Time

is running away!!
I'm so busy at work & all the craft things that I have managed to make, is not for sharing just yet.
Due to family illness we girls on the Mojoholder DT had to finish for Christmas earlier than planned, but we will be back as normal in the New Year. I hope to be back on this blog at the weekend!

Things Are Looking Festive....

around here!! I made this mini banner to dress my mantlepiece. The fire no longer works as the chimney is unsafe & too expensive to repair so the gas fire had to be capped off to prevent Carbon Monoxide fumes entering the flat. I begged my landlord to leave it in because it makes a nice focal point for the room & takes the eyes off the manky wallpaper! I painted this fireplace as it was brown & red!!!! The decoration at the bottom is my Instant Xmas. Many of you will remember how I made it from a cheese box two years ago. I love to light my candles & turn all the lights off.

A Layout...

just because... I wanted to create it. AND, I totally enjoyed myself. I bought this fabulous Add On kit Hobson's Choice with my last SC kit Fountain Square. They feature October Afternoon Weathervane products & are very close to my heart...... they are all about HOME.

The stamp at the bottom is Heidi swapp as is the clock that I placed on the time card over the clock image. I had planned to upload this yesterday, but instead, spent the whole day under a blanket on the sofa thanking God for looking out for me. My friend Louise & I set off for work in the snow & 500 yards from my front door the car couldn't cope with the ice under the snow & skidded right across the road we were trying to turn right onto. We hit the pavement very hard, damaging the wheel rim & tyre, which I couldn't understand as we were crawling along at 4 miles an hour. The biggest worry was the car travelling far too fast behind us. He couldn't brake & had to swerve to miss us. He was only inches away & another vehicle was coming towards us. I can't even let myself think of what could have happened. I was shocked for most of the day but counted my blessings for being unharmed. Being here in the sanctuary of my home, I felt so safe & warm so even more fitting that I made this page on Sunday afternoon!

Mojoholder Challenge #92

Over on the Mojoholder blog, this week's lift came from the fabulous Betsy Veldman. I loved everything about this page & it was perfect for this black & white shot of my friends & fellow teamies, The Scrap Shoppin' Girls a.k.a, Rachel , Myself, Pauline , Nikki , Angie , Val , Anne (& Helen, who left the team ) Nic wasn't on the photo as she was busy giving birth to her beautiful daughter, Isabella when we had our retreat in February. The papers are all from my Studio Calico kit, Looking Glass & the Add on Tweedledee. I've had the kit almost two months & am still using it!! I used BG Offbeat, Lighthearted paper as circles on last weeks' snow layout & thought how lovely they looked so this week I sneaked them onto this page too. They are scrunched, inked & placed behind the Prima flowers. Buttons are from my stash & the alphabet was in a previous SC kit Iconic. Journalling block is an SC exclusive stamp as is the bird on the top right hand corner of the photo.

Late Blog Post

It was Karin, one of my Forum friend's birthday on Friday & I completely forgot to blog the card I made! I used some stamps over the DCWV Once Upon A Time paper. Stamped swirls around the edge & gold embossed all the stamping. I went around the edge of the paper with gold Krylon pen & then heat embossed a Tim Holtz grungeboard key with gold powder. This is another card that actually looked better in my mind's eye than on the craft table, but I was reasonably happy with it.

A Day Off Work....

is sometimes just what a girl needs to get things done!!
I kind of resent cleaning & tidying the flat on a weekend when I've been away from home some 9 hours a day, all the week. I view the weekend as my time for creativity & lazing around watching DVD's. So today, after a quick trip to Iceland, the frozen food store to re-stock the freezer, I cleaned & washed the Kitchen, Dining & Bathroom Vinyl floors. (The fact the kitchen is like an ice rink & I almost went flat on my arse sort of spurred me to clean them!) Then I tidied away my artwork from the shelving ready to house my Christmas cards once they arrive, dusted them all & hoovered right through the flat.
I have my new tree to dress next weekend & presents to wrap. My cards are almost made for my close family & friends & all Secret Santa gifts selected & on their way through the post...
I'd call that a successful day with 3/4's of the "To Do" list crossed off & I even found time to do a little more to my SC minibook from the recent Add On kit Lost River Valley.
I love it when a plan comes together!!!

