Punky Scraps August Challenge

It seems like forever since I last got my scrap stuff out. I missed last month's DT challenge because I was meeting myself coming backwards and time just caught up so I was determined not to do the same this month or Nat would be cracking the whip. 

The August challenge is up and here is what I created

I was inspired by the shoes on the challenge photo to create a layout of my battered old converse - yeah no cutesy babies and puppies here!

Artful Readers Club - March

My choice for March was Without Fail by Lee Child

As with all the Jack Reacher series of books I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. 

If you aren't familiar with the character he is an ex military policeman who drifts from place to place with very few possessions.  The plot for this particular one is Jack Reacher giving a helping hand to the Secret Service in a murder threat against the vice president elect.  It builds and builds, with a few surprises along the way, to a crescendo which is worth waiting for. 

I've read this series in order and I have to say that you really don't need to have read any of the other books to read this one as it explains the history you need to know as you go along. 

The only thing I don't particularly like about this series of books is that he always has to sleep with the leading cop/agent/whatever and I don't think there is always a need for it, however in this book it is probably more important than the others but in a weird kind of way as the Secret Service agent used to live with his dead brother. 

I've yet to see the Jack Reacher film.  I've mentioned it before but I really don't see Tom Cruise in the role.  The author makes a big point in every book of describing Jack as 6ft 5 and blond which Tom Cruise certainly isn't.

Anyway his description is what inspired me this month.  I have my own Jack who is 17 and rapidly approaching the same size as Jack Reacher and his younger brother who is over 6ft at only 14 so I knew I would be using their annual back to school photo.

I am really struggling with photographing my layouts.  When one part is in focus the rest is a blur. More practice needed I think.

I found a stencil that is supposed to be an ink blotch but looks like a bullet hole and since the stories always involve guns I thought I would use that.  I used glass beads texture gel but it hasn't gone quite to plan so is more of a splodge up in the top left hand corner.  I do like the gel though and will use it again.

Artful Readers Club is here.  Pop on over to see lots more books and artwork

Punky Scraps March

We had a beautiful photo for inspiration this month - full details of the challenge are here

I used a photo of my youngest son blowing his candles out at his recent 9th birthday party.  I used a Dylusions stencil for the numbers. I did the 9s in a similar colour to his shirt and blurred the other numbers slightly to make the 9s stand out.

Artful Readers Club - February

Running rather late with this one.  I was actually in front of myself with the reading but way behind with the artwork. Better late than never I guess. The link to Darcy's blog where everybody's work is linked is here

My book choice this month was A Secret Love by Stephanie Laurens.




I enjoyed this one. It was a quick light hearted read.

Set in 1820 the plot is based around Alathea and Gabriel who are childhood friends. Alathea's father finds himself in a spot of bother after he made a deal with a fraudulent company. Alathea deals with the family finances and in order to protect her family identity poses as a grieving countess, wearing a black veil, to recruit Gabriel with the aim of proving the company her father dealt with is fraudulent. Gabriel wants payment in kind and things get a little raunchy to say the least. It isn't as explicit as 50 shades (crap book in my opinion) but it is quite spicy.  I won't spoil it any further by saying any more about the plot.

It was evident from the family tree in the front of the book that this is part of a series of books but I found it easy to read as a stand alone.

I did however find another in the series in the 10p sale section in the library along with some others to make my reading list for Artful Readers up to 12.

After a bit of thought I've taken one of my original choices off the list.  It was an allotment book and I've already had to have a good look through so I've added  Without Fail by Lee Child from my kindle to the list and it will be my March choice.  I've read a few Jack Reacher novels already and this was the next one in the series. 

Now onto the artwork for this month.

This book was so easy to be inspired by. The pink lace on the cover was my starting point with a Prima mask sprayed with a pink mist.  The black veil was a huge part of the story so I added a strip of black lace together with some cream and pink lace plus flowers and a doily.  Alathea's hair is mentioned a fair bit in the book so I chose a photo of when I had just been a GHD model for my local hairdressing salon.

