The Fine Art of Rambling On...

Lack of posts...

2011-10-31T21:13:00.001Z

Sorry - If anyone is looking for more up to date posts you can now find me over here at the Fine Art of Stampin'

Sugar Nellie Stamps

2010-05-06T20:50:00.006Z

ALL SOLD - ALL ITEMS IN PREVIOUS POSTS NOW SOLD AS WELL
Sugar Nellie Stamps - all previously used. Some staining from Black Staz-on used but therwise in great condition. All mounted on EZ mount or similar (apart from cow stamp which is unmounted.

Price £4 each (inc P&P)
or £30 for all 8 stamps shown below

Magnolia stamps

2010-05-06T20:36:00.006Z

All stamps previously used. Have some staining from Staz-on ink used but otherwise in great condition. All mounted on EZ Mount or equivalent.

All stamps £4 each inc P&P (apart from heat £2 inc P&P)

Bench - SOLD

Tilda with dungarees SOLD

Disney Nights Circle Journal

2010-01-31T15:41:00.004Z

Due to work pressures (and OMG what a year it was this year! LOL!) I am late with this CJ which is so not like me!

Anyway it will be in the post tomorrow and I thought I'd share the entries in this journal so far.

This is Disneydebra's journal and I love the shape of it - makes a really pretty book.

This is the front cover

instructions,

and Debra's own entry

Then we have Ally's entry...

And finally my double page entry which is about MNSSHP (or Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party to give it its full title).

This is an event that is held on several evenings from late September to early November at the Magic Kingdom.

We've been lucky enough to go twice and its been fantastic fun. The rides are pretty quiet, the parade is amazing (the villains get a look in) and there are lots of extra activities around the park like magic shows and not forgetting the fabulous trick or treat stands!

Disney Circle Journal - Castle Theme

2010-01-06T22:32:00.002Z

This was my first journal (apart from my own of course) in our Disney Circle Journal group. The theme was the castle and I chose to use some of my photos from2004 and 2006 of Cinderella's Castle at the Magic Kingdom in Florida.

First page

Page 2 (this is on acetate and is inserted between the pages of the book)
I used Stampin' Up!'s new eyelet border punch to trim the edge of my cardstock

Page 3
(the other side of the acetate page! LOL )

Page 4

Disney Circle Journal

2009-11-29T22:19:00.003Z

Well after along break from scrapping I've now signed up for a Disney Circle Journal over on UK Scrappers hosted by the lovely Sarah.

I've chosen my theme: Shop Till You Drop Disney Style - hopefully that won't cause too many problems for my fellow circle journallers as I don't think anyone has any problem spending money at Disney!

I've made my journal (although I failed at the first hurdle as my printer ran out of ink so I couldn't print off the photos for my pages!)

And now my journal is ready to post tomorrow - can't believe it will be almost a year until it makes its way back to me.

Charity Walk

2009-05-24T13:11:00.004Z

Well we made it! Despite some pretty atrocious weather conditions.
As we got down to catch the ferry we watched in resignation as the clouds and rain swept in and the Isle of Cumbrae disappeared into the mist!

The first hour or so of walking was not particularly pleasant with rain and wind but we stopped for lunch at Fintry Bay (it didn't look like that yesterday!) and managed to dry out a bit.

Wet and bedraggled at Fintry Bay L-R: Dot, Alison, Louise, Lynn, Me!

Alison and I have to put our wet T-shirts back on (no jokes about wet T-shirt competitions please!)

The second leg of the walk took us round into Millport where we were welcomed by a free cup of tea/coffee and some home-baking provided by the event sponsors! and Alison who joined us in the walk through the town. We made its far as Bobby's bar where we stopped for light refreshments (ie pear cider) before making our way on the last leg of the walk back round to the ferry terminal.

We finished about 5 hours after we started but we reckon we were actually walking for about 3 1/2 hours of that which given the weather conditions wasn't too bad.

L-R: Alison, Dot, Louise, me, Lynn

Once again thank you to all of you who supported me. It really is very much appreciated! Thanks guys!

Busy Weekend

2009-05-11T19:41:00.000Z

On Saturday we were up in Glasgow for a tour round the BBC studios at Pacific Quay that were officially opened just over a year and a half ago. I've "borrowed" the photos from the BBC website as we weren't allowed to take photos beyond the initial reception area.
This bit is called "the street" and is used for lots of meetings and even recording some programmes. Because of the material on the walls the sound doesn't carry as you would usually expect in a large open space. The TV studios and radio studios are underneath each level.

We got to visit where the news and weather is filmed, the Sportscene area and saw inside the radio studios and the TV studio where the set was dressed for a new CBBC show "Copycats".

Then we got to visit the lab where Kirsten got a part in a short play (she was the car driver! and the youngest by about 7 years!).

Then on Sunday it was our friends' son Andrew's first communion. Luckily the weather brightened up and we all got to sit outside in the sunshine with some Rosé!

This was the card I made - the stamp is (I think) by Penny Black. The letter stickers were in my pile of alpha stickers so no idea who they are by and the sentiment was printed out on the computer.

I coloured the image in using SU markers and the background papers are the from the gorgeous SU Wintergreen pack (now retired - grab them quick if you want some before they go out of stock - especially with the buy 3 get a 4th pack free offer that is on throughout May).

And last but not least this is the card I made for my friend's daughter who was also making her first communion on Sunday. I adore these Miss Anya stamps from the greeting farm. Coloured in using SU markers and the paper is from the tea Party designer series paper pack.

Twilight Walk around Cumbrae

2009-05-05T19:16:00.001Z

What will you be doing on Saturday 23rd May?

I'll be walking round the scenic isle of Cumbrae, sun, rain or hail ( I sincerely hope its the former but with the weather recently it could be all three!!!) to raise funds for Breast Foot Forward. BFF is a Scottish charity and its mission is to contribute to making Scotland renowned for excellence in Breast Cancer diagnosis and care. It works to influence the thinking of those who can ensure that projects link up with other activities to establish and maintain a comprehensive breast cancer care environment, no matter where you live.

If you'd like to sponsor me then my just giving page can be found here or if you live in Millport (waves to Alison) you can come and cheer us on :)

Culzean Castle

2009-02-19T16:35:00.004Z

Shortly before Christmas we took a trip to Culzean castle.

It was a glorious clear winter's day

With snow on Arran

warm enough to run about without a jacketAnd a little seasonal robin

And ice on the duck pond - why is breaking the ice so satisfying :)

On the way back we came home via the electric brae and the views over to Ailsa Craig were stunning.

Ready for Guising

2008-11-01T14:57:00.003Z

Kenny & Kirsten ready to go guising (as we call it here in Scotland) last night.

One hippie...
(he had a flower in his hair too at one point!)

And one orphan...
(she was in character and hence not smiling!)

Luckily the weather stayed dry and they all had great fun. We were certainly well entertained with lots of jokes, songs and some brilliant costumes.

{Happy Halloween} - almost...

2008-10-30T21:58:00.002Z

This year's puking pumpkin :)
Stitch

Ghost from Mario

And all three

Once again the patterns are all from the fantastic zombie pumpkins site.

One place left in ribbon share

2008-10-03T10:02:00.002Z

Due to a last minute change of mind I have one place left in the ribbon share

Retired Stampin' Up! sets for sale

2008-10-02T17:56:00.006Z

Wheels:

Petals £5
Flitting By £5

Hostess Sets:

In the Spotlight £18 sold
Little Hellos £18 sold

Other Sets:

Unfrogettable £18 sold pending payment
Little Pieces £11

All prices include P&P
Pls leave a comment or email me on thefineartofstampin@gmail.com

More clear stamps for sale

2008-10-02T15:10:00.005Z

Since I've signed up with Stampin' Up! I've not been using my clear stamps anymore so they have got to go as I need the space.

All items are previously used and some of the stamps are quite heavily stained.

Autumn Leaves Merry Christmas by Tia Bennet £8

Autumn Leaves Swirls V2 by Rhonna Farrer £8

Fiskars Filigree Borders £5 (this set is brand new in pack)

Sassafrass Lass Blooms & Stalks £6 sold

Inkadinkadoo - wood mounted set of 10 stamps - Whimsical Holiday £10

Remember all prices include P&P - I accept paypal (please add 20p +3.4% to cover fees) or cheques

If you see anything you would like to purchase please email me at: thefineartofstampin@gmail.com

Cuttlebug Folders, Autumn Leaves Stamps for Sale

2008-10-02T14:58:00.007Z

I am selling some brand new Cuttlebug items that I received for my birthday. Unfortunately there was a bit of a mix up over my wish list and I got a few item I already had.

All items include P&P in price

Cuttlebug Christmas Ornaments Folder £3.25 sold

Cuttlebug Haunted House Embossing Folder £3.25 sold pending payment

Cuttlebug Skeleton Scroll Folder £3.25

Cuttlebug cut & emboss Treetops £5.00
(includes 1 folder and 1 die) sold

The following clear acrylic stamp sets from Royal & Langnickel are previously used and have quite a lot of staining Set of 26 Birthday stamps £4

Set of 73 ransom alphabet stamps £4

Remember all prices include P&P - I accept paypal (please add 20p +3.4% to cover fees) or cheques

If you see anything you would like to purchase please email me at: thefineartofstampin@gmail.com

Stampin' Up! Ribbon share

2008-09-26T12:03:00.000Z

see here :)

New stash

2008-09-13T17:06:00.003Z

My new stamps arrived this week - saw this idea to use the round tab punch to make little mini handbags on another blog a while ago. When I saw the Totally Tabs set it seemed perfect :)
More cards on my SU blog :)

Whoosh!

2008-07-27T00:05:00.000Z

The summer holidays are really flying by this year - not long now until my two are back at school - they start back on 14 August this year.
Can't believe Kenneth is off to "big school" - it doesn't seem that long I was there (yes I know in reality it is a while!!! LOL) - I mean some of the teachers are the same and even the "headie" used to be my maths teacher!

This card was based on a sketch over at ILWS (OK you get that is In Love With Stamping by now :D )

And these two were both for ILWS challenges too

I have been scrapping as well - working on a 6x12 album, so hope to have pictures of that on here soon as well :)

Another couple of cards

2008-07-25T00:00:00.002Z

A quick birthday card I made for my niece in June

And this one was for a colour combo challenge on In Love With Stamping
We were challenged to use the stampin' Up! colours Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel and Real Red together - this was my attempt - again feel free to play along and if you do please leave a link to your projects as I'd love to see them

Who me?

2008-07-22T21:29:00.002Z

Wow I was so surprised when I logged on tonight to find that Lainy had nominated for this little award - that was so sweet of you - really made my evening :)
It's a special award given to weblogs that somehow catch your eye!
The rules for this award:
1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you've nominated

I am going to nominate the following people whose blogs I love:

Elaine
Dawn
Fiona
Roz
Diane
Elaine

{Monday}

2008-07-20T23:45:00.005Z

DS & DD are off in Lanzarote at the moment so have been enjoying the peace & quiet.
DH and I have even had something like a social life as well!
We went to see Hancock (with Will Smith) at the cinema at Xscape, followed by a meal at Tony Roma's. Really enjoyed the film - would definitely recommend it.

