Twenty Minute Layout

I did something I have never done before... I took apart a layout I had done. When I say "took apart" I actually mean that I demolished it... wrecked... completely... annihilated. I was going to use the embellishments and photograph again... but then I didn't because I figured that if I didn't like them first time round, chances are I wouldn't like them if I used them again. I did re-do the layout... but still don't really like it. However, the whole thing took me twenty minutes - and that was including sticking down photographs and then ripping them off again, wondering how the heck I was going to repair the rip in my background paper, and then deciding to paint over the tear and hope for the best, and waiting for the paint to dry.

So... best I show you what I did, and to what I did it to...
Remember this hideous monstrosity (the layout, not the subject!):

It is gone. It is no more. I have to say that it actually looks better in the photograph than it ever did in real life. So much work went into it - from the little feet for centres of flowers, all the ornate sewing, cutting out the photograph, to tracking down and ordering little shoe embellishments. And I cut it up. And then I didn't even use the photograph again!
I re-did the layout so quickly... layering up some photographs and then glittering the edges (yes... I did say 'glitter'... me... using glitter!). All I did after that was to use Papermania flowers that my son's girlfriend Steph had bought for me as well as sticking on some Papermania clear stickers. I took some green thread out of Papermania heart shapes and changed it to pink ribbon instead, and stuck them on using the foam pads already attached. Next I stamped out some letters using a 99p set of foam stamps I bought and cut around the letters. A bit of journalling with white pen, and I was done! After the paint had dried, the layout took just over five minutes to complete. Now that's what I call quick! *lol*
And here it is...

It's not brilliant... but it's better than it was :)

My Rosie-Posy

Callie-The-Very-Heavily-Pregnant-And-Oh-So-Annoying-Kitty cat has finally removed herself from between myself and the computer, and I can finally post my most recent layout.  Gotta forgive the kitty - she's due any day now, and is just attention-seeking and wanting lots of time with her furr-mummy (that's me! *lol*)

So... for the layout...

This started off with a set of papers I had in my stash drawer for so long, I thought I'd never use it. The faded rose-hues matched perfectly with the flowers I had made... and so it was finally opened and put to good use! The paper pack is "Rose Pink" (PK004) by 'Crafty Bitz', and I used two sheets of the papers:

Pink Roses (PA027)

and a plainer sheet with hues of peach and green (PA028)

Out came my La Blanche swirly stamp again - how would I ever craft without this? *lol*

I used Distress Inks in Tattered Rose (TIM20240), Victorian Velvet (TIM27195) and Brushed Corduroy (TIM21421) to ink up and distress the edges (and for the swirly stamping too), and I used the 'Angel Mist' Cosmic Shimmer and a couple of masks that I made on the paper too - not that it can be seen in the photograph.

The lettering is PaperMania glitter alpha chipboard (PMA355200)... but everyone knows "I don't do glitter", so I coloured them with copic markers (browns and rusts) and added a bit of distress ink too. Of course, I have to mention that beautiful, beautiful vine.

This is a "Dusty Attic" (Australian company) border vine shape (DA0459) - it's a laser cut die that you colour yourself .... and I got mine from an amazing online shop called "The Craftz Boutique" , whose customer service and online shopping experience is second-to-none.

I coloured the vine with the three distress inks I chose to co-ordinate with this layout, and then spritzed it with the Angel Mist Cosmic Shimmer Spray.  This layout was (as usual!) finished off with hand stitching... but although there's quite a bit, I really enjoyed completing this layout and trying out the different stitches.

Well, that's it from me for a while... the cat is back and mewling like she's ready to drop her kits. Poor kitty - she can't jump or even walk at the moment, she's so huge! I just wish she didn't crave my attention 24 hours a day. Waking up at 3am with a hugely pregnant cat sat on your chest and licking your face is not the most pleasant of experiences :)

Wisteria...Finally!

When I planted my little wisteria, everyone who I asked said that it would flower in it's second year after planting. I watched it grow at a tremendous speed, and in the second year... it didn't flower! I waited five years for this beautiful plant to bloom finally in late April 2011 - but it was so worth the wait!

