Scrapbooking

Here is one of  the scrapbook layouts I made last week, this is for Philip's album as I finally had some photos printed  of our trip to London. 

As usual I have made a very simple layout using the pale green in the main photo as my accent for the grey and silver I chose for this layout.

I love this photo of Darran and Philip together  they were looking through the window at Lush in Covent Garden where a member of staff was making huge bubbles using one of their bath products.

• Basic Grey, Certainly Celery, Silver Glimmer paper
• Twitterpated Designer Paper
• Wood Grain Stamp
• Basic Grey Stitched Grosgrain ribbon

The house is very quiet now school is back but I have to say I do enjoy the holidays as its nice not to be up and rushing out early every morning.

Angela x

Stippled Blossoms

Today's card uses the gorgeous new Stippled Blossoms stamp set, its a set I liked as soon as I saw the new annual catalogue but it has also been left on the shelf un-inked for quite a while.

This is a Two-step stamp set and the detail in the flowers is gorgeous, I'm sure you will be seeing a lot of this stamp set here!!

• Stippled Blossoms
• Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Very Vanilla, Garden Green
• Very Vanilla Seam Binding, Crochet Trim
• Finishing Touches Edgelits

It's always nice to put away the Christmas decorations and de-clutter, everywhere feels much brighter! We like to get our decorations packed up before Darran goes back to work, so everything is put back in the right place. I have found space for most of the Christmas toys now just in time for Philip's birthday next week, although Lucy's room is going to have a clearout, once she is back at school!!  

I'm planning to make Philip an Angry Birds card and hopefully a birthday banner to match this week. 

Angela x

NEW Talking Tag's

Today Stampin Up! have launched a new way to personalise your cards, scrapbook layouts and other handmade creations!!  The tag enables you to send a personalised greeting, there are 10 tags in a pack for £9.50

Talking Tags

How to send a voice message:

1. Download the FREE TalkingTag™ App on you smartphone from talkingtag.mobi, iTunes® or Google Play™.
2. Adhere the message tag to your card or gift.
3. Open TalkingTag™ App and scan the code.
4. Record your message (recording starts immediately, so make sure you’re ready!).

You will have the opportunity to listen, re-record, cancel, or confirm your message after you’ve completed recording it. Each label allows up to 60 seconds of a greeting, song, or product message.

Angela x

January Special Offer

Stampin' Up! have a new offer valid from today until 21st January.

A Valentine special - purchase the exclusive My Little Valentine stamp set (clear mount only) for £9.95 and get a Simply Sent card kit FREE saving £8.95.  The stamp set will not be available to buy after 21st January, so get your's while you can!!

Angela x

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!  

I wanted share some of my favourite projects from 2012 today, it was difficult to choose just one for each month!! 

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

I will be sharing some new projects later this week.

Angela x 

Last of my Christmas Projects..

I'm not sure how Christmas has passed by so fast again this year after so many hours of preparation and organisation!! I hope all of my lovely blog readers have had a happy and peaceful Christmas. We seem to have spent most of the week removing toys from their packaging but have yet to find a space for everything - I know there will be a huge clear out next week for the charity shop!!

I am sharing the last of my Christmas projects for this year with the teacher gifts that were made for Philip's teacher's little boy, it was quite an order of 12 gifts in total!!

This gift was the least stressful, as it only contains the ingredients to make the yummy oat cookies that I like to bake, I made 4 of these jars decorated with Stampin' Up! products.

I saw jars filled with ingredients on Pinterest this is my first attempt at layering the ingredients and instructions were included, only butter needs to be added to this mix & then they are ready to bake, so they make a useful gift at this time of year.

Now these gifts were a little more stressful, as they had freshly baked oat cookies and Christmas decorated cake pops!!  So no pressure to get things right?!  Thankfully my baking turned out well, and they filled a small gift box along with a pack of Snowman Soup (hot chocolate, marshmallows & a candy cane). I decorated my box with Snow Festival tags.

