Challenge # 23

Hello folks! Hope everyone has had a fab Christmas and a great start to the new year! This here, is challenge # 23, a 8.5 x 11 LO sketch. I dont do this size scrapping much so it was a welcome change - hope you enjoy it! As always, feel free to flip, reverse or interpret it any way you will. It would work pretty well as an ATC or a card too maybe, would love to see what everyone comes up with.

Here is my interpretation of it, created using the Vintage Sarapapers available from the Crop Til You Drop webshop. I cut the title and the photo mat from Bo Bunny winter papers but thought they complemented the blues in the layout, and you cant tell they're wintery/christmassy papers!

So good luck folks - dont forget to email your entries into sales@croptilyoudrop.co.uk to be in with a chance of winning our monthly competition, judged by the design team! Leave a comment on this post so we'll know you have entered and we can pop over to the gallery here to have a look! And dont forget to check back daily to see more of what the DT have been creating!

Challenge # 21 - A stitch in time.....

Hi guys and welcome to this weeks challenge!!

Charli here - and my challenge to you this week is to use sewing on your projects!

Now in case you're like our Looby, and you're not keen on sewing - fear not!! The sewing or stitching could be real, doodled, rub on, or could be already on your paper as it is on the next LO I'll show you. First though, my really really stitched on LO, using the vintage sarapapers available from Bev at this email address - sales@croptilyoudrop.co.uk

I made my own flower petal template, cut round it a few times using different papers from the vintage sarapapers kit, then used a zig zag stitch to attach them to the page. I sewed a border around the page and made my own little tag with the quote on, also using papers from the kit, and a bit of stitching on too. I also added some tiny metal flower shaped embellies on the tag too. Added some button brads, and a naked chipboard button, painted pink and jazzed up with a little bit of ribbon.

Next LO - not a real bit of stitching in sight!! Used the English paper company collection of Christmas papers on this one, but just cut out the Christmas squares as my pic was not Christmas related!! Cut the title out of the same papers et voila!

So come on - have a go!! You could win yourself some fabulous goodies - email your entries to the above email address, and leave a comment here to let us know you have entered - then we can all have a peep!

Happy crafting to you folks!

A Chrimbo LO!

Hey guys! Its me again, just one project from me today - a page of me and my sis a couple of Christmases (?) ago.

I mixed and matched products on this LO. I used papers from the Personal shopper Dec 06 kit (which I believe is on offer at the moment!!) for the base, cutting a decorative border on the right hand side (that's for your challenge Phoenix!!!). Then I scrunched up the light green paper, unfolded it, then sanded it to get the distressed look. I used Bo Bunny Hot Cocoa paper for the heart - love love love these papers - they're double sided and they come in a fun range of colours and designs! I stamped around the heart using the Winter Swirls stamps. I used some ribbons from the classic cardmakers ribbon pack - I weaved some on the left and bottom sides of the LO and used the sewing machine to attach the criss cross underneath the title - sister sister - which I cut out using papers from the personal shopper Dec 06 kit.
I used a HOTP Big brad to attach the plastic tag word 'Christmas', with some of the ribbon from the classic cardmakers kit, and hand wrote the journalling onto some strips of the red papers from the kit.

And in case you're wondering, anyone who has looked closer at the LO and seen the journalling about the green hippo thing, I was wearing a green top, was pregnant at the time and ready for popping any second!!

Now the webshop is undergoing essential maintenance at the moment - as you can see from the above post there has been a slight techy problem, but it is being sorted as we speak! So for any orders please contact Beverley, the store owner on sales@croptilyoudrop.co.uk .

Have fun creating guys and dont forget - another challenge tomorrow! Be sure to stop by and check it out, enter and you could be in with a chance of winning some fabulous stash!

See you soon!

A couple of quickie cards!

Its that time of year - as Looby said yesterday - so busy for a lot of us! So here are a couple of quick cards I made using some stuff from my kit, plus some gorgeous Winter Swirl stamps available at the Crop Til You Drop Webshop. The stamps are so versatile - I have a few different sets of swirly type stamps, but as soon as I saw these stamps, I thought - gotta have em! The swirls are really elegant, and one has some gorgeous little snowflakes on. The pic of my Christmas card doesnt really do the stamps justice at all - you get a nice clear and crisp image - I decided to do something a little different using a resist technique on this first card. You can achieve similar results by randomly stamping onto a piece of card and embossing with clear powder (in fact you could use any colour, just bear in mind that whatever colour you use will be visible after you have inked over it!). Then ink over with your chosen final colour. This technique works particularly well with gloss card. I added the chipboard frame after painting it with red acrylic paint, then giving a quick coat of clear glue like these here, to give a shiny finish. Added a little red wire heart and some ribbon, matted and layered onto a red card and hey presto! Oh not forgetting the snowflake brads, snowflake border overlay and that gorgeous little glittery red heart - I hope our Guv will step in here to pop in where I can find that though because I have hunted high and low and cant find it! Check out our Guv's blog for some more fab ideas for the winter swirls too!

