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,

A cute zebra and a bucket

Hi! How were your Summer Holidays? Mine were not exactly relaxing, but I have to say its nice to get back into the old school routine again.

Incidentally, I'm hoping that my Mum will brave the internet and start popping by to read this blog (Hi Mum!!!) - firstly 'cos its good practice on browsing the internet (!), and secondly I'm hoping that knowing she will be looking, I will start posting regularly! Honestly, who wants to be told off by their Mum?

She's just beginning to get the hang of using a mouse, and needs ideas of things to go and look at - after all, it is rather a large digital world - so I may start posting interesting things to peek at, like that lovely esty shop I previously found.

I hope you like the first card above - I couldn't resist treating myself to a kit or two from Kasia Designs, who's just relocated her store. Her style was always clean and uncluttered, but she's refined her work even more and I just love it. I used The Bucket List to make my card.

Isn't this little chap a cutie? I've just added this card to my galleries - so its nice to show it off here too! The original digital image is what is referred to as a digital stamp. It started out as a black outline in SuzyQ's signature oopsie doodle style, to which I added colour by layering digital papers and cutting them to size with Photoshop. I like doing this - its time consuming, but oddly very satisfying!

I have had a really wonderful response to these babygrows which I decorated using Ju Kneipp's I {heart} Animals kit - the photo is even going to be featured in the Hybrid Standouts feature in Digishop Talk's October magazine. How wonderful is that!?!?!

In case you were wondering: the crocodile is (naturally) saying snap, snap, snap, whilst the fish is blowing love heart-shaped bubbles - so I added 'love bubbles' below, Finally the monkey is singing 'oh oobie doo' from the song from the Jungle Book movie.

I made them by using iron-on transfer paper from my local supermarket. Its a really special way to personalise clothes for children, or even a tote bag for yourself....:

This was made for the Digiscrap Addicts magazine in July, using a really beautiful kit by Veronica Spriggs.

I have literally just finished photographing this last card, which I made especially for the husband of a friend, who (you've guessed it!) is turning 40 today and is apparently not too happy about it.... although he is enjoying the opportunity to indulge in a bit of a mid-life crisis ;)

It's made using Over the Edge by Lauren Grier & Eva Kipler, and completed by layering the funny little doodle man and a funereal black ribbon! The font is called A Truer Blue , another freely available one from the very generous Kevin&Amanda.com - and is just perfect for this card.

'til next time....

Sara

x

PS Full details for my cards etc can be found by clicking the links below:

Bucket Full of Love

One of a Kind

I {heart} Animals babygrows

Butterfly tote bag

My poor neglected blog

Wow - doesn't time fly!

How about a couple of photos to show you that I haven't been completely idle?

The first card, above, was made with Lil' Bundle from SuzyQ - I wanted to make a card suitable for either a baby boy or girl, and fortunately this kit gave me full flexibility, which is a nice change as so many are specifically for one sex or the other. I have to say that little bear makes me sigh.

I also want to show you a couple of cards I've made with Ju Kneipp's designs recently too. Both are made with her Under the Sun kit:

I love the colour she packs into her designs, and I loved being able to use the lyrics to 'You are my Sunshine' in a card :)

Have you ever visited Andrea's blog? If you haven't, you are definitely missing out, its brimming over with inspiration! Well, this incredibly talented and very sweet lady & her mother have a new store of their very own - but theirs sells real ribbons and trimmings, rather than those of the digital variety! Since my beloved Poppicrafts disappeared, I've been looking for a new supplier, and I think I've found it with Andrea & her mum. Their store is called The Ribbon Girl and its more than worth a peek!

I've one last little something to share with you today:

...a cute little something to fill with jellybeans for my boy - when he decides to play nice this summer holiday! Made with another of SuzyQ's kits: Under Construction.

If you would like to see the full credits for any of the things I've shown in this blog post, please just click on the photos.

I'll be back again soon with more - really, really!

Sx

New designers and a freebie link!

Can you believe May is almost over? Its been such a hectic month: I've been at school working a lot of additional days and we've had family visiting too. We get to see so little of our family, that this was an extra special event for us ....but now it is all back to normal.

May was also very special as I joined two more very talented designers creative teams! This is the first:

SuzyQ's home shop is here at Scrap Orchard. I wanted to be part of her team as I couldn't resist her doodly collection (especially the adorable frogs she's created!). Here's a new card from me made using a combination of her designs, including her new dino doodles:

The invite to join the second team came out of the blue - and once I saw the wonderfully eclectic designs of Ju, I couldn't say no as I just itched to make something with her designs:

Ju's fairly new to being an individual designer, but you simply must check out her work - its so unique and vibrant. She sells her kits etc at both Digiscrappers Brazil and CatScrap, which I believe is based in Norway - isn't it wonderful how global our community is?!?!

Here's an all digi-card I made with Ju's Strawberry Swing kit:

I do have lots of other bits 'n bob's to share with you that I made in May, but I'll do that in a day or so as I really, really should be getting ready to go for a day-out to the Natural History Museum. We've promised Alex that we'd go and see the dinosaurs today :)

I've linked the pictures you can see in this post so that you can see all the details as to what I used to make the cards. In the galleries, you'll see more of my work - but do take time to go for a wander about as there is some amazingly talented people out there wanting to share their work with you!

One last thing, I posted a freebie card front on the fabulous Heather Roselli's blog a week or so ago - its the cheeky monkey card you saw at the top of this post! I saved it with wording for both Father's Day and Happy Birthday, sized 6x4in and 7x5in. All you have to do is download, choose the front you want and print. Then cut out and stick to a card blank! You can find the freebie waiting for you right here!

Enjoy your holiday weekend - and if your school is on half-term holiday too, then I sincerely wish you sunny, dry weather and not-too-crowded parks, museums, pools, cinema......!

Sara x