Passion for Paper

A little project....

2012-01-29T12:01:00.001Z

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend even if it is cold and wet..... roll on spring I say!

I have seen a lot of people taking part in Project Life this year. I love the idea and the look of resulting pages but realistically I won't get round to photographing enough during the week and then keep up with putting it all together. So I have a done something a little different, I have recorded last year on a month by month basis. In the Scrap Room kit this month there were some papers from the Year-o-graphy range from Simple Stories inlcuded and so with a few more papers added from the range I was set. I already had some 6x4 divided page protectors which the papers fitted perfectly. So here are the pages (apologies for the poor photos, not easy to get good pictures at this time of the year!) I did 2 months per page.

I got my little photos by fitting 4 onto a 7x5 print and then cutting them up.Nearly all the bits added to the cards came from the sticker and embellishment sheets from the range, the only extra bits added were some buttons from my stash and some numbers from these fabric Thickers (I think they might be my favourite AC Thickers ever!)

Thanks for stopping by x

2012-01-21T14:48:00.000Z

Sometimes I need a bit of a boost with coming up with ideas for a layout, sketches are great as inspiration but the Scrap Room have a slightly different approach on their blog where they specify the sizes of the papers to cut out and then you arrange them on the page as you wish and add your own finishing touches.

This is the layout I created from the January formula using papers from October Afternoon's Farmhouse which came in the January kit. It's interesting to see how other people arrange the pieces differently and it did mean the layout came together nice and quickly for me!

I'm sure you'll agree that when the postman brings that pizza box to your door you know it's going to be something good and this week I received an exciting box of goodies from Sandra at Gottacraft including some of these -

They look a bit strange in the packet but they lift out to become a pretty string of butterflies. If you'd like to have a chance at winning a packet then head over to the Gottacraft blog for the details ......

Have a great weekend.

2012-01-16T14:27:00.000Z

Well it's been a busy start to the New Year, getting life back to 'normal' after Christmas, back to school for the kids and back to work for me!

Here are a couple of my latest layouts, the pictures for this first one are taken through the window of a patisserie we visited in Brugge, they certainly know how to create amazing cakes and pastries (with equally amazing prices I might add!)

The papers are all from October Afternoon and the banner stickers are from Sassafrass. The glittery stickers came with a Halloween kit from Gottacraft and were a great match for the orange OA paper.

The other layout uses papers from Pebbles which came in the January Scraproom FOTM kit.

The stripey alphabet letters are from Doodlebug, I think from a distance they look like they have real twine wrapped around them!

If you love kraft papers (as I do) you might want to check out the latest monthly kit over at Gottacraft, which this month is full of papers from Kraft Funday by My Minds Eye as well as lots of other goodies. The two latest Scrap 365 magazines are also in stock, it's great to see a new scrapping magazine, especially as it features the lovely Sian as one of it's designers!

Have a great week x

2011-12-28T15:48:00.000Z

I've got a couple more Christmas themed layouts to share, again made with the December ScrapRoom FOTM kit. The first one uses Jillibean Soup Christmas Eve Chowder.

One of the papers had some cute penguins and trees on it which I cut out and used as embellishments raised up with foam pads.

The other layout uses Echo Park Jolly Holly Christmas. The photos I had to use for this particular Christmas were not very good (I struggle to get good pictures at this time of the year because they tend to be indoors and it's always dark!) But I don't have any others for this year and the bright colours in the photos I think go OK with the bright papers!

The matching sticker sheet that came with the kit was crammed full so I went a bit mad with them on the layout!

Thanks for stopping by x

Merry Christmas Everyone....

2011-12-24T14:22:00.000Z

Well we've finished a marathon baking session this morning, between myself and the kids we've made mince pies, iced the Christmas cake, made Christmas Tree cupcakes and whipped up a batch of mint chocolate fudge. And yes there was a lot of washing up!!

Sam iced the cake, made mince pies and the fudge and Ellie made the cupcakes - I think they both did a great job!

I have also been busy with the December ScrapRoom FOTM kit (and I intend to do plenty more during the rest of my time off over Christmas and New Year!)

The tree was really fun to make - its just lots of rolled up tubes of paper of varying sizes stuck together to make a tree shape. I saw the idea for this on Sutty's blog.

So it just leaves me so say that I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year and plenty more craftiness in 2012!

2011-12-16T13:33:00.000Z

After a spot of blog hopping this morning, I came across Sian's latest blog post which was all about something called Tagxedo. It looked like fun so I took a peek and all I can say is once you've started you will want to make more and more! Anyway I decided to use 2 images for Christmas cards for my DD and DS, and theme them to their likes/dislikes. DD love the Vampire Diaries so her tree is made up of words from the show, DS has somewhat broader tastes so I typed in a whole lot of Christmas themed words connected to him.

Apologies for the poor quality of the photos, with all the rain/sleet/snow it's a little dark here! The papers are from Basic Grey.

Well I think I'm just about sorted for Christmas now, apart from the food shopping which is the worst bit I think!

2011-12-11T09:02:00.000Z

Well the Christmas shopping is almost done, the presents need to be wrapped and today we'll be putting up the tree and having fun choosing the decorations to put on it this year. I've been doing some Chistmas scrapping as well, a couple of pages with extra photos tucked away.

The first page was inspired by one of Shimelle's 4x6 Photo Love classes (September in this case). You create a pocket for your photo cards which contain 4 photos on each.

The second page is a 8.5 x 11, and has just one photo card with 2 photos on it which is hidden behind the main picture and is pulled out using the tag with the button on it.

The wooden shape is a gift tag that I kept from last year which was perfect for the theme of my page. I had some extra Santas left from the ones I made for my Christmas cards so I popped one on the page!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend x

2011-12-02T17:26:00.000Z

I have been using my November ScrapRoom FOTM kit to scrap some holiday pictures from 2004. This layout uses mainly the Little Yellow Bicycle Hello Fall papers.

Have a great weekend x

2011-11-29T18:40:00.000Z

A quick post with another Christmas related project, this time I have been making money wallets which I cut on my Craft Robo with a file I made myself. It's a pretty basic design that makes a simple base card which you can then decorate. If you want to download the file for your personal use you can find it here. This file should work on both a Craft Robo and a Silhouette machine.

The wallets will fit into a DL envelope. On the inner part which holds the contents of the wallet I used a 1" circle punch to make a crescent shape on the top edge.

2011-11-28T19:24:00.000Z

I'm trying to be organised early for Christmas this year to avoid too much last minute rushing around (that's the plan anyway!) so over the last week or so I've been making a concerted effort to get some cards made so they're ready for posting and handing out in a couple of weeks. To try and make the process easier I've been using some shapes downloaded from the Silhouette store to cut on my Craft Robo as the basis for my cards. I've also dug out the remnants of some Christmas themed kits that have been sitting unused. The cards below are all made from the scraps of Echo Park papers from the 2010 Christmas kit from Gottacraft (the kit is long gone but some of the papers are still available here)

The Santa on my first card is cut from a Silhouette file, luckily there weren't too too many fiddly bits to cut and I love that I could make him the exact size I wanted.

The snowflakes for this one were again cut from a Silhouette file (the shape was from a set designed by Echo Park which matched perfectly to their papers).

With some of the last pieces I made this card, the snowflake border came on the sticker sheet that came with the kit.

Finally with some tiny offcuts I made a couple of tags, using a stamp on one and some bits from the sticker sheet.

Now all I need to do is finish the Christmas shopping so I've got something to attach the tags to!

2011-11-18T15:21:00.000Z

Recently I have been happily cutting my way through papers that I've been hanging on to for a while, in this case the papers were from the Whoo Loves You range by My Little Shoebox. I put together a couple of layouts and as it turned out they both had a large circle in the centre of the design.

The latest monthly kit from the ScrapRoom arrived earlier in the week so I'm itching to break into that over the weekend, can't wait! Have a great weekend x

2011-11-15T17:08:00.000Z

I've definitely got a taste for using lots of patterned paper at the moment thanks to Shimelle's Class (I must catch up on the prompts!). This layout is certainly colourful...!

Most of the papers are from a pad from K&Co with a little bit of Sassafrass thrown in.

I have now worked out how to fit several photos onto one 6x4 print using Picassa which is great for getting lots of little photos for your money. In this case I had lots of photos of my niece making cakes and they would never have all fitted onto my page if I had used standard size prints.

