Dance Class Photo Shoot

A while back the lovely Shimelle hosted a series called 4x6 photo love.  Each month she increased the number of standard sized photos she added to a layout finishing with 12 photos on one 12x12 page.  I had just the right set of photos to try this with and it sat in my crop bag with some suitable papers for months and months.  Each time I pulled it out I would put it back and choose another project bag.  

Eventually I realised that I was putting it back because I didn't like the papers.  I swapped them for the Echo Park Everyday Eclectic collection that I used for some DT work for S J Crafts and still had plenty leftover.  I'd previously used very pink and cutesy papers for some of the other photos from this occasion (here and here and a few more before that..)  Using this collection changed it up a bit and made great use of the wonderful camera motif papers. 

I used some older embellishments from my stash too which makes me really happy.  This vintage radio from American Crafts was perfect!

I didn't use 12 photos and I did them all back to back so mine is not as thick as Shimelle's original layout.

Each layer is slightly bigger as they go down so there is more room to embellish.  I layered up punched shapes and labels from the smallest of offcuts.

This kind of layout is perfect for people like me who can't bear not to scrap ALL the photos from an event, no matter how rubbish they are!

Every picture tells a story right?

The little stickers in the Echo Park collections are perfect for this sort of project.

I put a few bits on pop dots around the base page but it obviously has lots of dimension anyway, especially with the crochet flowers and the music note charms.

I'm really happy with the way this has turned out and I definitely have plans to do something similar with my current Devon album.  I find that there is something individual about each picture and so I want to be able to look at all of them in my albums.  In situations like this where I took many many photos, there is no way I want to justify loads of individual layouts so this is a perfect solution.

I *think* I'm catching up a bit with my layouts to share...

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 203

Good morning to you Wednesday!  Today sees me at home again with another spotty child.  This time it is Louis and he has been properly poorly with the pox over the last few days.  He is feeling much better now but obviously has to stay home for a few days so we are enjoying some time together, just the two of us.  

Here at my table I was finishing off a couple of pages for our Devon album.  I am currently waiting for that heart in the middle of the target to dry as I went over it in Glossy Accents to give it some dimension.  This will form part of the right hand page.  The full page under the lid to the left is going to be the left hand page but it involves a new sketch challenge at S J Crafts so I can't share it just yet.  

I am really enjoying these divided page protectors but it means I have had to plan my album much more than I normally do.  I've put all my photos in the pockets in order for the majority of the album.  I just need to see how much more space I can fit in before I do the same with the seaside section.  The gorgeous papers are the new Echo Park Birthday Wishes collection even though my pages have nothing to do with birthdays.

Here's a couple of little sneaks of the page for the sketch.  I do love using sketches to get me started.  Such fun!

This post is brought to you by the power of What's On Your Workspace Wednesday hosted by Julia.  Please do stop by and have a gander around the plethora of desks, or why not share your own too?

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 202

This desk has been a hive of activity this week.  I completed my assignment (yay!) on Saturday and then on Monday I decided to put away the 20 odd layouts that were awaiting filing.  That mean't a jiggle around of some albums as I'm converting to D rings and I'm running out of page protectors!  I've treated myself to some lovely new chevron print Amy Tan albums from S J Crafts on pre-order as a treat for sorting all my albums out!

Centre front there you can see the "About A Boy" collection pack that I won from Echo Park with some of my layouts a few weeks ago.  On top is the beginning of a rugby player to go on a bookmark for my DH.  I've made him a birthday card too, on top of the box near the back, inspired by Louise in its clean and simple design. Centre back we have a pile of layouts that I have finally photographed in the beautiful weather!  The flower on the notebook has fallen off one of the layouts that I put away but now I need to go through my blog and find where it goes because I can't remember!

Today we have been making thank you cards for Bella's birthday last week.  Thank you all for your kind messages about her pox.  She did quite well by not getting many spots and they are already fading so we can only hope that Louis goes the same way if / when he gets it.  In the meantime, I am trying to catch up with my writing as I don't know when he is going to be off school poorly and interrupting my study time!  But then... I have this lovely paper here... Its difficult to get down to assignments when there are new papers to play with though, don't you think?!

This post is brought to you by the power of WOYWW.

Bye for now

Oh how I loved that shirt!

