Friday 30 November 2012

Laugh, Laugh Often ... SOS Pagerize #24 This Challenge Layout

Hello Everyone,

Each month Scrap Our Stash has a Pagerize This Challenge. Pagerize is simply a scraplifting challenge and a lot of fun!  This month we have been challenged to pagerize this lovely page made by fellow DT member, Karen.


And as soon as I saw Karen's scrap page, I just had to pagerize it. I've chosen to scrap a photo taken of my son 42 years ago when he was only 9 months old and the apple of his mother's eye :) We were on leave from Germany, visiting his grandmother in Ayrshire, Scotland. In fact, almost the whole family gathered to meet him, aunts, uncles and even his great-grandmother came through from Edinburgh to see her first great-grandchild. 


This was the first professional photo I had taken of him and I can still recall it vividly to mind. He laughed and chuckled happily for the photographer throughout the session - hence the title - he was an incredibly happy baby :) Although it's a black and white shot, I remember that he was dressed in palest green so I chose to have that as the main colour with touches of blue, yellow and pink in the embellishments. I've moved the photo cluster up to the right of the page and swopped embellishment clusters round a bit, but otherwise it is more or less the same layout as Karen's.

Materials:  Papermania, Happy Days; Imaginisce For Peep's Sake, Spring Fling; Fancy Pants It's, The Little Things; blue BoBunny cardstock; Hot Of The Press, Serendipity; Nitwit Collection, Bumbleberry Cottage; Champion Art Stamps, Laugh Often; WH Smith, blue label; all the other embellishments from stash.

If you would like to have a go at pagerizing/scraplifting Karen's layout, you have until the 12th of December to submit to Scrap Our Stash - full details can be found on the blog.

Thanks for looking. 

Happy Crafting,


Wednesday 28 November 2012

WOYWW 182

Morning WOYWWers, Followers, and Fellow Bloggers,

Well, it's Wednesday, and after the week I've had already I am not a bit prepared to reveal what's on my workdesk today. But, in the interests of desk snoopers of this world, here it is.


Absolutely shameful! But I do have the best defence ... if you scroll down to my previous post, or click this link here, Reason to Celebrate, all will become clear :))

Anyone wondering why I am showing what amounts to my dirty linen should pop over to Julia's place, the Stamping Ground where you will find around a hundred or more others revealing the state of their desks to the world.

So what's on the desk ... the detritus left from making another scrap page. Usually, I clear up after completing a project but, so far, I just haven't had time this week - it's all had to be left in situ while attending to more pressing matters. Here's a closer look at the page.


This is the result of Prompt #7 of Shimelle's Remix class and features two photos taken on my youngest granddaughter's second birthday - that's seven years ago!!! Where does the time go?!?!

The base is Kraft and the papers are from Daisy Bucket, Papermania, Fancy Pants and My Mind's Eye. The embellishments are handmade from scraps, including the windmills. The title uses Jillibeans Alphabeans and American Crafts thickers.

Julia likes brief, so brief it is this morning ... if only because I've yet to have breakfast :) 

I'm not dashing off anywhere today so will be back after breakfast to take a peek at your desks too, check out if yours is anything as messy as mine, and see what you are all up to.

Finally, my thoughts go out to those of you who are involved in the terrible floods happening around the UK this week - I hope you have all escaped the worst, and if not, you are receiving all the help and assistance you need. 

That aside, I wish you all a very happy WOYWW,

Tuesday 27 November 2012

Reasons to Celebrate

Morning Everyone,

Well, my week has started off with a bang and here's the reason why.


My first great-grandson, Brodie, was born at 2.18pm yesterday, 26th November, weighing in at 6lb 8oz. Isn't he a right wee stotter (Scots for 'something special')!!!  Right now he looks the image of his grandfather, my son-in-law.


And here his big sister, Rhian, delighted to have a wee brother, is giving him a kiss ... sweet :)

Last week we were given another reason to celebrate. Our youngest grandson,12 year old Alun, an incredibly keen and dedicated footballer whose ambition is to play the game for a living, has been spotted and selected to play for the local youth team, Ardrossan Winton Rovers. Here he is proudly modelling the away strip.


I'm chuffed for him ... he's on the first step to realising his ambition and I wish him every success in reaching his ultimate goal. He plays his first game on Sunday.

