A Little Bit Of Sass!

Here's a layout I'd like to share with you, that I made for the Sassafras March blog challenge, which had to include the technique of Blocking. Not the same as crochet blocking, it just means to create a square or rectangular shape on your layout using photos and/or paper. The photo on this page is of Dylan this time last year, I can't believe how much he's grown up.

 

All of the items used to create this layout (except the thread and foam pads) are from Sassafras. You can see the list of papers on my Flickr account. 

Also I just wanted to say a big thank you to my new followers and my old ones actually, thanks for coming here to read my rambles! It does mean an awful lot to me, having you all here. :) 

Oh and just one more thing, you may have noticed that I've been messing about with my blog design and fonts. I'd really appreciate some feedback on it please. Is it loading up quick enough for your liking and is the new font clear enough to read? Please let me know if it's causing problems. 

Thanks again!

XxX

Project ReStyle - Accidentally Felted Jumper

Hello! I never really know what to say at the start of a blog post... Anyway, here we go! :) I'm on a bit of a make do and mend mission this year. For a number of reasons really, like trying to be more aware of waste, trying not to spend money if we don't really need to, to save money for our wedding, and I get to do more projects but with free stuff! It's a win win situation really. A few people have inspired me into doing this, Claire, Elsie, Emily, Kara, Rachel. There's some great inspiration on all of these blogs.

My first project was with an accidentally felted jumper of Dylan's. He wasn't too bothered when I  shrunk it, he only wore it twice because it was too itchy. So that was a plus, he's quite touchy about his clothes and such. I've used too pieces from the hood to patch a pair of his holey jeans and two larger pieces to make him a pencil case. I haven't had chance to take a photo of the jeans yet, as he wanted to wear them straight away and now they're in the wash. But here's a photo of the pencil case. He was really pleased with it, and so was I. I feel the need to make one for myself now.

 

I'm also working on another mini album at the moment, here's a sneaky peek of it.

I started this before Christmas but got side tracked with finishing off gifts and cards! I'm very easily distracted! In fact I've got quite a few  projects on the go at the moment. So I'd better get off the internet and get some work done!

See you soon!

XxX

Valentines Mini Album

Good morning all! Here's a little mini album I made this week, using some of my supplies from a new scrapbooking kit club that I've subscribed to called Quirky Kits. I have used some of my own stash too, I like to mix things up a bit. I also used some journaling cards from Elle's studio, that I won on her blog a couple of weeks ago. :)

 You can find more photos of this album on  Flickr 

Quirky Kit-Cute Things Make Me Smile

 

Journaling Tags From Elle's Studio

Most of the papers used in this album are Sassafras Paper crush which came in my kit, but I also used some of their Count Me In and Cherry Delicious papers and a mixture of Sassafras Sweet Treats and Blossoms stickers. The heart shaped album is from Maya Road.

Happy Valentines Day For Monday! Hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend! 

XxX

Trying To Be More Organized

Good Morning!

I've got a few photos to share with you, of a project I'm working on at the moment and it's not crochet! I'm making a craft planner to try and organize my time a little better. I was inspired to make it by one of Lilibee's lovely classes and a planner kit, that I wish I'd bought when it was out! The folder is upcycled, it was a guide to money for new parents, given to me by my midwife.

 

To decorate the planner I used papers and embellishments from Sassafras-Sunshine Lollipop, Prima-Rebellious, American Crafts-Craft Fair and Blue Skies, Cosmo Cricket-Nutmeg. I've also used Red Velvet Art Paper Dolls, embroidery patterns and some black and white colouring book illustrations which came free with the RVA Small Craft Class that I took last year.

 To make the page tabs, I downloaded and printed off some free fonts from dafont.com, onto printable acetate. Since taking this photo I have changed it a little bit and double up on the months, because the planner was filling up too fast and it only had dividers in it!

 

More to come soon!

XxX

Slow Progress

I'm still making my mini album, It's taking a little longer than planned to complete. Leon is a little bit clingy at the moment so he spends most of the day snuggling up on  me, which is really lovely. If only I had another pair of hands! :) Here's what I've done so far.

 I get tears in my eyes when I look at this picture of Tony holding Leon!  It was such a special moment.

I love the look of rub ons used on photos, it's one of my new favourite things! 

On to other matters, my sister Clare is getting married next week. It's her hen night tomorrow, we're going out for Tapas and then the rest of the girls are going out clubbing. I'm not going clubbing though because I need to get home for Leon. I'm really looking forward to it, I love Tapas. 

