*Sniff*

The extraordinarily good BPS class, Dimensional Details, is over. And we are all a bit sad. Or even a lot sad.

I felt so inspired the whole time and unusually, I completed all the assignments, going back and completing the only missing week just 24 hours after the end of class. The class was fantastic and every week just got better and better. Some of the techniques were just so "me" and you will be seeing this style more and more in the future.

Week 13 - just having fun

** Adorable photos courtesy of Libby!

Week 7 - stitching

** I don't have a functioning sewing machine at the moment which was a bit frustrating and I messed up the sewing a bit, but hey...

Detail shot of my cluster

** I had immediately reached for the flowers and then challenged myself to use anything but - I was pleased with what I managed to turn up amongst all my goodies.

Luckily for us, we have forever access to the class materials, message board and gallery and some of us are still meeting up there from time to time and redoing some of our favourite designs. 

And I am now working my way through some very old uncompleted projects - determined to get them finished! Watch this space!

Life at the moment ...

This is going on:

** Life on Balconia

And a bit of this:

** Bratwürst on the BBQ

And a whole lot of this:

** Germany storming through the World Cup

And plenty of filling time alone: scrapping, organising, tidying up, decluttering, finishing off some old projects. More later.

Happy Sunday!

What is it with us scrappers?...

Who can, hand on heart, say that they really don't have enough stash? Not enough cardstock, papers, pretty flowers, ribbons or buttons, stamps, inks, glitter and stickers? Certainly not me! I have soooo much, my room is bursting at the seams. I have piles of precious BG papers, stacks of AC Thickers, jars heaving with buttons and flowers. Just SO much stuff.

And yet, there is always that new collection of papers that I HAVE to get, buttons and flowers that are exactly the shade I'm missing, new products that call me... in my dreams...

It's scary!

And I'm quite prolific at times - there are some weeks where I scrap every single day and produce layout after layout. This year alone, I must be heading towards a hundred layouts with LOAD February and May and Dimensional Details.

But is my stash diminishing? Um, let me think about that for a millisecond... NO!

Now, I know that you are sitting there nodding your head with an understanding grimace. You do it too, don't you?  I DON'T need anything. I could scrap for months only needing sustenance and adhesive to be thrown into the room and still have BG left over!  But, I did it again on Saturday. Off to Kempen I went (I only went three weeks ago and needed a truck to bring home my goodies), because the owner had told me that she was clearing the stock out to make way for Christmas supplies. Well, I had to go, didn't I? Would have been rude not to! She told me personally. And there might be bargains to be had. I was only doing my social duty, boosting the local economy after all.

This is what I came home with...

And you can't even see the top line of BG mini stamps that will be SO useful for card making (because I am such a big card maker LOL!!)

There were really some bargains to be had and I ended up saving nearly €30 on my purchases with some items (such as the MM embellishment jar) were more than 60% reduced. But of course, I saw June Bug which I decided I had to have, some embellishments, some labels and the distress foam pads that we all full price. 

I would like to say that I don't shop all that often. I only go to Kempen three or four times a year. And I have stopped shopping online pretty much. But I have a monthly kit. I shop when I'm in the UK with Lib. And I go to Kempen more often than I admit to myself! 

What do you do to stop yourself shopping? I'd like to learn your secrets. Or maybe you don't, maybe you shop all the time. Tell me and make me feel better.

On another note, do you remember this story about visiting the coal mine? I said I wanted to make it into a layout and I did. Lifted the journalling from the blog, changed it out a bit, got out my grungy, vintage BG papers and got the story done. I followed a sketch from DD, adapting it to a two-pager and while it may not be pretty, may be a bit "dull" and maybe a bit "what???" for most people, I am very pleased with it.

("Untertage" is German miners' slang for working underground.)

