Sweet sixteen

Hello again!

 

I thought it was about time I updated this blog.....

Life has been challenging lately mainly due to my back problem and carpal tunnel in my hands but I'll get through it :)

 

A few challenges I should have told you about earlier although they run for a month so plenty of time to get creating :)

The first one is the mini challenge at Creative Craft World.

The theme is 'ANYTHING GOES' and it can be any project so long as it is smaller than 12"x12"

There is a fabulous prize to be won and the winner is chosen by the Design Team.

 

The second challenge is also at Creative Craft World and it's the Beat the Christmas Rush one.

If you'd like to get ahead with your Christmas cards this year then this challenge is for you!

 

I also have a card to share today.

It was my lovely daughter's 16th birthday last week and this is the card I made her.

Very quick and simple.

It was also my hubby's birthday too but he had to make do with a bought card :o

The papers are MME 'On the bright side' 6x6 pad and the 16 is cut out with the Silhouette Cameo.

I covered some chipboard with matching paper and cut out a heart with a Sizzix die.

The font is MTF cupcake.

 

 

Although I've been quiet on the blogging front all that will change over the weekend!

I've had the opportunity to play with the new March scrap kit (on sale from 1st March at CCW)

and I have 3 new scrapbook pages to share.

I'll upload them over the next few days and as Saturday sees the new scrap map challenge I'll also have a page to share for that too.

 

Thank you all for your support lately, I've had some lovely emails and comments and I appreciate them all.

 

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