Fabulous Fifties scrapbooking retreat

I think I have finally recovered from the retreat I ran last weekend! For the last 6 or so years I have been making an annual pilgrimage to Eastbourne with my scrapping friends to take over one of the seafront hotels.

As this is a weekend I organise, it is of course no ordinary weekend! Due to some moustache jokes last year, Friday night this year was Moustache Night. Although my 'tache wasn't handmade, I was sporting a rather fetching t shirt which I had embellished with fabric and metal accents...

Saturday night is always themed, and people are crazy enough to join me in wearing some amazing costumes. I try to make my outfit, or at least part of it every year. This year was no exception, and I went into overdrive and made both mine and my friend Debbie's dresses.

Hers was a doddle, and looked amazing as she has a stunning figure - it was a pleasure to sew for someone who would do the dress justice.

Mine gave me no end of trouble. The skirt part was easy, but getting the bodice right proved to be too much for me. The red fabric was a slightly stretchy mesh with circles applied to the surface so it was 3D. Matching the pattern was tough, and when I attached the red fabric to the lining, it wouldn't match up properly so the bodice has an unflattering baggy appearance. Perhaps I should have interfaced the red mesh to prevent stretch? Anyway, I will never try to sew a fitted bodice with a stretch fabric again. I'm thinking of detaching the bodice and finishing the skirt so I can wear it with a different top as I do think the fabric looks cool... but it can hibernate for a while first.

Some of the girls who came have also blogged about their weekends, and there are some lovely photos of layouts they made:

Ali: http://alits.blogspot.com/2011/11/some-layouts-from-retreat.html

http://alits.blogspot.com/2011/11/more-from-retreat.html

Emma: http://thesaturdayscrapper.blogspot.com/2011/11/last-weekend-was-our-annual-scrapping.html

Lorna: http://mylittleblogette.blogspot.com/2011/11/best-of-times.html

And the layouts we made with our mystery kits have been featured on the Gotta Craft shop blog, as Sandra supplied the papers for the kits (I am the headless one with a LO about Lisbon - it was day 3 and I was looking a bit rough!!): http://gottacraftshop.blogspot.com/2011/11/take-one-collection.html

Only 357 days until next year's retreat, I must be off to get planning!

Bad blogger!

Oh dear. I have totally failed to keep this up to date! I've been meaning to post and break the silence for ages, but it's even harder than a first post!


Today I thought I would share an in progress project that someone suggested I add, then hopefully I can add some things I've been working on over the last few months.


Today's project is a wreath decorated with flowers made out of book pages. I'd seen a few of these on the internet, and knew I needed one of my own, but I was only motivated to start it when my friend Ali got a die-namics rolled rose die. This has meant I haven't had to hand cut the flowers. I kind of wish the die made a bigger flower, as it's taking forever, but it does look pretty. So far I am on book number two - for some insane reason I decided to use two cuts per flower for a fuller appearance. Anyway, enough blathering, here's the eye candy...

Will take some more pics of this when it's finished and hung. I'm planning on hanging it from a square frame with a black ribbon. I might add a few beads in the flower centres, not sure whether I should embellish it or go for a clean and simple look.


Other projects I plan to share with you are:

• Black corset with feather trim - started about 6 months ago, now languishing in a bag
• Two 50s inspired dresses - I am making these for myself and a friend to wear on a 50s night in a few weeks. They're both red, one is a halterneck with black polka dots, and the other has 3D circles stitched onto the fabric all over - sounds odd, you'll have to see it to get what I mean
• Some scrapbook pages - I only seem to scrap one or two a month, I don't really do quick makes, but I'm happy with that. I've been scrapping a recent trip to Cologne
• A cute cupboard I made with an old washboard as the door - did this from start to finish in an afternoon and it's hanging in my downstairs loo
• A beautiful old sewing machine with it's own cupboard that I got from a charity shop and am renovating

That's all for now, maybe I'll add another project next week!