Crocodile Rock

Although I haven't been able to use my studio this week (for fear of messing things up and then someone coming to view the house!), I have been able to craft at a crop and at a friend's house.  I borrowed one of Paula's magazine clippings for inspiration and created this layout using Echo Park's This and That Charming (sorry, not sure which magazine!)

The photo of my boy is blurred - I'm no photographer and so capturing excited toddlers on a dull day is beyond me!  I don't mind though - its an action shot ;-)

It marked quite a big moment for me back then.  I finally felt like I was doing the normal stuff that mums did with their children and actually achieving some of the things I thought parenting was all about.  I suffered with post natal depression during his first year and only started to feel a bit normal (whatever that is) by the time he was 2.

I think he must have been about 2 and a half in this photo.  We spent hours covering the egg box with paper and then painting it and putting it together.  He was so pleased with his crocodile creation and spent ages whizzing it around and taking it for a walk.  I was so proud of him too.  Actually... I was proud of us.

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 275

It is with regret that I show you my desk this week - it is almost embarrassingly pristine.  I say almost because I do have good reason for it to be untouched and that was that we were about to have a house viewing.  This people, is as good as my room gets!

I have done some crafting this week though at the lovely Artful Angels crop.  I started to unpack after the viewing so you can see bits of the three layouts I was working on using Echo Park.  I normally get a lot more done than this but I was viewing another house and the children came to visit for lunch and before you know it the day has gone!

I can't wait till the next one because I am fearful of getting my room messed up again.  Did I mention how much I hate this process!!!

I shall content myself with living vicariously through other people's busy spaces over Julia's for this week's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.

Bye for now
xx

Gym Buddies

I was back at the gym today for the first time in 10 days and let me tell it felt like a lot longer away!  I've had to rest for a week because of some problems with my knees (which I've had since 18) and then this weekend I got my first proper migraine and I was flat out for a few days (hence missing WOYWW).  The issues with my knees haven't gone away so we are having to tweak what I'm doing but I hope to get some answers soon.  Luckily I have my trainer on hand to advise me :-)

Other than when my nieces were babies, I've not had the pleasure of their company very much and one of them now lives a few hours away so it is really precious to be able to spend time with my eldest niece.  This layout is about our new relationship as friends as well as auntie / niece, and about the laughs and trials and tribulations we have together.  

Hhhmmm, still not quite got the camera sorted but I am on to it ;-)  Most of the supplies were from Echo Park's mini theme Brothers which just fitted colour and style wise.  The cork heart from... erm... somewhere, acts as a mat for the Amy Tan Thickers and the badges are from October Afternoon's Sasparilla.

I finished off with a few cheap and cheerful sticky stars and some very old star brads to complement the stars in the papers and then added a couple of bits of washi tape and called it done.

I do have another gym layout using the same colours but its a bit of a story and I need to put my big girl pants on before I feel ready to share it.  Maybe next week...

Bye for now

xx

Hang Tough - Shimelle Challenge

I managed to complete a few of the challenges from Shimelle's cyber crop last weekend.  Unfortunately I had to bring them to Wales to photograph as I ran out of time before we had to leave.  The weather decided to take a turn for the worse and I have struggled to get clear pictures but I will keep trying!  This first one seemed to be the better of the bunch and was inspired by this challenge.

I used Echo Park's All About A Boy collection which is in the sale at S J Crafts currently.  I'd forgotten how much I loved the bright colours.

I used the TOUGH banner from the sticker sheet for the title and added some more stickers and chipboard pieces for interest and texture.  I wanted to get across the fun and adventure that the girls were having when they climbed the wall at the play centre where Bella was having her 5th birthday party.

A couple of brads from a Halloween collection by October Afternoon and some very old gems and it was job done.  It took me ages because I couldn't decide on the papers but once I had done that it came together quite quickly.

I had a great time scrapping old and new photos and using old and new stash.  There was a wonderful sense of freedom as I wasn't doing a project or a DT assignment or making a rushed card for someone etc.  I'd forgotten how much I love scrapping and as such there are a few more projects to share over the next few days.

Did you join in with the challenges too?

Bye for now
xx

S J Crafts June Challenge - "It doesn't have to be pretty"

This quote actually came from my trainer / niece when we were discussing the gym where we work out.  Its not one of those places with fancy TVs on the wall and lines of cardio equipment and artistic interpretations of the human body in the changing rooms.  It is functional, hard wearing and appropriate for the job in hand and how it looks doesn't really make a difference to how it works.  

