Answering questions...

A rainy and very grey Saturday here... Got some questions in the comment section yesterday so I thought I'd reply to them before I forget LOL!

Margaret - the stamp I used on the birthday card yesterday is by Catslife Press. I bought my stamp unmounted so I'm afraid I don't have a code on it - sorry. But I'm sure you'll be able to find it on the website anyway.

Cynthia - again a question about the birthday card but you wanted to know the size. I made the card (base) myself and it was 20x7 centimetres. For those of you who need that in inches it's about 8 by just-less-than-3 inches. LOL!

Hope that helps :)

My opinion...

Michal commented yesterday and asked for my opinion on the Making Memories self-sharpening trimmer. Mmmm...I have not had it so long that I feel that I can really "review" it properly yet as such, but I'll give it a little go. I love that you get clean sharp edges!!! I was sooooo fed up with getting "fuzzy edges" from blunt blades. So that's a huge plus. The negative thing for me is the size. As you might know I have a very small scrap room. And very small scrap room = small desk. And my scrapping space on the desk has to compete with the computer. Basically when I want to use my MM trimmer it takes up all the space I have on my desk for scrapping. Imagine you might have some patterned paper out, some pens, scissors, glue and then you need to cut a paper. Where do you put the trimmer?!? So for me this is quite a negative thing. But of course if you're lucky to have quite a big desk (maybe even so big that you can leave your trimmer unfolded and out all the time) then this would be no problem.

The only other negative thing I could possibly think of it that it's a rotary trimmer. This is fine if you want to cut a complete strip down the length of your paper. But what about when you want to cut out a square from your paper? You slide the cutter part way into your paper (however long you need the side of the square to be) and then what? You can't just stop and lift up the arm with the blade like you can with a "normal trimmer". So you end up having to try and carefully slide the blade back through the paper the same way it came from.

But apart from those two things I'm really getting on with my trimmer so far. I have it standing up leaning against one of the legs of my desk, next to my chair, so I can just bend down and pick it up whenever I need to. Hope this was of some help Michal.

Before I go...a little card which I made this morning for my sister's boyfriend...

Mmm...buttons...

Not feeling too great today so I haven't felt like scrapping all day (shock & horror!! LOL!) Instead I'm going to share some pictures of something I got last week which makes me smile...

Buttons!!

I added the blue ones to my button jar and it's now filled to the top! No space for the primary ones ... Use lots of buttons quickly or buy a second jar...

Can't resist...

I just can't resist my "Love Elsie" stash!! LOL! So I just had so scrap some more using it. This time I used the "Roxie collection". Mmmm....I love the colours of this. And even nicer when you mix it with some greeeeen (but what isn't nicer mixed with green?! ;)) Supplies: Roxie patterned papers, Pressed Petals chipboard letters, jewels, Doodlebug Paper Frills, Making Memories glitter chipboard heart and Scrap-Room journaling stamp.

I have been catching up on my "52 Card Pickup" Big Picture Scrapbooking class. I have got a bit behind. Hate it when that happens. Anyway, I managed to do three cards this morning (ie three days of BPS classes) so that feels a bit better. Still have a few more cards I could do with doing...but I don't have the required supplies for those, so I'm not too sure how to handle those yet.

Anyway I have a chicken in the fridge which needs cooking for tonight's food, so I better deal with that before I can do any more scrapping...

Why scrap a pancake...

Good question - why would you scrap a pancake? LOL! You would if it was a very special pancake. A pancake that you didn't think was possible to make. A very, very longed-for pancake...

As some of you might know I suffer from food intolerances to some rather common ingredients. And when you add them all together it becomes a bit of a nightmare. If you pick up a random packet or jar from your cupboard you most likely will find some dairy, egg, wheat or gluten in it. I can't have that. So, a basic pancake batter is made from flour (=wheat/gluten), milk (=dairy) and eggs. None of which I can eat without being ill. So I thought pancakes was out of the question...

