Yesterday I finished work at 7am and walked across a mist shrouded field home. I grabbed my camera and my daughter (in her pj's) and we went to get some photos, in those 5 minutes the mist had already lifted alot, so we were chasing it into the distance.
As we came around the corner the sun was like an orb on the horizon and the mist completely enveloped us.....breathtaking!! Georgia went to cousin Aimee's house for her 5th birthday party and I made this little Tinkerbell accordian book for her. Helena has posted some beautiful pictures on her blog here. Thanks Helena we had a wonderful time and Georgia loved playing and dancing with everyone.
Ben spent the afternoon entranced by the balloons as you do when you are 8 months old!!
Georgia and Aimee wore their High School Musical costumes and danced to the Macerana at full volume along with all the other kids. It was a wonderful sight with the older girls on the wall showing them how to do it and the younger kids all lined up like the Von Trap family!! I love misty mornings because you just know you are going to get blue sky like this!! You didn't see me complaining about sun in my eyes!!I made this criss-cross card today for a work colleague. The tag pushes down so you can't see the happy birthday bit. There is a lovely long poem on the back that she chose for her daughter.


This little boy tried climbing in the bath so we gave in!!

Hope you have all had as much fun this weekend as we have. Love from the Von Trap family!!!xxx

Pure Perfection.....

The title sounds a bit self gratifying but it's not the photo I'm talking about it's the feeling I get when I look at this photo of us all together as one little family.

The journalling reads: We are so lucky to have two healthy children. This picture reminds me to count my blessings more often.
I made this layout by printing the photo onto canvas paper. Overlayed the acetate and stamped the flourishy surround with white staz-on. Then I taped the photo behind the top layer of paper and stitched around the edge of the acetate with my sewing machine. I tore the edges back to the stitching and glued the lace in place underneath the acetate. The pearls were added to the corners to give the picture some dimension as it all seemed to be under glass so to speak!My yummy new stamps came from Tillys in Immingham and look fab stamped in white, but I had to be careful which colours I put underneath them otherwise the words weren't legible.A wee bunch of flowers and a bronze zip pull. (It's about time I used those zip pulls I have had them forever!!)

Supplies used: Papers by Prima Marketing Inc-Angelique Collection and Cavilier Collection, Prima Journaling Stamps and some Prima Flowers. Circle Stamp by Art Warehouse- Designed by Danielle Johnson. Small Family Sticker by Melissa Frances. White Staz-On. Clear Acetate. Assorted Lace and Paper Flowers. Yellow and green spotted brad by Papermania. Distress Inks. Woodware Punch. Small Flower patterned stamp by Papermania.

TFL xxx

Georgia has three birthday parties to go to in one week!! I have bought all the presents and needed 2 cards so I used the leftover papers from the altered house to make a flower pot card. The flower pot is felt, I cheated a bit and made both the same but hey I am a working Mum!! I haven't got time to use my imagination on card making!!

Kissing Frogs!!!

I took these photos at My Aunties house, she lives near a river and has little toads visit her garden daily!! Georgia was fascinated with them and not at all squeemish!!

Making Memories Noteworthy range patterned paper cut to shape, I think the flourishes and matching flowers were from Fancy Pants, K&Co Sticker mounted on card, Prima Flowers, Anita's Ribbon, Mark Richards Pearls and an antique diamonte' buckle.

Fine weather, Fun rides and Findings.....

Mark and I went to Pleasure Island Theme Park today with our friends Chrissie, Richard and the kids..... Georgia went on all the easy rides...... . ..........although she was a bit more adventurous than last time!!
Chrissie and Rich went on some really scary ones!!!!!! .....and I failed to read the first line of this sign!!!!
Yup guess who had wet knickers all day?
Even Ben joined in on the action!!!!!


On a crafting note:
This little set of drawers cost me 25 pence from a bric-a brac table. It was dirty pine and still has a sticker on the back with a bar code so it can't be very old. I painted it with white gesso and cream acrylic, the edges were rubbed with bronze cream. The drawer fronts were covered with K&Company Blue Awning paper and mod podged to seal.I often say to Mark "Do you like it"? and he says "yes but I don't know where you are going to put it" and I say "in my OWN craft room one day"!!

I am starting a jewellery making course in 2 weeks and thought this would be good to keep all my findings in (and purchases.......note the play on words!!).
Once I know what I need I will add drawer labels to the fronts and keep my bits and pieces in little zip lock bags.

Hope you all had as much fun as I did this weekend...the nice weather definitely helped!!

Sand, sailing boats and buttons.......

I started to make this layout before I had chosen the photos and then I came across these 2 old photos of my oldest brother and sister (Hello Sarah and Alex if you're reading this!!). The colours were just right. Alex is wearing a little shirt covered in Sailing boats and anchors. It is so cute!!
(click on photo to see the shirt details)
This little metal spade and bucket ornament was blue, so I painted it with nail varnish to change the colour. I didn't change the spade although looking at it here I wish I had, the original pink coating is badly done!!
More papermania chipboard painted and covered to match. The button is from grannies button jar (now mine!!) and matches the little sailing boats on my brothers shirt!! How cool is that!!
Droplets of glossy accents on my new prima flowers to freshen the page up a bit.

