Aniticipation

This weekend I had the house to myself and, apart from going out for lunch on Saturday, very little planned except of course a great deal of scrapping...or so I thought. It seems my mojo went away for the weekend too! I did these two layouts but they were a bit too much like hard work and I had to keep wandering off and coming back to them.

First there was this one of my nephew, using the March gogo kit. The photo is photoshopped!! He isn't really green!
Then this one. I had the idea for this stamped background before and used it on a small scale for the cover of a book but I had a big sheet of thick acetate so I thought why not save myself £3 and make my own transparent background. I then went all vintage and used this photo of Mum looking scarily like me! I thought the roses from AC Dear Lizzy went really well, especially as Mum loves roses.

I used up some odd embellishments that I had lying around left over from kits last year.

And here is a close up of the stamped background, excuse the wooden blind behind, I am experimenting with photographing my work!

I went to Paperchase on Saturday and picked up these, how cute???

So this week I am looking forward to the Scrapbook Inspirations Ideas Book coming out on Wednesday, I have an hour free inbetween dropping Mum at School and seeing my Reflexologist so I plan to go to Sainsburys to buy it and into Costa to start reading it.

I am also hoping that this will be the week the new October Afternoon launches reach our shores, I am desperate to get my hands on it before we go away on Friday, I already have lots of ideas for it.

Happy Monday xx

Out With The Old And In With The New

It's been another busy week here and I can't believe it's almost Friday! I have managed to get some crafty time in between lots of running around. On Monday it was our Scrapaholix day, the kit was Basic Grey Origins and I made this LO which I was really pleased with.
It was loosely inspired by this gorgeous LO that I spotted on UKS the other day. I should explain this picture, on a Tuesday I go to quiz night with Mum, Dad, my bro and my neice. At the pub my neice and I have gotten a little bit addicted to Scampi Fries, there's a bit of an ongoing joke with the landlord about it now, so I just had to document it!

I was especially pleased with this flower, yes, another paper flower added to my repertoire! I was so inspired infact, that I came home and made this with the left overs.

I finally managed to sell a fair bit of the stash that I have been wanting to get rid of so I had a little stash delivery. Some yummy AC Dear Lizzy from Sarah's Cards and a Martha Stewart (or Moira Stewart as Mum calls her!) Butterfly Punch and some more mists from Joanna Sheen. By the way if you are after MS or Cosmic Shimmer, Joanna Sheen is the place to go, they are cheaper there and free postage.....bargain!!

Before I got stuck into the new stuff I wanted to make a dent in my scraps box so I made this LO. A litttle tip, don't try and punch through a layer of paper stuck onto a layer of card, it's virtually impossible (hence the butterflies on the right hand edge of the page!!)

I was desperate to get stuck into my new papers and when I saw this on Kirsty's blog I was so inspired. It is a shameless scraplift but I think it's the ultimate flattery for a scrapbooker!

Also managed to use up some random Thickers.

I'm in school in the morning, I need to give some staff some lessons on our shiny new Craft Robo.

TFL xx

ps. If you don't already, listen to the Chris Evans show tomorrow at 8am, just after the news there is something that guarantees a smile on my face every Friday morning! xx

Tag....You're It!

Inbetween layouts and other projects I like to have something small I can work on that I can get a quick result from. I have been finding that tags are perfect for this and recently I had an idea to use them to brighten up my craft room. I have made a series of tags which I am going to write my favourite quotes/sayings on....

And here they are all hanging up looking colourful.

All I need to do now is think of some quotes!

TFL xx

Twice in Two Days!

As promised here are the layouts I have been working on yesterday and today. Firstly this one with my new gogo kit. I have needed some 'boy friendly' stash for a while so this is a good opportunity to scrap some photos of my nephews.
This next one is yet another using my January kit, the kit that just keeps going and going!! I used pencil lines sketch 178.

And I'll leave you with a peek at my Butterfly Crafts Layout for the April 1st challenge, it's a really great challenge so do keep an eye out for it and make sure you let me know if you play along.

Night xx

Wow Where Did That One Go??

I have had a telling off for neglecting my blog! I have had a really busy week and have barely been online so I have had a nice evening catching up with my blog hopping and now it's time to update my own!

This week, I have had two nights out, a curry night with a few staff from school and a visit to Cosmo, my new fave all you can eat Asian with this mad woman......
Jools, my (fairy) Godmother.

I have also done a couple of extra hours at school, on Monday for our Spring walk and on Friday when the new Craft Robo was delivered and I created this.....

And I spent today with this little man (and the rest of my family) and have managed to make my throat bad again by reading 'The Twits' cover to cover with him! I don't mind though as it was real quality snuggle time with him and he wasn't in front of a screen!!

Now for some craftiness, I did this layout on Monday when Mum and I got together with Clare and Kirsty. It's based on a Pencil Lines sketch from a little while ago. The pic is of my friend Kelly and I when we won our way to lunch with the late great Dame Anita Roddick. We had the best time, she was the most incredible woman and had us rocking with laughter at her stories.

