This blogger loves to travel......

Please don't think we spent the whole time eating and drinking !

I don't know if it's the Spring sunshine or the lighter evenings but this time of year turns my head to plans of future travel. We have a big trip coming up next February - a month in New Zealand - so of course that entails of lot of reading guide books, asking friends and examining maps spread out across the floor ( always fun helped by dogs!). Many of my scrapbook pages concern past travels. We were in Budapest last year and although the weather was "mixed" ( that means rather chilly and damp!) it was a great week.
Here is the page.

I am at the lovely Linden Rosams Scrapbooking class tonight and will share a picture of what we make later in the week.

Welcome Spring

Our scrapbook challenge continues - here is my page for this week and I am so glad that I had my camera at the ready to capture the beautiful crocuses fully open.
The photograph does not do the gorgeous green of the Stampin Up! DSP justice nor does it show the two green used to double mat the photos. In fact it's a pant picture! The stamped sentiment doesn't show either! Oh well, you will just have to come to my next class, on  Saturday 11th April, and see the page in person!

Monday Musing on Tuesday!

So - my aim is (was) to post a blog entry every Monday and then again later in the week. I should have posted yesterday but events overtook me (note to self: write scheduled posts in future!) If you have come here from Michelle's Doodlebird designs blog then please don't let on that I have not done a scheduled post (she does them!). Go and have a look at her blog by clicking here.
One of the joys of living in a village is that we help each other: powercuts are quite common, when it snows the hill becomes impassable and we are "cut off" and two of the three roads flood after heavy rain. We know our neighbours and offer help to get each other through. On Monday two of my neighbours locked themselves out and while waiting for the person who has the spare key to come home from shopping they came in to my house to keep warm, use the loo and have some company.
The scrapbook page I made last week was sitting on the table so they enjoyed looking at that even though they are not themselves papercrafters.


Another of my friends has won an amazing trip to New York and I made her this Bon Voyage card.



The paper is a retired Stampin Up one and it really reflected the excitement of going to NYC. It was lovely to be able to wish her happy travels with a unique, handcrafted card.

Do you love fancy fold cards or find them a bit difficult? Michelle and I are planning a whole class on them as part of the Papercrafters Paradise luxury retreat in October. message us if you would like to come!

Starry Scrapbook Page

We - Michelle, Linden and I - have set ourselves the challenge of making and posting a scrapbook page every week. we are taking it in turns to find a sketch for inspiration and here is the one we have used this week (found on Pinterest and many thanks to thepapervariety.blogspot.com).
We also set ourselves the "rule" that everything we use has to be from Stampin' Up! but apart from that you can have as wide an interpretation as you like and it can be traditional 12" x 12", Becky Higgins pocket scrapbooking or anything else you fancy.
The idea is to encourage us each to make a page every week and to give ladies that come to our classes three very different interpretations all from the same starting point.

 

 

So here is the page I have made. The photographs were taken on Christmas Day 2014 at Cocoa Beach, Florida as we were walking to our lovely Christmas Brunch at Gregory's Grill. I took my colours from my daughters dress. I wouldn't have usually put pinks and oranges together but it works on the dress so I figured I would give it a go. I think it gives the page a young and happy look. The whisper white stars and panels give it a bit of punch while the splodgy Designer Series paper reflects the foam in the waves and matts the photographs nicely while still staying in the same colour palette. I added the sentiment to make a kind of title for the page. I stamped it three times on the stars and overlapped them to make a bit more impact.

If you feel inspired by this sketch please send me a picture of your interpretation! I would love to see what you have done.

 

That Inky Comfort Zone

This Monday Musing is all about noticing where your crafty comfort zone is and being cool with the days that you just need to curl up in that warm comfy place....and also about having the courage to step away from that place and work at liking that new place too.


So we have all heard that it takes 20 tries to form a habit, 6 weeks to build muscle, 3 months to train for a half- marathon, 3 weeks to die from starvation and 8 views of a new brand to start recognising it...( I just made up thoses numbers by the way....). This means that when you feel the need to throw off the comfort blanket and stride into a world of different colours we need to give it a chance, to let us get used to it  and play about with different shades and combinations before we run back to the snugly duvet. Clearly not everything "works". Here are a couple of great starting points for fining some new colour combinations.

First the stunning Stampin' Up! Colour Coach ( Color Coach) where all the gorgeous ink and card stock colours are sampled with suggested combinations. This is a great place to start.

Secondly turn to a piece of patterned fabric that you have in your home or wardrobe. Exercise caution here - don't automatically turn to "your colours" but maybe reach for something a bit different.
I discovered by chance that having a tray with tiny samples of all the Stampin' Up! colours lying on my crafting table was a great help. It happened like this: I have a drawer in my studio ( which of course is Beyond the Greenhouse) for each of the SU colours in card stock. Yummy I know! I labelled them with the name of the colour and a small butterfly punched shape in the card. When I was making the labels I put them in a tray and saw that they were so pretty lying in a jumbled scatter. Then I started using them to audition colours for projects.....in the end I had to punch another set to use on the drawers! I would recommend you giving it a try.

It's Almost Spring - Lets Sale-a-brate!

So what the heck is that title meant to mean? Well fellow Stampin' Up! devotees will totally recognise that this fantastic Papercrafting supplies company is holding its annual Sale-a-bration where all orders of £45 will earn FREE products ( YES totally FREE papers, stamps, ribbons, buttons.......) for each and every £45 you spend. For me it's a great time to stock up and win out.....and the ladies that come to my classes also benefit because they get to use these limited edition goodies in class and have a play before they get their own. There really is nothing like seeing ( and stroking and sniffing!) the products in the flesh, as it were.
I have also set myself the challenge of making a scrapbook page every Saturday. I love the speed of the Project Life pocket Scrapbooking system but also revel in the traditional style pages where I could easily spend a whole day making a beautiful intricate work of art.

Here is the page I made this afternoon after seeing a great page that Michelle Philips made last week after seeing a page that Linden Rosam made in her monthly Scrapbooking class! Love these girls and the way we all CASE from each other ( Copy And Share Everything!)
Contact me by clicking here to email and get full details of the products and colours used and to book yourself on to a course so you can make your own!

Scrap book page every Saturday