Expanding blog hop

Good morning everyone

Today I’m joining with you for a blog hop with a difference where the hop expands out. My friend Karen from UKS invited me to take part. This entails answering four questions and then tagging other people to carry the torch to their own blog hop.

Karens’ answers are here on her blog.. and I think she’s done an amazing job..so do hop on over and have a read once you’re finished here.. and remember to leave her some love.!

So on to the four questions!

 1. What am I working on at present?

Well, to be truthful…nothing! I’m not a ditherer so if I start a LO I finish it at that same sitting.. if I don’t have enough time to sit and make a LO from start to finish.. I don’t sit down at all. I have a craft room that is located at the other side of the house.. so it is easy for me to ignore. That doesn’t mean I don’t have lots of projects in my head.. I just never start something and don’t finish it! My dear husband works shifts as a firefighter and my ‘kids’ have left home so I have plenty of time to sit and scrap per week.

Here is my work desk... neat huh?

2. How does your work differ from any other of it’s genre?

Hmmm… that’s a difficult one! To be honest I don’t think I’m ‘unique’ in any way…but I can pick some things that make me a little different!

1) Firstly I guess you can say I’m fearless! Why? Well, I’m always up for a challenge.. I’m never afraid to ‘have a go’ so I never worry if it turns out to be rubbish! I will try anything scrapbook related.. I rarely, if ever, try anything else.. layouts are what make me tick! I like all forms of scrapbooking, messy, clean, mixed media or anything really.. If I don’t like what I’ve made, I dismantle the parts and use them again elsewhere and throw the card stock away.. it’s only a piece of paper after all said and done! And my time is my own, so I can be ruthless. (TBH, I think I’ve only ever thrown away one or two LO’s so it’s not a bad hit rate.) I think nothing of taking a sketch…whatever the style, and just sitting and creating.. sometime they are quite ‘scary’ looking sketches.. but I’ll still ‘have a bash!’  Take this for example 

which turned into this  

or this:

 

which became this 

I don't think either LO became 'scary' in the end do you?

2) The other thing that makes me unique is perhaps my speed? I am known to be decisive, never prevaricate and ‘just get on with things’- (not just scrapbooking either!). I regularly get comments about how quick I am and I can usually get a LO made in around an hour or sometimes less.. even the more elaborate ones!

This one for example took me a little over the hour.. although I confess it was a kit from Total Papercrafts.. but I still had to fussy cut everything etc etc... 

and this double CJ page took me about 30 minutes plus 5 minutes to make the rosette. 

3) Finally, I’m a scatterer! Whatever the style- messy, clean with lots of white space etc. I often finish it off with a ‘scattering’ of small embellishments.. it’s almost my trademark now… sequins, bead spacers, pearl pen dots, punched shapes, gems, enamel dots, brads etc, etc, etc…. I LOVE a good scatter.. a LO always looks best with a ‘scatter’ in my opinion!

Here are some examples:

To me they look more... well... finished I guess! 

Although I do use border punches I don't use them to excess... sometime a little is just enough.. like this one. 

3. Why do I write/create what I do?

This photograph says why! Give a scrapbook as a gift and look at the reaction it gets! One gift.. 5 people clamouring to get a look! If you gave a bottle of perfume or something similar.. you’d NEVER get this reaction!

As I make lots of LO’s (usually 10-15 a month) I am aware that I can’t keep all of them, (my 16^th Century cottage is already full to bursting with them) so if I create a LO with a person on it, I am always mindful that it may get included as a gift in the future. They make wonderful ‘special’ birthday gifts. 

In 2014/15 I have a 60^th, an 80^th and a 30^th coming up…so I think about those future albums and have already started making LO’s for them... some won't make 'the cut'... but others will...like this one which I made yesterday for my sisters 60th next year (it still has to have the title added but I'm still thinking about that) it is of her on her 40th birthday... any ideas welcome!

4. How does your writing/ creating process work.

My writing process is similar to my scrapbooking process…. I just sit down and type… or craft if I am creating of course! I don’t often think about what I’m going to say until I sit down.. and then it just happens… I’ve never been at a loss for words (as my dear husband will tell you!) LOL!

Normally, when I am writing about a LO I will often explain the ideas behind my decision making process and the techniques, names of papers etc and then, of course, link to any blogs that I have gained inspiration from. At the moment I confess the biggest inspiration I am getting is from the designers over on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog, where they suggest many ideas during the course of the month. In order to keep up with my creativity bent though I need more prompts than any one blog is able to give me, so I visit several others throughout the month..   see my previous posts for the details of them.

For me, tidiness is important, and I can't function in a mess, so I usually always start out with a tidy space or it just doesn't 'happen'.. so here is a peek at my craft room too.

Finally I would like to introduce you to two of my fellow bloggers that I have ‘met’ over at UK Scrappers.. which is a great place to hang out.. (new members are always welcome too.. and not just from the UK!) They have kindly agreed to post a blog answering their questions too.

Firstly, meet Suzy.. she is a wonderfully talented crafter who loved mixed media, paints, inks and generally getting messy! She lives in Scotland and is a lovely lady who is willing to share her love of what I call ‘arty stuff’ over on her blog here. Some awesome inspiration to look at! 

Finally, also let me introduce Janine O’Rourke. She, co-incidentally, lives in Scotland too and is the owner of Scrapaholix and has only recently started expanding her empire to include a blog. She sells kits and runs groups of classes, so a visit to her blog will also be enlightening.

Both of their expanding blog posts go live on the 16^th, so do hop on over to their blogs next Monday to see their answers.

Thanks for popping by.. I look forward to seeing you again soon!

Elaine