Ugly Papers

I have finally scrapped a page today, after weeks of a dry spell!
What tempted me back into the fray? A Challenge on The Studio Challenges Blog that asks you to use two 'ugly' papers in your layout. We all know there is no such thing as ugly papers, don't we? We are all paper addicts after all! But I'm sure, like me, you have a few patterns in your stash that you wish you had never bought. And it seems too wasteful to just throw them away. So I was inspired to use of a couple of my least favourite ones today, pictured below, along with a recent photo of my Mother.

I am usually a fan of K&Co but I cannot abide large patterns on scrapbook pages, hence the flowery paper, and the pink and brown one is just so ....well.....dull!
Anyway, here's the finished layout and the journalling says it all I think. It's a simple page with tearing and doodling and some cut circles. Oh, and a heart stamp.

I miss Mum as she used to be. Fiery and out-spoken. She is a shell of her former self now. I can see her but I do not know her any more. 

Dementia is a cruel disease, but to be honest, I do not think she is aware of it herself and that is a blessing.

Student Footwear

My youngest daughter, Karen, loves to hunt for clothes in Charity Shops. In the past she has managed to root out bargain items from Karen Millen and Topshop, among others. Her latest find at Easter was a brand new pair of Converse trainers (her favourite) in pink, and they've hardly been off her feet since!
Looking at her most recent photos, with her wearing the aforementioned trainers, I spotted that her male University friends also favour brightly coloured shoes, and there was the idea for my layout.
Here's the work in progress..........

.........and here's the finished page.

I used Papermania scalloped cardstock, free papers from Scrapbook Magazine and a sheet of K&Co flowered paper to make a bright, Spring background. A few buttons and ribbon, a quotation from Oscar Wilde, and plenty of doodling completed the page.

Call me old-fashioned....and I know you will....Karen loves wearing her trainers the way she does, but they look to me as if they should be worn as boots!

Common Ground

If you live in a household with only one male, you'll know where I'm coming from when I say, Hubby's feeling lonely. He's never had a son to play football with, although the girls would kick a ball around with him when they were younger. He's never had to watch football practice in the pouring rain or had a kindred male to watch sports on TV with. Not that he has ever complained. He loves his daughters to bits!

But since the girls have left home he has no-one to meet from school, ferry around in the car, wind-up constantly or tease about their outfits. The girls never were much into football or rugby, neither were they particularly keen to sit and watch gymnastics or the Winter Olympics, but they obliged to keep Hubby happy.

Now he has only me to tell how well or badly his favourite team, The Arsenal, are doing. I'm the one who hears who's injured and out of the match, how near to relegation Brighton are this season, and his commentaries on the Six Nations Rugby, most of it going in one ear and out the other!

I do feel sorry for him and try to appear interested and knowledgeable, but I draw the line at standing for the teams' National Anthems when I'm crafting in the Lounge!

So, when I came across an old photo this week I knew just what I wanted to say on the layout.

The photo is of Hubby and our eldest daughter, taken in 1993 when he was dressed to take part in the London Marathon. Jenni is looking a bit scared and unsure of him as he's wearing a brightly-coloured clown suit and white make-up.

I used My Mind's Eye and K&Co papers, MarthaStewart punches and Prima flowers to make the layout. The journaling tells why Hubby's wearing the costume and how Jenni (in 1993) doesn't know yet that she too will take up running and join a running club.

They do have common ground after all.

Awful Photos

This week's challenge at Scrap Weekly in 2010 is to scrap those awful photos we all have hidden away somewhere. I have exactly the photos they mean and spent Sunday afternoon trying to make a layout with them! They are the sort of photos I would never bother to scrap. To be honest, they would be destined for the rubbish bin, torn into tiny pieces so no-one could see how bad they were! However, I didn't get any decent pictures of the family at Christmas this year - not one single photo! - so these are all I had to play with to record Christmas 2009.

I used K&Co papers and American Crafts Sparkly Thickers for the title. The centrepiece is a paragraph copied from a book I read leading up to Christmas and really enjoyed. It is called 'The Gift' by Cecelia Ahern and the excerpt sums up our Christmas this year.

We spent it indoors!

Paper Doll Chains

Did you ever make paper-doll chains from newspaper? I did when I was a child. Just folding newspaper and drawing figures on it and then cutting them out in a linked chain kept me amused in those days. I had to make certain that the drawing always touched the sides of the folded paper so that the dolls linked arms.

I also loved the dress-up dolls that came in a book format with tabbed clothes that you cut out and dressed the dolls with. Great fun when I was about 7 years old! It didn't cost much to keep a child entertained and happy in those days.

Anyway, this is my entry to The Creative Type Challenge . The challenge is to use newspaper on the layout and I've done this with a chain of newspaper dolls and another with flowers. The background paper is by K&Co and I've used Tim Holtz Spiced Marmalade distress ink and an orange pen. Orange is not a colour I like very much but as the paper included shades of green and orange, I decided to step outside my 'comfort zone'.

My title, 'Crafting Sisters' and the hidden journaling shows how, although my sister is 6 years older than me, we still have something in common.

The journaling reads: 'Maureen was an art teacher and is a gifted artist and sewer (she made my wedding dress) whilst I enjoy scrapbooking, card making, cross-stitch and knitting as my hobbies.'

I'm the one on the right by the way!