A Recipe of All Sorts

When I cook, I rarely follow recipes to the letter. Sometimes because I disagree with them, but often because I am lacking an ingredient or two and have to improvise. The only exception is when I'm baking - then, it's essential to follow recipes to the letter. That, I'm happy with.

But following a Punky Scraps recipe to the letter is a whole different story. This month, I really struggled to make a cohesive page... but that's why it's called a challenge!

I needed a helping hand, so I used this sketch:

I found on this very talented lady's blog (who I discovered via Scrapbook.com) and it was designed by this scrapper.

And I tried really, really hard to follow the recipe. Here is my layout:

Punky Scraps challenge #42

Now I can take a step back I can analyse where I think I went wrong with this layout - I started with a patterned paper, and had to work around the pattern on the base layer. In the end I did end up working it into the design - the idea is is that the raindrops are turning into hearts, or the hearts are flying up and stopping the rain, so I'm happy with the symbolism of that part. In the end it turned out fine, I guess, but it was a struggle when I was putting it together!

The recipe (and my rendering of it):
Hexagons (raindrops)
White paint (behind the title)
Make a grid (the background paper and the map paper)
Use small photos (yup - too small for you to see properly!)
NO PINK (ooops.... realised at the last minute that the background paper has pink on it)
Use three circles (two wheels and a button)
Use three squares (the letters)
Use something transparent (red flock transparency semi-circles)

As always, you can go find out what the other members made from this recipe on the Punky blog. We'd love to see what you might come up with too, so please join in!

Rockin' the Sketch

When I made this sketch I tried out something with a sort of multiway title... well, I've tried it again. This time it's a bit simpler, so it works better.

That's me, though. I never start off simple, and then work my way up to something. I always try the hardest thing first, and then cut back when I realise I can't quite make it. What does that say about me, I wonder?

Anyway, here is my layout for this week's Punky Scraps challenge - a very punky sketch from Nat.

it's not just a skull, it's a skull with a 'tache!!!

I actually had a really hard time with this sketch, because it was so white-spacey. I really wanted to stick to the white space, too, but as I worked the page just kept spreading. But in the end, I'm happy with how it looks because I love bright colour on black, even if it is all a bit tidy.

Punky Scraps challenge #41

There's that multiway title I was telling you about - 'he rocks my world' and 'she rocks my world'. I love the speech bubble feature on this page because it is playful and really works as the thoughts of the subjects in the photo.

Go and see what other DT members did - you'll love their creations - and even join in yourself!

Inspiration – The Debate

Everyone talks about inspiration – where theirs comes from, what they use to get inspired, whether it’s an overused term or an undervalued part of life, where it touches borders with copyright infringement and stealing…

… but as far as I’m concerned, human consciousness is one huge living entity anyway. It always has been. It just takes, now and again, one individual in the right place at the right time to stand up and put an amazing idea out there, and then other ideas will spark off of that one and other people will have their own ideas and… so on.

Everything we put out there – whether it be our skills, our talent, or even our personality or our words – is an amalgamated, processed version of everything we’ve ever put in. We absorb information (read inspiration), then we recycle it; or, maybe a better word is upcyle.

In the past this process has gone rather slowly. It went quite slowly for quite a long time, in fact; only in the last 200 years has it sped up. And the acceleration is exponential – now, with the web at our fingertips (and probably soon to be linked directly to our brains), the sharing, processing and reusing of ideas has exploded into a constantly moving, ever-evolving quasi sentient thing where if you sit still for one minute you get left behind. Lawmakers can’t keep up with it, that’s for sure. Intellectual property law has been acknowledged for centuries, albeit unnamed, but only became commonplace a few decades ago, and it and its counterparts haven’t moved fast enough to be effective in providing a good set of reactions to the changing environment.

So where do we turn for inspiration? I talked in my guest post here about turning more and more to sketches… although even this is a foggy area: with so many sketches from different sources each week, and a limited canvas, it’s inevitable that overlaps occur. What do we do, then? Should we be concerned?

I think, at least in the online scrapbooking community, that old rules should still apply and be applied: do unto others as you would have done unto yourself. Or, an it harm none, do thy will. It’s common decency, and common sense. Even though when I look around I think I see mostly people who do not live by the same values as me, I’m somehow still convinced that people willing to be part of a community act in that community with these values in mind. There are always exceptions, of course. But those people, I just keep away from.

