A Crop, Ismaki & DCM.... Phew!

After what seemed an abnormally long week, it being the first back after a luurverly long Easter break, I treated myself on Thursday and had a wonderful evening at my very first crop organised by Liberty of Bellaboo. What a brilliant night we had - I've been to 'a' scrapbooking workshop in the past but never a crop, so I took everything including the kitchen sink along with me - Next time I will be better organised!!! LOL!! :o) Liberty has some absolutely gorgeous kits, as well as a plethora of scrapbooking supplies, and Oh boy, I wish I had money because I was so tempted to spend waaaay too much that night. However, TA's don't earn phenomenal sums so restrained I had to be. I did buy a lovely Schooldays kit though because (I do hope she's not reading this) my Teacher is getting married in August and I decided to put together a little album for her as a pre-wedding gift and this kit seemed the perfect choice. Liberty did have another kit - the new Wedding kit - OMG, it would make you cry! It is absolutely to die for - and there are other optional extras that you would just HAVE to have to go with it. Oh, and I promised I would give Liberty's wonderful hubby John a mention too - what a generous bloke, with both his time and coffee making skills!! He helped Lib to set it all up, organised the raffle, managed the 'shop' and had a more than impressive knowledge of the products!! On top of all that he kept the tea and coffee flowing! Big Thumbs Up John!!! :o) The next organised crop is taking place at 12pm on Saturday 3rd May - this being National Scrapbooking Day - and is held at Fairfield Village Hall in Bromsgrove. You don't know what you're missing if you don't come along!


Now, I have a great need to build up my stash of ready-made cards so I used a couple of blog challenges to spur me along this week. First up is my offering for the Ismaki challenge - Week 14. I haven't done a sketch challenge for far too long, and I keep feeling guilty because I promised to join in with this AGES ago and haven't had time to do so yet, but true to my word (eventually! tut!) I have made a card using this week's sketch.

Next up is another first for me - I've wanted to join in the Daring Cardmakers challenges for a long time too, but life got in the way and I missed the deadline, but hopefully I've made it in time for this week's Butterfly Flutterby challenge. This card was heavily influenced by some of the gorgeous cards I saw on my blog travels from last week's theme, and I don't mind admitting that I was so taken with Lana's stunning offering that I allowed her style to influence me when I was making this. The butterfly was stamped onto ivory card and painted with H20's then embellished using fusible film:

If you made it this far, I would like to say a big Thank You for popping in, and if you're at a loose end and fancy playing along with a few odd scraps of paper and ribbon, why not have a go at this week's Tag, You're It! challenge - Polka Dots are this weeks theme! ;o)