Tuesday 25 December 2007

Christmas day at last

I have not blogged this week as i have had a hectic time getting ready for christmas in just a short time.

I had my final exam last friday on the 14th, then i was baby sitting little sarah whilst my parents where away. I used the time to make my christmas cards and make my lists for shopping and food etc. I then frantically spent last week putting up the decorations and getting the pressies.

I also managed a trip into Sandra's new shop in Banff. It is loverly and spacious and should be loverly for the crops. I got some great papers, the new blonde moments range and stamps. I also picked up some supplies for the bind it all as she stocks them and accessaries. I will be doing a few demonstrations on the 12th of january at the shop which i am both nervouse and excited about at the same time. I have some great ideas in my head that i need to turn into reality. I will be focusing on scrapbooking, card making and the bind it all.

I got some loverly prizes in the post recently. My prize from Rebecca's for the monthly challenge and my prize for the challenges on blog till you drop. They are both lush and i will post pictures when my camera works properly.

I also made an apperence in this month's Scrapbook inspiration reader's gallery. I had one in for new beginnings and one in for winter lo's. They looked great in there and i was so pleased as i have never been in the reader's gallery before.

Now onto Christmas. We had a great day today. Very relaxing and tranquil. The kids have been very well behaved and very pleased with the presents they got. I have lots of pictures to upload but camera is playing up, i think it needs a new battery. I got lots of money and i think i will spend it all on stash, lol. I got some acrylic paints and canvasses as well so cant wait to have ago on those.

Quick pic of our tree. It is not in the traditional colours but we love it.

Bye for now
Sarah

Tuesday 11 December 2007

Two down, one to go.......

i have had exams over the last two days. I have spent weeks worrying about them and they are finally done. The first one was Environmental Conservation which i felt went great. I did need the extra time allocated to me for my dyslexia which was handy for checking over. The second was principles of permaculture. I have mixed feelings about this one. 1 question i felt went great but the second i felt i woffled on a bit. I have the last one on friday, this is the one i am dreding the most.

Just waiting on one more essay result and then i have them all. I have done really well in these essays. I am not sure if its because i have given up work and gone full time or the fact that i have discussed my dyslexia with counsellors and am getting a bit of support. Probably a combination of both.

I will leave you with a LO i did for UKS weekly challenge. It is of my gorgeus Old Shih Tzu Clause. I got him 11 years ago as a christmas from my husband the year we bought our first house. He is feeling his age at the moment and i worry he does not have long left with us. So i am going to spoil him alot.



Of back to the books now.

By for now
Sarah

Sunday 9 December 2007

Sunday 9th December

Where do i begin. Its the day before my first exam and i feel i know nothing. Hopefully the pressure of the exam and seing the question in front of me will kick start some thinking from me! I cant concentrate with the kids around so i will do a bit of revision tonight and tomorrow morning ready for the xam in the afternoon.

Some good news..... I got an email saying i had been chosen as guest DT member for the month of November for Make the moment last, on online craft shop. I am so pleased and look forward to the opertunity to play with some of their stash and come up with something unique in my style.

We had a massive family wood chopping session yesterday in readyness for christmas and winter. Keith was on the ex pallet cutting up and i was kindling chopping. Alex helped me bag up the sticks whilst Dan helped keith pile up the large wood chunks. It was a freezing day but it felt great when we had piled it all up and restocked the living room.

Here are a few pictures



















If you are wondering what the swimming goggles are for, the boys reckoned they were getting saw dust in their eyes, lol

That's it for today as i am off to hibernate in front of the coal fire and watch a bit of catch up lost on dvd.

Bye for now
sarah

Tuesday 4 December 2007

Exam blues...........

I had a revision session today for maths and experimental design. It was awful. I have no idea what i am suppossed to be doing even thought i was fine all the way thru the semester. The lecturer reackons we should be able to tell just by looking at the question which experimental test to perform, i dont think so. I then had a studies skills lession to show me how to draw mind maps to aid my revision and it is not going to help me at this late stage. I have to much on my mind to try and concentrate on learning something new.

I have come and cryed again. I am so stressed and fed up. The house was freezing as the heating is not set to come on till 4. I had to clean the coal fire out and chop sticks to light it. Alex needed help with his home work and DH forgot to take out mince yesterday from freezer when i asked him so now i have to cook from scratch.

