Total Papercraft Creativity Escape 23-25 March

Well now that I am no longer associated with a company which runs scrapbooking retreats, I am free to blog about the other retreats I go on, and I have just come back from one of the best and most fun filled retreats I have ever been on!


Last weekend - I packed my passport and craft stuff and headed over the Dartford Crossing into darkest Essex, to Karen's "Creativity Escape at Debden House in Epping Forest. Debden is a local authority run conference centre, and whilst its not the poshest venue I have ever been to for a scrapping weekend, the accommodation is clean and comfortable, the food is good and the crop room is a great size and well lit for crafters. I can honestly say that I had an absolutely wonderful time from the moment I arrived on Friday afternoon until the moment I drove away after a great roast lunch on Sunday.


We had a total of 5 masterclasses over the weekend, one project and four gorgeous (as always) layouts... and all the ladies who attended were an absolute hoot! We had two rookie scrappers with us, and by the end they were totally converted and already talking about coming back for the September retreat. I don't think I have laughed so much for a long time.... one reason being Jane Errington Taylor bursting into the "I love the way you mooooove!" advert every few minutes and Karen and her Essex ladies serenading us with "Everybody loves Amanda Lamb!" every now and again.... crazy and noisy and a real fun time!

Now - on to the projects  (all of the photos on here were taken by me but they are Karen's samples (I haven't finished mine yet - still got some bits n' bobs to come from eBay for the box)

Our first one on Friday evening was this gorgeous Tim Holtz box

Its one of the compendiums, but Karen very cleverly transformed the lid into another box and we hinged both pieces to make a "book" and spread the boxes between the two halves (some of the spaces are just that - spaces). The technique on this one was decoupaging with beeswax - and while it was errrrmmmmm interesting.... I think I'll stick to good ol' Mod Podge for future projects like this. we made our own tissue tape using stamps and masking tape and our kits contained lots of bits n' pieces to fill the boxes with.... the photo really doesn't do it justice - its one of those things you have to see in real life!

Now - remember i said there were 4 layouts? I love doing Karen's classes because her style is so different to my own clean and simple one. Normally when i try to load a page like this it ends up more shabby and sh1t than shabby chic...... so I love seeing my pics on pages like these!

ALL the pages were lovely but I think this is my favourite one - its so romantic with those gorgeous roses ..... and the rub ons ..... and the stamp..... all of these (bar the roses) are from the Kaisercraft "Sweet Nothings" range which came out in January - truly beautiful!

The next one featured the Tim Holtz glassine papers which we coloured, embossed and die cut to make flowers and leaves. The papers here were Simple Stories "Documented" dark brown/ black and cream (with just a touch of red!) and they are right up my street!

Next was this lovely page featuring Graphic 45 papers, and chipboard - this isn't a very good photo - but once i have decided which school photo I'm going to use on mine - I will take a better one...... this is what comes of trying to take photographs when you have consumed the majority of a winebox on Saturday night!

This was the last of the pages - and featured lots of messy preparation of the base page using  gesso and masks and shimmer sprays and distress stains.... generally everything to do with getting inky! 

And finally - one of me with our lovely hostess/ organiser/ designer/ all round Martha Stewart.

Thanks for a fabulous weekend Karen - I had a wonderful time and can't wait for the next one..... when is it going to be??

Scrapping for ME!!

Well, yesterday I received a nice box of goodies from Merly Impressions - I had seen the new Layout Kits that Kaisercraft are now offering... and as I loved the brand new TigerLily range (pink/black/white/orange) I couldn't resist this one..... and a couple of the new Sir Tim Distress Markers in Picket Fence (the white one!) fell into the box too.... and what a coincidence.... I needed a white pen for the double layout!!!!!

Anyway - as I am a sailing widow this weekend... I settled down to make the pages this morning and as a couple of folk have asked to see them on Facebook, I thought I would blog them for everyone to see.

Now before I do.... let's get a few things off my chest from the last year or so.... firstly - these are MY Layouts - done for me - so I will scrap what I ruddy well want to, And if I want to scrap the same photo 10 different ways - I will (not that I have ever done that many though!)! Secondly, If I put a title on one of my pages, that title means something (usually a lot!) to me, and if I put a page up here (on MY blog!) to share, I have already censored it and I don't think that there is anything in either the page itself or the title that will offend anyone.

