Life is good

Afternoon all

Here is another of my latest LO's that I completed this weekend on my retreat.

This is another for my Uncles 80th album, the photo was taken at my sons wedding last year. 

The papers are from Teresa Collins, Urban Market collection.. which I absolutely love! Can't wait to make more with it now I've actually broken in to the pack. 

The sketch I used was this one from Sues' Me and Mines blog.  

She designs all the sketches herself and there are a lot of one photo sketches on there for others to use if you fancy a look see?

Anyway.. my take on it is above.. a fairly faithful replica.. hope you like?

Do pop back soon!

Elaine
xx

Two LO's from my scrapbook retreat this weekend

Morning all.. here I am back from a busy weekend away scrapbooking. 

Apart from enjoying being looked after by the wonderful B & B owner, I managed quite well with my wounded 'wing' (some of you may know I'm recovering from shoulder surgery). I mow, more or less, have full use of my arm for crafting, but I still have a way to go for full recovery! 

Anyway.. here are the first two LO's I made.. one for the Mixed Media layout that was inspired by the Studio Challenges inspiration to create a mixed media LO using two or more mediums. 

So.. first I painted a rough background with gesso then I mixed pearlescent paint in with some texture paste and used it with the honeycomb stencil to create the basis for the LO. I then waited for it to dry before stamping lots of background script stamps all over it. Finally I added lots of drips and drizzles of Paperartsy Fresco Turquoise chalk paint over the rest. 

Then I distressed several pieces of MME papers and arranged beneath the photo mat. The photo is of my Mum and her brothers at the D-Day street party in 1945. I then finished it off with some altered chipboard photo corners, some buttons and beads and a sprinkling of striped yellow resin dots. 

I'm pleased with the outcome so I hope you are too?

Then.. onto the next LO. 

This time a simpler affair... inspired by this sketch from Lets Get Sketchy blogspot holiday challenge.. by Laura Whitaker. This time I'm not entering it in their challenge as the idea was to create a winter/ holiday LO.. which mine isn't but I liked the sketch so I wanted to use it anyway. 

I also combined it with the monthly challenge over on UKS to use the colours above as inspiration.

I do hope you like? Remember to pop back soon to see what else I created during the weekend. 

Have a good day everyone!

Elaine

x

A quick Christmas card

Hi all...

Unusually for me, I've made another Christmas card.. Which is not something I do much of.. But as there is a good challenge over Scrapology-adventures in Scrapbooking.. I thought I'd give it a go... It was quite simple really... Make a card in blue and silver... So here it is!

Thanks for popping by... Do let me know what you think... Especially as I'm new to this cardmaking lark! Lol

 Elaine. 

Lovely day

Hi all

A week has passed and I'm getting more movement each day in my arm.. the shoulder is stiff but all looking good so far.. of course..it take more than shoulder surgery to stop me crafting though! 

So here is my latest LO that I made using a mixed media style with lots of lovely layers..as per the Craft Hoarders Anonymous October challenge. 

First I used white acrylic paint as the background, then I added turquoise shimmer paint and several layers of other colours including silver and blue stickles. I drew several circles, which are below the clusters, but to be honest I wasn't really pleased with the colouring.. so I added the doily in two areas and clusters of embellishments to finish it off. I added touches of paint to each of the flowers so it all flows together. 

The inspiration  I used was this one here from Scrapsuffz Inspired By challenge blog.. which gave us this wonderful mood board to inspire me... so much to choose from.

Then I picked a sketch.. and I chose this one from Creative Scrappers, sketch no. 280. 

The photos are of my Uncles wedding day back in the 1970's.. another one for his 80th birthday album. 

To be honest, I used this as an entry into the UKS challenge this week too.. however, the task was to use a number in the tile.. so originally I used 

'1 Fine Day' as the title..but I wasn't at all happy with it, and I changed it to this instead.. better all round in my opinion! 

Thanks for dropping by and do pop back soon.. I've decided I am going to go to the retreat I was booked to go on Friday (thanks to a dear friend who has agreed to drive me).. so I'll have plenty more LO's to share soon. 

Have a good day all. 

Elaine

White and one

Hi all

Here is my latest LO created with the blog White with One in mind..in this case White and Radiant Orchid!

Co-incidentally on UKS today, the weekly challenge asked us to use Purple as a colour, so I was able to combine both with a sketch that was combined with the UKS challenge too which came from the Sketchabilities blog too.. how about that for challenge combining?

Anyway..here is the sketch.. No. 99.. they are on no. 124 now..but it is still a lovely sketch to use so even if it isn't a current challenge, it is worth using.

First I used texture paste with a retro block mask and allowed that to dry. Then I used a pale orchid watercolour wash over the dry texture paste. I then stamped some circles over the background and added a doily and some cheesecloth over the paste. Then I laid a sheet of purple tissue paper over the top and set the photo on top of that. 

I then added several embellishments, flowers, die cut leaves and swirls, some chipboard elements and a Prima pearl border. I also cut up the packaging for the pearl border and used the words printed on it for the three small text banners on the right of the photograph. 

Finally I cut the title with my Slice and cut a shadow border on it too so it made it more prominent. 

