Party time....

So last night we went to a Mexican party at our church. I was impressed with Arne's costume, but they had run out of ponchos in Headingley - must be all the students who like to dress up for nights out. I was loving Arne's fake moustache and my freckles. Sadly we didn't win the prize as the "Mexican" Fiona and Shrek were too good!....

Our effort was little more low maintenance...

In scrapping news I have been wanting to make a double page from my nougat layout (see previous post) with the other pics from the Maltese festa we went to on our summer holiday. So here it is....

I tried to tie the two together by using the same border punch and colour scheme. I made it look as though an explosion of confetti was coming out of the main pic. I used this sketchy thursdays sketch to help me to scrap so many pics of a layout. I distressed all the pics as I am kinda obsessed with distressing pics! The journalling at the bottom describes what we got up to on the festa - like following the band, people watching and pondering in the beautiful church.

Hope you've all had a fab Saturday!

More Maltese memories...

I have been working on these layout the past few weeks and am glad that I was helped along by some great challenges. I am slowly working my way through our holiday pics. The page below is about the nougat stalls which lined the streets of the Maltese festa (it will be a double page - the other side will follow soon.) I have used all of the concepts for Mission to create the doily one had to be my Martha Stewart stamp as I didn't have any. Cream is not a colour I would usually scrap with but I enjoyed contrasting it with the bright red, sparkly thickers and the vibrant polka dot material. I enjoyed Deborah's prompt as I used to use envelopes a lot for hidden journalling, but had somehow forgotten about them. So thanks... My second layout is one of those rare holiday pics that actually features BOTH of us! It has the capital city Valetta in the background which makes a nice backdrop. I used my new turquoise glimmer mist and a mix of different alphas. I am loving my new grey thickers- it is the BEST font! I tried clashing prints which i am always a bit scared of. The twist was to use buttons and I was going to use them to corner my pics, but went for my new funky star brads instead.

In other news - I had my first skype conversation with my little sis yesterday. She is loving Turks and Caicos - although the mossies are loving her a bit too much! Luckily she is still pale as a vampire - so I am not too jealous!

Watch out for the cookie monster...

So I finally had some luck at Iron Cupcake Leeds. The theme was macho men and so my first idea was Mr Muscle Lemon Mousse cupcakes. However I saw the idea for the cookie monster on google and so went for that instead. Here i am with my scrapbooked sign: A close-up of the cakes. I initially made the top with food dyed dried coconut and it lookedl like the right texture, but it tasted awful! My sister and I couldn't even swallow it! So I kept that one for the photo op and then just did buttercream icing. The cupcakes were layered vanilla and cookie dough and then a nutella and coconut layer. I forgot to get a photo of the cross section of it.

The winner - he had actually made the burger from cupcakes and the chips were made from shortbread. His attention to detail was superb although the taste didn't deliver I didn't feel - too much icing and food dye.

I also liked the paintballing ones and felt they were cute and a good idea.

I didn't try these as it didn't appeal, but I liked the idea of them.

My sister Mara came up for the weekend (more on that and the Harrogate craft show later) and she made Yorkie ones.

Although I got no prize for coming third it was a lot better than when I came 15th out of 18 for my mint cupcakes. There were 21 entries so I was pleased with that. Next month's theme is halloween - any ideas?? I was thinking pumpkin maybe?!

Let the good times roll....

A long overdue page about my first car - Harry - the love of my life!! My cute little bubble car. The journalling is all about how I named him after my lovely driving instructor and about the few crashes I had after passing! I used several different papers and cut into them so they didn't overwhelm the finished layout.

Had to showcase something creative as I have been laminating little gold stars all night to try to coax some of the nightmare classes I am timetable to teach this year. Geroan!

A snapshot of my summer...

1) Making a farewell crumble with our freshly picked blackberries...this is the last time we will see Gem (my little sis) and her husband Byron as they have flown off to Turks and Caicos to work for a year. Check out her blog I am not jealous at all! 2) A lovely castle in Luxembourg where we were visiting the in-laws (always an interesting experience!!) This is where our camera came to its end!

3) My first ever football match I have been to...Club Brugges...the hubsters pride and joy. And they lost...booo!!! Or "ohhhhh!" as the Belgian do it!