So frustrated. Got my timetable today and i have an extra half hour put on my exams because of the dyslexia. I am mixed minds about it. Will it be a good thing or a bad thing. What if the exam is going bad, di i wont to sit there stewing for longer or equally if it is going bad the extra time may allow me to sort it out.

It is day for of my journal and i have not put pen to paper. I knew i wouldnt if i am honest with myself. I will just have to catch up on the 15th, lol

It is so cold here. I am a winter kinder girl, i love the cold, frost and snow but combined with the wind and rain that we are experiencing, i just wont to hide away.

Thats my loney cry over.

I got my first secret santa present today. I was some loverly felt flowers. Oh how i love flowers. I have a little inkling into who it is but i will wait for the big surprise at the end.

Off to revise again
Sarah

Monday 3 December 2007

Lush flowers

As promised, here are some pictures of the lush flowers i won for the minthly challenge over at UKS. There are so many of them, more than i need, lol, but i wont say no.







Off to make myself a revision timetable and work out the best way to revise.

see you later
Sarah

Sunday 2 December 2007

December 2nd.................

I have decided to make a blog post each day during december. This will help me with my paper christmas journal just in case i cant find the physical time to complete it. I did start my manofesto page outlining why i am doing the journal. Today has not been good as emotions are running high due to grandads illness and being in hospital, exams looming and lack of any funds to buy christmas presents.

I actually finished a weekly challenge for uks today. I went thru a stage of not doing these weekly challenges but this month i have made the effort and have completed 3 out of 4.

This weeks was to use an album cover for inspiration, Use a film title as a title on the LO, use red and black and include an element from a pack of cards. I made my red background using red, orange, black and white acrylic paint applied using a baby wipe and blended in a swiping manner. The round photo is one i have used before that i made digitally.



Here is the album i used for inspiration.



I did a DLO for my circle journal as well this evening. I love doing the circle as i get to scrap subjects that i would not normally do.

I finally got all my essays finished and emailed of to my lecturers, so i have a week and a half of revision before the exams.

On the first day of Christmas..............the scrapfairies brought to me..............

I got a little package in the post today. It was my prize for winning the house monthly challenge over on UKS with my natural love LO. The package contained a vast selection of various sized and colured prima flowers. I obsolutely love prima flowers and put them on everything, even my LO's of the boys and Keith. This was such a great prize and i cant wait to put them in use, lol. Thank you scrapfairies. I took loads of pictures so will update this post later.

I shall be dropping of the face of the earth for the next two weeks as i am revising for my uni exams all next week. The craft stuff is getting locked in the craft room and keith can hide the key.

I have just spent 2 hours adding a juke box to the blog filled with my eclectic taste, so i hope you like it.

Spent ages last night filling the kids advent calendars up with sweets. I went mad and put a whole tin of quality streets between the two calendars. I feel guilty that they are not going to be as spoilt as they usually are now that i am not working so over compensated i think!!!!

Its also time to start filling in that christmas journal. I have my crop tomorrow so shall make a start there.

Off to bed now as its very late.

Tfl
Sarah

Sunday 25 November 2007

Some actual scrapbooking for a change

I was so bored last night as there was nothing on the tv and dh was playing on the laptop all night. I decided to sand down and paint a board book i found for a pound. It is a loverly shape and i can see potential in it.

I then had paint leftover so decided to make a few lo's with it. The first one was made using left over christmas card scraps.



The next one was of alex. I was having a mini tidy up ready to start my christmas journal and get all my christmas bit together when i found the picture and a little mini album complete with paper and embellishments.



Off back to my painting now

Be back soon
Sarah

Saturday 24 November 2007

Crafty Bits

Firstly I have a shop warming present i made for Sandra to show you.









I made little houses from thick cardboard and painted them all white with emulsion. I then decorated them with a variety of scraps and embellished with eyelets, buttons and ribbons.

I have finally finished a LO i started at our crop last week as well. This is another christmas LO that i am thinking of framing up as a present.



I used alot of the digital stuff from shabby princess and made my title by printing on acetate.

And finally i have made a christmas journal. My mum has signed up for the journal your christmas class from Shimelle. She has been so excited by the whole process that her enthusiam has rubbed off on me, so i thought i'd give it a go. I made my own album using a sheet of A4 mountboard.







