My Little Christmas Project...

...well actually it's not that little...or at least it's pretty time consuming. You spend a few hours and...well, it doesn't look like you have spent a few hours if that makes sense. Anyway, I'm doing this round little Christmas rug that you have under the tree. I don't even know if this is something you have in England (?) in general (I have never spent a Christmas here) but it's something I have grown up with and when I spotted a kit for one last December I couldn't resist. The design kinda "fades out" on the sides and the "back"(as what would be around the back of the tree) of the rug is just completely plain...and of course you'd have your tree in the middle of the rug and not to the side like it's shown in the picture. This is a photo of the outside of the packaging:

I bought it at the end of December last year and it only arrived one of the first days in January. I did sew a little then. Just some of the little sequins that are spread amongst the larger items. Then I kinda forgot about it. And I only "discovered" my kit this week again...

I've been working on it for hours and hours this week and really enjoyed it. Sewing and listening to a Harry Potter audio book on my iPod. Really cosy! I have nearly finished the gingerbread house (which is at the "front" and the biggest feature on the rug) ...

I just have a little bit left on the snow at the bottom of the house. The white "candies" need some red on them too. I hope to continue working on that today if I get the chance.

Hope you're all having a great Friday :)

Space...

It's Thursday which means a new week of the Cathy Zielske course at BPS. Week 5. And I have just been watching (well I'm half way through it as I type this) the really cool slide/audio recording that Cathy does for us every week. This one is a long one, I have already been watching for over 20 minutes and I'm guessing I'm about half way through. Love it! I really love it! It's so great when she talks to you and shows you things...as opposed to just reading text in an e-mail. Just great :)

And this week I know I will love, totally love! We're doing "white space" - something which I have always loved in scrapping and use a lot. I'm yet to get to the point in the slide show where we see this week's assignments but I'm sure they will be great :)

[Supplies: "Harvest Moon" by Melissa Bennett & Amanda Dykan (SSD)]

Oh and for those of you wondering about my Cuttlebug. Am I using it? YES!! I still totally love it and I have actually been using it on some of the layouts I have done for Cathy's class. Those layouts are yet to be photographed, but hey, you will see them soon I'm sure. Today is definitely not a day to take photos - totally dark and rainy. Yuck! But to summarise: yes I'm soooo pleased I bought my Cuttlebug.

So Much Fun...

I'm really enjoying the class by Cathy Zielske. To be really honest, the price of the class seriously (!) put me off, but now I'm so glad I went for it anyway. This is the next page from the album that I have to show you...

This was possibly the page that I have had most enjoyment doing. Why? Well apart from the fact that it was the perfect way to scrap lots of very similar photos of my niece, and apart from the fact that I got a chance to use the super cute ladybug rub-ons, it was the way we did the page. We were actually given the grid. To print out on some nice textured Bazzill cardstock. And then we were to fill in the squares with photos, text, paper etc. I just found myself really, really enjoying the process of this page. Probably because it was so different to how you would normally scrap. But it really was so refreshing, new and fun that I'm sure I will try this method again. :)

New On-Line Class...

It's that time of the month again - the new on-line class I have done for A Trip Down Memory Lane has gone live on their website.

I have been playing with the Sonoma collection by Scenic Route for this month's layout. As usual the class is free to take and it's made step by step both with text and pictures so should be easy to do even if you are a beginner. Please take a look if you have a spare minute. Thank you :)

Another hybrid card...

I'm still busy just playing with scraps and my new Cuttlebug. I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon and I will start to use it for cardmaking or scrapping though. *giggle*

On Friday I was making another hybrid card for Sweet Shoppe Designs. Sara Amarie had made this cute monkey kit which I couldn't resist. Maybe not the best idea for a birthday card (in case they would think that I was trying to hint that they looked like a monkey *gasp* LOL!) but a cute little card just to make someone smile. Just because.

[Supplies: "Silly Monkey" by Sara Amarie (SSD)]

Love At First Sight...

For those of you who are following the "Scrap Your Day" year long project by Shimelle, don't forget that today is the day to get your camera out again :)

OMG I'm in love!! With the embossing folders! And that comes from a person who hasn't even made a proper project using the Cuttlebug yet (okay I think I'm forgiven since I only got it yesterday). All I have done is played with the embossing folders/patterns onto scrap pieces of card. Even the first go was like --->wow!! :) Okay so I had never seen one in real life before (no scrapping shops really near here - all my stash is bought online) so I had no idea what to expect but still... Love it, love it, love it!! :)

[Supplies: "Chick Or Sweet" by ScrapKitchen (Sweet Shoppe Designs)]

It's Play Time...

