The Family Yearly Scrapbook 2011

Another catch up - one of the things I have been doing for many years has been keeping a scrapbook of all of the different trips, events and general old stuff we do during the year and I have been keeping them in the traditional scrapbook format but last year (2011) I decided to try something a little different and here are the initial results.  I am now in the final stages of finishing off the album and then I'll add a final review over which style works the best and then it will be onto the 2012 version!  I do seem to have so many different scrapbooks and journals on the go at the moment but I hope to share those on these 'ere blog before too long too.

Here's the traditional style scrapbook which I have been using and the work well but have ended up bulging and needing to be held together with elastic bands!!

So I decided to try this style of basic 12 x 12 album where I could decorate the front cover myself - this one is an American Crafts D Ring Album in powder blue ....

I decorated with some My Mind's Eye paper, Stampin Up cardstock, MME rub-on and some ribbons and flowers from my scrap crap - I think the front cover looks quite nice - brown and blue work well together but may when its complete I may add some more flowers and embellishments. 

I also added a pocket inside the front cover to store items which needed to go into the album - its quite deep too so I was pleased with that as I'd never made a pocket with a gusset before!

And a couple of additional items to use in the album to help date pages and store bits - one just simple mini envelopes from Hobbycraft and the calendars were Jenni Bowlin (I think - no 100% though).  Overall pretty pleased with this - now just to complete last year and then start the one for 2012 - I had better get on with it too otherwise items will be starting to build up!!

Ciao

Sue

Reading challenge 4/20 - currently reading on Kindle Tower of Silence by Sarah Rayne and in print Drop Dead Beautiful by Jackie Collins

Scrapbooking Crop - Circle Journal

A catch up from April - November 2011 and a long one too!!

This blog is going to be written as I go along and then posted when all the journals are completed so will take several months...we are doing a circle journal at our crop.  We have each got our journal, picked our topic and the journals will be circulating for about 8 or 9 months until everyone has contributed to everyone's journal.  One of the rules we have is that we cannot see the journals until they are all completed, so you see a little of the one you are working on but will not see anything that comes after yours and you cannot, under any circumstances see your own.

For my journal I picked a Seven Gypsies album like the picture below but the 8 x 8 version.  The first stage was to create the front and back covers and the sign-in page, and then start the whole ball rolling with a layout on my journal's topic, which is favourite flowers, flower arrangements, gardens, plants etc - a vast array of subject matter to scrap and journal about.



So here is my front and inside covers, my back cover, sign-in page and initial layout which started in March.

Journal 1 - Nature's Jewels (April)
The first journal I tackled was M's and her subject was nature and here is the layout that I created for her journal.  It's very bright and colourful for me, as I tend towards the natural colours more, although I have done a few brighter layouts of late.  I picked two favourite flowers, the carnation and the grevillia for the layout and really went to town with pink and lime green, I called the page Nature's Jewels.

 I'm really in doilies at the moment and used them here, I inked them to bring out the patterns on the doilies, cut out sections from papers to layer up and made tags for the journalling and found some flowers which picked out the colour scheme.  Pretty and bright with loads of flower information on the tags!

Journal 2 - My Favourite Bling - Charming (May)

So onto journal 2 and a totally different subject and a very different colour scheme.  This one was very easy to pick the subject, although I had to re-do the photographs twice to get the to the correct size for the page!  The page is called 'Charming' as it is all about my charm bracelet, a very treasured possession.

 My colour scheme was red and black, with a little bit of gold thrown in too, it was meant to look very rich, baroque even, a Georgian feel which I took from the damask style pattern on the October Afternoon paper.  I've also used some Stampin' Up papers, Jenni Bowlin bingo card and some flowers from my scrapcrap.

 I had a go to make a couple of fake charm bracelets for the page and am pleased with them, they work quite well on the page and give it some real dimension and movement.

 The journalling is hidden underneath the red ribbon, which is velcroed and opens all the way out, there was a lot to say, but I didn't want it to dominate the page, so it's all there just neatly hidden away, which is something I do like to do with some journalling, which can be quite personal but then isn't open to all the world to see but is there for those who you want to read it.

Journal 3 - Maria -  My Philosophy - (June)

The next journal was all about our philosophy for life and here are the pages I completed for that journal, I found that one quite hard as putting your life's philosophy into a couple of paragraphs was quite a challenge.  I'm not sure I really discussed my philosophy but included quotes on friendship but they could be also about marriage - well the second one in particular.  The pages are much more my natural colouring and styling - monochromatic - which I am very keen on at the moment, flowers, buttons and some chipboard.

