Pinspiration Sunday

Hello again!  Yes, I know - I've slacked off on Pinspiration Sunday the last two weeks.  Sorry about that - just busy, tired and up to other stuff.  But I'm back on track today so I'm going to dive in so as not to distract myself.  Go grab your cup of hot beverage and enjoy the photo love.

Currently:

* listening - radio
* reading - going to start Attachments soon for holiday reading
* making - layer cake sampler quilt-along (just finished block #14)
* eating - dried fruit & nuts mix
* drinking - water
* wearing - jeans & new sequins anchor t-shirt *giddy*
* weather - cloudy, 10C
* feeling - hungry
* wanting - to play Sims
* needing - to make a tonne of cards
* planning - Easter trip to Ireland
* thinking - what to snack on next...
* loving - quiet Sunday 'hermit'ing
* enjoying - discovered I'm getting more tax money back than expected *whoot!*

On to the pins!

Pixelated Heart Quilt Tutorial

So gorgeous!  I love everything about this modern style quilt - the design, the colours, the shape - yup, it's all there.  And the tutorial is free.

Chopsticks Quilt Pattern

Hmm, more triangles - are you sensing a theme?  Clearly I need to get them out of my system and this could help.  I could see this in really pretty melon yellows and oranges with grapefruit pinks.

Insulated Lunch Tote

Super cute tote bag.  I bet if you swapped out the insulation for a thin batting and increased the size a wee bit, it would also make a super cute gym bag, too.

Leaf Oven Grips / Trivets

A little something for the kitchen - leaf-shaped trivets or oven grips.  You could even have a whole slew of them in different autumnal colours, too.

Subway Art Page

I love subway graffiti print papers but their bold design can make them tricky to work with.  That being said, I think Tanya did a fab job of using this as her background paper.  The bold colours in the embellishments really help to lift them off the text.  Awesome.

Clustered Frames

I'm a bit of a sucker for clustered frames - so many little possibilities for photos, titles, journaling and embellishment.

Paint Chip Card

I know I'm not the only person who has a strange fascination for paint chips.  I love how this simplistic design is lifted by the bold, dynamic rainbow colours used here with a few button accents for extra fun and texture.

Hopscotch Card

Okay, now this is just crazy cute and creative!  I love all of the coloured twine and the little button for the stone.  Great birthday card for a child.

Paper Ball Decorations

Fancy a little 3D paper play?  These paper balls are perfect and make awesome decorations for any celebration or party.

Easter Egg Decorating Ideas

And speaking of celebrations and parties, perhaps you want to do something a bit different with your Easter eggs this year.  Well, this site will give you plenty of inspiration.

Yummy

And here's a truly yummy colour palette to tempt you with - those dark fuscia tones are lush!

A Great Love Story - 1st Valentine

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog update for a special post-Valentine layout!

Perhaps this sounds shocking but I've never made a Valentine's LO before; I've never really had reason to.  Until now.  You see, over the Christmas holidays while I was visiting my parents and the ice storms hit, we spent part of an evening without hydro.  We lit candles and huddled down under blankets in the living room and just talked; and my Mum shared with me the most touching story about my grandfather buying me my first Valentine card just weeks after I was born.  In fact, that whole first year of my life, he bought me a card for every celebration.  Cue sappy nostalgia and I knew I had to record this precious story.

1st Valentine

My original inspiration for this LO actually came from some Dear Lizzy patterned paper of colourful little envelopes sealed with hearts.  I had every intention of using it on this LO but it was just too busy and detracting from the other elements but it sparked the inspiration to use the mini envelopes with hearts in lieu of a photo or the card itself.

I'm totally in love with this collage of elements; there are so many little bits and bobs I've been holding onto for just the 'right' LO - the Maggie Holmes fabric frames (especially this polka dot one with 'loved' stitched onto it), the Amy Tan ticket, the resin cameo from Marianne's lovely Stash Busters prize parcel, the little yellow bow - the list goes on.

I loved the vintage watercolour slide frame of the original Crate Paper patterned paper I used for the background.  Then I did some mixed media work on it; creating a gold sunburst coming out of the envelopes with some Heidi Swapp gold lame mist, some texture paste hearts between the rays and then an explosion of some truly awesome puffy stickers I found at my local grocery store of all places!  Some fairly generous Heidi Swapp primrose spatters, too.

Incidentally, I've since asked my Mum about that old Valentine card and if there's any chance she may still have it.  It may be buried in a baby album or an old photo album; I'll have to see when I return for Christmas again this year but either way, the story is now recorded and when I've finally found the right words, they'll find a home in that little pink envelope.  Love you, Grandpa.

Pinspiration Sunday

Hello, everyone.  It's been one of those grey, dreary and rainy Sundays, which has meant Oskar and I have curled up in bed and I've been busy, busy, busy online.  That should translate to more to share here on the blog shortly.  Now, go grab your hot beverage of choice and come join me in snuggling up for some photo goodies.

Currently:

* watching - Restoration House Nightmare
* reading - McCall's Quick Quilts - Nov/Dec. issue
* eating - toast and peanut butter
* drinking - water
* wearing - PJs
* weather - rainy, 7C
* feeling - peckish
* wanting - to stay curled up at home
* needing - to start making my Christmas cards
* planning - to finally buy new trousers tomorrow (I hope)
* thinking - I should have bought groceries today...
* loving - having ordered a new box of goodies from 2Peas!
* enjoying - a quiet afternoon at home

And now on to the pins...

