Summer in the City

Outside the house where I spent my childhood is a large green, we used to play on it as kids.  Sadly, the council has far less money than it used to, so the grass does not get mowed as often as it used to.

To keep it looking good, patches were seeded with wildflowers and left to grow into meadow.  These only need cutting a few times a year, so save the council money (while providing habitat for wildlife).

I used the Basic Grey cityscape papers by Kelley Purkey for the layout and black Thickers for the title.

The buildings fussy-cut for the top of the page were from the packaging for the papers, waste not want not!

Wild flower meadows

In Coventry, as the council has had to deal with more swingeing cuts, the city decided last year to turn some of the greens in the city into meadows.  This was in order to cut the number of times they need mowing (and save money).

My parents live on a quiet street with a green in front of the house, part of it has been left to grow wild, it does look lovely in June.

Beautiful cornflowers, poppies, daisies and buttercups.❁

Sketch Team

To try and increase the number of pages I'm making I joined a sketch team on UKScrappers this month run by Sue aka Miniowner.  The idea is that a sketch is uploaded on the first of each month and we use the rest of the month to make a page.  The team take it in turns to devise or source a sketch, it was Sue's turn to get us started, so here is my first go at this challenge.

On the first of July, Sue posted this sketch for us to use.

My photo was portrait, so i turned the sketch 90 degrees, and as I can't cope with too much white space my page has far less of this.... in fact as I used such a bold patterned paper it really doesn't look 'white' at all!

But that is my style, and that is the whole point of using sketches; they are a jumping off point to make a layout your own.

I added lots of stamping (the doilies, punched butterflies, sentiments and a border under the photo) and cut outs from a 6x6" paper pad to embellish.

 I also replaced the ruffles with a punched border and a series of stamped and punched butterflies (Martha Stewart). The papers are by My Minds Eye and the stamps match or are HOTP.

 After inking the edges an handstitching around the patterned paper it was done.

 I really enjoyed the challenge, and am looking forward to next months!  Sue publishes sketches regularly on her blog, you don't need to be a member of UKScrappers to have a go, feel free to pay her a visit!

Together...

an unusual layout for me with no bold title, I just used the text on a 3x2 cut out card instead.

 More photos from mother's Day, but this layout is to go into Harry's scrapbook.  Papers are Crate (sewing themed) and the flowers are made using stamping (bottom right) with quilled and inked centres (both).

A bit of stamping (Unity) and lace (Papermania Vintage NOtes) and the page was done.

UK Scrappers Cyber crop class.

I was asked to make a page for the UKS 10th birthday cyber crop a while back...

..and I loved the photos I took of Katie before her Year 11 prom, so I used one as inspiration for my class.
The class is live, so if you want to have a go take a look here, layouts need to be uploaded by the weekend.

There are lots of handmade flowers 

and a fair amount of cutting too, 

but if you are interested in making a feminine page with a vintage touch, then have a go :)

A Prom page

I made a layout about Katie's prom last week for the challenge on UKS. It involved using a single photo, doodling, brads or eyelets and circles.

I took the opportunity to use loads of old flowers I found floating about in my stash!

Crop cancelled again today, might need to get crafting at home.

Spring Clean

Regular readers might have noticed that things have changed a little bit here, the side bar is a tidier place, and I have started to label my posts. These tidy up actions are a result of the Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers I am taking part in. Post labelling, when there are over 500 of them, is taking a little more time than I had expected, but my plan is to get rid of the scrapbooking archive, and add a list of labels to the sidebar that might be more useful to readers. 300 labels done, only 200 or so to go :(

Many thanks to those who answered my survey question (still open here if you want to join in)

so now for the results..........

Surprisingly (not) the vast majority of you are paper scrapbookers!!!, with a few hybrids and card makers thrown in for good measure. No family were looking at the time (but most who view my blog are on holiday!!) so I don't feel too insulted by this!!

So, as the theme of my blog seems to be interesting you my readers, here's another LO to share with you. As you can see Hannah is 10 on this page, and she hates the photo as it is in her pre-brace days ! It's another UKS challenge, and I had fun cutting and shaping the flowers using the tattered flowers die by Tim Holtz. Papers are a really old set by Papermania and some Cosmo Cricket, swirls and title are more Sizzix and the calendar card is (I think) by Jenni Bowlin). Not sure how I'll get this into her album though, those flowers are really 3D!

Looking glorious here again... I could get used to this!

A Wedding from the Past.

Quick post, nearly my bed time!! I made this LO at the Breast Cancer care crop I taught at a month or so ago, so thought I ought to post a picture of the page. The photo is of my best friend from school days, we only get chance to see each other occasionally now as she lives in Nottingham.

The cardstock is Studio calico, and the roses are made from some Papermania capsule papers. I added little cabochon type stones and Glossy Accents to the flowers, and cut up a second piece of cardstock to layer the flowers too. I used the edge of the die cut cardstock to cut a mat in with the same patterned edge for the photo.

