Sunday, 8 May 2011

National Scrapbooking Day

Did you do anything special?

After my great tidy up, I had um.. a large pile of papers to file away.  It was nice to stroke a few pieces I had forgotten about although I didn't get around to filing my scraps, didn't want to over do things... ;-)

Then I read the challenges on Shimelle's blog and started to think about a few ideas.  I finished one of them today and have almost finished another.  I wanted to use the challenges and inspiration to try something different, also because I had a few small photos laying around (more on that tomorrow...)  Last year I made an 8x8 album but I tend to forget about it and automatically reach for the 12x12 so I did one layout in this smaller size.


The challenge was to use patterned paper as the backing sheet and this was a piece I had had for years from some grab-bag or other.  I wanted to convey the windswept ruggedness of the beach rather than a sunshiney swimming layout.  Newport Beach in Pembrokeshire is great for beach-combing and in hindsight "Beachcombing" would have been a good title - doh!

I distressed the edges but the paper is thin so I had to back it onto cardstock.  Looking at it now I think I need to roll the edges more to give them more definition.  The album doesn't use page protectors so the holes have to go through the pages themselves which is a slight pain but it means that I can use chunkier embellishments like these shells ;-)

I really must do more at this size (other than Shimelle classes) to shake things up a bit.  I don't think I've shown the album here before so I took some pics while the sun peeped out
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It's covered chipboard with a few pretties and I was pleased to use up some heavyweight papers that I didn't think I would use for layouts.

The cover papers are from a K and Co pack that I bought on a whim when I first started but since last year I have developed a bit with my scrapping (I think!) and I can see more possibilities for different sorts of patterned paper.

It's my first self-made album (as opposed to a mini book) and I'm pleased with the way it came out.  I just need to fill it up a bit!

Time for some ironing now (yippee....) and then I might be able to finish that other layout before bed (can you tell I'm avoiding starting my Scrap-a-Mia badge!!?)  Although I might just check out 2 Peas and see what other challenges they posted this weekend....

Hope you have a great one, bye for now xx

4 comments:

  1. What a cute little album, and a fab way to store your LO's rather than using a shop bought one. I would never have thought of doing that. And I like your LO too, it looks quite distressed (in a good way if you know what I mean?) and has an aged quality to it :)

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  2. Lovely idea, the covers look so bright and fab. I've loved the challenges this weekend, it's great to change the pace a bit sometimes isn't it? :)

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  3. Cute album and your layout turned out nice. I agree that's a good paper for a beach layout. I created 7 layouts & 3 cards Fri & Sat and will be posting them this week. I did one of Shimelle's challenges and have one more printed out that I want to try to do this week.

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  4. oooh I love the distressed look of your layout, and your book covers are gorgeous...a great idea :)

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