Snug Bugs

Saw this sketch the other day at http://sarahscardsltd.blogspot.com/2010/02/sketch-challenge.html and couldn't resist playing along!

I fancied a bit of crafting today and I fancied going BRIGHT!!! Somehow though this came out instead :)

The Good Shot

Still trying to get used to this new camera, I've printed out some photos I have taken and the printed quality is much better so thats good, I just don't feel like I am taking better photos. I did a fair bit of reading on it yesterday and I still seem no closer to taking decent photos consistently. I did however get this pic of Bruno, totally accidentally that I love, so I made a LO with it today.

Typically I cannot get a decent shot of this LO for love nor money, they are all blurring at the top and bottom, never mind!

Collages and Cameras and Sneek Peaks - oh my!

Its been one of those days, not sure if its been a good day or a bad day.

This morning I went into school to make a family collage with Jess, some parents did not understand the brief and turned up with only 1 photo!!! Jess and I are quite pleased with what we acheived (iphone photo)





At home I finished my 1st DT layout for Butterfly Crafts and photographed it. My camera has been playing up for a while now, periodically putting a blue tint to photos, especially photos of my layouts, its been doing it more and more frequently so I bit the bullet today and bought a new camera. I want a SLR but bought this rather nice point and shoot, its got a lot of cool features that I will have to learn (and believe me , thats already had me swearing!!) and will be a good 'inbetween' camera for the next couple of years. I have already found out that having a better camera does not mean I take better photos lol - I have a lot of practicing to do!


Its a good job that I have not been buying craft stuff as this was not cheap and I have so much wedding stuff to buy, but when your camera goes and you scrapbook, there is no option but to get another!!!


And finally a sneek peek of my first LO for Butterfly Crafts (taken inside with my new camera, it may not be the best of quality but at least the colours are true to life!)

News

I am thrilled to have been offered a spot on the DT for http://butterfly-crafts.blogspot.com/ (yippeee!) I am on Team 1 which is the visual team, so I will be working on sketches and ad inspiration, can't wait to get stuck in! Also huge congrats to Beki and Lisa, friends who also made the team - yay!

Also I've had a LO accepted for Book 2 of the Scrapbook Inspirations Book that will be published in May - I personally can't wait for the 1st book to hit the shops as I have really missed Scrapbook Inspirations.

Had a really good weekend, enjoyed a lovely bottle of wine with my new friend Mandy yesterday afternoon, marred only by some prat hitting Mandy in the arm with his wing mirror as he drove past at 40mph, the noise was horrendous and poor Mandy was very shaken up and tearful as you would be, I imagine it bloody hurt!

No Pics this time soz

I cheated!

I can't be the only one who makes mistakes can I? So there I was this morning merrily putting the finishing touches to this LO, and for some reason I decided to journal straight onto the page at the bottom right. It looked dreadful and unfortunatley I couldn't cover it up without it looking even more stoooopid!

I couldn't bear to bin it as I liked what I had done, so I decided to cut out the offending rectangle of Bazzill and then I patched it from the back. To look at the LO in real life is to know it is awful, but I have fixed it digitally (not a brill job, but it will do) So at least I can see it how it was before I buggered it up!

I am off this afternoon to visit a wine bar of all things, I am helping in setting up a WI in Keynsham (the things you get roped into when you befriend new people lol) This is not your usual sterotypical WI its a WI next generation, and we will meet in wine bars and pubs and learn new things in a social enviroment, with a target age of around 30-50 (although it will be open to anyone). Mandy and I are going to visit the wine bar to see if we can hold our launch party there - it would be rude not to order a bottle whilst we were there wouldn't it???

This year.....

Love this lo I made, took a while as I tried to 'gut' paper and getting it all to fit within the other shapes etc can be time consuming. This is mainly made with the Feb Scrapagogo kit the only bits I added are the Laura Ashley velvet rub ons (and the pink seed beads adhered to it that don't really show in this pic) and the letters for 'this' and 3 pink brads.

The sleepover was fine in the end, once they had settled down. I put in my ear plugs at 11pm and didn't stir until 3am, where I did a quick sweep of the house, all 5 kids fast asleep!

This morning I woke refreshed, one child has had to go home to see her dad, but the other 2 are still here and are staying for lunch, as its so quiet and they are all chilled and relaxed I saw no point in ending their fun.

SOMEBODY SAVE ME!

Tonight we are having a sleepover, Jess has 2 mates over and Joe has 1 mate. They are overdue a sleepover and I really couldn't put it off much longer.

I HATE sleepovers, I hate noise and really those 3 girls are pounding on the ceiling like you wouldn't believe!

Arrgghhhh thank god for ear-plugs (and wine)

Back tomorrow with a LO that I am really rather pleased with - although it is unfinished so I still have time to cock it up!

Be Mine

Another card making task lay ahead of me today, I haven't exactly forgot about valentines day tomorrow, but it did kinda sneek up on me.


I got up today and realised the only chance I had to get/make a card for Jason was 2 hours this morning whilst he was working. As there was no chance I was dragging myself off to town I had no chance but to make one, ugggghhh.


I do however LOVE this card I made, it took me 30 minutes, 30 MINUTES!!! now I know it looks v simple and it is v simple, but I procrastinate and chop and change and fuss and fret whilst card making, so it was so nice to get this done so quickly. I love how masculine and simple it looks (even though I used domestic goddess paper lol). I use white space alot in scrapbooking but struggle to do so in cardmaking, but I managed it happily this time.


