Elliott Mess

Altered Button

2012-02-12T19:48:00.000Z

This months Limited Edition kit from My Creative Scrapbook has got a gorgeous little heart button in it which was just crying out to be altered.

I didn't take a photo of the button in it original form so I have cropped the button out of one of Delaina's pages, you can check out all of her gorgeous pages here.

The button was really easy to alter all I did was....
1. Apply two coats of gesso allowing each coat to dry thoroughly inbetween.
2. Using a sponge applicator add some Vintage Photo distress ink, you don't want to cover the whole button but try to highlight areas.
3. Finally I added a coat of green Glimmer Glaze which seemed to pool more around the raised pattern which gave a great vintage feel to the finished button.
4. When it was totally dry I snipped the loop off the back, removed the centre from the Prima flower and replaced it with the button.

Easy!
TFL
xx

Minimalist...

2012-02-10T22:12:00.000Z

I am sure that anyone looking through my blog would say I have a certain style of scrapping and I definitely prefer creating pages with lots of details, distressing, layers and fiddly bits but I do like to try and create pages that are a bit outside of my normal style sometimes, not always with great success I will admit but it is fun trying!
I decided to create some minimalist pages using this months Main Kit from My Creative Scrapbook, I tried having a go at using gesso and misting on the background on this one but I definitely need to be a bit bolder with it next time!

I loved the die cut heart and knew that I wanted to use it to frame a photo and decided it should be the main feature of the page keeping everything else very simple.

I definitely prefer the more is more approach when I create a page but I had fun creating these and that is what it is all about.

TFL

Paper Heart

2012-02-07T10:49:00.001Z

The Main kit from My Creative Scrapbook this month is full of gorgeous Crate Paper Heart Collection and as always Pam has teamed it up with some great embellishments from Prima flowers to Leaky Shed chipboard!

I took this photo of Rebecca on Christmas Eve and loved the soft dreamy feel of the shot and wanted to try and create a page which echoed that. In the kit there is a CI doily shaped die cut paper, I carefully cut out the inside of the doily to use in the centre of my page and then cut the gorgeous die cut edge into 4 pieces to create a frame for the main section of my page. You know how much I love to add edge detail to my pages!!

Emily and Will have been an item now for almost a year so I thought it was about time that I created another page about the two of them. They make such a cute couple!

This was another photo that I took on Christmas Eve, it was a bit dark but I loved the almost silhouette effect. There are some great Crate Paper stickers in the kit and I wanted to use them all! I did manage to use quite a few on this page, to make it easier I stuck each one onto scraps of cardstock first so I could move them around the page and layer them up.

And here is the goodie packed kit!!!!

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for leaving such lovely comments on my posts, I really do appreciate them, thank you xxxxx

Sweet Nothings Part 2

2012-02-06T14:10:00.000Z

As promised here is the second instalment of creations that I made using this months Limited Edition kit from My Creative Scrapbook

One of my friends at work turns 50 on Wednesday so I thought I would make her a card, I used lots of layers and chipboard under the layers to add lots of depth to the card.

TFL
xx

Sweet Nothings

2012-02-04T15:29:00.000Z

Yeah! This months kits have been revealed over at My Creative Scrapbook so I can show you the pages that I have been busy creating over the past few weeks.
This months Limited Edition kit features the gorgeous Sweet Nothings range from Kaisercraft, I haven't worked with Kaisercraft products much before but I have totally fallen in love with them!!

The colours in this kit were perfect for photos of Emily with her gorgeous red hair and I got to use another one of her baby photos that I had scanned.

The kit is packed full of gorgeous goodies, just have a look at all this!!!

I will be back with more pages that I have made using the kit!
TFL
xx

Sneak Peeks of February's My Creative Scrapbook Kit.

2012-02-01T18:49:00.000Z

I cannot wait to show you the amazing kits that Pam has put together over at My Creative Scrapbook this month but until the full reveal I will have to content myself with sharing a few sneak peeks...

The limited edition kit has to be my favourite kit so far...it is absolutely gorgeous and so lovely to work with.

The Main Kit is another gorgeous kit,

The full reveal will be on the 5th so I will be back to show you what I have been busy creating over the last few weeks, if you want to see the sneak peeks for all the kits then pop over to My Creative Scrapbook.
TFL
xx

Pion Design Blog Candy

2012-01-23T11:19:00.000Z

Have you seen the gorgeous collection that Pion Designs are giving away to celebrate their 1st anniversary? It is well worth a look!

A Bit More Adventurous!

2012-01-21T17:13:00.000Z

I have been trying to be a bit more adventurous with mists and paints on my pages, it isn't something that comes naturally as the end result can be a bit too random and I like my pages to be very structured and just so. I have enjoyed adding a bit of mist here and there though so I thought I would share how I used it on this page using this month Limited Edition kit from My Creative Scrapbook.

1. I designed my page and decided exactly where I wanted the misting to be (if I aimed right!) I created a semi circle template using a dinner plate and a sheet of cardsotck and stuck it lightly in place using repro herma.

2. I misted across the top of the semicircle, to get the best mist hold the bottle vertically when you are spraying that way it prevents lots of air bubbles causing those big blobs from spluttering out.

3. I removed the template and stitched around the semicircle.

4. Then I simply built up my page.

I also misted around the edge of my photo, I simply created a mask slightly smaller than my photo and held it firmly in place whilst I sprayed then stitched around the inside of the misted edge.

I don't think I will ever be a great mister but it is fun to try something a bit different every so often!

TFL

January Sketch Challenge!

2012-01-17T19:12:00.001Z

The first sketch challenge of 2012 has been set over at My Creative Sketches and as always the prize is amazing!! Each month there will be a brand new sketch and an awesome prize so it is definitely worth playing along.
Here is this months fantastic sketch, all the DT girls at My Creative Scrapbook have been playing with it and produced some amazing pages which you can see over on the blog.

How about this for a prize!!!

I used a combination of bits and pieces from past My Creative Scrapbook kits to create this page with a mix of papers from Winter Fairy Tales and All About Me collections from Websters Pages.

I can't wait to see what you do with the sketch and fingers crossed for that prize!

I have also got some really exciting news to share with you.......I have been asked to join the Scrap 365 design team!! I can't quite believe I am going to be joining such an amazing team of designers!
TFL

Just Because I Could.

2012-01-09T12:33:00.001Z

I don't often get time to scrap just because I want to yesterday I did! I wanted to use these gorgeous Prima Pixie Glen papers that have been lurking in my craft room for months. When Emily was born she was so tiny Justin had to go out and buy some premature baby clothes and one of the things he came back with was a little hat. As soon as we put it on her she looked like a little pixie and the nickname stuck for years so these papers had to be used with a photo of Emily.
As usual I have done lots of fussy cutting and layering......

Our local wool shop sells a really good selection of lace, some of which could probably be classed as antique it has been there so long! If you dig deep there are some great bargains to be had like the thin lace I have used on this page at about 5p a metre!!! I added some around the edge of the white cardstock and to the underneath of the photo mat to soften the edges.

Cutting out all the intricate little details means that when you layer the elements together the page has lots of depth and dimension.

The butterfly is a Websters one that I have scanned and printed off in lots of different sizes.

Stash Used..
Prima Pixie Glen papers and alphabet stickers, Nutmeg AC thickers, Melissa Frances pearls, Websters butterfly (Botanical Christmas papers), lace, adornet number stickers.
TFL
xx

The Boy Did Good...

2012-01-07T17:26:00.001Z

For a long time now I have wanted a good quality scanner that was capable of scanning negatives and slides as well as the standard photos etc. I found one that I thought would be perfect, the Canon 9000f and my lovely husband bought it for me for Christmas!

We (well Justin) finally got around to setting it all up earlier this week and I have been busy playing with it ever since! The quality is amazing and I can't wait to start scapping some of them, I thought I would share a few of my faves so far.

I love the fact that I can play around with these photos now even if it is simply cropping them...

This photo is one of my all time favourites taken on holiday in September 1997 when Emily was 2, I love the way she is looking up so adoringly at her Daddy. They still share a very special bond even at 16.

My two gorgeous girls, they were so cute when they were little.

Final one, I won't bore you with anymore lol. I love this one of Emily, she was such a colourful little girl with her gorgeous ginger curls (or ginger afro and she refers to how it used to be!) and beautiful big blue eyes. Another one that will definitely be scrapped.

I have had all of these printed up professionally and I am so happy with the quality they have come up really really well. I think this is going to keep me out of mischief for a long time, I was very trigger happy with my camera even before I got into scrapping!
TFL
xx

Winterland

2012-01-06T18:20:00.001Z

The second gorgeous kit that I got to play with this month from My Creative Scrapbook was the Main kit, this month it is jam packed full of beautiful papers from the Fancy Pants Winterland range. The colours in this range are so soft and the papers are a great mix of winter designs and beautiful patterns.
As always Pam teamed the papers with a gorgeous range of embellishments from Prima flowers to Pink Paislee mistables..

I love adding stitching to my pages at the moment and on this page I added loads! I drew a guide line in pencil where I wanted to stitch my square and then used the straight and zig zag stitch to create a border for my central design.

I wanted to add some more interest to the brown patterned paper behind the photo so simply stitched a spiral onto the section that was going to show behind the photo.

The kit includes a gorgeous chipboard circle, it made a perfect frame for my photo after I had sponged it with some acrylic paint.

We don't get many snowy days down here in Dorset so my photos of really wintery days are few and far between, however I did have a few photos from last December when we had a cold snap and this kit was perfect to go with them.

I sponged white acrylic paint onto the ply wood doiley and then embossed it with white zing embossing powders.

My final project with the Main kit this month was this little card.....

TFL

Second Installment.....

2012-01-05T18:38:00.001Z

As promised I am back to share the rest of the pages that I created using this months absolutely gorgeous Limited Edition kit from My Creative Scrapbook.....

I'm not a great mister but I am beginning to love it more and more and finally seem to have got the hang of how to spray without getting lots of blobs! On this page I simply used a paper doiley as a mask, it created a great background for the rest of the page.
A few close up shots.....

I love the fact that these papers have got some Christmas designs on them but the colours mean that you can use them for any theme and they don't look wrong.

I misted around the edge of the photo on this page, I simply cut a piece of scrap paper to cover the centre of the photo held it firmly in place and then misted over the photo. When the mist had thoroughly dried I added some stitching.

Thank you for the lovely comments that were left on yesterdays post, I really do appreciate them, it is lovely to know that my creations are enjoyed by other scrappers who understand my obsession with paper!
Tomorrow I will be back to show you what I created with the Main kit.
TFL
xx

At Last!

