Sea Glass & Sand

A Rabble of Ravers

2012-02-10T15:44:00.000Z

I finally got round to scrapping one of the photos of the seven members of my UKS team The Rik Rak Ravers which I posted on here following the Frozen North Crop at Holystone.

I did it for this weeks weekly challenge on UKS, the criteria was to scrap woman/women - check, an achievement - check (well we feel it was an achievement getting all of us together at one and use sewing on layout - check

I used a sketch I put up for our team to use this week but I cant remember for the life of me where I got it from, all I know is it says on the sketch by Julie Bonner.

UKS - ART JOURNEY - PROMPT 4

2012-02-06T09:16:00.003Z

I wasnt in a very creative mood to scrap this weekend but I must say I am enjoying dabbling away in my art jounal following the UKS Art Journey. This week the prompt was from Julie Kirk (Nabview) and was all about cutting out words from magazines to kick start your pages. I started with the blue left hand page using words cut out from a Liz Earle Newsletter. I had rather helpfully just thrown away all my mags etc into the recycling but now I will chop them up first!

As anyone who knows me knows I am not a winter girl at all and the words winter and blues jumped out at me. Once I had done that page I thought of Julies post on her blog about Month of Sunrays encouraging people to use yellow, now although I am a summer girl I am not a fan of yellow but I boldly set off and the second rather yellow page emerged. I didnt have any suitable words from magazines so I used a correction tape runner to make the white strips and hand wrote the words on.

If you have never tried Art Journalling before you should give it ago and follow the Art Journey.

You should also pop over to Julie's fab blog Notes on Paper as it is always full of great inspiration.

Sketch & Scrap - January

2012-02-03T13:32:00.000Z

The sketch for the Sketch and Scrap Challenge this month was set by Heather. I had these two photos of Fraser and Fiona in my to scrap box - they were taken in 1999 (can you tell I have a lot of catching up to do - only having been scrapper for about two years!!) We were on holiday in the North East and we were walking along the dunes at Bamburgh. I have used up a mixture of papers mostly from an old Cosmo Cricket kit with a few bits of Lilybee. The Seaside rock badge on the embellishment came from a Quirky Kit.

UKS - ART JOURNEY

2012-01-27T11:24:00.001Z

I have fancied having a dabble in art journalling for a while but given I am not "arty" in the slightest as I have no drawing skills whatsoever and all the art journalling pages I have looked at on blogs are absolutely fab I never felt brave enough to have a go.

This year however there is a six month art journey on UK Scrappers led by the lovely Leanie who is a CJ teamie of mine

I have decided to join in but having a limited budget at the moment and not being sure how I will get on with this I havent gone for a fancy journal as a base just a small A6 watercolour paper pad picked up in the pound shop near my parents caravan. I am also trying to use inks, paints and pens I have and not spend any money on more stash so we will see how that goes. If I get into this then I may venture into a bigger and a better journal but we shall see.

At the EK crop last weekend Sally brough the art journal she completed last year in to show me and I decided to be brave and made a start with a little title page. I was pleased with this and thanks to Sally for the use of the stamps I used.

From the first prompt on UKS I came up with this double spread - I am not really very pleased with it - its lacking something and I will probably go back and do something else on the page but its a start at least. Im looking forward to seeing how this journey progresses and hope to do my next page for this weeks prompt at the Stewarton Crop on Sunday

Chinese Whispers Round 5

2012-01-19T13:39:00.001Z

Well another month has rolled round and its Chinese Whispers time again. This time round I was copying this layout of Heathers. I decided to use this beautiful die cut sheet of Websters Papers which was part of my Secret Santa pressie from my lovely teamie Dee - thanks hun - I love it all. The picture is my Dad with his sister, Mum, Dad and my Great Grandpa and a couple of other family members. I made the flowers using a spellbinders die and inked the little white carnations to match. Thanks to Heather for the use of her Stampin Up Bird punch for the wee bird and the the branches and the Cuttlebug die for the title. I also used Dee's Ornamental Iron Cricut cardtridge for the wee corner which just finisheds it off I think. All in all it turned out quite well

Just two more rounds to go I think and then I will blog my original layout and all the various takes on it to let you see how it evolved each round.

A Fabby Dabby Scrappy Weekend

2012-01-17T13:58:00.000Z

Just back from my lovely friend Heather's near Newcastle. Had a great weekend, we were scrapping, chatting, eating and drinking the pink stuff - much the same as we ever do.

Went to the Frozen North crop on the Saturday and thanks to Dee flying all the way from Donegal and our new lovely teamie Clare coming along it was a historic day as seven of our UKS team the Rik Rak Ravers were all together at once and the previous record was six, thankfully Pam was on hand to take some pictures so here we are

Me, Jules, Lesley, Clare, Debbie, Dee and Heather.

Roll on March when we will all be together at the crop again as Dee and I are once again wending our way down to the crop.

Will be back soon with some layouts from the weekend

Photo Fifty

2012-01-09T08:37:00.000Z

As some of you may know I am embarking on a year long album project as a celebration of the year I will be fifty. I am doing this.in conjunction with Suzies 365+1 photo challenge and I have set up a seperate blog for this called Photo Fifty where I am posting the photos from the.different prompts.

My album is along the Lines of a Project Life type thing and is filled with a mix of plain qnd divided page 12 x 12 protectors and some 6 x 12 and 8 x 8 ones.

Here is the introduction page and the first page I have done for.January using some of the photos from Suzies prompts.

I just hope I can keep the motivation going for this one all through the year.

Sketch and Scrap December

2012-01-04T13:40:00.002Z

It was my turn to set the sketch for the Group for December and this lovely sketch from Scrapbooks etc. caught my eye

Here is my version of it. Photo is my son Fraser and his girlfriend on their recent Venice trip. Fraser commissioned this to go in a frame for part of Emma's Christmas so Im glad they both liked it.

Apologies for the poor quality of the photo but the light wasn't very good and Fraser wanted to take it away to get it wrapped up.

Its Heather's turn for January so looking forward to the 5th to see what sketch she has chosen.

last day of the year

2011-12-31T18:48:00.000Z

Well 31December today. Cant believe it, Its been a very quick year. Im not a fan of New Years eve really so no Big celebration for me. Im just glad all the festivities are nearly over and we can get back to,normal.

2012 marks the year I will be 50! It will be a New start for me. Life kind of fell apart for me just after my 40th birthday when i discovered my hubbie of 20 years was having an affair with one of my best friends. The last 10 years have been tough for me but I have decided that 2012 will be the year of me.

I am joining with a 365+1 photo challenge which I am combining with a Project life document your year type album and I am determined to keep it going for the while year.

I hope 2012 brings you all health, wealth and happiness. Not much crafting recently and as I pine during the winter for my beloved Beadnell I will leave you with a photo from there.

See you all next year.

Chinese Whispers Round 4

2011-12-22T07:11:00.001Z

Cant believe we have just completed Round 4 of our teams Chinese Whispers game.

This is my take on it for this month. Ive used papers from my September/October Quirky kit, Studio Calico and American Crafts, I think. The photo is my daughter Fiona on her 18th Birthday. She had harped on and on for ages about wanting to be 18 and get her ID hence the title, Legally Blonde. Thanks to Heather for showing me how to make the flower, thats one spellbinders die I think I might have to ask Santa for.

Looking forward to the next round now - cant believe how quickly we are powering through this challenge, I think theres only three more rounds to go.

A Fab Crafty Weekend

2011-12-20T10:24:00.000Z

Well I've just had a fabby crafty weekend with my very good friend Heather. We scrapped, sipped the Pink stuff, munched on goodies, laughed our socks off, sang to our hearts content and generally had a good time. I was sorry to see her go home but weather permitting I will be off to Holystone in January to visit her and crop with my frozen north buddies.

Here is my rather late entry for November Sketch and Scrap. Firstly here is the sketch chosen by Jo and this is my interpretation of it.

The picture is my son and daughter walking along one of the Tracks at Center Parcs. I feel the photo has a sort of etheral almost other wordly feel to it. I used up some of.my old papers, i think Mama razzi is.my all time favourite Bo Bunny range.

It was my turn to pick the sketch for this month and Im working on my layout at the moment.

Chinese whispers Round 3

2011-11-21T11:47:00.001Z

Well our team Chinese Whispers game has now completed Round 3.

Firstly here is my layout for this month Picture is my son Fraser in a gondola in Venice with his girlfriend Emma I used papers from the new gottacraft kit Lily Bee Memorandum. I just love them i gutted the papers and card to save some for for die cutting out the flowers with and had cause to use my winning slogan from Sian's blog. Keep calm Its a only a creative opportunity!! I cut the papers at the bottom too short which left a gap so I had to cover it up with the strips of pleated paper. I cut the flowers with tattered florals, spritzed with water, scrunched and left to dry and made the centres of two with hug snug seam binding which I got at at the crop from Angela at Angela Crafts

Look What the Postie Brought Me

2011-11-06T08:25:00.000Z

What a lovely little package arrived in the post yesterday.

I had commented on Sian's fab blog here.She was asking for alternatives to the Keep Calm and Carry On slogan which is so popular these days.

Mine was Keep Calm its only a Creative Opportunity. To explain I have so many little faux pas whilst crafting and I dont always want to trash the whole project or layout so I find myself muttering that slogan and finding ways to adapt, cover up etc and sometimes miraculously it even turns out better than I first intended!!! She had a draw for all the commenters and I received this lovely card handmade by Sian, two beautiful sets of studio calico stamps, this very useful sized alphabet which rather usefully includes a comma and a full stop and these adorable butterflies - which project does not benefit from a fluttering of butterflies. The stamps were tied up with this fab Union Jack ribbon which my daughter would like to lay claim to but isnt getting lol. It might end up on a layout featuring her if she is very lucky.

Isn't the crafting world and in particular the crafting blogging world full of such lovely people.

Thanks once again Sian and I promise I will keep on blogging!!

Then today look what landed on my doormat. The first shiny and new edition of Scrap 365. Ive only had a quick flick so far but I love it and there within Its pages is an article by the Grrh same and very talented Sian with the same very adorable embellishments which were on the lovely card She sent me.

