NAS # 162 - Painted

Monday has crept up on me again, and for once I am glad to see it! The past week I have been battling a cold which really knocked the stuffing out of me. I have been working all weekend, and tonight is my last shift until Thursday. So I am glad it is Monday!

Another reason to be glad it is Monday - a new sketch up at Nuts About Sketches

This is a photo of Jemma, after she had her face painted at 42 Sqn's 95th anniversary weekend in April. She has always enjoyed having her face painted. It was always a tiger she wanted when she was small, or a cat, but mostly a tiger. Now I sit and think that this could be the last time she will queue to have it done. She is 12. Soon she will be painting her face with make-up. My little girl is growing up.

I had a lot of fun making this page. I finally managed to get my hands on the Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers die this week, so I had a go at making some flowers.  I used Crate Paper throughout for this project. I love their papers! I rotated the sketch so I could use a portrait photo instead of the landscape that was on the sketch. 
I cut the title using SCAL2 - the first time I have used it for a title! I added a couple of Prima roses to the handmade ones, and handcut a couple of leaf sprigs out of paper I had stamped and embossed, using a Papertrey Ink stamp.

Please head across to the blog, and see what the rest of the design team have been creating!

TTFN



xxxx

Nuts about Sketches 161 - Rotorua

Monday is here to greet us once more - I can't believe how quickly this year is flying by!

Time for another gorgeous sketch designed by Shawn Lahr at Nuts About Sketches. This week is a 2 pager, and I loved working with this one!

These are photos Mark took when he first visited Rotorua in New Zealand. We went back as a family a couple of months later. Mark visited a lot more of the geothermal sites in the city - there are puddles of bubbling mud and steam all over the place. Every so often a new one pops up, sometimes in the middle of a park or even in someones back yard! It truly is an amazing place to visit, even if it does smell like day old egg sandwiches... The sulphur smell is hard on the nose at first, but you soon get used to it!

I kept a pretty simple colour scheme on this layout - lots of kraft, with a touch of green. I used my fern stamp again, stamping with Verdigris Catseye ink onto kraft card, heat embossing with clear embossing powder, and then handcut the leaf shapes out. I made some flowers using 2 sizes of retro flower punch, some thin white card and Walnut Stain distress ink.

I added a metallic green brad as a centre. Here is a close up pic - I didn't realise I hadn't rotated it until after upload... oopsie!!!

The patterned paper is from K&Co. I cut the title from brown funky foam using my Sizzlits Chunkadelic alphabet dies.

Please head over to the Nuts About Sketches blog, for the sketch and to see what the rest of the Design Team have created this week!

TTFN


xxxx

A scrappy Sunday...

... to end a great weekend! Mark and I had a great night out at the wedding reception - catching up with friends, doing a spot of dancing on the dancefloor, and watching old friends relive days gone by. Add into that a stunning bride, some very cute bridesmaids and the sight of men in kilts, and it truly was the best night out we have had in a long time!

Today, Mark and Tom went to walk along part of the Dava Way, whilst Jemma was on day 2 of her camping/hiking adventure. And me, well today was local crop day, so I spent most of the day playing with pretty paper, drinking tea, chatting and eating cake. Bargain! Erika had set us a crop challenge, to make a scrapbook page using a sketch she chose from the May 2011 PageMaps. Not so much of a challenge for me as a scrapbooker, but we have a good number of cardmakers come to the crop, so it really was a challenge for some of them who had never done a page before. The pages were fantastic, everyone had there own take on the sketch.
This was my offering...

Tom, dressed up as Sully from Monsters, Inc. This was the first time he went trick or treating, and he was a big hit! Everyone commented on how cute he was, and he came home with a big haul of goodies!

I used just one piece of patterned paper and one sheet of cardstock to make this layout. The paper is Scenic Route - Metropolis Scrap Strip 3. I love the multi patterned papers. And they were perfect for this sketch. The bunting is Maya Road chipboard, painted with Making Memories paint, and topped with some patterned paper and epoxy stickers from Paperchase. I used a notebook paper border punch, and a stitching template from Bazzill, and finished off with the title made using Scenic Route chipboard letters.

This past week has been great fun for me - pampering and playing - although I have learned a few lessons along the way...