"It doesn't have to be pretty" is a sentiment that could be applied to a lot of things actually now I think about it and that is certainly true of the challenge's over at S J Crafts each month.  Of course we like the things we make to be pretty but being happy making something is as much a part of the process as the end result - I think I need to keep that in mind with my fitness too!

It was a combination of this wording and the colour scheme for this month's challenge that gave me the idea for this layout.  I love the way Jennifer has put together the image on the blog for the colour inspiration and I hope it inspires you to join in!

I don't use much pink at the moment and I had the older Echo Park Off The Record collection out already so it was the most fitting thing I could find!  The hot pinky / red matches my vest and the orange matches the equipment and I went to town on the flowers and pretty embellishments to contrast with the cheeky title.

I usually edge my papers with Vintage Photo but I wanted to pull out the black in the photos so I chose Black Soot Distress Ink.  The ribbon, brads and doily came from my stash and the 2 pieces of chipboard are by My Mind's Eye..

You can see some enamels dots in use here - some of them are home made and some of them are My Mind's Eye.  There are some gorgeous metallic ones in the shop at the moment but I am particularly taken with the woodgrain ones too.  SOME things DO need to be pretty after all... ;-)

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 258

I'm late to the Wednesday party this week because I had a little accident in my craft room... I lean't over the side of my chair to get something from the floor and it tipped over.  I thought I had just hurt my hip where I landed but as yesterday went on I realised I had done something to my opposite shoulder blade.  I think its triggered an old pinched nerve but it means no crafting or training today :-(  

This was my desk as I left it yesterday afternoon.  The pile of Echo Park Off The Record in the middle is for some DT work - I just love the summery colours!  The Simple Stories pile at the back is for my One Little Word project and I'll be taking that to the crop on Saturday.  The Promarkers still need labeling and putting away and the pile of magazines on the left still need to be ripped up for my OLW project too.  But it all looks better than it did the hour before!

I needed to seriously sort some stuff out as you can see.  I still can't find my heat proof mat and my heat gun which I must have put away at some point getting ready for the house sale but it will turn up.

I was trying to find my mat to make some enamel dots from some beads that I liberated from my daughter's supply.  They need a bit of work but I am pleased that I can use some of them.  The ones that are more blobby than dotty can be used by the children - win win!!  That brown bead that hasn't flattened at all was an experiment - it was an Aqua bead and didn't change shape at all but it was blue to start of with!

Talking of my daughter... she made this yesterday...  It says...

To Mummy and her friends, Love Bella

Make your own design on any coloured piece of paper.  I maked this when I was 5.

Bless her!  Setting challenges already!

This post was brought to you by What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday hosted by Julia at the Stamping Ground.

Bye for now

xx

WOYWW 253

Rushing in briefly to join in with WOYWW.  As you may have read last week we were putting our house on the market that day.  It sold in the first viewing!  We've since been rushing around to find a house for us and I can tell you that there is a real shortage!  People are fighting over viewing appointments - its a crazy time.  Add to that the school holidays, Miss Bella's 5th birthday and associated party, a trip to Wales, a craft retreat in the Cotswolds and now a poorly husband and you can see why my desk is not in use again this week.  I even rushed to take the picture and didn't check it hence the dodgy angle.

Because I haven't had much chance to prepare for the retreat and I can't spread loads of stuff out because our buyers are coming several times in the next couple of days, I am just grabbing large collections and a big bundle of photos and hoping for the best!  I can't train with the children off school either but I did reward myself with my previous hard work by purchasing the Project Life Jade kit to use with some of the camping photos from last year.  It doesn't go exactly with the Echo Park Happy Camper collection you can see just above it but it goes well enough that I think I can make it work.  Check back next week to see if it worked!  I've also got loads of DT stuff outstanding too but luckily the team is a bit bigger now so our projects can be spread out a bit and Sarah is wonderful at appreciating that life sometimes doesn't allow for crafting, no matter how much we would like it too!

Right, another play date beckons but at least the weather is dry enough for them to get out in the garden (at the moment!!)

This post is brought to you by the wonders of What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.

Bye for now
xx

It will be fine...

