Happy New year!

Happy New Year to all my friends!

Hope 2010 is good to us all!

I hope the New Year brings us all Health, wealth and happiness.

Looking forward to another year of challenges over at From Screen 2 Scrap
and to start the year off in creative style I am the guest DT Member for January over at Artastic a great challenge blog that gives us a painting to take inspiration from! Please come over and join in the fun!
I have also signed up for project 365 over at Gotta Pixel I am going to try to take a photo a day for the next year! Plenty for my scrapbooking! So here goes!
I am looking forward to a creative new year!

Happy crafting to one and all!!!!!!!!!!

See you next year!

Christmas is coming!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Christmas is coming like a steam train! It seems to be coming so fast! I love Christmas but this year I seem to be so behind! Having had this cold for nearly four weeks hasn't helped much either. Everything seems to have gone to my sinuses now so I have got banging headaches and I keep feeling dizzy! Nevermind last day of work tomorrow for two whole weeks yippee!!!!!!!!! Time to rest? not on your nelly! Pay day has arrived at last so I can now start the Christmas shopping and get the house ready and the decorations put up (very late this year!) Haven't yet made a single card! OMG got to get them done! Second of my Christmas meals out tomorrow after work! Hope I can taste something! my taste and smell have deserted me and I am getting a bit fed up of eating cardboard in various disguises!

It's snowing! Very pretty but bloomin freezin!!! Ah maybe we will have a white Christmas this year! (Iiiii'm dreeeeamin of a whiiiiite chrissssstmaaaaaaaaaaaaas, just like the ones i used to knoooooooooooooooooow!) not sounding too good at the moment won't torment anyone with anymore.
Don't forget you still have time to enter the challenge at from Screen 2 Scrap
there have been some fantastic entries again this month so pop over for a look see and get in the Christmas spirit and maybe have a go yourself!
Bye for now!

Oh Christmas Tree

Here is my submission for this months challenge at
From Screen 2 scrap

I finally managed to get a picture to upload!

I loved the bright Chritmassy poster we used for our inspiration and I love christmas trees so this was what I had to do! I look forward to getting my tree every year and always go out with the intention of getting a slightly smaller tree but I always end up coming home with the biggest one I can find and we have to rearrange the whole house to fit it in! I have actually thrown away an armchair this year in preparation for my tree! Christmas just isn't christmas in our house until the tree goes up!

The criteria for this month were ;

1. Use a Christmas Song title for you layout title - Oh Christmas tree

2. Use 3 or more Christmas embellishments stars, candy canes,snow man, presents etc... - Chipboard trees

3. Lots of colourful bling - Gems added to trees, Glittery title and ribbon, Shiny red and gold brads

Papers and embellishments are from Die Cuts with a view

December Challenge is up at From Screen 2 Scrap

Hi Guys!

This is the Poster for this months challenge over at From Screen 2 Scrap

As it is December it is a lovely christmassy challenge for you and a great chance to use up some of last years photos if you haven't already!

here are the added criteria that you must follow -

1. Use a Christmas Song title for your layout title

2. Use 3 or more Christmas embellishments stars, candy canes, snow man, presents etc....

3. Lots of colourful bling

I am a bit late posting this as I have been a bit stressed out trying to get my page for this challenge photographed. Unfortunately I am having technical difficulties and I still can't show you my page yet but I hope to be able to load it up tomorrow if things go according to plan! (that hasn't happened to me much lately!)

It would be great if someone who follows my blog would enter this month! If you do decide to give it a go please let Shazza know that you came via my blog.

Happy Scrapping!

November From Screen 2 scrap submission

Here is my submission for November's challenge over at From Screen 2 Scrap

I really struggled with this one! I originally wanted to use the poster as a sketch but couldn't quite get that right. So instead I went a completely different way.There are 2 firsts for me on this page. First time I have ever done negative space, hope I have left enough. First time I have cut out of a photo! This month was definitely a challenge for me but isn't that the whole point to challenge ourselves now and again! I am quite pleased with the end result finally! I have cut coco out of a picture and she is looking into the distance, a single character as there is in the poster.

