A bit of family history...

I created this page over a month ago now - it was for the Papermaze blog and has only just gone up over there. I managed to get hold of a copy of the only photo we have of my Great-Grandad at my Grandad's funeral in November and I wanted to scrap it. I can't believe how much like my brother he looked - I think he was a handsome chap and its such a shame to think he died so young in the trenches in 1918, leaving behind 4 little children.

I obviously wanted to include quite a bit of journalling on this page, so I decided to use a page from a Making Memories spiral journalling notebook. I wanted to keep the rest fairly simple, but I didn't want to make it too oldy-worldy, so these Scenic Route Sonoma papers were just right - the colours are fresh but not too bright as to take away from the subject matter. The lettering is American Crafts vinyl thickers.

My parents are up this weekend and we managed to get the bed built in time - my dad is going to help Ed put a worktop up tomorrow and then it will be time to move my stuff back in to the scrap room - yay!

My Ipod Nano!

I couldn't go long without scrapping about my ipod nano, and this layout was the result - I had some more of the Imaginisce Fairest of Them All papers to use up for the Papermaze DT and decided to make use of them! An Ipod is such a cool toy and the tunes you have on there really say a lot about you - the most interesting bit is finding out what your top 25 played tunes are. I wonder if mine will change a lot over the year or if I have set tunes that I will like throughout?

Tonight I refuse to do any work at all - I didn't stop all day yesterday and could hardly drag myself out of bed this morning, I so very nearly pulled a sickie but I always feel way too guilty to do that! And work wasn't too bad in the end.

I'm on a bit of a health kick so this evening I'm going to try and make myself a lemon and pea risotto - the results could be interesting, so I decided to experiment on a night when Ed is out at the football and only I will have to eat it! TTFN

Scrapping more 6x12

I've been scrapping more 6x12 for my DT work, partly because I'm home after dark and its easier to scan pages than it is to take a decent photo of my work! But I do like the size too, and I created this page for Papermaze using the Imaginisce Fairest of Them All papers - really cute and girlie! I decided to record this photo of my childhood jewellery box with a little clockwork ballet dancer that played the song 'How much is that doggie in the window' as she turned around. Very girlie, I think you'll agree...

I love these green glitter thickers - I had to buy another pack because I used up all the vowels and t's out of my first batch! They add the perfect amount of sparkle. And that little stamp that comes with the range is really sweet too :)

Tonight I have loads to do, but unfortunately none of it scrapping! Marking books, planning lessons, washing dishes and cooking stirfries will form the basis of my evening, while Ed finishes laying the floor. The countdown to the scraproom continues...

Lushalicious - the Retreat!

One of my latest DT creations for the Papermaze blog was this page - dedicated to the Lushalicious Retreat last October. I love these October Afternoon Hometown papers - they were perfect for the colours in the photo, and the diecut shapes make it easy to put together layered embellishments. If you want step by step instructions, check out the Scrap Paper Scissors blog.

The spare bedroom (or scraproom!) is getting closer to completion - the floor should be finished tomorrow, and then we just need to assemble the sofa bed and put up a worktop and I will be able to move my stuff back in! I can't wait. And my parents will be the first to test the new room at the weekend when they come to stay. After that, I will make sure I get pictures to share...

Skate!

I put this layout together this afternoon while Ed had taken over the living room to listen to a football game on the radio. A really quick little layout, but I like it - I never scrap in purple so this was a bit of a challenge, and the photo was a really poor, blurry shot I had tried to take of my whole family out skating, which wasn't an easy one to do anything with!

I used Chatterbox Eclectique which I had received as part of a kit some time ago - the paper is really thin which I hate normally, but as I was going to be layering it up on cardstock it wasn't too much of a problem. One of the papers had these funky doodled speech bubbles on it which were begging to be cut out as embellishments, and they fit the theme really nicely.

The photo was, believe it or not, the best of a bunch I had taken on December 27th when my family and various others went ice-skating at the outdoor rink at Hampton Court. A really beautiful setting and a fantastic evening, but taking photos with a compact in those light conditions was next to impossible! I got a bunch of blurred photos with strange light effects. But I didn't want to forget the evening, so I had to scrap one of them, and decided to highlight the strange lighting by using purple and light blue.

I'm off out this evening to a friend's 30th birthday party, but I'm on roll now so expect to see more pages in the next few days...