4) How cool is this teapot?? We had high tea in Nottingham as I caught up with a friend who is teaching in Hong Kong this year.

5) The complete highlight of my summer was Malta - how cool are these buses?? I have made a layout already and will post it soon.

6) My drink of the summer...mint milkshakes! Yum!

7) I have been working on a mini book for my hubby. I know the pics are rubbish see no.5 for the reason why!

8) And these are some of the books I read this summer. Can you spot the ones I have to teach for a-level? I can thoroughly recommend all of them.

I am feeling nostalgic as it's back to school on Monday and another summer has slipped away...but not unnoticed...in fact I need a holiday just to recover from this one!

Summer specs...

Only in summer....do I wear spotty sunglasses! I had a lot of fun with this page with lots of layering and cutting and inking. How cute are the icecream brads? My fav new technique is rippling the ribbon to add more texture and dimension. Another magpie moment I used the fabric tag from a t.shirt and stamped on it and put an eyelet in the other side and then tied some twine through it.

Completed for this challenge about our summer reminders. Mine are icecreams and sunglasses...yum!

Show and tell...

I had a big scrap session last night when the hubster went to play footy. I put Grey's Anatomy Season 2 (I am totally addicted to this show, do any of you watch it??!) on my laptop and made a whole...4 layouts! I must have my mojo back!! I hadn't taken part in Scrapping the music recently and love their current song by The White Stripes. The line which caught my attention, and which reveals me as the geeky teacher that I am, was "show and tell." I felt it fitted well with this pic from our holiday in Malta when we took a tour bus round the Island. I used my American crafts kit that I got for a steal at TKMaxx (gotta love that place!!) and my new glittery thickers (swoon) I even used the map from our tour as I always horde all my holiday bits and bobs and forget to use them on a layout. Aren't the buttons cute I cut out a few of the circles and then glued them onto the buttons.

Sorry for the blurry pics - still using my camera phone. I think since we overindulged over the summer it will be a while till we get a new one :( So you may have to put up with blurry ones for a while!

Taking stock...

So tuesday gave me the chance to try this Twisted Sketches sketch and to scrap some of my holiday pics - double whammy!! The twist was tree and well these stocks are made from wood and I think the cardstock looks like wood too! I am loving the overall effect and am pleased with the colour scheme and the way it all came together. I edged it in yellow acrylic paint as I always like pages to pop with a border. This is one of my fav magpie moment homemade embellies - the flower. The petals are made foam packaging and then the bud is a yellow button and topped off with a rhinestone.

These are my fab new stamps that I used for the title and I think it adds to the feel of the layout.

I relied most heavily on Lisa's sketch as I really liked the scallops and all her little journalling spots. Tomorrow is hump day and a step closer to back-to-school madness so I am scrapping as much as I can whilst I have the spare time! xox

Stripping in Malta...

So in a desperate attempt to get my mojo back and start scrapping my holiday pics I had a go at this challenge. I have been wanting to try a page like this for a while with lots of strips of paper and ribbon and it was made even easier as I had a new kit specifically about travel to use. I was also inspired by this fab layout by Jen Naulls. I liked the title done on three lines like this with the name in the middle cropped for emphasis. Here is how I spent my bank holiday monday....

On a gorgeous walk round Ingleborough Waterfall trail. It was good to get out and go on a nice long hike. My personal highlight was the hot choc and homemade carrot cake at the little cafe half way round. I had a baking spree at the weekend and made some simple vanilla cupcakes with a variety of different types of frosting for the kids I teach at church. All of the frosting was the hummingbird vanilla buttercream recipe but I added other ingredients. Yellow was lemon rind, juice and a few drops of yellow food colouring topped with a blueberry, blue had coconut and a few drops of blue colouring and pink was just vanilla with pink colouring and sprinkles. Amazingly both the boys and girls favoured the pink!!!

The picture is a bit hazy as it was taken on my camera phone (as they all are now our real camera is broken!!) You should have a go it was really easy and simple..and yummy....

Bank holiday blues...