Until we started to experiment a bit with different types of flour and different types of milk substitutes. The first batch was... - I'm not going to lie - pretty awful! One mouthfull each and the pancakes/batter went in the bin (oh I hate buckwheat flour - the whole packet of that went in the bin LOL!). Second batch...a lot better but still not quite there. Third time and we were so happy we had found a good gluten/wheat/dairy/egg free pancake recipe...which let's face it, if someone didn't know I doubt they'd stop and say "Are these normal pancakes?". So I had to scrap my pancake!! :))))

Supplies (for layout - not pancake!! LOL!): Basic Grey, Doodlebug and Narratives papers. Scrap-Room and Autumn Leaves stamps, Doodlebug paper frills & jewels and Making Memories glitter chipboard heart.

Love Elsie...

Sorry I missed my daily blogging yesterday. Been suffering with a stupid migraine (still am a bit...though I think it's turning for the better now...finally!) and being on the computer is not a good thing then.

Anyway, can I please say: thank you for all the comments you're all leaving. It's really interesting to read them and I always get amazed and surprised to find out I have regular readers in far away countries. It's sooooo nice!!

Had a little play with the "Toby" range of "Love Elsie" over the weekend and came up with this layout:

Supplies are: Bazzill black cardstock, Love Elsie "Toby" fabric paper, patterned paper, cardstock stickers and ribbons, Hambly transparency, Heidi Swapp big lime brad and Basic Grey border rub-ons.

I'm thinking about possibly getting a long-reach stapler. I really love using my stapler while scrapping but it's very limiting only to be able to reach a few centimetres in from each edge. Though I have noticed we're talking about £20 for one (!)...anyone got one and is it worth the investment please....? LOL!

I doubt my head is in any sort of state to scrap today but we'll see...

My "June" class...

Please head over to A Trip Down Memory Lane for my latest step-by-step class with lots of photos to help you on the way. I'm using the "Love Elsie - Betty" collection. Yummy stuff! :)

"Picnic" layout class...

Please feel free to use these instructions to make your own layout. You are free to link to this page from any forum etc if you wish. Please do NOT copy this information and/or photos to use for your own classes/forums/webpages without permission.

This is a quick and simple class, suitable for the beginner, which I designed for A Trip Down Memory Lane and at the time of writing this they stock all the supplies you need to make this layout.

Supplies needed:
Basic Grey Gypsy/Romani – Letter Stickers GYP-542
Basic Grey Gypsy/Romani – Dragonfly
Basic Grey Gypsy/Romani – Archangel
Basic Grey Gypsy/Romani – Harem
Basic Grey Gypsy/Romani – Dali
(Alternatively do like I did and buy the whole Gypsy/Romani collection pack and you get everything above inc the sticker sheet!)
Heidi Swapp “Writers Block” – Large – Capri
Black ric rac
Black journaling pen (I use Zig Millennium)

Also needed:
Circle cutter or several round objects to draw/cut around
Black inkpad (Colorbox chalk ink is great in “Charcoal”)
Herma (or scrapping glue of your choice)

Start by cutting your Dragonfly paper to size. I scrap in true A4 size, so I cut mine to 29,7x21 centimetres (cm). You can of course adapt the class to another format if you like.

Now we need to cut our two circles. I used a basic circle cutter from a Stationery shop, but you can of course draw around anything round (plates, bowls etc). My big circle is cut from the “Archangel” paper and is about 19 cm in diameter (=across). You want to cut off a small bit on one of the sides (see photo below). I cut off about 2 cm. Then we make the smaller circle. This time use the pink “Harem” paper and cut a circle about 9,5-10cm (or whatever will suit your photo) and then cut away the inside so you have a ring which is about 1 cm thick. Ink the edges of both circles plus the inside of the smaller one. You should now have something similar to what’s shown in the photo below. (Please note: nothing is in the right position in the photo below – it’s only to show what you should now have ready).

Add your large circle to your background and glue in place. Mine starts 5,5 cm from the top of the page. Then add your large photo on top of the circle (I have used a standard 15x10 cm/6x4 inch photo) and I let the photo start about 1 cm above where the circle starts on the right hand side of your layout.

