Birthday Card...

I got this birthday card idea from a blog I visited some time back. Of course I didn't write the URL down at the time. Typical! I'm pretty sure the design idea is from Kristina Werner but since I don't know what she "called" her card (and not even 100% sure, though nearly, that it even was by her) I just can not find the card to link to. So sorry for that. At least you know where it's, most likely, come from :)

I love it when you can make cards completely from off cuts of scrapbooking pages coupled with some stamps. So great not to have to cut into full 12 x 12 sheets just for small card pieces :) I used some old papers by Basic Grey etc and a Swedish "grattis" stamp by Magnolia to make this card.

On My Wishlist...

There are so many things on my scrapbooking wishlist at the moment. (Does it ever end really, with the CHA shows and the new releases all the time?) At the moment the things on the top of my list are:

This seriously yummy coloured collection by Echo Park called Everyday Eclectic. I think Echo Park is my favourite paper manufacturer right now. Going back in time, somewhat, I used to love Scenic Route (oh why did they have to stop making their beautiful and useful collections?!), then October Afternoon and now it's definitely swapped to Echo Park :)

Next up is some washi tape. And let's face it, can you ever have enough washi tape? I don't think so! It's so very useful and also it doesn't take up too much space which is always a bonus. Right now I'm drooling over the new chevron washi by Queen & Co. Especially the green of course! And the pink. And the blue. And black even...

And since we've already mentioned my love of anything green, these new inkpads by Hero Arts just scream "me". I definitely need the green but would also love the blue and purple too...

What's on your scrapping wishlist today...?

Dino Card...

I bought this stamp set with cute dinosaurs by Penny Black in a craft sale about a year ago... I'd always liked the look of it (and thought the dinosaurs were just too cute!) but I couldn't really justify the full price for it. After all, how often do you feel the need to stamp dinosaurs?! LOL!

Having said that, I have actually ended up using this stamp set far, far more than I thought I would do. :)

The grass is made using the Martha Stewart fringe (?) scissors. I don't have the packaging anymore so I don't know the exact name. It's the ones with several blades. And the clouds are from a Studio Calico/Hero Arts - I just love these. A bit of Glossy Accents on two of the clouds and the little boy card was complete :)

Cupcake Card...

The need for birthday cards seem to come in bursts for me. Need lots, not so many, and then lots again and so on. This time of the year it's "lots" again :)

I bought this big cupcake stamp about a year ago with the intention to use it for birthday cards. And this was a perfect time. I left a bit of the white cardbase at one side to create the spine and also to make it be able to stand up better.

It's coloured with Copics and some old hotfix (where I never actually bought the tool and only attach them with a little drop of glue) jewels plus some Glossy Accents for the cherry on top. Oh and lots of sparkly Stickles glitter glue of course :)

Got some more cards to get made now...

Back From Vacation...

We have just returned from spending an amazing 3 weeks in Sweden with my family. We really didn;t want to leave. And we were soooo lucky as we had fantastic weather too. I have never been as tanned in my life - and that was even within one week of being there! I have no idea how that worked LOL!

We had a lot of barbecues while there. And I mean a lot. I lost count after a while. But since we'd only had ONE this summer in the UK, and I love them, I was all for it... :)

We spent time at this amazing beach! Within walking distance. A beach which I have spent time on every year ever since I was born. Lots of nice memories and happiness connected to this place. :)

...and of course we had some ice-cream! From the best place I know. And a total summer tradition not to be missed. Oh and we might have had to go there a second time too before we left for the UK...

Coming near to the end of our Sweden trip, we also made a short trip with an overnight stay at the island of Bornholm (which belongs to Denmark).

Again we were so lucky with the weather for this trip and had an amazing time there. It's such a cosy little island and 2 days were just about perfect to see the most of it.

When we returned from Bornholm we had some more time left over for our beach in Sweden before it was time to get on the plane to the UK (and yes that is really how "busy" this beach is...there are only private roads from the houses near where we are so "tourists" never get to these parts).

...and now being back in the UK, well it feels like the summer is over :( The temperature is several degrees lower and we have seen mostly clouds. I feel like my tan is fading already. It would be nice to get some sunny days before the autumn is here...! :)

Flower Bargain...

A little while back I posted about the progress of our outside flower pots. As this is something I tend to do a "before" and "after" scrapbooking layout about most years, this year was no different:

So far I have only made the "before" layout. That is when the plants where planted in the pots. I have some "after photos" printed, but that's a job for another day...

I also wanted to document what a plant bargain we ran into. Over 120 plants (and yes, of the types that we were after anyway) and they were supposed to be £18 but we got them for just over £6. A real bargain! And as I type this, they are so, so pretty and colourful - totally brightens up the garden :)

Can't wait to make the follow up layout... :)

The Fluffy Cat... Or What Was The Name?

Quite recently we got some new neighbours. They had a cat with them. A super cute fluffy cat which was very friendly and frequently walks into our kitchen if we have the door open when it's warm...

We didn't know her name in the beginning and, as with all cats in the neighbourhood, we make up little names for them to refer to them by. Due to the long fur one this one we ended up calling her "Fluffy". "Oh Fluffy has come in to the kitchen again" and so on. Later, when speaking to our new neighbours, we found out that the cat's name was Gaga or Lady Gaga (yes, named after... of course!) So a little layout about our new friend was made :)

A Very Productive Time...

I spent a lot of last week in an empty house (think no furniture, no entertainment etc - nothing) waiting around while various workmen came and went. I packed up a little scrapbooking tool kit and some scrapbooking page kits to bring with me...

Each kit was very simple. A few papers (perhaps a sheet of cardstock in a few cases) some photos, alphabet and a few embellishments. I wasn't sure whether I'd do nothing or loads. I ended up coming home with 13 layouts. 13 new layouts for my 2012 album. It felt very good adding them to my album this morning for sure :) Definitely something I will try again.

Sometimes it's a lot quicker and easier to scrap when you only have a very small amount of supplies on hand.

Crossword Card With Butterflies...

I mentioned a while ago that I wanted to play with the Hero Arts Crossword stamp... and that I was thinking about doing a birthday card. Well here's the result:

I used the Hero Arts stamp. It's called "Crossword Background". And it's a nice big woodmounted stamp. I love these :) I just wish they didn't take up so much space! The butterflies are from an old Hero Arts butterfly stamp set and I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Copics, Stickles glitter glue and Glossy Accents on them. Plus 3D foam.

The border punch is by Fiskars, the alphabet stickers by LilyBee Designs and well I guess that's it... Oh no, and I also used a variety of brown-ish Distress Inks to make the crossword background look a bit like a really old newspaper. :)

Pretty Flowers...

When we planted our outside plants back in mid May they didn't look anything special. Just green and well... small I guess. We were even worried that we'd planted them too close together so they wouldn't be very happy...

Fast forward to yesterday and they now look like this:

I'm so glad we bought a huge mix of colours as I love how it looks almost like a rainbow of flowers. It just makes me so happy. Probably the best looking summer flowers we have had so far in our outside pots I think.

I'm guessing they like the so called "summer" weather. To me it's like ---> where's the summer? We have not had a day of what I would call summer weather since the really nice week and a half which was amazing back in mid May. And it doesn't look like it will be better either... Just checked the prognosis all the way until July the 16th. Depressing!! :(