Added criteria:

1. negative space, - check

2. must have a cutout from a photo/photos, - check

3. must use blue, pink and yellow somewhere on your layout - check - pp frame

4. painted title

*Movie Diva Demand* For an extra bonus two points ....... paint your title red!! ( This is optional, you dont have to do this but it does give you the extra bonus points!) - check

Patterned paper - DCWV, Journaling stamp - Banana Frog, Flowers and bling from stash

Sneaky peeks

Here are a few sneaky peeks at my submission for novembers challenge over at



From Screen 2 Scrap

A New Design Team Member at from Screen 2 Scrap!

Come meet our new Design Team Member

I am sad to say that one of our design team members Corrine has had to leave us! I wish her all the best for the future and hope she still comes to visit us at from Screen 2 Scrap
which means we now have a new member of the design team and I'm excited to welcome

Michelle Beeby

This is what Michelle had to say about herself.

I'm Chelle and I live in a small country town in South Australia. I'm a SAHM of 4, wife to 1 and totally addicted to Scrampin' (Stampin' + Scrappin')...I have been scrappin' for ohhh, over 7 years now, and stampin' for a little over 4... I've also just discovered that digital isn't "cheating" and am having fun riding the learning curve. I also LOVE to alter things, there is a running joke in this house that if you stand still long enough, mum will alter you!
Last year I signed up to be a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator as I just love their line of stamps and paper and inks and everything really! I love product, all of it, and usually hoard as much as I can sneak in past hubby... lol He is so supportive of my hobby, and encourages me daily and is always good for feedback or pulling me back if I've ventured a bit off track.
I have Spina Bifida and am in a wheelchair, I think that is why I was drawn to crafts as I am on equal footing (or in my case, wheeling, lol) with everyone, in this area of my life at least.
Whenever someone tells me I cannot do something, I enjoy the challenge of proving them WRONG!
If I could wish for just one thing, it would be more time in my day, I have so many ideas running around my head that I can't squeeze them all out and sometimes get clogged and need a good clearing out - altered notebooks are handy for this.
My children Larissa (18), Robert (16), Stuart (14) and Peter (almost 6) are my inspiration and why I want to get my story and my family's story down for them... we don't have an extended family as such (my grandmother is still alive and I love her to bits, she will pop up in a LO or two I'm sure) so I need to find out the who, what, when and why and make sure it's down for my children's children's children.
I started with scrapbooking because I was trolling e-bay for something (I can't even remember now what it was) and came across a paper punch in the shape of a heart, I had to have it, I wanted to play with it, I'd never seen anything like this in my life! SO I bought it and when it came I decided to do a "google" search on ways to use it... and whola, my love of Scrapbooking was caused by that simple purchase. Before that I enjoyed cross-stitch (anyone want my UFP?).
So that is my story..

Chelles Favourite movie is The Rocky Horror Picture Show!!

If you want to see some of Chelle's beautiful creations, go visit her blog at http://aussiescrapaholic.blogspot.com/

I hope Chelle has a great time with us!

November Challenge at From Screen 2 scrap!

Hi Guys!

The new challenge is up over at From Screen 2 Scrap

Here is the poster inspiration for this month!

Criteria =

1. negative space

2. must have a cutout from a photo/photos

3. must use blue, pink and yellow somewhere on your layout

4. painted title

*Movie Diva Demand*

For an extra bonus two points ....... paint your title red!! ( This is optional, you dont have to do this but it does give you the extra bonus points!)

Come on over and join in the fun!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to me!

Today is my birthday.

Woo Hoo!

Good day today at slimming world!
Despite having a bad week last week and putting on 3 1/2 lbs and feeling a bit aprehensive today about my weigh in,

This week I lost 9lb!

WOOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Submission for October challenge at From screen 2 Scrap

Hers is my take on this months challenge at From Screen to scrap.

Added criteria - group photo - check

Yellow or gold title - Gold letters in title

something inspired by characters - pharaoh - used egyptian theme

I have taken my inspiration from the poster title and changing from 'A night at' to 'A day at'. I used the light blue colour from the poster and The letters of the poster title are different sizes so I have also mixed up the sizes of letters I used for my title.

Cardstock - DCWV, Egyptian paper from Robert Adams' Ancient Egypt CD, I traced a picture of the eye of Horus onto gold mirror card and cut out by hand, Egyptian peel offs and assorted alphas from stash (mostly me and my big ideas and Mrs. Grossman). Used gold Lumiere acrylic paint to distress edges.

Great fun this month! Thanks Shazza!

