Happy Happy Happy and I love My Robo.

So first proper project of the year is some 1st Birthday invitations for my nephew. Whilst in shock over the fact that a year has passed since he was born, I relished the thought of a new, non Christmassy project. 

Mr Men are a very nice and simple make as the style is very much hand-drawn. This lends itself well to someone who isn't quite perfect in the drawing field either by hand or digitally. They also involve blocks of colour, again good for digital images and stash saving.

Mr Happy was actually cut on the Robo, which is why I have a salute to that wondeful machine in the title. 32 cuts in only 4 sheets of yellow 12x12 done in only 30 minutes whilst doing something else at the same time. The shape was easy to construct, after all Mr Men are based on regular shapes. So 5 ovals  and a couple of rectrangles later I have a perfect Mr Happy shape which cuts cleanly and quickly. We save a lot of time and a nice job remains a nice job and isn't a chore. 

The background is done on PC, Capitals and script as per the Mr Men covers and a 1 for my nephew. Mr Happy will be stuck on using foam pads and job's a good'un. The print quality isn't that good but that will be rectified with a new ink cartridge. There is a nice invite insert sheet to match up inside. All I need to do is put it all together and hope that my back is happy with me sitting down for such a long time.

Love Elliefantasy xxx

WOYWW

First WOYWW post! As mentioned yesteday I am still working on a baby book for friends of mine who are expecting their first child.

I love making baby books, as you can try and reflect the personality of the parents as well as guessing the personality of the child.

I have made some changes with the layout of this book to the "grandad" one that I made for my step-dad earlier in the year, especially since I watched him try to use the book over the weekend. In my efforts to add lots of inspiration for the photo ideas and detail on the layouts I hadn't left enough room for him to put in good sized pictures. In particular I had left nice big spaces for pictures of my step-sister and me, but not a lot for pictures of Mummy and Daddy! There were also pictures that had been taken which were worthy of being placed in the album but that had nowhere appropriate to go. So definately a rethink was in order.

So in this album I have tried to leave lots of spaces for pictures and not been so restrictive in the layout themes. As I have seen, there will be tons and tons of pictures, especially now there are so many digital cameras around, and now most phones have a very adequate camera for catching those candid and rare images. The page to the right is one of the first that I did, showing my excitement about being able to colour in peel-offs with permanent brush pens. Mummy to be is a very pink orientated person (to the point that we refer to her as Pinky, though initially that was to deal with duplicate naming issues) and I think that the black here really sets it off. A simple little layout but very effective and leaves lots of room for lovely pictures.

Also having another go with the Robo, now that I have it back up and running again. However I think it is time for a slight overhaul, when funds are available. The letters that I cut today were slightly pulled and torn, and only the clever application of fast tack glue and seed beads has helped me out. But the diversity it gives me proves that it was worth every penny of what I spent!

Elliefantasy