Hand Crafted Memories

Ooops Im a bit late posting this week, the saga of the kitchen continues and has taken all my attention. The whole of my downstairs is a no - go zone so I have been trapped in my craft room.......dont worry I coped with some guilt free scrapbooking. Over on UK Scrap Addicts they have been running a series highlighting how their design team add multiple photos to a layout. It is interesting to see everybodys take on the challenge. I bought this paper a couple of weeks ago and knew I wanted to add a few photos highlighting my trip to America. To get all the pictures on there I reduced them to 2 inch squares and managed to add 7 on there . The title is a lovely sticker from Globe Gallery, its is a vinyl sticker, and is one of the accessories for the globes. Personally I loved the stickers but not the globes, at £4 its a bit pricey for a title but I Ioved the text and the touch of luxury and it fitted perfectly onto the layout.

Usually before a retreat there is a challenge to get you in the mood for all the fun. One of the previous Scrapstars retreat challenges was to create a layout based on a movie title. Well with all the movies that have ever been released the field was wide open. I chose the use my photos from a Nile trip that I did over 15 years ago and of course the title was Jewel of the Nile.

Oh what a week, I'm really not lucky. My new kitchen was delivered but one cupboard was missing. It hadn't been bought or paid for and will arrive in 7 - 10 days. This wasn't discovered until after the old kitchen had been removed. So now I have no cooking or tea making facilities, I'm already tired of sandwiches. I am trying my very best to focus on the end result. This has given me the chance to search out more of the layouts I have taught at Scrapstars. This was 201 5 and another interactive layout.   The large photo in the centre lifts up to reveal a series of 'steps' for adding more photos and journalling spots. It was difficult to get a good picture  but I think you will get it from these two.     The cuts have to be very neat and specific for it to work and I was happy to see all the ladies managed it. It is funny to watch everybod y thinking they can 't do it and being very nervous about making the interactive layouts ,then suddenly the...

Over the last few week Ive been preparing my layouts ready to teach at Scrapstars . I have been delighted to teach at this retreat for the last 4 years and have been overwhelmed with the response to the layouts that I have taught. My classes are ready, I only have the instructions for the second class to write. It will also be lovely to see the other teachers. Tracee Provis is returning, she is such fun and makes me laugh all weekend. I will also be meeting Morag Cutts , I love her style so will enjoy these classes. Caroline is also teaching a class this year, as my main crafting buddy I always love the layouts she makes with me. The first layout I ever taught at the retreat was this one and I think it is still one of my favourite layouts. The following year I taught this one  and this one. All the ladies made the vine based on this tutorial that I did in 2013, doesn't time fly. I will post the layouts Ive taught since then over the coming weeks, come back for more .

I've had quite a busy week. I have to empty all of my kitchen cupboards ready for a new kitchen, so once again my house is upside down. To make room for moving everything out of the way I decided to finally put away all of the layouts that I finished but just hadn't got into albums. It took me a couple of hours and I have promised myself that I will put them away as I finish them from now on. This one I made at my friend Carolines I get together with a group of lovely ladies regularly. on this occasion we hired a room for a weekend at a hotel and spent three days crafting, lots of laughter and pages are always on the agenda. This  page was from a My  Minds Eye kit Caroline had got for us all, the colours were perfect for this photo taken many years ago in Sri Lanka. Its unusual for me to use such a bold background but I really like how this one turned out.  ,

Well it is a long time since I posted but I have finally given in to the pressure from various sources that I need to keep the blog going. A number of things caused my absence. A change in job that has made many demands on my time and leaked into my private time greatly. This impacted my mojo and we all know when that goes it can take some time to regain. I also decided to redecorate and have some work done at the house, why does changing one room spill over to every room in the house? This then takes almost 12 months to get back to where it should have been. Throughout all of this I did spit and spat at my crafts and attended some classes and retreats to keep my hand in. I also continued to teach at Scrapstars and am delighted to have been asked to teach again in April this year. So I now have a pile of finished layouts that need to be put into albums, as I go through them I will post them to keep everybody up to date.......if anybody is still out there! I was invited to Irela...

Oh no a disaster has befallen in my craft room, my Big Shot has died. I am bereft. Seriously, it has been making the most awful noises for a while but carried on working fine. Then on Sunday it just seized up and no amount of tlc or pleading would fix it. Thankfully hobby craft have a good deal on at the moment and as I signed up to their newsletter got another 15% off. It made the loss easier. So here is the card that broke the Big Shots back.  This weeks Winter Wonderland challenge was to use two ribbons. thankfully I had just finished making this card, and my card box is filling up quite nicely now.