Finding a Pattern

Blogging for scrapbookers - Prompt 9

Prompt 9 of Shimelle’s Blogging for Scrap bookers is about patterns for your scrapping / blogging. I have to say I don’t really work to any pattern, I scrap or blog an event as and when it occurs, and when I have the time. I was interested to read about the mother of four whose children keep track on which of them had been scrapped the most. The children think the number of pages about each child related to the measure of their mother’s love for each of her offspring. As a result she has to work to a pattern of each of the four children to keep them all happy. I’m glad to say my three, despite all being born on the same day do not feel this sibling rivalry and appear to take delight in any page I create. They often join in with opinions and ideas of their own now they are older. My three children all do very different activities in their spare time. My son, Andrew does not really like having his photo taken and his favourite sport for much of his school life has been swimming. Sadly we are not allowed to take photographs in the public swimming pools any more, so much of his progress and achievements have gone unrecorded by the camera, or scrapbook page. (The layout shows
Andrew baking at 3 - class by Paper Maze Scenic Route papers)


My daughter Catherine does lots of dancing and performing arts, and I make a lot of her costumes. We always have a photo shoot at home and there are often opportunities to take pictures back stage. In addition there are always the official photographs to buy. Catherine also enjoys having her photo taken at every opportunity when dressed up for an evening out, fancy dress and just for fun with or without her friends. Most of these can be found on her Facebook.

My other daughter Emily was also a dancer until a few years ago, but she gave up in favour of her other time consuming activities. There are always many pictures of her to scrap, if not as many as there are of Catherine. Emily is a keen photographer herself, so I have a ready supply of her pictures to scrap too. (Layout shows Emily's obsession with Jessie from Toy Story, Cosmo Cricket papers.)

As I said the children have never really scored points on how many pages I scrap of each of them, although I do try to keep this in mind. I like to scrap an event when it is new and fresh. I am also enjoying scrapping treasured old family photos of my own childhood as I have discovered them. I am in the process of scanning all the old slides my father took backs in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. I plan to put these on discs for all the family who would remember these events as a little extra Christmas present. I’m also wading through scanning g all the colour negatives Alan and I have taken over the years (and that’s a big task!).
(Layout shows Christmas 1964 photos from slide, Basic Grey Papers)

Another source of photos, making my scrapping random, is the family history and tree building I have been involved in this last year or so. This has been very successful and I have been adding to my collection of photographs from some new found distant family members. I may have traced my family back to 1584 and my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, Grandfather William Banks. Apparently he was employed to recruit sailors for the navy at the time of the Spanish Armada. I wonder if that make him part of a press gang! I may have traced my family tree back to the 1500’s but of course the oldest photos I have are around the late 1800’s. This delightful photo is of my great grandfather Robert Ephgrave, this is an old LO I made at a Scrapaholix retreat some years ago with Scenic Route Papers.


Talking of patterns to scrapping, I did more regular scrapping when I was involved in the Mojo Holders DT. This gave me a good excuse to get scrapping weekly, and because it involved using a sketch I would scrap what was most appropriate. For example through the summer I scrapped a lot of photos from my daughter’s latest dance show. (Layout shows A dance competition and Basic Grey papers.)


I have note books full of scribbles and sketches of my own ideas. I usually use this method of planning scrapbook pages when I am away from home and the Internet. I spend time planning out what I want to scrap when I return from holiday. The example below is from a trip to Venice while staying in Lake Garda a few years ago.
(Layout shows St Marks Square and more Basic Grey.)

Reading today’s prompt I was wondering about developing a pattern to my thoughts for blog entries and scrapping. Maybe a ‘Basic Grey Thursday’ as this is by far my favourite range of papers. I could maybe invite others to scrap from a sketch derived from my LO each week, or maybe monthly would be a little less ambitious and a better place to start! I used to use follow the challenge of creating a page from the Pencil Lines sketch weekly, and more recently have used the Page Maps when I need some inspiration myself. I will check out all the useful links in Shimelle’s prompt when I get more time.

