Exam boredom!!

Why, oh why, oh why did I accept two contracts for marking GCSE papers this year?? Well, I have completed online marking of 550 papers for one board, and have done about 600 of the 1050 for the other board. The deadline for the rest is Monday and whilst I'm confident that I will meet that deadline- I am bored of marking and just want to play.

As I mentioned already, I am Guest Designer on the Scrapper's Block Challenge Blog this week. The challenge set was 'What's in your handbag?'. I didn't have time to do it justice, so went straight for the obvious- a photo of my bag on a night out. The journalling reads 'I like to justify taking my camera on a night out, so I take the bare minimum in my bag'.


Materials:

My Little Shoe box 'Enjoy Life' patterened papers
Jillibean soup journalling circle
Fontwerks peach label, red label
Bazzil basics blooms
Doodlebug buttons
Buzz and bloom Shout Outs small chipboard (from Bubbly funk)
Junior Dymo
American Crafts Elements photo corner
Ribbon from stash
Paper Co. cardstock

So this is my only offering for the last few weeks. I have done a CJ entry- but not photographed it - and I have several that I've not uploaded yet. I can't wait to get my scrapping life back :)

Psst!

I got another commission from 'Scrapbook Inspirations', and I'm a Guest Designer on the Scrapper's Block Challenge blog next week too. Very excited ;)

Colourful photos

This week Shimelle has encouraged us to take photos in various colours. I'm rather stretched for time so couldn't do this justice and will def. be revisiting this when the marking finishes in a few week's time but here are some of my photos;

Today: A day for cool pastels

Some pretty pink petals

And my Dad's doggie

Yesterday: A day for earthy tones

Friday: A day for all things light

I love how the light falls on my friends at Elissa's christening.

Thursday: A day for blue

I love blue in the garden. I combine it with orange for the most colourful and striking effect. So here's a photo of my blue pots, oh and a blue flower too!

Wednesday: A day for greys, shadows and black

Tuesday: A day for red, rose and pink

To be honest, I was all redded out after last week.

Monday: A day for green

Perfect, on a day I was visiting my Dad at his allotment for the first time this season!

And I found this rusty old bin at the park :)

Thursday felt fun

Shimelle didn't disappoint today, coming in with another fab challenge! This week's SLYMI challenge on UKS was to use felt on a LO. To tie in with the 'Scrapper's block? Challenge blog' challenge (scrap the senses), I decided to go with the photos from this weekend of my Dad and Son picking and eating peas in Dad's allotment. It's his first season on the allotment and as the journalling says 'Connor loved picking the fattest pods and eating the peas from it'.

'A fresh and new taste'

Materials;

• Felt from Hobbycraft (Plant green colour)
• Hero Arts Fancy Felt 'Summer Flowers'
• 7 gypsies journalling block
• Sequin waste from Hobbycraft
• Kaiser craft Rhinestones
• Adorn it Carolee's creations Sleek Black
• Doodlebug designs inc Beetle black mini rub ons
• Fontwerks black labels
• BoBunny Rub ons 'Gardenia'
• Me & my big ideas adhesive gems
• Scenic Route Afterthoughts colour rub ons
• Li'l Davies Designs Chip-Art Words 'Spring'

A dog's tale

Last night I noticed call for help on the forums of UKS. Someone wanted a LO of an animal using mainly blue/turquoise or pink. When I learnt that no-one had responded, I decided to scrap the photo I took yesterday at Dad's of his latest puppy. Dad takes puppies in from 'Dogs for the disabled' and socialises them. This is the second one he's had. The first one was a total nutter, but Newton, this one, is gorgeous. Not only does he have wonderful markings, but he's got such a lovely nature and isn't at all boisterous so Connor even enjoyed playing with him yesterday.

I would never have chosen blue to scrap this photo in a million years but the colour directive seems to have worked in this case because I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

'He's a dream'

Materials:

• Dictionary definition from charity shop dictionary
• Fancy pants heart pin from 'With love'
• Tim Holtz journalling ticket
• 'Dream'- Dovecraft
• Photo corner from stash
• Pom pom ribbon by Fancy Pants 'About a boy'
• Rub on Crate Paper 'Mia Collection'
• K&Co 'Woof' tag

'Meaning of Flowers' CJ

The Sketch CJ that's due for posting on Saturday was Lis's this time around and the theme is 'The Meaning of Flowers'. I used decided to put some of last weeks teachings in to practice and this LO is the result;

Symbolic Colour

Colour has well known symbolic associations. I always remember my A level English lessons when my teachers would bang on about the white and red flowers together symbolising impending death, and Thomas Hardy loved to use colour symbolically. (It's because of 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' that I always think of Hardy when I eat strawberries, so vivid is his use of symbols, colour or otherwise.) I was always led to believe that when given flowers, the colour could be symbolic - yellow for infidelity, red for love and passion, white for innocence and new things. Florists even include pages of guidance for when you're buying flowers!

My flowers of choice would be orange. Teleflora say 'There’s nothing bashful about the color orange–its message is clear and blatantly proud. Symbolizing energy, enthusiasm, and warmth, an arrangement of blooms in this vibrant color conveys confidence, satisfaction and a passion for life.' A passion for life.

Today’s challenge is to use colour in a symbolic way on a card, layout or other craft project. Shimelle said of blue, "Blue is a traditional colour of good luck and good health. Its richest shades were once reserved for the royalty and most wealthy, as the dyes were some of the most expensive".

