It's Me, Sarah

It Makes Me So Happy!

I am not ready to share my secret project yet but I can share some layouts with you that I made using the April kit from Bellaboo.  The kit is called Floral Frenzy and includes some gorgeous Jenni Bowlin papers and plenty of embellishments to get you scrapping.  I was particularly taken with the Cosmo Cricket lacing cards and as usual, loathe to use everything in one day I created this lacing card photo stand out of just two of the cards. Now I have two left to make another one!

I painted the cards with acrylic paint and then decorated them lacing them together at the top with some ribbon - so cute!

I also created a couple of layouts with the kit (and still have some left over!).

Mum has been over to see me this evening and we have been having a little play with the Bind it All, she bought it about 6 or 7 months ago and she hasn't used it yet.  Now that I have had a play I really need to get one of these!  I don't want much do I??  I have a list as long as my arm of things I really want that aren't really that cheap to buy!  Oh well, one day!  I am not exactly hard done by lol.

I have been playing with some lovely Prima products today!  I must get the Dude collection because it is perfect for little boy layouts and I always seem to be short of those kinds of papers because when I am buying stash I am always drawn to pretty things - but I think the Dude collection IS pretty - it is pretty darn gorgeous!  Mmmmmm,  I love scrapbooking - It makes me so happy!

How could I forget?

One of the most exciting things I saw at Stitches was the pink and black BigShot!  I have been wanting a BigShot for a while now but I am sooooo glad I didn't get the blue one because I would  have been absolutely gutted.  I really want one of these, so I hope they are around in June and I can try and get Mark to get me one for my birthday!

Isn't it gorgeous?!

I have been really busy today trying to sort out an really exciting new blog!!  I will let you in on the secret very soon........

In Stitches at Stitches!

I don't know where to start!  I have been at the NEC for the Stitches trade show since Saturday working for Scrapgenie and I have just had the most amazing time.  The biggest memory I will have of this weekend is how much we laughed!!  I don't think that I have laughed so much for years - it was fantastic.  Every night Anna, Tracie, Debbie and I went out with Robert, Sue and Marie from Scrapgenie and spent the entire evening crying with laughter.  Just perfect. 

I got to meet some great people and was really happy to meet Liberty from Bellaboo after speaking to here via email so much and also Emma (Sugar Almond) who was as lovely as her beautiful layouts!  It was a pleasure to meet the owners of online stores that I order from - just really nice to put a face to so many names.

Working on the stand was great, I loved doing the make and takes and talking to the retailers that were visiting the show and sitting there scrapping with all the new product.

I am suffering now though because as I was on the train on the way home last night my back just seized up and now I can hardly move - but it was worth it.  I was so happy to get home and see Mark and the children, Ben and Charlotte were already in bed but I went upstairs to kiss them goodnight and the joy on their faces when they saw me was worth millions!

I absolutely love all the new product releases but I am especially wowed by Prima, My Minds Eye and Crate - just beautiful.  I have got some samples to do some design team work and I am itching to get started but I think I really need to have a rest today.

Here are some photographs of a fabulous weekend:

I love Tatty Teddy!!  We all had to have our photographs taken with him.

I loved the Ellison stand.

The Ellison meeting room was decorated entirely using their dies - it was gorgeous!

I also loved the DMC stand which was huge!!

Another reason this weekend has been very exciting for me is that I am the current guest designer for Pencil Lines.  I love all the layouts that the design team have created using my sketch and I have been clicking on all the links in the comments area to see everyone else's interpretations - so exciting!  This was my GDT layout.

I am now going to go and sit down for an hour or so before I collect Ben and Charlotte from school.

Cheezers!

Ben was talking to me the other day about Cheezers.  I was a little confused about what he was saying, I thought he was talking about cheesy crisps or something and was just saying 'oh yes?' and 'was it?' to encourage his conversation.  All the while I was thinking 'What IS he talking about?'.  Then he was talking about Cheezers being in heaven and I was VERY confused.  It became clear (eventually) when he started to tell me (with some frustration at Mummy's stupidity) that Cheezers died on the cross for everyone and then he came back to life!  I think they have been studying Easter in Year 1 recently!  I was in fits of laughter and even Ben was laughing when I explained to him that it was Jesus with a 'J' and not Cheezers with a 'Ch'.

This layout was created with the gorgeous Bella's Boudoir kit from Bellaboo, there is nothing I like better than pink and black so this kit was right up my street!  It is great value too because for £10.95 you get a full pack of alphabets and a full pack of rubons as well as papers, card, ribbon and bling!

I went to the Plymouth crop at the weekend and amongst much chatting and browsing the lovely stampin' Up catalogue I managed two layouts:

I love the Rusty Pickle Chubby Alphabet chipboard that I have used on this layout (covered with the patterned paper).  Also, after completing the layout I masked off the photograph with a piece of card and sprayed it (rather bravely I think!) with glimmer mist in iridescent gold and it looks gorgeous but you can't see it on the photograph.

This layout of Charlotte was quite a quick one but the foliage around the photograph was cut from some KI Memories lacy cardstock and coloured with silver, pink and turquoise inkpads (brilliance) to match the Making Memories Noteworthy patterned papers.

Mark has carried on decorating and he has painted my lovely red kitchen in warm beige, whilst I loved the red I have to admit that the beige looks cleaner and makes the kitchen look a lot more spacious.  The lounge also looks gorgeous now it is all put back together.  Next the hallway!

I also finished the Shepherd's Bush scissor fob 'In My Garden' - it is so cute that I can't stop looking at it. 

Now I am stitching a 'Sarah' tree by M Designs.  Carol bought this chart for Christmas a couple of years ago and amongst all my stitching stash I completely forgot about it so I was really excited when I found it.

Now I am really getting excited about attending the Stitches show at the weekend so if you are in the NEC on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday pop over the Scrapgenie stand to say 'Hi' to Tracie, Anna, Debbie and me!

Busy Little Bees

That's what Mark and I have been for the last couple of days!  We are both in a bit of a rut at the moment, we are not really happy with where we are living, the weather is horrible, I am always tired - nothing major, just a bit fed up.  So we decided to decorate, just a quick spruce up of the house to cheer us up and that is what we have been doing.  We painted the lounge what was supposed to be a nice dull yellow but the paint has come out a nice sunshine colour!!  It isn't too bright but after the dull beige walls we had before it is certainly cheering us up, we haven't quite got used to it yet.  It is a work in progress at the moment because we are painting the fireplace white and that is not finished yet but here are a few pics to let you see what is going on here!!

The photos are quick snaps taken with my phone to show Mum today so they are not very good quality.

Mark has even started the kitchen!  I am not entirely convinced about this though because our kitchen is currently painted red and I love it.  Mark, however, thinks it looks dark and has started to paint it warm beige!!  I may cry - this is what it looked like before he started painting.

As I keep saying, I have really enjoyed playing with the acrylic albums from Scrapping Clearly, here are some pictures of one of the albums I have created.  I can't share the second one yet but I love it TEN times more than this one!

Well, I am going to watch whatever rubbish is on the TV tonight and to finish off the little scissor fob I am making.