14 June 2011

* Grab Boxes now on the website!! *

Hi everyone

I just wanted to tell you that I have put two GRAB BOXES on the website. These are boxes full of 50 sheets of 12" X 12" papers. Grab Box 1 is just £5 and Box 2 is £6.50!! Although these are older papers they are still beautiful and perfect for scrapbooking or card making. Bargain!!!


I don't want this blog to become all about the shop as I have a separate blog for the shop but I didn't want you to miss out as they are already going fast and I only have limited numbers!!

I'll be back later, hopefully with some finished layouts to show you!

10 June 2011

* Ten Things *

Never wanting to be left out, I just had to join in the fun over at Shimelle's blog with her great idea of "10 things on the tenth!"

So, 10 things making me happy today:

~ It's almost the weekend!

~ The beautiful flowers in my garden. I love seeing them from my craft table!


~ Blue skies and sunshine today!


~ Simply Made Magazine. I bought issue 4 yesterday and I'm lovin' it!


~ Memories of my wedding day are making me smile today.

~ I am very happy that in a few days time I will be celebrating being married to my wonderful man for 10 amazing years.

~ My daughter's happy face this morning when she realised it was Friday which meant "Golden Time" at school today (which she looks forward to all week long!) and that it was almost the weekend. When she's happy, I'm happy!

~ Today I'm happy that I have made a start on decluttering and sorting our box room. How does it get so full of so much stuff?! Once it is cleared out I'm going to paint it a lovely bright, fresh new colour!

~ Treating myself to coffee out this morning at our local garden centre, followed by a wander around the craft shop where I bumped into a crafty friend and enjoyed a chat and catch up.

~ Blogging! Being a part of this wonderful on line community makes me happy!

I am trying to get around to as many of the blogs that have taken part as I can and have discovered some lovely new blogs to read, be inspired by and add to my blog list. If you are participating in 10 things on the tenth please do leave me a comment so I can pop by your blog too!

9 June 2011

* Beach Babe *

So, as I'm still working my way through my pile of photos labelled * Photos to scrap from when H was younger * for this layout I chose one of my favourite photographs from 2008.

I have lots (and lots) of pics from when she was this age (about 4/5 years old) as she was more than happy for me to snap away whilst she just carried on with whatever she was busy doing. It wasn't long after this age that she became more aware of the camera and would do daft poses which although very sweet, didn't quite give me the natural photos that I wanted.



This photo was one of many taken during a holiday in Sussex. It was a windy day, and not really typical beach weather but I remember H had so much fun playing in the sand, rolling up her jeans to run in and out of the waves and collecting shells that it didn't matter that the weather wasn't great.




I followed a sketch in issue 55 of Scrapbook Magazine and used papers from Crate Paper Doll, and Fancy Pants Rusted Sun. The letters are Thickers and Making Memories, journalling card is Echo Park, Crate journalling sticker, Girls Paperie flower (mounted onto a chipboard circle which I covered with paper & inked the edges). I think the chipboard star is Making Memories and the buttons and ric rac ribbon are from my "Button Box" and "Ribbon Box"!! lol! My Fiskars Bracket punch put in an appearance again to punch the border! Love that punch so much!



Looking at it again, I wish I'd inked the edges of the journalling card but it's too late now! Also, if you look closely you may notice the ric rac has come away slightly ..... I've now fixed that!!

Well, we have beautiful sunshine down here today so I'm going to have a quick cuppa in the garden before I have to go and do the school run!


3 June 2011

* My New Website *

Hello!

Are you loving this glorious weather? I certainly am!

A few weeks ago I mentioned on this post about starting up my business again and that my new website was almost ready. Well, I thought i would pop on here quickly in between uploading goodies as fast as I can to let you know that the S J Crafts On Line Shop is NOW OPEN!!!! Yay!!!

If you want to go have a look just click on this link sjpapercrafts.co.uk

I still have quite a lot of stock left from when I had my bricks and mortar shop and most of that is in the Clearance Section at bargain prices. I need to make room for new stock coming over the next few weeks!

Also, to celebrate the opening P & P is FREE when you spend £10 or more, just type in the code OPENMAY in the discount code box. This offer will close 10pm Sunday 12th June!

I have set up a new blog for the shop HERE where there will be giveaways, news, offers and inspiration and I have a Facebook Page HERE!!