Now let’s add some strips of paper and ric rac. Just cut some strips and go with whatever you like. But just in case you’re stuck I’ll give you some instructions for that I have done: I have a strip of the green “Dragonfly” paper (0,7x17cm), a strip of the “Dali” paper (1,5x16,5) and a piece of ric rac which is 19 cm. Ink the edges of your strips. Attach the green one at the bottom of your photo starting from the right side of the page. Attach the patterned strip underneath the green one about 3 cm in from the right edge and then finish off by attaching the ric rac on top of the patterned strip and starting from the right edge of the layout. You can see on the photo below how it’s all placed, but don’t worry too much about being exact here and just go with what you like.

Add your second photo inside the pink circle you cut earlier and trim off any excess corners etc. Glue in place according to photo shown. Pick a journaling circle from the Heidi Swapp pad. Whichever one you fancy that goes with your photos. I went for one of the striped ones (white background – pink stripes) at the back of the book. Do your journaling using a black pen (don’t forget to date!) and glue in place.

Use the stickers and create your title along the outside of the big circle. Outline with a black pen to make the letters stand out a bit more. (Take care and use a light pressure when you do this so you don’t slip and draw a big black line over your stickers!)

Add a little “fake stitching” with your pen around some circles on the layout if you wish. Finally cut three circles (3,5 cm in diameter) from any of the papers you fancy, edge them with the black inkpad and overlap them on the edges of your layout.

8. Cut off the parts of the small circles that overhang the edges of your layout and you’re done!

I hope you enjoyed my class! Wishing you lots of fun creating your own version!

Fun with rub-ons...

This was a fun thing to do with rub-ons... There was a challenge on the Scrap-Room forum to make a layout using a stamped title and then embellish it with rub-ons. At first I thought it sounded a bit weird and I was wondering how you'd make it look good. I figured you needed quite chunky alphabet stamps to make the title stand out (and not get lost under the rub-ons)... Anyway, I thought I might as well give it a go and I was really pleased with the result... Try it!

Supplies: Bazzill cardstock, Narratives paper, Imaginisce rub-ons, Hambly transparency, Autumn Leaves stamps, 7 Gypsies stickers, Queen & Co heart brad....what a mix of manufacturers LOL!!

Got my subscription issue of "Scrapbooks Etc" in the post yesterday and just now some more buttons have arrived with the parcel van (and no I did not order THAT many buttons LOL! But they came in a pizzabox because there were a few sheets of papers too). Yum - my button jar is going to look great :)

Soooo tired...

Wow I feel tired today!! Got woken up early by a really noisy (ie close-by) housealarm going off for ages and ages (2 hours? more?) - and that's not a good way to start your day LOL! I think a good strategy for today is to avoid mirrors because seeing my red eyes makes me feel even more tired LOL! Anyway... I have spent the morning catching up on two of my Big Picture cards. Feels great to be relatively up-to-date again.

I had a rather productive day yesterday getting three layouts done as I was trying to do some of the challenges over on the Scrap-Room forum. This layout is of mum and dad when they came over to England for a visit in October. Cardstock is Bazzill Doodlebug, the papers, chipboard and transparency ribbon is by Junkitz (the Salsa collection). I have also used some staples, Doodlebug paper frills, a Dotta-Riffic pen and some stamps by Autumn Leaves and Scrap-Room.

Zzzzzzzzzzz.........

Thanks for all your button ideas...

Thanks for all your buttons ideas!! Both for the links that some of you gave me and also thanks to Margaret for all the ideas of what you can use buttons for. Very much appreciated!

Yesterday I finished off my DT work for this month for Make The Moment Last. So that felt really nice to have it finished and done. Should have a new DT kit arriving at the end of this week or beginning of next.

...And today I'm busy scrapping again. Not got anything finished yet but there should be something to show you tomorrow I'm sure.

Button mania...

I have been loving using buttons in my scrapping for a long, long time now. The only negative thing with that is that you keep running out of buttons! LOL! And since I use a lot, a pack with 10 or 20 buttons doesn't last very long at all. You then need turn to bigger "bumper packs"...

