Trends on Tuesday - The Grid

A popular page layout for including lots of photos is the grid which I used for this page.  I had loads of photos from the Para Olympics last year and wanted to mix a whole load on one page rather than just using a few pictures on each page, so the grid works really well for this.

I roughly divided my page in 6, though all my elements are kept fairly central on the page.  I used lots of my offcuts of the Glitz Cashmere Dame papers (which are here).  When I built each square (or rectangle really) I tried to add little details, such as the top right one has a butterfly, some ribbon and a washi covered wood veneer, I did this for each square trying to add elements that would draw your attention and just working on each section one at a time.  I also had a go at an ombre effect on one of the mistable thicker feathers (there are other shapes from this range here) using 2 different shades of mist.

So if you have lots of photos on one topic than see if the grid method works for you too - you could even spread it out over a couple of pages if you have lots of photos.

Cards on Sunday - Good Luck Rosette Card

So, as I have been making quite a few cards lately I thought I would start a little blog feature to post the cards and some info about them. It might be every Sunday, maybe every other Sunday, we'll see!

So this week I am going to share a Good Luck card I have made for my Uncle.

Some of our retreat goers will be familiar with Uncle Rodney, husband of Helen and often ATDML retreats airport taxi transfer service provider! Uncle Rodney is also a local councillor on the Isle of Wight.

Rather unusually (based solely on my own experience) he actually takes it very seriously and works extremely hard to help all of his constituents (do you have those in council wards or is that just for MPs?) and often when I ring he is out at someones house helping them to resolve some sort of problem.

Anyway, May 2nd is Council Election day and I wanted to send him a card to wish him luck as he stands hoping to be re-elected.

 

I made the background out of some Bo Bunny double dot in latte and kraft Bazzil cardstock. The rosette matches the colours of his rosette (he is an Independant candidate) and is made with the Tim Holtz sizzix die. I punched out the circles and made the ribbons from the black and cream cardstock. Strangely in my collection of stamps I couldn't find a Good Luck stamp anywhere, howeve rI had the October Afternoon Mini Market alphabet stickers in black and cream which matched the colour scheme and did the job. Finally, during my stamp hunt I did find the "You Make A Difference" stamp which I used as it seemed so appropriate!

Glitz Uncharted Waters Layout

I really loved the Glitz Uncharted Waters range which was released at CHA in January and have been waiting for a chance to sit and play with them.

 

On Sunday evening I finally got around to using them :)

 

I scrapped this photo taken on our first cruise with the children 4 years ago. Inspired by Katherines love of distressing I took the edge of a pair of scissors to some of the papers and tore some of the edges. I wanted to add a little more interest to my background so added a little random stamping using a grid stamp and then used a roller stamp and a versa mark pen to add some chevrons and a sunburst pattern which I clear embossed.

 

Up Lifted

Do you ever scrap lift?  I do at times when I want a quick scrap fix and haven't the time to do my usual shuffling of paper and embellishments.

I was spending time at the weekend deleting things from my computer and I came across this layout.  I can't remember where I got the photo from but really liked the simplicity of the design.

So I used the absolutely gorgeous Vintage Bliss range, a piece of black card, a piece of turquoise swiss dot card a pack of Prima e-line flowers and some pearls, a couple of butterfly punches and a title cut with my silhouette (oh how I love that little machine) and I had my version of the layout.  I switched the circles for hearts,

 

   changed the position of the clusters of embellishments and

put the title at the top of the page and added a few more flowers and butterflies

but I think my version is fairly true to the origional.

A layout that I really like made in an hour and my scrapping fix was fixed!

Weekend Scrapping

This weekend DH has been away on a boys' trip to watch football. Yesterday I took the girls to the local park to enjoy the sunshine and then for a spot of lunch. We went home in the afternoon and they headed straight outside to play. Never one to miss a brief window of peace and quiet I made a beeline for my scrapping desk!

I made two layouts (started in the afternoon and finished when the children were finally in bed and asleep) both using the My Minds Eye Lost & Found Union Square base pages I had created a while back when I did Shimelles Perfect Collection class.