I was very pleased when I found out that my Cuttlebug was going to be delivered by City Link. They normally come to this area pretty early in the day (we see the van drive past sometimes). And they didn't let me down. We had a knock at the door a little after nine this morning.
Yay! :)

I got a special deal for the machine and 5 embossing folders (of my choice) plus I bought a few extra bits to go with it. I couldn't resist the Christmas Tree cut & emboss die :) Anyway, it's been unpacked and the handle screwed onto the machine. That's it so far. I'm going to have a play with some scrap paper/card in a bit, but first I want to be good and get some hybrid CT cards done for Sweet Shoppe Designs which I started off yesterday. Then ---> play time!! :)

Good News...

I have just had some great news (see yesterday) in the last 15 minutes. I got an e-mail saying that my Cuttlebug order will be dispatched today and will come via courier tomorrow so someone needs to be in to sign for it. That will be me then! A very happy me!! I'd almost given up hope for today too. Makes a dark and rainy afternoon seem so much brighter :)

LuAnn - you asked me if Cuttlebug do any scallops. Sorry I'm totally new to the Cuttlebug so I really don't know. However I have some very helpful blog readers (thank you!) and if you check what grungedandy has written in the comments section of this post (click the pink link) you will find an answer.

Thanks to everyone for the sweet comments you left yesterday. I really love reading them all. Colleen - sorry you didn't get the chance to take Cathy's class but I'm glad that you're enjoying seeing the pages from it anyway.

And taking about the class. Here's the next double spread from my album. We were given the "alike" and "different" journaling spots to download and I pretty much copied Cathy's page colours (though I did use different papers etc). The pages are 8x8 this time.

Thank You...

First of all I want to thank everyone of you who left me comments regarding the Cuttlebug yesterday. I really appreciate it!! :) Loved reading what you all wrote. In fact I love comments in general and always read ALL of them :) A special thanks to grungedandy for taking the time to tell me all about the plates etc and also to Jane in Canada for telling me about which dies it will and won't take and for posting a cool link to some great little videos. Thank you everyone :)

Abi, you asked where I ordered mine from. I got it from craftsulove. Unfortunately I had an e-mail from them yesterday saying that they had sold out of something in my order (not telling me what), that they hopefully should have it in stock on Thursday and that it (the sold out item? Or my whole order? I don't know!) would be sent asap. I've been so excited about this since I placed the order that I couldn't help feeling rather disappointed when I got the mail late yesterday afternoon. Especially since I'm not 100% sure what it means in regards to when my Cuttlebug will turn up. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that it's an embossing folder that's out of stock, that the rest of my order might be shipped later today and the folder sent afterwards. But I have a bad feeling it's the machine itself, or that they are holding the complete order no matter what. *sigh* Be patient, be patient LOL!

I'll leave you with a double 12x12 layout (wow that is big!! I don't think I have scrapped a double 12x12 since...2 or 3 years ago) which I did for the Cathy Zielske BPS class last week.

The Cuttlebug...

If you read my blog regularly, you probably saw the posts I made about 2 weeks ago. Sharing some of my stash "wants list". The item that had been on there for the longest was the Cuttlebug...

I finally gave in and ordered one on Sunday evening. That the company had free postage made it even better. I'm so excited!! I have not had a "dispatched" mail yet so I'm guessing it will be a few days. It would be nice if it arrived before the weekend...

Since it's not exactly a new tool, I'm guessing a few of you reading this already own a Cuttlebug. I'd love it if you could take a little minute and share with me in the "comments" section which are your favourite dies and embossing folders please :)

With me being totally new to the Cuttlebug (I have not even seen one in real life!) it was hard to choose what to get with the machine. In the end I went for a few of the large background embossing folders together with one of those combined die cut/embossing sets (the Christmas Trees).

Can't wait for it to arrive :)

A Nice Surprise...