However, if anything on the pages I share does happen to offend you, sorry - but that is YOUR problem - not mine! That said - if you are offended in any way, please talk to me directly - and don't send anonymous messages via third parties. If you think it's that bad, talk to me yourself instead of upsetting me about a layout I loved - the person(s) concerned probably know what I am talking about!!

Aaaaaandddd Breathe!!!!!!

OK - on to the layouts I have just made. As I said - the kit was from Merly Impressions and this one was a huge £21... but I have 4 pages to show - and loads and loads of leftovers so with a couple of sheets of card as bases - there's probably enough left to make as many again - so I think its great value! All pages were designed by Melissa Kennedy, the owner of Kaiser... I think she's done a grand job!

The first single page (and yes - its using photos from my vow renewal again as are the other two pages as well so Pffftttt if you are bored with them I have over 300 photos of the event and I will get round to getting them ALL on pages in time - and i have around 250 to go!!) This one uses a lot of the elements from the sticker sheet - as well as from the big bag of "Collectibles" which contains flourishes, flowers, tags, journalling blocks, photo corners and words all matching the papers beautifully

The second single page moved on to the the rub ons and pearl swirls included in the kit - and whilst I've used all the pearl swirl and most of the rub ons - there is still LOADS left in the collectibles and patterned papers.

And finally to the double page which definitely takes me out of my single page single photo comfort zone.... here's a double with no less than SIX photos on it!! Oh and the Picket Fence marker was used for the snail trails of thebutterflies..... its a bit disconcerting as the ink for the white pen goes on clear - and takes a couple of seconds to dry white!!

Well after my lazy day so far - I had better go and get on with some housework before Rog and Katy get home from the Hamble.

The End of an Era

The Tunbridge Wells Scrapaholix Club will meet for the last time on Wednesday 14th March 2012 at my home in Horsmonden, Kent from 7:30 onwards. Please ring on 07973 969153 if you need any details


As this meeting will close a chapter of my life, there will be no charge for the meeting, you will just need to pay for the club kit on the night. All past members are welcome to come along and join me for a glass of wine and some nibbles to mark the end of an era.

#The party's over - it's time to call it a day!#

Well the title says it all really - after almost eight years with Scrapaholics/ Scrapaholix, the last two as co-owner, I have decided that it's time to call it a day and hand the reins back to Sarah.

As of the 1st April 2012, I will no longer have any connection to Scrapaholix, apart from maybe being a member of Lizzie's club in Tonbridge. If anyone has any queries about starting their own Scrapaholix club, wants a kit subscription, a grab box of past kits or details of upcoming retreats, please contact Sarah on Scrapaholix@mac.com.

Its been a fun ride - but all things come to an end, and when you gotta go - you gotta go so this is my swansong.

So with that out of the way - I'm returning to being a hobby scrapper who dabbles in SU goodies on the side, so keep watching this blog and my SU one for what I get up to with my layouts!

Samantha Moore Silversmith!

For those of you who don't know..... when my little brother married the lovely Lyn (she's far too good for him by the way!) 15 years ago - Beryl and I acquired a new nephew and niece.

Peter and Samantha have both turned into lovely adults with successful careers and have also both met two lovely people to share their lives with in Kerry and Darren.

Samantha has just passed her Master's degree in Silversmithing from the University of Ulster with distinction and is hoping to make this her career. She graduated this afternoon and here she is all dressed up with a very proud mum and stepfather!

She already has a website (which seems to be a work in progress at the moment - get a move on with it Sammy - its your shop window!) but if you check out her facebook page you will see some samples of her gorgeous work!

She has made some wondefully unique engagement rings - including her own and Kerry's - here's an example she made for a friend.....

and another one

She also made a fabulous locket for Beryl's 60th birthday. This one is based on an antique piece Beryl was given by one of Mum's neighbours in Belfast on her wedding day - but alas it got lost in all the house moves since. Nigel and Karen described it to Sammy - and here is her take on it - a beautiful locket with a raised letter B inset with pearls (Beryl's birth stone!)

Her latest commission is this beautiful amethyst and diamond pendant and in the facebook album you can see it in all its preliminary stages of manufacture

But its not all about jewellery - she has also made some beatiful pieces in precious metals too - this Absinthe case was one of her Master's pieces - and she made all the silver items in it as well as helping with the design of the little cabinet. It won first prize at a big exhibition in Goldsmith's hall a couple of months ago as well!

