Followers

Saturday 29 January 2011

All Kaisered out (part 3)

Finally! The last Kaiser craft creation! This is a LO of my daughter on her Dedication day and the journalling talks about the history of her gown and touches on the relationship between grandmother and granddaughter. I'm pleased with the journalling and the simple LO plus it meets some of my scrapping resolutions to journal more stories and use up scraps. I've also made this card this week for my nephew who'll be 3 in Feb. The only change I'm going to make is to outline the cut mouth with red pen as it doesn't really show up. I used the Cricut PaperDolls cartridge for this, lent kindly to me by Jo from 3jollyscrappers- wasn't she kind!

I'm off to a crop later so hopefully I'll have a few more projects finished to show next week. :)
Thanks for stoppping by!

Friday 28 January 2011

Finding JOY every day!

My reasons to be JOYful this Friday:
1. I went on a teaching course in this Church this week which was quite informative but has massively increased my workload. Rather than stressing about this, I've taken the opportunity to show my boss exactly how capable I am and what I can do. I've formulated my 'action plan' and had an hour long meeting with 'the boss' to discuss it. I just need to start putting it into action. Bring it on!!
2. I bought this dress in town at the weekend for the bargain price of £15. I managed to get a photo of me in it and think I'm not looking too bad (for a busy, mum of 2!)
3. We've tried eating some different recipes this month. This was Nigella's Spanish Chicken from her 'Kitchen' book. I love a good throw-it-all-in-one-pan type dish. It was delicious although I'd be tempted to add some cherry tomatoes and possibly chunky peppers next time.

4. Kev was around this morning to help me with the kids as he didn't need to leave for work til 8:30. It was like a revelation. "This must be what it's like for most people" was my main thought as the morning was so much less stressful. I even had time to wash my hair and shower in peace! Definitely feeling the JOY there!
5. My charity coffee morning has raised £70 for charity this month.

6. Emma's hair is finally long enough to put into bunches!
7. There have been several moments this week where the kids have played together really nicely. Last night they were chasing each other (not sure who was chasing who) using various ride-ons. With the laughter coming from our house, you couldn't fail to smile.
Jack reading to Emma:
Jack wanting to show me he could smile:
8. Emma got her first pair of shoes and has suddenly decided to walk much more. This has the added benefit that she hasn't wanted to be so clingy to me. In fact, I'm currently blogging two handed for the first time in ages!!!
9. Kim managed to source my WRMK page protectors and Glimmer mists. Can't wait to play!!
10. I love my kids, husband and parents. Enough said.

PS. Sarah, thanks for the award. I haven't forgotten, I just haven't had time to do anything with it yet! You can be my 11th reason to be JOYful. :)



Wednesday 26 January 2011

All Kaisered out Part 2

I've had this photo in my 'to scrap' pile for a while now. It's a collage of a series of snaps that my mum took around April last year in her garden. As someone who's always behind the camera, I asked her to take some pics of the kids and I together and she agreed. I don't think the children understood the plan though! By the time, I'd picked both children up and attempted to get them looking at the camera, one of us was bound to be looking the other way/falling on the floor etc etc. Even the collage didn't print correctly, cutting the edges off of the sides of the photos, but actually I like the way this looks as it fits the 'theme' of the photos.

I've mixed up some Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg & Earth Love papers, chipboard and elements with some Kaiser Kraft Peechy Keen papers.






Sunday 23 January 2011

All Kaisered out! (part 1)

I've spent a great day with the girls at the 3 Jolly Scrappers crop today celebrating their 3rd birthday, complete with cake, banners and cards! I've been cropping with these guys for about 2 years now and it's been great to see their company grow, in the same way as they've helped my scrapping (but maybe not my bank balance!)

Strangely, I was rather productive too although I'm putting that down to my 'new' technique of using up one kit at a time (and therefore saving hours just pushing paper around!) and sorting out my photos beforehand.

These LO's all use the Peechy Keen papers which came in a kit from Sarahs Cards Ltd along with a few odds and ends from my Cosmo Cricket collections- Earth Love and Nutmeg.

