My Hero

Another day of feeling unwell, late nights, kipping during the day... and my darling, wonderful husband always trying to make everything better. I've taken over the dining room again this weekend, scrapping away as much as I can. I have a pile of photographs that need to be mounted and prettied up with a good LO, and as soon as I received a package through the mail with the right papers in for a "Hubby LO", I started planning. He really is my hero :) Lots of hand stitching (yes, ... AGAIN!) and distressing with ink (yes,... that AGAIN too! *lol*) and layering of papers. I used three main papers, but I have no idea what the stripey one is - just one from a batch I had ordered months ago. The other papers used were: Basic Grey Urban Couture Collection ("Brocade"), and FancyPants Fancy Papers (Papa). I also used the co-ordinating "Titles and Tags" from FancyPants (Papa). Luckily, I had two sheets of the 'Papa' paper, and so cut a lot of hearts out from one sheet for the design along the bottom of the LO.

Thawing Out...

The snow is a distant memory now - not even a slushy mess to look at, just raindrops and puddles (though I do like the rain). So, a chance to scrap a photograph while the weather isn't so clement... This one was taken just as the snow began to thaw, and within a couple of hours of this photo being taken, there was little snow left to be seen. Once again I chose plain cardstock and patterned it myself - using a lot of distressing technique - even on the edges of the photograph. Everything was inked up with Ranger Ink, and lots of co-ordinating snowflakes were punched - I thought it'd be nice to place snowflakes in the centre of the flowers instead of brads. I've chosen this grey/brown colour scheme for a snowy LO before... but I do think it works well with this particular photograph.

Happy, Happy, Happy!

I really enjoyed making this LO... though it was hard work, and took some time to complete. Well, I say it's completed... but I'm wondering whether I'll be adding something extra to it or not... Anyway, a quick explanation of the photograph - I was holding my granddaughter and one of my daughters snapped this picture, where I think I look truly happy and contented. Worth scrapping, I thought :) I used some plain paper my daughter Beth and I had sparkled up a bit with some gold ink and watercolour paint in a spray bottle. KandCompany Life's Journey Dictionary Flat Paper and deLiSH INdulge series (La Fraise - Appetiser) were also used. A lot of inking, sepia accent, distressing, and crumpling followed :) The flowers were all handmade (by me). I have to add too that all those pearls were stuck on by me... one by one!

Happier :)

Finally... The Lace Maker (Part Deux *lol*)
I redid this whole LO from scratch - but still using the original colour scheme (due to the colouring of the lace). I decided that not just the lace needed to be a focal point, but my mum too - who made the lace for me. I distressed scalloped cardstock and then stamped with a glue pad and rubbed over some antique green glimmer mist powder. A note here: When using glue pads (for embossing, etc) have handy a proper cleaner, or spend half an hour with hot water and a cocktail stick trying to clean gluey gunk off of your stamp *lol*... A lesson learned for me. Wording is hand-done by myself, cut from card (my hands ache now) - except the lettering for "LACE", where I used my trusty La Blanche stamp set (again). The letters were then brushed over with glimmer mist powder (as before), and to knock back the colour and seal the powder, I brushed over with Ranger Sepia Accents (fun stuff - easily cleaned off a brush).

Trying something different...

Okay, not different for a lot of people, but this LO is a definite change fom my usual style. LOTS of stitching again (still a glutton for punishment), but this time I tried out my little sewing machine on the layout - just a little around the photo and 'scribbling' around the left side of the photo with stitches (IYKWIM). My daughter, Naomi, actually took this photograph on my phone. Lily (the dog) was just relaxing under the fuschia bush, trying to find a little shade from the sun. I loved the way the colours of the flowers seemed to frame my doggy so beautifully... so of course I chose lots of pinks for the LO - from deep cherry pinks to quite a pale pink, to help bring out the colours of the flowers. I may use this photograph again in another LO - after I've finished scrapping all the other photographs I have *lol*
** Just reposted the LO, because I decided to add a few touches and change it a little - just adding more words to bring n the green a bit more.

