Kool Kitty Musings

Hey Little Magpie project catch-up - May

Morning everyone!

What a lovely day it is compared to the weather extremes of yesterday.

I thought I'd take a moment to share my Hey Little Magpie May projects from last week - the full details can be found here.

I was lucky enough to grab some fab items from the new Pink Paislee Fancy Free collection before they flew out the store. Sadly the ephemera pack and 12x12 pad went out of stock before I could finish checking out! Looks like I wasn't the only one who had this collection on their wishlist! :D

Here are the card projects I made

Paper: Pink Paislee - Fancy Free
Dies: Simon Says Stamp, Neat & Tangled, Lil' Inker Designs
Other: 3D foam tape, coordinating cardstock

I love the 6x6 pad from this collection as the paper designs are the perfect size for cards without being overly busy. Sometimes when 12x12 designs are shrunk for the 6x6 pads they can be too busy, which is why I usually always buy the 12x12 sheets from collections. But on this occasion the 6x6 pad is the better option for cardmaking.

On this card I combined papers from the 6x6 pad with the 12x12 version of the spotty paper. I used as Simon Says Stamp Christmas die to cut the "Happy" from the paper and used 3D foam tape to attach coordinating colours of cardstock behind them.

Paper, cardstock tag, chipboard sticker: Pink Paislee - Fancy Free
Stamp and die: PTI
Punch: Martha Stewart
Other: 3D foam tape

I love the watercolour and brush stroke style of this line - the perfect style to add a greeting from PTI's Graceful Greetings set. :)

Paper: Pink Paislee - Fancy Free
Dies: Neat & Tangled
Stamp: Lawn Fawn
Other: sewing machine

I loved using the scored shapes die set from Neat & Tangled to cut all these circles, stars, and hearts from the 6x6 version of the #06 paper. All I needed to do was sew them on and add a sentiment. :)

Paper and chipboard sticker: Pink Paislee - Fancy Free
Die and stamp: PTI
Other: hemp twine

This card was made with left-overs I'd cut from other papers in the collection that were on my desk. Just a bit of snipping with my scissors and voila! A nice fringe trim. All that was needed was a sentiment and little chipboard button.

Paper, cardstock sticker, and layered sticker: Pink Paislee - Fancy Free
Punch: Martha Stewart
Other: 3D foam tape

This card was a very simple one - all the elements are from the collection, I just added the punched butterflies from the scraps of the pink ombré paper to bring everything together.

Paper, chipboard frame, and layered sticker: Pink Paislee - Fancy Free
Dies: Neat & Tangled, MFT
Other: enamel dot

The stitched paper in the 6x6 card is just lovely as a full background for your card. I combined it with the other design in the collection that looks a bit like a quilt and it really made the layered sticker pop. The little rosette was made with left-overs of the hearts and circles I die cut earlier. :)

And then there were some project life pages - I am so behind on my 2014 album, but I had the photos ready to scrap and thought this collection would work great with them, especially the lime green June insert from my desktop calendar that I'm using to mark the months in this album.

Much of June was about our family trip down to Cornwall for my cousin's fab wedding and we also got in on some of the wedding prep too. Pompom assembly and my dad very much enjoyed the sit-on mower that was put into action to clear space for cars.

There was some sightseeing on the evenings too:

My main project was to use some hand-sewing on the awesome #02 paper.

It involved a trip to Hobby Craft to invest in some nice matching shades of thread!

I really love how it turned out against the desktop calendar insert.

I also did a fair bit of machine stitching too:

This time using the circles from the 12x12 sheet and more hearts and stars cut from scraps. They go so well with journaling stickers from Pinkfresh Studio's Felicity collection plus Simple Stories Life in Color.

I also used a cardstock tag from the collection to add a little pop on the calendar insert.

The remaining pages from the wedding were photo-centric:

But still lots of opportunity to add little sticker accents:

That's it for June 2014 for now, but I still have more photos to scrap. I might keep using Fancy Free or switch over to some other recent (summery additions). :)

Well, I'd best sign off - need to head on over to my mum and dad's soon to assist with the painting and decorating.

Pink Paislee - Fancy Free - 6x6" Paper Pad	Pink Paislee - Fancy Free - Paper #02	Pink Paislee - Fancy Free - Paper #11	Pink Paislee - Fancy Free - Paper #10
Pink Paislee - Fancy Free - Paper #07	Pink Paislee - Fancy Free - Paper #08	Pink Paislee - Fancy Free - Paper #03	Pink Paislee - Fancy Free - Paper #06
Pink Paislee - Fancy Free - Paper #04	Pink Paislee - Fancy Free - Paper #05	Pink Paislee - Fancy Free - Layered Stickers	Pink Paislee - Fancy Free - Cardstock Tags
Pink Paislee - Fancy Free - Chipboard Stickers	Simon Says Stamp - HAPPY BIRTHDAY die set	Neat & Tangled - Scored Shapes dies	Simon Says Stamp - HAPPY WINTER AND CHRISTMAS dies
Lil' Inker Designs - Stitched Mats: Rectangles die set	Papertrey Ink - Graceful Greetings stamp set	Papertrey Ink - Graceful Greetings die set	Martha Stewart - 3-in-1 butterfly punch
Lawn Fawn - Sophie's sentiments stamps	Hemptique natural hemp cord	Papertrey Ink - Double-ended banners dies	Papertrey Ink - Phrase Play #6 stamp set
MFT - Die-namics Fishtail Flags STAX dies	Pinkfresh Studio - Felicity - Word & Phrase Stickers	Simple Stories - Life in Color stickers

InLinkz.com

 

 

Hey Little Magpie project catch-up - July

So time for another catch-up from my recent Hey Little Magpie projects.

This post is image heavy - but all the info can be found here in my original post over on the Hey Little Magpie blog.

July was the month of a very special event in my family - my brother's and now sister-in-law's wedding! And what a wonderful event it was.

I wanted to make a couple of special gifts for them.

One was using the Marquee Love letters by Heidi Swapp for their favour table.

Here they are after I assembled them at our June crop:

They're just the contents of the box plus a sheet of silver glitter paper and a sheet of pink glitter paper. They looked lovely on the day I just hope the photographer managed to snap them in their full glory. :D

And in addition to those I made the mini album with photos from the happy couple's pre-wedding photo shoot.

All the products were from the Fancy That collection by My Mind's Eye.

I'll let the pictures do the talking now. ;)

Phew!

That was a lot of photos to take!

Naturally there was also a wedding card to make, and I've already shared it here on the blog, but here it is again in context.

And of course there need to be some artful wrapping of said gift:

The Fancy That collection was fab to work with and it definitely proved popular in the shop - here's what I used in case it is still in stock:

My Mind's Eye - Fancy That - Pearl - Bridesmaid Gold Foiled Paper	My Mind's Eye - Fancy That - I Do - Love You Gold Foiled Paper	My Mind's Eye - Fancy That - Tux - Best Man Gold Foiled Paper	My Mind's Eye - Fancy That - Tux - Flair
My Mind's Eye - Fancy That - Kiss - The Mr Gold Foiled Paper	My Mind's Eye - Fancy That - Pearl - Bouquet Gold Foiled Paper	My Mind's Eye - Fancy That - 6 x 6" Gold Foiled Paper Pad	My Mind's Eye - Fancy That - Blush 12 x 12" Chipboard Elements
My Mind's Eye - Fancy That - Pearl - Mixed Gold Foil Bag	My Mind's Eye - Fancy That - Pearl - Gold Foil Stickers	My Mind's Eye - Fancy That - Blush Journal Cards	My Mind's Eye - Fancy That - Kiss - Enamel Dots
My Mind's Eye - Fancy That - Blush Decorative Brads	American Crafts - 12x12" Smooth Cardstock - Stone	My Mind's Eye - On Trend - Party - Confetti Gold Foiled Paper	My Mind's Eye - On Trend - Happy - Happy Gold Foiled Paper

InLinkz.com

And as for the day itself, I took very little in the way of photos, but here are some Instagram snaps from that whole event:

Looking forward to seeing the official photos now too - with any luck I'll manage to get some copies for my own album. ;)

Romance is in the air on the Hey Little Magpie blog today...

I have a super special and top secret project up on the Hey Little Magpie blog today - happy to report the new Mr and Mrs H loved it! :)

Hey Little Magpie February projects

Well it's been a while since I had an scrapping projects to share, but last week on the Hey Little Magpie blog I had a post featuring some of my 2014 album catch-up plus a couple of cards that I'll share in another post.

All the details can be found here, this post is mainly photos and a few explanations for the pics. ;) I mainly used Crate Paper's Notes & Things, Kiss Kiss, and Open Book collections.

