Lasting Memories

Another Sunday is here and that means another scrapbooking challenge from Lasting Memories.  This week's challenge was to use 3D on our page.

I have had a scripture album on the go for the past two years now so I thought it might be nice to do another page to go in it.  It's designed with an easel opening to sit open in a 'portrait' style so I have it on display on one of the end tables in the sitting room and every now and then I change the view by flipping over to another page.  I store all the spare 5" x 7" photos in the last pocket ready to use when I feel like creating another page and this time I chose a shot of my eldest daughter and the kiddies.

I always try to pick papers and a verse of scripture that I think suits the photo.  I had to work clever to ensure that words like 'us', 'daughter', 'faith' & 'love' could still be seen and even the word 'always' sits nicely right before the text I added that says 'honour one another'.

Since the idea was to add something 3D this week I used foam pads on my text strips (above).  In addition I layered up my embellishments with foam pads and 'popped' them out even more when I added them to my page.  Sorry you can't see this from my photos - you'll just have to trust me!

 I love the colour combination on this paper.  I have no idea where I got it from or what it's called (part of my old stash) but I just love how this turned out.

Finally I added more 3D elements when I added the layered corners at the left hand side of the page.  I ran all of my embellishments through my Big Shot machine using an embossing folder and then inked them up.

I now have this page proudly on display so I shall enjoy looking at it for awhile.  Doing this week's challenge reminded me how nice it is to add to this album so I hope it won't be so long before I do the next one!

Stop on over to Lasting Memories, check out the other DT creations for inspiration and then get scrapbooking.  We'd love you to join in the fun this week.

Enjoy!



Class Sneak Peeks!

Just wanted to stop in and post a couple of sneak peeks for the last class of 2010 coming up on 1st December!  THEN and only then can I really begin to focus on my own Christmas projects (except for a few more DT projects that is).

I promise I will post full shots some time next week but for now this is all your gonna get.

We get to make two of these - one that is colourful and fun (above) and one that's more traditrional but still equally pretty.

Best of all I get to teach something that I have been desperately wanting to teach ever since I first made one earlier this year.  I just love this idea and hopefully you will too.

Sorry to you girls over the pond who can't be here to take the class.  I might have to do something especially for you all further down the line.

Enjoy!

Project Tuesday

Well true to form this week I am late posting this week's PT project - the last couple of weeks have been soooooo busy! I've had workmen at the house on my day off the past couple of week's and they're in again today so it's a bit chaotic here at present. I had my project made on time but then couldn't get onto the computer (hubby's job search) so here I am at 7.00 am desperately trying to get it uploaded and get dressed before the workmen arrive and my computer won't play ball - aaarrggghhhhh!!!!!!

This is the only picture I've managed to get uploaded so sorry girls this is gonna have to do for now.  I'm afraid if I push it I'll lose this one!

Sometimes, just sometimes you have to change up a project and this week while I was tempted to make the insert that changes this from something ordinary to something extra special with 6 little sections I could only think of candy canes to fill em' and I didn't have any.  Here in the UK finding the little 'test tube' containers is near to impossible so that's why I left the inner sections out.  I thought this way I had a few more choices of what I could fill it with but it would be super cute with candy canes wouldn't it?

Since I had this Waltzing Mouse stamp set beside me as I worked I decided to create something to hold a few gingerbread men.  Ok so I didn't have any of those either but my daughter and I have decided to make gingerbread themed goodies this year and this set was soooooo adorable - perfect for the job. I just love that you can stamp them onto kraft coloured cardstock and they look so realistic.  Nothing like 'stamp & go'! Time allowing I would've done far more with this so I've decided that once we get cookies made we'll use the super cute gingerbread 'boy' and 'girl' tags tied around the actually cookie bags.

I promise I will add more photos later when I figure out just what my computer is playing at - sorry.  For now click on the Project Tuesday link here on my blog and check out the instructions to make your own plus some DT samples to get you inspired.

Oh, oh, oh as I was spell checking and reading this back I thought of the perfect INSTANT filler!  Know those gingerbread cookies they sell at the supermarket?  Well how cute would it be to put store bought cookies in one side and tubes of decorating icing and mini M & M's in  the other side for kids to decorate! Cute, quick, easy gift giving - love it!

Happy Crafting!



Lasting Memories Recycle Challenge (and a little bit more besides)

This week's challenge was to recycle something so I decided I could recycle some 'reclaimed' lace and fashion it into a flower for an embellishment on a page.