(That was actually the second film I had been to see within a week - saw Mamma Mia with the "girls" last Saturday - what a laugh - mind you not sure what was funnier the film itself or some of the audience joining in!!!)

Then we were round at friends for a meal on Saturday evening and out again for a High Tea on Sunday!

Don't worry it won't last - the kids are back on Friday LOL

Been busy with lots of Stampin' Up! stuff recently - here are a few of my more recent projects:
All products by Stampin' Up!

All three of these cards were made using stamps from the Pick A Petal set. I set a challenge over on In Love With Stamping to use a stamp set in a different way - if you want to play along please so and be sure to leave a comment linking back to your creations :)

I also had some notebooks and post-it notes lying around that I decided to pretty-up a bit.

And this is just a random birthday card I made for no-one in particular

Its been a while...

2008-07-07T20:07:00.003Z

...but I've been too busy playing this to blog (or scrap much!)

Here are a few of the LOs I made at Scrapaganza in June.
This was Karen Burniston's Architecture class that I actually finished while I was in Holland.

And the other two are from the Bazzill class.

Finally here is what happens when two eight year olds raid the dressing up box...nuff said!

Scrapaganza June 2008

2008-06-10T20:34:00.003Z

I know there has been a lot written elsewhere about the weekend but I just wanted to say that I had a wonderful time.

Yes there were some things that could have been done better but I think any event of that size is likely to have problems.
Maybe I was luckier than others in that the missing teacher/kits didn't affect my classes.

The food at the hotel could have been better and I didn't like the fact that the hotel was in the middle of nowhere but apart from that I had a fantastic weekend. It was great to meet up with friends, both old and new.
Thank you Frances for being such a lovely roomie. To the "girls" who dress up - your costumes were amazing...how Monique and Ingrid are going to top their costumes next time I don't know :D and I loved Mary's black & white costume...FAB!

The only think that spoiled it was Ben (Heidi's husband) who panicked everyone into leaving on the earlier bus! I came back from getting my case out the locker to find almost everyone else had gone but at least I had Helen & Suzanne to keep me company on the way back to the airport.

I'll try and get some photos of the projects I did uploaded later this week.

Oh and to those who said they had read my blog over the last year (yes that includes you Alison!!! LOL ) I'd love it if you could take a minute to leave me a comment or two and/or links to your own blogs.

Bella baby

2008-05-30T17:00:00.002Z

I made this card for Julie the owner of PaperCuts who had a little girl on 16 May.

Ingredients:
Cardstock: Stampin@ Up!Pretty in Pink; Certainly Celery; Whisper White
Stamps: Bella; Stampin' Up! Seeing Spots; Stampin' Up! Cheer & Wishes
Ink: Versamark; Old Olive (SU) - image coloured in using SU Certainly Celery; Barely Banana; Pink Passion; Pretty in Pink
Accessories: Cuttlebug folders - circles & swiss dot; Ribbon from stash

Sugar Nellie

2008-05-28T17:00:00.000Z

I was playing around with different mediums for colouring in stamped images and I was pretty pleased with the way this one turned out. I used various inks from Stampin' Up!'s Soft Subtles range then used a waterbrush to lift the colour from the ink pad.

The patterned papers are some Junkitz ones that have been lurking in my scrap pile for ages. The base cardstock is SU's Barely Banana and the sentiments is from SU's Circle of Friends set.

Again I used the ink pads to colour the chipboard hearts

London

2008-05-26T17:00:00.002Z

Well after not being able to download any pictures for ages I have finally managed to solve my card reader problem. This is a LO I made a few weeks ago (yes I scrapped!!!) using the Tinkering Ink papers that made up my Angel Crafts design team kit.
All other items including white cardstock, flowers, chipboard letters, tags & brads etc are from my own stash.

I coloured the chipboard letters using Stampin' Up! ink pads and I was really pleased with the depth of colour - plus it was faster and less messy than using paint.

With the scraps of paper left I made a criss cross card - once again all supplies apart from the patterned paper came from my own stash.

I followed a tutorial over on Split Coast Stampers for instructions on how to make the card.

The stamps are from Stampin' Up!'s Carte Postale set

Acrylic Stamps for sale

2008-05-23T22:04:00.007Z

Autumn Leaves 2008 Designing With calendar £15

***SOLD***Little Cotton rabbits stamp set - all trimmed from rubber sheet - one stamp used once £20
A

***SOLD***KI Memories Calendar Icon stamp set - brand new & unopened £5

***SOLD***Banana frog Scribble Flowers - set of 7 stamps - 3 of the stamps are heavily ink stained but this does not affect the quality of the stamps £8***SOLD***Autumn Leaves Second Nature by Rhonna Farrer - a few of the stamps have light staining £10

***SOLD***Autumn Leaves Sentiments Circles by Katie Pertiet - again a few of the stamps have light staining £10

More Stuff for sale - Quickutz dies

2008-05-23T21:45:00.008Z

Quickutz Stamp RS0303 single die £3
Quickutz stamp cancellation singles die RS-0304 £3
Quickutz single die RS-0026 £3
Quickutz Bottle cap die set - 6 dies: 2 wavy edged circles, 2 circles, 1 small middle labels die, 1 large middle labels die £14
***SOLD***Quickutz Snow Angel Alphabet & Number set
This set includes uppercase, lowercase, numbers and punctuation.

Quickutz Upper Case Alphabet - Eliza ***Retired*** £30

Dollhouse....coming soon...maybe?

2008-05-20T21:16:00.002Z

Dollhouse - trailer

The new series from Joss Whedon...coming soon to the States, Canada & Oz apparently.

Someone at the BBC please, please, please pick this up soon :)

Kirsten 2May 08

2008-05-02T17:49:00.002Z

Basic Grey, 7Gypsies etc and idea books for sale

2008-04-29T20:08:00.005Z

Brook peek-oh-book undecorated chipboard album from Creative Imaginations
£6 (incl P&P in UK) Sold pending payment
Lilykate ribbon pack by BasicGrey
Includes 8 rolls of ribbon measuring 25" each

£4.50 (incl P&P in UK) Sold pending paymentAlso for sale but not pictured- Lilykate 6x6 paper pad
36 pages - complete & unused
£4.00 (incl P&P in UK) Sold pending payment

BasicGrey bracket album
£4.00 (incl P&P in UK) Sold pending payment

BasicGrey rub-ons/transers - WHITE!
£1.50 (incl P&P in UK) Sold pending payment

BasicGrey Sublime Gatefold Mini Book/album
£4.00 (incl P&P in UK)

K&Co Raw Chipboard mini album & shapes set
£3.00 (incl P&P in UK) Sold pending payment

7Gypsies ATC matchbox kit
Contains 1 box, 1 cover and 12 ATC cards
all come blank for you to decorate as you wish
£2.50 (incl P&P in UK) Sold pending payment

Fast &Fabulous idea book/magazine from Scrapbook trends
£6.50 (incl P&P in UK) Sold pending payment

Room to room magazine from Papercrafts Inspirations Magazine
Slightly curled at corners hence reduced price of £5 (inl P&P in UK)

Payment by Paypal (please add 30p per paypal transaction to cover costs), or by cheque or postal order.

Thanks for looking - hope you see something you like.

Sizzix dies etc for sale

2008-04-29T19:55:00.006Z

Brand new & sealed - complete uppercase alphabet. These can be used in both the BigShot and the Cuttlebug and as they are the thicker dies they will cut through a variety of materials eg chipboard, felt etc. - Price £35 (includes P&P within the UK)

Sizzlits die £2.75 (incl UK P&P) Sold pending payment
Sizzlits die £2.75 (incl UK P&P)

4 die set Sizzlits dies £10.50 (incl UK P&P) Sold pending payment

14 sheets of textured, leather look paper
in assorted colours
£1.50 (incl UK P&P)

Payment by Paypal (please add 30p per paypal transaction to cover costs), or by cheque or postal order.

Thanks for looking - hope you see something you like.

Magnolia Stamps for Sale

2008-04-29T19:46:00.007Z

I am having a bit of a clearout - have to pay for those extra classes at scrapaganza some how :)
Please email me at thefineartofstampin@gmail.com if you are interested in purchasing any of the following stamps. All prices include postage within the UK.

£6 (Incl UK P&P) Sold pending payment

£5.50 (Incl UK P&P) Sold pending payment

£6 (incl UK P&P) Sold pending payment

Payment by Paypal (please add 30p per paypal transaction to cover costs), or by cheque or postal order.

Thanks for looking - hope you see something you like.

Marathon!

2008-04-01T20:36:00.005Z

Well I have just been emailing my messages of support to a friend of mine who is taking part in this years Marathon des Sables
Where on earth she gets the determination and strength to do it I'll never know - certainly wouldn't be me that's for sure!

Still busy working away on some Stampin Up projects.

I made up some cards using a one sheet wonder and I think I'll try and organise a class locally to make this set once I find a suitable location. It actually takes more than one sheet to make all the cards as you might have guessed - the "one sheet" refers to the stamped sheet that looks like patterned paper)
if anyone is interested in coming along give me a shout :)

Oh and I've just discovered a brilliant book (or three). I read through Twilight by Stephanie Meyer and am half way through the next one in the series "New Moon". If you like Anne Rice books then you I would imagine you would like these too. Off to see if I can find thethird one on Amazon.

Some cards...

2008-03-11T21:39:00.003Z

Blogger seems to be back to normal at least so here are a few of the samples I have been making for my workshop this weekend.

2008-03-09T17:54:00.003Z

Busy week this week. Went to the SECC craft show on Thursday with Mum. It was surprisingly quiet and we were able to get round all the stalls fairly quickly. I was quite restrained and only bought a few things:

some rolls of fingerlift double sided tape from the £1 stall
some ribbon
the cutest little Scottie Dogs from Meiflower
some cellophane card bags
and I couldn't resist the Sizzix Skull & Crossbones die

Then the rest of the weekend was taken up with rehearsals and Kirsten's ballet show. It went really well. No photos allowed, though at least we can get a DVD of the show later.

Been busy making up lots of sample cards. However blogger seems to be playing up tonight and won't let me upload my own photos for some reason. There are some pics on my other blog if anyone is interested :)

Some "Simple" cards

2008-02-29T22:21:00.004Z

Not been the best of weeks this week - in my two days off work I have been to a funeral one of the days (my dad's closest friend - it was difficult watching my dad stand up and give the eulogy. I felt so sad for him) and then today I was at the dentist...and not just for a check-up! Even had to miss my usual Friday lunch with the girls as my mouth was too numb to eat anything until later.

