Let's Go Green!

I had a li'l bit of exciting news while I was away - the Arty Girlz, Crissie & Julie, have selected me as their guest designer for the ongoing recycling challenge over on their blog. You can join in this challenge at any time - just click the banner for full deets!!
... & check out the 'guest designer' blinkie on the right (scroll down to just below my DT places) - way cool huh??

Bad Blogger

Forgive me readers for I have sinned ... It's been 11 days since I last blogged! I've been struggling a bit to keep up with all that life throws at me this last couple of weeks - I've barely scrapped, which makes me VERY crabby; household appliances are dying left, right & centre; marital relationships have been a tad strained to say the least ... & it's half term, which means I have both Fish & DH at home ... We are working simultaneously on the house & garden this week - major works are underway & the second skip arrived this morning.
Apologies to those who are expecting DT work from me - I'll be playing catch up at the weekend (again!!!) but from next week I expect normality to reign once more.
I had a li'l play with my alphas & the lush Bo Bunny Ella papers for today's class - see you there ladies!!

Reminder: The Way Of The Scrapbooker Starts Today!!

My new class starts over at MCC later today but it's not too late to join the fun! All the deets are here (scroll down to the 3rd class)! The classroom will open at 8pm (BST) - so long as you are paid up, you'll receive an e-mail with the classroom keycode - & that's about all there is to it!
This li'l album is part journal, part scrapbook - designed especially to go where you do & with refillable space for you to add notes, sketches etc on the move ... No kit to buy - you can use your own stash - but a full supply list is included for reference. You'll even get a full PDF of quotes, especially adapted by me, ready to print off at home. All that for $15 (so if you live in the UK, it's an absolute steal!!!)
Can't wait to see you all there!

Mega Catch Up Friday!!

Oooooh! I don't plan on doing this too often! LOL.
Major e-mail issues have been taking up my time this week - leaving precious little time left for blogging ... & the result is mega catch up Friday! LOL. Anyway, I've set up a new g mail account for the store (have to say I do love google's ever-expanding free services! LOL) & all is getting back to normal! If you have my contact deets stored, please update your contact list now!! You can use either the e-mail in my blogger profile or the deets on the webstore ... any others that you might have are not working right now & I will probably phase them out now anyway!!
I have a whole bunch of projects to share right now ... check out the posts below!!

More Cogsmo!!

Cosmo Cricket's new Cogsmo range is fabulous for making birthday cards ... & doubly fabulous for boys!! I made this li'l bunch of cards while at MILs & have a ton of other ideas too!!
You'll find individual images in my gallery, HERE!

Sorry Di!!

This is the card that I should have e-mailed over to Di Hickman for this week's sketch. I'm having major issues with my e-mail (so much so that I've set up new webmail accounts) & what with going up to look after MIL this week, I didn't get it there ... which sucks as I really kinda like this one! Lotsa MR ribbons & stuff ... and more of those Urban Rhapsody papers!

Winged Things

This is the front cover of a li'l Maya Road mini book I've been working on. In fact, it's pretty much all Maya Road goodies. We're hoping to become a stockist over at the webstore - just awaiting confirmation on that one really.
I made it for the NSD/MR challenge over at 2 peas - the 2 winners will have theirs displayed at CHA - what a thrill! & there's $100 of MR goodies thrown in too ... so it's all good! LOL
In the meantime, if you'd like to see the rest of the Album ... it's over on my gallery, right here.

Playtime!

I'd wanted to blog this while at MILs but I'm a total ditz & left my camera cables at home! LOL. So this is the layout we'll be doing this afternoon!! Gotta love Cogsmo!!!

DT Call at Crop 'Til You Drop

Yup! the new DT Call is up now!! Check it out here

Fab's April Christmas Cards

I actually made these cards a couple of weeks ago for Fab's challenge - but

I've been such a bad blogger of late that I hadn't got them posted. Anyway, you might remember I had been posting a lot of stuff made with Luxe Designs ... & these cards were made with some of the scraps. Certainly not your traditional crimbo cards but I do like to do something a li'l bit different. The papers, rubs & ribbons are all Luxe, gems & sentiment stamp by A Muse, Sizzix tree die & SU! snowflake punch.
There's still a bunch of A Muse goodies on sale at 75% off - check 'em out before they are gone!
& I haven't forgotten about posting my scraproom pics - the week has just got away from me a bit. I'm having a bit of a break next week ... so I'm hoping to catch up a bit then too!

CHALLENGES, COMPETITIONS & MORE FREE STUFF!!

Bit of a catch up post here - soooooo many ways to win right now!! So let's get right to it:

Crop 'Til You Drop Monthly Challenge. This month we want to see felt &/or fabric on your projects. So why not whip up a quick card, layout, altered item ... or whatever! & we positively encourage multi challenge projects, so do feel free to combine with any other challenges that you usually enter. We also are more than happy to receive multiple entries - the more projects you enter the greater your chances to win!! Need stash to get you started? Check out the webstore for felt & fabric stash!!

