Scrapbooking - CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration 158

Well hello there. 

I've been playing along at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration again, I can't help myself, I love the challenges and the fact that I can see my huge pile of crafty stash reducing, I get a tingly feeling whenever I throw an empty packet of embellishments away or use up the last few stickers on a sheet or the last scrap of a piece of patterned paper.

I really liked the colours in the palette for this challenge and one of the evidence prompts reminded me that I really enjoy hand stitching onto my scrapbook layouts.

The colours for this challenge were pale blue with a hint of green, light peach, olive or khaki green, cool dark brown and white. And when I saw this journaling prompt, "Document a favourite childhood toy or belonging" I knew there was only one photo I could use....

The photo is me aged 3, we were moving house that day, hence the boxes, I was wearing my dad's flat cap and my pink jungle pyjamas, and I was carrying an umbrella with a tea towel tied around the end to turn it into a bag and most importantly I was carrying Snowy the Bear, or should I say Snowy THE Bear, because he was and still is THE bear, no other bear has ever or will ever come close to this bear and I now consider him a treasured possession, he's been my bear all my life.

For the evidence part of the challenge I used stitching, fabric, stripes and polka dots from the list.

The journaling reads: "Snowy, the little white bear with the blue feet. Snowy was my constant companion when I was a little girl, I'm a lot older now, but he still has a special place in my heart and on my bed."

This case file runs until 26th March (it closes around 10pm uk time) you can get the full details of the challenge here.

Thanks for stopping by.

Claire xx

The "I'm catching up" type of blogging...

Hello there, happy Sunday to you.

I'm stepping back in time a bit today, I know I didn't blog a lot towards the end of last year and as a result I have quite a large stack of scrapbook layouts waiting to be blogged and in some cases photographed ***hangs head in shame***

So I'm making an effort to catch up, both of these layouts were inspired by CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration in 2014, I'm intending to make a huge dent in my stash this year and find these challenges are a great way to get things used up as you get a colour scheme of 5 colours to use and you have to use all of them, you can also add a toot of other colours, you have a list of embellishments/techniques of which you have to use at least 2 and 5 different journaling prompts which you have to use more than 1 of. My first step is to go through all of my patterned papers (the pile is about 6 inches) and pull out all the relevant colours, then read the journal prompts and pick a photo that fits the colours and the journal theme, then finally the embellishments. 

On some weeks there's a sketch too so there's an extra kick of inspiration. 

This one above was one of my favourites, the colours were Magenta, White, Pale Pink, Lime Green and Light Grey, for the evidence I used stripes, polka dots, trees, hang something and a circle punch. The journaling is a list of 3 things about H.

1. Very happy.

2. Very cautious.

3. Very scared of heights.

For this next layout the idea was to document a daily pleasure. The colour scheme was Grayish Green, Light Lemony Yellow, Coral, White and Pale Sage Green. I struggle with yellow, I'm never really sure what to do with it, so for this one I decided less is more and to take advantage of white space and a splatter of coral spray ink.

For the evidence I used a tea cup accent, although it looks like more of a coffee cup, it was my attempt at hand carving a tea cup rubber stamp. I also used a tag, staples and doodling.

The journaling reads: There's nothing I enjoy more than curling up in my chair at night with a cup of tea, a bar of chocolate and a very good book, it's my idea of bliss.

That's all from me today, a rainy Sunday afternoon feels like the perfect excuse to put a film on and craft the rest of the day away. Hope you have a lovely day.

Keep creating.

Claire xx

CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration - Case File 156

Hello there, 

CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration Case File 156 went live on Friday night, and you know how much I love their challenges, well today I've got my final layout as a Special Deputy for February to share....

For the scene I used all 5 colours which were: Bright coral - the coral I've used looks a bit orangey here but it is more coral in real life (it's that dress thing all over again), Yellowy Green, Warm Grey, White and Tan.

For my evidence I chose to use leaves - printed on the patterned paper and a couple of rub-ons, other rub-ons including parenthesis which were on the list, stamps - the journal spots and finally triangles on the bunting.

For the journaling I used 2 stamped journal spots and took inspiration from the words grow and spice.

The journaling reads "The best thing about growing your own pumpkins is large bowls of homemade spicy pumpkin soup"

You can find all the details of the challenge here over on CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration and you have until Thursday 12th March to upload you entry.

Thanks for stopping by and keep on creating.

Claire xx

CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration - Case File 155

Hello there.

I was going to post this earlier this week but I got a bit distracted as it was half term so we've been doing all sorts of things - watching DVDs, shopping, working on a needle felted mouse and exploring Skipton Castle (we possibly did a bit more shopping too).

