Shimelle's Go Now Go with ATDML

I got to do 3 classes at the ATDML retreat - it was a super weekend with lots of laughter, good food and scrapping!  Here is the first class that I taught and it was not messy and fairly straight forward.  I chose Shimelle's Go Now Go range as the papers are packed with colour and beautiful, perfect for a few holiday snaps too.

This is a shot of us all on a rollercoaster in Canada - it was meant for young children, but scary enough for me!!

I love this colourful city scape in the collection and I used it to document our trip to New York and ride on the Staten Island ferry - just lots of layering of paper elements and then some of the chipboard pieces too.

With all the bits that I had left over I had a go creating diamonds from them all, another New York shot from the Top of the Rock.

You and Me with Amy Tan

This page is using the Be Happy collection from Amy Tan - I kept it really simple, and because she is using lots of watercolours in her collections I had a play with watercolours on my page, starting with yellow at the top and moving to oranges at the bottom.  I just layered up a few of the pieces of paper and then a wood veneer for the title, and left it at that for this page.

My Dad and my eldest enjoyed making funny poses and just being a little bit silly in our photos so here they are at the Lincoln Reflecting pool getting a shot of them infant of the Monument.

Accompanying the main page is my pocket page, again with lots of notes and some of the cards from Shimelle's Go Now Go range.  This was our 2nd day and we went up to see Capital Hill, though it is being cleaned so you couldn't really see too much of it and then walked to the amazing Museums - after the walking on the previous day we decided on an air-con train ride and the Museums were all air-con too, so  it was a cooler day for us!

Washington with Go Now Go

This month for ATDML we had a kit packed with Shimelle's Go Now Go and Amy Tan's  Be Happy collections.  I decided to use them both for the start of my album documenting our holiday this year.  This is my opening page and our first day in Washington at the White House.  I used the bazzill cardstock to create an American Flag and then just used lots of the embellishments from the range to add a little bit extra to the photos.

As this is a holiday album, I end up with loads of photos, and so they don't sit in a box I really like to use pocket pages, which also encourage me to do a lot more journalling than I normally wood.  Again I used pieces from the Go Now Go collection - like the train-board words and added some stars to help it tie in with my layout.

We did have a mammoth trip this summer and visited loads of places, Washington was lovely - I hadn't banked on how warm it gets (and humid) in the summer and how far apart everything is - we did do a lot of walking, and had a few stops for ice cream, trying to get to air-conditioned buildings!  You'll see more photos from our trip so I will tell you a little more about what we got up to in my next instalment.

Bursting with Laughter

This is my take on Shimelles 2nd Challenge which was to use papers from 3 or more different manufacturers.  So the papers 1st are Amy Tangerine's, Crate Paper Farmhouse and Sassafras' Indie Girl (I still have a few scraps of it left).  I chose the papers based on the colours in the photo.  

The photo is another shot of me in the park, and it looks like I am playing that slap hand game with my Dad, so my Mum must have snapped this shot.  The original is very orange, so I altered the colours as best as I could on photoshop and got it printed.  I love the photo as I am bursting with laughter and I love these moments.

For a change I didn't distress the edges of my papers on this page, but I had to stitch them :)  I started with several strips of paper and then layered them up behind the photo, I also added some Martha Stewart Paper tape too, and a small ticket I got in a kit.  The die cut clouds are from Amy Tangerine, and the stickers are a mix of Authentique mini alphabets and AC thickets (I had to make the r again, this time out of a b).  I used some pink prima flowers...which I have been looking for a page to use them on, and some flicks of blue patina glimmer mist.

It was a really quick page to put together and I like, and just love all the inspiration from Shimelle.  Not sure whether I will manage any more but I think I will go back and pick up on some of the challenges.

Happiness is...

Here is my page for the 1st of Shimelles challenges which was to be inspired by a wonderful page by Jamie Warren.  I've used my new Crate Paper Pretty Party papers (love them which you can find here), and I had a go at making some folded chevrons (thank you for the tip Daphne) here is the link to the tutorial.

