Happy halloween!!!

good morning fellow witches :)

you'd think form all of my Halloween phrases that I celebrate Halloween in a big way but I really don't. 

I don't take the kids trick or treating because I don't believe its right to go knocking on peoples doors begging for things, in my opinion thats what it is... and yeah Im probably bonn a get a lot of stick for saying that but thats how I feel! 

I do however let the kids dress up and we always do a chocolate hunt around the house for them so they don't miss out. if we do happen to go out, which is hardly ever, we only visit people we know and  I always check beforehand that they don't mind. I probably sound really weird but with so many odd people around these days you can never be too safe. 

anyway here are a couple of pics of the girls dressed up, we aren't doing anything today so they are wearing them all day lol.... 

bewitching Lola..... posing as ever

and cute kitty Elsie!!

also what I want to share with you this morning is my page from over the weekend.... only one this time as its been a busy one.

the prompt this time related to taking inspiration from ourselves, and using one of the pages in our own albums that we love something about and taking that element on to make a new page. the same as SJ's take one, which Shimelle linked to during the class. 

firstly the page I found in my album that I love:

I don't know why I like this page but I do... I think maybe the fact that I actually like these photos of myself helps, i just think the colours work well too.....

so heres my page taken from that: 

the elements that I too from the first page are the number of photos and that 2 are big and 4 are small.... the rough edges of the backing pp and the wonky mats under the pictures. 

You wouldn't believe how long this page took me, this was the 3rd time I changed my mind on what papers to use, 4 times on how to arrange the photos, it was a bit of a pig. but I'm quite happy with how it eventually turned out.

now to wait for todays prompt... I wonder what Shimelle has in store for us on halloween morning!!

Not liking the clock change!!!

so its..... 7:08 AM on a Sunday morning and I have already been up for 2 hours.

hating the clock changes, We as adults can cope with the extra hour in bed or one less hour sleep... kids however just don't get it. the boys are easy enough to get back on track, Lola maybe not so bad, but a little harder and Elsie is just gonna be a nightmare. she has a routine.... she wakes and sleeps at certain times during the day, and now I have to try and change that, bloody hate having to change the clocks... it messes up everything lol

right rant over, just had to get that off my chest, slurp of tea.... now onto the important stuff!

my next scrap page obviously lol and some news!!!

This is my offering for prompt 11 of Shimelles pretty paper party, if you haven't checked it out already please do, its great for inspiration and only costs £12 for a months worth of inspiring thoughts and ideas!!

It came on Friday and was based around quilting patterns and how to translate from one craft to another. we were given a couple of quilting pattern sites and a few ideas of pages by guest designers but to be honest this is the first prompt I have looked at and not really been into it. if you know what I mean.

It didn't speak to me, I didn't get excited by the prospects of what I could do with it because it was just a bunch of random shapes and pattern mixed up on a page.... not my usual style at all. but never one to pass up a challenge and determined to make the most of every single prompt and piece of inspiration I set about my task of finding something that hit a button with me. 

I finally came across a pattern in the shape of a heart... who couldn't do something with that?!!?! 

I printed it off and found a paper pad in my scrap bag so I knew all the papers would match without me trying too hard, lets face it this was gonna be tough enough as it was! 

then I started hacking at pieces of paper and actually measuring them correctly to make them fit into an 11x11 box that I wanted... this lasted all of about 10 minutes before I got bored and instead of cutting every piece into shape I instead shaped the ends that needed it and the instead of cutting the other end I put it underneath the next bit instead, saved a lot of time and made me happier because I really hate measuring stuff, and like to work more free flow. 

The pattern itself is meant to be in a square shape, as if on a quilt section but I just didn't like it that way, so I cut off all the bits that I didn't like and made it into the heart shape that I liked.  

I had a couple of photos in mind for this project but settled on this one form our wedding day... we were having our only posed photo session (i wanted our photos to be fresh and natural) and were on the stairs of our castle... sounds so posh doesn't it!?!?! Craig our photographer was on the stair case above us and took some great pics from this angle. which I would never have thought about. 

If anyone is looking for a wedding photographer in this area I would recommend him in an instance!!!

anyways.... I wanted to keep the rest of the page as simple as possible as the quilted patchy pattern is mad enough for me lol... I hope you like it xxxxx

OOOhhh and some other exciting news, I signed up with a new supplier yesterday and they do some yummy yummy products which will be coming to my shop very soon!!! :)

this week......

