Inspiration from Herculaneum

When we were in Sorrento this summer we hired a car to take us first to Vesuvius so the boys could climb it early in the day before the heat built up too much, and then on to Herculaneum.  Herculaneum was lost in the erruption that also destroyed Pompeii, but rather than pyroclastic blast it was subsumed by mud, etc.  This meant that, rather than being rained down upon, Herculaneum was filled from the bottom up.  So, while there is an awful lot less uncovered than at Pompeii, what there is is of great quality.  Some of the villas look better than some of the modern "fixer-up"s I've seen, and there are beautiful mosaics and paintings.  Some of it is just so delicate.

There are a lot of scrappy challenges out there, and one I've seen quite often is to produce layouts based on advertisements, taking the design, or colours as a starting point.  I think when I have more time, I would like to do a series of layouts inspired by different works of art;  the light bright colours of some of the early impressionists, the richness of colour and depth of Holbein, and the colours and design elements of some of the mosaics I saw at Herculaneum.  Here are a couple of tasters - makes me want to start scrapping now!

A project with wings

I am just so busy with work, trying to finish assignments for my DSBM course, and ferrying children around that I haven't so much as touched my scrappy supplies for two weeks.  I tell myself that the worst of it will be over when I submit on 13 October, and half term follows quite soon after that.  I am quite determined to resist the temptation to embark on another course immediately after completing this one - I don't really need it, and that's about 320 hours more available for scrapping - a no brainer as far as I'm concerned!  Today I had hoped to be attending a workshop with 3 Jolly Scrappers - they have Michelle Mogford in, and the sneak peeks look great.  I have done a class with her before, and she works in such a different way to me that I found it very interesting.  Still, Jo and Kim have said they will keep a class kit back for me, so when I do get some time to scrap again, I will have something enticing to look forward to!

In the meantime, the favourite of the tags I have made recently - Bo Bunny et cetera (nice line but I find it easier in small doses).  I dug out some grungeboard and inked it with fired brick distress ink - but deliberately not too well - and then clear embossed it.  This added a little bit of "lift" to the wings, so that was an unforseen benefit.  I finished it off with another Tim Holtz product, two tickets which rather appropriately says "soar".

Enjoy!

Use more orange!

You have to have a strong picture to take a lot of orange.  Nothing too detailed, or you just loose the detail in all that orange-ness.  The Bo Bunny Barefoot and Bliss line had orange in abundance - along with yellow, blues and green.  Given the state of the English summer this year, I don't think I could have used them for that - I have used that line mostly for pictures taken in Egypt last year, but luckily it was pretty hot in Sorrento this year so I used them for this layout too.

Trying to be suitably designer-y I managed to bring myself to spray some Glimmer Mist onto the papers (normally I wouldn't dream of doing such a thing on non-romantic papers), and indulge in a spot of detail cutting.  I had some really cute tulle trim that I think added a fun element, and I managed to get lots of product on the one page.  It probably wouldn't have been the best DT submission I could have done, but I loved the picture and wanted to create a striking setting for it.

Featuring .... Twig

One of the winter lines on my list is Winter Twig.  Loved the spring-y one.  So much that I couldn't bring myself to use it.  How sad am I?  For the sketch-based layout for the Scrapbook Express DT submission that never was I managed to force myself!  I love those fresh blues and greens.  A good shade of blue always sells me on a paper line.  To add just a little more interest, I mounted my photos on felt, got out one of my border punches and worked out how to use a leafy stick pin without risking everyone's fingers for ever more.  I stuck a long skinny glass bead on it - using Diamond Glaze.

This layout is based on the same layout as the flowery card in my previous post - can you see that?

Cards

I decided in the end not to apply for the Scrapbook Express DT.  Just too much on my plate for the next two months.  I had completed the required projects, though - and come up with a whole stack of competition and challenge ideas.  Maybe another time - I would be a lot better placed next spring, when the 6m term ends.

Part of the submission was to be two cards.  One based on a sketch (which also had to be used for a layout) by Julie, part of the SE blog team.  I actually made two of these, one using Cosmo Cricket papers, which turned out really nicely, and another using Bo Bunny et cetera - I thought it might be sensible to use a line stocked by the store so I could show off how good I was at hyperlinking the components!

