Belated Christmas wishes....

... hope you had a good one!

Sorry once again for my absence, it was not intentional I assure you. My beloved Gran passed away on the 9th of December, a shock to us all, and with me being so far away from family I felt very helpless. I went down for her funeral, and came back with lots of photographs, documents and her diaries, which I am going to cherish forever. Since then, my family have been clearing her house, and have found further diaries, and some of my Grandad's Union documents and medals, and even more photographs, for which I feel extremely honoured to inherit. So I best get on and do some Heritage stuff then....

I have done some crafting, although not recently - a little thing called Christmas ??? seemed to get in the way. But here are a couple of birthday cards using Magnolia stamps, that I made back in Novemeber.

And here are a couple of notebooks I made for the kids as stocking fillers - using my Bind it All machine - and decorated with Sugar Nellie stamps, these ones are from the exclusive kit they had in December.

I have also bit the bullet and decided to go on a stash diet - no purchases apart from my CK mag and my Scrapagogo Kit.... I need to start to use the stuff I have, rather than just collect it!

I got plenty of stash for my Christmas - a Cuttlebug machine, and some dies and embossing folders - plus some gorgeous goodies from my Secret Santa, and some lovely alterable things from my bestest pal Amanda:)

With my past record, I had better wish you a Happy New Year now, as knowing me it'll be next year before I update this ..... So here's to a happy, healthy and prosperous 2008 to each and every one of you.....xxx

ttfn xx

Did you miss me?

I thought not....

Major, major computer problems in this house the past couple of weeks... Mark had to wipe the hard drive and rebuild the computer, and he tried to get it all done before he was due to go away for a week, but unfortunately he didn't, so that was me with no PC :( It's all back working now (obviously as I am here) but we are still having niggles, so forgive my abscences from my usual stomping grounds, I should be back to normal soon :)

BUT... it is just amazing what you can get done when you have no computer or internet to distract you....

The week Mark was away I managed to...

• Make soup - Russian vegetable, yum
• Make muffins - Black bottomed muffins (or chocolate cheese as we call them) double yum
• Make and decorate the covers for my Christmas Journal
• Write all my Christmas cards
• Make a Christmas cake
• Lots and lots of housework. I know. Sorry
• Make 2 birthday cards
• Write lists - seriously lots and lots of lists
• Tidy out my craft room - again
• Eat breakfast every morning - a big thing for me
• Find a journal for my 2008 A to Z of Everyday
• Decorate a large Doodlebug house in a Christmas stylee
• Swear alot at above house as adhesive kept failing to stick
• Sew numerous swimming badges on the kids swim bags
• Draft the family Christmas letter.

Phew! And since then, I have started my Christmas Journal, finished all the christmas shopping, fed the Christmas cake with a copious amount of Brandy (*hic*), paid for my turkey and trimmings at the butchers, oh and been to work... I also reaquainted myself with my sofa and remote control. It is amazing how much of your life this box of chips and motherboards eats up LOL.

I have no pictures right now, although I will have soon, of my Christmas Journal. And I know it is late, but I will now post this years declaration....

"I declare my intention to Journal my Christmas. Writing something down everyday. Creating a little bit whenever possible. Getting my stories documented for myself and maybe for others to read too.

I hope by taking a little time each day to reflect, to write, to create, I will keep my Christmas alive and well, despite the commercial pressure that exists outside my door. Family, friends and hot beverages will help.

I may meet others taking this same journey. I may share my work from time to time. I may remember just why I loved Christmas in the first place, and that may be a very magical moment indeed. "

I am working on prompts 3 and 5 at the moment (multitasking!) and then I may share some of them. I didn't share any of last years journal, but may do so this year, maybe...

ttfn x

Another Nellie card..

I love this Sugar Nellie pirate, he is great for little boys cards (or maybe not so little too :)) I cut an aperture in the front of the card, surrounded it with a silver border, and added some brads to look like rivets! When you open the card up, you seen Captain Jack in all his glory... (I am not sure what his name is, but Captain Jack will do for now...)

I made the "wood" sentiment with some kraft card and a Zig pen, and Hero Arts tiny type stamped with Palette ink :)

You can *only* get these stamps from here at Funky Kits.

ttfn xx

Tagged!

Thanks to Linda I have been tagged!!

Here are the rules
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself some random some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their name (linking to them)
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs

Right, here goes....

