The fruit never falls far from the tree...

Soooo excited to see my first DT LO on this great blog. I started this blog just for fun at Christmas as my lil sis had one and you know what girls are like...always want what they don't have. I never thought I would get so involved with the online scrapping community. It's been great though and really inspiring. My competative side means that making a LO for a challenge is more fun than just because. So tbh this poem baffled me at first and I was struggling to see how I could create a LO from it, but then I realised the main message was about selfless love and you don't get more selfless than parents. I felt since the title of the poem was The Giving Tree I needed to include a tree (something I had been planning to do for a while!) The backing paper was daubed to create the apple-like polka-dots. The tree was made of corrugated card that was originally used to package up my lush new whittard plates. I painted it wth acrylic paint and then cut apples from a Saffrass page. I also embossed some apples from a stamp I got at a little postcard shop in Holland. The awesome gold leaf brads were a christmas pressie from my sister Gem.

The title was also made from card. I painted it green and then gave it a light misting.

The cute pic of mini-me was backed with my fav Martha Stewart border punch and then edges with a red stamp pad. I thought that the fact I was clutching my free Natwest piggy bank fitted in with the theme of the page. Isn't the crayon bottle top lush?? I got a pack of 6 for a bargaintastic 50p at the Great Northern Craft Show (or whatever it was called!)

I was really pleased with the homespun feel of this LO. I am glad that the poems have inspired me to scrap some of my older pics as they all need scrapping before I have bubbies of my own!

SO ladies go check it out - you have until the 13th June. The DT are REALLY generous with leaving love on your blogs - which always makes it more worth your while. Or am I the only one who LOVES blog love??!!

A walk in the park...

I did something I don't usually do today - I used my leftovers from the previous layout. You may recognise the pics from a few posts ago. I like the bracketed title. I got this idea from a Creating Keepsakes magazine with the tab journalling and the patterned swirl at the bottom. I will defo try it again.

I like to have all the pics overlapping, I think it makes the page more interesting.

Hope you are all having a lovely bank holiday! We are off on a mystery tour tomorrow. Arne has booked us into a "secret" hotel for the night and I will have a treasure hunt tomorrow to discover the destination. Will defo get some pics and make a LO about that one!! x

I HEART cupcakes...

So this is based on this sketch. It is a pic taken at Angel Bakery in Brighton on one of our weekends away. The theme was new and so I thought of my new obsession. I drew round a dinner plate and then cut it out and divided it into four. I made ribbon tabs to border the purple section. At the moment I feel a layout is not complete without flowers. I cut a flower from the alpha cardstock and then layered it with a glittery flower.

These wordstrips are about how my sisters and I always get obsessed with our hobbies and don't do things by halves. I used a scattering of heart shaped brads to mirror the sprinkles on the cupcake.

The title is made of rootbeer alphas and then alpha stamps. The round tag is from a gift we got given at our wedding - I feel that polka dots and cupcakes go hand in hand (the perfect pair!) I edged this quarter in glitter glue.

It looks fab hanging on the wall. I think I will make some more layouts like this. Let me see if you have any success with circular pages...

H-H-H-H-Holiday!!!!

Can anyone tell I am excited for half term? Another tough half term is finally over. We have many exciting plans like a secret city break plus treasure hunt (don't I have the best hubby??!) My old school friend is coming to visit on Thursday and Friday too - yay!!! So lots of fun trips planned and hopefully some scrapping. I am currently working on a circular layout - a new thing for me...so watch this space! Don't forget that the blog challenge at Scrapping the Poetry finishes on the 31st May and an exciting new challenge will be up. My first challenge as a member of the DT - exciting huh??! Have a fab weekend guys! x

Sunshine state of mind....

So today was photo day for us which was a huge bonus as the weather has been el scorchio! In fact I have noticed blogging has been at an all time low as everyone was out having too much fun to blog! These are photos we took on a walk to a local resovoir - it was stunning. I have never been there before and so Arne took me as a surprise date. We had a picnic and hiked round the whole thing - a good few hours. Flip flops were not the best choice of footwear and I now have a little blister. These shots are defo good scrapping fodder...

