To all dear Scrapbags

Christmas is coming....

...... and so is Scrapbags Christmas Mega crop. Tomorrow in fact. I'm off out to the staff Christmas do now so all I have time for is to upload the class kit pic. I've used Fancy Pants Traditions papers and lots of Stickles.  Well you can't do Christmas without glitter.

Wasn't he cute?  Alas he is not so cuddly now.

Happy Scrapping

xx

One for the boys

Here's this month's offering and as promised there's not a flower in sight.  That's Anna and my future son-in-law cooking up a storm at half term - all I can say is that the title is very appropriate.

I used Fancy Pants Father & Son papers and a sketch from www.sketchsavvy.blogspot.com

I still have a few spaces left on the 19th so please email me on scrapbags@ntlworld.com if you'd like to come and play. 

Due to the BIG EVENT on Friday evening I can't promise my usual homemade cakes, but will at least manage something yummy from M&S.

Next month is our Christmas 12 hour crop so please watch this space for further details.

Happy Scrapping

xx

What a blow!

Following  my last post we've had a bit of a blow - The Node, our next retreat venue is closing on 28th October, having been sold off by Chartridge.  The lovely Christine and her staff are all going to lose their jobs so it is rather churlish to be worrying about losing our retreat, but I am am gutted.  I really did think we'd found our new 'home'.  So it is back to square one in the search for a new venue.  Most of the venues I've contacted are already fully booked for the spring, or are far too expensive.  As it stands we will not be having a March retreat next year, unless, that is, anyone knows of a venue which can offer full board accommodation and a function room of a minimum of 90 sqm available for 23rd to 25th March 2012?  All this for under £250 per person?  Anyone?  Please?  Any suggestions gratefully received at scrapbags@ntlworld.com

Surprisingly, coming on the heels of our September retreat, we were nearly full at our last crop, selling out of the class kit.  It was from Sassafra Lass and ideal for those summer beach photos.  Here is Anna enjoying her first every Knickerbocker Glory - you should have seen her eyes when she realised it was all for her!

Our next crop is on Saturday 15th October and we'll be doing this LO using Nikki Sivils Max and Mollie papers.

I really struggled with these papers so I used a Sketchabilities sketch for inspiration. Check them out as they have some great sketches to give you a kick start when your mojo has gone AWOL.

I realise that the last few month's class kits have been very girly and I promise that November's layout will be more masculine.

Drop me a line if you'd like to come and play I can't promise a glimpse of the X Factor contestants, but I can guarantee a good day's scrapping.

In the meantime.........

Happy scrapping

xx

The end of an era

I had a lovely weekend with the wonderful Scrapbags as we scrapped our way through our last ever Scrapbags Retreat at All Saints.

Take a look at the photo above.  It was taken during our first ever retreat way back in 2008.  Didn't we all look so thrilled and excited?

Now take a look below at us posing for our photo yesterday.

Do you think we have changed?  A few faces (including mine) are a little plumper, some are thinner, and some (including mine) have acquired a few more laughter lines.  And haven't we all gone through several shades of hair colour during the seven retreats? We also have some new faces, but sadly a few faces didn't join us this year and we did miss them, but hope that they will join us again soon. 

I've added a slideshow above of our Ready Steady Scrap challenge layout and here are the winners, Jan, Chris and Sara.

Another highlight of the weekend was completing the classes designed for us by Lorraine and Sue from Scrap Revolution.  We also enjoyed all the lovely goodies that Lorraine brought us to peruse from her shop.

Once again it was generally agreed that three days is nowhere near long enough, and that I should think about a week-long retreat.  Dream on girls! Sunday evening came all too soon and as we drove slowly down the drive I felt a little sad as it's definitely the end of an era for Scrapbags, but only a little sad as I'm now already looking forward to and planning for the Scrapbags Spring Retreat 2012.  It's already booked for 23rd to 25th March at The Node , Codicote, and I think marks the beginning of a whole new era for Scrapbags.