A huge thankyou to everyone who has sent me lovely messages of support and good luck wishes and/or purchased already. I am very excited to be sharing this new venture with you and can't wait to share with you the lovely new stock that should be arriving soon!!

Have a lovely (crafty) evening!

28 May 2011

* A Layout....Step by Step*

I managed to fit some scrapbooking into my manic week and as I was busy choosing papers and cutting and sticking I started thinking about the process of scrapbooking and how I go about it has changed recently. When I first started scrapboking I would spend ages choosing papers and embellishments and then shuffle them all about a bit, before deciding it didn't look right, so I'd choose something different and shuffle around a bit more. Nothing actually got stuck down until I was happy with the postion of everything.

These days I have less time and tend to work quicker, make snap decisions about what stash to use and stick it down as I go along!!!

So, I thought it might be fun to take some photos of my layout in progress, at each stage to share with you.

First I chose my photos, I had taken about a dozen of H playing "Wash Up" in the garden a few years ago but I thought these 4 worked well together. I picked out a sheet of kraft for my base cardstock and considered a few patterned papers but quickly decided on this sheet from Crate's Neighborhood Collection. I trimmed it so it was slightly smaller than the Kraft. I had a quick rummage through my stash and came across some thickers and a journalling card which seemed to go nicely. Decision made....no messing about like I used to!






I cropped my photos and arranged then in a block in the centre of the paper and stuck them down, something I would never have done a year ago. I do leave the edges free though in case I want to tuck anything in behind.



Next I punched a border using my new Fiskars Bracket Border Punch using the strips of paper I had trimmed off the first sheet, just the reverse side this time!!




and attached it to the top and bottom of the photo mat.





I stuck down the journalling card to the bottom left






I had some stickers near at hand which I used as a base for my title which are Glitter Thickers. I rarely spend long thinking about a title, just something obvious really. I'm sure there are better titles but I like to keep it simple!




Next I wanted to frame the photos so I added a K & Co border sticker along the bottom and wrote my journalling with a Sharpie Pen. There wasn't quite enough space so on went another journalling spot!



To finish I had a quick look at the sticker sheets on my table & one saying "Little Sweetie" went in the top left corner with a couple of dots from the Thickers Pack. A handy scrap of the paper was just right for a few punched butterflies. A tiny flower, some gems and I'm all done!!




I know of scrappers who take longer choosing supplies and thinking about the design and producing beautiful pages but for me I don't have as much time these days and with so many photos to scrap and stories (and details) to get down on paper before I forget I find working quickly and making decisions quicker works for me.



Do you scrap quickly or take time considering your options and ideas? Has your scrapping process changed since you started scrapping? I'd love to know!

18 May 2011

* Big Bath *

There hasn't been an awful lot of scrapbooking on my blog lately so today I am really happy to actually have a layout to show you!






As a newborn my daughter had one of those little plastic baby baths. She loved bath times from the very start and would smile and giggle when she felt the water on her baby skin. After a while I started putting her little bath inside the big bath, mainly because she kicked and splashed so much water went everywhere and me, the cat and anyone else who ventured near would get a shower too!! Putting the bath in our main bath stopped the floor getting a soaking each time and also she got used to sitting in the big bath. Then as she outgrew the little bath we got one of those little seats that have suction thingys on the base to hold it still in the bath. Bath times became even more fun, as the seat freed up our hands (as we no longer need to support her) to play and splash and make funky hairstyles!!






I've used Girls Paperie patterned paper, Fancy Pants Rusted Sun border sticker, October Afternoon & Crate stickers, Jenni Bowlin label, Cosmo letter stickers, My Minds Eye letters and buttons from stash.
Hope everyone has a lovely day in the sunshine! Thanks (as always) for popping by.

11 May 2011

* My Little Shop *

Those of you that have followed my blog for some time may remember that I used to own a craft shop, which sadly had to close in March last year. For a long while I missed being my own boss and missed the huge satisfaction of running my own business so earlier this year I decided to start up my own business again. Shop premises are ridiculously expensive around my area so I decided it would have to be an on line shop (certainly to begin with anyways!) so to cut a long story short I am busy setting up a new website which is almost ready. I'm uploading stock as fast as I can, making the last few tweaks to it and also organising an Open Day/Crop. Oh, I almost forgot ... we also have a new name ..... S J CRAFTS .

I have sorted through the shelves and boxes of stock that I still had left from when I moved out of the shop (it filled my spare room) and have put a few bits on E Bay to clear some space for new stock.