Silhouette scrapping

I had a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas but until recently I hadn’t done much with it. First I wanted to get a crack on with the Baltic albums and then made a start on some classes, and didn’t need anything die-cut. Plus the software looked awfully complicated and I wasn’t quite sure where to start.

So, I joined a few FaceBook groups that looked useful and tried cutting out a pre-made cut file from Paige Evans. It was easy enough, and I used one of Paige’s tutorials to find out how to then cut out the patterned paper to back the cut file. It worked like a charm and I’m really pleased with the resulting layout. I’ve got quite a few old 6×6 paper pads, so I used papers from one of those to experiment with. I just needed to figure out how to make my own cut files like that as I wanted to do ones with the cats’ names.

I’ve had some music-themed papers for a very long time. I bought them with a vague idea of doing a layout about my favourite music but never got around to it. I decided this was the perfect photo to use some of it with. I used the Silhouette for the title and the musical notes. It’s quite simple but I’m pleased with it.

I have hundreds of photos waiting to be scrapped. They’re all organised so not a problem, but I do want to try to get up to date with last year and this year and worry about anything earlier when I have time. This one is us having breakfast at one of our favourite places. Title done with the Silhouette. The cats have their own album, soon to be two albums as it’s getting a bit full. I did a multi photo layout with all the cats on to start it off and mostly the rest are in date order. I thought it’d be fun to do a layout for each line of the little song from The Big Bang Theory – Soft kitty. I’ve got a couple more to do, but I’ve just finished another one, with the title done on the Silhouette. Now I’m looking at the photo though, I can see that trapped space, so that title needs moving over a bit. I finally figured out how to do my own titles, like the one in the first layout. I was quite pleased with how this one turned out. Next I did one for Frodo, with one backed cut file and one script. I love the look of slightly patterned papers to back the cut files with, and both the papers used on this layout are at least ten years old, so bonus for using old stash.

Finally, feeling a bit more confident, I made a cut file for the title, and used a leaf cut file, that I’d bought from the design store, and added that to it. I’m really happy with this one. I used the Silhouette to cut the extra leaves using another bought cut file and used those as embellishments.

I have some lovely cut files in my library that I want to use, plus loads of ideas for making my own so no doubt there will be lots more to come.

Credit for cut files:
Beautiful – Paige Evans
Autumn leaves – Jennifer Wambach
6 Autumn leaves – Kolette Hall

 

 

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More kitty cat scrapping

I’m still playing with those lovely Doodlebug papers and have done a few more layouts of the cats. While I was getting all those cruise photos printed, I took advantage of the offers to get some more of the cats done.

I think I may step away from these papers & embellishments for a while now though as otherwise all the layouts in the cats’ album will look the same 😁

Most of these are scraplifts of layouts by Rachel using the same papers over on the Hey Little Magpie blog.

 

 

 

Still clearing my desk

I’m still working my way through Shimelle’s Clear the desk class. I was struggling with the set of papers that I’d put together so grabbed an old Basic Grey collection pack, or rather the little bit of it that was left, and tried to use it all up. I didn’t do too badly. The hardest part was finding some photos to go with it so I ended up with some Disney pics from 2010, after getting distracted for a few hours organising my photo boxes 🙄

The pack that I used was Lucky with all the lovely purples and reds. I only had a few sheets of paper left and no embellishments, tags or alphas. I did have quite a few Halloween embellishments though so I used up some of those.

 

I’ve also got a few photos of the cats in their Hop-in so I used one of those to use up the very last bits.
And that was the end of BG Lucky. I can’t believe that I’ve finally finished off one of the BG collections. One down, thirty-three to go LOL

Kitty cats & pretty paper

I’ve done a few layouts of the cats recently, so thought I’d get them uploaded before I forget. I’ve printed loads more photos of them while I was getting the ones from our cruise so I’ve got plenty more to play with if I need a change from holiday scrapping.

