Happy Hour

August's first challenge over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog was, interestingly, to take part in some other on-line challenge!

Is that a sort of reverse advertising?  Will the fact that we'll be using our August Counterfeit Kits in all sorts of new places make people wonder "What on earth is a counterfeit kit?" and pop over to the CKCB to find out?  I hope so - I can't think of a better way to help people USE up their stash - which of course means that we can BUY more :o)


For me, this challenge was perfect as I often take inspiration from several challenges at once - a sketch here, a colour combination there, and other elements from elsewhere - and this page is no different!  It is based on the monthly sketch challenge at the blog for Sarah's Cards (my "local" on-line shop) and combined with the Weekly Challenge at UKScrappers which required you to scrap something from your wild side, include stars or flourishes and a life-affirming word or phrase.

My photo was taken around midday at the Slush Bar in the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas.  Now I don't drink a lot of alcohol (a glass of wine with a weekend meal is a treat), so enjoying an slushy cocktail instead of lunch was certainly wild for me!

The full story behind the page was my Sunday Story in April - and by strange coincidence the CKCB kit-to-copy this month is available from Scraporchard who were sponsoring the Digiscrapapalooza convention that our new friend Balinda was attending in the hotel!

The page is made from my August counterfeit kit wth the addition of some Doodlebug Sugar Coated Hopscotch alphas and shapes.  Arghhhh!  Now I remember why these were stored away in a little plastic box ... the glitter gets everywhere!  Do you have any tips for making glitter stay put?

Hunting For Photos

My Summer Photo Scavenging hasn't been going too well.  I'd only managed two photos and already blogged about them by the time Rinda had her Photo Scavenger Hunt Link Up Party!  In the interests of not leaving the other 19 items on the list until the last week of the Summer Equinox while I wait for spectacular-days-out-type photo opportunities, I thought I'd better accept some home-grown subjects instead!

Luckily the Great British Summer is making a yet another reappearance so I managed to snap some smalls (and not so smalls) on my clothesline ...

#2 - Clothesline

 ... and we had a few minutes to relax in our own hammock ... I'm ignoring the hanging from a tree bit!

#20 - A swing hanging from a tree (or a hammock)

We love our hammock - a double one, just about coping with Hubby & me at the same time - that started life as a trampoline and was built indoors thanks to an equally rainy summer!

I also remembered to take my camera to the supermarket which is built in front of Crewe Heritage Centre where they have ill-fated prototype Advanced Passenger Train - the UK's first and fastest tilting passenger train that initially made some travellers nauseous because it worked too well: they could see the curves but couldn't feel them!

#5 - Train

Five photos down, 16 to go ...

Ten on the Tenth: Reasons Why I ♥ 2 Scrapbook

Welcome to August's Ten.  Ten is a big number.  I quite often start off with a great idea for a theme for a Ten and then realise that I have just an Eight, or a Seven or even a Three.  That's what happened when I was thinking about "Why I Scrapbook", prompted by a challenge at Merly Impressions:

1. It's my hobby - everyone needs a hobby, right?  This is my indoor one.
2. To relive the moment.  Scrapping the photos brings back the sights, smells and sounds of holiday adventures, first day of school nerves, choked back tears of pride at concerts and prize-givings, heartstring tugs at long-ago milestones ...
3. It's creative and lets my inner artist see the light of day.
4. My memory needs help.  I'm in my 50s and already the dates and details are jumbling up.  When did we visit that theme park?  Who was it that dressed up as a devil for Halloween?  Where was our first beach holiday?  I see my albums as insurance against old age!
5. Stories are important.  My story.  My children's stories.  Our traditions.  Our family histories.
6. Scrapbooking is for keeps - the pages are for my albums, my legacy of memories, preserving my photos
7. Scrapbooking is for sharing - the pages are for looking at together, hand-made with love, passing on the moments to friends and family and anyone else who is willing to be pinned down to the sofa under a stack of 12x12 albums!

So that got me to a Seven.  But I needed a Ten.  Then I remembered a particular photo taken last summer: My children and No.1 Son's girlfriend ex, relaxing in the garden, looking through some scrapbooks, chatting about the photos, remembering the holidays, teasing each other over the hairstyles or the clothes or the forgotten stories revealed.  And thus I had my remaining Three.

No full sheets of patterned paper were harmed during the making of this layout - scraps only!

Why do you scrapbook?  Do you have Ten reasons?  Or different Ten to share?  Why not link up with Shimelle and her readers here (providing she has managed to escape the Olympics)

Still Stitching

I'm still stitching!  Are you?

One of my pages featured in Clair's 2nd day of Stitching on Paper - here's a peek:

If sewing on your pages with a machine has proved problematical, then Clair has plenty of help and advice to get you started.



I have three tips to share with you regarding machine sewing on layouts:

What a mess!
Better on a scrap than my page though!

• Use "invisible" thread on the bobbin so that you only have to change the top thread when swapping colours
• Sewing through paper blunts the needle.  Keep a scrapping needle separate from the rest or they'll all be blunt when you next sew with material
• Test your tension, stitch size/style and cornering out on a piece of scrap cardstock (layered with extra scraps of paper if necessary).  I find this especially useful with zig-zag stitches as the combination of zig-zag width and stitch length gives lots of variety. 

The page I shared with Clair's class just used straight lines of machine stitching.  My latest page needed some circular stitching to fit in with a sketch over at Scrapology.  I drew the concentric circles in light pencil directly onto my cardstock to act as guides and erased them afterwards.  I'm not brilliant at sewing straight lines, let alone perfect concentric circles, so I concealed any wobbles by going over the lines with more stitching that was purposely either side of the line with added zig-zags.

