ATDML Cybercrop

There's a lot going on over at the ATDML blog this weekend. Mel, Jill and the design team have come up with lots of classes and challenges all weekend.The first challenge was to 'tag it' - make a tag ot tags of some sort, so here's mine ...

I used mainly Girl's Paperie and some odd flowers I had and some little butterflies sewn together.

The first class was one designed by Mel using Fancy Pants -

The layout has an interactive fold out bit at the front -with - unusually forMel-quite a bit of measuring ! But actually it was no problem at all and a really good idea fir the front of the layout - it even has a magnetic closure ...

Right - I'm off to get the boring stuff out of the way - shopping and hairdresser's then I'm back to play some more later ..have a great Saturday .

Fit for the Queen?

My trip to the Palace is getting very near now - just two weeks away. True to form I have some of my outfit for the day ready and still some to sort out ...

I've got the dress .....typical me - flowers, but I thought it was 'garden party-ish' and summery ( it doesn't look very summery today, but I'm hoping the weather cheers up a bit ! )

It's got cute little gems on the side ....
and I've got a hat/fascinator ..... it's got pinky tinges round the edge of the flower but you can't see it that well here......

So, being in a house with all men , I could do with a bit of female advice .......

I've got a pink jacket.......that I may or may not wear depending on how the weather is....now,I can't make my mind up ......I've got shoes and a bag in mind ....but haven't bought them yet.....

Sorry, I can't get the bag picture any bigger........What do you think???

Creamy hat and shoes ,pink bag,pink jacket ?

Or should I go for pink shoes and creamy bag ...or another combination.....

I think I am definitely sticking to the creamy hat - and am pretty sure I'm sticking with the pink jacket but can't decide on bag and shoes colour ?? Looking at the bloomin weather today I think I might have to buy a matching umbrella as well ........

Patchwork cards courtesy of Mel from ATDML

After doing the class on Saturday where we made a lovely patchwork heart with pieces of paper- I was intrigued to see this post today by Mel who designed the class. The papers were Emma's Shoppe and I loved the combination she used (I'm not a lover of the crosswordy type paper in that collection - only because I can never seem to find anything that I could use it on....anyway - as I need a card for a friend's birthday this week I decided to rummage through my tote and find the scraps from the class - there were actually quite a few to play with. Once I started I thought ..hmmm just another one so I've got one ready if I need one - and I ended up making four ...I used an old favourite Happy Birthday Penny Black stamp and some self adhesive paper lace .

So - that was a really good idea of Mel's to use scraps up and I've now got 4 cards in reserve if I need them...Not brilliant photos I know but it's late and I took them with my phone .

Been cropping

Today was the day for Eclectic Keepsake's monthly crop. As usual,in the morning we did our own projects- this was the layout I made with the new Girl's Paperie papers... I used a few little Prima flowers too and a couple of Girl's Paperie embellishments..

I really struggled thinking of a title for this - even looking in my little book didn't inspire me - so I ended up calling it 'silly grins' - at one point we were going to call it 'happy' - then Deb suggested i could make seven separate  layouts of  himself-all  named after the seven dwarfs. I could definitely do ' happy' ,'sleepy' 'dopey' and 'grumpy' but lost the plot a bit when we got to 'doc' and 'bashful' !!

Deb,Jane and I sat with Karen and had a few giggles along the way.Karen had made  some lovely cupcakes as usual,this time we had orange ones and chocolate truffles ones- sadly I didn't take any photos of them today but they were yummy.

Then it was time for lunch and then the class designed by Mel from A Trip Down Memory Lane...The layout was using Crate Paper  Emmas Shoppe and was gorgeous...

I used an old photo of me when I was about 5 in a swimming pool in Cornwall.. I've always loved swimming and I remember the water being really cold and even that didn't deter me !

I thoroughly enjoyed my day catching up with friends.and as always it went very quickly.

10 things on the 10th from my day

Shimelle is running a monthly feature called '10 things' where we can share any ten things we like on the 10th of each month...
Mine today  is a bit like scrapping your day without the layout - I thought I might share some of my exciting fun filled day with you .....

Scenes from  my desk at work.....

My 'saving for shoes' pot that I occasionally put some £2 coins into for holiday fund that sits beside my work trays ....with birthday teddy keeping watch...

Cheery faces on the my desk calendar this month...

