'Live in the Moment'

Feels like forever since I sat at my desk to type!!

Been super busy with life and other crafty projects, like Christmas things for DD#1's classroom, making cupcakes out of wall filling foam for my local drama group and of course fiddling about with paints and canvases......more of that to come at a later date :0)

My post today was inspired by Scraptastic Kit club's challenge and also Counterfeit Kit's challenge. Now I subscribe to the kits at Scraptastic and although I planned to play along and make a kit up this month for CKC I really haven't had the time. However, using the sentiment behind CKC, i.e. use your stash, I made the background using only my scraps!

I have been OTT OCD and sorted my scraps into colour folders and this meant that it was simple to find the right papers to make up my sunburst. I then picked out some of the elements of my new Scraptastic Kit 'When Skies Are Grey' which I just adore!!

Go to both websites for a tutorial and have a go, it's soooo therapeutic....even if a little fussy....I can't decide if I love it or loath it!!

Apologies for the rather horrid photos but it is so dark and foggy here ...so, no bright white for me!

papers are October Afternoon, Glitz Design, Pink Paislee and My Minds Eye

Pink Paislee arrow and heart, Ali Edwards stamp and MME love stamp

more Pink Paislee and another Ali Edwards stamp, Pretty Little Studio diecut, TH butterfly and random old metal thing!!

not the most flattering of photos, granted, but I love that you can see the fun we have together!! We are spinning round on a bowl shaped roundabout thing at the park :0)

Thanks for popping in today,

Ali x 

A sweet card for a treasured girl :0)

Super swift post in between packing, dog walking, cleaning and all the other stuff!!

Off in a minute to to stay over in Norfolk as DD#1's graduation ceremony is at 9.30 tomorrow morning and here is the card that I made for her. Not the usual graduate card, I admit, but personal to her as she begins her new teaching job in September and she is an absolute star as far as we are concerned :0)

I have finally broken into the Graphic 45 pad I recently found tucked away...do you know the worst thing? I had it shipped over from the States as I was so desperate for it.......shocking waste of money!!! Still that tiny bit of sum paper along with the story card from Pretty Little Studio was perfect for a teacher :0) The red star paper is Pink Paislee and the felt star was cut on the Cuttlebug.

Thanks for popping in, off to see my girl reap the rewards of a very long and hard working year...yay!

Ali x 

PLS Sketch #49 'Family'

Hello,

now I know that this is not the normal way to start a post but..........not sure if I like this layout!

I adore the sketch from PLS and will definitely be using it again but I think my take on it may be a little wrong :0( I tried using a bright pink (taken from the photo) but, honestly, I don't think it's worked. I also don't like the way I have placed the floral tear out sheet (think it needs to move in more) but I thought I would share it anyway as sometimes it's good to show your mistakes....isn't it?????

Here is the delightful sketch:




and here is my take on it using a very old photo of my Mum and Dad and me (dark hair and overweight!) in the beautiful city of Liverpool.

Apart from the super bright colour of the mist, there is also far too much of it!! You can just about see the line of Tattered Angels Glitter Glam that I painted on through a stencil - I should have just stuck to that ;0)

The principle is a cool idea and one I will use again, when I was misting I put some kitchen roll down to catch the overspray and ended up using a couple of strips. I have used PLS labels to mark the date of the photo

If I hadn't stuck this down already I would have moved it over so that the tattered edge showed to the side of the photo and the dotty bit just peeped over the top. The page is from PP Sweetness Flip Note book

The chipboard heart was retrieved from the bin!! I added in the orange buttons to give some contrast to the pink - if you are going bright, go over the top!

You might be wondering why I haven't just consigned this to the box under the bed and have shared it, well, 2 reasons....1. there are some nice ideas to share and 2. you may have a brilliant idea to rectify this poor little layout!!

Thanks for popping in,

Ali x 

CKC and Pretty Little Studio 'Fragile'

hello,

I loved the sketch over at PLS this week, clean lines, lots of white space - just my kind of thing!

I am getting to the tail end of my very mini kit for this month so I think I am going to have to add to it otherwise it will be game over!!

For this layout I decided to embrace the whiteness of white space and keep it really neutral and simple. I have been meaning to give chevrons a go for ages and decided that they would work perfectly with this sketch - although I love the result, the process may just be a bit too fiddly for my liking - hence a limited amount of chevrons!

Also just have to say a massive thank you to Missy at ScrapFit for the brilliant mist tutorial click here that meant I finally had some black misting spray....yay!! You will be seeing a lot of it in the next few layouts, lol.

The photo is one of DH and DGD on holiday last year (a bit fuzzy but I love it!) for some reason known only to her she developed a penchant for biting DH's nose throughout the 2 weeks we were away (and then stopped once we returned...she is a weird kid!) by the end of the holiday he really did have a sore nose!!!

papers are Crate Paper and Pink Paislee with some Teresa Collins transparency

Heidi Swapp stamp

PLS chalkboard journal spot and number tag, word cut on Cricut 

my super duper misting spray can also be splatted :0)

All this whiteness makes my heart happy........ommm.......feeling very relaxed ;0)

Thanks for popping in,

Ali x