Thrilled to bits!!!!

Hello blog friends,

My life is changing in a big way and is going to be crammed to the gunnels with scrapbooking! :)

Today I start as the new Editor of Scrap365 magazine!!! As you can imagine I am totally over the moon.....excited.....nervous.....full of ideas.......can not wait to get cracking!

I hope to see you all on Facebook and the Blog. There are going to be lots of fabulous things going on.....just give me a chance to get to grips with my new role :)

Thanks for popping in today,

Ali x 

OMG I Can Not Believe It!!

Guess what?????

I am now an official member of the Scrap365 Magazine DT :0)

I keep pinching myself and can truly not believe how lucky I am.

Excited is not the word!! LOL

Thanks for popping in today,

Ali x 

Me & You

I almost forgot to play over at Sketchbook365 this month....which simply would not do....especially now that I am on the DT (still pinching myself!!) :0)

I have spent most of the day in my craft room as my knee has been really playing up, I apparently have a cyst, although an x-ray will confirm it's that and not arthritis!! Anywho, my family ordered me to take a day off and relax.....well what better way to relax then playing with paper???!!

My take on the sketch is a photo of my two Grandies :0) My DGD is loving being a big cousin but is not loving having to share her Dudie and me.....I think it finally dawned on her after his arrival that he will also be a beloved grandchild, LOL. It's still early days but she's getting there :0)

still using my CKC April kit....love it!

you would be forgiven for missing the circle of splatters...but it is there...honest!

Silhouette put to work again!

my forged MME sticker that has been knocking around for ages!!

There is still plenty of time to play along with the sketch:




Thanks so much for popping in today,

Ali x 

Layout 5/100 '& baby makes 3'

This layout is using my CKC kit...yay, for the second time this month!! and also the sketch over at Sketchbook365.

This is the first layout for my new DGS' album :0) and is also one of the first photos taken of his arrival :0)))

journal tag is tucked away into the glassine bag

circle cut on Silhouette, the house stamp is super old

I punched all the hearts to make the 'tiles', the stamp is my fave MME

Studio Calico wood veneers and Pink Paislee really old chipboard number

It was such a fun idea to 'build' a house around this new little family :0)

Here is the sketch:

Thanks for popping in today,

Ali x 

Whit Woo I have been published!!

Well to add to all the recent excitement I have received my copy of Scrap365 and a little gift....like seeing my layout in print wasn't the biggest scrapping present I have ever had in my life!!!

So here it is :0)))

lots of lovely diecuts and dimension.....that's what they wanted!!!

Thanks for popping in today,

Ali x 

'You Can Do It'

It's time for another sketch over at Sketchbook365, this time it's a multiple photo one, not my usual thing, but I did use my phone and the photo booth app to record the momentous first 'big girl' bike ride :0) Not the the best photos I grant you (I really need to brush up on using my phone!) but it was an important day in the life of DGD!!

not very much pp but what I did use was some American Crafts Dear Lizzy Enchanted (????) in my stash!

 Ali Edwards stamp, SC stars (will I ever tire of them?!) TA Glam in Grand Tetons and Rocking on Sunshine

Tears because she hated her helmet and couldn't possibly concentrate whilst in soooo much pain! Letters are Prima, SC bike and everything else cut on the Silhouette

journaling has been written on both sides of tag, it was only die to the threat of me going inside that we finally got going!!

here is the sketch, based on Yvonne Yam's layout:

 not exactly the same but you can see where I was coming from! I quite like that you could chop my page in half and have 2 stand alone layouts. I think that represents the sad and the happy sides to big girl bike riding :0)

On another note ScrapFriends have thrown down the gauntlet to share your first scrapbook page. Do you remember the first time????

I share this with you on the understanding that you accept I knew no better!!!LOL oh how my style has changed :0)

I can remember 'creating' this on my dining room table and being delighted with the result!! Although it wouldn't be my choice of style today I can look at it and smile....plus I have used the original photos so there's no throwing it away!!! Do you know what else? I have glued this page to the one that sits behind it in the album....what's all that about??? LOL

Thanks for popping in today,

Ali x 

'Totally Silly'

Hellloooooo!! Happy New Year to you all :0)

Goodness me it has been ages since I last had a minute to blog!! 

Life is still very busy, but I won't bore you with the details....this is my happy place!!

So, I had said that I wouldn't be playing along with this month's
Sketch365 but then I thought 'blow it' I must be able to find a couple of hours to have a go at all the AMAZING techniques I have been watching on the Creative Jump Start series go and see what you are missing!


So here is my interpretation:

New Year, New Me????? Coloured background!!!  Watch this space ;0)

This fabulous background is made with texture paste and a crackle embossing folder. Tattered Angels Chalk Mist and water

Pink Paislee ephemera, Maya Road heart ribbon slide

Delicious drips!!

Here is the sketch that inspired me to get back into messy play :0)



You still have time to play just pop along to sketchbook365 and join in the fun!!

Hope to see you in the not too distant future, thanks for popping in,

Ali x 

'Funny Faces' ;0)

I am loving that there is more and more happening in the UK blogging scrap world....and about blinkin' time, if you ask me!!!