I was so inspired when I watched this fortnights video by Sj take one - part 3

take a look and see how she inspires you.... 

the theme this time was lists.... and she talks about making pages about ourselves for people to remember who we are, and not just about doing pages about the kids.... so I did it... after doing a page for yesterdays Shimelle prompt I thought I would sneak in an extra page and it was this:

I won't say I came up with the idea myself because I really didn't, I very nearly scrap lifted the whole page from Laura Buckingham who is a guest designer for Shimelles class and Laura did this page for prompt 2 of the patterned paper party. It stuck in my head so when I saw the list thing and not liking pics of myself I thought I would give it a go. 

the list tell about all the things I've done this week, as its half term the kids have been home so we have had some cooking fun and some gaming fun and they've had friends over. so its not been a typical week but a fun one.

thanks for looking xxxx

stamping it up!!!

So here I am, back with another page from todays prompt...woohoo I have caught up!!!

Today Shimelle challenged us in 4 ways... this is the first but I loved this so much that I am gonna try and do the other 3 also. we had to stamp to make our embellishments. 

I haven't done so much stamping in ...well ever I don't think but really like how my page has turned out. its really not this yellow in real life, its more natural browns and beiges its just the light in our kitchen makes it look a little odd. 

here it is anyways:

I was very economical with this page... I only used 1 full sheet of 12x12.... as my base paper.

the green grid piece is actually packaging for some rebellious rub on by prima that I bought a while ago, and couldn't bear to throw away the piece of card as I knew I would use it somewhere.

the rest is scraps from my scrap box.... I had originally stamped straight onto the patterned paper but the stamp didn't stand out enough and got lost in the pattern so I decided to re-do it on kraft to make it pop out. and I think it does.

thanks for looking, I'm off to take a look at challenge 2! xxxx

prompt 9

So... I made my soup, butternut squash and carrot, with delicious spices in it and some chilli for kick.... thats all done and waiting for me to eat it all for my lunch...ok maybe not all of it I will save some for mum lol

Then Elsie stayed a sleep for a little while so I got to do my page for prompt 9... it was to use kraft paper and add one colour only to make the layout.... I started off with good intentions, only pulled out a full sheet of kraft and my blue patterned paper scrap bag.... I threw on bits to resemble the first sketch that was given...then when I had to trim one of the makers tabs off it was a beautiful spotted red on the other side and It looked lovely against all the blue and kraft so that got added, and then I added a little more to balance it out... and then finally I found some pics to match with it. 

Im quite liking starting off with no photos in mind, its a new way of scrapping to me but it makes it so ugh easier to chuck a page together and if you don't have a picture that fits perfectly you can always change one to black and white lol.

anyways heres my page:

photos are of hubby and the girls.... journalling explains how the three of them are similar and then goes on to tell how they are both now daddys girls and I am all alone :( lol.... I wonder if it will stay this way forever?!?!?! 

fun guys!! :)

Morning all :)

just a quirky this morning as I'm losing valuable scrapping time, plus I need to make my soup yet for lunch!!!

I wanted to share this page with you from Shimelles prompt 8.... I asked my mum to choose my colour scheme and the sketch from those provided by Shimelle and she chose the ones that would be most challenging to me, thanks mum!!.... I'm pretty pleased with how they came out, and as I chose the photos after I'd done the basis of the page it made it very easy for me to scrap this picture of my Nan and Lola. 

I have shied away from photos of my Nan since she passed away as its really hard for me to do at the moment but as this page was ready, and as its such a lovely memory of her playing with Lola, as she always did... I found it easy. yes I had a few teary moments but I did it... I broke through that barrier and maybe that will allow me to do more now. 

anyways here it is:

Im sorry its a really bad quality picture of the page, the rain is pouring here and the natural light is really bad in my kitchen. 

but you get the basic idea... colours are green and purple, both of which I hardly ever use in my scrapping. and letters are thickets from a studio calico kit.

the mushrooms are my favourite bit, and I actually found these on the net, when I searched for hybrid scrapping mushrooms lol.... they are from a kit that I bought from www.scrapdelicious.com

it was called nature walk and cost me less than £2 for everything, papers, elements, 2 alphabets!! 

