ATDML Retreat - part 1

A little while ago, over half term I went on my 1st ever retreat with A Trip Down Memory Lane at the lovely Stoke Nyland golf club.  It was lovely, when I arrived there was a desk set up for me and a pile of goodies to get me going as well as a list of challenges I could enter.  Then there was the shop - piled high with paper and embellishments, lovely food, a great list of classes and fantastic ladies to craft with and be inspired by - I loved it!  I still haven't finished all my classes as some were mini books and  I need to fill them up with photos and finish them off before I show you, but here are a couple of pages.  

My 1st page was a little kit that we were challenged to make something from, I am not sure of the paper manufacturer but the colours went really well with this rather damp beach scene - my kids love the beach as you can probably tell and even when it has been wet they are still up for spending a couple of hours digging and seeing what they can find.  The flowers are prima and some lovely maya road natural buttons, I added a few ink splatters using my distress stain, and stamped the title with the Kaisercraft typewriter stamps and the other words are from the Teresa Collins Vintage Findings stamp set.

 Next for my class.....

This is the class that I taught using the lovely Cashmere Dame papers by glitz - packed full with colour and distressing and hexagons.  The photo is from our holiday state side and is of Naples Pier and all the pelicans that fish around there, there are 2 photo tabs which have some pictures of my Dad and my son watching the pelicans from the sea as they flew around.  So alongside the papers and paint there are some prima flowers and alphabet and Websters lace - we used some cosmic shimmer mists to change the colour of the flowers, and milk bottle tops to do some printing too - so generally fairly messy!

Homemade Decorations

Some more All is Bright (by MME) papers for my page today.  I made this for the Tando blog whose theme is 'Deck the Halls' this week which is why I chose this particular photo of my sons penguin decoration that hangs proudly on our tree.  I started on the background by using the tando snowflake mask and scraping gesso through the snowflakes, I then use actual snowflakes as a mask and spritzed over white glimmer mist, and added some puddles of blue patina to make some drips.....and then I nearly abandoned the background....but on the cybercrop over at ukscrappers one of my teamies said to keep going with backgrounds even if you are not sure about them.....so I did.  I edged the page with white gesso using some card and then left that to dry.

I layered up lots of the MME papers, stitching and distressing the edges as well as a little tear, I added some lace and did a little punching added some of the MME washi tape and a layer of glassine envelope.  Then I started working on the Tando chipboard pieces I wanted to add too - I love the reindeer and they look great just covered in brown ink and glossy accents.  However I had to play around with the holly flourish til I got what I wanted - I love that chipboard is soo forgiving when you don't like one effect.  It started off coloured with promarkers and then glossed with glossy accents but it was a bit too bold for the painty page, so I covered it in white gesso and crackle paint....but then you couldn't see the colour so I watered down and painted it with red and green distress inks and was finally happy with the result!  I layered up a little tab at the top using some of the stickers, washi tape and a punch, and cut out the title on my silhouette - stitching it on.

So this is the 1st of my Christmas pages - there will be more and today I have posted a page over at Created by ATDML, all about mists - here is the link.

Tando Octagonal Advent Calendar with All is Bright

One of the 1st Tando loves was this beautiful advent calendar so I was very excited to be able to play with one, and so were my kids....my youngest even helped me.  I had to wait for the papers which Jill over at ATDML brought to the retreat for me which are the lovely All is Bright range from My Minds Eye (they are not a mega Christmas red and green paper but the designs are just beautiful) - you'll see more creations with these papers :)

So I think I started the calendar off the hard way...I decide to cover it with book paper which I then covered in white acrylic mixed with PVA glue just to make it a little more durable - as these drawers will have chocolate in for the kids!  So that took too some time and this is what my table looked like at one point!

I used that same mix to paint all the draws white.  Once that was all dry I then made myself a little template for the front of the drawers - I drew around them and then just cut the template a little smaller - didn't have to be perfect as I would distress paper edges and ink them.  I then got to decorating all the drawers - I used lots more pieces from the Tando Christmas mini bags - gorgeous reindeer and snowflakes which I embossed and inked.  I used a typewriter font on the computer to make the numbers and inked these, then added buttons, bling, lace, ribbon, washi....all sorts to it.

