Well.........

after 4 months
I thought it was about time I updated my poor neglected blog!
*blush*

It's been a busy few months with GCSEs (my daughter - not me!)
and then the school holidays so crafting was put on hold AGAIN!

Now that they are all back to school, I'm itching to get crafting again :)

I have missed visiting you all so much and have a lot to catch up on.

I thought over the next few days I'd share some scrapbook pages
made in March for Creative Craft World.


This one is of Caleb when he was a few months old.


I found this vellum quote in a book by K & Co that I've had for ages and I love it!

The little banner came with the kit and I cut the paper hearts with my Silhouette.
The little wooden heart is by Studio Calico.

I cut the title with the Silhouette and layered the blue card over the kraft card on the word 'loved'

I love these MME buttons and I used a matching brad to hold back the folded corner of paper.

I'll be back soon with more projects.
and I'm looking forward to visiting your blogs too.

Thank you for stopping by!
Take care :)
Sarah xx 



'Blues and/or Browns' mini challenge!

Hello again!

 

I'm just popping in to let you know about the new theme for our mini challenge at Creative Craft World this month.

All you need to do is make a project using blue and/or brown and link it to the

Creative Craft World blog HERE.

 

Lou very kindly sent me April's mini kit to have a play with.

You can find it HERE but you don't have to use it to enter the challenge.

 

(although you can if you want!)

 

 

This is what I came up with...

 The flower stamp is by Unity and the 'hello' stamp is Stampin' Up.

The sentiment is a stamp by Hampton Art Clear Expressions

and it's stamped with Elzybell's white ink. 

 



I have been very quiet on the blogging front,

mainly because we have been getting work done to the house and I'm stressed out with it!

Roll on the next few weeks to get the house back in order again :)

 

Thanks for visting and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Sarah xx

April scrapbook challenge at CCW

Good morning!

 

It's been a while since I posted but I'm back to let you know about the new scrap map challenge at Creative Craft World.

 We are having another blog hop this month and you'll find all the details on the CCW blog.

 

I didn't follow the sketch entirely this month as I only had one photo to use instead of three but I quite like how it turned out.

The papers are Echo Park 'Yours Truly' and the flowers are Green Tara.

I added a mix of fabric, suede and pearl brads to the flower centres and I made the gem flourish using a stitching template as a guide for placing the gems.

The photo is of Phoebe looking very pleased with herself at 11 months.

 

 

and now all you need to do is hop on over to Sarah W's blog to see her lovely layout. 

 

Thank you for stopping by to visit today

and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend :)

Take care

Sarah xx

March scrap map - tiger teeth!

Good morning!

 

Can you believe it's the beginning of March already?

That means a new monthly challenge at Creative Craft World and we have

a brand new sketch for you to have a go at making a scrap page or card.

 

We're also having another blog hop so if you'd like to join in, just visit each of the DT and leave a comment to say you've visited and you'll be entered into a draw for a prize.

 

You don't have to enter the challenge to be eligible but if you do link up your project to the challenge

you have the chance to win a fab scrap kit and a guest design spot.

All the details are HERE.

 

Here's my take on the sketch

 

I used MME 'Alphabet Soup Boy' papers and I was delighted that the colours of Phoebe's jumper matched them - stripes and all!

Phoebe was always asking to have her face painted and on this particular day Lydia took great delight in painting her as a tiger.  I think she did a great job!

 

 

The metal gromlet is from WRMK and the tiny buttons are Fancy Pants.

 

 

As I had my sewing machine out for another project (and any excuse to sew ;)) I stitched a short zig zag line on 2 sides of the frame.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with the sketch

and to continue on with the blog hop you'll find Sarah W's page HERE.

 

Thank you for visiting today

and I'll be round to visit you all later :)

The children are going swimming with their grandparents so I'll have a couple of hours peace :)

 

Have a lovely weekend.

Take care,

Sarah xx

Blog hop this month at CCW!

Hello again,

 

As it's the beginning of February we have another scrap map challenge at Creative Craft World

and today we are having a blog hop too!

There will be a prize for one reader who visits each of our blogs this month and leaves a comment, just to let us know you've visited.

