On The Anniversary Theme

Yesterday was my friends' party to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. Lots of friends and family, lots of food and some music and dancing made for a fun afternoon and evening.

I had promised to take a cake which I baked on Saturday morning (apple sponge with toffee fudge frosting and fudge chunks) and it was only lunch time on Saturday when I realised I hadn't yet got a card. Anyway I sat down and got to work making my card raiding the scraps box and getting maximum use from my Stampin Up heart punches!


I hope they liked it, my Verve stamps got an outing too for the sentiment, it is the first time I have used them and I love them and *need* more.

Winning My Anniversary Giveaway Is....

Comment number 10 was left by Antonia, a Victoria Gardens Echo Park collection kit is on it's way to you.

I will sort out the then and now (ish) photos as requested but have been very busy today at a friends 10th wedding anniversary party and am off tomorrow to (hopefully) sunny Norwich for a 2 night break with Darren and the girls, Bewilderwood and Africa Alive are beckoning so once again good weather vibes much appreciated!

Mels Anniversary Giveaway!

So today is my 9th Wedding Anniversary and after a delicious meal out I have come home in a mood to share some happiness so it is "Giveaway Time!"

Leave a comment on this post before 6pm on Saturday 30th July and you will be entered into a draw (done with random dot org) to win an 12 x 12 collection pack...

Winner will be posted on Saturday night.

Inspired by Mel

When I saw this post by Mel I remembered that I had the very same Bella Blvd paper (2 sheets brought for a project that was never started) and some Bo Bunny paper that I had also brought for the same project.

So, I was inspired to make a camping page of my own, documenting when Gracia went camping for the first time in her memory (we had been once before when she was 3 but that's another tale to tell).


She is not a camper by nature (too fond of home comforts) and this trip involved a lack of running water, electricity and having to use the toilet in the farm house. A baptism by fire into camping! She tolerated it because she was with her boyfriend's family, which meant she was with him, but didn't like the food, didn't like the cold, didn't like the wet and really didn't like sleeping outside at night - hence the reason I changed the 'I love the outdoors' square.

How about showing us something that has inspired you lately.

It's Here.....

Remember I posted about the beautiful new Echo Park Victoria Gardens? Well it is here and just as lovely in the flesh!

Click HERE to see these little packs of loveliness :)

Gone Camping....

An old layout today - not sure if I posted this before but this layout shows photos from our trip camping last year. There were 17 of us camping together and it was fun but very wet!

I am now leaving on the 2011 edition of our camping adventure - this time there are 32 of us! The tent is already pitched, we went this morning to get that sorted while Izzy was at school and have come home to fetch her and collect supplies.

Wish us luck.... (and good weather!)

Check Out The Special...

Until Friday we are running a special on Bo Bunny Zoology papers. Click HERE to see reductions on this paper line. No need to add a discount code, it is already discounted from the price online.

Perfect for zoo trips, outdoors photos, wildlife photos and much more Bo Bunnys Zoology range is a big hit - I know I have hundred of photos from the Kilimanjaro Safari at Disneys Animal Kingdom Florida which will benefit from this fun range!

MLS - 3D Flowers....

So last show we had the foldies from Sassafras and this show we have the My Little Shoebox die cut fold up 3D flowers. It seems everyone wants to encourage you to make your own floral embllishments and are offering to take a lot of the work out of it and give you a really simple to make but effective embellishment.


Now I have yet to see a constructed MLS 3D flower (and if you have please post a link in the comments section) but they looked interesting. This release MLS seem to have made a few subtle shifts in their ranges which will no doubt inject new energy into their products. I know that at least one of our retreat teachers is considering working with these products at the next retreat.

Since I last blogged several more orders have been placed. It is going to be busy busy busy in the stock rooms when this lot comes in!!!

My Little DT Gallery!

Well actually I don't have anything of mine in the DT gallery this month because I am busy creating some more classes but the gallery this month features My Little Shoebox hence the post title!

Come on over, follow the gallery link to the July 2011 gallery and take a look at the layouts, cards and other projects the designers have created in the gallery and if it inspires you to recreate any of them you can find My Little Shoebox products HERE.

Everyone Loves Bubbles!

Once again I have been back working on those layouts that needed finishing and this one features those long time favourites of children everywhere; bubbles!