We had a great weekend. The weather wasn't the best (but not bad either) but we had so much fun anyway. My parents came over from Sweden to visit for the weekend and it was so nice to see them!! :)) It was a little sad to see them leaving yesterday evening but hey, I'll see them soon again. *chin up*

They also brought me a surprise present:

A 320GB external hard drive. And so cute too!! :) Dad must have listened (remembered) when I was talking to him a few weeks back about feeling a little panicky that I only have one back-up for my digital photos. So thoughtful!! Now I have two external hard drives and I feel so much happier and my photos feel that much safer. Well that is, I still need to format & partition the drive tonight and then copy everything across...

Due to having family over for the weekend and preparing for that, I'm now a little behind on the Cathy Zielske course. So I'm hoping to sit down over the next few days and work through some layouts...we'll see.

The End...

And a few weeks (!!) after the course officially finished I have now caught up and added the last page to "My Freedom" album. The end. I always knew that I would be working on this course way after it finished (it's kinda impossible to do the class when you're in another country than your stash LOL!) so I guess it didn't bother me too much to "be behind".

Anyway, the final page...or rather subject, was "reflection". At first I had no clue what to write. But then I started flicking through my, then almost finished, album and suddenly I almost ran out of writing space. This was a class that I enjoyed a lot. I would have preferred a different format (we were taking photos before we had any idea what we were really doing, how we were scrapping and what we were journaling - I prefer to have an overview of everything) to the class but at the same time I really loved the content and I'm so glad I took part.

A Happy Card...

Friday = release day at the Lilypad. Yay! Lots of yummy digital goodies are released and of course today is no exception. The kit that my eyes specifically fell on was a new collab by Kate Hadfield.

Of course the obvious thing would be to make something Halloween related, so I instead decided to make a point of showing that you don't always have to go with the obvious choice...

[Supplies: "Friendly Spooks" by Kate Hadfield & Tiff Brady, "Border Frames" by Jenna Desai (the Lilypad)]

I picked the colours because they make me smile and make me happy. A general greeting card which could be used for anything...it's just about what you write inside. And you could even use it as a Halloween card if you really wanted as I guess the tree has a bit of a "spooky" feel. Most likely I will use this as a "just because" card.

Week 3...

Yay today is the start of "week 3" of the course by Cathy Zielske at Big Picture Scrapbooking. Not sure why they have decided that the BPS weeks "start" on a Thursday...but hey! I'm still a little behind on last week's assignment. One 12x12 single layout, one 12x12 double layout and one 8x8 double layout. I still haven't started on the 8x8 double layout and as it look now, it will be after the weekend before I get the chance.

The single and double 12x12 layouts are done. Though I still have to take photos of the double layout...which is lying next to me on the desk as I type this. Anyway the single 12x12 layout I can show you...

We're working with asymmetrical design for week 2. The shaped journaling block was part of the course and a download that we got from Cathy. This was a rather unusual design but I quite liked the layout when it was finished.

"So Cute" Layout Class (Cutting Up Your Paper!)...

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.

Supplies needed:
Sassafras Lass – “Fawnd Of You” patterned paper
Sassafras Lass – “Gum Drop Garden” patterned paper
Sassafras Lass – My Dearest stickers
American Crafts – Thickers – Platforms, White #42814
American Crafts – Thickers – Gift Box, Green #42762

Also needed:
Glue (I use Herma removable)
Black journaling pen (Slick Writer)
Blue jewel (optional)
Charcoal Chalk Inkpad (optional)

Start by cutting your “Gum Drop Garden” paper to size. We will be using the blue side of this as the base for the layout. I scrap in true A4 size, so I cut mine to 29,7x21 centimetres (cm). Please feel free to adapt to another layout size if you prefer.

Pick your photo. I’m using one portrait photo at 10x7.5cm (=half the size of a standard 10x15cm photo).

Next we’ll be cutting up our pretty “Fawnd Of You” patterned paper . And once you get used to cutting up patterned papers you will never hesitate again.

You will be cutting out three parts of this paper:

You should now have parts similar to the ones shown below. You also need to cut a strip of the border from the “Gum Drop Garden” paper, approx 18 cm long. Ink the edges of your pieces if you like.

Let’s put it together. Start with the border strip. Mine’s 6 cm from the right edge of the layout and 1,5 cm from the bottom. Add your photo just above this, level with the right edge of the border strip. Tuck the clouds under the top corner of your photo and finish off with the large deer.

Add a jewel as the eye of the deer if you wish. Put the other deer/cloud level with the left edge of the border strip and add an arrow sticker above this.

Finally finish off with your journaling sticker, outline this and the arrow sticker with a black pen if you like and then add the title.

