Shabby Architectural Challenge no 19

This months challenge at Lets Get Shabby is to use the provided picture for inspiration and to be inspired by Arches, scallops and architecture.

I used these pictures that were taken in York last summer. We had been to the National Railway Museum and Ben was playing in the Castle grounds with a new train......it always amazes me that boys will play in any piece of dirt they can find!!

I used Pink Paislee House of Three Parisian Anthology papers from Happy Daze.

The main page is called Architectural arch and comes with a raised embossed background that you can alter to create any colour or texture that you want. I altered them with brown and blue Ranger distress inks to create the moody background.

The rambling flower is hand coloured and cut from Primas paintables.

As always the sponsors are super generous with their prizes and the entries are wide and varied, so get your thinking caps on and join in the fun!! After all what else are you going to do stuck indoors for the next few freeszing cold snow filled weeks!

Love and dirt

Ruth xxx

The guessing is over!

I don't know whether I ought to dare bore you again with my "fear" of card making...think Gillian Mckeith in the jungle and you are getting close!!

This year I bit the bullet and made 2 for the Lets get Shabby Christmas giveaway.

The Shabby followers had such fun trying to guess who made which card.

Thanks to all who played along and hunted for the clues.

Love and letters to santa

Ruth xxx

Shabby Xmas Giveaway

It's back and biger than ever before.......yup...it's the "Lets get Shabby" Christmas giveaway!!

For your chance to win some handmade Christmas cards by some of the biggest names in scrapping simply take a peek at these 2 pictures and try to guess who made which ones!!

note: there is a mix of designers in each picture:

Unfortunately my cards are still winging their way to Australia...(they probably stopped off at Surfers Paradise on the way). I'll give you a clue if they do appear..mine are red and green..lol!

You can still play along by following the rules at

Lets get Shabby.

1) become a follower

2) find the clues on my Dt buddies blogs (see sidebar)

3) leave a comment on LGS

Good luck xxx

A Shabby Christmas Song: Challenge 18

This months challenge at Lets get Shabby is to create a Project using your favourite Christmas song/carol/hymn as inspiration and to include part of the words on your page, either as the titile or as journalling. It must be noticeable.

I found it really difficult to choose a favourite song as I think I just love them all.....I'm not really fussy and could happily hum along to anything from christmas carols to The Pogues.

Eventually I settled on one that focused on Father Christmas to evoke the spirit of the photo of Ben.

For a week my layout sat unfinished whilst I sorted out Georgias birthday party and cake.

Then finally I had a light bulb moment...my layout needed a Vintage tag to fill the empty space.

I used a brown tag and vintage victorian images from the dotcom gift shop, the enamelled bells are from Hobby House and the stamp is made by Papermania who once again have surprised me with their occassional touches of vintage brilliance.

I am loving their Silent Night range!

May I recommend this stamp package to all crafters. It is beautifully detailed, ideal for all cards and retails at £5.99...if it hasn't sold out that is. (I got mine from Pennells garden centre).

Anyway...back to business....click here to enter Challenge number 18, which has the most geneous prizes for all this month and above all keep on humming those tunes!

Love Ruth xxx

Shabby challenge number 17 "Raid your sewing box"

I raided my sewing box with pleasure for this Lets get Shabby challenge and used a zipper,a hat pin and a pearl pin to make my own hat pin.

I was Rak'd this green pin...I suspect it is Maya Road, but I really love making my own just like our gorgeous sponsor, Tattered Inspirations, who incidently sells gorgeous vintage inspired kits!!

The zip was fun and I would definitely use this technique again!!

Want to join in?

Click here and see the stunning samples from the hugely talented team and then play along..it's as easy as 123.

Love and dolls

Ruth xxx

Lets get Shabby Challenge 16 "is now cooking baby"

"Cooking with style just like mama did in the 60's"

...oh except I have a junior masterchef helper in my kitchen!!

The rules this month are to use our special shabby recipe:

You will need to include

1 scrap of material

2 die cuts

3 colours from your chosen kitchen as shown on the shabby blog.

I used a die cut 12x12 paper from Making Memories, a die cut swirl sent to me from Linda and my three main colours from kitchen number 1 are Pink, Yellow and Green.

My scrap of material is the rose at the top from Laura Ashley.

Last month there were so many awesome entries and each month is just gets harder and harder to chose...so go on have fun and start "cooking up a layout"

Love and spatulas

Ruth xxx

Making Shabby Music and searching for a Star

Lets get Shabby is going all mu-sic-al on us this month (said with a Glee style emphasis on the "cal" bit!!)

We want to see some music notes on your project, whether it be punching, stamping or musical style papers from manufacturers or vintage music sheet finds.

Sing with all your Heart

I had been meaning to scrap this photo for a while but forgot about it like you do.......and so it has eventually ended up in a deep canvas with music notes covering the four sides as well.

The patterned paper is from Prima courtesy of Happy Daze and I used the whole entire sheet!!

