I've made some cards!

Hi All

After months and months, I have finally 'come out of retirement' and made some cards! I have been scrapbooking and SMASHbooking a lot and even beginning the Project Life journey but today I felt like making some cards! I haven't wanted to for a long time, no particular reason, just didn't have the urge lol! But my lovely husband gave me a few hours off for mother's day so I got cracking. I only made three but that's better than none! Probably not my best work but I'm looking forward to getting back into it.

Here is my first offering today. Our very close friends are due to have a baby boy any day now so I thought I'd get prepared and make them their card! I have been looking for an excuse to play with my new Bo Bunni range from Crafter's Companion and this was just the occasion! I thought I'd try out a few new challenges too so I'd like to enter this card into the Creative Card Crew Challenge which is 'Animals' this week and the Sister Act Card Challenge which is 'Anything Goes' this week.

My next card is for my best friend who has a birthday coming up! Don't think she looks at my blog...if so she needs to avert her eyes now!! I used my new Rachelle Anne Miller card making kit from Crafter's Companion once again. Love the colours, it is so colourful and love the whimsical design of Miller's artwork. I'd like to enter this into the Wednesday Creative Inspirations Challenge and their challenge is 'It's a Girl Thing' so a card for a girl was needed. This one is definitely girly! I'd also like to enter it into the Creative Moments challenge which is 'Anything Goes' with the optional twist of 'Things with Wings.' 

My final card to share is a little notecard I made using some more of the Rachelle Anne Miller card making kit. It is really simple but I thought it was quite cute! Not sure who I'm going to send this to yet but I might make a few more if the design is on the CD Rom...if I can get my printer to work, it decided to play up today when I wanted to play! I'd like to enter this one into the Crafty Calendar Challenge which is 'Animal Antics' and the Papercrafting Journey challenge which is 'Anything Goes.' 

So there we go! Some homemade cards after months of not doing any crafting! It was lovely finally crafting but now I need to go and clean up! Hope you enjoyed looking at my cards, I certainly enjoyed playing along in a few new challenges. Hopefully it won't be as long until the next time I can share something crafty!

Thanks for popping by!

Hugs

Arline

xx

Book Review #3 (2014) 'Revenge Wears Prada' by Louise Weisberger

Revenge Wears Prada

January 2013

Louise Weisberger

***

I'm sure that many of you will have at least watched, if not read, the first of this series 'The Devil Wears Prada' and enjoyed losing yourself in the world of fashion, along with going along with Andy on her journey of enlightenment into this foreign world. The character of Miranda Priestley was not one to be reckoned with and she was the real star of Weisberger's first book in this series. When I heard of the second in the series...well I just had to read it! 'The Devil Wears Prada' is a go to novel or indeed film that is a must when you need a good bit of chick lit to cheer yourself up. However, Revenge Wears Prada was not what I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed reading it and it was great to read about what each of the characters were now up to, but the lack of Miranda Priestley made it feel a little dull in places.

In short, this novel is about the marriage of Andy and her new life as a wife, her business enterprise with no less than 'Emily', Miranda's first assistant, as her partner, as well as other trials and tribulations she faces such as her ex Alex turning up to rock the boat. Of course, Miranda plays her part and offers Andrea and Emily something that they couldn't possibly refuse...could they? She is back just as devilish as she was in the first novel but not enough for my liking. As much as it was great to read all about Andy and her life, Miranda Priestley made the first book and she is considerably lacking in the second. More of her selfish and cut-throat one-liners and acts really would have brought this book to life.

This is an enjoyable read and definitely fits into the genre of chick lit-a marriage, a baby, fashion and friendship all play a part, although perhaps not as detailed as they could be. A little more Miranda would've made us relive the enjoyment of her character in the first book, as well as realising how much better life for Andrea Sachs is now she has escaped the world of Runway!

Hope you enjoyed this review, definitely worth a read and would love to hear what you thought.

Thanks for popping by.

Arline

xx

** All opinions expressed in this review are my own, I have not received any compensation for my review and do not wish to offend in any way. 

First attempt at Project Life 2014!

Hi All

After enjoying looking at Project Life pages on crafty blogs/facebook groups, I decided that this was the year that I would give it a go. It seemed the perfect time with having a newborn, a great way to document her first year in the world and also a quick, but fun way of crafting 'quickly!' As you can imagine the first few weeks with a newborn has been a bit hectic but last week I finally got the chance to sit down and have a go. There I was, page protectors and photographs....what was next! I had purchased some special baby girl cards from Simple Stories as I couldn't get hold of the baby girl Project Life cards at the time I ordered my protectors etc. However, they are on my wish list...best purchase them before maternity pay really takes its toll! I bought the 3x4 cards, 6x4 cards and these really cute stickers that also went with the range. They also do a baby boy set if you are interested.

    

Armed with my photographs and these cards, I made a start! I struggled a little as a lot of the page protectors I had were only able to hold landscape 6x4 photographs so I also need to purchase some protectors that will hold portrait ones. Once I got started I really enjoyed it. I put all of my photographs in and then found some apt cards or ones that seemed to fit that particular week and slotted those in. Taking a step back, I then embellished them, very simply, with some of the stickers and some other bits and bobs I'd bought in Hobbycraft. The final step was adding my journaling to the cards that I'd chosen. So far I have three pages which I'm using as two weeks-the odd one will also have a title page that will make it into a double page spread...I think....but I think I want to do that at the end so I can put pictures of our daughter from throughout the year! What do you think? I hope you like it!

For my first go I was pleased with the result. I would appreciate any feedback or top tips for Project Life though as I am a complete newbie! Feel free to leave a comment. These were the pockets I had:

                         
I believe they are Design A....I now need to look for some with portrait picture spaces....will go on the hunt again. I am really looking forward to carrying on with Project Life throughout the year. Obviously, I have got some catching up to do but I'm certain I will get on top of it soon! I will post my progress as often as I can and will try and keep finding inspiration on your blogs! I do have a couple of questions for experienced project lifers!

1. Do you make a point of putting 'Week 1/2/3' etc somewhere on your pages?
2. Do you make a point of putting the date somewhere on your pages or do you do both of these?
3. Do you always use a double page spread for each week or do you have some weeks on single pages?

Would love to hear your view. Thanks for looking.

Hugs
Arline
xx