On the home stretch

I know I have said this before, but this exercise has surprised me with the treasures in my stash it has unearthed!

Piles and piles of unused papers that were often bought and then put in a corner never to be looked at again. Such scrumptious gorgeousness should not be hidden away and it has been lovely to set them free and then be able to see them out there - in all their glory.

OK, OK, so that might be a bit dramatic, but it really has been great to see what I have and how my taste has changed over the time I have been hoarding stash. Some of it I love more than others and some of it has even been cleared out and (shock horror) thrown away.

But on the whole, I love what I have and rediscovering all those kits was such a laugh. Even such recent kits as the Bellaboo June kit (sooo totally adorable and girlie and pink) was practically untouched and that is just too much of a shame so I have it out for inspiration and have felt good about using it.

And then there is the paper that I have multiple sheets of. Don't really know how that happens if it isn't BasicGrey (yes, I have "sometimes" been known to stock up on BG because it breaks my heart to "USE" it!). I have anything up to 4 sheets of one of some pretty normal ordinary designs so maybe that should be my next challenge - I mean, how many sheets of brown with pink and cream spots can one person use? Personally, I blame the "Kaufrausch" I get when I enter a scrapbooking shop. Mmmm, how can I explain what Kaufrausch is? My dictionary says "shopping frenzy" but somehow the German expression just seems to sum it up better.

Anyway, I printed out a few big pictures - 5 x 7 - which is a size I love to use as a single photo on a layout and got to work.

This idea is a year old now and I had even saved the original chocolate wrapper and had written down what we said at the time. Feels good to find a use for the ephemera and to throw away the scrap of paper I had recorded our thoughts on. (And yes, you can find excessive use of two sheets of paper I have multiples of here.)


And as for this little sweetie. Let's just say that Isabella is finding it hard to bond with me. I rarely get her to look me directly in the eye and have to make do with these coy, "I know you're there but if I don't look at you, it doesn't count" looks. This photo sums it all up for me! She is totally adorable and I have high hopes for us in the years to come!!

These two are #'s 46 and 47 in my Challenge 50 which means that I only have 3 more to go. Libby is going to Ally Pally tomorrow and I want her to pick me up some goodies so that means I need to create three more things before she gets back from her adventure for me to justify that as not breaking the challenge! I will have to get moving.

So far, I have completed 4 mini books, a small gift box, 25 cards (is that cheating?) and 17 layouts. Not bad eh? now let's see if I can't get these other photos I printed out used up and finished...