Year 6 Leavers pages with Simple Stories Life Documented

As I have had 12 days off work and we didn't get to make it to a far away place I managed quite a bit of scrapbooking.  The first weekend was the Easter bank holiday so lots of opportunity to play!

I wanted to tackle some pages for my 2012 album - one that I am mixing both 12x12 pages and pocket inserts to capture the smaller details.  I am up to July and one of the events that month was Josh's leaving party from primary school.  It's quite an exciting event with a limo ride for the kids and a party in the local social club attended by the kids, teachers, parents and grand parents. For a lot of my friends and myself it was the end of an era with our youngest child leaving and heading for high school.

This is Josh all dressed up and ready to go..

Whenever there is a major milestone or a party we always like to take a few shots outside the front of the house.  This was both of them ready to go...

I decided to use one range of patterned papers for this event and boy did it help me scrap quickly.  I bought matching embellishments and so added minimal things from my own stash - some enamel dots and wood veneers and a bit of mist here and there. A huge thank you to Sarah and Leanne from Hey Little Magpie as they were very helpful when I was trying to choose papers to go with the photos.  I am lucky enough to live near Sarah so although she doesn't have a bricks and mortar shop she was kind enough to let me into the stock room to see the papers irl before buying! It is an Aladdin's cave!!!

So on to more pages...Some of the pocket inserts...

A did a double page with many of my friends on whose children were leaving. I'd been inspired by seeing a few stamped back grounds on various blogs so decided to have a go as I was running out of patterned paper by this point!  I added some stars made with texture paste and blue glitter through a Heidi Swapp stencil and I was quite pleased for my first attempt

And finally a lovely shot of Alex and I taken some way into the evening.  She really doesn't like having her picture taken anymore so this is a rare photo now!

Thanks for sticking with the post if you've made it this far.  I found it very productive just using the one range although by the end I was ready to not see it again!  I have a few scraps left to make some cards with and plenty of stickers, brads and chipboard shapes to add into my stash for the future.

I'll be back soon with the pages I made the following weekend!

Pool Pals

A quick post today to share a page I made last week with the last full sheet from my Gossamer Blue kit from December 2012.   This was the kit...

and it was so bright and full of bits to embellish :)  Although by the end of it I was craving some pastel colours to work with!  Anyway, I threw my last lot of June photos onto the paper and added some stickers and enamel dots from my own stash plus some stickers from the kit - love the little lady and man!

This was Alex and Josh in the pool at my brother's house in Portugal.  The lucky devil has just moved out there permanently.  Am I jealous?  Of course I am!!

I made a couple of other pocket pages to finish off the month (but not photographed those) and then I thought I'd do a look back on all the pages made with this kit so here they are...

Six 12 x 12 pages, two 6 x 12 and two pocketed pages.  Pretty good going for one kit!

Today was awesome...

Following on from yesterday's post and on to the page I was scrapping at the time from June 2012.  We had such a great time at The Cheshire Show.  It was lovely to have one-on-one time with Josh and to spend a day watching him enjoy himself to the max!  The show is always midweek (Goodness knows why?!) so in 2012 it fell on my rest day and the last day of Josh's half term (Alex had already gone back to high school).

We started off with the archery, followed by a spell in the display ring as Josh was picked out to help herd the ducks, then the motorbike display,he  made a bug house, bought a horseshoe (with his pocket money) for good luck!, climbed the wall on the scout stand, played mini golf, threw sponges at a fireman to dunk him, went on the trampolines, the list was endless!!!  And all on a relatively sunny, summers day.

It was a really fun day out and one I will always remember as all too soon he was heading off to high school, teenage years and hormones!

Anyway, enough rambling.the page was for a sketch challenge from Sketchy Scrappers from the lovely Alison using this sketch;

And this is the page I put together;

Added some bit from my own stash; black sequins, wood veneer stars anda  geotag, ink splatters and flair badges.

Have you been enjoying some bank holiday scrapping?  I'll be round to take a look this week :)

The Cheshire Show

Hello to you and hope you are enjoying the long bank holiday weekend.  We have had the week off too and have had a lovely trip away to Cardiff (and The Dr Who Exhibition) and my parents.  The last two days have been glorious here in the North West so it was out into the garden for a good spring tidy up.

So that brings me to today when I felt I'd done enough to earn myself a little scrapping time!  I have made a layout which I will share soon but it reminded me that I hadn't shared this one , which will sit opposite it in my 2012 album.

