2 Weekly Challenges . . . . .

I’ve been too busy to blog so Im catching up with 2 LO’s for the weekly challenge on UKScrappers.

Im still on target to do ALL of the weekly challenges on UKS this year although I have gone slightly off track with my vow to use only old stash and scraps!  Both these LO’s have been done using some of my recent kits from My Creative Scrapbook.

This first one was for the challenge last week which was set by the Twilight Addicts and I have used some of my January kit. The criteria here was to use the sketch they provided, multiple photo’s and take inspiration from a book for either your title or colour scheme.

These fun photo’s of Joe (which are slightly blurry but too fun not too scrap!) were taken whilst the kids were pier jumping in Malin Head last summer.  My title ‘The Jump’ was inspired by the book of the same title by Martina Cole.

This weeks challenge was set by the ladies from the East Kilbride Crop and was a favourite of mine to do as the criteria involved all of my favourite things. Sewing on the LO, butterflies, making our own blooms and using a sketch.

Love You Sweetpea is the title for my LO featuring Amy. Its a sweet saying we have between the two of us. She always tell us she loves us and in reply I say to her ‘Love You Sweetpea’ x
The photo is an old one from 2009 and she has grown up quite a bit since this was taken but its one of my favourites and has been in my ‘to scrap’ pile for a while.

I followed the sketch pretty much as it was as I liked the clean simple lines. My butterflies are from a Stampin’ Up set and I made my blooms using a technique I saw recently on the Teresa Collins Blog. These fab papers were in the February My Creative Scrapbook kit. They are from the Paper Heart range by Crate Paper.

Tomorrow is the 1st of March, can you believe that. How fast is this year going ?   I am signed up for another photography course over on Big Picture which starts tomorrow with Elisha Snow called mastering manual mode. Im loving this new venture of photography. I’ve had my camera for a few years now but never really learnt how to use it to its full potential so this year I was determined to change that. The course runs for 8 weeks, so with the photo’s I’ll be taking for class, my 52 Walks project and Snap 2012 this blog could become overloaded with photo heavy posts – you have been warned!  Tomorrow is also reveal day for my Sketch & Scrap group so I’ll be posting my LO for that in the morning.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blue Jeans and a stone heart

Sounds like a title for a country song . . .lol   Instead they are the theme’s of my photo’s for the Snap 2012 and 52 Walks.

First up is Week 6 of Snap 2012 which is also my photo for Week 7 in 52 Wallks. The theme for both projects was Heart so I have combined them in this one photo:

This stone heart was found by my son Joe while we were walking on a local beach back in 2008 and I have treasured it ever since. We took the heart stone when we went walking down to the pier as I photographed it on the pier wall. The word ‘heart’ was added in photoshop.

Snap 2012 Week 7’s theme is ‘Blue’ – so I had my kids stand at the pier wall wearing their blue jeans for this shot:

I used a blue polar filter in photoshop to give the photo a blue glow – I love how it turned out and I now have it set as my desktop theme on my PC.

Due to the weather I am still behind on Week 6 of 52 Walks with the theme ‘Silhouette’  - I did manage a very dodgy looking efort of some tree branches but Im not happy with it at all so that one is on a back burner until the sun decides to show itself here in Ireland and the Lord only knows when that will be.

Cheryl is giving us some amazing themes to work with over in the 52 Walks thread at Scrapbook Challenges ! Its not too  late to join in if you want to play along.

Hip Chick

This sweet colour combo was the only criteria for the  February House Challenge on UKS. Perfect pastel shades with a splash for fuchsia.

I found these papers in my stash that were from a 6 x 6 pad which came free with a magazine a fair while back. They were not labelled so I don't know exactly what range / manufacturer they are from but they fit this colour combo perfectly.

The Hip Chick label was cut from my Songbird Cricut Cartridge:

The scalloped flower is another Cricut cut this time using Mothers Day Bouquet:

The photo of Amy was taken back in 2010 during one of her ‘photo sessions’ – this girl loves having her photo taken, unlike her mother!

Ye Scallywags!

Arghhh!!  Its a Pirates life for me . . . . .

The weekly challenge on UKS this week was a really fun challenge to do. As soon as I saw the criteria (motion, black and red, stamping) I immediately thought of this photo. Its an old one of our boys back in 2003 playing Pirates with their new headscarves and swords in Disneyland Paris.

These papers came from a very old stack of papers by K & Company – they have been laying in the bottom of my cupboard for what seems like a zillion years . . .lol   It is a personal mission of mine to use up really old stash on the weekly challenge (where possible of course!) as I have so much paper that mostly I forget what I have (as Im sure we all do!)

