Someone to love...is family. January Scrapology Challenge

Yay.....I have had a little visit from my vacant mojo fairy( she cleared off months ago :( ). So I made this layout for our January challenge over at Scrapology
The theme is T is for tags and we have lifted a fabby layout by Elaine Rolf.
I used up scrips and scraps of paper left overs from other layouts....some Bo Bunny Timepeice and some Simple Stories Generations, based on a sheet of Kraft Bazill.

I inked, spritzed, distress stickled, shimmer sprayed and stamped and made some fabric flowers. I used my SU doily stamps ( had them for some time and not yet used them!!) and I made the tags from some un-used Christmas gift tags and used the reverse of them

This month we are using tags on our layouts and following a sketch ( shown below) . We have been lucky enough to lift this lovely layout by Elaine Rolf , you can see more of her super work by clicking on her name and visiting her blog.

 

So why not pop over to Scrapology and see all the super layouts from the lovely DT girls and our guest member for this month.

We hope you will join in the fun and enter the challenge by creating a layout using the sketch and some Tags.

The challenge closes at midnight on 5th February 2013

Please create a new layout for this challenge - no back links will be accepted.

Prize available to UK residents only.

Looking forward to seeing what you all make - good luck.

 

Warmest Wishes

Anita xxx

October at Scrapology....B is for Borders!

For October the Scrapology design team chose a layout designed by Georgia K Keays.

Please see Georgia's blog ON MY MIND for more of her beautiful layouts. As you will see from Georgia's layouts, many of them feature narrow borders around the page, patterned papers and photos. And so it is this idea that we would like you to use in your scraplifts for this month.
Here is my layout for the DT this month.
I used some older papers from Cosmo Cricket Delovely Range, Black and white Bazill, AC Thickers, Cosmo cricket mini alpha stickers, hot pink acrylic paint, organza and bead blossoms and some resin flowers.

The photo is of me, taken at Drusillas ( our local small zoo park). They have recently opened a new area called Lory Landing, an enclosure that is amass with beautifully coloured ( and very VERY noisy!!) rainbow Lorikeets. You can buy a pot of nectar and walk amongst them, feeding them.

Here is Georgia's beautiful layout that totally inspired us in the first place.

And this is the sketch that the DT worked from.



If you would like to have a go at this challenge, pop over to the Scrapology Blog and find out what you need to do and to see what the rest of the design team made. We would LOVE to see you join in and send us an image of your layout.
Once again we have also been incredibly lucky and have been given a prize( on display on the scrapology blog), for one lucky person to win, from our lovely friend Jill of Cardinal Colours, thanks again for your generosity Jill.

Glorious in Green.....and so proud of our girlie!

This is a layout I made a few weeks ago and had forgotten to blog. Its based on a sheet of Bazzil Dotted Swiss and usess papers by My Minds Eye and Pebbles. The aqua braid is a length of original 1970's braid I have been itching to use some more of it. the piccy is of the girls, back in May at Abbots Wood in Arlington.


I used my large circle punch and punched out lots and lots of circles from the double sided Pebbles paper, I then fold some of them and placed them round the photo to make a dimensional frame.

The bird was an acetate shape that I just dabbed with 2 different alcohol inks and then hung on a metallic thread and popped on a flower and teal pearl.

Using a few of the punched circles I folded 2 of the sides inwards and then placed them side by side to create a dimentional border. And then, because it all just seemed too white and clean....I inked the edges of the whole page lol.


And I simply must end this post with a HUGE WELL DONE to Lauren! We have always been so proud of both our girlies....but today Lauren got her GCSE results ( which she has taken a year early!) and she has done really well and got some super results....we are thrilled for her and so very,very proud......
Well done Sweetheart....we knew you could do it. Good luck in year 11. Love Mum and dad..xxx

A Little Card For Linda.

Just a very quick fly through tonight....just wanted to share a little round easel card. I made this and sent to my friend Linda.
I used the largest round scalloped nestie in the set I have and the next size down to cut the inner circle.

The butterflies were punched from some old Scenic Route scraps that I had squirrelled away and after glittering the blossoms and poppinf brads in the centre and adding some pearls to the card I sprayed the whole thing with some Spray and Sparkle Iridescent glitter spray.

Good luck in your new adventure Linda :), I hope its perfect for you..xx

One Layout, 2 Colourways

I thought I would share a couple of layouts with you that I made a few weeks ago. They are the same page, but just completed in different colourways :)
The first one is using papers by GCD Studios and are from the Paris Nights collection. I just added some swirls cut from Bazill, printed out butterflies, large mulberry flat flowers and a little black doily. The mulberry flowers were gently misted with Cosmic Shimmer mists and I used Stickles on the sprial roses and the butterfly wings.



