Fussy cutting!

Here's a layout with rather a lot of fussy cutting, which I so enjoy.   Mind you, it took me almost all day to complete the page start to finish.   It is a rare photo of my brother and sister and their other halves, so I was keen to scrap it!

Here's a few pictures of my mountains!

November news

I can't quite believe it is over two months since I posted on my blog.   I have been travelling most of that time - first for a week in Spain doing some climbing, then just back from there and off to see Tim and Maddy in their wonderful hotel in Montelparo, Italy - just back from there and Mia arrived home for a while.   All go - which has meant lots of layouts of mountains of course!!

Have just come back from a fabby long weekend with my teamies on UKS - what a whale of a time we all had together.   Fantastic company, superb grub and lots and lots of scrapping.   Who could ask for more?   Strange really as we all met on the Forum of course and are very different in our walks of life, our geographical abode and age groups, but we all get on so very well.   Are already planning next year's retreat in the same place.

I must try and write a bit more on here a little more regularly but life and travel get in the way sometimes.  You know how it is!!

September challenge

I have just done this layout in response to Jo's September Challenge in the Crafty Magpies team.  It is an especially favourite photo of mine - my DD and my delicious grandog, Bracken.  I never tire of scrapping that beast!  (the dog, not the daughter!!)

Heritage Scrapbook

I have made a heritage scrapbook of Kenny's life for Neil's 50th birthday and although I thought I had it finished, I came across this last photo of him with the two kids when they were so young - it just had to be scrapped, didn't it?  

All-day Crop 4th August

Went to a smashing all-day crop yesterday run by Jackie DaSilva.   Great fun as always and this is a double layout I did there.   Also, big news for me, I won the raffle which was superb.   A pack of 100 sheets of textured Bazzill cardstock in all different colours.  Obviously my lucky day, eh?

Wet Wet Wet!

Here is my little haven this afternoon, almost totally under water!!   It is on the highest spot of Leigh on Sea, with the benchmark outside the house to prove it - wonder what those lower down are like?

Here's a double layout I did at our all day crop today.   It was for the sketch challenge we have on our UKS team - set by Stacey for July.   Photos of the torch relay as it passed the end of my road.   Needless to say the blue skies were NOT on the relay day!!

Time to stand and stare

Another one from yesterday - Mia and I when I was homesitting and she came over for lunch.   Such a happy day together.

Chinese gardeners

This is a layout I did yesterday at our little Special Needs club (called that because of our need to eat chocolate cake, drink endless coffees and chatter all day as well as craft together!!)   They are photos of the incredible gardeners who work in Shanghai.   The close up of the flowers shows some lovely stuff called Clearly for Art.   You stick PPs on the back, die cut, then heat the plastic side and bend the flowers to shape, giving a good 3D effect.   Lovely stuff!

Thanks to Total Papercrafts for their usual superb kit!

OK - so I am showing off again!!

My garden is looking simply wonderful at the moment, probably due to all the rain, so I thought the least I could do was share it with you all!!    Justifiably proud I am.

Thriving on neglect!

You all know how much I have been away this past six months and my little haven of a garden has still done me proud.   Here it is, thriving on total neglect, and still looking as though I have worked my socks off out there!!  No justice, is there?

I've been home less than a week and it has simply flown by!       This was a class at the ATDML retreat ... big thank you to Jane Hewitt for this lovely class.   Canvas was painted, crackle glazed, cut up, stuck on, rumpled up, etc.etc. and this is the result.

French homesit

Oh gracioous - just got started on making a blog and they go and change everything!   Took me ages to find the place for a new post.

Have been finishing off some of the projects I started at ATDML and have had plenty of chances too, because it is probably the worst weather I have ever had here!   Occasional bright days but mostly just tipping it down with rain.  

Anyone who knows me and my scrapping style will know I love to handcut flowers and hand make them too so had a really good chance with the layout class taught by Karen Moss.   Here is the result:

The second picture is the wondrous view from my bedroom one morning last week!   Nice view to wake up to, I think.

Layouts from Retreat last weekend

Here are a few I did over the weekend.   Amazing what you can achieve when you try!!

