Almost 2012!!

Just one hour left of twenty eleven.  Farewell 2011!

I'm ready to welcome 2012. Twenty Twelve!

Happy New Year Bloggers!!! Hoping 2012 is a good year for you!

x

Twas the night before Christmas

So, Christmas Eve is here!!

Carrot for the reindeer and goodies left out for Santa!!

Happy Christmas  to your and your families. I hope you all have a wonderful time and create some special memories!!

Thank you to everyone who has visited my little blog this year and taken the time to leave a comment, it really is appreciated!! Have a good one!! x

A winter wonderland!

Today we went to a local garden centre so that Hannah could visit Santa. A beautiful Winter Wonderland took us through to his little cottage!

Hannah told him her "Wish list" and loved her present ... A watch! A perfect gift for her as she has just learnt to tell the time by herself!

Quick post tonight as I'm bust wrapping up pressies!!

Our Christmas .... So far!

As the 25th gets closer and I find myself busy with the last minute gift shopping, food shopping, Christmas baking and wrapping I have quickly put together this collage of photos to show what we have been up to as we countdown the days to Christmas!!

Our local garden centre holds a Christmas Charity evening in support of Julia's House and we went along for the 2nd year running. It's a fabulous evening, with lots for the children to do including a reindeer hunt, meeting Santa, Guess the name of the Teddy and the whole venue is beautifully decorated. Hannah hung a star on the tree "For someone special this Christmas".

We decorated our Christmas tree at home on the 10th, carefully hanging the decorations we've collected over the years. We bought H a fairy decoration on her first Christmas and each year we've bought another, now she's older she likes to choose her own.

The advent calender this year is a Hello Kitty one, which gets opened first thing each morning!

This post will be used for my Christmas Journal ... I'm waiting for my photos to be printed before I make more pages!

It's beginning to look a little bit like Christmas

There are signs of Christmas gradually appearing all over our house!!

This is our Christmas Tree all decorated and looking very pretty with it's sparkly lights!!

It just needs some presents under it now!!!

I guess I really should get on with the wrapping!

I haven't got any further with JYC the last few days as I have been busy finishing off some layouts for a magazine deadline!!

If you haven't already please do pop over to the S J Crafts shop and browse the Winter sale section as we have reduced lots of products to make room for new stock coming in January!

JYC 1st & 2nd

Still keeping it super quick and simple!!

Here's 1st December ...

This page is about my plan to record our activities, traditions and preparations for Christmas with lots of photos and making my Christmas Journal to record the memories of this wonderful time of year.

As the season gets busier and just a little bit crazy I will take time out of all the madness and make sure i get "me time" to play with pretty paper and create my journal!

2nd December ... Weather

A record of how different the weather is this year compared to 2009 and 2010.

Christmas 2009 was a true white christmas when we had snow on 25th December in N. Ireland and last year it had already snowed early in December but this year there is no sign of the white stuff!

Front Cover

So, going along with my plan of keeping my Christmas journal very, very simple, I made my cover this morning!

Not very traditional colours and all from scraps .... starting as I mean to go on!

I'm not yet sure if I will use book rings to hold all the pages together or if I will use a 6" x 6" album and page protectors ... that decision is still to be made and may depend on how fat the journal ends up!!

JYC preparations

I'm already to go with my Christmas journal!

I've decided to keep it small this year and to help me acheive my goal to complete a page each day through December I've cut my cardstock into 6" x 6" pages. I've got 20 pages done and plan to add in a few extras as I go along in different sizes or I may use patterned paper for a few.

I've sorted through my papers and made a pile of christmas papers and added in some non Christmassy patterned papers that could also be used. I'm aiming to use up old stash for this project! One of the papers is from 2007!!

I have another pile of plain cardstock scraps which I will use to mat photos, punch/die cut shapes and make borders etc! Again using up the odds and ends so there is an assortment of colours there!

This is my "journaling" pile .... an assortment of strips of paper, journal cards, titles and a few punched tag shapes .... you may spot a few die cuts there too which I've already pushed out from the backing sheet to save time!

I've also sorted out some punches, stamps, inks, stickers, embellishments, alphas etc but for some reason didn't take a pic of them.

All the papers & cardstock are now in clear 12 x 12 bags and I'll pop the rest into a basket so I have everything together.

Shimelle's 1st prompt has arrived in my in box and I've already made a start on my first page!

Let the Christmas Countdown begin!

JYC Starts tomorrow!!

One of the best things about Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class is that once you've signed up you can join in each year. I initially took this class back in 2008 and have participated each year since then. I haven't managed to complete an album on any of those years. Oh dear! But .... and this is the great bit I do love the pages I have done and I have them all in the same album and together they tell a lot about Christmas in this house over the last few years.

