DIY Travellers Journal

Hi there :)

I'm sharing a Travel Journal I've made over on the Seven Hills Crafts blog today, I took my inspiration from the kit that Papertrey Ink produce and had a go at making my own :)

You can find more details on my blog post here... beware, its a long and photo heavy post but here are a couple of piccies. I'm chuffed with how well it turned out and I'm thinking what great gifts they make.... this one has already been snapped up by my daughter Hannah ;)

Thanks for stopping by :)
Jenny x

A Scrap Map and Colour Combo 10

Afternoon Everyone ,

I have another Scrapbook page to share with you today for this weeks Scrap map challenge and also Emilie's colour combo , which is her tenth combination so is offering a prize for one lucky submission .

The scrap map theme this week is birds so I decided to use pictures of a rather obliging peacock at a local open garden last year .

This is one of those LO's that I started then nearly threw out but I decided to keep on with it and I am sort of happy with it . It was really difficult to photograph as the blue green background is shimmery/interference type of paint and it seems to have drained the colour from the pink blooms in the photo .

This is perhaps a better colour representation . The flower branch was cut with the Cricut machine and the pink flowers were dampened and scrunched up to give them shape before adding them to the branch .

This is the sketch and colour combo for this week

If you want to join in either of the challenges just click on the links at the start of the post to see more details :)

Thanks for stopping by today X

Finally , A scrapbook page

Morning Everyone ,

I have finally got round to last weeks Scrap Map Saturday Challenge which you can see on the CCW blog here , I just ran out of time last week , but you are still able to play along with sketches until the end of the month :)

The theme is family so I chose to scrap this photo from our hols last year in Yorkshire

The family portrait was taken on self timer with the camera on a tripod , up on Whitby sea front , and we provided some entertainment for all the tourists whilst trying to get a reasonable picture :)

I just love how James is pointing and laughing at the camera in this shot.

I went for a doodled style of layout as it's something I admire in other peoples pages but have never tried myself.

Here are some close-ups

The two background papers are Fancy Pants 'the little things' and all the other elements are a mixture from my stash including the camera which is a digital hybrid element .

It's good to get back to putting a scrapbook page together again although it takes me a while to get back into the flow as I have a different scrap style to card making style I think !

Thanks for stopping by today X

Scrap Map - A wedding page

Morning fellow crafters ,


Wasn't the pomp and pageantry spectacular yesterday , a lovely day for the bride and groom . What topped the day of for us was when the Battle of Britain memorial Flight flew in the skies above our little bungalow on there way back to RAF Conningsby , such a lovely roar of the Merlin engines and that unmistakable silhouette on the horizon , it only took them 15 mins to get here from London ....... a bit slower than the jets which passed 5 mins earlier !!


...... So the morning after the Royal wedding and over at Creative Craft world the Saturday sketch is up and the theme is Weddings .

I decided to scrap this photo because I like the different angle of the photo which was taken by a family member when the official photographer was busy snapping away .
The bride and groom are my sister in law and hubbie and our little girlie was a bridesmaid for the first time at their wedding and is in the foreground of this picture , needless to say it was an enjoyable day .
Here are a couple of close ups

This is my last page as Guest Design team member and it's been great joining them each Saturday at sketch launch , thank you Lou and team :)

Thanks for stopping by X

A Patriotic Scrap Map Saturday

Good Morning everyone ,

This weeks scrap map sketch at Creative Craft World is the theme of red ,white and blue as it's St Georges day and in honour of the forthcoming marriage of William and Kate .

My page jumps back to 1978 and the Queens Silver Jubilee street party in our little cul-de-sac .

I was only five and the pictures show me in the fancy dress competition as the Queen of Hearts complete with my plate of real homemade jam tarts . As was many of my clothes from this era , the  costume was all handmade by my mum and she still has many of them today which my two have enjoyed dressing up in over the years as well . I'm pretty sure I won first place , with a costume like that on the Queens Jubilee I suppose it was inevitable really :)

I decided to give the whole LO a distressed vintage look including the hand cut pieces of the patchwork Union Jack , and I added some scruffy sewing too ..... a lot easier than neat sewing !

The bunting is Maya Road chipboard with sticky back canvas layered on top which has been stamped and coloured with chalk ink .

Hop over to the CCW blog to see the sketch and join us in the run up to the big day on Friday .

Thanks for looking and hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend in these barmy temperatures X

Easter Time at Scrap Map Saturday

Good morning everyone , don't these Saturdays come round quick :)

The new scrapbook sketch at CCW is here and the theme is Easter .