So, again, where do we turn for inspiration? If we become too scared of breaking the rules, however fuzzy they are, that we can’t move, there’s no point in continuing. Stasis is… inhuman.

This week, Natalie of Punky Scraps picked out an image for us to be inspired by. I had a ball – in fact, such a good time making a layout from this image that I will return to it again and again as I begin to incorporate some of its elements into my own style. And it made me realise: since she’s been running Punky Scraps, Nat has always offered an inspiration image every month. They’re much more than a colour palette, more than a theme or a style. I don’t know where she gets them, but they really work for me.

big, bold and bright - I love it!

printed rainbows - thanks, Sass!

 

hand-drawn rainbows - thanks, Copic!

loving shadows and shading here

And so, I’ve learned something. We’ve all been told to always look outside of the box. But I’ve actually only just come to understand what this means. Like when you look up into the night sky, and you have to not look directly at a cluster of stars in order to see them all; like doing those magic eye posters; like trying to remember something so hard and then it comes to you when you're in the middle of something else entirely; well, this is the same sort of thing. So, to answer my persistent question of where we can turn for inspiration, I will say, for now, that not going in search of it is the best course of action. Just keep all of your channels open, and it will find a way in.

Our Own Little Christmas

Although Christmas is supposed to be a family time - and I'm not complaining about that - we've had scant opportunity to explore other options over the years. As we've both lived away from home since we were 18, each Christmas was taken up with visiting sets of parents - separately, at first, and then together (meaning we have to operate on an every-other-year basis).

In 2009, when we moved to Brussels, it was the Belgian parents' turn to have us. But because of one thing and another, in particular horrible snowstorms, we ended up waking up in our own house on Christmas Day. It was perfect - we had smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, a glass of Bucks Fizz, and a few presents in our dressing gowns before having to pack up into the car and trek down the empty highway to the family dinner. But we didn't have any real decorations - we'd just moved in in October - save the home-made wooden heart garland that my parents had lovingly put together.

toadstools can be christmassy too!

Last year being the English parents' turn, we didn't bother with decorations at all. But this year, we are here, newly married, at home, much more settled - and we have just put up our tree. It's there in the corner, twinkling and smelling all christmassy, and it embodies a lot about our own little Christmas - we've made the place all festive, we are now husband and wife, we will work all the way up until the 23rd and then have a cosy Christmas Eve, and wake up on Christmas Day in our own place, with our own tree, and we will be here to enjoy its beauty.

So, you wanna see it?

{heart cushion from Ikea}

Punky Scraps only have one challenge this month, because they know how busy we are all going to be with the last-minute shopping. It's a sketch - an incredible sketch:

# 36 from Nat. WOW!

I felt very christmassy when I was thinking about what to do with this sketch. And so, my first Christmas layout (yep - ever!):

I have s.e.i. and their Winter Song patterned paper to thank here

I used mostly ancient stuff - bling, alphas, epoxy stickers, sequin shapes felt flowers - but also some Emma's Shoppe accents and a lot of stamping and painting and misting.

sideways close-up

Here's to the next few weeks and a happy, exciting build-up to Christmas 2011 - our first as a married couple.

Why not play along? It's a beauty of a sketch. Head over to Punky Scraps for some more inspiration from the DT - it's not all christmassy, if that's not your thing!

Punky Recipe - the Star of the Show

It's time for another Punky Scraps challenge! Don't try to resist, because this one is too good to miss.

Make a page from the following ingredients:

• Stars
• No patterned paper
• Masking
• Staples
• Exposed cardboard
• Book page
• Bottle cap
• Washi tape

Credits can only go to Inkadinkado and Tim Holtz for the star stamps

Not using any patterned paper was the biggest challenge for me - the biggest to date. (At least I know the need to use patterned paper will prevent my stash from ever getting out of control.)

I used everything on the list EXCEPT for the bottle cap because I FORGOT it. I had a Newcastle Brown Ale bottle cap somewhere (it has a star on it - perfect) but I only remembered it after I finished the page.

Love stars? Love ripping up cardboard? Look no further...

