Autumn Pages

I love autumn, who doesn't?  Maybe that's got something to do with why I've really enjoyed creating the following layouts.

First up is a layout with photos of our autumn holiday spent down at the caravan in Devon.  We had a lovely time and packed quite a lot into our week.  I wanted this page to show all the different stuff we were able to do  which included breakfast on the beach even though it was the end of October.

• Credits: Paislee Press Plate No. 27 a freebie from www.oscraps.com
• Leaves  - Everyday Inspiration 10-25-09 by Katie Pertiet at www.designerdigitals.com, a freebie
• Worn Strips No. 4 by Lynn Grieveson at Designer Digitals.
• Alpha - Cinzia Loosemore Thankful For You Kit at www.oscraps.com
• Simply Boy Kit (I can't remember at the minute where this came from but I'll come back with the details when I find them!)

I love these photos taken in Cragg Vale when Caroline and I took the boys for a little walk through Cragg Vale at the end of last month.

• Credits: 
• Template Inspiration 7-31-11 by Katie Pertiet at www.designerdigitals.com;
• Thankful For You Kit by Cinzia Loosemore at www.oscraps.com;
• Branch sprig Hey Boy Kit by One Designs at www.after5designs.com;
• Elements from Re-Creation 23 a freebie collaboration from kit by Catherine Designs and Creative Designs
• Leaves - Everyday Inspiration 10-25-09 by Katie Pertiet at www.designerdigitals.com, a freebie

This page is my latest creation and it's one of my favourites.  The poem is a perfect one for parents and children and these photos were just perfect for the poem.  All the photos were taken a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday morning in Uppermill Park when Trev took his little boy, Charlie, by the hand and played on the stepping stones across the river.

• Credits:
• Been There Template by Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals
• Elements from Simply Boy Kit, as before.

Kathleen.

Nicholas

These are a few pictures of Nicholas I took recently when he was playing in my garden.  I particularly like the main photo and wanted to build a layout around it.  I love the technique of blending a photo into the background and I was able to employ that technique in this layout.

The template I chose is My Boy, a freebie, from Little Dreamer Designs.  Once again I used Little Layette Kit by Katie Pertiet of Designer Digitals to decorate the page.  Lastly the background page is from a kit I purchased this week - Simply Boy by Cinnamon Designs available at After Five Designs.  I'm looking forward to using this kit more Simply Boy on my next lay out.

Kathleen.

Charlie the Nursery School Boy

It's hard to believe but my youngest grandson, Charlie, he's only three, started Nursery School a few weeks ago.  He attends for three hours each morning and has taken to it like a duck to water - thank goodness!  You see, it's my job quite often to take Charlie to Nursery and pick him up and because he likes it it's a very easy job.  For some parents though it's not so easy.  There are a couple of children who have been crying because they don't want to go in.  I feel so sorry for them and their parents.

Anyway, here's the digital scrapbook page I've made to remember this big step in this little boy's life.   Doesn't he look a little cutie in his "Don't you look like a big boy?" school uniform?

I struggled a lot with this layout.  I just couldn't get the look I wanted.  In the end I went surfing for inspiration and bought a new kit.  Teacher's Pet Kit by Kristin Aagard at After Five Designs and I love it.  It's a huge kit with tons of fun stuff in it.  Lucky for me the A5D gallery had plenty of pages posted using this kit and I soon found the inspiration I needed.

Kathleen.

 

Lazy Sunday Afternoon.

I'm having a quiet lazy day today.  It has rained more or less all day so no incentive to go outdoors.

Instead I've been doing some digital scrapbooking in Photoshop Elements and here is the page I've made.  This layout records the day in Newquay, Cornwall William and I spent with my sister and brother in law on our holiday together in June.

Credits:  Katie Pertiet - Template Inspiration 7.31.11 and various elements all available at Designer Digitals.   Kristen Aagard - On a Sunny Day Kit available at After 5 Designs.

Kathleen.

Charlie Chops the Little Monkey!

This page tells the story of the day Charlie was a little monkey.

Charlie is constantly told how to look after his books and he knows to treat them with care and not purposely damage them.  Whilst at my house just recently though he was definitely not looking after his books properly.  Not an earth shattering event by any means but scrapbooking is for documenting the everyday not just the important days.

