IN THE WORDS OF A PAPERDOLL

SOME NEWS FOR YOU ALL :D

2008-11-01T12:56:00.003Z

Hi all hope you are enjoying Halloween!
It is after huge amounts of thought and consideration from both me and Mum, that we have unfortunately decided to close the Nuneaton shop from the end of November. It has been a big decision for us and after a lot of soul searching we have decided that we (understandably) want to spend a few more days a week with our families especially as we both have young children that are now at school and see even less of, with us working most weekends. We also feel that with the current financial market that it would be the sensible thing to do, and allowing us to keep our product cost down for our customers who are also feeling the pinch.
We will still be attending our normal markets, crops, and the unit will be staying open so that you will still be able to buy your craft items from Paperdolls :D not forgetting that we also have the online store for those of you that are a little further away.
We wish to thank you all for your custom in the shop and hope you will continue to shop at Paperdolls
Love the PAPERDOLLS team xx

NEW PRODUCTS GALORE!

2008-10-03T10:34:00.008Z

Hi all, finally we have lots more goodies for you today!! from all of your favourite manufactures! first off we have the amazing pom pom ribbon from Bazzill in a range of colours: Parakeet, Tink, Mud Pie and of course fussy! (pictured left)

We also have had in the newest ranges from my minds eye the life's laundry and also the Christmas range be merry!

Talking of Christmas have you seen the new DCWV papers!! they are amazing and a really good price too. The pink rose tinted range is perfect for that modern feel to your cards and the Christmas wishes works towards the more traditional Christmas. Both come with a wonderful mixture of embellishments with everything from ribbons and shaker boxes to rub ons and buttons.

And last but not least we have also had in stock today the new acrylic covers for the bind it all along with the perfect closures. These straps and clasps are just what you need to keep all those mini books safely closed, and the straps can also be painted, stamped and dyed!! I will be back at some point next week to show you what I have done with them.

Talk soon

Naomi

A to Z class

2008-08-23T11:21:00.004Z

Hi all i know i haven't blogged for so long! as always its been a little mad around here lol.
Anyway, hopefully after a nice week off next week (7 whole days without work!!!) I should be back looking more alive and awake!
We also start next month our new selection of classes with the book of me kicking off on the 24th Sept, we are fully booked for this course now but if you are interested in booking a paperdolls class please contact me on the normal number!
For you girls that are lucky enough to have booked your place on the BOM (book of me) workshop I know some of you were a little worried about your A words so here is a few ideas to get you started.
A
Absent minded, Abundance, Academic, Adorable, Affectionate, Age, Argumentative, Always, Amusing, Animated, Angelic, Artist, Artistic, Attitude, Aunt, Adventurous, award, art, Angry, amazing, Angel, Autumn, Animals, Allergy, Athletic, Aries, Aquarius.
Hope that's of some help and I will see you all soon.
Naomi

2008-07-30T09:55:00.002Z

NEW DOVECRAFT CHRISTMAS COLLECTIONS

NOW IN STOCK AT BOTH THE SHOP

AND BEDWORTH UNIT.

AND WILL BE AVAILABLE ON THE MARKETS FROM SATURDAY.

HERMA SPECIAL

2008-07-24T09:30:00.003Z

WHILE STOCKS LAST!

BUY 4 HERMA PERMANENT AND GET ONE FREE!!

Morning all hope you are enjoying the sun and not getting too stressed out with the kids being around your feet for those that have them :D
To cheer you up we have a very special offer on herma permanent, and also we have lots of new goodies arriving in the shop, new lines from doodle bug, little yellow bicycle vita bella range and delightful. Along with the cardstock that is core'dinations. This range is called black magic and has a black outside and a coloured in. so once sanded the colour comes through the black!!! LOVE IT!

If you would like to have a closer look at this range along with the cuttlebug embossing dies, why not book yourself in for our next class where we will be using both of these stunning new products along with doodle bug flock paper! The class is on sat 2rd Aug, and costs £5.00 per person.

Have a good week

Naomi

ITS OUR PARTY AND YOU CAN COME IF YOU WANT TO!

2008-06-07T10:34:00.001Z

WE ARE HAVING A HUGE BIRTHDAY PARTY!!
AND YOUR INVITED!! :)
COME ALONG AND HELP US CELEBRATE OUR SHOPS 1ST BIRTHDAY!

LOTS OF AMAZING OFFERS PLUS 20% OFF ALL PRODUCTS INCLUDING OUR NEW RANGES!
THE PARTY IS BEING HELD AT OUR NUNEATON SHOP ON:
FRIDAY 13TH (EEK!) JUNE FROM 7PM
SATURDAY 14TH FROM 10AM TILL 4PM
AND FOR ONE TIME ONLY SUNDAY 15TH FROM 12NOON TILL 4PM.
DONT MISS OUT AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU.
For all our online customers we will also be offering the same great deals with 20% off everything when you enter 1STBIRTHDAY into the voucher box when you checkout :) This online offer will run from the 13 to the 15th June.
We will be having lots of new products in over the next week so please be sure to check out the online store.
Have a good week
Naomi and Jeanette
Paperdolls

Back at last

2008-05-23T14:47:00.002Z

Hi all we are back! well we got back last week but what a week! Honestly our feet haven't touch the floor since we got home, with the sakura day on sat and then all the stuff we had not done due to being away it has been mad! But hopefully its not all calmed down, that is until next week when mum goes away and Paperdolls turns once again (She was sick the other week!) into a one man band LMAO! So that should be fun....
Ok so on to all the gossip from London, It was amazing two days and we had such a laugh doing all the normal tourist things in less than 5 hours! Mum kept saying that she was too old for all the running, walking, getting on tubes, getting off tubes, taking photos, driving in nightmare traffic and the like. Although I like to think I keep her young and she loved it really ;)
The conference centre we were in was in the middle of Parliament square and was surrounded by the most amazing buildings and of course Big Ben! Ive never been there before so it was a real treat for me. The building its self was grand to say the least and the room was huge!! I'm convinced I could have fitted my whole house into it lol. Meeting HRH the Prince of Wales was wonderful too. He is such a nice man! Him and Alister Darling showed a real interest in Paperdolls and we chatted about the things we were doing for a while and the Prince also ask how my kids were which was so sweet of him, and totally baffling to me! I would show some pics but as we were not allowed to take any at the time and I haven't had any sent to me by the trust I cant. But you can find us in the local paper on page 3 today :) if you'd like a look.

MAY NEWS

2008-05-02T10:09:00.000Z

HI all finally it seems like the nice weather is not too far off!
Due to our trip to London to see HRH Prince of Wales we will be closing the shop on Thursday 15th May. We are sorry to have to do this but neither of us wanted to stay behind understandably, we are so excited to be asked to take Paper dolls and show what we do, I’m sure you will all be filled in with all the details when we come back!
Another exciting event taking place in May is our Sakura day on May 17th. During the day one of the talented ladies from sakura will be hosting demos using all of the sakura pens and also the new Joanna Sheen stamps. She will also be answering any questions you may have about any of the pens and their usage! If you do buy any of the Sakura or Joanna sheen products on the day you will also get a 10% discount on them, not only that but we will also have a different special offer every hour. You really want to add it to your diary now! You can see the demos taking place all day between 10am and 4pm.
Yesterday seen the long await arrival of the wonderful piggy tales products. And they haven’t disappointed me at all, in fact I am delighted with all of the papers and amazed at the versatility of the new piggy tails and sliding doors embellishments. These will all be online by the end of tomorrow and are available in the shop as from today.
We have also had in lots of yummy products from Fancy pants including more of the lovely 12x12 printed acetate sheets.
I hope you all have a good month.
Naomi and Jeanette
Paperdolls

WERE OFF TO VISIT THE PRINCE!

2008-04-23T13:36:00.002Z

Hi all
hope you are enjoying what little sunshine we seem to be having at the minute? I know your all saying what?!! But it is has been there some point over the last few days. Not that I have seen it due to the fact Ive gone and got sick! arrrr so if this is a rambling post forgive me, its the flu head that is making thinking hard. lol. But I just had to come on here and tell you our news. Paperdolls has been asked to show case our business at a upcoming Princes Trust Conference, which also means apart from showing lots of people what paperdolls is all about, that we get to meet HRH Prince of Wales and our Chancellor of the Exchequer Alister Darling. How exciting is that!! I know we are really pleased to be one of the chosen business to attend this conference and also have the opportunity to showcase paperdolls. Which we all know is, if not the best then one of the best craft shops around! ;) lmao!
But OK here's the but, we would like your help :) no tricks promise. We will be taking our newest Laura Ashley Products with us, and would love to be able to show just what is possible with this gorgeous new range, so here's the bit where you can help. To be able to do this we thought it would be amazing if we could take along with us to display on the stand some of the cards and scrapbooking layouts that you our customers have made. If you would like to help us out, we would love for you to email us a picture of your chosen card, layout, project using this newest line to our email address sale@thepaperdolls.co.uk and we will then pick 10 to be placed on our stand. See your cards, projects or layouts could be seen by the Prince of Wales! If your project is chosen we will then contact you to send your item to us to use on the stand. We will also pay any postage cost for your items to get to and from ourselves if needed. The closing date for emailing us will be the 27th April and all chosen project will need to be posted before Monday 5th May.
OK enough waffling my head hurts and I need to go and lie down some where. Talk soon
Naomi

JESS DOING HER AMY WINEHOUSE IMPRESSION

2008-04-16T09:37:00.001Z

I forgot to show you all this its Jess doing her Amy Winehouse impression, How cute is she!!!! TOO DARN CUTE i think lol

TERESA COLLINS AND DELISH COLLECTIONS

2008-04-11T13:17:00.003Z

Hi all hope your having a good Friday and getting into the weekend feeling. If you fancy a nice relaxing crafting day or even couple of hours we have some of the most amazing new products in for you to use! I know I know you have loads of stash, but really you will need the new ranges from both Teresa Collins and Delish!
We now have in the Nuneaton shop both the papers and the die cuts from the Teresa Collins Damask collection. If you love black and white this is the range for you! These stylish patterns will have you reaching for them again and again. Also if you own a Bind it all and want to add some extra dimension to your mini book the die cuts are for you! These die cuts have been designed to work with the bind it all cut in brackets and other shapes with just one side straight they couldn't be easier to use! These came in yesterday and Ive already had a play and found them sooo easy to add into the mini books. I could actually kick myself for not ordering more they are so fun to use.

Last but by no means least is the new range from delish, this is a new company hitting the UK and taking it by storm. The muted blues and creams of the range give it a wonderful timeless look. The embellishments to match are honestly the best priced items you will come across. And due to the high demand of this product we are doing a great kit with a selection of (DOUBLE SIDED!) papers, embellishments and ribbon in. For more details please contact me. I will also be back tomorrow with a picture of all the goodies that are in it! These kits are only available either at our Nuneaton shop or at one of the crops that we attend. Hopefully they will also be online in the next couple of days that is if they don't all sell out first. :)
This weekend is also the Nuneaton crop day on Sunday so if you would like a break from the kids or the cleaning pop along for some fun!
And next weekend if you are in the solihul area don't forget to visit us at the solihul crop for more details go to http://www.whathousework.co.uk/.
Have a good weekend all
love Na

Afternoon all :)

2008-04-05T11:10:00.004Z

Hi everyone I hope the weekend is treating you good? Its a busy one here hence this sort post between our card making classes that are happening in the shop today.
I just wanted to share with you this great new project that is happening over at back porch memories. Audrey Tan is hosting a A to Z BOM (book of me) course (cant think of a better word for it sorry :) ) its free to sign up and every ten days a new set of prompts for that letter will be put up! so within a few months you will have a completed album all about you!
So ive started mine, which actually gave me the excuse to use the new Tim holtz grunge board some more hee hee! I think its great to be able to do this album and hopefully when Jess and Jack look at it in a few years they will see the real me rather than the mum me that wakes them up every morning (Us mums really are super hero's we even have a alter ego! once the kids are in bed and with a spin its from mum to Naomi as if by magic) and so give them a little bit of a insight of that part of my personality. Its also going to be great fun in a few years time to look back at the things that make me tick now, the things that are important to me in 2008. So why not come and join me :) If you do decide to have a go at this challenge once you have done A email me a picture of the page and I will try and post in on here. That way we can all inspire each other!.

Talking of inspire, this month the Paperdolls will be joining the rest of the croppers over in solihul, if your in the area this crop is held on the 3rd sat of the month and is attended by some of the loveliest people you will ever meet (just like our nuneaton and tamworth crops!) So don't be too worried if you'd be coming alone you wont be on your own for long, Promise.
You can find out more details here http://whathousework.co.uk/default.aspx.

Ive also been a little naughty this morning and gone and ordered some of the new Winnie the pooh cartridges for the cricut!! hee hee these look so cute! If you would like to pre-order you cartridge please email me as these wont be in stock for long!
Have a good weekend all
Love Na

april showers?

2008-04-02T14:56:00.002Z

I'M BACK! OK I haven't been away so long that you have all missed me but I'm back never the less after a nice few days away from it all.
Thank you to all you lovely ladies that came and supported Paperdolls in the opening of the new unit it made the first two days that extra special seeing lots of familiar faces and of course hello! and thank you to all you wonderful ladies that have only just found us :)
We really have been so busy! what with the new unit and all the lovely products that have gone into there and all the equally beautiful new papers that have come into the shop I don't know where to spend first! hahaha. Although the new grunge board that we have had in from the master TIM HOLTZ has already been taken home and used by me! It really is a fantastic product, which at first I admit I wasn't that brave with but after inking it, I cant wait to start getting all my alcohol inks out again and having a go with them. You can also paint, sand and stamp it.
But its back to school day tomorrow so, of course, tonight its baths and words before any playing with craft stuff. although Jess was an angel yesterday and did all her homework early. She is so not last minute dot com like her mum!! And tomorrow afternoon I'm off and I'm still loving my basic grey stamps so its them against the grunge board! I guess i could use them together ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm the ideas.
Another new range that you can find at out Bedworth unit is the two great new ranges from Laura Ashley. The papers come in both a Traditional and contemporary range with matching fabric brads, ribbons, stamps, and epoxy stickers. These really are the quality and look you would expect from such a classy brand!