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-11-07T08:49:00.000Z

Morning! Hope you all had a good weekend. We got together with family on Saturday for some fireworks which the kids loved, even my 2 year old niece.

This is my latest layout, based on some more prompts from Shimelle's Pretty Paper party. This one was inspired by several of them, using patterned papers to make a patchwork design, using printable elements and also using black as a background. As the layout was based on my son's discovery of his love for Dr Pepper I found lots of scraps of paper in red tones to make my patchwork mat. I stuck it to some scrap paper first which meant I could draw a central line to make sure my squares lined up.

The doilies came from a free printable I got from the UK Scrappers forum a little while ago. Taking this class has certainly made me braver about mixing different papers up rather than just sticking to ones from the same paper line!

2011-11-04T12:39:00.000Z

This is my latest layout working from prompt 7 of Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party. This one covered mixing different patterned paper ranges. I mixed two different paper ranges from Echo Park, Victorian Gardens and Happy Days.

I'm not used to having so much pattern on one page, but then again that's one of the reasons for doing the class was to use up more of my patterned papers so I guess it achieved that!

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-10-31T13:52:00.000Z

Another layout to share following a couple more of Shimelle's prompts. This one combines spots and stripes as well as some different edges to my papers (not that I need an excuse to use my punches!)

The papers are Fancy Pants Summer's End from the October ScrapRoom kit.

I cropped my photos down so I could fit them across the page, I also had a couple of other photos that I wanted to include so I added them to the back of the layout along with a pocket for the leaflet from the Palace.

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-10-29T08:49:00.000+01:00

Half term for the kids is nearly over now, we had a trip to London earlier in the week and visited the Tower of London for the first time. After a picnic by the Thames we explored the Tower(s). There is so much history tied up within the walls it's quite mind-blowing!

I decided to print out some mini photos from the day and use them on a layout based on Shimelle's prompt no. 3 from the Pretty Paper Party class. I based my layout on one of the examples, and used lots of different mixed paper strips. There are some Prima papers and embllies in there from a crop kit from Gottacraft and others from past kits from the ScrapRoom. I love the little letter stickers used on my title from Glitz Design.

I'm hoping to be able to work my way through some more prompts over the weekend, I'm really enjoying using up some of my patterned paper stash by looking at it in new ways. Have a great weekend x

2011-10-21T18:06:00.001+01:00

I am slowly working my way through the prompts on the Pretty Paper Party online class, the second one was about using patterned paper as a background, or in my case several patterned papers as a background.

The papers are from Girls Paperie, they certainly have lots of lovely patterned papers and embellies to try in their paper ranges. This photo is from last weekend when my DD turned 15. Only two more years and she'll be wanting to learn to drive!

Hopefully I'll get some time over the weekend to look as some of the other prompts, so far it's been good fun and I'm enjoying trying out some different ideas.

2011-10-19T20:30:00.002+01:00

Whilst blog hopping the other day this online class from Shimelle caught my eye so I decided to give it a go and signed myself up.

This is the page created from the first prompt which was about using up strips of patterned papers that you may have been hoarding. I used up my scraps of Crate Paper Restoration that I've been keeping safe for something special!

I have plenty more strips of leftover papers so next I'll be trying mixing and matching with different ranges, and there are plenty more prompts to come over the next few weeks so I'll be kept very busy!

2011-10-18T09:14:00.000+01:00

This layout is from my son's birthday in 2010 (one day I'll catch up!) The papers came from the October Scrap Room kit and are from Simple Stories. There was a sheet of matching stickers with the kit, I had to restrain myself from using them all on the page!

My son got a cute guitar shaped card for his birthday which I had kept so I have used it on the page (and he's holding it in the photo too) I often keep things like this intending to incorporate them onto a page so I'm glad I managed it for once!

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-10-11T19:10:00.000+01:00

It's that time again and the latest kit is on sale over at Gottacraft. I have been busy with the kit this month and had fun with the lovely Phantom papers from Pink Paislee. I decided to do something a bit different this month and made a mini album based on the instructions I found here. I made my album a little bit bigger but it still only needed 2 sheets of 12x12 to make it.

There are lots of folded pages inside, you have to open it in stages before you get to the centre. Photographing it wasn't very easy! I cut a lot of the embellishments with my Craft Robo using a mix of my own files and Silhouette files.

I used some of the 'non' Halloween sides of my paper for my layout, I thought the black and white greens went well with my photos.

Finally here is a card made with the kit, the house and the spider web are files from the Silhouette shop cut with my Craft Robo.

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-10-08T13:23:00.000+01:00

I decided to mix things up a bit with my latest layout, I tend to play safe and use only papers from the same range on my layouts so wanted to experiment a bit with some different paper ranges.

The base shaped paper is from Fancy Pants, the other papers are Fancy Pants Roadshow, some Cosmo Cricket and Girls Paperie.

The number and letter stickers and little flags are also from Girls Paperie. I cut the doily tucked behind the photos from a Silhouette file that I downloaded to cut on my Craft Robo.

I have been busy on some other things for the October Gottacraft kit which goes on sale on Monday. I'll be back then to show you what I've made!

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-10-01T17:16:00.000+01:00

I'm back with a couple of things I have created with some more of the papers that Sandra sent me recently from the Echo Park Victoria Gardens range. I treated myself this week to some new cutting files from the Silhouette store (which I use via their software on my Craft Robo) I used two of them to cut the swirls and the title on my layout.

I created a frame effect in the centre of the layout by cutting a circle out of the middle of the patterned paper, I then attached a mask cut from paper and finally spritzed with glimmer mist.

To finish off I added some Prima flowers and a pearl flourish.

The card was quick to put together, I punched a strip of patterned paper to edge the bottom of the card and then finished it off by adding some punched butterflies to my panels.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend x

2011-09-26T14:11:00.000+01:00

I hope everyone had a good weekend, the weather was good here so we spent some time in the garden trying to tame some of the plants that have grown a little too well over the summer!

With the last little bits of the Crate Paper Farmhouse papers I have made a couple of cards. I successfully made my spring card 'work' this time round by making sure my embellishments weren't too heavy.

The method for making these cards is quite simple (although it did take me a while to work it out at first!) Your cardstock needs to be twice as long as it is wide (so you can do any variation as long as it fits your envelope) The scorelines then go as per the diagram below, the first score line comes a quarter of the way up the card and then the diagonal scorelines go from both sides to three-quarters of the way up the card. The only thing to remember is to do the straight score line on the opposite side to the diagonal ones as they fold in different directions. There are two cut lines as shown which go from each side where the diagonal scores end to the midde of the top of the card. Once you have scored and cut you push in the sides below the diamond to form it, the bottom piece folds the other way to make the base. To give stability you will need to glue down the main part of the card to the base.

My card fits a 16cm x 16cm envelope, so the width of my cardstock was 148mm and as it was A4 card I did not need to adjust the length.

My other card was features a flower made from the Tim Holtz tattered floral die and finished off with a pearl. I cut the doily on my Craft Robo from a template that I made myself.

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-09-20T14:25:00.000+01:00

I have been busy over the last week or so with some goodies sent through to me by Sandra at Gottacraft, namely a lovely collection of papers called Victoria Gardens from Echo Park.

I used Bazzill kraft card as the background for both the card and the layout, I like to use it because the colour is neutral and lets the papers take centre stage.

The second layout required a lot of hand-cutting of the roses from one of the papers. I used a cut up pizza box to raise them underneath all up to give extra dimension. The circular doilies were cut on my Craft Robo, they are really easy to design if you have the Design Master software, which I think is similar to the Silhouette software.

I used another doily as the background of the card, I was originally going to make a 'spring' card but the weight of my flowers was too much and the whole thing kept collapsing! So I cut my losses (literally) and put the whole lot onto a standard fold card. I will try the spring card another day but keep the embellishments lighter! The flowers are made with a Tim Holtz die, sprayed with a combination of glimmer mists, scrunched up then layered together.

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-09-11T20:38:00.000+01:00

I hope everyone has had a good weekend, it's been a real mixture of sunshine and showers here in Kent, although amongst all of that we did manage a walk by the coast yesterday with an ice-cream to finish off!

I had not come across a a new manufacturer called Authentique until Sandra at Gottacraft made me aware of them. Their ranges have a lovely vintage style to them and they come in handy 6 by 6 pads with 12 different papers in each. Sandra is stocking the Blissful, Journey and Uncommon pads which you can find here.

