Monday, 9 June 2008

Warning: Long Post!

I haven't updated my blog for a very long time so this will probably be a very long post! I'll make sure there are plenty of pictures though :)

Hows the wedding planning coming along? Well, we are nearly there! We have 12 days left and only a few small things to finish off. My dress is home and is perfect, the bridesmaids dresses are done, jewellery has been polished for extra sparkle factor and all the bits and bobs are falling into place. Favour boxes are made but not filled, confetti is here and the printing should be coming hot from the press tomorrow so we should have placecards, table plan, order of service, menu cards and table names by the end of the week! Our honeymoon tickets arrived this weekend which is very exciting and I'm generally on a wedding high at the moment! No nerves (yet!), just a big grin!

I had my hen do a couple of weekends ago - we went up to Alton Towers for a couple of days and stayed in some fab little log cabins that Cat had found - they turned out to be perfect, and the little pub at the bottom was very friendly too. I had the obligatory pink, fluffy, flashing headpiece to wear for dinner of course!



This weekend I have been on GoGo Getaway - Scrapagogo's first retreat, and my first retreat. I had a fantastic time - met some wonderful people, did 4 fab classes, ate too much chocolate torte (but managed to lose a pound!!!) and chatted far too much!

My first class on Saturday was by Jane Dean - an exploding layout of sorts with the impression of being a simple one photo one page layout, but actually being a 3 page layout! I haven't quite finished it yet, but I will post pics when I have. I also took Jane's class on Sunday, which was to make this gorgeous mini-book. The front cover is made from a wheel that spins round to show 5 photos. I love the style of it with all the freehand cutting and doodling, and the papers were right up my street.


My second class was by Fiona Beckman - a painting class. I loved it! I don't often use paint, and I am always stumped by customisable papers but this seemed to come very naturally and I'mn very happy with the finished layout - the painting was very therapeutic too, I even bought some more of the papers in the shop to have a go at home. I used some more of our photo from our shoot with Anna.


The last class of the day was taught by Shimelle, and I had been looking forward to this class the most as I love Shimelle's style. The class was to make a "mini" book, although in my opinion it was anything but mini! I love all the products used in it, and the opportunity to use so many photos. I haven't completed it yet - I wanted to wait and do the journalling quietly at home rather than in such a busy, noisy crop room, but here it is so far :)


There were also a couple of make and takes on offer throughout the weekend - I completed this mini book, again with photos from Anna, and lovely Scenic Route papers.


As well as all that, I managed a few layouts of my own - this one from a sketch by the lovely Jennie Leon, one of the design team and who very kindly offered me a lift to and from the Getaway - thanks Jennie! The photo is my sister on her 21st birthday - Mum made a cake with a design in hundreds & thousands, which blew off everywhere when she blew out the candles!


This layout features our wedding invitations! The production line was quite a sight to see so of course I had to take pics and document all the work that went into making them, from my original rough sketch right through to the hand-finished product!


This one I managed to finish off - it was almost done already, just needed a few more tweaks - it was taken when we went to Ayia Napa last year.


I loved some of the pages by the Scrapagogo design team that used this transparancy as a background, making a see-through layout, so i pinched the idea! This photo was also from my hen do - we didn't want to get soaked on Ripsaw so we donned these gorgeous ponchos - we felt like we were in a cult, especially when we put the hoods up lol! Everyone was laughing at us in the queue, but they weren't laughing when we got off the ride dry and they were drenched!!


Here are a few more pics from the weekend - firstly the crop room, everyone beavering away! Then me and Caz - my old team mate from UKS, it was loevly to meet you Caz. Finally a fun pic of Me, Leanne, Katherine and Laura, thanks for lots of laughs girls!




I can't wait to do it all again next year - in fact I've already booked and paid my deposit!

There, I told you it'd be long one! I'll try and update more regularly now, although there will be a 3 week gap whilst we go on the holiday of a lifetime! :)

Tuesday, 6 May 2008

More layouts!

More layouts from the UKS cybercrop weekend.
I used lots of the photos that Anna took - they are just great!







