Deck the Halls.

I hope you have had a lovely Christmas x

Today I wanted to share with you some decorations I made for my December CT post over at Hey Little Magpie before Christmas is over & they get packed away.

Love.

 Happy Holidays.

 Joy.

All the details of the products and paper ranges used can be found here on the Hey Little Magpie blog.

They looked great on our tree & I'm thinking maybe I should add more next year featuring my favourite ranges of 2015 x

Sheena x

Merry Christmas.

My family & I would like to wish all our family and friends both near and far

 a Very Merry Christmas x

Sheena x

Getting in the mood!!

I'm shocked by how long it has been since I last blogged but with birthdays, shopping, house work, card writing...time has got away from me.

To be honest I have very little to share as lots of what I have been working on is either Christmas gifts or needed for next year but I did find a seasonal page you haven't yet seen to get this blog looking more festive.

The wreath is a cut file from the Silhouette store. I've used scraps of Christmas paper to back the circles that don't hold photos from last year.

I filled the bow shape with red satin fabric and padded it out for a luxurious feel.

I'm really pleased with the finished effect and the seasonal colours certainly have a festive look.

Sheena x

One photo & Twenty words - Birthday.

Today I'm taking part in the inspired meme - one photo & twenty words, by Abi x

As your Mum 

I love creating an individual cake each year

  for you on this special day.

Happy Birthday Son.

Sheena x

Christmas Club - Traditions.

Today I am joining Sian over at  From High in the Sky for a little Christmas story telling.

At Christmas we...look forward to putting up our tree.

Nothing unusual about that I hear you say & I agree it is a pleasurable task for lots of us at this time of year. For my family it has become a tradition for the tree to go up on the weekend around the 10th for the past 20 years. As this is the date our first Son arrived( a week early I might add !!) and caught us out a little with our Christmas plans.

Having been admitted in early labour on the evening of the 9th, Paul was dispatched home awaiting a phone call from labour ward when things had progressed. Being an organised & by now panicky first time Mum to be I wrote Paul a list of jobs/ tasks we still needed to get done at home.

Unbeknownst to me he thought he needed to complete this list of tasks before his Son was born rather than before Christmas as I had intended. So whilst I tried to rest & let nature do it's stuff he was like some crazed madman working well into the night ticking things off the list till dawn broke & he phoned the hospital asking if he had time to go out & purchase  a real tree, the last item on the list,or come back to the hospital for the birth!! They advised him to leave the tree & when he joined me the hospital he looked more shattered than me:D
Here is the little fella on Christmas day 1994 beside our tree.

So every year when we put up our tree we remember that amazing weekend that we became parents for the first time & even though that baby boy is now taller than both of us we never tire of reliving those moments again xxx

Sheena x

Sew Easy to Stitch.

Today I am sharing the final two pages I made for my Hey Little Magpie November post about sewing on my layouts.

For Your Eyes Only.

This first one features a selfie my daughter took after collecting her new glasses.

I used a stitch template from the Amy Tan Stitched collection for the lettering using 5 different coloured threads to create an ombre look.

Happy Heart.
This time featuring a photo taken on a recent trip to San Francisco showing my love for the Golden Gate Bridge.

For this page I've used supplies from the Amy Tan Stitched collection and added a little stitched detail to the polaroid's I'd cut out.

I hope you like them & think about adding a little stitching to your pages in the future x

Sheena x

Stitched Together.

For my blog post over at Hey Little Magpie this month, I concentrated on using a way of embellishing pages which I love doing and that would be sewing. I really enjoy adding stitching to my layouts both by hand & machine. 

Together.

For this lo I have used mainly Maggie Holmes open book papers and embellishments over a background paper which I embellished by first misting some leaf shapes & then stitching the veins in using my sewing machine.I have to admit this did take me some time to achieve but I'm really pleased with the finished effect.

I will share the hand sewn pages with you in the coming week.
Many thanks for looking.
Sheena x

Getting hooky again.

I'm still rather taken by the Edwards Menagerie animal crochet book by Kerry Lord & here is my second completed friend from it.

I made him for my Husbands birthday & he loved him & he now resides on his work desk overseeing all things business. He is yet to have a name...the pattern was called Bridget but we feel he looks more like a boy!!

He even has a cute tail :)

Next is a hippo, then a rhino...
Sheena x

Getting There - PL September.

Here we are again with my Project Life pages. This time they are September, I don't mind being a little behind because when I finally get them done it reminds me all over again what we all got up to. Which TBH is what PL is all about :)

This month included...

...trips to the movies & a new icecream parlour, lunch with friends, tea out...

...back to school, afternoon tea, celebrating the Moxley Crop & Amandas birthday...

...visiting NT houses, school prize giving, nights out...

...todays out in Birmingham, crochet, baking & creating...

...Ryder Cup watching, 2nd yr Uni starting, banishing my roots!...

... coffee morning, lunch out, scrapping weekend, night at the theatre...

Many thanks for looking at our antics this month x

Sheena x

My DIY Washi Storage.