Grief

I created this layout for the Papermaze blog last month and found it really cathartic to create. While the photo is of my partner Ed playing the last post on Remembrance Sunday at the Coventry Memorial, the journalling is actually about the way I felt in November this year soon after the death of my Grandad when the memorial services were taking place. The paper was perfect for it, as the flowers had a look of poppies about them and the red and brown tones were very autumnal. I created my own 'lace' cardstock by cutting round the design and layering it up on foam pads. I was really pleased with the finished result - if you want step by step instructions they are on the Scrap Paper Scissors blog.

Today I finished a page for Scrapbook Inspirations - my mojo is definitely working again...

Life got in the way...

...but its been for a good reason. The scrap room is well under way and we just have to lay the floor and put up a worktop for the computer and then I will be able to move back in again! Suffice to say the house has been a little chaotic - the computer has been moved downstairs to the dining table and the internet only works sporadically - but there is an end in sight and I feel really proud of Ed for getting it done. Maybe this means that I will have a burst of creative energy! I have been scrapping whilst the decorating has been going on, but I've had to stick to a corner of my bedroom floor, next to a ladder and a pile of tools, so its not exactly conducive to my best work. But DT commitments mean I can't give up entirely for a month, and I wouldn't want to.

In the meantime, here are the remaining pages of my Christmas Journal (which now seems like a distant memory), and tomorrow I'll share another page I did for my DT. I've created four more which will be up on the shop site next week, so I'll share them here too. Lets hope I can get at least a few posts done at the end of this month!

A step closer...

...to doing up my spare room! At last I might be able to scrap at a desk! Me and Ed have decided that next weekend we will clear the room out and then he will get started in the week after. We went to choose some flooring and a bit of furniture today at good old Ikea. I won't get too excited yet, as this could take longer than expected, but watch this space...

In the meantime, here are the next four pages of my Christmas journal. There will be five tomorrow as that will take us up to the end of my completed journal .

I haven't yet finished the thing in two attempts, maybe one year I will but I think I've got to start doing other things now or I'll get depressed that Christmas is now over and I'm back at work. I have a few things to do for SI and Papermaze, so that will keep me busy too.

Christmas catch up part deux

As promised, here are four more pages of my Christmas journal. I have gotten totally into using American Crafts Thickers whilst doing this project - there are so many gorgeous styles and colours - that I just blew my resolution not to spend loads of cash out of the window and bought a load more from Papermaze yesterday! A girl can never have too many thickers. I also discovered whilst working on this project that I hate rub-ons (I now have bits of them stuck to every surface, apart from the pages of my journal), which is just as well really as I have so many stamps that there is no conceivable reason for me to buy rub-ons anyway.

Just one and a half more days till I'm back to work, and I plan on enjoying them as much as possible. I'm going to scrap a little bit for an hour now, and then my newly engaged friends Mags and Mark are coming round for dinner, vino and a catch up. So at least I won't be tempted to spend the evening working! Tune in tomorrow for more journal pages...

The wanderer returns...

Ok, ok, no excuses, I've been a terrible blogger this month! Work was manic up to the 19th, and then I had a few days to get all my presents sorted and clean the house before spending a week with my folks down in London. The blog kind of took a back seat. I've been back for a few days now and I've actually been putting off updating my blog - because I have SO many Christmas journal pages to upload here! I managed to get up to and including Christmas day this year - I may try and do Boxing Day but that may be just a pipe dream with all the work I have to get done to get ready for school on Monday (boooo!). I've decided I'm going to upload them in four page chunks, so I don't go totally insane scanning them all in :D So here are four more pages for your perusal...

I have in the last month completely embraced the awesomeness that is the iphone, as well as being given a little pink ipod nano by my Dad for Christmas. So I've been rediscovering all my favourite music - a very random mix, currently I'm enjoying The Animals, The Lovin Spoonful and a bit of David Bowie. As they say, variety is the spice of life!

So any New Year's resolutions? Other than the obvious - lose the mince pie weight and keep the house more tidy - I have also thought of a few scrap-related resolutions. Since I am no longer subscribed to a kit due to the appallingness of the current exchange rate, I'm going to try to curb my spending a little for a few months and spend the money I save on making the spare bedroom more hospitable. I know, I've been saying this for months but this time I actually mean it! I also mean to finish all the scrapping projects I signed up for over the last couple of years - I have three more double pages of the My Freedom project to do, and I also want to get on with There's No Place Like Home, as well as printing out all the photos I have taken for Scrap Your Day (at least the album is finished for that!). So expect to see bits and pieces of these over the next few months. I'm not saying I won't sign up for any new projects this year, but it would be nice not to have unfinished ones all over the place...