The second card was my choice - and for this I went to town with a sheet of Websters Pages.  I cut it up to make the most of the pictorial printing on it, added oodles of lace and pleated trim and some bling for good luck - came out OK, actually.  Sometimes I surprise myself!  The two cards I made are below. 

Dealing with scary papers

Not Halloween, though why is it that there are so many lovely Halloween papers and practically no opportunity to use them?  Very annoying.

No, the papers I tend to find scary are the ones with pictures on them.  It's almost as if I am afraid to cut into them.  Websters Pages and Graphic 45 particularly.  I decided to challenge myself - not least because if I do decide to submit for the Scrapbook Express DT (I have my entries ready but am very aware of the huge level of commitment I have already until the end of October), Graphic 45 is one of the paper lines they stock.  So, I ordered some sheets of the new school-based line from A Trip Down Memory Lane - always such good fast service, and free lengths of ribbon.

I decided to scrap a picture of my mum and her sister when at school - we are talking mid 1950s here.  I wanted to achieve a vaguely random layered look.  Before I did anything else I cut up the sheet printed up with tags, snipped off or rounded corners, punched holes and liberally inked edges with fluid chalk ink.  I also dug some very old 7 Gypsies reinforcers and applied to the punched tags. 

I decided I was, quite frankly terrified at overwhelming my poor little picture, so next went to my paper stash and found a sheet of My Mind's Eye paper, from the first lot of Lost & Found - the red/cream ones.  I cut this down to fit inside the natural border provided by one of the sheets of Graphic 45, hence toning it down nicely.  Was this a cop-out?  Quite possibly!  I punched some borders from offcuts and inked those too - then placed them at an angle on the page.  Then I placed the snapshot, and then I arranged the tags.  I used only a minimum of adhesive on this layout - I wanted it to look almost as if someone had disturbed a pile of ephemera.  Then I punched holes through the whole thing and used some lovely MME brads to fasten the whole thing a bit more securely and add a bit of interest.  I also used a deep red Petaloo flower with a game token as a centre.  On a strip of patterned paper that featured clocks I affixed a little clock I received in a kit, just because it was cute!

Last came the title.  I have been devoted to woodgrain Thickers and small alphas lately, so took a radical approach and from the depths of a drawer dragged out some little scrabble tiles.  These I reduced in bulk by removing the adhesive pads from the back, inked them up a bit and stuck them on one of the plainer tags I had reserved earlier.  The title was stuck in the top right, diagonal to the photo.

So, here it is - with a not-very-good photo I'm afraid.  And some closeups - just a bit better!  Hurray - I made Graphic 45 papers work for me!  Just another three sheets to brave!

Christmas Tags

Still some months to go, but I'm sure Christmas will be here in no time.  Working in a school, we always have to start with Christmas preparations early - children rehearsing productions and concerts, and lots of excitement and trails of glitter.  The weekly challenge from the Scrapbook Express Divas reminded me that Christmas is closer than you think - it was to make three Christmas tags.  I actually made four, using some Echo Park papers from last year - I haven't bought any new papers yet and I have plans to use up some of my stockpile of Christmas papers from last year too - more on that another time!  So, here are my tags:

Scrapping in a girly palette

Is not something I do often.  With two boys, and no cute nieces to scrap, I don't often use pinks or florals.  Well, I bought some kits on clearance from A Million Memories, with papers not entirely to my usual taste.  Good to challenge myself, right?  Well, from the way this turned out, yes.  Pretty, soft palette colours from My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose collection. I used a Martha Stewart border punch, and some of the loveliest rose border trim.  And beautiful buttons from the kit - I cut off the shanks to make sure they weren't too bulky.  To make the title (American Crafts letters in woodgrain chip) stand out, I used an ancient Hero Arts shadow ink pad to provide a bit of definition behind.

