Vicki's Blog - A Work in Progress

Just a few layouts...

2011-07-31T11:19:00.000+01:00

Well, I had hoped to be telling you of our house move by now and showing you some photos of the renovations, however nothing ever goes quite as smoothly as that in England when it comes to house buying! We had to let our first buyer go as it became apparent that she did not have the money to buy our house, so we had to find another buyer, which luckily we did within a week. We are now hoping to move in about 3 weeks time, so news to come at a later date :)

Today, I wanted to show you some paper scrapping that I've been doing. As you know, I am taking a break from digi, but I am determined to use up the paper kits that I have been collecting! I subscribe to two kit clubs, the first is ScrapaGoGo and the other is Scarlet Lime. I love both of them - ScrapaGoGo because it's a perfect package of coordinating goodies and Scarlet Lime because it's really varied and contains items that I probably wouldn't have bought myself and I can get to try new things out!

I have been on a layout making mission recently since I unpacked a small amount of craft stuff that was already packed so that I could keep my sanity during this stressful move! Unfortunately, I can't remember which box my inks are in, so all my layouts are ink free!! This first layout is my Chinese Whispers layout for July with ScrapaGoGo using the June kit - great kit for Vegas layouts!

And another Vegas layout, this one uses the June kit too - it's based on a sketch by my gorgeous friend Kirsty which I love!

This layout is of the Grand Canyon - so HUGE and I thought it would be great to get in the tape measure paper to highlight size - works well I think! This uses a Scarlet Lime kit.

These next two layouts I made using the ScrapaGoGo July kit. It was perfect for our work boat trip on the canal.

And the paper with the big wheel was perfect for a photo of my 'niece' on a swing!

These last three are from the most recent Scarlet Lime kits which I really adore. I subscribe to both kits - the main and the add on kit.

I used a Paint The Moon action on the photos in this one called 'Awesome Sauce' - if you haven't checked out PTM actions, make sure you do - they are 'awesome'!!

And I adore these photos of my friend's little boy - they work so well together - it looks like he's looking down on himself! I even added a little bit of paint to this one as the paint was in with my pens and tools for some reason - I only have blue there though, so a bit limited! :)

OK, so that's it - I hope you didn't get too bored! I will be back soon, hopefully with good news on a moving date! TTFN.

Something funny...

2011-07-09T11:31:00.001+01:00

This is a totally non-scrap related post - I said I was taking a break and I truly am :)

So, as regular readers of my blog will know, Lily has epilepsy - not badly, she just has a seizure every three months or so. Before she has a seizure, she always makes a lot of choking noises before being sick. Pompey is scared of her seizures bless him and always runs away from her - to alert us or just to get out of the way if we're already there. That in itself is not funny, but bear with me....

So this morning, Lily, Pompey and I were laying on the bed chilling. I was playing on pinterest (if you haven't tried it, definitely give it a look - great inspirational fun) and they were sleeping/snoring!! Lily knows that Pompey doesn't like her choking noise because he fears a seizure is coming, so suddenly, she pretends to choke - I know the difference and I am telling you it was fake! Immediately, Pompey jumped up and ran to the other room bless him. As soon as he was gone, Lily stretched fully across the bed, let out a big content sigh and went back to sleep! Can you believe it? Sneaky little thing :)

I am hoping over the next couple of months while I take a break to do more posts about Pompey and Lily and what's happening with me - I hope I don't bore you too much, but it's a great outlet for me and I love hearing your comments :) You'll probably hear about my new house a lot when we eventually get there - hopefully at the beginning of August. It needs a lot of work and I am really looking forward to decorating it - it will be a completely different style to my house now, so a big challenge.

Oh and I just wanted to show you my favourite few photos that I've taken recently - I will do more of that too as I am really enjoying using my camera again since my Vegas holiday. I have a place, person and animal shot to show you. This first one was taken on the canal when we had a day trip with work - it was the perfect day - the water is just amazing.

This is a photo of a bird I took at Longleat last weekend - I was really pleased with it.

And this final one is a people shot. It's of my boss on our day out. I was so happy with it and he is going to use it for our company website over the photo he had taken by a professional a couple of years ago! Big smile :)

So that's all for now, I'll be back soon. TTFN.

Rose Sunset alpha

2011-06-20T19:54:00.000+01:00

So sorry it's late - I just got home from Vegas yesterday at 6pm and was a bit tired for blogging :) So, check out the alpha for Rose Sunset. Be sure to pick up all parts of the kit - it will be live for a while, but not forever - perhaps a couple of months only. I will give you a full report on Vegas soon, but for now click here to download the alpha. TTFN.

Rose Sunset elements

2011-06-12T12:00:00.001+01:00

I am so glad you like my mini kit - thank you all for the lovely comments. As I am currently on a surprise holiday I organised for my husband, I will just leave you with the link here to download and I'll catch you when I'm back! TTFN.

Win my store!

2011-06-07T09:45:00.000+01:00

Do you want to win my store at My Memories? Head over to the blog here for more details :)

A surprise freebie!

2011-06-05T19:20:00.002+01:00

OK, that's got to be a good thing hey? I was cleaning out some files from my laptop today and stumbled across this mini kit that I made a few weeks ago, but never got around to putting it in store. I decided that I would give it to you all as a freebie instead of uploading to the store! YAY! So, the first part of 'Rose Sunset' is the papers and you can get them today, but before you download be sure to check out my store at Scrap That Idea which is 50% off until the end of June when it will close down. There are some great bargains to be had there and a lot of the kits will be retiring when the store closes.

So this is what Rose Sunset looks like as a full kit. If you click here, you will get the papers and if you check back next Sunday, you will be able to collect the elements and the sunday after that, the alpha! TTFN.

A very sad day!

2011-06-01T21:40:00.000+01:00

This post is very, very difficult and I have changed the words a hundred times to try to get it right so that you can understand my decision making....

Two and a half years ago, Stacey, Mel, Sara and myself had an idea to open a store that sold great kits at a great price and Scrap That Idea was born. We loved our baby and had some great times growing it and developing as designers at the same time.

However, as we all can relate, the store took up more and more of our time and it got to the point where our lives were dominated by it. I took over running the store myself in January thinking that with one person in charge, things would be more straightforward and run more smoothly. However, I grossly underestimated just how much work there was and even though the girls helped with the newsletter and answering customer questions, I just couldn't keep up with it all, work my full time job and have any normally functioning social life!

So, with a tear in my eye, I told the other girls that I would have to step down. All of them are super busy as well with their own lives and they couldn't find the time to run the store either, so we came to the very difficult decision to close the store. It breaks my heart that it came to this, but at the same time I feel a massive burden lifted from my shoulders. I hope you all understand? It has been an incredible journey and all of you have been there along with us - some of you from the very start of my designing even before Scrap That Idea. I would love to thank you all personally for the amazing support you have given us over the years.

I will still be designing, but I am going to have a bit of a break. My designs will be at My Memories going forward as I have a contract with them and they are very easy to design for - they have a fantastic behind the scenes team and a great group of girls on their facebook page and blog. It may take a few months before I have a brand new kit, but I will be back and you will all be the first to know. For those of you collecting the calendar collection, I will have the June installment ready very soon and I will be making a bumper pack to complete to December which any of you that have bought kits from the calendar collection will get as a gift from me when it's done - watch this space!

So, that's the story everyone - I just wanted you all to know and understand why we closed the store. Thanks once more for your never ending support - as a parting gift, my store is 50% off after which time all dollar kits will be gone forever! TTFN.

Blooming Garden and freebie

2011-05-08T12:04:00.000+01:00

So, are you all making the most of iNSD? Don't forget my store at Scrap That Idea is 50% off until the end of today and if you spend $5 or more (after discount), you will get my Happy Birthday mini kit for free!

Let me show you my new release - Blooming Garden - it's a great outdoors kit and is perfect for those avid gardeners. Check out what it looks like:

And this is my layout that I made with one of the photos I took on the Royal Wedding weekend :)

And check out these gorgeous layouts from my Creative Team.... Cheryl:

Gina:

Kim B:

Sharon:

Glenise:

Kim H:

What do you think? I love the kit and layouts and I hope you do too. You can pick it up for just $3 in store here. And also while you're in store, check out the QP pack that I put together. These are all QPs that were for sale in my store now packaged together - there are 22 - enough to make a whole album and it's just $4. Not bad hey? Pick them up here.

And now for the freebie - it's a wordart to coordinate with Blooming Garden. Download it direct from my blog here and please leave a comment here on my blog or on facebook to let me know what you think. TTFN.

Sale!

2011-05-08T08:41:00.000+01:00

Did you see the sale at Scrap That Idea? If not, be sure to check it out!

More paper scrapping

2011-05-06T14:06:00.000+01:00

Are you bored of seeing my paper scrapping yet? Just shout if you are :) These are two I did last weekend using ScrapaGoGo kits and stash I bought at the Getaway. I'd love to know what you think :)

A Right Royal Knees Up!

2011-05-02T13:19:00.000+01:00

Oh I really did enjoy the royal wedding - it was amazing and made me so proud to be British. We had a great party all dressed in red, white and blue and I took more than 450 photos in total during the day! I scrapped some of those with my 'A Royal Knees Up' kit (you can still buy in store for just $2):

And these are a few more of my photos just to give you a taste of the day :)

As you can see - we had a great time and the weather held for us :) I hope you had a great party if you were celebrating too! TTFN.

Chinese Whispers CJ

2011-05-01T18:19:00.000+01:00

OK, my April layout for the Chinese Whispers CJ at ScrapaGoGo has been emailed to the next in line, so I wanted to show it to you. This layout was great fun and I even got to make a great pinwheel to add to it (yes, it's paper, not digi)! The photo is of Sara's kids near St Paul's Cathedral when they came to visit last summer - the colours went great with the ScrapaGoGo March kit! I have now received the next lift from Louise and can't wait to get started!

I'll be back soon to tell you all about our Royal Wedding barbeque - we had loads of fun! TTFN.

Happy St George's Day with a freebie!

2011-04-23T10:59:00.000+01:00

Wow - things are really happening round here - everything at the same time it seems! Today is St George's Day in England - he is our patron saint and so it's a great day to celebrate being English! Also, as you know, it's Easter weekend, so we get to have a 4 day break from work and eat chocolate - YAY! Although, no chocolate for me because of my diet of course! LOL! I have lost another 1lb this week, which is a little disappointing as I really was good this week, but I know it's in the right direction and I have lost 10lbs in three weeks which is amazing and I really feel good about myself!

Then next Friday we have the royal wedding to look forward to - Prince William is marrying Kate Middleton and I am throwing a party for some friends so we can watch the wedding and then have a barbeque in this glorious sunshine we've been having and hopefully will still be having!! We have a four day weekend then too as Monday is May Day bank holiday! I can't believe it - two four day weekends in a row - what more could a girl ask?

