A 'Manly' Birthday.

Good morning.

Time for another card today and this time it's the 'manly' variety!

I don't colour too many male images because they're usually not cute.....obviously (!), and you may have guessed by now, I like cute.  However, one image I quite often colour up, because he is cute in that 'want to rub his bald head' kinda way is 'Maurice' from Pollycraft.

The male members of my family are probably getting a complex by now, wondering why they're quite often sent cards of a man sporting very little hair and a well rounded tum.  No offence to my Dad (although if the cap fits.........), this latest version was given to him for his Birthday.

I did try to soften the blow a little via the sentiment, printed from Word.

Maurice is coloured with Copic's and papers are from a My Minds Eye 'Six by Six' pad.

That's all for today, but I'll be back in a day or two, with scrapbook pages I think.

Till then, have a good one,
Jayne.x.

TGIF and I'm back!

Well it's pretty obvious that my good intentions of 'blogging' regularly did not come to fruition!  However in all fairness.....technology is to blame!  I don't seem to have the magical touch when it comes to anything electrical at the moment (do NOT mention washing machines!!!!) and have been without Internet since the weekend.

However, the lovely people from my cable company have sorted things out (5 days later, but who's counting!) and I'm back baby!

So, I have plenty to show you, but I'm going to be a tease of course and spread things out......that way I have an excuse to visit more regularly!

Starting today with a card.  Another bookmark card to be precise........nothing extravagant, but I did enjoy colouring with my Prisma pencils/OCMS again, so here goes.

The image is another super cute one from Saturated Canary.....I confess I may have purchased one or two new ones recently (!) but this one has actually been sitting in my stash for quite a while, waiting for some colour.

Papers are mostly Prima with a touch of My Minds Eye thrown in there.  I kept things pretty simple, as the bookmark section  will of course eventually be detached and pressed between pages.

Well that's it from me, but before I go, I just wanted to mention there are lots of fun challenges starting today over on the Two Scrapbook Friends Forum, in honour of the 2012 Olympics starting in London, England.  There's sure to be lots of fun and plenty of inspiration to get your mojo moving, plus a little prize or two involved, so head on over to the forum and get started.

See you soon......I am off to the Laundrette again!
Have a good one,
Jayne.x.

Friendzy Friday at Two Scrapbook Friends - Accordion hearts

I know I've been a bad blogger recently, but the sun has been shining so nicely, and we've been enjoying my parents company, so what can I say?!!  I will try to behave from now on and visit regularly.....promise!

It's time for another Friendzy Friday over on the Two Scrapbook Friends Blog and Forum, so I'm here with a quick tutorial for creating accordion hearts.

Most of us have created accordion flowers of varying shapes at some point and Christa gave us a great Freindzy Friday recently for one variety, but I quite often use accordion hearts on cards and scrapbook pages, to add a 'heartfelt' variation to this popular embellishment.

Here goes:

1. First I determine the overall finished size of the heart by deciding upon the width of my strip of paper. For this example I've cut a strip 1 1/2" tall, and as always, I keep the length to 12". This size works great on scrapbook pages as it's quite a good size, however it's probably a little large for cards, so I tend to reduce the measurement to 3/4" or 1" by 12".

2. Score the strip of paper at the 6" point and fold.



3.We then have to create a template, so I cut a piece of cardstock the same size as the folded paper I'm working with.....in this case 1 1/2" by 6".



4. On the 'template' card, we need to freehand draw the following shape.......it doesn't have to be perfect as long a it follows the general outline.




5. Cut out the template, then place on the folded patterned paper and cut around the shape.



6. Open out the paper and proceed to score at regular intervals, as you would to create any accordion flower. I score at 1/4" intervals, but the choice is yours.



7. Accordion fold at the score lines and you should end with something like this.



8. Glue the two ends together to form a circle.



9. Press the circle flat to create the heart shape....remember, the straight edge should be in the center and the curved edge on the outside. The narrowest part of the strip can be a weak point and possibly tear, so I tend to hold this section as I press the heart flat. I also usually cut an extra smaller circle to adhere the heart to and keep things in place.