I have already created a layout and card which you can seen on the shop blog using the Uncommon and Blissful papers, and here is another layout using some of the Journey papers which are mainly blue and black patterns.

The 6 by 6 papers are an ideal size for a smaller layout, this one is 8.5 x 11 inch. I can't wait to see what else they bring out in the future.

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-08-28T18:42:00.000+01:00

I've been a bit neglectful of my blog of late, I just had lots of other stuff going on I suppose! As the days get cooler I can feel the urge to sit up at my craft desk beginning to return so I'm sure I'll be back to it before too long...

I have not been idle on the crafty front though - my adorable niece turned 2 yesterday and I have been working on something for her birthday for some time. This is the finished result - a special blanket for a special girl!

I chose the colours to match the decor of her room, and the pattern for the blanket came from a lovely crochet book written by Nicki Trench called Cute and Easy Crochet. There are some fantastic projects in there which I can't wait to try!

I think she liked it, here she is snuggled up in it -

This week I got some lovely new papers through the post from Sandra at Gottacraft so I'm planning to spend some time over this weekend getting creative. I'll be back soon with some layouts and cards to share.....

Have a great weekend x

2011-08-01T22:54:00.000+01:00

I hope everyone had a good weekend, I had a friend and her children to visit so had a great time catching up on the gossip whilst we all enjoyed the lovely weather. It would be good if the weather stayed this way for the rest of the holidays - well I can hope!

Here is a recent layout made with some papers I picked up on holiday from Colorbok. I bought the Tim Holtz bird and bird cage die whilst I was on a weekend away recently and I visited Scrap Revolution - a lovely little shop crammed full of goodies! The picture is my niece with cute pigtails in her hair, this was the first time she'd had them and she loved them!

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-07-26T17:50:00.001+01:00

Back to blogging after a bit of a break, in between when I last posted and now I've celebrated a birthday and enjoyed some lovely treats and surprises from my wonderful family and friends. Now the kids have broken up from school and the long summer holidays stretch in front of them (not for me sadly though!)

Here is a layout of my DS enjoying a multi-coloured slushie on holiday - the page started off as a 12 x 12 but after a bit of an accident with some misaaligned stamping and some distress ink it became a 8.5 x 11 instead! I made the doilies with some stamps from MME, they are great for layering up so I made several to make a kind of border to tuck under the photo.

The papers are from the July Scraproom kit and are from Pink Paislee. The papers were a good match to the subject of page and also a good match to the colour of my DS's tongue after he had finished the slushie!

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-07-08T18:49:00.000+01:00

Still on a mission to use up scraps I dug out the last pieces of Cherry Licious papers from Sassafrass that came in a ScrapRoom kit last year.

The photo is my DD opening her birthday presents last year. The papers are quite bright so I cut out the middle of the paper and replaced it with white card to tone it down a bit. I added some journaling to list some of her likes and dislikes at that time, I try and do this every year now for the kids so that in the future we'll be able to look back and see how much they've changed.

Have a great weekend x

2011-07-05T12:23:00.000+01:00

I hope everyone had a great weekend, we had a lovely time in sunny Suffolk on Sunday meeting up with relatives young and old, from my Granny of nearly 93 down to the youngest great-grandchild of 7 months! We had a fantastic outdoor lunch prepared by my Aunt, and the weather was perfect. Happy times!

I have a layout to share, the photos are from our holiday and the papers are Fancy Pants Happy Together.

The tags on the layout are my bargain buy of the month, I have seen them for sale on various craft websites but it ocurred to me that they were just ordinary tags and a quick search on e-bay secured me 50 of them for £2.35 including the postage - at that price they'll be on everything now!

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-07-01T19:02:00.000+01:00

Well it's the end of the week again, bring on the weekend! Looks like it should be a good one, we'll be buy catching up with friends and family.

I have a couple of pages to share, the first uses papers from SEI. The photo of my DD and DS was taken a while ago, but it's not one I've scrapped before. I added some handmade flowers (which are basically circles of different sizes scrunched up and inked with a brad added in the centre).

My other page uses some papers from Glitz Design, they came in a Gottacraft kit last year and I decided to make a layout from the bits I had left over. I added some pleated paper flowers and spritzed my background with a couple of shades of glimmer mists (my collection of colours of these is growing steadily!)

Have a great weekend x

2011-06-25T16:47:00.000+01:00

Hope everyone had a good week, mine was busy so I'm glad the weekend is here! We have even been promised some warm sunny weather tomorrow so a BBQ at our house for all the family has been planned.....

This is another layout from this month's kit from the Scrapoom. The papers are from Pebbles Happy Go Lucky range. The colours of the papers are quite bright so I used a B&W photo to avoid any colour clashes.

The ribbon has been in my stash for as long as I can remember, but the colours matched perfectly to the papers so it finally found a use!

Have a good weekend, thanks for stopping by x

2011-06-21T11:40:00.000+01:00

The June kit from the ScrapRoom arrived the other week and I've finally had some time to delve into it (I'm currently waiting for the washing machine repair man to visit so it seems like a good excuse!) and I've made a couple of layouts. The first uses papers from SEI's Corinne papers.

The glittered die-cut that came with the kit seemed really appropriate for my page featuring my DH and DD so I went with that for my title.

I used a die cut cloud to make a template with a couple of variations and then used them as a mask and added some green glimmer mist. I then made the same shaped clouds again but smaller and sprayed them with some blue glimmer mist. I added them to the page and used scrap card to raise a couple of them up a little. I added a sun which I also sprayed with mist to make a solid colour. I am really enjoying using mists but do find that unless I use only a tiny amount the page tends to buckle. Any tips on how to avoid this would be appreciated!

The other layout uses papers and embellies from Crate Paper Toybox.

These papers definately have a masculine feel so were perfect for my subject who is a proper 'rough-tough' boy! I added some doilies stamped onto kraft cardstock, they come in different sizes so I layered some of them up for dimension. The stamps are from My Minds Eye.

Now I've got some scrapping done I'd like the washing-machine man to turn up so I can go out - unbelievably the sun is shining today and I don't want to miss out!

2011-06-18T11:04:00.000+01:00

I have a couple of cards to share today, I like to keep a stock of new baby cards so I have one to hand if I need it or someone else needs one in a hurry!

I have seen some pretty doily effect die-cuts used recently on cards so had a go designing my own to cut on my Craft Robo. It is only very simple but I think it makes a nice background to the cards.

I used some pretty floral paper from Papermania on the card and to finish I added some rolled paper roses with pearl centres and a sentiment cut on my Craft Robo. The roses are so easy to make, they seem to work best for me if I spray them with a little water before I turn over the edges and roll as it makes it much more flexible. Here is a basic step by step if you haven't already tried making them and you'd like to try.

My second card is for a baby boy and I made a pram to decorate it which is basically a circle with a segment cut out of it and 2 buttons added for wheels. I made the handle out of some coloured wire which I twisted together to make it more rigid.

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-06-13T12:08:00.001+01:00

I've been playing with some shimmer sprays again (slowly getting more confident but a long way to go!) and this time used a doily as a mask. I think I need to find a doily with bigger holes as the effect was a bit too subtle but you can just about see the outline of them on my background cardstock.

The papers are from Girls Paperie, you can find a selection them at Gottacraft here along with some lovely matching embellishments. I love making the circle flowers, there are lots of tutorials out there on the web for making them, and thank you to Louise for the inspiration for the flower centres. The photos are of my niece, she has a habit of picking up bundles of sticks when she out and about to take home for her Grampy to put onto his fire!

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-06-11T18:53:00.000+01:00

Hi, hope everyone is having a good weekend so far. I've had some scrappy time today and was inspired to try a new technique that I saw in the latest Creating Keepsakes magazine. The idea is to mask off areas and then add a coloured mist to leave squares for photos and papers. I dug out some old stencil adhesive that I had and sprayed some 3" squares, laid them in a grid pattern and misted over them. It turned out pretty well, it didn't leak under the squares although next time I might be more adventurous with my shapes and colours!

The papers and embellies were from some old Scraproom kits, along with some stars hand cut from some corrugated card. Using the small squares was a good way to scrap some not very good photos from my son's birthday, they were all indoor shots and not the best!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend x

2011-06-07T20:12:00.000+01:00

I'm back to scrapping holiday photos again, and this layout uses Studio Calico State Fair papers from a recent Scraproom kit. One of the papers consisted of large letters, so they were ideal to cut out to make my title.