If you fancy joining in our challenge this month come on over to From Screen 2 Scrap and if you do send in an entry please tell Shazza that Ali sent you. Thanks

October Challenge at From Screen 2 scrap

There is a new Challenge up at From screen 2 Scrap. This months poster is From ' Night At The Museum Battle Of The Smithsonian'

The added criteria for this month are;
1. Use a group photo

2. Yellow or gold title

3. Use one element from the poster - a dinosaur, monkey, plane, rocket, squid etc.....

OR

Something inspired by one of the figures in the poster.......

example #1 The Pharoah = a pyramid or egyptian theme

example # 2 Napolean Bonaparte = the Eiffel tower

So come on everyone have a go!

Winners!

Congratulations to the winners of September's 'Home Alone' Challenge at From Screen 2 Scrap !
Tina, Jayne, Anita and Bec. Well done ladies!

And if I might add I feel very priviledged to have been voted the winner from the DT entries!

Thank you very much to the rest of the design team for voting for me it means a lot! The other ladies are so talented to think that they liked my page is really exciting!

A New Member of the Family

Hi Guys! Thought I would introduce the new member of our family to my blog buddies!

Ta da!

This is Coco our new dog!

Watch this space for some scrapbook pages to come!

and don't forget there is still time to enter this months challenge at From Screen 2 Scrap!

Come on Ladies (or gents) give it a try!

I know most of my friends are cardmakers and haven't been bitten by the scrapbooking bug yet but I just want to encourage you all to have a go!
It is really good fun and you can use all your cardmaking techniques!
I was a cardmaker first and then found scrapbooking!
I still love making cards but sometimes I end up with loads of cards and no-one to send them to! Scrapbooking is another way to use my crafting and create pages that give me great pleasure and a great way to show off photos that would just be stuck in a box.
Come on over to From Screen 2 Scrap
each month we have a film poster to use as inspiration plus some extra criteria to follow.
There are lots of great pages by the talented design team to give you extra ideas!
Here is another look at this months poster.........

added criteria - use blue or red cardstock, 1 piece of patterned paper and a two word title.

Come on have a go! I dare you!

You might even enjoy it! LOL

Amazing Blog candy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG! This must be the most amazing blog candy I have ever seen!



For your chance to win this amzing candy go on over to http://corinnescraps.blogspot.com/ and leave her a comment!
Open til draw on Sept 30th

Slimmer of the Week!

Hi guys. Back from my Slimming World class and I am slimmer of the week this week! I've lost another 3 lbs this week which takes my total to 9 1/2 lbs! Yay me!

I do hope that the chocolate manufacturers don't go out of business now I am on a diet! Considering how much I used to eat it is a slight possibility!

If you are struggling with the pounds like me and want some help, check out slimmingworld.com to find your nearest class.

Congratulations to my mum aswell! She lost another pound this week! Well done Mum!

New Challenge over at from Screen 2 Scrap!

Here is the new poster to take your inspiration from for this months challenge over at From Screen 2 Scrap

Added criteria - Use blue or red cardstock, use 1 piece of patterned paper, two word title.

Here is my take on this months challenge.

Blue or Red cardstock - check

One piece patterned paper - check

Two word title - check

I took my inspiration from the Home Alone poster by Changing the title to All Alone and using a dark background like they did on the poster. The poster also has bright colours in the title and Macaulay Culkin's jumper, as my photo was quite dark and moody I used my patterned paper to add the colour and used the ribbon to try and create a window effect as in the poster. As usual I had to add a bit of bling with the glitter stickers for the title and a few gems. I put my journaling on tag hidden behind the photo.

PP - Die cuts with a view. Glitter alphabet stickers - Me and my big ideas, Urban Bling. Ribbon, flowers and gems from stash.

And here is the hidden journaling...