Mojoholder Challenge #91

This week's lift on the Mojoholder blog is Nichol Magouirk. I struggled with this as it isn't in my usual style but was thrilled to use these papers from my SC kits & my winter park photos. I just watched this boy & his dog playing happily together while his dad walked on. It was a hard layout to photograph mind as the photos are all so bright full of crisp white snow. I hope you are wrapped up well over the next few days because here in the UK, the weather man has forecast snow showers & bitterly cold winds. But I am on holiday from work until Tuesday, so an extra lazy morning lay in, I just can't wait!

Finally my next three Time Pages.

I have had internet problems & before I could load these up it would drop off. No sooner had I got back online it would fall again & I took myself off into another part of the flat so I wouldn't throw a hissy fit!

TIME - to give... I love to give more than I love to receive. (I do like to get pressies but I always like to see the look on someone's face when you know you have handpicked that certain something they will totally love) This of course is the bouquet I gave my sister & I know she loved it from her voice as i didn't see her, living so far away.

TIME - for strength... These birds amaze me with their strength & courage. They fly thousands of miles, then fly all the way back again & rear two broods of chicks before taking off again.
TIME - to embrace... I am embracing the new person that I have become. I suspect that she was hidden inside of me all along waiting & watching for the right moment to take centre stage.

This book has now moved onto larger book rings as it gets thicker each week. I can't believe its 38 weeks already. Mind you I did Emily Falconbridge's Deck of Me last year & the time flew back then! I am so greatful to Ronda for starting this project. I'm hoping to complete something like this every year.

Mojoholder Challenge #90

It's that time of week again & over on the mojoholder blog you will see a gorgeous layout we had from

Ingvild Bolme to lift. We had 3 delicious designs to choose from & it was very hard to select just one. Pop over to her blog & you will agree, her designs are fabulous works of art. I decided to scrap in shades of brown so I could use these photos that I took of my sister, Tracy on her wedding day , October 2006. I stamped all the swirls in Gingerbread Chalk ink. The papers are from a card makers pack, flowers from a Studio Calico kit and the brads from various manufacturers.

Below is the page from her wedding album that I made for her after the wedding as an xmas present. I loved those photos so much & I have finally made a layout with them.

So, if you fancy a little "me" time, treat yourself, go on over to the mojo blog & play along. There is always a sketch to help you along & please leave a link in the comments so we can come over & see your creation. Go on, you'll be glad you did & we would love to see you over there.

Mojoholder Challenge #89

Over at Mojoholder's we were sent the most gorgeous page by Mollie Peckham and she asked us to lift it. I have to say it is an absolutely stunning Christmas page. Pop on over to the mojoholder blog to see the page & the sketch.I chose Autumn shades for my version of this & I used the papers from my Studio Calico Looking glass kit which includes Crate paper, Lemon Grass. The orange owls were from my Iconic kit, they really went with this mix of papers. And the orange paper behind the 3 photos is from the Confections kit.

This is a close up shot of my title as they don't stand out well in the main photo with it being small.

This is my fake tag at the top. I used brown paper from the packaging of my kit to make the fake envelope type piece for the "tag" to go into.

I really loved making this page. I loved the colours I worked with & inking all the frayed edges. The photos are taken from a DVD of pictures I was given some time ago with nature shots.

The Rest of The Autumn Minibook

Pages 15 & 16Pages 13 & 14

Pages 11 & 12


Well blogger is still playing silly but never mind! I should have taken a photo of the whole thing but it was getting too dark.

I have been in my new job 3 months today & feel like part of the furniture, I have settled in so well. Last night I went with my mate Lousie to meet Den & Jade the other two that left our old place of work when we did. We had a huge Chinese so its strict diet again for the rest of the month as our staff party is 13th December & I need to get in the dress.

The Autumn Minibook Pages.

Here are the first ten pages. I never realised the blog wouldn't let me upload the whole lot in one post. There are 6 more pages to come! Now they are uploaded they aren't in the right order either!!!!!!!

Page 9&10

Page 7&8

Page 5&6

Page 3&4

Page 1&2
How damn annoying! Stupid blogger!