It just so happens this year we decided to collect some twigs/branches and put them in a vase to decorate them in an Easter theme and the bright eggs are ready for an egg hunt in the garden , they were put away again after the photo so as not to get eaten :)

The bright colours of the egg wrappers inspired me to use some blue cosmic shimmer spritzed onto the Bazzil cardstock . Never tried this before but seeing as my daughter Hannah has just bought some for her 'She Art' canvases I thought I'd borrow some :)

The bright pink flower is made from a strip of satin and I used Karen's tutorial here on the May Arts blog and Karen's own inspirational blog is here . My flower is not quite as full so I added some beads into the centre , you may see that flower again as I like its shabbiness and I need more practice making it .

So hop on over to the CCW blog and see this weeks sketch and others to play along, you can submit pages until the end of the month for any April sketch and they are on the look out for a new Guest Designer for May from this months submissions .

Hope you all enjoy the weekend and thank you for looking and leaving a comment x

A playtime page- SMS

Hello Everyone,

It's Saturday so it's not only the start of the weekend, it's also a new sketch to play along with over at Creative Craft World. This week the sketch contains lots of shapes and this is the page I've created as Guest design team member.

I've used my new Echo Park paper pack 'Playtime' as the colours and designs are so bold and great for the sketch.

I've pretty much kept to using papers and stickers from the set apart from 'My Favourite Things' dies, which I used for cutting the buttons and grass.

The children have now broken up from school which is lovely as I don't have to rush out of bed in the mornings and make packed lunches and keep to timetables but give it a few days and the novelty will be wearing thin. Hubby has taken some days off so we can go out or stay around home in the garden, lets hope the weather stays cheery although ,dare I say it, we could do with some rain overnight for the allotment/garden (said cowering in corner).

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend.X

Scrap map Saturday- In the allotment

Hi Everyone ,

This is my page for this weeks sketch at Creative Craft World, and this week it's the turn of the boys for a fun page and a great sketch it is too .

Last weekend we started planting potatoes , onion sets and other seeds in our allotment and James was keen to help so I had to get the camera out too . He enjoys helping if it's not too complicated but expects things to grow very quickly .... like overnight !!
I thought I would use the large circle in the sketch to make a large onion half which I have added chalk and stitching too to highlight the rings .

My journalling seed packet replaces one of the photos and I've matted a round photo onto some hessian too . Thought I'd keep it bold and simple this week :)

I have been invited to be Guest Designer this month at CCW and this is my first page for April . I was delighted to be asked and I'm sure I'll enjoy working with Lou and her team .

The sketch challenges are open until the end of the month and they're a friendly team who actually visit you blog and appreciate you taking part so pop over and join in the scrapping fun .

Thanks for looking and leaving any comments , I really appreciate it X

Scrap Map - A girly page

Morning again ....second post today , which means the housework is being neglected again ...oh well :)

This weeks Scrap Map Challenge is a sketch and a girly theme, now because I couldn't get to the NEC this weekend I decided to do some stash shopping locally ( crafters logic ) and , amongst other things , bought the new Cosmo Cricket 'Upcycle' paper pad , the colours are fresh and bright with a bit of news print thrown in . It was the perfect choice for my page about my daughter ready to go on the first day of her work experience at a local special needs school .

Here's the sketch and LO

The journalling explains how her new shoes rubbed her feet so much the first day she could hardly walk and had to wear plasters and trainers the rest of the week !

The flower in the top right hand corner is made following this tutorial posted yesterday by Katherine on her blog so I thought I would have a go at making one for this page . I really like the rolled edges and they are simple to make , here's a couple of close ups

Thanks Kat for a great tutorial .

Pop over to the Creative Craft World blog and join in with the Challenge .

Right I have to restock the food cupboard now so Sainsburys is calling .

Thanks for looking and have a great day X

Scrap Map Challenge

I'm back so soon with a page for this weeks Scrap map Saturday here.
This week we have to use a landscape photo so I went very literal and scrapped a landscape photo of a landscape from our hols last year in Yorkshire .

I have turned the sketch upside down and , a first for me , .... I tried a bit of quilling (the term quilling used in the loosest sense) . The tree was inspired by the rolled paper and ribbons I see on other peoples pages .

This page was a working progress and they aren't always liked straight away but with the addition of the tree I think it's growing on me , if you pardon the pun :D
So hop on over to the blog and join in.
Thanks for looking X

Autumn Fungi

Hello everyone...back again , you've probably noticed I tend to craft and blog alot during the week and disappear at weekends , that's just life with a family I think , my free time is when they are at school and work :)

I have a scrapbook page to share with you today for the Saturday scrap map challenge .