Journaling reads - I love this picture of gemma taken at West Kirby Beach. Feb. 05. Whilst it looks in the photo as though she is alone, stranded in the middle of nowhere. She is actually about two minutes from the Prom with a busy Fish and Chip Shop and lots of families with their buckets and spades! We came to the beach that day to fly Zoe's kite and Gemma didn't want to come, she had the right hump when we got there but soon started to enjoy walking along the beach and even had a go at flying the kite!Gemma doesn't like this photo because she thinks she looks awful with no make up. I love it because I love the way her natural beauty shines through! So sorry Gem this is definitely one for the album!
The other members of the Design Team have all made some beautiful pages to give you more inspiration so please go and have a look at their lovely work! At

From Screen 2 Scrap

Come on everyone, come and have a go. And to all my cardmaking friends out there, cards are getting so big they are just like scrapbook pages now! All you have to do is add a photo! So lets put all your cardmaking talent to another use and preserve your memories in the process! If you decide to have a go let Shazza know I sent you!
Take care,
Ali

Watch out for the new me!

I forgot to tell you in my post earlier on that I have recently joined Slimming World! When my mum came to stay she found my local class so that she could still go while she was visiting me. I was preparing all this low fat food for mum and thought I might as well join in! The first week I lost 9lb according to the Wii Fit! The next week I took mum to class and decided I'd join too! That week according to the Wii I lost 6lb. This is when I officially started at Slimming World. So before I even started I had lost 15lb!!!!!!!!!! I will only report official weight losses from now on so you can follow my official slimming world journey!!

I haven't eaten chocolate for 3 weeks!!!!!!! OMG! I do miss it ! Sometimes I eat loads of fruit to try and cut the craving but nothing quite hits the spot like a mars bar! It hasn't been as bad as I thought though and I never thought I could go 3 weeks! I did sniff a twix wrapper yesterday! (saddo! I know)

I weigh in every Tuesday so I will try my best to keep you posted! Last week I lost 6 1/2 lbs!

Sneaky Peek!

It is nearly time for the new challenge over at From Screen 2 Scrap so I am showing you a sneaky peek at my layout for the DT.

The new challenge will be posted on 1st September. Come on over and have a try! It is really good fun and there are some great layouts from the design team for inspiration aswell!

Birthday card

Here is a quick card I made for Gemma's best friends birthday. She once told me her favourite colour is green so although it's not my cup of tea I went green! I used an A4 black card and I used Die cuts with a view Glitter Stack Again! (one of my favourites) and cut out the letters with my sizzix wet paint alphabet. because I couldn't find my threading Water border punch I tried to get the same effect with a scalloped edge on my paper trimmer and a small hole punch! Not quite the same but ok. Gems and flowers from stash finished it off! Not too bad for a quickie!

Such a bad blogger!

I have been such a bad blogger lately! I have been so busy I just haven't been on my computer much at all lately! Plus I am still having computer problems! Since it came back from the menders this time round my Adobe Reader has stopped working and I don't know how to get it going again! I have tried reinstalling it but it won't reinstall! Oh poor me! I have craft discs I can't use and documents I can't access and I don't know what to do!

On a lighter note, I had my mum to stay for a couple of weeks and we decorated the girls room! We have had a lovely time and lucky us! It was craft day on QVC and on Create and craft so we had a lovely time watching all the demos and new products, might have even ordered a few!!!!!!!!

Had a horrible few days last week when my friend Janet had to be rushed into hospital again! She has been in intensive care since and for a while it was very touch and go! She is still seriously ill but has shown an improvement and is now at least conscious!

It is nearly time for the new challenge on From Screen 2 Scrap the new challenge will be posted on 1st September so go on over and check it out! Don't forget if you decide to have a try let Shazza know I sent you ! Thanks.
Bye for now!
Ali

Amazing Blog Candy! Last day to enter!

OMG! Bev has this amazing blog candy to give away! Go on over to her blog and check it out!

Today is the last day to enter so hurry!

I've got an award!

How lucky am I? My computer is fixed, I have eventually managed to send in my first submission for From screen to scrap and now I have been given this lovely award from my fellow DT member Tracy. Thanks Tracy!!!!!

Tracy has a great blog please go on over and check out her lovely creations.

I am going to pass this award on to;

Shazza

Jacqui

Sharon

Tanstar

And Debbie

All these ladies have great blogs.

Ta Daaaaah! My first DT submission at From Screen 2 Scrap

At last my first layout for my new DT position at From Screen 2 Scrap can be uploaded after weeks of computer problems!

The concept of the challenge blog is that each month we use a poster from a movie as inspiration for a scrapbook page and Shazza will also give us added extras to follow each month!
The poster for this months challenge is from a David Lynch film.

The added extras were Torn paper, use a zig zag somewhere on your page and use a single photo.