Anyway one bright spot was that my kit arrived on Wednesday and I had a chance to play with my lovely new stamps. Here are a couple of the cards I made using the Simply Said set.

Stamping again

2008-02-24T16:38:00.005Z

I've spent a lot of time these last few days over at Splitcoast Stampers - there are so many fantastic tutorials to follow and the gallery is just stuffed full of fantastic work.

I followed this tutorial to learn how to transfer a stamped image onto a candle. It was so easy and I was pretty happy with the way they turned out.

This was my first attempt using stamps from Stampin' Up!'s Heartfelt Thanks set.

And then one using a Sugar Nellie stamp - I can't wait until my Sugar Nellie bunny stamps arrive in a couple of weeks. I think they would make a lovely new baby gift if stamped on to a candle.

A simple card and again I used my new Heartfelt Thanks set. I randomly stamped one of the images using white ink on black cardstock to make the background image.

And for this one I painted Twinkling H2Os directly onto the base stamp then stamped the second stamp (as shown in the card above) on top of the first image. I was pretty pleased with the way my first attempt at Two Step Stamping turned out.

Spring already!

2008-02-13T17:34:00.004Z

K&K have been off school for their mid-term break this week and the weather couldn't have been any better. We have been for walks up the hill and along the front. Kirsten and her friends spent yesterday afternoon playing down the beach!

View from the sun dial over the town

First ice-cream cone of the year

When we have weather like this I truly appreciate how lucky I am to live where I do.
All photos taken this week

London baby!

2008-02-13T16:59:00.005Z

I make no apologies for not updating this for a while. Work was completely manic up until the end of January then we were away to London on 1 February. We flew down on the Friday morning (Kenny & Kirsten got to miss a day of school) and got to our hotel about 12 noon. Luckily they let us do an early check-in for a tenner so we dropped the bags off and headed over to the British Museum for a while.

Robert having fun in Eqyptian room!

Had a quick look on Blade Rubber stamps on the way back but didn't buy anything as most things I could get cheaper online.

Back to the hotel to get changed and then wandered down to Leicester Square. Went to Chiquitita's or something like that for dinner. Food was not bad but the service was atrocious! Caught a number 9 bus (one of the old routemaster style buses) along to Kensington to the Royal Albert hall where we had tickets for Cirque Du Soleil. The show we went to see was Varekai which was reallyt excellent but maybe just not quite as good as La Nouba in Florida.

Day 2 - we spent most of the day on the open top tour buses and on a boat trip down the river (something neither Robert nor I had ever done in the seven years we lived in London!).

Kenneth, Kirsten & Lula at the Houses of parliament
London Eye (look out for alien's underneath!)Had a mooch about Covent Garden later on and stopped to watch one of the entertainers who was juggling some sharp knifes and eating an apple whilst riding a 10ft tall unicycle - the kids enjoyed that one!

Kirsten and I had a quick trip to the bead shop in Earlham Street then we met up with the boys and wandered all around Covent Garden area looking for Ed's Diner. We gave up and walked back over to Leicester Square then luckily found another brand of Ed's that we didn't even know existed. Nothing much on at the cinema so we spent the evening what used to be the Trocadero (not sure if it's still called that) where the kids went on the dodgems etc and Kenny even had a shot on a Buckin Bronco!

Day 3 - Back on the open top buses again (the ticket was valid for 48 hours - thank you Mr Tesco and your Clubcard Deals tokens :D ) We stopped at Downing Street although the street is barricaded off now. If you stand at one spot, on your tip toes, close one eye and squint slightly you can just about make out the door of number 10! Kirsten didn't want to see this for political reasons you understand...it was because it had been on Dr Who! LOL

We then walked over to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard (again something neither Robert nor I had ever done during our time in London) and then back up for a wander round Chinatown before we picked up our bags for the flight home.

Note Kirsten's new hat!!!

This picture makes me happy....

2008-01-10T13:58:00.000Z

Not long now till Captain Jack is back and look he's got Spike with him LOL

And just to prove that I do still actually scrap sometimes here is my first LO of the year.

I just grabbed a random photo (which happened to be from 1998!) and some handy paper/embellishments. Whole thing took less than half an hour. Have decided this is the way to go as I have accumulated a ridiculous amount of scrapping stash over the last couple of years and I really need to use it up.

Then I was a good girl and used my scraps to make some cards. I love this Li'l Cowboy from Sugar Nellie stamps

This one uses a Magnolia stamp (Edwin fishing) that I got from Silly Monkey Crafts

And another Magnolia one this time using papers from Pink Petticoat
This one was done for a challenge over on the new Tilda & Co inspiration blog.

"For our First Challenge this will be FLOWERS, would like to see any type of flowers on your work, be it Die Cuts, Blooms, Primas, or even Flower Printed papers etc. Anything goes as long as it involves having flowers on your work."

Well I've got some flowery paper and a couple of prima flowers so I think that counts :D

Finally some thank you cards again using some Pink Petticoat papers. I love their designs so much and I have succumbed and ordered the doodled set (well it was especially good value as the Christmas set comes free with any CD order at the moment :D )

And this one made for a challenge on Michelle's blog

{Happy New Year}

2008-01-01T12:03:00.000Z

Happy New Year everyone...here's to 2008.

I made this card for my friend who was hosting the annual Hogmany party this year! Papers are from the gorgeous lola's Boutique range by Pink Petticoat

We had a great Christmas followed by a couple of days over in Edinburgh when we went to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Playhouse. Kenneth & Kirsten got the tickets as a Christmas present so it was really good to be able to surprise them. Especially Kirsten as Craig was her favourite when we watched "Joseph" on TV. She was just so thrilled to see him and he signed her poster and CD for her after the show (and she got to give him the picture she drew for him! ....first crush anyone LOL ).

We also made it to the Castle in time for the one o'clock gun which then took us all unawares as we got distracted by a pipe band!
Unfortunately I forgot to charge the camera battery before we went out so no photos...but the one above I found on the internet is taken from where we were standing :D

Another couple of cards made using Pink Petticoat papers

And this one is for a friend (wonder which one! LOL ) who has a big birthday coming up soon.

Anyway better go and quickly tidy up (again!) before mum & dad arrive for their New Year's day meal...traditional Lentil soup followed by steak pie and all the trimmings... mmmm!

merry christmas

2007-12-24T12:06:00.001Z

merry christmas to all

Trying desparately to get in a better Christmas mood! Royal Mail sneaked in a delivery card at 7:15am, never heard them so have just had to trudge down to the sorting office with DD in tow to pick up a huge Amazon box and carry it up the road!
Never mind, we are going bolwing this afternoon so should have fun then!

Made some money envelopes yesterday and finally got around to doing a scrapbook for my SIL who "quite" likes Lee Meade LOL

Sorry the photos are rubbish but the camera battery died and Robert has "tidied" away the charger somewhere when he put the Christmas tree up..you get the general gist anyway... there are five more monochromatic pages in green, pink, purple, orange and blue as well as the two shown. I hope she likes it.

Have a great Christams everyone!

Sneak peak of tonight's class

2007-12-06T15:08:00.000Z

3 for 1 tonight....

An accordian album...

A maze book calendar...

...
and a star shaped decoration style thing!

Kenny meets Padraig Harrington!

2007-12-02T15:42:00.000Z

Bit of a change from the usual craft related stuff today LOL.

Kenny came home from his golf lesson today as high as a kite. Apparently Padraig Harrington had been there with his coach Bob Torrance (who is local to Largs) and was practicing on the same driving range as Kenny. He then said to Kenny and the other boy who is also taking lessons to come round and watch. Kenny was very impressed that Padraig could hit the ball as far with an iron as his own coach could hit it with a driver.

He also got to see the claret jug that was sitting in the same room where they leave all their jackets etc.

Kirsten's Nellies and Tildas

2007-11-29T21:58:00.000Z

Kirsten is almost as addicted to these stamps as me...actually probably more as she refuses to make them into cards but gives them all names and keeps them on her bedside table to keep her company in the night LOL

I love how she added the beads and beard to the Pirate to make it like Cap'n Jack Sparrow.

Some Sugar Nellie cards (and maybe a Magnoila one too )

2007-11-29T21:46:00.000Z

I have had the best day today! Went to see a new quiz show "The Kids Are All right" being filmed at the BBC today with none other that the gorgeous and talented John Barrowman (Torchwood/Dr Who) as the host. What can I say...he is even more gorgeous in real life, a total gentleman and just all round nice guy.
Look out for me on prime time Saturday night TV as an audience member soon :D

I finally had a chance to play with my gorgeous Sugar Nellie stamps this week that I got from Funky Kits (link in sidebar).

Had so much fun with these and there are some new ones out soon as well :)

Winter Girl Nellie

Winter Boy

Cutest nellie :)

Aaaar Nellie!
Flowery Nellie

Sweeping Edwin (Magnolia)

Haarlem 16-18 November

2007-11-29T21:41:00.001Z

Another fab time at Scrapaganza...this time in Haarlem.

Havent actually finished any of the projects yet, although the acrylic album is almost done so in the meantime here are a few photos of Haarlem.

Town centre

Fresh bread

Flower stalls

And last but not least here is a photo of our gingerbread house we made as part of the fun on the Saturday party night. So glad it ended up going to a good home Mary :)

Boxes template - for Mary :D

2007-11-29T21:38:00.001Z

Take your 12 x 12 cardstock (plain or patterned) and score it at 2" intervals so you end up with a grid of 36 squares (I've just drawn in the lines so it shows up better on the photo but you don't have to! )

Then cut out the two boxes as shown including the flaps where indicated and glue together.

Have no idea why DS sniggered when he saw this (insert rolling eye/wry smilie here!!!!)

CHRISTMAS PLANNER Class - Paper Bag Book

2007-11-02T09:04:00.001Z

Paint chipboard title with green paint. When dry decorate with Stickles green glitter paint.

Decorate flower with Stickles paint if preferred.

Fold all three bags in half. Open them up and layer as follows:

Bag 1 (bottom) – opening to your left

Bag 2 (middle) – opening to your right

Bag 3 (top) – opening to your left.

Fold each bag in half. Using a pencil mark 4 holes approx 1” apart and ½” in from the edge. Punch holes using cropodile or hole punch.

STEP 2 – Reminders pages

Cut out calendars & words from pre-printed sheet.

Doodled, striped paper – cut two pieces 5”w x 4 ½”h

Red dot paper – cut two pieces 5”w x 3”h

Attach red dot piece to stripy piece with tape on three sides leaving top side open to make a pocket – make sure the tape is right to the edge so that your calendar fits in.

Punch hole in calendars & add ribbon.

Round edges and attach to pages. Punch holes through patterned paper. We will finish the decoration later.

STEP 3 – Presents pages

Words & doodle paper – cut out the word “Christmas” and put to one side.

