Rather Large Catch-Up Post

I've been busy sorting out  my albums, so everything is now in chronological order.  I now pre-prep my albums, I know what needs to be done and I know the order that it'll be inserted into the album. I begin by putting the right number of page protectors into the album along with a Post-It that tells me which event will be going into that protector and the date. If there was any ephemera to go along with the trip, then that goes in as well. Perhaps some notes about what journalling needs to be included, a rough sketch or a suggestion as to paper that might match. When the photos come back from the printers they go into the page protector. That way I have everything I need to hand. I don't have to scrap in order, as such, I just know what needs to be done.

These layouts start in May and work towards Jubilee weekend in June. There are two that I've not done yet, but I thought I'd better make a start on getting them uploaded.

Adam with his friend Molly, enjoying the swings. I used the most recent Quirky Kit for this one.  Also attempted a small confetti burst after reading this post by May Flaum during Camp Scrap.  Don't think I'm ready for a huge burst yet!

Then the Grandparents came to stay and we went to Audley End.

Adam had just learnt to walk properly the day before, so he did a LOT of walking that day. Plenty of opportunity to practice with a Grandparent holding each hand and a ball to chase.

I put my own kit together when the current QK ran out. I'm trying to shop my own stash at the moment, to save some money, but kits help me to scrap faster and I think this worked. This is a mix of current Basic Grey PB&J and some older stuff that I've been stroking.  Turned the scraps into herringbone, I love that technique, it's great fun to make!

And then we went on holiday to Norfolk for a long weekend.

Sheringham. We started there because we wanted to buy The Sun (augh!) to get the Lego figure of the day! Then we went for a lovely teacake, it was a bit windy and there was no babychanging. So we went off to the beach to find a nice sheltered spot to do him outside. Adam wasn't best pleased by the experience, but we bribed him with his very first bucket and spade. 

Same day we went to Cromer for lunch - a delicious fish and chip takeaway eaten by the seafront. We also tried to find some knickers. Turned out that I'd forgotten to pack any... no go. Spent the rest of the holiday washing out my pants. Ah well.

Thought we might go home via the beach.  That was a bit of a fail.

These two were made with the Quirky Kit. I have added a few bits and bobs. The second one is 8x8. I'm trying to do a few layouts at a different size.  Maybe if I only have one photo of an event, or it's related to a larger 12x12 that already tells the tale.  I don't want to waste my time telling the same story twice.

Felbrigg Hall. I didn't take many photos here and I had to save one to use in the Project 12 for June. Herringbones again!

 

Had quite a bit of shandy on this trip! So much so that it gets its own layout. Mmm...shandy. 

Blickling Hall. We'd been there on the first day, right before it closed, but as we're NT members abd knew we'd be going back, it was lovely to just go in and sit. That's a layout that needs to be made. These two are from the second visit when we were able to enjoy the gardens properly, although we weren't able to do the house. Nice ice creams there!

The second one is a (herringboned!) 8x8.

Adam was too little for the play-stag, but we'd certainly go back and visit in the future. Great place for a final picnic. Before we had time to catch our breath from the holiday it was time to go to Bristol for Jubilee weekend. I saved the red, white, blue and flag ribbon from the Quirky Kit for this layout - Adam and his Great Uncle Adrian. 

Adam wasn't impressed by breakfast... 

On our way back home we stopped off at Butterfly World. Adam was terrified by the butterflies! 

Had fun on this one. I used the Butterfly World flyer, chopped it up and gessoed it. Nice and painty and inky.

Hatfield House

Over the Easter Weekend we met Grandma and Grandad at Hatfield House.  Halfwayish between us, to save any of us doing the whole drive.  I saved up my Tesco vouchers for this, so we had enough for all of us to get in and for three of us to go round the House.

I've tried to continue with my idea of getting multiple photos onto one layout and have used fake polaroids as well.

Squeezed in some ephmera as well.  The title was cut from the paperbag that my postcards came in and the pictures at the bottom are on a bookmark from one of the shops. Wow! That was a gorgeous shop, it had STASH!! I bought six washi tapes, a set of stamps and a coolbag for Adam.

To cram more photos on I backed each polaroid on another and created flaps. I've written the journalling under the flaps.I called the gorgeous shop the Oak Barn when, in fact, it's called the Oakroom.