When love came down
These photos were taken the day that I went into labour with Emma. Mum had taken Jack into town to get him out of the way and they found this company who were offering the chance to dress up and have your photo taken in a nativity scene. Jack made a really cute shepherd and I love the bottom photo where he's taking a real interest in the baby Jesus. My journalling talks about how cute it is to see him looking so tenderly at this 'baby' when little did he know that we'd have our own baby less than 12 hours later!

My girl
I did a fair bit of detailed cutting with the craft knife here to get the photos to sit under the papers. Layered a few odds and ends of paper (wasn't that in my resolution somewhere?) and some simple journalling in a list using a Kaiser craft die cut. Mel and I had a laugh trying to create a list of 5 things I love about you cos she knows how 'high maintence' Emma is. I think our unofficial list said:
  1. the times when you're asleep
  2. the times when you're at nursery
  3. the times when you're at nannys

etc etc. :) Didn't think I should really put that although I do think I should find the time to scrap about the fact that I find her quite difficult at times (ok, quite a bit of the time!) Put it this way: it's a good job she isn't the eldest else she'd be an only child. ;)

Anyway, I digress....


What a pair of lovebirds
OH and I just before we went out for a meal for our 5th wedding anniversary. I used a craft knife to cut out the birds from another piece if paper and Kim, very kindly, lent me her mists so that I could have a play (another scrapping resolution I had!) I've since ordered a couple of my own from her. I think I was quite tentative with the mists hence they're not that obvious so any hints or tips with those would be great
The birds and the leaves are raised on foam pads.
And finally, because it was a birthday our challenge was to create a birthday card with just the materials supplied. This was my entry which won (yay!) and so I get to crop for free next time. Was very chuffed with that. :)

I have two more Kaiser LO's to share but one needs journalling adding and the other didn't photograph well tonight so I'll do it when the light will do it more justice.
I'm all scrapped out! :)

Friday 21 January 2011

Reasons to be cheerful..

(anyone else singing this in the style as Ian Dury and the blockheads?) No? Just me then. lol.

This post is AKA Finding J.O.Y every day- right, Suz? ;-)

So, here goes...
  1. It's Friday. No explanation needed.
  2. In 9 hours time, it will officially be 'Wine O'Clock'. Bring it on!
  3. All day crop on Sunday with 3 Jolly scrappers. No kids, good friends, patterned paper, no kids, hot coffee, chat- did I mention no kids?
  4. The fact that Jack and Emma were praised yesterday for being so well behaved whilst we were out in a coffee shop and were given giant chocolate cookies by the manager as a reward. Very proud mummy moment.
  5. That Jack thought all Emma's dollies needed some 'booby milk' yesterday:
6. That Jack said he loved me for the first time ever yesterday without being prompted to say it by someone else. My heart melted.
7. That Suz is now a good friend in my life. Definitely feeling the joy there. :)
8. Emma not waking til 7:30 this morning (not including the waking at 4am cos once I'd replaced her dummy she fell back off asleep. It was a good trade for the 5:30 wakings I thought were becoming permanent!)
9. I'm healthy, my family are healthy, most of my friends are healthy. Something I hope I never take for granted.
10. (lol: couldn't leave this post on an odd number!) We have food in our bellies and love in our hearts. Amen.

What are your reasons to be cheerful?

Thursday 20 January 2011

Scrapbook resolutions

I've been thinking a lot recently about the things I'd like to change with my scrapbooking style and techniques that I'd like to try. Thinking about ways forward with my layouts and which things make me happy. When I was chatting with Suz she mentioned how the words and sentiments on her LO's are the things that make her happy and whilst sometimes, it's nice to have a page full of embellishments and prettiness, sometimes, it's the journalling that makes the page last the test of time. After all, styles and fashions in scrapbooking change as much as they do in real life. Looking back through my scrapbooks I can see clear stages in my scrapbooking style from when I first started (think Creative memories cutters with lots of photos and mats cut into random shapes, ovals and circles. Shudder.); when I first started meeting other scrappers (lots of cardstock backgrounds with cardstock matting and many more embellishments although no real flow to the page and certainly no stories. Stick to the date and facts= journalling) and when I found the blogging community and scrapping magazines (current).

