Fancy some stash shopping?

I just wanted to let you know that I am running a special offer at my shop for the next 48 hours!
All orders of £10 or more placed between 8pm tonight, Saturday 6th August and 8pm on Monday evening (8th August) will receive FREE DELIVERY!!

So if you want to stock up on distress inks or grab yourself a blending tool or get some stickles ready for your Christmas crafting or any other crafting goodies head on over to S J Crafts at 8pm tonight!!!

No code needed, the delivery charge will be taken off automatically! Offer is for UK delivery only.

I'll be back soon with a layout to share!!

Lucky!

It's on days like today that I feel very lucky and blessed that I live near the sea and that I am able to enjoy views like this pretty much whenever I want.

Even when the sky is not this blue and the sea is not this calm I still appreciate it's beauty, yes, even in the middle of winter a walk along the clifftop to see the sea, and then a visit to the clifftop cafe overlooking the sea for coffee is one of my favorite things to do.

On a summer's day, like today it is amazing to take in the view, feel the sun, breath the sea air and just appreciate living by the sea!

* London Daytrip *

August, already ... how did that happen?

So the 1st week of school holidays just flew by.

I have loved spending time with my girl. We have spent our days enjoying time at home to read, draw, play board games and craft together but also we have had some lovely days out.

The very first day of the holidays we surprised H with a day trip to London as a reward for her very good school report. We got the train at 8 in the morning and on arrival in London headed to the Natural History Museum, which is somewhere H has been wanting to go for ages, only to find long queues to get in. It was worth waiting though as H loved it inside and enjoyed all the things to see and do!!

We had a look inside the butterfly house in the museum grounds, so of course I now have a 100 photos of colourful butterflies!!

Next, we headed to Covent Garden for a wander around, watching the street entertainers and met up with some friends for coffee!

Then it was Pizza for dinner .....

............... and the train home, exhausted but happy. H is already planning her next trip to London, to include a theatre show!!!

* More Cards *

I'm still loving making cards ... so I have a few more to show you. I am still scrapbooking but more in a sorting out my stash and putting layouts into albums and getting photos and papers matched up ready for when the mood takes me to get sticking on 12" X 12" again!!

So here's the cards I made...

I love the new Abrianna Collection from K & Company and made a couple of very quick cards using papers from the mat pad and my Martha Stewart butterfly punch . The butterflies are punched from the same sheet of paper as I used for the background but using the reverse side so the papers co ordinate beautifully. So simple but I quite like them!!

This card is similar to the one I showed you in my last post but this time I used fired brick distress ink and my Fiskars scalloped lace border punch. As last time the paper is from the lime twist life of the party 6" X 6" pad.

I'm really enjoying the summer holidays (wonder if I'll still be saying that in 5 weeks?!!) and spending quality time with H. So far we've had a day trip to London to the Natural History Museum and yesterday we went for a walk by the river to feed the ducks and stopped off at the play park. I took a ton of photos so will get them uploaded and share a few of my favourites on my next post.

Distress Ink and Border Punch Card

I am really enjoying getting back into my card making.

I quickly made this one this morning using my 2 favourite things at the moment ~ my distress inks and border punches!



More info of how I made it and my supplies are here.

I'll be back soon with more cards to show you!

* So ... A page to Share! *

Yes, really!! It's been a while since I had a layout to share with you! I am sorry!

Not only has tthis page been a while in the making but it's a very simple page at that! You know how it is... it's almost the end of term and that means Sports Day, School Fair, Dance Show Rehearsals, School Concerts, BBQs and the like are keeping me away from my crafting table just a little more than I would like!!

Any way .. the page is very simply titled "Making Sandcastles" because as you know I'm not one for fancy or creatively orginal titles.


I cropped my 4 photos to 4" square and arranged them in a group. The background paper is Breaking Free from MME and I also used this paper and some Echo Park "Little Girl" paper All the papers have the edges inked with antique linen distress ink. I applied rub ons to 3 of the photos which I think helps to draw the eye around the page towards the journalling. Journal card is by Cosmo Cricket and fabric Thickers, a journal ticket, flowers and gems to finish. I just need to add a little more journalling to the sticker at the top of the page!

Thank you for everyone's support with my new shop, it's certainly keeping me busy with new stock arriving all the time. I've put Grab Box 4 up today (£6.50 for 50 clearance papers!!) and I'll be doing a giveaway soon on the shop blog so watch out for that!!

Have a fabulous Friday!

* A Sketch and a Summer Weekend *

Hi Bloggers ... Monday morning again!! How did that come around so fast?!

Yesterday was very hot down here on the south coast so we spent most of the day out in the garden but I had to come inside for an hour in the afternoon as it just got too hot for me. I had already chosen a photo and some papers ready for a layout based on Shimelle's Sketch of the week so decided to make good use of my hour in the shade and finished off the page.

The photo is from our family holiday to Ibiza last October, taken on a day trip to Ibiza Town where we spent the afternoon wondering around the Old Town, taking in the sights and views!! I have used Kraft cardstock (again!) and papers are mainly Stella And Rose (MME), Thickers letters and a K & Co tag and chipboard buttons. I used a white acrylic paint dabber to apply paint with a brush to the edges and also splattered a little across the page by flicking the brush gently. It's the first time I've done this as I've also been a little apprehensive that the paint would go everywhere and make a mess but I quite like the effect!

I hope you had a lovely weekend. We were in the garden most of the day. D mowed the lawn, I did a little weeding and H played on her swing and in the sandpit. It was nice just to relax and spend time together.

And even had out first barbecue of the summer!!!


Have a great week!!