National Scrapbooking Day ....

While feeling inspired to use paints and inks after our Scrapstars weekend, I just went crazy on this background, having the confidence to know that if it was a disaster, I was only wisting a sheet of white card :) but I'm really pleased with the result and inspiration from attending classes with Julie Taylor ....

Summer Party ....

Here's a layout using a little bit of my Ephemera, and also using Echo Park, Summer Party papers.At the recent Scrapstars event one of the teachers was using a lovely wide scallop punch, immediately i knew I had to have one, but ended up sourcing one that was completely different lol. I still love the punch and have been itching to use it, so here it is on the layout.

Ephemera ....

Today I've been making my own Ephemera, when you consider all the punches and dies we own, why are we buying these little packets of Flowers, Butterflies and Leaves ! I made a simple background using the wet wipe technique a bit of spritzing and some "flicks" of paint (you could use water colours, and packaging technique, anything goes really). As you can see my background doesn't look very impressive but once it is die cut or punched, the results are great :)

Stampin Up girls ......

So a few weeks ago I had the pleasure of hosting my Stampin UP buddies, we had a fun filled few days, yes they booked themselves in to the Premier Inn  up the road, so we could spoil ourselves with two consecutive days of uninterrupted crafting. We had great fun, a good old catch up and threw ourselves into our crafting. Sharon is always so organized and knows exactly what she is doing in order to prep for her classes, or making gifts and cards for up and coming events. Yvonne brought along her jelly plate, something I have been wanting to have a play with for some time, and she made back ground after background for a whole stack of cards, and also made a beautiful card for her daughters birthday. Jane sewed and challenged me to my second sewing challenge since I left school (a couple of years ago I made some rabbits, but it was a massive challenge for me), and now Jane wants me to sew freehand!  Ginnette made beautiful jewelry, and Sally Jo and I jumped around between everything LOL.

something SJ and I did between us,
 I wanted to mess around with Gilding Flakes

My effort at embroidery, my squirrel is
rather large ! 

Scrapstars 2 ....

Not to leave anyone out and also in recognition of the very talented delegates own work, here are just a few examples of the layouts the ladies made for their pre-retreat challenges. These are pages that people do at home on a theme set by me which we enter in to a little prize draw .... Usually one of the challenges is a little "getting to know you" type theme, and we have had all sorts in the past for instance irrational fears, hidden talents, and guilty pleasures. This year we went for "Heroes" and here is a small selection of the entries made ....

by Christine O'Kelly

by Isobel Kerr

By Caroline Lovett

by Chris Bardsley