Maisie Moonshine's

Problem Solved?

2011-05-28T09:58:00.001+01:00

Thank you for letting me know there was a problem with posting comments. I hope I have fixed it - but you know how it is with technology! Please let me know if you still can't post anything.

Hello - Hello? I'm back... Is there anybody there?

2011-05-24T16:44:00.006+01:00

Well what can I say in my defence? It has been more than a year since I last Blogged and I’M SORRY I just disappeared from the ether without a word... but my goodness what a year it has been!

The main news is that the Moonshine Tribe has upped sticks and moved house – and the reason for my dismal blogging failure was that the whole selling, buying moving thing was so hideously stressful that I got lost for a while and just didn’t feel that I had anything happy/positive to say.
All that (thankfully) is behind us now and I can (almost) smile about some of the more ridiculous aspects of it all; but suffice to say that Mrs Lipstick and Mr and Mrs Down Right Rude had better NEVER cross my path again!!!

Anyway - to catch up...we have moved out of Stafford and now live in the country, in a lovely village (runner up in the Staffordshire Best Kept Village competition and locally “famous for Christmas lights”).

Our new home is lovely; we’ve been here nine months and have pretty much settled in. Everywhere is still painted builder’s magnolia but as yet I have no mad urge to find the rollers, dust sheets and check out the colour charts. Even so here feels more like home after nine months than the old house did after seven years. I’m so happy here and although Moonshines Major and Minor are away from their mates they are still at the same school and Ma Moonshine’s Taxi Service can make the journey back to the old stamping ground in 15 minutes with a following wind.

So what else is news? In brief Mr Moonshine is an even more Very Important Person, Moonshine Major has started his GCSEs (aargh!) is four inches taller than me (!!) and has developed the art of the lie in to Turner Prize winning proportions (1:45pm is his record and he only woke up then because I prodded him to make sure he was still breathing). Moonshine Minor has started High School, has settled in well and is growing up WAY to fast.

And me? Same old same old, loving our new home and getting round to picking up my life again after everything going on hold during The Move.

So – I’m back, and although I’m not promising to blog every day, I will keep in touch...

A BIT OF A CHEAT

2010-03-07T01:02:00.005Z

Another week over, my goodness isn't 2010 flying by! Another craft class come and gone. Progress on the calendar continues and I did actually complete a whole page in one class this week (that's a first) - shame I need to do three a week now to finish on time.

You'll notice that I've gone a bit out of sequence here and lacking inspiration for April, May, June ... (you get the message!) I jumped to October - well easy isn't it - Hallow e'en - colours already prescribed, theme all ready and waiting and I just happened to have some decoupage stickers in my stash. So as I said a bit of a cheat really but still, it's one page closer to the finished article!

Here it is...

And in detail

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

2010-03-03T04:51:00.016Z

In the mean time Crafty Club has been continuing, now on Friday afternoons and in a new location (thank heavens!) the old place was dark, cold and miserable, but burst pipes over the holidays have made the rooms unusable and we are now permanently installed in a Community Centre with light, warmth and A CAR PARK!!!!! (no more driving round and round trying to find that last elusive on street parking place and praying that the Parking Nazis don't put in an appearance!)

Our teacher had promised a term of learning stamping techniques which I was really looking forward to, but along with the change of venue we are now funded by a different department who will only fund "tangible projects" so this term's "project" is a calendar.

I'm afraid I've been a bit low on inspiration this term and with only four weeks left I've only managed to complete pages for January, February and March. I had planned on using a different technique on each page but now I'm not so sure.

Anyway here are my efforts so far...

A close up of the embellishment...

As you can see I've used a paper patchwork effect for January, choosing co-ordinating papers from the Dovecraft Christmas Blues collection. I had some 2x12 papers sitting in my stash and inspired by the dark snowy days we had this January thought that the cold dark colours matched the miserable weather perfectly. A few snowflake brads and a touch of pink to lighten the mood - perfect! Although the fringing took FOREVER I really like the effect, especially when put together with the doodled "stitches".

Sorry, predictable heart motifs for February. and a touch of very simple teabag folding (I told you I was lacking in inspiration!) The teabag papers were some I've had in my stash forever and want to get rid of (shiny paper - nasty) and really don't go with the lovely background paper, but I was so low on inspiration and general enthusiasm for the project that I didn't really care. (I know - SHAME ON ME!)

March - A REVELATION. I REALLY REALLY REALLY enjoyed this one. I've always looked at quilling and thought Nah - can't be bothered, too fiddly - now I'm HOOKED - and yes it is too fiddly (for me - not brilliant at doing things requiring great dexterity. (I can do it, but it takes me ages and is a struggle - AND I find I'm pulling RIDICULOUS faces too (OK at home V. EMBARRASSING at Crafty Club!!!)) The observant amongst you will have spotted that the flowers on my border are yellow roses - not botanically accurate for March but I wanted something small and compact and I'm really pleased with the end result, simple, clean and with a promise of spring.

I have NO IDEA what I'm going to do for the remaining nine months and I'm pretty sure that quilling will make at least one more appearance, but you can bet they wont all get done in the next four weeks. I'll keep you updated!

WHERE SHALL I START?

2010-02-28T08:40:00.010Z

Since I last blogged (and believe me I hadn't intended it to take so long to blog again!) SO many things have happened. But more of that another time. I'll carry on with my story...

I left you with things having snowballed vis-a-vis the owls / craft thingy (sorry, that has turned out to be no joke given the dreadful winter we're having!)

Well, at the beginning of October I had the mad idea of getting together enough stock to run a craft stall at the annual Christmas Craft & Gift Fair at Moonshine Major's school. (Scheduled for 29th November) Could I do it? Should I do it? Mr Moonshine was prepared to back the initial outlay on felt and materials, I had loads of crafty bits just sitting there in my craft room ... why not give it a go... and so Maisie Moonshine's Handmade Crafts Emporium was born, over tea, toast and tayberry jam one Sunday breakfast time.

There followed of course a frantic scramble to get together enough stock, felt owls, cupcakes, Christmas decorations, bookmarks, phone charms, place setting holders, photo clips, calendars and decorated sweetie jars to put on a decent show.

Of course nothing ever runs smoothly and for a week or so in the middle of November the whole fair was in doubt as there were not enough stall holders to make it worth while. I couldn't believe it! All that effort for nothing! Hang on, what on earth was I going to do with 16 owls, cupcakes, calendars etc, etc? Well everybody's Christmas presents would be sorted!

PING! lightbulb moment - I could sell them on the internet, either on my own site or through Folksy - or both...

A little bit of surfing the web and doing some research opened a whole new can of worms, the biggest of which was that as soon as you start to sell anything you have made on the net you are "Trading" and so have to register as Self Employed - with all the stress and hassle that involves.

Thankfully, having rung around anyone I could think of who might be interested in running a stall at the fair the news came through that the fair was back on. PHEWWW!

By working all hours and pretty much giving up on doing any Christmas shopping I was ready in time.

And here is a photo of my stall.

I had a great afternoon. Mum came over to help me out and give me some moral support! (Thanks Mum!). The afternoon passed quickly, although there didn't seem to be many people shopping. I've got to say that The BGF was one of my best customers and some of my other girl friends rallied round to show their support. I did actually have a very successful afternoon, even picking up some orders along the way.

So Maisie Moonshine's Handmade Crafts Emporium is definitely in business, you can visit my shop by clicking here , and soon by clicking on my shop button on the sidebar.

A SHAMEFUL CONFESSION

2009-12-20T08:24:00.008Z

Hello Dear Friends and hearty felicitations for a merry and bright Christmas.

And lo! I have return'd unto the land of Blog, fervently hoping that my trusty friends and followers have not deserted me, though I have let them down in a most unseemly fashion.

The truth of the matter is that I have been SOOOOOOOO busy that I haven't had time to do any blogging and EVEN WORSE - can you believe I haven't scrapped A SINGLE PHOTOGRAPH in the whole of 2009! - I've taken hundreds, I've got loads of fabulous stash just waiting to be used, but I haven't had a minute to scrap anything.

Set aside all the usual domestic drudgery and the added delights of being THE CHRISTMAS FAIRY, I set myself up for failure on the scrapping front with the mad idea of going into business for myself. What? Where did that spring from?

Well, are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin...

It all started with a quick romp round our local Accessorize with the BGF. We love their Christmas decorations (although none of them ever go with my silver-white-gold-crystal-the-more-bling-the-merrier theme). I happened to see a little hot pink owl with blingy eyes and felt flower embellishments on its tummy, well I'm sure you know that owls are all the rage at the moment, and I'm afraid that I am an advertising exec's dream customer and I was rather taken with said owl. I looked at the price £3.50 - not bad for Accessorize I thought. I was this close to making a purchase when I noticed that all the felt embellishments had been GLUED on. YEUK!

I'm sure you know that if you glue fabric, and felt in particular, it goes stiff and the glue leaves a dark coloured mark, well this is what had happened to my no longer so gorgeous owl. Pah I thought, I'm not buying that.

But the old mental wheels were whirling, cogs grinding, cobwebs twisting into disgusting grey candy floss - sorry getting carried away with my analogy... where was I... Oh yes owls - I could make one of those myself I thought, and it will be much nicer because it will all be hand sewn.

So, a quick trip to Hobbycraft (Opening soon in Stafford - Oh joy!) a few pieces of felt and a couple of hours or so later I had created my first felt owl and here it is.

As with all these things, it looks better in the flesh than in the photo - but you get the idea. That is one cute owl. So cute, I thought to myself that I bet if I made more I could sell them...

...and the idea kind of snowballed...

LATEST MINI-BOOK CREATION

2009-11-10T13:02:00.022Z

I know it looks as though I've been a crappy scrapper lately but there are some good reasons - which I'll save for another post.