All-in-all, it has been a great week. I turn 65 on Thursday, a birthday that I wasn't particularly looking forward too ... how did I get so old!!! But these two events have cheered me up no end :))

Hope you are all having an equally splendid week.

Take care and happy crafting,

Sunday 25 November 2012

Rudolph Day - An Advent Calendar

Hi Everyone ...

... and happy Sunday to you all too.

I've been so busy with scrapping that I went looking through my stash for what I thought would be something quick and easy to make for the last Rudolph Day challenge of the year over at Sarn's blog - Stamping For Pleasure.


However, it was a case of think again, Elizabeth!!! The card comes in kit form from Papermania and looked as though it should have been a doddle to make, but not so! I got it wrong almost from the outset. Everything came with the kit, even some extra materials were included, so that wasn't the problem. No, the problem was that there were no instructions. Oh, and me not thinking how would be the best way to put it together first :(


Happily, with a bit of taking apart and starting again, I got there in the end, and I'm sure my two youngest grandchildren will enjoy opening the doors as they countdown to the big day ... you can't see that but the 25th is inside, as is Santa :)

And whilst I think about Advent, when did the Christmas become a 2 month event - starting at the beginning of November, immediately after Halloween. I've been seeing Christmas trees, Christmas decorations, aisles of Christmas goodies and display for weeks, and now shopping is done to a neverending Christmas themed soundtrack. When I was a child the festivities didn't start until the last week before school broke up for the holiday - so just a week or two before Christmas Day. And then, a few decades later, it didn't begin until a day or two after my birthday at the end of November. I still feel I should be able to have my birthday first ... it seems only fair! Bah! Humbug! :))

It's back to the scrapping ... some of my old summer holiday pics are waiting to be scrapped. Though, as I have just discovered the Christmas 24 movie channel and all my crafting is being done to wall-to-wall feel-good films, maybe I'm catching that Christmas cheer, so much so, perhaps I ought to be making Christmas themed pages instead ... no, next month will be soon enough :)


Take care my crafty friends and happy crafting,





Friday 23 November 2012

WOYWW Follow-Up - Scrap Storage Solution

Hi Everyone,

After mentioning that I was on a mission yesterday to find a better way of storing my paper scraps ... that is, than the one I've used up to now ... it seems I piqued the interest of more than a few of you. Did I succeed, and, what did I come up with were the most asked questions yesterday.

Well, it wasn't easy. I did have quite a trail around town, in this shop and in the next. Oh, and just to prove that I'm the original can't shop, won't shop if I can possibly avoid it lady, I only trotted over to Ayr Central to discover that our branch of Au Naturale shut some months ago. Gone bankrupt!!! Such a shame because it was my go to shop for storage.

So ... it was back into the car and off to B&Q where I found these really useful type boxes that fitted the bill perfectly.


What you see is a shirt box with a shoe box acting as both storage for small scraps and a divider to keep the larger pieces separate from the strips.


I've not bothered to separate/file by colour as I can see what's there more or less at a glance, and it takes a matter of moments to rummage through the scraps pulling out what I want. The box is stored at my feet under the desk making it easy to chuck any scraps in at the end of a scrapping session and equally easy to pull out to find some to add to a project.

I figure that if it gets in a mess, and it might well over time, sorting it out again is something I can do whilst watching TV. It's maybe not the perfect system but I think it is going to work an awful lot better than anything I've tried up to now. What do you think?

Off to think about the next Rudolph Day make ... it's almost the 25th of November already :)

Take care and happy crafting,



Scrapbook Remix - Prompt #6

Hi Everyone,

And a very warm welcome to my newest followers, Robin and Tina - hope you continue to enjoy my little blog.

I've several layouts to share with you - all inspired by Prompt #6 of Shimelle's course.

The first is entitled Retro Girl and features one of my favourite snaps of my middle granddaughter, Jolene, taken in 2005 when she was only five years old.


Apart from the strips of polka-dotted pattern, and the base paper which is from Panduro Tilda Party collection,  all the papers are from Papermania's Happy Days collection, chosen because the Baker Boy hat Jolene is wearing took me back to the sixties, when I was a teenager and this style of hat was very much in fashion. The bottle top embellishments were punched from one of the papers. The fabric flowers are also from Papermania - I've had them for a year or so - it was nice to finally find a use for them.

There is a large corner image on the Garden Party print which I felt did not work with the photograph so I've covered it up with the stack of Happy Days papers, you would never know it's there.


