It's Tuesday ...

... so I must be scrapping and blogging again ...

This is another  paper I thought I'd never use.  I bought it years ago when I'd just started scrapping and my style was very different to today.  I had these three photos that I wanted to scrap but the quality wasn't brilliant, so I cut them down in size to concentrate on the main image, and this also made them a better size to fit on the paper.  As the patterned paper was so "busy", I used plain card to mat the photos on to. 

Using the pattern on the paper as inspiration, I cut out some circles of green card and drew on a line to represent the seam of the tennis ball.  Although this was quite effective, they looked a little plain. As I also needed somewhere to put my journalling, I hit on the idea of writing along the curving lines on the tennis balls - it's a bit difficult to read, but it looks good and adds some interest.

Finally, I added the title.  It doesn't show up on the photo, but the letters are made of felt (American Crafts felt Thickers) and so have a texture a bit liek that of a tennis ball.

Tuesday afternoon ...

... seems to be my favourite time for crafting.  Which is probably why most of my blog posts have been written on a Tuesday too ...

So, not surprisingly, here is another post with a couple of my recent creations.  I'm still working on an album of some of my favourite moments of last year, and I managed two layouts today, quite contrasting in style.  The first one took me quite a while to put together as I wanted to use two photos but getting them to work together, expecially as they were in different orientations, was tricky.  But I'm pleased with the end result -

As usual, most of the items are from a ScrapaGogo kit (January 2013) but I've also used some washi tape and Tim Holtz tissue tape and the alpha is from an earlier Gogo kit.

Very different in style is this one -

This layout is much plainer but I wanted the photo to really stand out.  I so rarely take photos of York (where I live) but it's a beautiful city and I feel privileged to live in a place that so many people pay money to come and visit as tourists (that's the sentiment behind the title).  Again, most items are from a ScrapaGogo kit but this one is from over a year ago.

Another ...

... item I thought I'd never use (like the lightbulbs I blogged about last time) ...

I was sorting through my stash and found an old ScrapaGogo kit that had hardly been touched.  The terracotta paper was exactly the right shade for the photos I wanted to scrap, but I wasn't sure what to put with it.  The circles paper was one I remembered looking at when it first arrived and thinking "I love that but have no idea how to use it".  But the colours are perfect for these photos and the circles remind me of plates, so I had to find a way to use it.  With such a "busy" paper, I tried to keep everything else pretty simple.  I'm quite pleased with the result.

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