Next is this little card for my brother's birthday next week! For this I used the busy scrappers boys to men paper pack - and all the letter tiles and little star embellies that come with it. The only thing I used that wasnt in the pack was the little brad buddie present that you see to the right of the card, but I thought it went well with the colours of the card (after I inked it up with blue ink!) and added the little red bow!

So thats all folks - if you invest in anything over the Christmas crafty season though (apart from all the fab paper and other crafty bits on offer at the webshop!!) I would definitely get my hands on some of the winter swirls stamps (PS why not take advantage of this fab offer and subscribe to the stamps only kit?? There's a freebie in it for ya, check it out!!) - they're not just for Christmas you know - they're for life! Lol have fun creating!

Edited by the Guv to say: more than happy to jump in and solve the mystery of the missing red glittery heart! LOL. They are actually in this mixed pack of buttons & flatbacks. HTH

Oh I wish it could be Christmas.....

Mind you if it was Christmas every day I would need a bigger book for all my journalling! This is my latest project with my kit. I was thinking of making an advent calendar with my Bo Bunny Advent paper, but Alix already made a fab one here, so I thought I would try and do something a bit different with mine. So I though - why not make a Christmas Journal and use the numbered squares to date the pages? So that's what I did!

And also - it gave me another excuse to use some of this fab and very friendly felt again - this time for the covers of my book. I just did a rough drawing of the Christmas tree and cut it out, and then set eyelets into it, and tied a bit of ribbon around for tinsel - which I also added to the book rings that I held it together with. The ribbon is from the classic cardmakers ribbon pack from HOTP, and comes packed full of cool coordinating Christmas colours. I then pierced a couple of designs - the lime green border and the red shape in the corner and stitched into the felt. Added a star brad to the top!


As you can see here - I cut out the squares from the Bo Bunny paper (advent) and stuck them back to back on each page (also Bo Bunny Papers, I used Frost and Ornament - fab papers and double sided!!). The Advent papers also come with some really cute Christmas art on them - great for embellishing your projects - I'm going to use them to add to the completed pages. These papers have a 20% discount on them at the moment so its well worth popping over and having a good old shop (lots of other bargains and discounts to be found too ;o)!

I'm going to take a pic of my son each day leading up to Christmas day, and write a little bit about each day now he's starting to take more notice of it all.

Hope you like it - why not make your own Christmas Journal?

Oky doky guys I shall see you next Thursday when I post my next project - but don't forget - its challenge night tomorrow - and there's some fabby prizes up for grabs!! You'd be mad to miss it!!

A 'busy scrappers' mini book and some Christmas bits n pieces!

Good evening guys!! Thought Id share with you some of my most recent crafty makes with my DT kit. First, a couple of cards I made with some of the lovely Christmas papers available over at the Crop Til You Drop webshop. The card on the left is made using papers from the personal shopper kit for Dec 06 (which are on special offer by the way!!) - love the paper on the bottom half of the card because it reminds me of those lovely and very cheesy Christmas jumpers that everyone should wear around this time of year!! The card on the right is made using Bo bunny papers , which are fab quality papers and have a lovely sheen to them - hence the shine on that card due to the flash on my camera! I tied some coordinating ribbon through a chipboard frame, and added this to the card. You could paint or ink this white but I embossed it with some white embossing powder. I stamped into a few layers of silver embossing powder to get the snowflake image you see inside the frame.

Next is this little mini book (click on the image for a better view). I made this using the busy scrappers boys to men papers and embellies. These papers are really fun to work with, and perfect for a little boy layout or book - this book is a pressie for my sons uncle. I kept with the star theme of some of the papers and stamped or cut out some of the cool little star images available in the pack. I used a bind it all to bind my book together but you could easily use book rings or ribbon. There are some lovely truck, rocket and sport images in this pack, and some really handy letters and numbers. All you have to do is cut them out and add to your projects!

And finally, a little something I made using my new best crafty product - friendly felt. Now this is just a little project - a little photo frame I made. It would be perfect to keep in your bag or to give as a little gift - the felt is really durable and tough, and it is perfect for stitching. I have a mini book on the go with some of this felt - it is perfect for the covers of my book as it is stiff - hence the name friendly felt! It is a fab way to incorporate felt (which is so popular at the mo!)into your crafting projects.
Hey - did you see the challenge uploaded last night by Roo? Fab scraplift challenge - and dont forget - all entries will be eligible for this months DT challenge prize, judged by the design team! We have had some fab entries to our previous challenges and have so enjoyed seeing everyones interpretations - why dont you join in? Come on, you know you want to!!