• Next time you decide to have a spray tan, make sure you book it on your day off.... Going to work and continuing to turn a deeper shade of brown tends to freak out both customers and members of staff...
• False nails do not help you when you are trying to take the backing off double sided tape. In fact they are a complete hinderance...
• Make sure that the dress you wear next time you get a spray tan is not dry clean only...
• Changing your shoes at the last possible moment was in fact the correct decision. Pretty shoes can also be pretty impractical...

TTFN



xxxx

Catching up....

.... with family, work, friends, and just life in general this week. It's amazing how much having visitors come to stay can knock your whole routine out of whack, so I've been trying to get back to normal, whatever that may be...  I have a few treats lined up for the rest of the week - a bit of pampering, some beautification, a night out with my bloke, and to round it all off, an afternoon crafting, chatting and eating cake with friends.

I also have a bit of catching up to do with regards to sharing some layouts...  Last week, there was a new sketch every day over at Nuts About Sketches, to celebrate the 3rd Birthday of the blog.

Here is my layout for sketch #4

The photos are from a canoe trip Mark and the kids took with his best friend and kids. They both had a Canadian canoe, and paddled down the River Spey from Kingussie to Loch Insh.

Next up is the layout I did for sketch #5



Mark took these photos when he went to watch the All Blacks play France at Eden Park in Auckland. I was so jealous when he told me. I was brought up watching Rugby Union, and my Dad was a referee at a local amateur leve;, and I spent many Saturday afternoons on the touch line watching him. I would have given my right arm to watch a International Test, and maybe my left arm as well to watch the All Blacks play. His seats were on the try line, and he got a great view of the game. He said the Haka was just amazing - it really is a different experience seeing a Haka in the flesh rather than on the TV.

I used a couple of stamps I purchased in New Zealand on this layout - the fern leaf looks better in real life, I stamped it with white ink and then embossed it with clear embossing powder before handcutting round it.

Then there was the layout for sketch #6

These photos have been knocking around my desk for a while - I took them while we were on holiday in North Wales in 2004. We visited a woodland adventure park, not unlike our own Landmark in Carrbridge. There were plenty of activities to do, mostly involving wood! These wooden stilts were fun, although the kids were just a little bit wee to actually use them by themselves, so Daddy helped them.

The final sketch #7. This was a 2 page sketch, but I just took the lefthand side of the sketch, and I also flipped it horizontally to make it work with my photos.



These are photos taken at the Gravelpit Pond in Culbin Forest. We like to go there to see the tadpoles, and there are usually millions of them. Later on in the year the fully formed frogs go back into the forest, and you can watch them slowly navigate across the trails. You really have to watch your step!

I cut the frog out of a scrap of BasicGrey paper, and fixed it to the layout using sticky pads. I added some handstitching to look like hopping, although it didn't really turn out the way I had hoped....

There is still time to enter a layout for the Scrapping Spot kit - the competition closes at midnight on Saturday 14th (the midnight between the 14th and 15th). All the details are on the blog :)

So now to this week. Monday was the usual reveal for the Nuts About Sketches weekly sketch, and this week was sketch #160

These are photos of Tom learning to fire a catapult at Millbuies Loch.

I finally got to use my die cut piece of Making Memories paper that I have been hanging on for what seems like an age! I handcut some stamped leaf sprigs, made some flowers, inked a canvas flower, and did lots of distressing with my CTMH distressing tool. I even managed to get a doily in there LOL. Not a very manly layout...LOL.

Check out what the rest of the Design Team did with the sketch!!

The night out with my bloke I mentioned earlier, is actually an evening wedding reception of 2 of our friends. So I made a card....

I kept it nice and simple - I hear that "less is more" is quite the fashion these days LOL. I took inspiration from my good friend and crafting buddy (who is extremely talented and an expert muffin baker to boot) Erika who was making a gorgeous white with a hint of black card at our last crop. I raked through my Cuttlebug embossing folders, and found one that looked nice and wedding-y. I added a few little jewels, a bit of black ribbon, and a sentiment. You can't beat black and white for a wedding...

TTFN

xxxx

Bookworm

Hello!!!!  As today is the 7th, it's time again for my reveal over at Sassy Lil' Sketches! I had a lot of fun with the sketch this month, and actually got a lil' bit messy with some paint - got to get out of the comfort zone now and again...!!

This months sponsors are:

Digital Delights by Louby Loo



Ippity stamps

This is my layout using the sketch. Photos of Tom reading a book on the beach at Findhorn. He loves to read - he can sit and read a book cover to cover, and would do so all day if you let him. This day, he got cold going in and out of the water, so he just sat on a towel and read a book.

