A little offbeat

Another LO done for my New England album. The pictures were taken in the Haven Cafe (hence the bad pun!) where we had the best breakfast in the whole world: homemade buttermilk pancakes with lashings of maple syrup. Tummy rumbling just thinking about it! YUMMYYYYYYY!

I used BG Offbeat papers which I've had for an age and never used! Unfortunately my OH was wearing the most garish t-shirt in the world so I had to go for equally garish papers!!! Quite pleased with the result though :).

The journaling is a fab stamp from Cat's Life Press.

Oh no, not that kit again....

Yep, sorry folks. It's that kit rearing its ugly head again. I did this LO for the weekly challenge on UKS using a Page Map. I used up the leftovers from the kit - now there really are only scraps left although I might manage a couple of cards with the dregs.

Photos of the fur baby, as per usual. Playing with the burst mode on my camera!

My bit of bling

I thought I'd share this lovely pendant I had from my Mum at Christmas. It's handmade from silver clay by very talented artist Nicola Callow from Murano Silver.

If you are having deji vu, it might be because this pendant was on the front cover of Beads & Beyond magazine! I had to have it when I saw it and Nicola was kind enough to sell it to me - thanks Nicola.

I've thought about dabbling in silver clay but never took the plunge (then again I need another hobby like I need a hole in the head....).

More Sarah's Cards!

OK I am now nearly at the end of the Sarah's Cards box if you are well and truly sick of seeing these papers!

I also used my new Sizzix Vine die which is rather nice I think :).



This LO is for my Florida album; the pictures are of the beautiful Mount Dora canal. Loved it there.

Sarah's Cards Challenge LO

Been playing with my Sarah's Cards Jan kit again and this time I decided to do the Sarah's Cards sketch challenge (here)

This kit has been a revelation and I have done more LOs in a weekend than ever before. Three that is - yes I know I am not going to break any records but for someone who can spend that long choosing a piece of paper, believe me this is an achievement! LOL.

The chipboard shapes were white but I inked them up to tone with the page. The journaling strips are little Jenny Bowlin stickers.

How cute is this photo of my baby dog? That face is soooooooooo adorable.

King of the Hill!

Well, I finally took the plunge to get a monthly scrap kit, and my first Sarah's Card kit came a couple of days ago. Rather nice muted earthtones this month - very 'me'. This layout is my first effort with the contents - a layout of my darling doggie (no change there then...). It's an oldie I've been meaning to scrap for ages, but these papers were perfect for it both in colour and feel.

I have to confess this is the first time I have worked with shaped cardstock - still remain to be convinced...

Thank you to my other half for the fabulously perfect title. He does, it appears, have some uses.


That's it crafty wise for me today; off to spend the evening with Mr Clooney.

Another layout

Another scrapbook page today. There are details on here which I am really pleased with but don't show up on the photo; I used my Rock Candy Distress Stickles for the first time and OMG I love them! I smeared them all over the die cut paper strips so they really catch the light. The result is like crushed glass rather than glitter - so lush. You NEED this product.

Secondly the LO was looking a bit flat so I ruched up some ribbon and stapled it (as I am domestically challenged and still cannot operate my sewing machine which languishes in a box under the stairs...). I am really pleased with how this came out.

The photos were taken, believe it or not, from the beach in New England. This is how close the seals were to the shore and there must have been 50 of them in the water (I do have a zoom lense but still this is very close to wild animals in my book). It was truely amazing and captivating to see them; something I will never forget. I think of seals as the dogs of the sea and I have a real soft spot for them.

A fishy tale

I made this card for Grandad's birthday as he love to fish and I love nothing better than a really groanworthy pun!

I got the netting background from Innovative Stamp Creations having searched high and low for one I liked. I have used it at least three times already and I've only had it week! Love it. I painted the fish with Glimmer Mist so that they have a little bit of irridescent shimmer like real fish.

Men's cards are really hard for me but I think Gramps will like this one.

As it's a birthday card I am entering it for Hel's Sunday Stampers challenge.

Snow!!!

More snow yesterday - about another two inches - eek!

Yesterday I took the camera out when I walked the dog and made this little tag book ready for my pics. It's a really quick make - the pages are made with a jumbo tag Sizzix die and it's simply decorated with a painted and Glimmer-Misted snowflake :). I'll hopefully show you more when I get around to filling it up!

