Pink'n'Black, Snaps'n'Scraps

~: My New Blog.... :~

2011-05-02T14:45:00.002+01:00

~: Happy Birthday Adam! :~

2010-12-21T23:06:00.003Z

Wishing my little fella loads of love on his 9th birthday.

He had a lovely day, trying out his new bike, playing together on the Wii, and enjoying his bowling party with his friends.

I can't believe my baby is now 9... only another year until double figures- how mad is that?
Love you so much sweetie. xxx

~: A Sad Day :~

2010-12-09T21:41:00.004Z

Today was such a sad day I've not been able to talk much about it, and still can't much.
Today was the funeral of our beloved Nanna. She passed away on the 19th of November, and ever since I've felt a little numb.
In that time I've barely thought about Christmas, and certainly haven't done anything crafty.
We've had snow and ice, and hamster problems.
But I feel I've just been muddling through the day to day things.

But today has now been, and hopefully tomorrow I can start to move on, start to move towards Christmas.
I won't have forgotten, but hope now I can get my fuzzy brain back into gear.

We all loved you so much Nanna.
xxx

~: RIP Harrie the Hamster :~

2010-11-14T22:36:00.002Z

Little Harrie the Hamster fell asleep peacefully on the 13th November 2010. She's now up in the Big Hamster Cage in the sky, re-united with Billie. She's slowed down so much over the last week that I knew this was likely.
But why do these things always happen when hubby is away for the night? Obviously I had two rather sad children here this morning, but they've already decided on what they'll call the next pair of Hamsters!

It's been one of those weeks really... what with me having had an extremely painful hydrocortisone injection on Tuesday for my shoulder pain. I'm glad I had it... but I do wish the doctor had made me even slightly aware of how much it was going to hurt when the local anaesthetic that is in the injection had worn off!

This morning Emily and Adam both played their parts in the Rememberance Service at the church. Emily got to be flag bearer for the Guides, Adam stood with his fellow cubs. Was proud of them both. No photos sadly as I only took the little camera and all photos are out of focus grrrr!

~: Whoop-diddy-doo!! Oh Yeah! :~

2010-10-29T22:27:00.003+01:00

Oh wow! After over an hour of trying this morning to no avail- crashed ticket sites and lots of error messages- I tried again after lunch and we managed to bag four tickets for Take That in concert on my birthday next year!
How exciting is that?
I never was a fan in my younger days, but since their return I have loved their music had said that I'd love to go to one of their concerts one day.

SO looking forward to 5th July 2011 :oD

~: GoGo Bye-Bye :~

2010-10-15T23:02:00.002+01:00

I just want to say a HUGE thankyou to the lovely Lorraine and Janice at ScrapaGoGo for having let me be on their Design Team for the last nine months.
It was a great honour to be asked, I loved being part of their fantastic team; and the kits were so wonderful to work with.
I am going to miss them all terribly- but it's not Goodbye, just "see you around".
xxx

~: W/E 10/10/2010 :~

2010-10-10T22:18:00.017+01:00

Well that's another week flown by!
On the crochet front, having finished my bag on Monday, I then somehow managed to accidentally start on the Granny Stripe blanket! :oP

This pic was a couple of days ago... I am now 4 stripes further on.
And it's just looking so pretty and stripity! (sp?!!)
I just wish I could crochet it faster- but my hands will only let me do one row, maybe one stripe in one sitting.

Since starting reading the Attic24 blog, one thing I try to do is keep a vase of colourful flowers on my living room windowsill.
These caught my eye in Tescos on Friday-

The back of the house starts to look really pretty at this time of year...

The virginia creeper turns such lovely shades of red- just before all the leaves fall off and make a mess everywhere!

Yesterday we managed to squeeze in a trip to Thetford Forest.
I love to visit every autumn at least once- to walk through the crunchy leaves, to search for pretty toadstools to photo... and to generally mess around with the family.

It was a gorgeous day- with clear skies it was lovely and warm.
Every fallen tree had to be walked along.

Under one large tree were two rope swings... they were great fun!

James and the kiddies also made a den under the same tree- under there was beautiful, in the dappled sunshine it really had a magical feel.

Whilst walking around with camera in hand- I found this!

How fantsatic?! I was so thrilled to find a real life red spotty toadstool!

and then- just as we were about to leave- we found this...

... and this!

I just couldn't believe the size of them- a good 6 inches in diameter!
They just made a perfect afternoon out that little more magical :o)

~: It's Finished! :~

2010-10-04T22:12:00.010+01:00

Unbelievably, just 2 weeks and 2 days after starting the project, I have finished my "Lucy Bag"!
I am so happy to have stuck with it and am pleased with the finished article :o)

It's ended up not quite as big as I had expected, but once opened up it really is quite roomy inside, and will be a great WIP bag to carry my wooly projects around in.
See those ruffle flowers on the front side of the bag? I knew the sort of thing I wanted to make but couldn't find a pattern- so these are my own design!

After reading about and seeing other peoples Lucy Bags on Ravelry, I decided to line mine as well, to add some extra strength and stability to the bag.
This wasn't quite as easy a job as I had hoped- machine sewing (or sewing of any sort for that matter!) is not my strong point; and finding my machine had completely mangled a rubber ring washer thingy inside really didn't help matters either- so thankyou to my dear hubby for sorting that little problem out for me! x

Ooh it's so great to get a project finished- now to crack on with my Summer Garden Granny, and Ripple blankets!

Although today I did get slightly sidetracked...

Having recently bought a rather lovely stash of Stylecraft Special DK acrylic-

I couldn't resist having a little go at a practice piece ready for when I start my Granny Stripe blanket.

But how long can I hold out before starting on it proper?
Somehow I don't think it'll be long- the pattern is such an easy one, I'm sure I could get going on it and actually have a chance of finishing it before winter!

~: Wednesday :~

2010-09-29T21:12:00.004+01:00

Oh I cannot even begin to tell how tired i am tonight.
As is every Wednesday, today was papers delivery day. Up at 6am, in the rain, and got soaked. Not much fun!
I am now sitting ready to carry on crocheting the first handle for my Lucy Bag, as that is where I am at with it.
By Monday afternoon I had finished the body of the bag- and even added the shell edging...

And a close up...

I wasn't really a multicoloured kind of girl until I came across the Attic24 blog... now I see colour everywhere!

~: One Week In.... :~

2010-09-25T21:38:00.003+01:00

So I've been working on my "Lucy Bag" for 1 week now... and here is how far I've got-

I have now completed row 17 of about 24 up the sides (so thats 31 altogether so far). Having crocheted 4 rows today, at that rate I could possibly have finished the basic body of the bag by the end of Monday!
Wonder if I can manage that?

*goes off to crochet another row....* :oD

Yesterday I finished sewing the remainder of the granny sqaures I already had made together. Once this bag is done and dusted I'll make another 24 squares and once they are fixed on I will be able to decide if that will be big enough or if another 24 will be needed.

And already I have another project I'm desperate to start on-
"The Granny Stripe"
Oh I LOVE Lucy at Attic24- but will I ever again get any housework done??!

* ******************* *

Tonight I am thinking of Emily- sleeping out in a cardboard box with Guides.
They are having a sponsored sleep-out to raise their awareness of homelessness. Here I am snuggled on the sofa in my pjs, having just had a hot bath to warm me through.
Hope they're not all shivering too much!!

~: Little Fellas "New Do" :~

2010-09-23T23:00:00.003+01:00

After growing his hair for some time, as apparently longer hair was "in"- he decided a couple of weeks ago he now wanted it all cut short again.
So today off we went to the hairdressers

Doesn't he look different?
Far more grown up I think!
He loves it, and I certainly prefer it... though I think he looks cute either way xxx

~: Crochet Bag Update :~

2010-09-22T21:47:00.003+01:00

Today is Day 5 of my "Lucy Bag" crochet project.
Progress has been much slower during the week than it was at the weekend, and as all the rounds now are the same size and much bigger than the earlier increase rounds, it all takes a little longer.

S0 here is where I am at with it...

I'm on the seventh round going up the side, out of maybe 21 or so.
Then there will be the edging, the straps to make... and eventually I will line it too, with some cotton fabric I went out and bought on Monday.
My target to finish is in 2 weeks time.
Can I manage that?
Who knows... so round and round and up I go!

~: Lucy Bag - Day 2 :~

2010-09-19T22:05:00.004+01:00

Oh how a project can get under your skin!
Last night I couldn't put the beginnings of my bag down, and went to bed 6 rounds further on... today after another 4 rounds, this is how it looks now

Since this photo I have added the last increase round, and I am about to crochet the first round that will be the beginnings of the body of the bag.
As you can see it is going to be very colourful... I'm not sure I entirely like all the colours that much, so I think 3 of them may not appear as much as the rest!
I think I have made a good choice of yarn with the Patons Linen Touch DK... it crochets nicely, and is quite sturdy with a good definition. With hindsight I think maybe I should have used a size smaller hook as Lucy did with the original bag to make a tighter "knit". But as I intend to line it (as many others have done over on the Attic24 group on Ravelry I don't think it will matter too much.

I still have quite some way to go... with maybe up to 24 more rounds, it'll keep me busy for some time yet!

Alot of the rest of the day was spent sorting Adams bedroom some more.
Last weekend James built his new bed; today he put together an Ikea Expedit shelving unit. Then it was time to move most of his toys back in, and move out a few of the ones he no longer plays with.

Then Adam said something that made me smile so much:
"Today has been like a dream." He said it with such happiness and a such a big beaming grin, that I nearly cried! I gave him the hugest hug. x

~: My "Lucy" Bag :~

2010-09-18T20:50:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I blogged about what my next crochet project will be... ( the "Lucy Bag" from Attic24)well today, although I knew I really didn't need to start on anything else just yet- I began.

It doesn't look much yet... but it is actually already 2 rounds bigger since taking this photo.
Lets see how this grows...!

~: Wheely Good Fun! :~

2010-09-18T20:10:00.009+01:00

.... that title so completely describes my feelings for this kit!

It also happens to be the title for the third layout I made using it-

It is of Adam playing in the playground at a farm we visited in the summer holidays.
I deliberately picked out items in the kit that picked out the orange colour of his top, then used the vibrant blues and greens to make it bright and fun.

The second card I made is a bright and cheery "Love You" greeting.

Using the Cosmo Cricket Pixiliscious chipboard pieces made it a breeze to out together.

~: More adventures with the "Enchanted Wood" :~

2010-09-17T20:22:00.007+01:00

Oh the October ScrapaGoGo kit is just so fun and easy to work with!
Yesterday I finished another layout, and another card!

For now here is the layout...

I wanted this to be pretty, to go with the lovely picture of Emily and my darling niece.
Using the flocked transparency, and lots of flowers and butterflies, made it a very girlie page.

I'll show the card tomorrow- and maybe even another layout I put together today :oD

On the crochet front... yesterday I received this little package of yarn loveliness in the post...

This is going to become a "Lucy Bag" . That is, I will be using the bag pattern by Lucy over on her Attic24 blog. I sort of started making one when I first started out with crochet, but now I feel better practised to attempt one!

This afternoon I finished sewing another row of squares to my granny blanket-

And in detail-

It is currently made up of 48 squares, and measures about 120x40 cms. I have another 24 squares made up ready to sew on, and intend to crochet another 24.
Once that is all done I will decide if I feel it needs to be bigger, and if so will be making 24 more.
The whole thing will then be edged, so I still have some way to go yet!

But last night for a change of scene I added another stripe to my Ripple blanket. Remember that one?
Now the weather is cooling down I won't be minding have it over my knees whilst working on it!!

~: Carousel :~

2010-09-15T21:46:00.004+01:00

Well I said yesterday I hoped to finish my first layout using the fabby October ScrapaGoGo kit today- and I did! :o)

This kit is so colourful and fun, but with a hint of magic and sparkle.
Just perfect I thought to scrap these photos of this Carousel at Butlins.

And once i finished that LO, I was all fired up and inspired and managed to squeeze a pretty card in before dinner!

This card is a feast of florals- the May Arts ribbon, and the Prima flowers, nestled amongst the Cosmo Cricket frames.
Yet it still feels fresh and modern. A perfect card to lift someones spirits,or to wish a Happy Birthday.

And amongst the scrapping I even snuck in a few minutes on my blanket.... another row of squares finished being sewn on.

~: Enchanted Woods :~

2010-09-14T22:13:00.004+01:00

Yesterday I had a yummy box of GoGo-Goodness arrive, in the form of the October ScrapaGoGo kit...

So guess what I started to play with this afternoon?
Hopefully by tomorrow evening I will have finished my first layout :o)

And whilst I have actually managed to visit blog-land, I must show this lurvely bag I found in Hobbycraft the other day-

Isn't it just gorgeous? Just perfect for storing my current crochet project stash in, with pockets for hooks and scissors.
My Granny blanket is still in progress- I've made 3/4 of the proposed squares (see some of them in the top of my new bag there?), and am currently sewing them together. Hopefully in a couple of days I'll be ready to show another pic x

~: Still Here!!.... and the September GoGo Kit :~

2010-09-03T22:05:00.010+01:00

Oh dear, where oh where has the last month gone?
I have no reason for not blogging, other than Summer holiday busy-ness, and just being waaaaay too tired by the time I sit at my lappie in the evening.

Well here I am... and here is what I've been up to scrappy-wise for the last couple of weeks.