The paper seems to have adopted the wavy look too from the misting. Oopsie

Punky Scraps #60

It's the 10th so that means it is Punky Scraps challenge day.

For full details of the challenge please pop over to the blog where you can see tons of inspiration.

Here is my take on the challenge:

It's my first time using glass beads texture gel and I have to say I really like it.  I tried to get a close up of the glinting beads on the second photo.

It's the first time I've scrapped this year and my husband did ask if I was getting into the Damien Hirst style so I'm guessing it is a bit different to the last layout he saw lol

Scrapbook Layouts

Despite the title of my blog I haven't got around to putting any scrapbook layouts on here for some time so here are just a few of my recent ones

The Wednesday Stuff - WOYWW & WIP Wednesday

First up WOYWW (Whats On Your Workdesk Wednesday).

A Basic Grey page of the month kit from November featuring the Picadilly line which I'm planning on using for the Punky Scraps DT assignment for this week.

head on over to Julia's blog for more workdesks around the world this wednesday


Second up is WIP (work in progress) Wednesday

I stumbled across the Batik pattern over the weekend. I think it was on Pinterest.  Anyway I saw it and thought it looked lovely yet familiar. I clicked the link which eventually led me over to ravelry and I realised why it was familiar.  I had purchased it around a year or so ago and started it but with beads (yes I know - I must have been posessed by a crazy moment in time!!).  Needless to say as it is a bottom up working system and the cast on is quite large I didn't get very far and ripped it all out putting it down as a lesson learnt. 

Falling in love with the pattern all over again I decided that since I had already bought it then I would give it another go but obviously without the beads.  I found a really squishy gorgeous yarn from Zen Yarn Garden called Serenity Silk which came in one of the Victorian Writers kits last year and I never got around to using.

It took a fair bit of concentration to get the pattern established but here is my progress so far. I'm up to row 28 and doing the small size.

To see more WIPs this wednesday please pay a visit to Tami

Punky Scraps - Get Picky

The last challenge for September on Punky Scraps is a get picky challenge where the other team pick criteria for our team to use. The full list is over at Punky central together with all the fabulous design team inspiration.

I will admit that I left this until the last minute because I was a bit scared of the monochrome part of it having never done one before. I went through my papers though and taking inspiration from the picture criteria used a orangey brown sort of hue. I ended up sticking a bit of black in there aswell.

I think I got everything. The canvas caused a bit of trouble because I couldn't get a toning colour no matter what I tried so I eventually went for a prima sequinned flower centre (on the tree branch) that had a canvas back. Yes the canvas is there but you just can't see it lol

I think I went a bit overboard with the glimmer mist. Never mind.

I used some Basic Grey Out Of Print, WRMK Travel, some chipboard shapes (bird and branch) and letters that I had and have no idea who made them, some of my handmade crocheted flowers and some black prima flowers.

The photo is one that has been propped up on our mantelpiece since I printed it off a while ago. It was taken last October of middle man and little man when we were at Center Parcs at Whinfell Forest.

Punky Scraps Challenge

This week over on Punky Scraps the challenge is to take inspiration from this picture

I took the buttons and the tartan as inspiration and created this

To take part in the challenge and have the chance to win a prize and also to see what the rest of the design team and guests have done head on over to the punky home.

LSNED - Day 3

Day 3 I discovered I love Webster Pages after receiving a massively discounted warehouse sale package. It cost me just over £30 including postage from the US and I got a mammoth amount of loveliness. Lots of papers underneath the gorgeous embellishments you can see in the picture. I've only ever had one or two pieces of patterned paper from Websters Pages before and definitely no embellishments apart from a very small length of ribbon in a kit once so I am very excited at the contents of my box.



There are a few christmassy bits in there but with a bit of creativity they can also be universal or I could just use it as an excuse to sign up for shimelle's Christmas class :)

Precocious Paper April Sampler

I was lucky enough to be chosen as a guest designer over at Precocious Paper and Tessa sent me this gorgeous package which was the April Sampler.

