October at Simple Scrapper #1

October at Simple Scrapper saw me combining two of the month's sketches to have a go at a double spread - something I rarely do these days. It was a lot of fun to work out how to make it look like a cohesive design and flow nicely across the full 24".

I tweaked both sketches to accommodate my design. This sketch indicated embellishments under the photo so I just swapped it out for my main journalling and a sub-title. The card on the left of the photo replaced out a journalling tag.

Sketch #326 from the October 2016 collection and Story Starter #1 - "On the Table" from November 2015

And on this side, I skipped the journalling under the title and went for some simple text directly on the photo to indicate the food that we enjoyed. However, both sides are still relatively true to the original designs of both sketches and prove that you can combine two to make a full spread very easily.

ketch #323 from the October 2016 collection and Story Starter #1 - "On the Table" from November 2015

To ensure flow and cohesiveness across both the pages, I used tones of red, white and blue which match the theme of the page but not the true tones that you can find in the photos. Additionally, I used one collection of paper and embellishments, (Jen Hadfield, DIY Home) ensuring that elements of all colours, designs and patterns appeared on both sides. This was so much fun and reminded me just how great it is to make spreads where you get so much space for all the typical elements on a page - photos, journalling and pretty stuff.

The Story Starter "On the Table" really focussed me to concentrate on the real story of this very British afternoon tea. The bringing together of family - across language and culture which is a very important part of my life.

I wanted a title that supported the subject of the page without being too obvious. And the gold won out even though I use this alphabet so sparingly! I can't bear the thought of it running out - good job I bought three sets.

To find out more about the many resources and inspiration - including the sketches and story starters I use each month - available to inspire you to create beautiful pages and tell meaningful stories in a supportive, communicative community environment, check out the Simple Scrapper premium membership here.

October at Simple Scrapper #2

I was thrilled to see that this second Creative Team layout for Simple Scrapper in October made the front cover of the membership magazine Spark. This is an amazing team to be part of and the talent of the other ladies is just so impressive that I feel honoured to be highlighted in this way. And this is a particular favourite layout of mine so that made me doubly happy.

I combined an older sketch with this month's Story Starter, "Tending the Nest" to talk about my mum and my 94-year old granny.

Sketch #300 from May 2016 and Story Starter "Tending the Nest" #7 from October 2016

I also used my September Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit, Sundance and found that the softer tones of the kit matched my photo so perfectly. I wanted to ensure that the whole layout felt soft, caring and feminine.

Counterfeit Kit Challenge September kit, Sundance lo#2

I used my favourite way of keeping the journalling a little private - a vellum pocket. You can see it's there and if you are close enough to me to feel comfortable to pull out the card to read it, it's relatively easily accessible.

The original sketch was designed for an 8 1/2 x 11" page with four 2x2 photos so I just stretched everything a bit bigger to fill my 12x12 page and made my single photo 5x5.

I loved how the blue and aqua elements in my kit matched my granny's cardigan so perfectly. I don't often try to match up my design with the photos featured, just using what I have in each kit in a way that pleases me, but this worked out so perfectly.

To find out more about the many resources and inspiration - including the sketches and story starters I use each month - available to inspire you to create beautiful pages and tell meaningful stories in a supportive, communicative community environment, check out the Simple Scrapper premium membership here.

October at Scrapabilly #3

Back again with my last shares using the Scrapbilly October Kit des Monats which is full of Simple Stories Posh collection papers and embellishments.

Here's a reminder of the beautiful kit and you can find my first two blog posts here and here.

My last two layouts feature the two youngest members of our family - baby J and pretty P - both of whom are simply gorgeous and I'm so proud to be their auntie. It's always a good excuse to make a pretty baby page!

First up, baby J when I first got to meet him. From the photos I've seen over the last week or two, he's grown quite a bit since then but boy, is he cute!

There was some serious letter tweaking to complete one or two of the titles this month. The bird's tail here covers up some "clever" piecing!

And finally, but by no means least, is a page about sweet P. As usual, I grabbed some screen shots off IG and decided to use all three at once. Somehow, I love that you can't see her face even more and you can almost feel the effort she's going through to get moving!

I cut this from one of the pocket page cards. I think it works perfectly as part of the title.

This page was a good excuse to get happy with all the pink and girlie elements in the kit and to just make it all pretty. That spotty paper was just too delicious not to use as a large piece.

Another great month using these wonderful papers and elements. Thanks to Sylvia for making up such a gorgeous kit. 

Check out the kit here on the Scrapabilly site and don't forget to check out the Design Team gallery here while you're there. I love looking at the gallery to see all the different ideas we've come up with. You can also find the Schnick Schnack Sack (embellishments) and the Pretty Planner Pack kits and galleries there too. So much to discover and so much inspiration to be had. You might be lucky and be able to pick up a kit of your own too. Head over and see :-)

Back soon with more October shares this time from Simple Scrapper - determined to get them all shared within the month!

