Scrap 365: March Challenge - Sherlock Bones

When I saw the March Scrapbook challenge I new exactly what I wanted to scrap.  In this photo of Archie he is wearing an outfit I made for him to enter the fancy dress competition at a doggy fun day we attended.

The little magnifying glass is real and I placed a tiny photo of Archie wearing his deerstalker hat in it.  I used old watch parts as my "confetti" to complement the docrafts Chronology papers I used.

Mr Fox Stole My Heart

That is the name of my latest knitty finish - an animal friendly fox stole.  The pattern is from Stephanie Dosen's book, Woodland Knits.  I used Aran weight yarn doubled so it was very quick and only took me a few days.  I love him and look forward to wearing him now the weather is turning colder.

I always have numerous bags throughout my house with either part-finished projects, ones that are finished and need putting together and sometimes just the materials for a new project.

The amount of bags has been getting out of control recently so I have been trying to finish some projects off.  This crochet wrap scarf jacket was started about 18 months ago but my tension was not even on the pieces I'd finished so I ripped it back and restarted.  It didn't take long to crochet and I even made the buttons to match.

One of my longest UFOs has to be this Rupert the Bear, it took me 12 years+ to sew the pieces together and finally finish him.

 The Airedale Terrier Amigurumi also took about 18 months, it is the sewing together that does my head in although I am pleased with him now he is finished.  The crochet pattern is available as a download from Planet June.

As if I don't have enough crafty projects already, I recently enrolled on a scrapbooking course.  Although I have been scrapbooking for years I thought it would give me the impetus to finish some more pages and maybe learn some new techniques at the same time.  The course included nine pages but I have only managed three so far.

 This one reminds me of when we had the four boys all together and the fun and happy times we shared and the other is my first page featuring Dudley.

 

Talking of pets, there was an article in the paper the other day that said one in four women love their pets more that their partners.  Now, I am not saying that is true in my case but the cartoon next to it made me chuckle:

Scrap 365 July Challenge: Twenty's Girls

As soon as I saw the July challenge in my copy of Scrap 365 magazine I knew exactly what photographs and papers I wanted to use.  I wish it was always that easy.  The photographs are of my grandmother's family taken in the 1920's and the papers are mostly from papermania's Art Deco range.  I included a few bits from my stash including a scrap of black lace I knew would come in useful eventually! 

To Jessie love Arthur

I have wanted to scrap these WWI pictures for some time so the Scrap 365 May Challenge seemed the ideal opportunity and  I had already knitted the poppies for it.

The left hand picture was taken in France hence the Eiffel Tower picture and French postage stamp.  In the vellum envelope is a scan of an original silk postcard and message.  I have several of those he sent and they are in good condition considering they are almost 100 years old!

I cannot image what it must have felt like - they were in the rifle brigade - spending 4 years in a trench and knowing they could be killed at any time.  Or what their wives and children must have felt when they read about the huge numbers of casualties each day.

Luckily he survived, or I would not be here today.  Makes you think, doesn't it?

Scrap 365 March Challenge

I have wanted to scrap this pic of Wilberforce wearing the crochet coat I made for him since I took it so Scrap 365's March challenge was the ideal opportunity. 

The only problem is I don't do minimalist in  scrapbooking or life so this really was a challenge for me as I never have blank space on my pages.

Anyway, resisting the temptation to slap everything bar the kitchen sink on this, here is my interpretation of the sketch.

Archie

On 1st September we lost our darling Archie to cancer - he was 10 years old.  It is only now I can talk about it.  He was my best friend, constant companion, hat loving, car riding, cheese chomping, costume wearing, cake loving, funny, unique "best boy".  There will never be another dog like him. 

Seaside Memories

I started buying Scrapbook 365 magazine after a long break from scrapbooking and it has fired my enthusiasm for the hobby again.  So, I have set myself two goals - 1) To enter their scrapbook challenge every month and 2) To use my existing stash without buying anything new.  I have achieved both this month.

If I don't manage anything else, at least by the end on the year I will have 12 new scrapbook pages, used up some of my stash and made a small hole in the 100 years worth of family photos I have.

Happy crafting.

Walk in the Woods

On 8th July 2012 we attended a charity walk to raise funds for the VRCC which treats dogs and cats who have cancer.  They are trying to raise 100,000 pounds to replace an urgently needed 6 million volt linear scanner.  The day raised over 1,200 pounds and we all had a fun day in spite of the gloomy weather.

