Little Whitnell Cottage

Posted on | October 30, 2010 | 9 Comments

Happy weekend!!! I hope your week was great! Ours was!!! We had a lovely lovely time at our little vacation cottage: Little Whitnell Cottage near Nether Stowey in Somerset, England.

Today I have this card to share, a few photos and a little bit on our cottage renting experience…

Back in the days my ex and I used to own a timeshare. The places we went to were nice and they were definitely better than a hotel. We didn’t own the timeshare for long but while owning it I was introduced to home/cottage rentals and I told myself that one day I’d have to try renting one in Europe. Somewhere along the line I got into Bed and Breakfast and didn’t get to thinking about vacation rentals until a few weeks ago when I had to rearrange our holiday plans from Paris to staying here in the UK. After some hard decisions (between the many sites and the different cottages) I decided on Little Whitnell and what a great choice it was!

The cottage itself is 400-yrs-old. I’ve always loved old homes and I originally wanted one here to live but during the 30-days that hubby had to look for housing there was none that was near a good school, had ample parking, with a nice yard, doesn’t cost and arm and a leg to heat, not near a major road (people drive fast even on little roads here), and a good size house. We saw a few (oh so charming) homes but just didn’t fit half of our criterias. So being able to stay in an old one, even if it’s for a week, was a happy happy experience for me. LOVED it!

This was our living/family room from the stairs. The cottage isn’t big but it was so cozy! The fireplace was our only heat source and that thing warmed up the whole house! There’s hubby on the couch asleep — it was only 10 a.m.!!

Our cottage was just charming. The beams, the fireplace, the stone floor, everything was just wonderful. We had everything we needed there too, including fresh eggs from a neighbor, everything for tea/coffee and a bottle of wine!

Then in the morning I saw this:

LOVED the light coming through the little window!!!

Then the girls. At the cottage we had something we don’t have at home: TV!! So there’s M glued to the TV and Jovie reading.

Card details:

A card using the latest and greatest sketch from Waltzingmouse, their wonderful stamps: Musical Backgrounds and Nutcracker Sweet, with digital paper by Christy Lyle: Whimsical Whimsy at Sweet Shoppe. This week’s card is more less like the sketch. I did a lot of layering and also some stamping on the Pebbles Inc envelope. I sewed too but not sure if you can see it because it’s brown on brown. I wanted to sew but was too lazy to change the thread… yes, that’s me, the lazy crafter! I really wish I was a bit more motivated with the sewing machine or just more techniques!

I really like this card. It’s got substance! Due to the layers the card is a bit heavy. I also love the pom-poms which I am slowly running out of. I MISS JoAnn’s Fabric!! The buttons I love too, the sweet ladies at Clear and Simple Stamps sent me these for my birthday. Also, twine and scrunchy seam binding from Memarie at Etsy.

Have a great weekend everybody! Until next time!!

M’s First DigiPage

Posted on | October 27, 2010 | 16 Comments

Today I am honored to present a little guest designer. She did the above all by herself and very proud of herself for doing it!!

Last week M was curious on how I created my layouts on the computer. So I showed her. I helped get the picture from Adobe Lightroom to Photoshop but after that, she pretty much went on her own between Adobe Bridge, where I can easily see all my digi pieces, and Photoshop. I showed her layers and helped her understand its concept by stacking all sorts of crap on top of a piece of paper on my desk and why moving a layer can make something appear or disappear… or be on top/the bottom of one another. I never taught Photoshop when I was working, it wasn’t my department’s main thing but just like the other software I teach I’ve always been good at using daily things as an example to help people understand the concept.

The above was her first layout. Not bad, huh? There’s nothing fancy, just putting different pieces onto a new work space and moving things around using the mouse and layering. She also got to practice a lot of right clicking! Handy thing to master on the computer, right?

So we’re still out and about and we’ll be back in a day or two. Ta ta for now!!

Something Fun

Posted on | October 26, 2010 | 9 Comments

Hey all! I hope you’re having a great week! I just want to share a little page that I did for Scarlet Lime using their Frugal Fab October kit. I think this is my favorite page this year!! Just FUN!

