Scrappy Snowy Sunday(!)

Hello there!  Come in, kick off your snow boots, put your coat on the radiator and grab that cup of hot chocolate!  Marshmallows? Whipped cream?  You got it!

You'll be pleased to know that after yesterday's appallingly unimaginative title, I thought I'd carry on in the same alliterative (but still highly unimaginative) vein!  Well - its snowy.  Its Sunday.  And I'm scrapbooking!  So there!

Before I go off rambling - I'd like to say a very warm welcome to three new lovely followers, Nicky, Lori and Sheba.  **Waves**.  Thank you for joining me here in my mad little corner of blog-land.

I thought I'd share a layout with you that I've had on the go for a couple of days.  I completed this late last night whilst the fellas were watching some manly, shouty rubbish on t'tellybox.  

I'm often in awe of people's artistry and creativity and tend to scrap-lift quite a few layouts because a) I'm not naturally artistic and b) I know that if I follow the basics of a layout I like, whilst my work won't be original then I know that I'll be happy(ish) with the results.  My latest "scrapping crush" is Gabrielle Pollacco whose "shabby-chic/vintage" style appeals to me very much.       One of her latest layouts Click here to see her beautiful original layout was just what I was looking for to inspire my own creation.

I've had this photograph of my daughter for a while - I think she was about 13 at the time and I've always loved it.  Like a lot of people though, I uploaded it to my computer and there it stayed for years.  This year I am making a conscious effort to print more photographs off.  

I'm sure that you will agree that there is nothing nicer than going through a box of old photographs of your loved ones.  It is wonderful to have lasting images of those we love and it is so important to preserve them for future generations. 

Take more photographs of the people you love.  I have found this particularly poignant after the death of my Dad last year.  As he was so often the photographer - indeed it was a big hobby of his - there is a dearth of photographs of him from the last 20 or so years. 

Kevin the Teenager is a nightmare - he has to be in totally the right frame of mind to consent to having his photograph taken.  At 14 years old I guess it's just an age thing but what he doesn't realise is that as his Mum, pictures of him are precious to me - so whether he's scowling or not he gets his photograph taken. I'm sure that some European directive will say that this is a direct infringement of his human rights but hey  -  I can at least blackmail him with mean and moody photographs to show my grandchildren in years to come!

There is also a real danger in this digital age, that great big chunks of family history and memories will be lost if we don't continue to keep printing out our photographs.  I know from experience that many photographs have been lost due to corrupt hard drives, or pressing the delete button accidentally.  The beauty of digital photography is that you can weed out the bad shots and just print the good ones so this keeps costs down too.  Print them. Preserve them. Make a little note on the back of when and where they were taken. Scrapbook them - even if they're just stuck into a little memory journal.  It's so important.  

Ok... soapbox is about to give way!!   

Anyway - back to the plot!

I started off this layout with a sheet of blue cardstock, and distressed it by sanding it back to the white core with some of Lovely Man's expensive sandpaper!! (Shhhh!!).   An emery board will also do the job just as well!  

Next job was to tear some beautiful paper.  EEK!!  I took a piece of Basic Grey Lily Kate "Twinkle", gritted my teeth and tore it quite randomly around the circumference of the sheet.  I then dampened the edges with a sponge, and gently began rolling the torn edges back with my fingers, then placed it by the radiator to dry for a while.  After a lie down in a darkened room and a reviving cuppa, I further distressed the edges by rubbing-on some metallic 'rub-ons' that I've had in my stash For. Ever.  This is THE year to use up what I have!

The paper was then stuck on to the card stock and some Anita's peel off snowflakes were added to the larger of the exposed areas. (Silent scream here as the snowflakes were a nightmare to remove from their contact sheet - a little patience was required!).   Some metallic, filigree photo corners were added to the photograph (again something I've had for years!).

What next?  Ooh time to get inky!  A chipboard scroll was inked to within an inch of its life.  I used a mixture of Versacolour and chalk ink to get the colour I wanted. 

More snowflakes now with the addition of some Poundshop bling to the centres.   

Once the chipboard was adhered, I used some Stickles glitter to highlight the swirls, added some blue clear glass gemstones, a little padded butterfly (which I rubbed with blue chalk ink so it blended in a little better) and some blooms.

This little filigree die cut was cut from a cup cake holder - I've already used half of it as a mask for inking over on my last journal page.  I'm glad I saved them after the cakes were scoffed!

And here we have the finished article.  A diecut title, inked and stickled completed the layout.  I'm quite pleased with this result.  Thank you Mrs Pollacco for the inspiration.

See you next time.

Oh - it's ok.  I'll wash up your chocolatey mug!

Sigh.