A quick & easy layout

Whilst waiting for the 2nd prompt from Shimelle I started this layout and finished it an hour later!
Crickey each layout usually takes me days, but in this case the 2 photos were large 5x7's so filled the page and the paper was already layered so literally just stuck the photos on top! so a bit of a cheat really - however I do actually like it.

This is layout 44 in my target towards 52 in the whole of 2008 and I used March 2008 Scrapagogo kit. The papers & tag are from K & Company Wild Saffron range and the alpha stickers are Scienic Route (so much for using the Cricut for all my titles!)

Had a go at some doodling practice this morning - well you could tell it was my first attempt - a lot more practice is needed here before I start on my layouts.

today is the day for Shimelles new class

I have signed up for this class and it starts today.

oops can't get the link to work - will try again later.

Been creative with my blog header and changed it courtesy of Rachelle Anne Millers beautiful illustrations. Her blog is here.

The NEC last Sunday

Ali kindly gave me a lift to the NEC last weekend to the Hobbycrafts & sticthes show. It was my first craft exhibition and I enyoed it very much - but as expected spent far too much money - the Cricut expression!! I actually only took £50 in cash and after I had paid for parking, programme & lunch I had about £35 to spend.

I got the things I needed - aqua brushes, 3d foam and a craft knife. There were lots of stamping stalls there and I was able to get hold of a lovely ' thank you ' stamp (by Penny Black) to make some thank you cards. I had been looking for one of these for ages but could not find a design I liked.

Then of course I had to buy some cards - so bought 50 very good quality ones from Craftwork cards.

I have now made 2 cards and posted them, so too late for photos. I put a scenic photo on the front of them, but have been bitten by the Penny Black range now and want to buy a couple of these stamps to put on the front of the cards.
I have never made cards before so this will be a new direction for me and I have already added
lots of card making blogs to Google reader - I am now following 94 blogs - thank goodness not everyone updates daily and no wonder I have not done much scrapping - to busy reading other folks blogs about scrapping.

We also went into the stitches show which was very interesting and we stood in awe at theis gingerbread house - made fron hand knitting - all of it. I got a bit of a sewing bug after visiting this show and when I went to norwich the next day to collect Jess - called in at Borders and was able to get hold of an American quilting mag which had a lovely childrens quilt in - which I want to attempt - just need to find the money, material and the time!

Doodling book

This lovely book arrived from Amazon .com the other day and I have read it through and its fab. Great ideas and techniques are clearly shown and I can't wait to give it a try.

I just need to find some time to practice all the different effects - swirls, borders, lettering and vines etc. I need to gain confidence before I start scribbling over my precious layouts. If I can get going with it - I think there will be doodling over all my layouts!



I have a few sharpie pens but think I may need to invest in some Sakura gelly roll and souffle pens as well.

look what came in the post today!

My Cricut expression!!.

I succumbed and bought it last Sunday at the Hobbycrafts show at the NEC.
I bought it from Hobbyhorse crafts stand but Rachel did not have any left at the show but promised she would send it when her new stock arrived. And true to her word here it is - she even paid the hefty postage! It would have been here yesterday except that it was Good Friday, so no deliveries.






I have spent an hour or so playing with it and think it is great - just got to come up with some ideas where to use it now! It came with 2 carts - plantin schoolbook and accent essentials. Extra carts are quite expensive but Ali has loads so I hope she won't mind if I borrow some occasionally.



Here are some of the things I cut out - just playing around and trying different things. I also did some letters but have given them to Liam. Its quite easy to use and the books that come with each cart are clearly illustrated. Just got to make it worth the investment now! Hopefully I will stop buying alphas like they are going out of fashion and then finding that I can't use them because I have not got enough 'e's etc.

Explore!

On a roll now! Started this layout last night and finished it today. I quite like it. It shows Jess and Liam at Attingham Park when they were younger. I have had to guess at their ages - I think 10 & 14 - that's the trouble with using old photos. We were at Attingham Park and they had children's trails to follow with clues etc - the yellow papers in their hands and they were really excited to be doing this. I was not sure whose album to put it in but as I have used the papers and similar photos in Jess's already - have added it to Liam's.

I used a pencil lines sketch for this layout as well. This one is sketch no 72 by Sarah Youde. The papers are We R Memory keepers from their Urban Window Collection - from a Mod scraps  kit - I am slowly working my way through them!

This is layout 43 for my target of 52 for the whole of 2008.

