paper: pretty paper. true stories. {and scrapbooking classes with cupcakes.}

I knew autumn was going to be the craziest time of my recent memory. (Jen knows well that 2007 is our joint Year of the Surreal, and that is ongoing.) So with changing leaves and space needles, I am definitely sticking with both of those labels.

As of last night, we are now in Seattle. (_We_ meaning The Boy and I rather than Jen and I. I realise vague pronoun references are almost as annoying as knowing that I am yet again in the same country as Jen and yet no.where.near.) A few days of touristy goodness. Then a few days of work for me. Then a good week of a proper holiday for both of us, in which he navigates while I drive us to Vancouver and we take the ferry to Victoria and assorted other things that are lovely in this part of the world.

It’s not the time of year that one would normally book a holiday to the pacific northwest, and we are enjoying that very much. Of all the times I have been to this city, today is the first time I have been up the Space Needle, and there were approximately six other people up there. Including a British couple, of course. It is chilly but not freezing. Clear and crisp. Nothing a lot of coffee won’t solve. The Boy is not tiring of his highly original game of saying ‘Oh! There’s a Starbucks!’ in a way that reminds me a bit of ‘Look kids—Big Ben and Houses of Parliament!’ In general, it’s just not as busy right now as in the summer. Which is fine, because if you haven’t heard, we queue enough in England already. To put certain minds at ease, I am still on the decaf though I am jealous that someone else has had like three double tall lattes today and isn’t wired in the slightest. I’ll get over it.

And the obligatory twee-but-true observation: long-haul travel is far more fun when someone else comes along. Though it’s a tough choice when only one of you gets offered a free upgrade to first class.

xlovesx

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And just in case visiting one’s home town wasn’t weird enough: there’s teaching one’s home crowd.

Thank you to everybody who joined in my classes at the CK Scrapbook Convention in Kansas City. Extra thanks to my fabulous assistants who helped me keep an eye on everyone, and to Tami who came along to take pictures. So if you came to class and always wanted photos of you scrapping, you might just find one here. (The photos are from the Thursday night classes + birthday party.)

I’m so glad we could bond over our love of pretty paper. And some other stuff too.

xlovesx

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The minibook class for the UKScrappers 5th Birthday CyberCrop is online here. Or you can have a look at the basics by starting here and clicking through the pictures.

ETA: You can also check out this challenge if you would prefer a layout to a minibook, with a sketch I threw at the Banana Frog team. Of course I love their layouts way more than mine! So it goes.

Happy sewing and sticking—and happy birthday to UKS!

xlovesx

PS: details on new online class by the time the weekend is out!!

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Click the picture to download the prep sheet for the mixed media cybercrop class.

Just don’t go thinking that Bunny and I are revealing anything just yet. You have to wait for the birthday surprises!

xlovesx

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It seems strange how quickly this has come about, but UKS is turning 5 next month. Let’s just say that is a lot less than what I am turning! I’m celebrating my little number with a bouncy castle, and UKS is celebrating with a cybercrop. The good thing being that a cybercrop can accommodate a far greater amount of party guests than the bouncy castle!

I am really excited to share a project with you during the UKS birthday party: a mixed media minibook. It’s a class you can follow with your own stash or you can put it together in a snap using a kit that goes on sale right here at 7am.

The kit includes these basics to form the book:

*6 different sheets of 12×12 patterned paper

*6 sheets of 12×12 cardstock

*2 self-adhesive patterned photo mats

*1 card and envelope set

*1 transparency

*2 book rings

as well as a selection of mixed media materials to match the techniques in the class. These include:

*fabric

*thread

*ribbon

*stationery

*metal

*buttons

Please note that this book is not acid-free and that some elements of the kit vary to make your project unique. That means the picture you see here is an indication of your kit’s contents.

You will need your own basic tool kit, including scissors, trimmer, adhesive, paper piercer, black pen and small hole punch. These are not provided with the kit.

