Hand Crafted Memories

I'm doing well its only the 9th of the month and I've already made my page for Septembers 4 x 6 photo love . I had actually decided on which set of photos I wanted to use, there are about 15 photos to this set so once I had them printed the harder decision was which 9 to use. This months page is built around an acetate pocket and two large photo cards with pictures on them. I had several printed acetate sheets but none of them suited the idea I had in mind. I used a plain acetate sheet and stamped a pattern on them, perfect just what I had in mind. Here is September done:  

I'm still following the Cybercrop that Shimelle is hosting, for some reason I'm being really slow. I've only completed two of the challenges, but I am making sure I make pages I want to keep and I'm making sure I finish them completely.  One of my favourite colour combinations is red, white and Aqua, lucky for me this was one of the challenges Shimelle has set. I am also following Shimelles 4 x 6 photo love challenges over at two peas in a bucket. This month we need to put 7 4 x 6 photos on a layout.  I have just scanned all my America photos from 1992, all 478 of them! i was trying to pick a couple from the photos taken at Ellis island to use in the colour challenge, when I realised there were seven photos. Why not use all of them on the one page. Here it is:   I even used one of Mary Anne's free journaling blocks

I wish I could go out and sit in the sun, but today I'm feeling pretty lousy. I'm back on the antibiotics for  stinking chest and ear infections.£18 for the prescriptions, my God! I already had today booked off work with the intention of giving my garden some TLC. Instead its going to be me that gets it. I had a great weekend with my crafting buddy Julia, nothing new there. We had another of our girly scrapping weekends. We both had the Sarah's cards kit from May , using the Stella and Rose papers, just gorgeous. I have also been tidying my craft room, it's one of those 'Why did I start that job?' moments. I discovered a few projects I'd started at retreats and just hadn't got round to finishing them. So they came out and are not going away until I finished them. I also pulled out some kits I hadn't really liked  . That left me with plenty to do. One of the kits that originally left me uninspired was the For the Record kit from April , this really di...

Each month I take part in two of the free monthly challenges over at two peas in a bucket . Each month Jen Gallacher releases a sketch and challenges us to stretch it. This month this was the sketch I recently made a page featuring my wedding cake but it really wasn't my style it was too fussy, even though it did win a challenge for me I wasn't happy with it. I used this sketch for inspiration and looking at the end result I've no idea how I ended up here. I am much happier with it now, much more me!

Each Month over on 2 peas in a bucket , there are four free classes/challenges. Shimelle Laine is hosting 4x6 Photo Love . The idea of the class is that each month since January we are making a page with an  extra photo on it. January was 1, February was 2 and so on. This month it was 4 4X6 photos.So here we begin getting a bit fancy, with a hidden photo. Also the Studio Challenges theme this week is to raise it up , although its a simple page I wanted to do something to make it special. I cut out some of the clouds and sun and raised them up to give it dimension. Here is my page I've no idea what's happening with my photos at the moment, they always seem dark and not so sharp. May be I'd better start by polishing the lens!

How gorgeous was the weather today? I worked in the garden until lunch time and it looks lovely but  I needed to come out of the sun for a couple of hours, so what better excuse was there to scrapbook? I've fallen a bit behind with the challenges that I normally follow, so a long weekend is the perfect time to get things done. Over on two peas in a bucket , Shimelle has a monthly class and challenge. Beginning in January we scrapped a single 4x6 photo, each month we will create a page with another 4x6 photo, as I said I'm a little behind, March is to scrap 3, 4x6 photos. I've recently scanned a whole load of photos and came across these three from the thermal valley in New Zealand, perfect for this project. This is what I came up with.

What a difference a little bit of sunshine makes.I've made a couple of scrapbook pages this weekend and taking the photographs was sooo much easier. It also gave me the chance to wash my bed linen and dry it outside. Tonight I will have line fresh linine to snuggle into, one of my most favourite things. This page is using the sketch for this month's stretch the sketch challenge over on two peas in a bucket .This is the sketch and here is my page.

The monthly project from Craftwork Cards , just goes on and on. I posted some of the projects I made last weekend here . There was so much left that I am still playing with it, here I've used some of the papers, candi and cards, I added a piece of 12 x 12 card stock to make this lovely page of my two nephews when they were little. The silver and blue papers, with black and white photos is just gorgeous, can you see the mats for the photographs? I used two of the on the edge  cards and cut them down. I liked the bracket edge and its was just the detail I needed here. Over on two peas in a bucket , they are running free monthly classes, 4 each month, by 4 different designers. Shimelle Laine 's classes are to build up from one photo on a layout adding another photo each month. So February's class was to use two 4X6 photos. It was this class I had in mind when I created this page. How are we going to get 12 4X6 photos on the layout in December? I'm very intrigued.

I've had this double page layout, sitting around for a week. Roll on the lighter days so that I can photograph and upload my pages a bit quicker. I can get the cards but the pages need the light. Over on two peas in a bucket , they are running four free monthly classes, each one focusing on a different subject. Jen Gallacher is encouraging us to ' stretch the sketch '. Each month a new sketch is published and we are encouraged to us it a the inspiration for our page. This is the sketch for February  Here is my page, I didn't change the sketch too much, I actually liked it the way it was.    I am really enjoying making double page layouts at the moment, there are some really great sketches out there and you all know I love my sketches for scrapbooking. I used the June 2009 kit from Sarah's Cards , its embarrassing how many of these beautiful kits I have but am not using. Go here to see the kits that are for sale and some are on sale. I have realised how many pape...

Two Peas in a Bucket are running four free monthly classes each month through out this year. I loooove free, especially when they have such inspirational tutors. The classes are here . Jen Gallacher' s classes are called Stretch the Sketch. Well you all know I love a good sketch, and here it is This one took some thinking about, I really wanted to rotate it so the title was along the bottom, but the photos I had were landscape. Eventually this is what I came up with. I was really happy to use up leftovers from other pages. I also changed a couple of the photos, they weren't quite bright enough so the internet came through in the end. I can't find the pictures again to give credit, but the top two photographs are not my work, I have similar ones, but the ones on my layout are not mine.  Just thought I'd better make that clear in light of recent copyright issues. I'm happy to link if anybody finds them. I believe they were copyright free, I usually check. Anyway the ...

It's a week since I last posted, that doesn't mean I haven't done anything, it means the light I need to photograph my efforts has been rubbish. Last weekend My friend Julia and I had a mini retreat in my kitchen. I love these weekends, we order a kit and then go searching for pages or challenges that catch our attention and away we go. This month we ordered the October kit from Sarah's Cards , it was yummy.We are both attending their retreat  in November so playing with this kit has made us doubly excited about the event. I came across two peas in a bucket's free monthly workshops, I love free, so I've signed up, these will be perfect for our little get togethers. I also came across this page by Nichol Magouirk , I loved it. This is where we started with this lovely layout design and the gorgeous kit and I had just the right photo's for it. Here's my page I just love it, you know when you make a page and just keep going back to look at it. It makes...