Dukes Farm layouts: part two

So better late than never I thought I'd share some more of the layouts I made at Dukes Farm. These layouts are again using some of the old photos I found at my parents house so prepare to cringe! 

These photos were taken when I went to my first ever Bon Jovi concert which was also the last ever concert to be played at Wembley Stadium before the pulled the two towers down and rebuilt it. I used papers from Amy Tangerine Stitched collection and a random scrap from Gemma's box of scraps. I used my Stampin Up camera stamp which I love to use to make embellishments, a Stampin Up doily, stars from Studio Calico and letter stickers from Elle's Studio. 

These photos were taken from my second year ball at uni. It was also the year I thought it would be a good idea to cut my hair short, cringe! I used papers from Pebbles and embellishments from Jen Hadfield. 

This is a silly layout about the giant wine glasses I used to have. This was how I used to spend my Saturday night...who am I kidding this is still my Saturday night! I decided to pick up on the yellow and blue from my busy wallpaper, and used a mixture of scraps from Studio Calico. The fun die cut is from Amy Tangerines new line, the delightful I've had in my box of bits for ages.  I've still got a couple more layouts to share but I'll pop those in another post! X

Mother's Day Cards

So last weekend it was Mother's Day. I did the good daughter/daughter in law thing and arranged for some flowers to be delivered and made a couple of cards. 

I used papers, including the sentiments, from Paige Evans and die cut flowers from Jen Hadfield. I originally thought about using an embossed background so I used a heart embossing folder from Stampin Up, but I couldn't get it to work so ended up just using a tiny slither. Why is it how you picture things in your head never come out right on paper? 

100 Days of Happiness: Week 12

So I didn't quite make it to having a blog post a day up last week. Ian went down to Stamford for a couple of days and took the iPad so I had no access to my blog. But I'm back now to share week 12 of my 100 Days of Happiness. 

Last week I started my Upskill training to be able to take mortgage calls so on Monday I was glad to have survived my first day as there was a lot of information to take in. Tuesday was weigh day again and while I was bummed to have put in 1lb I cheered myself up with the latest issue of the magazine for inspiration. On Wednesday I had texted Ian before I left work asking him to prep the veg for tea so I was happy when I got in and found he'd listened to me for once! Thursday was an information overload day in training so I was happy to have someone who was organised enough to bring teabags with them! 

It was decided at the start of training that friday's would be fat Fridays, not exactly Slimming World friendly but very naughty and delicious! On Saturday I took myself off shopping looking for new clothes. I didn't buy anything but did spy an inflatable flamingo, if only I had a pool! Finally on Sunday I decided to treat myself to some of my favourite flowers. 

Dukes Farm Layouts: Part 1

Today I thought I'd start to share the layouts I made at Dukes Farm. As I've mentioned in previous posts I took away with me some older photos from by Uni days and decided to make an album of these. Some of these photos are a little bit cringe worthy so no laughing! 

The first layout I made were photos from a girly night out in a restaurant called Panama Joes which used to serve yummy South American type food. I used papers from a Jen Hadfield paper pad I'd picked up in TK Maxx. I also used acetate embellishments from Heidi Swapp and some die cuts from Page Evans. 

The next layout I scraped was of me and my friend Anna. Anna was one of the first people I spoke to and made friends with at uni as she was in the room opposite my in halls, and we remain friends to this day. The photos were taken in our first year and then in our last year. I used papers from an old Studio Calico collection and dies cuts from Page Evans again. 

The last layout I'll share today is of my brother jumping over a wall in a beer garden at the end of a booze night out, forgetting about the large drop the other side! As the photo was quite dark I went for a fairly monochromatic colour scheme with a little pop of Aqua. Papers are again from Jen Hadfield and a scrap from Gemma's overflowing scrap box. I also used a mix of embellishments from Fancy Pants, Dear Lizzy and a really old cut apart from Echo Park. 