For my page I used the heart from the poster as my main inspiration. As my computer was down I was limited to the photos in my camera and I chose one of me feeding an elephant at the Zoo. It was amazing to get so close to such an awesome animal. I thought the poster was quite dark so I used dark colours and used the red to brighten things up a bit! I distressed the edge of the black card with blue acrylic paint and I used Die Cuts with a View Chip Chatter Glitzy chipboard letters. You can't see it on the photo but they are glittered! A few red heart buttons and red ribbon to add a bit of colour and chip board brackets from a QVC kit.

Torn paper - I tore the heart shape out of patterned paper

zig zag - Ric-rac ribbon frame around photo

Single photo - yep!

This was a really fun challenge and there are prizes too! If you fancy having a go please come on over to From screen to scrap and if you decide to enter please mention my name in your email! Tell Shazza that Ali sent you and I might get a prize too! Thanks.

Happy Scrapping!

Red Carpet Roll Out

Red carpet roll out is happening today! Come on over and see the inspiration for the first challenge and take part in the quizzes and games. You can win a prize if you are lucky

Here is a sneaky peak at the film poster for this months inspiration can you guess what it is?

Come and visit us at From Screen to Scrap to find out!

See you there!

Ali

From Screen to Scrap!

Even more exciting news! My friend Shazza is starting up her own challenge blog!!!!!!!!! Called.......wait for it..........


From Screen To Scrap!

Appearing on a screen near you soon!

This is going to be a very exciting scrapbooking challenge site with the inspiration for the challenges coming from the movies!!! ( hint in the title!)

And guess what! Shazza has asked little ol' me to be on the Design Team! Hows about that for a surprise! There are some really talented scrapbookers on the design team so get ready to be inspired and amazed!

We are going live tomorrow August 1st so please come on over and have a look at From Screen to Scrap

Come on all you cardmakers out there! Why not try your hand at scrapbooking, it's just like making a big card with photos on! Remember all the times you had lovely embellishments but couldn't fit them onto a card well scrapbooking is the answer! And you get to keep it too!

look forward to seeing you there!

Ali

Bloomin Computer!

Hi guys!
Wouldn't you know it! Just got into my digi scrapbooking, Joined two web sites I was really enjoying and having a great time learning loads of new stuff on my course at Jessica Sprague and my computer goes and conks out!!!!! I was so upset and was wondering where I was going to get the money to fix it when i realised it is still under warranty! Woo Hoo!!!! So it is away being repaired and I am getting withdrawal symptoms! But hopefully it will be back by the end of the week!
This is just a quick post from my local internet cafe to let my friends know I haven't deserted them by choice!

Talking of friends, Congratulations Shazza on becoming the new curator of the artastic challenge blog. It is a great scrapbooking site that has a monthly challenge with a piece of art as the inspiration, if you are into art or scrapbooking have a look and check it out! I know Shazza is going to be a great curator of the site. She already has her own great blog Shazza's Craft Connection so I can't wait to see what she comes up with for the artastic challenge blog be seeing you on there soon Shazza!

Lesson 6

Today's lesson was about TTV effects, which are effects that make it look like the photo has been taken through the viewfinder of an old camera. (I think!) Anyway the effects are great!

Here is todays photo.

Original - Another photo taken at West Kirby beach!

Altered PhotoThis photo was aged using techniques from Lesson 3, then the TTV frame was added and blended, then last but not least a frame brush was used to add the swirly bits.

TTV frame is by Tymcode at Flickr and The round frame brush is from Hof 3 in the course materials from Jessica sprague

Super Duper Bonus Challenge Round

This is another challenge using a lot of the techniques learned this week! We have to use the texturing techniques, add a frame and also use the masking technique from Lesson 4.

Here goes!

The original - Me flying Zoe's kite at the beach at West Kirby near my Mum's House.

The altered

Subtle grungs and Old Film textures from http://lostandtaken.com/ Brown paper texture and Paper frame from http://www.jessicasprague.com/

Project 3

In this project we had to use the techniques from lesson 5 and add a frame. So here is my attempt for this project.

The original

The altered

Subtle Grunge and old film texture from Lost and Taken. Brown Paper texture and Paper frame from Jessica Sprague

Lesson 5 - Textues

In this Lesson we learned how to add different textures to our photos and blending them to create different effects. Another great effect that is so easy when you are shown how to do it! I am really enjoying these Lessons from Jessica Sprague.