The second layout, Waiting to Meet Santa, shows a nervous and apprehensive Shari-Ann outside Santa's grotto, not too sure she really wanted to meet the big man in the red suit and white beard. That was in 2008 when she was tiny ... now she has no worries about meeting Santa.


None of the papers used are Christmas papers but because I've used a traditional colour combination of red, white and green, the effect is Christmassy.

The papers are SEI White Elegance, Daisy Bucket Playful Petals (the red polka dot) and Basic Grey Hello Luscious (the red and green strip). I've also been inspired to get out the Cuttlebug and die cut some holly and circles, and some stamps to make a few festive embellishments, e.g. the pile of packages is a stamped image coloured with ProMarkers, as is the Joy embellishment and the sentiment.

The final page from this prompt is Smiling for the Camera featuring the Boss who clearly thinks she is a Cheshire cat. I've never known a cat to smile before :)


One of my favourite colour combinations is pink and brown and, as my cat is a very dainty, girly cat, that's the colour mix I decided to go with for this page. The base print is a 'b' side from Papermania's Happy Days collection - the 'a' side has very pretty doilies scattered all over it, not what I was looking for. At the back of the many layers is a piece of printed vellum - Owls and Swirls from a Nancy Watt Collection. I've found it difficult to handle vellum - never know how to fix it so that the adhesive doesn't show but Shimelle has a video on YouTube that helped me overcome that problem. All the other papers are bits - some ancient - from my scrap pile and the embellishments are handmade using punches/dies and the letters are from American Crafts (Darling) and BoBunny (Ambrosia).

And for those folks that have been enquiring, I did indeed find some really useful type boxes that now are home to my scraps and so far it's making it easier for me to pull just what I'm looking for. I've devised a system that I think is the best solution for me and hopefully speeds up the scrapping process. For example, most of the strips and scraps on the last layout came out of these new scrap boxes. I've forgotten to take a photo, and it's a bit late tonight (just turned midnight), but I will try to remember tomorrow and post a piccie for you to see. 

As it is so late, and I was up very early this morning for no better reason than I couldn't sleep, I'd better get myself to bed - at my great age I need all the beauty sleep I can get.

Take care all and happy crafting,

Wednesday 21 November 2012

WOYWW 181

Hello Fellow WOYWWers, Bloggers and Crafters,

Wednesday again and I hope you are all well and joining in the fun over at Julia's place - the Stamping Ground. I see that Julia has included a definition of what WOYWW is all about today, just in case you don't already know. Now, on to the state of my desk today!


Yes, it's a mess ... a mess of pretty paper. This is the leftovers, scraps and snippets I have amassed recently while I have been scrapping - you might even recognise some of the prints from previous layouts. I think I need to sort out a better method of storage, one that will work well for me and I have an idea which is why this post is going to be very brief ... I'm a woman on a mission :) I'm going shopping! Me, who hates shopping!!! I'm on the search for the perfect storage ... wish me luck :)

See you later ... hopefully with my new, improved storage solutions.

Julia will be pleased with me - the brevity of this post has got to be a first :))

Happy WOYWW to you all.

Tuesday 20 November 2012

Tearing Paper - the Scrap Our Stash Challenge for November

Hello Everyone,

I still find tearing beautiful patterned paper difficult but that is the challenge, to Tear It Up, over at Scrap Our Stash this month.


My response to the challenge? Well, I steeled myself and added just one torn piece of Ruby Rock-It's Flourish Vintedge to the lower edge of this page. The base and the fussy cut flower trim is from the BoBunny Serenity collection. I added a bit of stamping around the edge with a Victoria and Albert Museum leaf trim and added a chandelier, from Kaisercraft's Le Chateau set, to the top right corner. 



The lace and trims are vintage style, as is the Prima locket which can be opened to reveal photos of my great-grandparents. My great-grandfather appeared in an earlier post - in the layout is entitled Hero. I can't say I will ever find tearing paper easy but I do like the effect on this layout.

This is a page made especially for my family history album. The journaling reads as follows:

"This photograph is of my great-grandmother, Nana Douglas, my grandmother, Granny Vass, and great-uncle Robert. It's a studio pose, with them all in their Sunday best, taken for my great-grandfather, James Douglas, to carry with him as he went of to war in 1915. Safely stowed away in his wallet, it went with him to France and he still had it when he finally returned home at the end of the war. By then his copy was dog-eared and much creased from constant handling - it helped him through the horrors of war."

