Budget Challenge for Scrapbook Magazine

It seems like ages ago that I was first asked if I would take up the "Budget Challenge" for Scrapbook Magazine. Of course I said "Yes"!! The next available slot, they told me, was for issue 62!!

I made my 3 layouts using just £10 of supplies, typed up the text and e mailed it off to SBM back before Christmas. Then we had a long wait ... until last week when issue 62 was on sale. I was so excited as I opened up the magazine to see my layouts in print!

Two of my layouts featured my daughter so you can imagine her delight at seeing her photos in the magazine!!

These are the layouts I made using mainly Crate Paper's Random Collection

These photos were taken in the Butterfly House at the Natural history Museum in London.

I punched little circles and positioned them down the edge of the photos to create a scallop border.

More punched circles and punched butterflies make up the row of embellishments below the pictures.

For this layout I distressed the edges of the patterned papers, punched a few butterflies, added a "beautiful" sticker and a title and I was done!

The pink dots on the butterflies are from my pack of Thickers letters. I would usually use gems/pearls but my £10 worth of stash wouldn't stretch that far so I used the full stop instead!

My 3rd layout uses up the scraps of pattern paper that were left. I punched the edges with my bracket border punch and layered them up. I made 3 embellishments from punches circles with a button centre. The journalling reads "On our weekend trip we visited Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, a lovely place with amazing views, pretty cottages and great for taking photos!"

One of the things I found difficult with such limited supplies was only having one pack of letters for my titles and not being able to dip into different packs and sheets of alphas!!

Thanks for stopping by!

FREE P & P in my shop all this weekend!!

It's a FREE Postage and Packing weekend at S J Crafts!!!

To receive FREE P & P on your order this weekend simply enter FREEDELIVERY in the coupon code box & select UK Standard delivery.

Minimum order is just £5!!

UK delivery only!

Offer valid until 11pm Sunday 11th March!

Click here to shop now!

Enjoy!! :)

WOYWW #144

Oh dear, two weeks since my last blog post! Very naughty! Sorry, I have no real excuse apart from being very busy with the shop and preparing for forthcoming classes.

I do love Julia's WOYWW and I can never resist a nosy around all the desks so it's only fair that I show you mine too!!

So, here's how things were looking earlier this afternoon!

You can see that rather large stack of photos - my last order from Photobox! I have been going through it picking out some to scrap. This is how I usually start off when I'm making a new layout. I've pulled out some papers (the ones on my table are the new collection from Cosmo Cricket ) and then picked out photos that work with the papers. Sometimes I start with the papers and sometimes the photos. Next I've pulled out some embellishments from my stash that I think might use on my layout.

There's also my lovely new stamp set and punch that I recently bought at a friends Stampin Up party. I'm planning on using them on this next layout.

Regular readers of my blog will recall my "exploding basket" of stash - look, it's still there at the back of the table - still not sorted - and as full as ever!

Right, I'm going to make another coffee (yes, the one in the photo is long finshed!) and have a nosy around some more crafty desks and then finish the layout!

WOYWW # 142 .... & A Finished Layout!!!

Hello from a rainy and rather chilly Dorset! Perfect weather for staying indoors and scrapbooking!

I have had a few days break from my little blog. There's no particular reason for the lack of posts apart from it was half term last week and I was enjoying spending time with H. She is such great company and growing up so fast, I wanted to make the most of our time together.

Anyway she is back at school this week so I'm back at my craft table again. It's good to be back!

So for those of you who are here for a nosy at my craft space - this is how it was looking earlier this morning!!

This week I've taken the photo from the other side of my desk so that you get a glimpse of the units and shelves behind me where I store my stash! To the right hand side of the photo is a pile of letter and alpha stickers. I had to have a good rummage through them to find enough letters to make a title. There are so many sheets with just a few letters left. My fabulous Martha Stewart butterfly punch is there again. Will I ever tire of it?

I've actually managed to finish a layout today!! Woo hoo!! I started off following a sketch by Jules Dix which was in Scrapbook Magazine, issue 61. My finished page looks quite different though.


