Getting ready for the party :0)

Morning,

I have started getting the decorations together for DD#2's engagement party and while most of them will be tricky to photograph, because they are banners and hanging hearts, this little jug of flowers is so sweet I thought I would take a quick picture!

Super easy, lollipop flowers on kebab sticks stuck into an oasis - couldn't be simpler! They may be easy but they took me all night to cut and assemble!! I was going to make rosettes but changed my mind, sooo glad I did, I would still be making them now.

This is the reverse of the flowers (yes I did do the backs, because they will be seen!)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,

Ali x

My baby is engaged to be married!

Dear all,

I am super excited to announce that DD#2 has accepted her chap's proposal so we are full steam ahead for a party on the 19th :0)

First port of crafting call: a planner! Got to have somewhere for all my lists.....I am a list junky!!!!

DD#1 and I went shopping today for party dresses, what a lovely day. I normally hate shopping but we had a great girlie day in town and then a relaxing lunch a deux - smashing :0)

The planner is a back to back bound book with a gatefold type cover. It's held closed with a rubber band - I have zillions of these thing as the postman binds my mail with them every day! Papers are Echo Park 'Life is Good' - thought it was appropriate :0)

The pages have all been scored at 7" so that there is a variation in length (banners have been attached to the short ones )  The pages flip up and lie flat when lifted as I have double scored at the top to allow for bulkiness (does this make sense?)

Looks like we will have around 50 people coming which is a nice number for a house party

My initial list - there will be plenty!

This is the invitation, I am loving the embossing made with the letterpress thing from Sizzix :0) I am feeling quite chuffed with myself as all invitations have been made and envelopes addressed within 24 hours of announcement!! Just need to buy the stamps and get them in the post!

Thanks so much for stopping by, have a great day!

Ali x

Sketches in Thyme Open Challenge for October

Happy Sunday everyone!

I am posting this really quickly as I am off to a wedding fair with DD#2 and her chap today (we tried to persuade DH to join us but he declined!)

My layout today has been inspired by a sketch over at http://sketchsavvy.blogspot.com/



This sketch shouted seaside to me so I thought it would be appropriate for another of the photos from our recent Turkish holiday :0). Here is GDG and me on the beach soon after we arrived. You can see it's the evening from the long shadows (including DH taking the photo!)

I used a grid stencil (not that you can tell!) and the Aqua Paint Dabber , but then decided to smudge a lot of it as it looked too uniform! The 'sandy' smudges are gold Perfect Pearls mixed with glue. The papers are My Mind's Eye 'Stella and Rose' (just found a 6 x 6 pad when I was looking for something else, and love them!)  All of the stamps are  from the Pink Paislee 'Nantucket' line. The floral stamp was stamped onto patterned paper and then fussy cut. 

This journaling was inspired by the recent video posted by Heidi Swapp on  My Craft Channel :0)

More Nantucket bits...love 'em! The heart has been die cut from acetate, alcohol inked and then whilst the ink was wet I sprinkled gold Perfect Pearls onto it - seems like a lot of effort for such a tiny piece but I really like it :0)

I have also got a few cards to share with you, all using Spellbinders, following on from a show on the craft channel we have here in the UK - my love has been rekindled :0)

My Mind's Eye papers and another of the acetate hearts.

The card was embossed with a circle mask and then punched with a MS Deep Edge punch.

Another MS punch matted onto silver card. The crown stamps are Tim Holtz and the sentiment stamp is Anna Griffin.

Unfortunately I can't tell you the names of the dies I used as they all come out of their packaging and get 'stuck' onto a large magnetic sheet on the wall!! If there is something you want to know specifically leave me a comment and I will get back to you :0)

Thanks for stopping by, have a smashing day!

Ali x 

Crate Paper 'Emma's Shoppe' Mannequin

Hello all,

I am being very quiet as DGD is fast asleep so I thought I would grab the opportunity to upload a recent project....sssh.

My DD#1 bought me the Maya Road Mannequin over a year ago and to be honest I had forgotten I had it!!! Once I 'found' it I knew what I would use it for. DH and I had a weekend in London, we went to see The Million Dollar Quartet on the Saturday, stayed over and then spent the Sunday in Camden Town (on old haunt from our youth)

Camden is THE place to go to if you love vintage clothing, furniture and ephemera :0) It is also brilliant for books, food and is the absolute best place in the land for a couple of old punks!!! So bearing in mind that DH and I have bought many an old coat and shoes from this market (albeit 30 years ago!) the mannequin was the perfect mini album.

