{Inter}national Scrapbooking Day

Well I got there with some layouts for {Inter}national Scrapbooking Day.  I have been focused on getting back to teaching and this term saw me complete a Teacher Refresher Course so I haven't been doing anything else.  It was a nice break to do something for me.

Here is what I came up with using the challenges.

{Inter}national Scrapbooking Day

I think this has to be the longest 'since I last wrote' post.  I have said in the past, if I am not here it doesn't mean I'm not scrapping just that I haven't the time to tell you about it.  Add to that the computer set up to post makes it difficult to do so.  Anyway enough excuses.  {Inter}national Scrapbooking Day is the perfect motivator for getting back into it.  This Saturday May 7th.  Made sure I put it on the calendar this year as I almost missed it last time.

Joining in at Studio Calico

Loads of fun,  freebie printable, prizes and discounts

Challenges go until Thursday May 12th

Joining in at Scrapbook.com

More fun, prizes and discounts

The challenges go on throughout the month.  

Looking forward to joining in over the weekend and throughout the month. Great for me as I am in the middle of study and class placement returning to teaching.  I also have a photo display for my husbands new office to do and catch up with One Little Word and Story Stamp Classes.  

Off to sort my photos and get ready

Happy scrapping

Story Stamps - Roots

The story stamp for July was Roots.  It was quite a timely theme as we have been helping my Mum sort her house ready for sale.  40 years of roots here.  The kit I had put together with my Amy Tangerine finds worked really well.   There was a mixture of my roots and our family roots.  Great inspiration.

Love the stories that came out of this month.

Workspace {not even close to} Wednesday

The idea for Workspace Wednesday came from Marcy Penner.  I love the idea of the glimpses into what is currently on my desk, and it gives me motivation to keep working in my creative space.

The state of my desk is about how the past few weeks have been.  I have been rather sick and am still getting over it.  There have been a number of projects on the go.  Mostly cards.  I did manage to photograph them before they headed off.  Just didn't get on to tidying up though.

I can say now that at the end of the week the desk is clear, the photos are organised and ready to blog and the projects keep on coming.

12 Ways to Stamp with Story Stamps

I have been subscribed to Ali Edwards Story Stamps since she launched last year in September.  You can see layouts and what I have done with them here.

With so much great information in the classes that go with the subscription I have picked up lots of different ways of using my stamps.  As I looked back over my current month of layouts I thought it would be fun to put together a post about the different ways I have been using them to refer to in the future and to share.

1.  SENTIMENT STRIPS

Most months there are a variety of sizes in the text.  I often pair up ones that fit and stamp on to thin strips

2.  RANDOM REPEATED STAMPING

A current favourite of Ali's is repeated stamping.  Here I used it randomly as part of my title.  Or it can be done as a patterned paper.

3.  GROUPED WORDS AND PHRASES

This repeated stamping was pairing up words that fit with my page and repeating them in a group.

4.  EMBELLISHMENTS

Many of the stamps can be used to create embellishments.  Ali uses circles in lots of different ways to add a little extra to the page

5.  BACKGROUNDS

Here I used several different stamps to create a background for the page.  This was lifted from a layout that Ali did for the little moments class where she had used a patterned paper that was printed like this.  I used a pen to hand draw the lines.

6. FUSSY CUTTING

Stamping the larger words and cutting them out to use as titles or embellishments creates another look.

7.  CIRCULAR

The beauty of clear stamps is they bend.  Here I stamped around a circle element that I wanted to use.

8.  FRAMES

A simple hand drawn frame can be used to ground a layout. 

 I added in phrases from the stamp set to break it up.

9.  TAGS

Another way to use repeated stamping is on tags where one or two phrases are lined up and repeated over the background.  Here I have used a lighter colour and stamped a title over the top.  Sometimes I will highlight one of the phrases in the background with a darker colour.  This also works well with 3 x 4 cards for project life

10.  JOURNAL PROMPTS

Certain words can be used as launching points for journaling, as a title

or here I used it within my story.

11.  LINE IT UP

I often run a strip across the top of my page or photos.  I use the phrase stamps to add another layer

Sometimes I use the same phrase and others I mix it up or include it as part of my title.

12.  TITLES

My go to using my stamps is often for titles.  Here I used repeated stamping where I lined up the word and stamped it off to create the graduated colours.

Here I stamped one in a brighter colour as I added the rest.

There is usually flexibility with pairing up the stamps to make titles.  

Here I also repeated the stamp in the background.

Such a great collection when you put it all together.  How do you use your stamps?  I would love to hear new ideas to add to how I use them.  Leave a comment or email {found under the welcome button at the top of the page}

Happy Stamping

Workspace Wednesday

The idea for Workspace Wednesday came from Marcy Penner.  I love the idea of the glimpes into what is currently on my desk, and it gives me motivation to keep working in my creative space.

While I had said that I had been aiming to get my story stamp for the month finished so I was ready for this month when it arrived it just hasn't happened.  We have been down for the count with the horrible bug that has been around and this week it was my turn.  The great thing is when I do finally get a chance it will still be there waiting for me to get to it.

In the meantime I was asked to make a card for a colleague at my husband's work.  It has been a while since I made cards so it took a bit to get back into the swing of things.  Loved it!  I am in my element pulling out things here and there and seeing how I can put them together.  One messy space.

Here is the end result.  Love how it turned out.  It looks much better in real life.

Workspace Wednesday

The idea for Workspace Wednesday came from Marcy Penner and I love the idea of the glimpse into what is currently on my desk, and it gives me motivation to keep working in my creative space.

So this arrived last week and has been sitting on my desk,  

It took a while to put in the order.  Love what I found at Scrapbook.com. I had a voucher for $75.  My win from the {inter}national scrapbooking day back in May.  Unfortunately haven't had any chance to play as we have had a bout of sickness in the house which has left not much,  if any time for this.

Currently loving word stickers as you can see.