Music on the Meadows: Sketchy Scrappers March sketch

What's this? Blogging three days in a row? That's right I'm back with another blog post. While away at Dukes Farm Gemma set the March sketch for Sketchy Scrappers. It was fun as there were four members of Sketchy Scrappers away at the retreat and we all interpreted the sketch slightly differently. This was the sketch: 

I decided to scrap a photo of my and my best friend at the time at Music on the Meadows in Stamford probably about 12/13 years ago. Music on the Meadows was a local music festival held during festival week in Stamford where local bands could play. 

I used some older papers from Studio Calico and Crate Paper. Luckily while we were away someone had a hexagon punch so I could punch lots of hexagons out. I didn't want to embellish the page too much as it had the hexagons sweeping across the page so I kept it simple by scattering some wood veneer stars.  Will I make it four days blogging in a row? You'll have to wait and see! X

100 Days of Happiness: Week 11

Blimey another week has whizzed by and I'm nearing the end of my 100 days of happiness challenge. I'm surprised I've managed to keep it up and to be honest I've enjoyed it. I'm even contemplating carrying on for another 100 days, what do you think? If you'd like to see me carry on with the challenge leave me a comment. So without further ado this was week 11

On Monday it was back to work which was a bummer but my day was brightened with an email I'd received while I was away confirming how much my bonus was. Tuesday was weigh in day and I was surprised with a 1.5lb loss especially as I had only weighed  four days earlier on Thursday, guess being at work has its uses! On Wednesday evening there was a gorgeous sky outside as I washed up. I love the spring as the lighter evenings mean that the sunsets are as beautiful as the sunrises. On Thursday I managed to use some of my holiday hours and finished work at lunchtime which meant I could take a detour via TK Maxx on the way home TK see what little bargains they had. Unfortionetly they had no crafty bargains but I did pick up these cute bowls for £2.99 each to put on my desk with odd embellishments in. 

On Friday I received an unexpected email from Sky. For the past 12 months we've been in a deal where we've had free broadband and have only had to pay the line rental. I knew this deal was coming to an end soon and to be honest I was getting ready to shop around for a deal elsewhere especially as Sky had recently increased their prices, so to receive an email saying they were going to extend the deal for another 12 months was great! On Saturday we went to Asda to do the weekly shop and I spied that Prosecco was on offer and was cheaper than my normal bottle of wine so I treated myself. Finally Sunday was a lazy day was the weather was pants so while I got on with housework the slow cooker was on with a Slimming World Beef Ragu I'd seen online and it was absolutely delicious! 

Doctor T's

When I went to Dukes Farm I took away with me some old photos I had found at my parents and decided to make an album. I've not had the chance to share the layouts I made on her yet but the good news I have photographed them and will be sharing them shortly. One layout I can share though is one I made this last weekend for the Scrap our Stash sketch challenge. This was the sketch with the added twist of using elements to spell out the word CHARM. 

And this is the layout I scraped. I chose photos from a night out for my birthday to one of our old haunts Doctor Thirsty's, or Doctor T's as we called it. 

I used: C- Cardstock, Chevron paper from the Cut & paste collection H- Heidi Swapp star and ticker embellishments, Hearts A- Amy Tangerine thickers, Acetate embellishments R- Red M- Mists, MME papers Make sure you hope over to the blog to join in! 

Recent Card Makes

While sorting through my photos on my iPad, freeing up some space so I could photograph the layouts I had made at Dukes Farm, I realised I hadn't shared some cards I had made recently. These were cards for MIL's & my brother's birthdays, which have both passed so there'll be no surprises, and a just because card to go in a package to Gemma.  So first of all this is the card I made for MIL's birthday. 

I had just received an order from Hey Little Magpie with some lovely bits from Paige Evans Fancy Free collection, so I dived into this to make this card. I wasn't sure how to use some of the lovely embellishments in the pack as they seemed a bit random IYKWIM, so I layered them up into a cluster and it seemed to work. 

