Embellish your World

Moving to Blogger

For a number of reasons I have decided to close down my Typepad blog. I will over the coming week be transferring recent posts over to blogger where you can find my new home HERE.

See you there I hope!

 

If it's not the cats it's the kids!

Not content for the cats to steal the limelight when I am trying to photograph a layout my kids are now getting in on the act - or rather my youngest is. Check out these cheeky snaps while I am trying to photograph one of my class layouts for this weekends ATDML retreat! He is too funny! Needs a haircut though! Must book that for next week lol!

 Less than 24 hours until I teach this class - exciting! One of two layouts using Simple Stories 24/Seven (which I ADORE!!) and my other class is Basic Grey Hey You where I showcase two layouts from the same paper range - one masculine, grungy and messy and another softer toned yet still inky page. Will of course share the pages next week or who knows, they may appear on the Created by ATDML blog over the weekend. Tune in and find out!

March ATDML Gallery

New York, New York, so good they named it twice they say and featured heavily in my March Design Team gallery layouts for A Trip Down Memory Lane. Papers were by Glitz and I thought the dotty print of the paper above reminded me a little of snow and whilst it was clear in New York whilst we were visiting the UK saw plenty! I kept the page pretty basic as I liked the paper so much but still managed to squeeze multiple photos and plenty of journalling on.

Another layout for the gallery also using Glitz tells the story of the Freeman restaurant in New York, one of the main reasons we chose this city to celebrate Mat's 40th in January. Why would we not want to go there when it shared our name?!

This one used up a few buttons and flowers I had sitting in a "use it or lose it" pot on my craft desk and I think add a pop of colour to this neutral coloured page. The tag has journalling on which lifts out of the pocket that came in a Studio Calico kit. 

The gallery isn't up in the website yet but we are all busy preparing for a weekend of indulgent creative this coming Friday and everyone is busy finishing off instructions, packing kits and making sure all runs smoothly. Am sure all will be revealed shortly!

The Big Egg Hunt - Covent Garden

Nice way to spend the Saturday of Easter weekend mooching around Covent Garden with my boys seeking the hundred or so giant Easter eggs hidden there as part of the charity fundraising big egg hunt. Sponsored by Lindt we even got a mini golden bunny each to munch on whilst we ticked off each egg as we found it. Jamie loved the Julia Donaldon "A Squash and a Squeeze" egg having been learning all about the author at school. Both boys were thrilled to find the Adventure time Finn & Jake egg too and I loved a neat brick built home egg. Shame the weather wasn't a tad warmer as it was rather chilly making it hard on little fingers to turn the book pages with much needed gloves on!

Great day all the same and plenty of new photos too ready for scrapping at the weekend!

Filing layouts!

As part of my preparing for a forthcoming scrapbooking weekend I noticed I had several piles of laouts around my scrappy room all waiting to be filed. I also had a number of random albums where I had slotted layouts in to keep them protected but with no thought to the theme or order but rather as and when they had been created led to where they were filed. I ordered a couple of new albums, some additional page protectors and decided I was once and for all going to file all my hard work.

BOY DID IT TAKE SOME TIME!! I now however have all the kids albums up to date (they have one each) and family albums for general pages stretching from 2009-10 to date. One album left to file away is my "me" album where I have pages about scrapping, training for marathons, concerts, days out and travels. I may have to put a little more thought into splitting this out further, but I now need yet more page protectors before I can do anything else - oh and maybe a few more empty albums and the kids ones are now all full!! Does fell much better having sorted it all out though and my hard work is now safely behind page protectors and I have a list of "gaps" where I need to print off some pictures and fill a few holes! Good job I have a retreat coming up eh?

Superhero invitations

Occasionally, having made the odd bespoke card for friends and colleagues, I am asked to make something a little different. Recently a request came in for 40 birthday party invitations for a Heroes and Villains party. I had a browse around the internet to gather some ideas where I could incorporate using my New York Skyline stamp and whilst leaning towards a comic themed design. A browse on eBay too and I found some "POW" and "THWACK" stickers which gave me a colour theme to join up with the my ideas.. and here is what I eventually came up with.

Obviously the rest of the party details are contained inside with a RSVP to a Special Agent mum who was rather pleased when I sent her a sneak peak of the design. Now if only my printer hadn't run out of ink this evening I would have them all complete but alas the final part will now have to wait until tomorrow. I am rather pleased with how they have come out, even if I did underestimate how long they would take to make!! Never mind - one satisfied customer and a few more spends for the forthcoming ATDML retreat.

Sneak Peak of March ATDML Gallery

Coming soon to ATDML is the March Gallery featuring design team creations using a mix of papers from GLITZ. Quite possibly I may have a layout or two about New York in there!! Here are a couple of sneak peaks...

 

Not long now until the Spring 2013 ATDML retreat either, just two weeks away this weekend coming and am teaching two classes this time again, one with Simple Stories 24/Seven and the second with Basic Grey papers...cannot wait to share them with you!!

February ScrapMates

It seems like ages ago but what with one thing and another I haven't shared the two layouts I taught at my crop last month. Photos fresh off the press from my January trip to New York this is the first layout from that trip and using the lovely Crate Paper Fourteen range.

The papers are a typically valentine range so suitable for scrapping in February I thought, but my class was about showcasing how you can take a theme paper collection and make it work with a variety of photos. We got busy with some misting, made clever use of 6x6 papers to hide the joins beneath the photo and added heart embellishments cut from the papers.

The second layout used the remainder of the kit for a page focusing on blocks of patterned paper overlaying each other, very much in a Shimelle style. This time I chose a photo of my youngest and I, his nickname being Mr Squishy because he is so squishable and huggable!

Happy Mothers Day!

Didn't get to see my mum today but caught up with her and dad last night for dinner with my hubby and the boys. Gave her an orchid and a handmade card (one of 13 that I have made this week due to popular demand for orders from colleagues after having seen one I had made for a friend).

Thought we were due for an updated photo too as the last one of us together was taken in 2010 when I weighed over 3 stone heavier! 

Hope no matter what you have planned for today, be it with your mum, with fond thoughts of her, or being spoilt as a mum yourself, well I hope it brings a smile to your face. I know my kids have certainly brought a smile to mine.

Super proud mum

How can I  not be proud of my Robert passing his Karate belt grading today for not one, but two belt increases! He was supposed to sit the red with white stripe belt, did and so was tested for the Orange belt too and passed both! Especially awesome given he has been feeling under the weather!

And it's not his first success this week either having been chosen to be featured in the school newsletter in his Cat in the Hat costume for world book day too! Super proud mum!