Thanks...

After my post about "Cards" magazine yesterday, can I please say a big THANK YOU to those of you who replied. Really, I appreciate that so much! And the biggest THANK YOU to Margaret for the special subscription link and extra-money-off-code :) Guess who subscribed to 12 issues of "Cards" with 6 free issues of "Scrapbook Trends" yesterday evening? :))

Today I'm feeling very creative. I sat down to do some DT work yesterday and it just didn't work at all. I kept moving papers and photos and just feeling generally unhappy about it. No inspiration. Nothing worked. But today is a totally different day. Today things work and I'm having lots of fun scrapping and doing DT work :) Strange how a day can make so much difference really...

Not a layout that I did today, but a little while ago:

Supplies: Scenic Route papers, Bazzill cardstock, Heidi Swapp chipboard letters, Doodlebug Paper Frills, Autumn Leaves and October Afternoon stamps.

Cards...

I have just discovered a new magazine which I love ----> "Cards"!!! :))) It's super, fantastic, yummy...and without all the millions of adverts that magazines like Creating Keepsakes, Paper Crafts etc are filled with. What a nice change! And not only that, but it's filled with yummy cards that just makes you want to start scraplifting there and then. :)

Though it does come at a price (a high price!) so I'm just considering whether I can justify the cost of subscribing or not...LOL! We'll see...

Off to work some more on my Christmas journal and then hopefully get started on some guest DT work I'm doing...

Wednesday scrapping...

Thought it was time to show you a "real layout" for a change (still got lots of pages left to do in my Christmas journal and they will all be showed here as I progress with my project - promise!)...

Supplies: at the moment I just can't remember who makes the patterned paper (sorry!), the chipboard letters are by Heidi Swapp, the little tab is by SEI (I think?) and journaling stamp by October Afternoon. Photo is of my little niece born in July.

Going out to do some shopping (or at least looking around in some shops LOL!) this afternoon, so I'm going to sit down with my notes, made over Christmas, and hopefully get some more work done on my journal before that...

Wishing you a happy scrappy day! :)

Oh Dear...

You know what? I don't feel like scrapping today! I know, bad isn't it? LOL! But I have decided not to stress about it (which I normally would). I'm sure it's just a one-day-thing. So instead of feeling "bad" about it, I'm just going to accept it and enjoy doing something else instead. Like trying to tidy a bit on my desk and maybe update the music on my iPod a bit...

But fear not (LOL!) I still have a page from my Christmas journal to show you that I finished yesterday afternoon. It's the page for the 25th of December. Since the 25th isn't a "special" day in our family (Christmas is celebrated on the 24th) this is a day when it normally doesn't happen too much. And this year it was even more so as the weather was totally horrible...rainy and dark and we really didn't see any daylight all day (imagine the most darkest day you can think of). So it was spent being cosy inside...reading books, playing games & watching films.

Supplies: KI Memories papers, 7 Gypsies & Scenic Route stickers and Scrapworks shimmer chipboard tree. If you think the page looks a bit bare on the left side, it's only because my book is not bound yet (I'm hoping to use my Bind-It-All and the biggest wires - if they turn out big enough) so the holes/wires would go there.

Excited...

Busy day yesterday - so there was no blogging - sorry!

Need to share some excitement though.... I signed up for a photo editing class by Adrienne Looman yesterday and I'm just soooo excited about it!! Can't wait for it to start! It's normally one of those things that I would see too late and sign-up would already be completed/sold out. Therefore I'm really happy I saw something like this "on time" for once. :) I'm not too familiar with the program used (though I do have it - it's Photoshop Elements) so I hope it won't be too hard for me to keep up. We'll see... In any case, I can't wait for it to start! :)

And above is another page from my Christmas journal which I made over the weekend. 24th of December is the day you celebrate Christmas in Sweden, so I just wrote about that, what we did and all the usual traditions. The green paper strips are by Scenic Route, the word stickers by Making Memories and the ribbon by Love Elsie.

Catching up...

I'm catching up after our trip to Sweden. It's so nice to be back scrapping again and I have definitely missed my stash!

I managed to plan and work a little more on my Christmas journal yesterday. Here's the page for the 23rd of December:

I have used Scenic Route papers and Love Elsie ribbon. The original prompt was really about stockings. But since we don't do them, I decided to write about something else instead. Christmas in Sweden is celebrated on the 24th of December and the 23rd is pretty big in my family as this is the day we decorate the tree and house ready for Christmas.

The 23rd this year turned out a little more eventful than normal though. I had strange stomach pains for two days and they just kept getting worse and worse. On the night between the 22nd/23rd it was so bad the whole of me was twitching as the pains came and went. So 4 hours (!) that next day was spent at the Accident & Emergency. Turned out I had a really bad stomach inflammation and came home armed with medication. I wasn't sure whether to journal about this or not, but since it was a major worry at the time and it affected our "getting ready for Christmas" plans so much, I decided that it did have a place in my journal after all.

"Your Home" class...

Please feel free to use these instructions to make your own layout. You are free to link to this page from any forum etc if you wish. Please do NOT copy this information and/or photos to use for your own classes/forums/webpages without permission.