On the last day of term at school the head teacher announced how much money has been raised - £2050 in just over two weeks towards Philip's new wheelchair, this is an amazing achievement and we are so grateful to everyone who supported us!!  Thank you just doesn't seem enough to express our gratitude.

I have found some time to do some crafting this week and a couple of new scrapbook layouts with some new stash I have had sitting on my shelves for a while waiting to be inked. It has been lovely to use bright spring like colours as I have made so many Christmas projects this year although many of them haven't been shared on my blog. 

I am making plans for some dates for workshops featuring NEW products from Stampin' Up! and I will be posting details of them soon.  My New Years Resolution is to make a little bit more time for ME - this past year I have not had time to craft for my pleasure and it is something I plan to change.  I plan to get back into the garden (if it ever dries out) and make some improvements and there's decorating....... not sure how long I will manage to keep this resolution???????

I would like to wish you a Happy New Year and I will be back soon with some new projects.

Angela x

Polar Party

Another week has flown by and today is the last day of school!!   

This is a project I started making in July!!!  I knew once I got my hands on the new Autumn and Winter seasonal catalogue my stamp sets from last year would not get a lot of use, so I inked up my Polar Party stamp set for this project.

This is a box made from a sheet of 12 x 12 card with several smaller compartments, I first saw it on Pinterest, so if I can find a link I will add it later.

I used Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist and Whisper White for my colour scheme.

The stamps are really cute and I used the stamp ma jig to line them up.

The images were coloured with Stampin' Up! maker pens.

I made some matching tags, mini cards and pens to fill the box.

The lid of the box has an acetate window but it was difficult to get a photograph because of the glare.

Philip got to try out some new wheelchairs this week, the assessment was done at school where staff and pupils could see how this new wheelchair would help to give Philip greater independence around school. The difference it made was amazing, it was so easy for him to "get moving" and turn and stop his huge smile said it all!! 

Today is the final push to raise money for Philip, the children have organised a Christmas dress up day, cake sale along with other activities and there is a huge "buzz" in school about Philip's new wheelchair!! I will be joining the staff and pupils in their Christmas assembly where the Headteacher will announce how much money has been raised, tissues at the ready!!

I have quite a "to do list" that I'm hoping to cross off  this morning, so it's another scheduled post from me - then I can look forward to a relaxing weekend at home.

Angela x

Christmas Party Time

I have scheduled today's post as its another early start this morning for the Christmas Party for the children at Heel and Toe - rehearsals start at 9.30 in Chester-le-Street for the children's performance. I'm sure there will be a lot of tears this morning as this will be the first time parents have seen the show.

The performance will be followed by a party, with a disco, magician and buffet and of course a visit from the man with the red suit - Santa!!  

Philip has made some lovely progress at Heel and Toe and I have to admit the early start to get to Durham every Saturday morning is not something I look forward to but the true dedication of the staff working at the centre and the difference they are making to Philip makes it worth while!!  

When I was told about the party I offered to make some gift boxes for the children as a way to say "Thank You" for the therapy Philip is receiving - I later found out there was 80 children attending the party, gulp!!  I got on with it and delivered the boxes and cards a few weeks ago.

A huge pile of sweets to fill the boxes!!

I used the new Fancy Favour die that is exclusive to Stampin' Up! embossed with the gorgeous new Northern Flurry folder, the reindeer is from the new Jolly Christmas Bingo Bits stamp set. 

Sorry for the poor photo - the cards have been stamped with the cute No Peeking stamp set and the Jolly Christmas Bingo Bits stamp set.

Lucy enjoyed helping to fill the boxes of sweets and with 80 to make I was pleased that she was willing to help me out!!

Heel and Toe is a children's charity based in Durham who believe in providing FREE conductive education for all children needing their help, as we have had no NHS input recently for Philip I am truly grateful for this opportunity. If you would like to find out more about Heel and Toe you can follow the link to their website here.