Here is the original photo, taken when out walking near my sisters' house in Cumbria.

And here is the same photo after adding the ageing textures!

Textures used were Subtle grunge and old film from Lost and Taken and a brown paper texture from Jessica Sprague.

Just saved the dinner!

I had promised the girls I would cook stewed chicken this week so on Wednesday bought the chicken, cleaned and seasoned it ready to cook on Thursday evening. Thursday came and I went straight from work to visit my friend Janet in hospital, stayed longer than expected and got home too late to cook the chicken as I had to get up early for work the next day. So Friday comes. I had promised janet that I would get her a bit of shopping and take it up to the hospital after work, as the food is apparently awful! Staff meeting after work had to move to the pub next door as the Dance group that uses the building after us were due to arrive any minute! Not bad I think to myself! A quick drink to brighten up the meeting and start off the weekend! Anyway four drinks and a couple of hours later I suddenly remembered janet's shopping!! So off I went! Half way round the shops I looked at my list and the bottom half had fallen off!!!! So I had to try and remember what was on it, with my slightly addled brain! Hopefully I got it all! Got to the hospital 20 minutes before visiting finished! Got stuck on 4th floor as the lift had a funny turn! Luckily it only lasted a couple of minutes and it started again! Thank God! Got to the ward hot and bothered with minutes to spare! Janet was pleased with her shopping and I had done my good deed for the day! Got home about 10 and remembered the bloomin' chicken in the fridge! So I started the stew. Browned the chicken, chopped the veg added the stock and left it to simmer. Started to watch the TV. Caught the last bit of Big Brother eviction! OMG I didn't expect Chris to go! I thought it would be cave man Marcus! What is the world coming to?
Anyway back to the dinner! Woke up on the couch at 3.15 am with a start! Heard sizzling from the Kitchen and remembered the stew! The last of the liquid was just about to evaporate! turned off the heat, boiled the kettle and added a some more water! Just managed to catch it in time! Hope it is still ok for tonights dinner!
Moral of this story? Don't cook when you're knackered!

Lesson 4 - Photo Masks

Hi Guys!

Been very busy over last couple of days! Visiting my friend in Hospital after work and not getting home till about 10pm, when I left the house at 7.15am. A couple of long days meaning I have missed a couple of days of my course over at Jessica Sprague. So today will be a big catch up day! Here is my lesson 4 photo. In this lesson we learned how to use photo masks! This is great for me as I have purchased some photo masks from Gotta Pixel and was hoping one day to find out how to use them!!!!!!!!! Well now I know and how easy it is too! Fantastic tutorials on this course show you step by step video of what to do! It has been very easy to follow! I am so glad I signed up for this course and I love the Adobe Photoshop elements 7. I so want to buy the full version after my 30 day free trial! Another thing to add to my wishlist!

Anyway back to Lesson 4, here is my photo with an added grunge edge

Grunge Photo Mask from Jessica Sprague.

Lesson 3

Another day another Lesson over at Jessica Sprague. Todays lesson was how to age your photo and then add hand tinted sections. Great effects! Surprisingly easy when you're told what to do!
This is my attempt at today's Lesson with the original photo so you can see the difference I hope!

Normal
Aged Tinted Once again the frame is a brush out of the course materials by Hof3

Lesson 2

Wow! I am loving this new course at Jessica Sprague.

Today we learned how to use brushes. Really like digital stamps, only you can undo it if you get it wrong! Can't believe how easy Jessica made it seem! I hope I can carry on tomorrow with some more practice.

Here's what I did today.

In this first photo I kept the brushes black cos I quite liked the effect.

We were also taught to change the colour of the brushes so i used colours from the photo in this try. I like both versions. not sure which one I like best! Indecisive Libran!!!!!!

Brushes were course material from Hof3

Project 1

I have started another online course. This time a freebie from Jessica Sprague. It is all about framing and altering your photo's. She teaches her classes using photoshop or photoshop elements. so I have downloaded the 30 day free trial of Adobe photoshop elements to do this course then I will try and transfer this knowledge to my Corel Paint shop pro programme! If this is too hard I will have to save up to buy the full Adobe programme.

Anyway our first project was to add a frame and wordart to a photo. I went through all my Digi downloads and finally came up with this...........

