Some holiday double-pagers

A lot's been happening in my craft room over the last week or so, especially this weekend, which is my semi-regular stay-home-while-Rob-takes-the-kids-down-to-visit-his-mother-while-I-stay-home-and-scrapbook-weekend!

This morning I posted my first of a series of craft room organisation posts, this one on alphabet storage, so if that's something you might be interested in, I invite you to scroll on down and have a read.    The next instalment will be on papers and cardstock, and I plan to have that one up in the next day or so.

As well as organisation, I've managed to do a mammoth 14 double-page spreads for my self-made challenge to do 20 double scrapbook pages. 

Many of them are stock-standard school class photos, which I have no intention of boring you with.  But I do have a couple to share today, both from the same family camping trip, nearly ten years ago:

You didn't think I'd be able to do 20 double pagers without the help of at least one sketch from Lets Scrap, did you?  I know I didn't.

The next page utilises their current sketch:

And here's my take on it:

We had picked a windy week for this particular camping holiday, and I thought the white flourishes did a nice job of representing the wind without detracting from the photos.  This page depicts a couple of the activities we did while escaping from the windy beach-side caravan park.

I hadn't originally intended to add the butterflies, but did so in order to disguise a rather nasty splatter incident.  Again, being white, I don't think they distract too much from the story.

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you're finding yourself some crafty time this weekend, too!

Going for the vintage vibe on some wedding photos.

 Well, I told you last time I was struggling a bit with the "vintage" feel of this month's Counterfeit Kit.  Without any actual "vintage" photos to scrap, I figured the next best thing was to finish scrapping the photos of my nephew's wedding.  What do you think?

I managed to get in some doilies, a few sheets of the vintage themed 6" papers and even one of the Prima paintable cards.  I even slipped in some lace in between the background layers like the shabby chic girls do!   I finished the page with some metallic gold sewing thread.  (And I might have to take back every superior thought I've ever thought when someone has struggled with metallic thread on their Youtube video, that stuff is temperamental!)

Next up I wanted to do a page about what our family wore to the wedding.  Because if you dress up as rarely as we do, getting new outfits for the whole family is a BIG DEAL.  My husband even bought a suit! (He said: "but I didn't even wear a suit to my father's funeral".  I said "but if you'd had one, you would have").
I spent way too long looking for the second sheet of that blue paper to use on this next page before simultaneously realising that
a) it was from a paper pad I split with my sister, so I don't have the second sheet, and
b) the two pages won't be facing each other in the album, thus making a) irrelevant!

After looking up the page this one will be facing, I immediately knew they would never "match" but I could at least avoid them clashing too terribly.  I used another of those paintable cards, this time I painted the rose and slipped it to the left of the photo, while using the other half in the top corner as my title block.  I was very happy to use one of my Jenni Bowlin Bingo cards on this page as well, and love how "adore my family" kind of becomes the sub-title to the page.

Finally, I wanted to put all the rest of the photos of the day together on a two-page spread. I'm a bit out of practice on 2-pagers, so it was Let's Scrap to the rescue, with this sketch:

Not only did it have the right number of photos, but that tree instantly reminded me of the amazing tree that the wedding took place under, on the bride's family property near Canberra.

Here's how the pages will sit in my album:

Then the double pager:

And finally the two reception pages:

I've got plans for at least one more of those paintable cards and the second Bingo card before I call this kit, if not killed, at least well-enough used for now!

Playing at Let's Scrap.

I've done a few pages at Lets Scrap over the last week.  Let's take a peek:

First up, the weekly sketch from last week:

I took the left hand side of the sketch and rotated it 90 degrees.

The papers, DIY "flair" and fringed border are all from my Counterfeit Kit this month.

Next up, we've got the Scrap Your Stash challenge #24:  The criteria was to use at least 3 patterned papers, 1 cardstock, letter stickers, 1 die-cut, ribbon or twine, and 10 pieces of bling.  And of course a Lets Scrap sketch.  I chose this one:

I really did feel like I was "scrapping my stash" with this one - I didn't use my Counterfeit Kit but I was able to use two products that I love to bust out - thin strips of patterned paper and eggshell cardstock. My "bling" was some little music note confetti that I bought along with some other shapes and have had forever!

I "strung" my larger ukulele with single strand of embroidery floss,  and drew the strings onto the smaller one.

But what you really want to know, is what was the video that they were filming?  You don't think that a proud mum like me would forget to show you that, do you?  It's only a couple of minute long, so I hope you'll take a look!

Last but not least, is scrap your stash #25 and another "proud mum" page.  This one was a "bingo" style challenge . . .

 and once again a Lets Scrap sketch:

I've used the top row of the bingo card and the left hand side of the sketch.

The majority of the products on this one are once again from my Counterfeit Kit. (I've blurred all the girls faces in this one.  I didn't bother in the ukulele one because, well, they are on Youtube after all!)

Time to change blades (and a couple of pages for Lets Scrap)

 A trait that I inherited from my parents (nature or nurture? It could be either. Or both) is that I tend to be a bit frugal.  And usually, I think that's a good thing.  But more than once in the past, it's taken a friend to borrow my trimmer and comment that "when it cuts, it makes the paper all hairy" to force me to admit the obvious - it's time to change the blade on my trimmer!

Well this week, I didn't need a friend to tell me - the camera embellishments I was cutting on my Silhouette came out "all hairy".  Time for a new blade on my Silhouette?  I think so.  After trying to tidy them up with a blunt craft knife, I decided it was due for a new blade, too.  And my trimmer?  Wow, it cuts a lot smoother with a new blade!