Shimelles prompt the other day relating too using printed elements really got me thinking, and now I think I'm gonna use it all a lot more. if I don't have it here for real I can find exactly what I need on the net and its so cheap!!! I think these mushrooms are so cute and finish the page beautifully. 

anyways time to get on, butternut soup unfortunately isn't gonna make itself!!!

have a good day, hopefully see you later xxx

prompt 7

we are now onto prompt 9 of Shimelle Laines pretty paper class and so far I am loving it!!!

here is my page for prompt 7 as I have a little catching up to do:

I have used another picture of Elsie Moo, in her pushchair this time as we were wandering around the lakes at Portishead. She always looks so chilled out with her feet up on her bar!!!

it also uses a sketch of the day and uses SJ's formula for making a page with patterned paper...

1a+1b+3c= perfection!!

here I used 1 large patterned paper - the black floral

1 plain (but edged) paper - the die cut sheet

and 3 small pattern pieces - red star, red edged piece and black photo mat.

I hope it looks ok??

I've been looking at this page for a while and altho I like it... it lacks what I always lack on my pages and thats embellishments.... am thinking Shimelles next class should be about using embellishments lol

thanks for looking

returning after a short break!

Sunday brought a day off from scrapping, I spent the day instead... doing housework....cooking and spending time with my hubby and the girls.(the boys were away at their grandparents)

Lola and I played on the kinect for the xbox... we have a new game called superheroes, where ..you guessed it... you get to be a superhero and do all of the cool moves to destroy the baddies!!!! lets say me and Lola kicked ass!!! :) so that was fun..

Sunday also saw me starting a diet... this time I'm determined to stick to it, its working well so far as I've lost lbs in 2 days so I'm happy. I know I can do it because I'm on weight watchers and it worked for me before when I lost 4 stone so it can and will work for me again. I think I have my head in the right place now so Im gonna give it my best shot. wish me luck!!!

So when Monday came after my Sunday day off..I was more than ready to get creating again, as there was no prompt on Sunday and it was early on Monday when I was wanting to start I found Shimelles starting point on her blog to use as inspiration instead. I tell you what, Shimelle is one very busy lady, I don't know how she does it all!!!

for the starting point go here

anyways... I started the page with one photo and half way through changed my mind and switched photographs. lets see what you think

the journalling says:

"such a precious gift.

a hand made to do the work of 2.

with your hand in mine we can do anything.

I love you my special girl x"

Altho I was obviously very upset for Elsie to not have her left arm, I am eternally grateful that she has at least one.... she will work miracles with this hand and her precious fingers. I have watched her overcome so many obstacles already with it, everyday she amazes me more. 

xxxxx

final page

of the day anyways....

today has been quite productive, even if I am still dressed in my pi's :)

I've completed 2 scrap pages..... heres the second:

ok so its basic.... but I did something new for me... I downloaded an alphabet from Dawn Skippy then sized and printed it off myself. 

I don't think this page could handle much more embellishing so I've left it plain. 

As an alphabet addict this is quite a nice idea for me so I might have to do it more often...it means that I can use an alphabet as many times as I like and still have all the letters I need! bargain xxx

the other thing I have done today was cooking.... my mum and I (plus a little help from Lola) had our first attempt at making macaroons.... here are some piccys

they are strawberry macaroons with a vanilla cream and strawberry filling..... and although they could be neater around the edges they taste amazing!!!

with a little more practice they will be amazing...watch this space xxx

a quick one!

heres another page.... just because I wanted to!!

Pics are of the kids having a water fight over the summer.... it was slightly unfair as the boys always gang up on Lola!!! 

I used more of my leftover pieces from when I cut them up for Shimelles video so am working my way through it!!

thanks for looking xxx

got it right this time!

good morning fellow crafters.... 

another page from me today, i did this one as an extra for Shimelles day 5 prompt. we were supposed to use border punches in 3 different ways but on the last one I got so into inking that I forgot so I did this one to replace that one, altho I actually love both!!

