Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves...

Third project of the day & a total of 8 challenges! Not bad, I thought but deffo the last chance I'll have for a little while! You'll have to excuse the photo - the light was fading as I finished up but I know if I'd left it for tomorrow it probably won't make it to the blog at all. So, the challenge over at Sisterhood of Scrap on Monday was to create a frame around a photo & there happens to be a fabby sketch from this Saturday too - so that made it easy (& technically it's 2 challenges, albeit for the same site! LOL). All About Eve's challenge is a glimpse into the past or future. This school photo of me & my older brother is from 1974 has been waiting to be scrapped for some time. It has those nasty white borders so needed to be framed (or cropped). I've taken a completely literal approach & just made a paper frame - I wanted something quite plain & I'm still on my personal challenge of finishing the August 07 Personal Shopper kit, so I didn't really want to add anything extra to the materials at hand (if I'd used buttons I could have completed another challenge too tho'!) The only extras I've added are some alpha stamps & inks - plus I used my new retro flower punch to cut the flowers. The picture doesn't really show it but these have been inked, doodled & curled before attaching with silver brads. Oh! & I've used my trusty stapler too - I'm not sure that staples are de rigeur any more but I do use them alot - cuz I like them & cuz I can!!

Something's Fishy!

Wednesday Stampers challenge this week was to take inspiration from fish - a strange request maybe but I immediately knew where I was going with that. I think regular visitors to my blog are probably aware that my youngest is known by the nickname 'fish' & is the source of the majority of my inspiration anyway! So I decided to take a fairly literal approach and base a whole layout on the reason why he is Fish! Happily, the One Little Word challenge prompt this time is 'perfect', which led to the 'My Perfect Pisces' title & the sketch came from Valerie Salmon. So it's a 3 challenge layout & all came together quite effortlessly.
The papers are from the birthday theme set in the August 07 Personal Shopper Kit (I still have tons of it left!) & one of the things I most like about the Wednesday Stamper challenge is that I get to do a bit more stamping on my layouts. The fish stamp & circles background are both by A Muse (you may have noticed how much I luuuurve their stamps!) I stamped a background on plain green paper (most of the patterned ones I have left are scraps now) using lime pastel, prussian blue & ice blue fluid chalk inks. The journaling & title are a mix of handwriting, two stamped alphas & a die cut one. The big fish was handrawn using the A Muse one as inspiration, then collaged & I machine stitched orange organza ribbon (from the kit) at the neckline. The eye is a brad but it's difficult to tell from the photo I think.

How's About A Mini Challenge?

The latest challenge over on the store blog was set by charli & is to include a pocket on your project. Silly charli made a throwaway comment that she'd be impressed if anyone could include a pocket on an inchie - so I challenged the entire DT to do just that! LOL. Obviously I'd never expect them to do anything I'm not prepared to do myself - so here's my inchie pocket, with the identifying measurement just in case anyone thinks I cheated. I have to say tho', it took me almost as long to make the inchie as it does to make a card so I might just stick to cards in future! LOL. Why not have a go at the challenge yourself? You don't have to make inchies - how about including a pocket on a layout, card, ATC or altered project. And (with the exception of the DT - who will be judging it) you could win a little prize in our monthly competition!
Talking of which, this is a two-challenge-inchie as I used the latest card sketch from Di Hickman as the base for the whole design (hope she doesn't think it's cheating either! LOL). I took a photo of the tiny tag in the pocket too - it didn't come out too well but you should be able to get the gist.
Materials are mostly from the August 07 Personal Shopper Kit (which I'm still ploughing my way through) - plus a muted purple mini brad, an A Muse mini heart twinkle sticker (self adhesive gem), black ink & a fineliner.

It's Gonna Be Quiet!

Over on my blog for the next couple of weeks, it's gonna be a bit quiet. That's not to say I won't be posting at all but maybe not so much. There are a lot of reasons for it- we are busy prepping samples for the Big Stamp & Scrapbooking Show at Ally Pally (London) at the end of the month; I'm learning how to use some new software for my DT position over at My Creative Classroom; and I'm also busy making my entries for a couple of the national competitions in the UK craft press. On top of that, we have looooooads of new goodies coming in at the shop during the run up to Ally Pally, which all need to be loaded on to the webshop - & I'm battling a touch of 'flu (it's all good fun!) That's not gonna leave a lot of time for crafting or blogging but I'll try to post a few sneak peeks when I get a chance.
For now, here's a layout I made today. Fish went to the circus last week & Jacqui managed to get a couple of photos for me. The quality isn't great but I think they should be scrapped anyway! The papers just screamed 'circus' to me - they are from the 'Bookshelf' range by American Crafts (on BOGOF right now!) & as there's a pull-out journaling tag, it also meets Alix's challenge for 'make it move'!