This year I would dearly love to finish a page for each day of December so today I have been busy preparing my pages, cutting my cardstock into 6" x 6" pages and gathering together christmas stash so that I'm all ready. More on my preparations tomorrow!

As you may be aware today is "Strike Day" and H's school was closed so whilst I was busy with my stash she was busy painting her little piggy bank!

Look at the concentration!!

Are you ready for JYC? 

Have you done any preparations or are going to make your page from scratch each day?

Monthly Kit Launch!!

I can't believe this is my first blog post for November!! As a result of getting laryngitis and feeling rather poorly I haven't really felt up to blogging the last week or so but I am feeling much better now and happy to say I'm almost back to 100%.

I have been asked by lots of scrappers if I could sell kits in my shop that are affordable and available without subscribing. So, as I always like to try and help I have been busy selecting some lovely products to create the very first S J Crafts Monthly Kit which goes on sale here from today.

The kit is packed with Echo Park's gorgeous Times & Seasons Papers and matching stickers and alphabet, kraft bazzill cardstock, along with some Tim Holtz tickets, brads and ribbons, all for just £12.99!!



Other sides of papers and close up of stickers!



This is the layout I made with the kit, the only extra thing I added that's not included was some blue shimmer mist to the background and I inked the edges of the papers with distress ink.

Sorry about the flash reflection! I took the photo early this morning!

The kit is limited in numbers and available here.

** Kit now sold out ... watch out for our December Kit coming soon! **

Have a fabulous evening!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Yesterday we set about carving our little pumpkin!

Hopefully normal craftiness and blogging will resume tomorrow as H, who is soon to get dressed up as a Halloween witch (pictures to follow!) returns to school tomorrow following the half term holidays and a teacher training  day today!!

Party Time!!

I haven't taken an on line class for a while so when I received an invite to Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party I decided to join in and sent back my RSVP. I have a ton of paper so some encouragement to cut into it and new ideas to use it up can only be a good thing!

So, my first page is using strips of paper. I gathered together my box of offcuts and scraps and this is the layout I came up with.

This really took be out of my comfort zone, with so many patterns and bold colours but I think I quite like the result. The photo is of me and H at Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, the scene of the famous Hovis advert!

I used my nestabilities dies to cut the scalloped circles, crumpled them up a bit, inked the edges and added a button, ric rac and red thread.

If you haven't visited my shop yet, please do pop over and have a browse at the new goodies including the lovely Echo Park Times and Seasons. Also keep an eye on the shop blog for a very special offer starting tomorrow!!

A Rare Day Off!

Last week my hubby and I found ourselves with a rare midweek day off together and it was such a glorious sunny day we headed down to the beach for the afternoon!

It was heaven just to sit together at the cafe overlooking the beach sipping an ice cold drink!

Seriously, the weather down here for the time of year is crazy but I'm not complaining that the sun is refusing to give way to winter!

We strolled along the beach, so I could take photographs of the colourful beach huts!

Honestly they were every colour of the rainbow and every shade imaginable!

The sun shine sparkling on the sea on a sunny October afternoon was lovely!

Can't wait to scrapbook these photos!!

Hope you have had a fabulous week!

Christmas is coming!

Every year, about now, once the new school term is in full swing and the darker evenings are here my thoughts begin to turn to Christmas. I don't mean I rush out and shop for gifts and wrap (oh no, I tend to leave that until at least the end of November!) but I do like to really get "stuck into" my christmas cards. Most years I'm still making cards 2 days before the 25th even though I start early.

I have already made a couple a few weeks ago but today I realised I really do need to start making cards in serious numbers if I'm to have any chance of having enough cards made in time this year.

So today I made these two:

The patterned paper is MME It's the season paper and the stamps are from the Oh Christmas Tree clear stamps set.

For the first card I heat embossed the image with silver silver sparkle embossing powder, then mounted it onto some red cardstock. I made the background with more of the red and a piece of the MME Paper, knotting green ribbon around it before mounting it to the square card blank. I used mounting foam tape to raise the stamped image up a little and finished off with some little gem stones. Quick and easy!!

I used promarkers to colour the stamped images for this one, then cut them out, and put glossy accents on them which when dry made them look lovely and shiny. The little trees are then mounted on a piece of kraft and red cardstock and then using foam tape to stick them to the background which is made from a square of the patterned paper and more Kraft. I then popped a green candi in each corner to finish. Again very quick and easy (apart from the glossy accents drying time!!)

Have you started Christmas cards yet?

Shimelle's Starting Point

It's almost too warm and sunny today to be at my scrapping table but as I've got the whole day to myself (I don't even have to go on the school run later!) I thought I would use the time to get scrapping as I had seen this week's starting point last night and I really wanted to have a go. I'm not great with "wide open space" on my pages so I thought this challenge might be good for me.

So this is what I started with ....

Look at all that open space!!

