Gift Boxes...

As promised, I will show you some cute little hybrid projects over the weekend. If you haven't already checked them out, Sweet Shoppe Designs have some really cute templates for little (and bigger!) projects. I haven't really played with them before this week, so I was in for a lot of fun...

[Supplies: Love Is In The Air - Kristin Cronin-Barrow, DIY Printable Templates: Pillow Boxes - Heather Roselli (all SSD)]

The first thing I started playing with was Pillow Box template. These are really easy to make up using the templates and it's just the design of whatever you want to put on them that really takes some time. But that's okay as that is the fun bit :)

This is the back side of the bird box.

I used a super cute kit by Kristin Cronin-Barrow (also Sweet Shoppe Designs) to create my box pattern. A kit that I'm sure I will return to many more times :)

The First Pages From My Album...

Here's the first double spread from my "Here, There and Everywhere" album:

I have used lots of "home" related stamps and rub-ons etc on this. You might have noticed that the journaling looks a bit funny in places (under the photos is one example). I figured that it might be nice to have things like your complete address and phone number on there for any time in the future when you might have different address details. But obviously I did not want to have this plastered all over the internet so some of the journaling is blurred out. :)

Despite the boring cloudy and dark weather here I'm having a nice Friday afternoon working on my album. Hope you're all having a great Friday too and I'll see you over the weekend with some cute hybrid projects :)

Eat Cake...

...well you have to call your post something don't you :) And since I was making this silly fun card the other day I thought it was appropriate:

[Supplies: Sweets For My Sweet - Kate Hadfield, Sweetheart Alphabet - Kate Hadfield, Impressions Papers And Vellum - Amy Wolff, Love Notes - Amy Wolff, The Thing Called Love Elements - Designs By Lili (all from the Lilypad)]

Let's see, what else...

Oh yes, I had a really sweet mail the other day asking me if it was OK if I was featured on the "Inspirational" blog. And today my blog is featured. Thank you :) And if you have just landed here from the Inspirational blog - thanks for taking the time to visit me :) If you're into scrapping and have never visited my blog before, there are lots of free layout classes on the right side of this page. ----------->

Now onto some comments that I have got:

Cheryl - you left me a message and a question. But I have no way of contacting you regarding it. If you see this, could you please leave me your e-mail address in the "comments" section and I will get back to you :)

Claire - you wanted to know who made the album I'm using and where I got it from. I bought them about a year ago and the shop sold out almost immediately so that's no use I'm afraid. But I still have the packaging so I should be able to give you exact details of the product. Hang on a sec... *back* The official name is "Easel Frame Album" it's designed by Karen Russell/Narratives and manufactured by Creative Imaginations. It comes in the pink/red (called "Berry Bloom") and green/blue (called "Melon Bloom") combinations that I have and that I showed a pic of here and also in a black/white version. Hope you can find it somewhere :)

And The Work Starts...

I've started working on my "Here, There and Everywhere" album. And I did indeed decide to go for the pink/red album in the end...

The first thing to work on was the three dividers for the album. I knew I wanted little tabs on them, but that was about it. So I followed my usual scrapping style which kinda goes like this: add one thing, decide what to add next, add that, decide what to add next....etc. I have NO plan on how something will turn out in the end or indeed what the next thing will be that I add until I get to that stage. Crazy? Maybe LOL! But that's how I work :)

First divider is "here". The class is divided into three categories. The first one is "here" and it's all about where we live now, our neighbourhood etc. A really cool few pages to have once you might live somewhere else in the future.

The second section and divider is "there". Very simple: all about the places you have been, the places you have travelled to.

I decided to keep all the dividers very similar (only different backgrounds) .

And finally the "everywhere" divider. Places you dream of going to. Your dreams and hopes of places to visit whether they are realistic or not :)

Will show you my pages as we go along and make them too :)

New Online Class...

It's that time again. :) I have a new online class up at A Trip Down Memory Lane. As usual it's completely free to take so if you've got a minute to spare, please pop over and take a look :)

I got my dividers done for my "Here, There and Everywhere" book yesterday and I'm off to start on the first double spread now.

PS. Jana - sorry if I tempted you with the album photos yesterday LOL!

Picking My Album...

