Oh, the Bluebells!

Easter walks at the weekend were a joy in themselves. Little did we know, as we rounded a corner in the woods, that we would be met with the breathtaking sight of a carpet of bluebells, undulating up the hill, between the trees and out of sight.

I combined this awe with my wildcard challenge this month over at Scrapbook Challenges which was to make a layout using one colour that you're not fond of and an embellishment you're uncomfortable with. Mine were: lilac, and flowers. And I have to admit, the challenge proved too much for me. It goes without saying that in responding to the challenge you should come up with something you like; but I'm afraid, despite some photo printing that I'm happy with, I can't get over the lilac, and I'm not entirely in love with my page. Nevermind; I'm sure my little niece-to-be will like it when she sees it - especially as she's the model in the photos.

I also entered the layout for the Pencil Lines challenge this month (using sketch number 234). But I'm wondering, what are your least favourite colours and embellishments, and why?

Chicks and Chocolate

For Earth Day on Friday I made some Easter baskets out of old coffee tins, to do my little bit of re-using for the planet, but also for the sheer joy of filling them with chocolate.

This....

Became these:

My cousin also had an Easter-themed making session with my mum and produced the most fantastic piece of couture millinery I have ever seen:

She has such a talent for making things and a great eye for fashion - even at her tender age.

Well, Happy Easter everyone! I'm off to go egg-hunting.

Tried and Tested

You may remember a kraft-and-colour layout I made about my brother not so long ago. Well, his birthday is coming up and I thought, why not go with this tried and tested formula for his card too?

And I liked it so much I made another one for someone else:

It wasn't until I finished them that I realised I'd broken my resolution to only make cards from scraps. I'm not going to beat myself up about it though. I am up to date with my Postcard a Week challenge, at least, although I sent the most recent ones without taking photos, so you'll just have to trust me.

A Little Bit Punk, A Little Bit Rock n Roll

After a full night of wedding nightmares, it somehow seems apt that I finally share pictures of our invitations.

(These are not the original photos I took; they disappeared with the life of my laptop. So the lovely black, kraft-lined envelopes and the two great piles of invitations live on only in my head.)

And as the reality of the nightmares fade, if not the memory, I have some great news to share too: I'm on the Punky Scraps DT for 2011-2012! Yep, I'm now officially a Punky Rebel. Punky Scraps is a great challenge blog with a DT that is a bit more unconventional... go check it out!

I must now go and brush the residual cobwebs away and do some positive wedding planning to avoid any of the outcomes in my dreams. Have a nice day everyone!

Nothing Like a Bit of Lifting to Start the Day

The April inspiration on the True XOXO Girls blog is so good this month, I even lifted one myself! I'm not going to enter it though, since I'm on the DT and all :-) 'Winning' March's lift challenge (and getting an honourable mention) is plenty enough praise and flattery for me, so I'm going to toot someone else's horn instead.

This fabulous layout by fellow DT member Linda inspired me to run off and make my very own layout.

 The main ingredients are For the Record and Restoration, with a lot of other little things thrown in (as is my way).

Go check out the lifting inspiration - you could win an amazing kit sponsored by Candy Shoppe Designs!

Short and Sweet

The distractions of the birth of a wedding and the death of a laptop leave me short on time today, so I'll just say that the postal system is once again graced with my custom - I'm almost caught up with the Postcard a Week challenge!

Here is what March brought: no great shakes, but I do seem to using the postcards to experiment with styles and techniques. Which doesn't always lead to success, but hey ho, on we go!

I Am Missing

I've been seeing a lot of counterfeiting going on lately on my blog friends' blogs - namely at Sian's and Sabrina's - and I've been a bit envious, to be honest. Normally, when I see photos of people's craft rooms, and I see how small my stash is in comparison, I can deal with it because I know I don't really enjoy spending money (I get that from my Grandad) - at least not too much. But the counterfeit kit challenge, which tasks you with creating from your own existing stash a new kit that has just been released by any given monthly club, makes me feel that my consumerism is lagging considerably. I'd never be able to recreate a whole kit from the products I have at my disposal - the range is just too small.

And while I relish the resourceful nature of this challenge, I also recognise that it requires a certain level of 'capital' in the first place. That's why I haven't played along so far. But, as ever, determined to do something and seeing that I have to strike out on my own, I have undertaken my own mini counterfeit challenge.

Recently I discovered Lily Bee Designs. (...pause while you browse their site...) Since then I have been obsessing (a bit too much?) over finding a stockist who would sell me the new lines. But it turned out I couldn't wait, and so meanwhile I created a mini collection from my existing stash based on the This and That collection. And, you know, it was so enjoyable!

Here is This and That:

And here is my counterfeit collection:

Not bad, huh? Do you want to see what I did with it?

I took this empty make-up compact and stripped it down, so that it was ready for covering.

I also made a layout:

I'm quite happy with it. Partly because I actually found a photo of my parents to scrap (living away from them and actually never thinking to use the camera when we're together means zero photos), and partly because the colours sit so well against the kraft-coloured Bazzill.

I probably don't tell the people in the picture that enough. But I'm pretty sure they know.

When I Was...

Not only is the April scraplift challenge about to go up over at the True XOXO Girls blog, the blog has also had a facelift and will soon be featuring posts from us Lipstick Chicks throughout the month to further inspire you.

My page for scraplifting this month is made - finally - from a kit supplied by the lovely Sandra at GottaCraft. The photo is from a couple of years ago, when I was interviewed by the BBC for an event I'd organised. My mum, of course, scrapped the photo straight away, but I kept it, not knowing how to. Then 'For the Record' came out, and suddeny it all made sense. I put the two together, and this is what I got:

I've included lots of close-ups, because I love this collection so much, and to show you how it has inspired me...

The gorgeous reds, yellows and greens are offset so strikingly by the black and white. I paired this with bakers' twine, painted flowers, a doily and a transparency.

I can't get enough of this collection. It's  a good thing, then, that there's still quite a lot of it left in my scraproom!

If you play along at True XOXO Girls, you are in with a chance of winning a yummy kit, as always, so get on over and get lifting!