An English Summer - Um Verao Ingles

Adorei o sketch do desafio da Renata Moni para o desafio (22) no Scrap entre Amigas, que se encontra aqui:  http://scrapentreamigasblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/desafio-sketch-22-renata-moni.html

Eu tinha estas fotos da minha filha jogando tennis pela - a primeira vez na escolhinha dela.  Ela adorou a tarde que terminou com morangos e limonada. Uma tarde tipica inglesa!!!  Usei October Afternoon, Simple Stories, Basic Grey, Maya Road, Pink Paislee, Dear Lizzy. Misturei varias marcas
Para o banner do sketch eu a tempos queria experimentar a fazer um banner usando fitas.  Adorei o sketch!!

I recently did this page for a Brazilian sketch website called Scrap entre Amigas which can be found here: http://scrapentreamigasblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/desafio-sketch-22-renata-moni.html.  The sketch was again very me as I love banners and I love using 2 pics on my layouts!  I used 2 pics of my daughter trying to play tennis for the first time. The title came from the fact that the afternoon was very "English" in that it involved strawberries, lemonade and tennis!!

Thanks for looking!!

You Color my World

I loved the collage feel and the colors over at Punky Scraps for the June challenge. It can be found here:
http://punkyscraps.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/64-june.html


I loved the layering of all the pictures and I was recently inspired by a layout by Corrie Jones which used washi tape. I wanted to try it and I felt this challenge would work with layers of washi tape as the background and then adding pieces on top of it all. I loved all the vibrant pictures in the collage so I decided to use these and go for a ROYGBP color scheme.  The layout itself is about my daughter when she first started showing an interest in drawing and colouring.


Thanks for looking!

The Best Part

Recently we have been to a summer festival and my kids loved the mud that was EVERYWHERE!!! I am making more of an effort to scrap very very current pictures and this is one of them! I played around a lot with paint, Tim Holtz Distress paints and mists.  I wanted to have fun and get artsy with this layout.  What I really wanted to do is to make a "muddy" looking layout with pops of color here and there.


For the sketch I followed one over at Sketchbook 365 which can be found here
http://sketchbook365.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/july-sketch-challenge.html

The prize is amazing !!! Basic Grey papers!!! I love all the new Basic Grey lines

I followed the sketch in terms of the placement, layering,journalling tags and arrows.  I placed my arrows pointing in as I wanted the focus to be on the photos. I also used stars as indicated in the sketch but in some cases I replaced the stars with hearts as I can't seem to make a layout without a heart.  I also can't seem to make a layout without a banner!  I used these wooden tags to make a banner as I have 3 packs of them and need to use it up!
I replaced the picture frame indicated in the sketch with this big flower I cut from patterned paper. i cut 3 flowers and stacked them on top of each other and used a Jenni Bowlin flower in the center to keep it all in place!

Thanks for looking!!!

Loved

I have missed the challenges over at Merly Impressions so when I saw there was a new one I jumped right in. The challenge is to use multiple pictures. I love using multiple pictures on my pages. This is a very "me" page: banners, two pics and an envelope with journalling, soft tones, ink splatters and little stamps.

The challenge can be found here: http://www.merlyimpressions.co.uk/blog/scrapbooking/june-2013-layout-challenge/

The page is really about my relationship with my eldest daughter.  She drew this drawing for me which I loved and then one day we were hanging out on the sofa and I took this picture with my phone. I love this picture of her. She is always bouncing around and being active so it was great to capture the moment. I had loads of trouble with the title. I kept coming up with really complicated titles etc... In the end I decided to keep it simple and I am so glad I did!  I LOVE these glitter alphas by Crate....I have 4 packs which I am hoarding!! I can't get enough of them!

Thanks for looking!!!

Ready Set Go!!!

I have been wanting to play around with my Studio Calico mask of the sunburst for like forever. I hadn't got around to it until now. To be honest I just didn't know how to work with it
This is a picture of my kids in the morning waiting to go to Disney World
Every day we were there my kids always got ready in record time (no asking a million times to get dressed) and were in the buggy waiting without me asking!!
So they were most certainly ready to go!!! I thought this was funny as usually they are doing a million other things except getting ready!!!