You can then add gems or buttons etc...........



This little card uses a perfect image and sentiment from Bugaboo , and made it's way to my parents for their wedding anniversary......I know they'll appreciate the humour.........46 years and still going strong (the sentiment says it all! :)

These hearts also look great on layouts where the options are endless for what you can add on there...........

I do hope you'll give these a try as they really are super easy, and you can re-use your template over and over again.
Have fun and I'll see you next time,
Jayne.x.

Snap Happy 'Old School' Style

It's time for another Crafty Challenge over on the Two Scrapbook Friends Forum, and today we're going Snap Happy but with a twist.......we're taking it back a few decades!

For my challenge I'd like to see a card or layout with a 'Polaroid' style shot on there.

Polaroid style photographs are a popular trend in scrapbooking right now, so there are many options available to create this look, without having to scour antique stores for an original camera.

Some paper companies (My Minds Eye for one) are even including images on their patterned papers, which can be easily cut out and used individually.

Picassa has a great tool in their program too, which enables you to print your own photographs in this style.

Another easy way is to create your own, by trimming your photographs and adding a wide matt of cardstock.  I used this method on a recent scrapbook page, and used the following dimensions:

Photograph 2 3/4" by 2 3/4"
Cardstock 3 3/4" by 3 1/8"

I have another scrapbook layout as an example for you today, and this time I used papers from the My Minds Eye 'Follow Your Heart' line.  I was able to cut a Polaroid frame from the images on one of the papers, and I thought it would be fun to lay the frame directly over my 4"x6" photograph without trimming.

 


I also couldn't believe my luck when I found this metal heart embellishment in my stash.........a make n' take from Maya Road at Scrapfest earlier this year, which just happened to have the perfect colours to match the scheme on my page.

All the doily circles are fussy cut from another sheet of PP and there's a variety of fonts, together with stitching and a quick spritz of Maya Road mist.

An abundance of tags and more stitching............

And more of the above!

I hope you'll get to join in with this weeks challenge and don't forget to upload your creations to the Forum and Gallery in order to collect buttons toward your next gift certificate.


Have a great day and I'll see you soon,
Jayne.x.

Pencils are my best friend.........and a few changes around here!

Good morning, another beautiful day.


It's put me in the mood for 'Spring cleaning'!  A little late I know, but what do you think of the new look?


I thought it was time for a change as things were looking a little tired around here, and I'm not sure if this is 'it'........you know 'it', as in do I love 'it', or I just can't be bothered to change the whole blog design again type of 'it'?  We'll see how things go, but for now, I like 'it'!


Well today's post is a card, and as the title suggests, the Prisma pencils have made their comfy little way into my clumsy paws.  Oh how I love them!  Every time I use them these days, it's like I've forgotten how awesome they are to work with, but today they are especially my friend.  The reason why.........black hair!


Need I say more?  Don't get me wrong, I love my Copic's too, but when I tackle the slightly trickier tasks of let's say BLACK HAIR (which I do quite enjoy with Copic's as it's a challenge that get's the juices flowing!), Prisma's are just so........easy!  They do the job for you, and all with just one colour no less........BLACK!


Anyhow, enough waffling, I guess I should post the card.

Wow look at that.....it even co-ordinates with the new blog look perfectly.....happy coincidence!


This card has a combination of 3 of my favourites:


#1. You may have guessed already from the previous hints....Prisma Pencils, and I guess I should mention the other half of the dynamic duo....Odourless Colourless Mineral Spirits.
#2. Another awesome digital image from Saturated Canary.  Every one of Krista's images inspires me to create pretty things.
#3. Authentique paper.  The quality of this stuff is second to none and I'm officially now a hoarder.  I can't wait for the next collection to be released, even though I have the previous 5 sitting untouched.  Can't help it ....it's just so pretty, I want it all!


Here's a little close up of the colouring deets for ya............

