Cathy's Crafting

New blog

2010-07-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

I have started a new blog, about a specific project I'm working on here. I will probably be posting a fair bit about my scrapbooking and crafty stuff there, so please head over and take a look...

A new LO

2010-06-23T11:39:00.001-07:00

Have finally got organised enough to order a mega set of photos from Tescos and yay can scrap again! Colour cartridge ran out on our printer a couple of weeks ago and the new ones are SO expensive, will have to keep my eye out on ebay for a new one as there's no way we can afford the price of the retail ones at the moment. :(

Anyway here is the first of my new crop of LOs! Based on a sketch from here I used an old scrapagogo kit but I think the die cut paper is MM Paperie. A very cute LO I think and I will use the sketches from The Scrappiest again.

A little bundle arrived from ebay today with this in! Love the fonts on this design card and will be getting my slice out soon to have a play - it's my birthday soon and am also hoping to get a vintage findings card from Jon...

Time for some new inspiration...

2010-05-31T03:41:00.000-07:00

I've been very good this year, trying to use up my old stash and have only bought a few punches and a few bits at the Runways End crop. The only paper I've bought is a Bo Bunny Roughin It collection - we're off camping for our holidays this year and I'm saving that PP for scrapping those trips in 6x6 albums (at least I think, unless I see another size I'd like to try...).

However since I first saw it I've really loved the Crate paper brook collection and this morning I finally succumbed and treated myself to the papers, stickers and chipboard pieces, and somehow this lovely collection (also a bargain) made it's way into my basket too! Can't wait to get working with those...

Am off camping for the rest of the week so no crafting for me, but hopefully a lovely relaxing time with family and friends...

Some LOs (at last...)

2010-05-17T11:23:00.000-07:00

I spent a happy day yesterday at Cove crop - only did 2 LOs and a card but very happy with them both. First this one made with the remnants of an old scrapagogo kit:

It was a scraplift but unfortunately I have deleted the blog post where the original was - if I can find it again will edit to say where it came from... I love the flowers on this...

This was my second:

which I made using a sketch from here. It's the first time I've sewed on a LO for ages but I am pleased with how it's turned out.

Am also cross stitching a present and crocheting a scarf at the moment so it was nice to fit some scrapping in!

Not much scrapping going on...

2010-05-11T11:50:00.002-07:00

...because we've been busy decorating. This is what my bedroom looked like before we moved in:

This was half way through decorating - Jon took out the fireplace himself and blocked up the hole and did a FAB job (there was still some of that hideous wallpaper lingering though!):

And now we are very nearly finished - just got the door to paint and carpets to lay...

And just to prove that I do still scrap (sometimes) here is a LO based on the 1st May sketch from the Stuck sketches blog:

A new obsession?

2010-04-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

I really love scrapbooking but one of my aims this year was to try some other crafts and to branch out a bit. At this year's stitch and craft show my Mum and I had a go at making jewellery for the first time, so tonight I put my scrapbooking stash away and got out this:

All the beads and the wire came from the workshop and the tools are recent acquistions! (and very good value too!). We had made a bracelet in the workshop so tonight I had a go at recreating it and making the matching earrings. These were the finished pieces and I was extremely pleased with them:

The instructions for them are here and I will definitely be having a go at a few more jewellery projects in the near future.

Stuck scrapbook sketches - April 1st Sketch

2010-04-29T00:13:00.000-07:00

So this started off from the April 1st stuck sketch but has ended up being completely different to the original! I have seen lots of LOs recently with horizontal stripes of PP across the page and was inspired to try something similiar. The PPs are all Bella Boulevard Plasticino and the alphas are thickers. I'm not wild about this LO, it makes the photo look really dark when it was taken on a really sunny day and i think I should have cropped some of the sand off from the bottom of the photo, but we live and learn!

UKS cybercrop - Park Lane Challenge

2010-04-24T23:37:00.000-07:00

This challenge was to use a sketch and outside photos - easy except my printer decided to run out of ink :( so I had to abandon the photo I was going to use and find something that I already had in my waiting to be scrapped pile. I think this will probably be my last effort towards the UKS cybercrop as it my Grandma's 80th birthday today and that really has to take precedence! Am going to have a go at The Strand class at some point as I really like the sketch that it uses.

UKS Cybercrop - Angel Class by Angie Woolfall

2010-04-23T23:37:00.001-07:00

What a fab class! Have hand cut the frame and am v happy with this LO - the only annoying thing was my white pen deciding to dry up :( so will go back later and finish the frames. The PPs are from October Afternoon and Scenic Route, alphas are BG and ribbon from stash. Doesn't Owen look fab in this photo? - he LOVES ice cream!

UKS cybercrop - Bow St Class by Sarah Palmer

2010-04-23T12:45:00.000-07:00

Loved this class and will definitely be painting over alphas again - a great way to use up spares!

The bow just didn't work with the ribbons I've got so I left it off. The PPs are scenic route and BG, and the stickers are from Scenic Route Sonama. Rub on is daisy bucket. Very happy with this LO!

Getting organised

2010-04-23T07:37:00.000-07:00

Someone has asked me about my last post and how I have got more organised, so here are some details:

1. I have used google reader to organise my blogs so now new posts automatically appear and I only have one site to check - this has probably been my biggest time saver of all and though it takes a bit of time to set up, it's definitely worth it.

2. I am using principles from flylady.com to organise my housework. I have a different set up to lots of people in that I work full time and my husband stays at home with the kids - he's FABULOUS at looking after the children but doesn't seem to have time to do much house work?? We now have a morning list of jobs (washing up, hanging washing out, checking calendar, getting food out the freezer); an evening list of jobs (tidying washing away, putting a load on, feeding hamster, washing up, emptying bin) and a weekly cleaning plan (i.e. one day to change bed linens, give bathroom/kitchen a proper clean, hoovering twice a week). Having this written down has been really helpful and freed up a lot of weekend time.

3. I buy cards and presents monthly for all birthdays that month on the day I am paid. This means we don't have last minute crisis and satisfies my urge to spend money!

