Camp Scrap - strips of paper

Another Camp Scrap layout, I'm amazed at myself cos I'm really loving shutting myself away in the evenings with Big Brother on in the background to have a look at the latest email and see what to do.
The layout yesterday was one designed by Lisa Truesdell and the idea was to use strips of paper on your page under the photo or photos.I used Kraft cardstock,'Dear Lizzie' papers and embellishments and a Prima flower- oh and a random heart stamp that I have and can't remember who made it.
It was quite a girly page and having three boys, I don't get to do' girly' very often.

It's a photo of me last summer at a family bar-b-que having a cuddle with the latest addition to the family,a little girl. Now,bearing in mind there have been boys boys and more boys in the family it was lovely for there to be a female addition.The page in today's email  is another lovely pinky girly one using Teresa Collins papers and I am itching to see if I can find another suitable pic to use....and some of the same papers-time for a rummge..

Camp Scrap Recipe

So,this Monday we were emailed a recipe of ingredients to use on a double layout. I decided to use some photos of the Topiary down at our local bowling green.These hedges are amazing- I've been told lately that there are a couple of new ones,a peacock and an armchair - so I shall be off down there again soon for some more piccies.
Anyway , I loved the 'Owl and the Pussycat' and the 'Green Kings' although the little train is a tad out of shape on one side. There is also a massive teapot but I didn't get all the spout in on the photo !

These were featured on (I think ) the One Show - or local news last year on TV,so have become quite famous.
 I used Cosmo Cricket papers and die cuts and a little Maya Road chipboard Owl and some birdy twill ribbons. I'm not sure where I got the felty material brown clouds from though !

Pick a photo

Was a suggestion by Shimelle . Just pick a photo and do something with it,I decided to just blog it and tell you what it means to me..I could have picked quite a few , Lionel Richie in concert, when I met the Osmonds ( I know,I know but they were my teenage idols and  I finally met them 2 years ago),or umpteen photos of the boys,but this photo gives me a lovely happy feeling . We were away in Germany for the weekend for both our 50th birthdays. We'd been to Stuttgart where it was cold but normal weather - and had visited the Christmmas market there which was great. After two days there we moved on to the Black Forest. As we drove into the little village ,it was suddenly thick snow everywhere and such a pretty place. I took this photo just as we arrived at our hotel in the snow . It was a really magical place and we had such a lovely few days there..

Camp Scrap and a little treat....

The class I signed up for over at Big Picture Scrapbooking  kicked off yesterday and the first set of downloads and emails has started to arrive in my inbox... I just love that, It's so nice to get good stuff isn't it ?
It looks like there is going to be loads of inspiration for layouts on this class which is great for me cos it gets me motivated and I'm soon out in the craft room sorting through papers and card and snipping and sticking.

Here's the first one I've done - based on a layout by May. The title on hers included the word 'Celebrate' which was perfect actually for a start as it's our 30th Wedding Anniversary this year and made it an ideal subject to start off with. I know the photos are a bit ' samey ' but it didn't look quite right with only one photo or two ....

Being at home this week has given me the chance to have a few little shop arounds on the net where I normally wouldn't really have time to browse. Anyway, I have wanted a Cath Kidston bag for ages so after much faffing about deciding the other day I placed an order. Naturally I had to have it 'next day delivery' and it arrived the next day - I was just cooing over it when Deb arrived the other day ........and now it's Friday again- how quickly has that week gone ? Hope your Friday's been a good one ...

The next project and catching up

What a gorgeous day it has been today. Not only have I had some lovely sunshine ...I managed some hooky time and also had a lovely afternoon catching up with my friend DebWhenever I get some time off we always try to get together for a cuppa and a catch up.  We chatted so much neither of us thought to take a photo so I have used one from a while ago...it's so nice to get together and talk about crafting and blogs and home and youngsters and crafting and blogs and stamps and punches and inks and papers......and cupcakes,I told her that my last two lots of cupcakes had not peaked up at the top but just kind of stopped at the top of the case like this.....and apparently she has a recipe that never fails so am looking forward to trying it .....watch this space !

And so onto the next hooky porject....I was given a fab book for my birthday from the lovely ladies at work ...so am having a go at some squares to join up and make a 'throw' for our bed...after my visit to Hobbycraft the other day I now have a bag full of yummy yarns to play with so this is square one

without flower and here is square one with flower attached...so all in all another good day ...

A good day......

Every so often I feel the need for a little break. So this week was duly booked off as holiday.

Well,what a nice day I've had, after a nice lie in until 9.30 I came down to lovely sunshine.It was bliss to wander round the garden and wonder what to do (like I didn't know!)...After tea and toast and a bit of blog hopping I took myself over to Hobby Craft ...don't you just love wandering down those crafty aisles? I pondered for ages in the wool/yarn section and picked some yummy yarn out for a new pattern I found this morning....(I know,I know,like I need more - but it was really nice) and I do have to have a couple of projects on the go.

Then I made my way home and started on my mini - (that's not now so mini ) book of the Tower of London photos. I decided to do it in 8 1/2 x 11 size  as I really like that so it's not that mini really!

I'm actually using some old October Afternoon stash and odds and ends of old kits so am feeling very happy that I'm actually using some stuff up for once..specially as I bought wool this morning! It's been a lovely day today, Wimbledon has started so I just had to go and get some strawberries and cream to have without bar-b-que this evening...all in all a nice day ...hope yours has been good too..

Hmmmm...think I might be busy...

