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Friday, May 29, 2009

Soooo very excited!!!!

Just to say first I am very excited to be a member of the Craft Den Design Team. I am really looking forward to it and want to thank Lynne for asking me and also for being such a great crafting mentor over the past year. I have so enjoyed myself and always feel really inspired every week by everybody!

Well, Dan and I spent an Emma free weekend this weekend as it is our anniversary on Thursday (5 years, can't believe it!!). We spent a lovely 2 days just chilling in the garden and relaxing, neither of which we can do when Emma is around. We also had a lovely meal out on Saturday and saw Wolverine at the cinema (watching the lovely, lovely Hugh Jackman, what better way to spend the evening, lol!). Well you can guess what I did while in the garden! No gardening, no reading, no sitting and chatting to my husband: I scrapbooked!! 5 pages!!!! Here we go....



The first is actually a really lazy page, using some lovely K & Co Blue Awning embossed paper and the related chipboard words, flowers and swirls from my stash. This is me and my mum and dad on my graduation day, way back in younger and thinner days. Check out the 90's poodle hair, I miss that hair!! I have also added a journaling tag as I am trying to push myself to journal more, but I haven't written on it yet!

The next is a piccie of my sister Liz with Emma on her shoulders a couple of weeks ago in Scotland. Actually I finished this on Friday morning after getting carried away and scrapbooking until late again after scrapbook class at the CraftDen. I took the colours from the woodland background, and really enjoyed cutting out the little trees. I actually did some journaling on this one and hid the tag behind the photo.



Number 3...For this layout I was still sewing at nearly midnight last night! Once I get going, obsessed is not the word! I used really lovely glittered My Minds Eye papers, Mulberry flowers and stickles all from Craftden. The buttons and crosstitch thread are from stash. This is the first time I have used so much stitching on a layout and I love the effect. It will be used more often now! Once I get an idea I really run with it (see the CraftDen special flowers on previous layouts... due for a reprisal I think..)




Number 4.. I decided to do some paper piecing as the scalloped edge paper on the left hand side is actually the other side of the green stripe background, so I have pieced two more pieces on the right hand side to make it 12 x 12 and to create a framed section look to the layout. The flowers are cut out and glossy accented from another piece of coordinating paper. Paper is Bo Bunny from stash, the Tim Holtz grungeboard letters, Bo Bunny ribbon, acrylic paint and stickles from Craftden.


Finally, last one! I have wanted to do a giant photo layout for a while and finally found the ideal photo. She sooooo bootiful!! There is a quote that there is only one beautiful baby in the world and every mother has it. Well that's wrong - I have the most beautiful child in the history of people!! In my humble opinion anyway, lol!
I created a frame around the photo using acrylic paints and added rub ons, both from the Craftden. I have never tried that technique before and actually it looks quite good. I thought it might look too grungy. Sei paper and flowers from stash.




Right, I need more stash now, off to Craft Den, lol!!

Pockets, tags and hidden photos




Here is the page I did at the Craft Den class last night. It includes all sorts of different pockets, tags and hidden photo/journaling techniques. I love the colours and it is so nice to just be pushed to scrapbooking photos that I had for a long time and didn't have any firm ideas about. I have loads of photos I am going to use the hidden technique on as I always want to scrap every single photo I own, lol!! Just the photography to work on a bit more....All Blonde Moments papers, cardstock, and mulberry flower embellies from Craft Den

Two more to come which are nearly finished, I have been very busy and a teeny weeny bit obsessed, lol! ;-)

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Misspent weekend!






Hi, well, I spent as much time as possible scrapbooking this week, as you can see and have two more from the weekend. This is a record for me, I must admit to being a bit obsessed this week, 6 layouts in one week and one just to finish tonight! It reflects on my whirl of a busy social life, lol!!

both layouts are of pictures from our holiday last week in Scotland. In the first Emma is enjoying being swung by my mum and dad. She never waits until the count of three and her legs are not touching the ground in the first photo! I used some lovely, lovely, lovely Cosmo Cricket Early bird papers, 7 Gypsies journaling tag and giant Prima flower.



