What is it with us scrappers?...

Who can, hand on heart, say that they really don't have enough stash? Not enough cardstock, papers, pretty flowers, ribbons or buttons, stamps, inks, glitter and stickers? Certainly not me! I have soooo much, my room is bursting at the seams. I have piles of precious BG papers, stacks of AC Thickers, jars heaving with buttons and flowers. Just SO much stuff.

And yet, there is always that new collection of papers that I HAVE to get, buttons and flowers that are exactly the shade I'm missing, new products that call me... in my dreams...

It's scary!

And I'm quite prolific at times - there are some weeks where I scrap every single day and produce layout after layout. This year alone, I must be heading towards a hundred layouts with LOAD February and May and Dimensional Details.

But is my stash diminishing? Um, let me think about that for a millisecond... NO!

Now, I know that you are sitting there nodding your head with an understanding grimace. You do it too, don't you?  I DON'T need anything. I could scrap for months only needing sustenance and adhesive to be thrown into the room and still have BG left over!  But, I did it again on Saturday. Off to Kempen I went (I only went three weeks ago and needed a truck to bring home my goodies), because the owner had told me that she was clearing the stock out to make way for Christmas supplies. Well, I had to go, didn't I? Would have been rude not to! She told me personally. And there might be bargains to be had. I was only doing my social duty, boosting the local economy after all.

This is what I came home with...

And you can't even see the top line of BG mini stamps that will be SO useful for card making (because I am such a big card maker LOL!!)

There were really some bargains to be had and I ended up saving nearly €30 on my purchases with some items (such as the MM embellishment jar) were more than 60% reduced. But of course, I saw June Bug which I decided I had to have, some embellishments, some labels and the distress foam pads that we all full price. 

I would like to say that I don't shop all that often. I only go to Kempen three or four times a year. And I have stopped shopping online pretty much. But I have a monthly kit. I shop when I'm in the UK with Lib. And I go to Kempen more often than I admit to myself! 

What do you do to stop yourself shopping? I'd like to learn your secrets. Or maybe you don't, maybe you shop all the time. Tell me and make me feel better.

On another note, do you remember this story about visiting the coal mine? I said I wanted to make it into a layout and I did. Lifted the journalling from the blog, changed it out a bit, got out my grungy, vintage BG papers and got the story done. I followed a sketch from DD, adapting it to a two-pager and while it may not be pretty, may be a bit "dull" and maybe a bit "what???" for most people, I am very pleased with it.

("Untertage" is German miners' slang for working underground.)

Of course, there's been a whole lot of football going on around here. And today I was in the difficult position of Germany playing England in the first knock-out round of the World Cup. Who would have my support? Either way, whoever loses, I would be sad. In the end, Germany played an excellent game and England is out. I went out to the balcony and took down my England flag and packed it away with a heavy heart. At least I get to support Germany and hope that they carry on doing as well as ever. I am really not a big football fan. Really not. But I have learnt a bit over the years and today, the infamous quote from Gary Lineker rang true once again: "Soccer is a game for 22 people that run around, play the ball, and one referee who makes a slew of mistakes, and in the end Germany always wins." How true, how true! In the end, it's not life and death, but who plays best on the day. May the best team win!


On a brighter note, I just thought I would share a couple of photos of this stunning single rose that I received on Friday. It smells wonderful too. Just gorgeous. Summer really is here.

Happy Sunday!

Happy mail and happy class

Look what arrived through my door last week! A little BG package of happy mail to brighten up my Tuesday! I received this as part of a spot prize in my BPS class Dimensional Details. And this travelled all the way around the world from New Zealand! Thanks Nic, I love it!

I hadn't even realised that BG had started to make little journalling packs - love it and will definitely be looking out for more of these in the future! And this pack is from Sugar Rush which I think I neeeed to get now!

And onto the latest creations for Dimensional Details - this class is brilliant and I have been loving the techniques and designs featured.