Great British Dogs

I love the range of Docrafts Portobello Road papers and embellishment and thought I might use them to commemorate the Queen's jubilee or the Olympics but when I took these photos of my dogs last week I thought they would be good for scrapping them too.  I added journalling under the bowed flap on the left hand bottom side and just a few bits and bobs from my stash.

Oriental Influences

I have recently been taking some photographs of my craft work and only just realised how many Oriental/Asian themed projects I have completed. These two designs are both from PINN, the first is called "Fish of Fortune". The second is a good luck symbol supposed to bring wealth. All I can say is it hasn't worked so far, LOL!

Here are some cross stitch cards I made from charts in Lets Get Crafting: Cross Stitch, Stitch and Craft and other cross stitch magazines.

The pink kimono card was made with papers from Paper Nation.

Finally, keeping to the same theme (sort of) are two scrap book pages made with photos from my holiday in Thailand some years back. The papers and embellishments are all from Anna Griffin whose papers and fabrics I love.

By the way, the bottom photo above of me with the show "girls" are actually lady men. We went to a cabaret and afterwards the "girls" posed for photos with the audience!

Father Christmas

I submitted this page to Scrapbook Magazine ages ago and they have just published it in the current issue. They wanted 6" x 6" which I don't usually like but I did use it as practice for the 12" x 12" page below which is for my vintage photos family album.

I did not manage to catch up with my Christmas crafting apart from this Meery Christmas card design which I backed with red felt and used red felt letters to make into a card. As for the other projects, well there is always next year!

S0 the big day is almost here and I'd just like to wish anyone passing this way a very happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous new year. And in the words of Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol: "God bless us, every one".

Party Animals

There is nothing "The Boys" like more than a birthday party and I have commemorated some of them by scrapbooking the photos. The first two page layout shows Higgins' 1st birthday party. I love the picture where he is looking worried as Sid takes a crafty bite of his cake. I always send the rescue centre an update and photos at Christmas so this one was an obvious choice to send.

I also scrapped Archie's fourth birthday photos. He often sleeps with his paws over his eyes so I am glad I managed to capture a picture of him like that. This photo always makes me smile.

On the cross stitch front I have managed to finish Village Lane by Heritage. I consider myself quite a fast stitcher but all those greens really slowed me down. I think it took about a month altogether although I have done some smaller projects in between.

Archie Barker

Many of my craft projects are inspired by my dogs. This is my favourite photograph of Archie and I have used it to make a scrapbook page. Yes, he is a boy but lilac is one of my favourite colours and I just loved these flowers and the scrap of lace so had to use them.

To decorate a t-shirt I also printed the same photo on to transfer paper, ironed it onto white cotton and used fabric scraps, paw print rubber stamp and embellishments to decorate. The tiny picture of the Airedales I found online and printed it straight onto a scrap of fabric. I attached the whole panel to my t-shirt with velcro so that I can take it off for laundering. I have worn it a few times to doggy events and many people have asked me where it came from.

On the cross stitch front I have just started this circles design from Heritage. As it was bought for me for my birthday about 15 years ago and I am making 2010 my destashing year, I thought I should make a start!

More Doggy Projects

Heres another crop of dog-themed makes, I never realised I had so many! I made the scrapbook page for an on-line challenge. I had to stick to a sketch which wasn't my normal style but I was pleased with the different result and got another page for my dogs album.

I have already shown my Pirate Dog scrapbook page and here is the costume from it that I made for Wilberforce. He wore it for the fancy dress competition at a doggy fun day we attended. You can't see it in the photograph but he is also wearing the pirate bandana below which I knitted from a book called Knits for Dogs and Cats.

Below is a doggy bookmark I made for myself using my Airedale and other dog rubber stamps and stickers. The fibres have tiny dog charms added to them. Next a selection of items made for our Airdale Terrier Club to raise funds for The East Anglia Air Ambulance and Wood Green Animals Shelters. I designed the Airedale in Christmas hat cross stitch chart to make the cards.

Finally, I made this dog with bone card yesterday with a template from Papercraft Inspirations magazine. They have lots of templates and papers to download free of charge on their website and are worth checking out.