Journal 4 - Vanessa's Journal - July

The next journal for me was V's and her subject was sayings to live by (I think) - this journal was truly stunning and I was worried just having it in the house in case I messed it up!!  I used some pink papers and some feathers and prima flowers to embellish these pages, I also added some pretty gathered ribbon too and made them very girly - not because V is girly but because it seemed to suit the journal.  The quote says "take pride in how far you have come and have faith in how far you can go"

Journal 5 - My Favourite Poem - SC's Journal

The poem for this was an easy choice but it was a very personal couple of pages, I had chosen Remember by Christina Rosetti which is my favourite poem but also a very sad poem and on these pages dedicated to my Mum.  I used papers from My Mind's Eye which are truly lovely and I think the brown, blue, yellow colour balance works really well.  I will at some point post the poem too which is lovely but sad.

Journal 6 - Nadine's Journal

I have got photographs of the pages from Nadine's journal but cannot find them - have no idea where I have filed them so will add them in due course - once I've found them - clearly a senior moment!!

Overall its great to complete a journal because you get the opportunity to see lots of pages completed by your friends and pinch lots of ideas but its also hard work being on a schedule and we did slip in the calendar a few times!!  I will post pictures of my journal too but overall a fun thing to share with scrapbooking friends.

Ciao

Sue

Reading challenge 4/20 - currently reading on Kindle Tower of Silence by Sarah Rayne and in print Drop Dead Beautiful by Jackie Collins

Ribbon Storage - May

I decided I needed to improve how my scrapbooking ribbons were stored and had a look around at what was available to buy.  I found the Jumbo Pulleze ribbon which was the size I was after but balked at the £40 price tag.  I knew I could get a plain plastic make-up washbag in Boots and thought I might have a go at making my own version of this style of ribbon storage.

Here is how I had been storing my ribbons - not very successful and not at all easy to use.

I headed into Boots and found a 3 pack of clear plastic make-up/wash-bags for £5 and used the largest for my ribbons.  After a little work with my pokey tool, I made the holes and pushed the  ribbons through and this is what I created.  It turned out that great minds think alike and Ali from the crop had also made exactly the same thing, and now everyone at the crop are making their own versions.

As for the other two - well I now use one to store all of my adhesive and glue, dots, pads etc and the third I keep my glimmer mists so all in all a very good value purchase.  I now use my ribbons a lot more on the layouts I've done and they are so easy to get in and out, and so easy to lay them onto the layout and see if they will work.  Overall I am really pleased, I saved some money, have stored my ribbons well and make much more use of them.

It looks a bit of a mess in the picture but I can assure you it works wonderfully - above is the pull and use side - below is the other side which holds all the ribbon on card, especially my favourite DCWV Rockstar ribbons (a collection I have used over and over again - a real go back to collection)

 Below is the inside view, everything pulls out so easily - really pleased and more of my favourite DCWV.

 Below are some of my favourite ribbons too, a couple from Websters Pages and favourite green and brown - again my go to colours and a plain cream which I colour up with inks to match a project if I haven't got the precise colour I'm after and can be made to look really vintage too.  My aim to use my ribbons a lot more on projects and I think I've managed that really pleased!

Ciao
Sue
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Reading challenge 4/20 - currently reading Drop Dead Gorgeous by Jackie Collins (in print) and The picture of Dorian Gray (on Kindle)

Prima's November Colour Palette

I am totally addicted to Prima at the moment - in fact have been for some time and their colour palette for this month is just totally amazing - I love the reds, terracotta and they mix with the teal blues so well - a big wow from me!!

Ciao
Sue
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Stampin' Up Party 2

One of the girls from the crop had a stampin' up party so we all gathered again to enjoy some great company, to have some fun making things, have a good look at all of the lovely Stampin' Up goodies and have a generally great time.  This time we made a 'Thank-you' card doing some stamping and cutting out, personally speaking in crafting straight lines are very much overrated (well they are for me!!)

I bought a couple of items, I have been so impressed with the cardstock, that I decided to stock up and bought a selection of the 12x12 to keep me going scrapbooking for a while and this cardstock can be seen in some of the upcoming posts of pages I've done.

I bought a range of colours which I hope will keep me going for some time, everything from brights to neutrals and some lovely rich jewel tones in between.

I also bought a stamp roller to allow me to put some images onto the card stock and play around with a few ideas for layouts - a big swirly pattern - because I like big swirls!!

I also bought a set of stamps (I love the way they come in the DVD case, makes them so easy to store and find when needed!) and these were the ones used on the card, they have some lovely delicate images on, damask pattern, flower, butterfly - all really useful images.  And they were on special offer too, so were a good price.  I think these can be used to create backgrounds on layouts and little added areas of interest too, I might even use them if I go for the card making at Bucks County Show again!!