I don't think I've ever worked so hard in putting a layout together - from stamping with my favourite swirly La Blanche stamp, and also using a Tim Holtz stamp from the Visual Artistry collection (Urban Grunge CSS25917)... to making each and every little wisteria bloom and leaf... to the huge amount of hand stitching! I started with a 12x12 paper from the "Rose Garden"  collection of papers (PMA1671300) and stamped using Milled Lavender (68976)  first and embossing it with clear powder, followed by swirls and text using Dusty Concord (78179)  Ranger inks over the top of the embossing. I then layered up a mix of scrap papers from the Rose Garden Collection, and also remnants from the Heather Capsule set of papers that are STILL in my stash drawer. I looked carefully at the wisteria to see how they're put together - but nomatter how I tried I couldn't make my paper replicas look as good as the real thing. I used plain papers and sprayed them with a mix of Cosmic Shimmer Mists.

The leaves were done in the same way - and I embossed them to make them look more authentic. When I glued the flower and leaves design to the papers, I stitched stems through them just to bring it all together a bit (not explaining myself very well here... sorry!). I topped off the paper wisteria bloom with a couple of ribbon bows in co-ordinationg colours.

The triple-fold design at the bottom right-hand corner is stitched to hold it down... and I also added matching buttons (found in my stash drawer).

The bright green butterflies are Anita's Decorative Toppers (ANT373100) - I cut around them to remove any white edges. I didn't really plan this layout, but I did have some idea of how I wanted it to look. I'm quite happy with the result - except for one really silly mistake. Look closely at the line of small photographs... the bottom one is upside down! lol. Well, this took me ages... and I'm not changing it now!

Mini-Me!

So many people comment on how alike my granddaughter and I are... maybe it's because she loves to mimic me? My daughter Katie took this photograph of her daughter and me and we just couldn't help ourselves...

I used the TeaHouse Collection again - but chose papers without cupcakes on this time. The green paper is the leftover from a previous layout (Cupcakes Are NOT For Sharing) and all the other papers used were scraps too - I'm trying to be thrifty *lol* The title is made with "Bang! Zoom!" sizzix die cut lettering, and the tiny flower brads for the centres of the paper flowers were a crafty bargain kept in my stash drawer. I used some X-Cut punches to make the little flowers - but they had to be plain and quite flat to fit in with this layout, so once again I didn't use the flowers I had made over the past few days!

The birds and the birdhouse are stamps from the Papermania "Tweet" 5"x7" clear stamp set (PMA 9074003) - I stamped them onto scraps of the TeaHouse papers with a Prussian Blue ink and just cut them out. One bird is stuck flat, whilst the other is stuck down using foam squares. The birdhouse is also stuck down using the foam squares... and if you look closely, you'll see that the birdhouse door opens up (not that it does much good - it was just a detail I wanted to add).

This layout used so much embroidery thread! I sewed around the aperture on the top layer of cardstock... and then just went mad with pale blue, green, pink and also a darker pink. I did all the stitching first... and then covered a lot of it with the embellishments! The bunting is cut out of scraps, and sewn onto the layout with embroidery thread. I also inked the edges of each bunting flag with the prussian blue ink to make it match in with the rest of the layout, and also to make it stand out a bit more. A blue pen was used to trace around the title lettering to make that stand out too. That's about it... I guess I did go overboard with the stitching details... but it was fun seeing how many different stitches and techniques I could use. I'll always love doing the shabby-chic flowery layouts... but sometimes it just doesn't fit the photograph I want to use - so I'm quite getting used to this 'new' style for me - and it does fit in nicely next to the 'normal' style I use when in the same scrapbook.

Make Do And Mend

A few days ago I looked after BOTH my beautiful grandchildren for three days - I'm shattered! lol

Alistair is growing so fast - none of his babygrows fit properly... so I did what my Nan did before me - 'make do and mend' - I cut the feet off - of the babygrow, not my grandson. Alistair loved being in the garden (under the shade of a Lilac tree) with the sun shining. Lily kept checking him when he was sat in his pram, often commenting on his "nakey feet".