Have a great week, thanks for stopping by x

2011-06-05T20:10:00.000+01:00

Well the weekend is nearly over now, my little sister is officially not so little anymore and the chocolate cake tasted pretty good if I do say so myself - although a last minute disaster when putting the cake together resulted in me having to do a repair job using chocolate ganache and a liberal sprinkling of chocolate curls! I also only remembered to get a picture of the cake once we had started to cut it up (doh!)

As I am slowly moving over to American Crafts ring binder type albums I wanted to mix things up a bit by adding some 8.5 x 11 inch layouts in amongst the 12 x 12 inch ones. This is my first page, I used standard A4 card, chopped a bit off the top and added a little strip down the side to make the width up. The papers are the last little bits left over from the Crate Paper Gottacraft kit from April.

The page came together faster than a standard 12 by 12 so I may try this size a bit more in the future in attempt to get more pages done!

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-06-02T19:52:00.000+01:00

My little sister reaches the grand old age of 30 on Saturday so there are lots of secret goings on at the moment in preparation for the big event. We are having a surprise get-together at a local restaurant/hotel for her and I have offered to make the birthday cake. I have decided to make a huge chocolate cake and it is currently baking in the oven so I have my fingers crossed it turns out well.... I will post some pictures of the finished article, assuming it turns out OK!

This is the card I have made for her, she loves everything Cath Kidston so I have used some similar style papers from Papermania. I used my new Martha Stewart border punch to create a mat for my rolled paper roses, I really like using this punch to make frames etc for cards and layouts.

As part of her present we are taking her out on Sunday for afternoon tea (with a glass of bubbly!) so I decided to make a little card up to give her the details that we can give it to her on her birthday. I used the same Papermania papers, and my clever DD put together the image and text which I printed onto card. I searched the internet for instructions to make a matching envelope and was pleasantly surprised as to how easy it was (basically a square with the corners folded in!)

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-06-01T08:44:00.001+01:00

I hope everyone had a good weekend, we made it to Brugge I'm pleased to report, and enjoyed a lovely couple of days with my parents and sister and family. We sampled the beer and chocolate and I can confirm they were very good! There is so much to see in Brugge, the architecture is amazing, so different from home but only an hour from Calais. I took lots of pictures so I will have plenty of scrapping material when I get them printed!

This layout below shows my niece enjoying her first ever Easter Egg hunt (she is 18 months old) She wasn't too sure what was going on to start but when she understood about looking for the eggs she happily toddled around the garden looking for them before putting them into her little basket - so sweet!

The papers are from Lily Bee design from the Picket Fence and Stationery ranges. I also wrapped some twine around both the photos, it is from MME and comes in lots of yummy colours. The letters for the titles are Thickers.

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-05-28T14:58:00.000+01:00

It's really blustery weather here today - not nice for being outside but a good excuse to stay in and scrap! I've also been having a bit of a craft clear out which makes me feel virtuous and makes more room for the things I do want to keep!

So here's what I've been up to, the layout uses papers from MME's Gertie range which came in the April Scraproom kit. I made by own scalloped circle by tucking lots of punched circles under my large circle (time consuming but I like the effect!).

I made up a couple of flowers to go onto my layout - not sure what they are called but you make them by punching circles from double sided paper and then folding in two edges to a point. You assemble 7 of them together and stick them to another circle underneath, then finish off with a button or another circle and a brad as I did. The ribbon came off a box of chocolates (long since eaten) that was just big enough to tie into a bow.

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-05-27T17:50:00.000+01:00

I do sometimes get requests to make cards that are a little unusual and this particular one was for a card based on the game 'Angry Birds' which you can download onto an i-phone. I must admit that I'd not heard of it so I investigated and copied an image of one of the characters from the game. I traced the image in the software that comes with Craft Robo and then cut all the individual pieces in the appropriate colours. I then found the font that is used in title of the game, altered in in PSE and then used it to make up the name of the recipient and his age. I just hope he likes it after all the effort!

This is a layout I posted on the Gottacraft Shop blog this week, it uses papers and embellies from Girls Paperie.

I had fun making up the flowers, I used some die-cut flower shapes from the range and added my own flowers cut from the pages of an old book (using the die-cut flower as a template) I inked them all with distress ink and then added some sparkly buttons in the centre and a pearl to finish them off.

Hope everyone has a great Bank Holiday long weekend - we're off to Brugge on Monday to re-attempt our trip that got cancelled just before Christmas because of the snow. Let's hope for some better weather this time!

2011-05-21T17:42:00.003+01:00

Hope you are all having a great weekend so far. The sun has been shining again today - which is lovely but I think we'll need some rain soon or the garden will be in trouble!

My sister and her other half are coming for dinner and I have been busy making a Gypsy Tart for dessert. Apparently this is a Kentish dish in origin and as that is our home now I suppose I should give it a try. It seems to have turned out OK (and I did have a sneaky lick of the spoon before I baked it and it tasted pretty good!) It only has a few ingredients - evaporated milk and brown sugar whipped until frothy and then baked in a pastry case.

I spotted this punch on Rachael's blog the other week and fell in love and managed to find one on-line. I have been experimenting and loved using it on the smallest size possible and punched out 9 of the shapes from different papers to use as the background for this layout.

The papers and chipboard elements are from Cosmo Cricket Social Club which came in a recent Scrap Room kit. I have hidden some journalling about how grown up my DS has become recently - both in his rapid height increase and his personality! It won't be long before we hit those dreaded teenage years though.....

I have some scrapping time planned for this weekend as Sandra at Gottacraft has sent me some lovely bits and pieces from Girls Paperie - can't wait to get started!

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-05-10T20:23:00.001+01:00

Here are a couple more holiday layouts (I'm on a bit of a roll with these so I need to keep going before I run out of enthusiasm!) This one shows the kids on a water type ride at Universal (after one complete soaking through to my underwear on a similar ride I decided to sit this one out!)

The papers are a mixture of ranges from October Afternoon and the text background paper is from 7 Gypsies. The letter stickers are from American Crafts.

The second layout uses papers from My Minds Eye True Blue range which came in a Scraproom kit. The letter stickers are Crate Paper and Websters. I can't say I particularly like how I look in the picture (swimming pool water doesn't do much for your hair that's for sure!) but I like it because we don't often get pictures of all four together as it's usually me behind the lens.

The May Gottacraft kit went on sale last night, this month it contains papers from Lily Bee's This and That range. Sian has been busy with it and came up with some gorgeous layouts which you can see on the shop blog here.

Have a great week x

2011-05-09T13:32:00.000+01:00

Hope everyone had a great weekend, we had lovely weather and spent lots of time out in the garden making the most of it!

Here are a couple of recently completed layouts, the first uses papers from Studio Calico that came in a recent ScrapRoom FOTM kit. I had fun trying to attach the bakers twine - in the end I secured it under the loops with a dot of Glossy Accents (my new favourite for sticking tricky items!), staple the ends down and it stayed just where I wanted it to. The layout features DS on holiday who was very proud of getting a hole in one on a round of crazy golf.

The other layout uses more Vintage Whimsey from Girls Paperie, I am onto just scraps of the paper now, I think I may need to buy more!

The tiny letter stickers come in the sticker book (there are 100's of them!) and the large letters are foam Thickers. The little felt bird in a ScrapRoom kit a while ago so not sure of the maker!

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-05-07T08:51:00.001+01:00

So I've made a start on scrapping our holiday photos, I have plenty to do so I will be speeding things up by doing some multi-photo double layouts. Creating Keepsakes magazine is a great source for inspiration for this type of layout and I've been searching my old copies looking for ideas. This layout comes from one of their sketches, the papers are from WRMK Maple Grove and the letter stickers are Thickers.

This layout is my own creation, I got carried away adding bits to it so it's quite 'busy' for me but I think it turned out OK! The layout is about our visit to the Cheesecake Factory - I have never seen such a choice in my life, they all sounded so yummy but they were so rich we shared a slice between the 4 of us!

The base paper is from a K&Co paper pad called Cut 'n' Paste that I've had for a while, as well as some Prima Reflections and Basic Grey Hopscotch papers.

Have a great weekend.

2011-04-30T14:03:00.000+01:00

I'm sure everyone saw at least some of the big wedding yesterday, I caught bits of it here and there and then caught up later with repeats for the bits I'd missed. It was a great occasion, and to see them looking at each other clearly oblivious to everyone else whilst they said their vows was very special. We finished off the day at a street party in a local village, lots of flag waving and great fun!

