At the NOO ????

I did a LO today and came across an interesting problem. I put the title around the edge of the photo (I seem to be doing that a lot lately!) but when I stood back and looked at it, it looked more like it said 'At the noo' than 'At the zoo'! I think it only looked wrong because there was a 'z' in the word.

So I turned the 'z' around and I think it looks better now!

I used the beautiful Saffron range from K&Co. I don't know if you can see that well in the photo, but the fabric brad is just gorgeous. The felt flowers, the paper....in fact the whole range is gorgeous. 

win, win, win!

Well I know I've been raving about the beautiful StudioCalico kits, but they are running a great competition at the moment. You can win a six month sub to their monthly kit for a friend and the person who referred them!! Just go to the competition thread in the announcement section of their message board on www.studiocalico.com. Register a username, and leave your name and my username (Lynner) in the thread and we could both win !!!! What an amazing prize!

LO for the day is from my holiday album from last summer! More lovely papers from Love, Elsie. Have a great day.

 

Early start

Well I woke up this morning at 4.45 am so that I could order my StudioCalico add-on kit. The kits are  'revealed' at 12 midnight U.S. time which is 5am here and as the add-ons can go quite quickly you've got to get there early! But try as I might, I couldn't get on to the site and kept getting a message about the server being busy. You would think I'd have the good sense to turn around and go back asleep straight away, but in my enthusiasm I kept trying. The enthusiasm finally ran out at about 5.40am! 

 Did this LO last week. Had some very cute Love, Elsie paper and embellishments with cupcakes (or Fairy Buns if you're Irish!) on them. I think it's the Jack and Abby range.

  

Can't believe it.....

...but my 'Boo!' LO that I posted here yesterday is one of the Featured Layouts on the Creating Keepsakes website today. I know it looks small on the screen shot below, but you can see it better if you click on the image. YaY!!!! :)

Revamp

I gave one of my LO's a bit of a revamp the other day. I was never really happy with the title so I changed things around a bit. I'm still not sure if I'm happy with it. I'll have to go back to it a few times and decide!

I also did another LO with my March StudioCalico kit. I think I'll have to put away the SC kits now for a while and make a dent in the rest of my lovely stash!

A new week

Oisin will be 5 in about four weeks! I can't believe it. He has been making a birthday list for about the last month. At the moment there's about 500 things on it and it's growing everyday:) Like most kids, he love to dress up, (especially in superhero costumes) and the other day he told me 'I would like a new pirate costume for my birthday because the one I already have isn't working out for me!' It was so funny to hear him use that expression!

Got to do a few more layouts last week. Did one using my March StudioCalico kit (Mischievous) and another using the April kit. I don't know if you can see it that well in the photo, but the little cherries sticker beside the title in the 'Mischievous' LO are SO cute.

I've been pinked! (well, a bit...)

I have been wondering for a while what the big fuss was about Pink Paislee. Today I got to do a LO with some of my PP stash that I got in my StudioCalico kit and I think I'm starting to understand. I think it's a case of papers that look so much better when actually used in a LO. 

Did another LO with a circular theme. I got to use my much loved but seldom used circle cutter!

Feelin' Krafty?

Kraft cardstock! It's so versatile and I only discovered it recently when I got some in my StudioCalico kits. I think I have only done one LO in the the last few weeks that didn't use it. The picture on my new banner is taken from one of those krafty LO's! I think I like how the banner looks...still trying to decide whether to keep it or try something different...hmmmm...

Thought I'd post one of my older LO's today. 

Happy Scrapper

I really love this months kit from StudioCalico. Got to do another layout with it yesterday about the meaning of Oisin's name. When translated to English it means little deer, so the paper with the deer on it actually inspired the page. I didn't think I'd be able to use that paper at all! I wasn't sure whether I should use the title 'Little Deer' or 'Little Dear'. I thought if I tried to use a clever title like 'Little Dear' it might just look like I couldn't spell!

Happy Days

Today is a good day! Found out that one of those LO's I did earlier this week with the lovely BG Archaic range is going to be published in the new DoCrafts magazine, Creativity Life which I think is out in July! Yay!!

And I had time to play with the beautiful StudioCalico kit that arrived yesterday. There was so much nice stuff in it I didn't know where to start. But there was a challenge on the StudioCalico site to use numbers so I decided to do a LO about going for our 20 week scan with Oisin. That was the day we found out we were having a boy. I called it 50-50! 