Sorry this post is photo heavy but I wanted you to see every bit!! I have also got a couple of dodgy on the side ones but I know what I am doing wrong now (unfortunately I had deleted the files from the camera before I discovered how to correct it!)

front and back covers

Thanks for stopping by, have a lovely weekend :0)

Ali x

Oh the purity of white!

Morning,

this is getting to be a regular thing! DD#1 is on placement, I am a very proud Mum - she taught her first class yesterday and got brilliant feedback :0), so it means that I have more time for me this week - I am getting as much crafty time in as possible!

Anyone who knows me will tell you I have a passion for white! My clothes (in the summer, I will be in black for the next new months!), the flowers in my garden and house, even my craft room is painted white :0)

I love it because it is sophisticated on it's own or with black and if you put it with colour it makes any colour pop. So with this in mind I made a card using only white card, a soupson of silver embossing powder, white ribbon and a couple of hat pins.

The background card was embossed with Cuttlebug's Swiss Dots folder. The border was punched with a MS Deep Edge Punch and the mats were cut using Spellbinders dies.

I keep saying that I am going to get the shop website up and running and get some of this stuff sold! Maybe today is the today to make a start!

Thanks for looking and have a great day,  

Ali x

Sketchy Thursdays 10.13

I was looking through the drawers (and yes that is plural) of all the chipboard letters I have when I made Marley's height chart and I can honestly say I can't remember the last time I used them! When I saw this week's sketch from ST I knew what I was going to do :0)

Here is the sketch:

and here is my take:

My darling furry baby (sad, I know!!) The embellishments are a nod to all that he loves (except for us!) button - ball, bone - obvious!, the bakers twine- going for walks, rabbit - chasing them! and the cupcake represents treats (both doggie and human, lol) and finally a tree for weeing against, hahaha!

The background paper is Basic Grey and the tree stamp is Kanban, I have no idea where the rest came from!!

I also have some good news...Debbie emailed this morning to ask if I would guest design for another month with http://frosteddesigns.blogspot.com/ Sketch Along Tuesdays :0D YAY!

Thanks for looking,

Ali x

Marley's Height Chart

Hi all,

just a quickie to let you see the height chart/mini album I made for a friend's daughter who is expecting a little boy :0)

They have already decorated the nursery in the colours I have used for the album and as soon as I saw the photos of the room on Facebook, I knew that my Crate Paper 'Little Sprout' papers would work perfectly! The animals are from Cricut 'Zoo Balloo'.

The design for this album is by Laura Dennison who does an awesome tutorial on UStream, I love her work and have made many of her designs :0)

Excuse the photos....that's all I seem to be saying recently!!! lol

This circle has been attached to a peg so that the current height can be set and then marked :0)

Yes I know this photo is terrible but I wanted you to see how it hangs. lol!

Thanks for stopping by,

Ali x

Sketch Along Tuesdays #26

Hiya,

and so my time comes to an end as the guest designer for Frosted designs :0(, it's been a blast! I have loved seeing all the fabulous layouts that everyone created and your comments have been so kind :0) Thank you, thank you, thank you, especially to Debbie for considering me in the first place!

Here is the beautiful sketch that Debbie created:

and here is my take with nearly the last of our lovely family day in June (I say nearly the last as there is still one of DD#2  and her chap that I want to scrap, and then I must call it a day!!)

I misted a stencil using the Cosmic Shimmer Mists 'Sunlight Mist' and 'Midnight Blue', then using my beloved Anna Griffin papers, 'Willow' this time, I matted the photo, pleated the paper ribbon and stuck some buttons to it. I used one of the rosettes from the line and the Grandfather sticker. I used a Pink Paislee's 'Daily Junque' border stamp at the top of the page, then 'hung' a birdcage stamp from their 'Butterfly Garden' set. The butterfly from the same set has been stamped onto patterned paper and glued along the body so it has movement. The hot air balloon from 'Daily Junque' was also stamped onto patterned paper and pop dotted. I am really pleased with how it's come out and now understand why these mica sprays are so popular, lol!

Thanks so much for stopping by, don't be a stranger :0)

Ali x

Sketches in Thyme #58

And so to the second post for today!

This layout is the first one from our recent holiday to Turkey, as I plan to do a whole album you will see a lot of us in a gorgeous part of the world :0)

Here is the stunning SiT sketch:




and here is DH and DGD playing in the pool. This is probably day 3, if you had seen her at the beginning she was fully bedecked in arm bands, rubber ring and talk about limpet...she would cling round your neck for all she was worth! The secret to being fearless in the water is to make it fun! By the end of the fortnight she was swimming under water and jumping in off the side. In fact she became so confident that DH and I were the nervous ones!!!