I was interested to read about the lady who blogged a message to her twin daughters weekly as
it reminded me of when my triplets were small. I have up writing my diary as I was rather busy with the babies and started photographing every event along the way – then when the prints dropped through the letterbox, I would choose the best shots and put them in an album, with written comments on who, what, when, and where. A few years later I discovered scrapbooking and the rest is history as they say! There were no digital cameras or Internet in when the triplets were born 17 years ago. We did however own a BBC computer, which had been invaluable to me in my studies and work as a nurse tutor before the children came along. It certainly helped me with my dissertations, while others were paying to have their work typed up for them I was able to do my own and make changes as I needed to.
(A layout recreating the front page of J. Wilson's Double Act with Bazzill and the Cricut.)

Drawing from all this is my undeveloped plan of having a regular feature on the blog called something along the lines of ‘Blast from the Past’. This would be a series of entries with words and layouts about the photos I am discovering from my past, as I find and scrap them. If you are still with me – congratulations! This turned into a very long blog entry indeed. Shimelle has truly succeeded in getting the thought processes going. Watch this space in 2010 for some regular features – once I have decided what they will be!

I will Survive!

This was another layout I had prepared for the Mojo Holders Blog.
My version shows Catherine dressed to dance to 'I will survive' for the Disco Inferno Show last summer.



I used Basic Grey papers with felt flowers and Thickers for the title.
The layout we were scrap lifting was created by Kari Ann Sweeny and here is her layout:

Blogging!

I started this blog back in May, I had been considering the idea for some time. I loved the work of Wendy, Karen, and the Paper Maze blog and the Mojo Holder blog. I was talking to Linda who had also decided to start a blog and this encouraged me to put my blog thoughts and ideas into action. So initially I learnt a lot about blogging from her. There are so many excellent blogs out there. So little by little I have picked up ideas and knowledge about managing my blog from the many other talented crafty bloggers over the months. I especially liked Wendy's ideas of making a blog header by hand, scrapbook style, so started off by trying this myself. Was thinking the other day I may make a new on soon and have a bit of a change.

Learn Something New Every Day

Today is about learning from others.

I have learnt a lot about computers, blogs, the internet etc. through starting a blog a few months ago, thanks to all my crafty blogging friends.

Crop

Had a really Lovely day at Jill's Crop today (Cardinal Colours), surrounded by great friends and so many shades and varieties of Bazzill Basics Card stock it's unbelievable. I was able to buy the two most recent collections from Basic Grey.



I love both the new ranges now in my stash. Eskimo Kisses and Indian Summer. I also had the Basic Grey newsletter delivered into my email box today and need to take a closer look, but love the sketch for this month.



All these papers are so versatile. The Eskimo Kisses may be for Christmas but there are many papers in the collection which could be used at other times too. Both colour ranges are beautiful. Can't wait to get started on these papers.




While at Jill's crop I worked on a LO for the Mojo holder and am pleased to be a few weeks ahead in case I get help up one week with work and family things. It was a LO of my great nephew, Oliver. However it will be about two weeks before I can share that one. I also did another LO for the Hollywood Album - I know I said it was finished but this completes the blank back page of the album, and Shows Catherine in Hollywood itself. She (along with all the dancers) was not able to go earlier in the week, as she had dance lessons. So we arranged to take them all there on the last morning before our flight home. We couldn't take the girls all the way to LA and not take them to Hollywood!! I still have some photos from Disney and Universal which I may scrap and add to this album later.

I used a Scrapahloix kit from last year, one of the 'second kits of the month' the papers are from Making Memories 'Passport range. The letter stickers are from Marjoline Bastine.

I also started on a third LO today which I will finish off at home, this one is for baby Hannah.

Learn Something New Every Day: (LO to follow)

Today I learnt (or should I say was reminded) that I have a wonderful circle of scrapbooking friends who meet at Jilly's once a month. It may take an hour and a half to drive to Jill's, but it is well wort the time and effort every month.