Did you all have fun in the sun??? x

The "one" where we went to Pizza Hut...

This random pic taken just before our wedding last June. We were in Pizza Hut with my sister and her hubby (hence the slice!) I picked the lyric "the one" from the Nickleback song on this week's STM challenge. I used coredination cardstock and then used a fancy page as a stencil and dabbed purple paint round the edge, I then edged that with glitter glue. I like bling!! The title is cut out of grafittied cardstock and inked and glittered. I then punched out random circles of it (it is double sided) I then layered some with little flower sequins. I completed the title with stamped letters and an actual heart. I love using raw cardboard on layouts.

I matted the photo on coredinations black cardstock. Then I layered it with a border punch pink piece and some ribbon. The stickers were a recent gift from my mom, I think from the QVC shop in Shropshire (LOVE that place!) there are loads of cute phrases - they will be featured a lot from now on.

A close-up to show the dimension - lots of pritt pads.

Pretty pleased with how this layout just fell into place. I will defo be making more paint borders from now on...

*Tag* What a blag! (A clue!)

So my title is clue to which blog I now design for - Scrap that poetry!!! I love that blog and am excited about the challenges coming up. Watch this space! So Laura did the blog version of "who wants to play tag" and I totally joined on that chain. So some crazy q & a about moi:-

1. If you could only every eat crisps or chocolate ever again, which would you pick?

Defo chocolate. Never been too much of a crisps gal, except posh ones like kettle chips. My fav chocolate is Galaxy and Mint Aero.

2. What are you most proud of?

Probably my wedding day. It was the culmination of lots of waiting and good decisions (largely) and walking down the aisle towards Arne was the best feeling in the world.

3. Do you have any weird phobias?

Needles and rats. Not too wierd I guess lots of people share them. We once had rats in my parents house (thank goodness mom doesn't blog she'd kill me for sharing that!!) and they ate all our Christmas decorations. I couldn't sleep at night. Hated them.

4. Which teacher inspired you most at school?

Hmmm that's a tricky one. Dr.Grenfell Hill was a classic, totally bonkers and way too camp for a married man but he was a great teacher and taught me great revision techniques. But it was my English teacher Mr DeQuincy who ingnited my passion for the subject and made me want to become a teacher.

5. Which Friends character are you most like?

I can be a bit OCD and bossy like Monica, but I can also be a bit of a Princess like Rachel. I had the Rachel cut at school so probably liked her the most.

6. If you could be a super hero, what would your powers be?

Flying. Spider man looked totally cool. Would defo fly over New York.

7. Do you like your handwriting?

Mostly, it has improved I think.

8. What has been the best Christmas present you ever recieved?

Another tricky one. I have had loads of great pressies. My family always spend ages picking cute little bits and bobs. I have never had a pressie I have been desperate to have for ages like my little sister's big red fun bus!

9. Would you rather be too hot or too cold?

Hmm tricky one. I love to have a throw over me all the time and my tootsies get very cold. I get very hot too tho, especially when teaching. I guess too cold....

10. Are you still watching Lost? And if so... do you have a clue what is going on????

Have NEVER watching it, but am always told to. I prefer Grey's.

Okay so my ten questions are:

1) What is your best icecream flavour?

2) What is your best month in the year and why?

3) What is the worst date you have ever been on?

4) What is the most embarrassing song you secretly love?

5) What is your favourite mode of transport?

6) Which famous person would you love to meet?

7) What would you still love to learn to do?

8) Who is your favourite baddie in a film?

9) Which actress would play you in the story of your life?

10) Which school subject should be abolished and why? I tag in Hannah, Gemma and Mirjamc.

Thanks for playing!!

Exciting scrappy news...

Woo hoo!!!! I have *finally* been selected to join a design team. Not sure I can say which yet...but watch this space and I will fill you in on more details. I got the email as school in my free period and was smiling all day. I shared the news with my colleagues and they looked at me like I was nuts! Non-scrappers just don't get it!! STM latout to come later...