Supplies needed:
Bazzill – Dark Olive cardstock
Bazzill – Light Olive cardstock
Bazzill – Dark Tangerine cardstock
Love Elsie “Jack+Abby” – Open House Embossed Cardstock
Love Elsie “Jack+Abby” – “Big Ribbon” pack
Love Elsie “Jack+Abby” – Neighbors Fabric Paper
Autumn Leaves – Ticketed Stampset (#AL2777)
Autumn Leaves – Whimsical Frames Stampset (#AL2770)
Scalloped scissors OR corner punch that will punch scallops
A few scraps of white cardstock

Also needed:
Glue (I use Herma removable)
Scissors
Staples
Black journaling pen (I use Zig Millennium)
Charcoal Chalk Inkpad (optional)
White pen (optional – I use a white Sakura Souffle pen)
Colouring pens/pencils (optional)

Start by cutting your embossed cardstock to size. I scrap in true A4 size, so I cut mine to 29,7x21 centimetres (cm). Please feel free to adapt to another layout size if you prefer.

Also pick your photos. I’m using two 15x10 cm (6x4) landscape photos which I have cut down a little. Leaving me with one 14x10 photo and one 14x8 cm photo.

Before we start on the actual layout we’re going to make some little funky handmade flowers. Get your Dark Tangerine cardstock out and cut three quite small circles (mine are just over 2 cm across). I want you to handcut these circles. Do NOT use a circle cutter or draw with pencil first. I can cut much neater circles than this, but the whole point is that they are meant to be uneven to add to the charm. Then place these circles onto your Light Olive cardstock and roughly (again – not neat!) draw a line a little larger around them. See photo below for these two steps.


Cut out your Light Olive circles. Now repeat the same step by taking your Light Olive circles, place them on the Dark Olive cardstock, draw a rough pencil line a little outside your current circles and cut out. You should now have what is show at the bottom of this photo:

Grab your Dark Tangerine circles and cut out five quite big wedges from each (see first step in photo below). If you want to edge your flowers with some ink, this is now the time to add it. Glue your Dark Tangerine flowers onto the Light Olive circles (step 2 in photo below). Cut out wedges again, leaving some Light Olive cardstock all around. You might want to cut a little off the ends too depending on how large your Light Olive circles were cut. Again ink edges if you wish (see step 3 in photo below).

Final steps for the flowers. Glue onto the Dark Olive circles (step 1 in photo below). Cut out leaving a border and cut off any extra at the ends if needed. Ink edges if you wish (see step 2 in photo below). And to finish off (step 3 in photo below) you can add some little doodling if you like.

Pick a stamp from the Autumn Leaves “Ticketed” stampset that suits your photo. I picked “Pure Beauty”. Stamp onto white cardstock, cut out and edge with ink if you like. Stamp the oval journaling stamp from the “Whimsical Frames” stampset, also into white cardstock. Colour in some parts and edge with ink if you like.

Now grab your layout background. Cut a piece of Dark Tangerine cardstock measuring 16x22 cm. Use your scalloped scissors or punch on the top edge only. Edge with ink. Glue level with the left side of your layout and about 1,5 cm from the bottom.

Add your photos. Again level with the left side. My bottom photo starts 3 cm above the bottom edge of the layout. The second photo goes straight above this. Cut a piece of the tangerine ribbon with the house & flowers measuring 19 cm. Glue this level with the left edge of the layout and across the join of your photos.

Take your “Ticketed” stamped image and glue in place overlapping the bottom photo – just a little in from the right edge of the photo. Cut two pieces of the fabric paper. One measuring 3x5 cm and the other 4,5x 7,5. Attach the small piece along the top edge of your layout and about 2 cm in from the left edge. Attach your other piece overlapping your photo and ribbon a bit. Mine’s 9 cm from the bottom edge and 3,5 cm from the right edge of the layout. Write your journaling on your stamped block and attach this to your layout (see photo below for placement). Also add your handmade funky flowers (again see photo below for placement suggestion).

Finally finish off with some optional staples and a doodled black & white swirl (or perhaps use a swirl stamp instead if you wish?)

I hope you enjoyed my class! Wishing you lots of fun creating your own version!

Got some catching up to do...

Been out shopping all day today and only just got in (well we didn't really end up buying anything, just some food etc) and we're exhausted - the shops were soooo busy even though it's a Thursday! I guess it must be the sales...

I've got some catching up to do with having been away over Christmas and New Year (yes, maybe not something that is the most clever thing to "advertise" on your blog *before* you leave) on my Christmas journal. I have kept notes all the time and hope to start working on it tomorrow a bit.

Supplies for the layout above: Bazzill cardstock, A2Z papers, Hambly transparency, October Afternoon and Autumn Leaves stamps, Junkitz brads/anchors, SEI big brad and stickers etc

New Class...

My latest class is now on-line :) Please head over to A Trip Down Memory Lane to see step-by-step instructions and photos on how to create a Christmas layout using stash from the Noel collection by "Love Elsie".

2008...

So...a new year - let's hope it's a great one! :) And I hope you all had a great time/night yesterday - we certainly did. I feel a little tired this morning...but I guess that's only really how it should be LOL!

Back to my Christmas journal and the page I did for the 22nd of December: The subject was to write about what was still on your "to do" list for Christmas. Fortunately we were quite up-to-date so we didn't have much left to do to be ready - so I wrote about that.

Supplies for my page are: Scenic Route papers, sticker and chipboard plus a little foam gingerbread man by American Crafts.