28 October, 2010

Boys & Girls Come Out to Play


When I looked back over my recent photos - I noticed how much time we'd spent outdoors recently. I guess if you live in a country with so little sunshine for 3 months - you have to make the most of it.

The Jack & Jill collection from Prima is so cute. I love the little figures that it inspired me to create a little album of our play time.

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The album is 6x6 made from a single piece of cardstock.  To keep things simple, I used a single sheet of Prima paper as the background and layered up journal cards and other embellishments.

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I love the co-ordinating flowers for this set.  I've also added some of the older Got Flowers? as centres.
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The album is self-contained so would be an ideal present.  It's fastened together with some buttons.  It then folds out to reveal the inside pages.
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Again simple decorations to reduce bulk making it easier to fold up.
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This is the cutest paper ever! (I was practising my backlighting skills for this photo)
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DD looks so grown up in this one.
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Catching leaves on the way home from school.
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Love this basket equipment in our local park.  Just love the way that I could only catch the tops of their heads whilst trying to push them.  Oh the joy!

Well thanks for popping in.  Don't forget if you would like to make an album of your own, pop along to The Craft Garden for all those lovely Prima goodies.


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24 October, 2010

Pencil Lines Sketch 210


Sketch 210


Another great sketch this week.  I've used some Lost & Found from MME.  (So gorgeous that I couldn't bear to chop it up!)

Sketch 210

We recently visited Waddesdon Manor down near Aylesbury.  If you're with the National Trust then it is free to visit.  It is truly the most fantastic property.
Sketch 210
Being as I couldn't cut up my papers,  I added some stamps and inks to the background.  The page pebble is made from a bit of an old map.

Sketch 210

I love the bunting on some of the Lost and Found papers, so I made some of my own with dictionary pages.

Thanks for popping in.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
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23 October, 2010

No Slouch

DS has been on a residential trip with school this week.  The house sure has been empty without him.  They've been canoeing, kayaking, rock climbing, caving to name but a few!  I'm exhausted just thinking about it.  Not bad for 10 year olds.



I did this layout a while back.  He is growing up just so fast.  I'm glad to say he is a little less camera-shy than he used to be.  Perhaps he's worked out that he cannot be on a layout unless there are photos.


The papers are Kaisercrafts.  Well done to them.  There just aren't enough boy collections out there.  I love this set as they have my favourite colours.  Unfortunately these are just 8x8.

 I love the little icons on some of the papers.  The die-cuts have silver edges which is even more cool.



The slouch came off a pair of jeans.  Gotta love that.



Thanks to everyone who came along to celebrate with Pencil Lines last week.


I hope that you all had chance to participate with the cool give-aways. My hour was early on so you can find my contribution here. Life Preserves have donated a fabulous kit to one lucky participant.  I'm sure I'll find a RAK for another person. So why not play along too?  Just add your link on the post.

My turn with Pencil Lines sketch tomorrow so pop back then.

Thanks for popping in. 
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20 October, 2010

More Pumpkin Mania

You may have noticed, but I've had a bit of a thing for Halloween this year.  I've started early so I may actually get fed up of it by the time it gets here.

Here is another pumpkin - this one for the fireplace hearth.

Halloween
The papier mache pumpkin (Hobbycrafts) was painted with acrylic paint, before being sprayed liberally with gold spray.
Halloween

I love how the leaves turned out.  They're cut using Spellbinders leaf die, before being inked with various Distress inks.  More ink and gold spray before being crumpled and attached.


Halloween

Well more of the same really.  Those fab stamps are Inkadinkadoo.
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The whole pumpkin thing might just be out of my system by now.  I hope so, as I'm running out of space!

Thanks for popping in.
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17 October, 2010

Happy Birthday Pencil Lines



I'm sure you have popped along to Pencil Lines to join in the celebrations.  There has been loads of fab inspiration from the very talented design team (I'm always in awe of what those gals do).  For my part, I was inspired by sketch 145.

Sketch 145


Sketch 145

I love this picture taken on holiday recently.  Jacob reminds me of a great scene from a bond movie.  It was just sooo hot that day.  Seems so long ago now though.

Sketch 145


I've used paper Webster Pages and some old map pages and ephemera.

Sketch 145



I wanted to recreate treasure that we always look for when on  a beach.
Happy birthday once again and here's to the next four years.

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16 October, 2010

Celebrate with Pencil Lines



Happy Birthday to Pencil Lines.  It is officially 4 years old tomorrow.  WOO HOO!!

To celebrate, Anna has organised a mammouth inspriation and giveaway tomorrow starting at 8am GMT.  Each  hour, there will be inspiration from the design team as well as a lovely RAK.

To begin with, you can add a blinkie to your blog and add your name to the linkie list on Pencil Lines.  Seemples. So what are you waiting for?  Get out there and add a blinkie and set your alarm for 8am sharp.

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While you're here, how about a quick pic of this week's workshop.  We'll be creating this lovely photo frame complete with pretty autumn leaves.

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So hopefully you'll pop back tomorrow to join in the celebrations. 
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14 October, 2010

Hooray for Inset Days

You can tell I'm a SAHM.  I actually welcome inset days at school (teacher training days).  If I were working then they would be  a nightmare trying to find temporary childcare.  As it is, we're off to London tomorrow to visit museums.

So an early night for me tonight.  I thought I'd catch up on a few things before bed.

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I hadn't realised that I hadn't shared any of my recent projects for The Craft Garden so here is a favourite one.

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These lovely papers are actually K&Co, but they go so well with the flowers from The Craft Garden.  I have layered them and added small beadded centres for a little more detail.
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I think my top tip for flowers are to include some leaves.  It's amazing what a little greenery can do to draw the eye in. 
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Some of the larger flowers need some extra oomph at the centre.  I've layered smaller flowers give them a bit of balance.
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I have said it before, but these Prima butterflies are awesome - some of the nicest things that Prima have released and very well priced. I think that there are 12 in a pack.

Well we're off for the insect day (as DD calls it). BTW, Pencil Lines are celebrating their 4th this weekend with lots of inspiration and prize give-aways.  Be sure to pop along to the blog.

Have a lovely week.  Thanks for popping in.

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10 October, 2010

Pencil Lines Sketch 208



Been jolly busy this past week.  I've been visiting the gymn 2 or 3 times a week (which is exhausting) but this means catching up on things in the evening.  Excuse #243 for not blogging.

Anyway, here is my take on this week's sketch:


I know it started off with a circle (mine went square), I also changed the orientation of one of the photos too. 



I took these photos of toadstools I found at a local national trust property recently.  It's not often that you see the real thing just growing there.  I was so excited!  I did get a few strange looks from passers-by.


I couldn't come up with a title, so I have used a bunch of 7-Gypsies stickers.


Lots of my favourite leaf stamps have been cut out (took ages), before being inked and sprayed with gold.

Speaking of national trust, we discovered Waddesdon Manor in Alyesbury.  It is the most amazing property we have been to (and we have visited some amazing places).


Unfortunately it was a dull day all day so my photos do not have the same impact.  But if you are ever looking for somewhere to go (especially if you are a visitor to England), be sure to visit.  There is more info on the NT website.  I can't wait to go back.

Now I've done my tourist board bit, I will definately post some projects that are sitting in my in-tray.

Have a fabulous week.  Thanks for popping in.
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