And Audrey, the heart is from the stamps I won on your blog, looks great stamped on kraft, so thanks again, love them!

Before Scrapping

Before scrapping and before card making I used to do a lot of cross stitching and this is something that I started over 5 years ago. I am not into mythical creatures or anthing like that I simply chose this pattern because it was complex, large and challenging and I knew it would be a huge project to see me through a few years (I'd done a large project previously that had taken 4 years and was a bell hanging based on 5 tiles from the Victoria and Albert museum and was all in shades of blues and greens!)





As you can see there is so little left to do, just a bit of the cliffs in the background and some backstitching (outlining) so I really should just bite the bullet and get on with it!! I don't know what I will do with it when its complete lol.


Another cross stitch project I have on the go is one of Jessica's face when she was a baby. I bought a software package that turns a photo into a pattern, I will photo that soon and show you as its really interesting to see what it looks like stitched.


Back to scrapping, I decided to take a break from scrapping as everything was turning samey samey, I told myself I wouldn't sit down and create until I had thought of something that was original or different to do. I had that thought in bed last night whilst trying to sleep and so I have been scrapping today (Yay!) Its not finished yet though so I can't show you.

Hope you're all happy and busy creating!!

Scrapping Disasters

I was going great guns on this LO the other day and really likeing it (and it is mainly made from products from my prize) and then I ballsed it up, I don't tend to use wet glue much and now I know why! all over the upper part of my LO! so I had to make alterations and that is why my journaling stips are sooooo wide, and that is why I now don't like this LO, its not how I wanted it to look :( Everything on the pink paper is there to hide my big glue sploosh.





And then this Lo that I started yesterday and finished today, again I loved it at the start (and that hand stitching made to look like - I hope - machine stitching took an age!) and now its not right, I want to embellish it more and everything I add looks bloody awful! Ah well. My mojoed up brain wants to communicate better with my hands I think! lol





Weekend wise, v quiet, I was supposed to go out with Jason on friday night, but I was so knackered that I managed one drink and then he had to take me home. So he went back out on his own and I felt v guilty as it was his birthday. The funeral took it out of me I suppose!


Saturday I was so knackered I could hardly move, I just felt so drained, it was 4pm before I left the house, a quick trip to asda and then home again.


Sunday I was much better and we went into town, where I spent a little bit of money in Primark and bought Joe a pleather jacket which he LOVES and wore over his PJ's last night lol!!!

I hate making cards

Its amazing to me that card making used to be my hobby, I now HATE it, I've just had to make a card for Jason's birthday tomorrow and its such a struggle for me now, I can literally feel anything creative draining out of me whilst I card make, ugggg! So anyway I made this, Jason aint gonna care that its unbalanced lol!!

I also had a panic when I realised I had nothing to wrap his pressies in, so I stamped on some brown parcel paper, its not great but it looks like I made an effort at least!

Todays big news is that at LAST my prize from Scrapbook Magazine arrived this morning, after I had come around from the sheer shock that the bloody thing existed after all I had a good nosy, some nice bits in there, nothing earth shattering but I LOVED the AC stuff, so was pleased to finally have it!

Mad Hatters

Well the twiglets went back to school today, and I was glad to get back to normal. Managed to get some housework done and then a bit of crochet and a bit of scrapping.

Yesterday I ordered a black leather flip case for my beloved Iphone. I love how my iphone looks sooooo much but I am for once being responsible (this phone has to last me 2 years) and so have decided to protect it. It came today - now thats what I call service, its was from ebay and WITH postage cost me £3.95 (I am aware it is prob not real leather, even though it states it is, but I cannot tell anyway lol so who cares!). I also have my eye on some of the gorgeous hard cases you can get, but these don't tend to offer the screen much protection so I decided against it for now.

Is anyone else like me? my phone rings and I go into my bag for it and no matter what, the phone is the last thing that comes into my hand, I am sick of missing calls etc as I spend ages scrabbling around for it. Well this leather case should help it come to hand a bit more. We shall see!


Anyway enough of my inane ramblings, here is the lo:



And here is how my crochet is progressing, I am having to remember to crochet a bit tighter as I relax and then it gets a bit 'holey' Am definatley going to have to get more wool though.

Silly Straws

A mixed weekend for me this one. On Friday morning my nan died (step nan) and although I had not seen her for a long while and wasn't massively 'close' to her it was still very sad, she was great when I was growing up and all my family are of course very upset. It wasnt a surprise, she had been ill for a long time. I was going to visit her on Saturday, so I just missed saying goodbye which was a shame and I feel bad about.


I still travelled up to Cheltenham though to see my gran who has moved to a nursing home. She has dementia now (this was the first time I 'really' witnessed it) she is 95 after all! It was nice to see her physically better as last time we visited I thought she was about to die, but really it was quite comical trying to hold a conversation with her. I think she was just happy to have someone to talk to/at!


We did have light relief, no children so we socialised and made the most of our down time. The kids came home on Sunday and in the night Jess was very sick and then Joe on Monday, so they have been home from school but back tomorrow.

Managed to finish this LO today





Back tomorrow I expect with another LO I have been working on and maybe another pic of the blanket which is slowly growing!