Woof Woof

I am taking a break for the moment from my "to finsh crate" and playing with some newish stash. These papers and embellishments I have had for a few weeks now and doggy pages are not something I would normally do as we dont have any dogs! but I knew I had these photos of my daughter with her boyfriends dogs....and she was with me in the shop and asked if I would do a layout using them. The papers and small doggy words are from Cloud 9 and came from here but the title came from Australia via my friends website here and I coloured it with a brillaince ink pad Crimson Copper...these pads are great as they are so wet when new they cover chipboard brilliantly...you just need to put it to one side to dry for a little while. I have also been trying to use stash and tools that have not seen the light of day since goodness knows when!! Rub ons alphabets is one...so now I have them all hanging on a hook in my room so they are out and can be a gentle reminder to use!!! secondly a fastenator, brought with such excitement yonks ago and I think I have only used it once...shame on me!! lol so I had a test run on this layout, hopefully now, if I leave it out it will be used alot more.

Tomorrows layouts are using Basic Grey Bittersweet, just got some finsishing off to do.

Have a great Sunday!

left overs...

..not from last nights dinner lol, but from a kit. I have got to start throwing small bits of paper away that are left over from a kit..but if they are big pieces then I know I can probably get another layout from them. This is what happened with this kit...again from Totalpapercrafts and using Websters papers. The layout Chill is the orginal layout and Discover Rome is my layout from the left overs. As I was short of embellishments I added flowers and a journaling stamp.

photo shoot

Just before Christmas I finally managed to get the family together with a photographer and have a long overdue photo shoot. This kit was another from Totalpapercrafts that I had completed all but the photos. Its not easy for me to photograph but hopefully you get the idea...its 4 pages in essence one on either side and an 12x12 acetate sheet in the middle with a photograph on each side. so what ever way you look at it you see the photos behind. Its a bit of aggro getting it all to stick down exactly so everything matches but once its done it looks fab. The papers by the way are Paper Salon...enamored collection.

Back tomorrow with some left overs!! and hopefully something from my new stash.....oops forgot I was supposed to be on a stash diet...well in just jumped into my basket and whats a girl to do!! It would be rude to put it back...lol

Violet

Another page finished...yahoo!! This is a kit again from Totalpapercrafts, using Websters papers, a company not alot of people have heard of but they do some stunning papers. This layout has tons of cutting out...so not so much as cuppa of tea job...more like an urn job!! It was worth it though...this picture of my nan, who died when I was young so I dont remember her, is beautiful so I wanted to do a page that was really special. I only have a few photos of her young and old, so spending extra time on these projects is worth it in my mind. The alphabet is a American Craft Thickers chipboard set, that was not in the kit, everything else was.

My resolution to stop buying stash is wavering alittle....I have succumbed to the new Basic Grey collection Bittersweet but not the entire collection...which is good for me!!

Total papercraft kits

When I had my major clear out after Christmas I put in a crate all the layouts that had been half finished....unfortunatley it filled it!! so I have been making a big effort to try and work my way through before doing any other layouts with new stash. I know it wont last but if I can at least get a few done each week its something..lol The layouts that I am posting today are kits from Totalpapercrafts, owned by Karen McIvor...if you love kits then hers are great. They are very reasonably priced and she releases 2 each month. You get full instructions...I will warn you though she does like cutting out..but a cuppa in front of the tv and you are away!! The link to her shop is here

Wassill Chipboard book

For the girls that coming to my class on the 19th this is the book we are doing. All the pages are chipboard but they are brown not the usual grey colour, so I have chosen to not cover all the pages completely. Each page is a different shape or has parts cut out of it. In the kit you will get the book, some Wassail papers and some embellishments. You can add your own embellishments as well as I have added some things from my own stash, but I will bring along some bits for you to choose from. The book does not have to be Christmas themed, if you prefer to buy or bring your own papers you are more than welcome to do so. I have 12 photos in the book of differing sizes the largest being...3 3/4" x 2 3/4", its great for using photos that can be cropped down. You may want to make sure you have some glue sticks...like tomobow etc thats what I found the best to stick the papers down to the chipboard with....there is alot sanding as well so you need to make sure your edges are well stuck down. I have posted some of the pages from the book so you can see what it is like inside.

If you are coming to the crop on Sunday I will bring it with me so you can see what its like..sometimes that easier than explaining on here..lol

For everybody else, I hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Year and are back in the swing of things. My 2009 is not starting off well at all but hopefully things can only get better....I completely lost my enthusiasm for scrapping and card making after Christmas so decided to have a major clear out of my craft room....my god don't your tastes change, some of the stuff I brought when I first started I look at now and think what was I thinking buying that...but hey ho we all have to start somewhere!! I have a plastic crate full of all half done layouts or left overs from kits that I know I could get another layout out of....so my resolution is to finish all those before I buy any more paper. I have seen some of the sneaky peeks for new lines that are being released on the trade show...so I need to get a move on or my resolution to not buy any more new stuff is going straight out the window.

All day crop

If any scrappers are local and would be interested in an all day crop next Sunday 11th Jan, I still have spaces. Its £20.00 for the day 9.30 am to 9.00pm but you are free to come and go as you please, its at the County Hotel Southend. Free tea/coffee/nibbles all day and plenty of scrapping space. Total Papercrafts are running the shop and if you fancy lunch you can pop into the resturant and have a rummy carvery for £10.00 for 2 courses or bring your own sandwiches. Our raffle is our best yet with a Making Memories Slice machine as the first prize....even if you cant come but would like to buy some raffle tickets off me they are £5.00 a strip...just email me. I have seen this fab machine in action and I WANT ONE !!!! So if you are interested in coming to the crop let me know and I will save you a space.