First off let me share my newly acquired lace storage.  Not only am I a lover of old lace, buttons and trimmings (anything vintage actually) I am also a huge fan of anything shiny especially old or pretty glass.  I never imagined I'd ever own even one blue Ball glass jar let alone two!  Mom had a case of these in her shed so I helped myself to a couple and they washed up a treat.  Sadly they both got a slight chip on the rim getting them home in a suitcase but it's not noticeable with the screw lids in place.  Besides I'm not ever going to part with them.  I've already had this out with both my daughters who drooled over them - sorry girls!

If I ever get my craft room revamped they will sit proudly on display and I love that they're totally functional too.  I love salvaging old lace and buttons - so sad that most people don't bother to do this these days.  And I have even been known to buy something at a charity store, flea market or car boot sale just to pick off the lace.  We have a tester above our bed which has a beautiful gathered lace trim maybe 6" or 8" deep which I pain stakingly picked off an otherwise plain net curtain.  At just 50p it was a steal.



I stopped in town today and picked up maybe 8 copies of this photo of mom.  It's one of my absolute favourites for so many reasons and I plan to share it with family so I knew instantly what my page subject would be.  I love that I can fit a piece of scripture to this shot as well and I know mom would approve.

 
So this is how my page turned out - clean and simple with a couple of pretty lace flower embellishments. It actually has a black background but I kinda lost it in my shot - sorry.

 
And here's a close up of the larger flower.  I layered up 2 sizes of gathered lace, the smaller one in the centre of the larger one.  Then I added a pretty embroidered 'trio' of blue flowers to the centre to finish it off.

This page is proof that even if you're short on time you can still create a quick, simple and eye pleasing layout.  I hope to play around with these photos, colour schemes and styles to create several pages to give.

And lastly I wanted to share a few more 'turbies' I managed to make.  The white floral CK one on the left (above) I may well give to my mother.  I think maybe she'd find using one of these much easier than a heavy towel.  The pretty in pink one to the right is a child's version for Maddycakes.  In fact she's the reason these all got started in the first place so I HAD to make her a pretty one.  I think she's gonna LOVE it and I hope she brings it with her next time she comes to stay so I can see just how cute she looks in it.  If I can get a photo of her wearing it I'll post it later.

And finally a couple more CK turbies.  I finally broke down and used some of the yummy CK fabric Jessica bought me.  I plan on giving the pink one to my doctor when I see her tomorrow.  I even created instructions so that when I give these everyone will know just how to use them.

Well I am beginning to catch up on DT projects.  Hopefully tomorrow I can get my PT project done and then my class samples before it all starts again!  Christmas is just around the corner and I have so much more to do still.  Why does it always creep up on you and then gallop ahead at full speed?  No matter how prepared I think I am I can never quite get ahead!

If you haven't yet checked out this weeks DT creations over at Lasting Memories then do stop by.

Still Playing Catch Up!

Well I promised another post before today was out but I'm still playing catch up I'm afraid.  I am posting for the Lasting Memories challenge but a week late.  Hopefully I'll have this week's done by tomorrow - sorry Karen.

I had major trouble getting my photos printed for this page or it would've been posted a whole lot sooner.  Better late than never I guess huh?  Now that it's done these photos are hard to look at with mom no longer here but I'm so glad we made this trip even if it did put me off doing it again for a long while.  Nothing like 3 days stuck in airports over Christmas due to snow - one of which was trying to sleep on the floor of Denver airport on Christmas Eve!  NOT a good experience so I needed some love like this when we finally arrived just in time for dinner on Christmas day no less!

Anyhow the challenge was to use your Cricut or dies on a page. Since I don't yet own a Cricut I had Amanda cut out my title for me and I used my Sizzix holly die - an oldie but a goody so I guess I was able to do both. The title was 'Special Christmas' - very appropriate since it was our first back together in twenty years and the sentiment was 'hearts come home for Christmas' - that's evident in the shot of mom and me.


Poor ol' Dave - his mom and he had to wait while we girls hugged, cried and then cried some more. I swear I thought I would never draw breath again mom hugged me so tight and for so long!

I designed this page a couple of years ago and took enough supplies to teach my sisters-in-love as well as mom on this trip back home. I just never got around to doing my page cos I was so busy teaching it. I created the 'baubles' by cutting out circles from my paper and used simple blocks of paper which were kind of stacked to resemble packages. Since I prepped all the elements I already had printed text except for the text which explains these shots hence the different font. Sure wish I knew which one I used cos I hate that it's not all the same.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get this week's challenge done - to recycle something.  I have some pretty lace I unpicked from an old tablecloth that I'm thinkin about using.  Why not stop in over at Lasting Memories and check out the other DT gals designs to get inspired.  I'm adding this one to last week's but check back for more.