TFL xxx

Altered Beer Mat Box

This box was made for Mark to hold his little bits and pieces in on his computer desk. I made it with 5 beer mats. Initially I wanted to get the library kids to do one but after nearly putting my hand out of action doing all of the punching I decided it was too hard!!




I used K&Co Blue Awning papers. Anna Griffin Chipboard Alphabet and Prima Flowers. This is one of the few things I have made that he actually likes!! (I knew I should have hung onto it until Fathers Day!!)

To make this box:

Cut paper to size, round corners and apply glue stick to the beer mat and lay paper on top. Cover both sides. Repeat 4 times.

Punch 5 holes evenly spaced down each of three sides of a beer mat like this:
x .......x
x .......x
x .......x
x .......x
x x x x x (ignore the dots but my x's kept on moving when I posted)
Join 2 mats together by threading ribbon from the inside of the top and criss-crossing it down, finish with a small bow. Attach the next mat and start at the inside of the bottom and criss-cross until you get to the top.I did them opposite because I didn't think Mark would like lots of bows at the top. Repeat with the next 2 mats, until you have formed a square.
Take the 5th beer mat, cover and punch all 4 sides with 5 holes on each side.
Attach to square with ribbon. I criss-crossed every hole this time to make the base stronger and glued 4 wooden beads on the bottom for feet.

ps; you will need at least 3 metres of ribbon.

TFL xxx

Cutting up my inheritance or passing it on to the next generation?

This Layout is called Sweet Love I started it the other night when Ben was poorly. I have used K&Company Blue Awning papers which I just adore!! They are so versatile and so me and I feel in the mood to do a whole collection of layouts with them!! I have made this for the ripped, torn and folded challenge on SB.Com The journelling is hidden at the top of the photo and is stamped on painted cardboard. This little post card mark below just cried out to be displayed and I couldn't possibly cover such detailing over.
Using three layers of paper I started with the top layer and ripped holes into it and used the scissor technique on the edges. The edges were again smudged with Distress Ink. The next layer was placed underneath and I marked the ones I wanted to rip. I tried lots of different paper at the bottom to see which ones would show through the largest holes and the bottom layer has a velvet/flock type feel to it which I wanted to show so I chose that one.
The lace is from an antique panel or collar type insert for a victorian dress. It came from my Grandmothers house and has quite alot of beautiful detail in it. It is just perfect for cutting up and using sections or edges of it. I don't feel guilty because this is my art and how I express myself, and I'd rather have it out of the closet and being used than collecting dust and not being appreciated.
I come from many generations of textile makers and collectors and it's my way of adding to the history of textiles. I wonder if my grandmothers did scrapbooking because they sure collected alot of postcards!!
This is a Papermania Chipboard Title that was rather insipid so I painted it with cream acrylic and stamped the delicate floral pattern onto it, then smeared stickles over it all. The paisley patterned chipboard received the same treatment.

One for the Grannies and Nanas xxx

5 years and 10 months and trying her hardest to be so much older!! I am off course incredibly proud that my daughter is uber confident and gets excited about First Days at school. She looks so sweet and full of promise but the rest of the photo shoot was taken up with gummy bear smiles as she lost 2 teeth during the holidays and it takes me all my effort to look her in her eyes and not at the gaping holes!!

Note to my mum: Georgia got herself dressed this morning, cleaned her teeth (whats left of them) and skipped off to school? How long do you reckon it will last?

You know everything is going to go wrong when.....

....You are due to go on holiday and your kid gets sick.......You have a weeks worth of washing to do and the washing machine suffers from a cardiac arrest.......You feel so tired you can't tell which bags you are supposed to be packing the ones on the bed or the ones under your eyes caused by not being in the bed!!!!!

Ben is poorly, mainly due to his grand arrival of 3 teeth in three weeks and finally he has got all chesty and horrid with them....I mean you just know it's going to happen at some stage huh?

So at midnight we decided not to go away and I promptly ignored the ironing mountain and started on a new layout that had been eating away at me!! I have been making altered things all of last month and really needed to get some 12x12 love in!!

Georgia is delighted that she isn't going to miss her first day of school after all, and is so excited because this year I have bought her some trousers!! Nervous about school? ......Not at all!!! ...You would think it was a fashion parade for 5 year olds!!

I will photograph my Layout and post it tomorrow if it's not raining, and for those of you who belong to SB.Com I have made it into the final 10 for the K&Co Challenge and the August Altered Challenge just incase you felt the need to do some voting!!! Not that I am trying to influence you because the K&Co challenge was wicked!!!! There are some very creative layouts in there this month especially Bettylou1 and GabrielleP's.

I shall be staying home and getting some me time in after the last 6 weeks, but first I need to photograph Georgia's first day and have lunch with my husband!

Good night all, my bed is calling me zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

If like everyone else you have caught the bug for these cute "colour me in" type stamps then we will all be making them for Xmas and the craft shops will be selling out of colouring in pens!!

An English Stamps Company called Spiral Whisper is giving away £15.00 worth of vouchers so you can choose your own!!

My choice would be the pirate and the girl on the reindeer!! Awww soo cute!! If you want a chance to win click here.