Go Green

I am hosting an atc swap over on our shop website and have been busy choosing themes for the next twelve months.

Here are a couple of example ATC's I made

The swaps start in June and the first months theme is recycle, the swappers all have to incorporate a recycled element on the card and they must also include the colour green somewhere.

For the first ATC the recycled elements are : the cross stitch fabric which was an unused portion of a kit gifted to me by Anita, the string  and the chain which is a broken necklace.

I created the faux wood background with distress inks and a felt tip pen.

For the requisite green I stamped my sentiment and image with an olive green ink.

 For this second ATC I recycled some Prima packaging ( the green background), the butterfly is punched from an old dictionary page and the heart is made from an old plastic carrier bag and the button is one that I salvaged from my button box.

I will be making a set of different atc's to actually swap and am really enjoying rummaging around the house for trash to turn into treasure.

 

On Stranger Tides

Happy Anniversary to my sweet, love you Neil. We are celebrating 19 years of marriage today.

This is the card I made for him.

I used Basic Grey papers, the Dream Heart Cherish stamp is by Inkadinkadoo and I used a Stampin Up punch for the floral details.

The deep heart border is a punch by Martha Stewart, the poem for the inside was computer generated.

The little tags were made using a stampin up tag punch and stamps, and I used bakers twine to attach them to the large heart.

And what did we do to celebrate 19 years of bliss ?

Romantic meal out for two ? 

Sunset stroll along the beach hand in hand ? 

Quiet evening just the two of us with wine and chocolates ? 

Nope, not for us

We took the kids to Burger King for tea and enjoyed the new Pirates of the Caribbean  film all together as a family, and you know what ? It was the best night out we've had in ages.

Walk With Me

I have been working on a couple of little projects for my window display at the shop, I was going for a whimsical, young, clean and crisp look in bubble gum pink and green.

I created these two layouts to form a part of the display.

Both are much different to my usual style of scrapping, but I really want a cute feeling of whimsy, so I took a step out of my comfort zone.

With the scraps I quickly put together this really simple card.

Huge thanks to Nicki who worked all afternoon, helping me to put another two large orders of stock out on the freshly fitted shelves, thanks hon.

IMPORTANT NEWS for class members

All classes will be resuming from 6th June onwards, if you had a place last time round it is still yours.

Thankyou all for your patience and understanding whilst we have been working through the enforced refurbishment.

Banner Tutorial

Today I have a little tutorial to share with you. I made this quick and easy little banner this afternoon to decorate the shop.

First of all, trim your cardstock into rectangles, mine measures 21cm long by 9cm wide, mark a little dot halfway across the tag, 5cm up from the bottom and cut down to each corner to remove the little triangle in the middle, keep this triangle and use it as a template to mark all your remaining rectangles, cut them all out the same.

Use a decorative punch to create a border along the top of each tag ( I used a Martha Stewart border punch)

Now we need to make some patterned paper shapes to fit inside the white shapes we made in the previous step, this time cut your rectangles to measure 15cm long by 8cm wide and use the little white triangle as a template once again to create the shaped bottom.

Score each white piece 3cm from the top of your decorative border, and define crease with a bone folder.

Attach both layers together using DS tape leaving an even border all around the shape, you will have a larger blank area at the top.

I used red high tack tape to add my ribbon as I didn't want each pennant slipping down the ribbon. Lay all your pennants side by side onto a table and add your red tape to each side of crease, ensure all your little flags are evenly spaced on the table and then lay your chosen ribbon just below the crease on each pennant, fold over top of pennant - trapping ribbon between each layer of red tape.

Now for the fun part, add your embellies and lettering etc.

I punched out large scalloped circles, inlaid them with co-ordinating patterned paper circles and then added some thickers for my lettering.

The little boys and the butterflies were all handcut from some Prima patterned paper.

I have a couple of thankyous to say, the first two to Pat and Trish who both brought me in boxes of yummy Thornton chocolates, thankyou so much and the third one to Ann who brought me in these gorgeous flowers yesterday, thankyou very much xxx Chocolates and flowers - what more can a girl ask for !!!!

I tried out some close-ups with my new camera - still not brave enough to take it out of auto mode ! I know these shots are not perfect but they are much better than my other little point and shoot was capable of.

And on that happy note I shall love you and leave you to create a couple of layouts that are currently bouncing around inside my head. 

Before I go, a brief note to say the ATC swaps are back in full swing on the RWS forum HERE, all the necessary info and rules are there if anyone is interested in playing along, due to time restraints and postage the swap is only open to UK residents at the moment.

Leica Likey

It is my Mother-in-law's birthday next week and Neil really liked the card I shared with you a couple of days ago, so he asked me to make a similar design for his mum, this is what I came up with. I used my new Marianne birdcage die which I bought whilst I was out with my friends Anita and Nicki last sunday.

I used Basic Grey papers, punches by EK Success and Martha Stewart, I inked all edges with Sahara Sand ink by Versamagic and the sentiment is a stamp by Stampin' Up

These next couple of photos are of some of the new shelves housing some of the new cardstock we have introduced to the shop during the refurbishment, these are mainly for you Chanelle, there will be more to follow next week.