I was lucky enough to be chosen as a Special Deputy for CSI this month and have really enjoyed playing along. Here is my attempt at CSI's challenge 155...

There was a sketch for this one, which I've rotated, I've also used all 5 colours from the scene: Seafoam Green, Lavender, White, Light Sky Blue and Light Taupe.

For my evidence (embellishments) I used a Bicyle accent - both stamp and wooden, buttons as circles, doodling, stamps - typewriter and bicycle, and rub-ons.

The journaling had to be about a stage in life, I also used Life as an inspiration word and chose to list the journaling so I managed to use 3 of the journaling techniques. The journaling follows on from the title - Me right now at 35 - and reads:

1: Still keeping a journal.

2: Still can't cook.

3: Still has childhood bear.

4: Still plays loud music.

5: Still loves to make things.

6: Still very blonde.

7: Still loves to read.

8: Still the eternal optimist.

This challenge closes on 26th Feb and you can find all of the details of the challenge here on CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration.

CSI:Color, Stories, Inspiration. Case 154

Hello there, how's it going?

I'm absolutely thrilled to be back with the CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration team as a Special Deputy. I really enjoyed being a Special Investigator in January and I get to do it all again this month, yay!

Here is what I created for case file 154

I used all 5 colours - Cherry Red, Black, White, Kraft and Olive Green.

For my evidence I used polka dots- lots of them, stripes on the Washi tape, Woodgrain patterned paper behind the photo, a book page (Lord of the Rings, Return of the King, I have one copy for ripping pages out of and one for reading). The red cardstock is Swiss Dot embossed so that's the textured paper and finally a metal key.

The journaling reads: She's a dreamer, a doer, a thinker. She sees possibility everywhere.

It was a quote I found on Pinterest using the words: Wisdom, Possibilities, Go. The author of the quote was unknown.

This case is open until the 28th February and you can find all of the details in more detail (oh dear) over here on CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration.

I'm supposed to be having a major clear out and reorganise in my studio and office and I just can't face it, I think I'll have a cup of tea and a slice of cake and mull it over some more. What are your tips for re-organising your craft space? Please? Help me! lol.

Take care and see you soon.

Claire

xx

CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration - Special investigator

Whoosh! That was the sound of January whizzing by, I cannot believe it's almost the end of the month already, January normally crawls by painfully slowly, but not this year.

I've got my last 2 layouts from my month as a Special Investigator  (guest designer) on the CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration design team.

This one is my absolute favourite and I love the photo of me, my eyes are open and I'm not mid yawn or pulling some other ridiculous face, honestly, it's like I have some sort of allergy to cameras as soon as one gets pointed in my direction my face starts doing all kinds of strange expressions.

I created a shaped layout and used all of the 5 colours for the scene, blue is also one of my favourite colours, so it came together quite easily. For my evidence I used quite a lot of the embellishments listed in the challenge - Stripes, silver metal, 3 of something, rhinestones, glitter, scallops, stick pins hearts and ribbon.

All of the journaling is on a 6x4 Project Life card in the scalloped envelopes, it's all about 2014 and plans etc for 2015 (and is very lengthy, so I'll spare you the details).

Here are the details of the challenge and although it closes for entries tomorrow it's still worth playing along because it's great mojo booster and stash user-upper (yes, this is a new scrapbooking terminology invented by little old moi)

This next one was my final layout for January, 

here are the challenge details, I love the colours, I'll use this colour palette again...

This one is running until the 2nd of February so there's still time to have a go.

Again I used all 5 colours. From the list of evidence I used a border punch, circles, label shapes and I sprinkled on some sequins, (carefully picked off the ones that didn't agree with my OCD tendencies) and glued the remainder down.

For the journaling I chose to list our top 5 Harry Potter Lego sets:

1, Dumbledore's Office.

2, The Burrow,

3, Hagrid's Hut,

4, Hogwarts,

5, The Hogwarts Express

(We also love all of our other Lego too).

I've loved being one of the team on CSI this month, it's been great fun, I've loved every challenge and I'd like to say a BIG THANK YOU to Debbi Tehrani and the very talented team of investigators for inviting me along. I'm going to carry on playing along throughout 2015 as I do love the challenges and it really is a great way to use up stash, the orangey red & brown papers on the layout above have been in my stash for 5 years, feels great to finally use them.

CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration. Challenge 152 The Tale of the Teapot

Well hello there.

I was lucky enough to be chosen as a special investigator for CSI: Colour Stories Inspiration for the whole of January, and I'm really enjoying playing along, if I'm honest it's worked out really well as I've always enjoyed their case files and one of my goals for this year was to try and complete every case file, so for January I can confidently say I will complete each challenge and I'm off to a great start.