In mid August my September ScrapaGoGo kit arrived- it was quite a struggle finding the time to play with it, inbetween outings with the kiddies and the odd night away here and there.
But when I did find time, it was a lovely kit to use.

Here are my layouts...

The super-sized wooden buttons that come in the kit make a perfect feature embellishment on the page. Threading with the embroidery thread and popping a pin through finished it perfectly.

The stamped edging on this die-cut paper reminded me of turrets on a castle, so I used this photo of Adam, and added to the feel of knights by making a shield and sword.

The corrugated alphabet looks great when outlined- by using white meant the letters stood out clearly from the background paper. I used the Hybrid alphabet to make the subtitle.

This picture of Adam was taken last summer, but I've not quite been sure how to scrap it. The colours and patterns in this kit worked so well.

I used the corrugated alphas again here- a light covering of paint covers the raised surface but not the rest, and this highlights the texture and adds to the dimensional feel.

I love this last layout- even though I got to the end before realising I'd forgotten to add in the title! Sticking it to the Prima leaves was a quick but pretty fix!

I loved the scrapFX chipboard trees plain, but lightly inking them and embellishing with the Prima pearl branches turned them into something a little special! Just right to go with this photo of my Emily.

I also created two cards and a lovely mini book with the add-on mini Kit...hopefully I'll get to blog them very soon x

~: Back from Holiday :~

2010-08-10T22:59:00.004+01:00

We got home yesterday after a week at Butlins in Bognor Regis.
I'm still having difficulty getting back into normal mode again, I have huge piles of washing to get done but the weather today slowed things down a bit.

I took about 1000 photos whilst away, but am struggling to work my way through them- I need to get them sorted and quickly as I will want to scrap something from the holiday when my September dt ScrapaGoGo kit arrives sometime at the end of this week.

I hope to do a proper blog post with piccies (mainly for my dear sister to see) but am just too tired now.
But here are a couple of my favourite photos from the holiday...

The kiddies loved the big deckchair.... and I loved this guy-

Titan the Robot (or Big Bro-bot for anyone who watches Big Brother) He was amazing and so funny, we watched him twice... I am SO in love! Ha ha!

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get to blog a bit more... after spending the day delivering my papers, that is! *sigh*

~: GoGo Grab-It Day! :~

2010-08-01T14:32:00.003+01:00

Here it is again, Grab-It day- must mean it's another 1st of the month!
But that means it must be August, and it won't be *that* long until the August ScrapaGoGo it will be landing on subscribers doormats.
And I have to say it was the most lovely easy to work with kit :o)

The stamps were especially cute, a few ideas are being shown on the GoGo blog to get you started.

I used them on my fourth August kit layout...

Using white acrylic paint I stamped a border of the round lantern stamp. This created a scalloped like edge to my page.

Of course don't forget the Go 2 Pieces... the Bespoke Design cards... the extra card... and more!

Happy Garb-It Day!

~: Denver Windmill :~

2010-07-25T23:38:00.002+01:00

We're forever saying that we must go on more family trips out- but of course that often means spending alot of money.
This morning James said he's seen somewhere that would be nice- a fairly local still fully functional windmill, with a tea-room.

So we headed off after lunch (another great thing about finding local attractions- fitting it into the afternoon meant not having to buy food). We headed straight into the windmill, (which cost us a small amount, but not alot). Inside the kiddies loved having a go at hand grinding the grain with stones.

With 6 floors in total- 5 of which you could climb up- meant there were alot of steps- and all flights were ladder like and quite steep!

If you managed to climb all the way to the top the children received a certificate... which of course they thought was quite fun.

The tea-room was also a bakery selling freshly produced bread- I thought the little flour windmill detail was so cute!

And here thye are outside the windmill.
We had a lovely afternoon there, finished off with ice creams in the yard.

Such an easy and fun couple of hours- we really must discover more local attractions to visit.

~: Cards :~

2010-07-25T22:59:00.004+01:00

Oooooh the ScrapaGoGo August greetings card kit comes with these amazing pretty 3D butterflies!

As soon as I saw one in real life I knew they would make lovely little extra "gifts" with the card, so used it in such a way that it could be removed by the recipient, yet leave the card still looking complete.

My second card was quite quick and easy to put together, thanks to the title stickers included- as one said "Thankyou" on it a teachers thankyou card sprang to mind.
Just ideal as it was the end of term as my kit arrived!

~: Non Scrappy Post :~

2010-07-24T22:45:00.006+01:00

Here is a snap of how my granny blanket is going...

I've made 24 squares, and today I joined along the first two rows- just so I could get a good idea of how it will eventually look, and hopefully give me the push I need when further down the line I am starting to get bored with it.
I will see this project through to the end....!

This isn't the greatest pic in the world... but I love it.
It nearly works, I was trying to get his feet in focus. I do like the blurryness, yet you can still definately make out who it is.

It is just so Adam, and so fun.

Earlier this evening James called us outside to see a little toad he found-

Of course the little fella wouldn't keep still and most shots I got are a little blurry. But this one is sharp, even if it's not his best angle.
See how small he is? The kiddies thought he was so cute and Adam of course asked if we could keep him!
And with that he hopped away pretty fast!

~: More with the August ScrapaGoGo kit :~

2010-07-24T22:16:00.007+01:00

Here are two more layouts I created using the August kit...

This first one I printed the photo ages ago but never quite had the right reason to use it. But when I got this kit I just knew the colour would work perfectly, and all the butterflies meant I could easily create a beautifully girly layout.

I made full use of the hybrid elements, and the Maya Road chipboard butterflies.

The photo on this second layout was taken of my sister, brother and me, at my sisters recent birthday celebrations. Just look at how well her dress co-ordinates with this kit!

The stamps were so fun to use, and by stamping onto the patterned papers they make great lantern embellishments to decorate the page and add to the party feel.

My fourth layout is sitting half done on my desk as I type, and I will blog two cards tomorrow.
I am SO loving this kit.... it is SO pretty, and SO versatile...

...and just SO pink! :oD

~: Layout 1 :~

2010-07-17T22:04:00.003+01:00

So here is my first layout from the August ScrapaGoGo kit

I love all the branches and oriental feel to this kit, and I loved playing with it to make a male layout of my Adam.
I didn't end up using some of what I showed in my sneak in my last post... after some playing and re-thinking this is the end result.

And a close-up of the butterflies in the top corner- the orange bottom layer is from the hybrids deisgned by Vicki Parker, and the brown top one is Jenni Bowlin from the August Go 2 Pieces add-on.

I can't wait for monday and some peaceful scrapping time to play some more- weekends just aren't condusive for free-flowing mojo!

~: Tokyo Gardens :~

2010-07-15T22:28:00.006+01:00

The August ScrapaGoGo kit has been revealed...

and today I got my DT kit to play with.
Here is the tiniest little sneak of what I started working on this afternoon...

Hopefully I'll get my first layout finished tomorrow.

*************************************************************************************

The beginnings of my new blanket are emerging

It's going to be another ongoing project, but it will be far more manageable in the warmer summer weather as you are working on only a small piece at a time.
I am still loving my ripple blanket to bits, but struggle to sit with it across my lap at the moment!
Come the cooler weather in a couple of months I'll be busy working on it again :o)

~: Sunday :~

2010-07-11T23:28:00.008+01:00

A relatively relaxed day today, except for popping to the garden centre this morning to buy a pot for our new rose bush and some petunias to perk up the pots and hanging basket out the front.
Oh and whilst there we bought a new fish too...

I saw this type a few weeks back, it is a "Fancy Moor Butterfly" and after a lot of thinking eventually this evening it got named Roxie. This was after Emily suggested Rockstar... I felt Roxie a little more becoming for a goldfish!

After lunch I madly went round doing some housework, before James and the kiddies headed off to the station to pick up their Grandma.
Another lovely afternoon followed, spending time in the garden enjoying the gorgeous (if a little too hot!) sunshine.

The day ended with the boys watching the football (ok, not just any football but the World Cup final *yawn*) and us girls were planting the new flowers. Emily chose some this morning and then she decided to plant them along the edge of the conservatory.

Grandma is here to spend the day tomorrow having a look around the local town, with the thought of maybe one day moving up here nearer us.
Of course, this means the weather tomorrow will be turning... it's supposed to be alot cooler- and alot wetter... typical heh?!

~: This and That :~

2010-07-10T22:37:00.004+01:00

Thought I'd blog a photo orientated post- there've been a few taken this week and these are some of my fave things....

On Monday I made chocolate brownies to take to line dancing to celebrate my birthday with

They looked super scrummy nestled in my polkadot tin.

On Tuesday I popped to the shops in town, and accidentally paid a quick visit to the wool shop

This colourful little lot is cheap and cheerful FAB and stylecraft acrylic DK. Hopefully it will all become a flowery granny blanket, using the pattern on Attic24. I wanted it to be bright and summery, and suitable for using outside.

This wonderful new toy arrived for me on Wednesday. My mother-in-law Mary was so kind and gave me some money for my birthday.
I've been hankering after some GHDs for SO long, and at last I had the money to get some.

Ordered on Tuesday, they arrived on Wednesday, and with free postage too! Fab service or what?
And I have to say I LOVE them :oD

I think this arrived in the post on Thursday, oredered last week from Amazon.
I already own a Crumpler camera bag, but being white I am too afraid to take it out incase it gets ruined!
After a recent visit to PC World I saw another make of bag in red, and quite fancied getting one. After looking online I came across this one instead, and at only £15.99 it seemed too good a bargain to miss!

It is an "aha 130 SLR Bag" in Maple... it has 3 additional pockets and is surprisingly spacious- there is room for a purse and phone and a few other small items as well as camera with lens, and an extra lens plus spare battery and memory card etc.

This photo captures some of the fun that has been had this week- I'm trying to prise Adam away from the Wii as much as possible, although in truth he doesn't use it that much, just more than I'd like considering the fabulous weather we've been having.

This is a great toy called a Wobble Board. There are games where it tells you a colour or sound and you have to wobble the board in that direction- great fun it is too!

Talking of the lovely weather... the paddling pool is out again (despite the holes in it!)
It's not huge but is just perfect for cooling my feet down in

Of course the kiddies have had great fun splashing around in it too!

~: 15 years! :~

2010-07-08T22:17:00.005+01:00

It seems impossible to think we got married on a gorgeous sunny day 15 years ago... it really doesn't seem anything like that long- where does the time go?

James was so sweet and gave me this gorgeous bead for my Pandora bracelet-

which made me cry and feel very guilty for not buying anything for him.
I know it's not all about presents, but I had to get him something after that, so I decided to give it a little thought.

I didn't want to buy a box of chocolates", but chose a slab of Thorntons choccie with a simple "15 years xxx" message on.
I didn't want to buy "flowers", but having looked online and found that the Rose is supposed to be the 15th anniversary flower, I thought a little rose bush would be nice. At the garden centre I found this one called "Ruby Wishes" and as Ruby is the gemstone for July, it was just perfect!
Of course he told me that I shouldn't have done, but hopefully the rose will grow over the years, just as we have grown together over the last 15.

Love you James x

~: Funny Old Day :~

2010-07-05T23:50:00.002+01:00

Today was my birthday, but it felt the weirdest a birthday ever has.
I know as you get older birthdays feel different, they lose the excitement they once had as a child.
I had no plans for today, it was a regular day, children in school, James was at work.
My friend asked if I wanted to go and walk after dropping the boys at school- but she didn't remember my birthday.
Then I went to Tescos, as I do on other "normal" days.
It was only after talking to my Mum and Dad on the phone that they then suggested going out for lunch.
They came over and we popped to one of the pubs here in the village.
And very nice it was too.
We've lived here for 6 1/2 years and can you believe I've never eaten there before?

The day ended with the usual Monday night line dancing- and I even made chocolate brownies to take and share!
Present wise I knew not to expect much- I mean i did get my new bike as an early prezzie a few weeks back!
But James gave me a ds game, and my mum and Dad gave me a cute little tortoise Pandora bead :o)
So it wasn't such a bad birthday after all!

~: Carnival Day :~

2010-07-03T23:00:00.010+01:00

The first Saturday in July is always the day of our village carnival.
The day consists of a procession of floats in the morning, and an afternoon of childrens sports races and ring events.
This year James got himself onto the committee, and has been busy especially over the last week helping to put the finishing touches to the day. He was also involved in helping to build the football clubs float.
The theme for the floaots changes each year and this time was "FairyTales"

The children were both on floats- Emily with Guides, they'res was "Narnia";

Adam was on the football clubs float- Peter Pan.

Adam was a "lost boy" and Emily a beaver

Both kiddies took part a little in the sports events-

And I am pleased to report that they are both consistent in their placings- always last! Bless them, as I always say, it's the taking part!

And talking of which.... even I took part in the Mums race!

Here they are before leaving at the end of the afternoon, wearing their participation medals and actually spending a few moments with James (he had an extremely busy day running around helping out)

~: Happy Birthday James! :~

2010-07-01T22:41:00.005+01:00

To my dear hubby James.... Happy 41st Birthday! x

Maybe not the best photo of him, but it's the only one I took today... and it shows the yummy iced mocha drink and raspberry and white chocolate muffin we had whilst out together today! :o)
He always gets his birthday off work, so we make the most of the day together and head out for lunch. And coffee and a little light shopping in todays case.
And it is nice to have a day of just us.

