Sticker Girl!

I love stickers, I love to layer them up, cut them up and use them in abundance.  If I were a scrapbooking super hero I think I would have to be Sticker Girl (although my husband calls me Gadget Girl but that's another story and possibly another page) and my superpower would be stickiness!

In July, Jill sent the DT some October Afternoon to work with and in my kit I had an assortment from the Public Library and Woodland Park ranges.  I was delighted to receive a beautiful Woodland Park sticker sheet and Woodland Park labels.

 

I knew I wanted to use as many as possible on one layout because they were so cute and was guided in my photo choice by the banner that said 'This is Happiness'.  I thought when are a couple of students more happy than out with their friends with a drink in their hands.

I wanted to show the stickers off to their best advantage and chose a piece of Kraft cardstock for my background and then adhered a piece of patterned paper onto my page, stuck my photo onto the middle of this and then 'stickered' to my hearts content.

 

If you were a Super Scrapbook Hero what would your name be?

As Time Goes By

We have a favourite place where we like to walk with our dogs and it seems that we always go there when it is my birthday, in February, or David's birthday, in August.  We first went there when Gracia was only 4 and at that time we had two dogs.  David took a photograph of the both of us sitting on a log and 17 years later the log is still there and each year we try to replicate the photo as best we can. 

 I used October Afternoon - Woodland Park for my layout as the colours and flowery patterns were perfect for my subject.

I added a doily and some fabric tape from my own stash a beautiful hand made resin flower that was given to me by Tina at the last retreat.

 As everyone knows I am a 'sticker girl' so of course I used the co-ordinating sets of stickers from the range to add some depth to my layout.

I am now looking forward to 2018 when I can put together a layout featuring us when Gracia was 4, 14 and 24!

New Year New You - June & July

Well, we are over half way through the year and the effects of my efforts to make a new me this year are starting to show - less weight, fitter and a calmer new me!

In June, when the weather started to heat up, I realised that I didn't drink nearly enough water during the day and this resulted in me feeling sluggish during the afternoon.  So my resolve for June was to make sure I drank much more water and less caffine based drinks.

I swapped my 'first cup of the day and last drink before bed' for a glass of water and made sure I always had a bottle of water on my desk at work.

 

July saw the biggest change so far this year - the offer of a new Job.

I am swapping a 60 minute drive to work for a 7  minute one and as I start earlier will subsequently get to leave earlier and could potentially be walking back into my house two hours earlier than I do at the moment.

 It is a dream job, one I never thought I would be offered and it comes with the challenge of learning lots of new skills over the next year - can't wait to start in September.

This year seems to be shaping up quite nicely - wonder what August will bring?

Challenge #8 - GRANGE HILL

Our last challenge for the Cybercrop takes us to GRANGE HILL.

Grange Hill was a British television drama series originally made by the BBC. The show began in 1978 on BBC1 and was one of the longest-running programmes on British Television when it ended its run in 2008, some 30 years later!

For this challenge we want you to create a school themed layout, maybe featuring a school photograph, telling the story of a new school, scrapbook a photo with a friend you have known since school, school play or sporting photos, last day of school whatever - you get the idea!!

Karen illustrates this challenge for us below using Simple Stories DIY papers.

Katherine also created an example for this challenge .

Deadline for this challenge to be shared with us and maybe in with a chance to win a prize is next Sunday July 27th  Share your pages with us in the usual way and we will see you back here at 5pm for the final class of the weekend with Mel who ends our journey on the CENTRAL LINE.

Class 15 - HIGH BARNET with Karen

I can't believe we have done 14 classes already!  Welcome to my final class of the weekend - High Barnet - my layout is called 'Big Hair' .  As soon as I saw the list of underground stations I knew exactly what photo I would use for this one.

In this class we are layering, layering and layering some more!  I always use lots of foam pads, sometimes doubling and trebling them up when I want lots of lumpyness to my page but this layout will look just as good flat.

 The bonus project is a mini album (simple to make I promise - Tracey D) which uses 6 x 4 journaling cards as the base of the page.

 Instructions can be found HERE.

You can upload your projects to our Facebook Cybercrop challenge photo album which can be found here , or post on Twitter tagging @atdml or link your shared image in the comments to this post.

So where to next after you have visited High Barnet - Ann's final class of the weekend and she is taking you to Piccadilly - see you there! 

Challenge #6 - NOTTING HILL GATE

Welcome back to day three and we start with our 6th challenge NOTTING HILL GATE. When most people think of Notting Hill it is either the famous & colourful carnival that springs to mind or the movie from the 90s starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant.

So for this challenge we are going to combine those two things and challenge you to create a colourful layout featuring a film title either as the page title or contained within your journaling.  Karen has illustrated this challenge for us in the layout below using Simple Stories.

As always you can share your creations with us if you are so inclined by leaving a link to your page in the comments below, sharing on Twitter and tagging @atdml or via our Challenge Album on Facebook which can be found here and it is filling up nicely with your challenge creations thus far!! Deadline for this challenge is next Sunday July 27th.