But having you tried searching for buttons on the internet? It's not so easy to find what you want as it turns up lots and lots of other types of buttons (like graphics for buttons to use on websites etc). Do you know of a good button site with big packs of buttons? If so, please, please share with me in the comment section - thank you :)

In the meantime I had to turn to the Autumn Leaves packs of buttons which are at least reasonably big. Yay!! Got some nice ones from PaperMaze:

"Frech Twist":

"Bella":

"Primary":

"Winter Garden":

...all of them mixed together:

...and finally all of them put in a jar which I bought in IKEA yesterday:

Did a quick challenge...

Hope you're all having a great weekend :) I am - despite the grey and rainy weather LOL! Though I have to say it's not raining right now (for a change!)

Just done a quick challenge over on the Scrap-Room forum. Bazzill Doodlebug cardstock, Doodlebug papers, chipboard flowers (painted, decorated and with Glossy Accents on top), fabric strip, jewels, chipboard brackets and Banana Frog stamps.

Mmm...

Seems like I might have been one of the last people to get my Scrap-Room kit in the UK this month. But who cares LOL! Now it's here and I love it!! Lots of yummy stuff this month. Can't decide if my favourite kit is the Scenic Route one or the Junkitz one. But definitely one of those two.

And I had some questions about the background I did yesterday. Thanks for the nice comments :) Okay to describe it quickly: start with a piece of chipboard. Cover it with Mod Podge (I used Glossy - that's why the finished piece looks almost like it's made of plastic) and add crumpled tissue paper and put a layer of Mod Podge on top. Let this dry. It can take many hours. Then I painted with pink acrylic paint. Let that dry. Then brushed very lightly with white acrylic paint over (so it only caught the very top of the tissue bumps). Let that dry. Added a few different colours of H2Os in random places. Let that dry. And finished with another coat of Mod Podge. Hope that explains it :)

Rain, rain, rain...

We have had rain nonstop (!) for nearly 48 hours now. And it's not looking like it will stop either according to the weather forecasts. There are lots of flood warnings around here (fortunately we live very, very high up). And it's so dark inside that you need to have the lights on!! It's the middle of JUNE and it's supposed to be SUMMER!! LOL!

Anyway, enough of the weather. Though I do need to point out that it's making it very difficult for me to get any decent photos of what I wanted to show you. LOL! The card I made yesterday for the BPS class. This really cool background effect! But I'm very unhappy with what you see in the photos, not only did the light make it so hard for me to photograph, but also with the size that Blogger wants the photos, you lose SO much detail/colour/sharpness etc. Still here we go...

Picking up our new car this afternoon - exciting!!!

Caution - wet paint...

Been working on my card for the Big Picture Scrapbooking "52 Card Pickup" class most of the day. It's this really cool background technique using paint, Mod Podge and tissue paper etc. I did something similar on the cover of last year's Christmas journal so I knew I would love the effect as soon as I read about it. I also added some beads and H2O's (though that was not in the class description).

Only negative thing is that it takes a l-o-n-g time to dry. And you have to wait for it to dry between layers too. I really thought I'd be able to upload a pic here today, but the last layer of Mod Podge is taking ages to dry...the card has got lots of white blobs on it still. So I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow to take a photo now. The weather is also really against me. Rain nonstop all day and it's so dark anyway that taking photos would not be great. So please come back tomorrow and I should be able to show you a pic of the finished project :)

Lots of scrapping going on...

I'm having a busy day with scrapping today. Lots of things that needs to be done. Still I'm making progress so that feels good.

This month's Scrap-Room kits started to turn up in the UK yesterday. Not got mine yet, but that is promising, so I'm hoping mine will be here any day now.

I have done this beach layout this morning for the "Write Now" class that I'm taking over on BPS. Love some of the tips we have learnt for journaling. Papers are by A2Z, flowers are Prima I believe (got them in a kit), stamps are by Autumn Leaves (oh I love these stamps!!) and then some painted, decorated and glazed chipboard photo corners.

