A new dimension

I've never been one for "lumpy" layouts, possibly because when I was mostly scrapping at 8x8 size, the albums were too small for really lumpy layouts to fit in properly.  I thought I'd made a big mistake the other day when an order arrived from an online retailer with these in it - I hadn't paid enough attention to the size of them; I looked at them and thought "they're lovely but I'll never use them" ...

... then today I was planning a layout and I looked at the lightbulbs again and suddenly realised I could use them -

I think it works rather well.  I know I've scrapped this photo before, but it's a real favourite photo of mine.  The last layout was A4 size, this one is 12x12, and it's to go in a different album, so I really wanted to do another layout with it.  Yet again it's mostly using items from a ScrapaGogo kit, this time it's the gorgeous kit from March 2012 (probably my favourite of all the kits I've ever had from them).

Back to cards ...

My first experiences of papercrafting were as a cardmaker.  Since I discovered scrapbooking, I don't do as much cardmaking as I used to, but I still make cards for family and friends (much more personal than bought ones).

When I needed to make a couple of cards the other day, I discovered some pretty patterned papers I had forgotten I owned.  As 6x6 papers they seemed ideal for the base of a square card (trimmed down a little to fit). The pattern being mostly around the edge of the paper meant that there was a need for a central image or focal point of some sort.  I wanted to use my favourite butterfly stamp but stamping it directly on to the paper seemed a little stark.  So then I remembered a technique I used ages ago ... I found some white tissue paper and crumpled it a little before lightly brushing over a couple of distress ink pads in toning colours and then spritzing with a glimmer mist. Then I stamped the butterfly image on to this with a darker toning colour, tore around the edge and adhered this to the centre of the card ...

... I did this in two totally different colourways and could do it again and again (in fact, I probably will as I think it looks really effective but difficult to capture effectively on a photo).  And as the tissue paper was originally used as wrapping (part of a package from my favourite online scrapping retailer), it was free too! Us scrappers love to recycle :-) 

Cropping

I attend a monthly crop and really enjoy it - it's not just the opportunity to spend some uninterrupted time scrapping, but it's also meeting up with other scrappers and sharing ideas that is so enjoyable.  (For those that don't know, a crop is a group of scrapbookers meeting up to do some scrapbooking together).

Last year we completed a crop CJ (circle journal - I've blogged about these before) and we've finally added some photos to the crop blog

It was a small-scale CJ, but still produced some beautiful books

 

Here to stay ...

... yes, I really think my scrapping mojo is here to stay after going missing for so long last year :-)  I didn't have much time last week to scrap, but I did manage to get to my crop on Saturday - more of that in a day or two.  Last year, a few days without scrapping left me feeling even less likely to scrap, but this year it's making me impatient to get on with the next project ...

... so, today, having a free hour or so this afternoon, I got out a favourite photo from last year, opened up my latest ScrapaGogo kit, and had fun creating this