Call off the search

I'm still here.
It has been a while though!
Life has been rather eventful and not much crafting has been done - until yesterday!
Its after half term so there is just one type of crafting on the agenda...

This year my Christmas card production has been helped along by 2 Imagine That stamp sets - Christmas Blessings and Damask Designs which features the lovely angels wings. I'm not sure Emma intended them to be angels wings but that is what they look like to me!
I thought I would make simple cards this year. Only there are 6 layers - 5 are die cut, one dry embossed, all inked and the image was stamped in gold ink, the sentiment across the top and then the image outlined with a glue pen and then covered in Glamour Dust. See, simple. Oh and to get colours of distressing I was happy with, some of the layers are inked with three colours. Simple. See?

The papers are all from an old K and Co pad which was not necessarily Christmas papers but the right kind of colours for me. I did variations on a theme

and variations on the variations

adding tags from the K and Co pad or a lovely Martha Stewart pine needle punch I bought.
I've made over 50 so will just need to find time for another batch day - and some more papers.
But life is still rather full with

• Dissertation bits to be done. March is coming and I really want to be done well before that!
• Running - I did get up to 28 minutes but I have been a little unwell so need to redo a week of 25 minutes I think
• Accepting a call to new pastorates. From early July next year the family Nevard will be living in Babbacombe, Torquay. Its a big change in lots of ways. We will have been here 13 years by then and it is a wrench to go. But the Spirit said - have a look - so we did. Next Sunday/Monday will be spent back in Torquay looking at Sixth Forms. I'll be glad when that is settled to be honest.

which all means a bit of downsizing will need to happen. I'll be sharing my craft room with the boys in future. ie my stuff will be in their bedroom - which they won't be using most of the time but it will be a new challenge! Anyway that is all to come and I am wanting to live in the present as much as possible. So I will still be a bit quiet here for a while but I am looking forward to rejoining Daring Cardmakers and scrapping again in a little while

Some mother's don't have them

I don't like slapstick comedy where everything goes wrong. I think I still have a twitch from being forced to watch Frank Spencer every week as a child. I do try. I bought Black Books as a box set to watch on holiday only to find I can only manage one episode before having to leave the room. So you can imagine that it wasn't my idea to go and watch Johnny English. I wanted Tintin but was outvoted. So how was it? lets put it this way. We all have to score films we watch on DVD or at the cinema (!) JE Reborn got 9.5, 9, 8 and 4 - which i then marked down to 3 when I realised I was still shuddering 10 minutes later. I was glad I had a corner seat so I could cringe with my legs right up. 2 of the points were for Dominic West on his own as well. So if you love seeing silly men doing prat falls then it is the film for you. if not, you have been warned (especially if you do not drool over Dominic West)

But I do like hanging out with my fams so that is all good. Nice day off yesterday - I taught Christmas cards at Imagine That and found some Christmas papers to use at home for my own cards. The day also included a little bit of scrapping following the Shimelle class which i am really enjoying. But then I do love patterned paper!

This page was about using spots and stripes. As the papers were busy I decided that I would paint over a section with black paint. And then hated it so added some white embossed dots and home drawn black and white striped paper.

 I adore this photo. I love the way that I caught the lemur mid leap. we did get a lot of lovely lemur photos so expect to see more.
Details: Papers: Pink Paislee and Fancy Pants; Stamps: Papertrey Ink; Embellishments: Chatterbox

 When I knew that Carys and Phil were going to get airbrushed tattoos I wanted them to take the camera to record the process and may have had a wee tantrum when Phil said he hadn't as he didn't want to intimidate the "artiste". Humph.
Details: Papers: Cosmo Cricket, Basic Grey; stickers: Cosmo Cricket; Dies: Nestabilities; Punches: Fiskars and Martha Stewart; Pearls from Imagine That

I've managed another layout which I hope to share but then on Thursday I will have to pack up the craft room to turn it into a guest room as Phil's mum is coming with her 4 collie dogs!

