A whole month again!

Sorry, as usual, didn't realise a whole month had passed without me updating on here. Yikes! There's been too much going on, birthday, anniversary, family problems, job stress, a job interview (didn't get it) and decorating and cleaning. I'm shattered.

Anyway, been doing a few LOs, mainly at crops, and here they are for your enjoyment or otherwise!

Better dash, dh and ds are getting grumpy! Hopefully I'll be back really soon to show you my creations using the gorgeous new PaperMania papers and vellums (yes, it's true, PaperMania has gone a bit gorgeous! You have to check them out!)

Byeeeee for now!

Natalie

x

My comeback is long overdue I know!

Sorry for the long break, I have had a lot less time to scrap since going back to work full time and DIY projects at home have taken up all my spare time. In fact, my stash is currently in boxes (gasp!) while we swapped over the office and Harry's room. Harry now has a lovely little boy's bedroom and nursery and I, sorry, we (dh and I!) have a lovely light and stylish study. Well almost. The walls are done, just need to lay the laminate floor and get the desks, storage and everything else in.



Anyway! I haven't done any scrapping since my last update on here, shocking, until now that is. I am very honoured to have been picked as a design team member for Papercraft Junkies (connected to the Crafty Carrot online store) and I think this is just the kick up the wotsit I need to get my mojo flowing again.

I've already created my first DT LO, and although I struggled to conjure up any creativity at first, slowly it came and I'm really pleased with it. I promise to post it here just as soon as it is revealed on the Junkies website.

So that's me. Hopefully, once my new office is finished - and I can really sit down and scrap again - you'll me seeing a lot more of me.

So bye... but only for now!

Natalie x

Back shortly!

Sorry for the break guys, I've been so busy working full time again and it's really tiring me out. I've only been back five weeks and I've already had tonsilitis again. I'm also on a healthy eating diet now after allowing the weight to sneakily creep on, so instead of snacking on an evening I've been going to bed early and getting enough sleep to allow me to get up early, shower AND have breakfast, which is nice now I'm getting used to it!

Anyway, so with all that going on, and the refurbishment of the bathroom, I haven't been near my craft area in a couple of weeks. However, since as I have a CJ to make, design team calls to enter and a birthday card for dh to make this week, normal service should be resumed shortly!

See you soon! :)

Natalie x

A Shimelle-inspired day

You'll never guess what I did this morning? No, not work, which makes a change, I sat at my desk, feasted my eyes over the latest Scrapagogo kit and scrapped! I had the morning off due to working late every night so far this week and because an electrician was in to put spotlights in our bathroom (they look fab!), so I used one of Shimelle's LOs to help create this one using a picture of my mum and grandad in the late 50s.

It is the first heritage-style LO I've done and I'm really pleased with it even if it was a scraplift. I did alter it slightly and used different colours to reflect the theme.

I think I'll be doing more of these soon as I scanned, copied and printed a pile of photographs of my grandad throughout the decades and I'd like to have a few LOs or even an album to remember him by. And there are some lovely family photos among them too.

I also completed a LO this week using the gorgeous new Love Elsie papers, which finally arrived at work after a round trip of England thanks to Royal Mail! They are lovely and really easy to use. The photograph I used is even inspired by one of Elsie's in her 52 challenges book. I will post a picture later.

And this last LO I made after last Saturday's crop, just because I liked the shapes I cut out for it. I'm not sure if it works or not, but it will do - for now! Lol!

Right, need to eat, I've only had a sandwich all day! Back soon :o)

Natalie x

Just a flying visit!

This is just a quick hello as we have a busy day planned, and I'm already being nagged to come off the computer. We're visiting family and also taking Harry to a friend's birthday party, which will be fun.

I just wanted to upload my recent work though. The first LO is one I completed at yesterday's crop using an old black and white film picture of my husband at a music festival (aaaah, them were the days!). And the other is a scraplift from a LO in the April issue of the fab US magazine Scrapbook Trends.

I have more to post, so I'll be back to do that later :)

Got to fly, bye for now!

Natalie x

My space

Finally got round to tidying my craft space, and taking and uploading some pictures. It's still a work in progress, although I think as long as I'm buying new stash it will always be as I have to add and re-think my storage solutions to accommodate it all! Lol!

I'd like it to be fresher with lots of pretty things on display - everything is packed and hidden away - although I guess it wouldn't be very practical for taking to crops now would it?!

See you soon!

x

Sad times

I have been away from my blog for a few weeks because my grandad, who had been very ill, died on May 16. It was still a bit of a shock though and - I can't say too much mind - we are having to fight the local NHS trust for answers about his condition and death. So the last few weeks have been a bit of a blur organising and attending his funeral, helping my gran with paperwork, errands and at home and comforting my mum too, who is totally gutted, as are we all.

