I'm a very happy scrapper today!

I have finally managed to 'make' some time to scrap for myself... and the 'extra' hour thanks to daylight savings was helpful too!I decided to use one of the new 'Back to Basics' kits from Scrapbook Dreams and see what I could do with it.

I chose the 'Handsome' kit because I haven't really used grey very much and I was looking for a bit of a challenge.I started off doing a 12x12 layout of Richard and Kody because I had a great photo that would work with the April challenge at Scrapbook Dreams.

The challenge was to cut up a photo and I must admit that after feeling a bit hesitant at first I LOVE the results. This layout is called 'Buddies' and is about my niece Kody and her 'Buddy' Poppa.

I had lots of fun playing on this layout. I used Weathered Wood distress ink and bubble wrap to add a bit more interest to the background. Then I cut out my circles (dessert bowl, coffee cup and glass jar) and then I distressed the edges and inked them. The flower was orginally white but I used another Distress Ink technique that I saw online to colour it... love how that turned out!

I cut the photo and then backed it onto cardstock before mounting it on foam dots. The frame around Kody was cut out with the cricut (Base Camp). For the title I used some chipboard letters that I've had for ages, inked them with Weathered Wood and then added some Dimensional Magic (gotta love that stuff!!) I'm really pleased with how it turned out!

Next I decided to do a double 8x8 layout for Kody's album. Kody's favourite question at the moment is "What doing?" Apparently she asks everyone 'What doing?' all the time! Very cute the first few times but not so much by number 25!!! She calls Mum "Gamma" and Richard is "Pop-pa" so I decided to use that as part of my title. Here's the left side:

And here's the right side:I'm really hooked on the whole inking with bubble wrap thing so I did lots more of that and then started layering everything the way I wanted it. HEAPS of Weathered Wood ink because it just went with everything so well! The brackets around the left side photos are actually a frame that I cut the middle out of... very cool thing to be making my own embellishments!

Once I'd done the three layouts I still had 2 whole sheets of paper left and I was still itching to scrap so I had a quick look through my stash and found a mini tag album. I 'think' I remember getting it in a sale about 5 years ago because it was cheap... better late than never as far as actually doing something with it goes.

It's nearly Richard's birthday so I thought since I had a few photos of him and Kody I would make him a mini album about their relationship. EVERYTHING got inked, distressed, grunged etc... and it let me make use of ALL of the bits of paper I had left over from the layouts :)

Here's a bird's eye view of the album:Front cover:Pages 1 & 2:Journaling: Kody likes to ask lots of questions! Her favourite one at the moment: What doing?

What doing Poppa? Playing with Sophie.

Pages 3 & 4:Journaling: What doing Poppa? Reading you a story. What doing Poppa? Tickling Kody!!

Pages 5 & 6:Journaling: What doing Poppa? Trying to read my newspaper! What doing Poppa? Sharing my lollies with you. Yummy!

Pages 7 & 8:Journaling: What doing Poppa? Eating my pudding. Me too! What doing Poppa? Going to Auntie's house.

Back cover:

By the time I'd finished the mini album I only had two small pieces of cream cardstock left! That's great value from a $12 paper kit don't you think??? If you want one of these kits... or one of the other two kits available check them out HERE.

I hope you are all enjoying the 'extra' hour today :) Shell xx