Book clubs & other things

Hello!

I recently joined a book club - my first ever.  Its an on-line club run via the Sweet Shoppe's community forum, and we're just into the second month of books, so its all new, fresh & welcoming new readers all the time.

This month so far I've read 'The Girl Who Cased the Moon' by Sara Addison Allen - and just loved it.  Its a really light, charming & simply happy book to read.  I've already ordered another of hers.  I'm finding myself progressively reading more & more light-hearted books, rather than the more 'educational'ones. I find I more & more appreciate a little escapism in my choice of books - too many harsh things going on in the world without reading about them in a novel too.

Truthfully I rarely read books - I listen to them instead! ...which is precisely what I'm doing with a second of the book club book choices for May: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

I felt like I'd given into popular demand & downloaded a heavy, deep book, but about 4 hours into the audio unabridged version, I am a total convert.  Its a beautifully written story - the audio version is told by 2 actors, an older Jacob & a younger version, and it works splendidly.  If you've never tried listening to a story - give it a go with this book, its worth joining a club like Audible for this one alone.

I hope you like the 'lil Love Bot box above (the little robot makes me smile) - the papers worked perfectly to make this more masculine themed gift box, don't you think?  Its complimented by this card - perfect for your man on any special occasion :)  The designs are all by Ju Kneipp, though the box template is by Heather Roselli.

Have I mentioned Heather has a new-look blog??  She's also beginning to sell her templates for commercial use too!!  I've been pestering her for this for ages!  Her range of Stick Learnings are also worth a peek if you've small children - made in happy collaboration with Rebecca from the CT team.  I've a couple of how-to's on the blog if you're interested too :)

Finally, in response to a art journal themed challenge this month, I had a go at making a journal cover in this new-to-me style.  This was the result:

I didn't have a journal to actually cover so I made one with recycled card & key rings.  I will definitely try this style again - including the 'she would...' quote idea.  It was fun & nice to try something a little different :)  Its made with lots of SuzyQ Scrap's goodies!

I'm off to dry my hair after swimming (30 lengths this morning!), and get more washing on the line :)

Wishing you a sunny day too,

Hot off the Press

Look what I made! I have never made an 'explosion' box before - the number of photos have always intimidated me 'cos I am lousy at taking them - but Heather has a huge release scheduled for tomorrow morning, and needed her team to make up examples. I got to make the hexagonal & pentagonal boxes as you can see, and I loved it. Heather's templates are (as always) a breeze to use, and these boxes only required the minimal equipment to assemble: a printer, a knife & ruler for straight edges, my Scoreboard for neat creasing & some adhesive. As Heather wanted printables that were already good to look at, I didn't add any 'real' embellishments - but the possibilities are endless! My mum will love them as a gift for sure. ...well worth looking at when they hit the Sweet Shoppe store! Sara x

It's alive!

...well, I am anyway :)

Its been sooooo long since I last posted here, but I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things - especially as I have lots of things to show off and news to share.

Firstly, about the mini album above. It originally started life as this:

I have to say I'm quite proud of the transformation, especially as its the first time I've ever tackled anything like this! Take a peek at a couple of the inside pages:

I made it in response to a Sweet Shoppe challenge to use recycled items to make something new - and having recently become addicted to skinny vanilla lattes from guess where, I had no problem sourcing the basics for this album.

Here's a quick-ish 'how-I-made-that' guide:

To begin, I cut the card sleeve in two, then I measured and then prepared my colour cards in Photoshop, sizing them to fit. The colour cards were sooo simple to do as I cheated and used Heather Roselli's new Spectrum Flash Cards (with a little digi modification to fit as shown). I mounted each flash card onto coordinating sugar-coated cardstock from Doodlebug Designs (love this stuff!), and then stuck this onto a Starbucks album page using double sided tape.

Once all the pages were ready, I punched a hole through the corner using my Big Bite, and then added a key ring (from Woodware) to hold everything together.

Finally I added stapled a colour coordinating ribbon loop (from Poppicrafts) to each album page, plus a button or similar for extra fun embellishment, and ta-da!

This project was totally inspired by this post by Fiskars - thank you!

Since my last post I promise I really have been busy cutting, sticking and folding.... Just to prove it (!), here are a just a couple more pictures of recent projects:

Easter Egg card

4 'Sweet' Shoppes

Baby Block Gift Boxes

I'll be back with more card ideas to show you soon!

So, I mentioned I had some news to share. I am sorry to say that I have decided to step down from the Poppicrafts creative team, for no other reason that the shop has changed its stock direction quite dramatically (and I'm delighted to say successfully!!), and I don't feel that I am the right person for the job any more. I hated telling Michelle this, but it was the honest thing to do. Michelle's was the first team I was ever invited to join, and I can never thank her enough for the confidence boost she gave me. Poppicrafts will always remain my main source for ribbons though - promise :)

Oh, I do need a pick-me-up after typing that, so here's a final big splash of colour courtesy of the designs of Heather Roselli:

Rainbow cards

Bye for now!

Sx

A new team, two cards and warm water

Back again - finally! We had a lovely week away and then a manic week back home catching up - plus I started my few weeks of work at our son's school (covering medical leave). The pay isn't at all great - but it should help towards my embellishment addiction and maybe a little towards paying for the gym membership I've just taken out!

Let me catch you up with a card or two I've recently made:

There was a recent challenge to make a windmill card over at the Sweet Shoppe (complete with instructions by Andrea), and this was my take. I love the colours I chose - so girly and just right for my niece. I made the challenge extra fiddly for myself by having the bright idea (!) to make mini windmills, rather than one large one, but it has worked beautifully so I will be doing this again 'cos its such a nice idea.

I designed this next card to be a simple one to construct, after assembling all the digital elements in Photoshop and printing out:

I printed the lion banner twice, so that I could select certain areas to layer up (such as the lion's head and the balloons). Inking has yet again added definition, don't you think? As you can see, I printed the image a third time, but at a reduced size, for a quick tag.

All the papers and digi-elements from these cards are from kits by Heather Roselli - who has very kindly invited me to be part of her design team! A very big and excited toot, toot for me :)

I am hoping to make the lion and banner a give-away on Heather's team blog sometime in the near future. I'll let you know....

I can't begin to describe how happy (and constantly surprised!) I am at all the faith in my work shown by these incredibly talented people. Makes me feel very humble - thank you to them all again, and again...

I have definitely decided that 4 full time teams is my limit, especially with working (just a little) and the Summer holidays coming up, when crafting time will be rather limited and precious! ...but may be I can wrangle a guest spot in another team now and again. I live for the variety and challenge!

Have you investigated the digi-worlds of scrapping and creating yet? If not, you must!!! Imagine: unlimited access to papers and elements you love, with ideas for what ribbon/ buttons etc will coordinate with the kit. I know I'm part of the team over at Digiscrap Addicts, but honestly, even I am totally in awe of the scale of ideas, suggestions, friendship, coupons and freebies that are on offer there. All you do is register (FREE!), and you can access some beautiful kits and gallery inspiration - but don't forget to check out the general forums too - they are truly multinational and very welcoming :)

Be brave, stick your toe in - the water's fine, trust me!

I promise to be back soon!

Sx

Windmill card:

Made using 'Girls and Dolls' - Heather Roselli (here at Sweet Shoppe Designs)

Sugar coated brads and rub-on alpha - Doodlebug Designs

Dovecraft chalks

Grrreat birthday card:

Made using 'Life's a Circus' - Heather Roselli (here at Sweet Shoppe Designs)

Ricrac - Doodlebug Designs

Ranger Stickles glitter glue, ink, freebie stars