Make Do And Mend

A few days ago I looked after BOTH my beautiful grandchildren for three days - I'm shattered! lol

Alistair is growing so fast - none of his babygrows fit properly... so I did what my Nan did before me - 'make do and mend' - I cut the feet off - of the babygrow, not my grandson. Alistair loved being in the garden (under the shade of a Lilac tree) with the sun shining. Lily kept checking him when he was sat in his pram, often commenting on his "nakey feet".

I seem to be going Do-Crafts crazy at the moment - I have such a lot of 'stuff' from Do-Crafts, and I'm trying to see if I can use the papers and embellishments in a style more suited to me. I've had a go at the less-fussy style (which I've really loved trying), and now I've tried making these modern-feel papers fit in with my distressed, shabby style with layered flowers and stitching. I used two Distress Inks with this project - Broken China and Wild Honey, and Tim Holtz came into play with the title too - it's the "Once Upon A Time" die cut letter strip (sizzix # 656916). My mum had a hand in this layout too - all the little 'frills' are tatting lace flowers, which my mum makes (these are her 'tries' - when she practises a new tatting loop - or when she has a little thread left over and she wants to use it up).

So here's the Do-Crafts run-down...

I started with a Creative Papercraft Kit - Baby Boy (PMA107109) and used only these papers. I liked the mix of blue with a very yellowy-orange ... it was a colour combination I hadn't thought of using, and yet I really liked the way it all went together.

The flowers all started off as simple, plain blue paper shapes from several Papermania collection: Capsule Collection ~ Blueberry Pie (PMA 3681106), and just the blue flowers from both the Henbury Lane (PMA 3621200) and Summer Bloom (PMA 3621101) petal pouches. I sprayed each petal layer with a water and gum arabic solution, then left them to dry off quite a lot. I did my usual petal twisting, and heat set each one with a heat gun. Then it was just a matter off deciding which ones to layer with which (took me quite a while - I am SO indecisive!). I brushed each finished flower quite heavily with Wild Honey distress ink - which I though matched the papers really well. I think one or two of the largest flowers are Prima E Line Mixed Vintage (item # 300258) - once again, just a couple of blue ones. The buttons are just a few chosen from  the PaperMania button collection in yellow (PMA 7162).

My Martha Stewart punch was used for just one edge along the matting and layering of the photograph - I quite liked the idea of just this one side being punched. The layers are stitched to each other and to the background paper using bright blue and yellow embroidery threads. I stitched a lot around the page - it was just too bare for me, and I thought it needed 'something'. I also stitched around Alistairs feet on the photograph to highlight his cut-up babygrow. 

Well, that's all there is for this layout... I now have a whole day to look through the photographs of my beautiful Lily and decide which ones I'm going to scrapbook... this could take a while! lol

Cupcakes Are NOT For Sharing...

I can't remember when the photograph for this layout was taken - certainly more than eight years ago. Naomi had espied my homemade chocolate cakes, and as a special treat for all the children, they were allowed one each. The cakes didn't last long at all.

The papers are all from DoCrafts "Tea House" Collection - perfect for this project! Many of the embellishments are also from this collection - though the "Sweet" wording was found in the discount basket at Pickwells. The layout is basically a scraplift from one of Dawn Inskip's designs... "Cheesy".

Dawn does digital layouts, and to look at her creations is to almost feel them - although digital they look amazingly tactile. I am quite in awe of her talent. Though I have no idea how to digi-scrapbook, I do like to see if I can loosely fit her designs into a normal 12x12 layout... and this is one attempt. I'll not put Dawns layout here to compare... hers wins hands down!

Anyways...

I had finished the layout, but felt something was missing. I just had to find a place for stitching on the layout - my papers feel naked without a bit of thread.

A few punched flowers and a bit of ribbon, and it was all finished!

Quickest layout I've ever done.

Grandbaby I Have Yet To Meet...

I am so excited at the thought of becoming a Grannie again... I planned this layout in my head... but then decided to just start poking around in my stash and see what appealed to me most. The process was very relaxed - I just 'let it flow' and the layout almost created itself :) I know it's very samey-samey... but it's my 'style' and how I do a layout *lol* I decided that rather than the original idea of using monochromatic scheme - possibly black and white - I would let the scan photo stand on it's own, and use muted tones around it instead... I chose creams, greys, and a soft lilac-ey sort of colour as well as white. I started off with a blank cream 12x12 sheet, and embossed with white my favourite stamps - the poem "Love Is Not..." and a "Wonderful" definition stamp. I only used black inking on this layout, as I wanted it to stay quite 'pure' looking - and softened looking too. Of course, lots of stitching was used (grey, cream, and white threads), as well as sticky pearls from DoCrafts and also Papermania. The tiny silver/pearl roses are handmade, and the butterflies, bows, and other flowers were a bargain at a £1 craft supply shop.
I can't wait to meet my new grandbaby in January :)