My addiction to Basic Grey continues with the latest papers.

It's good to finally get around to using a kit I purchased a year ago!

Getting ahead with the Mojo Holder LO's is always a rewarding feeling.

Mojo - Kelly Goree

My lay out (above) is for Mojo Holder Challenge 122.
Please pop over the the Mojo Blog and welcome this weeks guest the fantastic Kelly Goree. Kelly is best known as a fabulous designer for Basic Grey (BG). If you would like to see more of Kelly's Brilliant paper crafting please visit her blog Behind the Pages. Kelly is one of my favourite designers and uses my favourite papers too. See more of the design team's takes on Kelly's lay out (left) by visiting the mojo holders blog.

The sketch:

For my lay out I used a photo of me and my son at our niece, Heather's wedding in 2007. A rare affectionate moment shared with Andrew deserved a page of it's own in the wedding album. When I look at this photo I realise how much his appearance has changed in the last two years - the difference between fifteen and seventeen is amazing!


I used BG Phoebe papers for the background, tags and weaving papers. Using a combination of 12 x 12" and 6 x 6" papers. I added a lot of brads from too many different companies mention!

I started by cutting all my strips 1.5 cm wide, and inking all the edges. I worked the vertical strips by sticking them with reposition-able Herma just at the top of each strip. Then worked in the horizontal strips, varying the distance between the strips. Again I stuck these just at one end (the left). These were carefully woven in amongst the vertical strips.
I cut the ends of the strips off so the lengths were randomly different as in Kelly's original design.

Once happy with the weaving, I added two rows of machine stitching around three sides of the page. Then I arranged my photo and the tags (cut from papers, using one of the tags in the collection pack as a template).

The dark grey letter stickers were from an artist called Marjoline Bastine (I'm not sure who makes them). The pink letters were American Crafts Thickers. A whole mixture of different coloured brads (to match the papers) were added one to each end of the woven strips.

The flower and tree stickers are Disney Princess by Sandylion, stuck to scraps of Phoebe papers and either added directly to the page or raised with 3d foam pads.

Don't forget to check out the Mojo Holders Blog for more challenges.

Mr Toad

Week 121 for the Mojo Holder Blog and the guest designer is Micayla Metcalf. Please read more about Micayla on her own blog and also on the Mojo Holder blog. My layout shows our friend Steve outside church just after the wedding of his eldest daughter Helen back in 2004. From this day he acquired the nickname ‘Mr Toad’ we have never seen him dressed up like this in all the many years we have known each other! (In fact only one other time since this day, more recently, for his younger daughter’s wedding last year).

This photo shows the street where they live in the quaint fishing village of Beer, in Devon.I used My Mind’s Eye papers, the background is Deena’s Penny Lane, and the other sheet is double sided and I have used both sides – Trés Jolie, Mademoiselle “Mother”. More American Craft Thickers alphabet stickers, this time in a vinyl finish. The tiny letters are Making Memories, brown ledger, tiny alphas. The ‘Once Upon A Time’ was cut on the Cricut, inked and mounted on a scrap of the MME paper. A wide variety of blossoms were attached with Paper Mania pearl brads. I have not worked on the album for some time, so it’s good to get another page completed. Micayla’s origins original layout and the sketch:

Challenge 120

This weeks guest is the very talented Jennifer Mcguire and we are really excited that she agreed to be part of Mojoholder this week. Jennifer is a Garden Girl at Two Pea's in a Bucket and is also a member of the Hero Arts Design Team. Jennifer's blog features lots of inspirational video tutorials and 'how to's', it can be viewed here.
Jennifer's delightful Layout:

Here is the sketch:



This week I picked a photo of my daughter, Emily from the photo shoot again, I have so many lovely pictures of this occasion to choose from. I printed one out A4 and trimmed it down to fit the page like Jennifer’s large picture. Then I printed lots of small contact prints of Emily in the same outfit, but different poses.

