Cuteness

A little while ago, I probably wouldn't have been able to do this page.  I used to stick religiously to using papers on a layout all from one collection/manufacturer.  Don't get me wrong, I still love paper collections, but now I can mix and match a little bit more than I used to!  And here is some proof of that!

Cute picture too of Hayden and Oscar, just love it :)

Carole x

Adorable

Don't old photos make your heart melt?  This one does with my heart :)

Being able to put photos that mean so much to me into my albums is part of what I love about scrapbooking, along with the actual process of cutting and sticking pretty papers of course!

Carole x

Baby You Can Drive My Car

Such a cutie!  Alex really loved her little car, and I really love this photo :)

I dug out my Picadilly papers for this one which go well I think.

Carole x

Those Were The Days

It feels really funny to scrap a photo of my Mum taken before I was even born, before Mum was even married in fact!  But that is exactly what I have done with this layout!

Very, very simple layout (not that that means that no shuffling and umming and ahhing went on of course!) where I tried to give it a 1960's feel.  Not sure if I succeeded with that, but the papers go pretty well with the photo, so I am happy!

Carole x

The Happiest Place on Earth

So, I am slowly getting around to scrapping some pictures from our holiday of a lifetime over six years ago now.  Such lovely happy memories that they really deserved to be scrapped :)

Using up some old papers on this one again, but I'm happy about that!

Carole x

All Boy

I find it amazing that one family could consist of four boys!  What are the odds of that happening?!

I had been wanting to use that little boy sticker for ages, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to pop it on!  These papers are so old, one of the first collections I bought in fact, and although I still like them, maybe the fact that they have been kicking around in my stash for so long has made me a little bit bored of them ... :(  However, they worked well with the colours the boys are wearing in the photo, so all's good!

Carole x

Mouans Sartoux

Quite pleased with how this one turned out!  Just a little bit of corner rounding and LOADS of paper shuffling and there we go, voila!!!!  If only it were that easy ... for me at least!

I used some of my Basic Grey Picadilly papers which I have managed to squeeze quite a few layouts out of so far, and still a fair bit left too :)

Carole x

It's a Dog's Life

I managed to use up lots of scraps on this one, and tried something new with the scrunched up strip of cardstock along the middle which I sewed down.  Not entirely sure about it though, I usually like things a bit less grungy and more neat and tidy I think!!!

Carole x

Love and Marriage

I was very happy that Suzie decided to join Emma and I today on our Crafty Tuesday!  We thought it would be fun to all use the same pin from Pinterest as a starting point/scraplift and see how different all three layouts would turn out!  As they have both already blogged theirs, I was under pressure to also blog mine today so that they can see how mine turned out!

I had thought that I had done enough wedding layouts, but you know how a photo just sometimes grabs you?  This one did that today!  I love how this one turned out, and I know that both Suzie and Emma love theirs too!  If you would like to see theirs, head over to Emma's blog and Suzie's blog!

Got to dash, off to the theatre with Alex tonight :)

Carole x

Cute as a Button Part 2

I loved the "Cute as a Button" page that I did of Alexandra so much that I wanted to also scrap a picture of Hayden when he was little, and since I had loved the title, I used that again too :)  However, the two pages couldn't be more different:

I must admit that I did struggle a little bit with the random bunting (as anyone who knows me will agree, I don't do random very well!) but love how it turned out in the end!  How cute was my baby boy?  I have to keep reminding myself that the lanky teenager upstairs used to be this cute little chappie!

Carole x

Cute as a Button Part 1

I love this page!  I love the simplicity, I love the subject, and I love the photo!  So glad I found it!  How I wish that I had been into scrapbooking when my babies were little, and that I hadn't missed so many years by discovering this wonderful hobby too late!

Carole x

Cold Hands Warm Hearts

Although it was supposed to be Spring, the weather here was very cold, and we even had snow in April, so it inspired me to scrap some wintry photos and delay putting away my snowflake punches just for the time being!

(Although it looks wonky in the photo, it isn't!)  I used some of my old favourite papers, Wassail by Basic Grey :)  I do still love them, but they might not be my favourites any more - took a while though!

Carole x

Pendini Dream

Pendini Dream is the registered kennel name of our beloved old Italian Spinone, Ollie, and as I explain in the journalling, we didn't know that for the first seven years that we owned him!  It was only because we received Tilly's registration papers with her kennel name on that it got me thinking, so I contacted the kennel club and with what little information I had about his previous owners, managed to find out his name and get a copy of his papers!  Bless him.  He will be 14 years old on 22nd May, which is an incredible age for a giant breed of dog.  He is really showing his age now, and can't go out on walks any more, but he's doing OK for such an old gentleman.