2012-01-04T20:53:00.003Z

The kits have been revealed! This months kits from My Creative Scrapbook are simply stunning and I am so excited to share them with you........ I got to work with the Main kit and Limited Edition kit and as always Pam did an amazing job of filling the kits with gorgeous papers and embellishments.
If you love Websters then you will absolutely love the Limited Edition kit, the Winter Fairy Tale papers combine gorgeous designs and with the most beautiful colours. I absolutely loved working with this kit.....

I used the rubber on the end of a pencil to stamp these yellow dots, I love the effect that you get with the dark outer rim.

The Pink Paislee resist paper made a perfect background, I misted it and then wiped off the mist from the waxed design.

I will be back tomorrow with the second installment from the Limited Edition kit but in the meantime why not pop on over to the Design Team gallery at My Creative Scrapbook and have a look at what the rest of the team created, they are a very talented bunch!
TFL
xx

Bit Of A Mixture

2012-01-01T11:14:00.002Z

Firstly I just want to say ......HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! I can't believe just how quickly 2011 has gone, is that a sign that I am getting old?!?!?

Sneaks Are Up
The January sneak peaks have been posted over at My Creative Scrapbook, the kits are absolutely gorgeous and the Design Team have put together some truly awesome creations, I can't wait until the full reveal. Until then I thought I would share a few sneaks of what I have been up to over the past few weeks.......

Limited Edition Kit

Main Kit

My Creative Sketches Grand Prize
The final phase of our sketch contest has started. If you remember the Grand Prize is a 3 month subscription to the Limited Edition kit.....definitely a prize worth having!! All you needed to do was play along with all three sketches, don't worry if you haven't done that as you have still got time to catch up. When you have finished your 3 pages just post them on your blog and then link the post here. If you don't have a blog just post your entries in the My Creative Scrapbook contest gallery.
The deadline is the 15th January.

I wanted to share a few photos that I took over the Christmas period, on Christmas Eve Rebecca and I went out for a lovely walk and I got a few shots of her that I was really pleased with.

I got to play with my new flash on Christmas day, it makes such a huge difference to the quality of the photos!
I bought Emily The best Of S Club 7 for her stocking, when she was little she absolutely loved them so it was a bit of a joke present but as you can tell by the look on her face she was really really pleased with it!

It is a bit of a tradition that the girls come and open their stockings on the end of our bed...

The best thing about Christmas morning is seeing the girls faces when they open their presents, this year I was really excited about seeing Emily, we had bought her an iphone which she desperately wanted but we had told her she would have to wait to have one. When she opened it she burst into tears, which then made me well up so photos went out the window but this one captures some of her emotion. I was expecting a good reaction but not one quite like that lol.

I think she likes it!

Think that is all for now, I hope you all enjoy the last few days of the festive season.
TFL
xx

Paperarts On Tour

2011-12-19T17:52:00.000Z

Paperarts are holding their first ever retreat from 21st - 23rd September 2012 in Swindon at the Brook Madison hotel. Sue, Irene and Rachel are planning an amazing weekend with some great classes, challenges, food and of course lots of shopping!
I will be teaching there along side Michelle Mogford, Sandie Vincent, Lisa Saunders, Elaine Rolfe, Helen Beaton and Penny Kafai. I am so excited to meet up with everyone and the hotel looks gorgeous.
Check out all the details here.
TFL
xx

Front Cover

2011-12-17T21:08:00.000Z

I was asked to create a page using the free papers that are included with the current issue of Scrapbook Magazine and was really chuffed to see that my page has been used for the front cover.

I did add some stickles to the page after I had taken these photos just to make it feel a bit more Christmasy.

TFL
xx

Oh Christmas Tree!

2011-12-16T22:04:00.000Z

A month or so ago I decided that I would like to get a flash to add on to my camera ready to use at Christmas,I always take lots of photos but often the lighting just isn't good enough and the photos are ruined by lots of shadows. I found out that a friend was upgrading all her camera equipment and was selling a flash, after a few sweet words to Justin I was the proud owner of a new flash!
I have always taken photos of the girls decorating the tree but this year I was actually pleased with the photos that I took! Having the extra flash has made a huge difference and I can't wait to use it over Christmas.
We were decorating the tree but the girls had to try the decorations for size!!

I love this photo, they got a bit carried away and fell over just as I was taking their photo! lol

Rebecca took some lovely photos of Emily and I....

not sure about the new earrings though!!

TFL
xx

Something New

2011-12-12T20:56:00.000Z

One of this years big scrapbooking products have been the Smash book, I was asked to have a go at creating my own version for Papercraft Essentials a little while ago. I have never kept or made anything like a smash book and when I started making it I approached it very much as a scrapper, more concerned with how each page looked as opposed to getting the information into it. That soon changed and I actually found it quite liberating! I thought I would share a few of the pages that I created.

Hannah, over at Handmade Hannah puts together some great kits and I bought her September kit which was perfect for creating this little book. I decided to use a Pink Paislee album as the base for my book and decorated the cover using lots of squares of paper which I stitched and distressed.

I love these Tim Holtz envelopes...
I filled mine with lots of my favourite quotes for future referrence.

A pocket full of special memories...

Over the years the girls have written me lots of little notes, I have tried to keep most of them they make such lovely reading and some of them are so funny. Emily was desperate for a puppy when she was 9 and wrote me lots of letters about how much she wanted one and when we decided to get Archie she wrote even more!

This is me right now... (well when I made the book!)

I love the photo of Justin (he hates it as he has lost nearly 2 stones since it was taken lol)

My gorgeous girls....

This was the state of my craft room after I had created it! Pretty tidy for me actually, usually every surface is covered.

TFL
xx

Prima Printery

2011-12-10T13:56:00.000Z

Ever since Prima brought out their Printery range I have been umming and arring as to whether I needed to buy it or not. I was trawling on-line scrapping stores last week and found the range reduced at Paperarts, that made my decision for me and I had to have it!

I started this page last weekend and I have been slowly adding to it all week but it is at last finished!! I am such a slow scrapper lol.

The Websters Western Romance eyelet trim went perfectly with the Prima papers.

Another great find when I was trawling the Paperarts site was this gorgeous hessian trim, I absolutely love it and it is great for adding that extra layer of texture to a page.

I cut a slit into the background paper and carefully distressed the top edge and then slotted the paper ruler into the slot.

TFL

My Creative Scrapbook Main Kit

2011-12-07T18:03:00.000Z

Back again! Three posts in three days, that has got to be some kind of record for me lol. I am back to share what I created with the Main Kit from My Creative Scrapbook. Pam put together a great mix of manufacturers for this kit from Echo Park to Bo Bunny along with some gorgeous embellishments.

Every month a layout is chosen to be turned into a sketch and Pam chose my page this month which I was really thrilled about.

I loved that out of one kit I could create both clean modern pages and more vintage pages.

The Echo Park chipboard made the perfect addition to a Christmas gift box.

I also had a go at creating a festive milk carton.

And a card!

Finally here is the gorgeous kit..........

TFL
xx

Festive Wreath

2011-12-06T17:51:00.000Z

As well as all the paper kits that My Creative Scrapbook do Pam also puts together a flower kit each month and this month I was the very lucky design team member who got to play with it!! I decided to create a festive garland which I had great fun putting together, all you need it....

Flower kit
Willow garland - I bought mine from my local florist.
Ribbon
Hot Glue gun
MME chipboard banner from the Main kit
Gardeners string

I intertwined the two petaloo vines before I secured them onto the garland which made life a lot easier.

I threaded the chipboard letters onto the string and then peeled off the backing from the hoops and secured the string in place temporarily on the adhesive. To make each letter really secure I added some hot glue across each piece of string and onto the chipboard.

When it came to fixing the chipboard banner into place it was much easier to hang the wreath on the back of a door so that I could see exactly how it was going to look before I tied each side off.

I have just got to find somewhere appropriate to hang this now!
TFL
xx

Kit reveal day!!

2011-12-05T20:07:00.001Z

Kit reveal day!!! All the kits have been revealed over on My Creative Scrapbook so I can now share with you what I have been beavering away at over the last few weeks.
I have to admit I am not a fan of themed papers but I really enjoyed working with this kit which was full of a great mix of papers from manufacturers including MME, Simple Stories and Melissa Frances along with some gorgeous embellishments, the Prima Christmas vine is my absolute favourite!
I wanted to create a non festive page with the kit, I love this photo of Emily that I took in September at Saunton Sands........

I wanted to use the vine and resin frame together, the frame was so cute and the flowers so gorgeous I decided to try and frame one of the flowers. I popped the end of the vine through the frame and then cut out a piece of patterned paper to back the frame securing the vine in place.

To secure the strips of ribbon I stuck them down with a bit of repro herma and then machine stitched them into place.

I cut around the holly design on this piece of paper to create pockets to hold my design.

I did quite a bit of fussy cutting on this page, the holly was just asking to be cut out!

Finally here is the gorgeous Limited Edition kit..........

I will be back tomorrow to share some more pages and festive creations.
TFL
xx

Little Tease!

2011-12-01T19:09:00.000Z

The sneaks for the December kits have gone up over on the My Creative Scrapbook blog and forum site so I thought I would share a few little teases of what I have been creating!
I was thrilled when I opened my kits a few weeks ago as Pam had sent me the flower kit to work with as well as the main and limited edition kit. The flower kit is basically that, a kit that is made up of lots of different flowers and it is totally gorgeous! I can't show you sneaks of that one but I can't wait to share it with you in a few days.

Limited Edition sneak...

Main Kit

I will be back in a few days with the full reveals!
TFL
xx

Big Sketch Contest - sketch 3

2011-11-26T09:24:00.000Z

Time for the third and final sketch in our big sketch challenge over at My Creative Sketches which means another chance to win some absolutely amazing prizes!!
Just to wet your appetite here is the prize for the winner voted on by the design team.....

I have to tell you about the GRAND PRIZE too, one extremely lucky scrapper will win a 3 month subscription to the Limited Edition kit!!!!! Definitely a prize worth winning!

Ok so on to this months sketch.....

Here is my interpretation of the sketch, I have used some of the gorgeous Crate Farmhouse papers that I had left from Octobers main kit from My Creative Scrapbook.

To create the misted rectangle I made a mask from a scrap piece of paper and then stuck it to my page using repro herma which is really easy to peel off again, then I simply sprayed the mist onto the page.

You have got until the 28th Dec to get your entry in, you can find all the details over on My Creative Sketches.

