but the more I worked on the Quintessentially  range – the bigger stuff, the more I thought about making these MUCH bigger. Not only can you get loads more words on the page, being able to incorporate photos was an added bonus.

With Christmas fast approaching last year I was forced to pull a few designs quickly out of the bag and so set to work – this was one of the first designs to emerge …

This young man’s Dad furnished me with a lot of words so getting them all on was tricky but not impossible – it just took a little extra time and planning. I kept all the photos to black and white (which is what I do for ALL my WordArt and PhotoArt pieces) it allows for so much more freedom when it comes to choosing typography colour schemes.

The end result? I was happy, Dad was happy and from what I can gather, boy was happy – so nice when that happens!

Pretty tones of pink and green form the basis of this very pretty Princess Wordart design – it fits a standard Ribba Ikea frame, which is a bonus – spend the money on the design work not the frame; it is now available in our Shop in white and with a rose-pink background (but we can do pretty much any colour background you want tho’!)

Take this one, for example …

A rather neat piece of portrait typography. I knew that the recipient was a huge fan of Murdoc (The Gorillaz) so took the opportunity to base his Christmas present on an image of Murdoc and a few words supplied by his Mum.

By all accounts it went down a storm (and I got to experiment for a new product range.)

Back in September we were asked, as we are every year, to a friend’s house for her son’s birthday party – always an event as this involves fancy dress, treasure hunts around a beautiful rambling Victorian garden, log fires and marshmallows! The theme this year was fantasy so no prizes who Greta wanted to dress up as. As a special treat I did the unthinkable in our house and straightened her hair – she was ecstatic!

With newly straightened hair, cape and tie on and wand in hand, she posed proudly for me as ‘Hermione Granger’ – aahh a dream come true!

She was one very happy 6-year-old for days after, and so was I! She got to look like Hermione Granger for the day … and I got a fab photo for my Gingerlily portfolio. Happy days!

Without hesitation, I contacted Kelly at Vintage Fancies (and thanked TurnOnSocial for the referral) – my handcrafted scrapbook albums were literally hot off the press last week and hadn’t even hit my store. I didn’t want to miss an opportunity; and anyway, it was a good way to gauge whether the new albums would be of interest to folks and what kind of response they would get.

After a brief discussion with Kelly at Vintage Fancies, I set about creating a bespoke album for her. This was the result …

I love this beautiful post-bound album and am so pleased with how it turned out. It is 12.5″ x 13.5 ” and takes 12″ x 12″ wallet inserts or paper pages; I double boarded it for added stability and bound it with 3 hidden metal posts. Purple and gold art deco style handmade paper coat the exterior with a purple and silver mirror trim ribbon and a single large faux gem to the front. The interior is lined with purple handmade paper with a single pocket to the front and 2 tags with 10 internal wallets giving 20 workable sides on which to craft or journal.

This album is now available to buy in our shop.

As I had a bit of spare paper left over from the cover, I crafted this pocket notebook / photo holder as a gift for Kelly for being my first album customer.

I packed both of them off to Kelly and waited to see how they would be received. I was not disappointed, Kelly kindly tweeted

“Oh my goodness oh my goodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” on her feed when she received it, followed by

“I have just received the most beautiful Scrapbook from the lovely @scrapbookeruk absolutely gorgeous! if you are not following you should be”.

This made my day! It also proves that it not only pays to BE on Twitter but to also read your feed regularly!

It’ s been a wonderful few weeks designing, crafting and building our new range – such a welcome change from the hum-drum of business management, web design and so forth and we’re so pleased with the results. Oh-so-pretty handcrafted scrapbook albums in the most gorgeous handmade japanese papers like this …

and handcrafted tri-fold photo notebooks like this gorgeous one using Tilda’s Winter Bird Paper Collection….

and all tied up with the oriental and aviation versions …

or this sweet tri-fold photo holder using the same Winter Bird paper collection from Tilda (oh I could use this paper pack all day long, it’s so beautiful!)