Nana was the tiniest creature I ever knew, not even 5' tall and with the most perfect figure right into old age. She was also incredibly sprightly well into her eighties. When I was a little girl, and had the temerity to ask her how old she was, she would always tell me she was sixteen - for years I believed her!

War made her bitter and who could blame her -  she lost the two men that meant the most to her because of war. Her husband returned a sick man after active service in WWI - due to gas inhalation - and her only son died fighting in Hong Kong during WWII. She was widowed in 1930 and towards the end of her life, whenever I visited, never failed to tell me that she had been a widow for more than forty years. She never remarried, saying no one could ever replace great-grandfather.

If you'd like to have a go at the SOS challenge, Tear It Up, and want to tear either a little or a lot of paper, pop along to the blog where you will find details on how to submit your layout(s). You can also see all the other great interpretations of the current challenge that have been posted this month already. There is also the opportunity to take part in a pagerize (scraplift) challenge every month too - this month's layout, Pagerize #24, is terrific and I may well be having a go myself.

Time I stopped and got myself off to bed. I will be back later with this week's WOYWW post - quite a bit later though because I have forgotten to take a photo of my workdesk for it.

I hope you are all well and finding plenty crafting time.

Happy crafting,

Monday 19 November 2012

The Road Less Traveled - a swap card

Happy Monday,

A bit late I know, but I hope your Monday has been a good one.

We have had a tremendous downpour here, the rivers and streams are in spate and the road nearby was flooded for a time but it has cleared now. Other parts of Scotland have also been even more badly affected by the wet stuff, so I hope everyone in Scotland reading this has escaped the worst of the flooding.

Recently I've posted a few projects that were using up the bits and bobs left over from a swap card I'd made. Well, the card has now been received so I can reveal it here.


The challenge for the swap was to incorporate dots and/or spots and as you can see I've used an white embossed square card with lots of dots (Papermania) as the base and added two toppers - one with even more dots - some created with bubble-wrap and paint and the others with a stamp from Stampin' Up - Dot, Dot, Dot - VersaMark and silver mica powder. The paint used is Adirondack paint dauber Juniper and Pebeo Bermuda). When dry this was overstamped with pine trees in a dark green ink (Versafine Olympic Green). The embossed edging is more of my homemade 'frantage' using several colours of embossing powders (UTEE Platinum, Papermania white and silver, WOW Blueberry Regular) with a couple of shades of glitter( iridescent white and pale blue glitter) sprinkled in to the mix.


The sentiment is a Robert Frost quote that means a lot to me personally and I was delighted to find that Our Daily Bread had created a stamp of it. It has been stamped in the dark green ink and heat embossed with clear powder. I've edged the topper with some of the silver embossing powder and even sprinkled some 'frantage' style over the top.


The stamping on the inside and back uses the second generation of ink, i.e. I've inked the stamp, stamped once on copy paper and then again on to the card, not wanting it to be too pronounced.


The ribbon is American seam binding from Ribbon Carousel and the aqua rainbow drops are from Crafty Notions.

As I type, I can see the EM out in the garden replenishing the seeds in the feeders and trays. He is taking heed of Monty Don who mentioned in the last episode of Gardener's World that once you start to feed the birds you have got to keep it up. This is, as he explained, because our feathered friends expend a lot of energy simply flying to the feeders so if there's no food there it takes them a long time to recover, especially if they have to fly around looking for another source of food.

I've been to our health clinic this morning going through my annual glucose tolerance trial test. For those of you who don't know what this entails, and may be curious, this test requires that I fast from 9pm the night before, have a blood sample taken early morning then drink a glass and a half of glucose powder dissolved in water  ... yuk! I then have to sit in the waiting room for 2 hours - 2 whole hours of inactivity - using no energy at all - bored out of my skull!!! - before having another blood sample taken. All I can say, thank goodness it's over for another year :)

I'm off now to the craft space ... the Scrapbook Remix course has got me on a roll. There's an almost completed scrap page on the desk - just the title to add and then I can take a photo. I'm never going to be the fastest of scrappers but I'm certainly speeding up as a result of what I'm learning.

If you've got this far, thanks for sticking with me and getting through my ramblings.

