Sunday Scrapping

So it seems I am alone in attempting blogvember (yes apparently it is thing and this is the hashtag) but I am not alone in feeling like blogging is decreasing. I get it people are busy and haven't got time. Perhaps it gets frustrating if not many people are commenting and some people are in it for the numbers game and want to get good 'stats' but I blog because I enjoy it.

This is my space. My chance to share what I am up to and what I am creating. So without further ado I share a layout. Poorly photographed but made with love. Yes I still sometimes scrapbook. 

You may remember that I did monthly updates on my little baby for the first year of his life. They are still some of my favourite posts to look back on and I did photo shoots of him each month to go with them. But also because I knew I would scrapbook them at some point and I am almost done and so I thought I would share a month with you.

I used a 12 by 12 paper pad so that all of the papers coordinated already and it took some of the guess work out of it.

The other great thing about this paper pad was the cut apart tags page and O layered these up at the bottom. The glasses and mustache works perfectly for a layout about a little boy. 

I embellished with the cute Studio Calico wood veneer stars which are making their way onto every layout recently. They are so adaptable. 

The journalling is hidden as there wasn't any space for it and the layout already looked very busy. The other convenient part was that my blog post provided the journalling so I didn't have to cast my mind back five months!

I used Crate Paper wooden pegs and American Craft chalk board stickers to add some dimension and interest. Thanks to my sisters for some birthday parcels bursting with craft goodies. Apparantly the TkMaxx in Hull is quite a treasure trove for crafty bits - who knew? 

What have you been creating lately?

Small bump unknown...

Dear Pregnant Me,

People will tell you to make the most of your sleep, you will laugh along with them and smile knowingly as if you know how bad it is going to be. You don't. And you didn't take their advice. Or maybe sleeping when you're the size of a whale and it feels like a pack of ferrets was let loose in your belly wasn't as easy as they thought. (Or remembered.)

You know the nursery that you have spent hours/days preparing and getting ready? It will be trashed within a day or two. There will just be so much stuff and so little time. Those cute little drawers from Ikea will soon be piles of 'newborn' 'first size' and '0-3/3-6' as you need things that will fit the baby to be accessible and close at hand.

Those date nights you have been trying to make the most. Well really make the most of them. Never again will you just be able to go and see that new film that came out at the Hyde Park Picture House or go to Pizza Express on Orange Wednesdays on a whim. Date nights will become military operations. Sorting a babysitter weeks in advance, getting The Baby ready, bathed and in bed, leaving lists of instructions and then staring at your phone all night worrying. It will feel forced and you will often be too sleep deprived to enjoy it. So yes, really, make the most of them.

Spend time with your friends without babies - although the gap may already be apparent. Because when you become a walking, talking baby making machine you will find their eyes glaze over and you've become a little less interesting in their eyes. When you cancel your lunch date cos you've had a bad night or The Baby has a cold they won't get it - just like you don't now.

Your whole life is about to change in a big way and you have no idea. You have no idea how hard it will be. How relentless it will be. How it will test your relationship. But also how much love you can feel for this tiny baby squirming in your arms. How much it will rely on you. Need you. Love you in return. 

Yep nothing can prepare you for that.

Love,
Sleep-deprived me

P.S You have a boy so not the future crafter you were expecting. Get lots of good washing powder. Lots of muzzies, Lots of energy and embrace the madness!

________________________

This post was largely sponsored by a serious lack of sleep. We have started sleep training here and when we see some success I will do a post on that.

 

Project Life for Beginners: Getting Started

Now if you're a seasoned Project Lifer this post will be a bit redundant, but I have just converted to Project Life and a few of you have been asking me about it and so I thought that I would share some of my ideas.

There are four basics that you need for a Project Life album:

• Project Life ring binder - I have my eye on this one 
• A Project Life Core Kit (cards) - I am lusting after this one 
• Special pocket page protectors - I got these ones 
• A pen

And that is all...
So that is why many people are preferring it over 12 by 12 layouts - less 'stash' and therefore less expense.
If you just used these basics you could create a layout like this one:-

 However, the top layout was jazzed up by thickers, washi tape, stickers and stamps. This is where the cross over to scrapping is handy as you will have all sorts of exciting supplies to use. 

I am loving it at the moment because:

• It is quick and easy.
• You can do it little and often.
• It is not as daunting as a big 12 by 12 layout with a blank page
• I take far too many pictures of The Baby and I can feature more of the everyday moments of our lives.
• It can be as simple or as complicated as you like.
• I can use all of my supplies up.
• The journalling cards are the sweetest thing ever.
• You can use the little souvenirs you keep - like napkins, business cards and receipts.