October at Scrapabilly #2

The October Scrapabilly Kit des Monats features the beautiful Posh collection by Simple Stories and once again, it was love at first sight for me. 

Here's a reminder of the kit showcasing the platinum foiled papers and that beautiful foiled Pink Paislee alphabet. 

You can find my first two layouts here but I'm back today to share the next two.

This one may seem a little strange but as it has an important impact to my life, I thought it only right to reserve a space in my scrapbook for my thoughts on this momentous result. I'm still in shock at the result and I might add some additional journalling to this page or even an add-on page to talk about some ongoing thoughts on this topic. As always, I decided to use a representative photo from the day in question when I sat outside with a glass on wine, in shock, considering the outcome.

And just a fun layout to capture my love of all things gold after a little shopping spree at Hema!

Another little cluster of die cuts prettying up the corner.

Who needs to use up precious alphabet letters when you have a gorgeous gold foil die-cut like this?

Yes, it was fiddly cutting out the paper paper clips but I love the result!

Check out the kit here on the Scrapabilly site and don't forget to check out the Design Team gallery here while you're there. I love looking at the gallery to see all the different ideas we've come up with. You can also find the Schnick Schnack Sack (embellishments) and the Pretty Planner Pack kits and galleries there too. So much to discover and so much inspiration to be had.

  

Back soon with more shares!

Counterfeit Kit Challenge member blog hop

Welcome to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge member blog hop this month!

It's been a quiet month over at the CKC blog which is usually a sign that the year is coming to an end (eek!!!) and therefore we have a cosy hop this time around! Make sure you visit everyone today as I have a feeling it's going to be awesome including a fabulous new follower, Raelene and our lovely Guest Designer Kelly :-), not to mention our regular hopper, Tina who always delights!

When you're done here, head over to Julene and the full hop list can be found at the end of this post.

We were given three great challenges this month by Susan:

• Challenge #1:  - Snip, Snip!
• Challenge #2:  - Balance the Scale!
• Challenge #3:  - Playing Dress Up!

I decided to follow along with challenges #1 and #2 including some fussy cutting and a little bit of pink and gold fancy for my page.

This also fulfils my Whimsical Musings prompt WM#233 - be inspired by Blue Heart of Delft and took this quite literally, including the original inspiration photo, the title of Delft Blue and some fussy cut roses which are very reminiscent of those famous blue tiles that the city is so famous for.

Thanks for dropping by today - make sure you let me know you were here before heading over to Julene to see what she's got to share with us.

Here's the full list. Why not join in yourself next month? Each Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog post has details of how to get yourself on the hop - we'd love to see you there.

• http://www.counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com
• http://lisahausmann.blogspot.de
• http://julenebydesign.blogspot.com.au
• http://tinasscrapcorner.blogspot.com
• http://kaybeetoo.blogspot.com
• http://dyspraxicorganisedscrapper.blogspot.com.au/
• http://just-jimjams.blogspot.co.uk

October at Scrapabilly #1

Well, now that I'm up to date on sharing all my September makes, I think it's time to move on to October. Crazy how the year is running out, isn't it?

October's Scrapabilly Kit des Monats is just gorgeous - yes, I know I say that every month! - and full of Simple Stories "Posh" collection which was very much my style. 

There's lots of wonderfully on-trend platinum elements on the papers and the die cuts which are included in the kit. A gorgeous set of Pink Paislee alphas, of which I need more!, and a mini alpha too make this very versatile. I also added in a few of the Posh collection extras to my kit just because!

Enamel dots, brad stickers, clips and the alpha/sticker sheet, as well as one or two extra sheets of cut-apart papers. But honestly, while it's lovely to sprinkle some enamel dots here and there across my papers, there are enough die-cuts included in the kit to make up loads and loads of pretty projects. I'm just greedy!

I managed a healthy six layouts with my kit and still have plenty of bits and bobs.

Here's my first and I was inspired by something I'd seen online but just in passing so I don't have any credits to give on the designer. Anyway, I was happy to get the sewing machine out and working on the lines of the papers to record this perfect moment one sunny afternoon recently.

I love to layer up several of the die-cut elements to make a meaningful (to me) embellishment cluster. The return of the loopy gold thread made me happy.

This layout records a few impressions from a wine festival I recently attended in a small town on the Rhine, Bad Dürkheim. It's the largest wine festival in the world apparently and after testing some of the many different wines on offer, I can confirm that it's all delicious!

Again, I was inspired by something I'd seen online to make up these small pockets full of sequins and can't give direct credit. I don't pin everything that I like or my Pinterest board would be bursting at the seams but the ideas stay in my mind for when I'm creating!

Check out the kit here on the Scrapabilly site and don't forget to check out the Design Team gallery here while you're there. I love looking at the gallery to see all the different ideas we've come up with. You can also find the Schnick Schnack Sack (embellishments) and the Pretty Planner Pack kits and galleries there too. So much to discover and so much inspiration to be had.

Back soon with more shares!