Crafty Christmas Presents

And in a blink of an eye Christmas has been and gone. Did you all have a lovely Christmas? 

Mine was the usual family affair, over to my folks for Christmas morning opening our stocking (well Christmas gift bag) presents and presents from other family members and friends and for Christmas dinner before heading to the inlaws in the afternoon for presents and tea. Then on Boxing Day it was Christmas Day take two where we exchange presents with mum & dad and my brother and sister in law and have a general family day laughing at poor mum trying to work out dad's quiz for opening her presents. This years quiz was Christmas number 1's, on the label was a year and she needed to name the Christmas number 1 for that year, cue mum sitting there perplexed while my brother and I looked them up on his phone and tried to give her clues. 

After opening our presents we now have chocolates, wine & toiletries coming out of our ears! I was lucky enough to receive some crafty presents from Ian though. Presents I chose and added to online carts and left him to pay for lol! For my stocking presents (we buy each other our main presents after Christmas in the sales) he brought me some lovely goodies from Angel Crafts

Two more 6x6 paper pads from Alison Kreft Recorded collection & Glitz Love you Madly collection which were both reduced. I love the Alison Kreft collection and had my eye on it for a while but I had not seen the Glitz collection before but the muted pink, aqua and grey colours are lovely. Of course I had to have some more Washi tape too! The ribbons were a freebie. 

I have been looking for a new paper trimmer for a while as ever since I changed the rubber track on my Woodware trimmer it has not been cutting straight. At first I thought it was just me being a bit dim but after chatting to the girls at Meadow Barn in March I realised it wasn't lol! So for my main present Ian said he would buy me a new trimmer and after lots of YouTube watching I decided to try a Fiskars one. I placed a thread on UKS asking if anyone stocked it and The Mad Scrapper responded and even better it had 20% off. Naturally more things fell into my basket as it was sale and my parcel arrived today

As you know I'm a sucker for stars and I thought the Martha Stewart punch would be great for birthday cards, something I really want to try and make more of. I also received the Picked Raspberry (not pickled as I keep calling it) and Peacock feathers distress ink pads which are both lovely vibrant, bold colours. 

Just to leave you with a cute snap of Boo from Boxing Day 

Happy New Year xx

'Twas the weekend before Christmas

And it flew by! Here we are in the final two days before Christmas and boy am I on countdown mode! I had a busy weekend dashing over to deliver the girls pressies in Kings Cliffe and then working. I had a nice surprise waiting for me when I got to Kelly's though, this

A Christmas hamper! I had brought some raffle tickets for the school Christmas fair and I won a prize for the first time ever! I'm very chuffed as it's full of wine, biscuits, chocolates, a cake, jam, etc. Apparently people were not as generous as previous years as they have been fuller but I'm not complaining lol! 

Finally to leave you with a funny sign spotted on the market! 

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!! Xx

At least I made one card for Christmas!

Can you believe it's only 10 days until Christmas! I hope everyone's preparations are going to plan, I've got a handful of presents left to wrap and then I'm ready! As I think I've said in a previous post I had intended to make my Christmas cards but the idea I had in mind did not go to plan. But all was not lost as I did manage to make at least one card, a birthday card for my sister inlaw Jojo. 

Lately I've been buying 6x6 paper pads with the intention of using them to make cards as the patterns are smaller and wouldn't over power a card too much. The spotty paper is from the Mayberry collection from American Crafts, not a collection I would have used for scrapping but when I saw the paper pad on sale I thought it great for cards. The Polaroid frame is also cut with some Mayberry paper using my MFT frame die. The cupcake and ribbon flower were readymade embellishments I'd had in my stash for ages so I was pleased to finally use them. I stamped a Stampin Up greeting to an Elle's Studio banner and that's the card! Not a Christmas card but a Christmas birthday card! 

Sketchy Scrappers: The Eye

Today is my day off. Ian is working a nightshift all week so I needed to find something quiet to do, out of his way while he slept. Hmmm that would be scrapping then! This months sketch over at Sketchy Scrappers was set by the lovely Gemma who set this sketch 

I decided rather than use one landscape & one portrait photo to have a delve and use a portrait photo with a 4x4 Instagram photo instead. I've been having my photos printed via the Fotobox app on my phone. It's easy to upload, select your size, quantity and they arrive in a couple of days, so if you have an iPhone I'd recommend them :-) Anyway back to business, this is my layout 

The photos are obviously of the London Eye. The papers are from my scraps and I just had to use a scrap of Echo Park paper with the fairground rides on as it fitted perfectly. I also pulled out my Stampin Up cloud embossing folder as I also felt this fitted with the photos perfectly. I adapted the bunting idea to a doily instead, and cut some Elle's Studio pennants and placed them to the right. 

Marmite scrapping?