This one is a scraplift of one that Rachel posted on FaceBook. I saw it, loved it and rushed straight to my desk to copy it. Good job she doesn’t mind 🙂The next one is using some of the stash that I’d gathered for Shimelle’s Clear your desk class. I love this photo of Sammie on her ‘balcony’.The next one is inspired by a layout by Rachel – again. Frodo will only take so much grooming before he wants to play with the brush. This is another one of Sammie, using more of the Clear your desk stash.And finally yet another scraplift of a Rachel layout. I really love her style so I do tend to use her for inspiration quite a lot. This is another that I saw, loved and scraplifted within an hour.It uses the new Doodlebug papers that Rachel used in her Hey Little Magpie blog post for August, which caused me to do a bit of shopping 😉
I think I’ll be scraplifting a few more of those layouts at some point too.

Tents and tunnels

The adventure playground for our cats is looking good. The grasses are coming up nicely, apart from a couple that I’m keeping an eye on, and the cats are really enjoying being able to go outside when they want.

As they’re spending so much time out there, we wanted to provide some places where they could get shade if it’s sunny, and hide in to watch the birds and squirrels.

We’ve put their Hop-in cube and tunnel out there, as it’s weather proof and they like snoozing in there. Someone in a FB maine coon group had a brilliant orange tent with tunnel, which we were all admiring, and I managed to track one down online. 

Last year we spotted a bright yellow kiddies tent in Aldi. It might not last long but it was cheap enough so we added it to the collection.We’ve just put them all outside and fastened them down and so far, the cats are loving them.Both Frodo and Sammie have stayed outside during quite heavy rain, snoozing in the tents. Rosie was in the Hop-in earlier while it was raining with just her head popping out so she could watch a huge pigeon.

Hopefully I’ll get a few pics of them playing outside in them when it’s not raining at some point. It has to stop soon, right?

Animal Kingdom & Rosie

More scrapbooking and this time I’ve done one of Rosie when she was quite a bit younger and smaller. I have a pad of cat-themed papers that I’ve been working my way through and the colours in the pad are perfect for Rosie. I also have quite a large stash of cat embellishments that I bought when we were thinking about getting cats again, so it’s nice to be able to use them now.

I love the way Rosie was posing for this photo. It’s one of my favourite pics of her.
I’ve also been working my way through some more Holiday photos from last year and have done a couple more layouts of Animal Kingdom.

This one is going to be the section divider for AK.And this one is just to show off two of my favourite photos from the park.Both of those layouts are using some very old papers. The black/Kraft one is probably the newest one of them and that was dated 2008! It’s great to see old stash being used finally.

Clear the desk

I’m still enjoying working my way through Shimelle’s class, A most magical scrapbook, and I’m getting my Disney photos from last year done really quickly. As I was on a roll, I signed up for another of Shimelle’s classes that launched in Feb. It’s a class to encourage you to use up older supplies. For some people that just means using up the lovely stash they bought last year, but I have stash dating back to 2005 and maybe earlier.

I kept buying patterned paper but struggled to actually use it. Shimelle’s style uses a lot of pretty paper so I’m getting through it nicely now but I have lots to use up yet.

I had a really good rummage and pulled these papers for the first prompt.

That’s A-Z, Kaisercraft, Chatterbox, MME, Fancy Pants, 3 bugs in a rug, and one by American Crafts that didn’t get into the photo. The ones with dates on were 2005/2006.

This is what I made with these papers plus a mix of old & new embellishments.

Six layouts! I did four on the first evening and another two when I got home from work the following day. I don’t think I’ve ever been so productive so I’m chuffed to bits.

I’ve been busy with other stuff the past week but I’m going to dive in with a second set of supplies for the next video asap.

Fun in the snow

The cats loved playing in the snow last weekend. Two of them did, anyway. Sammie refused point-blank to go out in it. Frodo was outside for most of the day, with a short interlude for a wash and a snooze on my lap. Rosie was outside for a fair bit of the day although she wasn’t as keen on the snow falling on her and didn’t like the sound of the snow crunching under my wellies.

