Feb ATDML Gallery with Kaisercraft

We were lucky to get to play with the new Kaisercraft Documented papers this month for the ATDML Gallery and I made this cute 3" minibook. Nothing new in the design which is based on this template using a sheet of 12" cardstock and scoring at 3", 6" and 9" then cutting along the solid lines.

I folded each square along the dotted line alternating from folding under and over and then adhered some back to back to make pages, and some leaving open at the top to make pockets. I then made a cover to wrap around the book, four small tags for pages and decorated the book in the school themed papers adding stamping an washi tape for interest (without adding bulk)

Book Club 52 - Week 9/52

Week 9 already although I have to confess I am on book 15 for the year and these two were nice quick reads at the start of the month from Heidi McLaughlin and her Beaumont Series.

The first book, Forever my Girl has been made into a 2018 release film as well which I didn't know until I had finished the book and went searching for the second book.

Goodreads synopsis: I was never supposed to be a rock star. I had my life all planned out for me. Play football in college. Go to the NFL. Marry my high school sweetheart and live happily ever after. I broke both our hearts that day when I told her I was leaving. I was young. I made the right decision for me, but the wrong decision for us.

A nice easy read, aimed at young adults I believe but great for escapism, and certainly pleasant enough to make me want to read the second book which is about the drummer and best friend from the first book. The characters were certainly likeable enough to have me wanting to read more.

The second book didn't disappoint either telling the story of falling in love the second time round and my favourite quotes is when the main character, a single dad, is talking to his son about the woman he is falling in love with 

 “I don’t think she likes my tattoos, and I’m very different from her late husband.”  Quinn rolls his eyes. He’s far too smart for his age. “I think your tattoos tell a story, maybe she should learn to read.”

Shame I have to wait for book 3 now but rest assured it has already been added to my waiting for release list!

Few more MTS Alphabet challenge layouts

Sharing a few more layouts from the Mind the scrap alphabet challenge for February.

C is for Circles and Celebrate made using the MTS Feb kit and a few embellishments

D is for Dreams, dotty paper and diamonds (ok just gems!) This was a labour of love after several attempts at cutting the file out on my silhouette and then backing them!

E is for Egg hunt, Explore and Extrovert!

and a heart page for Feb 14th based on the MTS sunday night scrap-a-long sketch of 11th Feb. Using up left over papers from a Mel Hand atdml retreat class here and grabbing a woodgrain background paper from my now newly filed "background papers" baggie!

Few more to share later this week but that'll do for now!

Book Club 52 - Week 8/52

"When Justin walks out on Alice on their honeymoon, with no explanation apart from a cryptic note, Alice is left alone and bewildered, her life in pieces.

Then she meets Evelyn, a visitor to the gallery where she works. It’s a seemingly chance encounter, but Alice gradually learns that Evelyn has motives, and a heartbreaking story, of her own. And that story has haunting parallels with Alice’s life" Goodreads Synopsis

Not the most gripping of stories I have read, but I did enjoy the characters and the waves of emotion in the story, especially when Evelyn recounts her life.  I did determine what the link was going to be between the women before I even reached the half way mark and exclaimed a "ha!... knew it!" to myself very happily when I was right. I think maybe I read this one too fast or that the story was weighted more to one woman than the other I'm not sure, just didn't quite feel balanced to me but nevertheless it was still a nice easy read. I think I do agree with other views that perhaps just the story of Evelyn would have been enough - those were my favourite parts if I am honest.

I read this book so quickly I think because I was eager to read Marx Girl which is the latest in a series of books by T.L.Swan (which I started last year with Dr Stanton).   I may have devoured this book as well this week and totally agree with my friend Tracy who has also read them who said "I love that each story in this series is stand alone, yet all linked with characters I've fallen in love with". I read this book so late in to the night that I was a virtual zombie the day after through lack of sleep but I loved it! Totally recommend this and the other Stanton series of books by T L Swan.