ATDML Retreat

Have just come back (somewhat shattered!!) from another fabulous A Trip Down Memory Lane long weekend retreat.   They seem to just get better and better and I had a whale of a time.   You always meet old friends and there's a lot of laughter goes on all weekend, as well as a chance to take fantastic classes and get all those UFOs finished too.   Managed nine layouts and a couple of mini books as well as a really lovely class by Jane working on a hinged, crackle-glazed, four sided canvas which I have almost finished and hope to complete today.   Will put some pics on here i.d.c. but meantime here's a photo of me enjoying my little craft space in the cropping room.

Do come along Nanny!

Here's another layout done yesterday and finished today.   For the UKS House Challenge this month.

Another one - am on a roll now!

After a few weeks of not managing anything at all, here's another one I did for a UKS challenge this week.   My precious "smiley boots" came into their own as you had to use a sketch, buttons and something that makes you smile ... these boots have been longing to be scrapped so it was a perfect chance!!

Easter Weekend

Well I have been fairly busy recently.   Went to stay with my brother and his wife for a few days, just about got home and unpacked when I had to repack again for a week's stay with my son Tim and his wife Maddy in their almost-ready hotel in Montelparo, Italy.   Fantastic week there (but quite hard work!!) in very hot sunshine every day.   I was getting the courtyard and terrace gardens all ready and the watering system put in.   The week flew by, but of course no time for crafting!!

Next I went to stay with a friend in Finchley for whom I had designed a garden and we had three days of planting it all up, weeding, organising, etc.etc. with a fair bit of eating and drinking - oh, and chatting too!   Again, another week with no scrapping.

Went to an all-day crop today though and made up for lost time, completing several challenges I had outstanding.   This is a layout I did from a team-mate's sketch challenge where one member of the team does a sketch for the month and the rest of us do a layout looking vaguely like the sketch!!   Another page done now for my friend#'s first grandchild's scrapbook - so thanks Emma (Little Dolphin) for your challenge.  I enjoyed it very much.

For Felix's scrapbook

Got this one finished this afternoon once I had done all I needed to out in the garden and greenhouse.  

Sunny Sundays

Glorious warm and sunny day, so I have been off to a special Orchid Day today at a local nursery (I grow orchids - lots of them!)   Bought two new beauties - and more beautiful because they were two for one, and also I had a Garden Voucher waiting to be spent too, so they cost me absolutely zilch.   Got a large tub for my blueberry and some plug plant geraniums to make up the total, so am a very happy teddy!!   Must get out there and pot on the little plug plants in the greenhouse now!

Here is a layout I have done for a House Challenge on UKS.   You had to interpret the word Joy and for me, it means the sight of all those fields of poppies in France - showing you don't need to weedkill everything under the sun, or we would never see these glorious flowers!!

Caribbean Summer - fragments

At long last I have persuaded myself to use some of those wonderful little Tim Holtz fragments, which I coloured with alcohol inks - I am rather pleased with the result!

Wet, cold and windy Sunday

Well - it's a horrible day, cold, wet and windy, so what better than to do a layout of summer sunshine.  This is from a prompt by my team leader so a big thank you to Karen.   These photos were taken in the Caribbean when Ken and I had a beautiful trip to the Caribbean visiting each of the islands in turn!

Start of a busy week

Here's the weekly challenge layout I did today.   First time I have managed to get it done on a Monday but I have Mia coming to stay this week so needed to get the craft room cleared so she has somewhere to sleep ... oh, and also so I can lock up my best stash if she's sleeping in there!!!

This is our little team at our retreat last November.   We now have three new teamies so will have a full contingent for the next retreat we hope.

Yesterday's work

This is a layout I did at my little "special needs" craft club yesterday.   Lovely papers from Craftz Boutique and perfect for this Caribbean photo.

Zumba

A few weeks ago now I started a Zumba class for a bit of fun - and it truly IS fun - and is also a lot less energetic than my kick-boxing class.   Decided to get some proper shoes now I know I like it, because my old Reebok trainer boots kept sticking to the floor every time I wanted to swivel round which wasn't a good idea!!  Here's the new lovely shoes.   They don't call me Purple Patty for nothing, eh?

Mia's Memories

Here's what I have been playing with all day yesterday ... once I got cutting out those flowers and butterflies, I just couldn't seem to stop!!

Yesterday's work.

Just to show I do sometimes work at my little craft club, as well as gossip, eat chocolate cake and drink coffee!!