Sometimes you just have to listen

I took a whole week off from running until the first knee stopped hurting and the one that had come out in sympathy was only twinging. I am redoing week 5 and did 2 8 minute runs without being in agony. Moral of the story is - if your body is crying out then you need to stop and listen.
Hmmm there is a sermon in there.
There is a sermon in most things though I find.
Its called theological reflection. (if you want to be posh) or "What is God saying to us through this" (less posh). (more me)

I had seen that Shimelle is doing a new scrap class and I ummed and aahed because I do not have the time or the energy but it is all about patterned paper and I love patterned paper (strange but true). While I dithered I entered a draw for a free place with the extremely talented SJ and won it. So that answered that one. And what a fab class Pretty Paper Party is. I have even managed to squeeze in time for two layouts in 2 days which is unbeleivable in many ways.

This is for the first prompt. All the papers are Crate Paper via a Gottacraft Kit. I thought that the numbers paper worked well when thinking about the monks prayer life which goes on a 24 hour cycle. The chapel is so plain but that fresh green at the back is the perfect colour. we were only allowed on the balcony which is quite high and opaque so sitting down you can't see the monks at prayer at all, only hear them. There were about 10 children on the balcony who were completely still during the time of prayer - which was a thing of beauty in itself. Still felt a bit odd to be an "observer" though.

Details: Journalling spots Chatterbox and Little Musings; ricrac and flower from stash; Letters Papermania; white dots Ranger Enamel Accents

The other layout I finished is from my Dad's 80th birthday meal

Phil was keeping us entertained as ever (food good, service slow). This is not a truly 12x12 layout as someone cut too much off the bottom along with the manufacturer strip... It uses a sketch from the class with some extra circles
Details: Papers: Cosmo Cricket: Circa 1934 and odds and Ends, Theresa Collins, MME,the black dot paper is a Christmas one that I can't remember; Letters: Websters Pages, Cosmo Cricket, American Crafts; Stickers: Paperchase, Jenni Bowlin; wodden embellishment, buttons and heart from stash; Glimmer Mist: black and gold


I am doing a stint at our contact centre in the morning. It can be quite tough but it is important that children get to see their parents. I am on the way with the service for Sunday so may be able to squeeze in a bit more play time if possible!

The lonely knees of the short distance jogger

Humph. As you will know having been bored to death by my Couch25k updates, I have discovered jog/running. And to my surprise I really enjoy it. I did my first 20 minutes without stopping last week and was working up to the next biggie - 25 this week (It really is an excellent way to get you started). I've lost a little weight, have bags more energy
BUT
my kneeeeeees
they hurt. And they hurt a lot of the time. Not agony so I can't walk but enough to wake me in the night. I have been trying to run through it hoping that it was some kind of novice running thing and part of getting fit. But that is not really working. So I am trying to be sensible and actually leave them a few days until they stop hurting and then try again. it will mean repeating a week or two but I don't actually want to stop all together.
If that doesn't work I will have to go to the doctors and I hate that.
I now have a lot more sympathy for people with athritis of the knee cos it really is a bit pants.
I still reccommend the plan and the going outside and running thing. Its brilliant
(which makes me think of this. Which is brilliant)

Last Monday (ooh has it been so long since I blogged?) I had a lovely day crafting with the most wonderful Sue and started two layouts which I have since finished at home.

This is from Sassy Lil Sketches - a site that is just about to close down sadly. I used Sue's rather lovely Creative Memories circle cutter system which is a lot easier than drawing round a plate! I used some really old stuff on this - Queen and Co felt; a Hambly transparent frame and some chipboard pieces. Paper is from MME and letters are Grungeboard. The grungeboard and the chip stuff all coloured with Distress Inks.