1. I hate using the telephone.
2. I don't like lifts - lift doors closed on me once, and I lost my Smarties :(
3. I don't like stickers being stuck on me - sticking them to paper is fine though :P
4. I trained as an Occupational Therapist, but had to give up work due to ill health.
5. I have walked down the pit lane at Le Mans.
6. I am scared of heights.
7. I once won a competition in Smash Hits magazine.

So, who to tag....


Stacey, Amanda, Tinks , Tracy, Anne, Paula, Erika

Here is the latest LO I have done....

Another Tree Adventure photo (and yes, there are more yet to come LOL) and again, using Scenic Route papers!! The bazzill, Scenic Route papers and journalling spot, Tinkering Ink alphas and prima birdie all came from a Scrap Studio kit, and the ribbons came from the Little Silver Hat November ribbon kit.

And this is the first card I have made with my new Sugar Nellie stamps which you can get here at Funky Kits. This is Luca (I think) and he was coloured in using my Aquatone watercolour pencils. The patterned paper is (wait for it) Scenic Route, ribbon and large bloom from Little Silver Hat, a prima flower, a brad, and the sentiment is an Art Warehouse stamp.

The paper mache-ing continued yesterday, and now the balloon looks more like Santa (I think) so all that needs to be done is the painting bit - and both Mark and I have said that there will be no more paper mache in the house for at least a year if not more...

ttfn xx

I promised I would share...

... so I am!
This is the journalling book I have been making for my Gran.

I made it with 8x5 plain index cards (which I printed the questions on) and the covers are made from mount board, covered with paper from Pink Petticoat. I cut a question mark from Bazzill, and them embellished with prima flowers. I bound it all with my Bind it All :)

I also completed another LO - more photos from Tree Adventures in New Zealand (I did take loads of photos here LOL), and another LO using Scenic Route products...

The Scenic Route papers, Bazzill and felt all came from the Metropolis Scrapbooking kit from the Scrummy Stash Cafe (love the name of this shop LOL). There are also some Basic Grey alpha stickers on there, and some Scenic Route chipboards alphas too. A few Paper Mania buttons were thrown in too for good measure...

I have been really busy this week doing the Christmas shopping - the kids are just about sorted now, we are waiting for a few web purchases to come... I need to get the rest of the family sorted now, most have a little crafty gift, just need to get a few extras. Hope to get it all posted the first week of December, so I can really enjoy the build up to the big day, and also to have time to do Shimelle's "Journal your Christmas" class. I did this last year - and finished it - and I love the book I produced, and it really made me think about what Christmas means to me, and how as a family we celebrate it. It made me realise that we don't have a lot of "traditions" like I did when I was a child, and this year I am trying to remedy this, by trying to start a few...

I have also spent this afternoon paper mache-ing balloons - Jemma decided she wanted to make a Santa sweet holder that she found in an old Art Attack magazine, and so we thought we would give it a go... The kids lasted about 2 minutes with the newspaper and watered down PVA... so Mark and I ended up doing it LOL. As I type, the newspaper clad balloons are hanging on the washing line... Step 2 comes tomorrow, if they are dry...

I have also been tagged, by Linda, but forgive me as I have to actually think of 7 facts about me first, and I must admit I have not really come up with anything remotely interesting yet... But I will be back, with my list and my list of taggee's...

But when it will be I have no idea, cos I took delivery of some gorgeous Sugar Nellie stamps this morning, and I am itching to do some stamping and colouring in....

ttfn xx

Another layout.....

I must have had a creative booster jab this past few days, as my creative side has decided to rear its normally absent head!!

Here is hubby in all his glory, with his ever present sunglasses! The photo was taken at Landmark near Aviemore, and I was half way up the fire tower - he was sat waiting for me and Tom to come down. I hate heights, and so I am so cautious when it comes to climbing up and down high things ;)

The photo has been played with in Photoshop CS, it was turned to black and white and then, using a history tool (?), the colour was put back in the sunglasses and a bit on his bodywarmer. (Not quite sure of the actual terms etc, seeing as Mark did it LOL)

Used bazill card, Scenic route papers (again, but I LOVE them!), Tinkering ink alphas and a prima birdie - all from a Scrap Studio kit :) - I then added a few prima flowers and I made the journalling spot from a lined index card.