I seem to be going Do-Crafts crazy at the moment - I have such a lot of 'stuff' from Do-Crafts, and I'm trying to see if I can use the papers and embellishments in a style more suited to me. I've had a go at the less-fussy style (which I've really loved trying), and now I've tried making these modern-feel papers fit in with my distressed, shabby style with layered flowers and stitching. I used two Distress Inks with this project - Broken China and Wild Honey, and Tim Holtz came into play with the title too - it's the "Once Upon A Time" die cut letter strip (sizzix # 656916). My mum had a hand in this layout too - all the little 'frills' are tatting lace flowers, which my mum makes (these are her 'tries' - when she practises a new tatting loop - or when she has a little thread left over and she wants to use it up).

So here's the Do-Crafts run-down...

I started with a Creative Papercraft Kit - Baby Boy (PMA107109) and used only these papers. I liked the mix of blue with a very yellowy-orange ... it was a colour combination I hadn't thought of using, and yet I really liked the way it all went together.

The flowers all started off as simple, plain blue paper shapes from several Papermania collection: Capsule Collection ~ Blueberry Pie (PMA 3681106), and just the blue flowers from both the Henbury Lane (PMA 3621200) and Summer Bloom (PMA 3621101) petal pouches. I sprayed each petal layer with a water and gum arabic solution, then left them to dry off quite a lot. I did my usual petal twisting, and heat set each one with a heat gun. Then it was just a matter off deciding which ones to layer with which (took me quite a while - I am SO indecisive!). I brushed each finished flower quite heavily with Wild Honey distress ink - which I though matched the papers really well. I think one or two of the largest flowers are Prima E Line Mixed Vintage (item # 300258) - once again, just a couple of blue ones. The buttons are just a few chosen from  the PaperMania button collection in yellow (PMA 7162).

My Martha Stewart punch was used for just one edge along the matting and layering of the photograph - I quite liked the idea of just this one side being punched. The layers are stitched to each other and to the background paper using bright blue and yellow embroidery threads. I stitched a lot around the page - it was just too bare for me, and I thought it needed 'something'. I also stitched around Alistairs feet on the photograph to highlight his cut-up babygrow. 

Well, that's all there is for this layout... I now have a whole day to look through the photographs of my beautiful Lily and decide which ones I'm going to scrapbook... this could take a while! lol

Alistair Got Giggles

When my daughter and son-in-law finally got to go on their honeymoon cruise, I looked after my youngest grandchild, Alistair, for a few days. He tired me out, but it was wonderful having him stay with us. He said "Ga Ga" every time his granddad walked into the room, and had giggles every time I said to him "Goo goo, gee gee, GA GA!". I managed to capture a laugh with my camera... and I just had to scrapbook it.  He was just nine and a half weeks old - such a character!

The main background paper is from a "Hot Off The Press" SaraPapers book, but all the other paper used is from PaperMania - a capsule collection (think it's "Heather"), and my favourite ~ Henbury Lane. A lot of the buttons are also PaperMania, and the lettering is from their Retro Collection (Forever Friends "The Good Life"). All the circles were cut out or drawn using the X-Cut shape cutter system - I use this so much these days, I think I'd be lost without it! Even the butterflies are cut out from the Henbury Lane papers... and the paper left over after cutting out the butterflies, I used to die-cut the little bird. Oh, and I also used PaperMania adhesive pearls in white just to finish off and add a little more detail.

I had wanted to use the paper flowers I made yesterday - but they were just too fussy, so I made some more that were plainer and more simple, using the PaperMania papers.

Of course there is stitching again - and so much of it this time ~ the stitching took longer than the rest of the layout all together! Part of this was also due to me wanting to sew on each and every button. Apart from the sewing, this would have been a really quick layout to create.