This was for a UKS weekly challenge a couple of weeks ago and I used some red, white and blue papers to go with the jubilee theme that was everywhere at the Cheshire Show in 2012.  I had never visited before as it is always (bizarrely) mid-week in June.  But this year it fell on my day off and an inset day for Joshua so we had a fabulous day out!

Must dash - still some scrapping time left before our roast lamb and then we are all out to the cinema to see Spiderman!

Zip it!

Ali set a lovely challenge last week on UKS to focus on ourselves.  I had a photo on my desk waiting to be scrapped from 2012 (I'm up to June so getting there...slowly!) and it fitted the bill perfectly.

So the challenge was;

Theme - Featuring yourself or someone close to you 5 points
Using numbers, but not as a bullet point - 5 points
Using visible journalling - 10 points 
Using photographs of yourself & other events 10 points

I had such an amazing experience doing my zip wire challenge that I had to document it;

Some of the numbers I wrote about;

• 260 meter zip wire
• Travelling at up to 25 mph
• £709 raised for the BSSA
• 150 girls and leaders from Girlguiding UK too part
• 1/2 million people in UK affected by Sjogrens
• 9/10 sufferers are women

I used a Gossamer Blue kit (giving the last few Sarah's ones a rest while I use up my Gossamer ones now!) and added some random stitching.

And if you have not seen it before (please allow me to indulge myself if you have!) here is good old me on the zip wire....

3 kits killed!

I managed 7 layouts at Meadow Barn and three were the remnants of past Sarah's Cards' kits.  One I've posted already which was the Epcot layout and here are two more...

Spongebob Squarepants using Fancy Pants - Be you

 and Our Fur Babies using Cosmo Cricket - Tea for Two

I added a few bits from my own stash.  Mostly from the pot of odds and ends that I need to reduce down too!  A real stash busting session if ever there was one.  The second one was also a sketchy scrappers sketch challenge.

I also made a few cards with the leftovers which I'll share soon and then I threw the scraps away as I thought there was nothing more I could do with them.  But oh no!  Tara, who I was sat next too, decided to empty them out of the bin and make another card or two.  After that point I just passed the scraps straight over to save her rummaging!!!

Still scrapping 2012!

As mentioned in my last post I am trying to scrap most of 2012 with both 12x12 pages, 6x12 pages, and multi pocket pages.  I am enjoying the process but it is taking it's time!

I finished off this page over the Christmas holidays using an old Sarah's Cards kit - WRMK; Maple Grove.

This was a November kit aimed at Autumn scrapping but it went just great with this selfie of my husband and I on the beach in Portugal and I think the orange and blue papers remind me of the sea and sand.  I added a flair badge and some blue and gold mist from my stash to finish it off.  I also wanted to make it from the same kit as this page (which I have already blogged) which it will sit opposite...

Well this kit is just about done apart from squeezing out a card or two :)  I'm going to try and join in with the 52 card challenge again this year (although I did fall beside the wayside after about 10 cards inn 2013 - ooops!!) so I'm sure it won't be long before the rest is used up.

Back tomorrow with another page...I am on a roll at the moment!

6 x 12 pages

Well it seems the most I can blog is once a month these days!  Firstly I hope your Christmas celebrations were happy and full of all the things you wanted.

Secondly, here are a couple of half pages I made to go between the last ones to capture our day on the beach.

I'm really liking using different sizes and protectors in my albums to give it a different look.  These are mostly in my 2012 album which I had hoped to finish before 2013 was over but as I'm only on June it's not happening!  Ah, well, as they say in scrapbook-land there's no such thing as being caught up!

Hope this post finds you looking forward to the New Year with a spring in your step and not too much left over turkey in your fridge!

Pink Booby Take 2

Eventually found some daylight to photo the other two pages from the crop.  I needed to finish a few things off first though.

These are all to go together with 2 other 12x6 pages (to follow) from our trip to my brother's house in Portugal in 2012.

First up is one of my favourite photos of Alex and Josh.  I love how they are posed exactly the same way and it wasn't planned - just a quick snap on my iPhone!

This one was earlier in the day after we had stopped to get Alex a hat as it was so hot!  She really suits hats but doesn't wear them often  enough, even in the cold weather in the UK.

I've used a Gossamer Blue kit with mostly Simple Stories products and some few bits from my own stash.

Thanks for stopping by and for the lovely comments on my last post about being nice to see me again.  It;s so lovely to have friends in blog land.  Now I'm off to try and catch up on the 150+ posts I've not read over the past couple of weeks!

If I've not stoppped by your blog for a while I hope you are keeping well and life is treating you good.

