A Birthday Treat

For my birthday  and mother's day this year, Katie bought me a pair of tickets to visit Blackpool Tower Ballroom to have afternoon tea.

What a wonderful surprise! We made the trip in August, although the town is a little shabby, at night the lights looked lovely.

The papers are by Shimelle, letters were a bargain holographic set from Hobbycraft.

Happy Anniversary

29 years together just before Easter, here is the card I made for Kevin

The main image is made from a little set by Altenew called Brownstone. 

I stamped one of the houses in a different shade and added a little glitter pen over the top.  This then matched perfectly with my sentiment ( by Simon Says Stamp).

Whitby Abbey.

Another Box of Crayons layout.  These two lovely photos were taken by Harry on  a trip to Yorkshire a couple of years ago.

 
It was nice to have him with us as we got a few lovely photos.

The weather was lovely ( for October) as you can tell...and although the papers and embellishments are very random, I do like the page.

The journalling block is cut from the 6x8 paper pad.  Third page in a day!

Spring

OK, it's March now, so I think  spring layout is called for.  The photo was taken a couple of years ago in Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens of the two of us...I'm catching up with some older photos I have dotted about my scrapbooks.

As I only had one small photo I went with a grid layout, using up a fair amount of Shimelle's Box of Crayons stash.

I am trying not to buy too much stash at the moment until I can get some of my older stuff into scrapbooks.

I made 3 pages today so feel I'm making progress.

Halloween?

Catching up on scrapbooking old photos, I found these two taken in October 2017 just before Halloween.

The shop at Attingham Hall had this spooky seat for selfies, so we took advantage of it.

 I do like Halloween stash, the colours are lovely. Especially in the Graphic 45 papers I used here.

I think the stamped image is a pharmacy advert by Stampers Anonymous.  I cut it up into pieces and layered around the photos.

Christmas Day

I took lots of photos on Christmas day, so there are many pages to share.

I used a variety of page sizes along with some flip up pages for additional pictures.

The catch on my oven door broke on the day, refusing to close, so a picture of the cooker appears,  Luckily, my husband and brother in law did manage to carry out a temporary repair, enough to get the turkey cooked.

I was pleased that I took photos throughout the day, from the crib in church in the morning, through the preparation of lunch, eating lunch and cocktails in the evening.

Are You Him?

My husband has had white hair and a grey beard for a long time now.  Teaching 6 year olds this year, one became convinced that he was the real Father Christmas.

On the last day of term, wearing a red shirt and beard full of glitter, I'm was not surprised!

Birmingham Christmas Market.

Over the past few years, we have enjoyed a short trip to our second city before Christmas to visit the German market.  We went with my daughter and sister and her husband for a lovely day.  As it was not too near Christmas the market was not very busy, making for a lovely morning.

To add extra photos , I added a flip up section, the title was made with stamps , hand writing and tile stickers. 

I added washi tape and a Project Life journalling card. I love the photos, they look so festive.

Christmas Cosy

Father and Son dressed in festive style ready to pick up our Christmas tree.

An ideal subject for the theme of cosy!

La Banera

We found a lovely new cocktail bar in Aber back in May, quiet with a good choice of drinks to choose from. 

The papers and embellishments used for this page are from the Maggie Holmes Flourish range.

The title letters are gold topped foam Thickers, a quick page as I used only one set of papers, so all the things I added to the layout were chosen easily.

Oh I do Like to be Beside the Seaside

This summer, I saw a few of these giant deckchairs at the coast; perfect for a holiday selfie.

I took two photos in different deckchairs, one of Kev and the other of Katie and Matthew just after their graduation.

 I think the papers are Project Life, the journalling card is one from PL too.  The bingo cards are cut from a 6x6 paper book. 

I made up the title from American Crafts sticker books and Paige Evans Thickers.  Added school themed washi tape, little star stickers and enamel dots finished the page.

Father's Day

Father's Day at the beginning of June always falls close to my husband's birthday, and my brother in law's birthday.  This makes for a lovely early summer celebration.

