Christmas Dreams

 

 Christmas has been and gone - another good one, apart from this cold  I now have.  And in this quiet time between Christmas and New Year plenty of crafting and thinking and preparing for the year ahead has been going on.

One of the first things I'm going to try on for size is joining in a challenge.  So, this Christmas card, is being entered into The Octopode Factory Friday Challenge Anything Goes.

 I used Distress Stains on the tag, the white stamping used a Stamping Up ink pad and the Octopode stamp was coloured in using my lovely new Neocolor II colours.

Did you notice the gap between the a and the s in Christmas?  Nope, it wasn't planned - just what happens when you type on a real, honest to goodness typewriter that you thrifted during the year.

See you next year, here's hoping it's a good one!

A quick card and a quick post

It was my neice's birthday last week. So, I whipped up a quick card for her.
And I also had a new phone, so I'm testing a quick post with it. Fingers crossed it works

Tag, you're it!

I know I'm a bit late to the Hallowe'en party, but I made these tags a couple of weeks ago (bit addicted to tags around here at the moment, if you want to know), and what's to be done with a pile of tags?

 Put a scrap of vintage text behind them...  Pop them on a piece of black card....

 And start filling up that 7Gypsies carousel thingy that's been sat on my shelf for ever!

Apalling pictures of them in the carousel, I know.  But doing my best with dark nights, shiny shiny pockets and getting used to a new/different camera.

Feels like a new term

Autumn.  It still has that back to school feeling.  A time to start afresh.  

To open up the blog, that has been neglected.  But, like a succulent, with just a little attention, it can be brought back to life.  

To start running again, after a year off.  But, inspired by watching this year's half marathon in the city centre, and by my falling fitness levels, this morning I pulled on my running gear and running shoes, put Laura back on the ipod, and ran.  I'm not aiming for another half marathon, just to be able to run for half an hour, three times a week.

There's still plenty going on around here, and it's time to get on with it.

Before I go, do you want to see one of the reasons for this quiet blogging time?

 

This is Bailey.  Under all that fur he's a Miniature Schnauzer.  He's sure to make future appearances around here.

thrifting dreams

It might have been her eighteenth birthday, but Luu still got a go-to card. Although, Mark did help with choosing what went on the card - with my ultimate design choice, of course.  And the good news, is she got an offer of a place from her favoured university, subject to her grades. But, they are really do-able, so she should be off in the autumn.

 And, talking of birthdays, and the money that came with it... We're going thrifting today. Which reminded me, I haven't shown this little project that I did over the Christmas break. I saw a few last year around the blogosphere, on my favourite Dottie Angel and on Decor8, to mention just two, and wanted to have a go myself.

With few thrifting opportunities, it took me until December to find a likely shade that I could pull apart, wind strips of fabric around, and hang a motley selection of items from.

Not the best photos, probably why it's taken me two months to show, but you get the idea... Anyway, I've seen a few more around lately - being used as actual shades... So, now I want one as a shade, for my dressing table, here's hoping the thrifting gods look favourably down on me today...

the card making plan

I've been making quite a few cards lately, for birthdays and such.  However, I usually forget to take any photos, or, more honestly, they're usually put together at the last moment and I literally don't have time to wait for some half-decent light...

But, last week I made one for Luu, a good luck card for a Uni interview.  So, I've managed to get a photo. 

I like making cards, and giving cards, but I don't really like that moment (or ten) when you sit down and think - yikes, what shall I do???  So, when I got this Octopode stamp last autumn, I came up with a sketch for my cards.  I put some cards, papers, ribbons and whatever else I came across that would work on this style of card into a kit bag, and hey presto!  No-stress card making. 

Oddly enough, since I started this method of card making, I've had no male birthdays.  But, I have a hot air balloon stamp that will work for the boys.  And, actually, I should probably get a male Octopode.  Yes, I think I will...

And, did the good luck card work?  Well, yes.  She's had an offer from that Uni, but has also now had another interview at her favourite University, and should hear from that one by the end of this week.  Fingers crossed...

No photos!

Ages ago, I won a giveaway on my friend Lisa's blog of a Bite Sized Scrapbooking Bundle.  Basically, scrapbooking in bite sized chunks, sounds good to me.  Especially when I'm trying to move from the right-hand side of the page.  So, I pulled a photo, used the Scarlet Lime kit, and scrapped another story.

If you're interested in the journalling, it says "How am I supposed to become a world famous scrapbooker, when my children do this to me?"  Total irony on the world famous bit.  But seriously, this is about the usual standard of photos of my girl's - so that's the story that gets scrapped.

 

At the moment I'm really trying to get into scrapping the stories, there are so many of them still to do...

Scarlet Lime Kit

Way back, in November, last year... I was tempted by the Thanksgiving/Black Friday sale at Scarlet Lime.  And splashed out a whole five dollars on a sight unseen kit.  Now, the post and packing added another $15, but I thought I'd go for it - my first order from the States!

It took a couple of weeks to reach me, but it was so worth the wait.  There was quite a bit of purple in there, as well as some greens, some wood effects, some trims and embellishments and a set of stamps. 

These are the first three layouts I made using the kit.  I whizzed them up one afternoon, and then realised that I had completely used my fail-safe scrap-booking combo - can you spot it?  Yes, everything on the right hand side of the page!  Nothing wrong with that - but I'm now on a bit of a mission to mix it up a bit. Which includes the layout in my last post, using Shimelle's project. 

I'll be back soon, with some more from this kit, and a move from the right-hand side of the page....

9 pilots

So, I sat down yesterday afternoon for a little blog hop, and came across this post on Shimelle's blog.  And decided to join in. I shopped my stash, came up with some suitable papers and a photo I took on holiday in Cornwall last year.  The photo had a couple of stories I wanted to tell, but I just wasn't sure how to scrap them.

And about an hour later, had this layout. Thanks for the inspiration, Shimelle.