "Hamish" image, and I also doodled some snoflakes in his background with a white sakura pen so that might now be easy to pick out. Thanks for looking Kel x

Chocolate and Marshmallow Allsorts

How nice does that sound?? Unfortunately its just a colour combo for the Allsorts challenge site. We were also provided with a sketch for the challenge and this is what I came up with. I love this Brown and pink colour combination and this sketch was fab.

Recipe:

Basic Grey & Doodlebug Patterned paper

Papermania Flowers, and photo anchors

Whiff of Joy sentiment stamp

Gems & ribbon from Stash

and now to raid the fridge for sweet things!

thanks for looking

Kel x

Eye Eye!

Cute Card Thursday's latest challenge is to use Eyelets. I have tons of eyelets that go a little unnoticed so it was good to be able to dig to the bottom of my drawer to get them out. I actually planned to use more than I did, but it didnt happen the way I had it in my head.

I had a bit of a floral overload instead! LOL. You kind of miss the eyelets with all those flowers but they are in the left bottom corner.

Recipe:

Basic grey - Offbeat paper, Sentiment stamp

Sugar Nellie - Rope Swing Stamp

Flowers, Brads and Eyelets from Papermania

Silk roses from stash

Thanks for looking, Kel x

Fairy Birthday

A quick card for my neice who just loves fairies! The stamp is "Sprinkles with Teddy" from Pink Gem designs. I used a sketch from Friday sketchers, paper from DCWV, Beads and gems from stash. I added some pink flock to the teddy and stickles to the wings, crown and shoes.

Come Dine With Me

This is a layout created for Scrapjazz July TV show title challenge. This really was quite hard. I could think of loads but couldnt put a photo to them. As soon as I picked up these photos of DD feeding her big cuddly Dog, I knew it had to be Come Dine with Me. Incase you dont know, Come Dine With Me is all about 5 random people who take it in turns over the course of a week to host the perfect dinner party. It is usually hilarious (if not only from the commentators comments) and you can get some really good recipes from channel 4.com! kel x

Yay!! Its back!

Basic Grey Challenge blog is up and running again!! I was looking for it just the day wondering when it would be back. And just look at the candy they are offering as part of the celebration. How amazing is that??!!! All you have to do is to leave your name and blog address, and of course post this fabulous prize on your blog and you'll be entered into the draw. I am so pleased they are back! Cant wait for the first challenge!

Just a random Card

Here is a quick card I put together, just because. I have had black flock for ages but only used it once with disastrous consequences. It was at the bottom of the drawer so I gave it another chance to redeem itself. I added a little bit of the flock to the spots on the skirt and I quite like it, so I think the flock can stay :)

Recipe

Sugar Nellie "Gift for you" stamp

Doodlebug papers

Doodlebug Crushed Velvet flock - Beetle Black

Papermania flower and brad

velvet ribbon, Lace and gems from stash

The Sugar Bowl

Another card challenge I have come across is The Sugar Bowl, which is fab because I really love the Sugar Nellie stamps that are a requirement to use if you are entering. They had a sketch to follow this week and this is what I came up with. I used Sugar Nellie, A Gift for You stamp, coloured with watercolours, My Minds Eye patterened paper from the Bloom and Grow collection, scalloped cardstock and some organza ribbon from my stash. Thanks for looking Kel x

Sketch Saturday

This is a card I created for Sketch Saturday. Loved this sketch as I would never normally cut curvy paper shapes and so I enjoyed making this one. I used a Sugar Nellie - Carefree stamp, coloured with water colours, My Minds Eye Wild Asparagus papers, buttons and ribbon from my stash. kel x

Christmas in July

Most places I look over the net its Christmas time in July. And why not?! I always rush at making my christmas cards, once i have made for friends and family, I always find I dont have enough for myself to send out. So to make a start I've joined in the challenge with Cute Card Thursday. The image isnt very clear as I did this when my ink pad was on its last legs, so it is very faint. But I quite like how its made the image a bit more delicate. (Thats me trying to justify the bad stamping by the way, lol). Thanks for looking. Dont forget to let me know you stopped by. :)

Recipe:

Patterned paper: Basic Grey Wassail

Stamp from Sugar Nellie - Partridge in a pear tree

Organza Ribbon

Brush markers

Whiff of Joy Blog Candy

The new fall stamp kit from Whiff of Joy is now available on the web store , but Katharina is offering 2 sets to give away as blog candy. The stamp set is a brand new set of never seen before stamps designed by Elizabeth Bell and text stamps designed by Katharina, all designed with Fall/autumn in mind. I got the Summer ones and they are beautiful. The blog Candy ends 26th July. Pop on over to have a look!

