A whole lot of crafting going on.

Yesterday was crop day at Eclectic Keepsakes, I really do enjoy my time spent there, especially at the moment as I am not really scrapbooking (hadn't touched a LO since last crop). It reminds me why I like scrapbooking, also the company is good, it's a good way of exchanging ideas and as always the Lovely Karen had made very yummy cakes.

This months crop was a little different, as there was no class taught, instead we were each to provide a small kit that we had put together and then we would do a swap. Now as a girl who tends to buy whole sets of papers so that they match or kits that have already been put together, this did scare me rather a
lot, as did working to the budget of £5. My DH would readily confirm that I have great difficulty working to a budget. Luckily for me ATDML had their retreat last weekend and we were lucky enough to pop over and have a look at their shop and what a delight it was, so many papers to choose from, so many ideas for embellishments.

The first papers that I came across I chose, they were a mix of reds (favourite colour), blue and greens. Unfortunately I forgot to make a note of the name (I think I was just in denial about giving away the lovely new papers ;) I also came across some embellishments by Webster Pages called Designer threads dollies spring mix. Now these lovely things were out of my price range so I thought that I would have a go at making some, it took me all week but I succeeded. So I had a kit ready to go. We all arrived at crop and Karen asked us to put our goodies into brown paper bags so we did not know what was in them. They was great excitement in the afternoon when we got to choose a brown bag, like an early Christmas present.

Here is what I got in my brown bag, a lovely selection of My Mind's Eye papers, aren't the colours gorgeous. I would not normally go for this colour range, I tend to stick to very girly papers, but that is the beauty of this swap, it gives you something totally new to play with.

Guess who put together my brown bag, yes the lovely cake baking Karen, she also put together a lovely sketch for us to use.

So armed with the sketch and my lovely goodies I got straight to it and actually finished a layout to bring home.

I am really happy with the finished LO, it features a photo of my DH, which is something new as well as using a different colour scheme. I hardly ever scrap just him, most of my LO's feature my DD.

So in my eyes crop was a great success and I hope that Karen does the kit swap again sometime. Talking of Karen again, guess you got my kit?

Squeezing in a crop

Last weekend was a busy one for me, Saturday was crop day and then on Sunday we made the trip to Stratford Upon Avon for a family wedding. We had planned to go to Stratford on the Saturday and make the most of the long weekend, but the weather has been so awful that we decided against it, which was good for me as it meant that I got to go to the Eclectic Keepsakes Crop. It has been ages since I last went and it was so good to catch up with the ladies there.

I usually plan some layouts out in advance but I didn't do that this time, so I wasn't as productive as I could have been, I also spend a lot of time chatting. I love catching up with the ladies and I will admit to having some favourites. I also love looking at other people's stash, a lovely lady called Eileen has an amazing stash, I actually think that she could name any piece of paper you put in front of her. She also make gorgeous layouts. She has given me some washi tape to use on a layout, she is convinced that I will love it. I need some convincing but I plan to have a go.

This is my first layout that I managed to complete. I took the photo of DD on the morning of her birthday,  hence the big smiley face.

Here's a close up of the tape measure running a long the bottom of the photo, I stamped round the eight and then added some bling. Makes a change to a stamped number, I am really liking all the tape measures that are around at the moment.

The class this month was by Ann Freeman, I usually love Ann's layouts at first sight, but this time I was a little troubled by what I saw. There were paint and ink splatters and also large painted letters, all of which is totally out of my comfort zone! Ann as always was cheerful and VERY patient. I did brave the splatters but didn't push the boat out & paint the title. As I am sure I have mentioned before I am what I call an anal scrapper, I do straight lines and don't tend to use loads of embellishments. I guess we all have our own styles. I do like my finished layout, so much that I have attempted more ink splatters.

Unfortunately my ink splatters are not as subtle as Ann's, but I am liking how it takes some of the whiteness away from the background, it is not so stark.

I managed to take some photos at the wedding and I plan to take some more at the wedding party this weekend, so hopefully you will see them on some layouts soon. Who knows there might even be some washi tape and ink splatters.

Not going to plan

I have come to the conclusion that my Dad is a very wise man. We have spent a lot of time together this week while my Mum was in hospital. One of his pieces of wisdom this week, is not to make plans. At the time I disagreed with this because I am the Mum of a very active/social seven year old and life needs to be planned, that is until said seven year old gets sick.

I had planned to go to the Eclectic Keepsakes Crop on Saturday, but germs decided to invade my house on Friday. My DD got sick, so my plans for this weekend went out the window, add in some snow and all hell has broken loose.