The little wooden Kaisercraft circle was coloured with Tumbled Glass distress ink - perfect match! And then the little paper middle fell out of another craft kit - the September Gottacraft kits and lo - exactly the right colours.
The layout is all about the refurbished old lightboat house in Tenby which featured on Grand Designs

and then one I had to finish at home

This used the aforementioned kit papers - all Crate Paper. I also used a yellow mist on a Studio Calico mask. It looked quite good but even better when I went round the edge with a prodding tool and did some pretend stitching. I really liked the patchwork style paper but some of the patterns were a bit pink and girly. So I replaced some and layered others - there was a Nestability square just the right size. The edges were all pricked and inked too. It took a while but it was worth it I think.

  The butterflies and flowers are Chatterbox and the stickers from Authentique (via the sold out kit).
I love this photo of two of my boys. I caught Emrys actually smiling at the camera. Result.

Any other crafting time (sadly not a lot) has been spent working with the fab new Christmas religious phrase stamps by Imagine That. I have a class almost prepared and might come up with some quick and easy designs for my own cards too. Which I won't start until half term - but that is nearly here already.

I've had a busy week workwise including a 24 retreat with other Ministers where I had to lead two lots of prayers. Its a hard gig leading worship for other professionals but it seemed to have been well received so thank the Lord for that. It was amazing that different themes and readings kept weaving into the various parts of the 24 hours that different people prepared.
I've got a long day tomorrow so am looking forward to a day off on Monday - but no running yet I fear.

So now what?

to go on holiday I loaded a vast number of books onto my Kindle. (ahh I love my Kindle so. Although I still catch myself trying to turn a page every now and then) The thought of being without a book to read leaves me in a cold sweat so it was lovely to know that I would not run out. I was excited to read the Games of Thrones books. And I read and read and read and .... they are all pretty long you know. So today, finally, I finished book 5. And George R. R. Martin is a cruel author - he leaves you (almost literally) on a knife edge with loads more to be resolved. I feel a bit bereft having got to the end. And I suspect it will be years until the next one. They are great books, I reccommend them. It might help to print out a list of who is who so you can reference it - or be prepared to read a few pages of a chapter until you remember who is related to whom as the chapters skip to different countries. And be prepared for characters you love to DIE. Hywel (who managed to read all 5 in 3 weeks) laughed at one point when I wailed outloud at something unexpectedly sad and cruel.
So now I have started "The brightest star in the sky"by Marian Keyes. Which will cheer me up when I am pining for the Seven Kingdoms.

Here is another Tenby holiday layout. we went to an aquarium/vivarium in a former church - which still had a graveyard and looked very much like a church from the outside. It was very well put together though with lots to see including the rather lovely blue frogs. I was less enamoured by the snakes. Mind you I was listening to an Audio Book at the time featuring lots of creepy snakes which didn't help. Look at how blue the sky was - no doctoring happened with the photo. We just had lots of amazingly good weather.

The sketch is a Shimelle one . I played it pretty straight really using some new Studio Calico opaque white mist to start me off and a selection of buttons down the side (sewn in and everything). I felt that the journalling was a little bit too low down so added some white dots at the top to balance things out a little. All the papers are MME and the letters are Doodlebug, Making Memories and Adornit. The ribbon is via Imagine That - Kaisercraft I think. It is fab as it comes in rows that are 3 deep and you can ink them or leave them bare like I did here.
Here are closeups of the words

For some reason I did some cursive writing. I wish we were taught proper cursive in the UK. This is the best I've done so far.

Tomorrow I will be trying to run for 20 minutes straight for the first time which hopefully will inspire the evening service sermon slot - it will be about Euodia and Syntyche - two women who are arguing in Phillipians 4 and ideas abuot how to help them out. I am thinking of writing some letters from them but might also bring in something that I've learned from the pygmies. Hmmm its is not all quite there yet!

