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

Peace and Joy

I'm not going to have much time to scrap in the next week but that won't kill my mojo - I've rediscovered my love of scrapbooking :-)  I'll definitely try to flick through some of my accumulated scrapping magazines during the week though (even they went ignored in last year's scrapping desert) - they are full of great ideas and inspiration ...

In the meantime, here is another layout I have produced this week.  We had a quiet christmas day with just the four of us, which is unusual in this house; I'm more used to catering for 8 - 12 people, sometimes more.  Anyway, partly because it was so quiet, I didn't have many interesting photos, so instead of choosing one photo as a focal point, I chose three smaller ones to tell part of the story  ...

Again, most items are from a ScrapaGogo kit, this time December's (very appropriate).  I also used a distress ink with the ScrapaGogo stamp to add pattern to the plain beige cardstock (underneath the photographs) and some lettering from a previous ScrapaGogo kit.  

Sonshine

And no, it's not a spelling error, it's a play on words

It's an unusual photo as it has me in it (I'm usually on the other side of the camera) and it was a sunny day (taken last summer, which was more rainy than sunny).  And the "sonshine" reflects the fact that I am incredibly proud of my two wonderful sons.  (Sorry about the quality of my photography today - it's a dull day and I didn't want to use flash as it reflects on the photo and distorts the colours).

The layout continues my recent run of creativity - I think my scrapping mojo is here to stay :-)  I loved the ScrapaGogo kits I received last year but never got round to doing much with them so I was itching to use some more of them.  This layout is a mix of items from the August and September kits and I think they work very well together.

Last year ...

... wasn't a complete scrapping desert; I did do some scrapbooking, but not much and I didn't always enjoy what I was doing.  Not much of it is worth showing off, but today I was looking through some of what I did last year and found a few pages that I remember enjoying creating ...

 This is my favourite of the three.  As soon as I saw ScrapaGogo's September kit, I knew I had to use this background paper, and the other bits and pieces went together so well with it.  I like the faux-Polaroid effect and the random lettering.  I think it turns a not-very-exciting photo into one that you want to look at.

These other two layouts were also created using ScrapaGogo kits.  They are probably not the best layouts I've ever created, but they make me happy because I enjoyed creating them.

Happily, my creative drought appears to be over and I have been scrapping a fair bit over the past few days.  I hope to share some more of my creations soon ...