Its been a little while since I shared any of the layouts from Shimelle's Return to the Collection class and I still have a couple more to go.  Here I used a Papermania kraft sheet for the background and more of the Echo Park For The Record collection.  I also misted a little in the corners and did some painting and stamping to add detail and layering. 

 

I promised that I would explain the background to this unexpected holiday and this layout really does that so this will be the first page in the Kos section of the album.   I can't remember where this photo was taken so I used it as a reason to scrap the backstory a little. 

On the journaling block, in case you can't read it, I've written what we were thinking at the time.  We hadn't expected to be on holiday at all because I should have been about 6-7 months pregnant at the time.  We had lost our first baby at 5 months a few weeks before this and I had been in and out of hospital and we'd been through tests and the funeral and were still waiting on the results of the tests while we were away that would determine if we could go ahead with trying for another baby. 

We decided to take a last minute booking and have some much needed R&R time together but we couldn't really forget for more than a few minutes.  I drank water at a fertility fountain, we tried to get healing vibes from the Esclipion, anything and everything to try and get us back on the road to being parents as quickly as we could.  We ate lots, chilled out watching England win the Ashes and relaxed as much as we could but I ended up getting tonsillitis and laryngitis! 

We had a lovely time though and when we got back we received the news that we were clear to try for another baby and thankfully we got pregnant again straight away.  I wish I could have told myself that the results would be good and we would have our family before long.  I wish I could have told myself that it would all be fine.

 

Bye for now

xx

Nisyros

Another one from the Greece collection for you today - this one is about the little village of Mandraki on the island of Nisyros.  This is where you dock into when you visit the volcano on the island and it is so typically Greece!  Lots of white box houses edged with blue and narrow steep paths - perfect for bimbling about.  Which we did.

This was another layout from Shimelle's Return to the Collection class and it is definitely one of my favourites from this series.  I added some cream coloured card to mat the photos and back the circles behind the gorgeous floral paper.  The card has a slight corrugation which adds to the texture a bit and the colour picks up on the cream in the background print.

I also added some Papermania travel related washi tape to the Echo Park collection that I used throughout this series.

Oh how I am yearning to bimble around sun bleached buildings right now!

Bye for now
xx

Among The Ruins

A couple of Wednesdays ago when I shared my desk for our normal weekly round up...

I was explaining how the Shimelle class had encouraged me to use more paints and stamps etc on my layouts and how it had gone wrong because I hadn't put the lines in the right place.  It might not be the way I intended it to be but I do like how it finished up.

A standard 12x12 with a facing split page protector to add to the other layouts of our Kos holiday.  I haven't done the journalling on these pages yet because I'm still trying to find out the name of the place we visited!  It was somewhere in Kos town I think and it overlooked the sea so it was in a great position.  Management and I love pottering about in ruins and old buildings and I'm glad to say that it looks like the children are taking after us with our love of dilapidated historical sites.  Of course, neither of them were born at the time of this particular holiday and indeed there is a bit of a story as to how we ended up taking this last minute trip but that's for another layout. 

Either side of the yellow strip you can see the white acrylic paint that I dragged with the edge of a stamping block.  Top left and sort of bottom right is where I stamped over the dry paint... except that you can't really see the bottom right because I stamped too far up.

These pictures are just shy of the standard 6x4 that everything is now which mean't that I had to mount them on plain cardstock to fit the pockets.  I think it helps here though because it ties the colour scheme in and helps to visually separate the photos from each other.

We have friends who live in Greece and right now they are having jolly nice weather for the time of year thank you very much.  They are ex-pats and so they are really appreciating the sun while their former home has sandbags on the door steps. *sigh*

I think that floral paper has to be my favourite of the whole Echo Park For The Record 2 and I think it really helped to use this collection all in one go too.  I would definitely recommend doing that with any collection pack, especially if you are the type to admire them in their packaging!  I've got some lovely kits coming up in my DT assignments for S J Crafts because she's just had lots of lovely goodies delivered!  I love collections!

Bye for now

xx

Hello Sailor

It's a corny title, yes?  We finally had a little bit of sun here at Crazy Towers so I finally managed to photograph the projects that I've completed so far from Shimelle's class - Return to the Collection.  This is the layout from video 2 but still using photos from Kos and Echo Park's For The Record 2.