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

Ooops...

Ooops it's been a while since I last posted anything from "My Freedom" album (an album class I took by Shimelle online). Since the beginning of October to be precise. Where did the time go? LOL! October has been super busy for me, so well...I guess this was the first opportunity that I got :)

So the last proper double layout prompt was "Attitude" (I still have a "Refection" page to come - to finish off the album). A yes/no/maybe kinda thing. What's your attitude towards things?

I decided to go with a fun, light approach and basically did two lists. A "yes" list for things that I love and a "no" list for things that I hate or wouldn't do etc. The "yes" list was easy. The "no" list...well I guess I got there in the end but it took some more thinking.

...oh and I still can't get that Cuttlebug out of my head...

Wants List - Part 3 of 3...

The final major thing on my scrapping "wants list" is the new Bind-It-All. Version 2. In pink...

I never bought the blue one when the initial "hype" started. It's easily done: you watch a thread on a forum where everyone is buying something, you end up buying it too...and then it ends up sitting on your shelf unused, or virtually unused. So I wanted to avoid this. I waited a few months but I still felt like I wanted it (at least this way I knew that *I* wanted it, as opposed to possibly being affected by what other people wanted). I was still scared I was buying something that I'd regret as I wouldn't use it. But how wrong was I? I have been using my BIA far more than I could have hoped. Minibooks, journals, photobooks for my parents etc etc. So for me it was definitely a great purchase.

And now they bring out v2...in pink...with a wider punching slot... Do I want? YES!!! Will I buy? Hrm...not sure, not now I don't think...maybe sometime if I was to sell my other one. But it's hard to justify the purchase. *wants, wants, wants*

Wants List - Part 2 of 3...

Following on from yesterday's post and a little glimpse into my scrapping wants list...

Another thing that only appeared on my "wants list" the other day was some new (not yet released) stamps. I was reading Ali Edwards' blog and came across a post where she announced she was designing some stamps for Technique Tuesday.

I love Ali's scrapping designs and I'm a big fan of her books. I have also enjoyed her digital kits at Designer Digitals (which these stamps are based on) so me loving these stamps, as soon as I saw them, was no surprise. :)

I will definitely keep my eyes out for these stamps :)

Wants List - Part 1 of 3...

I have been adding a few things to my scrapping "wants list" recently and thought I would share this list with you over the next few days...

I'd love to have a Cuttlebug...mainly for embossing backgrounds. It's been on my list now for a little while and it's something I have found myself wanting more and more.

The other thing which I will share with you only appeared on my "wants list" the other day. I was blog surfing and came across a preview image on Sassafras' blog of their new Christmas collection. This is sooooo me :)

Hoping you're all having a great Friday :)

Thoughts On The Class...

I'm really, really enjoying the BPS class by Cathy Zielske. :)

I always think it's great to do something that's a little out of your scrapping comfort zone every now and then. To challenge yourself and to possibly learn some new favourite techniques which you might not have taken the time to do otherwise. Cathy's linear style suits me perfectly, but I tend to put more stuff on my pages than what she does. So this is a bit of a challenge for me and good practice to realise that sometimes something simple might be more effective :)

I made this page yesterday and I almost had to sit on my hands not to add more to it LOL!

Today is the first day of "week 2". I have enjoyed watching the video presentation and I was very pleased to see that our next 2 assignments (1 single + 1 double layout) feature lots of photos. I love multi photo layouts. Sometime you might have an occasion where you have taken quite a few photos...but you might not want to scrap *one* BBQ over 15 pages LOL! So cutting down photos and making more of a "collage" is a great way to still keep lots of happy memories in your albums.

Chocolate...

I've managed to finish my second assignment for Cathy's class. The 8.5x11 double layout. Cathy did hers about "liking food" and since I had a few photos printed of chocolate, I thought ---> why not :) I can honestly say it's the first time I have made a double layout on the subject of chocolate LOL!

The sketch was a lot less "busy" than my normal layouts which was a bit "difficult" for me. I added a few extra bits but mainly tried to stick to the "simple" style that Cathy demonstrated. (I'll let you it was sooo difficult to resist the urge to add more LOL!) Here's my "simple" layout:

(sorry about the shadowing on the background - it's just textured white cardstock...I had a bit of a problem with the lighting)

No Idea What To Call This Post...

