altered orchid

Mojo

2012-01-28T15:44:00.001-08:00

So after Christmas, a bunch of exams and a blog break it finally feels a bit like my mojo is coming back :) been working on a few things lately which I've been getting quite happy with, and been feeling like inspiration is coming from all directions so looking forward to having some things to share on my blog again :) hurrah!

For now, here are some peeks of some things I've been working on - lets hope I can post to Blogger from my phone!

Happy scrapping

Gayle xx

Wednesday waffle

2011-11-02T14:35:00.000-07:00

I remember reading somewhere that married life is good for the man but not for the woman; I have to say I seem to have been ill on and off for the first 8 weeks of my marriage where I was never ill before, so I'm starting to come round to that school of thought! Came down with a cold/sore throat/toothache a week ago and they're still here :/ but I am seeing the nurse on Friday and the dentist on Monday so hopefully they will sort me out. I have decided that health visiting is bad for my health! Thankfully I am back in uni this week - phew!

Although DH and I have been together for more than six years, this will be our first Christmas as a married couple so this year I really want to do Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas so that we have something to remember it by. It's definitely been a big year of change for us in many ways so as well as recording our usual Christmas traditions, this year will be about finding some new ones too.

One of this year's changes will be that this year will be my first dairy-free Christmas; although this produced much initial dismay from my family, they're gradually coming round to the idea that I'm not going to starve ('but what are you going to eat??'). Case in point, for our Halloween celebrations I made Super Moist Pumpkin Bread from this recipe at The Post Punk Kitchen...

... and you know what? It was beautiful! Very much like a nutty version of my Mum's fruit cake - yum!! After making everyone try some (because yes, these things are treated with suspicion) it was agreed that it was actually very good :) thank you Isa!! Of course it's also good with a little non-dairy ice cream if that's your thing ;)

In thinking about Journal Your Christmas and scrapbooking, I have definitely been doing a bit of online window shopping (and drooling!) over scrappy supplies. I've been thinking that I need to look at getting a few kits or matching paper lines rather than just picking up little bits and pieces that take my fancy but aren't really very cohesive when you try to put them together. Diana at The Scrappy Tree always has everything so beautifully matched! And after browsing lots of lovely supplies I then read her post for The Scrappy Tree today and she was talking about much the same thing :) Christmas is coming, look out scrappy shops! lol

Off to finish watching Kirstie's Handmade Britain before bed :)

Gayle xx

Still here!

2011-10-31T01:47:00.000-07:00

Whoops! Haven't posted since last weekend, better not start neglecting the blog again already! In truth it's been a busy week, but actually I've been posting over at The Scrappy Tree and not got around to duplicating that here; we've been running a series of Halloween posts in the run up to tomorrow so feel free to come visit us there and see what we've been up to :)

So what has this week been about? I handed in my second assignment at the beginning of the week and I've just finished the second placement of my nursing course (only seven left to go!) and while I'm pretty sure that I don't want to be a health visitor(!), it was a really interesting placement nonetheless and certainly gave me food for thought. Besides which, my mentor was absolutely lovely and it was a very pleasant six weeks :) back to uni again this week for another block of theory in the run up to our exams in December - eek!

Now that the wedding is out of the way (because however much we loved the day the preparations take over your life!) I'm feeling much less guilty about spending time in the craft room so am hoping whatever mojo I have keeps me company for now so I can have some fun! I have a few days off this week where I was going to book in some shifts but I seem to have picked up a virus from somewhere (health visiting is bad for your health!) and I can't really risk working on hospital wards until I'm better again; to be honest the sore throat/ear/jaw is making me a little cranky ;) but time at home is good for study/crafting time anyway (there's always a silver lining!) especially given the extremely wet weather we're getting.

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead :)

Gayle xx

Head over to the Halloween party...

2011-10-22T04:43:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to invite you all to a Halloween party that The Scrappy Tree is taking part in - we're giving away some Halloween treats (a photo of my 'treat' is below')

...so visit The Scrappy Tree for more details! Have a great weekend :)

Gayle xx

Cupcakes and champagne

2011-10-16T14:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went for a cupcakes and champagne day in London! Lots of fun :) it was a late birthday present from my friend; we had to cancel the first time because of the riots in London. We travelled on the train to Paddington Station...

...and then caught the tube to Regent Street so we could visit Hamley's, the big toy store. It was such a beautiful day! Like summer all over again :)

This camel really reminded me of visiting FAO Schwartz in NY :)

While we were there we saw 'The Queen'...

...someone's mad auntie....

...a lovely bride...

...and some of the British military!

I always forget how expensive Steiff bears are! The contents of these shelves cost more than I earn in a year.

Loved this rocking horse, so gorgeous! £1800 of gorgeous!!

Also loved this Harry Potter marauder's map; may need one of these in the future!

They had some great Lords of the Rings stuff (love Gollum!)...

...and I positively drooled over the Harry Potter displays!

We had some lunch at this nice little bar (mushrooms in white wine on bruschetta)...

...and then we travelled to Waterloo Station...

...where this street under glass just fascinated me, it was so beautiful in the sunshine.

We left the station and walked out into Clapham Junction...

...and took a stroll around the corner to the venue.

After some fancy dress and champagne...

...we got on with pouring some chocolate and other yummy things into moulds.

When we'd finished, we moved on to decorating cupcakes. Everyone concentrated really hard on this and were it not for the 60's music playing in the background there would have been complete silence!

The lady running the afternoon made it look very easy!

These are some of my efforts! I was really feeling the blue icing for most of them :)

And these are the six I decided to take home.

Everyone had a lot of fun decorating the cakes and there were all sorts of colours and designs going home with us.

Some of the cakes were piled pretty high with icing!

After we left the cupcake venue we headed for Covent Garden to meet a friend for drinks.

These were so welcome! It was really hot!

We left Covent Garden and caught the tube back to Paddington Station to catch our train home...

... - I actually love Paddington Station, makes me think of Harry Potter and Platform 9 and 3/4 :)

When we got home we checked our cakes and...

...disaster happened! It was really warm all day and maybe...

...we hadn't managed to keep the boxes as steady as we'd hoped! Oh well :)

All the same it was a really fun day, and we had a great time! Definitely something we would think about doing at home now too!

Hope you had a great weekend!

Gayle xx

Happy birthday!

2011-10-14T12:21:00.000-07:00

This is a big happy birthday to my stepdad who is 54 on Sunday! I know he won't see this which is why I'm sharing this with you two days early ;) although without giving anything away, it's possible he'll be visiting the internet a lot more from Sunday onwards ;) ssssshhhhh!!

We have all clubbed together to get him a bigger gift between us, and so we each made a gift tag to attach to his gift :) I made a gift tag and birthday card to match. The birthday card looks a little crazy(!) but the tag seems to balance it for me a little :) Great way to use up those number stickers! I have sheets and sheets where most of the letters are missing and the numbers are untouched :) I wrote some more about making them both in my post at The Scrappy Tree today; I had a lot of fun playing with some of the scrappy goodies I picked up at the craft show the other week (wrote about this here.)

I am off to London tomorrow as I'm being treated to a late birthday gift involving cupcakes and champagne! As yet I don't really know where I'm going or exactly what I'm doing, but I'll be boarding the train to London in the morning armed with my camera so should have some photos to share soon.

Have a good weekend!

Gayle xx

Wednesday waffle!

2011-10-12T10:08:00.000-07:00

Look at this little face I had to leave this morning. Seriously. Cuteness!!! Love my kitty :)

Anyway! lol! Spent today and am spending tomorrow with midwives as part of my placement; kind of strange for me and somewhat out of the comfort zone of anything I've done before, but I won't deny this nursing course is certainly a learning experience in all sorts of ways!

So.... I haven't been running in ages. I mean at least 3 months. And in the last week I couldn't if I wanted to, because I picked up a stomach bug (perils of nursing placements!). But I got to doing a bit of blog surfing while I was sat on the sofa and I saw this post by Jennifer Welbourn which reminded me that I really need to start again! Jennifer wanted to run so much that she's had to work really hard to overcome some major health problems in order to do so. Her post shows some of the beautiful scenery where she goes jogging, and I got to thinking; where I live really doesn't look like that. But you know what, maybe I need to get out there and take some pics, and actually appreciate what's around me. But first I need to find my camera charger! lol

Today's post at The Scrappy Tree is by the very talented Diana - what that girl can't do with some craft card is nobody's business! ;) Check it out here.

Last but not least, Shimelle has a new class out, and yes, I am already signed up for it even though my to-do list is longer than my 40 mile drive to work! But how can you really say no to a Shimelle class ;) and besides, there's always time to do things in that magical period called 'later'. ;) Check out 'Pretty Paper Party' here (either I have plenty that I can use in this class, or I will need to buy some more to make sure - either way, win-win!).

Wishing you a wonderful Wednesday!

Gayle xx

Scrappy chest of drawers

2011-10-08T06:08:00.000-07:00

I've been waiting all week to be at home while there was some sunshine so that I could take some less dreary photos but eventually had to give up! I prefer the look of this project in real life anyway :) I've also shared this over at The Scrappy Tree for my Friday post this week.

This project is based on a piece in an article by Morag Cutts in the July 2011 issue of Craft Stamper which my Mum saw and immediately fell in love with! She asked me to make it for her birthday which is at the end of August, but has been very patient in waiting for it until I finished it recently; time just ran away from me in the run up to the wedding!

I did make it with a few changes from the original in line with Mum's preferences; I ordered the same chest of drawers by Eco Crafts and started layering with blue and cream acrylic paint and clear crackle paint, but when Mum saw the blue chest with the cream drawers in it, she decided she wanted it to stay that way!

The 'handles' on the front are Graphic 45 button brads; I snapped the brad part off at the back, and glued the button part on to the front of each drawer with a glue gun; there were two designs in the pack so I used one of each in turn.

Mum has some of the sewing themed Tim Holtz supplies so I used these along with a few others that seemed to fit; stamps, die-cuts and a scrap of Tim Holtz paper :)

I played around with a few different things to go with the thread reel and the dress form but in the end went for this Prima flower with some matching thread for the real, and found some buttons in my stash which seemed to contrast well :)

It looks completely different in sunlight so I'll have to see to see if I can replace these pictures when the sun comes out; it's so grey here at the moment! The sun only seems to shine for short periods while I'm away from the house so it will have to be well-timed :)

Cardiff Creative Stitches & Hobbycrafts

2011-10-03T13:35:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, me and my Mum went up to Cardiff for the Creative Stitches & Hobbycrafts exhibition. It was being held at the Cardiff International Arena which is in central Cardiff, so after a Starbucks we took a leisurely stroll over there :)

I only took my small camera with me so that it wouldn't be too intrusive, but the CIA was quite dim inside so the pictures didn't come out too well!

There were several stalls there, mostly for stitchcrafts but also a few for papercrafts and a few other things (such as a stall for cheeses, one for pies and one for roasted nuts!).

As you can see, most of the people at the show were ladies! I did spot a few harassed looking male partners following their ladies around but it was mostly us girls ;) although actually several of the exhibitors at the show were men - guess Timmy isn't the only talented male crafter out there!

In addition to stalls representing businesses, there were also stalls representing certain guilds to do with stitchcrafts - the picture above was a large woollen tent made out of lots of different pieces (in real life it appeared in different shades of blue, grey and white). The theme was the seaside; there were knitted seagulls, starfish, seashells - it looked amazing!

There was an exhibit showing entries in different stitching and quilting competitions - we were really impressed by these! So wonderful to look at up close. We particularly liked the Wizard of Oz...

...and Alice in Wonderland.

There were also classes running that we noticed as we walked around, but they appeared to have been fully booked in advance. We only found out about the exhibition quite recently, so maybe next time :)

We certainly enjoyed looking at the papercrafting stalls, and picked up a few things to bring home and play with :)

The show at the CIA wasn't all that big, but it was great to look around and it's certainly made us interested in looking at attending a few more shows, even if we have to travel a bit longer to get there!

Happy scrapping :)

Gayle

Art Journal Friday at TST

2011-10-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

So it's gorgeous Art Journal Friday weekend :) I am so lucky The Scrappy Tree girls let me do this! Always happy for an excuse to play :)

I totally missed out on August for various wedding-related reasons (too many coming together at the same time mainly) but for September's theme I wanted to pick something really positive - after the all-consuming. overwhelming wedding, life goes on! In particular, I've had time to think about how things have gotten better, and how things will continue to get better. For me, marriage is a total positive :)

This month's theme at The Scrappy Tree is 'reflection' - looking backwards and forwards and coming to a conclusion about the good things in your life (of course there are bad things, I'm not denying these, but please use them to find your positivity for this month's page :)

I thank you, and look forward to seeing your pages at The Scrappy Tree :) (please post a link to your blog in the comments page there if you'd like to share your page)

Happy scrapping!

Gayle xx

Halloween!

2011-09-27T12:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know it's really too early to be posting for Halloween... but after leaving DisneyWorld where the decorations are already up, I am supremely excited already!

At The Scrappy Tree we are taking part in a Halloween blog party on October 22nd (which I'm glad is early because I just can't wait til the end of October!) which is being hosted by A Fanciful Twist - you can join in by clicking here to see the original post.

Can't wait to start digging out all my spooky scrappy stash! We are going to carve pumpkins, make pumpkin pie, watch Harry Potter movies (ok, not Halloweeny really but we love it!) and maybe even do a bit of fancy dress :) Early Happy Halloween!

Gayle xx

The Stampman Challenge: A Perfect Pear

2011-09-24T05:48:00.000-07:00

It's been ages since I made anything just for the fun of it! Spotted the 'Perfect Pear' challenge over at The Stamp Man and it reminded me that I happened to have some pear stamps in the drawer! I bought these Creative Expressions 'Partridge In a Pear Tree' stamps last Christmas :)

Now that the wedding is behind us I am hoping there will be more time for a few crafty projects; it seems like a long time since I did anything much apart from wedding-related items or the odd birthday card (although having said that I do have a fair few thank you cards to knock up very soon!).

Anyway, I had great fun making this ATC :) thank you to The Stamp Man for the inspiration!
I've also posted this ATC and another one that just happened while I was playing(!) over at The Scrappy Tree :)

Gayle xx

Wedding Part 5

2011-09-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

Wedding Part 4

2011-09-20T14:36:00.000-07:00

Here we are! The wedding...