Anyway, here's the weekly sketch at Lets Scrap I was working with:

and here's my page:

Next up is my page for their "Scrap Our Stash" challenge.  It's one of those "recipe"-type challenges with a list of products to use: 2 patterned papers, 4 pieces of cardstock, one piece of chipboard, 4 flowers, 3 eyelets or brads, 9 buttons, 2 lengths of ribbon and lots of bling! And don't forget to use a Lets Scrap Sketch!  Is it just the way my brain works or is that a hard challenge?  Mind you, I say that's hard, then add an additional restriction to myself: use my Purple People Eater Counterfeit Kit!

Here's the sketch I ended up using:

And here's my page - the photos are from the very early 90's when I had a little market stall and sold hand-made goods.  What I never took a photo of was the candles rolled out of sheets of beeswax.  Remember them?  Imagine them on a windy, summer day at Maitland markets - the dirt would blow onto them and get stuck, and then people would pick them up to take a look and leave finger marks in the soft wax. Ugh!

{Finally, I have to say "I wish I thought of that" about the comment I received recently saying that I should have named my Counterfeit Kit "Purple Paper Eater" instead of "Purple People Eater".  It is so true, because I have been eating up the kit so quickly that the papers I used on both these pages are actually from my off-cuts folder, not the original kit! }

Embracing my Inner Purple People Eater

Warning: the photos in this post are very . . . . purple!
 
The obvious place to start with my Counterfeit Kit this month was always going to be with older photos from when I was first married. Not that I'm opposed to mixing older products with recent photos.  But I definitely think older photos go with older products, especially in large doses! The following things also apply to our early married life: anything DIY, anything cheap and cheerful, anything bright, even to the point of clash.
Oh, and definitely purple.  You know how you might wash a load of whites?  Between the clothes from those cheap hippy-style clothes shops and the tie-dyed pants,  I used to do a load of purples!

It wasn't hard to find candidates for the Purple People Eater treatment.  The first page of my photo album, in fact:

I never claimed to be a kit-only scrapper, did I?  As well as using my kit. I've added the mini DIY letter stickers, doilies, mist, and buttons - and I think this was the first kit I didn't put a sheet of ledger paper in.  Well, it's got one now! 

And the next candidate?  Well, the next photos in the album, as a matter of fact! When I realised they were going to face each other in the scrapbook, I thought I should use some of the same elements, although I did add a few extra papers as well.

From early '90s to early 00's, and I wanted to have a go at  the latest challenge at Let's Scrap, to incorporate polaroid-style frames.  I chose the LHS of this sketch here:

. . .and used a cut file from the Silhouette on-line store with polaroid frames and the words "today, here, now".  At first it felt a bit weird to use  that phrase on a photo that's 11 years old, but decided to run with it anyway.

Now that I'm looking at this page on the screen, I'm thinking I might move that photo down a bit.  Otherwise, I've got to say I've had a lot of fun releasing my Inner Purple People Eater.! Thanks so much for dropping by.

October Counterfeit Kit Wrap-up

Getting my craft groove back (see this post), or indulging in a bit of slightly obsessive, self-absorbed life-avoidance? It's not time to call the men in white coats just yet, I don't think, but I am hoping for a bit more balance in my life over the coming weeks.
So, here's what I've been creating in my indulgance over the last few days:

 

Just in case anyone out there is interested, this page is, I think, the third that combines papers from Echo Park Everyday Eclectic and Basic Grey Konichiwa.  I couldn't guarantee these two lines would always match, but on the pages I did, I think they look awesome together!

As I was constructing this page, I realised I hadn't left enough room for the journalling (which I still haven't written - oops!).  I ended up sewing a vellum pocket, and linking two journalling cards with plain cardstock on the back.  This effectively gave me  3 cards worth of writing space, plus room for the lizard embellishment on the front.of one.

This next page was (I thought at the time) my "finishing off the kit" page, and I found this starting point of Shimelle's which I used by rotating 90 degrees:

Like I said, I thought that would be my last page using the kit, until I decided to have a go at the latest weekly sketch from Lets Scrap:

And here it is:

On this page, I used the "fairground" themed journalling cards to make 2 confetti boxes and a pocket for my journalling. There are two memorable moments that this page documents - one was the excitement when Rohan's team won the "encouragement award" and how they all just wanted to touch (and even kiss!) the trophy.  The other was how, in the line-up for the face painting, we were gently trying to encourage Angus to go for a boy-themed face, as we were worried he would be teased for having the rainbow.  He was determined, however, and I'm so glad he stood his ground.  He didn't get teased, and he looked spectacular!  

So all up, from my October kit, which consisted of 12 sheets of patterned paper plus offcuts, I managed to create 2 cards, 11 single pages and one double!  I call that a kit well used.  How did you go last month?

Use what you have; stash busting with Lets Scrap

Some of you might already know that my motto of the year is "Use what you have in a way that makes you happy".  Today's interpretation of that is, using off-cuts . . .without making more off-cuts!  In the photo below, you can see that I've cut the last of my chevron paper in two to spread it across the page.  The blue border strip was also cut into two long strips, and the off-cut of ledger paper was used as is (although I did end up cutting off a corner which was tucked under a photo to use on a different part of the page!)

I ran into trouble when the ribbon I wanted to thread through the punched holes wasn't long enough.  I ended up scrounging up enough by cutting strips of this yellow paper here:

I was using last week's Let's Scrap sketch, not for any particular challenge, when it occurred to me that I was only 12 brads short of completing the "Scrap Your Stash" challenge #21.

Here's a close-up of my layered leaves, a-la Wilna . . .

. . . and my journalling, where I managed to incorporate the word "advenure" from the paper . . .

Thanks for stopping by!