With the great weather comes great walks and we have been out enjoying the sunshine this long weekend with the dogs of course. I thought I'd let you see Pompey and Lily having fun as some of you always ask about them. Check them out in the sunshine :)

On that same walk yesterday, I managed to get hubby to agree to be in a photo with me, but he wouldn't smile!! However, I love the photo and I don't care that he's not smiling :)

And I got a lovely photo of me and Pompey today taken by hubby - check this out - sweet huh?

So, back to today's business and in celebration of the fact that it's St George's Day and there's a Royal Wedding next weekend, I made a kit that is very patriotic! However, if you follow 7 Gypsies, you'll know that the union jack is bang on trend right now in the crafting world, so this isn't just for Brits - it's for everyone who is trendy! LOL! Check out the kit (it's a mini) in full - it's called 'A Royal Knees Up' and you can buy it for just $2 here including a free QP (below) to get you started:

Check out some of the layouts from my creative team. First up, Laramie created one using photos of the royal couple and don't they look a cute couple?

Then Kim B, Glenise and Gina all made layouts without a royal theme, but they look fantastic!

Thanks girls - you did a great job with the kit considering none of you are British :) As you've got this far in my mammoth post, I decided to make a small freebie for you too - check this out - it's a little royal flag cluster! I hope you like it - download it here and don't forget to leave some love. TTFN.

Garden Friends

2011-04-18T16:32:00.001+01:00

Have you checked out this month's store collab called Garden Friends? It is super cute and is going to be fantastic for those outdoor photos - the ones where the kids are getting closer to nature! I had great fun contributing to this collaboration - it's not too serious and our CTs produced some GREAT layouts. Check out the kit which is just $4 in store here right now.

And check out my creative team layouts - absolutely stunning as always. Firstly, this is from Cheryl:

And this is from Gina:

Kim B:

Sharon:

And the lovely Stacey:

What are you waiting for - go grab it! You want a freebie? Oh, ok then - how about this wordart? Download it here. TTFN.

Paper scrapping with the April ScrapaGoGo kit!

2011-04-18T10:14:00.000+01:00

You know, I am loving my paper scrapping at the moment. I find it very relaxing and with the light evenings, comes more time spent in my craft room. I recently got my ScrapaGoGo April kit and I have to tell you, I was worried about it. I like bright, bold colours as you know and this is fairly neutral and soft for me. However, I decided a while ago that I would make at least two layouts per kit so that I could justify getting it each month (more than the 'I just need it' justification of course)! So, these are the two layouts I made and I put paint (yes, paint) on both! If you know me personally, you'll know that I am not a 'messy' scrapper - yes, I make a mess of my desk, but I don't like getting my hands dirty!! LOL! However, I embraced it with this kit because I liked the hint of yellow in the kit, but wanted to put more in to brighten my layouts!

The first is one of the photos that Kirsty took at the Getaway at the end of March - the photo is so fun and I wanted to bring out the colour of the daffodils with the yellow paint.

And this is a family photo taken at my Mum's 60th birthday meal last year. It's a shame I'm not in the photo (the downfalls of being the photographer), but it's great to have a photo with everyone else in! My Mum and Dad, my sister and her husband, my brother and his girlfriend and of course, my hubby making a rude hand gesture which you can't really see very well, but he is doing it!! LOL!

So, that's it for now - I'd love to know what you think :) TTFN.

Calendar Collection for May

2011-04-17T13:44:00.000+01:00

Hey everyone - hope you are having a great weekend? The sun is shining here and I love it. We walked the dogs this morning at Blaise Castle in Bristol and it was absolutely glorious - long may it continue! Before I get to business, I wanted to give you an update on my diet as I know some of you are also on a weight loss journey and a bit of support and encouragement never goes amiss hey? So, I have lost 9lbs so far which I am over the moon with. I am doing lots of exercise, which I know helps, but I am being very good with my food choices and I really feel that this is the time that it's going to work for me (I'll be 40 next year, so it's now or never)!! LOL! I am hoping to drop 28lbs by mid June, so I think I'm on track right now!

Have you visited My Memories? I also sell there now as well as Scrap That Idea and this weekend, they are having a BIG promo. Firstly, go here and sign up to be in with a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to the store. And, if you find something you like while you're in store, use code ADR25MM for 25% off your order.

Next week, I have a treat for you. As it's St George's Day in England on Saturday and the BIG royal wedding the following Friday, I am in a patriotic mood. My kit is themed to help us celebrate it. I will be offering a chance to win it later this week, so watch out for that.

Back to today's business and my May instalment of the Calendar Collection is in store - check out the full bundle which includes a fasteners pack and a set of alphas (you can also buy the parts separately here):

And this is what my gorgeous CT did with it - they also used papers and some elements from previous instalments, which is the great part with a collection don't you think?

The first layout is by Cheryl:

And this is from Glenise:

And Kim B's looks like this:

Check out Laramie's layout:

And Sharon's is here:

Thanks girls - they are FANTASTIC! And finally, after all that, I have a freebie for you - it's template number 5 for scrapping your P365 layouts. I hope you like it - remember to leave some love if you download it. Grab it direct here. TTFN.

Fresh outdoors with freebie

2011-04-09T16:05:00.000+01:00

Hey everyone - I can't believe how neglected my blog seems to be! I guess life gets in the way a lot hey? The weather has been great in England lately, so I am enjoying that, plus I have started a serious diet - I would like to lose 28lbs - the amount of weight I've put on since I got married. It's got to go and I am determined to do it! I started on 1st April and I have already lost 5lbs, so it's really spurred me on to keep it up - this is the first time ever that I have felt so positive about losing weight! I've even taken up Zumba which I absolutely love - it's so much fun! Anyone else out there trying to lose a few pounds - would love to hear how you're doing!

So back to today and I wanted to show you my latest kit called Fresh Outdoors - I really loved making this one - the colours are gorgeous and it came together really easily. Check it out.

And these are some layouts by my fabulous CT in larger size than usual so you can see them clearly :)

This is from Gina:

And this is from Glenise:

And Kim B:

Laramie:

And last but not least, Sharon:

There are some stunning layouts there hey? Thanks girls! So back to today, you can pick up Fresh Outdoors for just $3 here and you can download the wordart freebie here! Enjoy! TTFN.

Chinese Whispers CJ

2011-04-01T09:24:00.000+01:00

Just wanted to show you my latest scraplift for the Chinese Whispers CJ we are doing at ScrapaGoGo! I am totally loving this CJ, I get to keep all the layouts I make at the end unlike conventional CJs. So, my latest paper scrapping using mostly the March kit from ScrapaGoGo with some slide mounts and tiny type alpha from my own stash looks like this :) TTFN.

Challenge winner!

2011-03-21T09:54:00.001Z

Hey everyone - hope you all had a great weekend! I am back with the winner of my challenge which I should have announced yesterday, but I ran out of time. So, without further ado..... the first winner, chosen by me is Snow Day by TiffanyL - check it out:

And the second winner, chosen by Mr Random is Flood by havadrpepper - check it out:

Congratulations ladies - if you could both contact me with the kit of your choice, I will send you a coupon :) TTFN.

Calendar collection time again!

2011-03-20T17:58:00.000Z

It's time for the April instalment of the Calendar Collection! Wow this year is going fast isn't it? I have to admit to you this month that my P365 has slipped a little and I haven't been uploading every day. I have also missed a few days, but I will get caught up soon and write off those days and try harder - honestly! I also need to get scrapping with the photos. I sure hope you guys are doing better than me? Check out what the April bundle looks like - you can buy the bundle here for just $3.

And here are some layouts from my CT using this instalment and previous months to show that it all coordinates whichever month you're using - cool hey?

And of course I have a freebie for you - check out this simple template. In the download is a psd file which includes the circle text path - I used Arial font on the preview, but of course you can change that up to whatever you want. Also included are png files, but if you use that option of course, the text path isn't included. I hope you like it - download it here. TTFN.

Cosy cases for my gadgets!

2011-03-18T17:30:00.002Z

I took the plunge this week and treated myself to an iPad (they were £100 off at the Apple store, so it was rude not to really)! I wanted to get a case for it that was very girly rather than practical - that's me all over! LOL! I was browsing ebay and came across these handmade beauties - one for my new iPad and one for my Kindle :) The photo is the listing photo because the lady who made them is better at photographing them than I am and it's a bit rainy and dark here right now!

I am so super pleased with them - they are like little sleeping bags for my gadgets because they are fleece lined - it really feels like I am putting them to bed! LOL! If you're in the UK, I would definitely recommend the service I got from Cheryl as she made the kindle case as a commission for me and I had it within 4 days of first asking if she could do it! The quality is also second to none - I can't fault it in any way. Check out her ebay listings here and her website here for some super funky shower caps - very vintage inspired! I may even have to treat myself to one of those too :) TTFN.

Happy Days

2011-03-18T07:36:00.000Z

I am determined to get caught up this weekend - if it's the last thing I do! LOL! Last Friday I released Happy Days which looks like this:

I love the colours in this one - they really do make me feel happy. Check out what my creative team did with it - they're sure to make you think happy thoughts! :)

And of course I have a freebie for you - it's a wordart to coordinate with Happy Days which you can download here. Check back over the weekend for details of my next installment of my Calendar Collection which is already in store here now. TTFN.

Time to catch up

2011-03-13T08:10:00.000Z

Oh my - I have been so busy recently and it just doesn't seem to be letting up! Work have kept me on my toes since Christmas and with Dad's heart attack and my bad back for a while, it seems that it's taking it's toll on me. I spent all of Friday and Saturday with a headache which developed into a migraine by Friday afternoon and stuck with me until I went to bed last night. Luckily this morning, it seems to have gone, but of course, that's half my weekend gone and it's back to the hectic-ness that is my job tomorrow! Can't wait for Easter so I can have some long weekends :) And I also can't wait for daylight savings in a couple of weeks - I know we lose an hour, but the light evenings more than make up for it in my opinion!

So, back to what I have to catch up on and first of those things is some layouts done by Anne Maree as my guest CT for Cloudy Day - this is what Anne Maree says about herself:

I am a 54yo happily divorced, mother to 3 children (26, 25, and 17) living in Sydney, Australia. I have been paper scrapping for 12 years and started digital scrapping about 3 years ago and loving it. I love the no mess, no mistake aspect of digi. My favourite style would be vintage / shabby but slowly getting my head around the minimalist style. Always feel it needs just a little something more.

And check out these THREE gorgeous layouts she did for me - thank you so much Anne Maree - you did a great job :)

And the next thing to catch up on are a couple of layouts from Kim H on my creative team. She had some poorly sick kids and so was a little behind on her scrapping. Glad they're feeling better now Kim! First layout uses my calendar collection:

And this layout is made using Cloudy Day - very cool!

Finally, just to tell you I will be back later with my latest kit - Happy Days, but I thought I'd show you the layout I made with it while you wait - it's Sara (Sweet Blossom Designs) and me ready for a girls night out to watch Eclipse - such happy memories :) TTFN.