4. We are keeping a much closer eye on our budget and where we spend money - there is definitely more work to do in this area though.

5. I have done some archiving and filing and now have the room to put paperwork away as soon as it arrives :)

All this means despite 2 meals out this weekend I will hopefully have some time to join in the UKS cybercrop, I am a thimble :)

My 5 favourite layouts

2010-04-18T11:31:00.000-07:00

So another challenge for Shimelle's scrapbook party is to share your 5 favourite LOs - I have about 20, as much because I like the photos for sentimental reasons, as well as liking the LO for anything in particular.... but have chosen my top 5 (for today at least!). Am cheating a bit with my first one as it's double sided acetate... but that counts as one LO doesn't it? ;)

My next is a generally cutie one of DS2 - love the colour combos in this LO:

And this one is of DS1 - this was from a sketch (maybe Pagemaps?):

The next one is partially sentimental, but I also like it as it's the first LO where I used my MM slice:

And my final one I have chosen as I love the photo, but I think the design and colours of the LO also capture DS2's character really really well:

Let me know if you like them too!

Hello, is anybody out there?

2010-04-18T01:57:00.000-07:00

Sorry been rubbish at blogging recently - however life is starting to get a bit more organised and the bathroom is very nearly finished, so am going to try and aim to blog once a week - I have been doing plenty of crafting so there's lots to post - it's just finding the time to do it...

Anyway this weekend Shimelle is having a scrapbook party on her blog and I felt inspired to turn the google box off last night and do some scrapping instead.

This is for the 'use your own handwriting' challenge:

And this LO (which I love) is for a sketch challenge - I have had this photo in my 'needs to be scrapped' pile for ages and was very pleased with how it turned out:

Hopefully there will be a bit more later!!

Catch up - 28th and 29th January

2010-01-30T04:33:00.000-08:00

Well, I've had a busy few days. Have done quite a bit of scrapbooking - all LOs for my Christmas Journal:

It's nearly, nearly finished now - I just need to scrapbook photos from our day out on Christmas Eve and photos from Christmas Day itself.

I've also been busy with these:

It was my cake sale for Haiti yesterday at work - loads of people baked and even more came and ate - we sold out in 30 minutes and raised £450 - far more than expected and I was overwhelmed and delighted!

Finally last night we went see Avatar - the special effects were amazing (we saw it in 3D) but it wasn't really my sort of film so I was a bit disappointed. Jon loved it though.

Jon's off at rugby today and I've got the monsters. We're off to B&Q soon to buy a shower :S and are then going to a fab park in Farnborough - I need to tire them out so they go to bed nicely tonight and I can finish my christmas album...

Almost forgot - here's a blog to be going on with, it's one of my favourites so hope you like it too!

27th Jan

2010-01-27T13:18:00.000-08:00

Skipped last night due to a small boy who wouldn't go to bed and popping out for an extra concert rehearsal with the band we're singing with on 21st February. I really should have been at a choir practice tonight but instead I have been baking cakes for the cake sale I am organising at work in aid of the DEC Haiti Earthquake appeal - I decided to do something after reading a post on soulemama here. This evening I've made fairy cakes, a lemon syrup loaf cake and coca-cola cakes all from Nigella Lawson's Domestic Goddess book - very enjoyable and I may bake some more tomorrow night. Surprisingly have NOT been having little tasters for the chef as I go along, lost 2lbs last week and would like to do the same this well so being v disciplined.

Have also done a couple of LOs for the Christmas journal today as well but the camera's batteries have inconveniently given up the ghost so will share asap. Am pleased with them anyway and did them in a speedy fashion rather than my usual lingering quite non-productive way and they look just as good as the normal ones! (maybe there's a lesson there!)

Here's a blog for you to enjoy!

23rd and 24th Jan

2010-01-25T04:05:00.000-08:00

Sorry late post (again) but with good(ish) reasons. On Saturday I was singing and dancing my heart out to the Rocky Horror Picture show at Southampton Mayflower Theatre. We had all dressed up (photo later, sorry can't upload at work!) and were very glad we had as we were in the second row from the front and everyone around us was wearing amazing costumes. The people in normal clothes looked quite odd! Everyone joined in and danced along to the Timewarp and there was an amazing atomsphere. If you get the opportunity to go along to the UK tour, DEFINITELY GO, you'll have a great time!

After all the excitement on Saturday (including a curry after the show and several wobbly pops!) I was rather jaded yesterday :S - spent the morning recovering and the afternoon at the garden centre drinking tea and buying a new addition to the family - Princess Holly the Hamster - who is extremely cute and rather shy at the moment. I was going to craft in the evening but instead curled up on the sofa with hubbie to watch gladiator and went to bed early.

Here's a blog to be going on with...

Jan 22nd

2010-01-22T13:21:00.000-08:00

This is my last CJ entry for the Glorious GoGo CJ which I have been taking part in for the last 9 months or so. The theme for this one was 'Me, Myself and I':

I am looking forward to getting my CJ on 'Words to inspire me' back soon and will share some of the pages when it arrives. I have now cancelled my scrapagogo kit - I do really like them but have been getting them for about 18 months now and decided that I would prefer the money for other things. I can't really justify spending extra money when I've already spent £25 on a kit each month, and it'll be nice to have the freedom to spend at a few other shops/kit clubs. I have also built up a really nice lot of stash that I want to start working my way through.

Here's today's blog.

V late 21 Jan post!

2010-01-22T02:36:00.001-08:00

I was too busy to post last night as I was actually crafting and made this:

The theme is from a blog post I did a few days ago about me (which I said at the time would make a good LO) and its also my entry for the Sarahs Cards January Sketch challenge here. The PPs are Basic Grey Nook and Pantry and Abbey Road from MME. The ribbon is I think from making memories and the bling thing is from Prima. Journalling cards were in the Jan 2010 scrapagogo kit.

Really like how this LO has turned out and there is some hidden journalling on the back about what's good and not so good about life at the moment which I think will be interesting to look back on in a few years time.