And some of the stash used from the store can be found here:

Crate Paper - Notes & Things - Memo Paper	Crate Paper - Notes & Things - Honest Paper	Crate Paper - Notes & Things - With Love Paper	Crate Paper - Notes & Things - Be Kind Paper
Crate Paper - Notes & Things - Journal Paper	Crate Paper - Notes & Things - 12x12" Adhesive Chipboard Shapes	Crate Paper - Notes & Things - Ephemera Pack	Crate Paper - Maggie Holmes Open Book - 12x12" Chipboard Shapes
Crate Paper - Maggie Holmes Open Book - Die Cut Ephemera	Crate Paper - Kiss Kiss - 12x12" Chipboard Accents	Crate Paper - Kiss Kiss - Constellation Paper	Crate Paper - Kiss Kiss - Love Rocks Paper
Crate Paper - Kiss Kiss - Gemstone Paper	Crate Paper - Kiss Kiss - Be Mine Paper	Crate Paper - Kiss Kiss - In Love Paper	Crate Paper - Kiss Kiss - My Heart Paper
Crate Paper - Kiss Kiss - Love Life Paper	Teresa Collins - Nine & Co - Cardstock Die Cuts	American Crafts - Shimelle - Crane paper	American Crafts - Shimelle - Dowdy Paper
American Crafts - Shimelle - Baxter Paper	Pink Paislee - Bella Rouge - Diamond Paper	Pebbles - We Go Together - Sending Love	Pebbles - We Go Together - UR Sweet
Pebbles - We Go Together - Hugs & Kisses	Pebbles - We Go Together - Budding Romance	Simple Stories - DIY Christmas - Enamel Dots	Gossamer Blue - On My Desk - Enamel Stars

InLinkz.com

So yes, it's back to April we go!

And the first double spread page was all about my week dog-sitting miss Lola, and the many walkies we went on with various people.

I definitely had lots of gold accents to play with, including making my own Thickers with Lawn Fawn alpha dies, funky foam, and gold glitter paper.

The Notes & Things ephemera and chipboard products have plenty of gold foiling in them too:

And it's the return of the Caroline Gardner 2014 desktop calendar I'm using as a way to mark the dates. The April page was a perfect match for the pinks in the Notes & Things collection.

I'm a big fan of these configurations of Simple Stories pocket pages and Echo Park photo freedom pockets with a 6x12 pocket ideal for each monthly calendar entry.

I really went to town layering up various accents - chipboard, vellum die-cuts, wood veneer:

There were even some apt labels in the Notes & Things ephemera pack, perfect for those photos where a dog has parked her butt in your handbag because that's where the sun is!

And I've now added some little star enamel dots to my rather large enamel dot collection!

And onto April part 2:

The focus was spring fun and Easter celebrations.

Also plenty of random things, like the END of Silk, sob, sob - and it ended on such a non-ending too. I hate how it was left. I'll just have to enjoy re-watching everything that came before the last 5 minutes. ;)

There were lots of signs of spring being in the air - we had sun, bees, blossom...

Ice creams in the park. Fun and Stotties at Finchale Priory... a thoroughly nice time.

I also got using up some journaling cards and cutting them down to size where needed.

I'm wondering when our warmer temperatures and sunshine will hit this year!

Then Easter was on the way.

I found a bunny of a sort in the Open Book chipboard set and ran with it.

The Notes & Things chipboard set had some lovely spring blooms that were the perfect accent.

I cut down this journaling card and altered the layered sticker a bit with a heart enamel dot.

And wood veneer accents were a perfect complement to the rustic Easter display in the pic.

And then it was onto May!

Lots to celebrate in May, my cousin's baby daughter entered the world, my brother got engaged, my mum and dad's Kitchen redo finally happened (many, many years in the making) and some Bank Holiday antics were enjoyed.

The pink for the May calendar page definitely found a great match in Crate's Kiss Kiss collection.

I remembered that this gold ephemera from Notes & Things would finally have the perfect use.

Still digging the look of that darker paper being used for negative die-cutting.

More funky foam and gold glitter paper, plus a DIY engagement ring using an enamel shape and a heart crystal from Prima. Tada!

Got to love how various chipboard sets by Crate Paper can come together so well.

And you can make every bit of a piece of paper work for you some how. :)

And onto May part 2:

I had a lovely long BH weekend with Zoe - we attempted to recreate our Warkworth road trip from the previous year, but the weather wasn't as kind to us. However we finally found some sun in the park!

I think May 2014 also marked the first in the series of photo ops where my friend Kelly and I remember our cinema outings by me making her pose with whatever promo prop they have in the cinema and she obliging like the true friend she is.

May it was the Postman Pat van - perfectly paired with some of the Pebbles Inc We Got Together Valentine's line that had paper aeroplanes on it:

More everyday, the rhododendrons and lavender where in bloom:

I had some little pics that I wanted to frame in some way, and the chipboard frames in the Crate chipboard sets did the job nicely.

As did the cut-outs from the Notes & Things paper:

And next I'll be working on my June 2014 pages. :D

 

2014 album catch-up - March

Ugh, well so much for today being a productive day. I have been sneezing night and day since last night and looks like I'm coming down with a bad head cold if not the flu! Bleeeurgh!

But since I've not managed to do much more than put the washing on, have a hot bath soaking up the vapours of my Molton Brown eucalyptus bath and shower gel and go through half a box of tissues the day has been a bit of a dud. Mind you I have managed to download a load of new tunes so I've got them on now as I type - loving Ella Henderson's new single Glow and Emma Louise's track Jungle which is used on the new black opium advert. :)

Anyway, enough of the babbling, here are my March pocket pages that I shared over on the Hey Little Magpie blog as part of the September projects.

Left page:

Right page:

So March was the month of Mother's Day and our little shopping outing complete with the prerequisite trip to the Gourmet Burger Kitchen:

I also finally broke into my L'Occitaine almond gift set from Christmas - talk about enjoying the little things. Couldn't do without the almond shower oil - it's great for a soak in the bath!

We also had our very first here-comes-spring sunshine! The kind that heats the house and path so that Kizia cat can just lie there warming herself.

I really went to town with the enamel dots and also the accents from the Teresa Collins Nine & Co. collection. Loved the arrows and chipboard.

March was also the month of becoming addicted to banana loaf again - best enjoyed reheated with custard. Nom nom nom.

March was also the month of the no-make-up selfie campaign on facebook to promote donations to Cancer research and other charities.

And finally for the calendar entry from my desktop calendar that I am using for each month in this album I blinged it up a bit by using the packaging from the Notes & Things layered stickers - a handy clipboard background. :D

I've not yet printed out photos from April and beyond, it was going to be one of my tasks today to get them prepped but my head is so sore and everything is starting to ache that I just cannot face it right now... boohoo... oh well it's not like they're going anywhere after all! ;)

Here are some of the products used in these pocket pages:

Crate Paper - Notes & Things - With Love Paper	Crate Paper - Notes & Things - Journal Paper	Crate Paper - Notes & Things - Be Kind Paper	Crate Paper - Notes & Things - Honest Paper
Crate Paper - Notes & Things - Memo Paper	Crate Paper - Notes & Things - Standouts Layered Stickers	Crate Paper - Notes & Things - Journalling Cards	American Crafts - Shimelle - Crane paper
Crate Paper - Maggie Holmes Styleboard -Vintage Charm paper	Crate Paper - Maggie Holmes Styleboard - Journalling Cards	Teresa Collins - Nine & Co - Cardstock Die Cuts	Teresa Collins - Nine & Co - 6 x 12" Adhesive Chipboard
My Mind's Eye - Just Sayin' - Enamel Dots	Studio Calico - Essentials - Tiny Alpha Stickers - Red/Pink	Basic Grey - Second City - 12 x 12" Alphabet Stickers	Basic Grey - Capture - Alphabet stickers
MFT - Die-namics Fishtail Flags Layers STAX dies

InLinkz.com

February 2014 pocket pages

Well based on the photos I selected for February it was quite a quiet month, but there were some very nice activities involved. :)

Here's page 1 - continuing with my use of the pages from my desktop calendar as they're done...

February was definitely a good month for foody things - dinner out, pancakes, and Polish Faworki and doughnuts for Karnewal.

I used lots of chipboard elements and stickers from Crate Paper's Oh Darling line, plus plenty of Crate papers and journaling cards.

And page 2:

More Crate with Valentine's papers mixed in with the Oh Darling cards. Also plenty of alpha stickers from Elle's Studio and Basic Grey. February was also the month of languishing on the sofa watching the Winter Olympics and reading the best book I'd read so far that year - Lianne Moriarty's The Husband's Secret.

All the pics were taken on my iPhone so they're not the best quality especially considering the photos themselves were Instagram shots.... But good to get February in the album. I'll have to start thinking about getting photos printed for our next crop soon - it'll be here before I know it!

