IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR ~ ARCHISCRAPS

Hello ! Well the holiday is over and it is time to get back in the swing of things, even though I am finding it a bit hard today to do so. Missing the beach, but ah well that's the way it goes. 
So now to catch up on some blogging and the new challenges.
The challenge at Archiscraps this month is lace

There are many ways you could create with this criteria , I  chose to use a lace stencil with texture paste

It's the most wonderful time of the year

The annual family dinner and putting up of the Christmas Tree. Our daughter and future Son In Law are missing though, as they had a New York Christmas this year.

The lace doily reminded me of the image of the ceiling in the photo prompt. I used mists and perfect pearls on the stencil and some sequins. I have also added lace strips under my photo. The snowflakes were a gift from my lovely Irish Pen friend. I decided to get the stamps out as well, love buying them, need to use them more !

I am really enjoying using my flairs from Funky Flair Studio and I have had the little Christmas tree charm for awhile so was happy to add it to my layout. Some little circle braid from Craft Queen that I have cut up and added here and there on the layout and the pink cobwebbing at the side of my photo is also from Craftqueen.

You can see the lace under the photo better in this shot and I think the reindeer is pretty gorgeous.
I h0pe you join us in the challenge this month, and we offer a prize each month to the winning entry.
Pop over to the blog and see what the DT has created to inspire and I am sure they would really appreciate some love.

This was our last evening walk on the beach before heading home the next morning. Thought I had not put another early morning photo Lizzy lol.
Happy New Year everyone and may 2017 be everything you hope for .
Love, Peace and Kindness
Mary x

SINGLE MOMENTS MAKE GREAT MEMORIES ~ CHALLENGE YOURSELF

Hello ! Yes I should be getting organised to go on holidays tomorrow, but no ..... I am still doing layouts !   I think this might be the last for the year, I need to walk away and get organised to go away. But first I wanted to join in the challenge at Challenge Yourself. I really like to support Sharon who is a lovely lady.
The challenge to create a layout with a holiday theme

Boxing day is my eldest son's birthday , so after a big Chrismas day , we all get up on Boxing Day and do it again ! More eating and celebrating on this Holiday Birthday. 

I wish pastel colours weren't so hard to photograph. The trick for me as I wanted to use the pink/grey PP , as it was a similar pattern to my top, was to also make it masculine.

Now Joe is quite fond of a game of poker, so I used the playing cards and also his is know as "the King" and his business is called "KingHandyman" ,so I thought the King card was appropriate and "You are one of a kind" he certainly is and also a bit of a play on words for one of a kind hand in cards. They were my thoughts on using these embellishments.

The gorgeous Abstract, butterfly corner chipboard piece is from A2Z Scraplets , which I have embossed in pink and green.
The "Boxing Day " flair is from StudioFourteen40.
To make the layout less feminine , I tore strips of PP and laid under my layout and then swiped gesso over them. I added some strips of star pattern washi which was gifted to me, but I am not too sure who from, but Thank You !
I am now looking forward to some walks on the beach and just relaxing and starting a New Year.
My wish for you all in the coming year

Love, Peace and Kindness
Mary x

MAGICAL NEW YORK CHRISTMAS ~ SCRAPKIWYZWANIOWO

Hello ! Scrapkiwyzwaniowo's current challenge is all about magic. I think a Christmas in New York would be pretty Magical , so I created a layout about My Daughter and Son in laws magical New York Christmas

They sent me this photo of them, they had been ice skating on Christmas Day

The chipboard snowflakes were sent to me from my pen pal in Ireland. 
Other products from
Flunky Flair Studio
Dlish Scraps
Kaisercraft PP
Thank you for calling by, wishing you a happy day . I can't wait to catch up with my daughter and hear all about their trip.
Love, Peace and Kindness
Mary x

LOVE ~ MEGS GARDEN

Hello , I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas and I wish you all a wonderful New Year. Today I would like to share a layout using the new SPRING PASTELS COLLECTION from Megs Garden. The paper range is 8.3 x 11 , I was happy to have another layout to go in my album for this size.

