A weekend away

Last weekend I went with my mum and stepdad on their church retreat. I know a lot of the people through them, even though I don't attend the church myself. (Or any, come to that.) It was in Whitby which is by the coast in North Yorkshire. These are a few photos.

Handmade envelopes

I made this envelope from a vintage beer advert calendar that I picked up in Paperchase on sale. This envelope went to my friend Chloe. Isn't it immensely tacky?

This was a lovely letter from Bianca. Feel free to write to me, by the way ;)

Made from a comic calendar, I love these envelopes so much. I believe this one went to Lauren in Florida.

Journal page

Page that went into my art journal. It was done on old sheet music, gessoed and then stamped with the heart stamp. Then I cut out the heart image and the small foil heart. I stamped the words, covered with embossing powder and heated with the heat gun. This crinkled the foil heart somewhat, but I think it adds to it :) When I stuck this in my journal, I painted grey around the edges. The colours aren't great in this photo, sorry.

Stationery swap

This was what I received in the stationery swap that Megan held. My stuff came all the way from Pip in Australia. I love it all, it's all so colourful and sweet :)

On the day that this arrived from Pip, I got so much mail it was amazing. This is what I got:

A very good mail day!

Glimpse of a paper journal

I kind of spilt wax on my last paper journal

I think it sort of adds to the effect, though.

I've been paper journalling for about four years now, and I wouldn't swap it for the world :)

Show and Tell

These are letters from my great-grandfather to my great-grandmother sent during World War One.

My maternal grandmother has always been interested in family history, and recently she's been working on her dad and his time in the Army. He was a qualified pharmacist and was in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). He was working in London when war broke out and went to France not long after. He was action around Ypres on the Western Front.

His letters are so amazing to hold and read - there is genuine love for his sweetheart, my great-grandmother. They got married after the war and my grandma was born in 1926. There are, in London, genuinely interesting things about the war, such as 'Germany is fighting a war she cannot win... It will bring her to her knees'.

I never knew either of my great grandparents on this side, so this look into their lives as young people is interesting anyway. Against the back drop of WWI it's even more so :)

I spent all day in bed yesterday throwing up. Today I ache in places I didn't know I had muscles...

Show and Tell

(Click photo for MUCH bigger!)

Show and Tell is wasted on elementary schoolers. Join in here.

Today I'm showing my collection of nail polishes . I recently took them out of a makeup case and now have them living on top of my chest of drawers. I arranged them by colour. That way I can see exactly what I have and don't have. I went through every polish and gave away those that I didn't absolutely love.

On the left out of picture is a box with files and buffers in. On top of that is a bag with my nail art supplies in - striper polishes, konad plates and polishes and the little fruit decals I bought on eBay. Behind that is my removers and cotton wool pads, and my base coat and top coat. I figured that by leaving them in conspicuous view I wouldn't lose them - I actually have lost a base coat and some Seche Vite somewhere that I have no clue where. I had to buy more. My base coat is generic stuff from Superdrug, and I never used to use a top coat but I love Seche Vite. Oh, you can see it in the photo, near the remover.

I am not fancy about nail polish. I like cheap stuff and expensive stuff. One of my very favourites is a bright red creme from Maybelline (you can see it right in the back, fourth along). The silver right in the front right is one of OPI's minis (I forget its name right now) and that's a definite favourite too.

I'm currently wearing one that you won't find in the photo. My friend Jeni sent me the pastel cremes from Claire's that I was completely loving. I'm currently wearing the purple from that collection, which is pastel but with a slight shimmer. It's very spring-like and sexy!