We've just finished week 1 of Shimelle's "Here, There and Everywhere" class and this is the week when we start scrapping. I've been thinking about my album now for the last week and know I want to have something a little smaller, but what... I was playing with the thought of a Maya Road 4x6 chipboard book that I had but I think I have changed my mind. One of the problems is that I don't know how many pages I will need/want until I have finished it and then I remembered these:


They are so super cute and totally make me smile. I have them in both colours (and....eh...uhm...two of each). I have saved them for a good project and I think this might be the perfect one. I love the mix of pages...cardstock, transparencies, different edges etc plus the bonus for this class is that they are held together with bookrings so I can remove and add pages as I want :)

My first thought was to go with the green/blue one. No surprise there, hey? :) But just because of that, I think I might just go for the pink one instead. We have just got today's prompt so after typing this I will read it through and make the final decision on which album to use. Maybe I will read something that will affect my decision...

The spread for the 25th/26th of December in my Christmas album is above. A photo of my dad opening a present (we had a delayed Xmas celebration with my sister on the 25th ((24th is when we normally celebrate)) and then a cosy Christmas meal photo below. The 26th features some journaling about the tradition of always been invited to my aunt and uncle that day. Such a nice time, always :)

Another Card...

A quick update with another hybrid card. This one done for Sweet Shoppe Designs using a totally cute birthday kit. :)

[Supplies: Festiverous by Christy Lyle & Robin Carlton (SSD)]

Some Cards...

I think I blogged about making hybrid cards yesterday and I have got some finished now. This one was finished this morning:

[Supplies: Sweet Smooches - Kay Miller Designs and the font is: DJB Smarty Pants - Darcy Baldwin (SSD)]

Unfortunately I was a bit quick taking the photo and forgot that I was intending to add some sparkly rhinestone jewels to the flowers in the corner etc. That's added onto the card now but the light is not so great here for another photo so this will have to do. LOL!

Then I have been playing with some Lilypad goodies and came up with this card:

[Supplies: Spring Greens - Kate Hadfield, Sticky Stacks 2 - Amy Wolff, Solids 1 - Anne deJong]

Hope you're all having a great Friday :)

Not Too Much Left Now...

Nearly getting to the end of showing you the pages in my Christmas journal:

These are the pages for the 24th/25th of December. I wanted to add quite a lot of journaling as there were a fair few things that was a little different this Christmas compared to previous ones. Something that is nice to look back on in a few year's time.

And I have got some questions:

"Sew, Scrap, Make" - I'm sure I posted about it in a previous post, but you wanted to know about the little photo studio I got and where to buy it from. Just do a search on Ebay in the photography section for "portable studio" and it should bring up lots of hits. Good luck! :)

Aimee - I hope you have got my e-mail with the direct link to the exploding box page which you were struggling to load in your browser. Hope it works for you now :)

I'm really enjoying the new class by Shimelle so far and now I'm off to read through today's prompt and then work on some hybrid CT cards. Have a great day everyone :)

Doing My Class...

I've just been out for a long walk around the village taking photos. Lots of them! 132 in total LOL! It's a preparation for the Shimelle class that just started. I'm not quite sure what we need yet so I figured I'd better play safe and take loads of photos. At least then I'm prepared for the next prompt tomorrow :)

This morning I finished off my February class for A Trip Down Memory Lane and sent that off. I can't really reveal too much yet but I had lots of fun with Kraft cardstock and cutting up lots of pretty papers...

This is a totally different layout and have nothing to do with the class. I got some photos from my parents' holiday back in November and decided to play with some Sassafras stash. Stamps are Ali Edwards/Technique Tuesday. :)

The Ribbons...

Before I totally forget, Selii you asked about the birds on this layout. No I did not make them. They are cut out of a sheet of paper. It's called "Valentine's Cards" and is from this year by Fancy Pants. Hope that helps and that you can find them :)

Elizabeth - you asked me if I could take a photo of my ribbons that I "sorted" the other day. Of course :)

For those of you who don't know what this was about: I had all my "Love Elsie" ribbons in the original packaging and I just realised that I did not have the space for it, nor did I use them like I would have if I had easy access to them. So I decided to unwrap them all from the spools and just have them hanging instead.