Mojoholder Challenge #88

This week over on Mojoholder, we are lifting Theresa Collins. If you pop on over you will probably notice that my layout doesn't really resemble the original very much. I took on board the layers & used this gorgeous paper from Studio Calico Iconic kit. The photo is of the water fountain in our local park. Its rare to catch it turned on so was really pleased to get this shot. I put two gromlets on the page & added two blue brads inside them to signify water drops. I'm not truly happy with this layout at all as it didn't translate from my mind to the table!

Work in Progress, (a tiny sneak preview)

This is what I created at the weekend. I hope to complete it on Saturday. The bones of the book are done & it just needs filling with photos & journalling with a couple more embellies. It's great to have something almost done!

More Time pages

Time to ...... organize. As crafters we must all be organized as we have so many lucious goodies to store away. This paper was in my last Studio Calico kit & I enjoyed filling the spaces like a cross word puzzle. I used page bubbles to high light each letter.

Time to ...... imagine. I have actually put this page before organize in my minibook as it backs the last page which was believe. I figured beliving in childhood fairies & pixies wasn't far from the beautiful mythically unicorn. One of my all time favourite televison programs was an episode of Ally McBeal & the story of the man that saw a unicorn. Ally believed him because she too saw one, everyone else believe he only imagined it. Its a very romantic Christmas tale, one I watch over repeatedly. I also loved a show as a child called Snow White Horses. This photo reminds me of the magic I feel whenever I see the Ally McBeal episode. The word stamp is HS.

Wedding Anniversary.

On Thursday 23rd October, it was Tracy and Martin's second wedding anniversary. I can hardly believe it was two years ago that we attended that beautiful castle ceremony & I took photos in those fabulous grounds. I sent these flowers as not only was it there anniversary, but Tracy had been poorly & having a rough time at work.

They are mainly in bud she tells me & will be sending me better photos of them as they open. I might be able to make a gorgoeus layout with the pics. Meanwhile I am making an Autumn minibook. It's two years late as I kept promising myself I would. (In fact, I better whisper in case too many people hear, but I have 3 other minis on the go half completed waiting for inspiration to strike to complete them the way i want the to be done!!) {{insert blush icon}} I'm taking time to fill this autumn one with lots to see before finally adding my photos. I hope to complete it next weekend as now we have altered the clocks, the nights are much darker when I get in from work. I still totally love my new job, it rocks but I do kinda miss my 3.45pm home comings so I could craft before its dark. Guess I will get used to it in time!

Mojoholder Challenge 87

This week on the Mojoholder blog, we are lifting the fabulous Janna Wilson. I used SEI, Granny's Kitchen paper as it had a mosaic effect like a swimming pool. The photos are of a family friend who finally got to swim with dolphins in Mexico. I stamped the circle border using a Studio Calico stamp & cut it out before sticking it behind the piece of paper. I coloured the title chipboard piece using Distress ink China Blue. The swirl is a yellow vinyl piece that i coloured with blues & greens. The title is another Studio Calico stamp. The journalling is done on blue dymo tape. I really enjoy working with blues.

Mojoholder Challenge #86

This week we lifted the fabulous Michelle Lanning. Pop over to the Mojoholder blog for a sketch & a look at all the DT versions of this great page.

I used some left over papers from my Via Airmail Studio Calico kit, the passport collection from Making Memories. The photos belong to my big sister, Tracy. I stamped some tropical flowers & a few lizards & stapled on some skeleton leaves. The main photo is matted onto some Core'dinations cardstock. I then distressed the edges of all the photos & paper pieces to give it a bit of a rustic feel. My journalling was also matted onto the same cardstock to lift it.

week 33, Time ......

to Believe..

I went with a magical feel on this one as I recently got this door handle & words stamps from my SSG subscription. (See the Stamp Bug website for details) They are stamped onto some DCWV Once Upon A Time paper.

The big "D" stamp was a recent purchase after longing for it for over a year. I had made Carrie's birthday card last week & the stampbord had been alcohol inked. The felt pad had so much ink left on it that I stamped it off onto plain white paper. I then over stamped with a large script background stamp. Left to dry & then black embossed the big D stamp over the top. I set it aside for a day I might need it & I thought it appropriate for this weeks pages.