I know the journalling is soppy, but Mark features so rarely in my pages that when I do a page about him, it normally turns into something quite mushy :) I take the poor bloke so much for granted sometimes... hopefully this will show how much I appreciate him, and that I do realise how much he has done for me, and that I really couldn't be without him ... As we never know what the future holds, there's no time like the present, eh?

I shall stop wiffling now,(as I am sure there will be someone out there in cyber space reaching for a sick bag), and also there is tea to make, and other such interesting household chores to attend to....

ttfn xx

Crikey, I scrapped....

... I know, a flippin' miracle if you ask me! I am finding myself getting bogged down with cards and gifts, and then an altering project leaps out at me... My poor albums are getting neglected, and it isn't from lack of photos :P

This LO is for my Book of Me, and was a prompt on UKS from Roz -

"Your prompt for this month is to get a photo of yourself doing something that makes you feel liberated and carefree, it can be anything you want, just so long as its a photo of you and you explain what it is your doing in the picture and how it made you feel."

Well, this is me being a zorbonaut! I don't usually do the dare devil, adventurous stuff - my kids say I am "no fun" LOL - so when we were in New Zealand (a land full of adrenaline loving nutters :P) it seemed rude not to partake in something that you can only do there - zorbing. You are placed inside a huge inflatable rubber ball and then pushed down a hill. Nothing more, just that. How did I feel? Terrified, sick, but also very proud of myself for doing something so out of character. The adrenaline was pumping for quite a while, but not enough to persuade me to do it again....

I used bazzill card, Scenic Route papers and journalling spot, American crafts alpha stickers and some chipboard circle arrows (from I don't know where). Everything is inked (naturally:P).

Managed to finish making my Christmas cards today - only hope I have made enough... I also finally finished off one of the journalling books I have made for my Gran, photos are still in the camera...

Speaking of cameras, I did manage to take some shots of the fireworks display last Saturday night, and they did turn out OK. I went for the "capture the moment" effect, and Mark had a go with the "arty effect" with a longer shutter opening (or something). Might actually get round to scrapping them at some point...

ttfn xx

Nothing to see...

Dunno where this week has gone, again.....
Really hope the next few weeks don't whizz past, I really want to get to grips with the christmas shopping etc, and with Mark swanning off left right and centre over the next few weeks, I am going to have to be organised...

Not alot of crafting has gone on in these four walls this week - I was working 2 days this week, then a busy morning in the craft shop, plus I managed to do myself a mischief this week by getting something in my eye and I think I have irritated it, cos its still not right :( So all in all a pretty craftless week LOL. Good thing crafting it isn't my job, or else we'd be on bread and dripping for the next week...
I have managed to mat 30 images tonight for my Christmas cards though, although I think I may have to go back and check them tomorrow when I can focus properly! I think I have just about got enough cards done now, which is a relief, as I have a few other bits I need to get started/finished too. I made the decision early on that I am not doing any craft to sell this Christmas, and I am concentrating on gifts for the family. I have been guilty in the past of getting myself bogged under with orders and production lines, and I just get so exhausted, and too tired to enjoy Christmas :(
So the Snowman soup is a stocking filler, all the cards are going to be sent to friends and family, and most of my family will have something made by me, well that's the plan anyway...

It's time to give my eye a rest... sorry for any spelling mistakes :P

ttfn xx

My Christmas present is here...

...but I am being a good girl, and I am going to send it to Santa. I did, however, have to check it, so my new Cuttlebug made an appearance, and I had a little play with the free die and embossing folders that came with it. Mark was very impressed with what it could do - he was amazed with the embossing bit (easy to please he is....;)) and I could feel the difference using it, it was so much easier to operate than my trusty Sidekick. Jemma will now get the Sidekick, but I still will keep hold of all of my dies, she isn't getting her mitts on them....

I went to my LSS just to get bookrings (for Mark) and came home with a bag full of stuff and a Cuttlebug - not bad I say :P I want to do some Christmas cards using my Take a Bough stamp set from Papertrey Ink, but on close inspection of my ink drawer, I was seriously lacking green ink... But now I am all stocked up on green! And I just couldn't resist a bottle or two of the teeny weeny prima flowers.... Fatal to my bank balance, going in my LSS...

