Happy New Year

This is probably the largest number photos I've ever put on a layout. I'm definitely a one-photo girl. Occasionally two or three will sneak on there when need be, but generally I like a bit of breathing space on my pages. I am super happy with the fact that I managed to get twelve pictures on here and still leave plenty of white space. Of course, there's some spray ink, too :) I couldn't scrap about 2010 without it, could I. It's definitely been my most-used product of the year!

My page was inspired by the Jan 1st sketch over at Scrap with V. Check it out! Have you made a year in review page yet, this year? I'd love to see it if you have :)

Now, I have somebody I'd like you to meet...


Meet Freya.


Freya is a cute,lovable and friendly pup, with whom we had the pleasure of spending a few hours today.


She usually lives at the Dogs Trust Kennels near Ilfracombe, but thanks to my sweet boy Lewis, she got to come out and play with us this morning. Lewis has wanted to volunteer at an animal shelter since he was old enough to say 'woof'. We assumed he wouldn't be able to do this until he was much older, but we recently ran into a lady who worked there. She told us that as long as he was with an adult, he could come and take the dogs out every single day if he wanted.


So when we asked him what he wanted to do on new year's eve, he was quick to suggest walking one of the dogs. I'm so proud of my little man for wanting to help these poor unwanted dogs and the staff who work so hard to take care of them every single day of the year.


So, if you live in Devon or know someone who does, maybe you'd like a new friend like Freya? If we didn't rent our house, we'd not have let her go back :( Even if you don't live here, why not visit your local re-homing centre to find a new friend, or to help out? Warning: If you have a heart, expect it to BREAK when you leave and can''t take them all home with you. Failing that, you could donate some money or food to make room there for more of these little fellas.


As you celebrate this new year, please take the time to think of all the unwanted animals who, I'm sure, are wishing for 2011 to bring them a caring new home, and a family to play with who loves them as much as Lewis does.

On a happier note, I'll wish you all a safe and fun new year celebration! I hope 2011 holds everything you're dreaming of.

Sassy Sketch

Evening all! I've got a sketch to share with you today, from the latest reveal over at Sassy Lil' Sketches.


I can't believe we've already had so much snow this winter! We rarely get anything substantial, and even then it doesn't normally arrive until February! This page documents the first little snow flurry we had.


I built the world's smallest snowman on the wall outside my office. He didn't last long.

I hope you come over and play along this week at Sassy Lil' Sketches! There are 2 prizes up for grabs this month - Lawn Fawn Stamps and Stamping Dragon Designs. To be eligible for the December prizes, your layout/card must be uploaded via Mr. Linky by January 5th at 11:59 PM EST.

You might want to check out the new SLS forum when you visit. We'd love to 'meet' you!

That's all from me - I have lots and lots of exciting things to create this evening! Have a great day/evening!

Merry Christmas!

The gifts are wrapped, we're all ready for Christmas. Lewis went to bed very early, as he wanted to make sure Santa DEFINITELY came! I thought I'd share this note that Lewis took upon himself to write this evening, before bed (spellings and all):

Dear Santa,

Pleas may i get loTs of pResanTs i Fink ive bin a good Boy this yea. Give Rosie a presant love Lewis. i hope you like food if you would lik To sit down we would Be delited for you to. Love Lewis meRRy chRistmas santa xx

Well said, my boy.

Merry Christmas everyone! Wishing you and your families a peaceful and fun Christmas and new year xxx

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I've not really been feeling very festive so far this year, but today I had my last day at work and now I'm feeling more relaxed and getting into the spirit a bit more!


So I thought I'd share this little Christmas banner I've been working on... I intend to make a few more cards before it's finished, but I'm loving how it's coming along :)


I used the Dear Lizzie Christmas line from American Crafts which I'm reviewing for Scrap That! reviews. I'll tell you one thing - I had such a HARD job taking a photo! Hopefully you can see the little cards better in the close ups.


Each card measures 5.5" x 3.5" and I'm just pegging them onto some string to hang across one of the cabinets in my living room.







My mood was also uplifted by a huge box of BEAUTIFUL goodies from a certain BEAUTIFUL lady with the initials TC, which arrived from snowy Utah today :) Seriously, people, you will be totally wowed when you see the new lines!

You can also still join in with the fun giveaways on Teresa's blog every day until 25th December, and rumour has it that you will NOT want to miss the 25th!

I intend to update this little blog again before Christmas, but what with everything going on around here, I may not have the chance. So, just in case... have a FABULOUS Christmas!!!

Jovial

Just swooping in between Christmas projects to share a few cards I made with the BG Jovial collection for my review on Scrap That! Reviews.