These photos were taken on a boat trip while we were in Kos which involved fishing and a brief stop at a cute beach for lunch.

This was a great push for me to have a go at stamping and then half covering it up to add dimension with layers.  I'm definitely going to try this again.  

There are lots more to come but for now I must prepare to go to the Strictly Come Dancing live tour!!  So excited!!!

Bye for now

xx

WOYWW 244

I know it looks a mess but I promise you that I know exactly where everything is and there is actually an order to proceedings... sort of...

No seriously, its a hive of creativity at the moment, so much so that I am in danger of utilising every room in the house for something.  Lets begin with the desk seeing as that is what What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday is all about. Feel free to share your desk too over at Julia's Stamping Ground.

I was encouraged to get a bit painty with this layout (from Shimelle's new class) using white acrylic paint and Glimmer Mist on an acrylic block.  The idea is that the gap and the beginnings of the paint are covered with another piece of paper and you just see the edges of the paint as an extra layer.  However, it went a bit wrong after this.  I had pencilled in where the lines of the paper were going to go but still managed to stamp in the wrong place.  This meant I had to move the paper and so one of the pencil lines was visible.  Why did I not just rub it out I hear you cry?!  Well that will be because the painty / misty layer was protecting it... Ahem...

Its almost finished now so I'll be back in a couple of days to share that.  I'm still using Echo Park's For The Record 2 for some Greek photos and still loving it.

I've also been really OCD this week and I've been sorting out all the photos and putting them all in order. This means I can go through my albums on the computer and work out which ones I haven't printed.  I seem to have very few photos from 2007-8 so there are plenty more to come I'm sure!

I don't think I'm going to run out of photos to scrap any time soon!

As part of this big sort out I've had to work out which layouts / stories are in my albums and which ones have been blogged.  You might be seeing some very old layouts here as a result!  This particular layout started life as an 8x8 but I couldn't make it work so I added a few layers and put it onto a 12x12 instead.

 I think I made this in about 2011 not long after I had started scrapping (2010) and it remains one of my favourites, especially from my early years.

It was the first time I had tried doing my own thing with layering and clustering embellishments so I was pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Obviously there are things I would do differently now but isn't there always?

Time for a cuppa and a scoot around the desks.  I have a LOT of blog reading to catch up on!

Bye for now
xx

S J Crafts - February Challenge

I'm so happy!  Sarah has decided to start a monthly challenge on the S J Crafts blog and the first one is a sketch and I hope you'll join in too.  I love using sketches - they are a great way to push yourself into trying a different style than you normally favour.  We'll be picking a few of our favourites to 

This month's sketch came from Jennifer (who is also now on the sketch DT for Scrap365 mag!) and we have quite different styles so it was great to try and create something from one of her layouts.  I used some left over pieces from Echo Park's This and That Graceful collection which was one of the first things I ever bought from S J Crafts.  I'm down to the final bits and bobs so this was a great sketch to use them up on.  I've made SO many layouts with these collection packs and loved every one of them - they really work out great value for money.

I was very brave and used Jennifer's style as inspiration to add some droplets of Mr Huey's mist and scatter my embellishments around a bit.

I love these photos that I snapped at a baby shower nearly 18 months ago.  I sneaked some shots of my nieces and their cousins eating cake which kept making them squeal "Oh no!  Aunty LJ!"  The incoming baby was blue flavoured and the blue icing matches so well with the aqua in the collection.  I love it when that happens ;-)

Why not pop over to the blog and see what the other designers have made using the same sketch.  Maybe you'll be inspired to have a go yourself?

Bye for now

xx

WOYWW 243

Good morning, good yawning!  It's Wednesday again - time for a snoop around some creative spaces.

I'm scrapping my way out of another crash (depressive low) probably caused by being ill for a few weeks and all the birthday celebrations being over.  Last week I felt so bad that I couldn't even craft and Sunday was spent on the sofa.  This week however it is all change!  I made 2 layouts on Monday and I have another in the offing.  They are all  as a result of Shimelle's class "Return to the Collection" and I am using an old Echo Park collection called For The Record 2.  You can see one of the layouts on the pile in the middle and the next one on the black mat ready to go.