The theme had to be SEASONS  ( all or one of them ) .

The pictures are taken at our local RSPB reserve where I do voluntary work so I get to take the camera along too . I had fun creating the title using two different colours to give the spotty look and glossy accents to make it stand out . The papers are Cosmo Cricket EARTH LOVE which I've kept up until now as my 'stroking  not cutting papers' but these photos just shouted out for them .



Here is the sketch 

The Scrap map challenges are now open to the end of the month so take a look and play along to... it's great for your scrapping mojo.

Each month they choose a guest designer from previous submissions and you receive a discount in there online store if your chosen so what more incentive do you need. See here.

Thanks for looking x



Circles Everywhere!

Good Morning,
It's a glorious morning and the dog is waiting to go out for a walkie so I'll be quick .
This is a page I've been busy beavering away at for the Saturday Scrap map Challenge here . The sketch called for lots of circles so I decided to keep them as that and use lots of colour and texture , not usual for me as I love earthy colours more . I managed to use a piece of Kraft cardstock to keep my inner self happy :)

The photo is an old slide from our family archives that I have scanned and changed to digital and shows my brother enjoying the last piece of a banana plus skin . I love the washed out feel to these old slides/photos so was loathe to change it before printing .

My latest purchase is the Tim Holtz small rosettes die and they are just a great size , I held back from buying the first rosette die and now I'm glad I did . I stamped black dots on the larger rosette before assembling and inked the other with red ink...I think it looks like a pencil shaving :)


Well I'm off now to enjoy the sunshine, thanks for looking X

What Chew looking at??

Hi Everyone,
This is a page following twisted sketches challenge from last week.

The pics are our Lakeland 'Terror' called Rolo and he's enjoying a rawhide chew until I got the camera out!

I found a kit from my local craft shop that seemed to fit the page well, the papers are WRMK and the chipboard flower is My Minds Eye.

It's a simple LO and I wasn't too sure at first but I think I like it now I've looked at it again a few times.

Thanks for looking x

Beach Art

I've had a cosy productive morning in the craft room as the weather is bitter outside.

This page is for the CCW scrap map Saturday sketch challenge (that's a tongue twister if ever I said one!).
I love the challenge of using a sketch as it sometimes helps me decide on the photos or stash to use and even the colour palette sometimes!

I've used photos of my Daughter making a beach ball out of pebbles and seaweed on the beach whilst on our summer hols a couple of years ago.

The stash is part of a scrapagogo kit from last year.

The clouds are Jillibean soup canvas flowers cut in half (I can't take credit for this idea) and I made a sun from a button and hessian threads.

I have seen lots of LO's with buttons grouped in rows so I thought I would try it under my photos.

Thank you to everyone that leaves me comments, I love reading them and do my best to visit everyones blogs too. Thanks for looking x

A Vintage Page

Hi everyone, here's my latest page which I'm entering into sketch 226 over at pencil lines, just in the nick of time as I think submissions close tomorrow.

The Sketch

I have scrapped a very old photograph of my grandparents before they were married so around 1945. My Nan died at the beginning of this year and all these photos have now come to light, she was one for looking forward not dwelling on the past as she had overcome her fair share of tragedies over the years. The only thing is that some of the photos have no date or names on the back so they need researching further.

This is a new style of page for me and I really wanted to try stitching between the patterned papers but it had to be done by hand as we don't own a sewing machine yet! It also made a change to use floral papers, something I don't use much of usually.

I'm pleased how it turned out and hope you like it too x
Thanks for looking :) 

Loads of Fun

This scrapbook book page for the Scrap Map Challenge on CCW blog gave me a chance to use my Cosmo Cricket pad 'Get Happy' and Tim Holtz Bitty grunge stamps. 
The pictures are of my son James on his new Trampoline last springtime. James is 15 and autistic and like other children on the spectrum he loves to release energy by bouncing. He is eagerly awaiting for the spring when he can go back on his beloved trampoline :)
Here is the sketch
  
 and here is my page

I love the extra elements you get in with CC pads like the word borders and journal boxes. One of the requirements of the challenge is to use chipboard so instead of lettering I chose other elements. I had some frosted acrylic which was waste packaging so I used a nestie label die to cut it and then used a cuttlebug embossing folder to give it texture.

I really like this messy graphic look, it suited these photos well and this CC pad is one of my favourites.
Hope you like it too and thanks for looking.

PS Thank you for all the lovely comments left on my blog, I really appreciate them x