I never got to finish off the journalling books, a job for another day... Tonight is the local fireworks display, and I will be taking the camera - although how successful I will be at taking a decent photograph of fireworks is another matter, and I am NOT taking the tripod lol... It took about 6 attempts to take a non blurry photo of the pumpkins I carved for Halloween.... But you never know, I might surprise myself, and I have done that once or twice!

ttfn xx

Tilda and soup

Phew, what a busy old week, parties, more parties, trick and treating, and it all finishes with a school disco tomorrow night... oh and then it's the local firework display on Saturday.... Anyhoo, this is what I have been up to crafting wise this week......

This is my first Tilda card - Tilda and cake... I loved the colouring in bit, using my fabulous Derwent Aqua tone watercolour pigment pencils. The backing paper is Pink Petticoat, and the card is bazzill. And I just love my new concave corner rounder thingy LOL. I put some stickles on the cake for a bit o bling!! And as 30 or 40 of my childhood photographs prove, little girls can only wear red shoes...



Snowman soup has begun production as well - some hot choc, a candy cane and a few marshmallows - in a DL card bag, tied up with red organza ribbon, and a cute little tag from PCcrafter.com. I found the poem on the web :)
I have been making little journalling books today - with lots of questions in that I got from Mel (thanks hun xx). I printed them onto plain index cards, and made covers and binded it all with my bind it all ! I just need to add some finishing touches, and then I will share :P

ttfn xx

Finished the bags...

.... because the kids went back to school today - hooray!! A bit of peace and quiet, and a clean house does wonders for my creativity LOL!

So here are the 3 bags - one red, one denim, one "heather" - not sure who is going to get which one yet ;)

And here is a little close up of some of the flowers - I got all brave on this bag and did blanket stitch round the edges, the others I did running stitch on. I went rooting through my sequin and bead "collection" for the flower centres.

All I need to do now is find some bits and pieces to go inside the bags - probably a few smellies, a bit of choccy and some snowman soup... that's my next job, a batch of snowman soup LOL.

ttfn x

Bag Lady

Yep, that's my project of the moment, sewing felt flowers onto the felted bags I made way back in May - see here for the original bag :)
I am doing them for Christmas presents, and have started collecting things to go inside the bags - some toiletries, chocolates etc. And some snowman soup - cos I finally found candy canes in Woolworths today LOL

I became a proud owner of a Tilda today - so I am sure that I will get the old Staz on out later... I was thinking of all the other stamps I have, that I bought and only stamped a couple of times, scared off by the colouring in bit. Now I am a bit more practised I might hunt them out and have a colouring in session - will surely give some variety to my Christmas cards...!

ttfn

Monogram madness!

... I went a bit monogram mad yesterday, finishing off altering projects I have been wanting to do for ages. This is a wooden U, which I painted and distressed, then added sepia photos, some blooms and bling, a few wire embellishments and a spot of ribbon! It is now hanging on the kitchen door, where you can see it if you walk into our house. I love a bit of home decor!!





The next 2 monograms are metal letters I got in the bargain bucket at Au Naturelle for 25p each! Luckily they had lots of J's and T's - just what I need LOL. I added a black and white photo, then embellished them with ribbon, buttons, flowers etc - Tom has a thing about orange, and Jemma isn't really a girly girl, but purple is my fave, and it looks great against the silver letters. They now have pride of place in the kids rooms :) I have large chipboard monograms to do for the kids too, but will probably do them for christmas gifts ;)

Finally, here is the LO I have been umming and aahhing over for the past week! One of Mark, for a change, he doesn't really feature in my pages as much as he should do really, something that needs to be addressed...

I used a Scrap Studio kit (formerly ModScraps kits) which was all Scenic Route (drool!) and the colours are perfect for these Tree Adventure photos (yes more photos from Tree Adventures - told you I took a lot LOL) Did a bit of doodling on the arrows and title, used a New Zealand circle stamp I got in Wellington, and Heidi Swapp "adventure" stamp again.

I think now I will go and lie down, 3 days of creativity is quite a lot for me, and I do seem to be lacking energy today, and have a thick head :(

Although I have thought of a finishing touch to put on my Christmas cards....the cogs keep whirring - the brain is still working even if the flesh is weak LOL....



ttfn

BOO!

I had fun yesterday making a halloween doodlebug house! Kept me from biting my nails during the rugby ;)



This is the small house, and I used the Doodlebug Hauntingly Halloween kit to decorate it. The only thing that was a pain, was the adhesive doesn't always stick - so I have had to use other glue to keep it from unsticking.
I have a large house too, and I think that will be done in a christmas stylee!

