Finally... some scrapbooking!

I know, I know. I say I'm back, then I'm gone again, I'm back, I've gone. Well this time I am here for now but then will probably be gone again for a few weeks more. But while I am here I have been getting my scrap groove on. Shimelle has had some fabby challenges on this weekend and I have sat down, last night and some of today (although I should have been cleaning... but we won't mention that) and had a create-fest. I've put all the layouts into this one post because I don't have the time to make seperate ones.. Sorry!! The first layout it did was to use "RED, WHITE AND AQUA". As soon as I saw this challenge I ran to get these photos of my wonderful son covered in red jelly! And believe me, these photos only tell half the story. He was covered head to toe in red jelly! It was funny and yet cringy at the same time. I mean, did you fancy picking the Boy out from his highchair while you were wearing a brand new white top... No me neither. Still, gotta give him some creative credit. Next I got onto the "STARTING POINT" challenge. This was the starting point of layout. And this was the finish. All of these papers are from the very lucious Echo park - Splash. My 3rd layout (excuse the very wonky photo) is for the "I LOVE/I HEART...." in the title challenge. Well, after starting The Boy's birthday cake (fighting to get the icing away from my mum so I could do it) I was addicted. So I absolutely {heart} cake decorating. I just want everyone to want a cake so I can make one and I am looking out for absolutely any occassion where I can make one. My last layout was for the "LET'S GO RETRO"challenge. To use a photo before 2011. I think I was around 6 in this photo. And as my journalling says, I could have been dressed up as anything but my mother decided that "bunny girl" was the way forward. What on earth was she thinking? She says "cute", I say "hmmmm". Anyway, there I am outside my Grandmas house, complete with bunny girl pose. Thats going to be my last bit of crafting for the next few weeks but I have to say I really enjoyed it, getting back into the swing of things.

Teacher projects

I just thought I'd share with you some projects I've been working on which why I've been missing a while again. It's that time of year again where we are giving gifts to the teachers for the end of term and the start of the summer holidays. I wanted to give the teachers something a little different this year, instead of the usual chocolates and wine. So, I found this nifty little tutorial on the WWW (I can't remember where I saw it it, I'll edit if I find it again) to make these cute little birds nest pendants. I bought myself some non tarnish silver wire from that auction site and set to work. I managed to get nine pendants from one 7mtr reel of wire. I asked DD what colour beads she wanted and this is what she came up with. Aren't they just too cute!! I of course had to fix them onto chains. I found some reasonably cheap ones from a local shop. I'm sporting one around my neck now too. I then made some mini pizza boxes, decorated them with various Echo park papers and MME papers I had scraps of. Punched a scalloped border, a butterfly and then tied the boxes with black waxed thread and attached these uber cute canvas banners, which came in my scrapagogo kit this month. Using my magnetic poetry stamp set, I stamped thank you on each one. I love how vintage and rustic they look. I was "commissioned" to make a cake for my niece's teacher's. It's for a nursery teacher so I thought to make it as colourful and as playful as possible. I was so pleased with the outcome. Then of course DD saw that and immediately wanted one for her teachers. So here is her's. This onee I am not so thrilled with. For some reason the figures are leaning over, the blue kept "running" onto the white and various other things just kept going wrong. DD was also very specific on what she wanted on the cake which is why it's looking a little over crowded. I'm not happy with it at all really but as long as it tastes good, I suppose its the effort that counts. After tomorrow I can relax a little bit and maybe get a lie in or 2 next week when the holiday's truly start!!! :) Enjoy your weekend.

Creative scrappers

Just a quick layout to share that I did following last weeks sketch from Creative Scrappers. I rarely use small photos so this was a great chance to do so. The photos are of when DD was taught to knit by my Grandma. This for me (and I hope, for DD) is an amazing memory. I was 5 when I was taught by my Grandma and it was like watching history repeating. The concentration on DD's face was just so intense and fabulous. She has taken to knitting so well and has even mastered casting on so she now just sits, sets up her rows and knits for hours! Like Mother like daughter! :)

Scrapwhispers - BLOG HOP!!!!

It's blog hop time with the DT at Scrapwhispers. If you have come straight here then Stop where you are and head on back to the beginning where you'll find all the details for our tutorial. This months tutorial comes curtesy of the lovely Rosey, who, on NSBD, conducted a little research on what people wanted to see from usa dn one of the things was how to put together a page kit of your scrapbooking. Of course there are huge benefits of organising a page kit. Not only does it mean you can create acording to your chosen photo, make things easier oif you were head on off to a crop or getaway, it also means less mess when scrapping because you're not rooting through everything to find the right kind of embellie or paper or buttons etc... (or is that just me?) So we start off with a photo. I've chosen this one of The Boy having a cup of tea. Next I picked my cardstock and papers. I chose a neutral (white) background and some zesty coloured papers from Echo park and some scraps from My Minds Eye to help lift the photo. The boys shirt is quite bright and there is a green chair in the back ground and taking into account the colour of the tea, is how I came to the conclusion I needed orange, green and a little bit of blue. Next I had to choose my embellishments. Because the photo is a 5x7 and is a close up shot, I felt I didnt need an overdose of elements, so decided to keep it quite simple. I picked my aptly named, Tea Dye distress ink pad to ink around the edges of the papers (this is my thrifty way of "matting" papers), I couldnt decided on green or yellow bakers twine so I've included both and the same with the alphas. I also cut out a little calender piece for the month of may, which is when this photo was taken, and used this as my journalling spot. And here is my finished page using all the pieces I picked out. The odd green piece of paper that had the butterfly shape in it, I cut that to make the circles and I decided that the green bakers twine and the white alphas looked best on the page A simple layout in a matter of minutes because all the elements were already organised. Fab!! Now its your turn!! Heres what you do. Leave a comment on the main blog so we know you have visited. Take a hop around the DT blogs, and if you'd like to let us know you've stopped by, we won't complain :) Then it's your turn to have a go at making up a page kit, not forgetting to share it with us of course!! Do you make cards?? Then why not try it out as a card kit as well?? Hop on to the DT blogs:

Georgina

Rosey

Nilsa

Helen

Sherri

Kimberly

Have fun!!

Scrapwhispers

So we are at the end of the last round of scrapwhispers, and all of the teams layouts have been revealed. Who won? Well, you'll have to see for yourself. And to see how my layout got to this go to the main scrapwhispers blog. We will also be taking sign ups for the game so if you;ve always faniced having a go or you haven't got a clue what I am talking about then check out the details here.

Scrap it with a song - Every little thing she does is magic

We have another great song for your inspiration this week at Scrap it with a song. How will it inspire you?? Go check it out :)

Scrap whispers secret challenge

Things have been a little slow at Scrap Whispers recently because we decided we would host any more weekly challenges, due to the lack of players, but Georgina has suprised us all with a little challenge all about Summer! And even the DT can play along with this one! The challenge is to make a CARD based on a summer activity. Well, I am hoping that we will get a proper summer this year and not get rained of like normal! So sandcastles at the beach are my proposed activity. And yes I've raided the kids sand box again (ssshhh!) I used scrummy Echo park "splash" and "Summer Days" papers and the image is from Tiddly inks. Come and join in the summer fun!