Another Challenge Card

So I was making this card (top right) as I'm heavily into making all sorts of tag cards at the moment and noticed that the bit of card that was left over looked like a crown. It made sense to try and make a second card with that sort of theme then, cuz I hate wasting anything. The craft mojo must have kicked in today & I realised that if you ignore the overall shape of the sketch, it would be quite easy to turn this into an entry for the current CPS challenge. I've kept the overall layout of the design and all I've actually changed is the shape of the card.

The papers are from the English Paper Company's Christmas Collection, rubber stamps by A Muse - two of my fave ranges right now!

Kiss!

That was today's prompt on HS:MS (well technically it's yesterday now!) and this is Fish's bedtime kiss. Hugely difficult to get a wriggly 3 year old to stay still long enough to take a photo (I took it blindly - just held the camera to the side & hoped for the best!) so I just missed the all important moment. But he wasn't about to try for another shot! LOL

In My Space.

The prompt on HS:MS today is 'print' & this is the most important 'print' in my space. It's the print screen for my photo imaging package - & I use it alot! LOL. Not a great shot but it's the best I could get (fourth attempt & then I got bored!)

Closet Girly!

Having de-sensitised myself by taking part in a self portrait saturday (SPS) at HS:MS a couple of weeks back (another one of those piccies coming up tonight!) I have scrapped a few 'me' photos. This one is another multi-challenge LO: sketch #49 from pencil lines (yay! I finally got another one in on time!); purple mulberry paper & stamping in the bottom right corner (you can just make it out on the enlarged image) satisfy Wednesday stamper's challenge; Technique Thursday wanted paper folding, again on the flower stem!
So I used this paper (& this one) from the English Paper Company, pink gingham by HOTP. The journal strips used this plain lilac & the white letter tiles are also HOTP. I used a marvy mega scalloped square punch to cut the tiles, doodled the edges, handwritten journaling (I'm getting brave about doing that now!), and edged absolutely everything (including the ends of the ribbon bow) with lots of this ink!

Hey Cupcake!

I've missed HS:MS for a while but thought I'd come back today. So the prompt is 'CAKE'. Bit of a problem there as there are no cakes in my space. So I'm gonna be a bit cheeky & use this photo of a card I made a while ago. It's on display in the classroom at the store, which doubles as my playroom (studio/workspace or whatever else you want to call it) when there are no classes on. So this is my cake, in my space! LOL

Another Daring Card

The challenge over at Daring Cardmakers this week threatened to be a bit of a doozy - but actually I found it fairly easy! The challenge has four elements: make a Christmas card; use purple; include paper tearing & have a hole in the design somewhere.
If you visit here regularly, you'll have seen these papers several times already - the Christmas Collection from The English Paper Company, so 'purple' was easy. I tore the background paper & used a Marvy mega scallop punch (they are due back in at the store next week!) to punch out the word 'trees' and punch the hole in the front of the card. Then it was just a case of adding a bit of ink & a quick assembly. Oh! the ribbon was from the HOTP 'Icy Rainbow' collection - gotta love those colours!

Sketch Cards

I'm desperately trying to get through the August Personal Shopper kit before September's arrives. This first card is based on Di Hickman's latest card sketch (September #1) & I'm really please with it! I always look forward to Wednesday and a new sketch to play with!


The second card is based on Janelle Richmond's sketch on the sketch this! blog. It has another of those paper flowers that I'm a little bit addicted to at the moment and has a fabric sticker (also in the kit) so it doubles as a card for this week's Caardvarks challenge too! The ink I've used is a fluid colour chalk ink, Chestnut Roan. After the Prussian Blue, it's the one I use most often.

It's Pure.

Having already tried the multi-challenge card I've had a stab at the multi-challenge layout. This one has the word prompt 'Pure' from One Little Word, Di Hickman's monthly scrapbook sketch and also meets the criteria for the first assignment at Bad Girls 'Top Designer' challenge (I soooooo hope I make it through the first round!).

The papers are again from the August 2007 Personal Shopper Kit & there's another one of those oh-so-yummy flowers that I learned to make from a tutorial by Tracie Hudson. I have stitched some layers together - something I'm not great at - enlarge the piccie & check out those wobbly lines! LOL. But knowing it's gonna be wobbly, I've incorporated that into the design. Hence the doodled lines on the flower, papers and lettering - and lots of handwritten journaling.