Then cut two squares 4 ½” x 4 ½”

Red dots – cut two pieces 4” x 2 ½”

Green card - cut two pieces 4” x 2 ½”

Stamp green card with notebook stamp

Round all edges.

Layer dotty paper, then stamped pieces at an angle.

STEP 4 – Cards pages

Stripe paper – cut two pieces 4 ½” x 4 ½”

Cut out two star shapes using the star punch. (Put stars to one side for now)

Cut two pieces of red dot paper as big as the stars and attach behind the striped paper.

Cut two pieces of white cardstock 4” x 2 ½” and stamp with notebook stamp

Round all corners and attach to page as shown

STEP 5 – Food pages

Red dots – cut two pieces 4 ½” x 4 ½”

Doodled stripes – cut two pieces 4 ½”w x 1 ½”h

Red cardstock – cut two squares 3 ½” x 3 ½”

Draw lines on red cardstock & add Christmas tree brad to lower right corner.

Round corners and attach to pages as shown.

STEP 6 - Events

Doodled stripes – cut two pieces 4 ½” x 4 ½”

Red dots – cut two pieces ½”w x 4 ½”h

Green cardstock – cut two pieces 4” x 2 ½”

Punch two stars from red cardstock. And another one from green cardstock (put the green one to one side for now)

Round corners and attach to pages as shown.

STEP 7 – finishing off & cover

Cut two circles from red cardstock and attach to “Reminders” page along with striped stars as illustrated.

******************************

Cut one further circle from red cardstock, one from green cardstock and one from the doodled strip paper.

Cut the two cardstock circles (ie red & green) in half.

Striped paper – cut piece 4”w x 3”h

Dot paper – cut piece 4”w x 3”h

Trim striped paper with decorative edge scissors

Attach green half circle to lower edge of cover.

And attach patterned paper on top

STEP 8 - cover

Red card stock – cut piece 5” x 5”.

Fold in half and punch holes to match paper bag book

Attach to outside pages using double sided tape as shown.

Bind book using fibres – double knot each one.

Attach circle, star, flower, “Christmas” and chipboard title to cover as shown

STEP 9 - Tags

Green cardstock – cut two pieces 4 ½” x 4”

Red cardstock – cut one piece 4 ½” x 4”

Attach circles at varying positions along longer length.

Decorate tags with small strips of patterned paper

Assorted stuff...and yes some more Magnolia cards :)

2007-10-22T18:02:00.001Z

The best laid plans and all that... despite some good intentions I only managed to complete one of the classes for the UKS cyber crop. Mind you it was good 'un. Box of Treasured Memories by Margaret at Artbase. Loved this idea. I hadn't bought the kit but managed to make the box quite easily from a sheet of A4 chipoard.

I did get around to making my Halloween banner though. Have been meaning to do this for a while so am pleased I managed to get it done with time to spare. This is based on a class taught by Lance Anderson of Rusty Pickle. I used the RP Random Alphabet mainly. Painted the stencil pieces black & orange and then backed with green and purple cardstock.

Made this card for one of my DDs friends. Paper is Making Memories.

And this one uses some papers from Dena Designs.
And one more...

These are some of the images I got from the Magnolia stamp swap on UKS. Patterned paper is by K&Co and I painted the wall myself :)
Finally... a work in progress. This is my planner for Scrapaganza next month. I have done the covers but will get around to the inside pages now I have finalised my schedule. I have designed it to be reusable. The scrapaganza tag can come off and the inside pages can easily be replaced. Plus it is MUCH lighter and smaller than my last one LOL

Sneak Peek

2007-10-21T09:21:00.000Z

This will be the next Project class I am teaching at PaperCuts on Thursday 1 November

STAR BOOK ~ Class Instructions ~

2007-10-19T16:05:00.000Z

STEP 1

Cut cardstock as follows:

Cover (red cardstock): 5 1/8” x 12”

Innermost pages (green cardstock): 5” x 11 ½” (x 5 pages)

Outer pages (red cardstock): 5” x 10 ½” (x 5 pages)

Score cover (texture side down) 5 ¾” from each edge to form a spine ½” wide

Score all other pages in half (ie at 5 ¾” on the green cardstock and 5 ¼” on the red cardstock) – textured side up.

STEP 2

Adhere double sided tape to one of the short edges of each piece of green cardstock

Join pages together to form a VVVVV shape as shown.

Adhere double sided tape to each of the short edges of the red cardstock.

Ink all edges

STEP 3

It is easier to decorate the pages before attaching them to the book.

Cut 2 pieces of circles paper 4 ½” x 3 ½”

Cut 2 pieces of green cardstock 3” square.

Round corners, ink edges and attach to page.

STEP 4

Cut two pieces of red patterned paper to 5” x 4 ½”

Score at ½” from each side.

Cut two pieces of circle paper 4” x 4 ½”

Emboss two 1 ½” x 4 ½” strips of red cardstock using cuttlebug snowflake embossing die.

Attach red patterned paper to page to form a flap and cover join with circle paper.

Punch two holes on each page as shown and thread fibre/ribbon through.

STEP 5

Cut 2 pieces of striped paper 3” x 4 ½”

Cut 2 pieces green paper 2” x 4 ½”

Cut 2 squares 2” x 2” from red cardstock and emboss with Christmas design.

Attach to page as shown (I only attached the two outer edges of the red cardstock so a photo can be slipped underneath later if required)

STEP 6

Cut 1 piece of striped paper 4½” x 4½”

Cut 2 pieces circle paper – one 4½” x 4½” and one 2½”x 4½”

Attach to page to form pocket

Cut tag 3”x 4½” from red patterned paper.

Punch hole and add fibre/ribbon.

STEP 7

Cut two 4½ ” x 4½” squares from red patterned cardstock.

Place patterned paper to patterned paper and cut zig-zag or wavy line.

Attach one patterned piece and one plain piece to each page

STEP 8

Attach each red cardstock page to the green cardstock pages – the page will only be attached at the outermost edge and will NOT lie flat

Attach lengths of ribbon to the outside pages (green cardstock) using double sided tape.

Decorate cover with 2” x 5 ¾” embossed strip of green cardstock and die cut stars.

Stamp Merry Christmas on small piece of blue card and attach over embossed strip

Attach stars with foam pads to give dimension.

Attach cover to green cardstock with double sided tape on short edges only.

EXPLODING BOX - Class Instructions

2007-10-19T12:46:00.000Z

STEP 1 - Lid

Cut green cardstock into a square 6 1/8” x 6 1/8”

Score a line 1” from each edge

Score a diagonal line across each corner.

Fold along scorelines and glue corners in place with wet glue. (use paperclips to hold in place until dry)

STEP 2 - box

Cut red cardstock into a square 11 ¼” x 11 ¼”

Cut blue cardstock into a square 10 ½” x 10 ½”

Score green cardstock (ie 12"x12" sheet) at 4” horizontal and vertical to give nine 4” squares.

Score red cardstock at 3 ¾” horizontal and vertical to give nine 3 ¾” squares.

Score blue cardstock at 3 ½” horizontal and vertical to give nine 3 ½” squares.

Cut the four corner squares off each piece of cardstock so you are left with a cross shape.

Round corners and ink edges

STEP 3

Cut four 3 ¼” squares from patterned paper A

Cut four 3 ¼” squares from patterned paper B

Cut four 3 ½” squares from patterned paper A

Cut four 3 ½” squares from patterned paper C

Cut two 3 ¾” squares from patterned paper B

Cut two 3 ¾” squares from patterned paper C

Round corners & ink edges

STEP 4

Attach patterned paper to box as shown.

I used two different patterns on each layer and placed them opposite each other.

Join all three pieces together – use double sided tape – attach to red cardstock only.

STEP 5 - decoration

Cut a 3 ¼” square of red cardstock for the centre. Round corner and ink edges.

Attach a couple of small squares of patterned paper and emboss a Christmas pattern on the pale blue cardstock using the Cuttlebug.

Attach ribbon round red cardstock before attaching to base.

STEP 6

Cut four 4” strips from the red cardstock and emboss with snowflake embossing folder.

Attach to outside of box.

Cut two poinsettia flowers out using the template and join together using a gold brad.

Cut a small square of patterned paper to decorate the lid (round corners/ink edges)

Stamp Merry Christmas on a small piece of blue cardstock (round corners/ ink edges) and glue on top of patterned paper.

Attach poinsettia to lid using double sided tape.

More Magnolia

2007-10-05T17:43:00.001Z

A few more Magnolia bits and pieces (my order arrived from Sweden this week - yaay)

Havent had time to make a card with him yet but I just love this cutie pie - so so very sweet!

I used some of the only thing I have ever bought from QVC (well the UK version anyway) on this card - I bought a K&Co set about 2 years ago and have barely used any of it so have decided to put it to use for some cards as I can't see me using it on my scrapbook pages after all this time

Some more stamped and watercoloured images...

Another card...this time paper-pieced using MM Cosmo paper...

And a coupl of non-scrap related photos. Took this one on the way back from lunch today. It has been a glorious day here today...maybe summer is here at last! LOL

Last but not least a little pic of two Momiji dolls that Robert got me for my birthday - they are so sweet. Even the bags are cute so I can't decide whether to keep them in the bags or take them out (*insert rolling eye smilie here*)

Heroes!

2007-09-28T10:02:00.002Z

As I am still (im)patiently waiting for my Christmas Tildas to arrive I coloured in my ballerina stamp using Christmassy colours and made my first Christmas card of the year :)As Robert and I are both loving Heroes at the moment he(yes DH!) made this LO for my birthday showing some celebs who share the same birthday as me - so sweet (well apart from the crappy photo of me :D ) Anyone know how to get staz-on off your rubber stamps when its not cleaned straight away :D

(The smudged bits aren't on the original LO - just edited to remove some personal details - should have edited the rubbish photo too :D )

Some Birthday Cards...

2007-09-22T16:03:00.001Z

I made this card for my friend's wee boy who will be 1 on Tuesday - can't believe he is a year old already. Stamp is by PennyBlack , with a little Magnolia Ladybird and papers are from a DCWV stack.
Then Kenny decided he wanted to join in with the card-making too and made this one for his sister's birthday next week.

Today's cards...

2007-09-21T21:05:00.000Z

Have had a lovely relaxing day today. Robert was off work so after Kx2 left for school we headed up to Ikea for breakfast - £2.65 for two of us (and it was only that "dear" because Robert had the big breakfast LOL ).

Quick stop off in Braehead then Robert took me over to Craftology at Hillington. This is the first time I've been there since they moved from the centre of Johnstone and I was impressed - plenty of space and tons of stock. I got a couple of Penny Black stamps (to fuel my new cardmaking/stamping addiction while I wait for some more Magnolia stamps to arrive) and a gorgeous funky alphabet, a water brush and some twinkling H2Os.
Off to Greenock next to hit the pound shops for party bag treats for Kirsten's party next week, then back in time for Kenny coming home from school.

