Back on the Horse

Well, you've probably assumed I've fallen off the face of the planet or something, eh?  Rightly so - I realised last weekend just before going on holiday for the Easter break that I'd forgotten to post my WIP Wednesday - or anything else, for that matter.

Enjoying some tall, dark and handsome...

So where did I go, you ask?  Why, Ireland!  Dublin mostly but I also did a day trip up to Belfast; a great holiday and very relaxing.  Among the highlights included:

• official certification for whiskey tasting at the Jameson distillery (yum!)
• a pint of Guinness atop the Gravity Bar
• a private canal boat tour along the Liffey
• Irish music/dancing dinner & show
• Irish fairies and folklore dinner & storytelling
• touring the Titanic museum

Okay, I won't bore you with further holiday gushing (that's for subjecting to Facebook friends - mwhahahahaa!).

Now since having set up my adorable little sewing corner, I've been totally infatuated with getting back in touch with sewing and quilting - which is good and no complaints there.  However, it has meant that I've not done any scrapbooking or papercrafting for a whole two months!  Can you believe it?

Two months!

To say that I'm a wee bit behind in card-making is something of an understatement.  (I'm never behind in scrapbooking; I refuse to look at it that way.  Or you could argue that I'm always behind in scrapbooking and that's okay with me.)  So since I need to wait until the shops are open to buy more Aurifil thread to continue sewing, I decided today would be a card-making catch-up day.  I made a list and realised I have at least six cards that need making - mostly birthdays (some now much belated - eek!), some thank yous and a wedding (!) card.

Thank You (So So Much)

First off the press was this thank you card for my friend who came around while I was on holiday to take care of Oskar for me (even though she's allergic to cats - now that's a true friend!).  I'm still crushing on using Pebbles' From Me to You for card-making; it's just so versatile and has beautiful colours.  I paired it with some Dear Lizzy anchor paper and layered up different elements until it felt balanced.  I really liked the little pops of yellow that worked their way in, too.

Celebrate No. 4

Next I worked on a belated birthday card for a friend's daughter who turned 4 end of March (yes, I know, don't judge me).  I decided to go with super girlie and thus the copious amounts of pink, the Dear Lizzy horses paper, the puffy hearts and silver glitter, etc.  Incidentally, I liked how this card still conveys the 'happy birthday' idea without using that exact phrase.  I even finally boxed up the card and gift and packaged them all up for posting tomorrow - go me!

Thank You

And finally for today, a super quick and dirty thank you card made with some free gifts from Papercraft Inspirations - the card base was pre-printed and came with these pretty coloured and 3D acetate butterfly embellishments.  A quick stamped sentiment and some rhinestones finishes it off.  This is going to the gal who runs the Stash Busters challenges over on 2Peas, along with a ziplock bag of goodies for all her hard work, time and money she spends on making the challenges and providing prizes and postage costs, etc.  Another item I've been meaning to post for ages and that will finally be going out tomorrow - whew!

WIP Wednesday

Hello, everyone!

Well, I'm back from Stockholm - such a lovely city and fantastic capital.  I had great fun doing the tourist gig - went up the Skyview on the Globe Theatre, visited the Vasa Museum and the ABBA Museum (squee!), went through the Royal Palace (old and current) plus the treasury and armoury and a bunch of other fun things.  I'm hoping to print off the photos soon and I already have plans for using my Fancy Pants Down by the Shore papers for the Vasa photos (very famous previously sunken Swedish warship, in case you're not familiar with the name).

And speaking of holiday photos, back in July I watched this video by 2Peas Garden Girl Nancy Damiano and was unexpectedly inspired.  I decided it would make the perfect gift for a friend's birthday, as we had holidayed together in Barcelona over Easter earlier this year.  Anyway, I finally got to work on it this past weekend.  Here's a sneak peak of the inside cover page:

As you might notice, I'm using the Simple Stories Snap! mini album and related products, which I found the local Panduro Hobby has recently started carrying.  I've never done any sort of pocket scrapbooking before and I found the preparation a bit tricky; the photo printing in particular.  Since I don't print at home, it was a bit challenging figuring out which photos I would need to order at special sizes before having planned out the whole album.  In the end, I decided on which ones I wanted at 6x8 prints, made a bunch of collages and paired up 3x4 photos onto 4x6 sheets and printed any I wasn't sure about as both 3x4s and 4x6s so I could have some flexibility and this turned out to be a good idea.

I also discovered (although this should seem obvious) when I sat down with the prints and the album and supplies that it does take a much different approach than 12x12 scrapbooking and it took a little time to get into the groove of that approach.  But I feel like I got it to work pretty well after I changed thinking about the album layout in terms of individual days and broke it up into themes, such as tours, sights, food, real life and so forth - then things started falling into place much more easily.

Here are a few more sneaks of the different chapters in the album and I'll have proper photos and a video later in the week to share with you.

I also whipped up a quick little card tonight for a student in my class who had surgery on her skull last week - she has a skull bone that never properly fused together when she was an infant and the surgery was to correct this.  Poor thing is just 7 years old.  Her mum emailed me today to say that the surgery went well and they brought her home from hospital yesterday and she's doing very well so that's great news to hear.  I'll tuck this little surprise into her homework folder that her sister is picking up tomorrow - I'm sure it will brighten her day.

Thinking of You Teddy

Cheers and check back later in the week for more on the album.

Quick Cards - Tatty Teddy

I've been in between inspiration the last few days but I have a friend coming over for a crop tomorrow so I'm working on getting myself back into a scrapping mood by working on some quick cards today.

Thank You Teddy & Happy Birthday Teddy

I decided to use up a few more of the Tatty Teddy chipboards I received as a free gift from an issue of Papercraft Inspirations and to make them go more quickly, I simply scraplifted my previous design concept and made a few tweaks here and there for each card.  I also used up scraps from my scrap basket and two 6x6 papers someone sent me in a swap a few years ago so it feels good to clear out some of that paper.

Now, look carefully at the bottom right corner of the birthday card - see that typed 'Happy Birthday' sentiment?  I did that on my "new" (new-to-me) typewriter, an old Olivetti!

Isn't she gorgeous?!  I'm still working out the model number in the hopes that it will help with purchasing the right replacement ribbon - if you happen to recognise it or have a good website to help with this, I'm all ears!  I'm estimating it to be from the 1960s, based on some preliminary photo comparisons I've done so far.

It's in very good condition - only one key that doesn't work (where the number 1 would be) but I'm not fussed over that and can substitute an 'l' for a 1 if needed.  Types in both black and red.  Case was included.  It took three weeks to finally pick it up from the previous owners but I'm so looking forward to using it for some journaling here and there on my future projects.

Do you have an old typewriter that you use for your papercrafting?  I'd love to hear how you use yours, if you do.  I'm going to test out typing on vellum and then directly onto photos (that doesn't bother me).  I'm also planning on buying some clear washi tape to type onto for journaling.