The Odd Couples

Fingers crossed that I have managed to work out how to schedule a post - if it works I might be back to slightly more regular blogging!!!  However, since I'm not at all confident in my computer skills, I have chosen one of those layouts that I don't love.  I don't hate it, in fact I don't hate any of my layouts - I spend so much time planning and shuffling paper that each one turns out the best it can be, but sometimes even after all that effort you don't end up loving the layout.  Only very occasionally have I done a layout that I can truly say that I love - but isn't that part of the fun of scrapping?  Hoping for that elusive layout that you love yourself.  Maybe I am too hard on myself, too critical, I'm not sure.

I do however love the photos, taken at Christmas when we were larking around with the funny glasses!

Carole x

Man's Best Friend

I'm not sure quite why I have gone off blogging, but I don't seem very motivated at the moment :(  I will try harder!

I have however, been crafting quite a lot, especially on Wednesdays, I take care of all of my housework and jobs on Mondays and Tuesdays in order to have Wednesdays in my Crafty Corner!  Usually, I am joined by Emma, and we craft together via Skype!  It works really well.

I took the photo on this layout on Christmas Day when I was playing with my new camera, and it really does capture how Ollie looks now, although if anything, he has aged even more since then (he has since turned 13 and his health is unfortunately not great now).

For this page I used Basic Grey Max and Whiskers and had intended to use some of the chipboard dogs and dog related icons but they didn't look right so I punched some simple butterflies instead.  Love the circles against the rectangles on this one.

So, since I have lots of layouts still to show, I am going to write another blog post now and see if I can figure out how to schedule a post for another day ...

Carole x

Piccolo Gatto

Thought it was about time to show another of my layouts, since I have a fair few in reserve to blog about in case of a crafting drought :)

It was amazing how sewing the circle on this layout brought it all together, before I did that it was just random strips of patterned paper!  I absolutely LOVE the little wooden letters, and they in turn reminded me of the cute little wooden cat button that I had been saving for just the right layout, and this was most definitely the right layout for it!

Of course Pickle is a big boy now, so I will have to do a layout of him as a fully grown cat one of these days, but I still have a few cute kitten pics that can't be ignored!

Carole x

Tilly's Nose

Knowing that I wasn't working this week while recuperating following my operation, I set myself a little challenge.  I obviously didn't know quite how I would be feeling, but was hoping that a little light crafting might be achievable - and I had four spaces left in my current scrapbook album.  So, could I produce four new scrapbook pages to fill up my album?  Happily, I can report that as of today, I have done six!!!  Now if only I was as good at blogging ...

For someone who dislikes the colours yellow and orange, I do seem to be using quite a lot of orange recently, but only because the photos I am selecting seem to be calling out for it!

 "Schnozzer" is a word that we have occasionally used for the noses in our family (no idea why) but then our dog loving parcel postman came one day and was feeding my dogs dog biscuits from his pocket and exclaiming over both of their "schnozzers" because his dog has a black nose and both of mine have brown ones!!!  The word has been in use in our house a lot more since then!!!

Carole x

Going Round in Circles Smash*

I'm a little confused at the moment as to which "head" I currently have on, my Scrapbooking head or my Smash head (that sounds so wrong, but you know what I mean!)  Ideally, I would be able to switch between the two, but I do tend to get a bit stuck on one or the other!

So, I managed to break my Scrapbooking run and do this new Smash double page:

It's all about what we would like to do in our garden (half of our garden is done and is nice, the other half is most definitely NOT) ...

Since we are talking Smash pages, here are a couple I did a little while ago (not as pleased with them, but hey ho, they are part of my book anyway!)

This next one was on a page that I had thought that I would cover over completely, but ended up going with it (and maybe that is part of the reason that I don't love it?)

This page now means a little more to me, as I was in hospital yesterday, and part of the recovery was a cup of tea and some toast and marmalade - good job too as the oral morphine they gave me for the pain made me all woozy and I nearly passed out, so not only is it a guilty pleasure but also a bit of a life saver!!!

Carole x

Never Again!!!

Yesterday, being Wednesday, Emma and I were having a Skype crop.  I had thought that I would maybe do a scrapbook page and then turn my attention to some Smashing.  However, after my first layout which I was quite pleased with, I decided to do another layout ... and on a roll I then went for a third.  For this one, Emma challenged me to choose a layout on Pinterest that we both would do in our own way.  Stupidly I chose this one: http://pinterest.com/pin/214343263484947428/.  Of course at the time, it seemed like a good idea, even with the paint splats.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a fear of "wet stuff" going anywhere near my pretty papers and layouts ... and if only I had listened to myself!  I think after having done two layouts that I was pleased with, I was feeling rather brave.  BIG mistake!!!

All was going well with the layout, and then I got to the bit with the wet stuff :(  I duly sploshed some Mister Huey's on and as I had splashed some onto my desk, I was just wiping around my layout to clean it up when disaster struck - my sleeve smudged the splats - eeeeeeeeeeeek!  Why did I ever think that wet stuff would be a good idea?!

In an attempt to rectify the situation I tried to blot up the smudges, and a bad situation just got worse.  However, I hoped that it might not show and carried on until I had finished the layout ...

but it did show :(  And I hated it.  It bothered me.  Big time.  I was sad.

So, I got up early and walked the dogs so that I had time to do something about it before I went to work.  It was terribly soul destroying to take apart a layout that you had spent time and effort on, but I hoped that the end result would be worth the effort:

I think it was!  What do you think?!

So, if I ever have a moment of madness and even think about splatting anything wet on or near my scrapbook pages, could someone please refer me back to this layout?!  I will never, EVER do this again!!!

Carole x

Sun Hat

It felt like ages since I had last scrapped (it probably had been!)  I am really enjoying Smashing, and I think I had got myself into the Smashing mindset, but I was missing scrapping.  So, last week, I decided to break out the 12 x 12 papers (new birthday papers at that!) and do something about my scrapbook drought.

I really enjoyed doing this page!  Love these new Miss Caroline papers (thanks again Emma!) and I totally love this picture of Hayden that I found whilst having a sort out of a random cupboard!  I had never scrapped a larger photo before, but I love how it turned out.

Whilst I was on a roll and all my scrapbooking bits and bobs were out on my desk, I decided to do another!  This time, instead of brand new papers, I rummaged in my box and used older papers (I'm getting better at using papers from different brands/companies too!)

I usually end up using just one photo on a layout, but these two needed to be scrapped together!  I kept the layout simple as the papers were quite bright and busy, and I wanted it to be fun as the photos are funny!

Carole x