OK enough rattling from me, but before i go coming in over the next few days is the promised new papers from piggy tales and lots of other new products! so I guess you could say watch this space ;)

GOOD FRIDAY NEWS

2008-03-21T12:59:00.002Z

Happy Easter everyone and I hope its full of chocolate, crafting and hundreds of photos to scrap!
Well remember that news I gave you last time? ok here is the latest :)

PAPERDOLLS IS OPENING A NEW CRAFT UNIT
FOR ALL YOUR
CARDMAKING AND SCRAPBOOKING SUPPLIES!!
AT BEDWORTH MARKET ON FRIDAY 28TH MARCH
THE OPENING OFFERS ARE:
10% OFF ALL PRODUCTS ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY,
PEELOFFS FROM 50P AND ALSO DEMOS TAKING PLACE DURING THE WEEKEND
COME ALONG AND SEE ALL OUR NEW PRODUCTS.

AND MEET OUR NEWEST MEMBERS OF THE PAPERDOLLS TEAM

LAUREN AND TAMMY!

So girls get out your diaries and come along to our grand opening days, we will be open from 9.30am until 4.30pm on friday and Saturday with demos taking place through out both days and of course all the yummy new products at 10% off our normal great prices! You really would be mad to miss it.

Have a great weekend

love Na and Jeanette

BG SUGARED!

2008-03-14T10:45:00.003Z

Its just arrived the first of the new collections from Basic Grey and It is gorgeous! The stamps are amazingly delicate and the papers have gone straight into my take home bag ;) You will be needing some of this collection, I can promise you. And we have it all the papers, stamps, chipboard, buttons (these will not last long with my new craze for buttons) and collection packs! I will be putting them online over the rest of the day, well give me an hour to have a play with it first and then I will be putting online hee heee hee.
We have also had in stock this week the white chocolate bunnies from Rusty Pickle which will be a must for all your Easter cards and layouts. With its yummy browns, creams and pinks it is a wonderful collection.
And last but not least we have the new Grafton line from scenic route, with its grungy summer colours you will be counting off the days till you can go to the beach! This range Will be especially great for young boys cards, as the colours are just perfect for it.

Now on to some PAPERDOLLS news :), you remember in the new year I told you to expect some exciting changes during 2008, well finally i can let you all in on our great news, paperdolls has just added another shop to our empire LOL, from the beginning of April we will be opening 3 days a week at our new lock up at Bedworth Market!! Imagine a shop but with no door and that's what we are :) I'm so excited to be able to take another step towards world domination lol!!!!!

and even more excited to be able to offer all our customers in the bedworth area a more permanent shopping option. I hope the during our grand opening (dates to follow) you will all pop along to see us :)

Now before I go I need to share something else with you, long ago (not that long I'm still a spring chicken) every time I turned on the TV, an advert would come up for a la carte kitchen, it was a kitchen like no other, in the advert the little girl got up and made her daddy some Swiss roll and beans for breakfast and I was so desperate to get this toy that I bothered my Mum day and night to buy it for me, well Santa must have been listening and for Christmas I got one!!! Imagine to my disgust when I realised the no, I wouldn't be making Swiss roll or beans on my Kitchen as the blooming thing didn't work!!!!! I was horrified and to be honest I think this is the under lying cause of my reluctance to cook now. I felt cheated that everything I put in that oven came out cold, I'm sure at some point I cried about it too. So fast forward twenty something years and this morning Jessica asked for a kinder surprise, now this little girl thinks shes going to get an amazing surprise and instead she gets this stupid little toy that breaks (along with her heart) every time she touches it. So that's it, I've had enough! next time that these companies advertise something that when I buy it doesn't do what they say its going to do, they are going to get an email from me telling them that they will be lucky if in twenty years time half the population isn't suing their sorry bottoms for destroying their childhood with false dreams and cookers :) LMAO! Had to get that off my chest ;)

ITS BIG YELLOW FRIDAY!!!

2008-03-07T10:03:00.002Z

Hi all and a happy big yellow Friday :) Today is the children's Liver Disease foundations first annual day to help bring awareness and raise money to fund research into children's liver disease. Now ladies you all should know by now that we are holding a fun night tonight from 7pm at the Griff and Coton pub in Nuneaton, so if you are in the area and have nothing planned get yourself down there and I can promise you a great night out.
Also in aid of this we will be holding a special raffle to win some amazing scrapbooking and cardmaking stash. You will be able to buy these tickets for £1.00 from tomorrow on the market or come along to the crop and they will also be on sale there. This raffle will be drawn next Saturday (15th) at 12 noon at the shop so bring your lucky ticket along to see if you have won!
The crop will be held this Sunday from 10am till 4pm at the bulkington village center and for a day full of scrapbooking and cardmaking to your hearts content we only charge £5.00pp. All you need to do is bring along your projects that you want to complete and chill out while you do them chatting to other crafters and sharing ideas. Oh and we even provide tea and coffee in with the price! And seen as its Big yellow Friday, I will try and find some yellow cakes to bring along too. :)
We have also had lots of new stock both in the shop and on the market still, Paper nation aka Jolly nation is all in stock including their shrink plastic range, and die cut sheets.
Today we are expecting in lots of the new ranges from the show so I will be back with news of them once they arrive.
Have a great big yellow Friday everyone!! And keep an eye out for those pictures on Tuesday lmao!

:( sorry

2008-02-26T15:07:00.005Z

sorry ladies I would have added you a slide but it looks like my pc is going awol today so here is as many as this thing will let me put on one page hahaha!

First we have mulan, this is a great range full of reds, blacks and whites! love it.

Also what piggy tales has done this time around is, thinking of the card maker and the problem we have with patterns being too big, they have printed the same pattern that is on the front but smaller on the back!! Great idea no?

A VERY QUIET SNEEK PEEK!

2008-02-26T14:02:00.002Z

Hi all, why quiet? well after celebrating my birthday yesterday I feel like rubbish, I am ill!! Ok i may have drunk far too much last night, but on top of that I really am sick! You know when you get that pain that you know might kill you, that was me this morning LMAO! OK so on to much more fun things, I took jack to the Hospital today and his is now plaster free!! And they let me keep it! how weird is that even for a scrapbooker? He is finally all fixed and ready to run riot again. So ladies visiting the shop watch out!
Also next Friday my 11 year old sister has organised a fun night in aid of a charity which is very close to the family, Children's LIVER DISEASE FOUNDATION, so if any of you ladies fancy a good night out with the family and help raise money for a good cause, tickets are available from the paperdolls now!! We can promise you a disco, raffle, laughter and because it is being held in the Griff and coton club, Nuneaton, a drink! So dust off your glad rags and come and join us for big yellow Friday.
OK BACK TO YOUR PEEK!
Today is an amazing summer line from our friends across the pond, PIGGY TALES! With their new range they are going green!! These lines are, Double-sided card stock printed on recycled, 12"x12", acid & lignin free, 65lb paper with organic ink. We have 3 of these new ranges coming in:
Cinderella, Tin solider, and The Ballad of Mulan. And with all these great products I'm afraid I don't have room to show you all of them but here is some of the ranges to give you the idea of whats in store!

BASIC GREY SUGARED

2008-02-23T12:29:00.001Z

Fancy another sneek peek?

2008-02-23T12:10:00.002Z

Ok girls this is the last sneek peek for this week but dont worry i will be back on tuesday with some more! I couldnt decide at all what was going to be the next thing to show you we have so much cool stuff coming in! So seen as yesterday was one for the cardmakers today is one for the scrapbookers esp. the scrapbookers that love basic grey! Dont be put off by me saying that all you card makers as I am sure you will love this range just as much! We will in fact be using this range at our next cardmaking demo day along with the tim holtz perfect pearls, the cricut and lots more. The next class that is planned will be more technique based and I can promise you that it will have you taking your cards to a whole new level! Remember thaat these classes do fill up quickly so book early, I will be giving out dates ect over the next few weeks so keep a class eye out for it!
Alright enough babbling on to our very own sneek peek of basic grey SUGARED!

new JOLLY NATION AKA PAPER NATION

2008-02-22T10:44:00.001Z

MEET OUR NEW FAMILY!!

2008-02-22T10:23:00.003Z

Here is one of the newest companies to join paperdolls and in todays sneek peek, Im going to show you some of the wonderful items that were on our list. These pictures really are a drop in the ocean from the amount that we have on order but dont fear they will all be online and with us soon, and i will let you know when i have them in stock.

Im sure you are going to love them just as much as we do! and even more so when you realise some of the most popular designs now come in a die cut sheet!! YAY!!

NEW COSMO CRICKET COGSMO!

2008-02-21T10:52:00.002Z

more sneek peeks!

2008-02-21T10:39:00.003Z

Ok girls are you ready for todays sneek peek!! Well all you die hard scrapbookers are in for a treat along with all y0u card makers struggling to find ideas of boys cards! todays sneek peek is from a already proven great and inspirational company, ok no more teasing our newest line is called cogsmo from cosmo cricket. It is a all out boys theme range and here are the papers and embellishments we have on order!

IM BACK!

2008-02-20T11:14:00.003Z

from the trade show in Birmingham and totally shattered from all the walking and buying we did! But dont worry we wouldnt not tell you what we have bought! So every day for the next few days I will be giving you a sneak peek of the new products and new companies that we will be having in soon!

Really the next few weeks and months are going to be so exciting with Paperdolls starting a new scrapbooking kit club along with more card making classes! I know that everyone that has already attended one of our workshop days loved it, so if you did miss out book early for the next ones! More information on all of them coming soon, but first :) I would like to introduce some of the products that will be coming soon from the GLITTER GIRLS for all you cardmakers!

First off we will have in stock from next week (fingers crossed) the new glitter girls CD ROM. this is a great add on to the already popular glitter girls line, which is used with the dress to impress board. You can make bears, dogs, cats, and many more diffrent cards all in a easy to use CD. It really will have you crafting for hours!

Also from the girls we will be stocking the exciting seven deadly sins range! here is what they have to say about it:

1st in the Series - Seven Deadly Sins Wonderful new decoupage sheets designed specially to fit the Bookatrix Boardfrom Keepsake. 7 ladies depicting the Seven Deadly Sins in glorious rich and vibrant colours , with flowing gowns within a lovely setting , allcleverly set on a Bookatrix page. These captivating pictures virtually ’dance’ off the page and each comes with additional extra greetings panels and verse that has been set onto the page. To make the completed Bookatrix card we have added a pack of Glace Glitter Card in the correct colours to match the 7 deadly sins , these glittering pages sit behind the main page and add that touch of luxury which completes these truly stunning Myth and Magic Bookatrix Cards- this beautiful glitter card does not ’shed’ its glitter as it is captured under a clear top film -so that the glitter has an ’iced’ effect - truly stunning! There are 7 radiant colours in a pack and also included are neat sticky dots to complete the pack all for £19.99.

See you tomorrow for more seek peeks!

NEW CHA LINES!

2008-02-16T15:40:00.001Z

BIRMINGHAM HERE WE COME!

2008-02-16T15:20:00.003Z

Hi all, as you can tell im getting more excited by the day about the trade show that is happening this weekend! I really cant wait to see all of those new products in real life. Just to give you a taste of whats to come i'll add a slide show in a min of some of the new lines that we are planning to stock! and of course we have a few suprises too. All the pictures are from another site so hence the watermark.
Piggy tales new lines are already on order, they have been made with not only the scrapbooker in mind but also the cardmaker! all of these papers now have a smaller pattern of the back which is just perfect for you cardmakers out there! we also have new cardstock company called core-creations, this company has won awards at the recent CHA trade show in the US for best new design! Their black magic range is really whats got me most inspired! its a black cardstock with a textured finish (not too diffrent from bazzill) but the magic bit is, once it is ripped or sanded it has a coloured core!! will try and post a pic of that too ;) I cant believe no one has thought of this sooner. such a great idea!
Thanks to all of you that have sent your love and get well soons to jack, he is fine and still not in any pain, although if he hits me around the head with his plaster again in the night, it may be me that ends up in A&E.
Have a good weekend all and I will be back with lots of show new next week!

Hi all again!

2008-02-12T19:20:00.000Z

Hi all now I know the post below should have been postedon friday but some how it got saved to drafts instead of posted so thought i would add it now before i updated again :) so I didnt need to rewrite all the info again :)
Today has been one hell of a day! Last night Jack decided to see if he could fly! and he didnt do it on the ground, no he decided to try out his new found skills from the top of the stairs. God that boy is crazy and a handful, but you gotta love him haha! Any way after far too much blood from his mouth and him not using his hand, oh and a bump to the head for good measure, we took him to A&E and our worst fears were realised, the silly billy has managed to break his arm!!! So I now have one 3 year old wild child in plaster. Only jack could do this, while in with the doctor he was playing, running around and using his arm just fine to play with the toys. The doctor decided to get him x-rayed just to be sure and its a good job she did. He was in half plaster last night, with us going back today to have a full cast put on in blue luckly! we had some fears he would ask for pink! Hes fine now just abit sore at times but my nerves are shattered. Hes not slowed down and still thinks that you have to do everything fast as slow is boring. eek! Kids dont you just love them. And im guessing thats another 5 grey hairs for me.
Today also we have had the cricut expression in the shop and I love it!! it cuts sooo well and can do so many things I cant wait to have more of a play tomorrow. Also in for those of you that have been waiting are the replacement blades for the provo craft trimmer, more trimmers, punches and ummmmmm................. oh MM noteworthy papers that are soooo nice!
ok gotta run jack is trying to climb on the table with this arm banging against it like a drum stick LORD HELP ME GET THROUGH THE NEXT TWO WEEKS!