For his funeral I decided to make lots of tags from card or patterned paper, to go on a book ring. Each one was decorated with a picture of him and on the back was space for people to write a comment, thought or nice memory. We collected a fair few after the funeral - the crematorium was packed with people, the staff struggled to close the doors! - and these will be kept by my mum and shown to my son who is too young to understand and might not remember him as time goes by. I'll take and upload some pictures when I can, but I just wanted to say a huge thank you to Lesley and Kerrie for cutting me some tags and patterned paper to help complete this project in time - thanks a million girls, I couldn't have done it without you. Also thank you to everyone who sent kind wishes during this difficult time.

I've tried to keep myself busy to take my mind off things, completing these LOs. The first was using my ScrapaGoGo May kit, which is scrummy, and the second is a Pencil Lines sketch LO in response to a design team call they've put out. Well, I can dream can't I?!

My next project, once I'm ready will be to do a few LOs, or even a mini album about my grandad. After he died we started collecting up photos of him and now I have a bundle of wonderful pictures of him all the way up from childhood waiting to be scanned in.

In the meantime I'm going back to work full time this week after two years flexible working following having Harry (I'm even working tomorrow - Bank Holiday Monday!) and I have to prepare a LO as guest designer for the Mojo Holder inspiration blog - how exciting is that! I better get cracking really.

Bye for now. Sleep tight grandad.

x

Colour me happy!

I've gone all colourful with my scrapping of late, first of all with this scraplift of a LO from the February issue of Scrapbooks Etc:

The original was about a little girl's crafting, but I've used the same design for a rare LO of my dh. I've also finally worked out how to make pictures look good in black and white using Photoshop - ok, I admit it, dh showed me! I used my beloved Cuttlebug to cut out the hearts from patterned paper and thick card and foam pads to lift them from the page. But I was left with all the negative cut outs, which were equally as pretty. I'd vowed to use them on a LO, and I did and this is the result:

Well my week off has flown by and today is like any other Friday, ds and me sat at home waiting for the postman before we can go out and watching CBeebies! We're going round to my mum's later and then tomorrow is the Leeds crop, which I can't wait for. There should be a fair few of us all chatting and scrapping this month!

Erm, not much more to say. The house looks like a bomb has hit it with me ploughing on with the last of the decorating in the kitchen and the bathroom wall pulled down to move the door to accommodate the new suite, which will hopefully be fitted in about a week's time. Aaaaarrgh, there's debris everywhere, I can't wait for it all to be finished. I just hope it's done quicker than the kitchen, which we started last September!

Bye for now! :)

x

Testing 1,2,3

I'm testing that I can actually upload to my blog. Our broadband connection has been almost non existent for the past week and painfully slow at the best of times. It's been testing my patience no end, as have a load of family stresses, not least my grandad being so ill and in and out of hospital more times than is humane.

So the last month has been a whirlwind of family visits, work and quite a bit of scrapping thanks to being on a roll earlier last month, then the UKS cyber crop and also an additional mini crop I held for National Scrapbooking Day on Saturday. Here are some of my favourite LOs:

I've finished another LO this weekend and am just putting the finishing touches to another, so hopefully I'll be able to post those very soon. I'm off work this week, so I really do mean soon this time!

tfl - catcha soon :)

x

I think she's on a roll!

It's only Thursday, and already this week I've completed three LOs and a CJ DLO entry - I think this is a record for me! Maybe it's my new-found confidence that I've realised I can cut into a gorgeous piece of paper and create something just as lovely from it, or maybe it's all the photos that dh has been taking, and also recovering from the broken pc storage box. Anyway, having suffered from scrapper's block recently, this is a very welcome change!

This LO was completed just a few hours after I received the ScrapaGoGo kit - as soon as I opened it and feasted my beady little eyes on it I knew I had to use it straight away. And this picture dh took of Harry playing in the park last weekend was perfect. I've used a lot of journalling for probably the first time, but I'm glad I got down some feelings about Harry and my hopes for his future.

And this is a CJ entry for my Handbags and Gladrags team - no peeking if you are a member!

Back soon I hope!

x

GoGo-Gorgeous!

Well I'm a happy bunny because today I received my first ScrapaGoGo kit a subscription and it is utterly gorgeous! I never could have thought so many beautiful things could fit inside a yellow pizza box - all things I had been eyeing up recently but not got round to buying. I can't wait to get it all out later and start creating with it. I also just got a large stack of photos from Photobox. They have an offer on until midday tomorrow, 70 photos for 1p each. I ordered Monday night and they arrived today - now that's service!