The main backing PP is JanLynn "Reverse Leaves in Green" from the spring collection (as are the butterfly stickers)
Smaller piece of PP is from HOTP 4 Seasons (Summer).
Die cut flowers are Papermania "Bright Flowers".

Hope Is...

Hope is but the dream of those who wake ~ Matthew Prior
I wanted to do a white LO, but couldn't find the right papers to use... so I compromised, and used a grey instead (well, grey is just a dirty white... right? *lol*) I used Basic Grey "Snow Queen" paper and Prima "Say It In Pearls" for the bling. I also chose the word "Hope" in a Fancy Pants Glitter Cuts design... then stitched round the actual letters so that the word would show up better. Another LO with a lot of hand-stitching... I must be a glutton for punishment! IRL the LO is actually a lot more pale than it shows here, and the white writing shows a lot better too.

Not happy...

My new layout... "The Lace Maker". I spent most of the day thinking about this LO, planning it, changing my mind at least 50 times (just the process I go through every time I plan a LO *lol*)... and I'm not happy with it. The papers were all inked/stamped by me and I printed off all the lace embellishments and coloured/cut them out myself. Except the real piece of lace... my mum made that especially for me.

This Little Girl...

This Little Girl is Margaret... She's My Mum. That's the wording on this LO. The background paper is stamped with an olive green ink and 'swirls', as are the flowers. I believe the PP is a Laura Ashley design (received in a bumper pack of papers).

My Girl...

A member of UKScrappers had an amazing LO with butterflies across the whole page punched from photographs of her sons. I used this idea (when I find out who it was, I'll give proper credit) and punched out butterflies from photographs of my daughter, Naomi.
The difference here is that I decided to use photographs starting from when she was just 5 hours old, right up to the most recent picture I had of her, and stagger these up the LO - meeting up with a beautiful photograph she had taken just over a year ago. All the papers were plain... until I got hold of a stamp, pearl embossing powder, and a white gel pen :)

*** The lady with the amazing original idea is.... Caroline, aka Canny Crafter

Stitched Up!

I hate sewing (think I mentioned that before *LOL*) but still I decided to create a LO with a LOT of hand stitching on it - and I'm so pleased with the result. The whole LO is using scraps of paper - even the photograph has a huge hole behind it! The pink corners are just that - cornerscut from scraps. I didn't have a whole sheet of any of what I wanted, so I just stitched it all together. It doesn't show up well, but everything on the blue is pink, and vice versa - from the stitching to the lettering. I even made my own templates for the matting and layering and the pink square for the photograph. The blue paper is all scraps from a collection of papers I hade by Paperspectives called the "Heirloom collection". The lettering is all from my new sizzix sidekick (Hollywood), and the capital "B" is stamped using a La Blanche lettering stamp. Baby Beth LO is one of my favourites I've created so far :)

The Finished Product

After my previous long-winded post, I thought I'd better show the finished product... My Love
The little cherub button is so sweet! I wasn't going to add anything after the ribbon, but I think the flowers and button are just enough... A little decadent and rich, but not too fussy or overdone. Just a note here... I HATE this photograph of me - but I chose it because Hubby looks so sweet in it - finally a photograph of him where he's not pulling a silly face, blinking, or just acting the fool. Gotta love that man :) I'm almost itching to add something to the left hand side of the layout... but I realise that that would probably ruin it completely.

Eight hours!

I've just spent over eight hours making a layout for a competiton entry... but I so enjoyed it!
For a change, I decided to write down everything I did, and everything I used...
Starting off with Karen Foster Design paper named Diamond Antiquity. I cut off the patterned border and distressed the edges of the remaining paper with a craft knife, followed by a good rubbing with an old nail file for added age effect and to dull the colours.