So what is a girl to do while DD is snuggled on the sofa dozing in between various Disney programs. Tidy her craft room of course. Now I would show you a before picture, but I am to embarrassed, let's just say that you couldn't see the floor or any of the work surface in there. It's a job that has been needing doing for a while, but if I have a spare minute I don't want to be tidying, I want to be crafting.

So here is my room in all it's glory, looking at this it still looks a little cluttered, but trust me this is a huge improvement, it was so bad that DD didn't think that it could be done.

I now have photographic evidence that I do actually have a carpet in there and for once it does not have hundreds of little white squares all over it.

I can now actually see the work surface.

My current Just One Sketch layout, I will hopefully be able to finish it this week. I still can't believe that I only have my current project out. Normally there is the leftovers from several layouts, all the punches that I own and whatever else I have used since my last quick tidy.

I have even rearranged the bookshelves, I now have empty boxes (shock horror), I have labelled my pizza boxes and I even put some magazines out to be recycled.

So how long did this take me, pretty much all day in between caring for the sickies. Did I miss the fab ladies at Eclectic Keepsakes, of course. Am I glad that I have done it, yes, there is always next months crop. Also on another plus side I found my crochet hook in all that mess, so I have begun to start to teach myself to crochet, again.

So my Dad will be pleased to know that this week, I have no plans. DD on the other hand is a whole different matter.

Feeling Productive

It is the start of January and I am feeling very productive, I almost feel like giving myself a tap on my back. Strange how it is the simple things that please us. I have been scrapping to my hearts content, so my January is off to a good crafty start. 

Last weekend was the Eclectic Keepsakes Crop, I love these days, I know I pretty much say it every month, but I can't help myself. It is so lovely to hang out with ladies who get the crafty thing. We had some newbies this month which was nice and as always there was the usual banter and gently teasing of me. This month was a little different as there was no actual class, so I actually got some layouts completed as well as doing plenty of chatting.

What am I saying, some stuff done. I completed FOUR, yes four pages. I made it my mission this year to do some Christmas layouts. I took lots of photos and even planned out some layouts in advance. Unfortunately I left them on the kitchen table, but my ever loving husband flew to my rescue and drove all the way home and then back again, with the layouts.

I love this photo of DD, her eyes are so big and she truly is full of Glee, she is such a huge fan. The papers are old Christmas ones, but I love that they are unusual Christmas colours. The pink works perfectly with DD dressing gown (the photo doesn't really show that).

For the layout below I used a sketch from the Sketch2Scrap app. It is so handy to have them on hand. I used a Hipstamatic photo (another iPhone app). I really like the effects, but the photos do come out a little dark once printed out.

Another Hipstamatic photo below, I used more traditional colours as they work so well with the big bow in DD's hair. 

My final layout features me and my lovely new boots. I scrap lifted a page from Julie Bonner's Blog, I was searching for some inspiration and I came across her blog. She has some lovely ideas. I also got to use the lovely papers that I bought at the last crop. 

I have actually done four more layouts this week, but I will show you them next time. So as you can see I am off to a flying start. I have started to make my 12x12 album to put my Christmas layouts in, this is proving a little tricky, but I am hoping to have it finished before the weekend, as there will be no crafting during the weekend as we are off to an outdoor show. Not exactly sure what it entails but I am sure that it will give me a chance to take lots of photos. 

Have a good weekend x

So that is what my blog looks like!

I hold my hands up, I have been a very bad blogger, so bad in act that I am now on Santa's naughty list. I can't believe that it is now December, I missed the whole of November. In my defence I have been busy, I have managed to go on holiday, start to prepare for a craft fair that I am attending, go to two crops as well as help my lovely husband buy a flat for him to stay in during the week. There is also all the usual Mum stuff too, going backwards and forwards to school, gymnastics, brownies and swimming with my DD.

My scrapbooking has gone completely out of the window, but after this months crop at Eclectic Keepsakes I can't wait to get back to it, I am brimming with ideas, it all needs to wait until after next Wednesday. Next Wednesday is a big day for me, I am being brave and I am attempting to sell some things at the Colchester Castle Park Christmas Market. I did say after my last attempt at selling my cards that I would never do it again, but my lovely friend Vicky has talked me round. Fingers cross that I sell something, I am feeling a little nervous. I have been busy making flower brooches like the buttonholes that I did for Vicky's wedding, I have also made some owls, covered journals and lastly bags made out of wool jumpers.

The bags started as an idea after I read The Inadvertent Farmer's Blog she had made a lovely bag and provided instructions on how to do it. Great I thought, something different, the hardest part has been finding the jumpers as they need to be 100% wool.

