A Little Christmas in February...

Yes I know it's a little "wrong"...or maybe I should say ---> "strange", to show Christmas stuff in February... I have been going through my harddrive backing things up (have you done yours lately?) and came across this little project which I did as part of my DT work for Make The Moment Last at Christmas. It never went on my blog back then, so here we go:

It's made using lots and lots of Fancy Pants supplies...papers, ribbons, die-cuts and buttons. Plus some Stickles glitter glue, embroidery thread, a snowflake punch and some chalk ink.

Off to tidy my desk after doing some Design Team work and then I'm going into the kitchen to make some meatballs for tonight...

So, What Are *YOU* Waiting For...

I'm sure we have all seen the websites over the last few weeks showing us all the new scrapping products that were shown at CHA in the US. Lots of yummies, right? :)

Some things will not appeal to us, of course, because we all have different taste. A lot of things we think "mmm that's nice", then there are the things that we just know we have to buy (for me, I just can't wait for things like: Sassafras Lass, Love Elsie, October Afternoon and Scenic Route). And than that final thing, the thing that just shouts "I'm made for you - buy me"! Know it? What is that that one thing for you?

For me it's the so called "Easel Albums" by Narratives. The colours, shapes, everything just screams "me"!! The most yummy of yumminess :)))

Oh Dear...

How I got myself out of bed this morning...I have no idea. Throat hurts, head hurts, nose is full of cold. My whole head just feels "hot and inflamed"...(I'm sure you know what I mean). My eyes are watering and I'm soooo tired. Going back to bed sounds like such a nice idea, but I hate the way you feel after you have slept in the daytime, so I'm trying my very best to avoid it. We'll see...

Sitting here with my head in my hands and a DT kit beside me, trying to scrap. Thought I would do a little blog post first as it really doesn't work. I can't focus LOL! Will do another attempt when I have posted this. :)

Another DT layout done for Make The Moment Last. Supplies: Fancy Pants papers, buttons, transparency and die-cuts, October Afternoon stamps plus some staples, doodling etc.

Back to my scrapping attempt...

Monday...

Bleugh! I feel rotten. Felt a sore throat coming on yesterday and I've woken up with it being 20 times worse. My head hurts & feel hot and my nose feels like a cold is going to start imminently. Yuck! Let's hope it's just one of those one-day-things. We'll see...

This page was made as part of my Design Team work for Make The Moment Last. Supplies: Bazzill cardstock, Fancy Pants paper & felt, College Press stamp, Maya Road chipboard arrow...plus some rub-ons, flowers, jewels and staples.

lutingobelin - you asked about the photo course I'm taking. I'm using Photoshop Elements 5 and I'm taking an on-line course by Adrienne Looman. I'm pretty sure she's going to re-run the course in March, so it might be worth sending here a little message. Hope that helps :)

And having mentioned Make The Moment Last above, I have just got a new DT kit from them which I'm off to have a look at now...

What A Day...

I have been spending 7+ hours non-stop tidying (heavy lifting/reaching all the time) and I'm exhausted. Back is aching/burning and I feel like my body has been through a marathon LOL! I'm going to collapse in the sofa with a huge glass of cold water now!! But first I just wanted to share these items (card & bookmark) with you:

I put the card on black to take the photo (to make the white edges show up) - the black background is NOT actually part of the card.

Kate Hadfield released this really cool Funky Junky Spring Fling collab kit together with Rachel Young and Michelle Godin at the Lilypad on Friday. I got the chance to work with it earlier in the week and came up with the two ideas above.

Hope you're all having a great Saturday :)

Fun With Photos...

Busy tidying my little (and it is TINY!) scraproom today. Wouldn't be half as bad if I didn't struggle with where to put things, but it being so small...it's bound to happen. LOL! Still I have managed to throw a big bag of stuff and rearranging some other stuff. Will have another go later.

Anyway, I wanted to show you some cool editing stuff I've learnt so far from Adrienne Looman's photo editing course that I'm taking. The first photo you see is a "before" photo and the second photo is an "after" photo.

First we have some colour washes...

Then some warping (have fun here!!)...

And finally some outward warping...

Happy Valentine's Day...

I hope you're all having a great Valentine's Day! I know I am :)

I have been busy making some little Valentine's Day releated items using some super cute animal doodles by Kate Hadfield. Firstly a sweet little bunny card:

Made using the Animal Pal Doodles by Kate, together with some cardstock and jewels.

And then some cute little notecards. Again using the same Animal Pal Doodles.

Kimberley and Samm, you asked where I got my last lot of stash from. It was from A Million Little Things in the US. Please mention my name if you head over there for some shopping. Thank you :)

Yummy Stash...

Feels like it was ages ago since I bought some stash. Yesterday was a really stressful day with lots and lots (and lots!) of things to get done. So it was nice when a little parcel from the US turned up in the afternoon. Glitter & metallic Thickers (yum!!!!), some chipboard, MM journaling books, a scalloped paper and several Fontwerks stamps :)

I think I have got a lot better at buying stash and actually concentrating on what I *will* use... Rather than buying things for the sake of "love the colours", "cute pattern", "I just neeeed etc". Going back a year ago, I tended to mainly buy patterned papers. They are relatively "cheap" as far as stash goes and it feels like you get a lot for your money. But of course you then find yourself missing things for titles, embellishments etc when you scrap. Took a while for it to sink in LOL! Anyway, slowly, with time I have learnt what I use and not. So I'm trying to be good and think "how much will I use this?" before I add something to my shopping cart. And I'm getting there - the technique really works...

I was sitting the other day trying to list what are featured on most of my layouts and came up with a list smiliar to this: Thickers (often a mix of two types), staples, ribbons, chalk ink, general stamps, journaling stamps/blocks, doodling etc. Now compare this to my shopping above! Pretty good, eh? Thickers, journaling stamps and journaling pads. :) I use them soooo much since I started trying to avoid my printer for journaling and doing it buy hand. I hate my writing, but somehow writing within a stamped journaling block is so much easier!!

Baby Gifts...

Wow today has been a busy day and I have only had the time to sit down and do my blog now. Phew! LOL! Been busy doing baby stuff. A very (yes VERY!!!) simple & quick card using some cute Autumn Leaves giraffe stamps which I watercoloured:

And some baby books. I made three identical ones and totally intended to take a photo of all three of them together. But do you think I remembered this before or after I wrapped two of them?! LOL! So only one is on show. Really cute gift to do. I just have the photos printed in black & white. Then I put them back to back with a chipboard sheet in between (to make the pages nice and thick), print a transparency with the baby info and bind it all with my Bind-It-All machine. Oh and I cover the last page on the back with a nice sheet of Bazzill and a stamp with info about it being handmade by me. :) One book is for me to keep and two of them are already heading abroad as I type this. :)

New "Love Elsie" collections...

Yum, yum!! Elsie is releasing four new collections at CHA. Claire, Cody, Daisy and Forrest!! Can't wait - this will be expensive shopping LOL!

You can see lots more pics at Elsie's blog if you want :)

*** Edited to add:
I have got two questions which I forgot to reply to when I originally made this post...

pjsarefuzzy - at the time of me typing this, you can buy "The Doodle Formula" book from ScrapInStyle. Hope that helps :)

Joey - the "handmade" stamp that you asked about (used on my Christmas journal) is by CatslifePress.