Again, as I mentioned in my previous post, I spent a LOT of time thinking about this page. I left it till the very last minute, and then woke up on the last day before deadline with the idea in my head. This time, the ingredients were decided for me; it was the laying out of the page that was taking time to come into focus.

I would LOVE to see people playing along with this challenge especially, so please pop over to Punky Scraps and check out the inspiration from the DT.

It's All About The Journey

I'm loving this artistic journey I'm on, and I'm finding myself fascinated by the twists and turns a journey can take, and how each new avenue leads to change, influence, adaptation and improvement. All those terms are subjective, obviously, but I really mean them in a sense of how happy I am with my creations and the direction they are heading in.

A journey can be so many different things.

This life journey I'm on, for example: I'm married now, and I feel like we can take on the world. We will go places together. 

All this and more fed into this layout as I was making it for this week's Punky Scraps sketch challenge. I wanted to pay homage to life and living, to enjoying and experiencing the journey as we are on it, not just after it's finished.

Don't you love it when you look at something you've made and it makes you happy? I used: Basic Grey Basics and Wander paper and Wander rubons, American Crafts Thickers and Toga Alphas, Sassafras Lass bunting sticker, Heidi Swapp Ghost Alphas, Glitz transparency, Echo Park For the Record journalling card, and Gauche Alchemy goodies (feather, sequins, plastic embroidery grid, map, foot paperclip, WOODGRAIN PUNCHINELLA!) 

how great is that foot paperclip?!

Go check out the sketch and the other DT members' awesomely punky work, and share a tiny slice of their journeys too.

No Regrets

Often it's too easy to dwell on the past, to go over things that didn't quite happen the way you expected and analyse them for how they could've been changed or avoided... I'm guilty, sometimes, of this - like most people. But I do make it a daily challenge of mine not to live this way. This year one of my resolutions was to stop worrying about the passage of time and see how much it slows down (it works, by the way), and an aspect of this change was adopting the 'No Regrets' mantra.

this project is subtitled 'my tidy catharsis'

This was put to the test almost precisely two months ago today. Awake at 7.30am on my wedding day, and with 6 hours ahead of me in which to get ready, I was blissfully unaware of the stress that would bring the morning to a close. The car (you've already heard that story, about which I have no regrets, by the way) was due to take us away at 1pm. So, in a leisurely, calm mood, I had my nails painted, and had some coffee, breakfast, and then some champagne. Then it was My Turn - I sat in The Chair and began to have my hair and makeup done. From there, I was facing a clock dead on. I watched with anticipation as both hands approached the 12, then with discomfort as the minute hand hit the 6, and then with rising panic as it passed the 12 again, and passed the hour hand pointing at the 1.

Five minutes later my makeup girl finally gave me a Murray Walker-esque 'Go GO GO!' and I ran downstairs, literally jumped into my dress, had my bridesmaids zip me up, and ran back upstairs to grab my bouquet and my shoes. Outside there was just time for a quick photo and then - uopa! - into the car we squashed, and sped off into the busy centre of Brussels.

It would be two hours later before I realised that I'd completely forgotten to put on my veil - the first accessory I focused on in my wedding planning to embody the image I wanted - and a further 5 hours after that that I realised I'd completely forgotten to write up my vows for our personal ceremony - leaving me with a scribbled piece of paper of half-remembered things and huge gaps where I had wanted to put the love in.

Today, these two issues are still smarting. But in the grand scheme of things, neither caused the world to end, neither ruined the wedding, and neither were unfixable after the event. We will have a 'Rock the Dress' photo session next year, and I will wear the veil. I have written up my vows in full and in the way I wanted to read them, and will give them to him soon. I'm moving on, with no regrets.

...none whatsoever.

For more similarly themed projects, get yourselves over to the Punky Scraps blog this week for the first challenge of November. You'll love what the team have done, and you'll probably love the challenge, too. Thanks for reading my stress story. Now it's out there it feels much, much further away and an entirely tinier problem. See? No regrets!

So I Married a Rebel

I'm finally back - back from the wedding, the honeymoon, and the week's recovery afterwards. I can once again face Blogger. But, I need to break myself in gently... I'd love to show you all the wedding decorations, but my head is still swimming, and we don't have our official photos yet. So I'll rebel against that for the time being, and plug a layout I made for the Punky Scraps team.

