weddings, weddings, weddings!! woop woop :)

Well here's an idea for our wedding invites! obviously it's only quite rough but it incorporates my love of doodling, bling and butterflies :) the title stamp is my aunties which she used for her daughters wedding so that'll come in very handy! haven't completely finalised the colour scheme but definately want a strong fresh green in there :)


I'm continuing to do layouts for the album i've been commisioned for. It's definately a challenge sticking to the minimalistic brief but means i can get 4 pages done in an hour, feels good!



Did this layout below in a class at 'Imagine That' scrapbook shop. Really enjoyed myself and learnt some cool new techniques like using sequin waste as a stencil and bubble wrap as a stamp; I love getting messy with paint and it adds a cost effective texture to the page:

My fiance and I had great fun at my cousins wedding and got some ideas for our own next year! The groom and ushers wore top hats so took some funny pictures of our swapped headgear :)

I love this picture of us, thinks it's one of my new favourites and want to get it enlarged for my bedroom wall, looking gorgeous baby......

The other day at work I got called to a lady who had fainted in a scrapbook shop; it was a challenge to not get distracted and to act professional at all times, but the owner said that people who work for the NHS get a 10% discount, score! The lady was fine by the way!

Guest Blogger: David Jones

Had a great trip in Dingle, Ireland - I can't believe you haven't shown off any photos! I had to come and show off the best xxx :-P

And a few more of the beautiful onion-head! :D teehee x


As you can see it was STUNNING.

I love Abby so much and love reading your blog - You're so talented (and I'm so biased!!! hehe).
Byeee

I'm engaged!!!!

My gorgeous boyfriend proposed to me on our recent trip to the Dingle Penninsula in south west Ireland and of course i said yes. We were sitting out on some cliff tops in the sunshine during a break from our bike ride when he popped the question :) i'm so excited!! i went wedding dress shopping with my mum and two of my sisters yesterday and found my absolute dream dress, it is so gorgeous, i wish i could post a photo here but you'll have to wait over a year until after the wedding, sorry.

However one photo that i can show you is the style of wedding cake i want (ignore the colours). I think it looks quite scrapbooky and definately has that cool twist that we want!

I've been away for a couple of weeks so haven't been in the scraparium for ages (i'm getting withdrawal symptoms) but i'll be back into the swing of regular layouts and posts soon :)

Guest blogger: from Nancy & Betty

Why hello there. I'm (Hannah) Abby's sister and from Nancy & Betty - we design and make stationery with influences from around England, vintage finds and the simple and the quirky from the everyday. We are rather find of Polaroid cameras, typewriters, retro dial phones and Noddy to name a few. Other things that tickle our fancy is the British seaside.

Above is a selection of our collection to give you a tease - to shop online and see lots more information about us visit http://www.nancyandbetty.com/ In case you were wondering, the name comes from my/Abby's grandma, Nancy and her twin sister, Betty.

Other things that we like the look of are; Frank (A place for British alternative applied arts and contemporary craft) - it's down the road to us in Whitstable, so if you are in the area, go and visit. We also like the look of is Treacle in London - selling homemade cupcakes and other edible delights. Lastly, a blog that makes us want to have flowers everyday (and who wouldn't?!) is Miss Pickering. I have so many blogs and places I would love to show you, it definitely needs another post though, hint hint.

Also, Abby has some very exciting news which involves plenty of stationery (hooray!) and lots of flowers.

Thanks for having me Abby, I had a ball. xx

In the cool of the night :)

Just finished two night shifts and despite feeling like i was just taking drunk people to hospital, it was nice working when the temperature had dropped :) also at this time of year it's only dark for about 6 hours so is easier to get through a 12 hour shift.

It was my brother-in-laws 30th birthday at the weekend and my sister did a brilliant job of hosting the BBQ and looking after 50 guests, she's a great house wife! Dad was the BBQ chef and everyone had a great time :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDY!! the next time the whole family is together is at my cousins wedding in 4 weeks time, very excited.

I had hoped that the following layout would get into the scrapbook magazine but because they've decided not to publish it, i can post the layout here:

I finished my boyfriends album for his first year at med' school. I'm pleased with how it's all turned out and to see how my style has changed even in this last year! Below is a couple of pages showing him and his class mates practicing their clinical skills.

Went to the cinema with grandma this afternoon to watch 'My Sister's Keeper'. It was a really lovely movie but was such a tear-jerker, i definately recommend it :)

Published and Commissioned!

