Catch The Bug: Annual Birthday Bash... Anything but a Card..

Hey,

Happy Monday.

I am back again with another project for the Catch The Bug Annual Birthday Bash.

As it is Monday, today we are asking you to make anything but a card..

I made a fun little bookmark for my journal / notebook.

I used the Monster Pocket stamp (not currently available in the store), I've had this stamp for ages and I use it a lot.

I coloured and fussy cut the stamp and then attached it to a strip of paper, so that it can slot into my journal / notebook

Super easy to do and it's really useful, as I can go straight to the page I need each day.

Pop over to Catch The Bug to see what the rest of the DT have made.

Want play along?
HOW TO PLAY: Enter up to 3 times with a non-card project. If you use a Bugaboo Image, you could WIN 10, 7 or 4 Bugaboo Images of your choice. We LOVE to see what you do with your Bugaboos! If you NEED a Bugaboo Stamp to use, head on over to the store and get the Friday Freebie! If you have a wonderful NON-Bugaboo Image you'd like to use, you’ll be eligible for 7 or 4 Bugaboo Stamps Images of your choice if you’re one of our winners! All entries must be new and follow the sketch.
You have until 6 am Sunday, January 20, 2019 to join the sketchy fun go over to Catch The Bug to link up your project.

Cx

$20 Challenge...

Hey,

So as some of you know JT and I love to play $20 challenge.

Not familiar with $20 challenge? Well, the rules are very simple. 

You can spend $20 on craft stash for the other person we have to buy each other $20 of craft goodies - ideally you should choose things that you think the other person might like and might not buy. Finally you agree some parameters - we did stars, spots, stripes and dies this time. Bargains are also a big part of the challenge.

I have already received mine from JT - hers is going in the post, as I have been waiting for an item to arrive..

So what did I get?

What didn't I get more like!! Stamps, ribbon, stickers, journaling cards that can be used as stencils and a die set!. Love the little notes and I can't wait to have a proper play with it all.

Amazing right!

Great choices from JT - especially the treat Dinosaur stamps - I LOVE Dinosaurs!!

Cx

Journal Pages - January

So I finished the first page of my new 2013 journal.

I am very pleased with the result. It's the first time that I have attempted a photo style journal and I like it!

The photos on the page are of - Mexican night! My leaving do, the snow and my new nail colour! Here is a close-up.

Jan Journal page - Close-up

I've realised that I probably need to plan my space better...

Here's a sneak preview of the layout for February. I changed the layout, as I felt that with the delay to the big move, there would be more use of 2 pages in Feb. I have lots planned this month, so I should be able to fill it :)

Feb Journal Pages

I like the look of the Feb layout, it's got some of the new Grace Taylor Journaling tags that I got on sale and a bit of bling!

Cx

Saying goodbye and thank you...

So it's my last day at work today. It's been hard work for 7 months, but I've met some nice people. So to say thank you, I decided to give people a calendar.

I wanted to wrap them nicely and write a little note.

The main photo is of the calendars with a note, wrapped and embellished.

I am very pleased with these. I used plain kraft paper sheets from Paperchase, and wrapped them around the calendar and secured with tape, making a kind of pouch. I then cut out these journaling cards to use for writing notes.

But I felt they didn't stand out against the paper enough so, I mounted them onto slightly bigger pieces of paper and I used scraps from the Amy Tangerine paper set..again! Here's a photo, but I had to mask it off, so you can't see the journaling cards, as I was dumbo and wrote on them before taking the photos - doh!

The butterflies, were cut using my shiny new Xcut butterfly dies - yes lots of new treats for me, but with the move, no clothes, no bags, no nothing..but the craft boxes have space, so if it can fit in then I can buy it!! Whoo hoo!! I used scraps of paper and co-ordinating Candi's, I think it all looks a bit shabby chic?

Here is one last close-up photo of the blue butterflies, you can just see some of the journaling paper peeking out.

So I guess this is me saying goodbye and thanks..

Cx

Journal 2013 - Part 2

Hi, not as many posts this week, that is in part due to my epic leaving do...I won't go into detail, but let's just say I am too old to party like that!!