The picture is one I have scrapped before - I had a layout using papers from now-defunct company Luxe Designs published in a UK scrapbooking magazine - and I love it.  When my grandmother died I inherited a few photos, and one was a very small, very creased photo from her wedding day.  I paid for it to be profesionally restored, and this was the result.  The formal photos from the day were very formal - unsmiling, stylised group shots - so this was a like a breath of fresh air - you can see how happy they were.  This particular photo was my grandmother's favourite, I think - she kept it in an envelope with a love letter from my granddad.  I hope this does it justice!  Details of some of the beautiful buttons and brads I used on the layouts are shown below.

Dream Big

I love this Bo Bunny line, and in my prize pack for winning a competition at Scrapbook Express a couple of months ago I got an Ad Lib journal pad and some dimensional chipboard stickers.  The pp on this layout are all sheets from the journal pad.  The title and the little banner at the top are both cut from stickers (urgh, not something I do often, very fiddly even though I did mount on scraps first).  I cut up and pulled to pieces just about all the dimensional chip - some were cut in half to provide the border at the bottom of the photo, one to make the tab at the top, and others added to the title.

I'm pleased at the way it turned out - not least because it worked so well with the American Crafts stitched paper that I used as a background!  The photo is mounted on foam tape so I had room to tuck the chipboard part-circles at the bottom. I put the journalling on the green background at the bottom - I wanted it to be there, but didn't want to sacrifice any white space.

Starting Points with Shimelle

One day left of the school summer holidays.  An easy day tomorrow to get things all set up, and then that's it until the half term break at the end of October.  At which point I also have to have submitted the last three written assignments for my DSBM - hooray!  So, one day left to play, what to do?  Well, I was quite intrigued by the idea of the "starting point" challenge on Shimelle's blog.  Shimelle starts a layout off, and you finish it, putting your own spin on it.

This week's starting point had lots of strips of patterned paper - very suitable for using up leftover strips.  I had been playing with some American Crafts papers - not a manufacturer I use that often, but I liked the woodgrain and the fairly muted colours.  I based this layout on Shimelle's starting point, but I slid the strips around a bit, and added some more, including one I punched a border into.  I added some Basic Grey brads, October Afternoon journal spots, a line of bling from Bo Bunny and some Thickers I got in a kit, and it all came together pretty quickly.  I inked all the edges in dark brown fluid chalk ink for a bit of definition.  I love the look of those paper rosettes that seem so popular at the moment, but couldn't face trying to make one, so I pleated a strip of paper and tucked it under part of my title.

The whole layout can't have taken more than 30 minutes, and I quite like the result - very clean and placing the focus squarely on the picture.  Minimal journalling on this one, as it kind of speaks for itself!

Serendipity

is when something happens that wasn't what you expected, but it works out well.  Just such a tihng happened a couple of days ago.  I was tidying my craft desk - actually, clearing a 12x12 space - and I had a pile of scraps left from my Bo Bunny Et cetera layout;  none very big, but some nice little bits of pattern.

Because I had bought pretty much the entire collection, I also had quite a few packs of stickers - mostly I find that these are the most difficult things to use.  So often they have strange phrases and sentiments that I cannot imagine using.  One of the dimensional sticker packs in the collection actually has a large "Etc" sticker.  What sensible use asm I supposed to make of that? 

Anyway, I dived into the drawers to find a few other bits I could use:  some 7 Gypsies reinforcers, some Prima fuzzy rub on things (supposed to be easy to rub on with a fingernail but I beg to differ),  and a pair of little butterfly stamps I bought for about a £1 from Craft Superstore. 

I thought I might make some tags, but was simply too lazy to dig out one of my dies, and wanted to do something other than a standard luggage-label kind of a shape.  My answer was to reach for the Bo Bunny button packaging and use it as a template, which gave me a good shape and was nice and easy.

This is one of the tags - not the best, I think I stuck on one too many embellishments for that - but I used the twine and the key from the wrap card.

Day 4 - Learn Something New

Today's lesson came directly from a spell at my craft desk this morning.  To wear my glasses when I'm colouring with my ProMarkers!  I don't need glasses all the time, but a certain degree of long-sightedness has appeared over the last couple of years.  I only wear them generally when I am reading for a long time, but it seems as if I might need to get a spare pair to keep on my craft desk!