I chose the purple and blue colours, and I'm hoping that the purple background (which also has a pale blue smattered through it, as well as all the wording) doesn't appear too pink-ish looking. I used blue thread that matched the papers, but chose a much darker purple embroidery thread to use as I thought it would be less 'girly' and suit the layout better.

Well, there he is... my amazing youngest grandchild. Isn't he just the most adorable baby ever...? Of course, I would say that... I'm biased :)

Concentrate!

My granddaughter Lily is a little live wire - running around all the time - and she loves being on the trampoline in the garden. She'd asked for her sweeties, and against all advice from her Nonna, decided that she could jump up and down with the little plastic bottle of sherbert in her hand. That day, I think more sherbert landed on the trampoline than in Lilys' mouth. It was when she suddenly stopped jumping, sat down with a bounce, and peered into the bottle... wondering where the sherbert had all gone... that I snapped the most adorable photograph of her concentrating so hard to look deep into the bottle to see if there was any sherbert left.

I used Papermania "Summer Bloom" papers for this layout, and lots of handmade flowers. The ribbon was leftover from a giftbox at Christmas - I just added some paper ribbon over the top for a flowery addition. Distress Ink was a must for this layout - Lipstick, to match in with the bright pinks of the papers. I used my La Blanche stamp for the swirls ( I LOVE that stamp!), and mixed pink and green papermania inks for the wording stamp ("Live Laugh Love").

The jewelled brads used were leftovers from another Papermania set I had used - the Teahouse (cupcakes) brads... and  I also used pearl brads in pink and ivory that I had in my stash drawer - also PaperMania.

You can't see it clearly at all, but the butterflies I cut out from the papers are highlighjted with Ranger Stickles ("Crystal"), and I used a LOT of "Candy Pink" Cosmic Shimmer Mist too - on the smaller flowers, butterflies... and wherever else it happened to get onto :)

I decided to do my journalling directly onto the layout this time (rather than write all the details on the back), and I used green pen, and also green stitching to compliment the layout... can't have a layout without stitching now, can I?!

Beer Mats!

Carolyn from Pickwells (yes, that wonderful local-to-me crafty emporium and veggie heaven! lol) handed me a pile of beer mats a while ago... "You might find something to do with these" she said. And I did. For a while, my eldest daughter Naomi tried flipping them off the table edge and catching them, followed by a mini-beer-mat-frisbee-contest. Callie-Cat found one quite interesting for about three minutes, and the dog had a sniff, but decided that without poseable thumbs (and the beer mats not being made from bacon) she really wasn't interested.  Which left it to me and some really amazingly cheap bargains - including Papermania brads and papers, the wonderful Craftz Boutique, 99p store book, and  £1 paper roses.



Front Cover





The front cover was spritzed with Cosmic Shimmer (Angel Mist) after being "Ranger-Inked" and stamped. The roses are also spritzed using Lava Red.

Page 1 has two photo mounts with journalling space on the back, and little key and padlock charms that I inked using black and plum inks. Page 2 has a simple folded down pocket decorated with a brad and ribbon, and a two-sided tag slipped inside decorated with another paper rose (lots of stickles used on all the paper flowers).

Page 3 has a journalling tag held under some die-cuts which I inked with brown ink, and then dabbed on distress embossing ink (not all over) to create an aged effect. Inside can be found 2 further photo mats, and these are covered on the reverse side with matching patterned paper (as are all the tags and mats). Page 4 is a simple journal booklet and tag held under two strips of lace.

I matched the butterfly on the 3rd page with a butterfly under the tags on page 4.

Next pages, and I decided to simplify it a bit...  a small tag is hidden in a pocket made behind the lace-up pocket. This laced pocket is designed not to open, but just to hold another tag. On page 6 is a simple photo mat that can be pulled out from behind the acetate covering.

The acetate is simply held onto the frame with small matching brads, and beause of the space needed for the rings, a ribbon was added at the side for a cover-up and decoration.

My favourite pages - 7 and 8! Both are very simple - a journalling tag being held under a chipboard piece and the page stitched around, followed by page 7 that has a simple photo mat held under some ribbon.