Tips and Techniques

2011-11-14T16:55:00.000Z

Over at My Creative Scrapbook every month we have a "How Did I Do That" thread where all the design team share tips and techniques that we have used creating with the kits. The girls come up with some great ideas each month, I love looking through all their posts and picking up a few new ideas.
I thought I would share a few of my tips from the November kits...
I used this technique when I taught at Scrapstars back in April and I loved the look so I used it again with the gorgeous Glitz Peek A Boos. I love the Glitz transparencies but sometimes they can get a bit lost on a page but there is a really simple tip to really make them the focal point of your page.
1. Place your transparency onto a piece of kraft paper and draw around it in pencil including the middle.

2. Carefully cut around the pencil line and then add distress ink to all the edges, make sure you cover all the areas that can be clearly seen through the transparency.

3. Stick the transparency back on top of the kraft paper, only add glue to areas where it won't be seen ie directly underneath the printed pattern. I used glossy accents to secure mine into place.

I love how the inked kraft gives the transparency a really aged look.

I have got a bit of a thing about edges, when I started scrapping I just cut and stuck, then that progressed to cutting and inking, then I added a bit of distressing and now machine stitching. I have to hold myself back from doing it to every edge! It does make a huge difference to a page though and I just wanted to show how by adding a bit more to the edges you can achieve so much more depth and definition on a layout..
1. This photo shows the papers that have simply been cut.

2. Cut and inked.

3. Cut, inked and distressed.

4. Cut, inked, distressed and stitched!

If you are looking for a few new ideas then it is definitely worth popping over to the My Creative Scrapbook forum and checking out the "How Did I Do That" thread, there are so many inspiring posts!

Last Of The Backgrounds!

2011-11-09T18:56:00.000Z

I thought I would share the final two pages that I put together for my article on creating your own backgrounds.
To create the background on this layout I used some bubble wrap as a stamp and then added interest using stamps and distress ink. I tried not to worry about stamping over images that I had already stamped even if it meant almost covering them up.

I painted all the chipboard stars and then highlighted the edges using distress inks. I kept the Dusty Attic chipboard clock really simple and just painted it with acrylic paint the same as the title.

Linds (the editor of Scrapbook Magazine) sent me some papers to create a page for this article, when I opened the box it was full of American Crafts goodies. Now those of you who know me know that I really don't do American Crafts but I got stuck in and was actually really pleased with the end result.

I love ledger paper and I love adding stitching on my pages so I thought I would combine the two and create a stitched ledger background. This was very time consuming but I love the finished result, I simply drew out the design onto the cardstock in pencil, stitched over all the lines and then very carefully rubbed out any pencil marks that were showing.

Thank you for all the lovely comments that were left on my last post I am still on a high! lol My nephew has had a look at his photo on the banner over at inspireME and was so excited. He asked if he was famous now!
TFL
xx

So Chuffed!

2011-11-07T21:43:00.001Z

I just had to tell some people who would understand my excitement, I have just popped over to inspireME and seen that one of my pages has made banner of the week for the second time in three weeks! I feel so honoured especially with all the amazing pages that are posted their.
This is the page that has been featured, it is one that I created as part of my article for the current issue of Scrapbook Magazine on backgrounds.
The little boy is my nephew Josh, he is always so chuffed when I scrap photos of him especially when the layout is for the magazine, he usually takes it into school for show and tell bless him.

To create the background on this page I used some texture paste, a prima mask and some distress ink, very easy but effective.

TFL
xx

Craft Room Storage

2011-11-07T10:07:00.000Z

For a long time I have been trying to find some suitable storage for my mists, paints, embossing powders etc but there just didn't seem to be anything on the market. Justin said he would make me some (he is very capable but absolutely hates DIY so this was a momentous occassion! lol) so we bought the wood, he cut it all up and I spent hours painting every little piece. That is as far as that project has got!
So last week I was browsing Ebay and came across a gentleman who was selling spice racks that he made himself. They looked like the perfect storage solution except that the space between each shelf was only 4.5inches, not high enough to accommodate mists. I contaced the seller, Duncan, and asked if he could make one to specific measurements which he did and a few days later it was delivered. I am so pleased with the result and it is perfect for what I want and at £25 a bargain! I think it might have to get altered but for the moment the bare wood is fine.

(Rebecca wrote me the I love you note so I had to stick it in pride of place.)

I might even have to buy another one as I have just bought a load of new mists and paints from Papermaze in the 50% off sale!

I have just had my first copy of Scrap 365 drop onto the mat, I have to say on first glance through it is looking good! Off to have a proper read now.
TFL
xx

My Creative Scrapbook part 2

2011-11-06T13:18:00.000Z

As promised here are my final creations using this months stunning Limited Edition and Main kits from My Creative Scrapbook.
Limited Edition kit......

I think I have probably scrapped this photo before but I absolutely love it! It is my Grandma aged about 12 back in 1921, I am sure I will scrap it again in the future!

Main Kit....

TFL
xx

Full Kit Reveal!

2011-11-05T16:22:00.000Z

Today it the day that the full kits are revealed over on My Creative Scrapbook, Pam always manages to put together such amazing products for each kit and this month is no exception!
I worked with the main and limited edition kits....
This months Limited Edition kit has been my favourite so far, the paper collection featured is Glitz Beautiful Dreamer, it is a collection that definitely lives up to its name and is so easy to work with especially with all the transparencies and what nots. Pam teamed the Glitz with a stunning array of embellishments.

This was the last page that I created using the kit and I think it is my favourite, I absolutely love this photo of Emily. Justin managed to zoom right in on her face as she arrived at her prom back in July, she looks so radiant.

The Peek A Boo transparencies can easily be cut up and used, I loved the image of the little girl on the swing but as a rectangle it just didn't work on my page but cutting it out worked a treat.

This was the first page that I created, I wanted the transparency to really stand out on the page so I backed it with kraft paper. I also trimmed the white edging off the floral what nots which gave them a more defined edge on the pale background.

The Main Kit is packed full of gorgeous goodies including papers from Bo Bunny and MME along with embellishments from Dusty Attic, Prima and Petaloo to name but a few!

I loved the Dusty Attic ornate frame that came in this kit, I coloured it by misting it with Tim Holtz Espresso colour wash spray. Whilst it was still wet I dry brushed white paint onto areas of the frame that I wanted to highlight and kept building up the layers until I was happy. I added a few blobs of Espresso dimensional pearls to finish.

I added some distress stickles, liquid pearls and glossy accents to embellish the chandelier.

I will be back tomorrow with the final instalment, if you would like to see the stunning creations that the other members of the design team created then head on over to My Creative Scrapbook, there are so many examples in the gallery!

Thank you so much for the lovely comments that have been left on previous posts, I really do appreciate every one and it is such a lovely feeling to know that other scrappers like what I have spent hours creating. Thank you :)

Creating your own backgrounds....part 1

2011-11-04T20:32:00.000Z

For the current issue of Scrapbook Magazine I was asked to create 5 layouts showing different ways of creating your own backgrounds. Now I am not the most adventurous scrapper when it comes to being messy on my pages but it was great fun experimenting to create the pages and I realised that using "messy" techniques can be quite controlled and clean!
On my first page I used burlap for the background and added some paint around my central design, I frayed the edges of the fabric and the stitched around it. To make the page more sturdy I trimmed down a piece of cardstock and secured it by adding, wavy, line around the edge of the page.

When Hannah over at Handmade Hannah sent me an order she had wrapped the stash up in tissue paper and a gorgeous ribbon, the day I received the parcel I was working on this page and the ribbon was just perfect to pleat across the page. Thank you Hannah!

For my second page I decided to used some gorgeous 7 gypsies tissue paper, this is quite expensive but you get a lot in a pack and it goes a long way. I coated a sheet of cardstock with gesso and carefully laid a piece of tissue paper on top whilst it was still wet. Then I simply smoothed out the tissue very gently, I didn't worry about the creases as I loved the texture that they added to the background. Once it was completely dry I trimmed the edges and added a line of stitching around the outside and matted it onto a piece of patterned paper.

I love the texture of the burlap and I saw yesterday that Tim Holtz has brought out some printed burlap sheets, they look great but are a bit pricey at nearly £14 each so I thought about trying to add some of the tissue paper onto the burlap and seeing if the texture is still evident, a much cheaper option. I will let you know if it works out!

I will be back with the other pages that I created in a few days time, there are full details of how each page was created in SBM including step by step photos.

TFL

Sneaks are up!

2011-11-01T20:34:00.000Z

All the sneaks of this months My Creative Scrapbook kits have gone up over on the blog and forum site so I thought I would show you a few sneaks of some of the pages I have created using the Limited Edition and Main kits. The kits are always stunning but this months are especially amazing, the Limited Edition has to be my favourite so far!
Limited Edition Kit

Main Kit

The full kit reveal will be in a few days time.

TFL

Catch Up.

2011-10-30T20:43:00.000Z

Can you believe that it is the last day of October tomorrow, nearly Christmas!! lol I don't have any scrapping I can share with your just yet although I have been a very busy little scrapper. In a few days time I will be able to show you some of what I have been up to and give you a sneak of the Main and Limited Edition kits from My Creative Scrapbook. Pam has put together some absolutely stunning kits,I have had such fun creating with them, I can't wait to show you.
In the meantime I thought I would share a few photos that I took of the girls on Friday, we all went out for a walk which was lovely. It was great to spend some time altogether as a family, something we don't do often enough. I took loads of photos but a lot of them are blurry as I was trying to snap and walk at the same time, won't be doing that again lol. I did manage to get a few that I was pleased with and will hopefully be able to use.

It was a beautiful day and out of the wind it was actually really warm. The next two photos were taken in the ruins of the old monastery at Church Ope cove, it is one of my favourite places on the Island, so peaceful and such stunning views, just beautiful. I really want to take the girls there for a proper photo session one day, I know this sounds really sad but the old brickwork is beautiful and would make the perfect backdrop. I just need to convince the girls!

I think this is probably my favourite one of the day as it just sums them up totally!

Thanks for popping by and I will be back with some scrapping in a few days time.

Competition winner!

2011-10-23T19:14:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the delay in announcing the winner of the competition that I posted a few weeks ago but I can now announce that the winner is..........

Julia
More lovliness Rachael! That page of Emily and her friend is my favourite :) I think there about 135 but then I got distracted so could be wrong!!

Everyone came up with different answers and even the DT couldn't quite agree on how many creations were in the gallery so my winner was chosen at random.

Julia if you send me your full name and address I will organise getting your prize sent.

Thank you for taking part.

Big Sketch Contest - sketch 2

2011-10-20T19:52:00.000+01:00

The Big Sketch Contest over on My Creative Sketches is in full swing now, the first winner was announced yesterday and today the new sketch has gone live. For those of you who haven't seen this challenge before it is definitely worth entering, there will be three winners and three amazing prizes each month, plus at the end of the contest there will be a grand prize of a three month subscription to the Limited Edition!! For all the details check out My Creative Sketches blog.
This is October's sketch, you have got until November 20th to get your entries in and be in with the chance of winning a prize.

