Today I ....

taught my first ever class!... at the monthly Eclectic Keepsakes crop.It was a bit of a special day because it was the first anniversary of the crop starting. That year has gone so quickly.
 I was chuffed to be asked by the two Karens and I have to admit to being a tad nervous - but I needn't have been 'cos Deb brought along some moral support

It was agreed that he would be held up high if I gabbled too quickly, held low if I was too slow and .....thankfully he stayed put!

We had a nice morning doing our own thing and all too soon it was time for class....I used papers and a die cut sheet from  My Mind's Eye Lost and Found range  - and a Fancy Pants journalling sheet,and stamped a title

It was lovely to see some of the takes on the layout ...

 and a great  atmosphere as always...good to be surrounded by friends

....

and always nice to introduce a new friend from work.to the world of scrapbooking.

 and the two Karens had a yummy cake to celebrate their first year.

Thanks ladies, long may it continue :-0)

A bit of 70's nostalgia

Warning- you may be very bored if you're not as ancient as me and were not a teenager in the 1970s!

I need  to have a BIG tidy up in my craft room and was flitting about on the shelves the other evening wondering what I could throw away and I came across a 70's book - and of course ended up spending more time looking through books and things and not tidying.... Oh how it took me back to those teenage years of mine......those were the days!-and as a few of us bloggers have been remembering the '70s recently -here are a few of my memories from then.....

Yep,I had hot pants, and a pair of those holey white tights,and a pair of those tights that were plain and had holes all the way down the sides ..

.I had a 'Biba' poster on my bedroom wall

and god knows how I teetered around in these - and even went to school in them..

I remember driving my Mum mad by buying every magazine that was going (still have a weakness for mags!)and oh how gorgeous was Mr Essex ...

and a couple of my' fave' programmes.....

and who always had one of these in their Christmas stocking ?

I used to fall asleep listening to Fab 208 Radio Luxembourg under my pillow...

and who had a boyfriend with one of these - but wished it was one of these.....

and last but not least - who remembers this major change?

and here's Mum and me in 1973- I lived and died in that jacket and I tried sooooooo hard to get my hair like Marie Osmond's !!!teehee..not a good photo but you get the idea - blimey - 38 years ago,how old do I feel......

A 'Tim' layout

Well, it had to happen, I just got my Photobox order,so decided to scrap the photo of  Mr Holtz and 'lil old me.
I ordered some of the lovely new Prima range and they arrived too.One of them just seemed perfect to me (after trying the photo on a dozen different backgrounds) I went back to the first one I liked!

I thought I might add a couple of close ups...I always like it when other peeps post close ups - so thought I'd give it a go as well......

I wanted to make it a bit 'Tim-esque' (is that a word?) so used some of his letters from his 12 x 12 pad..I also made a bit of a tag.I used some of Wendy Vecchi's new stamps that I bought at the class -amongst other things...I never thought I'd see a spider on one of my layouts ! I used a bit of a mix on here - some Graphic45 paper as well,and some tissue tape on the tag - love that stuff now. One of the new inks I've just bought is Crushed Olive and I've used it so much.I'm getting a bit worried about myself using so much green- I normally don't use it at all.!

And now - I've been a bit naughty .....and bought one of these ...



It arrived this morning and I can't wait to give it a try. I've not had a Big Shot or any of those so it should be fun.. Enjoy your weekend everyone..

Back to scrapping

Last night I sat down and went back to a layout I started before I went to Harrogate and did some other crafty stuff.
I've had these 'Glitz' papers for a while and didn't feel I had the right things to use with them. I sat down and did what May Flaum says - Just sit with some random supplies,photos and embellishments. I had a lot of different things, Dear Lizzie ribbons, and letters, Glitz paper, odd buttons, some butterfly bunting I had left....a grungeboard flower that I stamped with a Wendy Vecchi stamp - an odd journalling note..you get the idea !

Anyway, It didn't turn out bad...

Here's the pages on their own..

I've just got the journalling to do over on the right hand side.

Last week, blimey,how quickly has that week gone? we went to a really lovely retaurant in Harrogate called the Drum and Monkey. It was a lovely cosy place with some really cute lights

It's well known for it's fish there. I had a really nice main course - Scallops on a bed of pea and mint puree ....

I'm definitely going to try and do this - as it was so nice - might try this weekend .

On another subject- is anyone watching Bedlam on Sky on Mondays?

I'm hooked and think Will young is really good in it, quite a yummy cast too :-)

Good time with good friends

Well,what  a great week it's been.Not only a class with the very wonderful Mr Holtz, some good time with himself and some good food in Harrogate,last night was spent in the company of good friends at one of our favourite restaurants.....I've often spoken about this Indian and have 'checked in' a few times on facebook when we've been there- so Deb wanted to see why we go there so much and it was a good excuse to get together and catch up..

When we arrived at the restauraunt last night, me clutching my book that was made in class, Deb very kindly presented me with a lovely Pina Colada and some corn bread she had made from the ingredients Deb turtle had sent her all the way from the USA ..

I shall look forward to sampling this later on today ....

Isn't blogland a wonderful place? I know many knock it and many are very suspicious of posting about life for the world to see,but I've only ever had really good vibes and comments from people. I know there can be some who are silly and spoil it,luckily I've not experienced it-and I've made some wonderful friends via here. I love writing my 'weblog/diary' whatever you like to call it.

Anyway,I digress- we had a fab evening and I think I might have wittered on a bit much about the class and how nice Tim was and how great the book was etc etc etc....but it was lovely to see Deb and her other half and catch up again..

We didn't arrange the seating very well at first as Deb and I were opposite each other rather than beside - which made it a bit difficult to get photos together..

So we did photos as we sat with each other's other half....then moved seats to get one together !

As ususal - the waiters managed to set the fire alarms off with the flaming at the table......

Right then, I'm off now to have a play with my new goodies....have a good Sunday everyone.

Goodies Galore

Isn't it fun when you get to have a look round in new places -Dyan's studio,Art From the Heart in Harrogate is full of really inspiring projects.

 There are lots of vivid colours and mini books and art journals - I was in my element walking round after Tim's class..

Dyan had made special collage tickets for everyone and most of us got Tim to sign them for us...

Her studio was decorated with beautiful paintings and crammed with lovely stuff...I was also  lucky to win a  set of Tim's new release stamps in the name/number draw...these were the stamps I won..

I'd pre- ordered a set of Tim's new Papillon stamps - which had sold out by the time we got to class so I was glad I ordered them first,and a couple of Wendy Vecchi's new bits ...I picked them up and then .....had to have a wander round the shop

and then some ideaology bits fell into my basket and a 12x12 pad.....and some of the new Graphic45 papers...

I had such a lovely time,it was well worth all the overtime in January!! It was nice to combine a couple of days away with it too...I'll post the non -crafty pics later !!