I made my own star for the top - wrapped twine and used the top of a chipboard stocking which is kind of crown shaped as a crown too...so lots of layers....and I will just show you the photos now and leave you with the link to see all the other amazing calendars that have been on the blog this week :)

Holiday Mini Book

One of the classes over at the Ukscrappers cybercrop was to make this mini and there are fantastic instructions by DeeMo which you will find through that link.   It is a really sturdy and the pages all have some interest on them whether it is pockets or other minis.  I decided to make my mini about our recent holiday to Florida and to my delight I discovered that the Amy Tangerine papers had a Florida piece of map in them that was perfect for my cover, and I used the same paper range throughout the  book.

So the 1st page has a disney shot and then some journalling about the holiday - the next page contains some of the seaworld photos.

 and a close up of one of the dolphins too

Then are some of my hollywood studios photos with a little mini book inside the minibook which contains some classic holiday memories - including the explosion of a rubber ring that my Dad jumped on in the pool...if only the video camera had been running!

Then one of our favourite parks - the Wild Animal park...

Next some of the Epcot photos and fireworks

 Then our trip to the Kennedy Space Centre and also one of the photos from the Disney Water Parks - again lots of journalling

Some photos of the second part of our holiday which was down in Naples and where we went on a trip to see the amazing Everglades

 Lastly some pool shots of us and then a bit about Hurricane Isaac that fortunately missed us, but they were getting quite worried about!

So there it is a few of the photos, as naturally as a scrapper I have literally hundreds more of this holiday which I will enjoy scrapping :)

Lego First

Here is my take on the sketch challenge over at the studio and it involved some tags...after seeing some beautiful tag pages at the ATDML retreat here and here I was itching to have a play with some.  I made the 3 large tags at the back, and stitched around them, I then used a few more tags from the journalling sheet in with the pretty party papers (by Crate Paper) - i stitched and layered and added some washi tape as well as a hanger paper clip I found in Tiger.  I added a Tando Chipboard arrow which I covered in paper and attached a paper clip to to hold a little sign saying 'Best Day Ever'.  There are a few camouflaged Martha Stewart butterflies and lots of loose thread, the final bits were some paint flicks - green and yellow cosmic shimmer for those and a few buttons which I swirled the thread behind.  The title is a mix of American Craft thickers and some prima mini letters.

The photo is one of the early shots from my sons birthday, he'd opened all his presents, displayed all the cards and then as is customary in the house the lego building begins!

If you would like to join us over at the Studio and be in with a chance of winning some goodies then here is the link.

Gift Box

This weeks theme on the Tando Creative blog is home decor, and I decided to have a go at making a gift box and using some of my new crackle paint!  I'm not sure what came in the box originally...but it was lovely and I kept it for a future project!  I started by painting the box lid gold (as the base was already gold) and then added a coat of crackle paint and then the white over the top - I let it try naturally.

For the decorations on the top of the box I started by making a tetrahedron (learnt that word from my sons maths homework) which is a triangular based pyramid, so that I could stick the 3 cabochon roses on each side.  These roses came off a primark bracelet!  The lid starts with a layer of burlap. then some prima flowers and American craft leaves, my pyramid of roses, and then all the lovely Tando chipboard which I just embossed silver - you can see the keys, some lace and a compass all slotted in to give more interest to the pile on top.  I punched a Martha Stewart butterfly (this is still one of my favourite punches!) and added some liquid pearls for the flower centres and decoration around the box.

The box is great for a gift and I think I am going to make a little mini book to go inside - do hop over to the Tando blog and have a look at all the lovely projects this week - here is a link.

Note to Self with the Inspiration Elevator

I was delighted to be asked to join in with the wonderful ladies at the Inspiration Elevator this month, the purpose of the team is to take scrapbooking to the next level and challenge us to grow...so this months challenge is from Cathy Harper, and is as follows

"I have been thinking about my challenge for months now. This is such an amazing team, I am thrilled and humbled to be a part of IE...each of you are amazing designers. I often wonder what I am doing here amongst you.