I have no idea why this is on it's side - I have tried everything to sort it but to no avail!!!

The papers are Pink Paislee 'Hometown Summer' as are the stamped images (coloured in with ProMarkers), and ephemera. The letters have been done with Inkadinkadoo stamps and the 'swimmer' stamps are from Pink Paislee's Nantucket line.

Thanks for looking, sorry for the wonky post! If anyone can tell me how to rectify it I would be grateful :0)

Ali x

Sketches in Thyme #57

Morning,
I got a chance to do some scrapbooking last night :0) Life has been really full on recently and whilst it is lovely to be so busy........theatre trip to see Backbeat (excellent, go if you can!) my cousin's wedding (a fabulous day) general family stuff (always a pleasure) it was great to be able to retreat for a few hours.

Sketches in Thyme have come up with some awesome sketches this month using multiple photos. I used to shy away from using more than one photo on a layout but now I love it - in fact, I will deliberately take a series of photos with a scrapbook page in mind!

The photos on this layout were all of the same day and are of me (very unusual for me to scrap myself) it was such a lovely day and DH has captured my mood perfectly!

Here is the sketch:



and here is my layout:

The background paper is Basic Grey. I have stitched round the edge using the Sew and Stitch gizmo from WRMK with some of their floss. The patterned papers are old Basic Grey from a pad I found in my stash with just a few sheets left in it (I am on a mission to use up my odds and sods!) The stars are something I picked up in Hobbycraft that I was going to use on my christmas cake last year but changed my mind when I realised they had glue dots on the back! The chipboard letters are old K and Co ones and the rosette is from American Crafts.

Thanks for stopping by, I shall be back in a bit with SiT #58!

Ali x

Sketches in Thyme Design Team Call - Take II

Morning all,

I keep looking at the last layout I posted for this challenge and I really don't think it's entirely me, so I have decided to post another one.

The colours and style of this one are more in keeping with my 'look' plus I got to make a whole load of washi tape - I love it!!!

If you are interested there is still plenty of time to apply for the DT, here are the rules:

1-Create a new layout based on our sketch below.

2-Post about our DT call on your blog, along with your take on our sketch.

3-Leave a comment here telling us that you would like to be considered for the DT, along with a link to your blog post!  

and here is the sketch!

and here is my layout of DD's and their happy chaps :0)

Thanks so much for looking, sorry about yet more rubbish photography! I am off to look for some hints and tips :0)

Ali x

Echo Park 'For the Record' Projects

I have finished Grandmotherly duties early for today and I feel a bit giddy at having extra time to myself! So guess where I am??? That's right, tucked away in my little bit of heaven!!
I have now pretty much used up all the collection and I am feeling pretty pleased with myself - so much so that I think it would be justified to do a little crafty shopping this evening!

So before I start showing you what I did I think it is only fair to warn you that this is going to be a photo heavy post!

So here is what I have left of the collection:

Not bad eh? I am not at all worried about the letters...you always need letters, right? Not sure why I haven't used them!!! The scraps will now get thrown, I just wanted to keep them to show you!!

So first thing, I made another notelet holder only this time using envelopes as I didn't have any more small paper bags.

I gave the other one to my Mum today, who immediately said, as she always does, why don't you make some of these to sell? They would go down a storm...lol!!!

The next project is a little journal. I keep meaning to take a week of my life and record it for posterity so that is what this book will prompt me to do....I hope!

I was running out of paper by the time I came to do the cover so it has been paper  pieced . The cigar band  is a piece of the solid paper with a border over the top.

The hearts were cut on the Cricut and stuck back to back.

The first page is there to set the scene and from then on there is a page for each day.

I put in a final page after Sunday's so that there would be space to add any additional journalling.

So finally, I managed to squeeze a few cards out of the rest:

Super simple. a flower border stamped with Thyme brilliance ink and then 2 of the stickers.

Black stitching, bird sticker and a rolled flower The stamp is a Fiskars one , stamped onto  one of the solid  papers.

Solid colour paper punched with an EK Success border punch and then a black  'stitch' line. Bakers Twine is attached to the plane sticker and then tied to one of the phrase strips.

The balloon sticker is attached to a Nellie Snellen die and then a Teresa Collins stamp has been put onto another sticker.

So that's it for now :0), sorry for the rubbish photos, the weather is very grey today. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Ali x