I've used Charlie Chops in the title because if you ask Charlie what his name is he invariably says Charwie Chops.  I think that's come from his parents and when he says it it sounds really cute!

Here I've used Lynn Grieveson's Sock Monkey Kit; papers from Kevin and Amanda's, Fall Kit; stitching from a Katie Pertiet template, all available at Designerdigitals .com.  The title font is a free font, Quick End Jerk by Vic Fieger at Fontsquirrel.com and the journalling is Kristen ITC a PSE5 font.

Kathleen.

Little Doggies.

George and Nicholas were having fun playing at being dogs here the other day.  I snapped some photos and here they are in a layout already!  I think I've excelled myself with the speed these photos have found their way onto a page.

Credits:  Lil Layette Kit - Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals; Brushes and photo frame - Cinzia Loosemore at Oscraps; couple of elements (the clock, and Believe definition) from Creative Wings Designs.

I'm learning how to use brushes properly at the moment. On this layout the brushes are the faded details popping out behind the photos.  They add depth and a little more interest to the page.  I'm constantly dropping in on Kayleigh Wiles' blog at the moment for tips and tricks. I like her scrapping style and easy way of writing instructions.

I'm off to Photoshop Editor now I've got another page to start.

Kathleen.

A Quick Page.

This is a fairly straightforward layout detailing an afternoon last weekend when Gary brought the boys round to visit.

The journalling tells the story of the pictures.  I like this multi photo kind of page with just a little decoration to give a bit of interest.  The template, a freebie, is by one of my favourite designers and photographers, Cinzia Loosemore.

Kathleen.

Charlie's Birthday

It was my youngest grandson, Charlie's, third birthday last week.  He had a full busy day with an outing to an Open Farm, lunch at McDonald's and a birthday party later in the day.  I'm a lucky Nanny and was in on all the fun with my camera in hand to record the happy day.

I seem to have spent quite a bit of time dithering over this layout.  I just couldn't decide on anything and I mean anything at all.  I knew I wanted to put several photos on the page and use the paint splatter effect behind the photos and that was all I knew really.   So I did what I usually do in cases like this and trawled through my stock of digital kits etc. and waited for inspiration to hit me.  Considering the method I used and lack of any plan I'm quite happy with the way things turned out.

Credits:    Photo layout from Remember Today Template - Blue paper from Mon Petit Ballon Bleu Solids - Worn Safety Tags, all by Katie Pertiet;   little aliens from Lil Monster kit - Cinnamon Designs at After Five Designs;   Grey background paper from a collaborative kit found at Sugar Hill co;   "All About" wordart from Definitely Defined Bright Kit by Nicole Young at Digital Scrapbook Place.

Nicholas is 4!

Nicholas turned four years old on the 17th April.  I know it's an over-used phrase but where does the time go?  It can't be four years since Nicholas was born, can it?  

Anyway, I came up with this page to celebrate the event. 

I love the main picture where Nicholas and his friends are chasing bubbles.  The smaller photos show him at home opening presents and also at Jitterbugs, the indoor play area, where his party was held.  I think he had a great day.

The layered template and background paper I used here are from Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals.  The elements are all from one of my favourite kits, Birthday Magic by Kitty Designs and can be found at Oscraps.

Kathleen.

Catching up..

..with my recent pages.

First this one to remember our recent weekend with William's sister and her husband in Wales.  I love this worn page look and I use it a lot.  Credits: word strips, tags, papers, all by Katie Pertiet; boat - Little Enamel Elements by Katie Knox; worn page edges - Lynn Grieveson; all at Designer Digitals.

Then this one I made, mainly about things Charlie has been up to while I've been looking after last month.  Credits: template Creative Juice No. 23 by Biograffiti.com, papers and alpha from sugarhillco.com/blog.  All freebies.  Like I've said before digital scrapbook designers are the most generous people you will find anywhere!

And this one about our day at the beach last Sunday 3rd April.  Credits: template Outlined No.4 - Fei Fei's Stuff newsletter freebie; papers, elements - Katie Pertiet; flag and birdhouse from the heyboy kit by ondesings - After5Designs.com.

It's a Hard Life.

Here's a page I forgot to post.  George came round for a visit after school and just chilled out!

He didn't bat an eyelid while I snapped away.  I find the best time to take photos of our little boys is when their attention is taken by something other than me and the camera.  The something else in this case is the television.