Am hoping to do some more LOs for my christmas journal later today, but Jon is on about getting on with decorating our bedroom so my creativity for today may involve a paint pot and roller!

Here's yesterday's blog...

Jan 20th

2010-01-20T04:56:00.000-08:00

It's snowing AGAIN here today, and though it's not settling so far, it put paid to my lunch plans. Instead I had a look at the CHA sneaks that are about - in truth there was not that much that I was desperate to have (which is probably a good thing as with the new house there is less money for lovely bits of paper - ho hum). These were my top 3 sneaks...

Bo Bunny's Roughing It - we already have 2 camping trips planned this year, which will be our main holidays and I can see a lovely mini book being made with these papers

Crate Paper's Brook collection - I always like Crate Paper collections and love the colours on this one

Studio Calico's Anthology papers and Other bits

Am out singing tonight and as we are gearing up for a concert I expect I'll be back late so this is my earlyish post for today. Here's today's blog...

19th Jan

2010-01-19T12:31:00.000-08:00

Today I have been doing lots of resizing and printing:

These are all the photos I am going to use to finish off my Christmas journal for 2009 - there's actually a lot more than I thought and it was good fun choosing which ones to print - might even get some LOs done this week!

Have spent the rest of this evening reading a few prompts from the 'Blogging for Scrapbookers' class - this was an online class during November but I was just too busy to follow the prompts at the time so am starting today. I am getting used to blogging daily but definitely think I could blog a bit more about my day and what I've been up to. So, this is me

I am 34 and live in Aldershot in Hampshire. I am married to Jon and have 2 little boys, Charlie and Owen. I work full time at an awarding body and am constantly rushing around everywhere trying to fit everything in. I love scrapbooking, reading, cooking, singing, the theatre and playing with the boys. My new years resolutions were to blog more, to lose some weight and to try some new crafts, all of which I'm keeping so far. (am now thinking this would make a good LO!)

Here's today's blog

Jan 18th

2010-01-18T13:26:00.000-08:00

Today I have been thinking about getting together my January stuff for the 2010 documented project on UKScrappers here. So far I am going to include: a snow picture (we've had more this January than we've had for years); a bus ticket (as I couldn't drive in the snow); my badge from an exhibition I went to last week; a photo of me; and something about how much weight I lose this month - I have started at Slimming World and lost 6 1/2 pounds so far and I think it would be good to keep a monthly record of my weight going down. This Saturday I am going to see the Rocky Horror Show at Southampton and dressing up so should have some good photos from that too.

Here's today's blog...

Jan 17th

2010-01-17T13:53:00.000-08:00

Bought some more stuff today for my new bedroom - this and this (which will go horizontally above the bed) and some cute ivory chenille cushions that have a silver thread running through them - now we just need to finish the decorating! Jon has now finished the fireplace and just needs to skim over the top and then we can get on with sanding and painting the rest of the walls and the woodwork.

We spent the rest of the day walking at Alice Holt and then cooking and eating Roast Lamb - yum! Here's today's blog...

Jan 16th

2010-01-16T13:23:00.001-08:00

Here's the first Christmas present I've made for next year :D - one of the scarfs from the kits I showed you yesterday. The kit's actually twice as long but as I'm making these scarfs for little girls I think the length I've done will be plenty (and I can make the extra wool into another scarf). It was great fun to make and very easy once I got the hang of it.

Jon has been busy taking out the fireplace out of our bedroom and bricking up the hole that was left. He's hoping to do the plastering tomorrow and then we can get on with the painting - it's going to look fab. I spent the day with the monsters doing a few jobs in town and playing all afternoon - good times :D

Here's today's blog...

Jan 15th

2010-01-15T14:37:00.000-08:00

I had a lovely package waiting for me today and inside was one each of these scarfs - the start of my efforts to handmake some Christmas presents this year - I have started the pink scarf this evening and it's coming together nicely. Jon is off out with the rugby guys tomorrow so am hoping to finish it while watching an evening of trash TV!

Have spent the rest of the evening trying to decide how to decorate our bedroom. We think we are going to go for an olive feature wall, ivory for the rest of the room and Chocolate curtains with this bed linen. Has taken hours to find the bed linen and most I looked at were a lot more expensive.

Here's today's blog. Happy weekend!

January 14th

2010-01-14T11:57:00.000-08:00

Hurrah! Have finally done some scrapping! After sorting out my creative to do list the other day I decided it was time to make a start on it so have done 2 6x6 LOs for my Journal Your Christmas album, which had previously been abandoned around the 7th December :( . First LO is to explain what happened and what the rest of the album will be (all LOs to record Christmas 2009 but not in any sort of order, diary or journal) and the second is about Charlie and Owen's christmas PJs this year. Am so happy to have finally done a bit of scrapping and am planning to print off some more little snaps from this Christmas over the next few days and to get the album completed.

Spending the rest of the evening doing some salsacise, drinking some wine and writing labels for all the photos that are now in their albums. Here's today's blog.

13th January

2010-01-13T10:43:00.000-08:00

We woke up this morning to MORE SNOW! Husband had already gone to work (someone skidded into him on the way there ggggrrr...) so when school was cancelled I had to take a day's leave to look after Charlie - we had a lovely day, playing in the snow, baking muffins and watching some films - very good fun. Anyway my creative activities today have been putting all the photos I sorted yesterday into albums and I am going singing this evening with my fab choir, the Park Angels. I thought it would be cancelled bcause of the snow so I am very pleased it's going ahead :D

Here's today's blog

12th January - Some please remind me in 6 months...

2010-01-12T13:55:00.000-08:00

...that I need to get my album photos printed off. I've spent this evening sorting out 300+ photos from the last year and half into date order so they're ready to go into our albums - it would have been much easier to do 6 months worth 3 times - am going to write this on to my calendar so I don't forget - well maybe...

Am using the rest of the evening to finish this book. It's been an OK read, not sure I'd be keeping it if I had bought it, luckily it's from the library.

Here's today's blog from my list...