...and so concludes Part 4! A few more pics to follow tomorrow :)

Wedding Part 3

2011-09-20T08:15:00.000-07:00

Part 3! Nearly there! This post begins with the day before the wedding. The girls returned to the spa at the mall to have manicures and then simply had to insist on being chauffered to the Scrappy Boutique where much money was spent - we simply don't have shops like this where I live in the UK!

There was much running around to be done that day and in the evening everyone returned to the villa where the chefs (under the instruction of Head Chef K) prepared an extremely yummy meal for everyone which was very much enjoyed!

After dinner, the groom went to visit and stay over with his family (after all, it was the night before the wedding!) and the girls began to worry that the creased look that the dress had adopted was not going to drop out of the fabric in time for the morning...

...but after much steaming-of-the-bathroom and waving-about-of-the-steam-iron they really just had to go to bed, so they did. :)

In the morning, I woke at 5am and thought I could hear rain outside so went to the window and BANG - thunder and lightning! The family decided to congregate for mimosas and croissants and wait for the rain to stop and the sun to come up...

...and when it did, the rain had stopped and everything was just a bit... damp.

In the night, most of the creases in the dress seemed to have abandoned their fight and had fallen out of the dress onto the floor, where they had to be swept up because there were so many we were falling over them :)

Some make-up, hair, jewellery, a dress and shoes later,

I gathered up my skirts and prepared to step out into the damp outdoors - my carriage had arrived!

End of Part 3 (I know I know, at least I started the wedding day in this post! lol) - Part 4 to follow...

Gayle xx

Wedding Part 2

2011-09-19T10:19:00.000-07:00

Here we go with Part 2! Still haven't reached the wedding by the end of this post so you may wish to wait for Part 3 ;)

So! We visited Islands of Adventure on the Thursday and thought we'd take in some rides. We took with us Gav's brother Tom who has always been a been sceptical about our love of theme parks... but you can't disguise the big grin on this guy's face just after we got into the park!

We visited The Cat in the Hat, Poseidon's Adventure, WWoHP (love this place!) Spiderman, the Hulk, Popeye's Bilge Rat Barges (extremely wet!)

and then stopped at Margaritaville to dry off a little before heading home to get ready for our visitors that evening :)

We drove home to the villa via the supermarket to stock up, and some of Gav's family came over to join us for dinner.

The next day, more parks! Universal Studios this time :) We worked our way along the from the entrance (Shrek 4D, Twister, Mummy, Jaws) and around the lake (MiB, The Simpsons, ET), skipping a few faves on the way if the waiting times were too long because we wanted to pack in as much as possible!

Later that day a very good scrappy friend of mine, Kristin, flew in from California so we picked her up from the airport and then had dinner and wine at the villa :)

and the next day while the boys went golfing, the girls hit the shops!! Florida Mall here we come!

While at the mall we decided to have pedicures - the maid of honour and mother of the bride had never had pedicures before and had to be forced to do so! They discovered that certain parts of having a pedicure are very ticklish indeed...

But we all came out with pretty toes in the end! (excuse the blurry pic)

Having conquered the mall and our unruly feet, we headed home for a 'Cat in the Hat' party...

...which ended up in much hilarity which I'm not able to share here...

....needless to say...

...we all took our duties as members of the bridal party very seriously that evening :)

And so ends Part 2! Next instalment coming soon... :)

Gayle xx

Wedding Part 1

2011-09-18T06:30:00.000-07:00

So.... I've been thinking about how to go about blogging our wedding and it seemed it just wouldn't be complete if we left out the time before and after, so these wedding posts are going to have to come in parts! We spent 16 days with our family and friends in Florida and all of them were so much fun :) I'd love to blog about everything that happened but it would just take forever (I think I took over a thousand photos myself without those taken by our guests!) so this will necessarily be an edited version of events. At times we felt like we were being papped because every time we stopped somewhere all the cameras came out! lol! So you can see the size of the task in hand ;)

We left Gatwick Airport at lunchtime on the 30th August, all very tired from staying up late packing, getting up early to finish packing and then spending 4 hours on the shuttle to the airport. I even forgot our Disney tickets and we had to turn around a mile down the road from the house to go back to get them!

Of course when we got to the airport, we were all kinda tired but managed a brief pre-flight drink to buoy us up :)
(K, can you spot the armadillo??)

We had a good flight (anyone else actually quite enjoy investigating the little boxes that make up airline food? No? Just me then :)) and then picked up our hire car and drove to the villa we were staying in - this was a great surprise! It was bigger than the places we've stayed in Florida before and absolutely gorgeous - I loved the beds! The biggest, most comfortable bed I've ever slept in. (Yes I did run in and throw myself on the bed when we got there!)

The next morning our first job of the day was to head straight to the courthouse. We needed to apply for a marriage licence and although the rules seemed less strict for non-residents of Florida we were still a little apprehensive that there might be a few problems we hadn't anticipated. Look at the size of this building! Intimidating or what??

Well after we marched in armed with passports, driving licences and birth certificates and had prepared ourselves to read something about divorce and custody of children (which I'd found on the internet for Florida residents), actually they only wanted our passports. And for an extra thirty bucks we could have booked the courthouse to get married that day. No witnesses needed even. Wow.

So off we skipped to Disney's Hollywood Studios! We sampled some of my favourite favourite things there (Indiana Jones, Star Tours, The Great Movie Ride, Aerosmith, Fantasmic) and it was an absolute pleasure to share these with people in our party who had never seen them before.

Unfortunately I hadn't charged my camera and it ran out halfway through the day! But it did mean that I could really enjoy the show of Fantasmic, and the reactions of my Nan and my maid of honour, who had never seen anything like it before and were absolutely blown away. Magic. :)

The following day we visited the Magic Kingdom, which is always a favourite for all of us. We caught the boat across the lake,

took in the views of the castle,

and then the weather came to say hello in true Florida style, forcing emergency poncho purchases! To be honest it was so wet I'm not sure they made much difference in the end! I wish we had poncho pics but it was just too wet to get the cameras out - I ended up walking barefoot through the park there was so much water because my flip-flops kept shooting off my feet and aquaplaning across the surface water!

So we left the park late afternoon and went back to the villa to change; we then headed out to Olive Garden which we love love love! Gotta get those breadsticks ;)

For now, I'll leave you digesting (I know it took us a long time to do that after this meal!) and Wedding Part 2 will be with you soon...

Dearest Blog....

2011-08-24T06:58:00.001-07:00

Poor, neglected blog. How do I love thee... :) I'm afraid the neglect is probably going to continue a little longer; as you may know, I'm off to get married in the very near future :) but if I manage to fit my laptop in my case with all the wedding stuff, who knows, I may manage to blog more in those few weeks than I have in the past few months! lol

I am sure that I will take and also be sent lots of pictures (isn't the digital age a wonderful thing!); my early wedding present from my hubby-to-be is a 'proper' camera (you know, one of those with the twisty lenses) which I have never had before, so of course I will be taking even more photos than usual (I came back with about 400+ taken with my little point-and-shoot last time so look out!) and hopefully will have a few decent ones I can share :)

In the meantime I have been practising with my only willing volunteer subject... Kitty! Here she is looking soooooo cute just after waking up....

...and mere seconds later in full 'pose mode'...

...looking very casual! Love that puss :) I'm making the most of her friendly attitude because I know that after two weeks away she won't be my friend for a while! :( one of the only sad things about heading out on holidays.

I am looking forward to spending time with my family and with old and new friends, what a great opportunity to be doing all of those things at once and in such great surroundings :) now here's hoping we get the good weather to suit our good times.

For now, I'm working on my Mum's birthday card and gift... eventually I may post a picture! ;)

Gayle xx

May's Art Journal Friday

2011-05-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

It's Art Journal Friday at The Scrappy Tree! Please visit The Scrappy Tree for this month's prompt, and come visit the Ning Community for chats and love and more journaling :)

I've had this photo in my camera from last month all stored up and ready to go for a little while now but what with one thing and another... well, you know how it is ;)

Here's my celebration of our early summer from April's prompt...

I loved that dancing girl so much! Been waiting for an opportunity to use her in something :)

And here's my page for the May's prompt... (you can read the prompt at The Scrappy Tree here)

I have no idea why these pics came out at such different sizes! Oh well :-D

This month's prompt really got me, it was one of those that started out as a thought which turned into some writing which was going to stay as writing until somehow the pastels decided to colour it in, which was going to stay as it was until some paint got in there. and all of a sudden I had a page with a title and it basically said in a sentence what ALL of the writing had been rambling on about. This was one that kinda happened on its own. I love the colours, but the title is the bit I like the best :)

Thanks for looking

Gayle xx

The bane of my life...!

2011-05-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

I hope you don't mind, but my project to share with you today is... my wedding invitations! I've been working on these off and on for some time now, and although they may look quite simple I can guarantee you that it was suggested several times by my nearest and dearest that they should have been simpler! Seems like I've been working on these for ages!

I'll start with the invites themselves (I also made RSVP cards although at this point I already know most of my guests will be coming!).

I chose cream for the background card as it seemed more bridal (and less stark than the white) and embossed with a Tim Holtz/Sizzix swirls embossing folder. I cut out a background shape in red cardstock, and the words 'Happily Ever After' on plain cardstock, using the Storybook Cricut cartridge. I wanted the words 'Happily Ever After' to be written in gold but couldn't find card or paper that I was happy with the colour of, so ended up painting each one twice in gold acrylic paint (with the help of a very generous friend!). I cut out one big circle and two smaller ones from black cardstock using hole punches, and stuck these together into the shape of Mickey Mouse, with a trail of gold Stickles to make it look like a balloon. I tied the inner sheets into the card using red ribbon and tied a bow to make it look more decorative. If you like Disney, there are lots of Disney fonts available to download for free on the internet (I wrote mine in red and black ink!).

And here's the finished article!

The RSVP cards were much simpler! I had a circular RSVP stamp which was about the same size as one of Mickey's 'ears' so decided it would be just perfect to use this as the other 'ear'! I stamped the RSVP in black StazOn ink and then added a larger black cardstock circle and a smaller one to make it look like Mickey. I used small scalloped cards in the same cream colour as the main invitations.

And here are the two together! If you're tempted to try making your own my advice would be to play with a few designs until you find something simple that you really love! On reflection it would have been easier to theme the invites along the design of my RSVP cards, but I didn't start working on them until after I completed the invites, so maybe start there! Also, enlist the help of friends if you can - it was taking me forever to paint things in the shade of gold that I wanted and it was no end of help when a friend offered to help me out ;)

I'm hoping to get as many hand delivered as possible but will certainly be enlisting the groom's help as I'm doing some long shifts at the moment ;) hope you like them! Please excuse the photos, I haven't managed to be home much during daylight hours(!) but I hope you can see the idea :)

Happy Friday and happy scrapping ;)

Gayle xx

Reports from placement

2011-05-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

So I'm now two weeks into my first nursing placement... and loving it! Unable to share too much detail because of confidentiality restrictions, but I'm working in a ward environment as a student nurse for the first time and it's brilliant :) I've worked in the community for social services for much of my career and was so looking forward to gaining some new experiences in an inpatient setting. Learnt so much already and can't wait to learn more!

Definitely finding that staying on your feet all day is easier than sitting and learning when you get up at five in the morning! Loving loving LOVING those Clarks shoes, they were the best pair to get for sure. No blisters which is great :)

Wearing uniform... kinda love that too! It's not entirely comfortable and the material makes you all sticky about halfway through the shift, but you know what? Kinda happy to be wearing it anyway :)

So far, so good ;) here's to many more days like these!

Gayle xx

Recycling crafty style!

2011-05-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking more lately about my own impact on the environment, and as well as changing some of the things that I eat I'm also trying to become more aware of the products around me that go to waste that I can use - now I know that most of you will have a little (or maybe big!) pile of bits and bobs that you rescued from going in the rubbish bin because you had a thought that you might be able to do something with it sometime... I have a box full of things myself!

Lately I have been collecting train tickets and a few Starbucks cup holders on my travels. I spend more time on the train now commuting and when I get a coffee, it's 'to-go' rather than having in the store, so gradually these things have been collecting in my bag. This happens a lot with me in general because I am really bad at sorting things out on a regular basis!

So here are the raw materials:-

I started by coating everything at least twice in white gesso to cover the patterned surface and then used blue and pink Dylusions shades to coat the 5 tickets and the cup-holder, blue on one side and pink on the other. I stamped images on the tickets and cup-holder, using flourish stamps and some main images in black StazOn and green Peeled Paint Distress Ink. I embellished with gold Stickles and also added borders in gold ink to the cards.
I painted an ATC blank purple and folded it in half to slot inside the cupholder so that it would stop the painted cards falling right through.
So why not take a look and see what you can recycle into your crafty stash? Would love to hear about the sorts of things you keep and what you did/intend to do with them :)

Gayle xx

NaNoWriMo

2011-05-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

So, NaNoWriMo. If you're not aware, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month - it takes place in November every year and challenges you to write 50,000 words (a novel!) in 30 days.

I want to write a book. Dare I give it a go...?

Have to admit it's been playing on my mind for a while now. Hmm....! To the point where actually, November seems an awful long time away. And I kind of want to write something now, know what I mean? Ever impatient :)

Did you ever want to write a book? Have you ever written a book, or even started one? They say that everyone has a book inside them; what would yours be about?

On a different note (or maybe not, depending on what you get inspired to do!) it's Inspiration Monday at The Scrappy Tree, and Jules has posted a delicious new picture for your delectation :) check here for more details and join in the fun this week :)

Gayle xx

Happy Mother's Day America

2011-05-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

Today is Mother's Day in America, so I want to wish a very happy Mother's Day to all the American Moms that I know, and wish them a wonderful day ahead where they get thoroughly spoilt!

We have already had Mother's Day in the UK, but I haven't shared the Mother's Day card I made for my Mum yet, so here it is :-

She's quite into vintage at the moment so I wanted to make something reflecting that style (she is a master of buying beautiful supplies by Tim Holtz, Graphic 45 etc etc but I'm afraid as a student I just had to raid my stash!). I used DCWV Once Upon A Time as the background paper, with some Making Memories journaling cards and a clip, a Jenni Bowlin vintage photo button and some other bits and pieces from my stash. I stitched the background paper to the card with blue thread - just loving that sewing machine at the moment :)

Happy days to all the Mums out there - we love you :)

Gayle xx

Art Journal Friday... from March!

