Scrapbooking the snow and my gothic princess Emily

I haven't updated the blog for ages but I have been feeling so uninspired. Occasionally this mood hits me and I can't seem to produce anything other than frustration.. SO I kick back.. watch Lost and enjoy some Rock Band with my husband.

This weekend was the cybercrop and I only managed to produce the first two classes before I had to be reclaimed as a mother again but it sure was fun.. Mostly because my incredibly talented friend Anni provided the second class :)

Artbase Class 1: (My version)

Black and Blue Class 2 - Anni Barnett (my version):

I bought these awesome sorta gothic embellishments a century ago and they have been sitting there like some rare diamonds in a craft box shrine. I collect anything remotely awesome to my style and they all sit in this box, totally loved but never used. WASTE!! I have now turned into this insane mad woman who wants to use all of her stash RIGHT NOW!!

I think it worked out good for me though, I love this layout of my gothic princess:

I don't abuse my daughter and make her wear symbols of death for my own enjoyment, she picked that top herself :D She does however absolutely LOVE pink (wonder where she got that from..?) and I had to scrap her first day at nursery:

Like, dude.. even the wellys are pink!! Can you tell the gwuvs n packpack are hand me downs from bro? I mean.. there is only a year between them to be fair!

We have had awesome snow here and although I am not enjoying the cold and rheumatism, I am loving seeing the kids faces light up and the GIANT snowballs Emily seems to find. Who hasn't scrapped their snow pics.. Like.. Immediately!! Here are mine:

OK, if you click these images it should make them bigger so you can see them in their true beautifulness. This rule does not apply to everything. I stuck my finger in a cake.. did not make it bigger... Had to then eat the cake as I had stuck my finger in it.. shame.

I have recentely received an award from a wonderful fellow apprentice, Sarah Carrington. Her work is so stunning and she has just revealed her sneak peeks for the next round of The Scrapbook apprentice... Go check them out:

http://smellyblog-slcarrington.blogspot.com/

So to accept this award I have to:
1) first list 10 honest things about yourself and make it interesting, even if you have to dig deep! 2) pass the award on to 7 bloggers that you feel embody the spirit of the Honest Scrap


Ok here goes:
1) I have been making love 'on the dangerous side of life' for 2 years now and nothing has happened. It seems like every single friend of mine has become pregnant, even ones that really didn't want to. Every time I see a baby it kills me inside because I feel as though it is a reminder that I'm not good enough to get pregnant.
2) Whenever I go out, I always feel as though everyone is staring at me and whispering.
3) I am a very withdrawn person but everyone thinks I am the life of the party.
4) I have OCD but I am now able to control it.
5) I am a hard friend to have. One minute I will be your best friend, the next I will be gone. I am too scared to get close to people.
6) I am always right. ALWAYS. I hate to be wrong. I also hate people that think they're right all the time. Morons..see the irony?
7) I used to write songs. Sometimes those songs would be scary as hell. I guess they was my way of scrapbooking before I discovered the hobby!
8) I hate my body. If there is a mirror I will try to blank it out otherwise I will be down about it all day.
9) I can eat a whole big bag on sensations in one sitting.
10) When I go to McDonalds I have a chicken mayo AS WELL as a fillet o fish meal..

OK so there you go.. freak of the week unleashed.

Stay safe x

I have been tagged by a Scrapbook Apprentice!

I have been tagged today by Emma to show you the 6th picture from my 6th folder! Lets have a look and hope it is nothing too embarassing!

OK so nothing too embarassing for me but very for my son :) Luckily he is only four so not too old to be shy! A trip down memory lane.. I remember I couldn't resist taking a picture of him as he fell to sleep in his ravioli. I miss them days where he was a baby and now he is a big strapping boy. Thanks for the tag Emma x

I tag:
Jammy
Melissa
Wendy
K
polly
Ayesha

Have fun guys!!

Look out for new work soon. I just took delivery of the threading water punch from Sally and now I am armed and dangerous.. everything WILL be scalloped!!

UKScrappers Team Scrapbooking Class - 'Blank Canvas'

Hello everybody and welcome to my 'Blank canvas' tutorial which is suitable for beginners and crafters who love to create timeless pieces. This class can be converted into a layout, the cover for a mini book, a photoframe.. Your imagination is your limit! Whatever you choose to create, I would love to see it :)

(If you have a blank canvas or you are making a layout then you can skip to step 2)

1. Take your white textured cardstock and outline enough to cover your canvas. If your canvas is too large, you can push two pieces of cardstock together and it will be hardly noticeable. Cut out your card and apply a strong adhesive such as double sided tape or PVA to the canvas then apply the card to give a nice, clean, white canvas.

2. Take a black foam inkpad and hold it at a 40 degree angle. Softly rub the inkpad over the edges of your canvas or page to give a soft edging.

3. Take your 8x10, 2x2, 3x2 photographs and mount them onto the pink cardstock leaving a border of around 3mm. I have chose to convert my photographs to black and white to avoid colour clashes.

4. Taking your flourishes (You can download some from the internet to cut out, hand cut your own, use chipboard flourishes or die cuts) Paint them white. Next, find a stamp with text or a simple pattern that could be used as a background.. perhaps a heart? Ink it up black and apply the stamp randomly but evenly covered to your flourish. Finish off with a brown inkpad gently around the edges.