This is this months prize for the winner as voted for by the design team, such an amazing prize I wish I could enter!!

This is my interpretation of the sketch, I have used more Websters Western Romance papers (loving these papers!!)

TFL
xx

Only 4 days left!

2011-10-13T20:26:00.000+01:00

Only 4 days to go before the end of the current sketch challenge over on My Creative Sketches, if you haven't been over and had a look it is well worth it, the prizes are amazing! The next challenge will go live the very next day on the 18th October and the prizes are equally awesome, definitely well worth playing along believe me!!
The sketch challenge competition is going to run for a total of three months and if you play along with all three challenges you will be placed into a grand draw with a jar dropping prize of a 4 month subscription to the Limited Edition kit.......how amazing is that!!!
This is a photo of this months limited edition kit.....

Apologies for the delay in posting the winner of the little competition that I posted the other day, it will be announced soon I promise lol.
TFL
xx

Western Romance

2011-10-10T14:07:00.000+01:00

Out of all the Websters new releases my favourite has got to be Western Romance, I love the colours and the images are adorable. As usual I created the page with lots of hand cutting and layering, I really love the texture that the burlap adds.

Thanks for popping by.
xx

Final Installment

2011-10-09T16:56:00.000+01:00

As promised here is my final installment of the pages I created using this months absolutely stunning Limited Edition Kit from My Creative Scrapbook. The kit is full of gorgeous Websters All About Me papers and embellishments along with so many lovely embellishments including lots from Websters but also some gorgeous resin shutters and antique mirrors.
I did so much hand cutting with this kit I have been left with a permanent indentation in my hand from the scissors!! lol
I placed the top of the shutters onto the patterned paper and drew around the inside of the windows and then cut them out. Then I stuck them onto the patterned paper allowing the white cardstock to show through.

There are so many gorgeous flowers to cut out of the patterned paper and layer I could have gone on and on!

I am really enjoying using more paint and ink on my pages, it definitely adds an extra dimension to a project and is so easy to do.

I have had a great few days down in Plymouth with my lovely friend Jill, I travelled down early Friday morning and we spent the rest of the day chatting and giggling! Yesterday Jill had arranged a crop at Just Tracy's shop with some lovely scrapping friends who I first met in February it was great to see them all again and we all had a great day chatting, scrapping and eating. I travelled really light and literally just took some Western Romance papers and my tools but I did mange to create a page which I will share later in the week when I have managed to get a photograph.
TFL
xx

2nd Installment!

2011-10-06T19:49:00.000+01:00

As promised here are the last pages that I created using the Main kit from My Creative Scrapbook....

The burlap made a great matt for my photo especially once I had frayed all the edges, I used the strands of burlap that I pulled our along the bottom to create my little washing line.

The second kit I worked with this month was the Limited Edition kit, it is full of papers from one of my favourite manufacturers......Websters. The embellishments are amazing in this kit including some of the new Prima resin shutters!

Don't forget the competition that I posted yesterday, all you need to do to be in with a chance of winning a lovely prize is correctly guess the number of design team creations in the gallery over at My Creative Scrapbook, just pop your guess in the comments box from yesterdays post and the winner will be announced next Wednesday evening.

I have to share this with you, it isn't scrapping related but it is pretty cool. Emily and her friends went to see Ed Sheeran on Tuesday night in Bournemouth, she has loved him and his music for a long time and had been looking forward to the concert sooooo much!
Justin dropped them near the venue and as they were walking past a tattoo shop Emily noticed Ed sat in the window having one of his tatoos touched up. She knocked on the window to say hi and he said he would come out! She had gone armed with her camera and his body guard took this great photo of the two of them. She text me straight afterwards she was so happy lol.

Think this will have to be scrapped!

I am off tomorrow to go down to Plymouth to see my lovely friend Jill, I haven't seen her since February so it will be great to catch up. We are going to Just Tracy's on Saturday for a crop which I am really looking forward to. Hope you all have a great weekend, I will be back on Sunday with the final pages that I created using the Limited Edition kit.
TFL
xx

My Creative Scrapbook October Kit Reveal + little competition!

2011-10-05T19:13:00.003+01:00

Reveal day! Today it was reveal day over on My Creative Scrapbook, the kits are always absolutely amazing but this months were even more amazing than usual. Pam sent me the main kit and the limited edition kit to play with, I feel so lucky sometimes!!! The main kit is full of gorgeous Crate Farmhouse papers and some fab embellishments including some burlap and Dusty Attic chipboard, what more could a girl ask for lol.

I made five layouts using the kit and I could have made a few more I just ran out of time, there is so much in this kit, the photo doesn't show it but there is two of each of the patterned papers!

Here are some of the pages that I created, I will share a few more with you tomorrow.

This page came together really quickly which for me is quite amazing! I loved the fact that there were so many elements in the patterned paper that could be cut and used to add depth to the page.

I have to thank Emily's friend Katie for this page, she took this photo of Emily and their friend Jackie in the spring as part of her GCSE photography course work. She took some great shots and edited them really well, Jackie was really chuffed to be featured on one of my pages bless her.

I absolutely loved the burlap, it adds such great texture to the page and you can do so much with it! The Dusty Attic chipboard was gorgeous in this kit (and a little sneak bit of info....there will be Dusty Attic in next months main and limited edition kit too!) I used it as it was on this page but if you pop over to the gallery at My Creative Scrapbook you will see how the other girls embellished the chipboard.

Talking of the gallery, Pam has set a little competition for each of the DT to set our blog readers, it is very simple all you have to do is guess the number of DT creations that are featured in this months gallery. Just leave your guess (or pop over to the gallery and count them all lol) in the comments box and I will randomly pick a winner next Wednesday night from all the correct answers. The winner will be sent a lovely prize from Pam! Check out the design team gallery here.

Thanks for popping by and I will be back tomorrow with some more pages that I have created.

Take care

My Creative Scrapbook Sneaks

2011-10-02T18:53:00.000+01:00

I cannot believe that we are in October already, September went by so quickly! The big reveal for Octobers kits is next week so I thought I would share some little sneaks of the two gorgeous kits that I was sent to play with - the main kit and the limited edition kit. I think these kits have been my favourite so far, both are jam packed with so many gorgeous goodies, I can't wait to share the full kits and layouts with you!
Main Kit

Limited Edition Kit

TFL
xx

Journey

2011-09-30T21:50:00.001+01:00

At the Scrapstars retreat last weekend I was lucky enough to do a class with the amazing Emma Trout, she taught a stunning class using gorgeous Websters All About Me papers and I finally think I have mastered the art of misting without leaving splodges! I have long been a fan of Emma's scrapping and it was great to meet her in real life, she is a really lovely lady.

I think my painting technique needs a bit of work, this was my second attempt, I took everything off my first page and did it all again after the class but I really want to try and achieve a softer more subtle look. Must try harder next time!!

I have been busy creating with the October My Creative Scrapbook kits over the past few weeks, the big reveal is next week and the kits are definitely worth seeing, they are amazing!! Jolaine has set a great challenge over on the forum, all you have to do is create a page which incorporates circles. Pam has put together a great prize as always, take a look at this!

TFL

Scrapstars

2011-09-26T19:15:00.000+01:00

Why is it when you are having such a great weekend the time goes so quickly!
I travelled up to Leeds on Friday for the Scrapstars retreat where I was teaching alongside 3 other teachers...Emma Trout, Lida De Witte and Kirsty Wiseman. I was very nervous about teaching along side such seasoned scrapping teachers but they were all lovely. Their classes were amazing, I was totally in awe of Lidas creations, she is so innovative, I should have taken photos of her class projects so I could show you I know you would have all been as impressed as I was.
It was really great to catch up with old friends and also make new ones, the delegates really were such a lovely group of ladies.
I taught 2 classes, both 12x12 layouts so I thought I would share them with you...
My first class used Websters Country Estate papers.

I really love sitting and cutting out elements from the papers but I'm not sure all the delegates were as keen by the time they finished my class lol they all gave it a go though and their pages were looking really lovely, I am looking forward to seeing some finished projects uploaded.

Penny and Amanda busy scrapping away!

Hannah adding the finishing touches to her page, I had chatted to Hannah a few times on line so it was really great to finally meet her in real life.

Caroline, Lesley ( the event organisers) and Carol who came all the way from Spain for the event!
My second class focused on how easy it is to add transparencies to your pages. I used the gorgeous Glitz range, I don't usually do yellow but this range has such a lovely vintage feel it made the yellow acceptable lol.

Caroline and Lesley did an amazing job of organising the weekend, fingers crossed they haven't been put off organising another one!!
TFL
xx

Four Ways Challenge

2011-09-21T22:24:00.000+01:00

I was asked to create a layout for the four ways challenge in the current issue of Scrapbook Magazine and the kit I was sent was right up my street, gorgeous Websters Pages Hollywood Vogue! I love creating pages which incorporate lots of hand cutting, I find it very satisfying creating a page where I manage to achieve lots of depth and dimension by cutting and layering elements of the paper.

I am off to Leeds on Friday to teach at the Scrapstars retreat, I am so excited (and rather nervous), it will be the first time I have taught outside of Sarah's Cards! I know Caroline has organised an amazing weekend so hopefully I can share some of what we get up to next week and show you the two classes that I will have taught. Hope you all have a great weekend.
TFL
xx

Mini Album

2011-09-20T18:11:00.000+01:00

For the current issue of Creative Cardmaking magazine I was asked to create some mini albums that could be given as Christmas gifts. I decided to use an old pizza box for the cover of this album and distressed it with white acrylic paint. The Pink Paislee Daily Junqe papers were great to decorate the mini book as there were so many elements in the paper designs that could be cut out and used.

TFL
xx

My Creative Sketches Contest!

2011-09-17T18:35:00.000+01:00

The amazing Big Sketch Contest has started over on My Creative Sketches, it is a contest that is spanning over a period of three months with three different sketches and some amazing prizes to be won including a three month subscription to the Limited Edition kit from My Creative Scrapbook......definitely a prize worth winning!!!
Here is another one of the prizes up for grabs, this amazing bundle of goodies will be given to the winner chosen by the design team.

Check out all the details over on the blog........
Here is this months sketch

I created two pages using the sketch, the first one I used the gorgeous Limited Edition kit from August.

The second page that I created was using some gorgeous Bo Bunny Gabrielle papers.

After I had stuck this all down I wished I had hand cut some more out of the patterned paper on the right to create a less solid look at the bottom.

I hope you play along, I am really looking forward to seeing what you create and how you interpret the sketch.
TFL
xx

Only 2 Days Left!

