Stonework

This is my latest layout, made with the Wrapped in Paper monthly scrapbook kit. It had two sheets of Bazzill cardstock, and several sheets or part sheets of various beige/brown patterned papers. There was a length of brown ribbon, some blue/brown ribbon and the white string as well as two turquoise/silver brads.

Now to enter the competition each month you need to use at least a little bit of everything in the kit. There's usually something in there that I find difficult to use, and this month it was two things: the brown cardstock with the houses heat embossed on it, and the Graphic 45 kraft range paper with the cards on it. While I love both these papers, I didn’t feel that the brown one matched the other colours in the kit, and I didn’t know how I was going to incorporate cards into my layout either. I thought on this layout for days (well, probably more like weeks!) and finally came up with the photos to use. Then I checked all my sketch sites and Pinterest to come up with a layout idea. Finally I had a few sketches and layouts printed out that I was going to follow, and in the end I went with something completely different!

I ended up using a sketch (no 274) from Scrapbooks Etc page sketches. Of course I kind of followed the sketch, but made several changes to it as well. The fancy die cuts were made using my Spellbinders Ironwork accents die, while the small blue die cut in top right hand corner was made with long die from the Die-namics layered labels die set. I also added a few Kaisercraftpearls, and a button, sewed on with some floss. The letters for the title are old Delish Designs (can't find a link, sorry) that I had left over, with not quite the right letters left, but you know, p's and q's make good o's when you cut off their legs *wink*.

I used the brown ribbon to make a rolled ribbon flower using this tutorial, although I used double sided tape rather than hot glue to put the ribbon on to the circle. I also put some red liner tape onto the circle of the corner die cut (on the ribbon, towards the top, far left side of layout) and then simply wound the string around and added the pearl. I had a bit of the brown paper with the embossed houses on it left from the strip behind the photos (can't waste it by covering it up!) and just cut the sun and house out to add to the top embellishment cluster. Same with the King card, I cut it in half, so still have half a card to use on something else.

Anyway, enough of an explanation, do you think I might win? I doubt it because my style is quite simple and someone else who enters each month has a shabby chic style with lots of embellishments, so, to the average person coming in to the shop, theirs always stands out. Still, I like my layouts and in the end, that's all that matters  :-)

My son commented that he thought it was a strange thing to make a layout about, but if you follow my blog at all, you'll know that I do that from time to time and scrap about different things like plants and insects as well as my family and our trips! I loved this stonework on the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, Canada, and took all these photos when we were living there in 2006/07. Since I had never scrapped them, I thought it was about time.

Till next time, happy days!

Francine

Lighthouses (of Kangaroo Island)

Challenge # 32 at Use it Tuesday is to use two hoarded supplies from your stash. Well, seeing as I am almost exclusively using old stuff, that's pretty easy for me at the moment! Even the pictures are old - from 2006.

I started this layout with a challenge from The Crop Room to use kraft paper, blue tones, flower(s) and die cut or stamped swirl(s). From my supplies I found papers from TLC, a TLC chipboard flourish/swirl, some large blue brads, and letters, all of which have been in my stash for years and years. I also finally used the baker's twine that I bought at last year's craft fair.

The letters for the lighthouses part of the title come from a piece of patterned paper that I bought probably the first year I was scrapping. I don't even know how long it's been, but certainly more than 7! I found that the smallest square die from my new Nellie Snellen multi frame die cutting set is perfect for cutting out these letters, so I might be using more of them now! I used another die - Papertrey Ink - Beautiful Blooms II #1 Die Collection to make the flower in the corner. For the tag on the smallest photo I used the Die-namics notched tag die, and for the file tabs I used the Die-namics file tab die.

I've never quite been sure of how to attach the baker's twine, hence why I never used it. I found this great blog from a young man named Drew, from California. I was watching one of his videos and in it he effortlessly added some twine, so that's what I tried to do on this layout, and I like how it turned out.

Of course, the actual page design is based on a sketch - because I love sketches! This one is by Liz Chidester from The Scrappiest. I made some changes to the sketch, but still used the basic structure. The whole layout came together in about the half the time it usually takes me, so I might have to use this sketch again.

Just as a matter of interest, the smallest photo is of the lighthouse at Cape Willoughby. This lighthouse was the first one to be built on the South Australian coast and was built in 1852. All three lighthouses were very interesting. Other than the choppy ride over on the ferry the day we went, we thoroughly enjoyed our little stay on Kangaroo Island and would recommend it to anyone visiting the area. 

Despite the simplicity of the layout, I'm really happy with how this one turned out. I'd love to hear what you think.

Till next time, happy days.

Francine

{a wonderful day for a} SMILE

I just love the sketch at Sketches with a Twist this month! The twist for the challenge is that you need to include some stitching on your layout as well. Well, I don't mind doing a bit of stitching (having been a sewer in a previous (very long ago) life and a cross stitcher more recently). So, I went in search of some photos that would fit the layout sketch and came across these ones from six (wow, 6!!!) years ago. Then I found an old Stampin Up! kit called Hoppy Memories and set to work. All the papers and stickers are from that kit.

The kit had lots of frogs and turtles on the stickers, but I've learned to cover those sorts of things up if they're not useful for what I'm making. I bet you didn’t realise that the journalling circle has a frog on it, the spotty oval has a turtle on it, and the green hashed oval is in fact a lily pad! By placing other stickers from the kit over the top, you can cover up pretty much anything.

After sticking everything down I added the stitching. I pierced holes around the edge of the journalling spot to make a running stitch. I pierced holes for the cross stitches on the green oval, on the end of the border under the title, and in the top of the subtitle journalling block. (That last spot was the easiest as I just pierced holes on top of some of the dots so I knew they would be symmetrical!). Lastly I pierced six holes in the star - one in the centre and one in each of the points of the star. I then made a lazy daisy stitch from the star centre to each point and ended up with a flower. I really like how that turned out. 


I then added a few brads and the Smile (Basic Grey) letter sticker title. This is one of the current word challenges at Bird is the Word. Since the letters didn’t stand out that much against the green background paper, I doodled around the edge of the letters with an orange pen. I added some glitter to the heart and around the edge of the {heart} you sticker as well, using my Sakura clear stardust gel pen. 


All done! So, what do you think?

Till next time, happy days.

Francine