Colour Create

It seems like ages ago when I last took part in a card challenge, so I thought I'd jump back in with Colour create. Blue and white is the theme this week and here is my creation. I love these little Matrioshka doll stamps from Basic Grey Gamma Collection. When I took the photo of the card I realised I hadnt added a sentiment, so the ammended card no reads "No hiding! Its your birthday"

Recipe:

Patterned paper Basic Grey - Marrakesh, Wassail.

Doodlebug - Pure white flock card

Lace and blue organza ribbon from stash

Doll stamps: Basic Grey value stamps - Gamma Collection

Thanks for looking, Kel x

Present for teacher

There are only a couple of more nursery days for my dd before we go into the six week holidays. I got to thinking of presents for the teachers. They are so lovely and I wanted something they could keep and use instead of the usual chocolate and/or wine gift. In the Papermill shop I found some plain chipboard covered 8x8 book full of plain white blank pages. And better still they are Buy One Get One Free!! So I got the 2 I needed, covered them in My Minds Eye - Bloom and Grow papers, spelt notes in MME - Wild Asparagus chipboard and Cosmo Cricket - Love notes Chipboard alphas, added a flower on each book, then tied loads of scrap ribbon and wool around the binding. Took hardly any time at all and I think they will be useful. And I am going back to the papermill shop to stock up on some more of these bargain books!! Kel x

Quirky

What are your quirks? Thats the question over at Butterfly crafts this fortnight. For me its all about the texture of things on my hands and feet that I just cannot take. After having a shower I cannot bear to step straight out onto the floor, I have to dry my feet first then put them straight into slippers. I also cant touch cotton wool, felt, polystyrene, washing powder (generally anything that is too soft). It makes me go cold just thinking of it. When I was a kid, my sisters usd to put cotton wool in my school shoes for a laugh. They all have their own little quirks now so its pay back time!! Ha Ha!! I cant walk on carpet wearing just my socks. Makes my feet feel all funny and makes me gag. And I dont like my hands being wet. Obviously I wash the dishes, but my hands have to be dried immediately after, even if I just go to pick something else up and put them straight back into the sink! Touching anything that has been made wet from the rain either is a no no. Even writing about this and putting the layout together has made my hands clammy and my mouth feel weird. Challenge well and truly done! Thanks for looking Kel x

Recipe:

Basic grey porcelain paper and stickers

Papermania scalloped card

Hole Punch

Smirk chipboard button

DCWV alpha stickers

Cosmo Cricket Chipboard letters

Papermania journalling spot

Splish Splash

As I have just started to type this it has started bucketing down!!! Huge drops of horizontal rain. How fitting, seeing as the latest challenge for scrap whispers is to create a water themed layout. I have so many photos of water it was really hard to choose one. They range from boat trips, to swimming, to my dd feeding ducks, but I love this photo of my dd just quietlywatching swimmers in the pool a couple of years ago in France.

Even though you cant see her face, i just love the tranquility of this shot so immediately chose to use muted blues and aquas. I tore some Wasail Basic Grey paper and inked along the edge with black ink. Then I used some Marrakesh Basic Grey paper and cut semi cicles into it with m hole punch to give a stamp effect. Then added a piece of Aqua paper from Dovecraft, a random piece of white vellum. Then to finish off I added some white and blue gems, pearls, buttons, lace, organza ribbon and a photo turn, along with a tag threaded with twine. The title is French for I look - Je Regarde and for this I used Heidi Swapp ghost letters. As I said before I do not speak French so I got the translation from a random google search, but when I was adding the letters I forgot the "e" at the end so I had to cut that by hand from a piece of acetate (I ran out of e's) and attach it with staples. I was a bit annoyed as I spent hours on this LO, but it is all part of the French learning progress.

This challenge is up til midnight on saturday. And as I finish, the rain has stopped! Just in time for the school run.

Thanks for looking, kel x

Valid point!

