LIFE AND ALL THAT SCRAP

This Boy

2012-02-24T10:09:00.003Z

Thanks to Paypal being awkward and me being a bit of a wally, I had some money to spend that could only be spent via Paypal. So I treated myself to some new papers, ive not had new papers in eons!

I got my happy post yesterday and loved my choices. Top of my 'most loved' list are the Miss Caroline papers from MME and especially the wooden board ones that are included in the line.

Having just finished a layout for Twisted Sketches (my last ever one and I am pleased about that, I'm not scrapping so much at the moment and when I do its always for a commission or for TS so it will be nice to scrap the way I want to, on my own theme, with my own choices) I sat down and this layout literally fall out of my hands, the double edged postage frame was cut with my cameo and I think it really pops off the STUNNING boarded paper. The other paper range on the layout is Echo Parks This and That - Charming, the two lines go really well together with their mustards and teals.

Im hoping to have some more scrappy time today, but if my fabric arrives I will be abandoning it in favour of owl making.

Have a happy weekend folks x

Making Fabric Bunting

2012-02-23T12:04:00.004Z

I've made paper bunting of course, any crafter worth their salt must have attempted that by now surely? But fabric bunting, involving sewing and seams and turning inside out oh no! Thats not for me is it? Yes I own a sewing machine, but its purely for paper crafting and messing about with.

At the weekend we put our blind up, we have wooden horizontal slatted blinds which are nice, do the job and match the new sofa but I wanted a bit of colour introducing so I set about looking for something, curtains are out as the sofa is up against the window and so they would catch. I then decided on a red roller blind but I wanted to keep the wooden ones too as they are great for privacy and I swear we have the nosiest people around here who just stare in as they walk past and I HATE that! I worried that 2 blinds would look stupid, but you know what? It really doesn't. I roll the roller up in the day, so there is just a sliver of red showing and use the wooden ones for privacy and then I roll down the roller in the night and its all cosy and lovely.

The I decided I wanted to fancy it up a bit and so I hit on the idea of bunting as an alternatice to a pelmet if you will and a lot less fussy.

I got on ebay and ordered my fabrics and bias binding, 4 fat quarters not a bundle, I chose these all individually to suit my room. Get me on the fat quarters I so had to google what that was!!! That red and white chick with trees fabric is ace and really suits the scandinavian style dressings of my room

As the fabrics arrived in dribs and drabs I set about making my pennants, I used this tutorial here that is very easy to follow for even the least sewy of people (and believe me I fit in that catogory!)

My first couple of pennants were a little wonky but I soon hit my stride and it was surprisingly easy, in fact the hardest thing of all was cutting out the triangles as my scissors were not as sharp as they could have been, all the technically bits were a doddle!

Once I had my 9 pennants made I had to sew them onto the bias binding, I was dreading this bit and was sure I would mess it up, but it was the easiest bit of the whole process, I breezed through it.

Ta da! The finished article that will hang in a staight line along the top of the window, just overhanging the red roller blind. I am really pleased with it and it looks like a professional job almost. I did have to fight the temptation of making more and more and more and I will have to stop a bugeoning fabric obsession I am sure but really its so simple so give it a go if you fancy!

I've just ordered some interfacing and more fabric so I can make Jessica an owl cushion that can be made on the cameo - watch this space!!!

Cameo Cardiness

2012-02-22T11:25:00.003Z

Sometimes when I am getting the crafty feelings but am feeling particularily lazy, I will sit on my laptop in my (new super douber) lounge and design a card on my cameo. These 2 cards were born that way!

The bottom layer is embossed with my homemade embossing folder 'chicken wire' which was cut with the cameo and you can read about how I made it here.

Then just a plain old layer of Kraft topped with a print and cut of graph paper cut with a notepad edge.

Next a banner and a 4 layer flower cut with co-ordinating patterened paper (these were made with MME - I love their paper!)

Top the flower with a button and some bakers twine. I actually do not thread the button with the twine, I make the bow and then stick it on, its easier for me somehow and I don't struggle so much with the bow this way!

So if you have a craft cutter, why not try designing a project in comfort and then go and cut it out. Crafting with as little time off the sofa as possible!!!

(Photos are naff today as daylight has been poor these last couple of days.)

Family Life 2011

2012-02-20T09:58:00.003Z

Thats half term done then, don't get me wrong, I love the company of the kids and the lie ins but I just cannot get the house in order whilst they are home, there is just too much of everything!

I've just finished a thorough house tidy and clean and its so nice to go from room to room and everything be as I left it.

We had quite a quiet weekend, out on Friday and then in all weekend apart from a bit of pottering. Yesterday I even had the urge to get off the sofa and scrap - so I did. Now this layout caused me so much grief, custom sized photos with an uncooperative editing program and a reluctant printer, lets just say what should have been a relaxing hour or two actually wound me up so much that I ended up head butting a cushion in frustration, yes I have anger/patience issues but not so much that I cannot find a nice soft furnishing to take it out on.

However I like this layout very much indeed, in fact its one of my all time favourites already! I planned out all the rectangle sizes on my 12x12 mat in the Silhouette Studio software and then cut them out and transfered on to a white background. Most of the papers are MME. Then I added my custom aforementioned pain in the arse photos, and then the kraft titles and hearts. Lots of machine stitching of the paper panels and the hearts. Voila!

Out with the old

2012-02-16T10:36:00.003Z

My teams turn over at Twisted Sketches this week and the twist is 'old' I decided to scrap these pics of our recent redecoration. The photos aren't brilliant but they are ok in this layout. The power tools were drawn with the cameo and then cut out and coloured.

Pop on over to see the sketch and join in.

Its been a quiet half term for me, ive been poorly again with yet another cold virus so have spent much of the time on the sofa drowning under the weight of tissues and vicks, but I am feeling on the mend today so have managed to get a bit done which is a relief, I fine being poorly so bloody boring!

Valentine

2012-02-14T09:15:00.001Z

I could not resist this card file when I saw it in the silhouette store, a bit of a cheat really using such a simple design that someone else thought of but it just makes me chuckle!

Our new room is perfect for valentines day with its red accents!

Starting on the finishing touches

2012-02-13T11:47:00.003Z

Another busy weekend, but this time making some finishing touches to the living room, its so nice to see it all coming together!

We took a trip to ikea to have a nosey around and ended up buying this tv unit, now I know we got a bargain on our flooring but lets just say the cabinet is more expensive than the flooring, ikea is not always as cheap as you may think! On a side note imagine our frustration last night, we spent a fair amount of time building the cabinet and after a busy weekend we were pooped, so at last it is built, all other jobs are done and so we put our tv on the cabinet and the HDMI cable broke and so we could not even watch the blummin thing!

The cushions are my Christmas ones, but until I find a suitable replacement they are here to stay!

Can't get a living room pic without the pooch getting in the frame at some point! He is struggling so much to jump up on these sofas what with the new flooring and everthing!

And finally 2 pieces of simple wall art that I knocked up on the old cameo, took 5 mins max! I love them and they suit the room perfectly (they look a little small in the pics but they actually fill the space perfectly!)

Oooo I've had a day of it!

2012-02-10T18:12:00.004Z

Last night we had to move the old sofas out of the living room as we were having our new ones delivered today. I was very worried about the forcast snow stopping our delivery and spent a far amount of time worrying about this and getting all anxious

Oh how silly I was, there were far more thing to be worried about than snow! Turns out the snow was only a little splattering and at 9am I got the call that the sofas would be with me within an hour! Happy dance, I was very excited.

That ended quite quickly when it became apparent that the sofas would not fit in through the living room door. Very stressed at this point. "You'll have to take the window out to get them in" says helpful delivery driver. Ummm what? I can't begin to tell you the ridiculousness of saying something like that to me.

One bit would go in, the smaller bit of the corner unit. Joe rang me from school to say he was headachey, so I picked him up and he got that little bit of sofa and I was relegated to the cushions again!

Bruno is a chilled dog and was completely unfazed with the chaos that was reigning all over the house and was quite happy to curl up on the cushion pile!

Jason was able to move his last lesson of the day and so he came home to assess the situation. After much googling from me, we decided that it was possible to remove the living room window ourselfs and so we did, it took 5 mins! Then we lobbed in the other bit of the corner. Marcus, Jasons brother came round to help with the bigger sofa and to help put the window back in - again a fairly easy and quick job all in all.

And so there you have it, if you had told me at 10am that I would have both sofas in the house and still have a living room window intact by 4.30pm I would not have believed you! I am so incredibly relieved to have it done and so easily!

Now I can concentrate on finishing touches, buying rugs and accessories and curtains etc!

Thank heavens for Monday!

2012-02-06T09:15:00.003Z

What a busy weekend we have had, I am glad that everyone is off at work/school and I can relax a bit. Jason had a lovely birthday weekend, we had a lovely breakfast at a place called 'Scoffs' in Bath, its a cafe thats on 3 storeys and overlooks a very pretty park and we go there now and then, the breakfasts there are a bit special.

Then on to the pub with friends, it was a lovely afternoon that we finished off by having the kids dropped off to the pub and then going for a family dinner.

On Friday Jessica had a party to go to and I forgot about it til the last minute and realised I had to knock a card up - cameo to the rescue!

Im afraid I photographed it as it was getting dark so its not the best image in the world. Everything apart from the loopy border was cut on the Cameo, the woodgrain paper, and the pocket were all patterns that I printed on the cameo too!

I also got the Cameo to draw the outline of the above, and then I coloured it in with promarkers.

Weekend plans

2012-02-04T09:18:00.003Z

Morning

Well the UK is on high alert for snowfall this weekend, typical hysteria once again like we don't ever have it here even though we've had heavy snow for 3 years on the trot now.

I am going shopping, bit of snow will not stop me, that and the fact that its Jasons birthday tomorrow and I have nothing for him yet - eeek!

