2013 - a little review

The challenge for this fortnight is to look back over the previous year, I did this in pictures (I was initially worried that I would not have one for every month, but I did and had lots more I could have used!).

With the 12 photos the easiest way to lay them out was in a grid and it works nicely with the numbers of the year in the centre.  I used strips of Glitz's Finley collection, I love the bright colours in this range, and layered up all the papers - using the remnants from my strips to layer behind photos.  I decided to use wood veneers as my embellishments as I had different ones that suited the seasons and events that happened, and I used my Simple Stories month stamps, cutting them out to label the photos with when they were taken.

If you fancy joining in this month, and there is the chance to win a prize too, as well as see all the other wonderful inspiration then here is the link.

Handmade Decorations

This fortnights challenge over at the Studio is to use stars, I love stars as an embellishment as you can use them on most pages, they are neither girly or bogey, young or old - just a great all rounder.  I used some Studio Calico papers that were sent to me by Jennifer Grace for winning her card challenge on her Frosty Festivities weekend - you can still go and check it out for inspiration if you want - here is a link to the start of the posts.  

I cut some strips of paper that were just slightly bigger than my star die (cuttlebug set of 4 different sized dies).  I inked and backed a few of the stars and then stuck them on my page, I also hung some of the stars from the top of the page and under the photo adding lines of black stitching.  With my photo on I started to layer my embellishments.  I used a Studio Calico pocket for my journalling and added washi tape, twine and a wood veneer star to this.  I then created a little clustered embellishment using some of the sticker Christmas trees and a Tando chipboard tree which I inked green and then sprinkled with gold embossing powder, some more of the Studio Calico ephemera pack in the way of the year and a button.  The final touch was a few sequins.

Here is the link so that you can join us and be in with a chance to win some goodies from the Fab Scraps Burlesque collection

December is in full flow, I am trying to take daily pictures and will post when I have started creating, there are lots of things to be creating.

Beautiful

So the first thing you might have noticed is it is not the most traditionally beautiful photo!  It makes me laugh as it shows what it is like trying to get a beautiful shot of the kids and their characters.

I created this page based on the sketch over at the Studio this week - I reduced the size of the grid and added the title on the other side of my grid, but other than that I stuck fairly closely to it.

I used a mixture of Crate Paper lines - some DIY shop and Flea Market.  I cut little 2" squares from a range of the papers, and then went about decorating, distressing and inking them.  Starting from the top left and going across, I punched a heart and then made a shaker using acetate and seed beads, for the next one a couple of layers of paper and a prima bark star, the next a couple of lines of prima lace and a Pretty Party sticker.  Onto the next line and a little banner made from twine and paper, the next I used some of the word strips on the Flea Market paper, the next was left plane as it is behind the photo.  The bottom line I used the punched heart and piled some twine behind it and then added a prima wooden button to the top, for the next one I used some wood veneer chevrons from Studio Calico.  I placed my photo inside the large polaroid chipboard shape you get with the Flea Market chipboard and added a golden heart.  I then cut a few of the plates for the circle part of the sketch and added a little chipboard button and butterfly.  The title is also from Pretty Party.  

There is lots of inspiration over on the Studio blog here, and I am also up on the Tando blog today with a noticeboard here.

On Top of the World

This fortnights challenge over at the Studio blog is to take some inspiration from this pinterest photo.

So my page and inspiration might take a little explaining!  I went a little laterally and started with a different sort of mask - this was another one of the new goodies in my Tando pack and is called Burning Rubber which is 12" by 3".  I rotated it a few times and scrapped texture paste through the mask.  Once this had dried I then added some splashes of distress stains, adding a little water to make some of it drip.  I then layered up with a mixture of Dear Lizzy papers trying to pull some of the rich colours from the photos.  I then dug through my stash and layered up some October Afternoon word stickers, an Amy Tangerine layered sticker and some leaf ribbon too.  Lots of stitching and distressing of my papers, and a glassine pocket for behind the photo with an October Afternoon sticker at the top. I  then added some gold in the form of the gold sequins, and my title which is a mix of Glitz and American Craft thickers.  So lots of layers and details like the masks.

The photo is from a camping weekend where we walked up a massive hill with the kids, and it just felt like you were in the clouds as you could see for miles around.

There is lots of inspiration on the blog today and if you want to join in with us then there is a prize too...here is the link.

Beachy Grin

Here's the page that I made for the challenge over at The Studio this week - which is monochrome. 

 I chose orange, and discovered that loads of the manufacturers use a really similar blend of orange on their papers - in there is Studio Calico, Jillibean, Simple Stories, October Afternoon and My Minds Eye.  As I had to go through my stash and dig out lots of orange it meant that I ended up with lots of small pieces of paper that I could layer up.  I also added some embossed vellum (I used the cuttlebug swiss dots folder for this - I love the little extra touch of texture it adds to a page).  I cut out a heart and then backed it with lots of layers of orange, stitching around it, added some cream and orange lace and then some of the Simple Stories Orange alphabet and word stickers and some flicks of orange mist.  So lots of layers of orange!