Under the photo mat is stitching, and the ribbon also has a sliding cardboard button (made by me) so that any photo can be held in and the 'button' moved up or down so that it doesn't cover any important part of the photo.

Finally, the last pages! Number 9 is a simple corner pocket decorated with leaves and paper roses. The corner is stitched and also has a tiny paper flower. Page 10 is two tags held in a pocket with stamping on one side (Angel Mist used again) and a journalling spot on the other sides.

I also decorated this page with a little stick pin (a free gift) with added embellishments - a butterfly and a bead.

The back cover is the same as the front in that it is coveed with a page of an old Charles Dickens book (don't panic - it was bought for 99p at the Discount Store, and I bought 2 copies - one to keep and one for crafting).

Well, that's my beer-mat-mini.

Looking at my latest projects, I am now going to set myself a task... that I should not use green, red, or brown in my next project - or only tiny splashes of said colours if needed. I really think that these must be my favourites, as I'm always using the same papers and colours!

A Night Spent At Nonna's House

I had both Lily and Alistair stay over last weekend - what a tiring time... but so worth every moment. Lily was as cute as she always is - even when she lets one rip and coyly says "I farted!" with the biggest grin on her face (is she the only child to ever be able to fart on command?). Anyway, Alistair took a little while to get used to his Nonna feeding him and telling him that he was gorgeous (rather than his mummy being there to do it) - but when he did, he was so adorable! He even smiled at me (and, no, it really wasn't wind! lol). I took so many photographs of both my grandchildren... and of course had to have a new layout of Baby Alistair, because he's changed so much in the past month. The photograph I chose probably isn't the most cute one... but I love the expression on his face, as if to show that he was as surprised as me for him to be spending the night at my home.

I used Tim Holtz and Basic Grey (Snow Queen) papers, and stamped along the bottom using an Artemio stamp and on the top left using a Sheena Douglass stamp (A Little Bit Sketchy 2 - "Faith"), with Papermania bright teal and Color Box Chalk Prussian Blue inks. I embossed the bird on a branch and one stalk of meadow flowers with a clear embossing powder. I cut ovals out of the papers and distressed the edges (Tim Holtz distressing tool) and used Broken China distress ink to colour the edges a bit - the photograph also. Stitching by hand with embroidery threads and also cotton was used to add a little texture and interest to the photograph of Alistair, and also to highlight a circle around the letter "A". This letter is a glitter cardboard from Dovecraft. I inked it with the Broken China ink and then used Weathered Wood distress embossing powder over it... then added a little more ink when it was dried fully.

I had quite a few of my handmade flowers left over to match this layout, and I also added some Prima flowers from the Pastiche collection. There were literally hundreds of brads to choose from... and some of the best to match this layout were from Doodlecraft Designs Inc - the Boutique collection, Swimming Pool assortment. There are also Dovecraft brads, and some blue buttons. Some buttons are from the Capsule Collection, but most are plain, everyday buttons - as well as a pretty little blue glittery rocking horse button I just had to use!

The butterflies are called Fly Stickers by a company called KandyToys... they are very similar to the ones you can get from Anita's - but they come in a variety of sizes. I don't like the holographic patterned edges, so I cut them off - this makes the plastic backing quite difficult to peel off, but it is worth it if, like I feel, the sparkly backing doesn't match with your layout design.

I think that's about it - apart from the little blue roses which I buy from a local bookstore that has a small crafting section. They cost £1 for 28 blooms - not a bad price at all. I quite enjoyed the little finishing touches - like all the buttons being hand sewn onto the layout... it was a relaxing process after running around after the grandchildren!

The Wedding...

I scrapped a photograph from my daughters wedding on Friday... I think I would have done a few more, but I ran out of ink... and this page had taken me almost two days to do as it was! I have fiddled with the colour a little on the computer, as my camera seems to wash out the colours and make everything look a bit bland.  Hopefully it's pretty close to how it looks 'in real life'.