Just in case anyone forgets my name on my memo board behind me !

Still got photos of my beloved Jess and Annie - no longer here but not forgotten...

Walking past my favourite little shop on the way home for lunch....

Newly planted flowers enjoying the rain outside the library on the way to the car....

My poor sore arm trying to carry three Tescos carrier bags, handbag,and hold umbrella up whilst fishing for car keys lost in the depths of my bag as always....
 and trying to take photo as well!

Fighting to get in the car and holding umbrella up until the last minute so hair doesn't get wet ....

A quick burst of 60 Minute Makeover and a cup of tea ....

Aaaah - nice surprise - a boy's home early and someone is very pleased to see him ...

So that's 10 things from my day so far - how's your day going ??

A scrappy day out for Story Telling Sunday

I suppose I'm not really sticking to the rules as this is technically not a real old story,but it tells a story of my days- so I can play right ?
It's been a busy busy time for me over the weekend.I've been out visiting an aunt who has flown over fom Australia today- she comes over every year - she is now 81 ( couldn't believe it when she told me today ).The main reason she used to come was to attend doll fairs over here and to go to the antique  shops/markets to stock up on lace for her dolls. She actually used to pour the clay/porcelain into the moulds, fire them and paint them and then dress them.She doesn't do that now as the market has died off - but she visits her doll making friend.
So that was today - yesterday I was up bright and early with my tote all packed at 6.30 ready for the off to a hotel in Surrey called Branksome Place. I was going with Jane who comes to the Eclectic Keepsakes monthly crop that our friend Deb comes to as well.The day was run by the lovely ladies -Janice and Lorraine at Scrapagogo..I've been to a few of their weekend retreats and they are always extremely good.
We set of at about 8 o'clock as it was about an hour and a half's drive away - on the dreaded M25..
Anyway- we arrived safe and sound just as the day was starting.
The hotel was a weird mix of Olde Worlde and new hi tech.

This is the outside ....

this was where we had lunch

and then there was this 'Auditorium' where we had our crop tables - which was approached by a glassed open area with these lime greeney pillars ..very high tech indeed...

There were four classes during the day - we had only managed to book three of them .
I haven't finished the first one so will show that later..

This was Lorraine's class - the butterfly was made using new filter papers which we glimmer misted.Unfortunately I accidentally tore my yellow flower for the right hand side so I put a concertina one there instead.
This was Kirsty's class.....

We made little bunting flags out of ribbon and the background paprers were 'rumpled'and then  flattened out again before we stuck them down..
All in all- a fine day out.It went so quickly too.

I managed one photo of Jane and me - I set the self timer on the camera, with camera sitting precariously on a sandwich box belonging to the lady opposite,by the time I had raced round to the other side of the table I missed the chair and had to kneel quickly to get in the shot so have a silly giggly look on my face .....and now himself has come home from his five a side tournament and said we are all off to the local Indian restaurant for a buffet- so who am I to argue ?! 
So not technically a proper story but hope you enjoyed it anyway.I'll be off now and back to visit all your stories later..

4 x 6 Photo Love and a chocolate drawer

Wow- we are on to 5 photos now,I love these classes that pop into your mailbox once a month to remind you, it keeps the momentum going for me.
I followed the design pretty much exactly,but when I'd finished it- it just seemed so bare on the sides to me.  That's why I like the Coredinations cardstock so much as it's just a little more than plain card.

Anyway - I decided to stamp some butterflies up each side with a Tim Holtz distress ink.Now I'm not sure if I've overdone it...

My few days away in Somerset seems eons ago now. Mind you - when things are busy and stressful and life is going too fast, I have a flick through the photos I took and immediately I feel better!

Now for a question - has anyone else got one of these in their fridge ??

It's ironic really as I don't eat chocolate because one tiny square would give me a migraine.It took a few years to actually test the theory but in the end I decided that it just wasn't worth it as the pain of migraine is too horrible against the pleasure of chocolate.I digress- years ago when I used to work from home- I would take the boxes of books back to the accountant I worked for and one of the boys was nearly always with me. They had a chocolate /sweetie drawer in their fridge and since then we have always had one here. A friend from over the road came in the other day and was gobsmacked at our choccy drawer ( always a sure sign when the boys are home - it's full!) She couldn't believe how many choccies were in it and had never heard of such a thing .....I just thought- hasn't everyone got one ? maybe not !!