11th Jan

2010-01-11T04:52:00.000-08:00

Back at work today and back to normality, despite lots of snow still hanging around. Hopefully it'll be gone by the end of the week as I've had enough now and am ready for spring to start!

Spent my lunch hour going through my (probably far too long) list of blogs I have on my favourites list and having a bit of a cull - tried to keep those which are relatively up to date and mainly about craft/scrapping, rather than visits to the vet, people's holidays and other non crafty stuff. Still have far too many to keep up to date with but I do like looking at them for inspiration and ideas. Thought it might be fun to post one of these per day so here is today's.

After spending some time last night stroking some paper and not really doing anything I thought it would be useful to get together a list of aims for this year - not sure what I'll get done but it might help me get more focussed.

- Start Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers class - this just didn't happen last year as I was too busy moving house
- Finish Everyone Has A Story - another Shimelle class, I started this one in Gosport in November 2008 and did lots of LOs for it last year, I then got a bit behind and the class format changed so I need to print off the new PDFs shimelle has emailed and get on with this again
- Do some Christmas LOs - JYC got dropped in a mad December, but we did take some nice photos and I did have a nice album made so this is probably my top priority to do, so I can put the Christmas stash box away for another 9 months.
- Am liking the look of Documented:2010 here - have my envelope already.
- Birthday LOs - I started in a minor way folders to keep LOs in for the boys birthdays - I have 4 to do for Charlie and 2 to do for Owen and a 5th birthday fast approaching in April so it would be good to do these by then.
- Other crafty stuff - have ordered some knitting/crochet your own scarf kits which are the start of my effort to give people home made stuff for Christmas next year.

10th Jan extra

2010-01-10T06:14:00.000-08:00

Forgot to add my mum's been getting creative and has made this in her garden in Reading:

How fab is he!!

9th and 10th Jan

2010-01-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

Lots of creativity going on here this weekend, mainly to keep the boys amused as they have realised that snow is rather wet and extremely cold...

- Making gift tags Each year after Christmas we choose some of our cards to recycle into gift tags. The bast cards have one image on the front of the card (eg a robin or santa) with nothing on the back of it. I cut out the image in a circle/oval using pinking shears and then use them as gift tags next year. This year I have also stamped an image on to the plain background which I will write over when I write the gift tag. I used a stamp of a snowman juggling snowballs with gold ink, but a tree or bauble stamp would work just as well.

- Thank you cards I try to do something different for the boys thank you cards each year. This year the boys did potato prints of stars, moons and rockets on to some blank cards I had in my stash. I have then written the thank you notes in side them and they are in the process of signing them, 2-3 at a time. Hopefully we'll get them all done by the end of the day for posting tomorrow.

- Baking So far today we have made butternut squash soup, a stew (still going in the slow cooker), and flapjacks, and we're also planning to make some banana muffins from Nigella Lawson's Domestic Goddess recipe book - just need to get some honey from our local store. Our pantry is starting to look a bit bare but the snow's looking like it miht start to disappear in the next few days and Jon will be able to stock up.

8th Jan

2010-01-08T14:28:00.001-08:00

Woo-hoo, have actually done some creative stuff today! Have done a CJ entry on 'Just One Wish' using the December Scrapagogo kit. I've been participating in a CJ on the scrapagogo clubhouse and this was my second to last entry. I'll be getting my CJ back soon on 'Words that inspire me' and am really looking forwards to seeing it. Was hoping to take a photo of my craft room actually being used to upload here but camera's defunct again - am thinking it may be time to buy a new one..

Jan 6th

2010-01-06T13:02:00.000-08:00

Some BIG snow here today, unfortunately as I have a laptop with remote access I still had to work all day but love these creations:

My friend Carrie saw this in Camberley.

My friend Iain made this snow head - isn't it fab?

Am spending tonight watching Harry Potter and creating some new hems on a few pairs of trousers and a dress that need them - at least it involves a needle and thread!

Jan 3rd

2010-01-03T12:13:00.000-08:00

Getting inspired today by this and this fab website and wondering if I could make a heap of handmade gifts for next Chistmas. I got this fab book for Christmas and already have this and this. Am off to look at the list of people I give gifts to and to work out who would like what - probably seems completely over organised but I think it will take me a year to make them all!

Jan 2nd

2010-01-02T13:41:00.000-08:00

Creativity today:

- sorting out lots of photos to use in creative projects

Not much but have been busy sorting through a playroom and now have 5 BOXES of toys to sell or donate, it's something I've been meaning to do for ages and the boys are much happier now they can see all their games and lovely new toys...

Jan 1st - a happy new creative year

2010-01-01T13:50:00.000-08:00

Despite only 3 hours of sleep (aaagh!) today's creativity has been:

- finishing my little boys' space themed room - pictures to follow...
- spending the evening building with lego and listening to some christmas CDs we hadn't opened yet, tele was off and Charlie has a big lego surprise waiting for him on the dining table tomorrow morning!

Happy new year and decade to anyone reading this... :D

eeek, what happened to December?

2009-12-31T04:02:00.001-08:00

Well unfortunately December turned into a bit of a madly stressful month and JYC went out of the window - I do find it really difficult to persevere with a monthly type challenge if I don't manage to keep up with it. Anyway I'm not castigating myself about it - my kids had a fab christmas, their room is very nearly decorated and I'm a qualified change manager so I'm happy with that. Am planning to print off some christmas photos at some point and make a more complete 2009 album but that'll have to do for this year.

Have found a new challenge which I really love for 2010 which is to be creative every day - here - definitely appeals as its not only scrapbooking but a challenge to do something creative every day. I have acquired lots of inspirational craft books and a sewing machine in the last year so I have lots of things I want to try and do and I think it will fit in well with this challenge, also singing counts and with a concert coming up in February I think I'll manage plenty of that :)

Have a good new year's eve everyone...