I am hoping to get a LO finished today, it's been sat half done in my craft "room" all week....

And I am eagerly waiting for some magazines I ordered from PaperArts - the new Simple Scrapbook mag, the Papercrafts Christmas special, and I also ordered the Easy scrapping with 4 x 6 photos by Creating Keepsakes. I have so many 4 x 6 photos it is unreal, and I don't always like to crop them, so it will be nice to get some good ideas for LOs...

ttfn

I finally finished something....

... and I must say that I am very pleased with how its turned out.

The book is a 7 Gypsies naked wire-o album that my lovely teamie Anne sent me, and I decorated the covers using Papertrey Ink stamps - from the Take a Bough set. The alpha stickers are Basic Grey, and the "adventure" stamp is Heidi Swapp. Some organza ribbon finished it off nicely.

For each page, I used a 5.5 x 3.5 inch piece of card to mask off the centre, and then stamped around it to create a border. I used Papertrey Ink stamps again, with the leaves coming from another set, Blooms I think it is called. I did this on every page, which is something I started to regret after page 4 LOL, although I must admit it is very effective, and I love how it looks - so it was worth the effort. More BG stickers, the Heidi Swapp adventure stamp, and a map of New Zealand I got in Kiwi Scraps in Wellington finish off the title page, and I stuck a hot fix crystal on the map to show where we were (approximately ;P)

These are some of the pages, I mixed portrait and landscape photos, hence why some of the pictures look odd.... I did the journalling using Hero Arts tiny type stamps, another time consuming task, but I love the effect. The monograms are cut from Scenic Route paper, using a Scenic Route chipboard alpha as a stencil :)

It is a lovely little book, and the kids have already looked through it loads, which is what it is there for after all. We had a great time at Tree Adventures, and I wanted to create something special to record it. Not my speediest project ever, but I put alot of love into that little book, and that was well worth the time...

ttfn

Still here....

...just! It's the half term holidays here, the kids are off for 2 weeks - arrgghh!! So I am busy keeping them from killing each other!

Also, I seem to have a serious attack of startinganotherprojectbeforeIfinishthefirstone-itis !! My Mum always tried to instill in me the theory of finishing off something before starting something new, but I have always been a flitter, and I like to have lots of different things on the go so I have some variety. I have at least 5 projects on the go right now, so although I have been crafting lots, I have nothing to show for it... The only thing I have finished this week is a CJ entry, which I can't show you anyway!

Jemma did her first scrapbook page yesterday - Mum bought her an album kit for her birthday with a view to her being able to put photos from New Zealand in it, but she never got round to it. And now she has her own camera, she wanted to scrap one of the pictures she took over the summer - of the flowers in our garden. She added some lovely journalling too. So now I need to hide the stash LOL, or at least drip feed her some of my older supplies so she doesn't help herself...

Hope to be back with photos of finished projects soon.....

Cyber cropping...

.... slow time!

There was a weekend of cyber cropping on UKS this past weekend, with 2 more weekends of classes coming up. I don't particularly like the frenzy of usual cyber crops, so it is nice that this one is a bit more sedate and I have picked and chosen which classes I want to do, and that I have had plenty of time to play with the classes.

The above layout was my take on Carolm's "True Love" class, and it uses felt - I loved Carol's original LO, so I knew that I had to do this one. Carol is a very talented gal, and I love her work, and I don't just say that cos she's my team mate ;) The LO is very glittery, I went a bit mad with the Stickles, but the scan hasn't done it justice. I have a couple more of last weekend's classes saved ready to do, and I shall be looking to see what they come up with this weekend too!

Playing with my new toy...

....my new Bind It All !! This is a little mini book/album I have done for friends who got married last weekend - I have left spaces for a few photos. I have seen the lovely Bo Bunny chipboard books, but thought I would have a bash at doing something similar myself, and printed off some large letters in Word, and then handcut them out of chipboard. Covered it all in some weddingy papers, and added some 7 gypsies stickers and a dash of ribbon, and then shoved it into my Bind it all LOL.



Then I decided I had really ought to do something with some of the many photos we took at Disneyland Paris in October 2006! So I made a little book with 6x6 pieces of bazzill, added some strips of disney papers, and 4x6 photos, then made some covers out of acetates, decorated with ribbon, and shoved all that through my bind it all too!!

