MemoryLane
A few weeks ago we spent a lovely morning in Ross-On-Wye.  Paul went to an autojumble - bit like a car book sale for car parts - and I had a mooch round the shops.  It's a really lovely shopping centre full of lots of lovely independent shops and perfect for buying small gifts.

In the afternoon we took a trip down memory lane to Monmouth.  We used to go every month when we lived in Wales.  I haven't been back for about 15 years so it was interesting to see what had changed and what was still the same.  Lovely town but mainly the same shops as any other town.

Here is a layout I made of the photos I took of the main street in Monmouth.  I was pleased to see they still had a tiny market.  The layout is from Shimelle's UKScrappers series called 'and now for something completely different'  This is her August layout.  UKScrappers is free to join and this class is free too.  As far as I know you don't have to be in the UK to join.

UKScrappers are having a birthday celebration with lots of free classes and an on-line crop.  I'm in the Scolars group and decided to purchase the mystery kit.  The contents are gorgeous and I will do a blog post, after the deadline, with details of what I make.  For now the contents are top secret.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend.

Anne x

SmileRoundRobin

In January I sent off my circle journal out into the big wide World - well mainly round Wales - but you get the idea.  Here is a link to my introductory pages.  Now it's back in all it's gorgeousness, the swap is over, so  I can share the pages I made in everyone journals.

My first page uses Dylusion stamps and some discontinued printout houses.  I paper pieced all the leaves using paper I had painted and inked.

The lovely quote is "There is always music amongst the trees in the garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it"

As usual I had no idea what to do for page two.  The theme of trees was a bit of a challenge for me, so I decided to do a scrapbook page of the bluebell woods at the end of our road.

The next page used lovely paper from my monthly kit.

I think this was my favorite theme as it was the easiest!

I used my silhouette to cut the title.

Also used my silhouette to cut buckets.  The jars are from American crafts.

My current passion is making yoyo flowers.  I didn't like them when I was a quilter, but they look lovely on scrapbook pages.  Very easy just cut a circle of cotton fabric, do a running stitch near the edge (don't turn under a hem or it will be too bulky) pull up the thread and attach a button.



The quote is "Flowers that bloom in the Springtime, fade in the early fall. But the lovely flower of friendship, never fades at all."

Here is a close up of the flowers.

I keep using my favorite papers for this swap and I love the Graphic 45 background flying pigs paper as it is so quirky.

This time I used the flower border I was saving for a wedding page.

I doodled the song words between the rows of music.

I bought the heart in Aberystwth for a wedding page, but had to use it here as it looked a bit plain without.  Guess who bought the set of six types of wood shapes from Create and Craft?!?!?

Here is a close up of the figures made using a Tim Holtz die and Dylusion stamps.

I love the saying and it is so true of my friend Sara.

Finally a close up of my metal flower heart.  I'm still looking for another one, but so far the only one I've found was bigger.

This swap was great fun and really challenging.  It helped me use up lots of new papers and things I would likely have kept as they are 'too nice to use'.

 

I've been taking the tiles off the wall in the bathroom and chopping down bushes in the garden.  I think I must have a destructive gene as it's great fun and I can't wait for the rain to stop so that I can fill up the green bin, with my latest victims, yet again.

 

Have a lovely week, Anne x

I watched a brilliant video from Shimelle that was included in her Cover to Cover class.  I originally bought it separately from TrueScrap1.  Several of the layouts are inspired by Shimelle's blog and classes.

I started with 9 older patterend papers from American Crafts and K&Co

Adding in three partial sheets from the same collections.

 

A selection of letter stickers from American Crafts, LilyB, October Afternoon and Cosmo Cricket.

 A few stickers and embelishments.

I cut up all the full sheets of patterned papers; using the ideas from Shimelle's class.  I have some big boxes, 12" wide strips and samller boxes.  The layouts will give you an idea of the type of dimensions I used.  If I did it again, for my scrap style, I would like more 12" strips. 

Here it is all cut up and for some unknown reason it makes me so much happier than the full sheets!  Possibly because I like using up scraps and used to love making scrap quilts.

 Here are the B sides.

The first pages I made where of photos from an owl evening.  I had been meaning to make this page for ages but didn't know what papers to use.  The photos are not great quality and hubby had acidentally put his camera on the 'majic' setting - which seems to make everything orange.  However, It was a great evening so I wanted to include the photos in my scrapbook.  The first makes me laugh as hubby is licking his lips as if he wants to eat the owl!  This was an amazing evening that I would recommend to anyone who likes birds.  The owls are suprisingly light and one flew to our arm and we held others.

Here is the co-ordinating page.  The evening was a gift for my birthday last year, taken just before my birthday this year.  As explained above my hair was not that orange!

This is the starting point for the next layout.

And the finished version.  No idea where or when this photo was taken.  I've written about how hubby loved and kept his 'tash' for 25 years and how much I hated it!

Here is an old photo of my grandma and her friend.  I think it would have been taken at Blackpool.  It makes me laugh as here she is on the motorbike but she never ever wore trousers and if you look closely she even has a skirt on in the photo. 
A note of caution doillies tend to tear so you have to commit quickly when you add letters stickers.

This next one is just a starting point so far.  I also have three card starting points using the same background card and flower paper.  The patterned papers seemed to be wider than the StampinUp card and when I tried to shave off a tiny bit my trimmer just chewed it up.  So I've cut it up and will share the cards when I finish them.

Still loads of pieces left.  Not sure yet if I will keep going or add them to my rather bare scrap box.

Yesterday we braved the rain and went to see the Olympic Torch.  We had planned to go to Newtown but decided that we were not brave enough to cope with The Wanted's teenage fans.  It is nice to note that the man (Jim)  who we saw carry the torch has done a lot for children's sport over the last 50 years.  Our photos are rubbish but it was a great atmosphere and fun to be there.  Later we went shopping in Lichfield. 
Have a lovely day. x