Today's card offerings....

... I love how the trainers turned out on "cool" edwin. LOL

And another one...

2007-09-20T13:31:00.000Z

Don't most people start out cardmaking then switch to scrapbooking - LOL

And yet more...

2007-09-18T19:44:00.001Z

And another couple of cards using the Magnolia stamps :D

I {heart} Magnolia stamps

2007-09-18T13:32:00.001Z

Quick post to show some cards I made with my lovely new Magnolia stamps - I'm not even a cardmaker and couldn't resist these little cuties LOL

I can also upload my DT stuff for Angel Crafts now - a LO of my Dad (bless!!!) using BG Periphery papers (love this range so much)

And a mini tag album - bound together using my bind-it-all

2007-09-16T21:51:00.001Z

Just a quick update to include some stuff I made this weekend.

First up was a birthday card for Kirsten's "fiance" - He was 7 on Saturday. DD will be 8 in 2 weeks!

Don't ask - its all very serious. At one point they were going to immigrate to Australia but have now decided to stay in Scotland. They were also going to get a husky dog but decided against that as it wouldn't be good with the kids (crazy!!!!!)

They are both Dr Who daft so I made them into the Dr and Rose for the card. They both liked it - quite a lot :D

Anyway future son-in-law had a ceramic painting party which went surprisingly well - I stayed to help and in fact it was remarkably mess free.

I also attempted this sort of freestylie LO but I am not very sure about it. There was a discussion over on UKS and I realised that I NEVER stick on photos at an angle aka squinty!
Still couldn't do it - but I did cut around the photo for a change!

Also Kirsten started making the invites for her party - you cant see very well from the photo but they are an envelope type card and we will make a tag to go inside each one, when I have firmed up the arrangements later in the week.

August Class Layout

2007-09-13T20:22:00.001Z

And tonight we were scrapping our photos from last month.

MATERIALS

1 sheet dark brown cardstock
3 co-ordinating patterned papers (the ones in the example are by EKSuccess)
Chipboard letters
Acrylic paint
Dark Brown or Charcoal chalk ink
Blue embroidery thread

STEP 1

Paint pre-cut chipboard title (Cuttlebug Olivia font)
using acrylic paint. Leave to one side to dry.

STEP 2

Crop 3 photos to size
(mine are 5” x 3 ½” and 3 ½” x 3 ½”)

Cut a strip of the striped paper approx 1 ½ “ wide.

The length of this should equal the height of your two photos. (eg 1 ½”wide x 7 ¼”high)

Cut dotty paper to fit between top photo and edge of LO (eg 4 ¾” wide x 2 ½” high)

Cut flowery paper to fit between lower two photos and edge of LO (eg 2 ¾”wide x 3 ½”high)

Dry brush edges of all photos and paper with acrylic paint and attach to layout.

STEP 3

Using a piercing bug make a row of holes round the OUTSIDE edges of the patterned paper

Sew a zig-zag stitch round the edges using embroidery thread. Secure the end of the thread on the back of the layout using double sided tape.

STEP 4

Write or print journaling on six strips of orange paper, ink edges with black ink and attach to LO.

Attach title.

Small Candy Floss Please...? LOL

2007-09-08T14:24:00.001Z

We visited the European market today that has set up shop down on the prom for the weekend. Lots of yummy goodies like german bratwurst sausages, greek pastries, french cheeses & ciders and hundreds more.

Kirsten decided to go for the candy floss - nuff said!Last night we attended a Viking Funeral (hopefully not a real one) and watched as they set fire to a replica of a viking longboat - all this is quite helpful as Kirsten's topic at school at the moment is the Vikings.

Off out again tonight to watch a re-enactment of the Battle of Largs and Fireworks display taking place at the Pencil

Today is {thursday}...

2007-09-06T14:43:00.000Z

Lots of photos of projects to share today. But first I wanted to show you what DH bought for me 'cos I had a nightmare journey home from work yesterday (all the Ayrshire trains from Central were cancelled) - wasn't that sweet :)

I made a mini album this week based on Shimelle's class at Fiskars TV - I used 3 different colours of cardstock and some scraps of old Sweetwater paper that I had in my scrap box.
The letters are chipboard cut out using the Big Shot Slim Jim alphabet (I glued the paper to the chipboard before cutting so I didn't have to trim round the letters by hand ) - Lots of Autumn Leaves stamps and blossoms from Angel Crafts - then bound using my new Bind-it-all machine

The photos of Lossiemouth and Brodie castle are not mine but were taken from images off the internet.

Then as I was in a mini-album sort of mood I finally got around to making up this kit I had bought from Melodee Langworthy at Scrapaganza - this wasn't a Scrapaganza class but was one she had taught at a Dutch scrap shop a couple of days before. I plan on using it for some of Kenneth and Kirsten's baby photographs but I haven't got around to scanning them yet - I hat scanning with a passion...its just so boring. Hmmm wonder if I could teach Kenny how to do it :D

Each page is made with a chipboard file folder that is glossy on one side. The glossy side was inked with a pale blue chalk ink pad.

Lots of stamping and inking and rub-ons

As always TFL :)

Off to finish off my instructions for the exploding box class I am teaching tonight - will post instructions for that tomorrow probably

September 1st

2007-09-02T10:20:00.001Z

I made a quick get well card for a friend who had surgery during the week. Just used some of my scraps and cut out the flower tag using a cuttlebug die.

Had a very busy day yesterday that went something like this:

10:30am - visit library to return books. Nip down town to pick up stuff for lunch (from bakers - Saturday treat LOL ) and buy ducks for duck race. Pop in to chat to Louisa on the way up the road

12noon- home for lunch

12:30 - back out to meet Mum and go and watch the duck race. Didn't win!!! Kirsten did manage to fall in the burn helping to retrieve the "also-swams" (sorry!) though.

2:00pm - walk along the front to see the parade but get side tracked by snakes on the prom :D. Kirsten feeling brave and works up to holding one of them.

This is the viking village that is built every year for the festival and is inhabited for the week by "Vikings" who mainly come from Poland it seems - huh?
We didn't go in today because a) it costs £3 per adult now and we've seen it so many times before; b) we didn't have time; and c) Kirsten is going there with the school on Tuesday anyway

The parade was next and at least the sun was shining.

2:45pm - ***whine whine time*** can I just have oooooone shot on the fair muuuum?
(we will go but we normally go on the last Saturday of the Festival before the fireworks) so one shot was all Kirsten had - on this contraption :)

3:15pm - coffee at the Bagel Basket

4:15pm - back home. Time for a quick shower then meet up with friends for a drink

5:30pm - High Tea at the Green Shutters before heading along to

7:30pm -Vikingar to watch Voulez Vouz. (abba tribute band). Front row seats so lots of giggles and dancing.

10:30ish - out on the town for drinks ending up at the Clubroom at Lounge for another boogie before getting home at 2:30am!

Smile layout

2007-08-31T10:07:00.001Z

MATERIALS

White cardstock for background
1/2 sheet of any three co-ordinating 12"x12" papers (mine are by K&Co)
Pink ink pad
EK Success piercing tool (see Below)
3 chipboard flowers (I cut mine using the cuttlebug flower die)
Autumn Leave stamp for journalling block
Heidi Swapp stamp for title (or other alphabet stamps for your choice of title)

STEP 1

Cut patterned paper as follows:

Green floral: 4” x 12” and 2” x 4”

Pink floral: 6” x 3”

Pale pink: 6” x 8” and 3” x 2”

Ink edges.

Go round edges with the piercing tool

STEP 2

Stamp title onto white cardstock. Cut out and ink edges. Mount on pale pink or pink patterned paper and cut out again.

Punch out a large scalloped circle from the pink flowery pattern.

Cover the chipboard flowers with scraps of patterned paper. Sand & ink edges.

Cut stems from patterned paper scraps using fancy edged scissors.

Stamp journaling block

STEP 3

Attach papers etc to LO as shown.

Large green paper goes on first, then pale pink, followed by smaller green and pink flowery paper. Then photo on top and embellishments on top again !

Tidying & decluttering

2007-08-29T19:37:00.001Z

Have been awol for a bit as we are trying to declutter the house. I picked up a shelving unit from B&Q for just under £35 that is just the right size for 12x12 papers - see pic below. Gradually taking over all of our bedroom for scrapping. DH says he is going to leave a comment on this blog to see if he can garner any sympathy - Ha!

Apart from tidying it has been a quiet couple of weeks. We visited the open day at the wind farm
near Ardrossan but although I managed to remember my camera I forgot to put a memory card in it! Doh!

Have done another couple of classes at the shop - if anyone wants detailed instructions just give me a shout :D

We will be doing a layout based on photos taken in the preceding month on the second Thursday of every month from now on (does that make any sense at all!)
And there will be a (Christmas) project class on the first Thursday of the month starting from September (so a week tomorrow) - phone Julie at the shop if you want to book a place but I think quite a few of the cardmakers are coming along too so not sure if there are (m)any spaces :D

Have got my classes booked for the next Scrapaganza
looking forward to Karen Burniston's acrylic album class and also the Rusty Pickle class.

Busy day of Scrapping

2007-08-11T10:49:00.001Z

Managed to do lots of scrapping yesterday. Kirsten & I started off making a card (all Kirsten's work) and an exploding box (I helped with the cutting out) for Kirsten's friend's birthday. The paper and cardstock are all from the DCWV stacks (that I got on sale from Sizzix/Ellison online - the card stack was £6 something and the paper stacks were £3.74 each! )

Then I made this fantastic Ribbon & Roll book based on a class over at UK Scrappers. I hadn't made a book using this method before so it was great to learn a new technique. I staggered the tag inserts so they spell Kirsten's name down one side. Paper is from the Primavera range from
Funky Kits

And I think this has to be my favourite class - a mini book designed by Anna from the Pencil Lines blog. Decorated using Roxie papers & embellishments by Elsie Flannigan

Me in a kilt - don't ask!!!

2007-08-10T21:28:00.001Z

Ups and Downs

2007-08-09T21:16:00.000Z

As in life is full of them!

We had the most wonderful news yesterday that my mum got the all clear from her scan. She has recently undergone surgery and chemotheraphy so we are all absolutely delighted that she is now cancer free.

But at the same time (well actually very late yesterday when I checked my phone) I learned that the head teacher at my children's primary school had lost her long battle with the same illness and had slipped away at the weekend. Her funeral was today.

Anyway back to happier things.

I've been managing to do a bit of scrapping via the UKScrappers summer cyber crop and these are the three layouts I've done so far.

This one of Kirsten's "Puss-in-Boots" face!