 

If you popped by on Sunday you will know that No.1 Son recently graduated with a Masters in Chemistry and I scrapped him with a group of his friends here.  Today's page puts him centre stage but uses the same papers, cardstock and trim so that they will sit nicely side-by-side in his album.

More machine stitchery to come from me soon ... and Clair will be back next weekend with parts 3 & 4 of her Stitching on Paper class ... I can't wait!

Going Digi with the CKCB

Welcome to the August's Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog Hop around the Master Forgers!  Have you already been to visit this month's Guest Designer Lynette?

This month we have a bit of a departure in terms of counterfeiting ... copying a digital kit!  It was hard to choose just one to counterfeit, but in the end we chose Summer Lovin' from Scrap Orchard - a lovely mix of bright colours and fun embellishments:

Summer Lovin'

Now digi isn't really my thing - I have enough trouble deciding what paper or stickers to use without having the almost infinite choices of shade or font size that digi opens up!  So I've stuck to paper this month - starting as I always do by seeing what similar patterns/colours I have in my existing stash.  First off I found a sunny hexagon pattern, a multi-colour floral and a woodgrain paper in amongst some recent acquisitions.  I loved the yellow, orange, teal combination that was forming so I pulled the rest of my papers to tone with these.
My Sizzlit rosette die will be put to use soon and I'm planning to make some hexagonal pinwheels shortly.

Supplies
Cardstock in teal, yellow & kraft
Be Adored from My Mind's Eye's Follow Your Heart "Be Amazing" collection (teal ogees on the reverse)
On The Bright Side Small Floral (orange chevrons reverse) also by MME
MME's Societé (white ledger with added hexagons on the reverse) from their Follow Your Heart "Be Amazing" collection
Echo Park's Paradise Beach Sunshine (orange flowers, swirls & surfer on the "B" side)
Storyteller Yesterday (cream floral pattern reverse) by Crate Paper
MME Branches (teal and white dots reverse) from On The Bright Side
MME's On The Bright Side Stitched (denim reverse) - left over from July's Counterfeit Kit
Plain orange paper (manufacturer unknown)

Embellishments
Crate Paper Storyteller alpha and label stickers
Various ribbons, ric-rac, cord & string
MME Happy Days twine
Basic Grey fabric decorated brads
A selection of yellow, orange & brown buttons
Crocheted flowers
A selection of journalling blocks/tags from K&Co and Crate Paper
Kaisercraft December 25th (!) pearls
Sizzlit Mini Paper Rosette die
Tickets and a Sizzlit ticket die (not shown)
Various brads and bookplates (not shown)

I'm looking forward to using up some ribbons this month - it's been a while since I used a lot on my pages as I've been going through a machine stitching & button phase recently.  Do you get stuck on a particular technique/type of embellishment?

Next on the kit tour is the lovely Jen who makes awesome kits full to bursting with gorgeousness!  If you get lost along the way pop back to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog for a full list of the hops!

Mastering Chemistry

Welcome to my latest Sunday Story.  This one had a beginning back in October 2008, a middle in between and its finale just a few weeks ago - on Friday 13th.  Unlucky for some.  Not, however for No.1 Son (though he will deny that there was any luck involved and insist that it was all down to his hard work)

It all started somewhat inauspiciously when his A-level grades meant that he did not get into his first choice of university.  Thankfully he was accepted by his second choice and he started partying studying hard, learning his way around the bars of Newcastle Chemistry labs and making loads of new friends.
In order to maximise his future job prospects, No.1 Son had chosen a course with an extra year in industry and had to start applying for a work placement at the beginning of his 2nd year.  Trouble was, Britain's industries were struggling ... our economic downturn meant that companies were offering fewer placements and only the very top students managed to get fixed up.  So, along with all but six of his cohort, No.1 Son had to convert his course back to a standard degree.
He loved student life studying in Newcastle and didn't relish leaving yet, so he missed a few parties upped his grades to allow him to add a research year to his degree.  That final year was oh so hard ... No.1 Son even postponed his 21st birthday celebrations because it fell during the run up to some exams.  His missed parties hard work paid off though and on Friday 13th we watched our clever, clever boy receive his Masters in Chemistry

The rain held off long enough for us to take lots of photos before and after the ceremony.  It was wonderful to see No.1 Son with such a lovely bunch of friends from his course, some of whom were house-mates, lab partners, study buddies and one, who is, currently, significantly more :o)

This page was made with my July Counterfeit Kit and utilises a lot of machine stitching ... I love stitching on my pages ... and I'm playing along with Clair's stitchery class here.  It's FREE!  Why not join me?

You can also join in with Sunday Storytelling, either by reading more stories here or telling one yourself and linking it over at High In The Sky.

Blogiversary #2

I nearly missed it - my second Blogiversary!  Last year I was very organised and had an anniversary blog hop; this year I only remembered because I spotted an up-coming Blogiversary over at Beverly's place.  Ooops!!!

To celebrate, here is a Taxedo made from the recurring words on my blog ... lots of counterfeiting, numbers, stories, books, children and a fair bit of scrapping!

Thank YOU

to all of you who have left me interesting comments (2973 comments - not sure how many different commenters), those of you who have become followers (76), my many silent visitors who add their flags at the bottom of the page (8495 visitors from 74 countries) and all of you lovely fellow bloggers that have kept me company, encouraged me and inspired me during the last two years :o)