Just Lovin' It!

I just love papers where you can cut the patterns out and create your own embellishments, I know hand cutting isn't everyones idea of fun but I find it oddly relaxing! This months kit from Sarahs Cards is perfect for this with lots of bold designs.







































Thanks for popping over to have a look.

March Challenge

We decided not to set our usual sketch challenge over on Sarahs Cards this month, there have been so many lovely new releases from CHA 2010 we thought it would be good to use up some of our old stash to make way for the new!
I had a dig around through my paper mountain and found this gorgeous Crate Paper, it was perfect for this photo of Justin and the girls. I am not keen on using stickers on my pages purely because I am awful for changing my mind about where I place things. To get over this I stuck the button stickers onto cardstock and then cut them out allowing me to place them on my page and move them around until I was happy and then I fixed them on with embroidery thread.










































I am keen to show you some of the layouts that I created with this months Sarahs Cards kit but I will wait until they start landing on the subscribers mats!
TFL

Merry Christmas?!?!?

Every Christmas and on the girls birthdays I always take lots of photos but for some reason I struggle to scrap them, its not that I don't have paper suitable in my paper mountain but I am really not keen on themed stash. I bought these papers well over a year ago but they had been left unopened as there seemed to be too many little snowmen and trees on them! I finally opened them up on Saturday and yes there were quite a few cutsie papers but there were some lovely polka dot and word papers which weren't too Christmassy.
I managed to take some lovely photos of the girls on Christmas day this year, probably due to my fantastic new camera so I just had to try and scrap them. The photo of the page hasn't come out very well but hopefully you can get the idea.















I was totally spoilt by my two lovely daughters yesterday, they both gave me gorgeous cards and Emily bought me a yummy thorntons chocolate heart and Rebecca bought me a gorgeous new turquoise troll bead! We all went out for lunch at a local Italian with my sister and her family, my brother and my parents.
The girls at the restaurant yesterday.















Thanks for visiting my blog and for leaving a comment, I really appreciate every one.
xx

I did it!!

I have done it!! I have managed to create a layout with NO butterflies, NO distressing and I didn't place the photo on the left hand side on a angle!! I am actually really impressed with myself and I didn't break out into too many cold sweats doing it.
I bought these fab Cosmo material girl papers from Sarahs Cards a few weeks ago when they landed in the shop with this photo in mind. Rebecca really wanted a sewing machine for Christmas in 2008 so my parents bought her one, she was determined to have a go at making her own clothes. Mum gave her a lesson using a pattern that Rebecca had bought but it was really a bit too complicated for her and she got fed up. I did manage to get a few photos of the lesson though!





















I love utilising the paper that I am using to create added interest on my pages rather than using bought embellishments. I just love the paper with all the tape measurers on so decided to make a bit of a feature of it by pleating it around the circle and stapling it on, so easy to do and yet I think it looks quite effective.














I can see that ribbling is going to be my new craze, I think I must lead a very sheltered scapping life as I had never heard of ribbling before the retreat last weekend. Lou's class kit came with a ribbler and I just love it, it adds a really great effect to the page. I think another favourite is going to be these little thickers, they are called delight and come in some gorgeous colours and being a bit smaller are much easier to use.














A bit of non scrapping stuff, I don't think our eldery cat is very photogenic, I have tried for years to get a good photo of him and just never seem to succeed......until this week! He was asleep at the top of the stairs so I quickly grabbed my camera and atttached my zoom lens and managed to snap this which I was really pleased with.














Rebecca has been trying to decide for weeks now wether she should have a fringe cut into her hair or not, she finally took the plunge on Wednesday night and although I wasn't too keen I actually think it looks lovely and she made the right choice....what do us Mums know eh!



















Thank you to everyone who has left comments on my blog I do appreciate them.
xxx

Retreat scrapping.

I was really excited and very nervous when Sarah and Lianne asked if I would teach at their first retreat, I had never taught before and standing up in front of a room full of people is not something that I would usually choose to do!
Sarah sent me some gorgeous papers by Bella BLVD which were lovely and girlie, we wanted all the classes to be technique based so I decided to focus on adding depth and dimension. There are so many easy ways you can do this like layering, inking, distressing and raising elements up.
I taught the class three times over the weekend and hopefully the ladies enjoyed it and even if the layout was a bit too "pink" for them I hope they were able to take away ideas to use on their layouts in the future.





















I am definitely not a quick scrapper, most of my pages are a work in progress over the course of a few days! I was actually quite impressed with myself for completing two layouts.
The first one I used some lovely new papers by MME, one of my favourite manufacturers. I do think I need to stop doing such girlie pink pages though!
When Rebecca was little for some reason her Aunty called her Becca Boodles and it stuck for a couple years, poor child.





