This is a photo from last year.It was a cold day and we went for a walk along Parkgate Prom. They have a famous ice cream shop there and we couldn't resist buying ice creams even in the freesing cold! Here are Gemma and Zoe showing off their ice creams.

Frame from ShopAHolic kit by Sweet digi Scraps bought from GottaPixel

Word Art from Family and Friends word art kit by Nicole Young from Digital scrapbook place

Ready Set scrap Challenge

This is my first attempt for a challenge on Ready Set Scrap.

It was supposed to be for the Word Challenge set by Kristi Brandis.

For this month's word challenge Kirsti would like you to create an item using the following word

"SPECIAL"

and I want to see layering

at least one rubon

and the colour orange in there as well.

Can be any scrapped item

As you can see I forgot to add something orange, so this attempt doesn't really count but I like it anyway. As this is a digital page I used the word 'Special' as my rubon, the photo was layered onto a white matte.

I used the 'Dive in' kit by Kristmess from the Gotta Pixel Store

Award from Shazza!

I have been given this award by my great scrapping and blogging buddy Shazza!

Thank you so much Shazza.

We met on the Soulology Scrapbooking course last year and have been great friends ever since.

Here are the rules-

1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.

2) Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Since I haven't been on for a while I am planning to do the discovering at the weekend and pass it on then!

Please have a look at Shazza's Blog she has so many fantastic scrapbook pages to look at!

Blogoversary!

I missed my own Blogoversary! How sad is that! I have been without internet for a while and I missed it! I was hoping to do a Blog Candy giveaway to celebrate. Now I am back up and running I will sort a few bits out and get one going soon!

Thanks Teena from Toronto for your Blogoversary wishes!

Don't forget to check back for the chance to win some crafting goodies soon!

Bye for now

Digi Page

I have been trying out digital scrapbooking again! I am still a major beginner in this form of scrapbooking but I love some of the kits avaliable out there and of course they take up much less room than real kits and you can use them again and again! I have recently joined a site called Gotta Pixel They have some fantastic designers there and some great offers, including free downloads when you join up!
This page was my latest practice page made with the fantastic Spring Breeze kit designed by Isabel Mendez - Crisdam Designs
The gold lettering is an Alpha download called Embossed Gold created by Lauren Bavin and the little gems are from a kit called A jewel a day warm colours created by Elizabeth Weaver. Both available from Digital scrapbook Place

It is quite a simple layout. I love seeing pages created by other people that have loads of embellishments on but when I try it my pages just look crowded!

The photo was taken in 2007 when Zoe was presented with a young persons Jack Petchey Achievement medal through her Girl Guide Unit. She was nominated for the medal for being a reliable and helpful member who helped keep the unit running smoothly when her Guide Leader was very ill in Hospital.

I love the colours of this kit, it was really easy to work with. There are loads more papers and embellishments to use.

I am quite pleased with this page except for the writing. I am having problems using the text tool in my Paint shop programme. When I try to add text to a page it always seems double spaced so it looks odd and doesn't fit in the space required. So this time I used the pencil tool and tried to write using the mouse. A bit childish looking but at least it fits! If anyone has any tips I would be very grateful.

Well Done Shazza!

Wow! I have been out of action for a while and been a very bad blogger. Sorry!
Good news for my friend Shazza though! While I have been neglecting my scrapping and my blog, Shazza is going from strength to strength! She is now on two scrapbooking design teams!!
Well done you!
You can check Shazza's designs (and lots of other talented ladies!) at
http://outofthehatscrapchallenge.blogspot.com/
and
http://artasticchallengeblog.blogspot.com/

Happy Scrapping!

Happy Easter!

I just wanted to say Happy Easter to all my new friends in Blogland and beyond!

I also need to say a huge Thank you to my best blog friend and extremely talented scrapsister Shazza!

Imagine receiving this beatuiful handmade gift from the other side of the world! Shazza I was gobsmacked when this arrived this morning! Thank you so much, It is beautiful!

This is a beautiful handmade felt easter egg with a cute bunny sewn on, sitting in a really pretty decorated box, with a sweet little card! The girls and I love it!

On my part I was very late sending out my easter cards this year so do apologise to my friends and family because of the bank holidays my cards will probably arrive after Easter!