It's Good To Be Green - Allie Gower over at Croppinsville USA has a fabulous green giveaway up for grabs ... in a recycled box!! All you have to do is pop on over to the blog & leave a comment about your own green efforts ... & don't forget to say I sent you over! LOL. Be quick - you only have until Wed 7th May (that's tomorrow! Yikes!!)

I have a li'l RAK of my own here too! As you'll know from my previous post, I've been working on that li'l scrapping haven of mine. Can you imagine just how much stash I've rediscovered?? Anyway, the deal is that I'm gonna RAK some of that stash to you guys as it'll take me several lifetimes to use it all (& I'm a bit of a monkey for buying new stuff! LOL). All you have to do is post a li'l comment telling me your best storage tip (cuz I still have loads of stash to house!!) & I'll enter all the comments into a draw (on May 22nd - my Daddy's birthday!) Send your friends over & I'll do an extra draw for those people too - 1 entry for each person that mentions you in their post.

So good luck ... & go win stuff!!

What I did for NSD weekend

I had planned a creative weekend to celebrate National Scrapbook Day this year (last year you might remember a fire at the store just a couple of days before completely scuppered all our plans) but when it came to it I changed my mind at the last minute. Just shy of 6 months after moving out of the store and into my new, compact scrapping space at home, I seem to have outgrown it. So my mission for the weekend is to re-organise.
We have a long weekend in the UK - a bank holiday Monday, which means DH is here to tackle those all-important power tool tasks. I don't touch power tools but that's another story!!!
These are the 'before' photos & I know that I'm lucky to have a space of my own but it's not quite working out for me ... The table in front of the window catches the sun in the afternoons (which means I'm practically blinded on all but the greyest of days) & I can't put much at the back as it's always falling down on to the window sill - especially at night when I close the curtains. There's also a lot of wasted space, inaccessible areas & the whole thing is just a bit too cramped!
The bookshelves & those big blue storage boxes work quite well, except that they are partially blocked by the table. Some of those boxes (the ones with acrylic paints & card blanks) are quite heavy. Sometimes I'll make do with what is already out rather than lifting them all out- and if I do get them out, I don't often put the stuff away again, so that's even more clutter to deal with!
Just look at all that wasted space in the 3rd photo! That is the back of the wardrobes that divide our bedroom from my scrap space - we have toyed with many ways of using that space, but nothing really works. You can't hang anything weighty on them & there's a limit to how high you can stack things up - definitely requires a new solution!
I have a huge closet, which essentially is a li'l room over the stairs. I have lots of shelving in there & the only issue again is access - the drawer unit close to the doorway makes it really difficult to get to the stash inside (we took the closet door off to gain space there). This is where I store all my cardstock, papers, alterables & some of my tools, so I have to get in there quite a lot. So that's a quick way to suck all the pleasure out of starting a new project - & the reason why I don't alter as much as I'd like to ... Sooooo much wasted time just trying to get to things! LOL.
That last photo ... That's the mess under my table - also hard to get at as there's only just enough space between the table & the back of those wardrobes for me to sit (tiny, svelte skinny thing, I am not!!) I had one of those blue boxes full of metal embellishments under there that I know I haven't touched in months ... kinda forgot it was there really! Yep! time for a serious change.
So this last couple of days, I have been measuring, moving stuff, repurposing household finds & finding lots of li'l jobs for DH. I'm nearly ready to share, there's just a few more bits to finish off Monday. I guess it'll never be actually finished as every time there's something new added, the storage needs change a li'l bit ... but at least it's gonna be workable.
So pop back soon to see the end result!

Today Is Turning Out Just Fabulous!

I had a rather productive day yesterday & didn't get to bed until 3 am (again!!), so I really didn't want to get up this morning. Doesn't sound like a good start? Read on ...
I eventually dragged my but out of bed when the parcel guy came with a delivery - that always means yummy stuff arriving from the US. Today's offering? A fabby box of product from C&T Publishing. I treated myself to a couple of idea books (partly to see what's already been done) plus board blocks in a couple of sizes, an indie file box & a 10x10 board book - Lush, Lush, Lush.
I left this layout on the table downstairs last night - entered it into the Truly Trendy competition at Scrapscene. Obviously the trend I picked is 'birds'. I wasn't sure about it last night but this morning I love it. I have a big problem cutting into a sheet of gorgeous paper - not wanting to cover it up - so I collaged my fave bits from 2 papers & yep! this morning I like the result ... maybe my judgement is a li'l bit impaired after midnight!! I used K&Co Mira - gorgeous stuff & one of the most inexpensive ranges right now. So this is what my ladies will be making tomorrow.
So then I get on to my e-mails ... first one I opened is from Allie Gower, offering me a DT place at Croppinsville USA. This is a brand new venture, so I'm thrilled to get in right at the beginning. Can't wait to get started!!
The store/webstore opens in a couple of weeks but there's lots a-happenin' over on the blog - including a big green giveaway right now!!
My late night sees me right up to date with all my DT work etc - and it's 1st May - 2 bank holidays to look forward to this month & DH has a week off (I think) around the second bank holiday. That means family time. So yeah! Today is a good day!