So went bold and vibrant here as that is how I think my kids were feeling at the time!
I loved all the inspiration over at Punky Scraps for this page. The challenge for May can be found here
http://punkyscraps.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/challenge-63-may.html
Its got some amazing colors and inspiration. From the sketch I mainly took the placement of the title and the arrows (I used hearts instead).  I used the inspiration from the sketch - which used arrows- with a heart stamp, stamped 3 times around the layout framing it
I just kept layering with different types of embellishments until it felt completed, or like  Lilith Eeckles says: "until my brain says stop" http://lilithandscrap.blogspot.co.uk

Thanks for looking!!!

Lots of layering !!!!!

I am super stoked about layering!!!!! It uses up stuff and I love all the dimension it creates.  I have taken Jen Jockisch's class on layering and now I'm taking the second edition and I'm loving it!
I have made these 2 layouts whilst taking the class.  Studio Calico has amazing classes and lots of the time one gets a free little kit!!!!

Happiness 

This one is a picture of my daughter and my then baby (he is now 18 months! gee...) meeting for the first time! It was an amazing moment so I placed the picture in the centre and worked from there just adding lots of layers.  I wanted to layer on various tags but to make it interesting I did something different to each one. I stamped and embossed a few of them and then added a tag with the number 2.  I got one of the frames I have been hoarding and backed it with a Hambly transparency

Hello Favourites

I am scrapping a lot of Instax pictures recently just because my pile of Instax was getting out of hand.  This is a layout about my 18 month old with his favorite toys at the moment.  Wait how did he get from  the first layout to this one???? Gee just noticed I subconsciously spelled favorites the British way.... I have been in the UK too long!!!

Thanks for looking!!!

Oh Baby!!!!

My eldest daughter got a place at the local school (we had been on the waiting list for awhile) In just 5 days at BIG GIRL school she has grown so much....Time flies so fast with kids....! I know everyone says that but I am only now 3 kids later really getting to terms with this "issue" and trying to stop life a bit and enjoy the craziness and business of it all  - more.  This is one of the big reasons (amongst a million others...) why I love scrapbooking so much - it forces one to take note, slow down and remember those moments, which if I did not scrapbook I would probably never "revisit"
I then decided to scrapbook a picture of me pregnant with her!  She is 5 now so this is an oldie....!

I went a bit crazy with this layout and just kept adding lots of stuff on top and layering lots of different materials and types of embellishments . I pretty much stayed true to the sketch over at Sarah's Cards blog for the challenge of the month- - it can be found here: http://sarahscardsltd.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/april-2013-sketch-challenge.html

However, everything I added had some meaning or another - it was not a random choice!! The sunshine quote/stamp from Ali Edwards was perfect as her nickname is sunshine.  I love that quote and literally bought that stamp set to use on her pages.  I used 3 MME pins two yellow hearts to represent my hubby and I and a smaller orange one to represent her.

The pic of the airplane at the top is also not random! She was born in Brazil and my hubby and I had been apart for 2 months whilst he was in the UK.  This pic was taken on his first day back and we went out for lunch.  The words I choose in the wood veneer pertain to my thankfulness to be pregnant and  to be having a healthy baby on the way.  I had been told that due to a serious thyroid malfunction I have it would be difficult to conceive, and yet it was not, so I choose words which reflected how I felt about this: "wish", "you are here" and "thank you".
I love the MME button which says: "good for one ride."  When I bought it I thought "I am never going to use that one"and so I kept in anyway just in case.  I am so glad I did as I was a massive pregnant lady  (I was massive with all my kids though) and people kept asking me if I was pregnant with twins all the time so I felt this button was PERFECT!!! Hence why I gave it more prominence and added it to the centre of the page.

Thanks for looking!!!!