These photos are from my cousins wedding almost two years ago, the one on the left is Mum and Dad with us 4 kids and my BIL and 2 SIL's and the one on the right is my sis, bro's 1&2 and me. It is very loosely based on a layout from an old copy of SBT.

I managed to use one of my acetate flowers on it.

My gogo kit arrived on Thursday and I cut straight into it for Alisons CJ '5 Random Facts About Me' It doesn't need to be posted for a month yet but as I will be away for almost two weeks before posting I thought I'd better get it done.

A couple of sneaks....

I have done two more layouts which are still drying so I will blog those tomorrow.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend xx

Not The One You Asked For But A Little Tutorial!

I was having a little You Tube session this eve and discovered a really cool tutorial for these acetate lollipop flowers. The video is a bit lengthy (I don't think anyone needs to watch 2 mins of someone using a heat tool!) so I took some photos as I was making them so if you wanted to try them you could.

First you cut three circles of acetate with a 1/2 inch difference in the size of each. Emboss them with a cuttlebug embossing folder and colour with alcohol inks.
Brush over with Staz On to pick out the pattern as the heating later on will flatten out the actual embossing.

Using Versamark, heat emboss around the edge of each circle, heating for longer than usually necessary to cause this kind of buckling.

Layer up and secure with a brad. Simples!

Pretty huh??

I also found these flowers but there weren't any instructions so this is how I made them.

Using thin corrugated card cut out 3 circles (sizes as above). For the one on the left, colour the circles however you want, ink, paint, mists etc, leave to dry and then emboss in the sizzix. Brush over with some ink to pick up the pattern and then emboss around the edges. Secure with a brad. The one on the right is virtually the same you just peel of the top layer to reveal the corrugated bit and eliminate the sizzix bit.

Hope that makes sense xx

Can You Speak Up??

Well, another week bites the dust! This week has been a slow one, I haven't been that well, I've got a really nasty cold and today I barely have a voice. I don't feel too bad though and I was very much helped by the beautiful weather today, it was actually warm, I didn't wear a coat all day and was actually playing in the garden with my cousins in just a t shirt!

So what have I been doing? Well I got some new paint mists, there are some amazing new colours so I plan to build my collection even more.
I recieved a CJ on Thursday which arrived with me very late so I spent most of Thursday working on it and it is already posted off, how's that for a fast turn around! It was Vicki's 'A Day In My Life' CJ, here is a sneak....

My oldest friend (I am allowed to say that cos she is actually younger than me but I have known her forever!) came to see me this week, I generally only see her once or twice a year cos she lives in London, so we had a long catch up and a few laughs over a few coffees and these goodies that I made.......

And finally I spent this evening making this for Mum for tomorrow. My Mum doesn't like Mother's Day, thinks it's too commercialised, so I got her a bar of her favourite choccie and tarted it up!!

So that's about it for now. I haven't forgotten about that flower tutorial, will sort it when I am feeling a bit more energetic!

TFL xx

ps. For my fellow GP fans, enjoy the race tomorrow! I can't wait! xx

Almost Forgot

I meant to say a big thank you for your amazing comments. They are so appreciated, the ones about the baby book really blew me away. And as a few of you have asked so nicely I will sort out a bit of a tutorial for those roses, I can't take credit for them but I will show you how I do it. Just give me a few days to sort it out xxx

More presents than Christmas!!

Lots to show you. Firstly a layout of Will's first photo's and completed before he was 24 hours old! I used the sketch from Scrapagogo's Create and Co blog and the frames from their March hybrid download.

Then on to the presents. I decorated these bags, one for Will's present and one for his big sister Mollie.

I made the card the night before he was born when I thought he was going to be called Joseph so when he was born on Sunday I had to pull the J off the front and change it for a W!! I had the perfect excuse to use this stamp....

I was asked by a friend to make a present for her Mother In Law for Mothers Day so I made this (have blacked out the face cos I haven't asked for permission!)

And now for even more roses, I am gonna get sick of them soon, especially as I managed to give myself more cuts than if I was working with real roses, not to mention the glue gun burns!! I made this bouquet of a dozen roses for my Auntie and Uncle's ruby wedding next weekend....

They were messy work but I think worth it in the end.

TFL xx

Baby Bore

I promise I am not turning into a baby bore! This is a baby project but it's one that my auntie asked me to make for a friend who is having a baby girl in April. I am so pleased with how it's turned out. I had this chipboard flower book tucked away for ages so was really pleased to find a way to use it.

I used MME Be Loved papers, I have nearly used every scrap of these papers so will have to buy some more.

Each little circle with a camera on is blu tacked in so it can be removed and used as a template for the photo.

I eventually found an excuse to use some of my new SU stamps.

I jazzed up these paper flowers with glossy accents and glitter.

I included space for journalling.

And found a place for some rub ons I had for quite a while.

I love how this UTEE Butterfly turned out.

This stamp was perfect for the back.

And thats it. I am giving it to her later so I really hope she likes it and I hope her friend does too.

TFL xx