Rolling, rolling, rolling

Well, I'm on a roll. I have made another layout which is totally my own.  I'm trying not to use sketches so much so that I can actually feel good to say that something truly is my own.  I've recently learnt to make accordian fan flowers (if that's what they're called) and I think I have a new addiction.  They are so very easy to make (although I think I may have to purchase a score board) and you can use scraps of paper to make them. 

Here is my latest creation:

I have used Scrapagogo's fantastic October kit for this layout and I am truly in love with Crate Paper Random products.  The papers are so beautiful and coordinate brilliantly.  I've now purchased the whole Random set so that I can carry on using it.

After tidying my scrapping space so well, I thought I would show you some pictures.  The pictures make it all look very cramped but it's not so bad really.  I am very lucky to have such a space as I'm sure a lot of people end up on their laps or the dining room.

In this picture you can see my accordian fan flower attempts so far.  I love these so much.  They are very easy to make and you can get a free lesson on You Tube too.  The added bonus from making them yourself is that you can embellish them as you wish.

Thanks for stopping by xx



New Stuff

After giving my creative scrapping space a good spring clean, I just couldn't wait to sit in this area of tidiness and do just that, create.  This first one is from Shimelle's Sketch of the Week:

I love doing layouts from sketches and I've been making myself do a layout without following a sketch straight after, otherwise I think sketches can get a bit addictive.  So this layout was the one I completed straight after.

Another two layouts that I have completed recently.  This first one is also from Shimelle's Sketch of the Week back in September:

And the final one is from a Shimelle Starting Point which I think was from back in September although I'm losing track!  Erm, what did I say about sketches being addictive!

I am going to promise myself to blog more - I will, I will xx

Cardmaking

Got a bit of a cardmaking bug this week.  It's been a while since I made any cards.  I've just been doing my own birthdays at the last minute - often handing them to their recipient whilst still wet!

Anyway, here's one of the first batch.  Have a great weekend x

Scrapbooking Bliss

I seem to have found my mojo with 12 x 12 layouts which is a joy.  It's so great to be able to sit at my desk and know that I can produce something that I love.  My confidence really seems to be peeking with scrapbooking 12 x 12 layous and even crafting as a whole.  I am enjoying myself so much.

A new layout I finished last night:

Loving it, loving it, loving it xx



I'm Back

Well here I am at last!  We are, finally, good and proper married once and for all - literally! 

We had the most amazing and beautiful wedding and the whole day was just extraordinary but I have to say, now that it's all done, it's so lovely not to have to think wedding like all the time.  Also, now that I don't have loads of wedding things to complete, I can finally spend some much needed chill out time on scrapping! 

I have really enjoyed the last week - being able to sit quietly at my desk in my little corner of the study happily playing with my things.  Here is the first wedding layout that I've created so far:

We are still waiting for our wedding photos to arrive so this is one of the few photos that I have which was taken with an iPhone by one of our guests.  My printer is printing very bad quality photos at the moment, for some reason which it hasn't let me in on yet, but actually this print gave the photo a kind of antique quality that I liked so I used it anyway.  Hopefully the printer will have a quiet word with me any day soon and let me in on its secret. 

Another layout I completed at our local crop last night was using some gorgeous photographs of a weekend spent in a family member's caravan in Newquay.  I've been waiting to do a layout using these photos for a while and I used Shimelle's Sketch of the Week from 7 September which was so useful.  I hadn't followed a sketch up until this point and, I have to say, it was really helpful to have somewhere to start, although, I do think that at some point whilst following a sketch, you have to allow yourself to move off in your own artistic direction.  

I'm hoping (seriously!) to be able to add lots a lovely layouts much more often and hope to learn lots of lovely new techniques now that I have the time. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Take care, Sherrie x

Teacher's Thanks - Check!

Another job on the list completed.  I found these gorgeous Moleskine Cahier books online and they are such lovely quality that I thought once decorated they would make a great teacher's thank you gift for the end of the school year. So here you go ....

I love these so much that I couldn't bear not to have one for myself.  The inside of the book is really lovely - they are lined on cream coloured soft paper.  Really great to write on.  I don't think I mentioned that I am a huge stationery fantatic!