Playing with Page Maps

Here is a layout I made based on a sketch from one of my favourite sites to use - Page Maps. Simple as always, I've stamped a Hero Arts leaf design to create my main embellishment. The papers are MME (thank you Alix), BG Mellow and K&Co Wild Saffron. Quite pleased with this one for once but the photo doesn't do it justice.

These falls in New England were so pretty and it was a lovely riverside walk to reach them too. Page two of my album done - about 20 to go!

A little BIA project

When I first got my Bind-it-All it sat unloved for a while, but I've been using it rather a lot recently. Yesterday I still wasn't feeling too well so gave up on doing big projects and just had a play with some new stamps I got from Innovative Stamp Creations.

Innovative Stamp Creations (ISC) are a small US firm so you might not have some across them but their stamps are just lush. The set I've used here is called Tranquil.

I sprayed the background with four different shades of Glimmer Mist, so although you can't tell from the photo it's all gorgeous and shimmery! I then repeat stamped the larger flower image from the set in red chalk ink and the smaller flower image in orange to make a background. The set only comes with one bird so I reversed it - I stamped the first one in brown and cut it out. Then I stamped a second one and flipped the card over, inking on the back over the area where the bird is. Then I cut it out and I had a reversed birdy to make a pair. I sprayed both with yet more Glimmer and then just finished with the 'notes' word. Hope you like :).

Snow

I thought I'd share this lovely snowy picture today. 2010 hasn't started so well for me with illness but I did manage to get out for a brief walk in the beautiful snow. I needed a picture for my January page for Project 12 (what are the chances of that actually happening....slim to none methinks).

Soppyness alert

Another minibook today. It's a book of reasons why I love my OH which is a little present for him. It's inspired by one I saw in a Simple Scrapbooks special 'Mini Albums in an Evening'. I've experimented a bit with hybrid scrapping here. The cover panel and panels inside are generated in Photoshop using just the standard shape elements and some nice fonts. The papers were a Christmas pressie from my dear friend Ally and were just perfect for this (am glad I still have some left for a layout as they are rather lovely).

I am sorry the photos are a bit rubbish but I am too tired to take the time to re-do them. A better camera is on my birthday list!

New England

I've actually started my New England holiday album - three months after getting back. Oh well, better late than never heh?

I have a real thing about lighthouses so seeing these beautiful New England ones off the coast of Provincetown was a huge treat. The sky was so blue and it was such a bright day that they looked for all the world like an Edward Hopper painting - hence my title.

Quite a simple page - I wanted the photos to really shine. I'm not completely happy with it so I might re-do it at some point. But for now at least I have made a start!

A mad little minibook

I absolutely love making minibooks! This one might seem a little odd but it has a bit of a story to it. I was looking through my photos of other half to make a minibook about him. Could I find any decent pictures? Barely any. Everytime I point the camera he pulls a stupid face - sometimes intentionally, sometimes he is trying to smile but it comes out as a giant gurn!!! So this book was born - it's full of pictures of my dearest pulling silly faces, messing about and being caught unawares in comedy poses. It's a whole heap of sillyness but one of his more endearing qualities is that he is funny. One of his less endearing qualities is that he is super vain so he of course thinks this book is hideous and is quite mortified it will be on public display!!!

The papers are Lime Rickey by BasicGrey - the patterns are a bit bonkers so I thought they suited the theme. Each page is numbered and the journalling for each is on the inside front and back covers.

More yummy Hero Arts!

Another Hero stamp card courtesy of Grandad!

The background on this one is sprayed with lush Glimmer Mists and then I simply added a torn border and some lengths of twine. Simples ;).

This grasses stamp is BIG so makes a whole card all on it's own. I love anything that makes life easier.

Thank You Grandad!

A thank you card I made with a brand new stamp I got for Christmas. I nearly died with excitement when I discovered my tiny local craft shop is selling Hero Arts stamps! Gramps got me a £25 voucher for xmas so guess what I purchased :).


I was determined to use them and not leave them un-inked for months so there will be another creation with the second stamp I purchased tomorrow!

This started out as based on the sketch from 2 Sketches for You but it changed rather a lot in the process!

I'd also like to dedicate this card to my friends Alix, Paula, Ruth and Jaki - you guys have been the best and look forward to loads more fun times in 2010!