This photo was taken on Saturday before the snow really came down on the night. There was just a sprinkling so it gave them a chance to get used to the idea before playing out on the Sunday in the deeper snow.Frodo had a whale of a time. He was chasing snowflakes, helping Stephen to shake the snow off the enclosure roof and stalking Rosie. Rosie was a bit more cautious but didn’t seem to mind the snow underfoot. It was great seeing them have so much fun and it definitely wore them out as Frodo spent the evening cuddled up next to me, fast asleep, while Rosie curled up in her favourite bed on the cat tree.

Adventure playground

The cat enclosure is pretty much finished. We’ve got a couple of ornaments, the water feature & some solar lights to go out there but we’ll wait for spring for those now. Other than that, it’s all done, apart from a couple of places where the paint on the woodwork needs touching up.

I’ve taken a couple of photos…

There are planting areas around the roof supports. The supports are on bricks, which are cemented in. I’ve planted with lots of different grasses. They look a bit weedy at the moment but will be all different heights, textures and colours once they get going next year. I’ve left spaces between them for the cats to stalk through. I’ve added an extra layer of weed-proof membrane as I planted, so hopefully no weeds and the cats won’t be able to go digging. I’ve used river cobbles on top of the membrane as I love the look it gives and also I was hoping that the cats wouldn’t move them. I was wrong on that one. Rosie has been playing football with them. Still, they’re easier to put back than smaller pebbles so all’s good. The new step looks good and the cats love the border of slabs that goes around the edge. They like to lie on it, especially if the grass is damp.Frodo is enjoying being outside more as we can now let them out after it’s been raining. Before it would turn into a mud bath out there. He has some lightweight balls outside which he loves to bat around the grassy area. Sammie is a bit of a gymnast and balances on the roof supports. She loves all the higher sections, including the new shelf we’ve added between two of the supports. The big of garden immediately around the enclosure is looking good but the rest of it is still a mess. We’ll be working on that next year as well as sorting out the conservatory.

Cat flaps

The cats are loving their new enclosure but it was getting a bit chilly having the back doors open for them to go in and out. Because of where we’re situated, and because Rosie tends to panic if she can’t get in and hide if she needs to, we couldn’t just close the doors and leave them out there.

We’d been talking about having a cat flap for a while but couldn’t decide where to have it. The options were to go through the wall in my craft room, which would be a big job but would only need one flap. I was worried about getting a draught in there though as it’s a cold room to start with.

The other option was to go though the kitchen door. Then to either go through the conservatory wall, or though the door, which is double-glazed. If the latter, we’d have needed to have a new glass bit made with the cat flap already in it.

We’d been going back and forth on it for ages so eventually we found a company online that looked reputable, (Facebook reviews/good website etc) and gave them a ring. They turned out to be a godsend as not only did they give excellent advice, but fitted two flaps the next day (last Friday).

We had one in the kitchen door and one in the conservatory door. We had the glass panel replaced by a solid one as the door wasn’t wide enough to take the cat flap and still be strong enough. It looks a bit odd having the glass on one side and a solid panel on the other but I can live with it. If it does bother me, I can always get the other panel replaced to match.

The company we used is All Glass & Glazing, and we’ll definitely use them again if we need any glass work done. They were fast, efficient and friendly and left absolutely no mess at all. They supplied the flaps, which we chose from their website and they’re plenty big enough for the cats.

Frodo got the hang of using them straight away. I’ve been trying to get a pic of him but he’s so confident that he goes through them at about 90mph. He’s loving it.

Stephen made a little step for them outside as we thought the drop might put them off using it.

Sammie took a little longer to use the flaps and would still prefer for us to open the door instead, but she has been using them and has been in and out a few times today.Rosie is the most reluctant. She has used them but isn’t keen on trying to push them open. There are magnets holding the flaps steady, so they don’t blow in the wind. The cats do have to push a bit harder than if there weren’t any and that is what Rosie is struggling with. She’ll soon get the hang of it though.I’m noticing that the back door needs cleaning. Everything got a bit grubby out there while the landscaping in the enclosure was being worked on. Now it’s pretty much finished, I’ll have to get my scrubbing brush out!

I’ve been taking photos of the enclosure and I’ll post them soon. We’re really happy with it, and so are the cats.