Challenge 28 is a sketch that looks like this:

This was my take on the sketch:

The first September challenge at Punky Scraps, number 27, was to get inspired by this photo:

It made me want to scrap my brother:

Hop on over if you want to join in and be in with a chance of winning a prize!

Vintage Summer

'Vintage' is the word of the summer - not just for me: it's hugely popular in the UK right now. The first Augsut challenge at Punky Scraps is not going to disappoint, or diverge from this theme.

The challenge is to allow yourself to be inspired by this image:

I so wish I had time to play along with this one... I think I'll save it for later. Happy scrappy Sundays, everyone!

One Love

Yesterday I had a hair and make up test run for the wedding. I felt pretty special. A tiny part of me felt a bit silly, going to such showy lengths, but mostly I am just so excited now - it's drawing closer, everything seems to be under control, and we are gonna have such a great party!

I know I'll have a thousand photos to scrap after the wedding, but that doesn't mean I'm holding off on wedding layouts until then.

There was a sketch released earlier this month on the Creative Scrappers site - number 164 - that spoke directly to me. It looks like this:

I needed to scrap it. But I needed a good reason to scrap it. It had to be special.


Then the challenge over at Punky Scraps this week was given to us on the DT, and I knew exactly what to do. If you want to join in, you need to use the following ingredients list to create a layout:

• Photos of items, not people
• 3 circles
• Turquoise
• Stitching
• Red
• 2 or more staples

That first one on the list is what sparked off this whole page.

I'd been working on my photography and took a photo of our rings that I was just so happy with, I had to scrap it. I know people shouldn't really be seeing them yet, but I couldn't resist. In trying to keep things fairly simple I didn't used as many layers as I'd have liked, but I did get to use the beloved Heidi Swapp Ghost Alphas again:

Love that red stitching! Thank you, Creative Scrappers, for such a great sketch; and thank you, Punky Scraps, for a great ingredients list.

Don't Miss the Punky Scraps Challenge!

Lately I've been gorging myself on sketches, and can't immediately recall the last time I made a layout without some sketch or other I found online.

That's not to say, though, that all design problems are solved and quite often a layout seems to run away with itself and go further beyond the sketch than I'd originally intended. Sometimes this works out, but sometimes it doesn't and I find myself unconvinced of the result.

This is kind of what happened with this layout:

At the end of the parents' visit, I shoved the camera into my fiance's hands, so that we didn't suffer yet another missed photo opportunity.

I wanted more space on the page, and somehow ended up with less. It came from this sketch:

Anyway, that is what this week's Punky Scraps challenge is - to respond to this sketch. Go check out the inspiration, and why not join in? You could win this lovely kit:

Can't...

Can't...

...keep from getting stressed at wedding planning

...stop putting pressure on myself

...stand any more negativity!

So... I'm throwing it all off my back. I made a layout for the Punky Scraps challenge site that was like a catharsis for me. And now I feel freed from the clutches of pressure and stress.

It's called 'Can't afford to keep up', and contains a big page of  hidden journalling where I describe the pressure I feel from the scrapbooking industry to spend, spend, spend, how I resist it out of necessity, and how it feels like I'm fighting a sometimes lone battle to do my own thing. This is what the Punky Scraps DT membership has done for me, and the honesty is refreshing.

The challenge this week is to make a page using tissue paper - apt for someone trying to resist all those new products out there, screaming to be bought. Fancy joining in? You could win this if you do:

Punky Scraps Challenge 20: 5,4,3,2,1...

Challenge number 20 is up at Punky Scraps: to create a page using the following:

5 photos
4 alphas
3 patterned papers
2 colours of mists/pain
1 stamp
and also incorporate the colour blue.

My layout for this challenge looks like this:

Five photos - yes! I've been collecting these over the years and so badly wanted to use them on a page but am scared these days of using too many photos on a page. Perfect timing the challenge! Four alphas - yes, if you count either a different colour (white and black Thickers) or my own handwriting. Three patterned papers - yes: the background and two little flags on the right. Two colours - well, I used a blue home-made paint mist (and it worked!) and some white gesso. One stamp - that's the little star imprint in the gesso.