Sketch and Scrap - October

2011-11-01T10:29:00.001Z

Here is the sketch Lesley chose for sketch and scrap for October. I loved it the more I looked at it as there were so many layers to it.

I decided to go with two pictures and cut one info a circle. I substituted one of the flowers on the sketch for a windmill to echo the one in the round photo. I used papers from the Crate Paper Portrait collection which I love.

The pictures are of me as a little girl on holiday with my parents in Scarborough. There was a place, the name of which I cant recall where you sailed on a pirate ship and then searched in the sand for gold dubloons. It always tickled my Dad that one of the pirates had a copy of the Yorkshire Evening News or Post sticking out of his pocket.

Edited to add that thanks to my lovely friend and UKS teamie Donna I now know the Pirate Ship sailed on the Mere at Scarborough and was called the Hispaniola. I can now get my hidden journalling organised for this one and then filed away in the album

Christmas Decorated Chipboard Swap

2011-10-30T11:17:00.001Z

I enjoyed the chipboard swap so much i decided to joint the Christmas version. I was orginally going to do snowflakes using a borrowed die but I didnt realise it wouldnt cut chipboard so I used my sissix stocking die and this is what I ended up with. I covered the chipboard with coredinations card which I embossed in a snowflake folder and added a punched snowflake and some feather boa trim. I finished off with a little bit of sparkly stickles. I hope the recipients like them.

Months of the Year ATC Swap

2011-10-26T10:07:00.000+01:00

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I have just sent off my ATC's for the Months of the Year Swap hosted on UKS by Megbaby.

My month was January and here are my efforts. They are simple but I do hope the recipients like them. I got the little snowflake charms from Karen who comes to my crop and who always brings along boxes full of lovely charms to tempt us all.

I cant wait to get my set back and see how everyone has interpreted their month

Chinese Whispers - Round 1

2011-10-24T10:48:00.001+01:00

A while ago I posted my layout for my uks teams Chinese Whispers layout. Well we have completed Round 1. Here is my original layout.

And here is Dee's take on it.

Here is Heather's layout which i had to do

And here is my take on it. I flipped it round and left a space between my strips. I love this recent pic of my son Fraser.

I cant wait to See how each layout evolves as we go along.

All Set for A Weekend of Scrappy Fun!

2011-10-12T11:34:00.000+01:00

Well I am finishing work today until Tuesday which gives me tonight and tomorrow to get my ass in gear and get my stuff organised for my scrappy weekend away with my UKS Sketch and Scrap teamies. We are off to Lochouse Farm in Moffat which is in Dumfriesshire quite close to the Scottish/English Border.

This will be the third time I have been there and I have had such a great time both previous times. I just cannot wait.

Its a real budget weekend but Mary and Martin are perfect hosts and the home cooked food is just fab.

There is a fantastic room for scrapping in with plenty of space and light.

I am so disorganised this year as I usually have a pile of page kits all sorted out. This year I think I will just be grabbing a pile of photos and shoving them in my bags with a pile of papers - not sure how productive that will make me.

I do have some other projects I will probably be getting on with as well - tags for a UKS swap and some ATC's and maybe even starting my altered seaside styled tray.

Its just so fab to have a weekend of crafting, laughing, eating and drinking the odd glass of the pink stuff and leaving all the usual day tro day traumas behind

Hopefully I will be back all refreshed with loads of stuff to show you.

I will leave you for now with a couple of photos from the last time I was there.

Take One Sketch CJ - Round 3

2011-10-11T12:27:00.002+01:00

I just realised when I went to post this today that I had completely forgotten to take a photo of my entry in Round 2 of this one - never mind

This time around the CJ is Frances (New2this) who is hosting the cj, she had a selection of sketches to choose from and I chose this one. I really liked the idea of the collage of photos but it was slightly tricky to scale down to the size of the cj. I do think though that I will try this sketch as a 12 x 12 layout

Here is the sketch

Here is my entry. I cut up bits from some of my many beachy type photos for the photo collage. I sprayed the background kraft card with some teal glimmer mist (my favourite product at the moment), I thought I would prick out and sew the wavy lines to represent the sea and my title round the edge of the photo collage reads I do like to be beside the seaside - which of course I do.

I just hope Frances likes it.

Please pardon the quality of the photos as I took them on my phone and I am not sure where the chequerboard effect sprung from!!

Decorated Chipboard Swap

2011-10-10T10:12:00.000+01:00

Wow! I received my Gorgeous chipboard shapes back from the swap today and I just love them. What a talented bunch my fellow swapees are.

Thanks to Lynn for being Such a great host.

Cant wait now to see what everyone comes up with for the Christmas version of this swap.

Sketch and Scrap - September

2011-10-03T08:25:00.001+01:00

Well another month has whizzed by and Its sketch and scrap uploading time again.

This was this months sketch chosen by Lisa.

I did a fair bit of.humming and hawing over this one then my kitfrom Gottacraft appeared. It was full of Crate Farmhouse lovlieness in beautiful autumnal tones. I found these pics taken at Lochouse Farm in Moffat from the first retreat I went to with the girls from the Frozen North crop, most of whom are now my UKS teamies. I thought the pictures matched the pics and the time of year well and also put me right in the mood for our next retreat there with the girls from Sketch & Scrap in two weeks time

Decorated Chipboard Swap

2011-09-27T11:00:00.000+01:00

I am new to joining in swaps on UKS despite being a member there for years. I blame the lovely Karen (Kitty Crafts) for bullying (oops meant encouraging me) to join in.

This one was a swap hosted by my lovely CJ teamie Lynn (Topsy) I think it was maybe her first go at hosting, the idea was to decorate a bare chipboard shape 10 times, sent them off to her and get 10 different ones back. I was nervous about this one as I am always convinced other peoiples work will be soooo much better than mine but I thought what the heck and plunged in anyways. I chose hearts and decided to cover with ultra thick emosssing powder in gold which I then sprinkled green pearl embossing powder into and finally stamped into with a Tim Holtz script stamp. I just hope the recipients like them. I cant wait to see all the lovely shapes I get back.

I enjoyed doing this one so much I have now joined in a decorated chipboard Christmas swap and for that one I have chosen to do snowflakes.

I have a wee while to plan that one though.

Red Ribbons Cyber Crop

2011-09-26T12:11:00.001+01:00

I took part this weekend in the Red Ribbons House Cyber Crop over on UK Scrappers. This was arranged by Sandra and Jo the House Leaders and they posted a variety of challenges over the weekend for us to follow. The great thing about this was that you didnt actually have to complete and upload all your challenges over the weekend, and we have till the end of this week to do that.

I am bogged down at the moment in finishing off an album for my daughters best friend Jade for her 18th birthday. She always admires the scrapbook layouts of Fiona when she is in the house and I knew that she would appreciate an album of her own.

I didnt actually realise how difficult it would be to scrap her photos though. Fiona and Jade have been friends since they went to High School some seven years ago so scrapping the recent pics of her with Fiona and the other girls was easy. Jades Mum gave me a whole batch of pics which I have copied but its difficult sitting down to a photo when you have no memory or ideas of the events when it was taken. I think it has actually really taught me that Scrapbooking really is all about the memories and the telling of the story behind the photo rather than just about making a fabulously pretty layout using all the latest products. I have had to produce an album almost without any journalling which has been tough. I am on the home run now and did six layouts for it over the weekend, three of which were from the challenges in the CC.

The first one was from a page kit challenge, we were asked to put together cardstock, three pieces of patterned papers, three blooms, three buttons and alpha stickers and complete a layout within an hour

This is the result - a simple layout but I am reasonably happy with it

The second challenge I completed was a takeaway challenge set by Mandy. I opted for the chinese version in which you had to have layers and circle embellishments, the picture is of Jade with her brother and sister. I used the buttons as my circle embellshments.

The final one from the CC at the weekend was where you had to look in your favourites in UKS and scraplift one of them

I chose a layout by my teamie and friend Heatherblossom, I loved her original layout and used it for these pics of Jade with her Gran and Grandpa - I entitled it - You Put the Grand in Grandparent.

There are other challenges I hope to be working on over the course of the week.

Chinese Whispers

2011-09-19T11:39:00.000+01:00

Hello there. I have been missing in action again. Funny how when you are a bit stressed with life that the urge to create disappears altogether.

It was our East Kilbride crop on Saturday, I cant believe that's our fourth one already. Successful day again with 22 of us. I could not find my creative vibe at all so started off playing around with some Dylusions stamps courtesy of Sally and surprised myself by managing to do my entry in Fiona (Angelfish) CJ Take Flight for the Mojo Busters CJ. I wont post it just now as I dont want to spoil the surprise for her in case she is reading my blog.

My team on UKS have started a Chinese Whispers challenge where each of us has to do a layout and email to the next person who will then do their take on it. At the end we will each have an album on our profile showing how the layout has changed from start to end. Each person will work from the layout sent to them without looking at the original one.

I started my layout and the crop and finished it at home yesterday. The photo is my DD and My Parents and I when they had a small celebration down at their caravan a couple of years ago for their Golden Wedding Anniversary. I took inspiration from a layout in an Australian scrapbooking magazine and used papers from the Echo Park For the Record collection.

Sketch and Scrap - August

2011-09-01T10:58:00.000+01:00

This is my third month as a member of the Sketch and Scrap Group run on UKS by two of my teamies Lisa and Heather

This month it was Shirley's turn to put up the sketch and I must say that I loved it from the minute I saw it. In fact I am fairly sure I will be using this sketch again.

I turned the sketch on its side for my layout which features a new statue erected in Seahouses down by the Harbour beside a new development of flats. All I have found out at the moment is that it was erected by the Developers but the next time I visit Seahouses I will be trying to find out more information so that I can add that to the layout.

I made the little lifebelt embellies by cutting out circles with my nestabilities and winding red embroidery thread round. I decided bunting wasnt quite right for the layout so made the little notched flags instead. I used papers from the Crate Paper Portrait collection pack I bought at the East Kilbride crop from Angel Crafts in their sale and which is fast becoming one of my favourite collections.