Lot's of little extra bits and pieces on here, some vintage, some modern.  Distress inks, torn edges, border punch, lace, ribbon, pearls, and those rolled fowers are made using a Dienamics die and a couple of different shades of canvas I had lying around.

Well that's about it from me for today.


I'm going out to enjoy the sushine and my last day of freedom...........it's the last day of school ya know........need I say more?!!


Have a good one and I'll see you soon,
Jayne.x.
-------------------------------------------------------
Challenges entered:
ATC's & Cards With Attitude - Anything Goes
Cardmadfairy's Digi Days Challenge - Girly Challenge
Chocolate Coffee and Cards Challenges - #16 Anything Goes
Fat Pages and Cards With Attitude - #17 Anything Goes
Totally Papercrafts Friday Challenges - Use a Digi
Crafty Creations Challenges - #176 Use at least 3 embellishments
My Mums Craft Shop Challenges - #63 Use a favourite stamp
The Paper Shelter Challenge Blog - #70 Punches and/or Dies
Bearly Mine Challenges - #41 Anything Goes
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - #25 Girls, Girls, Girls
Crafty Cardmakers - #71 Make your own Flowers
Incy Wincy Designs - Anything Goes
Love To Create Challenge Blog - #21 Anything Goes
Pile It On - #26 Make your own Embellishments

Time for a sketch.

Well hello.

It's Wednesday and sketch challenge time over on the Two Scrapbook Friends Forum.........my turn again I'm afraid!  As I have family visiting at the moment, things are a little busy, so I thought I'd look through some of my old scrapbooks, and see if there was anything in there worth using for a sketch.

I did eventually find something - a scrapbook page which is certainly from my earlier days (6th page in my first scrapbook to be exact!) so I'm hoping my style has evolved a little since then, but I do like the layout and could see myself using it again at some point.  Maybe there's the challenge for me........create a new page using an old layout for inspiration!

Anyhow, I digress.......here's the newly drawn sketch.........

And here's the 'old' layout........

I was trying to remember why I decided upon that cuved element in the center there and even shaped the photograph to fit!  Then I remembered.........in my early days of scrapbooking, this was pretty soon after I'd purchased one of my first tools.......a BoBunny bendable ruler........hence the curved lines!

I hope you'll give this one a try as I'd love to see how the sketch translates to today's styles.
Don't forget to upload your projects to the Two Scrapbook Friends Forum and Gallery in order to collect buttons toward your next gift certificate.

Have a great day,
Jayne.x.

Mom

Hello there.

It's Friday and I'm back here as promised, with my final DT project using the Authentique 'Delightful' line for Two Scrapbook Friends.

For this last project, a layout entitled 'Mom', I wanted to switch things up a little.  I wanted to keep the graceful elegance of this line, but lose a little of the girlie girl pastels in favour of a little colour.  I found the perfect orange background on the reverse of one of the papers, which really allows the purple in my photographs to 'pop'!

Authentique quite often include in their collections ('Delightful' being no exception) one or two sheets of 'word' stickers which are perfect as an aide to journalling.  For this reason my page centers around just that......the journalling, so I set myself the task of using as many of these stickers as possible.

Not bad........20 in total!

Now this page covers the fact that my Mom, bless her, hates to have her photograph taken as she's never too fond of the results.  Usually when I post 'stuff' on here, she is stalking my blog from 3000 miles away, and I'm well out of arms reach.  At present though, I'm lucky enough to have my parents visiting from across the pond, so although it's less likely she will see this, it does mean if she catches sight of it, I'm more likely to get a flip around the ear hole, for posting it on here for the World to see!

Back to the deets!
There's a nice little tulle trim layered under the photographs, for that 'girlie' element......

 

as well as a framed collection of embellishments.....a couple more of the stickers (from the co-ordinating sticker sheet) included in this of course.

Well that's it for today, but I'll be back next week with a couple of cute cards.......I've been playing with the Prisma pencils again!
Have a good one,
Jayne.x.