This was my first attempt, I am really pleased with the end result. What pleased me more is that I realised that I can get two bags out of one jumper.

I used the leftover sleeves to make the bag below. I cut down the seam of the sleeve to open it up, if you do this with both sleeves you then have a front and back. I used dowelling to make the handles sturdy. At some point I hope to add a how to, to my blog.

Here is another in purple. Foe the flower I used the Big Shot to cut out some hearts and a circle.

I think that this grey tote is my favourite, my Mum helped me line it . I have used brooch pins on the flowers so they can be moved or even taken off. Mum even used the shirt pocket, as a pocket inside.

So there we have some of my bags that I am hoping to sell (fingers crossed). If anyone fancies popping along, the Christmas market is next Wednesday 14th December at Colchester Castle, from 3pm. I would love to see some smiling faces and you never know you might even pick up some bits for Christmas. 

Then hopefully I will be back to normal :)

Wedding bells

I am going to a wedding today, my very good friend Vicky is tying the knot and I am very excited.

So this week has been all about the wedding. Vicky asked me to make her buttonholes, so I was happy to help out. I am really pleased with the results and can not wait to see them today.

Wednesday morning was spent making bows for the front of the wedding cars. As usual I turned to the wonder that is Youtube and found a great little lesson on how to make these, it is so simple. In the afternoon I made Vicky a card. I don't tend to make many cards these days, but I was really struggling to find something that I liked. Vicky is using the colours olive green, bright pink, maroon and deep purple so I used them on the card. The photo is of the happy couple at Vicky's birthday party earlier this year.

Yesterday was spent decorating the wedding venue (I will show photos next blog) Vicky and her family had gathered together lots of flowers and foliage and I think that it looks amazing, it also smells amazing as there is lots of lavendar and rosemary too.

So that has been my week, no flowers that I promised last blog, I am hoping to make some tomorrow at the Eclectic Keepsakes crop, I am sure that the lovely ladies there will help me and I am also really looking forward to Sue's class in the afternoon. I have managed to do a couple of quick layouts using Crate Paper papers. I love these papers, the colours are amazing.

Right I am off to glam up.

All thanks to Laurie

I have been having a slight drought with my scrapping mojo of late. Even a day spent with the lovely ladies at Eclectic Keepsakes did not manage to water my mojo. As yet I have only managed to finish one of the gorgeous layouts designed by Ann Freeman.

I took this photo on a day trip to Ickworth House, I love how the black & white photo goes so well with the lovely glittery papers that Ann used. A girl could be tempted to buy more in this range from My Minds Eye.

I have made a really good friend at the crop, Laurie. We go out for coffee and put the world to rights, this week she took me to a craft shop that she had found in Clacton. It is a great little find and if I had my mojo I am sure that I would have bought plenty, but I didn't (Steve, please take note!). The shop has pieces around that the staff have done, on a lovely tag there was a flower. This flower has taken my fancy, but I had no idea of where to start. This is where Laurie comes to my rescue, not only did she patiently explain how I could make one of these flowers, she went home and sent me an E-zine which had full instructions and photos. So hopefully this week I will be making flowers and have something to show you.

So Laurie has spurred me on and given me a friendly shake (just what I needed).
Look what I have managed to do.....

Not only have I managed to complete a layout I also managed to use Glimmer Mist and this gorgeous blingy flourish. Just what the scrapping mojo ordered.

So let's hope that this is a more scrappy week, I am hoping to have flowers, a layout and also the completed buttonholes that I have been asked to make to show you next, wish me luck x

Feeling a little lost

So yesterday my DD went back to school, she has gone into juniors (whatever that means). Now in the past I would be jumping for joy, planning what I would be doing to fill my child free days. Scrapping and crafting to my hearts content. This year I do not feel the joy, I still have not scrapped, I tidied my dining room instead (shock horror)!! Don't get me wrong DD is happy to be back at school (thankfully), as I type this she is downstairs all dressed and ready to go, an hour before the doors open.

While DD was at home last week I finished, yes finished a project just for her. I have been playing around with some material flowers and I decided to have a go using felt. Normally felt would be in my DD's craft box, what a waste, it is fabulous stuff! DD asked if she could have some of the flowers for her hair. So I was happy to oblige.

I started off with a circle of felt, that I then cut into quarters. I make five petals so you will need at another circle.

I then tied a not at the end of some thread and did running stitch along the curved part of the felt quarter, I used the same thread on all five pieces. I then pulled the thread so that the pieces gather together to form my flower.

