In with the new!

I spent my day off yesterday in my scrapping room which was lovely, I actually made two layouts which is amazing for me as I scrap very slowly.
I made this page using one of my favourite manufacturers, MME, the Be Loved range. I think I am actually loosing the plot or I have way too much stash. The other night I was placing an order for an embossing matt and I saw these papers. I had a vague recollection of having already bought them but couldn't find them in my craft room so I ordered them. Then the next day I found them!! Oh well I do love them so I am sure I will use them.
This was another photo that was taken during the photo shoot that we had done in December, for some reason I put October 2009 on the page. I did say I was loosing it!!

TFL

Out With The Old

When I was reading Rachels blog yesterday I saw that she had posted some of her favourite layouts from 2008 that she had in her gallery over on UKS. On the 1st of February the gallery on UKS is being prunned so that all images posted before Feb 2009 will be deleted. It seemed a good idea to keep some of my favourite here on my blog so here they are! I did all of these in 2008/early 2009 which seems like an age ago now but I still love them

TFL

Sunday's Creations

My lovely Mum treated me to the two Tilda stamps on the first card, she bought them over for me yesterday so I had to use them staight away! I am finding cards much harder to put together than 12x12 layouts probably because the usable space is so much less. I have raised Tilda up on both these cards but you can't really see that in the photos.

I can't believe that the Sarah's Cards retreat is only 38 days away, it has come around so quickly. I am really looking forward to meeting up with all the DT girls again we had such a blast in November and it will be really good to actually meet some of the girls from the kit thread who I have been chatting to for so long but never met in person. I am just hoping that I manage to get there alright!! I am not a confident driver so going all that way (200+ miles) on my own is a big deal, I think I may have a few more grey hairs by the time I get there.

TFL

xx

Flutter Butter

I know I say it every month but I this months Sarahs Cards kit has definitely been my favourite so far, it was full of gorgeous Bo Bunny Flutter Butter papers and some lovely embellishments. The papers were pefect to use with a couple of the photos that I had taken when I was at the gogo getaway in October.

TFL

More Cards!

When I bought my first promarkers I didn't really have a clue how to use them properly, Nikki thankfully pointed me in the direction of this fantastic blog which is full of great tutorials. I have been practising my layering and blending and I think it is getting better. There were some really good tips on the blog like using white gel pen to highlight areas

As warned here is the first layout (of many) using one of the photos that Flossie took in December, I wanted to make the page quite simple. I think sometimes I make things too fussy so I was trying to be restrained with my embellishments!

TFL

January Sketch Challenge

Over at Sarah's Cards we are setting a monthly sketch challenge which is being posted on the shop blog. Vanessa designed this months sketch again she is so good at them! I had fun creating my example layout and it was the first one I had done for a while as Christmas sorted of halted play!!

If you fancy joining in and being in with a chance to win £10 to spend online at Sarah's cards then check out the blog.

TFL

xx

Family Photo Shoot

One of the girls at work is also a professional photographer, I have been wanted to get some "proper" photos done of the girls for a long time so just before Christmas she came to our house and we had a family photo shoot. She has done a wonderful job and really caught the girls personalities on camera, I thought I would show you a few of my favourite ones. You will no doubt be seeing these again on layouts in the near future I have already had my photobox order today!!

Think I'm Hooked!

Just before Christmas I bought a lovely pink BIA but I hadn't had time to actually take it out of the box and use it until today. I thought I would start small and simple so I made a little 4x4 notebook. I really enjoyed putting it together and was quite pleased with the result although I think more practice is needed. I fancy getting some of the lovely new Tilda fabrics from Sarahs cards and covering a book rather than using paper. Watch this space!!
My first attempt at using the BIA















I think Rebecca has really started something with these little Tilda stamps! I bought her a few from Thats Crafty as they were in the sale, I say bought them for her but I think it will be us, I had a go at a few cards today and really enjoyed doing something different. They are far from perfect and are a bit amature but I had great fun doing them and can see I will be doing more!


















TFL
xx

Making Cards

Making cards isn't really my thing but Rebecca recently started to make some and has been really enjoying it. She has been using some stamped images that she had been given but we thought she might like to try the little Tilda images as they are so sweet. We bought her a few stamped images for her stocking at Christmas and we decided that as today was soooo cold it was the perfect day to have a go at making cards with them.
My effort




















Rebecca's card, she has done such a brilliant job. She designed it all herself (except for having a bit of advice when she had a bit of a glue disaster trying to secure the string down the side).

Loving my Camera

In November Justin bought me a DSLR, after a lot of reading around the subject we decided to go for a Canon 450D and I absolutley love it. I am determined to learn how to use it properly and have been experimenting with all the setting. I haven't had a chance to do much outside photography but I am so impressed with the images that I have managed to capture indoors I can't wait to get outsides with it. My old little point and shoots were always gave me good quality pictures outdoors but inside the photos were very grainy and not good enough to use.

Rebecca and Archie on Christmas day.





















Rebecca had swine flu back in November and was left with a stinking cold, she got really fed up with constantly wiping and blowing her nose so she came up with an alternative!!














Archie pre striping, he looks so scruffy but very cute!

Fancy a little peek?

I seem to say it every time but this months Sarahs Cards kit really is my all time favourite.....so far! I thought you might like to see a little peek at what I have done with it, the kit contains papers from the Bo Bunny Flutter Butter range, I was really impressed with the papers it isn't a manufacturer that I would usually go for but I certainly will now.

If you fancy subbing to a monthly kit there are still a few subscriptions left with a Januray start, have a look here.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!! Where did 2009 go? Years seem to fly by so quickly nowadays is it because I am getting older?!? Seems ages ago that I got around to blogging life has got very busy lately.
We had a wonderful Christmas and Justin totally spoilt me with amongst other things a fantastic zoom lens for my new camera, it is really great and I can't wait to go somewhere to use it properly. I did take quite a few photos over Christmas with my new camera, a canon 450D and I have been really pleased with the results especially the indoor shots. I thought I would show you a few of my favourites from Christmas day.

Rebecca taking a present for each of us from under the tree.

I managed to persuade the girls to pose for a photo before we started to open the presents.

Emily totally unaware of the camera.

I haven't had much time for scrapping over the last few weeks but I did these back in October for the current issue of the Scrapbook Magazine.

You can't really see on this photo but I have used lots of my new favourite adhesive, silicone glue, to make this layout really three dimensional.

This photo of Rebecca is one of my favourites, it was taken during our climb up Ben Lomond. I wanted the photo to really be the main feature of the page so printed it off quite big, I have added a journaling tag in behind the photo with my memories of the day on one side and Rebecca has written on the other. I really like to get the girls thoughts on events, I think it will be lovely in years to come for them to read what they thought when they were younger and in their own handwriting. In the magazine the journaling tab seems to be missing so not sure where that has gone!!

I am really enjoying more vintage scrapping at the moment, I want to scrap all the little photos that I have got from my childhood. I really enjoyed putting this one together, I think the Martha Stewart butterfly punch is one of my favourite and I seem to be using it all the time at the moment.

This page was done for the new activity pack that is in the Scrapbook Magazine, I picked up my copy today and there are loads of sketches in there.

TFL

xx