Something else that made me smile today was an unexpected gift of flowers from a friend

More specifically the friend is the Mum of one of Emilys friends; and the reason was simply that I have helped out with some too-ing and fro-ing recently for after and out of school activities.
Isn't that just so sweet? I didn't know what to say!

Here is a piccie of a water bottle bag I crocheted last week

I actually made two, one for me and one for Emily, for us to use to carry our drinks at the Race for Life.
They worked very well, and meant we didn't have to hold the bottles.
Pretty quick and easy to make, the hardest part was the straps. And they weren't that hard, just a little tedious!
I've been asked about the pattern, but as it is from my Crochet Unravelled book I can't just copy it here.
Maybe after reworking the pattern a little to make a few changes I will post my version.

Did you remember that today was Grab It day over at ScrapaGoGo?There are some lovely extras to go with the upcoming July kit, and it appears there is still some stock available.... but I doubt it will last long!

~: Race for Life :~

2010-06-30T23:56:00.010+01:00

Yesterday Emily and I took part in one of the Cancer Research Race for Life sponsored events, held in Peterboroughs Ferry Meadows Country Park.

Here we were before the race began.

It was such an amazing atmosphere, most ladies and girls dressed in pink, some in costumes, many- like us, in hats or other headwear such as deeley boppers!
Before the warm up began, Kev Lawrence from Heart radio was on the stage- how cool to actually see the man of the voice!

The warm up was such fun, but I was sure that by the end of it I would be too tired to complete the course!

Of course I wasn't, and soon the "race" began.
Here we are near the beginning

James had my camera and instructions to shoot at will- and I'm so pleased I must be teaching him well- he took just over 100 photos! :o)

I love shots like this, that show a snapshot of how many people so want to help to raise money for such an important cause.

And here we are after the race with our medals...

I was pleased to discover I must be fitter than I thought- I found it pretty easy, and could easily have completed it quicker. Our time was 48 minutes and 46 seconds.... our time to beat next year!
Not that the time matters... it's the money raised that does!

Between us I am so pleased to say I think we have raised about £166!
Any more sponsorship would be greatly appreciated- the more money we can raise the more chance that one day there will be a cure, and better treatments available to all who need.

~: Loving It! :~

2010-06-26T23:40:00.008+01:00

Loving the sunsine here right now, it's just so nice to not have to worry about being cold! lol

But this week I've also been loving playing with my July GoGo DT kit :o)

The first project I worked on with it is this...

The flags in the main kit, and the lovely blues and reds inspired me. I also had the "best of British" saying in my head, so added the wording "All the Best" to make it a good luck or thinking of you sort of card.

I will admit it took me quite some time to construct, trying to get the triangles and spaces between the right sort of sizes. And I love how it turned out.

Here is the first layout-

I took the photo of my niece at my sisters recent 40th birthday party. Having fiddled with it a little before printing through Photobox, the colours went really well with the pinks and greens of the kit.

I used items from the Create kit, the Go 2 Pieces, the Hybrids, and a Bespoke Design Card designed by Sam Ball. All the elements combined to make a pretty LO for such a gorgeous little girl.

More layouts to follow tomorrow!

~: Pencil Lines! :~

2010-06-20T22:32:00.004+01:00

Oh I was so excited to get an email earler this week about guesting on Pencil Lines this week!

Here is the layout I created for them-

- and made from the sketch you can find over on their blog.
As today is Fathers Day I decided that would make a good subject for it... sorry James, I know you hate me using photos of you! lol (he loves it really! mmwah x)

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So wishing a Fabby Fathers Day to him, and to my Dad. The two best men in my world.

~: Red Card! :~

2010-06-16T22:47:00.006+01:00

No, not that kind of red card! (even I'm getting footie on the brain!!)
This kind... the kind any scrapper hates to find waiting for them on their doorstep-

I'm hoping that it menas the PO tried to deliver my July GoGo DT kit... so by this time tomorrow i hope to have been having a good play with it :o)

So kit-less I sat in the warm late afternoon sunshine in the conservatory to enjoy a spot of blankety crochet.

James had taken Adam over to the field for a kick around, and Emily was on her laptop, so I could sit guiltfree whilst dinner was cooking.
It's for times like this that I know we made a good decision getting the conservatory.

Here is another LO I made during another world cup match a couple of days ago

Another stash busting (love that term!) LO made using old ScrapaGoGo kits.

~: So the footie is good for one thing.... :~

2010-06-13T22:32:00.006+01:00

Last night whilst the others were watching the first England game in the World Cup, I hid away in my craft room.
I'd decided I needed something quick and easy to work on, and having seen the June Sketch on the Create & Co. blog easrlier in the day, I thought that would be perfect.
So I sat and created this...

A couple of days ago I spent some time going back through all my old ScrapaGoGo kits, picking out bits and pieces I really liked and wanted to use up- this layout is made completely from some of that stash.

And talking of GoGo kits... look at this- the first pics of the next one up- July.

Hopefully my DT kit will be here anyday now and I get to play :o)

~: Oh dear....! :~

2010-06-10T23:18:00.003+01:00

Every day I want to blog.
I get up and tell myself that today I WILL blog,no matter what.
But every day by the time the evening has come, I am shattered and fall asleep without even the simlest little bloggy post.
Right now I have several things that have gone on that I would like to mention- my weekend in Manchester with hubby James whilst the kiddies were away at Cubs and Guides camp.
Going down to Devon to celebrate my sisters 40th birthday last weekend.
No scrapping, but the excitement of knowing that my July DT GoGo kit will soon be on it's way to me.

But again, I am oh so tired.

So this will remain a quick post just to remind myself that my blog is here, sitting waiting to be used.

But before I go, a quick piccie of some magazines I bought today...

Last weekend I could have done with something to read on the long journeys to and from Devon... and today I found all of these- typical!
There's the second (and sadly last!) quartely issue of the Scrapbook Inpirations book; the latest issue of "Inside Crochet"; a rather cool looking sewing magazine- complete with red spotty bag kit! (watch out for that one on here....) and another crochet magazine, with wool and hook included.
Yes I know I didn't need that last one, but how could I resist?!
They should keep me busy for a few days!

~: Go-Go Grab Its Day! :~

2010-06-01T13:48:00.007+01:00

The first of June already? How did that happen? I've only just come to terms with it being May!
Well at least it means there might be more warmer weather just around the corner...
and it also means that today you can head over to ScrapaGoGo Shop and buy some add-ons to go with June kits to be delivered later this month!

Take for instance the June Stamp...

So versatile!
That little close-up in the top right corner there is from my layout "Flying High"

It made a great map background for my journaling strips.
I also used the Hybrids plenty, cutting them out and spreading them around the page- excellent for adding those extra elements to my layout.

... the fabby Jenni Bowlin Bingo Card alphas from the June Go 2 Pieces worked great in my title-

... and for good measure there is one of the Bespoke Design Cards designed by Sam Ball nestled in there too.

This month there is also an option to buy 4 extra sheets of different co-ordinating colours of cardstock to help make your kit go even further!

So you'd best GoGo quickly to catch them before they sell out!

~: Ooooooh SO Cute! :~

2010-05-22T22:48:00.003+01:00

I LOVE Momijis....
But generally I am good and I don't tend to go and buy them "just because".
But i have a feeling I may have to with this one....

She's just so sweet, and so red and spotty too....!
And apparently she likes Amigurumi! Me too! :oP
I spotted her online yesterday evening and am pretty proud of myself that I haven't caved.... yet! x

~: June GoGo Kit! :~

2010-05-22T22:34:00.007+01:00

"Are We Nearly There Yet?"

This is what I've been playing with for the last week... such vibrant fun colours, so many items, so many possibilities!

My first layout of Adam at the driving school ride at Alton Towers last year- this was the perfect kit to use with it's travel theme.

For my second layout I decided to avoid the obvious sort of photos- travel/holidays etc, to show how versatile the kit could be

More to follow soon....!

~: Emilys Birthday :~

2010-05-14T23:55:00.000+01:00

Today was my baby girls 12th birthday- where on earth did all those years go?
No more a baby I know, but always my little girl. And she's certainly not actually so little anymore either!
The day started rather early... 5:55am to be precise, that's when she set her alarm for! She said she needed that long to make sure she had time for her presents!
As is tradition she sat on our bed to open them

And she even had a cuddle for Adam when he gave her a ghostie charm for her bracelet!

Being a school day meant I still had all day today to tidy and clean ready for the party and sleepover tomorrow. *Oh joy!* So tidy and clean all day I did!

In the evening we had a BBQ- Emilys choice of what she'd like for tea. My Mum and Dad said they'd come over too. It was rather cold out there, but it made a nice change.
And of course we had cake. I was a bit naughty and didn't make it... but I did add the icing!!

Tomorrow will be another fun filled birthday celebration day.... friends over, followed by bowling, then tea at Frankie and Bennys.
Oh, and then a sleepover *yikes!*
Wish me luck!

~: Lookie what I am making! :~

2010-05-09T22:52:00.005+01:00

Well if you're a Doctor Who fan you might have some idea as to what this might be going to be...?

It will be an Adipose alien!
All has been going well so far, this is the body finished- all but the last few stitches at the bottom. And it was so easy!
But the hands are another matter. I got so far with one and got stuck. The pattern made no sense to me. So I gave up for today, and tomorrow will make the feet- they look much easier!

Yesterday we went to James' Mums house for her to give Emily her birthday present.
I love this photo I took of Emily and Adam...

She loved the present Grandma gave her... an amazing Lego Department Store set!
(and despite the set having over 2000 pieces, she is already well on the way to completing putting it together!)

Whilst there we played Stay Alive- a real game blast from the past! I remember playing this at home with my sister when we were young!

It was a beautiful afternoon today, so I headed out and took a few spring photos in the garden.
I'd been outside hanging washing on the line... imagine the sound of the newborn birds tweeting up in the eaves of the loftspace.
The bluebells and lily of the valley swaying in the breeze...

The smell of the lilac floating in the air...

The spring riot of colour in the pots on the patio...
Sounds lovely doesn't it?

And for a brief few moments I forgot that James was supposed to be flying out to Munich tonight for a course with work.

Then he left....
Then he called to ask me to check the status of his flight...
Then I told him it was cancelled! :oP

All week I've been hoping that the ash cloud from the volcano would cause problems again- oooops- maybe it worked!
Ok, he has to get up tomorrow at 4:45am to see if his re-booked flight is going ahead, but at least even if it is he'll be one less night away.

~: Another May Kit LO :~

2010-05-04T23:07:00.005+01:00

This was the fifth layout i made using the May GoGo kit...

I didn't have much left after the first four, but put this layout together, another with a photo from our trip to the farm at half term. It was such a gorgeous day and I got such lovely photos.

Shame the weather over this bank holiday weekend wasn't so good!
Saturday James was working so I stayed home with the kiddies and ignored the rain; on Sunday we went to Milton Keynes for a spot of light shopping.
Lunch was in Pizza Express- Yum! and somehow I ended up coming home with a new Pandora bead! :o)

I don't seem to have managed anything much crafty over the last few days- this tends to be the case when the others are all home.
I have started on my first amigurami character... an "Adipose" from Doctor Who of all things!
Needing to buy some eyes I headed into town to the haberdashery shop there

.... well there wasn't much point only buying one pair when I plan on trying a few amiguramis!
What I would love to buy right now is a book on them, for inspiration. But where to start? I was browsing amazon earlier, but there are too many to choose from! So we'll see.

~: More May Kit :~

2010-04-30T22:48:00.007+01:00

This is the third layout I made using the ScrapaGoGo May kit.

There is quite alot of the Go 2 Pieces Add-On in use here... the Prima pearl rose, and the Bazzill flower.
I loved how the yellows and flowers matched the yellow daffodils in my photo, and that was my inspiration to create this LO.

And my fourth layout-

My dear llittle Adam as a nearly 3 year old wearing Emilys pink wellies. Such a cute but not very well composed photo- hence why I had to cut it down a little to remove background clutter.But I think it still works just great on this LO, and of course works just fine with a rainy themed kit!

You have to LOVE the SEI puffy alphabet stickers- I so need to get me some more of them!

Remember if you subscribe to GoGo kits that tomorrow is Grab Its day! So go grab some extra yumminess to go with your main kit! :o)

~: Oh Dear.... :~

2010-04-26T23:14:00.005+01:00

I love Cats Eyes Chalk Inkpads. Alot of people who know my scrapping know that.
I love to ink the edges of pretty much every piece of paper or card that I put on my scrapbook pages.
Recently however it seems to be becoming increasingly harder to find them to buy, and also them seem to be increasingly expensive *sigh*
Today I had this memory from the recent GoGo Getaway, of Helen sitting opposite me inking edges using a tool.
So I managed to use my brain, to think about what it was that she was using- could it be Tim Holtz perchance?

Now I am not really a fan- I know many people love all that he does; but I just haven't really ever *got* what his stuff is all about. That's not to say I don't own any of his products, but i've just never really understood all the hype.
Today I spent a considerable amount of time researching, watching some of his videos... and now I NEED an Ink Blending Tool. Like now.
I think it may be just the thing to use in the way I use the chalk inkpads... but with the extra versatility!
I just wish I could pop out tomorrow and buy all the bits I need!
I see more money dissapearing from my purse.

Oh dear....!

~: Been CCing a little :~

2010-04-24T23:26:00.011+01:00

First of all, would you believe that last night, just as the UKS Monopoly CC was starting, Emily and Adam asked to play Monopoly of all games?

