I may have a few of these to do

Given there is currently around 4 inches of snow just landed today and last year we were convinced we had been abducted by aliens and moved to Siberia, there are just one or two photos of child and hound playing in the snow in the Lillipad family albums! These photos are just a small amount from 2009 and one of the downsides to scrapping is not being able to use them all - well, you could if you locked all the doors, unplugged the phone, gave up eating and didn't sleep I suppose!

I love the photo of Cherie pulling the branches of a tree, she really is trying to get it to play with! Snowballed out, only so many 'magic disappearing balls' will keep her entertained before she's in search of new fun!

I do have another photo from this collection I'd like to scrap so this may have to become a double layout!

Oh, one of my missions for 2012 was to use old stash to make some room for new, which in turn helps pennies wise as I can't spend until I have the room to house. Well, the trees and journo scrap were from my Christmas box I keep adding to and never using and the bling flakes were removed from Christmas crackers a few years back - way too pretty to bin!!!! I really could do with a tag for 2012 thrift.

Layout to rival it's subject matter

We have been to Wales twice this year - the first visit was so good we had to go back. I am besotted with it. Far too much to see in a couple of weeks though. This is a photo of the kids once we'd found Swallow Falls, we missed it when we were there a couple of years ago. Betws-y-Coed is such a lovely place with so many stunning falls alongside the pretty town. I had to do this layout more or less as soon as we returned. I'm no artist - my art teacher would agree there, but I wanted a background that mimicked the falls. I had great fun making this work.

OMG!!! I am a bad blogger!!!!

I have sooo many makes to upload. I'm not sure I can do it all in one night! I feel more like a proper crafter than I ever have and that may be due to interest in purchasing my wares! WOW, if only I could go back 20 years and start crafting then.

The first of tonight's uploads is this rather yummy layout I've done to compliment my nieces one. The hat is actually Grandma's but both kids were enjoying playing with it and it really suited both of them - very cute they both looked!

I actually planned both of these layouts on a train journey home from meeting friends in Birmingham - the longest train journey I've done in 20+ years. I have a very cute book that I have in my handbag at all times and I've started plotting layouts and cards at any opportunity, believe me it's a great tool when sat waiting during a 2 hour child's party roflol!!!!

And now I am uptodate with this stunning LO

Wow, I have been egocentrical on this update tonight!!! not like me to big up something but I really like this LO.


Again it is of my niece. I love the photo so much and feel it is a little Victorian so I wanted to do a lo to suit. I stressed the heck out of the 12 x 12 and added a touch of stitching. The paper is MME! I made a doily effect from the lace and burnt it with the heat gun to age it as it was way too new looking. I recently (like last night lol) got my hands of these lovely leaf punches I saw at the GNPE and added a few mulberry flowers. The original quote was very small and insipid so I re-did it to make more of a statement. I love the quote and feel it goes well with the LO.

Lo's a go-go!!!

After the GNPE I was inspired to craft and made 3 LO's in one week!!!! Go me!


This was the first. It uses the crackle effect I saw Jo Channon do on Create and Craft.My first try turned into a happy accident. Not quite like this but given the idea I had, it did work - check out the valentines I did with a wooden heart on. So when I got a chance to see Jo demo this effect, she walked me through it and this matt is the outcome! I did this that night I was so eager to get it right! The journaling details why I needed to do this LO!


This next LO is one of my favs. It is of my gorgeous niece. My sister asked me to make an album for her and I started with a couple of pages (look back for them). This is one where she is having a rare 'power' nap. We called her the duracell bunny as she would rarely be put down for long. I love the delicate bedding and subtle colouring. She is now very much a tomboy and I felt using pink would not be inkeeping with her as a mini person so I went for lilac. I needed to keep this LO simple and buy using a Tim Holtz mask and distress ink I hope I managed it.. I carefully inked the lace and added a link off a necklace I bought in Sainsbury's.



