You are my Sunshine

 

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey.... I remember the Muppets singing this song, and now I am going to have it stuck in my head for the rest of the day hahaha.

 

The title is from a Scrapbook Generation Super Sketch Club layout. I have been a fan of Allison Davis sketches for ages, and was a little disappointed when the Sketch Support site ceased to be. I had looked into joining the SSC, but couldn't justify the international shipping costs, but now I am in the US, the shipping rates are much lower, so I signed up to get the kit - to kick start my scrapping again, and to get my Allison Davis fix LOL. But, in her family it is not only Allison who is a talented sketch designer and scrapbooker - her Mum Debbie does some fantastic sketches too! And this is one of her layouts from the kit. This is the Super Saver bit of the kit - Debbie shows you how to make 3 double layouts using minimal supplies, and provides a cutting guide to get the most out of your stash. This layout uses the Simple Stories Summer Fresh collection, and I love it's vintage, country feel.

 

I decided to use some heritage photos. I'm not too sure that you could describe my baby photos as being "heritage" - although in a few weeks they will be 40 years old (eek), so I suppose in a way they are LOL. But they are delightfully 70s, and they seemed to fit with the paper.

 



 

 

The photos show me (in the pushchair) with my parents on a leisurely stroll. I'm guessing around 1973 (I was born Sept 72, so I think I look about 6 months or so in the photos). And we are... somewhere...lol. I know, a bit pants. But I love the design, and I love the papers, and I love the expression on my Dad's face... I was the original Daddy's girl, before my little sister came and stole the title from me.... And I think the title fits in with that too :)

 

A sweet birthday card

Today, we are going out to celebrate another friend's birthday - talk about being party people LOL.

This card I did using the latest sketch from the Sugar Bowl :)

I used one of my favourite Sugar Nellie Stamps from the Gorjuss girls range. An oldie, but a goodie :) I coloured the image with ProMarkers.
Papers are from My Mind's Eye - Darling Dear - another bargain 6x6 pad.... The sentiment is a Paula Pascual stamp from Personal Impressions. I went to town again with the distressing tool - I am a bit obsessed with things distressed just now...lol.

And as a gift for this friend, we went and bought Birthday cake flavoured Vodka - yep, that's right. And it tastes just like cake too, with a bit of an after shock of course, if you catch my drift...

I foresee a few sore heads in the morning....

Beads and cards

Very unoriginal title I'm afraid lol.

Tomorrow we are off to dinner, to celebrate with our friends Monica and Chris on the occasion of their daughter's birthday. Leslie is now a Senior at High School, so I wanted to give her something a bit different for her birthday. I am not sure whether she will like it or not, but nothing ventured, nothing gained...

I got the beads from my local Michael's - gotta love that store. And even better, it is 5 minutes drive from my house. Maybe my husband doesn't agree that it is quite so appealing to our bank balance though...

And here is the card I made.

I used a sketch from the Sugar Bowl , and the image is a Lili of the Valley stamp, coloured in with ProMarkers. The papers are from My Mind's Eye - a bargain I found at a Home Goods store, as the 6x6 paper pad only cost me $2.00...   The sentiment is from Craftwork Cards, and I used my Spellbinders to make a lollipop flower. I went to town with my distressing tool, distressing all the edges - I looked like I had a bad case of dandruff afterwards lol.

I must go and make the dessert I am taking round for dinner - my Gran's pineapple cheesecake. I even found proper digestive biscuits at Publix for the base - no Graham crackers for MY cheesecake....

Squirls...

Back in February, I decided not to reapply for my spot on the Nuts About Sketches Design Team, as I knew we were going to be moving and that my scrapbooking stuff was going to leave before I did! I loved the sketches that Shawn produced every week, and I really did miss working with them. Fast forward to August, where I am in my new house, in a new country, and I have all my supplies to hand. I saw the NAS Design Team call, applied, and was delighted to be chosen to go back on the team :)

This is the layout I did for the call.

I really, really should have called this layout "Squirls" - as that is what we now call squirrels. When the kids were smaller, they were always "squiggles" - hence the title. My doggie "nephew" Eddie has a thing for chasing squirrels, in fact my brother and sister-in-law refer to them as "SQs" as he goes mad if you even say the word squirrel. I posted one of these photos onto his FaceBook page (yes, the dog has a FB page lol) and he said how much he would love to chase them...
These are squirrels that were bounding about under the trees at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. We didn't expect to see anything like this at all, seeing as it is right in the middle of D.C. But we are finding that expecting the unexpected is pretty much the norm around here LOL.
We have quite a few squirrels living here in Eagle Harbor, so maybe there will be another installment - "SQs of Fleming Island" anyone???

The wanderer returns...

Life has finally started to get back to normal after the mammoth move, and we are settling down nicely in Jacksonville. I am liking North East Florida so far, although it is taking some time to get used to the heat and humidity of the summer. And the thunderstorms. Wow, the electricity in the air after a storm makes your hairs stand on end, I can feel the prickles!!

The kids start at their new schools next week, so the longest ever summer holiday for them is coming to a close (thank goodness). Jemma has spent most of her time in the community pool...

