Sarah Hurley 365 - Dogstagram Part 2

Hello there, how are you today?

It's my turn over on the Sarah Hurley 365 Blog today and I'm back with the second part of my mini book featuring Bailey the dog....

You can check it out here... #Dogstagram Part 2

Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you soon.

Claire xx

Sarah Hurley 365 Blog

Hello there, how are you?

It's my turn over on the Sarah Hurley 365 blog today, I'm up with a little book of #Dogstagram, featuring the furbulous Mr B aka Bailey...

You can check it out here

See you soon.

Claire xx

The Unfinishables

Well it's official, the Back to School shop is done, finished, over, well, we still need a pair of black pumps, but other than that.... it's all done  ***big sigh of relief*** 

I was then lucky enough to find myself with half an hour or so to myself so I sat in the conservatory listening to The Best Little Network ladies on BBC Radio Lancashire this afternoon, a very pleasant way to spend a bit of time today I must say.

I've been doing a lot of thinking, planning and working things out over these last few weeks whilst H has been off school, we've been able to spend some quality time as a family, which has been lovely, we've had a few adventures and I know exactly what my plans are for when H goes back to school in a couple of weeks, The Crafty Alchemy Lab is going to be a busy place to be for a few months... I'm oh so excited!

Meanwhile I have managed to get in some crafty time here and there but I seem to have a lot of unfinished projects kicking about, well these 3 actually...

They're quite large and quite detailed, which is probably why they're taking me so long. From left to right we have a Tando Creative top hat kit that has just been started, a large half altered dress form, it was a bargain from TK Maxx but I started it in February 2013, and finally the Tim Holtz Configurations box that I'm altering on a Christmas theme and started last August. It's not that I don't want to finish them, it's just I cannot decide on the absolutely perfect way to finish them.

So why, you ask, am I showing you my half finished projects? Well, quite simply, I want to get them finished and I'm hoping this will encourage me to get on with it rather than keep looking at them with feelings of crafty guilt. Now that you all know I feel I have to get them done.

Have you guys got any unfinished projects lying about? half done journal pages? unfinished knitted jumpers? Have you got lots of things you feel that you need to finish and never quite get around to it or have you lost the love for the thing you started? (this has happened to me so many times lol) Go on, you can tell me, maybe we can support each other in our desire to complete The Unfinishables (this is my new name for unfinished projects) In fact I've probably got enough to create a blog series out of this, I think I need to go and write this down, I'm having an idea. 

I'd really love to know what unfinished projects you've got lurking in your craft room :)

Thanks for stopping by today, hope to see you again soon.

Claire xx

Nana's Birthday Card

Hello there, happy Sunday to you all.

I've been trying to get back into some sort of routine this week, not long now and H will be back to school and all normality (well as normal as it ever is around here) will be resumed.

I've been reorganising the studio a bit this week too, and already I've been quite productive, here's what I was making yesterday....

It's Nana's birthday tomorrow so I thought I'd make her a card, it's not a special birthday as such but when you get to a certain age every birthday becomes a bit more special than usual. I used papers from an assortment of Sarah Hurley kits, along with a heart stamp and rose stamp from the kits. I stamped the heart in grey ink all over the pink paper and used a scalloped border punch with the vanilla coloured paper. The roses were coloured using Marsh Green, Pear Green, Dusky Rose and Antique Pink Promarkers. I then used a scalloped circle punch and stamped Happy Birthday using Sarah' Sentiments stamps.

All of the edges have been inked with Pumice Stone Distress Ink and I used 3d foam pads to attach them all to the card.

Well that's all from me I've got loads to get through today and I'm feeling a little tired after going to see Mamma Mia at the Winter Gardens last night (it seriously rocked) H is feeling it too, she's asked if she can spend the rest of the day in her pjs on the sofa with my blanket watching DVD's, I said yes :D

Thanks for stopping  by and hope to see you soon.

Claire xx

An Amazing Adventure

Well hello there, how are you today? The sun has disappeared here today and it's raining so H and I have an afternoon of crafting and DVD watching planned, good times!

It's all been about family this week, it's the one week of the year we're all off together no work for me and Hubs and no school for H, it was lovely to spend some time together. We also went away for a couple of days, it's been 5 years since we last had a holiday, how it's been that long I really don't know.

So Monday we set off on a 4 and a half hour drive to St Albans in Hertfordshire where we were staying in a 600 year old haunted hotel that used to be a coach house. 

But it was the next day that totally rocked, DD had been so excited about this from the moment I told her and I have to admit I was pretty darn excited myself. We spent the Tuesday here...

Yep, the Harry Potter Studio Tour in Leavesden, Oh my goodness it was so amazing, there aren't really words to describe it, it's definitely a must for every Harry Potter fan.