This one where Kirsten conned me into letting her have a mobile phone. I was distracted, looking at PJs for her (as I'd forgotten to pack any for her!) when she asked if she could have a mobile phone as it was only £10...I really only heard the £10 bit and as I knew she had more than that of her spending money left I had already said "Yes" before my brain caught up with what she had asked for. Oh well after seeing the look of pure delight on her face there was no way I could go back and tell her no - c'est la vie!
(But she's definitely NOT getting her ears pierced until she finishes primary school - I will be screening all requests a lot more carefully from now on LOL )

I love this photo - Kirsten posing as usual and Kenneth (typical big bro) taking the opportunity to steal her chips!

Double Trouble

2007-08-09T20:59:00.000Z

EK Success Grasshopper Cookie patterned paper
White Cardstock
Small piece pale blue textured paper
Small piece pale green velum
Fiskars Star punch
Journaling Pen
Chatterbox Doodling template
Scalloped edge scissors
Hole punch

STEP 1

Cut two pieces from the patterned paper

One approx 2”x12” and one 3 ½” x 12”

Cut one piece from the blue textured paper – approx 2 ½ “x8 ¼”

Cut out the scalloped edge of the green paper and punch holes in each scallop.

Trim the second piece to approx 3 ½”x 11”

Using shaped scissors cut the edge of the blue paper and again punch holes along the edge

STEP 2

Using a pencil trace your title onto a sheet of pale green vellum using any font from your computer.

(I used “Impact” and “Angelina”)

Use a journaling pen to go over the lines and decorate with doodling etc – add a border if you like.

STEP 3

Attach the paper to the layout as shown but making sure your photo will overlap all papers and the vellum.

The blue paper should be attached over the top of the vellum to hide the glue holding the vellum on.

DO NOT use glue on any part of the vellum unless it will be covered by other paper, photo, embellishments etc

Add doodling using a doodling template or freehand.

To do the journaling I drew the doodled line in pencil first, added my journaling over the top then rubbed out the pencil.

STEP 4

Add further photos if required

Cut three stars and attach with brads to hold the top edge of the vellum flat.

Add further doodling eg stitched edges to the stars, as you prefer

Design Team stuff

2007-08-05T22:04:00.001Z

I received a wonderful kit from Angela last month which included the gorgeous Scrapworks Florabella papers and rub-ons. Had a ball with the kit and managed to make all of the following, adding very little from my own stash.

First up was a little file folder album to record some of the things we did during the easter holidays (well at least it is Easter 2007! and it was the last time we had a decent run of sunny weather :D )

I used my cuttlebug and the Big Shot Thick cuts file folder die to make the pages (and as the cardstock is double sided I didn't need to make any base pages for the patterned paper), then bound the album using assorted ribbons.

{cover}

{pages 1 & 2}

{pages 3 & 4}

I used my new Autumn Leaves stamps to make the "Completely Loved" title for this layout. The flowers were mostly hand cut then I scribbled (aka doodled LOL ) all over it. And yes I have used this photo before but I love it and I reserve the right to use it as often as I like (***sticks out tongue***) LOL

For this layout I just cut some circles using the Big Shot Circle die and the title is cut using the "Go Slim" dies. I distressed the card stock a bit using one of my Adirondack paint dabbers and added a few prima flowers with some glitter glue for the centre and some journaling on one of the circles.

Then with the waste piece from the circle die cut I made this little photo frame. I painted a piece of chipboard, folded it about 2" from the bottom edge so that it stands up itself and added some photos behind the "waste" piece of paper. Very quick and easy to do.

Then 'cos my cousin is moving into his new home soon I made this card. I hand cut the shapes for the house and cloud, doodled on some stitching and used some Doodlebug Frills for the roof trim and the grass.
And after all that I still have plenty of kit left over :D

All Boy layout

2007-08-02T20:28:00.001Z

MATERIALS

EK Success Tres Chic papers
Blue cardstock
Doodlebug buttons
Brown ink pad
Fiskars XL punches - circle & star
Alphabet stamps
Brown journaling pen
Tag & pocket template (see below)

STEP 1

Cut the green/dotty paper into two pieces – one 7” x 12”, one 5” x 12”

Put the 5” x 12” piece to one side for now.

Cut the bigger piece as follows:

One 4 ½” x 7”

One 3” x 7”

One 5” x 3”

Cut a 7” (approx) diameter circle from the striped paper (I used a side plate)
and cut the 5” x 3” piece using the same size of circle

Cut an L-shaped border sized to fit your photograph from the brown paper and cut out the scalloped edges.

Ink edges

STEP 2

Cut a tag from the blue background cardstock using your template. Make sure this is cut from an area of the cardstock that will be covered by the patterned papers/photograph.

Cut tag pocket from the green/dotted paper using template.

Ink edges

STEP 3

Attach paper to the blue cardstock as shown.

Dotty paper is approx 1½” from top edge and 2” from left hand side. Green paper is approx 1½” from the bottom edge.

Green “part” circle sits against the dotty paper

And the striped full circle overlaps as shown

Stick photo onto L-shaped photo mat (ink edges of photo).

Make sure that your photo will cover the edges of the green paper top & bottom

STEP 4

Cut 6 circles from the brown paper, 6 stars from the green paper and 1 star from the brown paper using the Fiskars punches.

Stamp title

Ink edges

Fold the tag pocket along fold lines, ink edges and glue in place. Glue on star

Staple ribbon to tag.

STEP 5

Attach title and tag envelope to layout.

Thread embroidery thread through buttons.

Attach button to star on tag envelope and three buttons on right hand side of layout.

Draw a line approx ½” – ¾” round the edge of the layout.

TEMPLATE

Copy & enlarge to fit standard sheet of A4 paper

2007-08-02T14:22:00.001Z

Blooming great class!!!

2007-07-27T17:21:00.001Z

I know, I know what a cheesy title!

...but hey I did have a great class last night. We had three new people starting so that brings our regular total up to 7 (plus we have had people on holiday who just come for the one week) and we have another 2 ladies starting next week as well. I am so happy with how it is going, everyone seems to be pleased with their layouts and all the techniques we are covering and what's more I am really enjoying teaching. When I started I worried that a class every week might be a big commitment but it really is a lot of fun.

Julie has also asked me to come along and do some makes & takes at the SECC in October so I will have to get my thinking cap on for that too.

Anyway I am off out with the "girls" tonight so no time to type up the class instructions this week. If anyone wants them please leave a comment below and I will email them over to you.

Rockin Girl

2007-07-25T18:18:00.000Z

Yaay I am officially a Rockin Girl LOL LOL - thanks Jane :D

OK I tag

Angela
Roz
Dawn
Sam

to become Rockin Girls too

Scrapbook Inspirations Sketch Challenge

2007-07-23T22:17:00.000Z

This is the layout I created a while ago for the sketch challenge in Scrapbook Inspirations magazine. Sorry the scan is rubbish but I was in a rush to get it done - I think Cheryl emailed me with the sketch on a Tuesday with a deadline of the following Tuesday...however I was off on holiday on the Thursday so I only had a day and a half (during which I was at work!!!) to get it done and emailed off...so no time to scan neatly (and too dark to get a decent photo at night!)

To make the title I printed it off on an ordinary sheet of A4 paper ( the font is Fabulous 50s) and then used a paper piercer to transfer the letters to the cardstock before stitching.

This was the burn on Wednesday late afternoon after the thunderstorm (we all got soaked...no jackets!). Thank goodness it never got any higher (in fact it was amazing how fast it went down to normal levels once the rain stopped...no more than 2 -3 hours)

And this is how the burn usually looks (photo taken yesterday afternoon)

Wedding Layout Class

2007-07-18T22:02:00.001Z

As usual I am more than happy for anyone to use the following instructions for their personal use but please do not copy them (either to teach your own classes or to post elsewhere online) without permission. Thank you :)

MATERIALS

Cream cardstock
EK Success I DO Heart & Soul Paper
EK Success I DO Sentiments Paper
12" piece of cream lace
8" piece sheer gold ribbon
Lil Davis Love Affair 2 stamps
Clear Embossing Pad
Gold Embossing Powder
Gold Gel pen
3 different size chipboard hearts (mine were cut using a Big Shot die)
Dark red acrylic paint

STEP 1

Stamp pattern down left hand side of layout and emboss using gold embossing powder.

STEP 2

Make your title from the “Sentiments” paper by going over one of the words with a gold gel pen. (there are lots to chose from like the “Bouquet of Roses” used in the example or “Adore”, “Romance” “Candle Light” etc etc )

Cut out and round corners if desired.

Cut the “Heart & Soul” paper into two strips. One should be 3 ½ ” x 12” and the other 6” x 12”.

Cut the edge of each strip with scalloped edged scissors (or any other shape)

STEP 3

Mat your photo on the Sentiments paper. Leave a larger margin at the bottom and edge with scalloped scissors (or whichever shape you chose for the other papers)

STEP 4

Paint the large heart dark red.

Cover the medium heart with the “Sentiments” patterned paper (remember to glue the front of the chipboard heart to the back of the patterned paper), and cut around the chipboard edge with a sharp craft knife.

Cover the small heart with either side of the “Heart & Soul” paper.

Glue the hearts together.

Tie a 2” to 3” piece of the gold ribbon round a slightly longer piece and then wrap round all three hearts. Secure at the back with some double-sided tape.

STEP 5

Attach lace to left hand side of the layout just beside the embossed design.

Add patterned paper as shown.

Attach photo leaving the right side open for the journaling tag

Add title (using pop dots or foam pads) and heart embellishment

Cut a piece of paper approx 5” x 2 ½” from the “Heart & Soul” paper.
Make a small slit and attach ribbon. Slide under photo mat.

BOYS!!!!

2007-07-18T13:34:00.000Z

Kenneth & Kirsten were niggling each other yesterday morning and after a while (OK more like 5 minutes!) I had had enough. "Say something nice about each other for a change", says I.

So Kirsten dutifully thinks for a minute then says "Kenneth sometimes you are kind and give me things"

Kenneth mulls it over for a while longer then says "Kirsten, sometimes when you fart it doesn't smell!"

Enough said!

Big Shot Thick Cuts dies for sale

2007-07-16T19:48:00.000Z

I am selling the following Big Shot Thick Cuts dies for £10 each plus £1 P&P (within UK)
Leave me your contact details in the comments space if you are interested. Paypal payment required.

BagEnvelope ~2

Square envelope
Popcorn Box

Purse

This looks interesting.....

Think I will have to order one (well I did miss out on the Autimn Leaves one)

Yum - new Rusty Pickle Line

2007-07-15T18:06:00.001Z

I absolutely MUST have this new line from Rusty Pickle. No idea what for, probably just to look at but nonetheless it is calling to me! Would love it if Mr Pickle did a class using this line at the next Scrapaganza.

Summer Fun Class

2007-07-12T16:05:00.000Z

As usual I am more than happy for anyone to use the following instructions for their personal use but please do not copy them (either to teach your own classes or to post elsewhere online) without permission.

