Acetate Hanging & Stamp Sale!

This is a simple hanging made from a piece of acetate which I’ll turn into a hanging- hung from the two eyelets in the corners. I’ve mixed up some papers from Little Yellow Bicycle- Elizabeth Park & Generation Z. I’ve used the acetate to help frame the photograph.

Sticking acetate to anything is always a challenge without the adhesive showing through. I’ve got around this by placing little pieces of cardstock or patterned paper over the top. The little rosette was a bit fiddly but is really dinky.

The photo is one of my favourite. It’s been adapted using the ‘Instagram’ application so I’ve focussed in on my son and blurred the other people in the picture. The little sticker that said ‘love’ just didn’t fit in with what I wanted to call the hanging- I just found a ‘d’ from one of the Elizabeth Park paper and added it to the sticker. Don’t cast stickers off that don’t fit in- adapt them and add other stickers and letters to them and that way, you won’t waste them.

I’ve finally sorted out all my stamp sets and a couple of accessories. It took a while photographing them all- click on the tab at the top or this link . There’s 48 items & all of them need to go. All the explanations of costs & postage are detailed on the page so please read it all if you’re interested. They will go on Ebay after 15th April so grab a bargain while you can. I’ve also got some paper packs too- but it’s more difficult sending them through the post without damage (I’ve only got so many pizza type boxes). Anyone locally is welcome to come and have a rummage through. ETA The stamp sets left (which are not many thanks to you guys ) are listed. I’m taking them off as they get sold. So if you can see it, its available!

I’ve been trying to be more inventive this week- using up all the ingredients in the fridge. I was using up some strong flour and made some dough. I love pummelling bread dough; very therapeutic!! (can’t tell you what I was thinking as I punched the bread). With half I made a pizza and the other made some cinnamon buns. I was worried it would be too plain as the dough wasn’t sweetened or had egg added to it. In the end, they came out fine. I may have to get rid of my ancient breadmaker as it doesn’t make a big enough loaf (does one exist?!!) and making the dough is really easy. I did enjoy a nursery visit with Will to the cinema. It was a treat for all the kids. We saw ‘The Muppets’. I haven’t giggled so much for ages. Some of it was more amusing if you’d seen the original Muppets and the humour went over the kids’ heads. Towards the end of the movie, William had had enough. You could hear various ‘is it finished yet?’ and ‘can I go home now?’. It was definitely one for the big kids. Taking a bunch of 30+ 2-4 year olds was a challenge. There were lots of adults to take them and we all went on the bus. It was a little noisy and the other passengers were intrigued and kept asking us what we were doing. Having gone on a train this week too, the kids just love public transport. Just wish that the buses were cheaper. Taking 5 kids on the bus is more expensive than taking the car!!!

Better go, I’m nursing a very sore jaw (e-hem, not through talking but some toothache!). Think I may be visiting the dentist come Monday. Should be fun with all the kids in tow!!! xx

Paper Crafters Library Projects & An English Rose?

What a gorgeous day to be posting! Today is my day at Paper Crafters Library so I’m sharing them here. My first (& simplest) is a card inspired by ‘bargello’ which is a design often found in quilting. It’s also a brilliantly simple way of using up scraps. The pieces  wouldn’t even have to match as long as they coordinated. Just take different widths of paper cut to the same length & arrange randomly. I’ve used Pink Paislee’s Vintage Vogue set- its really beautiful and has a vintagey feel but there are plenty of bright patterns too.  

My second project may not be entirely obvious initially. Can you work out what it is?  Does the next picture help at all? It’s what I’ve deemed a notebook necklace and is a really cute little piece of wearable art. I’ve used some of thePink Paislee packaging to make the forn cover and re-purposed a Sizzlits label die to create the inside pages. The video tutorial should be available on the Paper Crafters Library video section. Here’s another picture of someone actually wearing it. The idea is to have a little notebook on had for those times when you’ve never got a piece of paper to write something down and you end up scribbling on your hand- or is that just me?! I’d probably make something a little more dimensional when I make the next one- but it was fun and really quick to make.