Me right now

• I'm noticing more grey hairs (bring it on, I want to be funky grey. If I am rubbish grey then I can have fun trying different colours)
•  I'm on Week 5 run 2 of Couch to 5k tomorrow. Which means one run until they start being really serious. Am surprised how much I enjoy running ("we don't" say my knees)
• I'm trying to dress smarter for work. "Are you going to an interview?" they say. Today I'm wearing a red crepey short dress with black leggings, long cardi and biker boots. I am going to talk to people about confirmation but that is it really. 
• I'm living through a time of uncertainty, waiting for a traffic light to either say green or amber. I don't like it but it will be over fairly soon now
• I'm aware that more of my MA is in my head than on paper and I'm not really looking forward to making it the other way round
• I'm still terribly untidy and wish it were not so, but also aware that when I tidy up is when I lose things
• I'm still being reminded about how much I need God in my life and how I don't have all the answers
• I'm squeezing in a little time for crafting. 3 Tenby holiday layouts done now - here is no. 2

 

This is based on Sketch 268 on Scrapbook Challenges - not very  much like it in the end!

Bazzill was sprayed with yellow glimmer mist. Papers are Echo Park For the Record and Simple Stories - as are the stickers apart from the Making Memories ones. Also added some Prima Gems and Card Candi. Here are some detail close ups

And a quick card - I'm in a kraft phase at present

Papermania card, Cuttlebug emobssing folder, Nestability dies, Waltzing Mouse stamps

And that's all about me right now!

Au revoir, auf wiedersehen

Well I started to write this blog post an hour ago but our dog (not so) Lucky hurt her paw somehow while she was out for a walk with Phil. He had to dash home to take his bike for an MOT and attend a coffee morning so I was left with an unhappy dog who didn't want anyone to look at her paw. It turned out that she cried a lot less if she could be sprawled on our half landing with me sitting on a step next to her stroking her while trying to do some work. Phil is back, we can't see any lasting damage and she is now putting weight on that leg. I am as stiff as anything!

This week it was my turn to choose a Daring Cardmaker challenge. I looked up what significance Sept 30th has and it turns out it is World Language Day. I thought that was a great excuse to revisit one of the very first dares that DCM put up almost 5 years ago now. Here are my cards from October 2006

 

and here is this weeks - has my style changed a lot?

Well I am not sure this is really my style anyway but I do like it. I guess the big change has been the use of distress inks or some form of outlining on a card and I am more likely to use stamped words.

Details: Cardstock: Craft Creations; Papers: Pink Paisless and MME; Flower: Wild Orchid Crafts; Lace: Ribbon Girl; Chipboard: Pink Paislee; Stamps and pearls: Imagine That; Stormy Sky and Aged paper Distress inks; needle and thread. Butterfly cut from a template (another paper with butterlfies on it)

And here is another card made with the leftovers and a new set of sentiment stamps by Paula Pascual available from Imagine That  - where this weekend is discount weekend (1-2 October) so head on down and grab some bargains

 

This is also a good time to say au revoir. I'm not stepping down totally from Daring Cardmakers but I do have to step back for a while. Work life is getting increasingly complicated and home life may do to in the next few months so I will only be an occassional contributor until I can see the wood for the trees. Sob.

I have managed to start my holiday album for this year with the title page

It was based on Shimelle's starting point for this week but now looks rather different. I had decided to use Distress Stain and a Mask but didn't like how it turned out. Last night I spent ages moving things around and adding them to cover most of it (can you see it just peeking out). This morning in the shower I suddenly thought - why didn't I just turn the Bazzill Kraft paper over? Numpty.

Details: Papers and Stickers: Simple Stories; Spellbinder Die; Vintage Paper distress ink; Brown pen

Its a harvest festival double bill on Sunday. Still not quite sure what new and interesting way we can celebrate it this year. I know we will talk about Bangladesh and give our gifts to the local Women's Refuge but the rest is still rather a blank page at the moment. Here's hoping God will sow the seeds...