I distressed each layer of paper by picking at the edges once they were stuck done. I finished it off with a few flat backed pearls.





And here it is in the other colourway. This time I used Basic Grey Ambrosia papers and also misted the swirls.




Right, I am off to pack my smallest girlies bag for camp. She is off tomorrow to an activity camp with her class and I am one of the designated drivers Unfortunately not too many miles away from the camp is The Craft Barn ;).....I guess I will just HAVE to force myself to drive on a few miles more and visit....it would be rude not to eh ;) lol.
Have a lovely evening.
Warmest wishes Anita..xxx

Little Goth Girl

Just a very quick post tonight as i am off to bed in a moment, nursing a right minger of a headache/jawache and PMT....GGGGRrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!

I thought I would blog this card I made this afternoon for my Aunt whose birthday it is tomorrow
I used scraps from my scrap bag, i *think* they are Making Memories, Off Beat by Basic Grey and the cream and spot one I think is also Basic Grey, possibly from the Blush Collection. I cut and stickled the Sissix swirl and added some flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts. The image is a Gorjuss Girl stamp and I coloured her with my Promarkers


I ran the brown square through an embossing folder before matting each section with brown bazzill and tied some organza ribbon round the card.

Hope she likes it :).xx

Spring Baby.....Let's keep her!

Hi there :), hope you are having a lovely weekend so far....even though its grey and blustery! We are holding onto the hope that it will be nicer tomorrow.

Here is a layout that I entered into Charmed Cards and crafts spring competition ( not sure when the judging is held....maybe it already has been lol) Chloe, our youngest, was born on 24th March, so she is very definately a Spring Baby. The photo was taken with Lauren cuddling her baby sister after having decided that she would like us to keep her lol ( after having been excited about me being pregnant, planning all the things she was going to do as a big sister and then being dissapointed that we didn't call her Ariel LOL) Lauren had decided that she didn't like the idea very much about bringing Chloe home with us.....but after a couple of cuddles she changed her mind.
I used Basic Grey paper from the Curio range and cut lots out to create a large frame for the entire page.


I used Icicle Stickles and glass seed and bugle beads to decorate the flowers and also Stickles and Liquid Pearls to decorate the lace that I used to create a mat for the photo. I cut the title using some glittered cardstock and the Sissix Round-a-bout alpha, which I then sponged with alcohol inks to obtain the colour I wanted. I also used some MLD mini alpha stickers to finish it.


The butterflies i printed off after finding them on this fantastic scrappers blog, you simply MUST go and visit Lisa at What a Beautiful Mess her layouts are breath taking.




So, what have you got planned for the rest of the weekend? Anything exciting? I have a week of work now....whoooohoooo and I have a few plans for next week....but for now I am going to prettify my nails with some lovely varnish. It will be such a treat as I am not allowed to wear even clear varnish at work....oooooh posh and pretty pinkies here i come!!!

'Smile please' and a fabulous weekend away.(photo heavy)

I have just been away for our annual retreat with a group of very lovely, talented and inspiring ladies....not to mention the fact thay they are really good friends. We have scrapped, made cards, eaten, laughed and laughed some more...till we ached at times and it was absolutely brilliant!
Between us we made 69 layouts,18 cards, and various mini albums....so not a bad weekends production. I thought I would share my creations over the next few days.

here is my first one. 'Smile Please'
Its based on a sheet of Kraft Bazill which I laid a fancy doily on and sprayed using 2 colours of Cosmic Shimmer Mists ( gosh I just luuuuuurve those things!)

I then took some cream lace and some pale pink chiffon roses( from a £1 hairband from Primark...don'tcha just love a bargain!!) and laid them on some newspaper and sprayed them to co-ordinate with the background colouring.

Now, not wanting to waste the now pretty newspaper, I placed a torn section behind the photo and used the rest to punch out some flower layers using various size Retro flower

punches....and a half pearl for the centres

I then sprinkled a few pearls and crystals about and printed out some butterflies and stickled them and added a few prima flowers. Then finished it off by shimmering the AC thickers title.

oooops, I forgot to say I embossed some gold mirri board, painted it with cream acrylic and then buffed the paint back off when it was dry to create this distressed border.

