A couple of new projects completed in the last few days.  This is a vintage postcard for a swap on MixedMediaATCs.

The background is strips of red ribbon and I used some of the stitches on my sewing machine for the vertical lines.  I printed the photo - an old Christmas postcard free on the net - on computer cotton then applied the lace to the back before sewing it on.  I went for glittery gold ribbon as a finishing touch around the edges.

Also did a couple of layouts at my crop last Saturday.  This is a monthly crop in Sheffield - love going and was a founder member along with my younger daughter over 5 years ago.  Now my elder daughter comes with me, being a recent convert to scrapping.  The layouts use the free papers from this months' Scrapbook Magazine.

This photo was taken in the 70s - I guess the girls would be around 9/10.  I hasten to add that neither they, or the Smurfs, actually drank the alcohol, lol.

This layout features the twig wreath I made for the UKS cybercrop and is scraplifted from the Scrapbook magazine.

It's not my usual style - I normally scrap vintage style.  Using such bright and cute papers really took me out of my comfort zone.  I like this style though, may do more in the future.

My daughter Sam and I have treated ourselves to an embellisher.  It's something we've both wanted for quite a while.  I've been needlefelting by hand for some time and just wanted to take it to the next level.  Sat down yesterday to have my first play.  I was surprised how easy it is to use.  Harder, of course, to become profficient.  I took a piece of felt and some wool tops and made an abstract background - thought it would be easier than trying for a specific scene/pattern first time.  Then wondered what to do with it.  Suddenly came to me that it was just big enough to make a pouch for my mobile phone.  Add a bit of embellishment - ie. felt on some glittery gold ribbon and stitch on a button - and I have a neat little accessory.  Fairly basic, but I'm so pleased to have come up with something useful and decorative for my first attempt.

And now for something completely different.  I finally finished my Sanmyaku top from The Knitter magazine.

I am pleased with it, but would not have started it had I known how much it would cost.  The pattern calls for 3 skeins of Fiberspates 4ply at £15 a skein.  Expensive enough at £45 but I thought, why not, a treat.  Unfortunately, despite being very careful to get my tension right, I ran out of yarn halfway up the front neck, so the final project cost £60.  I wish I'd gone for a more economic yarn, but the Fiberspates is scrumptious and has a lovely sheen thanks to the silk content - it doesn't show up well on the screen.  It's lovely and light and comfy to wear too.  Maybe I should have finished it sooner while it was still warm enough to wear it.  Oh well, roll on next summer.  Maybe I'll have tightened up those bingo wings by then too, lol.

Something a bit different today.  Again, a class from the UKS cybercrop.  This one was a wreath.  The class used a chipboard circle on which to build the wreath but, as I happened to have this twig wreath the I bought in Hobbycraft, I decided to do my own variation on it.

The little house is one of a set of three by Tando I think.  I used Tim Holtz Tattered Florals and Leaves dies for the flowers etc.  I'm pleased with the result and it will come in handy as I threw out my old Christmas wreath last year - it was looking a bit tired.

 This is a digi LO for the UKS cybercrop.  We were given the template and told to have fun - so I did.  The kit I used is Dawn Inskip's Rif-Raf.

 This one was a class on using spray inks.  The original class used ink sprayed randomly, but I decided to play with some masks instead.  The photos are really old.  That cute baby is now 46 (it's my elder daughter).  It's my parents and my sister holding her. 

 Another old photo of Sam and Mum.  It's not a poleroid snap, just a frame I made.  The class technique was patchwork and I followed the LO exactly - to make sure it all fitted together.  Used some 6x6 papers from Stampin'  Up - though it's a great way to use up scraps.

 Messy technique again here.  Spreading gesso - a bit hard to see in the photo.  I'm not the most patient of people so, when it wouldn't dry fast enough - I took a paper towel and dabbed it.  Liked the textured look it left, then attacked it with some really old coloured walnut ink I have in old olive.  The papers were a bargain kit from TK Maxx, cost about a fiver for a whole pack of papers, a box of chipboard elements and an 8x8 albumn.

These are what I made with the cybercrop mystery kit for the Romantics team.  Basically, you buy the kit and have to make something with it.  Until it arrives you don't have a clue what will be in it.  Luckily I loved the kit.  The birdcage is based on one in last month's Craft Stamper.  Not difficult, but fiddly.  That's why it's a wee bit wonky - I needed a third hand to keep it straight.  Still pleased with it though.  Most of the flowers are from a sheet of spiral diecuts.  Easy to make and rather effective.  The butterflies are cut using a new Nestabilities die I bought at a craft show in Leeds last week.  Some of the flowers, and the leaves, use Tim Holtz' pine cones die.  I made the box because I had loads of the kit left and I have, in fact, used more of it on the Hi Beautiful LO above.  Still got more to use up.

