At Last ...

.. I've finally found an excuse to buy some of those wonderful little bottles of Windsor and Newton's inks. I've always lusted after them in art shops but wondered how I might put them to good use. Well yesterday I was in one of the world's greatest stationery and art shops ( Coleman's - if you haven't been then go - they're a chain in the Midlands and the last word in personal service , I can't fault them ).

There they were , all lined up tantalisingly and the  polar bear on the bottle of white ink seemed to be imploring me to take him home ... so I did along with a quill pen - cheap and cheerful - extra fine nib which you can store inside the handle thereby avoiding the risk of poking your eye out in transit.

The perfect marriage . Beautifully drawn fine white lines . Beats my Uniball Signo white pen hands down and I thought that was unbeatable.

The only problem is , the inks come in a range of about 20 colours with lovely names and even lovelier packaging. I feel a new collection coming on but then at just over £2 a bottle it's cheaper than wine which I'm not drinking at the moment.

The little birdy is one of Marianne's Creatables. I'm not sure who Marianne is but thank you anyway wherever you are Marianne - your dies are delightful.

Bargain Flip Flops

Amazing what a trip to the Supermarket can lead to . Bought these rather plain flip flops for the bargain price of £1.50 ( £2 originally with 25% off at Sainsburys) .

Loathe to pay the exorbitant prices of Accessorize's decorated flip flops ( £20 and upwards ) I set to with my glue gun and an assortment of buttons and brads and pimped them as follows ....

Whether any of it stays glued remains to be seen .. me and glue don't go very well together.

I'm sat here dabbling in my scrap room when I really should be at Sports Day. It was the black cloud/monsoon icon on this mornings weather forecast that persuaded me to stay home and now I'm paying the price ... Mummy Guilt ! Nothing that a home baked cake won't resolve ... why is food the solution to everything ?

Scrap A Mia

Now just a distant memory .... a lovely weekend spent scrapping chatting and laughing , the best sort. No photos sadly , compact camera has gone AWOL .Can't even upload any of my layouts as I'm ashamed to say I haven't finished any of them yet and wouldn't be able to photograph them if I had .

Favourite class had to be Emma Trout's using Webster's Pages. I am insanely jealous of Emma's sublime attention to detail and her innate sense of style and composition. Her layouts are a joy to behold. When I grow up I'd like to scrapbook like her.

In the meantime I'm muddling along with my own layouts and have this page to show you. A class designed for Lorraine at Scrap Revolution featuring our little kitten Jack , hence the title.

In respect of all things British I actually consulted the official Union Jack website to use the exact proportions and layout of the Union Jack flag. 

I also need to tell you about a new magazine I've just discovered called Mollie Makes. OOOh , what a delightful little publication. I devoured it in one sitting and now have to wait a whole month before the next one. I feel a subscription coming on.

Anyone else at the end of their tether ?

Just 2 words .... exam revision ... oh and 2 more ... teenage sons. Enough said.