Once again WOYWW was fun this week. I love seeing what my fellow crafter's are up to and finding new, interesting blogs to read / stalk..

Thank you so much to everyone that swung by my blog and left a comment - I am adding a sentiment to the heart cards and I'll finish the Scottie dogs off and show them to you next week.

I mentioned on Tuesday that I was going to show you what the pages look like once they are in the journal. Today's main photo - is of the July pages that I showed you on Tuesday. They look pretty sweet when they are in the journal, can't wait to add photos and text.

Here are a few more photos of the pages - not finished. In their rightful place in the journal.

May and June Pages

You'll notice that the Month arrows are just loose in the album sleeves. I wanted to make sure that every page had an arrow ready to go, so I don't have to cut them in a rush! In the pages shown below, I have slipped in some of the text panels, to give me food for thought when I get to that month.

September Pages

I chose the frame paper for 3 of my 6 September pages, as it is the month of my 40th birthday, I am assuming that there will be lots of photos and I have this idea in my head that I can trace the shape of the inside of the frame and cut the photos to fit. Hmm, we'll see, now that I have written it down, it sounds complicated :)

I'll show you pages as I finish them throughout the year - you won't have to wait too long for January :)

Cx

p.s Valuable lesson = do not leave finished pages on desk overnight, as the Feline Night Crafters leave paw prints on them and they have to be redone / changed....grrr...

Journal 2013 - part 1

We are not discussing the snow! I had to wfh yesterday, which is nice and a pain all at once. Today seems better but they are now running a reduced service on the trains...

Anyway, yesterday I told you about my new project - a Journal for 2013. I wondered if I could make a journal without having to purchase anything new? Also this year is a big one for me, with the move to NYC and turning 40, so a journal seems like a good idea.

So I thought I would share how I am putting mine together. Basically I don't want to embellish all of the pages. I want to try and do that closer to the month of the page, so that I can think about complimenting the photos and things that are going on the page.

The main photo today is of the papers I am using to create my pages. I've used the pretty set by American Crafts - I've been using it a lot :) I cut the papers to size, x2 of each from each paper (x4 of one kind) and round the corners. I haven't been too accurate with my cutting to size..

I realised that I would need to plan how to use the 20 pages of my album, so I did a little drawing..

As you can see I have dedicated 6 pages to Sept, which is my birthday month...I am anticipating an action packed lead up to my 40th..

The album is one of 3 that I bought at Michael's in Las Vegas in 2011 and I've had no idea what to do with them.

Album - closed

Album - open

I also cut out shapes for writing on and arrows for the month - I used a mixture of papers for these.

Framelits arrow die, used for 'Month'

Shapes and index cards for 'Text'

I wanted to show you a pre-planned page (for July), so you could see how all the elements plus embellishments will come together. Notice the bicycle that was on my desk on WOYWW 189..

A July page

Below is the finished spread.

July pages finished

You can see I've stamped the month onto the arrows, added some Candi's to the bicycle, added another tag/embellishment, but there is plenty of space for photos, notes, tickets, whatever!

Tomorrow is WOYWW so I'll be back on Thurs to show you what the album looks like now all the pages are in (some finished, some in planning..)

Cx

Snowy Sunday

So yesterday was a snow filled day, it snowed over night and didn't stop all day. Which to me meant that I had the perfect excuse to stay home, bake and craft!

The main photo today is the view of my street from the craft room - brrr.

Following Mexican night on Friday (see Facebook for the embarrassing photos) we had quite a lot of defrosted raspberries left over. So I went in search of a recipe to use them and came up with this Raspberry Bakewell cake - yum!

It's really easy to make and here is a photo of my finished cake..

It tastes as good as it looks :) and I will be making it again.

I also started a new project today, I've been nosying around blogs this week and discovered there are a lot of people creating mini journals based on an idea called Project Life. I don't really get scrapbooking, but thought that making a mini journal for 2013 might be fun and as I am about to be a 'lady of leisure' it should keep me out of mischief..

I'll show you how I've been putting the journal together later in the week, but for now here is a photo of the back garden on snowy Sunday.

Cx