Retro scrapping... * Warning photo heavy *

Soooo unexpectedly the hubsters is away for the day and so I have been doing a bit of sorting out and found some old albums that I realised I haven't shown on my blog. There is plenty more to come but I have tried to pick out some of my favs. This page is all about my love of reading. The pic was taken in Italy when we had a few hours to kill till the train. It is a gorgeous pic that just reeks summertime chillaxing! This is another fav layout of our trip to Thailand a few summers ago. I used lots of cork and tearing and even a little cocktail umbrella. There is hidden journalling under the photo on the bottom left. I never use hidden journalling anymore. It is interesting looking at old scrapping.

A page about one of our fav activities when I first moved to Leeds - bonfires on Otley Chevin. I like the big BABY title and the strip journalling - it really pops.

A page about the icecream farm in Chester that our family loves to visit. Quite simple and made with A QVC kit so it all co-ordinates well.

A simple, but effective, layout about a cute little Cafe in London we went to on one of our first trips to London as a couple. The heart is from some flowers he sent me. I am always on the look out for freebie embellies.

This is one of my fav layouts of all time. The title is lyrics of one of our fav songs from when we first started dating. This was scrapping I did before I had loads of stash and so I had to be more creative but I think all the embellies and stuff work really well on this. It also has secret journalling about what a romantic he was when we first got together.

This page is from a big pack from Costco. I enjoyed colouring it in and sticking stuff on. I think it looks effective with the little pics across the top. The pics are of our cycle ride to Sluis in Holland.

Our friend is a dentist and so gave us some scrubs. Since I am obsessed with Grey's Anatomy I made a layout about it. Lots of stamping and some embossing. Again quite *vintage* techniques, that I should try to use again.

Hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane as much as I did! Hope your still with me! Ha! xxx

Mirror Images...

So none of you part-timers guessed the other part of my title. It was mirror images as one day on our Europtrip to Brugges we were both wearing the same colours - we failed to get a photo op of us all together and so had to settle for these. We were showcasing our apple fritters (or whatever they call them in Holland!) I have been working on this page all week trying to make sure I fitted all the concepts in. Lots of layering and my fav colours to scrap with. The interview style journalling is a reconstruction of a convo us sisters have all the time. We always joke about wearing each others clothes and copying each others styles. The glimmer mist was used to create the stencil concept.

Stars are one of my fav shapes. The top one is a pendant from an old necklace of mine. I always keep random bits like that as you never know when they'll come in handy.

Thanks Mission to Create! x

We all live in a yellow submarine...

So I couldn't resist scrapping this delish sketch as it was full of my fav shape to scrap with - circles. I chose a "vintage" pic of my sisters, gran and I at the model village near Oxford. I cherish any pics with our gran as she lives in South Africa and so we hardly ever get to see her. The title was inspired by our yellow sundresses and lollies. I love my face in this pic! I was pleased with my uber layered flower. I even topped it with a button and a gem. I inked all of the circles to make them stand out and to give the impression of depth. I matted the photo on some foam from packaging and like the border it gives and how it makes the photo * pop *

An extreme close-up of the flower. Wish I had a better camera.

I doodled round the edge of the page with fake stitching. I usually ink the edges of a page, but wanted to try something different as i had inked a lot on the page.

These aren't colours I usually scrap with, but I enjoyed working with them. My new fav thing to do it to make suns with circles. I punch out loads of contrasting circles and matt a piece of cardtock on top so they peak out. I guess it looks like a scalloped edge - but is the cheats way of doing it.

Looking at it now I am pretty sure the ribbon isn't straight. But I do favour the "shabby chic" approach and never use a ruler to scrap with. That would be too much like maths and I always

* hated * maths!

The post title reminds me of another childhood memory. We always used to sing that song in the car and then say "except Alli whose drowning in the sea" or whichever sister was annoying us at the time - usually Alli! Aren't kids funny? And mean!!

So give me a holler...let me know what you think....

Hello wireless...

So thanks to our fab new wireless box I am blogging IN my scrap room. Whilst watching episode one of season one of Glee (just seeing what all the fuss is about...) and so here is a taster of my page for Mission to Create...

