Tuesday, 13 January 2015

Belated 'Happy New Year' and my first post for 2015 - Gis a Kiss!

Hello and welcome to my scrap-booking blog.


About this time last year I made the resolution to do more crafting and scrap-booking and get 'stuck in with inks and stamps and the like. Unfortunately  I did not make much headway with that and decided to take a time out for a while.

It might have been the wrapping of the Christmas presents that got the urge to start making things again, but all I can say is that the creative parts of me are on the move again and I am sort-of back in the saddle.

This is my first (digital) scrap-page for a while. Tallulah celebrated her first birthday in December and although this photo was taken earlier in the year, it shows that she knows how to enjoy herself. The photo just had to be scrapped.

'Gis a Kiss' was created in Photoshop using  freebies from Bella Gypsy including various elements from different kits.


Great photos make scrap-booking easier and this was a gem.


Thank you for stopping by to read my blog.  Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.  Your time and comments are appreciated.


Happy New Year!

Angela

Saturday, 8 November 2014

Dragon's Lair Designs - NEW CHALLENGE - Autumn Colours



Hello and Welcome to  my Scrapbooking Blog.

If I believed in that sort of thing I would think the 'FATES' had it in for me.  I have had several false starts getting back into crafting and scrapbooking that made me think of giving up!   But along came this great new kit from Dragon's Lair Designs that got the interest really going again and got me back working with paper and glue.

Love / Hate
I love my job as it keeps me fresh, working with a great bunch of people and I enjoy what I do.
I hate my job as it keeps me away from my lovely crafty hobby and makes it difficult to focus the way I used to.
I love my house because it is in a beautiful part of Ireland on Lough Ree, with fabulous views and smack in the middle of the farming community and up close and personal with nature.
I hate, well sometimes dislike, my house because it needs a lot of TLC, some repairs and lots of decorating that keeps me from my lovely crafty hobby and makes it difficult to focus the way I used to.

Do we see a pattern emerging?  Other things in life did seem to conspire against me, nothing major, just frustrating, but it is amazing when added up, how it all takes the edge off creativity.

Things are much better, spirits are raising and but for the fact that the camera ran out of battery power when we had no spares, I would have got this post at the deadline. :-)...See what I mean ?!

So I am posting late for the new challenge that started over at Dragon's Lair Designs entitled 'Autumn Colours' to coincide with the launch of the new kit Francheska .
 
Dragons Lair Design Challenge
Dragon's Lair Designs
 
AUTUMN COLOURS

the prize this month is a £5 voucher for the DRAGONS LAIR STORE.

All entrants are asked to read the rules for the challenge and to remember that only one entry per person is permitted and don't forget to link to your blog to the challenge blog.


My DT project for the launch of the Francheska kit is a tag.

The kit has papers and embellishments that reflect the Autumn season in all its glory with great deep russets and golden reds and orange tones.

I hand cut the Francheska flowers taking care to keep the detail at the end of the petals. The flowers were first distressed with Ranger Vintage Photo ink then cut into the centre to create  individual petals. I used a cocktail stick to bend the petals into the shape I wanted. Three layers of the flower create the Zinnia shape with the centre made with seed pearls and Glossy Accents glue.  The heart shapes were made with the Tim Holtz heart die with the roughed edges distressed and outlined with a gold gel pen. I wrapped the hearts with gold wire and attached them to the red ribbon that looped around the tag. The label was made with a Papermania stamp and cut out. this was tied to the tag with burlap thread.


Distress Tag with Francheska papers and flowers


So now it is over to you.  Check out the Dragon's Lair challenge blog for the othere DT makes to get some great inspiration.  All this month the DT will be posting inspiration makes to get the creative juices flowing. Stop by on the Facebook page to see these great makes.

Thank you for stopping by to vist and reading my scrapbooking blog. Your time and comments are always appreciated and I look forward to seeing your makes on the challenge.