I have been to a mini crop at my neighbours house this afternoon, thanks Pam, and I have nearly finished a LO and made a start on a book in a box all about New Zealand - I managed to cover the box LOL. When they are done I will share....
Thanks to Erika too for her yummy bananachocchip muffin, and Kara too for putting up with my awful singing to the 80s soundtrack!

ttfn

As promised....

..... more pages from my Dad's album.


These are my favourite pages - I didn't want to share all of them, you might think you are in some kind of nightmare slide show scenario LOL. I used the same pagemap for all the pages, it took some of the brainwork out of it, and allowed me to complete it quite quickly.

I am really peeved he won't get it for the actual day, but I hope he likes it when he does get it :)

But, I did have a good post day myself - I got my Bind-it-all machine, so now I get to make mini books to my hearts content :) Need to hide it from Mark though, as he was quite taken with it! I have a few ideas in the pipeline too :) so watch this space.....

I also went real life shopping today LOL, visiting my LSS and ordering myself a Cuttlebug for Christmas - yay! I have my trusty Sidekick, which has been a solid and faithful servant for many years, but I wanted to get something that could cut slightly bigger... and I want to use those gorgeous Cuttlebug embossing folders!! So I am upgrading, but my lickle sidekick has a new home already - Jemma will have it!

I also found myself a large wooden U which I am going to alter... I fancy a bit of home decor scrapbooking.

Jemma commented yesterday that the "rogues gallery" we have on our stairs is looking a bit shabby now, and could I "do something pretty cos the frames look rubbish..." The only problem is that I did these multi photo frames pre scrapbooking, and used original photos (shock horror) and cut them, and stuck them with DST (aarrgghh) and these frames have been hung in direct sunlight, so the photos are now sun damaged and I can't get them out cos of the DST.....AARRGGHHHHHH!! I am hoping I can save some of the photos, or at least replace some with other photos, and maybe do some canvasses... A lot of thinking to be done on that one somehow.....

And talking of thinking, I still haven't thought of anyone to tag.....

ttfn

Tagged!!

Thanks Paula for the tag.... so here goes....

4 places I have worked
Local newsagents, Thurmaston, Leicester
Gateway Supermarket, Leicester
Dr Gray's Hospital, Elgin
Victoria Filling Station, Forres.

4 places I have lived
Stapleford, Nottingham (where I was born)
Thurmaston, Leicester (where I grew up)
Rosia Court, Gibraltar (Mark was posted there)
Kinloss, Forres (where I live now)

4 places I have been on holiday
New Zealand
Disneyland Paris
Corfu
Dominican Republic

4 favourite foods
chocolate
Chicken Tikka Massala from Asda curry pot LOL
Banoffee Pie
Pineapple cheecake (can you tell I have a sweet tooth LOL)

4 places I would rather be right now
Christchurch, New Zealand
Gibraltar
Stash shopping lol
Findhorn beach

I shall be back later with 4 people to tag, and some pictures of my Dad's 60th album, which is now finished, but due to the Mail strike will not get to him in time for his birthday :(

ttfn

Card making frenzy!!

I have spent a bit of time over the past few days making some cards. I purchased the new Lola Rose image stamps from Pink Petticoat, and just had to print some out and colour them in LOL.

Here are a few cards I made with some birthday images - the papers are Doodlebug, and an unbranded sheet which I got from a pack in Tescos, and the buttons are also Doodlebug. The sentiments come from the Girly Curly sentiments set, also from Pink Petticoat.

















Then I made a start on my Christmas cards !! These are from the same set of image stamps, and the papers are Doodlebug papers that I got free with an old copy of Scrapbook Inspirations.














The sentiments come from the Girly Curly set again.


I had great fun watercolouring them in, although I was a bit nervous at first, seeing as printer ink is not very waterproof. But using a waterbrush and taking the pigment straight off my watercolour pencils and onto the paper seemed to work very well.

So thats 10 christmas cards down, don't know how many more to go!! At least its a start, not bad for me, usually I start them in December....

In the beginning...

These are the first few pages from my Dad's 60th birthday album. I am using a 6 x 12 format, and a Halfmap sketch from Pagemaps. I am loving how quickly it is coming together, and I am using up alot of scraps from my scrapbox too - the only thing I have purchased for this project so far is the album itself - a 6 x 12 Landscape album from Bazzill!