I then sewed on a button as the middle of the flower.

Attached a hairgrip.

And made five more, so that DD has six.

Then attached to DD, who is very happy with them and has requested more in other colours.

So again still no scrapbooking, I am hoping that this will change on saturday as it is the Eclectic Keepsake's Crop. That reminds me I must do my photos.

It's a family affair

Last weekend was the Eclectic Keepsakes crop and this month I had company, my Sister Liz tagged along. Liz got married last year and in my excitement in the run up to the big day I found a scrapbook wedding album and kit. Liz had an amazing photographer for her big day, who took hundreds of fabulous photos and Liz wanted to finally start on her album. Liz has never scrapbooked before, so it was a learning curve for her.

As always the ladies at Eclectic Keepsakes made us feel very welcome, it was a small session this month, I think that lots of the ladies were on holiday, with this in mind Karen decided not to do the class, which worked in our favour as we got to do more work on Liz's album (she has ALOT of photos).

This is Liz working on one of her pages, together we worked on eight pages and I have instructions from Liz to carry on, it will be a work in progress over the next few months. I think that Liz enjoyed herself, she said that she would come again which is a good sign. It was just nice hanging out with my baby Sister and doing  something that I love.

So I did none of my own layouts at the weekend, but I did make cupcakes for my Dad's Birthday, I used a recipe from a blog that I found mentioned in a book. The blog title is The Caked Crusader and if you love making cakes or if you just love cake you should check it out. I made Spiced beer cupcakes with honey buttercream, I was drawn to this recipe as the caked crusader used Adnams, which my Dad loves. The recipe was a hit with my Dad :)

So last weekend was all about family which was lovely, I know that my Mum and Dad love it when we all get together, I am glad that we could make their weekend.

Final June Total

Welcome to July and if you are like my daughter you are on count down to your holidays (she has two & half weeks to go). I have been luckily enough to sneak in some holidays early this year, two just this month, with that being said I have managed to do twelve! yes twelve layouts this month. I also managed a birthday cake for my niece, luckily for me she wanted exactly the same cake as Ella, so I was able to reuse the figures that I used for Ella's cake.

Back to my layouts, while I was away I missed the adtml crop I am hoping that I will be around for their next one. I have in my own time attempted a couple of the challenges & sketch. I really enjoyed Mel Hand's challenge, which had an interactive opening section. I had never attempted something like this before and I really enjoyed the challenge.

I didn't have the magnetic closure for the flap, I used ribbon instead, I also didn't have the Fancy Pants papers that Mel used, I used My Minds Eye. The photo below is with the interactive section closed.

The next photo is with the section open. I made the flower (love them) and the other embellishments were a freebie off a scrapbooking magazine ages ago.

Below is the sketch challenge from the ATDML crop.

And here is my take on the sketch, I did something new for me and attempted to use glimmer mist. I am still trying to get to grips with it, but I guess the more I practice the better I will get (exactly what I was telling Ella earlier), so expect to see more glimmer mist in future layouts. I used some gorgeous Kaisercraft papers, which when I got them I hadn't realised that I had ordered the 6x6, so this layout is perfect for the smaller paper size. Another "made by me" flower and some left over alphas from the last crop I went too and there we have it.

My third layout used a sketch from the sketches 2 scrapbook app. This app is so user friendly and so convenient. I used more of the Kaisercraft papers.

I would show you my fourth layout, but the computer is not playing ball, so it will have to wait for next time. Nearly forgot, the exploding box that I posted last time for the Let's Scrap weekly challenge won, hooray!

This weekend is the Eclectic Keepsakes crop, woo hoo! For a new twist I am taking my Sister, Liz with me. Liz got married last October and wants to scrap some of her wedding photos, this will be her first time scrapping, so I hope that she enjoys herself. It would be great to have another scrapper in the family. I will tell you how we get on in my next post. Hope you have a great weekend x

To freestyle or not to freestyle? That is the question

I had another lovely day at the Eclectic Keepsakes crop on Saturday. As always Karen M had made some very yummy cupcakes (diet went out the window) and Karen C had designed a gorgeous layout, using Mind's Eye Lime Twist papers,  for us to do in the afternoon.

I really enjoy going to crops and I always want to make the most of my day scrapping. This month I actually managed to finish something! In total I have six pages to add to my total for the year, hooray!

In the morning I did a layout for a Let's Scrap challenge. The challenge was to include the word "time" in the title. I entitled mine "Over Time", the journalling reads "your teeth will grow back. It seems as soon as one grows back another starts to wobble. Between ages 6 to 7 I have lost count of how many teeth the tooth fairy has taken." My Sister took these lovely photos of Ella for me. I am starting to get used to that toothy grin, just as well as the tooth fairy came to visit again last night.

