Paper and Thread

It seems lately that all I want to do is play with paper...cards...layouts...Project Life....which is kind-of strange since it's been all about fabric and thread for quite a while around here.

My experience tells me to go where the mojo takes me :)

So....Hello Project Life Week 16!...a week where I was inspired to pull out my Simple Stories Vintage Bliss goodies once again, and flow with all that girly goodness.

I've blurred some of the journaling out, as it's a bit personal. I really hope you don't find that too annoying every once in a while, but my albums are primarily for my own family to read, and some of the things I write about just aren't for public consumption. Thanks for understanding ;)

 As I was packing up my supplies, I was inspired to use one of the larger journaling cards as the base for a scrapbook layout, along with the 12 inch wide "so happy"strip . They don't fit into my PL format, but are way too pretty not to use, don't you think?

 What followed was a very simple layout, but I love it just the same. The journal block in the centre, surrounded by photos of my little one dancing, and the strip along the base, all mounted onto a turquoise base. The banner is made up of stickers from the Vintage Bliss sticker sheet, with a few extra bits and pieces to finish it off. Who says scrapbooking has to be complicated?

I'm still stitching away on my Scandinavian Rose blocks...it feels like so long since I've shown you a completed one (funny that...it IS a long time since I finished one!LOL)

Block Four is huge. It has a LOT of stitching, and an especially large amount of satin stitch. I'm still plugging along, but will probably  be adding it to my May to-do list...sigh. I started stitching it in February!

Hope you're having a lovely weekend.... I'm still struggling with what day of the week it is! That ANZAC Day holiday really threw me this week ;)

TTFN xxx

The Three of Us...and Gangnam Style!

Another tick off the April to-do list today, with the completion of a couple more scrapbook layouts...that makes 5!

I started my first layout with this cute little sticker from the Handmade Collection by Lilybee Design...

... it seemed perfect to add to a layout about "The Three of Us"...Linda, Tracey and I. Each month we get together to work on our 12 Months of Christmas project, and sometimes amongst the chat and laughter and consumption of yummy food we even get our sewing machines out :)

I misted the chipboard with Mr Hueys Hot Diggity mist (love that colour!) and added some buttons. The papers are from the Handmade Collection too, and I cut strips of the patchwork paper to add some colour.

My second layout was heavily inspired by a layout on the Echo Park website, by Rachael Sheedy, here.

I used papers and embellishments from Echo Park's Sweet Girl range...my new favourite :)

Hope you're having a great day!

TTFN xxx

Sunday Cards

I have some cards to share with you today...trying really really hard to achieve my to-do list this month!

I recently purchased some yummy new papers from Echo Park called Sweet Girl, and to say I love them is an understatement. Yellow, olive green, turquoise, red and pink. They are so much prettier in real life than what they appear on a computer screen!

I hand cut around the hexagons to create a background, stamped the doily and hand cut it, then applied the cardstock stickers and drew the faux stitching around the outside. Love those colours all together, don't you?

The next card was created with some bits and pieces of my Studio Calico card kit, and finished off with a cardstock sticker from Sweet Girl and some twine. Red and turquoise...mmmmmmmmm.

Having broken out my Studio Calico kit, I thought I should use some more elements from it, and went to the SC website searching for inspiration. I came across a card in the member gallery which used the Pebbles cardstock HELLO sticker as part of a banner, and used that idea for this card (I'm sorry I can't credit the maker as the card seems to have been removed?)

The other banner flags were created by folding washi tape over some twine...simple but brilliant. I couldn't stop at one ...

 ...and it felt good to be using some of my rather large washi tape stash :) I could make this card over and over again, just playing with different colour and width combinations...such fun!

While playing around with backgrounds for the first card I showed you, I experimented with spraying a doily (very liberally) with some Mr Huey's mist in a shade called Hot Diggity...nice bright red!

I used it on a fifth card, backing a cute HELLO sticker from the Studio Calico kit and some mixed flowers from my stash.

And that, my bloggy friends, is my once-a-month card making frenzy all done and dusted for April :)

Happy Sunday!

TTFN xxx

Project Life 2013 - Weeks 14 and 15

Hello Project Life Week 14...a week where I pulled out some of my older Heather Bailey paper stash and mixed it with my PL Olive Kit (by Heather Bailey), and loved the result :)

I'll save you all the detail shots today, because I totally forgot to post my pages last week so you have two weeks to get through. How slack of me! Week 14 was all about our Easter break and catch ups with friends, broken fingernails and completed projects...the nitty gritty of life!

  Week 15 was another Simple Stories paper week, this time I used their Summer Fresh Collection....one of my favourites.

 I used some of my PL Olive kit again for this spread... the grey 3x4 journal cards which I decorated with some Simple Stories stickers :) Still in de-stash mode...can you tell?