Just to prove that I have had my paper and glue out here is the mini-book I created for my Big Sis' birthday back in October. I couldn't blog this any sooner as I had to wait for her to actually see it in the flesh and it has been waiting at Mum's (a halfway house for gifts not to be entrusted to Postman Pat) for a while.

You will know from my previous posts that so far I've done mini-books for The BGF and Mum so it was only natural that I should do one for my Big Sis. I toyed with themes, stitching (she's an avid (actually that word doesn't accurately describe it) cross stitcher (see her cross stitching blog here - just remember the back arrow to come back), birthdays, getting old (she is my Big Sister - I'll always be younger than her!!!) and finally decided on the pleasure and pain of sisterhood. A long trawl through the various quotation websites and I had ten quotes to put together in a book.

Mum had given me a stack of gorgeous My Mind's Eye "Bohemia" papers as a prezzie and I knew I wanted to use the pink and brown colourway to create a sophisticated look. What I discovered to my chagrin was that some 12x12 papers are not all that easy to use in a smaller format and it was far more difficult to put these pages together than the pages for The BGF's book which used 6x6 Smirk papers which are scaled to suit.

Anyway after many false starts and a serious case of misplaced mojo the book eventually came together and here it is...

Oh fiddle, the photo's I need are not on this machine hang on a minute....

... Sorry about that - here we go...

Remember you can click on the photos to enlarge them, just use the back arrow to come back to the blog.

The cover was painted with Acrylic, specially mixed to match the papers and then sponged with white and burnt umber to create the marbled effect. I haven't told the Mini Moonshines that I used their bath sponges - they washed out OK - they need never know!!!

The calendar stamp is by Imaginisce and is heat embossed to help it stand out against the mixed background.

The swirl is cut from Core'dinations cardstock using my trusty Craft-Robo.

The dark rose cardstock is again Core'dinations, embossed with the Cuttlebug Perfect Paisley embossing folder and then sanded back to reveal the core.

Do you remember me waxing lyrical about my Inkadinkado Bijoux Oiseaux stamps? Well here they are, stamped with pale rose pigment ink, heat embossed with Heat It Up Cranberry embossing powder and embellished with PaperMania Iridescent stones and a Hobbycraft feather. I'm really pleased with the result!

I may have mentioned that I'm not a big fan of peel-offs but these butterflies were perfect for this page. The stamps are from a gorgeous set I got in the sale at Waterstones, of all places, for a fabulous £3.00 instead of £18.00!!!

This is everyone's favourite quote and it was always going to be the last one in the book!

My sister loved her book and I know it wont be my last one - but I think I'll keep the next one for myself!

GORGEOUS

2009-10-01T01:31:00.009+01:00

I can't remember if I mentioned in my last post that I've recently been suffering from seven year itch NOT of the marital variety, I hasten to add, but of the domestic.

I've been feeling really unsettled at home and little things around the house have been starting to get me down. Of course I blame it all on The BGF, as she has recently moved to a shiny new house where the shower doesn't leak, the carpets don't need cleaning and so on... A few of my other friends, girls who moved on to our estate at the same time as us and have children in the same classes at school have also moved away, leaving me feeling that everything is changing and OK, I admit it - I'M NOT GOOD AT CHANGE.

Anyway, a good while back we Moonshine's were returning from a visit to Cannock Chase through Brocton (a small village, the place to live in Stafford) and we drove past my dream home, Heather House. I told Mr M. that I wanted to live there, it was my perfect house, all gables and sticky-outy bits with a huge garden and gorgeous garden room. He laughed of course, as it wasn't on the market - yes, but if it ever was...

Well blow me if it hasn't been on the market this summer at a whopping £850 000, sadly way beyond our budget and my frequent prayers to ERNIE seem to be falling on deaf ears...

Oh but it's perfect; an older property, full of character, newly refurbished, 6 bedrooms - which would give me a dedicated craft room rather than using the spare room (which the neat freak in me wants to have as a nice bedroom not a work space), summer house, double garage, drive that will park a small fleet of cars, sorry I'm rambling... but completely out of our reach.

Then I saw in the paper another 6 bedroom, new build at only £650 000! Only! but you guessed it, still way too expensive and I can think of half a dozen reasons why it wouldn't really be suitable (I hate the black appliances in the kitchen for a start). So you can see where I'm going on this can't you, I'd become unhappy with what I've got and was hankering after things I could never have and of course, that way lies deep unhappiness...

So I had a big rethink about life, the universe and everything (well not quite everything, I didn't think much about quantum physics, still don't, to tell you the truth) but I came to the conclusion that you must be happy with what you've got, and if what you've got doesn't make you happy - change it. So that's what I'm in the process of doing.

One of the main things that has got me down ever since we moved in is our kitchen. There's just not enough storage, and the two biggest cupboards are those annoying corner cupboards where if you want anything out of the back of the cupboard you've got to empty the front out first and then contort yourself round a 90 degree bend whilst trying not to bang your head on the useless drawer above you. Aaargh! So I've gradually got more and more fed up and cooking has become more and more of a chore and I've got less and less pleasure from doing something which I used to love. So, after six years of putting up with this I've taken matters in hand and completely re-organised my kitchen and utility storage. All my food is now stored in a big larder cupboard in the utility room and all the gubbins that was in the larder is now in the useless cupboard in the kitchen. And BLIMEY do I wish I'd done it years ago! What a difference it has made. I can now get to all the food - even my baking ingredients, I can see what I've got at a glance, (You really DON'T need THAT many jars of sun dried tomatoes!) and best of all, I've even been inspired to bake again.

Actually I did have an ulterior motive for baking, my friend Tracy was coming round for coffee and relieving me of our now sadly vacant guinea pig hutch. (Just as well really as I was this close to buying a beautiful silvery-black Netherlands dwarf rabbit last week - Mr M. would have gone ballistic!) and she told me that if she was expected to do manual labour then she would want biscuits with her coffee (a subtle dig because when she came last time I hadn't got any). So I thought biscuits, I'll give you biscuits! Out came my Rachel Allen's Bake book (gorgeous!), on went the apron and an hour later I had two batches of cookies ready and waiting. The scrapbooker in me couldn't resist the opportunity to embellish the jars and take some pics which I will get round to scrapping...

Gorgeous!

The stem gingers are my favourite, buttery, melt in the mouth cookies with delicious, chewy nuggets of crystallised ginger Mmmmm! Mr. M has ordered some pistachio ones for next time - and the kids wont even try them - can you believe that?

I think the labels look very sweet and I've almost decided to make them for all my Kilner storage jars, but I'll laminate them for durability. That will be a lovely little project for a sleepless night, or when there's football on the telly!

Supplies

Label X-Cut die
Stamp Papermania, Sweet Nothings
Ribbon from stash

MUST TRY HARDER

2009-09-21T00:06:00.003+01:00

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, SORRY!

I've been RUBBISH at blogging lately. On the one hand it's a GOOD THING as it means I must have been sleeping better. (You'll see that most of my posts, like this one, are knocked out in the wee smalls as chronic insomnia takes hold.) On the other it means I've had nothing going on that's inspired me to put fingers to keyboard. As I say, MUST TRY HARDER.

Just to update you with what has been going on...

Mr M's Mum is undergoing weekly chemo sessions, she's halfway through her six weeks of treatment and feeling pretty fed-up.

Moonshine Major is now a TEENAGER, his voice is breaking, his feet are enormous (no more "cheap" children's clothes, we're into men's shoes and shirts now) and he's only half an inch shorter than me.

Moonshine Minor is now into double digits and is in his FINAL YEAR in primary school. My babies are growing up far too quickly and although they are wonderful, great fun, good company and really very well behaved (all things considered!) I do miss their younger selves.

Mr M's company has won some work in Acklington, so he will be staying away from home more often than of late. This is a BAD THING, he hates it, but it does give me a chance to watch ridiculous girly TV without snorts of derision.

We have, at long last succumbed to the lure of Sky TV. Brought about by the demise of our Freeview box and subsequent loss of any watchable telly. This of course means that my choice of the aforementioned ridiculous girly TV has increased exponentially and I will be faced with the dilemma of which of my Style and Culture programmes to watch.

The BGF has moved house. She's still in Stafford but no longer "just round the corner", so I'm seeing a little less of her. This does have its benefits as it means I'm spending more time at home and am getting more jobs done around the house. The down side of which is that I seem to be doing less scrapping than ever.

Our next door neighbours, who moved in the week after we did, have decided to move on and their house is on the market. This is a BAD THING and I'm really sad to see them go as they have been both good neighbours and friends. They are also staying in Stafford and we have promised to keep in touch, but you know what it's like...

Our sort-of neighbours on the other side, in the bungalow, as we call it (they actually live on the street behind us, we're much higher up so the roof of their house is level with the ground floor of ours so looks like a bungalow from our garden) are also moving. This is a GOOD THING as they are NOISY neighbours - late night parties, loud music and don't get me started on the trampoline!!!!

I can't think of anything else off the top of my head so update over and back to the matter in hand - Scrapping.

In my last post I mentioned that I had a cunning plan to facilitate more (given the pathetic output from my scrapping room we can now take that to mean any) scrapbooking. Well this is my cunning plan, a plan so cunning I shall call it Mr. Fox... (thank you Blackadder - always one of my favourite lines.)

Problem

Sad lack of scrapping due to lack of printed photographs

Solution

Print off photos (Dur!)

Problem

Too many photos to print at home and my HP printer gives everyone nuked-on-a-sunbed skin tones

Solution (Code name Mr. Fox)

Sort out photos and upload them to Photobox to do the necessary, then look forward to the arrival of my package of pics which I can scrap as the mood, inspiration or insomnia takes me.

Hurrah!