I arranged the papers to look like sails, cut a black boat base and wave from my Potpourri Cricut Cart and then used string to bring it all together. The anchor and skull and crossbones were also cut with my Potpourri Critcut Cart.

As part of the criteria was motion I made my anchor movable by attaching it to the boot with a link of jumprings:

The flag is also movable and my journaling is on the back of it. On the underside of the boat is a pocket to hold the flag pole so that you can turn the flag.

My final element of stamping is on the top of the photograph – the word ‘friendship’ is from a Stampin’ Up set.

A totally different style of LO than I usually do but I had great fun putting it altogether!

Friday Photo

This week the weather here in Ireland has been WET!!  Wet, windy and cold – but we have had no snow so for that reason alone I shouldn’t really complain, its just that it’s not been the best for getting out and about taking pictures.

The kids have been off school this week for their mid-term break so in between the rain and study time for the exams next week, we have been popping out here and there. This is my favourite photo this week.

This is where you will find Joe most times when he is not in the house, happily sitting with his fishing rod at the end of the pier wall. I only wish the fishing rod was a little more apparent (you can see it if you look close!) .

Have A Great Weekend Everyone!

A Double Shocker!!

This weeks challenge on UKS really had me stumped!  The criteria called for a LO featuring a woman / women, sewing and scrapping about an achievement.  Ok, so the sewing part is easy I love to sew on my pages, a picture of a woman/women is easy too I have plenty in my ‘to scrap’ box of Amy but none that would fit a LO about an achievement. So I had been trying to come up with something all week long without any success until Friday. Friday was the day we were to attend a Baptism Service where Eugene was to stand as Godfather to his friends son. Now I don't do dressy. Im never comfortable getting all glammed up and Im definitely not a skirt or dress type of gal but when it comes to something like a Baptism or Wedding then I do make the effort. So here we go, not only is this a LO with a photo of me on it, its also a photo of me wearing a dress – double shocker!!

As seeing me in a dress or skirt is extremely rare whenever I wear something a touch more feminine I always get the comments and jokes. The more common of these being ‘She has legs!’  I don't know what people think I walk about on all the time , I mean its not as if I have fresh air under my Jeans . .lol

I used up some more scraps from my scrap box and a Prima mask to ink in the brick wall as I thought it went well with me standing  at the front door.  So I eventually managed to do the weekly challenge but nothing like a last minute dash eh!

White Oaks Peace Garden

The weather here has not been the best lets face it, so today while we are having reasonable weather I jumped at the chance to get out and about with my camera. Eugene and I went for a walk around the peace garden at the White Oaks Rehab Centre in Muff. The centre offers counselling and spiritual guidance and has the most beautiful peace garden which is open to the public for a donation, perfect for a stroll on a cold winters day.

This is the stone that greets you as you enter the garden -

Obviously at this time of year there is not too much in the way of greenery and blooms but plenty of last years dead heads. This dead hydrangea head was on a massive plant which will look stunning in full bloom although even in its current state I think it looks fabulous -

This pond had sheets of ice still on it!  Just shows how cold it has been – brrrrrrrr!!



Now this sight warmed my heart – reassurance that Spring is not too far away. (Note : I was laying on the freezing cold damp ground to take this photo – it was worth it though)

All around the garden are small huts of various styles where prayer meetings are held. This stain glass window was an amazing find! I didn’t expect to see something so beautiful in a hut made from hay!  I love how the view from outside fills the background. This photo gave me the chance to practice my newly acquired skill of taking photo’s from inside whilst keeping the outside in focus. I think its a stunning effect -

In the centre of the garden sits this statue of Christ. I hope to get more photo’s of this at a later stage as this one doesn’t really do it justice but it was the best I could get as the rain started to fall.



We will definitely be going back to the peace garden throughout the year as there are so many photo opportunities there – but maybe we will wait for the outside temperatures to rise just a bit more.

You Look Cool

A LO ‘just because’ – no challenge, no theme, no criteria simply done just because I felt like it. Its been a while since I have done that as lately there are so many challenges to play along with, which I enjoy, but it takes up most of my creative time, so to do this LO has been fun and relaxing.

I have seen a few LO’s where people had used multiple copies of the same photo be it colour or black & white, and thought I would give it a try. I have opted for both colour and black & white photo’s for my LO using a picture of my ever so tolerant husband. He is so used to me doing LO’s of him  now that he just smiles and says stuff like ‘I suppose that’s going up on the blog’ or ‘are you posting that online for everyone to see’ –   erm  . . . .   that would be a yes!   It hasn’t gotten to the point where I have to run it by him just yet, unlike our eldest son who likes to ‘grant’ permission for me to post his photo all over the place!

