Pretty in Pink...

Above is the page I finished tonight for Twisted Sketches. The twist was glitter and so I used my glitter thickers and used shaped cardstock to replicate the sketch. This is a pic taken at a ball I attended years ago - in my single days. The funny thing is that three of the guys in the pic, but its still got loads of happy memories and they weren't really very serious boyf's anyways. It reminds me of the dramas and the meat market that is dating! Often with balls or nights out getting ready with your mates was the best part of the night! In other business my little sister is back in two days - yay! She has been living in Turks and Caicos since September and so it will be a very happy reunion with lots of cupcakes and cuddles - cannnooottt waaaaiiittt! Just one more day to get through of school. Thought I would also share a pic of my friend's little girl. Isn't she a little cutie? The highlight of my friend, Ellie's, birthday tea on Sunday was the chance to take pics of this little sweetie. Scrap fodder for sure. Watch this space...

A room with a view...

So this is my scrap room in all (well some!) of its glory! I didn't even tidy it for the mini shoot. There is hope for my OCD yet!

Shimmy for Shimmelle...

Have lots on at school at the mo and am feeling a bit drained. Luckily I did some scrapping at the weekend so I have something to share - yay! This was a very fussy sketch with more layering and detail than I would normally go for, but it proved useful for a couple of my holiday snaps. I am LOVING butterflies and misting at the mo.

She'll have fun, fun, fun till her daddy takes her t-bird away...

So this is an ironic post...since I am showcasing the above layout about a Christmas tree. Complete with lots of red glitter and tied up like a pressie...however I am going to list the Spring things making me happy this Friday... * I am running a 'pub' quiz tonight at my church and have enjoyed putting it together and quizzing the teachers on it today. The banter has been fab! We were all hit with that Friday feeling! * Listening to Beach Boys on this sunny beaut of a day * My little sis Gem is back from Turks and Caicos in the next few weeks * It has been a good week where i have been making headway with some tough groups and just really enjoying teaching and planning engaging and whizzy lessons * Summer is in sight and these light evening inspire me to go on walks and get out there! But for now I am chilling in my scrapping room and having a jolly old time....

Where's Wally and Sketchy Thursdays...

Scrapbooking, I have missed you. Sorry to have neglected you for so long. Thank-you Sketchy Thursdays for reigniting my passion and giving me a fab sketche to play with. Above is the current sketch which appealed to me as it required lots of little pics and I happened to have some i had order in a multi-sketch and cut up. I like the fact the sketch almost required a blast of misting and I used Tessa's tip of sticking the stickers to me trousers and then to the page so it's easier to peel it off. Below is a page I started a while ago, I think it's a Shimmelle sketch but I can't find it now! I often do this! I was struggling with the title and then found the title in a magazine and felt it went perfectly with the colour scheme and the sentiments of the photos. Last, but not least, Friday was Comic Relief day and so we had lots of fun at school with teachers and sixth from students in fancy dress. I am so annyoyed as I forgot my camera and so only got these snaps of my outfit, but i am hoping to get some copies from the other teachers who remembered there cameras. I left my outfit till the last minute, usual, so couldn't get hold of the bubble hat and had to make do with the stockings (which were v.awkward and kept rolling down!) and the geeky glasses. I was Where's Wally's girlfriend, Wilemina, and here I am looking for my boyfriend... What did all you Brits do for Comic Relief?

Choc bar cupcakes...paradise!

It was another fab afternoon at The Adelphi. There were 18 entries and the competition was very fierce! Some real effort had gone into all the entries - the challenge was chocolate bars. The above little creme egg cuties were the winner - she won a huge goodie bag with a £30 Aggra voucher (love that place!) and all sorts of cupcakey goodness! She has won three times now and so we all need to up the ante! Above were the wonka bars with a golden ticket. This lady has a special printer with edible ink - so that is how you put pictures on cakes. Gems - remember when Murray had Alex's head off the cake! The toffe crisp entry was very tasty and the chocolate orange ones were very tasty too. I didn't try these as they looked rich ,but they were very nicely presented. The picnic basket was a nice touch with the paper plate and plastic cutlery. Below are my babies, which sadly did not feature in the top 3, but I really enjoyed them and Arne said they were my best entry yet. (which is a great accolade bu a cupcake hater!) I used my sisters recipe (found here) and they were quite time consumming with three different types of filling, frosting and topping! Don't you just love the little fruit and nut bar below. I flew solo as all the teacher folk were busy, but I made friends with this great Australian couple who were great company and we round tasting together. It was a fab afternoon out!