I'll let you into a little secret - there were actually quite a few more than this, but I forgot to take pictures before I sent them to their new homes! These were the ones I was left with that are yet to be given out!


More Christmas cheer to come soon...

It's designer Friday

Today I have 2 projects over on the Precocious Paper blog. Each time I create with Tessa's things I fall in love all over again. They're just so easy to work with - I never run out of inspiration!


This first project I made to adorn my fireplace during the Christmas season. I simply cut stars in 2 sizes from an old cardboard box, spruced it up with some red and green glimmer mist, and topped them off with some scrumptious Christmas fabric flowers.


See? Simple!

This layout was HARD. I wanted to keep these flowers and just stare at them lovingly.


Fortunately I managed to glue them down and create this :)


The only problem is, I've decided to give the page to my Mum as a birthday gift tomorrow, so I'll have to say my goodbyes!

Be sure to stop by the blog and check out the projects that Anna made, too. They're gorgeous!

I've been busy making a cute Christmas decor project for the last couple of evenings, using the Dear Lizzie Christmas line from American Crafts. I hope to share that over the weekend :) I've had a poorly boy home most of this week, today being no exception, so am trying to find a healthy balance between nursing and scrapbooking. Not so easy! Hope you're all healthy and enjoying the mad lead up to Christmas. This time next week it'll be upon us!

Have a good one!

A little bit of shimmer

Today's challenge at Sarah Hurley is a card sketch. I had fun playing with my Shimmering H2O watercolour paints and some of the 'colour me' papers on Sarah's Christmas Cheer CD.


The picture doesn't really do this justice - you can't see the shimmer. It's much better in real life, lol!

Having a good day today - lots of exciting things going on, including news that Teresa Collins has received her FIVE new paper collections! I can't share until CHA, so you'll just have to be patient. Trust me though, you will LOVE them! I hope you've been stopping by her blog every day to enter her 25 days of giveaways!

I have more to share soon, finally feeling like I'm getting a handle on Christmas. Hoping to have some Christmassy projects to share in the next few days :) Only nine more sleeps!

Scrap with V sketch

Wow, time is flying, Christmas is fast approaching, and I feel like I'm moving backwards with my list of things to do! Anyone else getting overwhelmed this year?

Of course, when things get too stressful around here I can usually be found scrapping away, trying to clear my head again ready for the next lot of things I *need* to do!


So, today it's time for a sketch challenge over on the Scrap With V blog. I made a Christmas page with the yummy Jovial collection from Basic Grey (plus some old Prima flowers and leaves). Come over and check out the sketch :)

Whilst procrastinating yesterday, I stumbled across a challenge from Laura Kurz on the Studio Calico blog: scrap a page using 2 products or less (not inc. cardstock). I LOVED the challenge, as once upon a time I scrapped in a similar style to Laura. Things change but it was nice to strip it back down and come up with this super simple page.


I found the quote a few weeks ago and had been saving it up for a project. This was perfect :)



Have a great Wednesday and don't forget to visit Teresa Collins' blog every day until 25th December for a fabulous giveaway!

Teresa Collins projects

I have a quick post for you on this chilly Friday afternoon, to show you a couple of things I've created. I've been inspired to use up some of my older TC product in anticipation of her new releases next year. First is the card I made for Tony's birthday yesterday. I almost posted it yesterday, but remembered that he does actually read my blog, bless him. I didn't want him to spot it before he'd opened it!

I made this using my favourite paper from Teresa Collins' Celebrate collection. Along with some kraft cardstock and a little bit of baker's twine. The patterned paper is so versatile - text print on one side and fun patterned stars on the other. I was thrilled to discover I had a star punch that fits the stars in the paper almost exactly. Makes it super simple for me to punch those beauties out and use the waste in my projects, too. I can't share a link for the punch, I'm afraid, as it's one that came in a set of punches I bought from QVC many moons ago. No idea what brand they are :)


I love that I can use Teresa's products just as easily on boy projects as girl projects. She makes a lot of girly, feminine, collections, but their classic twist makes them easy to translate into more masculine projects. I guess she's thought that through, as a mother to children of both sexes! I'm so excited to see what she has come up with for her next release!


This layout was made using the Mr & Mrs line. I love the sophisticated patterns - perfect for these old pictures of my parents' engagement party back in the 1960s! I used the latest Pencil Lines sketch for my layout.

Teresa's 25 day giveaway is still going on! Check out her blog every day for a new chance to win an AMAZING prize!

Have a FABULOUS weekend!

Cybercrop day!