I've managed to cover most of the day on one page, which just leaves me with a shot of Grandad walking off with Adam on their exploring adventure and a couple of shots of Adam being blown away by the lady on the the saxaphone. Both of those moments I felt deserving of their own layouts.

Wells-next-the-Sea

Did a spot more scrapping. Matching set, or should that be Companion Pieces? Yeah, that sounds artier! Used some new MME that I bought rashly in a sale. Been buying way too much stash in rash sales and then hoarding it because I have to time to stroke it, let alone scrap with it.

Anyway, I managed to get three layouts in a row done. I think it's easier to scrap a lot at a time once that first one is done, gets quicker.

Adam fell asleep at the harbour and missed his first possible glimpse of the sea. He also missed the crabbing and the fishermen bringing home the catch.

This is the first view of beach that Adam had. Not a bad stretch of beacf for your first time. As it was October it was cold and quiet, rather than baking hot with swarms of screaming kids... oh, perhaps he'd have preferred the excitement. I suppose I'd better get used to that sort of beach holiday in the future.

Finally awake and enjoying the view!

I've recently been inspired by the work of Marcy Penner. Lots of spritzing, blobbing, white space, using up those pesky asterisks, random buttons - beautiful.

iPhone Photos

This month I've managed to make four layouts. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day anymore. In fact, as I'm trying to type this, I have a baby climbing my legs and tugging on my screen...

Anyway, I took some photos with my iPhone, just to make things a bit easier and to actually get something uploaded. How am I supposed to look back at my blog in the future if there's nothing for me to look at?!

I've used the most recent Quirky Kit for all of these.


My Mother babysat Adam and me when John went to America last year. We went to the Cambridge Folk Museum and I decided that I was going to have some cake, no matter what. The chosen piece was lemon drizzle, which Mummy tried and decided was too sweet...


She also passed judgement on the people, the establishment... and gave me an excellent title "This is Cupcake Country". I don't understand people who don't like cupcakes, my Mother is bizarre! :) She did like the cups and saucers, though, a very eclectic collection, which just had to be photographed.

Now going back over a year to November 2010. I have scrapped this event before, but I wanted another take on it for the new 2010 album I've started to put together. D-rings from now on, none of that awful post-bound malarkey.

Anyway, Maria and I on the London Eye and at Gabriel's Wharf. Photos expertly taken by Susi!

This kit is brilliant and these pictures are awful, not doing it justice one little bit. :( I expect I'll never get round to taking a shot of the fourth layout. I need more Time!

Gosh! Layouts!

I actually managed to make three layouts today. These two are from our trip to the Cotswolds at the beginning of last month. I used the most recent Quirky Kit along with some added extras.


We became very ill after eating dodgy cream teas, but it's very pretty and worth scrapping. I also finally used my new Artemio stamps for the first time.


We also visted Snowshill Manor, home of crazy collector Charles Wade. I love to hoarde stuff, but this place shows you what excessive hoarding looks like!

Shimelle's Cyber Crop - Half Page

This was a fabulous excuse to not cut into this beautiful piece of Sassafrass!


This is Bob during the Open University 2009 Summer School to Durham. He's demonstrating scale. When taking a photo of a geological feature you should always include a scale so someone else knows the size of the feature they're looking at. Bob is showing that this also works with ice creams and kiosks.

Close up on one of the lovely seagulls that Susi cut for me.

It's going to go into my Geology Album as a 'companion piece' to this one:


For both of these layouts I've used the most recent Quirky Kit - The Milk Bar.

Project 12 - June 2011

{click to enlarge}

Pictures this month include the hot day where Adam had to sit around in his nappy, Clive the Turkey at the Gog Magog Cafe, Adams first hairwash, Granfer helping with our decorating and the bunch of fathers at Fathers Day.

Explore : Additional

This layout grew out of various techniques, suggestions, concepts etc covered in the Explore class.

Explore : Prompt 8

Well, there might not have been any pressure to finish a project on this day, but this is what I came up with. I never usually use this many photos on one page. Chopping a whole bunch of them up into smaller pieces, however, has made them fit in a lot easier. I used the "group of nine" technique to display them, wrote on them and made sure that all the pictures are of me, just to ensure I am scrapping myself.


Used the "group of nine" here as well.