I have just finished my "Love Elsie" layout for this month's class over on A Trip Down Memory Lane (it goes live on the 21st each month - so you'll have to wait a week to see it I'm afraid), so now I'm off to do the fun part (not LOL!). Pick + edit my photos, sort them in the correct order of process and then write a step-by-step article & supply list...

My 200th post...

Yep that's right...I have made 200 posts since I started my blog in November. Pretty good going I think. Let's see how long I can keep updating this regularly... LOL!

So what have I been up to today? Well I guess you don't want to hear about boring things like taking the bin out and washing clothes etc. So let's talk about something more fun. Like the "Love Elsie" collections!! Yay!! How yummy are they?! LOL! Several of you have commented (thank you!!) saying you can't wait to see what I do with it *feels very flattered - thanks*. Well neither can I! LOL! No ---> seriously, I am actually working on a layout right now using the Elsie stuff (yum - I love working with it!!) but I can't show it to you for two reasons: (1) the obvious one - it's not finished yet. And (2) it's for my June class for A Trip Down Memory Lane, so even when it's finished you'll have to wait a little to see it. But not too long.

I have also done another secret layout this morning. It's based on a sketch and it's for a newsletter. Using some Heidi Grace papers etc. That's really all I can say at the moment. You'll see it at the end of this month.

But on a happier note I do have yet ANOTHER layout which I did this morning which I CAN indeed share with you since it's not for any DT work or similar. Unfortunately I got the camera reflecting in the black bit of the photo no matter what I did. And to be honest I have so much work on at the moment that I didn't have time to find out how I could edit this in Photoshop (which is very new to me)...but hey, it's not the end of the world, right? :)

So the layout...I've used Bazzill cardstock. Papers are by 7 Gypsies (some cut into strips), Autumn Leaves stamps, Basic Grey white border rub-on, some pretty blue jewels and I believe (?) the stars are by Making Memories.

Now back to this layout with the Elsie stash...

What a day...

Yesterday was one of those days when you just wished you had stayed in bed. Everything went wrong - what a nightmare! And I battled for 8 hours (!! - yes I'm not exaggerating!) with e-mails. First losing my e-mail addresses, then having a nightmare of a time trying to find some new ones and finding a decent e-mail program to set them up in (my old one didn't like it). But I think it's sorted now. I have a new e-mail program and I have spent hours and hours this morning letting people know about my new details, updating accounts on websites etc. Phew...!

But I got a little "reward" today. My parcel with the "Love Elsie" stuff finally turned up from the US this morning!!! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!

And before I go, this is a layout I did over the weekend using Basic Grey papers, lots of buttons and jewels, Doodlebug Frills etc.

Lynn - the stamps you asked about are by Autumn Leaves. Hope that helps :)

No it's not arrived...

Got a nice pizza box this morning!! And when you see the pics below - NO it's not the parcel that I'm waiting for from the US that's finally arrived. LOL! I'm still waiting for my big box of "Love Elsie" stuff from the US...

But in the meantime I got a rather nice order from A Trip Down Memory Lane this morning (thanks Mel & Jill for the great service as usual!) containing not only some of the stuff from the three "Love Elsie" collections but also Rhonna Farrer/Autumn Leaves "French Twist".

Katy - thanks for the comment you left. Glad to know I'm not the only one having a long wait with parcels from the US at the moment. Hope yours turn up very soon!

It's mine...

So h-o-w long have I been wanting a Making Memories Selfsharpning Magnetic Trimmer?!? Like...since they were released. Almost before that. How many times have I been so close to checking out on-line with one in my basket and then stopped myself because of the price?!? Too many to count! LOL! So yesterday I did it. I pressed that little magic button called "submit order"...

