February ScrapMates pages

Bargain hunting in the January Hobbycraft sale afforded us a crop kit with lots of variety this month and we sold out of kits and even had the lovely Teresa visiting with us all the way from Wales.



We used the Hexagon Thickers alignment tool as a template for this second page where I still need to add my title but I could not find my alphabet stamps for love nor money in my craft room. Perhaps time for a tidy up again!!  I do get great pleasure out of using something designed for one purpose for another entirely and my Thickers alignment tools come in very hand as templates and don't take up much toom. Link here if you want to see what these are - available on Amazon, Hobbycraft and other online craft stores.

Learning to Crochet

So I have started to learn to crochet thanks to my lovely friend Antonia who has the patience of a saint in teaching me! First job was to wind the wool into a ball which then made it easier to crochet with. I was the taught a chain stitch and a treble crochet stitch and whilst I am VERY slow and hold the hook like a lunatic I am sure it will get more familiar eventually!!

Watch this space for my super colourful scarf coming soon!!

Our last crop of the year

Saturday saw our last crop of the year and it was a pleasure to once again spend time with my wonderful ScrapMates. As always there was fun and laughter and clearly some shocking occurances!! This photo makes me smile at the friendships which have developed over the years.

I was busy designing for ATDML and the last virtual crop kits for 2018 too and after making two layouts I set about using some bauble designs on one of the Bo Bunny papers to make a teeny tiny mini album to hold photos for the 12 days of Christmas 2018. I can't share this until the weekend so I'll leave you with one of the crop layouts I designed which is also today's Scraplift Santa over on ATDML

March Scrapates

Lots of clustering with our travel themed kit for this month's crop. Apologies I meant to share last weekend but was super busy playing with paper :)

These papers are by Crate Paper from their Here and There collection and I can see me doing plenty more pages with this range as I LOVE it and it is so versatile. Lucky for me the map paper (after having bought it for MArch crop kits) was also included in my March MTS kit so another chance to scrap with that background for sure!

February ScrapMates Pages

Well we didn't want a valentine theme per se at our crop this month, but I did stick with heart themed pages when designing the classes.

Firstly I scrap lifted a great page from Pinterest by Devra Hunt which can be found here and there is also a link to a cut file but instead of cutting the background paper and then backing with pattern hearts I provided a template to cut out the pattern hearts and stick on to the background. Faux stitching around the edges and drawing a journaling spot direct onto the paper as well as a paper journaling spot changed the look of the page. I also used four smaller photos and not a central photo like in the original. Final difference was my left and right edges of paper pieces and more faux stitching

The second page I scraplifted myself from a page I had done last month for a journaling challenge at Mind the Scrap. Sticking with the heart theme again I marked on the paper where my heart full of journaling would go, along with my photo and then stuck a variety of 1/2" strips of paper across the page leaving the heart open for my words.

A title and a few embellishments (plus my signature border round the edge) finished this page off. So there you have it. A pair of heart themed pages with not a hint of romance in sight!!

All that glitters

More scrapbooking with older photographs this month and the brand new Kaisercraft collection All That Glitters. Probably a more floral and feminine collection than I would usually design with but it felt good to change things up. First layout made the most of the heavily decorated background paper to which I added a few foil butterflies, some gems, a few word strips and names using foil alphabet from the Range (only £1).

The second page was based on a simple grid format which makes for a quick but effective scrapbook page. A few gold skeleton leaves add a touch of texture along with more gems, more gold foil butterflies and a couple of fabric roses.

That's another wedding photo from 12 years ago in my album!

These layouts were taught at my local ScrapMates crop which runs on the second Saturday of every month and welcomes many crafters who scrap, make cards, crochet, knit or natter the day away. Please email annfreeman1971@gmail.com if you are interested in joining us!

ScrapMates February layouts

As promised albeit a few days later than planned I am sharing my crop layouts from the weekend.  We had a very sparkly day on Saturday at Enfield ScrapMates with the delicious Teresa Collins Urban Market papers. One was very sparkly and I think we all got a little covered!

