Norway scrapbook with my January sale bargains!

A view from up the T.V tower, we could see across the whole of Stavanger and out into the fjord.  There was plenty of wind chill!

 

The mini letters were 10p for a big sheet with hundreds of letters on it! An absolute bargain and perfect for mini books :)  Need to add the journalling when I've got a quiet moment.

 

  

The tabs are by October Afternoon and are really easy and effective to use, love them :)  Pulpit rock is a three hour hike up steep and slippery rocks but it gives stunning views out over the fjord and you can dangle your legs over the edge because the rock is as flat as a table :)

 

 

 

 

This photo was taken at dusk hence the poor lighting.  It's of the four Canadian girls who did a semester of nursing placement in Norway and wanted a picture in front of the towns famous three swords monument.

My December ...........

Went for a frosty festive walk in the local forest, I love living near the countryside :)

 

Quite pleased with the framing of this photo :)

Making gingerbread men with my little sister for christmas eve :)

At the end of November I went on a mini break to Norway to visit one of my bridesmaids, we had a great time hanging out, as usual!  She's Canadian and spent four months out there on a nursing placement.

We went on a boat trip up one of the fjords and were treated to some fresh mountain water straight off a waterfall, cool! When I've caught up on my Norway (and the rest of December!) scrapbooking, I'll post all the pages/layouts up here :)

Battersea and Ben Hur!

David had planned a suprise for me and I knew several months before that we were going somewhere exciting! I had no idea what I was about to be treated to but when we arrived at the O2 he told me we were going to watch the world premier of Ben Hur live and it was incredible!!  The chariot race was amazing and the music and number of actors made for a spectacular show, I had a great night, thanks gorgeous :)

 

The O2 arena is amazing and we had great seats.  I used the tickets packet at the top of the page and some of my thickers to creat the title.  The journalling card is by October Afternoon and is framed by Making Memories paint and some bling.

 

We celebrated bonfire night at Battersea Park where the theme was love.  All the fireworks exploded in time with the music and the songs included 'Kings of Leon' and 'Westlife'.  It was so cool.  We also had sparklers and after the display, went to Tooting Common to release a wish lantern :)  A great evening.

I love this tree paper by 'Crate Paper' and have been waiting to use this this 'firework' embellishment for ages!

My new recipe book...............

Thinking ahead to married life i know it will be important to have a good supply of recipes for dinner parties, when family come round or just for a nice night in. And of course i had to have a handmade scrapbook one for all my favourite recipes that i'm going to gather over the next few months :)

(sorry about the poor lighting on the photo but i was at uni today and it's getting dark so early in the evening now!)

I've got chapter cover pages for all food areas such as seafood, meat, starters, desserts and bread, well excited!! Alot of the papers are from October afternoon and i used lots of my new 'thickers' so i'm really pleased with how it all looks :)

I really wanted to do a layout yesterday but had no new photo's to scrapbook so i dug out this one from months ago.  I made David a massive poster with a little story on it and substituted some of the words with chocolate bars, for example 'I love it when you wispa in my ear'.

Here's a very autumnal layout and i love the background paper which is from the Nutmeg range by Cosmo Cricket, there stuff is so cool!!!  The little photo in the bottom left corner is a message i wrote in the condensation of Davids window and reads 'I love David more than scrapbooking'.

Looking forward to fireworks in London tomorrow but will sadly miss the x-factor (which is where You Tube comes in handy :)

Green and grey layouts...

I got engaged two weeks before my cousins wedding and because i live with my auntie, the excitement in her house had reached fever pitch!!  There has been non stop talk about flowers, dresses, invite designs, rings, reception decorations etc etc.  I've learnt a few lessons by observing the build up to my cousins big day such as.... don't bother you're fiance with decisions about minor details, keep your mum on board with all the plans, decide what is a priority in the budget because you can't have it all (sadly), look at lots of wedding blogs with a notebook close to hand and above all have lots of fun with all the planning :)  The polaroid picture is from Nancy and Betty stationery.

I recently went to Malawi for a couple of weeks for a university project and whilst there, my friend and i went to a Wildlife Park along the Shire River.  Our hosts son took us in his (temperamental) car.  Whilst driving through the park we came across a big herd of elephants.  We naughtily got out of the vehicle to take better photos and after a few minutes made the decision to drive on but the car wouldn't start!!  After a quick push the car rumbled into life and we made our hilariously panicked getaway!

I love the American Thickers that i bought in a recent supplies splurge and i think these brown puffy ones are my favourite.  I also really like the swirly green paper from 'Crate Paper' and have used it on a couple of layouts.  These are my favourite colours at the moment, hence the green and grey inspired wedding invitations.

