Monochrome challenge

I had it in my head to make a page about the closure of Woolies, as part of my Book of Me, so when Shimelles challenge was to do a monochrome LO, it struck me that a photo where only the shop sign was red, and all the rest was B&W might suit this well.

As i was thinking of the current financial problems the country is having, i also chose to use recycled stash in the main (white card from inside the page protectors of a scrapbook, stamps, wrapping paper etc) in fact the only 'new' stuff is a piece of Black cardstock ( and i gutted that to re-use it later) and a few Thickers.I managed to cut the white card to shape by using a piece of expensive die cut paper that i haven't had the heart to chop into yet as a template, and after inking and doodling on this i was quite pleased with the results of my efforts!

I have an idea for a page for later, i had to take Harry to the shoe shop on Friday after school as his shoes had holes in, it turns out he has gone up a whole size in less than 6 months, and is now a 5 1/2 (the same size as Hannah!!!) As he is only 10, i'm slightly concerned about how big his feet will get by the time he finishes growing! So i might take some photos of his new shoes before he wrecks tham too. At £70 for a pair of shoes and a pair of trainers, i get the feeling i can't afford that boy!!!

Another crop page...

Here is the other page i made at Saturdays crop. I've been holding onto this photo of Kevin taken in the Vatican Museum in Rome for ages. I knew what i wanted to do with it in terms of journalling, but hadn't got around to making the page. Thes lovely basic Grey papers go so well with the colours in the photo, i'm really pleased with the page.

The frame is cut out using a template by hand, liked this idea, so might use it again on another LO.

Looking forward to the weekend, Shimelles challenge is to use Balck and White, so i need to decide B&W photos or papers, or both!

Christmas at last...

Well, after over a months wrangling with a company that were supposed to supply me with a lovely new camera lens for Christmas we eventually got our money back last week. As interest rates are so low the only consolation is that they can't have made much money during the month by holding onto our cash.

So, 2 days ago Kevin re-ordered the lens from another supplier, and it has arrived today. A bit late to take any decent shots, but am hoping to play with it this weekend! It weighs a ton, but i could do with an upper body workout!

An old photograph

i have been wanting to scrap this old school photo of my sister and me, taken in the early to mid 1970s. When I saw these Basic Grey papers at the crop i attended today, i thought they were perfect! It took lots of time to cut out all the butterflies, but i was really happy with the end result!

The title and journalling are related to the fact that Mum used to make lots of our dresses, i remember these ones well! She must have known it was photo day, as our hair had been put up especially!

It's me on the left by the way!

Scrap Like You Mean it, week 4

Well, this week we had to use a sketch, so the LO is quite unlike many of my usual ones, more graphic in style. I like the way it made me rethink how to use and crop my photos differently.

This LO is to go oppostite the trad one i did last week, i'm pleased with the contrast in the album.

A Disappointment

I was making this card for a friend of Mums grandaughter last night when Hannah walked in, she saw that I had cut out the name 'Hannah' and thought i was making her birthday card... until she realised i hadn't sent her away, so the card couldn't be for her!!

Have done little scrapping for while, too much card making ( and i have to give these away!) so hope to get busy this weekend with a couple of challenges from UKS, and a crop on Thursday.

Last weekend i found some really cute rubbery brads in the Range, so have used them on this little card, along with some girly glitter!

Not too bad a week at work, had an interesting chat with our advisor this afternoon, and have an observed lesson to sort out for Tuesday. Already know what i'm doing, just need to type up the lesson plan.

Forgot to mention that i was elected school rep for the NASUWT (again) as no-one else is mad enough to take on the role. Need to sort out my paperwork on Monday for this if i have time... more stuff to do!

{Still} Inspired by Christmas....

You would think that after making a whole scrapbook album over the Christmas period that i would be all festived out... not a bit of it!

I had taken some photos of the house over christmas, and they form the basis for this LO, I love the house at christmas time, so i wanted to record this!

I used DCWV cardstock, stamped over this to make a background using papermania trad stamps, and used Anna Griffin patterned papers.

Title is stamped (Autumn Leaves) and cut out, and Basic Grey chocolate chipboard letters. Also got to use the fab snowflakes i picked up in Paperchase early in December. As the stamped title looked a little lost i went around it with my trusty white souffle pen, (note to self.... need to get more of these!)

I have an idea for next weeks LO, based around the more contemporary decoartions i have at home, but as i'm off to a crop on Sunday, i might do something else instead.

Hope this week at work is a little better, had a good chat with my old friend Yvonne today, we used to work together, and she really boosted my confidence again.

Noticed tonight that it didn't get dark unti 5pm, so in a months time it will probably be light when i get home from work....

Roll on spring!

Scrap Like You Mean it Week 3

I have been following the prompts for Shimelles weekly challenge on UKS, aimed at encouraging us to complete at least one LO per week. With a different theme each week, lots of us are scrapping hard to meet the challenge!

This weeks prompt was to use chipboard, so here's my LO. An old photo of Harry on the beach, some Urban Rhapsody papers, and lots of chipboard for the title.

One of the best things about these challenges is the way they MAKE me use up old stash! I've had this patterned paper for over a year, and i still love it. The buttons are clear ones, so i covered the back with the paper, i had forgotten I had them, so at last i got round to using them for what i intended!

I bought the chipboard letters at the NEC about 18 months ago, so again old stuff, anf the sizzix alphabet I used for the happy part of the title is one of the first i ever bought.