Angela x


Friday, 1 August 2014

Stamping Dragon - August Challenge - Sun Sea Sand

Hello and welcome to my Scrapbooking Blog,

My post today is for the new Stamping Dragon challenge with the theme Sun Sea Sand. The new challenge went live today and runs for the month of August.  Check out the Stamping Dragon challenge blog for the rules and submission deadline and join in the fun.



Feel free to add our Badge to your blog. 



The prize for this challenge is a lovely warm summer kit from our store called









My digital scrap-page is based on some photos I took last year on Dollymount  Beach in Dublin and I choose to use the Pastel Swirls kit for the page. The film-strip, stars and tag are also part of this great kit and the backing paper has a wonderful grainy appearance.

I used the yellow paper to add the beach photo to as an Overlay which created a soft hazy sunny background. I then selected my photos and resized them to fit the film strip and added the stars and tag to create some layers. Regular visitors to the blog will know that I use Photoshop as my photo-editing tool and this is how I created the arched writing on the bottom of the page. I also created the cloud from a scanned piece of lined paper and 'distressed' it with a Sepia colour and rubbed the edges with a light brown ink.
Happy Days

Just a few of the thoughts that spring to mind when I think of the sunny (relatively) days we spent on Dollymount Beach



So now it is your turn. Take a look at the Stamping Dragon Challenge blog to see the beautiful inspirational projects to get the crafty juices flowing.  Don't forget to check out the rules too.

Thank you for taking time to visit and read my blog. Your time and comments are appreciated and I am looking forward to seeing your entries on the challenge blog.

Angela x








Friday, 6 June 2014

Clean and Simple ( CAS) - New Challange at the Stamping Dragon challange Blog


Hello all,



Good Morning and welcome to my scrapbooking blog.

I am posting my new CAS scrapbook page for our new challenge (begins today) and what a challenge. Our sponsors are Stamping Dragon Designs and for the lucky winner a voucher to spend in the fab on-line store.




As the title suggests we had to create a Clean and Simple card / scrap-page etc which meant keeping the embellishments to a minimum.

I just realised when I set up my post that my lovely white border  doesn't show up to well on the blog, but I 'll try to rework the post so you can see the impact that negative space can have on your project.  I also wanted to use some big punchy impact colours that would work with the  negative space, but not too much colour. The SDD At the Beach paper pack provided just that.


So my Scrap-page is a 12x12 white background with a square of the orange and blue circles paper matted to the centre. A secon square of soft green paper, also from SDD, was matted onto the patterned paper but set at an angel to create interest. I then added the butterfly photo ( courtesy of hubby) and then created the sentiment in Photoshop to match ( I hope) the image. An added splash of colour was created with the blue flower, which I drew by hand and coloured with my Photoshop 'brush and watercolours'.  You get the jist of how I made the scrap-page, but I am still miffed that the border is not showing up as well as I would have wished.

  Just when the caterpiller thought the world was over,
it changed into a 
Butterfly


So now it is up to you. For inspiration have a look at the DT Makes on the challenge blog   at  Stamping Dragon.Visit any of the links below to check out SDD,  on Facebook and related sites.

Don't forget to check out the blog and challenge rules when you post your make, as it pains us to have to exclude any project because of the rules.   Looking forward to seeing the makes so get the crafting hats on and start crafting.


Thanks for stopping by to read aand comment. Your time and comments are appreciated.








Saturday, 17 May 2014

Stamping Dragon Inspiration - Saturday 17 May

Hello and welcome to my Scrapbooking Blog.


Today my post is a little bit of inspiration using  the Stamping Dragon  Journalling Papers .


I wanted to create a scrap-page to show-off this great photo of my husband's grandfather taken when he worked as a steam train driver way back in the day. 

The Journalling Papers have a great aged and distressed feel and complimented the photo really well.  A nice Sepia toned backing paper with another strip of blue paper was my base. This mellow colour was ideal. I added some home-made embellishments which were inspired by the colours in the paper.