I've been really good too, because I have been breaking into all sorts of kits, ranges, packs of papers and products and USING them! Wey, hey! Go me!

I have discovered products that I had forgotten all about and found new ways of combining them or using them in new ways. I really feel like I have made a bit dent into my stash, and that can only be a good thing, right?

This is from week 10 and concentrated on embellishments and clustering, also featured a digital, hybrid element. And yes, you can see Periphery! Only the second time I have ever used it!

Week 11 featuring another gorgeous photo of the photogenically adorable Isabella! Flowers were the main focus of this week although you would not know that from this layout! But I now have a huge list of ideas for making my own flowers in the future. I am really pleased with this layout as it is really my style, but also not my style at the same time. And it features quite a few repurposed embellishment items and relatively new papers which is also a good thing - too often, I keep holding onto new papers for some reason, without using them!

And week 12 is all about bringing it all together. All the techniques, all the design tips, all the fun of the last 12 weeks. Lots of distressing and curling. Lashings of layering. Plenty of texture and a good heap of a cluster. Is that Mellow I can see there? Why yes! Another range of paper that has only been used ONCE before!

*insert "I feel good" by James Brown here!*

During this class, I have learnt so much and have concentrated on the techniques and designs themselves rather than worrying too much about the actual layout I have created. Very often, I just picked up a photo that was lying around (I have loads and loads of such photos, printed multiple times, just looking for a home!) and found papers that matched the feeling. Very often, I haven't done so much journalling or at least far less than usual. But it has been fun and to be honest, many of these layouts have become some of my favourites from recent times.

I'll be sad when the class finishes next week. But I'm feeling very inspired at the moment, so hopefully, I will be able to continue the creative push I have discovered.

What have you been up to recently?

LOAD round-up

Yes, May is over and I did it.

I managed to complete a layout every single day throughout the month, even getting creative on the train to and from London and making the most of short periods during the day to think about what I wanted to do, or to pick out photos or papers.

I used up stash, only using what I had on hand (if you don't include new inks I got from Deb and some Thickers I picked up in the UK) and mostly used up photos that were lying around. I even delved into my photo holding binders (Library of Memories) for a few of the multi-photo layouts. And I managed to get almost up to date with my Dimensional Details class at BPS by Nic Howard along the way. All in all, not a bad month!

May 24th

** Inspired by the quote I saw on WCS the day before.

May 24th no. 2

** Was feeling really inspired to do a second one - using a photo I downloaded from the Berkeley Hotel website and part of my BPS class - design by Nic Howard

May 25th

** Using this fantastic photo of Isabella meant that this bonus design from my BPS class using the digital title element by Louise Williams was a doddle - I can't decide if this one or the previous one is my favourite one of the month - isn't she a beauty?

May 26th

** Prompt on why I scrapbook from LOAD, design inspired by Trina McClune as part of my BPS class

May 27th

** Challenge from the BPS class to use our favourite 5 products on one layout - mine here are kraft, BG papers, buttons, inks and thickers. Lifted my own design from earlier on in the week but general inspiration from the Nic Howard class

May 27th no. 2

** Another Nic Howard layout from her Dimensional Details class - this week was all about clustering - my favourite technique at the moment!

May 28th 

** Bonus assignment on my Nic Howard class with a design by Trina McClune - such a lot of work and effort with all those squares but I love the result!

May 29th

** LOAD prompt was "excess" - could only be one thing for me - Pink with a bit of bling thrown in for good measure. Another delightful photo of Isabella that I took back at Christmas and using a "vintage" Bellaboo kit from Libby's time. Such a pretty page kit.  

May 30th

** The daily LOAD prompt was vintage so how about a vintage building? One of my favourite buildings in Paris.

May 31st 

**The daily LOAD prompt was to use B&W. So I used my wonderful pile of finished layouts as inspiration for this colourful (but still a bit of B&W!) layout - I struggled with this!