See what I mean, how cunning is that, faultless and foolproof. Now all I need to do is go through my 3000 photos on file and pick out the ones that I want... Ah Baldrick now I see the slight flaw in the plan...

Not to worry... I'll get round to it...

BACK IN THE LAND OF BLOG

2009-08-23T05:18:00.012+01:00

Whoops - forgot to mention I was going on holiday so if you've been dropping in and getting irritated that there have been no new posts I'm VERY SORRY!

Well - what a lot has been going on - but not much crafting I'm afraid! I REALLY MUST TRY HARDER. But I HAVE A PLAN. More of that another time.

Oh dear you can tell I haven't blogged in a while I appear to have developed typing dyslexia - thank goodness for spell checker because you wont know that I made FOUR typos in the last sentence!

Now where was I? Oh yes ... on holiday. We went en famile (that's The Moonshine Mob, my Ma and Pa, Big Sis and her Other Half) to a village near Liege in Belgium. Belgium? I hear you wonder, what on earth is there in Belgium? Well you sceptics I've got to tell you there is LOADS. What a fabulous, beautiful, clean, interesting, totally splendid country. And YES I would go back again like a shot! In fact Mr M and I quite fancy retiring there - we've seen a rather lovely chateau we quite fancy...

We stayed in a beautiful gite, a lovely barn conversion with 4 bedrooms, sitting room, big kitchen with v. large table, mezzanine play area for the kids - made good use of by Moonshine Minor who rediscovered his love of Brio, games room with full size table tennis AND a HUGE garden with CHICKENS!

And of course, where you find chickens you also find...

On the down side though - where you find chickens you will also find a cockerel. This one a very rare, but VERY LOUD and VERY EARLY RISING Klingon cockerel. (Poor Mr M, it woke him every morning at 4:05 - and if it wasn't the Klingon it was the cows, or the donkey, or the sheep, or the combine harvesters and we wont even mention the mozzies) I had the benefit of earplugs - (Mr M snores - A LOT) which kept out most of the agricultural soundtrack but sadly let through much of the snoring - work that one out!

Klingon cockerel

Klingon

See what I mean? They could be cousins!

As I said before the area we were staying was beautiful, fabulous scenery, gorgeous picturesque villages, chateaux by the bucketful and loads of places to go and things to see, although I've got to admit Mr M. and I were terribly lazy and didn't wander too far afield, preferring to kick back and relax at the gite and enjoy good books, fab weather and plenty of extreme ping-pong. (This entails using surrounding walls, floor, furniture etc to keep the rallies going at any cost!) Anyway we're going to go back again in 2010 so perhaps we'll be better at being tourists then...

I have great plans to put together a minibook and a couple of 12x12 pages to preserve the memories so I'll keep you posted and share some more pics then.

THUNDER AND LIGHTNING

2009-07-24T16:29:00.021+01:00

Talk about raining cats and dogs - it is absolutely POURING down in Stafford right now. We're in the middle of a monsoon!

I'm staying tucked up inside though having already been soaked to the skin this morning during a spur of the moment trip to Cheadle (Staffs not Cheshire) to check out the goodies at Crafty Urchins. I'm afraid I couldn't resist the new-in Gem Stone Birds stamps by Inkadinkado (although I've got to say the french description "Bijoux Oiseaux" sounds much more romantic). The heavens opened as I was on the way back to the car, and of course I didn't have a coat or a brolly with me so I had a very damp and uncomfortable trip home in the car (I hope the seats dry out quickly, I had a very soggy bottom!)

I'm sorry I haven't blogged for ages but as I explained to my good friend Debs when she complained about it, my head hasn't been in a happy place lately and I haven't felt in the mood to put fingers to key board, so whilst I'm still basking in the slightly damp glow of a morning doing one of my favourite things (stash shopping) I'll post the pictures I promised of Mum's Special Birthday Surprise.

Mum, like me, is a big gardening fan and I decided to put together a book of gardening quotes for her birthday card this year. (Nothing to do with the fact that I LOVE doing mini books and was feeling at a bit of a loss after finishing the BGF's!)

I had picked up two scrapbooking kits in our local Home Bargains for almost nothing a few months ago and was itching to do something with them and this was ideal as the colour palettes worked well together. (I've had some mega buys in Home Bargains in the past you know, Fiskars border and circle punches for 99p. Yes girls 99p - can't leave 'em in the shop for that can you?

The book is a Papermania chipboard mini book and all the papers are from two Inspirations scrapbooking kits. I hope you like it. If you click on a photo it will open up full size in a new window, just remember to use your back arrow to get back to the blog.

This is the front cover, painted with acrylic and embellished with co-ordinating papers cut with QuickKutz Cookie Cutter Nesting Labels and a layered up bloom made up of a de-constructed gerbera, chipboard flower, Prima Crazy Daisy, American Crafts Greenhouse acrylic flower and a flower brad.

The close up shows the detail of the layered bloom and a charm which has been tied with embroidery floss to the book ring binding.

The main paper mat on this page was run through a Swiss Dot embossing folder to mirror the pre-embossed border sticker I cut up and used on the tag. I was pleased with the way the Fiskars Threading Water (scallop) border punch and Papermania scalloped border stamp worked together on this layout.

Two very subtle pages with minimal embellishment, just some Gisella Graham gingham ribbon, buttons from Dunelm Mill and a layered up bloom.

Close up showing layered bloom, tag and charms attached with DMC Desire Wire.

I love the Cuttlebug Birds and Swirls embossing on the following two pages and was lucky to find some co-ordinating Papermania spring time brads to complement the theme.

Do click on this photo to enlarge it if you want to see the detail. I wanted to show the double page spread so that you could see the landscape scene. The clouds, tree trunk and leaves are October Afternoon Home Sweet Home stamps whilst the blackbird is a See-D's Springtime Collection stamp that has been heat embossed. The ladybird is an E-Z rub-on by Royal & Langnickel. The tree was cut from green paper using scallop edge scissors and the cherries were cut from border stickers which came with the kit with a dot of Dimensional Magic to add gloss. Just remember the back arrow to return to the blog.

I love the lilac and green colour scheme on these pages and used the scallops again to keep continuity through the book.

A real splash of colour on these pages thanks to Prima Crazy Daisy flowers with contrasting eyelet centres.

Anita's Dimensions stickers really set off this last page, which is probably my favourite. I'm a real sucker for butterflies and butterflies with sticky-uppy wings what could be better?

I'm already planning my next mini-masterpiece which will no doubt feature my new Bijoux Oiseaux stamps. Watch this space...

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

2009-06-24T17:38:00.011+01:00

Hello Lovely Blog Followers! I hope you're enjoying this gorgeous weather we're having at the moment!

I know it's a few days late but, I thought I'd share with you the Father's Day card I whipped up whilst waiting for The Gas Man NOT to arrive last Wednesday - don't get me started! I did one for Mr M from the boys and one for my Dad.

I'm really pleased with how it came out, masculine yet attractive, I think. The papers were from a TrimCraft Lads n Dads stack, the ribbon is Hobbycraft and the brads are probably Rayer, but as I decant all my brads in to divided storage boxes I can't say for sure.

I'm currently working on a top secret project for my Mum's birthday in July, I can't show you the progress as she is one of my followers and I don't want to spoil the surprise. I promise I'll post it after the 14th of July.

NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH

Exciting news over on Maisie, Maisie Garden Crazy click here

HELLO KITTY POCKET CARD - THE PHOTOSTORY

2009-06-10T08:54:00.016+01:00

This is the card I made for the June Recipe Challenge over on my challenge site @ Maisie Moonshine's Mojo Monthly. The ingredients which must appear in the project are stickers (Hello Kitty from a Hello Kitty activity book), Ribbon and Bling. Here's how it was made.

12 x 12 pale pink cardstock scored, cut and folded to the template in June's Papercraft Inspirations magazine. Then a line of Hello Kitty (HK) shapes was punched out of the inside of card (punch from W H Smith) punched shapes retained for later.

Co-ordinating patterned paper triangle cut and adhered to front of card. All edges, inside and out, chalked with dark pink and shimmer pink chalks. Sticker adhered behind rear flap so that Kitty looks like she's peeping out from behind. Large HK sticker matted on dark pink cardstock and cut out.

Large HK stickers and two dark pink cardstock flowers, doodled with white ink, (for the sentiment) adhered inside.

To finish, a length of pink velvet ribbon, large matted Kitty sticker and additional stickers were adhered to the front of the card, those on the pocket carefully placed to be hidden behind the goodies to be inserted later. Additional Hello Kitty shapes were punched out of co-ordinating card for confetti.

Inside the finished card.

The finished card filled with Hello Kitty goodies.

And finally... the envelope

The card was made for The BGF's daughter who was 9 on Friday and IS the world's No.1 Hello Kitty fan. I made her a mermaid pocket card last year and The BGF happened to mention that her daughter had taken the card in to school the day before her birthday and was "just wondering" if I might be making a card again this year. I'm glad I didn't let her down! I'm also pleased to report that she loved the card and all the goodies and her mum didn't even mind the Hello Kitty confetti that showered all over the kitchen floor!

All in all a successful project and lovely to do something so girlie!

I'VE BEEN TAGGED

2009-06-06T01:42:00.015+01:00

NOT the criminal variety - OBVIOUSLY - (although you might have been wondering why I haven't been blogging so much lately - blame the weather not my being on remand!) this tag (or tig depending on where you come from) is a blogging game. My blogger friend Rose over at Victoria Rose Paper Crafts, who is sweet enough to follow my blog, has tagged me in a game which has the following rules:

pick six unimportant things you love
mention and link to the person who tagged you
tag six of your favourite bloggers to play along (don't forget to comment on their blog to let them know they've been tagged!)

So here, in no particular order, are six of my favourite inconsequential things...