Carole x

You are YOUnique

Meet my gorgeous little nephew Otto :)  He is the youngest of four lovely boys, and a real tough little character!  We haven't seen him for a little while now, so I'm betting that he will have grown quite a bit and be even more funny than he was last Summer!

Once again using those papers that I wasn't sure about initially, and again, having to admit that they worked really well with this set of photos :)

Carole x

La Famille Griffin en France

I struggled for ages to come up with the title for this one!  Isn't it funny how sometimes everything just comes together on a page and sometimes you get stuck on one particular element?!  I knew I wanted something frenchy because the photos were taken when we were in France, but what?!  I know the title I came up with isn't very original, but sometimes you just have to go with it and move on to the next layout!

I love that peacock paper that is from my new October Afternoon papers, it is just beautiful :)  These pics may have been taken a couple of years ago, but I can't believe how much my children have changed in such a short space of time.  Sigh.

Carole x

Cool Dude

I thought I would blog this layout today in honour of Hayden's 16th Birthday today.  How time flies, it seems like only yesterday that he was a little boy and now here he is, 6' 4" and studying for his GCSEs which start next week (eeeeeeek!)

Not sure that I really love this layout, it was from a sketch and it just felt a bit funny having two distinct halves, but here it is anyway, and even if I don't love the layout, I do love the photos :)

Happy Birthday Hayden!

Carole x

Little Griffs

I found this old school photo of my babies along with some other lovely old pics, and just HAD to scrap it!  I used some papers that I must admit I wasn't too keen on initially, but think they work really well on this layout, so have to admit that maybe I was wrong about them?!

Carole x

Aren't we Lucky?

I really quite like this page!  I love the old map pages, the stitched heart round the (approximate) area that the photo was taken (!), the October Afternoon patterned papers and the TH tickets :)  I also thought the story was quite worth telling, so all in all a lot of things going for this one!

Carole x

Who's Your Friend?

Unlike the papers that I used in my previous layout, I LOVE these new October Afternoon papers :)  Can't wait to place another order for some more OA papers, they are definitely my new favourite!

A photo taken last summer on our holiday in Portugal is the subject for this page, and although I only used a couple of the patterned papers, I really think they make this page :)

Carole x

Big Cousin, Little Cousin

I bought these papers a while ago, and to be honest I don't love them :/  But, since I don't like to waste things, I gave them another go ... and actually I quite like them on this layout!

Of course it helps that I love the photo, but I tried really hard at layering bits and bobs onto this layout, so maybe its that that helps?  I'm also loving sewing on my layouts right now, and am finding that a page doesn't feel complete without a little bit of sewing ...

Carole x

Group Hug

A simple layout ... so why did it take me so long?!  Don't answer that!  A photo taken a couple of Christmases ago of my (little) brother and his daughter (my niece).  This photo has been in my pile of pics to scrap for a while but it had never been the right time, until now!  Does anyone else do that?  Flick through the photos that need scrapping and pass one by for ages but then suddenly inspiration strikes and that picture finally makes it into your scrapbook album?!  A bit like going to the freezer that is full to bursting, but there is nothing at all in there to cook for dinner?!

I do like circle layouts, they appeal to me so much more that more angular square ones :)

Carole x

Full of Adventure

My lovely friend Emma is back to doing her LOAD again during May (layout a day), and as it is usually a prompt she likes it if I also challenge her.  So, I usually trawl through my Pinterest boards and find something that catches my eye, it might be a colour scheme, it might be a scraplift, an element that has inspired me (and therefore hopefully Emma too!) maybe a sketch - you get the gist.

Today, I was remembering that I have a stamp in my collection that I love so much that I also bought Emma one for her birthday last year, but that sadly we both have massively under-used ... so far!  So, my challenge was to use the jar stamp on a layout.  I found a few pins to illustrate how it might be used (but Emma usually goes off on a tangent and does her own thing no matter what I send her!), one layout had one jar, one had a few, and one was covered in jars.  Of course, in challenging Emma to use her jar stamp, I was hoping that she in turn would inspire me to use mine ... and guess what?  She did!!!

Here is Emma's page, and here are a couple of the pins that I sent to Emma

http://pinterest.com/pin/214343263487840556/

http://pinterest.com/pin/214343263487671135/

http://pinterest.com/pin/214343263487310825/

I must admit that I love this one :)  Must remember to use that lovely little stamp more often!

Carole x