This layout uses Echo Park Summer Days. I punched circular holes in my green background and then lifted the background off the white cardstock with foam pads. For each circular aperture I then punched a smaller patterned paper circle which was also mounted on foam pads and inset in the aperture to mimic the bubbles. The stickers are all part of the sheet included in the collection pack and the title uses Thickers.


If you like this collection it, along with all the other Echo Park collections and much much more besides is still available with a reduction in our Midsummer Madness sale. Just Click HERE to see the Summer Days collection and HERE to browse the store.

More Orders Placed!

Having perused the offerings we are pleased to be expanding our paper ranges to include more manufacturers. We loved some of Glitz Designs new paper collections so as well as the new Teeny Alphabet designs we also ordered some paper collections and embellishments. Take a look at Beautiful Dreamer & Vintage Blue....

I can't wait for these, and a selection of the co-ordinating embellishments, to come in to us, so so pretty!

A Closer Look At 7 Gypsies Summer CHA 2011 Releases

We are really excited to be able to share some of the samples we were shown during the 7 Gypsies webinar on Wednesday. We were asked not to post them until Friday as their second webinar was Thursday so it was only right that retailers attending that got "first look"

The Summer Release from 7 Gypsies includes two paper lines. Off The Wall features their typical grungey backgrounds but with street art inspired silhouettes as a strong feature of the designs. During their presentation they showed a selection of graffitti and street art photographs which had been their inspiration - from my perspective it looked like the main inspiration ended up being the stencilled silhouettes and also the idea of images which "speak" to people.

The second paper line is called Global and features maps which have been re-invented to suit 12x12 papers; taking the aesthetically pleasing qualities of vintage maps and making a few alterations to make them work as scrapbook papers.

The first layout shown using the Europe paper just grabbed me instantly. As long time blog readers know I took a long European cruise last summer and I am definitely going to recreate the layout below with a few tiny photos of us in the different destinations and the tacks and string showing the route!

See the hanging piece in this frame? They have released some adhesive hooks designed to adhere to the insides or edges of their trays allowing you to hang dimensional embellishments or bunting from them - very neat.

This was an additional example similar to the above but with an Australian theme. The words on both maps are stamped with their new alphabet stamp set featuring both upper and lower case letters which look great mixed up together!

I loved this little village one of the designers had made to showcase lots of the product. You can see some of the Off The Wall papers have been used - look for sulhouettes for example the girl on the house on the far right, the birds on the wire on the house in the front on the left etc...

You can also see a selection of their hardware old and new, some rub on and stamped images and rooftops of the houses are made from their book covers. Love it!

This mixed media panel gives you a closer look at some of the items - the alphabet stamps, the top section is part of an Off The Wall paper and the silhouette is also cut from Off The Wall papers. The cute ruler along the bottom is also part of the new release - there are a selection of 6 inch rulers in light weight but sturdy real wood available. Some designs are "school rulers" and the numbers run horizontally and some are "surveyor rulers" (like the one below) and the numbers are right way up when the ruler is held vertically.

I LOVE the next item I am showing you. The 7 Gypsies Printers Tray and Letterpress Tray have been popular but they are definitely a larger purchase. Let me introduce you to the Solo Shadowbox... It will probably retail at around £10 so quite a bit less than the other trays. It's overall dimensions are a little over 6"x6" and that large aperture is sized to fit a 6x4" photo exactly with three 2" square apertures along side it (you can orientate the frame in which ever way you wish) It is also nice and deep so as you can see it can hold the apothecary bottles (or the new apothecary domes which they are releasing) or accommodate the hooks shown in the larger frames above.

The last thing I wanted to show you for now was this mixed media collage which uses several of the new product. The popular collage tissue line from their last release has some new designs (I am in love with the frames - not shown here sadly) In addition there are some fabulous new colour rubbings. The butterflies on this panel are rub ons and you can see from the image how strong the colours are and how well they rub on, even on to uneven surfaces like the crinkled tissue background on this panel. As well as paper the rub ons also work on the little bottles and domes - one of the sets of rub ons features gorgeous little labels which look amazing when applied to miniature bottles!

I hope you have enjoyed this peek at some of the new 7 Gypsies products. Please note that all projects are credited to the 7 Gypsies designers and were posted here with full permission.

Keep an eye out for more info including their new "Look Book" with further ideas and images.