We are all unpacked, and all our furniture has finally been delivered. I have set up my craft things in our guest room, there is plenty of closet space to fill!

This is the view from my workspace - excuse the grainy look, it is actually the window screens...

We have turtles and fish in our little pond, and a group of ducks, with the odd heron stopping by. No sign of any alligators yet... We have lovely little lizards that eat the bitey bugs, and tiny green frogs that fill the evening with the most incredible racket - I have never heard anything like it, and it certainly doesn't sound like a frog, ribbit ribbit...

I am getting used to the enormity of Jacksonville, it is the largest city in area in the whole of the US. I am so grateful for Mr Garmin, even if the lady inside the box has difficulty in pronouncing the street names... (which aren't hard at all)
I have finally seen the wonders that are Michael's and Joann. And I have an amazing scrapbooking store 5 minutes from my house. I haven't really ventured to the other side of the river yet, where Hobby Lobby and another LSS are - that is an adventure for when the kids are back in school!

We are slowly making our way through all the major food groups - Hooters, Wendy's, Outback, Chili's, Firehouse Subs, Panera Bread, Chick-Fil-A, S'barro, PapaJohns Pizza, Hurricane Wings, TGI's....  I will come back the size of a small house if I am not careful ;)

I am starting to get back to creating again, and have a ton of photos to scrap. We had a weekend in Washington, DC before we flew down to Florida, and it was a whirlwind of sightseeing.

I loved all the architecture in and around the National mall. Although we did not climb up to the Capitol, we did admire it's splendour.

As a Military family, it would have been wrong not to go to Arlington Cemetary. It was a beautiful day for it, and the cemetary was so peaceful even though there were quite a few visitors.

We walked along to the Marine Corps memorial, with the famous statue of the US marines hoisting the flag at Iwo Jima. It really is a stunning memorial. And the breeze made the Stars and Stripes dance at the top of it's flagpole, against the beautiful blue sky. Stirring stuff.

I love the history of this place, and I am determined to soak up as much atmosphere and culture as I possibly can. And collect alot of craft supplies. Obviously.

So, as my American neighbours would say...


Y'all have a nice day now...

Una tarjeta de cumpleaños para Monica

.... otherwise known as - A birthday card for Monica.

Mark is off to Jacksonville on Monday, for work purposes and also to have a good nose round our new city. He is going to check out schools and areas to live, and meet his new colleagues in the US Navy.
A British colleague put him in contact with an American family who live in the area we want to, and whose children go to the schools we are interested in. They got in touch, and invited him to a birthday meal while he is here, so I thought I would make a card for him to take with him. Monica comes from Chile originally, so I got my Google out (!!!) and found a couple of Spanish phrases to put inside her card...

I used the sketch from The Sugar Bowl, and would like to enter this for their latest challenge. I decided when I saw the sketch, that I would do something a bit different, and made the front part of the card a triangle.

Here is the inside of the card. A quick translation - "Dear Monica, Happy birthday, Hope you have a great day". Unfortunately without Google, my Spanish is limited to Dora the Explorer...

I used Bella Bunting on my card, coloured in with ProMarkers. The papers come from the PaperMania Summer Bloom set.

Now I hope that a) Mark remembers to pack the card, b) he remembers to take it to the meal, and c) that she likes it!!

Off to work now, TTFN

xxxx





Epic catch up...

I cannot believe it has been nearly 3 months since I last posted! To be fair, we have had a lot going on - a huge amount actually lol.

The big news, is that Mark finally got his posting notice. The even bigger news is that it is a posting to Florida! OMG, even now I still can't believe we are going! We fly out on the 1st of June - only 70 days away. Our passports and visas are back, our flights are booked, and our shipping removal has been booked as well. That goes on the 17th April, and in it will be all my crafting stuff :( But, I know I will have plenty of  places to go shopping when I get there ;)

I have a few layouts to share today, to add to the catch up. I started taking 12 photos on the 12th of each month this year, as I thought that it would be a good idea to document our final months in the UK and the first few months in our new home in Florida. Compare and contrast, in a way.

So here is January. I have been using sketches that have been posted on the Facebook group I am in, and you know how I love sketches! The "twentytwelve" border is a SVG cut file from Kerri Bradford, as it the 12 in a circle and the title. I am really getting to grips with using SCAL and have even downloaded the Inkscape program to help with dividing and adapting files. I found a whole set of Karen Foster calendar papers in my stash, so this is a great way of using it all up! I love the colourways of them too, which helps cut down the colours I use. I am trying to make it more about the photos and the journalling than the design ;)

I have kept the same elements to do my February page.

And the same for March. Makes it all easier ;)

I am frantically trying to make all the cards I will need before June in the next few weeks before my stuff goes. In fact I need to make one tonight... Mark is going out to Jacksonville next week with work, and he has been invited to a birthday party! So, I am going to make a card for him to take with him.

I promise I will be back. I want to share some of the cards I have made, and also share the last few layouts I did for Nuts About Sketches as part of their Design Team :)

TTFN


xxxx