I've read Lauras blog which keeps inspiring me and Sians blog after seeing it linked on UKS and particularly liked this post about 5 things she wanted to scrap.

So, here is my list of things to do and try this year with my scrapping:

  • Scrap more every day stories (possibly in a 'Project Life' style?)
  • Re-scrap some of my wedding photos (but without oval cutters this time) and focus more on the stories rather than the facts. I'm thinking about how I chose my dress; the preparations; the wedding 'theme'; the wedding party; getting ready etc etc. I want to record the feelings of the day so that when I'm old and grey, they'll be there to prompt that old grey matter of mine.
  • Scrap photos of J and E and explain where their names came from. Explain their nicknames.
  • Scrap their birthstories in a letter form to them. Both quite interesting experiences that I'd like to tell before I forget.
  • Scrap a photo of our dogs.
  • How I met my Husband
Techniques to try:
  • More sewing on LOs - machine and hand stitching
  • Use my cricut more
  • Misting
  • Paint
  • Layering
I'm sure there's loads more that I was thinking of but for now, this'll do!

What's on your list to try or to scrap? Go on! Inspire me!

Wednesday 19 January 2011

Mr Maker?

J was watching me do some scrapping the other night and declared, 'You're like Mr Maker mummy'. Interesting.... Let's check out the facts:

Here's Mr Maker. He looks nothing like me except we both share the same hair colour. He seems to also have an interesting dress sense. I'm hoping my wardrobe choices are slightly more 'traditional' looking (plus waistcoats are so last season!). I'm not even going to mention that stupid grin or the annoying way he says: 'I've got an idea!'
Mr Maker has doodle drawers from which he pulls his 'stash' from. I have one box in a Expedit unit and a wheelie tote. I'm slightly jealous of Mr Makers drawers. Think of all the stash you could wheel to crops if you could attach these drawers to the back of your car:

He spends a lot of time talking to 4 rather cheerful characters called 'The Shapes'. They sing a rather annoying song with the repetitive lyric, 'I am a shape, la, la, la' whilst doing a rather lack lustre dance and then jumping back on to the shelf, whereby they promptly fall back asleep again.

I spend most of my day talking to 2 often less than cheerful characters who also sing annoying songs with repetitive lyrics (see previous blog post re: Little Donkey). I often wish I could stick them on a shelf and leave them there for a while but the chance of them sleeping is slim to none (3rd day in a row of 5:30am wakings in Chez Pett).




He has a friend called 'Tocky' who encourages him to 'Make things in a minute'. I can't even choose patterned papers/cardstock/photos in a minute let alone make something.
We both share a love of paper and glue. I think that's possibly as far as I'm willing to let that association go.
I rest my case, your honour.

Monday 17 January 2011

A normal Monday?

Waken at 6 by child 2 and shortly joined in bed by child 1. Try to resist getting out of bed until at least 7 by coaxing the kids to watch CBeebies with limited success. Give up and head downstairs to start the madness that is breakfast. Give the boy child 3 bowls of cheerios (his request!) and the girl child toast and cinnamon porridge. Drink first hot coffee and check email whilst trying to wake up and eat my own porridge. Wash and clear up from breakfast. Manage shower in peace by distracting children with toybox. Bliss. Get them washed and dressed with minimal fuss and only 2 nappy changes. Hoorah! Manage to add makeup and necklace too. It's looking like it might be a good day.

Bags packed and off to playgroup by 10. Em enjoys wearing a chocolate biscuit that I actually gave her to eat. Cream cardigan worn for less than 90 minutes is now covered in chocolate but she's happy so I'm happy. Please notice her co-ordinating hair clip which only survived for a few more minutes before she'd had enough of it.
Jack was quite happy modelling the latest in designer footwear (just don't show daddy cos he thinks all you do is play with cars!) I think green socks and princess heels= fabulous, darling! Slightly jelaous that he works those heels* better than mummy (at least he didn't fall over in them).
*Not that I wear plastic shoes with Disney Princesses on them....


Head home with two exhausted children:


Ok, maybe only 1 exhausted child. The other demanded that I take his photo too (gotta love that face!):


Tried to introduce J to the fabby world of dippy eggs as seen on 'Show me, Show me' this morning with mixed success. Egg cups, smashing eggs and bread soldiers were a success. Actually eating the eggs- not so good.



