On Pencillines this week...

is me. I am delighted to get this opportunity to do a sketch for Pencilines. This layout features my dear son who bravely waited under a fountain at Alnwick Gardens and got a good soaking. The weather is so hot this week, I wouldn't mind a similar water feature in my garden ( perhaps on a smaller scale ). Hope you are enjoying the warm summer days.

GoGo July to share

Before I forget, just want to share this, Blogger is now available in Malay. How cool is that ? Didn't realise there is a big community out there who wants to blog in Malay.

Here's a layout I did for the GoGo DT for July. I tend to do 2 or 3 layouts as my assignment. After a few weeks, I always try to do a couple more before unpacking and putting away the rest of the kit amongst my general stash.

I did this one from our quick visit to the Angel of the North. Besides the July kit, I have also used the chipboard letters "angels" from my own stash. Plus the big Heidi Swapp wings embellished with Stickle. I was dying to use the stamp but have always struggled to place it due to the size ( I think I prefer small embellishments ) but it is perfect for this LO, no ? I love the Crate Paper buttons that came in the kit because of the abundance ( how many buttons on a sheet ? ) and the small size allowed me to us with abandon.

Festival of History

We were at Kelmarsh Hall for English Heritage's Festival of History. That was one amazing weekend, where 2000 years of history was brought to life by over 1000 "actors". It was a riot of action, colour, noise and excitement for the whole family! I was particularly thrill to have so much material to photograph.

First stop let me share a photo of J in Roman helmet. I think he looked really cute especially now that with the braces off, he smiles a lot more for photos.

Now, I can't resist these Romans. They look sooo amazing ( and alarming ) in their red red tunic and armour. I will definitely ran the other way if the opposition turns up dressed like this.

I didn't quite fill up my CF card this time but I have 230 photos taken. I won't be scrapping all of them ( phew, I hear you say! ) as I tend to only use about 10% of my photos. How about you ? Do you scrap all of them ?

I have also been busy scrapping. I will share those with you tomorrow.

New issue of SBM is out

Got my contributor copy of Scrapbook Magazine Issue 30 this morning. My article in this issue is all about shaped pages. Here's one of them with photos from Anglesey Abbey. This LO is inspired by the radial print on the Sassafrass paper. The circle frames are from Technique Tuesday that I embellished with Hambly rubons and painted lightly with water colour.

Away in Northumberland

We went away for a long weekend in Northumberland. We stayed at the Old Smokery in Seahouses and managed to visit Lindisfarne, Alnwick and Hadrian's Wall. The weather was dreadful but we were all kitted out for walking so stayed warm and dry. I took loads of photos and managed to fill up my memory card right in the middle of Alnwick Garden.We couldn't resist stopping by to see the Angel of the North on the way home. By now, the sky has brightened up considerably and didn't he look amazing against the blue sky.

CJ Time

Our team on UKS is doing a team CJ and first posting date is this Friday. I am usually very organised when it comes to creating a new CJ. Subsequent CJ entries might be a bit lax but that first excitement and enthusiasm usually means my CJ is normally ready early. My excuse this time is I thought the first posting date was 21st! Fortunately Kathy reminded me. So last night I was up late burning the midnight oil. And here it is, fortunately still looks ok in the light of day. It is not a book as such but a folder to contain 5"x7" postcards that my teamies will make. Bring it on.

Welcome to my blog

I have resisted blogging but find that I am missing a central location to show all my work. So here I am. I have deliberated and changed the layout/banner/wording/colours on this blog that in the end, I have decided to start simple. That way, this blog might actually make an appearance.

For my first post, I want to share this layout.

My friend Helen challenged a group of us to make a layout "Why I scrapbook ?" Some people might say it is something they want to leave their children, a creative outlet, a record of their life or maybe just because they love pretty papers. For me, all those reasons apply but the most important reason is the enduring aspect of the hobby.