The photo is from our holiday and just messing around on the beach....which is where my kids love to spend their time.

Here is a link loads more inspiration over on the blog.

and there is a lovely prize from our sponsor this month

Sea Fishing

The new challenge up at the Studio is to use grids, and I found this the perfect way to use up lots of smaller left over pieces by cutting them into 1" squares.  The papers are all from the Teresa Collins Memorabilia range, which is gorgeous.

I worked out roughly where I wanted my grid shapes and then spritzed my paper with some Tattered Angels Blue patina glimmer mist.  I then stuck my squares down and stitched a grid pattern through them.  Behind the photo I layered up some gauze and then some of the die cut stickers that go with the paper and a little wood veneer boat.  On the other patch of squares I used one of the co-ordinating chipboard buttons and a wood veneer and some gems, which I also clustered near the photo too.  The title is a mix of the Simple Stories snap collection and some American crafts thickers.

We only went sea fishing once.....despite it being a beautiful day it was fairly cool on the pier and we didn't catch anything!  The kids loved having a go at casting as far as they could into the sea and we all went for ice cream afterwards!

If you would like to join us with the grid challenge, or see lots of beautiful pages then here is the link over to the studio.

My Minion

A while back it was my youngest's birthday and he wanted a minion cake....my initial thoughts were - 'that isn't going to be easy', but here is my attempt made out of swiss roll (that I made) and cake I cooked in a domed bowl!  It did take 2 layers of icing, as the 1st one was too thin, but he was pleased with it.

I used lots of crate papers DIY shop and also the sketch over at the Studio blog - this is the challenge for the next fortnight.  I started with a little misting using yellow and the Tando tangled yarn mask and then added lots of layers behind my photo.  I made a little pocket for the journal tag behind the photo and tied it with some garden twine.  I used some of Crate Papers ephemera pack that goes with the collection, they have loads of beautiful die-cuts - like the typewriter and number 8.  As this is a birthday shot I made my own little set of balloons and tied them with twine, stapling them to the page.  I added few drips of ink and some sequins, as well as edging the top and bottom of the page with washi tape.  The alphabet is a mix of cosmo cricket tiny type and some American Crafts thickers in chipboard.

If you would like to join us over at the Studio then here is the link, there is also lots more inspiration over there too.

On a Walk?

Hello everyone, we are back and I've nearly washed everything!! (it was a huge mountain as we were camping so not only clothes but then we wash and sort all the stuff before we pack it away).  I was hoping to post a little more often whilst we were away but I only managed the first week of posts and the wifi at our site was not co-operating with me...I think it was struggling as so many of us have wifi devices now and it is just too much traffic for  a little router.  Where did we go? France with a load of friends and the weather was beautiful, there will be several body boarding and marshmallow eating pages coming up.  However back to this page which is from another camping trip to Suffolk, and this was us on a caching walk (geo-caching)...however when I looked back on the photos I noticed that my boys skipped a bit of the walking and seemed to prefer a carry!!!!

I made the page for the Studio Challenge blog whose challenge is to use glitter, which immediately made me think of some of the gold glittered Crate Paper DIY shop ephemera and the large peony type flower.  I also made my own stitched vellum pocket with a mix of gold sequins (from the poundshop) and dug out my glittered thickers for the title which was great as I haven't used them in ages.  The rest of the papers are from DIY shop, and I nearly forgot the chipboard banner is threaded with gold sparkly thread too, and some golden shimmer mist drips.  I stitched and distressed all the layers and added in a doily and some lace too.

If you would like to join in the challenge and see all the other beautiful pages from the DT then here is the link.

I hope you are all enjoying the holidays and I will be back with loads of the posts that I never managed to post :D

The Sweet Game

Hello, this weeks challenge over at the Studio is to use at least 3 photos on a page.  I often use 1 photo so it was a great excuse to have a rummage and find a few photos on a theme and use some new very boyish echo park papers I picked up on my holidays!

I started by cutting out some chevrons, and then I stuck them in different areas on my page, trying to highlight the sweets in the photos....and then stitched across in lines through the chevrons.  I cut a strip of yellow for the central photo area of my page and cut out several wheels that were on the papers, layering them around the photos, then a few stickers (some of them are from the This and That range...sequins, a little ink and a combination of Glitz and American Crafts for the Alphabet.

Whilst on holiday we developed a surprisingly fun game (I was surprised that they requested it and really enjoyed it!).  Basically you had a sweet - these are probably wine gums and then had to see how long you could suck it for (preferably until we got to our destination) so here are some photos to document how well they were all doing with it!  The kids loved it!!

So if you would like to incorporate 3 or more photos on a page then link it up with the challenge here.