I knocked this one off very early in the week...wish I could be so organised every week :)

So...how is PL going for you? Are you keeping up with it, playing catch-up, or (shock!horror!) have you totally abandoned the whole thing? It's a BIG commitment, that's for sure. If you need a PL pep talk, give me a call...apparently I'm good at giving them ;)

TTFN xxx



You'll never know, dear, how much I love you :)

Every time I lay my eyes on this piece of paper from Dear Lizzie's Lucky Charm collection, I get the song stuck in my head :)

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away. Is it stuck in your head now too? LOL

 I couldn't bear to cut this particular paper, so added a few embellishments...hand cut clouds, some My Huey's mist, an enamel button, some stitching, a strip of paper and some journaling...and called it good :) I really love this photo of my husband and I...makes me smile.

Not cutting pretty paper has been a common factor in most of my layouts lately...here's another :)

 This is Basic Grey's Knee Highs...rainbow chevrons...need I say more? I used my Cuttlebug to cut and emboss the hearts and postage stamp shapes, and added a little round embellishment from the American Crafts Alpha Thickers sheet that I used in the title. I also cut and embossed the white alphas with the Cuttlebug...just to tie it all in.

Thanks so much for visiting, and leaving me such lovely comments. I've been having lots of trouble with spam comments coming through lately, and am trying to find a manageable way to deal with them. I don't like to turn word verification on ...it's SUCH a pain!... but so is dealing with lots of random, anonymous comments every day too. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance ;)

TTFN xxx



Project Life 2013 - Week 13 and a layout.

Hello Week 13... a week of Simple Stories SNAP, and Easter and everyday life.



I thought I had heaps and heaps of photos for this particular week...until I realised that most of them were taken on Easter Sunday, which falls in Week 14 :) Thankfully I managed to fill out the pockets with other random bits and pieces!

I've pulled some journal cards from my Project Life Turquoise and Clementine kits, and have used both the printed and plain sides on this spread. My goal is to condense these kits down to one box before the new Honey Project Life kit is released (possibly next month?)...I am wanting Honey SO SO badly, but storage is becoming an issue in my little craft room  :)  Make room...or don't buy! (eeek!)

I woke this morning with the intention of cleaning all the SNAP goodies off my scrap desk so that I could sew, but got a little sidetracked with some 12x12 scrapbooking ;)

 I love the big 4x6 SNAP cards, but rarely use that orientation in my Project Life pages...so decided to feature one on a layout.

I mounted it on white cardstock, stitched around it in yellow thread, and popped it up off the page with 3D tape. I created the spotty background with scraps from my Echo Park Dots and Stripes favourites, and embellished with some PL arrows, an enamel button and some other SNAP goodies.

I ended up with a rare layout of my boy (he is SOOO not into photos these days) and another polkadottie page for my album...LOL! Go with what you love, right?

Hope you've had a most excellent weekend!

TTFN xxx

12 Months Of Christmas...Christmas Tree Skirt

You may remember that Linda, Tracey and I (and a number of you lovely readers, too) embarked on a journey at the beginning of this year to create a Christmas project each month?

My January went well with some cute little ornaments, and then I moved on to a Christmas Tree Skirt for February. Well, let me tell you, the Christmas Tree Skirt took a tad (no, actually a LOT) longer than I was anticipating :)

The girls and I got together last Saturday to work on our March project, a Christmas tablerunner. Linda's is coming along beautifully, and she has not one, but several, in production! GO LINDA!

Tracey decided to make a little square tablerunner, and cut hers out on the day using some Kate Spain fabrics...very very pretty! I see on Instagram today that she is currently stitching down the binding...GO TRACEY!

And me? Well, despite having all my fabrics, pattern etc sorted for my tablerunner, I decided to plod along on my Christmas Tree Skirt...which has now become a Christmas Tree Mat :)

After completing all my house stitcheries, I had decided to make these little corner triangles from the script fabric, and then proceeded to cut it all out ...with the writing going in  all the wrong directions! ! Don't you just hate that? So I reached into my stash and luckily found some green to replace it...phew!

 Rather than waste the script fabric, I fussy cut the words and blanket stitched them onto the scalloped edging...which I LOVE more than the original idea as it turns out  ;)

I didn't have enough words for every single scallop, but liked the idea of doubling up at the corners and then placing them in every second scallop along the edges.

It's taken me most of the long weekend and a whole lot of Easter eggs,  but I put the final quilting stitches into it this afternoon, and TA DAH...

...it's finished! I'm really very pleased with how it all came together in the end, and can't wait to pop my Christmas tree on top of it on December 1st :)

Now...onto my Christmas tablerunner :)

TTFN xxx