The second one is Emma trying to stop me from taking a picture of her and Dan by covering his face. The title should really read 'mummy no!' I suppose! The background stamp shaped cardstock is Making Memories and the patterned paper Basic Grey. The letters are K & Co recycled range and some lovely new Prima flowers I bought at the weekend. The felt is from Le Temple du Scrap in Paris, which would sadly be on my tourist list again next time I visit the lovely city, sad lol!!



Craft Den tomorrow, hurrah!!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

My Mum



I just completed a layout of my mum, the first I have done without Emma also being in the photo as the 'main attraction'! This photo was taken in Scoland, during our holiday last week. The sun is out, my mum is happy! She is a complete sun worshiper!



All the papers are Bo Bunny Abbey Road range from Craft Den, with Prima flowers and buttons. I went a bit mad with the stickles! You may also see the lovely circle flowers, a la Craft Den, which have crept in ever so often to my pages now, lol!

I also had a little play with making my own embellishments, in the top left hand corner. I sprayed an old book page with glimmer mists and die cut a heart shape. I am just experimenting with alcohol inks, so maybe they will turn up on a scrapbook page any day now!

Friday, May 22, 2009

On a roll..



I was on a roll last night. After scrapbook night at the lovely Craft Den I came home and made two more pages! Sleep, what's that?, lol!!

The first layout we did at Craft Den. It's really good to have the materials and equipment put in front of you and to make a page, and to see how different everyone's is with the same papers. It really pushes you in a different direction. Last night we had fun with fiskars border punches (I cheated however and swapped my blue cardstock for yellow from my stash! I have palpatations if I don't have some stash with me!) When I got home I covered the lovely butterfly dies in glamour dust and added the title from a sheet of K & Co titles.



The second has a lovely photo of Emma in her Peppa Pig (oink) pyjama's for the first time at Christmas, holding her Iggle Piggle bubble bath (you get used to all these weird names when you have a toddler!) I used my lovely Spellbinders border die to create a strip down the right hand side and cut away the cardstock underneath to create a more interesting edge. I also made some embellishments out of the naughty purchase of Tim Holtz fragments yesterday! All paper from Craft Den. The word panel is My Minds Eye, bought from Le Temple du Scrap in Paris! Only I could go to Paris for one day and spend half of it in a craft shop, lol! (Actually, no a lot of you could do that as well I suspect.....) I have a photo of the front of the shop, must do a layout one day!


The last one I love, I made some more lovely scrunched flowers like the ones made at Craft Den a few weeks ago, only I didn't distress and chalk, just layered them with organza and buttons. Another border die cut and some lovely K & Co Amy Butler papers. I have a long way to go to use up all the vast piles of paper I have amassed, lol!

Friday, May 8, 2009

Significant moments



Hello, just a quick post of the layout I did at Craft Den last night. We had great fun tearing, scrunching and chalking the new blonde moments paper Lynne has recently got in. Check out the lovely distressed paper flowers! I found some great paper artsy papers and quote, and used them a matt for my photos and added a K&Co chipboard butterfly and flower for some bling when I got home. I have also a thing for butterflies at the moment! Hope you like it..

Friday, May 1, 2009

Well, while I'm here..



As I'm back and playing with photos, I thought I would post another layout done at Craft Den a couple of weeks ago. Again, I love that it includes things I would not have thought of and takes the stress out of the desperate search for inspiration! I just luurrvvvee Emma's scowly face in the middle picture(she has many, lol!). She's about 1 here so she has been honing the grumpiness for some time now, lol!

Hello, been a while....



It's been a while since I was last on here. I keep forgetting to take pictures of my layouts, and it's a bit hard to post them otherwise! I found out yesterday Lynne and Chanelle from the Craft Den have looked at my blog - oh the pressure! Still it's nice to know I'm not just taking to myself, or Liz!

Speaking of Liz, here is a layout we did last night at the Craft Den. I am really pleased with the final version, I would never have thought of this on my own! The glue glittering on the stamps is stunning. I finished it with inked and glamour dusted Tim Holtz grungeboard letters for the title (I paid £20 for them at Christmas and have only used about 6 of them - oops, note to self, start using your stash...) Wibibuf is my silly name for Liz, I even address letters to her using that name. It sounds how me and my cousins used to try to say Elizabeth when we were young and it amuses me still! Now Emma calls her Auntie Wiz! Not sure which is worse!!