Carry on Camping and starting a Granny Stripe

Yep,I'm still doing layouts for Camp Scrap - these are two from the last week.
The photo of the bluey one is not so good but you get the idea. The blue layout was a suggestion by May to 'get a load of odd supplies and just play about with them'.I used some of the De Lovely range,a Prima flower, Kaisercraft ribbon,and October Afternoon papers (lots of stash-moi?!)It's pretty vibrant but it seems to work ok on this one.

The Lionel one was just - well just a Lionel one.!I was listening to 'Stuck on You' and it inspired me to find the pics of one of his concerts I went to,which makes me think It MUST be nearly time for him to do another one ......

...and now onto hooky things.

I'm a bit naughty really cos I'm still doing the ripple but I so want to jump on the bandwagon and make a 'Granny Stripe' blanket like the one  here .Lucy has such a following on her blog and I love her patterns.So I made a start yesterday evening and managed to get the pattern to work and I was away,I just love having things on the go- much to himelf's annoyance.You have to have a bit of a change though don't you??

Camp Scrap - the story so far..

It''s the final week of Camp Scrap at Big Picture Scrapbooking this week and someone suggested on the message board that those of us who have blogs could make a post of our layouts we've made along the way.
What a great idea, and as I've not quite finished all the layouts I wanted to do - here are the layouts I did over the weekend.

I can honestly say I have really enjoyed this class and have found it really inspiring. May Flaum who has run the class has made it really fun,and I have already signed up for her next class in September Use your Stash... here are the layouts I've done so far.....If this video works, it will be a miracle !

Good friends,good food, Pergamano and Ripples

Last night we spent a lovely evening catching up with some very good friends of ours that we see a few times a year as couples and the two of us girlies get together for scrapping every month.
We went to a pub that is about the same distance from each of our houses which does lovely food and lots of it.
I took my camera and got a few photos - the one the waiter took of us all didn't come out very well.
It was my fault cos I'd left the setting on Digital Macro ( what a wally)- so when he took it from a distance it's wasn't so good.
The evening was lovely - the men chatted about footie and Deb and I chatted about scrapping and blogging and work etc etc ...

I thought I might do a nice little Picasa collage of the photos I took....
and today I spent the morning having some hooky time and did a few more rows of the ripple - and then I went to a Pergamano class down at our local craft shop.

It was great to go back after a break of about 18 months and I so enjoyed it.I felt like the new girl but soon got back into it,here is where I've got to so far, I need to put some little flowers around the edges and stick it to the card but it's nearly there.......not a very good photo but it's late and the light is bad.

....and last but not least - the ripple progress,it's got 92 rows now and I think I probably need to do the same again or at least another 80,I ordered some more Kool Kotton the other day as the stash is gettting smaller - I love using this yarn,it's really nice to hook with and I personally really like the colours.

A bit of this and a bit of that

I sat here for ages trying to thinkof a blog post title and sadly the only imaginative thing I could come up with was 'this and that' which is precisely what this post is !!
I have at last sat down and done a 'simple' layout from the first lot of sketches from Shimelle. I tried to keep it plain but just had to add a bit here and there...

Also,I've actually got a sunny sky picture,and a photo that I attempted to take 'on the floor' which was one of Shimelle's photo assignments, I wasn't going to blog it but I think the idea is to go with the flow - the expression on the dog's face says it all really- oh god she's following me round again - EVEN when I'm trying to sleep on the floor ......

and a pic of the Topiary down at the bowls club again, I know I showed these a year or so ago but they have now added a little barge and it's so nice walking round  looking at their handywork..it's so nicely kept..

Not a madly exciting post really but just life as it is at the moment ..and now we are off for a meal as it's middle son's birthday and a good opportunity for some 'family photos' ...if they'll let me !!

Artistic Prompt - Cathy Zielske page template and a Ripple update

I'm not one for slushy stuff on layouts,and I've never used vellum on a layout either.One of the latest layouts pages over at Camp Scrap was a page template from Cathy Zielske.One of the techniques that was used was to make a rose from sticky backed canvas. Last night I settled myself in the craft room with Big Brother on the tv in the background and set to. It's funny how some pages just evolve, the photos I had were all ones that I like and it just seemed to come together.I didn't like the swirly rose at the beginning but after I'd inked it and flicked a bit of Perfect Pearls over it I quite liked it.
The rose was made using a link from here - on  Tim Holtz's blog using Claudine Helmuth's sticky backed canvas.

I was pleased with how this turned out in the end as I got to do some 'messy' stuff too and I don't normally think to do that sort of thing on layouts.The other flower was using a Paperartsy stamp and the technique we learned at the Artsycrasfts weekend recently....

and now on to the crochet project of the Ripple....the original had to be undone as I went wrong and one of the sides were all lop sided (if that makes sense) somewhere along the line I had missed a stitch and it messed all the flow of the sides up.After thinking I couldl maybe 'cover ' it at the end by edging it or sewing tape round the sides, I decided I couldn't bear it and undid it all .

Pleased to say I have now got the next one going ok and am re- using all the wool so all is not lost!

This is how far I've got, ends and all !

Design with a Pro - Camp Scrap and ......blue skies ???

Here's the  latest Camp Scrap layout that I've done.It was a digital design by Ali Edwards. I've never tried digital although I would actually like to - so this is all paper scrapping. I used the Coordinations cardstock again, this time a butterfly one and some Kaisercraft embellishments,and some odd butterflies I had in my stash.