 

And as usual there is the fabulous prize of a CCW kit, GDT spot and a generous shop discount for the winner of this month's scrap map challenge.
You can enter with a scrapbook page or a card!!

So have a look at the sketch and find all the details on how to enter HERE.

 

For those taking part in the hop, you will have made it here from Mel's blog.

 

For my page this month I've used a photo of my eldest daughter Lydia, taken when she was almost 3.

As she will be 16 in a few weeks time we have been reminiscing about her baby days and pulled out the old photo albums.

She was our only child until she was seven and was definitely our little princess :)

 

 I used pale yellow Bazzill card for the base and the patterned paper is
K&Co 'Greenhouse collection''

 

The 'princess' title is Me and my Big Ideas gemstones

 

 I added matching butterfly rub-ons to the top of the page and turquoise dew drops down the right hand side of the page.

 

I love to add hidden journaling to my pages so I made this tag to slip behind the photo.

I haven't added the journaling yet as I want to keep it personal just for Lydia. 

Now you've seen my page it's time to hop on over to Sarah W's blog.

 

Here's the complete list just in case you get lost!

Creative Craft World

Ali

Trish

Lou

Lydia

Sue

Mel

Sarah M (me)

Sarah W

Jenny

Susi

Creative Craft World

 

Thank you for visiting today and I look forward to seeing what you do with the scrap map!
Don't forget.... from now on you can enter with a card or scrapbook page.

Take care and have a lovely weekend.

Sarah xx

New Christmas challenge at CCW

Good morning!

 

I hope by now those of you dealing with the terrible snow storms are over the worst of it.

We've been very fortunate here with just a little sprinkling of snow.

 

I'm back today to tell you about a new monthly challenge over at Creative Craft World.

For those of you who want to get a head start on your Christmas cards this will be perfect for you.

The challenge is called BtCR (Beat the Christmas Rush) and the idea is to create some Christmas cards each month and add them to the linky HERE.

By the time 25th November comes round you could have all your cards ready in time for posting in December!

 

This is a card I made as a Christmas thank you.

The image is a digi stamp from Tiddly Inks.

 

I coloured it with Copics and tied some twine around the centre to look like a present.

I stamped the sentiment (Stampin' Up) and punched it out with the Tiny Tags punch.

To add a little sparkle I outlined parts of the image with Stickles glitter glue.

 

Thank you so much for visiting today.

And to all my followers thank you for sticking with me.

I haven't been able to blog lately with my health playing up and other things having to take priority

but I hope to be back soon when everything settles down.

 

Hope you have a lovely day,

Take care.

Sarah xx

A New Year and a new scrap map at Creative Craft World

Good Morning!

 

Happy New Year to you all...a bit late I know...

I have quite a lot of catching up to do with everyone!

 

Today we have a new scrap map at Creative Craft World

and this is the page I've made.

It's been 3 weeks since I put paper and glue together so my mojo is a bit rusty.

 

The Christmas words are on a vellum sheet which I layered over white dotted Bazzill card.

The baubles are cut with the Silhouette and the top of the large bauble comes out to reveal a journaling spot (no photo of it yet)

The photo was taken 9 days before Christmas Eve when the children went to see

 Santa at a National Trust event.

I took a lot of photos of their adventure so I made a little book (adhered to the large bauble)

to put all the photos in to complete the story.

The night started with a story from Ma Christmas in the tea rooms (while having juice & a treat).

Then they walked to the elves' house and made magic reindeer food.

When they finished that, they were picked up by horse and carriage and taken to the 'big' house to meet Santa.

His sleigh was parked outside and you can just imagine the excitement as the children saw it!

Inside the large hall they could just see Santa in the distance sleeping in his chair so they were allowed to creep up and wake him.

He had a list with all their names and had a chat with them before giving them their presents.

It was a truly magical night (for us 'big' ones as well!)

I do apologise for neglecting my blog for so long

but with the children back to school next week I should be back here again too :)

Thank you for stopping by today and do take a minute to visit

CCW and see all the gorgeous pages the rest of the DT have made.

Here is the sketch for this month and you can enter the challenge by using the sketch as your starting point for a page and then link it up to the blog here.