2011-05-01T01:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not quite sure at what point the relationship between my camera and my laptop broke down, and as a result I'm fairly sure that there are projects that I could/should have shared but didn't. I have a memory like a sieve, and therefore all I can say for sure is that I didn't share last month's Art Journal Friday and so I really should before I get to posting this month's :)

March's prompt was to be inspired by a book (you can see the original post at The Scrappy Tree here), and this page was very much inspired by the Anne Rice vampire books which were such a major part of my teens! Thank goodness there were so many, thank you Anne :) Anne Rice's books were the Twilight of their time I suppose, but to me always a little darker and less.... teen fiction? (Sorry Stephanie Meyer, I did enjoy the Twilight books too though!). Lestat and Louis, what can I say?

As soon as I saw this picture in a magazine it took me straight to the picture in my mind that formed when I read this scene - I couldn't believe it, it was uncanny! I believe this particular chapter is from the book Queen of the Damned where Akasha and Lestat are flying around the world; from my slightly fuzzy memory they come to a temple on a mountain where the humans are offering themselves as a blood sacrifice to the ancient and powerful vampire there - this picture was exactly the image I had! I haven't read the books for some time, but it was amazing to me how instantly it came back to me. What do they say? A picture is worth a thousand words.

I was torn about whether to add some words from the book to the page or not, what do you think? I also kinda like it the way it is too :)

Happy Art Journaling :)

Gayle xx

Wedding Update

2011-04-29T14:40:00.000-07:00

So, the royal wedding yesterday made me realise that along with neglecting my blog recently, I also haven't talked about my wedding for a while! With only four months to go, things are moving along, I promise. Honestly. ;)

Warning: I read this back before posting and it sounds kinda... down on the whole wedding thing! I guess there's just more stress involved than I wanted, but it's still going to be awesome. Or else! ;)

I have a dress now. As you might know, I was dreading dress shopping because I had no idea what I wanted and I couldn't think of anything worse than having to go try a load of dresses on! My dress shopping experience lasted one day in total :) we went out, we tried dresses on, we found two (both suitably wedding dress priced - eek!), I had to go off and have a panic and then ring Gav who calmed me down, I returned to the shop and we ordered the dress. Phew! It wasn't a pleasant experience, which was in no way the fault of the lovely dress shop ladies who were absolutely marvellously darling about everything and very very patient with silly indecisive me! Gosh, I just got so stressed! But I love the dress and gave some serious thought to how to incorporate dresses with corsets into my daily wardrobe because those things are amazing! Instant tiny waist!

Unfortunately I've been banned from sharing the photographic proof until the big day, but it's all ordered and should be back at the shop for adjustments in early August. Plus, who knows, the day that I upload a picture of my wedding dress here will be the day that dear Gav somehow starts reading my blog! It's accessible to him if he were to look, but I don't think he does (lots of crafty stuff here usually!).

So, to the wedding! We have been painstakingly going through Disney's lists of flowers, music, decor, and all the other bits and bobs trying to come to an agreement on which things we want and where. We are getting there. Slowly!

Regarding the cake; we have agreed that I can choose the design of the cake (there's one design that's almost steampunk and I love it!) and Gavin is choosing the flavour of the sponge and icing. The flowers are my choice because I have to carry a big bunch of them and Gavin will only be wearing a buttonhole. I haven't quite decided whether I want red or white flowers in my bouquet, but I'm fairly sure I want something fairly small rather than a big cascade of flowers. We won't be able to bring them home with us anyway so will have to enjoy them during the holiday.

I want to keep some things a surprise, so without giving anything away... after some serious negotiation I have somehow convinced Gav to agree to some music for the cake and champagne part of the ceremony that initially he wasn't keen on but I knew we just had to have it! :) It's so fun! Gives me a big smile just to think of it. Disney fans will understand when they hear it, but if they don't know it they'll never guess what it is so that was my leverage for sticking it on the list ;)

Gav picked the music for me to walk down the aisle to - I suspect his choice will cause a few tears (including from me!) but I love what he picked so I'm not arguing :)

It's looking like there will be two stag do's/hen parties for each of us, one at home before we leave so that our friends at home can attend, and then another in Florida which Gav's U.S. family is very kindly organising. Limousines have been mentioned; watch this space! For the girls, I've suggested we go to Universal's Citywalk - I really want to sit out and drink a Margaritaville margarita in the sunshine!

We are still to shop for Gav's suit because we need to have a look at colours; it was looking like there were going to be clashes of opinion over bridal/groom colours but as it's our wedding and we don't want any fuss, we've vetoed that completely by very specifically saying that everyone should wear whatever they want and then everyone will be happy :) heaven forbid anyone had to feel bad about their clothes because of me!

I have had a few ideas about shopping for presents for mothers, fathers, the best man and the maid of honour, but nothing bought yet so still open to suggestions if anyone has ideas. Rather than sourcing and purchasing wedding favours, we have some Mickey Mouse shaped ice cube trays, so will be taking those with us to Florida and then buying a bunch of white, milk and dark chocolate to melt into Mickey shapes.

The wedding invites will hopefully be going out in the next week or so once I get my exam out of the way on Tuesday. I have all the supplies here ready to go (apart from some red ribbon), so it's just a case now of assembling them and posting them out. It has been pointed out to me that possibly I should have gone with a design that didn't need embossing, die-cutting, painting, punching, gluing, Stickles and ribbon if I was going to be sending out nearly 40 of them, but there you go. Oops!

So I think that's where we're up to for now! We have another two or three months to firm up our choices with Disney and we are getting there. Slowly. ;)

Have a great weekend!

Gayle xx

April's Art Journal Friday

2011-04-29T07:24:00.001-07:00

Just a quickie post to remind those of you who art journal (and those of you who don't, you should definitely give it a try!) that this weekend is Art Journal Friday over at The Scrappy Tree.

This month's prompt is up on the blog and there is also a link to The Scrappy Tree Ning Community too if you want to share your pics or stop by for a chat - hope to see you there!

Gayle xx

Thank you, and in advance, apologies!

2011-04-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

Whew, what a gap! Coursework for the old course overlapping the start of the new course was followed by a computer/camera malfunction which totally scuppered me! But I'm back :)

First of all I have to say an enormous thank you for the fantastic response to my last post! It was so amazing to have all of you come to visit Cardiff with me :) I hope that I can take you to other new places with me in the near future :)

Secondly I have to apologise for what I'm about to share with you; recently, the thought came upon me that I would like to try crazy quilting. Who knows what possessed me! But the randomness appealed to me, no patterns, just wherever you wanted to go with it (sound like fabric art journaling to you??). I'm sure that this wasn't random at all, but I found this particular piece and thought how completely heavenly it was :) isn't it one of the most beautiful things you've ever seen?

I picked up the basic premise of stitching the fabric together here, and although it takes her like two minutes, it took me like two hours! And my result was this:-

So.... let's just say that I'm hoping that when I add beading then something magical will happen ;) but in the meantime I'm treating this as an experiment! This was SO much fun! I'm treating this particular square like a fabric art journal page, and I'm trying out some stuff :) so far I have added some beading along one seam but due to the above mentioned coursework etc that's about as far as I got!

I've bought a few embellishments which I still haven't sewn down (because I keep moving them, much in the style of anything I do that I add embellishments to!). I still don't know what's going to happen to this piece, how it's going to turn out or what it will be for, but I agreed to share it while chatting with a far superior seamstress because I do think that crazy quilting might just be the sewing answer to art journaling ;)

The eventual goal is that one day, I will have messed around with all this stuff enough so that I can make from scratch the art journal cover that I couldn't find after scouring etsy, folksy, eBay and artfire - because that's what we're here for. We want to create something that we were looking for all along :) wish me luck!

Rainy Friday in Cardiff!

2011-02-25T10:17:00.000-08:00

I warn you before I start, this post is picture heavy! :-D So, as you might know, I'm starting as a student nurse at Cardiff University on Monday and decided that I would do a trial run this morning to make sure the train and bus would arrive on time. Of course this was all a big excuse to spend some time roaming around Cardiff for fun, so that is of course what I did! The picture above shows Cardiff Central train station, and the picture below is the view as you walk out of the station...
For those not familiar with Welsh, the words often seem to appear in reverse order so the Welsh words above actually read 'Square Central Cardiff' rather than 'Cardiff Central Square' (Caerdydd is Cardiff in Welsh)
St David's Day (the national day of the patron saint of Wales) is fast approaching on March 1st, which explains the Welsh flags up and down the street! You can also see Cardiff Castle in the background. It really was quite quiet today! The schoolchildren have a week off this week and it was raining hard, so maybe they were all staying indoors!
The picture below shows one of the many little shopping arcades in Cardiff, there are LOTS of these and they often have interesting little independent shops for you to poke around in :) (yes that is Homer Simpson half-dressed as some sort of animal over on the right)
This next picture shows the Millenium Stadium (home of lots of international rugby games and slightly over my head! lol)
In the next picture, you can see a side-street view of the stadium; I love how it is so far across the street it's almost touching the building opposite! It looks like a spaceship that just landed there one day.
This next picture is part of a new shopping complex that was built quite recently called St. David's (or Dewi Sant if you can read the writing!)
One of the things I find interesting about Cardiff is how you find new and old right next door to each other; this is a perfect example! The older, rather ornate buildings in the background right next to the new shopping complex and an enormous modern sculpture.
The picture below is the entrance to the Queen's Arcade (another shopping mall!) and is usually overflowing with shoppers (where is everybody!) - again, notice the Welsh flag making an appearance :)
This is a closer view of Cardiff Castle; as with the picture of the sculpture I mentioned previously, the very old castle is right on a busy street with lots of shops! Also in this picture, you can see large daffodils attached to the lamp posts; for those who don't know the daffodil is the Welsh national flower, so I'm guessing this is also in preparation for St David's Day next week.
Well, I walked round and round in the rain today getting my bearings (I have no sense of direction and don't know Cardiff well!) and by lunchtime I was ready for a sit-down! I managed to find this enormous pub called The Gatekeeper which was practically empty :)
...so I found myself a table tucked out of the way right by the window and sat down with a glass of wine - bliss!
The Gatekeeper is one of a chain of pubs that we also have in the town I live in, but had never noticed Welsh specials on the menu before! Guess this is what happens when you get more tourists (after all, Cardiff IS the Welsh capital! lol)
I decided not to go for any of those! Mainly because it was a choice of meat (which I don't eat) or cheese on toast (which is basically what Welsh rarebit is!) and I fancied something different :) got sucked in by talk of Reggae Reggae sauce and mushrooms...
...and this is what a 'Gourmet Vegetable Burger' looks like :)
Actually it wasn't bad! Left the bread and most of the chips though, the stack in the bun itself was really quite filling! Got given a free copy of The Times while wandering around Cardiff so had a read about David Bowie while I was munching :)
I did some more wandering after lunch, and then shortly before my train was due I found this place:-

Jacob's Antiques! Three floors of it!!

I'm sorry the pics are fuzzy but you get the idea (was trying to take them slyly but the place was full of different traders so it was difficult!)

While I was here I came across this rather wonderful discovery - these are photographs which are printed/mounted on card, and they were designed to be placed in a viewer to give something of a 3D effect

There were 12 of them altogether and the lady originally said they were £1 each, but kindly gave me all 12 for £10 :) I'm hoping to be able to be brave, and to use them in some vintage-style pieces, but I often have all the best intentions and then find I just keep them in a safe place! lol

The lady I was speaking to also had a beautiful old photo album there that was about 120 years old with all the original photos still in it; it was in wonderful condition but I'm afraid too rich for my blood! I am going to be a student, have to keep reminding myself ;)

So anyway, I missed my train! And the next one wasn't for another 40 mins so I carried on exploring! In one of the little arcades I found this shop window that I loved :)

This close-up shows the French-themed vintage style stuff in the display, very pretty! Love that postcard purse :)
Wandering along a bit further I found a shop called 'A Vintage Affair' which was absolutely packed with lots of treasures! Again apologies for the pics :/
I will be visiting here again! Everything from jewellery to crockery to fabrics to postcards, loved it!
I decided to go back to the train station a little earlier this time!
I love how train stations always look so old-fashioned, don't you?
And that was my day! I will be posting Art Journal Friday at The Scrappy Tree today so keep an eye out for that if you have some time to play with your supplies this weekend, I look forward to seeing you there :)

Happy Friday!

Gayle xx

ATC card

2011-02-23T15:00:00.000-08:00

So for this month's Inspiration Challenge at The Scrappy Tree (see here for the blog post, isn't the image GORGEOUS!) I decided to make an ATC; I hadn't made one for ages and it was fun! Messed around with the background (Adirondack paint dabber and Smooch spritz ink), stamped a doodle heart (by Anita's) and cut it out, added ribbon, more doodling, gold pen, gold Stickles, buttons and thread!

But after making it and posting at the TST Ning group I got to thinking, and playing some more, and ended up making this card by creating a background with a Tim Holtz script stamp and some fired brick Distress ink around the edges.

I cut the 'love' sentiment out of a magazine advert, I love how it looks against the script background!

I think I might also enter this into The Artistic Stamper February challenge - I think it has all the elements but my gosh, there are some amazing projects there!!

This card is for a friend who I know is having a very difficult time (more than I can go into here) and I just wanted to let her know we were sending lots of love and hugs; I posted it rather than taking it to her, because don't you just love getting nice post through the letterbox?? Slipped a little gift inside and hopefully it will give her a smile :)

Happy Wednesday everyone :)

Gayle xx

p.s. I now have access to a sewing machine, and some fabric scraps arrived today.... watch this space....

A week of contemplation lies ahead...

2011-02-20T04:02:00.000-08:00

I think I am actually going to manage more than one post this week. I know, seriously?? It has been a while! But I am in the no man's land this week of 'the week off between one job and the next', and so I am indulging myself!

I am enrolled online as a student nurse and will be starting on February 28th. It feels good to say it openly! I have kept it to myself for what seems like the longest time. Thanks to my Mum I am good to go :)

At work, on the whole, I got the reactions I was expecting. I'm glad that I left it as late as possible to let people know that I was leaving; there were two categories of response and both of them got to be difficult after a while! Some people responded badly to me going and were quite unpleasant; this was difficult because I couldn't change that I was leaving or what I was going to be (the fact that I was leaving to be a NURSE of all things went down really badly with some people!) and so I just had to put up with it! Being called names across the office was what I expected, but it got really wearing very quickly.