I wish you a good evening and happy crafting,




Saturday 17 November 2012

Scrapbook Remix Course - Prompts #3, #4, #5

Hello Everyone,

Recently I posted the first two scrap pages made after reading prompts #1 and #2 - either scroll down or click here to see them -  of the course I'm following, Shimelle's Scrapbook Remix. This time I'd like to share the next three pages. Most of the papers, and even the embellishments, are from my stash and are fairly old - they may even be out of date now - learning to use them up, by mixing them up, is the main aim of the course.


The photo on this page dates back to 1995, to our holiday on the Amalfi coast. After walking from Amalfi to Minori in the baking heat - typically, like mad dogs and Englishmen, we went out in the midday sun - we were in need of a cuppa so we popped into the nearest cafe for a coffee. We were served quickly and efficiently by a young man and this cup just made my day!

Materials used: Papers from My Mind's Eye - Ooh La La 'All Dressed Up', Docrafts Papermania - Happy Days, Sassafras - Life Is Beautiful Woodland Whimsy - Paper Garden. Grey Pebeo paint, Alphabets, punched hearts, ivory web trim, baker's twine, brown twine, wooden butterfly (inked with TH's Scattered Straw & Fired Brick) washi tape; flower, gems, all from stash.


I love the blue of the water in these photos of my grandchildren and the EM having great fun splashing around. It was June, in Scotland, in an open-air pool - and it was a lot chillier than these photos would lead you to believe!  

There's a lot of aqua - the colour of the water is fairly overpowering - with just a little yellow and red in the photos so I've used papers from Crate Paper, Fancy Pants and a couple with no name attached that include toned down shades of these colours. Apart from the word stickers (Bo Bunny) all the embellishments are handmade from snippets of paper - easy to do and definitely cost-effective. The title uses Doodlebug Simply Sweet alphas. The result is a bright and vibrant page that I probably would never have tackled before taking this course.


Finally, something completely different - in fact you couldn't get more of a contrast! The patterns on the papers I've chose are all delicate and pastel so the photos of the beautiful showy roses are what you focus on - as, of course, they should be :) You might remember seeing these photos before ... this was the first blooms we got this year from our new Queen Elizabeth floribunda bush. 

Materials used: Papers from Bella Blvd Plastino, Bermudas, SEI Juliete, First Kiss, Making Cards Editors Selection, Pretty Pastels, Reminisce Baking, Recipes (striped one used for journaling); Tilda paper cut-outs; Alphas from American Crafts Emerald Chipboard Thickers (cream) and Nikki Sivils We Are Family Cardstock Stickers (blue); pearls and narrow pink lace from stash.

Thanks to this course my scrapbook albums are starting to fill up and my pile of photos is starting to diminish - just a few hundred more to scrap :)) Give me a few days and I'll be back with some more pages.

I see it is near the witching hour so I'd better take myself off to bed and see if I can get a better night's sleep than last night. My head was buzzing with so many ideas last night that I woke at 2.30am and no matter what I did I could not get off again! 

I bid you all a good night too.

Happy crafting,




Thursday 15 November 2012

Magical Winter Tag

Afternoon All,

I hope you are all well and happily crafting away wherever you are.

Yesterday, on my workdesk was a pile of bits and pieces that I was working on, including this tag which I finished off later in the day. One for Di's Snippet Challenge as I've used a couple of snippets in the making.


First snippet, I used a piece of the paper I'd stamped using bubble wrap and paint to cover this small tag. (I've decided that I must use these bits of leftover painty, inky, experimental backgrounds immediately instead of dumping them in a box just to be forgotten!) Then I stamped snowflakes here and there using VersaMark which was then heat embossed with white powder - hard to see in the photo but much better in real life. Second snippet, the lace border .. it's a stamp - again white embossing powder on VersaMark onto a snippet of turquoise cardstock.


The deer die-cut (a very welcome gift from a friend - I don't have the die ... yet, sigh) has also been stamped with snowflakes and, this time, embossed with crystal powder before inking with TH's Peacock Feathers ink pad - I think I've said it before, love this colour!  He's been placed on a piece of gauze ribbon which I think adds to the frosty feel I was trying to achieve.

The silver snowflakes are from some trim I have had forever - I'm sure I only bought a yard of it but it does seem to be neverending ... ditto the bobble trim!!! The green trim is washi tape - new to me and I love it for the colour ... it's patterned with chevron stripes which are 'so on trend' :) Final snippet. the sentiment is from the same stamp set as the snowflakes and only used a tiny oval of smooth white card.