I am really, REALLY pleased with the results of using the newspaper....it would have been a shame to just throw it away. And yes, I do know that the newspaper isn't acid free and isn;t the best thing to put by my photo....but you know what? I don't mind too much...I am sure it will last ok in my album for a few years :)


Here are a few shots from the weekend. As you can see we were busy beavering away and here are some of the girls looking at our results. Believe me, if you had seen the tables about half an hour before this photo was taken you could hardly see a bare inch of space....the whole hall was overflowing with totes and stash till it came out of our ears LOL.

I will leave you with a few photos that I took very early on saturday morning. Lynn and i went for an early morning walk in the gardens....it was frosty and very pretty ( and VERY cold on sandal clad feet LOL)

The frost on the monkey puzzle tree was amazing, such large crystals.

I think this will appear on a layout at some point :)

What a bizarre ice formation....looks almost like a horny/horned ice slug LOL!

Have a super day whatever you are up to!

Warmest wishes Anita..xxx

Once Upon A time.....

Saturday saw our monthly crop at Cardinal Colours....and I had big plans for making 2 layouts and a couple of cards.....well, I only ended up in making one layout,it took forever with lots of faffing and playing around....but you know what? I LOVE it!

Its based on only 2 sheets of cardstock( unheard of for me LOL) The back one was a bright yellow and I sprayed it up with 2 colours of Shimmer Mists. The front sheet was a sheet of Bazzill Bling, which I wet under the tap and then scrunched up in places before allowing to dry.

The photo is of me and our youngest girly, Chloe, when she was 20 mins old....my! how the time flies!!!

This page is soooo sparkly in real life, with lots and lots of Shimmer Mists and stickles and bling. I used my MS punch for this corner which I Stickled and added a gold filigree finding and some paper roses.

The title was cut on the cricuit in black bazzill and then Stickled( gotta love those lovely little bottles of sparkliness eh ;) )
The doily in the background and the chipboard swirls were all given a liberal spraying of Shimmer Mists( my new addiction I think :) )

I made this embellie by using an embossing folder on some mirri board, painting it with cream acrylic paint and then when dry i rubbed as much off as poss.....I LOVE it!

I popped another gold filigree finding under this torn section and finished the page with the addition of lotsof blossoms....some handmade and some bought ones and also printed out some butterflies and Stickled them before adding them to the mix.

If you haven't yet tried Shimmer mists I can highly recommend them....the only problem with them is....just which delightful colours do you choose?

Warmest wishes Anita..xxxx

Heartstrings, cupcakes and poorly fingers!

Hello there :)
I can show you a piccy now of what I made out of some bazill cardstock from Jill ( I didn't want to blog it until I had given it to her lol). I was totally inspired by this blog post
when I stumbled across it whilst bouncing around different blogs. Although it was easy to make it was quite time consuming, but i am happy with the results :). I made 2 different length garlands for Jill and when I left the shop today she was hanging them in her window :) ( which,by the way, looks totally fabulous with lots of lovely reds, pinks and shiny things and lovely hand made cards, layouts, jewellery and other goodness)

Some of the hearts were straight cut and others I used fancy edge scissors :)

My uber talented and very lovely Sister popped round for a visit on tuesday and bought along some more of her cupcakes for me to sample( its a tough job, but someone has to do it lol) Just feast your eyes on these little beauties....and I can assure you they tasted every bit as scrumptious as they looked. I suggested she try a cake recipe called Red Velvet....and she did!

AND i thought I had died and gone to heaven!!!! They should be made ILLEGAL, they are just utterly evil and tempting and fanblinking tastic!!!!!

She had sprinkled some edible glitter on the top, it really sparkled beautifully, but its always hard to catch a sparkle on camera isn't it.

The rose formation itself is really stunning isn't it...that is really made from just butter cream through a thin ribbon nozzle, she is so amazingly clever....I am in awe of her. It almost seemed a crime to bite into one and ruin it....but like i said...almost a crime but not quite so I totally devoured every last little morsel ( thanks Hun :) )

Monday and tuesday were quite eventful days.....Monday saw a trip to A & E with Lauren ! She was playing footie at school....with the boys....and she was in goal.....the good news is she stopped the goal going in....the bad news is.....she dislocated her thumb in the process!

So 3 hrs in A & E and in Xray and then a visit on tuesday to the fracture clinic and she is now sporting this rather slinky little black number....complete with steel rod to keep her thumb where it is supposed to be * rolls eyes*.

tuesday evening she was playing ok in a tournament though....she captains the girls team and was playing midfield, so was safe to play......

Kids eh!!!!! What can you do??????

Wamrest wishes Anita..xxxx