Scrapping energy.

After 4 days of scrapping I feel very inspired. 4 days seems a very long time, but in reality when you're there scrapping, chatting, drinking tea and looking through albums the time just flies.

One thing that really struck me this weekend was just how inspiring other people's pages are. We had a gallery up where everyone put their layouts as they finished. By the end of the weekend there were over 70 layouts to be inspired by!

I often read the blogs of other scrappers, here are some of my favourites to help your inspiration!

http://www.mmwwaahh211.blogspot.com/

http://limegreenlife.typepad.com/

http://hulaseventy.blogspot.com/search/label/I%20like%20to%20make%20lists

http://www.illustratingstories.com/

http://bigpicturescrapbooking.typepad.com/

This weekend I'm going on a weekend crop with some friends. Yay! Even better, we are going from Friday to Monday so that's 4 whole days of scrapping time!

So today I am planning on packing (thoroughly) I hate finding that I have forgotten a key tool or embellishment. A couple foc rops ago I started to write down a list of all the things I took with me regularly. Not a big deal you may think. Well no maybe not but since I have written this list down and made it into a tag that is clipped inside my mini tote I haven't left anything important behind. What is it you need to take with you? Can you remember to pack it all each time? If not, why not try making yourself a packing list - I guarantee it will save your time (and your sanity!)

More layouts!

Some more of my recent layouts:

The 2 of us
I like this photo of my sister and I, there aren't many. This layout is rather busy for me but I like the overlapping-ness of the elements and the bright colours.

Us Girls

I read somewhere that if you're not sure about what kind of background to use, go for a plain colour like black or white. I love this photo and spent ages trying to find the right pattern. I'm pleased with the simplicity of the final result though.

Stratford Upon Avon

I don't often use natural coloured card as a base and I kept this LO really simply by stamping straight onto the card for both the title and embellishments.

My Kind of People

I was being brave for this LO - using bold colours and different types of scallops. Also I have used a patterned transparency which I normally find hard to use. The photo was taken at a weekend crop, I love the fact the photo is a bit different from the normal group shot.

Excited!

I always get excited when i'm off on holiday or even out for the day in a new place. Taking photos of new things and exploring. I love being by the coast so hopefully will be returning with a whole selection of pics to be scrapped!

Layouts

Here are a few of my layout created at a semi-recent crop, I've really been inspired this year to use lots of colour:

Laughter:This layout was created from a page kit challenge that we all took part in. The papers and card are so not what I would have chosen but I like the way the page has turned out - the photo was taken on the scrapping weekend and printed on a one hour service!

A Few Things:

This layout was created as part of a 45 minute challenge. The idea of the challenge is to select your photo, all of your supplies and get the page scrapped in the 45 mins. We used to do a one hour challenge but found that many of us finished way before the deadline so we cut of 15 minutes. It seems a short amount of time, but it is amazing what you can achieve when you're working to a deadline.

Flap-flaps:

I think these papers are all from a kit but I'm not sure - wanted to try using a contrasting coloured title.

A Little Bird Told Me:

This is probably my favourite layouts - the photo was originally in full colour but all you could see were the bright pink and purple flowers and not the 2 objects I really wanted to see so I played with the colour using Picasa and only left the robin coloured. The orange was taken from the robin itself and the rest fitted in around it.

Birds of Paradise:

I love these flowers but they are really hard to photograph well. I played around with this layout for ages but stuck to the colours from the flower itself to bring out the best I could.

Scrap space overhaul

I was helping a friend of mine sort out her scrap space on Monday (it's tiny and she has a LOT of cool stash). So after a few hours of sorting, binning, labelling and re-homeing stash mountain I returned home and took a look at my own space:



And there's nothing wrong with the space (except it really doesn't quite work for me anymore). I find that it's always messy and I can't put my hands on the things I want when I want it. I re-read The Organised and Inspired Scrapbooker by Wendy Smedley and Abi Garvey, if you haven't read it you must get a copy, it's fab!

So I decided to re-think the way I work. The first step was to take everything (and I mean everything) out from drawers, shelves, baskets. And what amazed me was how much space I had:


So I started by sorting all my stash into heaps (it covered the whole of the spare bed and the floor - I didn't realise how much I did have). I found some things I love that I had forgotten about and at the same time got rid of some of the stash and tools I no longer use. Well worth the time factor!
But the bit I thoroughly enjoyed was putting everything back together - I put all my pens in my favourite mugs within easy reach and I took a lot of stash out of my larger AMM tote that is too heavy to lift and put the bits and pieces in smaller jars and into my little AMM tote that is more portable.

Here is the finished result: tidy, organised and all in easy reach when I'm scrapping.






I'm so pleased with the result. Even though I couldn't change the furniture and storage I had, I could change the way it was all arranged and it inspired me to get scrapping!