Look at that little face!  I can barely remember him like this.  These photos are from a trip to Beaulieu just before his first birthday so he wasn't quite on his feet just yet.  I loved this little te-shirt and shirt set and I squeezed him into it any time I could!

As soon as he was on his feet he was able to kick a ball which they are not supposed to be able to do for a while.  He absolutely loved chasing a ball around and we were convinced he was going to be a football star.  As it turned out, his skills stopped there and as he grew he got so gangly that he has always seemed really un-coordinated since then!  Of course we rather hope he will be into rugby but as long as he is happy.

This was another of the layouts from the recent retreat using Echo Park's For The Record 2 from S J Crafts.  I have no problem with using flowers on boy pages, especially when he is wearing a floral shirt and the colours are so vibrant and go so well with the photos.  This is definitely a placement that I will be using again too.

Bye for now

xx

WOYWW 201

 After spending the WHOLE day Saturday scrapping with the lovely Sarah from S J Crafts and Paula from Artful Angels in aid of Cancer Care, I've been banned from crafting until I get my assignment finished.

I've managed to get an extension because once again we are hit by illness in the family.  Saturday morning as I was heading out for the crop, Miss Bella showed us her spotty belly.  Frantic phonecalls abounded and her birthday party set for the next day became a pox party instead.  Luckily most of her friends has already had it so were able to come and 2 of her friends had shown spots 1 and 2 days before her!  Their parents were grateful for the ability to go out I can tell you!

Here is the cake!  I didn't have time to repair Rapunzel's face and her hair drove us bonkers but aside from that I like it in its rather rustic-ness!  

Management has an upset stomach and I have a cold and I have never had chicken pox so we are painting a red cross on the door and hoping for a Tesco delivery to be left on the door step because it is like Old Mother Hubbard's kitchen here.  I'm still hopeful of doing some cutting and sticking with the children at some point because that's not quite so indulgent is it? ;-)

Share what you are working on with the rest of the crazy people over at Julia's blog.

Bye for now
xx

It's Time

No, your eyes do not deceive you.  It is indeed a picture of me in labour.  Things were going so very well at this point but then of course things took a bit of a diversion.  However the cause of the misery at the time is now a strapping almost 7 year old and aside from a funny shaped ear, he has no lasting damage but I vowed not to go into hospital for a birth again!

This is one of the layouts I completed at our recent retreat.  I was inspired by this pin but I went with an A4 size to change things up a bit.  I've used the stunning Echo Park "For The Record 2 - Tailored" collection because the colours were so perfect.  

I added some flowers made from the Tim HoltzTattered Florals dies and layered them up with some buttons.  My favourite edge punch and some stickers from the collection were all that was needed to finish off.

I love the way the design turned out and I love these papers.  I officially hereby declare Echo Park as my favourite manufacturers because their collections are so gorgeous and yet oh so very very versatile with absolutely wonderful colours.

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 200!!!

200!  Can you believe it?!  Check out the Queen of the Desks, Julia, for more What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday posts and have a look at crafters desks from around the world.

Lots going on here this week but rather different from the norm.  It's Miss Bella's 4th birthday so there has been much wrapping being done and going out for the day etc.  My poor desk looks rather bereft but rest assured that it will busy again VERY soon as I have a 12 hour charity crop to prepare for on Saturday.  If you are a crafter and can get down to the Southampton area on Saturday then please do come along, any crafts welcome, all in aid of Cancer Research, raffles and other fun things going on too.

Sadly our Easter bonnet efforts from last week didn't win any prizes but I was so proud of my boy and how he went about his task.  He did most of it on his own and used things he had learned from seeing me or from watching art programmes on the TV and changed things that weren't working for him etc.  He was very pleased with his efforts and that's all that matters :-)

I conjured up a card for the birthday girl rather last minute but I'm quite pleased with it.  Its an old Sizzix die coloured with Promarkers and with some stickles added to her skirt.  Thoughts now turn to the cake for the party at the weekend.  I'm thinking a tower with Rapunzel and her long hair cascading down...  Pinterest here we come!

No Combat class for me today as the children are off school for Easter - how will I cope with no kicking and punching the demons away?  Maybe a tickling match with the children is in order!  But first a little peruse around some craft desks I think...

Bye for now

xx