See you soon guys, and happy crafting!

Altered Cigar Tin

Hello folks! Its my turn to share today! So I thought Id show you what Ive been up to with these vintage SaraPapers! I have had my eye on this cigar tin for a while - it was crying out to be transformed into something so I thought I would use it to put some of my Ma's 50th birthday pictures in for her. This is an old tin I had lying around the house, but the Crop Til You Drop Webshop has these fabby CD tins - perfect for storing crafty stuff inside - or creating an accordian tin with!

As you can see - I have covered the front with the papers, and added one of the tags from the Sarapapers pad. Used the papers to decorate the inside, and as we now say on the I love Hot Off The Press Forum, Bobs your cousins Dad! Ooh nearly forgot - added a bloom like these ones here!!

I have used some of the cute card charms to decorate a couple of the pages - I love these - they were perfect for these pictures! I used the little champagne glass for one page, and the style charm for the limo pic of my mum.

I have used some of the gorgeous American Crafts Ribbons, and also - my fave embellishment at the minute - the HOTP Big Brads and Rub ons. The rub ons are perfect for these brads, but you could even customise them yourself with permanent pens - I did both!

Ok doky guys, thats it from me til next week - dont forget to check back here tomorrow @ 6pm, when its Shary's turn to set the challenge!! Hope you'll come along and join us, as there are some fab prizes up for grabs!! Check out this post here to see what our other fab crafters have won!

Sketch Challenge #15

Well hello and welcome folks, to my challenge for all you crafters out there!! My challenge to you is to create a project using this sketch. This could be absolutely any project at all - from a scrapbook page, card, ATC, or even an in......whoops, not allowed to say that word this week lol

Feel free to flip, reverse and adapt to your crafty hearts content! I like this sketch because of the layering effect it gives. Im also a big fan of getting plenty of photos on the page too, but embellishments in place of some photos would definitely work too - I'd love to see how you all interpret it!!
Here is the layout I created using this sketch. I used the gorgeous vintage sarapapers, and also added some of the lovely rich blue ribbon from the vintage embellish-abilities pack. The title is one of the cool 'father' acetate overlays. I cut some journalling strips from the paper in the pack, and hand wrote my journalling on there. You can find my other layout from the sketch in our Design Team weekly challenge gallery here - this will be where your fabulous entries will be put too, so come on over and have a looksee! Email your entries to sales@croptilyoudrop.co.uk and be in with a chance of winning our fabulous monthly DT challenge prize, judged by the design team (who obviously cannot win with their entries, because that just wouldnt be fair now, would it? lol)! Dont forget to pop a comment on this post when you have emailed yours in, so we can all pop over and have a look at it.

Really hope you enjoy using this sketch and so looking forward to seeing what you all come up with! Dont forget to check back daily to see more of what we are doing with our yummy stash, available at Crop Til You Drop!!

Waste not, and ye shall want not!

And the card as promised - a quickie with my scraps left over - again American Crafts papers, along with a little christmas tree charm and star brad, both available at Crop Til You Drop, and that gorgeous American Crafts ribbon! Added one of the embossed Christmas sentiments - these are great and add a nice touch to your cards, and they're so quick and easy! Just cut them out and you're good to go! I used a punch, but you could quite easily cut a nice scalloped edge on the open side of the card, then use a hole punch in each scallop, thread a bit of ribbon through and bobs your uncle!

It's a cracker!

Meaning my little man of course! This pic of him is from last Christmas - his first Christmas, and he had a great time as you can see! I wanted to try something a little different with the papers this time, and actually cut some of them up! So here it is.

Using the papers from American Crafts, hot cocoa, wrapping, and wassail (what fab names!) and the co-ordinating solid colours on the back - I cut my title, and the 'cracker' and 'present' shapes from these. The title was cut with my craft robo, but these fonts could easily be hand cut! I made my own cracker template which was nice and easy too.

I added some of the gorgeous American crafts ribbons, (which are perfect for these papers!!) for my bows and the tag on the pressie. If you pull the cracker top on the left - there is some more journalling in there, basically saying how Christmas means so much more with our little man in our lives, and how I look forward to Christmas again now he's here. Used a white gel pen for my journalling and a brown marker for my border around the edge of the page, and that, is basically it!!

