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Having so much time off has been frustrating but it has also been nice to spend a bit more time in my craft room, Sarah sent me these gorgeous Pink Paislee Sweetness papers to play with a while ago and they are just gorgeous! This is the third page I have created using them, I just love this photo of Rebecca, I know I am bias being her Mum, but I think she looks absolutely beautiful.
The large floral patterns on the paper are great for cutting out and giving you a starting point to build your page on.

This second page I am not really sure about, the photo was taken quite a few years ago of my two looking over Chesil beach from the top of Portland and I really wanted to scrap it. I had a good rummage around in my stash and found some papers that I have had for ages, I definitely don't usually use black or orange very much! I cut the tattered angels tag in half so that it could stretch either side of the photo and inked the edges with marigold distress ink. I raised the die cut corner off the page using pin flair gel to try and make it more obvious against the black background.

Maybe the page will grow on me, it could just be the very dark colours or maybe the lack of pink!
TFL
xx

Simple Pleasures

I am sticking to my decision and trying to use up some of my old stash, anyone who has read my blog will know that one of my favourite paper manufacturers is MME and I have got a huge pile of their papers. I sorted them all out yesterday and decided to use some of the Breaking Free range which I NEEDED to buy ages ago and had never ever used!!
I have scrapped this photo twice before but it is one of my favourites, it is one of those lucky snaps that has just captured a very special moment.
I like to create some kind of border on my layouts to stop the eye running off the page, on this page I machine stitched some lace approximately 1.5 inches in from the edge all the way around.

 The lace flower was simply created by putting a running stitch along one edge of the lace, gathering it all together and then tying it off, I have used an adhesive gem to the centre to cover the hole and added a decorative pin.

The page didn't have any butterflies initially but I just couldn't help myself so it now has three!

One of the plus points of not being allowed back to work yet is plenty of scrapping time!
TFL
xx

Blog Giveaway

Have you seen the giveaway that Louise Collins is doing on her blog? She has just put up some photos of the gorgeous prize and it looks fab!

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This

I have decided to try and use up some of my older stash (so I can justify the stash I know I am going to buy at the Sarah's Cards retreat next week!!), I keep making this decision but I never seem to act on it! So I dug out some of my older Echo Park papers and created this page for a class over on Sarah's Cards blog. All the details can be found here.

TFL
xx

Sneak Peek

I think every month when I get my box of yummy stash from Sarah's Cards I say it is my favourite kit so far, but every month they are just so gorgeous I can't help myself and next months is no exception!! So I thought I would share a little snippet of one of the pages that I have created with it. You know how I love to tease lol.

One Place Left!

As some of you might know the next Sarah's Cards retreat is taking place in two weeks time, 4th - 6th March in Warrington. There has been a last minute cancellation leaving one place up for grabs! If you are interested in having a fantastic weekend away check out the details here.

New Look, New Layout!

I have been having a play this morning changing the look of my blog, I am quite impressed with myself as I am not great doing stuff like that! I would appreciate any feedback on how you think it looks especially the font, is it still easy to read?
I had a bit of a scrappy day yesterday and one of the things that I created was this page using the Websters pages that I had left over after creating my 3 Maids layout. I just love these papers and had to force myself to cut into some of them! I wanted to use another one of the photos that was taken at my sisters wedding, there were quite a few nice ones of the girls and I which is very rare as I am usually on the other side of the lens!

 To create the photo matt I used white cardstock, punched a lace border using an around the page punch and then inked the area that would show using distress inks.

 I cut out the tiny butterflies from the vellum and added them to the Prima vine.

TFL
xx

Thanks for the feekdback ladies, I have changed the font, much more readable now. I love that scrawly font but it is a bit hard to read :(

Crop Layout

I very rarely scrap anywhere other than my craft room, so am used to having all of my stash pile to hand. At the weekend I went to a crop down in Plymouth and as I had traveled light I didn't have much stash with me. I found it a bit frustrating as I kept coming up with ideas of what I wanted to do on this page and then realised that I couldn't do it as I didn't have the stuff!! So I just went with it and used what I had (next time I won't be travelling light!!!)

I love these photos of the girls (taken a good few years ago!), I have got a whole series of them but these two fitted the page design best. They used to love bath time and would spend hours in there if I let them!

TFL

xx

Websters Pages

I have never really used many Websters Pages papers before, I don't really know why as they are gorgeous! I managed to get some of the Lullaby Lane in the sale over at Angel Crafts so decided to have a go at scrapping with them last week. I cut the centre out of the In Due Time paper and trimmed and distressed the outside edges. I found a piece of coordinating Prima paper from my pile of stash and used that as my background paper. I like to have some kind of edge on my pages whether that is a stitched line or trimming and matting as I have done on this page, it just stops your eye running off the page.