In other news I had a nice happy mail delivery today:

Guess who's looking forward to playing with these festive goodies? Won't be tonight I'm afraid as I didn't fall asleep until 4.30 a.m. today after reading to midnight and then being too awake to sleep, so I just kept on reading until I was tired. Yep, 2 and a half hours sleep isn't the best. I'm sure I'll be off to sleep earlier tonight!

Busy times

September is definitely shaping up to be a busy and tiring month - a lot of work has meant little real downtime, but to switch off most evenings I have been re-watching Arrow and also still trying to get some crafting done. Mind you working at the same desk all day has made crafting a bit less attractive. ;o)

However I have some pics I've only just managed to copy over from my phone since the iOS8 update (boy am I missing my camera roll and photostream being two separate things! going to need a day to compare what's on my PC and what's on my phone and iPad before I go ahead and delete a lot of stuff from both).

This month I finally got back to scrapping - but that meant actually doing my February pocket pages first...

I'll share the full spread in another blog post soon. :)

I have still been listening to this on loop when not working...

I've been trying out some of these lovely goodies from Origins, 3 x 30 ml samples and a lovely little pouch that I got with my restock of Ginzing moisturiser. I have a good selection of cleansers to put to the test. :)

Thursday night was time for a break and cinema outing... I was waiting for my partner in crime to hot-tail it down to the cinema - I'd had nothing to eat except a banana and yoghurt all day and we were both starving for food... I seriously contemplated eating the remaining contents of this box of tictacs during the 3 minutes I was waiting. LOL

Thankfully we did manage to get some food before the film - we only had 20 minutes or so and it was very much a fail on the real food front, slow service, underwhelming "fast food" offering, and then 10 minutes to eat it all and get back to our screen so we could watch this:

All I'm saying is that it's a good job we didn't see this on an empty stomach! Would have been torture. What a fantastic film, just perfect for a September evening. :D

Well, I'd best make the most of my work-free day!

October 2013 trip to Krakow - finally in the album!

Rather than make a mini-book of all the pics from our lovely and rather balmy half-term break in Krakow last October, I thought the best place for these photos to go was into some pocket pages for the album. :)

This was another of the projects created for the Hey Little Magpie creative team call. When I'm back from my summer hols I will have to definitely get back to my pocket scrapping - time has flown by since my last scrapping session!

Page 1 - LH:

Page 2 - RH:

Page 3 - LH:

Here are some of the details:

I dusted off the Craft Robo to cut the title for my page - annoyed with myself that I didn't make a note of the font I used, but it is somewhere on my computer! It made for a very nice cursive title. :) Also with the summery weather we had I had to include a little sunshine peaking out. The little heart on the cloud is one of the die cuts from the strip of hearts I cut from another journaling card on this project.

I glammed up this lovely journaling card from the Styleboard set by adding an old Doodlebug border sticker at the bottom and stamping on some extra text with Lawn Fawn Milo's ABCs stamps, a bit of Promarker colouring and some enamel dots to finish it off.

I loved using some striped grey paper I had in my collection as a mount for the square photos. I have bought more striped grey paper for just this reason, it makes for a lovely photo frame. And the pic, well I am sincerely hoping to have another hot chocolate at the Wedel cafe in Warsaw this summer - it might be an iced coffee though if the weather stays above 30!

Oh yes, that iced coffee in Krakow was delicious! But back to the scrapping - the photo here is mounted on a die-cut from the ephemera pack for The Pier collection by Crate Paper. Very handy for your Instagram pics!

I even managed a bit of stitching on this project!

Onto the page 2 details:

I really made good use of the journaling cards in the Styleboard set - love the little birdy one, and used more ephemera and chopped some bits to make them go a bit further like the label above.

Here's the card I mentioned earlier - I cut a row of hearts out using the Lawn Fawn die additions in the stitched journaling card set. It really adds a lot of detail in such a simple way.

There were some photos that I wanted to fill the whole pocket with - I think this is why I love the freedom of pocket scrapping - I can get plenty of different photos in one place, so the photos off my big camera can be left in tact and the Instagram phone pics can be embellished a bit or printed smaller.

And finally the details for the last page:

You can see the other side of card with the punched out hearts, and also the other end of that label I chopped!

I glammed up the plain white alpha stickers for this subheading - Stickles to the rescue!

Another of the Styleboard cards here but I covered up what didn't quite work for this layout by plonking the photo over it. :) Have to say in general that the new format of alphabet stickers that Basic Grey is doing really is handy, great size and font and colour combos.

Well that's it for this project, here's a list of the supplies I used:

Crate Paper - Maggie Holmes Styleboard - Inspiration	Crate Paper - Oh Darling - Cutie paper	My Mind's Eye - Follow Your Heart - Be Happy - Adorable paper	My Mind's Eye - Love Me - Love paper
Simple Stories - Sn@p! Color Vibe - Grey Dot/Stripe paper	Crate Paper - Maggie Holmes Styleboard - Journalling Cards	Crate Paper - Oh Darling - Chipboard shapes	Crate Paper - Oh Darling - Ephemera
Crate Paper - Maggie Holmes Flea Market - Ephemera	Crate Paper - The Pier - Ephemera	Crate Paper - Oh Darling - Stickers	October Afternoon - Daily Flash - Partly Cloudy chipboard
Echo Park - Sweet Day - Collection kit	Basic Grey - Capture - Alphabet stickers	Basic Grey - Spice Market - Alphabet stickers	Elle's Studio - Alphabet stickers - Teal
October Afternoon - Mini Market alpha stickers - Pink and Black	Studio Calico - Essentials - Enamel Dots - Yellow/Orange	Prima - Anna Marie - Heart enamel dots	Teresa Collins - Family Stories enamel dots
October Afternoon - Holiday Style buttons	Lawn Fawn - Milo's ABCs stamps	Lawn Fawn - Hello Sunshine stamp set	My Favorite Things - Die-namics - Sentiment strips 2 dies
Lawn Fawn - Stitched scalloped borders	Lawn Fawn - Stitched journaling card

InLinkz.com

IKEA RIBBA frame given a scrappy make-over

Now that the happy news about joining the Creative Team at Hey Little Magpie is out there, I can share a couple of the projects I made especially for my submission.

First up it's the very special engagement present I made for my brother and Kate.

IKEA sells a great line of shadow box frames in the RIBBA series. This is the one I bought:

And I transformed it into this:

Slightly different eh?

Here's a closer look at some of the little details:

This project was the perfect opportunity to use up many of the more lovey-dovey embellishments in my collection. The chipboard banner was one such item. :D

These box frames offer a lot of scope for using nice and lumpy dimensional embellishments without any fear of them getting squashed in an album. This pretty layered heart is from Crate Paper's Close Knit collection - one of the many items I had picked up in the Sarah's Cards sale in June. ;)

And here's another of the dimensional embellishments from the same pack - just perfect for this project and popped up even more with some extra foam tape. There's also one of the elements from the Flea Market ephemera pack layered among the Basic Grey True Love layered stickers.

Here's a close-up of one of the stickers from the True Love collection regular sticker sheet - I have to say that line by Basic Grey is one of my favourites as you can tell by the stash used on this project - it's so versatile and ideal for many projects beyond Valentine/love themes.

I'm happy to report that the Happy Couple liked it - it was a really nice project to make. There's nothing quite like breaking into lots of new stash for a project you know someone will hang onto and enjoy. :)

So many little bits and pieces went into the making of this frame, here's a better look at what they were:

RIBBA Frame - white - IKEA	American Crafts - Dear Lizzy Neapolitan Collection - Sea Breeze paper	My Mind's Eye - Find your Wings & Fly - Sky's the Limit - Flowers For You paper	BasicGrey - True Love - Secret Admirer paper
Basic Grey - True Love - Smitten paper	Basic Grey - True Love - Giddy paper	BasicGrey - True Love - Proposal paper	Basic Grey - True Love - Alphabet stickers
Basic Grey - True Love - Layered stickers	Crate Paper - Maggie Holmes Flea Market - Ephemera	Crate Paper - Maggie Holmes Flea Market - Standouts layered stickers	Crate Paper - Close Knit - Layered stickers
October Afternoon - Mini Market alpha stickers - Cream and black	Crate Paper - Portrait - Border stickers	Basic Grey - Candy Buttons - Aqua/Green enamel dots	Teresa Collins - Family Stories enamel dots
My Favorite Things - Sour Apple felt	PTI - Vintage Touch: Tea Dye Duo Ink	PTI - Medium scallop border die	PTI - Turning a New Leaf Die Collection (set of 4)
My Favorite Things - Die-namics High Tea Doily die	Martha Stewart - Classic butterfly punch	Martha Stewart - 3-in-1 butterfly punch

InLinkz.com

January 2014 album

Before I get on with a few hours of work, I thought I'd finally share some pics of my January album entries. So difficult to get decent photos of your pages in pocket scrapping without taking it all out, but for ease this time I photographed everything in the pockets and I'm not so bothered about the photos - they're of nothing particularly exciting or thrilling. Just the day-to-day... the things that made me happy in January feature a lot (I do love pics of inanimate objects it has to be said). ;o)

Anyway, here we go - five pages is probably a bit much for one month, but hey, I was just finding my feet in this whole pocket scrapping thing. ;o)

Page 1 - all about New Year's day - it involved a lot of walking from morning through to the afternoon:

I'm using the desktop calendar I received for Christmas from my mum as the monthly feature across the year. Very handy, and nice to be able to keep the calendar some how. I've done this before with mini-albums documenting a year so carried it over to my 2014 album.