A month in view...

Above is a layout I made a few weeks back inspired by the sun peeking through the clouds. It is now grim and wet so it looks like I counted my chicks before they hatched! I wanted it to be a simple layout as I have been favouring these lately. I think I used a sketch or a prompt but have forgotten which now. So will post it just because. The pic was taken last summer in Knaresborough. Don't you just love daffodils? My second layout is one I have been working on for the last few MONTHS. I was keen to jump on the bandwagon as I have seen pages like these on a few of the blogs I follow. I think its a great idea to scrap the little everyday events you may not dedicate a whole page too. I am working on the feb one as we speak and am thinking March needs a bit more excitement or it will be a boring page...can you really scrap about marking, planning lessons and watching telly??!

Reflecting on the beach...

I was glad for the studio challenge as my friend gave me this random photo of a beach trip a few years ago. I wanted to scrap it but couldn't think of a reason...till the prompt to scrap your age. So I chose to scrap about me at 25 when I was single and loving it (most of the time!) It was a fun year as I moved up to Leeds, started my teaching training, met lots of new friends and guys ;) and had lots of fun. I cut words out of an AC page as they linked to this year - for example 'text me.' I misted the heart as the studio gals just love a bit of misting! I also added some contrasting bunting to give the feel good summer vibe to this seaside page. I am feeling a bit lethargic at the mo and even tho it is only the second week at school it feels like the last week of term. Blah! Oh well, almost the weekend...

It's a beautiful day...

I have been battling with his graduation pics for quite a while. Nothing was working right. I am *quite* happy with this, but do feel it still needs more. I like the understated title though. A childhood pic proved useful for a challenge using a poem about March and flowers blooming. I am happy with this layout, I have had that flower cardstock for AGES and was glad to finally use it for something! I edged my thickers in gold to make them pop. If you have some lovely Spring pics get on over to scrap that poetry to take part...

I always stay too long...

Nah. Nah. Nah. Nah. I'm lovin' it! My new butterfly stencil off of ebay. That is. Was originally for tatooing! Isn't it a cutie? Didn't know if I was going to scrap this page as my nose looks big in it, but it's a lovely shot of my flowers so couldn't resist. I scrapped a lot over half term so will be loading more pages soon...just been too busy catching up on life to upload them!

Baby, baby, baby, ohhh,,,

My title was inspired by a recent episode of Glee I watched where the guys formed a Beiber tribute band. I have to admit I do kinda like this song, even though I do find him a bit annoying. So The Studio inspired me again to include frames and since I dug some out, I have not been able to stop churning out the layouts. This page is using pics taken from our friend's recent visit with their new baby. Arne was a real natural and took to the baby straight away. In this pic the misting looks a bit grubby, it is a lot better irl.

Sweet tooth?

Can you tell it's half term? I actually have some time for some scrapping. I wanted a multi-photo layout of our visit to Manchester. The title was inspired by the cupcakes. I turned this sketch on its side as most of my pics were portrait style. The other part of the challenge was a homemade embellie and so I made the flower with peach cardstock. Hope you like...

You've been framed...

A page about our family outing to midnight mass on Christmas eve. Wanted to avoid usual Christmas colours. Used a purple polka dot frame as per The Studio challenge. In other news...tried Yo Sushi! today for the first time. I thought I wouldn't like it as I don't like fish, but they had loads of veggie dishes. It was delish. Only problem is the food goes round on a conveyor belt and so you get tempted to eat more than you would normally. The miso soup was unlimited and that was really salty and yum. Would defo recommend it. Sadly did not have camera present :(

Cosy Christmas pj's...

So Twisted sketches wanted cosy I gave them my red fleecy heart pj's. One of my best Christmas pressies. Lots of stamping on this layout as I figured I have so many stamps and rarely use them. I even dusted off my embossing powders and embosser. Great fun.

Peanut butter cupcakes...

Had some American friends over so felt it was the best time to use my cute little cases. Used a recipe for the cupcakes from a Next cookbook, similar to this one. Then I used good old Hummingbird's chocolate frosting recipe. They were good.