There are a limited number of kits that will be sold on a strictly first come, first served basis. UK shipping is included in the price of the kit, and kits ordered this morning will be shipped this Friday via Royal Mail.

Later today you’ll be able to download a preparation sheet to help you choose appropriate photos for the project, whether you are using the kit or your own stash. Just check back in a little bit after the ordering time.

£15.00, including postage within the UK
Sold out! Thank you so much!!

If you have any questions, just leave me a comment! I must admit I am a little nervous as UKScrappers doesn’t seem to be live just at the moment…so here goes a shot in the dark! A picture will be up in just a minute, but it’s 7:00, so I better put this live!

Thanks so much for your enthusiasm for the cybercrop and this project!

xlovesx

PS: a few of you were just rewarded for being right on time by paying in dollars instead of pounds! Trust me to be this stupid at seven o’clock in the morning. Happy scrapping!

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Goodness, time is getting away from me. Or at least blogging time!

I really must go…as the boy’s brother is getting married on Saturday and I am up to my elbows in squares for a wedding quilt! But not before I say a huge thank you to the girls of the Moxley Massive for playing along in the album-in-a-day workshop last Saturday. They scrapped non-stop and finished a gazillion pages between them. I counted!

(Sorry Zoe, I know you will hate me for the closed eyes, but I think it’s cute!)

As soon as I have eradicated my quilt guilt, I will be back with proper stories to tell!

In the mean time, check this out. Love!

xlovesx

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The kites.

Tiny red kites that have a lot to answer for.

See, the kites have stories I can’t even begin to tell, but I can explain a little bit.

Over a year ago now, we went on our little adventure. A holiday to explore a place we hadn’t been. No real schedule. In fact, the original plan was to camp our way around the country. Which meant it would be a real adventure to me, who had never slept in a tent, despite all sorts of summer camp. For totally boring reasons, we didn’t end up roughing it quite so much. And since this hotel is like the most fabulous place ever, and our tent didn’t exactly have those heated floors, I am totally okay with that. But we did camp. One night. Here.

And the whole thing was extra magical. This place that you can’t even start to describe with this afternoon of small children flying little red kites that turned into this fabulous concert that I have gone on and on about ever since. But for whatever reason, the kites have always stuck in my head. Simple and pretty and free. So that kite picture above sat on my bulletin board for ages, just as a happy thing to put bad days in perspective. And then for whatever reason, it ended up on a scrapbook page, which then ended up in an article about title techniques. (See, I can reduce even the most grand of my own ideas into paper, stickers and glue. Definitely a case of the real thing being a way bigger deal than the scrapbook page—if you know what I mean.)

So this is in Scrapbook Inspirations this month. Which is fine, but then I’m at a loss as to how to describe why the kites are important and blah, blah, blah…nothing works.

This will. The kites are there, a little over half way in. It takes forever to load, but just go make a coffee while you wait. So pretty. And you might spy the place where we camped, when you see a tiny cleared green in the middle of a forest.

So seriously, if you took one look and wanted to know what was up with the kites, that film trailer is your answer.

If you still don’t get it, I can’t explain it to you. And that’s okay too. But oh goodness, is that a pretty trailer.

The film comes out in November, which is shaping up to be a pretty happy month. Like a fly-a-kite-happy kind of month.

xlovesx

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Because this is seriously, without a doubt, the most adorable thing to happen since scrapbooking was invented.

MG: I will send you a valentine every single year. Omglove.

Go here now. She doesn’t just show you how to make it…all the pages are a pdf download that she made…then you just print it on to white cardstock and you’re there. Add what you want (like old polaroids because you can’t find your polaroid camera to put a current one in…but you will), bind it how you want, and then write in it and stick stuff in it.

Seriously girl, it’s fabulous. High school me would print out an extra and mail it to a pen pal. Present time me has no pen pals but might print out an extra and just mail it to some random person in the phone book because I can’t contain myself.

!!!!!xlovesx!!!!

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