JYC December 5th

2009-12-05T12:21:00.000-08:00

Today we took the boys to see Santa so I veered away from Shimelle's theme to make this LO instead:

Apologies about the rubbish photo, will replace with a better one when I have time and the light improves! A very enjoyable day :)

2009-12-04T13:47:00.000-08:00

Today's prompt was about the perfect Christmas - last year my page for this prompt was based on a picture from Ideal Home magazine which certainly represented a form of Christmas perfection which I will one day aim for. However it's certainly a long way off in the house we've just moved to – there’s a whole heap of decorating we need to do first. So I started to think about what really makes my Christmas perfect and the idea for this year’s page came into my head very quickly. Here it is:

What really makes Christmas perfect for me is seeing Charlie and Owen's faces as they see their stockings and the Christmas tree for the first time on Christmas morning. Charlie's at school now and I know the Santa Secret won't be kept forever, so I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts...

December 3rd - ALREADY catching up!

2009-12-03T12:47:00.000-08:00

OK I was already behind with JYC - Wednesdays are mad for me as I get the boys off to school and nursery, work a full day, nip home for some tea and then spend the evening singing at the wonderful Park Angels. So I had a mini catch up tonight.

First of all I did my LO for yesterday - Shimelle's theme was weather but I strayed from the brief as I really wanted to include a LO about how this is our first year in our new house.

This is the reverse of my LO for December the 1st which was on acrylic so I needed to make sure I covered those elements - a photo of the house will go in the little flap on the right hand side, but its always dark/raining when I am at home at the moment so I need to wait for the right weather to get a decent photo. The journalling is about how happy we are to be in our new house after 18 months of trying to move.

Today's LO theme was cards and I stayed a bit closer to the brief. Owen and Charlie both designed cards this year at school and nursery that we could buy prints of to send to our friends and family. I really wanted to incorporate them both but my album is quite small (6x6) so I had to think carefully how to do it. In the end I based the LO on an envelope which both the cards slot into - I love how this has turned out.

This is the front:

This is the back (I love Owen in his Santa hat and wanted to be able to see it:

And this is the LO with the cards taken out:

And this is how both LOs look put into my album:

My blog has changed templates again - one of my friends (thanks Jen) had said she couldn't leave a comment on my December 1st post so I am hoping that reverting to a simpler template should resolve this - so please leave a comment if you like what you've seen so I know it's working now!

December 1st means Journal Your Christmas!

2009-12-01T12:32:00.000-08:00

Yay, am finally scrapping again after the house move - and in for a penny, in for a pound, it's Journal Your Christmas time once again. I did this class for the first time last year (it's from shimelle.com - link to the left) and loved the journal that I made, even if I didn't finish it until March! I had got myself organised before we moved and made my album during the October Cove Crop - I won the Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly papers at a retreat in September so have based the album on those, supplemented by the christmas stash I acquired last year. The LOs are 6x6 and the album is from American Crafts.

I have done a few clear LOs this year and thought it would be fun to include some in my album - today's theme was manifestos and writing about what we want to include in our journals or to do this Christmas. I have concentrated on the christmas I want to have this year - it's been a very stressful time with the house move, Charlie starting school and lots on at work - so we are concentrating on relaxing, enjoying and remembering what's important. My only journal related aim is to get it finished in 2009, and I do want to blog about it regularly too. The journal card and sticker is from Cosmo Cricket and the number 1 is a thicker - had to include some glitter too as I love a bit of sparkle and wanted some more definition of the edge of the page - tomorrow will be the real challenge though as I will have to do the 2nd LO on the clear back of the first! Hope you like it...

The worst tended blog ever.... :(

2009-11-18T10:46:00.000-08:00

Considering I am currently participating in Shimelle's class for improving your blog, it is pretty poor that this is my first blog post for a month. The move went really well but then I got ill with a chest infection and have spent the last 3 weeks feeling very sorry for myself and not doing a lot else. On top of that we decided to decorate the craft room/office before unpacking all our books and scrapping stuff so all my lovely PPs are languishing in boxes - I am starting to crave a crafting session so must be getting better!

Happily the electrician is just finishing putting in some new sockets and we will then be able to get on with painting the woodwork and laying the new flooring which will be the end of the decorating. :) :) :) Then Jon will put up the desk and shelves and I can unpack everything and get some scrapping done. My parents are visiting on Sunday so we are hoping to have the room pretty much finished by then.

So what's happening?

2009-10-25T15:25:00.000-07:00

- We are moving TOMORROW!!! Am SO excited, and exhausted after a weekend of packing - it's taken 18 months to get this far but the last week has been manic.
- Complete lack of blog action recently due to moving madness but hopefully will have a bit more time for scrapping and blogging once we're in and get our Sky broadband sorted on Wednesday (2 days without the internet....eeekk!)
- Am having a craft room in the new house...Yippee!!
- I am doing Shimelle's latest class which is all about blogging for scrappers - link on the left!
- Hope you like the blog revamp, inspired by the first notes from the blogging class - I love it.

Super Scrapagogo Storyteller!

2009-09-16T02:58:00.002-07:00

So on Saturday I was very lucky to attend the scrapagogo storyteller event in Bristol. There were 5 classes and it was a long day after a sleepless night but I really enjoyed it and learnt loads. It was nice to meet some of the gogo ladies that I converse with online and everyone was very friendly. There were 3 LOs and 2 minibooks - the minibooks are nowhere near finished but I sat down and finished the LOs last night and they are here:

This class was all about circles - using the circles on the PP and telling a circular story - mine is about Port Eynon where I used to go regularly as a child and took my children back to.

This was Laura's class about using rub-ons and writing onto photos - this was the only LO I managed to finish on the day.

This was Nicola's class on using fabrics - I found the yoyo's quite difficult but perserved and I love how this LO has turned out. Considering we didn't know what we'd be making in advance the photo matches the LO colours very well. We're buying a frame for this one and putting it on the wall.

Twisted Sketch #14

2009-09-16T02:58:00.001-07:00

Twist this time was to use some metal and I have sneaked it in using brads with my blooms! The PPs are MME Abbey Road Stomp and the alphas are from Basic Gray and AC thickers, blooms from stash. Hope you like it!