Philip wasn't very well yesterday and missed his school party, so hopefully today will make up for that!!  The school performances have finished this week and next week will be filled with lots of fun Christmas activities.  I have a busy week in school helping out with Christmas craft days and baking more cakes for Lucy & her friends to sell as they have planned a fun day for the last day of term - to raise funds for Philip's wheelchair. The support has been fantastic from all of the children, staff and parents at school, their kindness and generosity has been overwhelming, I never expected this!!  

Angela x

I'm still here....

I have been really busy with many different Christmas projects, I think I've had quite enough now!!!!  I still have a few special cards to make and some gift boxes but I have to report that the Christmas shopping is done & most of it is wrapped, the tree is up & the lights are on outside so for once I'm feeling quite organised.  I plan to do lots of baking, catch up with some projects I would like to finish and of course there will be some crafting.

I'm hoping I have some photos still on my camera as I thought I had photos of the 80 boxes I made for the Christmas party for Heel and Toe - a children's charity that provides conductive education based in Durham, Philip has made some lovely progress there especially with his fine motor skills.

Today I thought I would share a quick card made with the beautiful Holiday Frame embossing folder, it is a beautiful design and the embossing is really deep. I used the Tags til Christmas stamp set and punched it out with the extra large oval, the tree is from the Scentsational Season stamp set cut with the matching holiday framelits, I added a small heart shaped button with a scrap of linen thread.

I used Red Riding Hood card for my base with Very Vanilla and Gum Ball Green and a little star cut from the gorgeous Champagne glimmer paper.

I think this week is the "calm before the storm" as next week I have a lot of classes plan for - I'm spending a full day at school with year 5 & 6 helping them make Christmas cards and boxes, an afternoon helping Philip craft and  I will be making Teacher gifts for Philip's teacher for her little boy to take to nursery - its quite an order!!

We also have one of the nicest "Christmas presents" ever a new wheelchair assessment for a lightweight "sporty" chair that will be much easier for Philip to use and a better design overall.  The wheelchair was something I thought I would look in to after Christmas but Philip's teacher and the Head Teacher stepped in and the children and families at school are helping to raise money to get Philip a new chair - I  never expected this nor would I have asked them to help, it was an afternoon of tears & complete shock when I got to know about this. 

I will get my pictures organised and plan some more blog posts later this week, as I have a lot to share with you!!

Angela x

Christmas Workshop

On Saturday I held a Christmas workshop featuring the gorgeous Snow Festival suite from Stampin' Up!  Everyone had their own goody bag filled with lot's of  Stampin' Up! products to make their own Christmas projects.

Gift cards are often difficult to "wrap" to make them look presentable - I designed this "pop-up" gift card holder and it will fold flat to fit a C6 envelope!!  This was a popular project and although it is time consuming to put together everyone managed to get one or two made.

This is the front of my gift card holder, I added one of the large matching tags for the focal point of my card, leaving it blank so I can add a Christmas greeting.

The goody bags also had some of these fantastic Stampin' Up! gift boxes, ready to be decorated and fantastic value too - £2.75 for 4 boxes.

I wrapped some of the paper around my box and added a paper bow and one of the gorgeous faceted buttons.

I shared a lot of ideas for stylish gift wrapping, this one uses a thick paper lunch sack, covered with  paper.  The closure was made using the largest label framelit with a velcro dot to close it

.

I shared a tutorial for these gorgeous Christmas flowers, they look lovely in place of a ribbon bow and the faceted button really sparkles along with some of the new Dazzling Details fine glitter glue.

A desk calendar is practical and can also be useful for small gifts, this one will fold flat and fit into an envelope.  Some of the ladies were pleased I had included another calendar project for them again this year.

In the Snow Festival papers pack there is a sheet filled with a "patchwork" of smaller images, that are perfect for cutting up and making some quick cards and tags.

I will be planning some more classes soon so look out for new dates and themes!!

We had a lovely few days away last week for half term at Chessington World of Adventure but the nightmare 8 hour slow drive home and the usual catching up has "stolen" my crafting time!!  

I am currently finishing cards and gifts from Santa for a children's charity, only another 30 to make (80 in total). I need to get them made so I have plenty of free time for my own projects, hopefully I will be back soon with photos and new projects.

Angela x