Ok, last night when I posted the mini album tutorial it was dark and I was tired and was close to having to resort to having matchsticks holding up my eyelids, so I knew I would have missed something out! Possibly the most important feature of the whole thing. The photos! Thanks Rosey for the nudge, I'm kicking myself all over for being so daft! The envelopes you use act as pockets for mini pages or tags or whatever else you want them to hold. I folded the flap inside the envelope so it would give more strength and also so there wouldnt be any casulaties of rips or creases. On the front of the envelopes you can leave them plain with pretty patterened paper, stamp them, add quotes, photos or if you wanted to add more pages you can by sticking the front of the envelopes together to make a double pocket. You could even add a flap where you could hold more photos and have it like a concertina. It basically holds 10 mini pages/tags but once you start with it I know your creative juices will flow and you will see how it can be adapted and what you can add to it. Maybe I should have waited til I had added my own photos but I am far too impatient for that and I was just so excited at actually doing this without understanding a word of the instruction, that I couldnt wait to post! If I have missed anything else please do let me know. But i'm going to go over it with a fine toothed comb now just to be sure, to be sure! If you do have a go at doing this I would love to see what you made, so dont keep it to yourself. Kel x

Mini Book

I always somehow end up with lots of left over envelopes and some I have for ages in the hope they may find a home, but now I have found a great use for them. I thought I would show you how to make this gorgeous little mini book. It is so easy to make, so easily adapted and can make a great gift for someone too.

I have done this one christmas themed as I am still trying to find places for last christmases photos!! But all you need for your yummy book is:

2 rectangles of card 29cm x 12cm

10 x envelopes 10cm x 10cm

eyelets/buttons

Embroidery floss in a co-ordinating colour

patterned papers

Tags/ mini pages to fit inside your envelopes

So you start with your 2 pieces of card stock (29cm x 12cm). Measuring across the longest edge and marking as you go, measure 12cm, then 4.8cm and then 12cm. At the marks you made in middle of the card score down the length of the card to give you the spine of the book.

Next along the top right hand side from the crease of the spine measure 9cm. From that mark measure down 6cm. Make a semi circle with the 6cm base which is left at the bottom and cut it out as shown below. Do the same measurements for the bottom left corner and exactly the same again for the second piece of card so you have it like shown below. Once you have measured your card, along the spine you need to create holes to thread the envelopes into. From the top of the spine mark at 1.5cm. Across the spine make 5 holes (big enough for a darning needle to pass through) measured at 0.8cm apart. Do this top and bottom of both pieces of card. You then need to make holes in the envelopes to be able to thread them into the book. Mark 0.8cm in from the bottom corners and cut a half hole. For this I used an eyelet setter on the smallest setting I had but you could also use hole punch, just remembering to only cut a semi circle.

Once everything was cut and ready to go I started decorating the book. I used scraps of christmas papers from last year and just glued them to front and back of the book. I also took some scraps of coloured card, cut out 4 circles, distressed them and added some eyelets, making sure that on 2 eyelets (one top and one bottom) I tied some embroidery floss to use as a closure for the book when its not in use.

Next I decorated the front of the envelopes and then sewed them into the spine, leaving the ends loose so make sure you use a good length of thread (approx 30cm)! When you have sewn the pages in, gather the ends together and fasten them together. You can either use buttons or an eyelet or a Tag likeI used here. Once you have done the pages for both sides you can sit the 2 halves together and then fasten with the thread. If you dont want to use eyelets you can again use buttons or clasps or gromlets. So there you have it, a simple and quick mini book which would look great on the coffee table, or as a gift for a special someone. Actually the first one I made was for my Grandma who has 17 great grandchildren (not including the 5 on the way this year) and so I thought it would be nice for her to have an album with them all in one place.

And I am making another for a cousin of mine who celebrated a very special birthday. The day after his 25th birthday he had a very serious motorbike accident and the doctors believed he wouldnt make it and were ready to turn off the machines. A year on and he is in rehab, learning to walk again, but he can talk and write and still has his bizzare sense of humour. There was a huge party thrown for what we called his "First Birthday" and so it is an honour to be able to make a little album like this for him so he will have the memory of his first birthday party!

I'm sorry, I got a bit emotional there.... but there you go you can see how you can use this album to make someone smile for a wedding, new baby, seasonal photos, there are unlimited possibilities!