Here is what I did with the sampler.

Punky Scraps Challenge

This week the challenge is this picture

I took the music and the stripes from it and made this. My scanner is playing up so the picture is cak sorry.

Sketchy Thursdays 3.03

This was the sketch

and this is my take on it

Errrm Glimmer Mist Trial and Error

Having seen what gorgeous work the girls on my design team created I was inspired to have a try at using Glimmer Mist.

I've NEVER used this before and it is definitely trial and error.  I discovered that paper and card distorts very easily and my base card needs to lay flat in my album for some time before it will be back to normal. 

I discovered that I love the glimmery, glittery effect.

I discovered that I don't particularly like the blue I bought when it splodges like on the white flowers I sprayed.

Overall though I like it.  The layout I'm not so sure of but like I say it is trial and error and a learning process.

I used a Cleo Crafts kit from a few months ago. The papers are American Crafts Letterbox.

A Bit of Scrapbooking

I finally got a chance to play with the new Prima stuff I have in the shop. 

My design team have also had a play and their fantastic creations have been showcased in the shop blog all week.

My layouts aren't quite at the level of theirs but anyway here they are.

UFO is Captured

For the non knitters amongst you a UFO is an unfinished object.  This is something I have several sightings of in my knitting bag.  I captured a UFO a few days ago and made it into a FO.

The pattern was from a group on Ravelry called Solid Socks for a mystery sock thingy like the ones I used to do but it started months ago.

speaking of mystery sock patterns - another sock year starts tomorrow in Sock Knitters Anonymous group and I'm going to try and have a play along with the first month. More to follow.

Also starting tomorrow is the Learn Something New Everyday class at Shimelle.com.  I signed up for it last year but stalled after a few days.  It is a lifetime class so I don't have to pay to do it this year. Going to try and make an effort to keep up to date this time.  This is how I played catchup last year so I didn't feel like I had missed out completely.

Don't Faint But.....

I have crafting to show.

Here are a few layouts I have done over the last week.  It has been so long with the building work going on that I haven't had a chance to do much but I am loving it all over again.

I love these papers and they go perfectly with the borders of the hipstamtic prints

This is a picture from a number of years ago that I have been meaning to scrap for ages.

This one I'm not too happy with and I feel it needs something extra but not sure what so you may see it again with an addition.

It would be better if the pictures were straighter and I will try and correct that another day when the weather is nicer.

I have so many ideas running through my head at the moment so I'm sure there will be more in the next few days.

Also I finished my very first bag.  It was a bit of a learning curve and I struggled at times but it is finished.

The pattern was from Modabakeshop and to be honest it is quite simple but not if you are just starting out lol.

and hey guess what? Shhhh keep quiet because the world might explode with this news - there is finished knitting tomorrow.

Crafting Amidst The Chaos

I have found a small amount of time for crafting (not much but some).

This was with the UKS mystery kit. 

This is the front cover and first page of a birthday journal I am making

and this is something I did when I found a Chatterbox Memory kit hiding in the back of a cupboard.

Paper Scraps

This layout is one of the challenges on Shimelle's Something Out Of Nothing class.  The challenge was to use paper scraps.  I also made a very small dent in the brads and eyelets I rediscovered when we were set the metal challenge (see tree layout from last sunday).

My Turn

This week it is my turn to set the challenge on Scrap Weekly In 2010.

My challenge is to use fabric.  I've just got some Basic Grey Blush so I used that on this layout

I also did this for Shimelle's class - Something From Almost Nothing.  The challenge was to use those metals that have been lying in your stash pile for years.  I used this chipboard tree from a kit I got a long long time ago.  I painted it pink and then used up some of my stash of metal eyelets.  I also used a metal rimmed tag.  I actually quite enjoyed getting my Cropodile back out and setting the eyelets.  Took a while to get back into the swing of it and some of the eyelets are much more squashed than I would like.  I plan using eyelets more regularly in future so I have decided to leave the imperfect ones as a reminder that I need to practice using them.