Bag Lady

So another Merly Impressions challenge is up on their blog! It can be found here: http://www.merlyimpressions.co.uk/blog/scrapbooking/march-2013-layout-challenge/

This month the challenge is to get inky! I am super guilty of collecting various kinds of inks and not using them as much as as I should or want!
I recently went through all my masks and organized them so that they are easier to find. I knew I wanted to use this mask ASAP as I love it.  Its a circle mask from Studio Calico

I wanted it to be soft and I also wanted to try something new. Rather than mist the mask, as I always do, I used chalk ink to go around the circles. I used various shades of the chalk to match the papers.
I chose to use the new Dear Lizzy collection LUCKY CHARM as I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it.  I then misted it with white mist and gold mist to take the harshness out of the bright card stock, and also to make the background blend in more.  I then went about layering various pieces and making a banner.  I used a Dear Lizzy vellum to back my photo. I was so lucky with this as once the layout was complete I noticed the vellum is very similar in pattern to the bag my daughter is carrying

I also used ink on some stamping, misted the wood veneer and painted the chipboard butterflies.

My journalling is at the bag on this one!!!
My daughter loves bags and here she is at 2 years old and already went around everywhere carrying a bag.  She is now 3 and still does this.  Apparently I was the same according to my mother.  I always carry way too many bags!!!

Thanks for looking and have a nice week!

HAPPY

SO here I am back again!! It feels like forever since I have entered any challenges....3 months?
It has been a nightmare moving and I hope that I don't have to do this for a VERy long time!!!

I haven't scrapped much just because all my time has been taken to unpack the hundreds of boxes and find new homes for everything.  I got the second biggest bedroom in the house as a scrapbook room so I have been having lots of fun playing with that!!! Although I have to purge big time as I have already outgrown the room..... the kid's schools have been getting lots of boxes!

Anyway, as always I love the challenges over at Merly Impressions.

This month's can be found here: http://www.merlyimpressions.co.uk/blog/scrapbooking/february-2013-layout-challenge/

It's a great sketch which I had lots of fun playing with.  I have made only 3-4 layouts in 3 months so I am feeling a bit rusty getting back.  With my new room almost done I hope to start getting productive again!  One thing is for sure I have made a promise to myself to use my Cameo more.  I love it when I use it, but most of the time I am lazy... Here I used my Cameo to make the title!! That is a first for me!!!

For this I kept the tones to browns, yellows and whites.  I stamped the background with my favourite heart background stamp. Added a white and yellow doily and then just layered a few bits here and there. I wanted the feel to be quite homey as it's about my kids and my thoughts on motherhood (there is ALOT of journalling at the back) So I chose different things I had lying around that reminded me of home and just evoked cosy thoughts (doilies, wood veneer, sewn heart etc..)
The big sewn heart symoolizes me and the 3 little wooden ones are for my 3 kids

I then sprinkled some Heidi Swapp gold paint for the paint splashes and then added some heart confetti, wood veneer stars and some pearls

I was going to add a bit more here and there but then I wanted this one to be more simple than my usual ones just because I wanted the focus to be on the picture as its quite rare I get to take a pic with my kiddos!

I have more layouts on the way and I am just loving the fact that I can just leave everything out and come back to it the next day.  At my old place it took like 20 mins to pack everything away every evening so I am thrilled about that!!!

Thanks for looking!!!

Lean On Me

Hi!
I am still scrapping away but just not entering challenges
There is so much happening with our move that I am keeping things simple for now! It is only 10 days away and we are leaving London!!! It's going to be a huge change for us leaving the big city for the "Country side." Anything after the M25 is considered countryside for Londoners......

Anyway, I am just really looking forward to a bigger house and most of all ..... my own SCRAP ROOM!!!!! Finally I will be able to put all those rooms I have been pinning to good use!!! Can't wait to have all my stuff in one room (hopefully it will fit!)

I love the challenges over at Merly Impressions http://www.merlyimpressions.co.uk/blog/scrapbooking/november-2012-layout-challenge/)  
so I always try to  enter those every month!!!
This month the challenge is to use blue.  I love using blue in my layouts -esp. with brown and white. I don't know why but I love this combo! I might enter another one if I get time!