By carefully figuring out my corners I maximised the flowers and they bend around corners, the large rose at the front covers 2 sides and is also 3D at the top of it. Any spare scraps were torn into circles to make small roses.

The glittered spray is from Twiddleybitz and was a dream to paint. I added Glossy accents to the butterfly and edged it with gold dots, the same as the lettering.

I bought the French music sheets from Paper Paradise when it closed down.

Lets get Shabby are looking for new DT members to compliment the team...if you would like to enter please visit the blog and read the entry rules...and good luck!!

Love and microphones

Ruth xxx

Challenge 14 at Lets get Shabby this month is all about "wings" and you need to use part or all of this quote:

"Friends are angels who lift you up when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly"

I used half of a small Maya Road tag book wing from

Bubbly Funk

A Tattered Angels alphabet surround from Tillys and a broken necklace.
Florists glass beads with Prima paper glued underneath them...aka paupers pebbles!!

Large Maya Road wings from Bubbly Funk covered in felt and sprayed with red Tattered Angels glimmer mist.

I used part of the quote as I changed it to "children" are angels...etc

Prima papers and flowers. The flowers are sprayed with glimmer mist and coated with Jo Sonja- Opal Dust
.

This is such an easy challenge to take part in and as always there is an awesome prize for the winner from our generous sponsors Devine Design Kits !!

So go on get your wings and things out and start creating!!


Love and trouble remembering how to fly

Ruth xxx

Massive Shabby Giveaway..right here.....

As part of our first Birthday Celebrations at ‘Let's Get Shabby’....

We decided to host a Birthday Bash Blog Hop!

Over the next few days on Let’s Get Shabby, the Shabby DT Girl’s blogs, and those of our Guest and Sponsor

(Purple Onion Designs for this month),

you will find a question along with a photos of a rak you could be in the running to win, on all 9 blogs.

So thats 10 chances in total!!

So what do you need to do?

Post a comment on the Birthday Bash Blog Hop posts on each blog and you will go into a draw to win the rak posted on that blog.

You will then need to find the answer to the questions posted on each blog and email all ten answers to Julie jacsplace2@iinet.net.au.

The questions are all based on or around the Shabby blog and the Shabby Girls.

E-mail in the correct answers and 2 random winners could win one of two raks posted on the Shabby Blog as well!

My question is: Which two Shabby Girls recently met?

....and this could be your prize for leaving a comment, unless you win the biggie prize off course!!

Remember don't tell me the answer...just leave me a comment to be in to win this one...it's Julie who wants all the secret answers and you'll have to do some serious blog reading to find them!!

Good Luck and please make sure you pop in and out of the Shabby Blog to find all the correct players......

Love Ruth xxx

The Shabby Birthday Challenge and Giveways galore....

This month is party time at Lets get Shabby as we celebrate our first birthday and pop open the fizzy wine and divide the cake amongst our friends and faithful followers.

This month you need to make a birthday themed project that includes stamps. The challenge runs during July along with some fun, games and giveaways and we would love you to join us!

This months sponsors at Shabby are Purple Onion designs who kindly supplied the stamps used on my project.

I stamped the words with Distress Ink on a previously sprayed background using Glimmer Mist. For such a finely detailed stamp I am delighted with the quality and how the red on red looks so good!

My cupcake was inspired by Ingvild Bolme and I used a combination of her technique here and the original one from

U-Tube here.

I would recommend taking some shortcuts though.....

1) When forming the inner circle (Just after the rubber band stage) you could just use a row of double sided tape to bind it all together on the outside. I used a glue gun but looking back it might have easier to run tape around it.

2) My topping is made from white felt. I cut 2 semi circles and scalloped the edges. Once glued onto the polystyrene balls I added some dimensional paint to create the edges and peaky icing bits. Then I lathered it with glue and sprinkled the glitter all over.

3) My favourite trick at the moment is to use fine wire and thread it through cotton lace. It gives you more control over the size and amount of gather in flowers or circles and worked great around the ball.

These are such beautiful and versatile stamps and are perfect for card makers.

My car boot bargain cake stand and doiley!!

Please call back later in the month for the fun and games and giveaways....

Love and cupcakes

Ruth xxx

Shabby Tutorial

Yumiko has produced a beautiful and original tutorial for an altered jar this month.

Isn't it gorgeous?

Pop on over to Lets get Shabby HERE to see exactly how she made it.

I'm thinking a great alternative to wedding favours if you made them out of baby food jars!! (shame I'm already married..I swear I should have been a wedding planner!!)

Ruth x

Lets get Shabby: Challenge 12:

When I asked Mum if there was a photo of her at the sewing machine or is it just a memory imprinted on my brain she replied "it's just imprinted on your brain".

So this is my first non-photo layout ever!!

This months challenge at Lets get Shabby is to use Chipboard ,Paint and Lace in your creation.

I used to lie awake at night listening to the comforting sound of Mums steel sewing scissors crunching through the tissue patterns and the material laid out on her formica work bench.

Later on in my sleep I could hear the sound of the foot peddle on her Singer Sewing machine stopping and starting, it was noisy but comforting.

