How longs that tongue

Phew! At last I have something that I can show you on my blog!

I have never been so busy with scrapping, but unluckily for this blog its all commissions for The Scrapbook Magazine including one that was last minute and I had to make it and post it on the same day - that was a bit manic! I also made a few layouts for a DT application - I am pretty sure that I will not be getting the call for that so at least I will be able to share those soon ;)

So on to what I can actually share, its this for Twisted Sketches the twist for this week is 'long' so this photo fitted the bill perfectly! Now this layout is not my best work, but I was a bit bogged down and I had to make this quickly so its a 'mend and make do'er' im afraid!



Its nearly the end of the school holidays and I am, I think, prepared but I don't really feel it - I've enjoyed the last few weeks of late mornings and less routine!

I have a TEENAGER!

I can hardly believe that my beautiful baby boy turns 13 today! I can't believe that 13 years ago today I was in labour, I remember that day as though it was yesterday, my parents came down in the morning as I told them I thought things were beginning to happen. We had Macdonalds for lunch and abour 1pm my contractions (and they were only niggly at this stage anyway) stopped. We called out the midwife and she said that she expected the baby to be born before the weekend was out, that did not thrill me as I thought it was happening NOW!!!

We had a long but slow walk around the nearby park that afternoon and the niggly came back, by 4pm I could tell they were getting stronger but I kept quiet, at 5pm my mother looked at me and realised that I was in a lot more pain and so we got in the car to go to the hospital, rush hour on the Thursday evening of a bank holiday weekend, it was not fun and it took from 5.30-6.10pm to get to the hospital.

I was examined at 6.30pm and told I was 3cm - I am a planner and wanted to know an ETA and I was told around 2-3am as a rough estimate. I read up on child birth soooo much, I did not want to be unaware of what was happening. At 9pm I felt really distressed and was told to take a bath which I did, I then started pushing in the bath the urge was that strong, unfortunatley I was almost drowning myself with each push and so I had to get out! I wasn't due to be examined for another hour but I insisted that I needed to push, the midwife insisted I wasn't that far along but did examine me. I was ready! 20 mins later at 9.52pm Joe was born! My first words about my baby? "He smells like raw sausage" (I do sometimes need to get a sense of occasion!)



He was such a scrunched up little baby, face and fists furiously clenched and squishy, he had stork marks up the top of his nose and forehead.

Little Joe was a laid back baby he slept through the night at 7 weeks and has always slept well and consistently.



He was physically on the mark with all his milestones, he crawled at 6 months and was cruising the furniture at 7 months, he walked just after his 1st birthday

He was a fussy eater and would not eat lumpy food for a very long time, he lived off smooth baby food (my big mistake with Joe was not home cooking) by the time he was 1 I was pregnant with his sister and had such severe morning sickness that I had to keep him on the baby food as I could not go in the kitchen without being sick let alone smell cooking! To this day he is a fussy eater and likes very little, luckily he LOVES fruit and eats apples like the are going out of fashion.



Joe was a quiet and introvert little child, he did not start to speak when he should, he would communicate by pointing and grunting, his only words were "want ummm" which meant I want a drink. At 3 he started seeing a speach therapist and was on their books for about 3 years. I needn't have worried, he was going by his own timetable, he was too busy thinking to be bothered with talking. To this day his speech is fine, he has a high reading age and keeps trying to engage me in conversations on world events, I am asked my opinion on Libya after he has given his. One day soon he is going to realise how little his mother knows!!

He only gets annoyed when he thinks he is not being listened too, I can understand that, with the whirlwind that is Jessica talking my ears off it is sometimes easy to overlook him (that and he mumbles like any teenager!)