Now,the other item on the agenda for Shimelle's class is to photograph the sky - WELL, of all the times to photgraph it, yesterday was not a good one,it was like Armageddon all day- and today is not much better -if not worse! So here is my 'sky ' picture, if you look you can see that I was taking it just as the sun was thinking of peeping out of the cloud, sadly it changed it's mind !

Panic ! - Depth of field ??

My tummy did a skip this morning when I opened Shimelle's latest prompt and saw that the assignment for today would be to create a photo with the blurred look in the background and the main image clear in the foreground. - Depth of field...
Nope, I won't be able to do that, my camera's not posh enough- it's not a DSLR or anything like that. Anyway, true to form Shimelle in her own inimitable way talked me through the process in her prompt' If you only have a point and shoot' camera,it can be done .Well, she did say to take a few shots and you will get the combination that works,and I actually am totally pleased to say that I did !

So now I've just  been chasing the dog round the garden and photographing everything in sight to try and get some more 'depth of field 'images.....

Lots of scrapping

Well, after a bit of a drought on the scrapping front over the last few days,today has been very productive... it was the Eclectic Keepsakes monthly crop over at Marks Tey.

We spent the morning on our own projects,so I took the opportunity to do one more from Camp Scrap.I used some more of the Co ordinations cardstock as a base - this time a floral one...Well, all I can say is it does make a right old mess sanding it to reveal the core but it does look nice and what a good job I could just shake it outside the hall to get rid of the dust!
The next layout was one for the sketch challenge of the day which the two Karens had given us to work from.

I used some new Webster's pages for this one,loved sitting there snipping and cutting the little birdcage and other bits out.

Then in the afternoon it was on to the class of the day which was one designed by the lovely Laura Buckingham. I've always liked her style so it was good to do a page she had designed. The papers are Delovely and very vibrant and summery.

All in all a very good day indeed.-Oh and I did manage to get some photos  taken for Shimelle's class -ahem -the three random things ....two boys and a makeshift goal....or wicket..(think that might be three randomn things !) ...our poor runied lawn ...HOW many times have we asked /told them not to play cricket /football/bowling/ in the garden and still they wear the lawn out and use anything in sight as a goal ...this time, the garden refuse portable bucket thingy..and another prompt was only a campanula in our garden but I've made a start at least!..

Been Poorly

Just when I was doing so well,keeping up with all the classes and layouts.....to cut a long story short,I had a very sore elbow on Monday evening after work.During the course of the evening it got slowly worse and redder and redder until by 10.30 p.m I could hardly move my arm.I didn't like the feel of it so rang the emergency out of hours line....an hour later I was on my way to the nearest all night chemist to get a prescription of antibiotics. After visitng the Doctor,it turned out I have Cellulitis,Monday night was spent on the sofa with a very high temperature and not knowing what to do with my arm....anyway after a couple of days at home with rest and Ribena and antibiotics it is finally subsiding and I am feeling more 'normal'.Didn't cut that very short really did I ?? !!

So, on to nicer things, I've done two more layouts for Camp Scrap. I used some of the Tower of London pics I had wanted to scrap for a while - so the mini book won't have so many in it now ! The other one is of the men in my life,sadly we only have one of the dogs now but it's a nice memory.

Now I'm off to have a read of the Shimelle prompts I've missed over the last couple of days......

A bit of sanding...

Moving on from the messy business of paint and splattering, the next suggestion from CampScrap was using some Coredinations cardstock.Now, the one which was used in the example was a lovely butterfly background but sadly I hadn't got that one.
I knew I'd got some Jenni Bowlin butterfly paper that I loved a year or so ago (or maybe older than that ) and after much searching through lots of papers I found it...BUT I'd cut one of the butterflies out in the corner so my plan of using it as a background was scuppered. So - search time again. Literally by accident I came across some Coredination cardstock in a Jenni Bowlin kit of a few months back,so the idea was then to use that as the background and cut the butterfly paper to use on the layout.....well,paint was messy but this was DUSTY !  So - it was still a bit messy but again a lovely layout to take inspiration from...here's mine ...

and here is the original...

and, there are four more weeks to go!

Tomorrow sees the start of Shimelle's new class - am looking forward to that lots....see you in class if you are joining in .

Splatter paint on a layout ?????

Hmmmm,not something I'd really think of doing on one of my layouts,after all,the idea is to be all neat and orderly and have everything in it's place isn't it?So when the latest email idea came over from Camp Scrap - I didn't think I wanted to do it,not just splatter and make a mess.....can't be doing with all that .....but strangely enough, I really like it now I've done it !


I mixed up some bright green and gold acrylic paints and mixed quite a bit of water in so it was easier to splat and just went with it. I just had to do a little stamp in the corner- a Tim Holtz one and go round the edges with the paint..I think the squirly paper is Cosmo Cricket  or October Afternoon,but I'd cut the bit off the bottom ages ago and can't be sure what it is.

It's quite nice to have a page of the boys documenting them as they are now too......gorgeous sunny day today,enjoy your weekends...

A Pinky Page

I was itching to have a go at the next page from Camp Scrap. This was a layout by May Flaum of her little girls cuddling together on the sofa in the evening.I'd got in mind the photo I wanted to use,one of our middle son giving me a random hug - although the page was pink, so I was a bit worried about using pink on a boy page. Anyway, I so liked the layout I thought 'what the heck' just go for it - so I did! The papers weren't the same as the ones on May's but I found some similar and decided I liked them. I used some 7Gypsies stamps - the flourish,the flowers,the fleur de lys and the word 'family'.

Anyways,it's time to get off to work now, looks like another hot day again. Have a good friday everyone.