Trying to find a way of storing my washi has been a bit of an issue for me for some time. Firstly I had them in a tin, well that was fine till my love & collection started to grow. Then I popped them in to decorative glass jars but I found I could never find the one I wanted when I needed it. Then I researched some washi holders on the internet but they often had the tape secured in a holder which meant if I was packing page kits for the crop or my tote for a retreat I would have to take the holder completely apart to take my favourites.Then my Husband suggested an idea that just had to be tried...

Using towel rails from Ikea.

In fact we used 4 rails but removed one rod from each rail which was really easy to do, to allow the washi to hang down without touching the row below.

We attached them onto the side of an old set of drawers in my craft space.

The rails still move outwards if I want them too. Also I can see them all making choosing much easier especially now they are grouped in colours  plus they can be easily removed.

I even have room for a few more!!!

I hope you like it. Let me know how you store yours :)

Sheena x

One photo & twenty words - Crazy.

I'm a little late this month joining in with Abi's meme but as I love it so much here it is anyway x

These Ladies are my kind of crazy.

 Time spent scrapping with them 

is so full of laughter.

Love ya loads.

Sheena x

Crazy Times x

This weekend I'm away at a retreat and for me the best part of this type of event is the PEOPLE. Through this great hobby I have met some wonderful, kind ,caring, funny people. A small group are so special to me that I know we will be life long friends regardless what the future holds. These friends bring out a side of me I didn't know existed & when they do it usually gets caught on camera!!

This page shows one of those pics. I could hardly stop laughing when it was taken, thinking just how much I look like my youngest brother!

The background paper is old Prima with gesso, paint, stamping, rub ons, mist, die cuts & a little Amy Tan added.

A few close ups.

Have a good weekend & I'll share with you what we get up to in a future post xxx

Sheena x

A bit of Amigurumi!

Well I think thats what it's called when you crochet little animals! 

I'd like to introduce you to Emma the Bunny. She's a real cutie and the first but definitely not the last animal I'll crochet using patterns from Edwards menagerie by Kerry Lord.

Kerry is based at Toft, an alpaca farm set locally to us which is really worth a visit & has a wonderful cafe there now too.

 Here's a back view.

The book contains over 40 patterns so as I work my way through I'll introduce you to a few more :)

Sheena x

Using up the scraps x

To be honest I'm not short of a piece of patterned paper or two!! but I do find it very had to part with the last scraps of some of my favourites. So this type of silhouette cut background is a perfect solution to this issue & allowed me to use lots of pieces in my chosen colour range.

The photo was taken in April of this year at Matt's prom. His school always holds it before they sit their GCSE's for some reason! 

The embellishments are mainly from Jenni Bowlin with added flair, washi & a cut file title.

Many thanks for looking.

Sheena x

The colours of Autumn x

For my DT blog post over at Hey Little Magpie this month, I concentrated on using 1 range of paper & their embellishments. I chose Fancy Pants - True Friend as it's colour palette is right up my street & with the added foxy embellishments you would think it had been made with me in mind :)

Just for you.

I've used lots of the fancy Pants  Brag Cards & a frame here to highlight a Foxy gift from a friend.

I added texture paste & stencilling to the background paper.

 You make Me Happy.

I continued to focus on the Brag cards this time in a much more formal design, then using embellishments & die cut leaves to soften the shape a little.

 Fall Fun.

For this page I clustered the Brag Cards & patterned paper with a frame & doily over a paint, gesso & sewing background I created to give the feel of the furry hood my DD is modelling!!

Many thanks for looking x

Please hop on over to the blog to find almost daily inspiration.

Sheena x

Boxing Clever.

Yesterday was my Husbands birthday & even though I don't usually make many cards I wanted to try & make something special for him. I had a good look on Pinterest but for once nothing caught my eye so I headed over to the silhouette store & purchased a couple of files which were right up his street x

 

Box cards have been all the rage this year and as he is a golf fanatic I knew he would be really pleased with it.

As the silhouette did all the cutting all I had to do was assemble it. The trophy part I took from a football card file they have, as Hubby has been lucky enough to win some silverware whilst playing recently.

The mechanics of these cards never cease to impress me and he loved it too.

Many thanks for looking x

Sheena x

Project Life - August.

I'm going to put my hand up now & admit that I'm getting behind with this project. But I'm ok with that as I know it will get done eventually & I keep records that make catch up a little easier. Here is our August pages including...

...our visit to Uluru at sunrise & sunset...

... back in Brisbane... Bee Gee Way... sea glass collecting...

... visiting Montville...seeing Pademelons... birthday celebrations...

... Hua Hin... R&R... Royal waiting room...tuk tuk riding... monk meeting... temple visiting...

... home ...hospital visiting...  meals out with friends ... NT joining...

... Gingers at the Zoo ... Jersey Jamboree camp ...

... GCSE results ... ice bucket challenge ... Music Museum...

...expedition walking ... friends meeting ... homework & uniform sorting...

... birthday celebrating...

Many thanks for sticking with it to the end x

Sheena x