Tagged, teachers gifts, LO, cards and dodgems....

... phew, lots to do today !!!

First things first - I was tagged by Jo (thanks, I think LOL) so here goes...

What was happening 10 years ago: Hmmm, July 1998... Well we were living in Forres, I was working part time in a local petrol station, and I was trying to get pregnant LOL, which by the end of July I was ;)

5 things to do today: Just 5??? OK, pick 5 from this lot.... Pay off visa bill, washing, ironing, get some ice cream for pudding tonight, blog (!!!!), make a wedding anniversary card, sew a button on some trousers, clean the inside of the car, sort clothes for holiday....

Snacks I like: Chocolate, obviously LOL - especially Mint Aeros, Minstrels and Revels hmmmm. Oh, and I am a bit partial to Lime and Coriander poppodums ;)

What would I do if I was a millionaire: Well, seeing as we are in a married quarter, I would first go and buy a house, nice and big, with room for a designated craft room, which I would then kit out :) I would also buy myself a little car - never owned my own car before. Then, if there was any money left I would buy a small holiday home in Christchurch, New Zealand :)

Places I have lived: Nottingham, Leicester, Derby, Forres, Gibraltar and Kinloss. Plus Peterborough, Doncaster, Kettering, Rotherham and Sheffield on placement during Uni.

So thats me, so now I have to tag some other people, so I choose,

Anne
Tinks
Paula
Monica
Amanda

Right, on to the next thing - teachers gifts :)

Nice and simple this year - buckets with a selection of goodies inside, like candles, chocolate, handcream etc. I just wrapped the buckets in sellophane and tied with ribbon. I have a couple of tags for the kids to both write on :)


Next up, a LO - I have not scrapped for over a week, which is quite unusual for me, I have enjoyed doing at least a LO a week this year, although I have completed alot more :)
Another LO for NZ vol 2 :P These seals were on rocks just off the side of the main East coast road, as we travelled from Picton to Kiakoura.
I used a pagemap from my lovely Pagemaps for scrapbooking book - this is based on page 20's map :)

I used Doodlebug papers, a scrap of white card, foam Thickers, PM page turns and brads, and some trim and a siler rimmed tag that I think came from one of the first Funky Kits kits !!

Next up a couple of cards :

First off, a wedding card for Mark's cousin whose wedding we are going to in a few weeks time :)
I used Papertrey inks "Piece of cake" set :) The card is silver, so I used white ink to stamp the cake flowers as a background, and to stamp the main cake image. Then used purple to stamp the flowers onto the cake :) I added some pearl tulip paint on the purple flowers, and some lilac organze ribbon :) The scan has not done this card justice, it looks better in real life ;)

The second card I made for my brother and sister-in-law, whose wedding anniversary is on the same day as the wedding we are attending LOL
I used a Sugar Nellie Little Cotton Rabbit stamp, as the pair of them are bunny bonkers - they have 3 rabbits and 2 guinea pigs :) I used a Studio G butterfly stamp for the border, and after watercolouring, added some Stickles to the wings :)

Well thats all the creative gumph out of the way, and seeing as my teamies over on UKS have been asking, here is a photo of me enjoying the dodgems at the Summer ball last Friday night :) Unfortunately you cannot see my dress properly, as I had my jacket on at this point - the alocohol hadn't warmed me up just then LOL

Cheerio for now, I am off on my hols on Friday, and won't be back for 3 weeks :) A bit of sunbathing in Turkey, followed by theme parks and a family wedding - plenty of photo opportunities and I am taking my holiday journal too :)

ttfn

xxxxx

Going through a blue phase...

....it seems this week LOL.
I am now onto the photos from South Island, and onto the second album... So this week I have been busy sorting photos, choosing pagemaps and making up page kits :) And I did manage to do a couple of LOs too, both using pagemaps from April 2008 :)

These photos were taken on the ferry from Wellington (North Island) to Picton (South Island), and the sea was flat calm, quite unusual for mid-winter :) I am not a good sailor at all, but the kids wanted to go to the front of the boat, so Mark took them, and took some cracking photos of both the kids and the views :)

I used Scenic Route paper, bazzill card, foam thickers, a journalling spot from a Gogo kit, some chipboard stars, Stickles and oodles of buttons :)

These are the views which awaited us as we crossed from East coast to West coast, in our campervan. We had to cross the Southern Alps, via Arthur's Pass, which we were quite worried about seeing as the roads close frequently during the winter. The snow came right down to raod level, and it is the first time I have seen snow in July - even living in Scotland LOL!!

I used Sassafrass Lass paper, bazzill card, ribbon was from a Little Silver Hat ribbon kit, foam thickers, a snowflake brad, and the journalling block is a Stamps Away! stamp I got in a kit from Scrummy Stash Cafe :) I put flat backed jewels round the journalling block ;)

This week has flown by, what with Sports Day, Brownie BBQ, work, taking the cat for her injections, and a Tang Soo Do competition.... Tom and Jemma had fun at sports day, Tom got a 3rd place sticker, but no stickers for Jemma, but smiles all round anyway. Mark did both the Dad's race and a tug of war, causing much merriment LOL.