As many of you will know I've been on a mission to lose weight in 2009 and am about to reach my target of 80lb. I am feeling happier and healthier. Blue is my symbolic colour in this layout 'Health and Happiness'. It also fullfills the SLYMI requirement for this week 'Scrap a self portrait' as I took this photo at arms length leaning on the window sill at Mum's house.

Materials;
Bazzil basics white cardstock
Basic Grey 'Scarlet's Letter - Fare thee well'
Urban Lily 'Say it'
Papermania patterned papers
Jillibean soup journaling sprouts black circles
Dymo junior and black tape
Bazzil bloom
Pearl ribbon from Hobbycraft
Basic Grey button
Fly Stickers
Sequin waste from Hobbycraft
Making Memories cheeky shimmer stickers

The colour wheel part two

The colour wheel can be useful in thinking about colour combinations. Shimelle's explained on her blog how different combinations can work.


The challenge was then to use one of these combinations to produce a layout. Here is mine- 'Red'. It also counts as my LO for SLYMI Week 21 'Scrap a song title' as it's a fairly recent song by Daniel Merriweather. I used a complimentary combination of red and green to mirror the colours from the photo. Here is what Shimelle had to say about this kind of combination;

"This one at least has a name that makes sense. Pick a point on the colour wheel and draw a straight line across to the other side of the wheel: those are complementary colours. They will always coordinate too – magic yet again. Many school or team colour combinations are complementary: blue + orange, violet + yellow…and also the very Christmassy red + green."

Materials;

Blooms, buttons, ric rac from stash
Kelly Panacci clear blocks 'borders'
Cork 12x12
Rusty Pickle 'Sassy Flourish' rub ons
Two crafty chipboard butterflies from Bubblyfunk

I used Picasa to add text and Faststone editor to add the border.

And then there's this one, which is the last of my 'red' photos that I'll be scrapping. 'A sign of Summer' tells why strawberries symbolise the summer for me.

Materials;

• Papermania blooms and brads
• Ribbon from stash
• Jillibean Soup Journaling Sprout Black Circle
• Sequin waste from Hobbycraft
• Fontwerks Red label
• Li'l Davies Designs clay alphabets red
• Doodlebug Beetle black mini ons
• Making Memories Tiny Alphas black on white
• Pebbles Inc. Candy dots
• Around the block 'Green Icing Dots' patterned paper (front and back)

Spinning the colour wheel!

Today Shimelle's discussion has focused on the colour wheel, primary, secondary and tertiary colours. Spinning the colour wheel (you can do it here) gave me this colour combination. I use the brown and green in my bedroom when I decorated a year ago and love the combination. I've never thought to use it with blue though.

The third challenge of the month is to make something with a three-colour combination that pops up when I spin the colour wheel. Here is the result of this challenge (two of the colours were my bedroom colours, so I scrapped that)

Rainbows

Day Two of the colour challenge and Shimelle has introduced a rainbow tutorial and a digital challenge.

The challenge was to use this rainbow border and/or this digital page template for a layout. I don't like digital. I like to touch, cut, stick and play :) So it's the rainbow border for me, and I don't have an A3 printer so I had to make it work :) I used the digital page as a sketch and this was the result, 'Snapshots of my life in colour'. The journalling reads 'School uniform Green, Charlton Red, Wedding flowers orange, Garden pots blue'.

I will add another photo of me in my 'red' Charlton shirt as soon as I get hold of one!

Materials;

Sassafras lass 'Bungle Jungle- Bungle dots' (back and front)

Sassafra 'Sweet Treats' star sticker

Two Peas 'Rainbow' kit

Bo Bunny rub ons 'Gardenia'

Ransom Alphabets by Royal and Langnickel

Dymo junior and black tape

Jillibean soup Journaling sprouts black circles

Basic Grey buttons

Basic Grey 'Mellow- Juicy' paper

Bazzil basics cardstock

A month of colour and a mojo returns

I have been somewhat mojo-less in the last few weeks. I have Shimelle to thank for getting me out of that stage though with the revelation today of her month long look at colour. Each day she will be discussing colour and setting a challenge. Go check it out here!

The first challenge in this month was to celebrate my favourite colour. If someone was to ask me what my favourite colour was I would say 'red'! No hesitation, just 'red!'. But if they were to ask my why, I wouldn't have a clue. I know why as a child my favourite colour was yellow and that was because of my lion jumper knitted by my Nan. In the garden it's not red that I use to accent it but, blue. I have blue pots and a blue sun shade and I always have. And orange was my colour of choice for my wedding flowers. Not red. Red I reserve for items of clothing, photos of the summer, and a safe car. But red, nonetheless, is my favourite colour. So today I spent the day trying to find things to take photos of that are red. My initial thought was 'telephone box' but having driven around Sonning and Playhatch and the other Berkshire villages around here and found only pink and peeling phone boxes I had to think again. I found a few red things;

And the final product of my celebration of my favourite colour was this one 'My Favourite Colour' (I've used Shimelle's overlay for the title, and given it a 'stamp' effect border in Faststone editor);


Materials:

Red, white and black Bazzil Basics cardstock

Sequin waste from Hobbycraft

Jillibean Soup Journaling Sprouts black circles (Capture the Magic)

Acetate (stamped with Staz on and Banana Frog stamps)

Teresa Collins 'Travel' Diecut

Fontwerks Black label

Jenni Bowlin 'Frames' ticket

Papermania Alphaminis black

I would like to scrap what the other colours mean to me though and have sketched 'My life in colour' for when I can find the photos that I need.