Autumn fun!

How cute is this pumpkin that I made for David!! It's now taking pride of place next to his plastic skull (they look like a very odd couple!)

As part of my wedding day countdown chart i've planned little fun things for us to do together and having an autumny picnic in the park was one of them.  It was a gorgeous sunny afternoon and is so nice to just chat and eat outdoors :)

 We collected lots of conkers at the common and made this seasonally romantic heart.  Love conkers all eh!

I was so gutted to read that Scrapbook Inspirations magazine is going to cease publication :(  I loved the magazine and all the features and inspiration and new products and techniques.  I read the magazine at work, sitting in the ambulance between jobs, it was perfect escapism and i'm going to really miss it.  I was proud to have some of my layouts featured in the Readers Gallery and will miss the thrill of seeing my layouts in print!

Sneaky peak..................

Well here is a glimpse of part of our mini- book wedding invitation.  There'll be a few little alterations such as ivory ribbon rather than brown but it's pretty much ready to go into mass production, so excited!!  Just need to choose a bible verse and a decent photo of the two of us.  I bought the stripy paper about 6 months ago (before we were engaged!) because i loved it and thought it would be perfect for our wedding stationary and it was the last 10 sheets on the shop (with no guarantee of a re-order), had to have it!  Let me know what you think.....

Scrapbook party!

My auntie was treated to a scrapbook party, by her daughter, at our local scrapbook store.  Six of us went and we made this gorgeous mini-album.  It was a great evening where we were treated to cheese and biscuits, wine and chocolate dipped strawberries, yummy!  I also bought myself a glitter pen.  Thanks for organising it Susie :)

Rough and Tumble!

My fiance loves doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and he's got natural talent for it! His instructor is really impressed with his progression and hardwork, i'm proud :) I went along to the class one week and got some action shots! This layout is quite boyish and funky, i love the novelty cardstock by Crate Paper and added my own favourite things......buttons and doodles!

The letters are American Thickers (black vinyl) and i got them in the sale from a recent on-line order, bargain find!! I've also had a big splurge on 'October Afternoon' goodies, they're so gorgeous so expect to see their products in some layouts coming soon :)

Back from Africa :)

Just got back from a two week trip to Malawi, had a great time!! Went with my Uni friend Ella and had a few 'behind the scenes' tours of the local hospitals as part of a research project for uni. Stayed with some family friends, this is our hosts grand-daughter, 5 year old Lauren, she is the cutest kid :) Took these photos during one of the many power cuts, i dressed her up in ALL my jewellery, she loved it and was strutting around like a little princess :)

On one of the Saturdays we went to an engagement party, it was quite the experience! The day started with the ring giving ceremony then we had bioled rice and goat for lunch (which Ella couldn't stomach so palmed it off to the village kids who were more than happy to help her eat it!) In the afternoon there was the gift giving ceremony which basically involved dancing around the couple and throwing money (notes) at them which they use for the wedding and starting married life. The couple got a total of the equivalent of 10 months of a teachers wages out there, nice! Below is a picture of the goat being cooked on outdoor fires.

Had to do all our washing by hand, Primark clothes do not stand up well to this tough scrubbing!!

Went to a wildlife park and this was the sign by the entrance. Thought it was very funny that they felt the need to clarify that hunting was prohibited and removing animals was not allowed!

Well i'll be doing some scrapbooking today in between my uni lectures so will update with my new layouts tomorrow :) Is good to be back on British soil.

Ireland mini book, so cool........

And here is the beautiful ring!!! the mini photo is the location where he proposed, it was lovely and sunny with the waves loudly crashing on the cliffs below, perfect :)


David got his feet soggy on one of our walks so when we stopped at an old volcanic lake he styled out some poi to get them dry, so funny!




The dingle dolphin gets his very own bronze statue on the harbour front, there is kids climbing over it all day long.

I wrote our happy news on the wooden slats of the bunk beds in the hostel. There was lots of messages from other previous travellers from around the world.

more Ireland mini book, love it!

My king of the castle!!

Had an amazing time in Ireland and had to make an 8"x8" mini book to show off all the cool photo's we took :) Fungi is the name of a lone dolphin who lives in Dingle bay and we went out on a boat to see him. He was chasing the boat and leaping out of the water, fun times!


When the owner of the hostel heard that we had got engaged she said we could stay there for free as her present to us :) such a blessing. will send her a photo of the big day next year :)



Love this photo. I'm really into photo's that fill the page, with a few cool embellishments and lovely patterened paper around it :)