The last project is a scrapbook page. I have focussed on a really small part of the 12×12 page. After I’d completed it- I decided it would have looked in better proprtion if I’d cut it down to an A4 size. I think I’ll attack it with my strimmer later!

I made the right hand scalloped edging from some of the patterned paper. I’ve done some stamping and curved the ‘happy’ onto another small banner. The buttons and little wooden spools are Pink Paislee too.

I’m running around right now trying to finish all those little jobs before the kids finish for Easter whilst trying to play a Cbeebies game. William has been avoiding eating all of his meals recently. After a stand-off recently over his tea- I received an electronic apology. I was shown a video recording of him saying ‘Sorry Mummy. I am a ‘dope’. I loved my tea’!! His Dad had something to do with it and there was the strongest scouse twang on the ‘dope’. Very funny. Definitely one to play at his wedding!

I’m basking in the filtered sunlight; filtered through the window because I’m cleaning and avoiding the rays. I can’t do strong sun. I just frazzle and burn and result in a red colour with never any resulting tan. I quite possibly keep Boots going in Kiddo suncream. I’m one of those sad people who’s liberally sloshing on Factor 50. I may be as white as a milk bottle but that’s me! You could say I’m an English rose, but my kids would probably tell you I’m more likely an English thorn!!

Better run- just finishing some rather nice pumpkin and carrot bread for my lunch xx

Simple Kids Cards & Stampin’Up! Sale

Something simple today- kids cards are sometimes hard- particularly if they’re not really little and you’ve gone past the dinosaur stage or cute baby images. We’ve had lots of birthdays recently in our extended family, so I thought I’d show you two of the cards I sent. This one is an older cute card. I know, I’m doing cute and glitter agin. I may end up liking it if I keep on doing it!!

I have used something a little different for the frill; can you see? It’s a cupcake case. ‘ll be using these quite a bit as I have several projects planned including making flowers out of them! This is definitely credit-crunch-crafting! The ballerinas’ are an image from Stampin’Up! and are simply coloured with watercolour pencils and then added water to soften the edges… which, leads me nicely onto the topic and the fact that I am selling off my entire Stampin’Up! collection. I have a large amount of stamp sets, papers and others items. If there#s enough interest I may hold an evening. I’ll shortly be compiling a list and will create a tab at the top of the blog. If you have any sets you’re after cheapish, email me and I’ll let you know. Lots are retired sets but many of them are current and most have hardly ever been used. Out with the old…..

This second card was made for my just turned 10 nephew. It’s really tough doing those type of cards and so I cowardly went for shapes instead. I’m still using up the Generation Z acetate sheet and paper from Little Yellow Bicycle so have just used a small portion at the bottom and then added co-ordinating coloured stars. Simple seems to be the way to go!

Im sat in the car finishing off this post as I sit and wait to pick the kids up from school. Just love that I can do it on the go. So much of this week has been ‘on the go’. I got truly fed up with the state of the house and egged on by the start of spring , I decided to do my own version of ‘spring cleaning’. I did say ‘my version’ as it wasn’t really complete but it was pretty thorough. I got rid of lots of ‘stuff’ ( which always makes me feel better and is accounting for my stampin’up purge too!  I finally found lots of odd socks and helpfully tucked the ‘hidden places’ of where I found all the lost items in my memory for the times over the next few weeks when I’ve lost something!

I did have a bit of help- although Will blazed a trail of mess behind me as I tidied away lost toys and he got them back out and played with them. It is one of the great mysteries of the universe as to how and where kids keep all those ‘bits’ that they effortlessly drop just the millisecond after you’ve just hoovered . And why do they manage to completely fill the wash basket just after you’ve emptied it. I’d actually like to ban all drinking and eating for one day, just so I can have a clean kitchen that stays clean for the whole day!!

Well I will have to hurry- the kids will be unimpressed if I don’t pick them up because I was too busy in cyber-space!! xx

Mothers Day Card & Dye-ing Hair!