5. Arrange your photographs and flourishes onto your canvas/layout. You do not need to put them into the same position as I have. You could try turning the canvas landscape or re-arranging the pictures. Do not stick them down yet!

6. Find a quote you feel matches your photographs or get creative with a bit of journalling! Print it out onto a 1 x 5 inch strip and mount onto your pink cardstock, again with a 3mm border. Now you can arrange your items under your main photograph. Take your alphas (You could hand-cut these from your favourite paper or a co-ordinating cardstock colour) and create the title. Underneath your title place your quote and then finish with a statement piece of ribbon or fabric cut a little narrower underneath.

If everything looks good to you, you can now stick it all down. Don't forget to use double sided tape for your ribbon as glue will seep through.

7. We now have a great canvas or layout but we want to make it more unique and finish it off perfectly. Here are my hints and tips:

+ The human eye loves to see things in odd numbers but not alone, so I try to keep my embellishments in groups of three.

+ A well balanced layout will carry the eye around the page. You can achieve this by creating a visual triangle. See how I applied those two eye-catching brads, the rose in the bottom left hand corner and the butterfly in the top right hand corner. This has created a triangle around my whole page and the brain will find this much more attractive. Strange but true!

+ Avoid white space! Try to keep everything close together so that you do not leave any huge gaps inbetween your page elements. The eye does not like gaps as it will focus on them and therefore tell your brain the page is boring! It does not matter if you have space around your work, just not inbetween!

+ I have used metal brads to hold my butterfly wire in place. The roses have wires which have been put through pierced holes in the canvas and taped at the back out of sight. Remember to always be on the lookout for any bargains you could use on your pages!

You should now have a beautiful piece of artwork to treasure. I hope you have enjoyed this class and have found it useful :)

Melanie Marshall x

Creativity Life! Scrapbook Apprentice Sneak Peeks

Firstly, I would like to say a big HELLO and WELCOME *takes finger off shift key as it can get annoying* to all of my new guests and lurkers :) Please.. come out of the shadows and leave a comment!

I have finally completed my Scapbook Apprentice work and boy was it a tough challenge this month. I had to create 2 single photo layouts and 2 cards from 6 pieces of coredinations cardstock, a sheet of letter stickers, some turquoise pearls, a pack of metal brads and a pot of brown paint.. eek! Everything was going suprisingly well until I knocked over a tube of diamond glaze and it COVERED my layout. I suppose this would be beautiful for that run-inky-glossy effect ;) But not on my layout!

I SO wish I could show you the finished work to chat over but I am sworn to secrecy so here are the obligatory sneak peeks :D

Layout 1 - My Sunshine:

Layout 2 - Our Mum

Card 1 - Hello Robot!

Card 2 - Happy Birthday Teal

And here is one I can show in its full glory (?!) as it won't be getting sent away..

Boy oh boy is it hard to complete these challenges but I am loving every second of it. They really push me to be creative, to enjoy myself crafting and to try to better myself every month.

The best thing is to see the overwhelming amount of votes I have received. I just feel elated and overjoyed you would think of me so highly. I love the stunning work the other girls produce every single month without fail and it is an honour to be voted. So from the bottom of my heart I want to thank you for taking time out of your life to vote for me.

My Magnolia stamps just turned up.. YIPPEE!!!

Craft bargains.. Had to share cheap stash!

In my stamping tutorial (see a few posts down) I used some Whispers brush markers and have been asked about these frequently ever since. Well my wonderful friend JordanShannon found them at a bargain price at www.craftsuperstore.co.uk

9.99... BOGOF!

Basic Colours http://www.craftsuperstore.co.uk/Crafts/Paper-Cardstock-and-Pens/Ink-Pads-and-Pens/Pens//sc1174/p469.aspx

Vintage Colours http://www.craftsuperstore.co.uk/Crafts/Paper-Cardstock-and-Pens/Ink-Pads-and-Pens/Pens//sc1174/p2443.aspx

Pastel Colours: http://www.craftsuperstore.co.uk/Crafts/Paper-Cardstock-and-Pens/Ink-Pads-and-Pens/Pens//sc1174/p2442.aspx

Free p+p on a spend over 40.. How great is that!

If you are after cheap Magnolia stamps, I just ordered a shed load from www.theglitterpot.co.uk sale.. help I am an addict!!

Magnolia cards and a recipe book.. Brr freezing!

Wow it is so cold again.. I thought we was over this?

I just found out that a new cybercrop is starting over on UKS and my team is 'Interpol'. I SO wanted to be CSI but I guess I get to be with Anni and Melissa now which is totally cool in my book :D

I have been working on cards lately as my mojo has got up and left but I hate to leave myself stale for so long as I just lose it completely.

Here is a recipe book I made from a plain index file for Logans teacher who left. She is a sweetheart and always cooks with the children so I thought it would be a nice parting gift:























And here is the inside cover:
























I have been working out my stamps lately and trying to use up all of my scraps. Starting first with the beautiful Tilda stamps froms Magnolia and my scraps from the second Scrapbook Apprentice assignment:

























This is the card I made to go along with the recipe book:





















And dare I admit to starting my christmas cards for next year ALREADY??

The same stamp but a very different look when using the different colourways, Well.. I think so anyway!!

I have recentely gained some new blog readers and followers.. thank you SO much for coming to see my work. As a little girl I always loved to receive post.. it was just So exciting! When I receive a comment it really brings back that feeling so thank you very much to those that took the time to leave something.. I appreciate it and return the love x