Here is how i did it if you would like to have ago.

1. Cut an A4 piece of mountboard in half. Sand off any rough edges now

2. Choose a patterned paper.

3. Cut around the mountboard with a half inch gap around the outside.

4. Cover the mountboard with double sided tape or strong wet glue and place it onto the patterned paper.

5. Add more double sided tape to the reverse (inside cover) and turn over the edges.

6. Cut a piece of plain carstock to cover the edges and again secure with double sided tape or glue.

7. That is the front cover now made. Repeat the process with the back cover.

8. My patterned paper had a slight twirl pattern on it. I used a black pen and a white pen to pick out some bits on the paper.

9. I then used matt accents to highlight these twirls.

10. I repeated this process until i had a good raised layer and embossed effect.

11. I used walnut ink around the twirls once they were dry to age the cover.

12. I added green ribbon and white lace to the cover.

13. I added homemade mountboard embellishments and tags to complete the look.

14. I added cream pages and then bound it all together with my wonderful bind it all.

I cant wait to get started putting it all together.

Thanks for looking
Sarah

Thursday 22 November 2007

An exciting new craft shop

Sandra who runs our crop in Macduff has finally decided to open her own craft shop. We have very little in the way of craft shops up here in the NE of Scotland so a new and exciting craft shop is greatly welcomed.

The grand opening will be in a couple of weeks on the 10th December 2007. More details can be found in the poster below that i have made for Sandra.



I cant wait to get my hands on some new stash, especially all the bind it all equipment that i spied at our last crop.

And hopefully in the new year, i shall be teaching a class or two there as well. I am a bit nervous about that but i shall try my best to come up with some bright and funky classes.

So if you are in the banff area, why not pop along to the new shop.

An another note, Sandra has also had confirmation from Dyan at Blonde Moments about coming back up to Scotland in September next year for another scrap attack organised by Sandra and our crop. It will be 13th and 14th of September 2008. Sandra is still ironing out the details, so watch this space. The event was a massive success and a great time was had by all. See older posts here for details.

Right off for my beauty sleep.
TFL

Sarah

Wednesday 14 November 2007

my advent calendar screen











Here is my advent calendar. I made it from 3 sheets of a4 mount board, 3 sheets of 12x 12, brads, paperclips, number stickers, ribbons and rub ons. I saw this originally in a magazine as a 12 days of christmas screen but i adapted it into a 3 screened version.

here is how i did it.

1. Lay the 3 sheets of mountboard down flat and draw a border around each one. I went for 1.5 cm on the sides and top and 3 cm on the bottom. This wall form the guide for the top, side and bottom edges of the doors.

2. Now is the time to draw the doors. sketch out the doors in pencil. I gave the first and third pannel 8 doors and the second panel 9 doors.

3. The doors should be around 5 x 7cm each with a larger one filling the space, but you can chop and change at this point. I left around 1.5 cm gap between each door to allow for the hinges.

4. Now is the time to cut all the doors out. I found using a craft knife, mat and metal ruler worked best for me.

5. Once all doors are cut out, decorate the fronts. I used plain cardstock on the fronts. Use a wet glue to cover the front of the frames. Add the cardstock. Turn over and cut out the windows from the cardstock.

6. Sand down the edges of the windows to give a distressed look. i also inked with brown ink as well. If i was going to do this again, i might miss this stage out and just paint the screens in my chosen colours.

7. set aside and leave to dry.

8. Now to tackle the doors. Sand down the edges of each door by a few millimeters. This allows the doors to go back into the windows loosely.

9. Cover the doors with patterned paper and again sand and ink the edges. I had about 8 different designs which i tried to mix up per screen.

10. For the openings per door i made mountboard circles. i again covered in the pattered paper and inked.

11. To some of the circles i super glued large brass paper clips and to some of them i attached coordinated ribbons.

12. To attache the doors to the windows i made paper hinges. I cut 2 cm strips of brass coloured card. I then scored each one down the middle with a embossing tool. I cut them into 2.5 cm pieces.

13. Using my eyelet setter, i punched 4 holes into each piece.

14. I used a dab of herma glue on each hinge to attache temperarily onto the door and frame so i could mark my position for the pilet holes for the brads.