What a day it is here today. Dark and rainy. And more rainy. And just rain, rain and rain. You get the picture. It doesn't look like it will stop at all. But I guess it's the perfect day to stay inside and get some scrapbooking done. :)

I'm working on the second assignment from Cathy's class. This time it's a 8.5x11 double layout. We're doing this mixed size album which is just what I love. Only not so keen on 12x12 LOL! Like yesterday. Still, I'm sure I will enjoy them too. Anyway, I'm about halfway through that double layout so nothing to show you from that class today I'm afraid.

However I have finished this hybrid quadruple-folded baby card using some goodies from Sweet Shoppe Designs.

[Supplies: "Beep Chugga Zoom" by Shawna Clingerman & Kristin Cronin-Barrow, "Stitched Alpha" by Shawna Clingerman (both from SSD)]

Making A Start...

This morning I went through the first handouts from "Design Your Life". We also got a bonus handcut/layout assignment over the weekend so now I have 3 in total to, hopefully, get done for Thursday when it's time for week 2 and new material.

I had already had the larger photos (which we were given warning about) printed for the first 2 assignments, so I spent the morning finding, sorting and printing the smaller photos to compliment these. I have no idea what I will be doing for the bonus layout yet - but one thing at a time :)

I started working on the very first layout. 12x12. A format I left about 2 years ago. I just don't scrap 12x12 anymore. So that was a bit of a challenge. I have just finished my layout and taken a photo of it. I pretty much followed the sketch and then added a few bits of my own.

I'm going to start thinking about the second assignment now. A double layout in a format which I'm much more comfortable with. But Cathy's layout is very "plain" (not in a bad way LOL!) and this will be a big struggle for me I think... :)

Some More From My Sept Album....

Just wanted to share two more super simple pages from my September album and the "Learn Something New" class that I took by Shimelle. All that pink and purple is difficult for me (especially the purple!) but hey, I decided to challenge myself so I'll have to live with it LOL!

Ever scrapped a scrapping page? I think it's my first time. Rather amusing to do...but kinda fun I guess :)

Another Card Using Lilypad Goodies...

Following on from yesterday's post, I have been busy using more of the new Lilypad BYOC goodies.

[Supplies: Buggy Alpha - SMJ Designs, 1031 Wicked Way - Amy Wolff , Fall Frames And Borders - Jenna Desai, CU - Inked Edges - Jenna Desai, Painted And Tattered - Kaye Winiecki
All That Twitters - Kaye Winiecki, Tara Dunstan (all from the Lilypad)]

I'm really enjoying the "Design Your Life" class by Cathy so far. It's looking really great. And very interesting! We got loads of information on Thursday, including the first few assignments. One double and one single layout. I'm just sitting planning a little about what photos to use and how I can adapt my layout (with the stash I have) compared to what Cathy has done in the handout. Fun :)

A Quick Little Friday Update...

I just must sent you off on a little visit to the Lilypad today. It's the first Friday of the month which means it's BYOC (Build Your Own Collab) week at the Lilypad which equals lots and lots and lots of new yummy kits. The designers get a few colours and then they all make their own stuff which coordinates because of the colours. Great way to pick your own matching stash by going for the kits *you* really love :)

I was busy earlier in the week playing with some of the new yummies and this is a Halloween card that I came up with using lots of little bits from different kits:

[Supplies: 1031 Wicked Way - Amy Wolff, CU - Inked Edges - Jenna Desai , The Witching Hour - Kate Hadfield, Spooky-Ooky Doodled Papers - Kate Hadfield, Spooky Spiderweb Alphabet - Kate Hadfield, Painted And Tattered - Kaye Winiecki, Trunk Full Of Treasures - SMJ Designs, Halloween Wordy Bits - Kate Hadfield, Tiff Brady (all from the Lilypad)]

My Freedom...

Bet you thought I'd given up on the "My Freedom" class, eh? LOL! Nope - I will get there in the end. I might have been abroad all the time while the class was run by Shimelle, but I'm determined to get it done and finished. Only 2 prompts left to do after this. Then my album is complete :)

This was the "personality" prompt. We were encouraged to use current photos of ourselves together with some when we were younger. And journal in a kind of "favourites list" ...kinda way. It will be fun to look back on later :)

Sooooo excited today, "Design Your Life" starts - yay! I'm off to write some e-mails and sort some things and then I'm going to sit down and view the video presentation and have a look at the prompts :)