Always Performing

Well after a small computer 'ahh is it going to work again' it is all fixed and I am back to the world of blogging (and it was one of those computer things where nothing much had to be done so maybe it was dust or something just wasn't quite clipped in well enough but it did manage to make it un-useable!)

Here is my page for this fortnights Studio Challenge which uses a sketch by Val Mangan based on one of Chantelles pages - I do have several of these photos in different poses, so I could make a double page of it, but 2 is perhaps enough! :)  I used lots of Crate Papers DIY shop, a bit of layering and stitching and my favourite viewfinder (is that the word for it) die cut - I did save the other half!  I am really trying to use the things I stroke more....like the polaroid die-cut from Studio Calico too.  I'm loving little glassine envelopes for the journal pocket behind the photo at the moment, and I bought some new doilies in Waitrose (you can just about see it) and I inked it with Tea Dye distress ink, a scattering of sequins, then a mix of alphas from American Crafts and Carta Bella, the writing on the the Carta Bella stickers was white and didn't stand out enough against my page so I went around the edge with a black gel pen - I really like the hand made look that gives to it too.

Here is a link to lots more inspiration over at the Studio Blog and I hope you all have a super day.

Also I have a post up over at Created by ATDML looking at stamping a bit more on pages - here is the link.

Love this Boy and the twine challenge

Hello on a sunny morning and here is my page for this fortnights challenge over at the Studio Challenge blog, and the challenge is twine!  My Mum and I split a pack of American Crafts twine that we came across in TK Maxx and it was perfect for this challenge as there are so many colours.  So the twine on the page, I often use twine to wrap around things, so I wrapped the hearts in twine and then with little glue lines hung the hearts from my photo.  I did also make some twine flowers which will have to appear on another page as despite having me in the photo, so fully justified on having a few flowers on the page....they just didn't go!

The page is a mix of American Crafts Dear Lizzy and also Amy Tangerine's Yes Please collection, I layered up lots of different size papers and inked, stitched and distressed them.  I am also enjoying using vellum on my pages again - funny those loops in scrapping, I embossed it with my cuttlebug swiss dots folder (one of my go to embossing folders) and added that as another layer.  Nearly forgot the start of this page, so I used some texture paste and Tando's Random circle mask, which I let dry.  Then in my experimenting I added some gesso over the top with a palette knife, let it dry....then the chalk inks - I discovered this on Ingvlid Bloms blog, just using coloured chalk inks over gesso to make a cloudy sort of pattern...so easy and beautiful, so I went around the edge of the mask over the gesso with different colours I had pulled from the papers.  Next in an art journally style I stamped with the AC acyrlic grid stamp, doing the rolling stamp thing.  Then a little stamping with some very old Autumn Leaves flourish stamps, and then all the papers and hearts and twine.  I also cut out one of the Dear Lizzy mason jars and filled it with sequins, used some Teresa Collins word stamps and my new smash date stamp.

The photo is from our holiday back in half term, just near a climbing wall - I had a play overexposing it on the computer and making it black and white, and really like the way it turned out.

The Studio Blog Hop

Welcome to the next step of the Studio Blog Lift Chain, you should you have come here from Hilde's blog and this is my lift of her layout.  It's really exciting as each of us has only seen the page of the person before us in the chain - so I am looking forward to seeing everyones creations.

I used some of the American Crafts Dear Lizzy papers for my page as one of them has a star chart which was perfect for this page as we met Charlie Walker (astronaut) at the Kennedy Space Centre last summer.  So this page was the perfect excuse to dig out all things starry and rockery - hence some Tando stars and an October Afternoon rocket.  The photos aren't great as we were inside but you got a chance to ask questions at the end of the talk - my eldest loved it (my youngest had a snooze :)) and so I said why don't you ask a question.  So 'cos I just love the space stuff we worked on a question, and then I got to hold up my hand as he still wasn't sure about asking...then just at that last moment he said, I'll do it, and the shot is of the microphone man waiting for him to ask the question and the title is our question.  Charlie said that there were many amazing things about space - the views of Earth being a massive highlight for him, but his favourite thing was being able to fly and feel a little like superman....which is pretty cool!

So the challenge for this fornight is to lift any of the layouts along the way, please link up your creations at the side bar of The Studio blog (link) for a chance to win a great prize from chipboard company Tando

Next on the hop is Anastasia 

and just incase you get lost or want to start from the beginning here is a list of all the links

The Studio -http://thestudio.amandajonesdesigns.com
Anna - www.madetoscrap.blogspot.com
Chantelle - http://chan3boys.blogspot.com.au//
Daphne - http://dapfniedesign.wordpress.com
Hilde -http://www.hildeaaslund.blogspot.co.uk//
Katherine - http://fruitofmyscraps.blogspot.co.uk
Anastasia - http://astero-en.blogspot.co.uk
Petra - http://www.mittkreativakaos.blogspot.co.uk
The Studio -http://thestudio.amandajonesdesigns.com