While Lola was staying we still managed a nice walk or two even though I was working from home:

Very glad to have finally found a use for this little lady - not that I bear any resemblance to her, but it's nice to use up all the left-overs from a chipboard set some how:

I used journaling cards for all the entries on this page:

I even resurrected some very old Making Memories tags which will get used throughout the rest of this album no doubt!

Page 4 was all about the things that made me happy in January:

Including finally unpacking the lovely Orla bedding set I bought in TK Maxx last year:

And the last page is something I hope to feature every month - a record of movies seen, books read, that kind of thing:

Can't believe I only read one book in January - February will be a very different matter!

Time to finally share...

...the very special mini album project I was frantically working on in July, and which used up an entire spool of very pretty aqua thread:

To make this:

As you may remember this project involved a lot of painting disasters, one whole can of antique white spray paint plus some enamel sealant, and in the end needed to be almost fully covered as high summer temperatures are not conducive to spray paint drying easily on black chipboard! This was the album:

Basically all the stash used in this project was a mixture of Crate Paper Maggie Holmes and DIY Shop papers from the big 12x12 pads, plus countless strips of white cardstock to create scallop borders with my trusty PTI die and odds and ends of chipboard and stickers from other Crate collections. There's also some Valentines papers from Crate Fourteen and this year's Basic Grey thrown in for good measure. And yet, it all worked together rather nicely!

The album was a first anniversary present to my cousin in Poland and his wife - I thought it was a nice first anniversary gift since paper is what you give on the first anniversary and, boy, is there a lot of paper here! The wedding was an amazing event and I was really lucky to have the DVD of photos by the photographer to choose from and get prints ordered. They were really fab pics indeed!

It's hard to show just how chunky this album turned out but thankfully the original book rings still held it together - just! Good job as I didn't have any larger ones to hand.

I wanted the album cover to coordinate with the wedding card I'd originally made last year, to tie it all in:

And here's the front - spot the resemblance? I definitely had to include some pompom trim on the front and some of those Prima heart gems. And definitely needed to include a doily and some vellum. :)

So onto the inside - first up the bride and groom getting ready for the Church:

In the beauty salon:

Getting that tie knotted right:

It's more and more popular for the bride and groom to get ready in the same place in Poland and arrive at the church together:

I really like this little detail shot with the cufflinks - the finishing touch:

And the rings ready to hand over to the best man for safe keeping:

And off to the Church it is:

I was happy to find a suitable use for that Crate chipboard car:

That last look before getting on with the show:

The ceremony was at 6 p.m. which was a lovely time to get married:

Down the aisle together with the bridesmaid and best man following behind:

During the ceremony - lovely pic!

All done and out the Church for confetti, bubbles, and photos:

Mr & Mrs...

Back in the car before zooming off...

...to the reception - which was an all-night affair! We didn't get back to our hotel until 6.30 a.m. ;o)

The first glass of champagne and the glasses tossed back for good luck:

A toast from the best man - aka my brother:

And into the reception room:

A proper kiss for the crowd:

The first dance:

Now the guests get to hit the dancefloor too:

I don't think this is the bit where we all joined in on some classic Modern Talking hits, but it was enjoyable nonetheless!

Enter the cake - complete with its own special effects and the theme to Pirates of the Caribbean:

And then on with the fun and party games:

A round of Mr and Mrs:

Some other games including making sure the bride was able to tell who was the groom:

A lot of the rest of the evening was spent dancing, eating, and drinking copious vodka - the fact there was a course of food between every drink or so is no doubt why no one was drunk despite the empty vodka bottles. I don't think I've ever had a second soup course at 2 a.m. followed quite soon after by a second ice cream course. Mind you the food was fantastic and definitely plentiful!

After the wedding it's traditional to get the bride and groom photos done on another day and in various locations.

Lovely from a selfish pov to get some of my yellow stash put to good use for this photo in the sunflower fields:

I just love the colours and pose in this one. :)

So many fab pics, so hard to decide which to use:

It's a shame we don't have graffiti as nice as this one round here. I know of at least one photographer who'd gladly be snapping away there if we did!

And more graffiti, this time on a rather lovely old door that must have been quite unloved:

I love these pics with the balloons. Originally I had wanted to do all the chipboard pages in different pastel shades to compliment these pics, but after the disaster with my making memories acrylic paint drying about 6 shades darker I am glad the spray paint worked a whole lot better!

They are just really fun photos:

And great outtakes:

And just about at the end....

...the last photo from the session, in a multi-story carpark no less - really cool:

And to finish the photos, a group shot of everyone at the reception just before we went in to start the celebrations.

And finally, a little message for the back and the date of their wedding.

The end!

I'm really glad that the gift went down so well. I got a lovely message from them to say they loved it. I remember promising to my cousin at something like 4 a.m. after quite a lot of vodka that I would be making them an album to celebrate their first anniversary! Not sure he remembered, but I did. ;o)

The reason I'm so behind...

...on the cardmaking front, is not just the glorious weather we've had this past week - which incidentally now that my two-week staycation has started, has promptly come to a stop and is set to change into cloud and rain the rest of the week - but it's because I've been working on this special little project in time for my mum and dad's trip to Poland and to deliver said item.

Those are just a few sneaky peekies - it must have been good timing, as the sun has just returned for a brief stint...

And I'm not going to have time to get any cards made this afternoon before heading out.

However I do have ideas for this week's 52 Cards challenge so off to get the prompt post drafted. ;o) Best get that done then get the washing pegged out!

Before I get back to work

On this little project:

Complete with all photos now stitched last night into the late hours and awaiting the next stage of album assembly:

I thought it would be nice to look back on the past week that flew by so very quickly. I am really hoping this weekend won't be a repeat of some of the mishaps of last weekend.

Namely...

When the Hummingbird Bakery definition of a 23 cm pie dish is somewhat different from John Lewis' definition and you have to transfer the entire biscuit base for your Keylime Pie into a rather larger baking vessel!

When your washing line flies free from its moorings just as you've pinned up the last of your sizeable bedding wash and it promptly all collapses in a heap on the (wet-in-places) decking! Above the emergency solution still in place.

When quite by chance you see a little wasp disappearing into your shed when the door's closed and you go and investigate, only to find a small planet wasp next being built by the door. That's when you can't get your head out of there fast enough! Thankfully wasp man (aka father) came in with his basket of wasp-eliminating products to resolve the matter!

But in better news there have been some enjoyable moments:

The Keylime Pie turned out fine! Next time I will just halve the ingredients, then it should fit in my flipping pie dish. ;o)

The weather was great for the lovely BBQ we had on Sunday. In addition to dessert, I also dished up two of my favourite summer salads, Polish tomato and sweet onion (so simple but so satisfying), and Pear and Blue Cheese (St. Agur in this case) salad, with toasted mixed seeds and avocado for extra oomf:

All that food, sun, and sparkling conversation all proved too much for some:

And then it was Monday before you knew it. And by what a scorcher it was. The Coke truck was in town offering you the opportunity to finally get your name on a diddy Coke bottle - I am never going to see my name (the closest I ever got to personalised pencils or keyrings as a kid was Natalie or Natasha - never a Natalia to be found!) or my brother's on a bottle, so thought I'd go along after work and see what the queue was like:

At 29 degrees and spanning almost the entire length of two department stores I wasn't going to stand about for two teeny bottles. Instead I went in search of something cool and appropriate:

It hit just the spot!

Speaking of cool - I managed to get rid of share some Keylime pie on Tuesday night when I went round to Becky's for a catch-up and to try out her new Slushy cups. They were fab, so off I went and bought myself my own:

Alas mine isn't freezing fully in the freezer - despite it being on the lowest setting I can get. Need to test it in someone else's freezer and if it doesn't work there it's definitely going back. I can get slushy out of it even without it freezing fully, but it's nothing as spectacular and easy as the ones we made on Tuesday. At £13 a pop if it's not working (and I can't make frozen cocktails as easily as I'd envisaged) it'll go back.