Mum probably waited untill we were in bed before she laid out the fabric to start pinning...something I do now that I have small children.

I used a couple of very fragile and very faded bright green vintage buttons from my grandmothers button jar. K & Co Amy Butler vintage ephemera throughout from Tillys.

A lace rosette with a vintage broach and some paper from an old sewing book.


Tattered Angels wing painted with Ranger distress paints and a Chipboard lady designed by Melody Ross called Homespun Chic. I threaded old pink lace through the cotton trim.



I'm not happy with these letters as my paint had dried up and I blended two colours together to get the right green but it looks patchy, I must have watered it down too much.

I have had my turn, the design team have done wonders .......and now it's your turn to join in the fun at Lets get Shabby.

Love and threading needles

Ruth xx

Yo-Yo tutorial at "Lets get Shabby"

If you want to learn how to make these ultra cool and super retro Yo-Yo flowers, the lovely Mandy has made a gorgeous little tutorial over at Lets get Shabby.

Please leave her a sweet commment if you LUUUURVE them as much as I do!!

Ruth xxx

Lets get Shabby Colour Challenge No 11

This months challenge at Lets get Shabby is to use a beautiful quilt for inspiration for your colour scheme.......you also have to include some MATERIAL/FABRIC in your project.

I used the last of my Mothers little hessian bags from the Trade Aid shop in New Zealand and some Making Memories foam stamps.

I bought the material samples from a craft show at Harrogate 3-4 years ago and used a new method for making them that I saw on a blog recently. I would love to give you credit but I can't remember whose it was, sorry......... anyway I wired them!!

Please remember that only projects made exclusively for Lets get Shabby will be acceptetd as we are not a multi challenge site.

Foam stamps with Gesso

my token touch of yellow

It's times like this when I remember why I hoarded all of those buttons!! I soooooo enjoyed playing with my first love again...it reminded me of those days when I used to buy Laura Ashley style crafting material by the metre and make skirts from it. It was cheaper than normal fabric so my sister and I had a sprig splurge during the 80's. The only downside was we dicovered that it wasn't very colour fast!! Things have changes since then and fat quarters are really stunning now.

This is the beautiful quilt that inspired our Design Team, so whether it's Autumn or Spring where ever you live there have to be some gorgeouscolours in here to get your mojo going.

Love and textiles

Ruth xxx

Easter Eggs

If you pop over to Lets get Shabby you can see a little how to on making these polystyrene eggs.

I know it's a bit late for this easter but maybe for next year. Now is the best time to buy paper mache eggs as they should all be reduced in price in the stores!!

Don't forget you only have a few days left to get your Shabby Easter entry in to have a chance at winning the fabulous sponsor prize!!

Love and I never want to see a chocolate egg again!! (until next year)

Ruth xxx

Lets get Shabby Challenge 10- A shabby Easter

This months challenge over at Lets get Shabby is: A Shabby Easter" and thats exactly how Easter should be.

It should be candyfloss colours, pale pastels and chocolate, fluffy bunnies and masses of bunting until you are sick, sick, sick of all the sheer fluffiness and can't wait to escape outside into the pure spring air and appreciate the fresh greens and yellows of nature!! Phew!!

I couldn't resist stringing up some bunting again for the title......

I also can't wait to get started on making some more delicious vintage eggs...all I need now is a tree type ornament to hang them from...darn it I saw one in a Charity shop last week and didn't buy it.....drats!!!!!!( I even said to myself at the time.....hmmm I could hang things from that. Thankkgoodness for TK Max we need a little bit more American influence in home decor over here at this time of the year...us Brits just don't do fluffy very well!!

Please pop on over to Lets get Shabby to peruse the delicious delights on display from the Shabby team and to goggle over the wicked prize on offer this month!!

Love and the joys of spring

Ruth xxx

Alice in Wonderland release day....eeeeeck!!

I am sooooo excited...I have been dying to see this film since I first found out it was to be released and having seen the trailor I wanted it to be released even sooner...but no...we have had to endure weeks of waiting!!

Finally today is the big day, and in honour of this I have made another Alice in Wonderland themed layout....this was my other idea for Lets get Shabby and then I got carried away with the Queen of Hearts theme and forgot all about Alice and the garden...see what I mean about reading the rules carefully!!

It was when Georgia pointed out that this photo would make a good Alice that it all began to fit together. I already knew that I wanted to use blue and green Prima flowers and use the tea party stickers. I can't remember where they came from I have had them for so long....possibly my mum? Anyway they are perfect!!

You can find my step by step tutorial at Bubbly Scrumptious (here) for the 12x12 doiley punch base paper design.

I love blue and white china my grandmother had plate racks around the breakfast room and in the hallway in her house and it was full of beautiful old blue and white Spode China.....it always reminds me of her:)


It was such a beautifully sunny day today that I took my other layout outside and re-photographed it. I wasn't happy with the one I took last week in the dull rain!!

Love and good vs evil and little white rabbits

Ruth xxx