An unusual page for me, as it has no large title, but i like the photo and the flowers so much I didn't want to take attention away from them, so the title is added in handwriting at the end of the journalling.

Nearly the weekend again... where are the days going :).... although looking back at this photo taken in 1991 I find myself wondering where the years have gone too.

Autumn's here

Now we are in October I'm sure autumn has officially started.

I spent yesterday in Derby with Hannah and Harry, we had a lovely time together, and Han was pleased when I took her shopping. She seems to have learned the value of money now she has none :(

Talking of Hannah, here is a page I made at a crop last week about her 18th birthday. The page was designed by Claire, and is made using the Cosmo Cricket Material Girl range of papers. There is so much detail on the layout, and although the roses were time consuming I love the final effect on the page. Just not sure how to fit it into an album!!

The background was stamped with green acrylic paint using a docrafts foam swirl stamp, and overpainted with a brush in white. A circle frame was added using a bowl as a stamp and some more white acrylic. this was then stitched in blue.

The title uses the Tim Holtz mask alphabet again, with Glossy Accents on top.

To make the flowers, cut a circle of cardstock, ink and cut a spiral shape into it, leaving a circle in the centre. Roll the spiral from the outside in, and glue with a strong wet glue when you get to the middle. Weighing them down during gluing helps to hold the flower in shape as the glue sets.

I was hoping to get some crafting done today, but have a lesson observation on Tuesday, so need to make sure everything is in place for that. Maybe later.......

Exhall crop page

.......this is the first of 2 pages i made on Sunday at the Exhall crop. It was designed by Claire, who also runs the crop, and includes the fiendish concertinaed flowers (thanks Claire!!) The photos are of DS on a day out in Coventry cathedral about 18 months ago, it's amazing how much he has grown since.

The papers are Dear Lizzy (American Craft, I liked them so much that I bought a couple of spare pieces to use up the rest of my kit!!) and the letters are also AC thickers.

More about the flowers, fiddly (score 4 pieces of 12" card every 1/4 of an inch...... and so on......!) and very tricky to stick, I seemed to spend ages holding them until they stopped popping up, but i do like them once done, so might have another go... I'll take a tin can to weigh them down next time though!!! I used buttons punched with my Martha Stewart button punch bought for me by OH as a belated birthday treat (mainly because there were none in the UK when he was trying to buy me one back in April) and yet more Glossy Accents (I'm getting so predictable!)

My page is a bit more grungy than the original, as I used boy photos, it's amazing what a bit of distressing and inking can do for a page!

I survived...

.. my first two days as a Primary School teacher! The children are lovely, and generally hardworking, and I'm actually having fun with people who want to learn (now that's a novelty!)

A quick post today as Katie is clamouring to get online as we still have only one computer working.

This LO includes photos taken last Autumn when Harry and I had a day out (just the two of us) at Kenilworth Castle, as he had a teacher training day and I wasn't working.

It was made as my team on UKS set the weekly challenge (see here if you want to have a go), and I had a go at drawing a sketch for others to have a go at (for the first time). It was funny, as once I got started on the page I changed my own sketch by turning it through 90 degrees!!

I used Papermania papers, a Martha Stewart punch, the title is stamped, and there are loads of tiny papermania buttons tied onto the bottom, with a stitched scallop border. Took ages, but I was at a crop chatting away, so didn't mind! The papers are made with scallop circles, wet, scrunched and a pile of around 8 stacked and stitched together. Makes a lovely 3D embellishment.

Got to go, am about to be lynched by a hovering teenager :)

Vintage Class

I made this LO for a class I gave at the Nuneaton crop yesterday. The photo is of my Great Grandmother, and the journalling is in the form of a letter to her, as I didn't meet her, being born after she died. I made the journalling block using Jenni Bowlin Ledger paper and the Stampin' Up notepad punch.

I used Chocolate box Core'dinations papers, and sanded the frame shape by putting a template behind the card. I then stitched around the is edge to make the frame stand out more. The papers are Graphic 45, and the flowers are made by scrunching up circles of the paper and layering them.

Work starts today, and I'm up very early fretting about it. I can't do any more to prepare either as one computer won't go online, and the other won't print... whoever said technology would help to reduce workload of teachers was in cloud cuckoo land!!!! Hope I survive the day with only 4 hours sleep. :(

Lots of flowers

I made this LO to meet Shimelles stash busting challenge of using flowers on a page. The photos were taken of Hannah and her good friend on St Patricks Day, just before they went out.

I did use 2 very old sheets of paper, and some Papermania pearl brads that were also bought ages ago. The floral date stamp is by Unity, and the letters "St" are the lovely new Tim Holtz alphabet that I waited so long for!

The swirl is made using a Bazzil template and some lovely pearls I got at the NEC a week or so ago.