New challenge

2011-03-08T08:14:00.001Z

Hey everyone - I finally have my latest challenge ready - sorry for the delay. Before I get to it, a few people have asked me for a Pompey and Lily update, so I must do that first :)

Pompey is his usual self - seemingly uninterested in the world until food/walk/a visitor comes along, then he's crazy happy dog. He seems content to just sleep and dream his doggy dreams. We had some trouble with him when he was young with a bad tummy and various visits to the vet, but he seems over all that as he's gotten older - he hasn't been to the vet for more than his yearly jabs for a while :) Here is a typical Pompey pose - the cosier he is, the better!!

Lily on the other hand is much harder work! She needs lots of love and cuddles (which I don't mind at all) but her epilepsy seems to be very slowly getting worse. We started out at 2-3 fits in a year and now they're every 2-3 months. Still not frequent enough to have medication, but I think that's inevitable. She also suffers from gastritis which is aggravated by the fact that she insists on eating at great speed! We are overcoming it by feeding her wet food instead of dry and in a slow feeder bowl - it definitely helps! She is such a naughty little thing as she still enjoys rolling in fox poo for fun and playing in muddy puddles - the muddier the better! Roll on summer when the muddy puddles are a thing of the past :) This is a fairly recent photo of Lily doing what Lily does best - playing outdoors!

So, back to the challenge and this time it is all about weather. As my latest kit has a weather theme, it inspired me in this challenge. I wanted to scrap some photos of hubby and I walking the dogs on a cloudy, windy and cold beach when the sun poked through for just a few minutes. Your layout could be about any weather, any time of the year, but I want to see a weather theme in it. (edited to add: you must use a kit from one of the Scrap That Idea designers - any one will do)!

This is what my layout looks like using Cloudy Day:

Please upload your layouts to the gallery here before the end of the day on Saturday 19th March and the winner and runner up will each win a kit of their choice from my store. I really cannot wait to see what you do - remember if you want to chat with other scrappers, you can join my facebook group for challenges, but the layout must be put in the gallery to be in with a chance of winning! Good luck everyone!

What Spring Brings freebie

2011-03-06T12:19:00.000Z

Have you seen our latest store collab kit called 'What Spring Brings'? It's a great Spring themed kit to get us all in the mood for the sunshine! I have fun with this kit - I am so over winter and couldn't wait to get stuck into some fresh, bright colours :)

This is what the kit looks like - it's available in store here:

And this is what my creative team did with it - such gorgeous layouts girls!

And now for the freebie, but before you collect it - don't forget that if you spend $5 in store before the end of Monday, you get entered into a draw to win $100 to spend in store - check it out...

And click here to download the freebie cluster - don't forget to leave some love! TTFN.

P365

2011-03-06T08:40:00.002Z

Are you still playing along? I am - just about!! I have to say some days are MUCH harder than others. Until the nice weather hits, I feel I am taking photos of boring things, but hopefully that is going to change really soon because Spring is getting into gear finally (I hope)! I have been collecting up some of the layouts that my blog readers have done with my Calendar Collection and there are some great ones out there - take a look at this collection of layouts if you're in need of some inspiration....

You girls are rocking the kit - I need to get my butt in gear and scrap some layouts with all of my photos - I think I am going to do monthly layouts rather than weekly as I am so totally useless at keeping up with the scrapping even though I can just about keep up with the photos themselves! LOL! Anyhoo - next blogpost will be a Pompey and Lily update as requested by the lovely Pam :) TTFN.

Cloudy Day freebie

2011-03-01T19:51:00.000Z

Well, it seems to be a cloudy day quite often in England right now, but I am still holding out for Spring! LOL! My latest freebie is, appropriately, called Cloudy Day and has a weather theme - check out what it looks like:

You can buy it here for just $3 and don't forget that if you spend $5 in store during the first week of March, not only do you get the freebie kit 'Four Leaf Clover', but you also get entered into a prize draw to win $100 to spend in store.

This is what my creative team did with Cloudy Day - some beautiful layouts don't you think?

And of course I have a freebie for you - it's a cluster frame to coordinate and can be downloaded here. Check back soon as I have some P365 layouts made with my Calendar Collection to show you from some blog readers. TTFN.

Big birthday news and CJ layout 2

2011-03-01T19:04:00.000Z

Did you hear it's Scrap That Idea's birthday today? We are 2 today - can you believe it? It seems like just yesterday in some ways that we started, but in other ways, it feels like it's always been there. To celebrate, we are having a huge promotion - check it out:

Go fill up your stash because who couldn't use $100 to spend? :)

Also, I wanted to show you my latest paper scrapping - it's the layout for my CJ. I lifted Louise's layout this time and this is what I made using the photos taken of me recently by the lovely Kirsty and the January ScrapaGoGo kit. I have received the layout to lift for round 3 and can't wait to get started!

Calendar Collection March

2011-02-22T19:49:00.001Z

Well, I really must catch up a bit here! I went away for the weekend, so I am a bit behind with everything :) I also haven't shown you my P365 photos for a little while, so this post is to tell you about my latest release and catch you up with all the photos as well as let you have a freebie!

First up is the March instalment of my Calendar Collection which comes in a bundle that looks like this....

The bundle is just $3 and you can buy it here. Check out what my CT have done using this bundle and bits from the two previous bundles (the greatest part of the fact that the colour scheme runs through).

Fantastic stuff hey? And here is a catch up on my photos for P365 - this is week 5 through 7.....

I can't believe I am keeping up - I am really impressed with myself :) And now as you've got this far, time for the freebie - another template for P365 which includes a psd file and individual png files for those that prefer that option. Click here to download and don't forget to leave a comment - I love reading them. TTFN.

Challenge winner

2011-02-21T20:05:00.000Z

I have the winners of my song title challenge!! The first winner was chosen by Mr Random and that is....

Congratulations momto2boys - send me an email to vicki at scrapthatidea dot com with your choice of kit and I will send you a coupon. This is what the layout looks like - gorgeous!

The second winner, chosen by me with great difficulty because the entries were wonderful is You are my Sonshine by KeillyM!

Congratulations to you too - please shoot me an email with the kit of your choice and I'll send your coupon. Thanks for playing alone everyone - I hope you had fun! Stand by for the next challenge in a few days. TTFN.

Guest CT layout

2011-02-17T13:47:00.000Z

Oh my gosh I am late and in a fluster!! LOL! I am going away this weekend and I won't have internet, so I am having palpitations considering work is so busy this week and free time is definitely at a premium. I just popped on during lunch to let you see a guest CT layout.

Meet Heather who played with my latest kit 'Boys Will be Boys' - this is what Heather says about herself:

I'm 40yrs old been married for 12 yrs and we have 3 wonderful boys Dylan 17; Tyler 10 and Jacob 6 . I love to crochet, take pictures and digital scrapbooking.

And this is Heather's fabulous, super cute layout:

Thanks for guesting on my CT Heather - I love what you did and I hope you had fun with the kit :) TTFN.

Some paper layouts to show off

2011-02-13T12:20:00.000Z

I have really been enjoying some paper scrapping recently - I thought it was time to start using up some of my stash because when we move later in the year, I don't want too much to pack!! LOL! So, with the ScrapaGoGo January kit, I made two more layouts. The first is of little Tayla reading a book - she loves stories and my Mum is collecting a series for her. As she's only recently 3, she can't read them herself yet, she just really looks at the pictures, but I think she's going to be a bookworm when she's older like her Mum (and me) :)

And this one features the gorgeous Pompey (one of my photos of the day for P365) - he is such a gorgeous dog isn't he?

Anyhoo - that's it for today - thanks for looking! TTFN.

Boys will be boys!

2011-02-12T18:20:00.000Z

I had a kit with this name a long time ago, but it was such a good name, I used it again!! This kit is totally different though and I hope you're going to love it! It's bright and fun and great for all sorts of layouts. Check out what Boys Will Be Boys looks like....

And check out what my awesome CT did with it.

I have a freebie for you too - it's a word art which coordinates with the kit - I hope you can use it and if you really like it, you might consider buying the kit here too :) Download it direct from my blog here. TTFN.

Funky Love collab

2011-02-10T18:31:00.000Z

Have you seen the Scrap That Idea store collab this month? It's called Funky Love and is just perfect for those valentine layouts that we'll all be making next week ;)

This is what Funky Love looks like:

And this is what my creative team did with it - absolutely stunning as always!

If you like it, it's just $4 in store here and if you check out our dollar bin too while you're there and spend $5 in total in store, you get Doodly Doo for free! Bargain hey? TTFN

Guest CT layout with 911 Rescue

2011-02-10T16:49:00.000Z

I am so bad at keeping up to date lately, I totally forgot to show you what Brooke, my guest CT of the week did with my latest kit - 911 Rescue! Firstly, let me introduce Brooke:

Hi, I'm Brooke! I'm a SAHM to a fabulous hubby, 5 adorable kids, 1 dog, 1 cat, 1 lizard, and several fish (the number varies from week to week). I started digi-scrapping about 2 1/2 years ago, and have found a new passion in life! I LOVE it!! When I'm not digi-scrapping, you can find me playing with my family, working in my yard, reading a book, singing, dancing, camping or on a road trip across the country! I am also a Disney Freak!

Take a look at this GORGEOUS layout that she did for me - I LOVE it Brooke - thank you so, so much!

Challenge time again

2011-02-08T16:43:00.000Z

So, who is ready for another challenge? This challenge involves song titles. I want you to create a layout with a song title as the layout title. Simple - you can use any kit you like from the Scrap That Idea designers (freebie or store kit) which you must credit when you post in the gallery along with the title and artist of your chosen song.

Check out this post here for full details on points collecting during the challenges - the same applies to this challenge. Post your layouts in this part of the gallery and if you want to join in some chat, you can do so in the Facebook group which is here (request to join and I'll add you).

This is the layout I have done using the song title 'Lucky Star' by Madonna! I have used my next new kit 'Boys will be Boys' which will be in store on Friday!

I can't wait to see your layouts - you have until Saturday 19th February to upload and I will choose a winner and a runner up to win a kit of their choice from my store! Good luck! TTFN.

Paper scrapping Sunday!

2011-02-07T10:36:00.000Z

I spent yesterday paper scrapping and had lots of fun scraplifting! I just thought I'd show you what I did :) The first layout was a scraplift of a layout by my friend Sarah - she did a video of herself making a layout the other day and I loved it so much that I decided to lift the layout and stick quite closely to the layout she did. I used the ScrapaGoGo December kit to do it. Check out Sarah's video here, but this is what her layout looks like:

And this is my lift.

Next I did a scraplift of one of my own digi layouts - remember this one with Sara and her kids on a carousel in London?

This is my lift using the ScrapaGoGo January kit plus some ribbon from my stash. Note the real stitching on the paper :)

Thanks for looking! I did do one more layout, but I can't show it yet because it's for the Chinese Whisper CJ I am doing - I'll show you that on 1st March :) TTFN.