A week ago I saw all the Christmas stuff appearing in the shops & I fetl a sense of dread. After the weekend I became poorly with a very sore throat & suddenly the magic of Christmas hit me & filled me with excitement (clearly all the cold n flu stuff I've been taking) but I then thought about how it was as a child believing in fairies, pixies, goblins & Father Christmas & wanted to recapture that happy innocence in my pages.

Jade's 21st Birthday

Firstly it was my team mate, Angie's birthday on Saturday. I sent her a card that has been blogged some time ago so don't want to duplicate a photo. Then on Saturday night i attended Jade's 21st birthday party. She wasn't 21 until yesterday. I made her a minibook for her 18th, but as we no longer work together I had no access to new photos for her 21st. Instead I created a sliver & blue stamped card. The pictures show the front & the inside. I used a stammpbord tile for the front & inked with silver & blue mixed.

inside decorative strip.
I enjoyed doing all the silver embossing on the front.

The weekend was quite hectic to begin but found time to create my next DT page & start another. The weekends are the best time for me as its quite dark by the time I get home from work at night. Colours are difficult to match so I like full daylight wherever possible!!

My Craft News

At the weekend I was asked to join the Mojoholder Design team!!! I was thrilled & accepted immediately. I follow this blog every week & refer back to it whenever I am needing a bit of inspiration. So to be asked onto the DT was a lovely suprise. Once all the blog addresses are available, as some other new girls have joined along with me, I will set up a blog list in my side bar. Jakey is already in my lists.

For Challenge #85, we lifted the fabulous Martha Bonneau & this is my version of her page. Papers are Pink Paislee Spring Fling. Embellies are from various Studio Calico kits but the bird was given to me. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. The house is fashioned from a cardboard box (nothing goes to waste in this house) I also stamped flowers on either side of the door but the photo might not be good enough to see that.

Happy Birthday, Carrie!

Today is my forum friend, Carrie's birthday. I made this card using distress inks, various stamps & gold embossing which isn't as clear as I would like in this photo. The stampbord tile was coloured with alcohol inks, (butterscotch, red pepper) blended with solution to give a faded centre & reddened edges & then I applied the time rub ons & gel clock sticker. To get the crackle effect I applied a layer of Ranger's Inkessentials Crackle Accents.

Time pages & an award

Week 31 Fall, I love our English word Autumn but fall kinda works with this page as it is a photo I took of all the fallen leaves at the foot of the huge trees in the park. Amongst the leaves is a squirrel foraging, but you can only see him on zoom!! Paper is offcuts I got from my teamies when we had our retreat. In fact, all the paper used in this mini is offcuts, it is an awesome way to use them up.

Week 32, Write. I love to write. Good job really as I have spent 8 full weeks writing up all my study notes. Well I'm pleased to say they are all done & I can resume my crafting again. I have used two photos on this page. The first photo is the cover of an amazing handmade journal I received in a swap over on the altered art forum. We had to make journals & incorporate our team mates name. I decided that as it was so special I would use it as a happy journal. The main photo shows the inside & you can just see that the pages are all handmade. I love to fill this little book with all the good things, & recently there has been so many. The offcut of paper is perfect for this photo. I have had some fabulous craft news but am unable to share for a week. Oh well, the time will fly, it does so quick these days!!!

Finally, I was given this blog award by Karen (Scrapdolly) who created my banner.

I can't think of anything that inspires me as much as the web blogs of manufacturers such as Prima, Paper Pesto, Aussie Scrap Source. 2peas, & Basic Grey. If you have some time, pop along & see what you can find out there. I love brand new sources of inspiration to get my creative mind in a whirl.

Dream hanging

This is just a little something I put together using some distress inks & stamps. The quote is from Peter Pan, I printed onto inkjet transparency & attached with brads so the vibrant colours could show through without obscuring the words too much. I just love the words & thought them perfect to look at every day when I sit here at my computer. And of course it was fabulous to get inky & messy again!!!

