The one in which I attempt a tutorial !

 Hi Guys, well it's been a bit of a while since I posted any thing, so I thought I would try and post something useful. (apologies in advance if this makes no sense at all)

So today I'm going to show you how I made this little folder for my planner.

Firstly I choose some sturdy paper, I used some of a 12x12 scrapbooking sheet. 

Seriously this is my favourite paper design at the moment and I've been holding on to it for 

 quite a while.

Front.

Inside.

So I cut my paper to 24cmx17cm, this is for a personal size planner i.e. webster's pages. 

This is a personal choice though, so cut the size you want, this one pokes out of my planner slightly but I'm happy with that as I wanted the extra storage space. 

It would definitely be worth just using some printer paper to get the right size for you :-)

Now, hopefully you can see in the picture that I have scored a line where I want my fold to be, for the size I'm using this is 11cm along the long side.

Fold along your scored line, you should have something that looks like this.

Now you need to punch some holes.

I just used an insert which came with my planner to mark the holes and punched them out.

I also decided to round the corners because that's how I like corners;-)

It should sit in your planner like this :-)

 

Now for some pockets, I cut two out of the same paper 10cmx13cm, again this is all personal choice make them the size you need and out of what you like.

I chose to fold down the corner to make my pockets easy to access, be careful to measure this accurately as I ruined one by making the fold down wonky :-(

My folds where 6cm down the long side and 3cm along the short side.

There we are, I also rounded the corners here too.

Next is to stick your pockets down, double side tape or a glue stick would work just fine.

You could just leave it at that if you wanted to, but I wanted to add a little envelope for extra little bits, I used washi tape to make hinge, I learnt to do this by watching one of Daisy's smash book videos on you tube, you can find her under My green cow :-)

So that's it your little planner folder is complete, I didn't add much decoration as I loved the paper so much I didn't want to cover it up.

All that's left to do is decorate as you choose and stick it in your planner.

Here's how mine turned out, and very useful it is too.

See you soon,

Emma xxx

It's here...

So, you may have noticed my obsession with stationary and planning recently ?

I decided that to stop myself spending way more than I should on stationary products that I should invest in a monthly box :-) That way I get a monthly fix and hopefully won't be tempted in to buying anymore, he he we'll see how that pans out !

There are some uk based monthly boxes and my favourite by far has been the Brimbles box so I took the plunge and ordered it, it was easy and also easy to cancel if it's not for me. 

Today my first box, the August box arrived.

Beautifully packaged in tissue.

Lovely shredded paper.

There is a cute postcard, with s'mores instuctions.

A beautiful to do list pad and some lovely Amy Tangerine stickers.

A lot of project life cards...60 to be precise, all totally gorgeous.

Clips, wash tape and post it notes ( the post it notes where made especially for the brimbles box )

I really love it and I know I will be able to use every single item, some of the project life cards are just beautiful.

It's the summer holidays here, so posting will be a bit sporadic again, I hope to be back soon but we'll see how it goes.

Right I'm off to play with my new goodies, see you soon :-)

Emma x

At last, some sewing

So I've been making owls for some very special...well...owls!

 Sophie's Brownie leaders and I still have a few more to make.

Have a lovely weekend,

Emma xxx

In my Smash Book

Bit of a picture heavy post this one :-)

I've only filled in 3 pages so far, I've had it since Christmas but was a little unsure where to start and also worried I might ruin it.

So lots of research and stalking has been done :-) 

There are so many tutorials on you tube and ideas on pinterest it has been easy to find inspiration, I may have lost a few days to looking at peoples lovely work...ahem...don't tell Woody!

From what I can gather you can't go wrong and the more you can stuff in the better. 

I have used a favourite Birthday card and tried to build a page around it. 

I also used my mail tag from Rachel as I wanted to keep it all safe and to hand so I can look at it when ever I like. 

The last page was based around a lovely thank you card that came in a prize I was lucky enough to win, it was just too cute to throw away. 

It doesn't have to match, the only thing that matters is that I like it.

See you soon,

Emma x

Feeling blessed...

My littlest girl and I have the most amazing route to school, we cycle, so we get to see everything. (not so much fun in the wind and rain mind)

Lovely dappled shade by the stream.

Purple fields.

The local farmer has planted this crop to encourage bees, put nitrogen back in the soil and feed the sheep, it's so pretty. 

They had the lambs in here last year, so the disappointment over there being no lambs has been overcome by purple loveliness.

Coffee in my garden, I mean seriously could a morning get any lovelier... We'll just gloss over the fact that Sophie lost one of her shoes this morning and we were nearly late and I've just found her reading diary in the shoe cupboard, whoops !

Just incase you were interested the shoe was stuck on the hoover !

I had intended to do a smash book post this morning but I wanted to share the mornings pictures instead, I'll do smash booking next time :-)

See you soon,

Emma xxx

Happy Mail

Last week my lovely bloggy friend Rachel from contented contacted me and asked if I would like to take part in a "mail tag". 

After a quick bit of research in which I discovered that mail tag seems to be an inexpensive way to get creative, send and receive a lovely letter through the post and get to know a little more about your mail tagger via some requests and questions (if that's the right way to put it???)  I decided I most definitely did want to take part in a mail tag, so said I yes! (in about 5 seconds flat lol)

Rachel said she would start and I waited excitedly for the postie  :-)

The postie did indeed arrive yesterday with some very happy mail.

Look at the beautiful stamped envelope, I knew what it was straight away.

 I was a little worried I would be able to think of any requests but as soon as I opened Rachel's letter I had loads of ideas, I can't wait to send a letter to her :-)

there are little envelopes hand made with lovely magazine pages and some really pretty washi. 

I love the creative writing too, although mine may not be up to that standard !

I have just started a smash book and I think my mail tags are going to live in it for safe keeping. 

Right, I'm off to create my own mail tag, see you soon,

Emma xxx

If anyone comes across my sewing mojo, could you send it in my direction...

So once again at this time of year my urge to sew has left the building... so I have nothing really to show :-(

I have been really enjoying planner decoration, this is about as crafty as it's been round here of late.

We have also joined the national trust as there are quite a few places to go near us.

These were taken at Benthall Hall. 

I also fell in love with this beautiful land girl scarecrow at Wightwick Manor. 

For some reason, I didn't take many other photos at Wightwick I think it's because I had the dog....note to self give hubby the dog so I can take pictures ! 

I know we'll go back it was a lovely place, fantastic vegetable garden.

See isn't she amazing :-)

Hopefully be back soon,

Emma x