April Kit & Scraplifts

Got my April StudioCalico kit today! Yay! I didn't get it until the 19th of last month so I wasn't expecting it for another 9 days. It looks soooo gorgeous and I have a few ideas floating around  for layouts already. I've got so much nice stash over the last few weeks I think I have started dreaming about layouts :)

Over the last few days I got to play some more with the beautiful Archaic range from Basic Grey and got two more really nice LO's done. The only thing is, I'm reluctant to post them as I think I might submit them for publication should the opportunity arise. I'm not sure if thats a bit silly or not.. in fact, I don't think I have posted a lot of my favourite LO's  just in case (except for LO's already published or scraplifts!) So, in keeping with that thought...I'm going to post some of my favourite scraplifts. The first is called Blue Eyed Boy. I scraplifted this LO from an issue of Creating Keepsakes just a few months after I started scrapbooking and I have always loved it.

This next one is quite different from the original but it started out as a scraplift from a LO by one of the BasicGrey designers. I think the original LO was called 'Buds'. I love the Recess collection from BG.

The last LO is called 'Travel' and I scraplifted it from a LO I saw in a fabulous Scrapbook shop in Florida called ScrappyBoutique. (I thought I was in heaven when I found that shop when we were on holidays last summer!) It's made using the Toby range from Love, Elsie.

Product Review

It's always nice to get something for free... but it's even better when you get something you love for free! I got myself a free sample of 3L Scrapbook Adhesive EZ Runner to review, courtesy of Design Objectives (thanks Becks and Katy!) and I have to say I love these little guys. I used to be a glue stick girl and thought you had to glue everything (especially paper) right to the edge to get it to lie flat and look good. Needless to say I ruined many a good photo on a layout with my sticky little fingers :) When I discovered these EZ Runners, life became just a little bit easier (and a lot less messy!) I have used them successfully on ribbon, felt, card and paper and it goes on like a dream. They are very sticky (I find them stronger than the glue dot runners) but not so sticky that you can't pull things carefully apart in an 'bad placement' emergency. My only problem now is that if I'm going through a good scrapping phase (and at the moment my mojo is in overdrive) I can go through one in just a few days. Which leads me to my main problem with them - they are too expensive!   

I also had to answer a few questions for the review... so here goes!

1. How often do you use adhesive? Everytime I scrap, which can vary from 1 day to 5 or 6 days a week. 

2. What is the main type of adhesive you use? EZ runners and glue dots. 

3. What do you look for in an adhesive? Something with strong hold, easy to use and clean.

4. How easy is the product to remove from the packaging? Very easy.

5. How does the product appeal to you - does it look good? It looks fine, could be a bit snazzier!

6. How easy is the product to use? Very easy.

7. How well does the product perform? Very well. I was very happy with it.

8. Do you like this product? I loved it.

9. Do you consider it good value for money? I'm afraid not...it's too expensive.

10. Would you consider buying this product in the future? Yes.

11. What would make you more likely to buy this product in the future? If it was cheaper I would buy them by the dozen.

12. What would make you less likely to buy this product in the future? If it was any more expensive than it already is!

it's cold out there...

...so I stayed in for most of the day and got another LO done, yay! Those Fancy Pants papers were just calling to me so I did another colourful page. I got some of the ideas from the Fancy Pants gallery again and I love how it turned out. I painted directly onto the page to create a space for my journalling and this was the first time I have ever done that...I think it looks ok.  I think I have always been a bit afraid to paint on my pages! I really love American Crafts Thickers for my titles. The ones I used here are vinyl...very cool! I had great fun playing with the felt too, it reminded me of those boxes of felt shapes I used to play with as a child. 

Finally...

...got around to doing a layout!  I used the new Fancy Pants About a Boy range which is just beautiful. It's so bright and really suits good colourful boy pictures, like this one of Oisin in one of his superhero costumes. The LO is actually a scraplift from one of the LO's in the FancyPants gallery. I think it was one they used for their CHA Winter release. The journalling is about a funny dream Oisin had about a year ago but never got to scrap until now.

Mini Album

I thought I'd get to do lots of scrapping this week with Oisin back at school, but for some reason I haven't got to do a single LO (yet!). But I thought I'd post a few pics of the mini album I did for my Mam and Dad for Christmas. My Mam said she would love something scrapbooky (I don't think that's a real word, but you know what I mean :) as her Christmas present so I thought a mini album would be a good gift. I decided to do it on things our family did during the year 2007. I had never done one before but it turned out really well. I packaged it up in nice tissue paper in a pretty box and it looked so cute I wanted to keep it for myself!  I think I'm just not used to giving away my scrapbook creations! Anyway, I did give it, and I think it was much appreciated. I did take a few snaps of the album before I gave it away though...