LONG TIME NO CHAT EEK!

2008-02-07T20:56:00.000Z

Hi all so sorry it has been so long but with the paper sale and all the great things that we are planning for this year keeping us busy the blog has fallen by the way side (I know terrible!) but i promise to start updating again as much as before from now on.

Oh and just a question for you guys can you hear the music that plays when you open the blog? how weird is that??? Im not sure how it got on here so have no idea how to turn it off LOL but scissor sisters LMAO! More than a bit ironic for this site huh?

So back on to all the great things we have coming your way over the next few weeks! tomorrow we will have a limited stock (alot already been pre-ordered) of the new keepsake board. Its a great board so i am sure if you are already a fan you will NEED to add it to your collection.

Also paperdolls will have within the next few days a cricut expression (a great new die cutting tool that will allow you to cut up to 12x12!!) and once it is all set up you will be able to come into the shop and for a small fee use it, if you already have a cricut good news for you too :) again for a small fee we will over the next few months be expanding our range of cartridges and be having them on offer to hire. So if you just need a certain cartridge for a project no painc we will be able to rent it to you. Also if you did want to buy any cartridges will be selling them on a pre- order basis! YAY! And i can assure you at the great prices you would expect from paperdolls.

On the home front we are all fine with the holidays over and the next lot about to start next week it does make me wonder if it was worth sending them back to school. OK OK yes it was worth it for those few weeks of calm ;)

any way enough rambling must dash and get organised for tomorrows Sakura day honestly ladies that have booked (and sorry if you havent we are all full at the inn so to speak) you are in for a treat!

talk soon

na

HUGE PAPER SALE NOW ON!!

2008-01-15T15:55:00.000Z

HI ALL

PAPERDOLLS IS NOW HAVING A HUGE PAPER SALE! WITH OVER 80 DIFFERENT PAPERS AT ONLY 25P EACH!! GRAB A BARGAIN ONLINE TODAY!

JANUARY NEWS LETTER

2008-01-09T15:34:00.001Z

Happy New Year!
I hope 2008 is a great year for you, your family and of course you’re crafting! May it be filled is lots of gorgeous products and amazing inspiration! ;)
After a long Christmas break Paperdolls is back in full swing! And 2008 has bought some exciting new products from some truly incredible companies!
We now have in stock the remarkable Loves me collection from imaginisce. With its spring colours and of course its valentine theme this is a product range that you will be itching to use. Two of the papers (wild hearts and words cant express) are red foil accented which makes it even more special! The texture of all the papers is bound to get any crafter oohing and arring. You can find all of this range now both online and in our shop!
Our next newest addition is the mind-blowing range Two Scoops from Basic Grey, and they really have gone to town with this range a basic grey at its best! To co-ordinate with this line we are also stocking the two scoops glazed brads and the beautiful hearts smudge stamps. Just when you thought you didn’t need any more flourishes Basic grey manages to show you that you really do and these stamps do just that! As always we have this range in single papers and collection packs. So why not treat yourself to a New Year gift. Hee hee hee. Every crafter needs one.
And last but not by any means least we will by the beginning of next week be stocking all of the new dove craft paper ranges and embellishments. If you are thinking of fathers day you will be needing some of the masculine papers I’m sure and for all those with girls cards and layouts to do, glamorous ticks all the boxes!.
If you are still with me :) Thank you ;) and have a great 2008
From all the PAPERDOLLS team.

two scoops from basic grey!

2008-01-04T14:20:00.000Z

Hi all just a quick pop back on to say that as from Monday we will have two scoops from basic grey in stock! Its truly a basic grey range at its best if you haven't already seen the collection here is a sneak peek! of both the rub-ons and the collection packs

although as always we will be stocking single sheets of the range. You can pre-order all of the basic grey two scoops online from the end of today.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2008-01-04T11:02:00.000Z

Wow 2008 is with us already and we are back into the full swing of work after Christmas.

Its gone so quick i hardly had time to blink! let along scrap. We have had a wonderful time, eating too much drinking too much, you know how it is lol. and i hope you all have had a good one too.

Now we are back today (if the postie doesn't let me down arrr) we will be having our first lot of new stock for the year and it is the wonderful range called loves me from Imaginisce.

It is a perfect range for all your valentines cards and layouts to show that special person you care.
Ive also done a bit of thinking over the holidays and have decided to start on my very own book of me! Its a bit scary scrapping yourself, but i have figured after a conversation with jess that although i record hers and jack lives and scrap about them I have never scrapped for them in the sense of letting them (if they ever have the interest of course) know the real me, not just Mum but the things that make me mum. So I am already off to a good start and in case anyone would like to do your own book of me i will be posting the layouts on here once they are done and hopefully inspire you to do your own.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

2007-12-22T10:35:00.000Z

Hi all just wanted to say before me and mum go off to our other job over the next few days a huge MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL! AND ALSO A MASSIVE THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT OVER THIS YEAR.
If you were wondering what our other job is ...... well its a secret but if you click this link : http://www.everyclick.com/santaswing.html?mid=25168027 you will be able to find out but remember its a secret so don't be telling everyone, we get enough letters as it is and like to keep it to ourselves so that we have the rest of the year to be just normal people.
love NA

sakura is here!

2007-12-18T14:09:00.000Z

YAY they have arrived! the shop is awash with every type of pen imaginable! Rob hadn't got me any thing for Christmas but he is all sorted now lol. And another thing that's shocked me is how much they can do. Ive got this form with all the surfaces they can write on, on it and wow! I cant wait to get started. The new stardust is my favourite right now its so christmassy. I love it! oh and the glaze pens i will be colouring everything in sight tonight and hopefully finish off those Christmas gifts.
My plan was to come on here today and share all of my pictures from Jessica's school nativity play (called wiggly nativity!!! BLESS) but my friends borrowed my camera to get some pics of her DD (how trusting am i letting a non camera owner out with my SLR!!) and to be honest i think they are going to be pants! I could kick myself, instead of having my 70-210mm lens on i had my 18- 55 mm lens which for you non camera buffs (like me!!;) ) it means you cant zoom in all that much and well get loads of background in when you are about the 4th row back like i was arrrrr. Honestly i was so mad at myself and only the fact that the play was amazing and Jess was a super star cheered me up. I don't think any parent can think of any other school activity that makes you prouder than the school play. They had to learn not only their words but also the songs and the dances to go with them. I tell you for someone like me that would forget their head this is mind boggling how a 4 year old can do it. So just want to say a HUGE THANK YOU TO JESSICA FOR MAKING ME SO PROUD AND OF COURSE TO THE TEACHERS AT WEMBROOK SCHOOL FOR MAKING IT ALL HAPPEN!!

NEW STAMPS FROM JOANNA SHEEN

2007-12-15T14:10:00.001Z

CARD MACHINE ANYONE?

2007-12-15T13:39:00.000Z

YAY at long last Paperdolls now has a card machine in the shop! Thank god its easy to use too ;) you know how delayed i am at taking in information!!
Thought id just let you all know about it seen as I'm so chuffed with myself about being actually able to use it!
We are also having a after Christmas sale (along with the world and its dog it seems ;) ) all Christmas goodies will be 10% off in the shop from the 3rd Jan when we reopen.
Oh and another special offer when they arrive will be 10% off the sakura pens when you buy 10. so great savings all around. And the stamps I mentioned yesterday they are from the Joanna Sheen collection (see i forgot to say that yesterday too) you can see and example on the side and i will add a slide show of some of the others we will be stocking in a mo. :)
Ok gotta rush I'm off for a girly night out tonight and of course i still haven't anything to wear!!! arrrr. It will be the last one for me before all the nightmare of Christmas really takes off over the next week of last min buying and panicking in case uncle Joe doesn't like his gift ect. hahaha
TC
Naomi

CHRISTMAS OPENING AND MORE!

2007-12-14T12:16:00.000Z

Hi all
Hope you are not having a too stressful time in the run up to Christmas but in case you are I will try and keep this as quick as possible and let you get on with all the wrapping, buying or even making as the case may be.
Just a quick note on stock arriving before Christmas first! As from this coming Tuesday we will be stocking the full range of Sakura pens! Honestly it has to be seen to be believed how great these pens are, from the gel to the glaze we will be having the lot! I'm sure you will be delighted to try some of these out for yourself along with some great new additions to our stamp range! fairy stamps included!! Oh they are so cute!!

Any way back on track.
Paper dolls would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very happy Christmas and a wonderful and crafty 2008. Over the Christmas period Paperdolls will be having a slight change to our opening hours as can be expected and they are as follows.
The shop will close on Saturday 22nd December 2007 and re-opens for one day only on sat 29 December 2007 we are then closed until Thursday 3rd January 2008
The market time table is as follows:
Sat 22nd December – Nuneaton
Sun 23rd – Nuneaton
Mon 24th until wed 26th – no markets
Thus 27th – Nuneaton
Friday 28th - no market
Saturday 29th – Nuneaton
Monday 30th until Tuesday 1st Jan – no market
We will be back to normal in the markets from Wednesday 2nd January 2008.
Also from the 2nd January 2008 the shop will have the new opening hours of 10am till 4.30 pm with the exception being our late night opening on Friday night!
Thank you for your custom through out 2007 and we look forward to introducing you to the many changes that will be taking place for paperdolls during 2008.
Merry Christmas
Naomi and Jeanette
Paperdolls

BIND IT WEEK

2007-12-07T13:55:00.000Z

WOW has it really been a week since i last posted? Its been a mad one for me, OK OK its been a blur of using my new bind it all at every chance hahahaha. Kids? washing? housework? what are those? when you have a bind it all. Honestly Ive been binding everything in sight. I will have to bring the camera tomorrow and take some pics for you all to see. But if you haven't got a BIA yet. you need one!!! No kidding they are a must have.

Last weekend was great and really busy, so thank you to everyone that took the time to come and see us, bring a card or give us a birthday present. :)
Good news too for the shop as of yesterday we take CARDS!! yay .........at last! Now don't be coming in during the next few days expecting me to know how to use it as i have no idea yet. LOL. Will be having a look this afternoon and fingers crossed it wont be too hard to use. OK so this is me saying this, so the chances are it will be thrown up the wall by next weekend. I will let you know how i get on ;)

Talking of being dippy, yesterday i took the crown back from my elf mum (who is still at Bedworth all dressed up till Christmas every Friday by the way) after taking Jessica to the hospital for her eye test, paying £3 parking, spending a fortune in the hospital shop kitting us out with mags, drinks, sweets ready for the long wait that will inevitably happen. Stood waiting for a receptionist for a age only to be told actually the appointment is next week. The blonde is really starting to come through now don't you think? I am rubbish at remembering i accept that i was born without the gene that reminds you to do the things you are supposed to be doing instead of getting side tracked (see BIA above for examples of how i get sidetracked) but remembering something and then being a whole week early well that's a first for me! But you know what, next week when i actually have to be at the hospital you can bet i would have forgotten. LMAO.Why don't doctors have some sort of text messaging service where they text your phone to say you have an appointment on that day so get your arse over to them. It would actually save me a lot of trouble and face.

ELFING AROUND THE PAPERDOLLS WAY

2007-11-30T10:08:00.000Z

Where is one of the UKS roll eyes icons when you need it? and believe me after this morning i need it! lol. Today is our 20% off everything day and so we are in the party mood (some a little more than others as you will see) also it is the Bedworth Christmas festival, if you are in or near Bedworth today go visit the market, they have Santa, and all his HELPERS! raffles, bands, choirs and lots more going on just to get you in the mood for Christmas and all the money raised today is going to not one but two great causes. And of cause paperdolls is there, well i say paperdolls what it should be is paperelf's seen as mum went to the market dressed like this...........................

20% OFF ONLINE CODE!

2007-11-24T11:31:00.000Z

Hi all as you can see Ive added some of the better pics of the weekend away and also some of our design team member Denise's cards as well. I'm sure you will agree with me when i say that they are once again truly stunning and always higher the bar and give inspiration to all card makers. If you would like to see the cards in more detail they are in the shop at the moment. :D
OK i have managed to sort out the online voucher code that to receive your twenty percent off over the birthday weekend, you will enter once you have got to the checkout part of our online store. and the code you will need is BIRTHDAY PARTY.
Have a good weekend all, we are off to Tamworth crop tomorrow for our early Christmas party yay!!!! I love Christmas.