Challenge winners announced!

2011-02-06T09:55:00.000Z

Thank you to everyone who took part in my first challenge of 2011 and thank you to my CT members who also submitted some layouts for fun - I appreciate it girls! So, two winners to choose - the first was chosen by me to be the overall winner (with some help from my hubby) and that winner is...... 9 Months by ShelbyKarren! Take a look at the beautiful layout she made using Stacey's Flower Child kit:

Congratulations girl - drop me an email at vicki at scrapthatidea dot com with the kit of your choice from my personal store and I will send you a coupon.

And the runner up was picked by Mr Random - take a look:

The winner, as you can see, is Aspen 11 by acatmeowz! If you also send me an email to vicki at scrapthatidea dot com with a kit of your choice from my store, I will send you a coupon! Here's a look at her beautiful layout using an older kit of mine that is now retired - Country Life.

Thank you everyone for participating - there will be a new challenge starting soon! TTFN.

911 Rescue!

2011-02-05T10:56:00.000Z

A little while ago, I put out a call for kit ideas and I have been working through them. My friend Lorraine has a son, Harry, who LOVES fire trucks, so I made this one for him! It's something completely different for me, but it was great fun to make. It would even work really well for hybrid projects - imagine printing and cutting out those firemen and trucks and putting them on a card - cute hey? So, take a look at 911 Rescue which you can buy for just $3 here:

And take a look at what my CT have done with it - some super cute layouts here.

Of course I made a freebie for you too - it's a fireman themed frame to put your little heroes into! I hope you like it - you can download it here! TTFN.

Life Everyday collab alpha

2011-02-04T18:45:00.001Z

Before I get to the alpha for Life Everyday, I just wanted you to see my new release kit this weekend. I will have some CT layouts to show you and a freebie tomorrow, but for now, just take a look at 911 Rescue which is available in store here for just $3.

Hope you like it - it was requested by a friend of mine, Lorraine for her son Harry! I hope he likes it - I have a suspicion that he will because he LOVES fire trucks!

Back to Life Everyday and today you get the alpha. Before I give you the link, I just wanted to say thank you again to Angel for doing this collab with me - it's been great fun and you all sure seem to like it. Be sure to pick up the whole kit before next weekend because it will be going into our stores then and unavailable as a freebie. Click here to download {link expired} and don't forget to leave some love! TTFN.

I {heart} You guest CT

2011-02-02T12:52:00.000Z

Oh my word - I totally forgot to show you the layouts with I {heart} You from my guest CT for the week, Deanna. I feel really bad about that, but it's worth the wait :) Here is a little about Deanna....

My name is Deanna aka Butterfly Kisses. I've been tagging for a little over a year. I've been writing tutorials for about 7 months. I've also started making my own kits. I haven't made many layouts as most places I CT for prefer tags. You can see my tutorial blog here or my scrap blog here.

And these two beautiful layouts were made by Deanna - thank you girl - they're fantastic! You can buy the kit here for just $3!

February blogtrain - all aboard!!

2011-02-01T13:00:00.002Z

The months have switched this year, so although you had a blogtrain freebie last month, you also get one this month - YAY! This month's theme is GORGEOUS and I really enjoyed creating with it! Before I get there - did you see my latest release kit? It's called I {heart} You and looks like this.

You can pick it up in store here if you like it for just $3. There is a cluster frame freebie that goes with it in a post from the weekend, so check that out too!

Back to the blog train and this is your progress:

Charm City Scraps - you came from here
A Work in Progress - this is where you are now
My 4 Princesses Designs - this is your next stop on the train!

If you got lost along the way - you can check the blogtrain blog anytime and put yourself back on track :)

And here is what you came for - my part of the blogtrain - this is 'Heart's Dream' - I hope you like it! You can download it directly from my blog here. Enjoy! TTFN.

Chinese Whispers CJ & P365

2011-01-31T19:43:00.001Z

I am really excited to be taking part in my very first circle journal at ScrapaGoGo. This is a CJ with a difference, it's a Chinese Whispers CJ. The basic idea is that you take a layout that you love and do a scraplift. Then, you pass it on to the next person who does a scraplift of your layout whilst at the same time receiving from the person before you in the list a layout that they've done. Make sense? Well, I chose a layout by Nic Booth who is on the design team at ScrapaGoGo - check it out in all it's paper scrapping glory!

And, I lifted it to a digi layout :) Yeah - I LOVE to do something different to everyone else!! LOL! This is what my layout looks like. I used my Village Fair kit and the bingo card is one of the hybrid elements from the January ScrapaGoGo kit.

This is going to be great fun - one layout a month - I'll show each of them to you. Speaking of regular things - I am also keeping up with P365 - here are my photos for week 4 with captions underneath:

Day 22: I'm an Apple girl!!
Day 23: Chimney at Troopers Hill - yes, I am there a lot!!!
Day 24: Please feed me, I'm starving here!!
Day 25: This will be me if I don't get another cuppa!!
Day 26: These are the only way to get through today :(
Day 27: Danger dog!!
Day 28: Pompey upside down pup!

That's all for today - back soon! TTFN.

I {heart} You!

2011-01-29T15:14:00.000Z

Really, I do! LOL! That's the name of my latest kit in time for Valentine's Day in a couple of weeks. I wanted to make something that wasn't all romantic and whimsy - I just wanted a fun kit for scrapping the whole family! I especially enjoyed making the alpha - it's really funky and very different. This is what I {heart} You looks like in full...

And this is what my CT did with it - there's also a layout here from me!

If you like it, it's just $3 here for one week only. As always, I have a freebie for you to coordinate - it's a cluster frame which you can download here. I hope you like it - have a great weekend! TTFN.

Collaboration freebie

2011-01-28T18:49:00.001Z

OMG - I totally forgot to post the elements for my collab with Angel! Arrghhhhh! I do apologise to anyone who has had to stalk my blog today waiting for me! So, for those of you waiting for the elements - here they are - this is the full kit preview, but you can download my elements here {link expired} and get Angel's elements on her blog here. TTFN!

Challenge time!

2011-01-25T20:31:00.001Z

OK, so I have my first challenge for 2011 ready. If you have not yet joined the facebook group for my challenges - head over here now so that you can chat with everyone else about your challenge layouts.

This is what the first challenge involves. It's a recipe challenge to start with - any layout you do must contain the following items - no more, no less. You can use the same item twice if it is on the recipe as more than one - ie you could use the same flower 5 times if that's what you want to do. The recipe is as follows:

1 leaf/vine
2 frames
3 photos
4 ribbons
5 papers
6 flowers
7 letters/numbers

You can use any kit you like from the Scrap That Idea designers - freebies, store kits, collabs. When you're done, you must upload it to the gallery here. You can also upload it to the facebook group if you want to show it and discuss it. This is my example layout to show you what can be done with the recipe.

Prizes.... I am starting afresh with the points system, so if you have some from my previous challenges, drop me a line with the total and I will sort out something for you in exchange for those :). The new points system will work as follows: The winner of each challenge will get 5 points, the runner up will get 3 points. Everyone who enters a layout will get 1 point per layout - maximum of 2 entries per person. You will also get 1 point for every comment that you leave in the gallery for others in the challenge - please make sure it's a proper comment - don't just say 'lovely layout' - give a reason why you like it please. It will be your responsibility to tally your points - please keep a document that you can send me showing where your points came from. When you have collected 20 points, it will be worth $1 in my personal store - please collect at least 60 points before claiming - that's the price of a new release kit!

The closing date for entries is Saturday 5th February, so you have plenty of time. If you have any questions - please let me know either as a comment here or in the facebook group. I can't wait to see what you all do - good luck!!

Challenges!

2011-01-23T19:18:00.000Z

Things move so fast in my world sometimes! LOL! I am getting ready to start up my challenges again now that my Dad is on the road to recovery and I had an idea to start a Facebook group for us all to chat as we used to in the forum. I asked what everyone thought on Facebook and they all thought it was a good idea and so I have done it! However, I am conscious that not everyone is on Facebook and so I am going to post each challenge on my blog as well with instructions and rules so that you can upload to the gallery without having to sign up to Facebook - you just won't get the 'community chat' feel that way, but maybe that's what you prefer! :)

So, if you want to join the Facebook group now so that you are ready for Challenge 1 of 2011, go here and request to join the group - I will accept you all :) The first challenge will be posted in the next few days both here and in the group. Hope to see lots of you there! TTFN.

Guest CT and BIG news!

2011-01-23T09:44:00.000Z

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend - isn't it a holiday weekend in the US, or did I imagine that? Anyhoo - whatever you're doing, I hope you're having fun! I've had a relaxing weekend - now my Dad is home and recovering fast, I can relax and enjoy my hobbies :) I might even do some paper scrapping later today.

Yesterday, I showed you my newest kit - Village Fair, but I haven't yet shown you my guest CT layout. So, please welcome Alicia.... This is what she says about herself: My name is Alicia and I live in Alaska. I'm mom to a 9 year old boy and a 3 year old girl. I've been digi-scrapping for almost 3 years and I love it.

And this is what Alicia made with the kit - perfect photos hey? Alicia - your layout is beautiful - thank you so much for guesting on my CT for the week :)

Don't forget you can pick up Village Fair here for just $3.

And the big news? Well, Sara (Sweet Blossom Designs) is returning to Scrap That Idea! How awesome is that? We are sooooo happy to have her back :) Check back next week for her first kit! TTFN.

Project 365 Week 3 photos

2011-01-22T16:26:00.000Z

Are you still keeping up with P365? I am, I am!!! LOL! I am very impressed with myself and taking the photos on my iPhone and either using the hipstamatic app or the instagram app is working great! I always have my phone with me, but it's awkward to carry a camera all the time. Let me show you this week's photos with the captions below:

Day 15: Big Ben with Sasha!
Day 16: Hubby chilling!
Day 17: Scrapagogo January kit arrived!
Day 18: Pompey - awwwww! (using instagram app)
Day 19: The Royal Crescent, Bath.
Day 20: Lily at Troopers Hill, Bristol
Day 21: No way are you passing with those dogs!!

I find that the hipstamatic app is great for photos when it's good light, but not so good for indoors, so I decided to use the instagram app too which uses the phone's built in camera and you apply the effect afterwards. The photo of Pompey was the first one I took using the instagram app - you can probably see the difference between the two types. The P365 app is great too - it will allow me to do an image of the full month for you all to see when it's full (I might even use that on a layout by itself).

I hope you are enjoying seeing my photos - when I get to 4 weeks, I am going to get scrapping with them!! TTFN.

Retirement reminder....

2011-01-22T09:20:00.001Z

I just wanted to remind you that the kits below are going to retire at the end of January (in one week). Each kit is linked to the store - they are all $1 and when they're gone, they're gone. TTFN.

Village Fair!