I started the page by dry brushing on some gesso in the centre and in all 4 sides.  I then started making my chevrons - I just used the 6" pad with 2" strips and then I stitched them down the middle.  Once the paint was dry I added some torn glassine envelope over the middle section of my page and then layered up the chevrons, I added a dictionary page and the photo and one of the flower embellishments from the range.  Behind the photo I tucked some journalling on a tag.  One of the papers in the kit is all tags, so I cut out a few and stitched around the edges, layering them up.  I also stitched the word Love on one in Amy Tangerine style :)  I layered up oddments of paper and some of the stickers just to add some more colour and layers, and then a few Prima gems.

I am really pleased with this page, I love this photo of my Dad and me - it's one of those candid snapshots where he is sporting his moustache (which is not a handle bar one apparently :)!)

Just finished off another page from the challenges, and got some new stash in the post so might even manage another page this week - I am loving it.

Hold on Tight

Shimelle had her weekend cybercrop...and I am loving all her challenges, I have done 2 pages now and there is another one on my desk, if only I could scrap quicker and manage all 16 before next weekend :D  Here is the 1st page that I tried (though not her 1st prompt) and it is to use yellow, grey and one other colour.  I have to confess to not being overly keen on the page which is why I'm showing it 1st as I like the other page better and I can pop that on my blog tomorrow!!  My other colour was pink and it a big an bold way.

The papers I have used are October Afternoons Farmhouse range, and the pink is by DCWV I also echoed a little more of the pink on the Authentique journal spot.  I cut the title out - having carefully drawn it free hand and then backed it with the OA papers.  I used the American Crafts arrow stamp which I embossed with white embossing powder - I also did this to the OA doily stamp down the bottom.  I stitched and wrinkled as usual and added some glassine paper and a little bit of dictionary paper - the word I looked up was bumpy as this ride was VERY bumpy and shook you around, much to the delight of my kids. 

Anyway despite not loving the pink I really enjoyed making it here is a link so you can go and see what everyone else has been creating and get involved too.

Can my Photo be here?

My son pointed out that I hadn't done that many pages of him (as the last couple have been of his brother!)...so I dug through the photos and used this one from a half term trip into London.  He is such a sweetheart as he appreciates my need for photos, so he now chooses things he wants a photo with, or a place he would like a photo, this was one of them, in the middle of a fairly large granite sculpture!

I used Shimelle's starting point for this page which is the squares of paper and the horizontal ribbon strips.  The papers are from my goodie bag from Crate Paper and they are their Pretty Party collection, these papers are from the 6" pack.  The paper strips are a mix of their stickers and my Martha Stewart double loop punch, the alpha is cosmo crickets brown tiny type and then some of the crate sticker sheet.  There is a dusty attic chipboard swirl which I covered in brown ink and then added some white perfect pearls so it glimmers a little.  I am using up a massive pile of glassine envelopes and behind the photo is my journal pocket (a crumpled glassine envelope) and then I cut a strip and added 3 buttons to it at the bottom of the page.  A little bit of stapling and some Tim Holtz tissue tape, a few flicks of paint and of course the sanding and stitching.  This time I just sanded and I didn't ink as I liked the white effect.  I went for a bright backing paper as I have used lots of white and kraft of late and I wanted to use a bit more colour, plus this greeny/blue is one of my favs in clothing so I thought I would try it out in scrapping too.

Other news is that Amanda Jones is having a vintage blog series starting on the 19th March with lots of inspiration looking at all things vintage (I've done a little bit towards it and am really excited to see it all :))

Surf Play and news

Another one of my pages based upon the prompts from the Pretty Paper Party over at Shimelle's - the prompt was Kraft + 1 - so mine is kraft and yellow....and looking at  it now it looks quite honeycomb like!!  So a mix of papers here - some Cosmo Cricket Social Club, Jillibean Soup, Echo Park and October Afternoon (the hexagons were inspired by the Cosmo Cricket website - and funnily enough kind of fit with Shimelle's prompt today).  The hexagons are 2.5" and I made a little template (not perfect and cut them out, then sanded them with my pedicure tool :)  I stitched around them and added some extra stitching on a few.  The background to my kraft is a wash of cosmic shimmer yellow and some orange too (I taped my paper down when I did this so it didn't crinkle too much and painted it on with a brush).  I arranged most of my pieces and the 2 photos and then stuck some of the hexagons down with 3D foam, next came the embellishment adding - which really is a random collection of things I had from American Crafts, studio calico tags, cosmo cricket, shell from the beach, some bakers twine.  The alpha is American crafts and the brown is Lime Twist.