Happy belated Mothers Day (for the UK) and a very early greeting to my international readers who I don’t think have had Mothers Day yet? (is that right?!). Normally Mothers Day is the one day in the year that I’m guaranteed a day off. Christmas is not relaxing (although brilliant) and my Birthday’s have become rather non-entities! Alas, this year, Mothers Day was less restful but still really enjoyable. I did have some amazingly lovely cards and presents. Some were handmade, some were handmade and edible and others were thoughtfully chosen just with me in mind. I did joke with my kids that we’d had 5 kids just for days like this!! This ‘eversoslightlydodgy’ photograph is one of the cards I sent. This was for my Mum-in-law. I didn’t get to photograph my Mum’s one, but hopefully this will do! I’ve used Little Yellow Bicycle’s range called ‘Elizabeth Park’. It’s not one of their newer ones- (just try getting hold of those- they’re sold out everywhere I look!!). I’ll be showing you some of the other projects I’ve created using them shortly. I’ve had to make them sttrreeeettch as I only had 3 pieces of scrapbook paper, some stickers and a piece of acetate from the range and needed to create a scrapbook layout, a card and an altered project. This card said ‘mom’ (much to my husband’s annoyance!). He said ‘I don’t have a ‘Mom’, I have a ‘Mum’!! She didn’t seem to mind, but then she’s lovely like that! The ‘mom’ part is a canvas sticker and they’re so strokable & versatile. Here’s a slightly better pic with some more detail on.

I’ve gone for a ‘multi-layered ‘ look and was simply using up the bits from off my desk.The circular frame which  draws attention to the flower was simply left over from punching out a circle and likewise the little forked tab was just an offcut that would otherwise have ended up in the bin. I’m loving using up my button stash – just happen to have them in just the right colours! (normally never happens!!).

I’m just drinking a cup of tea as I write, made by my youngest daughter. For all of their combined hormones and ensuing challenges, it is really great having people make you cups of tea! (simple girl- easily pleased!). I continue to be surprised by their inventiveness. This last week’s saga involved another hair dyeing debacle. I remained surprisingly calm after my daughter came down resplendent in a glossy black mane and announced she’d just dyed her hair. Nervously I asked whether she’d left any ‘remains’; some of you may recall the ‘blue hair dying incident’. ‘Oh no’, she replied cheerfully, ‘there aren’t any black marks anywhere’. Satisfied, I returned to what I was doing.

In our house we have 5 ‘grasses’. They are unfortunately quick to point out each others misdemeanours and very shortly afterwards I was informed that there were various stains left in the bathroom. With a sigh in my heart, I gingerly went upstairs, steeling myself for what I’d find. Hmm. There were not just a few stains- but it was where they were that was the issue. I pointed out that the bath mat and the towel, floor and bath were not that shade of black just an hour ago and went downstairs to leave her to sort it out. I’m not always this calm- let me make that perfectly clear. However, in a God-given moment of patience, I decided to go and let her be responsible (although inside wishing she’d been more responsible in the first place!!).

Half an hour later she proudly announced that the bath mat was clean (huh? magic ?) and the bath was also clean. As for the wooden floor, its stains had not quite so vanished. Over the next hours she googled, tried various lotions and potions under the kitchen sink and all to no avail. By the evening we found 3 light coloured patches on the floor which were directly next some sandpaper which was obviously the culprit! After some discussion over who had actually started the ‘sandpaper’, and a resultant ‘it wasn’t my fault’,we told her she needed to make it good- the floor was really noticeable now and left it at that. The next morning she disappeared into the bathroom clutching shoe polish and a cloth. Within 10 minutes, she was downstairs, utterly jubilant that she’d solved the problem. I’m afraid I doubted- but, sure enough, its a pretty decent cover up. Inventive girl- but the origin of a stressful couple of days! The towel has not fared so well; she owes me a new towel- or maybe she can work towards it. Hopefully the lesson learned is; save up and go to a hairdressers, or cover the entire surrounding area for about 20 feet in some trade-worthy cover-all or go and dye your hair in your best friends house!!