At last, it's time for the Scrap with V cybercrop!

My challenge is the first of the day and it's live now! Please come and join in :) Here's my layout:


If you want to see the challenge, you'll have to go here! Lots of fun and prizes to be had :)

Thursday projects

It's Thursday and that means there's a new challenge up at Sarah Hurley challenges! This week you can get down and festive with some decor projects, if you so choose :)

I made some super simple decorations for the christmas tree using toppers from Sarah's Christmas cheer CD. These are quick to make and would be even quicker if you have a circle punch the right size to punch out the toppers, unlike myself ;)

Simply trim out some circles (any symmetrical shape will do), fold them in half, and glue them back to back to create 3D baubles. Remember to insert some ribbon or string before attaching the final piece so that you can hang your decoration. I used 4 circles, but you could use any number from 3 upwards for a different effect.

I also have a layout for today's sketch at Scrappin' Silhouettes. I love using sketches, and had a lot of fun with this one.

Tomorrow is Cybercrop day at Scrap with V! I'm super excited to see what everyone has in store :) My challenge goes live at about 8am (I think!!) UK time, and that will be kicking off the festivities.


I hope you come and join us :)

It's a small world

A couple of weeks ago, a scrappy acquaintance (Tracie) and I realised we only live a couple of miles away from each other. It worked out pretty well for both of us, as she was looking for a shop to go along to her crop, and I was looking for a local crop so that I could meet some new scrappy friends! Tracie also asked me to teach a class, so I had fun getting everyone messy with paint :) [Supplies all from Fancy Pants]

It was a lovely day and I met some lovely ladies, even if 90% of us were suffering from various colds!

Today it's time for another challenge at The Studio, this week it's all about scrapping a page without a title. It seems a lot of us can struggle to find the right title for a page, so why bother!


That's the page I made, check out the rest over on the Studio! Did you notice I've traded my glimmer mist for paint this week? LOL! Who'd have thunk it? My page shows a picture of the first plane I ever flew in. You wouldn't catch me braving one that small nowadays!

And one last thing - don't forget Teresa Collins is having s HUGE 25 day giveaway on her blog! Every day until December 25th she is giving away one of her most favourite things! Today you could win her entire BLINGAGE collection. Who wouldn't be happy with that?!

OK, I'm off to open another box of Kleenex. Please send me cold-be-gone-at-long-last-pretty-please vibes!!

Well, hello!

A whole WEEK has passed since I last blogged! We've all been struck down with one illness after another in this house! I hope you're all staying healthy and warm :) I now have a cold, but at least I can breathe through one nostril. We have to be thankful for the little things, LOL!

OK, before you read any further, click over HERE to visit Teresa Collins' blog and join in with a whole 25 DAYS filled with inspiration and amazing prizes! Teresa is very generously giving away a prize EVERY DAY until Christmas! It's simple to win, too, just post a comment. The 1st December prize is her entire 'Noel' collection!

Hopefully you've come back to carry on reading my post, and not hopped off for too long! ;)

If you're looking for some ideas to make some fun gift bags for the holiday season, then you'll probably be interested to visit Sarah Hurley today! The latest challenge is to create a gift bag. Here's mine, made from a trimmed down Studio Calico kit bag and some embellishments from Sarah's Christmas Cheer CD.


I have to say, I struggled with this, so decided simple was the way ahead! There are some lovely examples on the blog from the other DT girlies.


Did you hear? Next FRIDAY 10th DECEMBER it's Cybercrop time at Scrap with V! There are going to be lots of fun challenges and great prizes, so please come and stop by. I'm setting the first challenge of the crop, and it's going to be a FUN evening! There have also been lots of updates on the SWV blog, including the newest sketch contest and THIS amazingly stunning birdcage tutorial by Tina, which is also available as a kit :) I need to make one of these, it's beautiful!

I also have a couple of Layouts to share that I made with my Scrap with V kit for December.


Each month we're sent some goodies to create a number of layouts for a kit class. I love the idea that people can get the kits and follow the instructions to create what we've made, or can go their own way with the contents.


I loved having the challenge of working with papers and embellishments that I wouldn't normally choose for myself!

Last, but certainly not least, at The Studio we're kicking off December with some fun 'Quick and Easy' christmas projects. Over the next few weeks the design team and some talented guests will be sharing some simple christmas projects to help you create a few last minute Christmas things. We have a lot of cool ideas for you, and we'll be kicking it off later today with a project from Fabi. I hope you stop by to check it out!

That's it for now, time for me to make another cup of tea and warm my frosty toes! Have a WONDERFUL Thursday!