2011-09-13T22:12:00.000+01:00

Just thought I would let you all know that you only have another 2 days to post your for the first My Creative Sketches challenge. You definitely want to enter to be in with a chance of winning some amazing prizes!
Prize one...

Prize 2....

Prize 3..

Pop on over to My Creative Sketches for all the details but remember if you don't want to miss out you need to post your layout by 15th September.

Guest Design Team Call For My Creative Scrapbook

2011-09-09T18:59:00.000+01:00

Guest Design Team Call Deadline Oct 28th....

My Creative Scrapbook is happy to announce:

The call is open from Sept. 17, 2011 through Oct.28, 2011.
We will announce the new Guest Design Team on our blog and in our forum on Nov 5, 2011.
We are looking to fill spots for Guest Design Team positions but hint, hint, we have chosen our permanent DT members from our past Guest DT members.
Within these positions we are looking for skills in creating layouts, mini albums, cards, altered items and sketches.
Once we have made our choices then we will announce it on our blog and contact you.
We want you…”if”…you are a creative, energetic, and ambitious and want to have fun creating with us.

Our Expectations of Guest Designers:
- Open communication skill.
- Consistent style and range and ability to design and showcase our kit supplies.
- Teamwork, cooperation and the ability to meet deadlines.
- Ability to create layouts, cards and altered projects on a more experienced skill level.
- Ability to teach techniques with written instructions and/or step by step photos or video.
- Photography skills to produce clear and accurate photos of your projects.

Guest Design Team Requirements:
- Active participation in our forum including the message board and galleries. (This is a must for all.)
- 3 Layouts and 1 card/altered item per kit per month.
- Step by step picture or video tutorial to share with our members in our forum on a rotating basis using a kit.
- Head up challenges for our members in our forum on a rotating basis.
- Give a tip each month from a project you created using our kit.
- Note: We ask that you “not” Design/Guest Design for another kit club while with My Creative Scrapbook but MFG teams and Online Sketch sites…etc. are fine.

What’s in it for you?
- Each month you will receive a kit packed with the latest and greatest products to create with.
- We will post your projects in our Main DT Gallery.
- We will submit your DT projects to the Manufacturers for appreciation and exposure.
- We have a drama free environment and have lots of fun.
- You will be working with a great group of friendly and talented designers that work together to inspire and uplift one another.

Please submit:
- 3 Layouts and 1 card/altered project that bests represents your style. Files should be 500 pixels.
(Please share any specialties, such as mini albums, sketches…etc.)
- Your Name
- Email address
- Address
- Phone Number
- Link to your Online Gallery
- Link to your Blog
- List of Past and Present Design Teams (list all requirements for the present teams you are on).
- We would like to know a little about you and why you would like to join us here at My Creative Scrapbook.

You need to register in the forum while the call is going on if you’re not already a member. Please make your presence known in the forum in the Introduction Thread. We would like to get to know you and allow you to get to know us.
Site Link: http://www.mycreativescrapbook.com/

Please send all submissions to: mycreativescrapbook@yahoo.com
International designers are welcome to apply.

My Creative Scrapbook Limited Edition Kit

2011-09-07T10:25:00.000+01:00

As promised here are my creations using the My Creative Scrapbook Limited Edition kit, when I opened my lovely box of goodies I fell in love with the colours in this kit, so rich and warm. It is jam packed full of Creative Imaginations papers along with Prima blooms, a mistable canvas, bling and so much more!

When I saw this canvas I wasn't quite sure how I was going to use it, I don't have a huge collection of mists and I thought that there are probably lots of scrappers in the same position so I thought I would try and improvise. I decided to use good old coffee to stain my canvas, using 4 different strength coffee's I was able to create a worn vintage look which I was quite pleased with and it now smells lovely!

I used my Promarkers to colour in the roses and leaves so that they coordinated more with my page.

This LO involved lots of layers and distressing and of course the odd butterfly or two!

This was the last page that I created with the kit and it turned out to be my favourite, I always think my first page should be my favourite as I have everything in the kit available but I have to say 99% of the time it isn't the case.

Thank you for all the lovely comments that you left for my main kit creations, they are greatly appreciated and it is lovely to know that people like what I spend hours creating, I am such a slow scrapper! Thank you xx

My Creative Scrapbook September Kit Reveal

2011-09-06T09:50:00.001+01:00

Yesterday the gorgeous September kits were revealed over on My Creative Scrapbook, as always four gorgeous kits plus a flower add on. I was very lucky and got to work with the Main kit and the Limited Edition kit, both packed and I mean packed, with the most gorgeous stash.
I thought I would show you what I created using the main kit today.

The paper collection comes with a great sheet of stickers and I absolutely loved the old fashioned lamp. I wanted to raise the lamp off the page and wrap the vine around it, I matted it onto some cardstock so that I could handle it and move it around without risking it getting stuck in the wrong place.

The rest of the design team have created some stunning pages using this kit, if you fancy a look then pop over to the gallery at My Creative Scrapbook.
TFL
xx

Saunton Sands 2011

2011-09-05T19:05:00.000+01:00

Every year we have a family weekend away at the Saunton Sands Hotel, it is always such a great weekend, really relaxing and of course a fantastic photo opportunity! We came back from our weekend last night and I have just sorted through all the photos that I took, not too many this time only 600, anyway I thought I would share a few of my favourites with you.

As soon as we got to the hotel we got ready to go down onto the beach, we were ready first so waited for everyone else in the garden which gave me a photo op much to the girls annoyance!

We hired some beach buggies for the kids to have a go in, we ended up all having a go and I have to say they were great fun. I love the first photo of the girls pedalling into the distance.

Josh and Rebecca were on a mission to find some crabs in the rock pools, they did really well and found two, one was huge....well quite big lol.

The view from the path back up to the hotel.

Emily in the hotel garden.

Emily and Rebecca at our first evening meal.

The view from the garden on Saturday morning.

Each year my little nephew, Josh, has brought his little soft toy duck called Marvin. This year his Uncle Justin made a parachute for Marvin out of a couple of napkins and after one disastrous jump from the balcony he seemed to get the hang of it and managed some pretty impressive parachuting!

Finally another one of the beach.
TFL
xx

Dusty Attic Give Away.

2011-09-01T19:28:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I ordered some gorgeous dusty attic chipboard from Vicky over in Canada, she is a Dusty Attic retailer and has a great selection to choose from in her Etsy shop, http://www.etsy.com/shop/vickyalberto, it is well worth a visit and really reasonable p&p too! Anyway I have been following her blog for a while and she has just posted an amazing DA give away, check it out here.

I don't seem to have shared any scrapping with you for a while but I can assure you I have been super busy creating with Septembers gorgeous My Creative Scrapbook kits. The reveal day is the 5th September but I can show you a little sneak of one of my pages using the Limited Edition kit.

TFL
xx

On Proud Mum!

2011-08-26T16:58:00.002+01:00

I am so proud of my two girls, it was GCSE results day yesterday, a long awaited day in our house! Emily at 16 has done all of her exams but they seem to like the younger kids to start taking some of their GCSE early so Rebecca did Media and part of her RE.
They both did so well that I had to share it with you....
Emily achieved
A* Drama and Art/Design
A English Language and RE
B English Literature, French, Maths, Core Science, Additional Science and General Studies

She needed to get B's in all her subjects, she is going on to study Drama, English Literature, English Language and Psychology at A level. I have to admit I don't envy her doing all that, the lecturers have said she will hit the ground running in September with those subjects!!

Rebecca achieved
A first part of her RE
C Media

She was a bit disappointed with her C grade but I think to do a GCSE in year 9 and get a C grade is brilliant!
They are both a lot cleverer than I ever was at school that's for sure, they must get it from their Dad lol

TFL
xx

New Sketch Blog Gone Live!!!

2011-08-22T17:16:00.001+01:00

Today is the day!!! The new My Creative Scrapbook sketch blog has gone live, this months sketch is great fun to use and the prizes are amazing, so why not come over and join us.....you know you want to! lol

Here is my interpretation of the sketch, I have used some Prima Madeline papers and some gorgeous little flowers that I found (Prima ones) at a new craft shop that has opened up a few miles from me.

To provide a frame to the page I simply hand drew a pencil line around my central design before I had stuck anything down then removed all the papers and embellishments and added machine stitching along the line. It is only a simple addition to the page but it draws your eye to the centre and holds it on the page.

Can't wait to see you over on the sketch blog!
TFL
xx

MME Sketch Challenge

2011-08-14T15:35:00.001+01:00

As most of you who read this blog will know one of my all time favourite manufacturers is MME and when I saw the sketch challenge over on their blog I had to give it a go. My pile of MME papers is huge so I had plenty to choose from to create my page, I ended up using a combination of some of the Stella and Rose ranges (think they have been my all time fave from them so far)
This was the sketch, you can find all the details here.

I really enjoyed putting this page entitled "you are such a blessing" together, lots of MME papers are perfect for distressing because of the texture and weight. I didn't need to use any embellishments other than a few brads as I hand cut lots of flowers from the patterned paper and layered them up to embellish my page.

To give the flowers a more 3d effect I laid each one onto a soft spongy surface and pressed the rubber end of a pencil into the middle which made each petal curl up. On the larger flowers and leaves I slightly creased each petal down the centre.

TFL
xx

Do You Love Sketches? Exciting news!

2011-08-13T18:59:00.001+01:00

I have got some exciting news to share with you from My Creative Scrapbook, if you love sketches and amazing prizes you are going to love this!!

New blog reveal August 22nd 2011 at www.MyCreativeSketches.blogspot.com come and join the fun!
We are so excited to announce our new Blog will reveal on August 22nd 2011, so check back so see our first sketch and design team layouts and the prizes you can win......we have prizes, prizes and more prizes to give away.
Here is a sneak peek............shhh don't tell......of one of our prize packages......NEW CHA product from Grants Studio's

We just can't wait......see you on the 22nd!!

TFL
xx

I Love You This Much

2011-08-10T08:35:00.001+01:00

I have got so many patterned papers in my craft room that half the time I forget what I have got, I was having a look through yesterday and found these lovely Prima Madeline papers.
I did a lot of hand cutting again on this page, I know a lot of people find fiddly cutting a really difficult, my top tip would be to use a small pair of curved manicure scissors. It makes it so much easier to go around all those little details, I find using a craft knife or straight scissors is hopeless.
I have cut around the floral border and then trimmed the outside slightly so that the background paper shows slightly around the edge. I have raised parts of the floral border up using pin flair gel to add extra depth.

I love using Tim Holtz tissue tape it is so easy to shape and is very forgiving allowing you to move it if you get it wrong when you first stick it down. I drew around the green circle in pencil before I stuck it down and then simply followed the pencil line with the tape pleating it as I went along.

