Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree {day 4}

Day four brings a Christmas birthday! Today was Grandad Oooeee's (the kids have three Grandad's so we have a Grandad, Grandad over the bridge and Grandad Oooee) 58th (I think) birthday. I used one of the foundation cards I created in advance using The Stamp Stop's Documenting December 2014 gold kit and added the 'happiness' sticker from the Teresa Collin's Tinsel and Company collection. The stripy white and gold card is from Heidi Swapp's Project Life Glitter Kit and today I've broke into another card kit; this one is from MME Charmed Record It collection. I'm going have to say I've not rating these cards at all, the designs are great but the quality is lacking. The cards are thin, thin, thin and the sort of shiny card that I wouldn't fancy writing on at all never mind adding good chunk of journalling.

The journalling card is from Simple Stories The Story of Us. I added the 'moments captured' sticker to cover up something 'wedding-y' and I think that works great.

The journalling reads; Today is Grandad Oooeee's birthday. We didn't get to see him as it was a school/work night but we sent him these photos of the boys with the caption 'they've just heard how old Grandad is.

Thanks for stopping by.

All I Want for Christmas is You {day 1}

I get to start December Daily with a celebration as the first of December is our wedding anniversary. To celebrate this year we went to see the Musical Wicked at the Playhouse in Edinburgh. If you haven't seen it you should, it's fantastic. I booked the tickets in advance (November 2013 in advance) and it was well worth the wait.

I pulled out some The Story of Us by Simple Stories. I mentioned recently in my The Story of 'The Story of Us by Simple Stories' post that I don't think this collection was solely for weddings, I think it works pretty well for wedding anniversaries and Christmas albums with a gold theme too.

I created a double spread. I go with what I have. If I have loads of photos I'll have a double page (more if needed) if not then I'll use one side of a 12x12 page protector or I'll use a smaller Project Life page protector like the 6x12 you see here. I don't stick to a hard and fast rule (I make it up as I go along). 

You might notice I have some plain cards with 'photo' written on them. This is because I don't print at home and while you might think that would be a bit of a show stopper for a project like December Daily it's not. I plan my pages with my iPhone in my hand (I take all my photos on my i Phone) and work out which photos and cards I am going to use for my pages from there. I order my photos online from Truprint and I'll probably do this two or three times during 1-25 December.

The number one card, the All I want for Christmas card and the Meet me under the mistletoe card are all from my pile of foundation cards that I made using The Stamp Spot's Documenting December 2014 gold kit. I used the Story of Us Sn@p Cards (there are loads of cards in this pack that could be used for non wedding projects) and the Sn@p Cuts (none of these cut cards are wedding themed) and this gorgeous card from my brother and sister-in-law. 

  

We received so many lovely cards this year but this one matched my colour scheme perfectly and was easy to cut down to fit into a 4x6 pocket. I'm a sucker for bit and pieces and find it hard to throw anything away so it's great when I can include something in a scrapbook.

Thanks for stopping by.

The Story of 'The Story of Us' by Simple Stories

I loved The Story of Us collection when it was released by Simple Stories in the Summer but I thought it was way too themed for me, I had no wedding invites and no intention of digging out my old wedding snaps so as much as I loved it I didn't buy it. Until... Autumn 2014 and my gold phase. There. Is. Not. Enough. Gold. In. The. World. Who's with me?

I made it my mission to buy all the gold in the {scrappy} land. And there is a tonne of it in this collection and lots that you could easily use for projects that aren't even wedding related. I'm intending to do another blog post on using this collection in a non wedding-y way soon. But it didn't hurt when my uncle sneaked off, got married and gave me with the prefect opportunity to break out this sparkly collection.

I bought the following items from Craft Island, they are all still in stock but the stock is low so buy now if you have your eye on anything. You can view the whole collection here.

12x12 Collection Kit (you NEED this, if only to get your hands on the exclusive overlays)
12x12 Simple Basic Kit (this is a no brainer if you are a gold junkie like me it's not themed in the slightest and would be perfect for documenting December or Project Life or any layouts!)
Sn@p Bits and Pieces (there are so many bits in here that aren't wedding related; hearts, birds, butterflies)
Sn@p Chipboard Stickers (why ever not!)
Sn@p Cards (again there are plenty of cards that could be used for non wedding projects)
Sn@p Cuts (none of these are wedding themed!)
Sn@p Insta Squares (because I have a WRMK Instagram 4x4 Album Made Easy in gold and I'm not afraid to use it (and again loads of cards that can be used for non weddings themed projects)).

How can you not Love that Love chipboard..? Love. Love. Love.

This is all from The Story of Us collection along with a gold doily (where have I been, I've only just discovered doilies!) and some Prima Marketing flowers.

I popped it in a frame to give to my Uncle and his wife as a wedding gift. The frame is a Ribba frame in black from Ikea. These frames are seriously inexpensive and are perfect for 12x12 pages. I stick photo holders to the backing sheet that comes with the frame to hold the layout in place.

Anyone else going through a gold phase?

Craft Island Design Team Blog Hop

Welcome to the Craft Island Design Team blog hop - you should have arrived here from Lets Get Krafty with Debbie. If you are lost just head back to the Craft Island blog.

Each member of the design team was asked to create a project using Bo Bunny's new festive collection - Mistletoe.

For my project I decided to create a scrapbook page using a photo of my big little man - Jack. The photo was taken one evening in Decmeber 2010 when he was two years old.

I started off with a sheet of kraft cardstock and created a die cut banner adding some hand stitching to hold it all in place (along with some teeny tiny bits of double sided sticky tape to hold it in place while I stitched!). I added some Mistletoe embellies, alaphs and inked the edges using Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Black Soot to finish my project.

To be in with a chance of winning a Bo Bunny Mistletoe Selection Pack, simply leave a comment on each of the design teams projects. The winner will be picked at random on Wednesday 14th November at 9am. Good luck!

Going, Going, Gone

I've been having lots and lots of fun with the new On the Go from Bo Bunny. If you would like to see what I have been up to with this collection please check out my posts On the Go and Still On the Go over on the Craft Island blog.

Don't forget to comment on the On the Go Competition post - the more entries the more Jacqui is going to give away!! This collection is gorgeous and prefect for all those Summer photos that we are sure to be taking very, very soon! Go, Go, Go!!

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

Happy Belated Valentine's Day to you! I hope you all had a lovely day. I was greeted by a card yesterday morning (and anyone who knows my husband will know that is a major achievement!) and a slap up Chinese takeaway at night, complete with toddler who had conned his way out of bed under the pretence of being unwell, personally I think he was after my orange chicken :p

This year I made my husband a card, a layout and a little very simple framed project.

I have added more details and some more photos to the Craft Island blog. Also, the winner of the MME Selection Pack has been announced!

Let me know how you spent Valentine's Day, I'd love to hear all about it?!

My secret's out!

Why not pop on over to the Craft Island blog to read my first ever blog post as a member of the Craft Island design team. You'll find a layout using one of my favourite collections - Baby Steps by Simple Stories AND some exciting news and the reason why I am going to be sans craft room come the Summer...