What a blast!

I had a blast teaching at the scrapping retreat this past weekend organised by A Trip Down Memory Lane.  I taught four classes over the weekend, so I was busy, busy, busy, but I had really great feedback from the ladies which is always a good feeling.

As ever, it was great meeting up with old friends and chatting and making new ones. Plus the chance to stroke (and buy) (yet more) goodies from well stocked shop. This was the 9th retreat organised by Mel and Jill and (again as ever) it was totally fabulous. I was really impressed by the restaurant staff who went above and beyond to provide me with scrumptious gluten free options (very appreciated it was).


My first class uses My Mind's Eye Lush products. I was given quite a generous kit to work with, but I was a bit OMG! when I saw it, as I would never have picked these papers myself in a million years (and all but two of the ladies in the class agreed with me). Though it does go to show that stretching yourself with new product can give you suprisingly great results! I decided to do three layouts in the one class (very ambitious) each layout focusing on a specific design technique.

The first was 'what white space?' as in the white space was taken up by patterned paper, so it was there, but not obvious at all.

The second was 'little and large' the use of contrast (size of photos in this case)

The third was 'again and again' being repetition of design elements (pattern, butterflies and text across the page). A simple page to put together making great use of scraps and my butterfly dies and punch! (though someone completed theirs using snowflakes and that was STUNNING!).

My next class was a double layout, quite simple in construction (though there was quite a bit of cutting out and layering images from the patterned paper) as this was a technique based class where the ladies got to play with shrink plastic to create their own unique embellishments (on mine the shrink plastic is the smaller butterfly and flower centres). In the class they used different colouring techniques as well as stamping and die cutting the shrink plastic. The papers, trim and fabric labels are all from the Webster's Pages All About Me range and are totally gorgeous!

The third class was a home decor item of a chipboard star created from scratch, with a bonus card (as I felt guilty that the star didn't actually use up much of the kit contents lol!). I chose to work with the St Nick range from Fancy Pants as I like to use traditional colours myself for Christmas, yet there are enough whimsical touches in the papers (not those I used, but in the selection given to the delegates to choose from) if anyone wanted something more fun than traditional.

My final class was more technically challenging, it involved lots of measuring and cutting out to make best use of the beautiful Bo Bunny patterned papers (plus they had to cut a great big circle in the background which caused a few palpitations lol!), as well as creating flowers from fabric and paper.

Phew! A busy weekend to say the least!

Huge thanks to Mel and Jill for asking me along and to EVERYONE who was so friendly!

My class is up

Over at the A Trip Down Memory Lane cybercrop.

Sneak peek

Using the really fun Ad Lib range from Bo Bunny. See it on the blog here (and follow the link to download the pdf).

My next go I think will be either Ann's triple frame card or the sketch challenge.

Blogger isn't liking me today, it won't let me comment :(

Cybercropping today!

A heads up that there is a cyber crop this weekend over at A Trip Down Memory Lane. A no pressure, use up your stash and create beautiful pages cybercrop. Four classes are up already and two challenges have been issued. I'm a bit behind (so, what's new?) - I've just finished doing Ann's wonderful double layout class. Now to decide on which to do next!

Photos to follow :)

Shock! A blog post!

Yes. Really. It's been a long time since I last posted, I know. Not that I've not been busy creating. In fact I've done lots. I've just been a bad blogger.

Christmas and New Year went without a hitch. The snow was a bind (the kids got fed up after just a couple of sessions playing in it - they didn't like getting that cold!) but I took lots of pictures, some of them even quite good!

I'm going to start sharing stuff again on a more regular basis. Starting with stuff now and then going back and adding more from the past couple of months.

Firstly a shout out that the A Trip Down Memory Lane gallery for January is up and available for viewing here. We used a variety of lines from October Afternoon. Loved working with those bright, fun colours and patterns.

Also, I had a class up online over there for December, mixing up products a bit rather than relying on everything from one line. This is my page (look at those eyes, bless!) and you can access the pdf here.