2011-01-21T15:06:00.000Z

Before I get to my latest kit - have you checked out the freebie in my previous post? Be sure not to miss it, because it's available for a limited time only!

When I was a kid, I grew up in a little village and remember village fairs where all the village got together - usually in the gardens at the vicarage and had a fantastic time. We celebrated the Queen's Jubilee there - my Mum has a photo which I must find and scrap, we also had a summer fair every year with tombola, coconut shy, cake stalls - the usual things! It's a great childhood memory and I decided to make a kit for scrapping those memories (when I get hold of the photos from my Mum). And, I have called it Village Fair! During the summer when Sara came to visit from Australia, we visited London and the kids (and Sara) went on a fairground ride while we were there, so I decided to use that photo to scrap with this kit - check it out:

And this is what the kit looks like in all it's glory - you can pick it up for just $3 here!

And if that wasn't enough, you get two QPs included with the kit for free! Take a look - one of them is based on my layout of Sara and her kids above and the other one is my layout in the CT montage below.

This is what my fabulous CT did with the kit - there is some amazing inspiration here hey?

Finally, I have a freebie for you - it's a cluster frame using Village Fair - take a look:

If you like it, you can download it here and don't forget that you can buy the full kit for just $3 here :) TTFN.

Collaboration freebie

2011-01-21T05:00:00.004Z

A little while ago, there was a thread in the designer area at DST asking designers who they would most like to collab with if they could team up with anyone at all. Well, imagine my surprise and delight when someone listed me! WOW - I was so humbled by that - little old me being on someone's wish list! So, that someone was Angel - Designs by Angel and I took a look at her store and was blown away - she's a fantastic designer and I was so excited to contact her to say 'let's do it'!! I really do love doing collabs and finding a new partner to do one with is extra special. I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to Angel, firstly for putting me on her list, but mostly for being an amazing collab partner and so, so easy to work with. Angel did a joint preview for our collab and I LOVE her for that. I do our store collab joint previews each month and I know what a HUGE job it is. Her DH is being deployed to Afghanistan very soon, so I am sure she is super busy as well as getting ready to say goodbye to her DH, so I appreciate it all the more. Thanks Angel - you're a great designer and I hope we can do it again one day!

Before I show you the collab, I wanted to show you my new release kit that is released today. It's called Village Fair and I really loved making this one. I will show you some more layouts later and give you a freebie to go with it, but I just wanted to show it off now because I'm so proud of it! LOL!

What do you think? I'd love to know :)

Back to today and this is what the collab looks like - check out 'Life Everyday' in it's full glory!

You can collect the papers from both Angel and me today. Mine can be downloaded in two parts {links expired} and Angel's are on her blog here. If Angel's are not yet posted, give it a little while - we're on different time zones and sometimes I get confused! LOL! You can collect the elements next week, so be sure to check back for those. So, we would love to hear your feedback on our first collab - let us know if you like it and perhaps we'll do another one in the future ;) TTFN.

Calendar Collection with freebie

2011-01-16T19:37:00.000Z

I'm back with news of my latest kit and a freebie for you all. The new kit is the February set of elements for my Calendar Collection. I am really enjoying my Project 365 so far and I've seen quite a few layouts out there using my collection. A long time blog reader, Christy, shared a scrap forum with me that she belongs to and lots of the ladies there are playing along and using my kits. The layouts are all fantastic and I am hoping to persuade some of the ladies to share their layouts with you all soon, so stand by for that!

So, this month's installment is available on it's own as a set of elements or in a bundle with SIX alphas! That is a whole lot of alphas to keep you going for a little while hey? Here are the previews:

You can buy the bundle here or the elements here or the alphas here. If you buy the bundle, it's just $3. Next month there will be some patterned papers to add to your collection.

This is what my CT have been doing with the collection - these layouts also include papers and elements from January - that's the best part, it will all coordinate throughout the year meaning that you can mix and match months.

And finally, I have a new freebie template for you to use. It's a simple one, but perfect for your P365 weekly layout! I hope you like it - click here to download and leave a comment to link me up to your P365 layouts if you're playing! TTFN.

Project 365 week 2 photos and meeting a great friend!

2011-01-16T12:23:00.000Z

I'm a bit late posting this weekend, party due to the past couple of weeks with my Dad being in hospital and being exhausted with that (he's home now, so hopefully a nice fast recovery surrounded by family) but also because I was out all day yesterday. Where did I go? Well, I met up with a long time friend who I met through Scrapland in my Scrap n Art days. Sasha Holloway is an amazingly talented scrapper and a beautiful person who makes me laugh and cry - both separately and at the same time! We met in real life for the first time yesterday in London and had a really fun day of chatting, walking, seeing the sights and eating cupcakes! I have a couple of photos and I've used a Paint the Moon action on them just because I like playing with photo actions!! This is the two of us at Kings Cross station where we met - cute hey?

This is us posing with Big Ben in the background - thanks to the lady who took the photo for us - she did a great job!!

And of course, I have to show you those DELICIOUS cupcakes we had at Ella's Bakehouse in Covent Garden. Excuse the quality of photos - I just had my point and click and it seems I have now become a camera snob!! ROFL!

So, let me show you my week 2 P365 photos - I am still keeping up - are you?

Day 8: Walk this way!!
Day 9: So many hospital visits that I am resorting to photographing signs :)
Day 10: Dog walking at the local nature reserve
Day 11: A mug of wine or a bottle of tea?
Day 12: Dad's medication list!!! WOW!
Day 13: Relaxing with my kindle
Day 14: Homemade jam pie (??!?)

That's all for this post - I have a new instalment of my Calendar Collection this weekend and I will show that you a little later today. TTFN.

Kitchen capers!

2011-01-09T11:51:00.000Z

That's the name of my newest kit. It's great for scrapping your kitchen makeover, or your cooking/ baking successes (and failures) and for those little (and big) chefs you have! I got some really cute layouts from my creative team, including a hybrid project by Adriana. But first, I want to show you the kit itself - take a look at Kitchen Capers:

I don't know if you all saw on my facebook page a few weeks ago, but I asked anyone who wanted to do a guest CT spot for one kit to leave a message and the first ten would get to do it. Well, Becky was the very first person to leave a comment and she got to play with this kit. This is Becky and a little bit about herself:

We live in North Carolina where I am a wife to husband John and mom to a 3 1/2 year old little boy. I have been digitally scrapbooking (using PSE) for about 2 years and have never been a paper scrapper.

And this is the layout that Becky did showcasing her cooking disaster (I hear ya girl) - it's gorgeous isn't it? Thanks Becky - it's been great to have you as a guest CT - thank you so much for your beautiful layout :)

And of course, you'll be wanting to see what my regular CT did with the kit - take a look at these beauties:

Thanks girls - you did an awesome job as always!

And I have a freebie for you - a cluster frame using Kitchen Capers which you can download here. TTFN.

P365 update

2011-01-08T16:15:00.000Z

Hello scrapland - I hope you are enjoying your weekend! Mine is being spent in and out of the hospital - my Dad is recovering quite slowly from surgery and he's been in ICU since the surgery on Wednesday, but we are hoping he will be transferred to the ward on Monday. It's quite draining, but we're all relieved that the surgery went well!

Back to today and I wanted to show you my P365 photos. I am aware that I haven't told you about my newest kit, Kitchen Capers, but I will show that to you soon along with the CT layouts. For P365, I have kept up every day so far, so here are my first 7 (left to right from the top to bottom):

Day 1: Retro cushions from hubby for Xmas
Day 2: Birthday card - first one made in 2011
Day 3: Hubby on the way to his first Pompey match of 2011 - play up pompey!!
Day 4: HUGE homemade Christmas cake - how long before it's all gone?
Day 5: Mostly waiting for the phone to ring with post op news
Day 6: A lovely wrought iron sign near the hospital and very seasonal :)
Day 7: Spending quite a bit of time here lately!

Guest designer spot ending....

2011-01-05T17:24:00.000Z

Well, for November and December as you know, I was a guest designer at Plain Digital Wrapper. It's a great store with great people and I really enjoyed my time there - I was made to feel so welcome. But, all good things must come to an end and I have decided to have a 50% off sale there to end my stay :) These three kits are exclusive to PDW, so you won't be able to get them after I close my store at PDW, so if you want them, click here and buy them now - just $2.25 each until 14th January.

Retiring kits

2011-01-04T22:18:00.000Z

Hey everyone - just wanted to let you know that the kits I put in the dollar bin a few weeks ago are going to retire at the end of January. Each kit is linked to the store - they are all $1 and when they're gone, they're gone. TTFN.

All aboard the blogtrain!

2011-01-01T12:35:00.000Z

Choo choo!! LOL! Welcome to my little corner of Scrapland everyone! Before I get to blogtrain business, I wanted to remind you of my latest release teenager dot com - I made it following a request from a blog reader and I hope you'll find it great for scrapping those messy teenagers! This is what it looks like and you can buy it in store here for just $4.

Back to the train - you are quite a way into your journey - by my reckoning this is the situation:

83. Bon Scrapatit Designs - you came from here (my lovely friend Linda)

84. A Work in Progress - you are here now

85. Eye On Design - you'll be heading here next

If you've gotten lost along the way, check back here for a full list of blogs to get you back on track :)

This is what my part of Grandma's Quilt looks like and you can download it directly from my blog here. TTFN.

Project 365 begins!

2011-01-01T12:31:00.001Z

OK, so it's 1.1.11 today - that means the start of my project 365. I know some of you are joining in and I can't wait to see what you're taking photos of - link me up to your blogs so that I can check them out :) I have decided to do it differently this time and hopefully it will make sure I actually do it!! I am going to take all of the daily photos on my iphone using my hipstamatic app for consistency. I have also downloaded the Project 365 app which keeps track of the date of each photo for you. You can get it free or if you pay about $1, you can get it without ads (I thought it was worth it!). I am going to post my photos in a weekly post and hope to keep up to date with my layouts once a month.

Here's my first photo so that you can see what I am aiming for - they'll all be square too, so makes scrapping nice and easy for me. Although that won't mean that the templates I make for you will be all square photos - I know that most people scrap the usual landscape or portrait photos :) This is my favourite Christmas pressie - two retro cushions from hubby - cute huh?

I am determined to do it this time - wish me luck!!

Taking new year's resolutions seriously...

2010-12-30T17:29:00.000Z

...well my Dad certainly will be! On Tuesday, my Mum called me to say that my Dad had been taken to the hospital with a suspected heart attack. I headed off to my parents house before I knew what had actually happened as we were packed to go there anyway. To cut a long story short, he has had a heart attack and is on complete bed rest in hospital. Today, he had an angiogram in the hope that they could put in some stents to keep the arteries open, but unfortunately, they are too blocked to do that. So now, he is booked in for a triple heart bypass on Tuesday of next week. Wow, it's been a shock! I can hardly say a complete surprise as since he retired, he's become much less active and eaten far too much and has put on some weight, but it really does go to show that sometimes resolutions are forced on you and you MUST take them seriously. He now has to be on a strict diet and an exercise regime supervised by the hospital. But what a way to start a new year hey? It has certainly made me stop and think about the excesses of Christmas and my new year's resolution to lose some weight! I don't have an enormous amount to lose, but it's enough that I am now more motivated to do it.