I think he was possibly *too* keen to smash the top. Poor egg.
Time for a quick play and clean up and then off to Drs to check up on Em's infection and get both kids immunised. Not looking forward to this at all.
Drs surgery was manic. Computers all down so dr's, nurses and receptionists all trying to manage using paper. Made me wonder how they used to deal with things pre computers? Saw Dr. All good with Em. Felt pleased that I could recall all that was said to us last week too as Dr had no notes to refer to. No jabs for her today though as dr wants her to wait a week. Feel slightly more optmistic about doing jabs with just one child.
Nurses managed it fairly quickly although J does have a quick strop about putting his jumper on and off. He's definitely finding his own mind at the moment. He refuses to have one of their bravery stickers (think he was holding out for chocolate) but I take 2 on his behalf and once I have them he changes his mind. Funny that.

Head back into waiting room to wait our 10 mins and J is quite happy to entertain other waiting patients with a 3 year olds rendition of 'The Grand Old Duke of York', complete with actions. Was quite pleased we've moved on from Christmas Carols as I was getting quite bored of hearing, 'Little Donkey, Carry Mary, Roooooaaadd' sang in a tone deaf voice that can only have been inherited from me.

Em also decided to entertain people with a new style of crawling. You just can't crawl in dresses. Your knees hold the material down too much. Far better to crawl, bum in air with straight legs. Hilarious!


Left Drs. Collected vacuum cleaner from repair shop (boo. I might have to hoover now). Went to school.
Spent two hours printing and collecting stuff that I need for lessons this week and generally sorting out. Couldn't believe that I was there for nearly 2 hours. Think half of that time was spent replacing things that boy child and girl child were pulling out. Discovered they like sitting on the trolley though as we walk through school and that Emma can sign the word 'fish' when she sees the fish pictures. Clever girl.
Home. Dinner. Wash up. K home. Never went running as planned.
Did some school work but never marked those writing papers.
Finally some me time, but it's now nearly 9pm. I'm exhausted. Might just go to bed and look forward to work tomorrow where I might just get a rest.











Sunday 16 January 2011

UKS Jan Week 2 Challenge

I've been desperate to scrap a 'proper ' LO as all I seemed to have been doing lately is projects (Doc2010; December Daily; Circle Journals...). I gave in and used this weeks challenge on UKS as some inspiration. Sorry the photo's not great but the light's not good at this time.

The Challenge:
At least 3 different papers- yep, although the 3rd one can only just be seen on this shot, just under the bottom of the photo (it's a Cosmo Cricket Earth Love paper)
Use Diecuts- yep. A ticket stub and a die cut bracket above the title
Dig out some old stash to use- yep, old CC papers and a paint dabber that was lying around (I possibly overdid the paint in my enthusiasm but hey ho..)
Ink something- inked the edges of the green paper and the chipboard trees plus I stamped the date next to the ticket.


I'm gonna claim full point for my team. :)

Fred Palascak

Well, wouldn't you know! I've been trying to upload the final pages of my December Daily all day to no avail. I gave up and decided to look for images to go in a circle journal I'm doing and came across this one: I give you two words: yes please! ;-)
Funny how he's happy to be uploaded, huh? I know which image will brighten your Sunday evening more too! Enjoy.....

Wednesday 12 January 2011

Random Thoughts

Random thoughts that have made my radar today:

  • Big piece of cake or small piece of cake? (Clearly the correct answer was no cake, but where's the fun in that?)
  • Surely 11degrees is t- shirt weather? (As my car thermometer hit double figures for the first time in months)
  • To run or not to run? (In fact work got in the way- not that I'm slacking. Oh no.)
  • Those would look much better if they had inked edges (A clear indictation that scrapping is infiltrating my life when I can't even make captions for my classroom display without thinking about crafting)
  • Surely it's not morning already (as J happily wakes me up at 6am)
  • What part of that did you not understand? Am I wasting my time here? (Actually, this thought crossed my mind several times during my time in class today. Bang head against wall)
  • I love my mum (She's so fab, looking after my kids for me and not complaining once. Life would be sooooo much more difficult if she didn't do this for us and for that I'm really grateful).
Day off tomorrow. Rock on. :)

Tuesday 11 January 2011

Inside the Word Book...