Next up is your first class of the day at 9am LONDON BRIDGE with Denise. Have a beautiful Sunday x

Class 9 - KEW with Karen

Hello again you lovely scrappers how is it going?  Lots of lovely pages completed?  Don't forget you can post your beautiful creations on our Facebook Cybercrop challenge photo album which can be found here , or post on Twitter tagging @atdml or link your shared image in the comments to this post.

This layout is all about cutting out flowers and placing them around your page.  If you are not a person who likes 'fussy cutting' the same effect can be achieved by using stickers or die cuts and the gold resin flowers that I have used as embellishments can be replaced with buttons. If you want to make it more masculine then use stars or cogs instead of the flowers I have used. 

The PDF instructions can be downloaded HERE.

The bonus project is instructions for making twisted cards like the ones below.

Don't forget we would love to see your finished page and I am looking forward to the next challenge which is called Seven Sisters   ;0)

Challenge #1 - WESTMINSTER

Time for challenge # 1 - at the stroke of midnight it seems only fitting that WESTMINSTER, home of Iconic London clock Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament be our destination. Many of you will know that Big Ben is actually the name of the bell within the tower rather than the clock itself but our challenge is going to focus on time not the bell (given it is midnight!)

We are setting you the challenge to use a clock on a layout, card or paper craft project for our first challenge.  Upload a link to your image in the comments field below, or share in our Facebook Cybercrop Challenges Album which can be found HERE. Select "add photo" and share your image along with the challenge number and your name. You will need to be logged on to a PC or laptop to do this as the functionality doesn't appear to be there for tablets or smartphones sadly.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with for this challenge. To illustrate the challenge here is a layout by Karen featuring a clock embellishment cluster. 

I also created this page for the Marion Smith design team gallery last month featuring a clock for an Alice in Wonderland themed page.

Deadline for this challenge to be shared with us and maybe in with a chance to win a prize is next Sunday July 27th. Have fun! and see you back here in the morning. Challenge 2 goes up at 7am for the early birds among you! Night all xx

Class 4 - HANGER LANE - with Karen

Well this is a class for those of you who are up for some late night scrapping!

I wanted to use as many of the beautiful Studio Calico papers as possible so decided to make a patchwork effect for the bottom part of my layout. 

 

The bonus class has ideas for 4 cards, also on a patchwork theme. 

You can download the PDF instructions HERE and these include the template for making the dresses and instructions on how to make the paperclip coat hangers.

Our Facebook Cybercrop challenge photo album can be found here where you can add your images, or post on Twitter tagging @atdml or link your shared image in the comments to this post

 
The first of our challenges is at Midnight and is called Westminster - can you guess what the challenge will be?

Preparing for Karen's Cybercrop Classes & Sneak Peaks!

The lovely Karen will be teaching classes for High Barnet, Kew and Hanger Lane and having seen them all in the flesh I can tell you that you're in for a treat! They are all stunning, but why am I telling you that when I can tease you with a few sneak peaks?

Sneak of KEW 

Sneak of HIGH BARNET

Sneak of HANGER LANE

To get yourself prepared for Karen's cybercrop classes download and print off her preparation guide HERE. On the Hanger Lane class the kit list only says six papers are needed however Karen has added that the decorative banner can be made from those but if you wish to make a page similar to the one in the class then twelve papers will be needed.

As always if anyone has any questions ahead of the cybercrop weekend, no matter how daft you may think they are, please let us know as we are eager for you all to get the most from the weekend and have a fabulously creative time.

Give It A Punch!

For the February DT I was sent some Simple Stories papers and embellishments.  I absolutely love anything from any of the Simple Stories ranges and this month had Say Cheese and The Daily Grind to work with.   

As I do every month, I ‘pinched’ several photos from my daughter’s Facebook page to use at my crop and really liked this one of her with two of her medic friends.  Unfortunately, the title is not quite right as one of the gang is missing, Marta had gone back to Portugal, earlier than planned, as she was unwell.  I loved that they all decided to go out for tea and cake before they returned to their respective homes for Christmas and that they all wore their Christmas jumpers.  

 

Now, I always take a bucket filled with punches to my crops and nearly always bring them home again unused, this month I was determined that I would use them! I knew I had the large snowflake cut outs and gingerbread men buttons to use on the page but was at a loss as to what else to do.  I then thought – ‘get those punches out’ so I did and made a swag of flowers for the bottom of the photo.  I didn’t feel that the page had come together very well as the large snowflakes seemed at odds with the flowers.  I took it home, still unsure what to do and the next morning as I was putting my punches back in their storage box realised that I had a snowflake one.  I punched out some smaller snowflakes from white paper, dotted them in the flower swag and was very happy with the result as the extra little ‘pops’ of white brought everything together.

So are you up for a little challenge – use your punches this month and post onto our Facebook group to show what you have done.

The Accidental Scrapper

Along with the many, many advantages of being a designer for ATDML is that a couple of times a year we are given the opportunity to choose the dt kit for ourselves.  This month was one of them and I chose this gorgeous paper pack from Theresa Collins.

It’s no secret that I love her papers, the cardstock weight of them, the texture and of course the design.  As I only have a daughter, what better range could I have chosen than the ‘She Said’ one?