She has some truly gorgeoous samples of her work  (- and yes - I know I'm biased - but prize committees and degree awarding bodies seem to agree!) in her facebook gallery.

If you would like to chat to her about making you a piece of jewellery or a christening cup or another treasure - get in touch with her by phone on 07840 133921 or email her on samantha-moore1@hotmail.com



Kaiser trinket chest

Did I mention that I went a bit mad in the Merly Impressions shop at the Kaiser retreat last month??

Yes?? Oh well - as I did - here is another project I made using the stash I acquired back then.

This is the gorgeous new trinket chest that Kaiser brought out in June, and I have decorated it with one of the other brand new offerings - the Velvet Ensemble paper collection. This is actually just both sides of one of the sheets (Matinee) - I used the patterned side on the drawer fronts, and the plain side on the side and interior of the lift up section at the top, and the sides of the chest.

I painted the chest with cream acrylic paint, and bashed the edges of the chest and the drawers and all the papers with a dewdrop inkpad (Gingerbread) before going mad with the decorating.

For the top - I used some of the elements from the Stage Show sheet on both the top and inner lid. For the top I used the plain cream one, finished off with a piece of the keyboard sticker from the sticker sheet on the front edge before adding a piece of a black pearl swirl and some of the lush roses. The problem with this little chest is that with the lift up lid and the nearly half inch high lip at the back, any embellishments on the lid have to be towards the front to allow the lid to open properly!

I did the sides with the plain red side of the Matinee paper, and again finished off the bottom edges with a piece of the keyboard sticker. And on one side I added this beautiful wooden dress form flourish. I left it plain as the natural wood finish went perfectlly with the vintage look of this piece.

When i lifted the top up - I thought that the inside of this section needed a bit of embellishment so I put in another element from Stage Show in the underside of the lid, and a rectangle of Matinee in the bottom.

Finally I embellished the front of the drawers with more flowers and bits I had chopped off the pearl swirl used on the top. The pearls around the top edges of the drawers are long strips and I simply curved them around the finger holes.

I hope you like this one - now off to do some layouts with the rest of my Chapter One and Velvet Ensemble papers!



More Kaiser lushness

Well I couldn't resist all my gorgeous new stash for very long - and I spent yesterday putting together and painting my new Kaiser storage chest, and this morning I decorated it.

Although I had seen Chrissy's gorgeous version on Sunday, I had already decided to use the same paper she did (Chapter 1 Motivate) as the main decoration for the drawers before she brought hers in - so while there are similarities - there are some differences as well....

I started by putting together the chest first and then painting it ( I found that if you paint first the wood seems to swell a bit - and what went together easily in its raw version, requires a bit of brute force when it's been painted) with Kaisercolour acrylic paint in black. I assembled the drawers using Sarah's method of using Glossy Accents up the seams and holding it for a minute or so until it grabbed hold, as I didn't want to cover the backs and sides of the drawers. They were then painted black as well.

I used the absolutely gorgeous Chapter One papers for this one - I must admit that the cool blues and greens on white with black accents are right up my street (almost as much as my favourite red black and white!) - and by sheer coincidence - just happen to match my bedroom and I needed some new storage for my bling!

The main sheet was the Motivate paper which is just the right size for covering the three drawer fronts and the top of the chest (the only bit of waste from this sheet was a tiny strip the height of the 3 drawers and 1/4" wide). I used the equally lovely Flourish paper on the sides, although I did cut it carefully to ensure I got the patterned sections.

Once I had the drawers covered, I bashed the edges with a black inkpad to soften them and blend them into the black sides, and I inked the top piece before I stuck it down. As you can see from the abundance of blooms, (link takes you to the olive ones but i used the sea breeze version too!) wood flourishes and crystal swirls, a lot of Merly's stock found its way into my pizza box over the weekend, although I had a few green crystals left from making the retreat samples so I did use them as flower centres on the paper daisies.

As you can see - I used a wooden lamp post, a swirl, a butterfly and some leaves from the wood flourishes collection - all inked black and stuck on, before going mad with the big bushy roses!

Now that the cabinet is finished I'm going to create some dividers for the drawers so that my bling doesn't end up a tangled mess!

I'm absolutely delighted with my effort - but as I went to post this entry this morning I see that Chrissy has put hers up on the Merly Impressions blog today as well - so you can check hers out (and maybe go shopping while you are there?????)