I used a Papermania double-sided cardstock called "Wedding Sentiments". I actually preferred the reverse, but thought that the side I did use in the end suited the whole layout best. I did a lot of stitching - most of it is covered with the flowers. Some of the larger lillies are from Papermania - I just cut off all the greenery as it didn't look very nice. The remainder of the flowers - pink lillies and cream roses are all (tediously) cut from some decoupage sheets I had (unfortunately NOT die-cut). The butterflies are material covered balsa embellishments from a company called "Craft For Occasions" - I do get quite a lot of little bits and pieces from this company, as Hobbycraft sell the packets quite cheaply. I found a brilliant bargain at my local shop... Liquid Pearls for £1.70 - the colour is "Pastel Raspberry" and though it looked almost white in the bottle, the colour was a perfect pale pink for this layout. The edges were inked with "Tattered Rose" distress ink, and then sprinkled with another bargain - pale pink embossing powder for £1 a tub. A few brads were used too - also from Papermania.

I still can't believe I'm a mother-in-law now...  But the wedding was lovely - the rain held off for the happy couple, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I didn't get to attend the evening reception - I was ill :( Katie did save some wedding cake for me though, so it's not so bad *lol*

Keeping Mummy Awake

This layout is made with a photograph that is nearly sixteen years old - of my youngest daughter and I when she was just a few weeks old, taken my my darling husband at around eleven o'clock at night.

I used papers from two pads I have from My Minds Eye, and also used some of the flowers that I have been making recently. I wanted to use a doily in a layout - don't ask me why... I think I must have just thought that it might look pretty, but chances are I won't be using them again (forty-nine paper doilies to get rid of then *lol*). Of course there's stitching - and Perfect Pearls to add little extra details. The cut out roses and butterflies are all from one sheet of Papermania's Henbury Lane collection, and for the butterflies I added little antenna with just a couple of stitches. The photograph has been distressed with a paint that I used mixing water colours (crimson and white) with some pearly children's paint I bought very cheaply at Tesco.  All the edging of the background papers and thephoto matting has also been 'tarted up' with the paint. I have a 'thing' about corners lately, and so I tried adding something a little different to the layout with a turned corner (decorated with the paint I had made) and torn surround. All the litle roses were touched up with the paint also, just to give them a little glitz.

Precious Mother Daughter Moments...

Beth, my youngest daughter, had been on my computer using the webcam and I used it as an opportunity to grab a couple of 'stills' of the two of us together (she is so photo-phobic!). That was in April, and looking through the photographs makes me smile so much - the two of us laughing and giggling, making silly faces and generally mucking around. The cooker timer started beeping, and just as I kissed her cheek before leaving the room to check on dinner she caught the moment ... and although it's not a flattering picture at all, I love the softness and love it shows. This was a rare layout that I had sketched, planned, and ended up almost exactly as I had first planned it. I started off with Core'Dinations card stock and the Papermania Heather Capsule. The edges of everything were frayed and inked and I used purple embroidery thread to stitch swirls (as always *lol*). The three-fold-down corner was just something I thought would look really effective, and I used a resist technique with gold ink and clear detail embossing powder before covering with purple ink and buffing the excess off - this had to be done because the Papermania papers are plain white on the reverse.

The photograph was also 'washed out' slightly, and the purple hues exaggerated to match in with the papers.  The flowers were handmade (see previous post) and the titling hand-written. I was a nervous wreck putting my silver paint pen direct onto the layout- even with a pencilled outline to guide me. I was terrified I would make a mistake on this layout that had taken me days to complete.  Typically for me, even with the amount of stash I have piled up everywhere, I had no Perfect Pearls that would match in with the colour of this layout. So, I mixed a baby blue and pale pink, and used a cocktail stick to dab it around the stitching. Using the cocktail stick wasn't as effective as using Perfect Pearls straight from the applicator bottle, but it's okay.

Well, that's it... one of my absolute favourite layouts to date - not just for the finished look, but for the crafting and creative process that it took me.

Grandbaby I Have Yet To Meet...

