UK CITIZENSHIP

THURSDAY, APRIL 30TH, 2015

Here is the reason why I have been absent for so long from my blog. 

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I have been studying for my "Life in the UK" test so I could eventually apply for my UK Citizenship.

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And I have to say that I am over the moon that I not only passed the test but more recently, that I attended my naturalisation ceremony at the local registrar office and have been sworn in as an official UK citizen!

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This is a life event that is definitely worth documenting!
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I feel like they're not the best pictures of me but as a scrapbooker and the picture taker we have to learn to become more comfortable in front of the camera as well as behind it, so there you go!

Happy Scrapping!

#THROWBACK THURSDAY

THURSDAY, 12 MARCH, 2015

I am still carrying on with my #Throwback Thursday series. Today I am sharing one of my all time favorite layouts - favorite for the subject matter, the colours used in the layout and the style of the layout. 

This layout is a #throwback to 2003.

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As I mentioned this is one of my all time favorite layouts with it being about my favorite show - Sex and the City! I am sure I am not the only girl who would classify this show as her favorite, or at the very least one of.

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I wanted to do something quite girly with this layout so hence the varying shades of pink. I also wanted to incorporate a few pictures along with lengthy journalling - talking about Carrie's story and how much I loved the programme.  The journalling was written near the start of the last season so at this point I was unaware of the "Big" reveal for the ending. 

Close up of left page

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Close up of right page

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The complete two page spread

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I have cut down on my text in my blog posts as I recently read on a forum that not only do people not visit blogs that much anymore but that they also don't really read what is written, mostly just look at the pictures. So if there is not the audience for it, I guess I will keep it short and sweet! 

Thanks for taking the time out of your busy day to drop by my blog!

Hope you are enjoying my #Throwback Thursday series.

#THROWBACK THURSDAY

THURSDAY, 26 FEBRUARY, 2015

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For today's Throwback Thursday I am actually sharing a mini file folder album I did years ago, 2005 to be exact, rather than a layout.

I had genuinely forgotten that I had created this album. I was going through some old stuff, doing a clear-out to get rid of some product I have never used and came across this little treasure.

I created this album for a friend who visited me here in London in 2005 just shortly after I moved here. We had been out of touch for a few years due to various house moves on both parts so I was pleasantly surprised when she got in touch to say that she was travelling to Ireland and also to England.  

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She was a bit meticulous and very methodical in her planning for her trip so I jokingly created this mock itinerary on the inside of the album as she was a chronic list maker. I ran the lined paper through my printer and as well a Post-it Note for the "Note to Self". I have to say she saw the funny side of it and she got a kick out of it!

Please note this post is very photo heavy so be forewarned before you start scrolling down! 

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The inspiration for this album was actually from someone I followed on Two Peas in a Bucket.  She had created something similar for a trip she had taken around Europe. I absolutely adored the album and asked her loads of question about how she created it. 

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Apparently it had been a kit that she had purchased which I was disappointed to learn. And why was I disappointed you may ask? Well, I am still somewhat of a budget savvy scrapper nowadays but back then I was even more of a scrimpy budget scrapper. I didn't like spending money on things that I thought I could make myself and it also probably didn't help that my husband (at the time) didn't really understand my hobby or why I would want to spend ALL THIS MONEY on just paper. 

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So I scrutinized all the photos of the album she had created online and thought to myself, I can make this! I can do this! It may not look the same as hers but I could definitely create a good copy. I took some heavy 12x12 craft cardstock and folded it in half, creasing it with my bonefolder and then created another fold about half an inch from the edge of this on the front and back cover of the album to allow the folder to open.

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I was going to hold it all together with some large gold brads but knew that I would need some way to hide the brads on the front of the cover so I used a ragged torn strip from a brown paper bag down the spine of the album. I also thought this would give it a great oldy-woldy feel in tune with the theme of the album.

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Then I just cut the page inserts from regular cardstock and created the file folder tab on the back cover of the album by tracing around a tab on a manila file folder.

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I covered some of the pages with patterned paper (more than likely K&Co and Chatterbox) and left some of them blank.  Most of my embellishments would have been K&Co from their travel line called Journey (very old). I used a lot of Dymo tape,do love my Dymo label maker! Even now!

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The titles were done with simple brown cardstock which I then tore into strips once I printed the titles on them and then inked around the edge with brown ink. 

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They definitely made the rounds with all the sites. Not missing a thing!  I used a mixture of colour, black & white and sepia photos to again give it that old vintage feel. 

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A day was spent with us at Windsor Castle and also at The Crooked Tea Shop in Windsor, definitely a must see for all visiting tourists! 

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This was around the time that the book The Other Boleyn Girl came out so they were a bit obsessed with Henry the VIII which made Windsor Castle a must on the itinerary list. 

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I really enjoyed making this album and was quite pleased with how it turned out in the end. 
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Back of the album - added a few vintage style luggage labels as well as some travel stamps. 