Tonight we are off to a birthday party - not his! I am not really looking forward to it, I still don't fancy drinking, so it will be dull and cold in the little skittle alley on the side of the pub carpark. Tomorrow we are having lunchtime drinks with friends.

So back to my layouts from The Scrapbook Magazine and making your own stamps

Here is one I made by cutting funky foam in to heart shapes and using those as stamps (v easy and effective!

And this I made by making flowers out of tear drop ink pads - simply use the teardrop shape as a petal!

Hope you all have lovely weekends!

Making your own Stamps

2012-02-02T16:05:00.003Z

Back in the October half term break The Scrapbook Magazine gave me a commission to do a 5 page article on stamping on your layouts, I like a bit of stamping and have definately got into it more in the last year so I though "hell yeah, I can do that!" then I read further into the commission and realised I had to make and construct my own 'alternative' stamps to use. Hmmmm still it was a challenge and so I got to it.

I'll show you 3 today and the other 2 tomorrow or so

First up this layout, which I made using foam squares, I made them into a checkerboard pattern, peeled off the backing and applied the ink to the sticky square (which worked really well) I then used the stamp for the border and the lettering in this layout:

Second I coiled some string onto a gluesticked clear stamping block, then I applied the ink and used it to make a background on my layout of Joseph in his Air Cadets uniform

And finally for today, I bought a cheap white eraser and traced a butterfly shape onto it, I then carved the shape out of the block and used it to stamp a flutter of butterflies all over my layout here:

Thats all folks!

Wooo get me!

2012-02-01T17:19:00.003Z

Well look at me, blogging! I know!

Ive not been bothered with it all lately, no desire to craft so I have only crafted when I have been obligated to do so and therefore there is nothing to show - you know how it is!

January has been a mixed month, busy as in, decorating - last weekend we put oak laminate in our living room, a quick decision to get it in before the new sofas arrive, and I am so glad we did, the room looks so fresh and clean with it down and combined with the new walls, and it really wasn't too much hassle at all. January has also been quiet in the social sense, we have only gone out once, and shock horror I stuck to diet coke, this is for no other reason than we wanted to decorate the living room, something had to give and that something was the money we normally spend in pubs, I've really not missed it either!

You may remember towards the end of November I mentioned dieting again, and I have slowly been plugging away and this time with some success, I have lost 9lbs so far, not bad when you consider my bodys natural resistance to weight loss and the fact that we had Christmas in the middle of all that! I'm hoping by the spring I will be if not slender then somewhere approaching it.

We've also had a dreadful time with Jessica and school, lots of crying and distress, she takes a while to settle in to new places and it was tough going for a while there. I went in to talk to her tutor and with a few measures put in place she seems to be getting there, she has not cried in about 2 weeks now.

So I was mentioning I only scrap when obligated? Heres one now for you. Ive been in the midst of a pain in the arse assignment thats caused me no end of teeth nashing and angst so for this weeks Twisted Sketch I had to do a quicky, just to get it done and sent, still it fits the brief!

I should be back in the next day or few as I have some layouts from the current issue of The Scrapbook Magazine to share!

Busy Busy Busy

2012-01-18T12:06:00.004Z

We are in the process of redecorating our living room, I can say 'we' this time as I have really been pulling my weight, this weekend we managed to finish the lining paper we started previously and paint 2 coats of colour. Very frustrated with paint, choose a lovely light delicate shade of china blue and it painted on much darker, so I choose a lighter shade of grey for the other wall knowing what happened with the blue and that painted much lighter than the tin! Cannot win! However the blue has grown on me and with another coat of a darker grey I think we will be there.

Jason helpfully sprained his ankle on paint day, so all he could do was the cutting in on the skirting boards where he could sit on his bum, which meant I spent all day up and down on the chair painting anything that stayed still!

Also busy with scrapping and another large commission to do for The Scrapbook Magazine, but I do have a Twisted Sketches layout to share, the twist this week was sparkle (I forgot the twist, D'oh, so had to go back and add some stickles to my leaves, which you can't really see in this photo but it is sparkly sparkly!)

Mens Cards

2012-01-10T16:15:00.004Z

Ummm well I would like to say that I have been rushed off my feet, but in truth I haven't, just taken one of those natural crafting/blogging breaks that we all seem to need from time to time and only crafted when I have had to for an assignment.

We are in the process at the moment of redecorating our living room, we are now in that awful stage where the room is all stripped, prepared and woodwork painted but we are having to live with awful blotchy terracotta paint that was under our wall paper. I have ordered new sofas that were so comfortable and squidgy in the shop that I may never get off them once they arrive! Can't wait!

Today I realised that it is less than a month til Jason's birthday and as I didn't want to be caught unawares I made him a little card - I hate making mens cards, just what do you do as the focal point? I choose a football and this card is made entirely on the Cameo, even the card blank. The white circle is embossed with one of my homemade embossing folders (chicken wire) and even the lettering was cut using the 'Aharoni' font on the cameo.

Well thats all from me today, see you soon!

Christmas Rundown

2011-12-30T15:28:00.001Z

Good afternoon blogland, hope you all had very merry Christmases. We had a lovely time, but doesn't it go past in a flash? If I'm honest I am glad its done now, a little too much in the way of christmas visiting this year and my smile is aching a bit from it all (not to mention all the small talk required by people who ask you a question but have no interest in the answer - I'm guilty of it too!) Yes I am glad that I don't have to go through all that fake smiling and chit chat for a while now.

Its not all bah humbug though, we had a lovely christmas eve and day, my brother did us proud with a stunning meal which he did with very little fuss, no help wanted and he got it to the table bang on time - well done lil bro! Christmas night we dropped the children at their dads and just chilled in our new jammies and slippers. Boxing day we hit the sales, and I bought a kindle with some christmas money, then later to the pub for a few festive drinkies.

In the last few days we have vegged at home and I have read and read, its been lovely and restorative, I did not sleep well over christmas and the lead up and the last 3 nights I have slept til 9am each morning, I almost feel human again!

Today I felt the need to cut and stick, the printer was not being co-operative so I almost had a meltdown when it took 1 hr to print off a photo, but here we have it a lovely relaxing hour or two doing what makes me happy!

Tomorrow is NYE and a change from the usual curry and pub, we are going to our friends Matt and Mandy for a meal, I am looking forward to it immensely, I have long hated NYE in pubs and the though of a nice meal and then getting quietly sloshed in comfort makes me smile like this :D

Basking Mad

2011-12-23T14:36:00.002Z

Well I know its christmas in just a couple of days and this layout is decidly summery but what can you do?! This was my take for this weeks Twisted Sketches Challenge with the twist being 'Jewel

Right I am currently trying to play monopoly with the family and then we have to go to my sisters for her step sons 6th birthday party, so I must dash! Merry Christmas everyone, have a good one!

Making my own embossing folder

2011-12-15T10:13:00.002Z

Wow its amazing what you can learn when browsing the internet, yesterday I learnt how to make my own embossing folders!

Heres how:

Get an empty embossing folder and then with a die cutter cut out a shape (I went for a quatrefoil background

Stick the negative on one side and the little cutout bits on the other, you need to ensure the cut out bits fit into the negative bit, I did this by sticking the frame bit down on one side and then fitting the little bits into the holes, appy glue to just the cutoutbits, close the folder and voila! the little bits will be stuck to the opposite side.

All the while I was making this, I was skeptical, would it work? Well yes it does, here is the result, and if you turn it round you get the other impression, the frame standing pround and the cutouts depressed!

Christmas Prettiness

2011-12-14T13:19:00.003Z

Yesterday Jason and I did our annual christmas shopping trip, once a year, normally late November but later this year, Jason books a day off and we go and finish off our christmas shopping, its really about an enjoyable trip picking up last minute stocking fillers and having a nice lunch out. The weather outside was frightful, i'm talking freak hailstorms that made it look like there was 2inches of snow on the ground in a matter of seconds - it was amazing!

In one of our shopping centres a cadbury garden and leisure christmas shop had opened and I got some amazing bargains!

From top left: Cute heart fabric banner £2.49 (everthing was half price!), Bauble that I instantly fall in love with £1.75, Whicker white heart £2.49 and Wooden Heart photo frame £2.49

I also bought another 100 lights for the tree as I thought it was lacking lights. I then decided I wanted them on the tree so I had to take everything off and start again, fine if you're a fan of the spartan look, but I like a loaded look and this year I bought a ton more baubles so re-doing was a hell of a job

The tree to prove my point! Its so pretty when its all lit up and I love the over produced fit to bursting look that I achieved this year!

No Christmas shopping trip is complete without an outfit for Bruno. DISCLAIMER it greatly saddens me that I dress my dog up, its naff, I'm not that sort of person but I just cannot STOP doing it! Truthfully he could not care less as this pic shows:

Job for today: Wrap relatives presents, or it would be if those bl**dy children hadn't run off and hidden the cellotape, nothing in this house, NOTHING is where I leave it!

Angels

2011-12-09T15:57:00.002Z

I finally got round to making the inserts to my christmas cards today, whether I will actually get round to writing them and sending them out is quite another matter, but at least they are ready and waiting now if the urge takes me.

Having done all the boring work on the inserts and feeling a bit christmassy I decided to make another couple, nothing special just a simple cut, colour and layer job, but here they are anyway!

Look What I Made

2011-12-08T15:05:00.004Z

Thats something that can be heard quite a bit in our house between me and Jessica (last week she made a winter tree scene with some cotton buds, that looked really cool!) but its also the title of this layout made for this weeks challenge at Twisted Sketches - pop on over and take a look and join in with us.

This was made whilst we were having cavity wall insulation installed, so amidst lots of drilling and noise, best bit was NOT when they were doing the outside wall that is the kitchen, and we had a little hole in the wall and all of a sudden, loads of black polystreyne balls came spilling in - arghhhh!