I am so excited at the thought of becoming a Grannie again... I planned this layout in my head... but then decided to just start poking around in my stash and see what appealed to me most. The process was very relaxed - I just 'let it flow' and the layout almost created itself :) I know it's very samey-samey... but it's my 'style' and how I do a layout *lol* I decided that rather than the original idea of using monochromatic scheme - possibly black and white - I would let the scan photo stand on it's own, and use muted tones around it instead... I chose creams, greys, and a soft lilac-ey sort of colour as well as white. I started off with a blank cream 12x12 sheet, and embossed with white my favourite stamps - the poem "Love Is Not..." and a "Wonderful" definition stamp. I only used black inking on this layout, as I wanted it to stay quite 'pure' looking - and softened looking too. Of course, lots of stitching was used (grey, cream, and white threads), as well as sticky pearls from DoCrafts and also Papermania. The tiny silver/pearl roses are handmade, and the butterflies, bows, and other flowers were a bargain at a £1 craft supply shop.
I can't wait to meet my new grandbaby in January :)

Little Tyke...

My son when he was just a little tyke - he's 24 this year! I set myself a task with this layout... to try NOT to use things... On my 'not to use' list was Ranger Inks and any Die-cuts - I felt almost naked without my inks at the table *lol*, but still used distressing techniques on the Core'Dinations paper and lots of stitching in blues, green and red (to bring out the colour of the tricycle seat). For the papers, I used Basic Grey "Poplin" (from the Urban Couture collection) and Core'dinations paper. I also used Papermania Dewdrops (Aqua) and Anita's Fairy Wings Dimensional Stickers (Blue Mountain Butterflies). The stickers are printed in holographic sticky paper - and the holographic shine just didn't match with the layout, so I had to trim all the butterflies and get rid of the bits I didn't like. Because of my decision not to use die-cuts, all the embellishments were handcut... what a task!

My Beautiful Naomi

My eldest daughter - she takes after her nan, who is also absolutely gorgeous! I love the Papermania capsule collection in Heather... it's just a shame they don't supply a 12x12 paper collection. So I used a couple of sheets from the the A4 pad, torn and inked, and then layered this onto a Core'dinations 12x12 piece of cardstock. The flowers are both from the capsule collection, and also handmade ones by me. I used a white gel pen for writing round the edges of the cardstock and also the photograph. Naomi will shoot me when she finds this on the web - she hates this photo! *lol*

The Finished Product

After my previous long-winded post, I thought I'd better show the finished product... My Love
The little cherub button is so sweet! I wasn't going to add anything after the ribbon, but I think the flowers and button are just enough... A little decadent and rich, but not too fussy or overdone. Just a note here... I HATE this photograph of me - but I chose it because Hubby looks so sweet in it - finally a photograph of him where he's not pulling a silly face, blinking, or just acting the fool. Gotta love that man :) I'm almost itching to add something to the left hand side of the layout... but I realise that that would probably ruin it completely.

Another snowy LO

Using a set I received from DoCrafts, I chose a simple background paper with not too much pattern so as I could add the swirls and liquid pearls to the layout.

The hardest choice I had to make on this layout was which way to lay the main paper *lol* everything else I had already cut out and inked/chalked/distressed, so it was so easy to put together. The snow has all but disappeared now in the area in which I live... and for all my complaining about it, I'm missing it already.

Finally... SNOW!

Twelfth Night, the last day of Christmas, and the far South finally gets a proper snowfall! The following morning I was out in it... loving every cold second :)
I decided to use grey tones here, rather than my original thought of blues and white, because I thought the grey would somehow give a feeling of the coldness of the day better. I used Sandy Lion "Celebration Formal" paper, Papermania brads and Anitas dimension stickers. The lettering and large snowflake were printed and cut out by myself - took ages! *lol*

Using a box set of papers

I bought the Papermania box set "Touch Of Teal" last week at HobbyCraft ~ for only £8 ... bargain! I knew the papers would go beautifully with a photograph I had taken of my granddadughter, so I've been crafting all day and getting annoyed at fiddly bits of ribbon! Apart from the lettering, I quite like the finished result.