My Layout:

I used Basic Grey again this week, from the Scarlet’s letter line. I used both 12x12” and 6x6” papers. To create the film strip effect I used the Sizzlet extra long film strip die, and adjusted the sections to fit the photos! To embellish I used Prima’s Say it with Crystals in black. A custom made rubber stamp was used for the journalling block and punched the scalloped circle and the inner circle for the initial plate with Stampin’ Up punches. The title is made with Making Memories ‘Destination’ rubons and a white gel pen for ‘PHOTO’, and Me & My Big Ideas Monograms rubons for the word ‘SHOOT’. Be sure to check out the Mojo Holder Blog for more information and ideas from the rest of the team.

Love to Love!

This is week 119 for the Mojo Holder Blog and the guest designer is dutch born Marjolein Bussink who now lives and scraps in Canada. Marjolein's blog can be seen here.
It's my fifth week on the design team, and I am really enjoying the challenge of coming up with a layout each week. Here is my LO followed by Marjolein's LO and the sketch:



I used a photo of my daughter, Catherine dressed for this Summer’s show ‘Disco Inferno’. One of the songs that has been going round and round in my brain since I saw the show at the end of June became the title for my page. Tina Charles "Oh I love to love but my baby just loves to dance”. Thing is, I remember when it was in the charts. Catherine doesn't even know who that is! I wanted a retro feel to go with the 70’s outfit, and was surprised to find just what I wanted in Basic Grey’s Bittersweet collection. I made a file folder and added a sticker from the Elements sheet for the date of the show. The flowers are cut from felt using the Big Shot. The shiny flower centers are stickers from Paperchase who have a lovely new range in silver, orange, turquoise, pink and purple. (I do hope they bring back the primary range too some time.) The small pink letter stickers are old ones from my stash made by Colorbök. The Puffy white letters are Thickers Chit Chat from American Crafts.

Please visit the Mojo Holder Blog for inspiration from the rest of the team. Have a go yourself and let us know on the blog.

Bounce!

This weeks guest designer on the Mojo Holder blog is Kay Rogers.
Kay designs for Fancy Pants Designs, Sassafras Lass, Scrap Supply and Provo Craft.
To the left are Kay's original design and the sketch.

Above is my version showing all three of my children on a giant bouncy castle. The photos were taken at an open day at a Vauxhall Garage in Dartford back in 1999. I dug out some Basic Grey 'Colour Me Silly' papers as the colours were just right. I had first thought that the 'June Bug' or ' Lime Rickey' were going to work, but this was a better match. I uses Some swirls and a frame from a couple of different sets of Technique Tuesday
FUNdamental sets. These were inked with ColorBox chalk inks in cadmium yellow and lipstick red. The shiny dots are from a pack I purchased in Paperchase. The buttons are sparkly ones from Doodlebug Designs tied onto the paper with very narrow red ribbon. 'Your smiles make my heart' was printed straight onto the patterned paper. The large letters are from Making Memories. It was great fun making this layout and using such a great sketch. Please visit the Mojoholder blog to see the rest of the design teams scraplifts.

Faeries at the bottom of the garden!

On the evening of Friday 3rd July, the Mojo Holders design team published their layouts lifted from a super page by Edleen Maryam. Above is my layout using a Fancy Pants 'A Little Daydream' transparency and 'Daydreams Wish paper for the background. I used the tags and tiles sheet from the same range for the green flower and the pink heart, I cut the wings and the green heart from other sheets of PF paper using the die cut wing and heart as templates. The bracket was cut free hand from the flip side of another sheet of 'Wish' paper. Then I raised the journalling strips, bracket flower and one of the hearts with pop dots. I also used a few brads for the flower centres.

The photo is another of Emily taken by her friend Nadine at the photo

o shoot. I thought she looked like a fairy at the bottom of the garden! I took a quote from one of her favourite books by the artist Brian Froud. It reads: "Faeries are

seen not by the eyes but through the heart." Not my usual style but I did enjoy creating this one.

Here is Edleen's original layout and the sketch.

