It's been a while...

Hello there, how are you? Nice to see you again *waves*

I have to say that that's the longest I've ever left my blog untouched for, it was really starting to become a chore which isn't right is it? Everything just seemed to be the same over and over again, even my scrapbook layouts were all looking a bit similar, so I took some time away, had a think about what I really wanted my blog to be about, made some notes, did some reading and came up with a plan which I'm now putting in action *big smiley face* I'll still be sharing my scrapbook projects and I'll be mixing in other crafts like knitting, crochet, DIY (much to Hubs' dismay), sewing and maybe the odd cake related post too. I'm looking forward to getting back my love of blogging and would love for you to join me. So grab a cup of tea and some cake, put your feet up for 5 minutes and make yourself at home.

Yesterday the latest Quirky Kit from Crafty Templates arrived on my doorstep, I love these kits, I've been getting them bi-monthly for at least 3 years and I've never had one I wasn't keen on. I'm keeping hold of most of the last 2 kits for another project I'm working on - which I'll share later on this week - as the colours and themes are perfect for the whole project, but this kit was so lovely that I couldn't put it away for later, I wanted to cut straight into it, I also knew I had a big stack of  new Instagram prints which that I haven't had the chance to play with yet. This particular photo is one of my favourites a simple black and white selfie of me & H.

I wanted to keep my layout simple and let the photo do its thing, so I just used small amounts of patterned paper, I splashed a bit of aqua spray ink across the background and got doodle happy with my favourite style of border. I love the glossy finish on the black puffy stickers. There isn't really much journaling on this layout so I kept it small using little labels and a phrase sticker which I cut into smaller pieces and stuck to the photo with foam pads. I had to add some journaling it would feel weird to not hand write something onto one of my scrapbook pages.

I quite often create layouts with a lot of white space on them and sometimes it can be hard to tell if everything looks properly balanced or not, when this happens I hold the layout up to a mirror and if my eye is drawn to the white space then it usually needs something there just to break it up a bit, someone told me this little trick years ago (I really wish I could remember who it was) and I have to say I've found it  to be really useful.

The layout needed something down the side by the photo, so I die cut some hearts, inked the edges and attached them with 3d foam pads to make them stand out a bit more. Finally I cut a small arrow/banner and attached that onto the photo and page and added a glossy black puffy heart.

Kraft and pink is one of my favourite colour schemes but I'm also liking the added lemon and mint too, and I've barely touched the contents of the kit as I've only used small bits of paper, so I've still got lots left to play with.

Supplies used (all from a Quirky Kit.)

Patterned papers: American Crafts, Amy Tangerine, Rise & Shine, Kirsten. Fancy Pants, Office Suite, Creative Agenda. Websters Pages, Megan Hoeppner, Daily Essentials Grid.

Other supplies: Pumice Stone Distress Ink, Sizzix Big Shot Machine, cArt-us Heart Die, We R Memory Keepers Banner Die, Jen Hadfield Home+Made Puffy Phrase Stickers, Bella BLVD Gulf Little Bits Stickers, Elle's Studio Lets Eat Tags & Lil Snippets Blank Labels, Kesi-Art Aqua Ink Spray, 3d Foam pads.