I've been Etsy shopping!

I so love Etsy. Its just the best place to spend an hour browsing and finding all kinds of elements for your pages which you didn't know you needed! I've purchased myself some vintage book paper (so I don't have to feel guilty about tearing up books myself), as well as some collage sheets, and have saved several different items to my favourites for later too. Its a real treasure trove for a papercrafter.

Anyway, what have I been creating? Not as much as I could have been - I had practically the whole day to myself as Ed has been out fishing, but I can't tell you what I did with it! I did manage to create one layout though - it uses a mixture of my Cocoa Daisy January and May kits which fit really nicely together. Unfortunately, the scan has come out a bit blurred in the top corner (the curse of the lumpy page!) but overall you get the idea...the edges are all really distressed in real life too, but it doesn't show up too well here. Maybe I'll take a picture tomorrow instead...



A short post tonight as I am off to bed - Ed has come back from fishing with a snotty nose and is now acting like he's dying! So I guess I'd better spend his final moments with him... ;)

My holiday journal...

Today I want to share my Florence holiday journal which I created recently for Papermaze. I was sent a Basic Grey chipboard album and some GORGEOUS Dream Street papers which immediately got me thinking about the faded beauty of Florence which I have visited for the last two years on holiday and is probably one of my favourite places in the world (though admittedly I haven't visited all that much of the world yet!). So I decided to use the book to record my memories of the city, seeing as I haven't gotten around to creating any layouts about it yet. Which makes me think, I'm really going to have to get into making more double pages if I'm gonna get all my photos scrapped. But I digress...

So here it is. I decided to use large photos to form whole pages, which I painted and journalled onto, and record more information on the facing pages. The embellishments are fairly simple - scraps of lace and a torn up vintage map of Florence which I found on the internet, some flowers and buttons. I absolutely love the finished album - its so tactile and has a great shabby chic vibe which is so very Florence!

Je ne sais quoi...

Today I thought I'd share the layout that appears in this months Scrapbook Inspirations magazine. It was for the feature which used to be the Sketch Challenge, but now involves taking a piece of inspiration from the main designer's layout too. In my case, I had chosen to copy Shimelle's use of the same photograph twice on one layout, but converted one of mine into black and white. Its a bit of a whimsical layout really - my mum had recently bought me a little black beret (it was still February at the time!) and I'd had lots of lovely compliments on it. It got me thinking about how many hats I've had over time - I really love wearing them - and thought I'd do a layout to record my new beret but also my love of hats in general.



Because the main subject of the layout was my beret, I immediately decided to go for a French themed layout (original, I know!) and had the perfect kit, my January one from Cocoa Daisy, which was really handy as I didn't have that much time to get the layout completed and I was trying to design my class for the cybercrop at the same time. I wanted to go for a bit of a French vintage feel crossed with New Wave chic. Not sure I totally managed that, its more vintage than New Wave, but I think it kind of works. Those Autumn Leaves Freestyle alphabet stamps are just the best, I wouldn't be without that stamp set now.

Tomorrow, I'll share on here my Florence mini book, but if you want to see it before then the whole thing is on the Scrap Paper Scissors blog already, so go and have a peek...

I'm Back!

Well I've just spent a few very welcome days on holiday in the Isle of Wight - it was Ed's parents annual trip and we tagged along for the first half of the week. Even though the weather forecast was shocking, we didn't do as badly as we thought - the mornings were a bit damp but Sunday afternoon in particular we saw blazing sunshine and enjoyed a lovely pub lunch in the Crab and Lobster in Bembridge - bliss! While I was away I read a couple of really good books - One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson and The House at Riverton by Kate Morton - both well worth a look if you are into your reading but get sick of Chick Lit (which I certainly do!).

Anyway, back to the here and now and I've spent most of today travelling - the journey was great until we were nearly home, only to find that the main route into Coventry was flooded and had been shut and we had to drive through mini floods in country lanes to get back on track. Thank God for sat nav!

Back indoors, I've been greeted by the fluff balls (who had decided to drag the tea towels down from their hooks in the kitchen and use them as beds while we were away, nice), had a nice cup of tea and now I need to update my blog. I've got a few things ready for sharing, but I'm going to share the remaining pages of my mini book today after I promised LightHouseGirl last Friday. So here it is...

A Portrait of Me...

Today I thought I would share the layout I made for part of my prize for winning Best of British, which was a commissioned layout for the magazine. It got returned to me the other day in the post and I've finally been able to take a picture of it. The page was supposed to be an about me page, and to reflect our typical style. Now I don't think I have a typical style as such, as when I looked through my layouts there was a wide variety of colours and elements. And of course I think my style is developing all the time as I haven't been scrapping for very long. But I do like to make my pages story-led in the majority of cases, I absolutely LOVE buttons and stamping, and I'm also pretty into paint at the moment. The layout came together amazingly quickly, and I really enjoyed recording my thoughts about 'where I am' in my life.