New cards by Denise

2007-11-24T11:08:00.001Z

RETREAT PICTURES

2007-11-24T10:33:00.001Z

BAZZILL CLASSIC AND BLING

2007-11-23T15:52:00.000Z

Hi all how cold is it today!! I am freezing, but luckily for me Ive had loads to do to keep me warm :) as we have had in today the rest of the autumn leaves papers (i know i know at last!) and also a huge amount of bazzill classics and bazzill bling! just looking at all these papers makes you want to get scrapping and making those cards.
you can find all the new bazzill here so be sure to pop in and have a look, the bling is especially tasty and just great for all your Christmas crafts.
Now as you all know it will be 20% off day here in the shop on Friday 30TH night and Saturday 1ST December, so i was feeling a bit sorry for all you customers online who use us a lot but cant get into the shop. So just for you and with the help of the magical smax (uks) i will be having a special code that will discount all online orders placed on Friday or Saturday with the 20% off too. :) see now i don't feel so mean. To get your code either have a look at your monthly email from paperdolls or pop back here tomorrow and it will be here. Don't forget though that you will only be able to use this code for two days and that all orders will be packed in order of purchase, items that are out of stock will be refunded unless you state otherwise. HAPPY SHOPPING :)

BACK FROM A GREAT RETREAT

2007-11-22T12:15:00.000Z

Hi forgot to post and say we are back, we've had a great weekend and the cottage was amazing all beams and weird art work! LMAO the whole house was just great with luxury's like a huge scrapping room and table with loads of room for everyone. And another huge table in the kitchen (that was as big as my whole down stairs i think) so we didn't have to clean up when it was time to eat. We had delicious food made for us by the talented Nina and Chell, underfloor heating in the bath room that was great on cold toes, open fires, and well i could go on all day about how nice this house was but i will add some picks for you to see for yourself. And of course the company was great we had a wonderful time and both me and mum managed to get loads done so we were really pleased.
Pop back tomorrow to see for yourself.

ALSO I WANT TO TAKE THIS CHANCE TO TELL YOU ALL ABOUT OUR BIRTHDAY OPENING NIGHT ON THE 31ST NOVEMBER FROM 6.30PM ONWARDS YOU ARE ALL INVITED TO THE PARTY HERE AT THE SHOP TO CELEBRATE 2 YEARS OF PAPERDOLLS. ALSO TO TREAT YOU THERE WILL BE 20% OFF EVERY THING IN THE SHOP, NO TRICKS OR THIS ISN'T IN THE OFFER EVERYTHING HAS 20% OFF INCLUDING THE NEW BIND IT ALL MACHINES AND ACCESSORIES. THE SAME OFFER WILL ALSO BE ON ALL DAY SATURDAY FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT CAN NOT MAKE THE FRIDAY NIGHT SO POP DOWN AND SEE US FOR A BARGAIN!

CELEBRATE SUCCESS

2007-11-07T10:30:00.000Z

Hi all just popping on here to share our fantastic and wonderful news with you all. As you may have been told Paperdolls was nominated for the Prince's Trust Enterprise Award for the west midlands, the awards were held yesterday and much to our shock and amazement we actually won!!! I am still reeling and cant believe it, it is such a great achievement and honour to have won, In all honesty I really thought it would be just a good day out to meet some new people and celebrate what paperdolls stands for, I never in a million years expected to hear my name at all. OK OK I'm babbling its worse than a Oscar speech but I really am that pleased.

So here is a picture of me receiving the award, You will notice that mum is missing :( and without her paperdolls wouldn't be all it is today. But true to form she was keeping paperdolls running here while I was away for the day, making it possible for us to have accepted this award. And a picture of the award!

Also its been a bit of a hard week for us too, as my sister was taken in to hospital on Sunday and after days of indecision yesterday they finally decided that yes it was her appendix and took it out~! So Tash if your reading this get better soon, and make sure you don't hurry back to work too quickly so you can enjoy everyone taking care of you for a change. XXXXXXXX

new stock pics and of course some halloween pictures!

2007-11-03T16:33:00.000Z

Here is the new stock pictures with the scenic route first then BG mellow collection

And here is my DD last Saturday at a Halloween party, isn't she the cutest! along with my adorable son and sister Tasha in the next picture.

Ok im off had a great day teaching all you lovely ladies and hope you have all enjoyed the classes today. Wow im not sure about a party i could just sleep till monday now LMAO.

TC and have a good weekend all :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPERDOLLS!!

2007-11-03T10:22:00.000Z

Today much to every ones surprise (its gone so quick) Paperdolls is 2!! I cant believe its been two years since we set off on this adventure! And I just wanted to say a huge thank you to all the wonderful customers we have met and became firm friends with over that time. The ones that have been with us through out the highs and the lows that have made these two years so special to both me and mum. The shop is also 6mths old this month too!!
To celebrate we are having a party! the paperdolls way of course and you are all invited!! It will be held on Friday November 30th and also on Saturday the 1st December. To celebrate on both days we will be offering everyone 20% off everything in the shop. So please come along and celebrate with us. Also this week in both the shop and the stalls peel offs will be reduced to 60p a sheet. Along with other great bargains to be had. ;)
We have also had some great new items in the shop just in time for Christmas, we have scenic Route papers and embellishments, along with the Die cut card stock from KI memories, also the MM vintage Lizzie papers and embellishments, mellow collection packs and recess collection packs from Basic Grey, lots and lots of chipboard, Gosh the list goes on. Halloween, pirate princess, autumn leaves stamps and buttons. I did say we have had a load of things in LOL. We will also have in during the next few weeks Bind it alls back in stock just in time for Christmas, with the bags and all the accessories to go with them, and also lots of BLING! from bazzill. OK I'm off to do my next keepsake board class that are being held today but now i have my camera i will be back with pictures in no time :)

Celebration board

2007-10-19T13:59:00.000Z

Hi all
I am very excited to tell you that the board that will be featured in our class day on saturday 3rd November is the all new sparkling ccelebration board from the glitter girls! So not only will you be able to buy the board with the second option package, you will be able to go home with some ideas on how to use it also! The second option is also a great price at £18.00 for both the class and the board. Or if you would like to try before you buy then all you need to do is book yourself in on the first option for the great price of £8.00 although if you do love the board you can then pick it up on the day for the retail price of £14.95 so booking early for both the board and the class will save you £3.00. To the side you can have a sneak peek of the celebration board that i am sure will become as much loved a board as the rest of the glitter girls collection.

Keepsake Boards Demo day and classes!

2007-10-13T09:08:00.000Z

Hi all

Here is what we have planned for you on the 3rd November, A hour long class making 2 Beautiful cards using the keepsake embossing boards that i am sure you have all already had a chance to see or even use. Take this opportunity to learn some new and exciting ways to use the boards along with full written instructions to take away with you, making sure that you can use these designs again and again. Each class will be limited to 4 people so that you can be sure of a great learning experience with plenty of one on one help if it is needed.
Here are the two packages that we have available for you to choose from:

Option 1- Class with all supplies.
£8.00
Option 2 – Option 1 plus take home the embossing board used. £18.00 saving £4.95 on the embossing board.

To get in the spirit of Christmas and all things festive we will be using the ultimate board although one of the cards will be non Christmas related and both of the designs can be altered slightly to use on cards for all occasions if you make them again at home.

You can choose from the following times -

9.30am

11.00am

1.00pm

2.30pm

4.00pm

If you are interested in any of these times please book either on the markets or in our Nuneaton shop as tickets are already selling quickly.

NEW PRODUCTS OCT 11TH

2007-10-11T10:02:00.001Z

BIRTHDAY CHAT

2007-10-11T09:35:00.000Z

Hi all hope you are all enjoying your weeks? we have had a good time here at paperdolls as mum has celebrated her 50th ;) ok 49th birthday this week! so HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM (Jeanette).
We have also been planning another big birthday celebration as next month Paperdolls turns 2!! It really doesn't seem like two years since we started this mad roller coaster ride but I'm sure that i speak for both myself and mum when i say that we have enjoyed every minute of it. Meeting so many wonderful people and making some fantastic friends along the way has made all the long hours so worth while. So to celebrate we will be hosting a whole load of special offers in the shop with a different one each day of our birthday week. So please don't miss out on the fun and pop in to say hi! I will be telling you more about the offers next week so don't forget to pop back to find out.

We have also had some more great news this week in the form of a phone call from the Princes Trust. A while ago we were nominated for the Business success of the year award and to be honest it was great to have been thought of but neither myself or mum thought that it would go any further, but this week we had the call to say that we have been put through to the regional finals!!! to say i was gobsmacked is a understatement. So tomorrow the film crew will be in the shop to make a film about what we do here and how we have come this far. Very exciting stuff to say the least. We will find out in November how we have done so wish us luck. Although again I'm not counting on winning its just great to be thought of.

We have also had lots of new decoupage in the shop and on the stall including some Christmas peel offs that are going fast! The mini decoupage books are back in stock to if you missed them last time or have used yours all up as they are so great to use. Also and this has to be my favourite is the delightful and funky musical buttons, these are the ones that play music when you open the card!!! They really are fab and a great extra to your hand made cards. I know that you will love them and for only 2.99 for 3 they are a bargain price too. Have a look at all our new products by pressing here.
Talk soon
love Naomi and Jeanette

GIVE AWAY!

2007-10-03T15:23:00.000Z

Hi all,
just thought id let everyone know that if you visit the lovely Paula from Backporch memories blog you and leave a little message you could be in with a chance to win some goodies!! Paula is making a house move and needs to lighten her load. And i can honestly say Paula gives away the best prizes!
just click here

HI DEE HI

2007-10-03T10:27:00.000Z

HI all as you can see I'm in a better mood today, no they haven't caught the scum bag but I'm thinking now that i can either be the victim or just think that karma will catch up with them sooner or later. ( maybe they will get robbed themselves or better hit by a bus ;) )
Ant way enough talk of it, they have done it, and that isn't going to change so I'm just going to get on with it.
Luckily we have lots of new stock again to keep me busy hee hee hee Doodlebugs black and white collection in now in stock along with the lovely scalloped edged bazzill. yum!
I'm not sure if i have mentioned that peppermint twist is in along with some wonderful printed vellum's and acetate from kanban. I must say though they are going quick so be warned ;)
Jess is finally settling in at school after two days of her crying to come back home with me. Bless her, yesterday it was tears all round with her crying and me. Well what is a mum to do? it goes against every instinct for you to leave your child to cry doesn't it? Any way we all know I'm a soft touch when it comes to my two so what do you expect! lol. We walked to school this morning with my friend and her daughter Jessica's friend, any way when i gave Jess her sweet and offered her friend one, her mum nearly had a heart attack just at thought of sweets that early in the morning!! LMAO I'm guessing she wasn't too pleased then the other night when i dropped her daughter off with a bag of sweets for her and her brother hee heee heee opps! Now don't get me wrong Jess doesn't eat loads of sweets all the time, but i do treat her more often it seems than other children. But heyho that's life i guess. I have now come up with a new solution, Jess loves high school musical and so now when we go to the shops she will have a couple of packets of stickers for her album instead. Jack has a Thomas one as well so that's a few less sweets till they get bored of those i guess.
I must also say a huge THANKYOU from both myself, Jess and Jack to DIANNE for the lovely scissors that she has given to my two after hearing that Jess couldn't cut for toffee with the ones she has at home. Jack can cut as well now thanks to your great advice so THANKYOU HUN.
Oh and last but definitely not least i have a child genius on my hands (look I'm her mum i can say that) Jess came home last night with her first lot of words to learn, so i get them out thinking... OK how am i going to teach her this one? And you know what my SUPERSTAR daughter can read!!!!! She knew all 7 of the words and i was sooo proud! Of course i rang everyone i could to tell them LMAO! all i can say is either she is a genius (which i think is very likely considering her gene pool PMSL) or her teachers are the best, teaching her 7 words in less that a week. Maybe it has more to do with the fab teachers than i am going to admit but like i said I'm her mum so i can think what i like.
Have a good week all :D

what a day!

2007-09-28T11:51:00.000Z

Well today is not the greatest day ever, Last night after popping out for a fair well meal with my family (my uncle is moving to the states) I came home to find that my house had be broken into! I AM SO MAD! I am mad that someone has been into the house, and madder that they have taken my things. My god i work hard for my stuff so why should some junky (I'm guessing its drug related) come in and take them. The cheek, this country really is going down hill. When you have people that think that they can take your things invade your privicy and all because they were dragged up with no or little respect for anything let alone themselves. Alittle controversial i know but hey that's what i think.
I must say that i have nothing but praise for the police (OK if they had been doing their jobs and have all the criminals off the streets i wouldn't have been burgled, but its not a perfect world) we called them at 10pm and they had a officer round in a hour to make sure the house was secure, we were OK and to take a statement. Now i dont even think i was expecting them to come at all, but they did and i am pleased with the way it was handled. Also this morning at 8am i had another officer road with her tools to see if she could get any finger prints, which she did so lets hope the scum is on file and will be caught quickly.
What actually makes me sad about all this is the camera they took is one that i bought with the inheritance that my granddad left for me, OK its insured but it wont be the same. and also that half of our holiday pictures were on the memory chip. They have now gone and I'm sure will not come back. They also took Jessica's laptop and mine too, which is just a huge pain in the rear as i have had to change all my passwords today in the fear that they will be able to get into my accounts. One lucky thing is (if you can think of it that way) they were too stupid or high to see that Rob's PSP was on the side and they left that, along with my bank card and purse that was next to it.
Any way that's my rant over, hopefully they will catch these mindless idiots and then i might feel better LOL.
Another thing to look on the bright side at is there is a crop at Tamworth if anyone can cheer me up it is that bunch of LUNES!! (wacko really) love you all though ;)

NEW BA BA BLACK SHEEP FROM PIGGY TALES!

2007-09-22T15:16:00.001Z

HUNNY IM HOME :D

2007-09-22T14:55:00.002Z

Hi all after a fantastic holiday relaxing by the pool and nothing else I'm back, and pleased to be too.

WHY? you ask? well in case you haven't heard Piggy tales is in the building! all 3 new collections of them and they are looking just as great as i thought they would! So now i just cant wait to use them. hee hee hee. i am sooo excited (if you couldn't tell ;) )

The holiday was fab too, the weather was wonderful (about 38 degrees most days) and the food great. The kids had a fantastic time too, and of course now i have hundreds of photos that need scrapping. I took a diary that i had altered with me and i must say that it is a great idea if any one is going any place to do, as i wrote down so many funny things that happened or were said that i am sure would have been forgotten over the course of the week. Like when Jessica fell out of her boat into the big pool, the conversation went like this when she got out:

JESS: mum that was your fault!