Its blowing an absolute gale outside and looks so cold and yucky, I have to go out in a little over an hour to pick Jessica up from school after a netball tournament and then walk her over to her old school (in the opposite direction to home typically) for performing arts. I am not looking forward to it at all, a round trip of 50 mins walking in the almost dark cold rainy windy weather.

Fish Frenzy

2011-12-07T15:39:00.003Z

Phew! I have had my most productive day for a very long time, and I have actually felt proper back to my old self, so much so that I crafted (fanfare!!)

It was so lovely to sit down and get paper out today. My printer spent 45 mins being uncooperative and jamming, but I did eventually get going and have a good play.

I used for this, a piece of scalloped MME cardstock, I tend to steer away from scalloped edges as my base as I find them hard to photograph and crop, but the colours on this one shouted at me! I used my Cameo a lot on this layout, the 'fish' lettering is a print and cut using some free digital paper that I had. The bumpy border, other lettering, orange circle, note paper edge, fish and kite were all cut on the cameo, in fact even the journaling strips were as I wanted them extra thin.

I do wish we had better light for photography at the moment, but it is what it is!

Echo Park Holly Jolly

2011-12-02T13:31:00.004Z

Hello, a couple of cards to share today, yesterday I got a nice little parcel in the post that included the Echo Park Holly Jolly Elements Stickers and some of the papers. They are perfect for Christmas cards and I got stuck in!

Right I am off to have a 40g bowl of cereal, I'm doing the cereal diet at the mo, where you have 1 bowl for brekkie and one for lunch and then a sensible tea, its just calorie control really, but it seems to suit me and I have lost 4lbs, regular readers will know that I do not loose weight easily so I am pleased with that in 12 days, the first week however I nearly gnawed on my right arm I was so hungry!

Being Mary

2011-12-01T12:59:00.004Z

Hello, Yes I am still alive (just!) I got poorly again and so have not been up and about much this past week. Enough about that though, who wants to keep hearing about someone being poorly!!

Yesterday I managed a layout, it was nice to get cutty and sticky but I did struggle a bit and this simple layout too far longer than it really should!

This is a picture of Jessica being Mary in her Nursery School Nativity Play, when she was just 3 years old - look at those chubby little cheeks. I knew the nursery were putting on a play but I did not realise what until the day of the 'performance' and I had no clue Jessica was Mary, so it was a lovely surprise to see her in the staring role. She was very good and mostly well behaved, but she couldn't resist telling the audience in a quiet bit that "I'm going to my Nannas for Christmas - I am!" Also during a song that involved counting she may have made a rude finger gesture that I managed to get on film!!! And lets not even talk about poor baby Jesus and the way he was manhandled.

Skullduggery

2011-11-24T10:21:00.003Z

My teams turn at Twisted Sketches this week, so pop on over and join in the fun, the twist was ribbon, and here is my take:

This was our pumpkin this year, I always try and do a different design each year, it looks lovely but I don't half curse whilst doing it, this years was especially tricky as I was really not in the mood whilst doing it!

I have Jess home from school again at the mo, more headaches and dizzyness, bit worrying as in the last 14 days of school she has had 6 off. I think it may be a stress thing but theres no denying that she is hot and not well, poor thing.

Advent Calender Take Two!

2011-11-17T15:12:00.004Z

If you're in the UK you may remember that 2 years ago Tesco were selling these wooden advent calendars that were a bargain £5 but were pretty yucky and definately in need of altering. They were a bit like gold dust to find as crafter after crafter snapped them up. I was a lucky one and managed to get my hands on one. In this post you can see a bit of how it looked and a bit of how I did it and in this post you can see the finished result.

After last years advent I thought it was looking a bit tatty and decided that I would remodel it in time for this christmas.

Well here it is, I am v pleased with this one, much nicer all round, it took me 4 hours to do. The paper covers on the drawers were cut on the Cameo as were the numbers, and all embellishment the only thing I cut by hand was the roof panel and for the scalloped roof edge I used a punch. I choose not to overembellish the calender as I thought it looked so pretty with just the patterened paper.

Marching for Remembrance

2011-11-15T14:53:00.003Z

Its frustrating isn't it when you make a nice layout and it just will not photograph 'true' this is one of those layouts, looks lovely as its standing on my easel, but the photo of it is a bit 'meh'

Joe was part of the Remembrance Parade in Keynsham on Sunday, he was the very littlest of Air Cadets in the Parade, in fact he was the littlest by far of all the organisations that properly march (of course there were scouts and brownies walking behind). I was so proud to see Joey, standing straight, chin up and swinging his arms and lifting his knees - they do a quite exaggerated proper march. I used my new Cameo a bit on this, the poppy the 'remembrance and for' lettering and also the journaling which is a Print and Cut.

I got a nice parcel of paper today from Papermaze from their fire damaged stock which in actual fact was perfect, a little teeeny tiny small of smoke but hardly noticable. Nice to get new paper and its something that always inspires me, like it did today!

Right I am off to walk the dog, who is in the doghouse as he piddled in the kitchen yesterday, I noticed a smell but thought it was the cats food, the smell was under my nose all day, and today I found the piddle under my mop and bucket. Sometimes I could swing for that animal I really could!

Look what I got!

2011-11-13T14:53:00.002Z

So this is what I was waiting for allllllll last week. The Silhouette Cameo! Any one who reads my blog often will know that I create a lot with my beloved craft robo, and that I got a lot of use out of it. I saved and saved for that Robo almost 3 years ago and then for the 1st 6 months or so I didn't really use it much, this was back in the days when the software was a bit of a faff. But you may remember my 'use my robo everyday' kick a couple of years ago and since then its become second nature to make stuff with it. Its on my desk and so its ready to go.

When I saw this being talked about at first I wasn't convinced but I soon saw it capabilities and possibilites. This one cuts like a dream and cuts true 12x12 which means I can cut fancy edged 12x12 for my pages. I got this on flexi pay and was so pleased when I saw that option as I was thinking I would not be able to get one til after christmas.

This is a card I made for my sister, its her birthday on Friday and today Jessica and I sat down and had a really nice couple of hours playing with Cameo and making this. Everything on this card was cut with the Cameo.

Closeup!

I also made Jess this box which because this cameo cuts so much bigger is actually a really good size. Jess and I also spent another hour cutting and assemblying all sorts of animals which she has names, fallen in love with and put in her box.

Bangs head against wall

2011-11-10T15:27:00.002Z

I know I am an impatient person, I know this, but, I am also a realistic person, so when I order something I think ok: it will be despatched earliest tomorrow which means I will get it earliest the day after that and possibly not til 4/5 days post ordering this is ok, I can live with it.

What I find harder to live with is an order that takes:

1 day to process - perfectly reasonable!

2 days to await despatch - just put it on the bloody van already - you're a big company you must have several courier runs a day!

2 days post despatch where my tracking number yeilds no result and I am left wondering who now has it? Create and Craft? HDN? who? and now on the 6th day I finally see movement its in HDN's main hub, all I can say is that it had better get down my end of the country in plenty of time to be loaded on the van tomorrow, because I want it and I want it NOW - this thing cost me considerable money!

Tell you what it is when I have it in my grubby mitts, but I am v v excited about it!

But on to the craft - here is a card I made today, totally inspired by the background used in this card here, I'm always looking at the papertrey ink releases and wondering how I can imitate them! As usual this is a mainly Craft Robo card!

Being sneaky!

2011-11-09T09:53:00.004Z

Ah I feel so much better now, its lovely to be up and about and walking the dog in the field again of a morning.

I've a couple of sneaks to show you today, its really all the crafting that I have done, but the assignment is finished now so I can finally scrap for myself for a bit, which will be lovely.

I've Jessica home from school today with a temperature and general bleugh feeling, theres not too much wrong with her really but I think she needs a day off, she is not settling in too well to secondary school and is struggling to form friendships, she was like this when she started castle 4 years ago, she expects too much too soon and can't understand why girls get bitchy at times, she gets hurt and confused when someone who she hung out with one day, snubs her the next. Poor girl its so upsetting seeing her come home in tears each day, but I am confident that time will sort it all out like it did last time, i'vehad a quick word with her tutor but at the moment she wants me to stay out of it, so stay out of it I will. Still I think a day home to regroup and destress will help her.

A Christmassy kinda post

2011-11-03T14:48:00.004Z

Afternoon, apologies once again for my abscence, the poorly that I spoke of last week that was slowly leaving me decided to double back and knock me for six, I've had that bad of a cough that I have pulled a muscle in my neck and one in my ribs which doesn't make for comfortable coughing let me tell you!

Today is the first day since the weekend that I have felt able to really get stuff done! However enough of my moaning and on to the craft.

These are my latest for The Scrapbook Magazine that is out today. I had 2 commissions for this one, Get the cover look, made using the free papers:

And Homespun christmas which was quite tricky for me as I prefer to scrap bright and graphic! I was also sent some Bazzill Glazed cardstock that they wanted to use, which I found quite hard to fit into the theme but I did my best!

Aww the pic on this one is cute, Jess when she was 6 having a massive hug from the schools Father Christmas, I think the poor man was a bit taken aback when she lunged for him, she loves Father Christmas!

Ive been busy today scrapping for my next commission, they want a massive 5 layouts from me this time with a technique article, step by steps etc but I am having a blast with this commission and will prob show some sneaks of it soon.

Forever Blowing Bubbles

2011-10-27T10:34:00.003+01:00

I have been a poorly person this week, the poorly started on Monday evening and is still hanging about now, although I am feeling a lot perkier today! I haven't left the house since Monday lunchtime and I have only just got dressed for the first time since Monday!! The house is of course an absolute heap despite the children doing lots of little jobs for me. I sent Joe to the shop to buy me fish paste (I wanted sardine and tomato paste on white soft bread, it was a poorly craving!) and he came pack with seafood sauce, bless him! Kids doing jobs therefore is never as effective as me doing jobs, however every time I try to stand up, I nearly fall down with dizzyness so the kids it is!

You will have to excuse a lack of things crafty at the moment, what with a busy weekend, the poorly and a whopper of a commission to do when I am back on my feet, the old bloggeroo might be a bit on the sparse side. However I do have something to show, its my teams turn at Twisted Sketches and the twist is black, bob on over and have a look at the sketch and come join us!! Rallying cry!!! (can you tell I am BORED out of my brain??)

Right, well I can't stay here gassing all day, I've got to get back to sitting in front of daytime tv and making the bum dent in the sofa even more pronounced then it already is! I WANT TO GET BETTER AND DO STUFF!!! Over and out pip pip!

Halloween Banner

2011-10-24T12:12:00.003+01:00

Browsing the Silhouette Store this morning, I couldn't resist getting these banner files and once I had bought them I got straight to work making this cute Halloween banner (even though I am not a halloween fan!)

Now this is not the banners final resting place, I need some help to attach it to our living room wall so for photography purposes its attached to our radiator.

In other news, I had a lovely weekend but it was far to social and far to 'drinky' so I am looking forward to a nice night in tonight, I am making Beouf Bourginon for tea tonight with piles of cabbage - can't wait. Also can't wait for the twiglets to get home, they've been gone since Friday lunch to Haven with their dad and now I am missing them and am eagerly awaiting their return!

Stop... Hammer Time

2011-10-21T11:36:00.004+01:00

Great fun making this one! Jason and Jessica tidied up the back garden last weekend and Jessica loved smashing up a wooden pallet that we had with a hammer.

Mel: I loved your old pages, they remind me a bit of a smashbook, how lovely to have something like that to look back on of your school days! I tried to comment on your blog but it does not seem to want to let me!!

At the beginning

2011-10-20T11:21:00.003+01:00

I was moving some stuff around on the top of our wardrobe this morning which involved moving all my scrapbook albums, of course I couldn't resist a peep and the first one I opened was my first ever album with my first ever pages made back in late 2008!

I think we all have some horrors/lovely first efforts, the ones that you look back on and smile, not because of the memories that you documented but because of how dodgy your first few efforts really were and how proud you were of them back then!

And so I present to you a few of my first ever pages: Leigh Woods, this page doesn't even have a title!!! How did I miss that? And I love my lovely double mounted journaling panel.

Back in the old days I hadn't 'found' the better paper brands, this was an old DCWV spring stack effort.

I think this one was my 2nd ever try! This was made with my very limited stash and namely HOTP papers, which I thought was da bomb back then! New Technique alert!!!!! I used hidden journaling!

This one I hate to say, appeals to me now, its bright and the computer printed letters (what were thickers back then, I didn't know!) I actually quite like still!

Some come on, post some of your first layouts to your blog and link me up, I would love to see them!

Off to Camp

2011-10-19T12:41:00.003+01:00

Ooops i've been missing in action for a while haven't I? Or should I say missing in inaction as I haven't really done anything at all.

Joseph went off for his first camp with the Air Cadets at the weekend, he came back cream crackered, he could not even really talk and just wanted to sit down quietly for a while, he enjoyed himself though!

Sat down to make this today just to get back in the swing. The letters are cut on the big shot using thin sticky backed cork that I have had for a while. I love the little bit of interest that a bit of machine stitching adds, I just wish it wasn't such a hassle to drag it out and set it up!

Lisa thank you for your last comment, can't make Saturday unfortch as got a busy weekend and thats the only time I have for boring old food shopping - hope it all goes well though!

Over excited!

2011-10-13T12:01:00.003+01:00

A card to share with you today for the children's dads birthday!

Just a simple one, I always find mens cards so hard to do, if they don't play golf or have a specific interest then its all a bit like hard work! The monitor and keyboard and greeting are all as usual silhouette files that I printed and coloured.

What am I excited about? The possibility of getting my iphone tomorrow, it seems that even though I did not preorder on the first day there is a good chance it will arrive tomorrow after all and I really can't wait!!! I will so be following all the hype tomorrow, checking forums and watching in real time as people receive them! Yes I am aware that I am sadder than sad, but I don't care!

Queen of her heart

2011-10-12T12:33:00.003+01:00

I want to say "Morning" but its gone past midday so "Afternoon" ;)

Its my teams turn over at Twisted Sketches this week and the twist is 'Envelope' pop on over to have a go! Here is my take:

Joe is settling well at Air Cadets, so well in fact that I got a call from him whilst he was on parade last night to ask if he could go on camp this weekend. He is the only cadet from his squadron going, he is going with one of the leaders and loads of cadets from other squadrons, I think that is so brave of him! He came back with a kit pack that is almost the size of me, Jason said he walked out and all he could see was a backpack with 2 skinny legs sticking out walking towards him! Hes not allowed on camp until he is enrolled but they were willing to do the admin part of enrolling him early so that he could go! He will be cream crackered when he gets back on Sunday night!

Mine!

2011-10-10T18:36:00.004+01:00

I'm a little bit (over) excited that I have preordered an Iphone 4s as my 3gs upgrade, how serendipidous that my entitlement to an early upgrade was just a couple of weeks ago!

I am very keen to try Siri, how cool to be able to have a conversation with your phone! I can't wait to ask her if I will need my coat before I leave the house and also tell her I fancy italian food and have her find local restaurants for me, and of course voice activated text messages will be ace, I hope it works as well as they seem to think it does!

The best news being that I got this upgrade for £4 less a month (im having less texts and mins but I never use anywhere near my allowance) and I can sell my old iphone to Mazumba for about £90 or so!

Christmas Lights

2011-10-07T12:06:00.003+01:00

Good afternoon.

More drama in this household when Jessica decided to chop the tip of her thumb off in cookery at school. We had to take a trip to the docs to get it patched up proper. Jessica is not what one would call a 'trooper' in these situations, she gets very upset and we had a lot of tears. Poor little thing, but she is patched up now and enjoyed all the attention she got!

She was making soup when the incident occured, "not to worry mum, Rebeccah says she will collect it for me" she says. So we trek to the docs, its about a 20 min walk away and bugger me if Rebeccah and her mum aren't there too, so to my absolute delight, I got the soup there and then! I can't tell you how thrilled I was to sit in the docs waiting room with a container of soup on my lap, looking for all the world like the local village idiot! I was more thrilled when I decided due to the soup and the uphill nature of the walk back to jump on the bus, so we waited 10 mins, along comes the bus, he shakes his head at me and keeps going! Blind fury got me up that road and back home. I am wondering if what with Jessica's bandaged thumb and a clear container of what could well have been vomit the bus driver decided to pass on us!

And so to crafty matters and this CAS card I made a couple of days ago, I printed the christmas lights (inspired by the wonderful Dawn Mcvey) hand stamped both the sentiment and the little banner of red card and just keep it nice and simple.

Layered up those pretty little bulbs and just the tiniest bit of glitter that looks lovely when it catches the light.

Autumn Offerings

2011-10-05T11:51:00.003+01:00

Another Silhouette card from me today, this was made entirely from silhouette shapes, the background, the leaves, the pumpkin and the sentiment, I just added the colouring, gems and glitter!

I like making these cards, I can sit on the sofa with my laptop and design it and then go and makeit when I get a moment or two. I'm rather pleased with the colouring of the red/brown leaf, it looks like I might have picked it from the garden!

Joe came back from the Air Cadets last night with yet more uniform, in 3 sessions we have been given:

3 different shirts
2 pairs of dress trousers
1 pair of cami trousers
a beret
a tie
a belt
1 heavy smart jumper
1 cami coat
1 pair of boots
1 pair of shoes

Its really sweet to see Joe taking care of it all and worrying that it is all clean, ironed and polished, shaped etc. At the moment of course I am doing most of that but its something that he will be doing once we are up to speed with it all!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-04T15:11:00.005+01:00

We don't really 'do' halloween here in the UK, well not on the same scale as the Americans thats for sure! I've been seeing all these cute halloween cards and projects appearing all over blog land and I just couldn't resist making a couple of cards, just for the sheer hell of it!

I used my craft robo ALOT for these 2 cards, in this first one, I have cut out the graveyard frame and coloured in various greys. The cute chubby mummy is a cut file that I printed out and coloured with promarkers and the cute web and spider is a digi stamp.

This one is almost all robo, the frames (one of which I stamped a background on with an ink a shade darker just to break up all the blocked colours) the web and spider and the sentiment are all silhouette (robo) files too. The spider is covered in glossy accents!

We are finally back on line 'proper' after some modem problems, our modem was very old and just gave up the ghost, I think this new one is really helping the speed too! I won't talk too soon though!

Two for Monday

2011-10-03T14:54:00.003+01:00

Afternoon, wow what a scorcher of a weekend most of us in the UK have had! Its still very warm today and I am glad to be indoors for the rest of the day now, with the fan going.

I have 2 clean and simple christmas cards to share today, one made with this weeks little musings freebie (which could be used for birthdays as well) and one from a digi stamp I just purchased today from this site, love her designs and I may well be buying some more!

Right, time for a cuppa I think!

More Angels

2011-09-30T09:33:00.002+01:00

I might get into trouble with this blog post! Sounds exiting doens't it? Nah its not really. We are having modem issues at the moment and we are waiting for a techie to come out on Monday and sort the damn thing out. So Jason has kindly given me his mobile modem with strict instructions to not go over 500mb, bloody thing takes about 3mb to load each page you click on. I have no idea what it will 'cost' to post a 3 pic blog post. hehe.

So some more angel stamp cards from the fabulous little musings (link on side bar, don't want to use the mb to find her page and link direct!) I think this is my fav of the ones I have made, love love love the dusky pink with the kraft

A plain background card, which I struggle with the starkness of. I think the late addition of the lime green lifted the whole design. I used some old learned techniques with this one, the angel was stamped on the white rectangle and coloured in, I then cut another angel and layered it over the first to create a mask, then I stamped the 'wish on a star' sentiment all over the top, removed the mask angel and voila. I've not used that technique in donkeys!

And then this one that I made yesterday, soft and muted which I really like with these angel designs

Also if you have a few mins (and megabytes) to spare pop on over to this lady here who has a blog post all about the article I did in SBM the other week that featured her brilliant style!

The weather outside is frightful

2011-09-28T12:07:00.003+01:00

Well its not really is it! Temperatures are reported to be in the high 20's for the rest of this week, in September, when I am all set and kitted out for Autumn, pah, I don't want the sun now, I wanted it 2 months ago.

However its my teams turn over at Twisted Sketches this week and I choose to use a snowy weather picture for my take, here it is:

The twist was punches - easy! I layered the negative from a die cut over my picture for dimension and the layered my border punch out (the negative bit again) over a robo cut out of icicles (which I stickled the hell out of!) A few layered snowflakes glittered again and hey presto job done!

Right I am off to drag the fan back to the living room from upstairs, luckily we had not got round to putting it in the loft for winter.

The start of my winter blanket

2011-09-27T16:59:00.004+01:00

Typical that as the weather warms up for one last hurrah this week, I have started my 'Winter Warmer' blanket!

I saw this colour combo on this blog here confident though I am in my colour choices in other things, I do seem to struggle with crochet, so when I saw this colour combo I knew it was a winner for me!

It is supposed to be a treble crochet (US double crochet) but as seems to be the norm for me and crochet I got it all arse about face and have instead done it extended double stitch. No matter it looks lovely and is a nice tight stitch, it will certainly be warm when its done!

The nice thing about this is its a sit in front of the telly and hook blanket, its the same stitch over and over and once you get going you can do it with great ease repetitively.

Its been a busy old day today, another last mintute(ish) commission that I had to get done, bedsheet washing day (ugggghhh I hate making beds), ironing, cleaning the bathroom. Jess is at netball, Joe is about to go to air cadets, 2 separate dinners to make, people in, people out and all this on not very much sleep last night. I was up at 1am eating weetabix, for some reason I got a low blood sugar attack and got the shakes! 1.30am saw Jason almost fall out of bed whilst sleeping and I had the pleasure of being up every hour for the loo! Happy days - or should I say nights!!

Inky Splotches

2011-09-25T10:00:00.000+01:00

I love inky, grungy, paint splashes in pages but I rarely seem to be able to get them 'right' I had a little practice on scrap paper today and then transferred it onto a layout proper here are the results.

The bigger splotches are actually a ink blot stamp that I have, I love it on the school based page, it looks like someones pen has leaked! Lots of silhouette elements on this, the title, the library card, the tab card and the small notebook edge all cut on the silhouette.

As of a request I am taking word verification off the blog, although it will go back on if I get spambots we shall see ;)

Sugar and Spice

2011-09-24T09:00:00.000+01:00

After a week of card making I felt the need to make a layout and so on Friday I sat down to create something a little different, I had and idea in my head and I have kinda managed it!

I wanted a more cluttered layered messy effect and although this is not too layered and still has my trademark white space, I really like it and I LOVE the colours on this. Fav bit? The spikey triangles, Jess can be a bit spikey at the moment with all the hormones that are flying around, nice metaphor!

Have a great weekend everyone!

This week I have mostly.....

2011-09-23T07:36:00.004+01:00

.....been making christmas cards featuring these amazing angel digi stamps from Little Musings

Once I started creating with these I literally could not stop! They are perfect for your christmas projects and I had such fun with them.

A nice simple and effective one here, I hand stamped the stars on that background, such a lovely delicate shade of pale ice blue. A bit of machine stitching and a simple sentiment finished the beautiful angel of nicely and of course everything looks lovely on Kraft!

BANNERS!! this was a project and a half colouring in all those angels, but it was worth it, I now have a cute christmas banner which looks lovely on my Ikea Expedit in my craft corner!

Close up of the Angel Banner.

I used 2 of the digis on this, I enlarged the wreath enough so that Choir of Angels could peep out from underneath it! Lots of bright traditional christmas colours used. The background is yet another of my silhouette cutting files which I adapted and printed instead of cut, it seemed to go perfect on this particular card.

And a simple one to finish with today, choir of angels that has hand stitched elements layered on a cute paper doily, and a printed sentiment!

Guess what I have more! Told you I couldn't stop creating with them. I will share them with you another time!

For a Niece

2011-09-20T11:53:00.002+01:00

Just a quickie today, a card I knocked up for Jason's Niece who turns 8 tomorrow, I started on something much brighter at first, but it looked garish and she is quite a sophisticated little girl so this seemed more appropriate for her.

I started back on the old exercising yesterday after taking a few *cough* weeks off over the summer. It was surprisingly easy, and I managed 8 minutes non stop running which I was pleased with after 8 weeks off. I managed 10 mins continuous today so even better! Combined with warm up and incline walking, a 5 min ab workout (boy do they hurt today!) and another 5 mins of boxing style exercising and I will soon be back up to 40 mins a day.

Horseyhead Nebular

2011-09-19T13:36:00.002+01:00

These layouts are from Issue 58 of The Scrapbook Magazine. I was given an interesting assignment this month and that was to take inspiration from another (bloggers) Scrapbooking style. I chose Stacey Michaud have a look at the article to find out why, but do pop on over to her blog and have a look at her fantastic layouts.

This first one is called Horseyhead Nebular, I wanted to document Joes love of Space, when he was younger especially he was obsessed with all things black holes and Nebulars, and it especially documents that he used to call Horsehead Nebulars, Horseyheads which was so cute!

And then this one with a picture of Jessicas hair that I curled for her School Disco before the end of term.

Finally this one that was a challenge, I was given a very short deadline (3 days with which to make it and get it to them, which meant really that I had to make it and post it the same day!) It was my first time using a stock photo and also these are made from the free papers included with the Magazine in this issue. I was thrilled when I got my copy in the post today to see that it had made it to the cover - v exciting!

I have to say that I think my photos of these layouts look a lot better than the ones in the mag, for some reason they have photographed them very dark, which is not how they look, the kraft based one especially!

The Teenage Years

2011-09-15T09:37:00.003+01:00

Hello everyone!

Its my teams turn over at Twisted Sketches this week and the twist is 'Start' Pop on over and have a look at the sketch and hopefully you will join in!

Above is my take. I have to say I was pretty pleased with this one, lots of layers and fun boy colours. That yellow paper is fun, makes it look like it is really textured and not just flat!

My lovely boy has been eager to join The Air Cadets for quite a while now but had to wait to turn 13, we popped over to our local squadron on Tuesday night to have a look around and talk the talk, and wow! If he likes it (and he might not, it is quite military and physical) I think it will be excellant for him! One of the first thing he will learn is how to iron - yes please!! Our local Squadron is quite a big one and they get more flying hours than they know what to do with and their own shooting range. I was dreading the cost, but its £6 a month and thats for 2 sessions a week, free flying days at weekends and free uniform. I think it will be excellant for his confidence and will make him more sporty (hes not!) and get him off the xbox and do in real life what he does in gaming! Can't wait to see him in his uniform. He joins on a week on Tuesday. Oh and yes, he has to get a hair cut before he joins - sob :(

Copy Cat

2011-09-14T11:36:00.004+01:00

When I have a spare few minutes I do love a good trawl around the card making blogs inparticular the ones that deal with stamping with co-ordinating dies, they make such professional looking cards. One of my favourites is Dawn Mcveys blog. She designs for a company calleds Paper Trey Ink which you have probably heard of. I look at her designs and I want to buy the products and feel very inspired.

Now Paper Trey Ink are an American company and the shipping is more than I want to pay! But what am I saying I have over 2200 gsd files on my craft robo, and I can always find something very similar to what Dawn is using in my library, I can not only cut out these shapes (any size I want, which is more versatile that a die) but I can print them too for the co-ordinated stamp look. It just takes a bit of thought and imagination. Now if only I could get a decent photograph of what I make (they look so much better as they sit next to me!), these are not the best photos coming up, but you will get the idea.

This card I made quite simply by adapting a bracket shape and welding a rectangle to it, perforating a line down the centre and instantly I have a card shaped like one of Dawns! I also found in my library doilys and snowflake shapes that I used as the main focal point and layered and glittered them. It looks so sparkly in real life and is very pretty.

This next card is more graphic and simple. I printed the swirls in red and panelled it with some blue cardstock, I cut a doily shape and glittered and then printed out a sentiment (all these prints are actual cut files that I chose to print instead for a digi-stamp look) and cut a circle around it. Another Dawnalike card without me paying a penny

If you are a cardmaker or scrapbooker that is interested in die-cutting I cannot recommend the Craft Robo/Silhouette enough. I bought mine 2.5 years ago for £225 but they are considerably cheaper now, in fact you can get a Craft Robo Lite (doesn't have the print and cut feature) for about £80 if you look around - thats not much more than a big shot.

When I got my Robo there was a definate learning curve, even loading the software was hard work and then learning the software was tricky, now, however you use the Silhouette Studio software which is free and an absolute doddle to use. Add to that the Thousands of file in the Silhouette online store and the possiblites are endless. I bought a 1 year Premium Subscription which gets you around 150 files a month - more when they have a sale on!

There endeth the Craft Robo/Silhouette sales pitch, Silhouette are paying me in cream cakes (I wish!)

Monday Mania

2011-09-12T14:47:00.003+01:00

I've been doing a bit of crochet today, I find that I only want to crochet in winter months, not surprising as crocheting a blanket is warm work when its all piled on top of you

I've a couple more layouts to share

One think I do like about the descending Autumn weather is shopping for new season clothes, I bought some kick-ass boots at the weekend and i'm very excited about them!

Things to do Friday

2011-09-09T12:26:00.003+01:00

Things I must do:

Take down Joseph's birthday balloons, they have been up for 2 weeks now and I am sick of seeing them, but don't like popping balloons.

Clear out the crap on the coffee table and throw out old magazines, but in my defense I have just tackled our 3 clutter drawers in the kitchen and so I have had enough! (although I prob will get this done!)

Think about what I am having for lunch BEFORE it gets too late and I end up starving and yet having to cook something that is low calorie and boring.

Actually do my hair instead of scragging it back in a messy pony - Jason must sometimes think he has married a bag lady - and in that vein, not be in my PJ bottoms when he walks in tonight!

I have painted a picture of myself a a slovenly creature and thats probably fairly right hehe I do try but have a low threshold for clearing out drawers, cupboards, laundry baskets etc!

Anywho here are a couple of layouts that I created recently for a (yet another failed) Design Team application. In the first layout I airbrushed the background with the Letraset Airjet system and then sitiched the suns rays!

Have a good weekend everybody, I have more layouts to share in a couple of days!

Sunshine on a Rainy Day

2011-09-08T15:37:00.003+01:00

Afternoon, I'm feeling much better now after a short lie in today, the dog was not pleased with having his morning walk an hour late, he was v mournful about it all!

I wanted to craft today and first made a card, as I was tidying away I made a little embellishment from the scraps on my desk that actually inspire me to scrap a layout! Its the the embellishment on the top right with the silhouette. The background of which is hand stamped. I've never had an embellishment as a starting point before!

Happy Days

2011-09-07T12:53:00.004+01:00

An ironic post title seeing as it isn't! I woke up with a sore throat/fuzzy head and wish I had just stayed there!

I've bent a long thumb nail backwards and whacked my funny bone in my elbow as I have gone about my business today, I think life waits until you are feeling a bit shitty and just piles it all on!

Still I was determined to get a bit of crafty time in this morning, and so I sat down to create and....... nothing! Picasa was messing me about and so I lost interest in photo printing see as "Picasa wants to take the p**s" (I do think that things are against me when I an having a day like this !!)

So I made a card, I nearly didn't bother but I saw this Jukebox and took it as a starting point and this was made, quickly and unfussily. The sewing machine also had it in for me and the bobbin ran out of thread on the last side of paper and for the life of me the bobbin would not click back in, after struggling with that for 15 mins, I had a little cry (seriously 10 secs) kicked the bloody machine (or at least the drawers it stands on and decided not to stitch the last side! As the card says "Happy Days!!"

Christmas comes early

2011-09-06T15:56:00.003+01:00

One thing about scrapping commissions for magazines is that you are always scrapping out of season, this can be nice when you are doing summer layouts in February but ugghh trying to scrap Christmas in August when you are desperatley trying to ignore that Christmas is approaching is a pain in the bum!

And that is what I found myself doing this past week, 2 separate Christmas commissions. I am not a big photographer of big events and had to use photos that I have scrapped before (apart from one old photo I found of Jessica with Father Christmas when she was about 6)

As my blog has been a bit thin on the ground lately due to commissions I thought I would pepper this post with sneeks of my christmas themed layouts that I made. Now I am firmly sticking my head back in the sand where christmas is concerned!

Good thing is that I am now finally done and dusted with all my deadlines and I may get a bit of 'for me' scrapping done this week, or there again.........

Back to (New) School

2011-09-05T09:19:00.004+01:00

Ahhh/Awww back to school day, mixed feelings about this! Its been so nice to have a lazy relaxed few weeks, with lie-ins and the kids for company but I do like my routines and I love that today by 9.15am I had showered, walked the dog in the fields, done all my morning jobs including hoover the stairs and cleaned the bathroom. I am however red eyed and zombified as I have hardly slept and it would have been so nice to have an extra hour or two of sleep today.

So we woke up today to sporadic torrential downpours, just what Jessica wanted for her first day at Senior School. She might have looked pretty when she left this morning, but I think she may have arrived a bit soggy! I wanted her to walk but 2 minutes after she left I had to send Jason after her in the car as the rain was sheeting it down!

Joe absolutely did NOT want his photo taken with Jess, I had to get quite shouty about it all, not so good when Jessicas friends were at the door waiting (15 mins early so I hardly could take any pics )

They both looked so smart, this will absolutely not last and by this time next week they will look like they live in a hedge - I have given up fighting it!

School Uniform is soooo expensive, those are just polo shirts but they have the school logo on them and so they can charge £10 each, they are such poor quality in the way they wash, one little mark and it will NEVER come off, and of course you have to have the school branded one, makes me a bit mad that! The jumpers are much the same!

How longs that tongue

2011-08-31T23:59:00.000+01:00

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!

2011-08-27T09:19:00.000+01:00

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

2011-08-25T16:06:00.003+01:00

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

2011-08-22T17:01:00.005+01:00

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

2011-08-19T08:59:00.003+01:00

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

2011-08-17T14:08:00.004+01:00

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

2011-08-09T10:00:00.000+01:00

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

2011-08-07T10:00:00.003+01:00

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

2011-08-05T09:54:00.004+01:00

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

2011-08-04T11:26:00.003+01:00

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!

2011-08-01T13:18:00.003+01:00

(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!)

Crafting with children

2011-07-28T12:19:00.003+01:00

I am in a bit of a funk today, I am so bored and cabin fevery and yet too lethargic to do anything about it! I am mooching from one room to the next, sighing and then moving to the next room to repeat it all over again!

The reason for this is because its my birthday tomorrow and I am going out for birthday drinks and curry tonight with some friends who can't make it tomorrow night, and so I am in full on 'its my birthday' mood and am wondering why there is no body here to celebrate with! The kiddos went off to their dads a couple of hours ago and I am left wishing the hours away until Jason gets home. On my actual birthday we are off to lunch in a lovely pub that we had our anniversary meal in and then on to the local pubs for drinks and to meet up with various friends and I think even my sister may pop her head in! Happy days!!

Yesterday I insisted that the social whirlwind that is my daughter stay in and recharge, she was not happy but that girl was knackered and for Jess with tiredness comes illness and so I MADE her relax! We crafted long and hard and made this cute little mini album documenting Jessica's leaving party!

We have yet to decorate the box - time ran out on us!

Jessica choose what went on each page herself, I just gave her a few pointers.

She told me what to type, and its her journaling in her words!

She is very pleased with this little project, we got a lot done in one day!

I did manage to sit still long enough to make this little card, the colouring in took a while and wasted a good half hour or so!

Right I think Bruno might be in for a very long walk this afto! And I will be back on Monday after my Loooooong weekend - think we are going to Longleat on Sunday so more pics to scrap!

Fun with Mirrors

2011-07-27T14:24:00.002+01:00

Its my last ever design for Twisted Sketches this week, pop on over to see the sketch - here is my take on it:

I have Jess home with me today, she spent a full 48hrs at various friends house and sleepovers, its nice to have her back - she is hating it but I am saying that she needs to recharge and regroup and spend some time with me. We started a mini album together this morning and we are going to get back to it after we have had a nice cup of tea and a few games of charades.

A Ticket to Ride

2011-07-26T12:17:00.003+01:00

Its amazing that the kids are home and yet I seem to have more time than normal for crafting. Jess has been home for just 5mins of the last 24 hrs, just to pick up an overnight bag. Joe pretty much looks after himself now and is up with the xbox in his dark room!, I just make sure he gets at least 30 mins outside each day so I know he is not actually a vampire!

Yesterday we had flying ants swarming in our part of town, I am scared silly of flying ants, I know they can't hurt me but I HATE the way they look and so I stay in on flying ant day.

Here is another layout to share, another one of Jessica on her leaving party, posing next to the London double decker we hired to take them on a tour before the party. This is bluer in realy life not the purpley colour it seems to be here.

And yesterday I made this card, totally inspired by this months released at Papertrey ink, I didn't buy their die as I can make the same with my craft robo. I stamped a polka dot design on my tag. The polka dot stamp is now lost, one of those very annoying occasions were something just dissapears into thin air. I left it to dry on a tea towel after cleaning it and when I went to put it away 30 mins later it wasn't there! No one was in the room but me and its just vanished!

I wish my photography skills were better!

Belle of the Ball

2011-07-24T16:32:00.004+01:00

Hello, Hope you're all having lovely weekends.

I've managed a bit of scrapbooking today, a major feat as scrapbooking has been alluding me lately and lets not forget its Sunday and my pass time of choice would be enjoying a cider down the pub! However we had charge of the children this Sunday, so a spot of shopping (I am in desperate need of new jeans) and then home to re-charge and regroup.

This pic is of Jess on Thursday night, when she had her primary school leaving party for the year 6's. She looked stunning and we picked a lovely dress that was modern and beautiful but not too grown up or tarty.

I'm pretty pleased with this one, a different sized photo has really inspired me, I must stop automatically reaching for a 6x4.

I have a nice week planned, on Thursday we are going for a curry with some friends and then on Friday its my birthday so Jason is taking me out to lunch and then we will meet more friends for drinks after - it may get messy!

Funky Monkey

2011-07-21T14:16:00.006+01:00

Afternoon, I am currently enjoying my last half hour of childlessness until my house is beseiged for the summer hols with 2 messy, noisy children - sigh.

I've made a few cards - first up this space monkey card, the blue background is embossed with my new cuttlebug 'tiny bubbles' embossing folder and then inked in black

I also made this, which I am afraid I had a complete dumbo moment on, I had it on grass at first, and then I realised he was a snowboarder and not a skateboarder so that had to be changed, now I realise that I have a night background of stars and yet a sun! hmmm I think I need to step away from the craft table!

And finally this pirate card, the clouds like the sun and the snow in the previos card are hand cut and the flocked! Gives it a lovely look and strokeable texture to it.

This evening Jessica has her leavers party, I really hope the rain holds off as she has a bandeau dress and a coat will really spoil the look. They are having a big red double decker bus to give them a tour around Keynsham before they get dropped off at their party. Then Jess is going to a friends for a big sleepover (I think there are 9 girls going) pity the poor mum!

Cute Boy

2011-07-20T11:19:00.003+01:00

Its my teams turn over at Twisted Sketches this week, the twist was buttons. Pop on over and have a go! Here is my take:

Passport to the World

2011-07-18T14:39:00.003+01:00

Good morning, last week of school here, complete chaos will reign for the rest of the summer once school stops on Thursday!

I am in a bit of a scrapping funk at the moment, I can't get going and will just sit and stare out of the window when I could be creative. I am also a bit bored of my own style and I think I am going to have to mix it up a little. That being said I did make a layout today, its alright but its very me and I think I am bored with me at the moment! Here it is: (colours are a bit faded, but you can't really expect sunny weather in July can you!?)

We had a lovely weekend, spot of shopping on Saturday morning and then a nice night out on Saturday, and on Sunday our friend Ray took us out to a lovely little place in Bath for breakfast, it was a small little shop that had flight after flight of stairs and little rickety old rooms and nooks for you to find a seat in. The breakfast was superb and we will definaltey go there again! We then helped Ray with some computer issues and then on to the pub for a relaxed lunch drink.

Busy week ahead with various school events/parties/performances and picnics. I will be back on Wednesday with a Twisted Sketches layout!

A sweet baby has arrived

2011-07-15T12:37:00.004+01:00

Just a quick card to show today, I just finished making it and realised that it qualifys for the Passion for Promarkers challenge so I have entered this one as well (I think I can enter more than once?)

My friends brother and his wife (who I know also) have just had a baby and so I thought I would send them a card, little musings patchwork cow works so well on baby cards and I love to colour it so thats what I used!

Jessica is on a day trip to London today, we had to get her to the school for 6.45am - TOO EARLY! I had to get up to wave her off because I had a little bit of a meltdown with her last night and the state of her bedroom and the way she scrunchies her school uniform up, I lost my temper and it wasn't pretty! Still she hopped off to school quite happy this morning. She will be so knackered tonight when she gets back though, might be her turn for a meltdown!

Also I have the frustation of 'happy' post that I cannot open! I ordered lots of lovely inks and background stamps for my birthday and they are starting to arrive now, but they are not to be opened until the day :(

Card Bonanza

2011-07-14T12:07:00.003+01:00

Hiya, I have some cards to share today, first off one that I have made for this weeks challenge for passion for promarkers, the challenge this week was 'gingham' and I used the recent offering from little musings the 'button buddies' owl, here is my take:

The I made this card which is my favourite of the 3, lots of craft robo useage on this one, the seed packet, the leaves and the vine all cut on the robo and I used promarkers to colour in the leaves and vines.

Finally this that I made yesterday, with my ever present butterfly!

I got my ink in the post so I should be able to scrapbook again fairly soon!

The Great Outdoors

2011-07-12T13:05:00.003+01:00

I've wanted to scrap the last couple of days but I need to print out some photos and I am waiting on an ink cartridge! I keep sitting down to craft and then remember that I still need that ink - pah! v frustrating.

I do however have something to show - I couple of layouts I have made for a DT tryout. This one is my fav - its quite clean and simple and I love the little musing stamp on it!

And this is a nice layout but the colours are a little washed out, I am really hoping we get a bit more sunny weather this summer, I bought a maxi dress and I would like the opportunity to actually wear it!

I took Jessica shopping at the weekend as it is her Last Year Prom next Thursday, she has picked a lovely dress, she looks stunning in it, its a bandeau maxi dress in neon colours with a black background (sounds yuck, looks lush!) and she looks so elegant and fun in it, she will be the belle of the ball, can't wait to get the photo

Button Buddies

2011-07-08T10:23:00.003+01:00

Hello!

Pop on over to Little Musings to download this weeks digital stamp set 'Button Buddies'. They are so cute, the little cow was my favourite and so I set to the outline with my promarkers (and my new ultra fine nibbs, which by the way are AWESOME!) and this is what I made:

I am a little in love with this cow truth be told and I have already coloured in another one!

The Family Shot

2011-07-06T14:04:00.002+01:00

Well thank god for Twisted Sketches this week or I would have nothing to show on this blog at all!! Pop over to see the sketch and join in! Here is my take:

I have been very busy this week organising my home, I took a good look around and realised that things needed a major spring clean, and so yesterday was the kitchen, I moved appliances, put some in the garage, cleaned, scrubbed and sorted cupboards! Today was the laundry cuboard, and now I have 2 large binliners of clothes to recycle and a lovely clean and organised space. Its one room at a time and I am going to eventually have a super organised house, with storage and things not just thrown in drawers. With 4 of us and 2 pets our 3 bed semi needs to have less in it - it feels good to throw out clutter!

I have just managed an hour of lovely crafty time as a reward and I have made a card for this weeks little musings which I can show you on Friday - MEGA CUTENESS in the digi stamps this week!

Lots of nothing

2011-07-04T12:42:00.003+01:00

I've had a fab weekend but I am suffering a bit for it now, I was hoping to get lots done today but it has become apparent that I am not going to do too much more than sit on the sofa with copious cups of tea.

On Saturday we had a lovely lunch at a new restaurant in Keynsham, we were the only ones in there for a while and the service was very snappy, which surprised us as we have heard that they have had a few teething problems. However the food was top notch and the decor and atmosphere of the place was nice too. I could have done without the worlds biggest moth coming to say hello, I just about managed to stay calm as something the size and fuzzyness of a blummin rabbit flew about. Nice waiter man caught it for me in the end!

Yesterday we had lots of birthdays to celebrate, out at 12.30pm and back home at 11pm, it was all a bit messy! fun but messy!

Today I am grateful for left over pizza that Jason and the kids had for tea last night, and also after a lot of looking around I have been able to order the promarker ultra fine nibs which is very exciting!

Right sorry for the lack of craft related stuff, I'm now upstairs to get the fan as it is getting hot in here!

The Birdcage

2011-06-30T12:09:00.003+01:00

I've made a couple of cards trying a new (for me) technique. I've used a couple of silhouette files as digital stamps and printed the lines onto patterned paper, I've then coloured in the lines with promarkers and this gives a lovely subtle colour but allows the pattern on the paper to still show through. I've then decoupaged some elements to add interest.

I love the subtle look of these cards, with the flat printed element, they look quite stylish.

I am quite impressed with the passport office I've have to say. The kids dad has applied for a passport for them as he is taking them to Eygpt. They needed some extra info from me and I only supplied it Monday and the passports came today! Mega quick!

Here they are with the passports (I have since cut Joes fringe, he was looking a bit Human League there!!)

The last donkey ride

2011-06-29T12:50:00.002+01:00

My husband is lovely, he went down the post office at 7am this morning so that when I came downstairs at 7.30 not only was my usual cup of tea waiting for me but my parcel was too. Jason said that there were about 4/5 other people picking up parcels that early, so god knows what the postie was up to yesterday!

So with my new lovely (half price) goodies I sat down to create. Its another painty, mess one and its one of Joe - Yay!

Its Jessicas sports day this afternoon - Jess has had something on every day this week and something that parents were invited to (uggh!)

I've mentioned before on this blog how much I LOVE sports day, I love that its never the same, I love that it starts on time, I love how well organised it is, I love how short and snappy it is, I love standing on the same spot for 2 hours, I love how crowded it is, it is just HEAVEN to me! I'm supposed to be there in just over half an hour but I have told Jess that I will come for just the last 45 mins or so. The good news is this is my last ever sports day YAY YAY YAY!!!! seriously its cute when the are little tots but after about 15-20 sports days, I am ready for them to be over!

At the toy shop

2011-06-28T12:59:00.004+01:00

Hello

I am so cross today with our postman who did the classic, 'put a red card through the door but don't actually knock to see if someone is in' manouver. I was in and now I don't have the parcel I was really looking forward to, what makes it worse is that they won't attempt a redelivery for 48hrs!

Anway here is a layout I did this morning, the picture was taken in The Entertainer the other Saturday when I took the kids shopping and for lunch. A nice bright layout to improve my mood!

We had to go up to the 'Big' school last night for a parents talk and so Jessica could be allocated and get to meet her tutor group, she has been put in a tutor group with her close friend Emily which we are both so pleased about! Jessica was so excited, it was very sweet!

12@12

2011-06-23T16:29:00.004+01:00

hmmm this is a little on the bright side! Not sure on the background paper at all, but it was a fun one to make and I LOVE the number border which again (sorry to bore) is a silhouette file, I shall miss all the new files when my sub runs out in a few days, but with a library of over 2200 files there is plenty to keep me going!

Yesterday I made this little space card, I love the bakers twine used as a rope!

Happy post day today, I got the Studio Calico Newsprint stamp that I have been coveting for about a month now. Sally very kindly sold me hers and now it is in my grubby paws and I LOVE it!

Its only a matter of time

2011-06-22T12:51:00.003+01:00

Hiya

Its my teams turn again this week over at Twisted Sketches Here is my take on the sketch this week, with the twist of 'time' Go on over and join in!

Right lunch......

That 70's Shot

2011-06-21T12:49:00.003+01:00

This was not what I intended to scrap this morning, but my lappy (of under 4 months!) decided to play silly buggers and would not switch on past a certain point, would not find any errors and would not system restore. I was not pleased! After a fairly fraught hour or two I have got it up and running, I have no clue what it was stroppy about, but at least I am back online!

This is a pic of Jason (in the blue stripey) and his brothers that they took to frame for his mothers 70th birthday last month.

I had a marvelous weekend, I took Joe and Jess into town on the bus on Sat, and it was really fun to spend time with just the two of them out of the house. We had a nice posh (for kids) lunch at giraffe, which was a lot more expensive than the usual maccy d's but was lovely as a treat, and I hope it was a day for them to remember! Jess spent all her birthday money, and we spent far far too long in build a bear than I care for but there you go! Jess bought a bear and a Darth Vadar outfit for it, and I was trying not to laugh, but the bear looked more like he had a rubber fetisist really and with his bright red light saber in his hand, it all looked a bit dodgy to me. Still she proudly gave it its own seat on the way home on the bus, whilst I tried not to snigger.