Cant wait to see everyone else's take on the sketch over the next couple of days then the new sketch will go up and it will be thinking caps on again.

August Week 5 - Job Done!

2011-08-31T10:11:00.001+01:00

Well I have done it. I am very pleased with myself. I didnt think I would manage to do all the weekly UKS challenges in August especially when I discovered there were five.

My teamies and I will do it again next month I think as I know that in between crops I am very bad at scrapping at home on my own and this gave me the incentive to have a go. I am actually pleased with my layouts as well which is a change as I refuse to do the challenges just for the points whether I like the layouts or not.

Here is mine for Week 5. Picture is of my Mum and Dad and the beach at Low Newton by the Sea in Northumberland - taken this summer on a beautiful day which is why they are squinting into the sunshine. I used some of the Sassafrass Lass Sunshine Broadcast papers and a journalling spot from my July Quirky kit. I love the long title. The challenge included a great sketch from Page maps which helped.

I might re-take the photo as it is not a good one and doesnt show up the colours properly.

Now I can get back to my Create 10 mini book - Tonight I will do the pages for today and yesterday.

Create 10 - Day 1

2011-08-29T09:31:00.001+01:00

I have signed up for my second class at Crafty Templates. This one is Create 10 a mixed up mini. It great value. For £5.00 you are emailed every day and over the course of the class you will end up with a fab mini book to store 6 x 4 photos. I bought some bits and pieces from Leo's supply list and for others I am making do with what I have. I think it will be fascinating to see how everybody's books look at the end. Yesterday was the first prompt but as I was cropping all day I had to make my book up in the evening.

I have finally decided that I am going to use it for some of the surplus piccies of Beadnell and Northumberland which I havent scrapped. So I will need to pop into Boots and get them printed off.

Here it is. I am pleased with it so far and am waiting with baited breath for today's prompt which I will do when I get home from work tonight

Happy Bank Holiday to all my English friends. Its a normal working day here in Scotland

4 Down, 1 To Go!!

2011-08-26T08:30:00.001+01:00

Well I am amazed at myself for reaching Week 4 of managing to do the UKS weekly challenges. I think I should set myself this challenge more often.

This week the theme was "home" whether it be real/fantasy etc, use a trio of something, your favourite colour and a list.

This is my layout. I called it Fantasy Home by the Sea. The photos are of Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland - Oh how wonderful it would be to live there. My list gives the reasons I would love to live there, 1. Fanatastic Architecture, 2. The beach as my back garden, 3. A magnificent view of the village from my front window and 4. Queen of all I survey.

I used craft card as the base and inked all round the edges. I used a piece from the sheet of Sassafrass Lass Sunshine Broadcase from my Quirky kit - I loved the soft inked effect it already had. The yellow paper is a sheet from the Pink Paislee Sweetness line, the Photos are various shots from the Castle taken one very sunny day. I used my torn notebook punch for the list and the yellow sheet and decorated the paperclip with a wee flag. Finally for my trio I added a bunch of three keys - to represent the keys to the Castle! Well a girl can always dream.

One more to go next week to be set by Fiona (Angelfish) team on Scrappers - I hope she has picked an easy one.

A Fabby Scrappy Weekend

2011-08-23T09:19:00.000+01:00

Well I had a fantastic weekend due to the fact that my scrapping friend Heather came to stay. We did nothing but chat, laugh, eat and drink plenty of the pink stuff which obviously oiled the wheels of creativity somewhat as we both managed to do six layouts each and I started on a seventh.

I took Heather along to the East Kilbride crop on Saturday. It was our third one and the busiest so far with 24 ladies in attendance. The new tables we bought were certainly put to good use.

We also indulged in a small spot of craft shopping on Sunday at one of my fairly local craft shops, Craft World in Hillington and thanks to a spend by both of us I filled up a loyalty card and treated myself to two nestability dies - one was all fab file tabs in different shapes and sizes and the other one had a fab border, some corners, blooms and plaques - I can see myself getting plenty use out of both of them. Heather got in a bit of practise with the border one on a couple of her layouts.

I wont bore you with all the layouts at once and one I have to keep under wraps for now as it is for my Sketch and Scrap Group and I have to wait until the end of the month.

This first one is of my daughter and I. Fiona is a natural blonde but thought it would be a good idea to dye her lovely hair dark brown a couple of years ago. She didnt suit it at all as her skin is too pale. Thankfully she is now back to her beautiful blonde self. My hair used to be blonde but is now almost grey/white and relies on some Nice and Easy to keep it blonde. The hidden journalling tells this story and the title reflects this.

The second one is of my son and daughter last year at my nephews 18th birthday party. I love this photo of them. The layout is a simple one and I didnt want too girly an embellishment for this. One of the lovely ladies at my crop had brought some embellishments back from the States and worked out that we could make these for ourselves so I did. I think its a simple but effective little embellishment and I can see myself making more of these in the future. Basically its just two strips of patterned papers with a V cut into each end - crossed over and stuck together with a piece of material gathered in the middle and frayed at the edges stuck on to the strips and finished off with a punched out circle in patterned paper inked at the edges.

Continuing the August Weekly challenge

2011-08-22T14:25:00.000+01:00

Well Week 3 and I have managed to compete another weekly challenge. This one was to use black, scrap a celebration and use something Free. I have had this photo of my Great Grampas 90th birthday party waiting to be scrapped for a while and thought it would be perfect for this challenge. I used papers from the Crate paper Portrait range qnd my freebie was the frame as it was the waste left from when my friend Heather cut out a shape to use on another layout. The picture shows my great grampa surrounded by his daughters Who are my Gran and my Great Aunts.

Well 3 down, 2 to go and so far Lisa, Sandra and I are keeping it up.

August Weekly Challenges

2011-08-11T08:58:00.000+01:00

Well I have a little challenge going with myself, Lisa and Sandra on UKS that we can do all of the weekly challenges in August!

So far so good as I did Week 1 whilst I was at the caravan. A layout of my daughter's friend Jade for her album I am making for her 18th birthday

This week's challenge looked a bit trickier, multiple photos and a sketch which I loved but which had loads of elements to it. I decided that the grid like pattern on it would look good sewed but as I havent yet learned to thread up or work my mini sewing machine I had to do it by hand. Blooming heck that took a while and was tricky at night in low light. However I got it finished. I also did a wee bit of sewing accross the middle and again it was tough to sew through cardstock, patterned paper, foam pads and photos. I am pleased with the results.

Just need to hope now that the next couple of weeks challenges are doable as I am on a roll. I know Lisa has done the first two weeks so its over to Sandra now lol.

Take One Sketch CJ - First Round

2011-08-08T15:46:00.002+01:00

I blogged my own cj for the Take One Sketch CJ a few posts back. The first cj I have received is Netty B's. It's the smallest cj I have done as it is a lovely tag book. Netty's own entry was absolutely fab. I have never done even a tag swap before so this one was a bit daunting.

I had to the follow the sketch set by Netty and this is the result.

I had just bought the tatty button stamp and thought this would be ideal for its first use. I inked some butterflies on the background using a mask made by punching out a butterfly shape. I ripped the edges of the paper and finally coloured and mounted the stamp adding a real wee button where the button was situated on the stamp. A wee touch of stickles was added but this hasnt shown up too well in the photo.

I glimmer misted some flowers and added them along with a wee length of pom pom trim to the bottom

I really hope she likes it

Holiday Crafting Part 3

2011-08-03T11:09:00.000+01:00

I think being away from work and at the moment being away from home has been good for me.

I have been feeling much more creative and its a pity that just as I am getting into my stride I will likely have to stop. Mum and Dad are coming back to the caravan today so I will need to pack up the craft stuff for now. Might managed to sneak enough of it back out to finish a mini book I feel I have been working on forever.

I have two more layouts today

The first one funnily enough is a pic of myself and DS and DD when they were both small sitting in the sun outside this very same caravan. We are whiling away a sunny afternoon painting on stones collected from the beach. Funny how something as simple as that can keep kids amused for hours. We had a fun time and I think my Mum still has some of the painted stones kicking around the caravan somewhere. The papers are MME Lime Twist from a recent Gottacraft kit.

The next one is of my UKS friend Heather the first time she came to visit m. We went for a pub lunch and she couldnt resist this lovely caramel sundae. I had to take a picture and it has been needing scrapped for a while. I used the rest of my Cosmo Cricket circa 1934 papers I got in a kit from Sam Taylors as I thought the colurs matched the photo well.

Holiday Crafting Part 2

2011-08-02T13:20:00.000+01:00

Hi there. I continue to be a bit more creative and also have more time on my hands to blog than when I am at home and working

This layout was for the weekly challenge on UKS last week. I used what was left of my Echo Park For the Record papers from a past Gottacraft kit. I think thats my favourite Echo Park range so far although once I see Victoria Garden in the flesh then I might change my mind. The photo is of my Mum, Dad and Gran when we were on holiday in Northumberland when I was small. I think they were sitting against the harbour wall at Seahouses. When you see the photo close up you will be struck by the happy (not) expressions on their faces. In fact my Mother looks most grim which was not like her at all. I have hidden the journalling in the little envelope on the right hand side which I covered with two different papers and made a wee closure from brads and bakers twine. I used one of those manilla dinner money envelopes I got in a pound shop. I am hoping this layout will count as "postal themed" and go on Julie Kirk's pinterest board along with my sketch cj made from envelopes. If you want to know what I am talking about then visit Julie's fab blog here

Anyway here is the layout. The black and the yellow scroll shape were made by cutting a wee Tando Creative shape in half and painting it. I got the pack of these shapes from Angela at Angel Crafts

Sketch and Scrap July

2011-08-01T21:23:00.002+01:00

This is my second month on the Sketch and Scrap Group on UKS run by my teamie Lisa (3 Peaches). This month Heather put up the sketch and this is my take on it.

The photo is of Fiona my daughter and her friend Stephanie when I took them to the caravan in the summer of 2008. The pic was taken on the beach at Bamburgh. The photo mat was sprayed with teal glimmer mist although the photo doesnt show it very well. I am becoming addicted to these sprays which I have been buying from Angela at Angel Crafts. I cut the wee bunting pieces from a border from papers from the Crate Paper Emmas shop range from a kit by Sandra at Gottacraft. I painted the chipboard shape and again sprayed with glimmer mist, I thought it looked a bit like a piece of seaweed. I really like the beachy look of this layout with the kraft card as the base. I am even getting braver with the doodling round the edge courtesy of the fine nibs for promarkers which are fab

First layout from my first Quirky Kit

2011-08-01T12:45:00.001+01:00

Well i managed my first layout from my very first Quirky kit.

I did the layout at the holystone crop yestetday. I made the floqer using the strip from the sassafrass paper. I specially like the little seaside rock badge.

The photos are ones of me taken on the beach at my beloved Beadnell when i was just a little girl. My num, dad,aunt and uncle are also in the photos.

I just love this kit and will be playing with it again this week.

Holiday Crafting

2011-07-30T20:57:00.002+01:00

Well I am blogging from Beadnell where I am resident in my parents caravan. I arrived on Friday morning and my lovely son Fraser and his lovely girlfriend Emma came along for the weekend.

We have been blessed with fantastic weather so far so have been sitting outside reading, having a bbq and lovely walks on the beach which if you read my blog will know is my favourite thing to do in the world

In between reading in the sun I managed my first layout today. I scraplifted it from one called The Big Day by the talented Rachael Elliot so I hope she doesnt mind

In 2008 Fraser was a patrol leader at the Scottish International Scout Jambourette held in Blair Atholl. As part of the hospitality for foreign Scouts we had to host one of them for a week after the camp. Fraser befriended Alex who was from Gibraltar and brought him back for the week. We took him to the caravan at Beadnell and on the way home Fraser wanted me to stop at the English/Scottish border so that him and Alex could get their picture taken. I used Echo Park Dots and Stripes papers and craft card which I got at a recent crop from the lovely Angela fromm Angel Crafts. Hopefully this will be the first of many layouts from my week long break

Oooooohh Look What the Postie Brought!!!!!!!!!

2011-07-27T10:32:00.001+01:00

I recently suscribed to Quirky kits and when Leo posted that the first kit I would get was to be reminiscent of vintage seaside I couldnt wait to get my sticky mitts on it.

I am not usually a fan of being rudely awakened from bed by a knock on the door at 7.30 pm but on Monday it was the postie bearing a pizza box.

Look what was inside. The kit itself was wrapped up in this adorable pink and white polka dot tissue and all tied up with bakers twine. It looked almost too good to open.

Once inside though I was delighted, the papers are lush, the embellies are fab and I just love the seagull pin and the seaside badges. It will be a thought to cut up those lovely papers but I am already planning in my head what I will do with them. I have some black and white piccies of me on the beach as a wee girl in my beloved Beadnell and I think a layout with them could well be on the cards. I also bought one of those lovely 7 gypsies atc type trays and plan on making a seaside themed display in it.

I am off to the caravan next week so I think the kit will be coming with me so watch this space for some creations.

A Vintage Card

2011-07-23T10:46:00.001+01:00

I made this card at the EK crop last week. Angela from Angel Crafts brought along some vintage scraps and small cards and challenged us to make a card using them. I used some For the Record papers, some lace and a punched out butterfly inked with brushed sage distress ink with another one layered on top.from an old book page, again inked with brushed sage. I trimmed roundbthe floral scraps and layered them round the vintage scraps. For a final touch I added a brass clock charm. I was quite pleased with the result.

Just A Simple Wedding Card

2011-07-22T15:40:00.001+01:00

Just a quick post from me today with a simple wedding card for a friend at work. Some Echo Park Be Mine papers with a bird and bird cage cut for me by my friend Heather on her new cricut. Simple but classy I think. All the best for Monday Lauren and Aengus can't wait to see you at your reception at Loch Lomond.

EK Crop & Craft Update

2011-07-20T10:51:00.001+01:00

I just realised that as my poor wee blog has been neglected for so long until I posted the cj pics yesterday I hadnt updated on how the new crop went.

Audrey and I were delighted as 18 people turned up to both the June and the July ones and in fact not the same 18 for both due to holidays etc. We could not believe the response. Its fab. They are such a great bunch of crafting girlies and we have been told that there is such a friendly atmosphere which is exactly what we wanted to achieve. After paing the rent the profits from the June one were passed on to Karen (one of our members) who is running a series of charity crops this year to raise funds for Arthritis care as her daughter suffers from this badly. Audrey and I felt that was a fitting way to start what we hope will be a real community group. The profit from the July crop has gone to buy some second hand trestle tables so that we can accomodate more crafters in months to come. We hope the club continues to go from strength to strength and are delighted to have the support of Angel of Angel Crafts who comes along to crop but also brings along her yummy shop to tempt us all with crafting lovlieness.

I am hoping to blog more regularly once my blog has a makeover courtesy of a lovely teamie on a cj I am doing on UKS at the moment. I just need to get my ideas to her. I know exactly the look I want in my head but translating that into something written down is proving more difficult.

I will leave you with a couple of recent layouts as its ages since I posted any here

This one is of my Mum aged four with my grandparents. I have used Lily Bee Papers from the This and That range from a recent Gottacraft kit - you cant really see from the photo but the flower has been made from a circle of cream tulle gathered up with a flower made from black lace on top. I think this is my favourite layout I have done for a while

This next one was done for a recently weekly challenge set by Jo (Wonky) and is a picture of Tynemouth Priory which I took the first weekend I stayed with my friend Heather.

and the final one for now is one of my daughter and her friend when they were carrying on posing for funny photos at the caravan a few years ago. I used glimmer mists on the background paper but the camera hasnt picked these up very well.

Take One Sketch CJ

2011-07-19T13:55:00.003+01:00

I have just embarked on another cj on UKS. This one is a sketch one and I am hoping that mine comes back and fills me full of inspiration.

I wanted this to be a wee bit different to my other cjs so I have made the pages with C5 manilla envelopes so that the right hand side of ,a double page will form a pocket to hold the sketch and sign in instad of a tag. .

I have attached a few piccies of it.

For some reason the picture of the front cover has gone all yellow which it isnt really in real life.

Good News

2011-05-21T08:28:00.001+01:00

Hello everyone. It has taken me.longer than anticipated to be able to post this as I wanted everythimg in place first My friend Audrey and I have managed to secure a great hall at a good.rent to start a crop/craft club. We are so excited. We will be on the third Saturday of the month beginning in June. We will be completelu non profit making with accounts and an AGM every year. We want the crop to have the feel of a community club. We will be called EK Crop & Craft. Let's just hope people will join us. I am so excited about this. If anyone wants to come along then please get in touch. All kinds of crafters welcome. Likewise if anyone has any good ideas for simple but effective make and takes they don't mind sharing then please let me know.

good news

2011-05-21T08:18:00.001+01:00

Charity crop

2011-05-16T08:09:00.003+01:00

Hi everyone. Busy weekend this weekend. Audrey and I went to a.charity crop on Kilmarnock run by Karen to raise money for arthritis care Her lovely daughter Katie is.blighted my this and Karen has been fundraising for this. We didnt get there till lunchtime due to an important appointment on the morning but once that is confirmed I will spill the beans on that one. We has a great day and o worked on my entry for Leanies cj. We had to put something we had been working on out at the end and Melanie from Arthritis care.judged them and I won. I was.chuffed as I never win anything. The prize was a lovely frame for.displaying a layout in.

I also made a card for my son Fraser to give his lovely girlfriend for her 21st. I am pleased with the way it turned out.

Back tomorrow with some exciting news I hope.

Easter break

2011-05-05T06:54:00.002+01:00

I am just back to work today after having an 11 day break and all in all I only had to use 4 days annual leave.

I started off by driving down to Holystone to visit my lovely UKS friend Heather and stayed there until Sunday. We had a 12 hour crop on the Saturday and it was lovely to meet up with all the girls again - now that the caravan season is in full swing I will hopefully be down more often.

I only managed four layouts as I think I must having been chatting too much lol.

Some of them did take me a bit of time as this one had a lot of handmade flowers on. It is a photo I scanned which my Mum had taken on her 21st Birthday and is a photo I have always liked. I did want to take my time with this layout and get it just right. I used the Emmas Shoppe Crate papers from the last Gottacraft kit.

test post from my mobile

2011-04-20T20:22:00.003+01:00

Right then. I am posting this from my new mobile just to see if it works.

Twice in One Week

2011-04-14T20:06:00.000+01:00

Well the new modem certainly seems to have cured the problem of the broadband kicking in and out although the poor old computer is still running a touch on the slow side.

I have managed to delete most of the elements I didnt want from the blog - thanks Karen but I still have the picture on the header that wont move. Never mind once I have a pic ready for the header I shall address that problem again. Just need to get my head round the idea of incorpoating my own photo and I shall be away.

A double layout to share this time another one from my recent retreat and another one from my DD's friends 18th. pictures are of DD and her two friends who all got ready in our house, DD and the birthday girl, DD on her own and the whole crowd of girls who travelled to the party in style in a pink limo. Papers are from yet another lovely Gottacraft kit - Glitz Hoopla and the lovely swirlies are thanks to my lovely friend Lesley who cut them on her cricut for me.

Well one more day at work for me then its the weekend. Yipee might evn have a little meet up this weekend with my crafty friend Audrey and then the rest of the weekend is devoted to tidying up and making up kits for the Easter 12 hour crop with the frozen northerners. I am so looking forward to that and having a couple of days with Heather followed by my first visit of the year to the caravan in Beadnell. Absolute bliss

More Lochouse Layouts

2011-04-12T20:43:00.001+01:00

Hello again. Well today I received a new modem from the lovely people at Virgin so fingers crossed this means I will have broadband all the time. The lovely man I spoke to thinks it was the age of my old modem that was causing my problems. I really hope tings ar sorted out now as it is just so frustrating not being able to get online as and when I want

I have some more layouts from my fab weekend at Lochouse to show you.

Okay first up a DL of my DS Fraser. A couple of years ago when in Beadnell he was persuaded by Scott and some of his friends to don a wetsuit for the first time and take a leap of faith off the little harbour at Beadnell. Not such a very big thing for the lads who were brought up doing this but a huge jump for my very nervous boy. I was anxious to capture this on film but the speed at which he jumped meant that in one pic I managed to cut his head off. This gave us endless amusement hence the title of the DL

The photos look slightly wonky in the photo but the are straight in real life. I used a kit from Sarah's cards which I bought in their sale which I think was Pink Paislee Bayberry cottage. I stiched he swirl and the rosettes were courtesy of my lovely friend Heather who had bought the Tim Holtz die. We had quite a laugh as you need a lot of glue and have to keep your finger on the rosette for a while to stop it pinging back up

I really like the colours of the papers which perfectly matched the shorts Fraser wore over his wet suit

Finally for today I will leave you with another layout of one of my cousins kids. This time it is the camera shy William who unlike his show off sister Eve tends to hide when you get the camera out. This piccie was taken on the beach at Beadnell

Oh did mean to say does anyone know how I can get rid of the bits on my background which say picture deleted. I want to give my blog a makeover but havent got the faintest clue how to go about it. I really would like to use my own photos for the header . Any help much appreciated.

Fabarama Weekend at Lochouse

2011-04-06T21:39:00.000+01:00

Okay okay I knowI have failed to update again. My computer at home stil fails to play nicely and I annot access my blog at work. Tonight it is playing for a change so I thought I would take advantage

I am just back from my second weekend away with the Frozen Northerners from UKS. It was a fantastic weekend and started well on Thursday night when I picked my teamie Dee up at Prestwick Airport. She had come all the way from Donegal to join us.

After the horrible month I have had with threats of redundancy at work the weekend was just what the Doctor ordered.

Good compnay, good food, good wine and plenty of scrapping and laughter.

I managed to do 13 layouts (although one still needs a title) and a CJ entry so I was well pleased. I also managed a wee bit of knitting but I wll show you that another time

Here are three of the layouts I did

My daughter's friend Lynne had her 18th Party last weekend and the first layout is Fiona showing off her bargain diamonte false eyelashed she got from poundland. I printed the photo in black and white which I think gives a better effect. Papers are Echo Park For the Record from the last lovely Gottacraft kit

The second one also uses papers from the same kit and is again a photo of Fiona taken before she left for the party. Thanks to Heather for putting the sketch up for our team on UKS. What I love about this kit is the completely different look to both of these layouts.

I wont bore you with all my layouts at once but I will leave you with this one of my son Fraser. In 2008 he went to the Scottish International Scouting Jamouree at Blair Atholl. As part of the Jamboree you had to play host to a foreign Scout for a week after the Jambouree. Fraser befriended Alex at the camp and brough him home. He lives in Gibraltar although his Mum was originally from Scotland. He was a joy to have with us and these photos were taken just before we left to take him back to the airport to go home.

Fraser is quite camera shy but Alex started larking about and was pretending to kiss Fraser. Thanks again to Heather for the "wee man" on the layout. She was cutting one out ready for a layout of her boys when I pinched it and painted it for my own layout. Papers are Pink Paislee Bayberry Cottage. Thanks to both Heather and Lesley for the use of their punches. That's what I love about scrapping with friends - its such a great opportunity to have a shot of these things.

Well I will be back soon with some more layouts. My mobile is due for an upgrade later this month and I am looking for one I can use to blog with. Any recommendations would be welcomed.

Finally - Dee I will post some photos soon of Spike the Wonder Cat - just for you.

Newbie Mini Book Swap

2011-02-09T11:10:00.000Z

I have just taken part in my first swap on UKS. It was a minibook/album swap organised by Vicky.

I had to make a mini book for Hazel (Zaraandmax) and she had to make one for me.

My brief for the one for Hazel was that it was to be 8 x 8 and be in speia tones as she wanted to use this for piccies of her dogs. She emailed me a piccie of her doggies and wanted this on the front cover. I found it quite a challenge trying to make up blank pages with spaces for journalling etc without knowing what photos were going to be used. I included some hidden journalling spaces on pull out tags and behind tabs. I think Hazel liked it and I hope she posts piccies of it on her own blog once it is filled with piccies.

My brief for Hazel was for a shabby chic book and the one she sent me is beautiful. I have just realised I haven't photographed it yet so will get piccies taken and post on here shortly. I think I am going to use mine either to hold photos of my forthcoming retreat with the girls from the Kaleida crops crop in Uddingston or possibly as a design/ideas book for when I move house.

A day's cropping

2011-02-07T09:36:00.000Z

Had a lovely day yesterday at the crop in Uddingston. I had missed the January one as I wasn't well and the December one was cancelled due to the heavy snow so it was fab to catch up with everyone.

Picked up Audrey and Sally so we got to have a good chat in the car on the way there and back.

We are all getting quite excited now about the retreat which Muriel and Mhairi (they organise the crop) are running at the beginning of March, Its in Lower Largo in Fife and the Hotel looks lovely and overlooks the sea - bliss. You know how much I love to be by the sea.

I only managed to do two layouts as I had one of those days where nothing came together and none of my photos seemed to match any of my papers.

It was my fault for not being as organised as usual and matching phiotos to papers in advance. I also managed to leave my collection of sketches behind and that just made me realise how much I have come to rely on sketches for kick starting a layout. I don't always follow the sketch but it does at least give a starting point

The first layout is of my cousins wee girl - Eve - doesn't she look cute and innocent - NOT. Truth is she is a little devil - well a loveable devil really.

The second one is of my daughter Fion and her Grandpa. We were down in Beadnell for Easter and I snapped them both sitting on this old bench following our customary walk on the beach. Cannot believe that was almost five years ago. Doesn't time fly!

Lost Girls CJ

2011-02-03T11:38:00.000Z

I just realised that I had never blogged by very first CJ which I took part in whilst I was a member of the Lost Girls.

My theme was My Happy Place. The first pic is my front cover

The next pic is my own dlo. My Happy Place is in and around Beadnell in Northumberland where my parents have a caravan and where I have been holidaying since I was a toddler. I just love the peace and the rugged beauty of the place and in my introduction I narrated that it has been a real place of healing for me in the last five years whilst I recovered from the shock of my 20 year marriage falling apart. There is just something about being by the sea in a fairly quiet but natural environment that never fails to lift my spirits

The following pics are the fab layouts done by my former teamies who took part in the CJ - all of them are absolutely excellent

Mojo Busters CJ

2011-02-02T12:48:00.000Z

I have joined a new CJ on UKS and I must say the people taking part are turning out to be the nicest bunch of people you could meet. We are only at first posting but already we seemed to have gelled together and are having so much fun.

My subject for this one is Vintage Chic and I have struggled to translate what was in my head onto the page (as usual!).

The front cover is not exactly as I would have liked it but I have some charms and other bits and pieces to add but think it would probably be better to add these once it comes back home.

In the meantime I will leave you with a piccie of my front cover, layout and sign in pages.

I am looking forward to seeing everyones take on this subject and must thank Dan99 because I had this old Tim Holtz stamp I wanted to use but it just didnt look right when I stamped it up and then I spotted Dan had used it on his blog and I contacted him and he had used promarkers to colour it in. I didnt have the colours Dan did and wanted a paleish effect so I am pleased with it but it just isnt a patch on his.

Some of the Weekend's Layouts

2011-01-24T09:11:00.000Z

Here are a couple of the layouts from my weekend away.

The first one is using the Gottacraft January Kit with Jenni Bowling papers and is of Fraser "watering" his sister in the bath with a red watering can. I thought the papers were perfect for the picture.

The second one is using an old Sarah's cards kit - Pink Paislee Bayberry cottage which I got in their sale in November. My parents have a caravan in Beadnell in Northumberland and one of our rituals was that everythime we passed the border the kids wanted to stop in the layby by the Scotland sign to have their pictures taken. I thought this kit was perfect for the photos as the purple paper has what looks to me like stylised thistles on it.

The third layout is of my son Fraser sitting in a large wicker chair at his Gran's - everytime they went to visit one or other of the cousins always wanted to sit in this chair to have their photo taken. I sued the Echo Park In the summertime papers for this as I thought the bright colours matched his bright simle and his tee shirt

And the last one for now is a piccie of Fraser and Fiona playing in the snow - for this one I used the December Gottacraft kit which was Echo Park papers and again which I thought were just perfect for this picture

Fantabulistic Weekend

2011-01-23T20:29:00.000Z

Hello there bloggers and blog readers. I am just back from a fantabulistic (yes I know its not a real word but so what) weekend at the lovely Heather's in the North East of England. I stayed with her and Keith and her lovely boys and went to the Frozen North crop where - yes she did - she held a whip over me till I actually scrapped - well no she didnt actually but after not having scrapped for ages once I got started I couldnt seem to stop.

I will photograph my layouts this week and upload cos the light was not good and now its pitch dark here but I did get a piccy of the one for this week's challenge on UKS.

I used the gorgeous Crate papers Bliss collection which my lovely lovely Secret Santa on the Rik Rak Ravers team gave me for Crimbo - I just lurve them to bits. The colours were perfect for this piccie of my daugheter Fiona when she was just a little girl looking at herself in the mirror at Center Parcs - this was obviously a sign of things to come cos she spends most of her time these days gazing and pouting in the mirror.

I got some fab RUBs at the market in Tynemouth this morning - total bargain and then Keith was good enough to drive us to see the Tynemouth Priory so that I could take some piccies. He really is a fab source of knowledge of the local area and I was fascinated by the stories he told. I am looking forward to going back in the summer to get a walk on the beach at Cullercoats - it was too cold today to stop and go for a walk.

Anyone who knows me knows my love of the seaside and the North East of England.

Anyways back to earth with a bump now and back to work tomorrow but I have a weekend in February to look forward to when I can return the hospitality and Heather is coming to Scotland for a weekend - yay!! Roll on the good times

Cropping this weekend

2011-01-21T09:18:00.000Z

Well I am in the middle of packing up my crop bag. I'm off to Holystone to stay with my friend Heather and to go to the Holystone crop for the weekend. I was meant to go and stay with her for the December one but the blooming snow saw to that little plan. I am so looking forward to it as I havent been to the crop there since October and I missed my local crop last month as I wasnt well and the December one of that was also snowed off.

Although I have been crafting it has been mini books, cards and CJs. The last time I made a layout was the beginning of Decembe - I am almost thinking I have forgotten how to scrap. No doubt I will get something done this weekend as Heather is also my team leader on UKS and will no doubt beat me with a big stick if I dont get any points this month - only kidding you know I loves you really.

I will leave you with a little recipe tag book my UKS team is doing as a wee swap. Each of us has been sent a book of tags with covers to decorate and we have to put a recipe on each side and send them to Heather who will make them into sets and re-distribute so that we all have a complete set each.

Here is my attempt at decorating my covers and my recipe tags.

52 Card Challenge

2011-01-20T10:33:00.000Z

I just noticed yesterday that there was a 52 card challenge set on UKS by Ang, details on UKS or on her Paper and Ribbons blog

I decided this was a good way to use up stash and build up a stock of cards so that this year I wasn't always racing at the last minute to get a card ready.

The prompt for Weeks 1 to 3 were already up so I decided to press on and catch up

The first prompt was Embossing, lilac and yellow.

The second prompt was Die cut, stripe, purple

And the third prompt was Blue, flourishes, hello.

I hope you like my efforts.

A Mini a Month Challenge

2011-01-19T09:34:00.000Z

Well the updating of the blog was short lived again. This was due to more internet problems at home which I think have been resolved. It would appear I had an intermittent fault with my modem so a new one is awaited and fingers crossed I will get uninterupted online access.

This year I am definately on a mission to use up more stash and as I am on a strict budget I will only be buying my monthly kit and the essential supplies.

Karen on UKS has started a great challenge A Mini A Month - she will be posting prompts and instructions for a different mini book each month and there is a great thread for this on UKS. The first one is an envelope book and the theme is to be New Beginnings. Well after my short lived attempt at dieting last year I have decided to start the year by re joining Slimming World. The difference this time is that I am being joined by a very good friend and we will be encouraging each other along to make sure we stay on the straight and anrrow. I have decided that my book will be about my diet progress so I have made the book all ready to go and I will be adding pics to it as the year goes on.

It did take me two goes to get this right last night and the original book was somewhat larger but after having a disaster went for a small one with 4 x 4 envelopes just so that I didnt waste so much paper - however I do really like the dinky size so I might just go with this one.

Two Days in a Row ..............

2010-11-26T11:02:00.000Z

Well who would have thought it. Back with a vengence - blogging two days in a row. Just a short post today with another two of the layouts from my scrapping weekend with UKS friends in Moffat last weekend. I so wish I could have one of those weekends once a month - it would be a great stress buster and a great stash buster too!!!!!!!1 Despite all the chatting, eating and drinking I did manage eight layouts so I was pleased. I also took advantage of Heather having her Big Shot there and cut a pile of chipboards swirlies and some grungepaper Tim Holtz tattered florals. The only thing with them is I am not sure if ink will cover the grungepaper completely - any advice on that point would be gratefully received.

So the layouts

The first one is Where did you get that hat - anyone who knows me knows I do not do cutting out or measuring - well for this one I very bravely cut into a gorgeous sheet of crate paper restoration and cut out the flowers for this layout - I have discovered that spritzing, scrunching, leaving to dry and inking the edges covers up a multitude of sins where bad cutting out is concerned so now I am on the look out for specific papers where I can cut the elements out. Who would have thought it.

Well for some reason I can't seem to upload the other two layouts so I might need to do a separate post. Hmm need a bit of technical help methinks

Aha, seem to have cracked it. The second layout is using the fab Glitz designs kit from Sandra at Gottacraft. This is my favourite kit so far. I love the bright green along with the black and white. Photo is of my daughter Fiona (posing as usual) and I converted the pic to black and white as I thought it looked better with the papers. I can see me using every last scrap of this kit.

Ooops - where did the time go to ....................

2010-11-25T13:14:00.000Z

I really can't believe just how long it is since I updated this poor neglected blog. Such a lot has happened since July. Mainly that my poor old laptop has given up the ghost and I have been without internet access at home for ages. While I save up (slowly) for a new one by fab BIL has put helped me sort out an old desktop computer and so for now I am up and running - albeit with a computer which looks as if Noah might have had it in the ark!!!!

I have finally begun to scrap a bit more frequently firstly due to continuing to attend the lovely crop near home at Uddingston and also thanks to finding a lovely new crop which is fairly near to my parents caravan in Beadnell. I had been chatting online at UKS to Heather who organises the crop at Holystone and in the summer she asked when I was coming to join them wilst I was at the caravan. The first month I thought she was just being polite and didnt take her up on the offer but when she asked me again in August I decided to take the plunge and join them. I have attended a few crops down there since then and am just back from a lovely weekend at a Farmhouse near Moffat where we had an excellent DIY retreat.

I have also joined the Rik Rak Ravers team on UKS as quite a few of them go to the crop at Holystone and am enjoying taking part in the weekly challenges set on UKS.

I have also at last cleared out my craft room so that I will have the space to scrap at home, all of which means I have at long last managed to fill up my first album.

I will leave you for now with a few of the layouts I did at the scrapping weekend and I promise to try and update on a more regular basis.

Cropping Today

2010-07-03T20:37:00.000+01:00

As our regular crop is having a summer break for July and August my friend Audrey suggested that we have a mini summer crop in East Kilbride. We did this today and although there were only five of us a good time was had by all. There was much chatting, tea drinking and cake eating interspersed with some crafting!

Miraculously I managed three layouts. The first two were using the fab Cosmo cricket delovely papers from this month's Gotta Craft kit - the lovely butterfly was from last month's Dabble kit.

The third layout was using some old stash from the DCVW set of drawers from QVC a couple of years ago. I cut out some of my own bunting to decorate this and am rather pleased with the results.

I have signed up for Shimelle's new class Love your Pictures, Love your pages which starts on Monday so I am looking forward to that over the next four weeks.

First Layout in a long time

2010-06-19T22:56:00.000+01:00

Firstly, how excited was I a week past Monday when I signed in to UK Scrappers and found out that Mary Anne had chosen my heart shaped wreath for one of the blog bits on the front page.

I had a lovely heart shaped piece of the card from the pizza box left over from the middle of this and decided - waste not want not so used it on a layout of my daughter when she was very young. I am pleased with the way it has turned out. I used My Minds Eye Pretty Please papers which was the very first kit I received from Cleo Crafts and the papers remain one of my favourites. I just love the colours and have replaced the papers as I have used them. I used a pink paint dabber and tumbled glass distress ink on the cardboard and sewed a wee heart using a bazill in stitches template. I painted one of the silk flowers with some pearly paint and made the tissue paper flower using some tissue paper I picked up in M & S last week.

Received my very first monthly kit from Sandra at Gottacraft this weekend - Cosmo Cricket Delovely - am looking forward to getting this as the colours look so bright and zingy, just need to find the right photo to do it justice.

Look What I made today

2010-06-05T18:11:00.000+01:00

I was at my monthly crop today and had ecided I was going to make a heart shaped wreath for my bedroom wall.

Yvette on UK Scrappers had kindly pointed me in the direction of hers made as as part of the Monopoly Cyber Crop. I managed to get a hold of the Papermania Rose Garden papers I had been looking for and decided that although I didnt have the kit I would have a go at making my own.

I made mine bigger than the cyber crop one and used for the base a heart cut out of pizza box. I ripped off most of the top layer of paper to reveal the corrugated card and swiped some pink paint over it with a baby wipe. I cut out hearts and flowers using die cuts and cutting round some chipbard shapes as templates. I fashioned a couple of roses made using paper punches and some lollipop flowers. I layered a couple of pink felt butterflies and glued and made some antanae from twisted wire.

All in all Im quite pleased with it although I might tweak it a bit before I thread on ribbon and hang it up in my Cath Kidston inspired bedroom.

Look What little beauty arrived in the Post for me today

2010-06-04T21:35:00.000+01:00

What a lovely treat when I got in from work today - this gorgeous little mermaid stamp and fabulous handmade card arrived in the post for me from Leann. It was her blog candy which I was lucky enough to win this week. Yay!! I love mermaids and all things to do with the sea so she is perfect for me.

I will need to have a play with her this weekend and see what I can come up with. I love the way Leann has coloured her up and I am assuming she has used some of these new copic or promarkers which everyone is raving about - if these are the results I might just need to give them a go.

You should go take a look at Leann's blog as she is an incredibly talented lady.

2010-05-30T20:46:00.000+01:00

Well another not very inspiring day in Northumberland so good excuse to carry on crafting. Have now started putting together the mini book for my nephew's 18th using those gorgeous Bo Bunny Mama Razzi papers from my Cleo Crafts kit. Need to wait till I get home to scan some photos and gather up some embellishments for the things he is interested in.

Have also started on my Printers Tray. I have decided not to tamper with the wood finish as I rather like it so have been busy today cutting down some papers to fit in the various sections. I used Bo Bunny again this time from the Paradise Lost (I think) collection. I also used used photos I had taken of lobster pots, the sand and some rocks on the beach. I will not be able to finish this until I get back home although I have made some roses out of some wee scraps of the paper. Unfortunately the weather hasnt quite been dry enough to have collecting shells trip to the beach so I will need to wait for that. I am also looking to order a couple of wee glass bottles with cork stoppers which I can fill with some sand.

Typical Bank Holiday Weather

2010-05-29T17:38:00.001+01:00

It's just typical isn't it. Last weekend was a scorcher and this weekend, the Bank Holiday it's gone all rainy. Never mind. I'm in my favourite place anyway rain or not. I am having a few chill out days with my Mum and Dad. Brought a couple of books to read and some bits and pieces of my crafting kit. I am hoping to start a mini book for my nephew's 18th Birthday using my new Cleo Craft kit which this month is Bo Bunny's Mamarazzi which I absolutely love. I also brought my dabble kit from Gottacraft with me which is full of yummy vintage style embellishments - almost too good to use.

I have also bought one of the 7 gypsies printers trays and am hoping to alter that for my bathroom at home using beach style papers and embellishments. I will post pics of that one in my next post

Have a good Bank Holiday weekend whatever you are doing.

I Lurve the AA

2010-05-15T13:05:00.000+01:00

Well this is going to be the weekend that never was. Set off with my daughter bright and early this morning for Newcastle to get back a car from my ex partner and to then have the weekend at the caravan in Beadnell with my parents so that my Mum could drive one car back for me and was merrily driving down the M74 quite happily when all of a sudden - bang - ooops pulled onto the hard shoulder, couldn't see anything wrong so phoned the AA. Turns out my offside suspension springy thingy went pop - fairly fatal. Had to be towed by home by the AA man - who incidentally was a bit of a hottie. Now facing a nice repair bill and am carless for the moment. Oh well just have to stay home and do a bit of crafting. And as for the other car - will have to wait for an other opportunity to drag its sorry ass back home. Ah well such is life I guess. No pics today - wonder if I should have taken one of the AA man with my phone - could have made a layout from that!!

Diet Watch - Week 1

2010-05-10T23:21:00.000+01:00

Well I survived the first week on my Slimming World diet. I managed quite well although I did find it all a bit confusing. I had my weigh in tonight and I was delighted to have lost 6.5 lbs. That's a good start and has encouraged me to go on.

I got my daughter to take photos on me on her phone as I intend to chart this no doubt long journey in mini book form. I warn you they are not a pretty sight!! I think I will have similar pictures taken every other month or so so that I can hopefully see what progress I am making.

Funny how when she takes pcics of herself and her pals they turn out fine but these are blurry but maybe thats for the best as they are pretty horrendous.

Well now that I have got started my next move is to get some exercise in so I think I will start out gently with some walking for the first week and then see how I go from there. Really need to build up my fitness level and I am sure it will help with the weight loss.

Hopefully I will get a crafty post in this week as I was really not in the mood to do much last week.

And on an update to my last post more upset it would seem that it was the murdered boys friend who was at the same show who has been arrested for his murder. Another upsetting day round here.

Sad news in our Town this week

2010-05-09T21:19:00.000+01:00

We have had sad news in our Town this week. A 16 year boy was murdered in a wooded area near our home. He was in the same school year as my daughter who had known him since he was five. No one seems to know what happened other than that his body was found at 7pm on Thursday evening and it would appear that he had his throat cut. My daughter and her pals are all devasted and the kids have all been leaving, cards, flowers and balloons at the edge of the woods. He was a quiet, popular boy who didnt seem to have any enemies. What a world we live in these days.

Enough is enough

2010-05-03T22:35:00.000+01:00

Okay I have finally decided that enough is enough on the "overweight" front. I have bitten the bullet ( and not before time) and joined a local Slimming World class. I am utterly disgusted at how much weight I have put on in the last five years or so and even though these have been diffucult years including the break down of a long standing marriage and also of a new relationship its time to stop making excuses, get off my very fat bum and do something about it. I decided to give Slimming World a go as my friend Janice is doing this and achieving good results. I thought if I posted publicly I would feel more inclined to carry through with it. I think I will make a mini book/journal to follow my journey and hopefully that will help spur me on.

With that in mind I have had a photo of myself taken tonight. I dont think it is fit for scaring any blog readers so I will keep it to myself for now.

Hopefully I will get out and about and get a bit more exercise and then keep my hands busy with a bit of crafting which will hopefully stop me constantly nibbling.

Wish me luck - I have a heck of a long way to go!!!!!!!!!!

Monthly Crop

2010-05-02T15:06:00.000+01:00

Was at my monthly crop yesterday. Had a great day with some scrapping and a lot of laughs. Just what I needed after the recent traumas of life. Worked on my team and my newbie CJs and got the layouts almost done, Just a few wee tweaks and they will be done and I will post the pics on here.

Just after I started going to the crop they went off for a retreat they had organised themselves. It was too near the time for me to go so I was delighted when they decided to have another one next March. I put my name down to go on this one so I will have to try and put a few pennies away each month.

Having a bit of a chill out today today then off to make the Sunday roast - honey glazed gammhon today which has taken over as my daughter's new favourite.

No crafty pics today as my poor camera seems to have died a death. Am now on the lookout for a replacement if anyone has any recommendations but have a nice pic of some daffodils which are so cheerful for spring.

Back again - sorry Alana!!

2010-04-29T15:17:00.000+01:00

Sorry I have been AWOL again. Life as usual getting in the way. My Dad isnt keeping very well at the moment and we are waiting for some test results to see what is going on.

I had joined a newbie CJ on UKS just before my Dad had a funny turn and of course I had to do a 300 mile round trip to try and bring a car back from Newcastle.

All this meant I got a bit behind with organising my CJ and I am grateful to Rebekah the host and my fellow CJers for their patience as I was a bit late with the posting of the Newbie one. It went in the post finally the other day so I hope Jellibean (Cal) gets it soon.

I chose the theme of Hollywood Icons for my CJ and for my own entry chose to base this on Audrey Hepburn as both my daughter and I admire her for her style, elegance and poise. My entry turned out to be much more simple than I would normally do but I am pleased with it. I only hope everyone else doesnt think its too minimal. I am really looking forward to seeing how others interpret my theme and to working on their CJs.

I am off to my local crop on Saturday and hope to get my entry for Crafty72 (Lynn) CJ done. I have an idea of what I am going to do so hopefully it will turn out okay.

Blooming Cameras!!!

2010-04-09T10:58:00.000+01:00

I had meant to blog this post a couple of days ago but my camera is not playing ball. It had been set to print some pics using the pictbridge setting and is now stuck and refuses to upload using the USB cable. I just remembered this morning that I had bought my Parents the same camera as me (thought it would be easier if they had any probs with it) and so round to theirs I went and put my card in their camera and managed to upload my pics to my laptop.

What have I been up to this week then - well at long last and way behind schedule I caught up with my Mini Book of 2010 which Jane at UKS started in the Inspirations and Challenges Section. Here is my cover and my layouts for Jan, Feb and March.

I am off to a small family wedding today - my cousin and his fiancee and getting married after being together for around 10 years and after the birth of three children, It is just a small affair in the local Registry office and then back to the house for champagne and nibbles. It should be a good day though and hopefully my camera will play ball and I can get some piccies.

Easter Hols

2010-04-06T19:58:00.000+01:00

Just back today from a very relaxing few days away at my parents caravan which is in Beadnell, a pretty quiet wee village in Northumberland. Weather was actually pretty good condsidering the forecast. Had plenty of quiet walks on the beach and a chance to recharge my batteries, just what was needed. Back to reality with a bump tonight though. Never mind. Will try my best to get a bit of crafting done. Did take some stuff with me but its my parents caravan and with both of them, myself and my 16 year old daughter there was really not enough space to get much crafting done. Did finish the cover for my first CJ though which I am joining in with on UKS.

The paper is a Bo Bunny basics paper which I really loved the colour of, I matched it up with some brown card onto which I stitched a flourish using one of the Bazill In Stiches templates. I used a dymo to create the title on some coredinations green card which I then sanded - the photo does not show this up to its best. The green trim was from the first Gottacraft Dabble kit and matched the paper perfectly. The brown chipboard frame was from the latest Cleo Crafts monthly kit. I need to do my rules page, my sign in page and a double layout and then its pretty much ready to go. I am struggling a bit with the rules as this is my first one and I really dont know what to say. I gather I need to make tags of some sort for the sign in page but again I'm not quite sure what size to use as I dont know what information needs to go on these. I am also unsure as to whether there should be a sort of introduction page to say why you chose the theme of the CJ. Never mind I'm sure I will get the hang of it eventually. I hope so cos I have also joined in a newbie CJ on UKS - in for a penny in for a pound.

2010-03-31T20:32:00.000+01:00

Okay I am shamed into this by my so called online friends!!!! Alana has challenged Sandra and I to blog once a week (hmmm we will see) and Sandra has promised to nag me into submission in the tidying of my craft pit (sorry room). Sneaky Sandra slipped in a blog post while I was at work - how below the belt is that - only kidding Sandra.

Not much crafty going on here at the moment due to all the extra working I am doing as we reach the end of the financial year at work. I am so looking forward to having a break for Easter when I am off to my parents caravan which is at Beadnell in Northumberland for a few days. I love that area, I have been going there for over 40 years and it really is my wee bit of paradise. Fingers crossed for some decent weather although it is not looking likely as we are a bit snowboard here.

I habve just taken part in my first swap on UKS with my team which I joined recently, the All new lost girls - so far I haven't earned any points for them but have enjoyed chatting with them. The swap is to decorate and fill a Cooks matchbox with embellishments. I had to post to Daphne whose favoutite colours are green and purple so I tried to theme the contents and the decoration.

I received my matchbox from Alison, it was beautifully decorated and filled with lots of "little treasures".

I also joined in time to join in a circle journal which will be starting in April. This will be my first time of joining in a circle journal and I am so looking forward to it. My theme is to be "My Happy Place" and from this post I bet you can guess where mine is. I have cut board for the front covers and am playing around with some card and patterned papers. I will post once I have decided what I am doing finally.

I also got some more wool and have started to knit a short sleeved one button cardi - I have just started this but will post a picture once I have done a bit more. I will take it to the caravan with me and hopefully get a bit done there.