My mad 48 hours

Friday morning 8:45. Loaded up the car with all of Hywel's Uni gear.
1ish arrived in Hartlepool. Ate lunch and then had a trip down memory lane driving by the old house, the old school  and ending up on my "patch" the Headland. To find two new statues
This rather lovely one of a fisherman (with the photogenic St Hilda's in the background)

 and this one of Andy Capp. Reg Smythe who created Andy went to Sunday School at the Independent and probably danced round the maypole (everyone of a certain age who lived on the Headland danced round the maypole)

 and then there was this much less photogenic scene. my first Church. It was closed down about 11 years ago now after I left but I was the last Minister. (The closing down is a long but not altogether sad story) Its been sold for a while but obviously redevelopment hasn't happened yet. Although the shape is nice from the outside, it would be a nightmare really and pulling it down might be for the best. better than this anyway. The halls could be entered from the street below as they were under the church and the Sunday School rooms to the left are about 3' lower than the church building so there are stairs EVERYWHERE. It was very hard to take photos but somehow I thought I should.

Friday 3:00 arrived at the home of Sts Elspeth and Andrew who offered to look after Hywel as he couldn't move into his Uni accommodation until Sunday. So they moved him in today (all arrived safely!). It saved one of us having to go back up to Teesside today.

Friday 4:30 after having an all too short catch up with Elspeth (Everyone needs an Elspeth in their life - she is kind, caring, funny and always a delight to chat to. She saved my life many times when I was a new mum and is obviously still doing so 19 years later!) and saying goodbye to Hywel (who was so anxious about the journey ahead she almost forgot to say goodbye and give her first born son a farewell hug? I couldn't possibly say) I did the scary thing of driving to Lindisfarne via the Causeway. It is longer than I thought it would be but at least it was still light! My friend Ruth who has been scoffing at my fears almost missed the tides and had to drive over in the dark. Won't be scoffing again eh Ruth?

Friday 7:00 booked into the Lindisfarne Hotel. Having had to phone them up and ask where it was. There are only about 20 houses/pubs/hotels on Lindisfarne but my Satnav had taken me past it and I was lost. How embarrassing. Still the warm welcome from the lovely Sean and the gorgeous room made up for it

Friday 8:00 Meal in Rachel's new house making new friends whilst waiting to see if the old friends would make it over before the tide. And then catching up with them after they did.

Friday 11:00. Bed for me. Phil at home was getting ready for 5 hours in prayer overnight to prepare for Back to Church Sunday. What a star.

 Saturday 7:30 Out jogging alone this path to the castle and back. In the rain for some of it as well. I never expected that all the words in that sentence would ever apply to me. Still only doing 3 minute runs but I'm hopeful of improving!

 

Saturday 10:00 Walking off a rather fab breakfast by wandering round the island and catching up with St Cuthbert

 and spotting seals (they are the little black dots in the photo below)

1:00pm Lunch with some lovely people and then a walk before getting ready for

4:30 The Induction of Rachel as Warden of the St Cuthbert Centre. I did a little singing, Bible story telling and preaching. I described Rachel as having" a wise head, warm heart and creative spirit" - all very true!

6:30 Getting changed in the Disabled Toilet at the Centre. Was down to lacy bra when... clearly door not locked as much as I thought it was. Hope it was only one poor chap and not the whole hall that saw me...


6:40 left Lindisfarne for the drive home.

12:50 arrived home. Hours between rather tedious but at least I now know I can drive that far on my own.

Sunday 9:30 first of two services. praise the Lord he gave me the strength to get through, plus all the memories of the day before helped. I am pretty sure that all the mistakes would have happened even with more sleep actually
Most of the rest of today has been recovering! I'm so glad I did it though.

But it does mean that I am late with my Daring Cardmakers card for this week. Jo came up with a wonderful dare - Green Eggs and Ham, using Dr Suess as inspiration. Thanks to the wonders of t'Internet I came up with this

Quite simple really. Outlined papers, die cut using Nestabilities, printed on sentiment (thanks to Sharon for the font tip) and that's about it really.
So if you have had to read through ALL that stuff about my road trip when you really just wanted to see the card - sorry!