I put one of my first (messy) efforts at using the ProMarkers on today's page - seemed a good illustration of the lesson!  Even though the results weren't that great I have no complaints about the pens - beautiful clear colours which build up beautifully.  Looking forward to using them more.

Learn Something New Every Day

I decided to sign up for Shimelle's LSNED course this September.  I love the way that you can take part every year.  The timing isn't perfect for something with a daily commitment, as we are back to school next Tuesday and I still have two assignments to prepare for submission in October, but I have denied myself more than the occasional foray into scrapbooking for too long!  I have decided that whatever happens I have to resist the temptation to sign up for the next school business management programme straight after this one - I will shelve it until the day (if ever) I move to a secondary school or we become three form entry and get paid a sensible amount for the job I do!

To make the whole thing more manageable, I made my album ready.  I sorted out a pile of paper from Cosmo Cricket, October Afternoon and Pink Paislee older lines, ones with the pinks and purples I don't often get to use with two boys.  The album myself I made by cutting some C5 scalloped edge cards in half.  They were surprisingly good quality, and give me a 8x5 to play with - enough space for photos should I want to use them.  For the journalling I cut some Basic Grey basic papers into 3x4 pieces.  The leftover pieces from cutting my pile of papers into 8x5 I have popped into a bag with some embellishments I have dug out of drawers, etc so everything is ready.  I will punch some borders, circles and flowers too.

The picture is my album cover - some Pink Paislee woodgrain and flower feature along with some scraps I punched borders into and some Sassafrass Lass stickers.  The title is a mix of Making Memories stickers and American Crafts Thickers.

I haven't bound the book in any way yet - I will leave that until the end, so I can either use my bind-it-all or book rings - depends how bit it turns out!

DT call

There's a DT call on over at Scrapbook Express.  It ends on 16 September, for a 6 month term to 31 March 2011.  I've been a member on the forum there for over three years, and it's one of those places I feel comfortable.  I think I will probably have a go.  Four pieces of work have to be submitted, two cards and two layouts.  One of the cards and one of the layouts have to be based on a sketch.  This doesn't leave much scope to show off my style, though I have a pretty full gallery there that shows what I can do.

I think I'm just about there;  I have done the two cards, and the sketch layout is done.  I've done a couple for the second layout, using product in the store, not only to show that I can create with one of their lines, but also to show I have the technical skills in terms of photography and linking product lists to the shop.  I did this layout with the call in mind, but despite managing to achieve a product-heavy layout, it's not one of my final choices - though I am happy with the way it turned out.

Here are a couple of details, too, showing a nice embellishment grouping and some chipboard trim that I altered by inking and the application of some nice Prima pearls:

A bucketful of roses

Yesterday I was catching up on some TV episodes I had recorded, but felt it didn't need all of my attention.  So, I grabbed a sheet of felt, some buttons, twine and punched circles of paper.  Well, I did a few things with combinations of paper, twine, buttons and felt, but all pretty standard stuff and not very exciting.

Then I decided to make some felt flowers.  Now, the method for making these flowers isn't exactly a secret - versions of them in felt or paper have been around for  a while now, but I wanted to make some quite flat blooms, in various sizes, and thought I would experiment a bit.

The method for these is to cut a circle of felt, then start at the outside and cut a spiral into it towards the middle.  I mad mine quite a short spiral, and didn't worry too much about how regular it all was.  I then rolled it up from the middle, and once I reached the end I took a needle and ordinary sewing thread and stitched through the bottom of the flower, making sure that (a) the thread didn't show from the top and (b) I caught all the layers.  I am paranoid about things falling off/unravelling on my pages, so I thought this was worth the effort.

I made about 7 flowers before I got bored in various sizes.  For the largest, the rough circle of felt I cut was no more than 5cm in diameter, and for the smallest it was more like 2.5cm.  As I finished them I popped them in this little green bucket which I had used to sort the buttons into.  They looked so cute I decided to photograph them just like that, on my windowsill.  That's what I call a satisfying morning's work.