So I took the three photos of them hanging on the door handle at first... I had...eh...uhm...quite a few (!) packs of Love Elsie ribbons...more than I dare admitting LOL! And I mentioned that it took me over an hour just to unbox and unwrap them. But these photos didn't really show that very well, so I took and put them on the desk instead and now I think it's a bit more understandable why it took so long to get them out of the packaging...

Silly Fun...

Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day yesterday! :)

I'm just popping in quickly to add a layout I did for the Lilypad Creative Team on Friday. I recently went through some old photos and found a lot of fun ones. This is a "silly" one of my brother, sister and her ex-boyfriend doing funny poses on the golf course. I just couldn't resist scrapping it :)

[Supplies: Paper Petals - Anne deJong, Solids 2 - Anne deJong, Oh Happy Day - CD Muckosky
CU - Inked Edges - Jenna Desai, Wild Flowers - Jenna Desai, Spring Chase - Kaye Winiecki
(all from the Lilypad)]

Valentine Idea...

Just wanted to share a cute Valentine idea. Very easy and super quick too...

I used some printables by Heather Roselli at Sweet Shoppe Designs. It's very simple to do. Just unzip the files and print the three pages, cut out, score and glue. Seriously, the trickiest thing will be to come up with what to put on the coupons :)

...and having just said that, I'm off to think about what to add on mine now :)

[Supplies: Make-It Printables: Love Coupons - Heather Roselli, Writes A Lot - Darcy Baldwin
(both SSD)]

Sorting Ribbons...

First of all I have taken photos of the 2 birthday cards I made on Wednesday. Silly me didn't check the camera setting before I took the photos... Afterwards I discovered I had photographed my cards on SNOW setting LOL! But it turned out pretty decent anyway and I really couldn't be bothered to re-do it :)

Before I forget I also want to pass on a "thank you" to Stefanie who kindly warned me that the studio lights can get VERY warm - thanks for that :)

This morning, apart from taking snow-setting photos of non snow items (!), I have been sorting ribbons. Specifically "Love Elsie" ribbons. I had kept mine (which is quite a few!!) in the original boxes, thinking it was pretty and handy to have them together. But I have come to the conclusion that a) they take up far too much space like that, and, b) I really don't take the time to use them when they are boxed up. So I sat for an hour unboxing and unwinding them all and they are now hanging in a pretty bunch on the door handle. It makes me happy as I can see them and enjoy them more and I know I will be using them a lot more than I did.

Excited...

Got a few things to blog about today...

First, thanks to Tammy and Serendipity Sisters that gave me this blog award:

Next I signed up for Shimelle's new class at 2Peas yesterday. I kept thinking about it for a few days...and I kinda always knew that I would sign up...but I just didn't make the final decision until yesterday. Now I'm super excited about it and can't wait for it to start :) Jana, you posted and said you were the same...couldn't quite make up your mind...have you made a decision yet too?

And then finally LuAnn, you were asking about the portable studio and where you could get it from. Try Ebay. Just search under "portable studio" in the photography section. Lots of people sell it.

And what am I excited about? The fact that I just signed for the parcel that is my portable studio and I'm now off to open it and have some (hopefully!) fun playing and experimenting :)

Snowing...Again...

We've had snow now for about a week and a half. Very unusual for the UK. And just as it was starting to melt I look out through the window about 30 mins ago and see what can only be described as a snowstorm LOL! It's calmed down a bit now but it's still snowing and the sky has that typical look of snow.

Today I'm playing with this:

...and this:

I'm at the stage where I'm waiting for some glitter to dry before I can continue so I thought I might as well take the time to blog. I'm making some birthday cards for my sister and brother. Hopefully I'll get the time to finish them pretty quickly so I can put photos on here either tomorrow or the day after...

And talking about taking photos...I always struggle with light and shadows when I try to take photos of cards and layouts. I always get some weird light somewhere and have been pondering getting one of those mini "portable studios" for well over a year now. Yesterday I decided to go for it:


It's only really small...and I'm not even sure if it will really work for layouts, but there's only one way to find out. Also it's really cool as you can change the backdrop to four different colours:I'm really excited and can't wait for it to turn up so I can have a play with it. If I'm lucky it might be here already tomorrow :)

Journal Pages...

Not got too much to report today...