UKS Weekly Challenge - August Week 4

I loved the challenge this week as it was simple and fitted in with some photos I'd been thinking of scrapping.  The challenge was;

Scrap about friends or a weekend away - 10 Points
Use an envelope or glassine bag for hidden journaling - 10 Points
Creative lettering - 10 Points

I chose photos of friends from our weekend away last year so ticked both boxes there. I didn't have a glassine bag or envelope so tucked my journaling in a file folder. I think I also have the same book that Scrappy Pat mentions in her challenge so I used Easy Peasy font to add some journaling around the title.

This was ones of the last Sarah's Cards kits I received with gorgeous papers from Cosmo Cricket called Tea for Two. Very apt really as the photos are of us all having tea and breakfast in The  Elephant Cafe where J K Rowling wrote most of Harry Potter.


Thanks for your comments as always I love reading them :) - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Olympic Torch - Sketchy Scrappers July challenge

July's sketch was a lovely one for using up scraps of paper.  I turned to one of my more recent Sarahs Cards kits and grabbed a photo of Alex and one of the Olympic Torch's that had been sat on my desk for ages waiting to be scrapped. It's not the best picture but was taken at one of her Guide meetings.  One of the runners lived in our village and brought the torch into all the Guiding and Scout units over a few weeks as he has been a Scout leader for over 40 years.

And after a very short amount of time this is what I came up with...

The papers are Fancy Pants - Be You and I stitched the circle at the back and added a wood veneer camera and a stamp from my own stash.  

The Local

The June sketch for my Sketchy Scrappers group was picked by my good self and I had three photos in mind when I choose it to remember our last lunch on holiday in Parga last summer. 

I used a Sarah's cards kit (but can't remember which one!) that had bright colours that reflected the colours in the photos and the holiday feeling.  I also stitched a couple of circles with my sewing machine. 

Thank heavens for trip advisor so I could look up the name of the local taverna! The journalising reads; happiness is when... The local taverna is a little gem. This was our last lunch at the Perivoli. Thanks for stopping by.

This was May 2012...

A scrappy post for a change today as I have indulged and finished off some pages this weekend :)

This layout was based on a Shimelle Sketch to Scrapbook page.  I was really pleased to see she has focused some recent sketches on smaller square photos along with 6x4 and I had although I had a larger square for this page (they were all taken on my iPhone) the sketch worked brilliantly.

I decided to zoom in on the journalling so I don't have to type it all out (and you don't have to strain your eyes!)...

I then set about finishing up my divided page protectors (I started doing one of these for each month last year and am determined to keep it going!).  This is the page to face the above layout and includes Josh getting his blue belt at Ju Jitsu, dressing up as the Union Jack for a Jubilee party at Scouts, his love of climbing the local trees and some wedding anniversary flowers...

The other side matches a previous layout "Torch Relay" and features a trip to the local skate park where we took Josh and his class after completing their SATs in Year 6...

Pleased to say another kit has bit the dust in the making of these pages :) which was Crate Paper Season.

Back with another page later this week and some more Summertime Scavenger Hunt photo finds.

UKS Weekly challenge - Flip Flop Fail!

The challenge on UKS a few weeks back was an interesting one that involved clothing or footwear which got me thinking about a story I wanted to tell from our holiday in Greece last year so I based my page on the criteria of A photo of clothes or accessories including shoes and I put this page together about how Josh got flip flops to wear around on holiday for the first time and could not get the hang of them!  On many occasion he either fell over his own feet or left one on the path behind him!

I used Fancy Pants - Be You papers from a Sarah's Cards kit and added some enamel dots, some wood veneer shapes and sprinkles of mist.  I really love how this page has turned out - my favourite for quite a while :)

UKS Weekly challenge - May week 2

The challenge was a sketch this week, which I always love, plus use 5 different patterned papers and 5 lines of jornalling.

I decided to scrap one of my origrami pics of Josh (soaking wet!) having been stood waiting for the Olympic Torch in a local park for several hours! I'm pleased with how this page has turned out as the photos go together but are very different; one an Instagram shot on my phone the one of the torch taken on my DSLR on sport mode so I was guaranteed of at least one good shot!!




A few posts back I think I blogged I had 13 Sarah's Cards kits left. Well after this layout I'm now down to 11 :).

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

UKS Weekly Challenge - April Week 4

Came in from work last night and made this page for the challenge but then had to fit in tea and taking Josh to his Ju Jitsu grading so no time to photograph and upload it.  I'm pleased to say Josh passed and is now a purple/white belt.  After that it's brown and then black!

Anyway on to the challenge which was to use the colours of your countries flag (red, white and blue, obviously) use more than one photograph (didn't manage this) and use a banner.

