My last day at home...

Well, it really is happening; I'm going back to work on Monday and for the first time in 3 years, I will be working full-time. It was a difficult decision to make, especially since I have a fifty mile round trip to school, but I do feel now that it's for the best. I'll actually be able to afford to buy stash, although when I'll get to use any of it is another question!

So, I'm spending the day at home with Evie playing, drawing and sorting.

Also, I haven't forgotten about the RAK I promised, just need to get Evie to help me choose a winner...will let you know later.

Our holiday

Still haven't tidied up yet but have had a chance to download the photos from the camera so I'll post a few and tell the tale.

Well, we ended up having a lovely time but the camping turned out to be a nightmare. The first day was lovely but by Saturday morning the weather was changing. We managed a trip to the beach to look at rockpools but were very wrapped up as the wind was so strong. We woke the following morning to horrendously strong winds and rain and it just got worse from then onwards. We had a gazebo to use as a dining shelter and I was petrified that it was going to fly off!


The campsite got quiet and we thought it was because it was changeover day but they'd probably seen the weather forecast! We drove over to St Malo to visit the Grand Aquarium to do something indoors and dry: it seemed that every other British tourist had had the same idea!


By Monday the rain was pretty constant and we were soaked, cold and knackered so after a good cry from me, we decided to give up and try and make the best of the rest of the holiday. We were supposed to be staying in a hotel for the last 3 nights and changed this to 5 instead.


At 10pm on the Monday night, in galeforce winds and the pitch dark, the gazebo decided to make a break for freedom and that really was the last straw!!! So we spent Tuesday morning packing up all our very wet equipment into the car and escaped!

I have never been so glad to see a hotel and more importantly, a bath. It seemed like a luxury after our ordeal in the tent. Anyway, the last few days in Perros Guirec were fab.


We did loads of walking and when the weather improved, we went to the beach and swam and made sandcastles. We also took a trip out to the 'Sept Isles' which are a nature reserve. We've done this before and seen loads of birds but this time we actually saw seals on the rocks. Evie's favourite word of the week was 'boat' so she totally loved being on one!


The food was great...

So was the beach!



Graeme's decided that he can't wait a year to go back. I'm slowly working on getting him to agree to moving there.

Paris layout...

The voting for round 3 of Masterchef on the Sprinkles blog, took place whilst I was on holiday so I guess I can share this layout now:


You had to create a layout using a photo of a non living subject so I decided to use a photo of the Eiffel Tower and tell the tale of our honeymoon there in 2004.

Materials:

Hambly overlay
French Twist papers
Jenni Bowlin papers and journaling card
Handcut title - 'metro' font
MME frame
MM rub on letters
bloooms and brads
Foof-a-la rub on
7 gypsies and MME cards
Various stickers
Phototurns (I wanted to use some metal to match that of the Tower)
Map of Paris and tickets from the Eiffel Tower and metro form our trip.

Hand journaling reads: a romantic city for a romantic event; celebrating our marriage. The sun shone and so did our happiness.

Bonjour!

Just a quick post to say we're back from not so sunny France. Will update with more details and piccies later when I've had a chance to catch up with things. Not least the huge pile of washing that needs doing.

xx

Au revoir!!!!!!

We leave soon. Had major stress yesterday when I couldn't find my passport. It took half an hour of searching through piles of filing and random post before Graeme found it. Guess where? Yep, the first place I looked!

Just got the clothes to pack now, some of which are still drying and we're waiting for the British Gas man to arrive as the boiler started leaking yesterday (great timing!).

Spent a wee bit of time last night researching craft shops in Brittany. DH doesn't know yet! Decided that I need lots of Rouge de Garance papers for a holiday minibook. Also noticed that they've launched 'wall art'; gorgeous stickers to embellish your home :) You can see them here.

As I'm feeling in a happy holiday mood, if you leave a comment, I'll pick a winner to receive a French themed RAK :)




Something else for you to take a look at is this post by Jen. I feel so chuffed that someone is inspired enough to interpret my 'style' of scrapping. Love what you've done :)

Well, I'd better go and sort things out. May pop on from time to time when we can get to a computer but until then 'a bientot!' ...

stuff

Something must be wrong with me at the moment...I scrapped again yesterday!! Maybe it's to do with not being at work and actually feeling relaxed and therefore, inspired. Anyway, I had to do my layout for round 3 of the Sprinkles blog contest because tomorrow WE GO ON HOLIDAY!!!!!!!

It actually feels a bit strange that we're going away because right now it feels decidedly autumnal :( Hoping the weather in France is better than it is here. Also praying that the Atlantic has calmed down a bit - don't fancy the overnight crossing in the high seas that were on the TV yesterday - oh no!.

So today I have washing, packing, organising and tidying up to do :( Might squeeze some fun things in too. Like shopping...decided that I NEED a 'Bind it all'. Off to browse around for one...

worth a thousand words...finished book!

I'm on a roll at the moment and have now finished my book: 'my travels en france'. I decided to use pictures from different trips to France, each with their own story to go with them. If you click on each picture you'll see a full-size image so you can clearly read the journaling.

Supplies: I used the same set of stash to create each 12 x 6" page.
Love Elsie, Toby papers, stickers, ribbon, chipboard buttons and letter stickers.
Travel stickers from Paperchase.
Jenni Bowlin blue label stickers.

I started off by cutting each piece of card to 12x6" and then took half a cm off each length so that the cover is the shortest and the back is the longest page. Each page also has a tab attached to it. It's all held together with 2 large bookrings and I plan to put a piece of acetate on top of the front cover, behind the back cover and between each page to act as page protectors.

I really enjoyed making this album and am definitely inspired to make some more themed 'coffee-table books'.

my 80s mix tape layout...