Exciting News & My first effort

I was very flattered and excited to be invited to join the Mojo Holders Design Team earlier this week. I have been busy working on my first lay out.
The talented scrapper chosen for this weeks inspiration is Nancy Van Den Berg, I have admired her work for some time. The layout selected was called '5 months' - here is her adorable lay out and the sketch, followed by my layout:

The photos I chose are of my daughter Catherine, dressed as a Spanish Dancer for one of her parts in the Disco Inferno Show - the fancy dress scene at the Bob Hope Theatre this weekend. She was trying on her costumes for a photo shoot in the garden. I can't wait for my chance to see the show tomorrow night. I have worked hard helping at the Liz Burville Performing Arts Centre with the costumes, although I have not had so much time free to help this year as I usually do.

For my layout I used a sheet of Bazzill, and a selection of Cosmo Cricket, Early Bird papers - Apron Strings, Brunch, Farmers Market and Elements. I also used AC leaf, Thickers, fabric, alphabet stickers. and a selection of blossoms and gems.

Crafting in Earth Tones

Crafting in earth tones is the challenge for today from Shimelle's Month of Colour.


Here is a layout using earthy tones with Crate Papers from two different lines - Little Sprout (Willow and Grove) and Static (Gravity and Torn) plus die cuts and rubons. I used Party Block font Sizzlets for the title. The photo shows my daughter Emily in a recent fashion photo shoot, the photographer is her friend Nadine. More of their photography can be seen on Deviant Art Web site: Nadine or Emily.

I used a sketch from the Mojo Holder Blog, number 109 designed by Lizzy Wurmann.

Symbolic Colour

Use colour in a symbolic way is was the challenge for Friday 5th June. Did not get a chance to comment then so here goes today:

White symbolizes purity and perfection, also the absolute. It is the colour most associated with sacredness, and sacrificial animals are often white. In the West brides traditionally wear white, but in Asia it is the colour of mourning. White is considered to conceal nothing and so ghosts are thought to be white. A white flag signals truce and therefore peace.

Here is the lay out I have created for Friday's challenge using the colour white (and others). I used Basic Grey's Scarlet's Letter papers, lace, paper doily, ribbon, rubons, Sizzlets Calla Lily die, letter stickers fro BG Ambrosia, and Making Memories. The photo shows me in my wedding dress with my white bouquet of Arum lilies and jasmine. I used this weeks Mojo holders sketch for inspiration. It was challenge 112 with an sketch and design by Danielle Flanders.




Here are two layouts I made a while ago, on the subject of peace.

My triplets in the local church yard after a Christingle service in 1995 when they were three years old. It had snowed lightly during the night before. I used Basic Grey Blitzen papers, and chipboard pieces for this one and a lot of clear gems.



This layout shows my daughter Emily, a little older September 2007, at the Eden Project with some very large peace Lilies. Again I used Basic Grey Lily Kate papers. A Sizzlets lily die and some Scenic Route chipboard letter tiles.

Namesake

This is another LO created using the Mojo Holder for inspiration, this is the challenge for week 103 back in March this year. I have used Basic Grey Urban Prairie Papers, in petticoat, hayfield and patchwork quilt. The shaped paper is Jenni Bowlin's Pink Label. I added gems, ribbon and son Queen and Co felt fusion (that is difficult to get the backing paper off and stuck down where you want it to go!). The sketch and design by Tammy Tutterow are shown below my LO.
The photographs are of my sister Sylvia, in the arms of her Godmother Sylvia at her Christening, St. James' Church, Elmers End, Beckenham 1962.

Tammy's original Sketch and LO:

I made two cards with the same paper range, the first uses some rubons and blossoms The second is an 8x8" Craftwork Cards Card I cut a scalloped and a plain circle with my Stampin' up punches. I added blossoms on 3D foam pads each with a brad through the centre. A small blob of white opal Liquid Pearls was added to each scallop. Happy Birthday greeting was added with a Peel Off and then I drew stitches around the edge of the yellow paper.