This last of the trio for some reason doesn't photograph well and definitely looks better irl! I used acrylics to create the 12 x 12, used a mixture of bubblewrap, acrylic paint and stamps to create the pattern. I made a mask on my Robo to make the title and added a few flowers. The little flower on the bottom of the picture is made using a couple of pieces of a friends necklace that broke on her - I love utilising effectively rubbish! So that is the fruits of my labour for just one week!!!! I was impressed.

Family traditions...

...are normally passed down, but someone needs to start them! So, we as a little family have started a tradition that on my birthday we go away to a caravan park. We began in 2005 when we went to Berwick upon Tweed (althought we went in September then as Adam wasn't in school) and were to return to Northumberland twice more, but to Haggerstone Castle - and even getting to stay in a van decorated out with Rory! lol, Mark initially was mortified pulling up beside it!

Anyhow, Adam got to bring 'Travelling Bear' with him from nursery and we were to write his little diary and take pics. This was the first, just after we arrived.

I originally did this LO digitally when on our annual van trip last year. I took lappy with me and set to in photoshop using the gorgeous shabby princess papers etc. I normally 'mock' up digi los and then make them up, this one has taken a while though.


I really wish I had more time to scrap! It's my heart's desire and I have sooooo many pages in my head!

A moment of pure indulgence!

I don't seem to get the time to scrap much, if I get a moment to craft I seem to have cards to make. For Christmas my lovely sister in law bought me some lovely little ladybugs. As soon as I saw them I knew where they would spend  the rest of their little lives. Last year we had a particularly lovely day out walking our lovely dog and when I go back and looked at the photos I was amazed how many gorgeous ones I'd managed to snap and knew instantly that I needed to scrap some of them. I did one very soon after and really enjoyed not only buying the inks to go on it, but playing with them on a blank 12 x 12.

So, I unwrap the little family of ladybugs and know that when I have enough time they are going to be housed with one or two photos from this walk. On entering the lake the fencing along the path seemed to be covered in 'families' of ladybugs. Every upright seemed to have its only little colony. Both father and son soon bored of my 'oooh, look! more!!!' and I was left to snap alone. So, I know the pictures, I know the embellishments - but what about cardstock! And what about journalling! I came across the words first and this dictated that the cardstock would be another blank - you see, all I could think about relating to the little red spotty bugs was the Sesame Street song 'Ladybug picnic'. I downloaded a few of the verses (it's way too long to use it all) and wrote it by hand on the cardstock - after spraying it first with cosmic shimmer mists! Then it was as simple as placing the photos and a few cute little ladybug footprints and job done!!!! I think it is stunningly gorgeous and by fluke, it is the perfect partner to the first one I did - which is on here already but I think I need to show them side by side.

'It's good to be alive' weather

A phrase coined by a close friend of mine and this picture was taken on one of those special days. I ADORE this photo, sometimes the gal does good when clicking away with the camera and this is one of those sometimes. The setting is one of our favourite dog walks in North Yorkshire, the child is mine!! The 'mood' in this photo makes my heart swell and I have a huge surge of love that rushes through me like a drug. I knew when I saw this photo that I had to scrap it and quickly, I also knew that there could be no journalling, no ribbons, buttons nor bows, this picture demanded ALL the attention, so I began by inking up some tissue paper, recycled from a shoe box I've been hoarding. I 'rolled' it onto glossy card stock with a kitchen roll (later to transformed into a scrapbook, the kitchen roll did good!) then, using one of the leaves we collected that day I spritzed my glimmer mists in 3 shades of Autumn, the leaf itself is now stunningly shimmery! As I couldn't use the said leaf, it is already in a state of decline and would disintegrate within days, laminating would spoil her beauty, so I printed and inked one from my files. I got out my friend Robbie the Robo and cut out the title once I had decided on one. I spritzed this with the shimmers too to tie it all together. Simplicity isn't always simple mind, and this LO wasn't as quick as it appears it should have been, but then the picture dictates plenty of love and care be taken, and it was.