Picture Day 2011

Today I'm sharing another layout in my recent series of class photo scrapping.  I have to say, I really enjoyed making these two layouts.  I think part of the reason is because it's easy to use a simple sketch design and then just rinse and repeat, as it were; and since the photos are always a year apart, there's no real fear that anyone is going to be comparing them side-by-side (and honestly, I wouldn't really care if they did).  I also think I've enjoyed these LOs because I often like scrapping photo enlargements - they're a nice change of pace from 4x6" and they really make a great impact on a page.

So, here is my class from two years ago now...

Picture Day 2011

I really liked how the giant polka dots from the 2012 LO had a fun and colourful child-like feel and I wanted to repeat that with the background paper again.  This time I pulled out Echo Park's Here & Now collection, which I've been dipping in and out of but haven't really made a dent into - yet.  The diagonal stripes brought in a lot of colour without being too over-powering.  I also decided to work in some corrugated cardstock - the navy colour helped pull out the navy in the stripes and somehow I think corrugated card reminds me of school supplies.

I decided to go big and bold with the camera motif this time around and included this banner strip across the top.  And since I was using a lot of pink with the matting paper, it seemed fitting to pull out all the stops and go seriously pink (and glittery!) for the title, too.

All those straight horizontal were feeling very harsh by this point, however, so I added in the twirl of embroidery floss to help break up the lines and give some softness to the page.  And I'm totally loving those chunky cork arrows.  I haven't added banners to my pages recently and I love banners so popped a few of the ones from the Here & Now sticker sheet onto the top edge - staples, bling and done!

Finally, a little journaling card - this one is from the Studio Calico Sundrifter die-cut pack - with the class stats and a little hint of chalkboard with another camera, some extra bling and a fun star paper clip and I called the LO complete.

Now I'm (im)patiently awaiting this year's class photo to finally arrive - I plan to use more chalkboard themed supplies for it.  In the meantime, I still have another handful of years of class photos left to work on but I may have to put those on hold, as the photos for a very special project arrived today - expect a sneak peak soon!

Oh, and to those of you who have left comments that these pages have helped to give you some ideas and inspiration for scrapping your child(ren)'s class photos - that's great to hear and thank you for sharing that with me.  :)

Pinspiration Sunday

Welcome back for another weekly installment of online inspiration.  Go grab your hot beverage of choice and we'll dive straight in.

Currently:

* listening - to the radio
* reading - Papercraft Inspirations, October issue (I think...)
* making - class photo layouts
* eating - fresh mango, Special K with banana and blueberries, toast & peanut butter
* drinking - OJ
* wearing - jeans, angora & sequins jumper
* weather - mostly rainy, some fog, 11C
* feeling - tired
* wanting - the slightly lingering headache from yesterday to finally go away
* needing - to go grocery shopping (but probably won't...)
* planning - autumn break in Stockholm next week
* thinking - how nice it will be to finally be done with showering and toilet runs to the cellar
* loving - having running water in my flat again!!!
* enjoying - going to opera today to see Miss Siagon

And now on to the pins.

Whiskers

As a cat-lover, I thought this free quilt pattern was quite cute.  The whiskers remind me of chopsticks and gives it an Asian feel (I think).  Simple but effective.

HST Block of the Month Quilt

I really liked this modern take on the half square triangle quilt.  I might have a go with this once I'm finished my slab quilt, which I've been itching to continue.

Piecing Batting Tutorial

I don't know about you, but I keep all sorts of odds and ends - you just never know when you might need a small piece of something.  Or at least that's what I tell myself.  Get those small pieces of batting you've saved to go to work for you by joining them up on your next project.

Postage Stamp Heart Card

How beautiful is this pieced postage stamp heart card?  I love how it uses a quilting technique and real postage stamps.  So simple but a great impact.  Anyone other than me also save postage stamps from letters?

DIY Monster Stuffed Animals

Make your own funny monster dolls.  The faces could be machine or hand stitched or you could applique felt faces.  Simple shapes and bright colours work great together for a quick and easy day project.

White Owl Pumpkins

OMG, I'm in love!  You have to understand, I have a serious pumpkin and gourd fetish around this time of year and I also have an owl obsession so this is pretty much a match made in heaven!  The sunflower details completely seal the deal.