ATDML February Journaling prompts

Earlier on this month over at Created by ATDML Mel shared the February journaling prompts to aid creativity and spur a different way of looking at journaling on your scrapbook page.  The post can be found here  and is to create a frame around your page with journaling.

I created a couple of layouts for this challenge which also met the Mind The Scrap February challenges too, one for the alphabet challenge and the second for the scrap-a-long Sun 18th Feb sketch. 

First up with my F is for Feline, furry friend and frame layout where the journaling surrounds the washi tape/paper strip border to the page. Papers used on this page are by Jen Hadfield from the Warm & Cozy collection of last year (or maybe the year before?)

Next was a layout also based on a sketch, sharing both below, where the journaling runs around the circle element of the page. 

Hardly any patterned paper used on this page which instead uses infusion stains, distress stain splats, stamping, a doiley, some stickers and a flair badge (as well as an acrylic piece from Bramblefox) for the pops of colour. 

More layouts from the alphabet challenge to be shared later this week. I have done about 11  layouts for this challenge now.

ATDML February Mood Board challenge

Time for another mood board challenge as we hit the third Friday of the month ahead of the ATDML virtual crop day. The mood board has SOOOOO much to draw inspiration from and was shared on another site I follow so I just had to play along with this one and then share it you.

If you play along and get inspired by this challenge do share your pages over on the ATDML Facebook gallery, we'd love to see them!

February Mind the Scrap Challenges

Well I am not doing too bad as we near the end of week 2 in February and so far I have managed to do challenge layouts for the letters B, G, H, I and J for the Mind the Scrap alphabet challenge. PLus it is half term this week and I am off with the kids so between a few adventures (when they are feeling brighter having both been unwell) I may even get a few more in!

So here is what I have done so far, lots of them using my February ATDML kit, my Bramblefix Subscription and I still have lots of my MTS Feb kit to play with too.

B is for Banners, Butterflies, Badge, Borders and Boarding card, using lots of elements from Feb MTS kit.

G is for Golf and Grid paper (the little flag!)

H is for holiday hugs and heart embellishments

I is for icecream and interactive (the tags pull up from behind the photo for journaling)

J is for Journey and Jewels

Not a bad start if I do say so myself. Hoping I can get a few more done as I said and will of course share here and on my Instagram page.

Book Club 52 - Week 7/52

"What if your best friend's child disappears - and it's all your fault? This is exactly what happens to Lisa Kallisto, overwhelmed working mother of three, one freezing December in the Lake District. She takes her eye off the ball for just a moment, and her whole world descends into nightmare. Her best friend's thirteen-year-old daughter Lucinda has gone missing and now, devastated by this and publicly blamed, Lisa sets out to right the wrong."

Well as a busy working mum of three I certainly resonated with the main character in this book and the feeling of not quite being good enough and not fully functioning on a cylinders certainly felt familiar!! And I admit I am too guilty of envy at those super mums who seem to have it all together with ample time on their hands to think straight and look perfect!. 

This story was great with lots of twists and turns some of which made me quite cross which actually is a reflection on how well written the story is as it evoked several different emotions and reactions from me throughout having me crying at one point too. Managed to resist re-homing another cat whilst reading this (you'll understand if you're an animal lover and read this book!)  and would definitely recommend it.  As I mentioned last week I have also read "Keep your Friends close" by the same author and was hooked from page one, so another for your book list if you enjoy this one.

February ScrapMates Pages

Well we didn't want a valentine theme per se at our crop this month, but I did stick with heart themed pages when designing the classes.

Firstly I scrap lifted a great page from Pinterest by Devra Hunt which can be found here and there is also a link to a cut file but instead of cutting the background paper and then backing with pattern hearts I provided a template to cut out the pattern hearts and stick on to the background. Faux stitching around the edges and drawing a journaling spot direct onto the paper as well as a paper journaling spot changed the look of the page. I also used four smaller photos and not a central photo like in the original. Final difference was my left and right edges of paper pieces and more faux stitching

The second page I scraplifted myself from a page I had done last month for a journaling challenge at Mind the Scrap. Sticking with the heart theme again I marked on the paper where my heart full of journaling would go, along with my photo and then stuck a variety of 1/2" strips of paper across the page leaving the heart open for my words.