Love

This is my Aunt (Mum's sister) and Uncle on their wedding day. This range of papers are so pretty , I love them!

I have placed the photo in the frame and fussy cut the butterfly in the PP for the frame to rest in. I then added some delicate flowers, lace and ribbon from Megs Store and fussy cut the "Love" ticket from Megs Garden Cut and Create sheet.

I created a tag and added a image and the word "dream" from Megs Garden  cut and create sheet and added lace and ribon from Megs Store. Cut and Create sheets are a page filled with beautiful images and words.

I was originally going to place the tag closer to the photo, but then how could I cover that gorgeous image of the lady on the PP
Thanks so much for calling by, I hope you pop over to Megs Blog to see what the DT has been creating and leave some love.
Now that Christmas is over I hope you find some time to relax and breathe and hopefully create.
Love, Peace and Kindness
Maryx 

OUR BEAUTIFUL ELF ~ SCRAP THE BOYS

Hello So seeing I am denial about what I still have to do for Christmas I am procastinating , yep sitting at my desk  scrapping . 
I thought I would like to do a layout for the challenge at Scrap the Boys

I have taken the colour red , the word Merry and the Christmas tree as my inspiration. 

Our Christmas Elf

The background is much brighter IRL , a real lime green.
This is our beautiful Jedd placing his Christmas ball on the tree.

Flair is from Funky Flair Studios

I have used lots of die cuts and some project life cards.
So now I must get organised for Christmas. Wishing everyone a very Happy Christmas and Health and Happiness in 2017

Love , Peace and Kindness
Mary x

A WINDOW IN TIME ~ MEGS GARDEN

Hello ! back again to share my DT layout for Megs Garden using the Vintage Journal Range

A window of Time

The clock pattern on the Vintage Journal PP was what inspired the layout. I have use a clock stencil and texture paste, clock stamps and clock washi tape.  I have also used mists and pan pastels on the layout
If you ever go to Paris the Musee D'Orsay is a must. You can spend hours in there. I think I just walked around with my mouth open in awe of the art & lucky enough to see some of my favourite artists work.

The little post card I fussy cut from the Cut and create page, so many gorgeous images to choose from

The flowers and lace and little gold butterfly  are also from Megs Gardens  Shop

Flair is from Funky Flair Studio
 Thank You for calling by.
Love , Peace and Kindness
Mary x

TRIMMING THE TREE ~ A 2 Z SCRAPLETS

Hello , Hello
Today I am up at the A2Z Scraplets blog and seeing we are on the count down now to Christmas I have created , surprise, surprise , a Christmas layout :)

Trimming the Tree

I have use the lovely Wordlet Chipboard "Trimming the Tree " as my title. I threw everything on it , Gesso, Glitter glue, red Paint and Gold Colour Paste. It ended up looking a bit like tinsel :)
I also used the large star and embossed it in Gold.

I am using up really old Papers , which is always a good feeling as well. The little angels were sent to me by my Lovely Pen friend from Dublin and I have added little gold and green gems on the tree as well.

Another thing I am trying to do is use my stamps more. I have weakness when it comes to buying them, but I don't utilize them enough. So I got the large Christmas text stamp out and embossed it in gold and placed my photo over the top. I have also added a stamp above the star and along the base of my layout.
I think being on the DT for A2Z scraplets is making use embossing more. I think I just didn't do it much because I never seem to be able to use it without it getting everywhere, like fairy dust in my craft room afterward. And the girls that do tutorials always do it so effortlessly . Anyway I digress.

The little Christmas trees and presents stamp I coloured in with gel pens.
Thank You for calling by and I hope the lead up to Christmas this week is not too hectic for you.
Love, Peace and Kindness
Mary x