Another lovely sketch over at Sketchbook365, it's running till 20th December so pop along and give it a go!!

My lo is of my DD#2 and DGD one evening whilst getting DGD ready for bed (she'll be wearing pink pyjamas when she comes!)

frame and heart were cut on my beloved Silhouette!! Stamp is Elle's Studio. |Letter stickers are Glitz Design

handmade paper clip bow on the photo of my little honey. leaves and star bubble cut on the Silhouette. Stamps are American Crafts 'Dear Lizzy' .....never noticed them before!

leaves misted with Cosmic Shimmer spray. Hearts are Martha Stewart

all the papers are from my pink scraps file....it's great to have them in order...in theory it is saving me a fortune!!! hahaha who am I kidding?????

Here is the sketch that inspired me:



I suppose they were hoping for a Christmas theme, but I just don't scrap Christmas.....no reason, just don't!! Maybe this year will be different as Father Christmas is featuring heavily in conversations with DGD at the moment :0)

One of the magic moments of this week was DGD being asked what she would like Father Christmas to bring her and she replied 'presents would be lovely, but most of all I would like him to bring some new slippers for my Mamma (me) as she hasn't got any and if he brought them to my house I could give them to her on Christmas morning and she would be really happy and have warm feet' ...... little treasure :0)

Thanks for popping in today,

Ali x 

'If the Cap Fits'

I have made the deadline for Sketchbook 365's October sketch my the skin of my teeth! ** ha ha just went to upload this to their blog and it's closed!!! Thought I had until 11 tonight????!!**

I couldn't not do it as it's a beauty :0) I have just seen that November's has been posted today so I will aim to complete that before the last hours!!

My prize for last month's came today...stunning trims on the most adorable vintage spools...I am going to play once this has been posted.



Photos are of DGD on one a sunny beach day we had in September. R is wearing DH's hat and none of the photos are posed I love that she appears to be giving a cheeky wink in one of them....she was, in fact, squinting into the sun!

papers are all from the Happy Days collection.....I love it!

OA letter stickers, American Crafts fabric brad

die cuts are Spellbinders and MS butterfly, Ali Edwards stamp, American Crafts rub ons, OA sticker

More American Crafts rub ons, acrylic sticker thing and Ali Edwards stamp

Here is the beautiful sketch that inspired it all:



Thanks for popping in today,

Ali x 

'Ghosts'

Hello, hello!!

I took the plunge and submitted a couple of los for the very first time to a magazine.

This is one of them but I can't show you the other one as it is going to be published....yay!! I am bouncing off the walls with joy :0) It's not due to come out till January but my Mum has already been into her local newsagents to reserve a copy....love that my Mum is so proud of her 47 year old child :0)

So the idea behind this one is a song that means something to you and to tell the story on the layout. Our song is not at all romantic but it is very special to us nonetheless.

I understand why it wasn't chosen as it really doesn't look that great in the photo....just one of those that is so much nicer in real life :0)

I printed the song out and cut it into random strips

 The story, in a nutshell, is DH was very shy and not what you would call a chatty man, LOL. He had an absolute passion for music  (he still does) and instead of talking to me he would play records. The very first time he spoke to me was to tell me about this record and the band Japan. I moved to Canada a few months later and he bought the record for me to take, listen to and think of him. When I moved back 8 months later I had barely got through the door before I was on the phone to him letting him know that I was back. He took me to the cinema that night .........30 years later when I hear this song it still makes my heart do a little flip :0)

I die cut all the circles then drew round them to 'ground' them. The white ones have all been embossed. Webster's Pages and MME papers. Studio Calico wood veneers.

The little house is part of a Crate Paper die cut

Thanks for popping in today,

Ali x 

'Sunshiny Day'

I haven't done a Scrap365 challenge or sketch for ages and I don't know why as I love them!!

So to put that right I have done a layout for their current sketch challenge:

and here is my take:

DGD in her rainbow paddling pool...we haven't had too many opportunities to use it this summer :0(

Title cut on the Silhouette (what else?!!)  Heart stamp is MME, button and sticker are OA. Washi tape is from an Etsy store.

Pesky WRMK gromlets...grrr!!! My masks of the moment inked with distress inks and flicked with water. Another MME stamp from the Hippy Chick collection. More OA stickers

More inking, OA, WRMK and MME.

Thanks for popping in today,

Ali x 

Scrap365 'Reflect'

Hello all,

it is so lovely to see that scrapbooking is taking off in the UK......finally! The new magazine Scrap365 is super dooper and has some gorgeous sketches :0)

This is the first one I have done for their sketch challenge and I am so pleased with how it came out.

Here is the sketch for April's challenge:



and here is my take of DGD on her 3rd birthday:

Papers are MME So Sophie - the colours are so different to what I would normally use but I wanted to  mirror (pardon the pun!) the colour of her dress.

I have stencilled with an Eggplant ink pad, dripped Aubergine ink and used an ink blending solution

Letters are Prima fabric ones

Hmmm, I really like this minimalist look but an going to have to do something about the background colour on my blog!

Thanks for looking,

Ali x