Possibly the fastest that I've ever used new stash but I was so inspired by my new kit that I just had to get stuck in!

So here is my 80's mix tape layout:


(click for full size image)
The doodling is inspired by Lou's 'how to' that you can find here. :)

It was really hard to just choose 10 songs (all I could fit on) so maybe I'll have to do a Mix Tape 2!

So, what are your favourite songs from the eighties?

almost there layout...

Been working on a layout for a class over on UK Scrappers: 'perfectly posh'.

(click for larger image)

Love making the paper flower and will definitely do this again. It is simply layers of circles which have been sanded and creased around the edges.

Supplies:
Melissa Frances and Amy Butler pp
Hambly pp and overlay
Jenni Bowlin card
Various flowers and brads
AC and MM letters
Little birdie supplied by 'Floydypops'


The photo is of my husband and I at a wedding a few weeks before my daughter was born.

Journaling reads:
This is one of the only photos of my bump and definitely the last one before Evie was born. I was about 36 weeks pregnant and really struggling with the heat. The worst part was not being able to properly join in with the fun.

I never had much of a bump and it's hard to see that I'm actually pregnant!

Really enjoyed using some of new supplies up for this layout. I just love the patterned papers and bits of 'bling' that I've used! It's also nice to be scrapping photos of Graeme and I too.

Now I can share this layout...

(click for larger picture)

The Ingredients:
1 sheet plain cardstock
3 pattern papers ( 1/2 a sheet of each; Love Elsie Toby clouds, Narratives green scalloped & French Twist pink)
3 buttons (french twist)
12inch length of ribbon x2
1 large blossom
1 slide mount (I drew around an actual slide mount and cut from cardstock)

So what did I do? Well, I cut the Love Elsie cloud paper into a cloud shape to make 'sky' and used the green scalloped Narratives paper to represent the ground. I used loads of glossy accents on this layout; each punched hole on the scalloped edge has a tiny drop in it as does the centre of the large bloom, the slide mount and I also used it to highlight the printed word 'water'.



Both photos are lightly sanded. I added the tiny photo to fill a space and look like the water is pouring into the larger photo. The buttons were handsewn on using a contrasting thread to act as bullet points.

The orange ric-rac was placed to finish off edges of the paper and also to help draw the eye across the layout.


Finally, I hand-journaled around the outside of the clouds. I chose to do this here so that it gives a definite edge to the patterned paper.

new, fun layout...

Elsie Flannigan hosted a blog party yesterday and set a challenge:

'You can make a layout or you can simply do a blog entry with your goals before your next birthday.... If we were hanging out in real life today I would make you pinky swear to only make goals that you *can* and *will* actually do. This stuff makes me REALLY excited and inspired, so I hope it gets you excited about your own life in the same way!'

So I decided to give a go. Well I'm 31 in a few weeks time so I listed 30 things to do before I'm 31. I've used a daft, smiley picture of me so I thought I'd make it a really 'fun' layout with lots and lots of pink!!!

Here are my 30 (vaguely achievable) things...

1. bake cakes 2. enjoy myself 3. watch less TV 4. see the new Harry Potter film 5. laugh more 6. surf 7. swim 8. start to lose weight 9. read more books 10. play with evie more (paint/print/colour together) 11. create 12. listen to old CDs 13. visit a museum 14. go to the Lowry gallery 15. climb a mountain 16. make food for the freezer 17. get my hair highlighted 18. finish painting the kitchen 19. start exercising 20. smile 21. go on a date with graeme 22. reply to messages from friends 23.play my clarinet 24. organise the photos 25. play games 26. spend less time online 27. sing 28. be more confident 29. get organised 30. make more time for my family.

I'll let you know how I get on with them (I've got until the 23rd September!)

Masterchef Round 2

Voting started today on round two of this competition over on the Spoonful of Sprinkles blog.

Go and check out the layouts that have been entered and register to vote for your favourite!

my travels...

I finally got time to sit down and start my album for the 'Worth a Thousand Words' class.

I decided on a landscape 12x6 book and cut all the card to size. I then took half a cm off the length of each page so that the top page is shorter than the one below so you see each page when it is closed. I added a tag to each page too to aid opening.


I've used the Toby range of papers as their theme of travel matches my travel photos perfectly and I just love the colours and the cute stickers.


Hope to do a little bit more on this today so look out for more pics of the finished book.

at the beach

My creation
Originally uploaded by littlemissscrapper

busy, busy...

I've spent the whole morning trying to finish off my Masterchef entry layout but haven't quite managed to complete it yet.

We're off to 'sunny' Scarborough soon to get looked after for the weekend! My brother and SIL are going to be there too so we have our annual crazy golf championship to look forward to (I'm rubbish by the way and always come last!). Might squeeze in a visit to the beach, a wander around Peasholm Park (to see the ducks), an ice cream and maybe even some fish and chips!

freebies

I'm stealing this link from Shimelle's blog but it's too good not to share!

Over on twopeas, Maria Grace Abuzman, one of their garden girls, has created a ready made album - all you have to do is download and print onto cardstock. You can then add as many or as few photos, words, embellishments etc as you want and voila, a mini album finished and ready to show off!



It's my husband's birthday today so I'm off to wrap pressies... Going on a little family trip this afternoon then 'Pizza Express' for tea. Evie isn't even two years old yet and she already demolishes a child's pizza; first she has the olives then any other toppings. Next she licks off all the tomato sauce and finishes up with the base - I should take the camera to capture it all for a layout!

'sunglasses at night'

Well I wasn't disappointed by this month's 'Story of my life' kit...Sunglasses at Night is a feast of eighties funkiness. There's even some authentic 1980s scratch n sniff stickers!

These kits just keep getting better.