Most of the supplies to make the LO can be ordered online from Julie or Ian at PaperCuts

Materials

Doodlebug Pastel Taffy Stripes
Doodlebug Pastel Wildflower
Doodlebug RickRack - Bumblebee
Doodlebug Tokens - Spring
White cardstock
Golden yellow paint
Small piece yellow embroidery thread
Paperclip
Small piece co-ordinating ribbon

Butterfly Template * ( I resized mine to make it a bit smaller)
Transparency title *

STEP 1

Cut 1 piece of the stripy paper 5 ½" wide x 10" long (the stripes should go across the way as shown)

Cut 1 piece of flowery paper – approx 5” x 7”

Round one corner of each piece as shown using a corner rounder.

STEP 2

Cut out your butterfly template. *

Fold one small piece of the flowery paper. Place your template on the fold. Draw round and cut out.

Do the same with two small pieces of the striped paper.

Use a paper clip and a small piece of ribbon to make a “body” for one of the butterflies.

STEP 3

Dry brush the edges of your patterned paper with Golden Yellow paint, including the three butterflies.

Adhere your patterned paper to the white cardstock as shown.

- The striped paper is 1” from the top & bottom of the page and about 1 ½” in from the left hand side.

- the flowery paper is about 2 ½” from the bottom of the page and 1 ½” in from the right hand side.

Add photo(s)STEP 4

Cut your Summer Fun transparency in a circle. *

Paint the back of this with Golden Yellow paint and attach to your layout, overlapping your photo.

Paint the back of the second transparency embellishment * and attach below the flowery paper.

The paint will act as an adhesive for your transparencies.

STEP 5

Attach yellow ricrac (wavy ribbon) using double sided tape.

Tie a small piece of embroidery thread on to the token and attach to layout.

Write your journalling on three different colours of the striped paper and attach to layout, overlapping photo.

Attach butterflies using double sided tape. Leave the edges “unglued” so the wings can be folded up slightly for a 3D effect.

* I am happy to email the butterfly template and the transparency page to anyone that wants them. Please leave your email details in the comments box and I'll get back to you as soon as I can :)

2007-07-12T15:15:00.000Z

Just thought I would post a few photos from our recent trip to Yorkshire - weather looks surprisingly sunny - clearly I was too busy running to get out the rain to take any photos during the monsoon like showers!!! LOL

This is Kenneth & Kirsten at Harrogate - I really liked this town and would love to go back for a longer visit some day!
Rare photo of my boy not grimacing whilst having his photo taken.

HA HA - I love this photo - just sums the two of them up. Kirsten too busy posing for a photo and whilst she is doing so Kenny is nicking her chips!!! Photo taken in the original Harry Ramsden's in Guisley.

Kirsten on "Princess" the donkey on Scarborough beach - It started chucking it down about 2 minutes later!

***sigh*** Yes when a sign says "Wet Paint" it really does mean wet paint! Kenny said this was lucky as he was just about to do a roly-poly over the railings so I should be garetful it is only his hands that got paint on them - I am son, I am!!!

Somewhere over the rainbow..... is a caravan in Filey. LOL
Note the lovely clear blue summer sky!

Digging for ancient artifacts and skeletons at York's "Dig" attraction - one of the highlights of our week. Would definitely recommend this.

Outside York Minster

On the sea front at Bridlington

Traditional ice-creams!

2007-07-10T20:31:00.001Z

I've been busy scrapping but most of it is for Angel Crafts design team so all I can share is this little paper bag book I made for some friends of my niece who are over visiting from the US (and who kindly brought some scrapping goodies over for me :D )

Mostly Basic Grey Sublime papers. I also printed some journalling/images on a transparency that I stitched in between the paper bags to make some extra pages.

Some additional supplies came from my freebie pizza box shopping at Scrapagnaza

There was no class last week as I was away on holiday but I will upload the next one towards the end of the week.

If anyone has done either of the first two classes I would love to see your versions. Post a link to your layout in the comments and I will draw a random layout next week (17 July) to win a small goodie bag :)

2007-07-06T20:00:00.000Z

Hmm I have been tagged by Angela - so here goes "7 facts about me"

1. I love sci-fi particularly anything by Joss Whedon so that's Buffy/Angel/Firefly and I also love Doctor Who, Torchwood, the 4400, Taken, Point Pleasant, Tru Calling.

2. I also love to read and own at least 1,000 books. Favourite authors include Anne Rice, Jean M Auel, Christopher Brookmyre and Tolkien (but I'm reading Kenneth's Doctor Who books at the moment)

3. When I worked in London I completed lots of famous people's tax returns but I can't tell you who 'cos I've signed confidentiality agreements :p

4. Robert and I have been together since I was 17. For my 18th birthday he bought me a gold locket and a single red rose and he took me to Paris (by bus/train LOL) for my first Christmas present from him.

5. My dad's aunt by marriage is Vic Damone's cousin and she sang with frank Sinatra in her father's night club in Queens.

6. I HATE bananas - even the smell makes me feel sick (mind you so does the smell of CK one ever since I was pregnant with Kenneth)

7. I was born on an RAF base (and I wanted to be a pilot when I was younger but couldn't because I am short sighted...if only laser surgery had been around a few years earlier!!!)

*********************************************************************************

We are just back from our week away in Yorkshire so off to unpack and get the washing on. Will post some photos later

"FABULOUS" CLASS

2007-06-28T21:28:00.001Z

Class number two :) As usual I am more than happy for anyone to use the following instructions for their personal use but please do not copy them (either to teach your own classes or to post elsewhere online) without permission. Thank you :)

MATERIALS

Green cardstock
Patterned paper: EK Success Miss Polly's PJ's
EK Success Ringaround a Posie

10" piece pink ribbon
5" piece green ribbon
Fabric flower (double layer)
Bling flower
Heidi Swapp "Fabulous" stamp

TOOLS
Circle Punch or Quickutz circle die
Pop dots
Ink

STEP 1

Cut 2 strips of the stripy paper 1 ½” x 12” (the stripes should go across the way as shown)

Cut 1 piece of pink dotty paper – this should be approx 3” wide and the height should be the same height as your photograph(s).

Cut a small piece of pale pink card approx 3 1/2" x 5"

Cut small piece of striped paper the same height as your pink card and approx 1 1/2" - 2" wide

STEP 2

Adhere your patterned paper to the green cardstock as shown.

- The 2 narrow strips should be about 1 ½” from the top and bottom edges of your layout.

- the pink dotty paper should be placed against the right hand side of your layout midway between the two strips (this will overlap the striped paper);

STEP 3

Add your photographs as shown (below).

DO NOT GLUE the edge of the photograph nearest the dotty paper.

DO NOT USE GLUE in the middle of your photographs…

…as the photos will make a pocket for your journaling tag.

STEP 4

Cut out some flowers from the other side of the pink dotty paper and attach the “half” flowers to the edges of your layout and against the stripy paper as shown.

Use pop dots to attach the “whole” flowers for added dimension.

Tie two pieces of ribbon together and attach along the lower edge of the photographs using double sided tape.

Stamp title

STEP 5

Add fabric flower and sparkly centre using double sided tape.

Use Quickutz die or circle punch to cut two circles from the green paper and attach to the middle of the pink journaling tag. (If you are rounding the corners of you tag do t

Cut a small strip of stripy paper to cover the edge of your journalling tag – (trim one (long) edge with scalloped edged scissors if you wish)

Attach stripy paper and round corners of journaling tag if you wish. Slip tag under photos.

THE GRAFFITI PROJECT ON KELBURN CASTLE

2007-06-22T23:07:00.001Z

This is absolutely amazing- Kelburn Castle is about 3 miles away from me and I used to work in the cafe there (and sometimes at the Castle too) when I was at school - keep meaning to go up to take some photos but the midgies have been truly awful for the last week or so !!!!.

Friends Class - Beginner's Layout

2007-06-21T20:45:00.001Z

Well I taught my first class at my LSS Paper Cuts tonight. It went well and they are coming back for more next week :D

I am more than happy for anyone to use the following instructions for their personal use but please do not copy them (either to teach your own classes or to post elsewhere online) without permission.

Most of the supplies to make the LO can be ordered online from Julie or Ian at PaperCuts

Materials

Brown Cardstock
Patterned Paper - EK Success
Stamps - Making memories Philadelphia foam stamps & Autumn Leaves journalling stamps
Brown ink pad
Quickutz tag
Wavy edged scissors
Co-ordinating fibres or ribbon (small piece)

STEP 1

Cut the brown dotty paper into a 5” x 12” piece
Cut the blue flowery paper into a 7” x 9 ¼” piece
Cut the stripy paper into a 1 ¼” strip (the stripes should go across the way as shown)
Cut the stripy paper into a 6” x 4” piece

STEP 2

Adhere your patterned paper to the brown cardstock as shown below.

As a rough guide:

- the brown dotty paper should be approx 1 ¼” in from the left hand side;

- the blue flowery paper is approx ¾” in from the right hand side and 1 ¼” from the bottom;

- the stripy paper is approx 2” from the top and 3 ½” from the right hand side.

STEP 3

Add your photograph.
And adhere the narrow strip of stripy paper so that this slightly overlaps the edge of your photograph

STEP 4

Stamp your title on the cream paper using assorted stamps.
Cut out each individual letter as shown.

Ink the edges with brown ink if preferred.

Stamp a journaling block on the cream paper and cut out – use scalloped edge scissors if you wish.

Cut a 12” strip from the cream paper using wavy edged scissors to make “faux” ricrac

STEP 5

Attach your title and journaling block to the page.
Cut a small tag from the brown dotty paper.
Write place and date on a small piece of cream paper and adhere to the tag.
Use a small piece of ribbon or some fibres to embellish the tag.
Attach the tag to your layout.

…and RELAX!!!

I hope you have enjoyed the class - please don't be shy about leaving comments for me - I love to hear from people :) (new friends and old ones alike!!! LOL )

Classes, Ribbons & Stuff

2007-06-15T10:11:00.000Z

Phew after all that Scrapaganza stuff I am just about blogged out!!

Other news -

Kenneth finally got his hamster about 3 weeks ago - finally after asking for one for a bout 3 years. I am glad we waited though as now he is 10 he is able to look after it completely himself and I am very proud of the way he has done so. He has cleaned the cage out regularly, makes sure Smudge has enough food, clean water every day, he feeds him clover from the garden (don't ask!) and takes him out to play every night.

Kirsty was home from Australia for a flying visit - it was lovely to see her again and her plans for the house they are building sound wonderful - but sad that she is unlikely to be back home again for a while now :( (PS Kirsty - you are allowed to comment on my blog you know :D )

Kirsten is in her drama show tonight and tomorrow night. They are performing the jungle book and this is her after the dress rehearsal last night - she is a wolf, a monkey AND an elephant apparently.