Below is the first layout I completed for Project Life. Lots of other Project Lifers seem to struggle with the title page, but I managed it first time. I am a bit unhappy with the lining up of the photo. 

I jazzed it up with polka dot thickers by American Crafts (check out ebay or TK Maxx for bargains).

 

And sequins, which you can get from most craft shops and also sewing or fabric shops. I remember when we were younger we used to buy our sequins in a shop that sold glittery dance outfits and feather boas. It was like every little girls dream.

The 'problems' I have encountered so far:

• printing of photos. From what I have read this is every Project Lifers nightmare and a lot 'give in' and print from home for ease. Our ink is quite pricey but I have been printing some of my phone pictures off on it and the cartridge seems to be lasting quite a while. I really want the Canon Selphy as you can print wireless from your phone straight to the printer. I also succumb to the photo booth in Boots which charges 40p a print - however they do mini prints so it works out to 10p each. My friend uses Tesco and informs me it is 35p a print. I also do big orders on snapfish and photobox and try to keep an eye out for offers. It depends how you are approaching it - the traditional way is a weekly approach but I am going with a monthly approach and am being fluid on the dates etc as I feel this doesn't matter as much as getting the memories recorded.
• It could get quite samey and seem restricting at times. I think because I have the variety pack of page protectors I can change up the layout and photo sizes to keep it interesting. You also, in theory, need to plan your layouts before you order your pictures so that the pictures are the right way up and co-ordinate with the pockets.
• Making the front and back match up. Some journalling cards are smaller than others and some have rounded corners whilst some are square and so you can get ugly random corners poking out. I plan to get a corner rounder punch to combat this.
• It could get a bit monotonous and 'square.' I tried a sequin pocket to combat this and it was a bit of a nightmare as they kept escaping into other pockets. 

I love Finding Nana's blog - it has loads of good ideas and advice for approaching Project Life.
My Project Life pinterest board has loads of drool worthy layouts and my free printables board is useful for printing off some freebies - the 'celebrate the everyday' card is a free printable that I printed at home onto white card.

So, what do you think? 

Could 2014 be the year for you to start Project Lifing it?

Or do you keep your memories in other ways?

Things I'm loving Thursday...

1) How gorgeous is this purple floral print sweater from Uniglo? An Autumn must have for sure...

2) And an autumn fleece for him from baby Uniglo. Isn't this just the cutest? So snuggly and warm.

3) Since 'mini scrapping' is how I roll these days, I have pinned all of these pages by Jen Jockisch. Love the layers, the cute prints (especially the camera print - need this!) and that middle pun.

4) Love the pretty colours of the autumn leaves and plenty of walks with the family in the brisk autumn air. I, of course, wear boots rather than bare feet.

5) Since joining in with Julie Kirk's Going Postal I have been hyper aware of using traditional office supplies in my scrapbooking. I found this tutorial on pinterest for printing onto post-it notes and love, love, love this idea! Expect to see it used around here soon.

6) In the same thread I also loved this stamp...

7) Baby and I are loving baby sensory. It is giving me ideas for ways to play with him and that it is never too young to start reading - score!

8) Lastly I am loving my friend Steve's homemade chilli - he uses dark chocolate in it and even makes the pita bread from scratch. Yummy! An action shot of him in the kitchen...

 

9) Lastly looking forward to this event tomorrow...launch of Trinity Kitchen Northern Street Foods. I love the street food and food truck trend and have always felt that Leeds was missing a treat - now Leeds will be a more complete day out in my opinion.

  What are you loving at the moment?

Come on lurkers - reveal yourselves!

Waiting for the world to change...

I thought that this layout would be apt for my current situation.
Almost 41 weeks pregnant and sweating it out in this crazy heat wave.
Hello England! Where has this heat wave come from? It normally rains at this time of year.
I have an appointment on Monday, but hope things happen naturally before then.

This picture was taken on our three year anniversary break to the Lake District last summer.
I was sat waiting for the miniature railway train to arrive.
The journalling is about how in 2012 we learned the art of patience as we struggled to get and stay pregnant. The story about this is here.

I made the chevron mask using cardboard packaging from other supplies and thensprayed with bronze mist. It only lasted one spray as the cardboard went soggy and the lines weren't as crisp.