ME: WHY? i wasn't even in the pool?

JESS: Well you wanted to go in it and then you got out and left me with Daddy and he spilt me!

ME: spilt you?

JESS: he spilt me out of my boat so its your fault.

ME: OK then?

LMAO it was so funny! oh that and the fact that Jessica told everyone before we went when they asked where she was going that she was going to BACON!! no sweety its Turkey. Kids don't you just love them?

Any way just thought id pop in and say hi here is a quick peek of the delish products from piggy tales and i will be back on wen to show you all what i make with them at the Nuneaton crop tomorrow ;)

BYE ALL

h

2007-09-22T14:55:00.001Z

First day at school :(

2007-09-10T10:49:00.000Z

Ok so today is Jessica's first day at school and i am all over the place, so i thought id pop a post on here to fill in the time. seen as i have a lot of it! She was fine of course, just me being a mum and crying all of the place! what a mess! any way she looked so grown up and i honestly feel like i have been punched. I'm sure it was only yesterday that she was this little angel needing to be fed and changed. where did the time go? I have decided that they grow up way too fast for my liking.

So I'm sitting here with jack on my knee, (he has no one else to play with now Jess is at school) and he wants ago so its over to jack ...

dfhjjjjjjhjlledjyhfdfljsafghkk, xkl;ppooyttr6uujujbxsfl.ghhjnmm.vcn,

Thank you jack! LOL

After school she came out full of what she had been doing all day, and said that she had, had mash, bread (no butter) and crackers *roll eyes* so i think i will have to try and get to the bottom of that tomorrow LOL. And after our holiday then its sandwiches. ;)

Apart from that i have been busy making up kits for the next crop! i will post sneak peek pictures tomorrow! As i have left the kit in the shop, its fab any way and im sure it will come in handy for either a present or a great place to store all those Christmas ideas.

Ive also been busy making a acetate mini book, which has yet to be finished but again once i get round to it i will post a pic :D

And piggy tales is here! well i think its here? we have a parcel dropped off next door today and fingers crossed that's what it is. ohhhh i cant wait. If its not that then all the new chalk inks are in along with some fab papers and extra embellishments for Christmas. Well I'm expecting them as well so who knows only tomorrow will reveal all.

Hope you all have a good night and i will be back tomorrow :D TC.

Oh and before i go i thought this was a very attractive picture taken of mum yesterday at Blackpool pleasure beach! LMAO

new layouts

2007-08-29T10:32:00.001Z

Hi all
have finally managed to add some of my new layouts to the top of the blog :D
The first is called beach babe and is of Jessica, this layout was made using my monthly kit from BPM. The photo is of Jessica playing in the sand. I printed it in both BW and colour cutting Jess out of the colour copy and placing it on the BW photo.
The next is of jack playing in the sand, the PP did have a white centre which i cut out and replaced with blue bazzill.
Girly girl: Rob took this bad photo of Jess but it was such a funny moment i decided to use it any way. She had just been using my makeup!! again the papers were used from my monthly kit.
For those of you that have been waiting on the bind it all, its here!! so expect lots of projects and mini books to be coming soon. Also new in the shop is some great velvet flock and gold leaf that are perfect for stamping with.
Ok gotta dash the shop is closing this afternoon as i am off for a make over!! I know its long over due hahahaha

YOU JUST HAVE TO SEE THIS :D

2007-08-25T11:10:00.000Z

This was posted on uks earlier today and it is sooo funny click here to see this eBay listings description and then if your sides are splitting and you want some more of this hilarious woman's views visit her blog by clicking here.
Also if you want emails to tell you when this blog has been updated just enter your email address in the box on the right :D

Bank holiday madness

2007-08-25T08:56:00.000Z

Hi all hope you are planning a great bank holiday weekend? Ive been told that its gonna be a hot one!!! *shock* So i think I'm going to take the kids shopping LMAO and then to the park maybe. I am so in need of a shopping trip, its my sisters 25th birthday party next Saturday and she is having a night at the Oscars theme. So its long ball gowns all the way!! I am really looking forward to the party and the pictures of it are going to be fab! need to start buying black PP and soon i think.

Before that though is the Tamworth crop tomorrow and i cant wait really they all sound like great girls. Ok a little mad maybe but fun. Ive got another CJ to do and had some more pics printed off last night to keep me busy.

Have done quite a few layouts too this week so once i remember the memory card i will pop them on here. I know Ive been saying that since last week but will promise to do it soon.

OH and coming into the shop next week we have some fab products. First up on Tuesday is the bind it all tool. along with all the wires and extra bits you will need for it. :D along with some 7gypsies products.

Then later in the week we will have the new glitter girls board in stock this board is called the Illusion Board as it has so many identities. It is a 7 in one board and the first to include a alphabet and numbers! It also has a monogram holder, a bow and a scroll. But the bit i think is the best is it not only has a embossing boarder but for all of you with the book of trix it also makes the boxes for these without you having to keep turning your card around!! how fab is that. They are on pre order from yesterday and will cost £14.95.

Also in are the cute mini decoupage books from le suh and lots more ;) so if you wanted to pop in to the shop now is the time to do it :)

good weekend?

2007-08-21T12:27:00.000Z

Hi all hope you've all had a good weekend? mines been spent chilling and not doing a fat lot actually ;) *bliss*

I seemed to scrap so much last week that i decided to give the creative juices a rest LOL. although i did get a CJ done and i am so pleased with it. Nina your in for a treat :D. just one more to do and im all caught up YAY!!

Had some great news last week too... paperdolls has been nominated for business success of the year award! still cant quite believe it. we will find out in November if we have won the regional heat. But you know what I'm not too fussed about winning it is just great that we were nominated and all that hard work is being seen by some one other than us.

And this weekend i have my first school reunion. I'm sure that makes me old doesn't it? LMAO. not sure if I'm going yet still waiting on babysitters etc and a friend that wants to come, well I'm not going on my own now am I, no matter how much i liked them at school. But be sure if i do my camera is coming with me.

Also scattered along this post you will see some more designs by the wonderful Denise. she really is a busy girl and is now enjoying a much needed I'm sure holiday. hope your having a good time hun.

The first one is actually amazing!! i love this card so much. the way it stands is just fantastic and is made using the blond moments spring fling papers. And second is the delightful card using basic greys Lilly Kate papers and a glitter girls peel offs.

right off to eat have a go day all.

HO HO HO

2007-08-16T09:20:00.000Z

Morning everyone, I hope that you are all having a crafty day? if the inspiration is a bit on the thin side don't worry as today as promised here is some of our new design team member Denise Evans beautiful creations. And also some instructions for the first card to get you going ;)

And in case you are not feeling the Christmas spirit yet? Ive added a card that i have made using crate paper zoom, It is perfect for little boys that are car mad.

OK the first card is called SNOWMEN IN THE FOREST and is made using the following products from our new Christmas dovecraft ranges.

"TIS THE SEASON" 6x6 paper pack

Dovecraft peel off stickers DC043

Dovecraft "TIS THE SEASON" funky brads

white card blank 15.5cm x 11cm

1, cut 3cm off the right hand side of your card front

2, Cut a piece of snowman/trees paper to 15.2cm x 7.6cm. Glue onto the card front (a tiny white border will show)

3, cut a 10.5cm x 15.2cm piece of red/green stripe paper. glue this to the inside of the card.

4, place two Xmas tree peel offs top and bottom of the right hand side of the card.

5, Place a snowman peel off onto the white card and trim very carefully round the edges. Then mount using sticky pads between the Xmas trees.

6, next cut two angular pieces from the stripy paper, to fit across the width of the front of the card. on the narrower one, place a happy Christmas peel off, then glue it to the bottom of the card front. Mount the wider strip onto white card and push a FUNKY BRAD through and fix to the front of the card with sticky foam pads.

Well girls i hope that gives you some ideas and inspiration, see i told you Denise's cards were fab and if you scroll down the page we now have a show reel displaying all of Denise's cards! It will be updated once a month so keep an eye on it for new ideas and designs. Next month Denise will be working with our brand new range ;) but more on that later hee hee hee

OOPS forgot the none Christmas card durrrrr here is it using crate paper zoom collection.

New design team member!!

2007-08-15T09:14:00.000Z

Hi all

I am so pleased to be announcing the newest member of our design team!! (shes on the left :D)

And it is the very talented card maker Denise Evans. we would like to welcome her to the paperdolls team and say a huge well done for your efforts. I know I cant wait to see what she comes up with using Paperdolls products!

You can already see her work in our Nuneaton store but in just a few days they will also be online for those of you that are a little further away to see. Denise's cards are truly stunning with a very modern touch to them, what she has done with the new Christmas papers that we now have is amazing! I wasn't joking when i told her that i was going to have to keep them hee hee hee.

Having Denise on the team also means that you ladies that are able to pop in the shop will be making some of her designs for our Thursday makes and takes, for anyone that hasn't heard about it yet: Make and take day is held every Thursday between 9.30 and 11.30 am. It is free to do and you don't have to book just pop in!

And for anyone that cant make, it some of the cards and the instructions will be added to the blog on a regular basis! See i told you it was exciting didn't i.

Apart from picking our new design team member we have also been busy cropping, Nuneaton crop was great fun this month and i managed to get loads done for a change!!. I will try and upload some of them tonight for you to see:D And a week on Sunday is our very first Paperdolls Tamworth crop which i just cant wait to go to and meet all the nut cases ;) that i have been chatting to online in real life. I sure it will be a hoot!! If anyone is interested in attending please email me as we are nearly full now.

BEST GET GOING NEED TO EAT ;)

inspiration anyone?

2007-08-11T11:11:00.000Z

Hi all hope you are having a great weekend, we are!! the sun is shinning and i am about to get some scrapping done. Ive been a little stuck for inspiration lately and so have been surfing the net for some site that i think have the best of the best in terms of inspiration and so i thought id share them with you!! Of course you have paperdolls here :D ;) and for you card makers that may be feeling left out as i always post layouts keep your eyes peeled on Monday as we will be announcing some fab news :D anyway other places to get your mojo back...

Firstly and i think may favourite is the little book of sketches blog spot it has sketches for everything from CARDS! layouts and ATC's. All you could ever need and more i think, i love they way that on this site everything is so easy to find. If say you scrap in 12x12 there are sections for 1 photo layouts 2, 3 and 4 or more. For card makers you can select square or rectangle card sketches. Anyway don't take my word for it have a peek for yourself.

page maps is very similar and has sketches for cards and scrapbooking layouts and one everyone should have in their favourites! Again it has any easy format to follow and loads of different categories. I especially love the new circle maps on this site (like the one i have added at the top of the page) and have already printed some out for the crop tomorrow to see what i can come up with.

So have a good weekend, try afew of these sites out and if you are cropping tomorrow in Nuneaton i will see you there!

sunshine at last

2007-08-08T13:56:00.000Z

Still great weather wise here and hopefully you are getting more of the same where you are. What is strange how ever is that inside paperdolls shop we now have sooo much Christmas stuff it is starting to look like Santa's grotto!! Honestly all the new dovecraft Christmas ranges are in along with peeloffs, brads sticky ribbon you name it we have it!!

And Ive actually been scrapping last years christmas pictures too!! with all the yummy products in store it was hard not to, and i really didn't want to be getting to Christmas again and have last years pictures still sitting waiting to be scrapped so it made sense to do them now. Along with all the beach pictures i have got it has been keeping me happy, swapping from hot to cold in my layouts.

Other than that we have been celebrating here as on Sunday Mum and Ian celebrated their 2nd wedding anniversary :D so a huge congratulations to them. To celebrate we all went down to western super mare (spelt wrong i think?) for the day and enjoyed some fabulous weather and got some great pictures too. Jess even rode on a donkey!! you know who is going to be using the wanted collection soon don't you!

Of course we also have all the new stock coming in thick and fast over the next few weeks so we have some fantastic bargains to be had. They will be online in the next few days so keep your eyes peeled! And here is a few of my latest layouts to inspire you.

This layout was completed as part of a sketch challenge at back porch memories. I have used the crate paper zoom collection which goes perfectly with these pictures of Jack and Jess on a ride at fantasy Island.

And here is another layout this time of Jack and Rob enjoying some together time on skegness beach. I have used the rusty pickle chipboard shapes, bazzill and primas.

RUBBISH BLOGGER

2007-08-01T15:18:00.000Z

Hi all
* THE DATE FOR THE NUNEATON SUNDAY CROP HAS CHANGED DUE TO DOUBLE BOOKING IT WILL NOW BE HELD ON THE 12TH AUGUST INSTEAD OF THE 19TH*
i am such a rubbish blogger, a whole week and no posts!! it really is awful. But never mind will try to do better next week and even add a few pictures when i get home tonight.
I have been trying out the great free classes on offer from the online company big picture scapbooking. Yes i said free!!! there is some great downloads with audio messages from the teachers that can be downloaded (or uploaded?!!?) to your MP3 players etc from the class teacher. Then if you love them you can choose to buy more classes that are all really well priced. And don't worry about having to buy lots of supplies either, for most of the classes you can use what is already in your stash!! So that's my plan for my day off tomorrow, put on my headphones and get some scrapping done. Why don't you treat yourself as well!
Also my back porch memories kit came!! and i love it so much, hopefully it will go with my down loaded classes and i will be able to do two things at once ;)
The picture at the top is of what i received and it is just as lovely in real life. I would recommend it to anyone that fancies a surprise in the post. And if you do decide to have one don't forget to say that i have sent you!
Also in the shop we have a great special offer!! spend over £10.00 in store and get a mini sewing machine for only £5.00. It comes complete with lots of different threads too. It really is a great buy but like i said they are limited so pop in soon to get yours!
Have a good afternoon all :)

need help colour matching?