Other LOs from Runways End

2009-09-16T02:04:00.000-07:00

I spent the first morning at Runways End finishing my mini book (see previous post) and in the afternoon did a LO for that day's sketch challenge. It didn't win but is a lovely reminder of our fabulous 5th wedding anniversary - there are definitely some more LOs to be done using the photos from Tylney Hall. I used MME Bellazo PPs and my stock of these is almost finished now:

We then had a class on cutting photos which was led by Katie from Cre8tive online who provided the shop for Runways End - I loved her shop and spent far too much! I cut up a photo taken in the Lakes and made this LO - I would not willingly try and cut cardboard flourishes again but I think they look really good on this:

I then returned on Sunday to do another sketch challenge and used PPs from my August scrapagogo kit to make this LO - it won! I was very surprised and very happy with my prize of Teresa Collins Documented PPs:

There was also a colour challenge running over the whole weekend which gave some different pallets of colours on which to base a LO. I was very pleased to tie for first place for this challenge too, as I love the LO I made and was delighted with my prize of some cosmo cricket Jolly by Golly PPs:

My last LO was really to try out some Tim Holtz masks that I'd bought from the shop. I used Maya Road glimmer mist and the masks to make the 'camping' word in this title and am really pleased with how it looks:

Finally there was just time to make a few gift tags:

What a fab and productive weekend! I loved the retreat and am a bit gutted that the next one coincides with Charlie's birthday, but I will definitely be going along to next September's!

Roll on next Saturday when I am scrapping with Scrapagogo for the day!

Spanish mini book

2009-09-16T01:53:00.001-07:00

The pre-crop challenge for Runways End was some pieces of pre-cut chipboard to be made into something. There was a variety of offerings and although I didn't win the challenge I was really pleased with the mini book I made of our holiday to Spain in June. And now, if you scroll down to the bottom of this page you can see all the pages on a flickr slide show... hope you like it!

Catch up!

2009-09-16T01:23:00.000-07:00

Lots of catch up posts today hopefully (as long as the PC keeps functioning...). First big news is we've finally found a house to move to, which seems to be going through OK at the moment. Am now feeling a lot less stressed and my mojo has reappeared - it'll probably go again once I start having to pack boxes!

First of all I wanted to share the LOs I did at the August Cove Crop. The first two were both made with the lovely MME Abbey Road Stomp PPs, which I loved as soon as I saw and am still loving! We went to see my Dad and Mum in Yeovil in August and these photos were taken while we were with them:

This LO was made with some random bits from my stash and I love the photo of my Dad and the boys on a day out at Longleat:

More LOs later...

Return of my mojo at Runways End

2009-09-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

Have spent a fab weekend at the Runways End retreat rediscovering my mojo and got loads done:

1 mini book, a CJ entry, 5 layouts and 2 gift tags - as well as heaps of ideas, a bit of stash shopping and lots of chat and fun! Am hoping to post some better photos later in the week but the light's gone now and am completely knackered. Also in the photo are the 2 fab prizes I won in today's sketch challenge and the colour challenge - some Teresa Collins Documented PPs and embellies and a Cosmo Cricket 'Jolly by Golly' kit - completely fab and very unexpected!

Best thing is that I've made up lots of page kits and am enthused to get back to scrapping again, which is just as well with a scrapagogo day out coming up next Saturday!

Busy times

2009-08-26T23:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the complete lack of blog action recently... Have had some time off work and been off round the country seeing family and friends and am off again today camping in the New Forest for the bank holiday. On top of that the house we were buying had fallen through (luckily it was us that pulled out not the vendors) but we are now trying to find somewhere else to live asap and just can't find anywhere - it's very stressful and quite tiring so by the end of the day I've been collapsed in a chair watching tele (well actually normally falling asleep).

I have done some scrapping at the Cove crop and will post photos when I am back. Hopefully when I am back at work my mojo will return and there'll be plenty more posts again...

Anyway just to post something here are some older LOs that I particularly like:

This week (so far)...

2009-08-14T23:33:00.000-07:00

So the first LO I did this week was for the UKS weekly challenge. When I first read it I was uninspired but I was going through my old kits and found my lovely MME Bellazo papers. Inspiration struck reasonably quickly after that and this was my finished LO:

The challenge was to do a Love themed LO, incorporating some memories, a technique you hadn't used for a while and 5 of something. Shamefully my Slice had been sitting in the cupboard for months so I used that to cut the title (and am now back to loving my Slice again) and I used 5 blooms. Am really pleased with this LO...

On Thursday my new Scrapagogo kit arrived full of loveliness. Have got lots of ideas of piccys to scrap this month. This was the first and will also be my entry for the birthday bash challenge:

I also received back my first CJ which had a 'Happiness is' theme, sadly it's not complete though after lots of problems with the newbie CJ group. Luckily I have a backup team of volunteers from my scrapagogo CJ who are each going to do a LO for the missing pages for me so it will be appearing here completed at some point...

Plans for the weekend: scrap some more with my lovely new kit and print off the other photos I want to use, do an EHAS LO (my catch up has been sadly lacking) and to complete a LO with my fabby new MME stomp PPs which arrived this week. I am going away for some of the next week to see my folks in Yeovil so am going to take a minibook with me that I need to finish before the runways end retreat in September. Next weekend is Cove Crop so I also need to start thinking about what to take along to that...

This week's LOs

2009-08-09T23:17:00.001-07:00

Am having a busy time at the moment so not managing as much blogging as I like, but have fitted in some scrapping. This first LO was for the UKS August challenge and the first challenge of the month on Studio 101 (see blinkie left) - doubt it will win any prizes but I enjoyed doing it:

My next LO I have been meaning to do for months since a trip to a local farm last February. We took lots of great photos so I picked my favourites and used a pagemaps sketch for a DLO. The papers are from Fancy pants and I really like the range of colours:

Finally I did one of my catch up LOs for Everyone Has a Story - am catching up but not as quickly as I wanted so am going to try and do some more this week too. This one is about saying thank you.