 

It was embellished with cute heart washi tape and an Amy Tan Stamp. Plus I created a tag for the journalling and added some cute flair to give the layout some more dimension.

And the wait continues...

We are team yellow!

This layout is an ode to how we decided not to find out the sex of our baby.
I discovered that its referred to as 'team yellow' and so decided that it was a great title for the layout.
I used lots of Amy Tangerine and some paints to shade in the heart photo mat.
Here are some detail shots:

I've been doing plenty of internet browsing (as its ridiculously hot outside - much too hot for a heavily pregnant and overdue lady!) and have been getting very excited about some of the new ranges that are out over summer at CHA.
The story time range from Studio Calico will be perfect for our new baby album.
I love the pink 6 by 6 paper pads in 'team pink' and 'team blue.'

 

These journalling cards are too adorable and perfect for the smaller layouts I plan to make.

 

Those onesie wood veneers are too adorable, right?

 

I love these stickers too and these would be perfect for complimenting layouts.

 

So fellow bloggers place your bets now - team blue or team pink? It could be on its way this weekend!

Baby bump layouts on 'due' day...

I felt it was apt to share some baby bump layouts on my official due date.
The room with the best light in the house is now the nursery and has ugly blinds - which do not make a great backdrop for a photo shoot.
So excuse the dodgy pics.
I have tried to edit them as best they can.

In other news have just had a curry for my dinner.
No sign yet.
Next post could be a birth announcement.
Fingers crossed!

Workspace Wednesday: Getting the paints out on travel layouts

I love to create a paint frame on a nice brightly patterned and coloured piece of card stock.
I don't often use enlarged pictures and find that you can create an easy layout with some washi tape, punched out stars and a nifty title.

Some Amy Tangerine cut out embellishments from a 12 by 12 sheet.

 For more of  my scrapping about Barcelona check out this layout of the cable cars here, for a layout with the view from on top of the cable car see here and one of my personal favourite layouts of the market here.

The top ten things to do in Barcelona (if you're lucky enough to be heading there this summer) check out here. 

For the second layout I used white paint to create a mat for the title and I misted the lettering using letter stickers as a negative mask.

Its all about our adventures on the night train in Thailand when we journeyed from Bangkok to Chang Mai.

A close-up of the title...

For more layouts of my Asian travels see here for a layout about Kota Kinabulu and Thai desserts, here for a layout about pad Thai on the Ko San Road and here for a layout about elephant trekking..

I am so jealous of Amy Tan having her babymoon adventures in Thailand at the moment...

Saturday Scrapping with American Crafts

On National Scrapbooking Weekend a layout and tutorial over at Two Peas caught my eye. I loved the florals, the ruched washi tape and all the texture. I used to avoid scrapping with pinks and florals - as it just didn't seem very me. But recently I have got more into florals and even pink (so long as its hot pink!) and I loved this sheet of cardstock from American Crafts. I think the key is to use it in moderation and combine it with more 'neutral' designs.
The topic of the layout us the constant breaks I had to take from trekking round the tropical rainforest at the Eden Project. The 'R&R' stands for rest and relaxation and i created it using thickers and my fav ampersand stamp from Paperchase.

A close-up of the ruched washi tape - a technique I will definitely be using again. Its perfect as you can peel washi off if you don't like the effect and it doesn't fall quite right on the page.I then used my trusty stapler to create a similar effect with the hot pink ribbon.

In other news:

• I have been investing some much needed attention on my other blog 'Yummy in Yorkshire' and reviewed Reds True BBQ - the new BBQ and ribs American restaurant in Leeds. 
• I was invited to sit at the Chef's table at the Red Hot International Buffet in Leeds and I have also blogged about the delicious meal I had there. It was random to meet other bloggers and media types as I've always been a bit a 'solo' blogger, but it was a really fun night and we found we all had lots in common other than blogging. Discussion ranged from Jordie Shore to Baby G watches to Sylvia Plath! There are several Red Hot World Buffets in England and my post features a promotional code for a discount so be sure to check that out.
• It is only 18 days till my due date - scariness! Excited too to meet our little baby and discover if its Team Blue or Team Pink! 
• I am becoming a real Instagram addict and am finding loads of inspiration over there from fellow scrappers. Follow me on: melmakes21. You will see the new stamps I got on the twopeas sale and how I've unearthed the embossing powders and heat gun! 

What have you all been up to this grey and drizzly (if you're in England!) weekend? 
_______________________________
Linking up with the lovely Ashli over at Purple Mailbox