So, I may be a bit awol over the next week or so while I take some time to be with my family, but I will still be around and reading your lovely comments - they really do mean a lot to me.

Just wanted to let you know also that I won't have a new kit this week, but I do have a BIG sale tomorrow (Friday 31st December) for one day only if you want to pick up some end of year bargains. Here's a look at the flyer - click here to go to my store and discount will be applied automatically to your purchases, there is no need for a coupon. TTFN.

teenager dot com with freebie!

2010-12-24T15:17:00.000Z

I have been asked a few times for a teenager themed kit for scrapping messy teenage bedrooms, their love of music and facebook and just a general teenage attitude. Well, I decided to go for it and came up with 'teenager dot com' - a bright, funky kit that can be used for any age kids, but mostly teenagers.

Take a look at the full preview of 'teenager dot com':

And these are the fabulous layouts done by my CT with a range of ages of kids - great job girls!

I also have a freebie for you - a cluster frame that coordinates with 'teenager dot com'. You can download it here - remember to leave some love :) This will be my last post now before Christmas, so I just want to wish you all a very merry Christmas - I hope you have a wonderful time with your families and I'll catch you on the other side!! TTFN.

More peek a boo!

2010-12-19T18:28:00.001Z

Are you waiting for the elements for Peek a Boo? Here they are - {link expired}. TTFN.

P365 kit and a freebie!

2010-12-18T11:53:00.000Z

OK, so today sees the start of my P365 kit - Calendar Collection. This is going to be great for scrapping your P365 photos or a year in review or everyday photos. I am using the same 8 colour palette (plus black and white) throughout the year, so it will all coordinate and end up being a massive, versatile kit. Today I have the January bundle for you. You can either buy the January elements on their own for just $2 or you can buy the bundle which includes a set of cardstock and a set of polka dot papers for just $3. Next month there will be some alphas, and patterned papers will be coming along with more tags and lots of other goodies throughout the year. This is what the Calendar Collection January bundle looks like.

And this is what my fabulous CT have done with the kit - most have scrapped P365 layouts so that you can see what you can do with it.

Thanks girls - they're gorgeous layouts! And I did a layout too using a template that I made for you to kickstart the year. This is my layout featuring photos from last January, although I will be updating them when I have photos from 2011 :)

And this is the template freebie which includes a psd file and a set of png files for those who don't use photoshop - click here to download. Don't forget to leave me a comment if you are going to be doing P365 this year - I'd love you all to play along :)

Christmas Scavenger Hunt

2010-12-14T11:42:00.002Z

Just a quick post to tell you to check out my scavenger hunt here - there are prizes :)

Anyone for a freebie? Peek a boo!!

2010-12-11T20:20:00.001Z

I have been running some challenges over the previous few months which will be resuming again after Christmas and often provide a mini kit for participating. Most of these kits go into the dollar bin in my store, but I have decided to let you have this one as a freebie. It's called Peek a Boo and I designed it around the photo in this layout I did:

Today, you can have the papers from the kit - {link expired} and check back next weekend for the elements. I hope you like it - please leave a comment to let me know. If you want to join the challenges when we resume in January, please sign up to the forum here. TTFN.

Love to Chill layout using freebie

2010-12-11T10:07:00.000Z

Hey everyone - busy day for me today, including a cut and colour for my hair and putting up the Christmas tree. Really happy to have hubby, Pompey and Lily home - I really did miss them! Today, I wanted to show you my layout with 'Love to Chill' - my latest kit available at PDW. I scrapped my best friend's little boy in his winter coat a few years ago - isn't he cute? I used the freebie wordart on this layout too.

You can still download the freebie here if you want it. TTFN.

Love to Chill with freebie

2010-12-10T18:26:00.000Z

Happy Friday everyone! I am feeling much better this week about Christmas. I have almost all of my presents (just two more to get) and I am putting up the tree tomorrow. YAY! It's been an odd week though because hubby has been working away and he had the dogs with him. So the house was quite quiet and lonely - very strange. They are all home tonight and I am really excited to see them!

So, this week's new kit is called 'Love to Chill' and I made it with a winter theme for scrapping your snow pics. However, Kim said that she thought it was ideal for baby layouts too. So, one kit, two uses - just $3 this week! What a bargain hey? It's only available at my guest store, PDW - go check it out here. This is what Love to Chill looks like:

And these are the beautiful layouts by my Creative Team.....

I also have a freebie for you as usual - it's a small wordart using the kit - download it here and don't forget, I LOVE reading your comments :). TTFN.

New CT member

2010-12-05T12:00:00.000Z

Yesterday, I was reading Sara's personal blog and she was scrapping with her Mum - they were scrapping with the same kits and posting both layouts. And I have to tell you, I was so impressed with Glenise's layouts that I immediately asked her if she wanted to be on my Creative Team. She agreed and I was really pleased! Then today, she sent me a layout using Jolly Christmas and I now know that I chose the right lady for the job! Check out this amazing layout that she did - of course it's Summer in Australia at Christmas, so this really shows that the kit can be used for any season of the year! Please leave some love so that she knows what you think of her work :) TTFN.

Fall memories again.....

2010-12-05T11:27:00.001Z

A LONG time ago, on a blog that looked much different to this, but had the same url, a girl named Vicki gave away lots of free kits before she was confident enough in her designs to start selling them! In fact, I am talking about January 2009, so nearly two years ago, I made a kit called Fall Memories for you guys to collect free on my blog. Lots of you did collect it - from recollection, kits had well over a thousand downloads in those days. However, some of you will be new to digi scrapping and won't have been able to collect it. Well, I was clearing out my ftp server and found this one on there and I'm not sure why I put it there. Anyhoo, I figured, since it's there anyway, I would offer it for free one more time before it gets put away for ever. So, if you don't have it - this is 'Fall Memories' - click the links below to download each part (available for one week only). I would love you all to leave a comment if you download, just to let me know what you think of it (even though it's quite old and my style has changed quite a bit since then). I may even dig out another kit before Christmas - any requests? TTFN.

Sorry - links expired.

Christmas freebie

2010-12-04T10:58:00.001Z

Did you check out yesterday's freebie? If not, it's in the post below this one - don't miss it! I have another for you though - well, it is nearly Christmas!! LOL! Firstly, a reminder of my latest kit, Jolly Christmas - when you buy it, you get Christmas Time free - that's two kits for just $3 (it will go up to $4 when my next kit is released)! This is what the two kits look like:

Buy Jolly Christmas here.

Buy Christmas Time here.

And this is the freebie - a couple of flairs to coordinate with Christmas Time - click here to download. TTFN.

Have a jolly Christmas!

2010-12-03T12:49:00.000Z

Who's ready for Christmas? Hands up! Mine is firmly down - I really think I need to get a wriggle on and sort myself out - time is getting short!! LOL! One thing I do have ready is my Christmas kit - YAY! I didn't want to do a traditional kit, I wanted something a little bit different that would work for any part of the world - summer Christmas or Winter. I think I achieved that and I really hope you like it! The kit is called Jolly Christmas and it comes with a free kit if you buy it during December - more info about that later in the post, but this is what Jolly Christmas looks like.

And this is a layout of me drinking champagne using the kit:

The layouts my creative team did are gorgeous - take a look:

As I said, you get a free kit if you buy Jolly Christmas during December - it's a mini kit called Christmas Time - a more traditional kit for those of you that want to scrap some more traditional layouts too. This is what it looks like:

And this is what some of my creative team did with it.

Do you want a freebie? I have one for you - it's a set of two wordtags that coordinate. Click here to download and don't forget to leave some love. TTFN.

Christmas all over!

2010-12-03T09:06:00.000Z

I have a new Christmas kit released today called Jolly Christmas, which I will tell you about later today, but right now, I wanted to share the two collab kits in store for December - the first is the main store collab with a vintage feel called Christmas Past and the second is a winter kit which is free with any purchase of $5 or more in store during December.

So, Christmas Past, as I said, has a vintage feel to it - an old fashioned Christmas and very traditional. Check out what it looks like....

And check out what my creative team did with it for some inspiration:

Gorgeous hey? You can buy this mega kit here for just $4. And while you're in store, look around, because if you spend $5 or more, you get this cute winter kit for FREE. You can't buy it until January when it will be $3, you can only get it as part of this offer right now. It's called 'Winter Chill' - check it out:

And check out a few layouts from my creative team - more gorgeousness!

So that's what's in store - I will be back later today with my photo for the 12 Days of Christmas and to show you my latest new kit. TTFN.

More photography

2010-12-01T19:27:00.001Z

Well, I have really learned something today! Our first proper assignment for the 12 Days of Christmas photography course was to use white balance and to test out the results we get from each setting. The only chance I have had has been tonight in my house after dark with the flash because I have been at work all day, so it's a good test for Christmas indoor photos! I have to say, I have never played with white balance before, but I would probably have chosen tungsten light for my indoor photos if I'd had to choose as it's an image of a lightbulb on the camera and seems appropriate!! I could not have been more WRONG!! LOL! So, from the photos I took of our VW Beetle money box, it seems that in my house with the lights I have, shade is the best option - check it out! WOW! I am so excited about this course, it's really got me thinking about how my camera works! Thanks CJ :) TTFN.

Online photography course

2010-11-30T21:06:00.000Z

I am really excited to be able to participate in CJ's free online 12 Days of Christmas photography course. As you will know if you read my blog regularly, I treated myself to a Canon EOS 1000D a few months ago, but I have barely used it and I really need to! So I thought this would be a great thing to do. Over the next 12 days I will be doing a photography assignment per day and I will share those photos with you. The first isn't part of the course, it's just a festive self-portrait for the forum. This is mine - the light is awful and as always, I hate photos of myself, but here it is. Check back tomorrow for photo number two :) TTFN.

Dollar bin additions

2010-11-28T11:25:00.002Z

I have added a bunch of older kits to the dollar bin. So if you see anything you like, it's linkable to store to buy. These are next step to retirement, so they won't be in store much longer, although I can't say for certain when they will retire - probably sometime early next year. Grab them while you can!! TTFN.

Remember to love yourself!