Yesterday was pre-crop digi day - and these two LOs are the result.

 This template was provided by Kate Hadfield - her designs can be found at the-lilypad.com.  I used photos taken at the Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida - from the holiday Sam (my daughter) and I took in 2010.  I love the bright colours.

This LO uses a template and kit provided free to the cybercrop by Dawn Inskip.  I love her designs which can be found on the Scrapbookgraphics site.  It was so generous of her to give us this kit.  The postbox is in Sheffield city centre and was painted gold to honour the achievements of Jessica Ennis in the 2012 London Olympics.  It's wonderful to have such a great athlete in our city.  The John Lewis store in the same square had an enormous poster of her right across the front of the store.  I've got a photo of it and will no doubt use it on a layout at some point.  Off now to see what's happening on UKS as the cybercrop starts officially today.

More pre-crop challenges for the UKS cybercrop today.  Plus some ATCs for swaps on MixedMediaATCs on Yahoo groups.

These are two LOs for the cybercrop.  The first is based on a provided sketch.  The challenge was using a LO with lots of white space, not my best style, but I'm quite pleased with the result.  The photo is of my daughter Sam and myself in Florida in 2010.  The papers I used are the leftovers from Basic Grey's Marrakesh - I've had the kit for ages and I'm still using the bits and pieces.  One of my favourite kits of all time.

The second LO is digi and uses a kit called Spontaneous Delight by C Stephens.  I love the rich colours.  The challenge was to do a LO based on a class in one of UKS' previous cybercrops.  This one was from the Harry Potter cybercrop in 2006 - one my daughter and I took part in.  This is one of my favourite photos of Clare, who hated having her photo taken.  I'm so glad I insisted despite her complaints as we lost her to cancer three years ago.  Having so many photos of her is a comfort - as is all the artwork, mixed media and scrapbooking, that she did.  We were scrapping and crafting buddies for a long time.

These are the ATCs for my latest swap.  For sewing box I used old pattern paper (never throw anything away) and stamped it with Tim Holtz stamps (rather hard to see in the photo).  The dress form is from a set I've had for years.  I made the cotton reel from card and bakers twine and the tape was given to me by a friend.  It looks quite realistic but is, in fact, a reel of self adhesive tape.  I love the little wooden letters and coloured them with copics.

The Trees ATC was fun to do.  The background is a bit hard to pick out but it's my first attempt at using pan pastels.  They are lovely to use, so I bought several more at a craft show in Leeds yesterday.  I can see me using them a lot.  The stamps are from Stampin' Up sets (love their stuff) - Lovely as a Tree (which I use a LOT) and Autumn Days (also one of my go to sets).  A bit of glitter on the tree for snow and I was done. 

I'm quite impressed by how much I've managed to get done this week as the new update to my favourite game - Lord of the Rings online - came out last Monday.  All the crafting has been squeezed into the gaps between running around in Rohan.

I've just signed up for a cybercrop on UKScrappers.  One of the pre-crop challenges is to make a birthday card in the UKS colours of red, white and blue, and this is what I've come up with.  The stamp is a Gorjus girl - about the only stamp of this style that I own.

I recently took part in a Beach Huts ATC swap with MixedMediaATCs.  I decided to make an opening ATC and this is the result.  The distressed look was unintentional - when I coloured the inside of the doors with a purple Copic pen the colour bled through - but I liked it, thought it looked weathered, so kept it.

I'm taking part, at the moment, in a tag swap.  The idea is to bind all the tags into a book when we've finished.  These are the tags I've completed for people at the moment.
Each person in the swap has chosen their own colour for their tags.  Mine will be green.  I find that tags are a nice way to try lots of different techniques.  They provide a larger surface area than ATCs, without being overwhelming.  Whatever else I do I usually incorporate as much stamping as possible - my favourite technique.

Using a quick page

I created this double layout using pre-designed pages that my sister sent me for my birthday earlier this month.  I've never used something like this before.  It was very simple to do - I just added photos and a few extra bits such as the title.  I think the result is effective - but it's not something I'm likely to do again - unless, of course, she sends me another one in the future.  I much prefer to build my layouts from scratch.

The photos are of my daughter Sam and were taken at Busch Gardens and Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Florida.  We spent a fun two weeks there in September/October 2010.  We enjoyed it so much that we're planning another trip in 2015.  That's to give us time to save lots of money (and we'll need it).