Happy Birthday Gillian!!!!

This is one of my favourite photos of Gillian and I together....Ok we don't look great...but we were having a ball! And that's what counts....not how we look...but how we feel! Note the empty cocktail glass in the foreground, the wet hair and I'll leave the rest up to your imagination!!

Met up with Gillian and her gorgeous Mum at lunchtime for a cuppa and a yummy cheese scone in Tynemouth. The weather was glorious and it was one of those days when you just smell the sea air, count your blessings and be thankful :)

I have a pile of work to get through this week and not enough hours in the day. Hey ho...think that my day off tomorrow has been cancelled! Tomorrow morning Theresa and I are off to The Scrapbook Shop in Durham for some retail therapy all under the disguise of Advent Swap shopping ;) Since starting the shop I have very time or opportunity to go stash shopping so I am really looking forward to it! Then I'll be heading home to get some work out of the way....

Hope your days have been as happy as mine was

Maria x

Scallop Crazy!

Samm was in charge of setting yesterday's challenge on the shop blog and she decided that scallops were the order of the day!!! Which suited me right down to the ground as I am sooo in love with them at the moment!


I made this card using our Periphery kit. The scallops were hand cut and I used my cropodile to make the holes!

This card was made using the Flowerful kit and I added a black bling blossom!!!

We have some fab challenges in store for next weekend set by Theresa and Vanessa so please do join us!

I've spent today having business meetings and placing more orders with suppliers! Our Season of Joy limited edition card kits should be ready by the weekend (fingers crossed!!) and we also have Love Elsie Noel coming very soon too!

Hope you are all having a great bonfire night!

Maria x

One challenge down....seven to go!!!

Well the first challenge on the shop blog went live this morning and seemed to be well received!


The challenge was to create a card or layout using acetate in some shape or form....acetate is so popular at the moment....especially the nice extra thick stuff so I thought it would be good to see how people use it. Actually I'm just really nosey!!!!!

Here are the two example that I made. The card was made using Cherry Arte Princess papers. I cut out an aperture to hold the acetate and then very carefully stamped the butterfly onto the acetate using stazon. The stamps are the Doodlebug Memories from the shop. When it was dry i flipped it over and painted on the reverse using acrylic paints.

The layout was made using the our Flowerful kit...this is by far my favourite kit...I just love the colour combos! Again I stamped the title onto acetate and painted on the reverse.

Tomorrow it is Samm's turn for setting the challenge and she has a really good one up her sleeve so please drop by to play!!!

Maria x

Busy, busy, busy....

getting the shop blog all ready to go in the morning! Pop over and take a look....here! We are launching with a fab challenge at 9am-ish in the morning. Each challenge will have a winner picked at random so please, please, please do have a go....we are really looking forward to seeing what you all create!

Today see's the current issue of Quick & Crafty! hitting the stands...I have a project in there using some delicious papers by Scrapworks called Season of Joy. These papers will be uploaded to the shop over weekend when I get a spare second or two to spare!!! We will also be putting together a limited edition christmas kit using these gorgeous papers...hoping that will be ready by next weekend!

Here's sneaky peeky of the papers and a card that's in the magazine!

Update on Tilly....well Tilly has been settling in well so far...she's met all her new doggy friends and has been on 3 walks through the woods!!! Unfortunately she has also broken a very expensive crystal candlestick whilst bounding around the house!!! Ah well........

Right i'm off to bed now as I have a busy day ahead again! Will update in the morning with the very first Scrummy Stash Cafe blog challenge!

Nighty night

Maria x

Such a bad blogger!!!

I truly am! I promise myself that I will blog regularly and life just seems to get in the way. However I'm not going to dwell in the reasons why I haven't blogged for so long....they are just sooo boring! So lets just pretend that I haven't missed out a whole month and carry on as normal ;)

Today has been great! I travelled down to South Yorkshire with my friend Karen to pick up her new dog from the labrador rescue place there. She is called Tilly, is a whole year old and absolutely adorable. Do you believe in love at first sight? Well I certainly do after today!!! When they first brought Tilly out to meet us she was very nervous but overcame that in about....oh....30 seconds and then was all over us! She has the sweetest nature and has obviously come from a very loving home.

So here she is! Gorgeous or what? Just check out those amazing big brown eyes....oh and she has fab ginger eyelashes to match her silky ears and the tip of her tail!

Karen and Tilly getting to know each other!

We took her for a good walk in some nearby woods before setting off for the journey north. There she met loads of other dogs and a couple of horses and wasn't bothered in the slightest....pretty amazing considering that she basically was with 2 strangers! On our walk through the woods we spotted these amazing fungi!

The journey home was pretty uneventful with Tilly snoozing happily....so a good day all round!

On the shop and work front things are going great! We are having a good old clear out to make way for new goodies so go grab yourself a bargain here! Our Chalk Garden card kit is flying out with only a handful left! I did an article for Quick & Crafty magazine using these papers and they popped in on their website which was a bit of a shock to say the least.....must change that photo!!!

I have plenty more deadline to keep me busy for the magazine and am thoroughly enjoying creating for them once again!

Saturday sees the launch of our shop blog (will post a link tomorrow ;)) We are celebrating the launch of the blog (and our shops' 6 month birthday!) with a whole months worth of challenges. Right on that note...I had better get back to working my way through my infamous list!!!

Bye for Now

Maria x

Just a quicky!!!

Thought I would update this afternoon as am going out tonight and won't get a chance later on!

Not having a very productive day....in fact not managing to get much done at all! Starting stuff but not finishing....I do sometimes have days like this and they are usually followed by really productive ones so heres hoping!!!!

Managed to get music on my blog last night and had great fun compiling my playlist!

No scrapping or crafty pics today so thought I would share this pic of my neighbours cat.....so meet Mitch! Very lovable and needs to be cuddled lots....oh and talks non stop LOL!!

Right thats me for today....will hopefully be back tomorrow with some scrapping to share.

Have fun!

Maria x

Life Begins at 40!!!!

Yup and I hit the big 40 last thursday!!! A huge, huge thank you to everyone who sent cards, e-cards (love em!!!), pressies etc... they really did make my day ever so special :) I had the best time and the partying went on all weekend so its taking me a while to recover LOL!!!

Life has been really hectic with shop stuff to sort and new ventures in the planning so haven't had a great deal of time to scrap unfortunately :( We are in the process of setting up our shop blog! We are planning loads of activities and challenges for you all plus updates on products etc. Samm is chief blog builder as I am a bit rubbish at doing stuff like that! So a huge big thank you to her!

This is a layout I did a week or so ago using some of the "Thelma and Louise" type pics that Anita Mundt took of us! We laughed so much when they were being taken as we were in a car park in Wigan and getting loads of strange looks from passing folks! I have used Love Elsie Roxie papers from our kit.

I have spent today drawing up a things that I must do list!!! First on the list is update my blog regularly LOL!!! Next comes scrap at least 3 layouts a week....now I know that this doesn't seem much but when I'm busy I just can't find the time which is very frustrating...which leads me to item three....structure my day more efficiently!!! While I can dream can't I?

Did this lo for a weekly challenge on UKS. I adore this photograph of Kim taken by Anita and I think it works so well with the gorgoeus Scenic Route Laurel papers!

And finally I'll leave you with another weekly challenge LO on UKS.....

My sister will no doubt kill me for this....but hey! She did steal my lolly!! (and I've never let her forget it!)

New kits are up in the shop..... Mellow and Pheripery and I am in love with them both...can't wait to start playing!!!!

Well thats all for tonight....except to say huge healing hugs to Gillian who is poorly at the moment :(

Maria x