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I hope you are enjoying my #Throwback Thursday series as much as I am enjoying revisiting my old scrap projects. 

As always, thanks for taking the time to drop by my blog.

FEBRUARY PL PART 1

WEDNESDAY, 18 FEBRUARY, 2015

Today I am only sharing one page in my Project Life for February. I know this may seem odd but for those of you that may not have visited my blog before I document my PL in a monthly fashion, or as things happen rather than in a weekly fashion. 

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For my title card I have taken inspiration from Michelle Wooderson, who is phenomenal with her Project Life and basically anything she crafts and creates! If you would like to check out her blog, you can find it here. To see the title card I took inspiration from you can find that here. 

I have fallen behind a bit, not necessarily in the documenting but more so in the "getting the pictures taken and up on the blog" process. Mainly because as anyone in the UK knows there is not a lot of natural light here at this time of year to take photos, good photos that is of your layouts unless it is in the middle of the day, when the sun is out for about an hour or so.  So if you are otherwise preoccupied midday, then it can be difficult to get your photos taken. 

I thought it best to get this layout up on the blog and then if I can manage to get the other page up by the end of the week it will be a bonus. If I didn't put up either, than I would just be even further behind in blogging. Plus, one of my goals this year is to be more consistent with my blog posting, in all honestly it should have been up yesterday. So better to have one page up than nothing at all!

Here is the page that I am sharing today:

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This page documents one event, Afternoon Tea with a friend of mine. It is quite a traditional British thing to do here in the UK and I have to say I enjoy it very much! 

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Here is my title card for this page. This colour scheme, pastels, is not something that I would normally use in my layouts, I typically go a bit brighter so it was enjoyable to try something new and step outside of the creative box, so to speak. I took inspiration from the colour palette used on the "tape" on the scone card. The background card is by Echo Park with the alphas being a mixture of Lilybee, Simple Stories and Kaisercraft. The banner tag is from an SC kit, the pink star Freckled Fawn and the pink February tag an old PL card I cut up. 

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I did have a lot of fun with this layout as one, I am trying to use up a lot of my bits and scraps and two, I am also trying to do a stash buster this year as I have accumulated so many supplies over the years that I just need to use up already. It was fun trying to find all the tiny pieces I could use. The background paper is K&CO and the pink sticker with Heart This is Simple Stories DIY.

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All of the food was simply heavenly! Everything fresh and handmade. It was definitely a yummy treat. Handmade scones! I used an old PL card for this pocket. I cut along the pseudo washi tape on the top of the card and inserted the picture just underneath it. I then printed out the scrummy scones banner on Bazzill cardstock, added a "can you believe it" sticker from the DIY line by Simple Stories and added a yellow enamel dot also by Simple Stories. 

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These meringues with the fresh fruit were simply to die for! Let me tell you I was absolutely stuffed by the time I walked out of the hotel reception. The card is an old PL card scrap and the pink chipboard star is by SC which I thought nicely mimicked the strawberry on the meringue quite well. 

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This is a picture of the Grand Reception Room where we had our tea at the hotel.  I adhered the photo to a bit of gold vellum and then added a gold label by SC, after running it through my printer.  

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And finally the last pocket, a picture of me all dressed up for afternoon tea!  The round gray sticker is from the DIY line by Simple Stories as is the enamel dot and the purple Love tag is a random tag I've had for a while, it may be American Crafts. 

Thanks as always for taking the time to stop by my blog!

Hope you're all progressing along nicely with your 2015 Project Life!

Any comments are Welcome!

THROWBACK THURSDAY

THURSDAY, 12 FEBRUARY, 2015

Hello Fellow Crafters!

Things like MCM (Man Crush Monday), WCW (Woman Crush Wednesday) and TBT (Throwback Thursday) are extremely popular on places like Instagram, Facebook and other social media platforms. 

So I thought I would start what I'm hoping is a fun series here on my blog and use Throwback Thursday in another way, to showcase some of my old layouts. For a good giggle and also to see the difference in my scrapbooking style and hopefully see how far I have come. Possibly see how trends have changed or maybe how some have stayed the same. 

So for my first "Throwback Thursday" layout I am going back to 2003 - gosh, 12 years ago! Also to the days of post bound albums! These layouts document when I moved from L.A. to Arizona. 

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This was back when paper tearing and chalking were all the rage. As I didn't keep track of what supplies I used back then I would fathom a guess about the supplies used here. For the page above I do believe the map travel paper would have have been by K&Co, which came in a kit.  As for the embellishments, these would have been vintage ephemera by Paper Pizazz which I purchased at a large craft store in Arizona which I cannot recall the name of - Craftworld or something like that. As for the road signs, these would have been pictures we took along our route from L.A. to Arizona. Yes, even then I was pulling over on the side of the road to take photographs for my albums. Once a die hard always a die hard! 