I received my new mag through the post today. Scrapbooks etc which I have on Subscription from Artbase. I never know when its coming so it is a lovely surprise. I have read it already and have a few ideas in my head that I want to use. I like this American mag - it seems better than Creating Keepsakes and SS - which I both like - but this was the one I wanted to sub to.

not a lot going on at the moment

Went to Liverpool last week to see Eleanor and had a great day out - took loads of photos but the card got corrupted when I put it in my card reader so they are lost now! Was pleasantly surprised by Liverpool and am looking forward to returning again.

Am eating chocolate like it is going out of fashion ( 2 easter eggs, 2 caramel bars, 2 cadburys cream egg and one huge bar of Dairy milk in just one day - 'fat greedy pig I am' and feel so down in the dumps about it that I could not face going to slimming last night - wimp!

Have finished a lovely book called Rise & Shine by Anna Quindlen - (kindly lent me by Donna from UKS) it was nice & easy reading and I enjoyed it. Am reading a thousand suns now which seems to be ok so far. Just had a couple of new books arrived from Amazon today - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and This is Civilisation by Mathew Collings.

Have ordered a book about doodling from Amazon.com which will take 2 weeks to arrive - but I have been starting to doodle - very very simply on my layouts and like it so want to learn how to become more proficient at it.

Talking of doodling & freestyle I did this layout today, where I used the Autumn leaves freestyle alphabet stamps, 
I think you are meant to be adventurous and colour them in,
 but as this was my first time using them stuck to plain black and white 
- will have a play about and colour them next time.
The photos were not very exciting so I chose some bright papers to brighten the page up - Basic Grey, Pheobe. This was Jessica making pancakes at uni last year - pity there is not a pic of her tossing them! 

my total layouts so far is now 42 for this near. 
Only another 10 and I will have reached my target for 2008!

I have signed up for a class on the Internet - it is by Shimelle lane called 'theres no place like home'. It costs £10 and she sends an email prompt every day - not sure for how long and we make projects about our homes and where we live. I have never done one of her classes before so am really looking forward to it. I may not be able to keep up every day but at least I can save the files to do when I can. Shimelle is hosting some classes at the Scrapagogo retreat I am going to in June - so this will get me used to her style of scrapping.

Got a crop coming up soon but have not sorted photos yet so off to do that now - so see a very boring life at the mo.

Teeth!

Have been to the dentist this morning and we have made arrangements to start on my new crowns!

It is going to cost a lot of money but will be worth it I hope. My 4 old crowns at the front are very old now and one fell off last Christmas so I have had a temporary cover on it for 12 months - so if one is going to be replaced, then all 4 should be. They are very crooked and misshapen and he says he can get them to look much nicer and straighter. Must take some before and after pics. trouble is he did not have a 2 hour appointment until may! but the second appointment to put the real ones on is 2 weeks later and the Monday before I go to the Scrapagogo retreat - so I may be presentable for that I hope.

more layouts

busy few days scrapping. I did 3 layouts at Scrapz crop on Saturday and then another yesterday - taking my total so far this year to 41. According to my chart, week 41 is 7th October so I am nicely ahead. 
I used a lovely paper trimmer at the crop belonging to Anne. 
Its big and heavy but easy to measure up properly and cuts sharply. 
Trouble is she bought it in Australia and it is not a make available here!
My X cut guillotine is useless - so I tend not to use it and 
cut everything out by ruler and knife 
- usually resulting in wonky lines. 
People are raving about the Making Memories one which is £44
which is a lot of money - but I think that should be my next purchase.

The first 2 layouts are taken from pencil Lines sketch no 73.  

This second one has been turned round at a 45 degree angle and is inspired by Tracey Hudson's take on the sketch. I do like this one - it seems to work really well and I just love Basic Grey!

This 3rd layout was quite spontaneous and I really like it. I think the papers are bright and fab and suit the photo just right. The papers are Sasafraass lass from Scrapagogo June 2007 kit. See there is a reason why I don't use them up straight away - just waiting for the right photo.

this 4th layout - I don't really like at all! I have had these photos sitting on the desk for ages waiting to be scrapped, but I could not really think of a story to go with them and I do like journalling or a snazzy title on a page. However I was determined to use the Anna Griffin flower stickers as well - but they just look naff so all in all a disappointment - but at least I have scrapped these photos.

I have decided now to just scrap the photos that really have a story to tell - so my desk is covered with loads of photos and I am just going to pick out 6 or so - to start working on. The other decision I have made is to start using up my Scrapagogo kits - as they are taking over my scrap room. There is hardly much point in paying £30 a month to have them just sitting there.