*~*~*Edit - The Summer CHA 2011 7 Gypsies Look Book can be viewed HERE*~*~*

Product Spotlight: 7 Gypsies Mykonos

Well a little later than I should be but here is the layout I made with the Mykonos papers. I really enjoyed working with them and have uploaded my layout to the Play Along With Scrap Factor gallery on UKS as believe it or not there are only 3 patterned papers on this layout (the challenge at the moment is called 1-2-3 and requires one sheet of black cardstock for the background, 2 photos and 3 patterned papers)

I also used some co-ordinating cardstock, stickers including Echo Park For The Record and some really old Jenni Bowlin Lil Davis stickers, thickers, Basic Grey letter stickers, My little shoebox alphabet & punched embellishments.

I've got loads left so will probably knock out some cards with the rest so at some point they will be uploaded too!

7 Gypsies Webinar...

This evening we "attended" the 7 Gypsies Webinar where retailers could view a presentation of the new 7 Gypsies products which they are releasing for Summer CHA. We have been told that on Friday we can post images of the products and designer samples along with a "Look Book" full of ideas which also includes a little look at the evolution of the papers through the design process. We found the presentation really interesting and we won a little giveaway which was great!

Come back on Friday and I will get as many images and details on as I can - needless to say there is lots of great stuff including several *really* fab bits which we know you will love.

Our order was placed within a couple of hours of the end of the webinar so we should be able to show you on Friday a lot of the things we actually ordered.

On another ordering front we have sent off our order to Bo Bunny and I am really excited about that too. I love it when we are ordering new stuff - not great for the bank balance but guarenteed to get the creative ideas flowing!

Oh dear...

... I feel a stash splurge coming on! If you ask me my all time favourite line of papers it would probably be My Minds Eye Lost & Found. So so pretty and very useable....

So their CHA release is............. Lost & Found 2 (featuring 4 sub categories as before) and then a Lost & Found Christmas line! I have added a few snippets here but there is lots of course (My Minds Eye always seem to have enormous ranges with millions of sub categories and mini collections within each range!

Being a Mum of two girls I am loving the Lost & Found2: Blush but the other colour combos are also really rather good too!

L&F2: Blush

L&F2: Breeze

Here are a few bits from the L&F Christmas line...

A Bit More Bo Bunny...

The remaining two non Christmas collections are below - first up is Forever Fall with lots of lovely warm tones.

This is the Garden Girl Collection:

So that is the 5 non Christmas lines, which are your favourites? This is your chance to influence what arrives on the shelves!

I haven't forgotten the Mykonos but I haven't quite finished sticking that down or photographed it so I will take a rain check on that and try to get it posted tomorrow.

Those Bo Bunny Pictures...

First up here are a couple of pieces from the Welcome Home line - the soft colours and elegant designs make it a winner for me.

Next up here are a couple of pieces from Et Cetera - For me this is a very successful dabble in the style of collagey, collected ephemera designs who remind me of 7 Gypsies and Graphic 45 but I like Bo Bunnys take on it very much.

Finally (for today) we have Sweet Tooth. In contrast to the other two I have shown it has a much bolder colour palette with pinks and blues but with the addition of a kraft colour which calms it down and balances the whole thing out a little. I really like the little Apron Mini Edgy Album and you can be sure they will make their way on to our order!

Of course as i mentioned before they are also releasing four further lines including two Christmas ones. I will try to get some more images up. Feedback on the three shown so far very welcome in the comments section which remains unmoderated - no major spam incidents so far so we will trial leaving them unmoderated for a while longer.

It's A Tough Job...

... But someone has to do it.

I got in from taking the kids to town with Darren and was greeted by Mum brandishing a catalogue. Held inside were details of the Bo Bunny Summer CHA release and the accompanying order forms.

I don't have pictures yet to go on the blog but let me say I am completely in love with Et Cetera and Welcome Home! In total there are 5 new regular lines plus 2 Christmas lines. Now to choose what we want to order.....

I will see if I can (and am allowed to) get some peeks up here and you can give your feedback on it. There is a gorgeous apron shaped edgy album with one of the lines and I am seriously coveting the ruffled apron they have available as a retailers incentive for orders over a certain value - the products are so lovely it will be easy to spend the required amount but I *need* that apron so it is a nailed on cert!

Pictures to follow when I can - blogger is not playing nicely so I can't even load up any other picture to go with the post :(