A studio sketch And.....

This one is for lets Capture these sketches

Stanley has already started on that phase of not allowing me to take his photo so this is a Lo about some of the pictures I took on holiday where he decided to hide or do something silly.

AS you can see from the sketch I have shrunk the size of the sketch so I can have some space on my LO
This was the sketch

Studio CHallenges

Oops. This was supposed to be monochrome to go with the sketch but I didn't read that far. At least there's lots of yellow on it (plus a little blue and black but hey who's checking)

Its called "it's not only Santa tHat leaves gifts" I found this little heap of sweets on the window sill that Nancy had refused to eat out of the bag Grandma gave her. Arthur sorted them into rows for me

Just one of those random things that children do

This was the sketch

Mystery sketch- what am I doing

I'm following a five step mystery sketch over on Let's capture these sketches

every day you have to visit the blog, find the next step and add to your LO.

Here's my step one

let's see what happens next. I'm not sure whether to keep editing this post or add a new post for each step. Just wait and see.

American Crafts blog

This Lo is for the American Crafts blog.

These are some photos of Nancy posing in the leaves on the way into school a few weeks ago (when the weather wasn't quite so freezing cold)

The challenge was to create a fall LO and of course use some of their products

American crafts products used are

city park paper

Dear Lizzy just write journalling ticket

brown card

thickers

The background paper is from October Afternoon

table football

A LO I made for Sketchy Thursday- Stanley and my husband playing table football- they are very competitive ( you can't see that they are playing against Arthur (5) and Grandpa!

too quick for you?

A LO for the Design Dollies latest sketch

Hope this is not too quick for them- I often have a couple of hours in the morning to scrap so as soon as I see a challenge I like I make a LO ( if I leave it I forget and miss the deadline!) I used my new leaf punch instead of a more usual banner.

Something to be thankful for

I'm an English woman living in the Netherlands- so thanksgiving passes me by but my boys go to an International school and Arthur came home today with a turkey and on the tail feathers were things he was grateful for

Here is his list

My TV

my fish

my paper

my car

my shelf

yes he did mean shelf - I asked in case he had spelt myself wrong

There is a Lo to follow and a photo- I just need to make one and take the other!

edited now- here is the LO

I'm using this for the HMITM challenge-

this week you needed 5 patterned papers

5 stamped images

5 pieces of ephemera

and 5 things you're thankful for- I did Arthur's instead

Here's the picture

I wish I could find my corner punch

Had a very productive day today.The weather is just so awful that going out is not much fun with a three year old who refuses to wear a coat- so we stayed in and I scrapped..

Anyway i made this Lo for Lets Capture these Sketches. Its about our very makeshift bonfire night celebrations. In the UK we celebrate Guy Fawkes on November 5th (long story- explosion-failire- torture- ) but its a peculiarly British celebration. Anyway now I'm here in the Netherlands I miss it so we cobbled together what we could. You can only buy and use fireworks here around new year so they were out of the question. I found some very old sparklers in as draw ( I wasn't even sure they would work but I daren't try them as there were only a few and I needed them for the night) we had a tiny bonfire in a metal fire basket and a barbeque with jacket potatoes and homemade baked beans- we even fashioned a Guy out of a pair of tights and a paper plate. the photos were dreadful too but I just had to make the effort to scrap them.
I used this sketch

This Lo was for the Scrappiest sketches. Arthur had a school performance last month- they had a group of actors come into the school and help them prepare a performance in just one day. Each of the three had their own piece to perform- Kindergarten were caterpillars, bees and butterflies in the rainforest. The photos were bad- it was either flash (which didn't work so everything was dark or no flash so everything was a blur- i went for artistic blur!)

yet more bad photos on a bad weather day- but at least it hasn't snowed yet

Pencil Lines

the photos are of Arthur swinging at the playground. I was trying to get a good shot of his shadow. I used a little title from Cosmo Cricket that says you are here because you can only see a tiny part of Arthur's legs on the photo.
This was the sketch

( even though it might not look like it much)

Lets Capture these Sketches

Stanley had a school performance last month- they had a group of actors come into the school and help them prepare a performance in just one day. Each of the three had their own piece to perform-grade 1,2,3 had three different dances. Stanley performed an aboriginal style bird dance so this map paper was perfect but it meant I needed to shrink down the size of the photos so Australia could still be seen on the map

the photos are artistically blurred ( better than flash that doesn't reach)- the sketch is below

How I work so quickly

I thought I'd post these two LOs together so you can see how I manage to work so quickly.