As you can see I've also been playing with my apps and combining the various features.

I'm loving it, but one of the niggles I have is with the image size/resolution being saved post-processing. A lot of the pics that I've put through A Beautiful Mess are very small compared to the Instagram pics - I have seen that they are hoping to increase the resolution on the next update, which would be great as the photo printing rating on Photobox is usually medium (for a 6x4 shrink to fit print) compared to good for a full size Instagram image that hasn't been through A Beautiful Mess first.

Mind you I haven't felt the need for filters and doodles on some of the lovely pics I managed to get when round at the parentals on their tour through the David Austin back catalogue:

I too have had some spectacular blooms in my rose collection - but being at work have missed some of the best. But how lovely this one looked:

I'm hoping to get some more pics today once the sun is on the other side of the garden, but what state those blooms will be in today after all that sun I'm not sure. They got a very good watering last night, so hopefully they'll be thriving!

But now, it's back to work on the album I need to make.

(Plenty of mishaps occurred due to the combination of spray paint coating, drying issues due to the heat, and then Wilko clear enamel coating not being received too well by the spray painted surface - so having to rethink a few things and try and make the best of a bad case of pages having become stuck together and pulling paint off! Don't think I will ever buy a black annoyingly shaped chipboard album again! Too much trouble when it comes to actually decorating them!! LOL)

The temperature is already hotting up here, and tomorrow we're going to be on the big Ikea convoy so best crack on. Thankfully got this left-over "Christmas" body lotion from bath and body works to keep my legs and feet cool.

I do indeed smell like a stick of rock, but that's small price to pay!

Spray paint is my new crafty best friend!

So this week I have been planning a rather special project involving a lot of post-it notes for the planning stage:

And thanks to the post-its I avoided a booboo before putting my Photobox order in, which arrived yesterday:

I was getting itchy fingers to start on my project, so out came the paints...

And I struggled for 4 hours to get the covers and brackety ends of this Basic Grey black chipboard album...

...coated in cream acrylic paint - as you know they'll be a bugger to cut round with a craft knife if covered in paper! Then I fought with my MM paints to mix some very light pastels that I was going to alternate through the other 10 pages inside. Well, after covering 2 colours worth of the insides I gave up and thought I needed to find something that would actually stay the right shade and not end up with this ghastly bumpy finish I was getting.

So I thought... aha! Spray paint!? Can that be used??

Indeed it seems spray paint is excellent for chipboard. So very early this morning before work I toddled off to Wilko to invest in some very light white-based Dulux tester pots for my paint collection should I want to go the pastel white route for the inside pages and a big can of Antique White Matt spray paint.

This evening I have been alternating between finally making Dangerous Cake and applying coats of spray paint to the fronts of the chipboard pages - building up the layers:

Seriously - why did I not do this sooner??? I am wondering whether I need to invest in a clear acrylic sealer spray before starting on decorating the pages... but it seems much more robust than your usual acrylic paint so should be fine. :)

And Dangerous Cake I hear you say... yes, dangerous because these are the ingredients:

OK the Kirsch-soaked morello cherries are an experimental addition, and the funsize Malteasers are to make up for one of the Crunchies I ate for lunch yesterday... hm... but well now you know why it's called Dangerous Cake.

So dangerous that even the wafting smell of chocolatey deliciousness it gives off while cooling is drool-inducing.

So tomorrow I am hoping that the weather is less windy so I can get the backs of the pages spray painted ready for any crafty time I might have this weekend. :)

I also need to NOT buy any more spray paint - but that shouldn't be too hard as I've not seen anywhere stocking girly pastels and soothing colours. Lots of black, grey and in your face primary colours, but no subtle tones a scrapbooker would appreciate. hehe

The Hodge Podge heritage book in it's entirity

Afraid I've not been feeling terribly creative this week and the blog has been neglected a bit as a result.

So I thought since I can't seem to come up with any new projects at the moment I might see if looking back at a recent one helps boost the creative spirit. ;o)

So, here is the full album of heritage photos that I made with the help of almost the entirety of my remaining Crate Paper Pretty Party stash and who knows how many tiny letter stickers... oh and some lovely Maya Road kraft envelopes that have been begging to be used in a scrapping project.

Let the photos begin...

I don't know about you but I always leave making the cover until the very end of a mini-album project... This time that plan didn't work quite so well as I completely forgot about the strip of paper I'd saved to use on the cover and promptly found it after I'd photographed it all. Oh well, but I think the final result ended up ok. Plus really glad those Amy Tan Thickers I got in Florida fitted nicely on the front - just!

So this pic is of my great-great-grandmother and by a weird twist of fate this portrait was taken about 5 minutes from where I work while the family was on tour with their circus acrobat act. Also I broke into the lovely egg box of findings I was given at Easter because I knew the watch face charm and rose trim would be perfect for this page.

Up next we have the parents of my great-grandfather who died when he was just a little boy. There are a lot of Fred Woods coming up - which makes things rather problematic in keeping people straight on Ancestry... but there are 3 consecutive generations of Fred Woods to differentiate in this project!

Here's a great pic of an advertisement used in Fred Wood Snr's Saddler's shop in Wakefield. Fred Wood senior (father of Thomas Stott Wood) is on the right and his second son, wait for it, Fred is pictured in the middle standing on one of the trunks they also made and sold to demonstrate the high quality of goods. I think we have a couple of those trunks in my parent's attic - there are definitely a few valises...

And moving on a few years here's Fred Snr and his wife with their children at home in the garden.

I used up some items from my scraps bowl to juz up these journaling pockets. Always nice when you can use up little bits you've been hanging onto. :)

And now we're back to the Stebbing line with this lovely photo of all the Stebbing sisters together (who later made up the dance troupe for the circus act) - my great-grandmother is on the back row there. I had to list all their names on a separate little card and pop it in that lovely Maya Road kraft envelope as there was just no way to fit them all on easily! Some fantastic names like Queenie, Ouida, and Buller.

And it's back to the Fred Woods - with Fred Wood Snr. when he was a younger grandfather with little Fred Wood his grandson who was orphaned at such a young age - looks like they were out on a Sunday stroll together with Mick the Jack Russell and his studded collar and rather portly body. I love looking at any old photos but the ones with pets in are always interesting to see, the look of certain dog breeds can also differ quite noticeably compared to modern their looks. But it looks like Mick was a rather loyal sort and wanted in on having his photo taken. :)

So we're moving on a good few years now to just after WWI and here's my great-grandmother went onto marry little Fred. We now have a bit of a debate going on as to who these two babies could be and whether they really could be siblings. On the back of the photo the very old writing reads "Baby boy 16 weeks old". We had always assumed the larger baby was my grandma who was the first born in Feb 1918, the next recorded baby was a boy who was born in 1919 and died in infancy. So quite a mystery!

And here we are moving on a few years to the photo my great-grandparents sent at Christmas in 1921. My grandma looks a bit sullen there with her curly hair and her baby brother isn't looking overly impressed either. :)

And rounding off the vintage photos - here's my grandma years later in the 50s looking very much like the Queen (as she did in later life too! Standing joke...) having her portrait taken while on holiday in Scarborough.

And finally the back cover - I quite like the idea of dating completed projects like these as it's interesting to remind yourself when you actually made it. :o)

And on that note, I'd best try and see where my creativity levels are at and get some cards made, I still have a card to catch up on!

One week on...

And you'd think we'd travelled back a few months!

This time last week I'd got home from a thoroughly lovely Bank Holiday crafty weekend in Whitby - we'd had a thoroughly glorious time and the weather had been excellent too.

This was our home for the weekend, the beautiful grounds of Sneaton Castle:

After dropping our bags and crafty goods off a few of us set off down to the centre in search of coffee and cake, or in my case the largest Lemon Merringue Pie in the world!

I had a couple of bites but couldn't finish it so took the waitress up on the offer of a doggy bag - delish! It was just my luck that the dessert for that evening with our full-board menu was lemon merringue pie. ;o)

It was a bit cloudy Friday...

But the sun was out in full force Saturday - a very nice way to spend your down time, sitting out in the sun in the beautiful grounds:

Sunday morning we managed a quick jaunt down before the BH crowds descended:

Wandering around the shops again...

Along to the pier...

In search of a true lemon top, only to find it wasn't a proper "lemon top" - but any excuse for an ice cream in the sunshine and sea air!

A lovely last view of Whitby before heading back to get some more scrapping done before having to pack up and go home.

Yesterday after the rain we finally had sunshine in these parts again, which was jolly good as we were off out to celebrate my mum and dad's anniversary:

Lovely meal out, despite my taste buds still not being quite right and everyone enjoyed a nice dash of champers x 2!