Surely not?

Almost the end of Monday already?
Now I'm not one to moan (cue those who know me well collapsing in fits of laughter)
but BOY am I wiped out.
I'm having an adventure up north this coming weekend so have had to work today and that comes on top of a heavy week last week - not just in terms of what is in the diary but issues and problems that I have to deal with, or that are too big for me to deal with which is overwhelming in itself. It is humbling too as it is a reminder that being in Ministry is not about "fixing" things but rather pointing people to the One who can truly make a difference.

Which goes someway to explain why I still haven't blogged my DCM card from Friday. Tsk tsk.
So here it is

 We got to play with the lovely new Funky Hand "Happy, happy birthday" CD, which is full of loads of different papers in amazingly different colourways. I ended up using a brown toned palette which is great for turning a card masculine. You can see the fab array of papers by looking at the Daring Cardmakers blog and by clicking on this link to Funky Hand too!

To be in with a chance to win your very own CD rom you must

1. make a card for this week's challenge and leave a link so we can see it

2. add links to your blog telling your readers about Funky Hand and the Daring Cardmakers

3. enter your card for no more than FIVE other challenges

I printed some of the patterns at 4 on an A4 sheet and some at 2 on an A4 sheet so that the scale of the papers changes. I used some nestability dies and made the flame from punching a small circle and cutting into it a little. Although it is a man's card I had to add some gold glitter on the candle. The sentiment is made from two different Imagine That stamp sets - Write Big and Number One.

This Sunday is Back to Church Sunday and many churches of different kinds are getting involved. So if you have ever even fleetingly wondered what worship is like then this is the Sunday to give it a try as you are sure of a warm welcome!

Just as well this is not a webcam...

I've just finished Couch to 5k week 1 and am really rather red! This is yet another autumn attempt to keep fit and it is early days but so far so good. I decided I would rather like to run - inspired by all the women detectives in US novels who always feel so refreshed by runs - but more so by the awesome success of my lovely friend Ruth who started  in the new year and is now super fit. I'm using the NHS version with podcasts that tell you when to run and when to walk. I am still mostly walking (well wobbling) but will go up to the next gear on Friday.
will this last longer than last years get fit attempt? Who knows?

I thought I would show a few recent layouts. This one is based on a layout by Finnabair and really doesn't compare but I love her style and thought I would have a go

 to be honest a lot went wrong...
the stamping was rubbish. my sewing machine wouldn't play (perhaps because the paper was still a little damp from the glimmer mists). I decided to leave the loose ends on my journalling lines to show how we were unhappy that 2 important people were missing from the wedding. yes, my scrapbooking is DEEP). Still it kinda worked and I used a stamp I bought years ago and never used (the ruler one)
Details: Papers: Glitz Design; Stamps: ruler (unknown) and MME; stickers: Websters Pages; Glimmer Mists; Papertrey Ink number dies; black soot distress ink

 This page was really quick to do. I had been showing the gorgeous Sue Hyde how to use Distress Stains so used the turquoise piece of Pink Paislee paper as one of the layers. Most of the rest was cut out of MME papers with lots of glitter on.
Details: Papers: MME, Pink Paislee  and Prima; Diecut word Papertrey Ink; seam binding from the ribbon girl; Distress Stain

and a rather bright one using up scraps. I added some paint splodges and some buttons as pretend Mand Ms. Peanut butter ones are to die for by the way but at £1.99 a bag will have to be a rare treat
Details: Papers: Echo Park (I think); Dies: Spellbinders; Letter stickers: MLS; buttons: donated by my mum and therefore vintage

I am off out to a Bible Study tonight. I love Bible Study especially the lightbulb "ooooh I see" moments that people get sometimes. Here's hoping there is one tonight! And I stop talking. I talk too much. Instead of letting people have time to pause and think I just go on and on and on and on and....