Sarah took such a vast amount of stash to the retreat with lots of new ranges including the new prima which I have to say are just gorgeous!! I bought these papers and even some prima flowers which I have always struggled to use. I was also tempted by this Martha Stewart butterfly punch which I used on both pages, I just love it!
I am hoping that Sarah is going to be getting restocks of Prima as it was so popular over the weekend a lot of it sold out, I will definitley be getting more of these papers.















Looking at these three pages I am setting myself a little challenge, on my next page I will not use butterflies, I will not distress any paper and I won't put my photo on the left hand side of my page!!! Tracy did challenge me to do my page "boodles" without using my butterfly punches but I just couldn't do it...watch this space!!
TFL

What a weekend!!

Wow what a weekend!!!
My adventure started on Thursday with the drive up to Warrington, I was not looking forward to it as I am not used to driving such a long way on my own but I did it and surprisingly I actually enjoyed it. The majority of the design team came on Thursday night so we could start getting organised before the delegates started to arrive. We met up with the lovely Sarah and Lianne and I think all of us were shocked when we saw the amount of boxes that had been unloaded into the crop room and that was only one lorry load! We all did some unpacking and then we were treated to tea by Sarah.
Friday was a really busy day spent unpacking boxes and organising the crop room and the shop. I have to say the shop was just enormous full of the most gorgeous stash including new ranges by Prima and Crate which were just lovely. We were just about all organised 3pm ready for the delegates to arrive at 3.30.
It was so lovely to meet so many scrappers that I have spoken to on UKS but never actually met in real life. It took me a while to realise who some people were and some I have only just twigged now I am home!!
Sarah and Lianne really did a wonderful job of organising the weekend and I don't think anyone would have ever thought it was their first one. They had literally thought of everything, I don't think the delegates or the design team could have wanted for anything...except maybe for a deeper purse to buy more stash! Everyone was given a goody bag when they registered, this wasn't any goody bag this was a stunning goody bag! There were chocolates on each table and the prizes for the raffle and challenges were amazing.
It was really lovely to meet up with Sarah, Lianne, and the rest of the design team again and also Liannes sister Ellise who I met for the first time. They are such a lovely bunch and although we were often busy teaching etc we had a wonderful time together. I feel so proud and honoured to have been asked to be part of such a wonderful team.
The class kits were fantastic, so much was included Lou's even came with a ribbler which I had never seen before but I think it is safe to say that for the foreseeable future my layouts will be including ribbling!!
Everyone had an amazing weekend and I think the majority of us dropped huge hints about wanting Sarah and Lianne to organise another one next year. Heres hoping!
Ok a few photos for you now.

Cal setting up the shop

Lou doing a bit of pricing up.

Sarah pricing up.
















I thought the food at the hotel was lovely, especially the lovely puddings! This was my choice on Friday night and it was yummy!
















The lovely Chloe, we first about 3 years ago at another retreat and have bumped into eachother a few times since. She is lovely and it was great to meet up again.






















I didn't take many photos in the cropping room but Tracy and I did manage to take a few during our classes.

My roomie and my teaching assistant was the lovely Tracy, she really is such a lovely lady and we had such a laugh during the weekend. I have never taught before so I was a bit nervous but Tracy was so supportive. Thankyou Tracy you are amazing xx

Lou pondering what to do next...shall I ribble it just a little bit!!




















Cal beavering away

My lovely assistant and roomie Tracy with her award, pass the tissues!





















Cathy, Vanessa and Sarah deep in conversation.











A nearly empty crop room with one happy scrapper.













I will try and post some more photos tomorrow including the two layouts that I actually got done (I know I am slow Lou) and the class layout that I did.

Retreat Time!

This time tomorrow I will be in sunny (hopefully) Warrington at the first ever Sarahs Cards Retreat! It was about a year ago that I had an email from Sarah about the retreat and I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. It will be my first time actually teaching a class of scrappers and I am both excited and nervous! I have been practicing hard, poor Justin is now well versed on certain scrapping techniques!
I can't wait to meet up with the design team again we had such a blast in November, I am sharing a room with my glamourous classroom assistant Tracy she has assured me she doesn't snore!
All that stands between me and a very exciting weekend now is the rather long drive, hopefully if the traffic isn't too bad it should take about 6 hours. I am driving back on Monday so will hopefully be able to share some photos from the weekend and show you the class that I have designed.
Have a good weekend.
x