We had a lovely bank holiday weekend, the weather has been just beautiful so we've been out in the "garden" (patch of concrete) as much as possible - we even had a BBQ last night, along with the rest of the country I bet! Let's hope it stays like this.

The wedding plans are coming along nicely, we've nearly recieved all of our RSVPs back now, just waiting on one or two. We made a good start on the seating plan, and are almost there with the order of service. Menus are chosen, Michael's shoes are bought (I was starting to worry about that!) and favour boxes are made up. There is still a rather long list of things to do though - all those silly little things!

Tuesday, 29 April 2008

Cybercropping!

I had a great time at the weekend participating in the UKS cybercrop, usually it's mega frantic but somehow this time I managed to keep up with everything I wanted to do, even managing to tidy as I went!! I got lots done and was really pleased with the results - these are a few of the pages I made for various classes and challenges, more tomorrow :)
The photos on 'Click' and 'Close Up' were taken by the lovely Anna Bowkis :)






It was Michael's birthday on Saturday and I bought him a Wii - we've been wanting one for ages and it's great fun! My arms don't half ache though, the boxing is quite a workout! I also managed to get hold of Wii Fit, which seems to be like gold-dust at the moment. It's a balance board which allows you to do yoga, muscle workouts, stability exercised and aerobic activity - just what I need to get into my wedding dress (which should be here soon - yay!). I can't believe ther's less than 2 months until the big day now!

Once again I've totoally been neglecting Her Space My Space. Today's word is dairy -

Thursday, 17 April 2008

Kit Heaven

Two kits in two days - and I'm loving them both!
Firstly, the gorgeous Scrapagogo April kit arrived this morning:


I'm adoring that mixture of black, white, yellow, red & pink - yum! I might actually have to go and use this straight away, it's calling out to me lol!

My Scraproom kit arrived too, and very nice it is! I wasn't a hundred per cent sure from the previews, but it's stunning. I love the glitter thickers in the embellishment pack - I've been wanting some of these for ages! Lucky me also got hold of the new patterned paper add on this month too - another 2 papers from each range.

Tuesday, 8 April 2008

Home layouts

I've been taking an online course by Shimelle all about home, and been following the prompts each day but only managed to get started on creating yesterday! I have plenty of ideas running around my head, but need to get some old photos from my parents before I can finish them off.

These are the two layouts I created yesterday. The first one was a prompt to photograph the nooks and crannies of your home, and I chose to focus on one room - the bedroom. Supplies: Three bugs in a rug papers, october afternoon rub-ons, thickers, scenic route stickers, love elsie stickers.


This layout was made following a prompt about your favourite room - this is my craft room, although it also houses the airing cupboard, michael's wardrobe and the exercise equipment. Really it's a second bedroom, but we don't have a bed to put in there, so I adopted it as a craft room lol! I only realised after I'd finished that this layout has no patterned paper on it! I used quite a lot of fancy pants rub-ons, thickers, doodlebug rub-ons and a selection of brads.

Monday, 7 April 2008

{Moss}


I love moss, it make everything feel so natural and outdoorsy! We have plenty on our hyacinths, which are blooming beautifully and scenting the entire house - don't you just love this time of year!
Had a lovely weekend - on Saturday I went to Capture the Magic and spent a small fortune lol. The warehouse is amazing - jam packed full of gorgeous stash - I could have happily spent a few days in there! It's always been one of my favourite online stores and didn't disappoint. We also nipped into Calico Crafts which is literally round the corner and I managed to get another bag full of goodies to play with!
Yesterday we went back to John Lewis to finish zapping items for our gift list - I had so much fun choosing colour schemes, picking out beautiful things and mentally decorating the house! I'm not sure Michael was quite so enthralled, but he was kept happy with the scanning gadget lol!

Tuesday, 1 April 2008

{Instrument} & Page Maps

Firstly - instrument. This is my instrument of choice lol! It has served me well through medical school, exams and placements.

I totally forgot it was April today, which means I can show you this layout of me at 16 years old ready for my school prom! It fell on my 16th birthday, which was great fun. This page was done as an example layout for April PageMaps and I had great fun doing it. I always enjoy using the sketches so to design a page was fab!