I love this picture of Elsie moo that I took yesterday for my Aunty Chris... who is also a scrapper, and wanted some extra hat pics of the girls... she has lots apparently?!?!?! didn't know my girls wore hats so much, might have to borrow her idea:)

the layout itself has been shamefully scrap lifted from Antonia over at the sketchy thursdays challenge blog... you can find the sketch and challenge and Antonias amazing foxy page here:

Sketchy Thursday

I also managed to get in 3 different ways of using my border punch and from the previous class, spots and stripes too...maybe I have redeemed myself?!?!?!?!!?

what a mess!!!

I just tackled todays prompt from Shimelle... well actually I thought I had until I remembered that we were supposed to include 3 ways of using a border punch!! oopsy, I didn't even use it once!!!

thing is I got so carried away making a mess with the ink and grunting things up that I ompletely forget the objective lol.

anyway here it is:

I love the messiness of it and the feel to it... just a shame i missed the objective of the challenge lol... guess I'll just have to have another go lol

xxxx

not sure about this one?!?!?!?!?

Another day another layout..... altho this one I'm not so sure about.

I'll show you it first

this one was for the dots and stripes prompt for shimelles class... i spent hours last night, putting pieces of paper down, taking them all off again... it just didn't look right.... I still don't particularly like it and was at the point of taking it all apart this morning when i thought to myself, its not the worst looking page I have done.... and at least its another one in the album and not sat waiting. 

So I added the title and a few buttons and that was that.... if you have any suggestions on how to improve that would be much appreciated... i think if I keep looking at it Im only gonna make it worse xxx

Just a quicky!

I've been a very busy bee today, doing some xmas shopping with my mum.... hi mum!! :) 

and just having a nice chilled wander around the shops was lovely, but then i got home and panicked a bit that i was way behind with Shimelles class....

I was ahead of the game and raring to go until i was being very productive and started a second page based on yesterdays video.... See the word STARTED.... cause I never got to finish it yesterday as I went to bingo with the girls...(they took my bingo virginity away!!! it was fab) 

anyways.... so when I got home form shopping i got the kids from school and after starting dinner off i managed to finish the aforementioned page.... which is here

I used more of my cut up papers.... and only bits and pieces from within the same kit. I also...very proudly i must say.... used my very very very ancient sizzlit alphabet with my very new vagabond to cut the title out of scraps from my box.... how good was I?!?!?!

seriously i haven't used that alphabet for at least 5 years maybe 6.... but it came in very handy today. 

pics are of Lola a few weeks back after eating some chocolate ice cream.... I put her up on the kitchen side to clean her up and she started posing again so I grabbed the camera to take more pics.... i don't think she cares what she looks like as long as she can strut her stuff in front of a camera lol.

I also managed to get myself up to date by doing another page in about half an hour.... the boys have gone out to Quest...their club where they play games and do fun stuff.... Elsie moo went to bed at around 7:15...and i put Lola to bed at half past.... and as Paul was out shopping i had a very unusually quiet half an hour to myself.

So I used my time wisely... I turned off the tv and scrapped.

I did this page for prompt 3:

it's nothing special and literally took me half an hour.... but I quite like it.... and altho I have already scrapped photos from this day and moment i love it so much that it was worth scrapping again. 

I used everything once again out of my same kit, but cheated and added in the alphabet separately.... its my favourite so i couldn't resist. 

the theme of the third challenge was to have no space in between any of the patterned papers.... I think i achieved this?!?!?!

also.... you'll never believe it but that amazing piece of patterned paper with the birds on is actually the back side of a promotional offer voucher from studio calico... technically it was in my box.... it came with the kit and how cool too have pink birds on a page about wonky pink wings?!?!?! 

I think it would have been a crime NOT to add it :)

thanks for looking .... I'm off to check out prompt 4 xxxxx

just go for it!!!

Honey I'm home!!!

after watching Shimelles very inspirational video recorded for try scrap last year i got into the mood of cutting things up. her video gave you a step by step challenge to using one kit of stash and turning it into a LOT of pages....

we had to use 9 card stock sheets, 7 patterned papers and other embellishments and alphas.... (I just used my latest studio calico kit, and other scraps i had in the box that i have used this week to go with it.)

we were then told to randomly cut all but 1 of the patterned papers into different size pieces. 

I had great fun doing this, altho think it may have been a lot easier with a paper trimmer, i only have my trusty knife and ruler!!

then you just create.