So anyway, that's those off the list.  Also this weekend my partner cut out 110 tags for our wedding favours so next on the list is to decorate those!  I finished the last page of my sister's wedding book so now all I've got to do is the back cover and I can tick that off the list too!  Getting there, although there are still the kids packs to complete for the wedding and the table plan!  Arrrgghhh

Sherrie xx

Time Machine Anyone?

Why is it that everything seems to happen all at once?  Not only have I still got lots of things to make for our wedding but now the school has decided it must have another holiday and, better still, I need to make teacher's gifts from the children. 

My son is starting 'big school' (although we're not allowed to call it that apparently) in September and there are so many things to organise for his new school but I also want to make sure we thank his teachers from his present school enough for giving him such a good start in his education. 

So this is the plan: buy kraft notebooks - as cheaply as possible - and decorate in a teachery kind of way! Hmmm.  Also make cards with the kids which means lots of mess whilst trying to keep my tools safe!  I love watching the kids crafting, especially as they love it so much, but I do have that little tingly worry that they'll break some of my lovely stash.  Bit selfish!

Hopefully - seeing as they break up next Tuesday - the books will have arrived soon so that I can start decorating them.  I'll post some pictures once they're looking lovely, I hope.

Sherrie xx

Isabel's Frame

Here is my newest project, although I have to say the photos don't really do justice to it.  I absolutely loved doing this frame, especially as it was as a christening gift to our friend's daughter, Isabel. 

I loved the instantness of it.  There was no inking, cutting (apart from cardstock) or sewing.  Just adhesive and imagination.  It was unbelievably speedy to produce and the outcome is truly beautiful.

I used My Mind's Eye Lime Twist which I have to say is fabulous.  The products coordinate so well together with such a brilliant end product.   I am happy to say that Isabel's parents loved the frame and it will fit into her room perfectly. 

I have been trying to sit down to do another layout, however, what with wedding favours, kids packs and table plans to complete and my son soon to be attending secondary school there is not much time left over at the moment for eating chocolate!

Watch this space!

Sherrie xx

New Project

I was blog hopping a couple of weeks ago and found a really beautiful scrapbooked multi aperture frame.  I thought what a great gift this would be and, as we have a christening coming up, it would make a lovely christening present. 

So, after searching and searching on the internet for the right kind of frame (which took forever!) and waiting for delivery of said frame, I was finally able to begin.  I was amazed and surprised at how super quick the process was.  It's not quite finished but once it is I will put some photos up.  It already looks absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait til Sunday to see what the parents of baby Isabel think of it when they open it.  It's going to suit her bedroom perfectly. 

I'm going to do another one for my sister's wedding as it's right up her street and I think it will look beautiful with her wedding pictures in it. 

Til next time,

Sherrie xx

Finally Finished

Well my first 12x12 layout is finished! 

After choosing my heart embellishment I put some glitter glue around the edges and decided I didn't like it.  So I re-cut another heart and hand stitched around the edge of it instead.  I then decided that the reverse side was better.  I really like the effect of the reverse side of stitching.  It gives a page some really lovely texture and the pattern on the other side of the paper is really nice and compliments the layout well.  I might even do a layout on the reverse of this one so that I can use the reverse of the stitching around the edge of the page border.

I'm really happy with this layout and I really can't wait to get down to doing my next one.  I've got an aperture frame to decorate as a present for a friends daughter's christening which is an idea that I've grabbed from someone else's blog although I've blog hopped so much that I can't remember who!  I'll put it on here once it's finished.

It's been absolutely stunning here in Plymouth today, so we've really been enjoying the good weather while it lasts!

Take care, Sherrie x

Nearly There

After doing all the little things that needed to be done first - visiting Granny, dinner, washing, cleaning and pyjaming children, bedding children down etc. etc. etc. - I finally managed to sit at my desk with a great sigh of relief.