Twisted sketches #008

2009-08-01T22:52:00.001-07:00

I loved this week's sketch, totally fitted in with my normal style of scrapping and already had a photo printed which I could see working really well in it. Anyway, this is what I came up with:

PPs and some of the flowers are from MME Bloom and alphas are from Basic Grey. The rest of the blooms were from my stash. i am very pleased with how this came out...

This week's LOs

2009-07-30T23:32:00.001-07:00

Have actually managed to fit in some crafting time this week and picked up my Everyone Has a Story project again - am planning on having a catch up during August so there should be lots more of these LOs appearing again. One of the EHAS prompts was to do with milestones and I hadn't yet created a LO about my wedding, despite printing off the photos for it before the workshop last November! Anyway I found the photos last night, got the prompt out again and came up with these, really enjoyed writing about all my memories of a very happy day.

Have also done some CJ entries this week and had my first go at paper engineering - am pretty sure the owner of this CJ won't see this hidden away here - the theme of the CJ was 'Rainforest' and my LO was about tropical butterflies:

Recent LOs

2009-07-26T22:54:00.001-07:00

Here are some LOs I've done recently:

This is Owen paddling in Stoke Park in Guildford, I've got a very similar picture of me in the same paddling pool about 30 years ago so I'll have to do a LO with both on at some point.

Have been having a catch up on scrapping Owen as I seem to have done heaps of LOs of Charlie and not so many of Owen. I found these photos in a box already printed at this size and thought that they were perfect to go together.

This double sided LO was for the Scrapagogo birthday bash week 2 challenge - really love how this turned out as it was quite complicated to do both sides at the time. The PPs are from the June scrapagogo kit.

Twisted sketches #006

2009-07-21T12:17:00.000-07:00

This is my LO for this week's twisted sketch and this week's challenge on UKS. Unfortunately photo is not good as the weather here is awful and I had to use the flash. Anyway the journalling card (mm noteworthy in case you were wondering) reads: 'What I learned... that we are stronger and better together; that we can cope with whatever happens, that love deepens and grows'. I used bazzil cardstock and leaves, jewellery box thickers, collage press knave of hearts PP and blooms and pearls from stash. The stamp (which is part of the flourish in the bottom left) is from Banana Frog.

Now on to my CJ entry for this month, is a 'Reasons to be Cheerful' theme and I have the perfect photo and entry to make...

Fun day at Horton Park Children's Farm

2009-07-19T11:03:00.000-07:00

We spent yesterday celebrating one of Charlie's friend's 4th birthday at the fab Horton Park Children's farm which is near Epsom. It was probably one of the best children's farms we've been too (and we've done plenty) so we are planning another trip later this summer. One of their attractions is a large bouncy pillow - it took Charlie a while to get his confidence on it but after a while he was bouncing really well and I got lots of lovely photos. Jon was out at the pub in the evening so I spent the evening scrapping and came up with these:

PPs by October Afternoon, MME and Kelly Pianacci (I think); ribbon and flairs from American Crafts; felt buttons are Making Memories Animal Crackers. Buttons from stash.

PPs are BG Lime Rickey and alphas are AC thickers, ricrac from stash.
Both these LOs were based on pagemap sketches - I have only recently got this book and love the LOs it is inspiring me to create.

On to my next big project tonight. I am off to the Runways End retreat in September and we have a pre-crop challenge of a chipboard mini book to complete - I am going to use photos from our holiday to Spain earlier this year and am going to have to think very creatively to get them all in!

Scrapagogo July kit

2009-07-16T23:08:00.000-07:00

Haven't managed to post much this week as we unexpectedly sold our house on Monday and have been in a whirl of house-hunting, lawyers and financial advisors ever since. We've found two houses we like the look of so here's hoping...

In the midst of the chaos my scrapagogo kit arrived - I have been getting these kits since last August and I normally really like them. This month's is no exception, a lovely mix of oranges, red and greens - yummy. I spent yesterday evening and came up with this LO inspired by a pagemaps sketch. Hope you like it!

Am now off to the post office to collect my pre-crop challenge for the runways end weekend retreat in September...

A lovely birthday????

2009-07-13T00:20:00.000-07:00

So it was my 34th birthday on Saturday. We are keen campers and had planned a trip to Hollands Wood in the New Forest. We couldn't plan the weather though and it was pretty bad, torrential rain on Sat night from 8pm till about 4 in the morning so no birthday drinks outside for me! Still just going to bed really early was a treat in itself as I never normally seem to have time to catch up on my sleep.

The other thing we couldn't plan for were insect bites and Charlie got bitten/stung badly and woke up on Sat morning with the left side of his face completely swollen. We sat for 3 hours in Lymington hospital before he was sent home with some high dose anti-biotics - happily he seems much better now and his face is gradually going back to normal!

I did get some lovely presents though (largely I think because I wrote a list this year and gave it to Jon several weeks ago!) - a woodware trimmer, a lovely new photo frame, a big kids cartridge for my Slice machine, and lots of lovely new inspiration books - Sew Pretty Homestyle, The Creative Family, Homemade, and The Big Ass book of Crafts. Also got lots of money for new stash so did very well I think!

UKS July Week 1 Challenge

2009-07-12T22:32:00.000-07:00

Have had a busy weekend (more of that later) so not much time for crafting, did manage to get this week's challenge on UKS completed last night. You had to use a summer theme and title, some ribbon, 2 photos and do some secret journalling. This is my completed LO:

The secret journalling is here:

Tonight am planning to do the first challenge for the Scrapagogo birthday bash and hopefully will have time to have a go at this week's twisted sketch too....

Twisted Sketches #004

2009-07-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

Another week, another fab twisted sketch. The twist this week was to use some acetate, which I have used as part of my circle embellishment. Love the gorgeous PPs on this LO which were from MME penny lane. The orange alphas are from the Pink Paislee fetching range and the white alphas are American Craft vinyl thickers. The photo was taken at Barcelona Zoo when we were in Spain in June and I think it's captured the boys' personalities really well - they are definitely as cheeky as they look...

Some of my favourite LOs

2009-07-05T23:01:00.000-07:00

Have had a manic but very fun weekend with Owen's birthday so no time for scrapping - am hoping to have a good go at it this evening though! I've been scrapping for just under a year now and these are some of my favourite LOs that I've produced in the last year. Please leave a comment if you like them!