Remember

I can't believe I have finally found my mojo during the weekend & made a layout!! The mojo normally strikes me on the way to work or just as I leave to go shopping, upon my return, the energy is gone & the mojo with it. I have now completed 8 weeks in my new job & during that 8 weeks I have done lots of reading & study & taking 20 different online courses, passing all but a couple which were too advanced for me. I did them to give myself an indication of what I didn't know yet. I have enjoyed it all & have taken some additional reading onboard. I am still excited & happy every day & as one of my online friends said, my energy is all streamed towards my learning. So this layout sort of came out of the blue today. I have wanted to scrap these three photos of my sister & I for ages but never really had suitable materials. This page is made entirely from my recent SC kit Iconic & add ons Audrey & Marilyn. The papers are October Afternoon's, Hometown Norm's News, American crafts', What's Happening? & Pretty. The exception is the two green flowers which I took from the Air Mail kit. The new kit Looking Glass & add on Tweedledee, will soon be winging itself towards me so thought I really ought to use some of this scrap goodness up. Mind you, I told someone the way I see it, is if I don't use it when it arrives, at least I know I always have something totally gorgeous for a rainy day!! Photos were taken by our dad, around 1969/1970 time.

Time to love

I have had terrible problems with the internet & getting onto my blog. So I really didn't think I would ever get these pages on before the next ones!

Time to love this week & I just love my ability to make things that give others pleasure. I have been commissioned to make many things but this minibook always stands out. I made my first one for myself as "instant Xmas" but knew this would be the perfect gift when asked by Godparents for something different to give to their Goddaughter. I painted a cheese triangle box pink, lined the inside with pink tissue & made a circle book attached with ribbon that pulls out to display photos & poems on both sides. This book was completed on 9th October 2006, so it is almost 2 years ago now, where has the time gone? The word page is made from a section of a rubber stamp & the word love is black doodlebug rub ons.

I'm on a day's holiday from work today, waiting for a new gas meter to be fitted. Have been very industrious too, got all my net curtains washed, all windows cleaned inside & then I put up my winter lined curtains & washed my hair. So I think that justifys some crafting time this afternoon & I am beginning work on something for my sister, Tracy. Just waiting on 3 more photos from her.

Those Were The Days

Not a brilliant photo, the light is so bright it upsets the camera, can't win eh!

I started this last weekend & decided I couldn't add anything further without spoiling it. The photo is of my sister (front) & myself ,back in the carefree days of our childhood enjoying a bit of acrobatics on the lawn! As you can see, Tracy was far better at the crab than myself. All papers from my SC Iconic kit. The journalling is hidden behind the photo as I didn't want to share it. Title was made with the stamp that came in the kit.

Another Slidemailer

With work taking up so much time I am not getting much made. I find when I have time my inspiration is totally lacking but yesterday, I was going through my computer files doing some clearing up & found pictures of things I have not shared on my blog. I couldn't access blogger for 3 days, but thanks to Greg of Studio Calico, my system is no longer refusing to allow me on to my blog. This mailer ws made last year & I never considered it good enough to share & I had fully intended to mail the pictures to Crafty Individuals to add to the gallery where some of my other work resides. It was hand painted in thistle pink emulsion & then I used gold acrylic applied with a natural sponge. I had no problems with the acetate image unlike my latest one & no glue shows!!

This is a box I made for it to live in, I got the idea from a very old Crafts Beautiful magazine.

Time to learn

Life is full of lessons we need to learn & we choose to learn. As part of my new job I am having to learn about all aspects of Insurance. My current subject Travel Insurance. I found the picure of the map on the net & added the words Travel Insurance in my photo editing program. The cardstock is some new Core'dinations colourcore in Nostalgia collection. You can sand, tear or antique it to show the gorgeous dual colour.

As for lessons we need to learn, we often only realise when something tragic happens how important it is to enjoy every day, love yourself, love your friends & family, and if like me you are a crafter, make the memories last. A lady called Aleida, who I came into contact with on the Studio Calico kit site, tragically lost her life in a road accident on Friday morning. It appears the accident happened through someone's negligent driving. They jumped a red light, ploughing into this ladies car & killed her. Her small children are left without their mum & her husband has lost his life partner all because someone couldn't be bothered to wait a few more minutes.