And guess what arrived 20 minutes ago? Yay!! Thanks Dougie! I have my trimmer! But WOW is it big!! I'm seriously worrying where it will go in my TINY scrapping room. Folded out it takes up all the scrapping space on my desk (!) so a good plan needs to be formed very, very quickly!! LOL! If you have one - how/where do you store yours? Please share with me :)

Still no sign of my "Love Elsie" stuff from the US. Tomorrow it's 2 weeks since it was posted (airmail). I really wonder where it's gone to. I would almost think it was lost if it wasn't for us waiting for two other things from the US too. For them all to be lost would be too much of a co-incidence. But where are they? Wonder if there's a problem with the US to UK post at the moment? Something is not quite right somewhere...

Right I'm off to have some fun with my new trimmer. Cutting paper strips from scrap paper. When you have a new super shiny trimmer it might just keep you entertained for a few minutes. I do need to try it properly after all, right? :) And who knows, maybe I can make a start on a layout too...

Stamping...

For those of you who read my blog regularly you might remember that I was rather busy with some secret projects a few weeks ago. In fact I was seriously, seriously busy for a few days LOL! Well...I can finally share with you that I was very honoured to be asked by Bev at Banana Frog to do some designing with some of the stamp sets for their new blog! Bev if you read this, thank you very much for giving me a great opportunity to have lots of fun experimenting with your stamps!!

The first lot of projects for the first stamp set has gone live today (a little sneak peek below) so please pop over to the Banana Frog Blog for a little look if you have a few minutes spare.

"Write Now"...

Anyone joining me in the new BPS "Write Now" class...? It starts tomorrow but I believe you can sign up until the 10th. "A speedy journaling class"...sounds just the perfect thing I think. I mean, who couldn't do with some good tips for quick journaling?! I signed up a few weeks ago. Reading about the class made me think it sounded like a great class to take. But the timing is bad for me. To be honest I'm not sure where I will find the time for it. But at the same time I really didn't want to miss out...especially since I don't know if/when they might run the class again. I thought about it for quite a few days before I made my mind up. So I'm really looking forward to that. And I'm hoping it really is speedy!! LOL!

Been catching up on loads of things today... Done two cards (yesterday's and today's) for my other BPS class. Taken some photos and uploaded for my photography course. Been reading a bit in a photography book I got from Amazon the other day. etc etc.

Just a quick post...

Just a quick post for today I'm afraid. I'm busy doing some Design Team work today but I thought I'd take a few minutes to do a little update here anyway :)

Still no sign of my "Love Elsie" stuff from the US. I really thought it would be here by now. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to wait some more.

Got some close-ups of yesterday's layout. I struggled to take photos of it yesterday because the weather was really dark and grey. It's a bit better today so I have managed some close-ups of the (now dry!! yay!!) flower centre and the jewels.

Busy day...

Hrm...still no sign of my "Love Elsie" order - I really hoped it would turn up today. Still might have a chance in the next hour or so...

Been having a really busy day today. Apart from some normal house stuff that had to be done, I also needed to catch up on my BPS "52 Card Pickup" class. Never got the chance to do Friday's class and now we had a new one today. So I spent some time getting both cards done which felt great.

Then I made this layout using last month's Scrap-Room kit (well one quarter of the kit as it's a 4-in-1). I used Bazzill cardstock, Sweetwater papers, red ribbon, Maya Road ribbon slider, a chipboard flower (which I painted and decorated) plus lots and lots of jewels. Not a very good photo I know - sorry - I managed to make the whole layout look very uneven LOL! Also of course I noticed afterwards that the Glossy Accents on the flower centre had not dried properly yet, so instead of it looking all black and glossy it looks rather milky. Oh well...LOL!

Now I'm off to see if I can get some DT work done...

Hot and humid...

Wow it's hot and humid here today. Not at all nice. It's about 24 degrees but no sun at all and the clouds are really low which just makes it sticky and humid. Let's hope we can get a bit more of a nice breeze for tomorrow...

So I'm still battling with finding a place for my newly dug out (see yesterday's post) paint bottles. Where do you store your paint? Please share with me :)

I'm soooo hoping that my "Love Elsie" stuff will come from the US tomorrow. I'm dying to get my hands on it and have a good play around. LOL!

Was clearing some stuff off my harddrive earlier and found a layout from the UKS cyber crop about a month ago which I never put on here...