Autumn Rose Colour Palette

I really loved the autumnal hues in this rose colour palette, especially when combined with the charcoal grey.

That's it for this week!  Pinspiration Sunday will be taking a break next week, as I will be on holiday in Stockholm going sight-seeing and relaxing - essentially, making more memories to scrapbook.  :)

Picture Day 2012

I guess having taken in my scrapbooking albums to school (work) recently got me thinking about school photos so I decided to start scrapbooking my annual class photos.  We still haven't received this year's photo but I've collected up most of the previous years', although I'm still trying to hunt down the class photo from my first year teaching PYP 3.  I might have to see if the office at work still has old school catalogues that I can scan or perhaps my parents still have one...

Anyway, I started with last year's class.

Picture Day 2012

I used this fun giant polka dot paper from Fancy Pants' Down by the Shore collection and I love how you would never know it was from a nautical/tropical collection.  I decided I would include camera motifs into all of these pages and many of them will also probably include apples - such as this cute apple paper clip I found at the local TGR.

For the journaling, I decided it would be interesting to record some statistics about each class.  I liked Kirsty Neal's "My Month in Numbers" inspiration and have been thinking about different ways to try to work numbers into my pages more and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to start.

Stay tuned for more up-coming class photos...

WIP Wednesday

Awesome news today - after three weeks, I finally have running water again!  Such a relief.  And it would appear that my bathroom is ready to begin tiling now (and is no longer Smurf blue, thank goodness).

So with the renovations progressing, I've been working on getting back into my crafting groove.  I'm working on starting a new project.  Remember these?

I found the local Panduro Hobby shops in town have started carrying the Simple Stories Snap! mini album collections so I scooped up the lot - binder, 6x6 paper pad, pockets, 3x4 journaling cards, extra binder inserts - the lot!

I don't want to give too much away, but here is a sneak of some of the photos that will be going into the project:

Bonus points to anyone who can correctly identify where my friend Alice and I were.  ;)  I'm just finishing uploading the photos right now and they should arrive on Friday so I'll be able to start putting everything together this weekend.

I've also been catching up on my Nice People, Nice Things embroidery - it was one of the few things I've still had access to during the renovation and that wasn't filthy and in need of cleaning before using.  I'll try to get some current photos of it in natural light for next week.

House Cards

Okay, so six weeks into the renovation and I've not been able to do much crafting, due to everything being packed up and moved or otherwise wrapped in plastic.  However, yesterday I just couldn't take it anymore and with two birthdays, a new home owner and a pet sitter all needing cards soon, I decided to get to work.  So I broke out the wet wipes and started cleaning off all of the dirt and grim that covers everything (seriously, everything!) in the flat.

And here's what I came up with.  These little cuties are inspired by a Sizzix Bigz XL Die House Card, as seen in a recent Papercraft Inspiration magazine (either the September or October issue, I think).  I don't have a die cutting machine, however, so I used the magazine photos for a reference and paper pieced everything by hand (and made myself some little templates for future use).

Cupcake Dreams

This first one (above) is a cute little cupcake shop birthday card that I made for my mum's birthday.  I love the little polka dot print paired with the turquoise and the little awnings.  I didn't have any cupcake stickers or other embellishments so I hand pieced them as well - tricky little suckers at that tiny size!  But I think they turned out well.

Dream Big

This next one is a card I'm giving a friend who recently bought her own flat here in Sweden.  I mean, what could be better for a housewarming card than one shaped as a house?  This one went together much faster than the first, since it uses square and rectangular pieces (the curves in the first one were a bit of a bother).  And I really like how the corrugated heart and button really tie everything together.

So great to get back into a bit of crafting again.

Pinspiration Sunday

It's Sunday again and I'm trying to breathe some life back into this blog and well, my life.  After six weeks of renovation I'm starting to itch to craft again so I've been returning to finding inspiring blogs, checking out Pinterest and just getting back into the groove again.  So, go grab your hot beverage of choice and come enjoy a little inspiration.

