Stacking them Up!

Over at SHIMELLE'S Pretty Paper Party Prompt 16 was to stack our paper. Now this is a technique I use quite often, but Shimelle suggested using some papers we didn't particularly love anymore and that way we would only see parts of the paper...but we would at least be getting the papers onto pages!


This coincided with me having looked out some K&Co papers for Susanne's IN GOOD COMPANY challenge. I haven't bought any K&Co for yonks, so it was really old stash which , when I pulled it out I realised it just wasn't what I would use anymore. 


Thank goodness for Shimelle.....and here's what I came up with

Now I've been able to throw out the scraps without feeling wasteful, as I used at least some of it and don't feel too bad about it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

Pretty Paper and Happy Mail!

I'm still working my way through the Prompts for SHIMELLE'S PRETTY PAPER PARTY. 


PROMPT#7.....Mixing Patterns

PROMPT#13...Going 3Dimensional

I used SHIMELLE'S 'STARTING POINT' for this week..... raised the scalloped circles, added some twine and used 'Popdots' behind the words.

As you can see I'm still working on DD's NYC album, which I'm hoping to have finished by her Birthday at the end of the month....then I can get on to JYC!!!!

I received this in the mail yesterday, from the lovely JO over at SUGAR AND SCRAP, as part of her commitment to 52 WEEKS OF MAIL  ....thanks JO, it was a lovely surprise and much appreciated!

I haven't made the commitment to send a piece of mail every week, but I am trying to do so.

I'm hoping to have a scrappy weekend...what about you?

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

Stage Three-Part2......

or,as my blog-friend MEL says 'using those papers  Shimelle made me cut up'!

I have three LOs left to do from this exercise...maybe this week will see them done!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

A Teal Day!

I know I've missed out a few prompts...though hope to go back to them.....but  decided to go for Prompt 9 today- using one colour plus Kraft.

I had chosen my pic (YAY! back to my comfort zone!) and reckoned that I wanted to use teal/turquoise shades...this is what I came up with

I used a sketch from SCRAP FRIENDZY, which was by Valerie Salmon, and apart from  the Bo Bunny 'dot' everything else was from my scrap box.....another YAY!

After getting the LO finished, I decided to take Boo for a walk as it looked as if we would get rain later. I checked the mail box as I passed, and was delighted to find this:

It had come all the way from Arizona, from my lovely bloggy friend DEB, who has been sending these out as a way to show support  to TEAM TEAL, who in turn are supporting Deb's mum, Marti, who has ovarian cancer. I am honoured to  be part of this team now, and send my love, hugs and prayers to Marti and the entire family today! 

Now I'm off to make some teal Happy Mail! 

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

Stage Three

After the exercise of choosing papers and cutting them up (breathing deeply and crossing toes...it's hard to cross fingers when you're slicing paper, I discovered!)....Shimelle wanted us to prepare our pages WITHOUT knowing what pics we were going to use (at this point I was wondering about her sanity, but it worked in her video...so in for a penny......). I ended up with about nine pages, which, I have to concede, looked OK- BUT.....now to find some pics that would work with them!


I have a load of pics from the NYC part of our trip to the USA in 2008, so decided to head there first...and here they are

For the second one I decided to use Prompt 6 and downloaded the 'LET THEM EAT CAKE'  digistamps from LITTLE MUSINGS ,and made the little embellishment next to the cake box with one of them!

I am pleased to say that not only did I survive the process, but  rather enjoyed it...though I still have to find another six pages worth of pics (I have another NYC one underway)!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

Can She Do It?....

.......Yes, she can! Well, the first two parts anyway! Prompt 3 found Shimelle challenging us to put a 'pretty paper kit' together....'What's so difficult about that?' I hear you say.....


Well for me, the  difficulty was that we had to do that and then go on to put some pages together, using said kit......WITHOUT knowing what pictures were going to be used! I have NEVER attempted this before -I always start with the picture(s) and pull my colour scheme from there.


After having seen what some of my classmates said about having the same problem, and what they  then went on to produce, I knew it was time to bite the bullet!