I'll be back tomorrow with the details.

Credits: template by Vinnie Pearce - Twopeasinabucket.com; papers, alpha, heart element - Sock Monkey Kit by Lynn Grieveson, tags by Katie Pertiet - both Designer Digitals; at this moment I've no idea where the string came from but when I come across it I'll be back.  I hate to leave any designer's names out.

Kathleen.

Hinchliffe's, Castle Hill and a Birthday.

Sunday 20th March was an especially good day for us.  All of our family was able to go out for the day together and it was also William's birthday.

We all set off for Hinchliffe's in Huddersfield and these pages are full of the photos I took that day.

After coffee and cakes on the decking at Hinchliffe's we travelled about another 15 minutes or so to Castle Hill.  A high, windswept hill it is too.

Exhilarating is how our time up on that hill could be described.  We had a wonderful time, the only mishap being when Nicholas fell head first down a little hill.  We all thought he'd hurt his head or neck (scary) but no.  He'd hurt his leg.  That's why he's hopping in the picture above.

For these pages I used a couple of free templates, altered slightly here and there, from one of my favourite designers Cinzia Loosemore.  Her pages and photography are an inspiration.  The "Life" wordart is also from Cinzia.

The background paper is by Kristen Designs at After 5 Designs.  The little date tag is a Kitty Designs at Oscraps.  The "extraordinary" sticker is from a Nicole Young kit at Digital Scrapbook Place.

Until next time,

Kathleen.

Breakfast at Nan's

The photographs on this page were taken the morning after the Crafty Afternoon photos (see previous post).  It isn't often that I have all three boys together for breakfast. Pancakes were on the menu and they all helped to make them.  It was fun and recorded for evermore on this scrapbook page.

Here I've used a storyboard type page from Cinzia Loosemore at Oscraps.  Yet another freebie!  Cinzia is a very talented designer and photographer.  I love looking at her family photographs.  Take a look at her blog here.

The background paper and elements are from Kitty Designs-One Sweet Thing kit at Oscraps with the exception of the worn ribbon strip which is by Lynn Grieveson at Designer Digitals.

Happy scrapping!

Kathleen.

Valentine Cards

This page is dedicated to Saturday afternoon 12th Feb when the boys all made Valentine's cards.  The journaling tells of how Vicki and Gary went off for a rare night away on their own and left the boys at our house.  Caroline came up with the idea of making Valentine's Day cards with the boys.  She and Charlie came round to our house with all the stuff and the boys all got stuck in and had a whale of a time.

I've used a template here I bought when I first got interested in digital scrapbooking.  It's called Photo Selection by Lauren Bavin at Digitalscrapbookplace.com.  The background paper is from Mod Bebe Papers by A. Victoria;  jewellery tag from Lil Bits Tags by Katie Pertiet; alpha from Sock Monkey Kit by Lynn Grieveson all at Designerdigitals.com and lastly the cute little Valentine epoxies are Hazel Olive Designs at Mscraps.com.

I'm enjoying catching up on some scrapping.  I've realised though that I've got such a lot of stock now that I really need to do some re-organising of it all.  What's so very good about it all is that a good percentage of what I have was free stuff.  The digital scrapbook designers of this world are so generous with their talents and products it's amazing.

Until next time,

Kathleen.

Children in Need Day

I'm trying to catch up with my scrapping and I've got an awful long way to go.  This page is from November.

It tells of Children in Need Day at George and Nicholas's school.

Products used:  map paper from Editorial Inspiration 9.26.10 a freebie from Katie Pertiet, Worn Page Edges by Lynn Grieveson both can be found at Designer Digitals, background paper from One Sweet Thing a freebie kit from Kitty Designs at Oscraps, journalling tab from another freebie via The Coffeeshop Blog.

Hoping to be back soon with more.

Kathleen.

Christmas 2010

I don't seem to be organized anymore with my digiscrapping.  I've got tons of photos going back over the last year really which need recording but for now here's my latest offering.

As suggested by the title this layout holds our family photos mainly from Christmas Day. 

The template is a new one I actually purchased.  It was $2.40 and is a Kitty Designs from Oscraps.  The little row of Father Christmases was a 0.50cents special by Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals.

I'm hoping to get stuck into scrapping and be back before too long with more layouts. That's the plan anyway!

Kathleen.