So... a small inroad made, now to tackle the rest of the mountain!

A busy weekend

Well after a dire week at work, the weekend won't prove to be too restful!

Mum's birthday tomorrow, and Dad is going into hospital to have one of his knees replaced. She's happy that he's having it done, but wishes it wasn't on her birthday.

Here's the card i made for her earlier in the week, used a new cuttlebug embossing folder Kev bought me for Christmas. I also used the lovely Unity stamps sold by my local craft shop.

You may notice a slight similarity with the card made earlier in the week!

No sign of my real present yet, i think trading standards might need to get involved if we aren't reimbursed.

Card!!

Made an 18th birthday card for a friend at works daughter, it's ages since i made a card, and it took some thinking about.

Used lots of Unity stamps, Cuttlebug numbers embossing folder, American crafts ribbon and glossy accents.

Hope she like it!

Lovely dotees

Made a LO ( as i still have all my christmas crafty stuff out in the kitchen!) about the little dotee decorations made for me by Sue Bubbles from the do crafts forum. They look so cute, and are so beautifully made that i wanted to make a LO for just them!

As i worked so hard finishing my JYC this year i got very little 12x12 scrapping done with my christmas photos. i have a couple of ideas for some other pages, until these are done i'll keep my festive stash out!!

On this LO i used DCWV cardstock and some more of the lovely peppermint twist papers (K&Co) that i bought last year.

Party pages...

I finally finished a mini book about the party last night, used my bind it all machine to make the book, and some bits and pieces of stash i've been hoarding!

I hope Steph will like it!

I also made a page for hannahs album, which meets Shimelles 'Scrap like you mean it' challenge for week 2.

I bought this lovely die cut paper before Christmas, and wanted to use it before i forgot i had it!

{another} Fancy Dress Party

Last night was Stephs 18th birthday party, theme was pirates and princesses, so lots of very silly photos taken.

Kev was a pirate, I went as a sort of princess, (well i had a little crown on!) Quite a few of the men took the chance to dress up as women too!!

Hannah also got to wear her prom dress again, so that pleased her.

It was a really lovely party, and it was nice to see teens having fun and really not taking themselves too seriously!

Hope to make some pages using the photos today.

Christmas Journal completed...

Well at last here are the last 2 LOs completed and uploaded. I've been quite unwell over the last few days, but finishing these and uploading them has taken my mind off this. The prompt for the 5th was about geting the house back to normal, and although i always leave taking our tree down until the 6th, this was the subject for this LO. .

I have enjoyed the project, and it's so nice to look back over the last month or so and remember the little things!

The LO for the 6th sums up how i'm feeling at present.... roll on spring!

If you want to have a look at the whole journal in one go take a look at this link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30991481@N00/sets/72157612061712498/

You can view it as a slide show and leave a comment if you like!

Back to work tomorrow, hopefully i'll blog (and scrap!) again at the weekend.

The Last day of the holiday....

Was awake at 6.30 am today worrying about work :( so have got my page for my journal completed early. It has helped me to take my mind off tomorrow, i remember reading a snide comment made by a Tory shadow minister before christmas about the number of sick days taken by teachers, if he had any idea of the stress the job causes, maybe he would have a bit more sympathy.

I have finished planning all my upper school lesons for next week, and year 9, so only Yr 7 to do... hopefully i can sleep well tonight!

Will start taking the decorations down today, it's at times like this that i seriously regret having 3 christmas trees!!! But every Dec it's the same, and up they all go again!!

So here's my page, it's about things to remember to make next years clebrations better!

Thanks to Sheena for the inspiration for this LO.

Todays page

Made this about a fave memory from the christmas holidays. Included a photo of kevin, as the memory is about him!!

A couple more pages.

Firstly here is the page i made for JYC yesterday. The theme was childhood and innocence, so i used this photo of Harry visiting Santa for the last time :(

The next page is the first 12x12 LO i have made in ages (since the end of November) as i have been so busy with my Christmas journal) so i am pleased to have got back into scrapping the bigger size again!

New Year LOs

Here are two pages for New years day, and New years eve. I still have todays to do, might get this done by the end of the day. i do have an idea for the page, i think this is half the battle!


New years eve includes photos of us dressed up for the party we went to, the 'silly' stamp went perfectly with it! As you can see Kev looks very silly as Kojak!! The photos of my sister are even funnier, but there was no room for them on an 8x8 LO, so i'll have to complete a 12x12 one instead!


I'm not one for new years resolutions, i would only break them, so that forms the LO for the first of Jan. The swirls are Doodlebug stick it ones that you can put glitter onto, i have been using these a lot during this journal! Letters are DCWV chipboard, i won these at a crop early last month! Only 5 more pages to do now.

Happy new Year

I wonder how many posts for today have started with this title? Well i wouldn't want to buck a trend so here goes!

Last night was a great evening, as usual we were the only family to dress up (theme was 999 emergency services), and so there were a multitide of police officers from here and the US, including Kojak pulled off very fetchingly by Kev, and my sister dressed as Magnum PI!!! I was a sort of Juliet Bravo, but Hannah decided that i should be called WPC Notsogoodbody! As we had so many cops, we needed one robber, and Katie played this part really well, complete with home made swagbag. One doctor made up the party, Shane was House, complete with walking cane.

It was a really good night, Colin as usual made some very strong drinks that only he, Kevin and my Dad were foolish enough to drink!!

More pics of the real us later when i get round to putting them on the computer!!