We're Day Trippers, Yeah! {Saturday Scrap}

At the beginning of my relationship with The Steve, we decided to have a 'Ferry Across the Mersey' date - so we took the ferry from Birkenhead across to Liverpool, had a mooch around The Albert Dock, a spot of lunch at The Tate Liverpool and then went out for a few drinks. It was such a lovely day, even if it was a little bit blustery. And, since this photograph is one of our favourites, I thought it was about time it had it's own layout.

I've used stamps from Say Cheese Too! which one of my all time favourite stamp sets from Lawn Fawn because it's absolutely fantastic for scrapbooking. It includes months and numbers - making it perfect for including dates - and it has the most adorable camera stamp I have ever seen! As soon as I started this layout, I pulled out my stamp set and added one of the sentiment stamps from the set 'A Great Snapshot Warms The Heart'. Couldn't be better for a layout about one of our first dates, right? I also added the little camera to one of my embellishment clusters - I told you it was adorable!

To tie in with the sentiment and the theme of the layout, I also used the teeny, tiny heart stamp from Cruising Through Life. Stamped, coloured and cut-out, it adds a few pops of colour and movement. I haven't decided whether to add some more journalling, so I'm going to pop this to one side and have a little think about it. Anyone else finish a layout and then get a little bit scared of ruining it by adding too much?

A Long, Long Time Ago {Finally Finished Fridays}

In what seems like another lifetime, I set myself the dubious goal of working through all of my unfinished, unloved and otherwise abandoned projects. I started by sorting them into categories - barely started; got going; halfway through; a couple of tweaks; and almost finished. Believe me there were many that fell into that last category. Shame on me!

Once sorted, I then challenged myself to complete a project each and every week in the run up to Christmas - Christmas 2010! Challenge completed, I then promptly started on lots of new and exciting projects. Which are now lingering unfinished, unloved and otherwise abandoned!

I think it's time for another round of Finally Finished Fridays. It's a simple idea. Each and every Friday, I'll share some of my 'in progress' and 'finally finished' projects - it's my way of holding myself accountable. Let me know if you'd like to join in!

I'll be starting this weekend with a project that can definitely be categorized as 'almost finished'. All this mini-album needs to finish it off is some journalling. That's it. Handwritten, printed, stamped - it doesn't really matter. It's been waiting too long. But who knows, in a week it might be finally finished!

I've Been Beading {Ten Things On The Tenth}

If you love Shimelle as much as I do - and I'm sure that you do - you'll be aware of her blog series Ten Things On The Tenth. It's a simple idea, we share ten things - any ten things - on the tenth of the month. Simple, but I've never managed to organise myself enough to actually join in.

At the beginning of the year, I realised that by concentrating so much on my papercrafting, I hadn't really progressed much with my wireworking and beadweaving. I was feeling guilty about my ever growing stash and headed on over to the Facebook Group for Operation Tackle That Bead Stash with a bit of a challenge in mind - creating a pair of earrings each week during 2012.

The ladies, thankfully, took up the challenge with relish and we've all been busy beading, bending and, um, bragging about our makes. It's been just the motivation I've needed to start working with my beads again and the photographs you're seeing here are the earring sets that I made during our first ten weeks of the challenge.

If you're interested it's never to late to join the challenge. There are plenty of new members to the OTTBS Facebook Group, who are catching up - and a few of us who need to catch up because we slacked off over the Easter Weekend. And, yes by 'we', I really mean me. *Blush. Blush*

You can also post your own Tenth On The Tenth. Your ten things can be absolutely anything you feel like sharing. Just head over to see Shimelle and link up your own blog post or projects!

A Little 'Hi!'

I'm a huge fan of sending a little traditional mail every now and then and what's nicer than receiving a handmade card - especially when it's not for a special occasion? That means someone thinks you're special, right?

And luckily for me, my favourite stamps, from Lawn Fawn's Summer 2011 Release, are full of cute phrases and short sentiments, perfect for a general greeting.

I've made this card using the ticket and balloons from Admit One, a cute flower from Blissful Botanicals and a dinky sentiment from Cruising Through Life.

Why not have an afternoon creating some cards so that you have a little stock on hand? And a bit of ink on your fingers?

Stamping & Stashbusting

After all my time away, I'm thrilled to rejoin the Make The Day Special DT. I've really missed playing with my lovely stamps - so I was thrilled to have some time this weekend to get stuck in. My fingers are now satisfyingly inky!

First I made a couple of little gift tag backgrounds using some teeny, tiny scraps. It's really simple, just stick them down, then sew them up! I thought the colours would be perfect for spring - even though they're actually scraps from my October Counterfeit Kit. It's the kit that just won't end!

The first tag uses a partial sentiment and balloons from Admit One and a little cloud from Bon Voyage - both sets from Lawn Fawn's Summer 2011 Release. Still one of my favourite stamp collections!

The second tag uses a simple sentiment from Cruising Through Life, another set from Lawn Fawn's Summer 2011 Release, and some pretty stars from Learning Year By Year, one of Unity's Store Kits.

Such super, simple stashbusting projects that I hope will add a little 'something, something' to my gifts.

Hello! Hello!

I thought I should wait until today to announce my 'comeback'. After all, had I posted yesterday - on April Fools Day - you really wouldn't have believed it was true!

Life has been stupidly busy over the last ... oh, six months or so, and before I knew it, I'd stopped blogging. I kept thinking that I should start off again with something special, or that I should introduce a new series, or that I should revamp the blog a little, or that ... well, the list went on and on. Eventually, I realised that there was always going to be something that could keep me from blogging. So, here I am.

And here's a little card that I made over the weekend. Just a few teeny scraps, alphas from October Afternoon and a delicious little pinwheel from American Crafts. It's actually the first paper project that I've made for a few months - so I'm easing myself back in slowly. Thank goodness I'm fond of mini-cards!

Anyway, here's hoping that there's still someone out there. I have been missing you. Let's catch up soon? x