This week is my last week off work before the Christmas rush, a week of relaxing and doing as much Christmasy stuff I can so I haven't got to fight the crowds nearer the time. This means I've got a bit more time to do some crafting, I've attempted to make some Christmas cards but plan A didn't work so we're onto plan B lol! I have also managed to do my first weekly challenge on UKS for AGES!!

 This weeks challenge has a Marmite twist to it, you either love it or hate it (personally I love it). The three elements of the challenge are photo: ones you love due to memories, etc or ones you hate as the quality is poor, etc; colour: colours or papers which are your favourite which you go to time again or ones you hate which have been languishing in your stash for some time; and finally technique: your favourite technique which you use time again of one which never goes to plan or is not your style. With these elements in mind I came up with this layout 

Photo: The photo was taken when I went to London in May and went to Liberty for the first time. This is obviously a memory I want to document however the photo all blurry and not sharp as the camera settings had a mind of their own. HATE

Colour: I recently went halves with my friend Gemma on some goodies from TK Maxx including half an Amy Tangerine Yes Please 12x12 paper pad, so all the papers are from that. Being an Amy Tangerine fan this is LOVE. 

Technique: I have a love/hate relationship with stamping. I love all the stamps out there and how people use them, however when it comes to stamping I'm pretty pants! My images are rarely clear, with bits missing from them! So I decided to have a go on this layout, stamping out a medallion from a Stampin Up set using a pink distress ink. I have the same relationship with distressed edges, the look good when other Scrappers distress but when I do it it just looks messy, so again I had a go and I have to say I'm still not convinced lol! HATE. 

Don't look back!

Happy Halloween folks! Already some goodies meant for trick or treaters have jumped into my mouth, I have no idea how that happened! As not to scare too many people today I had the day off work  and shut myself away at my desk and did some scrapping before going to have my wig touched up this afternoon! This month I set myself & Gemma the challenge to use this sketch & to include some ribbon on the layout. 

After looking through my photos I decided to make a different type of layout  to my normal layouts. Usually I scrap photos from holidays, walks, of family, events, etc. But I came across a photo I took of myself shortly after getting my iPhone when I was trying to be arty playing with the camera and decided to make an inspirational type layout especially as Ian & I have reached a time where we are making plans for the future & putting the past behind us. 

I'd been hoarding the Dear Lizzy arrow paper since it came in February's Quirky Kit as I knew I wanted to use it as a background and now seemed the perfect time. The other papers are another piece of Dear Lizzy & Echo Park. I have had some Seam Binding in my ribbon box for ages but didn't know how to use it so I experimented with some mist and altered it to fit with my colour scheme. I'm impressed with how it came out and will definetly try it again maybe with more than one colour. 

I thought a white doily would be too harsh on the layout so I used a kraft diecut doily I've had in my stash for ages instead. For the title I used Poolside Thickers & October Afternoon mini market stickers. To finish I searched online for a quote to fit my "moving on" theme. 

Sketchy Scrappers: All the way up

The sky has been dull and grey, the rain has been pouring- guess Mother Nature finally got the memo that it's autumn! As it's been a day to stay in and snuggle up I managed to get some scrapping done. This months sketch over at Sketchy Scrappers was set by the lovely Karen, who chose this sketch

I don't scrap my photos in any particular order and for this sketch I rummaged through some holiday snaps from 2010 and found a series of photos we took on the Snowdon train as it made its way to the summit. I picked out three and trimmed them down as they were 7x5 to 6x4, luckily there was a fair amount of dead space which wouldn't be missed by doing this, and came up with this

As the photos had lots of earthy, green tones I chose colours to compliment this. The background card is a greeny, Kraft colour. The main patterned paper is Crate Paper with scraps of Bo Bunny double dot & Carta Bella along the top, the photos are matted onto a scrap of wood grain Alison Kreft paper. The alpha stickers are from Pebbles. For embellishments I layered a doily, a kraft envelope which contains the journaling & an Admit One diecut which I've had in my stash from a swap for ages but which ends itself to a layout about a train journey rather well I thought! 

The journey tells of our past journeys up the mountain

Story Telling Sunday: Village Postoffice

Another month has been and gone , a new one ahead of us and time for Story Telling Sunday over on Sian's blog From High In The Sky. 

When I was a child my paternal grandparents owned & lived in the Postoffice in the small village of Bulwick on the way to Corby. Every Saturday we would go over for a family tea where we'd all be squashed into the small living/dining room at the back of the cottage (the main living room was for Christmas only lol), helping ourselves to sandwiches, crisps and cake, sometimes the dreaded but loved my nan indoor fireworks would come out! Each grandchild was given £1 pocket money and was allowed to go down to the Postoffice and buy ourselves some sweets, grandad wasn't daft was he! Behind the cottage was a field known as "the park" where we would play for hours, this time of year the trees would be filled with conkers and we'd come home with 2 carrier bags full of them! 