Materials used: 
A manila tag #5; a snippet of white card for sentiment; strip of turquoise cardstock for stamped lace trim
White card stamped with bubble wrap in green (Adirondack Juniper dauber) and turquoise (Pebeo Bermuda) paints
Hot of The Press Vintage Christmas stamp set; VersaMark Watermark ink pad; White embossing powder; crystal embossing powder
Deer die-cut chipboard shape; Tim Holtz Peacock Feathers ink pad
White gauze ribbon trim and white bobble trim from Ribbon Carousel; 
Green zigzag patterned washi tape - an ebay purchase
Silver snowflake trim; turquoise/white bakers' twine; Anita's turquoise gem - from stash

It's lunchtime at Casa Worthington so I'm off to snatch a crispbread or two and a much needed cuppa.

Thanks for looking and if you leave a comment I'll be delighted :)

Happy crafting,




Wednesday 14 November 2012

WOYWW 180

Hello WOYWWers, Followers, Bloggers and Friends

It's Wednesday again - the day a not inconsiderable number of us reveal our desks. Yes, it is the weekly reveal kindly hosted by the amazing Mrs D (aka Julia Dunnit) at the Stamping Ground. If you haven't joined in the fun before, if you have been lurking and wish you could join in the fun, then what are you waiting for - whatever your craft of choice you will be made welcome - so go on, show us your workdesk.


Photo taken late Tuesday, when I was done for the evening, and I can guarantee it will not have changed this morning - though it will later when I clear this clutter up and get on with the scrapping I really intended to work on today. I kind of got distracted with the bits and pieces leftover after completing a swap card - can't show you that yet, not until the postie has delivered it to the recipient (but you can see the lovely one I received sitting on the box of baby wipes at the back there). However, I can tell you that it features the colour turquoise and spots created with some bubble wrap and paint. I've used some of the leftovers, added a bit of embossed paper, which, if my memory serves me well, came in a box of goodies that our radio star, Jo (Jozart), sent me some time ago now. It's beautiful paper but easily torn and has to be handled with care ... ask me how I know :))

Also amongst the usual stuff you can see some tags, washi tape, card candi, ribbon, rainbow drops, one finished card, two tags just at the beginning phase, a variety of vintage toppers, a peacock feathers ink pad - gorgeous colour. You can see that some punches have sneaked back on to the desk - don't know how they do it!! There's one of my many notebooks - this it the 'to-do' one - sitting on top of a box of seasonal chipboards shapes. It's a clutter but everything, apart from those punches, is there for a reason.

Julia says keep it brief and this week I will do. I'll just leave you with this wonderful photo I took at the garden centre on Saturday.


For the owl lovers among us, he's real. I understand that he is a cross breed and he is so tame, you can stroke him and he loves it. If it wasn't for the £1000 price tag, I would have taken him home in a heartbeat :))

After that, all that remains is for me to wish you all a wonderful WOYWW and I'll do my utmost to pop in and snoop around your desks sometime today, failing that sometime during the week.

Happy crafting,




Sunday 11 November 2012

A little Christmas duo

Evening Folks

Well, it's evening in Scotland and it will be morning somewhere else - perhaps where you are. Wherever that is, I hope you are well.

Today has been a special day for me, as it has been every year of my life. It's the day I remember the fallen  and the heroes of two world wars - especially those in my family. My great-grandfather, who served in WWI - he survived but only just, returning home suffering from the effects of gas inhalation, and my two great-uncles who fought in WWII and, tragically, died. They have never been, nor ever will be, forgotten.

That said, on to what I've been up to in the craft room this afternoon.


It's not a lot - just a wee Christmas tag and matching re-covered notebook set which I thought would make a nice little stocking filler for someone.

The paper is a vintage design from Hot of The Press. I've trimmed each item with ecru cotton lace trim,  chipboard shapes from Docrafts, and poinsettias.

I covered the label, front and back, with the DP, inked the edges with red ink then added the embellishments to the front only.

To cover the notebook, I removed the original cover and used it for a template to cut out the DP, then glued it to the cover - this gives the cover extra strength - before adding the decoration.

