Jump!

The title should have an exclamation mark, but when I tried to add it to the "p" it looked awkward. For an Studio Calico challenge.

Decomissioned photos

This two photos were hanging on a wall at home for ages and finally got around replacing them for more recent photos of my children. But I couldn't throw them away.

One of my favourite photos of all times, it is the first time I scrapped the same photo twice.

And my son's photo. My husband can't understand why I like this one so much. I know is mouth looks funny but the mischievous look in his eyes are so him.

TFL and have a good weekend!

Best Mates

My son and his best friend. I remember my daughter and her best friend at the same age; they fought almost as much as they played and I always felt like UN personnel in a peace keeping mission. Not those two, they hardly argue and they never had a fight. And if they don't agree, they seem to find a way around the problem without having to require my diplomatic interference... :-)

Birthday Layout and a digi freebie

My little girl was 9 in February.  This year she went for a small party, only a few friends over for a DVD, popcorn and pizza - she loved every minute of it. I was in a complete non-photographic mood on the day, so I used a photo taken a couple of days after.

* Patterned paper, mist and buttons: Studio Calico
* Pen: Uniball signo
* Font: Century Gothic (journaling)


While I love experimenting, I still find that when I look back at the old layouts, the ones I still love are the simple ones. Like this one. The only thing I am not sure about it is if it suitable for a birthday layout of a 9-year-old. It might be a bit .. how do I say ... not girly enough, maybe?


Now I have a great idea for a girly page, which I might try for something else. I wish I had thought of it when I was doing this page.


Now a complete change of subject. If you have this punch - Photo labels large punch by EK Success - you might be interested in what I have to offer:

The "large" is a bit misleading, the punch is big but not the labels. Anyway, the labels always looked a bit bare when punched them into plain paper, I was always wishing for a border around. Studio Calico has suitable stamps, but I am a lousy stamper, so I thought I'll make a digi with all of them in the same position as the punch so I can print and them punch the 3 labels together. Easy, right?

No so, at least for me, it took ages to get the shapes right and then to position in the same way as the punch. (Yes, I punched and scanned the "left over", but still it took ages). To spare someone the same grief I'm sharing my labels here.

and in blue:

Click on the image to increase it, then save it. Print it and trim the paper on the printed line so you can align it easily with the punch. It's not perfect but good enough.


I just realised now you'd like to see how it look once punched, so I quickly scanned this:

Mess on my desk challenge

Sasha Farina  inspired by Donna posted  the following challenge in the Studio Calico forum:

"Scrap a layout with the mess on your desk.
Just grab whatever is on your desk and try to create a layout! That is all. Go to town and have fun, that's all I ask. "

I was in the process of tidying up my stuff, so the table was for once empty, but I had piles of scrap in the floor. I was sorting out the papers to make mini cardmaking kits for me.

That was my floor:

I decided for the stuff on the right, blue/orange/greens plus the blue strip of paper in the middle.

Then I went looking for a suitable photo in my box of unused photo, and I found one take a few years ago, with my children and their friends close to the beach. While the 4 kids sitting in a row look very cute, I didn't care much for the busy background, so it never got scrapped. Until now.

Everything in the layout is from the floor mess, except the white cardstock and the "great fun" chipboard. I loved the final result - I'm so glad I took the challenge!

February summary and my funny guy

February summary, I made the whole layout on white cardstock with green mist. Didn't like it at all, stared at it for ages, replaced the white with kraft and it look much better. Still, something was missing, so I made a border with a white pen.  I think I am now hooked with white borders.

The semi-transparent, long strips are from a washi tape. 3 postcards and a few washi tapes - that was all my purchases in Thailand. Very useful for an indecisive scrapper like me, because they stay where you put them but at the same time, they peel off without causing any damage.

And here's where the original background went:

“Luke, this is a wishing stone. If you put your hands on it,  close your eyes and
make a wish, your wish will come true.”
“Really?”
“That’s what it says here, do you want to have a go?”
“Yessss.”
He puts both hands on the stone, closes his eyes and makes a wish.
“Done! Can you buy me a toy now?”
“No.”
“Oh, nooo! It didn’t work!”

Phuket - part 2

I wanted this mini book to have as many photos as possible, as well as hold the postcards, airplane tickets, coins and brochures we got in Thailand. It is 90% finished. Ironically, one item missing is the first thing I did towards making this mini book. On the last day of our trip, sitting in a restaurant, I asked my husband and children what were the highlights of the trip in their opinions. We all wrote our answers in a napkin and I stashed it in my knapsack; can't find if now!

The cover is a postcard; it had to go sideways because I didn't want to trim it. I wish I could draw like that! The girl is from a brochure for a butterfly garden we visited.

Opening page, with a pocket with some arline tickets.

The hotel, map of the island.

The pool. Gorgeous!

One of my son's favourite memories; riding on an elephant.

The colours. The flowers.

My top 3 highlights.

The back is another postcard.

* Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye and paper scraps
* Album: Linda Kelly
* Letter stickers: Basic Grey
* Digital notepaper: Paislee Press