This is Charlie throwing stones into West Bay in Dorset - made using Sept 08 scrapagogo kit:

This is all of us together on a family day out - made (again) from the Sept 08 scrapagogo kit:

This is Charlie and his beloved cousin Henry in our local park - made using Crate paper Mia collection, american craft thickers and lace from stash:

Owen's birthday cake

2009-07-03T14:42:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Owen's 2nd birthday - I can't believe how quickly the past two years have gone and what a big boy he is becoming! As it's the 4th of July we're having an american themed bbq for him and his cake is a yellow american school bus. I made 2 lemon loaf cakes from a recipe that google found on the woman and home website. I then trimmed one side of one of the cakes, whacked them on top of each other and covered them with a thin layer of white buttercream.

After 15 minutes I covered the whole bus in yellow buttercream and added some mini donuts to make the wheels:

I then cut some ready rolled icing out to make the windows and added a cutout photo of Owen being the bus driver:

Finally I used a black icing pen, some smarties and some fruit pastilles to decorate the bus, and added some photos of Owen's friends as the passengers:

I can't wait to see his reaction in the morning!

A few more EHAS LOs

2009-07-02T23:10:00.001-07:00

These LOs all cover between childhood and getting married - think this section definitely needs expanding at some point...

This LO is about getting independence:

This LO is about my first job:

This LO covers how Jon and I met:

Scrapbook 101 1 July challenge

2009-07-02T02:22:00.001-07:00

This is my layout for the first www.scrapbook-101.challenge. The challenges were to use a rock song title for the LO title, to use some old stash and to include a pleat. I pleated some paper and sewed it on to the LO - have tried this using ribbon before but love how the paper looks and will definitely be using this technique again! The papers are Crate paper Mia collection - I love these papers and only have a little bit left now :( - will have to find something else lovely to order... I also used some glitter diecuts and borders from the same range. The alphas are black shimmer alphas from making memories and some from papermania, and I think the clip is from making memories as well. I used pencillines sketch 141 for this LO. Hope you like it!

UKS June Week 5 challenge

2009-06-28T12:20:00.002-07:00

Not having a good day today, am either bunged up with a summer cold or have hayfever so am spending the day in bed recovering in the hope that I'll be better for Owen's 2nd birthday on Saturday. Spent yesterday evening doing the weekly challenge on UKS - there was a sketch provided, you had to use at least 4 photos, you had to scrap the preparation or aftermath of a celebration and you had to use pink! Luckily I had some photos of when I made Charlie's birthday cake this year so I decided to scrap them and used the Scrapagogo June kit. This was how it turned out:

Am reasonably pleased with it and glad to have scrapped the photos finally!

Twisted Sketches #003

2009-06-28T12:20:00.001-07:00

So have had my first go at a twisted sketch and this is the outcome:

Am super pleased with it - have been meaning to scrap this photo for a while and really love how it looks on this LO. The twist this week was to use fine glitter. I used a blueberry pink paislee pixie stix of glitter to transform some typo thickers into a glittery version. The glitter is a bit uneven but I quite like the effect. The rest of the stash for this LO came from the scrapagogo June kit which I have well and truly cut into now! Will definitely be looking out for next week's sketch.

Some more EHAS LOs

2009-06-28T00:39:00.001-07:00

No scrapbooking done yesterday as we spent the afternoon at a fab barbecue with some old friends and I was knackered when we got home! Today I have both the boys as Jon is off selling some more of our junk at a car boot sale and I am taking them to Stoke Park in Guildford for some fun (and hopefully some great photos) in the paddling pool.

Anyway here are some more of the LOs I've done for my Everyone Has a Story album. They are all related to my childhood and growing up. The first is a single LO about my school days:

Next is a double LO about my childhood. Spookily the photo of me in the paddling pool was taken at Stoke Park, which is where we're heading off to today!

Then there is this double LO which I did during the workshop which is all about growing up.

I really like these LOs as I never had any photos of me when I was little until I asked my parents for some to use in this workshop. The boys love looking at me when I was a little girl.

Hopefully will actually do some scrapping tonight. I want to start doing the weekly challenges on www.twistedsketches.com which is a fab new sketches site - the twist is having to use a technique/material as well as the sketch each week. This week it's glitter which is not my favourite but I have some ideas...

EHAS and LO for 52 sketches

2009-06-26T23:15:00.000-07:00

I was really lucky last November to attend 'Everyone Has a Story' an album workshop run by Shimelle Laine. The album produced is all about me - we did about 8 LOs during the actual workshop and Shimelle has sent out emails with ideas for more LOs every 2-3 weeks since. At the start I kept up pretty well with the prompts but I REALLY need to have a catch up week at some point soon as I have about 5-6 LOs I want to do for this project. The other great thing about the album workshop was the fab kit we got - heaps of stash that I am still working through now after producing well over 20 LOs! I am going to upload the LOs from the workshop over the next few weeks as there's heaps of them...

This was the front cover, which we did at the workshop:

This page is all about my roots, the background of my family:

And this page is about me when I was a baby:

This is another LO I've done this week, for the first time using a sketch from 52weeks52sketches - I love the sketches on this site and will definitely be doing some more LOs using them! I used the Scrapagogo June kit for this LO and I really like how it's turned out, I love the journalling card which is a Colorbok Lucky You journal form - will definitely be buying some more if I can find them!

Hello... and monthly challenge for Scrapgoddesses

2009-06-25T12:33:00.000-07:00

Hi, welcome to my new blog. Will put some more details about me in my profile (when I work out how!) but am keen to start sharing my crafting with you. I love scrapbooking and occasionally dabble in other papercrafts too. I am a regular poster on UKscrappers and a team member of Scrapgoddesses. On there we have a fun monthly challenge set by one of the team members and this month's challenge was to scrap the small things - parts of every day life that might otherwise get missed. This was my LO:

The stash for this LO was from the scrapagogo May 2009 kit