Georgia, Lana and Ria set up a nail bar outside today, they were planning on having a charity shop (their own words!!), however it quickly changed to raising money for a Nintendo DS.....I knew the good intentions wouldn't last!!
I dashed outside with my camera to take a picture of the nail bar but it had turned into a chocolate shop in my absence!!
They had so much chocolate it was coming out of their ears!!

I figured I wouldn't be able to get any of the Breast Cancer Stickers by Melissa Frances in time for my friends operation so just for now I have made my her one of these Free standing pop-up cards instead.

The tutorial was easy to follow and can be found here at Splitcoast Stampers. I reckon you could take it apart when finished and use as a bookmark or make them ATC size. I had so much fun I can't wait to make more of these!! I can feel babies cards, xmas cards and birthday cards coming on!!!

WANTED!!

I have just found out that a friend of mine is having a mastectomy and she is only a few years older then me. I am shocked by how young she is and would love to make her something pretty.

I have seen on the net the new Melissa Frances line with Pink Ribbon paper and stickers and was wondering if anyone knows if you can buy them in England?

I guess there is no better way of saying I'm thinking of you than getting straight to the point with a beautiful card or mini-album to see her through her hospital stay.

Please leave me a comment if you can help.

Thankyou xxx

Bring out the Bunting!!!!

I really couldn't wait to get stuck into my pretty bunting and chop it up to make two strings one for EMILY and one for GEORGIA. There was plenty of bunting as the whole thing is about 15 foot long!!
Baby Emily is in her Mum's tummy and poor Micayla is getting a bit fed up waiting for her arrival. She was due on Monday and as far as I know she still isn't here.!!
I used FELT for the letters and traced around my trusty BASIC GREY CHIPBOARD MONOGRAMS. I stitched the letters on with embroidery thread using blanket stitch.




I covered this paper bag with some left over scraps from the baby book that I have made for Micayla so Mother and Baby can both get some yummy goodies.

Micayla will be so tired for the next couple of weeks, hopefully all she will have to do is just add the pictures!
To the seasoned quilters out there please don't look too close at the stitching !!

I have just paid my weekly visit to oxcraps blog I love her vivid photos and obviously cool lifestyle!!

In the hope of re-creating at least a little bit of it, (I would love an inch of her coolness) the best I can do is mess about with my photos!!


I have spent most of the weekend making an adorable 1950's inspired mini-book, which I am starting to dread having to give away. I think I may have fallen in love with it a little bit too much!!



The little white squares are for passport size photos.

Tucked into the pocket is a whole load of spare photo mounts, journelling stamps and some tags for additional mummy love!!

The white polka dots are puff paint and the pink ones are perfect pearls.

Some pages I just had to leave blank because they look too pretty to mess with (thats what the spares are for!!)

The flip side of the page above.....
Room for more miniature photos
The last page.....
I used a Melissa Francis chipboard flower book, Shabby Princess papers, Prima flowers, a prima journelling stamp n04 and a Dew Drop chalk ink for stamping and edging.
All edges are dry brushed with cream acrylic and the holes were punched with a star punch.

TFL xxx

Cute Craft Cabin Closing :(

I met Tina Moody today when I went for a smooch around her craft cabin. It is sited in a local garden centre and is full of the most gorgeous ice-cream colours and cupcake creations you could imagine.Check out the cool bunting around the cabin!! I have been lusting after some forever and have been contemplating making some out of fat quarters but Tina had some on sale and the best thing is it is covered in cupcakes which just happens to match my theme for Georgias Birthday!
Tina and I have traded many ATC's in the past so it was lovely to meet her in person. Unfortunately she is closing after 2 years on the site because it is out of the way of passing trade especially in winter.
So to all the local girls reading this get up there and support Tina in her last weekend in business and grab yourself a bargain!!! This little Miss was causing trouble and refusing to behave for the camera.....I mean I get a chance at an awesome photo opportunity and she wants to look like a Page 3 model half the time. So Tina soon shut her up by putting this Tea cosy on her head and actually she looks quite cool!!
Tina I wish you well for the future and get yourself blogging because the world is missing out on your amazing work!

I adore you

This month I am hosting the August Sketch Challenge at Paperparadise. I chose this beautiful sketch designed by the very talented Magga Mjuka.

I have used more of the K&Co Papers now that I have turned into an old romantic!! My gorgeous hand crochet doiley and edging from my sister and my new yummy Prima journelling stamps. I also used a Melissa Francis sticker and the Basic Grey alphas painted in gold for extra lushness. The swirls were stamped with the Rhonna Farrer Autumn Leaves stamps and I have discovered that I can cleverly remove areas of ink from the stamp with a baby wipe prior to stamping. I even stamped the strip of cream paper with the little brown flowers in the background.

Ok so I know I am a bit behind on these techniques (it's not that I haven't been taught them by Sue it's just I haven't used them and my brain kinda forgot!) but I am trying to catch up!! I have even bought the Craft Stamper magazine 2 months in a row!! (actually I only bought it for the freebie stamp but this months one is way cool!!) What is going on you may wonder but I am now a total convert to acrylic stamps. I really wanted to spell this in French J 'et adore but sadly there wasn't enough room so I may do a French Title soon. This is what happens when you start oggling other blogs and wondering what the heck they say!!
My journelling reads something like "It is clear to me that you two adore each other. Lets hope it lasts!"