A welcome respite

2011-06-17T17:03:00.003+01:00

I've had a marvelous day, a new assignment from The Scrapbook Magazine (and its an assignment I am LOVING!) and a brand new big box of stasharama in the post. I have not had new stash in eons, its been about 4 months since I cancelled my kit club sub and its been about 2 CHA's since I put in a fun order for supplies. I put in the order after the most craptastic of days, and even that did not cheer me up, but i'm glad I did it now!

I've enjoyed using up some of my paper mountain, but lets face it, we scrapbookers need new products to feel inspired! It was so exciting when I opened up my box, I couldn't wait to get started. I've made a LO but its for the aforementioned assignment so I can't show it!

Its been a funny old week, Bruno has been scent marking a couple of spots in our house and its really gotten me down, the smell is horrendous. Add on to that the fact that Jason has been really rather poorly all week and has been at home with a gastro type illness. TMI alert (you have been warned!): I have had rundowns all week on the state of Jasons ilness, the type, the colour etc etc, he really does like to talk about it, I have been affectionatly calling them 'The Poo Monologues' (all done in a little boy/pathetic/ I think I am dying voice) I once, ONCE mentioned that I was going for a number 2 and he says "I'm not sure I needed that much information" I swear I nearly LAMPED him one! He is luckily slowly on the mend now and is walking about and starting to eat again, which is lucky cos frankly my sympathy was perhaps beginning to wane a bit (I have actually been superwife this last 5 days!), and I am running out of air freshener.

And I will finish this post with a lil pic of a card I made yesterday, early doors on the old teachers thank you card - superwife, supermotherofstudent (or something!)

Roll on the weekend

2011-06-15T17:14:00.006+01:00

I really need to get out thats all I'm saying! :)

Here is a card for Jason on Sunday (he is currently poorly sick and has been at home all week)
The brick wall is yet another silhouette file that I printed out.

Just another little tree card, feminine one this time!

And I made this today with a spare 30 minutes I had.

That is all - I am off to stick my head in the oven! Not really but its been one of those days!

I love these trees!

2011-06-14T11:49:00.007+01:00

Hello

I've been whipping up some cards in the last couple of days, and they all had to be mens cards (ughh!) 3 fathers day cards (2 made!) and one birthday card

I have to say that I love these print and cut trees. They are a file on the silhouette/craft robo that you print out and then feed through the silhouette and it cuts it out. I could use these trees over and over they are so pretty and versatile, and they look great on masculine cards!

Then I just made this card. See the background chicken wire print? Thats another cut file from the silhouette, this time I asked it to print the lines in a dark grey instead of cut them, I ran green cardstock through the printer and ended up with a card background that looks like it was stamped. Thats what I love about the Silhouette with a bit of imagination you can use it in so many ways. The little fathers day label was printed out with the sentiment typed in and I cut it by hand.

Finally this one was made quick smart, its a fun whimsical card for the kids to give their dads on Sunday, not too much thought and effort, its not my best work this one, but sometimes you just want to get it done!

I've had a very crafty morning, I was up at Jessica's school for a family craft event, where we painted and decorated little boxes - great fun!

Water Works

2011-06-13T16:43:00.003+01:00

Hello, nice to have a bit of sunshine this afternoon after such a dreary weekend.

I have Jason home today, he is not feeling very well. God he is a grumpy bugger whens he ill, you can't get a civil sentance out of him at all, I am hoping he will be working tomorrow!!

I needed to escape from Jason today so I took myself off to the kitchen to scrap and made this Layout, its really cute in real life but has not photographed too well despite the sunshine!

I got into such a mess with the mist, my hands are now a fetching shade of blue!

Jessicas drama performance was so cute! There was a really good atmosphere in the hall and she really shone, it was nice that her dad and stepmum came to watch too.

Dig a Hole - and new hair

2011-06-11T14:19:00.004+01:00

Afternoon

Nice quiet afternoon here, Jessica is at her school summer fayre, I am not going because Jess is not bothered and if I am truthful I HATE things like that, I feel like I have done my years of trawling around fayres full of tat and spending a fortune on things I have no interest in and getting bothered by crowds of people- ugh! I've realised over the last year that I do not like crowds, I do not like too many other people all trying to get to/see things and I am slowly stopping doing activites like this, or limiting the time I will be there, they just make me throughly miserable! (Only one more sports day to go through as well!!! yay!!)

Jess also has her performance tonight which although again involves too many people, I am looking forward too, and its good its only for an hour, even I can cope with that! She's so excited and has practised so hard, it will be lovely to see her do her solos

Jason is yet again stripping paint in our bathroom, so I have spent a quiet hour or two scrapping and have come up with this very very bright page (it was almost in the bin at one stage!!)

And here is a pic of my new hair (sans make-up urgghh! sorry!!!) that I had done on Monday, I can only cope with my long locks for so long!

Beside the Sea

2011-06-10T12:44:00.002+01:00

I'm using a lot more colourful card backgrounds at the moment and trying to steer clear of my usual white card choice, this was made easier by sorting all my cardstock into one huge bag in rainbow order.

I absolutely love the little wave border that I cut on my craft robo, I used it on a card the other week too! This was a lovely easy one that made itself using a Bella Blvd line.

Im really doing well using up lots of older paper lines, I haven't bought ANY of last CHA releases and only a small bit of the one before! I don't even get a kit anymore. The downside to this is it is harder to get inspired, but at least I am using it up a bit now.

We've had a bit of a manic week this week. Jessica is in a performance on Saturday night and there have been lots of last minute rehersals in the evenings this week (inc tonight) and lots of ferrying around. Tonight is the dress rehersal, it was only Monday we were told of all these extra rehersals along with the dress requirements (only white top and black leggings, but typically Jess does not have a white top and her black leggings have a hole in arrgghhh!!) so she has been pinned into one of mine and I have sewn up the hole. Tonight I will hopefully be able to pick up one of each in Asda for the real performance on Sat.

Also she is on the committee for the summer fayre on Sat daytime and has had lots to sort out for that and her teacher (rather unfairly) has been giving her a bit of grief about it. Also her birthday so the poor girl has been in a bit of a whirl all week and tonight and tomorrow will be a complete panic I am sure! Jess has over committed herself a bit!

Turning back the years

2011-06-09T11:42:00.003+01:00

Yesterday was Jessicas 11th Birthday and so I was naturally thinking back to her birth and her baby years and was inspired to scrap one of her baby photos, well a toddler photo as she was about 18 months in this photo.

Its a different style to my normal but its nice to change things up from time to time.

And here she is last night in the outfit my mum bought her (that is already so badly stained, I don't know how its going to come out - mum, have you ever met my daughter, WHITE? really?) and playing with the ipod touch I was foolishly conned into buying her (how much!???!!!)

She had a lovely day and was so thrilled with all her presents. She is still very much into teddys and she got the Selena Gomez bear from the bear factory and a gift voucher for there too, and more cash then any child should ever really have. I ALWAYS buy books for my children for christmas and birthdays and luckily they are always appreciated. We had Fajitas and ice-cream cake for tea at Jessicas request - all in all a lovely day!

Splash, Swim, Sun

2011-06-08T11:49:00.003+01:00

Hello, I've been having a quiet week this week, after the manic mega crafty one I had last week, I find myself uninclined to scrap at all!

However I am here today to share my take on this weeks sketch over at Twisted Sketches this week

Pop on over and join in!

Good friends and Chocolate

2011-06-02T12:22:00.003+01:00

I am on a scrapping roll these last few days!

(bit of glare off the doily overlay in this pic)

Jessica had a sleepover last night and I promised the chocolate fountain - I am NEVER EVER using that damn thing again, it is almost impossible to get it up and running, and when I did the chocolate tasted fowl! Still it was good for a photo op, and lets face it, thats the main thing!

Also I am never using those glittery letters ever again, cosmo have put absolutely no fixadent on them and now I am covered in purple glitter - I hate working with glittery things!

Rise of the Machines

2011-06-01T15:23:00.003+01:00

Joe and I are both HUGE fans of the Terminator films (I let him watch them last summer, these days Dr Who is scarier!)

When we saw this Terminator behind a glass case at the new pier at Weston we had to have a pic. This man walked over and said "what does it do?" and I said "not much hopefully or I am OUT OF HERE!!!" he wasn't impressed with it, I think he wanted it to break out and start shooting or something!

Anyway here is a layout I made with my scary robot friend in it (this has possibly the longest title ever!!)

Some robots are cute, like this little fella!

Wish me luck I have a sleepover for Jess tonight, although the girls are all fine really and are currently off at the swimming pool, I will have a houseful in about an hour!

The Frazzle Situation

2011-05-31T14:55:00.003+01:00

I told you all the stray dog story the other day, well of course I couldn't resist a layout all about him!

I've not scrapped on black for ages, but it looks good against all the bright colours on this layout.

I was also asked to make a card today - I had a 3 hour deadline on that, and no card mojo whatsoever, however I managed to do it, but its not a favourite.

Rocket card

2011-05-30T17:40:00.003+01:00

Happy Bank Holiday!

What awful weather we have had here today, its been like winter, but its a perfect day to spend snuggled up in front of the telly. I did want to put the heating on for an hour, but it seems my boiler is on the blink so now we have to have British Gas round tomorrow!

I finally managed to get off the sofa to make this fun little card that I have had in my head for a while now. The rocket is a Silhouette file that I choose to print out rather than cut so that I could colour it in as I wished, I love that option with cut files! The cloud paper is the 6x6 Echo Park Summertime range and I decoupaged a couple of clouds for extra definition.

We've had a lovely and busy weekend, on Saturday we went to my mums for a family BBQ, the weather was challenging, but in the end it was really ok and I had a really lovely time. On Sunday (our anniversary) we went for a gorgeous meal and then spent the rest of the day socialising with friends.