As I can't use my paper trimmer while I don't have the use of my left arm after surgery on Friday, I am finding ways of getting round that by using a mixed media style instead. I do hope you like!

Elaine

x

One armed bandit!

Hi all

As some of you may know I had surgery on my left arm on Friday which has meant that it is very difficult for me to do much in the way of crafting because it's surprising how often you need your left arm to hold things steady etc while still working on a layout.

So therefore I stuck a piece of card stock to a lap tray and held it steady that way instead. I then set about doodling some elements for my page because using a guillotine to cut patterned paper would be quite tricky with only one arm. I then did some fussy cutting with a Fiskars blade to cut out the title and the longest doodle. I then tucked the photograph underneath the cut out elements and secured it in place with washi tape and added some stars to finish it off...

Another page for my uncles 80th album completed.

Thanks for stopping by...

Elaine

x

Cool cousins

Hi all

Here is a quick post from me to showcase my latest Lo made for my Uncles 80th birthday album. It depicts him with all his cousins at my Mums 80th birthday party four years back... it was lovely to see them all together.. in fact I then decided to make another LO depicting them all way back in the 1930's on a 'charabang' (bus/coach) outing with their Grandad...how lucky I am to have copies of both of these photographs...particularly the one from the 1930's. 

I'm currently loving the Teresa Collins 'Hello My Name Is' collection..which is perfect as the basis for one or two LO's for his album.

So here they are.. the first one based on this sketch here from Stuck?! blog challenge  for October. 

I used a Stamping Up 'ink splat' stamp on the background patterned paper and then used a selection of other papers from the collection and added some embellishments. It al came together quite quickly as these papers are so beautiful. 

Here is the first LO

The next Lo I based on the sketch below from Sketch Savvy. 

In this instance I used another Teresa Collins collection, Far and Away.

I used  a random, un-named piece of paper for the background and added my collection of papers, a PL card as the title 'Are We There Yet' 

I then added a selection of wooden embellishments in place of the 'wheel' shown on the sketch and finished off with a flourish of gemstones. 

The photo depicts my great grandfather, my great grandmother, my grandmother, tow great-aunts, my Mum and her two brothers and their cousins... what a lovely day out that must have been.. and such a luxury for that era. The van in the background of the photo is actually 'the charabang'.. so not strictly a bus..but they couldn't be choosy in those pre-health and safety days! 

I hope you like my LO's... do pop back soon for another look see. 

Take care.

Elaine

x

Wonderful news

Good morning all

As a few of you will already know, I am to be a first time Granny in March! Now obviously that is special news and I am, of course, thrilled to bits!

However, despite knowing for quite some time that I was to be a Granny, I had to keep everything a secret until  the 12 week scan gave us the good news that all was OK.. then of course, they wanted to announce to the world themselves through social media!

So these photos are what my dear son decided to post on Facebook to announce their news... so...needless to say, I did no more than pinch the photos to scrapbook... and these are the results. As you can see, I've broken away from my usual style of paper based layouts and gone more 'mixed media'. The one of my son 'pregnant' was based on some bright acrylic paint which I then inked over and then layered the photos over the top. I based it on a sketch from Stuck?! blog, but I ran out of time to load it to the link before their deadline... doh! I did, however see a challenge over on Another Freaky Scrapbook Challenge where we were encouraged to scrap about what makes you happy...and of course,this does! So here it is. 

The 'Life Inside' was a slightly different technique.. first I took some more acrylic paint, white silver and taupe and then I brayered it to spread the paint. After allowing it some drying time, I then used home made texture paste through a bubble stencil. Then I matted the photo onto some cheesecloth and layered it on to the background, added some doilies and embellishments and here it is..

These were two of the most special photos I ever wanted to scrap, but I have several more layouts to follow, so do remember to pop back soon to see what else I've been up to.

A bumper crop of Christmas cards

Good morning all

Today I'm brining you my selection of 'Beat the Christmas Rush' cards that I have made for my friend Sues challenge over on her blog 'Me and Mine' where she challenges you to make a few cards each month so that, come December, you already have a batch of Christmas cards already made up and you won't have a mad dash to get some made. 

In my case I have made some here for you to see. Now, I don't often make cards, so I haven't got into the 'production line' way of making cards and each one are individual.. and hence.. simple!   

Anyway, here are a few more I've made and no doubt there will be more soon. 

The Reindeer one and the pearl dots one have embossed backgrounds.. the pearl one with a snowflake and pearls as centres, the reindeers is just 'fern' shapes.

The bauble one is made from christmas washi tape stuck on card and punched out and put on spotty embossed paper. 

The blue one is a SU snowflake stamp with crystals and pearls added.

The Christmas tree is simply lots of circles arranged like a tree and tiny confetti gold stars stuck in between the circles.

The pearl card is also on embossed snowflake paper and the dove is from a Crtistmas die cut swap over on UKS, simply mounted on navy card with a row of graduating pearls and a 'Merry Christmas' label.

The tree card, far left, is another die cut from the same swap which I have 'decorated' with tiny nail gems from the pound shop, added a crystal on the top and a row of tiny crystals on the base. 

Hope this may have given you some ideas for quick and simple cards to make in 5 minutes.

Thanks for popping by.. do let me know what you think.. it'll make my day!

Elaine

x