Today I have been working away to finally get my Whitby Weekend project finished - and it is done!

Here are some snaps of the inside, I will try and share better shots soon - it's so rare I actually have scrapping projects to share on my blog these days that I might as well make a song and dance of it. ;o)

Behold - the album from start to finish:

...and on that note I'd best tidy up a little and get my tea made. ;o)

52 Cards challenge 2013 - Week 19

Well, almost 12 hours late, but I'm feeling alive enough to share this week's prompt with you, although not a card sample.

I went away this weekend for our crafty retreat specifically hoping to work on (and finish! Ha!) one project:

I didn't take any cardmaking items with me - basically so that I wouldn't be sidetracked. So hence no sample today.

But the prompt for this week is to use...

Texture

...in some way on your card.

This could be in the form of embossing/debossing:

Source: bestbusinesscard.net via Tomoko on Pinterest

 

Fabrics:

Source: megduerksen.typepad.com via Anna {Rusty Cottage} on Pinterest

 

Creative stitching:

Source: lh4.ggpht.com via Rhonda on Pinterest

 

Chunky lace and trim:

Source: fancylinda.com via Second on Pinterest

 

Wooden embellishments and findings:

Source: prima.typepad.com via KikiK on Pinterest

 

On-trend cork elements:

Source: iminhaven.blogspot.com via Carol on Pinterest

 

And my old favourite... felt:

Source: molliemakes.com via Annika on Pinterest

 

The possibilities are endless, but I'm sure you'll find some lovely ways to incorporate different textures on your cards. :)

Happy creating!

I'd best go and have another dose of Venos before bed as in typical fashion I returned home with not only an almost complete scrapbooking project, but a cold and cough too! Oh and no voice. I was just glad I didn't need to be in work today - but it was a truly fab weekend! ;)

ETA: Here's the card I finally managed to make:

Paper: Crate
Stamp: PTI
Button: Prima
Die: MFT
Texture plate: PTI
Other: hemp cord

Where did the week go?

This time last week I was battling with my sleep-in curlers - which had left me with no sleep at all through the night - getting ready for Miss Anja's big day:

And even when the Fascinator is in place, the volume they give makes all the difference, but alas, if worn overnight the only way you can sleep is on your face (not so comfortable or good if you get a pillow crease), or sitting up like a vampire... hm...

Likewise Miss Anja and her mum were also decked out in their Monsoon finery - in fact Anja and I had almost matching outfits on - our colours matched perfectly. :)

After the Christening and lovely meal and party we enjoyed the rest of the evening with friends and family and Miss A definitely wasn't quite ready for bed any time soon.

The album and card I made were revealed and went down really well. :)

There were also some more traditional gifts included for my Goddaughter, including this fab breakfast set for when she is older:

I hope it's something she will keep, I still have my Bunnykins egg cup from since before I can remember and a little mug from my childhood.

But there were also some things she could enjoy now, a cute soft duck raffle (yes keeping on the theme!) that caught her immediate attention and some little outfits I couldn't resist:

I was really surprised to receive a gorgeous card and gift in return:

Just a really fantastic day and I was honoured to share it with Anja and her family. :)

Didn't get home until very late and the lack of sleep due to my curlers meant I was a bit of a zombie the rest of the week... so not much crafting got done.

By the time the work week ended and I got home Friday I was ready for some restorative weekend fun.

Wasn't expecting this type of April shower to have hit on Friday afternoon:

But yesterday I got down to crafty business involving some of these:

And got caught up with what I needed to do:

But I now need to get ahead but also share my catch-up projects for this week's 52 Cards challenge - I shall be back later to do just that. ;o)

Hodge podge books...

So, for my scrappy weekend away I decided to take along a couple of Jenni Bowlin hodge podge books that I liked the look of and intended to use for heritage projects. Well I always like the look of "alterable" things but I'm not so great at envisioning how the finished article should look. In the end I used the pages more as backgrounds that got rather covered up - since they looked a bit out of place when not covered up so much... lol

But this is what I made:

Here are the pics a bit bigger - I still need to work out a way to add accents to the stamped letters, it was enough of a challenge to stamp some of them without getting lost in the consonants!

So yes, this is a Jenni Bowlin hodge podge book combined with Crate Paper Story Teller and some bits and pieces from Crate Paper's Portrait line.

Well, it is a mini book after all - the journalling would never fit in here and would make it as heavy as a phone book, but I can happily report that most info is now recorded on Ancestry by my dad - a lot of great information has recently come to light.

My Great Grandmother Maria Lukasiewicz née Tustanowksa photographed in Sternberg - then in Austro-Hungary.

My Grandfather as a toddler - the prominent family hairline was already in evidence! This photo was taken in 1911 in Lwow or Lemberg if you wanted to know the Austrian name.

Here he is as a young boy - the back of the photo is just as interesting as it is a rather sweet postcard he wrote to his Uncle Romuald in pencil (without a date). This uncle was sadly later shot in the Mednoye-Katyn masacre.

Here we are back with Great Grandma Maria and Great Grandfather Michal Lukasiewicz some time in the 1920/1930s(?). The Lukasiewicz hairline once again on display. The genes must be very strong as I think my Uncle Mark is a dead ringer for Michal Lukasiewicz... minus the moustache!

Judging from the necklace I think this must be from the same photo session as the previous photo of Maria.

We only have photos of two of my Grandfather's three sisters - this is Renia.

And Alicia, who I remember meeting sometime in the early 80s and remembering she had a very high-strung Dachshund that chewed everything within an inch of its life. Glad to say the Lukasiewicz hairline is not passed down on the female side!

My Grandfather after the war having made his way here via Kazakhstan, Italy and who knows where else.

Nice to use that protractor and postage stamp chipboard since he then trained as a graphic designer and indeed designed postage stamps (among a lot of Disney artwork for Waddingtons) for such far flung places as Bermuda.

And his wedding to my Grandma in good old the good ol' West Riding. Here ends that particular Polish adventure...

My weekend looked a bit like this...

So in the run up to my scrappy weekend away I was adding the finishing touches to my packing, the star attractions for my planned projects arrived in the post:

The remaining bits and bobs of Crate Paper's Story Teller and Pretty Party lines. I planned to get at least 2 mini-books made.*

*I always seem to be good at the big thinking, not so hot on the "doing".

Come Friday morning I was packed and ready:

...for what must have looked like a 3 month expedition rather than a 3 day weekend away.

Considering the monsoon weather forecast I didn't think I'd need to pack these:

There was a moment where this was consumed:

Which could have adversely affected productivity, it certainly affected the speed with which I could stamp the individual letters of Polish names! Polish Countdown must be a barrel of laughs... can I have a consonant please Carol, and another.... and another... and another....

But it was probably why I never got round to using these:

We did take a break from scoffing cake and shuffling paper on the Saturday afternoon and even managed to see some of these:

Plus have a moment in the sun:

But then it was back to work in order to actually finish, ok... mostly finish the one and only project I got done!

There are just a couple of little finishing touches needed then I'll get it photographed. :)

The thing I learnt this weekend (apart from the realisation that yes, you can indeed have too much cake) which I shall pass onto any other Crate fans, was not to use Staz-on, chalk ink, dye ink, Versafine or pigment ink to stamp onto the new shiny Journaling stickers.

NO INK dries on these stickers; I went through an entire arsenal of inks trying to find one that worked - nada, zip, zilch.

The only thing that works is a journaling pen. :o( I really wish these stickers were still matt as you could stamp away to your heart's content, but shiny stickers... do not like.

Mini-album finished!

Yay, at last I've finished off my 2010 mini-album that I started at Gibside.

It just needed the cover doing and some bits and bobs inside, and I decided against journaling in the end as all the photos inside it are more the kind that evoke memories for me rather than needing a big explanation...

So here's the finished article:

 

Unfortunately a bit fuzzy in some photos as I was losing decent daylight - but this is a bit clearer with the details:

 

I used three lengths of seam binding from The Ribbon Girl to create the trim effect - I rather like how it turned out. Then a bit of jute twine and a mulberry rose finished off that bit.

The chipboard alpha is a Noteworthy one by Making Memories, I used Doodlebug glitter stickers for the year and the sticker strip is from Cosmo Cricket as the Tiny Type numbers set that I used for the months inside also had some phrase stickers that just fit for this album and I knew I'd not use them on anything else! ;o)

I added little Prima pearls to the cover and the binder tabs as they looked a bit bare.

 

Here's January with the winter snow at the local park and museum - also there's the calendar page I mucked up when punching holes... sigh...

 

February was extra special as I managed to persuade my mum to make Faworki for mardi gras and OMG so delicious. Unfortunately missed my chance this year! Grrrrr....