I shed a few tears for this lovely lady that i barely knew and made sure i went to see my dear friend Colette, who i miss but struggle to visit often enough. So everyone needs to make sure they tell those that matter just how much because all too soon things could change.

Slidemailer

I made this over the weekend, but it didn't turn out as planned. I managed to get air bubbles between my acetate image & piece of glass so no matter what direction it stands, you can see them. So I will have to make another at the weekend as this was meant as a gift for someone! The colour didn't go to plan to begin with but I'm rather pleased with it now. The stamps are designed by my forum friend, Penny (Penibear) & I got them from the SSP Guild of which I am a member.

Baby Card & Time pages

First I'll start this post by showing a card I made some time ago now for a dear blog friend. Congratulations Micayla & Steve on the birth of your sweet daughter, Emily. I know they have got the card now so I can blog it. I made the card using some scraps of Via Airmail SC kit & hand stitched all around before rubbing gently with a pink pad.

Time for Happiness... very hard to pick one photo for this as you probably know HAPPY is my word & I have a minibook taking shape at design stage to depict just what makes this girl happy.

This bag is one of many things. It's not just the bag I love, but the memories it brings when I see it as it was a fabulous day, the day I bought it. My sister, Tracy & I were tipsy after a boozy long lunch & were partners in crime, I got expensive Radley bag, she, Billy shoes then we fell asleep exhausted!!!
Time to trust... I have to have a great deal of trust in myself right now to study hard & learn all that i have to in the next 6 months as it is very important for the next step in my career. My job is going so very well I haven't felt this happy since I worked for my sister 6 years ago. Life is a funny old thing & its odd how things turn out. I would have given anything to keep the life that I had, but it wasn't to be. Now, though I have developed strength & confidence to push for something just as good and.....I'm getting there.

The page was made using ink sponged over some sequin waste. The photo is of my books that I fill every day.

MIA

Sorry if I've been a bit quiet. I had my sister, Tracy come to stay for the weekend. She lives up in Newcastle & as its a while since she stayed over we did girly things. I went to Ikea to buy some very much needed bedroom storage as my clothes live on the spare bed. So you can imagine the fun I had trying to square the place up so Tracy could actually sleep in her room!! I have spent the last two evenings putting together my two new chest of drawers between studying & feeding myself.
My job is going very well & I am learning so much stuff I never thought possible. I plan to spend the weekend crafting and hopefully getting some sleep as the world & his wife have done there best to keep me awake in the small hours two days running. Tracy & I didn't exactly go to bed before we had turned into pumpkins but we had a lot of talking to do ;)

Autumn Glory

This page started out as an inter team challenge to do a scrap lift but mine doesn't resemble the lift in any way!! I did however forever conquer my fear of orange, I think it is more grown up with the modern papers & very sophisticated & I enjoyed putting this together from my Studio Calico Confections kit.

I got my next kit paid for this morning so more yummy goodies are heading my way around the 10th Sept. I feel so special getting these every month it is something to really look forward to & I get stuck in & use them straight away. I also think my scrapping style has changed since I got these kits, I am more colour confident these days & not scared to cut up a sheet of paper as I have done here on the Creative Imaginations Bloom, Floral Sunshine.

I also love that the papers are mostly double sided & the reverse of the sheets is as yummy as the fronts. I used the alpha stickers from last months Via Airmail kit to keep the brown compilmenting colour going. The HS felt flowers are delicious & were in the main kit. The photo is one of my favourtie trees in our local park in its most glorious colours. I have the ame tree taken in frost, & in snow along with another tree from a different area of the park & I plan a minibook of them as they always make me feel happy.

Forum Challenge

As we haven't done much in the way of challenges over on the altered art forum, Jo came up with an inspirational idea to get us crafting, Sets. I love to see matching things on people's blogs so I decided to make matching tags. They are the same except for the colours & eventually these will form parts of pages in a minibook. I make up backgrounds & bits from time to time & when I have enough I will put them all together into a book.

I used distress inks but only have one shade of purple & one shade of green so I was limited in my choice & had to use browns, but they will fit perfectly with an autumnal page. The others will be blogging there's as they are made & they can all be found in my sidebar under forum friends.