We took so many photos (335 to be exact, not including photos on our phones).  I can guarantee you'll be seeing a fair few Harry Potter scrapbook pages from H and I, I may even do a whole album, there's certainly enough photos. So grab a cup of tea and a slice of cake and sit back and enjoy all 335 of my photos....Just kidding, There's only 11 in this post.

Here's H stood at the gates into Hogwarts...

The props from the films were fantastic...

This is Slughorn's Potions classroom... look at all the bottles, there's hundreds!

H and I at the Ministry of Magic...

The Hogwarts Bridge...

Me outside Ollivander's in Diagon Alley (getting photo bombed by H)

Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes, we loved the huge Fred/George Weasley in the window

Now I actually cried a little when we went into this room, there really were no words at all for this....

And this next photo just sums it up for me...

H grinning from ear to ear. 

It was a truly fantastic day, H loved it, I loved it and even Hubs secretly enjoyed it, I heard him on the phone to a friend saying it was brilliant, until I looked over and he added "if you like Harry Potter that is, the girls loved it" Although I think his highlight was bumping in to Peter Crouch in the petrol station at the services on the way home, he even had a chat and got a photo, which is on his phone.

We came home on Wednesday and I spent most of the afternoon unpacking and trying to figure out how it's possible that 3 people go away for 2 days and nights and manage to generate 5 piles of washing, I guess it's one of life's unsolved mysteries.

Well I suppose I should go and empty the washing machine again, and if I don't order the photos of our trip today I think H may fall out with me as she's desperate to start scrapping them. 

Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a lovely day.

Claire xx

Sarah Hurley 365 Challenge - My Favourite Things

Hello there, how are you?

We have a new challenge over on the Sarah Hurley 365 Blog today set by the lovely Jaine, the theme for this months challenge is...

My Favourite Things.

Here's what I made....

So here's my explanation of how this fits with the theme, I've used one of my favourite colours - hot pink, a photo of my favourite Summer shoes - super comfy navy and white striped canvas wedges that tie with a red and white spotty ribbon and I've used the Walking on Sunshine card as the title as it's the title of one of my favourite Summer songs (Please note Crafty Alchemy accepts no responsibility for you humming this song to yourself or singing it loudly for the rest of the day :D).

All of the papers used come from Sarah's A Few Of My Favourite Things kits, I added lots of yellow brads from my own stash.

You have until Midnight 27th August to enter and winners will be announced on 28th August. All you have to do is create something within the theme of My Favourite Things and link it up to the challenge post on the 365 blog, don't forget there is a special extra prize for one entry using Sarah Hurley products.

Have fun and good luck.

Claire xx

Scrapbook Layouts - Picking Cherries

Well hello there, how are you today?

It really wasn't my plan to leave it a whole week before blogging but I've been a  bit preoccupied with Crafty Alchemy stuff this week, it's all good though, the kettle has been brewing none stop when I've been at home and the last 2 nights I've been working through lots of paperwork, notebooks and notes until the wee small hours.

Now this is where I need your help, I have a few ideas for the blog, sharing more from Crafty Alchemy Labs and a new blog series is amongst them but here's what I'd really like to know....

What do you guys want to see on here? I really really would like to know so please share your thoughts, would you like to see more crafting, less chatter, more techniques, tutorials? You suggest it and I'll do my best to make it happen, there are lots of things going on in the background here now and things will be changing considerably for the next 12 months and I would like you all to be a part of it... my amazing readers! If you'd like to suggest something you can leave a comment below or you can email me if you'd like just use the "contact us" button in the side bar, I'd love to hear from you.

Now then, I believe I mentioned a scrapbook layout about picking cherries, well here it is...

We have a huge cherry tree in the back garden at Mum and Dad's house and picking the cherries each year to make jam is a family affair, this year we happened to have some scaffolding up at the bottom of the garden  (which is an entirely different story) so we used that to get the cherries from the top of the tree that we wouldn't usually be able to reach... extra cherry jam ... yum!

To create this layout I cut 2 large scalloped circles out of 2 pieces of 12 by 12 cardstock, I used a template I'd made from a shaped piece of cardstock to do this, then I used the lid from a tin of Roses chocolates to draw the circle in the centre of the pink cardstock then I carefully cut it out starting off with a craft knife then finishing up with scissors, the pink cardstock is attached to the white cardstock using 3d foam pads so it's more like a frame. All of the paper used are from Quirky Kits and I also added some stickers and Thickers for the title and 3 large American Crafts Rose brads.

Well that's all from me for today, I've already crosses several things off my to do list but have several more to go, wish me luck and productivity (and cake, always wish me cake :D)

Take Care & see you soon.

Claire xx