Some More Scrapagogo Piccies

 Here are a few photos of some other pages that I made at the Scrapagogo Retreat. 


This class was called When I Was a Child by Lisa Griffin. I don't have any photos of when I was a child so I decided to use one of my little  fella on his first day back at school last year and printed it in sepia to give it a vintage look.

We also had a great time in the class eating the sweets before we could place the wrappings on the page!

In the middle of the colourful wheel I put things about him that I want him to remember, his best friends, his favourite clubs and sports and of course his love of bugs!

Another class was Tagged to Transfer by Sheena Rowlands who showed us how to transfer  copyright free images printed onto a laser printer, onto a tag or scrapbook page. 

This butterfly image turned out really well and I coloured it with Distress Inks to match the colour of the fab paper that we used.

See that little crotchet butterfly? Sheena made one for each member of the class to use on their project, how cool is that!

Have a great week!

Tracey x

A Fantastic Few Weeks

It's been a fantastic few weeks, the kids have been on Easter holidays, I have been on the Scrapagogo Retreat and had a day out on the Orient Express!

The kids have just gone back to school so I have opened the door on my craft room again and sat down to finish the few little bits that I didn't quite finish at the retreat.

This book was made in the Cotton and Calico Chronicles Class with Sheena Rowlands. We had a fabric book and were shown how to use misting sprays and our own made stencils to create a background to each page.

I finished at home with some pretty lace and buttons sewn on to the side of the book and some chipboard buttons sewn onto the tree.

The photos were taken on a trip to Hyde Hall in Chelmsford, one of my favourite ways to spend a Sunday is going there with the dog for a lovely walk and lunch in the cafe.

I decide to use my sharpie pens to add some journalling and changed the colours just like a child's fabric book.

I did a little bit of sewing and made this little flower.

We were shown how to use the positive and negative of our stencils to get the most out of them.

I had such fun making this little book and it looks even sweeter in real life. It was a fab class on a fantastic retreat, I can't wait until I go back in March next year.

Have a fantastic weekend all!

Tracey x

A Smashing Day!

Last weekend my friend and I went to a fantastic Smash Book Day run by the lovely Nina at  Sugar and Spice Crafts in Barleylands Craft Centre, Billericay. I have had my books for a few months now but have been too scared to write in them, nuts aren't I!

They are full of luscious papers a full description can be seen on

their You Tube page here.

Anyway I managed to start a few pages amoungst the tea drinking and nattering. I have made a start on the pink book which is just stuff for me but was also a bit naughty and bought the green and yellow ones too!

A page about my birthday...

And one about my birthday cake which was made by with the help of my friend Jennifer. It was scrummy and full of chocolate goodness!

More work to be done on this one about my love of colour, says she who is sitting here with grey trousers and a black top! 

A page about Harvey or fluffy no nuts as we call him, our lovely Norfolk Terrier..

Some of my little fellas drawings that he has given me, he loves drawing a landscape!

I am so glad I went on this class and saw some of the wonderful work that the other girls had created on their books.

Since then I have been I have been collecting ticket stubs and all sorts of bits and pieces and just quickly sticking them in.

I have also bought a few books to help with decorative writing and some to create ideas for doodling on the pages so once I have read them I will let you know if they are any good.

Have a great week!

Tracey x

So Proud of You

Since my old computer conked out I have been busy trying to transfer all of my papers and photos onto the new one although I'm sure I have done something wrong as somewhere on the computer it says I have 36,000 photos!

I decided to scrapbook my eldest son's last day at junior school. It was nearly three years ago now but I remember it like yesterday....

We fitted so much into the day that I created a huge pocket along the bottom of the page to keep all of the details. It started with a picnic in the school grounds, followed by an afternoon at the local adventure park. Finally we all met up in the evening at our local chinese restuarant. 

I love using Picasa for my photo editing, its free and so easy to use. I created a collage of photos of the day to put in the pocket and placed it with the programme for his last Speach Day and Prize Giving.

His certificate for acheivement in Mathematics and a photo of him when he received it.

I then made a little book to keep some very special memories and decorated it with cut outs from the same paper stack. He received such a lovely letter from one of his teachers that I wanted to display it and use it in the best way possible so I made use of all of the folds in the paper.

A good luck note from his music teacher...

A note from me telling how proud and excited I was for him. I can still remember those feelings now, proud that he had done well at junior school, excited that he was entering the next stage at senior school and worried that he would be ok, settle in and make friends etc.

My note was written into the fold of the teachers note so once unfolded, it shows her letter to him.

The papers are from Ellen School Days by Me and My Big Ideas, yes I know it is bright, busy and loud but that did kind of sum up his last day!  The small photo in the bottom corner shows him with his leavers shirt, all signed by his friends and teachers and his special leavers tie. So cute!

I hope that you are all having a wonderful week, the weather is great in the my neck of the woods and my youngest is already finished school for Easter so more scrapbooking photo opportunities are on there way!

Tracey x

A Quiet Evening

I had a quiet evening last Friday as my eldest had a friend round for a sleepover and hubby and the youngest slept in the garden in the tree house. I therefore had some time to scrapbook again! I am trying to be quicker at making a page as I spend much to much time sitting there looking at it and not doing anything!

I grabbed some red, blue and black cardstock and layered a couple of photos and added a bit of journalling. I still hate seeing my handwriting on a page and would have prefered to print this out but its not so personal for when my little one reads it in many years to come.

I added some decorative paperclips purchased from Paperchase and Staples and did some stitching marks around the photos.

I added a piece of ribbon and some rub ons to add a little more interest and a card showing the number 2 for the amount of dummies my son had in his mouth!

I was worried when he was little that he would not give up his dummy when the time came as he seemed keen to have two at a time. Thankfully he did not complain at all!

Have a good week!

Tracey x

All things Nice.

My computer died on me during last week so I spent my spare time scrapbooking! I am really getting the bug now and can't wait until we go to Scrapagogo!

Ages ago I bought some lovely paper called Green Stack from DCWV, I then found some chipboard shapes in the same range.

I am getting so much use out of these papers, they are perfect for all of the outdoorsy photos of my boys.

All of the chipboard embelishments including letters are from the same range..

I added some ribbon, the obligatory bling and embossed some Kraft card with a butterfly embossing folder to keep the nature theme going.

This reminds me of the ryhme that little boys are made of frogs and snails and puppy dog tails, but I also think they are made of all things nice, I wouldn't change my little fella!

Have a wonderful weekend whatever you are doing!

Tracey x

You Make me Laugh!

Another layout of my youngest who is always happy to pose for me unlike my teenager!

After a difficult entrance into this world involving being in the special care baby unit for a week after his birth, with the nurses running out of places to take blood samples, this little guy has always managed to make us smile and laugh with his outgoing nature.

This photo was taken when we had arrived on holiday a few years ago and I had bought the customary sticker and colouring in books to keep him occupied. Only to find out when I came down from unpacking that he had stuck all of the stickers to himself!

Laugh has been stitched onto a piece of plain paper and I will journal 

this story on the back.

I added some thread to the buttons, a huge paper clip and let this colourful paper speak for itself!

He still makes me chuckle most days and is now the tallest in Year 3. Obviously that tiny little baby in special care grew up!

Tracey xx