I must have done something stupid to my knee, though what I have no idea as it was like that when I woke up. Hurts when I walk. The stairs are a nightmare. Oh well, hopefully it will go soon. In the meantime I'm not moving around too much.

Above is the next few pages from my Christmas journal. Mainly photos this time with a little bit of journaling.

I'm considering taking Shimelle's new class "Here, There and Everywhere". Nearly decided to do it, but not quite... Anyone else doing it?

Feeling a bit annoyed with my knee so not in the best of moods today LOL!

Monday...

(...well sometimes it's hard to come up with a title!)

Marja you asked about what we got from IKEA... Nothing fun in terms of stash storage I'm afraid LOL! We bought a new TV last week and needed a new TV bench (the old one was kinda part of/connected to the old TV so it was not something we could re-use). We've been meaning to buy a new TV now for nearly a year but been stuck because of the TV bench. No shop had what we needed. (We needed quite a few slots as we wanted to get rid of the stereo bench and put that there too, plus the Sky box, the DVD recorder and various game consoles...you get the picture).

Anyway we finally found one in IKEA and spent the afternoon building that and connecting everything back up. It also involved moving other furniture (emptying bookshelves, moving them and then putting everything back etc) so it was a whole day's job...and it's not even quite finished yet.

(Layout done for Cathy Zielske's BPS class)

Today I'm doing some sorting and organising in my craft room. I'm also considering getting rid of a drawer unit that doesn't really work so well for me so I might do some investigation on-line and see if I can find something that would be more useful in it's place.

Busy...

...building IKEA furniture. Will be back tomorrow :)

Great Post Day...

Oooh the postman brought me so many goodies today. The stamps that I ordered (finally!) and the embossing folders that I ordered yesterday (wow that was quick!) So I'm really happy with that. Now I just need to find some time to play with them :)

Snow is still heavy on the ground here...has been basically a week now. And the temperature shows no signs of going up so I guess it's staying a little longer...

Leaving you with another entry from my Christmas journal:

Valentine Yummies...

Thanks to those of you who shared your opinions on the Cuttlebug folders. I ordered 4 of the ones I posted about here. I still couldn't quite decide whether I liked the heart folder or not so I didn't bother with that one. My stamps still haven't turned up and we've had the post for today...oh well...

Before I forget I want to say thank you to "my5bratz" who gave me this award for sharing craft ideas:

It's the first Friday of the month which means it's BYOC time at the Lilypad and lots and lots of new kits. This time I was responsible for the blog post, so if you have a few minutes to spare please take a look here.

I always like to share my favourites and each time it's just as hard to pick. This month I'm picking two kits. One by Kate Hadfield and one by Amy Wolff:

Aren't they just so cute, sweet and useful? Love them :)

And finally here's a digital layout from me using lots of the different BYOC kits:

Stash...

What do you want right now stash-wise? :) I'm kinda waiting for the CHA stuff to turn up in the shops. I have my eye on the new Ali Edwards' "Family Circle" stamp set, I'm also looking forward to Sassafras, October Afternoon, Heidi Grace etc. I haven't bought anything new since before Christmas, but I kinda fell for these Hero Arts stamps the other day which I hope will arrive tomorrow if I'm lucky:

Also I have been looking at Cuttlebug embossing folders. And drooling! LOL! Shame they did not bring out any new ones for this CHA, but I guess there's still a good current selection. These are the ones which I'm really wanting at the moment. Though I'm not too sure about the heart one...?

...the question is, should I buy them or not...?

Snölykta...

Meet the next few pages in my Christmas journal. The left side (vellum page) features a photo of my niece and my sister. The right one has some journaling and photos of Christmas preparations.

We got much more snow over night. Yet again, no-one around here can go to work. All the cars are just standing here totally covered in snow. We watched some neighbours bravely attempting to get their car out with shovels for nearly half an hour before giving up this morning. There really is no point in even trying.

You've probably wondered about the title of the post by now. This is a "snölykta" which we made last night (see photo above). This is something that we made a lot when I grew up in Sweden and there was snow. Basically it's a lot of snowballs that you make into a lantern shape, put a tea light candle inside and light. So cosy! I'd be very interested in hearing if this is something that you're familiar with too or if it's a totally Swedish tradition...I really have no idea, so please share if you know this or not? :)