The other layout I completed used the same sketch from Let's Scrap. I used the photos that I took the other week at the new playground at Highwoods. Ella loves it there and has no problem with me taking lots of photos. I am finding my pages a little plain, but I am not brave enough to take that next step and be bolder. I am hoping that, that will come with practice.

After a quick lunch (I was starving) Karen showed us her gorgeous layout, which used some lovely papers from Minds Eye. This is where my freestyling quandary starts, do I follow Karen's gorgeous layout (shown below) exactly or do I make a couple of small changes? Just in case you are like me and haven't come across the term freestyling (I hadn't until I started going to the crop) it is when you take somebodies layout and do your own thing with it. The ladies at the crop like to take the mickey about it, it is a standing joke.

Well to start with I still have no working printer so I used a single photo that I had in my stash, rather than Karen's three. I also used different wording using those fab wood grain alphas. I also didn't add the rosette but you will see why in a bit. So here is my finished freestyled (only a little).

I loved Karen's orginal layout, but I think that it is nearly impossible not to freestyle just a small bit for a couple of reasons, firstly we all have different tastes, I am not as brave as some and tend to go for quite simple layouts, but I love that the crop lessons take me out of my comfort zone and I now have some lovely layouts that I would never of been brave enough to come up with. Secondly we all have different photos, our subjects vary greatly. Thirdly we all have different stories to tell. 

So using the leftovers from the above layout (they were too lovely to put away) I did my sixth layout. I carried on Karen's cloud theme and also used those lovely alphas again. I also used the rosette from the original layout, also adding two more. I am very pleased with myself and I have also now added the Tim Holtz rosette die to my wish list.

So there we go, I had a very productive crop. I also came home to discover that someone had finally done my challenge, hooray! I was starting to think that I would have no takers. 

Yesterday I went shopping with my Mum and I bought a dress pattern, so there is a new project on the horizon, I just need to find some lovely summery material.

I thought you did scrapbooking??

I can't believe my last post was on the 12th March, it is now April!! I am pleased to say that during that time I have been being crafty, just not had the time to blog about it. I have also managed to become a year older and have a lovely weekend away with my family.

So, what craftiness have I got up too, well I have finished my noticeboard, hooray! I think that it has turned out OK, even though it was not as simple as I thought and cost me a little more than I planned. I could have just bought a new noticeboard, but where would the crafty fun in that?

So here is the mirror before I started. I really liked the frame and it only cost me £9.99. If I could have found just a photo frame I would have used that.

Here is the frame once I had taken out the mirror, it came out really easily, it had just those little metal clips holding it in.

Here is the mirror with it's first coat, I turned it over so that if I ever want to use the mirror I have the option. This first coat was one of four that I did using the Crayola  magnetic paint. The paint was at least five years old, so after the fourth coat the mirror still wasn't magnet, I am putting this down to the age of the paint.

So a trip to B&Q and some new paint and four more coats I ended up with.....

Can you spot where after all that, I broke the mirror putting it back in the frame? So gutted, but I am thinking of adding some flowers maybe to hide it.

So as well as my new noticeboard to go in my craft room I have also made a rubbish bin to take to crops. Unfortunately I forgot to take it this month, but I am really pleased with myself. I did it without a pattern and the help of my Mum, shock horror. Maybe I can do this sewing thing, then again maybe not, what do you think?

Finally onto the title of this post. "I thought you did scrapbooking?" is what my husband said to me last night, this is while I am sat on the sofa with an unfinished project from this months crop at Eclectic Keepsakes. This month Karen had designed a lovely bag with handmade flowers on it. We had to make the flowers, so while I think I may have cracked the sewing thing with my bin, handmade flowers prove that maybe I haven't. I can't show you my finished bag, because I haven't finished it, no surprise there really. I do plan to finish it though, I have a feeling that it might take all week though. So this evening and the next I will be doing my bag.

I have done some scrapbook pages though, I am again without a printer, so many of my pages are without photos. The Range near my Mum and Dad have a great clearance aisle, I have got some new pads of paper for half price! One of these was baby girl themed, I thought that I might finally start on scrapping some of my DD's baby photos. One completed page is a photo of my Mum which was taken when she was three. The stitching on it took me all week, but I love the finished LO.

So what next, well I have some more frames to paint and lots of scrapbooking to do and a bag to finish and let's hope I don't leave it so long before I update again.