We went out for cocktails and a family meal this year with three dads, Kev, Colin and my own dad.  To make the layout, I used mainly Shimelle's Box of Crayons, along with lots of the stickers from Shimelle's Sticker book. 

I picked up some really cute sloth washi tape from Hobbycraft to add to the page.  The journalling pad from the range is great not only to mat 6x4 photos, but also (surprisingly enough!) to add journalling.

A mixed font title finished off the page.

Community Leader

On a trip to Birmingham in June, we went into The Mailbox where Midlands BBC broadcasts from.  It was a Strictly dress in the window that caught my eye, but Kev noticed this lifesize cardboard cut out of Citizen Khan (aka Community Leader!)

As he had been growing his beard over the summer term, he wanted a photo next to his 'twin'!  I think the papers are Maggie Holmes Carousel, I also added lots of stamping using multi-coloured Altenew inks and Ali Edwards stamps.

The title was die cut from a piece of chipboard covered with the paper and cut using a Sizzix XL die, and I finished the page with yet more American Crafts stickers.

When we Were Four

I love this photo of us taken on the harbourside in Weymouth before my youngest was born. 

I can't get over how young we look, my husband (whose hair is silver now) has black hair and both of us are in our early thirties.

Again, I have used Maggie Holmes Carousel papers, along with a piece in the background by Trimcraft, floral paper (Yes Please by Amy Tan) and a Project Life journalling card.

The title is by Shimelle and small foam letters by Paige Evans.  Where have the years gone ...sigh?

Really Old Photos.

When Kev and I were 'courting' we took our first holiday together walking in the Lake District.

The weather was so bad, we got little walking done; we managed to climb Hellvelyn. 

Loving the 80 fashions sported by us on the mountainside!  Papers by Teresa Collins, Pebbles and others that I can't recall. 

The One Canoe Two stickers were good additions to the page, along with chipboard circles I've had for a while by Ali Edwards. We are not big outdoors people now, so it was good to ue up this stash on older photos.

Friends House

The Society of Friends or Quakers run a cafe over the road fro Euston Station in London.

We decided to go there for breakfast during our visit; while there you could buy a meal for a homeless person by paying for a meal voucher (the reason we chose if for our breakfast).

The papers are old ones by Pebbles, I still like them though!  Embellishments were cut from lots of different papers, Paige Evans Take me Away, a Project Life card, and stickers from American Crafts books. 

A bit of washi tape, enamel dots and a Thickers title finished off the page.

A Day in Lyme

Harry took this photo of Kev and I in Lyme a couple of years ago in the park overlooking the bay.

I think this is my favourite out of all the Shimelle pages I made for the first of her classes. 

The doily paper (JilliBean Soup) has been in my stash for ages, and I am so pleased to see the MME chipboard banner title and pink embellishment on a page,

 I managed to throw away the 12x12 sheet with only a couple of the pieces of chipboard remaining!

Happy Valentine's Day

I always make a card for my husband on Valentine's Day, this year is no different.

Red and black are traditional for February 14th, and I chose them for my card too.

The heart die is a very old one, I was sent it by Docrafts when I used to contribute to their magazine.  It cuts beautifully and the tiny hearts that drop out made ideal embellishments to finish the card. The 'love' word is by Toni Darroch, die cut from fun foam.  I added the mini banner with the simple 'you stamped onto it.  Hope he likes it.💓

Thirty Years Together

I met my husband in the summer of 1987, so the Christmas of that year was our first together.
My son had taken this picture of the two of us earlier on in the season so I had saved it to use on this page.

Holly Jolly papers and embellishments, as I had run out of the die-cut numbers I had to get creative from the 25th onwards, just using Thickers here.

Another of the acetate overlays makes an appearance (about time!)  ideal for the theme of this layout. I'm also glad to see my favourite new dress of the season in the picture.

The Coat

My son only wanted one thing for Christmas this year: a camel coat. We managed to get him one, but my husband had to try it on before we wrapped it, to make sure it fit.

We did tease Harry that the coat was for Kevin, even showing a snap on his phone, but he  did receive the coat in the end!
I used a hand written title, along with an Ali Edwards stamp with the usual embellishments.