After inking the edges with a burgundy ink pad, I placed this centre onto a new border - 12x12 K&Co BW Madeline Pink Textiles (though I cut out the middle and saved it ... seemed such a waste otherwise *lol*) More inking around the edges, after a quick corner trim with a shaped edge punch. I also used a glitter chalk to push the inked edges around a bit, blend them... and also the chalk toned down the harshness of the red tone. I repeated the corner punch, ink and chalking to the edges of the photograph I chose. The photograph was also embellished with a clear sticker from the Making Memories de:fined "remember" selection. Before attaching the photo to the layout, I decided that the paper was just too plain for my liking, so out came La Blanche "Emblems and Scrolls" stamp and the burgundy ink. I stamped around the edges, after matting off the border paper. The ink colour wasn't quite right, and I also needed to add and alter the stamped image, so I used a Papermania metallic brush marker to colour in the image and draw a few extras too. I punched out some hearts from the saved paper (and also a bit of extra paper cut from the layout where the photograph would hide the hole it left). I used Craft Creatives mini heart punch from a set of 3. These hearts were chalked and placed on the edges of the layout and the photograph, mirroring the punched pattern edge I had done earlier. Using a leftover scrap of Creative Imaginations Sonnets "Love Sonnet" paper, I cut out the word "LOVE" and stamped it using the burgundy ink and swirl stamp already used previously. Next, I chose a Laura Ashley ribbon from the "Love Song" collection, and tied it in a bow to add a little flourish. I sewed this onto the layout, going through the photograph also to help attach all items. The photograph was also glued at the edges. The flowers are PaperMania. The cherub button is from Craft Time, Dress It Up "Nostalgic Treasures" button collection. I didn't have the photgraph holders and brads in the colours I wanted, so I chose white ones I already had and then inked them. I then dipped them in gold Ultra Detail embossing powder (opaque). I used the heat gun, and purposefully heated the brads too much to give an almost burnished effect with the red hue of the ink showing through. A little extra stitching on the edge of the photograph and I felt it was about finished. The urge to use a LOT more embellishments and really go overboard was so tempting... but I resisted :)

Another snowy LO

Using a set I received from DoCrafts, I chose a simple background paper with not too much pattern so as I could add the swirls and liquid pearls to the layout.

The hardest choice I had to make on this layout was which way to lay the main paper *lol* everything else I had already cut out and inked/chalked/distressed, so it was so easy to put together. The snow has all but disappeared now in the area in which I live... and for all my complaining about it, I'm missing it already.

Finally... SNOW!

Twelfth Night, the last day of Christmas, and the far South finally gets a proper snowfall! The following morning I was out in it... loving every cold second :)
I decided to use grey tones here, rather than my original thought of blues and white, because I thought the grey would somehow give a feeling of the coldness of the day better. I used Sandy Lion "Celebration Formal" paper, Papermania brads and Anitas dimension stickers. The lettering and large snowflake were printed and cut out by myself - took ages! *lol*

Using a box set of papers

I bought the Papermania box set "Touch Of Teal" last week at HobbyCraft ~ for only £8 ... bargain! I knew the papers would go beautifully with a photograph I had taken of my granddadughter, so I've been crafting all day and getting annoyed at fiddly bits of ribbon! Apart from the lettering, I quite like the finished result.

Up All Night!

I've been up all night creating this layout of my nan and her son (my Uncle Robert). I don't acually do sewing and every little embellishment on here has been sewn on ~ bar a couple of brads I used. I even sewed little x's onto the LO! I loved the colour combination though ~ burgundys and browns ~ though the browns weren't my usual choice... this time I chose orangey hues from the K&Company paper (Life's Journey Collection for embellishments and matting/layering), which I thought played off the burgundy and the dark brown thread I picked out, really well. I'm choosing a more saturated and fussy type of layout recently...I like the flowers and the cluttered feel of the finished product.

** LO altered 28th January 2010, photograph here updated to show the added gold accent swirls on left hand side of LO (I wasn't happy with the original burgundy-inked stamping, as it didn't 'flow' properly).