At this stage I hadn't yet stuck the papers to the base cardstock as knew I wanted to place my photos off the page slightly and would need to be able to trim the overhang on the right hand side. I used Crate Random Vintage and Pattern and a small strip of Curtains and also some Crate Neighbourhood from my scraps box.

This is the finished layout ....

Not much "open space" left is there?! lol!

The "Enjoy Life" sticker, the half circle at the top left and the journal spot with the date on are all from the Crate sticker sheet. My title is thickers glitter alphas and I think the tiny letters are My Little Shoebox. I've also used my favourite MS butterfly punch, some fibres that I've had for years and orange gems. I've inked all the edges with my brushed corduroy distress ink.

Right, time for a late (very!) lunch and then I have a couple of haf finished layouts to try to get finished and I might even sit in the garden in this beautiful sunshine for a bit!

Thanks for stopping by!

WOYWW 121

Hello and thanks for visiting my desk today!

Quite tidy for me, don't you think?!! lol!

This morning I've been working on Shimelles Starting Point. I've cut my papers, inked the edges of them all and I'm just about to start sticking down!!

I'm not showing you the floor and the shelves behind me as they are a complete mess!!

There's more desks, tidy and not so tidy to see over here at Julia's blog.

Very quick post as I'm eager to get sticking those papers down! lol!

Introducing our newest family member!

We have been promising Hannah for several months that she can have a hamster and actually got her the cage for her birthday (which was several weeks ago now!) and so last weekend her patience was finally rewarded with a little trip to the pet shop where she chose this little fella!!

She has named him "Nutmeg"!! Although he has already had 1 name change in 3 days and she is now unsure if Nutmeg is more of a girl's name (is it?) so I wouldn't be surprised if it changes again! He is slowly getting used to us and likes to be stroked and loves running round and round in his wheel!

15% off at my shop!!

I try to ensure this blog doesn't just become full of shop news but I just had to tell you about the special offer happening over in my shop to celebrate the new design team!

Enter code TEAM5 in the discount code box to get 15% off your order!!

This offer will close at 11pm tonight (23 September) so be quick! Sorry, UK delivery only.

P & P is still free when you spend £15 or more and with goodies like Crate's Random Collection and SummersEnd from Fancy Pants Design hopefully you'll find something you like!

Stop Press ... MME 12 days of Christmas Collection and Lost & Found Paper Pads has just been delivered so I will try to get these uploaded today so that they can be included in the 15% discount offer!

Enjoy Your Day!!

My 1st time ....

..... published in a craft magazine!!!

I am so unbelieveably excited!!

About 8 weeks ago I e mailed off a few layouts I had made following some sketches in Scrapbook Magazine and received an e mail back saying they would hold onto them for future issues.

Today, I pop into WH Smiths to buy the brand new issue 58 of Scrapbook Magazine and there on page 46 is my layout!

It's the Beach Babe one, which you can see in more detail here when I originally blogged the page.

I showed H when she got home from school and she thinks she's famous now!! lol!

If you haven't already seen who made it to my shop's design team pop on over to the shop blog to have a look! All amazingly talented ladies who I am very exciting to be working with.

WOYWW

This was my craft table about an hour ago .....

I'm currently on a stash busting challenge, trying to use up some of my older stickers, alphas and embellies so I've got my box and a basket close at hand so I can rummage through. The layout you can see I'm half way through is a photo of H when she was just a few months old (where do the years go?) and she was laying on her soft playmat on the floor. She loved that playmat, it was one of those mats that had various flaps for her to lift up, soft areas, fuzzy sections and bits that if she scrunched them in her little hand, they would make a crinkly sound. Kept her amused anyway!

This gorgeous pink box holds my button stash and just before I took the photo I was trying to decide which buttons to use ... the pink with tiny white dots or the yellow stars ... decisions??!! Which buttons do you think?

If you haven't got a clue why I'm showing you the mess that is my desk pop on over to Julia's blog to see what WOYWW (What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday) is all about. Have a nosey at all the other desks whilst you are there!!

Right, I'm off to make a late lunch and then finish this layout!

Carefree Layout

Yesterday I made a layout following Shimelle's weekly sketch and this is what I came up with.

The sketch was for 1 photo but I used two 4" x 3" photos side by side instead. The photos are from a few years ago on a walk in the New Forest when H happily splashed in the puddles.

I kept it very simple with not many embellishments to keep the focus on the pictures and the gorgeous papers.

Thanks for stopping by!

Free P & P in My Shop And a New Design Team!

Hi ya
Just wanted to let you know about a fab offer I have on my website !

.... "BACK TO SCHOOL OFFER" ....
** FREE UK Postage and Packing !! **

From now until 10pm on Saturday 10th September!!!
Enter the Code SCHOOL during checkout and P & P charge will be completely free!
No minimum spend!!