This picture of me in labour with my midwife massaging my back has been on my must -scrap- soon list for a looong time. My baby is now 14 months so I thought it was time.  I used blue and yellow here as it was sunrise (it was around 4-5 am). I had been in labour since 10pm so I felt like I had been there all night.  

I used blue for three reasons: 
1. because it was a sunrise 
2. because my labour room had this amazing view over Big Ben and the Thames with a wide view of the sky. During my labour I spent the whole night looking out to the sky from this window so the sky holds a vivid memory for me during this time
3. because my baby was  a boy!!!

I added the heart with the stamped "hearfelt thanks" as my midwife helped me not only with this labour but with my previous ones as well.

Go and check out the amazing challenges over at Merly if you have not seen them yet!!
Thanks for looking!!!

On Cloud Nine

So it has been awhile since I posted any layouts or entered any challenges!! I usually average 13-15 layouts a month and have done since 2010...but this month I have so far done 5!!!! It makes me really sad that I have not scrapped much recently but all the house move stuff has been taking up so much time!!!
I actually did cut up all the materials to do the TV layout for last month's challenge over at Merly Impressions; however, time just caught up with me way to fast!! I will still do it I just need more time!!
Anyway, so when I saw the new challenge this month I jumped to do it!

It can be found here: http://www.merlyimpressions.co.uk/blog/scrapbooking/october-2012-layout-challenge/

The sketch is a really nice simple sketch which gives lots of room to expand and make it your own. I really enjoyed working with it. This photo had been on my scrap table for ages so I decided to use it. It's a picture of us on his first day home - he was not even a day old (he just turned 1 now) I also decided to use my Silhouette machine more. I bought it 5 months ago and used it 4 times only.

I wanted to keep this layout light as that was how I was feeling with my newborn baby.  I was at home a lot and stayed mostly in bed so I wanted to use a lot of browns and stars (we spent a lot of time sleeping! My 3rd baby was a loooooooong labour!)  I cut the cloud frame with my Silhouette and the title as well. Since I wanted to keep the layout a bit "dreamy", as that was how I was feeling, I cut the title twice.  I also kept my journalling at the back as I had a lot to write!

Thanks for looking!

There is a Pink Elephant Coming Home

I am using more and more patterned papers for my backgrounds. I love the added texture it gives to a layout!!! This one I created for a challenge over at ScrapFit which is exactly that - to use a patterned paper as a background. I've had this banner paper for ages and decided to use it FINALLY!!!

Thanks for Looking!

Always There

I love love love twine!!! It is one of my fave products and touches I add at the end.
Here I did not add in at the end I made the layout around it.
 I wanted to create a garland at the top and then just add loads of layers with my picture on top
This layout I made for a challenge over at Scrap Fit which can be found here: http://scrapfit.blogspot.co.uk
My daughter is always helping me when my baby cries. Whenever he cries she runs to play with him or give him a toy or something. It is really sweet and I love this about her!!!

Thanks for looking!

The Winter Coat

Com a nossa mudanca estou achando dificil achar tempo para scrapbooking!  Estou acustumada a completar 5-6 layouts por semana e agora esta bem dificil achar tempo!!! Sinto muita falta.....Quando eu passo muito tempo sem fazer scrap eu fico ate de mau humor!!! Muito tempo para mim e 3 -4 dias....

Mas eu adorei este  sketch no Scrap entre Amigas: http://scrapentreamigasblog.blogspot.co.uk
Sketch 12
Scrapbooking fica muito mas facil com sketch entao consegui completar este sobre a minha filha e o casaco de inverno dela! Terminei ele 1da manha!!
Eu nao queria um layout inverno porque eu queria um com bastante roasa, amarelo e marrom.  Usei os meus papeis Dear Lizzy, carimbos, October Afternoon, Studio Calico e o punch do fundo e Martha Stewart!
Coloquei o meu journalling no envelope amarelo atras

Agradeco a visita!!!