2007-07-25T11:29:00.000Z

Hi all just thought i would share this excellent tool for colour matching that was posted on UKS earlier. It is made for web designers but is just as perfect for scrapbookers and card makers to use. I love the way you can select any colour and then find the colours that are either within the complementary, triadic , split complementary and monochromatic schemes. It is sure to give all your paper craft projects that POP which we all seek!
You can find this fab tool at the bottom of the page to use over and over again!
Have a good day all and for those that are booked onto paperdolls evening class DON'T FORGET IT IS TONIGHT!!! :D so i will see you then
love Na

new products

2007-07-21T10:01:00.000Z

hi all and hope your not feeling too down with the weather being what it is at the moment!
I realised last night that although i have told you all about the yummy new products that we have had in i still haven't show you them ;) so here goes....

These ones are from the we r memory keepers silver lining range and are gorgeous! You can see what i mean about the summer colours. I still haven't used mine yet, but will do tomorrow at the crop i think ;)

The rest of the range is just as lovely, you can only find it in the shop and online at the moment along with all the yummy embellishments and rub-ons! take a peek here http://www.thepaperdolls.co.uk/catalog/index.php?manufacturers_id=44 to see the rest of these ranges

As i just said tomorrow is crop day so if you are in the area why not come along for a day of scrapbooking, chat and laughter. We will be cropping at the new town centre, NUNEATON from 10am till 4pm. The cost is a bargain at 5.00 which includes drinks and a raffle ticket. Plus the shop is there in all its glory allowing you to have a look at all the stash that I've been talking about. If you are interested please contact me for more details.

Now its school holiday time so what are you planning on doing to keep your little ones happy? If you are looking for some inspiration why not pop in to the shop and have a look at some of the fab things that will keep them amused for hours!

Jessicas last day at school was yesterday and her teacher loved the gift we made her, but mummy was a complete blubbering mess! i cried when she went into school for the last time and again when she came out! all i can say is god help us come september when she is all in her uniform and leaves for the whole day *im welling up now talking about it blush*

ALSO i want to wish Chloe my sister a great birthday party today!! im sure she will have loads if fun and promise to post all the party layouts that are bound to follow it. SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHLOE!!

teachers presents

2007-07-18T05:27:00.000Z

morning all :D
just thought i would post to help out all you stressed out mums that haven't yet made your child's teacher a present and find yourself with no inspiration to do it at all. I was like this yesterday but now... I'M DONE YAY!!
And this is the finished project an altered clock.
So how is it made? First you need to get yourself down to pound land or another shop that sells cheap wall clocks and take it to bits! Mine only cost £1.00 so i wasn't too worried about totally breaking it when i first tried to do this but found it fell apart easy enough with a screwdriver.
Next i used the K&CO Paper flowers set from the shop, but you could easily use primas and other blossoms instead. Again you can get all of these from paperdolls.
Slightly sand the outer frame of the clock and paint in your chosen colour with acrylic paints. And using the flowers and leaves cover all around the edges.
Next all that's left to do is add some gems in the centres of the flowers and decorate the clock face with some patterned paper and more flowers. make sure that the flowers are completely flat for this part so that they do not stop the hands from moving. reassemble and TA TAR you have you teachers present all done. Mine took about 2 hours in total to make all the flowers etc but if you were to use primas this would make it so much quicker.
So why not have a go and don't forget to send a pic of your creations.
My only trouble is that i like it so much I'm going to have to make another one for myself ;)

better at last

2007-07-14T12:19:00.000Z

finally i feel well enough to actually type or do something. Its been a nightmare week of illness for me. Having had a throat infection, freezing cold spells, headaches, ear aches - you name it. i should be forgiven for not being in the best of moods this week. but today is a new day and i feel, well .....OK not great but better. so i am actually planning to eat tonight! something that's not happened since Monday!?! i think the kids are finally sick of take outs (robs been sick too. so no cooking for either of us) and so plan to cook something within the five a day category. They have been little angels for us though. so huge (((hugs))) to both of them for looking after mummy and daddy. Also huge (((hugs))) to mum who has had to work her little butt off at the market so i could die quietly in the shop. hahahaha.
Which got me thinking should we scrap the times in our lives like sickness, when we feel we are on the wrong road and other times when we just feel pants? I know we all want our albums to be a honest look at the things we have done, but how honest? Should we all start to look at the things that we maybe should change and scrap those facts or just keep them well....... private? would this sort of information help our kids not make the same mistakes? I know when your mum says - i did that when i was younger and now i regret it. it means something but not a lot. when my mum said things like this to me i always used to think "its not the same! your a grown up of course you regret it now that's what growing up is about!". but how about if you had your parents feelings from that time would it some how make the advice more understandable? i wonder if you write something down like that when its happening if you would sugar coat the facts like we all tend to do over time? GOD ILLNESS HAS MADE ME ALL REFLECTIVE (hasn't improved my spelling or grammar i have noticed)

OK SO ON TO SHOP THINGS now we are feeling better here's what we have planned for next week. On Thursday for anyone that visits the shop in the morning you will get to have a play with our make and take day!!! We will not only be doing a demo but letting you try it out for yourself too. so don't miss out and pop in for a chat.
Fridays class has places still available too. This weeks class will be using the wonderful new range from pebbles inc. Everything you need to complete a layout is included in the bargin price of £5.00. The classes run from 5pm and are held at the shop. If you are interested in taking part please call or email to book your place.

TGI FRIDAY!!!

2007-07-06T13:05:00.001Z

thank god its Friday, which OK means for me another day at work yet but that doesn't matter (well it wouldn't if you had my job!) as all the yummy new papers and products have come in from we r memory keepers and they don't call them precious for nothing I'm loving them. Hopefully rob will need to nip out tonight so i can have a play heeheehee. The papers are just great for your summer pages and cards. And the extra embellishments along with the hard wear is just stunning and co-ordinates so perfectly. i need it all! although i think i will have to try and behave a little bit.
for my class girls i have some news about the next class. you need to be thinking aqua blue and browns. along with the theme wishes and dreams. although this isn't too important. If you were extra clever you would be dragging your little angels outside wearing a blue top and brown trousers so that they can blow out dandelions while you take loads of pictures ;)

long time no chat?

2007-07-05T16:03:00.000Z

hi all its been ages since i last posted, well just over a week :D but it seems like ages.
We have been so busy ordering new stock for all you guys it has kept us so busy ;) so seen as i have been sat on here all day you can now see all the new products online including stazon and brilliance dew drop ink pads :D all can be found in the shop so pop in and see for yourself.
Also keep an eye out tomorrow as we are getting another shipment of stock coming in including some of the wonderful new papers from we r memory keepers. its called the precious metal ranges and looks stunning. I cant wait to see them and have a play ;) all those yummy papers and embellishments. ohhh getting excited now and to make it even better mum is in hinckley on the market so i get to open the lot all on my own hee hee hee. sorry mum *whaaahahaha* i planned that so well.
Oh and for those of you that loved Toby range we also have Roxie coming in tomorrow and that is equally beautiful.
Jessica's school report came in today and i am a proud mummy yet again as she has done fantastically well this year YAY!! the only thing that was laughable on it was the fact that her teacher pointed out she cant use scissors? now i know she can and hello i own a craft shop do you not think she would have picked this up before she could walk? she certainly could hahaha. i think she is tricking someone there? but i must say that Jessica's teacher has been wonderful this year and i am sure Jess will miss her like mad. So now i think its time to start making those end of term presents to show how much of a great teacher she is. So girls any ideas? just pop a comment at the end of this thread if you fancy helping out or even better if your doing your own present for a teacher leave a link to a picture on you blog so we can all have a peek.
right bettter get a move on its home time????? already eek

last nights class layout

2007-06-28T16:49:00.001Z

as promised here is last nights class layout, during this class i showed the girls how to cheat and make this seasons must have scolloped edges on any type of patterned paper instead of only being able to use the precut cardstock :D

sports day!!

2007-06-28T12:26:00.000Z

hi everyone, what a turn around weather wise! today has been lovely and no rain at all. although i am sure by time tomorrow comes and we are back on the markets it will all have changed again. Luckily today was Jessica's sports day and so the good weather had great timing for us. She did sooo well and i am a very proud mummy. she did 4 races in total and won 1!!! which was the walking in huge boxes for shoes race, I'm sure she did well in this as she seems to spend most of her time walking around in my killer heels. and even better i came away with loads of photos. I have been keeping the tatterz school blitz box for ages now and so i am finally going to use it!! or should i wait for all those first day at school pics? the choices! will let you know what i decide and show you the finished product soon. promise :D

last night was class night and i had a great time with all our new members so hi to all of you. *Naomi waves madly*. we were using the 7 gypsies sushi collection which is just gorgeous. you can see the papers online now here and once i get home i will add the layout for you to have a peek at too as i love it.

OK enough chatting I've got work to do hahahahaha!

oh and thank you to all the girls last night telling me about the back porch kits :D after deciding i needed to have a look for myself, Ive just spent far too much money with them hahahaha. you girls say i get you into trouble but i think its the other way round really.
the kits look beautiful and now i cant wait to see what I'm going to get as i have ordered the July kit yummmm along with a few extras eek! rob will have a fit when he finds out ouch!

forgive me scrappers for i have sinned!

2007-06-22T11:10:00.000Z

OK girls please dont call the scrapping police but i have a confession! after a none stop morning in the shop i decided to have a peek on pencillines for this weeks sketch. And straight away i thought oh i know what i could do with that. (like you do) and set about doing a layout. only after i was half way through i realised it just wasn't working out how i wanted it to look and it needed something to help it pop! OK you with me so far? layout looking pants want it to look good.
Having a look around the shop for what i could add (i was using the once upon a time range BTW) and my eyes rested on the perfect product .... and here is my confession: it was a peel off!! i know i know don't shake your head or Tut tut under your breath or even fall off your stool in shock. i have gone and done it and used a peel off on a layout! and you know what it looks good, brilliant in fact (even if i do say so myself). which got me wondering. why do scrapbookers take such offence at the word peel off, not all of you i admit but a good majority have agreed with me about never using peel offs on layouts. So is it so wrong to use something that makes a layout complete? or is it the fact that they are cheap and as a rule scrapbooking costs a lot? its like saying OK its a paper craft product for paper crafting but i wouldn't use it. Or put another way not going in a cheap restaurant that sells good food? or is there another reason i am missing?OK not all peeloffs look great on layouts, they are aimed at cards i get that. just to clarify i used a boarder peeloff, so are they wrong to use too? should i have spent hours trying to emboss to get the same effect? i know that i like it and from now on will be looking at peeloffs with a new eye. confession over and don't die from shock!!!!!!!!!! :D

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2007-06-17T22:21:00.001Z

first weekend nearly over!!

2007-06-17T20:07:00.000Z

what a weekend! paperdolls shops first one and it was amazing! so a huge thank you to all our customers that came down to see us, thank you so much for the support. you have made it even more special for us with the encouragement and great feedback on the shop.

and also for those of you that haven't made it down here yet (why?!? hahaha) tomorrow ill add a few pics from our first few days at paperdolls and some peeks at the shop.

I cant wait for tomorrow!!!

yesterday was full of laughter too. now having stood on the market over the past few years i thought i had heard it all, with people asking everything from do i sell computer disks, screen covers, sewing machine needles, to a man actually bringing me his shirt to see if i could match the buttons *OK i can see how he thought that a little bit* but yesterday at the shop bought more madness!! one of our customers walked past us and thought she had the wrong shop as she could see me and mum eating dinner she thought it was a cafe!! love it. and of course the ladies from Tamworth that walked to my house thinking that was the shop address. And said when she finally found us said oh i knew i had a scrappers house as i saw all your stash in the window LMAO!!! it has all kept me amused. so thank you all for making it a hugely successful day.

and today is fathers day which with the last week being so hectic i forgot. so all rob received from me and the kids was a couple of doggy cards that were still left in adsa at 6.30 last night *eek* and ummm ................. OK that's it. but i have made up for it fully now as he has had the night out on his own and is still out so i think we are quits? fingers crossed.

have a good night all.

love Na

eve of shop opening

2007-06-15T09:21:00.000Z

Hi all on the eve of our shop opening!
I can honestly say that me and mum are so excited to be starting this new part of paperdolls. It has been a fantastic journey for us and a wonderful experience.
To share this excitment with you we are offering great discounts to all of you that come and visit us at the shop over the next week. With peeloffs dropping to just 50p per sheet, Chatterbox albums at a discounted price of £22.00, cosmo cricket chipboard alphas down from 12.99 to just £11.00 and of course so much more.
We will also be offering in store a husband scheme! for all of you with usless partners! lol!!! we love them really!!
all you need to do to sign up for it is pop in and ask for a card, write down your wish list and then ask your other half to come and see us! on arrival he will be given the list of products that you would love to add to your stash and a cup of tea to help him relax!! before the spend ;)and next birthday/christmas you know you will not be disappointed!!
so with so much on offer and a great welcome too why not pop down to the new paperdolls shop and see for yourself! you can find us at
264 Queens road
Nuneaton
WARKS
CV11 5LY
OPENING TIMES:
MONDAY TO THURSDAY AND SATURDAY
9.30am - 5.00pm
Friday
9.30AM - 6.30PM
LOVE THE PAPERDOLLS TEAM!!

wow im finally back. and i come with great news!