To co-ordinate with the papers I also bought some bling (not used on this page)

  

Labels (not used on this layout)

And some Sn@p Pockets

This layout is in fact the third one I have made from the kit so far but it is my favourite.  

It came about quite by accident as I had, as I sometimes do, designed the page and laid out the elements of my page how I wanted them, without a particular photograph in mind. I then just grabbed the first photo in my pile to see how a 6 x 4 would fit in.  It just happened to be this photo - one I had had for a couple of years but never gotten around to scrapping.  If I‘m honest, the reason being is I do look much larger than I would like to think I am in the photo (must have been a trick of the light I think).  I couldn’t believe how well it went with the papers so with a little ‘shuffling’ about I was able to put the part of me that I was unhappy with inside the Sn@p pocket and it all worked out to my liking.  If only you could hide your larger bits in Sn@p pockets in real life!

 

I used the gorgeous orange damask paper, to cut the roses out on my Silhouette and some leaves cut from one of the papers, added a couple of heart shaped paperclips (from Wilkinsons) a little bit of journaling and my page was finished.  

A photograph scrapped by accident but you won’t tell anyone will you?

Feeling Optimist-tic!

Whilst at the recent retreat, I happened across the new Prima "The Optimist" range and, as  always with Prima products, instantly feel in love with it.  I was quite conservative with my purchasing, only buying a selection of the papers, the chipboard shapes and wood icons.  I could quite easily have taken every item they had in stock home - I loved it so much. I was also seduced by Prima's stunning bark butterflies!

Yesterday, whilst at Enfield Scrapmates crop, I set myself the challenge of making a layout or two with my little bundle of gorgeousness.  I quite often buy papers and can't bring myself to use them until I find another new favourite - that's me fickle by nature.

Gracia still takes dance classes twice a week, even though she is away at University studying a subject far removed from dance, and since the age of 2 and a half ballet has been one of her greatest loves.

So these are the end result, so far.

 

The story of how Gracia blagged a new pair of expensive pointe shoes from her Dad (note: Mum was at the retreat otherwise I suspect it would have been mum she blagged them off)

and one of her trying on her white and black swan outfits.

 

 I have trained her well, she knows it is imperative that she takes photos at every opportunity and sends them to me.  She truly is the daughter of a scrapbooker.
 

Oh dear! After going onto ATDML to find the link for this collection, I can feel another purchase looming ;0)

Scrapping The Everyday

If music be the food of love - play on.

What else should I choose to scrap but my iPod.  Small and sleek but bursting with good tunes - in fact mItunes!  Complete with it's little cupcake earphones and my constant companion.

Made with this fabulously fun range from Simple Stories.

Happy Sunday

Karen x

Soap & Glory

Now, as you know, I like to record the everyday.  When Gracia came home for the summer she had an array of Soap and Glory products.  They seemed to take over our bathroom and at first I didn't pay them much attention. BUT one day I read the fabulous names the company gives their products, my favourite being 'Scrub Your Nose In It', and knew that this was something I had to scrap.

 

As luck would have it Jill and Mel had sent me some beautiful Teresa Collins Family Stories  and Memorabilia papers to work with and the colours went perfectly with the photos.

Scrapping the Everyday

Another page documenting my everyday.  This time I chose to scrap a page about my laptop as I would be lost without it.  I spend way too much time on it looking at Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram and therefore I feel it should get the recognition it deserves!

For my journaling I wrote a letter documenting how without it my work and crafting life would be sadly lacking and far more difficult. I drew around a Graphic 45 pocket to make one out of the Fancy Pants paper I was using and tucked my letter in there.

Dear Laptop
We have been together for a number of years now and I just wanted to let you know how much you mean to me!  We share all my secrets, you know my passwords and just how much time I spend on Pinterest or Google.  The times when you get ill and have to go away I am lost without you and count the hours until your return.  You are always so helpful when I am doing the paperwork for David.  I cannot imagine life without you now as we spend way too much time together.  We watch films and surf the net looking for things that make us smile or even cry.  You hold so many of my precious  memories in the form of photographs and without you it wouldn’t be as much fun keeping in touch with Gracia when she is away in Newcastle.  Our little skyping sessions are a life saver, if not for  you I wouldn’t have met any on-line friends and then turned that friendship into a real life friendship.  You help me to keep up to date with what is going on in their lives through blogs, facebook and Instagram and I just don’t know how I would cope without being able to email all the time.

I know our time together is limited as you are getting older and slower and we both get frustrated by your inability to keep an internet connection going but I hope that we will make the most of our remaining days together and that we will be just as happy as we’ve always been.

Much love

Karen xxx

I used both the full size papers and 6 x 6 papers from the Fancy Pants Park Bench range for this page.

Would you be lost without your connection to the cyberworld?

I heart Summer

Oh yes I do - I really, really love the summer when I get to spend some of it with these two!

Page made using the gorgeous I Heart Summer collection from Simple Stories .

 

I used my Silhouette to cut out the flowers and leaves, adding bling and pearls.  Cut out the title and 'cards' - added a little journaling, finishing with the addition of the hearts that were cut from the journaling cards.   I will have to say it just one more time - I Heart Summer!