Have Bucket Will Travel

I know more scrapbooking (I'm suprised too) but after a clearout yesterday I found some photos that I had been meaning to scrap and then today I saw Shimelle's Starting Point 

The photo in question was quite small and had a very purple hue about it like a lot of 70's photos. My scanner and I haven't been seeing eye to eye so to copy my photo I tried using my mobile and a retro app. Funnily enough using the retro app made my photo look a lot less purple.

So using Shimelle's starting point I started with 12x12 cardstock in a shade called Dusk by Bazzill. I then took a book page which I painted and inked and layered up a few paper scraps. I wrote my journaling straight onto the layout all about a day out at the beach with my bucket and spade ready for a day of sandcastle building. I thought the ric-rac added a retro touch. I remember ric-rac on many a dress when I was little don't you?

This Cat

This Cat

.....has got a meow and sure knows how to use it.

Day - Night for whatever reason.......mostly when

she wants something to eat.......sometimes for a

bit of attention.

Purdey snapped in a quiet moment.

My Month In Numbers - March

Hi. It's the end of the month and that means it's time for My Month In Numbers.

March was a holiday and birthday month....

2 - visits to Sheer Rocks restaurant. I'll be dreaming of hanger steak and crushed potatoes for a while

11 - different ice-cream flavours eaten on holiday

vanilla, strawberry, rum & raisin, chocolate, caramel, amaretto, strawberry& vanilla, coconut, blueberry, cinnamon and cherry

365 - the number of beaches in Antigua

28 - My birthday. I'm now 42

20 - the amount in dollars (EC) for an amaretto sour. Charles sure knew how to make a good cocktail

6 - books read, 5 of these on holiday

If you're wondering about my layout design it's based on the programme titles of the wonderful Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency based on the Douglas Adams book. As soon as I saw them I spotted their scrapping potential and made use of the fundamental interconnectedness of all things ;-)

 If you would like to check out more month in numbers visit Julie at Notes On Paper she even has a Pinterest board especially dedicated to MIN.

A Quick Make

Hi I'm back with a quick March make. Take one vintage pillowcase and one ceramic.....well I'm not quite sure what it was used for but it's small and cup like and very pink. I think my sanity was questioned the day I came home with these. These? Yes, I bought two I could see their potential.

 Plus it gave me an excuse to road test my new pinking shears. Cut a circle, run some stitches around the edge, gather up and firmly stuff........

........and I now have a perfect little pincushion.

I'll be back tomorrow with my Month In Numbers.

The Bees Knees

Hi. Are you enjoying the sunshine? With a bit of warmer weather the bees start stirring.......

Hexagons seem to be everywhere at the moment and as you know I think they are the bees knees. Cut from a vintage sheet in shades of yellow they reminded me of honeycomb. Teamed with a bee stamp and a hand stitched phrase an idea formed for some fabric tags for a swap I signed up to over on UK Scrappers 

They are not the only winged project I've been working on. I made these butterflies to send to Deb for the Butterfly Project I hope they reach her in time to make her target of collecting 51 butterflies by her birthday. They will soon be on their way to Arizona.

I cut them from some canvas and then got messy with some paint and ink finished off with a bit of doodling.

Enjoy the sunshine.

A sunshine break

Hi I'm back from a break in the sunshine. But before the relaxing on a beach and reaching for a cocktail I had to endure the long haul flight. I used to look forward to plane travel but now I seem to dread it. To make the flight a little bit more bearable I stocked up on magazines, one was Country Living and it had a wonderful article featuring Merchant and Mills. They are a UK based company and as well as selling haberdashery and notions sell dress patterns too. I couldn't wait to order a pattern and today it arrived.

Even the packaging is cool. I'm so going to enjoy choosing some fabric for my dress but do I have sleeves or not? Decisions, decisions..........

The Romance of Reading

I have many things to be thankful to my Mum for, being able to knit, my love of sewing and all things crafty, being able to trim my own fringe and knowing how to colour my hair to cover those greys........but something I really appreciate is my love of reading.

As a child I have memories of Saturday afternoon trips to the library or spending my pocket money in the local book shop buying an Enid Blyton Secret Seven to add to my collection. I also spent my pocket money on buying Matchbox cars but that's another story.

I recently bought some secondhand childrens books. The covers in themselves attracted to me but the title also caught my eye. The Romance of Reading. I sent one of the books, Happy Hours to Julie as I knew she'd love it too. I kept Merry Moments and when I flicked to the back of the book I found a school stamp. The very same primary school that my Mum went to. Did she read this book I wondered?

Click on picture for a clearer view

I'd started thinking about how lucky I was to have someone who encouraged me to read from an early age when I saw a news item this week. A survey has recently been carried out which found that 1 in 8 children had never been inside a book shop, 1 in 5 had never received a book as a present and 1 in 3 lived in a house in which there are no books. It saddened me to think that there will be a whole generation of children who grow up without knowing how much simple pleasure there is in reading a book. I must be getting old!

So when my Mum recently asked me what I wanted for my birthday you won't be suprised to hear that I asked for a book to add to my already bursting collection.