Button Giveaway Results...

Thanks to all who commented, look out for more new goodies arriving on the site soon - we have more items on their way to us.

Once again the trusty randon dot org has picked us a winner for the button giveaway. It chose comment number 18 and so a little box of buttons is heading out to....



...Jackie Pocock.

Ingredients Challenge - March

This month these three ladies stepped up to take the Ingredients challenge, here's a little introduction to this months scrappers:

KATY FOX: I live in the Midlands with a very patient other half and a derranged puppy dog; the latter you can see in my challenge layout. My pooch is the most common subject of my scrapbook pages, although I also love recording my holiday memories and am quite partial to a minibook too. I've been crafting for as long as I can remember and scrapbooking for about five years now. I work full time so scrapping is my way to relax and have some "me" time. My favourite technique is stamping so I was delighted when stamps were on the allowed list for this challenge. I loved the kit we were sent to work with and had fun with it.

ELAINE LOUGHLIN: I am a 38 year old hotel manager. I have been crafting for as long as I can remember; card making etc.. I discovered scrapbooking in 2005 and have never looked back since. I adore scrapbooking and card making as well as any other creative activity I can get my inky fingers upon. the advantage of scrapbooking is it combines my love of photography with paper. I am fortunate enough to have taught scrapbooking and card making to beginners in both the UK and Spain and nothing brings a smile more to my face than seeing another absorbed in their creativity.

JULIA SHORT: Hi I'm Julia, I'm 66 years old and live in West Wales with hubby Andy and our little Jack Russell dog Basil. I have a son and a daughter and four wonderful grandchildren. I have been crafting for as long as I can remember and have tackled most things along the way; dressmaking, knitting, cross stitch and jewellery making to name but a few. I started scrapbooking in 2005 after many years of card making and vowing never to get into scrapping, it wasn't for me... so much for that! Most of my spare time is taken up with scrapbooking, that's when I am not out walking with my dog. Thanks for letting me take part in this challenge.

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So now we have met our scrappers let's take a look at their layouts:

Who can resist that gorgeous puppy face peeping through the photo on Katys layout. She made great use of her beloved stamps to add extra interest and elements to the page. Although the kit didn't include any alphabets Katys use of stamped images on white means she has given the illusion of using more product than she has.

Elaines photo worked perfectly with the colours of this kit and we loved how she also selected a photo that worked so well with the jotters included in the kit. We also liked the combination of the bold white vertical stripes and the smaller horizontal green stripes.

Julia has really pulled off the white space on this layout, we loved the cluster of embellishments in the bottom corner and that tiny triangle of orange in the top right hand corner just defining the corner of the layout.

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Identical kits but three very different layouts. Which one will win the shopping voucher? Vote in the poll to the right hand side of the page to have your say! Poll closes in one week.

Thanks again for taking part ladies!

That Recipe Box!

Hi, Jane here again!

I’m taking a bit of time off working on my retreat class in order to blog today and the arrival of our choice of classes last night reminded me that Mel asked me to do some pictures and instructions for how to make the recipe box that I made as one of the challenges at the last retreat...

Unfortunately I can’t show you step by step because I didn’t take photos at the time and I don’t have another box to cover, but it’s a simple process which I’ve outlined below.

You will need a plastic box to cover – (we got these from Mel and Jill so I’m not sure what make they are)

Brown alcohol ink (I used ‘rust’)

Graphic 45 ‘Domestic Goddess’ range,

I used a sheet each of…

Quilting Bee

Farmers Market

Domestic Goddess

Simple as Pie

7 Gypsies vintage hardware (from which I used the clock and spoon)

7 Gypsies crystal book knob

7 Gypsies typewriter words (from which I used ‘best’)

Twill

Thickers – I used ‘Jewelry box’ in black - but any lettering would do

plus I used wire and beads from my stash

I started by colouring all the bits of the box that would still show at the end with the brown alcohol ink. Not having my proper applicator with me I resorted to just squirting it straight from the bottle onto the box then dabbing and blending it with a bit of tissue.

I also used a black sharpie pen to colour the front of the press-stud (it was white before).

I then covered the box with the different papers – inking the edges with brown ink before I stuck them down…

I used pieces of the ‘Quilting Bee’ paper to cover the sides of the box and front flap – cutting a hole for the press-stud. To get the pieces the right size I just measured the part I wanted to cover then took off a few millimeters so that there would be a border. The rounded flap was a bit trickier and I used some scrap paper first to get the curve right by drawing round the flap then cutting out my paper a few millimetres inside the pencil line.