 

On Mother's Day last March Ma and I went shopping, but also went for some delish ice cream at Marble Slab Creamery... wonder if we can revisit this year! ;o)

 

The Easter Sunday breakfast table all laid out and ready, complete with vodka!

 

May, just before I moved into my house, I added the finishing touches to my bedroom... :happy sigh: I still love my red John Rocha lamp and that lovely cushion from M&S.

 

My brother sporting a souvenir brought back from Oz - and a shot of my favourite time of day, coming home to my house with the sun over the conservatory as I cooked dinner.

 

I just love that time of year when the cherry and almond trees are in blossom - plenty to see in the park around the corner.

 

The first cut rose from my little garden and my brother's birthday - he was looking very happy with the chocolate cake!

 

June weather was fab, and there were plenty of opportunities for me to lounge out on the decking reading my book and eating cherries... ahhhh...

 

July my blueberries started to pop up all over the place, very yummy, and yet another day at the park.

 

Mmmm... summer strawberries, need I say more?

 

Off on our travels to the Baltic coast to visit family in Poland - a few stops on the way at Sellin and Gdansk...

 

A nice cultural trip to Chopin's home...

 

The last trip to the beach for the year.

 

The baking bug started with my first batch of cupcakes - I am seriously glad there is no butter in the house at the moment as I'm very tempted to whip up something right now.

 

The return of the winter snow came early!

 

One of my fave pics of my Christmas decorations...

 

Last but not least one of the many competitive games of Monopoly and my mum, brother and dad somewhere in the shadows on Christmas Eve.

So now I can go and add this little album to the others on my mantle piece. :o)

Yikes, can't believe it's already 5 p.m. - Monday will be here soon enough.

Getting there...

At long last I am starting to feel much better and hoping to get back to normal service now here on the blog.

First up I have played a little catch-up with this week's DCM dare which was to create your own embellishment and use it on a card.

Well sometime at the start of the week I had a really good idea of what I wanted to do for this dare. Then Thursday came and I'd promptly forgotten what I'd wanted to make by then.

Then I went to make my card with a certain embellishment in mind, a DIY crocheted flower I was going to design my card around.

Another spanner in the works happened when the rest of the card just didn't work with the flower on it!

So I have admitted defeat and this card features a little DIY banner that at least adds the finishing touch in a nice way. :o)

 

Papers: Crate Paper
Ribbon and twine: The Ribbon Girl
Stamps: My Cute Stamps
Die: Papertrey Ink
Other: Promarkers, Liquid pearls

 

Also I thought I'd share some odds and ends photos...

 

My Christmas present amaryllis has been doing very well positioned over a radiator and close to the boiler - so much so it has had two sets of flowers and has now moved to the conservatory where it is less hot.

 

Last weekend at our scrapping retreat I had something nice and new to stroke.... mmmm the AC cardstock swatch which is just lovely and means I can now easily identify my favourite shades for when I run out.

Last weekend was rather a productive one. I got my Chicago Mini-album made from scratch including some time spent painting those blessed chipboard pages!

 

But I think the shabby chic white paint look was well worth it - and the mix of Cosmo Togetherness with OA Thrift Shoppe was just perfect for my photos... so here are a few snaps of the inside:

 

That first stop - a trip to Bath and Bodyworks right before a tornado hit and we were evacuated to the basement to wait it out. Never a dull moment shopping with us.

 

That holiday we seemed to go up quite a few tall buildings for a view of the city...

 

Ah that bead shop - an easy way to part with a lot of money in a most pleasant way!

 

My Uncle Wlodek's homemade lemon vodka is famed in his neighbourhood, so he always has mini dixie cups on hand for entertaining... It was very potent but very nice stuff!

 

This photo of me and my cousin Basia really cracks me up as both of us have the exact same pose without having realised it... apparently my mother believes this to be genetic... I just think we'd do quite well at synchronised standing.

And as you saw on the cover of the album I used the Tim Holtz rosette die kindly loaned for the occasion by Gill - well... you know what happened don't you... I just needed that die and the new one to play with:

 

So watch out for these on many more projects to come!

I also started and almost finished my snaps of 2010 mini-album at the weekend too. I had a major boo-boo mistake on punching my jan/feb calendar pages - the kind of boo-boo you can't easily come back from and find yourself having tantrum breakdown and swearing fit over... but it all came good in the end and I paid better attention punching the rest of the calendar pages!

I still need to do the cover and journaling and other bits and bobs but here are a few shots of the inside as it is:

 

Ah, marble slab ice cream and words of wisdom - a perfect combination.

 

I used some filters on my photo prints and was really glad I did as they worked much better with the BG Blush papers I used.

 

I just love that strawberry shot - it just sums up summer for me.

Anyway, depending on my progress with my new read I might finish this album off tomorrow, we'll see!

Christmas Journal: The End

 

OK, so it might be over a month late... but I have finally finished my Christmas journal!

Hurrah!

And it has meant that I have at long last been able to put my Christmas stash away. :o)

So, it was just the January entries left to go - obviously my resolution #2 to stop procrastinating requires some work...

 

And resolution #1 isn't doing so well either... but hey.

 

Some nice fluffy Thickers to start the month, and since it's a tradition to watch the NY's Day concert from Vienna this had to be a wintry/snowy inspired page.

 

The prompt for the second was all about childhood and innocence... well, I cracked open my white chocolate orange... and it made me realise that when we were little, our chocolate selection boxes never lasted into January!

 

Lots of vintage KI on this one...

 

The 3rd was about looking back at Christmas and favourite memories from the season... well I had to get in one of the only family pics to come out ok (oh and a bit of that lovely real tree!).

 

Got to love a bit of Love Elsie "Noel".

 

The 4th was about reminders for next year. Well, I never got a chance to try the Baked Alaska recipe from Sainsbury's this year. I really wanted to try it as I have never ever had Baked Alaska, and well... it sounds very delish!

 

KI Festive and a cute little snow person from MME. :o)

 

The 5th was about packing up and putting things away... All my decorations went back in their boxes, plus a gorgeous Christmas card that arrived in Jan will be coming out next year for maximum festive enjoyment. :o)

 

Crate galore here, and my favourite set of foam Thickers - only have a few numbers left from that set. But I love the font!

 

And the last day of Christmas... well, my Christmas journal is finished for this year, but the stash is ready to come out for Christmas 2011!

 

I went to town a bit with Basic Grey's Eskimo Kisses stash! But what better reason to use it?

 

I had one page left to round off the journal... and used my yummy AC Moxie stickers and glitter MM stickers.

 

So there it is, the whole journal finished. It has had to move out of the 2 Paperchase binders it was living in and is now held together with book rings and I made some acrylic covers... but I just wish my Paperchase binder could hold it all!

Christmas Journal December 31st

 

I know... it's mid-January and yet I am still plugging away with my journal!

But last night I managed to get my retrospective page for 2010 made...

 

Better late than never though, eh? And a chance to use up loads of those KI Festive party/boozy embellishments!

Oh and Stickles galore of course - hence the reason this was still drying last night!

 

Right, I am off to plonk myself in front of the telly and catch up with some of my recorded shows.

Christmas Journal December 24th - December 30th

 

Here I am back with some more pages I made yesterday. So sad the Christmas break is almost over... and it's back to work tomorrow - the time has certainly flown by!

Anyway, the other day I got up to Christmas Eve, and here's my entry for that date with a photo of the dining table before our Wigilia dinner - thankfully it's more small-scale than the ultra-traditional array of dishes served in Poland. We've narrowed it down to just 4 or 5 family favourites and that is more than enough! LOL

 

I had some people photos I wanted to use but in each shot one person's face was either blurred, surly looking, or looking the wrong way. {sigh}

 

And here's the glittery Christmas dinner table (you'd think it was all about food in our house! lol)

 

A happy coincidence that the little plate in the photo matched the background I'd already made for this page - phew!

 

I just had to wheel out the glittery MM letters for this page!

Boxing day was fun - we went over to family friends for lunch (or should that say a feast) followed by some action on the Wii, followed by a buffet, followed by some lounging in front of the TV trying to recover. LOL

 

I managed to quickly snap a photo between one meal and time on the Wii!

 

The 27th was all about lounging about and having a "nothing" day. Which meant that the Monopoly sets got dusted off and we started with the Washington version:

 

My dad joined in and the "rules" got rewritten and more complicated, however it was most entertaining and I think 2011 will see some more Monopoly matches, we certainly have enough sets to play with - next up the Polish version!

 

On the 28th it was time for some indulgence, I think I may have had a PJ day...

 

But I could have done with a nice festive Starbucks!

 

On the 29th I was back at home and played catch-up with my journal, plus I did some investigating in my lovely new books to see what I had in my kitchen cupboards that would work nicely for a certain birthday...