Today was spent completing the usual weekend tasks, washing ironing housework etc, I also enjoyed a few hours weeding and tidying the garden, the lawn needed mowing and there was a few areas in dire need of a little attention. After which I managed to squeeze in a little baking before the sunday roast needed seeing to.

I was delighted with how the brownies turned out. It is at this point I have a secret to reveal - shhhhhhhhhhhhhh don't tell anyone, but I have magic powers. You see the photos, they are evidence that I did indeed bake a large batch of brownies, but they vanished - into thin air - never to be seen again !!! See, told you I was magic, there is not even a crumb left now to suggest they ever existed !

Finally ( if you are still here with me lol). My last few photos are from my newly tidy garden. Neil has bought me a fab new camera so all the photos on this blog post were experiments with my new toy. I am now the proud owner of a Leica D Lux 3. I am still trying to figure most of it out and to be honest all these photos were taken in auto mode but I am determined to learn a lot more about aperture and shutter speed etc, so if any of you have some tips I would be really grateful.

Hope you have all had a happy and restful weekend xxx

Mr Mojo re-enters the building

This is the very first time in over 6 years of daily crafting that I have ever experienced a spell of not playing with my supplies, for almost 2 weeks I have been wondering if my mojo had left for good.


Luckily ( for my sanity and for my business) it turns out my mojo was simply enjoying a brief holiday and has come back refreshed and bursting with the need to delve deep within my stash.


Arriving home from work this afternoon I felt the desire to unleash my new found inspiration to create a soft and feminine card.





I used papers from the Je T'adore range by Making Memories and a lovely sparkled bloom from Prima, all available in my shop. The punches are a variety from Martha Stewart and EK Success, Stampin' Up products were used for the sentiment and for the floral detailing around the perimeter of the tag.





As I attached each decorated border, I added some small 3D foam squares to give the bottom edge of each strip just a teensy lift. All edges have been inked with Malted Mauve Versamagic.


I have also been busy finishing my ATC's for this months Stampman ATC swap, the theme for which was friendship. I seriously toyed with the idea of adding a little photo of each of my closest crafting friends who also play along in the swap, but the look of horror on Anita's face persuaded me otherwise.





The papers are Graphic 45 which I purchased a little while ago in Tilly's, I couldn't resist a little fussy cutting and added some cute bunnies, which were stickled for a little glitz. The monogram stamp is one by Stampin' Up, as is the friendship text background.





In keeping with the ATC theme, I will leave you with a friendship poem by Elizabeth Jennings

Such love I cannot analyse;

It does not rest in lips or eyes,

neither in kisses nor caress.

Partly, I know, it's gentleness.

And understanding in one word

or in brief letters. It's preserved

by trust and by respect and awe.

These are the words I'm feeling for.

Two people, yes, two lasting friends.

The giving comes, the taking ends.

There is no measure for such things.

For this all nature slows and sings.

Lake District - 2011

A narrow girdle of rough stones and crags,
A rude and natural causeway, interposed
Between the water and a winding slope
Of copse and thicket, leaves the eastern shore
Of Grasmere safe in its own privacy

William Wordsworth

Our very first outing with our new tent, sited at Grange-Over-Sands, Lake District.

An unseasonably beautiful and balmy April, idyllic ice-cream moments.

On top of the world.

Another fine mess ! Lauren and Hardy at the Coronation Hall - Ulverston

Also appearing at the Coronation Hall Ulverston - The SawDoctors

A well earned rest.

It was a holiday of firsts, the first time any of our little family had ever ventured to the Lake District, the first time any of us had enjoyed a walking holiday and the first time our tent had been used.

There were so many opportunities for the holiday to be dampened by inexperience, circumstances or indeed the infamous Lake District rain.

But dampened it was not, in fact we enjoyed the most glorious sunshine, more befitting of a summer on the south coast rather than an Easter in the West. The tent went up like a dream (and more importantly stayed up !)

The children were fantastic, no moaning or dramas, in fact they were perfect, they loved the area and the walking and they even all got on with one another and were happy to help around camp( still trying to work out how that happened so we can achieve it again next time)

I have never been so relaxed and forgot all the concerns I had at home with the shop refit etc. We didn't do any planning as such, we acted on our whim and fancy, took whichever direction captured our interest, enjoyed the picture postcard scenery as we breathed deeply the fresh air, in essence we stopped and smelled the roses ( well more often than not it was sheep poo - but you get the drift !)

I took a little notebook with me on this trip and at the end of each day, snuggled under canvas beneath the glow of a lantern, wrote a few words by which to remember the days and the moments that all too easily escape memory when it comes to journalling in my scrapbook.

The photos have all been loaded to my Mac and I will be creating an album over the coming weeks, I look forward to reading my notes and leafing through my photos as I create another family keepsake.

I will be back later in the week with crafty endeavours to share with you and news of the shop too ( and maybe a few photos of the progress there also !)

Please note, the shop is open for business as of tuesday, classes will NOT be resuming for a couple of weeks as some of the work is still in progress ( I will be back with class details and dates very soon) but we are open for you to stock up on your essentials, new stock is being added on a daily basis and there are lots of bargains as we are making room for all the new papers and embellishments.

Copics have been restocked and we have all the new colours, all at the offer price of £1.99, this is a limited time offer, so now is a good time to add to your collection.