Monday Scrapping Goodness

I thought I would mix things up a bit and blog on a Monday instead of Sunday. Truth is, I didn't have any photos taken yesterday so I had to wait until today to take some. I didn't get home from work early enough to get daylight shots (my preference) but I think the ones I have taken will do.
This past weekend saw me packing up my gear and heading into my LSS for a crop night with some of my friends from town. Like most crop nights, I did far more talking than scrapping. I have decided that getting part of a layout done is better than not getting anything done at all. I surprised myself by getting almost two layouts done. Yeah I know, pretty pathetic compared to super speedy scrapper Donna (man can that woman scrap!).
This is the first layout I managed to do:


I love this chipboard bird and flourish from Dusty Attic. I misted it with Tattered Angels Chalkboard mist and then did a light spray with pearl mist. Will definitely been looking for more chipboard like this to add to my stash.

Oh October Afternoon, how I love thee. Yes, if you haven't already guessed it by now, October Afternoon is perhaps my most favourite line. I love the paper, I LOVE the sticker embellishments ... I LOVE IT ALL!!!
Layout Number 2 ended as a work in progress. Although I have already photographed it (usually my sign that it is done), I feel that it needs more, probably on the top right hand side. I have been playing with it a bit but can't come up with anything I am happy with. It wasn't until I photographed the layout that I realised how similar in design it was to Layout No 1.

Loving experimenting with material on layouts lately, although I think I really need to get something that is NOT gingham. I have four different sets of material all in the same gingham pattern left over from about 12 years ago when I first started teaching. I bought them so that Mum could make some skirts for me for work. She made two but I have enough material for two more.
I also actually managed to do a layout tonight. Scrapping during the school week is almost unheard of for me. Normally I am either too busy planning, marking or just trying to wind down to be bothered to scrap. Last night however, I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to finish off some Year 11 English marking and plan the week. The loss of sleep was worth it - my week is pretty much organised and I am all up-to-date with marking. Yay! So I did this as a little reward to myself - the challenge for Out of the Hat challenge website. Donna, one of the ladies who I scrapped with on Saturday night is on the design team. For the challenge we had to make our own journalling spot, use twine and include a number in the title. This is what I managed to come up with:
I made the journalling spot by tracing around the backing board of something from Jenni Bowlin. After cutting it out, I used a fine script stamp to lightly stamp on the background (I inked up the stamp, stamped in onto a piece of paper then on to the cardstock so it was quite light). I finished the journal spot off with bird stamps from Grant Archival. Not too shabby if I do say so myself lol!
I wanted to take some of the 'blackness' off the Heidi Swapp verb sticker so I added a few coats of Tattered Angels Glaze. Looks so much better in real life.
Well, I think that it about all for tonight. Who knows, I might even manage another layout in the coming days ... it is nice to dream lol.
Hope everyone is well. Take care.
S xoxo