I am off now to try and do a quick scrapbook page for my journaling 101 course that I am so behind on!

Please check out Shazza's blog she has some fantastic scrapbook layouts and other handmade things on show.

Catch up!

Hi,
Long time no see! I have been very busy and not been on the computer for a while. I had my mum to stay for a couple of weeks. we had a great time but time went so quickly! There were not enough hours in a day to fit everything in and then all of a sudden it was time for her to go home. We managed to make a few cards whilst also rearranging my craft stuff. Twice! We started by rearranging all the stuff I had put away upstairs for the holidays and hadn't brought back out yet. Then we had a trip to Ikea and I now have a fantastic new shelf unit that is made up of 25 12 x 12 squares. I have used it as a room divider separating my craft area off from the rest of the room. It has made the room look smaller but I like it. I now need lots more nice boxes to neaten everything up but it has made a big difference and I now have plenty of storage space to keep my craft stuff much neater! and hopefully I will now have more time to craft! We are off for the Easter holidays for the next two weeks so I am hoping to get a few scrapbook pages done and plenty of cards done.

Here is a card I made for my friend to give to her mum. This was an A4 sized card. The champagne bottle was made using Arty Farty templates. Also used DCWV glitter stack, wet paint sizzlets alphabet, Paper flowers, sticky gems and peel offs. As this card was made in the middle of moving my whole room around in amongst boxes and furniture I was quite pleased with the result!

This is a card I did for my god daughter to give to her mum, my friend Sam. I had originally bought this new decoupage for her birthday card but as her birthday is not til next February I thought mother's day would be ideal. SAM is very into her horse riding and is always moaning about her weight so I thought this was a really funny card to make! It is using a new kind of decoupage called "Flippin' Women" they also do "Flippin' men" On the front of the card you see a funny scene but then on the inside you see the back of the scene also decoupaged with something funnier on the back. Check out http://www.lapashe.com/ to see all the designs and stockists.

Here is the card I made for my mum for Mother's day.

I used a stamp I got in a bargain bucket for 50p a couple of years ago, I really like it and will definitely use it again. The patterned paper is from a new set I got at a show two weeks ago and now I can't find it to tell you the name. It's very bright and funky. I will add the name of it later when I find it again! All this organisation and I can't find anything! I water coloured the flowers to tone in with the paper using my whisper brush pens. then added some gems and a ribbon. Very simple but I think quite pretty. Sorry the photo hasn't turned out very well.

This next card was made for a friend to give to her Brother in law. I was told that he was a black cab driver and a Tottenham supporter but not to make too much of the Tottenham bit. So I used my sizzix car front and made a black cab using Do craft gem brads for the headlights unfortunately I didn't have clear ones big enough! But the yellow ones are ok. Then I stamped a football kit onto shrink plastic, coloured it in Tottenham colours and shrunk it down and hung it from the rear view mirror like one of those air fresheners you can get. Drew in the road and I think this one is quite effective!

Last but not least here is the card I made for my nephews birthday. He plays for his local football team and my mum told me their strip is black and white stripes so I based the card on this and folded a shirt from a football shirt paper block and added football boot background paper and a peel off football.

I had a go at my first Digital scrapbook page using Paint shop pro (PSP) tonight. I have used other programmes but PSP definitely gives a more flexible finish. With my other programme I had to place things as they had been designed without being able to turn or alter them. With Paint shop pro I can re size, turn and flip and do all sorts of effects. I am only just learning how it works and for this page I followed a tutorial on Digital Scrapbook place (DSP)for creating your first layout with PSP. They also had tutorials for lots of other programmes too. The instructions were very clear and easy to follow. They even described how to re size the file for uploading onto the web etc. Once registered on the site there are loads of free kits you can download and the kits to buy are very reasonable too!

Here is my first attempt. I kept it very simple for my first practice but I am pleased with the result.

As I have only bought a couple of kits I think all these were from the Digital Scrapbook Place free downloads.

Back ground paper from Back to the 70's paper set by Suzanne C. Walker

Eyelets from The basics set by Valeri Brumfield

Buttons from Button Element set by Suzanne C. Walker

and Bottle cap alphabet by Lauren Bavin

Thanks to all these designers for their wonderful downloads and ideas!

This is the end of a very long post. Hope to be back soon with some more craft projects to show you.

Take care,

Ali