The cut out photo of Rebecca wasn't quite big enough for how I really wanted it to look.

Today is the last day of my holiday sadly so I think I will definitely be doing some scrapping, Rebecca is jetting off to Turkey on Sunday for 10days (I'm not looking forward to that) and wants to make a card for the friends she is staying with so it will be nice to have some mother daughter creative time.
TFL
xx

Just A Few Photos!

2011-08-09T09:39:00.001+01:00

Well I have started to go through the 1800 photos that I took in France so I thought I would share a few of my favourites with you, don't worry I won't subject you to too many!!
This photo was taken on our way to Rocamadour which you can see in the background, it turned into a gorgeous hot sunny day and Rocamadour was amazing, don't know how they managed to build it right on the edge of the cliff!

One of our favourite days was when we canoed 13km down the Dordogne river, we started off early and had the river pretty much to ourselves which was great. We all really really enjoyed it and could have gone on for a lot longer (despite the blisters on my right hand from paddling!!) I was pleasantly surprised how these photos turned out, it wasn't easy trying the take a photo while balancing in a canoe and holding on to my paddle! It also meant that I wan't concentrating on where Emily and I were going and we managed to run aground at one point lol. All good fun.

I love this photo of the girls, just about sums them up lol, it was taken in Sarlat which was a gorgeous town with amazing old buildings, apparently it has been used as a film location many times.

Emily is Harry Potter mad at the moment and read 3 of the books while we were away!

In the front garden of the gite there was a lovely big tree which made the perfect location for photos, it let just enough sunlight through. I managed to persuade them to let me take their photos there, I took loads but these are two of my favourites.

Justin even took a few of my under the tree and surprisingly I was actually quite pleased with them!

My little family, this was another photo taken at Rocamadour, we climbed up the zig zag path to the Château at the very top of the cliff and on each bend there was a little shrine.

Another one taken at Sarlat, our first visit had been on Market day when the whole town was just heaving so we went back for a second time just so we could have a proper look around without fighting through crowds all the time.

A lot of our time was spent by the pool at the gite, it was so lovely to feel the heat of the sun all the time, I was definitely meant to live in a hot country!

As you can imagine I have got loads more photos but I won't bore you with them! I have ordered some so they will start appearing on my pages soon enough.

My Creative Scrapbook have got an exciting new project being launched soon, if you love using sketches you are going to love this! Keep an eye on the MCS blog for the big reveal in a few days time!

TFL

Normal Service Resumed!

2011-08-07T18:03:00.001+01:00

Apologies for the lack of posts over the last few weeks, we have just got back from 2 lovely weeks down in France. We had an amazing time and had some gorgeous really hot weather which I was desperate for, somehow I managed to take 1800 photos which are uploading as I type!! Fingers crossed I should have 1 or 2 that I can scrap lol. I will share a few when I have gone through them, might take me a while.
I think the only thing I have missed about home has been my scrapping, I didn't spot any scrapping shops but I did manage to pick up a few scrapping bits like French lace and a gorgeous zip (my family thought I was mad!).
While we were away the My Creative Scrapbook August kits were revealed so I can share my creations with you now. I worked on the Limitied Edition kit which is simply gorgeous!!

I love this photo of Rebecca, and these papers were just perfect to compliment the colours in the picture. I raised the photo up on a piece of chipboard so that the string of pearls would sit easily around the edge and create a frame.

Gosh I was a chubby baby!
The kit came with a packet of K and Co water colour die cuts which were great for adding lots of little details to the page.

This is one of Emily's official prom photos taken by Wozoncanvas, they very kindly put all her photos onto disc for me so that I could print them off for scrapping. This is the first time I have scrapped a photo of her with her lovely boyfriend Will. they make a really sweet couple. I cut the centre out of the Melissa Frances paper and added it onto a sheet of bazzill and then added a punched border around the edge to soften it off.

I loved this lace effect paper and made the perfect background for a vintage page, this photo is my Grandma and my Aunty I think taken during WW2 to send to my Grandpa who was away with the Navy. I added lots of layers to this page, I added chipboard behind the photo again so that the lace would lay properly on the page.

When I went to Ally Pally I bought a packet of Prima jounaling cards, I loved the cards but I loved the box they were in just as much! I decided to use this kit to alter it and make a little box for Emily to keep all her prom photos in. I gave the outside of the box a coating of acrylic paint and crackle glaze before I started and then just added elements from the kit. I just LOVED the little Melissa Francis resin white oval frame, it is so cute!

I wanted this kit to go on and on but this was the last project that I created with it. I wanted to create something where the gorgeous Melissa Frances brooch pin could be used so I created a birthday card.

I am really looking forward to getting back to scrapping and hopefully I will have some more projects to share with you soon!
Thank you for popping over to visit my blog :)
xxxx

July Kit

2011-07-16T18:58:00.000+01:00

Sarah's Cards July kit is starting to hit the mats now so I thought I would show you what I created, the kit was full of Pebbles Happy Go Lucky papers and some gorgeous embellishments.
I wanted to do something a bit different from my usual style and this was the result! I took the fabric flowers apart and used them as photo mats. To create the circles of pink paint I used a rubber on the end of a pencil to stamp the paint over the page.

Another page about turning 40! I was left a comment on here about how 30-10 sounded much better than 40 and I had to agree and used that as my inspiration for the page. I added a line of alphabet stickers to some cardstock and then cut them out adding them to the bottom of the photo.

I did lots of paper pleating on this page to create the border around the circle, if you didn't want to pleat the paper you could just cut the punched border strip into small sections and then add them around the circle.

We are off on holiday soon for two weeks so my blog will be a bit neglected (not that I post that often anyway!!) we don't have internet access where we are going so will be totally out of contact with the scrapping world! I'm not too bothered but poor Emily will feel like she has lost a limb without the internet and not being able to send 100's of texts a day to her friends and boyfriend! lol.
I have been busy scrapping over the last week but I can't share any of it yet, but I can tell you the kit I am working with is simply stunning!!!! Watch this space.
TFL
xx

Before I left..

2011-07-10T15:34:00.000+01:00

Before I left Sarah's Cards I had a few more projects that I needed to put together, the first was my post for the shop blog. I decided to use a paper manufacturer that I rarely use, Sassafras Lass, I don't know why I don't use them more often really. I love the edging strips that they add onto each sheet of patterned paper and on this first page I decided to incorporate lots of them into my design.

My second page was a class, all the details and step by step photographic instructions are over on Sarah's cards blog. Often my pages start with a pile of fussy cut elements that I have cut from the patterned papers and then I just keep fiddling around with them until I find a way that I can use them. To create this page I cut out all the blue flowers and then built my page around them.
I love the sticker sheets that Sassafras create, so usable! All of my stickers have been matted onto scraps of cardstock and cut out, it just makes it easier to move them around the page without worrying about them ripping the paper. It also means that it is much less fiddly to raise them off the page using foam pads or gel.

My final project was for this months sketch challenge over on the blog, this challenge is definitely worth entering the prize is now a £20 e-voucher to spend in the shop on whatever you want!! Now that has got to be worth entering!

I am stalking the postman at the moment, I am waiting for the August My Creative Scrapbook Limited Edition kit. Having seen the list of contents it is going to be one gorgeous kit!!!! Can't wait to share it with you!
TFL
xxx

Great Video Tutorial plus more!

2011-07-08T18:38:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post to let you know about a great video tutorial that Delaina has created for My Creative Scrapbook blog, she shows you how to create a stunning page using a great inking technique and lots of fussy cutting using gorgeous Websters Country Estate papers.
There is also a great rolled flower technique from Carla so definitely worth popping over to the MCS blog .
TFL
xx

My Creative Scrapbook July Kit

2011-07-05T18:50:00.000+01:00

Over on My Creative Scrapbook July's kit has just been revealed so I can now show you what I created with it! They produce four different kits plus a flower add on kit, I was asked to design the the limited edition kit which is totally gorgeous. The kit is absolutely jam packed full of stash and the papers were from two of my favourite manufacturers, Websters and MME, so very me lol.

Here is what I created with the kit......

To create the background on this page I used a sewing pattern.

My final project was a door plaque for my craft room , I loved working with these papers and the prima flowers were a perfect match.

I can't wait to see what is coming up in August now!
TFL
xx

A Bit Of A Mammoth Post!!

2011-07-03T08:39:00.001+01:00

A while ago I was asked to create some pages for Scrapbook Magazine featuring the wax resist technique, there are so many effects that you can create using tools as simple as a wax crayon to specialist papers such as Hot Off The Press's colour me paper which are printed with a raised wax design .
On this page I have used lots of gorgeous Prima Reflections and Madeline papers and some colour me paper which I coloured using paint dabbers and glimmer mists. I used the rub ons to add extra detail around the circle, I added them onto cardstock and then cut them out.

On my second page I used some more HOTP colour me paper, this time I added colour using distress inks. This was my favourite way to colour this paper as using lots of different colours you are able to produce a really great effect.
I'm not usually a huge fan of Basic Grey papers but these Curio papers are just gorgeous! I raised the centre section of the layout by adding a piece of chipboard, this meant that I could easily add the pleated paper around the edge and allowed it to lay properly. I left a section unstuck on the back so that I could slot the journalling card in.

On my third page I ran some cardstock through an embossing folder and then using the flat edge of a white wax crayon rubbed over the raised pattern and then inked over the whole thing using distress inks. I then punched out a flower with the embossed paper using the tattered floral die and some butterflies. The papers are all Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe, aren't they gorgeous!

To soften off the straight edges I created some decorative edges using a border punch and then pleated them to form curves and added them around the page, I also rounded a lot of the corners of the papers.

For my final page I got a bit mushy! I don't often scrap photos of Justin and I but Rebecca took this photo on a day out and it went perfectly with these MME paper so it had to be scrapped! It isn't very clear on the photo but I created a wax effect on some cardstock using wax paper. I screwed up the wax paper and then unfolded it and laid it over a sheet of cardstock and then covered that with a muslin sheet. I ironed over the top of the sandwich for about 10 seconds and the wax on the raised creases was transferred over onto the cardstock. To the pattern show up I inked over the top using distress ink, the darker the ink the better the effect shows up.

The doiley was created using a MME stamp with stazon ink onto a piece of acetate and then cutting it out.

The tag with "Our Love Story" on it is a journalling tag and I have written our story on there, I really struggle adding journalling directly onto a page and I don't like seeing my writing but hidden journalling is great.

I did warn you it was a bit of a mammoth post lol.
TFL
xx

Prom Day!!

2011-07-02T09:58:00.000+01:00

Firstly I have to say a huge thank you for all the lovely messages I have received after posting my news yesterday, I was extremely touched.