Of course, there's been a whole lot of football going on around here. And today I was in the difficult position of Germany playing England in the first knock-out round of the World Cup. Who would have my support? Either way, whoever loses, I would be sad. In the end, Germany played an excellent game and England is out. I went out to the balcony and took down my England flag and packed it away with a heavy heart. At least I get to support Germany and hope that they carry on doing as well as ever. I am really not a big football fan. Really not. But I have learnt a bit over the years and today, the infamous quote from Gary Lineker rang true once again: "Soccer is a game for 22 people that run around, play the ball, and one referee who makes a slew of mistakes, and in the end Germany always wins." How true, how true! In the end, it's not life and death, but who plays best on the day. May the best team win!


On a brighter note, I just thought I would share a couple of photos of this stunning single rose that I received on Friday. It smells wonderful too. Just gorgeous. Summer really is here.

Happy Sunday!

Happy mail and happy class

Look what arrived through my door last week! A little BG package of happy mail to brighten up my Tuesday! I received this as part of a spot prize in my BPS class Dimensional Details. And this travelled all the way around the world from New Zealand! Thanks Nic, I love it!

I hadn't even realised that BG had started to make little journalling packs - love it and will definitely be looking out for more of these in the future! And this pack is from Sugar Rush which I think I neeeed to get now!

And onto the latest creations for Dimensional Details - this class is brilliant and I have been loving the techniques and designs featured.

I've been really good too, because I have been breaking into all sorts of kits, ranges, packs of papers and products and USING them! Wey, hey! Go me!

I have discovered products that I had forgotten all about and found new ways of combining them or using them in new ways. I really feel like I have made a bit dent into my stash, and that can only be a good thing, right?

This is from week 10 and concentrated on embellishments and clustering, also featured a digital, hybrid element. And yes, you can see Periphery! Only the second time I have ever used it!

Week 11 featuring another gorgeous photo of the photogenically adorable Isabella! Flowers were the main focus of this week although you would not know that from this layout! But I now have a huge list of ideas for making my own flowers in the future. I am really pleased with this layout as it is really my style, but also not my style at the same time. And it features quite a few repurposed embellishment items and relatively new papers which is also a good thing - too often, I keep holding onto new papers for some reason, without using them!

And week 12 is all about bringing it all together. All the techniques, all the design tips, all the fun of the last 12 weeks. Lots of distressing and curling. Lashings of layering. Plenty of texture and a good heap of a cluster. Is that Mellow I can see there? Why yes! Another range of paper that has only been used ONCE before!

*insert "I feel good" by James Brown here!*

During this class, I have learnt so much and have concentrated on the techniques and designs themselves rather than worrying too much about the actual layout I have created. Very often, I just picked up a photo that was lying around (I have loads and loads of such photos, printed multiple times, just looking for a home!) and found papers that matched the feeling. Very often, I haven't done so much journalling or at least far less than usual. But it has been fun and to be honest, many of these layouts have become some of my favourites from recent times.

I'll be sad when the class finishes next week. But I'm feeling very inspired at the moment, so hopefully, I will be able to continue the creative push I have discovered.

What have you been up to recently?

LOAD round-up

Yes, May is over and I did it.

I managed to complete a layout every single day throughout the month, even getting creative on the train to and from London and making the most of short periods during the day to think about what I wanted to do, or to pick out photos or papers.

I used up stash, only using what I had on hand (if you don't include new inks I got from Deb and some Thickers I picked up in the UK) and mostly used up photos that were lying around. I even delved into my photo holding binders (Library of Memories) for a few of the multi-photo layouts. And I managed to get almost up to date with my Dimensional Details class at BPS by Nic Howard along the way. All in all, not a bad month!

May 24th

** Inspired by the quote I saw on WCS the day before.

May 24th no. 2

** Was feeling really inspired to do a second one - using a photo I downloaded from the Berkeley Hotel website and part of my BPS class - design by Nic Howard

May 25th

** Using this fantastic photo of Isabella meant that this bonus design from my BPS class using the digital title element by Louise Williams was a doddle - I can't decide if this one or the previous one is my favourite one of the month - isn't she a beauty?

