Yee Haw!

Just back from a fantastic time away at the November Retreat. It is pure bliss to spend a whole four days just scrapping and chatting. The ladies who came down for the day on Friday noted that we barely moved for the whole weekend this time - the hotel kindly set out our dinner table in the same room as our cropping tables (mind you, I am not sure that was so much for our convenience as to spare the other guests our Saturday night antics!) This year's theme was The Wild West which was as enthusiastically embraced as ever. Gaye's costume was a particular hit - not many people can say they've had Christmas dinner in November with a human cactus! I cannot comment on Debbie's costume since we promised that what happens on crop stays on crop. MA’s country playlist for the weekend was brilliant - I am converted! And here's some of what I did:

A simple Saturday night layout using lots of scraps and some 6x6 papers used too. It was loosely based on a sketch from a magazine ages ago - as were most of my layouts this time - not that it speeded me up much! I have been trying to keep a book with notes as and when I see things.

This was my LO for Gaye's scary challenge: no patterned paper, no pre-made embellishments and only one sheet of white, a sheet of kraft bazzill and some fabric to use. In fairness to Gaye, she did bring some fantastic technique samples for us to see and taught us how to make our own stamps with lace and heat blocks which was pretty impressive. That is how the blue and red patterns are created, the rest is conventional stamping, painting and border punches

This was for the Quick Draw challenge (see that Wild West theme again). My doodling is hampered by my inability to draw and reluctance to commit anything to paper until I have faffed about a lot first! The finished result is a lot busier than I'd normally go for but I think it is O.K as the photo is uncluttered.

This is my favourite LO of the weekend and is Claire's class. Claire's layouts are always so elegant and well designed but I think she has excelled herself this time - I just love it. It involved sewing and misting and inking and embossing and the finished result is just beautiful - thank you Claire.

These photos have been in my tote for ages so I am really pleased to have finally used them. The little basket was cut on the Cricut and embossed on the Big Shot (I just love having all the tools on tap) and the rest is very simple but cute with the bunny / chick papers.

98 days.....

There are only 98 days left until Christmas according to my friend Sandra who has an app to notify her of these things (she's a bit Christmas mad is Sandra!).

As if that weren't scary enough, it means my layouts are now officially running 997 days late because I am still only up to Christmas 2010!

At this rate, I'll be scrapping my Olympics ones in April 2015!

Before & After

I am feeling very thrifty and ever so slightly Kirstie Allsopp-ish this week. I have overdosed a little on eau-de-nil paint to turn an unwanted piece of furniture into a pretty bedside table for DD's bedroom.

Make It Show

I was lucky enough to win tickets to the Make It Show in Farnborough with Knit Today Magazine so Sandra and I headed off there today. It was a very good show for crafters with lots of cardmaking and scrapbooking stands. Some other craft shows seem to get a bit taken over by cheese stalls, washing ball demonstrations and hair pieces for some strange reason - us crafters aren't interested in such things..... well maybe the cheese!

And these are the cards I made as soon as I arrived home armed with my new brayer and stamps. They're very simple to do but it was nice to see some demos and get some new ideas. I think my crafting mojo might be returning at last :)