So, here’s my LO – I used an old sketch from Creative Scrappers and the scraps left over from a past kit from My Creative Scrapbook which contained mostly Victoria’s Garden from Echo Park:

The alphas have had a little maker over using some liquid pearls, another idea I saw whilst browsing and blog hopping which I thought was a great way of adding a little pizazz to the plain black alphas.

So there we have it! I quite like the effect the three photo’s give and having the centre one in colour draws your eye in. I may play with this idea again.

Winter Snuggles

My LO for last weeks challenge on UKS. With the temperatures outside so freezing I think we could all do with some winter snuggles . .. lol

This photo of Amy is actually from 2 winters ago. I have had it in my ‘to scrap’ pile for a fair while and kept going off it as it is so dark but something about the photo appealed to me so Im pleased I finally scrapped it. I think it looks OK against such bright papers.

The criteria was to use this sketch from October Afternoon, journaling and something from our new stash.



So here’s my LO:

Winter Snuggles

My journaling is minimal but it’s on there – ‘all wrapped up’  - there was not much else I wanted to say as the photo was taken at random during a cold winter walk on the beach.  As for the new stash, well that would be my pink, fluffy pom pom ribbon!  I got this from Crafts Boutique along with a couple of other colours and have yet to use any of it. I thought it was perfect for this LO as Amy has pink pom poms on the end of her scarf, you can see them just popping out of her coat.

I have tied this LO up with the January challenge at My Creative Scrapbook which was to make our own embellishments.  Using the pretty paper to create blocks of interested would count as an embellishment and I jazzed up a couple of them with extra detail like the heart cut from the paper and my favourite one, wrapping ribbon around and then popping a metal flower on top. The centre of the flower was cut from the paper too so it all coordinates.

Apologies for no Friday Photo this week – the weather has been just awful and I have hardly taken any photo’s apart from the few I took for the 52 Walks challenge. I know all my family and friends back in the UK are having snow right now but as yet here in Ireland we haven’t seen any and I pray it stays that way!  Rain I can deal with (we’ve had plenty of that lately!)  but snow . . oh no!  How long until Spring ???

Curls (made by bendy rollers)

This photo of Amy was taken way back in 2010 (which seems like a lifetime ago!) during a day out to Knock. The night before she had put in her bendy rollers to make her hair curly, the trouble is her hair is so fine that the curls didn't last five minutes and ended up more like waves and flicks.

I used this sketch from My Creative Sketches January challenge:

The papers are from a past My Creative Scrapbook kit and are Bo Bunny Welcome Home. They were the perfect colours to go with the photo of Amy in her denim jacket.

I cut around the photo to get rid of the awful background which was our tatty old van!

The blooms are from Prima and Petaloo with a few odd ones from my stash – I just added a touch of stickles to make them sparkle.

I love these alphas! I have had them forever and until now not had a use for them. I wanted to use them on this LO because of all the curls and swirls around them. They are from DCWV and are rub-ons which I adhered to some matching paper and then cut out.

The butterfly was cut from a piece of paper from the range. I then covered it in glossy accents to give it a pop but I think I over did it as it curled a bit too much!  Aww well.

To see all the other entries to the sketch blog challenge stop by My Creative Sketches

52 Walks–Week 5 Clouds

Ok, clouds should be easy! Well thats what I thought when I saw the theme for week 5. How wrong was I. Yes sure we have lots of clouds here at the moment but there are kind of solid, blanket clouds and there is nothing spectacular about taking a photo of a grey blanket in the sky. Everywhere is dull and bleak and very very cold.

So first off I have to confess that this photo was taken whilst out for a ‘DRIVE’ as opposed to a ‘WALK’ – does that count ? Well, I suppose you could say it was a walk at a stretch as I did walk down to the waters edge from the road  . . . . .lol .

We were driving along the main road heading from Quigleys Point to Muff and I thought this sky was about as interesting as it has got this week so I jumped out and snapped a few photo’s. 

I’ll be glad when the weather warms up so I can get out more because at the minute is a hard task to be bothered to go for a walk.

January’s Sketch & Scrap . . .

Its the 1st of the Month so it’s Sketch & Scrap time! This month the sketch was chosen by Heather, here’s what she gave us to work with:

My LO – Young Sea Dogs:

It seems like forever-ago that the chocolate drops were this small!  My mad crazy husband loves nothing better than swimming in the ocean and considering we live in Ireland the ocean is very very cold! But, that doesn’t stop him or the dogs.  I love these photo’s of the puppies having their first taste of ocean swimming.

I used some old scraps from a range of Adornit papers (sorry – don’t know which range!) and made the alphas on the computer as I didn’t have any to match. A little chalking with some masks and a splattering of red paint gave me some interest to the background for a finished LO.