Better dash, have an appointment with a 4 year old, a doctor and some vaccinations. You can be sure there’ll be a blog-worthy story by the end of the afternoon!! xx

Scrapbooking & It’s Nearly Easter

I’m loving doing scrapbooking again- feels like a long time. Weirdly enough I’ve changed too!! -My style of scrapping and layouts has altered a little. Maybe a break from things is good for you! This is the close up of most of the action on the page. I do like ‘clustering’ most of my elements in one portion and I loved using the My Little Shoebox papers again. Having a limited selection of products does make you think about different ways of using them. The swirly banner was part of a printed square and had flowers either side, I chopped it out, hid some of the leftover flowers (just cos’ it looked a little silly now) by hiding them with the title. Although you do need to have your brain switched on whilst reading the title; 3 of my kids said ‘Mum, the title doesn’t make sense; 10 things I about you?’! You need to notice the heart as part of the title so it reads ’10 things I ‘love’ about you’! You understand me now?! It’s a nice way of affirming the children. I leave the layouts out and they read what I think about them. It’s particularly helpful on those days when I’m not feeling quite so ‘lovely’ about them (because they’ve been misbehaving) and would have a job saying these things with enough graciousness to make it believable! Another good reason to scrapbook!!!!

Here’s the full page; the little birds on the squiggle were part of a paper with lots of lines of different birds perched just like this one. I wanted to keep the page looking CAS so I cut it out and added a couple of clouds. The folded and pleated embellishment at the bottom right is just using up paper in lieu of having embellishments- just folding and creating a 3D to the page plus a few punched out holes at various places on the page. I think I can’t help this ‘hole’ thing. Not sure what that says about me!

This week I’ve been making loads of mens cards for a commission- I used to be so scared of bloke greeting cards and now I love creating them. These ones were using the ‘Chap‘ series by American Crafts. Lovely muted and autumnal colours but using lots of graphic type patterns that are perfect for men.

It’s been a long week and I’m looking forward to the weekend. It’s a bit of a busy one but at least we’re not quite so strictly governed by time.  The Easter holidays are fast approaching and I can’t wait. We have some fun things planned for a change! My older ones are going to visit their grandparents; hmm.. that came out wrong didn’t it!! Not that my kids going away is fun- but the dynamic shifts dramatically and we can do certain younger focussed things that the younger ones really enjoy. Not looking forward so much to the floods of chocolate coming our way!- I have a love/hate thing with the cocoa bean; I so LOVE chocolate, but its so hard to resist. At least because I’m fairly particular about the type of chocolate I consume, most of the kids eggs will not have any attraction for me. It would be like leaving me in a room filled with Haribo sweets; come back a week later and they’d all still be there- perfectly intact! Now, put me in a cupboard with a nice selection of Green & Blacks (dark choc if you don’t mind) or Hotel Chocolat and I may have a decent amount of trouble resisting it. You can have your DairyMilk and keep it thankyouverymuch! Shouldn’t be so fussy really, should I? !!!

See you when I’ve finished photographing another set  of projects using Little Yellow Bicycle! xx

 

My Little Shoebox & Washing with Toilet Roll!

Thought I’d do something different with a new set of products. This is a relatively new company to me (My Little Shoebox) & I have really enjoyed using these papers. They’re quite whimsical but bright and happy and who doesn’t want bright and happy huh?!

It’s encouraging the ‘chameleon’ in me. Adapt to the style you’re working with. I found them a lot of fun to create with and take a quick deviation away from the other projects I’m doing at the moment. I’ve just finished filming the next set of tutorials for Paper Crafter’s Library and now I’ve got some instruction sheets to prepare. This little card indulged my love of making holes in everything I touch and fussy cutting. Add in polka dots and twines and what’s not to love?! The bird is actually part of the brown frame but I wanted to show other things through the frame so chopped out the middle of it. The little red polka dot leaf is in fact the opposite side of the paper; its all polka-patterned but as I was cutting it out, it twisted and I liked it that way, so left it. The best things are often accidental!

I apologise for not updating my class list. I have not had much time. That’s on next months to-do list!