The other type of response was luckily for me what most people decided to go with; they told me that they were upset that I was going and that they would miss me, but that they wished me all the best and hoped that I would keep in touch. Now, you really couldn't ask for a better response than that. But oh my gosh, I cried so many times!! I am glad that I was able to make so many great friends; it has been very sad to say goodbye to them all (not that it's 'goodbye' so much as 'well I won't be seeing you 5 days a week anymore'), more so than I think I realised it would be! I don't think many of the people I work with had ever seen me cry; now I think most if not all of them have! If only for that reason (I do not like crying in public!), I am glad that it didn't go on too much longer :) I didn't have many tears left!

So this weekend has been a weekend for me; I've had to keep reminding myself that I don't have to go to work on Monday, and that I've said goodbye (to some people at least) for the last time. So weird, I have been seeing many of these people for about 5 years, some for as long as 10. So what do you do with yourself? I've done a bit of spring cleaning (the cat left until the bed was made with fresh linen and then she returned)...

... and all that's really left is scrappy corner. But I kind of like it like this, especially with the Mickey Mouse glass of wine in pride of place :) might just play for a while before completing my big tidy-up....

Been working on a few different art journal pages which I'm not sharing yet as they're not finished(I know, I should concentrate on one at a time LOL) and now have access to a sewing machine which I really want to play with, so am glad there were a few pics on my camera to fill this post :) happy weekend everybody!

Gayle xx

Belated Happy Valentine's!

2011-02-18T17:19:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know this is DAYS late, but happy Valentine's!! You would think it is a little late to celebrate but I have been off the planet this week; I had a stats assignment due in today, and today was also the last day of my job so I have been rushing all week to try and get as much done as possible! I wish there were more hours in the day, seriously! But I am done now, and ready for the longest sleep of my life tonight :)

So for Valentine's Day, Df already had an idea for the gift he wanted (an xBox game!) and I wanted equivalent value in scrappy supplies(!); however, he was insistent that he wanted to make me a card from scratch. I wasn't sure that it was actually going to happen, but he asked me for some card blanks and said that he would help himself to some scrappy supplies.

So the finished result was....

...this!! I absolutely loved it, it was so adorable that he made a card! If you look close you'll see inking, stamping, punching and ribbons...
....in fact he said that if he had been able to find my 'rivets' (eyelets!) he would have added some of those too :)

He even decorated the envelope!!
So much effort, I was so happy when I saw this :) will treasure it forever :)

Gayle xx

Wednesday waffle...

2011-02-08T15:56:00.000-08:00

I have been doing a lot of art journaling this week; is it wrong that I am more motivated to do that than my stats coursework?? Probably not most of you might think :) if someone, ANYONE would prefer to crunch numbers than to mess around with paint and pens, please give me your secrets, at least for a little while :) I will return them in pristine condition, no stains or cracked spines :) I will just be EVER grateful for the short-term loan!

I need some help! Has anyone read the Anne Rice vampire books?? Without reading them again because really, I SHOULD be studying some statistics :/ I have made a page which is just perfect for the picture in my head of one of the scenes, but I can't for the life of me manage to google anything successfully which might tell me where it was LOL volunteers please??

I am depriving myself of sleep this week but somehow still functioning, the New Moon is making my last week or so of my current job some of the most interesting days of my time there(!) and all I want to do is art journal. I will never make a researcher! Wish me luck ;) I need to get a new battery for my camera so at least I can share some pictures until I finish one of the three journal pages I have on the go!

Happy hump day peoples, the weekend is on its way :)

Gayle xx

Art Journal Saturday

2011-01-31T15:06:00.000-08:00

So, here is my take on the prompt 'gift'; I feel like I could have gone on and on and on adding layers to this, and perhaps I should have! But I am happy with the thoughts, and the journaling underneath the paint :)

I didn't start the day well; I got dog wee on my slippers this morning and then my porridge exploded in the microwave! I was late getting DF to work, and when I arrived at work I knew I had some unpleasant times ahead of me :/

I have started telling my clients that I'm leaving my job :/ I am hoping to have told everyone by the end of the week. Finding it desperately sad; I am sure my work colleagues are trying to make me cry! Had the sweetest conversation with a co-worker today who told me that she had been looking for birthday cards and had decided to look for a leaving card for me - she said that she had looked at funny ones, and ones with a nice quote, and some with a nice picture, and suddenly she realised she was all teared up! I am very fond of her, she is an absolute sweetheart! but was so surprised that me leaving provoked such a response, I was so touched :)

Wishing you a good beginning to your week :)

Gayle xx

The auction is live!

2011-01-29T14:46:00.000-08:00

The Scrappy Tree's Hearts for Haiti auction has gone live!

All the items have been either made by TST members or donated by other crafters and artists and are being auctioned on TST's eBay shop which is here, and you can read more about the auction at The Scrappy Tree by clicking here. It's for a great cause, which is to support Save The Children's Haiti Relief fund, so if you want to pick up something handmade for your sweetheart for Valentine's and donate at the same time, please give the auction a visit and see what bargains you can pick up :)

I made a few things for the auction myself, a few each of these grungeboard keychains using a free bird stamp which came with Craft Stamper magazine...
...and another free stamp which came with Papercraft Inspirations magazine...

(I love those free stamps, can you tell!)

I also decorated a wooden trinket box but I'm afraid this one won't get to leave the house! Mum spotted it and was happy to donate to Haiti :) I am lucky that my Mum likes my work at least ;) although I'm not sure if she could afford to keep me in business if I ever went full-time :-D

For the journallers (or anyone who would like to have a go!) I have also posted January's TST art journal prompt if you'd like to join us and play along, all welcome :) we'll be sharing our pages here so feel free to stop by :)

I am currently waiting for our completed contract for the wedding to be returned to us, along with the list of options we have to choose from; the deposit is paid, and we have signed on the dotted line :) I found it funny that it was quite a big thing for us to sign, and yet we did so sat on the bed in pyjamas just about to go to sleep! I still have my reindeer pj's from Christmas, and Df in his batman ones - you can just picture it can't you :)

Happy weekend all :)

Gayle xx

New Year's Resolutions tag book

2011-01-23T07:05:00.000-08:00

So I already shared this over at The Scrappy Tree but as my productivity isn't all that good at the moment I decided to post it here too to prove I did something scrappy lately ;)

This is my New Year's resolution tag book - I bought Jessica's Sprague's hybrid class by the same name and really liked the idea :) I thought it would be starting the New Year well if I used up some patterned paper from my stash and made my own rather than printing out the templates; I kind of like how it turned out! I posted more pics and details of Jessica's class over on The Scrappy Tree for anyone that's interested :)

So I've noticed that we are onto the next holiday already - Valentine's is in the shops people! So are the Easter eggs but that's a bit early, even for me! ;)
Df and I don't always make a big fuss of Valentine's but I like that we do observe the day in some small way :) this year The Scrappy Tree will be doing a few things which will get me in the mood! The aim behind the projects will be to support Save The Children's Haiti Relief, so if you're looking for something handmade for Valentine's please consider giving The Scrappy Tree a visit over the next few weeks :) up for sale at the moment are these Paper Hearts for Hope candygrams, available in the US or UK for $7 including postage.

Click here for more details; the candygram will include a personalised message in a felt heart, Valentine lollies (or 'suckers' for my US friends) and a bookmark, all handmade by The Scrappy Tree team and to support a great cause. Order by 7th Feb for delivery by Valentine's!

We will have a few more events coming up, so watch this space ;)

Gayle

Visiting my own blog!

2011-01-21T11:47:00.000-08:00

Is January a quiet month for everybody's blogs or just mine?? Apologies to everyone I haven't visited yet to find out, I am not starting this year with a massive amount of organisation but my enthusiasm is out there nonetheless :)

Currently some of the many items on my to-do list - a wedding to plan, a postgrad stats course to finish, 20 files to update and complete ready for an audit, numerous scrapping projects that should have been finished already, and also got some health stuff going on - sometimes it seems like a unending mountain of stuff! Too much to blog about properly, and maybe too much to talk about on a blog, but I guess what I'm telling myself is that this is my blog and if I want to write here then I can, no matter what it is that I want to say, or not.

Is it funny that I keep coming here to post and then don't know where to start, so I don't say anything?? Got to start somewhere :)

Well the contract for the wedding will go back this week (I made Df laugh when I said that I would take photos of us signing so that I could scrapbook them!) and as soon as that's done we are properly official :) I have tried a few things with the wedding invites and I think they are suitably fun and suitably us - I need to get those things out! I guess I'm not worrying too much about that until we have our deposit paid.

I guess I will have to get that whole dress thing underway soon - horrors! I have the shoes and I LOVE them :) Apparently I have a second cousin who makes jewellery and hair slides so if I can tell her what I want she may be able to make something original just for me - now I just have to figure out what I want! Choosing a dress would probably help, huh ;)

In the meantime I am pootling along doing my thing :) the diet is going well, the exercise not just yet! But perhaps by next month I won't be too averse to starting to sort that whole dress thing out ;) wish me luck!

Gayle xx

Exciting news!

2011-01-08T14:06:00.001-08:00

Well, for me anyway! Finally after three years of waiting, df and I have confirmed with the venue and we have a wedding date! We will be getting married on Wednesday 7th September 2011 :) very excited! I am waiting now for the contracts to be exchanged and then we can start choosing the cake, the flowers, and finally I will have to face up to the big dread - the dress!! I don't know why but I really struggle with the idea of having to go to a dress shop and try on dresses; I don't even like going shopping for normal clothes! I guess as I get some of this weight off I will feel better about it (maybe? you think?). I am firmly back on my diet and feeling very motivated right now, the countdown is on! I found South Beach works really well for me when I stick to it, so I'm back with my old friend :) not yet back at the gym after Christmas and New Year because things are still really busy(!) but it'll come once things settle down - where does the time go?? I get up, go to work, come home, get things done... and it's time for bed again!

Well one small thing I have managed this year is this birthday card for a friend - she makes the most beautiful projects herself so it's sometimes intimidating to think what to make for her, but I hope she liked this :) she hates the winter and her birthday so it needed to be bright and cheery!

I have made a draft wedding invitation now that I know the date, but it needs a little more work (and a little more crafty shopping!) before it's done - I was lucky enough to have a Cricut for Christmas so had to have a little play with that :)

Don't forget to call in The Scrappy Tree community this week, there are LOTS of new challenges and groups starting up over there and a little something for everybody I think :) this weekend begins the Fuzzy Friends challenge to support an animal charity so take a look around :)

Happy weekend! Gayle xx

Goodbye goodbye 2010...

2010-12-31T12:00:00.000-08:00

You know, I can't wait until I can write here about what's going to be so great about 2011... and I've moaned more than enough about 2010(!), so for now, just take my word for it and know that a great year is on its way :) celebrate my friends!

If you want to join in Art Journal Friday this weekend and let out how you feel about the New Year (and the old!), I've posted this month's over on The Scrappy Tree :) have fun!

Love, light and good health to you and yours in the New Year :)

Gayle xx

Happy Birthday my darling :)

2010-12-29T16:17:00.001-08:00

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas! Only now am I starting to resurface ;) Thank you again to everybody who took part in our Christmas Eve party (see this post if you want to see what we got up to!), I really enjoyed visiting everyone and hope we can do it again soon!

The 28th December is my fiance's 25th birthday (he's catching me up slowly, honestly!) - I did make him a card but didn't put his age on it; even though he hasn't said anything about getting older, this time he seems to have mentioned his age more than on previous birthdays! FINALLY not just me sensing the unstoppable march of time ;)

I find it so difficult not to put flowers on things, but managed to refrain this time around ;)

Well, we had more falls and injuries here this week if you believe it, poor Df fell a few times on the ice right onto his knees a few days ago, and now that the ice has melted and supposedly the peril has diminished(!) my poor Nan fell over the dog bed and cut her leg just today! We are a disaster area, my brother's windscreen shattered as he got to the end of the driveway going to work on Christmas Day! You really do have to laugh ;) nevertheless I am looking forward to turning a new page for the next year in just a few short days :)

I can't tell you how excited I am for this New Year to come :) I quietly feel that 2011 is going to be a really good year... let's see shall we? )

Gayle xx

Welcome to the Christmas Eve blog party!!

2010-12-23T14:54:00.000-08:00

It's here it's here!! Welcome to the Christmas Eve blog party!! The snow is still here...

...the tree is up and the presents are out...

...the Christmas village is all lit up...

...the homemade mince pies have been tasted...

...and we've even got Christmas milk!!!

Between us we've had our fair share of falls on the ice over the past week, and some came off better than others (isn't this pitiful?? :-D) ...

...but my Nan has just arrived, we've all finished work and we are ready for Christmas! My Christmas Eve has taken a similar path for past couple of years and I always look forward to it :) I usually have a fun morning at work followed by an early finish, and then home to get the final bits and pieces all together while we wait for Nan to arrive from the other side of the country, and then we spend some time together followed by some wine and some scrapping - life is good! I just love the change of pace and being able to enter that little bubble of Christmas with my family :)

There are going to be a lot of changes over the next year in our home life; among other things, this time next year I will be a married woman! I am super excited to get our wedding date confirmed in the New Year (we have been engaged for over 3 years so it's been a long time coming!) and am looking forward to the time away with our families and friends :) there is more to come so watch this space!

I don't know about you but I feel like Christmas has really crept up on me this year - I blinked and all of a sudden here it is! I don't really feel like I've had the time to enjoy the run-up to Christmas, but I really wanted to make time to enjoy today, so welcome to our blog party! Nine of us wanted to celebrate this final day where everything comes together before the big event tomorrow, so let me introduce the eight to follow :)

Julie - A Creative Journey Through Life

Leanne - My Little Life Of Scrap

Kristin - Places, Things & Me

Sherry - Sherry's Simple Blog

Barbara - Baraginie And Co

Diana - The Scrappy Tree

Michelle - Happenings On This Side Of The River

Kelly - Journal Journeys

Each of these ladies has something to share about their experience of the festive season, so hop on over for a visit! Your next visit will take you across the pond to Minnesota and the lovely Julie, who I believe is experiencing some serious snow ;)

I'm going to settle in with my family and some Christmas movies, but before I go I wish you and yours a very merry Christmas - hope that Santa brings you all you wish for :) Gayle xx

Christmas is on its way...

2010-12-21T15:12:00.000-08:00

All quiet on the blogging front this week... but we're gearing up for the Christmas Eve blog party on Friday! It will start here at 6pm (GMT), when I'll be posting the list of blogs to send you on your journey and to get those festive feelings going for the weekend! Have fun and don't work too hard this week! :)

Gayle xx

Snow day!