I have had a request from Lighthousegirl to show the rest of my inspiration minibook, so I will make sure I get that photographed and shared on here as soon as I can xxx

My awesome new drawers...

...no, I don't mean the naughty kind! Just wanted to share this little piccie of my new ikea drawers which are like bottomless pits for storing scrap supplies in. Spent this evening building the other one (don't you just love flat pack furniture!) and then filling it, as well as chucking out a bunch of old supplies which I just know I am NEVER going to use now. If you are struggling to house your stash, go get some of these babies, I think I'm about to start their fan club :)




I'm mad tired now as I've been off doing work experience visits all over the city today, so its going to be a short one tonight - Night night! x

The Cat in the Bag!

Scrapping just for me for a change, and I decided to use some of my March Cocoa Daisy kit which was in lovely shades of Brown and Orange. I had the perfect picture of Elmo sitting in a bright orange bag which I had taken last year, so I set to work with paint, bubble wrap, lace cardstock and various embellishments that came in the kit. Here is the finished result:

I LOVE the little owl stamp - he is absolutely the cutest, I can see me using him again and again! Unfortunately the scan seems to have made the brown chipboard scrolls stand out more than they do in real life, but you get the idea...

Eclectic

A few days without blogging, but I've been busy and have a few things to share. I made this layout for a DT call, about what would make my perfect kit. I used some Scenic Route paper as a background which I roughed up with scissors around the edges. I then used some torn Bo Bunny paper left over from my Grown layout and also tore up pieces of my own 'homemade' book paper. I took photographs of a collection of embellishments which I thought would be cool to receive in a kit, and then used some of them on my layout. Unfortunately the scan is a little blurry, especially around the bookplate, but you get the idea!



I also finished this mini book which I started last Wednesday - its an inspiration book, full of ideas for when I've lost my scrapping mojo! Here are a few photos of some of the pages.



At the weekend, I went out and spent my birthday vouchers in Ikea, and got these fab drawers (thanks to Charlotte for alerting me to these!). I've only made up one unit so far but have managed to fit so much stuff in it, its fantastic! Hoping to get the other one built over half term next week, and then push forward and redecorate the spare room so I might actually have a (shock! horror!) desk to work at some time in the not so distant future... :)

Burford

Another layout to share today, this one was also created for Rebecca's and is about a visit to Burford me and Ed made a few weeks ago while staying in Oxfordshire. The small towns and villages in the area were so quaint and 'countrified', and so different to the lifestyle that we are used to. I just had to scrap some of the photos, even though the weather had been poor so they are a bit grey! I used paints, eyelets, stitching and even created myself a little flower embellishment using wires to pick out the beautiful cottage garden in the photo.

I went out last night with girls from work and had a really good time - we did a bit of a pub crawl and then ended up dancing till after 2am - however, when I dance I really go for it and this morning I've got such a neckache! I think this must be a sign I'm getting old :/ Not about to stop my dancing yet though. I have a fair bit of cleaning to do today, but I also want to finish off a mini book I started at my crop the other night - its an 'inspiration' book, which I intend to keep around and look at when I have totally lost my mojo or don't feel like creating much. Will share tomorrow...

Its the little details...

Oh, my god, I think I jinxed the weather yesterday! After going on about how much the sun makes me happy, its proceeded to rain all afternoon - typical! Still, I haven't given up hope on it picking up again, maybe in time for the weekend...

I've been busy visiting kids on work experience placements today. I went with my friend Gurpreet who was also visiting kids, and when I came out of one placement I saw her get out the car and go hurrying across the road. She called me to go with her, and I found myself in an Asian beauty salon, where I ended up getting my eyebrows threaded for the first time - it took about 30 seconds, and was so precise! Very bizarre for a Thursday morning - a new experience for me, but I definitely think I will go again, it beats spending ages with my tweezers trying to get the line right and never quite managing.

I thought I would share this layout I created for Rebecca's Scrapbooking Stash - its not up over on the site yet but she's given me permission to post it here. Its made with the gorgeous Dream Street Enchanted line and is my response to one of Shimelle's first prompts, to scrap your neighbourhood. It includes my only photo of little Beano, a little white smudge through a rainy windowpane. It was while making this layout that my old sewing machine gave up the ghost, so all the wavy lines had to be unpicked from one side of the dlo and then handsewed - it took me ages!

A sunshiney day!

Its amazing what a difference the sunshine makes to me. There is absolutely no reason to be in a good mood or full of energy on a warm May day, any more than a cold December day. But there you go - human beings are funny creatures and I just feel so much more inspired and motivated right now. Heaven forbid it should all regress into the traditional British Summer again and start flooding like last year, I don't think I could cope!