Scrappy Chevron Picnic Quilt

Super simple quilt of chevrons and rectangular blocks.  Lovely, cheery colours, although I question using white for a picnic quilt.  ;)

Basting Tutorial: 1x3" Boards

Are you (like me) short on space to lay out quilts for basting?  This might be something you want to have a go with, then - basting using two 1x3" boards, which can be set up on a kitchen table.  No more crawling around on your knees or aching back.

Embroidery Panel

How gorgeous is this rainbow on black embroidery panel?  It makes me think of some celestial nebula.

Journaling on Self-Portrait Pages

Tips from 2Peas Garden Girl, Jill Sprout, on journaling about yourself; a topic that many scrapbookers find challenging but is - IMO - so important.

Freckled Fawn Flair

Freckled Fawn is now stocking their own flair and boy, are they cute!  Four sets to choose from currently, each set contains two flair.

Freckled Fawn Cork Frames

Can't get enough cork on your scrapbook pages?  Check out these cute stamped frames?  I might need this set for my next up-coming birthday.  :)

Recolour Staples

Such a simple but great idea for recolouring staples instead of buying pricier coloured versions.  Keep this in mind for your Christmas cards and layouts this year!

Cello Tape Photo Transfers

I still need to try this technique - works for any magazine pictures and certain types of printed pictures.

Poppy Tones

And in honour of Remembrance Day tomorrow, I'm sharing this beautiful poppy-inspired colour palette.  My most heart-felt thanks and appreciation to all of those who have served; to those who possess the strength that I do not.

I Have a Dream...

So yesterday I had a wonderful day spent scrapping, which means today I have a new LO to share with you.  You may remember that about two weeks ago I shared the following photo of supplies with you:

I was all set to start this LO when I suddenly discovered that I hadn't printed the photo like I thought I had so then I had to wait until my new photo order came in.  Anyway, those supplies turned into this:

I Have a Dream...

This beautiful photo realistic chalk pastel paper from Webster's Pages was actually available at the local Panduro Hobby here in Sweden shortly after New Year so I snatched up several sheets of what was available.  This is not my typical style of paper *at all* but I decided I wanted to challenge myself to use it so I've been saving one sheet of it - until now.  A LO about scrapbooking seemed to be the perfect choice for using this paper and I love the soft, pastel colours.

I knew I wanted to have some hidden journaling in the glassine bag and I used my vintage Olivetti to type 'Can you keep a secret?' on the top of the bag.  I actually had a brain wave for most of the journaling the night before in bed so I typed it up on my phone to use later.

For the rest of the LO, I decided to just use a lot of layering and dug into my scrap basket.  There's sort of a little bit of everything in there - corrugated cardstock, labels, patterned papers, a transparency, a banner, washi tape, stickers, etc.  I decided to add the frames while working on the fly and I quite like how they draw your attention into the photo.  Some dimensional embellishments with the cork arrows, the flair and enamel dots.  I also used a 2Peas star paper clip and oh my, such fun!  I can tell I'm going to become obsessed with those...

I also used some word, phrase and number stickers, sprinkled around the page.  I knew the moment I saw that MME phrase sticker, 'Reach, Imagine, Dream' that it was perfect for this LO.  I'm also really loving that Kensei Thickers font.

Pinspiration Sunday

Wow!  I've had such a productive day today!  Always feels awesome, especially when I wondered this morning how I would possibly do it all.  So, I'm going to keep the ball rolling here on the blog, too, so go grab your hot beverage of choice and join me.

Currently:

* watching - Kitchen Nightmares
* eating - noodle stirfry
* drinking - water
* wearing - jeans, tank top, cardi, socks
* weather - windy & clouding over, 19C
* feeling - accomplished
* wanting - one more weekend day
* needing - to say goodbye to Oskar until the weekend :(
* planning - tomorrow morning before the construction workers come
* enjoying - a day spent scrapbooking

So let's get started!

Craft Apron

I love this little, short, pocketed apron.  It would be perfect for crafting, to tuck pens or other small tools or items to hand.

Handbag Organiser

I love handbags but I hate having to move everything from one to another.  Yet despite that, I still don't own a handbag organiser to quickly and easily swap bags.  This particular pin links to a purchase page (item currently out of stock) but it's actually the DIY idea of the item that I find inspiring, not that I would buy this particular item myself.

 

Embroidered Poppies

There is something about poppies that I find enchanting and I love the 3-dimensional quality of these embroidered ones.

This Beach by Melissa Man

I've received a lot of lovely comments on my use of Crate Paper slide frames in my recent LO, In an Octopus' Garden, so here's some more slide frame inspiration to pass around.  I love that they're paired with a great photo enlargement, which by now you probably know I enjoy using.

 

Simple Hallowe'en Card

I love the simplicity of this fun and cute card.  Not that I send Hallowe'en cards (it's really not celebrated in Sweden, although somewhat more these days than the 11 years ago when I moved over) but it's still a fun card.

Webster's Pages Shaped Paper Clips

Today while scrapbooking, I broke into my new 2Peas star-shaped paper clips and I have to admit, they are super fun to use!  Webster's Pages is releasing a wide variety of shaped clips, from these cute hearts and funky arrows to autumn apples, holiday reindeer and golden crowns.  These are must haves for sure!

 

Photo Tags

This is a simple but fun idea, especially for left-over photos that you don't plan to scrapbook or otherwise use but perhaps you don't want to bin them, either.

 

Petal Palette

I spent time today breaking into my new Carta Bella Hello Again collection and really enjoyed mixing the soft pinks, melon peaches and black accents together.  When I saw this colour palette, it reminded me of those papers mixed together.