As some of you may have been aware Emily had her prom yesterday, we had a lovely day getting her ready and she looked absolutely stunning so I thought I would share some photos of the event with you. She was escorted by her very handsome prom partner Jack.

One very excited Emily! (the clock has stopped just in case you thought we were ready very early!!)

Had to do a few shots in the garden before we left.

Emily and Jack leaving for prom, chauffeured by Emily's Grandpa.

We popped up to this lovely viewpoint before going to the prom to take some photos overlooking the fleet.

Their arrival!

They all had an amazing time and I can't wait to see the official photos now!

On a scrapping note have you seen the amazing give away that Gabrielle is having over on her blog, if you haven't seen it then you definitely need to pop over!

TFL
xx

Big News!

2011-07-01T10:18:00.001+01:00

So I can now spill the beans and tell you my news! I have been dying to tell everyone since I was asked a few weeks ago...... I have been asked to join the most amazing design team over at My Creative Scrapbook! MCS is an American kit company who provide four different kits each month catering for just about every scrapping style, if you have never seen their kits or the amazing work that the team produce pop over to the kit gallery here, I think you will be truly inspired!
Sneaks of the July kits have just gone live over on the MCS blog if you fancy a little look of what is coming up!
Here is a little sneak of one of my creations....

Although I am really excited about this new chapter in my scrapping life I am also sad that it has meant I have had to say goodbye to designing for Sarah's Cards. I have been on Sarah's design team since 2009 and had the most amazing time, I will really miss all my lovely friends on the design team, we have had such a laugh over the last few years at our DT retreats and the Sarah's Cards retreats. Also all the lovely ladies that I have met on line and in person through Sarah's Cards. Thank you all for the last couple of years, its been a blast!
TFL
xxx

Getting Braver!

2011-06-30T11:17:00.001+01:00

We all have our own scrapping style and tend to scrap within our comfort zone, using paint and ink directly on a layout has always freaked me out a bit. What if it looked awful?! I am coming to realise that I have been missing so much fun!

Looking through on line galleries some of my favourite backgrounds have been created using mists, inks and stamps and although I have been getting bit braver using the odd stamp directly onto a page I had never attempted anything very adventurous.....until now!

I have never been very successful with mists but over on My Creative Scrapbook they have a great section on the forum and links on their blog to tips and advice on how the design team created certain elements of their pages. One of these tips was to water down some acrylic paint, dip a tooth brush into in and then run your nail across the brush to spray the paint across your page. It worked a treat and I will definitely be doing it again! So here is the page that I created, using more Websters Spring Market.

Hope you like it I had great fun putting it together!

I will be back with more pages to share over the weekend :)

TFL

Text Chat

2011-06-27T14:28:00.001+01:00

It seems like ages since I last posted on here but it has only been a week! I have been really busy creating for something which I am so excited about, I am counting down the days until I can spill the beans and reveal all! In the meantime I thought I would share a layout that I created yesterday using more gorgeous Websters Pages, this time Spring Market which I got from Scrap Revolution. If you are looking for some Websters stash then Lorraine stocks a great selection.

I had some layouts on my dinning room table waiting to be photographed and all but one were of Rebecca so I decided that I had to use a photo of Emily for this page. I took this one on our recent trip to Kingston Lacy, I think it was my favourite photo of the day and was the perfect colour match for the paper range.

I created the butterflies using a Websters Itty Bitty stamp, I stamped the image using distress inks onto some patterned paper and then cut them out. I added more colour onto the butterfly using a cotton bud and more of the distress inks and then used walnut stickles to create the body. This stamp is so versatile, I have used it directly onto the background paper too.

I added some Websters netting to the circle, to cut the circle out I drew out my shape onto a scrap of paper and then pinned that to the netting and carefully cut around it. I secured the netting using a tiny bit of glue just to hold it into place while I ran it through the sewing machine. I was really pleased with the finished look and it adds great texture to the page.

We have got Emily's prom on Friday, I am so excited to see her all dressed up, I have warned her that I am going to have to take LOTS of photos!!
TFL
xx

Sneak Peek

2011-06-19T19:19:00.000+01:00

The June Sarah's Cards kits have been arriving this weekend so I thought it was about time that I teased you all with a couple of little peeks of what is to come in July! It is a gorgeous kit, really lovely colours perfect for those summer photos which hopefully we will all be taking....if we ever get any sunshine!!

I have been a busy little scrapper over the last week, nothing I can share with you yet but I have had great fun creating in my little room with some amazing stash!

On a non scrapping theme my baby turned 14 today! She had her birthday treat yesterday, I took her and a friend to have a facial and manicure done which they both absolutely loved and want to do it again very soon thank you very much lol. I only took this photo and then quietly left the room so she could relax without me snapping away!

Of course we had to do the usual photos in the garden with the number stickers today too....

I liked this one as it captures her personality perfectly lol.

A sensible shot.
Tfl
xx

Two and a half hours later.......

2011-06-12T08:36:00.000+01:00

I took Emily to the hairdressers yesterday for her hair trial for her prom, she decided that she wanted soft tumbling curls. Because her hair is so curly naturally they had to straighten it then set it and then tong it to get this look! Only took 2 1/2 hours!!! She isn't 100% about the result but she isn't sure if it is just because it is so different to how she usually looks.

TFL

Out with the old, in with the new!

2011-06-11T10:37:00.001+01:00

One of my first projects when I joined the Sarah's Cards design team back in 2009 was to alter a small clipboard. Sarah had sent me some American Crafts papers which I used and the clipboard has been propped up in my craft room ever since.
My scrapping style has definitely changed since then and I decided that the clipboard needed updating........

I created the background on the clipboard in exactly the same way that I did the tin in my last post, think I am getting a bit obsessed with crackle glaze at the moment!!
For those who have read my blog for any length of time you will know that I love to add butterflies to my projects, I usually punch them with a Martha Stewart punch but I have found the most gorgeous butterfly stamps and I am totally hooked. They are Websters Pages Itty Bitty stamps and they are great to stamp directly onto your project or cut out and colour to coordinate with your colour scheme.

I layered some Tim Holtz tissue tape across the bottom and down the centre of the clipboard to create my background. I also stamped some images and cut them out and added them on top of the tissue tape.

I chose two small photos and trimmed them down so that they would both fit onto the packaging from a prima vine, this years collection has the most gorgeous packaging covered in flowers and butterflies which is much too good to throw away. I added machine stitching around the edge of each photo and then added a thin piece of chipboard behind each one before sticking them onto the prima packaging. I stitched a piece of lace across the top and added two thin strips of scalloped paper down each side. Everything has of course been inked!

I added the prima vine which was just perfect for this project and then added more flowers, butterflies, chipboard hearts and stamped words.

I machine stitched a narrow strip of paper onto a piece of lace and then added that to the bottom of the clipboard.

I am off to the hairdressers in a minute with Emily to have a trial for her prom, she isn't 100% sure how she wants her hair but she has a few ideas, I am sure it will be stunning. I am not sure who is more excited about the day, Emily or me!

Thank you for popping by and for leaving your comments I really enjoy reading them and popping over to your blogs to see what you have been up to.

TFL

Little Tin

2011-06-06T15:02:00.002+01:00

A lot of our scrapbooking stash comes in the most gorgeous packaging, if it isn't gorgeous often it has the potential to be made gorgeous! I have got quite a pile of Maya Road tins awaiting transformation and last night I set about altering the first one. It started like this..

It was really easy to alter the tin, all I used was...

Gesso

Acrylic paints

Crackle Glaze

Matt varnish

Websters Hollywood Vogue papers, Itty Bitty Stamps

Tim Holtz ruler stamp

Lace

Masking tape

Pin Flair Gel

Chipboard
Distress Ink

1. Mask off as much of the plastic window as you can, it just made it a bit easier painting it not to have to worry around all the edges.

2. Paint over the lid of the tin and the inside of the base with a layer of gesso to prime the metal.

3. When that is dry paint over that with a layer of acrylic paint, and then when that is thoroughly dry add a layer of crackle glaze.

4. Once that is dry add your top layer of paint.

5. I have used some distress ink over areas of the tin just to give it a bit more of a distressed look, then covered the whole thing with a layer of matt varnish to seal it all in.
Then the fun bit starts, the decorating!
I matted my photo onto patterned paper and added that onto a piece of chipboard to raise it off from the base of the tin. I stamped the ruler image onto paper, inked the edges and pleated a length of lace along the top edge. I added it to the bottom of my photo but only stuck it down on the two ends so that I could add a slight bend to it.

6. After I had stuck the photo in I thought the two sides looked too bare so managed to squeeze two decorative strips down both edges. Obviously if you are going to do this you can do it the easy way!

7. I cut out a floral corner from the Websters Pages and built the back up with foam tape so that it would lay flat but raised up in the tin.

8. When you build up the design inside your tin keep checking how it will look with the lid in place, if I had placed the floral corner right up against the edge of the tin it would hardly have been noticeable with the lid on.

9. Keep adding elements until you are happy with how it looks, remember you are also going to add detail to the tin lid so don't overdo it too much. I have cut out more elements from the paper, stamped a clock image and cut out a pink paislee rub on.

10. Embellish the tin lid, again I have simply cut out designs from the Websters Pages and stuck them onto the lid adding pin flair gel to sections so that certain areas are raised up.

The butterflies are Websters Pages Itty Bitty stamped images coloured to coordinate with the papers using promarkers.

I was really pleased with the finished result and have got plans for all the other little tins I have got in my craft room, just got to find some other ways to store their contents now!

TFL

Lots of Pretty Paper

2011-06-04T08:56:00.002+01:00

It was my turn to post on the new look Sarah's Cards blog yesterday, I focused on how you can create beautiful scrapbook pages using gorgeous patterned papers and very little else.

One of my favourite manufacturers at the moment is Websters Pages, I love that each piece of paper has so many different elements that can be cut out and used to create the layout. Speaking to other scrappers I found that a lot of them loved the look of the Websters Pages papers but just didn't know how to go about using them so I decided to do a photographic step by step guide using their Hollywood Vogue collection. All the details can be found over on the Sarah's Cards blog.

Another manufacturer that is particularly good at the moment is Pink Paislee, I absolutely loved working with their butterfly garden range and for the blog I used the Daily Junque range. Again there are some amazing elements that can be cut out and used to build your page.

There are more close ups and details over on the shop blog if you fancy a closer look. I have totally fallen in love with Bakers Twine, it is so easy to use and comes in such a great variety of colours, I love it!

On a non scrapping note thank you all for my birthday wishes, I have to say being 40 isn't all that bad lol. I got Justin to take a few photos of me so that I can create a page documenting life at 40, I used the stickers on the fingers again, if it works why change it! lol.