Oh, and blue - well, yes :-). The little piece of ephemera is actually a part of the most awesome event leaflet I've ever seen. It's a few pages full of really old circus-style adverts for events going on at one of our favourite local venues, aptly named (for this layout) 'Magic Mirrors'. It's where we go dancing - it has a proper wooden dance floor and a glass dome in the ceiling that splits sunlight into rainbows on the inside - no need for a glitterball in the summer when it's still light at 10.30pm.

My home-made paint spray. Proud!

I actually used a Scrapbook Challenges sketch for this one: number 256, which looks like this:

Go and get Punky at Punky Scraps by joining in the challenge. You know you want to!

Layout Central

I'm really happy with the amount of layouts I've made so far this year - I think it's 24 or 25 - and it seems I've finally arrived at an acceptable amount of time it takes to produce a layout. It's a combination of sketching and planning in advance, knowing my stash much better now it's sorted and tidied logically, and generally being more aware of placement, colour matching and style.

In fact, I'm on such a roll that I need to post 2 layouts today - a Punky Scraps one and a Creative Scrappers one. Get me!

First up, the Punky Scraps challenge site had its number 19 challenge this week, and since I'm now on the DT, I had to play along. In just 19 challenges the site has gained over 200 followers - it's on a roll too. The number 19 challenge was to be inspired by this photo:

And this is my layout:

If you want to play along for a prize, go to the Punky Scraps site and get scrapping.

Next up, the number 159 sketch from Creative Scrappers got a hold of me on Friday. The sketch:

And my layout:

I journalled about what I most like when I'm feeling under the weather - my man, my dog, my dressing gown, the sofa, a cup of tea, and maybe a film. I actually put this page up on the Scrapbook Challenges site under the ABCs of Me challenge for the letter U: the challenge was to scrap about when you're feeling under the weather.

Rebelationary

Well, welcome to the Punky Scraps blog hop! If you're just popping in, the Punky Scraps challenge site is having a blog hop to welcome in the new DT... of which I am now a part :-). If you're on the hop, you should've arrived here from the blog of Sarah Hurley. And if you want to join the hop, start here.

For the next year I'll be a Punky Rebel, putting out layouts, techniques, challenges and inspiration on the Punky Scraps blog along with my Punky DT mates. I'm totally rockin' out now I'm officially a Punky Rebel - there's maybe a bit of a swagger to my crafting, a bit more bristle to my brush. Being a Punky Rebel helps me feel like I fit in somewhere - and since fitting in is something that's always been an issue for me, I'm super happy right now!

Confession time. In the scrapbooking world, I've often struggled with the pink, sparkly side of things: too many flowers, too much glitter for me. It's taken me a while to find my scrapbooking identity, and I know each day will add a little more to it, but even so, I know what is not me. So, to me, the Punky style means being brave enough to go against the grain - and no one should take offence or exception to that. Whether it's the techniques on the page, or the subject, it's about not being afraid to scrap how, and what, you feel. Being a Punky Rebel will help me shake off the last rags of fear I might have about going against the grain, having as I will a support network of like-minded Rebels happy to challenge the norm.


With this in mind, let me show you the blog hop sketch we've layed out to:

What I layed out looks like this:

Punky Nat, the brains behind this whole operation, has a tasty RAK to give away to someone who comments on all the blogs in the hop.

A few close ups of my page:

Now, to continue hopping, head on over to the talented Elin's blog. Thanks for stopping by!

A Little Bit Punk, A Little Bit Rock n Roll

After a full night of wedding nightmares, it somehow seems apt that I finally share pictures of our invitations.

(These are not the original photos I took; they disappeared with the life of my laptop. So the lovely black, kraft-lined envelopes and the two great piles of invitations live on only in my head.)

And as the reality of the nightmares fade, if not the memory, I have some great news to share too: I'm on the Punky Scraps DT for 2011-2012! Yep, I'm now officially a Punky Rebel. Punky Scraps is a great challenge blog with a DT that is a bit more unconventional... go check it out!

I must now go and brush the residual cobwebs away and do some positive wedding planning to avoid any of the outcomes in my dreams. Have a nice day everyone!