When I saw the scene, evidence & testimony for this challenge I did a little happy dance because I had just the photo and story that I needed to create this layout all about a teapot...

For challenge 152 the five colours you needed to use were Lime Green, Teale, White, Lemony Yellow and Tangerine Orange - normally I'd struggle with these colours but, these were all the colours in the teapot - oh how I love a bit of serendipity. I inked all of the papers with Pumice Stone Distress Ink then layered them up a bit.

For the evidence I used polka dots, ribbons, jewels, scallops, triangles (on the patterned papers) and stars.

One of the topics for the testimony (aka journaling) was "document a gift" - serendipity again, so, here is...

 "The tale of the Teapot" 

"Mum spotted this Beatrix Potter teapot at a craft fair we were at, she spent ages looking at it and admiring it and then she walked away! So, I got Hermione to keep her busy whilst I bought it for her, she was quite upset when she saw it had gone and had no idea that I had it hidden in my bag for her Christmas present"

I'm happy to say that Mum was thrilled with her teapot (which she now stores her teabags in - as you do) and she is now looking for a matching milk jug and sugar bowl.

All of the details of this case file are below, why not play along?

You can find a more detailed explanation of  Case 152 over here on CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by and see you soon.

Claire xx

New Year, New Start & Lots of Crafty Goodness

Well hello there, how are you? A very happy new year to you all.

Wow, it's dusty in here, hand on a tic ***grabs hoover, quickly dusts & removes cobwebs from blog*** That's better. Sorry for my absence towards the end of 2014 but the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome was making life pretty awkward & I was banned from typing for a while back there, but I'm a lot better now, my hands are still a bit twingy so I can cope with that.

I have rather a lot of plans of for 2015 and seeing as I totally did what set out to do in 2014 I know I can achieve what I want to in 2015, I'm so looking forward to sharing my journey with you.

This year got off to a cracking start back in December when I received an email from the ever so lovely Debbi Tehrani at CSI: Colour, Stories, Inspiration asking me if I'd be a Special Investigator for January 2015, well, of course I said yes, I love the CSI challenges and had already decided to do as many as I can in 2015 to help reduce the mountain of patterned papers and embellishments that I own.

So the  first challenge went live last night and here is what I created....

I used the sketch provided for this challenge and tweaked it slightly, for the scene I used all 5 colours required. For the Evidence I used a cream frame with a stamped image of a cupcake inside, I used 2 banner die cuts for the date, I doodled stitching around the border and used patterned paper with triangles printed on it.

For my journaling I used the inspiration word "Grumpy" and hand wrote it too. The journaling reads: "Oh dear, why does Grampa look so grumpy in this photo? Was it because we didn't put all 65 candles on his birthday cake? Who knows"

Here are all the details for the case file if you'd like to play along, this challenge is open until 31/1/15 so you've got plenty of time to play along, If you've never tried a CSI challenge I can highly recommend it.

I've got plenty of other things to share with you in the near future and promise I will be blogging more regularly throughout 2015.

Just before I go we're having our Winter Sale over in our Crafty Alchemy.com shop and the Crafty Alchemy Etsy shop, with 25% off selected items. In the Etsy shop all, yes, ALL, of our Elements and Embellishment kits are 25% off. Just thought you'd like to know.

So once again Happy 2015 to you all.

Take care & see you soon.

C xx

CSI Challenge 144

Hello there, how are you?

After the all the excitement over the last few weeks (launching new Christmas products and our very own website) I've decided to spend this weekend crafting instead. I was a bit stuck for inspiration though so I wandered over to CSI: Colour, Stories, Inspiration, I find their weekly challenges a great kickstarter when my mojo is lacking and it's a great way to use up your stash.

I was shocked when I realised I hadn't played along since challenge 97 - it's 144 now, that's nearly a year, it doesn't seem that long, it really doesn't.

So I had a go at challenge 144 last night, and here's what I came up with...

For the scene I used all 5 colours - Bright Yellow, Warm Grey, Black, White and Turquoise.

I used 5 things off the evidence list: Polka Dot, Stripes, Triangles, Tickets and a Ribbon.

My journaling is written in 2 journaling spots and is about Bailey's curiousity: "You are one nosey dog Bailey boy, the second anyone moves you want to be involved".

I added a rub-on to the Instagram Print and made a dog tag embellishment using a Tim Holtz Fragment, some Turquoise Paper, a Rub-on "B" and some ribbon.

I enjoyed myself so much I'm going to make time to play along every week. Challenge 145 is up over on CSI: Colour, Stories, Inspiration, I'll be attempting this one this afternoon.

Hope you have fun, whatever you may be doing today.

Claire xx