Last night I decided to sit down and actually - gasp! - cut into some of the scrummy papers I bought at the Harrogate Papercraft show last month. Here is the result:

Got to go-go! Catch you all later :)

x

Apologies

Sorry peeps, I know a while ago I said I would keep my blog updated regularly but these last two weeks have been such a blur of family issues (including my grandad who is very ill and deteriorating and my troublesome sisters) and also spending time with Harry amid the sunny weather I have not had a moment to sit down and scrap, let along update my blog.

Anyway, I'm back now, having managed to beat my scrapper's block to complete what could possibly be my most favourite LO yet. I'm not sure how it came together, I wasn't sure it even would, but it did and I love it. Dh's new Nikon D80 camera is getting me some wonderful pictures to scrap, especially with all the good weather lately and the fact both boys have been off for the Easter holidays. Anyway, here it is, pictures of Harry chasing his mummy round the garden, hence the title!

I also managed to get another LO done at the Leeds crop yesterday, which was great fun as always, although I should really have got more done (I always say that though and I never do!). This one is inspired by a LO in the Easy Patterns book (yes, again!).

Right, got to go, dh is calling and I'm shattered. I have work in the morning, plus a meeting to cover in the evening, zzzzzz, so I better go get some sleep. Hopefully the week ahead won't be as manic as this last one. Here's hoping.

x

Work hard, play hard!

Been so busy at work due to being short staffed, but I made up for it at the weekend with a day of pampering on Saturday (nails, eyebrows and hair - all long overdue!) then it was my best friends' engagement party, which was good fun. Harry stayed out overnight and a taxi was booked to take us home so we could really let our hair down.

Then on Sunday we went out for lunch with the in-laws and enjoyed the afternoon in the garden. The sun was shining so dh mowed the lawn, I cleaned my car outside and in and Harry played and washed too. Our friends came round and we cracked open a bottle and had a mini barbecue! Today has been just as nice and dh, who is now off work for Easter, met me for lunch in a beer garden. Bliss. Summer is almost here and I can't wait!

Anyway, not done too much scrapping lately, just a quick LO of Harry's handprints, which I took last week. My how they've grown since his last prints at six months! I'd seen a few floating around on UKS recently and they've inspired me to scrap Harry's as part of his year album. And I also completed a 12x12 to play with my new Silhouette, this time a scraplift of the gorgeous LO below (I'm sorry, I've lost the link, but whoever you are it is gorgeous).

Bye for now :)

x

Again, again!

Been to the fantastic Great Northern Papercrafts Extravaganza today with the rest of the crazy Leeds crop lot and had a great time looking, stroking and buying lots of scrumptious goodies. I bought some more lovely patterned papers, cardstock including the new Bazzill Bling, yummy, and a load of other stuff I just had to have! My purse is a bit lighter now, and so was I after all that walking around, until we went for a scrummy late lunch. It's been a long day but so worth it and it's so much more fun going in a group than on your own!

The event continues tomorrow - if you can get there I highly recommend it for a fun day out!

Got to go, I'm shattered! See you soon, hopefully with something created from my new stash!

x

And now for something completely different!

I think that's the only way to describe this LO I finished yesterday using the new Creative Imaginations Marah Johnson papers. I decided the only photos that would do it justice would be some of my one and only tattoo - a purple rose on my right shoulder. It's completely different to what I would do, but then the papers are ones I would not normally go for or use, I thought I wouldn't know how. But it got me out of my safety zone and I'm really pleased with the finished LO.

So now I challenge you to leave behind your safety zone and do something completely out of the ordinary with your scrapping. Use materials you wouldn't normally use, papers you wouldn't usually be drawn to and tools or techniques that have never taken your fancy before. I'd love to see your work, you can upload them and post the link as a comment here.

Not much else to report, work is absolutely crazy, we are down from 5 to 2 workers with my old boss at the reigns, not fun. So too tired to scrap tonight, hope I can get some more done soon.

Bye for now :)

Happy Mothers Day!

Hope you all had a good day all you yummy mummies out there. I was spoilt rotten with a long lie in, card, chocolates and flowers, breakfast made for me and a long soak in the bath while dh got ds ready. Then we went to buy dh a Nikon D80 camera, which has kept him busy all day while visiting the family to deliver cards (including the one I made below, inspired this time by a card on the QuicKutz website) and flowers.

Tonight I've been playing with some new papers I got while in the USA, the Creative Imaginations Marah Johnson range, which has a grungey, tattoo feel to it, completely different to what I'm normally drawn too. I knew only pictures of my own tattoo - a small purple rose on my right shoulder - would do them justice, so last night dh played with his old camera for the last time and got some great shots. I then downloaded some gorgeous digital brushes and learnt how to use them in Photoshop. Here are a couple of before and after shots and tomorrow I'll upload the finished LO, once I've taken a picture in daylight.

tfl! :)

Miss my camera, sob!