2010-12-17T16:33:00.000-08:00

When I went to bed last night, there was no snow, no frost, maybe a little sleet that came down as I was driving home from work. This morning? This is what was outside! Do you remember my post from a week ago with Bill and Ben? This was them this morning :)

I can imagine they were less than impressed! From the same post last week, I put up a photo of the sun shining when I walked out of the front door in the morning; well this is that same view today:-

The photo below is our usual way out to the main road in the morning; around that corner and up a steep hill lies the main road, but I didn't get up there today...

What really fascinated me was that yesterday there was nothing, no snow at all, and overnight there was a good 10cm of snow on everything - look at the poor plants! And the table! We sat there for barbeques in the summer!

The cars had a lovely layer of snow on them :) when we went out to get things from the car it was dark inside because of the snow :)

The photo below shows the view from my bedroom window; across the bridge and to the right is where my stepdad fell on the ice just over a week ago - none of us went down there today! The dogs loved the snow on the walkway at the back of the house today, and had great fun with breaststroke through the snow on the driveway at the front :) Millie, our black Scottie dog had a great white beard!

My favourite thing about the photo below is the amazing colour of the sky; I just couldn't believe how beautiful it was :)

This last photo with the sun shining through the trees was my absolute favourite of the day :) the sun shining through the snowy branches was just beautiful :)

I don't know if it's the snow or the impromptu day off work but I was feeling really festive today :) on Christmas Eve we are going to have a little blog party talking about anything to do with the beginning of the holidays :) me personally, I will be finishing work on that day, maybe posting a project I've worked on, and talking about how I'm feeling about Christmas this year :) if you have a blog and would like to share your post with us on Christmas Eve, send me an e-mail at gtillyer (at) hotmail (dot) com or leave me a comment on this post by midday GMT on Sunday and you can join our blog party! Look forward to having you with us :)

Happy weekend everybody :) stay warm!

Gayle xx

Christmas Eve Blog Party!

2010-12-13T13:47:00.000-08:00

An invitation to all the arts and crafts bloggers! I want to invite you all to take part in a blog party this Christmas Eve! Myself and the lovely Kel at Journal Journeys decided that finishing work/school/whatever usually occupies you during the week ready for the holidays is definitely worth celebrating! Lots of happy dancing (a la Snoopy) going on over here :)

Come and celebrate the beginning of the holidays with us!! Share a project, a recipe, a Christmas thought, host a giveaway - you choose!

If you have a blog and you'd like to take part, all you have to do is e-mail me at gtillyer (at) hotmail (dot) com with the address of your blog by midday GMT Sunday (19th December 2010) so we can get our blog list together, and be ready with your post on Christmas Eve! The theme will be 'The Holidays Start Here!!"

Looking forward to hearing from you :) season's greetings!

December Daily

2010-12-10T15:02:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would share some of the photos I want to use for my December Daily from one of our frostier mornings this week :) as you can see, Bill and Ben are feeling the chill...

Defrosting the car has become a daily necessity...

...but at least the extreme cold means the sun is shining :) I love this view up the street when you step outside my parents' house in the morning and look right :)

...and even though it's cold, I like the feeling of being hidden away while sitting in the car with the engine running waiting for the windows to thaw :)

Happy Friday everybody :) xx

Happy Birthday! (and stepdad update!)

2010-12-08T13:13:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to my Nan! This is her card on the left, I got this gorgeous stamp in the sale recently and wanted an excuse to use it :) I can post it here because she doesn't read blogs ;) she should have had it with her today, but unfortunately the weather is affecting the postal service as well as everybody else so hopefully it will arrive tomorrow! She's coming to visit us at Christmas so looking forward to Christmas Eve!

Also need to say a BIG happy birthday to my dear friend Kristin (whose card I won't post here because she DOES visit my blog and she also hasn't seen her card!) - please go visit her blog and wish her a wonderful birthday! Kristin, wishing you all the best for today and a fantastic year ahead :)

I also need to say thank you to the well wishers :) my stepdad had the op yesterday and we think it went ok! Waiting for them to put a plaster cast on his leg and do an occupational therapy doo-dah to make sure he's ok to come home and mobilise in the house, and then we will have him back where he belongs :) it's so sweet to see my parents missing each other, oh bless! They are a bit lost without each other, even when it's only 15 minutes down the road ;)

Wishing you happy hump day :)
Gayle xx

Look out!

2010-12-07T00:30:00.000-08:00

Only a few days into December and disaster is striking already! I went out to a Christmas do on the weekend and saw 5 people fall over! Admittedly two of them had drunk a little too much and tumbled on some steps (ouch!) but the other three all became victims of the icy conditions :/

Yesterday morning my poor stepdad became the next victim; he was out walking the dogs and slipped, breaking a bone in his knee and tearing the quad muscle from the bone - OUCH! That's his x-ray in the picture above. Thank goodness he had his mobile phone with him (which he NEVER takes anywhere) and was able to phone home - poor soul couldn't get up off the floor :/ we went to get him up, dropped the dogs off at home and then went straight to the hospital... and then waited 14 hours for scans, doctors and an available bed! Phew! Accident & Emergency was a seriously busy place yesterday, can you believe so many people can fall over at the same time?
The sign above should say 'Ystafell Blaster' which is 'Plaster Room' in Welsh - my stepdad had to have a brace put on overnight to keep his knee immobilised until they operated today.

He's in surgery right now to put his knee back together :) we've got everything crossed for a good result :)

Gayle xx

Meet some of my friends :)

2010-12-01T12:12:00.000-08:00

I want to say a big welcome to the newest member of The Scrappy Tree design team - Diana!
Diana is a fab scrapper and absolute queen of cards, layouts, mini books, and everything else she turns her hand to!
I love how she has such a definite style and you can always tell that a piece is hers just by looking at it :)

She's going to be a wonderful addition to the team, I know I always feel inspired looking at her work :)

You can read some more about Diana by clicking here to go to The Scrappy Tree, and if you click on the picture of her face at The Scrappy Tree blog you can see some more samples of her amazing work in her scrapbook.com gallery.

Talking of inspiring, can I also invite you to support another talented scrapper and friend called Michelle - she's been shortlisted by Little Yellow Bicycle for a beautiful LO using photos of her gorgeous son and she deserves your vote! You can vote on their Facebook page here or on their blog here - thanks for your support! Michelle has a blog called Happenings On This Side Of The River where she shares her fantastic pictures and wonderful layouts :) go visit and say hello! Have to mention that Michelle makes some great cookies :) (this will make more sense if you visit her latest blog post!) and even though we're miles apart across the pond, Michelle has not only shared some of her recipes with me but even sent me some to taste last Christmas! Now there's a scrappy friend indeed ;) xx

Last but not least I'll share a little something of mine :) today is December 1st, and so begins my first December Daily! I love the idea of documenting your December (of course these wonderful girls like Ali Edwards and Shimelle always make such amazing looking projects that you simply have to want one for yourself!) and intend to give it my best shot this year :)

I'm following Ali Edwards' December Daily this year - I admit to being a little intimidated last year because her album was just TOO amazing ;) but she went with a simpler design this year and I thought I could give it a bash :) This is my album ready to go; I finished the front cover and the basic pages inside, and I'll probably share a few pages here as I complete them throughout the month :)

I know what I want for page one, but have yet to get some good photos! Watch this space :)
Happy Hump Day everybody :) Gayle xxx

Art Journal Friday - November

2010-11-28T10:41:00.000-08:00

Had some fun this weekend with red and white paint for the Christmas-related prompt for Art Journal Friday :) kept it really simple and based it on what for me means Christmas is coming - the red cups at Starbucks! I included a few little things in the circles that make me feel a little bit excited about Christmas being on the way :) I find that before these things happen, anything Christmasy just gets on my nerves because it's too early!!

I enjoyed 'recycling' my Starbucks cup immensely :) I bet they didn't know that they make flowers as well as coffee!

I am trying to get more excited about Christmas this year and have my December album all ready to go starting Wednesday :) this year is going to finish well, I am determined!

Have to say I have spent a lot of time daydreaming over the different December/Christmas classes that are available this year - I am going to drop a lot of hints to Df next year that I would REALLY like Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas :) there is a giveaway for this class over at Paislee Press so if you'd like to try your luck head over there and enter! :)

Hope you've had a great weekend :) Gayle xx

Sunday morning...

2010-11-27T14:09:00.000-08:00

...is absolutely one of my favourite songs of all time! If you haven't heard it, it's by a band called Maroon 5, and is so beautiful and chilled out you can't help but love it :)

Seems appropriate for Wales - 'Sunday morning, rain is falling'

It happens a lot!!

Last night I was working on the first of my Christmas cards; I'm not sure how many handmade ones I will get around to sending out this year, but I have started at least :) if you get one of them, I'm sorry in advance! ;) I picked up some Christmas stamps from Papermania that reminded me a little of Timmy's line (loving those reindeer!) and made a few very simple cards to get things going ;)

My Mum thinks I am over-complicating and that I will never get a decent amount of cards done if I spend this amount of time doing one! lol!! I always spend forever on the first card, just takes me a while to get happy with it :)

I've been watching some old episodes of a program called 'The Family' online - jeez, it is hard to watch those kids be just like I was towards my parents! And the scraps between the older sister and younger brother? Ouch!! Reliving some tension and conflict, but grateful every day that all that resulted in such a great relationship with my family :) me and my bro are the Beavis and Butthead of the family, we just sit there and snicker at whatever 'in-joke' we might have laughed at since birth LOL
It is really touching to see how the family come together when they least expect it; it is beautiful to see that even though you feel your family is utterly rare(!), it's not all that different from everyone elses.

Happy weekend everybody :) Gayle xx

A quickie Friday halloo!!

2010-11-26T15:52:00.001-08:00

Hello and good Friday to you all :) here's hoping that my friends across the pond are enjoying their holiday weekend, and that my friends in the UK aren't having too much trouble with the snow! It landed here in South Wales today, and as you can see it isn't all that much, but enough in the UK to start to cause a few problems (what can I say, we aren't used to it!!)
This is the view out of the office window this afternoon - even though a nap at home would have been nice, they didn't close the office (oh well, after all it is only November!). I used to be really excited about the snow but after having to fight my way to work last winter through the unusually heavy snow, I'm now slightly apprehensive about the winter yet to come...

On the plus side... this weekend is Art Journal Friday! I've posted a prompt at The Scrappy Tree which will hopefully cater to all tastes; working in mental health services makes me aware that Christmas isn't fun for everyone so let's offer art journaling regardless of preference ;)

Happy Friday :) Gayle xx

Dear 2010, thank you for...

2010-11-25T11:48:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! Even though we don't have Thanksgiving here in the UK, I still love the idea of taking the opportunity to take stock and look at your life and all the good things in it :) I was lucky enough to receive a Thanksgiving pressie of a tin of pumpkin puree (thank you Toni!!) so I can see a pumpkin pie in my near future ;)

For Thanksgiving last year, I did a LO for the Scrappy Tree thankfulness challenge - it just so happened that I was working on this page just after Df lost his job and we had to give up our flat! My thankfulness at that time was that Df and I were able to stay together, and had wonderful family that were able to help us out with somewhere to stay.

A year later things have changed (thankfully!) and although it hasn't always been easy we have also had some great things happen to us this year! I wanted to do a LO again for this year's Scrappy Tree thankfulness challenge, and came across a great prompt from Shimelle's True Stories class which I found really useful in helping me write some journaling on the subject. As you may be able to see on the tags in the picture, I journalled using letters of the alphabet and although it didn't cover everything that happened this year, it was a lovely way of thinking about
different things (and really shoe-horning a few things in for X,Y and Z!)
Whatever the photo may suggest, I am thankful to 2010 for more than white wine ;)

It has been really crisp here this week and we are expecting snow any day now, but at the moment it is nice to have the cold sunshine instead of the rain :) we used to live near the sea before we moved to the valleys and I still miss it! I was lucky enough this week to have a training course in Swansea and really loved being able to see the sea from the carpark (small pleasures!) - I wish I had been able to get closer, but was trying for a sneaky pic without arousing the interest of the other people on the course!

Although I really should be studying at the moment (!) I have been plugging away at my December Daily album ready for the 1st December next Wednesday :) I was dubious that I would be able to get the foundation pages done in time, but it is beginning to come together now and once I have cut out two more pages and added some embellishments it will be fighting fit and ready for December to come! With all the best will in the world there was a little shadow over December for us last year, so this year I want to document and really treasure my Christmas - there will be so many changes in the New Year I know that I will be glad that I did :)

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who reads this post, but especially to my wonderful scrappy friends (you know who you are - love ya!) Gayle xx

Sunday morning on the beach

2010-11-21T06:43:00.000-08:00

We went to Rhossili beach on the Gower peninsula in South Wales this morning; I used to live right by the beach before we moved to the area we live in now, and loved it! It was a little chilly, but then it is November :) the dogs didn't seem to mind too much!

Me and my brother walking along; I love this part of the beach, it reminds me of the cave in Harry Potter where Voldemort hid the Horcrux!

I need to get a new memory card as we filled this one up today - I took a few photos to begin with but Df soon decided he wanted to take some too! Maybe he needs a camera for Christmas :) perhaps next year, I have this year all planned out already :)

Gayle xx

Thank you and pay it forward...

2010-11-19T15:05:00.000-08:00

Aw, I have to say thank you to my good friend Michelle for this lovely blog award! I was so flattered to receive this, it's my first! Cherry in more ways than one ;) j/k!!

The conditions of the award are:-

1. Thank the person who gave it to you - thank you so much Michelle!
2. Put the award on your blog - done!
3. Share three things about yourself that you enjoy doing.
4. Pass the award onto 5 fellow bloggers.

So firstly, the three things that I enjoy doing...

1. I would be truly lost without my internet. My friends are here, Mr Google who knows the answers the everything I might possibly need to know, I can find out information about anything I would ever dream about doing or possibly ever need to buy. Enough said.

2. Family time! It's important to me to spend time with my family, including my darling Kitty who is keeping me company this evening:- How could you not enjoy spending time with that little face??

3. I love learning (and sometimes creating!) new things - I love novelty and working on something I've never done before. I am an eternal student at the age of 30; as a crafter I started with scrapbooking but soon discovered that I needed to try as many other things as I could lay my hands on as well :)

And now to nominate these five special bloggers (only five??) :-

1. Kristin

2. Julie

3. Erica

4. Lisa

5. Jaime

I've found inspiration from each of these blogs since first following them, and made some great friends as well! Michelle, I wish I could nominate you again too :) adore your pages and pictures always :)

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend :)

Gayle xx

Happy 1st Birthday to The Scrappy Tree

2010-11-16T10:06:00.000-08:00

Aw, I can't believe it's been a year since we began The Scrappy Tree!! We're coming up to Thanksgiving and I am working on a thankfulness project, which is really meaningful when I look back at the project I did last year...