That Little Thumb

I've been busy today, largely working through the August 2007 Personal Shopper kit in preparation for Ally Pally at the end of the month. This layout is based on Valerie Salmon's sketch #25. The flowers are made from the papers in the kit, following a tutorial by the fabulous Tracie Hudson. You'll see a few more of those cropping up before the night is out LOL.
The title is hand drawn but I had a bit of help from these Helix Stencils & a Dottariffics black pen. I also used a stencil to start of the doodling - the fabby free one that came with Scrapbook Inspirations a couple of months back - I use it soooo much.

My Creative Classroom!

As I had no chance to create today, there are no new piccies to share so I thought this would be a great opportunity to tell you a little bit more about My Creative Classroom. Those of you who visit regularly will know that I have recently accepted a post on the MCC DT - and I'm very excited about it!
My DT term is officially December 2007 - May 2008 but there is a strong possibility that we are going to be able to offer some classes in November/December 2007 - I hope you'll be able to join us then. Obviously these will have a Christmas theme to them and will probably centre on all the Christmas crafty makes that we vow to finish every year (but somehow don't quite finish!) There will be more about the content coming soon!
The great thing about this particular site is that it's brand new and has a brilliant teaching mechanism. I'm so looking forward to coming in right at the start of something new! Our classrooms and faculty pages will be added over the next few weeks, so make sure you keep an eye out for future developments!!
In the meantime, you are definitely going to want to sign up for the newsletter - it's the only way you'll be offered free classes in the official January 2008 week-long launch. So do it now while you think about it! You'll kick yourselves if you miss out! LOL

The Secret's Out!!

I've been sitting on this secret (metaphorically, of course) for an entire week and the wait has been excruciating! So anyway, I applied for a DT post here and I got it!! Very excited about the whole thing & it seems I'm the only brit there too! LOL.

So I'm finally gonna be holding the online classes that have been my ambition for soooo long & I can't wait! Do check out the website & make sure you sign up for the newsletter - there are free classes up for offer in the January semester - but only to e-mail subscribers.

I'm gonna leave you with a little piccie. This is the LO we're doing in tonight's personal shopper class - you may recognise the photo from a HS:MS prompt I took a few weeks back (see, I do use them!) Hope you like it!

Not Long To Go!

'Til the next challenge is up over at the store blog - but in the meantime, why not do the current one (if you haven't already!). Roo's challenge (#6) is all about firsts & 'one'. This is Roo's first challenge for us, so she chose to have us also try something new, using just one photo (for scrapbookers) and only one embellishment (think that was for cardmakers - but us scrappers did that too!) So here's mine! A 6x12 LO with only one embellishment. This LO is a double whammy as it also uses the current prompt word, 'everyday' over at All About Eve
Have to say I didn't get the point of this format, so a bunch of us on the DT decided we'd all give it a go. I think now that I might really like it! It could get to be my new 'thing' LOL. All the materials came from the August 2007 Personal Shopper Kit - There's sooooo much stash in there that I'm still trying to work my way through it all! I reckon it's got a good few LOs left in it yet - & I'll make ATCs & cards with the leftovers!! LOL

I'll be spilling the beans on my big secret this weekend too - so make sure you pop back soon!

I Have A Secret!

And I'm not allowed to tell. It's one of those 'the deal's off if you tell' sort of situations, so much as I'm really not good with secrets, I'm gonna have to keep this one. Well, 'til the weekend anyway - then I can tell the www (whole wide world! LOL).

In the meantime, there's exciting new projects going up on the shop blog every day! You might want to pop over and see what's going on there!

Nothing To See Here!!

Woah! Five days since my last post and in that time I've not crafted, taken photos or anything remotely creative. I have been rather busy on t'internet - loading new yummies on the webshop, chatting on the forum, writing a bumper newsletter, applying for yet more DT places & helping (or possibly hindering!) the new DT settle in over on the shop blog. The design team (affectionately known as the Magnificent Seven) are promising a new project every single day, so you might want to add it to your faves - more inspiration to get the creative mojo moving!!
They also issue a great challenge every Saturday at 6pm and they want everyone to join in - so whether you're a scrapbooker, card maker, altered artist or another type of papercrafter altogether - there's something there for you. Find this week's challenge here
Today, I slept rediculously late (around 11.30 am) but redeemed myself by making this little mini book for this month's Members Club project. I've just got in these fabby jumbo playing cards - absolutely useless for playing cards but great for altering LOL. It's designed to tie up as a little book or hang as a display. You can decorate the back of each card as a mini layout and the pockets will hold decorated tags or extra photos etc. Still loving pink and black LOL!
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Thanks for stopping by!!