So now he is 13, due a massive growth spurt any day and a lovely thoughtful and easy going young man. Happy 13th Birthday Joseph - I love you xxx

Beautiful

I was lucky to be able to get a decent photo of the photo of Jessica I was talking about the other day, with a bit of editing the photo is a really nice copy, and so of course I had to scrap it. I was actually inspired by some wrapping paper I bought in good old Primark at the weekend, it really is beautiful, a soft turquoise/teal colour with white flourishes and bird cages all over it. I thought I might use the paper but it is folied and has too much glare so I used it as a starting point inspiration.



I used light teal tones, soft greys and pastel pink for this layout, I made 4 irregular shaped patches and sewed them on to my layout using a zig zag machine stitch (this shows up so much better IRL). The poem and the title panel were zig zagged too along with the photo and matt. This one might get framed and go on the wall, I like it!

Scuba

Afternoon

I've something to share this afternoon, just a quick crafty fix whilst I had an hour or two spare this afternoon.



This is Joe having a scuba diving lesson in Egypt, he really loved it and wants to do it again. I kept this layout simple because frankly it was getting really hot in my craft area lol!!!

Jessica came home from her dads today with a framed A2 sized photo of herself and its absolutely beautiful, her grandad is very into photography and has top of the range everything, he has such a knack of capturing Jessica very posed but completely natural looking at the same time, I can't scan it as its too large but I may take a photo of it to put on my blog and of course I would LOVE to scrap it!

I hope my bike takes you straight to hell

Because I am busy craft crafting away and cannot show anything and because I am aware that my blog is looking sparse this last couple of weeks I will show you this, this little guy ROCKS

Pic found on NSBR at 2peas - LOVE that place!

And also this picture from this site. Stupidly I am going to attempt this next week for Joseph's 13th birthday - christ, how on earth can I be the mother of a teenager! eeeek!

I was going to make this with Jessica but on reflection I think I should do it on my own because I can see a lot of swearing taking place!

The Wanderer Returns

Hiya folks

I've been gone for a week or so, a few days in Cardiff and a few back enjoying time with the children since they got back from Egypt on Sunday, Jess is as brown as a berry! Sunday night however was spent in the out of hours department of Bath RUH as Jessica had a nasty ear infection and needed some anti biotics prescribed, its been particularily strong this one, but today she hasn't needed any pain killers so we have broke the back of it now I think!

I've been crafting a bit on and off, some for DT work and some for a DT application and so I find that I have little to show on my old bloggeroo at the moment, but I can show you this:

I made this for this weeks challenge at Twisted Sketches the twist is Clear - I know that I said that I had finished my term at Twisted Sketches but I have ended up staying on for another term after all!

Amazingly 2 weeks after I made this and that pleated ribbon is still staying attached! Now I have that ELO song running over and over in my head.

A few days away

We are off today for 3 nights in a hotel in cardiff, for a bit of shopping and wining and dining! I shall leave you with this little card that I made a few days ago, I love this fern shape and can see me using this often! I coloured it in with promarkers and added a bit of glitter (my hardly used stickles) for interest

Lorikeets at Longleat

So here is my layout that I got a bit excited about! Its those little lorikeets I think, I had great fun cutting them on the Robo and then colouring them in, it gives the real effect of how it actually was in that enclosure, they were flapping about everywhere!



I also stamped that polka dot background and love the way it looks!! Of course its abit more in focus and slightly brighter in real life - I need me a photography course!

Mermaid Musings

Head on over to Little Musings to download this weeks fab digital stamp! Its mermaids this week!!

And here is a little card I made with one of the outline digi's. I stamped the polka dot background and layered the die cuts. Simple and pretty!

Today is a sad day for me, its my last day with the children, tonight I drop them off at their dads and tomorrow they go to Egypt for a week in a 5 star all inclusive hotel that has (so I keep being told) 38 water slides!!!

I am incredibly anxious about it, it is their first time flying and I will not be there, Joe has been working himself up into meltdown status all week, but denies any nerves and I have to keep my mouth shut in case I make him nervous! However I am convinced that at some point in the airport all hell will break lose. We have a plan and that is the placebo effect! Mark is going to have a little tablet (not a tablet) to give Joe and tell him that it will calm him down and make him enjoy the flight, Joe is HIGHLY suggestable and so we both think that this will work if needed. I am also in doom mode, ie - I WILL NEVER SEE THEM AGAIN which I KNOW is stupid but until I get the text to say they got there safely I will not be able to relax! Also I will miss them both incredibly, Jessica gets homesickness quite bad, she is a real mummys girl and I will miss my little shadow, her incesant chatter can sometimes drive me batty but when she is not here the house is so quiet.

However I know that they will have the time of their lives! They have swimming with dolphins booked and have a night in the desert too. Lucky Lucky children!

I will be back on Sunday with a layout I made yesterday, its one of those rare ones that you get a bit excited about, I keep seeing it on the easel in the kitchen and go ooooo!

Camper Van Adventures

This was supposed to be Design Team work, but I strayed perhaps a little too far from the sketch and also I have not had anything to post on my blog for a few days so I am gonna put it up on here and just do another one!



I wanted a real 70's retro look on this layout to match the photos, which Jessica took at the weekend using the hipstamatic app (Joe just had all his hair cut off, I love it long but he is going to Egypt on Saturday and I think it would be too much in the heat). This layout reminds me soooo much of 70's wallpaper, its all the orange I think! I kept thinking of the Overlook Hotel in the film The Shining whilst I was making it!!

Right I am off now to get my own hair cut now - I might not be a typical girl because I absolutely HATE the whole experience of the hairdressers, its amazing that I am having this cut, its the first time I have maintained a 'style' in years!

Longleat - the good the bad and the ugly!

(We're going to Longleat to buy Heat magazine!)

We had a fantastic trip to Longleat yesterday, we really enjoyed the day, we had a lovely jungle cruise and saw sea-lions and hippos and a gorilla, then on to feed these little parrot type things that landed on your head and arms etc - Jessica was in 7th heaven. We went with Jason's dad and half sister and all had a jolly day. I am however a completely different personality type to Barry (Jason's dad) he takes a rule as a personal affront and believes that he knows best, and while most of the day was great fun, the Safari for me was an absolute disaster - let me explain!

(All the gang)

Barry wanted to feed the monkeys, he wanted to put peanuts over the motorhome, I told him he would not be allowed to do that and it was probably not the best of ideas, so begrudgly he asked a ranger if he could "absolutely not, NO feeding of the animals" he then sulked and covered the vehicle with peanuts anyway - I was MORTIFIED, he then insisted on driving through the monkeys twice stopping to put more peanuts all over the vehicle in full view of a park warden. We must have looked like a right bunch of prats. I hope they took his reg number and I hope that if the monkeys get the raging squits from all those salted nuts they bill him!

(Monkey with nuts!)

I was cross with him but kept the peace and kept my mouth shut, we then go through the lion enclosure, of course you have to keep your windows up, of course there are MASSIVE signs everywhere telling you to keep your windows shut. So along we go and on the road, in front of the next car, not 10 feet from us is a prowling lion, Jessica who is riding up front said to Barry "I think you should close the window now" I am sorry WHAT? WHAT?? you have your bloody window open? I am afraid that I told him in now uncertain terms that if he wanted to risk his safety all well and good but my children are here so SHUT THE WINDOW!!! I was so furious that I was shaking!

So would I go on a daytrip with Barry again - Probably, but seperate cars this time, I am too anally rententive and too much of a rule follower to ever want to go on a safari ride with him again! Would Barry go on a day trip with me again, Probably not I think I got up his nose with my considerate queue loving, rule accepting ways. Its all good!

Anyway apart from that the day was such fun, so a couple more photos:

Longleat is so pretty and has such great sculptures dotted all around, there is so much to do and its great for animal lovers.

Here is Jess and Amy with the lorakeets (they freaked me out a bit, but as I had no nectar pot, they did not land on me!)