SMASH BOOKS! My new love :)

To all my wonderful followers, it has been far too long since I last posted, so thought it was about time for a little update :)

Lots of crafting has been done, horray!!! but alas not much posting :( sorry everyone!
I promise to try and be a better blogger from now on, with more regular updates and comments on all your wonderful blogs too :)

Since last posting, I have done ooooooodles of crafting, mini albums, tags, cards, I was even given a sewing machine for my birthday, Woo Hoo!
And best of all, I have re-discovered my love of scrapbooking, I had honestly forgotten what fun it could be :)

I have also become totally addicted to "Smash booking" (if that's the correct term) you know, those quirky little books with so many adorable pages. It's basically old school scrapbooking but with a wonderful quirky twist.

For anyone reading who may have not yet discovered the true scrumminess of these little gems, I thought I would include some pics of some recent Smash stash and show some of the yummy papers within these adorable smash books.
Plus, a sneak peek at how one of my smash books is now starting to look, nice and chubby and full of yumminess!

Promise to be back soon for lots more Smash book updates and lots more other craftyness too!

Hugs to you all, my lovely crafty friends :)

Suzie xxxx :)

Happy New Year and lots of random festive pics :)

Happy New year to all my lovely blog followers! Gosh, is it really 2012 already?! Yikes!!! We had a really lovely Christmas and hope that you did too. I'm just cathing up with everything now, and trying to get into the swing of another new year. So, that usually means lots of sorting out, paying new bills, yuck! and generally trying to be more organised than the previous year, well, I can but try, lol! Anyway, here are a few random photos of some the things which helped make our home look festive, along with some of the things we made and got up to over the festive season, plus some of the wonderful gifts we were so fortunate to receive, and even a bit of baking too! Oh yes, I made two Christmas cakes, one for me to decorate in peace, and one for the kids to decorate to their hearts content. Pleased to report this system worked wonders, and we both ended up with two yummy nicely decorated cakes, with no arguments, yippeee!!!! I was a very lucky girl this Christmas and Santa AKA my three boys (Hubby and kids) bought me the most wonderful Pandora charm bracelet. This was such a wonderful surprise, as I'm not really a jewelry person, but just loved this, and each of them chose a little charm which came in the cutest little box too! Oh, and must mention the fantastic fun hats sent by one of my sisters for the kids, they are just soooooo cute, can you work out who they are? Answers on a postcard please, lol! Anyway, here's a few pics as promised starting with our cakes, yum!!!

Some bicester villiage bargain buys. I am soooo inlove with this little jug and pencil tins, they are just perfect for all my colouring pencils :)

Fab fun hats that arrived in the post from my sister Louise, thanks Lou, we love them!!! Can you guess who they are?

My beautiful gifts from Santa :) A heart charm from Kevin, and snowman from Zach and and Angel from Robbie.

The kids got some Smash books and were delighted with them, more on those in my next post. But think they are my new crafty addiction, and kids seemed to like them too!

A few things that helped make our home look festive :)

And finally..... here's a Christmas card and envelope I whipped up for Kevin, on Christmas morning! Yikes! Talk about last minute, lol! I had to think quick in my oh so messy and tiny craft room, but still I think it turned out well, I promise to be better organised next Christmas :) oh, and a few latest pics of Barney our 10 month old puppy.

Pheweeee! Think that's all for now folks, thank goodness says you :) But I hope to be back soon, talking about my latest crafty addiction, SMASH BOOKS!!!! Yes, I'm afarid I crumbled and bought one, infact I bought two, greedy me! Yes, and have to say I'm pretty hooked. Anyway, more about that on my next post. Happy Crafting! Suzie xxxx :)

New Look Recipe Albums, and pressie for my Mum :)

Dear Blog pals, I thought you would like to see some of my recent crafting projects. This one has not only proved to be a bit of a challenge but also a real joy to make. Whilst visting my family in Dublin in August this year, my Mum showed me a collection of wonderful old recipe paper cuttings from comics she lovingly collected as a child, along with a rather sad and tatty looking recipe book she was given one year by her Aunt. As you can see by the pics, the illustration on the recipe cuttings are simply adorable, these ofcourse are the real deal and very retro, I just love them! and can see ofcourse how much they would have appealed to my Mum as a child. These (considering their age) were not in bad condition at all) unlike the poor old recipe book, which really was in a very sorry state. My Mum informs me the pages (even when new) were very badly bound together, and kept falling out, hence all the old celloptape marks, oh dear :( oh well, as least glue has inproved over the years. So, I decided to take onboard the challenge of giving them all a new life, and bringing back some of their once loved sparkle. I wanted to keep things pretty simple as I didn't want to take anything away from their original charm, plus, I had to think of a way to rebind the recipe book, giving it a new look, but still allowing you to view the original cover. Plus, there was also a little drawing that my Mum had done as a child, that I wanted to add, but as she had also writen on the back, had to think of a way to include this, so that you could still view both sides. Here are some before photos.....

My Mum also, loved as a child to cut out small and funny pictures and add those to her books, so with all the left over cuttings, I managed to create a little pocket, and popped in some bits and bobs for her to glue in herself and recapture some of her childhood memories. I'm pleased to report this has now been delived to my Mum all wrapped and looking lovely, and am also pleased to report, that she is delighted with it :) so can now share with all of you, so here is what I did....

I also had a wonderful trip to Bicester Village the other day, where I picked up some great bargains. Totally scrummy Cath Kidston bits and bobs, and also some Emma Bridgewater cute little tins to store all my water colour pencils in (thinking of you there, Carole) and all at half price! I will share my goodies with you all soon. So, at this point my dear blogging pals, I would just like to say, if I don't get to blog again before Christmas, I would like to wish you all the most fantastic Christmas and new year and hope that Santa brings you all something wonderful. More soon.... Happy Crafting and Christmas!!! Hugs Suzie xxxx :)