Been busy...

So, some weeks ago Deb wrote a blog post which featured a mobile phone photo someone had sent her of a gorgeous shop. It featured lacy white, blues, pinks and reds and Deb asked if anyone wanted to join her in using that as a new inspiration challenge. 

I loved the combination of colours and promised myself to make up my own kit based on this. I actually ended up changing it a bit using a more turquoise blue rather than the sky blue featured. And I fished out some "odd" products I have picked up on my travels and challenged myself to use them - a white, round, felt place mat and some silver transfers. The felt is really thin so I thought it would be ok to use on a page, but the circle was larger than 12" so I need to get clever with how to put it down. I had no idea what the silver transfers were (bathroom tile transfers maybe?) and I just figured I would work it out! Anyway, this kit is quite a bit smaller than the last "Pink Whisper" kit I made and I just need to come up with a name...

Because Deb also said not to forget the cupcakes and I don't have any cupcake products or photos or anything, maybe I will just call it "Sweet Hearted". Yes, that sounds quite nice. Here it is:

What's interesting is that I love the mix of products and colours and the feel of it, but so far, it's proving to be a bit difficult to use. I have played around a bit and started a couple of backgrounds which I will need to work on but so far, here is the only layout I have managed.

It features me (just for a change!!!) and a photo that is a few (5 1/2) years old and it makes me realise that I have to really "do" something about how I look at the moment! I have seriously gained weight over these years and I want to look like this photo again - maybe this can work as some sort of a motivational tool for me.

Moving on: yesterday was my once a year opportunity to go to a craft fair. It's the only one I know of at the moment anywhere near me. And this one is really near me - just a few kilometres down the road. Creativa is an all-inclusive crafting/hobby show which can be a real eye opener from my point of view. I'm always bemused by the hobby products that "rock" the Germans. There's not many scrapbooking stands but this year, there were a few new faces (mostly from Holland) and I got some great stash that I haven't found so far at my LSS in Kempen. As I have said before, scrapbooking is relatively new over here and so the main focus of the show is so NOT scrapbooking! There were 5 halls and only 30 stands I noted down. Of course, I approached this in typical Lisa way, searching through exhibitors for those stating they featured scrapbooking products. Then I noted the names and stand number and once there, I worked my way around each hall checking each one off the list, before moving onto the next. I looked a bit left and right but wanted to really focus my time there! And I shopped!!! I had both R and Libby sitting on my shoulder saying, "And that, and that, and what about that? Don't stop! Keep going!" It was fun!

Here are a few things that caught my eye.

** What a great way to showcase beads. There must have been millions there - so beautiful

** There was nothing on this stand I didn't love and I could have just taken the whole lot and put it directly into the flat. Not sure R would really appreciate the vintage, pink focus but isn't it gorgeous?

** The show's international partner this year was Korea and there was part of the exhibition featuring paper creations. Can you believe that this picture is made with paper? I loved it. I loved the idea of the nest and couldn't believe it was really paper until I got up close!

** This was a huge sculpture of a flower - maybe two metres diameter. Don't you love it?

** I kid you not, this was really made of paper. Not very practical perhaps but certainly interesting!

And what about my purchases? Drum roll please.......

(** and pat on the back to me as I stitched two photos together for the first time ever!)

I bought WAAAAY too much of course. I mean, I can't imagine using this all up even if I scrapbooked every single day of my life. In my defense, some of this will be shipped over to Libby. And I bought quite a lot of stuff that will be used over and over rather one use stuff - glimmer mists, a Martha Stewart punch, Cuttlebug embossing folders and a couple of Nestabilities for example.

I was really feeling the green again this time around and bought loads of different shades of standard, lime, sage and turquoise greens. Oh, and dots - lots and lots of dots. And I surprised myself with an urge to grab a selection of American Craft papers.

What do you think???