I found that quite funny, and Emily even made sure I had the Car as my playing piece (the team I got assigned to on registration was Cars!)

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I don't usually seem to find time to join in with the UKScrappers Cybercrops these days, but having been asked to design a class this time, I felt I really wanted to have a little play along too.
In my normal completely dissorganised way I hadn't got any kits ready for classes, so knew that if I did have a go at any classes I'd be winging it as I went!

The first class up last night was "Bow Street" by Gertie (Sarah Palmer). In this class the main technique was using paint and different alphabet letters to create the title.
I finished my take on it this morning-

I didn't follow the class 100% but took the bits i loved from it, and am very happy with the result- fab class Gertie! :o)

Next came a challenge "Vine Street". This challenge was to somehow incorporate vines into the LO, be it stamps, doodling, or anything else vine-like.
I found time this morning to create my layout, and I chose to use some adhesive felt vine border I've had hanging around for ages-

another layout I enjoyed making.

My class was the second class up yesterday evening, and obviously I didn't play along with that! But this is the layout I made when designing the class- a class all about handcutting frames for a frame LO.

And the third layout I made today is this one, from the "The Strand" class by saray (Sarah Youde). This was all about hand stitching, a technique that I love.

Those layouts may be the only ones I complete this CC; other classes today included decorating an actual frame; making a chipboard house; and a layout using wire to make a photo family tree. All lovely, but all quite involved, and needing particular items to create them.
Tomorrow is going to be quite busy in the afternoon, so I'll see what the early class is like and if I have time to have a go.

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The weather was lovely again today, so this afternoon we all went out for a little bike ride. I love my new bike, it's so much easier to ride than my old one, but again I came home feeling a little saddle sore- I guess it takes a while to get used to a new seat!

Maybe I just need to practice more- let's hope the weather keeps holding!

~: Todays Non-Scrappy Post :~

2010-04-22T23:12:00.007+01:00

So other than managing to squeeze some scrapping in this afternoon, what else did I do today?

Well James didn't go to work, as there were no suitable jobs out there for him.
We decided to pop into town to look at new mattresses, and for me to go to the bank to pay some bills (*yawn*)
having got all we needed to done, we were heading home. As we were about to drive past, I suggested (fairly jokingly) we should pop into the bike shop and take another look at possible bikes for me.
The man in the shop was friendly and knowledgable as always, and pointed out a bike on sale. It wasn't even pink, but I liked it.
In fact I liked it so much- we bought it!
Now this is my birthday present this year, but I just couldn't wait until July, what with all this lovely weather we seem to be having at the moment!

We managed to get it into James' car (ok, so at last I say thank goodness it is a big estate!) and once home I couldn't wait to try to ride it.

This evening I popped out with Emily to give it a go properly. But we didn't go too far, it takes a while to get used to new saddles you know- ouchie!

And the postman was kind to me too today... I got three packages of items won on good old eBay.

Like these? My first ever pair of Converses.

Even Adam told me they were cool when he saw them. Bought as unworn, they were a pretty good bargain at just over £18 including postage- funky eh? and I love them :oD

These Laces were a must buy as soon as I came across them-

They are very wide for showlaces, I far more imagine them being put to some kind of scrappy use!

I also got a bag of balls of the yarn I'm using for my blanket. Another eBay bargain of 15 balls for about £20. Seeing as they retail at just over £3 each in the shops I think I did pretty well there!
And talking of my blanket, here it is...

I'm on the return leg of the 11th stripe. Yes I still have a long way to go, but i'm loving seeing it grow (allbeit very slowly!) and know it will be loved once finished. The kiddies like keeping an eye on how it's doing, and seeing blog posts like this one on the Attic24 blog makes me smile and keep at it.

Today was another gorgeously sunny day, if a little chilly. This afternoon the boys were out making the most of it, it was so nice to see Adam out in the garden playing; and it's been a while since I got any good photos out there

The weather looks set to hang around for another couple of days yet- I feel a family bike ride coming on- Yay!

~: More of the May Kit... (a Scrappy Post) :~

2010-04-22T22:51:00.007+01:00

I said a few days ago I was going to show another layout using the rather lovely upcoming May GoGo kit... but I am so tired by the evenings I just don't often get round to blogging!
But here is the second LO I made...

The idea of rainy day activities came to me when Adam was sitting playing with the Hama beads. It seemed a perfect LO idea for a kit with a showery theme!

Today I finished my third layout and also made a fourth one too. Hopefully I can get to show them in the next day or so- but no promises as to when though mind! lol

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Tomorrow sees the start of the Monoploy Cybercrop on UKScrappers. Originally I was hoping to be able to play along quite alot- but as is always the way life has kind of got in the way a little and I am not at all prepared. That's not to say I won't have a go at anything, it's just easier when you have at least thought a little about photos!
We'll see, but I will at the very least keep an eye out for any LOs created from my class at 9pm tomorrow evening :o)

~: Oooooh Loving it... :~

2010-04-18T23:23:00.006+01:00

On Thursday my ScrapaGoGo May DT kit arrived. I didn't think I was going to have time to play with it til this coming week- once the kiddies were both back in school.
But happily I managed to find some time over the last few days :o)
The kit has to be the best kit I have ever used- it has so much colour, contains so many elements,and offers so many possibilities.

First I made this card

My first layout from this kit is probably my favourite LO I've made in a while. The photos whilst playful, weren't great of Emily as you can barely see her face in any of them. But as a sequence they showed the fun she was having.

The pins I like especially, and in conjunction with one of the hybrid elements I made this little embellie...

I've made a second layout too, I will blog that one tomorrow.

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Yesterday was yet another beautifully sunny day, lovely and warm in the afternoon.
Isn't our little weeping flowering cherry tree looking so pretty right now?

We hadn't gone out anywhere as Adam had been away the night before at a Cubs training camp preparing for their main camp away at the end of May.

So in a moment of madness we decided to empty out the garage and have a good sort out.

There is just SO much stuff in there, including our bikes, lots of stuff to sell on eBay, lots of stuff to sell at a car bootsale.... and lots of other stuff....!
(note the big pile of empty pizza boxes at the front of all the other stuff- can't imagine where they came from?!!)

I had a secret agenda of course for this sort out- James has told me that I can't get a new bike until we've cleared some space. Really we should have gone to sell at a car boot this morning, but I decided it wasn't such a good idea what with the children about to go back to school, I didn't want to wear them out too much today!
So instead we went to buy... as always the kiddies came home with a few things each... and me? Just a couple of cute little wooden toadstools! Not red and spotty, but still sweet.
We may not have sold there today, but instead I listed a few things on eBay tonight. Having not sold on there for SO long it took me a while, but hopefully they'll sell ok and I'll get back into the swing of it.
Shattered now, I'd best off to bed- I have to get Emily awake in the morning for school!

~: Weary Wednesday and my Crocheted Toadstool Reveal! :~

2010-04-14T23:43:00.007+01:00

I really must find time to blog earlier in the day- by this time of night I've had it, and I end up typing with my eyes half closed!
Especially on a Wednesday- I was up at 5:30am this morning to best utilise the time before James had to leave for work!

This layout is from the second class last Saturday at the GoGo "Spring Clean"- another class by Lorraine. The idea here was to keep it simple, and to use lots of small journalling elements in ways other than just the obvious.
I added the title yesterday, after re-discovering my once beloved stash of Heidi Swapp alphas.

And today I finished the third class, this time it was designed by Lisa Bond. My take is pretty faithful to the original, but I would at some point like to add a small photo showing Emily holding the butterfly taken at the same time as the close-up.

The base is a beautifully flocked paper- so lovely and tactile.

I finished my crocheted toadstool today at last-

I'm extremely pleased with the top half, but not quite so about the stalk.
Having searched online, and having not found a free pattern I liked, I worked mine out as I went along.
This is only the first attempt, and hopefully when I have another go I'll be able to iron out a few minor bugs in my pattern, and make the stalk a better shape.

Yesterday on a brief visit to Hobbycrafts, Adam decided he fancied having a go playing with Hama beads-

luckily we have quite a few beads from when Emily got them a few years back.
He said to me today with a big proud grin-
"it is a bit like crafting, isn't it Mummy?"
Gotta love them. x

~: Day Out at the Farm :~

2010-04-13T23:37:00.008+01:00

Another bright sunny day dawned, and despite the temperatures not expected to rise above 13 degrees or so I decided to take the children to one of the local open farms, Pigeons Farm near Peterborough.

We were hoping to see lambs, and not long after arriving Emily had a brief chance to bottlefeed their only bottlefed lamb this season.

Of course I took lots of photos, I'm sure I'll be scrapping a few over the next few weeks!

The weather stayed sunny all day, but personally I got a little chilly- whilst watching Emily and Adam jumping around on the large inflatable "pillow"!

There were lots of baby animals to see... these piglets were just about a week old- so cute!

There are so many more lovely photos I could show, but as it's papers day tomorrow I really must go to bed!

Tomorrow I'll blog the second layout from the Spring Clean- as I promised myself I'd finish one each day this week- and I'm still on track! Thats very good going for me!!

~: Muddle-through Monday! :~

2010-04-12T23:34:00.006+01:00

Well that's pretty much how I felt today- like I was just about muddling through, but not really getting anywhere!
It was a slow start, the kiddies weren't awake til 9:30am; and by then I still hadn't decided what to do with the day.
In the end it was pretty simple- breakfast, Tescos, lunch, kiddies played on computer/playstation, snack, swimming lessons, dinner. Then linedancing class for me.

What I did manage to get done though was to finish one layout from the "Spring Clean" event on Saturday.
I promised myself this morning that I will finish one layout each day this week- I can't believe I'm still on track!!! lol.
So here it is- my take on Lorraines "Dusted Down" class.

Her original had 3 photos, and everything was central. Mine was going to have 3 photos, until I messed up one of them on Saturday during the class, by trimming it too much then managing to distress right across the middle of it!
So it became a 2 photo LO, and as such I decided to offset everything a little.
I love the juicy bright colours she used against the white, and the contrast of the black and white photos.

Emily seems to have got the scrapping bug a little since going to Ally Pally yesterday, today she got out her own stash, and set to creating.

The resulting page was all her own work, my only suggestion was to write the journaling on strips as I didn't want her writing straight onto her page and risk the possibility of a difficult to sort mistake.
Here she is proudly holding the completed page-

It's not the first page she's done, but she says it is her favourite.
I love my little scrapping girlie. x

On the crochet front... I've not found much time for a few days now for my blanket, so sadly that's not progressed much further since the last update.
But my other quick project is nearly done.
On Friday I was going to post a "can you tell what it is yet" post, but I had woken up early and crocheted away on it, and only took a photo when it was pretty obvious.

Any guesses?!!!
I have now made top and bottom, and stuffed them- I now only have to sew them together, hopefully tomorrow.
Yes, it's pretty pointless, but nice and fun :o)

~: What a Wonderful Weekend :o) :~

2010-04-11T22:45:00.012+01:00

I can truly say I have had the most fantastic weekend.
We drove down to James' Mums house on Friday evening as soon as he was home from work as he was working Saturday and I had plans.

Saturday was the "Spring Clean" ScrapaGoGo day event at their new hall in Martlesham.
As always the ladies did a fantastic job, the classes were so good, and the whole atmosphere was friendly and fun. I was there to play along which was lovely, yet as part of the team now I also helped out with the tea and coffee orders, and generally enjoyed chatting to the other event-goers.

My dear friend Jude had given Nicola and myself a lift there- a HUGE thankyou to you Jude (((hugs))), and we sat together in class too, which made the day even more fun.

There were five classes in all, 4 12x12 layouts, and 1 class by Janice involving cards and a folder to keep made cards in.
In keeping with my usual performance at these type of days, I didn't completely finish any of the classes, but I can finish them at my leisure and I will be more likely to add my own little touches.

Everyone there seemed to have a great time- so thankyou to the great GoGo for another awesome day x

As it was quite a long day, and as James had been working, I thought maybe it might be an idea to stay at his Mums another night. Which of course she was more than happy for us to do.
She and the children had had a nice day together, as usual heading into the park and feeding the ducks and the squirrels and generally having a good play.
I also had a little hidden agenda to the staying over- it just so happened that this weekend was also the "Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show", at Alexandra Palace.

Last year Jude and I went and met up with Rachael Elliott. Whilst Jude wasn't going, I knew Rachael was- driving all the way from Dorset and back in the one day!
So using my best powers of persuasion I convinced James it would be a nice idea; the weather promised to be dry again and he and Adam could amuse themselves in the beautiful gardens at Ally Pally (as it seems to affectionately be known!)
Emily had decided that actually she would like to go to the show with me- which made me very happy.

We arrived at about 10, and headed in to buy our tickets

and once inside found Rachael, with her daughter Rebecca and her Mum.
It was lovely to see her again, but it doesn't seem like 5 minutes since we were at the GoGo Getaway in October! Obviously a photo together was in order- and with our girls too- both mini celebrities of course due to the number of layouts they have been seen in!

It took about an hour and a half to wander the whole show, and I spent way more than I probably should have done. I was very good and did stock up on double sided tape and foam pads- just as my dream last night told me to do (although in that dream I ONLY bought such essentials- now that wasn't going to happen really now, was it!!)
Emily seemed to enjoy it, only flagging a little by the end, and desperate for the bacon rolls we had been able to smell all morning!

i'd bought her a few small bits as we'd walked round, but bacon sandwiches sounded good to me too. So after phoning James to check he'd like that for lunch, we were off to buy some- after a quick toilet stop.
And who should I bump into in the Ladies?
Only Sandra, one of my team mates from UKS!