May 26th

** Prompt on why I scrapbook from LOAD, design inspired by Trina McClune as part of my BPS class

May 27th

** Challenge from the BPS class to use our favourite 5 products on one layout - mine here are kraft, BG papers, buttons, inks and thickers. Lifted my own design from earlier on in the week but general inspiration from the Nic Howard class

May 27th no. 2

** Another Nic Howard layout from her Dimensional Details class - this week was all about clustering - my favourite technique at the moment!

May 28th 

** Bonus assignment on my Nic Howard class with a design by Trina McClune - such a lot of work and effort with all those squares but I love the result!

May 29th

** LOAD prompt was "excess" - could only be one thing for me - Pink with a bit of bling thrown in for good measure. Another delightful photo of Isabella that I took back at Christmas and using a "vintage" Bellaboo kit from Libby's time. Such a pretty page kit.  

May 30th

** The daily LOAD prompt was vintage so how about a vintage building? One of my favourite buildings in Paris.

May 31st 

**The daily LOAD prompt was to use B&W. So I used my wonderful pile of finished layouts as inspiration for this colourful (but still a bit of B&W!) layout - I struggled with this!

There and back

So, where was I?

Well....

Went to the UK, travelled around a lot, attended a crop, saw a lot of scrappy friends, caught up with a wonderful schoolfriend (see Gerry's Cakes here for a peek at the incredible talent), took a trip to London, had champagne in Harrods at the Oyster Bar, ate Prêt-à-Portea at The Berkeley, saw Mamma Mia in the West End, had a great pub dinner with dad, scrapped a lot, took little ones to and from school, received LOADS of cuddles and kisses from three scrumptious monsters and then came home again. Phew. It was quite a week.

And on top of that, I managed to keep up with my LOAD challenge, even scrapping without photos on the train (two days running). *Insert funny looks from fellow train travellers here*

I never actually thought I would manage this but I was determined to give it a go, and not to stress if I didn't. Somehow it worked - brilliant!

May 10th

May 11th 

May 12th

**just a sneak peek here as it is a magazine assignment for TSM

May 13th 

**I forgot on the 12th which frustrated me until I realised that the 13th was much more interesting anyway with a family engagement celebration!

May 14th

May 15th

May 16th

May 17th

May 18th

May 19th

May 20th

May 21st 

May 22nd

May 23rd

I even created an extra layout. And... I managed to break into one of my five untouched Scrapagogo kits that have been sitting there on the side. Strike!

Since I've been back, I've been trying to get back into the swing of normal life but a long Bank Holiday weekend has kept the holiday feeling going and the housework and humdrum is suffering! But who cares, right?

It was lovely to attend the Bromsgrove crop (hi everyone!!!!!) spend some time with family, have a weekend with mum and Libby (the last time we did that was 10 years ago!) and see those little (growing) faces! So heart warming. I can't believe how much they have grown. They'll be taller than me before I know it!

Talking of taller than me - the other *kiddies* are all grown up now - the baby brother has even moved into his own flat - Go Joe! And good luck to Ted for his exams that he's been working so hard for since forever - our fingers are crossed for you. Amber - keep up with the photography.

Looking forward to receiving all the visitors over here throughout the summer! 

And mum and Lib - photos will be in the post soonest!

LOAD update

Day 9 and so far, all is going well with the Layout A Day challenge.

Want to see?

I'm trying to get a few stories told that have been hanging around for some time, trying out some new "styles", trying to use up some of the photos that I have printed out and done nothing with so far, trying to be creative. Or maybe that should just read "trying".

May 3rd

May 4th 

May 5th

May 6th 

May 7th

May 8th

May 9th

Learning points so far? Well...