 I cut out the floral pattern from the vellum and used it in two corners of the aperture I had cut previously and pushed my matted photo underneath just letting the leaves overhang slightly.

 My page wouldn't have been complete without butterflies but I wanted them to be more subtle so I punched them out of the vellum and then bent them in half instead of layering two together to add depth.
I have been looking for some green craft wire to make some little spirals to go with my flowers, so far I have yet to find what I am looking for so I had to improvise. The little white flowers come on quite a long wire, which when you want the flowers flat on your page aren't needed. So I snipped off the wires and wound then around my pokey tool giving me the spirals that I wanted.

I really really love using pearl swirls on my pages and buying the slightly bigger ones means that you can then into smaller pieces and spread them around your page making them go a bit further!

I have had a lovely weekend, I went down to Plymouth to stay with my friend Jill, I have to say her and her husband John were the perfect hosts! We did a bit of craft shopping which was a real luxury for me and although I was quite restrained I did manage to get some really lovely bits including some more distress inks to add to my collection. On Saturday she took me to the Plymouth Crop, I finally got to meet up with Sarah Youde which was lovely. We have chatted on line for a few years and a couple of attempts to meet up had failed in the past so it was great to get meet and spend the day chatting and scrapping. Fingers crossed I will be able to get down there again in the summer for another scrappy weekend.
I didn't take many photos mainly because of the weather but on Saturday we did manage to get out and take a few shots and I got to use my new lens which I had for Christmas. Here are two of my favourites.

Right off to start sorting out the house, you know what it is like if you go away for a few days!! It was worth it though.
TFL
xx

February Challenge

Every month over on Sarah's Cards blog we set a challenge, usually a sketch, and this months has just gone live! The sketch has been designed by Lou and I really enjoyed using it, having some gorgeous papers did help of course lol.
I have scrapped these photos of Emily before but a few years ago, as the two photos worked so well with the sketch and papers they got scrapped again. The papers are MME (just for a change!!) Fine and Dandy True Blue, I love this range of papers as the majority of the designs are quite small so work so well together.

I am still off work after my shoulder op, things are taking much longer than expected which is proving very frustrating. I never thought I would say it but I am actually missing work! No doubt after a few hours of being back I won't be saying that lol.
This weekend I have got something to look forward too, I am going down to Plymouth to stay with my scrapping friend Jill who I met through UKS. She has got a whole list of activities planned including an all day crop which I am really looking forward too. I am going armed with my camera (obviously) so will hopefully have some photos to share with you.
TFl
xx

Weird!

Emily's friends came over tonight (we are the local social club most nights!) and one of them brought with her some hair extensions that she had bought.  It seems they have been upstairs transforming Emily! She has just come down looking like this! As you know she usually has the most gorgeous red hair, she doesn't look like my Emily at all, all very weird lol.

For Sale

I have decided to sell my Cricut Expression, it is an amazing tool but I much prefer cutting my own embellishments as anyone who knows me will verify!!
I am selling the cricut, which is in excellent condition and hardly used, 2 12x24 cutting mats, 1 12x12 cutting mat, deep cut blade housing and some replacement blades all of which are brand new in packaging. Plus one cart, Plantin Schoolbook. I would like £250 plus £15 postage via courier.

 I have also got 5 other carts
Graphically Speaking - £25
Opposites Attract - £25
Storybook - £25
Accent Essentials - £25
Home Accents - £25
Plus postage of £2.00.

There is also Design Studio which is also brand new and unused, I have only opened it to look at it when I bought it and that is as much daylight as it has seen! The RRP of this in the sale over on Crafts U Love is still £44.99. I would like £30 plus postage.

I do have a spare adaptor cable too which I guess is always handy to have! £5 plus postage.

If anyone is interested then please do contact me :)
TFL

Craft Room Update

I was asked by a fellow scrapper over on UKS what my craft room looks like now, 6 months after its make over, so I said that I would take some photos.

 As you can see not a great deal of change! I have taken my cuttlebug off the expedit and now keep it on the desk which makes it much more accessible, I have also got more projects dotted around the room to decorate it.

 My punches seem to have multiplied drastically, I love using my circle punches so to save rummaging through my punch basket they now live on the mantle piece (in size order ....is that sad?)

 My other punches have pretty much taken over three cubes now too, I don't like having them all piled in the basket as some of them are pretty heavy and I was worried that some might get damaged. They are also much easier to use stored like this.

My favourite new tool is my hot glue gun, I seem to use it on every project so I have set up a little corner just for that! I also do my water misting over here in the box.

My next purchase for the room is probably going to be something to store my distress inks in preferrably on the wall, I am using them more and more and would like to have them within easy reach, not that it is that hard to turn around and grab the box off the shelves really! lol.
TFL
xx