Once I finished stitching my border (by hand!) I got all the bits and bobs that I might use to complete my first layout, then put those bits away and got others out.  After moving embellishments around and deciding on my layering of paper and trim, I started to put the last bits on the page.  In actual fact it all came together quite quickly and I was considerably gun-ho about it and went with my first instincts.  For instance, I decided on the title really quickly (which is good for me as titles are not my strong point) and I fairly instantly put it into place without having to move it. 

I have attempted to use Shimmer Mist in the right hand corner, although not with great success.  I think I need to be a bit more confidence with it and I need to just go for it a bit more.  I also think a bit of black mist might have gone down well but I should have planned to use the Shimmer Mist first before I put anything else on the page.

The other thing that I do need to consider on my next layout is planning.  I had an image in my head when considering this layout but definitely no plan and, even worse, nothing written down on paper.  For my next layout I am going to follow a sketch and plan my page before sticking anything down.

I am so in love with this photograph of Jack and Isabelle as they both look so happy and relaxed with each other which definitely isn't always the case.  I think brothers and sisters probably all argue like my children do but there is always that special unbreakable bond between them and there are these moments when you get to see that bond out in the open. 

Alas, the layout is still not quite finished.  I think it needs something, maybe some doodling and possibly an embellishment on the Jenni Bowlin chipboard piece.  I have seen something I'd like to make so I'll try that and see what it looks like. 

Any ideas would be very much welcomed.

Sherrie x

Life and Trials of a Wannabe Scrapbooker

How is it that life somehow always gets in your way.  I had lots of plans last night which involved sitting at my desk and happily crafting away in blissful paper heaven in order to complete my first 12x12 layout.  Oh no.  Firstly I forgot I had a netball match so, very quickly, I had to: feed kids, clean and pyjama them, return the vicar's call about hymns, ring my sickly friend and ask her kids to behave for Mummy and then briefly say hello to The Man before running out of the door. 

I did, however, get back from my netball match, totally beetroot colour in the face and clearly not breathing correctly, and I sat in bed stitching a border around the outside of my page (whilst The Kitten attacked the thread every two seconds) and, I have to say, I love it.  I've decided I've got doubts about some green card stock used to layer up a strip along the bottom of the photograph.  So I will probably spend all day at work thinking about what to do about it.  The upside to the evening was the Cadbury's Flake Allure waiting for me when I arrived home.  You need to try one of these.  They are bliss!

My question is: are layouts always going to take this long?  Although, if they do, is that just part of the process and part of getting it how you want it?  Answers on a postcard.

Whatever it is, I'm going to crack on with it.  I will get some photos of said layout on here shortly too.   

Sherrie xx

How I Got To This Place

Well what can I say, I've been too scared of myself to begin 12x12 scrapbooking!  I'm not entirely sure what it is that I've been afraid of, perhaps a combination of worrying that I'll get it wrong and worrying that the end result will be awful.

The other frustrating and excrutiating problem I have is that, whenever I have completed something, I don't like it.  Everyone around me will tell me they love it and I even loved it in the making but once it's complete, it's suddenly not good enough.

I started cardmaking when I was pregnant with my second child and instantly loved it.  I progressed and progressed and suddenly realised I would always have boxes and boxes of cards sitting around not going anywhere.  So I started to look into scrapbooking.  After buying a Bind it All I have made the odd homemade mini book and recently I have been making a memory book as a present to my sister documenting her wedding. 

I've loved doing all these things, however, I always wanted to do 12x12 pages so that I can put them into lovely albums that will keep forever and when our children are older we can all look back and not only remember using the pictures but also the words and the little souvenirs that I have kept. 

So yesterday at scrapbooking club and after receiving my June Scrapagogo Kit, I began work on my first ever 12x12 page and so far it seems a success.  I used some help from the Scrapagogo Design Team pages, who are amazing, and also some help from the girls at scrapbooking club and I am probably half way through.  The page is sitting at my desk for when I get home and I'm really excited to get there and complete it.  I've got stitching in mind as well as changing a piece of background card.  Hopefully, I won't need to change everything at the end!

This is my first blog which I have started as I wanted to be able to document this journey for myself so that I can perhaps look back and see how far I've come but also how far I still have to go. 

Thanks for visiting xx