Chinese Whispers CJ & P365

I am really excited to be taking part in my very first circle journal at ScrapaGoGo. This is a CJ with a difference, it's a Chinese Whispers CJ. The basic idea is that you take a layout that you love and do a scraplift. Then, you pass it on to the next person who does a scraplift of your layout whilst at the same time receiving from the person before you in the list a layout that they've done. Make sense? Well, I chose a layout by Nic Booth who is on the design team at ScrapaGoGo - check it out in all it's paper scrapping glory!

And, I lifted it to a digi layout :) Yeah - I LOVE to do something different to everyone else!! LOL! This is what my layout looks like. I used my Village Fair kit and the bingo card is one of the hybrid elements from the January ScrapaGoGo kit.

This is going to be great fun - one layout a month - I'll show each of them to you. Speaking of regular things - I am also keeping up with P365 - here are my photos for week 4 with captions underneath:

Day 22: I'm an Apple girl!!
Day 23: Chimney at Troopers Hill - yes, I am there a lot!!!
Day 24: Please feed me, I'm starving here!!
Day 25: This will be me if I don't get another cuppa!!
Day 26: These are the only way to get through today :(
Day 27: Danger dog!!
Day 28: Pompey upside down pup!

That's all for today - back soon! TTFN.

I {heart} You!

Really, I do! LOL! That's the name of my latest kit in time for Valentine's Day in a couple of weeks. I wanted to make something that wasn't all romantic and whimsy - I just wanted a fun kit for scrapping the whole family! I especially enjoyed making the alpha - it's really funky and very different. This is what I {heart} You looks like in full...

And this is what my CT did with it - there's also a layout here from me!

If you like it, it's just $3 here for one week only. As always, I have a freebie for you to coordinate - it's a cluster frame which you can download here. I hope you like it - have a great weekend! TTFN.

Collaboration freebie

OMG - I totally forgot to post the elements for my collab with Angel! Arrghhhhh! I do apologise to anyone who has had to stalk my blog today waiting for me! So, for those of you waiting for the elements - here they are - this is the full kit preview, but you can download my elements here {link expired} and get Angel's elements on her blog here. TTFN!

Challenge time!

OK, so I have my first challenge for 2011 ready. If you have not yet joined the facebook group for my challenges - head over here now so that you can chat with everyone else about your challenge layouts.

This is what the first challenge involves. It's a recipe challenge to start with - any layout you do must contain the following items - no more, no less. You can use the same item twice if it is on the recipe as more than one - ie you could use the same flower 5 times if that's what you want to do. The recipe is as follows:

1 leaf/vine
2 frames
3 photos
4 ribbons
5 papers
6 flowers
7 letters/numbers

You can use any kit you like from the Scrap That Idea designers - freebies, store kits, collabs. When you're done, you must upload it to the gallery here. You can also upload it to the facebook group if you want to show it and discuss it.  This is my example layout to show you what can be done with the recipe.

Prizes.... I am starting afresh with the points system, so if you have some from my previous challenges, drop me a line with the total and I will sort out something for you in exchange for those :). The new points system will work as follows: The winner of each challenge will get 5 points, the runner up will get 3 points. Everyone who enters a layout will get 1 point per layout - maximum of 2 entries per person. You will also get 1 point for every comment that you leave in the gallery for others in the challenge - please make sure it's a proper comment - don't just say 'lovely layout' - give a reason why you like it please. It will be your responsibility to tally your points - please keep a document that you can send me showing where your points came from. When you have collected 20 points, it will be worth $1 in my personal store - please collect at least 60 points before claiming - that's the price of a new release kit!

The closing date for entries is Saturday 5th February, so you have plenty of time. If you have any questions - please let me know either as a comment here or in the facebook group. I can't wait to see what you all do - good luck!!

Challenges!

Things move so fast in my world sometimes! LOL! I am getting ready to start up my challenges again now that my Dad is on the road to recovery and I had an idea to start a Facebook group for us all to chat as we used to in the forum. I asked what everyone thought on Facebook and they all thought it was a good idea and so I have done it! However, I am conscious that not everyone is on Facebook and so I am going to post each challenge on my blog as well with instructions and rules so that you can upload to the gallery without having to sign up to Facebook - you just won't get the 'community chat' feel that way, but maybe that's what you prefer! :)

So, if you want to join the Facebook group now so that you are ready for Challenge 1 of 2011, go here and request to join the group - I will accept you all :) The first challenge will be posted in the next few days both here and in the group. Hope to see lots of you there! TTFN.