A great fun evening, a fantastic cake from N, thanks for the doggy bag for the boys they loved it, in fact Jamie was waiting up to see if there was any cake, and made it downstairs in about 0.5 seconds to devour it - he wasn't waiting until Saturday!!

Ciao
Sue
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Christmas Scrapbooking Crop

The Christmas scrapbooking crop is always good fun as we have an extra special meeting with extra special treats.  We had all agreed what we would bring to the crop at the last one and I was due to make and bring a quiche, there were some other lovely treats too, all yummy and all very bad for you too.

M brought some chipboard coasters and asked if everyone there would scrap one for her on a Christmas theme so she could make it into a book so here are my efforts which I was actually quite pleased with.  As always it is fascinating to see how everyone comes up with such different and wonderful interpretations upon a theme.  The papers I used were from a HOTP pad and worked lovely on the small scale of a coaster.

I didn't really get too much else done, too much talking and too much nibbling to be very prolific this month.  We also had a secret Santa and I got a calendar to scrap and some embellishments to go with which were blue, which is a colour I favour as I do so many layouts about Jamie.  A really enjoyable crop.

Ciao
Sue
XX

Reading challenge 15/16 - currently reading Learn to be an Optimist by Lucy MacDonald

November Scrapbooking Crop

The November crop came around again very quickly, so I headed off totes packed and raring to go - I seem to be getting worse these days and only managed two layouts but I did win the challenge this month which was lovely.

I find my scrapbooking style is very fluid and this month I seemed to do very simple layouts but I love them both - perhaps even more so for their simplicity.

My Little Prince - the challenge winning layout - very muted tones, some My Mind's Eye paper and embellishments, a grungeboard crown and a petaloo (I think) flower, I love the saying from Elegant Word Art "when I count my blessing I count you twice", says it all really, a little bit of  ribbon and I just need to complete the journalling card - also from MME.  I'd also used my SU punch for the edge on the sub-heading.

 My second layout was of our darling little Pebbles who we lost 3 years ago, in the photo she is sunning herself in the back garden, which she loved to do.  I picked the background paper because it picked up on some of her colouring - she was the most amazingly coloured tortoiseshell (well she was to us!!).  The 12 X 12 is Costco (I think), other papers Basic Grey as is the title, a prima flower and more EWA for the sub-heading - "Dogs come when called Cats take a message and get back to you".  The journalling reads "Our lovely Pebbles sunning herself in the back garden.  She was regal, loyal and stately.  I loved watching her make her way around the kitchen to get to her food bowl, which she did via the table, breakfast bar, sink and cooker.  She also used to love sleeping wrapped around our heads purring on our pillows."  (We had to keep the cat food on the worktop to stop the dogs eating it - hence her route to her food - why do dogs love cat food so much?)

and here is my fab prize, feel really lucky and thank you to everyone at the crop - can't wait for December as that is our special Christmas crop with a Secret Santa and food - it should be a lovely day.

Ciao

Sue
XX

Reading challenge 15/16 - currently reading War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (not off my reading challenge)

A Stampin' Up Party

I went to my very first Stampin Up Party which was organised by one of the girls from the crop.  What could be more fun, great company, a chance to play with some crafting goodies and a couple of cards to have a practice on - really enjoyable evening.  Of course I spent some money too, but I was really impressed with the quality and range of the products.  As mentioned previously I was specifically looking for a border punch which I found (below is the punch and a picture of the effect it creates).  I've used it a couple of times now and I really like the options it gives - I'm hoping they add a corner punch to complement it too.  Photos snipped from the SU catalogue - couldn't drag the bits out to photo!!

I also bought a some paper, which will be useful as the basis for layouts - I have lots of patterned paper but less in the way of plainer 12 X 12 sheets.  I choose the subtle shades and they are lovely (I did choose them with a specific project in mind but more of that in another blog).  There colour range does rather leave you spoilt for choice.

I also got the colour swatch book as I felt it was a reasonable price and would work in both scrapbooking and flower arranging, especially for explaining colour harmonies.

There is likely to be another party in the new year and I already have a couple of things in mind to buy then - I have a couple of ideas for layout styles and feel I need a stamp to achieve that and I think SU have just what I am looking for - so I will keep my fingers crossed for some Christmas money I think and then I can have guilt free spending!!  Will add the card I made here when I find it (oops!).  The SU lady also comes along to our crop so that will be handy whenever I want to add a little something and there isn't a party on the horizon!!

N made some fantastic carrot cake and I brought some home for Jamie - for the next day.  He was still awake when I got home very late and I made the mistake of saying the N had sent some cake for him.  Bang bang, bang, bang as he shot downstairs and devoured the cake!!  But I don't blame him it was delicious!!

Ciao

Sue
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Reading challenge 15/16 - currently reading War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy