On Saturday I went to another craft workshop at Inkspot, our local craft store. This one was on using shrink plastic - a technique I have wanted to try for a while but have been a bit nervous of attempting. Our lovely tutor was able to give us lots of attention as there were only two of us there, and I was able to make three presentable cards, each featuring shrink pieces on the front in a variety of different shapes, colours and sizes. I now feel more confident about trying out some of these at home, and think they could make some stunning Christmas cards, so will report back if attempts are successful.

This coming Saturday, there is a workshop on making star and other shaped cards with a possibility of also doing waterfall cards. I have never made a waterfall card, although I was very tempted by a kit on QVC this afternoon, which featured waterfall, lantern and wonderful exploding boxes. After a lot of dithering I eventually succumbed to some K & Co (now, there's a surprise) greeting cards.

What I have been particularly busy with lately is a mini scrapbook, now complete, which I have put together for Andrew's parents. It's their wedding anniversary in August, and we have lots of nice digital images of them, taken when they visit us or vice versa. This mini scrapbook came with a K & Co kit, which I really wanted for the paper, diecuts and cards, and I'd had it on the shelf for ages while I wondered what to do with it. Eventually inspiration struck, and I gathered together a selection of photos, including scanning some older ones, even one of their wedding day back in the 1960s. Gradually the page layouts came together, with a lot of the K & Co papers working well, but I also used some lovely Anna Griffin ones. To my surprise, these blended remarkably well with the others, with a soft palette of sage greens, creams and wedgewood blues working well with the slightly brighter vintage pastels of the original kit. I am going to try to photograph the pages in daylight, and if this is successful, will post here. I'm really thrilled with the way it has turned out - some really attractive pictures. Andrew had a look at the finished item and thinks his mother will love it. The actual album itself is very pretty with a soft yellow cover, green check trim and a design of crisp daisies. Each page is 8.5 x 8.5" which is a nice size to work with, allowing one reasonably sized photo per page, with room for plenty of embellishments, labels and trims. I think this will be a lovely gift for them and I'm personally delighted with it. Scrapbooking is not something I've done much of before, but I can see how it can be very enjoyable and worthwhile especially for special themed books like this.