You may find the last line a bit strange, but I can't handle too much jam in the doughnut! (a great article about journelling written by Shimelle Lane using doughnuts as an analogy). I am sooooooo in love with this crochet edge that instead of hording it and looking longingly at it I have just thought ""use it or lose it"!!!!!

TFL xxx

Toot...Toot!!...

It is my nephew OLIVERs' 4th Birthday and I decided to make him a card using a Thomas The Tank Engine Kit that my mother in law June had brought back from America for me. Then the card idea kind of grew into this "like they do"!!!! So before I knew it I had ended up with an extremely long NAME book.



I am hoping that he will enjoy sticking in his own photos with his mummy helping him.......


I shan't bore you with all of the pages because they're all very similar but you get the picture right?


If you didn't see my original book that I made for BEN (Jan/Feb 08) then the process was exactly the same.
I used thin cardboard from scrappacks and measured the height of the longest letter which was the letter "L", this determined the height of all of my card. Then using the Basic Grey undressed momograms I made each strip longer than the last to the width of the next letter. The final 2 letters had to be on card joined together as they were longer than 12inches but I could hardly shorten his name!!

I am back on nights again so shall be busy for a few days. Enjoy your week whatever you are doing.

Love Ruth xxx

Card Challenge

Tracey organised a card challenge this month on the Paper Paradise forum and sent us all the same items. I was undecided whether to sign up for it because I am rubbish at making cards, however I have recently started to enjoy them as long as I am not under pressure or a deadline!!These are the gorgeous supplies we were all given to work with!!

This is the card that I made with the goodies..........

I placed the acetate picture behind memory glass and added copper tape to the edge, the flower was cut in half and I cut each petal to a point so that the layer would show. This is easily done by folding the petal in half and snipping down to the edges from the top point of the fold. The shape was cut out by hand and the frill added afterwards.

The quote was found on Scrapbook.com and I used puff paint for the white dots although the heat gun wrinkled the acetate slightly!! Must remember not to try that one again!!Finally I inked the edges and lastly I really enjoyed putting the finished frame onto acetate!

To see all the others go to Traceys Blog or to vote go to the Paperparadise forum. Be warned the standard is very high!! Especially for a bunch of non card makers!!
TFL xxx

A picture of happiness..........

I finally collected our family portrait from Venture this week. It wasn't quite as awesome as I had remembered (they didn't airbrush me into a size zero!!), but nonetheless after all the drama it is over and done with now!!


I think when you spend alot of money on something like this it is hard to be satisfied because at the end of the day neither Mark nor I like seeing ourselves in print, but at least it is a record of our happy little family and I love the warmth and naturalness between us all.

The photo shoot itself was great fun and I'll never forget it, but choosing which photo was difficult because some of them were really cool but cropped at funky angles, and they needed bigger frames than what we could afford to do them any justice. So instead we have this little momento in our lounge.........next time it is definately just the kids only in the picture!!

Romantic Altered Jar

This gorgeous Jar was appropriated from my work it had some chewy toffees in it and I couldn't wait for them to get eaten so I could get my hands on this beauty!!

I used some very pretty Anna Griffin paper and in typical Anna style lots of ribbon and flowers to match.

I haven't used perfect pearls before and bought this lovely soft pink colour especially, however I found myself trying to flatten the pointy tip they leave behind!! If it is possible to do dots without a point can someone please let me know the secret!! .....and a few droplets of glossy accents/diamond glaze on the silk flowers to look like dew drops to finish it off.......voila....easy peasy!!!

Note to Brenda: I am using your flowers again!! Thankyou xxx

Love Ruth xxx

Altered Bird House

I have always wanted to do an altered bird house but more of the quirky kind and instead this cute little bright coloured thing conjured itself up late last night!! I made it out of one page of Kelly Pannacci paper (well 2 actually) but it was very versatile paper.



I have a larger more expensive one waiting to paint so I am going to try and do the rustic shabby chic thing on it!!! Why is it you plan one thing and they do another? Are these altered items possessed or do they develop a spirit overnight after a bit of TLC?


How did this Sunflower Fairy sneak in here? Now I do know for a fact that she is possessed after dark!!xxx

My 2nd real paid job!!!

If I could make a living doing this I'd be the happiest crafter on earth!!! (probably the brokest too, but hey thats normal)

This is the 6x6 shadow box that I have made for a neighbour. She wanted a gift for a 9th wedding anniversary.

The frame was painted all over with Gold, then I applied Crackle Glaze and finally coated it in Cream acrylic. I sanded back the edges to give some definition to the frame.
My beautiful new Prima Flowers came in handy too.
I love this paper that I used around the edges it reminds me of my bedspread!! (I really want a big dolls house......just imagine the possibilities with scrapbooking papers!!) .

I also lined the inner edges with the left over stripes. (see below)


This photo is just to show the depth to the box.......I glued the flower at the front of the glass and added a large rub-on flourish up the side of the glass too.

I just have to make a matching card and it's done! I hope she likes it.

Love Ruth xxx

My wonderfully talented sister Linda got a message on facebook from me asking for antique cream coloured crochet flowers and miniature doileys for my layouts and being the genius that she is she has made a gorgeous border/edge too.............I am trying to convince her to set up an etsy shop so that she can set the scrapbooking world on fire!!!!

Aren't they just gorgeous?

At the moment I am totally into anything vintage and when the photos don't quite come out how I had envisioned then this is the next best thing!!

Georgia sitting on some luggage trunks at the steam railway.

TFL xxx