A Bride and Her Maids

I'm gambling on the bride in the picture not reading my blog, as this is her 30th birthday present and it's not her birthday for another week. I hope I haven't spoiled the surprise! Anyway, I made this page for a friend who got married a few years ago.

 

It's inspired by a Pencil Lines sketch from March (and the reason I'm posting it now is so that I can enter in time).

 

You can't see because the photo is black and white, but the blue I've chosen matches the bridesmaids' dresses (and that's me, on the far left of the photo). I also used a bit of orange - not my favourite colour, but I love how it goes with the blue.

I hope my friend likes this. And is surprised by it, in a good way of course.

Feeling a Bit Sketchy

I've been feeling a bit sketchy for the last couple of months, and a lot sketchy for the last couple of days. Not sure what's been wrong with me, if anything - just a general physical and mental lethargy. Maybe it's as simple as my body needing some sunshine. Thankfully, there was some of that yesterday, and the warm sun on my skin must've helped a bit, because I completed two layouts yesterday evening.

One of them, inspired by a Creative Scrappers sketch, celebrates my relationship with my brother: few words pass between us, and even though he's six years my younger, he never stopped growing; he's more like a big brother.

Supplies used: Echo Park Little Boy paper (Rock Star), Echo Park Sweet Summertime alphas, Thickers, Tim Holtz stamps, bakers' twine and a couple of miscellaneous items.

It Must Be Love

... to go to these lengths of measuring, cutting, punching, painting, inking and printing. Not to mention sticking, writing, stamping and posting.

This photo shows a stage in the wedding invitation making process that was actually quite near the end. Today we are even closer, so close we can smell the envelope glue, but I'm going to leave y'all hanging on just a little bit longer so that the guests can have a look at the finished cards first. What better way to spend a Sunday? (Don't answer that; I'm all too aware that there are more fun things to do!)

Me and K

Once upon a time I vowed to make a postcard a week during 2011.

January saw me super-motivated; February saw me fuzzy-headed but plodding on; but March rolled around and the postcard making ground to a halt under the pressure of putting together wedding invitations, having a stall at a craft fair, and trying to live amongst increasingly high piles of scrappy mess.

Ridiculous, then, it may seem, that I've taken on another challenge - 'ABCs of Me' over at Scrapbook Challenges - but never fear, it's only for one or two letters. Hmmm, that sounds like cheating. I rather like to think of it as participating as much as I can and sharing what I have to share.

So, my challenge is this: we're on letter K. I've chosen the word KITCHEN as I have a love-hate relationship with kitchens. They are my favourite place, but I'm never happy with the one I have. I work in my kitchen (the table is my study) as it is bright with a high ceiling, and has a peacefully bubbling fish bowl in one corner and a dog in the other. The windowsill is lined with plants and herbs and flowers, and there are lots of trinkets and crafty things lying around. Yet, it is not, and cannot ever become, my dream kitchen. My dream kitchen has a bigger table, a view over a garden, red gingham, a fish bowl a dog AND a cat in the corners, and lots more besides. This is my layout with the invisible title (invisible because there was just nowhere to fit it in the end) 'Dreaming of a Country Kitchen'.

If you're joining in, you must scrap something about the relationship between you and your kitchen - how it makes you feel, how you wish it was, if it's a happy place and the heart of the home, or whether you long to be free from it. A plethora of emotions might spring up from this seemingly banal subject, but that's what I'd like to stimulate in those playing along. Oh, and as always there needs to be a twist. The twist for this challenge is... no photos. Not one. Not even a teeeeny tiny one!

Some close-ups of the page:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The challenge will be up very soon on Scrapbook Challenges - in the meantime go take a look at the previous 'ABCs of Me' challenges. You might want to get involved!

Poor Doggy

The other day I was playing around with a pile of paper scraps. Actually, I was trying to tidy up, and I dropped a handful onto a cunningly placed Basic Grey Basics sheet. I'm not going to pretend they all fell into place like this, but it certainly inspired me...

This is a page that I'm almost 100% happy with. I definitely like the direction this style is going in...

A Blank Canvas

On Monday I said I would share a few more things from the market, so here I am, with my first real foray into mixed media canvases.

Up until last week I had three small (A6-ish) canvases sitting in a drawer, since forever probably, and although I knew they were waiting patiently for the right time to be unfurled to the world in their proper state, I was a little impatient with myself for not being ready for this magical time to occur.

Last week the time came. I laid out inks, sponges, brushes, paints, stamps, glue and a few other miscellanies and got messy. Here's what I came up with:

... and now I've released them to the world, where they can fulfil their destiny.

While I've got your attention, I'd like to announce quickly that following a short delay, March's scraplift challenge is up and running at the True XOXO Girls blog - pop on over if you feel the need for some layout inspiration. If you do end up lifting any of the gorgeous pages there, including mine (let's just take another look at it)...

....then you'll be in with a chance of winning a luscious prize from Candy Shoppe Designs. I know their kits, and I can tell you they are DELICIOUS.

After the Market

Yesterday I was at market. While many of you I'm sure were having a nice, relaxing Sunday, maybe at home or maybe strolling around a craft fair yourselves, I was behind a stall. Operating (or trying to) in French. And today I'm exhausted :-)

I just wanted to show you a few things I made for sale.

...Some altered wooden hanging hearts...

...a clipboard (I confess, I copied the one my mum made for me below)

...some embellishments...

...some gift tags (actually these are leftovers from a batch I made ages ago)...

...and some tags that my mum made for me to sell...

...as well as a couple of altered frames...

There were some other things I made too, but I'll share these another day - have to catch up on some sleep now!