I tied a piece of twill onto the plastic hanger on the back of the box then I used the large panel picture of a lady holding a pie from the Domestic Goddess sheet and stuck this onto the back.

Again, using a paper template first I cut a piece from the checkerboard side of the Farmers Market paper – (though check which panels from the other side you are planning to use first!) I cut a hole for the press-stud and stuck this paper onto the front of the box.

To embellish I used panels from the Farmers Market and Domestic Goddess papers which I cut, inked and stuck on. I attached the crystal knob to the top of the box and put the typewriter key sticker and thickers on the front to make my title ‘Best recipes’.

Finally I used some wire, jump rings and beads from my stash along with the clock and spoon to make the dangling decorations. I poked holes in the bottom of the box and then poked the wires through, securing them with some double sided tape – I then covered this with a strip of paper to hide the wires even though it was down inside the box.

I used the left over papers and some of the Simple as Pie paper along with some kraft card to make recipe cards and dividers for inside the box. I punched tabs using the Stampin Up! tab punch.

Ok... now back to working on that class. I'm very excited about teaching at the retreat and am loving the 7 Gypsies papers I'm working with!

Sketch Inspiration Number 5

If you are stopping by for the ingredients challenge never fear, it will be appearing on the blog over the weekend!

Today we have the first of our sketch challenges for March. I drew up this sketch this evening and as yet it is currently exampleless, however I am hoping to have a playw ith some paper over the weekend and if i get something created i will add it to this post - of course hopefully there will be a few links to your own versions coming in soon. As always, interpret the sketch as you wish, it is deliberately simple so that you don't feel tied down to lots of specific embellishment placement although feel free to add extra parts to the sketch as you wish!

What Is Your Most Used Embellishment? Mini Giveaway

So when you are working on a layout or a card and it needs "a little something just here" what is the embellishment you go to most of the time?

For me I have phases depending on what I love at the time - I have had a bling phase, a button phase, stamped image phases and many more besides - well I am moving back towards buttons i think.



That might be influenced by the vast quantity of PRETTY buttons covering our dining table at the moment. It is a big dining table - seats 10 - and most of it has little packs of buttons on it.

We have ordered large bulk bags and are splitting them into 2 oz bags, some a single colour with different shades, some are a co-ordinating mix. Tomorrows job is to photograph and upload them to the website. We feel that with smaller bags it makes it easier for customers to get a wider range of colours rather than buy a larger pack of one colour or mix.

So what item do you love to have on hand for regular everyday use? Post a comment here and someone will win some beautiful buttons for taking the time to comment!

We will pick a winner with random dot org on Tuesday 16th March, last time to get a comment in is 6pm that day.

Another Big Shipmemt & Retreat Prep

We are busy busy busy here, another big shipment arrived with more new goodies for the shop and some supplies for the retreat including class kit supplies for this time and some things we got for future classes as well as Goody Bag items too.

We have mostly checked it off and new stock is appearing as we speak on the website. The New My Little Shoebox is going up at the moment. Those fabulous little alphabet stickers that so many people love now come in even more colours, plus there are 6 new paper collections. What I love about the MLS collections is that they are small and compact - three double sided papers and a die cut paper per collection - there are go with its, including those little alphabets, but you can have the whole paper collection for very little cost. These new collections have gone to the Design Team this month so keep an eye on the galleries for ideas on how to use them.

I am working on my classes for the retreat at the moment, I am excited about the lovely products i am working with - two classes using CHA winter 2010 releases and one using a range from Summer 09. I have two layouts and a mini book all of which I really love, one of the kits is sitting right beside me now as I am waiting for a photo to arrive from photo box so I can make my sample and I just keep wanting to stroke the pretty bits and pieces in the kit. *big smiles*

Only four weeks to go until the retreat and this is the time it gets really hectic. The timing of the spring retreat always makes it slightly harder to keep on track with new supplies shipping out later than would be ideal. We are so lucky that the teachers are all very good about the tight timescales. I am sure I get a few grey hairs each time though when checking shipping dates and tracking numbers multiple times a day!

New Class By Jane Hewitt

We have just uploaded another class to our site. This time it is an exploding tag book by Jane Hewitt. Below is a picture of it closed but if you download the instructions you will see how it is cleverly folded to pop up when opened.


Click HERE to download the free PDF.