It was so lovely to see her, and she was so lovely too.... we popped out of the toilets for a chat- and as you see another quick photo.

After eating our bacon rolls we were headed back to the car, but as it was such a beautiful day we wandered along slowly, taking in the beautiful surroundings, and the views across London.

We bumped into Rachael again- as you can see from my hair the wind decided to be a bit blowy, but never mind!

After a few more photos it was time to head home.

But even on the journey home we had some fun-

YUM!!

And this is my haul from today-
Tools and sticky stuff, including a new craft knife (getting very fed up with my current ones blads snapping SO often! grrrr...), a Bazzill In Stitchz template and mini mat, and some Rocker Blockers for using with clear stamps (after yesterdays performance my stamping technique needs all the help it can get!)

The papers (though I barely bought any), embellies including Prima bling, and a few alphas

and a couple of Sizzix dies- love them, the owl and the bird, both so cute! And a few stamps... oh yes, some more owls....!

not bad, eh?

All I have to do now is use some of it!

~: Ripple Update :~

2010-04-09T00:01:00.004+01:00

Well my sister the other day commented she thought it was about time I posted an update on my ripple blanket... so here it is-

well at least, that is how it looked on Monday.
Since then I have finished that second row of pale pink; completed the two rows for an orange stripe, and have nearly finished the first row of the second darker blue stripe of the blanket.

The children think I should keep going in the same order of colours that I have done to start with. I'm not so sure, I'd quite like to have not as much red and orange as all the other colours as they seem very bold in comparison.
So for now I'm taking it one stripe at a time.

Tonight though I've put that to one side for a bit, and am playing with something else I've been wanting to try to crochet.
Just a little something. A little something I've been quite in love with for a few months. As to whether it will work out or not only time will tell.
Maybe I'll let on tomorrow... after I've had time to play a little more!

~: Bank Holiday Monday :~

2010-04-08T23:19:00.013+01:00

Hmmmm... I know, another post a few days late, but with good reason- I've not been too well since Tuesday morning. :o(
And the last thing I needed was to sit at my laptop.
Anyway- all better now (though still a little weak and tired) so here I am, back to blogging.

Bank Holiday Monday? Now that already seems ages ago!
We had decided over the weekend that as James was actually on holiday on a bank holiday for once, that we would have to make the most of it and go out somewhere.
Emily wanted to go up to London, but I couldn't face the thought of all those crowds, and underground trains, and crowds....

So on Monday we woke up, and I remembered somewhere I'd thought about taking the kiddies last summer- so I suggested it to James and off we went. The weather had decided to be quite nice too, and a great day was to be had.

"The House on the Hill Toy Museum", and "Mountfitchett Castle", are at Stansted Mountfitchet, just down the road from Stansted airport.
I thought it would be the toy museum that the children would like the most, but it was actually the motte and bailey castle, showing what life was like in Norman Times that seemed to fascinate them.

There were plenty of things for the kiddies to try out which kept them amused...

Emily loved being able to feed the deer, and Adam thought it was great being able to try on chain-mail and knights helmets- though as soon as I took this photo he complained at how heavy it was and wanted it taken straight off.

Somehow they even managed to get me into some stocks!

I loved that they enjoyed what was a pretty educational visit, and of course it gave me lots of photo opportunities too!

The second part of the day was to look around the toy museum.

This museum was jam packed with so many thousands of toys, many vintage, but some dating up to the 1980's. Amazingly the children just didn't seem to find this as exciting as the castle, whereas James and I loved looking out for the old toys we had as children-
I had one of these Magic Roundabout!

And again it was the dressing up opportunites that Adam enjoyed the most

and emily wanted to try playing the old penny slot machines (you had to pay 20p for each old penny!!)

We were just leaving and on our journey home when James suggested he might pop into another nearby attraction for a quick look.

As soon as we turned into the rather grand driveway Adam saw what we'd gone for... a miniature railway.

We were very lucky that we arrived when we did, as it turned out we got the last train of the day.
And look who we spotted whilst on the journey?

Yes! The Easter Bunny! The train stopped at the entrance to his burrow, and he handed all the children some chocolate. (not the grown-ups though.... hrmph!)

Well what a lovely day we all had, I love family days like this.

~: Happy Easter! :~

2010-04-05T23:11:00.009+01:00

Ok, so i'm actually a day late, but I have good reason.
I've been too busy!
Yesterday the day started with a little egg hunt around the garden... just as a little rain begain to fall of course!....

It didn't take Emily and Adam long to find the brightly coloured plastic eggs, and it was soon time to get ready to go down to my brother Ewans for the day for a typical Easter ' Day get together. My sister and her brood, my Mum and Dad, Uncle and Wife, and James' Mum would all be there too.
As always these days little Summer seemed to be the centre of attention- at least until everyone else arrived and the house got a little busy!

Emily spent most of the afternoon playing with and looking after her- and completely loved it.

And I even quite like this one of me holding her

What happens when you ask a couple of boys to pose for the camera?
This!.....

and this photo shows all the girl cousins together, it's not often they are all together, facing the same way
, and allowing me to take their photo!

And one last piccie of the hosts... they had been cooking all day (we had yummy home cooked pie, homemade chips, and even homemade apple and raspberry crumble!) and Ewan had just finished his 7th beer!

So huge thankyous Ewan and Nicki- we all had a lovely day. x

I was going to blog our day out today now too, but just can't keep my eyes open any longer.... so I will be back again tomorrow- oh and I will also blog the latest on my ripple blanket.

~: Non Scrappy Post :~

2010-03-31T23:50:00.003+01:00

Every Wednesday I go out and deliver my papers.
Every Wednesday whilst out I appreciate the sights, sounds and even smells that remind me that I live in a lovely place.
But once home again I soon forget about them.

Today was no different, but today I decided I should put them down in words.

It was the flowers that I noticed the most.
The daffodils everywhere, the muscari popping up, and the hyacinths.
How I love the hyacinths- not only are they pretty,in lots of different pastel colours, but they smell so lovely too.
Some smells were not so nice- the tractor passing me by full of manure; but the smoky smell that floated through the air was nice and woody.
And as for the bacon cooking in the cafe...
I liked the sound of the birds tweeting in the trees, and the children out in the school playground at playtime.... the constant sound of the rain on my coat hood wasn't so nice but still part of the whole outdoor experience.
There are many things i don't much like about delivering the papers, but there are many things that make me smile too and remember that life is good out there.

Maybe next week I'll take my camera with me and take some shots of it all too.

~: Scrappy Post.... inc the Getaway! :~

2010-03-31T23:12:00.011+01:00

I can't believe it's taken me until now to manage to find the time to blog after the GoGo getaway at the weekend!
Tiredness has been rather a major factor, and not feeling too well yesterday evening certainly hasn't helped help.

I arrived at the weekend feeling so nervous, not sure quite what to expect.
I knew i would be assisting in 3 classes- 1 class with Eileen, 1 with Sam, and 1 with Helen.
My table pals- Vicki, Chloe and Helen, made sitting in the crop room and mealtimes such fun, with so many laughs. Helen amazed me with her ability to create endless little projects with the leftovers of her April kit;
Vicki made a fabby mini book and had this most amazing humungus scallop punch ;o) and Chloe is so sweet and is always happy, and she seemed to never stop scrapping either.

On Friday evening after assiting Eileen in the first class, my nerves subsided and I could then relax into the rest of the weekend.

This was my place at the table by Saturday night (taken at about 1am!)

Check out the Easter Egg... everyone at the reatreat got one, and they had even had our names written on them!

On Sunday afternoon before heading home (or more accurately, before heading over to watch Emily in her dance school show) I went outside to take a few photos, it is such a beautiful place

As always there was a shop, and of course I couldn't resist buying a few bits and pieces...

I made this layout at the Getaway

about my latest obsession- with bright colourful wool.
I also started a second layout which I then finished once back home

I thorughly enjoyed the whole GoGo Getaway experience from the other side, and now can't wait to be back there again in October.

~: Hello...! :~

2010-03-27T01:15:00.002Z

Bad blogger yet again, time just seems to slip by!
This last week was a little hectic to say the least, what with playing with the rather yummy April GoGo kit, and Emily having lots of dance rehearsals before the show this weekend!

And right now? Well I'm sitting here in my room at the GoGo Getaway... but I really should be in bed so I'm leaving it here now and will catch up again soon! :o) x

~:Spring is Here! :~

2010-03-21T22:34:00.006Z

March 21st, the first day of Spring.
And what a beautiful day it was! So sunny and so warm.
When I woke this morning at 7am (waaay too early for a Sunday!)it was so lovely and sunny out that I decided it was time I ventured over to the local car boot, having not been since the autumn.
I may not have bought much at all (a bag of the Art of Crochet wool and one of the magazines was pretty much it!) but it was so nice to get out by myself for a bit.
The others here- including Grandma who had stayed here last night after going to the 40th birthday party of one of James' cousins- were only just waking up when I left.
But I returned to the smell of bacon sandwiches, so that was nice too.

After cooking sunday dinner we all popped out for a short walk

Then it was time for Grandma to be taken to the station to go home again, and I decided to try baking my take on the oaty cookies that Lucy made on the Attic24 blog.
Mine were't quite so wholesome.. i just threw in some chocolate chips.

But they were SO yummy! I thoroughly recommend giving them a go- and they are so simple too!
I plan on making another batch in the next few days, maybe with sesame and sunflower seeds?... and maybe more choc chips too!

This is what my ripple blanket looked like yesterday afternoon-

The first row of the green is now complete, just on my way back across again. I am so loving making this I just want to crochet it all day!

~: A Week to Go!! :~

2010-03-19T23:20:00.004Z

Oooooh it only just occured to me that by this time next week I will be at the GoGo Getaway!
Even more exciting that this time i will be there to assist! SO scary, but I so can't wait :oD

And talking of GoGo here is another Design Team layout I did with the March kit...
When the colourful kit arrived I couldn't resist making a layout using a little play on the GoGo idea!
Adam proudly displaying his GoGo collection.

Back again tomorrow hopefully with the latest on my ripple blankie.

~: Yet Another Crochet Project....! :~

2010-03-18T22:38:00.006Z

Oh dear.... I can't resist that lurvely Attic24 blog, full of colourful scrumptious inspiration.
This time it was her ripple blanket that caught my attention.
Actually I saw it on there a few weeks back, and then also saw Emmas blanket in progress on her blog

I managed to resist for a few days, but it wasn't look before I had a hankering to go in search of some nice colourful wool to make one with.
My initial plan was to use some good value acrylic yarn. But when i got to the shop that plan went to pot and i came home with a ball of each colour (that my local haberdashery shop sells) of Patons Serenity, a cotton/bamboo mix! The colours are just lovely, and the feel of the wool is soft but not fluffy and definately not itchy!

I now also have a purple colour, and a light blue on it's way.
This project is going to be ongoing. I know it's not going to be finished overnight, but I love that idea, that I can pick it up as and when.
I started it on Sunday, by Monday I'd completed the foundation chain and first 2 rows- ready for the first colour change.

Today I finished the 2 rows in deep pink, and have now gone on to yellow :o)

The march ScrapaGoGo kits have now been arriving with subscribers.... just as I have received my April DT kit.
And it occurred to me that as I have been such a bad blogger lately I hadn't actually got round to posting my March kit designs... so here is one, and a close-up... I'll show the others over the next few days.

~: Happy Mothers Day! :~

2010-03-14T22:37:00.007Z

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all the Mummys out there. I hope all had a great day.

Here are my lovely flowers I was bought yesterday...

And here are my prezzies and cards that Emily and Adam bought me...

This is Me and my two little lovelies...

The day started well when the kiddies arrived in our bed and we had lovely cuddles, then they gave me their presents.
Adam gave me a bath scrunchie he chose from the Mothers Day shop at school, and a card he had made; and Emily chose me a new Momiji- Silly Billy.
Then for breakfast we had bacon sandwiches- Yum!

We went out for dinner with my Mum and Dad which was lovely. We often go down and see James' Mum, but this year I suggested we saw my Mum. And lunch was a lovely sunday dinner :o)

I've been a bad blogger *again* (no surprises there!), the last week just seems to have flown by!
Emily hasn't been that well for much of it, in school for most but very low and lacking in evergy. Thankfully that seems to have now passed.

At the beginning of last week I finished another little crochet project-

After I made Emilys little hat he asked me if I could crochet a beanie for him to wear at football, in his teams colours of blue and yellow. He was even quite specific about the number and width of stripes- so this hat was truly made to order!

I also got my wedding ring/s back :oD so now my hand no longer feels bare.
We got the old one mended, and also got a new one made from the same mould. That is the one i am now wearing, as I don't want to risk the original cracking again, maybe irrepairably next time.

That'll do for now.... a little wine with my Mothers Day lunch has been making me feel sleepy all afternoon!

Have you seen the photos of the April ScrapaGoGo kit that were released this week? It's showing on the homepage and on the kit list page in a little more detail.
To say I am so looking forward to playing with this kit is an understatement-

hopefully I should get my DT kit tomorrow!!!

~: A Red Spotty Crochet Case! :~

2010-03-05T22:20:00.007Z

And I'm not talking about me and my mental state, (though I think it's a pretty good description of me right now!)... I finished making this today-

And here it is when open...