The paper made for a lovely background to this a page featuring three original polaroid photographs of little ole me from 1971/2. Can you tell I have been going through my older photos recently? 

The second layout was of mum and I last summer at Frinton-on-Sea, our last day at the beach together with my boys before she passed away. Mum would have hated this photo, not sure I ever showed it to her, but I love it and am so glad I have this and the memories now.  2015 will see me take even more family photographs, time passes so quickly.

Our next crop is Saturday March 14th and there are places available if you fancy joining us - just get in touch!

Happy Valentines - Feel the love!

Happy Valentines blog readers - may your day be full of love x

I'll be spending the day at my crop teaching a pair of layouts using Teresa Collins Urban Market Papers - take a look at these lovelies...

I'll share the pages I made using these tomorrow xx

Oh what fun...

Had the best time at my annual Christmas crop day yesterday!
I have been running ScrapMates for ten years next October (with a small break for childbirth!) and I do not think I will ever tire of sharing this hobby with friends new and old!

We set up a fun festive photo booth and with some inexpensive props (kit from Lakeland) we had a blast!.

Here are just a few photos!

And we have the special birthday bash to organise for next year as well with a whole heap of fun planned! I can hardly wait! I'll share our crafting from the crop this week :)

ScrapMates November pages

Sharing two layouts this evening that I created for my Enfield ScrapMates crop today.
The first was inspired by a page I saw on Pinterest but I cannot for the life of me find it now to link back and credit - so if you see this originator, thank you for the inspiration.

Features a photo of my brother and I taken around 35 years ago which I simply love.

The second page came from a sheet of 12x12 Pink Paislee paper and we used the various elements on the page to create this pegged out look.

These are photos from the book trail the kids and I did in the Summer. Next on our list is the Paddington trail that is in London now.

A layout with scraps

A nice quick layout using twenty 2"x2" scraps of paper and three 4"x4" scraps. I created this class based on a sketch I had seen and it was a bonus kit for my ScrapMates Christmas crop held last month.  All of these were cut from four 6"x6" pieces. I inked the edges of each before creating a background of the 2" squares aligned towards the top of the page and then layering the 4"x4" squares over the top. a 3" x 4" photo was then mounted an added with finishing touches of some washi tape, a doiley, ink splatters and embellishments to create a quick page. If you would like receive the full instructions for this page, drop me an email annfreeman1971@gmail.com and I will send them to you.

Sticking the boot in!

Today was another crafty day following an entire weekend away last weekend indulging in my favourite hobby. For a change up, and because I knew I'd have taught the weekend before we had a guest designer this month and Kirsty taught the class with the Simple Stories Urban Traveler papers I had sourced from Mel & Jill at ATDML.  I was thrilled when she demonstrated that the class involved inking up the sole of her young son's wellington boot with Tim Holtz Distress Stains to make a muddy footprint on the background of the page!! Combined with ink splatters and some subtle spraying and the added photo/paper section I was thrilled with my completed layout. Of course I wasn't smart enough to have photographed it in daylight and if I take it now the light will fail me and not show the true colours and effect achieved on the page so this will have to be something I do in coming days.

Off to make tea now, then maybe a little more creating before an early night as I am walking to Ally Pally tomorrow for the craft show/marathon training. The event is just 4 weeks away and I am a little behind on walking training even if my overall fitness level has improved. I even managed to get through an entire spinning class this week! get me!

February ScrapMates

It seems like ages ago but what with one thing and another I haven't shared the two layouts I taught at my crop last month. Photos fresh off the press from my January trip to New York this is the first layout from that trip and using the lovely Crate Paper Fourteen range.

The papers are a typically valentine range so suitable for scrapping in February I thought, but my class was about showcasing how you can take a theme paper collection and make it work with a variety of photos. We got busy with some misting, made clever use of 6x6 papers to hide the joins beneath the photo and added heart embellishments cut from the papers.

The second layout used the remainder of the kit for a page focusing on blocks of patterned paper overlaying each other, very much in a Shimelle style. This time I chose a photo of my youngest and I, his nickname being Mr Squishy because he is so squishable and huggable!