Check In...to my Heart

So late last night...around 10pm I was looking through all my new papers. I tend to hoard papers and collection packs! A couple of months ago I won the challenge of the month at Merly Impressions and won the gorgeous collection pack for Check In which can be found here:

http://www.merlyimpressions.co.uk/443-check-in-june-2012

This collection is gorgeous and I love love this paper http://www.merlyimpressions.co.uk/scrapbook-papers/4552-departure-check-in-collection-883416108573.html

it comes with 2 of each pattern and I can see myself hoarding this one!!!

So I decided to have another go at this month's challenge which can be found here: http://www.merlyimpressions.co.uk/blog/scrapbooking/august-2012-layout-challenge/

I broke into the collection pack, which I always find so hard to do as the papers look so pretty together!
I then flicked through my pictures and looked at loads of travelling airport looking ones but nothing was "speaking" to me. I was feeling very unmotivated at this point as it was now getting to 10:30 pm (and my kids wake up at 6am, sometimes even 5am!) Then I stumbled across this picture of my baby boy. It was one if not his first picture. I have not scrapped many of his pictures yet (he is going to be 1 soon) as I find it difficult doing boy pages now! I guess I need more practice!
Anyway so I thought this picture would be a great twist on the travel theme.
I used the front page of the collection pack the one where it has all the samples of the pages included and the title. I used the title from the collection pack and used the samples from the front page to make banners
This was not going to be the title it was going to be something like"you have travelled far" but then I thought "check in" is quite funny for this picture because it was literally one of his first pictures. I then cut various banners and journalling spots.
I used washi tape to ground the rest of my title which is "to my heart" I sprayed some Studio Calico wood veneers with various colors that matched the collection. I used the journalling spot from the collection and put it inside a Simple Stories envelope
I added a few bits here and ended up finishing this page at 12:30 am!!! In the end it did not take me long to finish it as the collection coordinates so easily with other collections and items from my stash!

Thanks for Looking!!!

Xeroxinha

I love the challenges over at Merly Impressions! I always find them very original and fun to follow. They also give a lot of freedom which I love so even though we are super busy buying a new house I squeezed in sometime to make this one for this month's challenge!
In the past 3-4 months I find myself gravitating to using less and less cardstock as the basis for my layouts. There are so many subtle patterned papers out there at the moment which lend themselves perfectly for backgrounds. I love all the woodgrain papers! There are so many different ones!

This layout I wanted to keep it soft and feminine. The title XEROXINHA used to be my nickname given to me by my father as I was very much like him.  This nickname is now my daughter's nickname so this layout is all about how she is so much like me! There is a lot to document so I put my journalling into a pocket

The challenge over at Merly Impressions can be found here:  http://www.merlyimpressions.co.uk/blog/category/challenge/

Thanks for Looking!!!

THESE FEET

This layout I made for the challenge over at Sarah's Cards which can be found here:

http://sarahscardsltd.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-max=2012-08-12T07:00:00%2B01:00&max-results=7

with our move I am finding it hard to find time to scrap! However, when I came across this cute picture of my daughter's busy feet I thought I would use this for the sketch. I  also wanted to use up some rub ons I had been hoarding so I rubbed the whole sheet on cardstock and used my silhouette to cut the heart shape out. My daughter is always jumping always running so getting a picture of her feet at rest is a rare thing! I wanted to document this. The rub ons are dates and months etc so I thought the theme went well. I don't usually pile patterned paper on top of patterned paper as the sketch outlined. So I used vellum instead to mat it. I embossed a stamp and added it on the top

Thanks for looking!

Wh Do I Scrapbook?

So Merly Impressions has got another great challenge!!!! A page including "Why do I Scrapbook?" is the challenge this month.

You can find it here: http://www.merlyimpressions.co.uk/blog/scrapbooking/july-2012-challenge/

 Now that may seem like a pretty obvious page to include however I had not and I am SOOOOO glad I found this challenge to actually get my reasons why I scrap onto a page!!!