I have completed another layout with the Girls Paperie Vintage Whimsey papers, this is quite simple with a butterfly border inspired by Sandra's lovely layout here.

I had a go with adding some paint splats to the layout - I still find it tricky and quite scarey to do but I think the end result turned out OK. Sandra has recently added lots of Girls Paperie goodies to the Gottacraft website - I really love the Sticker Market book which contains 7 pages - there are alphabets, borders, words and journal spots included and you get lots for your money!

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-04-26T16:31:00.002+01:00

Being on holiday meant a break from scrapping so with all my new goodies purchased whilst away I was itching to put together a layout. The kids went back to school today so I was able to finish off a layout of my niece using papers from Girls Paperies Vintage Whimsy range.

The text flowers are made from paper from an old book, and I made them by following this tutorial (this lady's blog is amazing!) I dusted them with pale blue chalk and then tinted the edges with some distress ink. The pink centres are rolled paper roses, which are made by cutting a circle into a spiral and then rolling it up. I squash mine afterwards to make them less bulky! The die-cut swirls are from K&Co.

I hope everyone had a good Easter weekend, we had lots of family time and enjoyed the gorgeous weather, and on Sunday we made an Easter Egg hunt for my niece. She is only 18 months old but she did get the hang of searching for the eggs for her little basket which was very cute!

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-04-23T13:51:00.001+01:00

I hope everyone is enjoying a fantastic Easter break, the weather here is lovely which is a bonus. We have just returned from a fabulous 2 weeks in Florida (we are all still a bit bleary eyed at the moment!) We all had a great time, lots of fun at theme parks, shopping, eating (a lot) and relaxing in the pool. There are of course some great craft shops out there so I had been saving up for some time so I could make good use of my money whilst we were away. These are all of the letter stickers I bought - I think the most I paid was $4 for the Thickers (about £2.50) and the cheapest were $1.20 (70p) so I got plenty for my money!

I also picked up some border punches, these were 40% off so only cost me £5.50.

Apart from that I bought lots of other bits and pieces including some lovely papers from this shop here. Whilst I was looking around I noticed some layouts on the wall which I recognised - as it turns out they were created by Lisa whose inspiring blog I follow - a very happy coincidence! The lovely lady running the shop was an ext-Brit, so we had a natter whilst I shopped.

Of course I took lots of pictures of the holiday so I guess I'll be scrapping some of those very soon once I have them ordered and printed....

Before we went on holiday I put together some layouts for the April Gottacraft kit which included a selection of papers from Crate Paper that mixed and matched really well together. Here are the layouts and also a card that I put together from the scraps.

The kit is now sold out but if you like the papers they are from the Toy Box, Neighbourhood and Emma's Shoppe ranges.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend x

2011-04-05T11:50:00.000+01:00

Going through some pictures on the computer I realised that I hadn't blogged a layout I created with the some lovely Prima papers sent to me by Sandra at Gottacraft. I love cutting Prima papers to create frames on layouts and a lot of them lend themselves to doing this. I punched lots of flowers which I scrunched and tinted with chalks before layering up and adding gems to the centres.

This is another layout I completed recently using a sketch and Echo Park papers from a recent ScrapRoom kit. The photos are of DS opening his presents on the morning of his birthday in Feb. just before going to school.

Hope you have a great week, whatever you have planned....

2011-04-03T21:17:00.000+01:00

I see it's been a little while since I've blogged, life sometimes gets in the way I guess!

I've had a lovely Mother's Day, from a cup of tea and home made biscuits in bed this morning, followed by brunch at Mum's prepared by my sister and I for the whole family and then spending time in the sunshine in the garden this afternoon and then finally a yummy roast dinner this evening. Oh and some scrapping time this afternoon too!

This is the layout I put together, the papers are Echo Park For the Record. My Niece has the most gorgeous dark eyes, and this black and white photo really shows this.

I've also been busy over the last week putting together layouts for the forthcoming April Gottacraft kit. I can't reveal what I've made at this stage but Sandra will be putting a sneeky peak on the shop blog very soon.....

2011-03-08T16:54:00.001Z

The Scraproom run some great challenges all month long, with lots of inspiration and ideas to get you scrapping more pages which is always a good thing. One of the recent challenges was to lift a layout from the February kit gallery, and my resulting layout was this. The papers are from Echo Park Little Boy.

This was a great layout for me as I had lots of photos from our trip to the playground to scrap (don't worry we did let the kids have a go too!) and it was quick and easy to put together.

I have also been busy with some lovely Prima papers sent to me by Sandra at Gottacraft, she is stocking their lovely new ranges called Botanical, Madeline, Melody and Reflections. They are stunning papers and the ranges mix match really well.

As you can see I've been making the rolled paper roses again, I'm addicted! The bird cage is cut on my CraftRobo, you can find a link to the file download via the links on the sidebar of my blog.

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-02-25T08:32:00.000Z

I hope everyone has had a good week, half term here so I've been spending more time at home with the kiddies than usual which has been nice. The weather could have been better but then I guess it is only February!

I have been delving into the February Flavours of the Month kit from the ScrapRoom, the first one I've used is the Pink Paisless Sweetness. The papers are very pretty and I had great fun chopping them up! I raised nearly everything on the layout using some pizza box card, you can't really tell from the photo but it does give a extra dimension. The butterflies are made from my new Martha Stewart punch bought from here. These punches are great as you can punch anywhere on a page, and if you are cutting them out to use as embellies you can line the paper up to get the most out of your precious paper. The letter stickers are from American Crafts.

I hope you all have a great weekend, I'm off to a 70th birthday celebration on Saturday and then meeting up with old friends for lunch on Sunday, so it should be fun!

2011-02-18T10:24:00.000Z

I've got some more projects to share, cards and layouts this time. All of the projects were put together using products from Gottacraft. Their sale is still on at the moment but only until Sunday so don't miss out on a bargain!

Both layouts use Prima papers, the first uses papers from the Inspired range, the second one uses Animal Bash.

I love making my own flower embellishments, the ones on this layout were inspired by some I saw made by this very talented lady here. Although mine aren't half as pretty as hers I was quite pleased none the less! I inked the edges with some distress ink and scored the edges of the petals to give them a 'grungy' look.

I also made my own flowers for this card, I saw an excellent tutorial for making these here.

I had tried to make these before and not been very pleased with the results, but this clever lady made it much clearer and I liked her tip of dampening the flowers before rolling them and then squishing them with your hand afterwards. The papers for this card are from Cosmo Cricket Material Girl, this has been one of my favourite lines over the last year or so. I love making little patchwork type designs with different offcuts of papers. Here is a close up of the flowers, can you tell I'm quite proud of them?!?

One last card, this is an easel style card made using Sassafras papers. I cut some balloon shapes from plain card and attached wire to the back to embellish the card.

That's everything now, housework calls! I hope you all have a great weekend x

2011-02-15T19:43:00.001Z

I've been busy recently putting together some projects for Sandra over at Gottacraft as I mentioned before there is currently a huge range of her lovely stock at reduced prices. I received a fantastic box of goodies from her and was given free rein to do what I wished with it....

So here are just a few of the things I have made so far -

This layout uses Fancy Pants On a Whimsey papers, I punched and layered up some flowers to embellish and added pearl centres.

This card was created with the same papers and stickers from Me and My Big Ideas. If I am using stickers on a layout or card I like to stick them to paper first and then cut them out. That saves making mistakes with placing them which are not easy to rectify! I added liquid pearls to make some swirls in between the flowers to finish it off.

One more card, these papers are from Sassfras Lass Daydream range. I matched the papers up with some plain green card to add contrast and made this easel style card. The stamp is also from Gottacraft, this one is from Belles n Whistles.

I will be posting more projects over on the Gottacraft Shop blog in the near future before I show them here, the very talented Sian is also revealing her projects too, so there should be lots on inspiration!

2011-02-03T20:57:00.000Z

I hope everyone has had a good week, it's nearly Friday again, and tomorrow DS celebrates his 11th birthday. He's very excited and is looking forward to his birthday treat of bowling and pizza with his 2 close friends followed by a sleepover. I'll make sure I get some good photos taken so I can scrap them afterwards!

This is another layout using a scanned photo taken a while ago, in 1997 when DD was only a few months old (and DH looks so very young!) The papers are from Bella Boulevard Lovey Dovey, this range is great as it comes with a sheet of shapes that you can cut out to embellish your pages. The letter stickers are from American Crafts.

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-01-31T13:05:00.000Z

Another new week, I can't believe it will be February tomorrow! I am already dreaming of some warmer weather and longer days though so I guess I can't have it both ways!

This is a layout I completed over the weekend, the papers are Fancy Pants from the latest kit over at The ScrapRoom. I scrapped a series of photos I took of DS swinging on a rope hanging from a tree - his idea of heaven! I took lots so I chose a series of them and then had them printed up so 4 were on one photo - I used Picasa to do it which was really easy to use.

I received a lovely box of goodies from Sandra at Gottacraft the other day, she is getting ready for a massive sale over at her shop, so I will be busy with what she has sent me and posting the results over on the Shop Blog whilst the sale is on.

Have a great week x

2011-01-25T11:57:00.000Z

I have been working my way through some past kits from the ScrapRoom, that way when the new kits arrive I don't feel guilty that I haven't used up the ones I've had before!

The papers for this one are Echo Park Summertime from the August kit, I made a banner with some offcuts of the papers and hung them from some cord. The photo is one of DD when she was very little, I have recently been scanning some of her baby photos to scrap as they were all taken in pre-digital times!

The second layout uses Lily Bee papers from the November kit, I kept this one simple, just adding some of the matching embellies and adding two small rows of banners which I cut from one of the patterned papers.

Thanks for popping by x

2011-01-23T14:56:00.001Z

Another card to show you today, this one is a Valentine's one, more masculine than feminine as it's for a customer's Husband. The papers are all downloaded from a new set at Pink Petticoat, they are a lovely mix of pinks, greys and soft black patterns. I also cut a heart shapes with my Craft Robo, the template came via Silhoutte Studio which you can use with a Craft Robo which is great as they have lots of lovely templates available, including this one!

I decided to make an easel style card, which gives you an extra space for an added message or word, in this case the word Husband again cut on my Craft Robo. I love how this type of card looks when it's put up, yet it still fits in a standard envelope for posting.

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-01-22T17:21:00.000Z

Hope you are having a good weekend so far, we are up to the usual weekend activities, shopping, tidying up, washing of school uniform ready for next week, etc, etc!

I do have a card to share, this is made with papers from the Crate Paper Sugar Plum range and I also used matching stickers and die-cuts.

This layout uses papers from Jillibean Soup, from the latest Flavours of the Month kit from The ScrapRoom. The papers are a science theme, but I think by using a mix of them all together the result is quite feminine.

Just a 'heads up' to keep an eye over on the Gottacraft blog and shop. Sandra is planning a sale at the end of the month, and she will have some lovely goodies on offer so make sure you don't miss out!

Thanks for stopping by x

2011-01-15T17:10:00.000Z

I hope everyone has had a good start to their 2011, it's a case of everything getting back to normal with work, school, housework (!) etc. I have had a review of my scrapbook albums and apart from deciding I would like to move entirely over to ring binder type albums to avoid the nightmare of adding new pages in the middle of albums (I definitely don't scrap chronologically) I have also been looking to try and scrap photos that I've had for ages and have never got around to scrapping. This layout is the first of these, my DD on Christmas Eve 2002. The papers are Crate Paper Snow Day, the letter stickers are October Afternoon.

I decided to journal around the circle, and stuck on a button to show where it begins and ends.

The photo on the other layout dates back to 2006, and shows when DS decided to put on DH's cricket gear - he could hardly walk in the leg pads! The papers are from Making Memories Mistletoe (I used the less 'Christmassy' sides of the papers).

Have a great weekend x

2010-12-30T10:43:00.000Z

I hope everyone had a fanstastic Christmas, however you celebrated it. Ours was a quiet family one, with good food and good company. We didn't make it to Brugges before Christmas thanks to the snow, but we did manage to slide our way over to my parents house and celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary with a Chinese take-away! Not quite the same but the whole family made it and we were all quite tickled when Mum revealed that Dad had asked her to marry him twice as she had turned him down the first time! Oh well, 40 years later they are still married to it looks like she made the right choice!

Here are a few layouts I have completed recently. The first is a layout of our tree this year, the papers are Crate Paper Snow Day and the letters are Girls Paperie.

This next layout uses Bo Bunny Olivia papers. I used a photo and a postcard of the same place (Cannes) on the layout and I think the colours in the postcard work quite well with the papers.

The last layout is made with October Afternoon Campfire, one of the papers was a map design which I used as my background.

Well it's New Year's Eve tomorrow and then it's 2011, so a Happy and Healthy New Year to everyone x

2010-12-17T16:34:00.000Z

Well Christmas is definitely on it's way - the kids have finished school now and we've had more snow! We were meant to be travelling to Brugge on Sunday to celebrate my Mum and Dad's 40th wedding anniversary but it looks like the weather might have other ideas! We were really looking forward to visiting the Christmas Market and maybe some ice-skating so fingers crossed!

I have a couple of layouts to share using American Crafts City Park. Both layouts are of my niece.

Enjoy your weekend x

Kit Time at Gottacraft

2010-12-10T17:35:00.000Z

It's that time again at Gottacraft and the December kit is a perfect Christmas themed one with papers from Echo Park. Here are some of the things that I created with it and as with all of Sandra's kits there is lots left over for more projects.

Lastly I made a Christmas card, and I decided to cut the square card shape into something a bit more interesting!

As usual Sandra has put up some yummy add-ons to the kit which will allow you to stretch it even further.

Have a great weekend whatever you are up to !

2010-12-03T08:49:00.001Z

It's been a while since I last posted, I have had lots going on recently, some of it nice some of it not so nice and somewhere along the way my mojo went astray! Anyway, things have settled down somewhat I'm glad to say, and coupled with a unplanned day off work due to being snowed in I have been busy on some new layouts. The first one is created from Lily Bee papers which came in the November ScrapRoom kit. I scrapped a photo of the beautiful hillside town of Gordes which we visited duing our summer holiday in France this year.

The other layout was made using the last of my October Afternoon Thrift Shop papers which I love.

Well December is here so I guess that means Christmas is officially on its way. I have been quite organised with buying presents this year, although I still have a few left to get for the trickier members of the family. If the weather carries on as it has been for the last few days I think I will have to internet shop and hope the postie makes it through!Have a great weekend x

2010-11-12T09:09:00.001Z

It's been a while since I blogged, we're having a new bathroom installed at the moment and the noise, dust and general mess are not condusive to sitting down to relax to scrap or make a card! I have managed one layout, using Teresa Collins papers from the October ScrapRoom kit.

The photo is of DD and her friends celebrating her 14th birthday.

I'm a bit late at posting these but the November kit at Gottacraft went on sale a few days ago (and has now sold out). These are the layouts I did for Sandra with the kit. I loved the colours in the papers, and they are great for birthday and wedding pages.

The large swirl from Prima was from my own stash as was the ribbon.

I added lots of pearls on a grid pattern that I drew onto the paper myself. I bought a huge bag of these from e-bay and I love having lots of colours to choose from. If you like the papers the kit has now sold out but Sandra has the papers and some lovely 'add-ons' available so you could make your own!

Well the weekend is nearly here, we have a relaxing one planned (I hope!) so enjoy it whatever you're up to!

2010-10-29T13:24:00.000+01:00

The 365 Degrees papers from Pink Paislee have a nice 'autumnul' feel to them I think so I stamped and coloured 'Swiss Miss Rosalie' in some co-ordinating pro-marker colours and put them all together on this card.

A bit of gingham ribbon and some red pearls and it was finished!

I received some lovely goodies in the post from Sandra at Gottacraft yesterday which will feature in the November kit. I will be looking out some suitable pictures later so I can get started!

2010-10-25T16:47:00.000+01:00

Here are a couple of recent layouts. The first one is made using some 'old' papers - Phoebe from Basic Grey. It's tempting to use only the new papers that come through and forget the ones that you have tucked away! The flower is made from several layers of painted paper - I go the inspiration from this talented lady here (although I like her's better than mine!) I recently bought a load of multi-coloured gems from e-bay so I'm sticking them on everything - for this layout I made a circle of them around the flower.

The papers for the second layout are Crate Paper Sugar Plum. All the elements including the die-cuts and the rub-ons are from the range. I folded a strip of paper to imitate ribbon - I like how this turned out and I will definately use this technique again I think!

You may have noticed I've been having a play with the blog design - I quite like it so far but I need to make a title banner for the top to match the rest when I get a chance. With the kids on holiday this week as well as work it may take me a while!

2010-10-23T08:44:00.000+01:00

Sandra at Gottacraft sent me the October kit to play with and it contained papers from Crate Paper Restoration. Here is one more layout from the kit - as well as lots of papers there was also a lovely crystal swirl. I chopped it up a bit so I could use it in different parts of the page. I raised up some of the flowers I cut from one of the papers with foam pads to give a bit of dimension to the page.

If you want to get your hands on this great value kit then I think Sandra still has some available here.

Have a great weekend whatever you are up to - we're off to visit the in-laws!

2010-10-18T11:57:00.000+01:00

Well it's another new week and I have a couple of layouts to share that I made over the weekend with WRMK 72 and Sunny papers.

I was also asked to put together a card for a new baby girl to welcome her home for the first time.

The papers are from Papermania which I picked up reduced in a stationers. The paper pack also included the little matching letters.

2010-10-17T18:55:00.000+01:00

I hope everyone has had a good weekend, we've been busy with birthdays, my DD turned 14 and my brother-in-law turned 30, so lots of cake and celebration!

This layout features my DD wearing her cute red wellies on a trip to some beautiful gardens. The papers are Sassafrass from a recent ScrapRoom kit. I stitched around the patterned papers and also through the holes on the punched piece on the left.

Enjoy what's left of the weekend!

2010-10-09T08:32:00.000+01:00

I was asked to make a birthday card with the Very Hungry Caterpillar on it and this is what I came up with. I made a basic shape from card and then cut sections from green card and paper to stick on to make the body segments. I think it turned out OK and I hope the recipient recognises what it is!

This layout is of my DS having a great time splashing in the pool on holiday. The papers are Crate Paper Brook, the letter stickers are Thickers.

Have a great weekend x

Kit Time at Gottacraft

2010-10-08T14:36:00.000+01:00

The latest kit is on sale now at Gottacraft - this month the papers are from the Crate Paper Restoration line. I put together this layout with the papers - I added the Prima pearls, the ribbon and heart pins from my own stash. There are also some lovely add-ons available with the kit if you would like to make your kit go further.

The flowers are made from several layers of retro flowers (large and small) punched from the papers. To make them slightly distressed I spritzed them with some pearlescent paint, scrunched them up, carefully unfurled them and then let them dry before sticking them all together.

The card was some offcuts of the papers layered up and then finished off with some punched butterflies (I used 3 to make a more 3D look).

I am looking after my niece today - she is having a nap at the moment (I hope!). She's full of beans and such a cutie-pie, but it's bringing back memories of when my two were younger and how you catch up during nap time on the things you can't do when they're awake!

It looks like the weekend is going to be good weather so I'll think we'll get out there to make the most of it whilst we can...

2010-10-05T16:48:00.000+01:00

Welcome to a very wet Tuesday here - miserable weather for carrying in shopping bags from the car and doing the school run but good for cosying up inside and getting on with something crafty!

This card used some scraps from the layout I posted the other day, the papers are My Family by Fancy Pants.

This layout is made with Jillibean Soup papers, journalling spots and star embellies. One of the patterned papers is in strips a bit like film strips so I cut some and stuck them at an angle to frame my photos.

If you want a sneaky peek of the October kit over at Gottacraft you can check it out here. I've been busy with the kit as has Sian - if you get hold of one you won't be disappointed!

Enjoy the rest of the week x

2010-10-03T17:02:00.000+01:00

The latest blog challenge over at the ScrapRoom is to create a layout featuring scallops and this is my entry. The scallops are simply punched circles of paper tucked under the edge of the paper - much easier than trying to cut a long strip of scallops! The papers are Fancy Pants My Family, and I added a hand stitching to the page using embroidery floss.

Hope you are all having a great weekend, thanks for stopping by x

2010-09-27T16:31:00.000+01:00

I have a card to share today - a birthday card for a little boy who is going to be one who loves jungle animals. The lion is a painted wooden shape which I bought when we were in the US a few years ago - I also bought a giraffe and alligator too! The papers are from Reminisce.

I cut the name and mat on the CraftRobo after welding the letters together as well as the scallop frame.

2010-09-26T09:41:00.001+01:00

They run challenges every week over on the ScrapRoom blog, this week the challenge is to lift a layout from the September Designers' Gallery. This is the layout I put together, the papers are KI Memories Groovy.

Thanks for stopping by x

2010-09-21T19:52:00.000+01:00

Hope everyone is having a good week so far - I have another card to share made with more of the Amy Butler papers. It's another easel style card, I cut the recipient's name with my Craft Robo, once in white and then in pink to make it stand out more.

To finish off I added a couple of fabric flowers, a stamped sentiment, some ribbon and some Prima gems.

I now have the September ScrapRoom kit safely here with me, so I'll be making a start on some of the lovely papers very soon!

2010-09-20T14:33:00.001+01:00

I love using up the very last scraps of patterned paper as I cannot bare to throw any of them away! Having a sort out today I came across a couple of bags of carefully saved leftovers and these are the results.The layout used the last pieces from a ScrapRoom kit containing October Afternoon Farm Fresh papers.

The card is made from some the bits left over from a layout I made from Kaisercraft Hey Birdie papers. The letter stickers are also Kaisercraft. The little birds on my card also fit in perfectly with the current challenge over on the Daring Cardmakers blog - which is to design a card with something that can 'fly, flutter, hover or waft about "up there" in the sky'.

Thanks for stopping by x

2010-09-17T11:33:00.002+01:00

I've been busy making up another card using the 'Swiss Miss Rosalie' stamp from CC Designs currently available at Gottacraft (with free postage!) I have a 6x6 pad of lovely papers in my stansh by Amy Butler which I decided to use on the card. The design of the card was completely inspired by one I saw on Tracey's fab blog - Running With Scissors. I love these clever cards that have different folds and once I'd worked out the measurements on a piece of scrap I set to work creating my own.

I also have a page to share, the photos are my niece on her 1st birthday - more interested in playing with a plastic boulder than joining in with her party!

The papers are Strawberry Kisses from Prima - they came in a Gottacraft kit from a little while ago which I rediscovered the other day. The kit sold out almost straight away but I know Sandra still has some of the lovely papers available.

Well the weekend is nearly here - enjoy it whatever you have planned!

2010-09-14T12:01:00.000+01:00

I'm working my way through the papers from the August kit from the ScrapRoom (and waiting excitedly for the September kit to arrive!) These papers are from Sassafrass and are probably not ones I would have picked myself but actually I really liked them once I started putting them together on the page.

The photos are from a trip we took to London and whilst we were there we came across a whole street of decorated elephants which were pretty amazing. Apparently they were dotted around London and have since been to other locations around the country. An unexpected surprise but a great memory!

Thanks for stopping by x

2010-09-10T12:16:00.001+01:00

I finally have the house to myself today - kids at school, DH at work and housework done (well some of it anyway!) so I've been up to the spare room for some serious crafting!

Sandra at Gottacraft sent over some goodies for me to play with a little while ago, and amongst them was this pretty stamp from CC Designs called Swiss Miss Rosalie (Sandra offers free postage on these stamps too!) I stamped out the image and then coloured it with Promarkers, then cut it out and mounted it onto some patterned paper from my stash. I added some borders punched with a Martha Stewart punch and finished it off with some ribbon.

The card is an easel style card which I really enjoy making (once I worked out how to do them!). The flower is made from 2 sizes of punched retro flowers, which I crumpled before sticking them all togther.

I hope you all have a great weekend x

2010-09-03T08:08:00.000+01:00

The August kit from the Scraproom contained some lovely papers from Echo Park. I had liked the look of these when they first came out and I wasn't disappointed!

This layout is based on a sketch on the latest weekly challenge over on the Scraproom Blog. The element stickers that come with the papers are great as they are all useable shapes and phrases. I added a little hand-stitching with some green embroidery floss.

Have a great weekend whatever you are up to - I am off to Brugge to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary with my DH!

2010-08-29T20:29:00.000+01:00

Hope you've all had great weekend - and happily it's an extra long one this weekend for those of us in the UK. We are off to Suffolk tomorrow to visit my best friend and my Gran - can't wait!

Here is a page I made recently using Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg papers which feature some cute creatures which I thought went well with the photos.