I wanted to scrap this photo for my Docuement 2012 pages for April and it faces a load of other red, white and blue pics so it was perfect for the challenge.

I also used a sketch from a new site (well, new to me anyway!) called Nuts about sketches.  I like how the sketches are grouped on the left by number of photos and one is launched once a week with plenty of inspirational layouts too.

So here is my page;

 Thanks to Lesley aka Cheekymole for a great challenge :)

Sketchy Scrappers March Sketch

Thank you for the good wishes on my Sunday post.  My burn is healing OK but I will be needing dressing changes for a couple of weeks yet.  At least it was not deep as I jumped straight in a cold shower - thank heavens for basic first aid training - and I will be buying lots of new high neck tops to wear this summer!

Anyway, on to the Sketchy Scrappers challenge.  Last month Lisa set the sketch and she chose this one with two pics...

I'm trying to use challenges to finish my document 2012 (and as I'm not even half way yet l I've a long way to go!) so picked some pics from April of my daughter at her dance show last year.  We didn't know at the time but it was to be the last one as she decided to give up her lessons on entering Year 10.  I guess with homework, Guides and spending time with her friends something had to give.

I used (yes, you guessed it!) and old Sarah's Cards kit; Pebbles - Linnie Bell as the colours went well with her costume, just adding some Jenni Bowlin butterflies .

I then made this page to go the right of the layout documenting my numbers for the month and some other things we did;

And then because I'm all about using up my old kits at the moment I pulled out the last full sheet of patterned paper and made this one (it is straight in real life I promise!);

I have to say these aren't my favourite pages ever.  I really don't love the paper anymore but I can't justify throwing anything away so it had to be used!

I think I'll count how many more Sarah's kits I've got left to use - most only have two pages in them at best.  I might even start a countdown ticker lol!

UKS Weekly Challenge - April Week 2

This week the challenge was an interesting one - either scrap a colour photo on black and white or scrap a black and white photo on colour.

We also had to scrap the every day and also include some journalling - either a single sentence or loads and loads.


I used one of my newer Sarah's Cards kit with Fancy Pants - Be You papers, which are really fun and bright and scrapped about Josh's weekly Saturday morning breakfasts with his Dad at our local coffe shop - McDees.  Occasionally I get invited to join them too!



Thank you to Sarah (Stillcrafting) on UKS for a great challenge.

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Meadow Barn pages...

I had a wonderful weekend at Meadow Barn - It was fabulous with plenty of chat, tea, cake and wine and lots of laughs!  I made 6 pages in all and 9 cards plus a little gift box.  Here are a couple of pages made for the Sketchy Scrappers challenge.  This was the sketch this month set by Ally...

Such a great sketch for using up scraps.  So I set about using up...yes, you've guessed it!.. another of my Sarah's Cards kit.  This was Daisy Bucket - In the meadow and I just had enough for the page plus a few little pieces to embellish some divided pages to go after it in the album of the rest of our day.  Monkey Forest is a fabulous place just outside Stoke-on-Trent where you can wander through with the monkeys all around  you.

I loved the sketch so much I made another page from another kit.  Not quite used this one up yet though!  This was Josh looking gorgeous on his first day of High School.

I'll be back in a few days with some more of my pages.  We had a fabulous weekend with plenty of chat, tea, cake and wine and lots of laughs!  I made 6 pages in all and 9 cards plus a little gift box.  

UKS Weekly Challenge - Feb Week 3

With the remains of my Bo Bunny Flutter Butter kit still on my desk I decided to use some more of it for the weekly challenge this week.  It also worked that the photo I wanted to use would sit next to the last page I made in my album - I love a bit of co-ordination!

So the challenge this week from the Rik Rak Ravers was....

Use the sketch - 10

Scrap someone, something or somewhere you love-10
Use red OR a heart OR both if you want to-5
And of course....use rikrak-5

For my something special I chose Meadow Barn where I will be heading off in 10 days for another scrappy retreat with UKS friends.  This will be the third year I have been and I love that I can switch off from the world and the only stress factor is whether I have the right coloured thickers for my title!  No kids, no housework, no washing to interrupt the flow and whilst I do miss my family I do love my "me time!"

These were the ladies from the Twilight Addicts that I hooked up with last year;

I am desperately trying to finish "Document 2012" and so threw the last remaining scraps onto this 6x12 insert with some photos to record the rest of March.  I am so behind with this but I will catch up!  I think I would be a rubbish project lifer!!!

So that is another Sarah's Cards kit well and truly used up.  Only about 18 more to go!!!