 

They are truly yummy books and far too tempting!

 

And lastly, the end result I made on the 30th using my new Bosch mixer... I had a bit of an overdose with the gel food colouring, but I was just using up the bit on the lid, future cupcakes will be less lurid! LOL

 

They were regular Vanilla cupcakes in the end and went down very well.

 

Right, I'd best go get my 30 mins of this in before I have my tea:

 

Happy New Year & Christmas Journal catch-up

 

Well, I've had a nice rest over the Christmas break and haven't done much else other than enjoy some family time, catch up on my reading, eat, drink and be merry, suffer the return of the Monopoly wars chez the homestead, have a lovely Boxing day spent with family friends (followed by an acute need to purchase Samba de Amigo for the Wii asap), get to grips with my lovely new food processor/mixer, leaf through a stack of new baking books I received for Christmas, dash out to buy Just Dance 2 for the Wii (excellent purchase - much better than the first one!) and... catch up with my Christmas journal a bit.

So on that note, here are the entries I've caught up on.

 

The new addition to my festive playlist this year was Pink Martini's new album - Joy to the World. Excellent tracks for all sorts of moods.

 

Lots of KI Good Tidings on this page.

 

This page is all about gifts... I at least managed to wrap up the items that had arrived...

 

I made the gift bow from scraps of Jolly by Golly.

 

This entry regarding visitors is an homage to the "annual" tradition of driving up to Zoe's to build the gingerbread house with the girls. Well, this tradition has only taken place once so far, the last two years snow has hampered the event... Maybe we'll have more luck next year!

 

October Afternoon had some perfect Gingerbread themed items for this entry... and looking at that photo I now feel a bit peckish - think I'll have to go unearth my stash of Lebküchen!

 

The entry for the 16th was all about being thankful... well I was just happy to have a few evenings where I could relax in front of the telly with just the fairy lights on and a peppermint candy cane to munch on.

 

Jolly by Golly strikes again for this entry.

 

So onto the 17th, and the theme for this prompt was the perfect gift. On my wishlist this year as a compact yet versatile food processor that could be mainly used as a food mixer but also had a blender. Well lo and behold one was found - a nice Bosch model that even had a stainless steel bowl and wasn't overly expensive. It went straight to the top of my letter to Santa!

 

Crate Snow Days on this page in abundance.

 

The prompt for the 18th was supposed to be about Christmas dinner... well, before you get to Christmas dinner in our house, you first have a lovely Polish Christmas breakfast... and become very mellow soon after! ;o)

 

Basic Grey on this page, went great with that little plate from John Lewis - shame they don't still sell them as I'd love a set.

 

The 19th was all about letters to Santa, well.... technically I don't write letters to him any more as I think he generally knows what I'd like what with the hints I drop.... but that doesn't mean Santa doesn't deserve his Mince pie... or cupcake for that matter!

 

Lots of Jolly by Golly on this page plus some KI stickers.

 

The 20th was about unexpected surprises... and yes, the unexpected surprise was that due to the snow some gifts had not yet materialised. In fact one gift still has not turned up and I've had no response from the seller... but that meant I had to write a few IOU notes to make up for the lack of present!

 

Yep, a bit garish as I just wanted to use up as much of my KI Festive stash as I could. LOL

 

On the 21st I went with the to-do list prompt as the colours of my photo were a better fit for the background... so here was my list!

 

American Crafts with a hint of Basic Grey for good measure.

 

On the 22nd I used a photo of "right now" - another relaxing evening with the fire on, my festive candles lit, and the tree and lights providing the only illumination. Quite lovely.

 

Echo Park and glittery KI alpha stickers, plus some Crate chipboard.

 

The 23rd was all about Stockings. Well, I don't actually have a stocking, but I do purchase the odd stocking filler, and the obvious choice is the good old chocolate orange.

 

Plenty of Crate here!

So that's it so far, I have photos printed through to New Year's Eve so will work on those entries tomorrow - off to the homestead this afternoon for dinner, and no doubt more Monopoly - probably the Polish set this time!

Christmas journal catch-up: December 10th, 11th & 12th

 

It's been a funny old day. I woke up very early so started reading a new book, then didn't get up until I'd finished it.

After that I went out to try and clear more ice off the street. We currently have excellent conditions for speed skating down the street - 3 to 4 solid inches of ice. And I mean solid! I managed to clear a bit more from the pavement and area around my car but heaven knows how it will be in the morning and if I will get out OK for work. Fingers crossed as I really need to get into the office this week.

And when it started raining I came in to get on with my Christmas journal. Progress would have been much better had I not been watching Glorious 39 at the same time, I ended up abandoning my stash pile and just watching the film. Despite my reservations about whether it would be for me or not, it was actually really good (a bit gruesome at times) but much better than I'd imagined.

However, I need some light relief now! LOL

So back to the festive spirit and some journal entries to bring me up-to-date.

 

The entry for the 10th is all about this year's gift wrapping plans. Well, I have the paper (kraft and a nice white pattern from Ikea) at the ready, just need the gifts to wrap!

Also have some of my most prized American Crafts gift wrap that I clandestinely brought over from Florida a few years back. Oh and the American Crafts gift bows... Too nice to give away! LOL

 

A mix of Crate and Echo Park on this page.

Next up for the 11th, all about the Christmas tree...

 

I can never get a full length shot of my tree that doesn't make it look ugly. It's silver, very shiny, and fibre optic - it sounds dreadful when you try to describe it, but it's very pretty in real life, and looks lovely  lit up.

 

However I had the joy of decorating a real tree at my mum and dad's last night - and it is very gorgeous - just needs more lights!

For the 12th, it's all about Christmas Past...

 

And for this page, I took a photo of my oldest ornament on my tree. It's a little knitted angel I remember my mum buying us (I got the angel and my brother got a felt panda - go figure!) at a Christmas fayre at one of the local primary schools when I was little. She's been on the tree ever since and now has since moved to my own tree. She's looking pretty good for a twenty-something.

 

So that's it until another Christmas Journal update...

Christmas Journal - December 9th

 

Evening all!

Well, here I am with today's prompt - and it has been one of the pages in this album I've been most looking forward to finishing...

I opened up my pack of Basic Grey journaling overlay sheets and it covered almost the whole page, so thankfully the photo for today has fit in it quite nicely...

 

A bit difficult to photograph without glarey reflections of me trying to snap the photo... but I think it has turned out quite nice considering.

So on the topic of traditions, it has become a serious tradition for me to add to my bauble collection each year. At least one bauble needs to be purchased... however, this was not a problem this year as about a dozen plus baubles were acquired (and have since found a festive new home) when I was out shopping with my partner in bauble acquisition crime, my mother. It was just too difficult to leave these beautiful new additions sitting there on the shelves waiting for a new owner... much better that they end up on my tree and mantelpiece...

It's a bit difficult to see in the pic that the background under the overlay for the houses is frosty glittery cardstock - I also used some co-ordinating Eskimo Kisses dimensional stickers and a KI glittery snowflake.

 

All in all, I'm rather happy with how this one turned out. :o) But my little Paperchase binder is getting rather full - and it's only the 9th!

Something tells me that by the end of this album there will be some giant book rings making an appearance to hold it all together.

Christmas Journal - December 8th

 

Here's my entry for today's prompt - all about the sights of the season.

 

When I was in town on Saturday I took a few snaps of the shop displays, including this one at the florist's - complete with baskets of decorations, lovely looking wreaths and bulbs planted ready to give away as gifts... very rustic and charming - and out of my price range! But pretty to look at nonetheless.

 

Some vintage KI Festive on this page with a dash of Cosmo Cricket.

 

Not bad for an evening's work. :o)

Christmas Journal - December 7th

 

Just playing catch up with yesterday's prompt.

All about to-do lists. And my current non-work-related to-do list has essentially one item on it.

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!

Before the snow hit, I hadn't made much progress - couldn't find just the right thing in the shops... but was hoping come December I'd have everything sorted.

Not so.

Online shopping may be the only option soon... :o(

 

Lots of October Afternoon goodness on this page - and if Santa would make the snow and ice melt, then I could get my shopping done. ;o)

 

Also, just a reminder for this week's DCM dare - there is a very bling-y prize up for grabs!

 

Happy creating!

Christmas Journal - December 6th

 

So today's prompt was all about a tale of two Christmases.

And for me, every Christmas is a tale of two Christmases as we celebrate both Polish and British traditions. And boy do we celebrate Christmas morning over breakfast... anyway... on with the pics!

 

This photo of my wintry Matryoshka collection sums it up best - East meets West in Matryoshka form!

 

This page was brought to you in close association with my BG Jovial stash pile! Oh and there is some KI and Crate mixed in there too. ;o)