Shimelle suggested starting with a double page.... so i did...i also used a rough sketch that i made of her double page layout as  a basis for my page.

 and as an extra challenge to myself... I just made the page and found photos afterwards........ I never do this so it made a nice change, and it meant i got to really look through some older pictures and do some scrapping about those.

these pictures were taken in 2009 at Noahs Ark zoo farm.... can't get over how little all the kids look.... it was a fun day and i think this is reflected in the bright colours of the layout.

thanks for looking xxx 

another day another page...

As you can probably tell form my increased amount of blog posts lately i am very much enjoying Shimelles patterned paper class. 

and where i've not been taken out of my comfort zone yet, i am loving the constant challenges of the sketches and being told what i should use on the page.

so this morning, when Elsie went to bed and as poorly Lola was watching Tangled snuggled up in a blanket on the sofa..... i managed to squeeze in an other layout based on yesterdays sketches and challenge criteria.

which was to use patterned paper as a base rather than a plain card stock. 

I love this picture of Lola, taken whilst we were at centre parks, by my grandad whilst i had my feet in a tank full of hungry fish!!!

i love how she is concentrating so much on what they were doing and how she was sat fascinated by it all. she was even brave enough to put her hands in the water and let them nibble on her fingers...but thats another page!!! :)

and then i did more!!!

so 2 posts in one day!!! amazing!!!!

I have managed to complete another page this time based on day 2 of Shimelle laines class. the prompt this time was about using patterned paper as a background sheet... not something I'm scared of as you can see from my previous post. but it gave me a chance to scrap another photo, or 2 in this case.

heres my page....

the pics this time are of my eldest daughter Lola.

we went to the lakes at the beginning of the month to feed the ducks and when she saw all the bigger kids walking across the stepping stones over the little lake she just had to do it..... on her own!

so these are the pics I took of that moment. with the help of one of shimelles sketches.... i did have to adapt it slightly to fit in my extra photo but i think it works ok.

thanks for looking xxx

I'm loving it!!!

good morning ladies.... if you're wondering what i am loving, its Shimelles class.... its just up my street... prompts 6 times a week for 4 weeks!!!!! what a bargain... and they are very inspiring.

I found a bit of time to scrap, so did this page as my first offering for the class....

all the pieces apart from my base sheet came from my scrap box!! I love that i can do this and feel like I'm doing something good by using up what others might call rubbish. 

the photo is of my eldest son Daniel with my youngest daughter Elsie.... he is such a loving boy, always cuddling , kissing and looking out for the girls. such a sweetie xxxx

watch this space as i may be back with more pages later today as plans have changed!

see you soon xxxxx

party time!!!!

so this morning began the Shimelle online party.... and what are we celebrating??!?!!

PRETTY PATTERNED PAPER!!! what else?!?!?! :)

the first assignment of the day was to take pictures of our patterned papers, and to think about, and decide what kind of paper person we are.... 

out of the choices there is only one i can be and that is a scrap sorter!!

not a smidgen of paper goes to waste, i keep everything just incase... you never know when you might need it and why oh why would anyone chuck away something so pretty and that makes them so happy. 

so here are my pics:

this first one is my 12x12 paper box, the storage itself is from creative memories, and is just fab for keeping my papers nice and straight and easily accessible. 

I am a bit anal when it comes to organisation... so my papers are sorted into colours... and also I have separated the patterns and the plains so i can find what i need straight away. if i m looking for a certain colour this works really well for me as i can pull out a colour section and flick through, this way nothing ever gets forgotten and i can put it straight back into the box once I have found what i need. patterns in the front... plains behind x 

my next paper picture is my scrap bag, as you can see all of my scraps are in 12x12 sealable bags... and again sorted into colours and separated into patterns and plains. this means i can look for mats in a particular colour and any scraps that i need to make a page perfect. my scrap bags hold any piece of paper that is smaller than 12 x 12... even if i only cut an inch off the rest goes into here, this way i only have full sheets in my 12x12 storage to use as base sheets on my layouts. 

this is my last paper picky to share with you... and it is a photo of my studio calico delivery.... as soon as i get this, it stays on my craft desk until the next one is due and i use lots from it straight away. 

I am not one of these people who can't use new paper, or pretty paper in fact as soon as i have something new it has to be opened and sampled or just used lol.

