On the 10th Day of Christmas...

...I did some recycling!

Obviously we would love you to pop on over to the shop and spend any Christmas pennies in the ATDML sale however we all know that slightly cash strapped feeling that arrives a week or so into January!

On 29th December Elizabeth and I headed over to Bluewater Shopping Centre to spend our Christmas money and vouchers. While purchasing a particularly pretty bracelet in Accessorize I spotted a rack of bargain basement damaged jewellery and couldn't resist a browse. Now a set of earrings with one missing is not much use to me as an earring but there were some bits and bobs which would work out nicely on a page.

This is a picture of my haul which cost me the princely sum of £1.60. I'm sure you will agree that some of these would make awesome embellishments!

I got to work straight away adding some to a page I was in the process of making. I think it adds a lovely little sparkle to the LO which was missing something.

 

Here's a close up of it. I just used my Tim Holtz scissors to snip off a section of one of the broken bracelets to use along the bottom of the photo.

 

Along the same lines I have a friend who is always breaking costume jewellery catching necklaces on things etc... She always puts them aside for me to use on my scrapbook pages. Always better to upcycle something broken if it can be used as an embellishment!

On the 7th Day of Christmas .....

..... the ATDML Design Team gave you a challenge!  

At the October retreat I taught a mini album class called New Year New You.  

 I challenged the ladies who made the album to do something new each month for the whole of 2014 and document it.  This could be something major, something from your bucket list (there are plenty of ideas for inexpensive bucket lists on the internet) or even trying a new recipe but the point is that we all experience new things in one form or another at least 12 times in 2014.

 

Now, not all of you will have taken the class but you will still be able to join in with the fun. You may want to make a scrapbook page of your monthly achievements make a mini book of your own or use my instructions to replicate the one made in the class (for instructions email karen.moss2@btintenet.com).  You may just upload a photo or write a quick blog post if you have a blog.  I will put a ‘Linky’ onto the ATDML blog on the second Sunday of each month, starting in February, for you to link up to. If you don’t have a blog or a photo sharing account then  email your photo to me I will put it onto a Flickr account and link it for you.  

 

I am definitely going to try to improve my fitness level and hopefully lose some weight.  I may have a year of trying some new crafts or new techniques for the ones I already do. I know I will try new foods and recipes but most importantly I really don’t know where 2014 is going to take me but I do know that at least once a month for the next 12 months I am going to step outside my comfort zone and try something new – who is (wo)man enough to join me?

6th Day of Christmas - A 2013 ATDML Overview (The Abbreviated Version)

Well 2013 has been a year crammed full of all sort of ATDML adventures, not least those of the crafting kind. In this short video there are a few snippets from each month of this last year and boy was it a good one!  But before you watch the video I would like to share a few words of wisdom as we say goodbye to the Old and welcome in the New Year.  Some folks say I have a short attention span, but they just ... Ohhhhhhh look ... sparklies!

A huge Thank you to Jill and Mel & all the ATDML family who provide so much more than crafting supplies They have given us opportunities to make new friends and to share ideas.

2013 has been fabulous- looking forward to what 2014 brings.

Wishing you all much love, much laughter and the Happiest of Happy New Years!

On The Third Day of Christmas .....

On the third day of Christmas the ATDML Design Team gave to me - missed opportunities!

As you know if you follow this blog I am passionate about scrapping the everyday and feel that there are many 'everyday' Christmas opportunities that can be scrapped.  I have used Simple Stores December Documented range to make two such layouts.

Shopping for Presents - this is one of our family traditions that started when Gracia was very young.  We go into our local town and have breakfast together at one of the large department stores.  Then David takes Gracia to get presents for me while I wander around the town choosing presents for Gracia and David, we then have lunch and after lunch Gracia and I shop for her presents to David while he shops for presents for us. 

 Trimming the Tree - how many of you capture the beauty of your Christmas trees and then forget to scrap the photos?  This year ours looked particularly gorgeous. It's David and Gracia task to buy the tree and Gracia's job to decorate it.  I was inspired by the three trees cut from one of the journalling blocks

and made a large tree by cutting a piece of copier paper into a triangle and then covering it with scraps of patterned paper to mimic the patterns on the small trees.  I cut baubles from black card using my Silhouette and then printed circular photos of my favourite baubles to mount onto these.

I hope this has inspired you to look for little family traditions to scrap which might otherwise be forgotten and do come back tomorrow to see what we have for the 4th day of Christmas.

On the 2nd Day of Christmas

Welcome to day two of the 12 days of Christmas. I am going to share a Christmas LO I recently taught at the Eclectic Keepsakes crop.

I love to use circles in my page design but this time I changed it up a little using the row of chevron stickers from the sticker sheet around the edge of the circle changing the shape slightly and adding interest.

I used the lovely December Documented range from Simple Stories which I know is a line I will come back to again and again!

The full PDF instructions for this class can be downloaded HERE on our site.

Come back tomorrow to see what we have in store for the 3rd day of Christmas!

On the 1st day of Christmas...

Welcome to your 1st day of Christmas with the ATDML design team. As promised this is day one of 12 days of blog postings from your favourite design team :)

I have created a box(ing) day themed layout for you today, a nice simple page for a portrait photo taken over the holidays. The idea being the page looks like a parcel, and it incorporates a neat bow technique that Katherine showcased on one of her retreat layouts from earlier this year.

I lightly inked the edge of each piece used on this layout.  You can ink heaver or leave off depending on your scrapping style. I first took a 12x12 background cardstock and added a 10"x10" square (kraft grid), followed by the parcel block in green which measured 6.75" x 7.5". From the same green patterned paper I cut 2 small ovals and 2 larger ovals,a bow centre strip (1/2" x 3") and two bow tails (1" x 3" each). I then mounted a 3"x4" photo on a slightly larger piece of red dotty paper, and cut a multi-coloured dotty piece out the same size, these formed the bottom two blocks of my parcel. I then cut two smaller blocks (same width as those above but not as tall) to complete the grid of four pieces making up the parcel. Next I made the bow. I inked both sides of each bow section. Fold each of the ovals not quite in half and layer a pair of smaller ovals over a pair of large ovals. Affix together with the bow centre which wraps around and hides the joins. Decide on the placement of your bow, mark where the tails are to be adhered, then affix the tails first and the the bow.  I completed my page with a sticker titles, some journalling and doodling.

Hopefully you will get some crafting time over the holiday season to join in with us. I know I will probably be busier than usual but I am planning on printing off my favourite days and taking them to my first crop in January along with photographs taken over the holidays. Should kickstart the mojo in the new year then! Enjoy! and see you back tomorrow where Mel hosts the 2nd Day of Christmas.

Happy boxing day to you all xx

12 days of Christmas with the ATDML design team!

We hope you are all prepared for the seasonal festivities of the days ahead, have your presents wrapped, your turkey ordered and are ready for some goodwill!. Something other than the washing up, grandpa's snoring and the chilly weather to look forward to after Christmas...we are having a 12 days of Christmas ATDML blogathon!

From December 26th through to 12th night on January 6th we will bring you a daily blog post from the design team sharing all sorts of craftiness to bring a smile, a chuckle and some inspiration to your day. We look forward to seeing you pop by each day. Do leave a comment to let us know how you are enjoying the posts from our design team.  Until then we wish a Merry Christmas to all our loyal blog readers.
See you soon xx