Scrap Weekly in 2010: Yellow

This week's Challenge on Scrap Weekly in 2010 is to use yellow on your layout. Yellow is my least favourite colour and I cannot remember ever using it on any of my pages. So this week's challenge was harder for me than usual.

I dug out a really old K&Co daisy paper from my scrap box and teamed it with a newer brown one and an orange dot from manufacturer unknown. As I was planning my layout, I heard on TV a quotation that I thought I could use sometime, so I scribbled it down on scrap paper. Then I realised it might work for the page I was making. I debated writing out the quote neatly or printing it on my computer, but in the end I decided to use it as it was, as it seemed to fit the doodled theme.

I also used a Martha Stewart butterfly punch and yellow ribbon from American Crafts.

The page will be going to Jenni and Tom along with a 12x12 wall holder so that Jenni can display it in their new flat when they move in. As she is also a Scrapper, she will be able to change the layout on show whenever she wants.

After doing this challenge I realise that yellow is still my least favourite colour!

Happiness

I've made this page using a sketch on Pencil Lines as my starting point. As you know I usually make layouts with two or more photos but this sketch called for just one. I found a shot of Karen aged 6, taken in our back garden. She has always loved dressing up and even today she has her own inimitable sense of style.

For this page I brought out my somewhat neglected Cuttlebug. I used a flower die to create tone-on-tone white cardstock, leaving just one flower falling over the edge of the cut shape. Then I used a Sizzix Alphabet for the title and embossed the letters with a dot embossing folder. I also used the stamp dye and love embossing folder that came with the machine and tucked this square behind the photo for added layers. The papers are K&Co, the journalling spots are My Mind's Eye, and the ribbon is from American Crafts.

I think this tone-on-tone technique gives an added dimension to any layout but it is very time-consuming to do. Luckily, today, I had 4 hours to myself. Plenty of time to play!

WOYWW

Well Julia, you asked to see the mess on my sofa when I'm crafting, so here it is!
Not the worst it's ever been, but still there's only just enough room for me to sit down. On the sofa there are three boxes of 12x12 papers and a HUGE K&Co paper pad bought from QVC. And my precious tub of  lovely ribbons.
I didn't see the red clip on the table until after the photo was taken so I'm caught out! It's from half a packet of nibbles I had been eating. Ooops.
There are My Minds Eye papers and stickers, my small guillotine and larger purple cow one. There's also a copy of Shimelle's UK Scrappers sketch which you can find here and which I had just finished using to make a layout. And, most important of all, my green carry-all that does what it says! It's filled to the brim with glues, scissors, rulers and pens.......the necessities any crafter cannot do without!

I thought I'd let you see the Christmas tree as we put it up at the weekend. Anyone else got their decorations all ready for the holiday? Unfortunately, the decorations are all that's finished in my house in preparation for Christmas!

If you want to join in the fun and show us What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW) just visit Miss Nosy of Blogland, Julia, at Stamping Ground where there are links from everyone taking part in this weekly madness.

New (Old) Photograph

I've been away, hence no blog posts lately, and have been staying with Mum and Dad in Milton Keynes.

Whilst there, Dad got out some of his photo albums to look through and out fell an old photo of me as a student at Oxford. I can't remember the photo actually being taken, but when Dad gave it to me to bring home, I decided it just had to be scrapped!

I wanted to use the UK Scrappers Sketch from their Challenge this week as it has just one photo, so I had a go with this layout.

I printed X-ray skeletons onto a piece of printable cotton canvas that I had. It's the first time I have ever used canvas and it was very easy to use. Then I used a piece of K&Company paper as background - quite appropriate as it is chalk writing on a blackboard and that was how I was taught. The other papers and journaling spots are My Minds Eye - Ooh La La collection. In addition I used cork to give the illusion of a notice board and 'pinned' items onto it with brads.

I wanted the layout to be quite 3D so I used 3D foam tape and overlayed different items to make it layered. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out as I don't usually scrap one photo on a page, and it was a challenge I really enjoyed doing.

So, how did I choose Radiography as a career? I think Fate played a part in it.

When I was twelve I was knocked down crossing a busy road and my ankle was broken. I was taken to hospital and an enduring memory I had thereafter was of the Radiographer (not that I knew what her title was then) taking x-rays of me to show the fracture. It was only when I had to make a career choice and I definitely did not want to go to University like most of my classmates, that I discovered Radiography. I read all about it and applied to two Schools of Radiography to train. I was accepted by Oxford and started training in 1977. When I did my practical training at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, who should be there but the very Radiographer who x-rayed me after my accident!

I am in my 30th year of working as a Radiographer, and although it's a stressful job that I now have, I can honestly say there is no other career I would rather have had all these years.

Beautiful Day and Climber Cat

I've just got back from a walk by the sea. Hubby and I took our lunch with us and ate it looking at all the sailboats and fishing boats there are out today. It's a beautiful day, lovely sunshine and very little wind, just enough to keep the sailboats moving. The beach was almost deserted as the tourists have all gone now and it's just the locals enjoying the weather.

I've been crafting this morning. Having to make every spare hour count now that the days are getting shorter. I have lots of photos to scrap but am struggling for inspiration at the moment. I'm also cutting back on craft purchases and don't have the excitement of opening a new parcel every now and then. Don't you find that something new can get the crafting ideas flowing?? Without new stash I'm finding it hard to know where to start.......so to force myself into the right frame of mind, I decided to enter the True Friend challenge this week which calls for photos of movement (or not) of your pet.

So here's Smokey discovering his first Christmas Tree (December 2007) and not being sure whether it was real or not!

I used K & Company Ivy Leaf paper, cream and orange cardstock, dotty ribbon, and a Making Memories rub-on alphabet to detail his thinking when he was 'investigating' the tree. He didn't get very far trying to climb our fake tree but he was very good outside with the real thing!