Im Backkkk!!!!!!

WARNING!!!! HUGE POST ALERT

Phew!  What a fortnight I have had. First stop was my retreat at Loch House Farm with some of my teamies from UKS and what a blast we had. Laugh, chat, eat, sing and scrap . . .  basically we had a ball. I managed 10 LO’s and a mini book whilst I was away (I know . . .  crazy productive … lol)  The mini book is constructed awaiting photo’s so once they are in I will share that in a separate post, but for now here are just some of the LO’s I did (some I cant share just yet)

The twins with their chicken pops back in 2000 -

Tony doing ‘you know what’ in the bath tub -

All three of our munchkins enjoying the hot tub back in 2002 -

And Joe aged 2½ giving me the biggest bestest smile face ever! -

Joe looking rather dapper in my sunglasses this summer -

And finally, Joe showing off his catch of the day!

I’ll share the rest over the next few days as one or two of them just need a few finishing touches.

So after 5 wonderful days with the girls I flew home to recuperate before the next retreat. Well, that was the idea . . . but oh no, it never quite works out as we plan does it. After a good nights sleep in my own bed on the Monday night I woke on Tuesday feeling just a tad tired but that was OK as I had nothing much to do other then sifted through photo’s ready for the retreat coming up that weekend. The phone rings. Its my vet. Three orphaned feral kittens have been brought in to be destroyed  . . . .  the rescue shelter cant / wont take them (apparently because black kittens are so hard to rehome!)and my vet is having a hard time putting these babies to sleep as they are so clean and healthy and thriving. Will I take them ?   . . . . .  oh course I will!!  I immediately set to work erecting the kitten pen then went off to pick them up. They are doing great!  They are so cute and I will introduce them to you all in a separate post dedicated just to them.

So, back to the plan. Of course having 3 babies in the house is just a bit distracting so getting my stuff ready for the retreat went a but haywire. Friday came around and I was jetting off again, this time to Coventry to attend the Creative HeART and Soul Retreat. Wow!  What a retreat. Debbie and Tracie the organisers did a fabulous job. Everything was wonderful and all the little ‘extras’ they put on for us were delightful.  Our teachers for the weekend were Erin & Laura fco-owners rom Glitz Design, Jody Sanford the co-owner from Fancy Pants and Tracie Hudson who taught the Authentique Classes. I havent finished any of my projects from the classes yet but I will hopefully get them done during this week. Its mostly finishing touches and adding photo’s to mini books.

And breathe!  So, just a bit exciting, just a bit tiring but a whole lot of fun.  I dont have time to sit back and relax though . . . . over on UK Scrappers there is a cyber crop starting this Friday to celebrate its 10th birthday and a few months ago I was contacted by MaryAnne and asked to do a class. I was so honoured to be asked, its my first time at doing a class for such a wide audience (I have only done one for my teamies in the past) and Im just a bit nervous about it all. My class goes live at 3pm this Friday and its a mini book class . . . pop over and join in the fun, there are going to be loads of great classes going live over a 10 day period and everyone can join in.

Thanks for stopping by!

Windswept Sookie

Its the first of the month so time for the reveal in my Scrap-A-Sketch group!

This month was Lisa’s turn to choose our sketch and she selected this one from
Dusty Attic. Its not one of my favourite sketches but there were elements
of it that I did like so I decided to use those on my LO.

You can see from my finished LO that the lacing effect is there, the photo placement
with the strip at the bottom and the tag, although I chose to put my tag at the top of my photo instead of at the side.

The photo is of our adorable Sookie taken during her first trip to the beach. She absolutely loved it!  She was not in the least bit bothered by the crashing waves of the ocean and she loved the sand.

 

Notice the ‘Love It’ in the centre of the heart ?  Its from the bottom of the Coordinations Cardstock!  I was trimming off the bottom strip when I spotted it – ooh perfect to go onto my LO!  I removed the button from the centre of the Prima bloom and relocated on the tag. To go in its place I used a chipboard heart in the centre and then popped the ‘Love it’ piece of card on top.

The tag serves well for the journaling and then tucks behind the photo neatly:

The paw print brad was a must!  I have a whole packet of these that are slowly getting used on various furbaby LO’s:

I am so excited to finally be in October!  This is set to be a great fun month for me. In a few days I am heading off to bonnie Scotland to meet up with some wonderful friends for a 5 day scrapping fest then its home for 4 days to get refreshed and refuelled before jetting off to another scrappy retreat with friends at the Creative Heart & Soul Retreat in Coventry. Spoilt ?  Yes you might say that! With all this creative gathering I should have plenty to share on my blog during November.

Towards the end of the month there are a few fun things planned too but more of that later on!

Thanks for stopping by today x

Life is Sweet

It sure is!  Im packing up kits and tools this week ready for the off next Wednesday when I head to Scotland to meet up with friends for 5 long days of chatting and scrapping. I have to be super organised due to the harsh weight restrictions on luggage imposed by the well know ‘budget’ airline. Last time I took the car over on the ferry and although much more expensive I did have the luxury of throwing all my stuff into the boot without a worry on weight. Still being more organised prior to the trip and taking only what I need for each layout should, I say ‘should’ result in me being more productive. We’ll see.

So, in between my super organising I did this layout for the weekly challenge on UK Scrappers. I love the weekly challenge, its great to get the cogs of creativity turning and this weeks challenge was a cracker!  The challenge was set by Sue (aka. MiniOwner) and she gave us a recipe to use. The beauty of the challenge was that we could mix up our ingredients and quantities so long as all the ingredients were used.

This is the recipe I worked with:

1 Photo, 2 different pieces of cardstock, 3 words in my title, 4 metal embellishments, 5 circles and 6 different patterned papers

And this is the result of my ‘cooking’ . . .

I folded my 5 circle's in half and slipped them over the edge of the kraft cardstock.

I loved doing this challenge and will be holding onto the ‘recipe’ to use in the future.

Take one cheap note pad. . . . .

some sheets of canvas paper, a few scraps of Fancy Pants Country Boutique paper, a bit of lace and a button and what do you get ?






This.



This note pad is going to sit beside my computer so when I see something that inspires me I can jot it down, draw a picture or even print out things and stick them in.

I used the twill ribbon to create a clasp and placed a small magnet underneath the canvas sheet before sticking it down and the opposite magnet is sewn in under the lace bloom. 

Not bad for a 34p note pad eh!