Focus!

Hi Everyone,

Today I'm very excited to be joining in with a Blog Hop as part of the Focus Your Craft & Soul free blog event which kicked off at 4pm today over at Jennifer Grace Creates

Jennifer's blog events are always fun, so I'm looking forward to a weekend full of ideas, inspiration and great giveaways. Just look at this one - a WRK Insta Album Kit - which Jennifer is giving away to one lucky person ...

The giveaway closes on Sunday 24th May at 10pm BST and is open internationally - all you have to do to enter is to comment on each of the blogs in the Focus Your Craft & Soul hop.

I'm the last blog in the hop - if you've worked your way through the list and arrived here via Claire's blog, all you need to do now is head back to Jennifer Grace Creates to complete the hop or find the complete list if you've got lost along the way!

But don't go yet! I have a project to show you, my first ever scrapping process video, a mini photo tutorial, and a little prize of my own to offer one lovely reader :o)

Here's the process video on You Tube showing how the page came together - grab a coffee and settle down, it's almost half an hour long ...

This year I have decided that the best way to catch up on scrapping thirty years' worth of photos is to make a few "focal" pages featuring favourite photos, and lots of matching pocket page spreads to scrap multiple pictures really quickly. So here's a focal page, featuring one of my favourite photos from our wedding day ...

I used arrows and frames to focus attention on the subject of the page. Then I made some PL-style cards for a matching pocket page spread ...

The pocket page cards were great fun and very quick to make, and used up more of the stash left from the focal page. Here's what I did ...

These were the papers I had left, and an empty pocket page protector. I also grabbed some stickers, a Happy Scatter "Which Way" arrows stencil, my Georgie Stamp Set, a white chalkboard pen, a fine black pen and some inks ...

First, I cut the patterned papers into pieces either 3"x 4" or "6 x 4"

Then I set about garnishing each of them with scraps, stickers and doodling ...

I tried out lots of ideas, like inking and doodling through the stencil ...

... to create my own fun embellishments ...

Stamping onto patterned paper and cutting out the images to make my own photo corners, hearts and butterflies ...

Heat embossing a stamped image ...

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Then adding a wood veneer and splattering with mist ...

I ended up with more than enough cards to fill two pocket pages, so all I need to do now is add the photos. Here's another pocket layout ...

So that's eight photos scrapped in double-quick time!

If you would like to win one of my Georgie Stamp Sets, just let me know in the comments below by Sunday 24th May at 10pm BST and I'll put your name in the virtual hat! NB the draw will be open internationally.

Remember to head over to Jennifer Grace Creates now to finish the hop and join in with all the fun - see you there! :o)

Annie xxx