I still haven't got my lovely digital camera back yet, and it had the most lovely shots of my latest projects on in full daylight. So in the meantime you'll have to make do with dh's attempts in the horrible yellow light of our study I'm afraid. The first is a LO I did last weekend having finally bitten my lip and cut into those gorgeous new Basic Grey Blush papers I'd been stroking for too long, the next is the recipe tin I've made for my mum for Mother's Day, complete with laminated recipe cards taken from her old school exercise books, and the final picture is a card for my grandmother, again scraplifted from the CK Easy Patterns for Scrapbooking book.

Been a busy few days at work but now it's roll on the weekend. Not got much planned tomorrow except a few drinks for my collesgue who is leaving, but we're taking Harry a little friends second birthday party on Saturday and then on Sunday we'll be doing the rounds for Mother's Day. Should be good fun, wonder what I'll be getting?!

Typical!

I took some lovely photos this morning of the recipe tin I made for my mum at yesterday's Leeds crop, and a LO too, and I've only gone and left my camera at my in-laws! I won't get it back until the weekend, grrrr. I could get dh to take pictures of them on his DSLR, but by the time I get home work the daylight has almost gone and my desk lamp is no good for photographs. I'm really pleased with my finished projects and wanted to show them off too. It's not very often I post on here without any pictures. Oh well.

Not much to report, yesterday was the Leeds crop, the busiest I've seen yet. The shop just gets better and better too and has some gorgeous new stuff in now, including the gorgeous new PaperMania foam swirl and word stamps at a bargainous 99p! I've already used them on the LO I've already mentioned, and on the recipe cards too, so I think they've paid for themselves already!

Should be receiving my QuicKutz Silhouette this week and hopefully dh will get his new DSLR too - no doubt a Nikon D80. Can't wait, I really need him to take lots of lovely new photos for me to scrap. Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of photos, but most are quite amateur and some out of focus as our last digital camera was completely rubbish. I really want some gorgeous new pictures to play with! I took some lovely ones of Harry playing with his Brio train set this morning, although I won't know how good they are until I get back my camera and memory card. He's been behaving so well since bumping and cutting his head on Thursday (quick trip to a&e but a very brave little boy), not sure if it's coincidence or everyone been more relaxed and happier this weekend, but it's just wonderful. I'm certainly going to enjoy it while it lasts!

Catch you soon. x

Birthday party recovery!

Harry had a lovely party on Saturday. Well, he wasn't so keen on going off and playing, Harry being Harry, but he sure enjoyed his meal and birthday cake, which was a relief with him not eating so good lately. He also received lots of wonderful presents from my generous friends (thank you!) I was kept far too busy to get many photos, although hopefully dh should have a few better ones on his DSLR. In the meantime, here's one of Harry tucking into his dinner.

I did get some lovely photos of my niece during the party, she is still at that age where she will pose beautifully for the camera on demand (aaaah, I remember those days). And gorgeous she is too, I'm sure she'll agree. So gorgeous, I just had to scrap the photo already and start using up some of the stash I brought back from Florida. I've been suffering from scrapper's block recently and I'm not sure that this is what I was trying to achieve, but I think it's growing on me.

Not been up to much today, just hard at work as usual. Going to have to go though, my back is hurting today. I swear, if work don't buy me a new chair soon I'll be off on sick leave. :(

OMG I've been published!

Well ok, you could say being an employed journalist I see my work published every week, bit never before have I seen one of my LOs looking back at me in full colour from the pages of my favourite magazine. But there it was when I opened up my subscription copy of Scrapbook Inspirations this morning on page 87 in the Reader Gallery, my Diamond for a day LO! I was wary of saying anything as I know all too well how things can get spiked (as we call it) from pages right up until the last minute because of cuts in pages or advertising, but now I can shout it from the rooftops!


It's been a funny old day. I was online and hitting the redial on my landline and mobile phones this morning desparate to get tickets for Take That in Manchester in December. Both me and my friend failed miserably. Then my magazine came and that cheered me up. I went to get a bath and when I came back down more new dates had been released and some were already sold out! Well I jumped back online and after another few failed attempts I managed to bag two tickets to London O2 (former Millennium Dome) on December 7! It's going to be a long journey getting down there from Leeds but well worth it! I wasn't a fan until a friend - the same one I'm taking this time - took me to last year's concert and I had an amazing night. I totally love the new album too, oh, and Jason is a bit scrummy! Lol! Here's a little treat for all you other Jason fans out there.

Also spent the afternoon at fellow scrapper's house and wow, her scraproom is just sooo nice, I'm so envious, all that space, all that daylight, all that stash, I could happily move in! Also busy handing over birthday cards made using the new Easy Patterns for Scrapbooking book, the birthdays all come at once don't they? Also got one to hand over to one of Harry's young friends at his lunch and play date tomorrow. Can't wait, but musn't forget the camera this time!

Bye for now!