Here are the papers I chose:

Tonight I've gone a stage further and cut up the papers and put the pages together..... and I actually quite enjoyed the process! I'll know if I'll repeat it once  I see  if the photographs I'm about to print off actually work with the pages!! 

Thanks for dropping by!

take care of you

Alison xx

I Couldn't Believe It!

When I went to 'MASYMAS' (our equivalent of TESCO or SAINSBURY'S) on Saturday, I was absolutely astonished to see this:

They were beginning to set up the Christmas display of chocs, sweets, cakes etc.!  This is SPAIN for goodness sake!....we usually have the display, but I'm sure it was much nearer Christmas before it went up in previous years! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas, and by November I'll have the Christmas DVDs out to watch....I was just so surprised to see a Spanish supermarket getting ready!

I have managed to put together a 'kit' of patterned papers for Prompt 3 of  SHIMELLE'S PRETTY PAPER PARTY , but the light had gone by the time I had done so, so I shall photograph it tomorrow.....I haven't dared to cut it up yet! I can't believe that I have NO idea of the pictures I'm going to use with these papers...this is something well outside my comfort zone!!

Thank you to everyone who left a comment about my 'Weight Watchers' LO...I have taken the advice of many of you and changed my profile pic!

Thanks for dropping by!

take care of you

Alison xx

A Little bit of Cheating......

...here and there, is acceptable...obviously not in exams or really important things...not that Shimelle's  PRETTY PAPER PARTY  is in any way trivial or unimportant (certainly not to us scrappers!), but you know what  I mean!...yes? 





Well, I cheated a little on Prompt 2.....I was trying to kill two birds with one stone, you see! I'm trying not to fall too far behind with the prompts (but I know I will anyway!) and I also wanted to play along with SUSANNE over at SNAPS AND SNIPPETS. Her  'In Good Company' challenge this week was to use 'Making Memories' products......this is where the cheating comes in! Due to my hectically busy life obsession with the most recent jigsaw, I have found myself with a rather untidy house ...and DH is due home tonight! I am trying to avoid him actually realising that very little work gets done around here while he's away...LOL!....so it's been a cleaning day here!


So instead of choosing random papers from my stash, they are all MM ones....the patterns are 'DILLY DALLY'and the plain one is 'PAPERIE'...oh! and it's 8x8, as it's for my 'A-Z of ME' album, which is on my hitlist to be finished by the end of the year! :

With DH arriving soon (am off to the airport again-I swear my car could get to that place without me!)....and DD on Saturday, I reckon there won't be much scrapping done now till after the weekend.

This was weigh-in day and I put a half pound on :( ........oh well! onward and upwards downwards!!!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

Grandma's Girl

At last I've got around to actually doing something with the first prompt from SHIMELLE'S new class! 

The last couple of days have just been a little bit crazy, what with getting mum and dad to the airport and attacking the laundry pile (DD was here for the weekend, and left some laundry too!)...then of course yesterday was big exercise day- Keep Fit and Line-dancing (I can manage one-and-a-half dances now, without causing damage to anyone else-or myself, for that matter!!)

This morning saw some shopping at the market (and let's not forget the floor-cleaning )...and then, eventually this afternoon I got this done:

Am now about to attempt Prompt 2!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

THE ONE!

SHIMELLE'S new class 'Pretty Paper Party' starts today, and her first prompt suggests that we share a picture of  a sheet (or a few) of our favourite paper(s), which we have found difficult to use....not because we don't like it, or don't know what to do with it! 

No, no!....the reason for not being able to use it is because we LOVE it so much, and we haven't been able to find the perfect LO and picture to do it justice!

I knew exactly the paper to hunt for in my stash

It's a MME paper from 2007.....I bought it in a Scrapbook store here in Spain (unfortunately the store closed a few years ago!). I absolutely  loved the paper..still do...but was just never able to bring myself  to do anything with it, except to bring it out every now and then and 'adore' it!

It is now lying out on my scrappy table, and I'm hoping promising that it will be used over the next four weeks....along with others from my stash that have 'just been waiting'!

Thanks for dropping by!

take care of you

Alison xx