Unimpressed

This page sits opposite the one I shared previously, and I maintained the colour scheme across here too. There's even a small slither of the same paper hidden there too!

This picture refers to an incident of great disappointment... after our meal, we ordered a cookie pizza, expecting it to be soft, gooey and amazing. No. It was rock solid, so one of my friends took a knife to it, in an attempt to chisel anything decent off of it. There wasn't any. It was a very sad moment indeed.

This is another layout that I caught inspiration off of pinterest, and it's a fantastic way to use up scrap paper, and all of those odd bits which aren't big enough to use on a layout by themselves. The most hassle is trying to decide where each strip will go,and because the background is so vibrant, the embellishment is allowed to be fairly minimal.

This is a great idea if you want a fairly easy page that will use up a pretty hefty amount of scraps.

P.S. even if the scraps aren't long enough to go all the way across the page, cut them in half, and hide the split beneath the photo... you won't believe how many of these actually use that system!

My Crazy Nutters

And here is my next meet-up with my other lovely friends! This photo was actually taken at a rail station at night... because we're classy like that.

The layout is similar to something I've seen pop up a few times on pinterest, splitting the page in half on the diagonal. It's a very striking design feature, and I enjoyed then creating this trail of embellishments all of the way down that line. I pretty much collated all of the pieces I could find in the colour scheme and threw them at it... This process seems to have worked surprisingly well!

The title is not something I would usually use, but I wanted to use those letters. Unfortunately, there were very few of them left, and this was the only thing I could create that was a) relevant, and b) achievable. Ah well, it doesn't look too out of place.

I actually made this layout before I received my Elle's Studio goodies, which was a shame, because their colours fitted so well to this scheme... I think perhaps this paper was even an Elle's Studio one... I can't remember. But either way, it turned out great all by itself.

Happy Girls are the Prettiest Girls

 I will just quickly say that I am aware that the photos recently are looking a bit funny. I may have to change how I photograph them during the summer, because that wood background is actually a garden table outside, and with the strong summer sun it does something weird to the pictures.

This page sits opposite the one I previously shared, and because the writing was on that side, I had full reign to lay it out and decorate it exactly how I wanted it.

Again, it's quite a simple page, I used a border strip in the background, and then cut out embellishments from two pieces of paper. Finished off with a couple of pieces of wood veneer and a title in mixed fonts (which was an experiment I actually quite like) the page was complete. and a very pretty one it was indeed.

Quote, I believe, is from Audrey Hepburn, and it is very true.

Golden

The photo I used here was one we took at one of our sixth form group meet-ups... I have a few of those that I scrapped recently to share with you; everyone was home for Easter, which made it all so much easier. I loved the golden tinge the lighting gave to the photo (I don't edit my photos at all) which inspired the whole page.

This layout is unusual for me because the background is quite dark, but I wanted to try something different. I actually really like it, it sits well with the page opposite it.

In terms of actual construction, it's very simple, just three 6x6's layered beneath a square photo, with a 4x6 journalling card for my writing (and look! I've actually written on this one!).

For the embellishments, I found a diddy heart punch whilst I was going through my stash and I just had to use it... Apart from that, I had some metal leaves that had fallen off one of my headbands that I'd kept, a small wood veneer frame, and a border strip that I'd trimmed down to little pennants.

In terms of construction, it is a very simple process. But it is amazingly effective.

Secret Santa

I'm in love with this page.

As well as trying to keep up to date with my scrapbooking, I'm also tracking backwards to old photographs. This one is not that old, only from 2013. 

This was my form's Secret Santa, and we all had so much fun over the Christmas pudding hat... Definitely one of the bet gifts given. I got sweets, which is unfortunate, because I'm actually not fond of sweets... sigh.

I had great fun constructing this page as I set myself a challenge to not use any patterned paper, and to just throw any type of Christmas motif at it. It ha Christmas trees, Christmas puddings (of course), snowflakes, holly, stars, sweets, candy canes... All in such bright colours! The end result is strangely cohesive... It embodies the chaos and wonder of Christmas for me.