Gav and I had just found out that he was being made redundant, so last year around this time we were pretty thankful just to have each other and to have family that could take us in. This year I'm hoping for a more positive project (!) although this LO is probably the favourite of all the ones I've made.

This week is Jules' inspiration challenge at The Scrappy Tree; she's posted this beautiful image of cupcakes, I love the colours :)

If you want to play along, you can upload your image to The Scrappy Tree Ning site. There will be more posts over the days between now and Thanksgiving, I know Kristin, Jules and I would love it if you can join us to celebrate our anniversary :)

Gayle xx

Thoughts on a Friday night...

2010-11-12T15:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Remembrance Day - at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month, everything and everybody pauses for two minutes while we pay respect to those who fought in the wars that shaped history and our lives as we know them today. I bought my poppy and wear it proudly, but for me there was one particular veteran I miss dearly and that's my Granpa. He was always so proud of his British heritage and the time that he served his country as an army man - he would never talk about his time at war with us, but the small hints that he let slip about where he spent his time while he was in the army allowed us to put together some ideas about what he must have gone through. His funeral was very emotional for me and everything that was said only compounded the respect and the love I had for him. I remembered that yesterday when I remembered the sacrifices of the many.

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

I have some beautiful scrapbook embellishments with poppies that will be perfect for scrapping some of my memories of my Granpa, but not quite yet :)

Another great cause that played a part in my week was World Pneumonia Day which happened today! The charity encouraged everyone to wear blue today with the aim of raising awareness, and at The Scrappy Tree we tackled this in our own way as crafters and invited everyone to make something blue! The challenge closed yesterday and the overall winner was Joanna with this fantastic piece:

You can visit Joanna's blog here to see more of her wonderful work, she will have some blue scrappy goodies on their way to her soon, plus a $10 donation to World Pneumonia Day. Nine other entrants to the challenge also won a $10 donation in their name and you can enjoy some of the amazing talent that came forward and did their bit for World Pneumonia Day at this post at The Scrappy Tree.

This weekend I am hoping to go to a Zumba party, wish me luck :)

Gayle xx

I love Christmas...

2010-11-08T12:38:00.000-08:00

Christmas is my favourite holiday of all :) I love how everything stops for Christmas, even though it's hustle and bustle right up until the very last minute. I always work on the morning of Christmas Eve, in my job you only have to work until midday. I love coming into work (I always book in a client that I have fun with on that morning!), going to do the normal stuff, having one last Christmas Starbucks and looking at the last of the Christmas craft supplies, and then home to spend a lovely afternoon getting things ready waiting for Christmas to come. We love the evening before Christmas too because we get to open our Christmas Eve present (yes my Mum did this for years to keep us quiet, and still does!).

Why am I blogging about Christmas? Because at Starbucks, the red cups are out :) last Friday my coffee of choice was a toffee nut latte, this week it will be a gingerbread one - lovely! Have to say that as much as I love them, they're not a patch on the Pumpkin Spice Latte, which they don't do in the UK *sob* now that really is heaven in a cup! Mmmmm!!

Scrappy projects this week - I have been working mostly in BLUE...

The blue challenge is still running all this week at The Scrappy Tree and the prize is a good one; 10 chances to win a $10 donation to World Pneumonia Day in your name, plus the top prize entry wins some blue scrappy goodies! I've been taking the opportunity to play with some grungepaper (my flowers REALLY need some work!) and a fair amount of Distress Ink, plus some items I had that were just begging to be altered :)

If you can make something blue this week for World Pneumonia Day, come share it at The Scrappy Tree and you might make a difference to someone's life :) click here for more details.

Looking forward to Hump Day tomorrow! Got Run 1 of 3 out of the way this week; one down, two to go! Thanks Bridge to 10k, so far so good :)

Gayle xx

I want to be a runner...

2010-11-06T16:43:00.000-07:00

I noticed on facebook today that November 7th is World Run Day. I have always wanted to be a runner, one of those people who 'goes for a run', makes it look effortless and just bounds along for miles without stopping. Now I know it's not likely that's going to happen, but I'm still trying!

First of all I started out with the Couch to 5k program. If you don't run at all, and you want to, start here. It's amazing how you can go from running for one minute without stopping to running thirty. It's really amazing. I'd also say that if you have an mp3 player, download the podcasts which tell you when to run and when to walk, because clock-watching as every second ticks past does not do you any favours!

So at the end of Couch to 5k, what do you do? The next program is called Bridge to 10k, and bit by bit you increase your time (while your speed decreases, a necessity if you want to reach the end!). I've finished Week 2 of Bridge to 10k, and it's killing me! I'm not sure how I'm going to increase my minutes again in Week 3, but when I first began I never believed I could have run for as far as I now have... so I'm going to give it a go.

One day I'd love to run a marathon. I don't know if that can happen, but it's certainly on my bucket list :)

Look out for a plodder in your area, it might just be someone like me :)

Gayle xx

The BLUE challenge

2010-11-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

The Scrappy Tree is running The BLUE challenge for World Pneumonia Day on November 12th. You can get more information about this and how to support such a great cause by visiting The Scrappy Tree here! The aim of the challenge is to create a project in blue for Save The Children and World Pneumonia Day - the winner will receive some blue scrappy supplies, and the top ten entries will get a donation of $10 each made to the cause in their name. As well as having a chance to win some goodies, this is a really good cause and you could be winning the chance to help save the life of a child with pneumonia if you take part, so please get out your scrappy supplies and show us what you can do :)

I'm hoping to have the chance to make a few projects for this challenge, but this is what I've been working on so far:-

I used a clear acrylic tag and dripped Stream Alcohol Ink onto it along with some Alcohol Blending Solution to get the interesting blue effect. I stamped some Inkadinkado flourishes onto the front of the tag with Jet Black StazOn ink, and attached a Tim Holtz keychain. This is my first attempt at a grungepaper flower! Have decided I need a more uniform flower stamp when I try this again! But managed to put it together using grungepaper, Faded Jeans Distress Ink, Glossy Accents to stick it together, and embellished with Icicles Stickles and a small blue metallic brad by Papermania.

If you'd like to have a go at this challenge, please visit The Scrappy Tree for more information and instructions on where to upload your project or how to give to the cause in other ways. Thanks for looking!

Gayle xx

The Scrappy Tree

2010-10-29T17:07:00.000-07:00

Hi! Happy Friday! Or should I say good morning Saturday to the late nighters in the UK :) I've had my hands full this week with a virtual vacation with my scrapping buddies! I can't tell you how lucky I am to be invited to such an event; it's not over yet, but I've enjoyed every second so far, even though I have scrapped more this week than in the past months(!) it's been so worth it :) once we get back from 'vacation' I'm sure I'll have some things to share.

For now? I'd love for you to check out The Scrappy Tree! After a little break, The Scrappy Tree is back on track this month, and today I posted my regular end-of-the-month slot, Art Journal Friday. For those who haven't played before, it's a chance to mess about with your craft supplies over the weekend, and get a little love in return :) if you think you might have time to play this weekend, call in at The Scrappy Tree for more details.

Have a great weekend :) thanks for stopping by ;)

Gayle xx

Happy Birthday lovely friend :)

2010-10-21T04:57:00.000-07:00

Today I wanted to share a little mini-album I made for my bestie's 30th birthday a few weeks ago. We both turned 30 within about 6 weeks of each other, and have known each other since school, so I wanted to make her something to keep...

There are a few photos of us floating about from over the years...

...so I collected up a few photos, my Dymo and got to sticking things down!

For all the memories that we have photos of...

...there's plenty more for which there exists no photographic evidence! It's all up here :)

Happy Birthday my dearest friend! Here's to another decade of fun and frolicks!!

Gayle xx

An ENORMOUS (and belated!) thank you

2010-10-19T12:39:00.000-07:00

I have to apologise profusely and extend much gratitude to Jennifer at Blueskysunburn Creations for this fantastic book which I won in her blog giveaway earlier this year. Jennifer, so grateful for your very generous prize! My break from my blog has made this thank you extremely tardy!!

Jennifer produces some beautiful artwork which you can check out on her blog; love her chatty blogging style and the pics she posts about what she's been up to! Lovely :) thanks again Jennifer!

SO happy Friday!

2010-10-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

Hey!! Two blog posts in less than a week! Feel like I'm spoiling myself ;)
This was my first week back at work after the holiday - needless to say, it was a BUSY week! and I didn't get everything done that I wanted to. But there were two very important things that needed to be completed this week, firstly a BIG happy birthday to my wonderful stepdad Mark for the 16th Oct!

And I've been putting the final touches to a mini-album for my bestest mate's 30th birthday; can't reveal all yet as I won't be giving this to her until tomorrow, but here's the front cover for now...

I also owe a massive and very much belated thank you to a fellow blogger - when I find the pic I need I will post here and signpost accordingly :)
Wishing you a wonderful weekend for now! Gayle xx

Happy Sunday!!

2010-10-10T12:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday bloggers! Been AWOL for some time now what with one thing and another; all will become clear in the next few months when I can share with you what's been going on round here :D In the meantime, we just got back from an awesome ten days in Florida; as you can see they have already decorated for Halloween!

We've been busy checking things out and trying to make some plans for our wedding in Florida next year, so watch this space for more info as it comes :)

I also want to direct you over to The Scrappy Tree; Kristin, Julie and I are hoping to start sharing some of our projects again very soon, kicking off for Halloween! Please drop by and say hi; any suggestions welcome! Good to be back :)

Gayle xx

Bank holidays!

2010-05-30T11:15:00.001-07:00

And so I lurch from one Bank Holiday to another - I thought I might have a little time to blog at the end of May purely because the bank holiday weekend was offering me an extra day to do so! And I was wrong!! lol

I'm sitting here with my iPod on listening to Stephen Lynch's tribute to Jim Henson, drinking a glass of Pinot Grigio and thinking how glorious it is to not think about work! It's been a busy month, and a busy week just gone - we went off on our adventures this past week as we took to the rivers (ok, canals) of middle England and navigate our way to Stratford and back at the grand speed of about.... 3mph. lol.

There was very little crafting going on in this busy month of May, but I did complete a page for my monthly slot, Art Journal Friday at The Scrappy Tree - apologies to everyone that I owe something to, my poor crafting supplies are dusty and neglected and feeling surplus to requirements at the moment (which of course they certainly are not!)

This is my page for the AJF challenge:-

And randomly thought that I would also share this very rare pic of me and my brother with my dad - haven't seen a photo like this since we were kids, so perhaps it needed sending out into the world to prove that it happened ;)

Happy June everybody :)

Castles and cards

2010-05-04T12:59:00.000-07:00

Well we bid goodbye to the bank holiday weekend (they go so fast, don't they?) and back to work today. Feeling quite joyful though, as my car is FINALLY on the road again as of this evening! Few more things to do, but back in action for now :)

Thought that I would share some photos of our Sunday - we visited Carew Castle near Tenby for a mediaeval fayre. It was kind of quiet, but the scenery was great :)

I also got to do a little crafting this weekend, a birthday card...
...and a grungy art journal page...
...ended the weekend with multi-coloured hands, can't be bad :) Have a great week everybody!

May Day

2010-05-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

It's May Day bank holiday weekend here in the UK - in keeping with the tradition of many of our national holidays, it's raining.

But as a nation, we don't let that stop us.

We had a barbeque, and a few beers; Gav even got a cigar out from our trip to see his dad in Texas last year...
Something about Corona beer with a slice of lime, and the smell of cigars, makes me feel like I'm on holiday :)

Check out this weekend's art journal challenge at The Scrappy Tree and let me know about those sights and smells which get you thinking about summer....

Wednesday waffle...

2010-04-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

Wednesday waffle is here again! This is more of a Sunday waffle really as these pics are from Sunday, but there you go ;)

Just thought I would share some more beach and Beagle pics from our latest trip to the beach on Sunday. After all the great weather we've had lately in the UK, it chose to rain on the morning of our beach trip(!) but as you can see, the beach looked just as beautiful even with the rain...

I loved how you can see the spray from the surf...
...and this old shipwreck in the sand...
I did manage to fit in a little crafting too :) this is a wall hanging I made as a gift for my sister-in-law. Hope she doesn't see this! She just moved into a new apartment and I thought I would inflict some of my experimenting on her ;)
I also wanted to share the ATC I made for the Steampunk swap over at The Scrappy Tree. This is my first go at Steampunk but I really enjoyed it!

If you want to join in, get your ATCs off to Kristin this week!
Can't wait for this weekend - in the UK, this Monday is the May bank holiday which means an extra day off for us :) I am hoping to go check out the free Festival Fringe at the Mumbles Mostly Blues and Jazz Festival sometime this weekend; I have persuaded df that some blues in the sunshine along with a glass of beer/wine could be pretty lovely :)

Saturday-ness

2010-04-24T16:28:00.000-07:00

'll be honest, tonight I am indulging a guilty pleasure - I am watching Intervention on YouTube! lol

It reminds me of when we first got internet at our flat, and I used to spend the whole night crafting and watching Intervention - happy days! Sad to say but in that respect they seem like old familiar friends :) wish that I could still get Intervention here! I think A&E tv have figured out that the UK were watching their new episodes from their internet site and for some reason they have put a block on - nuts! lol

So I have been working on a few things tonight that I can't share just yet, but hoping to tomorrow. In the meantime, I need to encourage you all to have a good rummage in your local charity shop. I went into ours this week with a client and spotted a pair of shoes in my goofy old size 8's for only £2, but the most exciting and important thing I picked up was this lace trim...

Bearing in mind that at the big craft store near here it costs between £1 and £2 to buy a metre of lace trim, I was lucky enough to find the three trims above by digging around at our charity shop (metres and metres of the stuff) for only about £1. Beautiful. :)

Tomorrow morning my stepdad and me are taking two of the Beagles down to the beach again - it will be early but I am happy to be able to enjoy this weather and this wonderful countryside :)

Big thank you!!

2010-04-21T12:20:00.000-07:00

Want to say a BIG thank you to Jennifer over at blueskysunburn - I entered her March giveaway for a book on working with acrylic paint.... and I won!! I know nothing about paint apart from my own messing about, so I'm very excited to find out some new techniques to try.

