Quick update

Wow! Is it really that long since I blogged? The months have passed in a whirlwind of marking, end of term madness, scheme of work writing ready for September, wedding plans and house renovations and not a lot of scrapping sadly :( I'm getting married on Sunday and am away for a week and then I need to take a long look at my life to see what can give!

Have you spotted the chance to win on the ScrapaGoGo blog?
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Scrap Factor Week 11 Back to the Future

So I've been knocked out of Scrap Factor and it's time to say thank you so much for everyone who has supported me and voted for my layouts over the last ten weeks. I really appreciated it :)

Week 11's challenge on Scrap Factor was to rescrap a photo that you'd scrapped before.



This baby photo is me at about six months old. I first scrapped it a couple of years ago for a weekly challenge based on a sketch. When I looked through my old LOs this one really stood out as needing to be redone.

Having decided that I was going to go for the ultra pretty Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe Collection papers, I really struggled to decide what the main colours should be for this LO. I sometimes get some dulux colour chart strips out to help me and I decided that the green was a good contrast for the floral design of 'Emma's Shoppe- fabric' I even decided to use the palette on the LO. I bought a whole set of the wonderful calendar papers from KI Memories and the green one was perfect for the LO.

The focus of the design was UTEE embellishments and some more paper flowers. I used three techniques for the UTEE. The first was pouring a thin layers on a heat resistant mat and then pushing leaf cookie cutters in to it to cut leaves. The second was pouring the UTEE on to the mat in swirls. And the third was pouring it in to a mould to create a yellow flower.

Supplies:
Crate Paper 'Emma's Shoppe Collection'- 'Playhouse', 'Dresses' and 'Fabric'
KI Memories Leafy Calendar
Prima Softees Annabel
UTEE Brightz 'Green Zinnia' and 'Sunflower'
Etsy rose mould
October Afternoon 5&dime word stickers
Dulux green paint strip
Acrylic paint
Doodlebug Loopy lou Ladybird
American Crafts thickers sunrise
Zoophabetz safety pin
Making Memories coloured staples
Martha Stewart butterfly punch

Scrap Factor Week 10: Scrap without patterened paper

I really appreciated having the weekend to work on this LO because June is a stupidly busy month for me and patterned paper is such a go to even that I needed to think about this challenge. But as it turned out it wasn't as hard as you might expect. I decided to make my papers from two pieces of cardstock- one kraft cardstock and one core'dinations black cardstock with a blue core. I used a Bananafrog stamp to add a pattern to the kraft cardstock and a file to rough up the core'dinations and reveal the inner core. I ummed and ahhed about colouring in the circles but in the end I decided against. Was I right?

The photo is of our new kitten, Millie, who joined the family on 3rd June 2011. Finally a girl in the house and chose to use blue! Ooops :)

Supplies:
Kraft cardstock
Core'dinations Black Magic collection 'Freeze'
Jenni Bowling Label Frame
Cavallini Ppaers & Co. Butterfly rubber stamps
Maya Road Kraft Doilies
American Crafts Thickers 'Sunrise'
Prima Marketing Inc. 'Sculpture Flowers'
Staz on Black ink

Week 10 Scrap Factor Sneek

Well the gallery has opened on UK Scrappers for another week of Scrap Factor. Week 10 was a real challenge: And as usual here is a sneek peek of my LO. Enjoy looking at the gallery and voting for your favourite x

Scrap Factor Week 9: Texture

I quite often talk about giving my layouts texture but this week's scrap factor challenge got me thinking. Do I know what the word 'texture' really means. A quick look in the dictionary helped me:

tex·ture   
noun
1. the visual and especially tactile quality of a surface: rough texture.
2. the characteristic structure of the interwoven or intertwined threads, strands, or the like, that make up a textile fabric: coarse texture.
3. the characteristic physical structure given to a material, an object, etc., by the size, shape, arrangement, and proportions of its parts: soil of a sandy texture; a cake with a heavy texture.
So basically I have the right idea. When it comes to adding texture to my layouts I start at the very bottom with my choice of background paper. In this case I used a pizza box because you can peel the top layer off to reveal the wonderfully textured corrugated card underneath. I left the paper I'd peeled off a little to add extra texture. Then I used some glimmer mist to add a layer on top of the pizza box (to look a bit like a nightsky to match the 'Rocket Age' papers I'd used). (Btw- The misting was too heavy so I peeled a very thin layer off the pizza box to remove some of the mist). For me texture is all about different fabrics, different depths and different materials. I decided to use a lot of different papers, but all from the same range, some different fabrics (denim and burlap) and some different materials (buttons, chipboard, transparency, ribbons and staples). I also used foam squares to layer all the components up and give them depth and texture. Finally I used three different alphas with different textures. I hope that the photos show the texture to the LO :)

Supplies:
Pizza box lid
October Afternoon 'Rocket Age- All systems go'
October Afternoon 'Rocket Age- Docking maneuver'
October Afternoon 'Rocket Age- Black hole'
October Afternoon 'Rocket Age- Captain's Log'
October Afternoon 'Rocket Age- Sticker shapes'
American Crafts Thickers 'Honey' & 'Sprinkles'
Glitz 'Peekaboo- Scarlett'
Buttons from stash
Brown ink
Denim fabric
Burlap
Coloured staples
Ticket
Sewing machine
Embroidery thread

Week 9 Scrap Factor: Texture

Week 9 already! Thank you if you've been voting for my LOs as your favourites for the last couple of months. I really appreciate being in the competition still. This week's challenge was right up my street because I love texture and depth on layouts and this is my favourite LO of the competition (apart from my audition LOs which I had great fun with and still love). The gallery is open for voting in Week 9 on UK Scrappers so go and vote for your favourite today.

Week 8 Scrap Factor: Movie Night

The Scrap Factor challenge for Week 8 was to use film or TV for inspiration. The iconic 'TV' shot for me is the BBC test screen:
so I decided to use that as a basis for my LO this week. Back in September whilst I was doing Shimelle's 'Learn Something New Every day' class I took some photos of Connor to illustrate the lesson I'd learnt ('Sunday nights have become movie night without me noticing. I love the change to cuddle up') and made a layout using some of them, but I never liked it. I don't often do it, but this week I decided to start again and use the movie night photos and create a new LO.

The technique I wanted to focus on was using mist and a mask to highlight an area that I've seen on a few layouts recently and liked. Using the test screen as my inspiration I decided to go with a circle focal point. I layered papers, ribbons and burlap on the page before using a bowl to mask out a circle and misting around the edges. I used my sewing machine to stitch circles around the area to really highlight it too.

Supplies:
Basic Grey Basics- Glossary
MME Abbey Road 'Round and Round- Nice Ride'
MME Lime Twist 'Fly a kite'
Bella Blvd Midterm 'Physics' and 'Text Me'
Teresa Collins
Jenni Bowlin 'Watch'
Ticket
October Afternoon Chipboard sticker 'Date'
Staples
Buttons
Burlap
Lace
Ribbon
Corrugated card
Silver Sewing Machine