 I love this photo, particularly the chap in the Bowler Hat...he must be the Head Man :-)


Grandfather at Work


I hope this little A4 sized scrap-page gets the creative juices flowing.  Don't forget to let us see your work over at the Facebook Group ( see below) and come and join in the fun.

Thanks for stopping by to visit and read my blog. Your time and comments are appreciated. 

Angela x




Friday, 2 May 2014

New Stamping Dragon Challenge - Flowers

  Hello All and welcome to my scrapbooking blog.

Today is the start of the new challenge over at the Stamping Dragon Designs challenge blog and this time the theme is FLOWERS.

The lucky winner receives a voucher from the sponsor Stamping Dragon, to spend in the wonderful Stamping Dragon Store.


For my digital DT project I am using the Spring Fever paper pack with some digital embellishments,  almost in the same way traditional scrapbookers and card-makers work.

My wonderful Mother-in-Law, who sadly suffers with Altzheimers, is the star of this page.  I have delibrately kept the layout simple as I wanted to make the photo the main focus.



Hello Petal- Jenny in her red cardigan


Using the Spring Fever kit , I created a background of complimentary patterned and plain colours, adding the Tulip embellishments  and some 'punched' flowers, in the fashion with paper and punch to create the flower border. The photo is framed to make it stand out from the page and the frame has been digitally treated to make it looked distressed.   I just need to add some comments and the job is complete.

Love my MIL and love this layout.


So now it is your turn. Stamping Dragon Designs  would be delighted to see your crafty excellence on our challenge blog . So get crafting and join in.

Thansk for stopping by to checking and read the blog. Your time and comments are always appreciated.

Angela xx

Friday, 4 April 2014

New Beginnings - Stamping Dragons 'Spring Time' challenge starting 4th April 2014

Hello All,.

and welcome to my scrapbooking blog.

Hope you are all well and busy with your own special crafty hobby.

My post today is for the Stamping Dragon Designs challenge blog and the theme is 'Spring Time'. I have two scrap-pages for my post today, both of which you will see on the challenge blog, as I could not decide which one to use for the 'Sping Time theme.

 Our Sponsor for the challenge is  Stamping Dragon and the prize for the winner is a voucher to spend in the Stamping Dragon Store. So let's see your wonderful entries and Good  Luck!



The first scrap-page is dedicated to my fabulous Mum when we were at Bodensee or Lake Constanz  as it is called, on a fab sunny spring day.  I have use the Spring Fever digital pack from Stamping Dragon for the backing papers and elements for this scrap-page.  This layout can be made using conventional scrapbooking techniques. I simpley cut the photos to fit into the 12x12 background, added a strip of a complimentary lilac paper to frame the photos and piece of green satin ribbon to cover where the photos and paper meet.  I used the flower stamp motifs to anchor the layout to the bottom right.hand corner and added some detail with the glasses.  The lettering was printed onto a green piece of paper and this is my layout title.





With the word Spring in mind, my second page is a family photo of me and my siblings some time ago when we obviously didn't care about style or hair :-). But we thought we were FAB!
For this layout I have used the Forest Friends papers and elements from the Spring Fever pack from Stamping Dragon.  I used my photo-shop program to resize the photo and added it as a digital 'overlay'  to the 12 x 12 background. I then changed the photo colour to black and white to make it contrast with the brights in the layout. A couple of strips of paper  were used to prop up the photo and some home-made flags, again tying the layout to the bottom of the page. I added the bottle-tops in different sizes around the page  to  keep the focus on the photo.



I hope you like my scrapbooking  efforts and now it is over to you.  Please take some time to pop over to the Stamping Dragon Challenge Blog to check out the other DT makes. There is lots to inspire. We are looking forward to seeing your entries and make sure you check out to rules and link your make back to the challenge blog.

Thanks for stopping by to visit and read my blog and once again Good Luck!


Angela x


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