Now, I have some scraps left over, and as I hate to waste ANYTHING, I think I might make a card for Phoenix's 'use your scraps' challenge from last Saturday, then I can get on with the challenge from this week - which Im really looking forward to aswell! Acetate is really popular at the minute and there's so much you can do with it! Off to get my thinking cap on....tatty byes!! I may be back, with the aforementioned card!

It's official - paper stroking is bad for your crafty health!!

I am loving these American Craft papers that we recently received in our DT kits!! After I had sat and stroked them for a while (!?), I knew which photos I wanted to use. As soon as I saw this set of papers, I initially thought - christmas! But then I remembered these photos from my mother & father in laws anniversary, and thought they would go well with the papers. I also used the round alphabet tiles from HOTP, to spell out the word 'family'. I chalked the edges using these shimmer chalks, then just went over the edges with some glue to add a bit of shine (wet glues can be found here). I wanted to make the absolute most of these papers and waste nothing, so I used some of the remaining paper to create the little file folder containing the journalling. To decorate the front, I covered a circular slide mount with some scraps of paper pieced together, then added a HOTP Big Brad, with a rub on saying 'good times'. These rub ons come in all sorts of patterns and letters, available in Black and White too, and are just perfect for the big brads - but could lend themselves to any crafty project!

When I was photographing the LO I had a little chuckle to myself, because I thought - Charl - you have barely hacked into the bold patterned sheet!! I think the paper stroking didnt help matters there lol, but I promise - I will be more daring with my next project!!

I made the card using the scraps left over from the LO - I didnt want to waste a single piece of paper - I just cut up the remainder into 2.5in squares and arranged them on the front of the card! The beauty of these papers is that they are double sided so cordinate perfectly! I included a bit of shimmery red paper behind the squares to complement the red in the patterned paper, and added a HOTP artsy additions embossed paper charm to the front, along with the cardmakers word fragments.

So, I hope you love these papers as much as I do - and I promise - no more paper stroking from me!!

Now dont forget - its another DT challenge going live tomorrow at 6pm, any entries emailed in to sales@croptilyoudrop.co.uk are eligible for the monthly DT challenge prize!! Have a look here to see what Rebecca Nash won last month - it's well worth entering!

See you all soon!

Oooh I've just popped back - nearly forgot to say that I used the stencils for the lettering on the file folder on the LO, they can be found here, and are great if you have spidery handwriting like mine, and want to get a neat effect, quickly and with minimum mess!! TTFN

And Im back - again - to say that this is also my go at Looby's sketch challenge - albeit a little different!! Right, Im really going now!

Orangutan layout

Hey guys! Just stopping by to share another project with you! After seeing all the lovely stuff the other girls have created with the personal shopper kit for October 2007, they really inspired me to created something 'un-halloweeny' with the Halloween collection of papers within the kit.

The picture was taken at Chester Zoo last year, and I basically removed the colour from everything except the orangutan, to co-ordinate better with those gorgeous orangey stripy papers. I distressed the edges of the photo with a bit of sandpaper, and then at the bottom edge where the sanding didnt show up too well, grubbied them up with some black ink. I'm a massive fan of stripes and as you can see, I cut a piece of stripes paper making the most of the horizontal pattern there. There was a generous amount of ribbon left over from two previous projects, so I folded some up to create the little Rosette at the top right of the LO, finishing off the journalling with a little piece too. I also covered a layered piece of cardboard cut into a heart shape with the orange paper in the kit.

Thats all from me this week folks - dont forget, its the last week where any DT challenge entries are eligible for a prize, so come on over on Saturday and have a look see!! Also check out some of the previous challenges too, Im sure there'll be something to inspire you!!

An mini index book and an LO

Hello there again folks! My turn to show you what I have been up to with this fabulous

and plentiful personal shopper kit for October 2007. First I created this LO of young Shamus (Shaun Jr), road testing his new halloween outfit! These papers are fab - really bright and fun - and they come with the 'dress up' brads - thats the little pumkin head you see there with the yellow brads for eyes. They really add the perfect finishing touch to your projects - I love them! The kit also comes with another pumpkin and a dress up word 'Boo' which is equally as fun and versatile. A really generous helping - Im sure you'll agree!! Everything co-ordinates perfectly too - paper crafting made easy!

Second is this mini index book I made, to store my photos from Autumn this year, and I thought of putting a few of my favourite Autmun poems in there too. I love John Keats' Ode to Autumn - hence the name for the book! I thought that I wouldnt have much left over after my last LO and card I created using the 'fall' collection of papers and embellishments (I was very generous with the embellies and paper) - but going through my pizza box last night - I was amazed at how much I had left over - still plenty to keep creating for a while yet!! I cut out the letters to spell 'fall', and basically just stuck them on to the sides of my book, a page for each letter - creating a little tab for each page. Quite pleased with how it turned out, and it was really quick to make too! All I need to do now is fill it up!