Gorgeous little hand-held items that are a joy to hold – beautiful papers, lovingly crafted and available to buy in our shop at the end of this week, in the meantime if you want to see more of our little creations, hope on over to the gallery …

You know what you want, you’ve overheard others talk about them and you may have even seen some evidence of them in craft shops, online sites,  supermarkets and home decoration superstores but you have no idea what they are called, so how can you even begin to Google your way through the options?  I know it’s hard. Every now and again I check to see what words my visitors have been keying into Google to try to find me. Today, for example, visitors have found me with ‘custom made scrapbooks‘, ‘this is your life scrapbook’, ‘anniversary scrapbook pages’ and ‘memory albums’. A real mixture but all very relevant and all meaning exactly the same thing.

As my business is global I have to be aware of the fact that scrapbooks are also known by different names in different countries. Eg. In America they are commonly known as scrapbooks and memory albums, in the UK they are known as This is Your Life books and scrapbooks and in Australia they are known as scrapbooks and memory books. Phew – what a mind-field!

The biggest trick though is trying to inform people that we are actually here and that yes, we actually do create scrapbooks, memory albums, This is Your Life books or whatever else you choose to call them (along with loads of other goodies) as a full time business. It’s what we do, it’s what we love to do.

Now if we could just have one universal word for it please, that would be awesome. Thank you!

A couple of years ago I bought a stack, and I mean a stack, of chipboard scrapbook albums, albums in a tin and chipboard accents from Basic Grey, Maya Road and Mystical Memories and had them shipped over from the States. They were just gorgeous, perfect for the craft courses I was running at the time!

After the classes stopped I put the chipboard scrapbook albums and accents aside thinking I’d use them again. Sadly they are now collecting dust and after much deliberation have hence forth been assigned to my Ebay/Scrapbooker Shop.

So, if you need (notice the use of ‘need’ not ‘want’) some rather gorgeous chipboard albums or accents, hope on over to the SHOP and grab yourself a bargain … and please, be quick, before I change my mind!

To add to her delight further, I created this gorgeous PhotoArt piece using the photos – a little visual reminder of her daughter who is now, happily boarding at the Royal Ballet School but who is, sadly, missed very much by her mum.

Group Gifting is a new way to buy larger, more expensive gifts for family, friends and colleagues that would otherwise be out of reach to anyone looking to buy them on their own. Group gifting allows friends and family to contribute to gifts and also eliminates the dilemma of choosing a gift for someone who has everything.

“It’s the thought that counts, but it’s the gift they’ll remember.”

We’ve all struggled over what to get Mum and Dad for their Wedding Anniversary, a friend at work on their retirement, a couple on their wedding day or a daughter on her coming of age. Buying something on our own that is special, personalised, meaningful and within budget is incredibly difficult. Our bespoke scrapbook albums and personalised PhotoArt pieces are the perfect gifts but can be costly for an individual to buy on their own. Group Gifting allows family and friends to come together and contribute to the cost of the album or PhotoArt as a group, each enjoying the benefits of giving a meaningful gift without fronting the entire cost.

Our bespoke scrapbook albums make perfect gifts for anyone retiring. Rather than the usual whip-round for that ubiquitous engraved tankard or clock, why not Group Gift a beautiful scrapbook album or photo book of photographs, accomplishments and memories instead. We created a beautiful digital scrapbook for Sir Al Aynsley Green on his retirement as England’s First Commissioner. It is filled with photographs, testimonials and memories. 11Million, who commissioned the album, were delighted.

Our digital Scrapbook albums offer a modern, clean alternative to the traditional scrapbook album and are perfect for young, dynamic people like Jake Nicholls. He was gifted a digital coffee table scrapbook to commemorate his career as a Motocross rider from the age of 5 through to adulthood. He carries a copy with him at all times but we made sure that his Mom had a copy too!

Our Group Gifting service will, hopefully, be available in our shop in the New Year but in the meantime, please contact me if you are interested in receiving further information.