A Million Little Things were having a ribbon blowout event last week so I ordered one or two!!!
There are actually 75 different ribbons there - strano ribbon, broad stripey ribbon, lace, dotty ribbon, sheer ribbon, giant ricrac etc etc etc
And would you believe that the whole lot, including postage was only £13 something BARGAIN or what?

Finally my big news - there is a Scrapbook Shop open in Largs!!! Yes we finally have our own LSS - it is called PaperCuts and is run by Julie & Ian.

I will be teaching the scrapbooking classes and the first one will be next Thursday from 7pm-8pm. I will be doing a beginner's course to start with - one class a week over the next six weeks (although that is not strictly correct - there will be no class on the first Thursday in July cos we are away on holiday that week) - the cost for the six classes (which includes a 12x12 post bound album) is £50.

If anyone is interested please email Julie http://www.paper-cuts.co.uk/shopcustcontact.asp and make arrangements to come along. There will also be a crop for 2 hours after the class ie from 8pm - 10pm on a Thursday evening so again please email Julie if you are interested.

So what with designing my LOs plus father's day cards, birthday cards, a card for my parents 40th anniversary tomorrow...you can see why I have been too busy to finish my Scrapaganza projects! Well that is my excuse anyway!

Scrapaganza Day 3

2007-06-15T09:46:00.000Z

Not such an early start today (just as well given that I didn't get to sleep till after 2am - sorry Diane!) but still early enough. Up at about 7:30 - reckon I had about 9-10 hours sleep the whole weekend! After breakfast the first class was with Emily Adams

my planner page for Emily's class

- another great and funny teacher - sat next to Elaine and with Jacqui and Karen behind us we had such a laugh in this class - I loved the project which was a mini album based on these coasters and using Blue cardigan papers and stickers - Emily had lots of innovative ideas for using these products so I was really pleased with this class - would definitely sign up for more classes with Emily in the future. I finished this in class too but haven't taken any photos yet.

my planner page for the Heidi Swapp class

Next was the Heidi Swapp class taught by Vivien Bonder - we made an album using the giant playing cards and got messy painting with our fingers. I really enjoyed the atmosphere in this class - Vivien was very laid back and once again there were some great ideas for how to use the products supplied. I even finished this in class as well - though once again I have still to add some photos.

Time for lunch and as I had a free slot a chance to pick up some make and takes kits to take home - you get 4 m&t kits in the diva package. I made a small paper bag album there and took away two clipboard kits (different sizes of clipboards) and a little mini folded album to do "sometime".

I also managed to get a ticket for the Bazzill class which included a 6 x 12 album in the kit - Dawn kindly picked this up for me as it clashed with my rusty Pickle class.

my planner page for Lance's class

Saving the best till last - yes I think so. I loved this class made using the Princess Bride papers and I will be doing my best to get this finished as soon as I can, although I have so much other scrapping stuff on at the moment.

Just time to say our goodbyes and wait, and wait and wait for the bus to the airport - still it arrived in the end and we all got there in plenty of time for our flights.

An absolutely fantastic weekend...although I don't think I would ever want to do any more classes than that - I was pretty much scrapped out by my last class and starting to make silly mistakes.

Roll on the next one - oh only 5 months to go! 16-18 November in Haarlem (which is right beside the airport so less hassle with transfers I would think) - See you there?

Scrapaganza Day 2

2007-06-15T08:41:00.000Z

I was up at the crack of dawn - well 6:30am anyway to be in time for my first class at 8am!!! Yikes! What was I thinking! Dawn & I joined MichelleS for breakfast then headed off to Melodee Langworthy's 31derful Memories class

my planner page for Melodee's class

Whilst I enjoyed the class and Melodee is a lovely warm & friendly person and a great teacher I was disappointed we didn't get the use of the famed chipboard corner rounder to finish off the pages properly. Still it was good to have all the stamps available and I managed to get all the pages done in class so I only need to get around to adding photos now. I also managed to purchase a gorgeous pink file folder kit from a class that Melodee had taught the day before at ScrapSalad ( a dutch scrapbook shop) and I am pleased to say that Melodee has very kindly emailed me the instructions so I am all set to go with that project as well...well whenever I have a minute.

my planner page for the Love Elsie class

I didn't have any of the Love Elsie papers when I made my planner so I "designed" my own freestyle paper. I loved doing this - just some splodges of acrylic (very brightly coloured) paint and some doodles.

This class was taught by one of the Dutch teachers (Peggie Severins - later to become one of my poker buddies!!!) and it amazes me how good the Dutch teachers are at teaching a class in two languages. You really don't even notice. This was my only LO class of the weekend and I managed to finish it in class - I was very pleased with it as it is pretty much my style of scrapping -

Grabbed a quick lunch and a mooch round the scrap shops in the crop room - there was a really good choice of scrapping stash available - lots of stuff you don't often see in real life here. And I picked up my Quickutz bargains - the complete SnowAngel gift set including full alphabet and binder for €25 ! No that is not a typo that is how much it was, and the Sunshine gift set for €45 or it might even have been €40...I can't remember now - but I know it was cheap. There were lots of other good bargains to be had but I managed to resist the temptation of the Quickutz Tote or the AMM Medium tote for only €15 each...but only just.

my planner page for the Junkitz class

After lunch was the Junkitz class taught by Stacey Panassidi. This was a calendar made using the Junkitz Decor Boards. It was a bit on the bright side though so I have donated this to kirsten to finish off. I did like the idea but I think it would be easy to make the boards yourself - they were pretty much just thin MDF boards cut into about 8" x 12", corners rounded and some holes punched in them (the cropodile will do that for you :D )

my planner page for the Fancy Pants class

This next class, taught by Michelle Grant was a bit of a disaster though not the fault of anyone apart from maybe KLM cargo and/or Fedex.

Michelle explained that the original kits had been sent and although they had arrived at Schipol they could not be located in the Cargo area. Accordingly some replacement kits were sent out but when these did not arrive by the Friday morning it was discovered that they had not left Utah due to a Fedex mix up( or whatever carrier they were using). So basically there were 200 of the original class kits sitting in Amsterdam airport and 100 sitting at Salt Lake but none at Egmond so poor Michelle had less than 24 hours to grab supplies and make a kit for us.

This meant that the other supplies she did have eg paint didn't match the new papers and she had to "borrow" some from the album track class - so it was a bit difficult to work with not enough supplies to go around. Still I did like the ribbon, papers, rub-ons and flowers we got in the substitue kit and well done to Michelle for keeping her cool in very adverse circumstances.

This class finished at 3:30pm so as my next class wasn't scheduled until 8:30pm I took the opportunity to explore Egmond a bit - There were some pretty little shops and I got some bargains in one shop that was selling Velvet alphabets for €1 and some little boxes of bling flowers and hearts - also for €1.

Picked up some Stroopwaffels from the bakers to take back home, and had a stroll along the front and over to the lighthouse.

After dinner I had a chance to do a bit of shopping...but I was actually surprising restrained - some scalloped edged bazzill, a few heidi swapp stamps and a Creative Imaginations Bare Elements Peek-a-Book book!

my planner page for the Rusty Pickle class

I loved the Rusty Pickle class - Lance Anderson is always funny - even if he is still telling the same McDonald's pickle story he told in November!!! Loved the mini-book done with the Chocolate Bunnies papers and there are always such great ideas in the Rusty Pickle classes.

Met up with everyone down in the crop room - unfortunately the Scrapaganza forum table wasn't very big so I didn't have a chance to meet up with everyone i would have liked to but hey there is always next time. Predictably I didn't win anything in the raffle but did have fun at the poker table. They were playing Texas Hold'em Poker with the chance to cash in your chips for stash after half an hour - Now I have only ever played this game at home with Robert and the kids but this is now Robert's main hobby as he plays quite a bit on line - obviously all his tales of flushes (hot!!! LOL ) the flop, the river and trip aces have been retained in my brain somewhere and I ended up staying in the game until half past one in the morning. I only got beat at the very end by a ringer!!! LOL - Dyan Reavely's son Ben...who had played quite a bit of poker before! Still it was a good laugh and I did win a "few" buttons at the end of it all!!! will be practicing my poker skills for next time I think. LOL

Scrapaganza Day 1

2007-06-15T08:17:00.000Z

Wow seems like it was ages ago now!!!
Had a brilliant time again and met so many new people - especially the rest of the "Aberdeen" girls (well that is where they all fly from so Aberdeen girls they shall be LOL ) ***waves*** to Jacqui, Karen, Elaine, Anne, Karen & Tracy, and to Irene & Susan, and it was great to catch up with Dawn and Frances and my lovely roomie Diane :)

No problem with the flights this time although this did mean I had over two hours to wait until the bus transfer. Spent the time chatting to the others who were waiting. Had lunch with MichelleS (***waves hello to Michelle) and a wander round the shops in a search for Kipling bags - we did find some but decided to see how much stash money we had left at the end of the weekend before parting with any money :)

The bus was late (Rolling eye smilie here) and as a result a few of us missed the first half of the Karen Burniston album track - I did feel for Karen who was engulfed with about 7 of us arriving half way through the class - I know some of the girls gave up and just picked up the kits but I was lucky enough to sit beside Vicky who helped me get caught up in no time...so much so that I almost finished the album (including photos in class)...but guess what 2 weeks later and it's still not finished. I will post some photos when its done.

These are the first couple of pages of the planner I made. I had originally planned to use one of Roz's gorgeous Flap books but I soon realised I was taking too many classes for this to be feasible so I ended up using a 7 Gypsies book instead.

After the class finished just after 6pm I was too late to meet up with everyone else as they had already gone to dinner so that they would be in time for their class at 7:30pm. My next class was not until 8:30pm. Luckily I met up with Tracy and she walked down to Egmond with me - the main shopping/bar/restaurant area and the beach was literally 2 minutes walk from the hotel. As Tracy's husband is Dutch she speaks a little bit of the language and managed to order me some Kroketten (which were lovely) and chips!!! Very classy LOL. Mind you I do love the "Chipsauce" the dutch have. - sort of a cross between mayonnaise and salad cream!
It was lovely to sit outside in the sun with Tracy whose company I really enjoyed :)

Then it was time to head back for my next class with Lisa Bearnson. Lisa talked for quite a lot of the class about the importance of scrapbooking and the class kit was a very generous 8x8 album kit (although the class did cost €25 instead of €15 but I thought that was pretty fair)
Lisa impressed me a lot with how open and friendly she was - she certainly made an effort to speak to all the Scottish ladies present as she had just been visiting Edinburgh earlier in the week and explained that she had lived in Scotland for a year and half many years ago - Her Scottish accent was pretty good too.

The class didn't finish until after 10pm and by that point we were in need of some light refreshment so some of us headed back down to Egmond to try out the local bars. At least Diane and I were sort of sensible and were back at the hotel by 1am...no comment on those who stayed out later LOL