2007-06-04T15:16:00.000Z

hi all long time no write i know its been a nightmare! once we moved house AOL decided that they needed at least twenty days before they could reconnect me *Naomi rolls eyes* but at last i am back and with some great news.
We have finally gone and done it!! we (paperdolls) have finally got a shop! woohoooo bricks and everything! we are on Queens road in nuneaton just over the road from the cock and bear. Don't come and see us yet though as we don't open until the 16th June, but after that you will all have to pop in for a coffee. (save that for the days mum is working as i make a awful cup ;) of tea)
So i have spent today with mum doing all the last cleaning bits before Thursday when the stock goes in. it is sooo exciting for us. Ian (mums husband) has been working his poor fingers to the bone along with rob (my OH) to get all of the boards, shelving and counter in bless them.
He really has done a stunning job but don't take my word for it come and see for yourselves!

As for me and mum we've been busy too, buying lots of fabby new products and ranges. you can see some of the sneak previews online at the moment just to give you a taste of whats to come. ;) we have the new love Elsie range in along with KI memories celebrate and just married to name a few.
any way see you all soon ill stop gabbing for now lol.
love Na

picture crazy

2007-04-19T16:20:00.000Z

Feeling all inspired at the moment but haven't actually had the energy to climb through the boxes that are packed in the front room to get to my crafting stash. It is on the list of things to do once the kids are in bed,which fingers crossed will be extra early tonight seen as they were treated to a pub lunch and some fun on the bouncy castle today.

Hopefully the layouts ive added today will inspire you to get out that stash and make something too. They are the layouts i did at the retreat during that first sleepless night. I think that the new blonde moments papers were just what these photos of me and the rest of tribe when we went to see the X Factor at the NEC needed. I also used some beautiful Heidi Swapp ghost hearts that i attached to the layout with ribbon. And last but not least no girly layout would be complete without some primas!

And my hunting for easter eggs layout, this is my favourite of the weekend I think.

I love the fact that these papers they are not your normal light pinks and greens easter papers allowing me to use the pictures i took of Jack with them easily. I also used the coordinating stickers to make the easter egg part of the title. The side pictures on the layout were made from the rest of the matching papers from the range. LOVE IT!

I need to get myself in gear, as this Sunday its Nuneaton crop day and I have a CJ to do along with a layout that was part of a picture swap we organised last month. I cant believe it is the crops first birthday. it only seems like seconds ago that me and mum were panicking about if enough people would come or that we would be sitting on our own all day. We needn't have worried as almost all of the girls that came to the first one are still coming each month, along with a few new ones.

The picture on the left is one I took today of Jess, she looks so grown up and trendy in it I think that its one for the wall as well as the scrapbook. I love the composition of the photo and got the idea this morning on the way to school after seeing a sale board having a picture taken at this angle on it. It took me a few takes before it worked out how I wanted it.

have a good night all.

love Na

here are the new celebrate lines for you to have a peek at :D before mum hee hee hee

2007-04-18T15:09:00.000Z

EGGTASTIC

2007-04-18T14:41:00.001Z

HI all hope your enjoying the sun? It has been a lovely day here so me and the kids have been for a picnic with Jessica's friends in the park. Don't you just love picnics. All that yummy food with lots of sunshine added, the perfect combo for me. Of course a picnic also meant the chance to get some pictures of the kids running around. I managed to get some really lovely ones of Jessica's friend but I think that was only because (unlike jess) she hasn't grown up with a camera stuck in her face, therefore making her a little more likely to enjoy having her picture taken.
And joy of joys the new paper salon papers have arrived with their matching stickers, alphas, and tags for me to use with them yay!!!! my only trouble is that I love all of the sets we have. So I am going to have to pick just one arrrrrrrr. For the snaps of today im thinking of using the celebrate collection with all its yummy spring colours. But if you still have some pictures taken on mothers day to scrap you will love the serenity collection and for those of you that like the more vintage look Chesapeake is for you with all its light blues and browns. ummmmmmm yum. Now to explain the title for today's post - egg tastic.
Last night Rob came home and procecced to tell me all about a visitor he had been showing around his work all day. No other than a government egg inspector!!! and no he doesn't look at chocolate eggs but the real thing . (I cant believe that someone actually holds this job title. I wonder where you would go for your training?) A government inspector must sound all serious down the pub, until his mates ask what he inspects that is! LOL.
Any way rob said this guy knew everything about eggs and I mean everything. Did you know that if you put a egg under a ultra violet light you can tell by its markings if it is free range or not? As the caged hen egg will have lines down it from where it has hit the bars underneath the hen. a bit of knowledge for the pub quiz there :D
So I said to rob wow someone who can answer anything about eggs did you ask him a question?
Yeah said Rob. Im thinking great he has asked the clever egg man the most important question ever and with government insider info this guys going to know the answer. Soooooo I said to rob what came first the chicken or the egg?
Rob answers with - what I don't know I just asked the guy where eggs should be kept? the fridge or the cupboard! DOH!!!
I really do live with this stupid man LMAO. I nearly died from laughter and so had to share with you guys his stupidity. and just incase you think rob asked the right question the answer is that eggs should be kept at 5 degrees therefore making your fridge too cold for them, and the little egg thing that the fridge company puts in redundant! PMSL!

Check out my Slide Show!

2007-04-17T17:55:00.001Z

POST RETREAT RECHARGE

2007-04-17T09:50:00.000Z

I'm back!! and i am now in recharge mode. what a weekend, I had a fantastic time. The hotel was wonderful, food delicious, company completely nuts and the classes were fabulous . What more could you want from a scrapbooking retreat.
With 8 classes to chose from all weekend the schedule was pretty tight and by the Sunday I really had cropped till I had dropped.
The 2 classes I enjoyed the most had to be the brag book scrapperdashery class and the layout class designed by the talented Anna Bowkis. The papers she used along with my favourite embellishment at the moment - angel kisses went so well together and looked amazing. I will have to get some pictures taken just to show you how fabulous they really are.
And the new scrapperdashery collections are just beautiful in the words of Becky think ranger inks meets Shakespeare (to name just one writer used) as they have the words from all your favourite plays over them. gorgeous ! A very classy line i think.
I also got to share a room with the completely loop the freaking loop chell. Which meant that on the Friday night neither of us slept a wink. we went to bed alright at 4am but after an hour of talking, switching the light on and off and general stupidity, we decided we were never going to sleep so we went back down to the cropping room . giving us both the chance to finish quite a few layouts.
The next day although we had planned a nap in our time table come 3am the following night we still hadnt had so much as 40 winks! 6 hours shut eye ,all weekend is what you call serious cropping.
Another highlight I think for everyone was the Saturday night PJ party! 15+ woman all in the hotels bar wearing nothing but PJ's and the masks they had made well you can imagine the looks we got! it was hilarious. esp. when the games started, as the forfeit for losing was to stand up and sing at the top of your voice IM A LITTLE TEA POT along with doing the actions. people in the bar were actually cheering the girls on after a few rounds.
NUTS I think that is how the weekend will always be summed up for me. And as you can see by the pictures here of the moxley/nuneaton croppers , nuts sums them up quite well.

Id also like to take this opportunity to thank my mum for all her hard work over the weekend, the teachers for the fantastic job they did, and last but not least the girls that came because after all if it wasnt for you there would be no retreat. Thanks girls you were stars.

And a massive welldone to all the winners and girls that took part in the challenges over the weekend the layouts you produced were stunning.

one day to the retreat woooooooooooow!

2007-04-12T12:34:00.000Z

ONLY ONE DAY TO GO!!!!! AND I AM SO EXCITED! CAN YOU TELL?
everything is made, bought and packed for the retreat, so I am all ready to go.
I am planning on having the maddest weekend ever with the girls im going with, seen as they are all a little nutty in one way or another.
Luckily I am escaping this madhouse I call home before I get traumatised forever! The reason? My kids are now huge fans of............ NIGHT GARDEN. For you guys that have no idea what I am talking about it is billed as the new tellytubbies but with even stupider names like upsy dasiy (not so bad your thinking wait for it) Igglepiggle, Makka Pakka and the tombliboos??? I ask you were these people on the office Christmas party when these names were chosen because this is how I think I sound after a few drinks! BABE ITS JUST THE IGGLEPIGGLE THINGS THAT HAPPEN, HIC! AND I COULD REALLY EAT A MAKKA PAKKA NOW. you get the idea? It is nuts. And what is worse come Christmas I am going to be expected to pay out a shed load of money to get my little angels these toys. arrrrrr
And for all you scrappers, that don't already know, UK SCRAPPERS is having its next cyber crop in two weeks time. The cyber crop this time promises to be bigger than ever so don't be doing anything silly like booking a holiday or arranging to go out with the kids. Get a babysitter for them instead as it will be a mad weekend of classes, games, challenges and loads more. But the best bit? you don't have to move from in front of your pc (well if you don't want to) all weekend while you catch you with all those pictures you should have scrapped ages ago.
well I wont be back now until after the retreat so have a good weekend everyone!!! I know I will.

MOVING, MOVING, MOVING

2007-04-10T21:39:00.000Z

Wow what a week! so much has been happening.
My mum finally got the keys to her new house last week, which meant we could finally agree a date for the big move, of her going into the new house and us moving into her old one. That now means that both houses are full of boxes. It is honestly a nightmare. I cant wait for it all to be over and for us both to be settled again. Or should that be having our stash to hand rather than behind or in boxes. arrrr so annoying.
I don't think you truly know how much of a horder you are until you move house, the amount of rubbish you keep hidden around it has amazed me. Mum did find some fabulous stuff in her loft including my first scrapbooks of sorts and even better a pair of cream shoes that I had when I was a bridesmaid for the first time. They are so cute!
Which got me thinking. I'm lucky that mum has the inability to throw anything away, Keeping it hidden in the loft for years. But with society being programmed to throw everything that even looks dirty or broken away are we taking these keepsakes away from our own children?
I know the key word to happiness in the home is minimalism and given the fact that we all seem to have little or no storage space (even though it is shoved down our throat every time we venture into a Ikea.) it is a difficult feat. But shouldn't we make space? keeping our children's first pair of shoes or first school pictures are something that I am sure most parents make space for. But what about the bigger things? you know the things I'm talking about.... that huge teddy that uncle Joe bought when baby was still the size of a peanut, the Wendy house that your daughter spent all summer cleaning, even the arm chair that you love to curl up in after work. You cant keep them forever can you? You would never make space for things like that.
So my answer? well its not that hard really. Walk around you house and take pictures of all those things now why they mean so much to you, before you move on to something else. Make space in your scrapbook to add few pages about these things alongside the birthday, wedding, Christmas pages that we scrap continually. And I am sure in years to come you will look back at those layouts with fondness and also give your children an insight to their childhood.
Only 3 days to go now until the retreat and I am sooo excited! I plan to spend tomorrow doing all my last minuet jobs so that come Friday I will be all sorted and ready for the off. I really cant wait to go its been hard work sorting it all out and at times a little trying but you want me to let you in on a secret? It must have been fun for the best part of it as I am already thinking of how I want the next one to go!!!! So much in fact that tomorrow I am off to talk to a man I know about sorting something out for it. I must be nuts or all that Easter chocolate has given me a sugar rush.
So that's enough waffling for now and oh before I forget!!! Jessica's Easter bonnet (the one I posted a picture of) well guess what!! It won. Major proud mummy moment. Making this year the second year we have won the Easter parade!! LMAO! I think I will go for the hat trick next year. and in the words of Jessie. AHHHAHAHAHA HAT TRICK! GET IT!! HAT TRICK AHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Mid week catch up

2007-04-04T20:11:00.000Z

I cant believe its Wednesday again! the weeks are going so fast and I just cant seem to keep up!
So far this week all ive managed to do is spend a bomb at the wholesalers (which isn't hard seen as they have such great stuff!) on all new products for the retreat AGAIN! I tell you girls you had better bring some kind of blindfold if you don't want to spend much as I think its going to be impossible. We have the create paper zoom coming in this week along with lots of Heidi swapp stuff, not forgetting the paper salon new ranges have I said yet? OMG they are gorgeous! I am not kidding you when I say that, I am going to need a bank loan when it comes in as I want so much of it.
I guess its all to do with my new no basic grey for my stash rule that im doing so just getting stocked up on lots of other things instead, well that's my excuse and I am sticking to it.
On the plus side I have been good with the Karen Foster wedding line that came this week, I didn't touch it at all, how long that will last for I have no idea. But hey ive been good so far hee hee hee. I think the real reason behind that could be that A I have no wedding pictures I want to do and B ive not got any coming up so wont need the papers any time soon.
Along with the fact that mum have her eagle eyes on the stock and I think she would notice if I so much as touched a piece of it so I have to be good. but mum! (I know you read this) be warned some of the above mentioned stock including the create paper ribbons will be coming home with me :D LOVE YA BABE!
Ill tell you the babe and mum being a little pig story another day LMAO! As I still don't think she see the funny side enough for me to put it on here. ;) Give her a day or two and maybe that will change.
I've also been having a go at making some jewellery for a midnight class I have planned for ........you guessed it the retreat. So your in for a treat girls I will try get a picture tomorrow for you to have a peek at. Its more a charm than jewellery but I love it anyway and it is already hanging from my tote. Although I might move it soon to my hand bag. Jack is really fascinated with it and has hidden it twice already. Mum came to have a peek yesterday only to be told that jack had lost it again so she will have to wait until it turns up. Luckily it did as I think he would have really been in my bad books if he lost that.
On a different note I received the most wonderful thing today from a fantastic friend! (She knows who she is) it was the Heidi swapp embellishment set and I love it. All the ghost letters are right up my street, the ribbon is beautiful just to name two things in this kit. There is no less than 158 pieces with lots of my all time must have stash item chipboard! There is letters, frames, words, label holders ummmmmm I love it. Thank you so much hun for getting it for me. so everyone else keep your eyes out as im guessing you will be seeing an awful lot of this kit on my layouts :D
TTFN
love na

NAOMI SAYS..... RELAX!