A title and a few embellishments (plus my signature border round the edge) finished this page off. So there you have it. A pair of heart themed pages with not a hint of romance in sight!!

Book Club 52 - Week 6/52

Book 6 which I actually read last week was the Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond, just 99p on Kindle. 

Amazon describes the book as follows:

THE NEW RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB THRILLER AND SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER. 
'A pacey, page-turner of a novel . . . extreme but grippingly thought-provoking'

Would you stake your life on your marriage? Newlyweds Jake and Alice are offered a mysterious wedding gift - membership of a club which promises its couples will never divorce.

Signing The Pact seems the start to a perfect marriage, until one of them breaks the rules.  
The marriage of their dreams is about to become their worst nightmare.

Not my favourite book that I have read so far this year but I can't deny it wasn't thought provoking if not a little strange and mildly disturbing in places! As you will have been able to tell by now I am quite the fan of reading thrillers - but this one, whilst unlike anything I have ready before in terms of the story line, just left me feeling a little flat after I had read it. I would still recommend it as a decent read, just didn't really do it for me.

Another thriller however lined up for next week "Just what kind of mother are you" by Paula Daly which I am looking forward to and was pleased to pick up from the book swap table at work. I have read a different book by this author before I recall it being very good so looking forward to telling you all about this one.

Mind The Scrap February Challenges

Not sure I will quite make a layout every day this month (already the 3rd and I haven't made one yet) but over at Mind The Scrap on Facebook they have a great alphabet challenge going for the month of February. Each day your layout has to begin with the allocated letter of the alphabet.

So Feb 2nd (they skipped the first for the challenge but not making a layout!) was the letter A and examples of what to include on your page were Animals, Alphabets, Arrows, Acrylic paint, Acrylic embellishments etc..

and today Feb 3rd is the letter B with examples of Boys, Banners, Butterflies, Brads , Birthdays etc anyway you get the idea. So I am going to try and join in as many as I can using existing papers I have so I can make a dent in my scrapbooking collection, get some of my supplies used and it to albums (so I can then buy more of course!)

Watch this space.. I will share what I make here, and probably on my Instagram account too knowing me :) Should certainly help me boost my number of blog posts for the month!

Book Club 52 - Week 5/52

First off I have a confession to make...I am so ahead of my book a week challenge! Perhaps I should slow down and maybe focus on some of my other goals for February! I still plan on blogging just the one book a week though!

Last week I shared my views on the first Melinda Leigh book I read called "Say you're sorry" which I really enjoyed reading and therefore before reading any of the other books I had lined up (of which there are several!)  I couldn't help but download the next in the series "Her Last Goodbye" which I think was just as good if not better than the first one! Same main characters in the story but another investigation/crime solving story line and the added bonus of being free on Kindle Unlimited if you are a member.

In this Wall Street Journal bestseller, the Morgan Dane series continues as the fearless attorney and her partner, investigator Lance Kruger, take on a disturbing disappearance…

Gripping with lots of twists and turns, a great read which I devoured in just 3 days.

Line here to the book on AMAZON UK.

My next book up is a described as a gripping thriller, The Marriage Pact  by Michelle Richmond. Pop back next week for my thoughts on this one.

#Febinphotos

Have decided to get snapping this months and take a photo a day (at least) to capture my month read to scrap the everyday life. I have called this challenge #febinphotos although perhaps "feb-in-fotos" might have been better? Just rolls off the tongue!

I posted the challenge over on the Created by ATDML Facebook page as well to encourage my fellow DT and scrapping friends to join in too. What about you? 

Just use the #febinphotos if you share online and we can glimpse the awesome everyday of our friends.