When I was 11 my grandparents retired, sold the Postoffice and moved to Stamford to be closer to the family. They enjoyed many happy years until a series of strokes left my nan with Dementia. My grandad cared for her as much as he could but eventually nan had to go into a home. Sadly in 2009 my grandad died of heart failure and nan past away peacefully in 2011. Nan used to collect Lilyputt Lane houses and when it came to clearing their house I asked if I could take Mrs Pinkertons Post Office as it reminded me so much of the Bulwick Postoffice 

Today we stopped at Bulwick to take some flowers to my grandparents grave where their ashes were interred, in the churchyard directly opposite the Postoffice 

Sunny Sunday

This week has been a glorious week weather wise. Even when it's been cloudy it's been warm and when the sun has shone like today it's been lovely giving us probably the last chance to go out without jackets and layers. Strange to think that the week before I contemplated for a split second putting the heating on and quickly ordered boots for work so not to get cold toes, boots which arrived the day the weather warmed up and have since sat in their box in the wardrobe but I'm not going to complain! Even though we have been tricked into thinking it is still summer there are tell tell signs that autumn is definitely on its way with forest floors now covered with a carpet of leaves. 

So after a pleasant walk this morning through local woodland and meadows I sat down to scrap while Ian watched motor racing. This is the layout I made

The photos are of the flower lined entry to Liberty. I've got a fair amount of cardstock mounting up from kits as I seem to be using patterned paper for my backgrounds lately, so I decided to replicate the background I used for my Bumper Cars layout but decided against gutting the cardstock as I've got plenty to go around at the moment lol! Papers used are ones you may recognise from recent layouts; Studio Calico, Kesi Art & Alison Kreft. The title is Amy Tangerine & my favourite Poolside Thickers. 

Back in the Scrapping groove

I've been lucky enough to have another weekend off this weekend and with no jobs which needed doing I finally managed to sit down and do some scrapping! I haven't scrapped in AGES and with challenges waiting to be done, two kits waiting to be used and another being shipped soon I was starting to panic that my mojo had gone on holiday and was never coming back! The first layout I did was for a challenge my friend Gemma had set for us. She wanted both of us to make a layout based on this sketch and to use something round

I decided to rotate the sketch, pulled out a photo from my brothers wedding last year and came up with this layout 

This photo is of my dad's side of the family, the Greys (I'll introduce them later). I decided to use card stock for the background as I felt as though I've been using patterned paper a lot lately as backgrounds, but me being me I had to add some sprinkles of Mister Huey's Boss Lady, Powder Blue & Seafoam as it felt to plain to me! I used Kesi Art, Studio Calico, Echo Park & Dear Lizzy papers, and fussy cut some note lets from an old Quirky Kit. The note lets came in the February kit and have been in my stash since then as I had no idea how to use them as they annoyingly had a copyright thing printed on the bottom! 

I added a doily, some washi, buttons & Dear Lizzy thickers. Now for the family:

From left to right: my cousin Nicola, Auntie Val, Uncle Norman, Auntie Wendy, my brother Vincent, SIL Penny, Uncle Steve, cousin Emma, me, cousin Adam, Auntie Barbara, Uncle Ron, my mum, Emma's partner John, my dad & Ian. 

The second layout I managed today is a companion layout to this featuring my mums side of the family. For this layout I used this sketch set by Caz for Sketchy Scrappers. 

I tried to use similar colours and papers as they sit side by side in my album for some continuity. I don't normally do this, my albums are a mix of colours, papers and products but for occasions such as this and the jubilee I tried to keep them similar. Anyway this is the layout I made

Papers used are Kesi Art, Studio Calico, Crate Paper & MME. More doilies and Dear Lizzy thickers were used but this time instead of ink splatters I tried something different and misted a white tag, nothing amazing and innovative but different for me! 

Roll call again. There are some family members missing as my mums aunt & uncle had wondered back to the car, and one brother and family didn't bother coming at all as they were appalled that children were not allowed! I don't know my cousins kids, but anyway... 

From left to right: my auntie Linda, Uncle Mark, cousin Naomi, her boyfriend Rory, Vincent, Penny, me, mums Uncle John, her Auntie Marie, Ian, mum & dad. 

So there you are I'm back in the scrapping groove and you've met my family! 

Road trip to Wales

Yesterday we came home from a road trip to Wales.

 I had hoped to take lots of pictures as I was the passenger for once and not the driver, but unfortunately the car charger I brought the day before we left to charge my phone didn't work so I have been cut off from the world for three days! Top tip: always buy these things well in advance and check they work before you leave! 

