Changes and Christmas Scrapping

Hello! How are you?

September has been a busy month in our house.  

A month that has seen a lot of changes.

I was quite sad to finally close the S J Crafts online shop although I know it is the right thing for me and my family. My daughter started the next phase of her life as she moved up to her new secondary school and has quickly settled into her new routine and enjoying the opportunities school now offers her! And Me?! I have started a new part time job! I can't believe how lucky I have been to land myself this little job which gives me all the school holidays off!! I'm very thankful for this next phase of life for me and my little family!

Recently I was lucky enough to work with the brand new Simple Stories "Cozy Christmas" collection pack from the lovely Wear Crafts for a magazine commission. Unfortunately I can't yet show you the layout for the magazine but I can show you this layout which I created with some of the left over papers.

I started off with a row of three photographs across the middle of the page. The word "Joy" and the stars in the bottom right corner were already on the paper as was the little gold strip on the top edge so I simply used these two areas as my start point to build up the design, adding the red striped border sticker (cut into small pieces), little stars, the gold "25 Dec" and word stickers (all from the sticker sheet which is included in the collection pack). I also die cut the larger red stars and the small woodgrain stars. The "Oh what fun it is" card is cut from one of the patterned papers in the kit and I added the heart sticker to match the red heart printed on the paper next to the word "joy". 

I finished off with some metallic MME arrows, date stamp and a scattering of gems.

Here's a few close ups of the details:

And here's a look at what you get in the collection pack:

A gorgeous selection of double sided papers and journal cards in traditional reds, greens,  mixed with some woodgrain and more neutral creams and golds. The two sticker sheets have lots of really useful words and festive icons which I know I will use up on more layouts very soon.

Have you started your Christmas Crafting yet? 

Scrap 365 September Sketch

I love the monthly sketches over at  the Scrap365 blog and one of the things I'm happy about since the shop closure is that I now have a little more scrappy time which means I can play along with a few of the challenges that pop up in blogland and on UK Scrappers.

This is the September Scrap 365 sketch

and here's my take on it

I kept fairly close to the sketch, layering up my papers, stickers and embellishments on the cardstock onto which I had drawn the "half circles" with a gold pen.

As on the sketch, I placed my title to the right hand side of the layout. 

I added some Studio Calico gold hearts and Heidi Swapp gold mist droplets. Then some Mister Huey green mist for good measure!

I love these American Crafts Cork arrows .... and I'm down to my last few so I'm now using them sparingly!!! 

This one helps to draw the the across the page to the journalling and the title!

I really enjoyed this sketch and look forward to the next one!

Start to Finish Challenge #1 ~ Favourites and winner!

A few weeks ago I set the first "Start to Finish" Challenge, where I showed you the very early stages of a layout with just a few pieces of paper layered up and challenged you to copy the "Start" but to add further papers, photos and embellishments in whichever way you chose to. 

Here's my Start and the Finish Layout ...

Lots of you found it a great way to jumpstart your layout and it was lovely to see how all the layouts finished up so differently!

I loved all your layouts and it was so difficult to pick out just a few favourites but here they are ...

Top left: "Aren't you lovely" By Laura

Top right: "Look at you" By Annie

Bottom left: "Soakin' up the rays" By Jackie

Bottom right: "Lovely" By Sharon

The winner picked at random using "Random.org" is No 5 which is:

Petrina!!

Congratulations Petrina - please drop me an e mail to sarah_sjr at hotmail (dot) com with your address so I can get a little prize off to you!!

Look out for another "Start to Finish" Challenge coming soon!!

Our Sweet Girl Layout

Hello and Happy (if a little too rainy!) Bank Holiday Monday to you! 

I recently got my hands on some of the lovely Highline collection by Basic Grey, the colours and embellishments are just perfect for scrapping photos of my daughter!

Sometimes I find it tricky to find collections suitable for older children (past the cute/princess/disney stage but not yet a teenager!) but the bright, funky pinks and oranges mixed with the black were spot on!

I used a Heidi Swapp stencil and mist to create the "Love This" in the right hand corner.

A few Heidi Swapp Puffy stickers, Basic Grey Highline chipboard pieces and black gems were all I needed to embellish my page. 

The chevrons are made with the Stampin Up Chevron punch.

A few ink droplets to finish off!

The finished layout!

 Thanks so much for popping in today!! 

Which collections do you use for scrapping photos of older children?!!