Fringe benefits

I have a plan - a cunning plan.

It is near impossible to take photos of Amy now, she hates me snapping away and finds all manner of excuses to avoid being papped, she is nothing if not inventive in her evasiveness.

But she did say I was 'allowed' to 'steal' the photos she uploads to her facebook profile, so now, every time she uploads a new pic I purloin away mwahahahahahaha

I always used to struggle with the concept of white space. Everyone who knows me also knows I am a 'more is more' kind of girl when it comes to scrapbooking, but, I have embraced the challenge and actually started to rather enjoy the practice of leaving a little of the page naked.

All the yummy crocheted flowers have been kindly given to me by my bessie mates Anita and Nicki who are both brilliant at making them, I am pants ! I tried, I honestly did, I failed, miserably I did !

If this photo and page looks a little familiar in style to the two previous layouts I have completed with Amy on them -  that is by design. I am not becoming lazy in my old age and repeating my pages. I am intending to complete a full album of layouts, all in a similar vein. I even have a name for the album - Face Book -  see what I did there.

I have also finished my ATC's for  The Stampman for October, get me -  so organised, it surely can't last !

The gorgeous lady adorning my ATC is Anna May Wong

Anna May Wong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961) was an American actress, the first Chinese American movie star, and the first Asian American to become an international star. Her long and varied career spanned both silent and sound film, television, stage, and radio.

The little coins were a gift from Anita, thankyou xxx

The oriental letters are a stamp I received free on the cover of a Craft Stamper.

The background was created with a blend of distress inks,  overstamped and embossed in gold

The image was googled and printed on photo paper.

I am just putting the finishing touches to my new workshop which will be taking place after the scrapbooking classes on saturdays for the next four weeks, I should have some photos to share tomorrow.

Sunday scrapbooking

It may be dull and rain-sodden outside my windows, but I feel sunny after my day of crafting. 

I have been keeping up with the laundry and housework throughout the week, so I rewarded myself with a day of play.

This is the layout I mentioned yesterday that I had started after work, the finishing touches were added before I went to bed ( in between a secret project, blogging, planning a card class and beating dad on mindjolt games  - insert evil laugh here)

It is very unusual for me to use yellow  - far too close to the colour orange to be comfortable for me, but Rob was wearing a bright yellow t-shirt ( gone are the days when I could choose their attire to match my favourite scrapbook products !)

This morning, in between creating a sample for my upcoming workshop ( lots of paint, inks and altered yumminess - therefore little gaps of drying time and opportunities to multi-task ) I created a layout with a photo of Amy, alas the looming rainclouds scuppered all attempts at a decent photo so I will share that with you all tomorrow ( sunshine permitting )

But as promised I do have my little critters to share with you, they are all made mainly from the Stampin'Up owl punch and were a hoot to make - geddit !!!

Sorry, the act of creating these little monsters was far too much fun for an adult.

Neil is seriously concerned for my sanity, he hasn't yet managed to wrap his head around the whole ATC concept. Then when he rings me from work and inquires as to what I am doing, my reply of "I am making a nurse out of an owl" left him speechless, which anyone who knows Neil will tell you is quite an achievement  !

Anyhow, here are the ones I have made so far ( lots more in the pipeline)

My little aliens

Giraffe, pig, sheep, cow, lion

Rudolph and a robin

Kermit

Pirate, nurse Carole, chef Ramsey (notice the mad eyes lol) and Jenny the graduate.

I also decided that I would start mounting them, here is the teacher

Bat and ghost

Wicked witch and Frankenstein

What am I going to do with all my little owlie creatures you may be pondering, well I am halfway through altering an old book, so they will all be mounted and added to the book.

No they are not terribly clever, or chic, they won't be a class or mean anything much to anyone else, in fact, even I recognise they are plain old silly, but you know what ? they are really fun and sometimes even grown ups need to do something............. just because !!!

Happy crafting - silly or otherwise

xxx

Quick class catch up

This weeks class cards

And a simple stamped winter scene for the christmas card, the card is a gatefold with the stamped image spanning both frontal folds

The leaves are punched from a new vellum we have in the shop, it has a lovely subtle lustre

Tuesday morning, wednesday morning and afternoon card classes are now quite full so I have opened up a tuesday afternoon.

Please ring the shop if you are interested in a place, we will be creating two cards each week, one christmas card and a generic card from now up until november, the card class is £6.50, all tools and equipment are provided and you will receive 10% on all your class day purchases. 

YeeTing has her next Stampin' Up class this thursday, places are available morning and afternoon, the class is £6.50 These are the cards YeeTing will be demonstrating, a gorgeous masculine style.

Once again please telephone the shop on 01472 359158 if you are interested in a place.

I am halfway through a little project involving owls, thanks to my friend Linda, who inspired me to create all manner of critters from the Stampin' Up owl punch, I will post a couple of them tomorrow and I also have a half-finished scrapbook layout staring at me, so hopefully should have that for you tomorrow also.

Night night xxx

This and that tuesday

Last weeks class cards. 