The scrapbook magazine arrived in the post this morning with my layout printed in the reader gallery, so excited!! The theme was 'dreams and milestones' so the blurb next to my layout is a bit cheesy but i'm pleased with how it all looks :)

I've also been commissioned to put together an album for the wedding present of a family friends daughter. She has given me a heap of photo's and memorabilia so i'm looking forward to putting it altogether :) however she prefers a more minimalistic style so i'm going to have to really restrain myself when it comes to the amount of embellishments and colours i use! i guess it's like renovating a house to sell, you need to put the buyers taste above your own. will be a fun project though :)

Below is a closeup shot of the main layout further down. The patterned paper (cars and trucks) came through the post a couple of days ago. I ordered a few sheets of patterened paper online when i was at my boyfriend's house and he treated me to them (thanks baby :)

Been at work the last couple of days, nothing too exciting, on a late shift today then got three days off, woop woop!

Back to work and some random layouts....

Back to work today and what a day it was..... kids having asthma attacks, a lady having a heart attack, a pregnant lady having contractions very prematurely :( and a man who had passed out because he was laughing so hard that he couldn't breath properly!! and then the thunderstorm started. It was like a tropical monsoon and was causing havoc within minutes! One ambulance got struck by lightning which caused water to pour in through the hole in the roof, a fast response car got stuck in deep water in a tunnel which created a rather large tailback and i was off work an hour late but hey ho, my job is rarely dull!

Anyway i haven't had alot of spare time to chill out in the scraparium so below are a few layouts from earlier this year (hopefully there'll be some fresh layouts to show you soon :)



Chilling out in the park. We love playing frisbee and have one of those fancy flying rings that David teaches himself tricks with :) The sentence under the photo is one of david's funny one liners but is related to medical terminology so therefore can't be enjoyed by everyone, sorry.

Coming home from California. I scraplifted the idea of using three photos in a row with a whole line of embellishments above, quite like the simplicity of it but still with detail to enjoy :)

And finally.... a page about my trip to the 'Body World' exhibition at the O2. It was fascinating and wierd and very educational. My favourite section was that of 11 tiny embryos from 2 to 12 weeks of development after conception. It's so incredible to see the rapid level of growth and tiny arm and leg buds developing so early in the embryos life, very cool :)

The annual family gathering for Grandad's BBQ!

From left to right: my brother-in-law, my sister, me and David :) What a good looking bunch!

Grandad was game for a laugh and let his posse of granchildren show him what we're made of!

The granchildren (in age order) looking gorgeous :) the trampoline was by far the best toy investment my parents made!

So yesterday was the big annual family gathering for my grandad's birthday BBQ. It's great to get together with everyone and play in the garden, chat, indulge and mess around on the trampoline :) The weather was gorgeous and the food was delicious, a nice day all round :)

Travels with Beth :)

Four years ago I went to India for four months (as part of my gap year) and had the pleasure of the company of Beth (from Canada) :) We clicked immediately and were inseperable! Since then we've been on more world travels including Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt and touring around Paris. We are brilliant friends and great travel buddies. We plan on still travelling the world when we're old and wrinkly, with our husbands in tow!

Next week Beth is coming to England for a 24 hour stop over on her way to Africa and i can't wait to see her! These are some layouts of our adventures together :)


I wonder how many engagement rings have been dropped from the top of the Eiffel Tower!
We visited the tower in the evening and it was lit up with thousands of sparkling lights, so cool ;)


You'll need to click on the photo to read the text. We went through so many emotions together in India but had an unforgettable time in the school and on our two week trip to Darjeeling with the crazy public transport!

Arabian Princesses....in contrast to our accommodation in India we stayed in a seriously luxurious hotel and it was a bit of a shock to the system! The snorkelling and trip to Cairo were the highlights (and making a movie by the hotel swimming pool, which i dont think the other guests appreciated!)

A mini book of memory verses :)

Well here's my latest creation.... a mini book to write down some of the best verses from the New Testament. I read a small section of the bible each morning and wanted to record (scrapbook stylie!) the bits i enjoyed the most (will write the verses in over the next couple of weeks :) The basic mini book is by Maya Road, i love their chunky products which are really easy to alter and have a tin of the sheer journalling cards which seem to be lasting forever! I've also used some cosmo cricket paper (girl friday range) and paper by Daisy Bucket (that has some yummy colour combinations!). The mini rubber frame and pink chipboard letters are by Love, Elsie (who's book '52 scrapbook challenges' is one of my favourite sources of ideas :)

Got lots of jobs on my list today but they're all a bit dull (stuff like tidying and emails) so am going to put on some loud power ballads by beyonce and whitney houston to liven things up! Went shoe shopping yesterday to look for something suitable for my cousins wedding. Was looking for some funky brown wedges to match my green (ebay) dress and after dragging around the shops with my sympathetic auntie i found the perfect pair in Primark which were dicounted to £6! so chuffed, good old primark eh :)