Lettuce... Mmmm I LURVE lettuce. The rest of the Moonshine Mob all think I'm barking but I can quite happily munch through a whole salad bowl.

Hedgehogs - We usually have a hedgehog (Henrietta) in the garden, but I don't think she made it through the winter this year. I miss her snuffling about in the undergrowth, frightening the life out of us when we're sitting out in the garden in the evening and listening to her snore during the day. I loved to watch her bumbling around in the early evening and my Hostas are really looking bad far too early in the season.

Coffee and Walnut Cake - my cake of choice, delicious, moist sponge, bittersweet buttercream icing... Mmmm... ooops - starting to drool.

My Bosch Cordless Mower - I can mow all four of our lawns in less than 15 minutes and my record for the back is 3 minutes flat! - the rechargeable battery means no dangerous petrol stored in the garage and no time wasted flipping miles of cable out of the way. (I've even scrapbooked a pic of my Bosch - sad I know - but hey, I just LOVE TO MOW.)

Handbags - A girl can NEVER have too many handbags. I prefer mine boxy and unusual in either fabric or design and a bargain just adds spice to the mix. My favourite brand is Cupcake but I love my Radley and my Tulas too. Loved the colours on these - v summery.

Paper - always have, always will. No-one I know understands it but I know there are more of you out there...

There you have it, six fab things of absolutely no consequence. This was a fun challenge, who shall I share it with - let me think...

Jen @ Speedy Stitcher
Sue @ Paper Paradise
Tracey @ Running With Scissors
Julia @ On Top Of The Scrapheap
Thrifty Mrs @ The Further Adventures of a Thrifty Mrs
Debby @ A Scrapjourney

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

NEW CHALLENGE OVER AT MAISIE'S MOJO

2009-06-01T04:17:00.002+01:00

The June Challenge has now been posted over at Maisie Moonshine's Mojo Monthly. This month's challenge is a recipe of three ingredients to be used in creating any papercraft project. Please do pop over and take a look, I'd love it if some more of you joined in the fun (Not that I'm a desperate saddo or anything...) You can get there by clicking here.

Thanks in advance(!?)

HERE ARE SOME I MADE EARLIER

2009-05-25T08:55:00.009+01:00

I'm in the middle of doing a layout of a young M- riding his trike on the patio at our old house. I'd seen a digital layout in May's Scrapbook Inspirations which I'm "reinterpreting" in traditional scrapbooking and I want to have quite a busy layout with lots of embellies.

I've seen that quite a few manufacturers have produced journaling tickets, useful for adding small amounts of journaling such as names and dates. Well, none of my local craft stores stock any of the manufacturers in question, and I didn't want to do an internet shop, so I thought how about doing it myself? I'm pretty good at mucking about with stuff in Microsoft Office so I gave it a go, and about two hours later, ta dah...

and a close up...

Not bad eh? I created them in PowerPoint using a downloaded frame, inserted some drawing shapes, numbers and clipart then saved the slide as a .jpg, opened up my CraftRobo software, imported the .jpg file, switched on the registration marks, traced the shapes, printed the sheet then ran it through the CraftRobo to cut them out and Bob's your next door neighbour there we have 'em. EASY AS THAT!

My next project will be to redesign them so that the clipart image is on the left of the ticket so that they can be tucked under layers on the left hand side of the layout.

Maybe I could make some to sell on ETSY or MISI? Hmmm deep thought required.

I'll post a picture of the layout when it's done, I've hit scrapper's block with it at the moment, it's almost there but still needs some more embellies which I can't decide about. Flowers are no good and I've tried road sign clipart, downloaded, printed off and then coated with Dimensional Magic, and although they look good the red is too scarlet for this particular layout - Oh no, we're back to the difficult reds again! I'll keep looking at it on the desk until inspiration strikes (hopefully).

I've got to say Mr M and I are making the most of the lovely weather (the second Bank Holiday with sun - blimey!) and if you hop over to Maisie, Maisie, Garden Crazy you'll see what we've been doing that's kept me away from the craft room...

Enjoy the rest of the holiday.

OMG IT'S OFFICIAL, MAE WEST IS RISEN AND LIVING IN ME

2009-05-15T15:27:00.006+01:00

Bras girls. What is it with bras? Apparently, on average we girls own 16 bras at any one time, but the individual bra only gets washed 6 times a year.

I can't quite get my head round the washing part - I'm sure that can't be right - but as for the 16 well let's think... there's the Shock Absorber sports bra, the white lacy, the other white lacy, the other white lacy that's given in to gravity, the other not so white lacy , the plain white that gives the unattractive 4 boob look if you bend over in it, the gorgeous white lacy with shocking pink flowers, the cream lacy with peach flowers (Mmm - nice but slightly too small) the blue scalloped lacy, the pale green silk floral, the black lacy, the black not lacy, the black halterneck, the black strapless, the black long line, the favourite black and pink burlesque stylie, the pink lacy, the red (racy) lacy. Well blow me if that isn't 18 bras - but the problem is that I've lost over a stone in weight since Christmas and have gone down a back size, so all my lovely bras are now too big and ride up at the back so my boobs end up on a level with my elbows - This is is not a good look!

So what's a girl to do? I've been on a quest to find some nice new uplifting white bras at reasonable prices - I don't want any of the currently trendy formed cups, for reasons which will become clear. I've been everywhere, tried on about 20 bras (all in fitting rooms with dodgy curtains - don't you just hate trying on bras!) and they're either too big on the back, too small on the cup or vice versa.

In desperation, and on The BGF's advice, - I think she was getting fed up with the whole bra shopping thing to be honest! I've been to our local lingerie specialists and been fitted properly, coming home with two new (one white, one flesh toned) bras which fit beautifully, and cost a fortune, of course. BUT I've gone UP ANOTHER CUP SIZE to 36 F - I mean F - How can you lose a stone and GO UP A CUP SIZE? IT'S JUST NOT NATURAL! So if anyone knows of any bust reducing exercises please let me know! I mean, it is reassuring to know that I'm in no danger of drowning off the coast of Skegness this summer, but I do wish Mae would go and take up residence in someone who wants/needs her!

PLAYING CATCH-UP

2009-05-12T15:36:00.010+01:00

Busy, busy, busy - so much to do so little time.

Just a quickie today... with all the excitement of our trip to Wales to visit Mum-in-Law in hospital I completely forgot to mention that we bought a RED THINGY for the coffee table.

And here it is...

And here it is from a different angle...

It's a piece of Murano glass with gorgeous lustre wear swirls inside, and although it's not exactly the undefinable shade of blacky-red that I was looking for, we both liked it when we saw it and that was that.

I also promised I would let you know how Basic Beading went last Thursday afternoon. Well, it was a very select bunch of ladies, just the four of us plus the lecturer and I was the baby of the group. They all made me feel very welcome and we had a lovely couple of hours designing and making our own Fimo beads. Believe it or not I had never played with Fimo before so I had a ball (groan!) trying something new. Carole our lecturer was very patient (I'm incredibly ham fisted) and gave me some good suggestions for colour mixes.

Here are my unique, hand-rolled, if slightly grungy, beads - I've got to say I'm really pleased with them and I suspect this could be the start of a love affair with Fimo - I'm thinking embellies, bespoke buttons, swirls and twirls... the sky's my onion.

Whenever I've had a spare momment (waiting in the car for M- to finish cricket training) I've been working on some shabby-chic fabric flowers. Here's my favourite.

Oh yes, I should also mention that these last two photos were taken with my SUPER DUPER new camera (thank you Mr M - Happy Anniversary! xx) - which is FAB - I love it - I can now get close-ups which are IN FOCUS!!! But you'll hear more about that another time.

Must dash, busy, busy...

A LITTLE BIT OF CARD MAKING

2009-05-07T04:17:00.009+01:00

Yesterday was our 14th Wedding Anniversary. As it turned out it was a pretty rubbish day for both of us, but for entirely different reasons. Needless to say, we got through it, like the last 14 years, with a bit of mutual support, a few more than average cuddles - and - remarkably - no alcohol! (Obviously the no alcohol bit was just yesterday - not the last 14 years - we've got kids we'd never have managed that!) We have pencilled in a promise to try and celebrate properly at the weekend! We did however take the plunge and order a BRAND NEW CAMERA!

We've been looking for one for ages as I wanted something better for my scrapbooking, but it was Red Kitegate that finally tolled the death knell for the old Fugi Finepix and its NOT VERY ZOOMY ZOOM. We've settled on a bridge camera (neither compact nor DSLR but a sort of hybrid) which has a staggering 26x zoom and can allegedly take close-ups from 1cm away - we'll see! Watch this space (and my other blogs come to that.)

I did surpass myself and MAKE an anniversary card. It was a bit of a last minute job (May 6th kind of crept up on me unawares this year - I hope to the god of last minute shopping that Christmas doesn't do the same!) and is nowhere near the standard of the other gorgeous things you'll find elsewhere on the internets but just to show that I have been crafting here it is...

I faffed around with it for ages in Photoshop but when I printed it out we looked liked we'd spent the morning on a very hot sunbed rather than in church - my printer just doesn't seem to like skin tones - I'll have to check out the local print shop alternatives.

Here's a detail shot - when the new camera comes my close-ups will be sooooo sharp you'll be able to see the fibres in the paper...

I had chosen the embellies to reflect our bridesmaids' colours (green and purple - sounds vile but was really lovely) you can't tell from the picture as the tiny blooms (deconstructed artificials - see previous post "Pulling the Heads off Daisies") look blue. But GUESS WHAT? Even after 14 years and with probably the worst memory in the history of the world Mr M REMEMBERED!!!!

Next week is Mr M's birthday - and I have at last decided what to get - without resorting to the socks/ties/CDs fall back position. I can't tell you what it is yet as Mr M sometimes pops in to see what I'm up to in Blogland. I think it's inspired - you'll think it's bizarre - but Mr. M will think it's the best thing since sliced bread!