I spent a few minutes this afternoon just finishing off some projects that I had on the go and putting them to bed so to speak. I wanted to share all of them but Emma is unsettled so I'll save some til another time.

This is the inside of the word book that I made here
It's pretty basic inside as I wanted to finish it quickly and just use up old stash. I think I managed to use up most of the blue card that was lurking around, a sheet and a half of Thomas themed paper and some red thickers that came in a Sarahs Card Bargain box. It's fairly thick when finished:
The first page:



TFL. xx




Monday 10 January 2011

I Shall Wear Purple: Jenny Joseph

I've just found this poem on the OLW board and it's struck a chord with me so I thought I'd share it (before I go and dig something purple from my wardrobe!)


Warning

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves

And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired

And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

And run my stick along the public railings

And make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain

And pick the flowers in other people's gardens

And learn to spit.



You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat

And eat three pounds of sausages at a go

Or only bread and pickle for a week

And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.



But now we must have clothes that keep us dry

And pay our rent and not swear in the street

And set a good example for the children.

We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.



But maybe I ought to practise a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised

When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

The good, the bad and the ugly

The Good
My One Little Word goodies from Scrap Revolution have arrived. The words 'Kid' and 'Candy store' spring to mind.
This Pink Paislee album is so cute IRL. I'm definitely thinking clean, simple lines for the LO's for it. :) Love the multi-sized page protectors too although I did also buy some 8.5"x11" as additional inserts.
The Bad
10 minutes in a telephone queue to make a dr's appointment.
Waiting 25 mins to see said Dr.
Finding out E has not only an eye infection (as I thought) but also a chest infection that I hadn't realised about.


The Ugly
Weighing myself this morning to find I'd gained 5lb over Christmas. :(
Having to change jeans as the ones I was trying to wear were too tight.
Having J say, 'You've got a big tummy mummy'. (Nothing like a child to point out the obvious)
Having Weightwatchers drop a mail shot through my door this morning. Coincidental timing?
Starting the diet. Sigh.

Sunday 9 January 2011

Lemon Surprise Pudding

We've got a bit of a Nigel Slater appreciation society* going on in our house at the moment so I bought K these as a belated Christmas present from Amazon to help inspire him. However, it was actually me that cooked the first item from them: A delicious Lemon Surprise Pudding
It was absolutely gorgeous- the mixture magically separates whilst cooking into a sponge top with a delicious lemony custard underneath. Yummy!




*They've already knocked Gordon R off the shelf as there isn't room for all of them. Sorry Gordon. Jamie O made the cut but possibly only because his book coordinates in colour with these new ones. We're a bit fickle like that, ya know.... ;)

Saturday 8 January 2011

Doc2010: November focus page

I had a fab time at a crop this afternoon with my friends although I was rather lacking in productivity only finishing one layout in an afternoon. I guess that's the price you pay for laughing til your sides hurt, comparing the 'benefits' of Philip Schofield to Gary Linekar and being advised on 'fat pants', Gok Wan style! lol!

This was the focus page for November 2010 in my Doc2010 album.

A close up of some hand cutting (perhaps don't look too hard at that bit) ;)

A lift up page so that I could fit 2 rather large pictures (both 7x5) onto one 12x12 page:

So, I'd like to know 'Would you rather roll in crisps with Gary Linekar or on the ice with Philip Schofield?!' LOL!


Friday 7 January 2011

Something for a dreary day...

It's cold, wet and miserable here so I thought I'd post a few quick cards that I've made in the last few days using up old scraps of paper that I had lying around and some pastel coloured cards. Hopefully, their bright colour will cheer up the day!

This one uses some echo park papers, some stitching using my WRMK sew easy tool and some punched butterflies. It was for my SIL's 25th birthday hence the 25 on the bunting.
Some old crate paper papers (I love those little trees, squirrels and owls- too cute!) and some more WRMK sew easy stitches.


And another card with the same Crate Paper papers and some Cosmo Cricket elements and chipboard.



Hope it's not so miserable where you are. :)