Let's get sparkly

I love sequins.  What's not to love ?  All that shiny, sparkly, easy to place on my layouts little beauties! I have  an article in Scrap365 showing my sequin love.  Did you see it ?  I love how the magazine created the the sequined "Sequin" for the title....must try that on my layout.

This is one of the pages I shared.

It is a photo of J when he was about four years old. He used to love having his photos taken. Aaah, those were the days.

I sewed sequins in rows, using the sewing machine onto vellum ( or in my case, when I couldn't source vellum used tracing paper ). I then die cut circles and scallops out of my "embroidered" vellum on my Big Shot. 

Somebody at The Retreat asked me how difficult it was to sew the sequins. It wasn't too bad for me. I said for me because I don't mind doing a small amount of difficult stuff if I know the production line is very limited. I would have hated it if I had to do 10 circles, or 15 circles. But it did require patience in buckets. You need to carefully slide in each sequin under the needle. I didn't worry too much if some are misaligned. I have used a mixture of cupped and dead-level ( I am sure there is a word for this!) sequins; the cupped varieties have the tendency to jump about.

Recovering from the Retreat

I have just returned from a weekend teaching, lovely-stash stroking and meeting even lovelier people in Warrington with Sarah's Cards. We had the most fantastic time but you can read further on Sarah's Cards blog. I attempted to make a start with a couple of layouts but I generally failed to to do any scrapping, resorting instead to a book.  I didn't sleep very much or very well and am currently attempting to replace some lost sleep.

I taught this layout in class. We used some beautiful MME papers and Washi tape. I couldn't believe that MME has generously donated a whole pack of Washi tape for each delegate. If I had known we were to come by such bounty, I would have gone all out with Washi tape.

The photo is of my boys when they were much younger. We had a few photos of the boys on the stairs of this house. In this one, we've just stripped many years of black and white ( and nicotine cladded ) paint from the stair threads. I converted the photo to black and white because the stripped stairs didn't look very good and needed plenty more sand paper and elbow grease.

I enjoyed teaching all three classes. Everyone who attended were extremely encouraging and I was buoyed by their enthusiasm. Sadly this is the last retreat but I am sure we will meet again, some of you lovelies.

When will I see you, again ?

{sing that to the tune of that song by Three degrees}! This weekend, I hope.

Are you coming to The Retreat this weekend ? It is the annual Sarah's Cards do in Warrington. I am super excited to meet up with you all on Friday. I have packed tools and supply for my class. Phew...that was a relief. A few mornings ago, I woke up in a sweat, having dreamt that I forgot to bring nearly everything to class.

You probably have seen the peek but here it is again.

See you Friday.