May is also the birth month of my Bezzie Mate from my Birmingham Poly days and I almost always forget to send her a card - SHAMEFUL I know!. We haven't seen each other for 6 years now and really must do something about that. This year however I am not only sending a card but making it with my own fair hands - this is it so far...

The colours aren't great in the pic as the card is sitting under my desk lamp but it's really bright and funky and the Trimcraft Smirk butterfly ribbon goes with it really well. You can see the corner of the latest (June, Pg 83) copy of Papercraft Inspirations open on the desk, this is where I found the technique for the folded pocket card - have a go it's dead easy and I think it would be a fun card for kids to make and fill with cool stuff. The one for my friend will have tea & biscuits tucked in the pockets as when we shared a student house tea formed a major part of Ali's diet! I really miss her you know.

I'm hoping to have a really fun afternoon. The BGF is on a course at the moment learning how to become a learning for life lecturer and one of her classmates teaches arts & crafts. The BGF took the minibook "to school" to show her (Gulp!) and she says that she could teach me some techniques which would save me money on stash - well I'm all for that as by applying MY MUM'S CREATIVE ACCOUNTANCY THEOREM - money saved on the one hand can be spent on something else. So this afternoon I'm signing up for a ten week course on Basic Beading - I'm looking forward to it but I MUST REMEMBER MY READING GLASSES or it will be a case of the talented leading the visually challenged!

I'll let you know how I get on.

Gentle Reminder (or act of desperation?)

Please pop over to my challenge blog Maisie Moonshines Mojo Monthly (link near top of side bar) and come and play with me...

MMM LOVELY STASH

2009-05-03T08:02:00.007+01:00

As yesterday was National Scrapbooking Day I had intended to spend the day - well - scrapping - obviously. But you know what it's like, there's the bins to put out, the laundry to sort, wash and peg out, lunch to cook, menfolk to entertain...so in the end it was obvious that there was ne'er a scrap of scrapping likely to be scrapped. So I scrapped the whole idea and persuaded Mr M to indulge me in my other passion STASH SHOPPING!!!

A quick trip to my newly found, and very favourite, craft shop - Gifts from the Heart Craft Barn and a very HAPPY 20 minutes of mooching (Mr M was waiting outside in the Moonshine Mobile - I didn't want to push my luck!) I picked up this lovely bunch of goodies...

Left to Right from the top:

Around The Block - Springtime & Memories

Black Market Paper Society - Let it Bloom - Celsie Jade & Cassia May

Favourite Findings - Shellz

Junkitz - Flower-ful - Words

Prima - Iron Orchid Designs, Angelique Collection - Angel Kisses

Hero Arts - Sparkle Clear Stamps - Coffee

O'Scrap - O Jellies - Life is Good

Felt Heart - Enchante

Book Rings

Crate Paper - Crate Avenue Collection - Trendy (I thought of you when I saw this, Sue)

Yummmy stuff! Can't wait to get started... wonder if I'll get any scrapping done today?

Oh crikey! I almost forgot. Tomorrow sees the "launch" of my Challenge blog Maisie Moonshine's Mojo Monthly click here if you'd like a sneak preview. I do hope you'll come and play!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

HAPPY NATIONAL SCRAPBOOKING DAY EVERYONE!

2009-05-02T08:21:00.001+01:00

DONE SOME DIGI

2009-04-30T18:59:00.010+01:00

In my obsessive accumulating of stash I have built up quite a large collection of digital scrapbooking kits, which, up to now, I've used only as printed elements in hybrid scrapping.

(Hybrid scrapping is effectively scrapping with paper in the traditional fashion but printing off digital elements, such as journaling blocks, patterned paper, embellishments, lettering etc, downloaded to your PC as digital scrapbooking kits from the interweb, then cutting them out and incorporating them in to your paper layout, even typing up and printing out your journaling or titles is a basic form of hybrid scrapping)

I've been playing around in Photoshop Elements for ages trying to get to the bottom of digital scrapping but I'm completely useless at it. None of my layers do what I want them to do and at the moment I haven't got the patience (or time) to sit down and really get my head round it. But... I wanted to make a cover sheet for a plastic display book in which I keep copies of the scrapbooking sketches I've collected. I wanted it to be - well - decorative and "scrappy" but it had to be 2D to fit in the plastic wallet (and the bookcase) so digital scrapping seemed a good option, and here it is...

The kit I used was Amy Teets "Sun Porch" a digital freebie from the brilliant Shabby Princess but I admit I cheated and created this by the power of text boxes in Microsoft Word! It only took an hour or so to do and I'm really pleased with the result.

The other thing I've been tinkering with this week is handmade blooms. Thanks to Sue at Paper Paradise and Tracey at Running with Scissors I can now make gorgeous cabbage roses. I say gorgeous, Sue & Tracey's are gorgeous - mine is kind of Happy Shopper, but it was only a dry run to get the hang of the technique before committing any decent paper to the project. Here's mine, but do click on the links above to see what they should look like!

I've also had a go at making fabric yo-yos. Moonshine Minor was so intrigued that he asked if he could have a go at making one. This is him mid sew...

and here are our first ever fabric yo-yos, made using some of the fabric scraps I picked up at the weekend for 50p and topped off with buttons "from stash".

I'm going to have a go at making a felt car embellishment tomorrow (maybe) I'll let you know how I get on.

And now for something completely different...

Zero and Eight walking down the street. Zero says to Eight, "What's with the belt?"

MRS TITCHMARSH

2009-04-27T00:07:00.011+01:00

What a nightmare! I've just spent the last hour married to Alan Titchmarsh trying to decide whether or not to plant any more euphorbias in our garden, then, mid argument I fell over (or was I pushed?), started rolling down the sides of a deep landfill tip and woke up trying not to "fall" out of bed. Not very happy about the cricked neck - nor the un-intended bigamy to be honest - but especially not happy about now being WIDE AWAKE when what I really need to be is FAST ASLEEP.

We've had a bit of a crazy long weekend, Mr M and I have been back to Welsh Wales to visit Mr M's Mum who has been in hospital for a rather nasty operation. We were lucky enough to have great weather again and enjoyed our drive down, stopping off at Symmonds Yat for a cream tea on the way. This was the view from our table...

... just beautiful.

We made some more progress with the garden and now only have one more area to tackle before hopefully it will be fairly maintenance free.

Grandma Wales (Mrs M's Mum) managed to make a remarkable recovery from her surgery and was allowed to come out of hospital on Friday, so we picked her up and took her on to Mr M's sister's in West Wales where she is going to convalesce. This meant that we could take the scenic route home on Saturday, and, after popping in to visit again for lunch, we drove home through the Brecon Beacons (hilly side, not mountains) with a quick detour to watch the fantastic spectacle at the Red Kite feeding station at Llanddeusant. Unfortunately our little compact Fugipix wasn't up to the job of taking decent closeups of the Kites (Mr M's favourite birds) but this shot at least gives you an idea of the number of birds there were. We were forced to take this photo from a nearby road as a quick tot up of our available cash finances gave us £3.10 - not enough for us both to pay the £3 entrance fee!

We then ambled our way northeastwards through the Wells (Llandridnod, Builth etc) stopping off for a lovely cup of tea and Welsh Cake at Erwood Station a local craft center where I picked up some fabric scraps which I aim to use in my scrapping. Artist Amanda Skipsey sells her lively contemporary landscapes through the Gallery there, and if the colours had been right for Moonshine Manor I would have persuaded Mr M to invest, as it is we bought a coaster for my craft room and a card with Red Kites on as fab souvenirs of our lovely weekend. Having set off at 9.15 we eventually reached home at 7.30 completing a 600 mile round trip. As you can imagine we were both feeling rather done in and hence the reason for feeling particularly dis-chuffed with A.T. about invading my sleep.

Going back to bed now.

Oh - in case you were wondering - euphorbia issue - not resolved.

LOVE THAT SMILE

2009-04-20T00:56:00.020+01:00

I thought it might be fun to show you how I put together my latest layout (LO), "Love that smile" which is part of my on-going project to scrap some of the hundreds of baby photos I have of the boys. This is one of Moonshine Major at about 7 months old - I remember that the denim dungarees he is wearing were one of my favourite outfits so they will probably appear in more than one LO!

So here goes, a whistle stop tour of a very simple 12x12 page...

Step 1

Choose the photo(s). I have used the original 36mm print in this LO, against all advice in the books which say NEVER use your original photo in case it gets damaged. I have taken the precaution of scanning it in so I can reprint it if necessary and I feel that the whole point of scrapbooking is to get some of our photos out of the drawer and into the album!

Step 2 (optional)

Choose a sketch to work from (this is my first LO from a sketch, rather than a scraplift or from scratch and I was amazed by how much quicker the whole process was)

The sketch I used was Karen Day's Sketch #70 over at MojoHolder you can see it here

Step 3

Select background cardstock, co-ordinating patterned papers and embellishments. I like to find all the bits and bobs that I might like to use before I get started - although inevitably I'll end up going back to the stash for that extra something...

Step 4

Trim patterned papers to size for photo mats and layers, I find a paper trimmer ideal for this as it gives a good straight edge without those annoying scissor "blips".

Step 5

Use a corner rounder punch to round the corners on one patterned paper block, a per sketch. I also rounded the corresponding corners on the background cardstock. Then ink the papers by running an ink pad gently along all the edges (this helps to define all the layers - sorry no photo -not enough hands!)

Step 6

Position photo mats and photos to get a feel for the remaining space and proportions for embellishments

Step 7

Prepare titles. I used a Dymo label maker to print LOVE THAT and cut SMILE from navy felt with my Sizzix Sidekick.