We have started Christmas now, therefore we will be creating one festive card and a generic card each class in the run up to December. 

Time to dust off those Santa stamps and all things sparkly.

Quick and easy for the first week.

Augusts ATC swap for our shop was Dream, and the requisite colours were black and white.

Here is the little artists card I entered into the swap. 

If you are interested in playing along, the swap is up and running on the RWS site HERE, the theme is HEARTS and the requisite colour this month is RED.

You may remember me mentioning a few posts back a Stampin' Up demo my good friend Linda hosted.

I also mentioned her daughter Leanne made the yummiest cupcakes for all the attendees. Well I was treated to a box of extras this weekend and as I was very lax in taking photos last time I snapped a shot before they disappeared.

How delicious do they look !!! 

So, thankyou once again Leanne xxx 

Whilst on the subject of the demo, I must make a very important apology. 

We had such a lovely day, I thanked all the contributors to the event here but I completely omitted a very special person. 

And such an important role to be completely missed, how very dare I !!! 

So, to the very charming guy who dubbed me 'Tracey from the shop' ( not quite so glamorous as Jenny from the block !) Paul you were fab! Although I am sure it wasn't too much hard work being surrounded by all those women and cupcakes too. 

Thankyou - big kiss mwahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Forever friends

Happy birthday Anita xxx 

I altered this frame for my lovely friend Anita who's birthday it is today, I had to try and create something really special as she is really special to me.

This is what the Ikea frame looked like before I set to work with paints etc -  a simple wood surround

And some close-ups of the detailing

Quick note to my ATC swappers, Augusts 'Dream' ATC's are all posted and winging their way to you now, thankyou everyone who took part, we had some stunning swaps again this month.

Septembers theme is Hearts, if you want to join in the fun, the current theme  is HERE on the Running With Scissors website

and the rules and guidelines for the swap are HERE

Teeny tiny treasures

A teeny tiny mini book made from envelopes.

I am planning on this as a class so if you are local and interested, let me know and I will sort out some dates. 

 The front cover

I used gorgeous Melissa Frances papers throughout. 

Half of the 'pages' have little pockets for tags.

Some of the words have been stamped others are stickers.

All the slide mounts have been sanded stamped and inked.

The pages are all only 4 inches in size so all the details are tiny. I adore working in miniature, my natural crafting size is 12 x 12 inches as I am predominantly a scrapbooker so I find it really fun to shrink everything down to suit a much smaller scale.

The butterfly is a little wooden laser cut which I have coloured with chalk ink.

All the pages have been inked with Sahara Sand chalk ink by Versamagic

There are 5 envelopes in total which provides 10 sides to decorate.

The  flourish design on this page was already on the patterned paper, I just highlighted the lovely curve with some liquid pearls.

This gorgeous leaf is a Marianne design die, the tag shape is also Marianne and the ribbon was a gift from Anita

And here it is all finished.

The boys both go back to school tomorrow. It will be AJ's first day at the academy. It is going to be a wrench, for me, not him, the boy is all good, but mummy is in bits. They grow up too fast !

Cards, cards and more cards

It is my friend Anita's birthday on thursday, a special one (21 plus VAT), she truly is a wonderful friend, it might have taken us almost 40 years to meet but we are definitely making up for lost time and I feel like she has always been a part of my life.

Here is the card I made for her

It is based on the napkin fold card which I found on this website here. It opens out to create all these folds and a place for  a verse / sentiment

Clearly this card doesn't fit a standard envelope so I made a box for it.

I spent the afternoon with Anita, Nicki, Margaret and my mum and dad, we had a yummy meal and a barrel of laughs. Don't you just love when you know you can go out for lunch and feel totally relaxed, we are all so alike and have the same humour, we were so busy enjoying it I forgot to take photos - naughty scrapbooker !!!

Next up are the two cards we made at the Stampin' Up demo on sunday

Linda did herself proud, the classes went really well and we loved the cards, thankyou Linda for a great day out. Also to Val for all the lovely cups of coffee.  And a huge thankyou to Linda's daughter Leanne who made the most gorgeously delish cupcakes. What more can a girl ask for - a day of crafting with cupcakes to keep the energy levels up.

Finally I have a quick and simple card to share with you all, this I made for my neighbour in the little parade of shops I am situated in. Rachel has just opened her Barbers shop and we wanted to wish her much luck and happiness in her new venture, the colours are to match her colour scheme in the shop.

Beauty blooms from Within

Another layout just for me - I am on a roll and loving it !

I am playing with a 'simpler, cleaner' style and enjoying it, it won't last, I will revert to my cluttered shabby chic but a change is as good as a rest as they say.

The whole layout apart from the white background was entirely out of scraps. 

The two following cards are this weeks class cards.

I taught two different techniques with metal stencils.

Thankyou to Val who very kindly brought in some really delish cream cakes this week, I have never seen my card class so quiet lol.

I have a little mini book on my desk as I type and it needs a cover, so I will leave you for now and hopefully be back tomorrow with my book to share. 

Oooops one last thing before I go, thankyou Nicki for the yummy stash you brought me today xxx