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

XxX

Circus Tent 3D Frame

Morning! I've finished the altered frame I mentioned in my last post. I had loads of fun making this, I hope you all like it. I used loads of different Sassafras for this, it includes, Nerdy Bird, Apple Jack, Bungle Jungle and Happy Place. Sassafras is definitely my fave brand, if you hadn't already guessed! ;)  I wish I'd taken the photo's before I put the glass frame over really. I had a right job on trying to take the photos without getting a reflection off the glass. And all the time I was trying to take these photos Dylan was running a toy tractor up and down my leg! If anybody's got any tips on how to avoid getting my reflection in the photos, I'd be really grateful.

All being well Dylan's bedroom should be finished this weekend. I'll be really glad when it is because the house is upside down right now and it's driving me crazy!

Hope you all have a fab weekend!

XxX

Lilibee Studio Giveaway

Make sure you check out the Lilibee Studio Blog, there's a great giveaway. You can win the Apple Jack stash required to make the new One Week One Project. I'm going to start on that this weekend I hope!

We're in the middle of decorating the front bedroom at the moment, this will be Dylan's new room. We bought some gorgeous things for his bedroom last weekend from Ikea, curtains , bed set and a blanket similar to Iggle Piggle's. I've also bought some Apple Jack stash because I'm going to make some altered frames for Dylan's bed room, so watch this space!

There's also a layout I'd like to share with you as well today, It's Create 10 Project 9. I've skipped 8 and 10 for now, I'm in a frenzy of nesting at the moment! The prompt for this layout was to use more than one photo on the page. I've used photos of Dylan chatting to Auntie Clare's rabbits.

I used papers from Sassafras Sunshine Lollipop and Prima Marketing My Mommy and Me. I've embellished the page with Prima My Mommy and Me Rub Ons, wooden ladybirds, Japanese deco tape, ribbon and hand stitching. The alphas are all American Crafts Thickers.

Thanks for stopping by!

XxX

Create 10 Project 7

Good Morning! Here's my layout for Create 10 Project 7. The prompt for this class was to include a handprint on the page. I chose to use one of Dylan's rather than my own, I thought it would be a nice thing to look back on in few years! He didn't reckon much to me painting on his hand, he hates having dirty hands! I also asked him to draw a picture for me that morning to include on the page.

Papers used;Sassafras, Anthem. Cosmo Cricket, The Boyfriend. Basic Grey, Lime Rickey.

Alphas; Sassafras, American Crafts Thickers and others.

Embellishments; Sassafras stickers and paper whimsies. Die cut flowers.


Also don't forget to check out LilibeeStudio where you'll find a new One Week One Project tutorial. It's a lovely colourful mini album using the new Sassafras Apple Jack line. I'll be starting that project next week, when I've completed the rest of my Create 10 Layouts! I'm trying not to burn myself out! :)

Have a great weekend!

XxX

Create 10 Project 4

Hi! Very short and sweet today! I just thought I'd share my layout for project 4. I've used Cosmo Cricket Early Bird and The Boyfriend papers. The T-Shirt template is from the Create 10 class and also the rosette flower. Instead of using fabric to make the flower I used paper, because I didn't have anything that matched!

Thanks for looking!

XxX

Lovely Weekend!

Ooh! This weather's nice! I honestly feel like a different person when the sun is shining. I love it. We had a lovely day yesterday at my sisters house. We went there for the afternoon and had lunch sat outside. Johnny her boyfriend had made some chocolate covered strawberries for dessert, they were gorgeous. I took a million photos of Dylan playing outside. I'm sure one day he'll get fed up of me chasing him around with a camera. Lol Clare's got a couple of pet rabbits and she let them run around on the lawn. Dylan had a great time chatting to them, although I'm not sure they chatted back. ;)

"ello babbit, what ya doing?"

I've also managed to get my 3rd Create 10 project finished as well this weekend. The class was great it gave instructions on how to make a memo board, which I will use in the future. I used the principles from the class to alter a chipboard frame, that I've had sitting in my draw for 2 years! I used Cosmo Cricket Material Girl and Girl Friday papers to decorate the chipoard frame, buttons and dress form with. The alphabet stickers are also Cosmo Cricket.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

XxX

Create 10 Project 2

Hello! Just a quickie today to share my second layout for Create 10 with crafty templates. I decided not to use the template provided but to use the same technique using kites instead. I'm really quite pleased with the result.