And one more confession, I found this tutorial in a French Scrapbooking magazine and I have done this just by guess work as I dont speak French!! So I hope that my interpretation of it is easy enough for you to follow. If you have any questions give me a shout.

Thanks for joining me! Kel xx

Red white and Blue

These colours are all over the internet this month with the celebration of Independence day, and the challenge for Scrap whispers is no different. This weeks challenge is to create a layout or a card using the colours Red, White and Blue I decided to do a card this week. I used June bug papers by basic grey, then I googled Star Spangled Banner music sheet, distressed it and used it as another backing paper. Stamp is from Penny Black's Bubbly collection and has been watercoloured, the sentiment is from Basic Grey. This challenge is up til midnight on saturday and there is a fab prize up for grabs, Basic Grey "Lemonade collection"!!

One of a kind

The last scrapwhispers challenge was to create a layout with "One of a Kind" in the title. I've been thinking about this one all week, then yesterday afternoon I had a lightbulb moment and created this layout. I used a mix of K&Co "Amy Butler - Belle", Basic Grey "June Bug", DCWV "Pocket full of posies stack" papers, pearl brads and flower from papermania, the leaf flourishes are basic grey stamps that were stamped onto June Bug paper and the white lace was just from my stash. The journalling is of my wishes for my little girl, and for her to be one of a kind! The lettering for the main title are from early learning centre and papermania foam letters. I cant enter this into the challenge though as I didnt get it finished til 1am today! Oh well, there's always next week. The new challenge will be posted later today so why not have a look!

A quick birthday card

I thought I would show you the card I made for my dd's birthday last month. I used a mix of basic grey and dovecraft papers to create a garden party feel, with floral and butterfly prints. I stamped "Birthday Milly" from Pink Gem Designs and coloured her in with watercolours, and also added a little touch of pink flock to her hair ribbon and the flower on the cake. For the lettering I used alpha stickers from Basic Grey's Porcelain collection. the blue flower is from Laura Ashley and the pink flower and blue pearl brad are by papermania. On the inside of the card I stuck some basic grey paper from the Sultry collection and made some garden party bunting from an old piece of string I had laying around and some scraps of BG paper. My dd loved her card and couldnt wait to show her nursery teacher! She had a fab birthday garden party too! Enjoy your weekend kel x

And Relax..... La Dolce Vita

Last night after I got the kids to bed I actually sat down and scrapped!! Once I got into it and completed my layout I felt relief. For the past two weeks I have been snapping away with my camera and for pretty much each shot I was thinking how it could be scrapped. So mentally I can relax a bit now i've made a start. And so onto my layout which I did for Butterfly Crafts. The latest theme is Travel. I have a huge amount of travel photos from when I lived in various places across Europe, but I cant find them anywhere, (need to dig deeper in loft I think.) So I chose this photo of my dd on her 2nd birthday, looking all poolside chic on holiday in France. I chose DCWV buttercream backing cardstock, and some green DCWV c/s, then i decided to use up some scraps I had of basic grey papers, so there is a mix of Porcelain, Eva and Off Beat papers. Then I used Porcelain collection rose, frame and alpha Stickers. As usual it didnt come out as it was in my head but I really like how the papers just fit together. So now I am on a roll and much more scrapping to be done! kel x

A fab shop and blog candy

I've not posted for a bit because of being away and now I'm back I just seem to be forever trying to sort things out in the house, but I wanted to pop in and tell you about this fab shop I found on ebay. I was looking for some basic grey papers and I saw some ebay from Crafting Charlie. Very good prices and so I ordered some and the next day they were on my doorstep, I had bought 2 packs and they were individually wrapped in pink tissue paper so neatly, it was like opening a present. Its the little things that make such a difference. Any way I have bought from them a few times and everytime it has been an absolute pleasure and easy transaction (apart from one time when Paypal was messing about but they were very understanding!!!) Actually I bought from them just yesterday and I cant wait for it to arrive. So enough of my babbling, From Butterfly crafts I saw Claires blog which pointed in the direction of Crafting Charlies blog where they are giving away some My Minds Eye blog candy and it is just gorgeous! So go check it out and I can very highly recommend them so check out their shop too! I'm off now, I'm actually going to scrap today!! Yay!! I have really missed it and I cant wait to get stuck in. Take care... see you soon kel x