I decided that I needed to jazz up the white background, so used a Donna Downey foam stamp and some Making Memories paint. I stamped directly onto the cardstock, and then stamped 2 more stems onto spare cardstock and then handcut them out and added to the layout with foam pads for some dimension. I also dry brushed some paint onto the cardstock to add some texture. That was the really scary bit!! 

The papers I used are October Afternoon (red pattern) and BasicGrey (blue, yellow and block red). The border was done with a Martha Stewart punch. I made a little lollipop flower from the papers, crumpling the circles first and distressing the edges with my distressing tool. I added a fabric brad to hold it together.  The title is done with American Craft Lullaby Thickers, coloured in with a Canary ProMarker to make them a brighter yellow.

Please head over to the Sassy Lil' Sketches blog to see what the rest of the 7th Sassies did with the sketch, and to get the details on what you can win if you play along with us this month!

Don't forget that there is the Sassy Lil' Card sketches blog too, and they have a new sketch revealed today!! Head on over to see what they have been up to!

I promise to be back tomorrow with the rest of this weeks birthday layouts that I didn't get round to posting - whooops!!!

TTFN

xxxx

Nuts About Sketches - BOGOF....

Well, maybe not Buy one get one free, but over at Nuts About Sketches we have 2 new sketches for you today - the usual Monday sketch plus a birthday celebration sketch!!!

First up is sketch 159, our usual Monday sketch. This week was a two-pager, but I chose to use the right hand page of the sketch to create my layout this week.

Photos were taken at DisneyLand Paris in October 2006. Mark is well known for his extreme rides, so a ride on the Teacups is not as sedate as you may think. Many a time I have gotten off a teacup style ride and felt green. He always takes things to the extreme...

I used My Mind's Eye glittered papers on this layout, with Bazzill Cardstock. The title is done with American Craft Thickers, and I made the tea cup using a Spellbinders Nestabilities circle die, and just chopped off the top and bottom to create a cup shape.

Next up, is the 3rd special Birthday Celebration sketch.

I used photos from Mark's Longlook trip in 2007. This is the Agrojet. It is awesome. I know, as I have had a go on this too!!!

I used a Scenic Route strip paper on this layout, love how you can get so many different designs on one piece of 12x12 paper! I also added a bit of corrugated cardboard, and a few circles and buttons. The title is a mix of Papermania raw chipboard, and Heidi Swapp chipboard letters. I painted the raw chipboard, and then added some Frosted Lace stickles. I also painted a raw Maya Road chipboard circle, and then added a back to it with kraft card. I then filled in the star shape with small buttons and Glossy Accents.

Don't forget to join in with us this week, for every layout you upload on the blog using one of this weeks sketches, you get your name put into the draw for the May kit from The Scrapping Spot! So come over and play, you know you want to!!


This month I have also been lucky enough to get work published in 2 online magazines! You can find me here and here at Scrapbooking.com, and also here at ScrapStreet. I was speechless when I found out. Especially when all of my projects used heritage photos - not really old ones, but my parent's wedding, and a photo of my father-in-law from the 1980s!

TTFN



xxxx

Nuts About Sketches birthday celebration - day 2

Welcome to day 2 of Nuts About Sketches birthday celebration!! Shawn has done another great sketch for today, and here is my layout based on it.



I love, love, love this sketch! I had lots of fun doing it, and also I just can't stop singing when I see the title....!

These are photos of my parents, when they came to visit a couple of years back. We all went for a walk around Culbin forest, and we stopped at the Gravelpit pond to look for wildlife, and tadpoles. I love that I captured both my parents in quiet moments. My Dad, with his camera, and my Mum just looking into the pond.

I used more scraps for this page - all the patterned paper is from Jillibean Soup. Some is from the Minestrone collection, but the majority is from the Pasta Fagioli collection. I used corrugated cardboard from a pizza box as a frame for the page. The title is done with BasicGrey chocolate chipboard letters. I added a couple of buttons, and a doodled border using a white pen, and called it finished.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the Design Team's work today over on the blog, and find out how you can win a beautiful kit from The Scrapping Spot by playing along with us this week.

It really is turning out to be a great Bank Holiday weekend weather wise up here in the Highlands. Yesterday was perfect, with a lovely breeze. The In-Laws arrived for a visit last night, so we are hoping to get out and about for a walk later on.

TTFN


xxxx