It is a LONG way from perfect,there are little blips in the stitching and some of the stitched lines aren't exactly straight, but it is perfectly usable- and red and spotty too!
And there is quite a bit of space for more hooks if needed.

I also finally got this layout put together, it's been sitting on my desk all week just waiting for me to have a few scrappy moments.
The flower was made a few days ago, but I couldn't quite decide how to lay it out... today it just *happened*.

I thought the hand stitching (made using a Bazzill In Stitches template) added to the home-made stitchy feel of the flower.

This Postcrossing card came today, from the Netherlands. Isn't it just the most happy postcard ever? It really brightened my day.

Today hadn't quite gone as planned, so grabbing these few crafty and postcardy moments made the day that little easier.
James had today off work, and we planned on going out for lunch.
As it was such a beautiful day I was thinking we might also take a little walk out somewhere (with camera in hand of course!).
Unfortunately Emily had other ideas, she had the most awful throat today so was off school. She spent all day lounging on the sofa, being reguarly dosed up.
Such is life with children, I guess *sigh*

But on a brighter note- it's only 3 weeks today until the GoGo Getaway.... YAY!

~: Oooooops! :~

2010-03-03T08:06:00.003Z

Sorry, on my post yesterday I should have given all credit for the little flower I made to the Attic24 blog post HERE.
That blog totally inspires me, and yes most of my projects right now are using, or based on her patterns that she so kindly shares.
But I do keep getting allsorts of ideas of my own, I have a little notebook that I am jotting them all down in, with pattern ideas, changes etc.
I just need a little more practice- (and time!-) before I actually have a go at any of them!

Too busy today sadly though as it is papers day again... and tomorrow... having offered to cover the other half of the village.... *again*

~: Just Add Colour.... :~

2010-03-02T23:05:00.002Z

What do you need to do on the type of dull miserable days we've had all winter?
You need to add some colour to your life.
Maybe that's partly why I am so obsessed with colourful yarn right now.
That and the fact that I think I have a little OCD, and it comes out in whatever my current obsession is.
As crochet is my *thing* right now, I have a need to collect pretty balls of wool.

Hmmm.... I guess I should try to stop myself buying any more!

I saw this magazine in WHSmiths when out shopping at the weekend, and I have told myself I really must make sure I actually use some of the patterns in it.

After reading the Attic24 blog again and seeing that she feels she deserves to treat herself to pretty flowers "because she's worth it" I decided I would buy myself some to pretty the place up a bit.
Tescos didn't have any tulips, but they did have small bunches of carnations at £1 a go. So I bought 3. So far they're not very open, but hopefully in a few days time I'll have a nice vase of beautiful blooms.

And on the scrapping front... I found a cute little photo of Emily when she was about 2. Not a great photo, and by the time I trimmed it down to cut out some of the dark background, it ended up quite small.
I positioned it on a piece of Bo Bunny spotted cardstock, then decided it wouldn't need much else. Just a little something pretty...

So yes, I made a crochet flower!
Tomorrow I plan on making a couple more slightly smaller ones, then with a piece of lace and a title it'll be just about complete.
I think.
Until I decide that it needs a little something more.

2010-02-26T23:43:00.003Z

I can't believe it's friday night already... where did this last week go?
It seems to have flown by, mainly in a flurry of newspapers!

The kiddies were back at school on Monday, and I headed out. I love that first day after the hols feeling, when I can jump in my car and do something for me. I don't mean that I don't like having them around, I just like that feeling of freedom again.
So off I went, to the new Hobbycraft store in Peterborough.
They don't tend to be a shop I head for often, most of the crafty supplies I buy are found in specialised scrapbooking shops.
But with my new found passion for crochet and yarn, I had to go and check out what they had to offer.

I was quite pleased that this is all I came home with!
Isn't that red spotty felt sweet? I'm planning on making a crochet hook case with that.
And as for those diddy Really Useful boxes.... CUTE!

After Hobbycraft I went to Tescos, mainly to see of they had a certain new album I just had to buy...

At the beginning of last week I had never even heard of Owl City, and had never heard their no.1 single Fireflies.
Where have I been???
I am SO in love with this album...

"cause I'd get a thousand hugs, from ten thousand lightening bugs..."

oh I love those lyrics.... well the whole album... in my car, in the house, in my car.... :oD

Late last night I finished the hat I've been crocheting.

When I first tried it on Emily this morning it was a little tight, so I dampened it and stretched it over a football... maybe it's gone a little too far, but I'm assuming i can shrink it a little again?! Best of all though she loves it.
And tonight I have made a matching flower to sew on to it for a little extra interest.

I received another couple of postcards from the Postcrossing project yesterday and today.
This first one from the Netherlands, and the second from Australia.

I posted another 3 this week, so hopefully more will be winging their way to me soon too.

I said at the top of this post about papers- I agreed to do an extra paper delivery round this week, so I spent all day Wednesday and Thursday out delivering, then there's all the extra work sorting the extra leaflets too...
But it wasn't so bad, I'm just still feeling shattered now, so should go to bed really!

~: Too much to hope for....! :~

2010-02-21T21:56:00.010Z

Ok, so getting lots of lovely thick snow for the children to enjoy on the last day of the holidays was too much to hope for I guess!
We did have some HUGE snowflakes come down, and this was about as good as it got-

The kiddies never made it outside before it started to melt. Actually they never even asked, I think the novelty has well and truly worn off this winter!

This is my brightly coloured photo for today

My new "slipper socks"- well that's what the packaging called them! Lightweight slippers maybe, with grippy soles. But not socks. (I'm wearing pink socks inside my *slippers*)- sexy they may not be; warm and functional they are.
And they make me smile when I catch sight of them on my feet :o)

James took Emily to the cinema this afternoon to go and see Avatar in 3-D.
Adam is too young to go and see a 12A yet, so we stayed home for an afternoon together.
We watched Wall-E with bowls of popcorn and cups of lemonade

Then we played on the Wii... two Grand Prixs on Mario Kart and of course he won both! And it wasn't for want of trying on my part! *sigh*

Then Adam did his piano practice

and that never fails to make me smile (except of course when he refuses to practice and he kicks off!)
I love watching his little hands moving up and down the keys, he certainly seems to have quite a talent there for someone who only started learning just under a year ago.

On the crocheting front I seem to have started on yet another project- this time a skullcap pattern from my little book.

Emily has laid claim to this already, but I did point out to her that maybe she should wait until it's finished- who knows whether I can get it to work first time!
I seem to have a little problem with getting slightly bored with carrying out the same pattern task over and over- I need a few things on the go to keep my interest going.
Tomorrow I will crochet a couple more granny squares.

I finished this layout today, there is alot of hand stitching and inking of edges- just how I like my layouts!

And this is a little close-up

It's quite unusual for me to add flowers like that to a LO, but yesterday I spied the row of Prima tubes at the back of my desk and decided it was about time I used a few again.
They are not there just for decoration!

~: More PostCrossing Cards :~

2010-02-21T08:50:00.006Z

Ok, so I never made it back on here yesterday, by the time I sat down in the evening I was just too tired and fell asleep on the comfy sofa.

Yesterday I had two more Postcrossing postcards arrive... and just look at this one!

We were even sat watching the Olympic highlights when the postie delivered it!
The children were quite excited about it coming all the way from Vancouver- where they were watching on the telly.
This one also came, from California

Now this one arrived with no ID number on the back, but thankfully there is a useful tool on the Postcrossing site where you fill in the details of the ID-less card and they search for you to find it. By the evening i had an email with the ID so I could register it.

I said yesterday I was going to try to take a colourful photo a day... here is yesterdays

A little boring maybe but as I was sat here at my lappie that little pile of granny squares was sitting in front of me looking all bright and cheery.

I certainly need a little *bright and cheery* right now, it is so dark here I can barely see what I'm typing. I've got up today to find it snowing hard out again, and whereas there was no snow on the ground when I first looked out there is now quite a good covering.
It would be nice if it snowed enough for the kiddies to play out in today, then it can go away for this winter.
I'm ready for Spring now thankyou.

I finished this layout yesterday morning...

I just loved that photo I took of Adam, and he loves that jacket so much I wanted to scrap that memory for him.

I LOVE that new AC Thickers glittery font "Niki Riki" just right for adding a spot of fun to a childrens layout. The little cross stitched I thought added a little stitchiness to a LO about a knitted jacket!

Maybe I'll be back later with some nice snowy photos?!

~: It's Oh So Quiet.... :~

2010-02-20T08:21:00.007Z

I'm just enjoying a few minutes peace before the kiddies wake up.
James went off to work at 7:15am, and of course I never manage to get back to sleep after he's gone.
So here I am, sat at my laptop, catching a little "me" time.

Yesterday we went to the garden centre in Huntingdon to go buy Emily a new goldfish...

She chose a bright yellow one, which she has named "Lemondia". The name started out as "Lemony" (as in Snicket- some of her favourite books right now) but she decided it was too boyish! Ok, we have no idea whether it is actually a boy or a girl, but as it is her fish, it is a girl be default!

After lunch I decided we would make some banana muffins to use up a few old bananas that would otherwise have been thrown out.
Believe me they are very yummy!

Emily then asked if she could try to ride my bike again. Last year she very much outgrew her current bike, and we tried her on mine but she felt it too big.
But yesterday she decided it was just right, and has now laid claim to it!
When I decided I was going to learn to ride back in 2005 we bought a smaller size ladies bike as it would be easier to learn on. But over the last couple of years I felt really I needed a bigger one now, and have been waiting for her to grow into this one.

I'm not quite sure where that leaves me, ok so actually I do... in the market for going out looking for a new one :oD
Sadly though that may just have to wait until nearer my birthday *sigh*

And here is a collage of some of the best pics from Thursday... only just managed to sort it and get it to look ok!

I plan on taking a leaf out of the lovely Attic24 blog and taking lots of lovely colourful photos to brighten my blog and remind me of all that is happy.
So I hope to be back again later with another bloggie post. x

~: Half Term Fun at the National Space Centre :~

2010-02-18T23:03:00.004Z

Last night we made the decision to go out today, to the National Space Centre in Leicester.
I know of many other people who have been there and said how good it is, and Emily particuarly was keen to go at some point.
And what a great day out it was!
Lots of interactive activities kept the children happy, with lots of snippets of information around we all learnt lots.
Then there was the show "Astronaut" which whilst Adam was a little worried about, we all enjoyed.
The simulator added a ride element, not that it was needed as there was fun a plenty anyway.

This photo shows Adam and Emily with the piece of Moon rock on display- they thought that was pretty amazing.

During the afternoon the forecasted snow arrived, and by the time we left it was coming down thick and fast and there was a good layer on the ground.

It meant the journey home took an extra hour, but we got home safely, and best of all happy.

I'd love to add more photos but I am too tired now- maybe tomorrow I'll make a little collage in Picasa :o)

~: Go GoGo! :~

2010-02-17T22:22:00.004Z

Lookie here... the Scrapagogo March kit got picked up on over on the Sassafras blog.
Isn't that cool? Huge praise for a fabby kit indeed.

Having been a little annoyed that I couldn't buy a Momiji when out shopping on Monday, I then looked online yesterday and ordered myself one.
and she turned up today already!
Meet Blushes,one of the most recent Christmas dolls, isn't she sweet?

Today I also got a new pair of line dancing shoes.
Ok, so I only got a new pair about 4 months ago, but sadly they are still stiff and uncomfortable, I feel like I'm wearing clown shoes when i have them on!
So I made the decision that I had to invest in another pair.
And this time i made sure they felt just right before I left the shop.

Now I can't wait until monday when I get to try them out properly as class.

~: Tuesday 16th Feb - Happy Pancake Day! :~

2010-02-16T23:28:00.005Z

Yesterday after not having been able to go up to London, we ended up shopping in Milton Keynes instead. I use the term "shopping" very loosely as we didn't actually buy very much.
I wanted to buy a Momiji doll but John Lewis had a very limited range.
I would have liked to buy some yarn, but despite a gorgeous array of wool in JL I couldn't bring myself to spend any more money on it just yet.
So the best bit of the day had to be the visit to Krispy Kreme... and yes, we bought a box of 12 of our favourites :o)

Yesterday I received another Postcrossing postcard- this time from Japan!
I am so loving receiving cards from all around the world.

We ended up staying home all day today, partly due to being out yesterday, and partly due to Adam having some homework that needed doing.
So my day was brightened when this little lot of goodies arrived from SarahCards

I also spent quite alot of time up in my little craft room. Adam was building a KNex model with Daddy, and Emily was doing her own thing, so I saw my chance to scrap.
First I had to finish my last layout with the ScrapaGoGo March DT kit.
Once that was done I gathered some supplies and set to work on a layout just for me.
And of me!
The sun was shining through the window, and as I sorted some buttons I had to take this photo- they just looked so pretty!

Here is a little close-up of a fabric YoYo I made as a flower for this LO.
It is the first time I have made them... this one worked pretty well don't you think?

And here is the full layout. It was so lovely to just spend the time working on something using whatever I liked.
But that's not to say I don't like DT'ing for GoGo- of course I do! And I love being challenged to use items I wouldn't normally choose.
But this one is just for me.

Today of course is also Pancake Day, and by tradition it is James who does the cooking. (though not the preparing of the batter- this year Emily took on that job)

We all love pancakes and really must eat them more often!

~: Thankyou!! :~

2010-02-16T08:55:00.005Z

Aww I'm really happy to have this little bloggy award passed onto me by me dear bloggy friend Paige, and her lovely Ladybird, Ladybird blog. Thankyou Paige :o)

For this award I must list 7 interesting things about myself and then pass on this award to 7 other deserved bloggers. So if you've been nominated in this post and want to play, here are the guidelines:

-Thank the person who gave you the award
-Place the logo on your blog
-Link to the person who nominated you
-Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting
-Nominate 7 bloggers for this award and post links to their blogs
-Send a message to let them know they've been nominated

So at the top I thanked Paige for this award, but I thank her again it was so sweet.
I have placed the award on my blog.
I linked to Paige already.

So on to 7 things about me- that people might find interesting?
Erm.....

1) I LOVE Marmite flavour cashews, even though i don't like Marmite!
2) I would love to go paragliding one day.
3) My dream car is a Mazda MX5.
4) My second favourite colour (at the moment!) is lime green.
5) I always wanted to learn to play the clarinet.
6) As a child I used to dress my little brother up in dresses made of paper!
7) I think Playmobil is the best toy ever and even collected some myself only a few years back!

Ok, and here are the 7 bloggers I pass this award on to. SJ, Sarah, Claire, Rosie, Beks, Jude, and Emma.

I find all of you most inspiring, and i really should say so by leaving comments far more often.
Please accept this award and follow the above rules. Love to you all! Xx

~: Happy Valentines Day :~

2010-02-14T22:27:00.004Z

I found this cute nest of heart shaped cookie cutters in Tescos a few days ago, and had to buy them.

So yesterday the children got to play (with a bit of Daddys help while I was upstairs scrapping!), and eventually these yummy iced cookies were ready

James produced this bunch of roses for me this morning, along with a card and a nice box of Toblerone choccies :o)

Unfortunately the day wasn't all rosey; Emily started the day on a bad note and the mood continued most of the day.
Our plans of going down to mils, staying there and going up to London tomorrow were thwarted when Grandma phoned to say she wasn't well. (Get Well Soon! x)
So we stayed home instead, and tomorrow we hope to go shopping. Nothing too exciting, new school trousers for them both mainly!

**********************************************************
Well I've spent alot of time this week on my crocheting, making a few more Granny Squares.
It now occurs to me just how long it may be before I actually get a blanket made!
A bit like the basket/bag I'm making for my yarn... 1 round takes quite some time so I rarely get 1 round a day made!
And I already have a hankering for staring another project too!

Earlier this week I received another postcard from the PostCrossing project, this time from Germany.

And I've been pretty busy scrapping this week, as the cool ScrapaGoGo March kit arrived for me to play with on Monday... I just can't show any of yet on here just yet!

~: My first Granny Square! :~

2010-02-09T22:51:00.003Z

As much as I'm enjoying making the basket/bag thing (!!?!) I had the need to start also crocheting something in colour.
So using the Summer Garden Granny Square (from the Attic24 blog) as the basic design, today I made this...

I tweaked the pattern a tiny bit- the first round isn't quite the same. But this is my favourite granny square design I have come across so wanted to use it for my first blanket.
I can't see it growing too quickly, I only had time today to make this one square!

Back to the basket/bag...

I've now finished the base, so there are no more increase rows, I just now have to go upwards until I am happy with the size.

Yesterday I received another postcard from the PostCrossing project, I like this one alot-

I'd best off to bed now, it's papers day again tomorrow!

~: Wooly Basket! :~

2010-02-05T18:12:00.002Z

Ok, not the most amazing bit of crocheting in the world, but this is what I'm making at the moment.
Using the Crochet bag pattern on the Attic24 website, I decided to make a storage bag/basket for my collection of wool

I've got quite a way to go with it yet, but I'll get there!

~: Dreaming in Multi-Colour :~

2010-02-04T22:04:00.005Z

Earlier this week I saw a link to this most amazingly colourful blog Attic24. Ever since I have been thinking about, and dreaming about beautiful coloured yarn!
That blog is just so inpsiring, I can't wait to have a go at a few of her projects.
I've never even been one to like things in rainbow colours, but now I cannot wait to get making a pretty blanket all of my very own!

So today I went out in search of some nice wool to play with. Patons Smoothie had been recommended on UKS as a nice yarn to try out.
And after my third shop I came home with this little lot....

I think I am in love with colour!
So much for the simple 3 coloured cushion covers I was planning on for the sofas, if I'm not careful there will be riotous colourful explosions instead!

Yesterday I was so pleased to see these poking up through the grass and leaves-

I love snowdrops, and the fact that their appearance hopefully means spring may soon be on it's way.
I've had enough of winter now- way too much cold and snow and ice this year for my liking!
Maybe that also links to my sudden love of wool and cushions and blankets and all things warm!

I received another Postcrossing postcard today, this time from the Ukraine.

Another to add to my mini book, and another bit of information about the big wide world.

~: GoGo Good News! :~

2010-02-01T23:26:00.003Z

I am so pleased I can mention this on here now, today it was announced about a couple of new members on the ScrapaGoGo Design Team... there's Claire... and me!
I was so shocked when they asked, I even asked if they'd sent me the email by mistake!
So it looks like I'll be keeping busy scrapping this year now! :o)

Today we also took my wedding ring in to the jewellers for them to send it off for the manufacturer to look at... I found it very hard to do, and now hate the feeling of it not being there.
So to try and make up for it I bought a new bead for my Pandora bracelet

Isn't it just so cute?

~: Weekend Away :~

2010-01-31T23:16:00.010Z

We got back this evening from a lovely weekend away.
We went up to Durham for a very special 70th birthday celebration- that of my lovely mother-in-law Mary.

We travelled up on Friday evening, staying near Leeds in a Travelodge. Then on Saturday morning we finished the journey, meeting Mary and some of the other party guests in Durham.

We visited the cathedral, where we also had some lunch, then later headed to the hotel for the celebrations, which started with birthday cake and coffee in the afternoon.

The weekend also meant we got to meet some other very special people...

Here Richard and Lorraine are cuddling their very beautiful daughters, Eliza and Hannah. And they are just SO sweet!

In the evening we had a lovely sit down meal to celebrate Marys birthday

Today was far more relaxed, and after a nice cooked breakfast we wandered around the surrounding country park a little, and Emily and James fed the deer.

Adam wasn't too keen on being up close to the animals, but he still had some fun.

Now i'm off to bed, wonderful weekends always seem to wear people out!

~: Button Necklace :~

2010-01-26T23:24:00.004Z

Oh now I enjoyed making this today.
All credit, and huge thanks to SJ for sharing the instructions on her blog a couple of days ago.

I made it with Emily in mind, with the colours and choice of buttons.
And she loved it as soon as I showed it to her.

On the crochet front I am halfway through making a crocheted drinks bottle bag (a bit like a mini string bag).

I also managed to scrap another layout today, but can't blog that one yet. Hope to play some more with Januarys ScrapaGoGo kit tomorrow after delivering my papers.
Best off to bed now, it'll be an early one tomorrow *sigh*

~: Quick Post :~

2010-01-25T23:51:00.003Z

Just a quick post, it's late, and it's been a long day.

So I have a few piccies, and I want to wish my darling Emily loads of love and hope she feels lots better soon.
Last night she was crying in pain for a couple of hours with earache. It was horrible, i felt pretty useless as i was limited in how much I could help her.
Luckily eventually the calpol/nurofen combo knocked her out and she got a decent enough nights sleep. We managed to get an appointment at the doctor early this morning, and now on antibiotics she seems quite alot better already.
Here's hoping for another good night.

These flowers James bought home for me on Friday... not the best view of a bunch of flowers, but I like how it came out.

I've still been pretty busy with the crocheting... last night after a couple of attempts I managed this granny square

and the night before I was playing with crocheting in a round, and made these bands. The children love them and have been wearing them as bracelets.

Today I managed to squeeze in a little visit to the haberdashery store in town, and bought this lovely pink cotton yarn. I'm hoping to make a beanie/skull cap style hat for Emily with it.
And the buttons and wire- whilst blog hopping a couple of nights ago i came across instructions on SJs blog to make a lovely button necklace that I really fancy having a go at.

And lastly... I thought my addiction to red and white spotty things might have calmed down a bit- until I saw this pack of 2 cake tins in Tescos today.
I just HAD to buy them!

~: Crochet! :~

2010-01-23T23:17:00.004Z

Well it feels almost as if this is all I've been doing for the last few days!
Not quite the case, but I certainly have been practising quite a bit, in the hope that I'll soon be ready to actually try making something.
I went to the haberdashery shop in town on Thursday to find some "dishcloth cotton" or craft-cotton that I read was recommended to learn with.
By the afternoon this was just about as far as I'd got...

A foundation chain... impressive eh? Not!
Having started to learn using the first part of the Art of Crochet partwork, I then found a little book I bought a year or so ago (then lost!).
So on Thursday evening I was practising double-crochet and treble-crochet, and last night having felt like I'd got those going pretty well, had a go at half-treble.
Now this stitch got the better of me, but i'm glad to say today I got it nailed.
And by this evening I even tried working in rounds!
The children thought the resulting pieces looked like bracelets and were thrilled with them! (so easy to please- sometimes!)
Photos to follow tomorrow, and maybe I might try something a little more complicated?

Here is a snap of how far I've got with the inside of my Postcrossing book

My stamps storage, and behind that what will be the introductory page.
I am such a slow worked when it comes to these things, but as there is no rush for thid, I am just working on it as and when.

~: Back to Work... and Something Exciting! :~

2010-01-20T21:37:00.004Z

Well as they managed to deliver my papers this week, today was my first day back delivering.
I had been a little concerned I might find it rather hard going after 10 weeks off, but before i knew it I was finished. my hand held up very well, only a slight ache now; but my feet didn't do so well- they are now SO sore.
I meant to take a piccie of the papers to document today- but doh! I forgot!!

And the "Something Exciting?" well I was one of two people asked to Guest Design for ScrapaGoGo this month!
So I got to have a go with the very yummy February kit already! :oD
Here is a little sneak of what I did on one of the layouts I made...

The whole Create kit can be seen on the ScrapaGoGo homepage right now, and the rest of my layouts were shown on the ScrapaGoGo kit thread on UKScrappers today.
Thankyou so much to the GoGo team for asking me to have a play!

~: January GoGo Kit :~

2010-01-19T22:24:00.003Z

As I hoped, I made myself sit and get to scrapping with this months ScrapaGoGo kit.
To start with i had some trouble finding a photo with colours that would work with the kit.
There are 2 or 3 sheets of PP in there that I'm really not sure about, most of the colours and patterns wouldn't be my choice, but isn't that part of the fun of getting a monthly kit? They may take some thinking about before I manage to incorporate them into a layout, but I'll certainly give it a go!
Here is the LO I made today

I already had this photo printed in this big size, and I think it works really well with the layered design I created.

After dinner this evening (yummy homemade toad-in-the-hole :oD ) I put my instructions in front of me, took my crochet hook in one hand, and yarn in the other. I soon had made my first foundation chain! Then I undid it all, and did it again. I got as far as trying a row of slipstitch a couple of times before i had to stop.
I'm actually thinking that maybe I may be able to crack this crochet lark!

On the newspaper delivery front, they actually delivered them this evening!
And in good time too. Now all I have to do is get up early tomorrow, get them done, and hope my hand doesn't hurt too much- it's been 10 weeks since I delivered papers last!

2010-01-18T23:40:00.003Z

I finished this layout yesterday, and used the ScrapaGoGo November 09 kit to create it-

Today I decided I'd had enough of sitting indoors not going out (mainly due to the weather over the last few weeks!), so jumped into the car and drove to Ely Tescos. Of course, that's not very far from Capture the Magic, so I popped in there first ;oP

I needed a few sticky bits- double sided foam pads, sticky foam tape, Zig glue pen...
I was also hoping to find a glass cutting mat, and some 7x5 page protectors... and yay I found both there!

I was particuarly pleased about the page protectors, and later put them into my mini book to use to hold my Postcards.
Obviously whilst there I had to have a little look around, but this is all I bought that I didn't "need"!

When I got home i was over the moon to find that my postie had already called, and left my January ScrapagoGo kit!
But then I was very restrained, and I didn't open the box unti i had cleaned the bathrooms!

Sadly I had no time today to start to play with it, as Monday evenings are a little hectic to say the least, what with Adams swimming lesson; Emilys swimming lesson; home to get them a quick bite to eat before Guides, and then Cubs.
Tonight Adam was being invested into Cubs, so we went along to watch.
I was a little annoyed to find I couldn't really see him and certainly wouldn't be able to get a photo whilst the investiture was actually going on, so I took a couple of photos afterwards.

Doesn't he just look so proud?

~: PostCrossing Mini Book :~

2010-01-17T23:22:00.005Z

So here is the mini book I have made...

I love how the World chipboard diecut came out once glossied-

I haven't yet cut holes for the book rings, because I haven't quite decided how to display the postcards inside.
I want to be able to see both the front and backs easily, so ideally want to find some page protectors to store them in.
For this I may be paying a visit to a certain shop over in Soham tomorrow :o) (CTM!) Nughty naughty me :oP

We had a quiet Sunday here today, just the kiddies playing, lots of Lego everywhere, me scrapping a bit, James *still* playing with his new hard-drive hifi.
In the afternoon I fancied doing a spot of baking, and Emily was only too happy to help

Mmmmm.... very yummy chocolate brownies!

And I had to smile yesterday when digging through the garage for yet more Lego for the kiddies to play with-

This fridge magnet says it all really- and could be just perfect to use to scrap with the January ScrapaGoGo kit.
Which I'm hoping my postie will bring tomorrow!

~: Oooooh nice.... :~

2010-01-16T23:35:00.004Z

Lookie, lookie!

Isn't this just the most fantastic album?
I've had my eye on this for a while, as soon as SarahsCards got them in stock a couple of months back I knew I had to get one one day.
So when I realised I had enough of their loyalty stamps to get £10 off an order, I redeemed them, and then ordered the album this week.
And happily I am not at all dissapointed- I LOVE it!

Today I also got this pile of goodies-

One of my resolutions this year is to not order stash "just because". So in my mind, ordering that gorgeous album, and this little lot, to make a mini book to document my Postcrossing postcards I receive and send, are completely allowed. !!!
This paper range if called "Pack Your Bags" and is made by Kaisercraft. Some of that little lot shown there is a kit put together and sold by AngelCrafts, isn't that chipboard world map great? And just perfect for the front of my book.
It's currently drying having been inked, then covered in glossy accents.
I've made the front and back covers, so tomorrow hope to put it together.

~: Not Alot... :~

2010-01-13T23:03:00.004Z

Not alot to blog, but I did get another PostCrossing postcard in the post today, this time from the Ukraine!

I've been browsing around some map related stash online... I plan on making a little mini book to keep my postcards in, and I'll probably also print out the little maps to show how far they have travelled. It won't be anything too complicated so hopefully I will be able to find the time to add to it each time a new card arrives.
Maybe I'll also keep track of the cards I have sent too.

I'm sitting here stitching on a layout I'm in the middle of ,aking, but my eyes are closing, maybe it's time for bed.
I'm so tired again, even having not delivered my papers AGAIN!
That's two weeks in a row now that I was supposed to be working but somehow the papers haven't been delivered. The office don't even know what's going on.
It's just so annoying, the waiting around, not able to settle to anything else as in theory they could have arrived at any time.
Today I felt like telling them what they could do with their job :oP

~: Monday Madness :~

2010-01-11T23:53:00.002Z

Another regular run of the mill kinda day.
Mondays have now taken over from Tuesdays as being the hectic everything-happens-on this-day-of-the-week!

It started with me deciding I had one last chance to try to track down the a new-style Cub sweatshirt before he was due to be invested this evening.
So after a couple of phonecalls off I went.
When I got back home there were two boxes of leaflets on the doorstep- so it looks like I will be delivering my papers this week!

The rest of the afternoon I spent sorting washing, having lunch, and having a short go of the new Wiil Fit Plus game I bought at the weekend.

After school though, it was swimming lessons for both of them, rushing back here to get them something to eat before Guides and Cubs.
Adam was due to be invested, but partly due to other parents forgetting and what seems to have been a communication failure it has been postphoned until next week.
They did however perfom their little "swimming up" ceremony.
Adam was the only one who had gone wearing his Beaver jumper ready to change into the Cubs one; but the others still swam up anyway. He looked so proud.

And if all that wasn't enough, I had line dancing too- I am now very tired!
So no scrapping today, but I do plan on making up for it tomorrow.

~: That's My Girl :~

2010-01-10T22:37:00.003Z

I made this layout using Cosmo Cricket and October Afternoon papers; tiny alpha stickers by My Little Shoebox; and some wooden look printed chipboard alphabet stickers that I got in one of the class kits at the October ScrapaGoGo Getaway.
I wanted to create something bright with a warm summery feel to it.

We still have no more snow, and today alot of it melted as the temperature must have risen enough at last.
After reading the email I received today from my sister, and seeing many comments from people all over the country, I realise how lucky we are here.
All the disruption that has been caused, and how normal life for so many people has been thrown on its head.
Here's hoping there is soon a countrywide thaw.

~: It's Been a Funny Old Week....! :~

2010-01-09T23:25:00.008Z

You know what's it's like, just after Christmas and New Year, getting back into the regular routine. It takes a while to get back to normal- whatever that is!
I don't really feel like i've got anywhere near that yet. The children went back to school on Tuesday, I've managed to get lots of scrapping done this week, and yesterday I had Adam home, due to an early morning village wide powercut. So the school was closed.

But we had a good day together, playing board games, and of course watching a DVD, and playing on the Playstation....!

After school we all went to Ely, and whilst there I was pleased to track down the Crochet magazine at last that has been so talked about on UKScrappers.

Whether I can actually make any sense of it or not who knows!

The snow is still hanging around, this afternoon I saw these sweet little bird footprints on the thin snow on the patio

Whilst most people in other parts of the country seem to be hoping for the snow to go away, we would quite like a good covering to appear overnight tonight so at least the children can get out and enjoy it again. Let's see shall we?

Oh and these little lovlies arrived in the post for me today...

Meet Hurray, Dancing Girl, and Lolita, my new Momiji dolls. I found a site that was selling them at a good price,and had some christmas money to spend, but due to the postage had to buy 3 to make it worth it!
Sadly Dancing Girl has some damage and will be going back. And as she is now out of stock at that site I need to find somewhere else to re-buy her from- typical!

~: And another LO... :~

2010-01-07T23:05:00.003Z

Using the ScrapaGoGo December 09 kit again...

I can't believe that is the fourth layout I've made with this kit.
When I first received it I wasn't *too* sure, but I think that was mainly because it included a little too much yellow for my liking!
I have rarely made this many LOs with one kit, I often tend to get bored using the same stash by the third and move on to something else!
So managing to make 4 this time must be testament to the fabby kit.

This afternoon I got a little bored, and also needed something to nibble... when I got this out of the cupboard somehow it just wanted to me photo it...!!!

Pretty random I know, but hey!

The weather here is still pretty grim, freezing cold, occasional snow flurries, and lots of slippery pavements.
I'd rather it actually had another good snow like before Christmas, and a little like last week. At least we could go out and have a good proper play!

~: Just a Quick one... and a Surprise Day Off! :~

2010-01-06T23:46:00.007Z

How does it get so late every night before I get around to blogging?
I'll just keep this brief, I so need to get to bed.
It was a long night last night what with wondering if my papers were going to arrive in the night, ready for me to deliver today.
They didn't arrive (they are normally here well before bedtime on Tuesdays, and are all then stuffed and ready for an early start on Wednesdays), and I then waited most of today for them, and for a phonecall back from the office once I had managed to make contact with them.
It now seems they got lost en-route to here; I think it is more likely that the message that I was back working today never got through to the relevant people and the delivery driver didn't know where to take them.
My "boss" (I put it that way as I don't actually know who my "boss" is, she is just the only contact I have) did promise that if they were to be delivered this week she would call me again, so having not heard anything more today I can now only hope/assume that I have an extra week off! Yay!

This is the layout I finished last night

and I am so pleased with how it turned out, and I think it is so my style, I'm so happy to have got back in my "groove"!

and everything other than the ink and Stickles was from the yummy December ScrapaGoGo kit.
I'm nearly finished another layout today too, and I'm starting to run low on kit.

Just as well Januarys' will be on it's way soon! :o)

~: Back to School... and I Scrapped Again! :~

2010-01-05T22:25:00.005Z

The kiddies were back to school today. Despite the snow that was falling fast at the time they went, both schools remained open, much to their dissapointment.
I was worried Emilys bus may not turn up, as they don't seem to be the most reliable in adverse weather!
She obviously went off ok, and it was then time to take Adam- I took this photo on my phone on the walk there.

And on the scrapping front...
I've now done three layouts in just a few days!
That's more than I made in the last 3 months of last year lol.
I finished one layout this morning, but I can't show that one just yet.
So I then started another, and by this evening it was finished- probably one of my quickest ever layouts I've made from scratch!
Here is a peek- tomorrow I will photo it properly in daylight.

I had lots of fun with this- playing with glitter glue, and trimmings, and staples, and inking edges.... scrapping just how I like it! :o)

I'm still thinking about my "Word" for this year.... after toying with the idea of "DeClutter" but deciding it wasn't inspiring enough, I'm now thinking of "Organise". Same meaning but sounds much nicer!
And it's definately something I plan on doiing throughout this year.
Both in the decluttering sense, and in the trying to get myself organised sense too!

I'm sitting here now waiting for the newspapers to arrive ready to deliver tomorrow.
It will be my first day back delivering since my wrist op, and I am a little nervous, and quite concerned about how slippery it might be out there on the ice tomorrow! I'm actually hoping that it will snow overnight, I'd rather walk on that!

~: 4th Jan :~

2010-01-04T23:13:00.008Z

Well today was the last day of the school holidays, and as such the day we like to take our decoartions down.
Before i did, I had a play around with my camera, trying out one of the techniques Cheryl Johnson taught in the 12 Days christmas photo course.
Now this course So that, along with also failing miserably with Journal Your Christmas, has taught me not to join up to any online classes this year.
I am rubbish at them. And that's just being rubbish at the taking part, let alone anything else such as what the results may be!

So these are some of the pics of my tree...

As you can see I wa playing with Bokeh... not sure I managed it that well, and my two models here were none too willing to help with trying to have a photo with the tree like that behind, but I like the effect none-the-less, and I had fun playing.

And they were playing happily together which is why they didn't want to get involved. It was nice to see that on the last day of their Christmas school holiday.

I received my second postcard today from the Postcrossing scheme..., which of course reminds me that I never blogged the arrival of my first!!

This one arrived from Lithuania on new Years Day.
And todays one came from Finland

Very simply the idea is to send and receive postcards from around the world.
I plan on making a minibook to hold my postcards and document the travels they have made.

And on the scrapping front, here is the completed layout I made yesterday-

why I suddenly had the urge to scrap this photo I came across from our Florida holiday I don't know. But when inspiration strikes, I can't turn it away!

~:The "Presents under the Tree" Photo :~

2010-01-03T23:06:00.010Z

Every year, as my parents did with us, I try to take a photo of the children with their Christmas presents under the tree.
As always I have left it til the last minute, so this morning I made them gather their presents for a quick photo shoot.

The wider angle shots didn't work quite as well as I had hoped, but I like this closer one.
We then had a day at home, relatively quiet (compared with the last week or so!), sorting out a few bits, and playing together.

I even found time to sneak up to my scrappy room and do some scrapping... I can't even believe it myself!
Here it is as it was as it started getting dark; it is now very nearly finished :o)

So I am now very pleased to have started the year so well crafty-wise!

Appearing on my resolutions/to do list this year (still yet to actually be put to paper, or more likely to be typed) are some wool related activities- knitting possibly, but more likely crocheting.
I bought a crochet hook and book early last year, but never actually got around to trying it. At the moment there is alot of talk of crocheting on the ScrapaGoGo kit club thread on UKScrappers, so hopefully that will give me the push I need!
Let's see shall we?!

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On the catch-up front, I feel very bad that I never actually blogged Adams 8th birthday.
Being just 4 days before Christmas tends to mean a rather busy day, in this years case 2 days... and blogging just really isn't a priority at the time!
So here is this years birthday photo, taken at his bowling party, actually the day before his birthday

on his birthday I took him to McDonalds for lunch, then on to the cinema to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks 2, with Emily. And then that evening was the line dancing Christmas party- you see now why I had no time to blog?!

And here he was actually on his birthday.

My very handsome little 8 year old boy.
Love you lots! x

~: 2010 Day Two :~

2010-01-02T23:12:00.009Z

The second day of the year, and another day out visiting.
i do love this about christmas, that you get to meet up with people that maybe you don't quite get around to seeing for the rest of the year.
Well today we went to my brother-in-laws parents' house. We do get to see them maybe once or twice a year at family events, but it was nice to see tham just because.
Obviously my sister, bil and family were there, as was my Mum and Dad.
What I really liked was that Pat loves to lay on activities for the children.
They had modelling balloons when we got there

Emily shown here later in the day wearing her flower and hat combination.
There was some nice food, my kiddies loved the spag bol, which was nice as I'd said they'd like it, but sometimes when other people cook it they say they don't.

Then there was pass the parcel

and after that loads of crafty stuff to keep them busy a while.
Bliss, and a whole afternoon to sit and chat to the other grown ups and not have them whining and moaning- we'll go there again!
But as lovely as it was, tomorrow we'll be home.
All day.
No visiting, and no visitors.
Just peace and quiet.... well, maybe I can't see that last bit happening, but i can dream!

Going back a bit now, this was the ScrapaGoGo December kit that arrived mid December

Having not been able to scrap for a few weeks after my hand op,I couldn't wait to get creating... so I made this layout-

I was then hoping to get on with lots of other LOs, but then of course Christmas went and got in the way and put pay to those plans!
So that was my last layout of 2009, not my best year for scrapping by a long way.
I lost my Mojo many times, struggled with some issues that came from being "out there" in the scrapping world, and felt too under pressure early on in the year with magazine work and the couple of design teams I was on.
So throughout the year I said goodbye to most of all that, in the hope that scrapping just for me would give me the freedom to enjoy my scrapping again.
Sadly it didn't seem to work, and the times where I felt I really wanted to scrap, and had the inspiration and the mojo, were very few and far between.
I had just about broken through all that by the time of the ScrapaGoGo Getaway in October, partly due to the challenges before the event, and the fab classes they laid on.
But of course then I had my hand op!

So here's hoping this year I can be organised enough around the house to be able to allow myself time to sit and scrap without the guilt I feel all too often!
So that;s definately on my resolutions list!