This Lo is for the design Dollies elements challenge- Clean and simple with brads and beads ( well I have no beads so they can have a button instead)

The Lo has a picture of Arthur- he happened to get his head in the way when I was taking a picture of Villa Carlotta from the boat on Lake Com hence the title.
I'm slightly worried that I upset the Design Dollies- they have a comment on one of their posts saying if you add a link to this post 5 minutes after it is posted it is clear you haven't made it for this challenge-- I just want to say all my LOs are made for the challenge I say they are ( and I've just worked out how to change my time stamp so it looks like I as in the Netherlands instead of somewhere with PST)

Then I made a Lo for twisted sketches ( the twist being family)

as you can see I tend to use what is on the desk in front of me so I used lots of stash from the first LO again

the same patterned paper

the same two punches

the same stamps

the same book (I punched circles from the introduction to Bleak House- you know those really cheap editions of classics- they always have an introduction that I don't want to read- its better than using the first chapter of the next book in the series that you often find in a thriller- theres always the wrong kind of words in it)
this was the sketch

A mixed bag

Design Dollies Colour Challenge

The colour Combo this week was black, grey and white with a hint of orange- It was the perfect combination to use with this photo of Arthur- The setting sun made his face look orange!

The Scrappiest Sketches-91

another one of Arthur's performance- I loved the semis circle element on this sketch and though it was a fun shape for some fun ( and rather blurred ) photos of the show
This was the sketch

Dutch dares

This Lo is about Arthur's habit of getting in a grump- this photo was taken at the Spoorwegmuseum in Utrecht and I have no idea what had made him look so grumpy.

This was the sketch

Another new challenge

I've found another one- yes more challenges to get my teeth into- this one is called Get Picky and the main aim of the site is to get you to make multi photo LOs- something I am very bad at.

I loved this picture of nancy at the museum- she was crossing her eyes and licking the post- of course I had to take a photo before I told her to stop.

Here is the sketch- i have flipped it around a bit

twisted pencil

This is the latest Pencil Lines sketch

The Pencil Lines sketch was a multi photo sketch so I chose a series of shots from Lake Como of my three throwing stones into the lake. Nancy kept asking me if stones were "good skinners" for the boys to throw. How Cute.

This was the sketch

Funny Viking

This is for twisted sketches- is a bit random. The twist this week was "history" and what happened to be sitting on my desk but a picture of me in a viking helmet from Ikea. What's a girl to do but make a LO of herself looking like a fool.

( How can a former history teacher- who is forever reading history books end up making a LO like this?)

this was the sketch

Oh and why not join us over at Scrapbookers Anonymous- there is still time to join in the challenge- use some holiday paper on a non holiday LO simple

quick quick time is running out

One for Sketchy Thursday. This is what happens when you stick me in charge of the camera at the football match- various photos with parts of Stanley or no Stanley and the just the ball. I'm not cut out to be a sports photograhper.

This was the sketch

And one for A trip Down Memory Lane

This is the a Lo about the arrival of Sinterklaas here in Hilversum- Sinterklaas is different to Sant or Father Christmas. He arrives in mid November from Spain on a steam boat (he lives in Spain). He has helpers called Zwarte Piet and he brings presents for children on the 5th of December. but if children sing a song and leave their shoes out any evening he brings sweets for them. Oh and to add complication the presents don't arrive overnight but in the evening - some people hire Sints or Piets to bring the presents. this LO shows my three waiting for the boat with their Zwarte Piet hats on

The sketch is shown below.