The photo is H and my niece L (the two of them often get referred to as "the girls") on a walk in the forest just over a year ago. My journalling is about their lovely relationship and how they are very close and enjoy each others company sharing lots of fun, giggles and happy times.

My supplies included: MME Miss Caroline papers and stickers, a Ranger tag, MME Kraft Funday twine and Prima pearls.

Right,I must get on over to Julia's blog to see what all the other WOYWW participants have been up to this week!
Thanks for stopping by!!

20% off at S J Crafts This Weekend!!!!

I'm not sure if all the schools are on half term holiday this coming week or just us down here in the south of England!!!

If it is half term for you and you have children to keep occupied and entertained during the day why not treat yourself to a few crafty goodies for some well deserved " Me Time" once the little ones are tucked up in bed!!

Even if it's not half term for you, you can still enjoy our fantastic HALF TERM OFFER!!!

We have 20% off EVERYTHING in our shop all weekend up until 4pm on Sunday) - so why not treat yourself?!!

Enter the code HALFTERM in the coupon code box and select UK Standard delivery to activate the discount.

Click here to visit the shop!!

Have a lovely weekend!

WOYWW #140

Wow, Wednesday again - doesn't a week go fast?!! Happy WOYWW!! If you have arrived here from Julia's .... hello, welcome and thanks for popping in!!

Anyone who follows my little blog will know that my craft space is currently undergoing a much needed reorganisation and as part of this I have been going through my ever increasing pile of stash and having a big clear out and tidy up so that hopefully I'll spend less time trying to find stuff and more time actually crafting!! So, I thought you might like a nosy in some of my storage boxes and baskets!!

On the right is my fab little "cake stand", now standing on my lovely new Ikea Expedit unit, which makes a great place to keep my punches (these are just my favorites and most used punches - I will admit to having another box full as well!!) and the top tier holds some of my tapes and adhesives. Not sure where the others are .... probably still in my craft bag!!

The smaller of the two circular boxes (aren't they pretty?) stores my buttons and the bigger box is currently empty!! It used to have small packs of embellishments and odds and ends in it, but I've cleared it out as it was a complete mess and I've not yet decided what will go in it!! 

I have 4 sets of these little drawers and love them.  I keep my gems, pearls, journalling  cards/spots/tags, chipboard shapes, nestabilities and journalling pens  in these 2 units.

Oh my!! What a mess this basket is in!! This is the next one to be sorted. It is currently full of sheets of stickers, rub ons, embellishments and goodness knows what else!! This basket is where I used to put my new purchases and favourite embellishments and I kept it on my table so that it's contents were close to hand and more likely to get used. Just lately, it has got so full and untidy I tend to avoid it going near it because if I pull one thing out everything else falls out!!

I hope you've enjoyed just a little peek at some of my stash, I'm off now to make a cuppa and have a look around some more of your desks!

Craft Space Reorganisation - Part 1

I haven't posted for a while because there hasn't been an awful lot of crafting going on here just lately. One of the reasons (apart from everyday life and work keeping me busy!!) for the lack of crafting is that the reorganisation of my craft area has finally begun. I have been wanting (and needing!) to do this for a while now. You know how it is when the stash starts to take over the house and you can't find anything - or is that just me?

Anyway, my lovely hubby finally agreed that I needed some decent storage so we took a trip to Ikea. We also wanted to get a desk for H's bedroom and some storage, something a bit more grown up than the toy shelves and boxes she has had until now. I won't go into how long it took us to fit all the boxes, containing a desk, shelves, chair and a expedit 2 x 2 unit, into our medium sized car!! And still leave room for 3 people!!

So, I have built H's desk and chair ....

It's now been moved upstairs to her bedroom, where she is enjoying using it for her colouring, writing stories and drawing! She loves it!

My Expedit unit ....

We just have the storage shelves for H's room to do!

I've started to sort through my boxes and bags of stash and next week, I need to go through the rest and fill my new unit. I'm finding stuff I forgot I had.  I'm so looking forward to getting myself organised, at long last!!

I'll show you some more pics when it's all done!

Don't forget the challenge is still open over on the shop blog, there's a £10 voucher for the random winner!!

I hope you are having a fab weekend, thanks for stopping by!