If you win you'll get a fabulous scrapbook kit, a generous discount instore and a Guest Design spot.

 

and that's it!

See you soon,

Sarah xx

 



The final day!

Good morning!

 

Well I can hardly believe it....November has just flown by and here we are

with our last project of the Christmas Countdown at Creative Craft World.

Mel has made a lovely 3D project and if you pop over to her blog

you'll find all the details here.

I hope you've enjoyed the projects the Design Team have made this month

and maybe even been inspired to try some of them yourself!

 

I will be back with some more of my own projects very soon

but this morning I'm off to take Lydia to her music exam.

Here's hoping it goes well!

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Sarah xx

Day 29 ~ Gift boxes

Hi everyone,

 

Today for the Christmas Countdown at CCW

Sue has made some fabulous cube boxes from one sheet of A4 card.

 

Check them out here!

Tomorrow is the final day of the countdown

so if you come back tomorrow, I'll have the link to Mel's blog

for her gorgeous 3D decoration.

 

Thanks for visiting :)

Take care.

Sarah xx



 

 

 



Sparkle with LIM

Hello everyone,

I've been trying to get time since Saturday to play in the Less Is More

challenge this week and I finally managed it this morning :)

Chrissie & Jen are looking to see Glamour & Glitz!

 

I love glitter and all sorts of sparkly things so I couldn't miss this one :)

I have made a quick little Christmas card.

I love using kraft card for Christmas cards and this one is 12x12cms.

I stamped a little Elzybells robin, coloured him with copics and added Glamour dust underneath him

and a few dots of it around him. I also added white dots (inkessentials pen) around the frame.

The stamp is from a little clear set by Hampton Art.

-------------

 

Keeping with the Christmas theme, we are down to our last few projects over at

Creative Craft World....November has flown by!

Today Lou has a bottle tag and gift carton to share.

Here's a little peek and you can find out how to make them here.

 

Thanks for popping in today

and I'll be back tomorrow with a link to Sue's project.

I have a couple of birthday cards to share soon but I have to wait in case they see them on my blog!

Take care,

Sarah xx

Vintage Birthday Card

Hello everyone,

 

I don't have a card of my own to share today but I thought you

would enjoy seeing this card that my friend Freda gave me for my birthday yesterday.

 

I'm trying to persuade her to start a blog of her own so we can see the fabulous things she makes :)

 It has lots of texture and it even has a tiny charm hanging from the umbrella.

The photo really doesn't do it justice.

----------------------------------

 

I also have the link to Susi's blog where, as part of CCW's Christmas Countdown

she has made some really useful pocket handwarmers.

Just the thing for this cold weather!

To find out all about them click here.

 

 

I'm still in the process of catching up with your blogs,

I just wish there were more hours in the day sometimes!

See you soon :)

Sarah xx 

Christmas Mini Envelope Book Tutorial

Hello everyone,

 

I hope your weekend went well, mine went far too quickly!

Well today is day 26 of the Christmas Countdown at Creative Craft World

and it's a special day for me as it's my birthday :)

 

I have a tutorial today for a little mini album made with envelopes.

I haven't it fully decorated inside but maybe it's just as well as this post

has a lot of photos already.

 

 

 

 I used 3 DL size envelopes and I like to use PaperMill Direct ones but any good quality ones will do.

To start you score each envelope down the middle.

 

Then fold in half (with the flap to the inside)with a bone folder to get a good crease line.

 

 Take a piece of scrap card and trace the outline of the flap.

This will make a template for cutting patterned paper for the flap as you decorate.

 

 Take one envelope for the front cover and lay it flap side down.

Add a strip of double sided tape from left to right approximately halfway down.

Take approx. 1m of ribbon, find the centre and adhere to the tape.

This is your ribbon closure.

 

Now you can decorate the back and front of the envelopes.

 

The paper I used for the front and back cover is Jillibean soup.

I inked all the edges of each envelope with 'Barn Door' distress ink.

 

Measure 1.5 cms in from the spine and 2.5cms from the top and bottom

and mark with a pencil.

Using the large hole in the cropadile punch through the folded envelope.