If you look carefully you can see a red word near the pencil case - heart, my word for the year.  I need to get someone to take a pic of me holding the word (which I die-cut on my Silhouette) and then that picture will form part of my One Little Word project.  I'm hoping to get that done before I lose the die-cut under a pile of art sediment! ;-)

This is the first of the layouts from the class.  I'm using an old set of photos from a holiday in Greece, so old in fact that they have the negatives stored with them!

I thought the blue and white colour scheme was very apt for photos of Greece with all the blue seas and the blue and white houses etc.

Nissyross is an island just off Kos in Greece that most people visit because of the volcano.  It's not dormant (I wrote the journalling before checking my facts - rookie error!) but it is not erupting (obviously) and you can walk into the caldera if you are brave enough.  It is hot and you have to wear proper shoes and be careful where you walk but it was an amazing experience.

I've just realised that there is a black gem missing from the flower on the right so I shall rectify that but that was not the only mistake.  Can you spot it?

How about with the following picture?

Yes, that's right, in my fuggy headspace I cut too much off of the ledger paper for the inside so I had to break it up and cover the joins to make it fit!  Thank goodness I have a lot of 12x12 cardstock in colours I don't use so that I can make a patchwork on it!

I think, in the trade, that is known as a partial scrapectomy ;-)

This post is brought to you by the letters WOYWW with the lovely Julia.

Bye for now
xx

WOYWW 242

Brrr!  It's definitely staying in and crafting weather here at Crazy Towers.  It is also staying in and catching up on the cleaning that hasn't been done since I was first feeling poorly at Christmas!  I'm feeling much better now after all your kind wishes and a course of antibiotics and a steroid nasal spray - yuk!

I've been busy in my craft room this week - putting things away and getting other things out!  Top left is the rest of the decoupage from last week.  After the super speedy card I thought I may as well make a couple more with the rest of the kit.  Central is my current album with the beginnings of my One Little Word project.  I am loving using Simple Stories Daily Grind for this - isn't that rainbow chevron paper just amazing!  I've also still got my Christmas stuff on the go in my cake stand to the right and then a new project beginning to the left.  That collection is Echo Park's For the Record 2 and I've pulled that out for Shimelle's class that starts this week called Return to The Collection.

Some of the things I have put away this week include my Christmas and birthday presents.  The Promarkers are in their new aluminium case and next to that is a very solid glass photo frame with a pic of Miss Bella in a rugby shirt and tutu!  That pink box there came inside a vanity case at Christmas filled with Soap and Glory bath stuff.  I love the box and the vanity case and the bath stuff - everyone's a winner!

The last new addition there is a pink glass cake stand which was a birthday present from a very good friend.  I put it together but it needs a little adjustment and it being glass and me being accident prone, I thought it a job for Management :-)

I'm gradually finding my feet again so I hope to be able to visit a few more desks this time on our weekly nose around crafty areas.  Why not join in?  Its fun and easy - just link up with Julia over the Stamping Ground for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday.

Bye for now
xx

A Perfect Summer - Part 2

A couple of weeks back I gave you a few sneaks of some layouts I had made for S J Crafts using the colourful Echo Park Perfect Summer collection.  Here are those layouts in full.

I loved this fishy paper but it was still subtle enough not to detract from the photos.

I added some pop dotted stickers from the collection and some gems to look like bubbles.

I also fell in love with this pink woodgrain paper and I knew I wanted to use it as a whole piece.  It was perfect to go with the cherry print paper which led me to the photos of the Easter bonnet parade at Louis's school.

A few rub ons (really really old ones...) and a charm and that was about it!  I love how different it looks to the first layout even though it all came from the same collection

The following layout is going to go next to the one above in my album but its not strictly a double page.  I just wanted somewhere to keep the rest of the photos for that day which were not very good but held a lot of memories.

I was inspired by a Shimelle layout from her 4x6 photo love series and its a great one to bear in mind when you just can't face pages of dodgy photos ;-)

This last one (for today!) is one of my favourites from this collection.  Again I knew I wanted to use the sunburst paper as a whole page and just focus the design in the bottom corner.  The colourful papers in this collection are a great match for Bella's wet suit and collection of beach toys.

Again I used the stickers to full effect here and layered some of them up on pop dots.

I wanted to highlight the sun rays a bit more so I added some stitching which gives the layout more interest and texture.

This made a total of 6 layouts and I still had a good few bits left over.  Check back in a few days to see what else I made.

Bye for now
xx