1. I need to improve the photography of my completed layouts
2. I love the Mr Campy Cosmo Cricket range - I might need to buy more!
3. I love having years' worth of printed out photos in holding binders which I can just browse and pick out photos that speak to me at that moment. This is thanks to my incomplete Library of Memories Stacy Julian system. It still needs work, but it is already proving worthwhile.
4. I still love pink!
5. I use border punches ALL the time
6. I need to make layouts every day until I die if I have any chance of working through my PP collection
7. Even if I am trying to do a really simple full of whitespace layout, I seem to fill it up. Bits and pieces and journalling. Simple does not come easily to me
8. When searching through my stash for these bits and pieces, it's scary how many items are years old. I mentally give myself a million points if I use anything that is really old. May 5th uses some really old (2007) HS stuff and that negative style frame must be older than that. It felt good to use it. 
9. I adore all my Thickers alphabets - I neeeeeed more
10. I love using the same photos again and again telling a different story each time. Maybe I should get over this...

Welcome May

Another month as slipped by and here we all are in May.

I have been creating which is always a good thing! I am playing catch up on my BPS class Dimensional Details - just have to do the current week's assignment to be completely up to date and then I can go back and do extra ideas from the class if I have time. I am using up lots of scraps which is great and trying out new things which is very inspiring. I'm not being so particular with my layouts for this class - I'm grabbing photos, papers and bits and pieces and concentrating on the techniques - it's fun to do something a bit different. In fact, most of the time, I am creating a whole layout without even thinking about the photos and then adding them in at the end! This is one of the best classes I have done over at BPS and Nic Howard is lovely and so talented.

Week 2 was creating backgrounds including glimmer misting a mask onto the background - it IS there, just a bit shade in shade!

Week 3 was multiple layering

Week 4 was focus on the photographs (just can't stand how gorgeous these photos of Isabella are - can't WAIT to see her in two weeks - and the other two of course but Isabella is the one who pays me most attention these days - what's not to love about that???) 

And now I am part of the May LOAD (layout a day) challenge! Being creative every day for a month is a great way to use up stash, get inspired by the gallery, kick-start a lethargic me and generally have fun! I will be following my 10 point strategy again - see here - and we shall see how I get on.

 I am really not sure if I'll manage it this month because I will be in the UK for a week, but with a bit of planning and iPhone uploads to Flickr, I'm going to give it a shot (now, to get on with the planning!)

May 1st's layout was the Isabella one above - and I really think this is one of my favourites from the last few months.

And then May 2nd was a bit of an introspective one - bit dark and gloomy! 

Here is just a sneak of it...

And I am thrilled that Deb has given me a Kreative Blogger Award. How cute is this badge?

I have to list seven creative things I have done - mmmmm.....:

1. I started sewing clothes for my dolls when I was about 5. Once I even sewed over my finger with the electric sewing machine much to my mother's horror! Didn't put me off though!
2. As a teenager, I made my own advent calendars - with pictures of my favourite pop stars etc behind the doors!
3. I used to make Christmas cards with hand sewn beads on slubbed silk like Christmas trees - but they had to be hand delivered as the sorting machines at the post office used to crush the beads.
4. Back at the end of the 80's, I ran a dress designing/making business concentrating on evening dresses and wedding gowns. The dresses were gorgeous (even if I say so myself!) but I was hopeless at the business side of things. I lasted three years before having to give up and get a "real" job. I must have made hundreds of silk handmade roses over the years!
5. One of my first scrapbooks was created in a sugar paper album after my first foreign holiday with my grandparents - I was 11. It even included the plastic cutlery from the plane! Not sure about the archival quality of that...
6. I discovered modern scrapbooking back in 2005 and it took until the beginning of 2006 for me to start. I had no idea what to do really, and dragged Libby along to a shop that had what we thought was LOADS of wonderful products that we both fell in love with. The rest is history.
7. I started taking a Photo A Day at the beginning of 2007 - I still try to take photos most days and have a set of albums to showcase them. I have ALWAYS taken LOTS and LOTS of photos - I have thousands and thousands that need to be scanned, sorted and stored. I am improving slowly.

So, I tag Libby, Sarah and Stacy to be my Kreativ Bloggers! 

On that note, I will love you and leave you and get back to my page planing for later in the month. 

Wish me luck for LOAD!