List of materials used:
Manila label, size #5 (4¾"x23/8"
Small memo/note pad - I found these in Asda.
Design paper, Hot of The Press, Christmas Vintage
Chipboard shapes from Docrafts Papermania's Noel collection
Ink, Tim Holtz distress ink, Festive Berries
Ecru cotton lace trim, red/white bakers' twine, Wild Orchid Crafts red poinsettias, gold edged red satin ribbon, red dew drops, tiny red/white alphas - all from stash.

Just a quick share - I'm off to have a cuppa and spend a bit of sofa time watching a film with the EM.

Thanks for popping in. Take care all, keep crafting, and I'll be back, hopefully tomorrow.



In Remembrance



Lest we forget.

Elizabeth

Friday 9 November 2012

Thirties Glamour - a wee note card

Hello Everyone,

I hope you have all had a good day and are now looking forward to the weekend.

Not much doing here over the last couple of days ... hardly any cards been made. I have been scrapping though - inspiration from Shimelle's course has been keeping my mojo busy.

However, I do have this little card made from some of the leftover bits and pieces to share with you - another one for Di's snippet challenge over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop.


I dug out a sheet of stickers depicting glamorous ladies I have had forever and married it up to some strips of leftover 6x6 paper.


Desolate to discover that this stamp had started to perish, this despite it being cleaned immediately after use ... I always wipe them over with a baby wipe and dry them with a paper towel. I had to trim of the ellipsis that followed the 'to say' - shame :(


Materials used:
Square white card base 
Design House Fashion Plates - 30s Glamour stickers - bought from an online shop that has since closed down.
Snippets of various 6x6 papers
Snippet of lace
Recycled pink satin ribbon bow 
Wild Orchid Crafts rose
Brown pearls

That's it from me today - short but sweet. I hope to be back sometime over the weekend with a post showing the completed scrap pages together with an update on how I'm progressing with the Scrapbook Remix course.

In the meantime, I wish you all a very happy weekend.

Happy crafting,

Wednesday 7 November 2012

WOYWW 179 - What's On Your Desk Wednesday

Hi WOYWWers, Followers and All,

Wednesday really has crept up on me this week ... it seems like only yesterday it was the weekend. And being Wednesday it's time to reveal my desk in all it's glory. But before I do I'd like to welcome my newest follower and encourager, Diana ... thank you for joining me here. I hope you continue to pop in whenever you can and perhaps even leave the occasional comment - always appreciated :)

Okay, here's the state of my desk today for your delectation.


Oh my, where do I begin!!! This is a long view in the other direction showing a teensy weensy glimpse of the other worktop in the top right corner ... you can even just spot my wastepaper basket from this angle.

To the front is a couple of layouts I'm working on. One just needs the journaling added - the notes for it are in the tiny notebook by the saucer. And the saucer? I used it as a circle template to cut the photo that is peaking out from under the top layout. The stuff that's lying all around the layouts - inks, punches, alphas, pens, adhesives, etc. - just the materials used this session ... you'd think it was a week's worth of mess. The desk was immaculate before I started scrapping, honest!!

In fact, this is the first actual crafting I've found time for in several days. The reason being that I've been sorting stash, The red basket on right edge of the desk is testimony to that. It's intended to be the temporary resting place for any newly acquired goodies but in practice it was piled high with stuff that shouldn't have been there. No more! What's in there should be there and everything has been put where is ought to be :))

It all started with me deciding, as a result of this course I'm doing - scroll down to see more - that the way I had the 12x12 paper organised was not suiting me at all. And once I had sorted that out I was on a roll, 12x12 cardstock, A4 paper and cardstock, 6x6 paper, it all got sorted. Thanks to those of you who commented with helpful tips. Here's just one shelf ...


... is that not a thing of beauty? :)

I opted to organise by colour rather than by maker as before ... it just seemed to make selection a whole lot easier.

Admittedly, I did use up all the EM's labeling tape so a quick reorder was necessary, but it has been so worth it. I rediscovered some lovely sheets of paper I had all but forgotten, including one of the pretty papers on my workdesk right now.

I did promise myself that I would be brief this week but I've rambled on again ... must do better next week. And if you have wandered in from Mars/Venus and don't know what WOYWW is all about, do pop over to Julia's at the Stamping Ground where you will find an explanation and invitation to join in the fun. We show ours, so all you have to do is show yours :))

Once again, it's the wee small hours so I'm off to bed for now. I'll join you all later and can't wait to see what you've been up to.

Take care everyone, have a great WOYWW and happy crafting,