This card I made for my brothers birthday. I brought a cute sugar skull stamp from the Range thinking it would be nice to stamp it and colour it in. But while sitting at my desk watching Netflix one morning I though I'd experiment and see what it looked like stamped onto a tag. I liked how it turned out so grabbed a Stampin Up set which included a chevron border to finish it off. I layered the tag onto papers from a Simple Stories 6x6 pad and a scrap of October Afternoon paper.  This last card I made to go into a package I was sending to Gemma. Before Dukes Farm I asked if she'd like anything picking up from IKEA and she said a bag of mini Dime bars. Not a problem because I could just dive in the exit, grab them and go. But alas when I got going along the motorway I was blocked into the middle lane, missing the junction for Ikea and the Dime bars. I didn't hear the end of this all weekend so I thought I would surprise her and post some down to her! 

I have a little bowl of bits on my desk and when I saw the Sweet, Sweet, Sweet cut apart in there I knew it was perfect. I cut a flamingo with a die I had gotten with a magazine last year and used a background paper from Amy Tangerine Plus One and a Stampin Up scrap to make the banner. 

100 Days of Happiness: Week 10

Another week has flown by which unfortionetly means I've come to the end of my holiday. But I'm not going to dwell on that too much and get one with showing you week ten of my 100 Days of Happiness. 

The week started with coming home from Dukes Farm. I had a fab time as always but after a long drive home I was glad for a cup of tea. Tuesday was back to the housework and after washing up in the morning I spotted a heart in the soap suds on the worktop. I love spring flowers as they are so bright and cheery and they don't set my hay fever off so I was happy when the daffodils I'd brought the day before started to open up. On Thursday I faced the walk of shame after a weekend (and a bit) of naughty eating and found I maintained which I was chuffed with, I also treated myself to the new cookbook. 

On Friday I did my first bit of crafting since Dukes Farm by making a card for a friend which I'll share in the next post. On Saturday we took a road trip to Barmouth to bed in the new big brakes on the car. Even on a grey day I love this place, the scenery is stunning and dramatic and doesn't stop us from having an ice cream from Knickerbockers on the harbour. On Sunday I had the back to work blues, which actually started Saturday evening, which meant it was time for a lazy day sitting in the slobby clothes. 

100 Days of Happiness: weeks 8 & 9

I must been on total holiday mode as I forgot to blog week 8 of my 100 days of happiness! But fear not as it means I get to share two weeks of happiness with you now in one post! So this week 8

The week started with a crazy day at work as we had no systems working until lunchtime so we're unable to take any calls. Needless to say I was glad to get home to a cup of tea! On Tuesday I was glad that the heavy rain held off until I was driving home, the drowned rat look is never a good look! By comparison on Wednesday we had beautiful blue sky, a sign of the coming spring. On Thursday I collected my travelling companion, Otis the bear, for my upcoming scrappy break. I also had a small gain at Slimming World but I'm putting this down to the fact I was wearing jeans for dress down day at work! 

Friday was my last day at work for two weeks so I was happy to pop my out of office (complete with spelling mistake) on my emails. On Saturday I managed to grab some bargains from Morrisons, Fibre One bars for £1 so I got stocked up! On Sunday I was being super lazy and had nothing planned for tea so we had Slimming World friendly all day breakfast complete with yummy Linda McCartney rosemary and red onion sausages.  Now onto last week, week 9. 

On Monday I started my scrappy packing ready for my weekend at Dukes Farm, I enjoy the break but not the packing! Tuesday was pancake day and mine were a disaster! I've since found out it was a combination of using Fry Light and not proper oil and not having my pan hot enough! After a mini strop I was happy to receive a last delivery of my snack bowl I'd ordered from Kirsten & Belle. On Wednesday I traveled back down to Stamford as I had dentist before going away for the weekend so I had a chance to catch up with a mini crafter in the making! On Thursday before the dreaded dentist I went for a walk into town and the weather was gorgeous! 

On Friday, Saturday & Sunday it was finally time for my scrappy break to Dukes Farm, the moment I look forward to all year as I can scrap, chat, eat cake and drink wine to my hearts content! We all chat on Facebook, etc during the year but when we get together it's like we've never been apart!