Hand Crafted Memories

One of the ways I know if I've been to a great retreat is if I have to finish the projects at home. Although I would love to come home with a pile of finished pages, it would mean I had completed them all in the allocated hour to two hours. If I can finish them at home the pressure is off at the retreat and it extends the pleasure for some time afterwards. I hate not finishing things it would seem to be a waste of time and money to just leave them, so part 2 of the retreat is going on right now.  I enjoyed Kirsty's canvas class even though when I started it I didn't know what I was going to put on it. While I was waiting for the background to dry I remembered a photo of my best friend and I from a couple of years ago. Its one of my favourites and I have it in a plain frame in my craft room. I loved the finished article so much I bought another kit and have made one for Theresa as a present and this one has replaced the plain black frame.   I just love the colours in this.

On Saturday evening Julie Kettlewell came to Scrapstars with all her lovely Stampin Up products. We did a little make and take and I was delighted that it was the little gift bag that she regularly features on her blog. I switched all the papers to make this its easy to make and uses only 1 piece of cardstock and a little bit of paper.

I got home last night from Scrapstars retreat, and boy was I shattered. I have to say it was the most fun, inspiring, delicious retreat I have ever been on. We never stopped but were never rushed and we were spoilt rotten. I have returned brimming with mojo and ideas, how the fabulous tutors continue to think up these projects is beyond me. We had 8 classes in total, between classes we had tea and coffee breaks and each time were treated to muffins and sweeties and cookies galore. Friday evening the talented Emma led a class that was just so beautiful, we were given valuable tip s on getting out misting right and how to use paint on our projects. I haven't finished most of mine but that's a good retreat to me, when I have to come home and continue. The kits were crammed with great papers and each one had tons left over for more pages. Here is the first page I finished, it was the seventh class that I did but was the only one I had taken a photograph for. This was taught by Rac

Last sunday I had a great day at the Craft Box , the lovely Claire of Molly Blooms had a workshop to make the most amazing advent calendar. I didn't finish it on the day, I spent another couple of evenings on it. I just can't wait till Christmas to use it, and this little beauty is not going into anybody else's hands.       I don't need much of an excuse these days to get my Promarkers out, this was such a great project to use them on.

How great are mini books for stash busting? I have been so inspired by some links my friend Lesley posted on her face book, that I have made two this week. The second one was inspired by this video . I loved the Tattered Time papers, how cool is this album but as I am trying to use up existing stash I talked myself out of ordering it. I did have the All about Boys stack kicking around so that's what I used. I love this little album so much I just keep flipping through the pages and there are no photos to look at! the first page (on the right) the flap lifts up and the klonk, bang page folds down to show pages that hold 4 photos  the left page (checked) is a pocket to slide a photo/tag under the strip, the right side has the yellow mat for a photo and the blue border folds down  the black piece on the left is a photo mat the piece on the right fold out to hold 2 more pictures  the left is a plain page, on the right the strip folds down and then the light bulbs flap folds up for t

Sometimes you have to make something because you have been so inspired. A few nights ago my friend Lesley posted some links to You tube tutorials featuring some amazing mini books. I just had to have a go at this one .  If you read my blog regularly you will know that I am absolutely snowed under with papers and am trying to work my way through them. This was a fantastic stash busting project. I can't believe how lovely these papers look in this album, I had them on a pile to give away, but thought I'd make a rough version using them before I made a 'good' one. I'm so pleased with how it turned out I don't need to make another. I think you could get about 50 pictures in here, this what I've come up with:  I need to decide what sort of closure I'm going to use  and with the pages flipped up the black card on the right are the tags that sit in the pockets, the yellow covered pages are actually a pocket where the tag pulls out sideways. I'll cover th

Yes I've been at it again, at the moment I love my Promarkers ! I'm finding that sitting and just colouring stamped images is so therapeutic and relaxing. It's also a great excuse to get on with my Christmas cards. I sorted through my bit box of papers and found a bunch of Christmas papers that had been knocking about for ages, so I'm promising not to buy any new ones and use all the bits before I cut into another new sheet. Then I have to use all the sheets before I buy anymore, that will probably be the next millennium!  I've even had my box of Promarkers at work and taken some of the images to colour in my lunch hour. The problem with that is I don't want to come back from lunch. Here are some of my creations: See the little pom poms on the hats, yes they were coloured in with Promarkers to match their outfits. This afternoon I'm going to a Promarkers colouring techniques workshop. I have to find out if I'm using my pens correctly and as its at the f