I love how quickly things came together and now I have two more layouts for the albums. They are both featuring Isagelle but I am sure that I will manage some Olivia layouts sometime soon!

Websters Composition and Color with a Sunburst :)

Hi everyone.  I loved the retreat (despite loosing my voice half way through!!) and managed to finish all my pages on Sunday (I did have to finish one off at home, but that didn't take long).  Here is my 1st  class using the beautiful Composition and Color line from Alison Kreft at Websters Pages - there are so many beautiful products in this range I found it hard to choose between them!

For the class we had a go at the popular starburst design.  I used some acetate for one of the rays and we did some cutting and layering behind that too.  We added lots of distressed layers, and also had a go at a fan fold flower, as they aren't too girly! I mixed up the alphabets and  used some lovely Studio Calico wood veneers to highlight the title, and a websters envelope to store the journalling.

If you did the class and have a photo of the classes you did then post a link in the comments as I know we'd all love to see them.

A Retreat In Photos... The Challenges

Here are a few photos of the challenges winners from the weekend....

First up is the sketch challenge. The ladies had the sketch below to use as a guide for their layout.

Our winner Lynne made alayout featuring the New York Hotel at Disneyland Paris. We loved her layout and interpretation of the sketch.

Next up we have the card challenge. There are no rules to this challenge, just make a card for any occassion. We really liked the tape on Janes lovely Thanks card - we liked it even more when she said it was for her Dad who treated her to her weekend away! What an awesome Dad!

 

One of our ever present challenges has been the mystery kit challenge. Like the UKS Cyber Crop we have a mystery kit of items we supply and a set list of allowable add ons. What the delegates create with this is up to them.

 

 Sarah added a sheet of red cardstock to add a brighter colour and created this free standing frame. We loved the 3D aspect of this project.

Last retreat we had an Abba challenge where the ladies had to create a layout inspired by one of Abbas top 20 selling UK Singles. IT was so popular that we decided to ressurect it this time but as a Beatles challenge.

Jackie won this challenge with this lovely layout inspired by the song "I want to hold your hand"

A popular challenge is our Alter That challenge. Delegates were given a small plain box to alter and as always the creations were varied and featured a Grandfather Clock, a chair, boxes with mini books and this little cat house which used the metal embossing techniques learned in Janes Friday night class.

and here is a close up of Tinas Cat House.

 

I hope you enjoyed a peek at the challenges from the retreat weekend. I will be sharing more photos including some make n take activities and of course the lovely classes.

Simple Stories 24/Seven

This time last week we were in full swing at the retreat with the first day of classes over but with plenty more to come! I had taught my first class of the weekend which was two layouts using Simple Stories 24/Seven papers.  The first page was based on this paper and the ever popular hexagons that we see so often on pages these days.

As part of this class we also made the twine/cork button flowers which I also taught as a quick make and take on the Sunday.

My second page using the same 24/Seven paper collection was based on this paper from Simple Stories Vintage Bliss collection. I loved the layout of  the page elements and wanted to create it with 24/seven colours and a little more dimension.

And here was my page based on using this paper as a guideline for a layout design, perfect to house photos of my family of five but you could use the design as a multi-photo page of a single event or similar shots of one person too, perhaps pulling a range of quirky faces?! 

Both pages also feature a couple of other papers from this collection and the rather lovely chipboard stickers too which can be found HERE in the shop.

Retreat-tastic

Last weekend was spent enjoying the wonderful surroundings at the Stoke By Nayland Golf Hotel at the  ATDML Spring retreat.
We had some fabulous classes from the talented team as always. We sampled making flowers,glimmer misting,playing with hexagons,metal embossing,stamping on acetate,to name just a few techniques that Mel,Karen,Jane,Debbie,Ann and Katherine came up with.
Here are a few photos from the weekend.
This is my little sign that I have arrived and the weekend of fun starts...the lovely welcoming fire....

           Yummy evening buffet

One of the many challenges over the weekend,this was the scraplift challenge.

Lunch 

Some of the ladies happily scrapping 

and as always the shop was stocked with all the latest lovely new ranges, Crate Paper ,Simple Stories, Snap journal pages  and the delicious new Maggie Holmes papers.

Hurry up next one !!