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Remember when Mrs.Goodman's stickers were popular (I'm sure I'm dating myself here!) and in great abundance, before a lot of current day brands probably even existed. These were those realistic photograph style landscape stickers. I have to admit I used my fair share of these back in the day. This page was simple - Bazzill cardstock, landscape sticker and then an AAA roadmap torn up to provide a backing for the journalling which I have blurred out for privacy.   

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A close up of some of the hand stitching I did on the map to make it look like it had been sewn together after I tore it apart for the layout. You can see some good old tearing on the cardstock there with heavily chalked edges. I sort of wanted this page to have a bit of the old west feel to it. 

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This was also around the time that the industrial or sort of grunge look, distressing your pages was popular.  Using things like keys, metal or clock parts, or the like on your layouts. As well, another popular trend at the time was distressing or aging your pictures, which I have to say is an application I still enjoy doing to this day. If you look closely you can see I took a bit of sandpaper to distress around the edges of the picture above.  

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Close up of the details on the page

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Ahh, "die cuts", done the old fashioned way. Painstakingly with alpha templates and a tiny pair of scissors! I love how I wanted to emphasize the numbers in the address by creating this die cut. 

I hope you enjoy this series as much as I am enjoying looking through my old albums and as always, thanks for taking the time to drop by my blog. 

JANUARY PL PART 2

TUESDAY, 27 JANUARY, 2015

Hello Fellow Crafters!

Looking at my post date above I cannot believe that January is nearly over. Where did the month go?

Today I am sharing a few pages from my January Project Life. 

I have to say that I am liking the bigger size album this year. A change was definitely needed and I am glad that I chose to go with the 9 x 12 size. Although with the bigger size I do feel that I haven't done that much yet this year whereas with the smaller 6 x 8 size it definitely fills up quicker. 

The first page

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Just before the Christmas break I was having difficulty with my right shoulder. It got to the point where just after the new year the pain became unbearable so had to visit the GP. She referred me to a physiotherapist. 

I cut up the flier from the physio clinic and inserted this into (4) 3 x 4 pockets.  I also created a mock patient assessment file card (don't worry, that's not my real NHS number). Found a little file folder tab from The Daily Grind kit by Simple Stories and enjoyed using my new sewing machine to attach it to the top of the card. 

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I'm not necessarily a Marvel fan, one way or the other but one afternoon I found myself sitting in front of the telly watching Captain America - The Winter Soldier.  And I have to say it was quite a good film - a fast paced action packed adventure! Enjoyed it! 
(This insert is design I) 

The top (2) pockets

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The bottom pocket

A pic of Rupert, full from his dinner, sitting in the kitchen, dozing with contentment as we eat our dinner. He brings me such joy! 

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I also got a chance to do another full size 9 x 12 layout. I am really enjoying being able to work with this size. 

I know I already used this photo on my title page but I really liked it and we so rarely take pictures together (something I aim to do more this year) so I thought I would use it for a full size layout as well. 

I wanted to do a lot of layering with this layout as well as use a pink colour scheme. I am trying to make an effort to use up more of my stash this year as I have quite a lot to use so this was my first attempt at that. 

A close up of some of the smaller details.

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My next page including a new year pic, what book I'm currently reading and some pics of all of us.  

Inserted a 2015 card at the top of the page. A very cute photo that Jason posted on my FB page just after the New Year which is totally my sense of humour! 

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Last year I saw a lot of crafters regularly include in their albums what they were reading. This year I thought I would do the same. I am currently reading The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty. 

I found this great printable on the Happy Go Lucky blog by the lovely Kara, which you can find here. The printable was much larger but I scaled it down to fit into a 3 x 4 pocket.

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More pictures of Rupert as he is the child that I document! This is a daily ritual with Rupert. When Simon comes home for the evening this is what Rupert does.  It makes us both laugh so much!

As you can see this page is not complete. I have a few spaces yet to fill but I wanted to get it up and posted on the blog.

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I have been coveting shoes like these for ages and finally found a pair in the UK, which is not an easy task.  There are many companies that carry shoes like this but mostly in the US or even some in Australia. But I always hesitate to purchase them from outside the UK as the postage would cost a small fortune and as well, if they don't fit and I have to return them I will then lose again with the return postage.

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So this was a great find for me and I ordered them straight away. Took more than a couple weeks to arrive and when they did I was so excited, like a small child on Christmas morning! I was absolutely gutted to find as I was unpacking them from the box that there was a gouge on the outer heel of the right shoe. It doesn't come through completely in the small photo above but in real life you could clearly see it. So sadly I had to return them, after all that. 

I had my yoga mat out as I make an effort to exercise at home at least three times a week. Rupert always likes to roll around and rub his face all over my yoga mat once I'm done exercising. Don't know why he does it but I find it so adorable!

After looking back on my pages I have noticed that they do seem quite busy with all the polka dots, stripes and bold colours. 

Wondering if maybe I should tone it down it bit...?

Thanks for taking the time to drop by my blog!