Click Here to Go Shopping Now!!

New Design Team ..... I'm currently looking for 2/3 talented Scrapbookers who would be interested in designing sample layouts for S J Crafts to be featured on the SJ Crafts Blog and in craft magazines and other publicity material. I will send you a package/kit of some of the new papers and stash .... all you have to do is design and make a layout or 2 and maybe a card (not essential as it's more about the layouts!!) and e mail me the images and details of the process and products you used. You will then need to post your layout on your blog and link back to the shop, and I'll link to your blog as well! You get to keep the rest of the kit too!!

I'm expecting delivery of some new scrapbooking collections in the next week or two from leading manufacturers so the new S J Crafts designers would receive their first package fairly quickly so you need to be available for the next few weeks at least.

If you think you may be interested in this, here's what you need to do:

1: send an e mail to me at this address ... sarah at sj papercrafts dot co dot uk (obv turn it into a proper e mail , just don't want loads of spammers!!)
2: Send me the link to your blog & more specifically layouts that you feel highlight your style.
3: Tell me a bit about yourself, how long you have been scrapping, any other design teams you have worked on, any other crafts you do etc...
4: Let me know if you could design on a regular basis (say monthly/bi monthly) or if you prefer to do a one off spot!

I have lots of plans for S J Crafts over the next few months and creating the new Design Team is the first step of this exciting time .... I can't wait to hear from you!

Giveaway Time!!

Do you want to win this pack of crafting goodies?

Then head over here to enter!

Closes 10pm 11th September!

Good Luck!

Summer Days from a Starting Point

Last week of the school holidays!! Did I blink and miss the Summer??! lol!

Just popping by very quickly to share with you my layout created from Shimelle's starting point.
Basically, the idea is we are given the position of the patterned paper as a starting point on which to create the rest of the layout.

Papers are Crate Neighbourhood and Fancy Pants Rusted Sun, Thickers letters and a Bazzill flower! I've inked all the papers and cardstock with brown distress ink.

The journalling reads " On hot sunny days, you love it when we get the paddling pool out and you play for ages in the water and have so much fun!!"

My shop is certainly keeping me busy, following the Open Day last weekend lots of products are unfortunately out of stock and I'm awaiting restocks along with some new bits including My Mind's Eye 6" X 6" pads and the MME 12 days Christmas Collection which should be here any day.
Two exciting things happening at S J Crafts this week

* I'll be posting a little giveaway on the S J Crafts Blog tomorrow so don't forget to pop over there and enter!

* S J Crafts are looking for some talented crafters (scrapping or cards) who would like to be part of our brand new Design Team. More details coming soon!

Right, H has a friend over to play and they have just popped in to ask "when is tea ready?" and I've not even started making it so I'd better head into the kitchen!!

Love x

Ibiza Town Layout

I took literally hundreds of photos in Ibiza on our holiday last year including loads in Ibiza Town. I fell in love with the Old Town, it was so pretty with it's old buildings, cobbled streets, flowers and trees and cafe's on every corner. It was bustling and alive yet relaxing at the same time, a million miles from the reputation that the island has for being "Party Ibiza"!!

So far I've made one layout of the Old Town which you can see on this post and I rarely make more than one layout of the same theme but with so many pictures and memories to capture I made the exception this time.

I tried to put my 3 clusters of embellishments in a triangle and used bursts of colour to emphasis the colour from the flowers!

Everything is inked with my blending tool and brushed corduroy distress ink and papers are Sassafras Starters and Crate Emma's Shoppe

Right, I'm off to make a start on my layout for Shimelle's Starting Point Challenge!

Have a great evening!

x

Update & 12" X 12" Papers for 25p!!!

Morning Blog Readers! I know, I know!! It has been a long time! No excuse really! Just busy with days out, 3 family birthdays, my in laws to stay, hubby had 2 weeks off work and we had a family weekend away!!

Thought I'd share a few of my fave pics from the 100's I have taken in the last few weeks. I need some fresh scrapbooking fodder so carried my camera everywhere!

This first one was taken on a day out to Tyneham Village and Warbarrow Bay. H loved looking through the binoculars at the stunning views!


After a look around Tyneham Village (More photos of the village to follow in a separate post!) we headed down to the bay where H had a paddle!



It's not often I like myself in photos but as I need a photo for a forthcoming project I got hubby to take a few whilst out for a walk and this is the one I'm kind of ok with! lol!

NEWS just In ...... 12" X 12" Scrapbook Papers now reduced at S J CRAFTS!!!

So, the 25p Papers mentioned in the post title!! I have been busy moving lots of scrapbook papers into the clearance section of my shop. There are some K & Co here and Fancy Pants here, all from 25p each!!! The rest of the Clearance section is here. Grab them quick as some are down to the last few left!

Have a fab Day, whatever you are up to! x