Can anyone guess what the whole title is? I am loving my new Martha Stewart border punch it lends itself to plenty of layering. I have been working on this in my few spare mins this week. It's been a kerazy few weeks with my extra responsibilty at work. This is my solace!

Welcome to my new followers - love you guys! xxx

A "mint" day out...

So it was cupcake contest number two. Zara (my sister-in-law) came along and we had a jolly old day. These little bad boys won an on the spot prize for the cutest sign... These came second place and were very yummy...plus presented in a cute way..

Me (at a funny angle!) with my little cupcake stand...

Zara enjoying the tasting experience....

A close-up of my babies. A chocolate sponge with peppermint buttercream and then swirls of dark chocolate and mint aero. I used silicone cases and so they just popped out. Very cool. The recipe was adapted from here. I enede up making a cream cheese frosting as I prefer it and then I didn't put the chocolate ganache on as I thought it might melt them.

I was given false hope of coming in the top three as Zara heard whispers of "have you tried the green ones?" etc and then I didn't :( but it was a great day out and we were thoroughly stuffed by the end!

Next months theme is pink and blue and all proceeds go to Cancer Relief.....Any ideas let me know...I am thinking strawberries and blueberries...A "berry" good cause!

Here comes the sun...doo, doo, doo, do...

What an apt choice of layout after a rained out bank holiday. Well rained out may be a slight exaggeration - itermittant showers is a more realistic term. So this is my layout for this weeks scrapping the music challenge (gotta love that blog!) I chose the lyric "Give me Sunshine" I was going to use the following lyric - when all I see is gray, but it didn't fit on the page! I avoided going for the obvious yellows and felt that green and pink were very spring time and bold. I used white paint to create the masked title and to replicate rays of sun coming from the green thickers. I must apologise for the quality of the close-ups. I am criminally impatient (as Nigella says in her cookbooks) and so just wanted to get the pics up. I like the bling on the "i".

The green felt flowers were spiced up with button blooms and blinging petals.

The journalling on the right reads exploring Roundhay Park. On the left the circular journalling reads:

You are the cake in my cup,

The down when I am up.

I then realised this sounds a bit negative so added-

(to no good!) as he is very good at telling me to behave and to be nicer about people.

Aren't these flowers just gorgeous? My fav colours and a bargain from Asda.

So hope you enjoyed my bright, blinging page. It has lots of sparkle and even a cut out border from a patterned page - something I rarely do.

Thanks for stopping by. I have seen lots of good challenges around so I will hopefully be posting some more treats soon!

Spring cleaning and all that jazz!

So we are in the midst of a huge cleaning frenzy ready for my family (minus three members) coming to visit for the weekend. We have done crazy things never previously attempted in our little "pent house" like cleaning the windows with a spray and wiping down the skirting boards! It was pretty mucky, but the house smells fresh as a daisy now and is sparkling like a diamond! So feeling very satisfied and before I head out to Waitrose for icecream I thought I would show you todays purchases. I felt mom would appreciate some of the love from The Sunshine Bakery and so stocked up on their lush cupcakes and some whoopee pies too. The one on the left is banana and mango, in the middle it is strawberry and rhubarb (with Yorkshire rhubarb) and then double chocolate. I am thinking two whoopee pies is not enough for five of us, especially since I wolfed one down in the car - ooopps! Then inspired by Rachel's blog post I decided I needed to get to the Wittard's sale and pick up some of this lush china at half price. Loving the diamond design...I was keen to jazz up our kitchen as our current crockery is just white and quite posh - a wedding gift.

My fav piece - the star mug. I think Gem's (my lil sis) will wish she liked hot drinks, just for this mug!

Here it all is glistening in the sunlight having been washed ready to use. We got four plates, two mugs, and four cereal bowls. Rachel has pretty much cleared them out! I really wanted the stripy ones with a white middle and the pasta bowls, but they didn't have any. They gave me a special leaflet tho to get free online postage and 20% off if I order online - hello! So that is my next stop...

So all in all a fab Saturday which can only get better with the arrival of my family and Britains Got Talent. I am easily pleased hey!? Hope you have all enjoyed the start of your bank hols.

P.S Welcome to my new follower - things are on the up!

xxxxxx