The photo's are from my summer holiday....I have LOTS still to scrap and most of them are on the beach :)  I love both these pics - the body boards were a great investment.

I also have some exciting news - It's a Creative World is starting up again and I get to join a wonderful group of ladies and inspire you all with different projects and ideas.  You can pop over and see the Design Team and some of the projects already created so you can see the sort of inspiration that will be in the posts.

How Wonderful

 Here is my page for the 3rd prompt in Shimelle's pretty paper  class and it was to use some concentration (well mine is a bit of a large concentration) and to take on a colour challenge - so this is for pallette 80 over at the colour room.  I have used a mix of papers to go with the colours and some off cuts in my stash - the main piece is DCWV luxury stack and is lovely and pearlescent..another paper I look at and love but am not sure how to use! I splattered some red and blue ink over it and then layered several bit of paper.  Amongst the paper there is K and Co - ancestry and jillibean chicken noodle soup, october afternoon fly a kite and WRMK (that is the title and the blue strip).  I inked all the pieces with my favourite tea dye distress ink and added some stitching.  The shots are old ones of my boys in the park, but I found them tucked in with some blue paper so obviously intended to scrap them with some blue.  I cut some bunting out of burlap and some orange paper, I added some die cut blue stars and buttons then cluster embellished some stars around the page.  I added twine and a crate paper portrait sticker, and here's my page - I'm loving the course and delving through my stash and off cuts.

Can You Stand Up?

This is my first page that I have made from the prompts Shimelle has been sending out - and is based on one of the sketches by Julie Kirk.  I used some of my August Quirky kit for this page, as the sassafras sunshine broadcast range seems to fit so nicely with those beachy photos.  The shots are from our holiday and of my DS and his friends trying to surf on body boards....and funnily enough it dosen't really work but it was quite funny watching them try and enjoying themselves.  I used some of my off cuts in all the layers of paper down the side - there is some October Afternoon - Fly a Kite as well as Sassafras indie girl and more sunshine strips.  I added some zig zag to some of the strips and ribbon and lace and buttons, I also fan folded some paper to add a little dimension.  The title is a mix of alphas, authentique, cosmo cricket and a kraft range (can't remember the brand).  The doily shape piece is from crate papers peppermint Christmas range, I wrapped it in string and stuck a prima pearl in the middle.  A little bit of bling, some stapled numbers and flicks of brown shimmer ink and this is what I came up with.  Amazingly I got this done in one night (doing other things to) - I think the prompts make me more focused and there are some great sketches to use too....so here is a way for you to use up some of those strips of paper sitting in pizza boxes.

Pretty Paper Party and Grab box news

I have joined in with Shimelle's pretty paper party (as I LOVE paper)....and the first challenge was to show how you stored your paper (now I am not a tidy crafter, so I am only showing you the paper....not the desk or the floor!!!).  So I start with the most recently paper organised bit....I sorted all my cardstock into colours on one side, and then the other contains packs of paper rangers - kept them in ranges rather than colours.

 This shot shows one of my off cut stashes....I am ashamed to say I have 2, but hopefully with the prompts I will use some more of my scraps up.

 I also keep some ranges of paper in those lovely 12" plastic bags with their offcuts, and the odds and ends of previous kits.

However I do also have a few pizza boxes with either kits/recent orders or scraps or just to use as a spritz catcher! The other news is that Handmade Hannah is having a grab box day tomorrow - Wednesday morning - Hannah has put together some beautiful kits of embellishments and they are either £10 or £20, to get all the details join her facebook group and you can find out more details on her blog