15. I again used my eyelet maker and the smallest diameter to make my holes on the door and frame.

16. Now is the time to put it all together. Use small brads to attache the hinges. I went for brass coloured ones.

17. I used the same process to make 6 larger hinges to attache the 3 screens together using larger brass brads.

18. The calendar screen is almost complete now. Attach the mountboard circles randomly around the 3 screens and attach numbers also in a random manner.

19. Add rub ons and ribbons along the bottom edge to decorate.

20. I have decided i would like photographs of the boys behind each door in my advent calendar. This year i want to have the boys in silly hats and poses holding up numbers. I will herma these pictures in place behind each window.

21. As i want to be able to change the pictures in future years to make this a memory keepsake i think the backing covers of each screen will be on same kind of velcro so it can be opened and shut without damaging the back.

This was relatively easy to make but very time consuming punching all the holes.

I hope you like it. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think.

Friday 9 November 2007

Other crafty projects occupying my hands

As i am a student now and on a budget, i have decided to make my own Chritmas presents.

Here is my first one. It is a candle. I saw something similar in a magazine so adapted it to my needs. Here is how i made it.

1. Select the candle. I went for a large white one.

2. select your photo and print. I turned mine black and white for a more traditional effect. I made a rough template of the size of image to fit the candle and then printed onto white vellum paper.

3. I attached the vellum using a narrow double sided tape top and bottom on the paper and secured down the seam using tiny heart shaped brads pushed into the candle.

4. Attach a strip of christmas paper and ribbon to cover the DS tape at the bottom.

5. Attach ribbon at the top to cover DS tape.

6. I made a chain of fine silver wire threaded with varius sized beads and then wrapped it around the candle.

7. I embellished with Queen and co felt fusion in white.

Do remember to explain this is a gift and not to be used as a candle if you make one yourself.









What do you think, would you be happy to recieve this as a gift for xmas. Leave a comment and let me know.

Here is a little peak at my latest project- a christmas advent calendar screen for my fire place. It is a big job and taking me longer than i expected.



TFL

Sarah

Carolinez Craftze

Its cyber crop time again over at Carolinez craftze. Its a more relaxed affair this time with each DT member getting the same kit so we can pick and choose what we wont to do. So far I have only done 1 LO but i have had a mini photo session with the boys and have lots of pictures now in reserve ready,lol

Here is my LO based on Laura's 1st day of christmas LO



I will update this post with more finished projects as i go along. I quite fancy getting the paints out again for Willows class from today, watch this space.

Update
Here is another LO form the CC. This time it is one of Willows. The class was to use paint as your main feature.



TFL
Sarah

Blog till you drop

My loverly team leader Charli is a DT member for crop till you drop. They have a cool blog to go with the shop called blog till you drop. They have a weekly challenge which each design team member sets.

I have done a few challenges over the last few weeks.

My first was using a sketch challenge



The second was to use acetate in a project. As i am on a maze book craze at the moment i made a halloween book. I cut out windows in the pages and filled them with home made halloween acetate. The look was really effective.







I have another one of Charli's which is another sketch challenge sitting in my craft inbox to do.

Bye for now

Update

Were do i start. Firstly some pics from the cyber crop over at uks.
This first one was for Mary Anne's magpie moments challenge. This got second prize in the end which wins me a 3 month's subscription to scrapbook inspirations and will maybe go in the mag.



This one was for the point to it challenge



And this one was for the digital quote challenge and shows my mum in all her witchy glory, lol



I also have a LO for the interhouse monthly challenge which i also won this month.



I finally got round to making a LO of Alex's nativity play from last year as well.



Here are a few more. The quality is not great as camera is pants at the moment.
This was for the home decor class. I did not get the kit so used my own stash. i made a plaque for my craft room using a paper mache heart base that i got at our scrapattack blonde moments event.





I then got carried away and could not stop making little alphabets. I made name plated for the boys doors. They again were originally door handle hangers that i customised for them by putting a picture of them in the handle gap.





Then there was the ATC calendar as well.\Now this is a really bad shot.





And finally the what no paper challenge. I decided to make myself a ribbon box for all my hundreds of ribbons. It is so handy being able to see at a glance what i have to match my LO.





And i think that is finally it for UKS cyber crop stuff.

TFL
Sarah