2007-03-31T14:53:00.000Z

its chill out saturday here and the kids have been having fun painting easter cards and making veh-egg-les. DONT ASK! and if you have to. they are hard boiled eggs painted and decorated then put onto wheels to make, yeap you got it veheggles LMAO!
So now they are all worn out it is my time to chill. the little girl who stayed for a sleep over last night will be getting picked up soon so ill have a chance to do some more scrapping, yay.
I must go to the photo place as well and get the christmas pictures that i put onto disc ages ago all printed out ready for the moxley crop next week.It really is about time i did them.
I found a list on the net today, im guessing it was a have you ever ...... list.
But it really got me thinking. They were really silly questions but some that in years to come im sure mine and your children would love to know about. so heres the list make a mini book or layout for your BOM (book of me) with the ones you have done because im sure that someone will love to read the answers.
heres some of the questions and maybe you could add some of your own too.
Bought everyone in the bar a drink.
Swam with dolphins.
Climbed a mountain.
Taken a Ferrari for a test drive.
Been inside the Great Pyramid.
Held a tarantula.
Taken a candlelit bath with someone.
Said “I love you’ and meant it.
Hugged a tree.
Bungee jumped.

Visited Paris.

Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise.
Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa.
Grown and eaten your own vegetables.
Slept under the stars.
Changed a baby’s nappy.
Taken a trip in a hot air balloon.
Gotten drunk on champagne.
Given more than you can afford to charity.
Looked up at the night sky through a telescope.
Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment.
Had a food fight.
Bet on a winning horse.
Asked out a stranger.
Had a snowball fight.
Screamed as loudly as you possibly can.
Held a lamb.
Seen a total eclipse.
Ridden a roller coaster.
Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking.
Adopted an accent for an entire day.
Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment.
Taken care of someone who was drunk.
Danced with a stranger in a foreign country.
Backpacked in Europe.
Gone rock climbing.
Midnight walk on the beach.
Gone sky diving.
Visited Ireland.
Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love.
In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them.
Sung karaoke.
Lounged around in bed all day.
Posed nude in front of strangers.
Gone scuba diving.
Kissed in the rain.
Started a business.
Fallen in love and not had your heart broken.
Been in a movie.
Crashed a party.
Gotten divorced.
Gone without food for 5 days.
Won first prize in a costume contest.
Ridden a gondola in Venice.
Gotten a tattoo.
Got flowers for no reason.
Performed on stage.
Been to Las Vegas.
Had a one-night stand.
Bought a house.
Raised children (or…raising children).
Followed your favorite band/singer on tour.
Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country.
Picked up and moved to another city to start over.
Walked the Golden Gate Bridge.
Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking.
Had plastic surgery.
Survived an accident that you should not have survived.
Broken someone’s heart.
Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced.
Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol.
Had major surgery.
Eaten kangaroo meat.
Eaten sushi.
Had your picture in the newspaper.
Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about.
Gone back to school.
Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream.
Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you.
Shaved your head.
Caused a car accident.
Saved someone’s life
the ones i have done are in bold

TGI FRIDAY

2007-03-30T21:15:00.000Z

well the title says it all really, today was my last day at work for the week and i am so glad it is over. YAY! meaning I get to spend the next few days at home chilling out. Well I say chilling out what I really mean is catching up on all the house work, washing and any other jobs that have been over looked during the last 4 days. Then maybe ill get some scrapping done! Or on the other hand should that be I get the scrapping done then catch up with the house work hee hee hee.
Jessica and I finally finished the Easter hat last night as you can see . I must say that I am really pleased with it even if I had slightly over looked the fact that once finished it needed to fit on her head and stay there. But that was nothing that a little bit of string couldn't fix ;). Jess made such a great job of stamping all the flowers to put round the brim I think I may make her chief of stamping in our house from now one.
I wonder how all your hats have been coming on so why not either pop a link to your hat picture in a reply thread or email me a picture and I will add the best ones on here.

As you can see I did have a go at the pencil lines sketch! It turned out just how I thought it would, I love the fact that all those spare letters I have had floating around in my stash have actually been used! You could use your spare ones up in the same way on either a school layout like I have done or on a book worm layout.
Doing the layout I cheated (if you can call it that) a little by stamping onto a piece of acetate that I placed over the picture. That way if I had gone wrong then I could have just replaced the acetate instead of the whole thing. I also used alot of scrap paper i had lying around to do the backing of the picture. So all in all a really cheap and cheerful layout!

oh and look at me getting all clever adding pictures to my blog!
Have a good weekend all ttfn
na

Not a Basic Grey day

2007-03-29T19:52:00.000Z

What a day in fact what a busy past few days!
The parents evening on Monday night went well and turns out Jessica is a good pupil with only two problems, one of them being that she don't listen when things don't interest her. But if im honest that is not really surprising as I am the same! You know the saying lights on but no one is home, well when I get bored that is me. So next time you see me sitting on the market with the fruit man shouting over me and wondering how I can put up with it, now you know. Its because I have hit that magic off button!
So I think that's the layout I will be working on over the next few days and I have found the prefect sketch to do it with! For those of you that haven't found pencil lines yet you have to have a look. It is a great inspirational blog with them adding a new sketch every week. this weeks sketch is gorgeous and has really had me thinking so now its all done in my head I cant wait to get started on it.
I've also getting ready for the retreat (again!) having had a huge stash sort out, which of course has horrified me of course I came to realise that I own far too much BASIC GREY! now I never thought id say such a thing as too much BG but honestly it is stupid the amount I have. Everything from whole packs of discontinued stuff to double ups of the newer ranges. So after sorting through it and actually putting some of it in the for sale pile! (SHOCK HORROR!) I have come to the decision that although I love BG and everything that is scrapped in her there is no way that I am buying another pack until at least half of the stuff I have already is gone. harsh I know but looking at it in all its loveliness is good but unless I start to actually use some of it then its no good to me. So after that was decided then I realised that all the other paper ranges had better watch out as I will be needing some new stash for the retreat hee hee hee.
Well I have a layout to do so TTFN!

Hair today gone tomorrow!

2007-03-26T13:09:00.000Z

The crop yesterday was great I seemed to get loads done! well 2 and a bit layouts which is loads for me with all the chatting we do at the crops. And even better one of the layouts was for the Disney album!
i have realised where i was going wrong with the disney layouts and why i was getting soo bored. It was because i was doing all of them in bazzill and if i had any to match disney paper i was adding a little of that. In other words i was limiting myself to afew options most of them being one plain colour!. Once i had realised this i did the next layout in BASIC grey blush and it looks fab. I really did need that inspiration to get me going again. it doesnt seem like much of an idea but anyone who has hundreds of pictures of the same day / thing you will know what i mean.
so give it a go add something that is not anything like you have been using be it a wedding album where you have gone cream crazy or holiday layouts that leave you feeling blue! add a diffrent colour or a mix of patterned paper you never know what you might come up with :D
With my minnie layout the orginal idea was to use well you guessed it red and white! Adding alittle blush pink heart paper it really adds that thing to what would have been a really flat page.

I cant believe its only 18 days till the Leicester retreat. Its gone so fast but at the minute im not panicking as I seem to have pretty much everything sorted out, im sure i cant say the same for afew other girlies that are going! One who will remain nameless hasnt even sorted out her PJ's for the pyjama party?!? Im not sure if she is planning on going in her birthday suit?? so i think i will have to buy some really awful ones that go down to her knees and are made with some horrid fabric just incase. You all know the ones i mean!!! So C*** you have been warned!

And on top of that its Easter! which means Easter bonnets to be made!
ive started on Jessica's, but it looks nothing like I had imagined? As for Jacks that's still in the thinking stage. So any ideas will be gratefully received :)
I really wonder which clever man (it had to be a man) thought - I know mums don't have enough to do, so lets start a new tradition were they have to make hats to stick on their kids heads. And just to make it more interesting we will get the mothers to be competitive about it by having a parade to see who is the best. arrrrr
see I told you it had to be a man!

Tonight is Jessica's first parents evening and I am little nervous. why? I have no idea as she is an angel. I know im her mum so I will always think that but even if I wasn't her mum id still think she was an angel im sure!
Maybe I should take a tape recorder so when I get back I can scrap every word! (or would that be going too far?)
That making that two things that need scrapping about today.
for all of you that don't know my two children , my son has the most fabulous hair! he looks like a little surfer dude, well he did look like that! me and Rob have been saying for weeks that Jack needs his hair cut as it was getting a little too long i.e. he looked like a girl!
So off I took him today to the barbers and predictably Jack screamed his head off all the way through the cut. With me pinning him in the seat. After what seemed like a life time he was all done, only im not sure where this woman was cutting the hair from but it certainly wasn't jacks head! it was just as long as when I went it, maybe even worse than before. After paying and walking around town for another 15 minutes I figured that it looked no different and that rob would never believe I had taken him. So rather than go back to the same hairdressers (honestly I couldn't face jack screaming on the way in there) I took him to a new one in hope that they would do a better job! and they did jack didn't scream once. Only trouble is it isn't only my purse after paying for two hair cuts that is lighter, jacks lost most of his hair! Really its all gone and I hate it!!! I know.... he actually looks like a boy now, it suits him and the hairdresser did a great job. BUT and its a big BUT he looks sooo grown up. In one hair cut he has gone from my little baby to a TODDLER!
I guess every mum goes through the he's not my baby any more mode but im just not quite ready for it.

blooming creative day

2007-03-24T22:17:00.000Z

Its been a cold day here today, I am so glad mum was on the stall! she came to mine after work bless her and could hardly manage to get her words out she was so tired (which is unusual for her ).
Its amazing how tired you can get after a day in the ice cold wind. Keeping warm seems to take everything out of you!
But on the plus side me and the kids took advantage of the weather and had a PJ day. Don't you just love days when you don't get dressed, just slobbing around and eating everything in sight. I swear today alone I have put on at least 10 lbs with all the junk food I have eaten. But even with the extra 10lb load it is so worth it just to relax and chill out. Maybe that should be my first blog dare! To scrap your prefect day. Then when you've finished either email them to me and I will show the best ones or post a link to them on here.
On the scrapping front I have managed to get loads done again! It started this morning when the postie dropped me off a little package. They were angel kisses from a great company called Ben Madigan Crafts. He stocks the most gorgeous large angel kisses flowers and in loads of colours too. So once I had opened them they just had to be used. hee hee. I don't know what it is with me. some things I get and love so much that I cant even think about using them, but then at other times I get something, love it just as much and need to use it straight away. weird or what? I don't think I am the only one with this trait, im always getting customers coming to the stall and admitting that all the things they bought last week are still in the to stroke only pile.
So with my new blossoms and some of the new polka dotted primas!! I managed to finish the journaling jar that I am teaching for the retreat. I must say that I am really pleased with it. I must have been because my success with that one gave me the push I needed to finish the mega monograms class kit thats also for the retreat and also do the last bits to the cj I started yesterday. Told you id been busy.
So im off to the crop tomorrow so had better go get a good nights sleep so im all ready to get started again on the Disney album *Naomi rolls her eyes* honestly if I see those Disney pics one more time I think I will scream. I just keep telling myself that ive only got another 6 pages to do max! Yeah in my dreams. I have a feeling I will be doing this album, for a good while yet.
Camera still not charged but will try and add some pictures tomorrow after the crop :D

domestic goddess? never!

2007-03-23T14:48:00.000Z

Ok so this is my new blog its not the first time Ive had one, but hopefully this time I will actually post something in it.
Since ive stopped smoking i seem to have more time to do things? and this will be one of the things ill do to fill in that time, along with all the other paperdolls stuff that keeps getting put on my table!
Ive been pretty good this week and have even started the circle journal that I need to swap at the weekend.
Normallyi would start a journal the day after i get given it. Being the organized goddess that I am?!? No that certainly isn't me, more like everything done at the last min because you have forgotten about it.
I wonder if all crafters are the same? in the way that once my scrapping stash is out the whole day seems to disappear, or when I decide to clean the house I somehow manage to start in my craft room and once everything is organised by colour, brand or some other nutty idea I have had for sorting my stash into so that I can actually find it. its time for my OH to come home and nothing else gets even a look at the duster that day.
Maybe its because im flighty? and I have to agree that it does not take me long too move from one thing on to something else that I find more interesting.
Take the new blonde moments papers we have in stock. They are wonderful! the colours just remind me that summer is only round the corner and soon i will be going to work in just one t-shirt instead of 6! And i am just in love the the stamps!! i need all of them. :D
So they came in and i was supposed to be going into town, id already had a shower and was just about to go dry my hair when inspiration hit me, so it was off to my craft room to just have a look if this layout would work. although what actually happened was i started and finished it! All thoughts of town had gone, before i knew, it was nearly 3pm and my day was nearly over. How do we ever get anything done thats not paper related getting distracted so easily.
Ive also spent too much time this week organising for the retreat, which really means buying new stock! we have some great things coming in that I am sure you will love.
Just think girls not too long now. what is it 3 weeks?
well keep your eyes out as I will be adding a few of the class finish pieces on here for you to have a sneak peek at well thats if I dont get distracted by all that stash!
The bazzill bling that we have in (and will be used in a class) is to die for with its normal bazzill yummy-ness mixed with a delightful shimmer it should be on everyone's stash I need list. Oh and I must not forget the DCWV ranges that are sitting in my craft room. The once upon a time collection is just sooo sweet. And we have the papers, chipboard and ribbons!!!
I will need at least a few sheets of each if im ever going to finish that Disney album!