Mum and Dad are coming over for Easter Sunday lunch tomorrow, so I am looking forward to a family day together.

It's the weekend at last!

Only two more half days to go for me, then it's the Easter holidays, and plenty of scrapping time again. I need to get some serious scrapping done as i start my new full time job after the holidays.

Tomorrow is my first go at being a teacher of adults, as i was very kindly asked by a local crop in Exhall to design a couple of pages, and teach a class. Feeling a bit nervous, but at least i know they won't storm out, swearing and chucking furniture across the room, unlike some teens I've attempted to teach (i hope!!)

This is another page for the challenges Shimelle has been sending me, to use bits of patterned paper ( i have a few!) to make a LO. I have no idea what the papers were as they were all less than 1/4 of a sheet, lurking in my scraps box. I made the border using a Martha Stewart punch both sides of a strip of paper, the journalling block is punched too using a Stampin' Up punch (prob one of the handiest punches I've bought)

Swirls are stamped and some cut out. The flower is made from circle scraps, inked and distressed (OK, screwed up!) with a LLB brad in the middle. Title used some very old BG letters, and the photo is of Hannah and me taking a walk last summer as she was revising for her AS exams.

Finally, a crafter local to me is celebrating her one year of blogging and has some candy to give away, pay her a visit here!

Gotta go, a challenge involving using up loads of flowers is calling me :)

Spring Flowers

I know it's Autumn, so this seems like an odd title for a post, but this was the title for this page i made for the Nuneaton crop last weekend. The challenge was to make a page including flowers, and extra points for glitter.

I got to use some of my favourite spring photos taken over the past couple of years on a page, and you may recognise the photo at the bottom of the page....

I used a piece of die cut pearl cardstock, inked and doodled, Core'dinations whitewash cardstock, and a piece of purple 12x12 vellum I've had for ages. The title letters are Doodlebug flocked, and stamped with added Glossy Accents.

The new technique i tried on the page is for the frame on the alliums picture, and the large swirl. I had bought some white Stazon ink ages ago, and been really unimpressed with it. I decided to have a go with it again, using acetate this time. I reinked the pad just before stamping (I think this is the trick to using this ink) and used some Prima stamps onto acetate. I was really delighted with how they turned out after cutting out the stamped images. Sharpie pens added a bit of colour to the photo corners, and i added some irridescent glitter to the swirl at the top. The nice thing about stamping onto acetate is that you can still see the photos underneath it. I stuck it on using tiny dots of glossy accents under the stamped parts, so you really can't see these at all.

I fancy having a go at making some ghost style letters next using one of my alphabets.......

Lollipop flowers, a tutorial...

As promised I have had a go at making another tutorial, this time to make lollipop flowers. They are really easy to make, and have a lovely home-spun look.
I used the DCWV Green Stack to make my flowers (I saw a LO made with this a day or so ago, and it reminded me how much i liked it!

The flowers are also a really good way of using up scraps of paper from the same kit.

Step 1: I started by drawing a circle shape using something to hand. You don't have to be too precious about this, so i would avoid cutting out the circles using Nestability dies for example, as they would just turn out too neat.

Step 2: Cut out the circle, again not too neatly.

Step 3. Use the first circle to draw around on your next piece of paper. I used contrasting papers for all the layers.

Step 4. Cut this circle out about 5mm inside the line you have drawn. This makes your circle smaller.

Step 5. Then use the smaller circle to draw around, again cut out 5mm inside the line and so on, until you have as many circles as you want. I tend to make my flowers with odd numbers, 5 layers for a larger flower, 3 for a smaller one.

Step 6: Now to start distressing, use the edge of your scissors (or you can buy fancy distressing tools for this) to carefully scratch around the edge of each circle. You dont want to tear the circle too much, just scuff up the surface. The DCWV carstock is good for this as it has a white core which shows nicely when you distress the papers.

Step 7: Then use your fingers and nails to run around the edge of each circle, pushing the edges up fairly randomly. Don't worry about creasing the cardstock, it adds to the look. Depending on the look of the page you could ink the distressed edges at this stage too.

Each circle should look like this once it's done.

Step 8: Pile up your circles in order of size, biggest at the bottom.

Step 9: Now to attach the circles together. You could use glue dots between each layer and add gems to the top, or use a brad, or a button stitched through all the layers.

I chose to use decorative snaps from WRMK.
Pierce a hole using a hole punch (I used a Big Bite) and then set the snap.

And this is how the flowers looked once i have completed them.

So, what did i use my flowers for?

I made another summer LO (did we have a summer?!)with photos of Katie and Harry messing about in the garden.

Title block stamped with a Prima stamp, title cut out with Sizzix Big Top and Sprout, clouds and journalling block Unity stamps. I hand drew on extra stems for my added flowers, and added a fair bit of doodling using a white Signo pen.