Because I've just bitten the bullet and signed up for this

as well as Shimelle's new class.Still, it should give me a bit of ooomph to get scrapping and use that stash - that's my excuse anyway !...anyone else doing one or both of them ?

Just for a giggle ......

I promised Karen I'd post this ages ago.
Well,it  was  1979 !
When.....

• You could fill your car up with petrol for about £5
• All I had to worry about was what new outfit I would buy on payday and how long my perm would last.
• Barry White was king and John Lennon was still alive.
• Disco was everything
• You had to look round for ages for a phone when you went 'abroad' to ring home.
• The X Factor was probably another aftershave like Brut and Hai Karate.
• Gardening was boring.
• Shopping was mainly done in little shops
• Doing a scrapbook was what I used to do in one of those big books with blotting paper pages and sticking Donny Osmond pics and magazine cuttings in -when I was younger of course....
• There were only about three channels to watch on TV.
• Capris were really cool cars
• Anyone remember these days?

...have a good Friday everyone .

Another page

After doing the Tower of London pages last night, I started on one of my Dad and me.It was  quiet here this evening so I snuck into the craft room and finished it off. I'm drawn to using butterflies at the moment and have really used my punch a lot . I actually bought it from Create and Craft years ago and fished it out of the 'punches basket'.

On a hooky crochet note,the ripple blanket is coming along nicely,I'm loving the routine of doing a little bit each evening and a little bit at work lunchtimes when I can.I'm seriously hooked (pardon the pun) on this ripple pattern and am very grateful to Lucy for sharing the pattern on her blog and making it so easy.

So Proud............!

Don't you just love it when you've spent ages making something and are really pleased with it and then the next thing you know it's being used as something else ? Serves me right I suppose for not putting my wool in it as I was planning to.I missed him lots while he was away at the Isle of Wight festival, ( oh the washing!)...no sooner is he back then it's back to silly normal !

I haven't done much scrapping this week,so last night sat and scrapped a few photos of our visit to the Tower of London.I've had the map of London paper for ages and sudenly thought it would be perfect for this. I might just make a mini book as I've got loads of pics to use. I always fall into the trap of thinking the photos aren't interesting enough and don't use them -which is a bit daft really cos they are all interesting really aren't they?

A Bag- and a dog in a tutu ....

Well, I reckon it looks more  like a bag now it's finished....I've really enjoyed making this hooky creation a la Lucy's pattern on her blog.

I've not been doing any papery crafty stuff this week but have managed to fit in some 'me' crochety time in between cooking dinner and running the youngest either to the pub to work in the kitchen or to the pub to pick his lift up for football.I've got a couple of work in progresses now I've finished the bag.One is a Ripple blanket and the other is a cushion cover  I'm trying out in two colours I bought for the bag but loved the combination of them together-Red and Ice Blue.I can never seem to just have ONE  hooky project on the go, I always like to have two so I can flit between the two and not get bored ....

Now tonight the middle son has totally taken over the dining room and table with all his gear as he is off to the 'Isle of Wight' festival- sooner him than me is all I can say...lol Am I showing my age or what! There doesn't appear to be any dodgy hats being stowed away for the Festival but the dog ended up in a pink Tutu this evening - good ness knows where that came from.....

Eclectic Keepsakes Crop

It was time again yesterday for the latest crop run by Karen and Karen who are collectively Eclectic Keepsakes. We missed our friend Deb who normally goes but she was en route back from Portugal.
We spent the morning cropping or card making and generally doing our own thing. There were some yummy glittery cupcakes which I didn't sadly take a photo of but they were very yummy and very glittery!

Then in the afternoon we did a crochet class. The lady had brought along some gorgeous little crocheted flowers that we could move on to at a later stage but the main object of the class was to go over the basic stitches.It's always good to make sure you are doing the right thing with the stitches and to check over the way you turn and lots of little details like that. It was lovely and sunny and I really enjoyed just sitting hooking away in the sunshine with like minded friends.

I managed to do one of the layouts from the ATDML retreat in the morning. It was a class I didn't actually book to do at the time but loved it when I saw it so managed to get a spare kit after the class. It was designed by Debbie Jewell and was perfect to scrap an old piccie of us in the 90's.

This is Debbie's designed layout

These are the cards I made

I used mainly Kaisercraft papers and the Dear Lizzie bunting stamp that I absolutely love. I also used one of the very talented SJ's characters that I downloaded from her blog a while ago......and last but not least, I did a layout of my very dear cousin and me last night taken on a night out last year near Christmas.I used October Afternoon Thrift Shop range which I love.I also used the Paperartsy stamp I got at the Artsycraft weekend and made a 'sort of' rosy flower shape with some grungepaper and a few inks and sprays.I am an only child and when we were small he used to spend a lot of weekends with us -he is the closest thing to a brother I'll ever have. We always have a great time when we go out in a foursome with his wife and him indoors.it's always fun being with him..

A Challenge for a change

Whilst I was visiting blogs this evening I really liked the page that Ruth had done for the Scrap Weekly 2010 Challenge. I haven't done any challenges for ages and I feel like I need a bit of a kickstart-so seeing the challenge was to use butterflies on your layout, I couldn't resist. Here's my take on the challenge. It certainly got me snipping and sticking and punching so that can only be good !....

.... and here's the other card I made for a friend at work whose birthday it was today.. On the card I used a Dear Lizzie bunting stamp across the top and Kaisercraft papers..loving these papers at the moment .