Step 8

Select and position embellishments

Step 9

When you're happy with everything fix all the elements to the page.

And there you have it - simple as that!

Supplies

Cardstock PaperMania

Patterned Paper Basic Grey - Boxer, Long Underwear & Low Rise & Boxer element stickers

Proverb K & CO Proverbs to go

Rub-ons Doodlebug - Simply Sweet

Brads PaperMania

Twill tape, felt & heart button from stash

Lettering die cut with Sizzix Sidekick using Cuttlekids Tadpole dies and DYMO label maker

BEEN EGGSTREMELY BUSY

2009-04-14T19:49:00.007+01:00

Crikey it's been ages since I last blogged! Sorry to all who have dropped in to find nothing new and a big THANK YOU to all of you for leaving lovely comments for me - they are all very much appreciated!

We've had a very busy weekend, making the most of the beautiful BANK HOLIDAY (can you believe it?) weather. The Moonshines de-camped to Welsh Wales; the Senior Ms to wave a Ground Force-esque wand over Mr M's Mum's garden, which has become too much for her to manage over the last year or so, and the Junior Ms travelling onward to stay with their Cuz and provide much needed relief from an unexpected invasion of visiting Germans - don't ask - long story.

Thanks to the fab weather we've managed to weed, plant and mulch the front garden and one huge bed in the back garden - not bad going for three half days - even if I do say it myself. Needless to say I'm now pretty knackered and have aches and pains in places where aches and pains didn't aught to be.

Mr M, of course, has managed to pick up a rather fetching tan; whilst I spent most of the weekend with my backside uppermost (no comments about an unexpected eclipse on The Mumbles please!), bent double weeding, I now have an OH SO ATTRACTIVE lobster red stripe just above my waist band - I tell you there is no justice in this world, Mr M (and Moonshine Major for that matter) only have to look at a picture of the sun and they have a beautiful golden tan - whilst I have my winter look (blue/white) and summer look (red) - actually that's quite patriotic now I come to think about it... not attractive - but patriotic.

You'll be pleased to know that I managed to finish my Aaargh layout the night before we left, it's not much different from the two other versions but just in case you're interested...

Supplies

Cardstock Core'Dinations

Texture Plate Fiskars

Lettering cut with Craft Robo

Lettering Adhesive Xyron X-150

Brads PaperMania

Simple, low budget but quite effective - I hope.

I hope you and yours have had a happy Easter and have managed not to over indulge on the old hot cross buns (I'm not saying anything about Easter Eggs you'll notice, as in my world it is simply NOT POSSIBLE to over indulge in chocolate). I'm hoping to get some more scrapping done tomorrow, although I can put off THE WEEKLY SHOP no longer - or we will be having fresh air omelette (or possibly Easter Eggs) for dinner.

A FINISH!

2009-04-07T13:36:00.009+01:00

Woo hoo - at last I've done some scrapping. It's been a creative desert here since I finished The BGF's mini book. I haven't started any new layouts recently, I will admit I've had this one on my pile of almost but not quite finished layouts (LO) for many moons but it is now complete and destined for the album.

The title is "M- on Love" and the journaling reads "I love you more than anyone could ever love anyone... I store it in my cheeks".

Sorry about the obscuring - can't think of a better way without making M- look V FREAKY

Moonshine Minor comes out with some wonderful off-the-wall statements and I had to scrap this one to preserve the memory, I will always look back on it and smile. The topic also gave me the perfect opportunity to do a loved-up LO, something for which, living at Testosterone Towers, I can't see many opportunities. I didn't want to make it too girlie but I think using one of Basic Grey's Blush papers as the background, and using both pink and brown embellishments gives it something of a masculine feel. You probably can't tell too well in the photo but I've used some of my deconstructed artificial blooms to make the main embellishment, bottom right.

The pink swirls and scalloped shapes were cut using my Craft Robo (I luuurve my Craft Robo prrr prrr - thanks Mum & Dad - BRILLIANT prezzie!) The swirls are courtesy of Mary Powell at Mamawslegacy and come as a set of 5 different resizeable swirls in GSD format - fab!

In true scrapper fashion, and 'cause I'm a helpful kind of a gal here is the inevitable list of

Supplies

Patterned paper Basic Grey - Blush range Girlfriend & crush, Two Scoops range Cupid's Arrow

Cardstock Core'Dinations

Chipboard Letters Basic Grey (Un-dressed) - Bon Bon

Letter stickers Making Memories - tiny alphas - brown ledger & mixed ledger, Mini Shimmer Alpha - Pink Metro

Flourishes Funky foam die cut with Sizzix Sidekick and Sizzlits Decorative Accents die

Brads PaperMania

Rub-Ons Basic Grey - Wholy Cow (white); (Trimcraft) Laura Ashley Velvets - Connemara Filigree

Blooms deconstructed from artificial flowers

Inks Ink It Up(Chocolate brown); ColorBox fluid chalk Cats Eyes (Maroon)

Pens Whispers; Inkssentials (opaque white)

Wooden Heart, ribbon, sticker, metal flourish from stash

Distressing tools Basic Grey precision file set

I seem to have London Bus Blogging Syndrome - no Blog for ages and then (you guessed it) two come along at once! Got to go now but I do hope you like the layout.

TOP TIP Invest in a pair of cotton gloves (I bought mine from Boots) to save leaving unsightly fingerprints when handling your photos.

GREEN IS THE NEW BLACK

2009-04-07T03:04:00.003+01:00

What can I say? John Lewis' - total waste of time - even the scones were stale. NOT a good start to the day. Not a red thingy (any colour of red) to be seen - except for an acrylic salad bowl in the picnic section, a kettle and a colander - nice, but not what I wanted. Even the VERY expensive thingies were either green or aubergine. We did spend AN AWFULLY LONG TIME weighing up the potential of a foot tall, silver wire sample bottle but decided that no, we REALLY did want something RED.

How difficult does it have to be!!!!

Mind you - it took me five years to find just the right cushions (you guessed it - John Lewis' -RED).

So a little dispirited, having bought nothing, (it is unheard of for the Moonshines to leave JL's without having made a significant contribution to their fiscal well being) we got back into the Moon Mobile and set off for home. With plenty of time on our hands we decided to avoid the motorway and head back cross country via Knutsford which Mr M recalled had some interesting boutique potential.

Cripes, it certainly has some residential potential! WOW I've NEVER seen such enormous houses/palaces. "Crikey!", said I, "I could have a whole craft WING, let alone a room!"

Oooh imagine that, dedicated spaces for scrapping or sewing - a walk-in stash wardrobe... can you see it too?

After a quick pit stop at the Penny Farthing Museum (the hottest latte I've ever tried to drink!) we wandered round Knutsford, and yes there are some beautiful shops selling beautiful things (THE perfect evening bag to go with a recently purchased posh frock - but even though the sun was shining Mr M did not feel minded to part with the £200 necessary to secure its sparkly gorgeousness), but not a red thingy to be seen.

So, I'm afraid the Hunt for Red Accessory continues... as does the search for the perfect evening bag - actually I'm not terribly confident about finding either anytime soon.

HAVING A LOVELY WEEK

2009-04-01T03:19:00.006+01:00

This week Mr M and I are supposed to be having a romantic sojourn a deux in Venice - but, for the second year running, for one reason or another, we haven't got round to it. NEXT year we are DEFINITELY going to Venice, in the spring, to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary.

So this week, we are holidaying chez nous. The Minors are still at school (Mr M has to take his annual leave entitlement by the end of the week) so we are having some lovely grown up days out, doing what WE like without our grumpy moaning minnies turning us in to a family more dysfunctional than The Simpsons.

So far we have spent happy days at Bridgemere Garden Centre and at Trentham Gardens with a fabulous three course lunch at their Italian restaurant, Terrazzo Del Giardino - not quite Venice but mmmmm deliziosa.

Later today we're off to John Lewis in Cheadle, our favourite haunt for interior decor. I'm looking for a statement piece of something in red to go on our rather large coffee table in the living room. It has to be a particular shade of dark red, not crimson, not carmine, not maroon, not any colour I can find a name for but red with a hint of - well - black, I suppose.

I thought I'd cracked it a few weeks ago on a trip to the shopping metropolis that is Telford with The BGF, strolling past Debenhams window I saw a thing of great beauty which was:

big (necessary)
red (essential)
modern (desirable)
reasonably priced (surprising)

It was a John Rocha enamelled bowl - actually - they say a picture is worth a thousand words ...

"I've got to buy that - it's perfect". Thankfully, The BGF and I are like minded when it comes to retail therapy, the more - the happier, so we did a sharp about face and headed down to the home department. Of course we got side tracked by their gorgeous cupcake range ...

Good enough to eat eh? It's not airtight so useless for cookies, I'm thinking storage for ribbon, flock, blooms... sidetracked by cupcakes - again (oh so easily done!)

Anyway, on closer inspection, although absolutely gorgeous and perfect in every other way it was too - well - orangey, more scarlet, or vermilion, or tomato and not the very particular shade I can't find a name for but I'm definitely after. So I'm hoping that John Lewis has got a reddish/blackish/biggish/modernish thing that we'll both agree on.

I'll keep you posted (groan - no pun intended).

MOJO GONE AWOL

2009-03-27T14:33:00.004Z

I've had the day to myself - finished THE DREADED WEEKLY SHOP by 10.15, watched a DVD loaned by one of The Girls (Fireproof - a double Kleenex weepy - I'm such a light weight!) - purely as a distraction technique to avoid doing:

dusting

ironing (groan!)

bathrooms (no joke in this house I can tell you, I have Toilet Duck delivered by tanker load)

mowing (too windy anyway)

Then I've tried to settle to some serious scrapping to get through some of my works in progress - but I'm getting nowhere.