I have done a few more pages to my Learn something everyday album too, although I have ground to a halt again after nearly catching up... Life just seems to get in the way... Oh and the fact that I am helping Jemma make an authentic looking 1800's highland croft out of a shoe box and copious amounts of raffia.....

I have also been rekindling my love affair with Pink Petticoat this week, I have lots of their CDs and downloads for papers, image stamps, bag and box templates and sentiments for card making and other papercrafting projects. I have been printing out, colouring in and punching out lots of lovely images, just need to sit down and make them into cards !! I have just got the new Lola Rose image stamps too, and have printed off some christmassy ones and birthday ones for me to sit and colour in tonight whilst watching Michael Palin embark on another journey;)

I got the stamped images back from the Bella stamping swap I was in on UKS, and again I had a ball with the watercolours! I just need to make those cards up now too LOL

Trying to catch up.....

...but failing miserably LOL. So I am behind on my Learn something new everyday class - I knew I would be! I have been getting the photos, and writing down what I have learned everyday, just haven't been creating the pages. This afternoon I started the catch up...

I found this photo of Mark on his camera, whilst I was uploading a picture I had taken with it, as my camera's batteries had died. It was with other photos he took, but hadn't uploaded to the computer. If he had got to them first, I am sure this one would have been deleted, but it is such a striking photo of him, I was compelled to keep it. I have no idea when and where or even why he took it ROFL! So that was the lesson for that day...

This page shows my little craft desk, after a wonderful few hours spent learning how much fun you can have whilst playing with paper!! My creativity has taken a big beating over the past year or so, so much so that I have forgotten how much joy I used to take from cardmaking, and making gifts for people. Now Tom is at school full time, I find I have a couple of hours to kill in an afternoon, and I have begun to rediscover what it was I love about papercrafts. That'll go out the window next week when I start work, but for now I am just enjoying the journey, and the complete lack of pressure to create :)

I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, honest..

Well not yet anyway!

Having Mark home has been a big culture shock, after 4 months being on my own with the kids, him being around is alot to readjust to - especially when he has OCD tendencies, and insists on tidying stuff away and throwing stuff out... I have no idea where alot of stuff is right now... Its a good job he is back to work this week, so at least I get a bit of time now that the kids are back at school, and that Tom is now at full time school - even if it is spent hunting for things Mark has "put away"...

But I have been creating stuff. Mark and I sat down to go through the 541 photos we took in New Zealand, to put some into normal photo albums, and then I got to play with the rest. We spent a day at Auckland Zoo, and Mark wasn't keen about putting photos of animals into a normal album, so I had lots of great animal photos to make a mini album with!

I used an idea that I saw Shimelle do on the Fiskars website - the book is made from 4 x 12 inch pieces of cardstock, held together at the top by a book ring. I used the Scrummy Stash cafe Scenic Route Metropolitan kit, and added a piece of white bazzill to make up the page numbers. I added rikrak to each page, and a journalling stamp from Autumn Leaves. The stamps on the front cover of the book came from New Zealand, a lovely map and a circular stamps which has New Zealand printed over and over in it. The title is American crafts cardstock stickers. The album is super quick to make up, as I didn't have to crop the photos at all - just use the 4x6 photos I already had.

Speaking of Shimelle, I have also signed up for her "Learn something new everday" online class. I saw it last year, but was wary of joining an online class, but after doing her "Journal your Christmas" last year, I had no hesitation in signing up this year. I made my own album/book for this class, using chipboard covered in white copier paper splodged with acrylic paints and ink. I am using another Scrummy Stash Cafe kit - the sassafrass lass Scrumptious kit - to do this project, mainly for the little owls on one of the papers, as I managed to encorporate it into my front cover! I inked Scenic Route chipboard letters and added Stickles for a bit of bling.

This was my first page. The 2nd of September is a very sombre affair around here, as it is the anniversary of 2 seperate Nimrod crashes - one 12 years ago, and one in 2006. Obviously the 2006 crash is still very prominent in our thoughts, as Mark lost 12 colleagues that day. I thought a photo of a poppy that grew in my garden was appropriate for this page - seeing as it is a flower that symbolises remembrance. I can't believe that a year has passed already.

This is the second page - Mark and his tidying frenzy over the weekend lead to me doing a tip run yesterday. And this is the "after" picture !! And now I have a happy husband again....