I have seen twine used on several layouts recently and wanted to use some myself - I wasn't sure what to use as I thought embroidery thread would be too shiny so came up with some thin waxed cord that is used for threading beads. It comes in different colours and ties in a bow very nicely so I am pleased with it.

Thanks for stopping by.

A special card for a special girl

2010-08-27T21:16:00.000+01:00

It was my niece's first birthday today (she is the subject in a lot of my layouts!) and this is the card that I put together for her. The cake paper is from Doodlebug. I copied the cake from the paper and pieced it together and added a candle. I cut the scallop circles using Nestabilities.

She had a lovely tea party with all her family and friends, and a special pink cake made by her Granny!

Have a great weekend!

2010-08-23T09:58:00.000+01:00

I like to use up all my paper scraps if possible and this layout used up the last of some really pretty papers from Girls Paperie. I added some bits and pieces to some of the squares to embellish them and I was really pleased at how it all turned out.

Thanks for stopping by x

2010-08-19T19:56:00.000+01:00

This is layout I put together before our holiday using the last scraps left over from the Gottacraft kit that included Cosmo Cricket DeLovely papers (this is one of my favourite lines to come out this year).

I couldn't resist adding a little banner to the corner, they seem to be on lots of layouts recently - it's funny when something becomes 'trendy' - I wonder what the next big thing will be?

Thanks for stopping by x

I'm back!

2010-08-17T08:23:00.000+01:00

Well, we're back from our holiday in France, tanned and relaxed - and back to the cold and wet of England! It's nice to be home though...

Here are a few pages made recently, the first is made with papers from Girls Paperie, which came in a ScrapRoom kit.

The flowers are Prima and the buttons are Basic Grey.

This one is made with Webster's Pages papers. Photo Border is made with a Martha Stewart punch.

The kids still have 2 and a bit weeks left of the summer holidays, I hope to be able to get out and about a bt but the weather doesn't look too promising!

2010-07-23T18:00:00.000+01:00

Well that's the kids finished at school now until September, I'm hoping for good weather so we can get out and about and not be cooped up inside all the time!

Here is a card I made recently, it is a 16th Birthday easel-style card. The papers and letters are from Amy Butler.

Have a great weekend x

2010-07-21T18:41:00.001+01:00

Just a quick post today with a card to share, again made using scraps from Cosmo Cricket De lovely papers. This was a simple one, I cut a heart shape, embossed it and inked it. I surrounded it with little punched flowers and finished it off with a bow and a sentiment.

2010-07-12T17:35:00.000+01:00

In a recent monthly kit at Gottacraft Sandra put together some papers from the Cosmo Cricket DeLovely range (the kit sold out very quickly but she does have some of the individual papers in stock) I'm now left with some smaller bits of paper and I needed a card for a friend's birthday so I decided to put together a card with them. The inspiration for this card came from this clever lady here.

The scallop frames were cut with a punch from 2 layers of papers from an old book.

I used a flower punch in two sizes to and added a pearl to the centre of each before mounting it over a hole in the front of my card. You can't see very well in the photo but behind each hole in the card there are some layered circles of paper which show through when the card is closed.

Thanks for stopping by x

2010-07-11T20:58:00.000+01:00

It's been another scorching weekend here, so lots of time in the garden enjoying the weather while it lasts, and we rounded off a busy weekend with a BBQ with my sister and her family.

This card is for an Anniversary, and it uses DCWV All Dressed Up papers that are pre-glittered. I punched out some flowers and added pearls to the centres and then added a few die-cut swirls which were cut in my Cuttlebug using Marianne Designs dies. The layered edges are cut with a Martha Stewart punch. The ribbon came wrapped round a pair of PJs I bought my son - I love freebies like that!

Have a great week whatever you're up to x

2010-07-05T21:34:00.000+01:00

The challenge on the Scrap-Room blog last week was to make a layout featuring fabric flowers. This is my layout with some flowers created from strips of fabric. They were easy to make, I started with strips about 3'' by 10'' which I folded in half and then gathered with thread along the long folded edge. I frayed the edges of the fabric before gathering and then finished them off with a brad.

The patterned papers are from American Crafts Blue Skies from a kit from the Scrap Room.

Thanks for stopping by x

2010-06-27T18:55:00.001+01:00

I'm a big fan of Cosmo Cricket and I've had some of the papers from the Material Girl range stocked at Gottacraft for a little while but haven't got round to using them. There is a great sketch challenge over at Sketch Inspiration at the moment so I based my layout on it using the papers.

I hand cut some of the flowers from the paper and added Prima pearls to the centre. I also added hand drawn stitches around the papers. The title stickers are also Cosmo Cricket.

I thought my DD looked a little bit like Little Miss Muffet sitting on her tuffet eating her curds and whey (toast in her case!) so that is the inspiration for the title!

2010-06-25T18:08:00.003+01:00

My sister needs a couple of cards for upcoming Weddings that she is attending so I have been putting together some cards for her to choose from. This one uses a variation of the Bird Cage that I designed the other week to cut on a Craft Robo or Silhouette. It is basically the same but has heart cut-outs on it. If you would like to download this file for your personal use then you can do so here.

I used Prima Strawberry Kisses paper that came in a kit a few months ago from Gottacraft, along with a white scalloped circle that also came in the kit. I used a teal colour ink and a Hero Arts text stamp to colour up my Bird Cage.

Lastly I added a couple of little (uncaged) birdies to the card and some ribbon from my stash.

I hope you all have an enjoyable weekend, and the sun shines for you !

2010-06-19T11:37:00.001+01:00

I don't have too many scrapbooking shops that near to me but I needed a shopping fix so I took a trip out to Pickleberry Crafts the other day. They had a lovely selection of bits there and I picked up some papers from the Hey Birdie range by Kaisercraft whilst I was there.

This is the layout I made with the papers, with a recent photo of my DD. I thought the bird cage design that I made the other day would go with the theme so I cut out a small version on my Craft Robo and inked it up with Tim Holtz distress ink and stickles.

Finally, I layered up some flowers using a selection of punched flowers and Prima flowers, and used a Marianne Designs die to cut the swirls .

If you would like to download the bird cage GSD file (for Craft Robo and Silhouette owners) please see a couple of posts down for the link.

The weather here is decidedly chilly which is a shame - it's meant to be Summer! We are planning a Fathers Day trip to London tomorrow so I'm hoping we'll get good weather for that - walking around London in the rain is not much fun!

2010-06-18T08:17:00.000+01:00

I won a prize over on the Daring Cardmakers blog the other week for a set of Digital Stamps from Charmed Cards. The set was "Boy Oh Boy" and this is my first attempt at the card with one of them. I've also been trying out Promarkers, I have a long way to go so please forgive the basic colouring!

The scalloped card is from DCWV, all the other bits were from my scrap box which needs a good clear out - I can't bear to throw away my offcuts!

Thanks for stopping by x

A little something to share...

2010-06-15T11:04:00.000+01:00

For those of you who own a Craft Robo or Silhouette die-cutting machine I have made this simple Bird Cage GSD file. You can download the file for your personal use here. I have also added the link to the sidebar under 'Links to Free Craft Robo Files' where I have other files available to download.

2010-06-14T11:55:00.000+01:00

As promised here is the layout created with the DeLovely papers from the June Gottacraft kit. It has sold out now but I know that Sandra stocks the papers and embellies separately so if you want to get yourself some of these lovely papers you should check out her shop.

Apart from the kit I used my Fiskars punch for the scallop borders and some mini letter stamps. I found that I had several photos of my DD where she actively posed for the picture (teenagers!) so this layout records that - in a years time she'll probably refuse to have her picture taken at all!

Kit Time at Gottacraft

2010-06-12T09:56:00.000+01:00

It's that time again and the latest kit has been released over at Gottacraft. This month Sandra has put together a kit using papers from the DeLovely range by Cosmo Cricket. The papers are so bright and funky, I love the colours and the papers are always such good quality.

Sandra asked me to make cards with the papers, and these are what I came up with.

I out some of the flowers from the paper for this one and added pearls to the centres.

I used some of the border stickers for this one and added punched butterflies on the edge.

For this one I used one of the cards from the elements sheet along with a sticker. The ribbon was a freebie - it came wrapped around some PJ's that my daughter was given - I soon claimed that!

I have lots of bits left over so I am just putting the finishing touches to a layout as well which I will share very soon. I hope everyone has a great weekend, here's hoping the sun will make an apperance!