This week I've made a big effort to get some of those layouts from the unfinished pile out, finished and put into albums. Well, they're not into albums just yet but all but two of the ten have had the finishing touches and journaling added. Mostly from classes (the last UKS cybercrop and the ATDML retreat) - I'll get them photographed and uploaded another day with details.

I've also done three pages from scratch for various manufacturer blog challenges. All were sketch challenges and here are my takes on them.

Bo Bunny

I used the Love Bandit line that I recently bought (a bit behind the times, I know, but it's only just appeared on the stall I visit when I'm in Derby), plus a couple of bits from the Persuasion line. How cute are those little creatures? Such fun and happy papers, perfect for scrapping my two girls having fun together in the garden.



I've added red Stickles to lots of the red hearts and also dotted some crystal gems and hearts around the page too. The one journal block was cut out and made double duty - as a base for both the title and journaling. As you can see I was pretty faithful to the sketch, except I used the lines of the trees in lieu of patterned paper strips down the left hand side and used different sized photos.

Little Yellow Bicycle

I usually struggle with blocked style pages (I'm not too hot getting everything the same size and aligned neatly) so this is a bit different to me. This Zinnia range was perfect for the photos, as you can see.

The embellishments in this range were beautiful. I used a variety of rub-ons and chipboard - the butterflies are using the same punch as was used in the project created by Chiara in the photos. Some of the smaller butterflies and journaling strips were from cardstock sprayed Radiant Rain.

And the banner is made using some transparent acrylic embellishments - a couple of flowers cut in half and a heart (which I mounted onto white cardstock to enhance the colours of it). Look at the glitter, gorgeous!

My Mind's Eye

A fabulous sketch from Anam, love the use of the different shapes. I used a selection of papers and other goodies from the Lost and Found series. I wouldn't have naturally thought to use them with Winter pages, but that was the theme, so I worked it in there. I'm really happy with how well it worked too, helped greatly by the snowflakes, tinsel trim and all the glistening glitter and bling.

I love this huge snowflake die (by Sizzix, bought secondhand from a friend just before Christmas - great purchase as I used it LOTS for Christmas cards, tags and ornaments - thanks Katie!). I also bought a new border punch - that heart lace one from Martha Stewart - with my Christmas money. I was gutted that my Fiskars Apron Lace punch broke (as in the metal die part actually cracked all the way through). Advised Fiskars who wrote back saying that it wasn't guaranteed for cutting through Bazzill so, basically, tough. Hmmm. Anyhow ...

I used lots of layering, distressing, stitching and distress inks on this page. Time consuming but I love how it turned out so it was well worth all the effort.

Oh and finally My Mind's Eye put a card sketch up too

I found it with perfect timing as I needed to make my Mum a birthday card last week. Again, more of the Lost and Found ranges and the hearts border punch. The stamp is by Papertrey Ink (another secondhand purchase - thanks Debbie, love them!).

Thanks if you  made it to the end!

xxx's

Lots of yumminess

I got my parcel this week from Two Peas in a Bucket - the prizes from the NSD challenges. Huge thanks to Two Peas for organising and to American Crafts (thickers, brads and remarks stickers), Basic Grey (Sugar Rush paper collection and embellishments) and Fancy Pants (On a Whimsy stamp set) for supplying such gorgeous prizes.

I also found out yesterday that I won a Websters Pages rak from Pamela as part of the Scrapbook Challenges NSD celebrations. I am feeling especially lucky and thankful for the generosity of the people in the world of scrapbooking at the moment (including the wonderful Mel and Jill over at A Trip Down Memory Lane who sent me a lovely little gift to help cheer me up as I am facing a tough time personally just now).

I have been playing a little with the Blogger features and figured out that you can add new pages. I've created a page to feature my Slide galleries (in the process of being updated) and also a page to feature FREE classes. To test it out I am starting with sharing some previous classes I have taught.

Just click on the classes tab at the top to go to the page and then the fullscreen option to enlarge the class details. I would love to know if you create something based on one of these classes (okay there is only one there yet, but really, there WILL be more soon so keep checking back!).