On the down side today I've been sat in the hospital all morning having a glucose tolerance test, to check for gestational diabetes. I get the results back on Monday. Keep your fingers crossed for me pleased, I don't know what I'll do if they say I can't eat chocolate anymore!

XxX

Create 10 Project 1

Good Morning!

Just thought I'd share this layout with you. I'm taking part in another class at the moment, called Create 10. It's 10 projects over 10 days and is available over at Crafty Templates. I thought it was a snip at only £5. There's lots of great ideas for using your scrap stash more efficiently, and I'm all for that! Yesterdays class was making flowers from ribbon, making paper bunting, and how to make your own masks for glimmer mists. And that was just part 1 of 10! And to top it all off they're doing a prize draw for each project that's completed. :)

I'd also like to say a BIG THANK YOU to Kelly, I won a lovely giveaway on her blog!

That's all for today! XxX

Recent Burst of Creativity!

Just recently I've had a new burst of life. I've been feeling quite crafty, it's wonderful. I'm not sure how long it'll last though, so I'm doing as much as I can, while I can! :) I've been having great fun following Lilibees One Week One Project. I've made an album for my summer photos and a Wedding album for my sister, using the tutorial from One Week One Project Part 3.

.

I've also made a mini album using some of my new Sassafras stash that I received for Mothers Day. I dug out some old photos of my first holiday abroad to Spain, I was 6 years old. Because I have Womble tendencies I like to get the most out of my stash. I used a small circle punch and some Papermania clear domed stickers to make some epoxy stickers with my Sassafras paper. The wave effect in the first picture of mosaic was created using the waste in between the banners on the Flag Banners sticker sheet. My favourite embellishments are the felt ones (even if I do say so myself!). The felt flower was hand cut and stitched. To make the rainbow I used a Sizzix Sizzlits Hello Kitty Rainbow Die, cut the felt out in various colours, stuck the different pieces to a sheet of double sided sticky tape stuff, stacked the layers and then stitched beads on for the eyes. It was a fiddly task but well worth it. :)

These albums can all be viewed in more detail on my Flickr photostream if you're interested.

Thanks for dropping in!

Rachel XxX

Mothers Day Came Early

Yippee! Dylan and Tony bought me a lovely gift for Mothers Day and it arrived this morning. I've been wanting to get my hands on this ever since I first saw it on the Sassafras blog. I've been checking the online scrapbooking shops nearly every day to see if they had it in and finally one of them did! I love it so much! And thank you Tony XxX (I know you'll read this later).

I've also been for a scan today. I did go for a 20wk scan last week, but our baby was being awkward and wouldn't get into the right position to have it's spine checked. So we had to go back today for another look. Everything looks good! So I'm on top of the world today. I've been suffering really badly with anxiety during this pregnancy, but I'm feeling much better now I've seen the scan today.

I tried to take a photo of Dylan this morning whilst photographing my new stash, but he hid under my bump. I had no idea it was this big already! :)

I've also finished my project from Lilibee Studio. Instead of making a recipe card book, I made it into a book about the words Dylan has learnt recently. I thought it would help us to remember all the funny things he says.

Lilibee 2nd One Week One Project

I'm a little bit behind with the second One Week One Project, so I haven't got any photo's of that to share! But here's a link to the tutorial and giveaway on Leila's blog.

Check Out Prima Product Picks!

Prima Product Picks!
Ready for something FUN?
Something REALLY, REALLY Fun?
Prima has chosen some of their very favorite products, and put them together in a fantastic little ensemble below...what we want to do is to introduce you to a few of them...and, THEN, get you involved!

Prima Product Picks Include:
Fleur Danseur: These vintage flowers are absolutely stunning with the gem centers!
Pebbles: Patterned pebbles are perfect for a flower center or as an embellishment on your project.
Say It In Pearls Butterfly Swirl: These are totally feminine and precious! These swirls can be applied to almost ANY medium!
Holiday Lights Pearl Vine: Lovely vines filled with peach-colored pearl beads.
Gypsy Petals: Layers of yummy fabric with lightly singed edges and a gorgeous center.
Fleur Danseur:Sweet flowers made with fancy fabrics and complete centers.
Baroque Blooms: like large flowers? These are perfect for a fab focal point or an altered project!
Say It In Pearls: These centers will add class and elegance to any project!
Romani Flowers: These gorgeous flowers include a combination of beautiful fabric and pearls!
Trellis Roses: Sweet roses that look freshly picked!
Felt Stems: Just add flowers for a fabulous look!

Run on over to the Prima blog to check out the projects made using Prima Product Picks and also for your chance to win.