I am a paper collector but i also like to use it as much as just buy it. 

my last photo of the post is one of a page i finished yesterday, its not amazing but its done 

and talking of patterned paper, this one is very very old. i remember having the whole range when it first came out and this was some years ago. 

the pics are of my eldest daughter who is now 3.. and these are from her first birthday riding around in the kitchen on her new toy. 

i followed a sketch from pencil lines but didn't follow it completely. sorry ladies xxx

second sitting!

So i managed to do another page today.... Elsie went to bed really really early.... and Paul watched over lola whilst I got on with a big more me time...

this time I used a sketch by Kirsty Wiseman for her wednesday night challenge.... she's a day late but ssshhhh don't tell her lol.....

I actually started and finished it before kirsty had even started her online live scrapping show, but i couldn't resist. anyways here it is:

and this one is of Lola when she first started walking at the age of 10 months, what a clever clogs she was!

I think i must be having a yellow day, lots f brightness around today which isn't usually like me...maybe i will return to normal tomorrow.... anyways goodnight for now xxxx

grateful for scrapping

so..... not a great day today..... its my Nans birthday, our first without her and everyone in the family is feeling it really hard. this morning i couldn't even get my butt into gear to do anything cause my head was overloaded with emotions. i miss my nan so much but I know she is here with us all, watching and tutting at what we do..especially when i don't do the ironing lol  but its hard without her....

 so today i am grateful for my hobby, it takes me away to another place, and altho i am still constantly thinking about my nan, and what day it is and how we should be celebrating another year gone by.... i can just for a moment focus my attention onto something else, and this keeps me going, keeps me sane and not in floods of tears for the whole day. 

so here is my first offering for the day... a page about my children and a few photos of them taken the other week.... they aren't the best pictures ever, and in fact I was only going to use one of them actually on a page but decided that this is who they are, they never sit still, they always make stupid faces when i want a nice picture and they do love each other  a lot. so I went with it and used 3.

Another reason for doing 3...and I guess the influence behind doing this page was SJ.... I am big Shimelle Laine fan and so when she posted a link to SJ's blog challenge last week i had to take a look. thats where I gained a new person to follow and admire.... 

SJ set a challenge called take one.... and is doing a new one every week, she has already set the second challenge but I'm a bit behind so I'm playing catch up!!!

the first challenge was to look through our albums and pick out our favourite pages.... and take from this one element from our have page to take with us into creating a new page.

when i looked 2 pages stood out for me......

as you can see they both have 3 pics clustered in the middle of the page, however both pages are completely different but i love them both. so it had to be this element that i took forward in creating my new layout.

thanks for the challenge SJ.... may there be many more to come xxxxxx

after all that.....

After all that i forgot to write what the exciting bit was all about :)

so....... its 12 hour next month.... if that wasn't exciting enough i have some more exciting news....

In one years time 9th - 12th November 2012 to be exact... Lollicrop will be holding its very first retreat!!!

a whole long weekend of scrapping, chatting, eating laughing...and maybe even a few trips to the sauna and Jacuzzi..... some of you might even wanna test the indoor pool waters, but you won't catch me in there  lol

heres a couple of pics.... 

these are a few os the shots that i borrowed from their website..... doesn't it look lovely?!?!?!

and for £110 per person including food for the whole weekend what a bargain!!!!!

it holds 24 maximum but i am only allowing 20 spaces as the remaining 4 would be slept on sofa beds, and as I don't think it is fair for someone to sleep on a sofa bed for the whole weekend (altho i have been reassured they are luxurious) i won't be offering these as places. 

so the first 20 people to snap my arm off with a £25 deposit will be the lucky ones who get a place on this amazing retreat. 

I have already sold 7 places within a few days of telling people about it so i expect to sell these relatively quickly, once word gets around to people how cheap it is and how lovely the accommodation looks.

the only thing that might be an issue is the sleeping..... most are double beds... but we all have a close buddy that we don't mind sharing with right?!??!?!

I will be starting a new exclusive group on Facebook, for those that have given me their deposits... on this group we can discuss food...... sleeping arrangements, classes etc etc and obviously how excited we are getting!

the house is in hereford.... and has a view of the black mountains... spesh!!!

I hope to hear form you soon xxxxxxx 

exciting stuff!!!!!!