2010-11-27T12:02:00.000Z

I am really guilty of not having photographs of myself. I am a shocker when someone has a camera - I hide behind things, run away or just plain put my hands in front of my face!! I truly hate photos of myself - I am not the most photogenic person in the world, despite the fact that I always have that huge grin on my face!! LOL! So a few weeks ago, when Kirsty took my photo and I looked pretty good (for me), I was over the moon because it meant I could update my avatar to a current photo. So, that got me thinking and I guess there are lots of others out there the same as me - we are the ones behind the camera, so we don't have many photos of ourselves and probably, there are only three or four that we actually like and would show anyone! That's when I figured, why not make a kit that celebrates us as women and helps us to scrap those very few photos that we like to preserve them for the future. So, I obviously had to have pink in the kit - hey, we're girls right? But I put some deep red and green in there too so that it's not too girly, girly! I also put in a little tag that says 'Scrapping Queen' - which we all are so that not only can we scrap ourselves, but we can scrap our hobby at the same time! Before we take a look at the kit called Love Yourself, this is the layout that I did with my new photo:

I'm really happy with the layout and won't mind people seeing it because I love the photo. I really do need to embrace photos of me and start learning to love myself on the outside too! So, this is what 'Love Yourself' looks like and it's only available at Plain Digital Wrapper (my guest store) for a limited time. It's just $3 today, but will be $4.50 tomorrow, so if you want this kit, you should jump on over there now to pick it up :)

And take a look at what my GORGEOUS CT have done with the kit - beautiful hey?

And I have a guest CT this week - you may know her from around scrapland, she has become a dear friend and we have chatted on the phone a couple of times - it feels like we've always known each other - Sylvia. She's in the photo in the layout and it's just beautiful - showing that you don't need the pink in your layout if you're not girly! Thanks Sylvia - your layout is fantastic and the photos are just perfect!

Finally, I have a freebie for you. It's a cluster frame that I made to help you kickstart your layout with the kit if you get it. Download it here and please leave a comment to let me know what you think! TTFN.

Retro Revival with a freebie!

2010-11-19T10:28:00.000Z

Hi everyone - happy Friday! It's the weekend for me as I am not working today. I am having a very lazy start to the day before walking the dogs and then heading off to my parents for the weekend. I am thinking that I may start some Christmas shopping this weekend. I wouldn't usually start this early, but everyone else seems to be so organised that it's making me worried that I should get on with it!! LOL! Is everyone really organised already, or am I just being paranoid? Leave a comment and let me know!

Back to today and I have a new release kit. This one has some really retro colours in it and a great retro scrabble alpha (which I personally love)! I also have the alpha available separately if you love it too and want just that part :). Take a look at the full kit - Retro Revival:

And take a look at what my CT have done with it - they have fully embraced the scrabble alpha which is fantastic!

You can buy Retro Revival for the limited price of $3 here and if you just want the alpha, it's $2 here. There are some pre-shadowed clusters that you will get free with your purchase of the full kit, so it really is great value!

Now to the freebie - it's a small wordart - download it here! I hope you enjoy using it. TTFN.

Exciting news and a new kit...

2010-11-12T14:05:00.000Z

Well, actually they are connected :) I was asked by Lisa a few weeks ago if I would like to guest at Plain Digital Wrapper. YES was my answer - of course! I am really excited that someone would ask me and how could I possibly say no? LOL! As you know, Scrap That Idea is my store (along with the other girls), but it's a real learning curve to see how larger stores do things and to be involved in a new 'community'. I am very impressed with PDW - they have stringent quality control checks in place which ensures you are getting the best quality product you can buy and they have some great designers over there. So, my very first kit for my guest spot is called My Family and you can buy it for $3.50 for today only at PDW (it will go up to $4.50 tomorrow). This is what the kit looks like:

And let's have a look at some of the layouts that my CT have made with it - I can't wait to see what the store CT make too! The first layout is from Kim H - look at that tiny little face of her beautiful daughter and her son is gorgeous too!

This is from Gina - beautiful clustering and such sweet poses from her daughters!

And Kim B, the queen of clustering made this beauty:

This layout is from Sharon - she is on loan to me from Mel's CT for a little while - it's great to have her!

And Dawn made this lovely layout - that photo is just so precious hey?

And of course I have a freebie for you - click here to download and remember to check out the full kit here. TTFN.

Big blogpost with a freebie!

2010-11-06T12:23:00.000Z

OK, this really is going to be a quite big blogpost - I have a bit to tell you today! First up is my latest kit in store called 'Coming Home' - it's a mix of blues and greys but with a bit hit of orange to tang it up. It has a bit of a country feel to it, but the orange seems to make it more modern - I don't know, what do you think? Anyhoo - this is what the kit looks like.

And if you buy it in store, you get these two quick pages free with it just to kick start your scrapping. Remember, you don't have to use the QPs as they are, you can add some more elements and use the alpha to add your title. You can still make it unique even with the base that I've made :)

And these are some layouts from my creative team and the layouts from which I made the QPs - check out the eye candy - thanks girls!

Next up is a request (well actually, a desperate plea) for votes! My team, as you know, are totally awesome and their scrapping skills are second to none, but that doesn't mean that we can be complacent and hope people vote for us, we need to drum up some support and let the world know how great we are! This challenge was quite complicated - the girls had to use TEN different kits of mine, have a list of 10 things on the layout, no photos and no frames allowed!! They rose to the challenge fantastically, take a look at these GORGEOUS layouts and vote 'A Work in Progress' here!

And have you seen the latest collaboration kit at Scrap That Idea? It's one of my favourites EVER - it's called 'Family Life' and is bright and fun! This is what it looks like....

It's available in store for a mere $4 here. And this is what my creative team did with it - check out the other girls blogs to see their CTs gorgeous creations too.

And, if you like the STI collabs, check out our Digital Scrapbooking Day sale which is happening all weekend long. You get any of our collabs half price - the price is discounted automatically - no coupon required (Family Life not included). Just head on over to the store and grab yourself a bargain here!

OK, well, you've got this far and so you definitely deserve a freebie!! This is a cluster frame that coordinates with Coming Home. I hope you like it - you can download directly from my blog here. Enjoy!! I also have some photos to show you that I took today, but you'll have to check back for those - this post is already big enough I think!! LOL! TTFN.

Various things....

2010-11-02T19:47:00.000Z

If you're looking for the blogtrain, check here - if you're here to read my blog, read on :)

So, I have had a mega busy weekend spent with some fantastic friends at the GoGo Getaway. I have to say it was the best retreat EVER - we spent it here...

Gorgeous hey? Well, we didn't realise it was haunted (even though I have been there 3 times before) and I spent some of my time ghost hunting which was so much fun - needless to say, too much giggling for the ghosts to appear!! I also taught a hybrid class - it was a calendar which I hope everyone loved because I really did. Just want to say a huge thanks to Janice and Lorraine who own ScrapaGoGo - they have been fantastic friends to me after a chance meeting on a plane going to CHA in 2009. I sadly have decided to leave them because I am finding it so difficult to keep up the juggling of so many things in my life! It was so sad to say goodbye to them on Sunday, a few small tears were shed :( However, I am heading to the retreat as a delegate in March, so I will see them again in 5 months! YAY!

Another great thing about the retreat was that I got to spend some time with the other DT members. I love them all - they are such great friends and we all have such a laugh. It was the first time I met Sarah and she is absolutely lovely - we really gelled and spent 3 hours chatting when I drove her back to Bristol station to catch her train home to Plymouth. And I also spent a lot of time with Kirsty who is just so funny, I don't think I've laughed so much in ages! Anyhoo - Kirsty persuaded me to have my photo taken and so I relented eventually even though I had no makeup on GULP!! This is one of the photos she took that I totally fell in love with - it looks like me, but it makes me look nice!! LOL! Kirsty - you're a legend!

Back to today and I wanted to show you my CT layouts using Sweet Candy - they are so gorgeous!

You can pick it up here for just $3 this week and if you spend $5 in the store in November you get a free kit - don't miss a bargain like that!! That's it for today - back soon! TTFN.

November blog train - The Orient!

2010-11-01T13:16:00.001Z

A special warm welcome to any newcomers to my blog. This is the first time I have participated in the blog train and I'm really excited to be involved!

Before we get to what many of you will have come for, as I have been away this weekend, I wanted to show you my latest kit in store this week called 'Sweet Candy' - it's a step out of my comfort zone with the pastel palette, but I am really pleased with the result - take a look and if you like it, you can buy it here for just $3.

And here's a layout I made with it featuring my beautiful goddaughter:

I will post some more CT layouts and another freebie add on tomorrow, so be sure to check back for those. In the meantime, down to blog train business.....

CC's digital designs - you probably came steaming in from here
A Work in Progress - Designs by Vicki - this is where you are now
Royanna Fritschmann - Studio RA Designs - this is your next stop on the train

**Note - we are all over the world, so some parts may take longer than others to appear**

The kit this month is called 'The Orient' and this is what my part looks like:

You can get a full list of everyone participating right here just in case you got lost along the way and see a slideshow of all the parts too!

Remember to leave some love along your journey for all the incredible hard work put in by the designers. And finally, download my part here direct from my blog! TTFN.

New kit, votes and a freebie

2010-10-30T10:11:00.000+01:00

Happy weekend!! I am at a scrapping retreat this weekend and having lots of fun with the ScrapaGoGo girls. Last night we went ghost hunting because the hotel is supposed to be haunted. There was actually a paranormal night arranged here, but we weren't included and when we tried to join, got in trouble for giggling!! So, Sarah, Kirsty and I went and laid on my bed in the dark and tried to see our own ghost - needless to say - nothing!! LOL! Enough of our antics, let's get back to scrapping. Firstly, let me show you my newest kit called Sweet Candy which is quite a pastel palette for me, but I like it nonetheless. Take a look....

You can buy it here for just $3. And I have some GORGEOUS layouts from my CT, but I'll show those to you later because right now I have some Battle of the Creative Team layouts to show you again. We need your votes too, so PLEASE, PLEASE vote for us here - scroll down to A Work in Progress!

The challenge is to scrap a monochromatic layout with each other's photos in two corners!! WOW - it's getting tougher. We chose to scrap brown and this is what the girls came up with. The first layout is from Sara using Marif's photos:

This is by Kim H using Kim B's photos:

This is by Laramie using Sara's photos:

This is by Marif using Kim H's photos:

And this one is by Kim B using Kim H's photos:

Please do vote for us - I am biased, but I do think my team's layouts are the best!!

And if you have voted for us, you can have a freebie! It's a wordart to coordinate with Sweet Candy - click here to download. I hope you enjoy it! TTFN.

Love letters

2010-10-26T15:45:00.000+01:00

Did you see my new kit called Love Letters? I really love this kit because it celebrates the way that I used to send and receive love letters - on paper via snail mail. Do you have letters like that - that you keep in a box of memories with old photos and tickets for various things? I have a big box of these memories and every now and then I will go back and read a letter or look at some photos and reminisce. So this kit was inspired by those airmail letters I have from friends and boyfriends. This is a reminder of what the kit looks like.

And here are some layouts by my fabulous CT. Gina has scrapped the photos from her husband that he sent whilst on deployment and Kim B has scrapped her grandparents and the love letters they sent to each other - such special special memories.

Thanks girls - your layouts are gorgeous as always. You can buy Love Letters in store here for just $3.