Explore : Prompt 3 ~ Maps

Saved my circle embellishments for later, because I came late to the project I know what I'm making and saving them for! I didn't want to cut into maps from past travels, so I only had the one old map of London and a piece of patterned paper by October Afternoon.

Had great fun cutting up the map though, so I bought some from a charity shop this afternoon! I can have some chopping fun later on.

Easter

The CCW Saturday Scrap Map for this week.


John at Forde Abbey, hunting for rabbits to win us a Creme Egg! You had to follow the map, find the bunnies and then use the rubber stamp (bolted down to each rabbit!) to mark on the map that you'd located the bunny. Once all the bunnies were found, you got your creme egg.

Yes, it was a game for children and no, we didn't care that we were adults. :)

Retreat Beer Mat Mini Book

I honestly don't know why I bother with Mini Books. I can never seem to make them look as they do in my head. Perhaps it's because I haven't the knack to use tiny embellishments well or creatively. Anything under an 8x8 seems to go a bit squiffy.

But I have all these beer mats to use and I do enjoy covering them, even if filling them up is a little beyond me. So, I used the Counterfeit Kit to make it, hoping that the manufacturer mixing might help me. I don't think it did and I'm pretty sure I could do better than this, but I'm not sure I really know where I'm going wrong.

Perhaps I could do with a gadget that punches holes in chipboard so I don't have to poke holes with a compass! Occasionally I think about getting eyelet setters, Big Bites and things like that, but so far I've avoided the serious tools.

Ugh. I'm moaning. I blame the bad night of no sleep thanks to the baby kicking!


Maria in the Deli, Susi setting us up for the Caught in Crystal class and a page of journalling.

Everyone off to the Craft Shop for some serious stash shopping, outside the house getting ready for our Group photo session.

Maria, Sue and my Bump - with very fetching pink PJ bottoms!

One of the handmade flowers from a Quirky Kit that I've been stroking for ages. I put it in my Counterfeit in an attempt to use it up, and I have. :) There's still another one left for stroking!

Cake Baking & 1976

Kept at it with the Quirky Kit for a couple more layouts!


I wanted to know why Mummy's fruit cake was always so much better than mine when we use the same recipe. So I watched while she made one. Better quality ingredients and more moisture is the key!

Got out the good old Circle Circus again for this one. This is me in 1976 and I'm wondering now how I can possibly be about to have one of these when I still feel like I am one!

Even More from the Quirky Kit!

I've given up trying to get decent photos without PSP, so these are just propped up on my desk, complete with scruffy desk backgrounds.

When this picture was being taken I knew the layout would have to be called "Tosser" ~ sorry Sue!

We were lucky enough that our Retreat fell on Pancake Day, so Susi bought ready mixed pancake batter and we all had a go at making pancakes. Sue was the only one brave enough to actually give pancake tossing a go and it worked!

These are the flowers that John bought for me the day we had a positive pregnancy test. Seems like five minutes ago and now I only have days left!

I used netting on this, thinking that it might tone down the brightness of the cardstock, but it didn't! Still, the photo had come out in very bright green and yellow, so it probably doesn't matter. Inked the CS using a technique I found in the free Craft Stamper ezine, which has worked, but left me with a large pile of inky post-its. Fun though!

Beer Festival 2010

I made this at the weekend as I realised I still had lots of the last Quirky Kit to use up and the new one was on its way.

Quite happy with how this came out. I took the photos on my iPhone, so they weren't the greatest quality to begin with, but certainly better than nothing. The kit was a good mix of masculine colours as well as the lovey dovey pinks, which was perfect for this layout. Greys and blues for John and pink for that fabulous pink and yellow cheese - made with port, if you were curious!

I suppose this year the Festival will be rather dry for me, but they do have fabulous cheeses and a family marquee, so no reason to stay away! :)

Another Weekly Challenge

Still having issues creating straight photos, no matter how hard I line up the camera!

The only summer themed papers I had were the thin substandard AC ones, so I used them despite being a paper snob! They aren't so bad as long as you layer them up and make the page heavier. I even managed to throw in a little October Afternoon and Echo Park, so not all bad!



The criteria this week are as follows:

5 points for including blue - plenty of that!
10 points for Summer themed photo - taken at Summer School in 2009, our last day and a visit to Rumbling Kern.
5 points for journalling - check
10 points for a home made embellishment - I made a flower / circular thingy, not entirely sure what to call it!