Jennifer's blog makes for interesting reading AND shows off her great artwork, so if you haven't already been for a visit then take some time for a browse!

Happy Wednesday everybody :)

Beagles, beaches and bbqs...

2010-04-17T16:16:00.000-07:00

So today we took the pooches to the beach - Millie the Scottie got to stay at home cos she's the old lady of the bunch, and the plan for today was to let the younger two off their leads and let them run without running into too much harm (I don't know if it's a Beagle thing, but the younger two are RUBBISH at coming back when they're called!).

So we headed out with bunches of treats in our pockets (this is the old man Beagle, Alfie, who at the age of 7 has now figured out that he will get a treat if he comes when he's called)

This is Ellie, the mum of the three, here pretending that she is a good girl and will come and see you for treats...
Alfie again, being a good dog for his treat...
... and this is my fiance and my stepdad pegging it after Lucy the puppy and Ellie her mum, when they decided to streak off into the distance and around the corner...
...this is a muddy pair of Crocs halfway down the beach while waiting for everyone to come back...
...and after the drama, this is Alfie....
...Lucy...
...and Ellie, all tired out for the day.
This evening we had a bit of a bbq with my fam before Gav headed out for the evening, and after catching the beginning of the new series of Britain's Got Talent (strangely addictive, every time!), I got down to some crafting. I am practicing some card-making; I get really anxious every time I need to make a card for someone because I am worried about what to do!
I think I might need to shop for some more stamps... watch this space...

Friday already? Nope, actually it's practically Saturday

2010-04-16T16:55:00.000-07:00

Writing this very late at night on Friday; got plans with the unseasonal good weather the UK is experiencing at present to go and drag the family out to the beach tomorrow, and also to have a barbeque, so getting in here early with some pics from this week's craft projects :)

Missing many of my online crafty friends very much! Feel like I haven't had anywhere near enough time to spend here or anywhere else crafty much lately, but have done my best this week to keep to my commitments LOL

The monthly inchie swap I take part in chose 'faces' for this month's theme; I absolutely had to find a use for the free stamp with Craft Stamper magazine a month or two ago, plus a pretty Valentine style stamp which I loved and reminds me of a great old fashioned movie scene.

I also picked up a great deal on the DCWV Green Stack recently and have been waiting to use it :) Julie's Inspiration Monday challenge at The Scrappy Tree presented the perfect opportunity!
It's a bit of a crazy card with loads of stuff on it, but I am no card maker and I had too much fun making this one! lol

Had a bit of a rubbish week at work with having to make do with one car between me and df since mine broke down (we work in opposite directions from where we live) but today came out beautifully and with the weather being so good it was blissful this afternoon to do something as simple as helping a client with her garden :) sometimes life really is good to me!

Happy Friday to one and all, and thank you for coming to visit :) yes I have more art journal pages to share but unfinished is unposted :D will get there in the end ;)

Weekly posting?? Terrible!

2010-04-10T12:52:00.000-07:00

It's true! I am managing a post once a week only! Terrible indeed :) and I definitely need to come and visit everybody and leave lots of blog love too :)

We had lots of family visiting with us over Easter weekend and it was really lovely to have that family time, not just with those close to us but people that we don't see so often. I couldn't help but think of my nan though - usually some of us go to visit her every Easter but she is still having work done on her house after the burst pipe at Christmas so she doesn't have anywhere to put us just yet.

Easter weekend with its extra two days of holiday put an extra couple of pounds on my butt as well! Why is it when you have visitors you have to cook stuff to fatten them up LOL my mum found a recipe for Thornton's toffee apple pie - oh MY goodness! - and that was without the other two courses for dinner, plus rhubarb crumble, ice cream, and chocolate eggs - yikes! I have been like a total slug all week! But got out of the house today for an hour walking the dogs, must take a camera down there because it was so beautiful! I know that I couldn't take as good a photo as my friend Michelle, but she would really love the scenery down there :)

So to crafting! I am excited to start working on something for The Scrappy Tree Steampunk Swap - I have never tried steampunk but I really like the style, and receiving a piece of art in return for the love and enjoyment you put into your work is always a wonderful bonus :) if you fancy giving it a go, send it off to Kristin by the end of the month - details here.

This week I got some great collage images and they were just the right size for ATCs - the temptation was too great and I just had to do it :) I adore ATCs and just haven't devoted enough time to them lately!

This is a journal page from last weekend, I was having some fun playing with pastels and bright colours and this is what jumped out of my brain (via my left hand, which is why it's kind of fuzzy LOL)
I have another page I'm in the middle of (again from last weekend) and there's something very Alice-like about it - I guess that even though I haven't seen the film I am still on that wavelength on some level ;)

Last weekend I felt my brother needed a bit of a lift, so we went to see Clash of The Titans on the Friday (good film, but not necessary to see in 3D), and for the third and final time before it left the cinema, yes, I went to see Avatar in 3D again! :D my brother had seen the film but not in 3D, and as I needed no excuse whatsoever to see it again I decided that a cinema ticket would be his Easter present :)

The third time was the charm; we went to a cinema further away from home this time as it was the only place still showing Avatar in 3D. My goodness, the 3D specs were so good that they were alarmed and you couldn't take them from the cinema if you'd wanted to! Absolutely amazing and would have given Disney a run for it's money, the 3D was THAT good :)

Hopefully I will be here again before a week passes! Have a great weekend everybody :)

Time goes by so QUICKLY!

2010-04-01T13:08:00.001-07:00

Another silly busy week - no projects to share, because in the spirit of the Art Journal prompt I posted last Friday, there just hasn't been the time - BIG sad face! :(

But this weekend is a bank holiday weekend in the UK (not sure how international this is!) so everything is shut on Good Friday and Easter Monday, including the office where I work (HUGE sigh of relief!) so this weekend will be for family - a lot going on at home as well as at work this week, so plenty of hugs and support needed for those concerned.

I have taken a few photos this week, but one that really made me smile was this one of the Beagles - how many can you fit in a bed?

Not many more than this I think!

As an ATC fan, I also want to extend The Scrappy Tree's invitation to take part in this month's Steampunk ATC swap - all the details are here and you can also check out the blog, plus voting is still up on the blog to decide the winner of the Spring Bloom challenge, so get your votes in - only two days left!

More pages...

2010-03-28T11:23:00.001-07:00

Catching up posting my pages! This first one was for Monica's moon prompt at Bohemian Shadows. I've been thinking a lot lately about the balance between being myself, and having to do what I do for my job. Recently the two have collided, and I've been involved in the harsher side of the work I do which has left me feeling pretty bad! I wanted to tell myself that what has to be done has to be done, and you can't always please everybody when you have to do the right thing.

This second page is for this month's Art Journal Friday prompt ('time') at The Scrappy Tree. As I said yesterday, I've been having some problems finding enough time to get things done, or at least to get them done well - it was great to just scribble down some of the frustration I've been feeling and then gesso over the top! Very liberating :) As I keep telling myself, you can only do as much as you can do.
This last page is just for fun! I am totally head over heels in love with the Avatar movie at the moment, and as I just got the soundtrack it's been going round in my head a lot! I want to practise drawing some faces in my pages, so it seemed to make sense to have a go at a Na'vi! :) I liked the eyes, but the rest of the face - ugh! Going to keep practising! lol
Thanks for looking :) if you like using flowers in your work and you want to win a BUNCH of them, don't forget to enter the Spring Blooms competition at The Scrappy Tree, not much time left! You need to upload your pic by the end of today :)

Sitting down on a Saturday...

2010-03-27T06:14:00.000-07:00

Been neglecting my poor little blog this week! And possibly last week as well, how rude of me :) Being busy is not an excuse I suppose, but it certainly makes things that little bit more challenging! I had time (or lack of it!) on my mind this week, so chose it as my prompt for Art Journal Friday at The Scrappy Tree this weekend - need to work out those issues!

Started today with a glorious bath from Lush - used one of their new bubble bars (Dorothy)...

...which made the bath all lovely and blue, like this...
... because I am a big kid, and as much as I love a bath that smells good and makes your skin feel good, I also like it when the water changes colour!

I have been working on a few things since my last journal post - will have a few journal pages to share tomorrow, but also made some inchies for a swap...

...and an ATC for National Craft Month at TST...

Haven't had time to do ATCs for ages!! Want to get some more going, and try some new things too - twinchies, thrinchies, fat pages and Moo's!!

Currently listening to my new favourite album, the Avatar soundtrack - I think the film is just so amazing that the soundtrack brings all those wonderful colours and images back in your mind. Here's hoping for some creativity to be inspired this weekend!

Ooh, and don't forget there's a paperbag album workshop on at The Scrappy Tree Ning site later today, from 10am PST (for us Brits I think that's 5pm) - live chat over there, so feel free to come and ask Kristin some questions!

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-03-13T16:37:00.001-08:00

It's Mother's Day! And I wanted to wish my own Mum a very happy day :) this year she asked me to make her something specific - an altered tin with a fairytale theme - so I based her card around that theme too...

... and then decorated the tin with some of her favourite line of papers - DCWV Once Upon A Time.
She has pretty much all of this line, and the albums too! In 12x12 and 8x8 - I think if she can buy up all that's left in this line she'll be a happy woman!

Just wanted to say happy Mother's Day to an amazing lady - this year as always she has come through for us again and again, and we are so lucky to have her! Thanks Mum, love you xxx

This week's art journaling...

2010-03-13T00:38:00.000-08:00

So I finally got around to firing up the scanner this week and putting in some journal pages to share! The first one, well I talked about this the other day - this is my happy page! I love the warm colours on this one.

This second one started out as a technique tryout - I wanted to try applying the paint in layers with a credit card (or should I say df's old clock-in cards!) and had several experiments trying to get a half-decent effect by applying paint through some sequin waste (this drove me crazy several times over until I figured out that you can't do it with a brush, you need to use a sponge, and you need to make sure you haven't got too much paint on it or you end up with a MESS).

Come to think of it, this page had all sorts on it! Collaging, stamping, hidden journaling, masking tape, Sharpies (I found these fantastic chisel-tipped Sharpies which I LOVE), I even used baby wipes with the acrylic paint to get some of the layers to show through better! Thanks Paula!)

This last page was for this month's inspiration challenge by Julie at The Scrappy Tree. Using the colours from the image as a starting point, I glued on those lovely swirls which I tore out of some patterned tissue paper a friend had used as wrapping in a parcel (thanks Rob!). Added some Red Hot Chili Pepper song lyrics, some ephemera that arrived in a parcel of goodies from another friend (thanks Kristin!) - I have some great friends huh ;) - and some crayons, ink, paint and white pen!
I have some busy looking pages in my journals this week - guess it's a symptom of my untidy mind!

Some thoughts at the end of the week

2010-03-11T11:51:00.001-08:00

Lots of stuff happening in work this week that I absolutely can't blog about, except to say that I really don't like this job sometimes! Difficult days indeed.

I've got some art journal pages to share once I scan them in, but I also posted a VERY quick domino tutorial over at The Scrappy Tree - fun little project for Craft Month! :)

I've been finding lately that I've been journaling some angry stuff; obviously this is something that needs to come out and I know that it's maybe bottled up stuff that I can't say to the people who should hear it. But I wanted some happy pages too! So the new pages reflect that a little :) I'm not saying there aren't more angry pages to come (I KNOW there are more in there!) but hey, rough with the smooth, right? Accentuate the positive :)

Not sure what this weekend's journaling will bring but given the crappy time in work today? It will be needed and it may not be all that happy! But it will be good not to have to pretend...

Easy Sunday...

2010-03-07T01:58:00.000-08:00

So it's Sunday already at the cottage and it's our turn to cook the Sunday dinner! I have no idea what it will be today, my parents pick something and then whoever is on dinner duty gets to cook it :)

I have been working on some journal pages this weekend, some just trying some things out and others from prompts - if you haven't been there already, go check out the March art journaling challenge at artjournaling.ning.com. Daily prompts and lots of encouragement! Lovely place :)

So this week I have two art journal pages to share, one is a combination of two prompts ('doodle' and 'blue') from the March art journaling challenge, and the other is my attempt at drawing a face into my page! Still need to work on that face-drawing thing, lol!

I also want to send a big CONGRATS! to my friend Michelle - her scrapbook page was featured at Liz Qualman's blog today as she will be guest designing over there, so go check her out and leave some love!

Blog candy!

2010-03-06T12:23:00.000-08:00

Spent much of today catching up on blogs and spotted these two great giveaways - go check 'em out!

Given my recent foray into art journaling, I very much liked the look of this book on acrylics over at blueskysunburn - if you want to get going with your acrylic paint, why not enter?

Recent posts here and at The Scrappy Tree have given away my love of Alice and her exploits :)Faeriemooncreations has some simply gorgeous Alice in Wonderland pieces to give away on her blog and would like to know which character you would like to be! The Cheshire Cat is my absolute favourite, of course!

Well believe it or not I have done some crafting recently - inchies, circle journal pages and some art journaling! I have yet to get my scanner fired up so for now I'm just sharing the inchies and cj. Our journal circle must be over halfway around by now, there are 16 of us altogether and the journal that I sent off this week belongs to a lady in Minnesota who just recently had my journal too!

The inchies are my first attempt at masking using stamps - I'm lucky enough to have met Julie through my crafting exploits and she chose the theme for this month's inchie swap (she is our master stamper!) so she was able to explain what I had to do! I like the effect very much, but was disappointed when I couldn't find the stamps I was looking for to do this project - always the way, huh??
It was a novel use of Post-It notes anyway!

Spending this evening with my dear df - he got his car fixed, tested and back on the road today so he has just got home from driving himself to the shops! lol

I'll be back with some art journal pages tomorrow - happy Saturday!

Scrappy Tree Stickles

2010-03-02T14:27:00.000-08:00

Good morning and welcome to Thursday! I for one am glad again that Friday is just around the corner, oh yes! Quick post this morning before I head out to work :)

As part of National Craft Month, The Scrappy Tree is running a competition today to win some Stickles if you leave a comment on the blog with your three favourite craft supplies - ends today so get over there asap!

I also want to say congratulations to my good friend and fellow blogger Michelle, who has just been picked as a guest designer for her fantastic scrapbooking skills - will post again with more details when her pages are due to appear - congrats Michelle!!! Proud of you girl ;)

Much love to the art journalers!

2010-02-28T04:33:00.000-08:00

I have been overwhelmed by the great response to our first Art Journal Friday at The Scrappy Tree over this weekend :) much gratitude to everyone who took part! If you want to see the great artwork that people made, please check out our Ning site for the links and pics.