Using this envelope as a guide, mark the holes in the other 2 envelopes and punch. 

 

Layer the envelopes together and tie ribbon through the holes.

I left one end longer so I can loosen the ribbon if the book becomes a little bulky after decorating.

You can dab some wet glue on the ends to stop the ribbon from fraying. 

 

Before I decorate a book I always gather up as many matching embellishments as I can.

(A great chance to use up that hoarded stash...)

It really does make decorating a book a lot quicker if everything is at hand.

 

This is the first page of the book, I have tags to make for journaling on the left hand side

and I'll probably add more bits and pieces as I go along :) 

 

The second page is a pic of the family (except me...) enjoying the first snowfall one winter.

I still have to complete the journaling on the left hand side.

You can use the flap of the envelope for tucking in tags and little bits and pieces inside. 

 

When I get the book completely finished I'll post all the photos of the inside

so you will have a better idea of how it all comes together.

 

If you made it to the end of this very long post

THANK YOU!

I hope I have inspired you to have a go at your own little book

and if you do, please post a link in the comments section below - I'd love to see it :)

 

Don't forget to pop back tomorrow for a link to Susi's blog

where she has made some handwarmers.

These are great little things, I've made some for the craft fair coming up

and I've had to hide them because all the family want one :)

 

Take care,

Sarah xx

Edited to add: Rene from Simply Cute has used my tutorial to make a fabulous calendar.  You really must check it out!!!

Click HERE to see it. 

I'd like to enter this in the following challenges:

MIM ~ linky party

Challenges 4 Everybody #8 ~ anything goes

Corrosive Challenges ~ anything goes

CI Paints ~ anything goes

The Squirrel & The Fox ~ anything goes 

Christmas Countdown Days 24 & 25

Good Morning!

 

My internet connection has been terrible the past couple of days

so I'm hoping it lasts long enough to get this posted!

 

Yesterday and today we have 2 projects from Sarah W

for Creative Craft World's Christmas Coundown.

She has made loads of gorgeous inky tags and a layout.

If you pop over to her blog you'll see them here.

 

 

Tomorrow it's my turn again and I'll be posting a tutorial

for a mini envelope book

Here's a wee sneak peek...

 

 

I hope you're all enjoying your weekend

and all being well...I'll see you tomorrow :)

Take care

Sarah xx

Day 23 Christmas Countdown at Creative Craft World

Hello again!

 

I was busy all day yesterday making some hot/cold bags for the craft fair.

They're small little bags that you heat in the microwave and put in your pockets to keep your hands warm or you can keep them in the fridge ready to put on knocks and bumps that little ones

(or even big ones!) can have.  I'll upload some pics soon.

 

I have a link today to Ali's blog where she has a Christmas tree project

for the Christmas Countdown at Creative Craft World.

You can see all the pictures and her tutorial here.

 

 

Thanks for popping in today and I hope to have something of my own to share tomorrow!

I'll also have a link to some Christmas tags.

See you soon,

Sarah xx

Yummy Christmas Treats!

Hello everyone!

It's day 22 of our Christmas Countdown at Creative Craft World

and it's Susi's turn to make a project and she has

made some delicious looking truffles.

 

You'll find all the details on how to make them here.

 

That's it from me today....I haven't a project of my own because I've agreed to do a craft stall

at the children's primary school and I've just 2 weeks to get some things made!!

Any tips on what I could make would be greatly appreciated :D

 

I'm still catching up on commenting so if I haven't been to see you yet

I will soon!

Take care,

Sarah xx 

Notecard

Hello everyone!

 

I have a little notecard to share today using bits and pieces I cut with the Silhouette.

 

 

I added tape just along the top of the scallop strips and turned the scallops up slightly
to add a little dimension.

The stamp is by Clear Expressions (Hampton Art)

 

 

~~~~~~~~

 

I also have the link to Sue's blog

where she has made a beautiful wreath for the Christmas Countdown at Creative Craft World.

We only have a sneak peek but you can see it all and the tutorial here.

I can't wait to see it!

 

 

Thank you for stopping by today and if you come back tomorrow

I'll have a link to Susi's blog where she will have some homemade treats to eat!

 

Take care,

Sarah xx