I thought I would share a few photos we took on an afternoon out at Kingsbury Water Park last Saturday. The weather was gorgeous and the surroundings were lovely, though it was a little bit crowded! Not the place to go if you suffer from insect bites though - there were things buzzing around the water everywhere!

Also for your viewing pleasure are a few sneak peeks of my latest creation for the Papermaze blog, my Florence mini book. Hopefully it won't be long before its up in all its glory over there.

I found it hilarious to read a comment on my last page over at the blog, saying that my sister was identical to Michelle Ryan (formerly of EastEnders, now the Bionic woman!). My sister has had people telling her this ever since Zoe Slater first hit the screens, but I have never been able to see it myself and neither has she! For my part, I'm apparently a cross between Uma Thurman and Angelina Jolie according to the kids at school. It beats some of the other comparisons I'm sure they could make!

Grown...

A layout I created using the new BoBunny line, Teen Chic, went up over at Papermaze's blog yesterday so I can finally share some scrapping with you here. I made this layout about my sister and how much she has changed as we have grown up and how proud I am of her - she is very dynamic, confident and adventurous and I admire her for that - its so different to the way I think of her as a little girl.



I got really grungy with paint for this one - I'm not a big fan of using black on my layouts so I wanted to tone it down and not make it so stark. The papers were a bit distressed anyway so it was easy to blend them in. This layout really evolved during the creating process - sometimes I can sit down and 'see' a finished project in my head, but with this one I really couldn't - making it all the more difficult to photograph step by step instructions!

I tried out several different techniques, from dry-brushing with paint to doodling (little circles to accentuate several areas of my layout). Its not my all time favourite, but its different and new and that is what is important to me at the moment. Unfortunately the photos isn't great - I've got the glare of an artificial light coming off the photo which is always annoying. But you get the idea...

I just finished my mini album about Florence and I'm totally in love with it! I will photograph it tomorrow to send onto Papermaze and hopefully will be able to share it on here not long after (though I do have about 5 or 6 pages which I've done as part of my DT work which I'm still waiting to share on here so it may be a little longer than I hope for!).

Now, DT assignments are out of the way, and perhaps I can actually scrap with one of my kits for a change...

Busy creating...

I've been busy creating again, but I'm afraid my DT work caught up with me so its nothing I can share just yet! A beautiful BG mini-book winged its way to me this month along with some gorgeous Dream Street papers (this is a range that is really growing on me the more I work with it) and I have been putting together a mini album of some of the sights and sounds of Florence which I visited in the past two years on holiday. I do intend to do a proper full size album with some of my holiday pictures eventually but at least this way I will have recorded some memories before I forget everything!

In other news, my sewing machine arrived home today - I haven't had a go with it yet, but its certainly looking more high tech than my old seventies number! Once this mini book is out of the way, a little experimentation is probably in order...

I am loving this blog at the moment - I'm not really big on challenge blogs as I never seem to have the time to work with anything which hasn't been sent to me with a deadline, but I do love looking at the fab colour combinations and the way the designers work with them so differently. Take a look if you fancy some inspiration on putting colours together successfully...

A new sewing machine

I finally succumbed to my need for a new sewing machine and bought this one from Tesco Direct. I have to go and pick it up from a local store on Monday to avoid paying a delivery charge. It wasn't as cheap as I'm sure its possible to get them, but I've had a bit of design work recently and decided to treat myself with my proceeds from that. I don't suppose its a very good model but it'll be fine for papercrafting which is what I want it for predominantly anyway.

My brother and his friend are up visiting at the moment, and I have to admit that I am now fully overloaded on Grand Theft Auto - it may be an amazing game, but I'm bored to tears with it! I have decided to leave them to it tonight - boys and their toys!

If the weather is good tomorrow, we might go out and enjoy it, but after that I'm hoping to get on with some serious scrapping - it will be the first 'personal' scrapping I will be able to do for ages as I have got all the outstanding DT work out of the way. I've got more coming shortly, but in the meantime hopefully I'll be able to make a dent in some of the kits I've got stacked up here. The trouble is, everytime I think about cancelling, the next kit looks just too tempting - what's a girl to do?! I might have to sell a couple of them on the UKS marketplace, purely to gain some floor space back again...

I'll update again over the weekend, with some pages to share if I'm lucky :)

A tragic evening

I have had such a sad evening. Earlier today, the little white cat from two doors down, Beano was found dead outside by another neighbour. He wasn't even a year old and was such a character - he was friends with everybody who lives in the close and used to run up to greet us when we got home. I've cried buckets this evening, but as my mum reminded me, I just have to imagine him as a little white angel cat now. I'm so upset that I never took photos of him - I always meant to but just assumed there would be plenty of time. The only one I have is a blurry shot of him through my window when I was taking pictures of raindrops. I know my cats will miss him, bless his little heart. We all will.

I thought I would share the birthday mini book I made for my sister as promised. I wanted to make it quite simple but pretty, and leave a space for her to record her own memories too.