Thats all from me this week folks, be sure to check in tomorrow at 6pm, ready for another challenge!! All entries (up to challenge #10 so far) are entered into our monthly DT challenge competition! Good luck!

Challenge #9 - Pick a pocket or two!!

Hi guys! Today it's my turn to set the challenge. This is my little Pockordian book!! So called because its kind of like an accordian book, and it uses the cute little pockets and library cards in the Personal shopper kit for October 2007.

When I was puzzling over my challenge I thought - why not challenge people to use pockets on their project? It's something that can be used on a wide variety of projects, and I guess the smaller the project, the more challenging it would be to include a pocket!!

Are you sad, like me lol, and save all your little tickets and other little mementos from your holidays or trips out? These pockets are perfect for storing your precious memories and heartfelt journalling, which you may not want to share with everyone!! I know I usually have a severe case of verbal emotional diarrhoea (lol) but there's some stuff even I like to keep secret!! I also put some more pictures and the ticket stubs from our trip on the snowdon mountain railway and from Portmeirion, when we went to Wales recently.

So go on, try using a pocket on your project, we'd love to see what you come up with!! And if anyone manages to use a pocket on an inchie I, for one would be well impressed!! Good luck guys, and remember to check back daily for more crafty projects and updates! And all challenge entries from challenge #6 to #10 will be eligible for our monthly DT challenge competition!!

FALL in love with the October personal shopper kit!!

Hi folks! Back again to show you some more of what the October Personal Shopper Kit has to offer!! This next LO I created using the Fall collection of papers and embellishments in the kit. For those of you really observant - you might notice that this isnt really a 'Fall' picture - there aren't any leaves left on the trees to fall!! But I thought these papers went perfectly with my picture. Check out the Monday's Metal self-adhesive squares in the kit - these really are gorgeous, and perfect for adding a bit of dimension and a distressed look to your pages - this complements the papers perfectly! Absolutely everything you see on this page is available in the kit, from the cute leafy brads and photo turns, to the printed ribbons!!

I'm quite new to card making really - this kit has given me loads of inspiration though! The card I made, again using the Fall collection of papers, is a gatefold card. There was more than enough stuff left over to make this card (and probably one or two others!!) and a generous amount of embellishments, I especially love these fab Metal squares, they're a really nice touch, and could be used for any crafting project.

New stuff is posted here daily guys, so dont forget to check back and see what this kit can do for you! And remember, any non-design team entries to our weekly DT challenges, posted here on Saturdays at 6pm, will be eligible for our monthly DT competition! So go on, fall for the October personal shopper kit - I know I have!!

Friendships and flowers

Hey guys!! These are just a couple of things I have made with the gorgeous Personal Shopper Kit for October. There is loads in this kit, so this really is a sneak preview!! These two projects are both made using the Friendships collection of papers/card. What I love about this kit is that the guess work is done for you! The colours co-ordinate together perfectly, and it's packed with some really neat embellishments - huge self-adhesive baubles by Heidi Swapp, and printed flowers and tags for you to cut out and use on your cards, layouts, ATC's - or anything really! This kit could definitely brighten up any crafty project! I'm a massive fan of journalling - the kit comes with these cute 'library look' cards which are perfect for adding your precious memories and thoughts. And I found these Round Pastel

Brads that complement

the papers perfectly too! Dont forget to check back here daily, where we'll be giving you more sneak previews at what this fab kit has to offer! And our DT challenge goes live each Saturday at 6pm - dont miss out!

Hiya - Im Charli!!

OO eck - I just pressed the wrong button and it just posted hiya! Anyhoo....

Im Charli, Im 27 and I live in a small village near to Lancaster with my partner of 5 years, Shaun, and our gorgeous and very mischeivous little boy, also called Shaun - he's 20 months old, and features in the majority of my LO's. I love scrapping - Ive tried loads of hobbies and this is definitely 'the one' for me!! I like card making and have just gotten into making ATC's too. Minibooks have to be my favourite thing to make - I love giving them away but every so often I turn into 'Charl - the selfish crafter' and keep one for myself!!

After finishing a short course in photography, I am starting to think outside the box and photograph subjects other than people, and love manipulating my photos (especially when it involves removing a spot or three lol).

Im so looking forward to creating some cool stuff for you all to have a peep at, and hope you enjoy it as much as Im going to love making it!! My 'home is...' LO will hopefully be attached - this was the one that I won the July house challenge for on UKS - hope you like it!