Hollywood Glamour

Today I designed a layout for our next Family Century session.




A combination of scrapbooking and family history, each month is a new decade, and this month we get to the 1950s.

As I wasn't around then, my vision of it is mostly through film. I love old black and white 'movies', especially the big romances like 'Strangers On A Train' and the big musicals like 'Singing In the Rain'.

This seems appropriate, as the 50s were the decade when my parents courted, married and started their family, so there was lots of glamour, romance and drama in their lives. So my layout is inspired by the golden age of Hollywood and particularly a Hollywood inspired dress that my mum is wearing in one of the pictures. Here is a sneak peak.

The Fish Story

Today I have been finishing off a class project for my Altered Art group. This month we are altering a wooden flower trug into a sea/beach inspired assemblage. The group will start their project by picking a proverb and then some words of their choice that the proverb inspires in them. Then they will build up the assemblage using a variety of materials and techniques to create a creation that goes with their inspiration.

I picked the quote "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll eat forever". It's a Chinese poverb and I think it totally sums up my feelings behind teaching and inspiring others to create. I hope that those I have taught and inspired feel that I have opened their eyes to a new world that will enrich them for many years. I based it around the sea/beach, because I think it is one of the most inspiring environments. What a journey a piece of drift wood or a battered shell must have had before it lands on the shore. Just like our own creative journey.

New Beginnings

Today, I thought I'd start a new blog as a way of keeping new and old friends up to date with my busy creative life. I hope you enjoy the read and get a little inspired along the way.


My birthday month of May has been a busy month with lots of work and a little less time to play, but here are a few things I have been up to.



The first weekend in May was the weekend I took a small but fabulous group of ladies to West Wales for our first scrapbooking retreat. It wasn't exactly the first for many of us, but it was the first I had organised. We stayed literally in the middle of nowhere in a converted barn - it really was a retreat away from it all!



It was a fabulous weekend with lots of laughter, creativity and relaxation. The girls managed to complete loads of projects (they put me to shame!) Hopefully it's the start of many more, as they are all asking for repeat in the autumn. Watch this space for further details!


I had barely had enough time to get my washing done, when I was off again for my second retreat of the month.


This time I was teaching at the first Scrapajack/Homegrown Retreat in Stratford Upon Avon. I taught 7 classes over three days in the baking heat (why is it always lovely when you are indoors for three days?) We turned bird feeders into fairy houses, leatherette sheets into potato bead bags, made jewellery, assemblage, scrapbook layouts and mini books. Although it was hard work, I thoroughly enjoyed myself meeting and teaching lots of new faces. The response to the classes was fantastic and I have been asked back to do another selection of classes to the next retreat in October.


Since returning, I have been busy catching up with my own local classes back home. Last week was jewellery, scrapbooking and cards. This week is scrapbooking, altered art and cardmaking.


I have done a layout with a lovely photo of Anne from the West Wales retreat. We held a photo session so that we could get plenty of photos of each other to remember the weekend and I have used this photo for a scrapbook class layout for this week.