I started scrapping for my children as when my second came I realized that life was going by wayyyyyyy to fast - my first was 20 months and I was finding she was growing up too fast. I was finding it all to overwhelming trying to keep up. My husband likes to watch TV at night so I usually cross stitched in the evenings as I can't sit in front of the TV - my hands need to be busy! Luckily I met the lovely Shimelle Laine at a London Craft Show and she introduced me to the hobby. I looked it up online and fell in love straight away!!!!
To say that scrapbooking has not changed my life is a SUPER understatement!!  I love it as it keeps me grounded. I can record both the big and little memories and treasure those for years to come. I also really love scrapping older pictures as in doing so I am able to relive that moment in time

I am also reading a book called "You are your Childs First Teacher." In this book it says that the 3 things every parent would benefit in terms of becoming a more patient parent is: sleep (!), some creative craft and meditation!  I really agree that a creative craft of some sort is very good in terms of it being an outlet. I look forward to the end of my days when I scrap and relax.
Another reason I love this hobby so much is that my cousin lost her mother when she was only 3..... I am a bit paranoid of leaving my kids at such  a young age. However, that paranoia is somewhat not as bad as it was as I know that my kids have so many albums with all their memories recorded. For this reason I ALWAYS hand write my journalling. I want my kids to have a piece of me on all their pages.

This trail of thought leads me onto my page! As I said I journal on all my pages....however I don't like my handwriting. For this page I knew I wanted to include a lot of journalling so I created a back to my layout. I often do that. I will put my jounalling on the back in a pocket or written and then when I put that album in a page protector I just don't put another layout on that side. I prefer to do this than to do a double page layout.
For this page I knew I wanted some jars with hearts bursting out going to a picture of my children. I used instagram pictures as they are smaller and I felt that 3 squares across the page was quite pleasing design wise. I stamped the Dear Lizzy jar stamp on kraft paper and used the little heart stamp included in the set to fill the jar with hearts. Then I stamped and embossed some more stamps like they are bursting out of the jar. To soften it a bit I also included some heart pearls to the mix. These little embossed hearts too FOREVER to cut but I am glad I took the time to cut them.
For the back I usually put the journalling with some embellishment. Here I cut out a jar from the Dear Lizzy paper and put "For Them" on the jar.
The idea is to see "Why do I scrapbook" as the title and then on each picture I put a little tag with "For You" and then on the back it says "For Them". Hope that makes sense!
I am also loving confetti so I punched out a whole load of confetti put it in a glassine bag and taped it across the larger glassine bag which holds all my journalling!
Phew!!!!

Thanks for looking!!

Our Song

I am often inspired by music. Music often takes me back in time and helps me relive special moments.
I recently found a new challenge blog called Scrapping the Music http://scrappingthemusic.blogspot.co.uk/ through Patricia R. I loved the blog and will participate more!
I was finally challenge to scrap this music which I listened to whilst I was feeding my newborn and now I sing to him (he is 10 months). The song is from Jewels' Lullaby CD and its called "Forever and a Day". Its a beautiful song I have included the link to it

When I hear this song now it really reminds me of those special first days when he was so tiny! I kept the embellishments, papers and design quite simple and homey. As all I did during those few days was stay home in bed!!! I also printed the lyrics as they are beautiful to add to the layout!

Thanks of Looking!!!

Our Song

I am often inspired by music. Music often takes me back in time and helps me relive special moments.
I recently found a new challenge blog called Scrapping the Music http://scrappingthemusic.blogspot.co.uk/ through Patricia R. I loved the blog and will participate more!
I was finally challenge to scrap this music which I listened to whilst I was feeding my newborn and now I sing to him (he is 10 months). The song is from Jewels' Lullaby CD and its called "Forever and a Day". Its a beautiful song you can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdExpPOwWIU

When I hear this song now it really reminds me of those special first days when he was so tiny! I kept the embellishments, papers and design quite simple and homey. As all I did during those few days was stay home in bed!!! I also printed the lyrics as they are beautiful to add to the layout!

Thanks of Looking!!!