Thank you Shimelle

Well, it took me a while (as you will see from the dates of the sketches) but as I have got into blog hopping I have had occasion to visit Shimelle's blog and been inspired by her work. These sketches took my fancy, and you might notice that my second LO has been inspired by both sketches.

Being committed to using up scraps, I loved the idea of using different pp in squares - and decided to use my inchie punch rather than a bigger one. I actually made up both borders prior to deciding what to do with the LO or selecting photos, but this sometimes works for me. When I saw the second sketch, I knew exactly what to do with it. I also got to use two of the spiral flowers I made a few weeks ago.

While the cogs turn far too slowly to join in the fun of the sketch challenge, I do like to use sketches to inspire my scrapping - so thank you Shimelle, (I belatedly) enjoyed this challenge.

Counterfeit Kit - July - a layout

I had a lot of fun playing with this kit. It was liberating not to have to look all through my stash for coordinating bits, and all I used was a border punch and a pen in addition to the kit bits.

I used a CS background, and a mix of BG and Sassafras pp, some 7 Gypsies gaffer tape, Crate Paper chipboard (from two different ranges) and glitter die cuts, a crochet flower, a felt flower augmented with a paper flower and a gem, some wooden buttons, a journalling block which might be MM, and a butterfly which definitely is :)

Another LO using the kit was blogged yesterday, and I've made two cards (already sent) so it has been put to good use, one LO is half done and I still have plenty left, so watch this space, I may even use it up!

Twisted Sketch #109

Using my July Counterfeit Kit, I was drawn to this sketch initially because of the bracket shape which I knew had been included in my kit. I knew it would be perfect with this photo and I wanted to use the red and green because the flower chipboard, which is also the 'Twist' from the sketch reminded me of all things Scandinavian - the theme behind this LO.

I only used things from the kit, and made my own little embellishments using matted cut outs of trees raised on 3d foam, with gems added for extra beautifulness!!

Great sketch, and I'm really pleased with my layout.

How Exciting!

It was the North Cheam crop today, and I did 6 LOs - more of which later in the week when I get round to photographing them. It's always such fun at the crop, with Gaye's excellent poppy seed cake, lots of tea and plenty of conversation and laughter.

This time was made even better, seeing the photos from MAs baby shower being turned into a beautiful minibook in gorgeous bright Echo Park colours, and also because we swapped our offerings for the 10 days of Summer swap.

This all began because we were lamenting the long time until the next advent swap which we participate in with gusto, but it does take a lot of organising and investment, so an open 10 parcel page kit swap was decided upon. Mine has a lovely duck on the bag and is all wrapped in gold, and I will start opening tomorrow - I so love presents :)

Having a Smashing Time

Yay! found some funky magnetic bookmarks today in Smiths to use in my Smash book - they fit round a page and the magnet holds them together. They had lots to choose from, and I was a bit tempted by some cookery ones as I have the odd recipe in the smash book, but in the end I had to go for camper vans. Three are now in my smash book, with the others waiting to see if I have anything to match them!

I love my smash book as it gives me the chance to look for cool stationery products!

Counterfeit Kit - July Version

This is my first attempt at counterfeiting a kit - this is from Polka Dot Whimsy and is their July 2010 Kit called Cape Cod. Ok, I know it's not exactly similar but still....

I have taken inspiration from the wide range of colours (although mine are different), the shaped pp, the October afternoon stickers, a pile of flowers, some borders and a load of ribbon. I will have to look harder at some of the embellishments to see if I can counterfeit them better, but I'm inspired by my kit and hope to use it at the crop this weekend.

The best bit was that it was like 'shopping my stash'. There are some very old papers in there - Scenic Route, Wild Asparagus, then Crate Paper from a couple of years ago, and a couple of bits I bought recently. There is an MM die cut which came from a Christmas range. I have also added two or three half used alpha sets and hope to use them up for titles.

Now to find the photos to use with my brand new kit :)

Living by my motto

Happy 4th July!

In the home school, we have been amusing ourselves this morning by finding out more about 4th July and making flags to adorn the ice cream we have made for the celebration later at some friends' who conveniently have American friends staying - what better reason to hijack another country's celebrations as an excuse for a party!

Sadly, last week three of my friends lost their Mums. I didn't know any of these lovely ladies, but feel so sad for my friends who have lost a very special person in their lives and all the attendant responsibility and sadness that goes with arranging funerals etc. You are in my thoughts and prayers, ladies. I've been making sympathy cards to send.

I also have birthday cards to make by the bucketful. Anyone reading this blog over the past weeks will know that I am on a mission to use up some of my old stash rather than keep buying new things (partial success, partial failure!!). Given my pathological aversion to throwing any stash away - much to the horrified amusement of some of my crop mates - I have a whole box of letters taken from part-used alphabet stickers, chipboard etc etc.

There are only so many odd letter layout titles a girl wants to do so I hit on the idea of using some of the letters for birthday cards. I now have a dearth of ds and rs but I think I can live with that in the wider context of using up my extensive collection and there must be other good wishes I can send without those two letters!

These are my efforts...