Good morning lovely ladies!!!!

Im in a fabulous mood this morning...... it was october crop yesterday, and apart from being a few short we all had a fabby time.

I think we ended up with 17 but it was a lovely 17, we all had a good laugh.... it was Sara's 40th birthday on the friday so we got her a cake, and a balloon and some wine and flowers.... after all it wouldn't be a birthday without it would it :)

I also held a class which went down really well..... I however can't take credit for it as I completely borrowed the idea from shimelle laines Layout and video that really really inspired me this past week.... 

heres the page:

sorry but some of it has been cut off due to the weird stitching package i now have to use after switching to a mac..... i must find a new one that doesn't want to bend it all over the place lol....

anyways i thought the ladies at crop would really love this page as it had a few new tricks and a couple of old ones mixed in too.

this page has an acetate pocket which has stamping on it, using studio layering stamps, and the paint is from Adirondack and the yummy bright paint dabber range!!! mmmmmmmm.......

it also has sewing on it, which we all did by hand, some of the ladies were stressing a little over it so i hope i showed them that its really not all that bad.....

they all finished the page anyway and seemed to love it so that made me happy.... i actually ended up selling out of kits and have had to make another different one up too so i guess you could say it went well :) thanks shimelle... I hope you don't mind me using it, i did tell the ladies it was all your brilliant ideas xxx

i also managed to do a page of my own in the afternoon, a very simple one of elsie moo eating her very first ice lolly..... heres the pic:

The photos are very orangey yellow so needed a completely different colour page to elevate the pics.... i was gonna go for the bright pink but then found the purple in the same range ( summer days by Echo park....and i have some packs in stock if you want one :) )

and as I never use purple i thought this would be the perfect opportunity to broaden my range lol.....

its a very basic page which really didn't take very long to chuck together but i think it works on focusing on the photographs, which i love loads xxx

lastly is a page from last week.... its actually what i was gonna do as the class page, but i really wasn't sure about it, and because i wasn't completely happy with it myself i could teach it to others as a class hence why I changed to Shimelles page. I don't dislike it, it just isn't right in my eyes.... maybe some of you might have some suggestions on how to make it better?!?!?!?!?!?!

right.... I best go and get some breakfast, and put my pork joint in for dinner...yum yum

see you all soon

xxxxxxxxx

more lake photos

i have managed to scrap another page today, this time i used some pics of lola taken yesterday at the lake.... she was feeding a rather large swan, but very bravely held her hand out for the swan to take the bread form her. 

I used Shimelle Laine sketch of the week as my inspiration for this page. I had to add in an extra paper or 2 as it just wasn't working right for me but i got there in the end. 

thanks for looking xxx

what a scorcher!!!!

Even at 9am on a Sunday morning, its roasting..... i don't think the sun knows that its the 2nd October but who's complaining????

the trouble comes at the middle of the day when it gets too hot... too hot to play outside especially for the kids.... so instead we stay inside with all the windows and doors open and chill out, lola plays with her toys or the iPad, and elsie rolls around the floor eating everything in sight, and i get to scrap!!!

altho we did actually go and feed the ducks yesterday before it got too hot, and we are off to the park in a bit, also before it gets too much... as we should really make the most of the nice weather. 

here are a couple of pics from our trip out yesterday

the girls

Elsie and Daddy

Lola on the paddle boats

Lola bravely feeding the swan!

So all in all its been a lovely weekend..... and the sun is supposed to be here until tuesday so we will be making the most of it while it lasts.

also.... here is my latest page. I am still working through my layout a day challenges, I am doing pretty good as I only have maybe 4 left out of 29 or something so i feel proud to have got this far. 

This page was about using numbers on a layout, so i chose to scrap my 30th birthday pic.

It happened that my birthday fell on our normal crop day so i just carried on with it as not to disrupt anything.

it turned out to be really lovely, i to to spend the day doing something i loved, with the people who mean a lot to me. and there were a tonne of presents, and surprises throughout the day. 

heres the finished page

I've made it big so you can read it all :)

I created this page with Shimelle Laines starting point..... I love her work and really do try to do most of her stuff..... her videos are amazing and so inspirational so if you haven't checked her blog out yet please do.

Right... i best go... lola is waiting very patiently to be dressed ready to go to the park..... see you all later xxx