Happy Birthday, Marion

I made this card for my friend Marion. She is also my ex colleague as we worked together for almost 14 years at an Insurance Brokers which was quite a small family firm.

The paper is from Basic Grey, Basics white pack which I oversprayed with Glimmer Mist Coffee Shop and my own mix of Mustard Seed distress re-inker & Perfect Pearls Gold. Stamps are Paperbag Studio (I masked the two girls before spraying) the small bees are Jo Capper-Sandon for Stampotique. Friends quote is Innovative Stamp Creations.

Some Photos of My Holiday in France

This is the Gite we rented for the week in a small hamlet called La Marchaderie, Saint Mathieu.

This is the breathtakingly beautiful Brantome Abbey
The equally beautiful Chateau Montbrun (my favourite photo)

This was a statue in a memorial garden in Nontron.

I really wish I could work out how to put the correct French symbols on the photos!!!

I took lots of pictures but these are some of my absolute favourites and there was I thinking my camera wasn't really up to the trip!!
It was such a beautiful holiday!!

Queen Bee

For several years now, I have been going for full body massages every month at my favourite Beautician Hayley. Well, this week the salon re opened as Queen Bee. Hayley has now extended the salon to include a hairdressing section and her new business partner is a lifelong friend, Jenny. All the pink is gone and a new colour and name regins. As today is my first appointment as a Queen Bee client, I made the card below to wish the ladies success with the new joint venture.

The front of card is made with my Score Pal. Stamps used are Tim Holtz (Mini Crown) PaperBag Studios (Large Crown) Honeycomb (is actually chicken wire from Poultry Pantry set by TweetyJill)

Bee by my friend Jo Capper-Sandon.

The back of the card is a Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen Venaissance design.
I hope the ladies like the card, it is close in colour to the new appointment cards.

Finally... a Layout!!!

It's only been a year & 7 months since I last created a layout, but I have finally found the mojo. Mind you, France was so beautiful, I took 350 photos of buildings, flowers, doors, trees and monuments in the hope that I would have at least 200 good photos at the end. I fell in love with a 3 storey apartment in a town called Brantome over the border from us in Perigord Vert, Dordogne.

I could really imagine myself living there and so it was the obvious first photo to try & scrap.

Here is a close up of the top left corner embellishment which I sewed by hand and the journalling section with pretty pebble (Prima)

This is the completed page, I printed the photo twice and turned the second version into a blue tint. I made all the backing papers myself using white card, distress inks & texture folders in my big shot.
Materials;
Alcohol inks: Denim/ Stream/ Cloudy Blue (inked strips)
Distress inks: Chipped Sapphire/ Faded Jeans/ Tumbled Glass
Texture Folders: Swiss Dots/ TH Wood Grain
Border Punches: Fiskars/ Martha Stewart
Stamps: Stampers Anonymous/ Crafty Individuals
Rub On: (live/love/laugh) Fancy Pants
Flower: Prima (Old Studio Calico Kit)
Title: stickers from stash - forgotten make.

Unfortunately, I am unable to work out how to type with the correct characters on the french words!

Just Playing

with inks and stamps today. It really is the best way to relax and find new ways to use the products you have in your stash. I have mixed distress re-inkers with perfect pearls, scrapbook paper and some stamps to create something a bit different from the usual stuff I tend to make. I do tend to make things and then forget to try out other stuff!!

I first stamped the Sun & Moon (Paperartsy) onto the Basic Grey Basics paper - Ballot. Then I mixed up my two mini mists. The first one is Broken China re-inker with Interference Blue Perfect Pearls. The second is just Shabby Shutters re-inker & water. I masked the main image & spritzed over the two inks allowing them to mix a tiny bit. I then dried them with the heat gun. I ironed the piece on the reverse to flatten so that I could add a few background stamps (Paperbag Studios script & buttons from Delight Plate). I then stamped 4 stars (Studio Calico) onto the Ballot paper & using Chipped Sapphire & Forest Moss I coloured them. I attached them to the main piece using blue staples & then glued it to the front of a card blank.

Unfortunately the camera batteries are all flat so I had to take the photo with my mobile phone. I'm not certain it does the true colours justice and you can't really see the glorious shimmer of the blue.

Final Minibook Pages

page 20

page 25
inside back cover

back cover

I am home from France today and will be spending time catching up with forum friends and uploading photos from my camera. Catch you soon :0)

Back Home

I am now back home from my holiday in France. We visited the Limousin region & rented a Gite in a small hamlet called La Marchaderie, just outside of a place called St Mathieu, which is right on the Dordogne border. We flew from Newcastle airport on Saturday 3rd September to Limoges and returned on Saturday 10th. I came back from Newcastle this afternoon. I have tons to do & am back at work on Tuesday!!! We had an amazing time the temperature was around 25c everyday rising to 27c. I had to wear quite a lot of sunblock with having very fair skin but it was heaven. I will have photos to show but I have over 350 to edit first!!!!! It was my first ever flight as we went by hovercraft when I was 5 years old. I have not been out of the country since so it has been a real treat for me. I have seen some outstanding countryside and amazing chateaus. The whole place was laid back and relaxed, I have never slept so well.

More Minibook Pages

page 11

pages 13 & 14
page 15

This format did prove a bit hard to do so the book I am making for 2010 - 2011 is in a smaller more graphic style.

Minibook of Books 2009-2010

I started reading a lot when I began commuting to work and came up withe idea of a minibook of books. Firstly so I could record what I read & how many but secondly so I could make something!! This book begins December 2009 and ends December 2010. (I am now making another for Dec 2010 - Dec 2011, but they are mostly read at home)

Front Cover - using distress inks

inside front cover and first page
page 6

I have tried to match my papers & stamped images to the covers of the books where ever possible. I will blog some more pages soon. (These blog posts are all scheduled posts because as you read this I am in France :0) on holiday)

"Sacre Coeur" Grunge

I made this one using the other half of the same background in the post below. I added the same numbers as I did below but added a bridge piece & The Sacre Coeur, both from my Paris Postcards set. I partucularly love how the "burnt" lemon juice adds great texture to this piece.

"Family" Grunge

Here is another grungy background I made using the wrinkle free distress ink technique. I wanted it grungy & black with bleach & lemon juice but then I softened it up by using part of one of my favourite Paperbag Studios stamps. The other stamps are from my Tim Holtz set.

BookMark

Here is a bookmark I made for my sister to take to France with us. I used off cuts from a background I made & added a touch of blecahing & lemon Juice. She fell in love with my quotes tag book so though this would suit her down to the ground.