So a huge big kiss, hug and thank you to all of the wonderful Scrapbags, for helping to make our weekends so special.  It really is a privilege and pleasure to be able to organise retreats for you all.

xx

Here come the girls

Look out All Saints, the Scrapbags are on our way.  Three whole days of pure unadulterated scrapping - bliss!  We'll be doing 2 free classes:

Friday Freebie

2Way kit

It is a bumper kit, stuffed full of luscious Prima goodies so I am looking forward to seeing what everyone produces for the Ready Steady Scrap challenge.  I'll put the pics up next week.

I'm feeling a little sad as it is our last ever Scrapbags retreat at All Saints.  I have enjoyed our weekends so much I feel it is really an end of an era.  We'll just have to have a glass or two to keep our spirits up.

Happy Scrapping

x

Summer update

It's less than a week until our next crop when we'll be playing with alcohol ink and organza to make these gorgeous flowers.

I may not have been blogging, but I have been busy with our regular monthly crops. In July we had this elegant black and white LO which included ideas for using smaller pieces of patterned paper and ways of altering brads and chipboard.

As usual we had an extra summer crop in August attended by a select few. We completed this quick summery LO before settling down to a day of chatting and scrapping.

As always, please drop me a line if you'd like to join us on 27th August. 

In  the meantime Happy Scrapping
xx

Summer Scrapping

Summer must be well and truly here as not only did I have a great time at Scrap Revolution's 12 hour crop yesterday, creating a fab LO designed by Sue and enjoying delicious cheesecake curtesy of Chris, but it is our very own Mega 12 hour crop next Saturday (18/6/11).

The lovely Sarah Young has designed a gorgeous layout with SEI Jocelyn papers for our class kit for which you'll need just one 6x4 portrait photo. We'll be punching, embossing, sanding and, of course, cutting out so please remeber to bring your best scissors.

Here's a sneaky peek of the LO

And, of course, it'll be time to draw the lucky ticket in our free Slice draw

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!

Oh, I nearly forgot - we have a new venue booked for our retreats next year. Yippee!!! All will be revealed on Saturday.

See you then

Happy Scrapping

x

What a Wonderful Weekend

There we all are under the totem pole on Saturday during our spring retreat.  As you can see it was a beautiful day, but we saw very little of the weather as we were busy scrapping the whole weekend with the odd break for meals, a short stroll or wee drop or two in the bar.

We had  Friday Freebie and 2 Way Kit classes as well as our Ready Steady Scrap Challenge, and Lorraine brought us 5 fab classes from Sue Watkinson (thanks Sue) and her shop from Scrap Revolution so we had plenty to occupy ourselves.

Sheila (no surprise there then) and Marina (her big ambition achieved) won the Ready Steady Scrap challenge and here they are with their layouts:

As usual the weekend went far too quickly and we had the long task of packing up the cars before heading off into the evening sunshine. 

Thank you to everyone who came along and made the weekend so enjoyable. I'm already looking forward to September which will be our last event at All Saints, but don't worry - I'm on the case looking for an alternative venue.  If anyone has any ideas please drop me a line.

Happy Scrapping

Lazy Blogger

Well - that's me alright.  I haven't blogged for 3 whole months, but in my defence I have been uber busy with Christmas, work, Uni, family and most importantly soucring stash & designing class kits.

So, to catch up......

In December we were tearing, inking, stamping, sticklesing (yes that is a word - but maybe only in the crafting world) and also melting organza to make these luscious flowers

In fact one certain lady so liked these flowers that I think she spent nearly the whole 12 hours making them!

Then in January we had a quick & easy Lo that just involved cutting & sticking, and covering chipboard to make the star buttons

We were fully booked last month and are filling up fast for February, so please let me know ASAP if you'd like to come and play so I can reserve your table.

In tyhe mean time.....

Happy Scrapping!!!!