Call off the search

yes I'm finally back blogging.
I don't like to advertise the fact that I am going on holiday so did rather drop off the face of the internet. I've actually been home almost two weeks but haven't had much time to blog. Fortunately there is Daring Cardmakers to keep me going!

We went to sunny Tenby

which was lovely. We were in a quiet holiday park just outside so this was the wonderful view we saw every day. And hardly any rain for a whole two weeks! We visited my parents in the middle of the hols to celebrate dad's 80th and generally had a fun and relaxing time. There will be scrap pages so I won't bore you now. And then life on return has been a mad hectic whirl.

We have two back to school and college, one counting down to going back to Uni
and the addition of one cousin who is staying with us while he does an internship and course in London. He is so busy we hardly see him though. He is my only first cousin. I held him when he was newborn and I had just finished my first year at Uni. He is now 27. I am just old.

So back to DCM. Keilly set her first dare this week and it is fab! We are to be inspired by this photo and also add butterflies. I had also spotted a great sketch from Sassy Lil Sketches which I used. And used pretty slavishly if I am honest! (My creativeness is still creaking from the break)

I had started to panic about the papers as, much as I love green and pink I didn't have much of them. Then I noticed the papers I had just been using for a layout which were a slightly more acid version so I used them and grunged them up further, also adding a liberal amount of glitter.

Details: Cardstock: Craft Creations; Papers: Glitz Designs; Punches: Fiskars and Martha Stewart; Dies: Spellbinder; Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug; Sentiment: Imagine That

Its another tough week for those of us who have sermons to write - the parable of the Unforgiving Servant mixed with remembering 9/11 and Racial Justice Sunday. This week for movie night we watched the Infidel which has given me some food for thought in trying to put it all together (mustn't mix it up with Cowboys Vs Aliens which we saw the day before and has a very different message...). Forgiveness is a hard thing to preach about because it is so easy to moralise over it when you don't have enormous things to forgive. I found this article from last year which sums up the difficulties and gives me some pause for thought. Ah well sometimes preaching is about asking questions not answering them!

Its oh so kawaii-et

Which weak pun enables me to link to one of my favourite music videos as well as introduce my Daring Cardmaker challenge for this week. Bjork is bright, loud and bonkers which I think sums up Kawaii style too! Leo - who came up with this ingenious dare also points us to this blog for more about kawaii.

So here's my card. I was lucky to walk past a shop chock full of Chinese and Japanese bits and bobs and after hours of indecision over what to buy I plumped for a set of little owls and some spotty tapes.
I thought to myself "if only I had some sassafrass papers as that would be just right" and then remembered that in my stash of old Self Addressed kit I had some. Score! I didn't have any sunray papers so made it by chopping up some green spotty paper and adding it to green Bazzill bling. I also used Imagine That stamps, Nestability dies, Prima pearls and my trust sharpie pen.

Here are two more recent layouts
This one was heavily influenced by the awesome Louise Nelson who uses loads of paint, handmade papers and white pen. Expect to see more in this style as it is a lot of fun.
And yet another wedding layout...
This was inspired by another amazing scrapper Karen Grunberg I loved the strip of stickers or ribbons down the left hand side of her layout and thought I would give it a try. I ran the ribbons through my little xyron refill and they were super easy to attach to the layout (my top tip. Don't use the "x" style machine as you get loads more use from just feeding bits through the refill) Papers and stickers are all For the Record.

Its been quite a week in Britain. One that can leave you saying "huh?" and "why". It has also left me with some hope as I see so many people responding positively and trying to work out seriously and sensibly what to do to stop this kind of rioting happening again. I was quite surprised to really appreciate Russell Brand's heartfelt (if sometimes flowery) ponderings which will feature in my sermon on Sunday!