Haul

So the last scrapbook haul that I posted was totally supposed to be it for the year until I made major dents in my stash....I hang my head in shame because I outrageously failed my spending freeze in spectacular fashion over not one or two trips out and about but on five separate occasions including four to spotlight.  I am ashamed and have subsequently banned myself from travelling anywhere near that side of town so I can avoid the place where my husbands money enters and never returns i.e. SPOTLIGHT.

Stationary is kind of a big deal to me, big deal.  I love it but that's kind of where it ends as I am one of the most disorganised people I know.  My cupboards are immaculate and organised to an inch of there lives but everything else is a mess and all that gorgeous stationary is used for a week and then shoved in the draw of no return until one of the kids needs something to draw in.  No way they are getting there hands on these goodies, I have a thing for floral and bright colours and anything cupcake related....big kid at heart always.

Oh my goodness I am dying from the cuteness...look at those adorable stickers and little plastic envelopes, tooooo cute. 

Fabric goodies.  I love fabric especially printed quilting cotton the trouble is I have grand ideas, limited sewing skills, even less patience and I am fairly lazy when it comes to actually pulling out my sewing machine so I just keep adding to my already sizable stash and I don't make a dent in it.  In my defence I actually do have plans for all of these fabrics and I didn't just buy them because they are pretty *cough cough* all other fabric purchases I have made in the last two years.  I am going to make pretty ruffled edges and trim some white tea towels with the pink kitchen print fabric, I am going to make an apron and a cricut cover out of the cupcakes and I am making a skirt and an apron for my daughter out of the dog print....wish me luck.  

Maggi Holmes Love Notes was all on major clearance and I picked these up for half off the sale price, so the $4 stack was only $2....what these prices are too insane for me not buy them.

 

 

Just a few things that I did pick up throughout my trips back and forth.  The thickers were both on sale and there was no way I was leaving without that map print set.  The Heidi Swapp stuff was on 30% off, Kaiser was 40% off except for the collection pack and the carousel stickers were just too adorable for me to leave behind.  

 

American Crafts goodies.  I bought these on my first trip out to Spotlight when they first started reducing all the older stock, I realise that these are all older stock but I didn't buy into the whole Amy Tan/Dear Lizzy stuff bandwagon when it first came out and at $3 a piece I was happy to pop these into my basket.

Assorted bits and pieces I have picked up from my LSS and from Big W.
I have many photos from our trip years and years ago at the Auckland Zoo and I  have never scrapbooked them but I also have never really found a line of paper or embellishments that I liked enough but this echo park line is perfect.

Albums.   I have been waiting for AGES for a good album sale and finally Spotlight had 50% off so I had to go and buy some.  On the day that I was there I bought two buuutttt when I went back a few days later they had the brown Amy Tan albums at $1 each WHAT THE ACTUAL......seriously $1.  I bought three, I could have bought more but I can't be too greedy, actually I should  have bought them just for the refills which I have already put to good use. 

I seriously need more crafting and less shopping in my life.  Life has been stressful sick and busy lately and my craft space inhabited by a family member staying with us so there hasn't been anything actually happening in the scrapping department.  Bring on the end of the week when my house is actually clean and empty and the kids are not sick and at school.

Girly Layouts

I made both of these quite some time ago but we have had the busiest last two months that they just sat there waiting to be photographed and put into an album, kind of like the laundry and all the junk in garage, just sitting there waiting to be dealt with.... 

The Pose.  I have been a real pink, girly kind of kick recently and I think that that comes across in this layout.  Flowers and butterfly's, pearls and lace, you don't get much more girly than that.  The best thing about this layout in particular is that all the papers except the Sassafras foldies have come from paper and cardstock bought from Big W.  As much as I love going to my LSS I also love being able to get more "bang for my buck" and brands such as Grace Taylor and DCWV do offer that.

How cute is this stack?  I like most of the papers in this pack as they are perfect for little girl pages but what I really, really loved was the yellow chevron paper and the pink polka dot that they had in the back.

Simple Pleasures.  This layout was done using some of that left over chevron and some papers from the Crate paper pretty party line, surprisingly I loved a lot of that line as normally I am more about the brights.  This layout has a lot of bits and pieces in it from a few manufactures and as per my normal scrapbooking procedures is a mixture of new and really old, everything from Queen and Co corner stickers, eight year old brads and brand new paper.

Posing, Dancing, Twirling....

Ohhh guess what, I finally have a layout to share.

I have been working on this layout on and off for a couple of weeks now just doing little bits and pieces when I get a moment of inspiration or time.

Inspiration for this layout came from here- 4x6 photo love March.
I absolutely love just how simple Shimelle makes her layouts to look and how straight forward her instructions are.  I have never really got into the whole online class or challenges, I did try a few years ago with a now defunct challenge site but I just could not find that place or class that clicked with me, until now.
I am trying to go back through the year and do the ones that I have missed and I like and luckily for me I had 3 portrait 4x6 in my to scrap pile, awesome :D

Naughty But Cute

This is possibly one of my favourite photos of Teela, all covered in hot pink lipstick and thinking that she was so special, as the layout title suggests, naughty but cute.

(Paper: Grant Studios, DCWV, lexel, Kaisercraft- Pina Colada)

(Other: Chipboard Alpha, Stickers- Craft Affair, Doodlebug -Sweet 16, Grant Paper Die Cuts)

So yet again and true to my form this was a layout made entirely from my stash and the best part was that it included my beloved budget friendly Grant Studios products, really old and cheap stash (the Doodlebug stickers which I swear I have owned for six or more years and the Craft affair buttons that I bought from The Reject Store for $2 a pack) and some of that recycled/saved paper from my old work.

The other thing that I am really happy with is the alteration of the lipstick sticker on the layout.  When I pulled this photo out I just knew that I had the perfect sticker for it, the only downside was that the black and white polka dots did not match in with the colour scheme of the layout and had to go so in order to change that I took some coordinating paper and glued over the base of the lipstick sticker, covered it with the paper and then cut around the edges, and voila a matchy matchy lipstick for my layout in under one minute.

Stash friendly cards....

I am generally pretty good when it comes to purchasing scrapbooking supplies and I do try to keep the spending and the amount of product that I have to a sensible minimum.  I have been a tad naughty in the last few weeks buying a few little bits and pieces here and there and seeing as I am trying to lower the amount of supplies that I buy till after we move and I have not actually crafted all that much lately I took it upon my self to use something from the stash.

A few years ago I won a competition from Scrapbooking Memories and the prize was a huge pack of Avery stickers, there was so many packs in that prize that there was no way I would ever be able to use them all so I kept what I thought I would use and I donated and gave away the rest.  That was three or four years ago and I have still hardly used a thing from what I kept, I decided that I was time to use something from my Avery stash.  

I Picked a pack of glittered flower stickers

 (Paper: Kraft base, DCWV, Bazzill, Unknown)

(Stamps: Creating Keepsakes KOTM, Melissa Framces)

(Other: Avery sticker, Grant Rub on,, ranger inks)

 (Paper: Card Base, DCWV, Bazzill, Grant, Unknown)

(Stamps: Kaisercraft, Melissa Frances, Fiskers)

(Other: Avery Sticker, Kaiser brads, Distress ink)

(Paper: Card Base, Grant, Bazzill)

(Stamps: Melissa Frances, Kaisercraft)

(Other: Avery Sticker, Grant Rub on, American Crafts ribbon, Paper Mania Glitter, Brilliance Ink)

I was so happy with the way that the first card turned out that I decided to keep going with the same look and until the whole pack of stickers was gone.  Goal achieved, used up one whole pack of the Avery stickers.