Winter Wonderland

Having just missed the deadline for Scrap it With a Song this week I thought I'd better get in there early this week. So here is my Lo based on the song Winter Wonderland

It shows our trip to Amersfoort zoo one very snowy day last year and the trees in the Japanese Garden that were covered in it. Stanley loved throwing the snow in the air and showering himself in it. I hate snow- some is forecast for Thursday- I'm already panicking

Hoping for better weather tomorrow.

These are the updated slightly better images I took today- see below for the information

I tried to take some photos of these two LOs without much success.

The first is for How Much is too Much using a sketch from Twisted Sketches

The challenge from HMITM was to make a travel LO with at least 6 circles and 6 patterned papers. So this LO is about the toilets at Schiphol airport, they are quite amazing, glass walled the have a view of the runway and the planes as well as looking down over the departures lounges and all the passengers . The photo is Nancy posing in the toilets, with a reflection of me and some planes in the mirror- It's called "loo with a view"

The sketch I followed is below

the twist was to use circles in your LO

The second is a Sassy sketch

It is my Nan and Grandad on the swings in our village- I am guessing it is early in the war before he went to fight- You can see the apprehension on his face- I know he didn't want to go as he had lost his father in the First World War ( his father died without ever seeing him)

This is the sketch

abc and twins

The Pink Ninjas latest challenge is called throwback- you have to scrap the clothes you used to wear- the things you wouldn't dream of now. Mostly I'm not ashamed of what I wore when I was younger- it was cool at the time and I'm happy with that but then I found this picture- there's nothing more mortifying that when you are wearing the same thing as someone else and when I was a kid I was always dressed up in the same clothes as my sister 0r even matching outfits with my Mum if they were home made. So I decided to scrap me and my sister in a tunic thing that my great Aunt brought home from a trip to Tunisia- and why were we sitting on a teacup?

The next LO is for Scrap it With a Song- this week the song was ABC by the Jackson 5. Stanley and Arthur's school photos arrived this week so they matched perfectly with the theme of the song. the school photos came with some tiny passport size pictures so I stuck a few on the LO as I have no one to give them to (sob!)
Oh and don't forget to join in the challenge over at Scrapbookers Anonymous- you still have a few days to enter- all you have to do is make a non holiday LO with Holiday paper- simples

American crafts - thankful

This LO is for the American Crafts Thankful challenge

Its a picture of my son on our recent holiday to Italy with a face covered in pizza! The journalling is a list of all the "naughty " things he does that I still love about him.

They include

1. his early mornings

2. his pizza face

3. his stinky feet

4. his odd socks

5. his banana feet ( they say this at school when the little ones put their shoes on the wrong feet)

products used

paper from the abode range and the new city park range ( including the back of two sheets- i wish AC would make plain sheets of the colours on the back of their papers- I know they make card but I love the flat/ non textured plain colours)

my favourite winkel

This LO is for the Dutch Dares challenge - scrap your favourite shop.

The difficulty was choosing just one! Of course I love Hema- I love the toys and the cakes, the stationary and the clothes but I also love the inexpensive shops like Wibra and Xenos for the random things you can find there. And then there's Jammin for sweets and the boys would always go with Bat Smit or Toychamp!

But my favourite is most probably definitely Action. I buy something every time I go in- I can satisfy Nancy's need for a notebook or something pretty on each shopping trip. I have bought decorations for my sisters wedding there ( bird cages in case you were wondering). They do very cheap stationary and double sided tape for scrapping, and my husband can always find what he needs in there as well.

(sorry about the picture the light is fading on a very cold grey November day.)

and a linked up Dollie

Honestly I am so slow on the uptake sometimes. There was a little thing to press to link things up all the time if only I'd bothered to look! Anyway this LO is for the week's Design Dollies Sketch.

The LO is of Arthur on one of our 20km Cycle rides - I just loved this paper from Studio Calico with the little bikes on it just perfect for our cycle ride LOs!

( still haven't managed to get this next bit right)