Turbie (or Not Turbie?)

Hey there - sorry couldn't resist the 'pun' when I was thinking of a title for this post.

First off - I am SUPER busy today so will try to make this quick (not my strong point I have to say - probably said too much already LOL!)  I am knee deep in way too many projects right now.  Last week's Lasting Memories challenge - had major problems with my photos (long story and I don't have time to explain remember!) I have this week's to do, I have the last class of the year still to do and finally  something for Project Tuesday which is just around the corner.  I need to get on the ball as I chose projects for December!

Having said that I am desperately trying to get a couple of sewing projects done away from the eyes of a certain someone and there just doesn't seem to be any time other than today so I am busy, busy again which actually feels pretty good I have to say.  NOT enough hours in my day and the weekends are at least a day short LOL!  But I think I do some of my best work under pressure.

OK enough already!

I am mid-process on making a Christmas pressie for my darling grand-daughter but since I finished my first ever one (an adult version) I just couldn't resist sharing.  I will have to share Maddycakes one later.

I have made my first ever 'Turbie'! I've tried it out and everything and I LOVE IT!  You just gotta see it.  I think I am making them for EVERYONE this year - well the girlies at least.  Check it out!

I flatly refused to put more than this of myself in the shot so sorry folks -  I took these at arms length and believe me - it was none too pretty!  Do I really look like that? LOL!

The inside is toweling for wet hair and the outside is a really bright and wildly bold floral poly/cotton fabric that should stand up to lots of wash 'n' wear. 

Here's a shot from one side and below a shot from t'other.  I have long hair so I just had to test this out although this one is not for me but I am sooooooo gonna make me one at least (if not two).

It has a very simple twist, up and over system to tuck your hair neatly up out of the way while you get dressed or put your make up on - whatever!  Like I said I love it.  Maddy's is just as bold but not quite so bright and I can't wait to see her in it.  I took the pattern from one mummy had.  Apparently she uses mummy's but it's way too big so how pleased is she gonna be to have her very own mini person version?

This is what home made Christmas is all about - the kind of stuff you just can't buy in a store - tailor made and a little bit of love in every stitch!  This takes me way back to when our girls were small cos I made soooooo many handmade gifts to make Christmas stretch and I loved every minute of it.  I still love doing it today when I get the chance.

And in typical 'Suezie style' I simply couldn't stop there.  I just had to make a fabby bag to present it in which I will also fill with hair brush, comb and who knows maybe even a few 'washable' make up pads or matching scrunchies - something weird like that.  All co-ordinated of course and barely a sscrap of fabric left over!

This bag should prove really useful for holding all manner of things on a hook in the bathroom and means the 'turbie' is easy to pack and take away with you too plus pelnty of room for extra bits in the bag.  I also added my hand made labels for a bit of fun.

This is definately something worth cutting into my Cath Kidston fabric for so you know what mine's gonna be made out of huh?  Would anyone buy these if they were in my web store? Let me know cos I just might add them at some point.  I have to update the store as loads of things have sold lately but no time for that today - sorry.

One word of warning if you're gonna try makin one of these yourself tho'.  The toweling fluff & bits of thread get absolutely EVERYWHERE!  I now have to add hoovering to my 'to do' list cos everywhere I've been the darn stuff has followed me and left a lovely white trail LOL!

Okay.  Better get back to the crafting.  I promise more here on the blog later today and tomorrow so check back.

Project Tuesday

Seems like forever since I posted a Project Tuesday item but here I am - a bit out of practise but I'm back.

This week's challenge was to create a 'genie bag' and I'm surprised I've never done this one before - always meant to - just never got around to it.  Can't we all say that?  Well I made mine way too big to die-cut my handles in my big shot so if you haven't yet made yours that's worth bearing in mind.  If only I'd started with a smaller bag but I simply wasn't thinkin that far - DER!  Clearly I wasn't thinkin cos I cut off the bags original handles and I could have left them on!

Things are a bit here and there in my craft room right now and I'm a bit out of touch so I grabbed a few things close to hand and this is what I came up with for this week.  I think I'd still like to have another attempt - just a smaller one so now that I've made one I'm sure I'll make another one before Christmas.  It's a lovely way to make home made packaging for your hand made gifts and even the store bought ones.  Pretty packaging is super expensive to buy so that's even more reason to make your own too. 