Here's a pic of my "Things that make me go Aaargh!" layout inspired by Ann Caldwell's Seeing Red (Scrapbook Inspirations, January 2009 pg. 73) which I started AGES ago. There will eventually be a sister layout "Things that make me go Oooh!" - I'm thinking stash, cupcakes, sparkly things...

And here is today's progress...

Can you spot the difference?

As I said MOJO gone AWOL. Oh POOBAH!

TODAY WE ARE MOSTLY DOING LAUNDRY

2009-03-25T08:47:00.005Z

You know it's going to be a day of domestic drudgery when the first words you hear are "Mum - I've got no boxers!!" pause, slam "or socks!!!!!"

"OK, hang on a minute" rummage, rummage in the ironing basket, "In-coming - top of the stairs" (well nearly the top, I do, after all, have every right to throw like a girl!)

I knew we must be close to the no knickers threshold by the amount of boxers in the ironing basket on Sunday (Mother's Day - NO WAY am I ironing on Mother's Day - I'm sure it must be AGAINST THE LAW)

Why is she even contemplating ironing boxers? you wonder - OCD I reply!

Mind you, further investigation of my own knicker drawer reveals that I'm down to either the enormous period pants (you know the type girls, the ones you pray to god you don't get run over by a bus whilst you're wearing them) the Bridget Jones stylie "gripper knickers" or the red lacy thongs with the ill advised diamante heart on the back - how many times have I wished the lingerie fairy would visit in the night, wave her magic underwires and convert my gruesome assortment to Victoria's Secret or Janet Reger... aah me...

And of course it's raining - so that'll be 40+ pairs of pants and 80+ socks draped over the radiators turning the house into a sauna - t'rrific! AND today's the 25th so it's my take-a-photo-for-my-"one-day-a-month"-(working title)-mini-book day. Lovely - scrapping a photo of knickers - super - I can hardly wait! Mind you - if I carefully remove the aforementioned diamante heart it could make a sweet embellishment hmmmm... off to investigate the stash potential of my undies... actually that sounds a bit weird - but you know what I mean!

LIKE IT? - SHE LOVED IT!

2009-03-23T17:21:00.003Z

I'm pleased to report that The BGF loved her book and has told me that I'll never get it back as she's going to keep it forever, she's even going to take it to Spain in the summer to show her Mum - so I think she's happy with it! One of the other Girls, who was there for birthday cake and coffee, said that if someone had gone to all that trouble for her she would've been sobbing by the time she'd finished looking at it. I'm with her on that - I come over all emotional if anyone makes me something beautiful - actually since I've had the kids I come over all emotional at the drop of a hat.

It has been A BIG DAY in the Moonshine household. Moonshine Minor got married today - "Hang on a minute" I hear you say, "I'm sure somewhere on this blog she said he was only nine, quick, call Child Protection!" Yes he is nine but yes he did get "married" today. As part of their school R.E. studies the Year 5 children staged a mock wedding ceremony at the local church and M- had his name pulled out of the hat of boys volunteering to be the Groom (strange coincidence as the same thing happened to his big bro three years ago!). He wasn't very impressed with his bride-to-be as she was picked from the other class "I hardly know her, I'm NOT marrying a stranger!" A good rule to live by there son!

All reports suggest that the wedding went well, the Groom's "mother"maintained her decorum throughout the ceremony - something I'm hoping to live up to when/if the time really comes. (I don't hold out much hope as I'm usually blubbering in to my Kleenex at weddings on the telly.)

We now have the weekly torture of swimming lessons to get through and I've already been told "I'm far to tired to go swimming - I did get married today you know!" AND it's pay week - half an hour (if I'm lucky) of standing in line to be told he hasn't moved up a group AGAIN (4 times now) - and anyway WHICH NUTTER invented butterfly - and WHO is EVER going to use that RIDICULOUS stroke to get themselves out of difficulty? Oh my God - I'm starting to rant - I think I'd better go and have A LIE DOWN...

FINISHED!

2009-03-19T15:11:00.009Z

Sorry I've not Blogged for ages - it's been A BAD WEEK - not feeling too good, migraines & generally feeling below par - I can hear you thinking "Huh - hangover after the BIG NIGHT OUT more like" but I promise it isn't. (I only had a G & T - more T than G this time, a glass of Champers, and two small glasses of white wine) I didn't even wobble on my sparkly party heels let alone have that glazed expression Mr M has come to know and ridicule!

Any road up the good news is that I've finished THE BOOK - just as well as it's The BGF's birthday on Monday. Here are pics of the cover and the finished project bound and embellished. Needless to say I'm REALLY pleased with it.

So what do you reckon - think she'll like it? I think there are about 40 VERY ENJOYABLE hours work in this project so I'll have to tell her that when she gets fed up of it hanging around I'll have it back. I think I'd cry if it ended up in the recycle-a-tron.

So it's back to everyday scrapping now, I've got five layouts on the go, the problem is I've enjoyed working in small scale so much I'm a bit daunted by 12 x 12! I'm working on the March challenge layout for Butterfly Crafts (Favourite book), must pull my finger out and make some progress on it - so far all I have is a photo! (Mind you that's better than the other four layouts which are all well on towards completion but have no photos at all) I think I'm doing this all wrong...

Got to go as it's Catch Up Thursday with my friend D, our weekly tea and gossip forum. Bye for now...

Oh yes - just in case you wanted to know...

Supplies

Mini Book PaperMania
Cardstock Core'Dinations
Patterned Paper Trimcraft Smirk Collection
Lettering Funky foam die cut with Sizzix Sidekick and Sizzix Slobbery Kiss Dies
Paper flowers Prima (Crazy Daisy, Lily & Halley; Heavenly, Green)
Silk Flowers WH Smith
Felt Flowers American Crafts - Greenhouse
Plastic Flowers American Crafts - Greenhouse
Stamps Trimcraft Smirk Collection; October Afternoon - Home Sweet Home; tiny flower - PaperMania Spring clear stamps
Ink Whispers; Ink it up; PrettyColor
Embossing Powder Ranger
Pens Whispers; Sharpies
Chalks Dovecraft
Acrylic Paint Royal & Langnickel
Brads Dovecraft
Eyelets Dovecraft; PaperMania
Ribbon Trimcraft Smirk Collection; HobbyCraft; Wilkos; Anita's and from stash
Felt Ribbon PaperMania
Tassels, beads From stash
DesireWire DMC
PaperFrills Cut with CraftRobo
Chipboard Tags Trimcraft Smirk Collection; WH Smith
Chipboard Arrows American Crafts - Playhouse
Brads Dovecraft
Eyelets Dovecraft; PaperMania (set with Crop-a-Dile II Big Bite)
Bling PaperMania
Buttons Dress it up
Wooden Heart HobbyCraft
Metal Tag, cardstock bow PaperMania

BIG NIGHT OUT

2009-03-14T08:24:00.007Z

I'm getting this in early as I have much to do today. It's Mr M's Annual Black Tie Dinner tonight so I'm off to the salon this morning to get a new 'do. Don't know what I'm going to have done so I'll spend a frustrating 1/4 hour looking through the pattern books, only to end up with a different take on my current bob. Of course I've been growing it for about 3 years now (why do fringes grow so fast and the rest not at all (Life's Great Mysteries #43)) so I could pull my usual stunt and go back to short short... but maybe not this time.

Tah Dah... I've finished all the pages for the book and just have the covers to do now, so here are the last pages:

This page is made up from a single sheet of patterned paper which already had two photo frame circles printed on - the larger one made the perfect journaling spot for the quote, whilst the smaller provided a frame for the layered up flower (American Crafts Greenhouse felt and plastic flowers, Prima Crazy Daisy and a flower brad) The bow is a PaperMania embellishment which I think was a freebie on the DoCrafts Creativity mag.

I love the doodling round the scallops on this layout. One of the great things about working in this mini format (rather than the 12 x 12 I usually work in) is that you can use tiny scraps of paper to good effect - the tiny cupcake would have been lost in a large format but adds to the whole in smaller scale.

This is the last page (literally) and I think it's my favourite.

I love the calm muted colours and again the use of the tiny blue heart scraps as tags. My only regret is that I forgot to heat emboss the stamp so it doesn't stand out as much as the previous ones - but I think I can convince myself that it works with the muted tones.

Moonshine Minor has just reminded me that I needed to be on my way by 9.00 so I'm off. (It's NOTHING to do with the fact that he wants to go on Club Penguin of course. Love you little man!)

PULLING THE HEADS OFF DAISIES

2009-03-12T17:33:00.004Z

Whilst spending some quality me time with the latest Scrapbook Inspirations I came across a letter from Theresa Burton in which she told readers about her brilliant money saving idea for cheap fabric flowers. She buys bunches of artificial flowers from shops like Wilkos or Poundland and then pulls them apart and separates out the layers of petals.

Well I couldn't wait to give it a go. I spent a very happy, and weirdly therapeutic, hour pulling the heads off daisies, chrysanthemums, gerberas (my personal favourites) and even a delphinium to liberate the gorgeous petals from their tragic and tacky stems and thus release their inner crafting beauty. My stash of fabric lovelies has increased a gazillion fold and I'm looking forward to doing some altering, layering and generally floral fabulousness soon. (Watch this space... well not THIS space obviously, some other, future, space... )

In the mean time enjoy my flowery beauties...

We are lucky to have a shop here in town which amongst other things has a wide, WIDE range of artificial flowers. (The BGF and I cheerfully refer to it as "The Shed Loads of S*!~e" Shop") and their gerberas come apart a treat, lots of lovely, multi sized, frilly layers. Dunelm Mill is also a good place to look, and if you pick and choose carefully you can get lots of blooms per stem (delphiniums, sweet peas). The real beauty of this is that you can get big blooms at a fraction of the cost of say Bazzills Blooms. So thanks a bunch (groan) for the great tip Theresa!

