15 at Fifteen

So here is a little layout that I did for my DS Hayden.  It isn't easy to get a good picture of Hayden, he isn't keen on having his photo taken, and I wanted to do a layout to celebrate his 15th birthday - in fact I quite like this idea, wish I had seen it on Pinterest sooner!!!  Never mind, can still get the next few, and already planning the one for Alex's 18th in my head :)  Actually, I really wish that I scrapbooked when my kids were little, I feel that I have missed so many ... better late than never though I suppose!

Once again for this layout I turned to my Basic Grey Boxer papers - they are just so perfect for male layouts and cards!  I tried to keep the embellishments masculine, butterflies can be male too!!!  It took me several goes to type out the list on my ancient old typewriter, kept doing typos (v. annoying to say the least!) Then when I showed Hayden his finished page, bless him (not) he pointed out another one :(  Me, being me, couldn't just leave it on there - that would never do - he's like his Mum like that :)

Carole x

Ghost The Musical Smash*

This past weekend we had a bit of a chilled out couple of days (just what was really needed!)  Therefore,  I managed to sneak into my Crafty Corner and do a couple of Smash pages (yep, doing my usual thing of getting stuck in a particular rut!)

What can I say about this show?  It's AMAZING.  Go and see it (but be quick because for some completely unknown reason, it is closing in the Autumn).

So, while I was on a roll, and had a little bit of time to play, I did another page, this time very much lead by the papers/pages in the Smash book:

I totally went with the colour scheme and used my Cuttlebug to cut out a title and used a page out of my Top Ten Smash little book which went so well with the colours :)  Then I just journalled!

Hope you like my pages!

Carole x

Rock of Ages Smash Page

I have been reading on the *Smash UK page over on Facebook that lots of people seem to have lost a little bit of interest in Smashing.  I have been guilty of not Smashing recently but not because I have lost interest -which is just as well as I have just received a few more Smash bits and bobs via my Sister in Law in America - including a couple more books (well, the price on Amazon.com was ridiculous it really would have been rude not to!!!) but because I don't get to craft all that often and I get stuck in a groove, which at the moment is most definitely Scrapbooking.

However, yesterday I completed a Scrapbook page and still had some time left over so I did a Smash page while the memories were fresh and I knew where all the bits that I wanted to Smash were :)

As you will see if you read the journalling on this page, this show is FABULOUS!  I loved it :)  I also loved Smashing again, so watch this space!!!

Carole x

A Boy and His Dog

This post contains a couple of things that I am happy about - at last I have managed to work out how to crop a photo so that whatever I am photographing my layout on is minimised :)  This has bothered me for ages and ages, and it was only when I read another blog post about creating collages in Picasa that I was having a play and worked out how to do it (getting it from Picasa to my blog was another matter entirely - thanks Alex!)  So hopefully all my layout pics should now be slightly more professional looking!

The second thing that I am happy about is the actual layout!  I found a piece of patterned paper that was like a shelf of books, and this was one of the titles.  I have had this picture waiting to be scrapped for ages and when I saw the book title I knew that the two had to go together.  I am really pleased with this one, and it came together quite quickly :)

Carole x

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