Page details:

I used the paper for the base of my design. This Sassafrass paper has elements on the bottom and top right and I just went along with it by adding more embellishments and arranging my images so not to cover the pretty paper. The flowers were rub-ons. HEART rub-ons now!!

See what I’m talking about? The stuff under the bird are already on the paper. PRETTY!

More rub-ons! It’s so fun and beautiful! It’s like stamping, but already colored in perfectly for me. NOT though, make sure there’s nothing where you’re rubbing on. After I got the top left bee on I noticed my hair under the left wing. See where it was?

Here I just want to show you the other details…

That’s all folks! I hope to be posting live soon and share some pics of our trip! Laters!!

A Tea Time Story

Posted on | October 25, 2010 | 4 Comments

Hi from the other side of England! I wish I can tell you where but since this post was created before I left just imagine me hanging out in Wales or strolling along some cold beach with the family…

I have a page to share with you today. It’s a digital layout with a few different goodies, mostly by Kitschy Digitals at JessicaSprague.com.

I love the colors, especially on the kraft paper!!!! This page makes me wish that I have some real washi tapes… some bright blue or yellow ones! I also want those plastic flowers. I saw some on Etsy and I think I’ll grab me some after I get back.

Here’s a little story… it was on our way back from France and we were just sitting around waiting for the ferry to load. It was almost 4 p.m. and these two couples in front of us opened up their trunk and started pulling out stuff. A minute later we realized what they were doing. They were making them some tea!

I told you the last post or two that I’ve gotten a habit of having afternoon tea, right? Well I do but not quite that die hard. I don’t carry around a portable, plug into car, tea kettle and tea supplies stashed in my trunk or as the Brits calls it: boot. I did get some later, on the boat. It was still within my tea timeline {::SMILES}

Ok, gotta go… laters!

Materials:

“Reading” was handwritten by me
Kitschy Digitals Calico Dream Digital Kit
Kitschy Digitals Fresh Blooms
Kitschy Digitals Candy Coated Garden Icing Flowers
Kitschy Digitals Vintage Photo Frames\
Kitschy Digitals Vintage Stacked Flowers kit
Kitschy Digitals Washi Tape Frames Digital
The Queen of Quirk Father Time Accent Packs

A Sketch and a Hop

Posted on | October 23, 2010 | 47 Comments

Today is a special day because I get to use my blog to do something nice!

I have a thing for old people, especially little sweet old men, they make me go “awwwwww” and reminds me of my own grandpa. but in general, lot of them just brings a smile to my face. A little squeeze on my arm, a little laugh, home made cookies, whatever… old folks gives me the warm and fuzzies. I especially love loving elderly couples. Ya know, those ones who still giggle at each others’ jokes or still walk hand-in-hand or have that look for each other that’s just ever lasting. I love it because it always reminds me that true love is not just in story books and I hope that one day, 50 yrs from now, the two old folks laughing at each other (lovingly of course) would be hubby and I {::SMILES}.

Anyhow, Vera (my fellow Indonesian-American craft blog friend) is having a card drive. She wants to gather as many cards so that she can send them to elderly folks in nursing homes. Do check out her blog for details and if you participate not only will you help bring a smile to an elderly person’s face you will also be eligible to win some yummy goodies!

Card details:

I used the brand new Waltzingmouse sketch for this card. If you need inspiration for the card drive, do stop by and check this lovely sketch out. It’s awesome because it’s so versatile and the other DTs have some fabby cards to show you!!

I did some stamping, Waltzingmouse Musical Backgrounds and Victorian Frippery, AND also used some hybrid goodies, Fall Frolic, by Zoe Pearns. I added some stitching too to match up with the cloud and owls.

Don’t you just love the owls? Underneath the big one I added a little bit of leftover paper which coincidently fit the color scheme. Leftovers are a good things, I keep whatever I can.

Now, if you didn’t come from Sarah’s blog, there’s a blog hop going on to support Vera in her card drive. If you’re already hopping you’d have came her from Sarah Martina Parker’s blog. If that is the case, let me send you off to Tiffany’s blog for more eye candy!!

Have a great Saturday everybody!!!!