Mr M - WHAT A STAR!

2009-03-11T15:49:00.005Z

Just remembered this and thought I'd share it with you... Spent a stolen morning with Mr M on Monday - no kids, no cares -FAB! I asked him what he wanted for his birthday - he (of course) didn't have any brilliant suggestions so I jokingly said "Would you like some craft stuff?" and HE said "Yeah if you like"! How cool is that?

Question is - do I take him up on it (I've got my eye on a crop-a-dile or even a badge maker (mucho money - have you seen the price of those things!)) or do we reckon he will be deeply upset if he doesn't get the desperation CD/socks/maybe-a-nice-tie the poor old thing has had for the last forever? Oh boy - what DO you get for the man who doesn't think he wants anything?

Maybe some October Afternoon stamps...?

MORE FRIENDSHIP PAGES

2009-03-11T14:52:00.012Z

So long since I've been on - but so much crafting done! Been working flat out on the Friendship Book and have a few more pages to show you...

I love the more muted colours in these two layouts and I'm especially pleased with the heat embossing on the stamp - it has really added some dimension to the image.

(Just thought you'd like to know that I am now sitting in cloud of blue as I have actually uploaded the above picture four times and am getting really fed up with the crappy formatting tools on this blog!!!!! Oh for an undo button! Aaaaaargh)

By cutting up the various papers in the stack I've been able to do lots of mixing and matching to find complementary papers that work with each of my colour themed pages. I had originally planned that all the pages would be v. girlie and v. pink, but soon realised that by carefully choosing different co-ordinating parts of the designs and using my favourite paper piecing technique, I could achieve a more varied and interesting look.

I'm really enjoying layering up the embellishments and mixing up the various brands to achieve a detailed look.

(The BGF will love this page as pink and orange are one of her favourite colour combos - doesn't do it for me - but I can have lots of fun teasing her about it!)

When I bind the pages together the two facing pages will use the same colour scheme. You can see here the two "yellow" pages and a "green" page which will go with the rock chick page previously posted. I'm working on the facing page for the good egg quote above and hope to have it finished tonight. (Mr M is working away for the next two days, and as long as I don't get roped in to a movie night with the boys, I should be able to get all the pages completed).

I have also been seriously sidetracked by something I'll tell you about next time... great fun and a real money saver too.

INSOMNIA

2009-03-07T04:23:00.004Z

A sleepless night - possible cause too much G and not enough T - who knows. Since I'm awake I thought I'd post a picky of the next page for the BGF's book.

Great page for a wannabe rock chick!

Going back to bed now...

SMIRK-TASTIC

2009-03-05T13:11:00.012Z

I'm currently working on a friendship minibook for the BGF - it's her birthday on 23rd March so I need to get my skates on.

Having been completely smitten by Trimcraft's new SMIRK range of papers, ribbons and embellishments I had to add them to my stash. (I walked away the first time thinking "I have boys - what can I possibly do with them", second time I weakened and treated myself to the 6x6 paper stack and some glitter tags, oh and some ribbon...) I still didn't know what I'd do with them but had vague ideas about cards - and then inspiration struck. The BGF is a sucker for girlie stuff and, despite not being a scrapper, had cooed over the range with me - so what better than to have the pleasure of making a friendship quote minibook rather than a card.

I surfed the web for ages looking for funny quotes - we don't do mushy much - and found a couple of handy websites: Indian Child and Friendship Quotes. I selected a dozen to work with and am in the process of designing the layouts.

I'm using a PaperMania chipboard scalloped circle minibook as the base and am having great fun raiding my stash for ribbon, embellishments and cardstock to co-ordinate with/complement the range.

Here are the first two pages...

The photos don't really do the finished pages justice as the colours are far more vibrant in real life (or maybe it's the angle of the laptop screen?), anyway I hope you like them.

Update on Mission: Grandpa George - Status: Failed. Pyjamas too small (no larger sizes in shop - and Grandpa George didn't have skulls on his jammies from what I can remember) so Moonshine Minor went as Rude Ralph from Horrid Henry instead. Just as well really as his class had a visit to the local library today and he would've looked a right lemon walking through town in his PJs and dressing gown!

CUT TO THE CHASE

2009-03-04T09:03:00.006Z

So here it is (at last you say) the first photo. This is my second ever layout and as the title suggests is me aged three - see I told you I was cute once - I think I had another 2 years and then it all went pear shaped (probably literally).

This layout is scraplifted from Sandie Vincent's Garden Girl (Scrapbook Inspirations, Issue 42, July 2008. pg 49). The orientation has been changed to suit my photo, a scanned and re-sized copy of the original, which is kept safe in a vellum envelope tucked away behind the journaling - you can see the rik-rak pull tab poking out on the left. Obviously the colours have been chosen to complement those on my dress but apart from that and a few less embellishments (I'm still not comfortable with shouts) it is pretty much like the original.

I'm really chuffed with this layout. I thoroughly enjoyed putting it together, learning new skills and trying out new techniques. Scraplifting someone else's design is a great way to start if you're a novice and provides loads of inspiration as you become more experienced but haven't got the confidence or creativity to design your own layout.

Supplies

Cardstock PaperMania (River Deep Collection) and from stash
Patterned Paper PaperMania Colossal Pack
Lettering Funky foam die cut with Sizzix Sidekick and Cuttlekids Princess Dies
Flowers Prima (Crazy Daisy, Kayla) and hand punched
Punches Medium flower & petals - X-Cut; small flower - Partners
Metal Tag PaperMania
Stamps Flower - Partners; Bracket - Punctuation by Kelly Panacci for Sandylion; Journaling block - Memo by Kelly Panacci for Sandylion; @ - Studio G
Ink Ink it up
Pens Whispers
Brads, Rik Rak From stash
Bling Lakeland

I think paper piecing is probably my favourite technique for building up layers and adding interest and with so many yummy papers to choose from how can it not be good?

Anyway I can't stay here all day blogging - I'm on a mission to find some blue and white striped pyjamas for Moonshine Minor to wear for school tomorrow (World Book Day). He wants to go as Grandpa George from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory so hey-ho it's off to the shops I go. Life's hard but I mustn't weaken!

THE MOONSHINES et al

2009-03-03T17:07:00.010Z

I thought it might help if I introduced the Moonshine Mob and other dis-interested parties who may feature at some point (obviously names have been changed to protect the innocent / cool / grumpy / embarrassed).

I am Maisie, 41, 5' 6" or 165cm (for the metrically enlightened), once cute but gone badly downhill. Married to...

Mr Moonshine 46, nearly 47 (cripes what am I going to get him for his birthday?). Very Important Person. Works too hard, plays too little, worries too much and loves us all deeply. Self confessed Grumpy Old Man and my Best Friend.

Moonshine Major (M+), male, 12, v. funny, v. cool, v. sporty, v. adventurous, loves: playing rugby, hates: homework.

Moonshine Minor (M-), male, 9, also v. funny (but more off the wall), v. cute & squishy, v. kind, v. good at maths, loves: Wii family ski & snowboard, hates: sprouts.

Other family members: Lucy Goosey - Last Action Guinea Pig.

I've been worrying about putting photos of my layouts on the web as I know that Mr Moonshine and the boys will not be happy about having their photos up for the world and his wife to see, but it will be a right borin' old blog if it's just me waffling on, so... I've decided that the easiest way is to obscure their names and faces in the pics. I just hope this doesn't make the pictures too freaky!

Significant others who may be mentioned:

Mum - everything I wish I was
Dad - technical advisor on anything from gardening to Photoshop
Big Sis - aka Speedystitcher - held entirely responsible for all of this!
The BGF (Best Girl Friend) permanently dieting, coffee swigging shopaholic, really quite, quite mad
The Girls - collective noun for fun bunch of female friends readily available for coffee, curry vino and vintage nights in or out

So now you've met the Moonshines. Next time I promise I'll get down to the real business!

WHERE TO BEGIN...

2009-03-01T08:29:00.011Z

Help! I can't believe I've been talked in to this. My life is far too boring to Blog, no one will be interested in me or my scrapbooking, my family WILL NOT want their names/photos on the web, I don't have a clue what I'm doing... and now that I've run out of excuses I don't really know where to begin...

So I shall start at the beginning...

Once upon a time (too) many years ago there was a girl who was given a box of paper offcuts to draw on by her Grandma. The girl looked at the paper, at the different sizes, and colours, and shapes and she found that the paper was GOOD. Although it took many years to draw on all the pieces of paper (really bad drawings) those pieces of paper were lovingly stacked and re-stacked, sorted and re-sorted over and over again. A life long love of all things papery was born.

Years passed. School and college followed. The love of paper moved on to patterned writing paper, printed notebooks, coloured A4, and still the girl found that paper was GOOD.

Then came THE JOB. In information. Surrounded by paper (no interweb yet!) and easy access to THE STATIONERY CUPBOARD - Mmmm! Whilst doing THE JOB the girl met and married Mr. Moonshine, and, as night follows day along came Moonshines Major and Minor. And THE JOB was no more.

The WILDERNESS YEARS followed, no time, no money, no inclination (too busy/happy raising the tiny Moonshines - bless 'em). 2002 brought THE RETURN TO WORK. Plenty of money, absolutely no time and no will to live - followed in 2004 by THE RESIGNATION and long slow return to sanity, peace and harmony.

Then in May 2008 the girl (Ha! who am I kidding, I'm past 40! - but I'll run with it for the sake of the narrative...) - the girl bought, on impulse, a copy of PaperCraft Inspirations with the intention of trying some card making; an article on scrapping your wedding plans and an ad for Scrapbook Inspirations and the girl was HOOKED.

And the rest will be the Moonshine Family History...