Bless that little Birthday babe.......

After a week of illness, high temps, countless doctors visits etc....it was Bens 2nd birthday yesterday.

He was well enough to enjoy the day....not that we did much or that he understood what was happening, but he loved his new toys and beamed at the candles on the cake!!

At the last minute I decided to make him a chocolate cake and he had no sooner blown out the candles then he crashed asleep in the corner of the lounge on a pillow. He has never ever done this before so I couldn't resist taking a photo to tease him with when he is older!!

I have done absolutely NO CRAFTING all week whilst my little bundle of heat has been laying on my tummy!!

So I finally get a day off from being a Mum and have to go the dentist....what a waste of perfectly good crafting time!!

In the mean time I thought I'd tell you about this:

Vanilla Sugar is a new challenge blog that hopes to challenge you to try other craft mediums each month.The aim is to get you to make, sew and craft items for the home or altered art projects rather than the usual cards and layouts! Januarys challenge is to use coasters aka Beer Mats!!

I also hope to catch up on all those awesome Shabby Summer entries ASAP!!

Love and vanilla sugar

Ruth xxx

Introducing Your Royal Highness.......

....the Crown Princess of Holly!! I found these beautiful flocked and glittered Holly leaves and berries in my MIL's flower arranging stash....they are so touchy feely but drop glitter like mad all over my work bench!!
The small Maya Road letters were painted and stickled.......I only have about 4 stickles and yet for some reason one is green and one red, I bought them a couple of years ago and have never used them since......I think I had visions of card making at the time..lol...like thats ever going to happen!!

To paint them I applied glue stick to my non-stick baking mat and placed the chipboard letters onto it...this makes them easier to peel off once the paint has dried.


Then I added a layer of similar coloured paint to the stickles and left it to dry...once dry I added stickles and waited 24 hours for them to dry.......when are Ranger going to invent quick drying stickles I wonder?

Love and Holly Berries

Ruth xxx

ps: I am going to meet a real live princess next week.....hush hush I can't say anymore!! And no cameras are allowed......what! and me a scrapbooker!!!!

Twinkle Twinkle little star.....

Hair, makeup, nails and a glitter tattoo what more could a 7 year possibly want for her birthday ?


(I took this lone angel off the Christmas tree and just thought...you belong on a scrapbook page!)

How about 6 other friends to join her.........Georgia was very lucky to be invited to a Poppys Princess Party and she made the most of every opportunity to act like a diva.......she does it with such style!!




I made this layout with the luscious Websters Pages papers from the Violette Wings kit from Bubbly Funk.......oh my beating heart be still!!

I took tons of photos but can only share those of Georgia so here are some.........

Love Lady Gaga and friends xxx

UKS mini book classes

Starting January 11th on UK Scrappers there will be free mini-book page classes every Monday.

Each page has a 6 inch side so you can mix and match the different styles and sizes or stick to your favourites.

There are five different styles all made by various designers.



1) Freestyle/Artsy: this is more messy and experimental (6x6 with some shaped pages)

2) Simple: simple scrapbooking at it's best -think Kathy Z (6x6)

3) Vintage: shabby chic, distressed: think Tim Holtz-y (6x8 portrait)

4) Kid friendly: as it says more playful and fun loving style (6x6)

5) Pretty Pretty: glittery, flowery blingy (6x6)



You can use any of your own papers as the instructions are not manufacturer led. You can also use these pages to do the 2010 challenge run by Shimelle Lane. Either way it looks like it's going to be a whole lotta fun over there at UKS.





I have been sponsored by Happy Daze to make 2 pages in the Vintage style. With my left over matching papers I plan on making some of the other designers projects...oh what fun!! I do hope you will join us......

Love and anticipation
Ruth xxx

Another Shabby giveaway!!

Wow that was quick we have a winner for the flowers giveaway so in a generous giving New Year mood we have another one: but this one might be a bit more tricky!!

Click HERE to enter:

Love and lengths of lace

Ruth xxx

Lets get Shabby RAK- from Toni

Toni has kindly donated a fabulous RAK this month to one lucky follower of the Lets get Shabby Challenge Blog.

To win you must:

1) Be a follower of the blog

2) Have 1 guess at how many flowers you think there are in the picture!!

The winner will receive the RAK and a special ready made layout from the talented Julie...Shabbys founding lady!!

The competition closes Sunday the 10th Jan so thats probably Saturday night for us in the northern hemisphere!!

Good Luck and remember "you have to be in it to win it"

Love and Luck

Ruth xxx

Scrumptious Welcome Sign......

I know.......... I know........ Christmas is SOOOOO last year!!!

However I couldn't resist making this Shabby Welcome sign from some of my Bubbly Funk Websters scraps and some really strong cardboard packaging. I wanted to make a Happy New Year one but it just didn't look right so I went with this instead.

I recycled Georgias buckles from her school shoes!! The shoes were completely worn out and this heart is a bit scruffy but it's perfect for this shabby sign.

The kids bought me a crop-o-dile and with it came loads of eyelets, so I added 2 snowflake ones onto the top.......love them!!

Ribbon from a present from Linda -I am all for this Christmas recycling thing! lol!!

Love and welcoming in the New Year.

Ruth xxx