This is a side view showing the bag I used as my base.  After adding front and back panels of paper and cardstock I grabbed a paper flower, some ribbons, a green button, punched holes for the ribbon and a genie bag was born!  What a fab way to recycle too!

Hop on over to Project Tuesday to check out the details of how you can make your own version and then upload and share why don't ya.  I 'd love to see it.

Getting back to Lasting Memories

Sad circumstances forced me to take a break from my DT work for Lasting Memories but it's high time I got back to it.  Karen - you have been super patient with me so a big THANKS to you m'dear :-)  Your support was very much needed and appreciated. It's good to be back even if I am dreadfully dis-organised and out of the routine right now.  And just when I thought I'd cracked it our computer went belly up!  Thankfully we know a very sweet gal who is a whizz with this kind of thing so here I am.

Well less chat and more posting I think.  This week's project had to feature punches and I was glad of a chance to finish one of Maddy's baby pages.  I needed some embellishments in the lower right hand corner so I grabbed me some circle punches. 

I started by cutting me some circles and snipping away here and there to create funky kind of flowers.  Then I punched out several circles to add centres to my blooms.  I finished them off by adding pen details everywhere and layered them up surrounding my title tag.

Here's a shot of the finished page and just for balance I added an extra flower in the upper left. It's a nice way to draw the eye across the page diagonally.

I've used this 'faux frame' technique before and it's a super way to create a clever effect and a really quick page all at the same time. 

Apologies that I'm late in posting this but if you haven't yet checked out the other DT creations hop on over to Lasting Memories and check em' out!  I'll try to be on time with the next one I promise.

Christmas Classes

I decided the only way to get back into crafting was to book myself in to teach some classes at YTOC and with Christmas fast approaching they were destined to be seasonal projects.  This was a good move - a step in the right direction for sure.

Class 1 was this Tuesday and featured an easel topped drawer complete with a presentation box.  It was a lot to get done in a single 2 hour class so we worked on getting the various components made and left the decoration till last.  I was keen to use one of the Christmas collections from Craftwork Cards and Kay chose this design for me to work with.

The class was smaller than usual and we all knew each other so it turned out to be real fun and it was good to be back teaching again especially since I've missed everyone.  These photos were taken in store after class rather than my usual 'posed' shots at home so they're not my best I'm afraid but hopefully you get the picture LOL! 

Once opened up another entire box lifts out revealing a sweet little drawer - perfect for a sweet gift (yum) -  topped by an easel card making it a card and gift in one.  The drawer is just under 5" x 5" and nearly 1" deep so it'll take quite a few small gift items if you give it some thought.

I even decorated the inside of the drawer some - why not?  Besides the more you 'bulk up' the drawer the sturdier it becomes.  My samples have to take a lot of abuse like opening and closing numerous times and even though these shots were taken on the night of the class I think it's held up pretty good.

As this one belongs to the store I decided to make one for myself (mine's green and purple) but with so much work involved I didn't get a chance to finish it.  If I can I'll tinker with it this weekend and post it later but I really must get into my DT work again too.  I have completely gotten out of my routine as well as my crafting so I need to be super disciplined with myself and get back to it especially as I have chosen the projects for December over at Project Tuesday.  I just need to remind myself what I chose, find the rest of my mojo and get crafting so I can get excited about it!  I'm sure once I get started I will.

The next class at YTOC is on 17 November and features the purple and silver Christmas page using Craftwork products that I featured earlier here on my blog.  We'll be stamping, heat embossing, punching out and generally having some scrapbooking fun.  I like that I can squeeze in a scrapbook page every now and then to mix it up a bit.  The last class of the year is on 1 December and is one I'm REALLY looking forward to teaching.  I have been desperate to teach my little paper sack gift pocket project (my sample still needs making).  I just have to play around with the Bo Bunny papers I picked out to get inspired. 

My mojo is there somewhere it's just proving slow to return to me I'm afraid. My eldest daughter is going to be stopping in on Wednesdays from here on so I can help her craft up a bunch of Christmas pressies (plus do my own too) so maybe that'll get me back on track.  Certainly can't hurt huh?  Anyhow I am looking forward to spending time with her.  I just love my girls and I miss hanging out with them more.  We are planning to all be together for Christmas this year so I'm really looking forward to having them both around for a few days even if it will prove noisy, busy and hectic - who cares - it's worth it and I can't wait!  Now that's something I CAN get excited about :-)!