Scrapagogo March 2012

It's hard to document a scrapbooking event as what do you photograph?  A load of layouts?  A photo of each individual teacher?

In order to document what a fun time I had I took a photo of my scrap buddies who were really friendly and good fun.  To represent them I just knew I had to use bright and breezy colours.

I used a Shimelle Laine idea for this.  Take one paper collection and cut it up before you start.  That bit was a tad scary as what if I cut it up and couldn't use it afterwards - what a waste of money....not to worry though.  It just works, but I did end up cutting up various bits more as I went.

I have pretty much used up the whole of this collection now, which is great as I'm often known not to use papers that are too pretty and this collection really did fall in this category.

I'd recommend this philosophy if you have lots to scrap and you want to get it done, rather than procrastinating... or is that just me?  There's not a lot of thinking needed after you have cut the papers and you can scrap simply unless you want to get more detailed adding ink, paint etc.

Happy Crafting
Debz

A stitch in time....

... not so much a stitch in time, more a stitch in line.  Well I'm trying hard to sew in a straight line, but failing most of the time.  Apparently you can alter the pedal to your own need - mine needs to be seriously altered.  I think I'm too used to driving my car - fast - and no alternative!

This month Unruly Paperarts is all about journalling. I decided now that I am a dab hand at sewing I would create a scrap(fabric)book.  The photo's are from The Living Rainforest, near Hermitage in Berkshire.  A small but stunning place to visit.

Here's a sneak, but if you want to see more pop on over here.

Happy Crafting
Debz
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To wash(i) or not to wash(i)

You may or may not be aware, but I have a hopeless addiction to pretty papers, stationery and washi tape.  It's sad but I have enough washi tape to last me way into the next decade - I really should use it to wrap presents, but that would involve being selfless and giving some away!

Sad as it may be I've even done a couple of layouts about my addiction - after all scrapbooking is all about documenting life!

Instead of doing a pretty, pretty page I thought I'd see what I could do with my sprays and paint.  I really wanted to some silver letters I have, but oddly I had run out of the letter "w" and "s".  I did have several of the letter "v" though with a little bit of imagination ...

This is the finished layout - a bit different but I really like it!

Hope you can smell the lavender in the background!!

Happy Crafting
Debz
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Singing the blues

I've been doing a Shimelle Laine class which is all about using up leftovers.  I'm not very good at following the brief - well I read them and then do my own thing - I think that's the point of online classes though.  You can use your own stash and take inspiration.

This class brief was fairly straight forward though  - to use the same colour for the whole layout.  I chose blue because I don't use it very often.

It's a pretty simple page, but sometimes the photo's need to speak for themselves.

Happy Crafting
Debz
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The Taz List

Once a year I like to do a scrapbook page all about my little ginger monster's habits, nicknames and other little oddities.

This time I did it for the Unruly PaperArts blog which has a theme of journalling this month.  Pop on over to see lots of other interpretations of journalling.

I'll be showing a fabric page on 15 August so watch this space.

This page has been created using lots of scraps of paper so it's a great page for using up lots of odds and ends.  Even though I've used lots of different colours there is a common theme of circles to help it work.

Happy Crafting
Debz
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Summer Sun ....here at last, sort of!

On the rare occasion that the sun shines here in the UK us Brits can be found outside having a BBQ - in fact even if the sun isn't shining we just throw on a jumper, put on the patio heater and have a BBQ anyway!  Sometimes we even have to take it to the extreme of having an indoor BBQ with a couple of poor unfortunates manning the BBQ with an umbrella!!  They usually have a beer in hand though so don't feel too sorry for them :)

I think I was a bit optimistic when I picked this up in the supermarket, but I saw these lovely citronella candles in terracotta plant pots (or should I say I smelt them first!)  They were a bit boring though so I decided to make them a little prettier with a lick of paint.

The pot was created for my contribution to Unruly Paperarts (UPA) July edition entitled Catch the waves (If like me you are in the UK, you might want to substitute wave with cold - it's probably more appropriate!)  Pop on over here to see some great art from my fellow contributors at UPA.

Here's the finished pot, but if you want to know how it was made read on :)

The pot was gesso'd first as I didn't want the terracotta colour to effect the paint colours.  Word of warning terracotta sucks up paint so slap it on and move it quick! I then painted the bottom yellow, the top blue and the middle by mixing the paint directly on the pot.  This gives a much more natural look to the sea.
The pot was finished off by stamping a number of Crafty Individual sea shells on tissue paper and glueing them to the pot.  Use plenty of glue as it's harder to disguise the edges on this type of surface.  I finished the pot off by sticking some sand and trim along the bottom.

Happy Crafting

Debz
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All fired up

I've just been on a craft weekend - the final ArtsyCraft (sob sob!) and it's got me all fired up.  I'm loving working with texture at the moment, so when I saw some wire I just had to buy it and incorporate it in my scrapbook layout - you might think wire, what's new about that.  It wasn't exactly a small bit of wire - more like a wire gauze which measured about 10 inches by 3 inches!

I started my layout by sewing some paper onto my background with some lace like ribbon.  Then how to attach the wire without breaking my sewing machine needle - hand sewing, yuck yuck yuck!  This wire doesn't like to sit flat so attaching the photo was fun.

I won't go into everything on the layout but I tried to throw as much texture as possible on the layout without overcrowding it.  There's a bit of corrugated cardboard, ribbon, gemstones, foam letters, velum & of course the sewing and wire.

So if you fancy a challenge .... I'd love to see what you do.

Scraps left over from punching



Using up scraps of ribbon and stickers





I'm loving Maya Road birds - still!


Happy Crafting
Debz
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