SO I still haven't really "rested" in my summer hols and this week will be spent catching up on all the prep I was meant to do over the summer. On Saturday I had my good friend's wedding and they asked me to speak at it about a week ago - eek! What a typical Mormon wedding - last minute.com!!! So I prepared a talk all aobut the groom - Tim - as we have been really good friends for eight years. I turned up the day before to help get everything set up and they told me I was speaking about the bride - Vicky - who I have known about three years! Ahhh! So I had to quickly rewrite my talk, it was all fine on the day and I got lots of laughs and told some good stories about both of them. I liked the closing thought that I found:- May your love always be added, and never subtracted, May your household multiply, me never be divided. So here are the pics.... It was a picnic themed reception complete with baskets, gingham, hay bales and little blackboards - how cute hey?

Me getting broody with the cutest little baby in the world!

Lastly the classic pic of me and my old housemate Dr.Anna. I just got a new phone and it actually has a decent camera (which is lucky since our camera broke on holiday :( ) And I was messing around with the photo editing. I am pleased with it though and it will mean we don't have to shell out too soon for a new one.

So I have bank holiday blues as it's almost back to school, I am panicking about lack of work over summer, we are broke from all our travels and I feel I have lost my scrapping mojo! I did complete two layouts of our holiday in Malta so will try to post them soon. Apologies for the lack of scrappy goodness!

What have you all got planned on your bank hols??

No place like home??

So back from part 2 and 3 of my summer hols seeing my sis and her hubby for a weekend in Reading. She has the most exciting job offer for Turks and Caicos and so they are just upping and leaving for a year! It was a farewell, but also a claiming of her apple green kitchen aid - perfect cupcakes here I come!!! Then we were onto Brugges to stay with Arne's grandparents and then a three hour drive down to Luxembourg to visit the rest of his family. Lots of road trips to little castles in Germany and a purchase of a fab plastic tablecloth. After our all day drive today from Dover to Leeds, entertained by texts from the other English teachers who were at school with the kids getting their GCSE results, I was so glad to see signs for Otley loom. Home sweet home...shame I had already made this page! So this page uses this challenge and a picture I have always liked from my exchange symester at Georgia uni. The journalling is all about how I kept in contact with my family and friends via email whilst I was away from home.

I embellished with lots of rub ons, layering and stickers. I am pleased with the title of stamping and misting and feel it gives the page a home spun feel.

This post is probably a blur as I am sooo tired and my contacts are all blurred!! But have a go at the challenge you have until the 31st of August and home is always a fab subject to scrap about! I will be getting back to blogging soon and will try to return some of the comments.

Honey I'm home...

Don't you love the polka dots?

It was utter bliss...wish we could have stayed longer....need sleep now....good to be back to my scrapping room though! xx

This kiss...

So I *almost* done scrapping my wedding pics just a few more to go (actually the WHOLE reception still to go!!!) I used the studio challenge on masking and decided to use lips to go with the title, which was inspired by Faith Hill lyrics from this challenge. I masked the title too with silver glimmer mist. I had a few issues peeling the stickers off and they ended up taking a layer of the paper with them - but in the end it made a good effect and I edged it in black and filled it with polka dots.

I cropped the picture and then distressed the edges - my usual style.

I filled the lips with the journalling and included a few more quotations from the song. I focused on the "you may now kiss the bride moment." My dad is the Bishop in our church so he married us which made it even more special.

The little picture at the bottom was matted with pink paper and then stamped with my fav polka dot stamp to tie in the whole theme.

This is probably my last post for at least a week as we are off to Malta in the small hours tomorrow. Cannot wait. Got lots of ironing and packing to do. Hope you are all having a great summer holiday filled with scrapping and fun. xoxo

To "temple" the sting...

As I am sure you are all aware I have a penchant for hand cutting lettering and so made this title from cardboard. I wanted the lettering to be gold as the Grand Palace in Bangkok is very gold and grand. I finally settled on inking the letters in gold and then embossing in clear embossing powder. So I had my pic and the title but I didn't have any inspiration except the Bunnybow shaped cardstock. So lucky for me Tiffany's blog came to the rescue with a fabbie sketch with lots of circles (my fav shapes!) and then this layout all came together brilliantly. I sewed lots of buttons and brads on to give the layout dimension. I also pritt padded the title to make it stand out even more.

I used my fav new method for titling random papers and stamps. I then filled any spaces with rub ons of flowers to give the layout a really blooming appearence.

Different colours to my usual purples and turquoises...do you like?