Guest CT and BIG news!

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend - isn't it a holiday weekend in the US, or did I imagine that? Anyhoo - whatever you're doing, I hope you're having fun! I've had a relaxing weekend - now my Dad is home and recovering fast, I can relax and enjoy my hobbies :) I might even do some paper scrapping later today.

Yesterday, I showed you my newest kit - Village Fair, but I haven't yet shown you my guest CT layout. So, please welcome Alicia.... This is what she says about herself: My name is Alicia and I live in Alaska. I'm mom to a 9 year old boy and a 3 year old girl. I've been digi-scrapping for almost 3 years and I love it.



And this is what Alicia made with the kit - perfect photos hey? Alicia - your layout is beautiful - thank you so much for guesting on my CT for the week :)

Don't forget you can pick up Village Fair here for just $3.

And the big news? Well, Sara (Sweet Blossom Designs) is returning to Scrap That Idea! How awesome is that? We are sooooo happy to have her back :) Check back next week for her first kit! TTFN.

Project 365 Week 3 photos

Are you still keeping up with P365? I am, I am!!! LOL! I am very impressed with myself and taking the photos on my iPhone and either using the hipstamatic app or the instagram app is working great! I always have my phone with me, but it's awkward to carry a camera all the time. Let me show you this week's photos with the captions below:

Day 15: Big Ben with Sasha!
Day 16: Hubby chilling!
Day 17: Scrapagogo January kit arrived!
Day 18: Pompey - awwwww! (using instagram app)
Day 19: The Royal Crescent, Bath.
Day 20: Lily at Troopers Hill, Bristol
Day 21: No way are you passing with those dogs!!

I find that the hipstamatic app is great for photos when it's good light, but not so good for indoors, so I decided to use the instagram app too which uses the phone's built in camera and you apply the effect afterwards. The photo of Pompey was the first one I took using the instagram app - you can probably see the difference between the two types. The P365 app is great too - it will allow me to do an image of the full month for you all to see when it's full (I might even use that on a layout by itself).

I hope you are enjoying seeing my photos - when I get to 4 weeks, I am going to get scrapping with them!! TTFN.

Retirement reminder....

I just wanted to remind you that the kits below are going to retire at the end of January (in one week). Each kit is linked to the store - they are all $1 and when they're gone, they're gone. TTFN.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

Village Fair!

Before I get to my latest kit - have you checked out the freebie in my previous post? Be sure not to miss it, because it's available for a limited time only!

When I was a kid, I grew up in a little village and remember village fairs where all the village got together - usually in the gardens at the vicarage and had a fantastic time. We celebrated the Queen's Jubilee there - my Mum has a photo which I must find and scrap, we also had a summer fair every year with tombola, coconut shy, cake stalls - the usual things! It's a great childhood memory and I decided to make a kit for scrapping those memories (when I get hold of the photos from my Mum). And, I have called it Village Fair! During the summer when Sara came to visit from Australia, we visited London and the kids (and Sara) went on a fairground ride while we were there, so I decided to use that photo to scrap with this kit - check it out:

And this is what the kit looks like in all it's glory - you can pick it up for just $3 here!

And if that wasn't enough, you get two QPs included with the kit for free! Take a look - one of them is based on my layout of Sara and her kids above and the other one is my layout in the CT montage below.

This is what my fabulous CT did with the kit - there is some amazing inspiration here hey?

Finally, I have a freebie for you - it's a cluster frame using Village Fair - take a look:

If you like it, you can download it here and don't forget that you can buy the full kit for just $3 here :) TTFN.

Collaboration freebie

A little while ago, there was a thread in the designer area at DST asking designers who they would most like to collab with if they could team up with anyone at all. Well, imagine my surprise and delight when someone listed me! WOW - I was so humbled by that - little old me being on someone's wish list! So, that someone was Angel - Designs by Angel and I took a look at her store and was blown away - she's a fantastic designer and I was so excited to contact her to say 'let's do it'!! I really do love doing collabs and finding a new partner to do one with is extra special. I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to Angel, firstly for putting me on her list, but mostly for being an amazing collab partner and so, so easy to work with. Angel did a joint preview for our collab and I LOVE her for that. I do our store collab joint previews each month and I know what a HUGE job it is. Her DH is being deployed to Afghanistan very soon, so I am sure she is super busy as well as getting ready to say goodbye to her DH, so I appreciate it all the more. Thanks Angel - you're a great designer and I hope we can do it again one day!

