British Tea Party

Remember the British Tea Party we had in April for the Royal Wedding celebrations? Oh what a fun & special day that was! Well, i finally got around to doing a page about it.

Paper, Journalling tag, Crepe Paper Ribbon, Rub-ons, Sticker, Button: Jenni Bowlin Studios, Punch: Martha Stewart, Other: Twine, Vintage Crepe Paper, Vintage Milk Cap, Paint, Deckle Scissors.

This rosette was made using a vintage milk cap. i painted the inside of the cap. Then punched a piece of paper and layered a sticker and button on top. i then ruffled crepe paper around it. Blue + red, i will never tire of you!

Things are crazy busy around here at the moment, lots of fun stuff and adventuring going on. i'll share here soon! i'm looking forward to a quieter week next week to catch up on some scrapping, and visiting some blogs, so if i haven't stopped by for a while i'll come say hi soon! i hope your week is as wonderful as mine!

The Butterfly Effect

Do you believe in the Butterfly Effect? i do. There's so many choices i've made in life that have altered the path of my future. There were a whole chain of events that led me to one of my best friends, Adam. And if any of them hadn't happened i don't think we would be in each others lives. That's a scary thought, but i also think some things are just meant to be.

Stamps, Paper, Stick Pin: Jenni Bowlin Studios, Alpha Stickers: Lily Bee Other: twine, Crepe Paper. 

i know butterflies are kind of girly so perhaps not the obvious choice for a boy page, but in this case they support my theme, so i think i'm allowed :) Those Jenni Bowlin label stamps are one of my favourite purchases this year, seriously love them! The Lily Bee alpha stickers are just the perfect size for 8 1/2" x 11" pages or tags and are such great value. 

Good Reads in May

Just one book again last month. Fallen. Another supernatural young adult fiction. This one's a bit different though, it's darker and doesn't give too much away about the supernatural aspect until you near the end. The characters are somewhat annoying at times, as many teenage characters are. i get the impression there's a lot more character development to come though. In Fallen you're kept guessing about the moral stance of the characters and who (or what) they are. This book is clearly just building the back story for the other books in the series, which i'm hoping will have a lot more plot development and action in. Fallen is slow moving and mysterious, but  in a way this kept me reading because i wanted to know what the heck was going on, so it's got suspense. Lauren does do a good job of transporting you to the school in which the story is based. Oh and it's quite cheesy, but most teen fiction tends to be, so be warned if you don't like mushy stuff. Basically, if you don't like this genre then it's probably not for you. But i did really like it and i'll be reading the rest in the series. i think it's a Marmite kind of book, you'll either love it or hate it.

Because of... *effer dare 17*

Yay! The effer dares are back, and this pleases me so! i've missed those girls & they're crazy inspiring posts/creations. And this time April Foster of Studio Calico is playing along too, double yay! The prompt is 'because of...' This instantly made me think of everything my mum has done for me. When you 'grow up'  (put in brackets because i don't really consider myself a grown-up) i think you start to realise what a huge responsibility being a mum is. It goes well beyond, cooking, cleaning and entertaining, it's the most important job there is! My mum's influence has shaped me into the person i am today, which most definitely is a good thing, because she is rather wonderful.

Paper: Cosmo Cricket, Sassafrass, Stickers: Sassafras, American Crafts, Flower; Sassafras, Alpha Chipboard: American Crafts,  Mist: Tattered Angels, Maya Road,Kit: Back 40, Studio Calico.

As SC are sponsoring the dare i figured i'd used one of my kits. i'm nearly done with Back 40 so i got that out to play with. Just another page or two and i've officially 'killed' it, that'll be a first! This picture is of my mum and i, aged 11 months.

V Festival *Crate June Sketch*

Yesetday i was discussing music festivals with a friend. i didn't go to one last year as i was busy moving in July and this year i have other adventures planned for the summer. But how i wish i could attend one! They really are the most fun. Our conversation inspired me to scrap a picture from the last music festival i attended. i designed this layout using the June Crate Paper Sketch, this one was reeeally fun to play with.