I scrapbook for the joy of it, the creativity part of it, the love of paper part of it....I hardly ever bare any of my feelings in any of my work! I often tell my kids that they can make up there own stories to their pages..I am that terrible about journaling. I guess it is a bit superficial or a whole lot superficial.

So here is my challenge.

I want you to create a page about REGRET.

“No regrets”…they say we should live our lives without regrets… if it were only that easy, right? Most of us hold onto 1 or 2 (or a mountain full) of things we feel regretful for in our lifetimes. A lost love, those words you WISH you had said, the weight you wish you had lost….you know them, right?

I encourage you to confront them….take those suckers on and scrap about them… or just one.

This can be something superficial to something serious and painful… it’s up to you how far you want to dig. I DO encourage you to use this as an opportunity to really stretch yourself. Journaling is very powerful and you might be surprised by how you feel afterward.

This is going to be super tough for me (I may already regret it, lol )...as I am one who lives with a mountain of regrets and know in my head that I should move on, let it go. I am hoping this challenge will help me actually "let go" of some of these things. Maybe by putting in down in 12x12 form, creating it, seeing it and feeling it, that I can put some of it to rest! It's worth a shot! Pictures, no pictures...that is all up to you!"

This got me thinking a lot and I have hidden the journalling behind my photo...I don't live with lots of regrets (fortunately) - I make loads of mistakes, and regret things all the time but then I learn from them too - so they are valuable lessons to me and change me.  So my take on regret is a page about something that I don't want to regret at the end of my days....which is to make sure that I cherish each moment.  I still remember some words of a friend who was diagnosed with terminal cancer and she spoke about the way that diagnosis makes you look at life and appreciate it and I think sometimes in the busyness of life I forget to appreciate it.  

Gosh very philosophical for a Thursday morning -  as it is a photo of me (for some reason I wear sunglasses in the photos of me that I like! there is probably a subconscious reason for that too :)) I got to use pink and some of the lovely Dear Lizzy papers, and some old sassafrass stickers and studio calico Heyday papers.  There is lots of stitching and I let the threads hang down for a messy effect on this one. I started by dry brushing some white gesso on the background and then layering up my papers.  I love the mason jars in the Dear Lizzy range and have the stamps too - and it seem fitting to have a jar of hearts, like a jar of cherished memories.  Still thinking philosophically, the purpose of scrapping is to cherish memories which part of the reason I love it.  I used some cosmo cricket word phrases too and then stapled on a scrunched up banner in the top right hand corner and added some flicks of glimmer mist too.  

There is lots of inspiration from all the team so here are all the links

I hope you will stop by and see what the designers on this adventure have created:

Cathy Harper

Sue Sykes

Lisa Spiegel

Joanne Burton

Christa Uttley

Laura Whitaker

Audrey Yeager

Lisa Moen

Laurel Seabrook

Ann Jobes

Katherine Sutton, Guest Designer

We would love to see what you are inspired to create.   Add a comment below and we will be sure to drop by and say hello!

Smile

Here is the page that I made for Trends on Tuesday over at Created by A Trip Down Memory Lane...can you guess the focus?...it's all about banners.

For the page I used some of the gorgeous Midway collection by October Afternoon, cutting strips for the banners - and mixing it up with fabric and ribbon in there too.  I misted the yellow card stock with some red Firefly cosmic shimmer and a mask, then layered up a doily, papers, stickers and the camera wood veneers.

The shot is from our holiday to disney - we have a few of these character ones and both my sons were happy to be in this photo - my older one is a little bit past posing with characters but his brother was happy to queue 45 minutes just to get a shot on his own with Donald Duck! (He had had a picture taken with Donald and Daisy...but that wasn't good enough he needed Donald on his own!).

I also have a new Trends on Tuesday post up...which involves using bottle tops and cardboard - so here is the link if you would like to check it out :)