We took the long & scenic route and eventually arrived at good old Shell Island. As it was your typical grey, cloudy, windy Welsh day we decided after last years fight against gale force winds to pitch in the sheltered side of the island facing the hills rather than the sea. 

Weather wise it was like this most of the time, with rain in the afternoon. On Thursday morning it was lovely & sunny and we were able to go on the beach in just our t-shirts. We spent the morning beach combing and rock pooling the perfect time to get lots of photos but no such luck!  

I see a sign: a cheeky one

Today we went to an antique centre in Market Deeping as we were in the area. I love this centre as it is made up of various sellers who pack as much as they can into their small cubicle to sell so you can have a good rummage through the bric a brac. They even have a craft shop in the back selling stash but I walked straight through as I don't NEED anything, it took a lot of doing I can tell you lol! While we were there I spotted this cheeky sign which made me giggle

I loved it and did think about buying it for the bedroom but resisted lol! I can picture it being in a changing room in a cool boutique for some reason too. 

Story Telling Sunday: Snoopy

Another month has flown past and yet again we're at the start of another. This month I have decided to join in with Sian over at From High in the Sky for Storytelling Sunday where we share the story behind a precious object in our lives. 

This month I'm sharing the most precious object to me, my beloved Snoopy! 

Now slightly battered, bruised this fellow has been with me since I was 2yrs old when one day I wandered into my parents bedroom and took him from their bed. Since them he has come everywhere with me from my dad carrying him in the front of his coat with his head poking out so he didn't get cold on the way to play school, to overnight stays in hospital with suspected appendicitis. Gone are the days where I'd come home from school to see him pegged to the washing line by his ears, now he sits on a shelf for fear that he might have an accident in the washing machine but he still gets a kiss on the nose from time to time. 

Weekend camping at Wing Hall

Happy Bank Holiday Monday! As its the last bank hol until Christmas (yes I did just say the C word) we decided in the week to go camping at nearby Wing Hall for a couple of nights. Wing Hall is only 15 minutes up the road and is an old country house with camping, farm shop & Cafe Bar. 

Close to Rutland Water we were placed in the Adults Only field (obviously don't know us very well!) and pitched up over looking the rolling hills towards Uppingham. 

In typical camping fashion Saturday night was a wash out, it poured all night! Luckily wellies were packed for having to walk across a field to the loo! The next day tho the sun shone and it was a glorious warm summers day giving me time to wander around to see the chickens which are allowed to roam where they like meaning you have to shoo them from your tent and be careful not to run one over! 

And my personal favourite the PIGS!!!!!

As it was a nice day we came back over to Stamford to look around the annual car show but I won't bore you with that now lol! Then it was back to camp to sit out in the evening with a bottle of wine

How did you all spend your weekend? 

Sketchy Scrappers: Bumper Cars

It's that time again... hang on its not quite the end of month I hear you cry! Well Sketchy Scrappers has a new home on Facebook as it seemed easier for most people to catch up with posts there thanks to smart phones, etc and with our new home comes a change in rules where we can upload as soon as we've finished out layouts rather than wait for the end of the month. 

This months sketch was set by Jo who chose this sketch from Shimelle Laine

I love this sketch and actually have it on my sketch Pinterest board somewhere. I sorted through my photos and made this layout

The photo was taken back in May on my first visit to Liberty. As we walked through the doors we were greeted by this display, I'm not fully sure what it was for but it was very cool! 

I'm still trying to use up most of my March/April Quirky Kit as I've got two more waiting to be used (ssh don't tell Ian lol!). I used Glitz, Alison Kreft & Dear Lizzy papers which were from the March/April kit, and gutted a sheet of Echo Park paper for the base. I admit I don't normally gut my paper but I thought the Echo Park would be ideal for matting so wanted to keep some! 

The March/April kit included some small tags which I wasn't sure how to use, but then I vaguely remembered seeing on the  Quirky Kits blog someone using them for either a title or date so I used this idea. I added some stars to them as I felt they were getting lost on the page. 

The top cluster is made up of a doily, a scrap of Glitz paper and MME Nostalgia die cut from my stash. 

Notebook Swap

A few weeks ago my scrappy friend Gemma organised a notebook swap for the Meadow Barners, where we brought a hardcover notebook and decorated it for someone else. 

My swappee was Fiona. This was the first notebook swap I'd taken part in so I had a lack of ideas in my tiny mind. But while I was rummaging through my die cuts box I came across some vintage, dressmaking embellishments, perfect for Fi who is a dab hand with the sewing machine. So I teamed them up with some Papermania paper from a retro range they released last year and made this

I also received a beautiful notebook from Gemma as part of the swap

I love it, it's so cute especially the little owl charm. My plan is to use this to jot down any scrappy or blog post ideas when I'm out and about, as I normally think of things and forget what they were by the time I get home lol!