Did you catch the two freebies I made? The first was a frame cluster which you can find the link to here. The other was a template freebie in my weekly newsletter (check it out here if you're not already subscribed). TTFN.

Love Letters, a call for votes and a freebie!

2010-10-23T09:49:00.003+01:00

This is going to be a big post, so settle in and please read to the end because you'll get a freebie if you do!! So, first up is my new kit for this week called Love Letters. There is a story behind this one - when I was 18, I had to leave my first love behind in Canada because we were moving back to England. For a few months, we wrote each other a couple of times a week and I used to always look forward to seeing those airmail envelopes come through the door - that was in the days before email - can you even imagine!! LOL! Then, when I met my hubby, he was in the Navy and we had to write each other too - again, the airmail envelopes that I waited for each day. I was having a root through my 'memories' box and found a bundle of them and the idea for the kit was born. This is what Love Letters looks like:

You can buy the kit for just $3 here this week. This is the layout that inspired the kit in the first place - a photo of some of my airmail letters I have in my memories box.

I have some layouts from my CTs too, but I will show you those tomorrow because I have some other eye candy to show you today.....

We are now heading into voting for round 2 of DSA Battle of the CTs. After being disqualified on a technicality from round 1, we are in desperate need of your votes so that we can catch up a bit!! LOL! Take a look at these layouts and you'll be convinced that we deserve your vote as well as need it!

The first is from Kim B - check out the credits here.

This beauty is from Sara using my kit for next week, so you get an exclusive sneak peek. Credits here:

This is from Marif - credits here:

And Kim H made this layout, credits here:

And last, but not least, this layout is from Laramie, credits here:

You can vote here - scroll down the page a bit to 'A Work in Progress', click the box and then hit vote at the bottom of the page - easy peasy!! Thank you!!

And if you have got this far, AND voted for us, you deserve a freebie! This week I have a cluster frame for you to match with Love Letters which you can download here. If you check out my weekly newsletter later, you'll get a template freebie too based on my layout with Love Letters. If you don't subscribe (why don't you?) you can get the link on my facebook page later. TTFN.

Wednesday night crop!

2010-10-21T11:16:00.000+01:00

So last night was Wednesday which means Kirsty's crop. My ScrapaGoGo October kit arrived on Monday, so I thought I would save it for the crop! I had fun with the sketch and this is the layout I made. I tried distressing the edges of the paper, but I am not good at distressing obviously because you can barely see it!! LOL! I must practice making a mess :) Hope you like the layout! TTFN.

Here comes Dave!

2010-10-17T11:59:00.000+01:00

OK, so there is a funny story behind the name of this kit. Since I started digi designing, occasionally, I get stumped for a kit name, so I ask hubby's advice. The very first time I asked him to help, he said 'call it Dave'! Of course, it was a girly kit and a completely ridiculous suggestion, but he has said the exact same thing to me EVERY time I have asked him since - 'call it Dave'! I was making a boy kit and thought I would go for it and call it Dave just for him. I don't know why Dave, just that it seems to be a thing with him! Anyhoo - he now has to think of a different name next time I ask - woohooooo!! :)

I hope you like this kit - designed by me and named Dave by my hubby who is called Rob!! This is what it looks like:

You can buy it here for just $3 this week. And this is what my fabulous CT did with it...

All gorgeous layouts again girls - thank you! And here's just a taster of what's in the kit - download the cluster frame here and be sure to let me know what you think. TTFN.

DSA Battle of the Creative Teams

2010-10-16T11:29:00.001+01:00

Well, my team were disqualified from voting in round one because of a technicality! However, I want to show you our layouts anyway - they are STUNNING and my girls put in so much work to them, that they deserve to be seen and admired. So, check out these beauties.....

The first is by Laramie:

This is by Marif:

This one is by Kim H:

This is by Kim B:

And last but not least, this one is by Sara B:

I think you'll agree that the girls ROCKED this challenge despite the teeny tiny technicality. You girls ROCK and you're all winners to me. MWAH x

Paper and flowers!

2010-10-14T10:29:00.001+01:00

It was Wednesday night crop last night again with Kirsty and another sketch to follow. I have such fun doing the crop - it's like scrapping with friends in your craft room with you! Great fun! Anyhoo, this is the layout I made. I am not 100% happy with it, but I love the photo, so it's going into my album :) TTFN.

Wedding Day alpha

2010-10-11T18:20:00.001+01:00

I totally forgot yesterday - I am soooo sorry! The alpha for Wedding Day is ready for you to collect here {sorry expired}. I hope you love it and I can't wait to see your beautiful layouts. Check Gina's blog too for quick pages. TTFN.

Wanderlust and a freebie!

2010-10-08T12:20:00.000+01:00

Big news today! My wonderful friend Mel and I decided to team up under a collective design name and create a collaboration kit for our store. We settled on the name M&Verick Designs - it uses both our initials and neither of us play by the rules all the time, so it suited us well!! ;)

For our very first kit, we have Wanderlust for those of you who have itchy feet and love to travel like me. Seeing the world is a wonderful experience not to be missed if you are fortunate to have the means to do so and I have to say that I have been to many places, but not nearly as many as I want to in my life - I hope to travel much, much more in the future. This kit was great for me to scrap some of those memories, so you may see a few layouts over the next few days!

With this kit, we created various parts to it and so you can buy it separately or as a bundle in store. Buying the bundle for just $5 will save you $2 off buying the parts individually. What does this kit look like I hear you cry!! Well, this is the bundle which includes the kit, wordart, add-on alpha and quick pages - check it out....

You can buy the bundle for just $5 here. Otherwise, you can buy the kit here, the add on alpha here, the wordart here or the quick pages here.

You have got to see what our CTs did with this kit - check out the eye candy here:

And if you've got this far, you also get a freebie today :) Check out the cluster frame that I made for you and click here to download it. Also, head over to Mel's blog for her freebie (be patient if it's not posted yet). Remember to leave us some comments so that we know what you think of our new kit and our design name and if you have any questions, post them in the comments section - I can now reply to you easily :) Oh and don't forget if you spend $5 in our store during October, you get 'October Kisses' for free! TTFN.

Wednesday night crop layout

2010-10-07T15:53:00.001+01:00

Just wanted to show you my paper layout that I did last night during Kirsty's Wednesday night crop. She supplied the sketch and I put this together in the 2 hours. I am quite pleased with how it turned out - I hope you like it too!

Exciting collab coming

2010-10-07T14:15:00.000+01:00

I am really excited about this. I have a collab coming to our store tomorrow under a collective designer name - can you guess who with? See you tomorrow!

A few random things....

2010-10-04T21:05:00.000+01:00

Well, its my birthday tomorrow and I have the week off this week (as is usual for me on my birthday)! What am I doing with my week? Well, today I went shopping at the Range (a store that sells a bit of everything including paper craft items) and got some glue and ribbon. Then I went to a charity shop (thrift store I think you call it in the US?) and got an old book which I can use with my punches. I wanted a dictionary and a road atlas, but couldn't get either, so settled for a book about the 'Rose Society'!! It works - I don't have to look out for dodgy words before punching!

I spent a couple of hours in my craft room making up some punched flowers with buttons for quick use later! Got some washing and housework done and walked the dogs. Then I made dinner (which in itself is incredible) - all in a day! I feel I accomplished lots today.

Tomorrow, hubby has taken the day off and we are taking the dogs to the beach for a couple of hours - we'll have fish and chips on the beach and throw the ball for the dogs - great fun. Then back home and out to the local pub for some dinner and a glass or two of wine. A great way to spend my birthday!!

The rest of the week - well, I am planning a trip to the cinema to see 'Eat, Pray, Love' with my aunt, more dog walking, more crafting - I'll see where my mood takes me!! LOL!

OK, so that's all for now - I'll be back soon! TTFN.

Wedding Day elements

2010-10-03T17:59:00.001+01:00

Thanks for all the love on the Wedding Day kit so far. I am so glad that some of you can use it for your own photographs - it's just what I was hoping when I decided to give it to you as a freebie. I hope you've collected the papers already - you only have another 12 hours or so to do that. Today you can have the elements {sorry expired}. Check back next week for the alpha. TTFN.

Even more paper scrapping

2010-10-03T16:20:00.002+01:00

Wow - I have done two more layouts today. I am really getting into this paper scrapping malarky!! LOL! Today, following on from the fact that I found sketches really easy to follow for inspiration, I decided to try scraplifting some of my digi layouts! So, the first one I scraplifted the layout I did with my recent kit 'Autumn'. You can see the original digi layout here and this is my paper layout - 'Funny Face'.

And then I tackled my layout using 'Happiness Is...' - the original digi layout is here and my paper layout looks like this.

I hope you enjoy seeing my paper scrapping efforts because I do believe there will be more - it's very relaxing even though a layout takes a lot longer to do than a digi layout!! LOL! TTFN.

Mystic Falls

2010-10-02T12:58:00.000+01:00

Have you checked out our latest collaboration kit for October? It's called Mystic Falls, which has no connection to the Vampire Diaries, but I didn't realise the connection in name until after it was made!! LOL! I am not sure you could really scrap vampires with it though, so you'd have guessed that as soon as you look at these previews!

What do you think? Great for fall photos hey? Take a peek at what my CT made with it - all gorgeous as always :)

If you like it, you can pick it up in store for just $4 here and don't forget that if you spend $5 during October, you get 'October Kisses' worth $3 for free! TTFN.

Giggles

2010-10-01T19:10:00.000+01:00

So, this is my latest kit in store called Giggles! I love this one - I made some of the doodles in it and wanted to create something fun and funky and hopefully I achieved that! My CT members all said they enjoyed this one too, so that's a good sign hey? ;) This is what it looks like in full.....

And this is what some of my CT did with it - gorgeous inspiration.

You can pick the kit up in store here for a mere $3! I also made you a freebie - click here to download and be sure to leave a comment so I know what you think! TTFN.

Some paper scrapping!

2010-09-30T14:30:00.001+01:00

Yesterday my friend Nikki came over to scrap with me and I made two paper layouts and some cards. Just wanted to show them to you in case you're interested :)

Firstly, I made a layout based on my recent template - it turned out great - I must try that more often. Here's the layout - I would have preferred a larger photo of my Mum & Dad, but my photo printer is broken and I just have my POGO which prints at 2x3!

And then Nikki and I joined Kirsty's online crop and I made this layout of Pompey's nose and paw following her sketch. Just as I love using templates for Digi, I am loving using sketches for paper!!

That's all for today - catch you tomorrow with my latest new release.

Wedding Day freebie

2010-09-28T08:05:00.000+01:00

My CT member, Gina, made some pages for her Dad's wedding and they are very simple, but very beautiful and I thought that others could use them. So, Gina agreed to let you have them as QPs!! Woohooo! Check out this stunning layout and head on over to Gina's blog to download - there are two more to come as I release more of the kit too. TTFN.