Roses Are White

I may be on a Leave of Absence, but I still have university pride! Because, of course, the University of York is the best. I mean, it has the largest plastic bottomed lake in Europe and everything...

Anyway, the layout marked this years War of the Roses. Less violent (only slightly) than its namesake, its a university-wide sports competition between the Universities of York and Lancaster. This year it was York's turn to host it, so, naturally, we thrashed 'em. ROSES ARE WHITE! (Yet for some reason our sports kits are black and yellow...)

This was also my first layout using the gorgeous pieces that I was so lucky to win from Elle's Studio: the yellow is just perfect. I'm also looking forward to using the stamps more... Stamping has never been my thing, but perhaps now I can be encouraged to use them more!

I love how this page came together, it was gorgeous to formulate, and everything worked so seamlessly, something which doesn't happen to me often! I'm very proud of this layout, and my university, so this one is definitely going into my favourites list.

Inspiration Realisation: 3

Found on Pinterest. Image credit as quoted in the image.

Next in this small project, I decided to pick one of the sketches I'd been hoarding... Sketches are one of those fantastic inventions, though, that can be replicated again and again, but to such varied results! So, I thought it was about time I had a go at using one.

(By the way, take a look at Susan's original post for this sketch, teh examples are truly beautiful!)

I turned this sketch on its side, sticking pretty close to the design, only really switching the place of the journalling and extending the embellishment along the diagonal. I replaced the frame with a cinema ticket, as it helped to tell the story behind this page.

I really enjoyed working with this sketch, and I'm looking forward to try and use it again, perhaps compare the different outcomes.

March Favourites

Another of this year's favourites, this time from March. I learnt from before, and stuck with a busy patterned background. I liked using the black card too, with the white pen. It's something different.

There's not a lot to say with this page, I try to keep them simple. If you want to see the previous ones, see:

January, February

First and Last

This page is very meaningful, and it took a lot of courage to get it down onto paper. It feels good that this page should go live on the blog today, as, all being well, I will be waking up in York, next to Him, for the first time in six months. And it's going to be amazing.

Having my degree frozen meant that I got thrown into a long distance relationship. This means that for a lot of the time, we only really communicate via technology. However, he still has his degree, and sometimes his days were busy and I was left out of the loop and alone a lot of the time. The one thing I clung to was wishing him goodnight and a good morning. We still do this now. It's just a little way of coping telling each other that we're thinking of them. I tried to get all of this down, because, even if this relationship doesn't last, it's still a good lesson to learn.

In all of my layouts that have involved Him, I've tried to keep the colour palettes gender neutral. Here I really liked the idea of using these different greens. The different patterns are all subtle enough but add enough interest to a relatively mundane picture. The birds as the main embellishment though, have a rather symbolic, personal meaning.

This page means so much to me, and I am proud that I managed to complete it.

Inspiration Realisation: 2

In a second post of my new theme of Inspiration Realisation, I turned to a food recipe I had hoarded. Food inspired projects are probably the easiest to realise, as most of us have the ingredients already, it's just putting them together that takes a bit of thinking.

I collected this recipe a few months ago, of Parmesan Pull-apart rolls:

Find the recipe Here

They looked amazing. So I decided to give them a go.

My Parmesan perhaps cooked a bit more than the original recipe, but I love the colour on it. They tasted delicious too, they didn't last very long in this house at all!! It's definitely a recipe that I would try again!

What projects have you been realising recently?

Challenge: Valentine's Day supplies

I had fun with this page, setting myself a challenge to try and use my Valentines Day stash. I hate Valentines Day, but magazines always seem to come with freebies centred around THAT holiday, so they just end up accumulating. So I decided to use them... with a picture of me and my best friend. 

I look rather over excited in this picture, and I am, but perhaps not for the reason you would expect. This was one of the first times I'd been out and about since I got ill. Even this mundane drive made me happy. I was so lucky to have Emma these past months, she's made time to come see poor ill me, keep me entertained and generally look out for me. Not many would do that, and I am eternally grateful. Hence why I loaded this page with hearts.

It's nice to have a best friend.