Embellish your World

Boo! Did I scare you?

Happy Halloween! Hope those of you who indulge in this seasonal event have enjoyed the spooktacular day. For my boys it is just the perfect excuse to dress up and scare mum!! (although I do of course get the added benefit of spooky photos to scrapbook!).  We were lucky enough to be invited to my youngest's friends house this evening for a spooky supper a bit of trick or treating too. Their house had been decorated for the occasion and both boys had a whale of a time returning home with plenty of treats! This is a photo of them all together (taken quick on my phone camera so not great). I have more which I will share later in the week.

Lots of new material for some Halloween layouts now, and talking of layouts I have many to share following the 9th ATDML Scrapbooking retreat attended this weekend. We had classes from six teachers including myself, a shop stocked to the brim, fab company and enough crafting inspiration to sink a ship! Photos to follow of most of the creations that I completed - this 3d chipboard star class (from the very talented Suzanne Torr) was probably my fave taught project from the weekend although I have to say my Matt Cardle minibook is a very VERY close second!

Not such great news on scales tonight, put on a little but with swimming this evening, Zumba on Wednesday and Boxercise on Thursday again (loved it sooo much last week) I am sure to drop down again next week. MUST STAY POSITIVE!

Super crazy busy life

Quick blog post, I am still here and not drowning under a pile of Matt Cardle photos!

Major busy at work, half term craziness with childcare juggling and the kids, preparation for forthcoming teaching weekend at ATDML and not enough time to do a proper update... sorry! I will be back soon! I shall leave you with a quick photo of my youngest today, taken by my eldest whilst they enjoyed some autumn sunshine in the park. Gotta love thay cheeky grin!

Matt Cardle @ HMV London

So maybe I look a little happy in this photo, but then who wouldn't be? Met the very lovely, very talented Matt Cardle this evening at HMV Oxford Street where he was doing an album signing wristband only event that also included a short acoustic set. Sounded wonderful, managed lots of nice photos, got to chat with him as he signed my album sleeve (from Matt #2 cos hubby is #1) and a photo with him too! Tonight I am one very happy bunny! If you've not heard any of the new album I urge you to go check it out on this album stream. It's not poppy main stream nonsense nor a product of the X Factor show at all but has Matt Cardle written tracks throughout showcasing his awesome vocal range.  I adore Starlight, All for Nothing and the title track Letters too, and I got the limited edition cd with additional acoustic tracks and the Letters version on that is just breathtaking.

Happy bunny now off to sleep!

A new Shimelle course

So Shimelle has a new online class coming up - and when I think of her I generally associate the colour pink, and a hint of sparkle of course and so since seeing this class advertised I have had the tune by the artist Pink "Get this party started" in my head!! Looking forward to when she does indeed get the party started as it promises much new inspiration and I am hoping it'll get me crafting my honeymoon photos from eight year ago. These were all taken prior to my scrapping days but hopefully I can still salvage enough good photos and couple them with some of my best memories into a cohesive album... watch this space...

And whilst on the subject of pink... October is breast cancer awareness month and I am hosting a Pampered Chef party tomorrow evening where I shall be tempting my guests with a pink cupcake for a small donation towards the charity.  Odds on mine won't look as good as those in Shimelle's image above, even after my training at the weekend!! I will naturally share images in due course!

Nine.Ten.Eleven.

Being a sad, boring accountant type you can see why today's date excited me right? 9.10.11 Awesome! Moving on swiftly.... ...my apologies! It simply is who I am! So I went to a cupcake decorating class this afternoon, hoping to pick up some icing tips but we spent longer playing with fondant icing and edible playdough (it has a proper name!) than we did with buttercream icing and the piping techniques which is what I wanted to learn. Think I am just gonna get myself some disposable piping bags and inexpensive nozzles and practice lots!

Other than this I have had a quiet weekend. Worked on my classes for the forthcoming ATDML Scrapbooking retreat, just a few finishing touches to each needed now - I am so looking forward to teaching them! I then need to prepare myself for the classing I'll be taking, get my photos in order etc and ensure I have plenty to keep me busy for the weekend. I may even make a start on my Christmas cards who knows!

Rocking Mr Matt Cardle

Showing he was EVERY bit worthy of his X-Factor winning title last series Matt Cardle rocked out KoKo club in Camden last night. His album launch gig was amazing, showcasing his vocal range and performance ability on stage. I didn't think I'd regret buying my ticket, though some doubted he'd be as good as the show portrayed him. WRONG! He was even better and I remain a loyal fan. Ending on an Alanas Morriset cover which he smashed I had the best night but sadly back to the real world this morning.

Sketch of the week on Sunny Sunday

More gorgeous weather today and it was smiles all round for my boys and their cousin Alex who got to spend the day being spoilt by Grandma and treated to a pub lunch.

A few home chores undertaken too but sadly no scrapping although I did play most of yesterday and as promised I'm sharing my PDQ paper page. This is a range of paper that I guess can only be described as a printed 12x12 digital page to which you just add photo, title and journalling. Of course you can add more! I have had these papers for over 4 years and found them mid craft tidy and set aside for a couple of quick pages.

I also mentioned in my blog post yesterday that I had created a page for Shimelle's sketch of the week.

And my page using delicious Pink Paislee House of Three for my background with added October Afternoon and a sprinkle of Echo Park. I actually LOVE this page and it's mental colour scheme!

That's all for now, time for this crafter to get an early night as I have work tomorrow and then the delightful Matt Cardle Live at Koko Cambden in the evening!! SO EXCITED!!

Crafting with the Cambridge Croppers

I enjoyed a wonderful day today playing with paper and glue once more.  This time a mere 100 mile round trip to Cambridge found me scrapping along with the very talented Ifa with whom I used to design alongside back in the day. 

Ifa had designed two classes for us and whilst I loved both of her examples I think I prefer my first layout more than my second one which just didn't flow quite as hers did!

We also swapped challenge kits, mine shown top left in the image above, and my resulting layout bottom left. Ifa also prepared a lovely home cooked lunch for us all - delicious quiche and salad and tasty cake (which I know only from the yummy comments as I was able to resist a piece myself).

I created a further two layouts whilst at the crop, one on PDQ paper (So literally a five minute page!) and the other based on Shimelle's sketch of the week using Pink Paislee House of Three paper. I'll share them tomorrow!

All in all a very lovely day, though my ankle appears to object to the distance driven and has inflated like a balloon this evening :( Feet up and some Dexter is in order I think.