The only thing missing is bows!

Ever wondered how to use up the left-over stickers in your stash? I scraplifted this idea - from a scrapbook magazine I think - a couple of years ago for a photo of my daughter. I've used stickers, buttons, flowers, sequins and brads to frame her photo. I even stamped a flower onto acetate a couple of times and cut the images out to use as well. The only thing missing is bows!

I think it looks quite 'busy' in the photo but in real life it's a very pretty layout - and no journaling required for those of you who, like me, dislike your own handwriting.

It's a very simple idea but don't make the mistake of thinking it's a fast way to do a scrapbook page! It took me ages to arrange all the embellishments and stick them down!

Have you have heard of The Stamp Man? On their blog at the moment there's some lovely blog candy up for grabs!  Here's the link and a photo of what you could win -

http://thestampmanuk.blogspot.com/2009/08/stamp-mans-summer-blog-candy-giveaway.html

I could make some really nice bows with this!

Something Different (for my) Fiftieth Post!

I like taking photos of unusual subjects - the drawback is they are not easy to make into a scrapbook page!I've been itching to photograph these walls ever since I noticed them on the Coast Road near Brighton.  They belong to about half a dozen white-painted Almshouses facing directly out to the English Channel at Telscombe Cliffs. The village is surrounded by miles of chalk paths and grassy downland, but Telscombe's claim to fame is the ancient church of St. Lawrence which is built on land given by Eldred, brother of Edmund, in the year 966. (You 'd never know I'd looked it up, would you?!)
It's a very exposed spot, perched high on  chalk cliffs, and I reckon the early settlers were a very hardy bunch!

"How shall I tell you of the freedom of the Downs--
You who love the dusty life and durance of great towns,
And think the only flowers that please embroider ladies' gowns--
How shall I tell you ..."
by Edward Wyndham Tempest.

The Almshouses' walls were originally quite decorative I think, with stripes of grey cobbles, broken into pieces, inlaid into the cement. But now the standard clay bricks have been eroded by the salt-laden winds, and in places, only a few centimetres of brick remain.  The cement layers stand out as they have withstood  the ravages of the elements far better than the rest of the structure.

From each of the front gates there are steep steps leading up to the cottages, but the retaining walls are in very poor condition and there's evidence of  attempted repairs (see the brackets on the inside wall on the first photo). The cobbles and grey brick layers remain whilst the traditional yellow bricks decay all around them. It's a sad state of affairs, but it makes for very interesting photos I think. 

I hope you like them too.

Los Angeles Album

Los Angeles Album with acetate Front Cover 

Warning: This post has rather a lot of photos!
Karen was lucky enough to go to Los Angeles in February this year. Ostensibly for a Media Studies trip but they had a great time visiting the Hard Rock Cafe, Grauman's Chinese Theatre (where famous people's hand and foot prints are immortalised) and Rodeo Drive for shopping too. They had day passes to Warner Bros, Universal and Sony film studios - five days of hectic sightseeing and fun! A trip of a lifetime for my daughter as it was the first time she had been in an aeroplane!
She brought back 100+ photos and 6 hours of video footage she had taken! So the photos were crying out to be put into an album for her to keep. The problem was getting her to decide which photos to include, but eventually, with much nagging from me, I  finally made a start on the album in June!

First page without the acetate cover overlaid

Warner Bros Studios 

'Friends' Set at Warner Bros Studios

Santa Monica

I made the album completely from scratch, cutting coloured card and acetate pages to take a couple of photos per page, and used papers from K & Co's Blue Awning collection. I included pages of differing sizes rather than keeping them all the same width - I think this is more fun for the reader. Karen did all the journaling and there's a pocket to hold her plane tickets, mementos etc on the back cover. I used my crop-o-dile to punch holes through everything and used bright blue book rings (Oh for a Bind-It-All!) to hold it all together.

An open-ended slip cover to keep the album in was the final part of the project. I made this from cardboard (the heavy-duty kind found in transit envelopes which I always save) and covered the outside with matching papers.
Karen's very pleased with her keepsake  - and has edited her video footage at last! - into two videos which she has on  Facebook. The videos don't mean much unless you know the people in them, but as she will be studying TV Production at University, it's all good experience for her.
I can't even get my head around Paint Shop Pro, so I'm not going anywhere near her video-editing software!! Just leave me the easy job of papercrafting please.

Young Catlover and Our First Date

This is a layout I did yesterday featuring photos of a very young Jenni in our garden at Aylesbury. She was fascinated by this furry creature that would always follow her around......next door's cat! She didn't have any hair until she was 9 months old - Jenni that is!

The papers and alphabet stickers are from the Basic Grey Sugared Collection. Also the border, hearts and Girl Journaling block are in the same collection, on the Element Stickers sheet. When you like something, and I'm a fan of Basic Grey, you've just gotta have it all!

In an earlier post I said I met my husband in Aylesbury. To be exact, I met him at Stoke Mandeville Hospital where he was a Porter and I was sent there for 6 weeks placements in my training as a Radiographer. On my first placement, I asked at Reception for a key to the Nurses' Accomodation and he was the porter on duty. Afterwards he told his colleagues he thought I was 'a snob'!.....

However, two years later, after I qualified and started working there, he asked me to go to the cinema in Harrow to see Neil Diamond in 'The Jazz Singer'. Of course he didn't tell me he had never driven to Harrow. In fact he hadn't long passed his driving test and hadn't driven outside of Aylesbury!

Inevitably we got lost. By pure chance (or was it meant to be?) I recognised where we were and directed him to my Great Aunt's flat where we asked for directions! We eventually got to see the film (having missed the first showing) and had fish and chips in the car afterwards. Very romantic eh?

Actually he is quite romantic. He often buys me flowers or chocolates 'just because' and never forgets my birthday or our wedding anniversary. He even remembers how many years it is since we got married - something I'd rather forget now it's over 25!