Paper, lace, buttons: Crate Paper. Mist, Alphabet chipboard: Studio Calico, Ink: JBS for Ranger, Other: date stamp.

i think this was my favourite photo from V Festival in 2009, such happy memories. This was my first time using the new chipboard letters from Studio Calico. Usually i find 'self-adhesive' chipboard letters not that adhesive (yes, i'm looking at you AC & MM!). But i was delighted to find that these are super sticky. Yay!

Playing with German Glass Glitter

One of Jenni's tutorials over at BPC covered German Glass Glitter. So i had a play with some, it was a LOT of fun! The shine on this stuff is so much more sparkly then regular glitter. It is SO pretty. i'm officially addicted, and i need it in every colour! You should definitely try it out.

Paper, Card, Metal Banner: Pink Paislee, Alpha Stickers: Studio Calico, Other: German Glass Glitter, Vintage Ledger Paper, Brad, Embroidery Thread.

Now, a confession. i always do everything by eye. Never a ruler in sight. i don't know any real life scrapbookers so i'm not sure if with scrapbooking people usually measure things out (?) but that's not the way i roll. Things usually work out ok, but on this occasion, not so much! i'd already stuck the paper + photos down and written out the journalling when i realised that it was all placed too high on the page! ooops! It's been bugging me, but i can't figure out a way to rectify it, so it is what it is. The memories are down and i had fun making the page so i just need to let it go.

i used the German Glass Glitter in 2 ways. First i covered a brad in liquid adhesive then sprinkled the Glitter over it and shook off the excess.

i made this ruffle by sewing through a few sheets of tissue paper then using the same glass glitter technique on the edges of the ruffle.

i also used it on another page, on some JBS buttons to add some extra pretty.

Papers, Buttons, Stickers, Journalling Card, Alpha Rub-ons, Stick Pin. Mask: Heidi Swapp, Mist: Studio Calico, Word Stickers: Girls Paperie, Other: German Glass Glitter, Twine, Brads, Crochet Flowers.

Photo Credit: Alex Avery

How amazing is my friend Matt's Halloween costume? i LOVE that he made so much of an effort, he totally outdid me which is no mean feat when it comes to fancy dress, i take it very seriously! i think by the end of the night he was regretting that green face paint, hee hee!

Life In A Day

i recently had the opportunity to attend a preview screen of Ridley Scott's latest cinematic project, Life In A Day. It's a documentary filmed on a single day providing a snapshot of what life was like in 2010 and there were 80,000 submissions from people all over the world! Obviously the film doesn't include them all. But the stories are wildly different and sometime surprising. This film is genuinely laugh out loud funny in places but also very shocking and sad. There is one particular cattle slaughter scene which this little vegetarian heart found to be very upsetting and brought the tears on. However, it is often moving in a good way, and i left feeling inspired about life. There was one Korean guy who featured throughout who has been travelling the world on his bike for over 9 years! He has some really interesting stuff to say and i think they should make a whole film about him! i was also amazed to see my home city featured in it.

i don't often give film reviews here but it really is very different to anything i've seen before so i thought it was worth a shout out. If you're at all interested in people, cultures or the world (which i'm guessing is all of you) then i think you'll rather like it! It's released in the UK this Friday 17th and if you book your tickets via the youtube page then you can donate 25% of your ticket price to your choice of charity from a selection (Vue cinemas only). If only you could do this for every film release, i might not begrudge the extortionate ticket prices! And they're also offering a money back guarantee voucher so if you don't like it, you can get your money back! Here's the trailer if you're still not convinced:

Sweet memories

i will never get old of scrapping photos of cupcakes, or eating them for that matter!! This page is about the cupcake class i took with my sister last year. Photo taken with my Hipstamatic app. i just love doing fun girlie layouts!