2010-03-07T08:48:00.000Z

Went to the crop yesterday and had a great time. They really are such a friendly bunch. I didnt get much done but did make a Mothers Day card and box for my Mum for next weekend. I used paper and card from the March Cleo Crafts kit - Prima flights of fancy - Im afraid my camera doesnt do it justice. The base of the card is Coconut cream Coredinations stamped all over with a flourish stamp layered up with gorgeous cream prima paper with writing on, Rouge Coredinations card and a strip of lovely meshy ribbony stuff which also came in the kit. The flower is made from circles of tissue paper which I inked with distress ink as it was too pale, scrunched up, opened up again and layered up and joined with a brad. I then separated out the layers and coloured the edges with a watermelon paint dabber. The word Mum was cut with a sissix alphabet, embossed with a cuttlebug embossing folder and then sanded lightly to show the core colour.

Box is made from corrugated brown card also coloured with the same paint dabber and another tissue paper flower. I may add some ribbon to finish it off.

I also covered a cook's matchbox for a matchbox embellishment swap Im joining in with my team but I wont post that just now in case the recipient sees it.

Im off to the newsagents this morning for the latest issue of Craft Stamper mag so that I can read the final part of Kate Crane's (the Kathryn Wheel) masterclass on art journalling. I have made a cover for my art journal and cut the pages but I'm not happy with the cover and may start it all again.

2010-02-28T15:18:00.000Z

Hello everyone. We have had snow here again this week. Completely sick of it and hope we do't get it for the long spell we had last time round Really suffering now with being fed up of winter and so looking forward to the first signs of Spring arriving,

I have decided to join in with a small challenge on UKS organised by JaneH. Its making a mini book of 2010 with a double layout for each month. Typically I didnt notice this until recently so I'm well behind already. Had a look at Shimelle's Document 2010 but didnt think I could gather up enough photos and bits and pieces each month to justify that. Have decided not to buy any new stash for this one so will see if I can use up some of the every increasing stash mountain. So far I have only made the front cover which I have put on here but it's a start. Will try to get January and February pages done this coming week.

I have been wanting to do some art journalling for a while now but didn't really know where to sart. I picked up a copy of this month's Craft Stamper last Saturday and Kate Crane (The Kathryn Wheel) whose blog I love had part 2 of a masterclass in Art journalling. I was so impressed with the article which was about making your pages I ordered a back copy of last months so that I could read Part one which was all about making your cover and your actual pages. Hopefully I can make a start on that soon. I have most of the things already apart from gel medium and watercolour paper which I got this weekend from a localish art shop. Will post the results when I get going. I have one or two ideas but we will see how these turn out.

Knitting

2010-02-16T20:28:00.000Z

Well here's the result of my first pair of wrist warmers. Very very easy to knit and I've knitted a few pairs so far for friends. Love the wool which is Sirdar Crofter chuncky very easy to knit with. Am going to knit a cowl/neck warmer thingy next.

I was finishing these off at work today when one of our surveyors decided he would like a pair for going out surveying as they would keep his hands warm whilst allowing him to complete his paperwork and take his samples. So looks like I will have to get some plain black wool and do some more - luckily they dont take long at all to knit.

Thanks everyone for the comments on the start of my mini book - comments mean so much to us all I think.

Websters Pages Mini book

2010-02-14T15:20:00.000Z

Here is a couple of pics of a mini book I started making at the crop last week using the Websters pages Natures Storybook papers from a Cleo Crafts monthly kit. The cover is based on one of the mini book covers on UK Scrappers. Its not finished yet and I dont know what photos I will put in it but it is shaping up quite nicely.

I am still way way behind with my 52 in 10 pages from Scrapdollys challenge - Im not going to give up though or put myself under any stress to keep up - as long as I get it together in the end.

I have quite a few crafty projects running round my head so I just need to make myself some time to get going with these.

I am loving knitting at the moment and have been knitting some fingerless gloves for myself and friends at work. Im using Sirdar crofty chunky which knits up quickly and easily. I plan to make a neck warmer as well and will photograph it for the blog when I am finished.

Poor neglected blog

2010-02-05T21:09:00.000Z

Okay so Im not doing too well at the blogging lark. I promise to try harder. I am off to a local crop tomorrow. I have not been at a crop for ages and have never met any of the ladies who go to this one. I have spoken twice on the phone and a couple of times by private message on UK scrappers to Audrey who goes regularly to this crop and who has kindly offered me a lift tomorrow so I do not have to arrive on my own

The only problem now is what do I pack and what do I do? I have drawn a complete blank on the inspiration front.#

I have half of the bits and pieces ready to do a three in one album desk calendar thing that Julie Kirk (nabview on UKS) kindly shared and I have started Karen (Scrapdolly o UKS) 52 in 10 album.

I just feel so disorganised and need some very simple and quick ideas to kick start the mojo.

Will be back soon I promise - not that anyone will probably notice anyway

52 in 10

2010-01-03T13:56:00.000Z

Well I am back to update my sadly neglected blog. So much for signing up for Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers as things happened in my life which pushed both blogging and crafting to the back burner

Anyway its a new year and a new start for crafting so I have signed up to Scrapdolly's 52 in 10 project - when I work out how to do it I will upload her logo from her blog to mine

I have downloaded the first prompt so am off to have a think about that and to decide finally what size of album to do

Will be back soon

Suzy xx

Wear It Pink Day

2009-10-30T07:31:00.000Z

We are having a Wear It Pink Day at work today and all funds raised will be going to a Breast Cancer Charity

Everyone has to pay to wear something pink and some of us are baking to help raise funds

These are my very simple cupcakes which I made last night. I added pink colouring to the actual cake mix and used lovely pink glimmery sprinkles on the top which I got from Asda. The picture does not show off their sparkle very well.

Hopefully we will manage to raise a few quid today.

New Home Card

2009-10-26T21:44:00.000Z

This is just a simple card I made for a friend at work who is moving house on Friday this week. I had a lovely sheet of 12 x 12 American crafts paper with the little houses on that I finally cut into! This was layered up with some sparkly Petaloo Dazzler green glitter paper and some kraft brown card

60th Birthday Mini Book

2009-10-21T21:07:00.001+01:00

At long last I have finished the mini book I was making for my friend at work's Dad's 60th Birthday. I found it difficult to do as I have never met him. I followed the brief I was given and she seemed pleased with it. I did forget to take a picture of it complete with the two book rings and some (manly) ribbon to finish it off.

Apologies for the layout of the post I am still struggling to get the hang of this whole blogging thing.

My latest Cleo Crafts kit arrived today and once I have finished stroking it I will use it to make something.

Two posts in one night!

2009-10-14T23:35:00.000+01:00

Here is another very simple layout using the bazill card from the Cleo Crafts October kit - Flutter butter by Bo Bunny with mats from some of the plainer patterned paper. The flower was also made from scraps of this paper. The rick rack came with the kit and the striped ribbon came in a bunch also from Cleo Crafts.

Very simple but as I have 18 years of kids photos to catch up on the majority of the layouts will need to be quick and easy!

FLUTTER BUTTER

2009-10-14T20:05:00.000+01:00

This is a layout I have done using the Bo Bunny flutter butter papers, a collection of blooms I had, some of my own and some from my last Cleo Crafts kit. The title is with American crafts felt thickers and it is finished off with a kraft journalling sprout

The layout is a bit tongue in cheek. The picture is of my daughter just before she was two on holiday in Menorca where she insisted on holding up the front of her dress in her teeth. My cousin now has a daughter aged five who will insist of going about with no pants and frequently will hold her dress up in a similar fashion!!!

Layout using October CLeo Crafts Kit

2009-10-12T19:24:00.000+01:00

This is a layout of my son, Fraser who is now 18 which I have just done using the papers from the Cleo Crafts September kit - Bo Bonny Flutter Butter

He is an avid Scotland fan and has been so since he got his first Scotland strip aged around 18 months.

First 12 x 12 layout in a while

2009-10-06T18:00:00.000+01:00

At long last my mojo seems to have returned and I have managed a 12 x 12 layout

I used the My Minds Eyre Pretty please papers from my September Cleo Crafts Kit

The picture is of my daughter - better late than never as she is 16 now!!! As you can guess I have a huge backlog as I only took up scrapping a few years ago. Sometimes I think I will never wade my way through them all.

Triangular Squash Book

2009-10-05T21:24:00.000+01:00

I only just remembered that I hadn't posted the completed Triangular squash book from the UKS Summer mini book event which I made for my daughter, Fiona's 16th birthday last month

Completed Golden Wedding Flip book

2009-10-05T21:06:00.000+01:00

At last I finally got the photos printed and the flip book finished for my Parents Golden Wedding

I will probably do a bigger album later but wanted them to have a pocket sized memento of the night they could take down to the caravan with them at Beadnell when they go this week to show their friends who were all there

Apologies for the quality of the photography

Golden Wedding Mini Book

2009-09-10T22:08:00.000+01:00

I have made a flip flap book as shown on the UK Scrappers Summer mini book event ready for some pictures of my Parents Golden Wedding Anniversay dinner this Saturday.

I have used papers from the Cleo Crafts September kit - My Minds Eye Pretty Please to match the card I made them already.

I will post the finished book once the photos have been added

Hope you like this

2009-09-05T17:32:00.001+01:00

Well I was finally able to get to the Post Office today to collect my first kit from Cleo Crafts. It is gorgeous and I absolutely love it.

It is my parents Golden Wedding Anniversary today and typically I had left making the card to the last minute! Never mind as I made good use of the kit. I hope you like the card. I plan to make a mini book with photos of the dinner they are hosting next week from the rest of the kit.

2009-09-01T21:20:00.000+01:00

I shouldnt really have started this blog until I got the hang of designing it. I had hoped to have a header and background by now but my limited technical skills have let me down.

Michael, a work colleague, hopefully is going to help me with this. I know what I want to some extent but working out how to do it has proved elusive.

I am waiting for the postie bringing me my first kit from Cleo Crafts. I am so looking forward to receiving this.

I also have to organise a card for my Parents Golden Wedding this weekend - must really get on with this and also one for my daughter's 16th birthday next week. Once I get these done I'd like to have a go at some art journalling

A Blog at Last

2009-08-21T19:38:00.000+01:00

Having lurked round UK Scrappers for a few years and been a constant reader of other members blogs I have finally taken the plunge and started a blog of my own.

It will no doubt take me some time to get the hang of this and to post something interesting - but watch this space.