Oh, and to my fellow Canucks, Happy Thanksgiving!  I've unfortunately had to put off my usual Thanksgiving celebration this weekend due to not having water or a bathroom but my thoughts are with the rest of you enjoying your stuffed roast turkey and pumpkin pie (I'm soooo jealous!).

Currently:

* watching - Tabitha Takes Over
* reading - Papercraft Inspirations, September issue
* making - shaped cards
* eating - gnocchi (total YUM!)
* drinking - rationed water
* wearing - jeans, jumper & cardie
* weather - rainy, 11C
* feeling - tired of dirt and arguing with contractors
* wanting - renovations to be complete (just 2 more weeks...)
* needing - running water in my flat again
* planning - autumn holiday in Stockholm
* thinking - not much; too tired
* loving - getting back to some crafting again
* enjoying - Oskar time this weekend

Oh, Canada! Pattern

Seeing as it's Thanksgiving weekend, a little patriotism seemed in order and I love the shape of these maple leaves and the fun colours.

Scrappy Leaf Tutorials

I really like these scrappy little leaves and I think they would make fun quilt blocks in a quilt as you go method.  Would be great just for autumn or again, some Canadian love.

Quilted Drawstring Bag

How cute is this little gym bag?  I love the patchwork and the little zippered pocket

 

How To: My Month in Numbers

I thought this twist on memory keeping was fun and fresh, even though I'm not really a 'numbers person'.  Some fun ideas to change things up and challenge yourself; it's worth a look into whether you love or hate math (and I promise, as a person who hates math, you needn't worry!).

Cityscape Card

I really like cityscapes as a design element and I especially love the use of typed book pages on the black background for this card.  Would be perfect for a missing you sentiment or even for a new home owner.

Paper Doily Stitching Template

From Creating Keepsakes, this tutorial shows how you can use a doily to create a stitching guide on your scrapbooking pages or cards and you know me, I'm all for stitching on my creations.

Ice Cream Palette

One final summer hurrah colour palette.  There's something about this mix of greens, blues and a grey neutral that really appeals to me and it makes me think of Crate Paper's The Pier Ferris Wheel paper (b-side).

I'm Still Alive - Promise!

Hello, everyone!

Okay, I know it's been ages since I last posted but oh my goodness, this renovation has been an absolute nightmare!  So today marks the end of week 5 out of what I'm told will be 7 weeks total.  That means that I've been without a bathroom (specifically a toilet and tub/shower) for 5 weeks.  And for the last 2.5 weeks, I've also been without any running water in my flat.  Yup, that's right - no water for nearly three weeks now and we received no notification that water would be turned off, weren't told for how long (and the construction company has known), nor were we provided with any alternative for water in our flats - until I complained to the construction company and my condo board.  Oh, and did I mention the 8 holes drilled into my ceiling?

Thought I would share a few photos with you...

Foyer ceiling now filled with holes and drainage pipes - wondering how they're going to box in these and what will happen to my ceiling light fixture...

Thankfully today they boxed up the nasty sewage pipe in my bedroom - eeew.

My bathroom is currently a shade of Smurf blue.

And this monstrosity is the wretched, idiotic wall-mounted toilet they're installing.

On the bright side, my class has started a new Unit of Inquiry this week where we're exploring how communities organise themselves through leisure activities so myself and my co-year group teacher presented one of our hobbies to the children.  She did sewing/quilting and I did scrapbooking.  I took in all of my albums and the children were just thrilled and fascinated.  Not that it takes much to impress the average 7-year-old but it was still fun to listen to their 'oohs' and 'aaahs' with each page turn.  Even sweeter when a few pulled out the albums at the end of the day during choosing time to flip through them up close.  Awwww...  Right?

I haven't done any crafting during this renovation - so much is packed and wrapped up and everything else is absolutely filthy (and without water it's not like I can clean) but I'm getting the itch back to create.  Thinking I might try to do up some cards this weekend, as my mum's birthday is coming up in November, I need a thank you card for the woman who's been taking care of Oskar during all of this and a friend recently bought her own flat.  Oh, and I need to order some pictures for a mini album I need to start soon.  So I guess what that all boils down to is that hopefully this blog will begin to come back to life and I'll have something more to share soon.  Fingers crossed.