Before I show you the collab, I wanted to show you my new release kit that is released today. It's called Village Fair and I really loved making this one. I will show you some more layouts later and give you a freebie to go with it, but I just wanted to show it off now because I'm so proud of it! LOL!

What do you think? I'd love to know :)

Back to today and this is what the collab looks like - check out 'Life Everyday' in it's full glory!

You can collect the papers from both Angel and me today. Mine can be downloaded in two parts {links expired} and Angel's are on her blog here. If Angel's are not yet posted, give it a little while - we're on different time zones and  sometimes I get confused! LOL! You can collect the elements next week, so be sure to check back for those. So, we would love to hear your feedback on our first collab - let us know if you like it and perhaps we'll do another one in the future ;) TTFN.

Calendar Collection with freebie

I'm back with news of my latest kit and a freebie for you all. The new kit is the February set of elements for my Calendar Collection. I am really enjoying my Project 365 so far and I've seen quite a few layouts out there using my collection. A long time blog reader, Christy, shared a scrap forum with me that she belongs to and lots of the ladies there are playing along and using my kits. The layouts are all fantastic and I am hoping to persuade some of the ladies to share their layouts with you all soon, so stand by for that!

So, this month's installment is available on it's own as a set of elements or in a bundle with SIX alphas! That is a whole lot of alphas to keep you going for a little while hey? Here are the previews:

You can buy the bundle here or the elements here or the alphas here. If you buy the bundle, it's just $3. Next month there will be some patterned papers to add to your collection.

This is what my CT have been doing with the collection - these layouts also include papers and elements from January - that's the best part, it will all coordinate throughout the year meaning that you can mix and match months.

And finally, I have a new freebie template for you to use. It's a simple one, but perfect for your P365 weekly layout! I hope you like it - click here to download and leave a comment to link me up to your P365 layouts if you're playing! TTFN.

Project 365 week 2 photos and meeting a great friend!

I'm a bit late posting this weekend, party due to the past couple of weeks with my Dad being in hospital and being exhausted with that (he's home now, so hopefully a nice fast recovery surrounded by family) but also because I was out all day yesterday. Where did I go? Well, I met up with a long time friend who I met through Scrapland in my Scrap n Art days. Sasha Holloway is an amazingly talented scrapper and a beautiful person who makes me laugh and cry - both separately and at the same time! We met in real life for the first time yesterday in London and had a really fun day of chatting, walking, seeing the sights and eating cupcakes! I have a couple of photos and I've used a Paint the Moon action on them just because I like playing with photo actions!! This is the two of us at Kings Cross station where we met - cute hey?

This is us posing with Big Ben in the background - thanks to the lady who took the photo for us - she did a great job!!

And of course, I have to show you those DELICIOUS cupcakes we had at Ella's Bakehouse in Covent Garden. Excuse the quality of photos - I just had my point and click and it seems I have now become a camera snob!! ROFL!

So, let me show you my week 2 P365 photos - I am still keeping up - are you?

Day 8: Walk this way!!
Day 9: So many hospital visits that I am resorting to photographing signs :)
Day 10: Dog walking at the local nature reserve
Day 11: A mug of wine or a bottle of tea?
Day 12: Dad's medication list!!! WOW!
Day 13: Relaxing with my kindle
Day 14: Homemade jam pie (??!?)

That's all for this post - I have a new instalment of my Calendar Collection this weekend and I will show that you a little later today. TTFN.

Kitchen capers!

That's the name of my newest kit. It's great for scrapping your kitchen makeover, or your cooking/ baking successes (and failures) and for those little (and big) chefs you have! I got some really cute layouts from my creative team, including a hybrid project by Adriana. But first, I want to show you the kit itself - take a look at Kitchen Capers:

I don't know if you all saw on my facebook page a few weeks ago, but I asked anyone who wanted to do a guest CT spot for one kit to leave a message and the first ten would get to do it. Well, Becky was the very first person to leave a comment and she got to play with this kit. This is Becky and a little bit about herself:

We live in North Carolina where I am a wife to husband John and mom to a 3 1/2 year old little boy. I have been digitally scrapbooking (using PSE) for about 2 years and have never been a paper scrapper.





And this is the layout that Becky did showcasing her cooking disaster (I hear ya girl) - it's gorgeous isn't it? Thanks Becky - it's been great to have you as a guest CT - thank you so much for your beautiful layout :)

And of course, you'll be wanting to see what my regular CT did with the kit - take a look at these beauties:

Thanks girls - you did an awesome job as always!

And I have a freebie for you - a cluster frame using Kitchen Capers which you can download here. TTFN.