Walking back from our meal on Monday night I took some photos of Rebecca on the beach, when we had finished she ran up the beach towards me so I carried on clicking away and got this shot. We were all in stitches when we saw it, it just about sums her up she is so funny.

When Rebecca was little she always wanted one of those electric childrens cars, she never got one but our elderly neighbour has got an electric buggy. As a treat he let her take it out for a spin lol she absolutely loved it and we had quite a few giggles on our way round. I was amazed how fast they went, I had to literally run to keep up with her!

We picked up Emily's prom dress on Wednesday, she had to try it on as soon as we got in, I just love the colour on her, she is going to look stunning! I can't wait for the prom night now!!

Justin and I had a lovely walk around the Island on Thursday, the views never fail to amaze me. Justin took charge of the camera for a bit and took this photo which I actually quite like (I usually hate photos of myself).

Thank you for stopping by.

Take Over!

2011-06-02T20:24:00.000+01:00

Can't believe it is June already!! Where did May go?
Have you seen the changes that have taken place over on Sarah's Cards blog? On the 1st June the design team took control of the blog! Every few days a different member of the team will be posting on the blog giving you a whole host of fantastic projects, classes, challenges, tutorials, giveaways and much much more.
Lou went first and if you haven't seen her amazing step by step guide to creating a unique background for your scrapbook pages it is definitely worth checking out!

Family Day Out

2011-05-29T21:42:00.000+01:00

It is my 40th birthday tomorrow and we had planned some family days out but as usual the great British weather hasn't played ball! So we had to change our plans and find somewhere to go today where we could go inside if it rained, we chose Kingston Lacey which is a National Trust property. We actually had quite good weather, not much sunshine but no rain so we managed to have a lovely walk around the garden and it gave me a chance to get some lovely photos of the girls and my nephew Josh.
Tree huggers!

A while ago I took some photos of Rebecca against a lovely old brick wall, this isn't such a nice wall (I seem to have a bit of a thing for nice walls at the moment!) but I thought it was worth a few photos and I really like this one of Emily.

Emily outside the lovely old house.

On our walk we came across this gorgeous field of daisies, it was like a maze with pathways all through it so we didn't have to walk over the flowers to get in amongst them. It was a photographers dream and I could have spent ages taking photos of the girls there. There were so good all day and let me take loads of photos and didn't complain once!

Emily is very attached to her mobile phone!

Josh loved the long grass in the field but he thought it was their garden, his comment was "seriously, they need to cut the grass!" He does make me laugh.

Tomorrow the plan was to go to Brownsea Island but again the weather isn't meant to be great so not sure what we are going to do now :(
TFl
xx

Question Time

2011-05-25T18:32:00.002+01:00

A few years ago I saw a layout where the scrappers child had answered a series of questions on the page, I loved the idea and have tried to do one each year for both the girls. They are great to look back on, Emily and I had all the scrapbooks out last night and had a good giggle at some of her previous answers.
I wanted Emily's layout to look a bit like a page from a personnel file so I kept it very simple without too many layers or fancy embellishments. On Sarah's Cards design team we have got an amazing scrapper Lou, she manages to use paints and mists on her pages in the most creative ways. I struggle to do anything messy or irreversible on my pages but she has inspired me to try and be a bit more adventurous so I stamped some circles on the page using brown acrylic paint. I have used MME fine and dandy papers for Emily's page.
I know there are a few spelling mistakes on the page but that is part of the charm of getting them to do their own journaling.

I was going to do Rebecca's page pretty much the same as Emily's but it didn't turn out quite as I had intended! I used a combination of MME papers for this page, fine and dandy along with stella and rose. They work really well together and I love the small floral print paper, it is exactly the sort of print that Rebecca loves so perfect for a page about her. I did keep the page quite simple with only a few embellishments but created a pull out tag for the questions and her answers.

TFL
xx

Little Wooden Heart

2011-05-22T16:04:00.001+01:00

One of the things that I bought at Ally Pally in April was this little wooden heart, I had an idea in my head of what I wanted to do with it so set about altering it this morning.
I started by painting the heart with green acrylic paint and added a coat of crackle glaze over the top and then finished it off with a coat of white acrylic paint. Once that had completely dried I misted the heart with Maya mist dabbing off the excess with a tissue as I wanted it to be quite subtle. I had planned to add some bling, flowers and tissue paper but then I had another idea.

I had some Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden rub ons left on my desk from a previous project and I decided I wanted to add one onto the heart. It worked really well so I added a few more and then just kept going until I was happy with it. To seal the whole project I coated it with a layer of matt varnish, I am really pleased with how it turned out and is now hanging on our bedroom cabinet door.

TFL
xx

All Change!

2011-05-21T16:57:00.002+01:00

There are some exciting changes taking place over on the Sarah's Cards blog from 1st June! If you don't already follow the blog and don't want to miss out why not pop on over and add it to your blog list. If you are looking for a blog with challenges, inspiration, classes, tutorials, giveaways and much more then Sarah's Cards is definitely going to be the blog for you!

I thought I would share a couple of the pages that I created with this months Sarah's Cards kit, it is a gorgeous kit and definitely right up my street with lots of MME Stella Rose papers! The colours in the Mabel range made it the perfect kit to use with photos of Emily and her gorgeous ginger hair.
For this kit I combined the kit with a sheet of Kaiser Timeless paper for the background. I stamped the border of the page and photo matt and then cut around them.

I added a line of liquid pearls around the stamped square, so much quicker and cheaper than using adhesive pearls but just make sure you let them dry thoroughly!

For my second page I used a photo of my two little girls back in 1997 when Rebecca was only a tiny baby, this is one of the first photos that I took of the two of them together.

There were some great designs on the paper that were perfect for cutting out to embellish the page.

TFL
xx

Retreat Apron

2011-05-16T18:03:00.000+01:00

For the Sarah's Cards retreat back in March we all had to decorate a lovely Prima canvas apron that Sarah sent us. I was a bit stumped for inspiration so trawled the net and found a great class by Donna Downey, I used a lot of her ideas and added a few of my own, I had great fun doing it and got extremely messy!

I misted the lace to coordinate with the background colour which worked really well, to speed up the drying time I used a hair dryer. The tags were misted and inked using distress inks and then stuck into the pocket.

I added my lettering using a variety of alpha stickers which I secured using my hot glue gun.

I had to add a few butterflies to my project so I stamped and embossed a butterfly onto the background before I misted it. I also added a couple of Prima butterflies, I painted the tips of the wings with the mists that I had used on the rest of the apron and punched a few out of patterned paper.

TFL
xx

Sweet 16

2011-05-11T11:10:00.002+01:00

I can't believe Emily has now turned 16, it only seems like yesterday that Justin and I were up in Dorchester awaiting her arrival. She was 4 weeks early but was still a good weight at 5lb 10oz but was a scrawny little bundle and very jaundiced bless her. She had a few problems feeding and used to be sick after every meal until she turned 9 months, you would never know it looking at her now. She has grown up into a beautiful young lady who we are all very proud of.
A few years ago I saw some photos that had been taken to document a birthday, I think they were in Scrapbook Trends, anyway each year since then I have taken similar photos of the girls. It has become a bit of a tradition, so I thought I would share some of the ones that I took yesterday.

She has got a wonderful group of friends and our house seems to be their second home so I thought it would be nice to get a photo of the 6 of them together.

No scrapping to share with you today, but I did have a lovely order yesterday of WP's Spring Market collection from Scrap Revolution so I might just have to go and start having a play with that!
TFL
xx

Sneak Peek

2011-05-09T17:54:00.001+01:00

You know how I like to tease...well here is a little sneak peek of what I have done using this months Sarah's Cards kit. Most of you who read this blog will know that one of my all time favourite manufacturers is MME and this months kit is full of it! Gorgeous, and the colours were perfect to scrap photos of Emily with her gorgeous hair.

So here is my little snippet of one of the pages that I have put together. Looking at this photo it is hard to believe that Emily will be 16 tomorrow! Where has the time gone.

TFL
xx

Dream

2011-05-07T17:19:00.003+01:00

Last weekend I spotted a post on the inspireME site from the Aussie Scrap Source blog, they had set a challenge to create a page using Websters Pages and you had to include WP trims and alpha stickers. The prize was in my mind amazing, the chance to be a guest designer for Websters for a month! So I set to creating my page, I only had a couple of days to get it done as the closing date was Tuesday. Sadly I didn't win, there were some amazing entries and the winners page was just stunning. I loved creating the page though and am still totally loving WP!
When I went to Ally Pally in April I picked up some Life's Portrait WP's, I have used them on this page with a small amount of Ladies and Gents.

I have had another go at using Liquid pearls and thankfully didn't smudge it too much this time! I simply added a line of dots along the edge of the scallop and highlighted some areas of the photo frame.

I also have some exciting news to share! Last week I received an email from Caroline, she is organising the Scrapstars retreat in September this year and has asked me to teach! I was so shocked, I have taught a couple of time before, despite the nerves, once I have got going I really really enjoy it, but never really thought about teaching at other venues. There have been two other teachers announced so far and I can't believe I am going to be teaching along side them. I am one excited scrapper!
TFL
xx

Sketch Challenge

2011-05-06T22:38:00.001+01:00

I can't believe how quickly the months are flying by! The May sketch challenge has just gone live over on Sarah's Cards blog, Nat created a fab sketch and I loved using it even if I did deviate a little bit from her original. If you fancy playing along and be in with a chance of winning a £10 e-voucher then all the details are here.
I used more Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden papers combined with a sheet of script paper from the Kaiser Timeless collection which is just great for vintage pages and makes the perfect background.
I used a Martha Steward border punch to create the edge on the bazzill but the white was too stark against the rest of the papers so I used distress inks to try and merge the papers into the bazzill.

You can't really see it on the photo but I added a layer of glossy accents to each bar of the bird cage and to the paper clip at the top of the page to add a bit more texture.

I just wanted to say a big thank you for all the lovely comments that have been left on my blog, I really do appreciate them and love reading what you think.
TFL
xx

Craft Obsessions

2011-05-04T20:04:00.000+01:00

A little while ago I had arranged to go and visit David and Brenda at Craft Obsessions but for various reasons we put it off until today. We found their unit with the help of the sat nav, it was quite strange really as we have often driven past there, I certainly wouldn't have driven by had I realised they were there!
I have to say a big thank you to both David and Brenda as they were both extremely welcoming and friendly, even Justin enjoyed the visit and said he would happily go back. They had a great selection of stash and I could have spent hours delving in all the boxes and drawers. I think I did quite well to limit myself to this little pile of goodies!

TFL
xx