I have enjoyed more usual parenting humiliation this week. It ranged from ‘you’re not my Mum’ (ermm get out of that one in a public crowded space!!) to the funny ‘pigs are made out of ham’ to a ‘did that child really just say that’ in Asda. Knowing as you do, that most of the tales I tell happen in the supermarket, this one was in a new place. In an attempt to curb the ever-increasing cost of the weekly shop, I’m fairly committed to Aldi now (I know, I’m shocked too!) but Aldi does not sell everything I need so I ended up at a little Asda down the road. I bumped into a friend who I hadn’t seen in quite a while and we got chatting. William decided it would be a good idea to complete my shopping whilst I was gabbing and brought me various items I was requesting. He soon tired of that game and thought I could do with some extras. Various packets of crisps and plaintive cries for chocolate spread ensued and then he wandered over just visible from underneath a rather large 8 pack of kitchen roll. ‘Oh, wow’ I said. ‘Are you planning on making lots of spills?’. ‘Oh no’, he replied very loudly, ‘Its so you don’t have to wash with toilet roll anymore’.     Hmm… My friend cracked up laughing. The lady right next to us peered across with a large grin on her face and I didn’t know whether to make audible gestures that this was entirely untrue or would this simply be a case of ‘the lady protesteth too much’?!! Either way, we didn’t purchase the 8 pack on principle and I left as soon as I was able.

You would think I was used to it by now. Truly I’m not. I clearly have some way to go yet.  Apart from the constant need to know when lunchtime is, his main issue is  ’will you please stop taking pictures of me’!!. At least he has stopped repeating the ‘Large Family’ CD where the baby says ‘Mummy has wobbly bits’ because they all need to go on a diet.

Well, it’s time for bed. An early start tomorrow- ..oh wait, every day is an early start!!!

See you in the week when I’ve got more My Little Shoebox projects! xx

Scrapbooking & Community Heroes

Happy Friday! It is lovely to take a large sigh and plan for the weekend- but first, here’s a few more pictures from the Paper Crafters Library projects this week. It’s a 12×12 page but boy was it tough to photograph. The photo of my daughter does have effects on it to start off with- but the Bo Bunny Sweet Tooth papers are true-to-life colourwise.

 

You can see the journalling better in this pic- sometimes its ok just to doodle lines on your page and use those to write your journalling.  I love layering and lots of different elements. The tiny dots help keep the layout from looking too stark. It could really do with an extra colour in it- it’s maybe a bit too coordinated! The whole page used such tiny parts of paper and ribbon that it’s a really inexpensive page. I’ve used my love of dots to punch out miniscule holes on part of the scalloped edging too.

This shows the teacup bunting; I wanted to do something more quirky with the papers. I cut each teacup out (cause I like doing stuff like that!) and stuck some straight onto the paper and adhered others on using 3D foam pads.

I’ve got some more projects published in the latest edition of Simply Cards & Papercraft. It’s on a theme of Cards for Men but with an Olympic Sports Theme. When I first got the commission I wondered what to do- men cards are tough and olympic themed on top? Wow! Well I ‘m glad to get my brain working so it was actually really good fun once I’d got into it. I guess they’re a little from the ‘norm’ but then what else would you expect from me?!!

I’ve been watching some more unsung heroes this week. As I drove to school this week I noticed a man walking his dog. He wasn’t in a uniform nor did have anything to mark out that he was supposed to doing his activity. He had a big clear bag and a ‘grabber’ and was picking up litter whilst he walked his dog. He did it two mornings on the row and I love the fact that he’s doing something to benefit the whole community. It would be nice if he didn’t need to do it, but that’s another rant for another day! Another group of absolute heroes are the Christie Swimming school in Liverpool. These young and not quite so young teachers are truly amazing and dedicated. They’re fantastic with the kids and they do it because they love teaching kids to swim. If you ever need coaching for children in the Merseyside area please check them out because they are utterly brilliant, great value and my kids’ confidence in the water as a result of their tuition is a joy to see.

Well, I’d better go now, I need to prepare a craft for kids ready for our church coffee morning. I wonder who will make more mess, them or me?! xx