Here's my effort :-

I want to say thank you in particular to those who joined in to support a new art journaler, and also those who are new to art journaling and were brave enough to post (thanks Jules and Cherry - look here and here) - you're wonderful, each and every one of you!

I want to mention Rinda at Gallo Organico, who is also running an Alice prompt this weekend and was kind enough to signpost over to The Scrappy Tree as well :) Rinda, this is my entry for your fabulous giveaway, good luck to everybody who took part!

I would also like to mention Monica at Bohemian Shadows - even though she isn't as big as fan of Alice and Wonderland as me, she was kind enough to work with the prompt I posted :) if you're interested in some further prompts, Monica has one running at the moment - I know I will be taking part in this one!

I will be posting on The Scrappy Tree tomorrow to say thank you to everybody as the challenge is still open as I type this - I'll be running the next prompt on 26th March, but feel free to call in before then if you have something to share or just want to say hi :) thanks for the support!

Art Journal Friday!

2010-02-26T12:42:00.000-08:00

Ok, it's up! Art Journal Friday has landed at The Scrappy Tree! :)

I want to say thanks to Kristin and Julie for humouring me ;) and letting me post something I'm really passionate about :)

Without further ado, may I please direct you to The Scrappy Tree...

In memory of Mags

2010-02-23T11:07:00.000-08:00

So I'm getting nervous and a bit excited about posting my little art journaling challenge over at The Scrappy Tree on Friday! The glory of being a member of The Scrappy Tree is that it's about using whatever medium works for you, which fits with art journaling in a lot of ways - I hope that people who haven't tried it before will have a go, whether it means trying a new technique or using what they know and are comfortable with. Anything goes!

My camera battery is flat as a pancake so no pics of anything to share; I kind of wanted to do a more wordy post today, a bit of reflection. Today I wanted to remember Mags, my best friend's mother-in-law. She lost her fight with cancer in the early hours of this morning after what was really not a long time at all since she was diagnosed; so frightening how quickly it took her, but I'm sure at the same time it must have seemed agonisingly long to her family to watch her go through that terrible ordeal.

I do know that her family will have lots of fond memories of her to keep with them, as I do - the time we came home on New Year's Eve to find that she had shinnied up a ladder into the upstairs bathroom and then climbed into Michelle's bed and fallen asleep is an absolute favourite and will always make me laugh! We figured out there was someone else in the house besides us when we found a pair of high heels on the bathroom floor, and only then did we spot the ladder outside the kitchen window :) we had come home rather merry ourselves and our powers of observation were not at their greatest!

Certainly I know she will be missed....

Lucky finds!

2010-02-20T06:34:00.001-08:00

So I was looking in a charity shop this week while with a client and spotted these two old books of sheet music - they let me have them for £1! Bargain :) now I just need to find something to use them on! I was thinking about scanning them and using the scanned image rather than the original, but then you don't get the cool texture of the old paper....hmmm.....

So this week my df had his first week of work since he was made redundant back in November - it has really hit him hard! Properly run down and a bit grumpy now, but looking forward to this being the beginning of our climb back up out of the recession.

I had some small opportunities this week to work on some backgrounds for art journaling but nothing finished up for showing just yet. I have a circle journal and some inchies to work on before I can indulge myself anyways, but better get done soon because on Monday Kira's Wish Journal class is beginning! I won't be able to start the binding part of the workshop for a little while because I need to shop for supplies, but looking forward to seeing the vids and the techniques, and certainly having a go at the collaging :)

I will be posting a little weekend-long art journal challenge over at The Scrappy Tree on Friday, all welcome from newbs to pro's - I am a newb! Just thought it would be fun to keep on spreading that art journaling message out there - it really is for everyone!

Art journaling and a book!

2010-02-15T13:39:00.001-08:00

Been tired enough to sleep on a chicken's lip all day at work (and possibly even been tired enough to doze a little on my desk at times!) but somehow when I got home I managed to find the energy to scan these two pages I was working on over the weekend :)

Finding it glorious beyond words to be taking this journey into all the supplies you should be 'qualified' to use :)

I also wanted to mention a giveaway happening over at Jennifer Williams' blog, Blueskysunburn - it's a marvellous book called Creative Time and Place by Rice Freeman-Zachery - I knew when I saw it that I wanted a read! It's all about making room in your life for working on whatever your creative endeavour might be - I know that's something we all suffer from! The unified cry of 'I wish I had more time to scrap/paint/etc etc!' - fingers crossed there's an answer out there somewhere (or instructions for a Harry Potter-style time turner, I'd be happy with either!)

Don't forget to have a wander around Jennifer's blog while you're there, she has some beautiful pieces of artwork and I love looking there for some uplifting inspiration :)

Hope you're having a happy Monday :)

More art journaling...

2010-02-12T14:51:00.001-08:00

Wanted to share this page as a Valentine entry - my inspiration? Julie's inspiration challenge over at The Scrappy Tree. Using this image from artandimagesbykim, the inspiration for this month's challenge was Vintage Valentine. I just loved it! It didn't come out exactly like I thought, but I knew I wanted midnight blue and stars, and with the help of my df I hope that's what came across.

Romeo and Juliet is one of my absolute favourite Shakespeare plays, and I know the opening lines word for word. I wanted to use them here because I felt that the star cross'd lovers spoke about the piece I was trying to make (even if my artistic efforts didn't quite!)

February fun on TST

2010-02-12T10:52:00.001-08:00

Just thought that today I would share my projects with The Scrappy Tree over the past two weeks - we are finishing up on Sunday after a fortnight of Valentine projects!

The last one is for my dear sweet fiance - we have been hit by the recession (like everybody!) so he is getting some IOU's in this coupon booklet! We heard yesterday that he has got some temporary work starting Monday, so fingers crossed for things looking up; after all, if I have to keep using up my supplies without replenishing them with a right good shop, I will run out! lol

Double page rant!

2010-02-08T15:11:00.000-08:00

Ok, so this is my first double pager finished up. It was inspired by some issues happening in our house at the moment and I thought you know what? I know a creative way to channel! Got some serious ranting put into this page, everything from the strokes of paint to the scribbled journaling! Someone mentioned today that when you put things in capitals it means you're shouting - that's true here!

Spent this evening working on another Scrappy Tree project - it's quite simple but I like how it's coming out. The joys of recycling! Thought I'd start making use of one of those packs of cards I picked up the other day, for our 14 days of Valentine's projects. Only 6 more days to go!

More art journaling...

2010-02-07T07:49:00.000-08:00

Spent last night chatting with friends (isn't Skype wonderful? I could write a blog post just about that!) and messing about with some more art journaling. I haven't finished these pages yet but am enjoying making them SO much that I haven't got anything else to show for a weekend spent crafting, so here they are!

Especially with the second page I've been layering and layering and layering some more (hence the lottery ticket - we didn't win by the way!) to keep trying new things. I've been reading a lot about using water soluble pastels or watercolour crayons, and I like the effects that I've seen on people's pages so I went out to get some today and I'm looking forward to playing with those later!

I found Journalgirl's site recently and have found it a great source of information, along with Art Journaling, which is a ning site - sometimes I feel like I spend more time looking and less time doing! which has always been my problem LOL

So this post is my proof that I did something this weekend ;)

Charity shop bargain!

2010-02-04T12:29:00.001-08:00

Been busy with projects and blogging for The Scrappy Tree this week so no art journaling completed - I did work on a background that I'm loving, though haven't decided what the journaling will be yet :)

Just had to share this bargain I found in the charity shop today - an old Whist set! I spotted it for £1.50 and thought it would be perfect for altering, along with the two complete decks of cards that came with it!

I am thinking hard about Emily Falcombridge's Deck of Me for one set of these cards... :)

And perhaps One Year Art Journal for the other? Hmmm, decisions decisions...... either way, it's going to be a lot of fun!

Some original art journalling...

2010-01-30T15:59:00.001-08:00

So this is my first piece of totally original art journalling - and I love it! I am following a few different art journal and gluebook sites at the moment (please comment for details if you're interested) which provide great prompts every day, or every week, or every two weeks :) I have been overwhelmed with wonderful prompts since the new year started :)

However! I spotted a few things in magazines when I was cutting things out that really caught my eye, so I cut them out and stuck them down and over the course of the past few weeks I've been adding paint and pens and all the things I could think of!

This is a TERRIBLE picture ( but I will add a scanned image when able) of this page, which may not look like much, but I am quietly proud of - this page is just about me, without prompts, just totally and utterly what I wanted to do with it.

As a scrapbooker, this is some new ground! Thanks for looking :)

Circle journals

2010-01-28T13:54:00.001-08:00

At the moment I have two circle journals that I'm sending on their way tomorrow. The Sheilas Postcard Circle Journal has been going for over a year now, and along the way has gotten a little bunched up at times but we have no losses and they are still working their way across America, the UK and Australia!

The journal above started and will end its journey in Arizona, and the one below is from Texas.

I think all of my pages have been different, not just because all the journals are different shapes and sizes but because I love doing something different in each one :) I have had to change the way I started out, if only because I have moved house halfway through and there are no postcards of the town I live in now!

Seeing each new journal in person when it arrives is a real excitement, and sending them on their way again brings that little buzz of looking forward to the next one.

Tonight, I want to work on some art journalling I started last weekend - hope to share it soon!

A weighty issue!

2010-01-25T13:38:00.000-08:00

So today I am giving myself a wake-up call! I was thinking about the things I want for this year, and one of those is getting myself back on track with a healthy diet again after the redundancy/Christmas/New Year/brother's birthday/work colleague's 50th birthday party indulgences! There's always a reason, right? ;)

Well today I'm posting this photo:-

...to remind myself that last summer and 30lbs heavier I was NOT happy in my own skin and it's a slippery slope back there again! I had lost more than 30lbs by November, but I'm running that risk of heading back there due to the aforementioned indulgences, and today I am putting my foot down and saying NO MORE!

I am blogging it with the hope of shaming myself into action ;) I have got some important things coming up this year that I want to feel good about when I'm there, and a really big important thing coming up next year in the form of my wedding! Now don't think for a second that I even have any idea what colour, shape or style of dress I want to wear, but the size? That I do have ideas about. And I don't want to have to make good on my threat of not going through with the wedding because this weight is still hanging on for the ride :-D

Sounds outrageous to say that, huh. But it's an issue that affects a lot of things for me, and for other people I know who struggle with their weight, whether it's too high or too low. Yes, I really have refused to go out on a night out because I felt so awful that my clothes didn't fit properly. It's a tantrum, I know this, but at the time it's such a panic and upset that it doesn't feel possible to do anything else!

So my wedding is not going to be like this. I refuse. Taking charge today, and every day. I have done it before, and I will do it again.

Thanks for listening to my waffle :)

CHA

2010-01-23T14:03:00.000-08:00

So this weekend is the big weekend for all us crafters - CHA in California is this weekend! I have a good scrappy friend who will be going, and having instructed her to take LOTS of photos; I am looking forward to vicariously living through her!

I am on Twitter and am picking up updates from some of my favourite scrappy people during their time at CHA - how much do you LOVE this 'grungecoat' as modelled by Tim Holtz?

Totally fab :) a friend of mine picked up some grungepaper on Friday, I will be sure to mention this pic to her!

To occupy myself I am catching up with Celebrity Big Brother - who knows why but I am finding it quite entertaining! I think I am nearly getting DF interested; he always wants to know what I'm laughing at! It's nearly coming to an end so I'm trying to catch up before I find out who wins :)

Rambling on a Wednesday

2010-01-20T11:54:00.000-08:00

Okay, so today is just going to be a bit of a ramble! I have been picture heavy lately :)

I should be scrapping right now but I am sitting back and catching up on blogs, and looking at all of the wonderful things that people are creating - it's so great to have all this inspiration around you, fabulous scrapbook pages, art journal pages, altered art, gorgeous photos - I love it! And the forums, the prompts, the people - yeah for just sitting back and soaking it all up :)

I just caught sight of a tag that I made among my scrapping stuff, and remembered taking pics of it underneath my lamp on my scrapping table - I miss it so much! Never realised what hard work it would be not having a scrapping table.

So here it is, a photo tribute to my lost scrapping table...

I have been working on some gluebook type stuff today, separate from my art journal for the Caravan. Waiting for paint to dry is a LOOOOOOOONG process! It's hard to try to find somewhere out of the way to leave it dry! Someday, I will win the lottery :)

Accessorize dahling!!

2010-01-19T10:55:00.000-08:00

Another London post! We have an Accessorize shop here at home but the London one just looked so much better! Loving this shop window.

And the contents of the shop looked as fab as the window - I was lucky enough to be bought this lovely necklace as part of my Christmas gift! I just loved all the layers and different elements to this.

Art Journaling part 2

2010-01-18T12:15:00.000-08:00

Bit more art journaling to share :) courtesy of the Art Journal Caravan! This first one is based on a prompt from last week, but I thought it was so fun I really wanted to have a go! We needed to take some inspiration from the week's diary style used by Geninne here.

This second page uses this week's prompt, mend. I wasn't sure what to do for this one, so I searched for some poetry that used the word mend, and found this pretty poem by Emily Dickinson which I really liked alongside the image of this girl.
I felt a bit scrapbooky with this one (the flower and brad mark me as a scrapper, right? ;)

but I really loved using the paints and pens, and going a bit wild for a change! I feel like I could still add some more doodling to this one, work in progress perhaps...

Harrods

2010-01-14T13:20:00.000-08:00

So on Saturday, I insisted that we had to go to Harrods. Even though I lived on the outskirts of London for a couple of years, I never went to Harrods! Criminal ;)

You know that you're getting near to Harrods just from the tube stations - this is the subway wall at Hyde Park Corner...

We took the scenic route and walked from Hyde Park Corner to Knightsbridge and could soon see the corner of Harrods in the distance! Can you see my mum trying to hide behind a lamp post??

This is the classic picture of those shop windows with the trademark green and gold Harrods colours....

And in the expensive shopping halls, this was one of the light fittings that caught my eye! Isn't it beautiful?

However! We were there for souvenirs so we went to Harrods Arcade!

... where they had sweeties....

...teddy bears....

...and mugs!

Plus these cute little shopping bags that totally reminded me of this month's inspiration challenge on TST! Thought of you Jules :)

A few more pics from this trip to share, but this was pretty heavy on photos today so I'll save them for another time!

VERY excited for the next art journalling prompt tomorrow!