Tom got a silver medal for his sparring at the TSD competition :) He is a yellow belt, quite junior compared to the brown and black belts of the others in his group, and he was beaten to gold by the black belt, so I am very proud of him today :) I came home to find some new Sugar Nellie stamps on my door mat - Karate Boy, and the Halloween set ;) I am hoping to make a mini book of Tom showing his progression through the belts, and the Karate boy will come in most useful....

ttfn

xxx

On a roll....

...makes a change!!!

I had this photo enlarged as I love it, but then had a hard time working out what I wanted to do with it. I am not a serial one-photo scrapper, and tend to use 4x6 or 4.5x6 photos. But flicking through my file of old Cybercrop classes, I found one that caught my eye, and I think it works :)

I based this LO on Mystic Nat's "Notions" class from the Harry Potter Cyber crop of November 2006. It was the first CC I took part in, and I did quite a few of the classes. The technique in this class was stamping onto acetate, and I used my Autumn Leaves Rhonna Farrer Swirls v2 and white Staz on :) The papers are Scrapworks and Basic Grey. I am not sure where the quote sticker is from, and the alpha stickers are Rusty Pickle.

ttfn

xxxx

Maybe it was yesterday's date...

... as today I feel slightly more positive and feel a bit more in control, and I managed to finish off the LO that has been sat on my desk all week :)

The Haka was the one thing that I was looking forward to seeing when we visited New Zealand - I do have a fascination for foreign cultures and languages;)
Seeing the Haka on tv is nothing compared to seeing it performed in real life - I can see why the Maori people use it in battle. It was quite intimidating, and there were only 8 people doing it!!
Tom and Mark had a go too - I took video clips of them, no stills, which was a good job as they would have been blurry from the camera shaking as I was laughing so much !!

The LO was done using a May 2006 pagemap, the card is bazzill, and the patterned paper is We R Memory makers. The wooden embellishments I got from KiwiScraps in Wellington - the only scrapbook shop I visited in NZ... The title is cut with Sizzix Nouveau sizzlit alpha, and the buttons are papermania.
The journalling is the words to the Haka that the All Blacks rugby team use - "Ka mate".

I need to organise some pagekits now, as I think I am down to the last one now, and it makes my scrapping that much easier when I can sit and pull out a 12x12 baggie with photos, card and papers already put together:) I am still in limbo with the Photo Freedom, although I did start uploading photos to Photobox last night, and started to put heritage photos into a "traditional" photo album using photo corners.
I'm getting there, if a little slowly.....

ttfn

xxxx

Scrappers block.....

...is a bummer :(

Life has seriously got in the way the last couple of weeks - the calendar is jam packed for June, with sport competitions, scout camps, birthday parties, and end of term stuff, that I am constantly meeting myself coming back.

The huge box of photos has not helped either - I love my Photo Freedom book, but implementing the system is going to take time, although the start I have made is encouraging... But I just seem to be overwhelmed by it all. I have made a start on a LO this week, but don't seem to have the oomph to finish it off... Maybe I will over the weekend, with Mark and Tom at camp, and Jemma has a friend over for sleepover, I may just find an hour or two to get something done. I am almost out of page kits too, so I need to sit and sort some papers and sketches :) I also need to sort out a photobox order at some point too, and reorganise my LOs into my new D ring binder albums.... Can you see why I feel overwhelmed...?

ttfn

xxx

Finally back to scrapping!!!

After what seems like an eternity - but is probably only a couple of weeks - I have produced another LO for the New Zealand album :) Our trip to Auckland Zoo resulted in literally hundreds of photos, and I have already done a mini book of the animals, but still I keep finding more photos LOL. This DLO has 10 photos on it ;)


It is based on a DLO I saw in Creating Keepsakes " Super-Fast pages with 4x6 photos" - on page 113, by April Peterson. I switched the photos to be landscape, with space for journalling at the bottom of the LHS page.
The paper is Scenic Route Grafton - I went and bought 2 sheets especially for this LO :) I also used Kraft cardstock, American Crafts chipboard Thickers painted orange and some ribbon I got many moons ago from Little Silver Hat.

I recieved my Photo Freedom book in the post this morning, so I am hoping to sit down and start reading that this afternoon, maybe out in the garden as it is a beautiful day up here in the far north :)

ttfn

xxx

Mum's 60th album

Mum was so pleased with her album, and after filling in some journalling, I scanned in the pages :) So here is the finished album...

I used a Pagemap mini map, it made the whole album come together so quickly :) I used a Basic Grey 6x6 paper pad (Sultry), some white cardstock (8x8) , Autumn Leaves Swirls v2 stamps, and American crafts foam Thickers for the titles. I used Autumn Leaves journalling stamps, and a Zig pen to write the journalling. I put it all in a pink Paper Mania 8x8 album :)

I got my Pagemaps book in the post on Friday, and it is just fantastic, I love it!!! Not managed to do any scrapping since before my visitors arrived, but I know for sure I will be using the sketches from this book when I do get back into it:)

I also have a large box of photographs that my parents brought up with them - from my Gran's house. I have ordered Stacy Julian's Photo Freedom book, with a hope it may help me organise my photos better, as I am not very good at all LOL. I got a couple of paperchase photo albums over the weekend, and hope that they all fit in there....

ttfn

xxx