From Bag to Book

I finished my 'bag book' today.  Or I should say my 'sickbag book'.  You see, the boss opened my mail on Monday and promptly asked me why someone had sent me a load of sickbags. Ha ha, poor man.  He won't come in to the spare room anymore.  He swears I have turned it into a rubbish tip.  But here is the proof that all things can be made pretty :)

Ok, when I say pretty, this book can definately be improved.  I am not saying it is awful but there are some things that I would definately change. 

But lets see what I did first before I moan  evaluate later

I used Papermania 6x6 Creative Tones pads which I have had in my stash for years.  I chose Amethyst Infusion well, I thought I would join the purple party here and Ivory Black.   

I was originally going to use rings but I accidentally stuck all the bags together.  I quite like it though.  Plus, it suited my original idea of writing some journalling in the flap just underneath the gusset pages.  I abandoned that idea in the end but it is logged for future use.

 Back and Front

 

I couldn't upload all the pictures...damn Blogger!! However, these give you the gist I think. Very little embellishment and in the end, no journalling.  I have left the ends open because I plan to use the book to store memories of my brother that I can scrap at a later date.  To be honest, I had started journalling but it got a bit much and I liked the idea of having pictures to flick through.  I have made many books and boxes of my brother for the rest of the family you see, but never for me.

 Sians instructions were easy to follow, especially once I had the bags in front of me.  I couldn't figure out the gusset thing before that.  However, next time. I will use thicker paper as I think that will make the pages a bit more sturdy.  I will also not try to cut the papers to the size of the bags when they are stuck down.  They are a little wonky! Other than that, I will be harrassing everyone for paper bags....large or small because it was fun to do.



Starting Points and Rainbows

As usual, the weather over here is shocking.  Good for locking myself in the spare room for a bit of scrapping though.  But, imagine my delight when I looked up from the desk to see the beauty above.

I love rainbows and never seem to get my camera out quick enough when I see them.  Well, I can tell you, I practically fell down the stairs in a desperate rush to get into the garden before it disappeared.

The photo is taken with my 16MP app on my phone but I reckon it derserves a bit of editing later to bring it up to its full glory.

I have made my wish and tonight, we will see if a rainbow really does have a pot of gold at the bottom lol

Anyway, once my excitement had died down, I cracked on with the project in hand....yep, I am finally doing rather than *thinking about* Shimelles Starting Point Challenge



Above is my interpretation of it.  The papers are My Minds Eye (Lime Twist) and Sassafras, the stickers are Sassafras and the ribbon is recycled. Not sure from what though!

Most of what I used on this LO comes from various Studio Calico kits.  I have an awful habit of seperating them as soon as they arrive.  Probably because I like to put things away in their correct places once I have stroked them (!) but I feel that defeats the purpose somewhat!!





And, here is the finished product.  The letter stickers are Mistables and I just coloured them slightly with Jenni Bowlin Chicken Feed ink.  I also used that and Distress Inks Wild Honey to colour the Papermania tag I used for the journalling.  The flowers were lying around in my stash for a  while and the tags on the photo are Elles Studio (well, one pennant cut in half). The 'jewels' are old stash and I misted a bit of Mister Hueys Hot Dog so that 'Strike' would stand out a bit more.

The photos are of my Nans when they were younger. I recently scanned a bunch of photos that I managed to 'borrow' from each side of the family and I liked the fact that these two were so similar even though they are taken at different times in opposite ends of the country. I can't wait to use the  rest of them :)

Hopefully, tomorrow I will finish the paper bag album that I started today using the bags kindly sent to me by Sian.  I just have to get over the idea that it has to look perfect....damn Virgoan traits!!!

Here's hoping I am graced with another rainbow as well :)

Just have a little Patience!!

as Take That would say!!!!

And that, it seems, is what I needed when I tried to post these up for my Month in Numbers post, which I was seriously lacking since it was the start of a week of night shifts and I was feeling stuffed with a cold.

However, nights now over for the week :) and head cold mostly gone, it has come back to me and I was able to post the three cards I made. 

 

The above 2 are for my 2 cousins. I love the Tatty Teddy range from Docrafts.



This is a thankyou card for my sister in law.  I sprayed some Jenni Bowlin journalling paper with Mister Huey Piggy, and Maya Road Butterscotch (I think they are the colours I used but I can't remember now!!).  The numbers are Sassafras....I love their mini alphas. 

I am hoping now I have a few days off to hole myself up in the office and play.  I have a huge list of things I want to do so I have no excuse really.

A Month In Numbers: September

Wow, did the month go fast.  So fast that I didnt realise it was the end of the month until Julie tweeted it! How did that happen?

Anyway, I will start off with this somewhat dubious number ......35

This is the magic number of years that I have annoyed been loved by my parents :)

This....

....is what the boss bought for me.

Above is what I did with it.....thanks to Heston Blumenthal, I was drinking fake champagne 80's style.   Now, I just have to hunt for the old classic flavours...Cream Soda and Dandelion and Burdock .....and I am 10 again!!!!!

0 is how many days I managed to complete of LSNED this year :(  I did read all the prompts but couldn't get into any type of rhythm.  I may do it next month or just use the prompts as journalling ideas.  I still find them useful for speaking ideas.

I was hoping to show you 3 cards I made but it seems that blogger got a bit drunk on the fake champagne and wont upload the photos.

So, I will leave it here for this month I think except to say THANKYOU to Lilipopo and Shimelle for the giveaway that they ran and for which I won this (which arrived today and is beautiful) and this.  Check out her shop, there are some beautiful items in it :-)


*seems my typing is coming up different colours again.....maybe blogger has caught this rotten head cold I have as well*