Paper: Girls Paperie, Studio Calico, MME, Tags: Elle's Stduio Stamp: Studio Calico Ink: JBS for Ranger, Tape: Pink Paislee,  Punch: Woodware Other: Twine Doily, Crochet flower, Lace, Pearl sticker.

For the border above the photo/tags i used a mixture of Pink Paislee Artisan Tape and scraps of paper that i had stamped on using the graph stamp from Studio Calico. i layered lots of the Girls Paperie paper to create the paper ribbon.

i hope you are having a fabulous weekend which hopefully will include a cupcake or two!

Butterfly Gardens

On Sunday i was putting away a giant pile of layouts into albums. It's always fun to go through the layouts that i've worked on over the last few (or four!) months and appreciate them again whist i'm storing them away. i came across this one that i realised i hadn't shared here yet, it's based on a sketch in the Pencil Lines book. 

Paper: Basic Grey, Ki Memories, Girls Paperie, Alpha Stickers: Sassafras, Stickers: October Afternoon, Mist: Maya Road Washi Tape: American Crafts Punches: Woodware, Martha Stewart, Other: Tiny Attacher.

LOVE that Ki lace paper, it has so many fun possibilities !! This photo was taken at a Butterfly Garden that i went to when i was travelling in Malaysia. i have a TON of photos from that day. There were a lot of unusual breeds of butterflies that were just SO beautiful (don't worry, i didn't use the flash, wouldn't want to scare them!). However i don't have the time nor the desire to scrapbook them all. To make sure they get seen instead of stuck on my hard drive, i'll print a load in 6x4 and store them next to this layout in some American Crafts divided page protectors. i tend to do this a lot where i've got lots of photos from one event/day, especially for my travel albums. i'm really bad at keeping 'regular' photo albums because i don't scrap chronologically, so i find this to be quite a good happy medium. So, i'm intrigued, if you're a scrapper, do you keep regular photo albums too? 

I'm a Scrap Rat Girl!

Just stopping in to share the exciting news that i'm part of the new Scrap Rat Kit's Design Team! This makes me very happy because i love working with kits, + Amanda's happen to be very fabulous!! She puts together some of the latest lovely stuff with some gorgeous vintage bits. Here's the yummy June kit:

The rest of the team are wonderfully talented and i can't wait to see what they create each month. And i know Amanda has a few things up her sleeve for the future of Scrap Rat so keep your eyes peeled!

And whilst i'm on the subject of DT's, my blog/twitter pal Julie Kirk is currently doing a series on that very thing. She's sharing some of her inside knowledge of working on DT's so if it's something you've been thinking about applying for, or you're already on a DT it's worth checking out, lots of good advice over there!

Lunch at Jamie's

This week Jamie Oliver opened one of his Jamie's Italian Restaurants locally. My family and i were lucky enough to go to a preview day before it opened. Much to my sister's disappointment, Jamie wasn't there. Despite this, we did have a fabulous time! The food was sooo yummy! And our waiter was very knowledgeable. My family were nagging me to ask him to take a picture of us. i was moaning about the fact that no one ever understands how to use my camera and it was awkward trying to explain it. So when i asked him to take a photo of us i automatically started to give him instructions on how to use my slr. He interrupted me to say that he had a photography degree, embarrassed much?! Haha!

My favourites are the mocktails and the polenta chips.  

And i didn't try the Eton Mess, but i will be next time!! Check it out!

For those wondering, prices are reasonable. Maybe a little more pricey then chain restaurants, around £10-12 for most mains but more for something like a steak (ew!).  But the food is quality, and you can taste it. Although the portion sizes are quite small for the pasta, it is still very filling. We were seated at 1.30pm, i had 2 courses and i didn't want to eat anything for the rest of the day. The menu is quite different and i love the decor. So in my opinion it's worth it. Plus our waiter really did make us feel important and that's not something you get much these days. So, all in all i'd recommend Jamie's and i can't wait to go again! Lucky for me it's a mere 20 minute walk away. heee!